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1、Castro fails to appear at birthday bash By ANITA SNOW, Associated Press Writer
Wed Nov 29, 5:06 AM ET



HAVANA -     Fidel Castro was too sick to meet thousands of admirers who traveled to Cuba for the kickoff of his delayed 80th birthday celebrations, according to a note purportedly from the ailing leader that raised new questions about his health.

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The message, which was read to a crowd of 5,000 Tuesday at the Karl Marx Theater and on state TV, indicates that Castro is far from recovered from a mysterious ailment that forced him on July 31 to turn over power to his brother, Defense Minister Raul Castro.

The Cuban leader turned 80 on Aug. 13 but delayed his birthday celebrations as he recovered from surgery two weeks earlier for intestinal bleeding. Castro, who has not been seen in public for four months, wanted the delayed birthday celebration held on Dec. 2, to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the date that he and fellow rebels landed by boat in Cuba to launch their revolution.

The announcement Tuesday raised doubts about whether he will appear at all.

The message read at the celebration's inaugural party said doctors had told Castro that he was not in condition to meet with a large crowd.

"I direct myself to you, intellectuals and prestigious personalities of the world, with a dilemma," said the note. "I could not meet with you in a small locale, only in the Karl Marx Theater where all the visitors would fit, and I was not yet in condition, according to the doctors, to face such a colossal encounter.

"My very close friends, who have done me the honor of visiting our country, I sign off with the great pain of not having been able to personally give thanks and hugs to each and every one of you," the note read.

The crowd responded with a standing ovation.

More than 1,300 politicians, artists and intellectuals from around the globe were attending the tribute to the man who governed this communist-run island for 47 years.

Presidents Evo Morales of Bolivia and Rene Preval of Haiti have confirmed their attendance, along with former Ecuadorean President Rodrigo Borja and Nicaraguan President-elect Daniel Ortega.

Also expected are Argentine soccer great Diego Maradona, South African singer Miriam Makeba and Colombian Nobel laureate Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Nobel Peace Prize winner Adolfo Perez Esquivel, an Argentine human rights campaigner, was also expected.

Castro's good friend and political ally Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez wasn't expected to come; he is up for re-election on Dec. 3. But Chavez has promised to dedicate his anticipated electoral victory to Castro.

Cuban officials insist Castro is recovering, but U.S. officials say they believe he suffers from some kind of inoperable cancer and won't live through 2007. His ailment is a state secret.

Castro has been seen by the public only in photos and videos since he announced he was temporarily ceding power to his brother.

Some birthday activities include a three-day academic conference starting Wednesday, a concert with Cuban and other Latin American artists on Friday night, and an art exhibit.

More than 300,000 people are expected at a military parade on Saturday, the anniversary of the start of the revolution that was victorious on Jan. 1, 1959.

2、Al-Sadr loyalists spurn Iraq parliament By HAMZA HENDAWI, Associated Press Writer
Wed Nov 29, 6:21 PM ET



BAGHDAD, Iraq - Six Cabinet ministers and 30 legislators loyal to anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr decided Wednesday to boycott Parliament and the government to protest the Iraqi prime minister's summit with     President Bush.

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Within hours of the announcement, the White House said Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's first meeting with Bush in their key two-day summit in Jordan was canceled. Senior Iraqi lawmaker Redha Jawad Taqi said the meeting was canceled at the request of the Iraqis after al-Maliki learned that the Jordanian monarch planned to broaden the discussion to include the Arab-Israeli conflict.

Two senior officials traveling with al-Maliki, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the information, said the prime minister had been reluctant to travel to Jordan in the first place and decided, once in Amman, that he did not want "a third party" involved in talks about subjects specific to the U.S.-Iraqi relationship.

White House counselor Dan Bartlett denied it was a snub by al-Maliki or related to the leak of a White House memo questioning the Iraqi leader's capacity for controlling violence in     Iraq. Bartlett said the three-way meeting had always been planned as "more of a social meeting" and that Bush and al-Maliki would have a "robust" meeting on their own Thursday.

The Sadrists had threatened to quit the government and parliament if al-Maliki went ahead with the Amman summit. But by downgrading their protest to a suspension of membership, they left open a return to their jobs.

One of the 30 lawmakers, Falih Hassan, called Bush "a criminal who killed a lot of Iraqis" and said the American president has no business meddling in Iraq's affairs.

The move came as the country endured another day of scattered violence, with a total of 95 people killed or found dead across Iraq.

In addition, the U.S. military announced the deaths of two more American soldiers.

Heavy fighting continued in Baqouba, 35 miles northeast of Baghdad, where clashes between coalition forces and Sunni Arab insurgents have killed scores of militants and civilians in the past few days.

In the day's deadliest violence, U.S. forces backed by aircraft killed eight al-Qaida in Iraq insurgents during a raid near Baqouba that also left two Iraqi women dead, the U.S. military said. The eight were killed in the aerial bombing.

While searching the area, U.S. forces also found the bodies of two females who had died during the fight. No coalition casualties were reported.

The U.S. raid in Baqouba was the second in as many days to kill Iraqi females.

On Tuesday, U.S. soldiers fought with suspected insurgents in Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province, killing six Iraqis: one man and five girls, aged seven months, 12, 14, 15 and 17, according to the U.S. command.

Meanwhile, a statement issued by the Sadrist lawmakers criticized al-Maliki's Shiite-dominated government for its decision to request from the     United Nations a one-year extension of the stay in Iraq of the U.S.-led multinational force numbering around 160,000. The request was granted on Tuesday.

The Sadr politicians argued that the multinational force played a "suspicious" role in Iraq and accused al-Maliki of ignoring the views of parliament's 275 lawmakers when it sought a renewal of its deployment.

The statement also mirrored the animosity felt by the movement toward the United States and Bush, using a language that harked back to the days in 2004 when the Mahdi Army fought U.S. troops in two major revolts in Baghdad and much of central and southern Iraq.

"This visit hijacked the will of the people during days when the sons of Iraq write their destiny with blood and not ink," said the statement, which referred to Bush as "cursed," the "world's biggest evil" and a "criminal."


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U.S. bans sale of iPods to North Korea By TED BRIDIS, Associated Press Writer
Wed Nov 29, 5:56 PM ET



WASHINGTON - In a novel effort targeting the lifestyle of     North Korea's eccentric president, the Bush administration wants to make it tougher for him to buy iPods, plasma televisions, Segway electric scooters and more.

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It is Washington's first-ever attempt to use trade penalties as a way of personally aggravating a foreign leader. They target items believed to be favored by Kim Jong Il or presented by him as gifts to the roughly 600 loyalist families who run the communist government.

Kim, who orchestrated a secret nuclear weapons program despite international efforts to stop him, has other options for obtaining high-end consumer electronics and other luxuries.

But the list of proposed U.S. penalties, obtained by The Associated Press, aims to make Kim's swanky life harder: No more cognac, Rolex watches, cigarettes, artwork, expensive cars, Harley Davidson motorcycles or even personal watercraft, such as Jet Skis.

The ban would extend even to musical instruments and sports equipment. The 5-foot-3 Kim is an enthusiastic basketball fan; Secretary of State     Madeleine Albright presented him with a ball signed by Michael Jordan during a rare diplomatic trip in 2000. Kim's former secretary, widely believed to be his new wife, studied piano at North Korea's Pyongyang University of Music and Dance.

"While North Korea's people starve and suffer, there is simply no excuse for the regime to be splurging on cognac and cigars," Commerce Secretary Carlos M. Gutierrez said Wednesday in a statement. "We will ban the export of these and other luxury goods that are purchased for no other reason than to benefit North Korea's governing elite."

Gutierrez said penalized items were "carefully considered and carefully targeted."

Experts said the U.S. luxury sanctions would be the first ever to curtail a specific category of goods not associated with military buildups or weapons designs ― and the first tailored to annoy a foreign leader. They acknowledge that enforcing the ban on black-market trading would be difficult.

"He's got folks who can move around nuclear weapons. If he tells these guys to get him a case of Scotch, they're going to pull it off," said James A. Lewis, a former State Department official who worked on arms controls. "Unless it's too large to fit into the cargo hold of a commercial aircraft, it's going to be tough to restrain him."

In Beijing, U.S. and North Korean diplomats failed to reach agreement on when they might resume disarmament negotiations on Kim's atomic weapons program. Japan's Kyodo News agency cited unidentified people at the talks as saying that Kim demanded the U.S. freeze the penalties on luxury goods and other items imposed after the North's first nuclear test on Oct. 9.

The population in North Korea, one of the world's most isolated economies, is impoverished and routinely suffers food shortages. The new trade ban would forbid U.S. shipments there of Rolexes, French cognac, plasma TVs, yachts and more ― all items favored by Kim but unattainable by most of the country.

"It's a new concept. It's kind of creative," said William Reinsch, a former senior     Commerce Department official who oversaw trade restrictions with North Korea under     President Clinton.

Reinsch predicted governments will comply with the restrictions, but agreed trying to block all underground shipments will be frustrating.

Practically, few American companies ship anything to North Korea. U.S. exports amounted to only $5.8 million last year. Nearly all of it was food. Although the new penalties would cover "personal digital music players," such as iPods, Microsoft Corp. said its new "Zune" handheld player was never intended for sales overseas.

The Distilled Spirits Council of the United States, the trade group for the liquor industry, said it supports the administration's policies toward North Korea. The Washington-based Personal Watercraft Industry Association said it also supports the penalties ― although it bristled at suggestions a Jet Ski was a luxury item.

"The thousands of Americans and Canadians who build, ship and sell personal watercraft are patriots first," said Maureen Healey, head of the trade group. She said it endorsed the ban "because of the narrow nature of this ban and the genuine dangers that responsible world governments are trying to stave off."

Defectors to     South Korea have described Kim giving expensive gifts of cars, liquor and Japanese-made appliances to his most faithful bureaucrats.

"If you take away one of the tools of his control, perhaps you weaken the cohesion of his leadership," said Robert J. Einhorn, a former State Department official who visited North Korea with Albright and dined extravagantly there. "It can't hurt, but whether it works, we don't know."

In response to North Korea's nuclear test Oct. 9, the     U.N. Security Council banned military supplies and weapons shipments. It also banned sales of luxury goods, but so far has left each country to define such items. Japan included beef, caviar and fatty tuna, along with expensive cars, motorcycles, cameras and more. Many European nations are working on their lists.

The U.S. submitted its proposals to the     United Nations, which is coordinating the ban on luxury goods. The United Nations eventually will produce its own list, but that will not preclude the U.S. from a broader range of items.

U.S. intelligence officials who helped produce the Bush administration's list said Kim prefers Mercedes, BMW and Cadillac cars; Japanese and Harley Davidson motorcycles; Hennessy XO cognac from France and Johnny Walker Scotch whisky; Sony cameras and Japanese air conditioners.

Kim reportedly is under his physician's orders to avoid hard liquor and prefers French wines. He also is said to own an extensive movie library of more than 10,000 titles and prefers films about James Bond and Godzilla, along with Clint Eastwood's 1993 drama, "In the Line of Fire," and Whitney Houston's 1992 love story, "The Bodyguard."

Much of the U.S. information about Kim's preferences comes from defectors, including Kenji Fujimoto, the Japanese chef who fled in 2001 and wrote a book about his time with the North Korean leader.

4、Evidence offers insight into Unabomber Tue Nov 28, 11:54 PM ET



SAN FRANCISCO - To evade authorities chasing him, Unabomber Theodore Kaczynski kept shoes with smaller soles attached to the bottom in his reclusive Montana cabin, according to evidence released 10 years after his capture.

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The shoes were intended to make it appear as if a person with smaller footprints were walking in them, investigators believe.

Kaczynski, 64, is serving a life sentence with no possibility of parole for a bombing spree that lasted from 1978 to 1995. The blasts from homemade bombs killed three people and injured 23.

The government had collected evidence from his Lincoln, Mont., cabin for a trial, but it was never publicly released because Kaczynski pleaded guilty in 1998.

San Francisco's KPIX-TV aired a report Tuesday about the evidence. A source close to the case gave the station photographs of the items, which included his typewriter, a handmade gun of wood and metal, writings, and the hooded sweat shirt and sunglasses featured in his     FBI wanted photos.

"He wrote about everything. He wrote about what he had for lunch on May 5 of 1979, where he got the food, how he prepared it and what did it taste like," said retired FBI agent Max Noel, who helped lead the investigation.

Investigators also found an unexploded bomb inside a silver box with the name of another intended victim, the station reported.

The station said Kaczynski described in his writings how he placed two human hairs he found in a bus station into a bomb "to deceive the policemen, who will think that the hair belongs to whoever made the device."

It also quoted writings that revealed what he thought of many of his crimes, such as a 1982 explosion that injured a Tennessee woman.

"No indication that the woman was permanently disabled," he wrote. "Frustrating that I can't even (make a) lethal bomb."

5、Study: Sewage threatening Great Lakes Tue Nov 28, 11:29 PM ET



TORONTO - The untreated urban sewage and effluents that flow into the Great Lakes each year are threatening a critical ecosystem that supplies water to millions of people, according to a study by a Canadian environmental group.

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Even though municipalities in the Great Lakes region have spent vast sums of money in recent decades upgrading their wastewater plants, the situation remains appalling, said the Sierra Legal Defense Fund.

Sierra Legal said in a report to be formally released Wednesday that it studied 20 Canadian and American cities, analyzing municipal sewage treatment and discharges into the Great Lakes basin, the Canadian Press news agency reported on the report Tuesday, saying it received an advance copy.

The survey graded municipalities in areas such as collection, treatment and disposal of sewage based on information provided by the local governments.

The main problem, the environmental group said, is that in many cases, antiquated sewage systems are incapable of dealing effectively with the vast amounts of effluent that flow through them.

The situation is especially bad when heavy rains overwhelm treatment systems in cities where storm run-off is collected in the same pipes as sewage.

Some 24 billion gallons of untreated effluent enter the Great Lakes every year through combined sewage overflows, the study found.

Canada's worst offender was Windsor, Ontario, which ― along with U.S. cities Detroit and Cleveland ― performed "abysmally." Cities such as Toronto and Hamilton also earned below-average grades.

At the top end, Peel Region just west of Toronto, Green Bay, Wisconsin, and Duluth, Minnesota, were the best performers, thanks largely to their ability to keep rain water and sewage separate.

The report makes several recommendations, including improving water conservation in order to reduce the flow to sewage plants, and keeping rain water out of sewers by disconnecting downspouts and separating storm drains and sewer systems.

"We need to change our ways and stop treating the Great Lakes like a toilet," the report concludes.

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On the Net:

Sierra Legal Defense Fund: http://www.sierralegal.org

6、Miss America 2006 has surgery in N.C. Tue Nov 28, 11:04 PM ET



OKLAHOMA CITY -     Miss America 2006 Jennifer Berry underwent surgery for undisclosed reasons and spent the night in a North Carolina hospital, a pageant official confirmed Tuesday.

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Berry, a Tulsa native and former student at the University of Oklahoma, was visiting family and friends in North Carolina on Saturday when she was admitted for surgery at Rex Hospital in Raleigh, N.C., and released the next day, said Sharon Pearce, a spokeswoman for the Miss America Organization in Atlantic City, N.J.

"I spoke to her today, and she's in wonderful spirits," Pearce said Tuesday.

"Although it was necessary to cancel some of her appearances this week, we are hopeful that she will return to work to fulfill her responsibilities as Miss America 2006 and continue the wonderful work that has marked her year of service."

Pearce didn't disclose the reason for the surgery and said Berry wasn't available for comment.

Berry, 22, an aspiring teacher, was crowned Miss America in January, winning the title in the first year the pageant was held outside Atlantic City.

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On the Net:

Miss America Pageant: http://www.missamerica.org/

7、Pfizer to slash U.S. sales force 20 pct. By THERESA AGOVINO, AP Business Writer
Wed Nov 29, 9:06 AM ET



NEW YORK - Pfizer Inc. said Tuesday it will cut its U.S. sales force by 20 percent, or 2,200 people, as part of a cost-cutting program to transform the company into a more nimble organization as it struggles with sluggish sales.

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The drug company has 11,000 sales representatives, and the cuts will be made by the end of the year, according to company spokesman Paul Fitzhenry. He couldn't say how much the cuts would save the company or if it would take any kind of an earnings charge because of the move.

In October, Pfizer said it would slash costs beyond the program announced last year, designed to cut $4 billion in expenses by 2008.

At the time, Chief Jeff Kindler said there would be no sacred cows in the reorganization. But Pfizer's sales force was always considered one of its greatest strengths, so some observers didn't think it would be on the chopping block.

Pfizer has lost patents on numerous drugs recently, including blockbuster antidepressant Zoloft. Other drugs, like blood pressure medicine Norvasc, are slated for generic competition in 2007. Pfizer said in October that sales would be flat for the next two years after previously predicting moderate growth.

With this background, some analysts insisted cutting the sales force makes sense.

"This is something Pfizer should have done a long time ago," said Jason Napodano, an analyst at Zacks Independent Research. "It is a good thing. It shows Kindler is doing something."

Kindler became CEO over the summer, replacing Hank McKinnell who remains chairman. Pfizer said there will be additional announcements about its long-term outlook and actions for revitalizing the company in January.

Pfizer said its sales force cuts won't effect its ability to market its major products including cholesterol-lowering drug     Lipitor as well as new drugs such as cancer treatment Sutent. Fitzhenry said the cuts would affect sales representatives as well as management and support staff.

On Thursday, Pfizer is hosting an analyst meeting to highlight its pipeline of new drugs. The star is Torcetrapib, a cholesterol treatment. But a recent study showed it raises patients' blood pressure, raising fears about its future and leaving analysts wondering what other products Pfizer has to bolster future sales.

"What are they (Pfizer) going to do about research and development and improving productivity? That is what I want to know," said Barbara Ryan, an analyst at Deutsche Bank.

Shares of Pfizer rose 8 cents to close at $27.05 on the     New York Stock Exchange. In after-hours trading it rose 14 cents to $27.19.

8、Yankees win rights to Japan's Igawa By RONALD BLUM, AP Baseball Writer
Wed Nov 29, 1:00 AM ET



NEW YORK - The     New York Yankees got a chance to sign a Japanese pitcher on their second try this offseason, winning the rights Tuesday to Kei Igawa after losing out to the     Boston Red Sox two weeks ago for Daisuke Matsuzaka.

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New York's offer of $26,000,194 ― the last three digits matching his strikeout total this year ― was the highest bid among major league teams for Igawa, and it was accepted Tuesday by his Japanese team, the Hanshin Tigers.

"The Yankees are a team with a lot of tradition," Igawa said at a news conference in Osaka. "They get a lot of media attention, like the Tigers do. I was surprised to hear the team bid that much for me, and I feel like today I've taken another step toward realizing my dream."

Boston bid $51.1 million earlier this month to win the right to negotiate with the Seibu Lions' Matsuzaka, the MVP of the World Baseball Classic and a possible No. 1 starter.

A 27-year-old left-hander, Igawa could compete for a spot at the back of New York's rotation next season behind Chien-Ming Wang, Mike Mussina and Randy Johnson. Carl Pavano, coming off 1 1/2 seasons of injuries, also would be in the rotation if healthy, and the Yankees have expressed possible interest in signing Ted Lilly or Gil Meche.

New York has until midnight at the end of Dec. 28 to work out a contract with Igawa's agent, Arn Tellem ― who also represents Yankees left fielder Hideki Matsui.

"Throughout the years, I have enjoyed an excellent working relationship with the Yankees and look forward to completing successful negotiations on behalf of Igawa," Tellem said in a statement. "It will be an honor for me to help put him in pinstripes for the 2007 season."

Igawa allowed a home run to the     New York Mets' David Wright this month during an exhibition game between Japanese and major league stars.

"We have been following Kei Igawa's very successful and accomplished career in Japan, and we are excited about the opportunity to begin the negotiating process with him," Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said in a statement.

The Yankees pay Hanshin only if they reach an agreement with Igawa.

"I am very pleased to have the rights to sign him for the Yankees," owner George Steinbrenner said in a statement issued by spokesman Howard Rubenstein.

The Yankees bid between $32 million and $33 million for Matsuzaka. The Red Sox have until midnight at the end of Dec. 14 to agree to a deal with Matsuzaka and his agent, Scott Boras.

"I'm looking forward to having a pitching duel with Matsuzaka," Igawa said. "I know the fans there have very high expectations and I'll do my best to live up to them."

After the bidding on Igawa closed Monday, the Tigers were informed of the amount of the high bid, but not which team made it. The Mets bid between $15 million and $16 million for Igawa, a baseball official said on condition of anonymity because the amounts of losing bids are not disclosed.

Igawa went 14-9 last season with a 2.97 ERA. He tied for the Central League lead in strikeouts ― he won strikeout titles in 2002 and 2004.

Igawa, the Central League's 2003 MVP, has an 86-60 record with a 3.15 ERA. He would have to play in Japan for three more seasons before he could become a free agent.

Also this month, the     Tampa Bay Devil Rays won the rights to Japanese infielder Akinori Iwamura of the Yakult Swallows with a bid of about $4.5 million.

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AP Sports Writer Jim Armstrong in Tokyo contributed to this report.

9、Sharpton's stature rises amid shooting By NAHAL TOOSI, Associated Press Writer
Tue Nov 28, 11:13 PM ET



NEW YORK - The morning 23-year-old Sean Bell was shot to death by police, his grieving relatives did something that has become almost routine in such cases: They called the Rev.     Al Sharpton. Within hours, the longtime civil rights activist had consoled relatives, held two news conferences, and begun organizing a community rally for the next day.

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Sharpton has long been a fixture on New York's left-wing scene, and has been especially vocal in his crusade against police brutality since the 1990s. But the Saturday shooting, which left Bell dead on his wedding day and wounded two other black men, is proving again how far Sharpton has come since the days he was routinely derided as a race-baiting, publicity-hungry opportunist.

His rhetoric this week has been decidedly less harsh than in previous episodes, and he has been given unprecedented access to City Hall thanks to a mayor who is intent on not making the same mistakes of past administrations in dealing with racially divisive situations.

All the while, he keeps asking a question that many ― including Mayor Michael Bloomberg ― are asking: "Why did officers fire 50 rounds at three unarmed men?"

At least one of his former detractors has been impressed with the way Sharpton has handled the situation.

"His rhetoric is totally acceptable in my judgment," said former Mayor Ed Koch, who once called Sharpton "Al Charlatan" and has had him arrested. "I haven't read a single statement on his part that is demagogic. I think he's conducted himself in a statesman-like manner."

Born in Brooklyn in 1954, Alfred Sharpton Jr. was preaching by the time he was a preschooler and was ordained a Pentecostal minister by age 9. His father deserted the family after impregnating and later marrying his stepdaughter. Sharpton and the rest of his immediate family fell into poverty. But activism kept him focused while other children got into crime and drugs.

In the 1980s, he earned national prominence after ugly racial episodes in Howard Beach and Bensonhurst involving white gangs attacking and killing black males. Sharpton toured the press circuit, led large demonstrations and, in the Howard Beach case, helped force the appointment of a special prosecutor.

Over the years, Sharpton, who used to don velvet jumpsuits and gold medallions, has been accused of financial irregularities and blamed for inciting racial unrest. In what was perhaps his biggest blunder, he wrongly accused a prosecutor of rape in the 1980s case of Tawana Brawley, a teen whose claims of kidnapping and abuse were determined to be a hoax by authorities. The prosecutor later won a $65,000 defamation judgment against Sharpton.

In 1991, while leading a demonstration, Sharpton was stabbed in the chest by a white man. He said the incident moved him to be more careful with his rhetoric. His appeal has broadened since, enough for him to run for president, but he has remained unequivocal in demanding proper justice for minority communities.

Sharpton led protests against police after the 1997 torture of Haitian immigrant Abner Louima and the 1999 fatal shooting of African immigrant Amadou Diallo. On Saturday, after meeting with Bell's distraught relatives, Sharpton again demanded answers from the police over the shooting, carried out by five officers who were white, Hispanic and black.

He insisted, however, "We're not anti-police ... we're anti-police brutality." And at the Sunday rally, he framed the shooting as part of a larger struggle, declaring, "We've got to understand that all of us were in that car."

Once elected officials avoided him. But on Monday, Sharpton was among key figures who joined Bloomberg at news conference to address the shootings.

10、Pelosi passes Hastings for Intel chair By KATHERINE SHRADER, Associated Press Writer
Wed Nov 29, 9:07 AM ET



WASHINGTON - In a decision that could roil Democratic unity in the new House, Speaker-to-be Nancy Pelosi passed over Rep. Alcee Hastings (news, bio, voting record) Tuesday for the chairmanship of the Intelligence Committee.

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Hastings, currently the No. 2 Democrat on the panel, had been aggressively making a case for the top position, supported by members of the     Congressional Black Caucus.

Critics pointed out that he had been impeached when he was a federal judge and said naming him to such a sensitive post would be a mistake just as the Democrats take over House control pledging reforms.

"I am obviously disappointed with this decision," Hastings, D-Fla., said in a statement thanking his supporters and promising to work with the panel's still-unnamed chairman. "I will be seeking better and bigger opportunities in a Democratic Congress. There is much to be accomplished and little time to reset this nation's economic and spiritual compass."

He learned his bid for the chairmanship was unsuccessful during a closed-door meeting with Pelosi on Tuesday.

In a statement, Pelosi, D-Calif., said Hastings has made national security his highest priority. "He has served our country well, and I have full confidence that he will continue to do so," she said.

In a sign of the bitterness that has surrounded the debate, Hastings closed his statement by saying: "Sorry, haters, God is not finished with me yet."

The chairman of the Black Caucus, Rep. Melvin Watt (news, bio, voting record) of North Carolina, said Hastings' statement showed "an unequivocal commitment to our nation's security, selflessness and true statesmanship. He would have made an outstanding intelligence chairman, and we still hope he will at some point in our nation's future."

A Democratic congressional aide, who spoke on condition of anonymity about internal party deliberations, said Pelosi has not yet decided who will get the position when the new Congress convenes in January.

Rep. Silvestre Reyes (news, bio, voting record), D-Texas, is next in line in seniority and is considered a strong contender for the job. Still, naming him would be a snub to the current senior Democrat on the panel, Jane Harman of California. Her committee leadership term expires at year's end, and she could be reappointed by Pelosi. Yet the two are believed to have deep differences.

Hastings, who came to Congress in 1992, was charged in an     FBI bribery sting but acquitted by a federal jury in 1983. Some judicial colleagues said Hastings fabricated his defense, and their allegations led to his impeachment by the U.S. House in 1988. He was removed from the bench by the Senate the following year.

In 1997, the Justice Department found an agent had falsely testified against Hastings, but no action was taken to reopen his case.

In 2000, Democrats passed over another member of the Congressional Black Caucus ― Rep. Sanford Bishop (news, bio, voting record) of Georgia ― for the senior Democratic spot on the intelligence panel. Party leaders had agreed to give the position to Harman when she ran for Congress after an unsuccessful bid to be California governor.