Craig on Tuesday said he won't resign until "legal determinations" are made. A political source involved in discussions about the case said Craig has made it clear he wants to find a way to stay in office.

A court ruling on Craig's appeal could take longer than the four days before September 30.

In his petition to vacate the plea, Craig's attorney maintained the senator's "panic" over the possibility that the allegations would be made public drove him to accept a guilty plea without seeking legal advice and that he had been assured by the arresting officer that the matter would remain private.

The petition also claims that because Craig submitted his guilty plea by mail, he did not have the benefit of a judge explaining the exact consequences of the plea before accepting it.

On Monday, the court was told by prosecutor John Price that the series of attacks had caused "widespread public alarm" as police and public alike tried to work out where the next bomb would arrive.

On Tuesday, Mrs Andrews told Oxford Crown Court that, as she opened the envelope, she joked: "Do we think this is suspicious?" She told the court: "I was just joking. It was because it was a Jiffy bag and because of what had been on the news."

She described how she broke the seal on an envelope contained within the original package and saw a bright flash and heard a very loud bang.

Mrs Andrews has suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder since the incident, the court heard, a condition which worsened following the recent car bomb attacks outside West End nightclubs in London. She suffers from permanent tinnitus and has a large scar on her upper chest where she had to receive stitches.

She told the court that she has only returned to work intermittently and said: "I've been forced out of my department because some colleagues refuse to work with me. One manager even wanted me to apologise to people for what I did that day."

The court heard how the bomb had been addressed to the IT manager of an old DVLA office which no longer exists. Most of the company's large volume of mail that it receives each day is opened automatically, but items sent to an old postcode, the court heard, are opened by hand in a separate room and the backlog this creates could mean that the bomb was received as early as Monday that week.

Cooper denies eight counts of causing bodily injury by means of an explosive substance, two counts of using an explosive substance with intent to disable and making and possessing an explosive substance.

Twenty-three-year-old Kyle Schott of Renton had been charged with first-degree rape, but the charge was reduced to second-degree.

Whitman County Superior Court documents say Schott and another man broke into the Kappa Alpha Theta sorority September 13th and attacked a woman as she slept.

Prosecutors say Schott watched while Christopher Reid performed sex acts on the woman. The two fled when she awoke. They are also accused of breaking into two other WSU sororities the same night.

Reid pleaded not guilty Wednesday to burglary and rape charges. The 25-year-old Los Angeles man performs in porno films under the name Jack Venice.

Spector, 67, faces 15 years to life in prison if convicted of murdering actress Lana Clarkson with a gunshot through her mouth at his Los Angeles area home in February 2003.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Larry Fidler issued new instructions to the jury on Thursday aimed at breaking an impasse after two days of legal arguments with lawyers on both sides.

Fidler withdrew a jury instruction -- seen as central to the defense case -- that said the prosecution must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Spector pointed a gun at Clarkson and the gun ended up inside her mouth while in Spector's hand for them to find him guilty.

Instead he told the jury they could consider a range of possible scenarios.

Jurors had reported confusion over the original instruction and Fidler agreed it "misstates the law."

The defense has argued that the 40-year-old actress, who was working as a nightclub hostess when she met Spector, was depressed over her career and finances and shot herself in the mouth, either deliberately or by accident.

Prosecutors said during the trial that even if the gun went off mistakenly, Spector could be convicted of murder because his actions showed a conscious disregard for human life.

Spector, who did not testify in his defense, is famous for pioneering the "Wall of Sound" recording technique in the 1960s and for his work with The Beatles, The Ronettes, Tina Turner and Cher.

Kerkorian's Tracinda investment vehicle was not immediately available for comment.

The lower court ruled in 2005 that Kerkorian had not been misled into believing the $36 billion deal was a merger of equals as the two partners had claimed.

A DaimlerChrysler spokesman said the verdict would not have any financial consequences because the company had not set aside any money in case it lost the case. It had, however, made reserves for its legal fees and court costs, he added.

DaimlerChrysler shares rose 1.4 percent to 66.79 euros by 0941 GMT, lagging a 2.1 percent gain in the DJ Stoxx European car sector index.

The transatlantic linkup between Daimler-Benz and Chrysler was one of the biggest deals in automotive history, but never lived up to its potential and was unwound this year when Chrysler was sold to buyout firm Cerberus Capital Management.

Kerkorian was Chrysler's leading shareholder when it signed the deal that former Chief Executive Juergen Schrempp boasted would form the world's first truly global carmaker.

Kerkorian, who had demanded more than $1 billion in damages, contended that Schrempp only billed the deal as a merger of equals to lower the transaction price and avoid paying shareholders a "control premium".