World News | Latest News: 09/23/10

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Officials: Palestinians will consider compromise (AP)

JERUSALEM ï¿½ Hopes of averting a breakdown in Middle East peace talks grew Thursday as senior Palestinian officials said their side would consider an expected U.S.-brokered compromise on Israeli settlement-building in the West Bank.

At issue is the 10-month-old Israeli slowdown on settlement building ï¿½ a near-halt to new projects aimed at coaxing the Palestinians into talks with the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The restrictions expire Sunday, only weeks after U.S.-sponsored talks were finally launched amid much fanfare. As the deadline looms the region has grown increasingly tense, fearing not only a collapse of the brittle peace effort but perhaps a return to violence as well ï¿½ fears stoked by a bout of Palestinian rioting Wednesday near key Jerusalem holy sites.

The so-called settlement "moratorium" is far from a freeze on building, because thousands of housing units whose construction preceded November 2009 were allowed to continue under its self-declared terms. But with several notable exceptions, new projects were not launched. The Palestinians want this extended, and the United States publicly backs the demand.

In a speech to fellow world leaders at the U.N. General Assembly Thursday, President Barack Obama called for an extension and said restrictions have "made a difference on the ground, and improved the atmosphere for talks."

State Department spokesman P.J Crowley said in a conference call with reporters that the United States is offering suggestions to the Israelis and Palestinians on how to overcome the settlements issue.

"There is significant back and forth going on," he said.

Netanyahu has refused ï¿½ at least in part because key nationalist coalition partners are likely to rebel if he gives in.

Danny Danon, a deputy speaker of Israel's parliament, said he will lead a rally with other hawkish lawmakers from Netanyahu's Likud party Sunday in the West Bank settlement of Revava.

"We have decided that the best way to end the freeze is to begin building," he said in a statement. "Cement trucks, bulldozers and other earth moving equipment are already in place in Revava and the activists plan on marking the last hours of the freeze by laying the foundations for a new neighborhood."

But Netanyahu has signaled a willingness to seek a way out of the impasse, saying earlier this month that the current restrictions on settlements will not remain in place, though there will still be some limits on construction.

Some in Israel have proposed a compromise ï¿½ for example, that building might resume in some places but not return to the relatively unfettered construction that prevailed before the restrictions were imposed last year, under heavy U.S. pressure.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas himself appeared to back away from the extension demand in comments late Tuesday to prominent American Jewish figures. "I cannot say I will leave the negotiations, but it's very difficult for me to resume talks if Prime Minister Netanyahu declares that he will continue his (settlement) activity in the West Bank and Jerusalem," he said, according to a transcript of the event obtained by The Associated Press.

The Palestinian ambassador to the United Nations later said the comments had been misconstrued, but did not deny them outright.

On Thursday, two senior Palestinian officials told the AP that Obama's special Middle East peace envoy George Mitchell was indeed leading a mediation effort, speaking directly with Netanyahu and Abbas.

The officials, who are close to the negotiations, said the Palestinians are willing to show "some flexibility" on the issue. Both spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak to the media.

They said one proposal being considered was that Israel would resume building new projects only in some areas, probably in communities close to the Israeli border and likely to be retained by Israel in a future deal as part of a land swap. That idea has been floated by Israel's relatively moderate deputy premier, Dan Meridor.

But the officials added that at least two other scenarios were also under discussion, including a three-month extension of the moratorium or a conditional extension in which he Palestinians would agree to the "exceptions," in effect legitimizing the building of several hundred new homes beyond those that were under construction 10 months ago.

The officials did not say who first raised which proposal but said that all three had been discussed with Mitchell, and that the Palestinians were waiting for the U.S. envoy to get back to them after discussing the ideas with Netanyahu.

U.S. and Israeli officials would not confirm the details of the talks.

The fact that the first month of the negotiations was bogged down over the moratorium underscores how ambitious is Obama's one-year timeline for reaching a comprehensive resolution to the century-long conflict ï¿½ establishing a Palestinian state on lands occupied by Israel in the 1967 war.

Netanyahu, in a departure from previous hardline positions, accepted the idea of a Palestinian state last year. But there is overwhelming skepticism among both Israelis and Palestinians about his ability to actually agree with Abbas on terms.

___

Daraghmeh reported from Ramallah, West Bank. Matthew Lee contributed from New York.

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'50s pop singer Eddie Fisher dies at age 82 (AP)

LOS ANGELES ï¿½ Eddie Fisher, whose huge fame as a pop singer was overshadowed by scandals ending his marriages to Debbie Reynolds and Elizabeth Taylor, has died. He was 82.

His daughter, Tricia Leigh Fisher of Los Angeles, told The Associated Press that Fisher died Wednesday night at his home in Berkeley of complications from hip surgery.

"Late last evening the world lost a true America icon," Fisher's family said in a statement released by publicist British Reece. "One of the greatest voices of the century passed away. He was an extraordinary talent and a true mensch."

The death was first reported by Hollywood website deadline.com.

Fisher's clear dramatic singing voice brought him a devoted following of teenage girls in the early 1950s. He sold millions of records with 32 hit songs including "Thinking of You," "Any Time," "Oh, My Pa-pa," "I'm Yours," "Wish You Were Here," "Lady of Spain" and "Count Your Blessings."

His fame was enhanced by his 1955 marriage to movie darling Debbie Reynolds ï¿½ they were touted as "America's favorite couple" ï¿½ and the birth of two children.

Their daughter Carrie Fisher became a film star herself in the first three "Star Wars" films as Princess Leia, and later as a best-selling author of "Postcards From the Edge" and other books.

Carrie Fisher spent most of 2008 on the road with her autobiographical show "Wishful Drinking." In an interview with The Associated Press, she told of singing with her father on stage in San Jose. Eddie Fisher was by then in a wheelchair and living in San Francisco.

When Eddie Fisher's best friend, producer Mike Todd, was killed in a 1958 plane crash, Fisher comforted the widow, Elizabeth Taylor. Amid sensationalist headlines, Fisher divorced Reynolds and married Taylor in 1959.

The Fisher-Taylor marriage lasted only five years. She fell in love with co-star Richard Burton during the Rome filming of "Cleopatra," divorced Fisher and married Burton in one of the great entertainment world scandals of the 20th century.

Fisher's career never recovered from the notoriety. He married actress Connie Stevens, and they had two daughters. Another divorce followed. He married twice more.

Edwin Jack Fisher was born Aug. 10, 1928, in Philadelphia, one of seven children of a Jewish grocer. At 15 he was singing on Philadelphia radio.

After moving to New York, Fisher was adopted as a protege by comedian Eddie Cantor, who helped the young singer become a star in radio, television and records.

Fisher's romantic messages resonated with young girls in the pre-Elvis period. Publicist-manager Milton Blackstone helped the publicity by hiring girls to scream and swoon at Fisher's appearances.

After getting out of the Army in 1953 following a two-year hitch, hit records, his own TV show and the headlined marriage to Reynolds made Fisher a top star. The couple costarred in a 1956 romantic comedy, "Bundle of Joy," that capitalized on their own parenthood.

In 1960 he played a role in "Butterfield 8," for which Taylor won an Academy Award. But that film marked the end of his movie career.

After being discarded by Taylor, Fisher became the butt of comedians' jokes. He began relying on drugs to get through performances, and his bookings dwindled. He later said he had made and spent $20 million during his heyday, and much of it went to gambling and drugs.

In 1983, Fisher attempted a full-scale comeback. But his old fans had been turned off by the scandals, and the younger generation had been turned on by rock. The tour was unsuccessful.

He had added to his notoriety that year with an autobiography, "Eddie: My Life, My Loves." Of his first three marriages, he wrote he had been bullied into marriage with Reynolds, whom he didn't know well; became nursemaid as well as husband to Taylor, and was reluctant to marry Connie Stevens but she was pregnant and he "did the proper thing."

Another autobiography, "Been There, Done That," published in 1999, was even more searing. He called Reynolds "self-centered, totally driven, insecure, untruthful, phony." He claimed he abandoned his career during the Taylor marriage because he was too busy taking her to emergency rooms and cleaning up after her pets, children and servants. Both ex-wives were furious, and Carrie Fisher threatened to change her name to Reynolds.

At 47, Fisher married a 21-year-old beauty queen, Terry Richard. The marriage ended after 10 months. His fifth marriage, to Betty Lin, a Chinese-born businesswoman, lasted longer than any of the others. Fisher had two children with Reynolds: Carrie and Todd; and two girls with Stevens: Joely and Tricia.

___

Associated Press Writer Bob Thomas in Los Angeles contributed to this report.

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2 Koreas meet to arrange split families' reunions (AP)

SEOUL, South Korea ï¿½ Red Cross officials from the two Koreas on Friday discussed holding another round of reunions for families separated by war more than a half-century ago, South Korea's Unification Ministry.

The meeting comes a week after the two sides failed to decide on a venue for or the scale of the reunions ï¿½ popular on both sides of the heavily fortified border.

Agreement on holding the reunions would be a sign of improving relations between the Koreas, whose ties have sunken to new lows after the March sinking of a South Korean warship that an international investigation blamed on Pyongyang. North Korea denies involvement.

In a move that threatens to exacerbate tensions on the peninsula, South Korea and the United States said Friday they will hold joint anti-submarine exercises next week.

Still, the two sides held a 35-minute session in the North's border city of Kaesong on Friday morning and were deciding whether to continue the talks in the afternoon, according to the ministry.

"We will mainly concentrate on making an agreement on the venue issue," South Korean chief negotiator Kim Eyi-do told reporters before crossing the border into Kaesong.

South Korea wants to hold the family meetings in a reunion center at the North's scenic Diamond Mountain resort. The North also suggested hosting the meetings at the resort but wouldn't say where exactly.

The scenic resort has been at the center of the dispute between the two Koreas since 2008 when a South Korean tourist was fatally shot after allegedly entering a restricted military area next to the resort. South Korea has since halted the tours to the resort ï¿½ one of the few legitimate sources of hard currency for the North's impoverished regime.

Pyongyang has repeatedly demanded that Seoul resume tours to the facility, but South Korea has refused to restart tours until its demands for a joint investigation into the shooting are carried out.

The two sides last held reunions in late 2009, one of the few areas in which the two divided Koreas consistently cooperate.

Since 2000, more than 20,800 of the millions of families that were divided by the 1950-53 Korean War have been reunited through brief face-to-face meetings or by video.

The conflict ended with a cease-fire, not a peace treaty, leaving the two Koreas technically at war.

In a show of force against North Korea, South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff and the U.S. military in Seoul said Friday that they will hold exercises from Monday through Friday off the peninsula's west coast. The drills had been scheduled to run earlier this month, but were delayed because of a typhoon.

The drills will be the second in a series of maneuvers the two allies conducted in response to the deadly March sinking of the South Korean warship.

North Korea has strongly objected to the drills, claiming they are a preparation for an invasion.

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Mexico journalists debate cartels, self-censorship (AP)

MEXICO CITY ï¿½ The threats, four or five of them, came to reporters at Imagen, a daily newspaper in the once-quiet state of Zacatecas where drug cartels have taken over in just the last few years. Then editor Patricia Mercado got a phone call ordering her to print a prepared article or she would be kidnapped.

Mercado ran the story ï¿½ verbatim ï¿½ of an innocent young man killed by the army, which was committing human rights abuse.

"If it's a question of life or death, I have no trouble making a decision. The lives of my reporters are most important," she said, after telling a group of Mexican journalists Thursday that traffickers from the Zetas cartel have "almost become the news editors."

Her colleagues from across the country told similar stories of attacks, intimidation and self-censorship in a rare public debate days after El Diario de Juarez wrote a stunning editorial calling drug cartels the de facto authorities in Ciudad Juarez and saying, "Tell us what you want."

President Felipe Calderon said Wednesday he would push legal reforms to protect journalists and create a security plan after he met with the Committee to Protect Journalists and the Inter American Press Association, which sponsored Thursday's conference.

At the same time, the Attorney General's Office announced the first lead in the 2008 killing of El Diario crime reporter Armando Rodriguez, saying soldiers had detained a suspect who described how Rodriguez was killed and said the journalist was targeted because of his work.

El Diario editor Pedro Torres, who ran the provocative editorial after a second of his journalists, 21-year-old photographer Luis Carlos Santiago, was killed last week, said he was skeptical about the arrest, given its timing.

"Every time there is pressure ... they find an escape valve. They present someone, an important arrest," Torres told The Associated Press. In two years, he has yet to be interviewed about Rodriguez's death. "It's very hard to believe in an investigation that is carried out this way," Torres said.

El Diario's editorial dominated the public discourse all week in a country the U.N. called the most dangerous place for journalists in the Americas. Sixty-five news workers have been slain since 2000, Mexico's National Commission on Human Rights has said.

More than 90 percent of the cases have gone unsolved, according to the CPJ.

"For me the most eloquent part of the editorial was the 'de facto authorities,'" said Javier Garza, deputy editorial director of El Siglo de Torreon in the northern state of Coahuila, whose offices were shot up in 2009. "Why would we believe Calderon? ... The legitimate authorities have done nothing."

Investigators believe Rodriguez was killed "for writing a lot of stories against one of the criminal organizations fighting for territorial control" in Ciudad Juarez, the Attorney General's Office said in a statement.

It did not specify the criminal organization. The Juarez and Sinaloa cartels have been battling there since 2008.

The office said it was withholding the suspect's name and when he was arrested because it didn't want to undermine the investigation. It said the suspect has not been charged in Rodriguez's murder but has been charged with other crimes.

Torres said Rodriguez never set out to criticize one cartel more than another.

Mexican journalists blame the government as much as the cartels for the intimidation they face.

Jorge Luis Aguirre, 52, a journalist in Ciudad Juarez who was granted U.S. asylum days before Santiago was killed, testified before U.S. Congress that he was threatened. Two years ago, while driving to the funeral of a slain colleague, he answered his cell phone only to hear a chilling voice on the other end warn: "You're next." It's unclear exactly who threatened Aguirre.

The decision to grant asylum to Aguirre is believed to be the first of its kind since the country's bloody drug war began. It could open the door for other reporters such as television cameraman Alejandro Hernandez, who also is seeking U.S. asylum after being kidnapped in July, presumably by the Sinaloa drug cartel. His lawyer says he fears both the cartels and the government.

But Mexican journalists also shoulder some blame.

Though press independence has increased in Mexico, corruption persists, particularly in smaller media markets. Salaries are low, leaving reporters vulnerable to bribes. Government advertising remains a major source of funding ï¿½ influence ï¿½ for many publications.

"What's being done to clean up our newsrooms?" Ismael Bojorquez, director of the weekly Rio Doce in northwestern Sinaloa state asked rhetorically.

Most journalists agreed that the best protection would have to come from inside their group. They discussed a plan to drop their competitive instincts, cover sensitive stories collectively and run them at the same time in numerous publications. A similar plan in Colombia allowed journalists to continue reporting in the face of threats from organized crime.

It would make it more expensive to kidnap or kill journalists, said Leonardo Kourchenko, a vice president at Televisa, Mexico's main TV network, "because the information would be everywhere."

___

Associated Press writers Olivia Torres in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, and Olga R. Rodriguez and E. Eduardo Castillo in Mexico City contributed to this report.

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Colombia: No. 2 rebel commander killed in raid (AP)

BOGOTA, Colombia ï¿½ Colombia's military killed the No. 2 leader and top military strategist of the country's main rebel army in blistering bombardments of a major jungle camp, officials announced Thursday, saying a rebel informant helped prepare the demoralizing shock to an already weakened insurgency.

The death of Jorge Briceno, also known as Mono Jojoy, is a huge setback for the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, which has been reeling from years of pressure by an increasingly effective U.S.-backed military.

President Juan Manuel Santos called the attack "the most crushing blow against the FARC in its entire history" ï¿½ more important than the March 2008 bombing raid across the border with Ecuador that killed FARC foreign minister Raul Reyes or the bloodless ruse that July that freed former presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt, three U.S. contractors and 11 other hostages.

Santos, who was defense minister during both operations, got the news while jogging in New York City's Central Park. He explained to The Associated Press what Briceno's death means to Colombians: "It is as if they told New Yorkers that Osama bin Laden had fallen."

Briceno, 57, joined the FARC as an illiterate teenager and spent the rest of his life in the jungle, becoming a feared and charismatic commander in a force that a decade ago controlled nearly half of Colombia. Analysts predicted his loss could lead many rebels to give up the fight and might nudge the FARC to seek peace in earnest.

Santos told reporters that at least 20 rebels were killed, including other senior insurgents whose identities were not disclosed pending fingerprint and DNA tests, in operations that began Monday night with bombing raids involving at least 30 warplanes and 27 helicopters and ended with ground combat on Wednesday.

Air force chief Gen. Julio Gonzalez told the AP that Super Tucano and other warplanes dropped more than 50 bombs on the camp.

Commandos found Briceno's body outside a concrete bunker in a camp laced with tunnels and recovered at least 14 laptop computers and 50 USB drives, officials said. They said the raid was six months in the making and benefitted from radio spectrum surveillance.

Defense Minister Rodrigo Rivera higlighted "the collaboration of members of the FARC itself" and added that "the FARC is rotting inside."

He did not offer specifics, though military officials said privately that they were discussing reward payments to collaborators.

An army general told the AP that a single FARC turncoat led military intelligence agents to Briceno and had been spirited out of the country. The general insisted on not being named because he was not authoritized to talk to reporters.

The U.S. State Department had offered a $5 million reward for Briceno. The biggest reward known to have been paid for fingering a FARC commander was $2.5 million to an informant who led authorities to Reyes' camp.

Briceno had been rotating for months among a series of camps in a rugged area of nearly 4,000 square miles (1 million-hectares) where the Andes mountains drop off into eastern plains that include La Macarena massif, a national park, said one senior government official.

Police and Navy intelligence agents succeeded in pinpointing his movements, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the subject's sensitivity.

The area is the cradle of the FARC, which was co-founded in 1964 by Briceno's mentor Manuel Marulanda, a legendary fighter who died in 2008 of an apparent heart attack in the same region.

Briceno, whose walrus mustache made him widely recognizable, had risen through the insurgency's ranks to become its most powerful and respected field commander as well as a major drug trafficker.

His rise saw the rebels increasingly turn to cocaine production, evolving from taxing farmers who grew coca to producing the drug and selling it to exporters.

The first major attack on record ordered by Briceno was a 1987 ambush in San Vicente del Caguan that killed 26 soldiers and wounded 44. The biggest was the 1998 taking of the provincial capital of Mitu in which 60 police officers were killed and 30 captured.

"He was at the heart of the FARC's military effort and of its morale," said Sergio Jaramillo, Santos' national security adviser.

Military analyst Alfredo Rangel said Briceno's death could lead to many more desertions, including even front commanders. Former Interior Minister Fernando Londono said Briceno was the only "irreplaceable" FARC commander.

Rivera said Briceno was caught at "the mother of all FARC camps," a complex some 300 yards (meters) from end to end. He said troops engaged rebels in ground combat on Wednesday and were only able to confirm Briceno's death on Thursday morning. Rivera said five troops were wounded with the only government death an explosives-sniffing dog.

Briceno belonged to the FARC's seven-member ruling Secretariat. Like most insurgents from a humble background, he was a fighter for most of his life, joining as a youth and even learning how to read as a rebel.

The group's main leader, Alfonso Cano, remains at large and is believed to be in the mountains of central Colombia. Military commanders claim they've been closing the noose on him as well. Colombian officials say other Secretariat members are hiding out in neighboring Venezuela.

The hemisphere's last remaining large rebel army, whose numbers authorities estimate at about 8,000 ï¿½ half its strength of a decade ago ï¿½ the FARC has been badly weakened since 2002 by Washington's strongest ally in Latin America. Colombia has received more than $6 billion in U.S. aid, including Blackhawk helicopters and training by Green Berets.

Many Colombians believe Briceno was a key obstacle to efforts to renew peace talks.

Betancourt, who is on a book tour in New York promoting her memoir of FARC captivity, said in an interview with NPR on Thursday that Briceno was one of the rebels' "bloodiest commanders," adding that as long as he was alive she didn't think Colombia could have a serious peace process.

However, he was less rigidly dogmatic than Cano, a Bogota-bred intellectual.

Analyst Leon Valencia of the left-leaning think tank Nuevo Arco Iris said Briceno's death marked the end of the FARC's Eastern Bloc, which had been its strongest.

He said he expected the FARC would now seek to negotiate.

Santos has rejected a peace dialogue unless the FARC ends kidnapping and extortion and halts attacks that claimed the lives of more than 30 police officers since he took office Aug. 7.

"This is the 'Welcome Operation' that we have been promising the FARC," said Santos, who was elected on a promise to continue former President Alvaro Uribe's withering military campaign against the FARC. It comes less than a week after Colombia's military killed at least 22 FARC fighters in bombing a rebel camp near Ecuador.

U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern, a Massachusetts Democrat who follows Colombia closely, called on Cano to initiate a cease-fire and release all remaining hostages. An estimated 18 still fester in Colombian jungles.

"Now is the time to open genuine negotiations and bring this long conflict to an end," he said in a statement.

However critics say the root cause of Colombia's conflict ï¿½ a still-widening gulf between its richest and poorest ï¿½ remains to be seriously addressed.

Briceno, born Victor Julio Suarez Rojas in the town of Cabrera southeast of Bogota, became well-known internationally during failed 1999-2002 peace talks in a Switzerland-sized swath of southern Colombia that included the La Macarena region.

A swaggering figure with a wry sense of humor and easy laughter, a portly Briceno would hold court with reporters and top Colombian officials in a safe haven granted for those talks, arriving on rutted dirt roads in stolen late-model SUVs with a dozen or so female bodyguards.

Photographs of him more recently show a gaunt man who authorities say suffered from diabetes.

Rebel deserters have described him as tough, decisive and often cruel ï¿½ a strict disciplinarian. One said he once ordered a female guerrilla who was seven months pregnant to abort.

The FARC increasingly turned to drug trafficking in the late 1990s, when it was at the height of its military power, as a means of financial support.

___

Associated Press writers Libardo Cardona, Cesar Garcia, Jessica Lleras and Carlos Gonzalez in Colombia, and Mariana Cristancho-Ahn in New York, contributed to this report.

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Obama challenges the world: Time for Mideast peace (AP)

UNITED NATIONS ï¿½ Grasping for peace, President Barack Obama on Thursday challenged a pessimistic world to overcome decades of shattered promises and help Israelis and Palestinians close a historic deal within a year. "This time will be different," he declared, offering a now-or-never choice between Mideast stability and perpetual bloodshed.

To a hushed audience of global leaders, Obama made Mideast peace the dominant theme of his yearly address to the U.N. General Assembly, a sign of the fragile state of the latest talks and the importance he attaches to their success. Nearly every other topic of his international agenda was shoved to the margins, save for a vigorous call for support of human rights.

In a message to allies and foes alike, Obama devoted the final passage of his speech to a need for people to live freely, and he warned that "we will call out those who suppress ideas." While he spoke of tyranny by the Taliban and in North Korea, he did not single out allies that the U.S. has accused of repressing their people, such as Russia and China.

With fresh Mideast peace talks seemingly on the brink of collapse, Obama took on skeptics directly. He challenged Israelis and Palestinians to make compromises, exhorted supporters on both sides to show real backing instead of empty talk and painted a grim picture of what will happen if the current effort is consigned to the long list of failed attempts.

"If an agreement is not reached, Palestinians will never know the pride and dignity that comes with their own state," Obama said. "Israelis will never know the certainty and security that comes with sovereign and stable neighbors. ... More blood will be shed. This Holy Land will remain a symbol of our differences instead of our common humanity."

The speech came amid a wider burst of presidential diplomacy in New York. Obama met at length with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao over U.S. contentions that China's currency is undervalued, but he emerged with little evident progress.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon set the tone for the meetings when he implored leaders to show more respect to each other and bring the world together. He warned of a "politics of polarization" ï¿½ a term that on a different level also could fit the situation in the U.S.

Twenty months in office, Obama no longer made a point of breaking away from George W. Bush and embracing the multilateral approach of the United Nations, as he did in his first address last year before this world gathering. The record of the White House is now his to defend. He did so repeatedly, particularly U.S. efforts to avoid a global economic catastrophe.

The commander in chief for two wars, Obama made spare mention of either one. He reminded the world that he was winding down the divisive conflict in Iraq and accelerating the fight against extremists in Afghanistan. Yet there was not a major emphasis on terrorism or religious tolerance.

On the pressing security threat of Iran, Obama again extended a diplomatic hand. But he insisted the government there must prove to the world that its nuclear pursuits are for peaceful energy, not weaponry, or it will face further consequences.

Iran recently has indicated interest in restarting talks with the West, and on Wednesday the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council and Germany offered another chance to enter negotiations. Iranian state TV quoted Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki, who was in New York, as saying Iran was ready to resume the talks but the negotiations must be fair.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad addressed an afternoon session of the assembly. At one point he said that some in the world have speculated that Americans were actually behind the Sept. 11 terror attacks and that they were staged in an attempt to assure Israel's survival. At that, the U.S. delegation walked out.

The search for Mideast peace always tests the limits of U.S. presidential power, and this time is no different. There were no signs of a breakthrough in New York and, unlike last year, no meeting among Obama and the key players.

Obama is serving as an invested broker in Mideast peace. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are working toward an ambitious deal that would settle decades of issues within a year. The goals include the creation of an independent Palestinian state and security for Israel.

But direct talks between the leaders, which just resumed three weeks ago in Washington, have stalled over the impending end of an Israeli freeze on West Bank settlement construction.

Obama challenged Israel to relent, calling for the moratorium to be extended, knowing that would help keep Abbas at the table. "Talks should press on until completed," Obama said as his administration worked to hold them together.

Separately, senior Palestinian officials said Thursday that their side would consider an expected U.S.-brokered compromise on Israeli settlement-building.

On a broader level, Obama summoned the world to show leadership, and he showed as much impatience over the familiar Mideast grievances and the latest obstacles as do skeptics of the process. He implored everyone to stop wasting time and drew a rare round of applause by saying there could be an agreement to secure a Palestinian state by next September's U.N. gathering.

"We can say that this time will be different ï¿½ that this time we will not let terror, or turbulence, or posturing, or petty politics stand in the way," Obama said.

Netanyahu did not attend, and Israel's seat in the grand U.N. hall sat empty because it was a Jewish holiday. Abbas was present, listening to the president through a translator's earphone. Obama did not mention the militant Hamas movement, which controls the Gaza Strip and refuses to accept Israel's right to exist.

In calling on the world to get more involved, Obama assigned responsibilities to nations beyond those at the negotiating table. He made a particular plea for "friends of the Palestinians" to support the creation of a new state providing political and financial support, and to "stop trying to tear Israel down."

An attentive audience packed the hall to hear Obama speak for just more than a half-hour, twice his allotted time. Some dignitaries took pictures with their cell phones.

The speech was the centerpiece of a day in which Obama also met individually with Chinese and Japanese leaders and introduced first Lady Michelle Obama at a meeting of Bill Clinton's Global Initiative.

Obama didn't publicly mention the heated diplomatic clash over Japan's arrest of a Chinese fishing boat captain near islands both Japan and China claim as their own. But he made clear that the U.S.-Japan alliance is crucial to stability in Asia and to both U.S. and Japanese security.

Obama's capping argument was for open civil societies across the globe: freedom of assembly, of the press, of the Internet. He said no government delivers more for people than democracy, echoing a frequent U.N. message of his predecessor.

"The ultimate success of democracy in the world won't come because the United States dictates it," Obama said. "It will come because individual citizens demand a say in how they are governed."

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China says 4 Japanese filmed military targets (AP)

BEIJING ï¿½ China is investigating four Japanese suspected of illegally filming military targets and entering a military zone without authorization, state media reported amid a tense diplomatic spat between Beijing and Tokyo over a fishing boat collision near disputed islands.

China's state-run Xinhua News Agency cited state security authorities in the northern city of Shijiazhuang as saying they had "taken measures" against the four Japanese "after receiving a report about their illegal activities." There was no elaboration.

The authorities accuse the Japanese of entering a military zone without authorization in Hebei province, the capital of which is Shijiazhuang.

The brief report late Thursday night did not say whether the four Japanese are in detention.

The four men are believed to be employees of Fujita Corp., a Tokyo-based construction and urban redevelopment company.

"We are pretty certain they are our employees," said Fujita spokesman Yoshiaki Onodera. "But we have not spoken with them, so we don't know how they came to be questioned."

Onodera said he could not confirm Japanese media reports saying that the men were preparing a bid on a project to dispose of abandoned chemical weapons from World War II.

The Japanese Foreign Ministry confirmed that it had received word from the Chinese government Thursday night about the incident. It did not have further details, including whether the men had been arrested or merely questioned.

The news could further sour relations that have deteriorated badly since earlier this month when Japan arrested a Chinese captain whose fishing boat collided with Japanese coast guard vessels near a string of islands in the East China Sea. Called Diaoyu or Diaoyutai in Chinese and Senkaku in Japanese, the islands are controlled by Japan, but are also claimed by China. They are surrounded by rich fishing grounds and are regularly occupied by nationalists from both sides.

Japan extended the detention of the Chinese captain Sunday, and Beijing reacted quickly, suspending high-level contacts with Tokyo and ruling out a meeting between Premier Wen Jiabao and Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan during U.N. meetings in New York this week.

On Tuesday, Wen threatened "further action" against Japan if it did not release the Chinese captain immediately.

Meanwhile, the United States on Thursday urged the two powers to quickly resolve the dispute and a military official said that Washington was committed to strongly supporting Japan, one of America's closest allies in the Pacific.

At a Pentagon news conference, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen said the U.S. was tracking the situation closely and hoped that diplomatic efforts would ease tensions soon.

"And obviously we're very, very strongly in support of ... our ally in that region, Japan," Mullen told reporters.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates added "and we would fulfill our alliance responsibilities," without offering more specifics.

But besides hoping that tensions ease between China and Japan, Mullen said "we haven't seen anything that would, I guess, raise the alarm levels higher than that."

The dispute faces a test on Sept. 29, the deadline by which Japanese prosecutors must decide whether to charge the Chinese captain. Fourteen crew members and the boat have been returned.

___

Associated Press writer Tomoko A. Hosaka in Tokyo contributed to this report.

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First woman in 5 years executed in US amid outcry (AP)

JARRATT, Va. ï¿½ The first woman to be executed in the U.S. in five years has been put to death in Virginia for arranging the killings of her husband and a stepson over a $250,000 insurance payment.

Forty-one-year-old Teresa Lewis died by injection at 9:13 p.m. Thursday. She became the first woman executed in Virginia in nearly a century. Supporters and relatives of the victims watchedd her execution at Greensville Correctional Center.

Lewis enticed two men through sex, cash and a promised cut in an insurance policy to shoot the sleeping men in October 2002. Both triggermen were sentenced to life in prison, and one committed suicide in 2006.

More than 7,300 appeals to stop the execution had been made to the governor in a state second only to Texas in the number of people it executes.

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US walks out on Ahmadinejad's UN speech (AP)

UNITED NATIONS ï¿½ The U.S. delegation walked out of the U.N. speech of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Thursday after he said some in the world have speculated that Americans were behind the Sept. 11 terror attacks, staged in an attempt to assure Israel's survival.

He did not explain the logic of that statement that was made as he attacked the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Ahmadinejad has called for the destruction of Israel and is deeply at odds with the United States and European allies over its nuclear program and suspicions that it is designed to produce an atomic bomb. Iran says it is only working on technology for electricity generation.

The U.S. delegation left the hall after Ahmadinejad said there were three theories about the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks:

_That "powerful and complex terrorist group" penetrated U.S. intelligence and defenses.

_"That some segments within the U.S. government orchestrated the attack to reverse the declining American economy and its grips on the Middle East in order also to save the Zionist regime. The majority of the American people as well as other nations and politicians agree with this view."

The Americans stood and walked out without listening to the third theory, that the attack was the work of "a terrorist group but the American government supported and took advantage of the situation."

Mark Kornblau, spokesman of the U.S. Mission to the world body, issued a statement within moments of Ahmadinejad's attack.

"Rather than representing the aspirations and goodwill of the Iranian people," he said, "Mr. Ahmadinejad has yet again chosen to spout vile conspiracy theories and anti-Semitic slurs that are as abhorrent and delusional as they are predictable."

Ahmadinejad, who has in the past cast doubt over the U.S. version of the Sept. 11 attacks, called for establishment of an independent fact-finding U.N. body to probe the attacks and stop it from turning into another sacred issue where "expressing opinion about it won't be banned".

He said the U.S. used the attacks as a pretext to invade Afghanistan and Iraq that led to the killing of hundreds of thousands of people, saying the U.S. should have "designed a logical plan" to punish the perpetrators while not sheding so much blood.

Ahmadinejad boasted of the capture in February of Abdulmalik Rigi, the leader of an armed Sunni group whose insurgency in the southeast of Iran has destabilized the border region with Pakistan. He said authorities did not resort to violence, but captured the suspect after trailing his movements in an operation by Iranian secret agents. Rigi was later hanged.

The Iranian leader spoke of threats to burn the Quran by a small American church in Florida to mark the anniversary of the Sept. 11 terror attacks. Although that church backed down, several copycat burnings were posted on the Internet and broadcast in the Muslim world.

"Very recently the world witnessed the ugly and inhumane act of burning the holy Quran," Ahmadinejad said.

He briefly touch on the four sets of sanctions imposed on his country by the United Nations over Tehran's refusal stop enriching uranium and to prove Iran is not trying to build an atomic bomb.

Some members of the Security Council have "equated nuclear energy with nuclear bombs," Ahmadinejad said.

He accused the United States of building up its nuclear arsenal instead of dismantling it and reiterated his call for a nuclear-free world.

"The nuclear bomb is the worst inhumane weapon which must totally be eliminated. The NPT (Nonproliferation Treaty) prohibits its development and stockpiling and calls for nuclear disarmament," the Iranian president said.

Ahmadinejad hinted that Iran is ready for talks on its nuclear program provided they are based on "justice and respect", suggesting that the U.S. and its allies must stop pressuring Iran through sanctions before Tehran will sit at the negotiating table.

He again rejected the U.N. Security Council sanctions as "illegal," blaming the U.S. as the power behind the measures.

"Those who have used intimidation and sanctions in response to the clear logic of the Iranian nation are in real terms destroying the remaining credibility of the Security Council," Ahmadinejad said.

Ahmadinejad has in the past called the Security Council a "satanic tool" and has called its anti-Iran resolutions "not worth a cent."

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Karaoke champs vie for fame, dumplings in Russia (AP)

MOSCOW ï¿½ The winner of the Karaoke World Championships may not achieve world fame, but at least he or she won't have to worry where the next meal is coming from ï¿½ the top prize is 1 million Russian dumplings.

With an unusual purse like that, it's clear that karaokists retain a sense of humor about a pursuit as derided as it is popular. But they're also serious enough about it to have traveled from as far away as Australia and Nigeria for a three-day battle-of-the-no-bands in a Moscow banquet hall.

The first night of the competition Thursday seems to show that karaoke is at a tipping point. It's gone far beyond caterwauling in front of a group of sozzled buddies and regretting it the next morning; most of those on stage here have serious pipes and carefully worked-out moves. Yet it retains the casual camaraderie of a barroom at midnight.

"It's a contest, yes, but it's more like a family," said Atte Hujanen, managing director of the Finland-based KWC Organization that is the equivalent of a sports governing body.

One woman's rendition of "Vogue" proved his point. Imagine Madonna if she'd never been to a gym, moved awkwardly and dressed like a diplomat. Still, the applause was warm, cameras flashed and no journalists seemed inclined to ask if the performance was intended ironically.

Karaoke actually seems to be one of the world's few genuine irony-free zones. The performers don't go for modernist mumbling or cryptic lyrics ï¿½ they love to belt it out and they go for songs with heart-on-the-sleeve words. The show began with a group rendition of that apogee of bathos "We Are The World" and a probably inevitable version of "My Way" occurred not long thereafter.

Hujanen posited that it's this penchant for intensity that makes karaoke especially appealing in propriety-intensive countries such as Japan, where it originated, and his homeland, where six of the eight world championships have been held.

"People in Japan and Finland, it's in our nature that we're pretty shy," he said. With karaoke, "we can sing a heartbreaking ballad and then shut up again."

It's also liberating for serious performers because it doesn't require them to pursue a particular genre or artistic vision, as they would if they were part of an actual band, said American contestant Edward Pimentel, a technician for a cellular phone company in Albuquerque.

"The places I go to have 20,000 songs. I can change every single night," he said. "I can do whatever."

They can also choose to look whatever. The show Thursday had the sartorial variation of a good neighborhood bar ï¿½ some men with snap-brim hats looking like dudes on the make, some in sneakers and untucked shirts looking like they'd stopped in for a cold one after a long shift at a gas station.

But the emotions were higher for the singers than in a bar, said Tami Marie, also of Albuquerque, a standout with a searing version of Pink's "Misery."

"Here, you feel like a real star. ... I feel so blessed," she gushed.

However, the most gushing person to take the stage arguably wasn't a performer at all, but the Russian organizer of the competition, Alexander Shamaev.

"The goal for us is the unification of the entire planet under the banner of karaoke," he declared. "We hope it will become the most massive sport on the planet."

The competition concludes Saturday with the final round after two days of preliminaries. The judges will choose one winner of each gender, and the audience will vote on which of all the contenders deserves the dumplings provided by one of the championship's sponsors.

Pimentel's not in it for that kind of dough. Asked what he would do if he won that prize, it was the first time ï¿½ on or offstage ï¿½ that he was lost for words.

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Settlement freeze has barely slowed construction (AP)

ARIEL, West Bank ï¿½ How much of a freeze has there actually been on West Bank Jewish settlement building by Israel?

Very little, an Associated Press analysis of the numbers suggests.

To settlers like Ron Nachman, the mayor of this West Bank community, the halt has been brutal. He fumes at the government and points angrily at a low hill covered with shrubs, where 100 homes for settlers were planned ï¿½ then suspended.

And the nearly 10-month-old freeze is important enough to the Palestinians that they have threatened to walk away from peace talks, just restarted amid much fanfare, if it ends as planned on Sunday.

But the government's own figures ï¿½ and the assessments of Israeli peace activists monitoring construction ï¿½ show building has barely slowed down.

In the third quarter of 2009, before the restrictions were imposed last November, there were 2,790 settlement homes in various stages of construction, according to Israel's Central Bureau of Statistics. The number rose to 2,955 in the last quarter of 2009, reflecting a last-minute surge of housing starts in the days leading up to the freeze.

In the first quarter of 2010, with the freeze in full effect, the number stood at 2,517.

That means that even months into the halt, the number of homes under construction had declined by only about 10 percent.

There are no official figures for the months since. But Israeli peace activists, who use aerial photography and ground inspections to track settlement building, say there has been no appreciable decline, since most of the projects take longer than 10 months to complete.

The situation is largely the same, they say, in non-residential construction such as commercial buildings, small factories and schools.

The numbers have hardly been dented because the halt ordered by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu covered only new projects. Anything already under way when the measures went into effect could be completed.

That is why the Palestinians ï¿½ backed by the United States ï¿½ want the freeze to continue. If it does, the logic goes, those ongoing projects would eventually be completed and the number of homes under construction would then begin to drop steeply.

If the measures are lifted Sunday and new projects are launched, the four-decade-old march of settlement-building in the West Bank ï¿½ which Israel occupied along with the Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast war ï¿½ will hardly have registered a blip.

"The freeze is meaningful only if it is extended," said Hagit Ofran, who tracks settlements for Peace Now. "If they are going to approve new buildings, all this will have meant is that a few projects were delayed."

"If the freeze continues, and if there is enforcement, then certainly we will see a change in the existing numbers," agreed Israeli peace activist Dror Etkes.

Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev said the terms of the halt were clear from the start. "We were very up front," he said. "We always said the freeze was about new construction, and in that case it has been full."

Government statistics show a dramatic drop in new construction since the freeze began: There were zero housing starts in the first quarter of this year, compared to 342 in the same quarter last year. But those figures do not include illegal construction or mobile homes, both of which are common.

In reality, around 450 new housing units have begun construction since the slowdown went into effect, according to Peace Now. Still, those numbers reflect a drop of about 50 percent in the pace of new home construction.

Any discussion of the issue quickly inflames passions and reveals the divergent narratives of the sides.

To Palestinians, each instance of building is another provocation. The settlements eat up the territory of a future Palestinian state and make virtually impossible the two-state partition Israel's government says it wants.

"If Palestinians and the international community are not able to convince the Israelis to ... stop illegal settlement expansion, how do we expect to reach an agreement that would dismantle all illegal settlements and end occupation?" said Husam Zomlot, a spokesman for the Palestinian negotiation team.

Already, some 300,000 Israelis ï¿½ out of a population approaching 8 million ï¿½ live in the West Bank, among 2.5 million Palestinians. Another 200,000 Israelis live in east Jerusalem, where the Palestinians want to locate the capital of a future independent state. The building freeze does not apply in east Jerusalem, despite earlier Palestinian demands that it be extended there.

Despite the freeze, Nachman had to shout to be heard Tuesday over the sound of Palestinian workers drilling foundations for a new factory in Ariel that will produce iron bars ï¿½ a project that was already under way when the restrictions went into effect.

He said the freeze is demoralizing to the settlement's 20,000 residents, because beyond the practical inconvenience lies a deeper message: There is a question mark looming over the very future of this place.

"Every industrialist, every person who wants to invest money for a home or industry or anything, wants to know that it's OK ï¿½ that it's certain," he said.

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Democrats delay vote on extending Bush tax cuts (AP)

WASHINGTON ï¿½ Senate Democratic leaders decided Thursday to delay a vote on preserving soon-to-expire middle class tax cuts until after congressional elections in November.

President Barack Obama has made the tax cuts a priority. But Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid decided to delay any vote after a meeting with other Senate Democrats failed to produce a consensus on how to proceed.

"Democrats believe we must permanently extend tax cuts for the middle-class before they expire at the end of the year, and we will," Reid spokesman Jim Manley said. "Unfortunately, to this point we have received no cooperation from Republicans to do so."

Enacted in 2001 and 2003 under President George W. Bush, they were the most sweeping tax cuts in a generation. If Congress takes no action, taxpayers at every income level face significant tax increases next year.

Republicans want to extend all the tax cuts. Obama and Democratic leaders in Congress want to extend them for individuals making less than $200,000 and married couples making less than $250,000.

"We will come back in November and stay in session as long as it takes to get this done," Manley said.

A last-minute, or lame duck, session of the House and Senate is set to begin Nov. 15 with a few new faces and perhaps a far different political outlook after an election in which Republicans are expected to make significant gains, even possibly enough to gain control of the House or Senate, or both. Democrats still will hold the majority through the end of the year, however. Some House and Senate Democratic officials believe the timing would make it easier to extend the Bush-era tax cuts set to expire in January.

But who gets a break on their tax bill ï¿½ everyone, or just what Obama calls the middle class ï¿½ still would likely be the subject of heated debate.

The Senate's No. 2 Democrat, Dick Durbin of Illinois, described an election-driven stalemate unlikely to lift in the next five weeks, when many lawmakers up for re-election would prefer to be home campaigning. All 435 seats in the House and 37 in the Senate are on the line.

"We are so tightly wound up in this campaign that it's impossible to see a bipartisan answer to the challenge we face," Durbin, the Democrats' vote-counting whip, said. "That's the reality before the election."

Pre-election, some Democrats are wary of supporting Obama's plan to let taxes rise for the wealthiest Americans, fearing they would be accused of supporting a tax hike. Other Democrats believe they have a winning message of fiscal responsibility while making the rich pay more after years of relative prosperity.

"I'm doing all I can to get the middle income tax cut passed as quickly as possible," said Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., chairman of the Senate Finance Committee.

GOP lawmakers say it's a familiar debate: Democrats favor tax increases while Republicans oppose them.

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said Democrats are putting nearly every working American at risk for a significant tax increase next year.

"They are in charge and they haven't done anything about it," said Cornyn, who is chairman of the committee in charge of electing Senate Republicans. "That would not be a position I would want to be in."

Delaying action on the tax cuts could cause problems for the Internal Revenue Service and employers trying to withhold the correct amount of taxes from workers' paychecks, starting in January. The Treasury Department, which oversees the IRS, usually makes withholding tables available in mid-November for the following year, so employers and payroll firms have time to prepare.

"If Congress has not acted to extend the middle class tax cuts by that time, Treasury will then make an appropriate determination about how to proceed," Treasury spokeswoman Sandra Salstrom said.

Democrats say Republicans are holding middle class tax cuts hostage while they fight to extend tax cuts for the wealthy, an argument that would be stronger if Democrats actually scheduled a vote on the proposals. Senate GOP leaders have vowed to oppose legislation that would extend only middle-class tax relief. Democrats would need at least one Republican vote to overcome a filibuster.

"The president would sign a bill tomorrow that would extend the tax cuts for the middle class to avoid saddling them with a crippling tax hike," said White House spokeswoman Amy Brundage. "Unfortunately, Republicans in Congress have made it clear they would rather stall and obstruct instead of giving working families the assistance they need."

House Democrats said they were waiting for the Senate to act. Some said they have been frustrated by passing bills that languish in the Senate.

"The Senate could always surprise us, but not on the tax extenders. That will be done in the lame duck," said Rep. Alcee Hastings, D-Fla.

(This version corrects in paragraph 5 that Obama plan would extend tax cuts for individuals making less than $200,000 and couples making less than $250,000.)

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US frees 'super wi-fi' airwaves

23 September 2010 Last updated at 16:45 ET

The US broadcasting regulator has announced it will make unused television airwaves available for new "super wi-fi" technology.

In a statement, the Federal Communications Commission described the spectrum between television channels as "prime real estate" for mobile devices.

It hopes the move will turn swathes of the country into giant wi-fi hot spots.

Officials also said it would encourage innovation and job growth and make the US more competitive globally.

"It will enhance our economy and strengthen our global competitiveness, lead to billions of dollars in private investment and to valuable new products and services - some we can imagine, and many we can't," Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Julius Genachowski said in a statement after the commission's unanimous vote.

'Smart city' applications

The FCC said the move marked the first time in more than two decades a large band of spectrum had been opened. The airwaves became vacant last year when the US moved to an all-digital television broadcast system.

Technology firms are eager to begin using the airwaves, in part because signals in that spectrum can travel several miles, penetrate walls and allow large transfers of data.

The move came after several successful pilot programmes across the US, Mr Genachowski said.

Wilmington, in the state of North Carolina, for example, has experimented with "smart city" applications to manage traffic and water quality.

Some broadcasters fear the move will interfere with their operations, including wireless microphones used to report news.

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GOP, Democrats offer dueling governing plans (AP)

WASHINGTON ï¿½ These are two remarkably different visions for governing America. Republicans are pledging to shrink the government, cut taxes and undo health care and stimulus laws. President Barack Obama and Democrats want tax cuts for the middle class, more stimulus spending and an end to the outsourcing of U.S. jobs.

With Thursday's release of the GOP's "Pledge to America" ï¿½ a strongly worded manifesto promising to return government to the people, trim it through deep spending cuts, and refocus it on defense and tax cuts ï¿½ the two parties have laid out deeply contrasting agendas for the next two years.

Less than six weeks before midterm congressional elections, it's promise-making time for both parties, and voters are getting some insight into how the two parties want to change the country.

Still, many of the vows on both sides are deliberately vague. The reality behind each party's stirring rhetoric is that little may change after Election Day.

Republicans are poised to add substantially to their ranks in the contests, perhaps enough to give them control of the House and to whittle Democrats' margin of control to almost nothing in the Senate.

If Democrats hang onto power, their majority is virtually certain to be weakened considerably, leaving them little room to maneuver on unfinished items on their agenda, including energy legislation to curb carbon emissions and creation of a path to legal status for millions of illegal immigrants.

Either way, it's a recipe for likely gridlock, with the GOP positioned to stymie Obama on everything from the budget to immigration policy. Veto showdowns could become common, and neither party would command enough votes to force through major initiatives.

The starkest differences are on spending and taxes. Republicans want to extend all of George W. Bush's income tax cuts permanently ï¿½ at a cost of some $4 trillion over 10 years ï¿½ and add new ones including a 20 percent deduction for small businesses.

Democrats are proposing to keep the rates where they are for individuals making up to $200,000 and for families earning up to $250,000 ï¿½ but to hit wealthier individuals and some small businesses with tax hikes in January. Their plan would cost $3 trillion. They're also proposing to give investment tax breaks to small businesses. In addition, Democrats want to impose tax penalties on companies that move jobs and factories overseas and to offer tax breaks for firms that bring jobs back to the United States.

On spending, Republicans say they want to roll the government back to 2008 levels, although they would leave intact three politically untouchable constituencies: veterans, seniors and the military. They say they'd freeze stimulus projects and impose hard limits on future spending, although they did not propose a ban on earmarks ï¿½ the now-infamous practice of individual lawmakers steering projects to their districts.

It's unclear how much could be saved through these measures. Most of the $814 billion in stimulus money has already been spent. The GOP estimates its cuts would amount to $100 billion in savings a year, but budget experts say the figure could be far less.

Exempting veterans, seniors and defense spending "leaves a pretty small slice of pie to be whittling away at, and hard to believe there is $100 billion in savings available as promised," Steve Ellis of the watchdog group Taxpayers for Common Sense wrote in an e-mail. "Political promises come and go, we will have to see if this product has any traction or is even remotely implementable."

Democrats, for their part, are calling for more spending to jump-start the ailing economy. Obama has proposed a $50 billion road-, railway- and runway-building plan as well as a new infrastructure bank to pay for future projects.

The two parties are deeply at odds on health care.

Republicans would repeal this year's big overhaul, presumably canceling parts that began taking effect Thursday: letting young adults remain on family health plans until they turn 26, providing free preventive care and ending denials of coverage to kids with pre-existing conditions.

The GOP proposes to replace the measure with an array of changes to make it easier for individuals to find private insurance and pay for medical care. Those include letting people buy coverage outside their states, expanding state programs that cover high-risk patients who can't otherwise get insurance and expanding the use of tax-advantaged savings accounts to cover medical costs.

Like Democrats, Republicans say they would put an end to lifetime and annual coverage limits and bar insurers from canceling coverage for people who get sick. But the GOP stops short of making it illegal to deny insurance to anyone with a pre-existing condition. The Pledge to America says that would be so only for people who already had coverage.

There are plenty of question marks in both parties' agendas. Neither has been specific about how it would accomplish the trickiest items.

The Republicans pledge to "put government on a path to a balanced budget and pay down the debt." But when it comes to addressing looming shortfalls in Social Security and Medicare, two huge drivers of deficit spending, the GOP is silent on how to do it.

House Republican Leader John Boehner of Ohio, who would be speaker if the GOP won the 40 seats it needs to take control, said he'd be open to suggestions from the public about that issue.

"It's time for us as Americans to have an adult conversation with each other about the serious challenges that face our country. I don't have all of the solutions," he said.

Similarly, Democrats have hit Republicans hard on the campaign trail for what they say is the party's plan to privatize Social Security, but they haven't said what they'd do to fix the program's financial programs either.

Democrats are working to persuade voters that they've done the best possible with a GOP-created mess.

"The scales are always tilted in favor of the people who are only making a proposal and not having to defend a record," said congressional scholar Stephen Hess of the liberal Brookings Institution.

Republicans are working to strike a tricky balance. Some of them privately questioned the decision to unveil an major policy agenda at all, arguing that it could trip up their candidates and spoil an anti-Obama strain among voters that was working to their advantage.

And then there's the problem of whether they'll be able to fulfill their promises if they win.

"The big risk is they don't want to overpromise stuff that they can't deliver on. On the other hand, they don't want to give the impression that they're just tinkering in the margins in Washington," said Michael Franc of the conservative Heritage Foundation. "People will understand if Obama's president for two years, not everything's going to be possible."

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Democrats close to delaying vote on Bush tax cuts (AP)

WASHINGTON ï¿½ A growing number of Senate Democrats say they probably won't consider President Barack Obama's call to preserve middle class tax cuts until after voters choose their congressmen and senators on Nov. 2.

"The reality is we are not going to pass what needs to be passed to change this either in the Senate or in the House before the election," said the Senate's No. 2 Democrat, Dick Durbin of Illinois on Thursday.

Even debating the issue in such a politically charged atmosphere is in question, said a second Democrat.

"The climate is not conducive to getting much done before the election," said Sen. Tom Carper of Delaware. "If I were a betting man, I would say we deal with them" later in the fall.

A last-minute, or lame duck, session of the House and Senate is set to begin Nov. 15 with a few new faces and far different political outlook. Democrats still will hold the majority through the end of the year, however. House and Senate Democratic officials believe the timing would make it easier to extend the Bush-era tax cuts set to expire in January.

But who gets a break on their tax bill - everyone, or just what Obama calls the middle class - would still likely be the subject of heated debate.

Enacted in 2001 and 2003 under President George W. Bush, they were the most sweeping tax cuts in a generation. If Congress takes no action taxpayers at every income level face significant tax increases next year. Few in Congress support that option, but any plan to avoid widespread tax increases next year would need bipartisan support in the Senate, and that has been hard to come by this year.

Republicans want to extend all the tax cuts, while Obama and Democratic leaders in Congress want to extend them for individuals making less then $200,000 and married couples making less than $250,000.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid Thursday afternoon had not revealed his decision on the timing of the debate. But Durbin described an election-driven stalemate unlikely to lift in the next five weeks, when many lawmakers up for re-election would prefer to be home campaigning. All 435 seats in the House, 37 in the Senate and the Democratic majority in both chambers are on the line.

Senate Democrats discussed the issue behind closed doors for more than an hour Thursday, and emerged without a consensus on how to proceed.

Pre-election, some Democrats are wary of supporting Obama's plan to let taxes rise for people making more than $250,000 a year, fearing they would be accused of supporting a tax hike. Other Democrats believe they have a winning message of fiscal responsibility while making the rich pay more after years of relative prosperity.

"I'm doing all I can to get the middle income tax cut passed as quickly as possible," said Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., chairman of the Senate Finance Committee.

GOP lawmakers say it's a familiar debate: Democrats favor tax increases while Republicans oppose them.

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said Democrats are putting nearly every working American at risk for a significant tax increase next year.

"If Congress has not acted to extend the middle class tax cuts by that time, Treasury will then make an appropriate determination about how to proceed," said Treasury spokeswoman Sandra Salstrom.

House Democrats said they were waiting for the Senate to act. Some said they have been frustrated by passing bills that languish in the Senate.

"The Senate could always surprise us, but not on the tax extenders, that will be done in the lame duck," said Rep. Alcee Hastings, D-Fla.

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US walks out on Ahmadinejad UN speech (AP)

UNITED NATIONS ï¿½ The U.S. delegation walked out of the U.N. speech of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Thursday after he said some in the world have speculated that Americans were actually behind the Sept. 11 terror attacks, staged in an attempt to assure Israel's survival.

He did not explain the logic of that statement that was made as he attacked the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Ahmadinejad said there were three theories about the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks:

ï¿½ That a "powerful and complex terrorist group" penetrated U.S. intelligence and defenses.

ï¿½ "That some segments within the U.S. government orchestrated the attack to reverse the declining American economy and its grips on the Middle East in order also to save the Zionist regime. The majority of the American people as well as other nations and politicians agree with this view."

The Americans stood and walked out without listening to the third theory that the attack was the work of "a terrorist group but the American government supported and took advantage of the situation."

Mark Kornblau, spokesman of the U.S. Mission to the world body, issued a statement within moments of Ahmadinejad's attack.

"Very recently the world witnessed the ugly and inhumane act of burning the holy Quran," Ahmadinejad said.

He briefly touch on the four sets of sanctions imposed on his country by the United Nations over Tehran's refusal stop enriching uranium and to prove Iran is not trying to build an atomic bomb.

Some members of the Security Council have "equated nuclear energy with nuclear bombs," Ahmadinejad said.

He accused the United States of building up its nuclear arsenal instead of dismantling it and reiterated his call for a nuclear-free world.

"The nuclear bomb is the worst inhumane weap9on and which must totally be eliminated. The NPT (Nonproliferation Treaty) prohibits its development and stockpiling and calls for nuclear disarmament," the Iranian president said.

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GOP 'Pledge' vows cuts, repeal of health care law (AP)

STERLING, Va. ï¿½ Pushing toward big gains on Nov. 2, House Republicans promised to end a slew of Democratic policies and restore Americans' trust in government as they rolled out a campaign manifesto designed to show they're listening to an angry public and are focused on creating jobs.

"The land of opportunity has become the land of shrinking prosperity ... Our government has failed us," Rep. Kevin McCarthy of California declared. "We will take back our country. We will restore for a better future. This is our pledge to you."

At a hardware store in suburban Washington, senior House Republicans in shirt sleeves showed off the 21-page document they say would guide them should they gain a majority of seats in the midterm balloting five weeks away.

The "Pledge to America" was filled with familiar proposals to slash taxes and spending and cut down on government regulation, as well as repeal President Barack Obama's health care law and end his stimulus program. In a show of unity, Senate Republicans and Haley Barbour, chairman of the Republican Governors Association, issued strong statements of support.

The unveiling capped a private debate among Republicans that had pitted those who favored making an agenda public against others who argued it would merely open the party's candidates to criticism in a campaign that has been tilting their way.

Republicans have sought to turn the midterm elections into a referendum on the policies of President Barack Obama and the Democratic-controlled Congress. Democrats, in turn, want it to become a choice between two alternatives ï¿½ what they describe as their own efforts to fix the economy, as opposed to what they criticize as Bush-era policies that led to a severe recession.

For their part, Democrats dismissed the GOP plan as recycled ideas that would further exacerbate the nation's problems.

"Republicans want to return to the same failed economic policies that hurt millions of Americans and threatened our economy," said Nadeam Elshami, a spokesman for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.

With polls showing voters disenchanted with Obama, worried about the economy and mad at elected officials, the agenda also vows to change the way Congress works ï¿½ requiring every bill to cite its constitutional authority, for example, and to be made public for three days before a vote.

"Putting spending, putting the policy of economic growth in place and cleaning up the way Congress works is not only a stark contrast to this president and this Congress," said Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis. "It's a contrast to the way we conducted ourselves a decade ago. We spent too much money. We lost our way."

The plan steers clear of specifics on important issues, such as how it will "put government on a path to a balanced budget." It omits altogether the question of how to address looming shortfalls in Social Security and Medicare, which account for a huge portion of the nation's soaring deficit, instead including a vague promise: "We will make the decisions that are necessary to protect our entitlement programs."

Republicans are favored to add substantially to their ranks on Nov. 2, perhaps enough to seize control of the House.

Their new agenda is rife with the kind of grass-roots rhetoric that could appeal both to tea party activists and to independent voters the GOP is courting in its quest for control.

"Regarding the policies of the current government, the governed do not consent," the pledge says. "An arrogant and out-of-touch government of self-appointed elites makes decisions, issues mandates and enacts laws without accepting or requesting the input of the many."

Polls show large majorities are fed up with Congress and both parties and show Republicans have a chance to earn the public's trust on key issues.

The latest Associated Press-GfK poll found nearly three-quarters disapprove of the way Congress is handling its job, with 68 percent disapproving of Republicans compared with 60 percent disapproving of Democrats.

Rep. Pete Sessions of Texas, the head of Republicans' House campaign committee, said the agenda was drafted to answer the public's skepticism about government and give them a "deliverable."

"A number of people are very cynical about the reliability and the sincerity of either party," Sessions said. "We've put things on a sheet of paper."

______________

AP Deputy Polling Director Jennifer Agiesta contributed to this report.

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Congress to send small business bill to Obama (AP)

WASHINGTON ï¿½ The Democratic-controlled Congress on Thursday sent President Barack Obama a long-delayed bill to help struggling small businesses with easier credit and other incentives to expand and hire new workers.

The $40 billion-plus bill is the last vestige of the heralded jobs agenda that Obama and Democrats promoted early this year. They ended up delivering only a fraction of what they promised after emboldened Senate Republicans blocked most of the agenda with filibusters.

The Senate passed the measure last week. The 237-187 House vote Thursday that sent the bill to the president split along party lines as Democrats praised the measure for creating a $30 billion federal fund to help smaller banks issue loans to small businesses and for cutting taxes by $12 billion over the coming decade.

"It combines ... tax relief with increased access to critical financing so that our nation's small businesses can move forward on new or delayed expansion plans," said Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-Maine."Small-business growth means job creation."

Republicans, poised for big gains in midterm elections just six weeks away, said the new loan fund is just a smaller version of the unpopular 2008 bailout of the financial system.

"What we have today before us is junior TARP," said Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart, R-Fla.

While community bankers enthusiastically support the measure, it's getting only tepid support from GOP-leaning small-business groups, which are more focused on expiring tax cuts.

"There's some OK stuff in it, but the impact's going to be minimal," said Bill Rys, tax counsel for the National Federation of Independent Business.

The vote gives Obama and his Democratic allies on Capitol Hill a much-needed, but minor, victory as midterm elections approach.

"The small business jobs bill passed today will help provide loans and cut taxes for millions of small business owners," Obama said in a statement. "After months of partisan obstruction and needless delay, I'm grateful that Democrats and a few Republicans came together to support this commonsense plan to put Americans back to work."

Earlier this year, Democrats had ambitious designs to boost "green jobs," provide new funding for roads, bridges and other infrastructure projects, pay for a summer jobs program for disadvantaged young people and renew health insurance subsidies for the jobless.

What was actually enacted was far smaller: more unemployment checks for the jobless; relief from payroll taxes for companies that hire new workers; and billions of dollars in aid for states and local schools.

The new loan fund would be available to community banks to encourage lending to small businesses. Supporters say banks should be able to use the fund to leverage up to $300 billion in loans.

Republicans said that banks have plenty of money to lend but that loan demand is way down.

"It won't do any good. Business doesn't need credit ï¿½ business needs customers," said Jade West, a lobbyist for the GOP-leaning National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors. "If they don't have a customer base because demand is down, they're not going to borrow because there is nothing for them to borrow for."

Democrats counter that it's undeniable that small businesses are confronted with a credit crunch that worsened dramatically after the financial crisis two years ago.

"More capital for business means they can expand and create new jobs," said Rep. Kathy Dahlkemper, D-Pa. "Helping businesses grow is essential to our economic recovery and getting people back to work."

The legislation would also aid lending by lowering Small Business Administration loan program fees and raising loan guarantee and lending limits. Loan caps under the Small Business Administration's chief lending program would be significantly raised.

The small business tax cuts in the bill include breaks for restaurant owners and retailers who remodel their stores or build new ones. Long-term investors in some small business startups would be exempt from paying capital gains taxes.

But much of the tax relief would actually go to larger businesses for write-offs of facilities and equipment such as computers, trucks and machinery.

The measure also would allow small business owners to deduct the costs of health insurance for themselves and their families from self-employment taxes, but only for the 2010 tax year.

And, for the first time, tens of thousands of businesses who pay the alternative minimum tax will be eligible to claim the research and development tax credit and other write-offs such as a credit for hiring the disadvantaged.

"It's going to mean another $100,000 or $200,000 to some of our key small and medium-sized businesses," said Dean Zerbe of alliantgroup, a tax consulting firm.

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Fallujah raid highlights Iraq's security concerns (AP)

BAGHDAD ï¿½ For a few hours last week, a part of Fallujah was a flashback to the depths of the Iraq war when insurgents ruled the city and its streets were shooting galleries.

During an afternoon raid, gunmen exchanged fire with American and Iraqi commandos. Panicked civilians ran for cover or grabbed weapons of their own. In the end, the death count included at least four suspected insurgents and seven civilians ï¿½ perhaps more ï¿½ during an attempt to catch an alleged key tactician for al-Qaida in Iraq.

The target got away.

The official reckoning of what happened Sept. 15 is still under wraps. Iraqi authorities have opened an investigation and the U.S. military declined to give details until the inquest is completed on the raid ï¿½ some of the first major ground fighting for U.S. troops since President Barack Obama declared an end to combat operations more than three weeks ago.

But accounts by Iraqi security officials and others to The Associated Press lay bare the rifts that still plague Iraqi society ï¿½ including deep suspicion between Sunnis and Shiites and the resiliency of an insurgency that remains unbeaten and could yet draw American troops into more combat.

The raid also shows that U.S. forces can still be put on the front lines, and at high risk, to assist Iraqi commanders who are struggling with shortfalls in areas such as commando-style assaults and intelligence gathering.

"The Iraqi military is cognizant of its own limitations," said Michael Hanna, a military and political affairs analyst at the Century Foundation in New York. "So that while there is an eagerness to be in the lead, there is also a healthy dose of realism about their capacity."

On the military side, Fallujah represents the worries of an insurgent rebound. It was once a stronghold of Sunni militants ï¿½ led by al-Qaida in Iraq ï¿½ and the scene of intense block-by-block combat with U.S. troops in 2004 before local militias joined the fight and eventually uprooted the militant bases.

There are signs, however, that insurgents are attempting to claw back in the city they once controlled about 40 miles (65 kilometers) west of Baghdad. On Sunday, a suicide car bomber struck an Iraqi army patrol in the city's busy commercial district, killing one soldier and at least four civilians.

Fallujah also underscores the Sunni-Shiite discord that ripples through all levels in Iraq ï¿½ and could chip away at Iraq's security networks. That could mean calls by Iraq for wider U.S. military support even as the Pentagon seeks to complete its pullout by the end of next year.

Sunni officials in Fallujah ï¿½ and across the Sunni-dominated Anbar province ï¿½ increasingly allege that they are being sidelined by the Shiite-led authorities in Baghdad. The complaints often ring loudest from the Sunni sheiks and their militia factions, sometimes known as Awakening Councils, that joined the U.S.-led fight at the height of the insurgency four years ago.

The Sunni suspicions also have received a boost from Iraq's political limbo since March elections. A Sunni-backed coalition led by former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi narrowly defeated a bloc headed Shiite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, but infighting has left Iraq unable to form a new government.

"Al-Qaida and the insurgency is not something that's going away soon," said Hadi Jalo, a political analyst at Baghdad University. "But sectarian divides and political uncertainty can only help them. We expect more and stronger attacks ... if the Americans leave or not."

The Sunni anger was particularly biting after last week's Fallujah fight. Sunni officials and Awakening Council leaders claimed that the Iraqi commanders did not inform them in advance and accused Iraqi-led forces of reckless tactics that put civilians in the crossfire.

A statement by Fallujah's Municipal Council called the raid a "terrorist operation ... motivated by the deep hatred of this city and its people" ï¿½ a reference to the simmering distrust between Iraq's Sunnis and the Shiite majority that took power after the U.S.-led invasion.

Sheik Rafie Mishhin, a senior Awakening Council leader in Fallujah, complained that Iraqi forces "didn't respect Fallujah from both tribal and legal" codes by allegedly failing to bring local security forces and clan leaders into the loop on the raid plans.

"This puts at risk what we've achieved," he said. "We don't want to go back to the days of 2004 and 2005."

The U.S. military provided special forces alongside the Iraqi units, but the full details of the American role have not been disclosed.

Col. Barry Johnson, a U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad, described it as a "partnered counter-terror" operation under the authority of the Iraqi government.

"Since the Iraqi government has opened an investigation into the operation, it would be inappropriate for us to go into any further details," he said in an e-mail to the AP.

Iraqi security officials said the target of the raid was a top al-Qaida operative known as Abu Ibrahim, who is believed to have taken over many strategic decisions for insurgents following an airstrike in April that killed the top two al-Qaida in Iraq leaders.

A joint team ï¿½ Iraqi police and army and American special forces ï¿½ was quickly put together under Iraqi command after a tip that Ibrahim was hiding in a residential area of southern Fallujah, the officials said. The unit came under heavy fire as it neared the suspected hideout and was pinned down for about 90 minutes.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief reporters.

The civilian death toll remains unclear and could account for the slow disclosures by Iraqi leaders. A high number of Sunni civilian casualties could be an embarrassment to the government and complicate negotiations on a new government.

Shortly after the raid ï¿½ which lasted about three hours ï¿½ the U.S. military said Iraqi forces had killed four suspected militants and two civilians who came out of their homes with weapons drawn.

The city's Municipal Council gave a higher civilian death toll: seven, "including old men and children."

Iraq's Defense Ministry spokesman, Maj. Gen. Mohammed al-Askari, was quoted Wednesday as saying that security forces had "real and accurate" information that a top insurgent leader was at the hideout in Fallujah last week.

He told the Al Sabah newspaper that the suspect ï¿½ whom he described as "al-Qaida's No. 2 in Iraq" ï¿½ fled a half hour before the arrival of the U.S.-Iraqi team.

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Thursday, September 23, 2010

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Congress to send small business bill to Obama (AP)

Fallujah raid highlights Iraq's security concerns (AP)

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