God Sent Americans to Iraq to Kill and get Killed, Says Palin

Sarah Palin told ministry students at her former church that the United States sent troops to fight in the Iraq war on a "task that is from God."

In an address last June, the Republican vice presidential candidate also urged ministry students to pray for a plan to build a $30 billion natural gas pipeline in the state, calling it "God's will."

Palin asked the students to pray for the troops in Iraq, and noted that her eldest son, Track, was expected to be deployed there.

"Our national leaders are sending them out on a task that is from God," she said. "That's what we have to make sure that we're praying for, that there is a plan and that plan is God's plan."

A video of the speech was posted at the Wasilla Assembly of God's Web site before finding its way on to other sites on the Internet.

Palin told graduating students of the church's School of Ministry, "What I need to do is strike a deal with you guys." As they preached the love of Jesus throughout Alaska, she said, she'd work to implement God's will from the governor's office, including creating jobs by building a pipeline to bring North Slope natural gas to North American markets.

"God's will has to be done in unifying people and companies to get that gas line built, so pray for that," she said.

"I can do my job there in developing our natural resources and doing things like getting the roads paved and making sure our troopers have their cop cars and their uniforms and their guns, and making sure our public schools are funded," she added. "But really all of that stuff doesn't do any good if the people of Alaska's heart isn't right with God."

Palin attended the evangelical church from the time she was a teenager until 2002, the church said in a statement posted on its Web site. She has continued to attend special conferences and meetings there. Religious conservatives have welcomed her selection as John McCain's running mate.

Rob Boston, a spokesman for Americans United for Separation of Church and State, lamented Palin's comments.

"I miss the days when pastors delivered sermons and politicians delivered political speeches," he said. "The United States is increasingly diverse religiously. The job of a president is to unify all those different people and bring them together around policy goals, not to act as a kind of national pastor and bring people to God."

The section of the church's Web site where videos of past sermons were posted was shut down Wednesday, and a message was posted saying that the site "was never intended to handle the traffic it has received in the last few days."

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Nigerian Faces Death Sentence For Marrying 86 Wives

Nigeria's Islamic authority has told the man who has 86 wives to choose only four and repent within three days or else he will be sentenced to death.

The Jamatu Nasril Islam (JNI) passed their verdict on Mohammed Bello Abubakar, 84, according to Sharia law.

This comes two weeks after the Nigerian press and the BBC reported on the case.

Talking to the media then, Mr Abubakar challenged Muslim scholars, saying there is no punishment stated in the Koran for having more than four wives.

However, Mr Abubakar advised other men not to follow his example and marry 86 women.

No limit

The former teacher and Muslim preacher lives in Niger State with his wives and at least 170 children, and says he is able to cope only with the help of God.

"A man with 10 wives would collapse and die, but my own power is given by Allah. That is why I have been able to control 86 of them," he told the BBC.

Most Muslim scholars agree that a man is allowed to have four wives, as long as he can treat them equally.

But Mr Bello Abubakar told the BBC: "To my understanding the Koran does not place a limit and it is up to what your own power, your own endowment and ability allows.

"God did not say what the punishment should be for a man who has more than four wives, but he was specific about the punishment for fornication and adultery."

Niger is one of the Muslim majority states to have reintroduced Sharia punishments since 2000.

Several people have been sentenced to death for adultery by Sharia courts but none of these sentences have been carried out.

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Bruce Willis Gave Paparazzi A Car Wash Service

Bruce Willis threw water over a photographer's car after the snapper tried to take his picture as he left a medical building in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles.

The Die Hard actor reportedly became irritated at how close the photographers were getting to him, he retaliated by throwing a bottle of water over one of their cars.

However, many of the photographers were pleased with his antics as they photographed him hurling the liquid.

Bruce is not the first celebrity to lash out at the paparazzi.

Last year, Britney Spears famously beat a photographer's car with an umbrella when she deemed he was being too intrusive.

She later wrote to the photographer's agency to apologise for the incident.

She said: "I want to apologise for the past incident with the umbrella. I was preparing a character for a possible movie role where the husband doesn't play his part so they swap places.

"Unfortunately, I didn't get the part. I'm sorry I got all carried away with my part."

In January, Coldplay frontman Chris Martin tackled a photographer to the floor outside New York's Mount Sinai Medical Centre.

The singer was with his wife Gwyneth Paltrow - who was rumoured to be pregnant at the time - and became enraged when the photographer shouted "congratulations Chris!"

Chris screamed: "Have some f***ing respect!" He then pushed the paparazzo to the ground and wrestled his camera from him.

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The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor

Light as popcorn without butter, the third entrée in the "Mummy" franchise is munchable summer fare that goes down easy, staving off hunger for a while but not exactly satisfying.

After the fun but forgettable "The Mummy" in 1999 and the less fun, more forgettable "The Mummy Returns" in 2001, it's time to watch more ancient corpses come to life amid digital effects laid on with a trowel. Again with the endless chases and the undead pulling their skeletons together to do battle, only to be stopped by swashbuckling heroes who can break the spell.

Tiresome and messy, "The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor" borrows mightily from the "Indiana Jones" franchise and various martial-arts films, not to mention Frank Capra's 1937 "Lost Horizon," but it doesn't do what those films did nearly as well. Director Rob Cohen and writers Alfred Gough and Miles Millar seem determined to water it down to globs of plot, strung between shapeless action sequences and humorless repartee. Only martial-arts superstar Jet Li triumphs as the mostly wordless evil Emperor Han of ancient China, a glowing magma spirit locked in a terra cotta shell.

Archaeologist/tomb-raider Rick O'Connell (Brendan Fraser) and his adventurer-writer wife, Evelyn (Maria Bello, replacing Rachel Weisz from the previous films), live in bored retirement in 1946 England. They're thrilled when the government asks them to deliver a priceless gem to a Shanghai museum. Meanwhile, their son, Alex (Luke Ford), has dropped out of college and gone on a dig in China, discovering the emperor's mummy encased in a huge terra cotta sculpture. We learn in a long prologue that it was a sorceress (Michelle Yeoh) who put the emperor and his men under a spell.

When the curse is accidentally lifted, the emperor, joined by a rebel Chinese army, rushes to the Himalayas, where a dip in a pool in Shangri-La promises immortality. He already has supernatural powers and likes to turn himself into a three-headed dragon. Accompanying the O’Connells is Evelyn’s eccentric, wisecracking brother Jonathan (John Hannah), who during the flight to the mountains is vomited on by a yak.

The kindest thing to be said for this frantic, cluttered mess of cheesy computer-generated action-adventure clichés is that at least you can see how the estimated $175 million budget (according to the Internet Movie Database) was spent. We get an avalanche, an army of bow-and-arrow-wielding skeletons, a car chase that turns into a fireworks explosion, and a cadre of snowy yetis. In the movie’s futile drive to conjure visceral excitement, the action sequences are edited into an incoherent jumble that makes you feel trapped on a rickety airplane sitting in a pool of yak vomit.

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"Meet Dave", Eddie Murphy's Latest Failure

According to an age-old Hollywood maxim, it's just as hard to make a bad movie as a good one. If true, I guess we can't accuse anyone of slacking off at 20th Century Fox. The box-office jury is still out on "Meet Dave," but the critics have weighed in: The sci-fi comedy -- about an alien spaceship that looks like, well, like Eddie Murphy -- is a stinker.

Eddie Murphy's latest movie, which is a B comedy about an alien ship disguised as... Eddie Murphy, with a captain who is a tiny Eddie Murphy, bombs all the way. Meet Dave is disappointing especially because Eddie Murphy is one of the actors who could indeed put out something valuable, but apparently he doesn't care and is in it totally for the money.

The story line is childish, but that wouldn't be a problem as, after all, we're talking about a Hollywood comedy. Aliens come to Earth to steal our natural resources in order to save their home planet. The alien crew creates Dave Ming Chang who looks like a human being but is just a machine and tries to control his moves so he doesn’t look suspicious. At first, his moves are a little stiff and weird… and somewhat funny, maybe, for those who dig this type of very basic humor.

The small creatures, that come from the Planet Nill to find an orb which will suck the salt water from the oceans in order to be used by Nillians, are very serious at the beginning but, as they get to spend more time on Earth among people, they start to integrate and turn out to be as stupid as we are.

While he tries to be human, the Dave-ship begins to experience some warm feelings regarding Gina Morrison, a single mom played by Elizabeth Banks. The mini- Dave, the captain of the alien crew, also played by Eddie Murphy, is secretly fancied by his cultural officer (Gabrielle Union).

The movie shows Murphy's primary strength, or maybe his real acting passion: physical comedy. There's also his obsession with multiple roles (maybe he liked that scene in Being John Malkovich). The gags are usually lame, managing to produce smiles quite rarely.

Everybody seemed to notice that the Dave-ship performance was probably inspired by Steve Martin wrestling with himself in "All of Me."

The movie is, overall, another waste of talents, not just of Murphy's (we already got used to that) but also of his fellow actors. It's quite appalling that money, time and energy are put to such a waste, when with a little more effort and will, a much better comedy could have emerged. It seems that Murphy and Co. do not care about their reputation and their career, and are just out for a quick buck.

MPAA rating: PG for bawdy and suggestive humor, action and some language.

Running time: 1 hour, 30 minutes

Starring Eddie Murphy, Elizabeth Banks, Gabrielle Union and Scott Caan

Directed by: Brian Robbins

Written by: Rob Greenberg and Bill Corbett

Release Date: 11 July

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Tony Snow Lost Battle To Cancer At 53

Fox News reports that former talk show host, Tony Snow, died earlier this morning from complications related to an ongoing battle with cancer. He was 53.

A syndicated columnist, editor, TV anchor, radio show host and musician, Snow worked in nearly every medium in a career that spanned more than 30 years.

Snow joined FOX in 1996 as the original anchor of FOX News Sunday, and hosted Weekend Live and a radio program, The Tony Snow Show, before departing in 2006. A sometime fill-in host for Rush Limbaugh, Snow said he loved the intimacy of his radio audience.

"It's a tremendous loss for us who knew him, but it's also a loss for the country," Roger Ailes, Chairman of FOX News, said Saturday morning about Snow, calling him a "renaissance man."

As a TV pundit and commentator for FOX News, Snow was often critical of President Bush before he became Bush's third press secretary in 2006, following Ari Fleischer and Scott McClellan. He was an instant study in the job, mastering the position — and the White House press corps — with apparent ease.

During a tenure marked by friendly jousting with journalists, Snow often danced around the press corps, occasionally correcting their grammar and speech even as he responded to their questions.

"Tony did his job with more flair than almost any press secretary before him," said William McGurn, Bush's former chief speechwriter. "He loved the give-and-take. But that was possible only because Tony was a man of substance, who had real beliefs and principles that he was more than able to defend."

As he announced Snow as his new press secretary in 2006, President Bush praised him as "a man of courage [and] a man of integrity." Snow presided over some of the toughest fights of Bush's presidency, defending the administration during the Iraq War and the CIA leak investigation.

Robert Anthony Snow was born June 1, 1955, in Berea, Ky., the son of a teacher and nurse. He graduated from Davidson College in 1977 with a bachelor's degree in philosophy, and he taught briefly in Kenya before embarking on his career as a journalist.

Because of his love for writing, Snow took a job as an editorial writer for the Greensboro Record in North Carolina, and went on to run the editorial pages at the Newport News (Virginia) Daily Press, Detroit News and Washington Times. He became a nationally syndicated columnist, and in 1991 he became director of speechwriting for President George H.W. Bush.

Snow had his colon removed and underwent six months of chemotherapy after he was diagnosed with colon cancer in 2005. In 2007, he announced that his cancer had recurred and had spread to his liver. He resigned from the White House weeks later and was replaced by his deputy, Dana Perino.

After taking time off to recuperate, Snow joined CNN as a conservative political correspondent early this year.

Snow is survived by his wife, Jill Ellen Walker, whom he married in 1987, and their son Robbie and their daughters Kendell and Christie.

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AT&T's iPhone Count Down

July 11 is AT&T's D-Day, as the new 3G Apple iPhone will go on sale, drawing hundreds of thousands of shoppers and gawkers to Apple and AT&T stores.

To prepare, AT&T--the exclusive wireless carrier for the iPhone in the U.S.--has created an informational Web site and videos, upgraded its network and hired extra staff. "We are doing everything possible to make customers' purchasing experience quick and convenient," says AT&T spokesman Dan Gugler.

Since many customers are likely to be first-time AT&T subscribers or new to the iPhone, AT&T is trying to educate consumers ahead of the launch. It has posted answers to frequently asked questions, such as whether the phone can be used internationally. It also produced three how-to videos that describe, for instance, how customers who already own iPhones can give their old phones to friends and family if they buy a new one.

On launch day, AT&T stores will open one to two hours early to deal with crowds. Employees will distribute "checklists" outlining the different models, plans and accessories available. "There will be a lot of folks talking to customers, making sure they've thought about what they want to be ordering and what services are best for them," Gugler says. In a nod to the season, employees will also hand out bottled water.

Though Apple kept stores open until midnight last year, AT&T said it hasn't made a decision to extend nighttime hours.

Much has been made over the new iPhone's activation process, which will be done in stores just like other AT&T phones. The previous iPhone could be activated at home by logging on to Apple's iTunes--a system that drastically reduced waiting lines. AT&T hopes the new in-store activations will take between 12 and 15 minutes, on par with its other phones, Gugler says.

Behind the scenes, AT&T has been upgrading its network, in anticipation of an onslaught of new users. Its network currently supports fast, advanced 3G services in 280 markets across the country--a number that will increase to 350 by the year's end and continue to expand in 2009, according to AT&T.

On 3G, content can be downloaded at as fast as 1.7 megabits per second and uploaded at up to 1.2 megabits per second, says Bill Hogg, AT&T's president of wireless network services. AT&T is currently testing software that could increase the speeds up to four times, which the company hopes to make widely available within in the next few months, Hogg says.

The aim is to provide a comparable experience to wi-fi, even for those using bandwidth-heavy applications like interactive gaming or streaming video. "We've gone through and built a profile for what we expect subscribers to use, forecasted that and installed capacity to match," Hogg notes.

If, despite its plans, AT&T sells out of iPhones, as Sprint has with its heavily-publicized iPhone rival, the Samsung Instint, AT&T will let customers pre-pay and put their names on a waiting list.

AT&T confirmed the phone will cost $199 to $299 with two-year contracts, depending on memory capacity. It plans to offer the phones for $599 to $699 without a contract later this year.

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Palestinian Terrorist Resorts To Bulldozer Attack Killing 2

A Palestinian bulldozer driver plowed into a string of vehicles on a busy Jerusalem street Wednesday, killing two people and wounding dozens of others before he was shot dead by an off-duty soldier, authorities said.

The attack wreaked havoc and left a large swath of damage in the heart of downtown Jerusalem. Traffic was halted and hundreds of people fled through the streets in panic as medics treated the wounded.

"I saw the bulldozer smash the car with its shovel. He smashed the guy sitting in the driver's seat," said Yaakov Ashkenazi, an 18-year-old seminary student.

Police spokesman Shmuel Ben-Ruby said the bulldozer was driven by an Arab man from east Jerusalem who had a criminal background.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but Israeli police referred to the attacker as a terrorist. The attack took place in front of a building housing the offices of The Associated Press and other media outlets. A TV camera captured the enormous bulldozer crushing a vehicle and an off-duty soldier killing the perpetrator by shooting him in the head several times at point-blank range as onlookers screamed.

At the scene of the attack, a half-dozen cars were flattened and a third was overturned by an enormous Caterpillar tractor. A bus also was overturned and another bus was heavily damaged. Israel's national rescue service confirmed two deaths and the two bodies lay motionless on the ground covered in plastic. Local TV was reporting four dead.

A woman sprinkled water over a baby's bloodied face, a rescue worker stroked the hair of a dazed elderly pedestrian and a loved one raised the bleeding leg of a woman sitting outside the overturned bus.

Esther Valencia, a 52-year-old pedestrian said she barely escaped the carnage. "He almost hit me. Someone pushed me out of the way at the last moment. It was a miracle that I got out of there."

Sixteen-year-old Eyal Lang Ben-Hur was in a bus when the driver yelled out, "Get out of the vehicle! Everyone out!" People fled in a panic, he said, and the bus was hit an instant later.

Israel's national rescue service said at 22 people were wounded, with at least 14 people hospitalized.

Injured people sat dazed on the ground amid piles of broken glass and blood stains on the street. A baby had blood all over its face, and the driver of the bulldozer was slumped motionless over the steering wheel.

"Where's the baby? Where's the baby?" said one distraught man as he ran from the overturned bus.

Yosef Spielman, who witnessed the attack, said the bulldozer picked up a car "like a toy."

"I was shocked. I saw a guy going crazy," he said. "All the people were running. They had no chance."

At one point, witnesses said police attacked the perpetrator, after which the witnesses said he slumped over with his eyes closed. Then he suddenly lifted himself back up and continued his rampage, the witnesses said.

Hen Shimon, a 19-year-old solider, said the whole scene was a "nightmare."

"I just got off the bus and I saw the tractor driving and knocking everything down in his path," she said. "Everything he saw he rammed. He had a gun and started shooting at a police officer."

In a statement, police said a "terrorist" had carried out the attack but gave no further details.

The attack occurred in an area where Jerusalem is building a new train system. The project has turned many parts of the into a big construction zone.

During the second Palestinian uprising, which erupted in late 2000, Jerusalem experienced dozens of suicide bombings and other attacks. The city has been largely quiet in the past three years, though sporadic attacks have persisted. In March, a Palestinian gunman entered a Jerusalem seminary and killed eight young students.

In contrast to West Bank Palestinians, Arab residents of Jerusalem have full freedom to work and travel throughout Israel. Many Jerusalem Arabs work in the construction industry, possibly helping the attacker to easily gain control of a bulldozer.

About two-thirds of Jerusalem's 700,000 residents are Jews, and the rest are Palestinians who came under Israeli control when Israel captured their part of the city in 1967. Jerusalem's Arabs are not Israeli citizens but hold Israeli ID cards that allow them freedom of movement in the city and throughout Israel.

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Saudi Arabia Increases Oil Production To 9.7 Million Barrels Per Day

King Abdullah has agreed that his country will increased output to 9.7 million barrels a day as he opened a summit on the soaring international price of crude.

Saudi Arabia will also give one billion dollars to an OPEC fund for developing countries and 500 million dollars in soft loans for poor countries to finance energy and development projects, he said.

"We are very concerned for consumers in all countries," the leader of the world's top oil exporter said as he formally launched the meeting seeking to find ways to stop spiralling price rises seen as a threat to the world economy.

"We have increased production in the past few months from nine million barrels a day to 9.7 million barrels," said the king.

"And we declare our readiness to meet any additional needs," he added.

The latest Saudi output hike took the kingdom's daily production to the highest level for more than two and a half decades.

Western powers at the Jeddah meeting have called on the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and other major producers to increase output to ease market tensions.

OPEC has in turn insisted that supply is adequate and that "speculators" are playing a key role in the doubling of the price of a barrel of crude to almost 140 dollars over the past year.

In his opening speech to conference delegates, King Abdullah appealed for the World Bank to help poor nations that are battling runaway energy costs.

"I call for launching the initiative of energy for the poor ... to help poor nations face the rising cost of energy," the king said.

"I call on the World Bank to organise a meeting for donor nations to discuss and activate this initiative."

Saudi Arabia had already increased output by 300,000 bpd last month after US President George W. Bush visited the oil-rich kingdom.

However, the output hike failed to stem soaring oil prices that have held stubbornly above 130 dollars per barrel. New York's light sweet crude oil hit a record 139.89 dollars last Monday.

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Jury Finds R Kelly Not Guilty

R. Kelly was acquitted of all charges Friday after less than a day of deliberations in his child pornography trial, ending a six-year ordeal for the R&B superstar.

Kelly dabbed his face with a handkerchief and hugged each of his four attorneys after the verdict — not guilty on all 14 counts — was read. The Grammy award-winning singer had faced 15 years in prison if convicted.

Minutes later, surrounded by bodyguards, he left the courthouse without comment. Dozens of fans screamed and cheered as he climbed into a waiting SUV.

Prosecutors had argued that a video tape mailed to the Chicago Sun-Times in 2002 showed Kelly engaged in graphic sex acts with a girl as young as 13 at the time. Both Kelly, 41, and the now 23-year-old alleged victim had denied they were the ones on the tape. Neither testified during the trial.

The prosecution's star witness was a woman who said she engaged in three-way sex with Kelly and the alleged victim. Defense attorneys argued the man on the tape didn't have a large mole on his back; Kelly has such a mole.

The monthlong trial centered on whether Kelly was the man who appears on a sexually graphic, 27-minute videotape at the heart of the case, and whether a female who also appears on it was underage.

Over seven days presenting their case, prosecutors called 22 witnesses, including several childhood friends of the alleged victim and four of her relatives who identified her as the female on the video.

In just two days, Kelly's lawyers called 12 witnesses. They included three relatives of the alleged victim who testified they did not recognize her as the female on the tape.

Kelly won a Grammy in 1997 for "I Believe I Can Fly," and is known for such raunchy hits as "Bump N' Grind," "Ignition," and for "Trapped in the Closet," a multipart saga about the sexual secrets of an ever-expanding cast of characters.

Of the 12 jurors, nine were men and three were women; eight were white and four were black. They included the wife of a Baptist preacher from Kelly's Chicago-area hometown, Olympia Fields, as well as a compliance officer for a Chicago investment firm and a man in his 60s who emigrated from then-Communist Romania nearly 40 years ago.

Despite his legal troubles, Kelly — who rose from poverty on Chicago's South Side to become a star singer, songwriter and producer — still retains a huge following, and his popularity has arguably grown in recent years.

The singer has released more than half a dozen albums, most of them selling over a million copies. He's also had a multitude of hits and gone on tours. Kelly has a new song, "Hair Braider," out now, and is due to release a new album in July.

Kelly, always meticulously dressed in a suit and tie, appeared tense at times during the trial, furrowing his brow. He seemed particularly ill at ease when prosecutors played the sex tape in open court after opening arguments.

In the video, entered into evidence as "People's Exhibit No. 1," a man has sex with a young female, who is naked for most of the recording. She is often blank-faced. The man speaks to her in a hushed voice, and she calls him "Daddy."

In one scene, alluded to in one count of the indictment, the man urinates on the female.

The issue of whether there was or wasn't a fingernail-sized mole on the man's lower was a subject of hours of testimony. A defense witness told jurors there was no mole on his back, proving it's not Kelly, who has such a mole. But a prosecution witness displayed freeze frames of the video where a dark spot seemed to appear as the man turns to take off his pants.

One surreal moment came when a defense expert played a segment of the tape he doctored showing two headless bodies engaging in sex. The defense said that backed their argument that Kelly's likeness could have been computer-generated.

Cross examination was often heated. Several witnesses cried on the stand.

The star prosecution witness, Lisa Van Allen, became teary eyed as she told jurors she engaged in several three-way sexual encounters with Kelly and the alleged victim, including once on a basketball court. Kelly videotaped the trysts, she said.

Van Allen also claimed Kelly used to carry a duffel bag stuffed full of his homemade sex tapes.

The defense called several witnesses in a bid to discredit Van Allen, accusing her of trying to extort money from Kelly. Under cross-examination, Van Allen admitted she once stole Kelly's $20,000 diamond-studded watch from a hotel.

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Robert Mugabe Threatens Violence If He Loses Election

President Robert Mugabe said Friday that his supporters are ready to fight if the opposition wins an upcoming presidential runoff election, hardening the rhetoric of a campaign that already has seen widespread violence against government opponents.

"I'm even prepared to join the fight," the 84-year-old Mugabe told a conference of his party's youth wing.

Mugabe said the veterans of the war of independence in 1980 had approached him after the first round of voting in March and threatened to take up arms again if opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai wins the June 27 runoff.

Tsvangirai finished first in a field of four in the first round but failed to win the majority needed to avoid a runoff.

"We can't allow the British to dominate us through their puppets," said Mugabe, returning to a campaign theme of portraying Tsvangirai as a pawn of Western powers, a charge the opposition denies. "A vote for the (opposition) is a vote for the British to have once again not just a foothold but real power."

A High Court judge, meanwhile, ordered police to bring No. 2 opposition leader Tendai Biti to court Saturday and explain why he should not be immediately released, according to opposition lawyer Selby Hwacha.

Biti was arrested Thursday upon returning to Zimbabwe from neighboring South Africa. The United States was among the governments that said the arrest of the top aide to Tsvangirai only deepened concerns the runoff would not be free and fair.

Since picking up Biti at the airport Thursday, police have refused to say where he was being held or when they might bring him to court. They have said he faces a charge of treason, which can carry the death penalty.

Tsvangirai, speaking on the campaign trail Friday, called the charge Biti faces "frivolous."

"Tendai has not committed any crime, he has not committed any offense to warrant the arrest," the candidate said.

The party said Tsvangirai himself was released overnight after being detained by police.

Tsvangirai was stopped twice by police as he tried to campaign Thursday, according to the party, which said he was held for about two hours the first time and late into the night the second time before being released. Such incidents have become common as Tsvangirai attempts to reach out to voters, and the opposition says 66 of its supporters have been killed.

In 2004, Tsvangirai was acquitted after a treason trial that lasted more than a year.

Botswana, a fellow member of the Southern African Development Community, was the first neighbor to condemn Biti's arrest. Its Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it had summoned the Zimbabwean ambassador to express its concern.

"Botswana is alarmed by these arrests and detentions as they disrupt electoral activities of key players and intimidate the electorate thus undermining the process of holding a free, fair and democratic election," said Clifford Maribe, ministry spokesman.

It was unusually strong language from a fellow African government. Zimbabwe's neighbors, particularly regional power South Africa, have for the most part refused to confront Mugabe.

The arrest of Biti and police harassment of Tsvangirai are the latest examples of efforts by Mugabe's government to defeat the opposition. The harassment has included using security forces to confiscate a large U.S. food donation and giving it to Mugabe supporters in a country where many people are poor.

The United States, long a sharp critic of Mugabe, said Thursday that whatever pressure the neighbors had so far brought to bear had been ineffective. It called for immediate action by the U.N. Security Council.

News emerged that a 20-ton shipment of U.S.-donated grain, beans and oil being sent to a school in eastern Zimbabwe was hijacked by security forces and then passed out to Mugabe backers at a rally last week.

In Washington, officials said the United States, which now holds the rotating presidency of the Security Council, would try to raise the Zimbabwe issue next week.

U.S. Ambassador James McGee said Friday the clampdown on aid work has left some people surviving on less than one meal a day.

"The situation right now is bad and it's continuing to get worse," McGee told reporters in a conference call from Harare, Zimbabwe's capital. "If this continues much beyond the elections, it will be disastrous for Zimbabwe."

Aid group World Vision, which has projects across the country, appealed to the government Friday to allow delivery of basic humanitarian assistance by reversing the suspension.

"As a child-focused organization, we are particularly concerned for the close to 400,000 children we would have assisted this month through school-feeding and our ongoing development work," said Wilfred Mlay, vice president for Africa for World Vision. "We hold grave concerns for the 1.6 million orphans and vulnerable children across the country who will now not receive critical assistance from humanitarian agencies operating in the country."

World Vision said the suspension was keeping more than 30 groups from delivering food and other aid. It said up to 4 million people are in need of aid.

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Plane Crash Kills 6, Including Ex-legislator In Ohio

Six people, including a former state legislator who was flying the plane, are dead in the crash of an airplane into a residential neighborhood on the west side of Fremont, according to the Ohio State Highway Patrol.

A single-engine plane crash killed six people, including a prominent former state legislator who was the pilot, Sunday afternoon near Fremont Airport, authorities said.

Killed in the 1 p.m. crash were Gene Damschroder, Sr., 86, of Fremont; Bill Ansted, 62, of Lindsey; Allison Ansted, 23, of Lindsey; Daniel Gerwin, 31, of Gibsonburg; Emily Gerwin, 4, of Gibsonburg, and Matt Clearman, 25, of Maumee.

According to troopers at the Ohio Highway Patrol post in Fremont, the Cessna 68 crashed shortly after take-off into a residential area east of the airport, killing all on board. No structures were struck and no one on the ground was injured.

Rex Damschroder virtually grew up flying; his father, Gene Damschroder, owns Fremont Airport."There was an airplane parked in a hangar right through my bedroom wall," the younger Mr. Damschroder said.
Rex Damschroder, a son who followed his footsteps into the Ohio legislature, said Mr. Damschroder was hosting a Lions’ Club pancake breakfast at the airport and taking people up for airplane rides during that event. Rex Damschroder said he was not there when the plane crashed.

"One of the witnesses told me he heard the engine sputter, but that was about it," the younger Mr. Damschroder said.

Gene Damschroder, whose flying days dated back to military experience during World War II, had bought the Cessna 68 new 40 years ago and maintained it meticulously.

"He had a long flying career. He was a highly experienced pilot," Rex Damschroder said. "It was an accident — a misfortune. He’s been flying since he was 20. Flying was his life."

Federal Aviation Administration representatives were on the scene and the National Transportation Safety Board dispatched investigators, the highway patrol said.

FAA records show that Mr. Damschroder was licensed to fly both single and multi-engine aircraft over land or sea and was certified to fly by instruments. He also was a certified flight instructor and airframe and engine mechanic.

NTSB investigations of fatal plane crashes typically take a year or more to complete and involve inquiry into multiple aspects of a flight, including the pilot, the airplane, and the weather.

There were no storms in the Fremont area at the time of the crash, but weather was hot and breezy. Hot weather reduces airplanes’ aerodynamic lift, so they can’t fly with as much weight as they might under cooler conditions, but Rex Damschroder said he doubted his father’s plane was overloaded.

The plane crashed within a mile of the east end of Fremont Airport’s runway in an open field surrounded by houses. It clipped a tree on its way down.

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Amazon To Charge Sales Tax With Effect From June 1

One of the great things about shopping on sites like Amazon has been not having to pay a dime in taxes (or shipping, if you've spent enough). Since the dawn of Web commerce, the rule was that as long as a retailer didn't have a physical presence in the shopper's state, the company didn't collect a sales tax.

Well, it was fun while it lasted. Starting June 1, Amazon will charge a sales tax to shoppers who live in New York, even though the retailer maintains no physical operations in the Empire State.

Why the crackdown? With the economy in the tank, the State of New York was getting desperate to fill its budget gap. So it expanded its rules about what constitutes a business presence in the state. Amazon lets other sites earn commissions by linking to products on its pages as part of a program called Amazon Associates. And because some of those sites are based in New York, the state considers the Seattle-based retailer fair game.

Amazon, for its part, has filed suit in the New York Supreme Court arguing the law is unconstitutional. The company says these third-party sites shouldn't be counted as agents of Amazon in New York because they're totally independent from the retailer. Instead, they act merely as advertisers who are compensated with commissions. Also in its complaint, Amazon points out there are hundreds of thousands of associates in the program, and the company can't always determine whether these sites are actually run by New Yorkers.

Some online shoppers in New York may be howling over this new law but technically they shouldn't feel a difference. In truth, all purchases on Amazon have always been subject to taxes. Until now, only four states required Amazon itself to collect the tax: Washington (where Amazon's HQ is), North Dakota (the site of customer relations operations), Kentucky and Kansas (those last two contain large Amazon distribution centers). In other states, shoppers are supposed to keep track of their untaxed out-of-state purchases and report them in their state income tax returns every year. Needless to say, this doesn't always happen.

The state doesn't pursue people for failing to report their tax-free online shopping, or at least that's not enough to alarm the authorities. "The sales tax itself isn't going to raise enough concern to prosecute anybody," says Tom Bergin, spokesman for the New York Department of Taxation and Finance. "Now, if there were other red flags involved with that tax return, then we'd look at everything."

Starting in the 2003 tax year, the state of New York added a new line on its income tax forms specifically for untaxed out-of-state purchases, and last year, the state collected $45.2 million in sales taxes that way. But states know they stand a better chance of getting all the money they're due if they require retailers to collect it, and in the case of New York, the state expects to get as much as an extra $47 million a year from Amazon and others.

The state of Texas, applying some more conventional legal reasoning, is looking closer at an Amazon distribution center in Irving that could quality as sufficient physical presence in the state to pick up some extra money. But with the economy continuing to slow, other states will surely be watching what happens in New York. If the courts uphold New York's line of thinking, the rest of the Union could be headed in this direction.

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Australia Finally Pulls Troop Out of Iraq

Five years and three months after the coalition invasion began, Australia's combat role in Iraq is over.

The withdrawal of 550 troops, from a mission that resulted in no combat casualties, fulfils an election promise by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to bring the soldiers home this year.

A flag-lowering ceremony overnight at the Tallil air base, 300 kilometres south of Baghdad, marked the moment Australia handed over its operational role to the Americans.

The soldiers coming home are from Overwatch Battle Group (West) 4, which has been providing security for Iraqi forces in the south, and helping with reconstruction and aid work.

About 1000 troops will remain in the region on naval ships, C130 Hercules, P3C Orions, at coalition HQ and the security detachment for the Australian embassy in Baghdad.

Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon said last night that the conclusion of the two missions at Tallil marked the completion of Australia's combat role in Iraq.

"Our soldiers have worked tirelessly to ensure that local people in southern Iraq have the best possible chance to move on from their suffering under Saddam's regime and, as a Government, we are extremely proud of their service," he said.

The withdrawal of the Australians leaves the US with only two other major coalition partners in Iraq - Britain, which has about 4000 soldiers in Basra, and Georgia which has about 2000 deployed in other provinces.

The lowering of the flag overnight closes one chapter in an acrimonious debate that followed Australia's decision to join the invasion in March 2003, a commitment that has cost the country $3 billion.

This includes about $500 million spent on reconstruction and forgiven debt.

Successive Labor leaders pledged to withdraw forces, including Mark Latham's controversial "troops home by Christmas" vow in early 2004, while former prime minister John Howard argued that premature withdrawal from Iraq would boost terrorism.

But in line with Labor's election pledge, the 516 troops from the Overwatch Battle Group and the 60-person Australian Army training team will start returning home over the next fortnight after a six-month deployment.

In recent weeks, the soldiers carried out joint patrols to introduce incoming coalition forces to the area and to local Iraqi leaders.

Not everyone is pleased the Australian troops are leaving.

"We are against … American forces in the area because they are using weapons while the Australians didn't do anything harmful against the people all the time they were in the province," said teacher Hassan Mohsin, 32.

"I think the return of the Americans to the city will cause many problems. They will make many arrests," said shopkeeper Abdullah Muzhir.

More than 3500 Australian troops have served in the two southern provinces, Al Muthanna and Dhi Qar, since Australia took on an oversight role in April 2005, helping train up to 30,000 Iraqi police and security staff. The provinces were among the first to be handed over for control by the new Iraqi security forces, with foreign troops playing a support role.

Australian forces have survived the five-year engagement without a combat death, although 27 troops were wounded, six of them in southern Iraq.

Three Australian casualties during the conflict were a result of mishaps or clashes under foreign command.

SAS Warrant Officer David Nary was killed in a training exercise in Kuwait; Private Jake Kovco died mishandling his weapon in barracks in Baghdad; and Paul Pardoel was serving with the British when his RAF transport plane was shot down in 2005.

Australia's allies have been circumspect about Australia's withdrawal plan, with American leaders saying they accepted it was an election pledge.

On a visit to Canberra last week, British Defence Secretary Des Browne said the Australians would be withdrawing at the right time, declaring Iraq was "in an advanced stage of its own independence in terms of providing its own security".

Mr Browne said that Britain was grateful to Australia and its troops for their "magnificent" contribution in Iraq.

In April, US ambassador to Australia Robert McCallum said Washington harboured no hard feelings over the Federal Government's decision to withdraw Australia's troops.

Australia Defence Association spokesman Neil James said the move would have occurred whether Labor or the Coalition had been elected last year, although Mr Howard as leader might have left a training team behind.

Mr James said the withdrawal would help relieve the overstretched defence force, cutting the proportion of its infantry and cavalry deployed overseas from about half to a little under one-third.

A look at the jouney to and fro Iraq reveals:

January 10, 2003
Prime minister John Howard announces Australia's initial forward deployment will include two naval frigates, an amphibious transport ship and 150 SAS troops.

March 20, 2003
Australia joins the "coalition of the willing". The US-led forces invade after Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein ignores a US deadline to leave. Howard tells the nation that "the Government has decided to commit Australian forces to action to disarm Iraq because we believe it is right, it is lawful and it's in Australia's national interest".

May 1, 2003
US President George Bush declares victory in the "Battle of Iraq".

December 2003 Saddam is captured.

March 2004
Opposition leader Mark Latham pledges to bring Australia's 850 troops in Iraq home by Christmas if elected prime minister, making the future of the troops an election issue.

October 9, 2004
Howard government re-elected.

January 30, 2005
First free elections in 50 years held in Iraq.

February 22, 2005 Australia decides to commit 450 additional troops.

April 2006
Private Jacob Kovco dies in the Baghdad barracks when his fi rearm discharges. December 30, 2006 Saddam is executed.

February 2007
Howard announces he will send up to 70 more Australian troops to Iraq despite growing public and political opposition to the war. New opposition leader Kevin Rudd opposes sending any more troops to Iraq and repeats that a Labor government would pull all 520 Australian combat troops out of the country if elected.

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Massive Inferno Engulf Universal Studios

About 100 firefighters are working with the studio's own crew to fight the blaze and ensure it doesn't spread to nearby brush, he said. TV images show helicopters dropping water on the blaze.

A Los Angeles fire official said the fire started burning around 4:44am local time on a lot at Universal Studios.

Los Angeles fire Capt. Frank Reynoso says the blaze was reported just before dawn on a sound stage on a back lot. There are no immediate reports of injuries.

Reynoso says filming could have been going on at the time and that there has been at least one explosion.

He said the fire was contained to the back lot, and that firefighters were working to ensure the flames didn't spread to nearby brush. Helicopters were dropping water onto the burning structures.

Losses identified at this stage includes the King Kong exhibits.

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13-Year-Old Indian Won America's Scripps Nationals Spelling Bee

Sameer Mishra a 13-year-old Indian from West Lafayette, Indiana, was finally all business when he aced "guerdon" — a word that appropriately means "something that one has earned or gained" — to win the 81st version of America's Scripps Nationals Spelling Bee Friday night.

After watching his sister try three times to win the Scripps Nationals Spelling Bee, Sameer Mishra put himself on a mission. "I told my mom I was going to do the bee," Sameer said. "And if I was going to do it, I was going to win it one day. And I guess it happened."

Did it ever. With the sister coaching him, Sameer augmented his spelling talent with a sense of humor that often kept the Grand Hyatt Ballroom audience laughing.

"I'm not used to people laughing at my jokes — except for my sister," Sameer said.

Appearing in the bee for the fourth time and a top 20 finisher the last two years, Sameer clenched both fists and put his hands to his face after spelling the winning word. He won a tense duel over first-time participant Sidharth Chand, 12, of Bloomfield Hills, Mich., who finally stumbled on "prosopopoeia," a word describing a type of figure of speech.

Sameer was a crowd favorite throughout the tournament. When told one of his words in the semifinals was a dessert, he deadpanned: "That sounds good right now." He rolled his eyes and muttered "wonderful" when told that one of his words had five different language roots. He once asked "Are you sure there are no alternate pronunciations?" and later uttered "That's a relief" after initially mishearing the word "numnah" (a type of sheepskin pad).

And what did he have to say while hoisting the heavy trophy? "I'm really, really weak."

Sameer, who won more than $40,000 in cash and prizes, likes playing the violin and the video game "Guitar Hero" and hopes one day to be a neurosurgeon. He tried to watch the movie "Ratatouille" during the long wait before the finals but found he "couldn't really relax that much." His sister, Shruti, cried after her brother's victory on a day in which she received her own big news: She was accepted to Princeton.

"A big day for the family," said Sameer's father, Krishna Mishra, who moved to the United States from central India and teaches microbiology.

Sameer also became the first speller to win the title after misspelling his on-stage word in the preliminary round. He flubbed "sudation," yet managed to remain in the competition on the strength of a high score in the written test.

"When I missed that word in the preliminaries, I was really shocked and I was really sad," Sameer said. "I thought my chances were gone."

Third place went to Tia Thomas, 13, from Coarsegold, Calif., who was eliminated on "opificer" (a skilled or artistic worker) when she started the word with an "e" instead of an "o." Tia was one of the favorites, appearing in her fifth and final bee after an eighth-place finish a year ago.

"It was so frustrating. I was like, 'I know all these other words,'" Tia said. "This year has been awesome, but it's real disappointing."

The finals were aired live in prime time on ABC, and it appeared for a while that the broadcast could run late into the night. Twenty-four of the first 25 words were spelled correctly, with the dictionary-familiar competitors breezing through words such as "brankursine," "cryptarithm," and "empyrean" with barely a hitch.

Rose Sloan was so familiar with "alcarraza" (a type of jug) that the 13-year-old from River Forest, Ill., couldn't stop laughing in glee when pronouncer Jacques Bailly uttered it. She was later eliminated on "sheitel" (a wig worn by Jewish women).

It was somewhat surprising who didn't make the finals. There were no Canadians — and no Matthew Evans.

Matthew, also a favorite to win in his fifth and final appearance, was stunningly eliminated during the semifinal round Friday when he misspelled "secernent," a word dealing with secretion and one that somehow eluded him as he studied his personal 30,000-word list. He ended it with "-ant."

The 13-year-old from Albuquerque, N.M., stayed in the comfort room for more than a half-hour, and his eyes were still red when he emerged.

"It's disappointing," said Matthew, choking back tears. "I know a lot of people were rooting for me."

All seven representatives from Canada were vanquished in a span of about 20-minutes in the first semifinal round. No Canadian has ever won the bee, but the country always fields a strong contingent. Nate Gartke of Alberta was last year's runner-up.

"Seven up, seven down," said Pam Penny of Ancaster, Ontario, whose daughter, 10-year-old Veronica, was eliminated on the French-rooted word "etagere." "Very disappointing. Especially for Canadians to go down on French words."

Among the spectators was 94-year-old Frank Neuhauser, the winner of the first national bee in 1925. Asked to spell his winning word from 83 years ago, Neuhauser rattled off the letters to "gladiolus" as if he were racing through his ABCs.

"It's an easy word," said Neuhauser, who attracted a long line of teen and preteen autograph-seekers. "Nobody could miss it, but the second (-place) girl did."

Neuhauser's prize was $500 in $20 gold pieces. He also was feted with a parade through his hometown of Louisville, Ky.

"It was a lot easier back then," Neuhauser told the audience. "There were only eight competitors instead of 288. I'd never make it now."

The 288 spellers that entered this year's bee was a record. Forty-five of them made it past the preliminary and quarterfinal rounds Thursday to compete on Friday.

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At Least 100 Nigerians Dead In Oil Pipeline Explosion

At least 100 people were killed and scores injured when fuel from a pipeline ruptured by a bulldozer caught fire and exploded today in a village near Nigeria's biggest city of Lagos, the Red Cross said.

The fireball engulfed homes and schools at Ijegun village in the Lagos district of Alimosho, and many of the dead, who included schoolchildren, were killed in the ensuing stampede as people fled in panic from the flames.

"About 100 people have so far been confirmed dead from the fire. We have so far rescued more than 20 people with injuries and taken them to hospital for treatment," a Red Cross official at the scene said.

The disaster was the latest in a series of pipeline explosions or blazes caused by damage or theft which have killed more than 1200 people since 2000 in Nigeria, the world's eighth largest oil exporter and Africa's top producer.

The pipeline rupture at Ijegun, a village about 50 kilometres from the centre of the sprawling coastal city of Lagos, occurred during work to build a road. A bulldozer moving earth struck the pipeline buried beneath the surface.

"I was returning home when I suddenly saw sparks of fire from where the grader (earthmover) was working," local resident John Egbowon said.

The fuel leaking from the broken pipe caught fire and exploded, sending people fleeing in panic.

"It was like hell was raining down on us, then everybody started running in different directions," Mr Egbowon said.

At least 15 homes were burned. More than 20 charred vehicles caught in the fire were visible afterwards in the street, as firefighters and volunteers tried to douse the flames with sand and water after the explosion.

Witnesses said that even after the main explosion, the ground around the fire was so hot that shoes melted.

Abandoned in panic, discarded school bags and sandals littered the compound of one school whose pupils had fled. A group of women wailed in grief nearby.

A network of oil and fuel pipelines criss-cross parts of Nigeria and explosions and fires that kill many are frequent.

In the creeks of the Niger Delta, the country's main oil producing zone, the pipelines are also the target of sabotage attacks by local militants seeking greater control over oil revenues and more development for their impoverished region.

Previous accidental pipeline blasts in Nigeria have been caused by vandals who drilled holes in the feeder lines, used to distribute mainly imported fuel, in order to steal petrol for sale on the black market.

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Florida Bush Fire Prompts Evacuations and Closed Roads.

Barely 24 hours after Bill Uszenski places 144 flags at the graves of deceased members of the Florida Fire Department, bush fires has shut down roads in central Florida and forced evacuations, authorities said.

A portion of Interstate 95 in Brevard County was shut down because of heavy smoke from a blaze near Malabar, the Orlando Sentinel reported on its Web site.

In another part of the county, a fire forced residents out of about 100 to 200 homes near Cocoa, said Brevard County Fire and Rescue spokesman Orlando Dominguez.

That fire was larger than 100 acres, Dominguez said.

Between 500 to 600 acres burned in Voulsia County, causing additional road closures and another evacuation, Florida Division of Forestry spokesman Timber Weller said.

Weller said he was not sure how many residents of the neighborhood, which is located near Daytona Beach, were forced to leave their homes. He said 20-mph winds and dry conditions made the fire especially challenging for crews.

"Control is extremely difficult and there's basically several small subdivisions in the area and fires burning, in some cases, very close to the homes," Weller said.

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Burmese Junta's Attitude Results In Mass Infanticide

A generation of children could be wiped out if help does not quickly get through to the cyclone-stricken villages of Burma, according to international officials frustrated by the military junta's obstruction of Western aid workers.

Desperate survivors of Cyclone Nargis poured out of the Irrawaddy Delta yesterday in search of food, water and medicine as calls mounted for the West to ignore the junta and stage a Berlin airlift-style operation to parachute aid to the 1.5million people hardest hit by the May 3 category-three storm.

The UN has appealed for $US187million in aid, even though it is still not confident the food, water, medicines, bedding and utensils flown in will make it to those most in need because of the junta's reluctance to allow international relief workers into the country.

Australia dramatically increased its aid contribution to the victims yesterday, pledging an extra $22 million to take its total offer to $25 million.

As calls grew for the UN to unilaterally organise a relief operation, charities warned that epidemics of "apocalyptic proportions" could be caused by delays in delivering supplies of fresh water and medicines.

Amid the chaos, the generals held a referendum on a new constitution on Saturday in all but 24 of the hardest-hit districts - a vote to legitimise and perpetuate their grip on power.

Latest estimates suggest that up to 116,000 people died when a tidal surge swept across the delta from ocean water whipped up by Nargis.

Of 1.7 million left homeless or in distress, many hundreds of thousands are children who are most vulnerable to waterborne diseases.

Reports of dysentery have already emerged, and there are fears of a measles epidemic.

Although some aid is reaching Burma, the junta has refused to let it be distributed by foreigners.

The generals, led by strongman Than Shwe, more used to cracking down on unarmed pro-democracy marchers than organising relief for their own people, insist on using their poorly equipped army to conduct a grossly mismanaged operation.

"We are very worried about a second disaster," said Greg Beck of the International Rescue Committee.

"We've had some early indications that cholera is breaking out ... also dengue fever and malaria. These are treatable, and we could contain them easily if we were able to get access."

Dysentery was reported to be taking a grip in parts of the delta, and World Vision Australia chief executive Tim Costello and other aid specialists voiced fears that outbreaks of the disease were on the approaches to Rangoon.

Mr Costello warned of a disaster of "apocalyptic proportions" if water, food, shelter and medical care for the estimated 1.5 million people hardest-hit by the storm were blocked.

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How Much More Will Rev. Jeremiah Wright Destroy Barack Obama's Presidential Bid

MASSIMO CALABRESI

Voters have been running from Barack Obama since the Jeremiah Wright scandal erupted. A Zogby poll conducted this week in Indiana ahead of its key primary next Tuesday found that 21% of likely Democratic primary voters said they were less likely to vote for Obama as a result of his former pastor's statements. But why, exactly, are these and other voters fleeing? The answer could make the difference in Obama's chances to win the nomination and to pull out election victory in November. And it could tell us something about the state of racial politics in America.

There is a very small subset of voters who are sympathetic to Wright's expressions of respect for Louis Farakhan, his condemnation of America's 60-year bipartisan approach to Israel and his suspicions about U.S. involvement in the creation of the AIDS virus. The vast majority thinks his views on those issues are at least wrong, if not outright offensive. But what conclusion do those voters draw about Obama as a result? Do they imagine that Obama believes the same things? Or do they think Obama disagrees with them, but question his credibility because of his belated disavowal of the preacher who holds them?

Obama can marshal a lot of evidence to show he doesn't believe what Wright believes: his personal history, his professional life, his voting record all show he has fairly mainstream if somewhat liberal views on U.S. domestic and foreign policy.

But Wright's inflammatory statements in the past week forced Obama to make a renunciation that undermined the credibility of his well-received Philadelphia speech on race, in which he explained why he listened to Wright's speeches to begin with. "The difficulty people would have is precisely that: if he has been going to that church for a long time how could he not know?" says Scott Keeter of the Pew Research Center. The question now for Obama is which is worse — people thinking you agree with Wright, or people not believing your high-minded explanations for associating with him.

A Rasmussen poll out Friday tries to peel back some of these issues, and the answers are not particularly heartening for Obama. In a survey of 800 likely voters, Rasmussen finds that 58% think Obama has denounced Wright because it's politically convenient, while 30% say he did so because he was outraged (13% say they're not sure). Only 33% say they think Obama was surprised by Wright's views, while 52% say they think he was not.

Just as troubling for Obama, a majority of people associate his views with those of Wright: despite his denials, 56% said that it was somewhat or very likely that Obama shares some of Wright's views, while 35% said it was not very or not at all likely (8% were unsure). The survey shows a racial divide in the response: 55% of whites think Obama shares some of Wright's views, versus 47% of blacks and 74% of those identifying themselves as "other."

Associating Obama with Wright's radical views raises the specter of racial stereotyping. Those who impute to Obama radical views about AIDS, Israel or black nationalism are knowingly discounting his stated positions and making assumptions that may be influenced by his race. Just how much of that is going on is hard to measure. But if there's a racial component to voters' abandonment of Obama in the wake of the Wright affair, it's safe to say those voters aren't coming back.

Wounds caused by damaged credibility, of course, are also hard to heal. "The problem with credibility," says Pew's Keeter, "Is that people think of it as a fundamental character trait. Some measure of lack of honesty is damaging because it leads to a broader generalization."

Obama's approach to the problem appears to be to empahsize his mainstream views and shore up his credibility through other associations. Endorsements from people like former Hillary Clinton supporter and onetime Democratic chairman Joe Andrew "can help you stop the damage from this kind of affair," says Keeter. Maybe. But at least repairing damaged credibility is possible; healing the country's racial divide is a lot more difficult.

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