Gifford to return for 'Live' anniversary Wed Aug 15, 9:19 PM ET

Gifford to return for 'Live' anniversary Wed Aug 15, 9:19 PM ET



NEW YORK - Kathie Lee Gifford will drop by "Live With Regis and Kelly" to celebrate the daytime talk show's 20th anniversary. Gifford, who left as co-host in 2000, is slated to appear Sept. 14, when Regis Philbin and Kelly Ripa take a look back at the show's most memorable moments. Ripa joined the show as co-host in 2001.

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"Our 20th anniversary is a huge milestone for the show," Executive Producer Michael Gelman said Tuesday in a statement. "Few television shows reach a year on the air, much less two decades."

"Live" will celebrate its 20th season in national syndication with two weeks of on-air festivities starting Sept. 3 and ending with Gifford's guest appearance.

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The Walt Disney Co.'s Buena Vista Television distributes "Live With Regis and Kelly."

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On the Net:

"Live With Regis and Kelly":

http://bventertainment.go.com/tv/buenavista/regisandkelly/

Kathy Lee Gifford:

http://www.kathieleegifford.com/

Judge nixes custody bid for Jackson kids Wed Aug 15, 9:17 PM ET

Judge nixes custody bid for Jackson kids Wed Aug 15, 9:17 PM ET



LOS ANGELES - A London woman who claims she is the real mother of Michael Jackson's three children was denied a role Wednesday in the singer's custody settlement with his ex-wife, Deborah Rowe.

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Nona Paris Lola Jackson, 36, asked a judge to grant her joint physical custody of Jackson's 10-year-old son, Prince Michael, and 9-year-old daughter, Paris. She also claims to be the mother of 5-year-old Prince Michael II.

"I feel her evidence fails to establish any genetic relationship between herself and the Jackson-Rowe children," Superior Court Judge Robert A. Schnider said.

Schnider also denied the woman's request to nullify Jackson's marriages with Rowe and with Lisa Marie Presley, both of which ended in divorce.

Nona Jackson was heard in the courtroom through a telephone and loudspeaker. Jackson and Rowe were not present.

Jackson settled a custody fight with Rowe over his two eldest children in September. Details of that agreement have not been released. Jackson has not identified the mother of Prince Michael II.

Nona Jackson also asked the court to grant her child support in an amount to be determined by Jackson, along with possession of his Neverland Ranch and a San Fernando Valley home.

"Debbie's hospital records will prove that my kids are not hers because of DNA," she stated.

In court papers, Nona Jackson contended that "Michael and I are a sexually active couple and have been this way from the beginning." She also claimed to have written more than 3,000 songs for him.

The woman's three previous attempts to have a say in the custody battle were rejected by the same judge last November and in February and May on grounds that she had failed to notify Jackson and Rowe of the hearings.

With Wednesday's ruling, it was unclear if she had any more legal options.

"I guess it's possible she could always do something else," said Marta B. Almli, Rowe's attorney.

Mary-Kate, Kingsley lock lips in movie Wed Aug 15, 9:16 PM ET

Mary-Kate, Kingsley lock lips in movie Wed Aug 15, 9:16 PM ET



NEW YORK - Brace yourself: In her upcoming movie, Mary-Kate Olsen locks lips with Ben Kingsley. Yes, the one-time adorable tyke turned teenage titan, and Gandhi. Not surprisingly, the film's a comedy. Olsen is now 21. Kingsley is 63. Their film, "The Wackness," is slated for release next year.

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"There is a very passionate scene in the film, which we filmed last week," Kingsley, who won the best-actor Oscar for 1982's "Gandhi," tells the syndicated TV show "Access Hollywood" in an interview scheduled to air Wednesday.

"It went extremely well and she was very focused. She was very good, very professional. She was quite wonderful."

When asked if he thinks the scene will stir up controversy, Kingsley says: "I'm sure it will. (Her character) is this great free spirit, you know, she is equally seducing so it is a level playing field."

In the film, Kingsley plays a therapist who forms a friendship with a teenage drug dealer (Josh Peck) who trades pot for therapy sessions. Olsen portrays one of the dealer's customers, who winds up kissing Kingsley's character.

"It's for a few seconds and then we disappear and we never see each other in the movie," Kingsley says. "But she is a trigger into my quest for happiness."

Though brief, the scene left a good impression on him. "Mary-Kate has huge energy," he says. "She is very, very committed to her work."

Olsen, who rose to fame on TV's "Full House," was last seen on the big screen opposite her sister, Ashley, in 2004's "New York Minute."

Kingsley's film credits also include "House of Sand and Fog" and "Schindler's List."

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"Access Hollywood" is produced by NBC and distributed by NBC Universal Domestic Television Distribution.

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On the Net:

http://www.accesshollywood.com

NASA nears decision on shuttle fix By LIZ AUSTIN PETERSON, Associated Press Writer

NASA nears decision on shuttle fix By LIZ AUSTIN PETERSON, Associated Press Writer
30 minutes ago



HOUSTON - NASA managers remained "cautiously optimistic" that a deep gouge in the shuttle Endeavour's belly wouldn't require spacewalking repairs but wanted to run one last test and double-check their data Thursday before making a decision.

Officials also were studying a rip in astronaut Rick Mastracchio's glove that brought Wednesday's spacewalk to an early end, and they were loathe to authorize another jaunt until they knew more. But they said those concerns wouldn't stand in the way of crucial repairs.

"If we decided we needed to go do this, I would feel very comfortable doing it. We've done a lot of spacewalks without any glove problems," said John Shannon, the mission management team's chairman.

Mission Control told Endeavour commander Scott Kelly early Thursday that a repair decision was expected by mid-day.

Endeavour's crew spent early Thursday learning what to do if NASA orders the repairs. Astronauts on the ground have been practicing the techniques so they can send the crew precise instructions and answer any questions.

Teacher-astronaut Barbara Morgan also planned to spend time Thursday speaking with students at the Challenger Center for Space Science Education in Virginia, which was founded by the families of the doomed shuttle's crew. Morgan was Christa McAuliffe's backup for the 1986 flight.

The chat was to be moderated by the commander's widow, June Scobee-Rodgers.

In a similar chat with Idaho students on Tuesday, Morgan demonstrated what it's like to exercise and drink in space and talked about what the stars look like from the shuttle.

NASA has spent nearly a week agonizing over the 3 1/2-inch-long, 2-inch-wide gouge that resulted from a debris strike at liftoff. Part of the gouge, a narrow 1-inch strip, cuts all the way through the tiles, exposing the thin felt fabric that serves as the final thermal barrier to the ship's aluminum frame.

The exposed area and the gouge itself are so small that NASA is not worried about a Columbia-type catastrophe at flight's end. They are concerned, however, that the underlying aluminum structure might be damaged enough by the searing heat of re-entry to warrant lengthy post-flight repairs.

Officials have to balance those fears with the risk that astronauts wearing 300-pound spacesuits and carrying 150 pounds of tools could bang into the shuttle and cause more damage as they try to fix the gouge.

Putting the wrong amount of the caulk-like repair goo into the gash or failing to put it in exactly the right spot could make the problem worse, Shannon said.

The unprecedented patching job on Endeavour, if approved, would be performed on the next spacewalk, now set for Saturday, a day later than originally planned to give engineers more time to analyze the situation. That could keep Endeavour and its crew of seven at the space station at least an extra day.

Mastracchio likely would be assigned to the repair spacewalk, and he could use a spare glove he brought on board Endeavour.

Astronaut Clay Anderson, who joined Mastracchio on Wednesday's spacewalk, was taking digital pictures on Thursday of all the gloves on board so NASA could make sure they were in good shape.

"We want to clear the fact that it might have been a generic problem with gloves before we go back out the door," Mission Control told Kelly.

The repair job would not be anywhere near where Mastracchio was Wednesday, when he and Anderson moved two rail carts and an antenna base into new positions on the orbiting outpost. They also added new antenna parts to improve voice communications.

The next spacewalk will be trickier if shuttle repairs are ordered. Under the latest scenario, Mastracchio and another astronaut would apply black paint to the white gouge and squirt in the caulk-like goo, while balancing themselves on the end of the shuttle's 100-foot robot arm and extension boom.

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AP Aerospace Writer Marcia Dunn contributed to this report from Cape Canaveral, Fla.

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On the Net:

NASA: http://spaceflight.nasa.gov

U.S. stocks head for further pullback By TIM PARADIS, AP Business Writer

U.S. stocks head for further pullback By TIM PARADIS, AP Business Writer
28 minutes ago



NEW YORK - U.S. stocks appeared headed for another sharp retrenchment Thursday as fears persisted of widening problems with some mortgages and tighter access to credit.

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A sell-off overseas offered Wall Street little reason to try to stanch the bleeding early Thursday a day after the Dow Jones industrial average closed below the 13,000 mark for the first time since April and the Standard & Poor's 500 index moved into negative territory for the year.

Overseas, Britain's FTSE 100 fell 2.60 percent, Germany's DAX index fell 2.40 percent, and France's CAC-40 fell 2.54 percent. In Asia, Japan's Nikkei stock average fell 2 percent. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell 3.3 percent, while the often-volatile Shanghai Composite Exchange fell 2.1 percent.

Further weighing on investor sentiment, St. Louis Federal Reserve President William Poole told Bloomberg Television after the closing bell Wednesday it wasn't necessary for the central bank to consider lowering short-term interest rates before the regularly scheduled meeting of its rate-setting committee next month.

Investors' confidence took a beating Wednesday as concerns arose about potential trouble at Countrywide Financial Corp., the nation's largest mortgage lender, and KKR Financial Holdings LLC.

Housing concerns will remain in focus Thursday with a report due on July housing starts. Starts are expected to rise by a slightly smaller amount than in June, and data on building permits are expected to show an increase by about the same amount.

Dow futures expiring in September lost 156, or 1.21 percent, to 12,765, while S&P 500 futures dropped 14.40, or 1.04 percent, to 1,399.70. Nasdaq 100 index futures fell 15.75, or 0.84 percent, to 1,862.75.

Bonds fell, with the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note rising to 4.67 percent from 4.72 percent late Wednesday. Bond prices move opposite yields. The dollar was mixed against other major currencies, while gold prices fell.

Light, sweet crude fell $1.42 to $71.91 per barrel in premarket electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, giving back Wednesday's gains as storms brewing in the Caribbean didn't appear to pose a threat to energy operations.

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On the Net:

New York Stock Exchange: http://www.nyse.com

Nasdaq Stock Market: http://www.nasdaq.com

Asian, European stocks fall By MARI YAMAGUCHI, Associated Press Writer

Asian, European stocks fall By MARI YAMAGUCHI, Associated Press Writer
19 minutes ago



TOKYO - Asian stocks hit their lowest levels in months Thursday — and European stocks followed in early trade — battered by persistent anxiety over U.S. housing loan problems and potential damage to global financial markets.

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The benchmark Nikkei 225 index closed down nearly 2 percent on the Tokyo Stock Exchange after falling below the key 16,000-point mark the first time since November. South Korea's main benchmark fell 6.9 percent to its lowest finish since May, and Hong Kong's blue chip Hang Seng Index dropped 3.3 percent to its lowest close in two months.

Meanwhile, European stock indices dropped in morning trade, with Britain's FTSE and France's CAC-40 down 2.69 percent, and Germany's DAX down 2.4 percent.

Repercussions in Asian markets were bigger compared with the loss of 1.3 percent overnight in the U.S. — where the loan problems erupted — with at least three Asian markets losing more than 6 percent on the day.

That's because of uncertainty over the size of impact on corporate earnings and the regional economy, said Shinichi Ichikawa chief strategist at Credit Suisse. He said the weakness of the dollar and the euro also fueled concern.

"The issue of the subprime loans is not just the problem of that sector but it also affects many related financial products, (and) the size of a possible damage or other details are not clear, and that's why investors are feeling uneasy," Ichikawa said.

"All of Asia and other European markets are watching the U.S. market," said James Soh, a strategist at Korea Investment & Securities Co. in Seoul. Global investors were focused in particular on the U.S. Federal Reserve, he said.

The Federal Reserve added more cash to the U.S. banking system Wednesday, and other central banks have been pouring cash into their banking systems as well since the end of last week. The cash infusions appear to have done little to halt a global slide.

Some investors have been calling for the U.S. central bank to free up more cash by making an interest rate cut at its Sept. 18 meeting, but the Fed has given no indication that it will.

The Bank of Japan injected 400 billion yen ($3.4 billion) into money markets Thursday morning, the third time since last Friday it has acted to curb rises in a key overnight interest rate.

Despite those measures, banking issues took a beating in Tokyo on global credit concerns. Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group was off nearly 6 percent at midday.

Later Thursday, New Zealand's central bank said it is closely monitoring domestic market movements and stands ready to inject liquidity if needed.

New Zealand's benchmark NZX-50 fell 1.2 percent Thursday to close at 3,957.94, its fifth loss in five days.

Australia's benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index closed 1.3 percent lower after trimming early losses.

Stocks plunged everywhere in Asia.

The Philippine benchmark closed down 6.0 percent after crashing through the 3,000-mark. Indonesia's standard stock index shed 7.7 percent on the day.

Taiwan's main stock index closed down 4.6 percent, China's main index in Shanghai fell 2.1 percent, and Singapore's Straits Times Index fell 3.7 percent.

India's Sensex 30-stock benchmark index was down 3.9 percent midday after plunging more than 4 percent shortly after opening.

Wednesday in the U.S. the Dow Jones industrial average fell 1.29 percent overnight to 12,861.47, closing below 13,000 for the first time since April 24.

Democrats target 2008 Calif. vote plan By MICHAEL R. BLOOD, Associated Press Writer

Democrats target 2008 Calif. vote plan By MICHAEL R. BLOOD, Associated Press Writer
2 hours, 47 minutes ago



LOS ANGELES - Leading Democrats are uniting with Hollywood producer Steven Bing and hedge fund manager Tom Steyer to oppose a California ballot proposal they fear could hand the 2008 presidential election to the Republican nominee.

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A lawyer with ties to the Republican Party wants California voters to change the way the nation's most populous state awards its electoral votes — a proposal Democrats call a power grab but that supporters describe as a blueprint for fairness in presidential contests.

California now allots all of its 55 electoral votes to the statewide winner in presidential elections, a practice followed in most states.

The proposal calls for awarding two electoral votes to the statewide winner, with the rest allocated according to results in each congressional district.

California has voted Democratic in the last four presidential elections. The change — if it qualifies for the June primary ballot and is approved by voters — could mean a Republican could be positioned the following November to win 20 or more electoral votes in GOP-leaning districts.

Nineteen of the state's 53 congressional districts are represented by Republicans. President Bush carried 22 districts in 2004, while losing the statewide vote by double digits.

It takes 270 of 538 electoral votes to win the White House. Only Maine and Nebraska currently allocate their electoral votes by congressional district.

In what is shaping up as an important subplot to the 2008 race, a political committee is being formed by Steyer that will raise money — possibly tens of millions of dollars — to defeat the GOP-backed idea.

The committee is being supported by Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Democratic leaders in the Legislature.

The proposal is a "power grab orchestrated by the Republicans," Feinstein and Boxer said in a joint statement. It's "another cynical move to keep the presidency in Republican control."

Democrats were scheduled to announce formation of the committee, Californians for Fair Election Reform, on Thursday.

It will be headed by Steyer, who is raising money for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's presidential campaign. A longtime Democratic donor, Steyer also raised funds for John Kerry's 2004 campaign and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

"Democrats would lose 20 electoral votes and very likely the presidency if California abandons the winner-take-all system while large Republican states like Florida and Texas do not," Steyer said in a statement.

The Presidential Election Reform Act, as it's dubbed, is being pushed by Thomas Hiltachk, a lawyer in a Sacramento firm that represents the California Republican Party and has worked with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

"In a state as large and diverse as California, what can be fairer than using congressional districts to apportion electoral votes," said Kevin Eckery, a spokesman for Californians for Equal Representation, a committee backing the proposal.

Elvis fans boost economies of 2 states By EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS, Associated Press Writer

Elvis fans boost economies of 2 states By EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS, Associated Press Writer
40 minutes ago



JACKSON, Miss. - Even from beyond the grave, Elvis Presley still generates big bucks. That's even more true this week.

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Fans from Europe, Asia, Australia, South America — and even from exotic locales like Kansas — are spending their hard-earned money for T-shirts, coffee mugs, salt and pepper shakers, refrigerator magnets and other trinkets during the events commemorating his death 30 years ago.

Many are making the 110-mile trek from Memphis, Tenn., where the King of Rock 'n' Roll enjoyed his fame and gaudy fortune in Graceland, to Tupelo, the northeast Mississippi city where Elvis came into the world on Jan. 8, 1935, in a tiny shotgun shack built by his father.

They're also filling hotel rooms as far away as northwest Mississippi's casino row in Tunica and are spending money on meals, rental cars and gasoline, giving a significant, although difficult to quantify, boost to the area's economy.

Dick Guyton, executive director of the Elvis Presley Memorial Foundation in Tupelo, estimated that fans will spend hundreds of thousands of dollars there and at area hotels and stores this week, which — even at the birthplace — is the busiest of the year for Elvis tourism.

The more lucrative earnings are in Memphis. Last year, Graceland took in $27 million in revenue, and the overall Elvis business brings in more than $40 million a year for CKX Inc., the New York-based company that controls most Elvis enterprises.

That made the King the second-highest grossing dead celebrity in 2006, behind only Nirvana's Kurt Cobain, according to Forbes magazine.

About 3,000 people went to Tupelo this past Saturday for an annual Fan Appreciation Day, and Guyton predicted the visitor totals could reach 5,000 by Friday.

Lillian Dunk, a 65-year-old homemaker from Birmingham, England, said she and her financial-broker husband have traveled to Tupelo every year since 1997 to feed her Elvis addiction.

"I'm just absolutely mad about Mr. Presley," said Dunk, who uses her favorite Elvis tune, the inspirational "If I Can Dream," as her cell phone ring tone.

Dunk said she and her husband are traveling with her sister and sister's husband for the 10-day trip. They're staying at a casino hotel in Tunica, about 20 miles south of Memphis. And, she wasn't shy in saying she and her husband were planning to spend about 4,000 British pounds — roughly $8,000 — not including air fare.

"I get withdrawal symptoms if I don't come every year," she said in a telephone interview from the birthplace. "I just absolutely love the place. I adore it. I just feel so relaxed here."

In Memphis on Wednesday, thousands of Presley fans braved 105-degree heat as they wound down Graceland's driveway in a graveside procession in advance of the 30th anniversary of the singer's death, on Thursday.

The heat led to the death of a fan from New Jersey, a 67-year-old woman. The Memphis Fire Department said it also treated at least six people overcome by heat, including an 8-year-old boy who was hospitalized.

Steve Martin, spokesman for the tourism division of the Mississippi Development Authority, said the agency doesn't specifically track spending for Elvis tourism. But he said for all tourists, the state figures two people traveling for three days will spend roughly $750.

In Tennessee, no one keeps exact figures, but the Memphis Convention and Visitors Bureau estimated up to 75,000 people would be drawn to town for the anniversary week.

Even hotels, museums and restaurants not specifically targeted for Elvis-related events may have reason to hope, authorities said.

"We would have a crossover with the Elvis fans in terms of blues music," Martin said. "If they're that close to the birthplace of the blues, they might go other places, too."

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Associated Press writer Woody Baird in Memphis, Tenn., contributed to this report.

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On the Net:

http://www.elvis.com

Plans for new Minn. bridge questioned By MARTIGA LOHN, Associated Press Writer

Plans for new Minn. bridge questioned By MARTIGA LOHN, Associated Press Writer
2 hours, 16 minutes ago



ST. PAUL, Minn. - State transportation officials want to build a bridge by 2008 to replace the one that collapsed, and several contractors have said they think it can be done on time.

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But lawmakers and others questioned the fast-track plans for the bridge on Wednesday, expressing doubts it will be a quick solution to the increased traffic that has clogged city streets since the Aug. 1 collapse of the Interstate 35W span.

State Sen. Kathy Saltzman, a Democrat, said quality problems and delays have plagued another bridge project near her home. "If we can't build a bridge in three to five years, why do we think we can do it now in overdrive?" she said.

Others pushed to make the bridge more than a replacement for the fallen span, with a memorial to the victims and the capacity to carry future light-rail trains — even if the state has to pay extra.

"If it was up to us, we'd write a big ol' check and we'd send you out of here with $500 million," said state Senate Transportation Committee Chairman Steve Murphy, a Democrat.

The replacement plans call for a 10-lane bridge, two lanes wider than the original bridge. Transportation officials said the $250 million in federal emergency aid limits them to replacing the existing structure, and other add-ons could delay the project by months or years.

Bridge reconstruction project manager Jon Chiglo said five teams of contractors qualified to bid on the project didn't think the fast timeline would be a problem, and he was confident the plan would work.

Meanwhile, Navy divers and recovery workers continued to remove debris from the Mississippi River, where the bodies of four missing people believed killed in the collapse were thought to be. Remains of nine other victims have been recovered.

The public got its best view in weeks of the bridge collapse when the city briefly opened a nearby pedestrian bridge on Wednesday, but the span was closed after recovery workers called the move disrespectful to families of those still missing. The bridge will remain closed until the remaining bodies have been recovered.

A federal judge denied a law firm's request for access to the collapse site to gather information for possible death and personal injury lawsuits. District Judge Patrick J. Schiltz said the government has "an urgent interest" in recovering victims and clearing the wreckage as soon as possible, and its task would be complicated if access was given.

Across the city, a few survivors of the crash were honored for their heroism. First Student, the company that owned the school bus that became an iconic image of the tragedy, held a ceremony in which it presented $5,000 checks to four adults credited with preventing the death or serious injury of about 60 kids on the bus.

Bus driver Kim Dahl, who a company official said had the presence of mind to jam on the parking brake and possibly prevent the bus from sliding off the bridge into the river, made her first public comments since the collapse.

"I don't feel like a hero," Dahl said. "I think anybody in the situation would do the same thing."

Jeremy Hernandez, who also was honored for helping the kids get off the bus, said he had decided to accept an offer of free tuition from Dunwoody College of Technology, which he previously hadn't been able to afford. Hernandez plans to become an auto mechanic.

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Associated Press writers Patrick Condon, Steve Karnowski and Jeff Baenen in Minneapolis contributed to this report.

NASA nears decision on shuttle fix By LIZ AUSTIN PETERSON, Associated Press Writer

NASA nears decision on shuttle fix By LIZ AUSTIN PETERSON, Associated Press Writer
22 minutes ago



HOUSTON - NASA managers remained "cautiously optimistic" that a deep gouge in the shuttle Endeavour's belly wouldn't require spacewalking repairs but wanted to run one last test and double-check their data Thursday before making a decision.

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Officials also were studying a rip in astronaut Rick Mastracchio's glove that brought Wednesday's spacewalk to an early end, and they were loathe to authorize another jaunt until they knew more. But they said those concerns wouldn't stand in the way of crucial repairs.

"If we decided we needed to go do this, I would feel very comfortable doing it. We've done a lot of spacewalks without any glove problems," said John Shannon, the mission management team's chairman.

Mission Control told Endeavour commander Scott Kelly early Thursday that a repair decision was expected by mid-day.

Endeavour's crew spent early Thursday learning what to do if NASA orders the repairs. Astronauts on the ground have been practicing the techniques so they can send the crew precise instructions and answer any questions.

Teacher-astronaut Barbara Morgan also planned to spend time Thursday speaking with students at the Challenger Center for Space Science Education in Virginia, which was founded by the families of the doomed shuttle's crew. Morgan was Christa McAuliffe's backup for the 1986 flight.

The chat was to be moderated by the commander's widow, June Scobee-Rodgers.

In a similar chat with Idaho students on Tuesday, Morgan demonstrated what it's like to exercise and drink in space and talked about what the stars look like from the shuttle.

NASA has spent nearly a week agonizing over the 3 1/2-inch-long, 2-inch-wide gouge that resulted from a debris strike at liftoff. Part of the gouge, a narrow 1-inch strip, cuts all the way through the tiles, exposing the thin felt fabric that serves as the final thermal barrier to the ship's aluminum frame.

The exposed area and the gouge itself are so small that NASA is not worried about a Columbia-type catastrophe at flight's end. They are concerned, however, that the underlying aluminum structure might be damaged enough by the searing heat of re-entry to warrant lengthy post-flight repairs.

Officials have to balance those fears with the risk that astronauts wearing 300-pound spacesuits and carrying 150 pounds of tools could bang into the shuttle and cause more damage as they try to fix the gouge.

Putting the wrong amount of the caulk-like repair goo into the gash or failing to put it in exactly the right spot could make the problem worse, Shannon said.

The unprecedented patching job on Endeavour, if approved, would be performed on the next spacewalk, now set for Saturday, a day later than originally planned to give engineers more time to analyze the situation. That could keep Endeavour and its crew of seven at the space station at least an extra day.

Mastracchio likely would be assigned to the repair spacewalk, and he could use a spare glove he brought on board Endeavour.

Astronaut Clay Anderson, who joined Mastracchio on Wednesday's spacewalk, was taking digital pictures on Thursday of all the gloves on board so NASA could make sure they were in good shape.

"We want to clear the fact that it might have been a generic problem with gloves before we go back out the door," Mission Control told Kelly.

The repair job would not be anywhere near where Mastracchio was Wednesday, when he and Anderson moved two rail carts and an antenna base into new positions on the orbiting outpost. They also added new antenna parts to improve voice communications.

The next spacewalk will be trickier if shuttle repairs are ordered. Under the latest scenario, Mastracchio and another astronaut would apply black paint to the white gouge and squirt in the caulk-like goo, while balancing themselves on the end of the shuttle's 100-foot robot arm and extension boom.

___

AP Aerospace Writer Marcia Dunn contributed to this report from Cape Canaveral, Fla.

___

On the Net:

NASA: http://spaceflight.nasa.gov

Images, noises offer hope at Utah mine By CHRIS KAHN, Associated Press Writer

Images, noises offer hope at Utah mine By CHRIS KAHN, Associated Press Writer
38 minutes ago



HUNTINGTON, Utah - Rescuers searching for six trapped coal miners got two pieces of hopeful news — images of an intact chamber with potentially breathable air and the sound of mysterious vibrations in the mountain.

Officials were studying the results of air quality samples taken from a third borehole, and were expected to release their findings Thursday, 10 days after the cave-in.

Video images from the same shaft showed an undamaged section complete with a ventilation curtain that divides intake air from exhaust air. Behind the curtain, in theory, the men might have found refuge and breathable air.

"If the men went in there, they could be alive," mine co-owner Bob Murray told The Associated Press late Wednesday. "There was no damage at all. The roof is intact; no ribs have outburst. The floors are in place — it looked just as it did when we mined it."

Earlier Wednesday, some noise was detected by devices monitoring vibrations in the mountain, raising some hope the men might be found alive, officials said.

The sounds detected could be a rock breaking underground or even an animal, said Mine Health and Safety Administration chief Richard Stickler.

"We saw some indication of noise for a period of about five minutes that we had not seen before," Stickler said. The source of the noise wasn't known.

Plans for the location of a fourth borehole had changed because of the "unusual" noise readings. The drilling of that hole was to begin early Thursday.

As crews slowly dig a path to the men's presumed location at the Crandall Canyon Mine, the choice of where to drill the narrow holes sunk deep into the mountain amount to little more than educated guesses.

"There are a lot of possibilities," Stickler said. "We started with logical thinking: 'If I were in this situation, what would I do?' That has guided us in where we look."

The men, if they survived the Aug. 6 collapse, could be huddled together or spread out anywhere in an underground area the size of several football fields.

"There's always a chance. You have to hang on to that chance. But realistically it is small, quite small," said J. Davitt McAteer, former head of the Mine Health and Safety Administration. "You would have to have every single break and divine intervention to successfully extract these guys."

An air sample taken earlier from another part of the mine showed barely 7 percent oxygen — not enough to support life. But Stickler said the collapse could have forced breathable air deep into the mine near the third bore hole, about 1,300 feet to the west of the initial reading.

Mining rescues after 10 or more days are not unheard of. In May 2006, two miners were rescued after being trapped for 14 days following a collapse at an Australian mine. In 1968, six miners were rescued after 10 days in West Virginia.

The effort to dig out a rubble-filled tunnel was proceeding slowly Wednesday and could last another week to go more than 1,200 feet before reaching the area where the miners were believed to be working.

"We're going to get there — no doubt about it," Bodee Allred, the mine's safety manager, said Wednesday in his coal-blackened overalls.

Allred, who has a cousin trapped inside the mine, said the force of the collapse was "definitely something I've never seen before."

The thunderous collapse blew out the walls of mine shafts, filling them with rubble. If the men were not crushed by rock, their bodies could have been crushed by the immense air pressure generated by the collapse, mining executives and federal regulators have said.

And if they survived that, they could have died from lack of oxygen, even though fresh air is now being pumped down one of the drill holes.

___

Associated Press writers Chris Kahn and Alicia A. Caldwell in Huntington, Ed White in Salt Lake City, and Jennifer Talhelm in Washington, D.C., contributed to this report.

Iraq PM, president announce new alliance 1 hour, 45 minutes ago

Iraq PM, president announce new alliance 1 hour, 45 minutes ago



BAGHDAD - The Iraqi prime minister and president on Thursday announced a new alliance of moderate Shiites and Kurds, saying Sunni moderates refused to join but the door remained open to them.

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Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said the agreement was the first step to unblock political stagnation that has gripped his Shiite-led government since it first took power in May 2006.

The announcement after three days of intense political negotiations in the capital was disappointing because it did not include Iraq's Sunni Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi and his moderate Iraqi Islamic Party.

President Jalal Talabani and al-Maliki were flanked by the leader of the northern autonomous Kurdish region, Massoud Barzani, and Shiite Vice President Vice President Adel Abdul-Mahdi.

The four men signed a three-page agreement, which they said ensures them a majority in the 275-member parliament that would allow movement of critical U.S.-demanded legislation.

Talabani, a Kurd, said al-Hashemi refused the invitation to join in the new political grouping but "the door is still open to them and they are welcome at any time."

Al-Maliki also called on the Sunni Accordance Front, which includes al-Hashemi's party, to return to the government, to heal a rift that opened when the bloc's five Cabinet minister quit the government.

The four-party agreement was unveiled four weeks before the top U.S. commander in Iraq Gen. David Petraeus and U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker are to deliver a progress report on Iraq to Congress.

Death toll in Iraq bomb attack at 250 By KIM GAMEL, Associated Press Writer

Death toll in Iraq bomb attack at 250 By KIM GAMEL, Associated Press Writer
55 minutes ago



BAGHDAD - Rescuers used bare hands and shovels Wednesday to claw through clay houses shattered by an onslaught of suicide bombings that killed at least 250 and possibly as many as 500 members of an ancient religious sect in the deadliest attack of the Iraq war.

The U.S. military blamed al-Qaida in Iraq, and an American commander called the assault an "act of ethnic cleansing."

The victims of Tuesday night's coordinated attack by four suicide bombers were Yazidis, a small Kurdish-speaking sect that has been targeted by Muslim extremists who consider its members to be blasphemers.

The blasts in two villages near the Syrian border crumbled buildings, trapping entire families beneath mud bricks and other wreckage. Entire neighborhoods were flattened.

"This is an act of ethnic cleansing, if you will, almost genocide," Army Maj. Gen. Benjamin Mixon, commander of U.S. forces in northern Iraq, told CNN. He said that was evident from the fact Yazidis live in a remote part of Ninevah province that has been far from Iraq's conflict.

Mixon said last month that he proposed reducing American troop levels in Ninevah and predicted the province would shift to Iraqi government control as early as this month. It was unclear whether that projection would hold after Tuesday's staggering casualties.

Death estimates ranged widely.

Zayan Othman, health minister for Iraq's nearby autonomous Kurdish region, said 250 bodies had been pulled from the rubble and some 350 people were injured.

But the death toll was put as high as 500 by some local officials, including Hashim al-Hamadani, a senior provincial security official; Kifah Mohammed, director of Sinjar hospital; and Iraqi army Capt. Mohammed Ahmed. They agreed with Othman that about 350 were wounded.

None of the officials provided information on how they arrived at their estimates. The figures could not be independently checked because the area was under curfew and casualties had been taken to numerous hospitals.

Even the lower death estimate far surpassed the previous bloodiest attack of the war — 215 people killed by mortar fire and five car bombs in Baghdad's Shiite Muslim enclave of Sadr City last Nov. 23.

U.S. officials believe insurgents have been regrouping across northern Iraq after being driven from strongholds in and around Baghdad, and the bombings coincided with the start of a major offensive by American and Iraqi troops against militants in the Diyala River Valley.

The carnage dealt a serious blow to the Bush administrations hopes of presenting a positive picture in a progress report on Iraq to be delivered by the top U.S. commander, Gen. David Petraeus, and U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker in about four weeks.

Petraeus warned that he expected Sunni Arab insurgents to stage more spectacular attacks ahead of the report to Congress, whose members are deeply divided over whether to begin withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq.

"This is way out by the Syrian border, an area where we do think in fact some suicide bombers are able to come across the border. It's an area that is very, very remote — quite small villages out there — and it was disheartening for us, too, obviously," Petraeus told The Associated Press in an interview.

"We've always said al-Qaida would try to carry out sensational attacks this month in particular," he added. "We've had some success against them in certain areas, but we've also said they do retain the capability to carry out these horrific and indiscriminate attacks such as the ones yesterday. There will be more of that, tragically."

Minority sects such as the Yazidis are especially vulnerable as militants seek new targets to avoid the strict security measures clamped on Baghdad and surrounding areas to stop violence among warring Sunni and Shiite factions.

Some Muslims and Christians consider an angel figure worshipped by Yazidis to be the devil, a charge the sect denies. The Islamic State in Iraq, an al-Qaida front group, distributed leaflets a week ago warning residents near the scene of Tuesday's bombings that an attack was imminent because Yazidis are "anti-Islamic."

The sect also gained unwanted attention when some members stoned an 18-year-old Yazidi woman to death in April after she converted to Islam and fled her family with a Muslim boyfriend. Recent attacks on Yazidis have been blamed on al-Qaida-linked Sunni extremists seeking to avenge her death.

The only Yazidi legislator in Iraq's 275-seat parliament called on the government to do more to protect the country's small communities.

"The ethnic and religious minorities do not have militias while all the powerful parties have strong militias in Iraq," Amin Farhan said. "The government should protect these minorities by giving them weapons so that they can confront the terrorist groups."

Officials in northwestern Iraq called on people to donate blood and pleaded for aid as many families were left homeless after their houses collapsed in the bombings near Sinjar.

"The residents are appealing now to governmental and non-governmental organizations to help them with medicines, food, water and tents," Farhan said. "About 50 houses have completely collapsed over their families. Many of the victims have been badly dismembered. Rescuers are only finding pieces of dead bodies."

Dakhil Qassim, the Sinjar mayor, said the four truck bombers approached two areas in the town of Qahataniya, 75 miles west of Mosul, from dirt roads and all exploded within minutes of each other. He said the casualty toll was expected to rise.

"We are still digging with our hands and shovels because we can't use cranes because many of the houses were built of clay," Qassim said.

Hospitals across the region were overwhelmed and only emergency vehicles were exempt from a curfew that was in place across towns west of Mosul, 225 miles northwest of Baghdad.

Nurses dabbed the bloodied face of a young boy and held his hand as he wailed in pain. A toddler with bruised eyes had bandages wrapped around his head and arms.

"The car bombs that were used all had the consistent profile of al-Qaida in Iraq violence," a U.S. military spokesman, Brig. Gen. Kevin Bergner, told reporters in Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki issued a statement blaming the bombings on "terrorism powers who seek to fuel sectarian strife and damage our people's national unity."

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon issued a statement strongly condemning the attack, saying "nothing can justify such indiscriminate violence against innocent civilians." He urged Iraqi leaders to set aside political and religious differences to work together to protect civilians.

Elsewhere in Iraq, a car bomb struck a market district during rush hour in central Baghdad on Thursday, killing at least nine people and wounding 17, police said.

The car was parked in a lot above a row of stores near the busy Rusafi square when it exploded about 9 a.m., a police officer said, giving the casualty toll on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to release the information.

A huge fire broke out in the seven-story building and smoke billowed into the air.

At least 44 other people were killed or found dead Wednesday, including 24 bullet-riddled bodies of apparent victims of sectarian death squads usually run by Shiite militias. Five civilians also died in separate car bombings in the northern cities of Mosul and Kirkuk and the southern city of Hillah.

Northeast of Baghdad, Iraqi civilians joined police to rise up against suspected al-Qaida-linked gunmen after a mortar attack in Buhriz. Eight gunmen and six civilians died in the fighting, police said.

___

Associated Press writers Hamid Ahmed, Sameer N. Yacoub and Sinan Salaheddin contributed to this report.

Death toll in Iraq bomb attack at 250 By KIM GAMEL, Associated Press Writer

Death toll in Iraq bomb attack at 250 By KIM GAMEL, Associated Press Writer
55 minutes ago



BAGHDAD - Rescuers used bare hands and shovels Wednesday to claw through clay houses shattered by an onslaught of suicide bombings that killed at least 250 and possibly as many as 500 members of an ancient religious sect in the deadliest attack of the Iraq war.

The U.S. military blamed al-Qaida in Iraq, and an American commander called the assault an "act of ethnic cleansing."

The victims of Tuesday night's coordinated attack by four suicide bombers were Yazidis, a small Kurdish-speaking sect that has been targeted by Muslim extremists who consider its members to be blasphemers.

The blasts in two villages near the Syrian border crumbled buildings, trapping entire families beneath mud bricks and other wreckage. Entire neighborhoods were flattened.

"This is an act of ethnic cleansing, if you will, almost genocide," Army Maj. Gen. Benjamin Mixon, commander of U.S. forces in northern Iraq, told CNN. He said that was evident from the fact Yazidis live in a remote part of Ninevah province that has been far from Iraq's conflict.

Mixon said last month that he proposed reducing American troop levels in Ninevah and predicted the province would shift to Iraqi government control as early as this month. It was unclear whether that projection would hold after Tuesday's staggering casualties.

Death estimates ranged widely.

Zayan Othman, health minister for Iraq's nearby autonomous Kurdish region, said 250 bodies had been pulled from the rubble and some 350 people were injured.

But the death toll was put as high as 500 by some local officials, including Hashim al-Hamadani, a senior provincial security official; Kifah Mohammed, director of Sinjar hospital; and Iraqi army Capt. Mohammed Ahmed. They agreed with Othman that about 350 were wounded.

None of the officials provided information on how they arrived at their estimates. The figures could not be independently checked because the area was under curfew and casualties had been taken to numerous hospitals.

Even the lower death estimate far surpassed the previous bloodiest attack of the war — 215 people killed by mortar fire and five car bombs in Baghdad's Shiite Muslim enclave of Sadr City last Nov. 23.

U.S. officials believe insurgents have been regrouping across northern Iraq after being driven from strongholds in and around Baghdad, and the bombings coincided with the start of a major offensive by American and Iraqi troops against militants in the Diyala River Valley.

The carnage dealt a serious blow to the Bush administrations hopes of presenting a positive picture in a progress report on Iraq to be delivered by the top U.S. commander, Gen. David Petraeus, and U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker in about four weeks.

Petraeus warned that he expected Sunni Arab insurgents to stage more spectacular attacks ahead of the report to Congress, whose members are deeply divided over whether to begin withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq.

"This is way out by the Syrian border, an area where we do think in fact some suicide bombers are able to come across the border. It's an area that is very, very remote — quite small villages out there — and it was disheartening for us, too, obviously," Petraeus told The Associated Press in an interview.

"We've always said al-Qaida would try to carry out sensational attacks this month in particular," he added. "We've had some success against them in certain areas, but we've also said they do retain the capability to carry out these horrific and indiscriminate attacks such as the ones yesterday. There will be more of that, tragically."

Minority sects such as the Yazidis are especially vulnerable as militants seek new targets to avoid the strict security measures clamped on Baghdad and surrounding areas to stop violence among warring Sunni and Shiite factions.

Some Muslims and Christians consider an angel figure worshipped by Yazidis to be the devil, a charge the sect denies. The Islamic State in Iraq, an al-Qaida front group, distributed leaflets a week ago warning residents near the scene of Tuesday's bombings that an attack was imminent because Yazidis are "anti-Islamic."

The sect also gained unwanted attention when some members stoned an 18-year-old Yazidi woman to death in April after she converted to Islam and fled her family with a Muslim boyfriend. Recent attacks on Yazidis have been blamed on al-Qaida-linked Sunni extremists seeking to avenge her death.

The only Yazidi legislator in Iraq's 275-seat parliament called on the government to do more to protect the country's small communities.

"The ethnic and religious minorities do not have militias while all the powerful parties have strong militias in Iraq," Amin Farhan said. "The government should protect these minorities by giving them weapons so that they can confront the terrorist groups."

Officials in northwestern Iraq called on people to donate blood and pleaded for aid as many families were left homeless after their houses collapsed in the bombings near Sinjar.

"The residents are appealing now to governmental and non-governmental organizations to help them with medicines, food, water and tents," Farhan said. "About 50 houses have completely collapsed over their families. Many of the victims have been badly dismembered. Rescuers are only finding pieces of dead bodies."

Dakhil Qassim, the Sinjar mayor, said the four truck bombers approached two areas in the town of Qahataniya, 75 miles west of Mosul, from dirt roads and all exploded within minutes of each other. He said the casualty toll was expected to rise.

"We are still digging with our hands and shovels because we can't use cranes because many of the houses were built of clay," Qassim said.

Hospitals across the region were overwhelmed and only emergency vehicles were exempt from a curfew that was in place across towns west of Mosul, 225 miles northwest of Baghdad.

Nurses dabbed the bloodied face of a young boy and held his hand as he wailed in pain. A toddler with bruised eyes had bandages wrapped around his head and arms.

"The car bombs that were used all had the consistent profile of al-Qaida in Iraq violence," a U.S. military spokesman, Brig. Gen. Kevin Bergner, told reporters in Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki issued a statement blaming the bombings on "terrorism powers who seek to fuel sectarian strife and damage our people's national unity."

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon issued a statement strongly condemning the attack, saying "nothing can justify such indiscriminate violence against innocent civilians." He urged Iraqi leaders to set aside political and religious differences to work together to protect civilians.

Elsewhere in Iraq, a car bomb struck a market district during rush hour in central Baghdad on Thursday, killing at least nine people and wounding 17, police said.

The car was parked in a lot above a row of stores near the busy Rusafi square when it exploded about 9 a.m., a police officer said, giving the casualty toll on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to release the information.

A huge fire broke out in the seven-story building and smoke billowed into the air.

At least 44 other people were killed or found dead Wednesday, including 24 bullet-riddled bodies of apparent victims of sectarian death squads usually run by Shiite militias. Five civilians also died in separate car bombings in the northern cities of Mosul and Kirkuk and the southern city of Hillah.

Northeast of Baghdad, Iraqi civilians joined police to rise up against suspected al-Qaida-linked gunmen after a mortar attack in Buhriz. Eight gunmen and six civilians died in the fighting, police said.

___

Associated Press writers Hamid Ahmed, Sameer N. Yacoub and Sinan Salaheddin contributed to this report.

Texas eyes Erin; Dean becomes hurricane By ELIZABETH WHITE, Associated Press Writer

Texas eyes Erin; Dean becomes hurricane By ELIZABETH WHITE, Associated Press Writer
36 minutes ago



CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas - Bands of rain from Tropical Storm Erin fell along Texas' coast early Thursday, while Hurricane Dean formed in the open Atlantic, becoming the first hurricane of the Atlantic season.

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Dean headed toward the Lesser Antilles in the Caribbean and could close in on the islands by Friday, forecasters said.

In flood-weary southern Texas, some vacationers packed up while others vowed to wait out Erin and its torrential rainfall.

The storm was not expected to gain hurricane strength before making landfall Thursday morning, which was why some said they wouldn't abandon long-planned trips to Texas' coast.

"It's not a hurricane. I ain't worried. If they say don't evacuate, I'm not going to worry about it," said Matt Sandlin of Amarillo, who was on a beach near Corpus Christi with his family on Wednesday as the wind whipped up and the horizon darkened with clouds. "Unless I see a shark or whale go flying by, I'm good."

Gov. Rick Perry ordered emergency vehicles and personnel, including National Guard troops, to the Harlingen and Corpus Christi areas.

"Because storms have saturated much of our state this summer, many communities in this storm's projected path are at high risk of dangerous flash flooding," Perry said in a statement.

Early Thursday, the National Weather Service issued flash flood warnings for six counties along the Texas coast near the anticipated landfall of the storm.

Cameron County Judge Carlos Cascos, the top elected official for the state's southernmost county, urged residents to evacuate trailers and mobile homes on South Padre Island.

Corpus Christi hadn't asked for any evacuations, said Ted Nelson, a city spokesman, and was keeping only a handful of people at the emergency operations center overnight.

"We're just advising folks to review their own personal emergency plans and look around your yard and remove any loose items," he said.

Nelson said that with 3 1/2 months left in the Atlantic hurricane season, the incoming storm was "a nice little wake-up call" for people to make sure they are prepared for more severe weather.

Some weren't taking any chances.

"We came out to get as much beach time in as possible," said John Cullison of the Dallas area, who was vacationing with his family and planned to leave southern Texas Thursday instead of Friday. "After the hurricanes from a few years ago, you have to take it kind of serious."

Erin formed late Tuesday as the fifth depression of the Atlantic hurricane season and was upgraded to a tropical storm Wednesday when its maximum sustained speed hit 40 mph. The threshold for tropical storm status is 39 mph.

At 5 a.m. EDT, the storm was centered about 55 miles southeast of Corpus Christi and about 180 miles southwest of Galveston, according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami. Its top wind speed remained at 40 mph.

Erin was moving toward the west-northwest at around 12 mph and was expected to continue following that track for at least 24 hours.

The storm was likely too close to land to gain enough wind speed to become a hurricane, which would require sustained winds of at least 74 mph, said National Weather Service forecaster Tony Abbott in Brownsville. But the center said late Wednesday it could strengthen slightly before landfall.

Isolated tornadoes were possible along the middle Texas Gulf Coast on Thursday, the center said.

Forecasters at the National Hurricane Center in Miami said early Thursday they were beginning to see an eye form at Dean's center.

In the Caribbean, hurricane warnings were issued for the islands of Dominica and St. Lucia by their local governments as Hurricane Dean approached. Hurricane watches were in effect for the islands of Martinique and Guadeloupe and its dependencies, Saba and St. Eustaties.

Weather service of Barbados issued tropical storm warning for Barbados, and tropical storm watch for St. Vincent and St. Maarten. A warning means conditions expected within 24 hours, a watch means 36 hours.

At 5 a.m. EDT, Dean was centered about 485 miles east of Barbados and about 590 miles east of Martinique, according to the National Hurricane Center. It was moving west near 24 mph, and was expected to continue the same path for the next 24 hours.

Maximum sustained winds were near 75 mph, above the threshold for a hurricane. Dean is a Category 1 hurricane and is expected to strengthen during the next 24 hours, forecasters said.

Out in the Gulf, Shell Oil Co. evacuated 188 people from offshore facilities in the path of Tropical Storm Erin.

A tropical storm warning was posted for the Texas coast from San Luis Pass, about 50 miles southwest of Houston, southward to Port Mansfield, while the warning was canceled for the tip of the southern Texas coast. A tropical storm warning means that tropical storm conditions are expected within 24 hours. A tropical storm watch for northern Mexico was canceled.

Three to 8 inches of rain was possible along the middle Texas coast, the hurricane center said, with a storm surge of up to 3 feet above normal tide levels north of where the center makes landfall.

The U.S. Census Bureau said Wednesday that 4 million people could feel the storm's effects.

A series of storms this summer poured record rainfall across Texas and parts of Oklahoma and Kansas, with one July storm dropping 17 inches of rain in 24 hours. Flooding was widespread across all three states. It brought Texas out of drought status for the first time in more than a decade.

At least 16 deaths have been blamed on flooding since mid-June.

In the Pacific, Flossie was downgraded from a tropical storm to a tropical depression, a day after sideswiping Hawaii's Big Island with only intermittent rain and moderate winds.

Hurricane specialists expect this year's Atlantic hurricane season — June 1 to Nov. 30 _to be busier than average, with as many as 16 tropical storms, nine of them strengthening into hurricanes. Ten tropical storms developed in the Atlantic last year, but only two made landfall in the United States.

___

Associated Press writers Lynn Brezosky in South Padre Island, Texas, and Audrey McAvoy in South Point, Hawaii, contributed to this report.

___

On the Net:

National Hurricane Center: http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/

Central Pacific Hurricane Center: http://www.prh.noaa.gov/hnl/cphc/

Powerful earthquake in Peru kills 337 By MONTE HAYES, Associated Press Writer

Powerful earthquake in Peru kills 337 By MONTE HAYES, Associated Press Writer
1 minute ago



LIMA, Peru - A powerful 7.9-magnitude earthquake shook Peru's coast near the capital, killing at least 337 people and injuring more 827 others, the Civil Defense said early Thursday.

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Civil Defense Commander Aristides Mussio released the figures on Peru's state television station, saying one person was killed in Lima and 336 in the department of Ica.