Village 1/12 radio control race car club

ANY persons interested in helping form the above indoor club isinvited to attend a meeting …

Military: Errors Made in Tillman's Death

WASHINGTON - Nine high-ranking Army officers, including four generals, made critical errors in reporting the friendly fire death of Army Ranger Pat Tillman in Afghanistan, but there was no criminal wrongdoing in the shooting of the former NFL player, the military concluded Monday.

In releasing a pair of reports on the 2004 killing, however, defense officials did not rule out that criminal violations may have been committed by officers who provided misleading information as the military investigated the killing. While saying they believed there was no orchestrated cover-up, they left the decision on whether crimes occurred to the Army.

Army and Defense Department …

England reaches 270-7 in 1st ODI against Windies

Paul Collingwood and Owais Shah hit half centuries Friday to take England to 270-7 in the first one-day international against the West Indies.

Collingwood struck six fours to top-score with 69 off 77 balls, while Shah compiled 62 off 86 balls with five boundaries at Providence Stadium. The pair anchored the visitors' innings in a fourth-wicket stand of 98 off 113 balls.

Opener Ravi Bopara hit 43 while Matt Prior helped boost the lower order with an unbeaten 26 off 21 balls.

Medium pacer Kieron Pollard took 2-46 and Dwayne Bravo 2-65 to lead the home team's bowling on a slow pitch.

England captain Andrew Strauss won the toss and batted …

Chinatown `officials' nabbed

Federal agents swept across Chinatown today to arrest some of 29people indicted on charges of using Chinese merchants associations inChicago, New York and Houston as a front for a multimillion-dollargambling operation.

The indictments include racketeering charges against theNational On Leong Chinese Merchants Association, headquartered in NewYork, as well as its Chicago, Houston and New York chapters.

Locally, the case marks the first time Chicago attorney RobertCooley has been mentioned in any court document as an unindictedco-conspirator. Cooley also has been working as an undercovergovernment operative in a massive investigation of the 1st Ward,which …

Information session turns into angry harangue

Ailsa Craig, Ont.

About thirty people gathered at Nairn Mennonite Church last month to hear former MC Canada staffer Sakoieta' Widrick speak about ways Mennonites can build relationships with their aboriginal neighbours. At least that is what they expected to hear.

Instead, they were treated to one angry comment after another from Widrick about MC Canada, Mennonite Central Committee Ontario, Mennonite pastors (including four in the audience), and white people's ignorance in general. Widrick seemed loath to answer the question in the title of the event sponsored by the Nairn, Zurich and Brussels congregations. Even direct questions about how to go about building neighbourly …

Hostages Held in Venezuelan Bank Seige

Hostages inside a bank waved signs in the windows with desperate pleas for help and used cell phones to call their relatives Tuesday as the standoff languished into a second day.

The gunmen released a female bank employee, the seventh captive to come out of the bank since the crisis began Monday morning with a botched robbery.

A man identified as one of the gunmen said they planned to release at least one more, but later an apparent gunshot rang out _ police said from inside the bank _ breaking a window and sending reporters and police scattering behind cars.

During the night, the gunmen had accepted a package with diapers and a bottle for a …

Not all players comped equally

Whether comps come in the form of meals, hotel stays, cash back, free play or anything else, players who are the most valuable to the casino have always been given the most incentive to return.

Along with wagering totals, the house edge is taken into account. Given equal bets, a roulette player is worth more to the casino than a blackjack player, and those who make the really bad bets at craps are worth more than either.

So it goes on electronic games, and that brings me to a question from a reader, who asked via e-mail, "Can you tell me why they now penalize video poker players by awarding us less points than slot players?"

Video poker players do get fewer points …

Drawing a line

FAMILY TIES

The decisions we make as parents have long-term implications. This obvious reality made itself even more clear to me one night recently when we hosted our young adult son and several of his friends. The topic under discussion was wrestling, the made-for-arenaover-the-top-kind, that drives fans to squeal and non-fans to ridicule or bemusement.

One young man gleefully defended such wrestling as playful entertainment, a farce-like re-enactment of the big themes of life: good and evil; struggle, defeat and victory; sex and all its drama. He acknowledged that his parents did not share his passion. Our son agreed with him, to my surprise, saying, "My parents wouldn't …

Omaha's Qwest Center undergoes storm repairs

Hundreds of swimmers resumed practice for the U.S. Olympic trials at the Qwest Center's two pools Saturday, while repairs were made to the arena after damage by a severe storm a day earlier.

Powerful winds tore siding off the front side of the building, and heavy rain overloaded the arena's main drains. A 12-inch pipe in one section was blown out, causing water to cascade down steps in the seating area and onto the pool deck.

"We're not pretty, but we're functioning," said Roger Dixon, president and chief executive officer of the 7-year-old arena. "We're beat up a little bit. We're very lucky we had no injuries."

About 600 …

'Lucky' Guy: Josh Hartnett has it good -- he's starring with big name actors and dating one of Hollywood's hottest women

You can call him an actor on the move. Minnesota hunk JoshHartnett was jogging in New York's Central Park the other day when agaggle of tabloid press picked up his trail.

"I was really into my run, but I

noticed all these photographers who started to run after me. So, Ikept running and making fast turns and going the other way. It's wasrunning and turning, running and turning.

"I think some of those photographers nearly passed out," he says."It was one of the longest runs of my life, too. I was even late toan interview."

Hartnett is on the go in other ways. He is busy romancing A-listbabe Scarlett Johansson and stars in the twisty, turny "Lucky …

Against All Odds: The Struggle for Racial Integration in Religious Organizations

Against All Odds: The Struggle for Racial Integration in Religious Organizations by Brad Christerson, Korie L. Edwards and Michael O. Emerson New York University Press, December 2004 $55, ISBN 0-814-72223-7

Statistics show less than eight percent of all Christian congregations in the United States are racially integrated to any significant degree. In Against All Odds, the authors use six case studies to examine the factors that perpetuate segregation in churches. Notwithstanding doctrines of love and brotherhood that dominate Christian ideology, the authors assert that conflict persists because cultural and racial identities drive biblical interpretation, bureaucratic structure, …

Doctor: 1,500 pills don't prove Smith was addicted

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A pain-management doctor testified Wednesday that Anna Nicole Smith was not a drug addict, rebuffing a prosecutor who suggested the model's prescriptions for 1,500 pills in a single month amounted to an addiction.

"It speaks to potential danger and risk to the patient, but it doesn't speak to addiction," Dr. Perry G. Fine told jurors in the drug conspiracy trial.

Fine, who testified as a defense witness, said there might be a toxicity risk if Smith took all the drugs but added that her medical records showed no indication of actual harm.

The definition of an addict is central to the case against Dr. Sandeep Kapoor, Dr. Khristine Eroshevich and Howard …

AN AP ARTS REVIEW: The Wooster Group `Hamlet' honors another `Hamlet'

It's not only the ghost of Hamlet's father that stalks the Wooster Group's idiosyncratic, often labored examination of Shakespeare's melancholy Danish prince.

Hovering against the back wall of the Wooster production of "Hamlet," which is on view at the Public Theater, is a grainy film version of the celebrated 1964 Broadway revival that starred Richard Burton.

The movie unspools spasmodically as the Wooster version, directed by Elizabeth LeCompete, plays out in front of it. Admittedly, there is a certain fascination in watching the two productions unfold _ with the use of jump cuts and fast-forwarding _ at approximately the same time. Sort of like synchronized swimming but without the water.

Yet the eye is inevitably drawn more to the minimalist, black-and-white movie featuring not only Burton, but Hume Cronyn as Polonius, Alfred Drake as Claudius, Eileen Herlie as Gertrude and Linda Marsh as Ophelia. And check out a youthful John Cullum as Laertes. They are all eminently watchable.

Which brings us to LeCompete's crew, dominated by Scott Shepherd as an aggressive, pro-active Hamlet. Shepherd, a blond, sturdy actor, is an energetic performer, and he propels the on-stage production forward. His voice is strong and he gives the play's language its due, which can't said of some of the other actors in the Wooster Group, a collective of enterprising theater artists.

But then LeCompete's celebration is more of a visual homage, a high-tech honoring of the low-tech past. In contrast to the relatively plain, straightforward Burton version, the Wooster production is awash in technology _ television screens, overamplified sound, rock music and an eclectic array of costumes.

Of the other performers, Kate Valk does double duty as Hamlet's mother, Gertrude, and as his beloved Ophelia. Ari Fliakos works even harder as Claudius, Marcellus, the ghost and the gravedigger. One wonders why Bill Raymond is left with only Polonius. Unfortunately, the acting style is more declamatory than illuminating.

And once you see what LeCompete and company are up to, the novelty of the production quickly wears thin, particularly since the evening lasts nearly three hours.

But then there are those cinematic flickerings of Burton, dressed all in black and emoting like crazy. Makes you wish you had been a member of the audience at Broadway's Lunt-Fontanne Theatre 43 years ago and seen the actor's Hamlet in person. Now that would have been a revelation.

UN urged to help trace Sri Lankan journalist

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — The wife of a Sri Lankan journalist believed to have been abducted a year ago has urged the United Nations to help trace him, saying she believed the government was complicit in the crime.

Prageeth Ekneligoda was critical of the government's conduct during its civil war with the Tamil Tiger rebels, who fought for 25 years for an independent homeland.

Prageeth's wife, Sandya, handed a letter to the world body's office in Colombo on Monday that accused the government of having no interest in finding her husband.

Police spokesman Prishantha Jayakody rejected the allegation.

Sandya says in her letter that Prageeth had been outspoken about alleged use of chemical weapons in the civil war and was gathering evidence on the subject.

A Flesh-and-Blood Tale of Princess Di's Trials

In his international best-seller, Diana: Her True Story, AndrewMorton exposes Princess Diana's bouts with bulimia, her allegedsuicide attempts and Prince Charles' lack of affection. Yet Mortoninsists it's not a tell-all.

"I have quite a lot of material I had to keep out for legal andeditorial reasons," Morton said. "Besides, people can only bear somuch reality."

When Morton's book was published in 1992, it was considered soexplosive that the British edition was printed in Finland to maintainsecrecy. Even Martin Poll, executive producer of this weekend'smini-series on NBC, "Diana: Her True Story," was not allowed to readMorton's book beforehand. By then, he already had agreed to payhandsomely for the movie rights.

Now that the film has finally come to American television (8 to10 p.m. Sunday and Monday on WMAQ-Channel 5), it may not seem soexplosive. There are no shocking revelations, no love tapes, nothingyou haven't already read in People magazine.

It's almost a dignified account of the ill-fated marriage,starring David Threlfall and Serena Scott Thomas and told fromDiana's point of view. It is apparently an account that pleasedDiana.

"She has not spoken to me personally about it, but if she had made comments, I'd keep them private," Morton said. "But I do knowthat she's very happy to educate people about bulimia. She prefersto be seen not as this perfect role model, but as a flesh-and-bloodindividual."

Morton, who broke the story of the royal couple's separation,has no qualms about revealing intimate details of Charles and Diana'scourtship, marriage and current arrangement. And he has littlepatience with other journalists' moralizing about the violation ofprivacy at Buckingham Palace.

"These people are without question public figures," Morton said."The marriage was on television, the separation announcement was readin the House of Commons.

"By definition, reporting is an intrusion into privacy, butususally that is discussed only as an intrusion into the privacy ofthe rich, the privileged, the powerful.

"You rarely hear any agonizing about the television cameras inSomalia, showing these people when they're sick, dying, in intimatemoments."

Florida senator denies embellishing family history

MIAMI (AP) — In Florida, where Cuba and Fidel Castro can be highly combustible political issues, Republican Sen. Marco Rubio is defending himself against allegations he embellished his family's story in saying his parents left the island after Castro came to power.

So far, prominent members of the Cuban American community are standing by him, including the head of one of Miami's oldest and most respected exile groups, who said Friday that he is willing to give the rising GOP star and tea-party favorite a pass.

The 40-year-old freshman senator has always publicly identified with the exile community and has a strong following within it. In a campaign ad last year, he said: "As the son of exiles, I understand what it means to lose the gift of freedom." Rubio's biography on his Senate website previously said he was "born in Miami to Cuban-born parents who come to America following Fidel Castro's takeover." It has been changed to say Rubio "was born in Miami in 1971 to Cuban exiles who first arrived in the United States in 1956."

But The Washington Post reported that Rubio's parents actually left Cuba in 1956, nearly three years before Castro seized power in a revolution against dictator Fulgencia Batista. Rubio's father was a store security guard when he and his wife left, according to Rubio's staff, and came to the U.S. for economic reasons.

Rubio responded to the story with a statement saying his parents had tried to return to Cuba in March 1961 but quickly left because they did not want to live under communism.

"After arriving in the United States, they had always hoped to one day return to Cuba if things improved and traveled there several times," he said. "In 1961, my mother and older siblings did in fact return to Cuba while my father stayed behind wrapping up the family's matters in the U.S. After just a few weeks living there, she fully realized the true nature of the direction Castro was taking Cuba and returned to the United States one month later, never to return."

In addition, Rubio has said publicly on previous occasions that his parents left Cuba before the revolution.

Rubio's staff said it would change his Senate website.

The issue is magnified because of the formidable political clout of the Cuban exile community in Florida and the fierce passions in Miami that still surround Castro and the communist island, and because Rubio is often mentioned as a potential vice presidential pick. Republican presidential candidates Mitt Romney, Michele Bachmann and Newt Gingrich have said he would make a great running mate.

Democrats are trying to make an issue of it, saying it calls into question Rubio's character. The Florida Democratic Party accused Rubio of "self-serving deception," and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee said Rubio has a credibility problem.

"The latest bombshell confirms that Rubio seriously struggles to tell the truth and can't be trusted," said DSCC spokesman Matt Canter.

But Sean Spicer, a spokesman for the GOP National Committee, said the attacks will only strengthen Rubio by causing Republicans to come to his defense. The conservative was elected in 2010 after an upset over the GOP establishment's choice, Gov. Charlie Crist.

"There's no question he has an amazing life story. His family came here to pursue a better life, and that is all accurate. There's folks out there who have seen a great success story and are plotting to figure out how to take him down," Spicer said.

The head of the Miami-based Cuban American National Foundation, Pepe Hernandez, himself an exile and longtime opponent of Castro, said Rubio's parents' initial departure date was unimportant.

"There were a number of people who came here during the Batista regime because they were against Batista somehow," he said. "Then they returned to Cuba when Castro came in because they thought now things were going to change, and then after some time they realized this was not going to happen."

"Maybe their case is not exactly the same. They really came here as immigrants, but the second time the reason was that they couldn't live in Cuba under those circumstances. I don't see any difference between his parents and myself and everyone else who came here."

Former Sen. Mel Martinez, R-Fla., who left Cuba as a teenager after the revolution, said the Post story showed "a gross lack of understanding about the Cuban exile experience. The fact is that they would not have left Cuba permanently if not for extreme fear of persecution and in search of freedom, like so many of us did."

Fernand Amandi, a pollster whose company specializes in Hispanic public opinion and works more often with Democrats than Republicans, said the episode alone might not be that damaging, but it could invite further scrutiny of Rubio's record.

"It's a chink in his armor of what was somebody who up to this point had almost uniformly positive and favorable coverage," he said.

___

Brendan Farrington reported from Tallahassee, Fla.

Farrington can be followed on Twitter at http://twitter.com/bsfarrington

Nation & world

Agency says swine

flu deaths at 1,154

GENEVA - The World Health Organization said Tuesday that 1,154swine flu victims have died since the virus emerged in April.

WHO said that includes 338 deaths reported in the week leading upto last Friday.

More than 300 of the new deaths were in the Americas, bringingthe death toll in that region to 1,008 since the virus first emergedin Mexico and the United States, and developed into the globalepidemic.

WHO also said there is no evidence that the new H1N1 virus ismutating into a more dangerous form.

Fishermen mourn

passing of carp

LONDON - Britain's fishing community is mourning the death ofBenson, the 64-pound carp.

Fans of the 25-year-old Benson would travel for miles to theBluebell Lakes complex in Cambridgeshire for a chance to have theirpicture taken with weighty monster.

She was voted Britain's favorite carp in 2005 by the readers ofAngler's Mail because of her sheer size and quirky looks.

Tony Bridgefoot, the owner of the Bluebell Lakes, was quoted inThe Times of London as saying the fishing community has been rockedby Benson's death.

Baby born outside

N.Y. firehouse

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Firefighters in an upstate New York citydidn't have to go far to help a woman deliver her baby.

When Cora Burns of Saratoga Springs went into labor Mondaymorning, the plan was for her neighbor to drive her to give birth ata hospital in another city 20 miles away. But the baby was in a bighurry, and after calling for help, the pair drove to meet anambulance at a Saratoga firehouse.

They pulled into the firehouse driveway, and firefighters rushedout to help. Two minutes later, Burns gave birth to her fourth sonin the car. Baby Grahm, who weighed 7 pounds, 4 ounces, and hismother were then taken by ambulance to a nearby hospital, where theywere doing well.

Pricey wine stolen,

returned to store

HOPKINTON, Mass. - A $20,000 bottle of wine stolen from a liquorstore has been returned unopened.

The bottle of 1945 Mouton Rothschild plus three other bottles ofwine valued at $300 to $875 were stolen from Hopkinton Wine &Spirits last week.

Store security video had been shown on local televisionnewscasts, and Boston police received a call Sunday from someone whorecognized the suspect in the video.

The caller contacted the suspect, got the wine and turned it into Boston police. They in turn contacted Hopkinton police, whoreturned the wine to the store owner.

YMCA to offer

rooms to students

GREENSBURG, Pa. - A YMCA in western Pennsylvania is hoping tofill 20 vacant residential rooms with students from nearby colleges.

The Greensburg YMCA will begin housing college students inJanuary. The city about 30 miles east of Pittsburgh is home to SetonHill University, a private Catholic school with about 2,000students, and the Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine, whichopened last month with more than 100 students.

The student rooms became available when a youth shelter thatoccupied the YMCA building's third and fourth floors closedrecently.

compiled from wire reports

Students will be able to use the YMCA's health and fitnessequipment as an incentive to live there.

The YMCA stopped renting rooms to men in the 1960s.

Woman says gift

box held remains

CUYAHOGA FALLS, Ohio - An Ohio woman says she found what appearedto be cremated remains inside a packaged keepsake box she receivedfor her birthday.

Thirty-three-year-old Erin Lemasters of Cuyahoga Falls says theoval box, 5 inches long, held a plastic bag of ashes and bonefragments.

She got the gift Sunday from her mother, who bought it at aCarlton Cards store in nearby Akron. The keepsake box was packed infoam and bubble wrap inside cardboard packaging with "Jen 8 oz."written in ink on the outside.

The women say the store told they could return the item for arefund, but they're holding off in hopes the owner of the ashes willcome forward.

A message for comment was left Tuesday with Schurman Fine Papers,the owner of Carlton Cards stores.

COMPILED FROM WIRE REPORTS

Instructions for American Servicemen in Australia, 1942

Briefly Noted Instructions for American Servicemen in Australia, 1942. The University of Chicago Press. 64 pages; black and white illustrations; $9.99.

During World War II more than one million U.S. soldiers were deployed to Australia, few of whom were familiar with that nation. Luckily, the U.S. Army's Special Service Division prepared a pocket guide to acclimate troops, with such handy tips as "Australians eat and drink too," and "the Australian has few equals in the world at swearing." Pressing concerns were addressed to relieve anxieties: "Housewives 'down under' are supposed to make coffee with a pinch of salt and a dash of mustard, but that's probably just another Axis propaganda story."

This vintage guide has been reproduced, including charts and illustrations. As the handbook touches briefly on geography, history and culture, it emphasizes similarities between Americans and Australians. To promote unity, the guide advises that if one encounters a cultural inconvenience, "There's no use beefing about it-it's their country." This attempt to foster camaraderie was essential for a successful defense of the country if Japan attacked. A quick read, this pocket guide provides an amusing and interesting glimpse of World War II-era Australia and Australian-American relations.

New home sales second slowest on record in August, unchanged from a month earlier

WASHINGTON (AP) — New home sales second slowest on record in August, unchanged from a month earlier.

Age doesn't matter if you're Masters champion

AUGUSTA, Ga. Sam Snead's eyes sparkled as he stood under the giantoak tree in front of Augusta National's clubhouse, relivingeverything from his ceremonial first drive to how he told PresidentEisenhower to stick his rear end out when he played years ago.

A few feet away, an aging trio of former champions trudged downthe first fairway Thursday, more interested in just being able tofinish than worried about what they would shoot.

Doug Ford, looking all of 78, didn't make it far. He packed awayhis clubs after spraying it weakly off the tee and making doublebogey on the benign opening hole.

For Ford, it was a record 49th Masters appearance, one of thebenefits of his 1957 win. He got $5,000 and became the subject ofMasters News Bulletin No. 11, which solemnly announced his officialwithdrawal.

"Bad hip," he told playing partner Billy Casper before leaving.

The portly Casper fared even worse, making a quadruple-bogey-8 onthe first hole. But he and Charles Coody shuffled on anyway,virtually ignored by the crowds that had come to see the likes ofTiger Woods, Sergio Garcia and Phil Mickelson.

"These are the old guys," one fan said to another as Casper walkedby. "That's the guy who used to eat the buffalo meat."

Casper would need a back-nine rally to break 90, and he made a 10-footer on 18 for 87.

"Carpal tunnel," said Casper, who turns 70 this summer. "I justdon't have the power in my right hand I did before. Plus, my back wasgiving me problems."

Talk of physical ailments was almost as common as discussion ofthe fast greens among players in the Masters, where a contingent offormer champions plays on and on and on.

Though they have no chance of winning-and little of even makingthe cut-former champions such as Casper, Ford, and 69-year-old GayBrewer use their winner's exemption to return each year in an annualspring rite.

"All of us still enjoy playing the course," Casper said. "It'sjust so beautiful out here."

The 93-player field, already the smallest by far of any major,shrinks even more with the departure of players who can draw SocialSecurity and Masters' paychecks at the same time.

Not that anyone would dare criticize the green jackets who run theMasters in the tradition of Bobby Jones, where past champions arerespected, even revered, and certainly allowed to play any time theywant.

Still able to swing the club at the age of 89, Byron Nelsonthanked the crowd for supporting him since he played in the secondMasters in 1935, saying he has enjoyed all of it.

"This has helped keep me alive in golf," Nelson said.

Ford was once asked why he continued playing, despite missing thecut for the last 30 years.

"Because I won the darned thing," he replied.

Israel rebuffs U.S. demand to cancel China arms deal

DESPITE STRONG PUBLIC opposition from the United States, Israel is proceeding with the sale to China of an advanced airborne early-warning (AEW) radar system, which U.S. officials warn could affect the strategic balance between China and Taiwan. After April meetings with Defense Secretary William Cohen and President Bill Clinton, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak would say only that Israel would continue discussions on the deal with the United States.

In a 1996 deal with China worth approximately $1 billion, Israel agreed to equip four Russian-supplied aircraft with the Phalcon system, a state-of-the-art, longrange radar capable of simultaneously tracking multiple airborne and surface targets. U.S. government officials believe, and Israeli officials insist, that no U.S. technology is involved.

If delivered, the Phalcon system-previously supplied to Chile-would provide China's first airborne early-warning and control capability. Taiwan's inventory includes four U.S.-made AEW Hawkeye aircraft, and two more are scheduled for delivery in 2004.

Informed of the sale in June 1996, U.S. opposition only became public last fall. State Department and Pentagon officials contend that Washington has voiced its concerns through diplomatic and military channels since 1996. A National Security Council (NSC) spokesperson said the administration has raised the issue "regularly and repeatedly."

Meeting with Barak on April 3 during a 10-nation visit to Africa and the Middle East, Cohen told a joint press conference, held with the Israeli prime minister, that the United States objected to the Phalcon deal because of its "potential of changing the balance" in the Taiwan Strait. A week later, Cohen repeated Washington s strong opposition and described the sale as "counterproductive" because the technology could find its way back to Israeli rivals in the Middle East.

Barak told the April 3 press conference that Israel was "aware of the sensitivity in the United States with regard to China." However, he said Israel was also "aware of [its] commitments in the contracts that [it has] signed." Barak finished by saying Israel understood the need for "close coordination and contact" with the United States. A senior U.S. administration official reported that Barak repeated similar sentiments in an April 11 meeting with President Bill Clinton in Washington and that discussions would continue.

Barak later met with Chinese President Jiang Zemin in Israel during the first-ever visit to that country by a Chinese head of state. At a joint press conference April 13, Barak intervened twice to answer questions addressed to Jiang about the deal. While again noting U.S. concerns, Barak described Israeli credibility and Israeli relations with China as being of "high importance."

Israel is concerned about canceling the deal and upsetting China, which Israeli officials worry could lead China to increase weapons exports to countries hostile to Israel. In addition, Israel is reluctant to forfeit a profitable deal with a long-time arms customer that could be picked up by British or French companies that competed for the original sale.

An official for BAE Systems, a British company that manufactures AEW systems, said talks with China have been dormant for several months and that BAE is not currently pursuing any deal. The NSC spokesperson remarked that the United States is "prepared to engage other countries in expressing our concerns about issues that could affect the stability of the Asia-Pacific region." When asked, a U.K. government official said he was "not aware of any direct U.S. government lobbying effort on this particular issue."

In his proposed fiscal year 2001 budget, Clinton requested a total of $2.82 billion in military aid and economic support for Israel. Representative Sonny Callahan (R-AL), chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Foreign Operations, Export Financing and Related Programs, indicated he would put a hold on $250 million-the value of one Phalcon system--of the proposed aid unless the Pentagon certifies that the Israeli deal does not jeopardize U.S. national security interests. State Department spokesman James Rubin, however, said April 10 that the radar deal should not be tied to U.S. foreign aid.

Israel, the largest recipient of U.S. aid, is also seeking a security package worth approximately $17 billion, involving arms, as well as greater intelligence and earlywarning cooperation with the United States, as part of a potential Israeli peace deal with Syria. With the Israeli-Syrian peace negotiations currently stalled, talks on the proposed U.S. security package have been put on hold. -Wade Boese

Journalist who sought justice posthumously honored

As editor and publisher of a small-town newspaper in the Mississippi Delta, Hazel Brannon Smith was boycotted by fellow whites and condemned in the state Senate because she advocated equal treatment of blacks during the volatile 1950s and '60s.

Now, 15 years after Smith died penniless, Mississippi lawmakers have approved a resolution to belatedly honor her courage.

"A lot of us think sometimes that only black people went through something. There were decent white people who went through a lot of things, too," said Rep. Willie Bailey of Greenville, a black lawmaker who was among the resolution's sponsors.

Smith was publisher of the Lexington Advertiser in Holmes County, a rural area about 40 miles north of Jackson.

During the early 1960s, she was the target of violence when a cross was burned in her yard, according to the legislative resolution. The economic boycott was led by the powerful white Citizens Council, which started a rival newspaper, the Holmes County Herald, to drain advertising accounts away from Smith's paper.

In 1964, Smith became the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for editorial writing for her "steadfast adherence to her editorial duties in the face of great pressure and opposition," the resolution reads.

Smith grew up in Gadsden, Ala., and moved to Mississippi in 1935, fresh out of the University of Alabama. She didn't begin her journalistic career as a civil-rights crusader. She supported the segregationist Dixiecrats during the 1948 presidential election and once wrote "the South and America are a white man's country," according to the resolution.

Her awakening to racial injustice came one Saturday night in 1954, when the white sheriff in Holmes County killed a black man outside a beer joint on the main street of Lexington. Veteran Mississippi journalist Bill Minor said the sheriff told the black man to run, then shot the man in the back.

"She lambasted the sheriff on page one of her paper and in her column," Minor said of Smith. "The white community, which controlled the economic and political power in the county, turned against her."

Minor, who has covered the state for more than 60 years, was a friend of Smith. During a brief ceremony Monday in the House, Minor accepted a copy of the resolution honoring Smith, who had no direct descendants.

"It's really impossible today to think about how courageous a journalist or an editor, particularly, had to be back in the 1950s and 1960s to speak out for human rights and to speak out for civil rights," Minor said.

Rep. Bryant Clark, a Democrat from Holmes County, said Smith was condemned on the floor of the Mississippi Senate in 1963 after agents from the Sovereignty Commission snapped photos of her delivering stacks of newspapers she had published for a civil-rights group in Jackson. The Sovereignty Commission was a state spy agency that sought to preserve racial segregation. It was dismantled in the 1970s.

"I thought it was only proper and fitting that we come back as a legislative body and make an attempt not to try to undo the wrong but to make amends and to recognize that she was an important citizen of the state of Mississippi," said Clark. His father, Democratic Rep. Robert Clark, in 1967 became the first black person elected to the Mississippi Legislature since Reconstruction.

Among the elder Clark's supporters: Hazel Brannon Smith.

Bryant Clark said one of the most beautiful houses in Holmes County was Smith's former mansion, modeled after the plantation home Tara in "Gone With the Wind." Smith lost the home amid the economic pressure that drove her newspaper out of business. She developed Alzheimer's disease during the 1980s and died in a nursing home in Cleveland, Tenn., in 1994, where she had gone to be near a niece.

"Because of the positions she took," Bryant Clark said, "she went from riches to rags."

____

The resolution is House Concurrent Resolution 83.

(This version CORRECTS Corrects name of rival newspaper to the Holmes County Herald in 5th graf. ADDS photo links)

Big bands big laughs

`For Dancers Only': Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Center JazzOrchestra 8 tonight

Navy Pier Ballroom, 600 E. Grand

Tickets, $38.50

(312) 902-1500

It may come as a surprise to some of the younger trend watchersout there, but jazz orchestras used to perform for dancers withoutany of the tacky, tongue-in-cheek trappings that infect the recentneo-swing craze. There was a bunch of that, too, but back when thepopular audience embraced jazz as an entertainment worthy of theirSaturday nights, big bands spent endless days on the road fillingballrooms with richer and far more original sounds.

Wynton Marsalis, who has devoted much of his energy to emulatingDuke Ellington, will revive the jazz-dance tradition at 8 tonightwhen he leads the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra at the Navy PierBallroom. "For Dancers Only," as the show is called (after a 1937song by the great Jimmie Lunceford Orchestra), will feature classicsby Ellington, Count Basie and Benny Goodman as well as new dancepieces for new dance styles.

Onetime Ellington vocalist Milt Grayson will lubricate theballroom for slow dancing with blues-dipped ballads including "JellyJelly." And as a bonus, lay hoofers will be joined on the floor byswing dance stars Janice Wilson and Paolo Lanna, winners of numerouscompetitions. They will either inspire the nonprofessionals aroundthem to new heights or chase them up the aisles with their movesbetween their legs. (If you're thinking of trying out those lambadamoves, this may not be the time or place.)

An amiable and unassuming emcee, Marsalis will add to the highspirits of the occasion with his streak of levity. His seasoned 15-piece orchestra, appearing here as part of a 24-city tour, willinclude trumpeters Seneca Black, Ryan Kisor and Marcus Printup;trombonists Wycliffe Gordon, Andre Hayward and Ron Westray;saxophonists Wess "Warmdaddy" Anderson, Victor Goines, WalterBlanding Jr., Ted Nash and Joe Temperley; pianist Farid Barron;bassist Rodney Whitaker, and drummer Herlin Riley.

"There is nothing more stylish than the sensuous movements ofbodies on a dance floor," he says in a press release, "and no soundmore soulful than the joyous motion of swing with the bittersweet cryof the blues." Some good old-fashioned stomping never hurts thecause, either.

Selling the Invisible: A Field Guide to Modern Marketing

Selling the Invisible: A Field Guide to Modern Marketing

-1997

-By Harry Beckwith

-252 pages

-Warner Books

Selling the Invisible is a series of quick-hitting, one- to two-page commentaries on the diverse aspects of marketing. It asks the reader to consider just what is being marketed (products or services), the methods that go into marketing, and finally the diverse aspects of human psychology that create the atmosphere within which businesses must operate.

The book begins with the concept that most marketing does not involve a tangible product but rather a service, which Beckwith describes as invisible. Beckwith believes that "America is a service economy with a product marketing model. But services are not products, and service marketing is not product marketing ... A service, by contrast [to a product], is intangible. In fact, a service does not even exist when you buy one."

From that point, Beckwith's 100+ short chapters take the reader on a whirlwind of marketing tactics, dos and don'ts, and companies both successful and struggling. Beckwith anchors his text by using examples from a core group of companies.

One of Beckwith's axioms is that companies do not always know what prospective customers are expecting from their business. One prime example is Burger King's strategy to lure some of McDonald's customers during the 1980s and early 1990s. Burger King believed that its customers came to their restaurant primarily for the quality of their food. In taking on McDonald's, Burger King therefore used this to propel their marketing strategy. Everyone remembers the commercials that lauded Burger King's "flame-broiled burgers."

However, as Beckwith writes, the strategy did not work: "McDonald's was right: Fast-food hamburger restaurants are not in the hamburger business ... People do not go to fast-food restaurants to satisfy their desire for something delicious. They go for something fast, cheap, and palatable that satisfies their hunger."

Beckwith uses Federal Express to demonstrate more successful marketing strategies. One of these was the unusual nature of their name. "Express" was the obvious choice for the second word. The first word, however, is more atypical. "Federal" generally connotes the government. By using this striking word as the first word in their name, Federal Express made their name unique and thus guaranteed that their customers would remember them: "Federal Express conveys a powerful message- 'like the U.S. Mail, only faster and better'-in just two words and colors."

Federal Express' other business venture is described in a chapter titled "What Color is Your Companies' Parachute?" In other words, what are you good at? Beckwith points out that Federal Express realized that they were good at "logistics...procuring, distributing, and replacing materials." and created a successful consultancy that specialized in logistical management. Beckwith urges "in planning your marketing, don't just think of your product, think of your skills."

Beckwith is also convinced that the marketer must operate in an irrational world, where people make choices based on intuitions, as opposed to facts. He urges marketers to take this into account at all stages of selling a product. Some examples of this include the following:

On the fallacy of common sense: "What seems common, in fact, is people acting contrary to their own experience."

On the continuing success of American Express, even after Visa introduced what Beckwith considers a superior product: "American Express emphasizes that 'membership has its privileges,' and that privilege of membership in American Express is in being part of an 'elite club' ... At 25 million, quite a large 'elite' club, by the way ... Logical?"

On lowering prices to attract consumers: "Don't assume that logical pricing is smart pricing. Maybe your price ... actually makes you look second rate."

Beckwith's conclusion also touches on the whimsical nature of the public's response to products: "Services are human. Their successes depend on the relationships of people. People are human-frustrating, unpredictable, temperamental ... occasionally half mad. But you can spot some patterns in people. The more you can see the patterns... the more you will succeed."

The portrayal of the human mind in Selling the Invisible reveals Beckwith's conviction that the decision-making process of customers is just as invisible as the process of selling a service-at least at first. It is only by detecting patterns in the behavior of customers that a company can start to construct a successful marketing strategy.

Selling the Invisible does not necessarily need to be read in order, but each idea is worth a look.

[Ed. Note-Check with your local bookseller about the availability of this title.]

Resurgent Bayern trying to catch Hoffenheim

The last time a promoted team topped the standings in the Bundesliga after 10 rounds, it won the title.

Hoffenheim is increasingly beginning to resemble the Kaiserslautern team of 10 years ago that won the championship the season it got promoted under coach Otto Rehhagel.

But Kaiserslautern is a team with a long tradition, while Hoffenheim is an unlikely upstart from a village with a population of fewer than 3,300 that has climbed from the third division in just two years behind the millions from its backer, software billionaire Dietmar Hopp.

And while Kaiserslautern is back in the second division, Hoffenheim looks like it is here to stay. German bookmakers have already made it the second favorite for the title, after defending champion Bayern Munich.

"Hoffenheim will remain at the top and will be a contender for the title," Bayern general manager Uli Hoeness said.

Bayern has won its last three and Juergen Klinsmann's team is catching up fast after a sputtering start, although it has not been spectacular.

Going into this weekend's 11th round, Hoffenheim has 22 points, Bayer Leverkusen 21, Hamburger SV 20 and Bayern 18.

Leverkusen kicks off the weekend with a home game against Wolfsburg on Friday. Hoffenheim hosts Karlsruhe on Saturday, Bayern plays Arminia Bielefeld and Hamburger SV visits Hannover.

Hoffenheim and Leverkusen are the Bundesliga's two youngest teams, they have scored the most goals and are playing the most entertaining football in the league. They also have the advantage of being able to concentrate solely on the league, since neither is an international competition. Leverkusen is one of two teams to have beaten Hoffenheim, in a 5-2 rout.

While Hoffenheim also led after two rounds, Ralf Rangnick said then that he would have a better idea about the true strength of his team once the season was 10 games old.

Now, he is trying to keep the euphoria in check and not let his players get carried away.

"It's very positive where we are. The development of the team has been great," Rangnick said after his team rallied to beat Bochum 3-1 on Wednesday. "But we don't want to lose what has been our main strength, the carefree approach."

Leverkusen is nursing a similar go-for-broke style _ it is the only Bundesliga club without a draw and it has four wins on the road.

Hoffenheim is riding a four-game winning streak, while Leverkusen has won its last three and is coming off a 2-0 victory at Werder Bremen.

Bayern had to come from behind in two of its last three wins, the latest a 2-1 victory at Eintracht Frankfurt.

"We are still not so good as we were last season, we are allowing too many goals," said France midfielder Franck Ribery, who had a goal and an assist against Frankfurt. "But we are playing with more joy now and no fear."

Ribery came back at the start of the month after an ankle injury and is gradually returning to the form that made him the league's top-rated player last season. He has two goals in the last two games.

In other matches Saturday, Werder Bremen hosts Hertha Berlin, Stuttgart plays Cologne and Energie Cottbus meets Schalke.

On Sunday, Borussia Dortmund hosts Bochum and Borussia Moenchengladbach plays Frankfurt.

Stock open sharply higher on Wall Street

Stocks are opening sharply higher on Wall Street after a weekend meeting of world financial leaders raised hopes for the economy.

U.S. stock index futures are following overseas markets, which rose Monday after officials from the Group of 20 countries agreed to keep economic stimulus measures in place.

Investors are awaiting retailers' earnings reports to see how much consumers are spending as the holidays approach.

Stocks also got a lift as the House approved the health care reform bill.

In the opening moments of trading, the Dow Jones industrial average is up 60.99, or 0.6 percent, at 10,084.41. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 index is up 7.77, or 0.7 percent, at 1,077.07, and the Nasdaq composite index is up 16.79, or 0.8 percent, at 2,129.23.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

Stock futures pointed to a sharply higher open on Wall Street Monday after a weekend meeting of world financial leaders raised hopes for the global economy.

U.S. stock index futures followed the lead of overseas markets, which rose after officials from the Group of 20 countries agreed to keep their economic stimulus measures in place.

Investors are awaiting retailers' earnings reports for a sense of how much consumers are spending, especially as the holiday season approaches. The market is concerned that rising unemployment, which now sits at 10.2 percent, will further discourage already hesitant consumers from spending.

Still, the Labor Department's jobless report Friday hasn't deterred investors, who were buying stocks on the theory that the weak labor market will prompt the Federal Reserve to keep interest rates low for some time.

Dow Jones industrial average futures rose 82, or 0.8 percent, to 10,060. Standard & Poor's 500 index futures rose 9.70, or 0.9 percent, to 1,075.90, while Nasdaq 100 index futures rose 15.50, or 0.9 percent, to 1,745.25.

In corporate news, Britain's Cadbury Plc rejected a $16.4 billion hostile takeover bid from Kraft Foods Inc.

McDonald's, the world's largest fast-food chain, said monthly sales growth was relatively flat in the U.S. but offset by stronger growth globally.

Stock futures also got a lift as the House approved the health care reform bill.

Meanwhile, oil prices hovered around $78 a barrel as Hurricane Ida threatened the Gulf of Mexico. A barrel of crude traded at $78.30, up 87 cents, in pre-opening trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Bond prices fell. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its price, rose to 3.52 percent from 3.50 percent late Friday. The yield on the three-month T-bill, considered one of the safest investments, rose to 0.06 percent from 0.04 percent late Friday.

The dollar fell against other major currencies, while gold prices rose.

Overseas, Japan's Nikkei stock average rose 0.2 percent. In afternoon trading, Britain's FTSE 100 was up 1.7 percent, Germany's DAX index was up 1.6 percent, and France's CAC-40 was up 1.4 percent.

Turkey and Armenia poised to normalize ties

Turkey's foreign minister on Thursday downplayed protests from the Armenian diaspora ahead of this weekend's signing of a landmark agreement to normalize ties with neighbor Armenia after a century of enmity.

A tour of Armenian communities by Armenian President Serge Sarkisian has sparked protests in Lebanon and France, with demonstrators in Paris shouting "traitor" at him and decrying his plans to establish ties with Turkey. Dozens of angry Armenians also staged protests in central Yerevan, the Armenian capital Thursday, burning papers meant to symbolize the agreement.

With Swiss mediation, Turkey and Armenia _ bitter foes for a century _ plan to sign a historic agreement that will establish diplomatic ties for the first time and lead to the reopening of their joint border.

One of the biggest disputes is over the World War I-era massacre of up to 1.5 million Armenians in the last days of the Ottoman Empire, which many historians regard as the first genocide of the 20th century. Turkey denies the deaths constituted genocide, contending the toll is inflated and those killed were victims of civil war.

"Everything is happening within its natural course," Turkey's Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said in Ankara on Thursday. "Don't listen to the voices from the diaspora, there is no surprise development for us."

Armenians abroad _ estimated at 5.7 million _ outnumber the 3.2 million living in Armenia itself, the smallest of the ex-Soviet republics. The largest communities are in Russia (2 million), the United States (1.4 million), Georgia (460,000) and France (450,000). About 65,000 Armenians live in Turkey.

Davutoglu described the documents expected to be signed on Saturday in Switzerland as an "agreement that regulates relations between two neighboring countries."

Russia's Foreign Ministry spokesman Andrei Nesterenko on Thursday welcomed the planned signing of protocols as a step positive step. "That's a logical and long-expected move," Nesterenko said at a briefing. "The establishment of good-neighborly ties between Armenia and Turkey will help ease tensions and strengthen peace and security in the region."

Nesterenko said normalization of ties will also boost bilateral trade between the neighbors.

Turkish media said high-ranking diplomats from the United States, Russia and France were expected to attend the ceremony. Switzerland has said a signing ceremony will take place, but has not announced the date and location.

Davutoglu urged the Armenian president to attend next week's World Cup soccer qualifier between Turkey and Armenia without conditions. Sarkisian has said he would go to the Oct. 14 game if there is progress toward opening their joint border.

Turkish President Abdullah Gul visited Armenia for the first game last year.

"Our president traveled to Armenia without any conditions, with political courage and that helped to improve ties," Davutoglu said. "We wish Sarkisian would travel to Turkey without conditions too."

The normalization of relations also involves the dispute over Nagorno-Karabakh, an enclave in neighboring Azerbaijan occupied by Armenian troops. Turks have close cultural and linguistic ties with Azerbaijan, which is pressing Turkey for help in recovering its land. Turkey shut its border with Armenia to protest the Armenian invasion of Nagorno-Karabakh in 1993.

Davutoglu expressed hope that an upcoming meeting between Sarkisian and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliev could help resolve the dispute over Nagorno-Karabakh. Azeri authorities have voiced concern over the reconciliation between Turkey and Armenia, but Davutoglu said Ankara would not harm Azeri interests.

The protocols to be signed by the two countries say Turkey and Armenia recognize their mutual frontiers and agree to open the common border within two months after the agreements formally come into force.

The organizer of Thursday's protest in Yerevan, Zarui Postandzhian of the opposition Heritage faction in parliament, said the deal will hurt Armenia's interests.

"It will lead to the loss of the Armenian territory," she said in apparent reference to the deal with which Armenia is expected to recognize a 1921 agreement that delineates the Turkish-Armenian border.

Gegam Manukian, a representative of the Armenian opposition Dashnak-Tsutyun party, also opposed the reconciliation.

"We are against signing the protocols in their current form," Manukian told The Associated Press. "Turkey has blockaded Armenia for 16 years, putting forward conditions which are reflected in these protocols. That refers, in particular, to the creation of a panel of historians which may result in the failure to recognize the genocide. That also refers to a clause related to the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict."

Several dozen members of the Dashnak-Tsutyun have launched a hunger strike to protest the signing and the party plans to hold a protest outside the presidential palace in Yerevan on Friday.

____

Associated Press Writers Avet Demourian in Yerevan, Armenia, and Vladimir Isachenkov in Moscow contributed to this report.

The Jack of All Trades

Stephen Fitzgibbons was asked if he could take a quick phone call. His department's secretary told him the caller promised that she had a simple question and would only take a minute of his time.

Fitzgibbons, Holyoke's city solicitor, offered a look and some body language that spoke volumes. The rolling of the eyes and the slumping of the shoulders were his way of saying that such calls are rarely quick and the questions hardly ever simple.

As it turned out, the caller was someone from the Holyoke Geriatric Authority, who wanted to know if a commissioner needed to be officially sworn in before he could actually take part in a vote. "I get about 10 to 15 calls like that a …

Athletics-Angels rained out

The Oakland Athletics at Los Angels Angels game has been rained out Sunday.

About 50 Japanese media were in attendance to cover Hideki Matsui's debut with the Angels. Matsui signed a one-year, $6 million free-agent contract after being named World Series MVP with the New …

Los Alamos National Lab Laser Measures Carbon in Soils; Instrument Could Aid Understanding of Global Warming.

Byline: Los Alamos National Laboratory

LOS ALAMOS, N.M., Nov. 20 (AScribe Newswire) -- Los Alamos National Laboratory scientists have developed a small, portable instrument that uses a laser to analyze the amount of carbon in soils, which can give scientists a better understanding of terrestrial processes that could accelerate or retard global warming.

With increasing international concern about greenhouse gases and global warming, scientists have sought better and more cost-effective approaches for measuring changes in the amount of land-based carbon, much of which is located in soils. But because the amount of carbon varies considerably from one spot to the …

Danes down, but so is league; Still, coach says UAlbany needs best to win again.(Sports)

Byline: MARK SINGELAIS - Staff Writer

ALBANY - If the University at Albany men's basketball team is having a down year, then the Great Danes apparently picked the right season for it.

Most of the America East Conference is struggling worse than UAlbany (5-7), the two-time defending champion, which has lost six of seven games entering tonight's league opener at New Hampshire.

On Wednesday, the America East was ranked 29th out of 31 Division I leagues, according to two different versions of the Ratings Percentage Index, a computer formula used to help select and seed teams in the NCAA Tournament.

Maryland-Baltimore County (8-5) is America …

WATER WARS STEM THE TIDE OF PROGRESS.(CAPITAL REGION)

Byline: Fred LeBrun

The great water showdown between the town of Bethlehem and the city of Albany is the sort of confrontation we might expect out west between cattle barons arguing over a common water hole.

But not here. Not in the Capital Region, where we are near to drowning in good water of international reputation from Saratoga, for example. More isbottled in Scotia from the glacial Great Flats aquifer. Troy has the overbuilt Tomhannock Reservoir, and cash-strapped Schenectady has so much good water the city is giving serious consideration to bottling and selling it to strangers passing through.

Since 1980, Democratic Albany has been …

FBI pleads for info in civil rights-era killings

The FBI pleaded for information Thursday about 43 unsolved civil rights-era slaying in Mississippi, saying time is running out because potential witnesses and suspects are growing old or dying.

The agency launched an initiative in 2006 to tackle cold cases from the mid-1950s to the late and 1960s, mostly in the South. Though the effort hasn't resulted in any new prosecutions, FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III said his agency remains committed to it.

Officials from several state and federal agencies joined together in Mississippi to issue a call for help from the public.

"We owe it to the victims. We owe to the people," said Mississippi …

Stewart's show puts politics on a skewer, Comedian turns fake news show into must-see TV

LOS ANGELES TIME

NEW YORK - Jon Stewart knows comedians are not supposed to getangry. Angry is not funny.

But when he starts talking about the Bush administration'sfondness for demonizing its critics or its refusal to concede anerror in judgment, well, he just starts to boil over.

"This administration's inability to admit even the tiniestmistakes for fear of seeming weak is stunning sometimes," Stewartsays, holed up in his office here at "The Daily Show."

To be fair, I've caught Stewart at a particularly emotionalmoment.

My visit to "The Daily Show" coincided with White House nationalsecurity adviser Condoleezza Rice's appearance before the …

iCraveTV suit settled.(Brief Article)

TV signal streamer agrees to stop Webcasting stations

Canadian Webcaster iCraveTC.com last week shut down operations in an out-of-court settlement with U.S. entertainment companies, TV networks, sports leagues and Canadian broadcasters.

In January, a federal district court in Pennsylvania stopped iCraveTV from streaming 17 local TV signals from the Toronto market over the Internet after copyright holders filed a suit alleging iCraveTV was stealing their property.

"The resolution of this matter will serve as a deterrent to anyone who seeks to take that which they do not own," said Motion Picture Association of America President Jack Valenti, who …

National Minority Junior Golf Scholarship Association. (NMJGSA)(Third Annual Black Enterprise/Pepsi Golf & Tennis Challenge: Special Supplement)

It was one of those moments that generally goes unrecorded in the annals of history. Three men breaking bread in a nondescript Miami restaurant, taking a welcome break from the day-to-day demands of their existence, yet each very aware that there is still much in life that they hope to accomplish. They share many a common bond, being black men as they are, but nothing will unify them faster this night than a discussion over dinner about the plight of America's black youth.

For the past 14 years, one of the men has steadfastly given his heart and soul to the task of helping complete and utter strangers. His has been a one-man show and he has worked tirelessly and without pay--"out …

LOUD PRAYERS VS. FREEDOM CRIES.(PERSPECTIVE)

Byline: LINDA P. CAMPBELL

Dear God,

The heavens must be convulsing in laughter at religious broadcaster Pat Robertson's ``Operation Supreme Court Freedom'' and his ``prayer offensive'' entreating you to remove three justices from the highest court in the United States.

He's not quite pleading that you call those folks to their eternal rewards -- just that you fill their minds with notions of retiring. As Robertson puts it, the trio are afflicted with old age, cancer and a heart condition.

That's likely to be Justice John Paul Stevens, who's 83 -- though Chief Justice William Rehnquist is 78. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg had colon cancer -- but Justice Sandra Day …

SCHENECTADY SETS TIRE COLLECTION.(Local)

The city will hold a tire collection from 8 a.m. to noon Saturday

at the trash transfer station on Weaver Street.

Mayor Karen B. Johnson said the program is an ongoing effort by the city to help residents dispose of old tires, which are not picked up by waste collection crews.

Last fall, a similar program resulted in the collection of more than 800 tires. Johnson said the city has contracted with a private firm to dispose of the tires.

There …

6.0 quakes rumble under Bering Sea off Alaska

Two strong earthquakes rumbled Friday under the Bering Sea off Alaska, but officials say they posed no tsunami risk and were too far from land to be felt.

David Hale at the West Coast and Alaska Tsunami Warning Center in Palmer says a 6.0-magniitude quake struck at 3:12 p.m. and was followed …

Scott's Homer in 9th Lifts Astros

HOUSTON - Luke Scott hit two home runs, including a three-run shot in the ninth inning to give Houston a 7-4 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals on Saturday night.

The Astros kept their slim wild-card hopes alive as they crept to within five games of the Dodgers, who played the Diamondbacks later Saturday night. St Louis lost its fourth straight and has dropped eight of its last nine on the road. The Cardinals magic number remained at five.

Tyler Johnson (0-4) walked Morgan Ensberg to lead off the ninth. Lance Berkman then singled before Scott homered to right. He has 10 homers and 35 RBI in 46 starts since being recalled from Triple-A Round Rock on July 13.

Dan …

Certilearn. (Distance Education).(Advertisement)

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CertiLearn helps membership organizations connect their …

Police warning after lorry crash.

Police have told drivers to take care on the A14 after it was closed following a lorry crash on Friday.

The warning comes after traffic diverted off the main trunk road caused roads around Bury St Edmunds to become gridlocked.

The collision left one man in a critical condition at West Suffolk Hospital, in Bury.

In the past five years, there have been 18 fatalities on the A14 and more than 600 collisions.

According to Insp Joy Mayhew, of the roads policing unit, figures show that while the number of collisions is decreasing, there are more fatalities.

In the latest crash, two lorries were involved in a collision on the eastbound …

DOGS BUST LOOSE, HOLD ON.(SPORTS)

Byline: BILL IANNONE Staff writer

COLONIE -- For seven-plus innings, the Albany-Colonie Diamond Dogs played the kind of baseball that was expected of them when the Northeast League baseball season began in late May.

The Dogs, who struggled in the first half of the season, used timely hitting, aggressive baserunning, strong defensive play and excellent starting pitching from Watervliet native Kevin Legault to take an 8-1 lead into the eighth inning against the Southern Division leader Allentown Thursday night at Heritage Park.

But a frightful eighth inning forced the Dogs to hold on for a 9-7 win, snapping their three-game losing streak and ending the …

3M[TM] VHB[TM] Tapes. (Product Review).

3M[TM] VHB[TM] Tapes Series 4600 bonds metal parts with strength that can replace rivets, screws, and welding in panel assembly, panel stiffener assembly, and other applications. For bonding prior to powder coat …

Cape Verdean prime minister brings message of solidarity

Cape Verdean prime minister brings message of solidarity

Yawu Miller

Standing in a State House function room amid members of the Massachusetts Legislative Black Caucus and Portuguese Caucus, Cape Verdean Prime Minister Carlos Veiga said he felt at home.

"I'm among people to whom Cape Verdeans are related through various ways," he said through a translator, addressing the gathering of lawmakers. "Through our African roots and our Portuguese roots."

Veiga was equally at home at the Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative, where he brought to a mostly Cape Verdean group of community residents and activists a message of solidarity and support.

"We will …

Thinking outside the box: insuring the pizza delivery business requires an appetite for risk management.(Property/Casualty: Auto Package)(Papa John's International Inc.)

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

When its third-party captive for franchisees was hit with a loss in 2004, Papa John's Pizza opted to insure on a first-dollar basis and bring in a third-party carrier.

But something happened along the way.

The pizza delivery chain's risk management department evolved as it dealt with franchisees on coverage issues related to non-owned automobile and workers' compensation. In fact, Risk Services Corp. grew into its own profit center.

Now the Papa John's subsidiary is one of just seven agents nationwide that is authorized to write coverage for Fireman's Fund's pizza program. While 49% of Papa John's franchisees obtain coverage through Risk Services Corp., the Louisville, Ky.-based agency also writes Fireman's Fund policies for non-Papa John's restaurant delivery businesses.

"We've taken it to the next level by saying, 'why should we just do insurance for just us? Why don't we just do insurance?'" said Georgianna Stump, senior director of Risk Services Corp. "We're now a profit center. We're our own corporation."

Risk Services Corp. has …

HIP-HOP TO CELEBRATE ITS SURVIVAL AGAINST ODDS.(MAIN)

As rap continues to flourish in its third decade, becoming more mainstream each day, some of hip-hop's influential players say its time to take a step back and examine its impact. "It's a chance to celebrate, to feel our power, and to decide basic things about the next step," said Russell Simmons, who organized this week's so-called Hip-Hop Summit in New York City. While hip-hop has experienced some of its biggest highs this …

Uzbekistan says 75,000 refugees fled Kyrgyzstan

Uzbekistan says more than 75,000 Uzbek refugees have fled the rising ethnic violence in neighboring Kyrgyzstan.

The Emergencies Ministry was quoted as saying by the RIA Novosti news agency that most of the refugees are elderly people, women and children and many have …