By DAVID ESPO and DAVID RISING
Associated Press Writers
BERLIN  –  Before an enormous crowd, Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama on Thursday summoned Europeans and Americans together to “defeat terror and dry up the well of extremism that supports it” as surely as they conquered communism a generation ago.

“The walls between old allies on either side of the Atlantic cannot stand,” Obama said, speaking not far from where the Berlin Wall once divided the city.

“The walls between the countries with the most and those with the least cannot stand. The walls between races and tribes, natives and immigrants, Christian and Muslim and Jew cannot stand,” he said.

Obama said he was speaking as a citizen, not as a president, but the evening was awash in politics. His remarks inevitably invited comparison to historic speeches in the same city by Presidents John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan, and he borrowed rhetoric from his own appeals to campaign audiences in the likes of Berlin, N.H., when he addressed a crowd in one of the great cities of Europe.

“People of Berlin, people of the world, this is our moment. This is our time,” he said.

Obama’s speech was the centerpiece of a fast-paced tour through Europe designed to reassure skeptical voters back home about his ability to lead the country and take a frayed cross-Atlantic alliance in a new direction after eight years of the Bush administration.

In Die Welt, the German publication, Rep. Thaddeus McCotter, R-Mich., said: “No one knows which Obama will show. Will it be the ideological, left-wing Democratic primary candidate who vowed to ‘end’ the war rather than win it, or the Democratic nominee who dismisses the progressing coalition victory as a ‘distraction’? Will it be the American populist who has told supporters in the United States that he will demand more from our allies in Europe and get it, or the liberal internationalist hell-bent on being
liked in Europe’s salons?”

Obama met earlier in the day with German Chancellor Angela Merkel for a discussion that ranged across the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, climate change, energy issues and more.

Knots of bystanders waited along Obama’s motorcade route for him to pass. One man yelled out in English, “Yes, we can,” the senator’s campaign refrain, when he emerged from his car to enter his hotel.

Obama drew loud applause as he strode confidently across a large podium erected at the base of the Victory Column in Tiergarten Park in the heart of Berlin.

 By DAVID RISING and PATRICK McGROARTY
Associated Press Writers

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., left, greets with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin, Thursday, July 24, 2008. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

BERLIN  –  Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama landed in Berlin Thursday, kicking off the European leg of his overseas trip amid high expectations.

The German capital is the first stop on a whirlwind tour that will take the presumptive Democratic nominee to Germany, France and Britain in an effort to burnish his foreign credentials.

Shortly after arriving, Obama and his retinue made their way from the Tegel Airport to the chancellery that sits across from the city’s famed glass-domed Riechstag.

A column of black BMW and Mercedes-Benz cars ferried the candidate to a private meeting with Chancellor Angela Merkel. Overhead, a police helicopter kept watch. Some 700 police have been deployed during the visit, which lasts through Friday morning.

Obama paused inside the gates of the chancellery to wave at a group of Bavarian 11th-graders whose class happened to be ending its tour of the building as he was arriving.

“We were really close,” said an excited Michaela Schmid. “It was super, a real highlight.”

Inside, Obama and Merkel shook hands and exchanged small talk just outside her office before heading behind closed doors.

On Wednesday, Merkel told reporters that she planned to talk about climate change and global free trade with Obama and made clear that Germany will stand by its refusal to send combat troops to southern Afghanistan.

The chancellery is an imposing sandstone-and-concrete cube. The 205,000-square-foot building faces the restored Reichstag in the heart of Berlin’s new government quarter. It dwarfs the White House and has more than three times the area of the French president’s Elysee Palace in Paris.

Later Thursday, Obama will meet with Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier at his office in the Foreign Ministry.

But Berliners are looking to Obama’s speech in front of the Tiergarten’s 226-foot high Victory Column. The speech has symbolic value because several U.S. presidents — including John F. Kennedy, Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton — made significant addresses in Berlin.

Former German President Richard von Weizsaecker said the Obama event could help pave the way for a new trans-Atlantic relationship.

“Kennedy said the famous sentence, ‘Ich bin ein Berliner,’” von Weizsaecker told the Bild newspaper. “Obama could send the Berlin signal: America is counting on Europe for its future.”

“We have long believed that nobody in America is interested in our continent any more,” von Weizsaecker added. “The appearance and the speech of Barack Obama are evidence that this preconception is false.”

After landing at Tegel Airport, Obama’s aircraft taxied by the soon-to-depart plane of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who visited Berlin this week for talks aimed at luring German companies to invest in his country.

Obama met with al-Maliki in Baghdad earlier this week.

LAUSANNE, Switzerland  – 
The International Olympic Committee says Iraq will not compete at Beijing because of Iraqi government interference.

The IOC suspended Iraq’s national Olympic committee in June after Baghdad dismissed elected officials and installed its own people who are not recognized by the IOC.

The IOC Charter forbids political interference in the Olympic movement.

Iraq missed a Wednesday deadline to submit a team for the Aug. 8-24 Beijing Games because of a stalemate between the two sides. Four Iraqi athletes were expected to compete in archery, judo, rowing and weightlifting.

The IOC says the Iraqi government did not accept an invitation to come to its headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland, to try to end the dispute.

By Renee Michelle

Sen. Barack Obama takes the cover of People magazine’s latest issue.
Joining the 46-year-old Democratic presidential candidate on the cover is his wife Michelle Robinson, 43, and his two daughters, Malia, 10, and Sasha, 7.:
– Barack’s daughters get a $1 per week allowance from Dad for doing their chores, like setting and clearing the dinner table.
– The kids receive no birthday or Christmas presents from Mom and Dad, who spend “hundreds” on birthday slumber parties and, as Barack puts it, “want to teach some limits.”

Nas, ColorOfChange.org And MoveOn.org Protest Outside FOX Headquarters In New York yesterday –The protest is mainly to say people are fed up with the way Fox disrespects African-Americans

Cutie pie-Chris Brown is teaming up with Survivor and Apprentice producer Mark Burnett to create a new dance competition series with an emphasis on hip-hop/street dance. The R&B star will pit contestants against one another in impromptu dance-offs in this untitled project, with Brown choosing the winner of each round. Burnett is developing the show as an hour long performance series that will have an elimination episode as well, reports Variety. “Dancing is more than just a way of moving, it’s a different expression of music,” Chris said. “That’s what I want to focus on with this show.”

Mariah Carey holds hands with husband Nick Cannon as they leave for a night on the town on Thursday in New York City. The 39-year-old singer is set to perform at the fifth annual Fashion Rocks concert, set for September 5th at Radio City Music Hall in New York. Other performers in the line-up include Christina Aguilera, Beyonce, Black Eyed Peas, Chris Brown, Justin Timberlake, Keith Urban and Rihanna.

By MARK WALSH
Associated Press Writer
MATAMOROS, Mexico  –  Hurricane Dolly toppled trees and sent billboards flying Wednesday in the Mexican city of Matamoros, and authorities south of the U.S. border warned of possible flooding.

No deaths were reported in Mexico from Dolly, which struck land just north of the border in Texas, but Tamaulipas state Gov. Eugenio Hernandez urged residents there to be alert for flooding because of the heavy rains.

“Dolly didn’t leave behind any incidents for us to lament,” Hernandez told reporters. But he said 50 neighborhoods in Matamoros are still in danger of flooding. About 13,000 people have taken refuge in 21 shelters.

“Strong winds are no longer the problem. Now we have to worry about intense rain in the next 24 hours,” Hernandez said.

Dolly weakened to a tropical storm late Wednesday night and was moving west near 7 mph (11 kph), forecasters said. Dolly is expected to continue weakening as it moves farther inland.

Mexican officials were monitoring the Rio Grande’s water levels, which were at 13 feet (4 meters) before the storm hit. Eduardo Perez, spokesman for the Tamaulipas state water commission, said the river could reach 30 feet (9 meters) before overflowing.

Authorities asked local factories to close so employees would not brave the rough weather, and most businesses were closed as the storm hit. In the few stores still open, shelves largely emptied by people stocking up on food and water.

About 4,800 soldiers and Tamaulipas state civil protection officials patrolled to prevent looting. Electricity was cut to the city of Matamoros to guard against electrocutions from downed power lines.

Authorities attempted to evacuate up to 23,000 people, but many refused to leave.

As rain and wind beat against his brick home outside Matamoros, 21-year-old Hector Gonzalez said he planned to ride out the storm in the kitchen with his younger brother and parents. Surrounding fields already were under water.

“The trees are really moving” in the wind, he said.

Maria Lorenzo Agustin, 49, said she was not taking any chances after losing her home and other belongings in past hurricanes.

“Last time a hurricane hit, we lost the roof and everything was destroyed inside the house,” Agustin said.

She and her 102-year-old grandmother fled their wooden shack in the fishing community of Higuerilla and spent the night at a convention center-turned-shelter in Matamoros.

Alejandrina Salas, 53, abandoned about 60 chickens at her home in Manos de Leon and arrived at a Matamoros shelter Tuesday night carrying one bird.

“I love this one a lot,” she said.
 
 
 

The ScanGauge hooks up to your vehicle’s diagnostic connector and captures a wealth of information, allowing drivers to maximize their gas economy and perhaps save some money.

From MyFox National Reports
With the price of gas skyrocketing and showing no signs of slowing down, everyone is looking for ways to save money at the pump. For many of us, the answer might be changing the way we drive.

Burning less fuel while you drive is something we all would like to do, and a new gadget can help us do it.

The gadget, ScanGauge Version II, hooks up to your vehicle’s diagnostic connector and captures a wealth of information such as: instantaneous mileage, average mileage, how many gallons of gas you use to get to work, how fast your kid drove the car the night before, and why the check engine light is on.

It’s a trip computer that tells you everything you need to know to adjust your driving habits for the best fuel economy. The inventor of the device, Ron DeLong, says that the more you use it the better your driving habits will get, similar to how you improve at playing a video game the more you play it.

DeLong actually invented the original ScanGauge in 2001 and began selling it in 2006. He says the first version of it was too big. He has since redesigned it and sales are off the charts now that we are in the midst of a gas crisis.

By CHRISTOPHER S. RUGABER
AP Business Writer

WASHINGTON — About 2 million Americans get a raise Thursday as the federal minimum wage rises 70 cents. The bad news: Higher gas and food prices are swallowing it up, and some small businesses will pass the cost of the wage hike to consumers.

The increase, from $5.85 to $6.55 per hour, is the second of three annual increases required by a 2007 law. Next year’s boost will bring the federal minimum to $7.25 an hour.

Workers like Walter Jasper, who earns minimum wage at a car wash in Nashville, Tenn., are happy to take the raise, but will still struggle with the higher gas and food prices hammering Americans.

“It will help out a little,” said Jasper, who with his fiancee support a family of seven, and who earns the minimum plus commissions when customers order premium car-wash services.

The bus fare he pays each day to get to work already went up to $4.80 this spring from $4. “I’d like to be on a job where I can at least get a car,” he said.

Last week, the Labor Department reported the fastest inflation since 1991 — 5 percent for June compared with a year earlier. Energy costs soared nearly 25 percent. The price of food rose more than 5 percent.

So the minimum wage hike is “a drop in the bucket compared to the increases in costs, declining labor market, and declining household wealth that consumers have experienced in the past year,” Lehman Brothers economist Zach Pandl said.

The new minimum is less than the inflation-adjusted 1997 level of $7.02, and far below the inflation-adjusted level of $10.06 from 40 years ago, according to a Labor Department inflation calculator.

Twenty-three states and the District of Columbia have laws making the minimum wage higher than the new federal requirement, a group covering 60 percent of U.S. workers, according to the Economic Policy Institute, a think tank.

“You get desperate, because you can’t really pay for everything,” said Gladys Lopez, 51, a garment worker from Adjuntas, Puerto Rico, who makes military uniforms and has earned the federal minimum for 18 years.

She says she would need to make at least $50 more a week to pay all her bills and take care of her 84-year-old mother, whom she supports.

When the minimum rises again next year, catching up with more states, more than 5 million workers will get a raise, said Lisa Lynch, dean of the Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University.

Some small businesses are already making plans to raise prices to offset the higher wages they have to pay their workers.

David Heath, owner of Tiki Tan in College Station, Texas, said the increase will force him to raise prices for his monthly tanning services by about 12 percent. Tiki Tan had been paying its employees $6 per hour.

“There just isn’t any room for profit, and so this is why prices will have to go up,” he said, citing the wage increase and higher fuel costs. “I have to recoup those costs.”

The increase in the minimum wage could push food prices even higher by rising the pay for agricultural workers, said Brian Bethune, chief U.S. economist at consulting firm Global Insight.

But he said he did not expect the change to have a major impact on the economy because recent increases in productivity, which enables companies to produce more with fewer workers, are keeping labor costs in check.

That makes it unlikely the minimum wage increase will trigger a “wage-price spiral,” in which workers facing higher costs demand more pay, which in turn causes companies to raise prices higher, sending inflation coursing through the economy.

And most businesses, even restaurants and other service sector companies, already pay above the minimum wage anyway. Dan Whitaker, general manager at Anis Bistro in Atlanta, a casual French restaurant, said employees earn at least $8 an hour.

WASHINGTON — It will be left to the next administration to decide on any sizable troop increase for Afghanistan, the Pentagon spokesman said Wednesday.

U.S. commanders in the nearly seven-year-old war have been asking for three combat brigades, or roughly 10,000 more troops, to help confront increasing violence in Afghanistan.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates said last week that officials have been looking for ways to send additional forces as soon as possible — likely in smaller units and fewer than commanders want.

Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell told a news conference Wednesday that the decision on how and when to meet the request for the larger amount is “a question, frankly, for the next administration,” which will be chosen in November’s presidential election.

His comment came as President Bush was arriving at the Pentagon for a briefing by top military leaders.

Bush has made the five-year-old war in Iraq the Defense Department’s top priority, and defense officials have been candid about the fact that the focus on Iraq has meant fewer troops and other military assets available for the campaign in Afghanistan.

“That is the war which we have focused on,” Morrell said of Iraq, asserting, “That is the war we are now winning.”

Officials have said that if improved security conditions in Iraq hold, they hope to be able to devote more troops to Afghanistan, where the Taliban is resurgent following its ouster by the U.S.-led invasion of late 2001

NEW YORK  –  Marvin Sapp’s single “Never Would Have Made It” is a record-breaking phenomenon far beyond the world of gospel.

The track from his seventh album, “Thirsty,” is in its 42nd week at No. 1 on Billboard’s gospel radio charts. It is a crossover success with its perch at No. 1 on the urban adult contemporary chart and has become the longest running No. 1 single at radio across all genres in the history of Billboard analysis.

Sapp, who is the founder and senior pastor of Lighthouse Full Life Center Church in Grand Rapids, Mich., wrote the song on the Sunday after he eulogized his father. It’s built upon a simple refrain: “Never would have made it, never could have made it, without you.”

But Sapp, 41, said the single never would have made it onto the album had it not been for the encouragement of his wife and a staffer.

“It was a song that was really therapeutic for me, to get me through probably one of the most traumatic and traumatizing experiences in my life, and I said, ‘I’m not putting it on the album because it’s for me,’” he told The Associated Press in a recent interview.

But he did. And since then, Sapp, who considers himself a “double-barrel shotgun” because he has both a strong music and preaching ministry, says his engagement requests have “shot through the roof,” going from a monthly average of about 50 requests per month to about 150 per month.

“Thirsty,” released last July, is now certified gold and has been No. 1 on gospel album sales charts for 27 weeks.

“I’m absolutely enjoying the success that we’ve experienced, but at the same token I’m very thankful that this happened when I was old enough to handle it,” Sapp said.

Sapp has won Stellar awards and has been nominated for multiple Grammys. In the 1990s, he was recruited to sing with one of gospel’s seminal contemporary vocal groups, Commissioned, by fellow gospel chart-topper Fred Hammond. He released his first solo album in 1996. “Thirsty” has been his most successful album to date.

His latest project involves finding partners to help support a public school scheduled to open this fall, the Grand Rapids Ellington Academy of Arts and Technology (GREAAT). The school is a partnership between Grand Rapids Public Schools and Sapp’s private education organization, GREAAT Schools Inc.

“It gives me the opportunity to take the notoriety and the acclaim that I’ve received from this project and posture it and position it so that I can help to educate children in our urban community.”

SEATTLE, July 23 (UPI) — The U.S. Army is set to apologize to black soldiers framed for a 1944 riot and the lynching of an Italian POW in Seattle, officials said.

The assistant secretary of the Army is expected to apologize for the court-martial of 28 men, which last year an Army appeals court ruled as fundamentally unfair, as part of a series of tributes that run Thursday through Sunday, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported Wednesday.

Managers of Seattle hotels helped secure 60 room-nights for families of the black soldiers at some of the city’s best hotels, an estimated savings of about $13,000.

“We’re a little nervous to see where it all began, and we’re all wondering what kind of emotions will be elicited by coming to see where it all happened,” said Lashell Drake, a Milwaukee, Wis., woman whose deceased grandfather, Booker Townsell, was among those wrongly convicted.

The case was forgotten until a book by Seattle author Jack Hamann established that the black soldiers weren’t present at the Italian’s lynching, a fact Army investigators reportedly knew during the largest and longest court-martial of World War II. Included among the prosecutors was Leon Jaworski who later came to fame as a Watergate special prosecutor.

The report said Italian POWs were resented by white soldiers because they were allowed to date “adoring” high school girls.