UPI NewsTrack TopNews August 7, 2008

Guantanamo detainee gets 5 1/2 years

GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba, Aug. 7 (UPI) -- Convicted terror supporter Salim Ahmed Hamdan Thursday received a 5 1/2 year sentence, far short of the 30 years-to-life sentence prosecutors wanted.

Hamdan's sentence includes the five years and one month he has already served, making him eligible for release in five months, The Miami Herald reported.

Hamdan was captured in Afghanistan in 2001 with two surface-to-air missiles in his car. He has been held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, since 2002.

Prosecutor John Murphy characterized Hamdan, a Yemenite, as an al-Qaida operative and key player in the international terror infrastructure.

His conviction Wednesday followed a two-week trial during which prosecutors tried to paint him as an integral part of al-Qaida but the defense insisted he was merely a civilian employee and was being made a scapegoat.

CBS poll: Obama maintains lead

NEW YORK, Aug. 7 (UPI) -- Most U.S. voters asked see John McCain more likely to be an effective commander in chief than Barack Obama, but still favor Obama, a CBS News poll indicated.

The poll found 45 percent of voters supported Obama, D-Ill., and 39 percent backed McCain, R-Ariz., unchanged from a New York Times/CBS News poll conducted last month.

Seven in 10 voters who support a candidate said they had made up their mind, while 3 in 10 said it was still too early to say for sure.

Obama's overseas trip last month did not enhance U.S. voter perceptions of his effectiveness as a commander in chief, CBS News said.

Twenty percent of those surveyed said Obama was "very likely" to be an effective commander in chief, down 4 percentage points from last month. McCain was seen as very likely to be effective by 38 percent of respondents, down 8 points from last month.

Seventy-seven percent of voters also said the next president should focus more on domestic policy than foreign policy, with 36 percent citing the economy and jobs as their top concerns, eclipsing the war in Iraq at 17 percent, the poll indicated.

The telephone survey was conducted July 31 to Aug. 5 among 906 registered voters and had a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

Schwarzenegger to veto all bills

SACRAMENTO, Aug. 7 (UPI) -- California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said he would veto all bills sent to him until lawmakers closed the state's $15.2 billion deficit and passed a budget.

"There is no excuse for the Legislature's failure to reach a compromise and to send me a budget," the governor said at a news conference, more than a month into the new fiscal year.

"Until the Legislature passes a budget that I can sign, I will not sign any bills that reach my desk," he said.

California is the only state with a fiscal year beginning July 1 that remains without a budget.

Thirteen bills are on the governor's desk now, all of which originated in the state Senate. Senate leaders said they would withdraw them before they could be vetoed. The bills -- eight written by Republicans like Schwarzenegger -- could be resubmitted before the Aug. 31 end of the legislative session, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Legislators are going without their salaries, but will get back pay when a budget is in place. The governor said Wednesday that state law should be changed to force lawmakers to forfeit that money.

California Controller John Chiang said the state had enough money to pay its bills into October, based on new, better-than-expected estimates of cash flow in the state treasury.

Administration officials say they doubted Democrat Chiang's assurances accurately reflected the state's cash situation.

Edwards urged to clear up affair report

RALEIGH, N.C., Aug. 7 (UPI) -- Fellow Democrats are reportedly advising John Edwards to publicly address allegations of an extra-marital affair or risk losing the national spotlight.

The National Enquirer has alleged in a series of stories that the former U.S. senator form North Carolina had an affair with a campaign worker and fathered her baby.

With the Democratic National Convention two weeks away, Edwards is being told that if he fails to clear up the story in short order, he risks being shunted aside by party leaders and not being asked to address the convention, The Charlotte (N.C.) Observer said.

"If there is not an explanation that's satisfactory, acceptable and meets high moral standards, the answer is 'no,' he would not be a prime candidate to make a major address to the convention," Don Fowler, a former DNC chairman, told the Observer.

Democrats gather in Denver on Aug. 25 and Edwards, as the 2004 vice presidential nominee and a presidential candidate this year, ordinarily would be locked in as a speaker, the newspaper said.

Detroit mayor jailed for bond violation

DETROIT, Aug. 7 (UPI) -- A judge Thursday ordered embattled Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick jailed for violating the terms of his bond by traveling to Canada on city business.

"At the beginning of this case you were given every privilege that could be given to you with regard to travel," District Court Judge Robert Giles said, adding that he later imposed restrictions after learning Kilpatrick had been abusing his privileges.

Kilpatrick apologized to Giles Thursday for traveling to neighboring Windsor, Ontario, without notifying the court.

"I apologize to the citizens as well, but mostly to you," Kilpatrick said. "It was never an affront to you," he said of the trip.

Assistant county Prosecutor Robert Moran said the mayor's pleas rang hollow.

"Now that he's caught, he's taking responsibility ... he thought he got away with it," Moran told the Detroit Free Press.

Court officials said Kilpatrick would remain in jail either until he posted $75,000 bond or his lawyers persuaded a Circuit Court judge to overturn Giles' decision.

The legal proceedings against Kilpatrick stem from eight felonies filed against him in March, ranging from conspiracy and perjury to misconduct in office and obstruction of justice.

His incarceration left no clear line of authority in who was running Detroit because the city's deputy mayor slot was vacant, the Free Press said.

Bush dad: China's too important to us

BEIJING, Aug. 7 (UPI) -- Former U.S. President George H.W. Bush said it would have been a mistake for his son to skip the Beijing Summer Olympics to protest China's human rights policy.

In an interview broadcast Thursday on NBC's "The Today Show," the elder Bush said he thinks China has been judged unfairly in recent weeks. His remarks came just hours after his son took China to task for human rights violations in a speech in Thailand. They also followed months of protests in and about Tibet.

"We've got a lot of things in common with China," said the former president, who was a former U.S. envoy to China during the Ford administration. "We view them as a very important country who's making an imprint and will make a bigger one as time goes by.

The U.S.-China relationship, in my viewpoint, is about the most important bilateral relationship we have. And for the president to insult China by not coming here would have been far worse."

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