China artist Ai Weiwei stays quiet after freed on bail (Reuters)

BEIJING (Reuters) – The dissident Chinese artist Ai Weiwei, whose detention in April ignited an international uproar, was released on bail Wednesday under conditions likely to keep the outspoken critic of Communist Party controls silent for now.

"I can't say anything more, because I'm on bail," Ai told reporters who had gathered outside his home after his release was reported by China's official Xinhua news agency.

His abrupt release came days before Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao heads to Europe, where Berlin and other capitals have been critical of Beijing's secretive detention of Ai and dozens of other rights advocates, lawyers and dissidents.

But the Chinese government cast its apparent backdown as a vindication of their controversial case. Xinhua said Ai was freed "because of his good attitude in confessing his crimes as well as a chronic disease he suffers from," citing the police.

A company that police said he controlled "was found to have evaded a huge amount of taxes and intentionally destroyed accounting documents, police said," according to Xinhua.

"The decision comes also in consideration of the fact that Ai has repeatedly said he is willing to pay the taxes he evaded," said the report.

Family members and supporters have said the outspoken 54-year-old artist was a victim of a crackdown on political dissent that intensified after overseas Chinese websites in February called for protests in China to emulate anti-authoritarian uprisings in the Arab world.

China's courts and police are firmly controlled by the ruling Communist Party, and it is unusual, but not unprecedented, for authorities to back away from a potential prosecution in a high-profile case like this.

"Without the wave of international support for Ai, and the popular expressions of dismay and disgust about the circumstances of his disappearance, it's highly unlikely the Chinese government would have released him," said Phelim Kine, a researcher with Human Rights Watch, a New York-based advocacy group.

The United States, Germany, Britain and other governments voiced concern about Ai's secretive detention without formal notification to his family. Chinese Premier Wen will visit Britain and Germany, as well as Hungary.

"I'm perfectly fine. My health is fine," Ai, notably thinner after his months in detention, said in brief comments to Britain's ITV news service. He thanked his supporters.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel's chief spokesman Steffen Seibert said she welcomed Ai's release. "Today's release on bail can only be a first step. Now the case against Ai WeiWei has to be cleared in a constitutional and transparent way," he added.

State Department spokesman Mark Toner also said Ai's release was welcome, adding: "But there's obviously more individuals who are being held, so we want to see the release of all these people."

RETURNED HOME, HEALTH OKAY

Ai (whose name is pronounced "Eye Way-way") was detained at Beijing airport on April 3, igniting an outcry about China's tightening grip on dissent, which has triggered the detention and arrest of dozens of rights activists and dissidents.

The bearded, burly contemporary artist was the most internationally well-known of those detained, and his family has repeatedly said that he was targeted by authorities for his outspoken criticism of censorship and Communist Party controls.

Amnesty International said Ai's release was an "important" but limited step, and urged Beijing to release other activists and dissidents held in the recent crackdown that has relied heavily on extra-judicial detentions.

"His release can be seen as a tokenistic move by the government to deflect mounting criticisms," said Catherine Baber, the Asia-Pacific deputy director for Amnesty, in emailed comments.

"It is vital that the international outcry over Ai Weiwei be extended to those activists still languishing in secret detention or charged with inciting subversion," she said.

In China, bail can be used to release suspects on condition that they do not break laws for a stipulated time, and that condition may discourage Ai from speaking out or resuming his campaigning against government targets.

"There are well-grounded concerns that the conditions for Ai Weiwei's release will be onerously restrictive," said Kine, the Human Rights Watch researcher.

The well-known British sculptor Anish Kapor said foreign artists should still not show their work in China for now.

"While I am thankful that he has been released, I do not think that artists should present their work in China until the situation has been resolved," he said in an emailed statement about Ai's release.

(Additional reporting by Paul Eckert in Washington; Writing by Sanjeev Miglani; Editing by Ron Popeski and Alistair Lyon)

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All Quiet in Rafah: Egypt's Gaza Border Opens Not with a Bang but a Whisper (Time.com)

When the authorities at the Rafah border terminal closed down their offices on Saturday, they were wrapping up the first day of a new era in Egyptian foreign policy. In a move hailed by many Palestinians and Egyptians as a break from years of unpopular Mubarak-era diplomacy - the joint enforcement, with Israel, of a four-year blockade on the Gaza Strip - Egypt's Supreme Council of the Armed Forces launched a new set of border rules that observers said would give Gazan Palestinians back their pre-blockade freedom.

Palestinian women and children, as well as men under the age of 18 or over the age of 40, are now permitted to enter Egypt for up to one month without a visa. Men between the ages of 18 and 40 may be granted permits to enter for reasons such as enrollment in Egyptian universities or a need for medical treatment. In effect, the new conditions seem to read, Gazans will now have a great deal more freedom to travel outside their 139-square-mile territory, which they have likened to a large, outdoor prison since the blockade was imposed in 2007 after the Islamist group Hamas took control. (See pictures of Israel's assault on Gaza.)

And yet, opening day marked one of the slowest business days that Rafah Crossing had seen in years. Egyptian officials reported that roughly 400 people crossed into Egypt at Rafah on Saturday, and 153 into Gaza. "I think most of the people don't believe they can actually leave the Gaza Strip. It has been a long time," says Said al-Batran, a Palestinian-Danish surgeon who was trying to cross in the opposite direction.

Indeed, the atmosphere inside the arrivals terminal was mysteriously subdued for much of the day. The shouting and tears on either side of the crossing, typical of scenes from the blockaded border's past, were largely absent. A team of medics from the Egyptian Ministry of Health sat idly in a corner with no patients to treat. And only several dozen travellers seemed to populate the hall at any given time. "We noticed today that there were more journalists than Palestinians," observes Ahmed Abu Deraa, an Egyptian journalist from North Sinai. (See why the Rafah crossing was only opened sporadically.)

The Israeli government had warned that opening the border would threaten the region's security; weapons and terrorists would flood across in both directions. Gaza's Islamist rulers, Hamas, would become empowered. Israel's border security would plummet. "Do you see any missiles here?" scoffs a Hamas border official as as small groups of Palestinians trickled through metal detectors, and even fewer drifted out of the Egyptian departures hall into Gaza.

Could it be that Gaza is suffering from denial, as al-Batran suggested? Maybe it's just confusion, Egyptian border officials offered. "It's the weekend, so they probably didn't realize it was open," one customs official says while waiting for customers.

Afaf Hassan, who was on her way to Egypt, suggested the opposite: there was so much anticipation inside the densely-packed Strip that many people had decided to wait out the crowds. "I think a lot of people didn't come because they expected there to be a huge rush," she says. "People were calling me and I told them it's empty. There will probably be a big rush in the next few days." (See pictures of the tunnel economy in the Gaza Strip.)

More likely, others suggested: not a whole lot has changed. A huge proportion of Gaza's population (those men ages 18 to 40) are still largely banned from travel. "The truth about Rafah is that they never opened it. Three days ago it was exactly the same," said Deraa. When the military had announced the shift in policy, he initially expected to see thousands flood across the border. In the end, he says: "It was extreme propaganda - that has backfired because the journalists came and saw it."

Egypt's temporary military caretakers may have every reason to propagandize as the country hurtles through its fourth month of rocky transition after the toppling of President Hosni Mubarak. On Friday, thousands of mostly young activists flooded into Cairo's Tahrir Square for what many dubbed "the Second Revolution" to protest perceived delays in the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces' implementation of the revolution's demands. Those include speedy trials for ex-President Hosni Mubarak and his cronies, better security, economic reforms, and an end to military tribunals for civilians.

See how opening the crossing will "put an end to Palestinian suffering."

But increasingly, the revolutionaries of post-Mubarak Egypt have also focused their attention on foreign policy, particularly reform of Mubarak's steadfast but widely unpopular support for Israel and its enforcement of the Gaza blockade. Four days before the protest, the General Prosecutor's office announced that Mubarak would soon stand trial on charges of conspiring to kill protesters during the uprising. Less than a month earlier, the military had announced that it would loosen the operational procedures at Rafah crossing, easing the blockade for some 1.5 million Palestinians. While widely applauded by the Egyptian public, a number of cynics dismissed the moves as superficial efforts to mollify the would-be demonstrators of Tahrir.

At Rafah, at least thirty angry men were turned away on Saturday, deposited on buses and sent back to Gaza after their names showed up on an Egyptian security blacklist. It's a blacklist that dates to well before Mubarak's departure. "They all came today thinking they would get in because it's a new era," says a senior Egyptian border official. "But many of them have been turned away before." (See a cartoon history of Gaza.)

"They don't like people who look like me," says Abu Mohamed, a 46-year-old Islamist, pulling on his beard. "My beard is too long," he says, retreating to a bus with other religious men who attributed their rejection to their adherence to Dawa, a strict literalist interpretation of Islam.

Jamal Najim, 53, knew that he was turned away because he was among the thousands of Palestinians who flooded into Egypt in 2007, after Palestinian gunmen literally blew a hole in Egypt's blockade. That didn't make him any less angry, and he screamed at Egyptian customs officials until he was escorted out of the terminal. In 2007, he had spent months trapped in Gaza, and was desperate to see his Egyptian wife and daughter. He was arrested in Egypt, blacklisted, and returned. He hasn't seen his family since.

Indeed, much to Palestinians' dismay - and perhaps, to Israel's comfort - Egypt's feared intelligence service, the mukhabarat, continues to wield control over the border terminal, just as it always has. Foreigners and Egyptians still require special permission from Egyptian intelligence to enter Gaza. Even Palestinians who lack Ramallah-issued IDs still face the same difficulties trying to return. The Israeli government revoked Said al-Batran's national ID card in 1981, when he left the Gaza Strip to study in Russia. "Look, I'll show you my passport," he said, flipping through the 19 Egyptian visas, each one for a failed attempt to enter Gaza, that he'd accumulated since 2006. He's trying again now because his 82-year-old mother is gravely ill. So far he has had no luck. (See why tunnels have become a big business into Gaza.)

Most of the faces keeping security at the border haven't changed either, the Egyptian official admits. That includes Major Salama Baraka, Hamas' General Manager of Border Security, who has worked closely with his Egyptian counterparts for the past two years despite the fact that the same officials were also coordinating, at times, with the Israeli government. "We've always had good communication with the Egyptian side," he says. "But now there's the hope that travel for Palestinians will be much easier."

Indeed, it may not mark an end to the blockade, but the revised rules are a welcome change for many Palestinian families who crossed into Egypt successfully. The revolution has helped Egyptians reclaim some of the dignity they lost under Mubarak's repression, they say - and it's slowly trickling across the border to them. "It's better than before," says Issa Ali Nashar, a Hamas official from the Prime Minister's office who was traveling to Cairo for meetings and a doctor's visit. The passage has eased with the new regulations, and the Palestinians are meeting kinder treatment than they used to. "We can feel that things have changed. But we know the change will continue to come step by step."

In the arrivals terminal, Hassan, 62, was calm and optimistic, en route to Jordan for medical treatment. "It used to be that if you needed to go abroad for something, you had to really plan and gather your papers. We used to have to wait all day to cross," she says. "So far, we have only waited an hour."

See TIME's special report "The Middle East in Revolt."

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Islamic world quiet as bin Laden chapter closes

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — In life, Osama bin Laden was burned into the Muslim consciousness in countless ways: the lion of holy warriors, the untouchable nemesis of the West, the evil zealot who soiled their faith with blood and intolerance.

Supporters of Pakistan's Islamic Lawyer Forum pray Wednesday for Osama bin Laden outside the Peshawar High Court building in Peshawar, Pakistan.

In death, however, the voices across the Islamic world are now relatively muted in sharp counterpoint to the rage and shame ? or hero-worship ? that he long inspired.

For some, the account of bin Laden's death during a U.S. raid early Monday on his Pakistan compound is still too much to accept. One post on a militant website asks: "Has the sheik really died?"

But a more complex explanation for the relative quiet on the Muslim streets lies, in fact, on those same streets.

The pro-democracy uprisings across the Arab world suggest to many that al-Qaeda's clenched-fist ideology has little place for a new generation seeking Western-style political reforms and freedoms ? even though al-Qaeda offshoots still hold ground in places such as Yemen and Pakistan.

"Bin Laden died in Egypt before he was killed in Pakistan," said Abdulkhaleq Abdullah, a professor of political science at Emirates University. "The young people who successfully challenged the status quo with peaceful means proved change the bin Laden way ? the violent way, the jihad way ? did not come."

Lebanon's caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri ? who took office after his father Rafik Hariri was killed in a 2005 truck bombing in Beirut ? said bin Laden's death serves as something of a moment of silence for those killed by al-Qaeda or groups that borrowed their violence creed.

"Any Arab or Muslim who believes that terrorism is destructive and harmful to Arabism and Islam, cannot but receive the news of the fate of Osama bin Laden with feelings of sympathy toward the family of thousands of victims who died in different areas of the world because of him or by his orders," said a statement by Saad Hariri.

Even in Iraq, there have been few public outpourings of happiness or grief in a country that has suffered years of relentless bombings and attacks by al-Qaeda-linked groups targeting American forces or supporters of the U.S.-backed government.

A Baghdad-based political analyst, Hadi Jalo, said it appears to reflect a shift in Sunni insurgent groups that once called for a medieval-style Islamic caliphate in Iraq. They now are increasingly plotting ways to influence Iraq's political world with U.S. troops scheduled to leave by the end of the year.

"Iraq today is different from Iraq in 2004, 2005 and 2006," Jalo said. "If the death news came at that period, we would see mourning ceremonies in different areas where al-Qaeda insurgents were active."

In neighboring Iran ? which backed the Shiite militant foes of Iraq's al-qaeda militants ? bin Laden's death brought little public reaction, but was used by the Islamic rulers to jab at Washington. A commentary Wednesday by Iran's semiofficial Fars News Agency mocked the epic costs of the near decade-long hunt for America's most-wanted figure and its wars in the region.

"American lives are being lost. Innocent civilians are being killed. Several of the conflicts appear to be primed to go on for a long time," said the agency, which is closely aligned with Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guard.

The lack of major public outpourings or declarations from al-qaeda also add another layer of guesswork about its future. Most assume that bin Laden's top aide, Egyptian-born Ayman al-Zawahri, is the apparent al-Qaeda heir. There have been only isolated calls for quick revenge against the United States from protesters or on jihadist websites.

Just hours after bin Laden's death was announced, however, CIA director Leon Panetta warned that "terrorists almost certainly will attempt to avenge" the killing of the mastermind behind the Sept. 11 attacks.

"Bin Laden is dead," Panetta wrote in a memo to CIA staff. "al-Qaeda is not."

In Pakistan's southern city of Karachi on Wednesday, about 1,000 mourners joined prayers for bin Laden arranged by a militant-linked charity. But there have been few other protests in the country that bin Laden may have used as his fugitive base for years.

In bin Laden's pre-9/11 stronghold, Afghanistan, many people still refused to believe that he was dead despite Washington's assertions of positive DNA tests. On Wednesday, President Obama said the U.S. will not release the photo of bin Laden's body that was taken after he was killed.

"I don't think he's dead," said Salam Jan Rishtania, a 26-year-old student in Kandahar. "I don't trust the Americans because they are playing games over here. This may be part of their game."

Still, there were some acts of homage in other parts of the Muslim world.

About 25 people in the Gaza Strip held pictures and posters of bin Laden on Tuesday. On the podcast channel of the pan-Arab broadcaster Al-Jazeera, some messages praised bin Laden among many others denouncing him.

"You are the sheik of the mujahedeen (holy warriors). God may grant you heaven," said one post. Another read: "You are in heaven, Sheik Osama."

Ismail Haniyeh, the prime minister of Hamas-controlled Gaza, portrayed bin Laden as the victim of a state-sponsored "terrorist act."

"We disagree with the vision of holy warrior Osama bin Laden, but we condemn this terrorist act," Haniyeh told the Associated Press on Wednesday. "What the U.S. did is not a heroic action, but a targeted killing. ? To pursue and kill him in Pakistan, which is Muslim land, means for us a further intervention in the land of Islam."

But in Somalia, where a hard-line Islamist group holds sway over large parts of the country, demonstrators marched defiantly through government-held parts of the capital, Mogadishu, and burned a flag they said represented al-Qaeda.

"Terror, terror go away," they chanted. "Little kids want to play."

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Navy SEALS, 'quiet pros', got bin Laden

The elite SEALs who got Osama bin Laden are troops with sensitive mission experience SEALs are not Rambo wannabes, said a former member Keeping quiet is a SEAL code; they don't brag about their missions

(CNN) -- Navy SEALs live by an unspoken code.

"Be a quiet professional," says Chris Heben, a former SEAL with 10 years of experience carrying out missions in Africa, the Middle East and Afghanistan.

"There is no room for braggarts in the SEALs," he said. "Talking hurts missions and gets people killed."

Members of the special team sent to kill Osama bin Laden in Pakistan on Sunday may never talk about their role in the raid that ended a decade-long manhunt.

But there's no doubt an allegiance to secrecy played a critical role in maintaining the surprise factor necessary for success in the high-stakes gamble that was closely held even among officials in Washington.

Senior administration officials would not disclose the makeup of the team sent on the mission, but a senior defense official said a special team of SEALs was involved. Watch details about the risky raid

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Many national media, including the New Yorker, Huffington Post and ABC News, have reported that the group is called Team Six, a highly classified band of anonymous operatives who can travel to a mission on a moment's notice from wherever they are based. They generally are not informed about who their target is until the mission is close at hand.

Former SEALs interviewed by CNN were cautious about describing how Team Six or other special teams within the SEALs work. Generally, SEALs chosen for such a special mission would be tapped by superiors because of a skill that sets them apart, yet they must also be able to jump into another member's job should that man be hurt or killed, they said.

"They need to go far beyond just being a skilled warrior," said Brandon Tyler Webb, a former SEAL who ran the sniper program at the Navy Special Warfare Command and was part of combat missions in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"Getting on a special team means you've established yourself as a mature and steady operator with a real world track record of high-stakes, sensitive missions," said Webb, who authored the book "The 21st Century Sniper."

"The guys behind this mission [to capture or kill bin Laden] have never given anyone a reason to doubt that they are trustworthy and very focused," he said. "They are the best of the best."

The image of the SEAL belly crawling his way through the jungle is just a bunch of Hollywood nonsense, Heben said.

"The guys who don't make it through SEAL training are the Rambo wannabes," he said. "If you cannot work in a team format, but also function autonomously, you won't last for very long."

Air, Sea, Land

The fighting force known as the Navy SEALs -- short for Sea, Air and Land teams -- has its origins in World War II when the United States realized that to invade Japan, it needed savvy, quick-thinking fighters who could perform reconnaissance at sea.

Beyond tactical expertise, the troops needed to have extraordinary physical strength.

According to the SEAL web site, they became known as jack-of-all-trade troops, able to survey China's Yangtze River disguised as Chinese nationals in 1945 or conduct demolition raids on railroad tunnels and bridges along the Korean coast during the Korean War.

The SEALs did not get their name until after President Kennedy spoke about his admiration for special forces troops and his hope that the U.S. military would better enhance its capacity for unconventional warfare, counter guerilla and clandestine operations.

There was a new and pressing need for more advanced military techniques during the time. Among other missions, the SEALs were deployed to act as advisers and train South Vietnamese commandos.

Vietnam was the first American war to be broadcast widely on television and media, and woven into popular culture for mainstream consumption. It solidified the image of the SEALs as the ultimate tough guy, a reputation burnished by reports of SEALs' ability to do face-to-face combat with Vietcong and stories of their work with the CIA.

The relationship between America's spy agency and its elite troops was crucial to gaining real-time intelligence for missions sometimes carried out at the last minute -- perhaps an asset more important now than ever, experts have said. The war against al Qaeda is just as much about obtaining reliable intelligence as it is winning on the battlefield.

SEALs victories have been many. During Vietnam, they performed a covert operation called the Phoenix Program which captured Vietcong sympathizers.

In the Iran-Iraq war, SEAL teams conducted missions to counter Iranian mine-laying boats. The first military flag officer to set foot in Afghanistan after September 11, 2001, was a SEAL in charge of all special operations for Central Command, according to the SEALs history page on its web site.

The site says SEALs commanded Task Force K-BAR which oversaw the Navy, Air Force and Coalition Special Operation Forces at the beginning of Operation Enduring Freedom which carried out more than 75 special reconnaissance and direct action missions, destroyed more than 500,000 pounds of explosives and weapons, identified enemy personnel and conducted operations that searched for terrorists trying to flee the country by sea.

The largest deployment of SEALs in the group's history came during the Iraq War, with SEALs directing missions that included securing all of the southern oil infrastructures of the Al-Faw peninsula and the off-shore gas and oil terminals, clearing critical waterways so that aid could flow into the country. Several high-value terrorist targets were captured by the SEALs, including Ahmed Hashim Abed, the alleged mastermind of the murder and mutilation of four Blackwater guards in Fallujah, Iraq, in 2004.

The SEALs most recent high-profile mission came in 2009 when a SEAL team rescued the American captain of the cargo ship Maersk Alabama, which had been hijacked by Somali pirates off Somalia's coast. SEAL snipers were on the deck of a ship and fired simultaneously three times, hitting three pirates who were holding the captain.

Ultimate test

SEAL training, Heben said, is "the ultimate test for a guy."

It's social, physical and psychological and tests how well the man can work with others given intense pressure and pain.

SEALs train between 18 and 24 months, with the pinnacle of training coming during Hell Week, five days in which trainees are constantly cold, hungry, sleep deprived and wet.

During Hell week, instructors deprive the participants of sleep, then let them hit the rack just long enough for REM to begin, Webb said.

Instructors are constantly yelling, "Go ahead, quit if you like!"

Many do. The attrition rate for SEAL training is about 90 percent, Heben and Webb said.

Most recruits drop out long before Hell Week because they can't take the training, which involves running 15 miles, topped with a 2-mile open water swim and other intense physical conditioning, Webb said.

"Every day is like climbing Mount Everest," Heben said. "You just keep doing what's in front of you. You don't look up."

Training instructors make you feel like "you're part of an Indian tribe," Heben said.

"There's a lot of back patting and verbal reinforcement. You feel like you're part of something and you're doing great things. But they definitely let you know when you're not doing something right."

The discipline from SEAL training was intensely satisfying to Heben in his early 20s. He had gone to college, and though he was very bright, he was spending more time working out than on his class work. He was restless.

Four walls and books just weren't his thing. Despite unimpressive grades, at 23 he got a job working in home mortgages making $63,000 a year.

Then one day he read an article about the SEALs in Popular Mechanics.

"I enlisted in the Navy immediately," Heben said. "I asked the recruiter, 'What is the fastest track to becoming a SEAL? I'll take that.'"

Though he won't discuss specific areas of countries where he's carried out missions, he said that he normally trained for missions on exact mock-ups of a targeted location. He's confident that the special team knew the compound where bin Laden was hiding as if the SEALs had built it themselves.

It's also no coincidence that the team acted on one of the least moonlit nights on the calendar, Heben said. They certainly weighed heavily a possible attack from a Pakistani military school which sits a short distance from the compound, and they went over many scenarios of attack, aiming to avoid civilian casualties. Go behind the scenes of the raid

SEALs leave nothing to chance. A target is a target. It is an objective, a mission well trained and prepared for, Heben said.

Even if that target turns out to be Osama bin Laden.

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Quiet for a while, Palin's voice is back

WASHINGTON (AP) — Sarah Palin has had a sliding spring.

In this Feb. 4, 2011 file photo, former Republican vice presidential candidate and Alaskan Gov. Sarah Palin speaks at the Reagan Ranch Center in Santa Barbara, Calif.

By Spencer Weiner, AP

In this Feb. 4, 2011 file photo, former Republican vice presidential candidate and Alaskan Gov. Sarah Palin speaks at the Reagan Ranch Center in Santa Barbara, Calif.

Her support among Republicans has shrunk. She's kept an uncharacteristically low profile. And there's no evidence that she's anywhere close to announcing whether she will run for president.

But it's clear she still wants to be part of the conversation.

After weeks of seemingly staying on the sidelines, the GOP's 2008 vice presidential nominee is back with public appearances, fiery criticism of President Barack Obama and a strong defense of Donald Trump, the reality TV show host who has raised questions about the president's background without offering any proof of his assertions.

"What the heck is wrong with asking the president of the United States to disclose what his college thesis was, what some of the Harvard Law Review papers were that he wrote?" Palin said last week, adding her voice to a Trump-led chorus of critics questioning just how much the country knows about its president.

She added: "Here's a point with Donald Trump, though, which I hope that he will seize this opportunity: Right now, he's got the spotlight, he's got the megaphone. Now is his opportunity to really force a shift in debate and discussion in this country."

Palin used to be able to say that about herself. But she's recently been overshadowed by other Republicans who have taken steps toward the White House or are weighing bids, Trump included.

Privately, people in her informal and fluid circle of advisers say that they have no sense whether Palin will run for the GOP nomination or if she does, when she would begin a campaign. They say she's asking questions about a potential White House run and will decide in her own time. The door to a candidacy, they say, is still open.

Yet, Palin, who abruptly resigned the Alaska governor's office before finishing her first term, doesn't seem to be doing the spadework others are as they consider running.

She hasn't set up campaign organizations in Iowa, New Hampshire or other early nominating states. Her political travel seems haphazard and lacking the pattern of most contenders. For example, she hasn't been to New Hampshire since 2008, but she rallied tea party activists in Wisconsin as Gov. Scott Walker pushed a bill that weakened public unions' bargaining rights.

And recently her standing has dropped in polls.

An Associated Press-GfK survey from late-March found 57 percent of adults holding an unfavorable view of her. And the survey marked her worst rating yet among Republicans. Nearly two-thirds of Republicans view her favorably but that number is down from 79 percent in November 2010.

Her favorability dips to just 38 percent among the four in 10 Republicans who don't support the tea party. Among those Republicans who do support it, 79 percent say they hold a positive view of Palin.

Even so, she's making sure her voice is heard, including in high-profile public appearances.

She was to give a speech Saturday in a Washington suburb at a closed-door, $250-a-plate fundraiser for an anti-abortion organization. And on Monday, she is to appear at a $15-a-person fundraiser for military families at Colorado Christian University. She's speaking at the same event as retired Lt. Gen. William G. "Jerry" Boykin, who has made controversial statements painting the war on terror as a Christian fight against Satan and suggesting that Muslims worship idols.

Palin's also been firing up her conservative base on Fox News Channel, where she is a paid contributor, and in other interviews by scorning Obama. Recently, she:

?Invoked 1960s-era radical William Ayers, a one-time member of the Weather Underground organization, which bombed federal buildings in protest of the Vietnam War, with whom Obama worked on community projects in Chicago decades later. She suggested Ayers wrote Obama's memoirs ? though offered no evidence.

?Tweaked Obama on his off-hours hobbies: "I know, I know, granted you will be even busier very soon. After all, golf season kicks into high gear shortly. NBA and NHL brackets await. Summer vacations and that all-consuming campaign whistle stop tour will no doubt slam you," she posted on Facebook.

?Summarized Obama's energy policy as "outright bonkers."

So, for now at least, she's ensuring she's part of the political discourse. The answer to whether she becomes part of the presidential race, itself, will come later.

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Quiet for a while, Palin's voice is back

WASHINGTON (AP) — Sarah Palin has had a sliding spring.

In this Feb. 4, 2011 file photo, former Republican vice presidential candidate and Alaskan Gov. Sarah Palin speaks at the Reagan Ranch Center in Santa Barbara, Calif.

By Spencer Weiner, AP

In this Feb. 4, 2011 file photo, former Republican vice presidential candidate and Alaskan Gov. Sarah Palin speaks at the Reagan Ranch Center in Santa Barbara, Calif.

Her support among Republicans has shrunk. She's kept an uncharacteristically low profile. And there's no evidence that she's anywhere close to announcing whether she will run for president.

But it's clear she still wants to be part of the conversation.

After weeks of seemingly staying on the sidelines, the GOP's 2008 vice presidential nominee is back with public appearances, fiery criticism of President Barack Obama and a strong defense of Donald Trump, the reality TV show host who has raised questions about the president's background without offering any proof of his assertions.

"What the heck is wrong with asking the president of the United States to disclose what his college thesis was, what some of the Harvard Law Review papers were that he wrote?" Palin said last week, adding her voice to a Trump-led chorus of critics questioning just how much the country knows about its president.

She added: "Here's a point with Donald Trump, though, which I hope that he will seize this opportunity: Right now, he's got the spotlight, he's got the megaphone. Now is his opportunity to really force a shift in debate and discussion in this country."

Palin used to be able to say that about herself. But she's recently been overshadowed by other Republicans who have taken steps toward the White House or are weighing bids, Trump included.

Privately, people in her informal and fluid circle of advisers say that they have no sense whether Palin will run for the GOP nomination or if she does, when she would begin a campaign. They say she's asking questions about a potential White House run and will decide in her own time. The door to a candidacy, they say, is still open.

Yet, Palin, who abruptly resigned the Alaska governor's office before finishing her first term, doesn't seem to be doing the spadework others are as they consider running.

She hasn't set up campaign organizations in Iowa, New Hampshire or other early nominating states. Her political travel seems haphazard and lacking the pattern of most contenders. For example, she hasn't been to New Hampshire since 2008, but she rallied tea party activists in Wisconsin as Gov. Scott Walker pushed a bill that weakened public unions' bargaining rights.

And recently her standing has dropped in polls.

An Associated Press-GfK survey from late-March found 57 percent of adults holding an unfavorable view of her. And the survey marked her worst rating yet among Republicans. Nearly two-thirds of Republicans view her favorably but that number is down from 79 percent in November 2010.

Her favorability dips to just 38 percent among the four in 10 Republicans who don't support the tea party. Among those Republicans who do support it, 79 percent say they hold a positive view of Palin.

Even so, she's making sure her voice is heard, including in high-profile public appearances.

She was to give a speech Saturday in a Washington suburb at a closed-door, $250-a-plate fundraiser for an anti-abortion organization. And on Monday, she is to appear at a $15-a-person fundraiser for military families at Colorado Christian University. She's speaking at the same event as retired Lt. Gen. William G. "Jerry" Boykin, who has made controversial statements painting the war on terror as a Christian fight against Satan and suggesting that Muslims worship idols.

Palin's also been firing up her conservative base on Fox News Channel, where she is a paid contributor, and in other interviews by scorning Obama. Recently, she:

?Invoked 1960s-era radical William Ayers, a one-time member of the Weather Underground organization, which bombed federal buildings in protest of the Vietnam War, with whom Obama worked on community projects in Chicago decades later. She suggested Ayers wrote Obama's memoirs ? though offered no evidence.

?Tweaked Obama on his off-hours hobbies: "I know, I know, granted you will be even busier very soon. After all, golf season kicks into high gear shortly. NBA and NHL brackets await. Summer vacations and that all-consuming campaign whistle stop tour will no doubt slam you," she posted on Facebook.

?Summarized Obama's energy policy as "outright bonkers."

So, for now at least, she's ensuring she's part of the political discourse. The answer to whether she becomes part of the presidential race, itself, will come later.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

For more information about reprints & permissions, visit our FAQ's. To report corrections and clarifications, contact Standards Editor Brent Jones. For publication consideration in the newspaper, send comments to letters@usatoday.com. Include name, phone number, city and state for verification. To view our corrections, go to corrections.usatoday.com.We've updated the Conversation Guidelines. Changes include a brief review of the moderation process and an explanation on how to use the "Report Abuse" button. Read more.

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