JUDGE SETS DATE FOR MICHAEL JACKSON TRIAL

Judge sets date forMichael Jackson trial
SANTA MARIA, Calif. -- The judge in the Michael Jackson child-molestation case Friday set a tentative trial date of Sept. 13 over the objection of the pop star's lawyer. The defense also asked that Jackson's $3 million bail be lowered.
Jackson was not in court, and few fans turned out for the hearing.
Judge Rodney Melville delayed a ruling on a defense request to reduce Jackson's bail.
Judge Melville made it clear he won't let the public or press in on much pretrial material in the case, maintaining a lid on such basic documents as the grand jury indictment. He promised written rulings on media requests for access and rebuked attorneys for failing to file some motions under seal.
"I do not feel you are taking my orders for sealing as seriously as I am giving them," Judge Melville said.
Defense attorneys objected to setting a trial date, saying the prosecution had not given the defense all evidence in the case.
"We have a client who has endured the cloud of this case for the better part of six to seven months," said defense attorney Steve Cochran, "and we still don't have the forensic tests. ... The materials we're seeing make reference to informants, but we have not been given the identities of the informants. We have been given some tape recordings that are inaudible."
Caribbean floods
MAPOU, Haiti -- U.S. troops delivered food and water to this remote farming town, where reporters saw for the first time Friday the worst devastation from deadly floods that have inundated parts of Haiti and the Dominican Republic and left Mapou under 10 feet of water.
Aid workers dragged bodies and treated survivors who had broken limbs and gashes from aluminum roofs after torrents of water caused mudslides to cascade down denuded mountains Monday, destroying half of the town's 2,800 houses.
The flooding has left hundreds dead and thousands homeless across the south-central part of Hispaniola island, shared by the two countries. The death toll, impossible to estimate, is increasing daily as authorities find more cut-off villages and towns.
"We are trying to get a count, but we estimate about a thousand dead" just among the Mapou's 3,500 people, said U.S. Lt. Col. Duane Perry, who commanded Marines as they ferried emergency supplies and aid workers in helicopters Friday.
Mapou, which U.S. troops discovered only Wednesday while flying overhead, is just 30 miles southeast of Haiti's capital, Port-au-Prince, but is cut off except by helicopter.
Sharon races to saveGaza withdrawal plan
JERUSALEM -- Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon gambled Friday on a risky showdown with opponents of a Gaza withdrawal, asking his Cabinet to approve the entire revised plan after failing to win over skeptical members with last-minute compromises.
But with a majority of ministers still unconvinced, Sharon's spokesman said a vote on the pullout could be postponed. The Cabinet is due to debate the proposal Sunday, but Sharon is unlikely to call a vote unless he is guaranteed a majority.
"There will be a debate. We are still unsure if there will be a vote," said Sharon's spokesman, Asaf Shariv.
The political wrangling sharpened the rivalry between Sharon and Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a former premier who is popular among Likud Party members and has refused to endorse the withdrawal plan.
Without Netanyahu's support, Sharon has little chance of winning the divided Cabinet's approval.
If the plan is put to a vote, there could be a Cabinet shake-up, regardless of the outcome.
Quake kills 23, injures 100in central and northern Iran
TEHRAN, Iran -- A strong earthquake shook central and northern Iran on Friday, killing at least 23 people -- some buried by landslides on a mountain road -- and seriously damaging more than 80 villages, the Interior Ministry and state-run media said.
More than 100 others were reported injured by the 6.2 magnitude earthquake, which struck at 5:08 p.m. and was centered about 45 miles north of Tehran, the U.S. Geological Survey said.
Eight provinces in central and northern Iran were affected by the temblor, with the worst-damaged villages near Alamout, about 80 miles west of Tehran, Interior Ministry spokesman Jahanbakhah Khanjani told The Associated Press.
The quake unleashed landslides and falling boulders that killed 16 people and injured 70 others by burying them in their cars along the mountainous Tehran-Chalous road, state-run television reported.
Five people were killed in Mazandaran province and two in Qazvin province, Tehran radio said. The quake also damaged homes, buildings and telephone lines.
Associated Press