World News | Latest News: 08/18/10

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Poll: Growing number incorrectly call Obama Muslim AP

WASHINGTON Americans increasingly are convinced ï¿½ incorrectly ï¿½ that President Barack Obama is a Muslim, and a growing number are thoroughly confused about his religion.

Nearly one in five people, or 18 percent, said they think Obama is Muslim, up from the 11 percent who said so in March 2009, according to a poll released Thursday. The proportion who correctly say he is a Christian is down to just 34 percent.

The largest share of people, 43 percent, said they dont know his religion, an increase from the 34 percent who said that in early 2009.

The survey, conducted by the nonpartisan Pew Research Center and its affiliated Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, is based on interviews conducted before the controversy over whether Muslims should be permitted to construct a mosque near the World Trade Center site. Obama has said he believes Muslims have the right to build an Islamic center there, though hes also said he wont take a position on whether they should actually build it.

In a separate poll by Time magazine/ABT SRBI conducted Monday and Tuesday ï¿½ after Obamas comments about the mosque ï¿½ 24 percent said they think he is Muslim, 47 percent said they think he is Christian and 24 percent didnt know or didnt respond.

In addition, 61 percent opposed building the Muslim center near the Trade Center site and 26 percent said they favor it.

The Pew poll found that about three in 10 of Obamas fiercest political rivals, Republicans and conservatives, say he is a Muslim. That is up significantly from last year and far higher than the share of Democrats and liberals who say so. But even among his supporters, the number saying he is a Christian has fallen since 2009, with just 43 percent of blacks and 46 percent of Democrats saying he is Christian.

Among independents, 18 percent say Obama is Muslim ï¿½ up from 10 percent last year.

Pew analysts attribute the findings to attacks by his opponents and Obamas limited attendance at religious services, particularly in contrast with Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton, whose worship was more public.

Andrew Kohut, the Pew Research Centers director, said the confusion partly reflects the intensification of negative views about Obama among his critics. Alan Cooperman, the Pew Forums associate director for research, said that with the public hearing little about Obamas religion, maybe theres more possibility for other people to make suggestions that the president is this or hes really that or hes really a Muslim.

Obama is the Christian son of a Kenyan Muslim father and a Kansas mother. From age 6 to 10, Obama lived in predominantly Muslim Indonesia with his mother and Indonesian stepfather. His full name, Barack Hussein Obama, sounds Muslim to many.

White House officials did not provide on-the-record comments on the survey, but they prompted Pastor Kirbyjon Caldwell of Houston to call The Associated Press.

Caldwell, who said he has known Obama for years, said the president is a Christian who prays every day. He said he was not sure where the public confusion about the presidents religion came from, but he called false media reports about it a 24-hour noise box committed to presenting the president in a false light.

Six in 10 of those saying Obama is a Muslim said they got the information from the media, with the largest portion ï¿½ 16 percent ï¿½ saying it was on television. Eleven percent said they learned it from Obamas behavior and words.

Despite the confusion about Obamas religion, there is noteworthy support for how he uses it to make decisions. Nearly half, or 48 percent, said he relies on his religion the right amount when making policy choices, 21 percent said he uses it too little and 11 percent too much.

At the same time, the poll provides broad indications that the public feels religion is playing a diminished role in politics today, with fewer people than in 2008 saying the Democratic and Republican parties are friendly toward religion.

With elections for control of Congress just over two months away, the poll contains optimistic news for Republicans. Half of white non-Hispanic Catholics, plus three in 10 unaffiliated with a religion and a third of Jews support the GOP ï¿½ all an increase since 2008.

The survey also found:

_The Democratic Party is seen as friendly to religion by 26 percent, while 43 percent say the same about the GOP. Thats a 9 percentage point drop for Republicans since 2008, and 12 points lower for Democrats.

_Fifty-two percent say churches should stay away from politics, a reversal of the slim majorities that supported churches political involvement from 1996 to 2006.

The poll, overseen by Princeton Survey Research Associates International, involved landline and cell phone interviews with 3,003 randomly chosen adults. It was conducted July 21-Aug. 5 and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 2.5 percentage points.

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Online:

Pew Research Center: http://ping.fm/XuRmH

Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life: http://www.pewforum.org

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Britons multi-task with media

18 August 2010 Last updated at 19:53 ET

The average Briton spends almost half of their waking life using media and communications, data suggests.

The statistics from regulator Ofcom suggest people in the UK spend seven hours a day watching TV, surfing the net and using their mobile phones.

However, the average person actually squeezes in the equivalent of nearly nine hours of media and communications by multi-tasking on several devices.

The statistics come from industry sources and a survey of 1,138 adults.

The report also suggests that traditional media is holding its own.

Television still dominates peoples media habits, with the average person spending around 3.8 hours watching television every day, it says.

For the first time we have mapped the totality of communications use over one day, said Peter Philips of Ofcom.

The annual Communications Market Report says that the average person spends around 15 hours 45 minutes every day awake. Of this time, it says, the average person spends seven hours and five minutes engaging in media and communications activities.

However, it found that most people are able to cram in even more by multi-tasking. For example, the report found that adults aged between 16 and 24 appeared to consume the least, spending just six hours and 35 minutes a day on the phone, laptop, radio or television.

ï¿½Start Quote

TV still plays a central role in peoples livesï¿½

End Quote James Thickett

But by multitasking - effectively using two or more devices at once - the survey found that young adults were able to squeeze the equivalent of nine hours 32 minutes worth of consumption into that time.

They are taking up more and more communications activities but fitting them into the same amount of time, said James Thickett, director of market research and market intelligence at Ofcom.

He said this was largely due to the rise in the mobile internet and the use of smartphones.

It has untethered people from being in one particular place.

The report says that the number of people using their phone to surf the web currently stands at 13.5m people. This has almost tripled since 2008, when the figure stood at 5.7m.

Concurrently, the use of mobile data has exploded, the report said, increasing by 240% between 2007 and 2009.

It suggested that, in part, much of this increase had been driven by one site - Facebook - which accounts for 45% of all mobile web use in the UK, followed by Google at 8%.

All of the others have less than 4% market share, said Mr Philips.

Radio star

Facebook also dominates fixed line broadband use. The report says that social networking now accounts for nearly one-quarter of all time spent online, with Facebook accounting for the majority of traffic.

The majority of users of the site - and other networks - are between 16 and 34, although Ofcom said that there was a growing trend for older people to also sign up to the services.

The report also mapped the current state of broadband in the UK.

It suggests that internet take-up has now reached 73% in the UK, the majority of which is fixed broadband.

But despite the rise in new ways of accessing content, the report says that traditional media, such as TV and radio still dominate peoples media habits,.

TV still plays a central role in peoples lives, said Mr Thickett. We are watching more than at any time in the last five years.

Yet, despite the growth in online TV services and devices that allow people to record television, most shows were watched via traditional live broadcasts.

Radio also held its own, the survey said.

Although listening has gone down slightly, the number of people able to access radio services was at an all time high, at 91%.

It is still a very important medium for people, said Mr Thickett.

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Wyclef Jean says his Haiti candidacy a wild card AP

CROIX-DES-BOUQUETS, Haiti Wyclef Jeans glamorous hip hop lifestyle seems far away as he sits in hiding in a white stucco building on a rutted, dirt road where chickens scurry and Haitian women carry sacks of laundry atop their heads.

The former Fugees frontman, multimillionaire philanthropist and Haitian presidential hopeful tells The Associated Press he is confident that election officials will accept his candidacy despite doubts as to whether he meets the five-year residency requirement needed to run for office.

Jean ï¿½ who was born in Haiti but raised in New York ï¿½ said Wednesday that he has filed every piece of paper the electoral council has asked for.

We are winning on law, added the 40-year-old, speaking from a rattan chair in his hideaway about two hours from the presidential palace in Haitis capital, Port-au-Prince. He argues his appointment as a roving ambassador to Haiti in 2007 exempts him from the residency requirement.

But even if he is barred from running in Haitis Nov. 28 elections, Jean said he will call for peace among his supporters.

I will ask people to move in peace and move calmly, he said.

Haitis electoral council was supposed to publish a list of candidates on Tuesday but postponed the decision until Friday, a move some speculate was due to Jeans bid even though dozens of other candidacies must be decided on.

The wait has gripped the impoverished Caribbean country for days.

Jean, dressed casually in a blue-and-white striped shirt and blue slacks, spoke for 20 minutes with the AP. There were men with machine guns present, and men drinking rum, and lawyers.

I think my candidacy is a wild card for Haiti, he said.

Jean acknowledged that he has rankled some in Haitian politics by running and added that he has received death threats in Creole, one of the countrys main languages, which have led him to go into hiding.

We have taken measures of security, he said. Even with security, anything is possible.

Haitis next president will preside over the spending of billions in foreign reconstruction aid following a devastating Jan. 12 earthquake that left a government-estimated 300,000 people dead and the capital in ruins.

He also would take over a country with a long history of political turmoil, corruption and poverty.

Jean said he wants the Haitian people to participate in the reconstruction, and that he will focus on the countrys youth, and asking reconstruction donors to help the countrys dysfunctional education system.

Nearly three dozen candidates have filed paperwork to run for president, prompting jokes about the race becoming an American Idol-style contest. Among them: US Ambassador Raymond Joseph, Jeans uncle Michel Martelly, a well-known Haitian singer known as Sweet Mickey who is known to perform in diapers, and Jean Bertin, the father of Miss Haiti, who will compete in the Miss Universe contest next week.

Several other former prime ministers and political figures are also on the list.

The current president, Rene Preval, is not permitted to run for re-election.

Jean will almost certainly face questions regarding his participation in his former charity, Yele Haiti, which was accused of pre-quake financial improprieties that benefited the singer. He also owed some $2.1 million in back taxes to the IRS in the U.S., and during an earlier interview, pledged to publish an accounting of his finances online and to repay the money he owes.

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Goodbye Iraq: Last US combat brigade heads home AP

KHABARI CROSSING, Kuwait As their convoy reached the barbed wire at the border crossing out of Iraq on Wednesday, the soldiers whooped and cheered. Then they scrambled out of their stifling hot armored vehicles, unfurled an American flag and posed for group photos.

For these troops of the 4th Stryker Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, it was a moment of relief fraught with symbolism. Seven years and five months after the U.S.-led invasion, the last American combat brigade was leaving Iraq, well ahead of President Barack Obamas Aug. 31 deadline for ending U.S. combat operations there.

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EDITORS NOTE: The 4th Stryker Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division was officially designated the last combat brigade to leave Iraq under Obamas plan to end combat operations in Iraq by Aug. 31. Associated Press writer Rebecca Santana joined the troops on their final journey out of the country.

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When 18-year-old Spc. Luke Dill first rolled into Iraq as part of the U.S. invasion, his Humvee was so vulnerable to bombs that the troops lined its floor with flak jackets.

Now 25 and a staff sergeant after two tours of duty, he rode out of Iraq this week in a Stryker, an eight-wheeled behemoth encrusted with armor and add-ons to ward off grenades and other projectiles.

Its something Im going to be proud of for the rest of my life ï¿½ the fact that I came in on the initial push and now Im leaving with the last of the combat units, he said.

He remembered three straight days of mortar attacks outside the city of Najaf in 2003, so noisy that after the firing ended, the silence kept him awake at nights. He recalled the night skies over the northern city of Mosul being lit up by tracer bullets from almost every direction.

Now, waiting for him back in Olympia, Wash., is the Big Boy Harley-Davidson he purchased from one of the motorcycle companys dealerships at U.S. bases in Iraq ï¿½ a vivid illustration of how embedded the American presence has become since the invasion of March 20, 2003.

That presence is far from over. Scatterings of combat troops still await departure, and some 50,000 will stay another year in what is designated as a noncombat role. They will carry weapons to defend themselves and accompany Iraqi troops on missions but only if asked. Special forces will continue to help Iraqis hunt for terrorists.

So the U.S. death toll ï¿½ at least 4,415 by Pentagon count as of Wednesday ï¿½ may not yet be final.

The Stryker brigade, based in Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington state and named for the vehicle that delivers troops into and out of battle, has lost 34 troops in Iraq. It was at the forefront of many of the fiercest battles, including operations in eastern Baghdad and Diyala province, an epicenter of the insurgency, during the surge of 2007. It evacuated troops at the battle of Tarmiyah, an outpost where 28 out of 34 soldiers were wounded holding off insurgents.

Before the Aug. 31 deadline, about half the brigades 4,000 soldiers flew out like most of the others leaving Iraq, but its leadership volunteered to have the remainder depart overland. That decision allowed the unit to keep 360 Strykers in the country for an extra three weeks.

U.S. commanders say it was the brigades idea, not an order from on high. The intent was to keep additional firepower handy through the period of angst that followed Iraqs inconclusive March 7 election, said brigade chief, Col. John Norris.

It took months of preparation to move the troops and armor across more than 500 kilometers 300 miles of desert highway through potentially hostile territory.

The Strykers left the Baghdad area in separate convoys over a four-day period, traveling at night because the U.S.-Iraq security pact ï¿½ and security worries ï¿½ limit troop movements by day.

Along the way, phalanxes of American military Humvees sat at overpasses, soldiers patrolled the highways for roadside bombs, and Apache attack helicopters circled overhead as the Strykers refueled alongside the highway.

Chief Warrant Officer 3 Gus McKinney, a brigade intelligence officer, acknowledged that moving the convoys overland put soldiers at risk, but said the danger was less than in past.

The biggest threat was roadside bombs planted by Shiite extremist groups who have a strong foothold in the south, McKinney said.

But except for camels straying into the road, and breakdowns that required some vehicles to be towed, there were no incidents.

The worst of the ride was conditions inside the Strykers ï¿½ sitting for hours in a cramped space ï¿½ and the temperatures outside that reached 50 Celsius 120 Fahrenheit.

The drivers compartment is called the hellhole because it sits over the engine and becomes almost unbearably hot. The vehicle commander and gunner can sit up in hatches to see the outside world. At the tail end are hatches for two gunners. Eight passengers ï¿½ an infantry squad in combat conditions ï¿½ can squeeze in the back.

Riding as a passenger felt a bit like being in a World War II-era submarine ï¿½ a tight fit and no windows. The air conditioning was switched off to save fuel on the long ride south to Kuwait. Men dozed or listened to music on earphones.

When the convoy finally reached the sandy border, two soldiers, armed and helmeted, jumped off their vehicle and raced each other into Kuwait.

Once out of Iraq, there was still work to be done. Vehicles had to be stripped of ammunition and spare tires, and eventually washed and packed for shipment home.

Meanwhile, to the north, insurgents kept up a relentless campaign against the countrys institutions and security forces, killing five Iraqi government employees in roadside bombings and other attacks Wednesday. Coming a day after a suicide bomber killed 61 army recruits in central Baghdad, the latest violence highlighted the shaky reality left by the departing U.S. combat force and five months of stalemate over forming Iraqs next government.

For Dill, who reached Kuwait with an earlier convoy, the withdrawal engendered feelings of relief. His mission ï¿½ to get his squad safely out of Iraq ï¿½ was accomplished.

Standing alongside a hulking Stryker, his shirt stained with sweat, he acknowledged the men who werent there to experience the day with him.

I know that to my brothers in arms who fought and died, this day would probably mean a lot, to finally see us getting out of here, he said.

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CIA forms new center to combat nukes, WMDs AP

WASHINGTON The CIA is opening a counterproliferation center to combat the spread of dangerous weapons and technology, a move that comes as Iran is on the verge of fueling up a new nuclear power plant.

CIA Director Leon Panetta said Wednesday that the new unit would place CIA operators side by side with the agencys analysts to brainstorm plans to confront the threat of weapons of mass destruction ï¿½ nuclear, chemical and biological.

The center would formalize the collaboration between the agencys analysts and operators, a close working relationship that CIA spokesman George Little said already has yielded intelligence successes.

Little cited their work in last years revelation of the discovery of the Syrian covert nuclear reactor and Irans undeclared uranium enrichment facility near Qom. That Iranian city is the ideological center of Irans Shiite rulers.

Paul Brannan, a senior analyst at the Institute for Science and International Security, said another CIA success was the slowing down of Irans nuclear centrifuge operations at Natanz. The agency, he said, sneaked faulty parts into Irans nuclear supply chain.

That operation, Brannan said, is an example of where youd need both analysts to tell you what type of parts would Iran need that you could inject, and the operations side to work with trading companies to try to get the parts in there.

The CIAs new center goes into effect just as Irans Bushehr power plant gets stocked with fuel rods provided by Russia. Uranium fuel will be loaded into the Bushehr reactor on Saturday, beginning a process that will last about a month and end with the reactor sending electricity to Iranian cities, Russian and Iranian officials said.

Brannan said the Bushehr site is not a proliferation threat since Iran does not have the ability to reprocess the spent fuel into nuclear weapons-grade material.

But that site will be watched closely not only by the CIA but by other elements of the intelligence community. The overall effort is led by the National Counterproliferation Center, which is under the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

One senior intelligence official said that when the Bushehr plant goes operational, analysts at all the agencies will examine data such as radar and satellite images of the site separately, and then may share their observations over secure top-secret systems. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive issue of overlapping intelligence responsibilities.

Theyll be watching for things like a heat signature on radar images, Brannan said. They will also be tracking, as much as they can from imagery, vapor leaving the cooling towers, which would indicate Bushehr is hot, the intelligence official said, or whether the Iranians are trying to siphon anything off the reactor to any of their other facilities.

The Iranians have been known to go to elaborate lengths to obscure their actions from view. The commercial satellite company GeoEye tracked Irans Natanz nuclear facility over several years, which showed how the Iranians first built two large 550-by-550-foot chambers at ground level, and then buried the vast site.

A second set of buildings, complete with landscaping, was then constructed nearby, apparently to look like the real facility, while the original construction is now underground and completely invisible from the sky.

This version corrects to Office of the National Director of Intelligence instead of Office of the Intelligence Director in 9th paragraph and corrects attribution in 11th paragraph.

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American activist surrenders to Peru police AP

LIMA, Peru An American activist convicted of aiding leftist rebels surrendered to police on Wednesday after a court struck down a decision granting her parole and ordered her to return to prison, where she is to remain with her 15-month-old son for the time being.

Lori Berenson was arrested by police at the U.S. Embassy, where she had been attending a meeting about consular issues when she learned of the courts ruling, embassy spokesman James Fennell said.

Shes calm. She is a very strong women, her husband and lawyer, Anibal Apari, told reporters outside the embassy. She is going to return to jail with her baby.

The ruling by the three-judge panel of the criminal appeals court was announced two days after the 40-year-old New Yorker appeared at a hearing, apologizing for her crime and asking the court to uphold her parole. Berenson told the court on Monday that she regrets her actions and hoped to focus on raising on her son, Salvador.

Berenson has acknowledged collaborating with the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement, but said she was never a member of the group nor involved in violent acts.

She has so far served 15 years of a 20-year prison sentence for terrorist collaboration.

Even though she disagrees with the courts decision, she has turned herself in, Apari said.

Deputy Justice Minister Luis Marill said the court struck down the May 27 decision that granted her parole ï¿½ a decision that was widely unpopular in Peru.

Julio Galindo, the governments lead anti-terrorism prosecutor, told the Peruvian radio station Radioprogramas that the court had annulled the May decision granting parole until an error is addressed ï¿½ that Berenson had not promptly notified police of the correct address where she would live upon her release.

Galindo said that once that error is addressed, the judge in the case, Jessica Leon, would be able to issue a new ruling. He said the process is likely to take about two months and that if the judge decides in Berensons favor again, she would go free again.

Marill called it probable that the judge could decide to free Berenson again on parole, but added: Thats going to depend a great deal on the efforts of the prosecutors office and other factors, including police reports.

The prosecutor has argued there were errors in the ruling that granted parole, including that Berensons time served in prison was incorrectly calculated. If the criminal appeals court eventually rules against Berenson on that issue, she might have to remain in prison, Galindo said.

There was no immediate reaction from Berensons parents, who are from New York City and have been in Peru in recent days.

Berenson was initially accused of being a leader of the Tupac Amaru, which bombed banks and kidnapped and killed civilians in the 1980s and 1990s.

When she was arrested in November 1995 with the wife of the groups leader, prosecutors said Berenson was helping plot a takeover of Perus Congress.

She was convicted of treason by a military court in 1996 and sentenced to life. But after an intense campaign by her parents and pressure from the U.S. government, she was retried in a civilian court. In 2001 it convicted her of the lesser crime of terrorist collaboration and sentenced her to 20 years.

Galindo, the prosecutor, has questioned whether Berenson has cut all links to the rebel group.

Many Peruvians disapproved of Berensons release, and congressmen of multiple parties praised the ruling to send her back behind bars.

I think we shouldnt give a single millimeter to terrorism, said lawmaker Carlos Raffo, who belongs to the party of former President Alberto Fujimori, during whose government Berenson was prosecuted and imprisoned.

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FACT CHECK: Islam already part of WTC neighborhood AP

WASHINGTON A New York imam and his proposed mosque near ground zero are being demonized by political candidates ï¿½ mostly Republicans ï¿½ despite the fact that Islam is already very much a part of the World Trade Center neighborhood. And that Muslims pray inside the Pentagon, too, less than 80 feet from where terrorists attacked.

And that the imam whos being branded an extremist has been valued by both Republican and Democratic administrations as a moderate face of the faith.

Even so, the project stirs complicated emotions, and Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf is a complex figure who defies easy categorization in the American Muslim world.

Hes devoted much of his career to working closely with Christians, Jews and secular leaders to advance interfaith understanding. Hes scolded his own religion for being in some ways in the Dark Ages. Yet hes also accused the U.S. of spilling more innocent blood than al-Qaida, the terrorist network that turned the World Trade Center, part of the Pentagon and four hijacked airplanes to apocalyptic rubble.

Many Republicans and some Democrats say the proposed $100 million Islamic cultural center and mosque should be built elsewhere, where there is no possible association with New Yorks ground zero. Far more than a local zoning issue, the matter has seized congressional campaigns, put President Barack Obama and his party on the spot ï¿½ he says Muslims have the right to build the mosque ï¿½ divided families of the Sept. 11, 2001, victims, caught the attention of Muslims abroad and threatened to blur distinctions between mainstream Islam in the U.S. and its radical elements.

A look at some of the claims and how they compare with the known facts:

_The folks who want to build this mosque ï¿½ who are really radical Islamists who want to triumphally prove that they can build a mosque right next to a place where 3,000 Americans were killed by radical Islamists ï¿½ those folks dont have any interest in reaching out to the community. Theyre trying to make a case about supremacy. ï¿½ Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, a potential 2012 presidential candidate.

_Some of the Muslim leaders associated with the mosque are clearly terrorist sympathizers. ï¿½ Kevin Calvey, a Republican running for Congress in Oklahoma.

_This radical is a terrible choice to be one of the faces of our country overseas. ï¿½ Statement by GOP Reps. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Florida and Peter King of New York.

THE FACTS:

No one has established a link between the cleric and radicals. New York Police Department spokesman Paul Browne said: Weve identified no law enforcement issues related to the proposed mosque.

Ros-Lehtinen and King were referring to the State Departments plan, predating the mosque debate, to send Rauf on another religious outreach trip to the Middle East as part of his long-term relationship with U.S. officials in the Bush and Obama administrations. The State Department said Wednesday it will pay him $3,000 for a trip costing the government $16,000.

Rauf counts former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright from the Clinton administration as a friend and appeared at events overseas or meetings in Washington with former President George W. Bushs secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, and Bush adviser Karen Hughes.

He has denounced the terrorist attacks and suicide bombing as anti-Islamic and has criticized Muslim nationalism. But hes made provocative statements about America, too, calling it an accessory to the 9/11 attacks and attributing the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Iraqi children to the U.S.-led sanctions in the years before the invasion.

In a July 2005 speech at the Bob Hawke Prime Ministerial Center in Adelaide, Australia, Rauf said, according to the centers transcript:

We tend to forget, in the West, that the United States has more Muslim blood on its hands than al-Qaida has on its hands of innocent non-Muslims.

While calling terrorism unjustified, he said the U.S. has supported authoritarian regimes with heinous human rights records and, faced with that, how else do people get attention?

In the same address, he spoke of prospects for peace between Palestinians and the Israelis ï¿½ who he said have moved beyond Zionism ï¿½ and of a love-your-neighbor ethic uniting all religions.

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_Mr. President, ground zero is the wrong place for a mosque. ï¿½ Rick Scott, Republican candidate for Florida governor.

_Nazis dont have the right to put up a sign next to the Holocaust Museum in Washington. We would never accept the Japanese putting up a site next to Pearl Harbor. Theres no reason for us to accept a mosque next to the World Trade Center. ï¿½ Gingrich.

_Just a block or two away from 9/11. ï¿½ Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, another 2012 GOP presidential prospect.

THE FACTS:

No mosque is going up at ground zero. The center would be established at 45-51 Park Place, just over two blocks from the northern edge of the sprawling, 16-acre World Trade Center site. Its location is roughly half a dozen normal Lower Manhattan blocks from the site of the North Tower, the nearest of the two destroyed in the attacks.

The centers location, in a former Burlington Coat Factory store, is already used by the cleric for worship, drawing a spillover from the imams former main place for prayers, the al-Farah mosque. That mosque, at 245 West Broadway, is about a dozen blocks north of the World Trade Center grounds.

Another, the Manhattan Mosque, stands five blocks from the northeast corner of the World Trade Center site.

To be sure, the centers association with 9/11 is intentional and its location is no geographic coincidence. The building was damaged in the Sept. 11 attacks and the centers planners say they want the center to stand as a statement against terrorism.

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_There should be no mosque near ground zero in New York so long as there are no churches or synagogues in Saudi Arabia. ... America is experiencing an Islamist cultural-political offensive designed to undermine and destroy our civilization. ï¿½ Gingrich.

_This religions plan is to destroy our way of life. ... If we have to let them build it, make them build it nine stories underground, so we can walk above it as citizens and Christians. ï¿½ Ron McNeil, a House GOP candidate in the Florida Panhandle, in an exchange reported by The News Herald in Panama City.

THE FACTS:

Such opinions are shared by some Americans, while others are more reluctant to paint the religion with a broad brush and more welcoming of the faith in this country. Bush himself, while criticized at the time for stirring suspicions about American Muslims, traveled to a Washington mosque less than a week after the attacks to declare that terrorism is not what Islam is all about. Islam is peace.

In any event, the U.S. armed forces field Muslim troops and make accommodations for them. The Pentagon opened an interfaith chapel in November 2002 close to the area where hijacked American Airlines flight 77 slammed into the building, killing 184 people.

Muslims gather there for a daily prayer service Monday through Thursday and hold a weekly worship service on Fridays, drawing no complaints. Similar but separate services are provided for other faiths.

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Associated Press writers Tom Hays in New York and Anne Flaherty in Washington contributed to this report.

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Mexican mayor found dead 3 days after kidnapping AP

MONTERREY, Mexico The kidnapped mayor of a northern Mexican town was found dead Wednesday, extending a rash of deadly attacks on political figures in an area besieged by drug gang battles.

Santiago Mayor Edelmiro Cavazos body was found near a waterfall outside his town, a popular weekend getaway for residents of the industrial city of Monterrey, said Nuevo Leon state attorney general Alejandro Garza y Garza.

Police have not determined a motive, but the assassination bore the hallmarks of drug cartels waging vicious turf battles in northeastern Mexico: Cavazos hands were bound and his head was wrapped in tape.

Garza y Garza suggested it was a drug gang hit, saying Cavazos participated in state security meetings and was showing his face in the fight against organized crime.

However, Cavazos had not made any dramatic security decisions since taking office in November 2009, said Jorge Santiago Flores, the local president of the mayors National Action Party. He said it remains a mystery why anyone would want to kill Cavazos.

He was a very kind person. He was a man who worked a lot in the community and always helped those in need, donating medicine and helping people who asked, Flores said.

Gov. Rodrigo Medina appealed to the federal government to send reinforcements to the state and in a full-page newspaper ad Wednesday, Nuevo Leon business leaders called on authorities to act together to reduce insecurity in the region.

The ad by the CAINTRA chamber of commerce called for three army divisions and a division of the marines to be sent to the state.

Cavazos, 38, was kidnapped from his home Sunday night by 15 armed men wearing uniforms from a defunct federal police force, a tactic frequently used by Mexicos drug gangs.

Garza y Garza said the gunmen arrived in seven vehicles with police patrol lights. When Cavazos and his security guard went to see what was going on, the assailants forced them into the cars.

The security guard was driven around for about 15 minutes and released unharmed by the side of a road, Garza y Garza said. The guard then reported the kidnapping to police.

President Felipe Calderon, who belongs to the National Action Party sent his interior secretary, Francisco Blake Mora, to Nuevo Leon for a security meeting with the state government.

Nuevo Leon Gov. Rodrigo Medina said he would press for more federal soldiers and police in the state.

The region been besieged by drug gang fighting, including a new war between the Gulf cartel and its former ally, the Zetas gang of hit men.

Mexicos drug gang violence has surged since Calderon intensified the fight against traffickers in late 2006, deploying thousands of troops and federal police to root out cartels from their strongholds.

More than 28,000 people have since been killed in the countrys drug war. The government says most are victims of cartel infighting. But assassinations of police, government officials and politicians have also increased.

In June, gunmen ambushed and killed the leading gubernatorial candidate for Tamaulipas state, which neighbors Nuevo Leon, a week before the elections. A mayoral candidate in Tamaulipas was killed in May.

A total of 191 soldiers have been killed fighting drug gangs between December 2006 and Aug. 1, 2010, according to a list of names on a wall of a Defense Department anti-narcotics museum. Reporters saw the list Wednesday during a tour of the museum ï¿½ the first time the government has made the number public. Forty-three of the soldiers killed were officers.

The list also includes 503 military personnel killed in thirty years between 2006 and 1976, when the army formally started taking part in anti-drug efforts.

Last week, the government said 2,076 police have been killed since December 2006.

The army also allowed journalists to tour the armed forces narco museum, in which artifacts seized from drug traffickers are displayed. They include a gold-plated, diamond-encrusted cellular telephone that allegedly belonged to Zetas drug gang member Daniel Perez Rojas, currently imprisoned in Guatemala. A saddle embroidered with the words The King, the army said belonged to deceased Sinaloa cartel leader Ignacio Nacho Coronel is also on display.

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Associated Press Writer E. Eduardo Castillo contributed to this story from Mexico City.

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Obama says economy coming back in backyard chat AP

COLUMBUS, Ohio Admittedly wary of losing touch, President Barack Obama returned to the comfort of backyard politics on Wednesday, assuring a polite gathering of middle-class neighbors that the economy is coming around slowly but surely.

At the brick-and-shingle house of the Weithman family, Obamas questioners showed no interest in the divisive midterm elections or other matters gobbling up the political debate. They wanted to know what he was doing on jobs, health care, pensions and child care. In turn, Obama got what he wanted: a sunny platform to engage voters and promote his agenda.

Obama hadnt even left the property, though, before he got off message by answering a reporters shouted question about a national controversy ï¿½ plans for a mosque and community center near the site of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on New York. Obama said he had no regrets about his stand that Muslims have the right to build the mosque.

In the midst of a fundraising tour that has generated more than $3 million for Democrats, Obama seemed refreshed to be having his chat in the Weithmans backyard.

The neighbors sat scattered in lawn chairs and picnic tables. The president held forth with a microphone, jacket off, sleeves rolled up, as if he were just talking with old friends. Reporters were packed in all the way to the tomato garden.

Look, Ill be honest with you, Obama said over the whirring of lawn mowers in the distance. Sometimes when youre in Washington, you get caught up with the particular legislative battles or, you know, the media spin on certain issues. And sometimes you lose touch in terms of what folks are talking about around the kitchen table.

So no one missed the point, Obama actually sat at the kitchen table with Joe and Rhonda Weithman and their two kids.

His broader discussion with neighbors predictably centered on the economy, with unemployment at 9.5 percent nationally and topping 10 percent in Ohio. Obama took questions about how to bring manufacturing jobs back to the U.S., how to breathe life into the sagging housing market and how the mammoth health care law he signed will provide real help to people.

Slowly but surely we are moving in the right direction, Obama said of the economy. Were on the right track.

That continues to be a tough sell. Only 35 percent of those polled in a new Associated Press-GfK poll say the country is headed in the right direction. Just 41 percent approve of the presidents performance on the economy, a slipping number. In his favor: Three-quarters say it is unrealistic to expect noticeable economic improvements in the first 18 months of a presidents term.

In every stop, Obama has been trying to convince people that his efforts to improve the economy will take time and that matters would be disastrously worse without the steps his administration has taken. Yet those, too, are often underwhelming political arguments for the millions who have been out of work long-term and want faster results.

In the setting of the Weithmans yard, Obama took a break from his standard campaign speech. Gone, at least for one event, were his claims that Republicans offer the country nothing but fear, cynicism and recklessness.

But the partisan words returned quickly. He was back to his well-worn story that Republicans had driven the economy into a ditch as he spoke at a fundraiser for Ohios Democratic governor, Ted Strickland, who is fighting for re-election.

The president capped his three-day, five-state trip with a $700,000 fundraiser in Miami for Florida Democrats, where he repeated his attacks on Republicans.

On his way out of town, Obama stopped at Jerrys Famous Deli for a taste of Miami and some more face time with Kendrick Meek, the Democratic congressman in a tough race for Floridas U.S. Senate seat. The two ordered corned beef sandwiches at the counter and, all smiles, posed for pictures with deli workers.

From there, Obama was returning to the White House, ahead of an extended vacation with his family in Marthas Vineyard, Mass.

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Associated Press writer Matthew Leingang in Columbus contributed to this report.

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Colombian leader praises rescuers in plane crash AP

SAN ANDRES, Colombia Authorities on Wednesday reopened the island runway where a jetliner crashed with 131 people aboard, clearing the way for flights after crews worked overnight to remove spilled fuel and fractured pieces of the plane.

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos thanked the rescue workers, firefighters and police who helped passengers to safety as he visited the airport. Only one person on board the plane was killed when it slammed into the ground short of the runway Monday on San Andres Island.

Were very proud of the way you worked, Santos told rescue workers at the airport.

The wreckage was moved to a hangar while investigators search for clues to the cause of the crash.

Both survivors and authorities called the low death toll miraculous.

Doctors on the island initially said one woman who died, Amar Fernandez de Barreto, may have suffered a heart attack. But an autopsy concluded that the 72-year-old woman was killed by blows in the crash and didnt have a heart attack, morgue director Dolana Navas told reporters on the island.

An 11-year-old girl with a brain injury was the most seriously hurt passenger and was in critical condition at a hospital in the capital, Bogota. Doctor Carlos Hernandez said the girls brain trauma was very severe.

Of 51 passengers flown from the island to Bogota for treatment, nine had been released, Bogota Health Secretary Hector Zambrano said. He said others with minor injuries were also expected to be released soon.

It may take experts months to figure out what happened in the moments before the Aires airline Boeing 737 hit the ground and broke apart. Authorities say the crash happened so quickly the pilot didnt report an emergency to the control tower.

Survivors said everything seemed normal as the plane approached the airport in a thunderstorm. Suddenly the jet hit the ground short of the runway, the fuselage shattering and sliding onto the tarmac.

Investigators have been interviewing the crew to piece together the jetliners final moments. They will also examine the flight data and cockpit voice recorders ï¿½ a process expected to take three to four months.

Among various possibilities, authorities are considering whether a violent wind shift in the thunderstorm could have played a role.

Boeing and the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board will aid the investigation.

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Lockerbie bomber fuels anger just by staying alive AP

CAIRO A year after Scotlands release of the terminally ill Lockerbie bomber caused an uproar, Abdel Baset al-Megrahi is still stirring outrage simply by surviving.

Loved ones of those killed in the 1988 jetliner bombing, who were told he would likely die within three months, feel betrayed. U.S. lawmakers are investigating whether oil giant BP pushed for his release from prison to get Libyas oil and are assailing Scotland for freeing him.

Lockerbie is the wound that time cant seem to heal for almost everyone involved in the case.

And with the anniversary Friday of al-Megrahis release, the case is once again the window through which Libya is viewed. The North African nation, for years a pariah state under U.N. and U.S. sanctions for sponsoring terrorism, now seems to have nowhere to go but up ï¿½ and is quietly rebuilding after decades of isolation.

The circumstances surrounding al-Megrahis release have reinforced an idea that Libya is still somehow a place thats problematic, said John Hamilton, a Libya expert and contributing editor to Africa Energy.

Its reminded everyone of that ï¿½ if they really needed reminding.

While the U.S. and Scotland trade verbal blows and BP tries to defend itself, the nation Moammar Gadhafi has led for four decades is reintegrating into the international community ï¿½ brimming with confidence that foreign firms are eager to tap into its oil and rebuild an infrastructure crumbling under the sanctions it endured for more than a decade.

Maybe a little too eager, as BP has learned.

Already under scrutiny because of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, BP is the focus of a U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee investigation into whether its $900 million offshore exploration deal with Libya was a factor in the release of the only person convicted in the bombing over Lockerbie, Scotland. Of the 270 people killed, 179 were Americans.

BP and British officials have repeatedly denied that the oil giant played any role in the decision to free al-Megrahi on compassionate grounds just eight years into a 27-year prison sentence.

Everything weve done on the Lockerbie case over the last 20 years ï¿½ that is, from the investigation to the trial to the conviction to the incarceration of Mr. Megrahi and to his eventual release under compassion grounds ï¿½ has been done following the precepts of Scottish jurisdiction and Scots law, Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond told The Associated Press Wednesday.

Some people say that the Scottish system has too much compassion, he said. But at the end of the day, I think Id rather be first minister of a society with too much compassion than be first minister of a country with too little compassion.

In the U.S., many are convinced that al-Megrahis freedom was merely a matter of commerce.

If we were to pursue this, it would put pressure on BP and the Libyan government, said New York Sen. Charles Schumer, one of four Democratic senators spearheading efforts to investigate the Libyans release.

Sunlight is a great disinfectant, and the more we shine the light on this, the uglier it gets, Schumer told the AP. If we keep the spotlight, both legal and public pressure on the governments, then sooner or later well succeed. Because what they did was so wrong, and makes them look so bad.

Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill has been repeatedly blasted by the families of the U.S. victims for freeing al-Megrahi, despite their appeals to keep him in prison.

Dr. Karol Sikora, a cancer specialist and dean of the Buckingham University School of Medicine, was among those who suggested that al-Megrahi, who suffers from prostate cancer, had three months to live. He is now eating his words.

If I could go back in time, I would have probably been more vague and tried to emphasize the statistical chances and not hard fact, he told Britains Observer newspaper on Sunday ï¿½ comments that have further outraged victims families.

There are people in Scotland who request compassionate release and dont get it, said Susan Cohen, whose 20-year-old daughter, Theodora, died in the bombing. There are people who die in Scottish prison.

He may outlive me, the 72-year-old Cape May Court House, N.J., resident said in an interview this week.

Libya has largely stayed silent, refusing to be goaded into the trans-Atlantic scuffle and instead charting a careful course through the Lockerbie minefield.

From the moment a year ago when al-Megrahi limped slowly down from the plane that carried him home, his return was viewed, at least in Libya, as the end of a troubling chapter in the countrys history.

For more than a decade, Libyas 6 million people felt the crush of sanctions enacted because of a litany of their governments transgressions as long as it is varied.

These include the 1986 bombing of a Berlin disco, the bombing of a French UTA airliner three years later, as well as the reported assassinations of dissidents, including a former Libyan foreign minister allegedly snatched in Egypt and thrown into a steel plant smelter.

There was also Tripolis support for the Irish Republican Army, Palestinian radicals, the German Baader-Meinhof gang and a long line of African dictators and despots.

Lockerbie, however, resonated most loudly and enduringly.

Gadhafi eventually handed over al-Megrahi and another Libyan suspect, who was acquitted in a 2001 trial. The Libyan leader also paid billions of dollars in compensation to victims families and renounced his weapons of mass destruction program ï¿½ moves that paved the way for the lifting of sanctions and the countrys re-emergence on the world scene.

But the curtain was raised on the Lockerbie drama again the day al-Megrahi flew home, escorted triumphantly by one of Gadhafis sons.

Television footage showed thousands of Libyans on the tarmac of a military airport, waving Libyan and Scottish flags. But the heros welcome was short-lived.

As it became clear that the display ï¿½ part of a broader annual youth day celebration ï¿½ was drawing protests from the U.S. and Britain, the crowd, which had been building for hours, was thinned in the span of 30 minutes.

The damage was compounded by reports about al-Megrahis elegant living conditions.

He resides with his wife and children in south Tripolis posh Damascus neighborhood, home to ministers and ambassadors. The familys two-story villa is surrounded by a well-manicured garden with a fountain. In the garage are a Toyota Land Cruiser, a Hummer and a BMW 7 sedan.

Visitors to his home say al-Megrahi spends his days on a hospital bed, surrounded by bottles of medication, and moves around with a cane. His forays outside are mostly limited to visits to the Tripoli Medical Center ï¿½ one of the countrys best hospitals ï¿½ to treat his prostate cancer.

He refuses to speak to the media, apparently on orders of Gadhafis government, and his lawyer in Scotland did not respond to requests for comment.

Though the arguments swirling around his release are about justice and politics, victims families say the real issue is business.

Even before Megrahi was freed, it was clear that Libya was the new it market ï¿½ a nation that needed just about everything after years of sanctions.

Flush with oil money, Libya was eyeing investments in Europe, most notably in Britain and Italy. The country was luring back foreign oil companies, and trade with the U.S. and the U.K was booming, even as Gadhafi proved he remained as unpredictable as ever.

The growing ties are clear, even if they dont sit well with the victims families.

In February, a U.S. trade delegation came to Libya, headed by Assistant Commerce Secretary Nicole Lamb-Hale. The U.S. Embassy in Tripoli described the visit ï¿½ the first of its kind in some 30 years ï¿½ as the latest example of the increasing importance of the economic and commercial relationship between the United States and Libya.

I dont think improving ties has anything necessarily to do with Megrahi, but put another way ï¿½ if Megrahi had died in Scotland, I dont think relations would be going as well as they are, said Charles Gurdon, managing director of the London-based risk consultancy Menas Associates.

It was one of the issues that needed to be resolved.

Trade has taken off. U.S. exports to Libya totaled $351.9 million in the first six months of 2010 compared to $33.26 million in the same period in 2009 and $39.2 million for all of 2004.

U.K. government figures show that British exports to Libya, excluding services, totaled $660 million in 2009, up 51 percent from 2008.

The victims families say it was just a matter of business trumping justice.

It was a question of justice, and the one little bit of justice they had was taken away with al-Megrahis release, said Frank Duggan, president of the Victims of Pan Am Flight 103, an advocacy group that represents some of the families of those killed.

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Associated Press writers Ian MacDougall in Oslo, Norway; Jill Lawless in London and Rik Stevens in Albany, N.Y., contributed to this report.

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AP poll: BP image recovering from spill, still low AP

WASHINGTON BPs image, which took an ugly beating after the Gulf oil spill, is recovering since the company capped the well, though the oil giants approval level is still anything but robust. A majority of Americans still arent convinced it is safe to eat seafood from parts of the Gulf or swim in its waters, a new AP poll shows.

Politically, President Barack Obamas rating on handling the nations worst oil spill has nudged up to about 50 percent, the poll indicated. Fewer people now think the spill is a major national issue, and more support increased drilling in U.S. coastal waters than oppose it.

Safety remains a worry.

Normally, I would go to the casinos and eat seafood, but now Im going to be kind of skeptical of eating, said Samuel Washington, 44, who lives in Norfolk, Va., but also owns a home in Ocean Springs, Miss. My biggest concern is whether or not they are really testing all the affected areas.

Approval for Obamas handling of the mess has risen from 45 percent in June, while BPs marks have more than doubled ï¿½ from 15 percent to a still lackluster 33 percent. Some 66 percent of those surveyed continue to disapprove of BPs performance, down from a whopping 83 percent in June.

More than half, 54 percent, said they werent confident that it is safe yet to eat seafood from the spill areas, and 55 percent said they werent confident that the beaches in the affected areas were safe for swimming.

Still, just 60 percent of those surveyed called the spill an important issue now, down from 87 percent in June. Only 21 percent said it would affect them and their families a great deal or a lot in the next year, down from 40 percent in June.

At least it did get capped. It could have been done a whole lot sooner, said Deshon Jenkins, 33, of Arlington, Texas, who works in shipping and warehousing and was among those who said the spill would not at all affect his life.

Shrimper Patrick Hue of Buras, La., said BP has been hard at work. You cant deny that, he said. They got boats out here, they got people working. ... I guess theyre cleaning up what theyre supposed to clean up.

But Connie Bartenbach, owner of Rental Resources, a Mississippi company that specializes in vacation and corporate rentals, said BP ruined our whole summer. They should not be let off the hook. ... Theres no upside to this.

Between June and the week that the Associated Press-GfK poll was conducted, Aug. 11-16, BP capped the well, it was announced that gaffe-prone chief Tony Hayward was losing that job and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said most of the oil had dissolved, dispersed or been removed.

Those developments probably contributed to the improved public attitude, though the NOAA findings have been challenged by some ocean researchers as far too optimistic.

Whatever the case, it is clear is that the spilling of over 200 million gallons of crude oil into the Gulf no longer looms as a commanding political issue for voters heading toward midterm elections in November.

Voters are far more concerned about the economy, jobs and bulging federal deficits.

The poll showed that 48 percent favor increasing drilling for oil and gas in coastal waters, up from 45 percent in June. Some 36 percent said they opposed increased drilling, down from 41 percent. The rest didnt have an opinion.

The spill began after the offshore drilling rig Deepwater Horizon, operated by well owner BP and owned by Transocean Ltd., exploded on April 20, killing 11 workers. Only the deliberate dumping of oil by Iraq in the 1991 Gulf War ranks in the world as a larger spill.

For months, the spill riveted the publics attention as oil and gas spewed relentlessly from the ocean floor, fouling marshes and beaches and leading to the shutdown of fisheries.

Obama, who just prior to the spill had called for an increase in offshore drilling, struggled to demonstrate leadership and fend off GOP attacks suggesting the crisis was his equivalent of Hurricane Katrina.

As repeated attempts to cap the well failed, Obama expressed compassion with Gulf Coast residents and anger toward BP, delivered a prime-time address on the issue and imposed a drilling moratorium. He successfully pressed BP to set up a $20 billion liability fund.

Fishing and commercial shrimping activity has been resuming as the drilling of two relief wells, begun in May, nears completion. The first one to reach the damaged well will seal it from below with mud and cement. The flow of oil was cut off from the top in mid-July.

Retired Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, the governments point man on the spill, said Wednesday he has no timeline for ordering the completion of the relief well despite earlier plans to finish it by early to mid-August. Stormy weather and questions of how to mitigate potential risks in the procedure make it hard to set a firm date, he told reporters.

Mike Voisin, who runs a Louisiana-based oyster harvesting and processing business, said despite waves of anger directed at BP by the public, the company has succeeded in working well with local communities. Did they make mistakes? Sure. Should they have been better prepared? Yes, Voisin said. He estimated his business took a 50 percent hit but well work our way through it.

With more than half of the American people still worried about swimming in the Gulf or eating its seafood, we must be vigilant about monitoring the spill and its continued effects, said Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass. Markey heads a House panel on energy and the environment that is holding a hearing Thursday on seafood safety and where the oil went.

The AP-GfK Poll was conducted by GfK Roper Public Affairs and Corporate Communications. It involved landline and cell phone interviews with 1,007 adults nationwide and had a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 4.5 percentage points.

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Associated Press Polling Director Trevor Tompson, AP News Survey Specialist Dennis Junius and AP Writers Natasha T. Metzler, Dina Cappiello, Lauran Neergaard, Alan Fram and Lauren Sausser in Washington, Shelia Byrd in Jackson, Miss., and Kevin McGill, Michael Kunzelman and Harry R. Weber in New Orleans contributed to this report.

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Online:

AP-GfK Poll: http://ping.fm/DdpNp.

This version CORRECTS to 200 million gallons spilled, not 100 million

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FACT CHECK: Islam already lives near ground zero AP

And that the imam whos being branded an extremist has been valued by both Republican and Democratic administrations as a moderate face of the faith.

Even so, the project stirs complicated emotions, and Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf is a complex figure who defies easy categorization in the American Muslim world.

A look at some of the claims and how they compare with the known facts:

_Some of the Muslim leaders associated with the mosque are clearly terrorist sympathizers. ï¿½ Kevin Calvey, a Republican running for Congress in Oklahoma.

_This radical is a terrible choice to be one of the faces of our country overseas. ï¿½ Statement by GOP Reps. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Florida and Peter King of New York.

THE FACTS:

No one has established a link between the cleric and radicals. New York Police Department spokesman Paul Browne said: Weve identified no law enforcement issues related to the proposed mosque.

In a July 2005 speech at the Bob Hawke Prime Ministerial Center in Adelaide, Australia, Rauf said, according to the centers transcript:

We tend to forget, in the West, that the United States has more Muslim blood on its hands than al-Qaida has on its hands of innocent non-Muslims.

While calling terrorism unjustified, he said the U.S. has supported authoritarian regimes with heinous human rights records and, faced with that, how else do people get attention?

In the same address, he spoke of prospects for peace between Palestinians and the Israelis ï¿½ who he said have moved beyond Zionism ï¿½ and of a love-your-neighbor ethic uniting all religions.

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_Mr. President, ground zero is the wrong place for a mosque. ï¿½ Rick Scott, Republican candidate for Florida governor.

_Just a block or two away from 9/11. ï¿½ Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, another 2012 GOP presidential prospect.

THE FACTS:

Another, the Manhattan Mosque, stands five blocks from the northeast corner of the World Trade Center site.

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THE FACTS:

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Associated Press writers Tom Hays in New York and Anne Flaherty in Washington contributed to this report.

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US spending $16,000 for imams Mideast tour AP

WASHINGTON American taxpayers will pay the imam behind plans for a mosque near the Manhattan site of the Sept. 11 attacks $3,000 in fees for a three-nation outreach trip to the Middle East that will cost roughly $16,000, the State Department said Wednesday.

The department said Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf will get a daily $200 honorarium for the 15-day tour to Bahrain, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, which is intended to promote religious tolerance.

Airfare is included, as well as the standard federal government per diem for expenses and lodging in each of the cities he will visit, spokesman P.J. Crowley said. Those per diem rates range from nearly $400 to nearly $500, according to official documents.

The imams organization, The Cordoba Initiative, referred questions on the matter to the State Department.

Rauf starts his tour Thursday in Bahrain and ends it in the United Arab Emirates Sept. 2. At each stop he is expected to discuss Muslim life in America and promote religious tolerance. He will not be allowed to raise funds for the mosque on the trip, Crowley said.

We have had conversations with the imam to make sure he understands that during these kinds of trips, hes not to engage in any personal business, Crowley told reporters. He understands that completely.

We value his participation as a religious figure here in the United States who can help people overseas understand the role that religion plays in our society, he said.

Raufs tour has drawn attention because of his plans to build an Islamic center in lower Manhattan near ground zero. Foes of the project say it is insensitive and disrespectful to the victims of 9/11 and their families. The debate has become politicized ahead of Novembers midterm congressional elections.

Crowley said this will be Raufs fourth U.S.-government sponsored trip under a program run by the State Departments Bureau of International Information Programs. Earlier, the State Department had said it was his third trip.

Crowley said Rauf had traveled twice to the Middle East in 2007 during the Bush administration and once earlier this year.

On his upcoming trip, Rauf will be in Manama, Bahrain, from Thursday until Monday; Doha, Qatar, from Aug. 24 to Aug. 27 and in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates from Aug. 28 to Sept. 2.

The published maximum per diem rate for U.S. government employees in Manama is $396, in Doha it is $341, and in Abu Dhabi it is $496.

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American activist turns self in to Peru police AP

LIMA, Peru An American activist convicted of aiding leftist rebels surrendered to police on Wednesday after a court ordered her arrest and struck down a decision granting her parole.

Lori Berensons husband and lawyer, Anibal Apari, said she had turned herself in to police after the decision by a criminal appeals court was announced. Apari spoke to reporters outside the U.S. Embassy.

Apari declined to say whether she handed herself over within the diplomatic mission, but police officers were seen entering the embassy compound.

The only thing I can tell you is that Lori Berenson hasnt fled the country, he said. Even though she disagrees with the courts decision, she has turned herself in.

Shes calm. She is a very strong women, Apari said. She is going to return to jail with her baby ï¿½ her 15-month-old son, Salvador.

She has served 15 years of a 20-year prison sentence for terrorist collaboration.

Berenson has acknowledged collaborating with the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement, but said she was never a member of the group nor involved in violent acts.

Deputy Justice Minister Luis Marill said the court struck down the May 27 decision that granted her parole ï¿½ a decision that was widely unpopular in Peru.

After the announcement, journalists gathered outside Berensons Lima home, then later moved to outside the U.S. Embassy, suspecting she could be inside.

Julio Galindo, the governments lead anti-terrorism prosecutor, told the Peruvian radio station Radioprogramas that the court had annulled the May 27 decision granting parole until an error is addressed ï¿½ that Berenson had not promptly notified police of the correct address where she would live upon her release.

He said that once that error is addressed, the judge in the case, Jessica Leon, would be able to issue a new ruling.

Galindo did not elaborate, but it appeared the judge would be able to issue a new ruling and either grant or reject parole.

There was no immediate reaction from Berensons parents, who are from New York City and have been in Peru in recent days.

Berenson was initially accused of being a leader of the Tupac Amaru, which bombed banks and kidnapped and killed civilians in the 1980s and 1990s.

When she was arrested in November 1995 with the wife of the groups leader, prosecutors said Berenson was helping plot a takeover of Perus Congress.

Galindo, the prosecutor, has argued Berenson should be returned to prison and raised doubts about whether she has cut all links to the rebel group. He also has argued there were errors in the May ruling that granted parole, including that her time served in prison was incorrectly calculated.

Many Peruvians disapproved of Berensons release, and congressmen of multiple parties praised the ruling to send her back behind bars.

This version CORRECTS that authorities say the decision is not final, and removes reference to ruling not being appealable.

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Iran condemns possible US military action AP

UNITED NATIONS Iran took its case against the United States to the United Nations on Wednesday and strongly condemned the top U.S. military chief for saying military action remains a possibility if the country develops nuclear weapons.

Irans acting U.N. ambassador Eshagh Alehabib claimed in letters circulated to the secretary-general and presidents of the Security Council and General Assembly that Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, and other U.S. officials and lawmakers threatened to use military action under the totally false pretense that Iran is developing nuclear weapons.

Mullen said earlier this month that the U.S. military has a plan to attack Iran, although he thinks a military strike is probably a bad idea. Still, he said the risk of Iran developing a nuclear weapon is unacceptable and he reiterated that the military option remains on the table.

Irans Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned Wednesday that Irans response to an attack would not be limited to the region, suggesting Iran would target U.S. interests beyond the Persian Gulf.

Its unlikely that they U.S. will make such a stupidity to attack Iran but all must know that if this threat is carried out, the field of the Iranian nations confrontation will not be only our region, Khamenei told state TV. The area of confrontation will be much wider.

He also said there will be no talks with the U.S. under the shadow of threats.

Khamenei, who has the final say on all state matters in Iran, apparently was referring to recent calls by the U.S. and other key powers for Iran to resume talks on its nuclear program following the U.N. Security Councils recent vote imposing a fourth set of sanctions against the country for refusing to halt uranium enrichment.

The U.S. and some of its allies accuse Iran of using its civilian nuclear program as a cover to build nuclear weapons. Iran has denied the allegations, saying its nuclear program is geared merely toward generating electricity, not bombs.

Alehabib said the United States was using threatening language that violates international law and the U.N. Charter and goes against global efforts to strengthen regional and international peace and security. He reiterated that Iran would not hesitate to act in self-defense to respond to any attack.

Khamenei said negotiations would be possible if the U.S. stops making threats against Iran, and he set conditions for it.

If the U.S. puts aside threats, sanctions and its superpower display and refuses to set goals for the talks, then there will be a possibility of talks. But under the present conditions and given the threats and pressures, no talks with be held at all, Khamenei was quoted as saying.

Khamenei also said Iran will not give up its nuclear activities.

The U.S. and some Western countries have no logic in this issue and the Islamic Republic of Iran will never give up the cycle of nuclear fuel, state TV quoted him as saying.

The U.S. and five key powers ï¿½ Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany ï¿½ have been trying to revive talks with Iran on its nuclear program and have offered a package of incentives if Tehran freezes uranium enrichment and resumes negotiations.

In late July, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said nuclear talks with the six powers would start in early September, regardless of conditions he set in June, but Khameneis comments raise questions about the timetable. Iran has also said it wants to revive separate talks involving Tehran, Washington, Paris and Moscow on a fuel swap for Tehrans research nuclear reactor.

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Associated Press Writer Ali Akbar Dareini contributed to this report from Tehran, Iran.

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Some Muslims question mosque near ground zero AP

NEW YORK American Muslims who support the proposed mosque and Islamic center near ground zero are facing skeptics within their own faith ï¿½ those who argue that the project is insensitive to Sept. 11 victims and needlessly provocative at a time when Muslims are pressing for wider acceptance in the U.S.

For most Americans, 9/11 remains as an open wound, and anything associated with Islam, even for Americans who want to understand Islam ï¿½ to have an Islamic center with so much publicity is like rubbing salt in open wounds, said Akbar Ahmed, professor of Islamic studies at American University, a former Pakistani ambassador to Britain and author of Journey Into America, The Challenge of Islam. He said the space should include a synagogue and a church so it will truly be interfaith.

Abdul Cader Asmal, past president of the Islamic Council of New England, an umbrella group for more than 15 Islamic centers, said some opponents of the $100 million, 13-story project are indeed anti-Muslim. But he said many Americans have genuine, understandable questions about Islam and extremism.

In light of those fears, and the opposition of many relatives of 9/11 victims, Asmal said organizers should dramatically scale back the project to just a simple mosque, despite their legal right to construct what they want.

Winning in the court of law is not going to help improve the image of Muslims nationwide, said Asmal, a Massachusetts physician. You have to win the hearts and minds of the ordinary American people,

The project has touched off a national debate over religious tolerance, American ideals and the still-fresh pain of the terrorist attacks. The centers leaders, Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, and his wife, Daisy Khan, have a long record of interfaith outreach in New York and beyond. They insist the center will be a voice for moderate Islam and will welcome people of all religions. Supporters are outraged that critics suspect the couple of an extremist agenda.

Asra Nomani, author of Standing Alone: An American Womans Struggle for the Soul of Islam, said she backs the idea of the mosque in principle but believes the feelings of families who lost loved ones in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks should trump the plan.

I havent been able to support the building of the mosque right there in the location theyve got, said Nomani, an advocate for womens rights and tolerance in the Muslim world.

The developers for the project, called Park51, have modeled their plan on a YMCA and Jewish Community Center. The site, two blocks from where the World Trade Center stood, will include a pool, gym and 500-seat auditorium for cultural events for the general public, along with a mosque and a Sept. 11 memorial. Rauf is now traveling overseas on his latest speaking tour for the U.S. State Department.

Even among American Muslims who back the idea, there has been grumbling about what they consider the organizers public relations missteps. A plan to build what would essentially be a local city mosque has now turned into a national confrontation that is roiling Muslim communities nationwide. Raufs decision to remain overseas without making a statement on the controversy has also caused some frustration. Khan, and developer Sharif El-Gamal of SoHo Properties, which owns the building, have mostly been the public face of Park51.

The total absence of Feisal Rauf has a `Wheres Waldo quality that is maddening in itself, U.S. Muslim writer Aziz Poonawalla, who supports the center, told the blog ordinary-gentlemen.com. Im quite capable of defending Rauf against some of the accusations against him, but am not inclined to carry his water for him while he gallivants about the globe.

Beyond misgivings about the location, some U.S. Muslims have raised concerns about what the mosque could become after Rauf and Khan retire and inevitably turn the center over to new leadership. Like houses of worship in all faiths, Islamic centers can change over time depending on the worldviews of congregants and the imams who lead them.

Nomani said American Muslims have not fully confronted extremism in Islam, which makes her worried that any mosque has the potential to become a haven for those with rigid views.

Yes, there is prejudice against Muslims in the modern day, but also Muslims in the modern day have an extremist problem, Nomani said.

Tawfik Hamid, an Egyptian scholar and reformer who said he was once a member of a terrorist group, said he had a conditional objection to the proposed Islamic center.

He said it was not enough for Park51 leaders to call themselves moderate. Instead, they should clearly and unambiguously reject radicalization by opposing specific extremist practices, such as killing apostates, stoning women for adultery, calling Jews pigs and monkeys and declaring war on non-Muslims who refuse to convert.

This, in my view, will be perceived by radicals in Islam as a defeat for their ideology, said Hamid, senior fellow at the Potomac Institute for Policy Studies. They think in a very primitive way. If they see a mosque near ground zero, this would certainly be perceived as a sign of victory for al-Qaeda. In the end, they will think, `They are bowing to us.

Few American Muslims who lost relatives in the terrorist strikes have spoken out, but those who have are also divided.

Talat Hamdani, a Muslim whose son Salman, a New York police cadet and emergency medical technician, was killed on Sept. 11, supports the proposal. Im not fighting for a mosque. Im fighting for my rights, she said.

By contrast, Neda Bolourchi of Los Angeles, a native of Iran whose mother was on one of the planes that crashed into the World Trade Center, opposes the plan.

I fear that over time, it will cultivate a fundamentalist version of the Muslim faith, embracing those who share such beliefs and hating those who do not, she wrote in a Washington Post op-ed. To the supporters of this new Islamic cultural center, I must ask: Build your ideological monument somewhere else, far from my mothers grave, and let her rest.

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French crackdown on Gypsies raises concern AP

CHOISY-LE-ROI, France Since French police moved in on a Gypsy squatters camp a week ago, confiscating trailers and turning everyone out, the group has taken refuge in a gymnasium outside Paris. At night, wailing babies keep many awake ï¿½ to ponder their uncertain future.

President Nicolas Sarkozys conservative government is cracking down on Gypsies, or Roma, linking them to crime, dismantling their illegal camps and sending some home to Eastern Europe. But the policy is attracting increasing concern, at home and abroad, from those who fear it discriminates against one of the European Unions most vulnerable and impoverished communities.

Some critics contend the crackdown is a cynical ploy to turn attention away from Frances economic woes and attract far-right voters by fanning xenophobia in the run-up to the 2012 presidential election. Sarkozys approval ratings have been weak and a financial scandal has embroiled a top minister.

Romanias foreign minister said Wednesday that he was worried and that he hoped expulsions of Roma to his country had been carried out legally.

I also express my concern about the risk of a populist backlash and generating xenophobic reactions against the backdrop of the economic crisis, Teodor Baconschi told RFI radio.

The French Foreign Ministry, in response, said that France and Romania are cooperating closely on the issue. Many of the Roma in France are from Romania, as are the 70 people staying temporarily in a gymnasium in the Paris suburb of Choisy-le-Roi. About 30 of them are children, and the youngest is only 15 days old.

Last week, a United Nations anti-racism body expressed concerns about Frances policies toward the Roma and about another of Sarkozys recent security proposals: revoking the French citizenship of people of foreign origins who endanger the life of police officers.

On July 28, Sarkozy pledged that illegal Gypsy camps would be systematically evacuated, calling them sources of trafficking, exploitation of children and prostitution. Several dozen camps have been evacuated since then.

Jean-Pierre Grand, a center-right politician, has spoken of rafles ï¿½ a French term that means police roundups but which strongly evokes the memory of massive arrests of French Jews and Gypsies during the Nazi occupation.

Officials insist they are not stigmatizing Roma ï¿½ though Sarkozys stance had chilling undertones in a country where authorities sent French Gypsies to internment camps in France during the occupation. They were kept in camps until 1946, about two years after Frances liberation.

Immigration Minister Eric Besson criticized allusions to World War II and said France couldnt just let people occupy land illegally.

Despite the new media attention that Sarkozys comments about the Roma have brought, France has for years closed down illegal camps and sent their inhabitants home. Last year, 10,000 Roma were sent back to Romania and Bulgaria, about 30 percent of those against their will and 70 percent going voluntarily and opting for French aid of euro300 per adult and euro100 per child to help resettle, the Immigration Ministry said.

Figures for this year were not yet available. A charter flight of 79 people recently evacuated from their camps was scheduled for Thursday.

Human rights groups say the policy is absurd because many Roma simply return to France. Romania and Bulgaria are members of the European Union, and their citizens can enter France without a visa, but they must get work permits to work in France or residency permits to settle long-term.

Cristian Boti, a 24-year-old father of two from Romania, says thats what he would do: If they send me home, Ill come back.

He has lived in France since 2003, moving from camp to camp, and has lived through about a dozen police evictions. There is much less discrimination against Roma in France than in Romania, he says, and he can make a living here collecting scrap metal.

Police moved in last week on his most recent camp, enforcing a court order. The Communist-run mayors office in Choisy-le-Roi offered to let his community stay in a gymnasium temporarily, but it says another solution must be found before the months end.

For now, the group is sleeping on mattresses lined up under the gyms basketball nets.

On Wednesday morning, children played with dogs and kicked around balls as a few of their parents buried themselves under comforters, napping ï¿½ several said they spend sleepless nights because of the noise, and because of their worries.

___

Associated Press writer Alina Wolfe Murray in Bucharest contributed to this report.

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Obama says economy coming back slowly but surely AP

COLUMBUS, Ohio President Barack Obama used the homey backdrop of a middle-class Ohio familys backyard Wednesday to try to show voters he shares their concerns about the economy, health care and Social Security.

Jacket off and sleeves rolled up, Obama took questions from the Weithman family and a small group of their neighbors arrayed around picnic tables and lawn chairs. His message was familiar: The economy needs more work, but its getting better.

A lot of it is like recovering from an illness, the president said. You get a little bit stronger each day.

The event came toward the end of a three-day swing that included glitzy, million-dollar fundraisers. Obamas focus here was more on everyday struggles. He talked privately to Joe and Rhonda Weithman and their two children, 11-year-old Josh and 9-year-old Rachel, around their kitchen table before moving to the backyard and broadening the conversation to include families from the neighborhood.

With unemployment at 9.5 percent nationally, and topping 10 percent in Ohio, the economy dominated the discussion. Obama took questions on how to bring manufacturing jobs back to the U.S., how to breathe life into the still sagging housing market, and the effect on Wall Street banks of his financial regulatory reform legislation.

Obama used the questions as an opportunity to tout the expansive agenda hes undertaken since assuming the presidency.

Slowly but surely we are moving in the right direction, Obama told those gathered in the Weithmans backyard. The economy is getting stronger, but it really suffered a big trauma.

Underscoring voters concern over the economy: A new Associated Press-GfK poll shows 61 percent of those surveyed believe the economy has gotten worse or stayed the same on Obamas watch. Americans are also growing increasingly frustrated with the progress Obama has made in bringing the country out of the recession, with just 41 percent approving of his handling of the economy, down from 44 percent in April.

Still, three-quarters also say its unrealistic to expect noticeable economic improvements in the first 18 months of the presidents term.

Obamas attempts to draw attention to what his administration has done to fix a flagging economy, plus what he still wants Congress to pass, come against the backdrop of a bitterly partisan midterm election season. He has spent the week promoting his message that voters should keep Democrats in power over Republicans that he claims lack any positive ideas.

All 435 House seats, one-third of the Senate and most governors jobs are on the ballot in November.

The political campaigning also continues Wednesday for the president.

Obama will speak at a fundraiser for Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland, a Democrat trying to keep his job against a tough challenge by former Republican Rep. John Kasich. The president then will go to Florida to raise cash in Miami for Democrats.

Already this week, the presidents stops have included a Los Angeles fundraiser that raised $1 million for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee on Monday, and two events in Seattle that raised $1.3 million for Sen. Patty Murray and Washington Democrats on Tuesday.

Obamas aides say he takes seriously the job of giving personal attention to candidates and helping them make the case about the upcoming election.

The results are vital for him too, as Obama needs Democrats to retain their congressional majorities if he is to keep pressing an agenda that has received virtually no Republican support.

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Wednesday, August 18, 2010

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