World Briefly

By The Associated Press | Clanton Advertiser

Published Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Palin prepares for speech of her life at convention as McCain camp derides 'faux media scandal'

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Sarah Palin prepared for the speech of her life Wednesday as John McCain's campaign called for an end to questions about its review of her background and derided a "faux media scandal designed to destroy the first female Republican nominee" for vice president.

As GOP leaders lined up to defend her, the first-term Alaska governor took a tour of the Xcel Energy Center stage where she will accept the No. 2 nomination. A few hours later, she and her family met McCain on an airport tarmac as he arrived in the convention city.

The Arizona senator's campaign set the tone for the day early with a written statement that stood out for its admission that Palin is under siege — it condemned "this vetting controversy" — and for its attempt to blunt questions about how rigorously McCain and his campaign explored the background of a candidate who may get the nation's second most powerful job. It also suggested that Palin is a victim of gender bias in the media

"This nonsense is over," senior campaign adviser Steve Schmidt declared in the statement, lashing out at "the old boys' network" that he says runs media organizations. "The McCain campaign will have no further comment about our long and thorough process," Schmidt said.

With a quickly arranged news conference and a fresh television ad, McCain's team also sought to counter Democratic criticism that the first-term Alaska governor is too inexperienced to be president — the same argument the soon-to-be GOP nominee and his Republicans have used against Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama. The efforts indicated advisers are concerned the criticism may be taking a toll on her image.

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Obama says McCain is trying to run from Republican Party's bad economic record

NEW PHILADELPHIA, Ohio (AP) — Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama, pouncing on a top Republican aide's claim that the campaign is not about issues, said Wednesday that John McCain is trying to run away from his party's bad economic record.

Campaigning in eastern Ohio, Obama noted that McCain campaign manager Rick Davis said the election would be decided largely on voters' perceptions of the candidates' personalities.

"This election is not about issues," Davis told The Washington Post this week. "This election is about a composite view of what people take away from these candidates."

Obama mentioned Davis' comment three times during a one-hour appearance at an outdoor forum on economic issues facing women. He used it to accuse speakers at the Republican convention in St. Paul, Minn., of avoiding talk about job losses, home foreclosures and other issues.

"If you've got George Bush's track record, and John McCain voting 90 percent of the time in agreement with George Bush, then you probably don't want to talk about issues either," Obama said. "If you don't have any issues to run on, I guess you want it to be about personalities."

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New Orleans reluctantly opens doors to residents who fled Hurricane Gustav

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Thousands of people who fled Hurricane Gustav forced the city to reluctantly open its doors Wednesday, while President Bush returned to the site of one of the biggest failures of his presidency to show that the government had turned a corner since its bungled response to Katrina.

Faced with traffic backups on paths into the city, Mayor Ray Nagin gave up checking ID badges and automobile placards designed to keep residents out until early Thursday. Those who returned said if the city was safe enough for repair crews and health care workers, it was safe enough for them, too.

"People need to get home, need to get their houses straight and get back to work," said George Johnson, who used back roads to sneak into the city. "They want to keep you out of your own property. That's just not right."

But once back at home, tens of thousands of people had no power and no idea when it might return. Across the state, nearly 1.2 million homes and businesses were without electricity, and officials said it could take as long as a month to fix all outages.

"There is no excuse for the delay. We absolutely need to quicken the pace at which power is restored," Gov. Bobby Jindal said.

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Bush announces $1 billion in aid to help Georgia rebuild from war with Russia

WASHINGTON (AP) — Pushing back against an increasingly aggressive Moscow, President Bush said Wednesday the U.S. will send an extra $1 billion to Georgia to help the pro-Western former Soviet republic in the wake of Russia's invasion.

"Georgia has a strong economic foundation and leaders with an impressive record of reform," Bush said in a statement. "Our additional economic assistance will help the people of Georgia recover from the assault on their country, and continue to build a prosperous and competitive economy."

Vice President Dick Cheney, due in Georgia on Thursday, planned to make the massive aid package a major highlight of his discussions with Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili. Cheney is on a tour of three former Soviet republics that are wary of Russia's intentions in what Moscow likes to call its "near abroad" sphere of influence and what Cheney termed while in Azerbaijan on Wednesday "the shadow of the Russian invasion of Georgia."

"The free world cannot allow the destiny of a small independent country to be determined by the aggression of a larger neighbor," Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told reporters at the State Department in a simultaneous announcement with Bush.

She mocked Russia for its recognition of the two separatist regions in Georgia that are at the heart of the conflict that broke out last month, and for its failure to garner international backing.

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South Korea says North Korea restoring nuclear facilities; US downplays development

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea said Wednesday that North Korea had begun restoring its nuclear facilities. But the U.S. played it down, saying the country apparently only moved some equipment out of storage.

The North said last week it had stopped dismantling its nuclear reactor on Aug. 14 because Washington had not held up its end of their disarmament deal — a promise to remove North Korea from the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism. At the same time, the North threatened to restore the nuclear facility.

The U.N. nuclear watchdog agency said in a new report that North Korea had already removed "essential" equipment from its nuclear facilities by the time it decided to stop disabling them last month, suggesting it would take some time to restore its main reactor to an operational state.

South Korean and U.S. officials have said that it would take at least a year for the North to restart the facilities after they are completely disabled.

The South Koreans did not give any specifics about what exactly the Koreans were doing to restore the Yongbyon plutonium-producing facility or when they started the work.

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Prosecutor's office expects plea deal soon in perjury case against Detroit mayor

DETROIT (AP) — Prosecutors say Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick is near a plea agreement in his perjury case.

The Wayne County prosecutor's office says a plea could come Thursday. Details were not immediately available Wednesday.

The development comes as Gov. Jennifer Granholm holds a hearing that could result in Kilpatrick's removal.

The mayor and a former top aide are charged with perjury, conspiracy, misconduct and obstruction of justice. They are accused of lying during a 2007 trial about having an affair and their roles in the firing of a police official.

Kilpatrick would automatically be removed from office if convicted of a felony. The outcome of the criminal case does not necessarily bear on the governor's hearing.

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19-square-mile chunk of ice breaks loose from Arctic ice shelf in Canada's far north

TORONTO (AP) — A chunk of ice shelf nearly the size of Manhattan has broken away from Ellesmere Island in Canada's northern Arctic, another dramatic indication of how warmer temperatures are changing the polar frontier, scientists said Wednesday.

Derek Mueller, an Arctic ice shelf specialist at Trent University in Ontario, told The Associated Press that the 4,500-year-old Markham Ice Shelf separated in early August and the 19-square-mile shelf is now adrift in the Arctic Ocean.

"The Markham Ice Shelf was a big surprise because it suddenly disappeared. We went under cloud for a bit during our research and when the weather cleared up, all of a sudden there was no more ice shelf. It was a shocking event that underscores the rapidity of changes taking place in the Arctic," said Mueller.

Mueller also said that two large sections of ice detached from the Serson Ice Shelf, shrinking that ice feature by 47 square miles — or 60 percent — and that the Ward Hunt Ice Shelf has also continued to break up, losing an additional eight square miles.

Mueller reported last month that seven square miles of the 170-square-mile and 130-feet-thick Ward Hunt shelf had broken off.

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Judge nixes key claims in Ledger drug tape lawsuit; allows attorneys time to amend complaint

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A judge on Wednesday dealt a serious, but possibly temporary, blow to a lawsuit filed by a celebrity magazine reporter who has accused a paparazzi agency of secretly filming Heath Ledger doing drugs in her hotel room.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge John S. Wiley Jr. tentatively dismissed 11 of 12 claims filed against the agency and two photographers, saying most of the allegations lacked legal standing.

He allowed attorneys to file an amended complaint that could restore some of the claims.

The woman, identified in court documents only as "Jane Doe," sued Splash News & Picture Agency and two of its photographers in April, alleging fraud, intrusion, unjust enrichment and other claims over the filming of Ledger in 2006.

The woman was on assignment for People magazine at the time.

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Part-owners of Horse of the Year Curlin indicted again after 1st jury failed to reach verdict

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — A federal grand jury has issued new indictments against two part-owners of 2007 Horse of the Year Curlin.

Attorneys William Gallion and Shirley Cunningham Jr. are accused of defrauding clients of $94 million after winning a settlement from manufacturers of the diet drug fen-phen.

A jury couldn't reach a verdict against them in July during a trial on charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. The new indictment charges the men with eight counts of wire fraud.

Cunningham's attorney, Steven Dobson, questioned whether Wednesday's indictment was a result of vindictiveness from prosecutors who failed to get a conviction.

The two defendants bought Curlin, winner of last year's Preakness, in 2004 before selling an 80 percent interest.

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