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8A– Daily News – Tuesday, August 31, 2010 WORLD BRIEFING Obama declaring ’promise kept’ in ending Iraq war WASHINGTON (AP) — Firmly and finally ending the U.S. combat mission in Iraq, President Barack Obama will have but a moment before trying to has- ten peace nearby between Israelis and Palestinians. Left unclear is whether winding down the war that inflamed Arab passions will do anything to help long-shot Mideast talks. From the Oval Office, a setting designed to command gravity and atten- tion, Obama will declare Tuesday night that Iraqis are now the ones in charge of a war he had opposed. Within hours on Wednesday, he will be immersed in talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders, underscoring the hopeful but precarious U.S. role as a middleman. The White House is framing the two events as commitments kept by the pres- ident. But there is little excitement buzz and certainly no bold promises that cap- ping the combat mission in Iraq will prod broader peace in the Middle East. Tuesday night, Obama’s emphasis will be to thank the troops and explain why the fight goes on in Afghanistan and beyond — and not so much about the potential for Iraq to be ‘‘a beacon of liberty in the Middle East’’ as President George W. Bush put it. In a narrow sense, the peace talks convened by the White House have little to do with Iraq. The Middle East stale- mate has to do with the borders of a potential Palestinian state, the fate of Palestinian refugees, the status of Jerusalem, the security of Israel — and trust on both sides. Making progress on those points, not the Iraq war, is at the core of renewed talks between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Hurricane Earl batters tiny Caribbean islands SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Hurricane Earl battered tiny islands across the northeastern Caribbean with heavy rain and roof-ripping winds Mon- day, rapidly intensifying into a major Category 4 storm on a path projected to menace the United States. Already dangerous with sustained winds of 135 mph (215 kph), Earl is expected to gain more strength before potentially brushing the U.S. East Coast this week and bringing deadly rip cur- rents. The U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami warned coastal residents from North Carolina to Maine to watch the storm closely. ‘‘Any small shift in the track could dramatically alter whether it makes land- fall or whether it remains over the open ocean,’’ said Wallace Hogsett, a meteo- rologist at the center. ‘‘I can’t urge enough to just stay tuned.’’ In the Caribbean, Earl caused flood- ing in low-lying areas and damaged homes on islands including Antigua and Barbuda, Anguilla and St. Maarten. Sev- eral countries and territories reported power outages. Cruise ships were divert- ed and flights canceled across the region. VP Joe Biden seeks to reassure Iraq that US will not abandon it BAGHDAD (AP) — Vice President Joe Biden sought Monday to reassure Iraq that America is not abandoning it as the U.S. military steps back and a stale- mate over who will run the war-battered nation’s next government approaches its sixth month. Biden flew into Baghdad a few days before a military ceremony formally marking the end of U.S. combat opera- tions seven years after the invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein. He will also try to spur the nation’s leaders to forge a power-sharing agreement to bring some much-needed political stability to Iraq after March parliamentary elections failed to produce a clear winner. Biden tried to reassure Iraqis that America’s transition to more of a diplo- matic mission in Iraq than a military one would be smooth. ‘‘We’re going to be just fine. They’re going to be just fine,’’ he said during a brief photo opportunity at the U.S. Embassy, sitting next to Ambassador Jim Jeffrey and surrounded by top U.S. generals overseeing Iraq and the rest of the Middle East. The Sept. 1 ceremony marks the start of the so-called ‘‘Operation New Dawn’’ — symbolizing the beginning of the end of the American military’s mission in Iraq. Drilling begins on escape hole to free Chilean miners SAN JOSE MINE, Chile (AP) — An enormous drill began preliminary work Monday on carving a half-mile chimney through solid rock to free the 33 men trapped in a Chilean mine, their ordeal now having equaled the longest known survival in an underground disaster. The 31-ton drill bored 50 feet into the rock, the first step in the weeklong dig- ging of a ‘‘pilot hole’’ to guide the way for the rescue. Later the drill will be out- fitted with larger bits to expand the hole and pull the men through — a process that could take four months. The men were trapped Aug. 5 in the San Jose mine in Chile’s northern Ataca- ma Desert. Before rescuers dug bore holes to reach them, they survived 17 days without contact with the outside world by rationing a 48-hour supply of food and digging for water in the ground. Only three miners who survived 25 days trapped in a flooded mine in south- ern China last year are known to have survived underground as long. Few other rescues have taken more than two weeks. With Chilean officials saying the men could remain underground for another four months before the rescue hole is completed, the ordeal will be an unprece- dented challenge for rescuers, but they have the tools to be successful. 65-carat gem found at NC farm RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — An emerald so large it’s being compared with the crown jewels of Russian empress Catherine the Great was pulled from a pit near corn rows at a North Carolina farm. The nearly 65-carat emerald its finders are marketing by the name Carolina Emperor was pulled from a farm once so well known among treasure hunters that the owners charged $3 a day to shovel for small samples of the green stones. After the gem was cut and re-cut, the finished product was about one-fifth the weight of the original find, making it slightly larger than a U.S. quarter and about as heavy as a AA battery. The emerald compares in size and qual- ity to one surrounded by diamonds in a brooch once owned by Catherine the Great, who was empress in the 18th century, that Christie’s auction house in New York sold in April for $1.65 million, said C.R. ‘‘Cap’’ Beesley, a New York gemologist who examined the stone. While big, uncut crystals and even notable gem-quality emeralds have come from the community 50 miles northwest of Charlotte called Hiddenite, there has never been one so big it’s worthy of an imperial treasury, Beesley said. ‘‘It is the largest cut emerald ever to be found in North America,’’ Beesley said in a telephone interview from Myanmar, an Asian country rich in precious gems. MORE THAN JUST BOWLING & Bowling Greens Minature Golf www.LassenMedical.com FALL LEAGUES FORMING NOW! Kids • Adults • Seniors • Reno Leagues • Earn a Ball Leagues • Instructional Leagues • Day & Evening Leagues We’ve got it all! Check out www.LariatBowl.com 8049 Hwy 99E, Los Molinos, CA 384-1563 WE ACCEPT FOOD “Your Family Supermarket” We appreciate your business - and we show it! 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