Chile mine disaster exposes old family feuds AP

SAN JOSE MINE, Chile While a fire warms their campsite, the icy feeling between Cristina Nunez Macias and her mother-in-law is as palpable as the cold Atacama desert.

Both women are here to support the same man, 34-year-old Claudio Yanez, one of the 33 trapped miners in Northern Chile. But they barely acknowledge each other, thanks to wounds created many years ago, and have been fighting over who should get Yanezs salary and donations that have come from all over Chile.

"We have barely spoken in six years," said Macias. "And now she thinks the donations and help should go to her? No way."

The miners themselves passed the one-month mark underground on Sunday � apparently longer than any other trapped miners have ever had to endure � and they still face more weeks or months before rescue. The strain also has shaken the fault lines in their families above. Some squabble over who should get the miners August wage, who should share in the donated food.

The local government has been forced to institute several measures: The miners were asked to send up a note designating who could get their $1,600 800,000 peso salary for August. There are separate bank accounts for each miner, which no family member can touch.

Social workers have been brought in to sort out who gets boxes of food, household cleaners and clothes donated by unions, companies and individuals � helping settle disputes among relatives of about half the families of the trapped men, said Pamela Leiva, the head social worker at the camp of relatives waiting near the mine.

"For each miner, sometimes there are as many as three families to consider," she said. "And to understand them, we have had to dig into the lives of the miners before the accident."

Those lives, just like lives the world over, can be complicated.

There are men who have been living with a partner for years while still formally married to a woman from whom they separated long ago, the result of a rigid divorce law. In a few cases, the legal wife of a miner has come forward looking for donations, said Leiva.

There are brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers on both sides of a miner who dont get along, or who depended on his salary to survive, meaning they cant just wait long months for their loved one to be rescued.

And of course, some miners have skeletons in their unexpectedly opened closets.

Leiva confirmed a story told by other witnesses: One miners wife and lover were both keeping vigil at the camp. When the two realized they were both praying for the same man, they had a very public argument, and the wife tore down a poster with the miners photo that the mistress had set up.

The mistress taped her poster back up, and beneath several poems and prayers she had dedicated to him, she added, as if defiantly: "Tu Senora," or "your wife."

Having to designate who gets their salary, a large sum in a country where the minimum wage is roughly $400 200,000 pesos a month, can put the men in a difficult situation, and limited communications give them little way to talk through the problems with squabbling relatives 2,300 feet 700 meters above their heads.

Miner Claudio Yanez designated Cristina Nunez Macias, 26, his partner of 10 years and mother of their two daughters, an 8-year-old and a toddler.

Yanezs mother, Margarita, declined to be interviewed, but his brother, Carlos Yanez, 38, said the tensions had died down the last week, as the two women have had to make peace.

Carlos also said they had come to an agreement on nonperishable items: leave them in Cristinas house until the miner gets out and can decide who gets what.

For all the fissures that have been exposed, the tragedy has also brought families together.

Maria Segovia said that a stepdaughter of her brother, trapped miner Dario Segovia, visited the camp one day and angered Darios three biological children by telling local media she was his only child. In fact, she was a stepdaughter from Segovias previous relationship.

But after the blowup came a makeup, and a stronger relationship.

"We love her as one of Darios children," said Maria.

Despite worldwide attention, the miners financial future is uncertain when and if they make it out alive.

The owners of the mining company, San Esteban, have said they may not be able to pay wages in September, and are considering bankruptcy.

The day after the men were discovered alive, businessman Leonardo Farkas donated $10,000 5 million pesos to each miner. That money has been put in the miners accounts, and Farkas has encouraged Chileans to donate.

Money donations are distributed evenly among the 33 miners, said Leiva, the social worker.

While every family is focused on seeing its loved one emerge alive, there is another deep, longer-term worry: Will these men be able to return to work?

Many, psychologically and physically, may be unable to go back in the mines, or refuse to do so.

There are few other opportunities in Northern Chile, and many of the men dont have the education to do anything else that pays as well.

"A big worry is: How they will come out?" said Leiva. "They dont have other jobs."

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Vatican: stoning in Iran adultery case brutal AP

VATICAN CITY The Vatican raised the possibility Sunday of using behind-the-scenes diplomacy to try to save the life of an Iranian widow sentenced to be stoned for adultery.

In its first public statement on the case, which has attracted worldwide attention, the Vatican decried stoning as a particularly brutal form of capital punishment.

Vatican spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi said the Catholic church opposes the death penalty in general.

It is unclear what chances any Vatican bid would have to persuade the Muslim nation to spare the womans life. Brazil, which has friendly relations with Iran, was rebuffed when it offered her asylum.

Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani was convicted in 2006 of adultery. In July, Iranian authorities said they would not carry out the stoning sentence for the time being, but the mother of two could still face execution by hanging for adultery and other offenses.

Her son, Sajad, told the Italian news agency Adnkronos that he was appealing to Pope Benedict XVI and to Italy to work to stop the execution.

Lombardi told The Associated Press that no formal appeal had reached the Vatican. But he hinted that Vatican diplomacy might be employed to try to save Ashtiani.

Lombardi said in a statement that the Holy See "is following the case with attention and interest."

"When the Holy See is asked, in an appropriate way, to intervene in humanitarian issues with the authorities of other countries, as it has happened many times in the past, it does so not in a public way, but through its own diplomatic channels," Lombardi said in the statement.

In one of the late Pope John Paul IIs encyclicals in 1995, the pontiff laid out the Catholic Churchs stance against capital punishment.

John Paul went to bat in several high-profile cases of death-row inmates in the United States. One of the first was the case of Paula Cooper, who was convicted of murdering her elderly Bible teacher when she was 15 but spared the electric chair by Indiana in 1989.

But that same year, a papal appeal for clemency to Cuba to spare a war hero and three other Cuban officers convicted of drug trafficking from the firing squad went unheeded.

Meanwhile, Italys foreign minister, Franco Frattini, told the ANSA news agency that while Italy respects Iranian sovereignty and isnt in any way interfering, "a gesture of clemency from Iran is the only thing that can save her."

Italy has strong economic ties, primarily energy interests, in Iran.

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Future hiring will mainly benefit the high-skilled AP

Whenever companies start hiring freely again, job-seekers with specialized skills and education will have plenty of good opportunities. Others will face a choice: Take a job with low pay � or none at all.

Job creation will likely remain weak for months or even years. But once employers do step up hiring, some economists expect job openings to fall mainly into two categories of roughly equal numbers:

� Professional fields with higher pay. Think lawyers, research scientists and software engineers.

� Lower-skill and lower-paying jobs, like home health care aides and store clerks.

And those in between? Their outlook is bleaker. Economists foresee fewer moderately paid factory supervisors, postal workers and office administrators.

Thats the sobering message American workers face as they celebrate Labor Day at a time of high unemployment, scant hiring and a widespread loss of job security. Not until 2014 or later is the nation expected to have regained all, or nearly all, the 8.4 million jobs lost to the recession. Millions of lost jobs in real estate, for example, arent likely to be restored this decade, if ever.

On Friday, the government said the August unemployment rate ticked up to 9.6 percent. Not enough jobs were created to absorb the growing number of people seeking work. The unemployment rate has exceeded 9 percent for 16 months, the longest such stretch in nearly 30 years.

The crisis poses a threat to President Barack Obama and Democrats in Congress, whose hold on the House and Senate appears to be at increasing risk because of voter discontent.

Even when the job market picks up, many people will be left behind. The threat stems, in part, from the economys continuing shift from one driven by manufacturing to one fueled by service industries.

Pay for future service-sector jobs will tend to vary from very high to very low. At the same time, the number of middle-income service-sector jobs will shrink, according to government projections. Any job that can be automated or outsourced overseas is likely to continue to decline.

The service sectors growth could also magnify the nations income inequality, with more people either affluent or financially squeezed. The nation isnt educating enough people for the higher-skilled service-sector jobs of the future, economists warn.

"There will be jobs," says Lawrence Katz, a Harvard economist. "The big question is what they are going to pay, and what kind of lives they will allow people to lead? This will be a big issue for how broad a middle class we are going to have."

On one point theres broad agreement: Of 8 million-plus jobs lost to the recession � in fields like manufacturing, real estate and financial services � many, perhaps most, arent coming back.

In their place will be jobs in health care, information technology and statistical analysis. Some of the new positions will require complex skills or higher education. Others wont � but they wont pay very much, either.

"Our occupational structure is really becoming bifurcated," says Richard Florida, a professor at University of Toronto. "Were becoming more of a divided nation by the work we do."

By 2018, the government forecasts a net total of 15.3 million new jobs. If that proves true, unemployment would drop far closer to a historical norm of 5 percent.

Nearly all the new jobs will be in the service sector, the Labor Department says. The nations 78 million baby boomers will need more health care services as they age, for example. Demand for medical jobs will rise. And innovations in high technology and alternative energy are likely to spur growth in occupations that dont yet exist.

Hiring cant come fast enough for the 14.9 million unemployed Americans. Counting part-time employees who would prefer full-time jobs, plus out-of-work people who have stopped looking for jobs, the number of "underemployed" is 26.2 million.

Manufacturing has shed 2 million jobs since the recession began. Construction has lost 1.9 million, financial services 651,000.

But the biggest factor has been the bust in real estate. The vanished jobs range from construction workers and furniture makers to loan officers, appraisers and material suppliers. Moodys Analytics estimates the total number of housing-related jobs lost at 2.4 million. When you include commercial real estate, the number is far higher.

One of them is Martha Escobar, who last month lost her $13.50-an-hour job cleaning an office tower owned by JPMorgan Chase & Co. in Century City, Calif. She was one of 16 janitors, mostly single mothers, who lost jobs as part of the real estate crunch thats squeezed landlords.

Some of them traveled to New York on Thursday to try to pressure JPMorgan to get its cleaning contractor to take them back, given that the bank earned $8.1 billion during the first half of this year.

"I dont know what I am going to do if I cant get my job back," Escobar, 41, said.

JPMorgan Chase spokesman Gary Kishner said the bank has no say over the layoffs, which he said are handled by the buildings cleaning contractor.

On top of real estate-related job losses, manufacturing is likely to keep shedding jobs, sending lower-skilled work overseas. Millions who worked in those fields will need to find jobs in higher-skilled or lower-paying occupations.

"The big fear is the country is simply not preparing workers for the kind of skills that the country is going to need," says Gautam Godhwani, CEO of SimplyHired.com, which tracks job listings.

Sectors likely to grow fastest, according to economists and government projections, are:

� HEALTH CARE

The sector is expected to be the leading job generator, adding 4 million by 2018, according to Labor Department data. An aging population requires more doctors and nurses, physical therapists, home health aides and pharmacists.

Many of these jobs will pay well. Physical therapists averaged about $76,000 last year, according to the departments data. Others pay far less. Home health care aides earned an average of just $21,600.

Home health care and personal care aides are expected to add about 900,000 jobs by 2018 � 50 percent more than in 2008.

Jennifer Gamboa of Body Dynamics Inc., an Arlington, Va.-based physical therapy firm, says the drive to reduce health care costs should benefit her profession, which can treat pain less expensively than surgery. Gamboa plans to add two employees in the next year.

� INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY: Technology could be an economic elixir as computers and online networks expand ways to automate services, distribute media and communicate.

Companies will need people to build and secure those networks. That should boost the number of programmers, network administrators and security specialists by 45 percent to 2.1 million by 2018, the government forecasts. Most of these jobs will provide above-average pay.

Technology pay averaged $84,400 in 2008 � nearly double the average private-sector pay of $45,400, according to an analysis of the most recent full-year data by the TechAmerica Foundation, a research group.

� NEW INDUSTRIES: Deepak Advani, an IBM executive, has a title he says didnt exist five years ago: "Vice president of predictive analytics."

Companies and government agencies have amassed data on behavior ranging from shopping habits to criminal activity. Predictive analytics is the art of determining what to do with that data. How should workers time be deployed? How best to target customers? Such jobs could grow 20 percent by 2018, the government predicts.

Still, economists say more will be needed to boost job growth. The answer may be some technological breakthrough akin to the personal computer or the Internet.

"Most big booms come from a particular sector that moves the rest of the economy," said Richard Freeman, a Harvard labor economist.

Technology spurred job growth after the 1982 and 1991 recessions. The PC became revolutionary in the early 1980s. Internet use exploded after the Mosaic Web browser was introduced in 1994. Housing eventually lifted employment after the 2001 dot-com bust.

"Theres a lack of clarity on what the next big thing is going to be this time," said David Card, an economics professor at the University of California.

Until there is, many people will have to lower expectations and living standards as they enter fields with less pay and less job stability, said Dan Finnigan, CEO of online employment service Jobvite.

"People who are unemployed have to embrace this future that they are going to have many jobs," he said. "We will always be working on the next gig."

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Tiny solar cells fix themselves

5 September 2010 Last updated at 13:20 ET

Researchers have demonstrated tiny solar cells just billionths of a metre across that can repair themselves, extending their useful lifetime.

The cells make use of proteins from the machinery of plants, turning sunlight into electric charges that can do work.

The cells simply assemble themselves from a mixture of the proteins, minute tubes of carbon and other materials.

The self-repairing mechanism, reported in Nature Chemistry, could lead to much longer-lasting solar cells.

The design and improvement of solar cells is one of the most vibrant areas of science, in part because sunlight is far and away the planets most abundant renewable energy source.

More than that, nature has already proven that sunlight can be captured and turned into other forms of energy not only with extraordinary efficiency but also with a self-repair mechanism that counteracts the ravages of sunlight.

"Sunlight, when it hits oxygen, is very damaging," explained Michael Strano, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology chemical engineer who led the research.

"Its the reason why we age, and the reason why when we leave paper or plastic out in the sun, it fades."

The destructive mixture of sunlight and oxygen, Professor Strano told BBC News, means that many of the best solar cells in the laboratory might not survive well when put into use.

"Theres a kind of a horse race among scientists around the world to make the highest efficiency cell, but very few people are asking what happens with that cell when you plug it in for a few hours or for a week or for months," he said.

Jigsaw puzzle

Now Professor Strano and his colleagues have made novel use of the photosynthetic reaction centre, one of the plant parts nature has developed for the task, in a bid to increase the lifetimes of solar cells.

They also employed lipids, the molecules that pair up end-to-end form much of the walls of all living cells, and carbon nanotubes, tiny "straws" of pure carbon that are renowned for their electrical properties.

Lastly they added a surfactant - a molecule that, like soap on grease, breaks certain molecules apart and keeps them separate.

To the teams surprise, this cocktail of disparate parts, when the surfactant was pumped out, assembled itself into a suite of working solar cells, each just a few nanometres - billionths of a metre - across.

The lipids paired up to form discs that attached to the nanotube on one side and to the reaction centres on the other.

Incoming light is gathered by the reaction centre, knocking free an electron that is channelled by the lipids and into the nanotube.

Inside what is known as a photoelectrochemical cell, those electrons can be scooped up and together constitute an electric current.

"Its like a jigsaw puzzle that you throw into the air and it comes down completely assembled," Professor Strano said.

This self-assembly leads naturally to a self-repair scheme.

Surfactant is added, along with a few proteins to replace those damaged by sunlight, and the recipe is complete.

When the surfactant is removed, the bits re-assemble into a pristine set of solar cells.

Professor Strano said that the efficiency of the cells as designed is just a tiny fraction of that provided by the current best solar cells.

While he said great gains are still to be had in efficiency as the experiment is refined, he added that the idea behind the research was as important for future work.

"What our paper is good for is starting to think about device lifetime and borrowing concepts from nature. Can we make cells that have an infinite lifetime?"

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What is a nanometre? Professor Tony Ryan explains

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Congo boat catches fire, capsizes; 200 feared dead AP

KINSHASA, Congo A riverboat loaded with passengers and fuel drums caught fire and capsized in southern Congo, and 200 people were feared dead, a survivor said Sunday. A local official confirmed the boat had tipped but said the passenger manifest apparently vanished in the fire.

It would be the deadliest boat accident in the Central African nation this year, and among the worst in Africa this year.

Fabrice Muamba, who said he was on the boat when it caught fire Saturday night on the Kasai River, said he thought only 15 people were able to swim to safety. He said passengers began to jump overboard when the engine caught fire as it passed the remote village of Mbendayi, some 45 miles 70 kilometers from the town of Tshikapa, which is north of Congos border with Angola.

Boat owner Mwamba Mwati Nguma Leonard said a survivor and an employee called to tell him the boat caught fire when workers spilled fuel and ignited the engine.

"At the moment I am crying after learning my boat caught fire," Leonard said. "I was just told on phone that it was while seamen were putting fuel into the tank that an explosion occurred after the oil touched the vessels battery."

He said he has asked police to arrest the boats managers as he believes they employed unskilled workers.

But he said he had no further details because he was in Congos capital, Kinshasa, some 500 miles 800 kilometers from the scene, and because his employees on the scene did not answer his calls Sunday.

"Since I am far away in Kinshasa, I cannot confirm at the moment the exactly what happened," he said.

Leonard also confirmed Muambas account that the boat was carrying many drums full of fuel on its journey through Kasai Occidental Province. Leonard said the boat also was carrying sacks of maize. He said he did not know how many people were aboard.

Francois Madila, an official from the navigation department in the province, said police arrested two of the vessels sailors and are investigating the incident. Madila said the sailors have not said how many people were aboard and that the passenger list appeared to have disappeared in the fire.

The boats that traverse Congos rivers are often in poor repair and filled beyond capacity, with little regard for safety. The industry is not well-regulated and boat operators are known to fill boats to dangerous levels.

Other officials and witnesses in the remote area could not be reached for comment Sunday.

The incident is the deadliest of several boating incidents reported this year in Congo.

In July, officials said at least 80 people died when a boat ferrying about 200 passengers to Congos capital capsized after hitting a rock.

In May, dozens of people died when an overloaded canoe capsized on a river in eastern Congo. And last November, at least 90 people were killed after a logging boat sank on a lake in Congo. The timber-carrying vessel was not supposed to be carrying passengers.

Congo is a vast country of jungles and huge rivers in Central Africa with little more than 300 miles 480 kilometers of paved road. Many people prefer to take boats even if they do not know how to swim.

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9 years gone, everyones a ground zero stakeholder AP

NEW YORK It is a place of sacrifice. A place of mourning. A place people pass by on their way to grab lunch. Its a place where tourists crane their necks to snatch a glimpse around barriers walling off an enormous construction site � which is also what it is.

Ground zero.

Depending on whom you talk to, its a scar on this city where horror still lingers, a bustling hive symbolizing the resilience of a nation, or simply, for those who live and work nearby, a place where life goes on.

In recent weeks, as debate has raged over the placement of a planned Islamic cultural center and mosque a couple of blocks from the construction, Americans have been reminded of just how many people lay claim to this place, the focal point for all those who have a stake in the legacy of Sept. 11.

Almost everyone has a stake.

Gesturing at the land he helped clear in the weeks after 9/11, Louis Pabon believes he knows who owns it: "This is mine."

Today he is wearing his hard hat again, standing at the gates of St. Pauls Chapel, hawking the photos that he took of the wreckage. Tourists stop in the sun to look at the images of smoky desolation.

Take a walk around ground zero, and you can get lost in the throngs. Among the tourist crowds at St. Pauls, a block away, a woman sipping a strawberry smoothie walks past an altar covered with photos of the dead. Outside, beneath cranes that glint red in the sun, construction workers cluster. A woman in a business suit and white sneakers speeds down the sidewalk. Burger King is full, and at Century 21 department store, across from the construction, polo shirts are 85 percent off.

This place was once a giant plaza filled with businesspeople and tourists and shoppers and commuters rushing to the subway. Then, on one sunny September Tuesday in 2001, it became suddenly a place of history and loss. Within 24 hours, someone had dubbed it ground zero, and it was never the same.

After 9/11, there were weeks, and months, of coming to grips. Everyone had lost something. A child. An acquaintance. A skyline. A sense of safety. A center of business. A solid stock portfolio. A feeling that we knew where everything was heading.

The citys Muslims, many of them, lost a willingness to speak out. They had enjoyed a kind of anonymity � a knowledge that they were just another ingredient in the hearty stew of New York. But since Sept. 11, they have felt an unwanted spotlight, and some have been afraid.

"Now no one can talk about Islam ... because Islam became like equal to violence," says Noureddine Elberhoumi, a cab driver who says that after Sept. 11 he stopped volunteering information about his religious affiliation. "In their mind, Islam is always going back to Iraq, Afghanistan, 9/11 � thats it."

In the days after the attacks, the nation was in a wrenching, gripping catharsis. We were mourning our dead. We were mourning the accustomed path, whatever it was, that had been ripped out from under us. We were on a new, uncertain course.

Before the week was out, the pastor at St. Pauls began calling the site of the devastation "sacred ground." On Sept. 20, Katie Couric told TV viewers it "should be hallowed." For the family members of more than 1,100 of the victims whose remains were never recovered, it is the only gravesite they have.

"This pit of evil and doom," Sally Regenhard calls it now, her voice shaking nine years after the death here of her firefighter son, Christian.

"My sons beautiful remains are forever scattered," she says. "Ground zero is a burial ground."

Since that awful day, the story of the site has been through what seem like endless chapters.

There were battles over the land � over the prolonged search for victims remains that kept turning up more tiny body parts in the soil five years later. The developer and insurance companies fought over payouts. The state and the developer haggled over financing and how many towers would be rebuilt.

Some families successfully challenged the creation of a freedom museum at the site, and some questioned whether a planned performing arts center there is appropriate. How best to pay respect to the dead?

Now, most everyone is staking out a position on the planned Islamic cultural center, to include a mosque, auditorium and other facilities about two blocks from the construction barriers. Some say the location should be moved out of sensitivity, because the Sept. 11 hijackers claimed to act in the name of Islam. Others say that moving the mosque would be bowing to intolerance and curtailing religious freedom.

Through all of this conflict, ground zero has been shuttered. Few have walked on its soil, except for the workers who cleared the site and those who are rebuilding it. Family members and others invited to the yearly memorial ceremonies have been allowed in, as was the pope on his 2008 pilgrimage.

But most have been unable to enter. At first, some people walked up to the barricades to post pictures of the missing, others to keep watch on the dead. More came. Out-of-towners started filling the sidewalks at the edge of the construction, holding up maps and asking passersby: Whats the best spot to see ground zero?

With so few allowed in, everyone who journeyed to this untouchable space could make of it what they would. So what happens after the planned memorial opening on Sept. 11, 2011 � when the public is allowed inside the walled-off space?

Although the rules havent been finalized, one could imagine a jogger passing through and pausing to take a drag off her water bottle, a group of kids breakdancing for tips, a businessman unwrapping his sandwich for lunch on a sunny bench.

Sacred or no, in many ways this space will belong to the American people � those who come to mourn the most personal of losses, those who come for all the other reasons, and even those who dont come at all, but know this place is now no longer just a hole in the ground.

The memorial was always intended to become a vibrant space again � to "be stitched back into the grid of lower Manhattan," says professor James E. Young, a member of the panel that selected the memorial design.

"Short of turning the whole thing into a cemetery with fences and saying this is somehow inviolable ... we knew that even sacred spaces live in public use," he says. Some proposals had called for the footprints of the twin towers to be cordoned off, with only family members of the victims allowed there.

But that "suggests that only the families of victims own it," Young says. "What about those who were injured? What about those who escaped? What about the rest of the city, which also felt surely violated and even victimized by the attacks?"

Many around the nation � even around the world � felt that they had been hit, too. A newspaper headline in Paris said after the attack: "Were all Americans."

How much reverence will be given to this open space in the citys maze, which still carries for many the memories of screams and dust and panic? Can it stay sacred?

That question was answered long ago, says a family member.

"The memorial museum is selling souvenirs, for Gods sake," says Diane Horning, who lost her son, Matthew. "You cant stand in ground zero without seeing Century 21s big banners advertising whatever their special is. ... This hasnt been sacred space since the day they put the first rivets in something. Its office buildings, its places to eat, its everything but sacred space."

Theres even a strip club three blocks from the construction site. At New York Dolls Gentlemens Club, a woman in a red sequined G-string takes a break from platform dancing and leans over to rub her calves. In the background, Alicia Keys sings on a recording about New Yorks concrete jungle.

Outside, where William Dean is handing out flyers promoting the dancers, he says hes used to people yelling at him about the unseemly proximity to ground zero. His answer: "Were making a buck like anyone else."

Just one block closer to ground zero, its still uncertain whether the cultural center and mosque known as Park51 will be built. But this would-be neighbor has aroused a reaction unlike any of the other disputes over this land.

The mosque furor has brought 9/11 back to the fore of Americas consciousness. It had been quiet for a long time, bogged down in the bureaucracy of what would be built, for how much and when.

Amid all the disputes and all the compromise, the World Trade Center site had lost some of its hold on the publics imagination.

Freedom Tower, the sites signature skyscraper, rising a symbolic 1,776 feet, was renamed One World Trade Center, thought a better draw for corporate tenants. Even the ethereal design imagined by architect Daniel Libeskind came back to earth, restrained by the boundaries of physics and financing.

The plan for the memorial pools set in the footprints of the towers, though, remains.

At the 9/11 Memorial Preview Site at ground zero, a mob of visitors is snapping pictures, clustering in around a small-scale model of what this place is supposed to become.

There are the footprints, with lines standing in for what are to be the largest manmade waterfalls in the nation. There are tall, elegant buildings. There are tiny trees, each miniature trunk no thicker than a pushpin.

It looks peaceful. And it looks ready to come to life.

___

Associated Press Writer Amy Westfeldt and AP researcher Monika Mathur contributed to this report.

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Guatemala mudslides kill at least 28; 2 buses hit AP

GUATEMALA CITY Torrential rains from a tropical depression caused mudslides that have killed at least 28 people in Guatemala � most of them in separate disasters along the same highway.

The first highway slide near midday Saturday partially buried a bus under tons of mud at kilometer marker 81 on a highway leading northwest of the capital toward Mexico.Officials said at least 12 people died. That led President Alvaro Colom to declare a national emergency. He said four children and two adults were buried in other slides elsewhere.

"It is a tragic day. Today alone 18 people have died, 12 buried by a hill when the traveled in a bus," Colom told a news conference.

The president told officials to close the highway for fear of more slides.

"There are several hillsides that are loose and could fall. So we ask the population to not go out, to avoid moving along the highways," he said.

But hours later, vehicles were trapped by another slide at kilometer 171, officials reported, and some of the people who came to rescue them were themselves caught by following slide.

Civil Defense director Sergio Cabanas said at least 10 people were killed � some in vehicles and some among people who came to rescue them. He said at least 60 people are missing.

Regional fire department Maj. Otto Mazariegos told reporters that some of the victims of the second slide were rescuers.

"We are told that there are 150 missing," he said. "Under the earth there is a bus that carried we dont know how many people, and there are those who tried to help the victims of the first slide."

Heavy rains from Tropical Depression 11-E have pelted Guatemala for days, unleashing deadly mudslides in several areas, cutting highways and forcing officials to evacuate thousands of people.

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Afghan Central Bank: Kabul Bank has `stabilized AP

KABUL, Afghanistan Afghanistans largest bank remained solvent Sunday after a nearly weeklong run on the troubled institution, according to the governor of the nations central bank, which is being criticized for looking the other way at the banks mismanagement problems for too long.

Nervous depositors continued to make withdrawals, but Central Bank Governor Abdul Qadir Fitrat said the Kabul Bank was on sound footing. He said no decision had been made about whether the central bank would use money in its coffers to shore up Kabul Bank, partly owned by President Hamid Karzais brother.

"Its stabilized. The bank is already stabilized and hopefully in the next few days it will become 100 percent normal," Fitrat told The Associated Press. "It is almost 60 percent to 70 percent returned to normal. Most of the branches are now empty of customers. People have taken their money and gone home. Its very good today. The operation is becoming very normal."

Abdullah Abdullah, who challenged President Karzai in last years presidential election, criticized the government, saying it should have acted more quickly to correct management problems at Kabul Bank. The run on the bank began on Wednesday following a change in leadership and reports that tens of millions of dollars had been lent for risky real estate investments involving the political elite.

"The extent of the problem seems to me to be massive and the misconduct seems to be a very prolonged one," Abdullah said.

"Why wasnt it dealt with earlier?" he asked reporters gathered at his home for a new conference in which he also questioned whether central bank reserves should be used to bolster the banks balance sheet.

Uncertainty about the banks future has further destabilized the war-torn country and efforts by the central government to build an efficient political and financial system to drag Afghanistan out of poverty. If not resolved, problems at the bank could have wide-ranging political repercussions.

It handles the pay for Afghan public servants, soldiers and police in the unstable nation, which is beset by a Taliban insurgency and is awash in drug money and billions in international aid. Kabul Banks woes further underscore entrenched problems with cronyism and corruption, with millions of dollars allegedly loaned to relatives and friends of the ruling elite to buy property in Dubai.

Sherkhan Farnood, former chairman of Kabul Bank, and Khalilullah Ferozi, former chief executive officer, resigned because, under new reforms, only banking professionals can hold the top operating positions at banks. Farnood, a world class poker player who raised money for Karzais re-election campaign, and Ferozi each own 28 percent of the banks shares. President Karzais brother, Mahmood Karzai, is the banks third largest shareholder with 7 percent.

President Karzai said the government will guarantee every penny of the deposits in the bank.

"Yes, government officials, including Mr. Karzai himself, assured the citizens of Afghanistan that they were going to save the bank. ... fair enough," Abdullah said. "Youll save the bank, in which your brother is a shareholder ... fair enough. But with which money? Whose money?

"The money belongs to the people of Afghanistan. Its not anybodys private entity. ... Which money will be channeled or is being channeled to the bank? How much money, for what reason and how will it be refunded to the government?"

"We strongly urge the government of Afghanistan and the shareholders as well as the authorities with the central bank to provide clear answers � not to put dust in the eyes of the citizens."

Abdullah said he had heard the central bank had already given the bank $200 million. Fitrat said that was not true � no decision had been made on whether central bank funds would be used to help Kabul Bank.

Deputy U.S. Treasury Secretary Neal Wolin said Saturday while American officials were providing technical assistance to the Afghan government, "This is an Afghan issue. They are taking immediate steps to ensure the stability of Kabul Bank and to protect the financial assets of the Afghan people ... No American taxpayer funds will be used to support Kabul Bank."

Mahmood Karzai said the bank, which he said lost $170 million during the first two days of the run, got in trouble for three reasons.

"First of all, it was lending over the limit of the bank," he said. "Second was investing in Dubais property. Third was lending to shareholders. These were the three areas where the bank violated central bank regulations.

"Im sure that the bank has learned the hard way that this is not acceptable," he said.

He said the banks former chairman said $155 million was invested in two business properties and 18 villas in Dubai.

"Right now, the value of the property is about $160 million so in principle, there is no loss, but the loss is in the accumulated interest," Mahmood Karzai said.

He said he had been living in one of the villas, but planned to move to escape from the controversy over the properties.

"Im moving out this week," he said. "I rented another place. I never owned that villa. It was in the name of Sherkhan Farnood, the chairman. I was there, and Im moving out just to get rid of all this talking on this."

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Congo boat catches fire, capsizes; 200 feared dead AP

KINSHASA, Congo As many as 200 people are feared dead after a heavily loaded boat caught fire and capsized in southern Congo, a survivor said Sunday, in the deadliest documented boat capsize in the Central African nation this year.

Fabrice Muamba, who said he was on the boat when it caught fire Saturday night on the Kasai River, said he thought only 15 people were able to swim to safety. He said passengers began to jump overboard when the engine caught fire as it passed the village of Mbendayi, some 45 miles 70 kilometers from the town of Tshikapa, which is north of Congos border with Angola.

Muamba said the boat was also carrying many drums full of fuel on its journey through Kasai Occidental Province, but it was unclear how the fuel may have contributed to the fire.

Local official Francois Madila said police arrested two of the vessels sailors and are investigating. Madila said the sailors have not said how many people were aboard and that the passenger list appeared to have disappeared in the fire.

The boats that traverse Congos rivers are often in poor repair and filled beyond capacity, with little regard for safety. The industry is not well-regulated and boat operators are known to fill boats to dangerous levels.

The incident is the deadliest of several boating incidents reported this year in Congo.

In July, officials said at least 80 people died when a boat ferrying about 200 passengers to Congos capital capsized after hitting a rock.

In May, dozens of people died when an overloaded canoe capsized on a river in eastern Congo. And last November, at least 90 people were killed after a logging boat sank on a lake in Congo. The timber-carrying vessel was not supposed to be carrying passengers.

Congo is a vast country of jungles and huge rivers in Central Africa with little more than 300 miles 480 kilometers of paved road. Many people prefer to take boats even if they do not know how to swim.

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Guatemala mudslides kill at least 28; 2 buses hit AP

GUATEMALA CITY Torrential rains from a tropical depression caused mudslides that have killed at least 28 people in Guatemala � most of them in separate disasters along the same highway.

The first highway slide near midday Saturday partially buried a bus under tons of mud at kilometer marker 81 on a highway leading northwest of the capital toward Mexico.Officials said at least 12 people died. That led President Alvaro Colom to declare a national emergency. He said four children and two adults were buried in other slides elsewhere.

"It is a tragic day. Today alone 18 people have died, 12 buried by a hill when the traveled in a bus," Colom told a news conference.

The president told officials to close the highway for fear of more slides.

"There are several hillsides that are loose and could fall. So we ask the population to not go out, to avoid moving along the highways," he said.

But hours later, vehicles were trapped by another slide at kilometer 171, officials reported, and some of the people who came to rescue them were themselves caught by following slide.

Civil Defense director Sergio Cabanas said at least 10 people were killed � some in vehicles and some among people who came to rescue them. He said at least 60 people are missing.

Regional fire department Maj. Otto Mazariegos told reporters that some of the victims of the second slide were rescuers.

"We are told that there are 150 missing," he said. "Under the earth there is a bus that carried we dont know how many people, and there are those who tried to help the victims of the first slide."

Heavy rains from Tropical Depression 11-E have pelted Guatemala for days, unleashing deadly mudslides in several areas, cutting highways and forcing officials to evacuate thousands of people.

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Israel unlikely to extend current settlement curbs AP

JERUSALEM Israels defense minister says a slowdown in West Bank settlement construction is unlikely to continue in its current form after it expires at the end of this month.

But Ehud Barak says he does not believe Israel will entirely cancel the 10-month curbs. Barak appeared to be leaving room for a compromise that might allow the Palestinians to continue the fragile direct negotiations that began in Washington last week.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas says he warned Netanyahu last week he will leave the talks if Israel doesnt extend the slowdown.

Barak noted that Israel had permitted limited construction in settlements during the slowdown and he expects some construction to continue after the Sept. 26 deadline.

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

RAMALLAH, West Bank AP � Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas says he has warned Israels prime minister that hell quit peace talks unless Israel extends a curb on settlement construction.

Abbas and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu launched negotiations at a summit in Washington last week.

A 10-month freeze on settlement housing ends Sept. 26, and Netanyahu is under pressure from hardline allies to resume construction.

Netanyahu has not said what he will do. He told his Cabinet on Sunday that creative solutions are needed to make the talks succeed.

However, Abbas told PLO activists in Libya late Saturday that "if the freeze period is not extended by the end of the month, there will be no negotiations." Abbas says he made that clear to Netanyahu.

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Former Saddam confidant says hell die in prison AP

BAGHDAD The man who once served as the international face of Saddam Husseins regime predicts hell die in an Iraqi prison, citing his old age and lengthy prison sentence.

During a brief interview with The Associated Press Sunday, Tariq Aziz said that considering he is 74 and facing a lengthy prison sentence, he will likely die in prison.

Aziz served for years as foreign minister for Saddam Hussein, establishing an international reputation as the defender of the late dictators regime.

He surrendered to U.S. forces about a month after the war started in March 2003.

He was held at an American prison in Baghdad until the U.S. handed over control of the facility this July to the Iraqi government, and Aziz was handed over as well.

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

BAGHDAD AP � The man who once served as the international face of Saddam Husseins regime predicts hell die in an Iraqi prison, citing his old age and lengthy prison sentence.

During a brief interview with The Associated Press Sunday, Tariq Aziz said that considering he is 74 and facing a lengthy prison sentence, he will likely die in prison.

Aziz served for years as foreign minister for Saddam Hussein, establishing an international reputation as the defender of the late dictators regime.

He surrendered to U.S. forces about a month after the war started in March 2003.

He was held at an American prison in Baghdad until the U.S. handed over control of the facility this July to the Iraqi government, and Aziz was handed over as well.

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Ex-UK military chief says Blair underfunded army AP

LONDON The former head of the British Army has accused former prime ministers Tony Blair and Gordon Brown of forcing the military to fight in Iraq and Afghanistan without adequate funding.

Gen. Richard Dannatt said in book extracts published Sunday that Blair "lacked the moral courage to impose his will" on Brown, who was his Treasury chief and succeeded him as Labour prime minister in 2007.

He accused Brown of having a "malign" influence on funding of the Iraq and Afghan campaigns.

"History will pass judgment on these foreign adventures in due course, but in my view Gordon Browns malign intervention ... by refusing to fund what his own government had agreed, fatally flawed the entire process from the outset," Dannatt wrote.

Extracts from the book were published by the Sunday Telegraph newspaper.

Dannatt told the newspaper in an interview that trying to get the government to understand the pressures the army was under was like "pushing a rock up a steep hill."

He also was quoted as saying that the campaign in Afghanistan would have to be completed by 2014 or 2015, because "you couldnt ask an organization to go on taking this level of casualties for 10 years."

Dannatt was head of the army from 2006 until 2009. He was later an adviser to the then-opposition Conservative Party, which now leads the government.

The new government has said the military faces cuts as part of plans to reduce Britains deficit.

Former Foreign Secretary David Miliband, who is running for leadership of the Labour Party, rejected Dannatts criticisms.

"We have armed forces fighting in some of the most dangerous parts of the world with the best equipment they have ever had," he said.

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Suicide car bomb explodes in Baghdad kills 8 AP

BAGHDAD Militants detonated a car bomb at a Baghdad military headquarters on Sunday and then tried to shoot their way into the building, killing eight people and wounding 29 in a brazen morning attack, Iraqi officials said.

Immediately after the car exploded, gunmen assaulted the headquarters, battling the buildings guards in a 15 minute firefight, according to police officials.

Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Mohammed al-Askari told the Associated Press television that some of the gunmen were wearing explosives belts and were planning a second blast.

"The plan was to strike twice," he said. "First with a car bomb and then with suicide bombers."

Police and hospital officials said two people were killed by the blast and then six more died in the ensuing firefight. There were five soldiers among the dead.

Security has been high in Baghdad in past days in anticipation of a new wave of attacks to mark the change in the U.S. mission. Insurgents have intensified their strikes on Iraqi police and soldiers, making August the deadliest month for Iraqi security personal in two years.

The building attacked on Sunday is the headquarters for the Iraqi Armys 11th Division and an army recruitment center. In mid-August, the building was targeted by a suicide bomber who killed 61 people lined up outside on a recruiting day trying to get jobs.

The Iraqi security forces are now solely responsible for protecting the country after President Barack Obama declared an end to U.S. combat operations on Wednesday. Many, however, doubt that Iraqs police and army are a match for the well-armed insurgency determined to bring down the Shiite-led government.

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, a Shiite, is struggling to keep his job after his political coalition came in a close second to a Sunni-dominated alliance in March parliamentary elections. Six months later, there is still has no new government.

U.S. and Iraqi officials have long worried that political instability would lead to widespread violence in Iraq, and the lack of a power-sharing agreement among the competing leaders has only increased fears.

Last week al-Maliki put his nation on its highest level of alert for terror attacks, warning of plots to sow fear and chaos in the country. He said insurgents would try to exploit widespread frustration with years of frequent power outages and problems with other public services by staging riots and attacks on government offices.

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BBC: Basque separatists ETA announce cease fire AP

LONDON The BBC is reporting that the Basque separatist militant group ETA has issued a video declaring a cease fire.

A clip shown by the British broadcaster shows three masked militants. The BBC says the video declares that ETA has decided not to carry out armed operations.

The BBC said Sunday it is not clear whether the truce is permanent or whether peace talks will now be held.

ETA is seeking an independent Basque homeland in northern Spain and southwestern France. It is considered a terrorist organization by the European Union and the U.S. It has killed more than 825 people since the late 1960s.

It declared a cease-fire in 2006 but reverted to violence in a matter of months.

The group has been weakened by the arrests of several key leaders.

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3 killed in suicide attack on Russian base AP

MAKHACHKALA, Russia A suicide car-bomber killed three soldiers and wounded 32 others in an attack on a military base in Russias violence-plagued republic of Dagestan on Sunday, officials said.

The attack took place about 1 a.m. 2100 GMT Saturday at the base in the city of Buinaksk, said Vyacheslav Gasanov, a spokesman for the republics Interior Ministry.

The driver of the explosives-laden small Zhiguli automobile smashed through a gate of the base and headed for an area where soldiers are quartered in tents, Gasanov said.

But soldiers opened fire on him before he reached the center of the base. Gasanov said, the driver rammed the car into a military truck where it exploded.

After the blast, a roadside bomb hit a car taking investigators to the scene, but there were no injuries reported in that explosion.

Dagestans president, Magomedsalam Magomedov, visited the scene of the attack and the wounded soldiers in the hospitals where theyre being treated.

"Todays terrorist attack indicates that militants in the republic still have the power to conduct such treacherous attacks," Magomedov was quoted as saying by Interfax news agency.

Despite "several successful" operations against the militants in the region, the countrys security services have to step up their efforts to fully stamp out the militants, he said.

Dagestan is gripped by near-daily violence between police and soldiers and insurgents believed to be inspired by separatists in neighboring Chechnya.

The attack came almost exactly 11 years after a car bomb outside an apartment building in Buinaksk housing the families of military officers killed 64 people.

The Sept. 4, 1999 attack was the first of four apartment bombings in Russia over a two-week period that killed a total of more than 290 people and that Russian officials cited as justification for launching the second war against Chechen rebels.

All the 1999 bombings were blamed on Chechen insurgents, who had recently launched an incursion into Dagestan to try to establish an Islamic state. But suspicions persist that the bombings were orchestrated by Russian officials to justify the beginning of that war. Former Federal Security Service agent Alexander Litvinenko, who was fatally poisoned with a radioactive substance in exile in Britain in 2006, co-authored a book making those allegations.

There was no claim of responsibility for Sundays bombings.

In Kabardino-Balkariya, another republic of the Caucasus region that includes Dagestan, a policeman was shot to death Sunday by a man whom hed stopped for a document check, said a spokesman for the republics Interior Ministry, Alexander Korotkov.

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Associated Press Writers Jim Heintz in Moscow and Sergei Venyavsky in Rostov-on-Don contributed to this report.

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Suicide car bomb explodes in Baghdad kills 2 AP

BAGHDAD The Iraqi military says a suicide car bomb has exploded in central Baghdad, killing 2 soldiers, four days after the U.S. declared an end to its combat role in the country.

Iraqi military spokesman Maj. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi says the attacker targeted the former Defense Ministry building in the Bab al-Muadham neighborhood.

Al-Moussawi said on Sunday security forces opened fire on the car as it careened toward the building, which is now the headquarters for the eastern Baghdad military command.

Eight people were also injured in the blast, when the driver triggered the bomb.

Security has been high in Baghdad in past days in anticipation of a new wave of attacks to mark the change in the U.S. mission.

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Speaker-in-waiting Boehner balances GOP factions AP

WASHINGTON John Boehner could walk down most American streets without turning a head.

But the perpetually tanned, chain-smoking Ohioan might be the next House speaker and a huge force in national politics, trying to manage an increasingly libertarian-leaning Republican caucus while leading the opposition to President Barack Obama.

For those who know Boehner pronounced BAY-nur, the question is which version of the House Republican leader will emerge as speaker if the GOP takes at least 40 seats from Democrats in November.

Will it be the policy-minded lawmaker who sometimes shows bipartisan tendencies?

Or will it be the partisan of recent months who shouted "hell no" to Obamas health care bill?

Boehner left little doubt that the president and other Democrats will face fierce resistance in the House if he is speaker, starting with a push to dismantle Obamas hard-fought health care law.

"Were going to do everything we can to prevent this law from being implemented, and I mean everything," Boehner said in a recent interview. "I think it will ruin health care and bankrupt the country."

In truth, Obamas veto powers will make it virtually impossible to repeal the law. Still, Boehner said, he would use every parliamentary and appropriations trick available.

Boehner, 60, has been raising his profile in recent days, giving well-publicized speeches in Cleveland and Milwaukee criticizing Obamas economic and military policies.

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5 killed in suicide attack on Russian base AP

MAKHACHKALA, Russia A suicide car-bomber killed five soldiers and wounded 40 others in an attack on a military base in Russias violence-plagued republic of Dagestan on Sunday, officials said.

The attack took place about 1 a.m. 2100 GMT Saturday at the base in the city of Buinaksk, said Vyacheslav Gasanov, a spokesman for the republics Interior Ministry.

The driver of the explosives-laden small Zhiguli automobile smashed through a gate of the base and headed for an area where soldiers are quartered in tents, Gasanov said.

But soldiers opened fire on him before he reached the center of the base. Gasanov said, the driver rammed the car into a military truck where it exploded.

After the blast, a roadside bomb hit a car taking investigators to the scene, but there were no injuries reported in that explosion.

Dagestan is gripped by near-daily violence between police and soldiers and insurgents believed to be inspired by separatists in neighboring Chechnya.

The attack came almost exactly 11 years after a car bomb outside an apartment building in Buinaksk housing the families of military officers killed 64 people.

The Sept. 4, 1999 attack was the first of four apartment bombings in Russia over a two-week period that killed a total of more than 290 people and that Russian officials cited as justification for launching the second war against Chechen rebels.

All the 1999 bombings were blamed on Chechen insurgents, who had recently launched an incursion into Dagestan to try to establish an Islamic state. But suspicions persist that the bombings were orchestrated by Russian officials to justify the beginning of that war. Former Federal Security Service agent Alexander Litvinenko, who was fatally poisoned with a radioactive substance in exile in Britain in 2006, co-authored a book making those allegations.

There was no claim of responsibility for Sundays bombings.

In Kabardino-Balkariya, another republic of the Caucasus region that includes Dagestan, a policeman was shot to death Sunday by a man whom hed stopped for a document check, said a spokesman for the republics Interior Ministry, Alexander Korotkov.

___

Associated Press Writers Jim Heintz in Moscow and Sergei Venyavsky in Rostov-on-Don contributed to this report.

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French bid to ban veils worries allies, tourists AP

PARIS Protests in Pakistan, al-Qaida warnings, skittish Muslim tourists: Frances plan to do away with burqa-style veils is already reverberating far beyond its borders.

A bill to outlaw face veils, aimed at upholding French republican values, is expected to win Senate approval this month. If it passes this key hurdle, French diplomats will face a tough task ensuring the ban doesnt alienate governments, deter devout foreign shoppers loaded with cash, or provoke Islamist terrorists.

Its a complex challenge for a country that works relentlessly to preserve its global diplomatic influence, its cherished secular ideals, and its status as the worlds top tourist destination.

Ensuring gender equality, womans dignity and security are the official reasons France wants to outlaw Islamic veils, most often worn as "niqabs" that hide all but the eyes. Authorities insist the global ban � which would include visiting foreigners � is not anti-Muslim.

But that message has failed to convince some governments, be they Western or Frances traditional Arab allies, or trickle down to moneyed travelers who swarm Paris so-called Golden Triangle, a high-priced shopping district centered around the Champs-Elysees.

That some other European countries like Belgium are considering similar legislation � and Muslim countries like Syria and Egypt have instituted their own limited bans on face veils � may help bolster the French argument, but not win the debate.

"When youre a tourist, you want to go to places you feel you are welcome," said Dalal Saif of Oman, a sultanate bordering Saudi Arabia, during a three-week summer visit to France.

Saif, whose work is tied to the oil industry, spent hours one day with his family selecting perfumes and cosmetics by the bagful at a Champs-Elysees store.

"If they feel unwelcome, France will lose this kind of revenue," he said, adding that such a measure "infringes on Frances image as custodians, protectors of liberties."

The number of visitors to Paris from the oil-rich Middle East was up nearly 30 percent in the first half of 2010 compared to last year, according to the Paris Tourism and Congress Office.

"I can see that many families will actually change destinations because of this," said Saif, standing by his young daughter, black-robed but bare-faced sister, and wife wearing a chartreuse head scarf.

Many Muslim tourists who wear face veils at home shed them for European vacations, instead donning stylish, often brightly colored headscarves, sometimes paired with big sunglasses.

But that choice doesnt erase a sense that France is offending followers of Islam with its proposed veil ban.

"My family is asking me why do you want to go there? They dont like us." said Maryam Saeed, a 40-year-old mother of four who works in school administration in Dubai.

"They are taking it religiously, like it shows that in France they dont like Muslims or were not welcome here," said Saeed, covered in a black abaya cloaking her head but not her face, as she emerged from a shopping spree at the Paris department store Galeries Lafayette.

So far, foreign governments are either silent over the proposed veil ban, divided or unfavorable, said Joseph Maila, who heads a year-old division at the French Foreign Ministry devoted to religious issues.

Some of Frances closest allies, Britain and the United States, both with large Muslim populations, are among those who publicly disagree with Paris.

On the veil, "the world isnt black and white," said Maila, "its gray."

Moderate Muslim leaders in France and elsewhere agree that Islam does not require women to cover their faces, but many are uncomfortable with banning the veil. Scores of religious leaders have denounced the measure, and are struggling with what to advise the faithful.

Sheik Aedh al-Garni, a popular cleric in Saudi Arabia, responding to a query from a Saudi woman in France, said in a July pronouncement that facing an official ban on the veil, "it is better for the Muslim woman to reveal her face" to avoid "harassment or harm."

Saudi Arabia adheres to a strict Wahhabi interpretation of Islam with women required to veil themselves in public, so the advice by al-Garni, who is widely read, was notable.

But there have been dissenting voices like that of Mohammed al-Nujemi, a Saudi professor at the Institute of Judicial and Islamic Studies: He told women to stay home. Traveling needlessly to a non-Muslim country "is not permissible according to the Shariah," or Islamic law, he told the Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya TV network.

The Saudi government, which has defense and business ties with French companies, is among "silent states" that prefer to say nothing about Frances veil bill for diplomatic reasons, said Maila, the Foreign Ministry official.

Opposition is strongest in Pakistan, where there have been demonstrations against the measure. A defense of the French position by Ambassador Daniel Jouanneau was published in nine papers this summer, Maila said.

In Jordan, where full veils are rare, the fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood, the countrys largest opposition group, said Muslim women should continue to visit France "especially if they have business to attend to."

But the groups spokesman Jamil Abu-Bakr said: "The French move will cause chaos and we condemn it." European countries that impose a ban on the face-covering veil "will harm their interests, friendships and historically cordial neighborly relations with several Muslim nations."

Beyond such tensions, possible constitutional challenges await an eventual law. But the French are not about to budge. The nations concept of integration, in which ethnic or religious differences are subsumed by Frenchness, is the ultimate argument for making the face visible.

A 2004 law banned head scarves and other "ostentatious" religious symbols in public schools. With Western Europes largest Muslim population, some 5 million, France also wants an Islam tailored to the West.

"To understand the ban on hiding the face, it must be placed in the French tradition ... To hide behind the veil is to barricade oneself against society," said Maila.

President Nicolas Sarkozy officially opened the debate in June 2009 when he told parliament that veils that hide the face "are not welcome" in France. That same month President Obama, addressing the worlds Muslims in a speech in Cairo, defended Muslim womens right to dress as they like. U.S. disapproval of the veil measure was voiced again after Frances lower house of parliament overwhelmingly passed the bill July 13. Sarkozy would still need to sign the veil bill if it passes the Senate.

For Britain, any clothing ban would be a "rather un-British thing to do," Immigration Minister Damian Green has said.

Raphael Liogier, a sociology professor who runs the Observatory of the Religious in Aix-en-Provence, fears that France will isolate itself with the measure and, worse, become a "justifiable target" in the eyes of Islamist extremists. "Its an opportunity for them."

The No. 2 of al-Qaida, Ayman al-Zawahri, said the drive by France and other European nations to ban the veil amounted to discrimination against Muslim women.

"Every single woman who defends her veil is a holy warrior ... in the face of the secular Western crusade," he said in an audio message released July 28.

___

AP reporters Jenny Barchfield in Paris, Jamal Halaby in Amman, Abdullah Al-Shihri in Riyadh and Veronika Oleksyn in Vienna contributed to this report.

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NATO service member killed in Afghan fighting AP

KABUL, Afghanistan A coalition service member was killed in fighting in Afghanistans turbulent south Sunday, one day after President Hamid Karzai moved a step closer to opening talks with Taliban who might be having doubts about the ongoing insurgency.

The death is the sixth among foreign fighters in Afghanistan this month, five of them Americans. The nationality of the person killed was not released in accordance with standard NATO procedure.

The southern Afghan provinces of Helmand and Kandahar have seen some of the heaviest fighting between insurgents and coalition forces seeking to uproot the Taliban from their long-held strongholds.

A dozen Taliban, including a veteran commander known as Mullah Abdul Aziz, were killed in fighting with Afghan and coalition forces on Friday and Saturday in Helmands Sangin district, according to provincial government spokesman Daood Ahmadi.

In Uruzgan province just to the north, a Taliban explosive expert, Rahmidullah, was killed on Saturday in Chora district when the roadside bomb he was planting exploded prematurely, according to Chora district chief Mohammad Daood Zaheer.

With the conflict entering its ninth year, Karzai is hoping talks with weary insurgents could help divide the Taliban between hardcore members unwilling to compromise and those who might consider abandoning the insurgency.

Karzai said Saturday he would soon name the members of the High Peace Council, whose formation was approved in June at a national peace conference in Kabul. A statement released by his office said the move marks a "significant step toward peace talks."

The statement said members will include former Taliban, jihadi leaders, leading figures in Afghan society and women, but gave no other details. They will be prepared to negotiate with insurgents who renounce violence, honor the Afghan constitution, and sever ties with terrorist networks.

The Taliban have so far rejected peace talks while foreign troops remain in the country. Talks held in Kabul and the Maldives with an insurgent group led by ex-Prime Minister Gulbuddin Hekmatyar produced no breakthrough.

Though some observers have expressed concern about cutting any sort of deal with insurgents, foreign governments working to stabilize the Afghan government and economy have welcomed the move, especially given U.S. plans to begin withdrawing some of its forces next July.

"We warmly welcome todays announcement," the British Foreign Office said of Karzais move. "We will not bring about a more secure Afghanistan by military means alone ... We have always said that a political process is needed to bring the conflict in Afghanistan to an end."

Karzais announcement was given added poignancy by comments from the outgoing deputy commander of NATO forces in the country that commanders promised too much when they predicted quick success taking the key Taliban-held town of Marjah last winter.

While British Lt. Gen. Nick Parker now sees signs of a turnaround in the turbulent area, he said the military will be more restrained in forecasting success in the future.

___

Associated Press writers Kimberly Dozier in Kabul and Mirwais Khan in Kandahar contributed to this report.

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