Police arrested in northern Mexico mayors killing AP

MONTERREY, Mexico Six city police officers were arrested Friday in the killing of a mayor in northern Mexico, as the countrys escalating drug violence targets more public officials.

The suspects included the officer who guarded the house where Santiago Mayor Edelmiro Cavazos was seized on Sunday. The officer had said he was kidnapped with the mayor and later freed unharmed.

Adrian de la Garza, head of the police investigations agency in Nuevo Leon state, told a news conference that the police officers received 6,000 pesos $700 per month to cooperate with criminals in different ways and different affairs, with some allegedly acting as lookouts.

They were employees of a criminal gang, De la Garza said at a news conference where he displayed security-camera footage from Cavazos house, showing armed kidnappers arriving at the home on Sunday night in five SUVs.

The grainy video showed the vehicles turn on flashing lights, apparently to simulate police patrol vehicles, as armed men get out without any apparent resistance from the officer guarding the home.

Cavazos is seen being lead out of his home and forced into a vehicle at gunpoint.

The guard is then also seen getting into the front cabin of another SUV, contrary to his earlier statement claiming he had been bundled into the trunk of one of the vehicles and later dumped unharmed by the side of the road.

Nuevo Leon state Attorney General Alejandro Garza y Garza said the officers confessed to being involved in the Cavazos killing, though some declared their innocence while being presented to the press.

We are still looking for others who were involved as well, Garza y Garza said.

The body of the 38-year-old mayor was found handcuffed and gagged Wednesday outside of his town, a popular weekend getaway for residents of the industrial city of Monterrey.

Cavazos death comes amid increasing violence in the northeast of the country attributed to a dispute the Gulf cartel and its former allies, the Zetas. Authorities refused to say which cartel is believed to be responsible for Cavazos killing.

Meanwhile, a federal judge presiding over the case of former Cancun mayor facing drug-related charges survived an attack Thursday in the west coast state of Nayarit, according to a federal police report. The assault killed one of two bodyguards for Judge Carlos Alberto Elorza.

President Felipe Calderon is proposing that Mexico consider appointing anonymous judges for drug-trafficking trials, a change that would contradict the effort he promoted to build a more open judicial system.

Elorza is the judge in the case of Gregorio Sanchez, a former Cancun mayor who was forced out of the Quintana Roo gubernatorial campaign when he was charged with drug trafficking and money laundering. Federal police minister Wilfrido Robledo told reporters that Elorza had received threats, so his security detail was increased. He rode in an armored SUV when he came under attack.

The federal Judiciary Council, which oversees Mexicos courts, said in a statement that it rejects violence that represents an attack on the rule of law and the countrys institution.

Cavazos killing has prompted authorities to call for more patrols by both the army and federal police in Nuevo Leon, where shootings are commonplace.

On Friday, four alleged cartel gunmen were arrested in Santiago, but De la Garza said they were not linked to the mayors killing.

The Army said the four suspects were detained at a ranch where soldiers found 9 assault rifles, 5 grenades and what appeared to be a grenade or rocket launcher.

And in another Monterrey suburb, Santa Catarina, three security guards from the FEMSA bottling company were wounded in a shootout outside a school. FEMSA spokesman Carlos Velazquez said the guards were performing standard patrols in the area when the gunmen opened fire on their vehicles.

We energetically condemn the atmosphere of danger that prevails in the greater Monterrey area and which puts residents lives at risk, the company said in a statement.

Mauricio Fernandez, mayor of the San Pedro Garza Garcia, another town on the outskirts of Monterrey, said Cavazos had received death threats from gangs warning him to stay out of their way and had sought advice on how to handle the threats.

Officials at the state attorney generals office said Cavazos had never informed authorities about any threats. Gen. Guillermo Moreno, who commands troops in Nuevo Leon and Tamaulipas states, said the army did not received complains from the mayor or requests for protection.

The leading candidate for governor in the state of Tamaulipas, which borders Nuevo Leon, was shot to death a week before the election. A mayoral candidate in Tamaulipas also was shot in May.

Drug violence has killed more than 28,000 people since December 2006, when Calderon started his crackdown on the cartels.

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

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Democrats hold financial advantage over GOP AP

WASHINGTON Federal campaign reports show that Democratic Party committees maintained a solid cash on hand advantage over their Republican counterparts as they entered the final three months before the election.

The Republican National Committee raised only $5.5 million in July, compared to $11.6 million by the Democrats. The Democrat Party reported $10.8 million in the bank and $3.5 million in debts; Republicans showed $5.3 million in the banks and $2.2 million in debts.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee raised $6.2 million to help House candidates, short of the $8.5 million raised by its GOP counterpart. But the DCCC showed $35.8 million in the bank compared to $22 million for the National Republican Congressional Committee. Democrats held a bigger advantage in 2008.

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Haiti council: Wyclef Jean cant run for president AP

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti Haitis electoral council on Friday ruled that hip hop-artist Wyclef Jean cannot run for president, ending his outsiders bid to lead the reconstruction of the earthquake-ravaged Caribbean island.

Council spokesman Richard Dumel said election officials have accepted 19 candidacies and rejected 15 others. The Haitian-born singers candidacy was turned down because he did not meet the residency requirement of having lived in Haiti for five years before the Nov. 28 election.

Jean, whose parents brought him to the United States as a child, has lived off and on in Haiti in recent years. In 2007 he was named roving ambassador to Haiti by President Rene Preval, an appointment he says qualifies him to run for president of the country.

Crowds had gathered outside the councils office before the decision was announced late Friday. The decision had already been postponed once this week,

Supporters of the former Fugees frontman had said before the ruling that they suspected members of Haitis political elite are trying to block his campaign.

Ahead of the expected ruling, Jean moved from a compound outside the capital to a hotel around the corner from the electoral commission and his family issued a statement saying he was still hoping that he would be accepted as a candidate either later Friday or over the weekend.

Jean, who gained famed as a member of the hip-hop musical group Fugees before building a solo career, has no political organization, not much of a following beyond his fans of his music and only a vague platform, casting himself as an advocate of Haitis struggling youth and saying he will ask reconstruction donors to help the countrys dysfunctional education system.

He also has faced persistent criticism over alleged financial mismanagement at the charity he founded, Yele Haiti.

On the other hand, he has generated global attention to a race in which almost no one outside Haiti could even name any of the candidates.

If he hadnt been involved, today, no one would be talking about candidates in the Haitian presidential election, said Mark Jones, a professor of political science at Rice University in Houston.

The 40-year-old singers fame and wealth instantly made him a formidable candidate in the desperately poor Caribbean nation he left as a boy � though some Haitians question the seriousness of his run.

I dont think hes a politician at all, said Etienne St. Cyr, a pastor who helps at a camp for homeless earthquake survivors at the Petionville Country Club. Maybe hes not what we need right now.

St. Cyr said Jean has not won over the people camped in squalid tents on the slope of a golf course, noting they already have allegiances to established political parties and the singer has not visited the camp.

Analysts say it is difficult to assess what kind of support Jean has beyond his mainly young and urban fans, but as a well-funded wild card, he has made more-established politicians nervous. Earlier this week, Jean said he had received death threats from somebody who called and told him to get out of Haiti.

The winner of the Nov. 28 election will take charge of Haitis earthquake recovery, coordinating billions of aid dollars in a country with a history of political turmoil and corruption. Januarys earthquake killed an estimated 300,000 people and left the capital, Port-au-Prince, in ruins.

The devastation from the earthquake, coupled with frustration over a weak government response, have created an opening for a messianic outsider like Jean, said Robert Fatton Jr., a Haiti expert at the University of Virginia.

The very fact that he is taken seriously when, in fact, he has no preparation to be president is an indication that the whole country, in particular the youth, looks at the typical Haitian population as a bankrupt kind of species, Fatton said.

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Melia reported from San Juan, Puerto Rico. Associated Press Writer Chris Gillette in Port-au-Prince contributed to this report.

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Peace this time? Israel, Palestinians to talk AP

WASHINGTON Plunging into the Mideast peacemakers role that has defeated so many U.S. leaders, President Barack Obama on Friday invited Israel and the Palestinians to try anew in face-to-face talks for a historic agreement to establish an independent Palestinian state and secure peace for Israel.

Negotiations shelved two years ago will resume Sept. 2 in Washington, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said. Obama will host Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas for dinner the night before.

The goal: a deal in a years time on the toughest issues that have sunk previous negotiations, including the borders of a new Palestinian state and the fate of disputed Jerusalem, claimed as a holy capital by both peoples.

There have been difficulties in the past, there will be difficulties ahead, Clinton said. Without a doubt, we will hit more obstacles.

Indeed, soon after Clintons announcement the militant Hamas movement that controls the Gaza Strip, which along with the West Bank is supposed to be part of an eventual Palestinian state, rejected the talks, saying they were based on empty promises.

Winning agreement to at least restart the direct talks makes good on an Obama campaign promise to confront the festering conflict early in his presidency, instead of deferring the peace brokers role as former President George W. Bush did.

Bringing the two sides to Washington for a symbolic handshake also will saddle Obama with one of the worlds most intractable problems just when many other things, from a jobless recovery to probable midterm election losses, are not going well.

This is the Pottery Barn rule for Obama. He owns this now, said Aaron David Miller, a scholar at the Woodrow Wilson Center who advised presidents during two decades of attempts at a Mideast settlement.

The breakthrough after a nearly two-year hiatus in face-to-face negotiations brings the two sides back to where they were when the last direct talks began in November 2007, near the end of the Bush administration. Those talks broke down after Israels 2008 military operation in Gaza, followed by Netanyahus election last year on a much tougher platform than his predecessor.

Fridays announcement came after months of shuttle diplomacy by the Obama administrations Mideast envoy, former Sen. George Mitchell. It also followed a period of chilly U.S. relations with Netanyahu, primarily over expansion of Jewish housing on disputed land.

Under the agreement, Obama will hold separate discussions with Netanyahu and Abbas on Sept. 1 and then host the dinner, which will also be attended by Egypts President Hosni Mubarak and Jordans King Abdullah II.

Egypt and Jordan already have peace deals with Israel and will play a crucial support role in the new talks. Also invited is former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, the special representative of the Quartet of Mideast peacemakers � the U.S., the U.N., the European Union and Russia.

On Sept. 2, Clinton will bring Abbas and Netanyahu together for the first formal round of direct talks since December 2008. At that point the parties will decide where and when to hold later rounds as well as lay out what is to be discussed. U.S. officials have said following rounds are likely to be held in Egypt.

In a choreographed sequence of events, Clintons announcement came as the Quartet simultaneously issued a statement backing direct talks and Netanyahus office quickly accepted the proposal.

Reaching an agreement is a difficult challenge but is possible, it said. We are coming to the talks with a genuine desire to reach a peace agreement between the two peoples that will protect Israels national security interests, foremost of which is security.

Abbas enters the talks politically weaker than when he negotiated with Netanyahus predecessor, Ehud Olmert, in 2007 and 2008.

A formal statement from Abbas office accepting the invitation was expected late Friday. Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said he hoped the Quartet and others would work diligently to ensure the one-year timeframe was achieved and would press Israel to end provocative acts

We hope that the Israeli government would refrain from settlement activities, incursions, siege, closures and provocative acts like demolishing of homes, deporting people from Jerusalem in order to give this peace process the chance it deserves, he said.

But in Gaza, Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri rejected the invitation.

We ... consider this invitation and the promises included in it empty, and its a new attempt to deceive the Palestinian people and international public opinion, he said.

Abbas Palestinians had been balking at direct talks, saying not until Israel froze the construction of Jewish settlements.

Israel had rejected that, saying it amounted to placing conditions on the negotiations, and had been demanding a separate invitation from the U.S. A temporary freeze on Israeli settlement activity in the West Bank is to expire on Sept. 26.

Mitchell said the United States would step in when talks hit rough patches, offering proposals to bridge gaps as necessary and appropriate.

We will be active participants, he said.

It is not clear whether the United States would eventually draft its own peace plan or remain primarily a referee. Also unclear is whether Obama would convene his own high-stakes peace summit, in the mold of Camp David meetings that succeeded, under Jimmy Carter, and failed, under Bill Clinton.

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New guidelines could rule out many oil claims AP

MIAMI A flower shop in Florida that saw a drop-off in weddings this summer is probably out of luck. So is a restaurant in Idaho that had to switch seafood suppliers. A hardware store on the Mississippi coast may be left out, too.

The latest guidelines for BPs $20 billion victims compensation fund say the nearer you are geographically to the oil spill and the more closely you depend on the Gulf of Mexicos natural resources, the better chance you have of getting a share of the money.

Also, a second set of rules expected this fall will require that businesses and individuals seeking compensation for long-term losses give up their right to sue BP and other spill-related companies � something that could save the oil giant billions.

The new rules for the claims process were released Friday by Washington lawyer Kenneth Feinberg, who was picked by President Barack Obama to run the fund and previously oversaw claims for 9/11 victims. Beginning Monday, the claims will be handled by Feinberg rather than BP, which is still footing the entire $20 billion bill.

Who gets paid and who doesnt will depend largely on how much proof there is that losses were caused by the spill and not by something else, such as the recession. Feinbergs guidelines say key factors include a claimants geographic proximity to the disaster and how much the business or property is linked to injured natural resources.

Feinberg elaborated on his reasoning during town meetings this week in Louisiana.

How close are you to the beach? To the Gulf? BP got claims from restaurants in Idaho. Go figure, he said. How close are you? Thats a major factor. How dependent are you, as an individual or a business, on the resources of the Gulf?

That worries business owners like Susan Mitchell, who runs a flower shop about a mile from Pensacola Beach, Fla., where tarballs from the spill washed up. She said her business was down about $4,000 this year in July from the year before.

But it is hard to prove exactly why that is and everyone keeps telling us we have to prove that it was because of the oil, she said. We usually have beach weddings all summer. We deliver to hotels with people having birthday parties and celebrations on the beach.

Jeffrey Breit, a Virginia-based lawyer who represents more than 600 Gulf Coast fishermen, said the geographic limitations will certainly cut out many deserving claimants.

I think its unfair to draw arbitrary geographic lines when it is clear that many businesses rely on the natural resources of the Gulf for their livelihoods, Breit said.

The new rules govern emergency claims that can be made between Monday and Nov. 23 at Gulf Coast claims offices, by mail or through the Internet. Feinberg said his goal is to issue emergency checks within 24 hours for individuals and seven days for businesses. Many people have complained about the sluggish BP process.

The attorneys general of Alabama and Florida sent Feinberg letters objecting to many of the new rules. Floridas Bill McCollum said people will face a much heavier burden of proof trying to show the spill caused their losses.

The current process appears to be even less generous to Floridians than the BP process, McCollum wrote. Such an outcome is completely unacceptable.

Those seeking emergency payments will not have to give up their right to sue BP and other companies. But the rules for final, long-term settlements will include a waiver of that right.

That drew protests Friday from a leading trial lawyers group, the American Association for Justice, which said the rule could force claimants to decide whether to accept a BP payment or go to court before the full extent of the damage is known. For example, attorneys said, there could be health effects that take years to develop, or environmental damage that might not surface for years.

BP is trying to cut off damages. They realize that small payments will be grabbed by some, and then in the future they will have no access to justice, said Jere Beasley, a Montgomery, Ala., lawyer who is representing oil spill clients. Which is sad, but true.

But many people might choose to file a claim because lawsuits can drag on for years and because attorneys often take one-third of any damages as their fee.

Already more than 300 lawsuits have been filed against BP and other companies involved in the disaster, which began April 20 with an explosion aboard an offshore oil rig that killed 11 workers.

At Diamondhead, Miss., along the Gulf Coast, Don Farrar, owner of Diamond Ace Hardware and Diamondhead Florist, said he has received two checks from BP for thousands of dollars but is worried what will happen when the claims process changes hands. He said the spills economic toll has reached far beyond fishermen and tourist businesses.

I have a hardware store and a florist. Even my florist is down, he said. When a fishermen is not making money, hes not going to be buying a house, hes not going to be painting his house, and hes not going to be buying paint from me.

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Associated Press writers Melissa Nelson in Pensacola, Fla., Mary Foster and Kevin McGill in New Orleans, Holbrook Mohr in Jackson, Miss., and Jay Reeves in Birmingham, Ala., contributed to this story.

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Online:

Gulf Coast Claims Facility: http://ping.fm/xv0qE goes live Aug. 23

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NYC imams goodwill tour comes amid mosque furor AP

NEW YORK The furor over the planned mosque and Islamic center near ground zero has put Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf in a curious position: At the same time he is being vilified in the U.S. for spearheading the project, he is traveling the Mideast on a State Department mission as a symbol of American religious freedom.

Some of the imams American critics said they fear he is using the taxpayer-funded trip to raise money and rally support in the Muslim world for the mosque.

I think there is no place for this, said the Rev. Franklin Graham, who is the son of evangelist Billy Graham and opposes the Islamic center and mosque. Can you imagine if the State Department paid to send me on a trip anywhere? The separation of church and state � the critics would have been howling.

At his first event Friday in the Persian Gulf state of Bahrain, Rauf refused to discuss the uproar over plans for the community center two blocks from the World Trade Center site. State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley has said Rauf understands that he cannot solicit funds for the project on his 15-day tour.

The $100 million, 13-story project is modeled after the YMCA and Jewish Community Center. Rauf and his wife, Daisy Khan, a co-leader of the project, have a long record of interfaith outreach and insist the center will promote moderate Islam.

Opponents have condemned the plan as an affront to families who lost loved ones on Sept. 11, 2001, and the sensibilities of a nation still dealing with the wounds of the attacks. Some critics have accused Rauf of quietly harboring extremist views. The dispute has sparked a national debate on religious freedom and American values and is becoming an issue on the campaign trail ahead of the midterm elections.

In New York, Khan said organizers are sticking with their plan and are not considering scaling it back or changing locations.

Dropping the plan is definitely not an option at all, she told The Associated Press in a telephone interview Friday.

Rauf has not commented on the controversy since it erupted earlier this summer.

During his visit to Bahrain, he led Friday prayers at a neighborhood mosque near the capital city of Manama, then said that radical religious views pose a security threat in both the West and the Muslim world.

This issue of extremism is something that has been a national security issue � not only for the United States but also for many countries and nations in the Muslim world, Rauf said. This is why this particular trip has a great importance.

He also said he has been working on a way to Americanize Islam. He provided no specifics but noted that different interpretations of the faith have emerged over the religions 1,400-year existence.

The same principles and rituals were everywhere, but what happened in different regions was there were different interpretations, he said. So we recognize that our heritage allows for re-expressing the internal principles of our religion in different cultural times and places.

This is Raufs fourth U.S.-sponsored trip to the region, according to the State Department. He traveled twice to the Mideast in 2007 during the administration of President George W. Bush and once earlier this year. As part of his latest trip, Rauf will also visit Qatar and the United Arab Emirates during Ramadan to talk about Muslim life in America.

The trip is estimated to cost $16,000 and is funded by the State Departments Bureau of International Information Programs, which has existed in one form or another for decades. It aims to make friends for America abroad through cultural and educational exchanges that have involved everyone from dancers to scientists to leaders of different faiths.

Several American Muslim leaders who have traveled overseas for the State Department said they are often asked about discrimination against Muslims in the U.S. They said they acknowledge that prejudice does exist, but they also emphasize that many leaders of other religions, including Jews and evangelical Christians, defend the right of Muslims to practice their faith.

There are times when the forces of religious division rear their head, but my point when people ask me about that is that religious freedom wins out, said Eboo Patel, an American Muslim who was asked to participate in the speakers program during the Bush administration.

Patel said there is no training by the State Department and no one tells them what to say.

Rauf will get a daily $200 honorarium for the tour. Airfare is included, as well as the standard government per diem for expenses and lodging in each of the cities he will visit, Crowley said. The per diem ranges from $400 to nearly $500.

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Associated Press Writer Hasan Jamali contributed to this report from Manama, Bahrain.

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3 weeks on run, fugitives arrested without fight AP

ST. JOHNS, Ariz. Over the past three weeks, an escaped Arizona prisoner and his girlfriend bedeviled the hundreds of lawmen hunting them across the desolate highways and thick forests of the West.

There would be sightings of John McCluskey and Casslyn Welch. One in Montana. Another as far away as Arkansas. And then sometimes nothing.

Until Thursday, when an alert forest rangers tip led police right to them. The self-styled Bonnie and Clyde offered little resistance. A few threats. No shootout. They didnt even try to run.

As the nation kept a look out for them and law enforcers put up alerts at campgrounds and truck stops, the couple somehow slipped back into Arizona, their beat-up Nissan hidden at a campground across the state from the prison where McCluskey escaped, police say, with help from Welch � his cousin and fiancee.

When a SWAT team descended on the campsite at dusk, Welch reached for a weapon but dropped it when she realized she was outgunned, police said. A shirtless, tattoo-covered McCluskey told officers that he regretted not shooting them with the gun he had in a nearby tent.

He has no remorse, Apache County Sheriffs Cmdr. Webb Hogle said.

The capture brought an end to a manhunt that began July 30 when McCluskey and two murderers broke out of a medium-security prison in Kingman, 185 miles northwest of Phoenix. Authorities say Welch threw a set of wire cutters onto prison grounds, allowing them to cut open a fence.

One inmate was caught after a shootout in Colorado. The other was nabbed in a small Wyoming town after he was spotted at a church.

The escape cast a critical spotlight on Arizonas prison system. A report on Thursday found a series of breakdowns that allowed the inmates to slip away into the desert, including alarms that went off so often that prison personnel often just ignored them.

Police on Friday were still trying to piece together details about the couples time on the lam.

McCluskey and Welch are suspected in several crimes, including the killing of a couple in New Mexico whose torched bodies were found in Santa Rosa. Officials said the Nissan had New Mexico license plates that were stolen around the time they were killed.

During the arrest, he suggested that the gun used in the killings was in his tent, police said.

Police were looking through the campsite for any evidence that could link them to other crimes.

Investigators looked into 700 tips from nearly every state in a manhunt that had officers swarming into small towns from Montana to Arkansas, said David Gonzales, U.S. marshal for Arizona.

The last credible sightings came on Aug. 6 in Billings, Mont. More tips led authorities north to Glacier National Park and the Canadian border.

We threw a lot of resources at that border and that area in general, to where I dont think anybody could have stayed there long without being detected, said Rod Ostermiller, the acting U.S. marshal in Montana.

Its unclear how long they were in Arizona. At some point they were in tiny Eagar, just west of the New Mexico border, to have a tire fixed, Apache County Sheriff Joseph Dedman said.

Only a handful of houses can be spotted from the winding road that leads up to the campsite. Motorists pass towering trees, vast meadows and bodies of water before reaching it, about 20 miles and an hours drive from an earlier turnoff.

They were starting to feel pretty comfortable, like they had a pretty good chance of not being captured, Hogle said.

Around 4 p.m. Thursday, the U.S. Forest Service ranger investigated what appeared to be an unattended campfire in the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest, Gonzales said. He found the silver Nissan Sentra backed suspiciously into the trees as if someone were trying to hide it.

The ranger had a brief conversation with McCluskey, who appeared nervous and fidgety.

Arriving officers left nothing to chance � fully expecting a guns-blazing shootout by two desperate fugitives. A helicopter, ambulance, bloodhounds and a secondary team were brought in to respond to any reports of officers down at the campsite.

Hogle said McCluskey and Welch were standing next to a car that belonged to a neighboring camper as the SWAT team swarmed in. He yelled at McCluskey to get down. When the fugitive didnt comply, Hogle said, he took him down with force.

SWAT members reminded one another not to handle Welchs weapon too much in case it was used in the New Mexico killings, Hogle said.

McCluskey responded, No, the murder weapon is over in the tent, Hogle said.

McCluskey also told authorities he would have used the gun in the tent to shoot them if he had been able to reach it.

McCluskey, 45, was serving a 15-year prison term for attempted second-degree murder, aggravated assault and discharge of a firearm, and previously did time in Pennsylvania related to a string of armed robberies in the 1990s.

The other inmates who escaped, Tracy Province and Daniel Renwick, were serving time for murder.

Province, McCluskey and Welch have been linked to the slayings of Gary and Linda Haas of Tecumseh, Okla., whose burned bodies were found in a travel trailer Aug. 4 on a remote ranch.

Thats the best news weve had in 10 days, Sheila Walker, one of the Haases best friends, said of the capture. Everybody just broke down and cried for a little bit.

McCluskey and Welch were being held in jail on $1 million bail each. They were scheduled for preliminary hearings in Kingman later this month.

When a judge asked McCluskey his address Friday, he said I dont have one. She then marked down the Arizona Department of Corrections as his residence.

To that, McCluskey said, Yeah, I guess that would be it, yeah.

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Cooper contributed to this report from Phoenix.

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Australia votes on whether first woman PM survives AP

CANBERRA, Australia Australians choose Saturday whether they will cut down their first woman prime minister after only two months in power and return to conservative rule in a cliffhanger election that threatens the survival of a first-term center-left government.

Voters face an unusual choice between two relative unknowns: a prime minister whom they didnt elect and a fledgling opposition leader who barely gained the endorsement of his own party eight months ago.

Polling booths opened at 8 a.m. Saturday 2200 Friday GMT in eastern Australia and would close 10 hours later. Time zones meant the west coast would continue voting for another two hours.

Opinion polls point to a close contest between the ruling center-left Labor Party and the conservative Liberal Party-led coalition that has mostly been in government since World War II. Large regional variations in voter swings evident in most polls complicate forecasts of which side will win a majority in the 150-seat House of Representatives where parties form governments.

Both Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Liberal leader Tony Abbott ended their five-week election campaigns on Friday by warning voters their opponents untested leadership threatened the prosperity of Australias 1.3 trillion Australian dollar $1.2 trillion economy.

Australia scraped through the global financial crisis without falling into recession, although Abbott has argued the government spent too much to keep a sluggish economy growing.

Gillard, a Welsh-born child immigrant with a working-class accent, stunned Australians when she launched a sudden challenge to Prime Minister Kevin Rudds leadership on June 24 as the government was rattled by a series of poor opinion polls.

The decision by Labor power-brokers to support Gillard � a cheerfully charismatic and sharp-witted 48-year-old former lawyer who is widely regarded as a better communicator than Rudd, a wonkish and temperamental former diplomat � cost the party the traditional advantage for the incumbent of going to elections with a known quantity as leader.

Gillard on Friday told reporters in Sydney, where voters were turning toward the conservatives, that Labor could lose its entire eight-seat majority. Labor won 83 seats at the last election in 2007.

What we know from the opinion polls is this, that there is a real risk that Mr. Abbott could be prime minister on Sunday, she said.

Australians have not dumped a first-term government since 1931 when a Labor administration paid the ultimate price for the Great Depression. But Abbott, a 52-year-old former Roman Catholic seminarian whose socially conservative views alienate many women voters, said Gillards government does not deserve a second chance because it dumped the elected prime minister.

Abbott said Rudd was made a scapegoat for the governments wasteful economic stimulus spending that will next year see debt peak at AU$94 billion $83 billion � or 6 percent of gross domestic product.

Elections are an opportunity for the people to pass judgment on the competence or otherwise of the government, Abbott said. Just as I expect the current government to be judged.

Gillard acknowledges mistakes, including a bungled AU$2.5 billion program to provide free ceiling insulation for homes, which was scrapped after four laborers died while installing it and scores of house fires were blamed on poor workmanship.

A government-commissioned report found numerous examples of poor value for the money in a AU$16 billion program to provide every school in Australia with a new building.

Abbott is his partys third choice as leader since Prime Minister John Howard led it to defeat in 2007. Abbott beat his predecessor by a single vote in December last year in a party ballot that hinged on the Liberals policy to tax major polluters for every ton of carbon gas they emit. Abbott doubts climate change science and opposes any carbon tax.

He has long had a reputation as a gaffe-prone fitness enthusiast who is often lampooned in the media over the many images of him clad in Lycra cycling and swimming wear.

Government lawmakers dubbed him Phony Tony after he explained a policy backflip during a television interview in May. But analysts agree his relatively mistake-free campaign and his partys strong opinion polling attest to a more disciplined approach.

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Nearly 50 percent leave Obama mortgage-aid program AP

WASHINGTON Nearly half of the 1.3 million homeowners who enrolled in the Obama administrations flagship mortgage-relief program have fallen out.

The program is intended to help those at risk of foreclosure by lowering their monthly mortgage payments. Fridays report from the Treasury Department suggests the $75 billion government effort is failing to slow the tide of foreclosures in the United States, economists say.

More than 2.3 million homes have fallen into foreclosure since the recession began in December 2007, according to foreclosure listing service RealtyTrac Inc. Economists expect the number of foreclosures to grow well into next year.

The government program as currently structured is petering out. It is taking in fewer homeowners, more are dropping out and fewer people are ending up in permanent modifications, said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moodys Analytics.

Besides forcing people from their homes, foreclosures and distressed home sales have pushed down on home values and crippled the broader housing industry. They have made it difficult for homebuilders to compete with the depressed prices and discouraged potential sellers from putting their homes on the market.

Approximately 630,000 people who had tried to get their monthly mortgage payments lowered through the government program have been cut loose through July, according to the Treasury report. Thats about 48 percent of the those who had enrolled since March 2009. And it is up from more than 40 percent through June.

Another 421,804, or roughly 32 percent of those who started the program, have received permanent loan modifications and are making their payments on time.

RealtyTrac reported that the number of U.S. homes lost to foreclosure surged in July to 92,858 properties, up 9 percent from June. The pace of repossessions has been increasing and the nation is now on track to having more than 1 million homes lost to foreclosure by the end of the year. That would eclipse the more than 900,000 homes repossessed in 2009, the firm says.

Lenders have historically taken over about 100,000 homes a year, according to RealtyTrac.

Zandi said the government effort will likely end up helping only about 500,000 homeowners lower their monthly payments on a permanent basis. Thats a small percentage of the number of people who have already lost their homes to foreclosure or distressed sales like short sales - when lenders let homeowners sell for less than they owe on their mortgages.

Zandi predicts another 1.5 million foreclosures or short sales in 2011.

We still have a lot more foreclosures to come and further home price declines, Zandi said. He said home prices, which have already fallen 30 percent since the peak of the housing boom, would drop by another 5 percent by next spring.

Many borrowers have complained that the government program is a bureaucratic nightmare. They say banks often lose their documents and then claim borrowers did not send back the necessary paperwork.

The banking industry said borrowers werent sending back their paperwork. They also have accused the Obama administration of initially pressuring them to sign up borrowers without insisting first on proof of their income. When banks later moved to collect the information, many troubled homeowners were disqualified or dropped out.

Obama officials dispute that they pressured banks. They have defended the program, saying lenders are making more significant cuts to borrowers monthly payments than before the program was launched. And some of the largest mortgage companies in the program have offered alternative programs to those who fell out.

Homeowners who qualify can receive an interest rate as low as 2 percent for five years and a longer repayment period. Those who have successfully navigated the program to reach permanent modifications have seen their monthly payments cut on average by about $500.

Homeowners first receive temporary modifications and those are supposed to become permanent after borrowers make three payments on time and complete all the required paperwork. That includes proof of income and a letter explaining the reason for their troubles. But in practice, the process has taken far longer.

The more than 100 participating mortgage companies get taxpayer incentives to reduce payments. As of mid-June only $490 million had been spent out of a potential $75 billion the government has made available to help stem the wave of foreclosures.

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AP Real Estate Writer Alan Zibel in Washington and Alex Veiga in Los Angeles contributed to this report.

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Israel urges Lebanon to block ships to Gaza AP

UNITED NATIONS Israel urged Lebanon and the international community on Friday to prevent ships from sailing to Gaza from the Lebanese port of Tripoli to break Israels blockade of the Hamas-ruled Palestinian territory.

Israels U.N. Ambassador Gabriela Shalev said in letters to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the Security Council that her country reserves the right under international law to use all necessary means to prevent the ships from violating the naval blockade.

Shalev said a group of individuals with suspected ties to the Hezbollah terrorist organization has announced that the vessel Mariam will depart from Tripoli on Sunday en route to Gaza via a port in Cyprus, possibly via Turkish-controlled northern Cyprus.

Israels U.N. spokeswoman said the organizers also are expected to send other vessels to try to break the blockade.

In Tripoli, activist Samar al-Hajj said the Mariam will be carrying medicine and that all the passengers will be women activists.

Al-Hajj said Lebanons president, prime minister and parliament speaker refused to meet with her, which appeared to signal the governments lack of support for the venture.

A deadly Israeli commando raid on a Turkish ship trying to bring aid to Gaza on May 31 killed nine activists and focused international attention on Israels blockade of Gaza, imposed after the Islamist militant and anti-Israel Hamas violently overran the Palestinian territory in June 2007.

Under growing pressure to open Gazas borders, Israel decided to let in most consumer goods � in addition to food and medicine � but military and military-related material remain banned, and Gazans are still unable to travel or to export goods.

Shalev said the organizers attempting to break the blockade are aware of the internationally recognized and unimpeded channels to ensure delivery of aid to Gaza.

However, the organizers � similar to previous attempts by others � seek to incite a confrontation and raise tension in our region, she said. Furthermore, it cannot be ruled out that these vessels carry weapons or individuals with violent intentions.

Shalev noted the state of hostility between Israel and Lebanon, and the ongoing armed conflict between Israel and Hezbollah.

She called on the Lebanese government to demonstrate responsibility and to prevent these boats from departing to the Gaza Strip ... which will prevent any possible escalation. She also urged the international community to exert its influence to prevent the vessels departure and discourage their citizens from taking part.

Shalev sent similar letters in late July about two other ships, Junia and Julia, reportedly bound for Gaza with humanitarian aid.

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Key Venezuelan drug suspect arrested in Colombia AP

BOGOTA, Colombia A prominent Venezuelan drug trafficking suspect who has been branded a major kingpin by the U.S. government was arrested in Colombia, police said Friday.

Venezuelan Walid Makled Garcia was among several alleged smugglers named significant foreign narcotics traffickers last year by President Barack Obama. The White House requested sanctions against Makled under a law known as the Kingpin Act, which prohibits all transactions between traffickers and U.S. companies and individuals, and freezes any assets in the U.S.

Makled was arrested Thursday in the city of Cucuta near the Venezuelan border, Colombian national police director Gen. Oscar Naranjo said.

He said Makled accumulated a fortune through an alliance with rebels of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC.

Due to Makleds alliance with the FARC, they managed to introduce more than 10 tons of drugs a month into the United States and Europe, Naranjo said.

Makled is wanted by a New York court and is to be extradited to the United States, Naranjo said at a news conference where police led the handcuffed suspect past reporters.

An irate Makled proclaimed his innocence and said the accusations are a plot against him. Asked about killings in which he is implicated, he said: Do I have the face of a killer?

Naranjo called the arrest an important counter-drug victory for Colombian and U.S. authorities, saying the Venezuelan legal system also contributed.

Venezuelan prosecutors, meanwhile, announced they are also asking a court to approve an extradition request. Venezuelan authorities issued an arrest order for Makled last year through Interpol, prosecutors said in a statement Friday.

Makled has been wanted in Venezuela since November 2008, when authorities seized cocaine at a ranch he owned. Three brothers, Abdala, Alex and Basel, were arrested in the case, prosecutors said.

Makled is implicated in Venezuela in two killings, including that of journalist Orel Zambrano, a newspaper columnist who was slain in January 2009 by two gunmen on a motorcycle. Venezuelan police have accused Makled of being behind the slaying. Zambrano had been covering drug cases in which the Makled family was accused of involvement.

Venezuelan authorities also suspect Makled had links to the killing of Francisco Larrazabal, a veterinarian involved in horse racing.

Naranjo called the 43-year-old Makled � the son of a Syrian immigrant � a pseudo businessman, saying his money came from drugs rather than legitimate operations run by him and his family, including the Venezuelan airline Aeropostal. The family also had a warehousing business at Puerto Cabello, Venezuelas biggest port.

Naranjo said Colombian authorities believe Makled also had a role in the 2008 killing of Wilber Varela, alias Jabon, or Soap, one of Colombias most-wanted traffickers. Varela was found shot to death in the Venezuelan city of Merida.

In a letter published in Venezuelan newspapers in March 2009, Makled said he was in forced exile and denied involvement in Zambranos killing. Im not a murderer, and Im not a thief, Im not a cheater, Im not a drug trafficker, he wrote.

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Associated Press writers Jorge Rueda and Ian James in Caracas, Venezuela, contributed to this report.

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Obama seeks reimprisonment for Lockerbie bomber AP

VINEYARD HAVEN, Mass. The Obama administration asked Friday that the only person convicted for the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 be returned to a Scottish prison.

John Brennan, President Barack Obamas counterterrorism adviser, told reporters accompanying the vacationing leader that the U.S. has expressed our strong conviction to Scottish officials that Abdel Baset Al-Megrahi AHB-dehl BAH-seht AH-lee ahl-meh-GRAH-hee should not remain free. The comments came on the first anniversary of Al-Megrahis release.

Brennan criticized what he termed the unfortunate and inappropriate and wrong decision, and added: Weve expressed our strong conviction that Al-Begrahi should serve out the remainder - the entirety - of his sentence in a Scottish prison.

Earlier in Washington, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton issued a statement that underscored the U.S. position.

Similarly, he said the U.S. had effective and productive discussions with Libyan officials since the restoration of full diplomatic relations two years ago.

We will use those diplomatic channels to convey our sentiments on a broad range of issues to include Mr. Al-Megrahi, said Brennan.

Al-Megrahi was ordered in 2001 to serve 27 years in prison for the bombing over Lockerbie, Scotland, but was freed on Aug. 20 of last year on compassionate grounds. He was said to suffer from cancer and had just months to live.

The bombing killed 259 people onboard - mostly Americans - and 11 on the ground.

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Iran prepares to start up first nuclear reactor AP

BUSHEHR, Iran Iranian and Russian nuclear technicians made final preparations to start up Irans first reactor on Saturday after years of delays, an operation that will mark a milestone in what Tehran considers its right to produce nuclear energy.

Nationwide celebrations are planned for the fuel loading at the Bushehr facility in southern Iran, while Russia pledges to safeguard the plant and prevent spent nuclear fuel from being shifted to a possible weapons program.

The startup operations will be a big success for Iran, conservative lawmaker Javad Karimi said in Tehran. It also shows Irans resolve and capability in pursuing its nuclear activities.

The West has not sought to block the reactor startup as part of its confrontations over Irans nuclear agenda, a clash that has resulted in repeated rounds of U.N. sanctions against Tehran. Washington and other nations do not specifically object to Tehrans ability to build peaceful reactors that are under international scrutiny.

However, it is seen by hard-liners as defiance of U.N. Security Council sanctions that seek to slow Irans nuclear advances � which Tehrans foes worry could eventually push toward atomic weapons.

What concerns America and others � including Russia � is Irans refusal to halt uranium enrichment, a process that can be used to make fuel for nuclear arms.

Russia now must follow through with its agreements, signed by Iran, to remove all spent fuel at Bushehr and ship it back to Russia for reprocessing. Thats would make it impossible for Iran to use plutonium, contained in the spent fuel, for nuclear weapons. Iran has said U.N. nuclear agency experts will be able to verify none of the waste is diverted.

The uranium fuel used at Bushehr is well below the more than 90 percent enrichment needed for a nuclear warhead. Iran is already producing its own uranium enriched to the Bushehr level � about 3.5 percent. It also has started a pilot program of enriching uranium to 20 percent, which officials say is needed for a medical research reactor.

President Barack Obamas top adviser on nuclear issues, Gary Samore, told The New York Times that he thinks it would take Iran roughly a year to turn low-enriched uranium into weapons-grade material. The assessment was reportedly shared with Israel and could ease concerns over the possibility of an imminent Israeli military strike against Iranian nuclear facilities.

Irans envoy to the U.N. nuclear watchdog, Ali Asghar Soltanieh, said Thursday that any military attack against an operational nuclear power plant would be a direct violation of the U.N. charter. It also would likely provoke international outrage by possibly unleashing dangerous radiation.

Iran has repeatedly denied it is seeking to build atomic weapons and says it has a right to produce its own fuel for several nuclear power plants it plans to build.

The nuclear reactor was a goal launched by the U.S.-backed shah in the 1970s and is now a symbol of the Islamic states nuclear prowess.

Iranian officials say nationwide celebrations will begin once the fuel loading begins Saturday at the 1,000-megawatt, light-water reactor. Iran says it plans to build other reactors and says designs for a second rector in southwestern Iran are taking shape.

Of greater concern to the West, however, are Irans stated plans to build 10 new uranium enrichment sites inside protected mountain strongholds. Iran said recently it will begin construction on the first one in March in defiance of the U.N. sanctions.

Russia � which began work on the reactor in 1995 � has backed the U.N.s latest economic squeeze on Iran. But Russian officials argue that starting up the long-delayed Bushehr reactor would require Iran to deepen cooperation with U.N. nuclear inspectors and possibly lead Iran to resume talks over its uranium enrichment program.

Yet Iran has not slowed its push for military advances. Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi said Friday forces have test-fired a new liquid-fueled missile with advanced guidance systems for ground targets.

Vahidi gave no other details of the new Qiam-1 missile during a nationally broadcast address ahead of Friday prayers at Tehran University. But it could raise Western fears about another advance in Irans missile arsenal, which already can target Israel and other parts of the region.

The fuel-loading operation is expected to take at least a week at Bushehr, about 745 miles 1,200 kilometers south of Tehran. It will take more than two months before it begins generating electricity.

Experts from the U.N. nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, are expected to monitor the transfer of fuel from a storage site to the reactor, according to Vice President Ali Akbar Salehi, who is also the head of Atomic Energy Organization of Iran.

The process ends years of foot dragging by Russia. Completion of the $1 billion project has been delayed several times. Iranian officials say operation of the plant is already more than a decade behind schedule.

On Friday, security was tight at the Bushehr site. Authorities only allowed cameramen and photographers to shoot from the gate of the sprawling complex on the shores of the Gulf.

Once fuel is loaded into the reactor, the Bushehr facility will be recognized as a nuclear plant under international terms.

Hamid Reza Taraqi, another hard-line leader, claimed the launch will boost Irans international standing and will show the failure of all sanctions against Iran.

The Bushehr plant overlooks the Persian Gulf and is visible from several miles kilometers away with its cream-colored dome dominating the green landscape. Soldiers maintain a 24-hour watch on roads leading up to the plant, manning anti-aircraft guns and supported by numerous radar stations.

There are several housing facilities for employees inside the complex plus a separate large compound housing the families of Russian experts and technicians.

Russians began shipping fuel for the plant in 2007 and carried out a test-run of the plant in February 2009.

Russia has walked a fine line on Iran for years. It is one of the six powers leading international efforts to ensure Iran does not develop an atomic bomb. It has backed U.N. sanctions, but strongly criticized the U.S. and the European Union for following up with separate, stronger sanctions.

The Bushehr project dates backs to 1974, when Irans U.S.-backed Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi contracted with the German company Siemens to build the reactor. The company withdrew from the project after the 1979 Islamic Revolution toppled the shah.

The partially finished plant later sustained damages after it was bombed by Iraq during its 1980-88 war against Iran.

Before making the Russian deal to complete Bushehr, Iran signed pacts with Argentina, Spain and other countries only to see them canceled under U.S. pressure.

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Greeks feeling pain from austerity measures AP

ATHENS, Greece The plan to rescue Greece from bankruptcy has kicked in, and with a vengeance. As the government slashes spending and hikes taxes, the deficit is way down � but jobs are vanishing, shops are closing, and on the streets gloom is prevailing.

The European Union likes the swift action on the deficit. But few Greeks are in a mood to celebrate. Many predict a fall of strikes and demonstrations as those who could afford a summer holiday return to a grim reality.

On paper, the turnaround is working. The Finance Ministry said Friday the budget deficit has narrowed by a whopping 39.7 percent on the year, slightly better than the original target. The European Union, which demanded the cuts in return for bailout loans, is positively purring.

On Thursday, the EU said Greeces efforts to slash spending were impressive.

Less impressed are shop owners, who say consumers have tightened their purse strings, cutting down on the nonessentials. Higher taxes and cuts in civil servant pay are removing the boost of government spending from the economy.

Civil servants used to come in and buy a double espresso and something to eat. Now they get a single espresso, and a cheaper sandwich, said Constantinos Garyfallou, who spends about 15 hours a day running a coffee shop just off Athens central Syntagma Square and near several ministries and state-run services.

Even small changes in consumer spending � 50 cents less per customer each day � could translate to a fall in revenue for his coffee shop of about euro4,000 $5,000 a month.

Nobody can withstand a fall like that, Garyfallou said.

Struggling under a mountain of debt, Greece was forced this year to ask for rescue loans from the International Monetary Fund and other European Union countries that use the euro as their currency in order to avoid defaulting on its loans.

In return, the center-left government is having to implement a strict austerity program that has seen it cut the pay of Greeces more than 700,000 civil servants, trim pensions, hike taxes and overhaul pension and employment rules. The main target is to slash the budget deficit to 8.1 percent of gross domestic product by the end of the year, from the current 13.6 percent � more than four times the limit for eurozone countries.

The first batch of loans under the three year, euro110 billion package arrived in May, a day before Athens faced default when it had to reservice maturing bond debt. The EU has recommended approval of a second batch in September.

By then, there will probably be more shuttered shopfronts on the main streets of Athens.

In addition to the drop in turnover, banks are increasingly reluctant to hand out loans. For many businesses, the combined pinch has just been too much.

Have you seen all the for rent signs in the center? Ive never seen anything like it in the past 30 years, said Georgia Brezati, owner of a clothes shop just off the popular pedestrian shopping street of Ermou in central Athens, where a report this month by the National Confederation of Hellenic Commerce, or ESEE, said 15 percent of shops had shut down.

A recent survey by the Athens Chamber of Commerce and Industry revealed that 86 percent of the 523 businesses questioned said they were suffering cash flow problems, while a staggering 93 percent had suffered a fall in turnover due to the financial crisis.

The chambers head, Constantinos Mihalos, criticized the government for implementing policies restricted only to serving the interests of our lenders, ignoring the serious problems of the market and of society in general.

Some economists think the emphasis on austerity could be misplaced, and in the end could make repaying Greeces debts harder by choking off growth.

Businesses in the center of Athens have also suffered from the frequent strikes and sometimes-violent demonstrations last spring, when angry Greeks took to the streets to protest the austerity program, blocking traffic from the city center for hours. Shop owners often have to close and board up their windows to protect them from youths hurling rocks and Molotov cocktails, and customers stay away.

Last May, three people died trapped in a burning bank torched by protesters on Stadiou Street, along a demonstration route.

It is that street � one of the capitals main thoroughfares � that has been the worst hit by store closures, with about 25 percent rolling down their shutters and moving out, according to ESEE figures.

Brezati, who couldnt afford to go on a summer vacation for the first time in years, said she kept her store open all summer but was barely seeing a couple of customers a day. Her business would survive, she explained, because she owned the store, but many around her who were renting just couldnt make ends meet and have thrown in the towel.

Panagis Karelas, head of the of Athens Traders Association, expects closures to continue.

There is a climate of insecurity which has hit turnover and means that Greek business owners, big or small, will not dare to invest in the future. So more businesses are closing and more people are losing their jobs, he said.

Unemployment hit 12 percent in May, slightly up from 11.9 percent the previous month, while the countrys GDP fell by 1.5 percent in the second quarter of 2010, compared to the first three months of the year.

And the fall is set to be tough, with the government planning to loosen state control of power generation, privatize loss-making state enterprises and liberalize tightly regulated professions that are sapping productivity.

Unions have promised more strikes and demonstrations. Which will only increase the pain.

____

Associated Press writer Derek Gatopoulos contributed to this report.

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Veteran Dutch Mideast reporter Conny Mus dies AP

AMSTERDAM Conny Mus, a veteran Dutch correspondent in the Middle East who covered conflicts from Romanias revolution to the wars in Iraq, died Friday while on vacation in his home country, the RTL broadcasting company said. He was 59.

RTL said he died of a heart attack in his sleep.

Mus was one of the Netherlands best-known broadcast and television reporters. He began reporting from Jerusalem as a freelance journalist in 1982 and joined RTL at its inception in 1989. He appeared on air more than 1,300 times for the broadcaster. He also was a columnist for several magazines.

RTLs news director Harm Taselaar called him an icon of the news department, and an exceptionally good and passionate journalist.

In addition to covering to covering Mideast conflicts since Israels 1982 war in Lebanon, Mus reported on the 1989 fall of Romanian leader Nicolae Ceausescu, wars in Kosovo and Iraq, the 1999 earthquake in Turkey and elections in Cambodia.

Mus was the current chairman of the Foreign Press Association in Israel, a position he had held off-and-on since 1990.

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Teenage Dutch sailor girl to set off Saturday AP

PORTIMAO, Portugal A 14-year-old Dutch girl will set off Saturday on an attempt to become the youngest person to sail solo around the world, her manager said.

Laura Dekkers ambition of completing the yearlong trip have fueled a global debate over the wisdom of allowing young sailors to take on the tremendous risks of sailing the high seas alone

A court last month released her from the guardianship of Dutch child protection agencies who had tried to block her voyage because of fears about her safety and psychological health.

Manager Peter Klarenbeek said Laura would depart from the southern Portuguese port of Portimao on her 38-foot 11.5-meter yacht Guppy.

We are testing equipment now and I cant give a departure time, but it will be obvious when she leaves, well be on the dockside to say goodbye, Klarenbeek said.

Windless conditions off the southwestern coast of Portugal could make the first part of her journey painfully slow.

Marijke Schaaphok, one of the directors of Masmedia, a company filming the trip with remote cameras, said Laura was very mature for her age.

She grew up with her father on a boat so shes completely different from a normal 14-year-old girl. Shes very wise and a little bit impatient, but shes a very nice girl and she knows exactly what she wants.

Schaaphok said the first port of call will be Spains Canary Islands or Portugals Madeira, depending on the winds. She said Laura chose Portugal to start for logistical reasons.

It seems to be easier to end there. The part from Portugal going back to Holland is not easy or quick so she decided to start there and end there as well. she said. It has everything to do with the wind and the route.

Laura has been working to counter objections to her voyage since the authorities stepped in last year. She got a bigger, sturdier boat, took courses in first aid and practiced coping with sleep deprivation. She also made at least one solo trip across the North Sea to England.

The Dutch court ruled that her preparations were adequate and it was up to her parents, who are divorced, to decide whether to let her make the attempt.

In June, American Abby Sunderland, 16 had to be rescued in a remote section of the Indian Ocean during an attempt to circle the globe. Earlier this year, Australian Jessica Watson, completed a 210-day voyage at age 16.

But while Watson remained at sea nonstop, Laura plans to stop at dozens of ports and may even return home to catch up on her studies before resuming her trip.

If she completes the voyage, any record she claims would be unofficial and likely to be challenged. The Guinness World Records and the World Sailing Speed Record Council have decided they will no longer recognize records for youngest sailors to avoid encouraging dangerous attempts.

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Associated Press writers Ciaran Giles and Harold Heckle in Madrid and Mike Corder in The Hague, Netherlands contributed to this report.

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Poll: Nearly 6 in 10 oppose war in Afghanistan AP

LAWRENCE, Mass. A majority of Americans see no end in sight in Afghanistan, and nearly six in 10 oppose the nine-year-old war as President Barack Obama sends tens of thousands more troops to the fight, according to a new Associated Press-GfK poll.

With just over 10 weeks before nationwide elections that could define the remainder of Obamas first term, only 38 percent say they support his expanded war effort in Afghanistan � a drop from 46 percent in March. Just 19 percent expect the situation to improve during the next year, while 29 percent think it will get worse. Some 49 percent think it will remain the same.

The numbers could be ominous for the president and his Democratic Party, already feeling the heat for high unemployment, a slow economic recovery and a $1.3 trillion federal deficit. Strong dissent � 58 percent oppose the war � could depress Democratic turnout when the party desperately needs to energize its supporters for midterm congressional elections.

A majority of Americans do welcome Obamas decision to end combat operations in Iraq. Some 68 percent approve, a number unchanged from earlier this year. The last American combat brigade began leaving Iraq on Thursday, ahead of Obamas Aug. 31 deadline for ending the U.S. combat role there.

Seven years after that conflict began, 65 percent oppose the war in Iraq and just 31 percent favor it.

The growing frustration with the Afghanistan war was evident in Massachusetts 5th Congressional District, not far from Concord where Minutemen fought for a new nation in 1775. In Lawrence, whose textile mills once relied on the roaring Merrimack River, exasperation with the war in Afghanistan is evident.

If they could resolve the issue, stabilize the government, that would be good. But we cant do this forever and lose more lives, said Terry Landers, 53, an electrician from North Andover.

U.S. troops have suffered more than 1,100 deaths in Afghanistan since fighting began in October 2001, including a monthly record of 66 in July. Last fall, Obama authorized an increase in the force in Afghanistan by 30,000 to 100,000 troops � triple the level from 2008. Many in Congress are increasingly doubtful that the military effort can succeed without a tough campaign against bribery and graft that have eroded the Afghan peoples trust in their government.

Opinions in the poll � and among those interviewed � were more positive about Iraq as Obamas deadline for the exit of U.S. combat forces approached.

I think we really need to give them an opportunity to economically, socially grow, said Mary Campbell, 56, a Lawrence city worker. I think its more helpful if were not in their face all the time, so the deadline is, I think, a good thing, to see how stable they are.

The congressional seat is held by Rep. Niki Tsongas, a Democrat who is the widow of a former senator and one of the partys 1992 presidential contenders, Paul Tsongas. Four Republicans and one independent are seeking to oust her in November, with the primary next month.

Lawrence has lost two sons in Iraq of the more than 4,400 Americans killed since fighting began in March 2003. Obama ran for president in part on a pledge to pull out of Iraq and divert U.S. resources to Afghanistan, and that shift has been accompanied by a changing death toll in each country.

The war views expressed in a Lawrence diner, in a park across from City Hall and at an Essex Street hot dog cart, were echoed by poll participants across the country.

Bea Boynton, 57, of Marysville, Pa., said she is less supportive of the wars than when Obama took office.

I just think its not going well. Too many of our men and women are being killed, she said of Afghanistan in particular.

Boynton, a registered Democrat who voted for Republican John McCain in 2008, added: I dont think what we initially set out to do has been done. I mean, we still dont have Osama bin Laden.

Erika Hickert, 68, a retired school teacher in Maricopa, Ariz., said she is an independent who voted for Obama in 2008 and would do so again if given the chance. She felt the same about the wars.

Im just tired of taking care of the world, Hickert said. They need to learn to take care of themselves, and war isnt the way to teach them.

She also doesnt distinguish between Iraq and Afghanistan, even with the conflict winding down in one while ramping up in the other.

I think of them as one big conflict, said Hickert. Were militarily supporting both of them.

Landers, the electrician, was among those with split opinions about Afghanistan in particular.

A registered Republican who voted for McCain, Landers said he did not favor pulling out of Afghanistan despite his concern about the mounting death toll and his opposition to a long-term combat role.

I think we need to get the government stabilized before we get out of there. I dont know how we can do that, though, he said.

Campbell, the city worker, is a Democrat who voted for Obama. She has a son-in-law in the Marine Reserves who has already made one tour of Iraq and is slated to head back to the Middle East next year.

I think its important that, as citizen of the United States, where we live in a free country ... that we help support the mission of bringing along peace, she said.

Another poll respondent, Jeff Foust, 60, a retired public defender in Springfield, Ill., was more sanguine.

All we can do is continue to provide some support but I think that we cant stay in either country for a long term with large numbers of troops, said Foust, a Democrat who voted for Obama in 2008 and said he would again. Weve been there long enough in both places that winning is up to the people that live there.

The AP-GfK Poll was conducted August 11-16 by GfK Roper Public Affairs and Corporate Communications. It involved landline and cell phone interviews with 1,007 adults nationwide, and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 4.5 percentage points.

___

Associated Press Polling Director Trevor Tompson, AP News Survey Specialist Dennis Junius and AP writers Lauren Sausser and Ileana Morales in Washington contributed to this report.

___

Online:

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

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Twelve charged over iTunes scam

20 August 2010 Last updated at 10:32 ET

Twelve people are to face court accused of using stolen credit cards to buy their own songs on iTunes, police said.

A gang is alleged to have created about 20 songs and uploaded them to be sold on the iTunes and Amazon online sites.

They are alleged to have used stolen or cloned credit cards to buy songs worth �469,000 and cream off the royalties.

Raids took place in London, Birmingham, Wolverhampton and Kent. Twelve people are due at City of Westminster Magistrates Court on 15 September.

The suspects were questioned by members of Scotland Yards e-crime unit after the raids.

FBI assistance

The move followed a joint investigation with the FBI into claims that an international criminal gang targeted the two online music stores.

Eight men will appear at City of Westminster Magistrates Court charged with conspiracy to defraud.

They are:

• Denver White, 24, a care worker, of Helming Drive, Wolverhampton
• Rajan Aheer, 20, a librarian, of Wellington Road, Wolverhampton
• Craig Anderson, 23, unemployed, of Edwin Road, Dartford, Kent
• Arran Jassi, 20, a postal worker, of Denmore Gardens, Wolverhampton
• Sandeep Aheer, 22, unemployed, of Wellington Road, Wolverhampton
• Colton Johnson, 19, unemployed, of Deansfield Road, Wolverhampton
• Lamar Johnson, 19, of Birmingham; and James Batchelor, 27, a teacher, of Stone Hill Road, Derby

Four more suspects will appear alongside them accused of money laundering.

They are:

• Siobhan Clarke, 23, a hairdresser, of Limes Avenue, Carshalton, Surrey
• Sheahan Steele, 41, a drugs counsellor, of Pakfield Walk, Aston, Birmingham
• Matthew Clarke, 31, unemployed, of Cross Farm Road, Birmingham
• Leon Miles, 19, unemployed, of Brooklands Parade, Wolverhampton

All are currently on bail.

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Source: Israel, Palestinians to hold talks Sept. 2 AP

BRUSSELS A senior European diplomat says Israel and the Palestinians are expected to agree to hold direct talks beginning Sept. 2 in Washington.

The diplomat said on condition of anonymity Friday that the United States, the European Union, Russia and the U.N. are to issue a joint invitation for a return to peace talks later in the day.

The talks will begin in Washington and address final status issues � borders, Jerusalem, and Palestinian refugees.

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US says Israel, Palestinians to resume peace talks AP

WASHINGTON Obama administration officials say Israel and the Palestinians have agreed to resume direct peace negotiations.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton was preparing to make the announcement at the State Department Friday morning, according to two officials who spoke anonymously in advance of the announcement.

The Obama administration has been pushing for a speedy resumption of face-to-face negotiations that broke down in December 2008. U.S. special Mideast envoy George Mitchell has been shuttling between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas for months in a bid to get them to agree.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. APs earlier story is below.

WASHINGTON AP � Obama administration officials say an agreement between Israel and the Palestinians to resume direct peace talks is imminent, a small but important step toward easing tensions in the region.

An announcement on restarting the peace process after more than a year and a half was expected as early as Friday, said administration officials familiar with the matter. They spoke Thursday on condition of anonymity due to the delicacy of the ongoing diplomacy.

Resumption of the talks would mark a diplomatic victory for the White House, which has struggled to get both sides back to the bargaining table.

We think we are very, very close to a decision by the parties to enter into direct negotiations, State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley told reporters Thursday. We think were well positioned to get there.

Crowley said Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton had called Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad and spoken with Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair. Blair is the special representative of the Quartet of Mideast peacemakers � the U.S., the U.N., the European Union and Russia.

Plans called for the Quartet and the U.S. to release separate statements saying the stalled talks will resume early next month in either the U.S. or Egypt, officials said.

The two statements would serve as invitations for the talks, they said. The Israelis and Palestinians were expected to promptly accept the invitations, the officials said.

Crowley declined comment on the specific arrangements. As part of the Quartet we are prepared to demonstrate our support for the parties as they move towards this decision, he said.

The Palestinians had been balking at direct talks until the Quartet repeated their support for a March statement calling for a peace deal based on the pre-1967 Mideast war borders, and for talks to be completed within two years.

But Israel rejected that, saying it amounted to placing conditions on the negotiations.

Timing of the talks is critical because of religious holidays, the upcoming annual session of the U.N. General Assembly in the third week of September and the Sept. 26 expiration of a temporary 10-month freeze on Israeli settlement activity in the West Bank.

Israeli and Palestinian officials refused to comment. They said they would react after an official announcement is made.

The Obama administration has been pushing for a speedy resumption of face-to-face negotiations that broke down in December 2008. U.S. special Mideast envoy George Mitchell has been shuttling between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas for months in a bid to get them to agree.

Abbas is wary of entering open-ended talks with Netanyahu, who has retreated from some concessions offered by his predecessors. Abbas wants Israel to accept the principle of Palestinian statehood in the lands Israel occupied in the 1967 war with minor modifications, and wants all Jewish settlement activity halted during the talks.

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Southern Kyrgyz mayor challenges govt authority AP

OSH, Kyrgyzstan Kyrgyzstans interim government suffered a humiliating blow Friday as a powerful opponent refused to step down as mayor of a southern city devastated by deadly ethnic violence two months ago.

Osh Mayor Melis Myrzakmatov � a self-avowed Kyrgyz nationalist in this former Soviet republic in Central Asia � told a rally of about 3,000 people in the citys main square that he would defy government efforts to have him fired.

I am going nowhere. I am with the people, I am with you, Myrzakmatov told the crowd to loud cheers.

The mayors show of force challenged the authority of the interim government, which took power after former President Kurmanbek Bakiyev was ousted in a bloody street revolt in April. In June, renewed violence between ethnic Kyrgyz mobs and minority Uzbeks killed at least 370 people, mainly Uzbeks, and forced 400,000 others to flee.

Myrzakmatov, a former Bakiyev loyalist, has fought to keep his job despite his allys ouster. The mayors supporters delivered fiery speeches at Fridays rally condemning the government and calling for interim President Roza Otunbayeva to step down.

Government deputy leader Azimbek Beknazarov � who stood flanked by bodyguards and holding a reinforced briefcase to his chest at the mayors rally Friday � was heckled when he gave a brief speech confirming that Myrzakmatov is still the mayor of Osh, even though he was offered other jobs in the interim government.

Some in the crowd then lashed out at Beknazarov, hitting and kicking him before his security detail whisked him away.

An analyst said the rally showed the country was in danger of splitting between two camps claiming legitimacy of power.

The government has essentially lost control of part of the country, said Paul Quinn-Judge, Central Asian project director for International Crisis Group.

Hundreds of Myrzakmatovs supporters gathered Thursday in Osh amid mounting speculation that the government planned to dismiss him as mayor.

Tensions rose further after Myrzakmatov told Russian newspaper Kommersant in an interview published Thursday he would refuse to recognize the interim governments authority and would not acknowledge the legitimacy of its decrees.

This further undermines the diminishing authority of the president, who put her prestige and authority very much behind removing Melis Myrzakmatov, Quinn-Judge said.

Myrzakmatov has alarmed the government by making strong nationalist statements perceived as marginalizing the Uzbek community, stoking fears of renewed ethnic clashes.

Speaking at the rally, Oshs police chief Kursan Asanov also offered support to Myrzakmatov � adding to concern about the central governments control over law enforcement in the south.

Osh, Kyrgyzstans second-largest city, was a power base for the ousted president and his family. The ethnically mixed city of Kyrgyz and Uzbeks lies on the fringe of the fertile Ferghana Valley near Uzbekistan and Tajikistan on one of the most heavily used routes for Afghan heroin heading to Russia.

Many in the city have criticized the governments recent decision to invite a 52-member delegation of police advisers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

Amid the protests, the unarmed force looks unlikely to arrive next week as the government had hoped.

Otunbayeva went to Armenia on Thursday for an informal summit of the Russian-dominated security grouping of several ex-Soviet nations, the Collective Security Treaty Organization.

Quinn-Judge suggested her decision to leave Kyrgyzstan as her governments authority was being questioned could further erode her standing.

Kyrgyzstan, which hosts both U.S. and Russian military bases, plans to hold parliamentary elections in October in which current interim government members are barred from entering. A June constitutional referendum also reduced presidential powers in favor of those of the parliament.

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Al-Qaida in Iraq claims army recruit bombing AP

BAGHDAD An al-Qaida in Iraq front group on Friday claimed responsibility for the suicide bombing this week that killed 61 Iraqi army recruits in the deadliest single act of violence in Baghdad in months.

The Islamic State of Iraq, which includes al-Qaida in Iraq and other allied Sunni insurgent factions, boasted that its operative easily passed through checkpoints before detonating his explosives belt in a crowd of officers and recruits outside army headquarters Tuesday.

The bomber was able to break all barriers and strike Shiite infidels and other apostates who were selling their religion, the group said in a statement posted on a militant website.

The Iraqi armys recruitment drive aimed to hire soldiers from of the countrys poorest Shiite areas. The Islamic State of Iraq is a Sunni extremist group that considers Shiites heretics.

The bombing, which also wounded at least 125 people, once again raised concerns about the Iraqi security forces readiness to protect their country at a time when all but 50,000 U.S. troops are heading home.

A senior adviser to Iraqs top Shiite cleric blasted the countrys police and military leadership Friday for failing to protect military recruits despite repeated attacks on them in the past.

Several attacks have occurred against gatherings of recruits, yet security forces failed to take precautionary measures to protect them, said Sheik Abdul-Mahdi al-Karbalaie during Fridays sermon in the holy city of Karbala.

Al-Karbalaie is a top representative of the revered cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, whose views carry great weight with Iraqs Shiite majority. Al-Karbalaie called on the government to take firm action against those responsible for the security breach.

Suspected Sunni militants have frequently targeted Iraqs policemen and soldiers looking to expose the inability of the Shiite-dominated government to protect the country, particularly in light of the looming departure of the U.S. military.

The U.S. plans to withdraw all combat forces by Aug. 31, leaving only 50,000 troops to help train Iraqi security forces. As of Friday, there were an estimated 52,000 U.S. soldiers were still in Iraq.

Also Friday, three people were killed and three more wounded in south Baghdads Dora neighborhood by bomb hidden in a trash heap, police and hospital officials said on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to reporters.

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Associated Press writer Bushra Juhi contributed to this report.

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70 years on, Britain remembers the few AP

LONDON Vintage World War II fighter planes will fly over London Friday to pay tribute to the few � pilots who defended the country from German attack during the Battle of Britain.

Between July and October 1940, Royal Air Force fighter squadrons battled German bombers that pounded Britains cities and airfields as preparation for a planned invasion.

Friday marks the 70th anniversary of Prime Minister Winston Churchills rousing House of Commons speech, in which he said of the air crews that never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.

Phil Reed, director of the Churchill War Rooms museum, said the speech epitomized Churchills ability to capture in the most stirring way the spirit of a nation fighting for its existence.

Actor Robert Hardy will read the speech at a ceremony attended by Churchills daughter Lady Mary Soames, wartime singer Vera Lynn and Battle of Britain veterans, followed by a fly over of Spitfire and Hurricane fighters.

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Bodies recovered after attack on Afghan road crew AP

KABUL, Afghanistan At least seven bodies have been taken to a hospital in the capital of southern Helmand province following a Taliban attack on a road construction crew.

Lashkar Gah hospital director Dr. Enayatullah Ghafari said Friday the seven died of bullet wounds. They worked for an unidentified road construction company.

Deputy provincial police chief Kamaluddin Khan says Afghan police are investigating reports that as many as 35 people were killed in the fighting since at least Thursday in Sangin district. He says the casualties cannot be confirmed because the area is under Taliban control.

Deputy Afghan army corps commander in the area, Ghulam Farooq Parwani, reported that 21 people from the construction crew and 13 Taliban had been killed.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. APs earlier story is below.

KABUL, Afghanistan AP � A deputy commander in an al-Qaida linked insurgent group was apprehended in an overnight operation in eastern Afghanistan that claimed the life of a woman, NATO said Friday.

Separately, the coalition reported that three more international soldiers � including one American � had been killed in the south. Nationalities of two of the victims were not released. They died in a roadside bombing Friday and the American was killed Thursday, officials said.

The latest deaths brought to at least 18 the number of American troops killed so far this month and 31 for the entire multinational force.

NATO said the deputy commander, who was captured by a joint Afghan and coalition force in Khost province, ran weapons for the Haqqani network and reported directly to the groups senior leaders across the border in Pakistan. U.S. officials have described the Haqqani network as the most potent threat to American forces in Afghanistan.

When the troops arrived at the scene, they saw two men running from the targeted compound to another nearby. They fired after seeing someone point a weapon out of a window. Inside the room, they found one woman dead and another with a minor injury. An AK-47 was next to the female victim and a rifle and another AK-47 also was found in the building, NATO said.

Afghan and coalition forces do not intentionally target women and we take these incidents very seriously, said U.S. Army Col. Rafael Torres, a spokesman for the coalition. We are taking a step-by-step approach in investigating what happened during this operation.

Troops at the scene treated the injured woman, who was later evacuated along with two male relatives to a coalition forces medical facility.

While questioning the men at the scene, the security force identified and detained the deputy commander along with several suspected insurgents. In the compound where the commander was captured, the security force found an AK-47, a rifle, seven grenades, six magazines and an ammunition belt.

Also in the south, an assistant police chief was killed by a roadside bomb on Thursday and three other policemen were injured when insurgents attacked a police post in the Dihrawud district of Uruzgan province, according to Gulab Khan, the deputy provincial police chief. Three civilians were killed in the same district Thursday by a bomb that was meant for another police official, district chief Khalfa Sadat said.

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Associated Press Writer Mirwais Khan in Kandahar contributed to this report.

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