Cain suspends campaign shifting GOP race

Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain, right, bows and his wife Gloria applauds as Cain arrives on stage for a scheduled announcement Saturday, Dec. 3, 2011, in Atlanta. "I am suspending my presidential campaign because of the continued distractions and the continued hurt caused on me and my family," Cain told several hundred supporters gathered at what was to have been the opening of his national campaign headquarters. (AP Photo/David Tulis)

Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain, right, bows and his wife Gloria applauds as Cain arrives on stage for a scheduled announcement Saturday, Dec. 3, 2011, in Atlanta. "I am suspending my presidential campaign because of the continued distractions and the continued hurt caused on me and my family," Cain told several hundred supporters gathered at what was to have been the opening of his national campaign headquarters. (AP Photo/David Tulis)

El aspirante presidencial republicano Herman Cain baja de un estrado acompa?ado de su esposa Gloria tras anunciar su retiro de la competencia interna del partido, el s?bado 3 de diciembre de 2011, en Atlanta. (Foto AP/David Tulis)

Supporters from left, Marianne Sanderson, Lisa Shiflett, and Michelle McDonald, react to the announcement by Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain that he is suspending his campaign at an event Saturday, Dec. 3, 2011, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain announces he is suspending his campaign as his wife Gloria, left, looks on Saturday, Dec. 3, 2011, in Atlanta. "I am suspending my presidential campaign because of the continued distractions and the continued hurt caused on me and my family," Cain told several hundred supporters gathered at what was to have been the opening of his national campaign headquarters. (AP Photo/David Tulis)

ATLANTA (AP) ? A defiant Herman Cain suspended his faltering bid for the Republican presidential nomination Saturday amid a drumbeat of sexual misconduct allegations against him, throwing his staunchly conservative supporters up for grabs with just one month to go before the lead-off caucuses in Iowa.

Cain condemned the accusations as "false and unproven" but said they had been hurtful to his family, particularly his wife, Gloria, and were drowning out his ability to deliver his message. His wife stood behind him on the stage, smiling and waving as the crowd chanted her name.

"So as of today, with a lot of prayer and soul-searching, I am suspending my presidential campaign because of the continued distractions and the continued hurt caused on me and my family," a tired-looking Cain told about 400 supporters.

Cain's announcement came five days after an Atlanta-area woman, Ginger White, claimed she and Cain had an affair for more than a decade, a claim that followed several allegations of sexual harassment against the Georgia businessman.

"Now, I have made many mistakes in life. Everybody has. I've made mistakes professionally, personally, as a candidate, in terms of how I run my campaign. And I take responsibility for the mistakes I've made, and I have been the very first to own up to any mistakes I've made," he said.

But Cain intoned: "I am at peace with my God. I am at peace with my wife. And she is at peace with me."

White's attorney said a in statement after the announcement that Cain had disparaged his client and should apologize. Cain had called her a "troubled Atlanta businesswoman" whom he had tried to help.

"We continue to encourage Mr. Cain to retract these statements and apologize for the way he has characterized these women in the media," Buckley said. Cain's campaign had no immediate response.

Cain's announcement provides a new twist in what has already been a volatile Republican race. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich has, so far, been the biggest beneficiary of Cain's precipitous slide. Polls show Gingrich and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney atop the field in what is shaping up as a two-man race heading into early voting states.

But others, such as Texas Gov. Rick Perry and Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann, will likely make a strong play for Cain's anti-establishment tea party backing as they look to rise as a viable alternative to Romney, whose conservative credentials are suspect in some GOP circles.

Cain said he would offer an endorsement, and his former rivals were quick to issue statements on Saturday praising his conservative ideals and grassroots appeal.

At a tea party rally in Staten Island, Gingrich praised Cain for bringing optimism and big ideas to the race.

"He had the courage to launch the 9-9-9 plan, which, whether you liked it or disliked it, was a big idea and started to elevate the debate toward big solutions and not the usual nitpicking, consultant-driven negativity," Gingrich said. He was referring to Cain's catchy but controversial plan to scrap the current tax code for a 9 percent tax on personal and corporate income as well as a new 9 percent national sales tax.

Some disappointed Cain supporters were clearly in search of a candidate on Saturday following his withdrawal.

"I don't know where I will go now," Janet Edwards, 52, said following Cain's announcement. "I guess I have to start looking at the rest of them."

Cain told supporters he planned to continue his efforts to influence Washington and announced "Plan B" ? what he called a grassroots effort to return government to the people.

"I am not going to be silenced, and I am not going away. And therefore, as of today, Plan B," he said.

Plan B includes formation of TheCainSolutions.com, which he described as a grassroots effort to bring government back to the people. It would also continue to push his signature 9-9-9 plan.

Cain's announcement was a remarkable turnabout for a man that just weeks ago vaulted out of nowhere to the top of the GOP field, propelled by a populist, outsider appeal and his tax overhaul plan.

Saturday's event was a bizarre piece of political theater even for a campaign that has seemed to thrive on defying convention.

Cain marked the end of his bid at what was supposed to be the grand opening of his new campaign headquarters in Atlanta. Minutes before he took the stage to pull the plug, aides and supporters took to the podium to urge attendees to vote for Cain and travel to early voting states to rev up support for his bid.

"Join the Cain train," David McCleary, Cain's Georgia director, urged the audience.

Volunteers had been up through the night preparing the former flooring warehouse to open as the new hub of Cain's early-state outreach.

He marveled at rising from a childhood in Atlanta marked by segregated water fountains and poverty to what he called "the final four" of the presidential contest.

The former Godfather's Pizza chief executive, who has never held elective office, rose just weeks ago to lead the Republican race. But he fumbled policy questions, leaving some to wonder whether he was ready for the presidency. Then it was revealed at the end of October that the National Restaurant Association had paid settlements to two women who claimed Cain sexually harassed them while he was president of the organization.

A third woman told The Associated Press that Cain made inappropriate sexual advances but that she didn't file a complaint. A fourth woman also stepped forward to accuse Cain of groping her in a car in 1997.

Cain has denied wrongdoing in all cases and continued to do so Saturday.

Polls suggest his popularity had suffered. A Des Moines Register poll released Friday showed Cain's support plunging, with backing from 8 percent of Republican caucus goers in Iowa, compared with 23 percent a month ago.

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Follow Shannon McCaffrey: www.twitter.com/smccaffrey13

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2011-12-03-Cain/id-a296004ee631414cb06570387345949e

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Pakistan denies approving deadly NATO airstrike

Pakistan denied on Friday that its forces had given the go-ahead for a NATO airstrike near the Afghan border that killed 24 Pakistani troops.

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A Pakistani military official issued a statement in response to a report in The Wall Street Journal Friday that the attack had been approved because the Pakistani commanders were unaware their own forces were in the area.

NBC's Nightly News last Monday also reported that U.S. officials familiar with the operational details of the attack had said Pakistan's military had given its permission for the airstrike.

NBC News' sources said it was likely the communications took place at a local level and did not make it all the way to the top of the chain of command of Pakistan or the United States, before the attack took place.

The Pakistan statement Friday said that "wrong information about area of operation was provided to Pakistani Officials (a) few minutes before the strike."

It also alleged that U.S. helicopters and fighter jets had already engaged the Pakistani checkpost "without getting clearance."

Story: 'Enough is enough': Grieving Pakistan questions its role in US war on terror

The official further claimed that U.S. officials at the Border Coordination Center "later apologized privately to Pakistani officials" for providing the wrong information and engaging the post without clearance.

Last weekend's cross-border attack has caused public outrage in Pakistan, where the government has pulled out of next week's international conference on Afghanistan and threatened to end support for the U.S.-led war there if its sovereignty is violated again.

Commandos under fire
The Wall Street Journal report said an Afghan-led assault force that included U.S. commandos was hunting Taliban militants when it came under fire from an encampment along the border with Pakistan.

The commandos thought they were being fired on by militants who turned out to be Pakistani military personnel who had established a temporary campsite, the Journal reported, citing U.S. officials.

Video: US-Pakistan relations strained following airstrike (on this page)

According to the initial U.S. account from the field, the commandos requested airstrikes against the encampment, prompting the team to contact a joint border-control center to determine whether Pakistani forces were in the area, a U.S. official said.

The border-control center is manned by U.S., Afghan and Pakistani representatives.

But the U.S. and Afghan forces conducting the Nov. 26 commando operation had not notified the center in advance that they planned to strike Taliban insurgents near that part of the border, the official said.

When called, the Pakistani representatives at the center said there were no Pakistani military forces in the area identified by the commandos, clearing the way for the airstrikes, the U.S. officials said.

Pakistan releases 1st pics of attacked border posts

Washington has called it a tragic accident and offered its condolences, promising a full investigation. It has not apologized.

"There were lots of mistakes made," the newspaper quoted an official as saying.

The Journal said U.S. officials have in the past expressed reservations about notifying the Pakistanis about operations, because of concerns that mission details could leak out.

It added that the officials cautioned that the preliminary account was based mainly on interviews with members of the commando team and could change as more information was gathered.

A formal report on the incident is due to be completed by U.S. military investigators by Dec. 23.

NBC News and Reuters contributed to this report.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45520030/ns/world_news-south_and_central_asia/

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Iraq PM: Green Zone bomb was assassination attempt (AP)

BAGHDAD ? Iraq's prime minister said Saturday that a bombing earlier this week inside Baghdad's Green Zone was an assassination attempt against him, but he defended the nation's armed forces and said the breach did not signal a deterioration in security.

During an interview with The Associated Press, Nouri al-Maliki said the building housing the legislature or the parliament speaker also could have been targets but that preliminary information suggested the bombers were trying to get him.

"The preliminary intelligence information says that the car was due to enter parliament and stay there and not to explode. It was supposed to explode on the day I entered parliament," said al-Maliki, who was not in or near the parliament building when the bomb actually went off.

Monday's blast inside the central Baghdad zone, which is supposed to be one of Iraq's most secure areas, has raised new concerns about whether Iraqi forces are able to protect the country when the U.S. military leaves by the end of the year.

At the time, officials said they did not know if the explosion was the result of rocket or mortar fire into the Green Zone or a bomb, and it was unclear if anyone was being targeted specifically.

The Baghdad military spokesman, Qassim al-Moussawi, said late Friday that al-Maliki was the target. He said the driver of the vehicle tried to join a convoy of other vehicles going into the parliament grounds but was turned back by officials at the checkpoint because he didn't have proper identification. The driver then drove to the parking lot just opposite the parliament entrance, and the vehicle exploded seconds later.

Al-Maliki said the bomb had likely been assembled inside the Green Zone and was not very powerful.

A body was found near the wrecked car, but authorities were still trying to determine the person's identity and whether he was the bomber or a bystander, officials have said. Two other people were wounded.

Al-Maliki played down any suggestion that the attack, in an area that is also home to the U.S. Embassy as well as many Iraqi government institutions, demonstrated any weakness in security ahead of the U.S. military withdrawal. All American forces are to be out of the country by the end of this month.

"I don't think that this says something about the security situation in the country. Such breaches can happen in any country or anywhere," the prime minister said.

"It was a very simple operation," he said. "I cannot see in this operation any indication of a security deterioration in Iraq."

He blamed al-Qaida in Iraq and Saddam Hussein's Baath Party for the violence.

"They are opposing me, the parliament speaker and the parliament and the whole political process, so whomever the victim of their operation will be, it is a victory for them," he said.

The prime minister said he had previously shared information with the parliament speaker, Osama al-Nujaifi, that there might be an attempt to kill one of them at the parliament and that he advised the parliament speaker to exercise caution.

Al-Maliki said Iraqi security forces were still looking for at least four people believed to have played a role in the plot.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/world/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111203/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_iraq

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Episcopal bishop cleared of abandoning church doctrine (Reuters)

CHARLESTON, South Carolina (Reuters) ? The national Episcopal Church has cleared a conservative South Carolina diocese bishop of accusations that he abandoned the church's principles amid disagreement over the denomination's acceptance of homosexuality.

The Right Reverend Mark J. Lawrence was accused in October of abandonment of the church's doctrine, discipline and worship, amid concern he was taking his flock out of the national church.

Lawrence and many in the diocese that covers the lower and coastal parts of South Carolina disagree with the tolerance of the national denomination for gays in the church, among other issues with the central body over doctrine and worship.

In 2003, the Episcopal Church ordained an openly gay man as bishop in New Hampshire, prompting several churches in South Carolina to leave the national denomination and join Anglican organizations.

Lawrence accused the national church of preaching a "false gospel of indiscriminate inclusivity ... that has suffocated the mission of the Church," according to one of the charges leveled against him.

But in a statement on Monday, church leaders said the bishop's actions did not constitute abandonment.

"Bishop Lawrence has repeatedly stated that he does not intend to lead the diocese out of the Episcopal Church -- that he only seeks a safe place within the church to live the Christian faith as that diocese perceives it," said the Right Reverend Dorsey Henderson Jr, president of the Disciplinary Board for Bishops.

"I presently take the bishop at his word," Henderson said.

The South Carolina diocese is one of the conservative Episcopal groups distancing themselves or leaving the national church. The Georgia Supreme Court ruled last week that an historic church building in Savannah belongs to the national Episcopal Church, not its breakaway congregation that voted to move under the leadership of an Anglican diocese in Uganda.

The Episcopal Church is not the only Protestant denomination struggling with the issue of gays in the church.

The Presbyterian Church ordained its first openly gay minister last month in Wisconsin, and an openly gay Methodist minister in the same state was sanctioned earlier this year for performing a same-sex marriage.

(Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Greg McCune)

(Corrects to say that he was accused of abandoning church principles amid disagreement over homosexuality, not because of gays in the church)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/religion/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111130/us_nm/us_religion_episcopal

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HBT: Some Red Sox grumbling about Valentine

From Buster Olney?s column this morning:

As Valentine has emerged as a managerial candidate, some Red Sox players have been upset; they?ve been grumbling to each other, through texts and phone calls. Maybe it?s because they heard Bobby critique their play on the air. Maybe they haven?t liked his tone. Maybe they haven?t liked his smile. Maybe they?ve heard bad things.

Interesting. But man, how on Earth could the Sox have heard him critique their play while he was on the air? Valentine did Sunday night games and, without checking, I?m pretty sure the Red Sox were on every single freakin? Sunday night broadcast last season.

Unless in addition to the beer and chicken the Sox? clubhouse had a big screen TV too. Which, now that I think about it would be pretty sweet.

Source: http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2011/11/30/some-red-sox-players-may-not-be-thrilled-with-bobby-v/related/

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LL Cool J preps for Grammy nominations double duty (AP)

LOS ANGELES ? Don't call it a comeback. It's a tribute.

"NCIS: Los Angeles" star and rapper LL Cool J is nervously excited to pause from his duties as host of the Grammy nominations concert special Wednesday to perform with a multigenerational group of rappers.

"We're doing a special dedication to `The Message,' which is one of the seminal hip-hop records," a sweaty LL Cool J said during a break from rehearsals Tuesday afternoon. "It launched the genre. I'm getting to perform with Grandmaster Flash, Scorpio, Melle Mel and then we brought in Common and Lupe Fiasco. It's this really cool version of `The Message.'"

The group practiced their rendition of the Grandmaster Flash and Furious Five 1982 classic in the Nokia Theatre lobby Tuesday before taking the stage to rehearse. Under flashing red and white lights, Grandmaster Flash manned the tables, while Furious Five members Melle Mel and Scorpio shared verses with Common, Lupe Fiasco and LL Cool J.

Other musicians set to perform during the concert special include such possible nominees as Lady Gaga, Jason Aldean, The Band Perry, Sugarland and Rihanna.

Despite hosting and performing at each of the previous three Grammy nominations concerts, LL Cool J said he still feels pressure commanding the show, which is scheduled to air live Wednesday on CBS.

"It's live TV," he said. "I never take it for granted. You gotta be ready for it."

____

CBS is a division of CBS Corp.

___

Online:

http://www.grammy.com

___

AP Entertainment Writer Derrik J. Lang can be reached at www.twitter.com/derrikjlang/.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/entertainment/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111130/ap_en_ot/us_people_ll_cool_j

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