BOSTON (Reuters) – Mike Huckabee holds a small lead in the field of potential Republican presidential candidates, while Mitt Romney and Sarah Palin have slipped, according to a Gallup Poll released on Friday.

Gallup's survey of 1,000 Republicans and Republican-leaning independents taken on March 18-22 put support for former Arkansas Governor Huckabee at 19 percent.

Huckabee has been creeping up, from 18 percent last month, while backing for Romney has slipped from 16 percent in February and 19 percent in November. Palin, who held at 16 percent since September, dropped to 12 percent in the latest poll.

Gallup said its poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.

Sixteen percent of Republicans currently have no preference in the upcoming contest for the Republican nomination for 2012, the poll said, and most leading contenders have not yet committed to run.

The presidential election is 18 months away, but there is widespread interest in who will face President Barack Obama, a Democrat. The first Republican primary elections to select their nominee will start in February.

Observers think Romney, now on a nationwide fund-raising swing, will almost certainly announce a second run for his party's nomination after falling short in 2008 to John McCain.

Prospects are less certain for Huckabee, a 2008 candidate who hosts a television show on Fox News.

Palin, who was McCain's running mate in 2008, also has a lucrative media career.

The poll also showed that if Huckabee does not run, Palin would be the most likely to pick up his supporters, and Huckabee would benefit if Palin does not run.

Newt Gingrich, former speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, has said he could announce a run for the nomination in May. He ran fourth in the Gallup poll with 10 percent support, up slightly from 9 percent the previous month.

Former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty on Monday announced an exploratory committee, the first high-profile Republican to show serious intent for 2012. He had 3 percent support in the Gallup poll, the same as a month ago.

Former U.S. Senator Rick Santorum and Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour, who will campaign in the key early-voting state of New Hampshire next week, each captured just 2 percent of potential voters in the poll.

(Editing by Jerry Norton and Vicki Allen)

MADISON, Wisconsin (Reuters) – Wisconsin Republicans said on Friday a measure stripping state public employees of most collective bargaining rights was now in effect after it was published by a legislative agency despite a judge's order against publication.

The move looked certain to stir fresh controversy over the legislation, which in recent weeks sparked huge demonstrations and ignited a national struggle over efforts by several budget-strapped state governments to rein in union power.

Democratic state senators fled the state in an ultimately unsuccessful effort to block a vote on the bill, seen as one of the biggest challenges in decades facing U.S. organized labor.

Republican supporters of the law said the judge's temporary restraining order on publication had not applied to the Legislative Reference Bureau, which published the legislation, Wisconsin Act 10, electronically on Friday.

Legal publication of the legislation is required for it to go into effect.

The restraining order was issued last week by a judge hearing a complaint by the Dane County district attorney against several Republican legislators who orchestrated the law's passage two weeks ago. Dane County encompasses the state capital, Madison.

Scott Fitzgerald, head of the Republican-controlled state Senate, said the bureau's action made the bill "the law" and insisted the action did not violate the restraining order because that did not mention the bureau specifically.

"If the DA didn't want the Legislative Reference Bureau to publish, then the DA should have made sure that they were part of the restraining order."

Mike Huebsch, a member of Republican Governor Scott Walker's Cabinet, said the administration would now "carry out the law as required."

The LRB is a nonpartisan agency whose director is appointed by the leaders of the Wisconsin State Assembly and Wisconsin State Senate -- both Republicans who support the measure.

The Wisconsin Department of Justice, which has defended the bill in court, called the publication "lawful" and said it would evaluate how the LRB move "affects pending litigation."

The move seemed to catch Democrats by surprise. A spokeswoman for Pete Barca, the top Democrat in the state Assembly, asked journalists seeking comment to be patient.

"We're seeking information from various sources," Melanie Conklin wrote in an e-mail, "hoping for further clarification soon."

Walker pushed the legislation, saying it was part of a package needed to combat the state's budget deficit.

Union and Democratic critics said that argument was a smokescreen for busting state workers' unions.

(Writing by James Kelleher; Editing by Jerry Norton)

ATLANTA (Reuters) – A man suspected of killing one police officer and wounding another in Athens, Georgia, surrendered to police and also freed at least four hostages he was holding in a home there on Friday.

The suspect, Jamie Hood, 33, was shown in custody handcuffed and shirtless as he surrendered on live local television, which he had demanded as a condition for turning himself in, local media said.

"The situation has ended," 11Alive News TV reporter Doug Richards said at the scene at about 11:20 p.m.

Negotiations for Hood's surrender lasted about seven hours. Dozens of armed law enforcement officers surrounded the home and they emerged with Hood along with four women and one man.

At least four of those were hostages, local media said.

According to the Athens Banner-Herald newspaper, Hood was concerned for his safety because his brother was shot dead by police in 2001 after he held a gun to an officer's head.

"I know that he is concerned with his personal safety. And I want to promise him that if he will surrender unarmed that he will not be harmed in any form or fashion," Vernon Keenan, director of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, had told reporters earlier.

Police said Hood on Tuesday afternoon killed Officer Elmer "Buddy" Christian and wounded officer Tony Howard.

Hood opened fire after officers stopped him while investigating a carjacking, police said.

Friday marked the fourth day of searching for Hood. Earlier in the day, Athens-Clarke County Police posted messages on Facebook and Twitter asking Hood to turn himself in.

Local media had reported that Hood held eight hostages in the apartment after being cornered by police. Shortly after 8:30 p.m., Hood released two men and two children.

Athens is about 60 miles east of Atlanta and home to the University of Georgia.

(Reporting by David Beasley and Colleen Jenkins; Editing by Jerry Norton and Peter Bohan)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Postal Service said on Thursday it would cut 7,500 jobs and close seven district offices and 2,000 post offices as it handles less mail and faces greater staff costs and competition from FedEx and United Parcel Service.

"It's critical that we adjust our work force to match America's changing communications trends as mail volumes continue to decline," Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe said in a statement.

In November, the Postal Service reported a net loss of $8.5 billion for fiscal year 2010, its fourth consecutive year of losses.

Joanne Veto, a spokeswoman for the Postal Service, said, "We know that we cannot look the same 10 years from now. The mail volume isn't there. We have to adjust to keep up with the mail and customer needs."

She said the Postal Service would close 2,000 post offices around the United States over the next 12 months, while eliminating the 7,500 jobs.

As of the end of January, the agency employed 583,000 people.

The first round of job cuts are expected to be completed by May 31. As part of the first round of cuts, the Postal Service said it was offering voluntary early retirement of $20,000 paid over two years to employees 50 years old with 20 years of service, or any age with 25 years of service.

The job cuts are expected to be completed by March 2012.

The Postal Service, which delivers about 40 percent of the world's mail, does not receive tax revenue. It relies on the sale of products and services to fund its operations.

The agency said the job cuts and office closings would save about $750 million per year.

The United States started organizing mail delivery in 1775 under the stewardship of Benjamin Franklin and the Second Continental Congress. In 1792 the Post Office Department was created and almost 200 years later, in 1971, it was reorganized at The U.S. Postal Service.

The Postal Service lost a bid last summer to raise rates on first-class mail beyond the pace of inflation. It has also asked Congress for permission to cut Saturday mail delivery. The Postal Service is an independent agency of the U.S. government.

The Government Accountability Office observed in a report in February that the Postal Service had been slow to modernize, and it recommended looking into alternative delivery methods, such as digital mail or allowing customers to pick up parcels from machines 24 hours a day.

(Reporting by Emily Stephenson)

DENVER (Reuters) – A wind-whipped wildfire forced the evacuation of 9,500 homes southeast of Denver on Thursday just as firefighters were gaining the upper hand on a separate blaze that has burned stubbornly for five days west of the city.

Deputy Michelle Rademacher of the Douglas County Sheriff's Office said the latest fire has scorched about 1,600 acres in the wooded bluffs near Franktown, Colorado.

"We're not aware of any structures lost, but the high winds are pushing it close to heavily populated neighborhoods, so we called for mandatory evacuations," she said.

The fire grew quickly as sustained winds of 40 miles per hour fanned the flames through dry brush, grasses and trees.

Aerial and ground crews from several agencies were called in to fight the fire.

Television coverage showed firefighters rescuing panicked horses from the many stables that dot the area.

Most of Colorado east of the Continental Divide is at high risk for wildland fires this week because of low humidity, an unusual lack of snow or rainfall and high winds.

Thursday's blaze erupted just as crews were gaining control of the 1,500-acre Indian Gulch fire near Golden, Colorado, that prompted evacuations earlier in the week.

More than 400 firefighters have battled that blaze in the foothills west of Denver from the air and ground, and expect to have it contained by the weekend.

But Rowdy Muir, the federal fire manager at Indian Gulch, said dry conditions and gusty winds have made for an early start to the wildfire season.

"If we don't get moisture this spring, we're going to see a lot of fires in the Rocky Mountain region," Muir told reporters at a Thursday briefing.

(Editing by Steve Gorman and Jerry Norton)

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Prosecutors unsealed an indictment on Thursday charging an accused serial killer dubbed the "Grim Sleeper" with murdering 10 girls and women during a Los Angeles-area crime spree that spanned three decades.

The suspect, Lonnie David Franklin Jr., 58, who worked as a neighborhood mechanic, has been jailed without bond since he was arrested outside his home on July 7, partly on the basis of DNA evidence linking him to the killings through genetic material of his son.

The indictment, returned by a grand jury on Wednesday, supersedes a criminal complaint filed against Franklin last year with the same charges -- 10 counts of murder and one count of attempted murder in the case of an 11th victim who survived.

He is accused of shooting to death or strangling seven of his victims between August 1985 and September 1988 and three others between March 2002 and January 2007. The suspect was dubbed "the Grim Sleeper" because of a gap of more than 13 years between the killing sprees.

The girls and women he attacked ranged in age from 14 to 36, and many were prostitutes. Some were raped before they were slain. Their bodies were dumped in alleys and trash bins and covered with debris.

The surviving victim was shot in the chest, raped, then pushed out of the suspect's car and left for dead in 1988.

The Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office said in a statement it has not decided whether to seek the death penalty or life in prison without parole if he is convicted.

The indictment spares prosecutors the need for a preliminary hearing to determine whether sufficient evidence exists to take their case against Franklin to trial.

"The families of the victims should be accorded timely resolution of the allegations of the murders of their loved ones," District Attorney Steve Cooley said in a statement.

Franklin is due in court April 4 for a pre-trial hearing.

(Editing by Peter Bohan)

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Support for California Governor Jerry Brown's plan to shut a $27 billion budget gap has eroded since he introduced it in January, a new poll by the Public Policy Institute of California showed on Wednesday.

Democrat Brown wants to close the budget hole with a mix of spending cuts and tax hikes, and he wants voters to get the chance to approve the package in a special election. So far Republicans have opposed the special election and tax hikes.

The state's budget woes are some of the most pressing in the country and California, the biggest municipal debt issuer, is looked at as a bellwether for many states.

Support for Brown's plan to hold a June special election has dropped to just over half of likely voters from two-thirds in January, the nonpartisan group said.

Support for Brown's plan to extend tax cuts has dropped below a majority, falling 8 percentage points to 46 percent of all likely voters, the group said.

"While many Californians still favor the approach the governor proposed in January, his plan to seek a budget solution through a June ballot has become a more difficult task to achieve," Mark Baldassare, PPIC president and CEO, said in a statement.

(Reporting by Peter Henderson, editing by Anthony Boadle)

TACOMA, Washington (Reuters) – The first of five U.S. soldiers charged with killing unarmed Afghan civilians last year was sentenced Wednesday to 24 years in prison after pleading guilty to three counts of premeditated murder.

The guilty plea and sentencing of Army Specialist Jeremy Morlock, 23, of Wasilla, Alaska, marked a turning point in the most serious prosecution of alleged U.S. military atrocities during 10 years of war in Afghanistan.

Under questioning by the judge, Morlock recounted his role in the deaths of three unarmed Afghan villagers whose slayings by grenade blasts and rifle fire were staged to appear as legitimate combat casualties.

"I knew what I was doing was wrong, sir," he said, adding that, contrary to his lawyers' suggestions, his judgment was not impaired by drugs. He admitted smoking hashish three or four times a week during his deployment in Afghanistan.

German magazine Der Spiegel this week published several photos related to the killings, one showing Morlock crouched grinning over a bloodied corpse as he lifted the dead man's head by the hair for the camera.

The existence of such photos, among dozens seized as evidence by investigators and ordered sealed from public view by the Army, has drawn comparisons with the pictures of Iraqi prisoners taken by U.S. military personnel at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq that were made public in 2004.

The judge presiding over the case, Lieutenant Colonel Kwasi Hawks, accepted Morlock's plea deal with prosecutors at the end of a daylong proceeding at Joint Base Lewis-McChord near Tacoma, and handed Morlock a 24-year prison term.

The judge also ruled Morlock's incarceration would be reduced by nearly a year for time already served. He will be eligible for parole in about seven years.

Morlock, who will be dishonorably discharged from the Army, stood facing the judge and showed no emotion as he was sentenced.

'I LOST MY MORAL COMPASS'

Earlier, he read a statement apologizing to the victims' families and the "people of Afghanistan," adding, "I've spent a lot of time reflecting on how I lost my moral compass."

Speaking under oath at the hearing, Morlock also implicated the four other members of his infantry unit's so-called "kill team" and agreed to testify further against them if called as a prosecution witness for their courts-martial.

The Army recently completed a top-to-bottom review of Morlock's combat unit, the 5th Stryker Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, in conjunction with the criminal investigation, although the 500-page report has not been entered as evidence.

Civilian attorneys for Morlock and other defendants, all enlisted men, have suggested the Stryker Brigade suffered from a breakdown in command and that higher-ranking officers bore some responsibility for the misbehavior of their troops.

The first of five soldiers charged in the case, Morlock was described by prosecutors as the right-hand man to the accused ringleader of the rogue platoon, Staff Sergeant Calvin Gibbs. They alone were charged with killing all three victims, whom Morlock testified were chosen at random by Gibbs.

Seven other Stryker soldiers were charged with lesser crimes during the investigation, which grew out of a probe into hashish abuse by American GIs. Four of them already have pleaded guilty and been sentenced.

(Writing by Steve Gorman; Editing by Greg McCune and Jerry Norton)

PHOENIX (Reuters) – Jared Loughner, the college dropout charged in January's Arizona shooting rampage, was moved to Missouri on Wednesday for mental evaluation, the government said in legal papers.

U.S. District Judge Larry Burns earlier this week ordered Loughner sent to a federal prison facility in Springfield, Missouri, where he will be examined by psychiatrists to determine if he is competent to stand trial.

Loughner's mental health has been questioned since soon after the January 8 shooting, due to his documented behavioral issues at Pima Community College in Tucson, Arizona, where he withdrew from school, and his rambling Internet posts.

Loughner faces federal charges that he opened fire on Representative Gabrielle Giffords and a crowd gathered at a Tucson supermarket. The shooting killed six bystanders, including a nine-year-old girl and a federal judge.

In legal papers filed on Wednesday, federal prosecutors wrote, "The government hereby advises this court that, based on consultation with the U.S. Marshal, the defendant was transported to MRC Springfield on this date and is currently at that location."

Burns has said he expects a report on Loughner's mental health by May 11.

(Reporting by David Schwartz; Writing by Alex Dobuzinskis; Editing by Jerry Norton)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. public support for expanding nuclear power appears to be slipping after Japan's nuclear crisis while New York's governor said on Tuesday an aging plant near New York City will be the top priority in a federal review of earthquake risk to such facilities.

President Barack Obama last year announced loan guarantees to build the first U.S. nuclear power plant in nearly three decades. But the nuclear disaster triggered by Japan's 9.0 magnitude earthquake may be making Americans less inclined to embrace more nuclear energy due to safety fears.

In a poll released on Monday by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, 52 percent of 1,004 U.S. adults surveyed from March 17-20 said they oppose the expansion of nuclear power now, up from 47 percent last October.

A poll of 814 U.S. adults released on Tuesday by the Civil Society Institute, which has been critical of nuclear energy, found that less than half of those questioned -- 46 percent -- said they support more nuclear power reactors in the United States and 44 percent oppose new reactors.

Fifty-eight percent of those questioned said they are less supportive of expanding nuclear power in the United States than they were a month ago. The poll was conducted March 15-16.

"The Fukushima nuclear reactor disaster in Japan is causing a renewed and intensifying skepticism about the future of nuclear power," said Pam Solo, president of the Civil Society Institute, based in Newton, Massachusetts.

Many Americans have harbored safety concerns about nuclear power since the 1979 disaster at the Three Mile Island plant in Pennsylvania.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has pledged to make the Indian Point nuclear power plant north of New York City their top priority in a review of seismic risk at U.S. nuclear plants.

PLANT'S SAFETY DEFENDED

Indian Point owner Entergy Corp purchased a full-page advertisement in the New York Times on Tuesday touting comments by U.S. Energy Secretary Steve Chu saying that the reactor is safe and an NRC report saying all U.S. nuclear plants remain safe.

An NRC report last September found Indian Point, situated near two geological fault lines, was at the greatest risk from seismic activity among the 27 nuclear plants under review. The plant provides up to 30 percent of New York City's power.

Entergy also said it is considering a plan to store mobile emergency generators off-site that could be relocated to Indian Point after any emergency. Reactors at the crippled Japanese plant overheated when the tsunami knocked out backup generators to power the cooling system. The quake had cut off main power.

A report from the International Atomic Energy Agency questioned whether utilities licensed to run older U.S. nuclear reactors are doing enough to upgrade plant safety.

The report, issued by the U.N. nuclear watchdog two days before the earthquake and tsunami that crippled the Fukushima power plant in Japan, sounds an alarm about the safety at some older U.S. nuclear plants.

The IAEA assessed how America's nuclear plants are regulated at the request of the NRC.

Obama last week ordered a comprehensive review of the safety of U.S. nuclear power facilities, maintaining his support for nuclear energy while seeking to apply lessons from the situation in Japan.

Some lawmakers and anti-nuclear activists have called for safety measures in quake-prone California, where the Pacific Gas & Electric's Diablo Canyon plant and Edison International's San Onofre plant sit near faults.

"New information about the severe seismic risk ... make clear that these two plants require immediate attention in light of the catastrophic events in Japan," said Barbara Boxer, who along with fellow California Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein has asked the NRC to conduct a review of the safety and emergency preparedness of the plants.

(Editing by Will Dunham)

ALBANY, New York (Reuters) – U.S. regulators have promised to make the Indian Point nuclear power plant near New York City their top priority in a review of seismic risk at U.S. nuclear plants, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said on Tuesday.

The plant 25 miles of New York City, already a source of safety concern among state officials, has faced renewed scrutiny since the March 11 earthquake and tsunami that crippled Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power complex.

Cuomo, a Democrat who has worked to prevent the federal relicensing of the Indian Point facility, said the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has pledged to make the plant its "top priority" as it reviews earthquake risk at 27 nuclear facilities throughout the country.

"It is essential that the NRC move quickly to answer the significant and longstanding safety questions surrounding Indian Point," Cuomo said after New York state officials met with regulators at the NRC's Maryland headquarters.

An NRC report in September found Indian Point was at the greatest risk from seismic activity among the nuclear plants under review. Indian Point sits near two geological fault lines. The plant provides up to 30 percent of New York City's power.

The NRC will be investigating 27 plants' ability to handle earthquakes.

"It is important to note that while the study indicated the seismic risk has increased for some plants, it is not by a margin that would give us cause for any immediate concern," Eliot Brenner, a spokesman for the NRC said in a statement.

Indian Point owner Entergy Corp purchased a full-page advertisement in The New York Times on Tuesday touting comments by U.S. Energy Secretary Steve Chu saying that the reactor is safe and an NRC report saying all U.S. nuclear plants remain safe.

It was built to withstand an earthquake 100 times the magnitude of any quake measured in the area, Entergy said in the advertisement. The company has pledged to conduct its own review of seismic risk and safety procedures.

Entergy also said it is considering a plan to store mobile emergency generators off-site that could be relocated to Indian Point after any emergency. Reactors at the crippled Japanese plant overheated when the tsunami knocked out backup generators to power the cooling system. The quake had cut off main power.

The NRC has agreed to share data related to seismic risk with the state and will include the governor's staff in on-site reviews of the plant, said Lieutenant Governor Robert Duffy.

"This is an emotional topic, and we want to make sure we have all the facts before we make a decision," said Cuomo, who added that he does not know when the review would take place but that it would be "expeditious."

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States will block imports of milk and fresh produce from areas of Japan near a crippled nuclear power plant, the Food and Drug Administration said on Tuesday.

All milk and milk products and fresh fruits and vegetables from four Japanese prefectures -- Fukushima, Ibaraki, Tochigi and Gunma -- will be stopped from entering the United States, the FDA said in a statement.

The agency was responding to fears that contaminated food from Japan could make it to U.S. stores.

Above-safety radiation levels have been discovered in 11 types of vegetables from the Fukushima area in northeast Japan where a six-reactor nuclear plant was battered by a March 11 earthquake and tsunami, the Japanese government said.

Radiation also has also been found in milk, tap water and the nearby Pacific sea, although Japan and experts insist levels are still far from dangerous to humans.

The agency said previously that exports from Japan were limited due to the infrastructure damage from the disaster.

Japanese officials also have ordered a stop to the sale of raw milk, spinach and kakina from Fukushima prefecture, and of spinach and kakina from Ibaraki, Tochigi and Gunma prefectures.

Foods from Japan make up less than 4 percent of all foods imported into the United States, the FDA said.

(Editing by Peter Cooney)

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Early comments online and in newspapers point to cautious American support for a limited role in bombing Libyan air defenses but wariness over entangling the United States in an ill-defined military mission.

The United States was slow to act on Libya yet wise to play down its role in a military intervention, some U.S. editorials, columnists and bloggers said. They also raised concerns over a perceived lack of leadership in a "war by committee."

Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, in power since a military coup in 1969, lost control of large sections of the country in a revolt last month and his forces had been fighting back.

But a military coalition, including France, Britain and the United States, has been firing missiles at Libyan targets for several days to enforce a no-fly zone over the country, which was approved by the U.N. Security Council on Thursday.

The Libyan uprising followed popular revolutions -- without international intervention -- that ousted the presidents of Tunisia and Egypt.

The Wall Street Journal, which had called for action and is often aligned with Republican views, welcomed the assault but criticized its method.

"The use of force against Libya looks like the first war by global committee," The newspaper said on Monday. "We support the military action, even if it is much belated."

"But the war's early prosecution also raises concern about its leadership, its limited means and strategic goals. On none of these have coalition members been clear or unified, starting with President (Barack) Obama," the newspaper said.

Washington, looking to extract itself from wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, wants as low a profile as possible in Libya, although it has quietly taken the lion's share of missile and air strikes so far, diplomats say.

The Washington Post backed limited goals.

"The president has been right to weigh U.S. options carefully and to work diligently to assemble a coalition. The United States cannot fight a war on behalf of Libyan rebels," it said in an editorial on Friday.

But as the White House said on Monday it would transfer the lead role in the North African operation within days, the U.S.-based CNN television news network was asking viewers, "Does the United States have a clear mission in Libya?"

Libya was not a hot topic on the social networking site Twitter on Monday. Among tweets, @scottbohlinger said, "Even if not fully consistent, action against Gaddafi achieves the political end of discouraging more abuse of human rights," while @improvcellist said: "I absolutely despise what Obama is doing in Libya. Let's help Japan instead."

A straw poll online at www.reuters.com found 58 percent of the 1,643 respondents supported the air strikes on Libya by the coalition, while 42 percent opposed them.

A Pew Research Center poll released a week ago found that 63 percent of Americans did not believe the United States had a responsibility to do something about the fighting in Libya.

'TROUBLING VAGUE'

Doug Bandow, a senior fellow at the libertarian Cato Institute, wrote on The Huffington Post website that Obama made the wrong decision by becoming involved in the Libyan conflict.

"Libya is not America's war. It is justified neither on security or humanitarian grounds. Nor can Washington, overwhelmed with current deficits and future liabilities, afford to be world's permanent 911 number," Bandow wrote, referring to the U.S. emergency help number.

The USA Today newspaper said in an editorial on Monday that the definition of success for the military operation remained "troublingly vague," but that the patient diplomacy that led to the intervention had been encouraging.

"Obama's plan to step back within days after the initial attacks and cede substantial leadership to Europeans and Arabs is particularly wise," said the newspaper, adding the military action should be aimed "at a clear, attainable goal and fought with total commitment."

Howard Kurtz said in the online newspaper The Daily Beast that "Obama's move seems to have united the right and the center-left behind the barely debated military action -- but not the most liberal players in the punditocracy."

New York Times columnist Ross Douthat wrote on Monday that while there were advantages to this type of military operation -- such as spreading the burden and taking the edge off "instinctive anti-Americanism" -- there were also problems.

"Because liberal wars depend on constant consensus-building within the (so-called) international community, they tend to be fought by committee, at a glacial pace, and with a caution that shades into tactical incompetence," he wrote.

An editorial on Saturday in the New York Daily News tabloid said Obama had sacrificed "clarity of mission to international consensus."

It said Gaddafi must be stopped, but "that said, much else remains disturbingly unclear, including the scope of the larger mission and the identity of the commander who will ultimately call the shots."

"Waging war -- and this is war -- by committee is a losing proposition. That must not happen," the newspaper said.

(Reporting by Michelle Nichols; Editing by Peter Cooney)

NEW YORK/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Libya released four New York Times journalists on Monday, nearly a week after they had been captured by Libyan forces while covering the conflict there, although three journalists for other outlets remained missing.

The journalists later gave a frightening account of their ordeal in which they said some of their captors threatened their lives.

The release had been in the works since Thursday, with Turkey serving as intermediary between the U.S. and Libyan governments.

The four, who had been allowed to speak to their families on Thursday, were released to the Turkish embassy in Tripoli and later arrived safely in Tunisia, the Times said.

The United States, lacking a diplomatic presence in Libya at the moment, asked Turkey to represent its interests there as part of the deal to free the journalists, Turkey's ambassador to the United States said.

"Because of the volatile situation in Libya, we've kept our enthusiasm and comments in check until they were out of the country, but now feels like a moment for celebration," Executive Editor Bill Keller said in a statement.

"And before long we'll all know the details of their experience," Keller said.

The Times journalists are two-time Pulitzer Prize winner and Beirut bureau chief Anthony Shadid, reporter and videographer Stephen Farrell and photographers Tyler Hicks and Lynsey Addario.

'SHOOT THEM'

In an account reported by the Times, the journalists said they were captured at a checkpoint in Ajdabiya by forces loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.

As they were being pulled from the car, rebels fired on the checkpoint, sending the four running for their lives, but they were caught by soldiers, the report said.

"I heard in Arabic, 'Shoot them,'" Shadid said. "And we all thought it was over."

"One of the others said: 'No, they're American. We can't shoot them,'" Hicks said. The four journalists said they were bound and put in a vehicle which stopped repeatedly at checkpoints, where each time a new group of soldiers punched them or struck them in their backs with rifle butts.

One of their captors threatened to decapitate Hicks, and Addario said she was repeatedly groped and told she was going to die.

The United States has formally suspended operations at its embassy in Tripoli and asked Turkey to act as its "protective power" in Libya, ambassador Namik Tan told Reuters.

The Turkish ambassador in Tripoli immediately contacted Libyan authorities to request the release. The handover was delayed a day by the resumption of U.S. and allied air strikes on Tripoli on Sunday.

The group had been traveling through the rebel controlled eastern region of Libya without visas, like many Western journalists, to cover the uprising against Gaddafi, the Times reported. They were detained by forces loyal to Gaddafi on March 15 in Ajdabiya, the paper said.

Three journalists, including two working for Agence France-Presse, have gone missing while covering the fighting in Libya, the news agency said on Sunday.

AFP said in a statement that Dave Clark, a reporter based at its Paris headquarters, and Roberto Schmidt, a photographer in its Nairobi bureau, had not been heard from since they sent an email to senior editors on Friday evening.

They were accompanied by Joe Raedle, a photographer from the Getty Images agency who also had not been heard from since Friday evening, AFP said.

(Additional reporting by Tulay Karadeniz and Jennifer Saba; editing by John Whitesides and Eric Beech)

PHOENIX (Reuters) – A federal judge on Monday ordered Jared Lee Loughner, the college dropout charged in January's Arizona shooting rampage, to undergo a mental evaluation in Missouri to see if he is competent to stand trial.

Federal prosecutors earlier this month asked for Loughner to receive an evaluation.

U.S. District Judge Larry Burns wrote in his ruling that the purpose of the examination is not to focus on Loughner's mental state at the time of the shooting.

"The question at issue is whether the defendant is presently suffering from a mental disease or defect rendering him mentally incompetent to the extent that he is unable to understand the nature and consequences of the proceedings against him, or to assist properly in his defense," he said.

Loughner's mental competency has been an issue in the case since soon after the January 8 shootings. Officials at Pima Community College in Tucson said he withdrew from the school last year amid questions about his mental health.

Analysts and commentators also cited strange writings and videos that he posted online before the shooting.

Loughner faces federal charges that he opened fire on U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords and a crowd of her constituents at a gathering at a Tucson, Arizona, supermarket.

Six bystanders, including a 9 year-old girl and a federal judge, were killed and 13 others, including Giffords, were wounded in the shooting.

In his ruling, Burns agreed with prosecutors that a medical referral center at a federal prison facility in Springfield, Missouri, was the best place for Loughner to be evaluated.

The facility has medical staff that can conduct neurological tests and has psychiatrists available for assistance around the clock, Burns said.

Loughner's attorneys had asked for him to be evaluated in Arizona, arguing that transferring him from Tucson could worsen his mental state and disrupt their relationship with him.

Burns ruled that Loughner's attorneys may retain an independent expert to evaluate him, but that the court-ordered assessment should take place at the Missouri facility.

Burns said he expects a report on the mental health examiners' findings by May 11.

(Writing by Alex Dobuzinskis: Editing by Peter Bohan)

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla (Reuters) – A reported "sheen" in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Louisiana is likely the result of large amounts of sediment, not spilled oil, the U.S. Coast Guard said on Sunday.

The Coast Guard collected and tested samples of a dark substance after receiving varying reports on Saturday of possible pollution floating on and beneath the water's surface. The largest sighting described the substance as stretching 100 miles into the Gulf, south of Grand Isle, Louisiana.

An analysis found only trace amounts of petroleum hydrocarbons, oil and grease -- all at levels well within the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality's clean water standard.

Sediment carried down the Mississippi River and possibly agitated by dredging is believed to have caused the dark substance, according to a Coast Guard news release.

The Coast Guard also investigated on Sunday an oily substance washing up along the Louisiana shoreline.

Samples of that substance will be tested. It is not suspected to be residual oil from the Deepwater Horizon spill in April.

(Editing by Greg McCune)

(Reuters) – (Adds status update in paragraph two)

BP Plc reported flaring due to power surges on Sunday at its 437,000 barrel per day (bpd) Texas City, Texas, refinery, according to a notice filed with state regulators.

The units were stabilized and operations resumed, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality said.

The notice said the power surges led several units to become unstable, resulting in flaring from the Cat Feed Hydro treating Unit.

(Reporting by Naveed Anjum in Bangalore; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Former Secretary of State Warren Christopher, who helped bring peace to Bosnia and negotiated the release of American hostages in Iran, died in California at age 85.

Christopher "passed away peacefully, surrounded by family at his home in Los Angeles" late on Friday of complications from kidney and bladder cancer, his family said in a statement.

As the top U.S. statesman under President Bill Clinton from 1993 to 1997, Christopher was a behind-the-scenes negotiator. Often called the "stealth" secretary of state, he was known for his understated, self-effacing manner.

"As President Clinton's Secretary of State, he was a resolute pursuer of peace," President Barack Obama said on Saturday. "Warren Christopher was a skillful diplomat, a steadfast public servant, and a faithful American."

Christopher said that as a diplomat, careful listening was his secret weapon. "I observed some time ago that I was better at listening than at talking," The New York Times quoted him as saying in a 1981 speech when he was deputy secretary of state.

That secret weapon helped Christopher weather diplomatic crises and bring enemies together.

In 1995, he intervened during the crucial final days of the U.S.-brokered Bosnian peace talks at Dayton, Ohio. He had an important role in closing the deal, according to his deputy, Richard Holbrooke, the force behind the agreement.

Christopher not only spoke the language of diplomacy, he dressed the part. Favoring elegant, tailored suits, he was once named one of the best dressed men in America by People magazine for his "diplomatically dapper" style.

MIDDLE EAST WORK

As secretary of state, Christopher devoted much of his time to the Middle East. He made at least 18 trips to the region in pursuit of peace and a ceasefire in southern Lebanon between Israel and the pro-Iranian Islamic group Hezbollah.

In 1994 he witnessed the signing of a peace treaty between Jordan and Israel.

As President Jimmy Carter's deputy secretary of state, he negotiated the release of 52 Americans taken hostage at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran in 1979.

The hostages were freed on January 20, 1981, minutes after Ronald Reagan was sworn in to succeed Carter.

Carter awarded Christopher the Medal of Freedom, the highest U.S. civilian honor, for his efforts. On Saturday the former president said the country had "lost a great and revered leader."

"Warren was a diplomat's diplomat -- talented, dedicated and exceptionally wise," Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in a statement. "As well as anyone in his generation, he understood the subtle interplay of national interests, fundamental values and personal dynamics that drive diplomacy."

Christopher also helped negotiate the Panama Canal treaty, worked on establishing normal relations with China and played a major role in developing Carter's human rights policies.

"Most talking is not glamorous," Christopher said in an address at Stanford University months after the Iranian hostage crisis ended. "Often it is tedious. It can be excruciating and exhausting. But talking can also tame conflict, lift the human condition and move us close to the ideal of peace."

Christopher was born on October 27, 1925, in Scranton, North Dakota, and grew up in Los Angeles.

(Reporting by John O'Callaghan, Stacey Joyce and Mark Felsenthal in Washington and Matthew Bigg in Atlanta; Editing by Xavier Briand)

SANTA FE, New Mexico (Reuters) – New Mexico's newly elected Republican governor lost her attempt to deny driver's licenses to illegal immigrants on Saturday, when the bill died in the state Senate.

New Mexico is one of only three states to allow undocumented immigrants to receive driver's licenses.

The other states bordering Mexico -- Arizona, California and Texas -- ban the practice.

Governor Susana Martinez, a former prosecutor of Mexican-American descent, made a crackdown on illegal immigration a centerpiece of her campaign before her election in November.

"I will continue to fight to fulfill the promises I made to New Mexicans," she said on Saturday after the bill's defeat.

She added that her office was looking into administrative measures targeting the issuance of driver's licenses to undocumented immigrants.

About 83,000 foreign nationals, including some legal residents, hold driver's licenses in the state. Martinez has called the practice of giving licenses to illegal immigrants "dangerous."

The bill to repeal the state's law giving licenses to illegals was approved in the state House of Representatives on March 4 by a vote of 42-28.

In the Senate, where Democrats hold a 27 to 15 majority over Republicans, lawmakers indicated they were more interested in toughening up the existing law rather than repealing it.

The Senate voted to require foreign nationals to renew their licenses every two years and extended a residency requirement for foreign nationals seeking a license to six from three months.

But those measures failed to be enacted when the House and Senate on Saturday could not agree on the amended bill.

Advocates for immigrants groups cheered the result.

"This goes to show that you come in with a radical, extremist agenda, you're going to get push-back because New Mexico is not a radical extremist state," said Marcela Diaz, head of immigrants rights group Somos un Pueblo Unido.

Some law enforcement officials also opposed the repeal, arguing it would lead to tens of thousands of motorists driving without licenses or insurance.

Under current law, license applicants must show proof of identity, such as a passport, birth certificate or license from another state. They also must present two proofs of residency.

The governor had poured leftover campaign funds into radio advertisements to press the issue.

(Editing by Alex Dobuzinskis and Ellen Wulfhorst)

CHARLESTON, South Carolina (Reuters) – A miniature train at a South Carolina park derailed and overturned on Saturday, killing a 6-year-old child and injuring at least 18 other people, authorities said.

The train at Cleveland Park in Spartanburg had 28 people on board when it derailed just after 1 p.m., said Spartanburg Police Captain Art Littlejohn.

"The train derailed and came off the tracks," he said. "It overturned, and the people were thrown from the train."

A 6-year-old child was killed, he said.

Initial accounts of how many people were injured remained unclear. Littlejohn said 15 children were taken by ambulance to hospitals and two more were airlifted by helicopter. Two adults also were hospitalized, he said.

Some of the injuries were serious, he said.

A spokesman for Spartanburg Regional Medical Center said his hospital alone received 19 injured people from the derailment. He said it was his understanding other area hospitals had also received patients.

The train ride opened for the day at noon, Littlejohn said. The train and tracks had been inspected on Wednesday, he said.

The tracks of the miniature train at Cleveland Park, which is operated by the Spartanburg County Parks Commission, circle the park's playground area.

(Reporting by Ellen Wulfhorst and Harriet McLeod: Editing by Alex Dobuzinskis)