An Oscar-winning screenwriter of "Pulp Fiction" has pleaded not guilty to vehicular manslaughter and driving under the influence of alcohol in a fatal January crash.
Roger Avary of Ojai, California, was arraigned Friday in a court in Ventura.
Authorities say Avary's car hit a telephone pole in Ojai on Jan. 13. The crash injured his wife and killed …
My 9-year-old daughter had surgery for a tumor that thankfullyturned out benign. Since then, I've been hearing of an alarmingnumber of people, young and old, in my neighborhood who do havecancer.
Could this phenomenon be connected with industrial firms aroundhere? WORRIED
A. Probably not, said Dr. Katherine Mallin, an epidemiolgist forthe Illinois Cancer Council, Suite 700, 36 S. Wabash, Chicago 60603.But some types of cancer are more common where you live than expectedwhen compared with other areas of Chicago, Illinois and the nation.
A recent Cancer Council study found four varieties - stomach,prostate …
LOS ANGELES - A bid by Britney Spears for shared custody of her two young sons was put on hold Friday by a court commissioner, a lawyer for Kevin Federline said. An afternoon hearing included extensive testimony and covered a number of issues in the high-profile case, lawyer Mark Vincent Kaplan said.
…
French officials were on guard Wednesday after an al-Qaida affiliate threatened vengeance for President Nicolas Sarkozy's criticism of the face-covering veils worn by some Muslim women.
France is maintaining "very great vigilance" toward actions and statements by al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, or North Africa, French Foreign Ministry spokesman Eric Chevallier said in a briefing.
"French authorities reaffirm their determination to fight terrorism," he added.
The Algeria-based group issued a statement on Islamic Web sites vowing to "seek vengeance against France" over Sarkozy's comments about face-covering Muslim …
While he always has been a dependable player, Humphrey never really lived up to the early promise. Suddenly this season, the 6-3 senior is turning heads again.
Humphrey scored 25 points and grabbed 10 rebounds to lead Fenwick in a 61-54 upset Friday of No. 10 Mount Carmel in Oak Park.
He was 6-for-8 from the field and made two three-pointers.
''Right now I'm just about winning,'' Humphrey said. ''Whatever it takes, whether it's passing the ball or defending or scoring. And today it took points to …
A number of years ago when I was in film school, one of my classmates made a brilliant short film about an artist who made strange sounds by taking children's musical electronics (little keyboards and speak-and-spells), cracking open their plastic cases, pushing their buttons, AND licking his fingers then touching the circuits boards as he played with them. Strange noises not intended came out of tiny speakers to create wonderful new soundscapes. You see, his wet fingers would bridge the circuits to create new paths for the power to run through, thus altering the behaviour of whatever device he chose to modify in this way. This was years ago, long before I heard about others doing similar …
An international advisory panel said Tuesday that Sri Lanka's government lacks the will to properly investigate alleged human rights abuses committed during a surge in fighting between the military and Tamil rebels in the island's north.
The International Independent Group of Eminent Persons, or IIGEP, in their final public statement, said their "critiques and suggestions" had been "largely disregarded." The panel announced last month that it would resign because of frustration over the investigation of rights abuses.
There has been growing pressure from international rights groups to establish a U.N. mission to monitor abuses. The …
While Cicero town employees were pleading for their healthinsurance claims to be paid, thieves were diverting that money tospruce up the lawn and kitchen of the Wisconsin vacation home of thetown's reputed mob boss, prosecutors said Tuesday.
"It just goes to show if you have a little good taste, a goodarchitect and a lot of stolen money, you can build a nice place foryourself," federal prosecutor Stephen Andersson said in closingarguments.
Andersson summarized the high points of the prosecution's case setout during the 10-week corruption trial against Cicero Town PresidentBetty Loren-Maltese, former Police Chief Emil Schullo, reputed Ciceromob boss Michael Spano Sr. …
Channel 5 helps Habitat build home
TV's Karen Ward Holmes did some painting on her station's adopted Habitat for Humanity house last year, but this time around found the "CityLine" host helping to lay a concrete foundation, building a door frame, and working on the retaining wall.
"After doing that work," said the station's director of public affairs about heavy lifting type labor, "I appreciate my office job much better." Even so, Holmes clearly loves the project WCVB-TV has taken on for the second year running. Under the direction of Boston's Habitat for Humanity, Channel 5 staff has helped to erect a house on Regent Street in Roxbury.
Initially, Channel 5 …
A Kurdish rebel spokesman says the Kurdish-administered region in northern Iraq is not helping the rebel group in its fight against Turkey.
Turkey says fighters from the PKK rebel group killed 15 Turkish soldiers in attacks waged partly from northern Iraq on …
Ajay Adiseshann faced a moment of truth while visiting his nativevillage Ganapathi Agraharam in Thanjavur district of Tamil Naduduring the recent festive season. The Founder and Managing Directorof PayMate, a domestic money transfer service that caters to thepeople at the base of the economic pyramid, knew that the bankbranch nearest his village was 40 kilometres away. However, therewas a Tata Indicom PCO in the hamlet and PayMate had a tie-up withthe telecom provider for its money transfer service. The residentsof Ganapathi Agraharam are yet to benefit from PayMate because it isnot operational there yet, but the service provides the dabbawalasof Mumbai and the taxi …
'The Lookout' Rating 4 out of 4
This utterly engrossing film is an accomplished work of art,starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt, one of America's best young actors.Rated R. Richard Roeper Now playing at local theaters
NASHVILLE, Tennessee (AP) — Jason Aldean usually maintains a fairly steely demeanor, yet country music's hottest new male star admits to being more than a little excited about his three Grammy nominations.
"I'm not usually one to say it's an honor to be nominated because I think that sounds so stupid, but in this case I think it is," Aldean said. "When you look at how important the Grammys are and just how much that award means to an artist, to say you're Grammy-nominated is a cool thing. I also think saying you're a Grammy Award winner is a lot cooler."
Aldean is up for country album of the year for "My Kinda Party," best country solo performance for the hit "Dirt Road Anthem" and best country duo/group performance for "Don't You Wanna Stay" with Kelly Clarkson.
He'll also perform at Sunday's ceremony in Los Angeles. That will cap a period of growth in Aldean's career that has brought him to the top of the genre. More than a million people attended his first arena tour last year; "My Kinda Party," which won the Country Music Association Award for best album, has exceeded two million in sales; and he has just wrapped up recording his untitled fifth album, which likely will be released late this year.
Aldean says he'll have a few surprises on the new album, just as he did on "Party." Songs like the rap-sung "Anthem" and "Stay" helped expand Aldean's musical palette, and both fans and Grammy voters responded.
"When you're making records, you start trying to outdo yourself and worrying about topping your last album or matching what you did," Aldean said. "I think each record is its own individual thing. They're going to be different in their own ways. For me, I'm kind of a risk taker anyway. A lot of times I'm not even conscious of it."
___
Online:
http://www.jasonaldean.com
___
For the latest country music news from The Associated Press, follow: http://www.twitter.com/AP_Country.
STATE
Slots boost Pennsylvania horseracing by increasing purses, supporting breeder incentives
The same law that established slotmachine gambling in Pennsylvania in 2004 also has meant a big shot in the arm at just the right time for horseracing.
Purses won by horses in Pennsylvania races have been getting larger because a portion of the revenue generated from slot machines goes to racetracks to add to the winnings pot.
And a winner 's take becomes even larger if the horse's lineage is traced to the Keystone State in one of several ways, such as being sired by a Pennsylvania stallion.
Horse owners increasingly want their animals boarded in Pennsylvania, and race here to take advantage of the ? erks, with the economic impact stretching beyond the track, industry experts said.
While the race horse birth rate has declined nationally in the past several years, the number of foals born in Pennsylvania has increased, said Dan Tufano, director of horse racing with the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture.
Out-of-state owners are bringing horses to Pennsylvania to take advantage of the increased purses and breeder benefits, he said.
"We're positioned very well to succeed," Tufano said.
The state's premiere thoroughbred farm, York County-based Ghost Ridge Farms, owes its success to the slots law, general manager Carl McEntee said.
Pennsylvania's four top stallions in terms of monetary winnings by their offspring are now boarded at Ghost Ridge Farms, which began in 2000 as more of a hobby farm by owner Tarry Bratton, McEntee said.
Today, it boasts the No. 9 horse in the country in terms of offspring winnings. But the bigger claim to fame for this horse, Smarty Jones, was winning the first two legs of horseracing's fabled Triple Crown in 2004.
The economic impact of the industry comes from the people it employs and the local feed and hay purchased for the animals, McEntee said. There are about a dozen workers today at Ghost Ridge Farms, but the number increases during busier seasons, he said.
Having such reputable horses in the area also bolsters tourism, McEntee said. A stallion open house in fall 2010 attracted 3,500 people to Ghost Ridge Farms, he said.
Those people were stopping at area restaurants and fueling their cars at local gas stations, McEntee said.
Ghost Ridge Farms has become the largest thoroughbred stallion facility in the state in a relatively short period of time, said MarkMcDermott, executive secretary of the Pennsylvania Horse Breeders Association.
The money from slot machines has obviously been a big help, as today purses in Pennsylvania are among the best in the country.
The rise in purse amounts here comes as the general economy is taking a toll on the sport. People who own horses do so mostly with discretionary income, McDermott said. And discretionary income has been in shorter supply, he said.
In an industry that is finding hard times in other states, it is really going well in Pennsylvania, he said. It affords owners a way to make money.
The money for increased purses and breeder programs was authorized by the Pennsylvania Race Horse Development Act, said Richard McGarvey, spokesman for the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board. The act established slot-machine gambling in Pennsylvania.
About 55 percent of slots revenue is subject to a tax, with portions going to the Pennsylvania Gaming Fund, local communities, the state Economic Development Trust Fund and the Pennsylvania Racehorse Development Fund, McGarvey said.
Slots generated $1.24 billion in tax revenue in 2010, he said. About 12 percent goes into the racehorse development fund.
For the first several years, all the money in the development fund went to supporting the racehorse industry. Today, some of the money is being diverted to the state's general fund, McGarvey said.
Through December, $829 million had been deposited into the racehorse development fund since slots began in Pennsylvania, he said.
Of the money, about 80 percent is distributed to tracks around Pennsylvania for purses that the horses win in races, Tufano said.
Sixteen percent goes toward supporting the respective breeding programs, he said, with the remaining four percent supporting financial benefits for back-side track employees such as trainers.
The breeding funds include the Pennsylvania Breeding Fund for thoroughbreds and the Pennsylvania Sire Stakes Fund and the Pennsylvania Standardbred Breeders Development Fund for standardbred horses, which race in harness races, Tufano said.
The money is used to issue bonuses to race horse owners, breeders and the owners of the stallion that fathered winning horses if the winners have the proper Pennsylvania lineage.
The bonuses can be as high as 40 percent of the purse winnings, Tufano said.
"It is having its intended consequences," Tufano said.
[Sidebar]
Stallion manager Daniel Suttle leads Smarty Jones around the viewing area during a stallion showing at Ghost Ridge Farms in York County.
[Sidebar]
Equine manager Kelly Allen of High Meadows Farm, right, and her assistant Carly Foster watch a stallion showing at Ghost Ridge Farms in York County. The Lawrence County horse farm worked on breeding with Ghost Ridge Farm last year.
[Author Affiliation]
BY BRENT BURKEY
brentb@journalpub.com
In an Oct. 7 story about the disappearance of an Iranian nuclear scientist, The Associated Press erroneously reported that the Arab newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat identified an Iranian who disappeared in Georgia as a second nuclear scientist. Asharq Al-Awsat said the man was believed to be an arms dealer.
Nine percent of doctors responding to a national survey admittedhaving sexual contact with one or more of their patients.
Almost a quarter of the nearly 2,000 doctors who responded saidthey had at least one patient who had been involved with anotherphysician.
Dr. Nanette K. Gartrell of the University of California, SanFrancisco, reported her findings in the August issue of the WesternJournal of Medicine.
"This represents a major abuse of power, and shows that somephysicians, despite 2,000 years of prohibitions regarding suchcontact, choose to place a higher premium on gratifying their ownsexual and emotional needs than on their patients' welfare," shesaid.
She also noted the discrepancy between what doctors admittedabout their own behavior and the higher prevalence of sexual contactbetween their patients and other physicians.
Surveys were sent to 10,000 doctors, Gartrell said, andresponses came from 679 family practitioners, 360 internists, 344obstetrician-gynecologists and 489 surgeons.
Ten percent of the male doctors and 4 percent of the femaledoctors acknowledged having sexual contact with a total of 332patients, Gartrell said. Almost half of the doctors who admitted tosexual contact had it with more than one patient, she added.
Dr. David Orentlicher, secretary to the American MedicalAssociation's Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs, called thefindings disturbing and said he hopes they will help to wake upphysicians who still deny there is a problem.
Nearly 90 percent of the cases involved a male physician andfemale patient; 6 percent involved a female physician and malepatient. Four percent involved homosexual male contact and 1 percentinvolved lesbian contact.
The trust, dependency and gratitude patients develop for theirdoctors make it difficult for them to decline sexual overtures fromtheir doctors, Gartrell said.
Patients who have sex with doctors feel exploited, depressed andsometimes suicidal, she added. "Tragically, most are unable to trustsubsequent physicians."
Sixty-three percent of the doctors thought thatphysician-patient sexual contact was "always harmful."
The American Medical Association considers sexual contactbetween physicians and current patients as ethical misconduct. TheHippocratic oath, which physicians take before starting theirpractice, forbids such contact.
More than half of the doctors who responded to the survey saidthe issue of sexual contact had never been addressed in theirtraining, while several of the younger doctors expressed gratitudethat the issue had been brought up in school, Gartrell noted.
Amanda Knox told The Associated Press from her jail cell Sunday that she is scared but hopeful eight days after an Italian court sentenced her to 26 years in prison for the murder of her British roommate.
"I am scared because I don't know what is going on," the 22-year-old American student said during a 10-minute visit by two Italian lawmakers, prison officials and a pair of reporters in Capanne prison on the outskirts of Perugia.
Know has been jailed for two years since she was arrested a few days after the slaying of Meredith Kercher in the house the two students shared in this Umbrian university town.
"I am waiting and always hoping," Knox said, switching from English into Italian for the delegation. "I don't understand many things, but I have to accept them, things that for me don't always seem very fair."
Sitting on her bed in the 9-square-meter cell when the visitors arrived, the Washington State woman said "I was feeling horrendous" after the Dec. 5 verdict that she was guilty of murder and sexual assault.
"The guards helped me out. They held me all night," she said.
Her Italian ex-boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, was convicted of the same charges and given a 25-year-sentence. After the verdict, he was transferred to another prison. Both insist they are innocent.
HARD CELL LISASHEA THIS HUMAN SEASON BY LOUISE DEAN NEW YORK: HARCOURT. 384 PAGES. $23.
The bloody era of sectarian violence between nationalists and Unionists known as the Troubles that marked Northern Ireland from 1969 until the late '90s comes boldly to life in Louise !lean's astonishing second novel, This Human Season. From her scrupulously fashioned prose emerges a sprawling saga, structured in alternating chapters, of two Belfast families-the Catholic Morans and tinProtestant Dunns-torn from without by their warring loyalties and from within by their own demons during the two months leading up to Christmas 1979.
The English-born Dean-her first novel, Becoming Strangers, was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize-indelibly illuminates a cityscape held hostage to its divisive history:
In East Belfast, the sides of the pavements were painted a block of red, a block of blue, a block of white. Union Jacks hung faded at windows, or struggled, tatty and flapping, from lampposts. The murals bore paintings of men masked, in combats, pointing a gun at the passer-by. There was graffiti everywhere; threats and promises. You knew where you were in Belfast by the signs; you were never in doubt as to what the loyalties were, and the markings were the vital signs of a body whose politics were personal, person by person.
Much of the story takes place within the brute confines of the infamous Maze Prison, where IRA inmates in the notorious 11 block are in the third year of their socalled dirty protest. Having refused the jail-issued uniform, the men wrap themselves in blankets and towels and make a list of demands that includes being regarded as political prisoners and not common criminals. I his campaign was the buildup to the 1981 hunger strike that culminated in the death of ten Irish Republicans (the most famous of these was twenty-sevenyear-old Bobby Sands, who was elected to Parliament before his death.) Cut wrenching scenes illustrate both the rank enmity and the bantering black humor between the prisoners and their jailers, which drive Dean's narrative to passages rich in the atmospheres and inversions of a perverted folktale: "In the next cell a boy was ... spreading shit on the wall with a small piece of sponge. Around the room were spread in brown the artefacts of the home, a fireplace, a picture above it, a pelmet over the window. The boy was adding curtains." Quips a guard, "Would you call that satin or gloss?"
One of those "on the blanket" is nineteen-year-old Sean Moran, whose provocations land him in even more cruel conditions "on the boards." Scan's family are steeped in IRA sympathies, as are most of their working-class neighbors and the priests who minister to them. Normal life consists of smuggling messages into the prison during visits, concealing guns in baby carriages, holding clandestine meetings, and keeping curtains closed, because, writes Dean, "every other house m West Belfast had someone missing from it." They are locked in a war of blood and nerves with their pro-British-rule foes.
Inside the Maze, also called Long Kesh, native Brit and former soldier John Dunn is the new hire. Dunn is a taciturn thirtynine-year-old; his girlfriend's a kindhearted woman who tolerates his moodiness and has a son fathered long ago, out of wedlock, whom he has never met. He is pegged as a loner by the other "screws" who work the H block, a rough-hewn pack of jailers with nicknames like Frig, Shandy, Bax, Jaws, and Skids. In this murderously divided universe verging on total moral collapse, these clownish, brutish men provide brilliant moments of dark comic relief-when they are not donning latex gloves to check the prisoners' body cavities for contraband or mucking out the shir- and piss-sodden cells. Outside the Maze, these same guards are marked men, ambushed and shot dead while heading home from their favorite pubs or picket! off while standing by their livingroom windows.
Also mirroring the civil and political strife scarring the city is the disharmony at large in the Moran household. Sean's feisty mother, Kathleen, begins an affair with an IRA stalwart to escape her miserable marriage to her hapless lush of a husband. She knows she is helpless to stop her younger son, Liam, from following in his older brother's footsteps-he's already sneaking out of the house to meet other thirteenyear-olds armed with homemade petrol bombs upon lethal Falls Road. Nor can she dissuade her daughter, Aine, from despising her. In one particularly powerful scene, as the story moves inexorably toward a rash of Christmastime killings, Kathleen and Aine stand before the window of a house, looking at a tall white Christmas tree bedecked with sparkling fairy lights. Kathleen begs her disconsolate daughter for an answer: "If there's one thing I could do for you, Aine, what would it be?" Aine tells her, "Love my Daddy."
Given that she was a child during the era of the Troubles that she chronicles, Dean's grasp is impressive-she evokes danger-laden funerals, the charged feel of the streets, the unrelenting tensions of prison and domestic life, the buried dreams and wild fancies, the glints of hope. If she sometimes trespasses on caricature, overplaying the stereotypes of Irish humor, religious sentiment, and self-strictness alleviated only by the loosening drink, these lapses can be forgiven. What all of Dean's characters possess, whether villainous or heroic, canny or foolish, holy or sinful, is the miraculous breath of life, animated by the writer's affection for them.
The book's final chapter takes place on New Year's Day in 1980 and is eerily lightstruck compared with events that up to now have been cast in dramatic chiaroscuro. The reader is pulled up short by the otherworldly mood of playful, idyllic repose. Perhaps it was the only way to end such a story, out of reach of Belfast if only for a moment, yet with more troubles still to come.
[Author Affiliation]
Lisa Shea received a Whiting Writer's Award for her novel Hula (Norton, 1994).
El cubano tiene el riguroso deber de grabar en un modelo patri�tico indeleble que represente el colosal esfuerzo de todos los cubanos que dentro y fuera de Cuba, interpretan los mejores esfuerzos por reivindicar los valores por los que lucharon los arquitectos de la naci�n cubana.
En el exilio, es nuestros deber actuar como resonancia de los problemas nacionales y de la lucha que afectan a los nuestros all� dentro de Cuba. En funci�n de tal principio a pesar de que no tuve acceso a ninguna informaci�n sobre el evento, trascendi� lo siguiente: el 24 de febrero pr�ximo pasado hubo de celebrarse en San Francisco, una conferencia sobre comercio con Cuba, organizado por un grupo de hombres de negocios de los EEUU. A dicha actividad asistieron Frank Calz�n y Arcibiades Hidalgo como panelistas y tambi�n Arnaldo de Armas quienes levantaron la voz all� para contestar preguntas de por qu� los d�lares de los hombres libres no deben financiar el crimen contra Cuba y los cubanos. Si todos nos pusi�ramos de acuerdo para actuar juntos contra la idea de los que tratan de camuflar la manera de ayudar a la tiran�a, cosechar�amos m�s beneficioso para la libertad de Cuba. Pero a�n tenemos un eslab�n perdido de la manera c�mo vamos a aplicar aquella ense�anza del mon�logo de Lope de Vega, cuando dijo: Fueteovejauna todos a una.
Por otra parte a estas alturas de la tenebrosa historia de Fidel Castro en Cuba, que empresarios norteamericanos se reunieron para hablar de los beneficios que representar�a hacer negocios con la tiran�a de Fidel Castro, nos parece adem�s de una gran idiotez un gran insulto y una falta de respeto a la inteligencia del cubano. Al tiempo que ignorar la lucha de los hombres y mujeres que han muerto y que languidecen en las prisiones cubanas por forjar un estado de derecho para todos.
Adem�s levantar las sanciones econ�micas a la tiran�a no va a convertir a Castro en un tirano menos sanguinario.
Hoy ya no se trata de fraguar subterr�neamente el desgaste y la destrucci�n de la tiran�a cubana. Ya no importa tanto a estas alturas de la lucha los esbirros de la Seguridad del Estado. Los elementos que luchan por la libertad han cobrado una magnitud diferente, una direcci�n y un enfoque que coloca a los luchadores por la libertad en la superficie. Esta ha sido una metamorfosis casi imperceptible tanto para la tiran�a como para el pueblo cubano. All� en a La Habana, est�n en la superficie marchando por las calles un grupo numeroso de mujeres vestidas de blanco demandando la liberaci�n de sus valientes esposos confinados en las erg�stulas de la tiran�as. �Pueblo cubano!, unirnos a ellas en solidaridad es la palabra de orden.
Tambi�n all� en La Habana, hay un grupos de valientes hombres y mujeres que no est�n escondidos en un s�tano ni llevando a cabo reuniones secretas fuera de las garras de los esbirros de la Seguridad del Estados. Por el contrario estos valientes est�n en la superficie convocando a una reuni�n para el 20 de Mayo. Esta es la fecha oportuna para demostrar: que a Cuba quien la defiende la quiere m�s. El CID, desde este espacio respalda categ�ricamente el esfuerzo de los que ha llamado a congregarse para hablar de Cuba y su libertad. Es nuestro deber darle el soporte a quienes no le temen al tigre de papel que representa Fidel Castro y su aparato represivo.
Es hora ya de que el pueblo cubano condene en las calles esas luchas ruines, cruentas y demag�gicas, llenas de odios y dramatismos hacia los EEUU y su Presidente electo por el pueblo.
Son intructuosos los esfuerzos del anciano d�spota por levantar el entusiasmo entre los suyos. Ya el tirano se le acab� el tiempo. No tiene ni la voz, ni la edad, ni el carisma, ni capacidad. Adem�s ha perdido la mente. Todos estos factores se hicieron evidente una vez m�s ante las c�maras de la televisi�n nacional, cuando en un gesto teatral trat� de atacar al Presidente de los EEUU., y ni siquiera se pudo acordarse del nombre del hombre m�s importante del mundo. En ese momento tuvo que volverse hacia algunos de sus secuaces quienes los asistieron d�ndole el nombre del presidente Gorge W. Bush, nombre que repiti� el tirano de una forma vacilante y confusa. Mr. Bush, quien es el enemigo n�mero uno de las dictaduras y por consiguiente de Castro, quien tiene muy buenas razones para odiarlo con pasi�n.
Es un hecho degradante y lleno de verg�enza para los que sostienen ese anciano demencial en el poder. Adornado s�lo con las aptitudes que lo califican para el cementerio o para un asilo de ancianos con tratamiento psiqui�trico.
Al ej�rcito cubano y los miembros del Ministerio del Interior y dem�s cuerpos armados de la rep�blica, les decimos que todos tienen la responsabilidad de preservar las ideas de Jos� Mart� y de los fundadores de la naci�n cubana.
Sin ambages afirmamos que no sentimos ning�n respeto y consideramos tambi�n responsables a quienes se cruzan de brazos y se ocultan tras la cobard�a para seguir dejando que Castro siga descuartizando a Cuba.
Article copyright El Bohemio News.
A bomb rigged to a motorcycle went off outside a market in southwestern Pakistan on Wednesday, killing four people and wounding two, police said.
The attack happened in Naseer Abad, a town about 150 kilometers (90 miles) east of Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan province, local police chief Mohammed Hussain said.
He said the wounded were taken to a hospital but provided no other details.
Such attacks are common in Baluchistan province, where nationalist groups have waged a low-level insurgency to pressure the government to get more royalties on resources _ such as natural gas _ that are extracted from their areas.
The Baluchistan unrest is separate from the Islamic militancy that Pakistan is facing along its northwestern frontier with Afghanistan.
ANN ARBOR, Mich. - The patient lay on the operating table, prepped for transplant surgery. In the air over Lake Michigan, a twin-engine plane sped his way, carrying a team of surgeons and technicians, along with a donor organ on ice.
The plane never made it, crashing into the lake's choppy waters and killing all six people aboard Monday.
Now the critically ill patient could become the accident's seventh fatality.
"It was a very sad moment in the operating room" when word was received that the plane had gone down on its way from Milwaukee, said Dr. Jeffrey Punch, chief of transplant surgery at the University of Michigan Health System hospital in Ann Arbor.
Hospital officials and organ-donation authorities would not identify the transplant patient other than to say he was a man, and would not say what type of organ he was awaiting, citing medical privacy rules. But one of the doctors killed was a cardiac surgeon, suggesting the patient was about to get a new heart or lungs.
He was put back on the waiting list for another organ and was reported to be "very critically ill." Authorities would not comment on his chances of finding another organ in time.
The Cessna 550 Citation crashed about 5 p.m., shortly after takeoff on a flight to Ann Arbor that should have taken 42 minutes. One of the pilots reported severe difficulty steering the plane because of trouble with its trim system, which controls bank and pitch, said National Transportation Safety Board investigator John Brannen.
Brannen said the pilot had signaled an emergency and was making a left turn and heading back to the Milwaukee airport when the plane went down.
The cause of the crash was under investigation. Brannen said the plane's safety and maintenance records were not immediately available.
Killed were both pilots, two University of Michigan surgeons, and two technicians whose job was to prepare the organ for transplant.
"We now know our team is lost," said Dr. Robert Kelch, chief executive of the University of Michigan Health System. "This is a tremendous blow to the institution, one from which we won't quickly or easily recover."
He added: "They died while trying to do what it is they do every day - helping someone else find hope."
As of Tuesday afternoon, the donor organ, which was packed in ice in a cooler, had not been found. Hearts can last outside the body for only four to six hours and lungs eight hours, said Dr. Tony D'Alessandro, executive director of University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinic Organ Procurement Organization.
On the morning of the crash, the Ann Arbor hospital's Survival Flight Team had received word that an organ was available at an unidentified hospital in the Milwaukee area, and immediately assembled to bring it back to Ann Arbor, officials said.
The team included two veterans, cardiac surgeon Dr. Martinus "Martin" Spoor and transplant donation specialist Richard Chenault II, who had flown dozens of such missions. Also on the team was Dr. David Ashburn, a 35-year-old physician-in-training in pediatric cardiothoracic surgery, and another transplant donation specialist, Richard LaPensee.
The team flew to Milwaukee, and the two surgeons removed the donor's organ, which was then packaged for transport. The team contacted the Ann Arbor hospital and gave the go-ahead for the surgery to begin on the transplant patient at 2:45 p.m., Punch said.
The plane took off as light rain fell with winds at 12 mph, gusting to 22 mph. At the controls were Dennis Hoyes and Bill Serra, two pilots who worked for Marlin Air Inc., the university's jet-service contractor. The company had no comment.
The plane hit the water at about 190 mph, authorities said. By midday Tuesday, only small parts of the aircraft - including pilot seats and small pieces of the cockpit - had been found, the Coast Guard said. Divers searched in water as deep as 50 feet until Tuesday afternoon when high waves forced them to pull out. The search was to resume Wednesday.
The operating room at Ann Arbor was immediately notified that the plane had gone down, and the surgeons stopped the operation more than two hours after it had started, hospital officials said.
Hospital officials would not disclose how far along the surgery was, but said that typically they do not remove the transplant recipient's old organ until they have a replacement in hand.
A recent NTSB study found that accidents involving emergency medical services flights - those carrying patients or organs for transplant - have been increasing. Between January 2002 and January 2005 there were 55 such accidents and 54 deaths. The study found several safety problems.
According to NTSB reports on its Web site, the agency has investigated 36 accidents or minor incidents involving Cessna 550 Citations since 1983. Five of the accidents involved fatalities, killing 22 pilots and passengers. None of the accident reports mention trim malfunctions.
That track record is "excellent," considering the number of hours flown, said Steve Brown, senior vice president for operations National Business Aviation Association, which represents 8,000 corporations and businesses that use airplanes.
"The Citation series is one of the most popular aircraft in the fleet of business aviation aircraft," he said. "The pilots like it. You might think of it as a user-friendly aircraft."
Spoor, 37, made about 10 air transplant flights per year, the university said.
Chenault, 44, spent 18 years coaching girls at Father Gabriel Richard High School near Ann Arbor, a coed Catholic school with 500 students in grades nine through 12. He was going to get coach-of-the-year honors in both girl's track and girl's cross country at a sports banquet Monday night, but never made it.
LaPensee, 48, enjoyed flying radio-controlled model planes. And when a spot opened for a University of Michigan life flight medical technician three years ago, he jumped at it.
Ashburn, 35, came to the university in 2005 for a cardiac surgery residency and would have begun his pediatric cardiac surgery fellowship in July, said Mary-Lynn Hodges, a family friend.
"Every day, the doctors, nurses and flight personnel of Survival Flight do heroic work in saving the lives of others, and that is how we will remember those who perished in Monday's tragedy - as selfless heroes," University of Michigan President Mary Sue Coleman said.
Each year, the Survival Flight Team flies about 150 organ donations and 1,200 patients by helicopter and jet.
Dr. Sue V. McDiarmid, the president of the United Network for Organ Sharing, which coordinates organ transplants, said a recipient who does not get an organ retains his or her spot on the list. The patient's eligibility for an organ is calculated according to a formula that is based, in part, on how sick the person is.
---
Jeff Karoub reported from Detroit. Associated Press Writers David N. Goodman in Detroit and Carrie Antlfinger in Milwaukee contributed to this report.
Ahead of playing Croatia in the Davis Cup quarterfinals this weekend, world No. 2 Novak Djokovic says his Serbia team has what it takes to reach the final.
Djokovic, coming off the Wimbledon semifinals last week, says "it's a pity" Croatia and Serbia are meeting in the quarterfinals as they're both good enough to deserve to meet in the final.
He says Serbia _ led by him and doubles specialist Nenad Zimonjic _ has better-ranking players, "but the crowd can help the host."
The quarterfinal in Split starts on Friday.
About 300 exhibitors from China spotted the flag of archrivalTaiwan at the National Hardware Show at McCormick Place andapparently saw red. They angrily shut down their display boothsTuesday to protest the presence of the flag of Taiwan, which declaredits independence from mainland China in 1949. The Chinese ignoredshow organizers' explanation that the Taiwan flag, one of 47 ondisplay, was a "decorative gesture" with no political overtones.
To neutral observers, the Chinese protest seems out of place anddownright petty. They might win admiration from political leadersback home, but they lost some valuable business deals because oftheir inappropriate mixing of business and politics.
The international relief effort for hundreds of thousands of Myanmar cyclone victims picked up speed Wednesday as India dispatched two planeloads of aid and Myanmar authorized the United Nations to send its own air shipment, officials said.
But the Myanmar government's slowness in issuing visas to aid workers appeared to remain a problem.
Aid workers on the ground have already begun distributing food and other supplies to victims of the weekend's devastating storm, which killed more than 22,000 people and left 41,000 more missing.
India sent two air force planes carrying about 8.8 U.S. tons (8 metric tons) of relief supplies, including tents and medicine, according to the Defense Ministry.
They follow two Indian navy ships that left Tuesday for Yangon, Myanmar's largest city, with similar supplies, said Navtej Sarna, the spokesman for India's External Affairs Ministry.
Indonesia, the country worst hit by the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, said Wednesday it would soon send emergency aid worth US$1 million (euro640,000). The tsunami killed more than 160,000 people in Indonesia's Aceh province.
Two military planes carrying food, medicine, blankets and 55 relief workers will leave Thursday, said Maj. Gen. Syamsul Maarif, chief of Indonesia's disaster management coordination agency.
"The tragedy has reminded the president of the December 2004 tsunami," said a spokesman for President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.
"He decided Indonesia must help Myanmar," said the spokesman, Dino Pati Djalal.
Elisabeth Byrs, Geneva spokeswoman for U.N. relief efforts, said she expected the United Nations cargo plane would go from Brindisi, Italy, to Myanmar later Wednesday, but that it is still unclear where it will land in Myanmar.
"We are working on that," Byrs said.
She said U.N. officials hoped to have U.N. experts accompany the flight, but that they were still waiting for Myanmar authorities to grant them permission.
Byrs said the U.N. flight was approved Tuesday in a meeting between U.N. and Myanmar officials in New York.
"We hope this spirit of openness will continue," Byrs said.
U.N. staff in Bangkok, Thailand, also are awaiting approval of their visas so they can go to Myanmar and assess damage.
Other countries and organizations are also mounting their own relief efforts.
The U.N.'s World Food Program said Tuesday it had reached the first victims with food aid in Yangon but that most of the estimated 1 million people left homeless by the devastating cyclone were still cut off by flooding and road damage in many coastal areas.
Chris Kaye, WFP's director for Myanmar, said additional truckloads of food would be dispatched Wednesday to Labutta township, the area hardest hit by the cyclone.
Many countries have announced donations of up to several million dollars each, and the Red Cross and other aid organizations have been organizing shipments to the country.
The national Red Cross staff and 18,000 volunteers have been handing out plastic sheets, drinking water, insecticide-treated bed nets and clothes, said Eric Porterfield, a spokesman for the international Red Cross.
Tropical Cyclone Nargis pounded the Southeast Asian country over the weekend with winds of up to 120 mph (195 kph), floods and high tidal waves.
Australia announced it will give $3 million (US$2.84 million; euro1.83 million) in aid.
China's Red Cross said it was making preparations to ensure a smooth delivery of the supplies.
"We're watching the developments in Myanmar very closely," said Fan Ling, assistant to the relief division chief at the provincial Red Cross. Yunnan province borders Myanmar.
China had pledged on Tuesday to provide US$1 million (euro646,000) in cash and relief supplies to its southern neighbor as soon as possible.
___
Associated Press writers in Asian bureaus contributed to this report.
WASHINGTON (AP) — After decades of increases, U.S. divorces are leveling off with couples now slightly more likely to reach their 10-year wedding anniversary. But the "seven-year itch" among couples persists, with nearly 1 out of 2 first marriages estimated to end in divorce.
Roughly 75 percent of those who have married since 1990 reported they had reached their 10-year anniversary. That's up about 3 percentage points for both men and women who married a decade earlier in the 1980s, when divorce rates in the U.S. had peaked, according to census figures released Wednesday.
The census report partly attributed the small declines in divorce to a recent jump in couples cohabitating as well as rising median ages before marriage as people wait longer before making long-term commitments. Increases in educational attainment and job opportunity might also be a factor.
"There's a new marriage bargain based on having two earners that seems to be working for more and more couples," said Andrew Cherlin, a sociology professor at Johns Hopkins University, citing a stronger economic basis for couples to stay together and raise a family. "Most divorces have always occurred within 10 years of marriage because most people who are unhappily married figure that out quickly."
Divorces climbed mostly sharply in the late 1960s and 1970s, amid the passage of laws that made dissolving marriages quicker and easier.
The report found that couples who broke up on average separated upon roughly seven years of marriage, a phenomenon often referred to as the "seven-year itch," before divorcing a year later. For those who remarried, they typically waited nearly four years.
Steven Martin, a family demography researcher for New York University, said there was nothing magical about the "seven-year itch," noting that it represents an average. While many separations and divorces occur around five or 10 years, he cited some recent higher-profile examples of splits occurring much later, including former vice president Al Gore and his wife Tipper, who separated after 40 years, and former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver, who separated after 25 years.
The Census Bureau, based on 1996 data, has previously projected that nearly 1 out of 2 first marriages will ultimately end in divorce — up from about 1 in 3 based on data from two decades earlier. Despite a recent leveling off of divorce, some demographers say Wednesday's census report continues to point in that direction, with 2009 numbers showing roughly 46 percent of more recently married couples failing to reach their 25th wedding anniversary.
Martin also said much of the divorce decline is occurring due to couples opting not to marry at all.
The 2009 numbers are based on the Census Bureau's Survey of Income and Program Participation, which samples 55,497 adults who have ever been married. It is one of the few government data sources that offer a comprehensive look at current and historical marital patterns in the U.S.
Among the findings:
—Among all women who have ever been married, the share of those who divorced reached as high as 41 percent among 50- to 59-year-olds. For black women, about 48 percent in that age group reported they had been divorced at least once, while rates for Hispanics and Asians were 30 percent or lower.
—The median age of first marriage last year was 28 for men and 26 for women. That's up from 23 for men and 20 for women in 1950.
—The share of women who have ever divorced is decreasing for those in the age groups of 30-34, 35-39, 40-49, and 50-59. There were slight increases for those ages 25-29 and 50-plus.
—The frequency of remarriage has not changed much: about 18 percent of men and 16 percent of women born from 1940-1944 had been married two or more times by age 40, not statistically different from those born in 1960-1964 who had remarried by age 40.
—Of currently married women under age 45 in their first marriage, about 1 in 10 are in an interracial marriage.
Chinese stocks fell Monday in thin trading, with investors staying on the sidelines as the country observes a three-day mourning period for victims of last week's earthquake.
The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.5 percent, or 19.47 points, to 3,604.76. The Shenzhen Composite Index fell 0.4 percent to 1,120.24.
"Trading incentives are not very strong today, as investors are in a low mood because of the earthquake," said Chen Huiqin at Huatai Securities.
Authorities declared a three-day national period of mourning beginning Monday. Trading on the country's two stock exchanges halted briefly Monday afternoon as the country marked the one-week anniversary of the 7.9 magnitude quake that struck central China's Sichuan province May 12, killing more than 32,000 people and leaving millions homeless.
Cement and pharmaceutical stocks rose on expectations of higher demand from quake-related reconstruction and rescue efforts. Huaxin Cement rose the daily 10 percent limit to 29.59 yuan.
But banks were lower, with a hike in the required reserve ratio due to take effect Tuesday.
Shanghai Pudong Development Bank fell 1.3 percent to 30.22 yuan. Bank of China fell 0.8 percent to 4.92 yuan.
George Clooney will be recognized for his humanitarian efforts at the Emmy Awards.
The Academy of Television Arts and Sciences will present the 49-year-old actor with its Bob Hope Humanitarian Award at the ceremony next month.
Clooney is being honored for the "Hope for Haiti" U.S. TV special, which is nominated for an Emmy award, and his efforts to raise funds for victims of Hurricane Katrina and raise awareness about genocide in Darfur.
John Shaffner, chairman and chief executive of the TV academy, said Clooney was "an obvious choice" for the award because he used the power of television to move people to act.
The Bob Hope Humanitarian Award was established in 2002. Clooney is the fourth recipient of the honor and will receive the award at the Emmy ceremony on Aug. 29.
Amaury Telemaco allowed three hits in seven innings and JimmyRollins hit a tiebreaking single as the Philadelphia Phillies beatthe host Houston Astros 3-2 Tuesday night.
Telemaco (4-0) struck out four and walked two, helping extend NLEast-leading Philadelphia's winning streak to four.
Jose Mesa, Philadelphia's third pitcher, got three outs for hisninth save in 10 chances, completing a four-hitter. Mesa struck outtwo.
Telemaco allowed one hit and retired 15 straight batters untilMoises Alou hit a one-out single in the seventh inning and RichardHidalgo followed with a homer.
The Phils also received good news on third-base coach JohnVukovich, who underwent surgery to remove part of a benign braintumor.
Doctors called the operation a success and said the 53-year-oldcoach could be back at work in two or three weeks.
Cardinals 8, Pirates 2: Andy Benes dominated for six innings andJ.D. Drew hit a three-run homer to cap a six-run first for host St.Louis.
Benes (2-2) allowed one run and two hits, lowering his ERA from8.10 to 6.89. He raised his Busch Stadium record to 25-12 and didn'tallow a hit until Jason Kendall singled to lead off the fourth.
Padres 7, Braves 1: Rickey Henderson extended his hitting streakto 12 games with a leadoff triple, and host San Diego got 11 morehits off Greg Maddux (3-3).
Kevin Jarvis and two relievers combined on a six-hitter for thePadres, who won their fifth straight and eighth in nine games.
Henderson finished 3-for-5, giving him 2,934 career hits andmoving him out of a tie with Jake Beckley and into sole possession of29th place on the all-time list. He also scored twice and stole twobases.
Rockies 12, Mets 4: Neifi Perez went 4-for-5 and matched hiscareer high with four RBI as host Colorado ended a three-game losingstreak.
Perez had two singles, doubled and tripled to raise his battingaverage to .395. He is 21-for-59 since coming off the disabled liston April 24.
Colorado starter Pedro Astacio (4-2) won for the first time inthree starts. The Mets' Desi Relaford hit two home runs.
Giants 9, Expos 1: Marvin Benard hit his first career grand slam,and J.T. Snow hit two homers for host San Francisco.
Shawn Estes (3-2) allowed six hits in eight innings as the Giantsused power from unlikely sources to win their second straight overthe Expos, who lost their sixth in a row.
Marlins 7, Dodgers 6: Derrek Lee hit a homer and drove in threeruns and Brad Penny (2-0) won his sixth straight decision dating tolast July for visiting Florida.
Telemaco, Phils win 4th in rowAmaury Telemaco allowed three hits in seven innings and JimmyRollins hit a tiebreaking single as the Philadelphia Phillies beatthe host Houston Astros 3-2 Tuesday night.
Telemaco (4-0) struck out four and walked two, helping extend NLEast-leading Philadelphia's winning streak to four.
Jose Mesa, Philadelphia's third pitcher, got three outs for hisninth save in 10 chances, completing a four-hitter. Mesa struck outtwo.
Telemaco allowed one hit and retired 15 straight batters untilMoises Alou hit a one-out single in the seventh inning and RichardHidalgo followed with a homer.
The Phils also received good news on third-base coach JohnVukovich, who underwent surgery to remove part of a benign braintumor.
Doctors called the operation a success and said the 53-year-oldcoach could be back at work in two or three weeks.
Cardinals 8, Pirates 2: Andy Benes dominated for six innings andJ.D. Drew hit a three-run homer to cap a six-run first for host St.Louis.
Benes (2-2) allowed one run and two hits, lowering his ERA from8.10 to 6.89. He raised his Busch Stadium record to 25-12 and didn'tallow a hit until Jason Kendall singled to lead off the fourth.
Padres 7, Braves 1: Rickey Henderson extended his hitting streakto 12 games with a leadoff triple, and host San Diego got 11 morehits off Greg Maddux (3-3).
Kevin Jarvis and two relievers combined on a six-hitter for thePadres, who won their fifth straight and eighth in nine games.
Henderson finished 3-for-5, giving him 2,934 career hits andmoving him out of a tie with Jake Beckley and into sole possession of29th place on the all-time list. He also scored twice and stole twobases.
Rockies 12, Mets 4: Neifi Perez went 4-for-5 and matched hiscareer high with four RBI as host Colorado ended a three-game losingstreak.
Perez had two singles, doubled and tripled to raise his battingaverage to .395. He is 21-for-59 since coming off the disabled liston April 24.
Colorado starter Pedro Astacio (4-2) won for the first time inthree starts. The Mets' Desi Relaford hit two home runs.
Giants 9, Expos 1: Marvin Benard hit his first career grand slam,and J.T. Snow hit two homers for host San Francisco.
Shawn Estes (3-2) allowed six hits in eight innings as the Giantsused power from unlikely sources to win their second straight overthe Expos, who lost their sixth in a row.
Marlins 7, Dodgers 6: Derrek Lee hit a homer and drove in threeruns and Brad Penny (2-0) won his sixth straight decision dating tolast July for visiting Florida.
Telemaco, Phils win 4th in rowAmaury Telemaco allowed three hits in seven innings and JimmyRollins hit a tiebreaking single as the Philadelphia Phillies beatthe host Houston Astros 3-2 Tuesday night.
Telemaco (4-0) struck out four and walked two, helping extend NLEast-leading Philadelphia's winning streak to four.
Jose Mesa, Philadelphia's third pitcher, got three outs for hisninth save in 10 chances, completing a four-hitter. Mesa struck outtwo.
Telemaco allowed one hit and retired 15 straight batters untilMoises Alou hit a one-out single in the seventh inning and RichardHidalgo followed with a homer.
The Phils also received good news on third-base coach JohnVukovich, who underwent surgery to remove part of a benign braintumor.
Doctors called the operation a success and said the 53-year-oldcoach could be back at work in two or three weeks.
Cardinals 8, Pirates 2: Andy Benes dominated for six innings andJ.D. Drew hit a three-run homer to cap a six-run first for host St.Louis.
Benes (2-2) allowed one run and two hits, lowering his ERA from8.10 to 6.89. He raised his Busch Stadium record to 25-12 and didn'tallow a hit until Jason Kendall singled to lead off the fourth.
Padres 7, Braves 1: Rickey Henderson extended his hitting streakto 12 games with a leadoff triple, and host San Diego got 11 morehits off Greg Maddux (3-3).
Kevin Jarvis and two relievers combined on a six-hitter for thePadres, who won their fifth straight and eighth in nine games.
Henderson finished 3-for-5, giving him 2,934 career hits andmoving him out of a tie with Jake Beckley and into sole possession of29th place on the all-time list. He also scored twice and stole twobases.
Rockies 12, Mets 4: Neifi Perez went 4-for-5 and matched hiscareer high with four RBI as host Colorado ended a three-game losingstreak.
Perez had two singles, doubled and tripled to raise his battingaverage to .395. He is 21-for-59 since coming off the disabled liston April 24.
Colorado starter Pedro Astacio (4-2) won for the first time inthree starts. The Mets' Desi Relaford hit two home runs.
Giants 9, Expos 1: Marvin Benard hit his first career grand slam,and J.T. Snow hit two homers for host San Francisco.
Shawn Estes (3-2) allowed six hits in eight innings as the Giantsused power from unlikely sources to win their second straight overthe Expos, who lost their sixth in a row.
Marlins 7, Dodgers 6: Derrek Lee hit a homer and drove in threeruns and Brad Penny (2-0) won his sixth straight decision dating tolast July for visiting Florida.
Bobby Labonte became the latest driver to take himself off the free-agent market, agreeing to a contract extension with Petty Enterprises, a person familiar with the negotiations told The Associated Press.
The former Cup Series champion had been considering an extension since late last year and decided this week to continue driving the famed No. 43 Dodge.
The person spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity Saturday because portions of the deal, including sponsorship, are still being completed.
Labonte, who starts 39th in Saturday night's race at Richmond International Raceway, was not immediately available for comment.
David Hovis, a …
300
Director: Zack Snyder
Cast: Gerard Butler, Lena Headey, David Wenham, Dominic West, Vincent Regan
Running time: 115 minutes
Classification: 16 SV
Rating: HHHII
It is blood-drenched and the body count is excessive; the deaths are macabrely spectacular and the visuals are out of this world.
If you don’t like swords and sandals then watch it to gawk at the beautiful bodies or the seamless incorporation of cutting-edge visual technology. Either way, this film is a marvel to behold.
Based on the Battle of Thermopylae in 480BC where 300 Spartans under the leadership of their King Leonidas (Gerard …
Blood fest an artistic triumph.(Entertainment)300
Director: Zack Snyder
Cast: Gerard Butler, Lena Headey, David Wenham, Dominic West, Vincent Regan
Running time: 115 minutes
Classification: 16 SV
Rating: HHHII
It is blood-drenched and the body count is excessive; the deaths are macabrely spectacular and the visuals are out of this world.
If you don’t like swords and sandals then watch it to gawk at the beautiful bodies or the seamless incorporation of cutting-edge visual technology. Either way, this film is a marvel to behold.
Based on the Battle of Thermopylae in 480BC where 300 Spartans under the leadership of their King Leonidas (Gerard …
A primetime fashion show touting rail-thin models clad in Victoria's Secret underwear was cut from the line-up last week in Boise and several other cities around the country.
A small number of CBS affiliates decided not to air the show in prime-time, including two in Idaho: KBCI-TV of Boise and KIDK-TV of Idaho Falls, both owned by Fisher Broadcasting, Inc.
"I don't believe it meets the standards of our communities in the time period offered," said KBCI general Manager Jeff Anderson. "It's a family viewing hour."
KBCI received hundreds of e-mails supporting and decrying the station's decision to delay airing the program from 8 p.m. Wednesday to 12:35 a.m. …
The telephone numbers of the N. C. Small Business and Technology Development Center headquarters and Research Triangle Park offices have been …
Byline: Carol Rosenberg United Press International
GAZA CITY, Israeli-occupied Gaza Strip - Troops cornered without tear gas or rubber bullets in a Gaza slum Sunday opened fire with live ammunition on stone-throwing youths and killed a Palestinian man, the army said.
At least 72 Arabs were injured in clashes throughout the day, a U.N. relief official said.
An elderly Palestinian also died of bullet wounds received three weeks ago, bringing the toll to 30 reported killed by army gunfire in the unrest that has rocked the occupied territories since Dec. 9.
Arab reports Sunday said that nine people, including an 8-year-old boy, were wounded and scores of others were injured in at least a half-dozen clashes, the Associated Press reported.
The Arab-run Palestine Press Service said a 35-year-old pregnant woman, identified as Wigdan Fari, had a miscarriage and died at a Khan Yunis hospital Sunday after being overcome by tear gas fired into her house by Israeli soldiers, AP reported. Hospital officials …
Byline: Tony Horowitz Wall Street Journal
A visit to the hideout of Abul Abbas, one of the world's most wanted men, begins with a rubber-burning drive down the back streets of the Iraqi capital.
The driver loops twice past an anonymous house in an anonymous neighborhood, honking each time so guards can check that the Mercedes isn't being tailed. On the third pass, the car veers into the driveway. Stern young men with submachine guns lurk in the bushes. At the door of the one-story villa, a guard frisks a visiting reporter and tests his tape recorder - with the machine's microphone pointed at the journalist's neck.
Abbas, leader of the Palestine Liberation Front, waits in an office decorated with photos of his commandos setting off in speedboats to strike Israel. "I am sorry for the welcome," he says, gesturing at guards posted by his window. "This is my life."
Abbas' life, as it unfolds in a three-hour interview over tea, Turkish coffee and two packs of Marlboro cigarettes, is the chilling tale of the making of a terrorist. It begins in a Palestinian refugee camp in Syria and leads to this Baghdad lair, where Abbas plotted the 1985 Achille Lauro hijacking and this year's attack on a Tel Aviv beach, which ended America's dialogue with the Palestine Liberation Organization.
Now, with his Iraqi patron, Saddam Hussein, under siege by U.S. forces, Abbas thinks the time may soon be ripe for renewed commando warfare.
"We see this as the battle for Palestine," he says of the Persian Gulf conflict. "Winning it will get us closer to …
Lebanon's top Shiite Muslim cleric issued a religious edict Monday banning attacks on public utilities in Iraq, mainly the oil industry, urging Iraqis to solve their problems through dialogue.
Iraqi-born Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah, who enjoys some influence among Iraq's Shiites, said in a statement that Iraqis should work for stability in their country otherwise they will be helping the "occupation ... that wants to dominate Iraqis and stay longer in Iraq in order to serve its dangerous project in the region."
Fadlallah's comments came after radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr ordered his Shiite militiamen off the streets after days of …
Said Diana, "You've never seen a temper until you see Mike losethe TV (remote control)."
Said Perry, "When I first came in 1985, coach used to holler andyell. Eight years later, he still hollers and yells. It's noletdown (to the team). He's just coaching. He doesn't put you down.He's telling you what to do."
Diana also discussed her husband's future with the Bears.
"As long as I've known Mike, he's always wanted to coach theBears," she …
A MAN will appear at Banbury Magistrates' Court next month accused of sexually assaulting another man. The 23-year-old Banbury man has been charged with sexual assault and knowingly/recklessly …
Top marketing executives at General Motors, Toyota, Chrysler, Honda and Hyundai will discuss their companies' changing media choices at this year's Automotive News Marketing Seminar, May 28 in Los Angeles.
Seminar speakers include:
* Dick Colliver, American Honda Motor Co. executive vice president.
* Joel Ewanick, Hyundai Motor America marketing vice president.
* Mark LaNeve, vice president, North American sales, service and marketing for General Motors.
* Deborah Meyer, Chrysler LLC chief marketing officer.
* Randy Pflughaupt, Toyota Division group vice president of marketing.
The speakers will …
Byline: LIZ ALOI Albany
School started this month for most children in Albany County. Many parents can rest easy, knowing that the nutritional needs of their children are taken care of through the School Breakfast and School Lunch Program.
However, for parents whose children are not yet school age and are enrolled in child care or are otherwise involved in after-school programs, there are still ways to ensure that your child receives wholesome meals each day.
Recognizing that both children …
BRUNSWICK
(BRITTONKILL)
SCHOOL BOARD
Oct. 19
Approved the addition of five curriculum coordinators. The coordinators would be peer-recommended teachers who would head curriculum committees responsible for developing and evaluating educational programs districtwide. The committees would be divided into five general subject groups: math, English, social studies, science and the arts.
Authorized spending $5,000 to supplement money already raised to pay for the Nature's Classroom program. The program sends fifth-graders on a five-day trip to learn about science and team building in an outdoor environment. Students have found it …
Austria's far-right Freedom Party is coming under fire for inflammatory newspaper campaign ads focused on Turkey and Israel ahead of next month's European elections.
Critics from across the political spectrum _ including the chancellor _ say the ads are a crass attempt to shore up anti-Muslim and anti-Semitic sentiment.
The ads, the first of which appeared in the mass-circulation Kronen Zeitung, stress that the Freedom Party would veto EU accession of both Turkey and Israel to avoid "getting sucked into the bloody Middle East crisis."
The latest ad, which appeared Thursday in the tabloid Oesterreich, even features a small photo of …
Grant Klassen is MC Canada's new webmaster. Klassen, who began work on September 4, has had experience as a web developer, digital photographer and multi-media producer. He has served on the board of Faith and Life Communications for the Conference of Mennonites in Manitoba.
Klassen will work two days per week. He succeeds Daniel Rempel who is returning to university to study law.
MC …
Del Laboratories Inc. has launched a host of nail and lip care products. In the nail care arena Del has introduced PILLOW TALK, a line of nine new shades of its SALLY HANSEN TEFLON TUFF nail color; PRIMA PRIMA BALLERINA, nine shades of SALLY HANSEN HARD AS NAILS; TECHNO CHIC, a collection of reflective frost enamels; and FUN FAVOR BUCKETS, merchandising buckets of files, nail boards and nail brushes that are designed …
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
Bellingham Realtor Mark Brown of Windermere Real Estate Whatcom attended the National Association of Realtors 2007 Leadership Summit in Chicago in August. Brown is the incoming 2008 president of the Whatcom County Association of Realtors.
At the summit, Brown attended workshops geared toward identifying leadership roles and …
Byline: GENE AUSTIN Knight-Ridder
Q: Our house is built on a concrete slab, which gets cold in winter. Is there any way to insulate the floor so it is warmer?
A: The simplest way to insulate a concrete-slab floor is to install insulating panels over the concrete, then add carpet pad and carpet over the panels.
An insulating panel that works well in this situation is Comfort Base, a fiberboard product made by Homasote Co. The panels will not only make the floor considerably warmer, but will add resilience and make it more comfortable to walk on. Comfort Base, which is made from recycled newspapers, is half-inch thick and is sold in panels measuring two feet by …
The European Commission said Monday it may revise copyright law to make it easier for companies like Google Inc. to scan printed books and distribute digital copies over the Internet.
Such changes would likely include ways to more easily compensate authors and publishers, possibly through a statutory license in which a company would automatically get rights to scanning and would pay royalties to a collective pool. Money from that pool would then get distributed to copyright holders.
Under Europe's current patchwork of copyright laws, rights are now managed separately in each of the European Union's 27 nations, making it difficult to seek permission to …
