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Updated at 1:41 p.m., Wednesday, August 29, 2007

National & world news highlights

Associated Press

GOP colleagues urge senator to resign in bathroom arrest

WASHINGTON — Idaho Sen. Larry Craig's political support eroded by the hour on Wednesday as fellow Republicans in Congress called for him to resign and party leaders pushed him unceremoniously from senior committee posts.

The White House expressed disappointment, too — and nary a word of support for the 62-year-old lawmaker, who pleaded guilty earlier this month to a charge stemming from an undercover police operation in an airport men's room.

Craig "represents the Republican Party," said Rep. Pete Hoekstra of Michigan, the first in a steadily lengthening list of GOP members of Congress to urge a resignation.

Craig said Tuesday he had committed no wrongdoing and shouldn't have pleaded guilty. He said he had only recently retained a lawyer to advise him in the case that threatens to write an ignominious end to a lifetime in public office.

Sens. John McCain of Arizona and Norm Coleman of Minnesota joined Hoekstra in urging Craig to step down, as did Rep. Jeff Miller of Florida.

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New Orleans marks 2nd anniversary of Hurricane Katrina

NEW ORLEANS — Prayers, protests and a lingering disgust with the government's response to Hurricane Katrina marked the disaster's second anniversary Wednesday, with a presidential visit doing little to mollify those still displaced by the storm.

Clarence Russ, 64, took a dim view of politicians' promises as he tried to put the finishing touches on his repaired home in the city's devastated Lower 9th Ward.

"There was supposed to be all this money, but where'd it go? None of us got any," said Russ, whose house was the only restored home on an otherwise desolate block.

Not far away, President Bush visited a school. "We're still paying attention. We understand," he said before heading to the Mississippi Gulf Coast, also devastated by Katrina.

But Gina Martin, who is still living in Houston after Katrina destroyed her New Orleans home, was unconvinced. "Bush was down here again making more promises he isn't going to keep. The government has failed all of us. It's got to stop," she said.

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Iraqi cleric's order means attacks halted on U.S. forces

BAGHDAD — Anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr took his Mahdi Army out of action for up to six months Wednesday to overhaul the feared Shiite militia — a stunning move that underscores the growing struggles against breakaway factions with suspected ties to Iran.

A spokesman for al-Sadr said the order also means the Mahdi Army would suspend attacks against U.S. and other coalition forces.

But it's unclear how much influence al-Sadr still wields over Shiite groups blamed for waves of attacks, including powerful roadside bombs that remain the chief killer of U.S. troops. American officials, meanwhile, reacted with skepticism and urged al-Sadr to show tangible steps to rein in his fighters.

The announcement by al-Sadr — who formed the militia after the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003 — appeared aimed at distancing himself from suspected Iranian-backed Mahdi factions he can no longer control. It also sought to deflect criticism for his followers' perceived role in this week's fighting in Karbala that aborted a Shiite religious festival and claimed more than 50 lives.

Thousands of pilgrims fled in terror as fighting erupted Tuesday between Mahdi Army members and security forces linked a rival Shiite militia, the Badr Brigade.

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Ex-security guard erroneously linked to 1996 Olympic bombing dies

ATLANTA — Richard Jewell, the former security guard who was erroneously linked to the 1996 Olympic bombing, died Wednesday, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation said.

Jewell, 44, was found dead in his west Georgia home, GBI spokesman John Bankhead said.

"There's no suspicion whatsoever of any type of foul play. He had been at home sick since the end of February with kidney problems," said Meriwether County Coroner Johnny Worley.

The GBI planned to do an autopsy Thursday, Bankhead said.

Lin Wood, Jewell's longtime attorney, said in an e-mail to The Associated Press that he was "devastated" by the news. He declined to comment further, saying he was in New York trying to get back to Atlanta.

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Greece fires contained; authorities focus on relief effort

ATHENS, Greece — Winds relented throughout fire-ravaged Greece, enabling thousands of firefighters Wednesday to tame a rash of fires that killed at least 64 people and obliterated huge swaths of fields and forests over six days.

The fire department said all major blazes were receding, but authorities remained on high alert ahead of a new heat wave forecast for week's end.

In the southern Peloponnese peninsula, where 57 of the deaths were recorded, the fronts were contained and firefighters — backed by more than 20 water-dropping aircraft — were moving in to extinguish lingering blazes.

"The fires are no longer spreading," fire department spokesman Nikos Diamandis said. "We had a drop in the wind which we exploited." Temperatures also dipped to about 82 degrees in the region, compared to nearly 106 degrees when the fires erupted last week.

But late Wednesday, authorities evacuated five villages near the mountain town of Karytaina in the central Peloponnese after winds rekindled a blaze. The fire department said Karytaina, site of a medieval castle, was not in immediate danger.

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Military jury reprimands only officer charged in Abu Ghraib scandal

FORT MEADE, Md. — A military jury recommended a reprimand Wednesday for the only officer court-martialed in the Abu Ghraib abuse scandal, sparing him any prison time for disobeying an order to keep silent about the abuse investigation.

The jury had acquitted Army Lt. Col. Steven L. Jordan a day earlier of all three charges directly related to the mistreatment of detainees at the U.S.-run prison in Iraq.

Those acquittals absolved Jordan, 51, of responsibility for the actions of 11 lower-ranking soldiers who have already been convicted for their roles at Abu Ghraib. The allegations surfaced after the release of photographs showing U.S. soldiers grinning alongside naked detainees held in humiliating positions at the prison.

Jordan was convicted of a single charge: disobeying a general's order not to discuss the abuse investigation. The defense conceded that Jordan e-mailed a number of soldiers about the investigation after meeting with Maj. Gen. George Fay in spring 2004.

"We believe that for Col. Jordan, the vindication arises out of the 'not guilty' findings on the Abu Ghraib abuse charges, and we view that as very much a victory," said Maj. Kris Poppe, his attorney. Jordan could have been sentenced to up to five years in prison, though prosecutors had recommended a reprimand and a fine of one month's pay, about $7,400.

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Legless man, buddy cited for drunk driving in Wisconsin

ABBOTSFORD, Wis. — Police cited a legless man and his friend with drunken driving — the third and second such arrests for the men, respectively — saying the disabled man was at the wheel while his friend worked the pedals.

Harvey J. Miller, 43, was steering the 1985 Chevrolet truck and Edwin H. Marzinske, 55, was operating the pedals when they were pulled over Aug. 18, according to a police report.

Miller, who was sitting in the driver's seat, told officers he had too much to drink, but argued he wasn't really driving since Marzinske was on the brake and the accelerator, police said. Marzinske was arrested on the same charge.

Miller received a citation for a third drunken driving offense, and Marzinske his second. Both also were cited for driving after their licenses had been revoked.

The two do not have listed phone numbers, and police and court officials could not immediately say Wednesday whether they had attorneys.

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Amy Winehouse cancels U.S. appearances

NEW YORK — Amy Winehouse won't be performing at the MTV Video Music Awards, or anywhere else in the United States anytime soon.

The British retro-soul singer was to perform at the Sept. 9 event in Las Vegas, but her U.S. record label, Universal Republic Records, said Wednesday that all U.S. appearances have been canceled "in a continued effort to support Amy Winehouse's well-being."

It is the latest setback for the gifted but troubled 23-year-old. Last week, she was photographed with her husband, Blake Fielder-Civil, bloodied and bruised after an apparent fight in a London hotel.

The gossip Web site perezhilton.com has said it received text messages from Winehouse denying Fielder-Civil was responsible for her injuries, saying she cut herself after he found her about to do drugs.

She canceled a series of British concerts and postponed a tour of the U.S. and Canada after British media reported that she was in and out of rehab recently.