The New Nation - Internet Edition

Pews view shows white-black divide in US presidential polls

Agencies, Washington

In the U.S. presidential race, where voters stand depends on where they sit, particularly on Sunday morning.

The Reverend Dwight Jones, 60, senior pastor at the First Baptist Church of South Richmond, Virginia, asked ushers to pass out voter-registration forms in addition to collection plates, emphasizing the momentous nature of the campaign.

"If you know anyone who's not registered, get them signed up, your friends and your enemies," Jones said. "This is a historic election."

His black congregation, he said, doesn't view Christianity through single issues.

"We believe the whole Bible, and it's about more than abortion and gay marriage," Jones said. "We want to know a politician's stance on the living wage, fairness to all people, tax breaks for the middle class and not just the wealthy, standing up against the death penalty."

That represents one side of a cultural divide in America that analysts believe could tip the election.

The other can be seen nearly 300 miles away at a mostly white evangelical church in Charlotte, North Carolina. Pastor Mark Harris's members are energized by the choice of Sarah Palin as John McCain's running mate precisely because she so strongly opposes abortion. "Republicans were waiting for something to get excited for, and Sarah Palin is it," he said.

'Most Segregated Hour'

Forty-five years ago, the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. called 11 a.m. Sunday "the most segregated hour in this nation." If some views expressed in these two churches are an indication, that's still in many ways the case.

Tens of millions of Americans attend church each week, and studies show the overwhelming majority attend services where members are almost entirely of the same race. They also hear the messages of candidates in a different way, and that has strong implications for the presidential race.

That's because both Obama and McCain are heavily counting on each group to win-blacks for Obama, the first African-American presidential nominee for a major party, and conservative white evangelicals for McCain.

For Jones, Jesus's teachings on social justice are central to his mission. He's a member of the Virginia state legislature, is running for mayor of Richmond, and has endorsed Obama-though never from the pulpit.

Harris said he also doesn't endorse candidates from the pulpit. Rather, at the First Baptist Church of Charlotte he preaches a world view that is "Christ-centered" and his congregation "will vote for candidates who support those views."

The views of the two churches underscored a deep cultural divide even among Americans with the common bond of attending Sunday services.

Burges Burrows, a self-described conservative Christian, hadn't been able to summon much enthusiasm for McCain. The choice of Palin, however, made him an instant supporter-even though he'd never heard of her before McCain picked her.

"It's her beliefs as a Christian and the choices she has had to make," said Burrows, 47. Those choices included giving birth to a baby with Down syndrome, Burrows said.

Some 26 percent of Americans identify themselves as Protestant evangelicals, who are overwhelmingly white, while 6.9 percent belong to historically black churches, according to the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life.

While they are united in calling themselves Christians, their votes break down along racial lines: In 2004, President George W. Bush carried 78 percent of the vote of those who called themselves conservative Christians, while Democrat John Kerry won almost 91 percent of black votes.

The divide is especially sharp in a year that pits Obama, 47, against the McCain-Palin ticket, with Palin changing the dynamic for McCain with her appeal to religious conservatives.

37 killed in Iraq bomb blasts

AP, Baghdad

At least 37 people were killed in bomb blasts in Iraq. A suicide bomber blew herself up Monday among police officers who were celebrating the release of a comrade from U.S. custody, killing at least 22 people, Iraqi officials said. Separate bombings in Iraq killed 13 other people.

The suicide attack happened in Diyala, a province northeast of Baghdad where Sunni insurgents have carried out persistent attacks despite security gains elsewhere in the country. The female bomber targeted the home of a police commissioner who had been detained by American troops for allegedly cooperating with the Mahdi Army, a Shiite militia.

Maj. Gen. Abdul-Karim al-Rubaie, the military commander in Diyala, said most of the 22 fatalities were police and that 33 people were wounded in the evening attack in Balad Ruz, 45 miles northeast of Baghdad. Two police captains and three lieutenant colonels were among the dead, said a police officer who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to release the information.

The U.S. military confirmed that the bomber was a woman but gave a lower casualty toll, saying 17 Iraqis were killed, including the city's deputy chief of police, and eight other people were wounded.

Meanwhile, police say a bicycle laden with explosives exploded at a busy market north of Baghdad, killing two civilians and wounding 19. Some of the wounded are badly hurt. A police officer says the bicycle was left near an Iraqi military truck parked at the main market in Taji, a small town 12 miles north of Baghdad.

The officer says soldiers who arrived in the truck were patrolling the market on foot at a busy time Tuesday morning when the blast went off. The truck is badly damaged by the blast.

Pakistan troops pound militants, killing 15

AFP, Khar

Pakistani troops backed by helicopter gunships and jets shelled hideouts of Islamic militants linked to Al-Qaeda in a northwestern tribal area, killing 15 rebels, a security official said Tuesday.

Government forces launched a major offensive against rebel positions in the rugged Bajaur region near the Afghan border last month.

The operations has left nearly 700 people dead, mostly militants, and also displaced 260,000.

"Troops killed at least 15 militants and wounded 20 others in shelling that started Monday afternoon and continued until Tuesday morning," a security official told AFP. There was no immediate independent verification of the casualty figures.

The troops, also using heavy artillery, targeted militant positions in the areas of Tang Khata, Rashakai and Loisam, he said.

Pakistan's tribal regions have been wracked by violence since thousands of Taliban and Al-Qaeda rebels sneaked into the country after the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001.

US and Afghan officials have repeatedly claimed the mountainous region is used by militants to launch cross-border attacks on international troops based in Afghanistan.

Violence linked to Pakistan's role in the "war on terror" has claimed the lives of more than 1,200 people in suicide and bomb attacks across the country in the past year.

Meanwhile, Pakistani aircraft bombed militant strongholds in a northwestern region on Tuesday while U.S. drones prowled the sky over another militant sanctuary on the Afghan border, a military official and residents said.

Pakistani forces launched offensives against al Qaeda and Taliban militants in the northwest in August and the government says hundreds of militants have been killed.

720 Afghan police killed in 6 months

AP, Kabul

Insurgent attacks have killed around 720 Afghan police in the last six months as militants have increased the pace of bombings and ambushes, an official said Tuesday.

Most of the police deaths have come from frontal attacks by militants, said Interior Ministry spokesman Zemeri Bashary. The 720 deaths happened during the first six months of the Afghan calendar.

In 2008, militants killed about 925 police - meaning the pace of attacks this year has spiked.

Afghanistan's 82,000 police have less training and less firepower than the Afghan army, making them a favorite target for militants. The police also travel in small groups through some of Afghanistan's most dangerous territory.

Meanwhile, NATO's International Security Assistance Force said its forces killed 10 militants in Wardak province on the Kabul-Kandahar highway on Sunday. Insurgents attacked the soldiers with a rocket and NATO soldiers responded with artillery and fighter aircraft, NATO said.

The battle took place about 40 miles southwest of Kabul.

Israel's shelling of Gaza village a 'possible’ war crime: UN report

AFP, Geneva

Israel's shelling of the Gaza village of Beit Hanoun in November 2006 that killed 19 Palestinian civilians may constitute a war crime and the victims should receive compensation, a UN report said Monday.

"In the absence of a well-founded explanation from the Israeli militaryt the mission must conclude that there is a possibility that the shelling of Beit Hanoun constituted a war crime," said the report of a fact-finding mission headed by South African Nobel laureate Desmond Tutu.

The former South African archbishop and anti-apartheid activist will present his report, which also condemns Palestinian attacks on Israel, to the UN Human Rights Council on Thursday.

He was mandated by the Council in November 2006 to investigate the incident but only managed to visit Gaza via Egypt in May this year after the Israelis refused three previous attempts to access the coastal strip via their territory.

Following an internal investigation, Israel concluded that shelling the civilians' homes was "a rare and grave technical error of the artillery radar system," and announced in February that no charges would be brought against Israeli forces involved in the incident.

4 Indian soldiers among 8 killed in Kashmir

Reuters, Srinagar

Four Indian soldiers and three Muslim militants were killed in gun battles across Kashmir on Monday, police said.

They said suspected militants also beheaded a Muslim villager suspecting him to be an informer of Indian troops.

Police said a firefight with separatist guerrillas broke out near the border with Pakistan in south Kashmir, where four soldiers were killed and two were wounded.

New Delhi says Muslim guerrillas regularly slip into Indian Kashmir, helped by constant firing by Pakistani troops to help them join an anti-Indian insurgency in the Himalayan region. Islamabad denies the charge.

Elsewhere three militants, including a senior "commander" of Kashmir's largest militant group, Hizbul Mujahideen, were killed in two separate gun battles with soldiers, police said.

The latest clashes came on a day when hundreds of students in Kashmir's main university protested against Indian rule.

At least 37 protesters have been killed by government forces since last month in the Muslim-majority Kashmir Valley, scene of some of the biggest pro-independence rallies since a revolt against New Delhi's rule began in 1989.

Tens of thousands of people have been killed in Kashmir in nearly 20 years of violence, involving Indian troops and Muslim militants.

North Korea vows to build up 'war deterrent’

AFP, Seoul

North Korea on Tuesday renewed criticism of last month's joint US-South Korean military exercise and vowed to strengthen its "war deterrent" in the face of what it called invasion threats.

"Reinforcing war deterrent is one hundred times justifiable," said Rodong Sinmun, newspaper of the ruling communist party, in a commentary attacking the war games.

The phrase normally refers to its nuclear weapons programme.

The North has made such threats before, but the latest commentary comes amid stalemate in an international nuclear disarmament deal and uncertainty about the health of leader Kim Jong-Il.

Rodong criticised the annual exercise dubbed Ulchi Freedom Guardian, which was held in South Korea from August 18-22.

"They were rehearsingt to launch a preemptive strike on North Korea," it said, accusing the US of launching various other joint military exercises with South Korea and supplying it with modern weaponry.

"We will strengthen the war deterrent as long as the US warlike forces continue the policy of attempting to stifle the DPRK (North Korea)," it said.

Sri Lanka President vows to destroy rebel group

AP, Colombo

Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa ruled out negotiations with the Tamil Tigers, saying the military would soon destroy the rebel group and end the country's long-running civil war.

Speaking to foreign journalists late Monday, Rajapaksa said the time for talks was over, the only option left for the rebels was to put down their arms and surrender. "We can crush them, there is no question that we can't," he said. After months of fighting to a near stalemate along the front lines of the civil war in the north, the military broke through in recent weeks, capturing large swaths of enemy territory and vastly reducing the size of the rebels' de facto state. Rajapaksa said he was confident of imminent victory in the 25-year-old war with the rebels. "I know they are getting weak," he said. Many analysts, while acknowledging the government's recent military victories, have expressed concerns that the separatist guerrillas might retreat into the island nation's northern jungles and continue their guerrilla war, while launching sporadic bombing attacks on civilians in government-held areas.

Mideast peace possible by year-end: Olmert

AFP, Jerusalem

Israel's embattled Prime Minister Ehud Olmert still believes a peace deal with the Palestinians is possible by year's end despite a looming vote to replace him, his spokesman said on Tuesday.

"The prime minister believes that the door to an agreement with the Palestinians is not closed and it is possible to achieve this goal by the end of the year," Mark Regev told AFP.

Olmert was to meet Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas later in the day for their last meeting before his centrist Kadima party holds a leadership vote Wednesday to choose his successor. The beleaguered prime minister had said he would step down after a new party leader is chosen so he can battle a flurry of corruption allegations that could lead to criminal indictment.

But Regev said Olmert would continue to "assume all responsibilities" even after the vote. Olmert is expected to serve as interim prime minister until a new government can be formed, which could take weeks or even months. In the meantime Olmert hopes to draw up a so-called "shelf agreement" with Abbas outlining the results of their talks, one that could be handed over to a new government. Olmert has met with Abbas roughly twice a month since US-sponsored peace talks were formally relaunched in November with the expressed goal of resolving the decades-old conflict by the end of the year.