Argentine president moves to control newsprint AP

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina The government moved Tuesday to take over Argentinas only newsprint maker, alleging two leading newspapers illegally conspired with dictators to control the company three decades ago and then used it to drive competing media out of business.

President Cristina Fernandez said the courts should decide whether the Grupo Clarin and La Nacion media companies should be charged with crimes against humanity � specifically whether the newsprint company was illegally expropriated by the newspapers and the military junta.

The companies, with which Fernandez has been feuding for two years, deny any illegality in the acquisition of the newsprint maker, or other crimes. They accuse Fernandez of baldly trying to control the essential material needed to guarantee freedom of expression, a position supported by the Inter-American Press Association and other media groups.

Speaking in a national broadcast, Fernandez said she was defending those rights. She accused Grupo Clarin and La Nacion of using the newsprint company, Papel Prensa SA, to impose media monopolies on Argentina, stifling other viewpoints by refusing to sell paper at fair prices to competitors.

She showed a headline from the opposition Clarin newspaper saying Who controls Papel Prensa controls the written word, and said she couldnt agree more.

Papel Prensa is the only company that produces newsprint in this country, Fernandez said, and its a vertically integrated monopoly. It determines who it sells to, how much it sells and at what price. And so yes, whoever controls it controls the written word in the Republic of Argentina.

Fernandez presented the conclusions of a government investigation of Papel Prensas history and economic activities � some 23,000 pages in all, stacked in large piles on a table beside her podium � and said her human rights secretary would send it to the justice system for consideration of rights charges against owners of the two media companies.

She further said she would propose legislation declaring newsprint supply to be a matter of national interest, subject to government regulation that guarantees equal and fair distribution to all of Argentinas newspapers. Papel Prensa sells newsprint to more than 130 clients across the country.

And she said the executive branch would invest to develop enough newsprint domestically to supply all the countrys needs. This product should not be imported, she said.

Since the 1976-83 dictatorship, Papel Prensa has been jointly owned in roughly three equal shares between Clarin, La Nacion and Argentinas government � now Fernandezs leftist administration that is pushing prosecutions of crimes against humanity committed by the military junta.

Human rights groups, which have a prominent role in the government, accuse La Nacion and Clarin of being conspicuously silent about dirty war crimes committed against leftists and other opponents of the dictatorship.

Fernandez said the newspapers obtained Papel Prensa through a forced sale in 1976 at a time when the military junta was doing all it could to destroy the companys owner, David Graiver, a prominent banker who was secretly supporting the leftist Montonero guerrillas at the time. Graiver died in a suspicious plane crash, sending his company into bankruptcy and leaving his widow, Lidia Papaleo, and parents to face the dictators.

And five days after she signed the papers selling the company, she was detained. And during her detention, she was raped, tortured, beaten in the head. The same luck was suffered by her in-laws and other members of their company, the president said. They had been forced to sell � and their detention was delayed so that the buyers could claim they obtained the company in good faith.

The owners of La Nacion and Clarin denied participating in any crime against humanity, saying that Papaleo freely sold the company to emerge from bankruptcy before beginning her long jail term and that she never formally alleged any forced sale or fraud after Argentina recovered its democracy.

Never, in 27 years of democracy, has Papel Prensa faced an administrative or judicial question about its origin, they said in a joint statement earlier Tuesday.

After Fernandezs broadcast, Clarin ran a headline quoting an opposition lawmaker as saying Today the government crossed the line between democracy and authoritarianism. A headline in La Nacion declared: The President wants an official press.

The brother of Graivers widow said that she did not plan to comment Tuesday, but that she supports the allegation the newspaper groups conspired with the junta to seize the company. Osvaldo Papaleo said in a radio interviews that his sister hadnt come forward previously out of fear and feels this is the first government to promise her protection.

Attorney Alberto Gonzalez Arzac, who helped prepare the report displayed by Fernandez, opened the national address by declaring that the Graivers suffered death threats, illegal pressure, kidnappings, illegal detention in clandestine places, the seizure of their property and torture.

It has been conclusively verified that the newspapers acted illegally as participants in the transfer of stock, and shows that the truth about Papel Prensa has surfaced in an undeniable manner, he said.

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BT ad banned over broadband claim

24 August 2010 Last updated at 20:13 ET

An advert for telecommunications firm BT has been banned for misleading customers over broadband speeds.

In a TV advert, a voice-over said BT is rolling out up to 20 meg speeds to give consistently faster broadband.

The Advertising Standards Authority, which received 17 complaints, said it had not seen sufficient evidence to support the claim and concluded that the advert was likely to mislead.

BT said it was disappointed by the ASAs adjudication.

After the complaints were made, BT told the ASA that the sequence shown in the advert had not been intended to be an actual comparison.

The advert - an instalment in an ongoing campaign about Adam and Jane - showed Adam being shown around a property by an estate agent as he talked to his partner, Jane, on his mobile.

She was seen viewing the house online from her home computer, loading a website faster than the estate agent at peak time, before a voiceover said: BT is rolling out up to 20 meg speeds to give you a consistently faster broadband throughout the day even at peak times.

A similar message was carried in radio and press adverts.

There were 17 complaints from the public and competitors Sky, TalkTalk and Virgin.

Some felt the 20Mb megabits per second claim was misleading and could not be substantiated.

Others believed surfing a typical website would not be any faster with a 20Mb service than it would with BTs original 8Mb service.

And three people said the speed at which the Jane character navigated various web pages was faster than anyone could achieve at any connection speed.

In reaching its decision, the ASA said: Because we had not seen sufficient evidence to support the claim that BTs new broadband service was consistently faster than its existing 8Mb service even at peak times, we concluded that the ad was likely to mislead.

The advertising watchdog said viewers could expect the internet speed demonstrated by Jane to be available to them, adding that this was not the case.

It concluded: We noted BTs new service was available to fewer than half of all households and the roll-out, increasing that figure to 75%, was anticipated to take around two years.

We noted that a significant proportion of the population could not get the service at the time the ad appeared and therefore considered the ad should have made that clear. Because it did not, we concluded that it was likely to mislead.

Highlighting higher speeds

The watchdog ruled that the adverts must not appear again in their current form.

In a statement, BT said: We are disappointed by the ASAs adjudication.

At the time the ads appeared, BT had just started rolling out a new up-to-20Mb broadband service across the country and we wanted to highlight the higher speeds available in newly enabled exchange areas offering customers consistently faster web browsing in comparison to BTs up-to-8Mb service.

There was certainly no intention to mislead.

It said the claims made in the advertising included independent data from broadband monitoring firm Epitiro and a statistician.

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UN says 800,000 cut off by Pakistan floods AP

ISLAMABAD Floods have isolated about 800,000 people in Pakistan who are now only reachable by air and aid workers need at least 40 more helicopters to ferry lifesaving aid to the increasingly desperate people, the United Nations said.

The appeal Tuesday was an indication of the massive problems facing the relief effort in Pakistan more than three weeks after the floods hit the country, affecting more than 17 million people and raising concerns about possible social unrest and political instability.

These unprecedented floods pose unprecedented logistical challenges, and this requires an extraordinary effort by the international community, said John Holmes, U.N. under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs.

Earlier, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said hundreds of health facilities had been damaged and tens of thousands of medical workers displaced and the countrys chief meteorologist warned that it would be two weeks until the Indus River � the focus of the flooding still sweeping through the country � returns to normal levels.

Qamar-uz-Zaman Chaudhry said high tides in the Arabian Sea would slow the drainage of the Indus into it, but that those tides would begin changing Wednesday. He said the Indus would reach peak flood stage late this week.

The flood situation is not yet over, Chaudhry said.

The floods began with hammering monsoon rains in the northwest and have swept southwards.

Many of those cut off are in the mountainous northwest, where roads and bridges have been swept away.

The United States has deployed at least 18 helicopters that are flying regular relief missions, but the United Nations said it would need at least 40 more heavy-lift choppers working at full-capacity to reach the estimated 800,000 stranded in the country.

The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees estimates that about 700,000 Pakistanis have been forced into makeshift settlements just in the southern province of Sindh.

While there have been no major disease outbreaks because of the floods, aid agencies are increasingly worried, saying contaminated water and a lack of proper sanitation were already causing a spike in medical problems in camps for the displaced.

Pakistan and its people are experiencing the worst natural calamity of its history, Gilani said at a meeting on health issues in the flood zone. As human misery continues to mount, we are seriously concerned with spread of epidemic diseases.

More than 3.5 million children are at risk from waterborne diseases, he said, and skin diseases, respiratory infections and malnutrition are spreading in flooded areas.

The problem is compounded by the floods impact on the countrys medical system � which has long been badly overstretched and underfunded. Gilani said the floods had damaged more than 200 health facilities, and that about one-third of the countrys 100,000 women health workers have been displaced. Those health workers are the main primary medical care to millions of rural Pakistani women.

Dr. Jahanzeb Orakzai, Pakistans national health coordinator, said a team has been formed to oversee the response to any flood-related health emergencies.

Health problems usually arise in flood-affected areas after four to six weeks, and we need to be alert and prepared to tackle the situation, he said.

The aid group World Vision said it could be three months until some families are able to return to their homes.

People are in urgent need of almost everything: shelter, health clinics, clean water, sanitation and livelihood support, Mike Bailey, the groups regional manager for advocacy said in a statement.

Local charities, the Pakistani army and international agencies are providing food, water, medicine and shelter to the displaced, but millions have received little or no help.

On Monday, President Asif Ali Zardari defended the governments much-criticized response to the floods, but acknowledged recovery would take a very long time.

Three years is a minimum, Zardari said in an interview Monday with a small group of foreign reporters in Islamabad.

On Tuesday, officials announced that the government would give 20,000 rupees $230 to every family affected by the floods, with a statement from Zardaris spokesman calling the payment initial assistance.

Since the floods first swept the country, the Taliban and al-Qaida have been relatively quiet. But on Monday, three bomb attacks rocked the northwest, one of which killed the head of an anti-Taliban militia on the outskirts of the main city of Peshawar.

___

Associated Press writer Tim Sullivan contributed to this report.

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Experts: Exoplanet could be smallest ever found AP

GENEVA Scientists say theyve identified a sun-like star with as many as seven different planets � including one that might be the smallest ever found outside the solar system.

If confirmed, the planetary system around HD 10180, a star more than 100 light years distant, would be the richest ever discovered. One astronomer says its part of a growing body of evidence that the universe is full of planets � and that several could be similar to our own.

The really nice thing about finding systems like this is that it shows that there are many more out there, said Alan Boss, of the Washington-based Carnegie Institution for Science, who wasnt involved with the find. Mother Nature really had fun making planets.

Although most of the planets identified are large � about 13 to 25 times the mass of our home � those behind the discovery, announced Tuesday at an international conference in France, say theyre nearly certain theyve identified one only 1.4 times the size of Earth.

Planets found outside the solar system are called exoplanets and this would be the smallest one ever spotted.

Scientists have been successfully hunting exoplanets for about 15 years, and theyve now catalogued some 450. But most finds have been limited to one or two or three planets per star, usually gargantuan balls of gas similar to Jupiter or Saturn.

But at up to seven planets, the new discovery nearly matches our own solar system, which counts eight.

Christophe Lovis of Geneva University, one of the scientists behind the find, said the first five were most comparable to Neptune.

They are made essentially of rocks and ice. They have a solid core. But on top of that is a layer of gas, of hydrogen and helium most likely, he said. They are probably not habitable.

The sixth is possibly a Saturn-like planet, while the seventh, the smallest, would be so close to its star that its year would take just over a day.

Lovis and his team havent been able to observe the planets directly, which is typical. Few planets can be seen against the blazing light given off by their much more massive parent stars. The European Southern Observatory compares the challenge to spotting a dim candle in front of a raging forest fire.

So the scientists used the observatorys 3.6 meter 11.8 foot telescope at La Silla, Chile, to study the star itself. Over six years, they took 190 measurements, checking it for the telltale wobbling caused by the gravitational forces of nearby planets.

Boss noted that the method was biased toward finding the big guys because the greater the planet, the greater its gravity and the more it made its parent star wobble. But he said the discovery showed that finding smaller planets was still possible.

This field has gone from zero to close to 500 planets in just 15 years, he said. Fifteen years ago we did not know about the big guys. Earth-like planets are going to be quite commonplace.

The find was made by researchers from Switzerland, France, Germany, and Portugal and has been submitted to the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics.

___

Satter reported from London.

___

Online:

European Southern Observatory: http://www.eso.org

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Meek takes Floridas Senate Democratic nomination AP

WASHINGTON Rep. Kendrick Meek cinched Floridas Senate Democratic nomination by defeating political upstart Jeff Greene on Tuesday, and veteran politician Bill McCollum battled novice Rick Scott in the states GOP gubernatorial contest as voters weighed the merits of establishment candidates vs. wealthy outsiders.

Elsewhere, Sens. John McCain and Lisa Murkowski counted on voters to reward political experience as they faced spirited Republican primary challenges in Arizona and Alaska 10 weeks before the general election.

Nominating contests in five states � Vermont also was voting, and Oklahoma held GOP runoffs � highlighted dominant themes of this unpredictable election year, including anti-establishment anger and tea party challenges from the right.

As the first polls of the night closed, Meek toppled Greene, a big-spending real estate tycoon whose links to boxer Mike Tyson and former Hollywood madame Heidi Fleiss drew headlines, in the Democratic Senate nomination fight. The four-term congressman will compete against Republican Marco Rubio, who easily secured the GOP nod, and Gov. Charlie Crist, a former Republican who is running as an independent, in November.

In the bitter GOP race for governor, McCollum, the states attorney general and a former congressman, looked to fend off Scott, who made a fortune in the health care industry and spent $39 million of his own money on his bid. In November, the victor will face Alex Sink, the states chief financial officer who sailed to the Democratic nomination.

In several states, the tea partys clout was on the line.

Both McCain of Arizona and Murkowski of Alaska worked to overcome challenges from candidates backed by the fledgling coalition that questioned the lawmakers conservative credentials. Former Rep. J.D. Hayworth ran in Arizona, Sarah Palin-endorsed Joe Miller, an attorney, in Alaska.

McCain and Murkowski would virtually ensure their re-elections with primary victories; no Democrats are considered serious challengers.

In Vermont, Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy, first elected in 1974, coasted to renomination for what is likely to be a new term in November.

Tuesdays primaries played out before a backdrop of persistently high unemployment, voter disillusionment with Republicans and Democrats alike, and low job-performance standings for both Congress and President Barack Obama.

In previous contests earlier this year, voters have shown both a readiness to fire veteran lawmakers and a willingness to keep them.

The tea party has had mixed success. It won big in Nevada, Kentucky, Colorado and Utah GOP Senate contests but lost just about everywhere else.

But no matter Tuesdays outcomes, there was no question that the tea party has provided an enormous dose of enthusiasm to the GOP heading into the fall campaign. And thats dangerous for a dispirited Democratic base.

Arizona Republicans also held contested primaries to challenge incumbent Democratic Reps. Gabrielle Giffords, Ann Kirkpatrick and Harry Mitchell. And the House seat being vacated by retiring Republican Rep. John Shadegg attracted 10 Republican hopefuls, including Ben Quayle, son of former Vice President Dan Quayle.

In an indication of voter dissatisfaction in both parties, Florida Democratic Reps. Allen Boyd, Corrine Brown, Kathy Castor, Ron Klein and Suzanne Kosmas all faced primary challengers, and GOP Reps. Cliff Stearns and Vern Buchanan also fought to hold onto their seats.

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Jet misses runway and crashes in China, killing 43 AP

BEIJING A Chinese passenger jet broke apart as it approached a fog-shrouded runway in the countrys northeast and burst into flames as it hit the ground Tuesday, killing 43 people and injuring 53 others, state media said.

The Henan Airlines plane with 91 passengers and five crew crashed in a grassy area near the Lindu airport on the outskirts of Yichun, a city of about 1 million people in Heilongjiang province, the official Xinhua News Agency said.

Xinhua quoted Hua Jingwei, an Yichun publicity official, as saying that some passengers were thrown from the cabin before the broken plane hit the ground.

The Brazilian-made Embraer E-190 jet had taken off from Heilongjiangs capital of Harbin shortly before 9 p.m. 1300 GMT and crashed a little more than an hour later, Xinhua said.

A middle-aged man who survived the crash told China Central Television there was bad turbulence as the plane descended, then several big jolts that caused the luggage to come crashing down from the overhead bins.

After we stopped, the people in the back were panicking and rushed to the front, the unidentified man, who had no visible injuries, said in an interview from a hospital bed. We were trying to open the emergency exits but they wouldnt open. Then the smoke came in ... within two or three minutes or even a minute, we couldnt breathe. I knew something bad was going to happen.

It was not clear from his account at what point the plane broke apart. The man said he and a few others escaped from a hole in the wall of the cabin near the first row of seats, then ran from the burning wreckage.

CCTV showed firefighters dousing the burning plane with hoses and later digging through the wreckage of the jet.

Xinhua said 43 bodies were recovered within hours of the disaster and 53 people were hospitalized, most with broken bones. Wang Xuemei, vice mayor of Yichun, told CCTV that three survivors were in critical condition but gave no details.

CCTV earlier said that 91 people were on board, and gave a lower death and injured toll, but the report appears to not have included the five crew on the plane.

Henan Airlines is based in the central Chinese province of the same name and flies smaller regional jets, mainly on routes in north and northeast China. Previously known as Kunpeng Airlines, the carrier was relaunched as Henan Airlines earlier this year.

Henan Airlines and many other regional Chinese airlines flying shorter routes have struggled in the past few years, losing passengers to high-speed railroad lines that China has aggressively expanded.

An American company, Phoenix-based Mesa Air Group Inc., was an original investor in Henans predecessor company, Kunpeng, but divested its stake last year. Mesa operates regional services in the U.S. for Delta Air Lines, United Airlines and other carriers and is undergoing bankruptcy reorganization.

Full-tilt expansion of Chinese air traffic in the 1990s led to a series of crashes that gave China the reputation of being unsafe. The poor record prompted the government to improve safety drastically, from airlines to new air traffic management systems at airports.

The last major passenger jet crash in China was in November 2004, when an China Eastern airplane plunged into a lake in northern China shortly, killing all 53 on board and two on the ground.

An MD-11 cargo plane operated by Zimbabwe-based Avient Aviation crashed during takeoff from Shanghais main airport last November. Three American crew members died while four others on board were injured.

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Associated Press researcher Yu Bing contributed to this story.

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Jet misses runway and crashes in China, killing 43 AP

BEIJING A Chinese passenger jet broke apart as it approached a fog-shrouded runway in the countrys northeast and burst into flames as it hit the ground Tuesday, killing 43 people and injuring 53 others, state media said.

The Henan Airlines plane with 91 passengers and five crew crashed in a grassy area near the Lindu airport on the outskirts of Yichun, a city of about 1 million people in Heilongjiang province, the official Xinhua News Agency said.

Xinhua quoted Hua Jingwei, an Yichun publicity official, as saying that some passengers were thrown from the cabin before the broken plane hit the ground.

The Brazilian-made Embraer E-190 jet had taken off from Heilongjiangs capital of Harbin shortly before 9 p.m. 1300 GMT and crashed a little more than an hour later, Xinhua said.

A middle-aged man who survived the crash told China Central Television there was bad turbulence as the plane descended, then several big jolts that caused the luggage to come crashing down from the overhead bins.

After we stopped, the people in the back were panicking and rushed to the front, the unidentified man, who had no visible injuries, said in an interview from a hospital bed. We were trying to open the emergency exits but they wouldnt open. Then the smoke came in ... within two or three minutes or even a minute, we couldnt breathe. I knew something bad was going to happen.

It was not clear from his account at what point the plane broke apart. The man said he and a few others escaped from a hole in the wall of the cabin near the first row of seats, then ran from the burning wreckage.

CCTV showed firefighters dousing the burning plane with hoses and later digging through the wreckage of the jet.

Xinhua said 43 bodies were recovered within hours of the disaster and 53 people were hospitalized, most with broken bones. Wang Xuemei, vice mayor of Yichun, told CCTV that three survivors were in critical condition but gave no details.

CCTV earlier said that 91 people were on board, and gave a lower death and injured toll, but the report appears to not have included the five crew on the plane.

Henan Airlines is based in the central Chinese province of the same name and flies smaller regional jets, mainly on routes in north and northeast China. Previously known as Kunpeng Airlines, the carrier was relaunched as Henan Airlines earlier this year.

Henan Airlines and many other regional Chinese airlines flying shorter routes have struggled in the past few years, losing passengers to high-speed railroad lines that China has aggressively expanded.

An American company, Phoenix-based Mesa Air Group Inc., was an original investor in Henans predecessor company, Kunpeng, but divested its stake last year. Mesa operates regional services in the U.S. for Delta Air Lines, United Airlines and other carriers and is undergoing bankruptcy reorganization.

Full-tilt expansion of Chinese air traffic in the 1990s led to a series of crashes that gave China the reputation of being unsafe. The poor record prompted the government to improve safety drastically, from airlines to new air traffic management systems at airports.

The last major passenger jet crash in China was in November 2004, when an China Eastern airplane plunged into a lake in northern China shortly, killing all 53 on board and two on the ground.

An MD-11 cargo plane operated by Zimbabwe-based Avient Aviation crashed during takeoff from Shanghais main airport last November. Three American crew members died while four others on board were injured.

__

Associated Press researcher Yu Bing contributed to this story.

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UN says 800,000 cut off by Pakistan floods AP

ISLAMABAD About 800,000 people have been cut off by floods in Pakistan and are only reachable by air, the United Nations said Tuesday, adding it needs at least 40 more helicopters to ferry lifesaving aid to increasingly desperate people.

The appeal was an indication of the massive problems facing the relief effort in Pakistan more than three weeks after the floods hit the country, affecting more than 17 million people and raising concerns about possible social unrest and political instability.

These unprecedented floods pose unprecedented logistical challenges, and this requires an extraordinary effort by the international community, said John Holmes, U.N. under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs.

Earlier, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said hundreds of health facilities had been damaged and tens of thousands of medical workers displaced and the countrys chief meteorologist warned that it would be two weeks until the Indus River � the focus of the flooding still sweeping through the country � returns to normal levels.

Qamar-uz-Zaman Chaudhry said high tides in the Arabian Sea would slow the drainage of the Indus into it. Those tides, he said, will begin changing on Aug. 25.

The flood situation is not yet over, Chaudhry said, adding that the Indus would reach peak flood stage late this week.

The floods began with hammering monsoon rains in the northwest and have swept southwards.

Many of those cut off are in the mountainous northwest, where roads and bridges have been swept away.

The United States has deployed at least 18 helicopters that are flying regular relief missions, but the United Nations said it would need at least 40 more heavy-lift choppers working at full-capacity to reach the estimated 800,000 stranded in the country.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees estimates that about 700,000 Pakistanis have been forced into makeshift settlements just in the southern province of Sindh.

While there have been no major disease outbreaks because of the floods, aid agencies are increasingly worried, saying contaminated water and a lack of proper sanitation were already causing a spike in medical problems in camps for the displaced.

Pakistan and its people are experiencing the worst natural calamity of its history, Gilani said at a meeting on health issues in the flood zone. As human misery continues to mount, we are seriously concerned with spread of epidemic diseases.

More than 3.5 million children are at risk from waterborne diseases, he said, and skin diseases, respiratory infections and malnutrition are spreading in flooded areas.

The problem is compounded by the floods impact on the countrys medical system � which has long been badly overstretched and underfunded. Gilani said the floods had damaged more than 200 health facilities, and that about one-third of the countrys 100,000 women health workers have been displaced. Those health workers are the main primary medical care to millions of rural Pakistani women.

Dr. Jahanzeb Orakzai, Pakistans national health coordinator, said a team has been formed to oversee the response to any flood-related health emergencies.

Health problems usually arise in flood-affected areas after four to six weeks, and we need to be alert and prepared to tackle the situation, he said.

The aid group World Vision said it could be three months until some families are able to return to their homes.

People are in urgent need of almost everything: shelter, health clinics, clean water, sanitation and livelihood support, Mike Bailey, the groups regional manager for advocacy said in a statement.

Local charities, the Pakistani army and international agencies are providing food, water, medicine and shelter to the displaced, but millions have received little or no help.

On Monday, President Asif Ali Zardari defended the governments much-criticized response to the floods, but acknowledged recovery would take a very long time.

Three years is a minimum, Zardari said in an interview Monday with a small group of foreign reporters in Islamabad.

On Tuesday, officials announced that the government would give 20,000 rupees $230 to every family affected by the floods, with a statement from Zardaris spokesman calling the payment initial assistance.

Since the floods first swept the country, the Taliban and al-Qaida have been relatively quiet. But on Monday, three bomb attacks rocked the northwest, one of which killed the head of an anti-Taliban militia on the outskirts of the main city of Peshawar.

___

Associated Press writer Tim Sullivan contributed to this report.

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2 days of food stretched more than 2 weeks in mine AP

COPIAPO, Chile Each of the 33 miners trapped a half-mile underground lived on two spoonfuls of tuna, a sip of milk and a bite of crackers. Every other day.

They were so careful in eating what was supposed to be a two-day emergency supply that when the outside world finally reached them 17 days after a mine collapse, they still had some food left.

The discipline the men have already shown will be essential during the four months rescuers expect it to take to dig a hole wide enough to get them out. The first communications with the trapped miners, now able to talk through a fixed line with their rescuers above � show how determined they have been to stay alive.

We heard them with such strength, such spirit, which is a reflection of what for them has been a gigantic fortitude and a very well organized effort, Mining Minister Laurence Golborne said Tuesday after talking with the miners at length the night before through an intercom system lowered into their underground refuge. The way that they have rationed the food, just as theyve performed throughout this crisis, is an example for all of us.

The miners were plunged into darkness by the Aug. 5 collapse of the main shaft of a gold and silver mine that runs like a corkscrew for miles under a barren mountain in northern Chiles Atacama desert. They gained contact with the outside world Sunday when rescuers drilled down to their living room-sized shelter after several failed attempts.

The miners said they have honored the same hierarchy they used on any work shift, following the directions of 54-year-old shift foreman Luis Urzua.

They conserved the use of their helmet lamps, their only source of light other than a handful of vehicles whose engines contaminate the air supply. They fired up a bulldozer to carve into a natural water deposit, but otherwise minimized using the vehicles that contaminate the available air.

The miners can still reach many chambers and access ramps in the lower reaches of the mine, and have used a separate chamber some distance from their reinforced emergency chamber as their bathroom. But they have mostly stayed in the shelter, where they knew rescuers would try to reach them.

The room has become stiflingly hot and stuffy. Leaving it allows them to breathe better air, but wandering too far is risky in the unstable mine, which has suffered several rock collapses since the initial accident.

Rescue efforts advanced considerably Tuesday as a third bore-hole prepared to break through to the miners, and a huge machine arrived from central Chile to carve out a tunnel just wide enough for the miners to be pulled out one-by-one. That machine wont begin drilling for several days, however, and engineers are so concerned about preventing another collapse that they plan on taking up to four months to reach the men.

Its been like a heart thats breaking, but were thankful theyre all alive, bore-hole driller Rodrigo Carreno told The Associated Press as he prepared to leave Tuesday. We did everything we could to save them, and in the end we succeeded.

The three 6-inch-wide 15-centimeter shafts will serve as the miners umbilical cords in the long weeks ahead � one for supplies, another for communications and a third to guarantee their air supply.

A steady flow of emergency supplies was sent down to the miners on Tuesday in a rocket-shaped metal tube called a paloma, Spanish for dove. The paloma is 5 1/4 feet 1.6 meters long and takes a full hour to descend through the bore-hole.

The supplies included 33 small low-intensity and low-energy LED lights, so that each miner can have a light source that wont bother his eyes in the otherwise murky depths of the mine. Also sent down Tuesday was more nutritive food in the form of a vitamin-enriched gel, along with eye patches, aspirin and medicine for one miner who has diabetes and another who suffers from the respiratory disease silicosis, Health Minister Jaime Manalich said Tuesday.

Family members who have maintained an anxious vigil outside the mine were encouraged to send notes down Tuesday. First was Lila Ramirez, answering the Dear Lila letter from her husband, Mario Gomez, that thrilled the nation when President Sebastian Pinera read it aloud, providing the first details of the miners survival.

I wrote him just now and told him to be very patient, that were all camped out here, following his every heartbeat. That he shouldnt become desperate, and that he try to be extremely tranquil, Ramirez told the AP.

She said her husband, the eldest of the miners at 63, has likely helped the shift foreman Urzua keep the other men feeling positive.

For my husband, its not necessary that they ask him to step up � he was born to be a leader. I think its him that is managing the situation, she said.

With each passing day, the families have been praying for their trapped husbands, fathers, brothers and boyfriends in tents surrounding the mine entrance, high on a barren mountain where cold nights end in a chilly fog. Theres a bonfire to keep warm, and barbecue and other food donated by the local government in a common tent.

Were not going to abandon this camp until we go out with the last miner left, said Maria Segovia. There are 33 of them, and one is my brother.

Before the miners were discovered alive on Sunday, many Chileans were beginning to assume the worst. The stunning news of their survival prompted euphoria and pride across a country still recovering from one of the worlds most powerful earthquakes.

Urzua assured Golborne, the mining minister, that they were all doing well, and asked whether their fellow miners working above them managed to escape the Aug. 5 collapse. Golborne said all were safe, prompting cheers from the miners below. Moments later, the miners joined in a cheer and sang the national anthem in a full-throated chorus, prompting more cheers, applause and tears among the crowd above.

In one more week, the men will have been trapped underground longer than any other miners in history. Last year, three miners survived 25 days trapped in a flooded mine in southern China. Few other rescues have taken more than two weeks.

Chile is the worlds top copper producer and a leading gold producer, and has some of the worlds most advanced mining operations.

The mine where the miners are trapped was closed in 2007 after an explosion killed three workers, but was allowed to reopen the next year � without security improvements, miners families and union co-workers say. The allegations prompted Pinera to fire the three leading mine safety regulators involved, and to promise no impunity should criminal liability be discovered.

Golborne said that if a ventilation shaft had been in good condition, the miners would have been able to use it to escape. Urzua told the minister that they had tried, but the route was blocked.

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Associated Press Writer Michael Warren in Buenos Aires contributed to this report.

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Stocks drop after sharp fall in July home sales AP

NEW YORK Stocks fell for a fourth day after another disappointing report on housing deepened worries that the economic recovery could be fading. Bonds yields fell as investors sought out more stable investments.

The Dow Jones industrial average lost 134 points Tuesday following news that sales of previously occupied homes fell last month to their lowest level in 15 years. The 27 percent drop in home sales from the previous month was the biggest since record-keeping began in 1968.

The Dow dipped briefly below 10,000 for the first time in seven weeks and has now lost 375 points since its four-day slump began. The yield on the two-year Treasury note reached another record low as cautious investors piled back into the bond market.

The National Association of Realtors said sales of previously occupied homes plunged in July to an annual rate of 3.83 million, much worse than the 4.7 million estimate from economists polled by Thomson Reuters.

Home sales have fallen sharply since a homebuyer tax credit expired at the end of April, despite mortgage rates reaching record lows. A stubbornly high unemployment rate of 9.5 percent has been keeping home sales down, and banks have also been cautious in making new loans.

Without a boost in job creation, buyers just wont have the confidence to step in and buy a new home, David Katz, principal at Weiser Capital Management said.

Other world markets also fell. Japanese stocks led the way lower, falling more than 1 percent as the yen hit a fresh 15-year high against the dollar. Japans economy relies heavily on exports, so a stronger yen hurts the profits of major Japanese companies.

Stocks have been sliding in recent days as investors focus on signs that economic growth is slowing. A new wave of corporate dealmaking gave stocks a temporary boost Monday, but those gains quickly faded.

According to preliminary calculations, the Dow fell 133.96, or 1.3 percent, to 10,040.45 The Standard & Poors 500 index fell 15.49, or 1.5 percent, to 1,051.87, while the Nasdaq fell 35.87, or 1.7 percent, to 2,123.76.

Three stocks fell for every one that rose on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume came to 1.2 billion shares.

Japans Nikkei stock average fell 1.3 percent after worries about the high yen hit share prices there.

In Europe, Britains FTSE 100 fell 1.5 percent, Germanys DAX index dropped 1.3 percent, and Frances CAC-40 fell 1.8 percent.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite to its price, fell to 2.50 percent from 2.60 percent late Monday. That yield helps set interest rates on mortgages and other consumer loans.

The 10-year notes yield continues to hover around levels not reached since March 2009, when the stock market hit a 12-year low and investors were concerned about the deepening recession. The yield on the two-year note went as low as 0.46 percent, another in a series of record lows.

Stock traders are taking their cues from the bond market, said Lawrence Glazer, a managing partner at Mayflower Advisors. It really has been a dramatic and frightening shift in Treasury prices, which has spooked investors and led to worries about another recession, Glazer said.

Reports due out later in the week will also provide insight into the health of the economy. Data on new home sales, durable goods orders, weekly jobless claims and consumer sentiment are scheduled for later in the week.

The government will also release a revised report on second-quarter gross domestic product. The broadest measure of the countrys total economic output is expected to be lower than initially thought, adding to concerns about the pace of the domestic recovery.

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Insiders vs. outsiders in Fla., Ariz., Alaska AP

WASHINGTON Veteran Sens. John McCain and Lisa Murkowski counted on voters to reward political experience Tuesday as they faced spirited Republican primary challenges in Arizona and Alaska 10 weeks before the general election. Florida weighed the merits of wealthy outsiders vs. establishment candidates in primaries there.

Nominating contests in four states � Vermont also was voting, and Oklahoma held GOP runoffs � highlighted dominant themes of this unpredictable election year, including anti-establishment anger and tea party challenges from the right.

Rich political upstarts in Florida were testing whether money and fresh faces could win the love of voters upset with Washington and with candidates backed by national party leaders.

Rick Scott, who made a fortune in the health care industry and spent $39 million of his own money on his gubernatorial bid, hoped to defeat establishment-favored Bill McCollum, the states attorney general and a former congressman, in the GOP primary. Jeff Greene, a big-spending real estate tycoon, sought to overtake Rep. Kendrick Meek in the Democratic Senate nomination fight.

I just think we need something different, said Democrat Christina Slesinger, a 43-year-old Orlando accountant who voted for Greene. I dont want the same old, same old, she said.

Elsewhere, the tea partys clout was on the line.

Both McCain of Arizona and Murkowski of Alaska worked to overcome challenges from candidates backed by the fledgling coalition that questioned the lawmakers conservative credentials. Former Rep. J.D. Hayworth ran in Arizona, Sarah Palin-endorsed Joe Miller, an attorney, in Alaska.

Tuesdays primaries played out before a backdrop of persistently high unemployment, voter disillusionment with Republicans and Democrats alike, and low job-performance standings for both Congress and President Barack Obama.

In previous primaries this year, voters have shown both a readiness to fire veteran lawmakers and a willingness to keep them.

The tea party has had mixed success. It won big in Nevada, Kentucky, Colorado and Utah GOP Senate contests but lost just about everywhere else.

But no matter Tuesdays outcomes, theres no question that the tea party has provided an enormous dose of enthusiasm to the GOP heading into the fall campaign. And thats dangerous for a dispirited Democratic base.

In Florida, the GOP gubernatorial nominee will face likely Democratic candidate Alex Sink, the states chief financial officer. The Democratic Senate winner will enter a three-way race in November against Gov. Charlie Crist, the Republican-turned-independent, and Republican Marco Rubio.

McCain and Murkowski would virtually ensure their re-elections with primary victories; no Democrats are considered serious challengers.

Arizona Republicans also held contested primaries to challenge incumbent Democratic Reps. Gabrielle Giffords, Ann Kirkpatrick and Harry Mitchell. And the House seat being vacated by retiring Republican Rep. John Shadegg attracted 10 Republican hopefuls, including Ben Quayle, son of former Vice President Dan Quayle.

In an indication of voter dissatisfaction in both parties, Florida Democratic Reps. Allen Boyd, Corrine Brown, Kathy Castor, Ron Klein and Suzanne Kosmas all faced primary challengers, and GOP Reps. Cliff Stearns and Vern Buchanan also fought to hold onto their seats.

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Associated Press writer Antonio Gonzalez in Orlando contributed to this report.

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Voices rise in favor of moving proposed NY mosque AP

NEW YORK A powerful state politician joined with Gov. David Paterson on Tuesday in suggesting that Islamic leaders should move a proposed mosque farther from ground zero, saying the organizers should be more sensitive to opponents.

Organizers have the right to build the center at a building two blocks from ground zero but should be open to compromise, said New York Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, who represents the lower Manhattan district.

In the spirit of living with others, they should be cognizant of the feelings of others and try to find a location that doesnt engender the deep feelings the currently exist about this site, Silver said.

Critics say the building is too close to where Islamic extremists destroyed the World Trade Center on 2001 and killed nearly 2,800 people. Supporters say religious freedom should be protected.

I think the sponsors should take into very serious consideration the kind of turmoil thats been created and look to compromise, Silver said.

Paterson, who has expressed dismay over the heated arguments, was meeting Tuesday with New York Roman Catholic Archbishop Timothy Dolan to try to suggest an alternative.

The developer, meanwhile, was expected to attend a dinner Tuesday night hosted by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who has spoken in support of the project. Bloomberg holds the dinner annually to observe Iftar, the daily meal in which Muslims break their fast during the holy month of Ramadan.

Paterson has yet to meet with anyone from the Cordoba Initiative, the projects organizer. Its co-founder, Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, is on a Mideast trip funded by the U.S. State Department. He alluded to the controversy at a dinner Sunday night for student leaders at the U.S. ambassadors residence in Manama, Bahrain.

The fact we are getting this kind of attention is a sign of success, he said.

It is my hope that people will understand more. ... This is something we are doing for our generation.

Rauf also thanked President Barack Obama, who has said Muslims had the right to practice their religion and build the Islamic center in lower Manhattan. The president later said he wasnt endorsing the specifics of the plan.

Im grateful to President Obama for his support for the project, said Rauf.

The White House on Tuesday said that Obama would have no further comment on the issue and that the administration will not get involved in talks about relocating the facility. Republicans have vowed to make Obamas support of the project a campaign issue in this falls midterm elections.

Rauf, who has rarely spoken publicly about the project, said that he was leery of the media and that it is portraying a negative image of Muslims to the West. He also said he doesnt like Muslims portraying a bad image of the West to the Muslim world.

In an interview published Monday with the Bahrain newspaper, Al Wasat, Rauf said he was trying to get Islamic scholars to agree on laws that will encourage Muslims to be more effective members of their communities.

He said Muslims can remain faithful and be engaged in the affairs of the countries where they live.

I see that every religious community faces challenges, but the real challenge lies in keeping true to the core values of the faith and how to express these values in a specific time and place, he was quoted as telling the newspaper.

He added that he wanted to see Muslims in the U.S. have complete nationalism and fulfill their rights and duties to the larger community.

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Associated Press writers Michael Gormley in Albany and Sara Kugler Frazier in New York contributed to this report.

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Report: Cover-up in 1972 NIreland bombing AP

BELFAST, Northern Ireland The British government and the Roman Catholic church colluded to cover up the suspected involvement of a priest in a 1972 bombing that killed nine people and injured 30, a new report said Tuesday.

The Northern Ireland police ombudsmans report determined that Father James Chesney was the prime suspect in the blast in the village of Claudy, just outside of Londonderry and that the police chose not to pursue him. The Irish Republican Army has been blamed for the attack.

A senior police officer sought the governments assistance in December 1972, through their engagement with senior figures of the Catholic Church, to render harmless a dangerous priest, the report said.

Despite the suspicions of authorities, the church and U.K. officials struck a deal that allowed Chesney to move to a parish in Ireland where British prosecutors lacked the jurisdiction to investigate him. Police approached the leaders apparently because of fears that arresting a cleric would inflame a tense situation.

About 100 people died in July 1972 � the most violent month that year.

The deal was struck following a meeting between Cardinal William Conway, the head of the Catholic Church in Ireland at the time, and Britains representative in Northern Ireland, William Whitelaw, documents cited by the report said.

Chesney, who died in 1980 after suffering from cancer, had denied involvement in the attack, Conway told Whitelaw, according to the report.

The police at the time believed Chesney to be an IRA member, but the report made no conclusion one way or another about his potential involvement with the group.

However, according to the memo included in the report, a government official who was not named wrote that, the cardinal said he knew the priest was a very bad man and would see what could be done.

The report is certain to raise more questions about what role � if any � the church may have played during the more than 30 years of violence that claimed 3,600 lives.

The current head of the Catholic Church in Ireland, Cardinal Sean Brady, issued a statement on Tuesday saying it was shocking that a priest should be involved in such violence.

Brady insisted, however, that the Catholic Church did not engage in a cover-up of this matter.

If there was sufficient evidence to link him to criminal activity, he should have been arrested and questioned at the earliest opportunity, like anyone else, he said. The actions of Cardinal Conway or any other Church authority did not prevent the possibility of future arrest and questioning of Father Chesney.

The IRAs political wing � Sinn Fein � said the report didnt go far enough. Though not addressing potential IRA involvement, the group demanded a full inquiry, saying the ombudsman only addressed the police role.

The families of those who died or were injured there deserve and are entitled to the truth about the deaths of their loved ones, said Francie Molloy, the spokesman for Sinn Fein. Due to its limited remit the report could never deliver the truth about the circumstances surrounding the bomb for the families of those killed.

No one has ever been charged for the attack, which hit the village without the customary warnings that paramilitaries used to limit civilian casualties.

Ombudsman Al Hutchinsons report, which began after new evidence came to light in 2002, comes on the heels of a separate inquiry into the deaths of 13 civilians in Londonderry in the Bloody Sunday massacre.

The Claudy bombing took place only six months after Bloody Sunday during the most violent year in Northern Ireland, when more than 470 died. Catholics and Protestants died in the Claudy attack, including a young girl.

The decision of the church to deal with the problem by transferring the priest suspected of wrongdoing to another parish also offered disturbing echoes of the churchs handling of the problem of pedophile priests, many of whom were moved rather than be handed over to authorities for investigation.

Northern Ireland Secretary Owen Paterson said Tuesday that the government was profoundly sorry.

Some relatives said the apology was not enough and demanded an investigation into issues raised by the police report � perhaps to even prosecute attackers who might still be alive.

Mark Eakin, whose sister Kathryn died in the attack, wondered if there was a conspiracy to hide the truth.

The Northern Ireland Office couldnt make a decision on this on their own. Theres no way William Whitelaw made this decision on his own. It had to come from higher up, he said. I would like to ask the British government if they would now step in and investigate this thing further.

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Boehner sees ongoing economic uncertainty AP

CLEVELAND House Republican leader John Boehner on Tuesday urged President Barack Obama to support an extension of tax cuts and to fire key economic advisers, arguing that more than a year of government as community organizer has failed to revive the economy.

In a speech to the City Club of Cleveland, Boehner said Obama needs to act immediately on several fronts to break what the Republican describes as ongoing economic uncertainty. He said the president should work with the GOP to renew soon-to-expire tax cuts enacted under President George W. Bush. Congress will tackle the issue when it returns next month.

The Ohio lawmaker also called on Obama to propose aggressive spending cuts and seek the resignations of Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner; the head of the National Economic Council, Larry Summers, and other members of his economic team.

Never before has the need for a fresh start in Washington been more pressing, said Boehner, who promised that he would run things differently if Republicans capture control of the House in the fall and he is elected Speaker.

Responding to the criticism, Vice President Joe Biden said Boehners speech only told voters what the GOP is against, not what the party is for.

Commenting at the White House at the start of a previously scheduled event on stimulus spending, Biden said Obama has proposed extending the Bush tax cuts for 98 percent of taxpayers and that to extend it to the wealthiest Americans � as Republicans would like � would only worsen the nations finances.

This is not a populist argument, Biden said.

Biden said Boehner and the GOP ran this economy and the middle class into the ground for eight years. The vice president said Boehner didnt offer any economic agenda in his speech.

His chief proposal apparently was that the president should fire his economic team. Very constructive advice, thanks, Biden said derisively.

Boehner, one of the presidents loudest critics, said U.S. employers are afraid to invest in an economy stalled by the presidents economic stimulus package and hamstrung by uncertainty.

The prospect of higher taxes, stricter rules and more regulations has employers sitting on their hands, Boehner said.

Throughout his speech, Boehner trumpeted his decades of political experience while he simultaneously derided the same-old partisan practices in Washington. Echoing a GOP line of attack from the 2008 presidential campaign, Boehner took a swipe at Obama, who worked as a community organizer in Chicago.

Weve tried 19 months of government-as-community organizer, Boehner said. It hasnt worked.

The speech was short on details about the Republican agenda, with Boehner promising that the GOP will release its plan next month.

Democrats dismissed Boehners prescription as a politically motivated plan that would hurt the already sluggish economy.

It calls for fiscally reckless policies that will destabilize the economy and kill the nascent job creation that is going on now, said Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., his partys House campaign chief.

Boehners call for renewing Bushs tax cuts would blow a $700 billion hole in the deficit, Van Hollen told reporters on a conference call.

After the speech, an audience member asked Boehner what he thought of Speaker Nancy Pelosis questions about who is funding the opposition to a proposed Islamic center near the site of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in New York.

I really dont understand what should be investigated, Boehner said. The American people are concerned about this. No one doubts the right of these people to build a mosque where they see fit. But just because they have the right to do something doesnt mean that it is the right thing for them to do.

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Associated Press writer Julie Hirschfeld Davis and Darlene Superville in Washington contributed to this report.

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Beirut sectarian battle kills 1, wounds 3 AP

BEIRUT Lebanese Shiite and Sunni groups traded machine gun fire in Beirut on Tuesday, killing one person and wounding at least three others, security officials said.

The shootout, involving machine guns and rocket propelled grenades, erupted between the supporters of the Shiite Hezbollah and a Sunni conservative group in a mixed residential neighborhood near Beiruts downtown, they added.

The officials said the other side was the pro-Syrian, Sunni Muslim Association of Islamic Charitable Projects, known as the Al-Ahbash group, that has a history of feuding with Hezbollah.

They spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.

Families were seen running for cover as the two sides traded fire amid the crash of rocket propelled grenades, while gunmen stood on corners and peered down allies.

Army troops cordoned off the area, keeping out journalists while the crackle of sniper fire could be heard.

The fighting was audible in downtown Beirut, which is packed with tourists at this time of year.

The fighting took place as Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah addressed supporters, calling for increased military assistance for the Lebanese army from its Arab neighbors.

Lebanon has a history of deadly sectarian strife. Tensions have been running high in recent weeks over signs a U.N. tribunal could indict Hezbollah in the 2005 killing of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

The Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah has said he has information that the tribunal will implicate Hezbollah members, but he says the tribunal is an Israeli project and has no credibility.

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Lithuanian firm sued for holding beauty pageant AP

VILNIUS, Lithuania Move over Miss Universe � make way for Mrs. Universe.

It might sound like a nifty promotional idea for a small East European company like Lithuania, but owners of the Miss Universe trademark � entrepreneur Donald Trump and NBC Universal � arent amused.

The U.S.-based Miss Universe Organization L.P. filed suit Tuesday in a Lithuanian court claiming copyright violation by the organizers of the Mrs. Universe pageant that was held Saturday in the Baltic state.

Our claim is very simple. The title was used illegally because all rights belong to the U.S.-based company, Erikas Saukalas, a lawyer representing Miss Universe Organization L.P., told reporters in Vilnius.

We will also demand compensation for losses. I believe the court will evaluate the damage done to this trademark, Saukalas said, adding that the size of losses was still being calculated.

The organizer of the Mrs. Universe pageant, which was shown live on TV3, a regional cable TV channel, denied any wrongdoing.

Universe is a generic word, so the U.S. companys claims are ungrounded, said Evelina Gruzdiene, director of pageant organizer Pramogu Akademija.

Jennika Hannusaari of Finland won the Mrs. Universe pageant, which featured competitors from 22 countries such as Venezuela and Armenia. As the name suggests, all contestants had to be married.

On Monday a 22-year-old Mexico woman, Jimena Navarrete, was crowned Miss Universe in a Las Vegas show that boasted 83 contestants.

One of the main thrusts of the Lithuanian pageant was awareness of human trafficking, which continues to plague many East European countries. Participants held a discussion on the topic in Lithuanias government, which helped sponsor the pageant, and presented a project, Beauty Against Human Trafficking, as a possible idea to combat the problem.

Gruzdiene did not rule out that it was the trafficking aspect that triggered a lot of the criticism of the pageant.

Huge amounts of money is involved in that business, so we can only guess that someone disliked this idea, Gruzdiene said.

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Woman seen on camera dumping cat in trash in UK AP

LONDON The gray-haired woman gently pets the cat, occasionally glancing furtively at a garbage bin. Then she strikes, casually grabbing it by the scruff, tossing it in, popping the lid closed, and quickly strolling away.

The surveillance video posted online by Lola the cats owners takes only seconds, but it has outraged thousands of viewers around the world, some of whom posted angry messages pledging retribution. Now, police say theyve identified the woman and posted guards outside her house in central England.

Investigators at the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, which prosecutes cruelty cases, said Tuesday that the gray striped cat was trapped for 15 hours before being rescued on Sunday morning by her owners, who told a British newspaper they heard Lolas muffled cries from inside the bin. The distressed cat was unharmed.

The society said it planned to interview the woman involved after it confirmed her identity, but declined to say whether she had been identified by a viewer of the clip online.

Police in the city of Coventry urged local residents to show restraint.

Coventry Police are supporting the societys investigation and would urge the public to leave the matter to be dealt with in the appropriate manner by the authorities, the West Midlands police department said in a statement.

Lolas owner Stephanie Mann said she and husband Darryl couldnt find Lola on Sunday morning but followed the sound of her meows.

We thought she might be trapped under the car because she sounded like she was hurt, so we followed her cries and eventually found her in the bin, she told the Coventry Telegraph newspaper.

The couple had previously installed a personal surveillance camera outside their home following a spate of thefts in the area.

Mann said they checked the video tape expecting to discover local youths, or a drunk, had thrown Lola into the bin late on Saturday evening, but were shocked to discover the culprit was a respectable looking woman.

I was absolutely heartbroken to see how someone could just be so cruel, she told the newspaper. I dont know what went through her head but it was just disgusting to watch and it broke my 8-year-old daughters heart.

Mann later posted the clip online, where it has attracted tens of thousands of views.

Coventry police department said a small number of community support officers � wardens who assist the police but have no powers of arrest � had been stationed near the womans home after a crowd gathered outside.

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Passenger plane with 91 on board crashes in China AP

BEIJING A Henan Airlines plane with 91 people on board crashed Tuesday close to an airport in northeast Chinas Heilongjiang province and rescuers were rushing to the scene, state media reported.

The plane crashed near the Lindu airport in Yichun city at 10:10 p.m. local time 1410 GMT, the official Xinhua News Agency said in a brief report citing local government and airline officials. It did not say if there were any fatalities.

The plane had taken off from Heilongjiangs capital of Harbin shortly before 9 p.m. 1300 GMT. An earlier Xinhua report citing airline officials erroneously reported 96 people were on board.

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Scientists find system with 5 Neptune-like planets AP

GENEVA European astronomers say they have discovered a star system containing at least five Neptune-like planets.

They suspect there are two more, including one that could be the smallest found outside our solar system.

Christophe Lovis of Geneva University says the discovery was made by Swiss, French and German scientists using the European Southern Observatory telescope in Chile.

Lovis said Tuesday that the planets orbit a star called HD 10180 some 127 light-years away in the Hydrus constellation.

Five are covered with rock and ice, and have 13 to 25 times the mass of Earth.

Scientists also suspect the system contains one larger planet similar to Saturn and another with only 1.4 times the mass of Earth orbiting very close to the star.

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European Southern Observatory: http://www.eso.org

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Passenger plane with 96 on board crashes in China AP

BEIJING A Henan Airlines plane with 91 people on board crashed Tuesday close to an airport in northeast Chinas Heilongjiang province and rescuers were rushing to the scene, state media reported.

The plane crashed near the Lindu airport in Yichun city at 10:10 p.m. local time 1410 GMT, the official Xinhua News Agency said in a brief report citing local government and airline officials. It did not say if there were any fatalities.

The plane had taken off from Heilongjiangs capital of Harbin shortly before 9 p.m. 1300 GMT. An earlier Xinhua report citing airline officials erroneously reported 96 people were on board.

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Ousted worker Sherrod rejects return to Ag agency AP

WASHINGTON Shirley Sherrod, the Agriculture Department official ousted during a racial firestorm last month, declined Tuesday to return to the agency, though she said it was tempting.

Sherrod and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said that she may work with the agency in a consulting capacity in the future to help it improve its outreach to minorities. She told reporters she did not think she could say yes to a job at this point, with all that has happened.

I look forward to some type of relationship with the department in the future, she said. We do need to work on the issues of discrimination and race in this country.

Vilsack, who apologized to Sherrod for pushing her out, had offered her a new position in the Office of Advocacy and Outreach, which is works on civil rights issues.

I think I can be helpful to him and the department if I just take a little break and look at how I can be more helpful in the future, Sherrod said.

Vilsack said that Shirley has unique opportunities here.

Vilsack said he had worked hard to get Sherrod to return.

Formerly the agencys director of rural development in Georgia, Sherrod was forced to resign after a conservative blogger posted snippets of a March speech in which she appeared to make racist remarks. Vilsack and others, including the NAACP, condemned the remarks before grasping the full context of her speech, which was meant as a lesson in racial healing.

The incident proved embarrassing for the Obama administration, and President Barack Obama called her personally to express his regret.

The NAACP also apologized for its reaction.

Sherrod repeated Tuesday that she plans to sue the blogger who posted excerpts of her speech, Andrew Breitbart. But she declined further questions on the subject.

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Associated Press writer Ben Evans contributed to this report.

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Exhibition looks at Jimi Hendrixs London years AP

LONDON They were both immigrants in Britain who changed the face of music � one with a harpsichord and a composers pen, the other with an electric guitar.

George Frideric Handel and Jimi Hendrix also shared an address, living 200 years apart in adjoining 18th-century London houses. Now, 40 years after Hendrixs death, a new exhibition about his London years brings these two unlikely neighbors together.

Hendrix, who came to London as an ambitious but little-known guitarist in 1966, was aware of his link to the musical past. He bought recordings of Handels Messiah, and obligingly gave tours of his apartment to music students who knocked on the door looking for traces of the composer.

He once claimed to have seen a reflection of Handels face in his shaving mirror, said Martin Wyatt, deputy director of the Handel House Museum, which is mounting an exhibition about Hendrixs London years that opens to the public Wednesday.

Hendrix was convinced he was living in Handels house � but actually he was living next door.

Handel lived at 25 Brook Street � a Georgian house in the tony Mayfair area � for 36 years until his death in 1759. The museum devoted to his life uses the adjoining upstairs apartment where Hendrix lived as offices.

Museum curators hope to raise money to restore the apartment to its 1960s glory and open it as a permanent Hendrix exhibition.

For now, members of the public will be able to visit for 12 days next month. They will have to use their imaginations to picture the small, whitewashed rooms with their utilitarian desks as they were then, decorated in garish 60s style with red carpets and turquoise velvet curtains, chock-a-block with guitars, amps, rugs and knickknacks.

All the photos look really classy until you see them in color, said the museums learning and events officer, Claire Parker.

Handel had paid 60 pounds a year for the house, the equivalent of about 5,000 pounds $7,700 today. Hendrix and his girlfriend Kathy Etchingham paid 30 pounds a week � a consierable sum for the 60s, equivalent to about 350 pounds a week today.

By all accounts Hendrix enjoyed the domestic side of London life � though the appliances were not always up to his modern American standards.

When they first moved in, Hendrix was horrified to find a 1950s gas fridge, which he thought was the most old-fashioned thing he had ever seen. Parker said. They bought an electric one, as well as a yellow Formica kitchen table.

Parker said Hendrix was quite well known in John Lewis, the venerable London department store.

Its this other side of him you dont really think about � Jimi Hendrix shopping for carpets and soft furnishings.

When he wasnt at home, Hendrix was honing his sound and building his reputation through incendiary live shows. He came to London in 1966 after being spotted by producer Chas Chandler playing in a New York bar with his band Jimmy James and the Blue Flames.

He began gigging immediately � a list of his British shows in the exhibition has scores of entries, from pubs to provincial working mens clubs to the vast Isle of Wight rock festival. In 1967 he released the acclaimed album Are You Experienced? and soon was touring internationally, gaining fame for his innovative, heavily distorted guitar style.

He was an absolute revelation to everyone here, Wyatt said. It was like an earthquake rumbling through the music scene.

I think for Hendrix London was much more open � in America he was too white for black music and too black for white music. Here there was a burgeoning blues scene that wasnt that categorized.

The Hendrix exhibition, which runs to Nov. 7, is a bit of a shock next to the muted gray walls, oil paintings and harpsichords of the rooms devoted to Handels life.

Among the exhibits are the Gibson Flying V guitar that Hendrix played at the Isle of Wight festival in August 1970, handwritten lyrics and a splendid orange velvet jacket and black Westerner hat.

There is also a copy of Hendrixs death certificate. He died in a London hotel on Sept. 18, 1970, aged 27. The certificate gives the archetypally rock n roll causes as inhalation of vomit and barbiturate intoxication.

Wyatt said some of the museums supporters were skeptical at first about the Hendrix display. But he is struck by the similarities between the two musicians.

They were both great improvisers, he said � Handel on harpsichord, Hendrix on guitar.

He said that on the occasional past openings of Hendrixs apartment, the guitarists fans have sometimes stayed to listen and learn about Handel.

Were hoping the exhibition will open the road the other way.

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http://ping.fm/f83OV

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Home sales plunge 27 pct. to lowest in 15 years AP

WASHINGTON Sales of previously occupied homes plunged last month to the lowest level in 15 years, despite the lowest mortgage rates in decades and bargain prices in many areas.

Julys sales fell by more than 27 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.83 million, the National Association of Realtors said Tuesday. It was the largest monthly drop on records dating back to 1968, and sharp declines were recorded in all regions of the country.

Sales were particularly weak among homes priced in the lower to middle ranges. For example, in the Midwest, homes priced between $100,000 and $250,000 tumbled nearly 47 percent.

As sales have slowed, the inventory of unsold homes on the market grew to nearly 4 million in July. Thats a 12.5 month supply at the current sales pace, the highest level in more than a decade. It compares with a healthy level of about six months.

One reason the market is hurting is that buyers and sellers are in a standoff over prices. Many sellers are reluctant to lower their prices. And buyers are hesitating because they think home prices havent bottomed out.

It really is a self-fulfilling prophecy, said Aaron Zapata, a real estate agent in Brea, Calif. If all buyers perceive that home prices are coming down, then they will stop making offers � and home prices will come down.

The housing market is also being hampered by the weakening economic recovery. Unemployment remains stuck at 9.5 percent and many potential buyers worry they might not have a job to pay the mortgage.

Prices have fallen in part because foreclosures are running about 10 times higher than before the housing bust. Though the average rate for a 30-year fixed mortgage has sunk to 4.42 percent, many people cant qualify because banks have tightened their lending standards.

Home sales picked up in the spring when the government was offering tax credits. But the tax credits expired on April 30 and the market has been hobbled since.

The drop in Julys sales was led by 35 percent plunge in the Midwest. Sales were down 30 percent in the Northeast, 25 percent in the West and 23 percent in the South.

The median sale price was $182,600, up 0.7 percent from a year ago, but down 0.2 percent from June.

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Driverless vehicles go manual in Moscow AP

MILAN A pair of fender-benders, two technology-loving hitchhikers and 22 hours blocked at the Russian border. Thats the balance sheet so far for a team of driverless vehicles on a 13,000-kilometer 8,000-mile roadtrip from Europe to China.

A group of Italian engineers from the University of Parmas Vislab are testing sensory technology that allow unmanned vehicles to avoid obstacles on the longest-ever roadtrip of driverless technology.

One month into the three-month journey, most errors have been human.

We were trapped in customs for one long day. We had a small accident � well, two small accidents, caused by human error. As far as the technology is concerned, everything has been smooth. We are very happy, project leader Alberto Broggi said Tuesday.

The first accident occurred a couple of days into Russia, when the group stopped for the day and got out of the vehicles. One team of engineers turned off the sensory equipment, but neglected to switch off the automatic driving mechanism.

So it was able to steer and drive, but it had no perception. It couldnt see anything, said Broggi, who is monitoring the journey and troubleshooting from Parma. The vehicle drove right into the rear of another driverless van parked three meters yards away.

The second accident is even more stupid than the first, Broggi said. One of the battery-powered vehicles, was being loaded on to a truck to be recharged, and it banged into a truck, taking off a bumper.

The Italian scooter and vehicle maker Piaggio, which owns the four driverless vehicles, is sending spare bumpers, Broggi said. And now the team has a check list to make sure all systems are off when they stop for a break.

Vislabs goal is to log 13,000 driverless kilometers 8,000 miles by the time the convoy arrives in Shanghai on Oct 28, for a final demonstration at the World Expo. So far, the vehicles have logged 2,300 autonomous kilometers 1,400 miles of the total 4,100 kilometers 2,500 miles traveled by the convoy to date, the balance in tow.

Still, Broggi is optimistic they will make up the mileage on the zigzagging route through Asia.

The departure from Italy was delayed by logistics, so the vehicles were towed to Belgrade. Then the team got stuck on the Russian border for 22 hours waiting for proper authorization to bring the vehicles into the country � not because of concerns over the unmanned technology but for proof of vehicle ownership, Broggi said.

To make up the time, the vehicles were towed again.

And Moscow drivers, it turns out, are not ready to share the roads with autonomous vehicles � so the automatic driving mechanism had to be turned off.

For the journey, the driverless vehicles travel in pairs, with the driverless vehicle taking cues from a lead van being driven normally. But in Moscow, drivers cut in between the vehicles, blocking the signal, and the unmanned vans impulse to stay within the traffic lines was futile given the chaotic driving patterns, Broggi said.

It was impossible. In crowded areas, if no one is respecting the rules, there is no way to navigate. The only thing you can do is avoid hitting someone, Broggi said. Yet, he would not rule out autonomous vehicles in chaotic situations in the future: the rules for the driverless vehicles would just have to be rewritten to match the environment.

The convoy has been logging roughly 200 to 230 kilometers 143 miles a day, and was somewhere between Niznij Novogorod and Saratov on Tuesday, two days after leaving Moscow where a pair of enterprising hitchhikers flagged them down with a banner endorsing future technology. They got a short 15-minute ride for their effort.

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Blair: Serious ideas needed for Mideast success AP

HERZLIYA, Israel Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair has called on Israelis and Palestinians to bring serious proposals to a new round of peace talks set to start on Sept. 2.

Speaking at an Israeli academic conference on Tuesday, Blair said the sides proposals for how to solve the decades-old conflicts thorniest issues will be a litmus test of seriousness.

Blair has been assisting the U.S.-led effort to restart peace talks as the special representative of the Quartet of Mideast peacemakers � the U.S., the U.N., the European Union and Russia.

Since the new talks were announced last week, both sides have been laying out their starting positions, with Israel demanding security guarantees and the Palestinians rejecting any growth in Israels West Bank settlements.

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Suicide bomber attacks Somali hotel, killing 32 AP

MOGADISHU, Somalia A suicide bomber and gunmen wearing military uniforms attacked a hotel near Somalias presidential palace Monday, sparking a one-hour gun battle with security forces. At least 32 people were killed, including six Somali parliamentarians.

Witnesses described a horrific scene of dead bodies throughout the Muna Hotel and guests scrambling to safety by escaping out of windows.

The multi-pronged assault came less than 24 hours after the countrys most dangerous militant group � al-Shabab, a group allied with al-Qaida � threatened a massive war against what it labeled as invaders, a reference to the 6,000 African Union troops in Mogadishu.

The attack on the Muna Hotel raised the two-day toll to at least 70 people, a high number even by Mogadishus violent standards. Fighting that rocked Mogadishu on Monday killed 40 people, health officials said.

Somalias deputy prime minister told The Associated Press that 19 civilians, six members of parliament, five security forces and two hotel workers were killed in the attack � a total of 32. Two attackers also were killed, said Abdirahman Haji Aden Ibi, the deputy prime minister. A government statement said 31 people were killed.

An 11-year-old shoe shine boy and a woman selling tea in front of the hotel were among the dead, African Union spokesman Maj. Barigye Bahoku said.

They have no motive other than to terrorize the Somali people. This is a deplorable act in this holy month of Ramadan. It shows their brutality and lack of respect for humanity, said Abdirahman Omar Osman, Somalias information minister.

A survivor described a frenzied, one-hour battle inside the four-floor, $10-a-night hotel.

Saynab Qayad, a member of parliament staying at the hotel, said she was jolted awake by the popping sound of bullets. Three members of parliament staying on the fourth floor had drawn their guns while other guests scrambled to safety by escaping out the windows, she said.

Smoke filled my room after bullets smashed my window. I hid myself in a corner of the room. Then a guest next door came to my door, screaming Come out Come out And when I came out bullets continued to fly around.

I went back to my room and locked my door. Shortly afterward, the hotel staff asked me to come down and put me in a room at the second floor with four other survivors, she said. The body of a member of parliament was lying at that small rooms door.

Sheik Ali Mohamud Rage, a spokesman for the al-Shabab militia, said that members of the groups special forces had carried out the attack against those aiding the infidels.

While Mogadishu has a small, government-controlled zone near the seaside airport, al-Shabab operatives frequently infiltrate the area, and the attack is only the latest proof that al-Shabab has molded itself into a full-fledged insurgent force capable of daring, complex assaults.

In a similar attack in December, a suicide bomber detonated himself at a university graduation ceremony near Tuesdays hotel attack, killing 24 people, including three government ministers, medical students and doctors.

In its first international attack, al-Shabab last month claimed responsibility for twin bombings in Ugandas capital during the World Cup final, explosions that killed 76 people who had gathered to watch the televised match. Al-Shabab said the attack was in retaliation for Ugandas role in the African Union force in Mogadishu.

Militant veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars are believed to be helping train members of al-Shabab, which has pledged allegiance to al-Qaida.

Somalia has not had an effective government for 19 years. Islamic insurgents led by al-Shabab have been trying to topple the government from Mogadishu since January 2007. The AU force has ensured the government stays because the forces mandate is to protect key government officials and installations such as the air and sea port in Mogadishu.

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Associated Press writer Malkhadir M. Muhumed contributed from Nairobi, Kenya.

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Allen says New York too expensive to shoot films AP

MADRID Woody Allen says he began shooting movies in European cities because he couldnt afford to do so in New York.

However, the film director told reporters in the northern Spanish city of Oviedo that he finds Manhattan poses fewer limitations than European cities, where more tailoring of the story is required to fit the location.

Allen was in Spain Tuesday to attend a premiere of his last film, You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger in the nearby town of Aviles.

The film, shot in London, stars Naomi Watts, Josh Brolin and Antonio Banderas.

On Monday, Allen, who is being accompanied by his wife and one of his daughters, took part in a promotional video for the Asturias region, known for its stunning mountains and coastal scenery.

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Hurricane Danielle becomes Category 2 storm AP

MIAMI Hurricane Danielle has strengthened to a Category 2 storm as it churns far out over the Atlantic.

The hurricane has maximum sustained winds Tuesday near 100 mph 160 kph and could become a major hurricane by early Wednesday.

Danielle is located about 1,110 miles 1,790 kilometers east of the Lesser Antilles and is moving west near 20 mph 32 kph.

Meanwhile in the Pacific, Tropical Storm Frank is moving parallel with the coast of southern Mexico. Franks maximum sustained winds are near 50 mph 85 kph. The storm is located about 135 miles 220 kilometers south-southwest of Acapulco, Mexico.

A tropical storm watch that had been in effect for Mexicos coast from Acapulco to Punta San Telmo has been discontinued.

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