THE GIPPER IS GONE at 93

WASHINGTON (AP) - Ronald Reagan, the cheerful crusader who devoted his presidency to winning the Cold War, trying to scale back government and making people believe it was "morning again in America," died Saturday after a long twilight struggle with Alzheimer's disease. He was 93.

Reagan's body was expected to be taken to his presidential library and museum in Simi Valley, Calif., and then flown to Washington to lie in state in the Capitol Rotunda. His funeral was expected to be at the National Cathedral, an event likely to draw world leaders. The body was to be returned to California for a sunset burial at his library.

The family had turned to making funeral arrangements, a friend of the family said.

In Paris, White House spokeswoman Claire Buchan said President Bush was notified of Reagan's death in Paris at about 4:10 p.m., EDT, by White House chief of staff Andy Card, who learned of the death from Fred Ryan, Reagan's former California chief of staff.

The United States flag over the White House was lowered to half staff within an hour.

The White House was told his health had taken a turn for the worse in the last several days.

The president planned to participate in D-Day ceremonies in Normandy on Sunday and then fly back to the United States for an international economic summit in Georgia.

She said it was not known at this point whether Bush would change his travel plans because of Reagan's death.

Five years after leaving office, the nation's 40th president told the world in November 1994 that he had been diagnosed with the early stages of Alzheimer's, an incurable illness that destroys brain cells. He said he had begun "the journey that will lead me into the sunset of my life."

Reagan lived longer than any U.S. president, spending his last decade in the shrouded seclusion wrought by his disease, tended by his wife, Nancy, whom he called Mommy, and the select few closest to him. Now, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton are the surviving ex-presidents.

Although fiercely protective of Reagan's privacy, the former first lady let people know his mental condition had deteriorated terribly. Last month, she said: "Ronnie's long journey has finally taken him to a distant place where I can no longer reach him."

Reagan's oldest daughter, Maureen, from his first marriage, died in August 2001 at age 60 from cancer. Three other children survive: Michael, from his first marriage, and Patti Davis and Ron from his second.

Over two terms, from 1981 to 1989, Reagan reshaped the Republican Party in his conservative image, fixed his eye on the demise of the Soviet Union and Eastern European communism and tripled the national debt to $3 trillion in his single-minded competition with the other superpower.

Taking office at age 69, Reagan had already lived a career outside Washington, one that spanned work as a radio sports announcer, an actor, a television performer, a spokesman for the General Electric Co., and a two-term governor of California.

At the time of his retirement, his very name suggested a populist brand of conservative politics that still inspires the Republican Party.

He declared at the outset, "Government is not the solution, it's the problem," although reducing that government proved harder to do in reality than in his rhetoric.

Even so, he challenged the status quo on welfare and other programs that had put government on a growth spurt ever since Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal strengthened the federal presence in the lives of average Americans.

In foreign affairs, he built the arsenals of war while seeking and achieving arms control agreements with the Soviet Union.

In his second term, Reagan was dogged by revelations that he authorized secret arms sales to Iran while seeking Iranian aid to gain release of American hostages held in Lebanon. Some of the money was used to aid rebels fighting the leftist government of Nicaragua.

Despite the ensuing investigations, he left office in 1989 with the highest popularity rating of any retiring president in the history of modern-day public opinion polls.

That reflected, in part, his uncommon ability as a communicator and his way of connecting with ordinary Americans, even as his policies infuriated the left and as his simple verities made him the butt of jokes. "Morning again in America" became his re-election campaign mantra in 1984, but typified his appeal to patriotism through both terms.

At 69, Reagan was the oldest man ever elected president when he was chosen on Nov. 4, 1980, by an unexpectedly large margin over incumbent Democrat Jimmy Carter.

Near-tragedy struck on his 70th day as president. On March 30, 1981, Reagan was leaving a Washington hotel after addressing labor leaders when a young drifter, John Hinckley, fired six shots at him. A bullet lodged an inch from Reagan's heart, but he recovered.

Four years later he was re-elected by an even greater margin, carrying 49 of the 50 states in defeating Democrat Walter F. Mondale, Carter's vice president.


posted by Frodgie at 6:11 PM

 

Reagan's Children Gather at His Bedside

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Ronald Reagan's children gathered at his bedside Saturday as word reached the White House that the health of the 93-year-old former president had seriously deteriorated.

White House officials who checked on the former president's health Friday were told "the time is getting close," a person familiar with Reagan's health, who did not want to be identified, told The Associated Press. "It could be weeks. It could be months."

The Reagan family's chief of staff, Joanne Drake, said his children from his marriage to Nancy, Patti Davis and Ron, were at the Reagan home in the Bel-Air area of Los Angeles.

"This is it," Nancy Reagan told CBS News correspondent Mike Wallace.

(AP) Journalists stand by outside the front gate of the home of former President Ronald Reagan on Saint...

"I said is it conceivable that it could happen this weekend? She said, yes, yes," Wallace told CBS radio.

Reagan, who has lived longer than any other U.S. president, has been out of the public eye since disclosing a decade ago that he had Alzheimer's disease.


posted by Frodgie at 3:49 PM

 

Former President's Health Said to Decline

PARIS — Former President Ronald Reagan's (search) health has deteriorated, the White House has been told.

The White House (search) was informed that the 93-year-old former president's health had changed significantly in the past several days, a person familiar with Reagan's condition said Saturday.

Reagan has been out of the public eye since disclosing a decade ago that he had Alzheimer's disease (search). He has lived longer than any other U.S. president.

Rumors about Reagan's health arose Friday and his office in California said it had received more than 100 calls. A spokeswoman for the former president said Reagan's condition will not improve, but that it has not deteriorated.

White House officials also checked on Reagan's health Friday. The White House was told his health has deteriorated and "the time is getting close," according to the person familiar with Reagan's health, who did not want to be identified out of sensitivity to the family.

Reagan's condition has changed significantly for the worse in the past several days, this person said.

News about Reagan's health came as President Bush arrived in the French capital, the second stop on his trip to Europe.


posted by Frodgie at 9:16 AM

 

U.S. Troops Clash With Militants in Baghdad

BAGHDAD, Iraq — Shiite insurgents fired mortar rounds and rocket-propelled grenades at a police station housing U.S. troops, touching off firefights early Friday in a Baghdad (search) neighborhood that is a stronghold of radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr (search).

The fighting came after U.S. troops tried to raid homes and arrest militiamen, said Adnan al-Safi (search), an official in al-Sadr's office. A bakery in front of the police station was set on fire, but no other damage was reported.

Shiite negotiators have been trying to mediate an end to the fighting in Iraq's south, demanding Thursday that American troops remain in their positions and stop arrests in the Najaf (search) and Kufa (search) area to encourage a local cease-fire.

In return, al-Sadr's militia would continue withdrawing fighters from the two cities, a delegation statement said. The mediators, including politician Ahmad Chalabi, proposed that Shiite monitors ensure compliance with the truce and urged the U.S.-appointed Najaf provincial governor to put Iraqi police on the streets to maintain order.

There was no response to the call from U.S. officials. Al-Sadr's spokesman, Qais al-Khazali, said the withdrawal of militiamen from the streets would be complete within "a day or two."


posted by Frodgie at 6:46 AM

 

Bush Meets With Pope at Start of Italy Visit

ROME — President Bush and Pope John Paul II (search) were meeting for talks in Vatican City Friday morning at the start of the president's 36-hour tour of Italy.

The closed-door talks between the president and the Pope, who has expressed fervent opposition to the war in Iraq, were to focus on Iraq and the conflict in the Middle East.

The president was eager to talk to the pontiff about religious freedom in China and elsewhere, combatting AIDS, and international assistance issues, a senior administration official said Thursday. And Bush wanted to assure the pope that the United States was vigorously investigating the prisoner abuses at Abu Ghraib prison (search) near Baghdad.

"I will tell his Holy Father I appreciate his positions — he is a great man," Bush said in an interview with Italian television before leaving Washington. "And that I look forward to working with the Iraqis to put in place the conditions so that human rights prevail, something that didn't happen under Saddam Hussein."

Bush also said he hoped Europeans and the United States were pulling closer together as Iraqis prepared to assume political control of their country at the end of this month.

Bush started his 36-hour tour with a brief meeting with Carlo Azeglio Ciampi (search), who holds the largely ceremonial title of Italian president. Later in the evening he was to meet with Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi (search), who has been a strong ally in the war in Iraq.


posted by Frodgie at 6:45 AM

 

Pakistan Test Fires Nuclear-Capable Missile

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan on Friday successfully test-fired a ballistic missile capable of carrying nuclear warheads, the second such test in less than a week, a military official said.
"We have conducted another test of Ghauri missile," a military official told Reuters.

On Saturday, Pakistan test fired a Ghauri missile capable of carrying all types of warheads and traveling up to 900 miles.

Pakistan says its weapons program is a response to that of India, with which it has fought three wars since both countries won independence from Britain in 1947.



posted by Frodgie at 6:42 AM

 

No sex please -- we're Japanese

To an astonishing degree, the sexes are going their opposite ways in Japan. Young women are revolting against the traditional role of obedient housewife, opting instead to live at home and shop and socialize with girlfriends. Startled men are retreating into solitary ways. Check-ins at the country's famed 'love hotels' are even falling. As birthrates slip, a social crisis looms.
TOKYO -- Junko Sakai was nervously looking forward to a romantic getaway with the man she'd been seeing. But when they arrived at a seaside hotel last fall, her beau requested separate rooms.
Stunned, Sakai nonetheless anticipated a late-night knock on the door. It never came. ''Nothing happened,'' the Tokyo writer says.

Nothing is happening with depressing regularity between Japanese men and women these days. Marriages, births and hanky-panky are all spiraling downward with troubling implications for the nation's future: A sagging birthrate means that fewer working-age people will be around to support a growing population of elderly; a social crisis looms.

Only in Japan would a popular weekly newsmagazine deem it necessary to exhort the nation's youth to abstain from sexual abstinence: ''Young people, don't hate sex,'' AERA magazine pleaded last month in a report detailing a precarious drop in sales of condoms and in business at Japan's rent-by-the-hour ''love hotels.''


posted by Frodgie at 6:40 AM

 

Al-Jazeera airs video of 3 Italian hostages

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- The Arabic-language television network Al-Jazeera showed video Wednesday of three Italian hostages taken captive in Iraq nearly two months ago. In the video, one of the men said the captors were treating them "excellently."

It marked the first time in more than a month the world has seen pictures of the hostages.

The three, all unshaven, were shown sitting around a table eating with spoons from a communal plate and talking among themselves. Another shot showed the three sitting in chairs. One identified himself as Salvatore Stefio.

"Today is May 31, 2004, Monday," he said on the video. "This statement we are giving is primarily directed to official Italian authorities, to the government, the holy pope, to the Catholic Church and to our families. They are treating us excellently up until now. We are in excellent conditions. We have not had any problems with the people holding us in this place."

The three hostages were among four Italians taken captive in Iraq on April 12. The other hostage was executed by a gunshot to the head soon afterward -- a killing that was videotaped. The grisly tape was given to Al-Jazeera but never aired.


posted by Frodgie at 6:28 AM

 

New government takes over in Iraq

BAGHDAD — Iraq's new government declared itself in charge of the country yesterday and immediately began discussing how to stanch the violence that poses the biggest threat to its future.
Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, a combative former adversary of Saddam Hussein with links to defectors from the dictator's military, told his team of mostly untried technocrats that security was the "number-one priority."

Meeting in the heavily guarded Green Zone, Mr. Allawi said in a televised Cabinet meeting that the interim government was effectively in charge as of now — a full month before it is scheduled to take over from the Coalition Provisional Authority.
The U.S.-appointed Iraqi Governing Council dissolved itself Tuesday to clear the way for the new government to act.

posted by Frodgie at 6:26 AM

 

Cancer Deaths Down in U.S., Report Finds

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - More Americans are surviving cancer for five years or more and cancer rates overall are steadily declining, according to the latest annual report on cancer in the United States issued on Thursday.

For the first time, fewer women are being diagnosed with lung cancer, the joint report from the American Cancer Society (news - web sites), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (news - web sites), the National Cancer Institute (news - web sites), and the North American Association of Central Cancer Registries finds.

Cancer remains the second leading cause of death in the United States behind heart disease. This year 1.368 million Americans will learn they have cancer and 563,700 will die of it.

The "Annual Report to the Nation on the Status of Cancer, 1975-2001" finds that cancer rates dropped 0.5 percent per year from 1991 to 2001, while death rates from all cancers combined dropped 1.1 percent per year from 1993 to 2001.

This is due to better prevention, screening that catches cancer early enough to treat it and better therapies.


posted by Frodgie at 6:21 AM

 

Top Iraqi Cleric Endorses New Government

NAJAF, Iraq — Iraq's most influential Shiite cleric gave his tacit endorsement to the new interim government Thursday and urged it to lobby the U.N. Security Council (search) for full sovereignty to erase "all traces" of the American-run occupation.

Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Husseini al-Sistani (search) still noted that the new government, appointed Tuesday by a U.N. envoy, lacks the "legitimacy of elections" and does not represent "in an acceptable manner all segments of Iraqi society and political forces."

"Nevertheless, it is hoped that this government will prove its efficiency and integrity and show resolve to carry out the enormous tasks that rest on its shoulders," al-Sistani said in a statement released by his office here.


posted by Frodgie at 6:19 AM

 

Bush consults private attorney over CIA leak probe

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Bush has had "discussions" with a private attorney in connection with a federal grand jury investigation into who leaked the identity of a CIA operative, a White House spokeswoman said Wednesday.

Bush would seek advice from Washington attorney Jim Sharp and retain him if the president is called to testify before the grand jury, said spokeswoman Claire Buchan.

"The president has always encouraged everyone in the White House to cooperate with the investigation, and that would mean him, too," Buchan said.

White House press secretary Scott McClellan added there is no indication that Bush is the target of the leak investigation.

Bush has said previously that he does not know who leaked the identity of Valerie Plame to syndicated columnist Robert Novak, who is also co-host of CNN's "Crossfire."

Novak attributed the information to administration sources, but he has refused to identify who gave him the information, insisting his sources must remain confidential.

"I'd like to know who leaked," Bush said in October. "And if anybody's got information inside our government or outside our government who leaked, you ought to take it to the Justice Department, so we can find the leaker."

Federal law prohibits disclosing the identity of a covert agent, triggering an investigation into the leak. Such a disclosure is a felony, punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a $50,000 fine.


posted by Frodgie at 6:17 AM

 

Bush denies picking leaders

President Bush yesterday said he had nothing to do with the selection of Iraq's interim government and insisted that the new leaders are not puppets of the U.S. government, hours after congratulating some of them in personal telephone conversations.
"I had no role in picking — zero," Mr. Bush said in the Rose Garden. "It's going to be up to the leaders to prove their worth to the Iraqi citizens. In other words, the leaders are going to have to show the Iraqis that they're independent."
Mr. Bush also said although Iraq's fledgling government might occasionally tell U.S. military to "get out of the way" after the June 30 transfer of sovereignty, it will have no authority to prevent the troops from defending themselves.
"The American people need to be assured that if our troops are in harm's way, they will be able to defend themselves without having to check with anybody else — other than their commander," he said.

posted by Frodgie at 6:39 AM

 

U.N. envoy urges Iraqis: Give new government a chance

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- A day after Iraqi authorities announced a new interim government, U.N. special envoy Lakhdar Brahimi on Wednesday urged the Iraqi people to "give this government a chance."

"Now that the government's composition has been announced, it is ultimately up to the Iraqi people to judge for themselves whether this is a good government and how good it is," Brahimi said. "I believe that they will make up their minds about that on the basis of what the government does and says during the critical few months ahead."

Iraq's new interim president, Sheikh Ghazi al-Yawar, and the caretaker body's new Cabinet and top officials were introduced Tuesday.

The caretaker government will take over from the U.S.-backed Iraqi Governing Council, which dissolved itself Tuesday to make way for the new body. It will be in charge of the country after sovereignty is handed over on June 30 until national elections for a transitional government to be held by the end of January.

The Governing Council had been an advisory body to the Coalition Provisional Authority, which will maintain its power until the end of June, when it will disband.


posted by Frodgie at 6:36 AM

 

Spectators again in 2004

About George W. Bush, Americans seem to have made up their minds, and enough seem prepared to replace him that this election will be about John Kerry. And the forum where the nation takes the measure of Kerry will be the presidential debates.

These debates have often proved decisive. In 1960, JFK won by appearing confident, charismatic and the equal of two-term Vice President Richard Nixon in knowledge and communications skills.

In 1964 and 1972, presidents Johnson and Nixon, sitting atop mountainous leads, declined to give Goldwater or McGovern a forum. There were no debates then, nor in 1968, when neither Humphrey nor Nixon wished to share a podium with fiery populist George Wallace, who could siphon off millions of votes from either of them.


posted by Frodgie at 6:33 AM

 

Troops Would Leave Iraq in '06 Under Plan

UNITED NATIONS - The United States and Britain circulated a revised resolution on post-occupation Iraq (news - web sites) Tuesday that would give the new interim government control over the Iraqi army and police and end the mandate for the multinational force by January 2006 at the latest.

The new draft was introduced at a council meeting just hours after the full composition of the interim government was announced in Baghdad. Russia, France, Germany and other council nations have said they want to see whether this government is acceptable to the more than 20 million Iraqis before they adopt a resolution.

Many council members also want to consult with the new leadership on the text, and Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari was heading to New York to press the council for full sovereignty for the country.

The new draft states that the interim government will be "fully sovereign" and reaffirms the right of the Iraqi people to determine their political future freely, control their natural resources and coordinate international assistance.

While the draft notes "that the presence of the multinational force in Iraq is at the request of the incoming interim government," it doesn't specifically give the new leaders the right to ask the force to leave.




posted by Frodgie at 6:28 AM

 

Kerry Criticizes Bush's Military Policy

PORTSMOUTH, Va. - Democrat John Kerry (news - web sites) ventured in to Republican leaning Virginia on Monday with a Memorial Day pitch targeting military families and a charge that President Bush (news - web sites) "didn't learn the lessons of our generation in Vietnam."
Kerry joined Virginia Gov. Mark Warner for a Memorial Day parade in Portsmouth, home to naval shipyards and other big military installations, and later promised he could get American troops home from Iraq (news - web sites) sooner than Bush would.
"I believe I can lead us out of Iraq effectively by accomplishing goals we need to accomplish but without putting our troops at greater risk," he said
Kerry flashed a big grin at one local fan carrying a sign promoting no CARB diet_ no Cheney, Ashcroft, Rumsfeld or Bush.
Bush campaign spokesman Steve Schmidt, shot back: "John Kerry never misses an opportunity to deliver a political attack. Sadly, that even seems to include Memorial Day, a day of remembrance that should be above politics."
The Kerry campaign is displaying new interest in Virginia, hardly typical territory for a Democratic presidential candidate.
"I don't care what's usual or not usual" Kerry said. "We are going after a lot of places this year."
Kerry offered himself as a "Navy guy" and promised a Kerry administration would "do better" by veterans and military personnel than has Bush.


posted by Frodgie at 6:58 AM

 

Fallen heroes honored

President Bush marked Memorial Day by reading aloud the letters sent home by fallen soldiers in the war on terror, telling the families of all war dead that "America acknowledges a debt that is beyond our power to repay."
At a gathering of a few thousand people at Arlington National Cemetery — most of them service members and the families of those fighting overseas — Mr. Bush's speech was greeted with hearty applause.

Minutes earlier, under gray skies and a light drizzle, Mr. Bush laid a wreath before the Tomb of the Unknowns and led a national moment of silence.
The president put the war on terror on the same historical footing as World War II, two days after dedicating a sprawling national memorial to those who fought the Axis powers 60 years ago.
"Those who have fought these battles and served this cause can be proud of all they have achieved," Mr. Bush said of veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan. "And these veterans of battle will carry with them for all their days the memory of the ones who did not live to be called veterans."

posted by Frodgie at 6:56 AM

 

Huge Blast in Iraq!!

BAGHDAD, Iraq — Several blasts — including one massive explosion — hit central Baghdad (search) Tuesday, and Arab television stations were reporting at least 10 were killed in one blast.

A policeman on the scene told Reuters news service that at least 25 had been killed in an explosion targeting the Kurdish party headquarters.

The Arab language television stations Al-Jazeera (search) and Al-Arabiya (search) quoted police sources as saying about 10 people were killed. The information could not immediately be confirmed.

Ambulances raced to the scene and U.S. troops kept people back. Television footage showed debris and a charred wall of a building.

Coalition authorities had no immediate information on the blasts.


posted by Frodgie at 6:53 AM

 

Al-Yawar to be interim Iraqi president

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Iraqi Governing Council President Sheikh Ghazi al-Yawar has been selected to become Iraq's interim president when the coalition transfers sovereignty on June 30.

The announcement of al-Yawar's selection came late Tuesday morning after a series of confusing developments that began with the U.S. administrator for Iraq, Paul Bremer, and U.N. envoy Lakhdar Brahimi telling al-Yawar their choice was Adnan Pachachi.

That was followed by the elderly Pachachi's announcement that he would not accept the position.

Iraq's Governing Council then voted to name its current president -- al-Yawar.

It was less than an hour later when Brahimi issued a statement naming al-Yawar as his choice, but noting that he first offered the job to Pachachi.

Brahimi's statement said Pachachi declined the appointment "for personal reasons."


posted by Frodgie at 6:51 AM

 

Lowered expectations

America may be heading home from Iraq sooner than many of us realize. For the implied message of the president's address at the Army War College in Carlisle, Pa., is that America wants out of Iraq.
Rereading that speech, one finds in it little of Churchill's "We-shall-fight-them-on-the-beaches" defiance. Rather, the president laid out a five-step strategy to secure "freedom and independence, security and prosperity for the Iraqi people" – and then depart.
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The five steps? Besides helping to establish security, rebuild infrastructure and increase international aid, they are to transfer sovereignty to a U.N.-appointed interim government by June 30 and hold elections by Jan. 31 for a national assembly. Says Bush, the interim government "will exercise full sovereignty." But full sovereignty means control of foreign forces. It means the authority to tell the U.S. military it cannot attack sanctuaries like Najaf and Fallujah without Baghdad's approval

posted by Frodgie at 6:48 AM