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An African-American man has pleaded guilty after being accused of impersonating a white supremacist in a fictitious Facebook account to make death threats against an African-American university student.
A Mississippi man admitted creating a false Facebook profile in November.
Dyron L. Hart, 20, of Poplarville, Mississippi, pleaded guilty Wednesday before U.S. District Judge Kurt D. Engelhardt to one count of communicating threats in interstate commerce, according to a Department of Justice statement. Hart admitted creating the fictitious account in November, pretending to be a white supremacist outraged by the election of Barack Obama as the nation’s first African-American president, the statement said. He then transmitted a death threat via Facebook to an African-American student at Nicholls State University in Louisiana, saying he wanted to kill African-Americans because of Obama’s election, according to the statement. A court document provided by the U.S. attorney’s office said Hart told an FBI interviewer thathe intended the threat to be a prank “to get a reaction.”
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The document said Hart admitted creating the Facebook profile under the name “Colten Brodoux” and used a photo of a Caucasian man that he found on a white supremacist Web site. “This is an extremely odd case, a very unusual case,” said U.S. Attorney Jim Letten of the Eastern District of Louisiana. “The contents of the messages were extremely troubling and provocative and very threatening.” Hart will face a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a 250,000 fine when sentenced November 18, the statement said.
Source:CNN

UTTAR PRADESH, IndiaOn World Population Day this year India’s new health and welfare minister came out with an idea on how to tackle the population issue: Bring electricity to every Indian village so that people would watch television until late at night and therefore be too tired to make babies.
Could the remote control be a birth control method?
That statement raised eyebrows across this vast countrybut what are the realities and reactions from families who make up the second largest population in the world? At 80-plus years old Omar Mohammed has never heard of population control. He lives in India’s most populous state Uttar Pradesh and has certainly done his part in contributing to India’s burgeoning population. “Now you see I have 24 children, 13 boys and 11 girls,” Omar says. Omar believes only God can decide how many children you should have. He lifts his hands to the sky and says: “This is His command. It’s not my doing, it’s His doing.” On the other hand there’s the Arora family in the capital city of Delhi. They have two children. “You can’t even get enough water or electricity now. So its advisable that people have only two children and then they should stop having more kids.” mother Anjana Arora says. The Aroras know a little something about population issues; their daughter was given the official title of India’s one billionth citizen when she was born in 2000. With family planning and free contraceptive programs the Indian government has long tried to encourage families to have only two children. Overall government statistics show the birth rate is coming down. The numbers show 14 of India’s 35 states have reached the two child per family target. But the push is failing in other states, especially in villages and among the poor and illiterate where the fertility rate is as high as 3.5 children per woman.
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There are all kinds of reasonsfrom the desire to continue having children until a son is born to lack of access to contraceptives. The government’s concern is that a booming population will further test already scarce resources, greatly impact the environment, and make life even harder for the poor. According to the United Nations, India is home to 50 percent of the world’s poor and on current projections, India will become the most populous country on earth sometime in the next 50 years, overtaking China. Upon hearing about the latest idea to use electricity and television to give people something else to do besides procreate, mom Anjana Arora scoffed. “That’s a stupid thing” she said in English then switched to Hindi “The only way to change people’s mentality is through education.” But not everyone is writing the idea off. “It’s an idea that can really work.” says A.R. Nanda. Years ago Nanda helped draft some of India’s population stabilization policies and he now runs the Population Foundation of India. He says while education and access to health care is paramount, electrifying villages is not a bad idea. “It gives a message loud and clear that we need to do something for the people which is people-friendly and which in a way will keep their minds from taking irrational decisions about producing more babies,” Nanda says. He says there are studies that prove it. One such survey done in 2006 by an Italian sexologist reveals couples with televisions in their bedrooms had sex half as much as those without it.
That being said Omar Mohammed, the man with 24 children had a different take. “After watching TV,” he says, “when we look at scintillating things we will probably want to make more children.”
Source:CNN

KAOHSIUNG COUNTY, TaiwanA survivor from the typhoon that devastated Taiwan told how she and her grandson were surrounded by rising water in their mountain village.
Chen Chiu Lian: I thought I’d leave it to the heavens.
The pair lived in Shao Lin, a village in the south wiped out by Typhoon Morakot which swept over Taiwan last weekend. Authorities said mudslides demolished more than 100 homes and killed a still unknown number of residents. Chen Chiu Lian, 76 who lives with her teenage grandson, Wang Hsin Hong, told how the typhoon hit. She said: “I had just finished eating. My grandson was taking a nap. It rained and rained. There was water to my left and to my right … The next day, it was still raining. “Our house was like a boat. The water was like an ocean. How can you escape? There was no way to escape. “My grandson told me to swim. I was swimming and crawling through the water and debris.” Watch her story of survival » The storm dumped up to two meters 10 cm (83 inches) of rain on some parts of the island, according to the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
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By Thursday evening, the Taiwanese government had counted 115 deaths, 59 people missing and 45 injured. Most of the missing are from Kaohsiung County, according to the National Disaster Prevention and Protection Commission. Chen’s injuries are relatively minor. Her legs are covered in scratches and bruises from her escape. “My grandson and I got to the roof of our house. He prayed to his grandfather (who died last year). He prayed out loud, ‘Agong (Grandpa), please help us. We’re going to be washed away in this flood.’ “My grandson was crying. He tried to comfort me and said a helicopter would come.” “Then we saw a helicopter and my grandson shouted to it. The helicopter lifted us up and the pilot said we were very lucky because originally, he didn’t see us. He just saw the house.” The two survivors have now found refuge at a friend’s home.
Chen added: “This is the worst disaster I’ve seen in my 76 years. My whole life has basically been smooth. “At the time, I just thought, ‘I’ll leave it to the heavens.’ If there hadn’t been a helicopter, I wouldn’t be sitting here today.”
Source:CNN

LOS ANGELES – John Quade, who played the heavy in several Clint Eastwood movies and was the sheriff in the TV miniseries “Roots,” has died. He was 71.
His wife Gwen says Quade died in his sleep of natural causes Sunday at his home in the Southern California desert town of Rosamond.
Quade had dozens of TV and movie roles in a career that spanned more than a quarter-century. His movies included “Papillon” and “High Plains Drifter.”
However, he is perhaps best remembered as the motorcycle gang leader in the Eastwood movie “Every Which Way But Loose” and its sequel, “Any Which Way You Can.”
He also played Sheriff Biggs in episodes of “Roots.”
The Kansas-born Quade leaves six children and 10 grandchildren.
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Information from: Los Angeles Times, http://www.latimes.com

ISTANBUL – Challenging a global aversion to guns aboard ships, France has put troops on tuna boats in the Indian Ocean, and Belgium is offering military units to its merchant vessels off the Horn of Africa. Now, U.S. lawmakers are weighing similar action to fight piracy.
Opponents fear such moves will escalate the violence and raise a minefield of legal issues.
In June, the U.S. House of Representatives passed an amendment that would require the Department of Defense to put armed teams on U.S.-flagged ships passing through high-risk waters, specifically around the Horn of Africa where Somali pirates have become a scourge of world shipping.
The amendment now goes to the Senate. A separate bill introduced last month would grant immunity from prosecution in American courts to any “owner, operator, time charterer, master, or mariner who uses force, or authorizes the use of force, to defend a vessel of the United States against an act of piracy.”
Both measures face tough debate — U.S. military resources are spread thin and onboard weapons, especially in the hands of civilian crew, are seen as an extreme option.
“Work and watch-keeping take up most of a seafarer’s day,” Sam Dawson of the International Transport Workers’ Federation, which represents hundreds of unions, told The Associated Press by e-mail. “The practice, handling and use of weapons would be a duty too far.”
But there is a strong push for action following the April seizure of the MV Maersk Alabama.
That standoff, which transfixed the American public, ended with the killing of three pirates by Navy SEAL snipers and the release of the vessel’s captain, Richard Phillips.
The wider potential fallout from the Western initiatives is uncertain because countries such as the Philippines, which supplies most of the world’s ship crews, don’t have the resources to protect them. Besides, the laws of many nations prevent vessels from carrying weapons, historically for fear they would be used by mutineers.
A range of maritime groups and insurers oppose arming ships because of liability issues and fears that violence could provoke an arms race with the pirates. Still, some ship-owners hire private guards; Israeli commercial boats are believed to routinely carry arms.
“What the Americans do will not necessarily lead the way in terms of the global shipping industry,” said Daniel Sekulich, the Toronto-based author of “Terror on the Seas: True Tales of Modern Day Pirates.”
Sekulich said a global trend could take hold if international groups such as the U.N. International Maritime Organization develop a comprehensive approach to arming ships. In the meantime, he said, the U.S. initiatives could encourage a “two-tiered or three-tiered system” in which a few wealthy nations protect ships flying their flags, while pirates prey on softer targets.
International patrols, including U.S., European, Chinese, Russian and Indian ships, have reduced the success rate of Somali attacks. But with ransoms running into millions of dollars, pirates have adapted, raiding boats far into the Indian Ocean.
Advocates say onboard teams with weapons would deter or defeat ragtag bands of pirates in flimsy skiffs. On April 25, pirates tried to board the Italian cruise liner MSC Melody as it headed in the Indian Ocean from southern Africa to Europe, but Israeli private guards opened fire and the assailants departed.
For opponents, the worst-case scenario is pirates getting bigger weapons.
“It’s something that could actually stoke up the attacks, take the attacks to a higher level,” said Andrew Linington of London-based Nautilus International, a union that represents 24,000 mariners, most of whom work on British- or Dutch-registered ships.
But internal polling among Nautilus members has indicated a “hardening of attitudes” in recent months, with more calling for armed protection, Linington said.
This summer, the Netherlands turned down a plea from parliament to put marines on especially vulnerable, slow-moving Dutch vessels threatened by Somali pirates. The refusal was based on fear that pirates could react more violently if they spot weapons and that wounded marines would not get medical care at sea.
Belgium, however, decided in early May to offer an onboard detachment of at least eight troops for euro115,000 (162,000) a week per unit to its commercial vessels, but so far there has been only one taker, according to Defense Ministry spokesman Kurt Verwilligen.
The French government signed a deal with a tuna fishermen’s union in June allowing for military protection of tuna boats in the Indian Ocean during the fishing season, according to Lt. Col. Phillippe de Cussac, a military spokesman. No attacks have been reported so far.
Global pirate attacks more than doubled in the first half of 2009 to 240, from 114 in the same period last year, according to the International Maritime Bureau. A surge of raids in the Gulf of Aden and off the east coast of Somalia accounted for many attacks, though waters off Nigeria are a serious trouble spot.
The Somali attacks are in a lull because seas are rough, but are expected to increase around the end of this month when the weather should improve.
The measure to put military guards on U.S.-flagged ships passed in the House by a vote of 389-22.
In testimony in May, Arthur J. Volkle Jr., vice president of American Cargo Transport, Inc., said private guards were already on his group’s ships in the Gulf of Aden and the Persian Gulf. He said the best way to protect U.S.-flagged ships was by deploying military teams to avoid “regulatory shortfalls, liability concerns, and international reluctance to permit armed merchant vessels into their ports.”
Phillips, the Maersk Alabama captain, has testified that senior crew members should have access to weapons, though he acknowledged that even this limited approach opens “thorny” issues. Maritime experts say some seafarers travel with small arms, but don’t declare them.
The separate bill granting immunity has yet to go to a House vote. It would direct Washington to negotiate deals through the U.N. maritime agency to provide similar exemptions from liability in other countries, as well as to ensure armed U.S. crews can enter foreign ports.
But implementing the measure could be difficult because the U.N. agency discourages onboard weapons.
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Associated Press writers Robert Wielaard in Brussels, Arthur Max in Amsterdam and Angela Charlton in Paris contributed to this report.

(People.com)Although the news that Kourtney Kardashian is pregnant with her first child came as a quite a surprise, her family is excited about their new addition.
Kourtney Kardashian, smiling at this year’s “Teen Choice Awards,” has her family excited about her pregnancy.
“I am beyond thrilled and excited and cannot wait to meet my new grandchild!” mom Kris Jenner tells PEOPLE exclusively. “We are truly blessed.” A day after announcing her news, Kardashian revealed that her baby’s daddy is off-again, on-again boyfriend Scott Disick. It shouldn’t come as a surprise that the close-knit Kardashian-Jenner clan, whose lives are chronicled on the E! series “Keeping up with the Kardashians,” are supportive of Kourtney’s new adventure. Her sister Kim Kardashian shared her excitement about the news on Twitter, writing: “CONGRATS to my sister Kourtney who is pregnant! I am going to be an auntie!!!! Aunti Kimmie!!!!”
Source:CNN

VW agrees Porsche takeover terms
Volkswagen (VW) and Porsche have agreed the details under which VW will take over its German compatriot by 2011.Under the deal, VW will initially buy a 42% stake in Porsche by the end of this year for 3.3bn euros (4.7bn; 2.8bn). The deal ends months of acrimony between the two firms, and confirms that it will be VW that buys Porsche and not the other way around. Over the past year Porsche built up major debts to get a 51% stake in VW, only to fall short of the required 75%. Funding failurePorsche’s failure to buy VW saw the firm’s former chief executive Wendelin Wiedeking and financial director Holger Haerter resign “with immediate effect” last month. It failed to raise the funds to increase its shareholding in VW above 51% due to the impact of both the global credit crunch and the slump in global car sales. Porsche will now effectively become the 10th brand in the VW family, joining the likes of Audi, Seat and Skoda. However, VW has pledged to maintain Porsche’s “independence”. The deal values Porsche at 12.4bn euros.

Source:BBC

LOS ANGELES – The glittery glove that Michael Jackson wore when he unveiled his moonwalk on TV in 1983 is hitting the auction block.
This one isn’t like his other glittery gloves, which were made for the right hand and adorned with hand-sewn crystals. This left-handed glove, which accompanied Jackson’s fedora and dance moves on Motown’s 25th-anniversary TV special, is a modified, store-bought glove covered with a mesh of rhinestones.
The glove, which Darren Julien of Julien’s Auctions called “the Holy Grail of Michael Jackson memorabilia,” will be featured alongside other one-of-a-kind items — such as an early Madonna demo tape and unreleased Jimi Hendrix lyrics — at the Nov. 21 “Music Icons” auction at the Hard Rock Cafe in New York City’s Times Square.
Walter “Clyde” Orange, a founding member of the Commodores, has been holding onto the glove since Jackson gave it to him in 1983.
Orange said he got to know Jackson when the Commodores toured with the Jackson 5 in the 1970s. Orange would always ask the young entertainer for an autograph, but Jackson refused, saying Orange was the more famous of the two. The autograph request became a private joke.
They met again in March 1983 when the Motown special was taped. Jackson sang with his brothers, then took the stage alone to wow the world with his moonwalk during his solo performance of “Billie Jean.”
Orange found his friend backstage and again requested an autograph. Jackson gave him the glove instead.
After Jackson’s June 25 death at age 50, Orange decided the glove was too significant to keep.
“There’s a hundred other gloves out there, but this is the one you want. He blew up after that (performance) with ‘Billie Jean,’” Orange, 62, said in an interview. “The world should see this. This is the first. That’s the song that made him shoot through the roof as a superstar.”
Orange said he hopes the glove will find a permanent home at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame or a similar institution. And he’s happy that proceeds from the sale will benefit MusiCares, an organization that helps musicians struggling with substance abuse.
“Just for the world to see it, that means the world to me,” Orange said.
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On the Net:

http://www.juliensauctions.com

Microsoft backs long life for IE6
By Maggie Shiels
Technology reporter, BBC News, Silicon Valley
Microsoft has underlined support for its Internet Explorer 6 web browser, despite acknowledging its flaws.The software giant said it would support IE6 until 2014 – fours years beyond the original deadline. Critics – some of which have started an online campaign – want the eight-year-old browser mothballed because they claim it slows the online experience. “Friends do not let friends use IE6,” said Amy Bardzukas, Microsoft’s general manager for Internet Explorer. “If you are in my social set and I have been to your house for dinner, you are not using IE6,” she said. “But it is much more complicated when you move into a business setting.” “It’s hard to be cavalier in this economy and say ‘oh it’s been around for so long they need to upgrade,’” Ms Bardzukas told journalists in San Francisco.. Web monitoring firms estimate that 15-20% of people still use IE6 to browse the web. Enough is enoughAmong those speaking out against IE6 is a group of more than 70 developers who have banded together to form a project called ie6nomore. “Enough is enough,” they implore on their website.
“Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 was released in late 2001. For its time, it was a decent browser, but in 2009, it is still in use by a significant portion of the web population, and its time is now up.” “Web developers hate IE6,” said Evan Solomon of Justin.tv, one of the backers of the campaign. “We are passionate because we run a website and something like 10% of our users use IE6, but our web designers and developers have to spend a lot of time debugging for the platform. “The other issue for us is that we have launched an API to let people build applications and while our goal is to make it as easy as possible for people to do this, IE6 is a barrier,” Mr Solomon told BBC News. In a blog post in response to such campaigns, the software giant said that while this issue is a simple one for technology enthusiasts, “the choice to upgrade software on a PC belongs to the person responsible for the PC”. “Many PCs don’t belong to individual enthusiasts, but to organisations. The backdrop might be a factory floor or hospital ward or school lab or government organisation, each with its own business applications,” wrote Dean Hachamovitch, general manager for the browser group. “Dropping support for IE6 is not an option because we committed to supporting the IE included with Windows for the lifespan of the product.” “Best experience”Despite the renewed commitment, Microsoft said it would prefer people to move to IE8, which it says comes with improved functionality and security.
IE8 has been downloaded roughly 250,000 times since its March release
“We want people to have the best experience they can have on Microsoft software,” said Ms Bardzukas. “If people get frustrated with that experience and they say ‘Microsoft stinks and IE stinks’ and they’re basing that on technology that was designed nearly a decade ago, well yeah that is concerning.” Industry watchers believe, that despite Microsoft’s backing, IE6′s days are numbered. “IE6 will just die away anyway,” said Harry McCracken, editor and founder of tech news site Technologizer. “I only have around 7% of people who visit my site using IE6 and it will just dwindle away no matter what anyone does,” he said. ThreatMicrosoft’s touting of IE8 comes as browser competition intensifies. The most immediate threat to Microsoft’s 68% market share comes in the shape of Mozilla’s Firefox – used by 22% of browsers.
Firefox, introduced in 2004, recently claimed its one billionth download
“The competition Microsoft has to worry about right now is Firefox. Not just from a market share perspective but from an innovation perspective because their plug-ins work really well,” Ronald Gruia, a principal analyst with Gartner told BBC News. “In the future they have to look out for Google with its Chrome browser,” he said. “The main concern there for Microsoft is the rise in cloud computing and software as a service. Google is becoming very effective at delivering applications in the cloud and therefore poses a huge threat to Microsoft.” “This is the best time to be a browser user because there is so much choice,” agreed Mr McCracken. “Almost anyone on the planet who uses the web uses Google and that gives them a powerful way to market Chrome. They started with the browser and now they have the Chrome operating system as an even more direct attack on Microsoft’s core business. “My guess is Mozilla is what it is and that battle is, in some way, over. Chrome doesn’t have a huge market share at the moment, but if I was Microsoft I would be worried about Google making Chrome really big.” said Mr McCracken. Such issues did not seem to trouble Ms Bardzukas. “IE is still the most broadly used browser in the world. We are focused and we are here to play.” “Clearly Google is a very strong technology company with a number of offerings across the internet space but beyond that, I don’t have a comment on them as a browser vendor in particular,” stated Ms Bardzukas.

Source:BBC

NEW YORK – Victoria Beckham seems to be getting used to filling a fourth judge chair on “American Idol,” left vacant by Paula Abdul’s departure.
The former Spice Girl — Posh — was in Boston Thursday to help judge callbacks for contestants who tried out but were invited back for another round, Fox publicist Alex Gillespie said. Beckham was a guest judge last Friday for auditions in Denver, and it was originally described as a one-time appearance.
This is the point of the show where judges give singers a golden ticket to advance to the Hollywood round.
Last week in Denver, Beckham told Fox News she was a huge fan of “American Idol” and nervous about being a judge. “My heart is about to jump out my throat,” she said.
She also said she was looking forward to any criticisms Simon Cowell may have for her.
“I have a British sense of humor. I’m quite welcoming to it,” Beckham said.
“American Idol” returns for its ninth season in January.
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On the Net:

http://www.americanidol.com

LOS ANGELES – John Quade, who played the heavy in several Clint Eastwood movies and was the sheriff in the TV miniseries “Roots,” has died. He was 71.
His wife Gwen says Quade died in his sleep of natural causes Sunday at his home in the Southern California desert town of Rosamond.
Quade had dozens of TV and movie roles in a career that spanned more than a quarter-century. His movies included “Papillon” and “High Plains Drifter.”
However, he is perhaps best remembered as the motorcycle gang leader in the Eastwood movie “Every Which Way But Loose” and its sequel, “Any Which Way You Can.”
He also played Sheriff Biggs in episodes of “Roots.”
The Kansas-born Quade leaves six children and 10 grandchildren.
___
Information from: Los Angeles Times, http://www.latimes.com

COLUMBIA, S.C. – South Carolina’s attorney general said Thursday he wants state ethics commissioners to review Gov. Mark Sanford’s use of state aircraft and any other potential violations of state law.
The letter from Attorney General Henry McMaster to the chief of the state Ethics Commission follows Associated Press investigations into Sanford’s use of state aircraft for personal and political trips, and his flights on commercial airlines.
“This is to request the South Carolina Ethics Commission to investigate these allegations involving the use of state planes and any other potential violations of the State Ethics Act,” McMaster wrote in a brief letter to Herb Hayden, executive director of the state Ethics Commission, which enforced the state’s ethics laws.
The next step would be for the ethics commission’s staff to investigate the complaint and determine if there is probable cause for a full hearing.
Sanford has called the AP characterization of some of his flights “misleading” and says they are taken out of context in part because he has used state planes less than his predecessors. He also says he’s ridden in the same type of seats as other governors on commercial flights.
“We’ve really tried to go to extra mile, when it comes to watching out for the taxpayer,” the governor said Thursday. “I look forward to the Ethics Commission or anybody looking at the way we used that plane.”
Records reviewed by the AP show that since Sanford took office in 2003, the two-term Republican has taken trips on state aircraft to locations of his children’s sporting events, hair and dentist appointments, political party gatherings and a birthday party for a campaign donor.
The letter from McMaster includes excerpts of state law, including: “Any and all aircraft owned or operated by agencies of the State Government shall be used only for official business.”
Misuse of state resources can lead to civil or criminal penalties under the state’s ethics laws. Any public official found to have used state property for personal financial gain is subject to as much as a 5,000 fine and five years in prison. Only incidental use that does not result in additional public expense is exempt.
Last month, the AP revealed how Sanford had flown in pricey seats on commercial airlines at taxpayer expense, despite a law requiring lowest-cost travel. State Sen. David Thomas, a GOP congressional candidate who has been investigating those flights, said this week the more expensive flights on two state Commerce Department trips broke the law — costing taxpayers 13,700 more than the economy class flights available.
Sanford repeated Thursday that other governors have flown in such seats. He has said the revelation in June of his international affair has opened him to unfair attacks.
“If one wants to change the standard to say, no business class tickets for any governor, or any secretary of commerce, or any economic development team going forward, that would be fine,” Sanford said. “But don’t come up with a different standard, which is to a degree what Sen. Thomas is trying to do.”
In an opinion piece published in state newspapers on Thursday about the state plane use, the governor said his dentist appointment was for a chipped tooth treated on his way to a television news interview, and he questioned why he would have flown to a haircut at a discount salon that does not take appointments.
He has not addressed other state plane flights detailed in the report, including one that took him to a donor birthday party, and one that took him to a North Carolina airport for a commercial flight to a GOP gathering in Texas.
“Inevitably, I am certain that there is something our office did less than perfect in my constant moving around the state, but I can say with equal clarity that it was always within the context of trying to maximize my days and watch out for the taxpayer in the process,” the governor wrote in the op-ed.

UNITED NATIONSThree independent United Nations human rights experts have accused Iran of torturing confessions from detainees charged with fomenting political unrest, the international organization said Thursday.
Iranian opposition suspects cover their faces at a Revolutionary Court hearing in Tehran last week.
“No judicial system can consider as valid a confession obtained as a result of harsh interrogations or under torture,” said Manfred Nowak, who is the U.N. special rapporteur on torture. The treatment of detainees at Iran’s prisons has increasingly become a divisive issue within Iran’s Islamic leadership, as reformists continue to accuse the hardline government of allowing abuse and torture in attempts to coerce false confessions. Iranian officials have denied the allegations. “These confessions for alleged crimes such as threats against national security and treason must not, under any circumstances, be admitted as evidence by the Revolutionary Court,” said El Hadji Malick Sow, vice chairman of the U.N.’s working group on arbitrary detention. The United Nations, in a news release, said the statements also reflect the position of Margaret Sekaggya, special U.N. rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders. Iran is conducting a mass trial of about 100 Iranian defendants in its Revolutionary Court. Reformist politicians, lawyers and journalists are among those accused of protesting in an attempt to overturn government leadership. Among the defendants are Seyyed Mohammad Abtahi, a former Iranian vice president; Maziar Bahari, an Iranian-Canadian reporter for Newsweek magazine; and Kian Tajbakhsh, an Iranian-American scholar. Street protests and a brutal government crackdown followed the June 12 presidential election, leading to the arrests of more than 1,000 people. The official death toll from the post-election unrest is 30, although opposition leaders have reportedly said it’s more than twice that figure. On Wednesday, Iran’s influential parliament speaker, Ali Larijani, dismissed allegations by Iran’s opposition that post-election detainees were raped while in custody, according to state-run media. Larijani said that a special panel of Iran’s parliament, or Majlis, conducted a “precise and comprehensive inquiry” into the treatment at Tehran’s Evin and Kahrizak prisons, and found “no cases of rape or sexual abuse,” government-funded Press TV reported.
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A spokesman for Iran’s Foreign Ministry also denied that prisoners had been tortured. “What kind of talk is this? There was never any pressure used against these people,” Hassan Qashqavi said Monday, according to the semi-official Mehr news agency. They were responding to accusations made by opposition candidate Mehdi Karrubi who, along with opposition leader Mir Hossein Moussavi, ran against hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the June 12 election. Iran’s election authority declared Ahmadinejad the overwhelming winner of the race, sparking hundreds of thousands of Iranians to take to the streets in protest. Iranian opposition figures such as Karrubi have compared the treatment of the detainees to political prisoners abused under the “oppressing regime” of the Shah of Iran, who was overthrown by the Islamic Revolution in 1979. In an open letter to former president Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani posted Saturday on his party’s Web site, Karrubi says an “impartial committee” is needed to “investigate these tragedies with transparency until they are resolved.” He said he is willing to lead the investigation in a “truthful, unbiased fashion.” “Some of the former detainees have told of such brutal and violent, repeated rapes of the young women [in detention] that have caused irreparable damage to their reproductive systems,” Karrubi says in the letter. “Others have raped our detained young men with such brutality that they have been afflicted by depression and are no longer speaking with anyone and refuse to leave the dark corners of their houses.” Larijani on Wednesday challenged Karrubi to “present evidence of such outrages” for the Majlis to investigate, according to Press TV. Iranian media has reported that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, has ordered one prison, Kahrizak, shut down amid reports it did not measure up to the required standards. Kahrizak’s chief was fired and arrested over allegations of detainee mistreatment, according to local reports Saturday.
Source:CNN

BAGHDAD, Iraq At least 20 people were killed and 30 wounded in a double suicide bombing Thursday in northern Iraq, an Iraqi Interior Ministry official said.
Houses are left in ruins earlier this week after truck bombings in the northern Iraqi village of al-Khazna.
Two suicide bombers with explosive vests carried out the attack at a cafe in Sinjar, a town west of Mosul. Later Thursday, two people were killed and 13 were wounded in a motorcycle bombing in a predominantly Shiite neighborhood of southern Baghdad, an Interior Ministry official said. In Sinjar, many townspeople are members of the Yazidi minority, an ancient religious sect that has been the target of previous attacks in Iraq. In August 2007, More than 400 people died and at least 300 were injured when suicide truck bombers struck predominantly Yazidi villages, a series of attacks that rank among the deadliest in Iraq’s ongoing violence. The Yazidi sect is a mainly Kurdish minority, an ancient group that worships seven angels, in the form of peacocks, who its followers believe are subordinate to the supreme god who created the universe. Thursday’s attack is at least the second this week apparently targeting ethnic minorities in northern Iraq. On Monday, two truck bombs destroyed 32 homes, killing 30 people and burying others in the rubble, officials said.
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The bombs targeted al-Khazna village, which is inhabited by a Shiite Shabak ethnic group. The village is an area disputed between Kurds and Arabs.
Source:CNN

DEARBORN, Mich. – Ford said Thursday it will build more of its popular Focus and Escape models and boost overall production of cars and trucks this year to help dealers restock depleted showrooms.
Ford Motor Co. needs to keep up with demand for its Focus compact and Escape crossover, both ranked as top sellers under the federal government’s Cash for Clunkers program. It also wants to maintain a reasonable level of cars and trucks so its dealers won’t run short on hot models later this year.
Cash for Clunkers, which kicked off last month and has revived industry sales for the moment, uses rebates of up to 4,500 to entice drivers to trade in older, gas guzzlers for more fuel-efficient vehicles. To be eligible, vehicles must have combined city/highway mileage of 18 mpg or less when they were new.
Ford’s overall vehicle production will be 2 percent higher than it expected in the third quarter. It also plans to boost its fourth-quarter output of cars and trucks by 33 percent from a year earlier.
While funding for the Clunkers program is likely to run dry by September, the company said, the additional vehicles produced in the quarter will go to replenish dealer stocks. Ford is struggling to keep up with demand after paring down inventories earlier this year.
“That should give us some time to reload before 2010 begins,” said George Pipas, Ford’s top sales analyst. “Dealers will be dealing with historically relatively low inventories for some time to come.”
Pipas said there would probably be some drop-off in sales when the program ends, although Clunkers will have succeeded in providing a small kick-start to the economy.
The automaker, which has steadily been gaining sales since GM and Chrysler took government aid and went through bankruptcy proceedings, reported a year-over-year sales increase of 2.4 percent in July, the first such jump since November of 2007.
Ford is the latest automaker to raise production.
Foreign automakers with U.S. plants are taking similar steps. Honda Motor Co. is also adding Saturday overtime shifts at its auto assembly plants in East Liberty, Ohio; Lincoln, Ala.; and Greensburg, Ind.
Toyota Motor Corp. last month began increasing production of “core” models such as the Corolla sedan — the best-selling new model for traders of clunkers — the RAV4 crossover and the Tacoma truck at its U.S. plants. And Hyundai Motor Co. is recalling more than 3,000 employees at its plant in Montgomery, Ala.
Chrysler is now adding overtime at most of its plants to respond to expected demand for its 2010 models.
GM is being more cautious. Mark LaNeve, GM’s vice president of U.S. sales said the company is doing careful analysis on whether to increase production but no final decisions have been made. Inventories are low, he said, because GM slashed production earlier in the year. But it’s unclear whether July’s sales momentum will continue through the remainder of the year.
Ford plans to build 10,000 more Focuses and Escapes this quarter. As a result, total production will rise to 495,000 vehicles in the period, up from the 485,000 expected.
The increase includes more than 6,000 Focuses, which get 35 mpg and rank as the second most popular seller under Clunkers. Boosted production also includes 3,500 Escape crossovers, among the 10 most popular cars under the program.
The Focuses will be built at the Wayne Assembly Plant in Michigan, where Ford will add Saturday shifts and weekday overtime to boost production. The Escapes will roll out of Ford’s Kansas City Assembly Plant, where employees have agreed to work two days during a planned shutdown week in August.
Ford plans to produce 570,000 vehicles in the fourth quarter.
Shares of Ford rose 13 cents, or 1.69 percent to 7.83 in afternoon trading.
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AP Auto Writer Dan Strumpf in New York contributed to this report.

WASHINGTON — When Georgia Sen. Johnny Isakson takes the floor at a meeting at Vineville United Methodist Church in Macon on Thursday, he's expected to face tough questions about why President Barack Obama credits the Republican lawmaker as the inspiration behind the Democrats' push for end-of-life counseling efforts that former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and some fellow conservatives call “death panels.”
Both the president and Palin have it all wrong, Isakson said, seeking to distance himself from potentially inflammatory associations in this season of hot-tempered town hall scuffles. Just this week, staffers of Georgia Rep. David Scott , a moderate “Blue Dog” Democrat, found a swastika painted outside his Smyrna district office after one heated town hall meeting.
A remark by the president Tuesday cast Isakson, a conservative lawmaker from a red state, as an unwitting and unwilling poster child for the administration's plea for bipartisanship in writing health care legislation.
At a town hall meeting in Portsmouth, N.H. , Obama sought to respond to what he called “misinformation” from critics of his health care efforts, particularly a provision that would allow patients to receive counseling on living wills and end-of-life care.
Palin charged last week that the provision would create “Obama's 'death panel,' ” where “his bureaucrats can decide, based on a subjective judgment of their 'level of productivity in society,' whether they are worthy of health care.”
“The irony is that actually one of the chief sponsors of this bill originally was a Republican — then House member, now senator, named Johnny Isakson , from Georgia — who very sensibly thought this is something that would expand people's options,” Obama told the Portsmouth crowd.
Not so fast, Isakson said.
“This is what happens when the president and members of Congress don't read the bills,” Isakson said in a statement issued Tuesday. “The White House and others are merely attempting to deflect attention from the intense negativity caused by their unpopular policies.”
In giving the White House a wide berth, however, Isakson, who's long advocated end-of-life counseling and assistance in drafting living wills, points to a nuanced difference between his amendment and a similar House of Representatives version.
In 2007, Isakson helped spearhead a failed attempt to provide Medicare coverage for end-of-life planning consultations as part of physical examinations. In July, during Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearings on the Senate version of the health care bill, Isakson added an amendment that says that anyone who participates in the long-term care benefit provided in the bill may use that benefit to obtain assistance in formulating his or her own living will and durable power of attorney.
Isakson says he vehemently opposes the House and Senate health care bills and played no role in drafting similar language that Democrats added to the House bill.
“My Senate amendment simply puts health care choices back in the hands of the individual and allows them to consider, if they so choose, a living will or durable power of attorney,” Isakson said. “The House provision is merely another ill-advised attempt at more government mandates, more government intrusion and more government involvement in what should be an individual choice.”
Both the House and Senate versions of the bills address the topic of advance directives, legal documents that allow people to convey their decisions about end-of-life care ahead of time. The Senate version focuses on allowing patients to decide whether to seek advice on advance directives, when to seek it and with whom.
Isakson argues that the House version expands an existing Medicare program by providing a financial incentive to doctors to give end-of-life counseling to Medicare patients every five years and requires a mandatory list of topics to discuss with patients.
Isakson and the White House diverge on this interpretation.
White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs argued Wednesday that the differences between Isakson's and the president's positions on end-of-life counseling as part of health care are minute at best.
“He's offered and co-sponsored other amendments with Senator Rockefeller in dealing with this,” Gibbs said Wednesday. Sen. Jay Rockefeller is a Democrat from West Virginia . “I think, whether this is uncomfortable or not, I think he and the president agree.”
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BERLIN – Debate is raging in Germany over whether a campaign poster using a now infamous photograph of Chancellor Angela Merkel in a deep-cut evening gown is cleverly ironic or downright tacky.
However you see it, the poster is adding some spice to what is shaping up to be an otherwise dull campaign leading up to Sept. 27 German parliamentary elections.
The poster shows a picture of Christian Democrat candidate Vera Lengsfeld, 57, in a low-cut evening gown alongside a well-known 2008 photo of Merkel, the party leader, taken at her appearance at the gala opening of Oslo’s opera house.
“We have more to offer,” reads the slogan under the revealing photos of the two women’s chests — a twist on the Christian Democrats official slogan, “We have the power.”
Lengsfeld, a former dissident in what was then East Germany, is vying for a seat in the parliament. She said on her Web page Thursday the poster had attracted more than 31,000 hits.
It has also generated plenty of comments, not all of them positive. Many have charged that it is in poor taste, others have called it a “prostitute poster” and still others have charged it was sexist.
“What is sexist about two women in evening gowns?” Lengsfeld quipped in response.
But many have praised the posters for their quirky irony.
“I have to say one thing,” wrote a Peter N. on Thursday. “Angela Merkel is the only chancellor who has become more beautiful during her tenure in office — something that cannot be said about male politicians!”
Merkel declined Thursday to comment on her image on the poster.
“It was Vera Lengsfeld’s decision and I think that is enough said,” Merkel said in an interview with German radio.
“I would rather discuss the issues on our posters.”
At the time the photo from her Oslo gown appeared in newspapers across the globe, she expressed surprise that it attracted so much attention.
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Associated Press Writer Michael Fischer contributed to this report.
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On the Net:

http://www.vera-lengsfeld.de/home.php

NEW YORK (Reuters) –
Cleveland Browns wide receiver Donte' Stallworth has been suspended without pay for the 2009 season for a manslaughter conviction after killing a pedestrian with his car, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said on Thursday.
Stallworth served 24 days of a 30-day jail sentence as part of his plea agreement on a charge of manslaughter while driving under the influence of alcohol.
Goodell, in a letter to Stallworth, said the actions of the seven-year NFL veteran violated the league's personal conduct and substance abuse policies.
“In my view, the essential facts are that you had alcohol in your system well above the legal limit, made a conscious decision to drive, and struck and killed a man,” Goodell said.
“As you recognize, this conduct and the loss of life has caused serious damage to the NFL and NFL players generally.
“Legal arguments that focus on criminal liability under Florida law do not diminish that damage or your responsibility for your conduct.”
Stallworth, 28, will be reinstated after the Super Bowl in February 2010, Goodell said.
Tests showed Stallworth had a blood alcohol level of 0.126, well above Florida's legal limit of 0.08, when he hit and killed Mario Reyes, a 59-year-old construction worker, on March 14, according to court documents.
Stallworth's sentence included two years of house arrest and eight years of probation in addition to the jail time.
“Despite a repeated emphasis on the importance of avoiding driving under the influence of alcohol, you chose to drive under circumstances where you were legally impaired,” Goodell said in the letter.
“And you did so even though safe and confidential alternatives … were available to you.
“Your conduct endangered yourself and others, leading to the death of an innocent man. The NFL and NFL players must live with the stain that you have placed on their reputations.”
(Writing by Steve Ginsburg in Washington; Editing by Sonia Oxley)

NEW YORK (Reuters) –
Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc (BRKa.N)(BRKb.N) underestimated the risks of falling stock prices to its billions of dollars of derivatives bets, yet still believes it is valuing the contracts fairly.
Berkshire revealed its error in a June 26 letter to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, one of several pieces of correspondence with the regulator about the company's annual report, and made public on Thursday.
It also agreed to SEC demands for more explanation on $1.8 billion of writedowns on stock investments, and $2.7 billion of auction-rate and other municipal debt holdings. On June 29, the SEC said it completed its review without further comment.
The correspondence shows Omaha, Nebraska-based Berkshire, which has close to 80 businesses and ended June with more than $136 billion of stocks, bonds and cash, is struggling to comply with SEC requirements to disclose enough about its finances.
This issue had surfaced in June 2008, when the regulator demanded “a more robust disclosure” of how the insurance and investment company values its derivatives. Buffett did provide some additional disclosure, in what he called “excruciating detail,” in his annual shareholder letter in February.
Berkshire, through Buffett's assistant Carrie Kizer, had no immediate comment.
The derivatives contracts are tied to four equity indexes in the United States, Europe and Japan, and are a big reason Berkshire's earnings fell for six straight quarters. That string ended in the April-to-June period as stocks rebounded.
In the June 26 letter, Berkshire's Chief Financial Officer Marc Hamburg told the SEC that last year's 30 percent to 45 percent declines in the equity indexes “are in excess of our volatility inputs.”
He nevertheless said Berkshire's expectations for stock market volatility are “reasonable” given the long-term nature of the contracts, which expire between 2018 and 2028.
Berkshire ended June with $8.23 billion of paper losses and $37.48 billion of potential liabilities on the contracts.
Buffett expects the contracts to be profitable and can invest upfront premiums as he wishes. This is one reason the world's second-richest person believes the contracts are unlike derivatives that are “financial weapons of mass destruction.”
The $1.8 billion of “other-than-temporary impair losses” in 2008 related mainly to 12 equity securities that “generally” lost 40 percent to 90 percent of what Berkshire had paid for them, Hamburg wrote on May 22. Berkshire did not write down six other securities that fell 20 percent to 40 percent, he said.
Hamburg also wrote that Berkshire had reduced its stake in auction-rate and similar municipal debt to $2.7 billion at year end from $6.5 billion six months earlier, but that the credit crisis slowed the runoff in the fourth quarter.
The auction-rate market seized up in February 2008 and has not recovered. Berkshire has said it does not plan to sell its auction-rate holdings at below face value and can hold them until they are auctioned off or redeemed.
In afternoon trading, Berkshire Class A shares rose $1,750, or 1.7 percent, to $102,750 on the New York Stock Exchange.
(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel and Lilla Zuill; editing by Andre Grenon)

CHASKA, Minn. – Missing the cut shouldn’t be a problem for Tiger Woods at this major.
Woods shared a one-stroke lead with playing partner and defending champion Padraig Harrington at the PGA Championship, at 4 under through 15 holes Thursday.
Hunter Mahan was also at 4 under, while Robert Allenby and Soren Hansen were at 3 under.
Angel Cabrera, Lucas Glover and Stewart Cink, winners of the year’s first three majors, tee off together later in the day. Phil Mickelson, who missed the British Open to tend to his wife, Amy, who has breast cancer, also plays in the afternoon.
Paul Casey, the world’s No. 3 player, withdrew because of a rib injury and was replaced by Tim Petrovic.
Woods has won at least one major in each of the last four years, but he’s running out of time this year. He made a charge Sunday at the Masters, but couldn’t hang on and finished in a tie for sixth. He wasn’t much of a factor at the U.S. Open, catching a bad break when his side of the draw was deluged by rain the first two days.
Then there was the British.
He was the heavy favorite at Turnberry, arriving fresh off a win at his AT&T National tournament. But he was mediocre on Thursday, shooting 71, and then had a 74 to miss the cut on the line. It was only the second time in his professional career that he’d missed the cut at a major, and the first time at any tournament in more than three years.
But Woods, who won the last two weekends at the Buick Open and Bridgestone, is clearly back on his game.
Much has been made of the supersized Hazeltine, at 7,674 yards the longest course in major championship history. That’s 300 yards longer than it was the last time the PGA was here, just seven years ago. Most of the new length comes on the par 5s — three are 600 yards or longer. The thinking is that No. 7, at “only” 572 yards, will be the lone par 5 that players can still reach in two.
For Woods, though, the holes may as well have bull’s-eyes on them.
He knocked his second shot on 15 — at 642 yards, the longest hole on the course — over the green and into a bunker. Harrington and Rich Beem were right next to the green in two, as well.
Woods also had a birdie on 12, a 518-yard par 4.
After making the turn at 2 under, Woods jumped into a share of the lead with journeyman Michael Bradley with birdies on Nos. 2 and 3. And No. 3? The second-longest hole, at 633 yards.
Harrington, who played with Woods on Sunday at Bridgestone, was at 2 under as they made the turn. He bogeyed his first hole on the back nine, then rebounded with three birdies in a five-hole span to match Woods.
Beem hasn’t won since the 2002 PGA here, and has just one top-10 finish this year. But if there’s a spot for him to revive his career, Hazeltine is it. He was given an honorary membership after 2002, and he’s taken full advantage of it, playing here a dozen times since then.
He made a move with birdies on the last three holes of his front nine. He nearly holed his second shot on the par-4 18th, leaving himself a tap-in. But he made a double bogey on No. 3 to drop back to even par.

PHILADELPHIA – Following stints as a sitcom star, talk show host and Broadway leading man, Tony Danza is going back to school — to teach.
Pending approval by city school officials, the actor known for his roles on “Taxi” and “Who’s the Boss?” will begin teaching at Northeast High School this fall for a reality TV show. The series, called “Teach,” is slated to air on the cable channel A&E.
“I’m so scared. You have no idea,” Danza said in a phone interview Thursday. “I can tap-dance, but I don’t know if I can make kids learn yet.”
Danza, who would be co-teaching a 10th-grade English class, said he has already boned up on the district’s curriculum, re-reading “Of Mice and Men,” “Julius Caesar,” “To Kill a Mockingbird” and “Animal Farm.”
Not everyone is impressed. Philadelphia Daily News columnist Ronnie Polaneczky called the show a way “to pimp our kids’ education to an unemployed sitcom actor who wants to kick-start his stalled career on the backs of students who’ll be distracted by cameras and microphones.”
But Mayor Michael Nutter is urging school commissioners to approve the deal. In a letter made public Wednesday, he noted students would be given opportunities they wouldn’t normally have — including production internships on the show — and the district might see a bump in teacher recruitment.
“There are too many negative images of our city’s young people and schools on television,” Nutter wrote. “I believe that ‘Teach’ represents a unique opportunity to highlight many of our city’s dedicated teachers and administrators, and the talented students they serve.”
Philadelphia has a struggling, low-income school district with about 167,000 students. Although test scores have improved seven straight years, only about half of the students are considered proficient at reading and math.
School officials will vote Aug. 19 on a resolution that would allow at least 13 episodes of “Teach” to be shot. The district would get 3,500 per episode, plus expenses, and the right to object to footage.
Officials believe the entire school community could benefit from the series, which would “put a spotlight on teaching in an urban environment,” district spokesman Fernando Gallard said.
Producers are clearly expecting approval; Danza already rented an apartment in the city’s Northern Liberties section and has been attending new-teacher orientation.
Co-executive producer Donny Jackson told school commissioners at a meeting Wednesday that the series would be “responsible television.” No decision has been made on when it will air.
“Our goal with ‘Teach’ is to highlight and celebrate the rarely seen challenges and unsung achievements of one of the greatest resources our nation has to offer: the public school teacher,” Jackson said.
The jovial Danza, who is pushing 60, would not divulge his long-ago grade-point average. He graduated from a suburban New York high school in 1968 and received a bachelor’s degree in history from the University of Dubuque in Iowa in 1972.
It was after one of his most recent acting gigs — playing Max Bialystock in “The Producers,” both on Broadway and in Las Vegas — that Danza began considering teaching. A producer friend suggested the TV show, he said.
Danza said he understands teaching will be hard work and that “the tremendous responsibility of doing it on TV is very daunting.” He noted that a pilot episode shot in a class in Yonkers, N.Y., was so intimidating it gave him “the worst flop sweat I ever had.”
“My goal is to really be a good teacher,” Danza said. “If we can be really real about it and really honest about it and put the kids first and really show what a teacher goes through, it might be something that is a positive.”

Democratic lawmakers and their aides are frustrated with the Democratic National Committee and its Organizing for America arm because a campaign to deluge state and district offices with health care overhaul supporters has left many constituents mistakenly thinking they had appointments with their representatives.
Washington Post blogger Greg Sargent first reported earlier Wednesday that California Sen. Dianne Feinstein's staff had flagged the issue for White House aides.
As it turns out, the confusion extended far beyond Feinstein's office. Democratic sources say lawmakers in both chambers and across the party's ideological spectrum say constituents — who in some cases drive long distances under the impression that they have a scheduled meeting — have been going away frustrated and with the impression that they're being stood up.
“There is some frustration about a lack of coordinated message,” said an aide to one of the senators with constituents who mistakenly expected face-to-face meetings.
In addition to Feinstein's office, similar encounters have happened in the offices of Sens. Charles E. Schumer of New York, Blanche L. Lincoln of Arkansas, Mark Warner of Virginia, Mary L. Landrieu of Louisiana, Jack Reed of Rhode Island, Daniel K. Inouye of Hawaii and others, according to Democratic sources.
It's happening to House members, too.
On Tuesday, DNC spokesman Hari Sevugan told Notepad the issue was “not a widespread problem” and characterized contact between lawmakers and the DNC, which is the president's political operation, as “a couple of questions.”
By Wednesday, the scope had grown considerably. Sevugan said it was understandable given the size of the effort that a few people would misinterpret the instructions.
“We asked people to visit their representatives to thank them for their work and let them know that they had the support of their constituents in backing health insurance reform this year,” Sevugan said Wednesday night. “Of the tens of thousands of people who signed up, a small number may have mistakenly thought they had an appointment. In an effort to serve their constituents, some offices called to clarify that we were advising folks that these were visits and not meetings. And we have reiterated that is the case in all our communications.”
Here's how the sign-up system works and why it may have been unclear:
On Obama's political homepage supporters are asked to sign up to visit the state and district offices of House members and senators this week, picking specific times so that a steady stream of volunteers can express their backing for Obama's health agenda throughout the day. There are any number of suggestions that significant, planned interaction with staff or lawmakers is likely.
” All this week, OFA members like you will be stopping by local congressional offices to show our support for insurance reform. You can have a quick conversation with the local staff, tell your personal story, or even just drop off a customized flyer and say that reform matters to you.
>
> “We'll provide everything you need: the address, phone number, and open hours for the office, information about how the health care crisis affects your state for you to drop off (with the option of adding your personal story), and a step-by-step guide for your visit.”
After clicking on a link, each volunteer can enter his or her ZIP code into an engine that spits out the district and state offices of his or her two senators and House member.
Volunteers are asked for) their names, e-mail addresses, telephone numbers and the days and times this week at which they want to show up at the lawmaker's office. On this page, it is stated clearly for those who want to read the instructions that “even though you won't have any meeting scheduled with office staff, we want to have someone at each office throughout the day all this week.”
But not everyone read or remembered that cautionary note as they filled in the online form.
When users provide their information, they get an e-mail confirming the time and location of the office visit (which many volunteers have taken to mean appointment). OFA offers an office-visit tipsheet for volunteers, but they have to click on an embedded link to learn for certain that they don't have an actual appointment to meet with staff.
“We put together a step-by-step guide you can use to plan your visit and maximize your impact. You can download the guide and additional information to drop off at the office here:
>
> DOWNLOAD YOUR OFFICE VISIT GUIDE
>
“These visits are extremely important. Representatives are feeling the heat from special interests and need to hear from their constituents how important health insurance reform is to them.
>
“For our plan to work, we need everyone who's signed up to stop by their Representative's office during the time they agreed to go. It's critical that they hear from as many people in their district as possible. If for some reason you can't make your shift, let us know, but make sure you drop by sometime during office hours this week.
>
> Thank you for standing up once again to fight for the change our country needs.”
The guide itself — just one click away — implies that no appointment has been made.
> “Call Ahead. Some offices may change their office hours with short notice, so just call ahead to confirm that the office will be open when you intend to visit. There's no need to schedule an appointment unless you'd like to have a longer conversation with the staff.”
However, it also tells volunteers that they may be able to meet with caseworkers or the office expert on health care (even though most of those are based in the Washington legislative offices).

MAZAR-I-SHARIF, Afghanistan (Reuters) –
Afghan President Hamid Karzai's main rival drew a huge crowd to a rally on Thursday but violence still loomed as a threat, with a former leader escaping an assassination attempt a week before the vote.
Tens of thousands of supporters greeted Abdullah Abdullah, Karzai's former foreign minister, in his stronghold in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif, the biggest rally so far before the August 20 poll.
“Don't think that this is finished. Don't listen to what others might tell you, this election is very close,” Abdullah told supporters at the blue-tiled Shrine of Hazrat Ali.
Karzai needs to win more than 50 percent of the vote to avoid a run-off against the second-placed challenger. A U.S.-funded poll by a little-known Washington firm published earlier this week gave Karzai 45 percent to Abdullah's 25.
The Taliban have vowed to disrupt the election and violence, especially in Karzai's ethnic Pashtun power base in the south, also looms as another threat to the man who has ruled Afghanistan since 2001 and won the country's first direct election in 2004.
Poor voter turnout over security fears, especially in the south, could eat into Karzai's support base and increase the chances of a second round run-off vote in October, when other challengers in the 36-strong field could unite behind Karzai.
Abdullah is half Pashtun, Afghanistan's largest ethnic group, but draws most of his support from ethnic Tajiks.
The crowd in Mazar-i-Sharif, about 300 kms (190 miles) north of Kabul, swelled to about 50,000 supporters wearing blue caps and T-shirts bearing Abdullah's lightly bearded image as his convoy drove to the shrine.
Some youngsters and the elderly were trampled in the crush.
TALIBAN'S REACH SPREADS
Violence this year had already reached its worst levels since the Taliban were ousted by U.S.-backed Afghan forces in 2001 and escalated further after U.S. and British forces launched major operations in southern Helmand province last month.
The offensives in Helmand, Afghanistan's most violent province, were the first under U.S. President Barack Obama's new regional strategy to defeat the Taliban and its Islamist allies and stabilize Afghanistan.
But the Taliban have hit back, with their reach spreading out of their heartland in the south and east into the previously more peaceful north and west, and even to the outskirts of Kabul.
Former Afghan President Burhanuddin Rabbani, one of Abdullah's main supporters, survived a Taliban ambush on Thursday in northern Kunduz province, where militants clashed with police for a second straight night. Rabbani was not hurt.
Mohammad Qahim Fahim, one of Karzai's running mates, also survived an assassination attempt in Kunduz last month.
Fahim was the military leader of the U.S.-backed guerrillas known as the Northern Alliance that helped topple the Taliban, with Rabbani the movement's political chief.
Rabbani was traveling on a Kunduz road when the Taliban ambushed him with rocket-propelled grenades and gunfire, said Ali Abad district chief Habibullah Mohtashim.
Rabbani and others in the convoy were unhurt. Three Taliban fighters were killed in the ensuing clash with Rabbani's bodyguards, Mohtashim said. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack.
In another part of Kunduz, three policemen and eight insurgents died in gunbattles fought for a second straight night, police said. On Wednesday, insurgents killed a district police chief and two others, triggering battles that raged until dawn.
In Helmand, a van drove over a roadside bomb, killing at least nine people, the Interior Ministry said. Local police put the death toll at 11.
Helmand was chosen as the starting point of Obama's new strategy in part because it is Afghanistan's biggest source of the opium poppies that largely fund the insurgency.
In neighboring Kandahar, another big opium center, Karzai's half-brother Ahmad Wali Karzai denied a report in German magazine Stern that British special forces last month found several tons of opium on land he owned, saying it was an attempt to discredit the president before the poll.
“This is the time of the election. They are just doing this to hurt the president, that's all,” Ahmad Wali Karzai told Reuters by telephone.
U.S., British and other allied forces have suffered their worst losses of the 8-year-old war with more than 100 killed since the operations to drive the Taliban out of populated areas in Helmand were launched on July 2.
Some 30,000 additional U.S. troops have arrived in Afghanistan this year, bringing the total Western force to more than 100,000 for the first time, including 62,000 Americans.
(Additional reporting by Mohammad Hamid in Kunduz and Peter Graff and Sayed Salahuddin in Kabul; Writing by Paul Tait; Editing by Jon Hemming)
(For more Reuters coverage of Afghanistan and Pakistan, see: http://www.reuters.com/news/globalcoverage/afghanistanpakistan)