The euro hit a three-week high against the dollar on Wednesday, supported by hopes for an agreement on Greece austerity steps and progress toward an aid package for Greece, bringing it near chart resistance that could limit its near-term gains. The euro edged higher in early Asian trade after Greek newspaper Kathimerini said in its online edition that details of the Greek government's mid-term fiscal plan were expected to be finalised by Wednesday night or Thursday morning, traders said. The single European currency rose to $1.4438 on trading platform EBS, its highest since early May, adding to gains it made on Tuesday. "For euro bears it is supra shoes becoming a tough situation, at least in the near term," said Junya Tanase, foreign exchange strategist for JPMorgan Chase in Tokyo. Worries about the risk that Greece may restructure its debt in the near term have ebbed, and that could open the way for the euro to climb, said Tanase, who sees the euro trading in a $1.42-47 range in June. After trimming gains the euro stood at $1.4408 EUR=, up 0.1 percent from late U.S. trading on Tuesday. The euro's rise against the dollar stalled just below resistance near $1.4454, a 50 percent retracement of a slide from its early May peak above $1.4940 to a two-month trough of $1.3968 hit last week. That $1.4454 level is also resistance on the weekly Ichimoku chart, with the tenkan sen, also known as the conversion line, coming in at that point. The conversion line can act as resistance or support depending on its location. "Our view is that Greece will get another package - perhaps with some token 'voluntary' lengthening of maturities but not significant enough to really damage private investors - and so the euro should rebound over the coming few weeks," said Rob Ryan, a FX strategist at BNP Paribas in Singapore. The euro held steady against the yen at 117.37 yen EURJPY=R, having touched a high of 117.80 yen on Tuesday, its highest since early May. Sporadic selling of the euro and dollar by Japanese exporters helped lend support to the yen on Wednesday morning, one trader said. The euro rose 1.5 percent against the yen on Tuesday, buoyed by a Wall Street Journal report saying Germany is considering dropping its push for an early rescheduling of Greek bonds in order to facilitate a new package of aid loans for Greece. Adding fuel to the euro's rise versus the yen, Moody's Investors Service placed its credit rating on Japan under review for a possible downgrade on Tuesday, less than a week after rival rating agency Fitch revised downward its outlook on Japan's debt. The dollar got little help from the latest batch of U.S. economic data released on Tuesday. The data showed a double-dip in home prices, pessimism among consumers and a slowdown in regional manufacturing, raising concerns that the U.S. economy's soft patch could become protracted.

Home prices have sunk to 2002 levels, effectively wiping out almost a decade's worth of home equity across the U.S. and imperiling the fragile economic recovery as Americans confront the falling value of their biggest investment. A closely watched home-price index released Tuesday showed that prices nationwide fell 4.2% in the first quarter after declining 3.6% in the fourth quarter of 2010. Home prices, which slid in March to their lowest level since the start of the 2006-2009 downturn, have tumbled for eight straight months, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller home-price index. "Home prices continue on their downward spiral with no relief in sight," said David M. Blitzer, chairman of S&P's index committee. The report signals "a double dip in home prices across much of the nation," he said. That doesn't bode well for the economy, which historically has depended on home buying and other consumer spending to rebound. Falling prices hurt economic growth in a number of ways. juicy couture Not only do homebuyers curb spending when their homes are losing value, but continued price erosion keeps families stuck in homes they can't sell because they are worth less than what they owe. Another 5% decline in prices will increase the share of underwater homeowners with mortgages to 28%, up from 23% at the end of 2010, according to CoreLogic Inc. A 10% drop will leave more than one-third of all U.S. borrowers underwater. Declining home values, rising prices and unemployment continue to weigh on consumer confidence. Another wild card is wrangling over the debt-ceiling in Washington, where lawmakers remain at odds over raising the nation's $2.4 trillion cap. The Conference Board, a business research group, said Tuesday that its confidence index fell to 60.8 last month, down from 66.0 in April, as Americans grew more pessimistic about the economy. Economists are similarly downbeat, revising expectations downward for second-quarter growth; Goldman Sachs last week notched its forecast down to 3% from a previous 3.5%. "If you had to identify one thing in particular that's been responsible for the subpar nature of this cycle, it would be housing," said Joshua Shapiro, chief U.S. economist for MFR Inc. "The bad news is I don't expect it to turn around any time soon." Economists say it could take years for the housing market to return to health and it will take faster growth, strong job gains and improvements in consumer confidence to make it happen. Residential construction has subtracted from growth in gross domestic product, the broadest measure of all goods and services produced in the economy, in four of the seven quarters since the recession ended in June 2009. That's a contrast with the past three recoveries when housing added to economic growth for at least a year and half following the downturns in the 1980s, 1990s and early 2000s. Two years ago, home prices stopped falling as low prices, along with home-buyer tax credits, spurred a surge in sales. But demand collapsed last summer after those credits expired and left markets without enough buyers to absorb a steady flow of foreclosed properties. Indeed, 12 of the 20 metropolitan areas tracked in the index posted new lows in March, and national prices are down 5.1% over the past year. Only the Washington, D.C., and Seattle markets saw month-to-month growth of 1.1% and 0.1%, respectively. Minneapolis led the declines, with prices falling 3.7%; on an annual basis, its prices were down 10%. Sellers such as Julie Lindsay are feeling the pinch. Ms. Lindsay, a retired state worker, listed her three-bedroom house in the St. Paul, Minn., suburb of Centerville for sale in April, thinking it would show better in the spring. "The flowers are planted. Things look nice," she said. "But it's not been great. I've had two people come see it, a couple of phone calls and that's about it."She has lowered the price to $145,000—and tries not to think about the home's value three or four years ago. "It was worth $200,000 then," she says. "Now the county says it's worth $92,000. Holy mackerel." Ms. Lindsay suspects a number of more affordable foreclosures nearby are hurting her chances of selling. "You can get newer houses for what I am asking for my old house if you buy a foreclosure," she said. One bright spot: as prices fall, affordability is returning to pre-bubble levels in a growing number of markets. Prices in Atlanta, Cleveland, Detroit, and Las Vegas have fallen below their January 2000 levels, while prices in Phoenix are only slightly above that mark. Economists say a shortage of "trade up" buyers has become one of the biggest drags on housing, leaving many markets dependent on first-time buyers and investors who land discounts on foreclosures by making all-cash bids. "There's just no equity," says Christopher Thornberg, a housing economist at Beacon Economics in Los Angeles. "You add that up and what you're dealing with is, of course, a situation where there's not enough demand to really push the market forward." Investors are making it harder for some buyers to enter the market. The National Association of Realtors recently reported that while overall sales are weaker this year than last, the volume of homes sold for $100,000 or less in the first quarter—many to investors in all-cash deals—was 8.9% higher than the same period last year.

The president began his day by hosting a breakfast at the White House for Gold Star Families - those who have lost loved ones in war. As is traditional each year on Memorial Day, when the nation honors its war dead, the president and his wife then traveled the short distance from the White House across the Potomac River to Arlington National Cemetery. There Obama took part in a wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknowns, followed by a Memorial Day service in a large amphitheater at the cemetery. Saying his heart goes out to those mourning the loss of a loved one, Obama said the sacrifices of those who have been killed defending the United States must always be remembered. "On this day we remember that it is on our behalf that they gave their lives," said President Obama. "We remember that it is their courage, their unselfishness, their devotion to duty that has sustained this country through all its trials and will sustain us through all the trials to come. We remember that the blessings we enjoy as Americans came at a dear cost; that our very presence here today, as free people in a free society, bears testimony to their enduring legacy." Introducing the president at the Arlington memorial service was Robert Gates, the outgoing defense secretary who served not only Mr. Obama but his predecessor in the White House, former President George W. Bush. "As I come to the end of my time in this post, I know this will be my final opportunity to stand and to speak in this hallowed place and pay tribute to the fallen," said Gates. "It is up to us to be worthy of their sacrifice in the decisions we make, the priorities we set, the support we provide to troops, veterans and their families." Before President Obama left Arlington cemetery, he and his wife stopped at Section 60, an area containing the graves of men and women who lost their lives in wars since the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Christian Louboutin According to Defense Department figures, nearly 6,000 U.S. military personnel have died in Iraq and Afghanistan, with more 43,000 wounded. President Obama also used Memorial Day to announce new leadership changes for the military. Earlier, in a Rose Garden ceremony, he confirmed his choice of U.S. Army General Martin Dempsey as the new chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. With extensive experience in the Iraq war, General Dempsey, after U.S. Senate confirmation, would replace U.S. Navy Admiral Mike Mullen, who was appointed by former President George W. Bush and was kept by President Obama. Obama praised Mullen, citing his involvement in everything from military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan to revitalizing U.S. relations with NATO and resetting relations with Russia. The president called General Dempsey one of the nation's most respected and combat-tested generals. "In Iraq, he led our soldiers against a brutal insurgency," he said. "Having trained Iraqi forces he knows that nations must ultimately take responsibility for their own security. Having served as acting commander of Central Command he understands that in Iraq and Afghanistan security gains and political progress must go hand in hand." Another Iraq water veteran, U.S. Army General Ray Odierno, moves from his current position as head of the U.S. Joint Forces Command, to become Army chief. Obama said Odierno helped bring down once rampant violence in Iraq and oversaw the transfer of security responsibility to Iraqi forces, paving the way for the formal end of the U.S. combat mission in Iraq.The president also announced that Admiral James Winnefeld, commander of the U.S. Northern Command, will become vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs. In announcing his choices Monday, President Obama said they mark the first time that the chairman and vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff will have the experience of having led combat operations in the years since the September 11, 2001 al-Qaida terrorist attacks on the United States.

Since Bartolo Colon last pitched here in September 2007, the stadium has changed names twice, but its features have remained the same. The roomy dimensions and acres of foul territory reward pitchers unafraid of contact, encouraging them to throw strikes. And one thing that Colon can do, has done, is throw strikes. Colon dismantled the Oakland Athletics in a 5-0 complete-game victory Monday at Overstock.com Coliseum, throwing strikes at their knees, on the corners of the plate and everywhere in between. If Colon was unafraid of contact, so were the Athletics, who struck out six times and hit the ball hard about once every hour. In his first start since turning 38, Colon retired 23 of his first 26 hitters, allowing four hits while pitching his first complete-game shutout since July 5, air max 2011 2006, in Seattle. After going more than two years and an American League-record 341 games without a nine-inning complete game, the Yankees have now pitched two in less than a week. For Colon, who followed C.C. Sabathia’s effort from last Tuesday against Toronto, it was the 32nd complete game of his career, snapping a tie with Sabathia and evening him with Tim Wakefield of Boston for third-most among active pitchers. A pitchers’ duel developed after the first inning, when the Yankees scored three runs off Trevor Cahill, who fell to 0-3 with a 9.72 earned run average in three starts against them. On the 16th anniversary of his first career hit, Derek Jeter led off the game with No. 2,981, a sharp liner up the middle. With one out and a 1-2 count to Mark Teixeira, Cahill tried fooling him with a curveball. But the pitch broke down and in, right where left-handed sluggers like it. The ball landed deep in the right-field stands, continuing a power surge by Teixeira that began May 19 in Baltimore. In his last 11 games, Teixeira has hit seven homers, running his season total to 16, tying him with Curtis Granderson for the team lead. The quick strike may have unnerved Cahill, who walked Alex Rodriguez on four pitches before grooving a changeup that Robinson Cano drilled into the gap in right-center. Rodriguez scored, putting the Yankees ahead, 3-0, but poor baserunning by Cano, who was thrown out after taking a wide turn at second, killed the rally. Cahill settled in, retiring 17 of his next 20 batters before issuing consecutive one-out walks in the seventh to Brett Gardner and Francisco Cervelli, catching in place of Russell Martin, who was scratched about an hour before the game because of a sore left big toe. They pulled off a double steal, and that aggressiveness led to a run, when a sacrifice fly by Jeter knocked in Gardner to extend the Yankees’ lead to 4-0.

Hours after the inauguration of President Goodluck Jonathan, a bomb blast rocked the northern Nigerian city of Bauchi, a government spokesman said. Yushau Shuaib, a spokesman for Nigeria's National Emergency Management Agency, confirmed that there are several casualties, though he did not give a specific number. "Most victims were moved to hospitals and dead bodies were evacuated," nike free he said. The emergency management agency has been mobilized "to contain the situation," Shuaib added. Another explosion rattled a beer hall in Zuba, on the outskirts of the Nigerian capital of Abuja. Shuaib said there were no serious injuries in that blast, with three victims taking themselves to a nearby hospital. In recent weeks, the African nation has been rocked by a series of bombings thought to be engineered by Boko Haram, an Islamic group that has challenged Nigeria's government. Explosions in Nigeria's northeastern state of Borno killed a few and wounded dozens in late April in the days leading up to national governorship elections in attacks that police described as attempts to intimidate voters who had picked Jonathan. Northern Muslims in some areas charged that the presidential election was rigged. Armed protesters in the region took to the streets chanting the name of former military ruler Muhammadu Buhari, the main opposition front-runner. This is Jonathan's first full term. As vice president, he took over the presidency in May 2010 upon the death of then-President Umaru Yar'Adua, who had suffered from a heart condition.

For sheer mastery of celebrity theater, Sarah Palin cannot be beat. Ms. Palin, the former governor of Alaska, let the anticipation build for hours on Sunday in the Pentagon’s North Parking Lot, where thousands of bikers (and their rumbling Harleys) had gathered for the annual Rolling Thunder rally ahead of Memorial Day. And then, suddenly, there she was: Ms. Palin, with her husband, Todd, and the rest of the family. Wearing matching black Harley-Davidson helmets, they rode motorcycles toward the front of the procession through a crush of cameramen, photographers, reporters and leather-clad bikers, all jostling for just a peek at the woman who might be president. A traditional political appearance it was not. She did not make any public remarks or shake hands with dignitaries. juicy couture outelt There was no news release accompanying her visit. And after the short ride to the National Mall — she rode on the back of a volunteer’s bike — she sped off in a black sport utility vehicle to points unknown to anyone outside her small circle, even to the reporters covering her. Ms. Palin’s visit here — to start her still-mysterious One Nation bus tour along the East Coast — provided no clarity about whether she will run for the Republican presidential nomination. But it did reinforce the idea that if she does, her campaign will not be conducted in the usual way. Indeed, the appearance offered a study in contrasts between Ms. Palin and her would-be Republican rivals, who, as she rumbled through Washington clad in black leather, did the things that candidates for president usually do. Tim Pawlenty, the former governor of Minnesota, appeared on the ABC News program “This Week” dressed for the part: navy suit, pressed white shirt, light-blue tie. He said the usual things about policies and positions, praising the House Republican budget and insisting that the nation face its debt problem. “I don’t think we should raise the debt ceiling,” Mr. Pawlenty told the program’s host, Christiane Amanpour. “And if the Congress moves in that direction,” he said, “they better get something really good for it. It better be permanent, and it better be structural, like a balanced budget amendment, and like permanent caps and limits on spending that are specific.” Jon M. Huntsman Jr., the former governor of Utah who is also considering a jump into the presidential race, recently took a textbook swing through New Hampshire, stopping at the gun shops that politicians like to visit. Mitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, went to Iowa last week for a speech, and he promises to announce his candidacy formally in New Hampshire on Thursday. And then there is Ms. Palin. The multistate tour she announced with fanfare on the Web site of her political action committee last week remains obscure to most. Her aides refused to say where she was going or when, pointing reporters and others to her Web site, which, as of late Sunday, gave no details. Her brief statement about the tour on the Web is filled only with gauzy imagery about the “patriotic sites” she will visit in the days ahead. “We encourage you to support the pro-America events we’ll be privileged to participate in during these coming weeks,” she said in a written statement. “Discover the ties that bind Americans, our history, our traditions, and the exceptional nature of our country!” The first of those stops, the biker rally, was mostly friendly territory, though some in the crowd said they wondered whether she was there to support their causes or to further her own celebrity-driven political career. Many said they would welcome a presidential campaign by Ms. Palin. “I think it’s fantastic,” said Richard Oldham, 71, who had ridden his motorcycle for three days from Battle Creek, Mich. “She’s a supporter of the armed forces. She’s a patriot.” Doug Ludlow, 61, who rode with Mr. Oldham from Battle Creek, said other bikers would agree. “This lot is full of American patriots,” he said. “Palin is an American patriot.” But others said they did not believe she would run for president. And some said they did not want her to run. Ron Kubowicz, 61, who rode from Scranton, Pa., said he would not vote for her. “I don’t think she’s qualified,” he said. “And that’s from a gun-toting, motorcycle-riding veteran from Pennsylvania.” Although she made no public statements during the rally, she was effusive in remarks posted on her Web site afterward. “There’s no better way to see D.C. than on the back of a Harley!” Ms. Palin wrote. “Whether you’re riding the open road or the frozen tundra, you’re celebrating a free spirit. What could be more American than that?”

FOR THE past two years, those final few minutes before Air France flight 447 crashed into the Atlantic en route from Rio de Janeiro to Paris have presented experts with one of the most baffling mysteries in modern aviation. The breakthrough finally came last month, when search teams managed to recover both of the aircraft’s black boxes at an ocean depth of 3,900m (12,800ft) along with the body of the aircraft and the remains of some of the 228 victims. Three young Irishwomen returning from a holiday in Brazil were among the dead. Yesterday, supra shoes France’s air accident investigation unit, the BEA, set out preliminary impressions gleaned from the cockpit voice and data recorders of the circumstances on board as the Airbus A330 flew through stormy weather on June 1st, 2009. It reveals that the crew scrambled to avert disaster as the passenger jet lost speed just a few hours into the flight, before it stalled and began a 3? minute descent, belly-first, to the ocean surface. According to the BEA, one of the pilots called the cabin crew two hours and six minutes into the flight to tell them that “in two minutes we should enter an area where it’ll move about a bit more than at the moment, you should watch out”, adding: “I’ll call you back as soon as we’re out of it.” The aircraft crashed eight minutes later. The crew had tried to climb above an approaching storm cloud, a common obstacle on the route, but were prevented from doing so because the air temperature wasn’t cold enough to ascend to that level. With the flight captain resting and the two co-pilots at the controls, the auto-pilots disengaged four minutes after the turbulence warning and the crew took manual control. “I have the controls,” one of the pilots said. After some time, the pilots noticed that the speed sensors were giving contradictory readings. They responded by pulling up the nose of the aircraft, recordings show. A stall warning sounded in the cockpit, signalling that the plane’s aerodynamics were not generating enough lift. According to the BEA, the co-pilots continued to increase the angle of climb, rising rapidly from 35,000ft to 37,500ft. When a third stall warning sounded, they continued to pull back on the controls with the engines set to full thrust and rose to about 38,000ft, where the jet stalled. Less than two minutes after the autopilot went offline, the chief pilot, Marc Dubois, returned to the cockpit, and the conversation shows he was with his colleagues during the remainder of the flight. It’s routine for pilots to take a break away from the cockpit on long-haul flights, Air France has said. With the aircraft’s nose still pointed up, the jet began falling at about 10,000ft a minute, rolling left and right. The final recordings show the aircraft had fallen back to a speed of about 198km/h (123 miles per hour), the BEA said. “These are so far just observations, not an understanding of the events,” said the BEA’s director, Jean-Paul Troadec. An interim report with preliminary conclusions is due in mid-July.

Back in the NBA finals, back to trying to beat the Miami Heat. Pretty wild how things have worked out for the Dallas Mavericks, isn't it? "It doesn't really matter that much to me," Dirk Nowitzki said Friday. "No thought whatsoever," echoed Jason Terry. Oh, well. So much for the story line of the 2011 Mavs seeking redemption for 2006. If the only two holdovers don't care, nobody else should. The message Nowitzki and Terry are sending is this club is focused on beating whatever team the NBA playoff bracket throws their way. They've already gone through LaMarcus Aldridge and the Trail Blazers, Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol and the Lakers and Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and the Thunder. So, for their final act, they might as well get the team everyone's been talking about since last summer — LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh and a Miami franchise that coincidentally was the club that got in Dallas' way five years ago. Nowitzki emphasized another point: This isn't about the Heat and what they do. It's about the Mavericks continuing to do the things that have helped them win 10 of their last 11 playoff games, including five straight on the road. "We just got to go for it and do the things that got us here — aggressive defence, rebound the ball and ball movement on the offensive end of the floor," he said. The Mavericks locked up their second trip to the finals on Wednesday night. The next night, the Heat wrapped up their second trip to the finals, setting up the '06 rematch starting Tuesday in Miami. Terry is an emotional player who fires himself up by sleeping in the other team's uniform shorts the night before every game. So, at the very least, when he saw the Heat wrap up the East title, he probably let out a, "Here we go again," with either a smile or a frown to indicate how he felt about it. But he also explained why it's so easy to be dispassionate about this. "Only two people on this team are still playing, Dirk and I," he said. "For them, it's Wade and (Udonis) Haslem. It's really not the same situation." Clearly, he's done his homework, proving he has given some thought to this being a rematch. "Then, for us, I (was) the point guard. Look who's the point guard now!" Terry said, laughing. "Big difference." Yes, Jason Kidd is an upgrade from Terry, who is better suited for his role as a scorer, nike free run specifically the instant-offence guy off the bench. Mavs fans also might chuckle about Dallas' starting centre in '06, Erick Dampier, now playing for Miami. He's yet to play this post-season. In 2006, Dallas won the first two games at home, then went to Miami and melted down. They blew a big lead in the fourth quarter of Game 3 and never recovered. Pat Riley of the Heat not only outcoached Avery Johnson of the Mavericks, Johnson may have outsmarted himself by moving hotels midway through their stay in Florida, fearing that South Beach was too much of a distraction. Johnson's successor, Rick Carlisle, isn't concerned about it being an issue this time. "Not with our curfew," he said, offering a rare giggle. With Kidd and Nowitzki vs. James and Wade, each team starts two players who are among the best of their generation. The clubs have a lot more in common: both 12-3 this post-season, both closing out the conference finals in five games. In the regular season, the Mavs and Heat tied for the most road wins. There was only a one-game difference in overall wins — 58 for Miami, 57 for Dallas; that's why the series is starting on the Heat's court. Had they had the same record, the Mavericks would've had the edge because they won both head-to-head meetings. Because those games were in November and December, Carlisle insists they don't matter. Still, it's worth noting those were Miami's only two losses in a 24-2 stretch that proved to everyone this experiment of superstars who are good friends teaming up to win a title just might work. The backlash from that pairing — and the way "The Decision" was handled last summer — produced a huge group of Heat haters. Those folks are now Mavs lovers, a cuddly acceptance that's unusual for this franchise. "There's no good guys, bad guys," Nowitzki said. "There's two good teams that made it to this stage and both want to win. So I'm not really worried about all that stuff." Nowitzki was a free agent last summer, too. Teams didn't pursue him because they were so sure he would remain in Dallas. But he admitted he would have listened had James and Wade invited him to be part of what they were putting together. "But they didn't, so it wasn't really an option," he said. For some former MVPs, such a snub would be another reason to hold a grudge against the Heat. Not Nowitzki. A few weeks shy of turning 33, all he cares about is winning his first championship and the first for his franchise, no matter who it comes against or how. "I like how we fought through some stuff, some ups and downs through the years," he said. "It took us a long time to get back here. Hopefully we can make it count."

On a United States outpost in southern Iraq, rocket attacks by Shiite militants have grown so fierce that Americans there had to hunker down in a concrete bunker for several hours one recent night. Soldiers have curtailed missions to train Iraqi security forces, and American officials have even debated whether to close the outpost ahead of schedule. The attacks on the Americans in Maysan Province, near the Iranian border, and elsewhere in southern Iraq provide one of the starkest examples of what officials call a reinvigorated threat posed by Shiite militants and followers of the anti-American Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr during the American military’s waning days here. These Shiite militias have emerged as perhaps the greatest threat to the 46,000 United States troops still in Iraq, supra shoes military officials say. And a barrage of recent attacks — some of them deadly — has raised questions about the safety of Americans as the military withdraws troops and equipment in the months ahead. “There are plenty of groups who will be paid to kill the last Americans on their way out,” said Col. Douglas Crissman, the military commander who oversees Maysan and three other southern provinces. Officials say the attacks, coupled with an increase in anti-American leafleting and speeches by hard-line groups, seem to be aimed at tilting the highly charged public debate over whether American forces should be asked to remain in Iraq despite a deadline to leave by the end of the year. Mr. Sadr himself makes no secret of his strategy. “Yes, we are still resisting and striking bases, troops and vehicles, as long as they are in Iraq,” he told the BBC Arabic service on Thursday. “And there is no doubt with that. It’s an honor for us.” Southern Iraq is strategically important to the United States, even in the final days of the American deployment here. It is the point of entry for many of the weapons coming from Iran, particularly rockets and the shaped explosives used in improvised explosive devices, or I.E.D.’s, military commanders say, and thousands of departing troops and convoys will pass through the region as they head into Kuwait. Last week, militants hit a United States military base in Basra from seven miles away, and in a single day about 10 rockets were fired at the Green Zone in Baghdad, home to the American Embassy and a sprawling American military base. American officials say many of the militants have close ties to Iran or to Mr. Sadr, whose once-fearsome Shiite militia, the Mahdi Army, was largely demobilized after suffering humiliating defeats three years ago. Mr. Sadr, a onetime insurgent leader who controls a large bloc of seats in Parliament, recently threatened to reactivate his Mahdi militia if the Americans stayed beyond December — a threat that some American military officials dismissed as posturing. Still, Mr. Sadr’s followers staged a large rally in Baghdad on Thursday to demand that the Americans leave, an event that featured more than 50,000 unarmed Mahdi Army members marching in matching outfits and chanting anti-American slogans. American officials said Mr. Sadr’s growing influence in Maysan — an underdeveloped swath of tomato farms, marshes and untapped oil fields — set the stage for the recent spike in attacks. Late last year, the Sadrists won control of the governor’s seat there, a political reward for supporting Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki for a second term. Maysan’s former governor, who had a friendly relationship with the State Department’s local reconstruction team, decamped for a ministerial post in Baghdad. “I believe Maliki considered it to be the lesser of evils, a concession he was prepared to make,” said Colonel Crissman. But he added, “Because of that we have additional challenges in that province, much more than in the three other provinces around it where we have relationships.” The new governor has refused to meet with the Americans and discouraged other government agencies and local nonprofits from doing so. Although no Americans on the base have been killed, two Iraqi soldiers died in a recent rocket strike. And an increase in I.E.D. attacks on convoys has made it harder for development workers to leave the base to visit field projects. American officials say the governor, Ali Dwai Lazem, has brushed off the attacks, saying he was not responsible for stopping them. The governor even attended the funeral of a militant who accidently burned himself to death after misfiring a rocket, and made a payment to the militant’s family. Mohammed Qasim, a spokesman for the governor, denied there had been any assaults against American troops. Some officials worry that pulling out of the area now would give militants free rein to smuggle explosives and arms across the porous Iranian border, weaponry that might be used against Americans. But with diplomats at times wearing flak jackets to their offices and the military hemmed in by attacks, others argue that it may be time to leave the Maysan base, accelerating a closure that was set to occur in the next few months. In fact, a State Department Provincial Reconstruction Team on the base expects to shut down, as planned, in June, as part of a larger consolidation of diplomatic missions across Iraq. American officials say they have been anticipating an escalation in violence against American troops and bases as the withdrawal deadline approached. “They want to take credit for us leaving,” said Maj. Gen. Jeffrey Buchanan, an American military spokesman in Baghdad. “It’s a question of power and influence.” There is also the contentious question of the extent of the American withdrawal. Iraqi leaders, worried that security could crumble if American forces leave altogether, have begun to debate whether to ask the United States for an extended troop presence. With an eye to that discussion, some have suggested that the attacks were a pre-emptive strike of sorts, a warning that the Sadrists will not tolerate anything short of total American withdrawal at the end of the year. In Baghdad’s poor, largely Shiite Sadr City neighborhood, tens of thousands of militia members thronged the streets on Thursday to add their voices to that debate. They condemned United States forces as occupiers, burned American flags and paraded in martial formations. Even groups of children participated, wearing baseball caps and identical T-shirts distributed by the Sadrists and shouting, “1, 2, 3, Mahdi!” as they marched. “We have to resist them,” said one spectator, Mohammed Badar al-Mohammadawai. “We will sacrifice our hearts and our lives to drive the Americans out.”

The U.S. House of Representatives voted to renew three key provisions of legislation granting law enforcement officials authority to conduct surveillance on suspected terrorists. The Senate voted earlier Thursday to approve the extension bill, after resolving a week-long impasse over the legislation. With the House vote, Congress has completed its work on the bill, but it must still be signed by President Barack Obama by midnight EDT Thursday in order to avoid an expiration of the three provisions. Obama is in France for a meeting of the G-8 group of nations. A White House spokesman said the president will use an "automatic pen" to sign the legislation into law. All week long, the Senate has been in a logjam over attempts, primarily by a single lawmaker, Sen. Rand Paul (R., Ky.), to amend the legislation. nike free run Paul, a self-styled libertarian, opposes the legislation and spent the last several days decrying it as an invasion of privacy. As the deadline approached, top lawmakers and senior Obama administration officials began issuing stark warnings about the impact on the ability of the nation's intelligence community to continue to do its job if the provisions were allowed to expire. James R. Clapper, the director of national intelligence, said in a letter this week to Senate leaders there could be serious repercussions for law enforcement's surveillance efforts if the measures expire. The provisions are contained within the Patriot Act, a law passed in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks that vastly expanded the abilities of law enforcement officials to conduct surveillance of suspected terrorists both in the U.S. and abroad. Over the years, the legislation has gradually been more tailored, with some of its provisions allowed to expire and others made permanent. But some of the authorities granted by the law require Congress to renew them. There are three such provisions in the legislation. One would enable law enforcement officials to conduct surveillance on suspected individuals who switch communication devices, such as using disposable cellular phones. A second would let officials conduct surveillance on so-called "lone wolf" individuals--suspects not currently linked to any known terrorist organization abroad. The third would enable officials access to suspects' business transactions--rental cars, hotel bill and other credit card transactions. All three have been extended until June 1, 2015. Ultimately, 22 senators joined Paul in opposing the legislation. The majority of those no votes were cast by liberals who are opposed to the continuation of the expanded authorities contained within it. Several of them, led by Sen. Patrick Leahy (D., Vt.), the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, had hoped to add language providing for further oversight and audits of the activities the law permits. This wasn't allowed as part of the compromise reached Thursday, which sparked some of those no votes. Leahy pledged to bring up the oversight language as stand-alone legislation soon. Before they moved to a vote to finalize the legislation, lawmakers first had to deal with a Paul amendment that would have excluded gun sales from law enforcement officials' ability to monitor business transactions. Paul said this was a violation of individual rights protected by the second amendment to the U.S. constitution. "It's very important that we are eternally vigilant of the powers of government," Paul said on the Senate floor. "I don't think the government should be sifting through the records of gun owners." Even the National Rifle Association didn't support Paul's gun amendment. The organization didn't oppose it outright, but chose to take no position on the issue. The proposed change was easily defeated by the Senate.