BOISE, Idaho — Under fire from leaders of his own party, Idaho Sen. Larry Craig on Tuesday the only thing he had done wrong was to plead guilty after a police complaint of lewd conduct in a men's room. He declared, "I am not gay. I never have been gay."

"I did nothing wrong at the Minneapolis airport," he said at a news conference with his wife, Suzanne, at his side.

Craig's defiant stance came as Senate Republican leaders in Washington called for an ethics committee review into his involvement in a police sting operation this summer in the airport men's room.

"In the meantime, the leadership is examining other aspects of the case to see if additional action is required," Sen. Mitch McConnell and other top GOP lawmakers said in a written statement.

A private group, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics, also filed a complaint with the ethics committee seeking an investigation into whether Craig violated Senate rules by engaging in disorderly conduct.

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SHIITE GUNMEN CLASH IN KARBALA

BAGHDAD — Fighting erupted Tuesday between rival Shiite militias in Karbala during a religious festival, claiming 51 lives and forcing officials to abort the celebrations and order up to 1 million Shiite pilgrims to leave the southern city.

Security officials said Mahdi Army gunmen loyal to radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr fired on guards around two shrines protected by the Badr Brigade, the armed wing of the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council.

Residents of Karbala contacted by telephone said snipers were firing on Iraqi security forces from rooftops. Explosions and the rattle of automatic weapons fire could be heard during telephone calls to reporters in the city 50 miles south of Baghdad.

In addition to the deaths, security officials said at least 247 people were wounded, including women and children.

The clashes appeared to be part of a power struggle among Shiite groups in the sect's southern Iraqi heartland, which includes the bulk of the country's vast oil wealth.

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TURKISH FOREIGN MINISTER WINS PRESIDENCY

ISTANBUL, Turkey — A devout Muslim won Turkey's presidency Tuesday after months of confrontation with the secular establishment, promising to be impartial and praising the idea that Islam and the state should be separate.

Still, in a sign that tension could lie ahead, top generals did not attend the swearing-in ceremony in parliament of Abdullah Gul, their new president and commander in chief. Local media interpreted their absence as a protest against the 56-year-old Gul, the former foreign minister in Turkey's Islamic-oriented government.

Gul, who has tried to engineer Turkey's entry into the European Union with sweeping reforms, received a majority of 339 votes in a parliamentary ballot in the capital, Ankara. The secular opposition had thwarted Gul's earlier bid for the presidency, but his triumph this time was assured by a ruling party that won a second term in general elections last month.

The burly and affable new president was careful to reach out to the many Turks who suspect he has a secret Islamic agenda.

"In democracy, which is a system of rights and liberties, secularism, one of the core principles of our republic, is as much a model that underpins freedom for different lifestyles as it is a rule of social harmony," Gul said. "I will continue my path, in a transparent and fully impartial manner, embracing all my citizens."

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CHINESE MINERS SURVIVED BY EATING COAL

BEIJING — The Meng brothers felt pretty good about their chances of making it out of the collapsed coal mine, until the sound of digging from outside stopped.

With no food or water, they were forced to eat coal and drink their own urine from discarded bottles. When they were too exhausted to try to dig themselves out, they slept huddled together in the cold and dark.

Meng Xianchen and Meng Xianyou finally clawed their way to the surface after nearly six days underground — a rare tale of survival in China's coal mines, the world's deadliest, where an average of 13 workers are killed every day.

The two even managed to crack jokes about their wives remarrying once they were dead after they emerged Friday from the illegal mine — which had no oxygen, ventilation or emergency exits — in Beijing's Fangshan district.

"At the beginning, our cell phone still had power so there was a little bit of light. Two days later, the battery ran out so we could only feel with our fingers and listen," the brothers told the state-run Beijing News in a report published Tuesday.

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U.S. POVERTY RATE FINALLY SEES DECLINE

WASHINGTON — Five years into a national economic recovery, the share of Americans living in poverty finally dropped.

The nation's poverty rate was 12.3 percent in 2006, down from 12.6 percent a year before, the Census Bureau reported Tuesday. Median household income increased slightly, to $48,200.

The numbers provided some good economic news at a time when financial markets have been rattled by a slumping housing market. But they were tempered by an increase in the number of Americans without health insurance, from 44.8 million in 2005 to 47 million last year.

Some advocates said the numbers were evidence of an uneven economy that is leaving many Americans behind.

"Too many Americans find themselves still stuck in the deep hole dug by economic policies favoring the wealthy," House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles B. Rangel, D-N.Y., said in a statement. "Income remains lower than it was six years ago, poverty is higher, and the number of Americans without health insurance continues to grow."

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ARMY REPORT FAULTS TRAINERS IN SOLDIER'S DEATH

FORT HOOD, Texas — Army Sgt. Lawrence Sprader set out under the searing Texas sun on a map-reading exercise, carrying a cell phone in case he got hopelessly lost or fell ill in the hills and ravines of Fort Hood. And still he didn't make it out alive.

For more than an hour, a disoriented and dehydrated Sprader used his phone to repeatedly call superiors and tell them of his plight before the 24-year-old Iraq war veteran finally collapsed in the thick underbrush, where his decomposing body was discovered four days later.

How could that have happened?

A 1,700-page Army investigative report, obtained by The Associated Press through the Freedom of Information Act, details a multitude of procedural violations, judgment errors and alleged acts of misconduct by Army trainers that not only contributed to Sprader's death but put some 300 other soldiers in danger that day, including about two dozen who required medical attention.

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DOW, NASDAQ FINISH LOWER

NEW YORK — Volatility returned to Wall Street Tuesday, sending stocks plunging as investors grew more uneasy about the economy and whether the Federal Reserve will take the steps needed to prevent credit market problems from spreading further. The Dow Jones industrials fell 280 points.

The stock market found little to assuage concerns in minutes from the Fed's last meeting, released during afternoon trading. The major indexes' losses steepened after investors parsed the minutes for signs of a possible cut in interest rates.

There had been some hope on the Street that Fed policymakers might have sent a stronger signal they were more willing to cut interest rates to help calm turbulent market conditions. But in the minutes from the Federal Open Market Committee's Aug. 7 meeting, while the central bank noted the turmoil in the markets and said, "to the extent such a development could have an adverse effect on growth prospects, might require a policy response," it didn't discuss a cut in the benchmark federal funds rate that Wall Street has wanted.

The meeting predated a number of actions taken by the central bank to try to alleviate market volatility, including the Aug. 17 lowering of the discount rate, the interest the Fed charges banks to borrow money. Wall Street, despite a calmer week after that step, seems to be growing more dissatisfied because the Fed has not yet lowered the funds rate — and with a return to the intense volatility seen earlier this month may be trying to force the Fed to act.

"Investors are getting whipped side-to-side because their expectations, which are changing almost on a daily basis, aren't being met," said Chris Johnson, chief investment strategist at Johnson Research Group. "We've gone from the roof is on fire to the Fed is riding in on a white horse, and what we're seeing now is a reality check."

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JIM CARREY FILMS AWARENESS VIDEO

NEW YORK — Jim Carrey has made a straight-to-YouTube video. And it's not funny at all.

The 45-year-old actor-comedian — in rare serious mode — appears in a new public service announcement on behalf of the Human Rights Action Center and the U.S. Campaign for Burma. The goal: To free Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been confined by the Burmese government for 11 of the last 17 years.

"Even though she's compared to a modern-day Gandhi or Nelson Mandela, most people in America still don't know about Aung San," Carrey says in the filmed message, posted Tuesday on YouTube.

"And let's face it: the name's a little difficult to remember. Here's how I did it: Aung San sounds a lot like `unsung,' as in unsung hero. Aung San Suu Kyi is truly an unsung hero."

Suu Kyi, who is under long-term house arrest in the city of Yangon, received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 for her nonviolent efforts to bring down the oppressive military regime that rules over the Southeast Asian country.

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A&P FIRES, SUES BROTHERS FOR PARODY

NEWARK, N.J. — Two New Jersey brothers sacked from their grocery jobs for filming a gangsta rap parody at the store now face a defamation lawsuit from their former employer.

A&P claims the video by Mark and Matthew D'Avella motivated at least one "disgusted and distressed" customer to boycott the supermarket because of the video's "repulsive acts."

The Montvale-based chain seeks at least $1 million in compensation and demands that the D'Avellas remove "Produce Paradise" from the Internet. On Tuesday it remained on YouTube and the brothers' Web site.

The company asserts that the video "contains numerous false and defamatory statements that are injurious to the reputation and livelihood of A&P." It's also suing for trademark infringement, charging that an A&P logo can be seen on a ballcap shown in the video, though the D'Avellas contend the resolution is too fuzzy to make it out.