Opposition in Lebanon declares win

BIKFAYA, LEBANON — In a probable blow to the Western-backed government, a key opposition leader Sunday declared victory in voting for a seat in parliament that was widely regarded as a proxy fight between the government and the pro-Syrian opposition.

Under guard by soldiers, tens of thousands of voters cast ballots in mountain villages northeast of the capital, where two civil war veterans and former allies were pitted against each other in a heated struggle for the Christian vote. After the opposition leader declared victory, the faction aligned with the government immediately claimed fraud but urged followers to remain calm.

Amin Gemayel, an ally of the government, was competing in the election for the seat of his dead son against a relatively unknown candidate, Kamil Khoury, who was backed by Michel Aoun, an ally of the Shiite-dominated opposition.

Pierre Gemayel, a young, popular Cabinet minister, was shot and killed late last year. His supporters believe Syria had a hand in his assassination, a charge denied by the government in Damascus.

Late Sunday evening, Khoury's camp announced it had won the seat. But official results were not expected until today.

"The big winner today is Syria," said Michael Young, an opinion editor at the Daily Star, a Lebanese newspaper. "At the end of the day, Gemayel did not win, and Aoun did not lose…. It's an ideal situation if Syria decides to impose its candidate" for president.

According to the Lebanese political system, the post of president is reserved for a Maronite Christian, and the vote was widely seen as a precursor to the upcoming election of a new president by parliament. President Emile Lahoud must step down by Nov. 23.

The race for the legislative seat highlighted deep divisions within the Christian community. Before the vote, Gemayel led an emotional campaign, telling voters that casting a ballot for him would be like casting a rose on his son's grave. Volunteers in his stronghold of Bikfaya handed out white roses to voters to commemorate the slain politician.

"Pierre Gemayel didn't die of a heart attack or in a car accident," said Eli Fares, the 36-year-old owner of La Vida, an electronics shop in Bikfaya. "Our heroes are all in the cemetery."

Like Fares, many Christians on both sides of the divide thought the election was a chance to reassert themselves on the political scene.

"This is a fight for our existence here as Christians in this area," Fares said.

Amin Gemayel, who heads the Falangist Party, served as Lebanon's president in the '80s during the nation's civil war, and appointed Aoun prime minister at the end of his term.

Although Aoun helped put an end to almost 30 years of Syrian domination, the 72-year-old former army commander upset the political balance last year by allying himself with Hezbollah, the Shiite group that is opposed to the predominantly Sunni government and supported by Syria and Iran.

"We have to think of being Lebanese first, then Christians, et cetera, second," said Joe Chebli, in explaining his vote for Khoury.

Despite the importance of the vote, there were few reports of violence. The Reuters news agency reported that two people were shot and wounded in clashes between supporters of rival political groups Sunday night.

In Bikfaya, supporters of Gemayel yelled out to an SUV full of Aoun supporters: "Go back to Daheer!" referring to the predominately Shiite suburbs of Beirut.

Prime Minister Fouad Siniora characterized the election as a peaceful response to a string of political assassinations. "Democracy in Lebanon will defeat terrorism," he said in a statement.

The Lebanese government has been paralyzed since a walkout by the opposition late last year.

In another election in Beirut, pro-government candidate Mohammed Amin Itani easily won a Sunni seat in parliament that came open when lawmaker Walid Eido was killed in a car bombing in June.

Iowa Republicans See Romney As Straw Poll Winner

With a week to go before the Iowa Republican Party's critical straw poll, an informal survey of Iowa Republican Party leaders, conducted by Real Clear Politics, shows high expectations for former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney. Those high expectations of local party leaders could be a huge benefit, if Romney meets them, or a painful negative should he fail. The numbers, and the expectations for all the candidates, show a race that could dramatically change on Saturday.

Of the 30 Republican officials - representing county parties around the state and the party's Central Committee - who responded to the survey via email, 93% picked Romney to win in Ames. Many saw his commitment to the state as indicative that he will prevail next Saturday; the same percentage said it was Romney whose campaign had the most visible presence in their locations.

Poll participants were asked to predict the top five finishers at the straw poll, and answers were ranked in order. A first place vote was worth five points, a second place vote was worth four points, et cetera, meaning 150 points was the maximum one candidate could achieve.
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Romney scored 144 points out of 150 possible. Colorado Congressman Tom Tancredo, who, according to an ABC/WP poll of Iowa voters, is the top choice of 5% of likely Iowa Republican caucus-goers, finished a distant second, with 59 points. Tancredo, though, led national front-runners Rudy Giuliani, who finished third with 55 points, and Fred Thompson, who finished sixth with 41 points. Neither Giuliani nor Thompson are actively participating in the straw poll.

Tancredo's second-place finish, if that lead holds on Saturday, would be a massive coup for a campaign driven largely by the congressman's views on illegal immigration and the war on terror. 20% of respondents, a slight plurality, said Tancredo had the most to gain at the poll, and that his performance would improve his standings in national polls. Aside from Romney, Tancredo was the only candidate to receive any first-place votes.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Texas Congressman Ron Paul, a libertarian in the truest sense of the word, did not receive a single vote in the poll. The lone anti-war voice on the GOP stage, Paul would be unlikely to earn support, or even notice, of people involved in Republican circles enough to be an elected board member.

The most intriguing subplot leading up to the poll on Saturday has been an increasingly bitter feud between two candidates vying for the religious vote. Kansas Senator Sam Brownback and former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee have for weeks accused the other of dirty campaign tactics, the latest incident being an email a Huckabee supporter sent to two Brownback supporters urging them to drop the senator, a Catholic, in favor of the governor, a Baptist minister. When Brownback's campaign complained to the press, Huckabee's manager urged Brownback to "stop whining."

The two face an uncertain future after Saturday's vote. Both are low on money, and both are counting on a voting bloc that, if divided, could see its influence over the GOP nomination wane. Iowa is home to more evangelical Christians than any state, proportionally, outside the South, and with a united bloc, either Huckabee or Brownback could cause the front-runners trouble. Taking either candidate's best score on all 30 ballots, their 72 points easily trumps any candidate but Romney. Divided, Huckabee finishes fourth, with 52 points, while Brownback's 42 points come in fifth.

Former Wisconsin Governor Tommy Thompson, who has said he will drop out if he does not perform well in Iowa, is not expected by Iowa's Republican elite to rise to the top. If Thompson does come in seventh, at 32 points and behind Fred Thompson, his campaign may come to a premature close.
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But it was not Thompson who most respondents said had the most to lose come Saturday. Instead, Arizona Senator John McCain, once the front-runner, and Romney are seen as the two risking the most come the weekend, with 30% naming each when asked. McCain, who announced he would not participate in the event mere hours after Giuliani did, is the victim of an Iowa Republican electorate still furious with him for ignoring them in 2000 and again this year, as well as for what they perceive as his less-than-complete conservatism. McCain, said one respondent representative of many in the survey, "is not a loyal Republican."

Romney, though, is the front-runner with a strong potential upside and the steepest possible downside. The candidates' performance at yesterday's debate, broadcast as a special edition of ABC's "This Week," showed that others recognized Romney's front-runner status in Iowa as well. Romney defended himself from charges from Brownback, who accused the Massachusetts governor of failing to be completely pro-life.

Seeking to boost their own support while cutting Romney down, other candidates "have hinged their efforts into trying to tear us down," said Romney spokesman Kevin Madden. "A lot of analysts will watch and see if anybody has a kamikaze mission, so to speak, that's going to effect us."

Though Romney is widely viewed as the candidate poised to walk away with the straw poll and thought of as the strongest organizationally in Iowa, there is a danger that many of the voters he busses in from around the state may not intend to follow through on voting for him. "People are known to show up at the straw poll with a ticket paid for by candidate A, yet they vote for candidate B," wrote one respondent, recalling businessman Steve Forbes' 1999 campaign. Forbes "bussed in a lot more people than he got votes from."
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The candidates with the greatest potential, according to most, are those in the so-called second tier, candidates without the money to compete directly with Romney or Giuliani. In Ames, it could be a good day for several contestants near the back of the pack. "They have the opportunity to show strong support from activists and potentially gather momentum in other states," said Sioux County Republican chairman Mark Lundberg.

Respondents to the poll differed on candidates they support, but their views on who the opposition will be come 2008 could hardly have been more unified. All but two predicted that New York Senator Hillary Clinton would be the Democratic nominee, though two believed it would be either her or Illinois Senator Barack Obama. One respondent declined to guess, while another predicted the Democratic winner would be either Delaware Senator Joe Biden or former North Carolina Senator John Edwards.
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Asked which candidate would be best able to defeat Clinton or whomever may be the eventual Democratic nominee, Iowa Republican leaders chose Giuliani, by a small 30% plurality, over Romney, who finished second with 23%.

As the straw poll draws near, pressure on candidates builds. Each campaign is operating at full speed to entice their voters to the polls. "We're working very hard every day making calls and trying to motivate our voters," said Brownback's Rob Wasinger. "We're putting an investment of staff and an investment of time there," said Jesse Benton, spokesman for Ron Paul.

Underscoring the importance of Ames, Benton responded to request for comment on his way to Iowa. Wasinger, Brownback's national campaign manager, has been in Ames since last week. They are but the first of what could be up to 40,000 visitors the sleepy college town hosts next week for what will be the most pivotal moment thus far in the Republican race.
Reid Wilson, an associate editor and writer for RealClearPolitics, formerly covered polls and polling for The Hotline, National Journal’s daily briefing on politics. Wilson’s work has appeared in National Journal, Hotline OnCall and the Arizona Capitol Times. He can be reached at

First Alarm About Bridge Raised in 1990

MINNEAPOLIS -

It was 1990 when the federal government first issued an ominous label for the state's busiest bridge: "structurally deficient." In the ensuing years, inspectors found cracks and corrosion on the Interstate-35W bridge. They stepped up inspections from once every two years to every year, and made what they thought were the necessary repairs. They were convinced that the bridge had no safety issues at all.

Their actions have come under intense scrutiny since the 40-year-old bridge plummeted into the Mississippi River on Wednesday, killing at least four and injuring another 79.

Police said the death count would surely grow because bodies had been spotted in the fast-moving currents. As many as 30 people were still reported missing.

"We have a number of vehicles that are underneath big pieces of concrete, and we do know we have some people in those vehicles," Police Chief Tim Dolan said Thursday. "We know we do have more casualties at the scene."

The eight-lane I-35W bridge, which carried 141,000 vehicles a day, was in the midst of mostly resurfacing repairs when it buckled during the Wednesday evening rush hour.

Dozens of cars plummeted more than 60 feet into the Mississippi River, some falling on top of one another. A school bus sat on the angled concrete.

Among the missing is Sadiya Sahal, 23, and her 2-year-old daughter, Hanah Mohamed. Sahal, who is five months pregnant, left home at 5:15 p.m. with the toddler in the back seat. She called her family at 5:30 p.m. saying she was stuck in traffic on the bridge, according to Omar Jamal, a spokesman for the family. That was her last phone call.

"Her husband is destroyed. He's in shock," Jamal said.

Officials identified the dead as Sherry Engebretsen, 60, of suburban Shoreview; Julia Blackhawk, 32, of Savage; Patrick Holmes, 36, of Moundsview; and Artemio Trinidad-Mena, 29, of Minneapolis.

Ronald Engebretsen said he and his family were trying to come to grips with his wife's death. "She's a great person. She's a person of great conviction, great integrity, great honesty and great faith in her God," he said.

National Transportation Safety Board chairman Mark Rosenker said his investigators got two big breaks Thursday with a surveillance video showing the collapse and a computer program that would analyze how the bridge failed. Those two things would speed their work and allow them to do a smaller reconstruction of part of the bridge span, rather than the whole thing.

Despite the powerful images of devastation from the collapse, some believed the design of the bridge reduced the death toll.

Joseph Schofer, professor of civil and environmental engineering at Northwestern University, said the bridge's underlying arch truss stopped heavy pieces of steel from falling onto vehicles when the cars plunged into the water.

Gov. Tim Pawlenty responded Thursday by ordering an immediate inspection of all bridges in the state with similar designs, but said the state was never warned that the I-35W bridge needed to be closed or immediately repaired.

"There was a view that the bridge was ultimately and eventually going to need to be replaced," he said. "But it appears from the information that we have available that a timeline for that was not immediate or imminent, but more in the future."

More than 70,000 bridges across the country are rated structurally deficient like the I-35W bridge, and engineers estimate repairing them all would take at least a generation and cost more than $188 billion.

"I think anybody who looks at the national picture, the national statistics and says that we don't have a problem would be naive or misleading the situation," Pawlenty said. "We have a major problem."

Authorities cautioned not to read too much into the "structurally deficient" tag. The designation means some portions of the bridge needed to be scheduled for repair or replacement. It wasn't a candidate for replacement until 2020.

The collapsed bridge is one of 1,160 bridges in that category, which amounts to 8 percent of bridges in the state. Nationally, about 12 percent of bridges are labeled "structurally deficient."

During the 1990s, inspections found fatigue cracks and corrosion in the steel around the bridge's joints. Those problems were repaired. Starting in 1993, the bridge was inspected annually instead of every other year.

State bridge engineer Dan Dorgan said the bearings could not have been repaired without jacking up the entire deck of the bridge. Because the bearings were not sliding, inspectors concluded the corrosion was not a major issue.

After a study raised concern about cracks, the state was given two alternatives: Add steel plates to reinforce critical parts or conduct a thorough inspection of certain areas to see if there were additional cracks. They chose the inspection route, beginning that examination in May.

"We thought we had done all we could," Dorgan told reporters near the mangled remains of the span. "Obviously something went terribly wrong."

The collapsed bridge's last full inspection was completed June 15, 2006. The report shows previous inspectors' notations of fatigue cracks in the spans approaching the river, including one four feet long that was reinforced with bolted plates.

Although concern was raised about cracks, some experts theorized it's no coincidence the collapse happened when workers and heavy equipment were on the bridge. The construction work involved resurfacing and maintenance on guardrails and lights, among other repairs.

"I would be stunned if this didn't have something to do with the construction project," said David Schulz, director of the Infrastructure Technology Institute at Northwestern University. "I think it's a major factor."

Associated Press writers Seth Borenstein, Brian Bakst, Ryan Foley and Jon Krawczynski contributed to this report.

US marine guilty of Iraq murder

A US marine has been convicted of murdering an Iraqi man after an attempt to locate and execute an alleged insurgent went disastrously wrong.

A US court martial heard that Sgt Lawrence Hutchins and the squad he led hatched a plan to kidnap and kill a suspected militant in Hamdania, west of Baghdad, in April last year.

When they could not find him, they instead kidnapped another man, believed to be Hashim Ibrahim Awad, a father of 11, from a neighbouring house, dragged him to a hole and shot him, prosecutors told the court martial.

Squad members tried to cover up the murder by planting a shovel and an AK-47 by the man's body to make it look like he was an insurgent planting a bomb.

Hutchins, 23, faces a possible life sentence after being convicted of murder, conspiracy to murder, making a false official statement and larceny. He was acquitted of kidnapping, assault and housebreaking.

He had also been charged with premeditated murder but the military jury dismissed the premeditation element from the verdict.

Hutchins stood rigidly and stared straight ahead in the courtroom as the verdict was read out. His wife sobbed silently with her head bowed.

Several witnesses testified that the plot was born out of frustration after suspected insurgents kept evading prosecution.

Lawyers for Hutchins argued that he participated in the plot because his own officers had set a poor leadership example and had given approval for marines to use violence in capturing and interrogating suspected insurgents.

Another squad member, Cpl Marshall Magincalda, 24, was convicted of conspiracy to murder, larceny and house breaking and could also receive a life sentence. He was acquitted of premeditated murder and kidnapping.

A military psychiatrist said Magincalda developed post-traumatic stress disorder and severe depression as a result of combat.

"He was essentially a broken shell," Jennifer Morse told the court. "This was a young man who was gone, who was clearly haunted by his memories."

All eight members of the squad were initially charged with murder and kidnapping.

Four lower-ranking marines and a navy corpsman agreed deals with prosecutors in exchange for their testimony and received sentences ranging from one to eight years in prison.

A jury last month acquitted another corporal of murder but convicted him of conspiracy to commit murder and kidnapping.

Prosecutors had identified the victim as Mr Awad, 52, a 52-year-old retired policeman. However, he is now referred to in court papers as an "unknown Iraqi male" after defence lawyers said authorities could not conclusively establish the victim's identity.

Japan’s voters give Abe a thrashing

Until Sunday, Japan’s public had not had the opportunity to pass its verdict on Shinzo Abe, the blue-blood politician anointed prime minister by the ruling Liberal Democratic party last September.

Voters clearly relished the opportunity. In upper house elections, they handed Mr Abe's party a crushing defeat and rewarded the opposition Democratic Party of Japan with a clear majority. It was the first time in the ruling LDP’s 52-year history – only nine months of which it has spent out of power – that it won fewer seats than the biggest opposition bloc.
The DPJ won overwhelmingly, not only in the big cities, where it has always been strong, but also in the countryside, where the LDP has traditionally been all but unassailable. Many well-known LDP senators in former rural strongholds were defeated by political novices, whose main election message was that they were not running for Mr Abe.

By midnight Sunday night, with all but 10 seats declared, it looked as though the LDP would fail to reach 40 seats, much worse than the 44 seats that forced the resignation of Ryutaro Hashimoto, former LDP prime minister, in 1998. The DPJ was projected to win more than 60.

Yukio Hatoyama, secretary-general of the DPJ, said Sunday night: “People have lost trust in the Abe administration. We clearly felt this during the campaign.” He and other members of his party said Mr Abe should resign and the LDP call a general election by dissolving the more powerful lower house. That would mark the long-awaited dawn of two-party politics after years of LDP monopoly, he said.

There were at least three main reasons for Mr Abe’s pummelling. First, his cabinet has become mired in a series of political scandals, many involving dirty money, which called into question the prime minister’s judgment and leadership. Two cabinet members quit and Toshikatsu Matsuoka, farm minister, committed suicide amid a corruption scandal.

On the eve of the election, Norihiko Akagi, Mr Abe’s choice to replace Mr Matsuoka, was fleeing reporters pursuing him over allegations that he had massively fiddled his political expenses. “The politics and money scandal plagued us right until the end,” said Hidenao Nakagawa, secretary-general of the LDP, Sunday night.

Second, Mr Abe, 52, has sorely lacked the charisma of his popular predecessor, Junichiro Koizumi, and has failed to convince the public that they should share his political convictions. The youngest prime minister since the war has pushed constitutional revision, patriotic education and breaking free of Japan’s war-related guilt. But polls suggest Japanese people are more concerned about continuing economic problems, especially in poorer rural areas, where five years of economic growth has failed to filter through.

“The Japanese public had absolutely no interest in the themes being promoted by Abe,” said Jiro Yamaguchi, politics professor at Hokkaido university, located in one of Japan’s most economically deprived regions.

The final straw for Mr Abe’s administration was an admission that the government had lost 50m pension records. Although the prime minister was not directly responsible for a problem dating back 10 years, his government’s lacklustre response poured fuel on already flaming passions. The DPJ took credit by bringing the pension shambles to light in the first place.

Mr Abe was Sunday night insisting that he would not resign, saying he would fulfil his promise to the public to “proceed with reform and create a beautiful country”. Takao Toshikawa, editor of Inside Line, a political newsletter, said pressure might still build for him to quit, particularly if the DPJ-controlled upper house passed a censure motion in September when parliament is expected to reconvene.

Hirotaka Futatsuki, a political commentator, said that many of Mr Abe’s enemies within the LDP, including those who regard him as too nationalistic, might be emboldened to mount a leadership challenge. “They are not going to go down with Abe on a sinking ship,” he said. “They will move aside and watch him drown.”

But several LDP heavyweights, as well as Akihiro Ota, leader of Komeito, the junior collation member, said they backed Mr Abe’s decision to stay on. Even Mr Abe admitted that it would be “very tough” and that he would have to learn to work with the opposition DPJ “where necessary”.

Using the sort of bland language that has infuriated his critics and failed to electrify his natural supporters, he said Sunday night: “I will reflect on what I have to reflect on and, when the results are finally in, I will think how to respond.”

U.K.'s Brown Wants Bush Talks in U.S. to Focus on Trade, Darfur

Prime Minister Gordon Brown will push for progress on world trade talks and an end to the conflict in the Darfur region of Sudan when he travels to the U.S. to meet President George W. Bush today.

Brown, who took over from Tony Blair on June 27, will visit Bush in Camp David, Maryland today and tomorrow and address the United Nations in New York on July 31. His spokesman Michael Ellam said trade and Darfur are the ``main issues'' the British government wants to talk about. U.K. involvement in Iraq will also be discussed, he said.

The meetings mark Brown's opportunity to shape U.K. policy toward the U.S. after he sent conflicting signals about his intentions. While Brown has stressed the importance of maintaining the trans-Atlantic relationship, he has appointed officials critical of Bush to his government.

``It is firmly in the British national interest that we have a strong relationship with the United States,'' Brown said en route to his meeting with Bush. ``We should acknowledge the debt the world owes to the United States for its leadership in the fight against international terrorism.''

Policy toward Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, global warming and the humanitarian situation in Sudan top the agenda for the talks, according to officials at the White House and Downing Street. Brown already has visited French President Nicolas Sarkozy in Paris and German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin.

World Trade Organization governments must be prepared to engage in ``intensive negotiations'' in September to rescue global trade talks that will otherwise collapse this year, WTO Director General Pascal Lamy said on July 26.

Draft Accord

Earlier this month, WTO mediators published proposals for a draft accord in a bid to breathe life into discussions that have languished for almost six years. The proposals, which the WTO's 150 members have accepted as a basis for compromise, would lower customs duties on products ranging from beef to car parts, cut U.S. subsidies to farmers and force rich economies including the European Union to slash tariffs and abolish subsidized exports.

Peter Allgeier, the U.S. ambassador to the WTO, said the Bush administration's ``fundamental concern'' with the text on farm trade remains the ``uneven treatment'' in steps some countries are being asked to take to cut tariffs and subsidies.

``Trade should be the top priority in the coming months if we are to get a deal,'' Ellam told reporters traveling with Brown today.

Ellam today said bringing peace to Darfur will also top talks with Bush, following agreement between Britain and France to push the United Nations to introduce sanctions against Sudan unless the country takes steps to end the four-year conflict.

Lives Claimed

The conflict already has claimed at least 200,000 lives and driven 2 million people from their homes. The fighting began in 2003 when rebels seeking a larger share of Sudan's political power and oil wealth attacked the government. Sudan's government in turn organized a force to assault rebel villages.

Neither Brown nor Ellam brought up Britain's policy toward Iraq after the Sunday Times newspaper reported that Simon McDonald, Brown's chief foreign policy aide, had been ``doing the groundwork'' with foreign policy representatives in Washington for a possible withdrawal of U.K. troops from Iraq.

Ellam today said the U.K.'s policy toward Iraq remains unchanged and that there is ``no significance'' in Brown not putting Iraq at the top of his agenda.

``I have always been an Atlanticist and a great admirer of the American spirit of enterprise and national purpose, and to the commitment to opportunity for all,'' Brown said in a statement. ``It is our shared ideals that for two centuries have linked the destinies of our two countries,'' he said.

Predecessor Blair

While Brown's words toward the U.S. have barely departed from the tone set out under his predecessor Blair, some of his actions have been less accommodating of the U.S.

Brown tapped to serve as a junior minister at the Foreign Office Mark Malloch Brown, who told the Daily Telegraph on July 14 that Brown would not be ``joined at the hip'' with Bush. Malloch Brown in 2006 criticized U.S. policy at the United Nations, earning a rebuke from U.S. ambassador John Bolton.

More recently, International Development Secretary Douglas Alexander said the U.S. and Britain should adopt a more multilateral approach to foreign policy.

``The U.S.-U.K. relationship will not be what it has been,'' said Charles Kupchan, senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, who served under President Bill Clinton as director of the National Security Council. ``It will be more distant, more conditional. We can expect more tough talk across the Atlantic.''

`War on Terrorism'

Brown also has avoided joining Bush and Blair in speaking about a ``war on terrorism,'' focusing instead on the need to win over ``hearts and minds'' of potential foes in the Middle East. In January, Brown said he would ``be very frank'' with Bush on subjects of disagreement. More recently, he talked about the importance of preserving the alliance.

``I believe relationships between a British prime minister and an American president will be strong, should be strong and I believe will be strengthened in the months and years to come,'' Brown told reporters in London on July 23.

In Britain, Blair's relationship with Bush cost him popularity with voters and won him ridicule from newspaper cartoonists, who portrayed him as Bush's loyal poodle.

Sixty-nine percent of U.K. voters believe Blair as prime minister was too close to Bush, and 58 percent said the war in Iraq was the biggest mistake of the Labour government, according to a BPIX Ltd. survey on April 8.

Popularity Risen

Labour's popularity has risen above that of the opposition Conservative Party for the first time in more than a year following Blair's decision to step down.

Brown's party had the support of 41 percent of voters compared with 32 percent for the Conservatives and 20 percent for the Liberal Democrats, according to a YouGov Plc. poll of 1,877 adults finished on July 27. No margin of error was provided.

U.K. lawmakers have criticized the way the U.S. handled shared intelligence data in the case of Jamil el-Banna and Bisher al-Rawi, two British residents who were held by the Central Intelligence Agency and shipped to the prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

The episode has ``serious implications for the relationship'' between both countries, said Paul Murphy, a Labour member of Parliament who compiled a 75-page study on the matter released on July 25.

During his visit to Washington, Brown will also meet with Congressional leaders.

Protest flares at Red Mosque

Hundreds of students have prevented an imam, selected by the Pakistan government, from leading prayers at the Red Mosque in Islamabad.

The mosque was reopened for prayers on Friday after a siege against armed religious students ended in bloodshed two weeks ago.

The protesters say they want the mosque's senior leader, now in detention, returned to his post.

The group chanted slogans against Pervez Musharraf, the president, and called for Abdul Aziz, seen as being pro-Taliban, to be released.

The mosque had been hastily restored and reopened after it was badly damaged in fighting between students at the neighbouring religious college and government troops.

Its roof has been replaced, and bullet-scarred walls patched and painted in yellow. The rooftop minarets have been recoated in white.

The study centre was also badly damaged in the assault and has since been demolished.

Workers had pitched tents on Thursday in anticipation of worshippers filling the main hall on Friday and spilling over outside into Islamabad's monsoon-season heat and humidity.

Outside the mosque, dozens of police and paramilitary officers remained on patrol, and barbed wire still encircled part of the complex.

Police storm

The mosque was left scorched by explosions and sprayed with bullets after commandos stormed the complex on July 10 to end a week-long siege by those inside. At least 102 people died in the fighting and violence earlier in the siege.

The Red Mosque was riddled with bullets [AFP]

Ul-Haq said that 50 bodies found in the mosque after the siege were still to be identified.

He denied that the government was hiding the exact number of casualties.

After the siege, the government sealed off the central mosque and moved quickly to have it repaired, amid outrage in Pakistan that a sacred place had been the scene of violence.

Ul-Haq said the government will pay for the education and accommodation of students from the demolished seminary if asked for.

A senior municipal official said the school would not be reconstructed.

3 killed, 3 injured in explosion at rocket test site in Mojave

Incident at the Mojave airport also injures three workers who are testing a spaceship propellant system.
By Tami Abdollah and Stuart Silverstein, Times Staff Writers
July 27, 2007

Explosion site
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Burt Rutan
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MOJAVE — Three workers were killed and three others were badly hurt Thursday afternoon in an explosion on the edge of Kern County's Mojave airport during the test of a propellant system for a pioneering private spaceship.

The blast occurred at a private test site run by Scaled Composites, a company founded by high-profile aviation entrepreneur Burt Rutan.

In June 2004, the firm became the first business to launch a reusable manned rocket into space, a craft known as SpaceShip One.

Thursday's explosion — whose sound was likened to a 500-pound bomb by a mechanic working several hundred yards away — is believed to have been caused by an undetermined operating flaw that ignited a tank of nitrous oxide.

Authorities said the blast occurred about 2:30 p.m. at a remote site on the northeastern fringe of Mojave airport, a small, county-run commercial facility about 95 miles north of downtown Los Angeles.

Rutan, looking tired and disheveled, appeared at a 20-minute evening news conference at the desert airport. He told reporters that the blast occurred as the company was testing the propellent flow system for SpaceShip Two, the intended successor to the pioneering SpaceShip One and a project whose details had been closely guarded by Scaled Composites.

"We felt it was completely safe. We had done a lot of these [tests] with SpaceShip One," said Rutan, who added that "we just don't know" why the explosion occurred.

Rutan said the suspected culprit, nitrous oxide, normally is "not considered a hazardous material." Commonly called laughing gas, it is found in dental offices and is used by hot-rodders to boost the horsepower on their vehicles' engines.

According to Rutan, company employees were examining the rate at which the propellant flows through an opening. He emphasized that the test, conducted at room temperatures, did not involve igniting the rocket motor or sparking any fire.

The three who died and the three who were injured, Rutan said, were his employees. He said "several more" of his employees escaped injury.

A Kern Medical Center spokesman said two of those who perished apparently died at the scene, and the third died at the hospital following surgery. The three injured workers — two with "critical" injuries and one with "serious" injuries — suffered numerous shrapnel wounds, according to the spokesman.

Rutan, who took some moments to collect himself before speaking, said he had just come from a meeting with a few concerned workers and relatives of employees.

Scaled Composites has been 40% owned by Northrop Grumman since 2000. The Century City-based company agreed this month to buy the business in its entirety, pending regulatory approval. On Thursday, however, Northrop Grumman declined to comment on the tragedy, referring all questions to Scaled Composites.

Local authorities did not provide the names of the three dead or the three injured workers, who were flown by helicopter to Kern Medical Center in Bakersfield. But relatives of one Scaled Composites employee, Charles "Glen" May, said they were notified by the company that their family member had died.

Gary May, 47, who lives near Dallas, said his 45-year-old brother, generally known as Glen, had been away from the company for a year but returned to Scaled Composites on Monday. "He really enjoyed working there," Gary May said of his brother, citing the camaraderie at the company.

Gary May also cited the excitement of working for a company whose projects were financed by famous entrepreneurs such as Richard Branson of Virgin Atlantic and Paul Allen, a co-founder of Microsoft.

Branson and Allen were backing the SpaceShip Two project that was being tested Thursday. About three times larger than SpaceShip One, it is to be powered by much more powerful rocket engines and is supposed to carry six passengers and two pilots.

Robert Albarran Jr., an aircraft mechanic working several hundred yards from the explosion, said the sound of the blast "was louder than a sonic boom."

Albarran said the noise was so loud that he initially was worried that the aircraft fuselage that he was working on, which was suspended on braces off the ground, "was actually collapsing and coming down."

"It felt like the aircraft was actually moving and rattling," he said. "It was really scary."

Man declaring 'I am the emperor' killed at Colorado governor's office

DENVER (AP) -- Gov. Bill Ritter heard the shots echo in the hallway -- pop, pop, pop.


An unidentified man was shot and killed outside the offices of Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter.

1 of 2 Just outside his Capitol office, a man who declared "I am the emperor" had been shot and killed by a state trooper when he refused to drop his gun, authorities said. Inside, Ritter -- a former Denver district attorney -- immediately tried to draw on lessons from his old job.

"I handled a lot of different investigations as the DA, and I went into the mode I would have as the DA, which is to separate those people who listened or heard something and those who actually witnessed something," Ritter said Monday a few hours after the incident.

Ritter was not injured.

Authorities said the unidentified man -- described as wearing dark pants and a white shirt -- had at least two verbal confrontations with state troopers in Ritter's security. The man had walked into the reception area of Ritter's office and was being escorted out before he produced a gun and refused orders to put it down, police spokesman Sonny Jackson said. Watch the governor describe how he went into DA mode »

Four or five shots were heard, but authorities would not say how many times the trooper fired.

Before he was shot, the gunman said, "I am the emperor and I'm here to take over state government," said Evan Dreyer, the governor's spokesman.

Police said they did not know his name or motive.

In the Denver suburb of Northglenn, police said the man may have rented a tuxedo from a formal wear shop Monday morning.

A woman working at a Mr. Neat's store there reported that a man with a pistol and knife in his pockets was fitted for a tuxedo and said "the emperor is coming," police Sgt. Steve Garrow said.

"He did make the statement that today is the day he will reign. The emperor is coming. So it's something that sounds a lot like what that guy Denver had was saying down there," Garrow said.

"It was something to where we felt that it's a good possibility that it's the same guy," Garrow said. "There's nothing confirmed."

Jackson had no immediate comment on the report.

Ritter said he was inside the office with 10 or 11 other people and heard the shots, but he would not say how close he was to the action. He said several members of his staff witnessed the shooting.

"I asked them not to talk to one another so they didn't taint their perceptions, begin talking to the police officers about what we had inside the office in terms of witnesses, so that's basically how I dealt with it," Ritter said in a news conference on the Capitol steps just hours after the shooting.

Ritter said he spoke with his wife, Jeannie, and told her he was fine.

"It was much more difficult communicating with my kids," said Ritter, who has four children, two still living at home. "It's just something that comes with this business."

The shooting occurred shortly after 2 p.m. The man did not fire his weapon, Jackson said.

The Capitol has no metal detectors. They are usually installed temporarily during the governor's annual State of the State address in January but then are removed.

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Metal detectors were installed after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks but were removed the following July because lawmakers wanted to ensure the public had easy access.

Ritter said Capitol security would be temporarily stepped up while lawmakers and others discuss any permanent changes. Starting Tuesday, all visitors will be required to enter through a single entrance and pass through a metal detector, he said. It wasn't clear how long that requirement would be in place.

"We live in a country where there is just that constant tension about security versus openness," he said.

State Rep. Edward Casso, who said he saw the gunman after the shooting, said the Capitol should have metal detectors.

"It's kind of freaky someone could get that close," the first-term Democrat said.

Casso described the suspect as being in his 30s or 40s, dressed in a white shirt and dark slacks.

Authorities roped off the area where the man was shot, and an ambulance and eight police cars converged on the building's north entrance.

An hour after the shooting, state troopers and police -- some carrying automatic weapons -- ordered the Capitol evacuated and began a room-by-room search. They did not say whether the search was a precaution or whether they had reason to believe someone else was involved.

Pat Garriott said he was eating in the basement cafeteria when he heard shots.

Nuclear waste drums lose lids in Japan quake

KASHIWAZAKI/TOKYO, Japan (Reuters) -- About 100 drums containing low-level nuclear waste at Tokyo Electric Power Co's (TEPCO) Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant were knocked over by Monday's earthquake and some lost their lids, Kyodo news agency said on Tuesday.


Following the earthquake, a fire broke out at a facility of Tokyo Electric Power's nuclear plant at Kashiwazaki city.

1 of 4 more photos » Checks were being made as to possible effects on the environment, Kyodo added. Officials were not immediately available for comment.

The plant, the world's biggest nuclear power plant, reported a fire and a radiation leak at the facility after Monday's quake.

More than 12,000 people huddled in evacuation centers in northwest Japan on after the earthquake flattened homes, killing nine elderly people and injuring around 1,000.

As aftershocks continued, forecasts for wet weather raised fears of mudslides that could add to the devastation.

"I am worried about the aftershocks," said 80-year-old Toshiko Kojima, who said she had spent a mostly sleepless night in a crowded elementary school gymnasium in the worst-hit city of Kashiwazaki, too afraid to go home.

Water, gas and electricity supplies were cut by the 6.8 magnitude quake that hit Niigata prefecture at 10:13 a.m. (0113 GMT) on Monday, which also caused a small radiation leak and fire at the world's biggest nuclear plant.

With more than 300 homes totally destroyed in Kashiwazaki alone, it was unclear when people could go home and worries were mounting about the health of evacuees, many of whom are elderly.

"The damage was worse than anticipated," Mayor Hiroshi Kaeda told reporters. "If we can restore water service, more people can go home to live, so that is what we want to do first." See crumbled roads and homes after the killer quake

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In Kashiwazaki, people lined up with plastic bottles for fresh water, which was trucked in by local officials and a contingent of about 500 members of the armed forces.

The navy shipped in emergency rations, convenience stores and supermarkets gave out rice balls and bottled water, and smiling soldiers in camouflage uniforms and helmets made rice balls and distributed them at schools and other evacuation centers.

The earthquake halted gas service to about 35,000 homes and disrupted the water supply to all of Kashiwazaki, a city with a population of around 95,000 whose economy relies on nuclear power generation and fishing.

TEPCO said water containing radioactive materials had leaked from a unit at its Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant. The contaminated water was also released into the ocean, but had had no effect on the environment.

The quake was stronger than those its reactors had been designed to withstand, the company added.

A fire in an electrical transformer at the plant was quickly extinguished but it was unclear when TEPCO could restart three power units there.

Media as well as local residents urged the nuclear power industry to take heed of the threat.

"Nuclear power companies must not only keep in mind the quake resistance of buildings and facilities, but must take full precautions so that people in the vicinity and all citizens will trust that if there is a quake, nuclear reactors will be safe," the Nikkei newspaper said.

Retired taxi driver Tomiji Okura, 72, said the nuclear industry had boosted his business, but reactors had to be able to withstand earthquakes. "When you have something like this, it's scary. I want them to be made safe," he said.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe cut short campaigning for the July 29 parliamentary elections to inspect damage on Monday.

It was unclear when production would re-start at some factories in the area, including a Fuji Xerox printer factory.

Japan is one of the world's most earthquake-prone countries, with a tremor occurring at least every five minutes. Watch CNN's Chad Myers offer a possible explanation for the second quake

Houses, many wooden with traditional heavy tile roofs, collapsed and roads cracked in Monday's quake, centered in the same northwestern area as a tremor three years ago.

Niigata was hit in October 2004 by a quake with a matching magnitude of 6.8 that killed 65 people and injured more than 3,000. It was the deadliest quake in Japan since a magnitude 7.3 tremor hit Kobe city in 1995, killing more than 6,400.

ANALYSIS: Musharraf wins points over mosque assault - for now

Islamabad - The decision to crush the ranks of radical clerics and armed students at Islamabad's Red Mosque and seminary with military force may give a quick boost to Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf's hand, but is expected to fuel greater unrest in the country in the long term.

The events that led to 106 confirmed deaths from the eight-day siege have sidelined the judicial and political crisis that erupted after Musharraf's controversial suspension of the country's chief justice in March.

Many devout Pakistanis that may have been sympathetic to the clerics' demand for Sharia law in Pakistan will also have been angered to see the mosque transformed into a fortress by its defenders, including the stockpiling of large quantities of arms. Sworn liberal political enemies who criticized Musharraf for allowing extremism to go unchecked have also signalled approval for his actions at the mosque.

'The action was essential,' exiled former prime minister Benazir Bhutto told Britain's Sky TV during the storming operation. 'I'm glad there was no cease-fire with the militants in the mosque because cease-fires simply embolden the militants,' she said, but also predicted a backlash.

The president also waited six months to take firm action, preferring to negotiate a solution, which while exposing him to accusations of appeasement now bolsters his claim that he made every effort to resolve the crisis.

'We demonstrated maximum patience and restraint on Lal Masjid issue,' Musharraf said as the fighting raged. 'No option remained other than an operation.'

The first reaction from the country's liberal media was also one of cautious approval for the president's actions against the two brothers who ran the complex, one of whom subsequently died in fighting while the other was captured trying to escape.

'The government's mistakes in the entire drama notwithstanding, one has to admit that it exercised the utmost restraint. It kept talking to the Aziz-Rashid brothers for months for months and used a variety of channels to free the hostages and disarm the militants,' the influential Dawn newspaper commented.

Musharraf's actions won praise and re-established his reputation as a bulwark against extremism in the United States, which relies on Pakistan as a key ally in its wars against Muslim extremists.

Washington staunchly backed the army general after coercing him into cooperation following the attacks of September 11, 2001, but showed increasing concern in recent months that he was losing control of the situation at home.

'He has gained a couple of points with those that support him,' said retired army general and defence analyst Asad Durrani.

But a sharp backlash from Islamic extremists is inevitable, as well as deepening shock and anger among ordinary citizens if it emerges that hundreds of non-combatants died inside the mosque and seminary.

The body count following the operation looks certain to rise sharply after the army's understatement of the death toll and increasingly implausible denial that women and children died.

'The negative implications start immediately. People don't want to see so many of our own being killed, especially when it comes to women and children,' said Durrani.

But those who oppose Musharaf and see him as a stooge to the West look set to capitalize on the mosque attack.

Osama bin Laden's deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri, released a videotaped message calling upon Pakistanis to rise up against the military leader.

Accusing Musharraf of working on behalf of the 'crusaders' - a reference to the West - he called the assault on the mosque a 'despicable crime' and 'a message of blinding clarity to the Muslims in Pakistan.

'This crime can only be washed away by repentance or blood,' the al-Qaeda leader said. Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan also called for attacks on the Pakistani armed forces. Thousands of protesters have taken to the streets in cities across the country over the mosque operation, while retaliations to the assault quickly ensued in Pakistan's strongly Islamic tribal areas and the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) bordering Afghanistan.

Revenge strikes by militants during the Red Mosque siege killed at least 19 people, including 11 members of the country's security forces, which are both the core of Musharraf's power base and the main target of Islamists opposed to his rule.

'Should events in Islamabad provoke an uprising in the tribal areas and the NWFP, it would add to pressure on the military,' said Oxford Analytica. 'An intensification of operations within Pakistan would increase the prospect of cracks emerging within the armed forces. They could appear in the form of army personnel refusing to be take part in anti-terror operations.'

As well as questions about the apparent concealment of the number of casualties in the mosque siege, the government is also under growing pressure to carry out an inquiry into why and how the intelligence agencies failed to get wind of the goings-on in the Lal Masjid and the stockpiling of arms and ammunition in such large quantities

These come against the backdrop of past speculation that the Lal Masjid stand-off was allowed and even encouraged by the intelligence services to demonstrate Musharraf's value as a bulwark against extremism.

'Any investigation into the past will embarrass a lot of quarters,' Pakistan's Daily Times newspaper wrote Thursday. 'President Musharraf will have to confess to a lot more of the murky past of the Pakistani intelligence agencies and army than he has done so far.'

GOP Unity Fraying on Iraq War

WASHINGTON (AP) - Republican unity is fraying on the long war in Iraq, not to mention civility.

``Wimps,'' House Republican leader John Boehner calls GOP defectors in the Senate - a growing breed as public opinion polls chart ever-deepening opposition to the war and a climbing U.S. casualty count 16 months before the 2008 elections.

With both houses of Congress debating war-related legislation, lawmakers awaited the Bush administration's assessment Thursday of political, economic and military progress made by Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's government.

Administration officials said in advance the report concludes that the Iraqis have failed to pass long-promised laws that the administration has called key to national cohesion and economic recovery, such as legislation that would fairly divide Iraq's oil resources.

But officials said the report also would show progress in several areas, such as a drop in sectarian killings in Baghdad and opposition to al-Qaida terrorists by tribal sheiks in Anbar province.

Predictably, Democrats say the findings are proof the war effort is failing, while Republicans say the limited progress shows hope and that lawmakers should not lose faith.

Boehner, R-Ohio, made his ``wimps'' remark in a private meeting Wednesday with rank-and-file Republicans - ironically at nearly the same moment that several GOP senators beseeched the White House without apparent success for a quick change in course on Iraq.

``I'm hopeful they (White House officials) change their minds,'' Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., said after a meeting that President Bush's national security adviser, Stephen Hadley, held with several Republicans in the Capitol.

Domenici and several other GOP members, including Sens. Richard Lugar of Indiana and George Voinovich of Ohio, say they want Bush to begin reducing the military's role in Iraq. In the meeting, Hadley said Bush wants to wait until September when Gen. David Petraeus, the Iraq war commander, will reassess military progress.

Emboldened by the Republican divide, Democrats called for a vote on legislation to end U.S. combat operations next year. The House planned to vote first on Thursday.

Boehner spokesman Brian Kennedy said the lawmaker's comments ``were intended to illustrate the fact that we just recently voted to give the troops our full support - including ample time for the Petraeus plan to work, and that too much is at stake for Congress to renege on its commitment now by approving what can only be described as another partisan stunt by Democrats.''

A senior U.S. official familiar with the report's conclusions said it would assess Iraq's progress toward congressional benchmarks in three main categories: completed, partially completed and those that show limited or no progress.

Most of the bigger and more difficult issues, the ones that the Bush administration has said were key to Iraq's national cohesion and economic future, likely would fall into the partially completed category, the official said. One major exception was the expectation that Iraq's government would pass a law redressing the effects of a policy to purge Baath Party members following Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's ouster during the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. There has been almost no progress on that goal.

The official said the Iraqi government would get a passing grade on a few of the military benchmarks that demonstrate its cooperation with Bush's troop buildup this spring.

``It's going to be a mixed picture,'' the official said.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the report was not yet public.

Siege mosque cleric vows to fight to death

The Pakistani cleric leading militants holed up in a besieged mosque in the heart of Islamabad has said he would rather die than surrender to government forces, dealing a defiant blow to hopes of a peaceful end to the siege.

Abdul Rashid Ghazi, the deputy cleric of the Lal Masjid, or Red Mosque, today rejected calls by President Pervez Musharraf’s administration for an unconditional surrender, saying he and his following of radical students were ready for martyrdom.

An end to the three-day crisis had appeared to be imminent last night after Mr Ghazi said his supporters would lay down their weapons in return for amnesty. But the government rejected the offer on the grounds that demands of safe passage were unacceptable, insisting the cleric release women and children being held.

“We have decided that we can be martyred but we will not surrender,” Mr Ghazi told a Pakistani television channel. “We are ready for our heads to be cut off but we will not bow to them. This may be my last conversation with you."

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In a further indication that the standoff was far from being resolved, armed troops continued to hit the complex with heavy gunfire and explosives. Since Tuesday, at least 19 people have already been killed in the clashes, and government troops – backed by armoured personnel carriers and helicopter gunships – have been moving closer to the mosque, having destroyed much of its surrounding walls.

There is no turning back. It has to be taken to its logical end,” said Javed Cheema, an Interior Ministry spokesman.

An official from the mosque claimed that further casualties had been caused by today’s gunbattles, and that the building had been hit by further mortar fire from security forces. Hundreds of Islamic students are still inside the compound, along with up to 60 die-hard militants, said to have been schooled in guerrilla warfare at mountain training camps in Kashmir and Afghanistan and who are believed to be equipped with assault rifles, grenades and petrol bombs.

Keen to avoid further damage to his administration, General Musharraf earlier ordered that no military action should be taken until women and children were out of the mosque, amid claims that human shields were being held inside, and authorities have insisted they would not storm the complex until then. Mr Ghazi and his brother Maulana Abdul Aziz – the chief cleric of the mosque, who was captured on Wednesday - have both denied that anyone was being kept against their will.

“For the Pakistan army to go in is no problem, but safety is our foremost objective,” said Tariq Azim, a government spokesman. “We don’t want to harm any innocent lives. We already know that these people are being kept as hostages.”

Today as the violence continued, dozens of parents waited anxiously behind security barriers near the mosque, with about ten allowed to approach the shrine’s entrance. During lulls in the fighting, some parents have approached the complex, handed notes to those inside with the names of their children, who have then emerged. More than 1,000 have fled the complex, most of them young male and female students at the mosque’s seminaries.

Mr Aziz, who was seized as he tried to slip through the military cordon dressed in a burka and high heels, has urged his followers to give themselves up. In an interview with state television Mr Aziz - still dressed in the burka – said that 850 students remained inside. However, Mr Ghazi later insisted the number was 1,900 – a claim which officials could not corroborate.

The violence erupted on Tuesday in the form of deadly street clashes, after months of tension between Pakistan’s US-backed government and mosque’s followers - who have sought to impose Taliban-style rule in the city. Since January, Mr Aziz and his students have led an increasingly aggressive vigilante campaign in the capital, protesting against so-called immoral conduct by kidnapping alleged prostitutes and police officers, and carrying out raids on music and DVD shops.

Key to the campaign is said to be Umme Hassan, the wife of Mr Aziz, whom many regard as more radical than her husband, and who mobilised hundreds of young women who formed the nucleus of the Red Mosque’s movement for enforcement of Sharia. The burka-clad, stick-wielding women known as the Hafza Brigade, had assumed the role of a self-styled vice squad, raiding houses and dragging out women alleged to be involved in prostitution.

They are alleged to have kidnapped seven Chinese nationals who they accused of running a brothel from an acupuncture clinic. They were also seen stopping women and reprimanding them for not covering themselves with Islamic headscarves.

General Musharraf’s authority has been weakened by the spread of militant Islam from tribal areas. His decision to sack the country’s chief justice, who is believed to have opposed constitutional changes proposed by General Musharraf, heightened the political crisis ahead of elections later this year

New GOP Defection From Bush Iraq Policy

In another setback to President Bush's increasingly unpopular war strategy, Republican Party stalwart Sen. Pete Domenici said he wanted to see an end to combat operations and U.S. troops heading home from Iraq by spring.

The longtime New Mexico senator is the latest of several party loyalists and former war supporters to abandon Mr. Bush on Iraq in the past 10 days. They have urged a change sooner rather than later and further isolated the Republican president in his attempt to defend the unpopular war.

Last week, Sens. Richard Lugar, an Indiana Republican, and George Voinovich, a Republican from Ohio, said the U.S. should significantly reduce its military presence in Iraq while bolstering diplomatic efforts. Republican Sen. John Warner, of Virginia, is expected to propose a new approach this month.

"I do not support an immediate withdrawal from Iraq or a reduction in funding for our troops," Domenici said. "But I do support a new strategy that will move our troops out of combat operations and on the path to coming home."

With Congress on its July Fourth break, Domenici made his views known Thursday at a news conference in Albuquerque, New Mexico, though he said he has not talked to the administration about wanting a strategy shift.

"I have carefully studied the Iraq situation and believe we cannot continue asking our troops to sacrifice indefinitely while the Iraqi government is not making measurable progress to move its country forward," he said.

Domenici was elected in 1972 and is a senior member of a panel that oversees defense spending. He said at the news conference that parents of those killed in Iraq previously told him the United States should stay in Iraq as long as it takes. Now, he said, some parents have asked him to do more to bring the troops home sooner.

The senator said the situation in Iraq is getting worse. He said he now supports a bipartisan bill that embraces the findings of the independent Iraq Study Group.

In December, the group said the primary mission of U.S. troops should evolve to supporting Iraqi security forces. The report also said the U.S. should reduce political, military or economic support for Iraq if the Baghdad government cannot make substantial progress.

The group said combat troops could be out by March 2008 if specific steps were taken.

The bill would make most of the group's findings official U.S. policy.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat from California, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat, said it was time Republicans back up their words with action and vote to bring troops home.

A spokesman for the White House, Tony Fratto, said the troop buildup had only recently reached full strength, and said Mr. Bush's plan should be given more time to work.

Voinovich and Lugar previously had expressed concerns about Mr. Bush's decision to send 30,000 extra troops to Iraq in a massive U.S.-led security push in Baghdad and Anbar province. But they had stopped short of saying U.S. troops should leave and declined to back Democratic legislation setting a deadline for troop withdrawals.

In a floor speech last Monday, Lugar said the U.S. should reduce the military's role in Iraq and called on Mr. Bush to press other diplomatic and economic initiatives instead. Because of Lugar's position as the top Republican on the Foreign Relations Committee, his speech was a considered a blow to the administration as it tries to shore up sagging political support for the unpopular war.

"In my judgment, the costs and risks of continuing down the current path outweigh the potential benefits that might be achieved," Lugar said in a Senate floor speech. "Persisting indefinitely with the surge strategy will delay policy adjustments that have a better chance of protecting our vital interests over the long term."

Putin Visiting Bush In Maine

(CBS/AP) Russian President Vladimir Putin is in Maine, a houseguest at the Bush family home in Kennebunkport, Maine, enjoying the local seafood and blueberries and a speedboat ride with President Bush and Mr. Bush's father, former President Bush.

That's the lighter side of the Bush-Putin summit, a meeting with the very serious aim of easing tensions in the U.S.-Russian relationship.

The two presidents may kick off the day Monday with an early morning fishing trip before moving on to official business in what is being called an "informal" meeting.

CBS News correspondent Mark Knoller says this summit is not expected to produce any new treaties or other major agreements, but the two leaders do have important issues to discuss.
(CBS/AP) Sunday night, the Bush family hosted a dinner for Putin, featuring a cornucopia of local specialties – lobster and swordfish representing Maine's fishing heritage, and for dessert, blueberry and pecan pie.

Blueberries are Maine's most famous fruit and the pecan is the state tree of Texas, another home state for President Bush, a former governor of that state.

Putin's arrival in the area sparked demonstrations by protesters who are calling for the impeachment of President Bush. The protesters Sunday marched to within a half mile of the site of the Bush-Putin summit.

Protesters chanting slogans including "Impeach now, impeach now!" carried colorful signs and pulled a wagon with a 7-foot-tall replica of the Statue of Liberty in a coffin, representing the perceived loss of liberties under the Bush administration.

The crowd estimated by police at 1,700 criticized both world leaders – President Bush for the war in Iraq and President Putin for the hard line his government has taken against separatists in Chechnya.

Four demonstrators wearing orange jumpsuits, like those worn by detainees at the U.S. Navy base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, kneeled on the ground near a police roadblock. Two demonstrators who crossed the police line were arrested.

Jamilla El-Shafei, one of the organizers, said Presidents George W. Bush and Putin have inflamed tensions that are already running high in the Muslim world. In particular, she zeroed in on Bush and Vice President Cheney over their handling of the war in Iraq.

"We want the troops home now. We want permanent bases out of Iraq. And we want to hold Bush and Cheney accountable for deceiving the people into an immoral and unjust war, for mutilation of the Constitution and the evisceration of habeas corpus," she said.

The protest began Sunday morning at Kennebunkport's Village Green, a park with many tourist shops and restaurants.

The demonstration was organized by the Kennebunk Peace Department and the Maine Campaign to Impeach. But demonstrators represented a wide variety of causes that included ending the genocide in Darfur, fighting corporate greed and improving the environment.

The event featured music, chants and speeches before demonstrators and a small marching band paraded down Ocean Avenue toward the Bush home at Walker's Point.

Included in the demonstration was a rolling memorial for Marine Lance Cpl. Alexander Arredondo, who was killed in Iraq on Aug. 25, 2004. His father's pickup truck had a flag-draped coffin with Arredondo's boots and camouflage shirt bearing a purple heart.

"This is my pain. This is my loss," said Carlos Arredondo, who became so upset when he learned of his son's death in Hollywood, Fla., that he tried to destroy a military van and was burned in the process. He now lives in the Boston area.

The demonstrators' main target was President Bush, whose unpopular policy in Iraq has come under widespread and growing criticism.

"Outrage and anger isn't enough," said John Kaminski of Maine Lawyers for Democracy, a group of 80 attorneys pushing for impeachment proceedings. "We have a job to do and that job is to hold this administration accountable and take this country back."

But some protesters didn't spare Putin, who came into office as the Chechnya conflict was flaring. Critics have accused him of human rights violations in suppressing mostly Muslim, separatist rebels in the breakaway region.

Victoria Poupko, who moved from Moscow to Boston 17 years ago, said the two presidents are "both criminals" for torture, war crimes and abuse of power, among other things. She carried a sign that said, "Stop imperialism. Bush out of Iraq. Putin out of Chechnya."

"Withdraw from Chechnya, let them have their independence," she said.

While marching down Ocean Avenue, the group encountered a couple of dozen counter-demonstrators waving signs in support of President Bush. One of them jumped into the parade and shouted slogans, shouting at one point "Liars, liars, liars!"

The event was peaceful but two demonstrators who insisted on crossing a police line on Ocean Avenue were arrested and charged with trespassing.

"I pay taxes. I can walk on the street if I want to," one of the protesters, Lynn Curit-Smith of Portland, told Kennebunkport Police Chief Joseph Bruni before crossing the line with two others, one of whom was released because she was a minor.

Mr. Bush, Knoller reports, wants to win Putin's backing for tougher U.N. sanctions on Iran to pressure it to end its nuclear weapons program. The two are also likely to talk about their differences on the subject of a missile defense system in Europe and the issue of independence for Kosovo.

In January, the U.S. said it plans to build a missile defense system based in the Czech Republic and Poland. Russia, however, indicated it is not persuaded by the argument that the system targets a possible future threat from Iranian nuclear missiles. The Kremlin threatened to aim missiles at Europe and denounced the U.S. as an irresponsible source of force.

At a summit last month of world economic powers, Putin surprised President Bush by proposing that the system instead use an old Soviet-era radar facility in Azerbaijan instead of the Czech and Polish sites. It is an idea that U.S. officials do not want to reject outright. But they have concluded it would not work as a substitute, only perhaps as an early warning supplemental component.

On Iran, Mr. Bush is seeking Putin's backing for a third round of penalties against Tehran for defying U.N. orders to halt uranium enrichment. Iran says the enrichment is intended for a nuclear energy program. The West suspects Iran wants to develop nuclear bombs.

The U.S. has begun discussing with Security Council members a proposal to require all nations to inspect cargo for illicit nuclear-related shipments or arms coming from or going to Iran and to freeze assets of a number of Iranian banks, a senior administration official. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the talks are in their initial stages.

Russia and China previously have balked at such measures, supporting more modest penalties that have had little effect. But there are signs the Kremlin may now be in a more cooperative mood.

Sunday, President Bush waited at his family's Maine seacoast estate as his father, former President Bush, met Putin at a nearby airport and rode with the Russian leader in a helicopter to the compound. Emerging from a limousine, Putin handed large bouquets of flowers to first lady Laura Bush and former first lady Barbara Bush, then kissed them on both cheeks.

"It's pretty casual up here — unstructured," said President Bush, referring to the setting for his talks with Putin.

President Bush knows what he wants from the visit: Convince Putin that a U.S. missile defense system in Eastern Europe would not threaten Russia. Bring the Kremlin behind tough new penalties aimed at Iran's suspected nuclear weapons program. Generally defrost relations.

What the Russian president seeks is less clear.

Putin requested an audience with President Bush before going to Guatemala, where Olympic officials are picking a host city for the 2014 winter games.

"Does Putin have something he plans to throw at Bush's feet?" wondered Sarah Mendelson, Russia policy expert and senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Both sides have insisted there is no set agenda and scant potential for announcements. With expectations lowered and an itinerary that amounts to little more than three meals, a meeting and maybe some fishing, Mendelson only somewhat jokingly termed it "the no-summit summit."

Before leaving for the U.S., Putin said his "very good, I would say friendly" relations should create a positive atmosphere. "If it wasn't that way, I wouldn't go, and I wouldn't have been invited," he said. "In politics, as in sports, there is always competition."

.K. Manhunt Under Way After 5 Held for Terror Attack

July 2 (Bloomberg) -- A manhunt was under way for further terrorist suspects after police arrested five people and searched houses following an attack on Glasgow International Airport and two attempted car bombings in London.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown's new government stepped up security in the U.K. Controls were tightened at airports, cars were checked and more police were patrolling crowded public areas. The Home Office raised its terrorist threat assessment to ``critical,'' the highest level, meaning an attack is expected imminently.

Two men were arrested at Glasgow airport June 30 after their Jeep Cherokee crashed into the terminal entrance and caught fire. Police arrested two more people, a 26-year-old man and 27-year- old woman, on the M6 highway in northwest England the same evening and a fifth, a 26-year-old man, in Liverpool yesterday.

The identity of the arrested suspects isn't ``certain,'' Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said when asked on Sky News whether the attackers were foreign or British. She said the ``public needs to be vigilant about potential threats'' of more incidents and added that Britain shouldn't be intimidated by the attacks.

An al-Qaeda-linked cell of eight people was behind the attempted bombings, with three remaining suspects still being sought, the Guardian newspaper reported today, citing unidentified counterterrorism officers. Two of those arrested are medical doctors, the British Broadcasting Corp. reported late yesterday.

`Long-Term Threat'

``It is clear that we are dealing in general terms with people who are associated with al-Qaeda in a number of incidents that have happened across the world,'' Brown said in an interview yesterday. ``We're dealing with a long-term threat. It's not going to go away in the next few weeks or months.''

There was little market reaction in London June 29 to the discovery of the first car bomb. Police announced the second London device, and the attack on Glasgow airport, after markets closed for the weekend.

U.K. government bonds, or gilts, gained today, pushing 10- year yields to near a three-week low. Analysts expect the pound to hold above $2 before the July 5 interest-rate decision by the Bank of England. It last traded at 2.0075, from 2.0088 at the close Friday. The benchmark FTSE 100 Index fell 29.20 to 6578.70 at 10:05 a.m.

Bush Support

U.S. President George W. Bush yesterday praised the Brown government's handling of the terrorist threats in London and Glasgow, calling it a ``very strong response.''

The British Cabinet's emergency committee, Cobra, named for Cabinet Office Briefing Room A, met yesterday for the fourth time in two days, a Downing Street spokeswoman said.

The Glasgow attack came as police were conducting one of their biggest manhunts after dismantling two car bombs made from gas canisters, gasoline and nails left in the heart of London's West End shopping and theater district three days ago.

``The links between the three attacks are becoming ever clearer,'' Peter Clarke, the U.K.'s chief anti-terrorism officer, said at a televised news conference yesterday. ``The investigation is extremely fast-moving. New information is coming to light hour by hour.''

Police said they were searching a number of houses in the Renfrewshire area, near Glasgow, as well as two addresses in Liverpool and a house in Staffordshire, north of Birmingham. Glasgow airport, which was closed to all flights June 30, resumed operations yesterday.

Aircraft Plot

The incidents prompted the biggest terrorism alert in the U.K. since authorities foiled an Islamist plot in August 2006 to blow up aircraft flying from Heathrow airport to the U.S. Terrorists killed 52 people in London on July 7, 2005, in suicide bombings on the subway and a bus.

``The real question is, is it part of a plan that is being directed by someone?'' said David Bentley, an analyst in terrorism law at London-based policy research group Chatham House. ``London today, Glasgow tomorrow, then maybe Birmingham or Manchester?''

In London, police were examining hours of images from security cameras to try to establish the cars' routes into the center of the city. They discovered the first bomb in a Mercedes parked outside a packed nightclub in Haymarket, close to Piccadilly Circus, at 1:30 a.m. on June 29.

The second device, in another Mercedes parked between Haymarket and Trafalgar Square, was found hours after the car was towed to a garage on Park Lane for being parked illegally.

The Jeep Cherokee crashed into a front entrance of Glasgow airport's main passenger terminal at 3:15 p.m. on June 30, catching fire on impact.

Suspect Burned

One of the two men from the Jeep was in police custody and the other was taken to the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Paisley and was in critical condition because of burns. Police carried out a controlled explosion of a suspect vehicle that was parked outside the hospital, Sky News reported late yesterday.

One other person who had been at the Glasgow terminal received hospital treatment for an injured leg, police said. Some passengers were stranded on planes after the attack because police didn't want to evacuate them through the terminal.

Glasgow, with a population of more than 1 million in the metropolitan area, is Scotland's largest city. The airport, operated by BAA Ltd., is 8 miles (13 kilometers) west of the city center and is the busiest of Scotland's three main airports.

Heathrow

London's Heathrow airport, Europe's busiest, shut traffic lanes closest to terminal buildings and urged travelers to arrive on public transportation. Terminal 3 was closed briefly late yesterday when an unattended bag was found, police said.

Dropping off and picking up in front of BAA airports is ``severely restricted,'' the company said in an e-mailed statement. BAA, owned by Grupo Ferrovial SA of Spain, operates Heathrow, Gatwick and five other U.K. airports.

Commuters returning to work in London today will notice increased security at rail stations and on the street, police said.

Vehicles approaching mainline rail stations, and their passengers, will be subject to random searches for the foreseeable future, a British Transport Police spokesman said.

At the Wimbledon tennis championships in southwest London, concrete blocks are being use to protect entry and exit points and the organizers urged visitors to use public transportation rather than private cars.

``We urge everyone coming to the event to allow more time for their journey,'' said Ian Ritchie, chief executive of the All England Club said on the club's Web site. ``Safety and security is of paramount importance to us.''

Middle East News

Tehran - Riots broke out in Iran in the early hours of Wednesday and some petrol stations were set on fire in the capital Tehran following the government's decision to ration petrol.

According to local press reports, at least five petrol stations in Tehran were set on fire in protest against the rationing. Some banks and supermarkets were also reportedly robbed.

Witnesses said the people also shouted slogans against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who is considered as the initiator of the petrol rationing.

The Iranian parliament swiftly reacted to the riots and summoned the oil and interior ministers to investigate the incidents in a secret session.

The oil ministry announced via state-television that necessary grounds would be prepared to prevent any petrol problems for the people. The ministry's promises were, however, based on establishing new oil refineries in the coming years.

As of Wednesday, Iran, one of the world's largest oil producers, started rationing petrol nationwide.

The oil ministry said in a statement that each private car will get 100 litres per month at 0.108 dollars per litre for normal and 0.151 dollars for super petrol.

The announcement caused huge chaos on Tehran's streets in the late night hours of Tuesday with cars rushing to petrol stations to fill their tanks before the start of the rationing.

Anything above the ration quota was scheduled to be sold at 0.30 to 0.40 dollars per litre or at a floating rate but no final decision has yet been announced in this regard.

The incidents confirmed the government's fears that the move would dent Ahmadinejad's popularity before parliamentary elections in March next year, besides increasing inflation.

Although Iran as a leading OPEC member has a daily oil production of 4.2 million barrels, the Islamic state still spends 5-8 billion dollars annually on petrol imports due to lack of refineries and a preference for oil export.

The first phase of petrol rationing was carried out earlier this month for governmental cars which have a quota of 300 litres per month.

Petrol is only supplied through the so-called 'smart card' or petrol coupon, an initiative by Ahmadinejad to stop lavish fuel consumption which currently stands at an estimated 73 million litres daily.

With the initiative Ahmadinejad hopes not only to fill the huge gap in Iran's budget but also to tackle related problems such as traffic jams and pollution in big cities.

Middle East News

Tehran - Riots broke out in Iran in the early hours of Wednesday and some petrol stations were set on fire in the capital Tehran following the government's decision to ration petrol.

According to local press reports, at least five petrol stations in Tehran were set on fire in protest against the rationing. Some banks and supermarkets were also reportedly robbed.

Witnesses said the people also shouted slogans against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who is considered as the initiator of the petrol rationing.

The Iranian parliament swiftly reacted to the riots and summoned the oil and interior ministers to investigate the incidents in a secret session.

The oil ministry announced via state-television that necessary grounds would be prepared to prevent any petrol problems for the people. The ministry's promises were, however, based on establishing new oil refineries in the coming years.

As of Wednesday, Iran, one of the world's largest oil producers, started rationing petrol nationwide.

The oil ministry said in a statement that each private car will get 100 litres per month at 0.108 dollars per litre for normal and 0.151 dollars for super petrol.

The announcement caused huge chaos on Tehran's streets in the late night hours of Tuesday with cars rushing to petrol stations to fill their tanks before the start of the rationing.

Anything above the ration quota was scheduled to be sold at 0.30 to 0.40 dollars per litre or at a floating rate but no final decision has yet been announced in this regard.

The incidents confirmed the government's fears that the move would dent Ahmadinejad's popularity before parliamentary elections in March next year, besides increasing inflation.

Although Iran as a leading OPEC member has a daily oil production of 4.2 million barrels, the Islamic state still spends 5-8 billion dollars annually on petrol imports due to lack of refineries and a preference for oil export.

The first phase of petrol rationing was carried out earlier this month for governmental cars which have a quota of 300 litres per month.

Petrol is only supplied through the so-called 'smart card' or petrol coupon, an initiative by Ahmadinejad to stop lavish fuel consumption which currently stands at an estimated 73 million litres daily.

With the initiative Ahmadinejad hopes not only to fill the huge gap in Iran's budget but also to tackle related problems such as traffic jams and pollution in big cities.

Boxer's vote switch helps revive immigration bill

The Senate's mammoth immigration overhaul was resurrected Tuesday in a big test vote -- aided by a reversal by California Sen. Barbara Boxer -- but the strange alliance of business, unions and ethnic groups supporting the effort is increasingly fractured.

The tensions are nowhere more evident than in Boxer's shaky role as a Democrat who a month ago split with her California colleague, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, to kill the bill, and on Tuesday rejoined her party in a 64-35 vote to let it move forward to the Senate floor for debate.

"I'd say it's a pretty good pounding from all directions," Boxer said. "People are strong on both sides. ... Constituents have opinions, labor has opinions, the Hispanic groups and other immigrant groups are split."

Boxer said her decisions on final passage later this week ride on two dozen highly controversial amendments affecting everything from H-1B visas for skilled workers to family green cards.

Her biggest complaint is a proposed guest worker program that would admit 200,000 unskilled workers a year for up to three two-year stints, each punctuated by a year out of the country. Boxer is proposing to subtract one guest worker from the quota for each one that fails to go home.

"As I decide, it will be based on my feelings about the whole issue, and what is in the best interests of my state and my country," Boxer said. "I know that sounds very corny, but that's really where it's at."

Feinstein, who helped negotiate the legislation and remains an ardent supporter, said she has received over 100,000 calls and letters on the issue.

"Have we gotten a lot of heat? Yes," Feinstein said. But she said it is hard to tell in a state as large as California whether that sample of mostly hostile opinion reflects a majority. Feinstein said she believes, "people understand we have an amnesty now" with millions of people living in the country illegally.

Silicon Valley technology companies were fighting their own battles behind the scenes, spurning White House entreaties to help push the larger bill until they are assured passage of an amendment by Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., to increase H-1B visas and allow employers to continue to sponsor some permanent migrants for five years.

The industry was horrified when the bill emerged from closed-door talks not only without the big increase in H-1B temporary visas for skilled workers they have sought for three years, but also eliminating employer-sponsored green cards for permanent residence with a merit-based point system.

The administration called 30 tech lobbyists to the White House on Monday to solicit their support, but got a limp handshake.

"A month ago, the same people said we shouldn't even get the Cantwell amendment," one said, speaking anonymously for fear of alienating the White House. "The president said, 'This bill is great and we don't want you to fight it.' Now they're saying, 'What a great amendment, we have helped get this for tech, and we support it.' "

The lobbyist said that was all well and good, but that high-tech muscle was riding entirely on their own provisions.

"We love them and want to work with them," the lobbyist said, "but our fate will be determined on the Senate floor and that's where our fight will be."

The technology provision remains caught in the swirl of backroom deal-making and arm twisting that delayed further progress on the bill throughout the afternoon. Cantwell said her amendment was being "used as bait" by Republicans trying to get Democratic votes for their tougher enforcement amendments.

Divisions within business, labor and immigrant rights groups have only grown over the past weeks. This unstable alliance has provided the muscle for every major immigration reform of the last four decades, and this one is no different.

But this time, with a bill hammered out secretly by a bipartisan group of senators and the White House, each faction felt left out in the cold. As the compromises pile higher, the cracks widen.

The more liberal of California's senatorial duo, Boxer is under greater pressure from unions and ethnic groups, who themselves are divided. Several Bay Area immigrant organizations -- the Asian Law Caucus in San Francisco, the Bay Area Immigrant Rights Coalition and others -- split off from the national lobbies, arguing that the enforcement-heavy bill is akin to apartheid.

National groups, such as the National Immigration Forum and the Mexican American Legal Defense Fund, have stayed on board, hoping to alter the bill later in the Democratic-controlled House.

The AFL-CIO, especially its construction trades, has split on immigration from the United Farm Workers union, hotel, restaurant, laundry and gaming workers union called UNITE HERE!, the Service Employees International Union and others with heavy immigrant memberships. UNITE's political director Tom Snyder is delighted that Boxer has come around, so far.

"Our California-based locals and leadership did reach out to her after that vote," Snyder said. "The opportunity, which won't return for many, many years, to legalize 10 million undocumented immigrants is essential to the future of the American workplace. You can't have that many people undocumented and have a workplace that's good from a union's standpoint."

Fractures among Democrats have been obscured by the ferocious fight between GOP conservatives and the White House.

Newly elected Democratic moderates such as Sens. Jon Tester of Montana and Claire McCaskill of Missouri oppose an expansion of immigration. Pro-union liberals like Boxer worry that large numbers of low-skilled immigrants are putting pressure on wages.

Many Democrats and their immigrant allies are torn between the prospect of legalizing the estimated 12 million people living in the country illegally and GOP provisions that they loathe: the guest worker program and a new skills-based point system that would gradually replace extended family ties as the main basis for admitting new immigrants.

Republicans wrestle with trade-offs between legalization and a big boost in enforcement, not just at the border but at the workplace, sweetened with $4.4 billion in up-front money Bush promised.

Feinstein and Boxer both badly want long-languishing provisions to admit farmworkers and allow children brought illegally to the United States to gradually legalize their status, receive in-state college tuition, travel freely and get driver's licenses.

"There's a lot in the bill that's really good and a lot in the bill that's not good," Boxer said.