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Broadcaster Santo a finalist for Hall

After striking out in the past with both writers and his peers,Ron Santo suddenly has two chances to enter the Baseball Hall ofFame.

Already nominated a second time by the veterans committee for theHall's player wing, Santo learned Monday he is one of 10 finalistsfor the Ford C. Frick Award, the Hall's honor for broadcasters.

I couldn't believe it," Santo said from his home in Scottsdale,Ariz. I died. They called, and I said, You're kidding.' These are thefans [voting]. I love it. That's all I care about. It was such athrill."

Santo, who has overcome the loss of both legs …

Study long, but don't study wrong

We wish Gov. Ryan, who has only 10 months left in his term, the wisdom of Solomon and the patience of Job in his mission to personally review the cases of all 163 Death Row inmates in the state to determine if any of them should have their sentences commuted or changed due to a lack of scientific evidence, or the presence of racial bias at their trials. In the wake of a flawed system that once saw the release of more than half the men who were sentenced to the ultimate punishment, the Ryan review is most welcome and needed.

Under the Illinois Constitution, Ryan can grant a reprieve, a pardon or a commutation of the 163 sentences.

We, like Gov. Ryan seek an end to Illinois' …

Yeah, that's right. Beyonce's meeting me at bridge

A Detroit-area man faces a variety of charges after nearly hitting a patrol car and telling police that singer Beyonce was waiting to meet him in New York, authorities said. The man, 33, of Macomb Township, Mich., was detained early Sunday after driving in a "reckless manner" in a parking lot and nearly striking a parked patrol car, said police spokesman Vaughan Dumas.

The spokesman said police found a teddy bear and flowers that the man said were meant for the singer inside his car.

The man reportedly refused to leave his car when ordered and asked …

Wife overpaid in benefits

A WOMAN from Pumsaint has been fined for claiming benefitswithout telling the authorities that her husband had been working.Tracie Michelle Warren appeared at Ammanford Magistrates' Courtwhere she pleaded guilty to two charges that she failed to declarechanges in circumstances, in relation to …

Wallace, Pistons Go Up 2-0 on Cavaliers

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. - Rasheed Wallace made a go-ahead, fadeaway jumper over LeBron James on the baseline with 24 seconds left, lifting Detroit to a 79-76 victory over Cleveland Thursday night and a 2-0 lead in the Eastern Conference finals.

It was another frustrating night for James and the Cavaliers. They tried to attack the Pistons differently, but came away with the same result.

James, who passed up a shot in the final seconds of the …

Pinturault, Mancuso win parallel slalom WCup races

MOSCOW (AP) — Alexis Pinturault of France and American Julia Mancuso dominated parallel slalom World Cup races on a giant ramp in Moscow on Tuesday — the only city event on the Alpine circuit this season.

Pinturault edged Felix Neureuther of Germany by 0.17 seconds in the second run of the final to claim his first career World Cup title.

Andre Myhrer of Sweden beat Romed Baumann of Austria in the small final for third.

"It's a very special victory for me," Pinturault said. "I'm very proud I've done so well here. The event is really very special and differs much from other (Alpine) disciplines. You have to be really very quick at the start and very …

Mexican national hoping to delay Texas execution

HUNTSVILLE, Texas (AP) — The 1994 rape and murder of 16-year-old Adria Sauceda was so brutal it shocked even prosecutors in Texas, where capital punishment is popular and put to use more than any other state.

But the planned Thursday execution of 38-year-old Humberto Leal, who is a Mexican citizen, has prompted a flurry of appeals on his behalf, including an unusual plea …

Reports of Note

The Use of Voluntary Safeguards to Build Trust in States' Nuclear Programmes: The Case of Iran

James Acton with Joanna Little, Vertic Research Reports, No. 8, May 2007.

This technical study lays out verification measures that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) could enact to ensure Iran does not develop nuclear weapons. The authors discuss the pros and cons of several approaches, weighing the costs of implementing them, and the increase in international confidence they would provide. They conclude that the international community could gain more confidence from enhancing the IAEA's ability to detect any clandestine Iranian nuclear facilities than from the current …

Ferry carrying 23 people is stranded at sea off England

A ferry carrying 23 people was stranded by high waves and winds in the Irish Sea on Thursday night. Helicopters raced to the vessel and conducted a rescue operation.

At one point the ferry, which carried cargo and passengers, was listing at 45 degrees in 70 mph (110 kph) winds and 23-foot (seven-meter) waves, officials said.

"The weather out there is horrendous," Mark Clark of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency said as the operation was under way.

He said the ship issued a mayday call at 7:30 p.m. (1930 GMT) and 90 minutes later three helicopters had reached the four passengers and 19 crew members on the vessel, Riverdance.

…

A coup with couple of coupes

German giants BMW and Mercedez Benz have both launched dinky newexecutive cruisers.

MARK WHITCHURCH discovers that there's not much to choose betweenthem MERGERS and take-overs. The motoring industry is full of them,resulting in just a few big players controlling a multitude of marks.

Of course, with size comes the fat! But now the Germans havedecided to go on a diet, with both the 3 Series and C Class slimmingdown so much that they have lost their rear ends!

Led by BMW a couple of years ago, this coupe conversion of the 3Series has given birth to a new executive class of motorway cruiser.

Now in its second generation, BMW's Compact has been joined by …

E-mail: Crucial to the customer support mix

The Internet is everywhere. It is featured on the nightly news, Web sites are advertised in mainstream publications and now, nearly one-fourth of the nation's households are online. Every day, more people are shopping and communicating online. As a result, many customers are shifting their preferred method of communication from phone to e-mail. Call centers can reap great benefits if they are prepared to take advantage of this trend. There are four critical issues to consider in ensuring that call centers are prepared to take advantage of the benefits the Internet can offer to customer service:

The shift from phone to e-mail communication,

The benefits of e-mail/Web-based …

Cambodia suspends call for UN intervention on border dispute pending Thai talks

Cambodia will pursue U.N. intervention to avoid a military confrontation with Thailand if talks between the two countries fail to produce a breakthrough, the Cambodian foreign minister said Friday.

Cambodia is only postponing _ not canceling _ its request for the U.N. Security Council to hold an emergency meeting on the dispute over contested land near a historic temple, Hor Namhong told reporters.

Foreign ministers from both countries are scheduled to meet Monday in the Cambodian city of Siem Reap.

"This is a new step in our goodwill to try to find a solution to the problem through peaceful negotiations," Hor Namhong said after meeting …

City estimates its flood costs at $40 million

The city estimated Wednesday that the bill for the Loop floodcould hit about $40 million but contended the federal government willpick up most of the tab.

Mayor Daley repeated his pledge to tighten the city's beltrather than raise taxes to meet flood costs, while Gov. Edgarcautioned that the total bill "could be more."

Daley and city Budget Director Karen Danczak-Lyons releasedpreliminary figures showing a $37.3 million bill "to date" foremergency, cleanup and tunnel repair work since the April 13 flood.

Cleanup and repair costs at City Hall itself are stillundetermined, Danczak-Lyons said, and those and other expenses couldpush up the $37.3 million figure.

That amount does not include the potential costs of legalliability for damages, losses incurred by the CTA and other agencies,downtown business losses or the cost of repairs to the tunnel systemafter permanent bulkheads are installed at the Kinzie Street Bridgeleak site.

Daley said the federal government would pay all but about $10.5million of the $37.3 million. The state already has contributed $3million, leaving Chicago and the state to haggle over how to splitthe remaining $7.5 million.

Costs identified by the city include: $3.6 million for workers' pay, overtime and benefits during thefirst five days of the emergency. $4.5 million paid to Kenny Construction Co., divers and othercontractors hired to stop the tunnel leak at Kinzie. $165,000 in lost utility, lodging and other taxes because of thetemporary Loop business shutdown.

While the city acknowledged that its estimates were preliminary,Toni Hartrich, research director for the Civic Federation, ataxpayers' watchdog group, said: "Heaven only knows what the (final)number is. The question is what it's going to work out to in thelong run."

Euro falls to 17-month low against dollar

NEW YORK (AP) — The euro fell to a 17-month low against the dollar on news reports that France's credit rating might be downgraded by Standard & Poor's.

The euro fell to $1.2623 Friday morning, its lowest level since Aug. 25, 2010. The euro was worth $1.2827 late Thursday.

If France were downgraded it could hurt efforts to resolve Europe's debt crisis. A lowered credit rating means it could cost more to fund bailouts of heavily indebted countries like Greece.

The dollar is rallying against most other currencies. The British pound is down to $1.5251 from $1.5342. The dollar is up to 76.94 Japanese yen from 76.76.

US stocks point to mixed open as oil declines

Stocks headed for a narrowly mixed open Tuesday as investors juggled unease about the financial sector with enthusiasm over another drop in oil prices.

Wall Street's latest reminder that troubles remain in the financial sector came when JPMorgan Chase & Co. said late Monday it has incurred wider losses in its mortgage holdings so far in the third quarter than in the second quarter.

The company's disclosure in a regulatory filing that it has lost $1.5 billion, after hedges, in its mortgage-backed securities and loans this quarter offered fresh signs of the scope of the troubles in the credit markets. In the second quarter, the company's losses tied to souring mortgage debt totaled $1.1 billion.

Still, some investors likely saw the losses as relatively small compared with the more than $300 billion that financial institutions have written down over all in the past year.

Adding to jitters about financials, UBS AG said Tuesday it had further losses and write-downs of $5.1 billion during the second quarter of 2008.

Yet investors received welcome news as oil continued its retreat, falling to a 3-month low Tuesday as a stronger dollar and weakening crude demand from China weighed on investor sentiment. Light, sweet crude fell $1.34 to $113.11 a barrel. Oil has fallen more than $30 from its July 11 high of $147.27, easing concerns about inflation.

Dow Jones industrial average futures fell 11, or 0.10 percent, to 11,757. Standard & Poor's 500 index futures rose 0.90, or 0.07 percent, to 1,306.00. Nasdaq 100 index advanced 7.00, or 0.36 percent, to 1,950.00.

Bonds were little changed. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its price, was unchanged at 4.00 percent from late Monday.

The dollar was higher against most other major currencies, while gold prices fell.

Beyond the moves of commodity prices, investors are awaiting a Commerce Department report on the nation's trade deficit for June. While it had been narrowing, economists expect the trade deficit to jump in June because of the country's rising bill for foreign oil. Crude didn't begin its decline until mid-July.

The deficit for June is expected to climb to $61.5 billion, according to the consensus forecast of Wall Street economists surveyed by Thomson/IFR. In May, the deficit shrank to $59.8 billion as a weaker dollar helped to boost U.S. exports to a new high.

___

On the Net:

New York Stock Exchange: http://www.nyse.com

Nasdaq Stock Market: http://www.nasdaq.com

Falcon Dakota reaches American National aged final

Two of the elite aged pacers in the nation, Tune Town and MasterBarney, distinguished themselves with elimination victories Saturdaynight at Balmoral Park, but local favorite Falcon Dakota stayed inthe hunt for a third consecutive American National victory.

In the first $30,000 heat, Tune Town - the 1997 aged pacer ofthe year - made the front early and catchdriver Dale Hiteman slowedthe pace. The half went in 57 2; 5, downright pedestrian for pacersof this caliber, which allowed Tune Town to have plenty in reserve inthe stretch. He needed it to hold off the first-over bid of FalconDakota and the passing-lane charge of West Coast wonder LittleSteven, who finished second.

A 26-second final quarter allowed Tune Town to pace the milein 1:51 4; 5. Falcon Dakota hung on gamely for third and the $3,600payday moved the 9-year-old gelding to within $5,019 of $1 million incareer earnings. Others moving into next Saturday's $225,000 finalwere Firm Belief and millionaire Dream Away.

In the second elimination, driver Dave Magee sent odds-onfavorite Master Barney three wide, driving past Hi Ho Silverheels andTulane to win in 1:50 4; 5. Master Barney, the division's leader inthe first three months of 1998, broke the Balmoral record for a4-year-old pacer. Tulane, who raced wide throughout and dueled Hi HoSilverheels from the half-mile pole, was a neck behind the winner.Hi Ho Silverheels finished third, while Whittingham and The Big Dogalso advanced.

Illinois State Fair: Taser Gun became the secondIllinois-conceived-and-foaled pacer to break the 1:50 barrier,battling Joe Anderson trainee Sportswolf throughout before winning bya neck in 1:49 3; 5 in one of two eliminations in the colt pacedivision of the Illinois State Fair Colt Stakes for 3-year-olds.

The first sub-1:50 standardbred in Illinois history, Big Tom,won his heat by 5 1/4 lengths in 1:50 2; 5, setting up what should bea sizzling duel in the $50,000 final Wednesday in Springfield.Driver-trainer Anderson put Big Tom in the lead early and controlledthe fractions before pacing the final quarter in 26 2; 5 seconds.Other notables advancing include Sportswolf, who also was creditedwith a 1:49 3; 5 clocking, Ill Wind, Austen John and Telewacken.

AMS POLICY PROGRAM

"Surpassed all previous training I've had with the government. Spot on!" "I could not honestly grade anything less than 10. Just fantastic." "The sum of all parts exceeded even the high expectations with which I began." "Much needed." "Excellent! I can't express enough how valuable this experience has been for me." "I can think of virtually nothing to improve."

These are just a few of the uniformly positive participant reactions-from government scientists, from university researchers, from the private sector-to last year's AMS Summer Policy Colloquium. Indeed, the evaluations have been glowing every year since the colloquium started in June 2001.

On 5-14 June 2005, the AMS will conduct its fifth colloquium in this ongoing series. The 10-day experience will bring another 40 people from our field together in Washington, D.C., for a brief but intense overview of the U.S. science policy process. Most participants are midcareer and funded by their host institutions, but 10 or so will be graduate students, selected by a national competition on the basis of their scientific ability and leadership potential, and funded through a grant provided by the Paleoclimate Program of the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Geosciences' Division of Atmospheric Sciences. Student interest is growing. This year almost 40 students applied, a dramatic increase from last year. Word of mouth has really helped the colloquium. Sometimes it takes years to get the first participant from a given institution. But after he or she goes back home and reports, the applications start coming in a steady stream.

Colloquium speakers are first rank. They have included Congressional staffers; Congressmen (Vern Ehlers, R-MI, and Rush Holt, D-NJ); former President's Science Advisers (Frank Press, D. Allan Bromley, Jack Gibbons, and Neal Lane); top officials from NOAA, NASA, NSF, the Department of Energy, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the United States Geological Survey, as well as the White House; noted science journalists; entrepreneurs from our field (including Joel Myers, Paul MacCready, Bob Baron, Chuck Kolb, and Cecilia Sze); and many others. Interestingly, the speakers also like the colloquium experience. They find the participants to be a lively group, they express appreciation for the generous amount of time set aside for discussion, and they uniformly indicate a desire to return.

The ten days in Washington are just the tip of the iceberg. Participants get a hefty dose of preassigned reading, and in subsequent years, are invited to special events at the AMS Annual Meeting. They are building lifelong professional collaborations as they all continue to advance their careers. Already, the process appears to be working. Graduate students in the early years of the program have entered into junior faculty positions. Faculty members from prior years are now department chairs. Some have gone on to more senior university positions and seats on important national advisory boards. Government scientist alumni are moving into leadership positions of greater purview. Alumni events at the San Diego Annual Meeting drew over 60 former participants. Many more couldn't attend because they were playing important roles in other parts of the Annual Meeting.

All this cannot happen too soon. For years, the major limitations slowing progress in our field were the lack of scientific understanding and the rudimentary state of sensing, computing, and communications technologies. Today, policy is a major constraint. Policies determine levels of investment in needed infrastructure and human resources, sustain long-standing but nonetheless fragile international agreements on data sharing, and support or inhibit the rate of transfer of R&D into new services, and much more.

I wish everyone could share my ringside seat at these yearly events. I know we face major Earth science and policy challenges, and it is tempting to become pessimistic about where we're headed. But when I meet these young people, look at their resumes, watch them dialogue with policy leaders, and see them start to collaborate with each other, I know our future is in capable hands. Today's generation really understands and embraces the link between sound science and effective policy.

[Sidebar]

There are still slots available for participants in this year's colloquium. Visit the AMS Web site at www.ametsoc.org/ atmospolicy/colloquium_summer.html or e-mail Bill Hooke at hooke@dc.ametsoc.org.

[Author Affiliation]

-WILLIAM H. HOOKE, DIRECTOR, AMS POLICY PROGRAM

Traders promoting village

Cheddar traders are still awaiting answers to questions from theparish council over the rumours that a supermarket is set to takeover Bowdens Park, the home of the village football team.

The promised statement from the club via their public relationsfirm Feisty PR and Sports Solutions came last thing on Tuesday thisweek prompting mixed reactions. Some thought a new super marketwould boost trade in the village while others saw it as a hammerblow.

Letters of support for a new super market and bigger footballground have been sent to the Cheddar Valley Gazette.

One is from Tim Richens who is vice chairman of the footballclub. Mr Richens explains the benefits of having improved sportingfacilities.

Meanwhile in Cheddar the traders have been vigorously promotingtheir shops to highlight the amount of businesses there are in thecommunity with a window display at the library for their Keep ItLocal campaign.

They are behind a competition to encourage families this half-term holiday to use the local shops.

Budgens are undergoing a major refit that will give the store anew look next month. Changes include a pharmacy and a Subway cafe.

But with a new Tesco planned, speculation is mounting over thefuture of the village shops.

See letters to the editor on page 28.

'Arnie,' 'Al' Push Climate Action

UNITED NATIONS - "Arnie" and "Al," Republican and Democrat, shared the world spotlight to press for climate action, adding a touch of star quality to the staid proceedings of a U.N. summit.

The two headliners, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and former Vice President Al Gore, also highlighted by their presence President Bush's absence from the eight hours of high-level speechmaking Monday on what to do about global warming.

Bush, who did take part later in a small, private U.N. dinner with key players on climate, rejects the idea of international treaty obligations to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and other "greenhouse gases" blamed for global warming - an idea central to U.N. climate negotiations.

The Republican Schwarzenegger, on the other hand, has taken the lead on emissions caps at the state level, signing legislation mandating such reductions in California.

"One responsibility we all have is action. Action, action, action," the former Hollywood action star said as he helped open the summit, winning warm applause from the assembled presidents and premiers.

The Democrat Gore - a Hollywood figure himself as the lead in the Oscar-winning climate documentary "An Inconvenient Truth" - took his star turn at a summit luncheon, where he cited a lengthening list of global warming's impacts, from the shrinking Arctic ice cap to disappearing lakes in Africa.

"The need to act is now," Gore told delegates to the one-day summit, which drew more than 80 world leaders. "We need a mandate at Bali."

He was referring the annual U.N. climate treaty conference, scheduled for December in Bali, Indonesia, where the Europeans and others hope to initiate talks for an emissions-reduction agreement to succeed the Kyoto Protocol in 2012.

The 175-nation Kyoto pact, which the U.S. rejects, requires 36 industrial nations to reduce the heat-trapping gases emitted by power plants and other industrial, agricultural and transportation sources. The 1997 agreement set relatively small target reductions averaging 5 percent below 1990 levels by 2012.

The advocates of emissions caps say a breakthrough is needed at Bali to ensure an uninterrupted transition from the Kyoto deal to a new, deeper-cutting regime, something that almost certainly would require a change in the position of the U.S., long the world's biggest emitter of greenhouse gases.

Bush objects that Kyoto-style mandates would damage the U.S. economy and says they should be imposed on fast-growing poorer countries such as China and India in addition to developed nations. He instead is urging industry to cut emissions voluntarily and is emphasizing research on clean-energy technology as one answer.

On Thursday and Friday, Bush will host his own Washington climate meeting, limited to 16 "major emitter" countries, including China and India, the first in a series of U.S.-led gatherings expected to focus on those themes.

"The Washington meeting is a distraction," Hans Verolme, climate campaigner for the Worldwide Fund for Nature, told reporters here. The Bush administration needs "to show they are serious and implement domestic legislation to reduce emissions," he said.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, speaking at the summit, put the Washington meetings in a different light, describing them as designed "to support and help advance the ongoing U.N. discussion."

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Jiang Yu said Tuesday that Xie Zhenghua, the vice director of the National Development and Reform Commission, will represent China at the meeting. "We wish the meeting success in promoting better cooperation between major economic entities ... to press ahead on the track of the U.N. (Framework Convention on Climate Change) and the Kyoto Protocol," Jiang said at a briefing.

Late Monday, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon was asked by reporters about Bush's position during the informal dinner discussions. "He made it quite clear that what he's going to do is help the United Nations' effort," he replied. On Tuesday, Brazil's president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, emerged from a bilateral meeting with Bush saying the U.S. president told him he was ready to be more flexible on climate.

Japan's envoy, former Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori, told the summit Tokyo believes the separate U.S. talks will "contribute to achieving consensus" in the U.N. process, in which all agree that China, India and others must eventually accept emission limits.

But Japan, the Europeans and others, to one degree or another, stressed that all nations - including the United States - must accept binding emissions targets, something Bush gives no sign of doing.

To try to spur global negotiations, the European Union, which must reduce emissions by 8 percent under Kyoto, has committed unilaterally to a further reduction of at least 20 percent by 2020.

Speaking for the EU, French President Nicolas Sarkozy told Monday's gathering that "all the developed countries and the largest emitters" must commit to a 50 percent reduction by 2050. In a comment clearly aimed at Washington, he also said the U.N. negotiations are the only "legitimate framework," a point stressed repeatedly by Ban as well.

New role is seen for older workers

Older workers, often pushed out the door amid the corporatelayoffs of the 1980s and 1990s, are likely to emerge over comingyears as hot prospects in the job market, a new study has concluded.

"Employers are going to have to make a 180-degree shift from the1980s' downsizing mentality, when the urge was to slim down andcollapse the managerial hierarchy," said Richard W. Judy, a co-authorof the Hudson Institute study.

Instead, Judy said, employers will overhaul their workplaces andemployment practices to find ways to hire and retain aging babyboomers.The study by Hudson, a conservative nonprofit group based inIndianapolis, is a followup to Hudson's much-promoted 1987 study,Workforce 2000, which predicted a substantial influx of women,minorities and immigrants into the labor force.The new Hudson report anticipates a continuing, albeit gradual,increase in women and minorities in the workplace. It predicts thatthe portion of the work force consisting of minorities will edge upfrom 23 percent in 1994 to 26 percent in 2005. Likewise, thepercentage of women is expected to inch up from 46 percent to 48percent over the same period.The new report repeats previous warnings that employersincreasingly will struggle to find workers with badly needed,technologically up-to-date job skills.Judy, a Harvard-trained economist and former businessman, saidsome of the thirst for skilled employees will be eased by increasedautomation or by shifting work overseas. But on top of that, hepredicted, employers will lure aging baby boomers back to work withhigher pay, flexible schedules and, where possible, increased use oftelecommuting.So far, however, Judy acknowledged, most big companies haven'trecognized the assets that older workers provide.Judy said part of the impetus for increasing employment of olderworkers will come from the aging baby boomers themselves. Many willgrow bored with retirement, he said, and others will need the money."They haven't saved enough, and Social Security benefits aregoing to be eroded one way or another," Judy said.For employers, he said, the coming trend will present risks andmanagement challenges. One of the problems will be that having moreolder employees in the workplace may mean fewer promotionopportunities and more frustration for younger staffers, Judy said.

Olga Heller

Olga Heller, 95, a charity worker and widow of a Chicagomanufacturer, died Tuesday in her North Side home.

She was married to Abraham M. Heller, now deceased, whoseAmerican Products on North Milwaukee produced raincoats.

Until two years ago, Mrs. Heller was an active member ofHadassah, American Red Cross, the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, andthe Jewish United Fund. She also participated in Israel Bondcampaigns.

Mrs. Heller was born and reared on the Northwest Side. Afterattending Darwin grammar school, she helped her mother care for thefamily until she married and became a mother.

For many years, she belonged to the Emanuel Congregation andsisterhood.

Survivors include two sons, David, a former president of HaroldWashington College, and Eugene; eight grandchildren, and sixgreat-grandchildren.

Services will be at 2 p.m. today at Piser Weinstein MenorahChapel, 5206 N. Broadway. Burial will be in Westlawn Cemetery, 7801W. Montrose.

LA Detectives receive Gibson audio recordings

Detectives investigating Mel Gibson for a possible domestic violence case have received audio recordings from a court deciding the actor-director's child custody case, authorities said Thursday.

Sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore said CDs were turned over during a closed session in the custody case. The hearing was attended by several sheriff's investigators, including detectives who look in possible child abuse.

Whitmore declined to say whether the investigation into domestic violence allegations had expanded. "I'm not going to get into why they're there," he said.

Attorneys for Gibson and ex-girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva did not speak to reporters after the hearing. The former couple are involved in a dispute over custody arrangements of their 8-month-old daughter.

The case is sealed and all proceedings have been done in closed session.

Gibson's criminal attorney, Blair Berk, also attended the hearing.

Whitmore said detectives will now work to authenticate the recordings released by the court. He did not say how many recordings were included or how long they were.

It is unclear whether the recordings include those that have been posted by the celebrity website RadarOnline.com. The site has posted more than 20 minutes of recordings of arguments between a man who sounds distinctly like Gibson and a woman identified by the site as Grigorieva.

In the profanity-laced clips, the man is heard using two racial slurs and several derogatory terms for women.

Whitmore said detectives still hope to speak to Gibson, who has not yet been interviewed.

Detectives are looking into allegations that Gibson harmed Grigorieva during a January confrontation. He said he would not speculate on when the case would be turned over to prosecutors, who will decide whether Gibson should face criminal charges.

"It's not going to be rushed," Whitmore said.

German jobless rate down to 8.5 percent

The unemployment rate in Germany, Europe's biggest economy, declined to 8.5 percent in March as a traditional seasonal upturn boosted a resilient labor market, official data showed Wednesday.

The unadjusted rate was down from 8.7 percent in February, with 3.568 million people registered as jobless _ down 75,000 on the month and 18,000 on the year. Warmer spring weather generally helps bring down the figures by reviving construction and seasonal jobs.

"The spring revival has reached the labor market," Federal Labor Agency chief Frank-Juergen Weise said. But "even beyond seasonal influences, the German labor market has coped well with the economic crisis."

In seasonally adjusted terms, the unemployment rate dipped to 8 percent in March after five consecutive months at 8.1 percent. The number of people out of work declined by 31,000 on the month _ compared with economists' prediction of an increase of 7,000.

Germany's economy returned to modest growth last year after a sharp recession but stagnated in the fourth quarter. However, exports _ Germany's traditional economic motor _ have been recovering.

Unemployment also has been tamed by a government-backed program that allows companies to put workers on reduced hours in an effort to avoid layoffs. The labor agency estimated that some 850,000 people were involved in that program in the first quarter.

Even an exceptionally hard winter failed to push up unemployment dramatically this year.

Alexander Koch, an economist at UniCredit in Munich, noted that there has been a strong increase recently in demand for temporary workers.

"We do not expect a sizable rise in unemployment in the course of this year any more," Koch wrote in a research note _ although "if it turns out that the current global economic recovery is not as strong as widely expected, firms may have to revise their employment strategy in the end."

In another hopeful sign for the economy, a group representing the machinery industry said Wednesday that orders in the sector were up 26 percent on the year in February _ returning to growth after a disappointing dip in January.

Orders from abroad led the way with a 32 percent rise, while orders from inside Germany were up 16 percent, the VDMA group said.

WEBB'S SIGHT: Art for your sake

Lots of public art news on the horizon this week. First, Rounding the Curve by Boise artist Susan Latta is now installed at the entrance to the City Centre Parking Garage on 8th Street at Front. The piece, an abstract steel sculpture is a "Temporary Public Art Project" funded by the Capital City Development Corporation. Says the artist, "Rounding the Curve is a literal reference to driving the circle to the top of the parking garage." The piece is made mostly of recycled steel, including real car parts.

The same neck of the woods--that certain "no man's land" at Grove and 9th is the site of another public art project-to-be. A local jury organized by Boise City Arts Commission chose Boise artist Amy Westover to design a new city-owned piece to enhance the area. The plan is to reduce traffic lanes from four to two, creating a pedestrian area (and art site) across from the Boise Convention Center. The area, though it's a bit nondescript at the moment, is rich with history. Grove Street was an epicenter of Victorian high life, and also saw its share of boarding house and ethnic cultures (Basque and Chinese). These themes may ... or may not ... appear in Westover's finished work.

Finally, another public jury has chosen Boisean Elizabeth Wolf to design a terrazzo floor medallion for the remodeled airport's main terminal. Wolf's design (shown here) features a regional map, compass points, water imagery and syringas, the state flower.

Old words ... With help from an Idaho Humanities Council grant, author and Nez Perce elder Horace Axtell and writer/producer Margo Aragon have completed the translation of Nez Perces First Book: Designed for Children and New Beginners. The book is considered the oldest book in the Pacific Northwest. It was printed in 1839 on a press provided by the Presbyterian Hawaiian Island Mission and sent to Henry Spalding's Lapwai Mission in (what is now) northern Idaho. The text, religious in content, was written in an early "spelled" form of the Nez Perce language. It followed resolutions passed by missionaries to "apply ourselves to the study of the native language and reduce it to writing." If you'd like to know more about the book, plan ahead: The Idaho Historical Museum hosts a lecture on the book at 1 p.m. on Saturday, May 11.

Cowboys on film ... John Rogers a Meridian photographer, recently won the Kodak Gallery Award, created by the company's "professional division" to recognize excellence in photography. Rogers' winning photograph, No Escape (shown below) also won fans among the BW staff. Everyone who saw it, agreed it was quite wonderful. Rogers can be found at Shadow West Photography in Meridian.

Photograph (Terrazzo floor medallion)

Havret, Lara Lead Mickelson at Scottish

LUSS, Scotland - Gregory Havret and Jose Manuel Lara shared a one-stroke lead over Phil Mickelson Friday, while Colin Montgomerie missed the cut at the Scottish Open.

Havret birdied five holes on the back nine for a 64. Lara had an eagle and two birdies on his last six holes for a 65. They finished at 10-under 132.

Mickelson said he was fortunate to shoot a 68, because "I wasn't hitting it where I wanted to."

Montgomerie, who won the European Open on Sunday, shot a 3-over 74, missing the cut the week before the British Open for the first time in his career.

"I just didn't putt well today," Montgomerie said. "I hit 27 out of 28 fairways (over two days). That proves it's a putting competition and I just didn't putt well. There's nothing wrong with my game. I just don't get the ball in the hole the way I should."

Montgomerie said he would go home to London for the weekend before heading to the British Open at Carnoustie on Tuesday.

Ernie Els tied for seventh after shooting a 66. Retief Goosen, Miguel Angel Jimenez and David Howell also missed the cut.

Mickelson finished his round in heavy rain but felt he had missed a chance earlier to post a better score.

"I didn't feel all that great today," he said. "I was fighting it on the tee and fighting it with the putter, but I got away with a couple of bad shots that stayed in play."

He did not have a bogey on the back nine. His only bogey came earlier, at the long sixth hole.

Mickelson had shared the first-round lead with Graeme Storm, Soren Hansen and Lee Westwood, who shot 72, 73 and 74 respectively, on Friday.

Marleau leads Sharks over Kings

SAN JOSE, California (AP) — Patrick Marleau scored once and assisted on San Jose's other two second-period goals as the Sharks beat the Los Angeles Kings 4-2 in the NHL on Monday.

Joe Thornton started the second-period outburst and Dan Boyle capped it by scoring his first of the season with San Jose on a two-man advantage. Logan Couture added a third-period goal.

Jack Johnson had scored on a two-man advantage to give the Kings a 1-0 lead but Los Angeles lost its fifth straight game. Anze Kopitar also scored a power-play goal for the visitors.

This was the first meeting of the season between the two California rivals, who played a tense first-round playoff series last season, won by San Jose in six games, including three overtime wins for the Sharks.

Bruins 6, Islanders 2

In Boston, Nathan Horton had two goals and an assist, and Tuukka Rask stopped 24 shots to earn his first win of the season as Boston comfortably beat New York.

The win pulled the defending Stanley Cup champions out of last place in the Eastern Conference. The have won three in a row for the first time this season.

New York pulled the goalie down 5-2 with 4:02 left, and David Krejci scored an empty-netter with 2:48 to play. Krejci had a goal and two assists in the game, giving him back-to-back three-point games after going scoreless in his previous six.

Somali charged in attack on Danish cartoonist

An ax-wielding Somali man with suspected al-Qaida links was charged Saturday with two counts of attempted murder after breaking into the home of a Danish artist whose Prophet Muhammad cartoon outraged the Muslim world three years ago.

The suspect, who was shot twice by a police officer responding to the scene, was rolled into a Danish court on a stretcher, his face covered. He was ordered held for four weeks on preliminary charges of attempting to murder the cartoonist, as well as the police officer who shot him.

Efforts to protect the artist _ 74-year-old Kurt Westergaard _ were immediately stepped up, as he was moved to an undisclosed location.

The suspect, described by authorities as a 28-year-old Somali with ties to al-Qaida, allegedly broke into the house late Friday armed with an ax and a knife. The house is in Aarhus, Denmark's second largest city, 125 miles (200 kilometers) northwest of Copenhagen.

Jakob Scharf, head of Denmark's PET intelligence agency, said Saturday the man might have attacked spontaneously.

"It seems that he acted alone, and maybe it was a sudden decision," Scharf told Danish broadcaster TV2. He was not immediately available for further comment.

Westergaard, who has been the target of several death threats since depicting the Prophet Muhammad with a bomb-shaped turban, has been under round-the-clock protection by Danish police since February 2008.

When he heard someone trying to break into his home, he pressed an alarm and fled to a specially made safe room. His five-year-old granddaughter who was on a sleep-over, sat on a sofa and saw the suspect trying vainly to get into the bathroom-turned-shelter.

Officers arrived two minutes later and tried to arrest the assailant. He threatened the officers with the ax, and one officer then shot him in the hand and knee, Preben Nielsen of the Aarhus police said.

Nielsen said the man's wounds were serious but not life-threatening.

Westergaard could not be reached for comment, but he told his employer _ the Jyllands-Posten newspaper _ that the assailant shouted "Revenge!" and "Blood!" as he tried to enter the bathroom where Westergaard had sought shelter.

"It was scary. It was close _ really close," he said, according to the newspaper's Web site.

The Somali man, whose name cannot be released because of a court order, was accompanied by a lawyer. He arrived at the court in Aarhus from the hospital where he is being treated, and denied the charges.

"He will be in custody for four weeks, and in isolation for two (of those)," said Chief Superintendent Ole Madsen in Aarhus. He said the suspect would be moved to a prison in Aarhus, which has medical facilities.

Defense lawyer Niels Christian Strauss told reporters outside the court he had urged his client to remain silent to allow more time to examine the evidence.

Danish Prime Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen called the attack "despicable."

"This is not only an attack on Kurt Westergaard but also an attack on our open society and our democracy," he said in a statement.

In 2005, Jyllands-Posten had asked Danish cartoonists to draw Muhammad as a challenge to a perceived self-censorship. Westergaard and 11 other artists did so. Danish and other Western embassies in several Muslim countries were torched in early 2006 by angry protesters who felt the cartoons had profoundly insulted Islam.

Islamic law generally opposes any depiction of the prophet, even favorable, for fear it could lead to idolatry.

Westergaard remains a potential target for extremists nearly five years later: His cartoon is viewed as the most provocative, and he is the only of the twelve cartoonists to live under round-the-clock protection.

Authorities declined comment on whether security for other cartoonists had been tightened.

The Somali man had won an asylum case and received a residency permit to stay in Denmark, Scharf said. He called the Friday attack terror-related.

"The arrested man has, according to PET's information, close relations to the Somali terrorist group al-Shabab and al-Qaida leaders in eastern Africa," Scharf said. "(The attack) again confirms the terror threat that is directed at Denmark and against the cartoonist Kurt Westergaard in particular."

Scharf said the man is suspected of having been involved in terror-related activities in east Africa and had been under PET's surveillance, but not in connection with Westergaard.

In Somalia, Sheikh Ali Mohamud Rage, a spokesman for the Somali group al-Shabab, denied the man was member of the group, but supported his alleged attack on the cartoonist.

"We welcome the brave action he did," Rage said. "It was a good and brave step taken by that Somali man against the criminal cartoonist _ we liked it."

He described Westergaard as "the devil who abused our Prophet Muhammad" and called on "all Somalis in Denmark and around the world to target him and the people like him, too."

Westergaard has received previous death threats and was the subject of an alleged assassination plot.

In October, terrorism charges were brought against two Chicago men who allegedly planned to kill him and newspaper's former cultural editor. That trial has not yet begun.

In 2008, Danish police arrested two Tunisian men suspected of plotting to kill Westergaard. Police failed to substantiate the charges and neither suspect was prosecuted. One was deported and the other was released Monday after an immigration board rejected PET's efforts to expel him from Denmark.

Throughout the crisis three years ago, then-Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen distanced himself from the cartoons but resisted calls to apologize for them, citing freedom of speech and saying his government could not be held responsible for the actions of Denmark's press.

An umbrella organization for moderate Muslims in Denmark condemned the Friday attack.

"The Danish Muslim Union strongly distances itself from the attack and any kind of extremism that leads to such acts," the group said in a statement.

------------

Associated Press reporter Mohamed Olad Hassan in Mogadishu, Somalia contributed to this report.

Warm the Children, O Sun: Selected Prose Fiction by Olha Kobylianska, Olena Pchilka, Nataliya Kobrynska, Lyubov Yanovska;, Hrytsko Hryhorenko, and Lesya Ukrainka / For a Crust...

Sonia Morris, ed. Roma Franko, trans. Warm the Children, O Sun: Selected Prose Fiction by Olha Kobylianska, Olena Pchilka, Nataliya Kobrynska, Lyubov Yanovska, Hrytsko Hryhorenko, and Lesya Ukrainka. Women's Voices in Ukrainian Literature, vol. V. Saskatoon, SK: Language Lanterns Publications, 2000. iv, 471 pp. $14.95, paper.

Sonia Morris, ed. Roma Franko, trans. For a Crust of Bread: Selected Prose Fiction by Nataliya Kobrynska, Olena Pchilka, Lyubov Yanovska, Olha Kobylianska, Yevheniya Yaroshynska, Hrytsko Hryhorenko and Lesya Ukrainka. Women's Voices in Ukrainian Literature, vol. VI. Saskatoon, SK: Language Lanterns Publications. 2000. iv, 471 pp. $14.95, paper.

Two sisters, both respected academics and members of the teaching profession, have conceived a monumental project for their retirement years: the translation into English of selected prose works of nineteenth- and twentieth-century Ukrainian women authors. Six sizeable volumes have already appeared in print. As they indicate in the Introduction, it was the "indomitable spirit" of their mother, a Ukrainian immigrant to Canada, that inspired them to undertake such a huge task.

The following writers are represented in the series: Olena Pchilka ( 1849-1930), Natalia Kobrynska (1855-1920), Dniprova Chayka (1861-1927), Lyubov Yanovska (1861-1933), Olha Kobylianska (1863-1942), Hrytsko Hryhorenko (1867-1924), Yevhenia Yaroshynska (1868-1904), and Lesya Ukrainka (1871-1913). The volumes here reviewed are a continuation of the above series of translations which started appearing in 1998. Some forty selections have been included in these two volumes.

The translator and editor further explain why and how the individual works have been chosen. Until recently, very few such selections have been available in other languages. The series contains a whole range of works from vignettes to short novels and has as its aim to acquaint the wider circle of readers in English with the part of Ukrainian literature written by women. The interpretation is from a woman's perspective. Volumes I to IV have a larger number of selections from two authors each, while volumes V and VI deal with works of six or seven of them. Translations in volume V form an anthology devoted to the lives of children and adolescents. In those days, children were not treated fairly by society. They had the status of their parents and, in the lower classes, it was difficult for them to break out from the perennial cycle of economic and social inequality. Volume VI underlines the social values, among them the institution of marriage in the society of the time. The laws regarding marriage were not to be questioned by women: it was next to impossible for a married woman to shape her life independently from her husband. The writers of the time, however, were not constrained with what we currently call "political correctness." They could, and did on occasion, write with derision about individuals and ethnic groups and classes of society.

Historically, the times when these authors created were not conducive to the development of the Ukrainian national language. Especially in the part of Ukraine that was under Russian jurisdiction, there existed an official ban on publishing in Ukrainian. The individual writers, both men and women, if they wanted to see their works in print, had to find ways of arranging for their publication outside the Russian Empire. If the Russian literature of the nineteenth and early-twentieth century was permeated with the idea of social consciousness, the Ukrainian one had to champion national freedom, in addition to the social freedom. These elements are reflected in various ways in the works selected.

The authors' feminist tradition was evident. They knew each other. Some of them cooperated on joint projects such as Perch vinok (The First Garland)-one of the first almanacs of writings by women from both Eastern and Western Ukraine produced anywhere. It was published in 1887. They were all members of the intelligentsia and had the best education available to women at the time. This included an extensive knowledge of languages like German, Russian, Polish, Romanian, since they lived under various foreign regimes and influences. Lesya Ukrainka, for example, had a reading knowledge of a dozen or so languages, and even wrote in some of them. It was not uncommon for individual writers to be proficient in French as well. One could mention here Aleksandra Sudovshchykova-Kosach, using the masculine pseudonym of Hrytsko Hryhorenko, who did a number of literary translations from French into Ukrainian and vice versa. She reminds this reviewer, to some extent, of the French feminist writer Aurore Dudevant (1804-1876), better known as George Sand, who penned dozens of novels and stories about the lives of French peasants-a field Hryhorenko pursued in Ukrainian.

The translator and editor of the series were faced with a difficult task of how to tackle the idioms, the regional collquial language, the terms and phrases coined from other Slavic and non-Slavic languages, for example, German and Yiddish. Ditties, poems, some of them in other languages, like Polish, were translated in rhymed prose or verse. Local measures for distances, weights, size were rendered in Canadian terms to be better understood by the North American reader. Feminine surnames derived from adjectival forms were preserved rather than converted to the masculine forms as is the custom in English. The translators decided on the criterion of "readability" to guide them in their task. Thus, their versions contain standard idiomatic English with addition of occasional explanations of words and phrases in brackets. Some standardized forms are chosen for all selections although there might have been a regional discrepancy in the meaning of certain words. Thus, for instance, the word "pan" is rendered through "lord," rather than through "master," and the word "gimnaziia" appears as "high school," instead of "lycee" or "secondary school." This, however, does not detract from the readability. Occasionally, the translators choose a non-appropriate meaning of the word. For example, in Ukrainian the same noun and adjective is used for the term "south" and "noon." On page 129, vol. V, it follows from the text of the story that there was the "midday sun," and not the "southern sunshine." It is unavoidable that in the text of such length there appear some proof- reading lapses or typographical errors, but they are very rare.

On the whole, these are excellent translations in a field whose recognition has been long overdue in Ukrainian, since other priorities had been more pressing. Such additions are most welcome and the translators are to be congratulated for undertaking such a great task. The works show that Ukrainian women authors occupy a high place not only in their own literature, but also in European literature. They may be favourably compared with what is the best in world writing as well.

[Author Affiliation]

Victor O. Buyniak, University of Saskatchewan

Bill to abolish Illinois death penalty heading to governor

(ProQuest: ... denotes text stops here in original.)

SPRINGFIELD, 111. - The Illinois Senate voted Tuesday to abolish capital punishment, sending the historic issue to Gov. Pat Quinn and putting the state back at the center of an ongoing national debate.

Quinn wouldn't say whether he would sign the legislation.

In a state that has removed 20 wrongly condemned people from death row since 1987, the Senate voted 32-25 to end execution more than a decade after a former governor halted the punishment he called "haunted by the demon of error."

"We have a historic opportunity today, an opportunity to part company with countries that are the worst civil rights violators and join the civilized world by ending this practice of putting to death innocent people," said Sen. Kwame Raoul, the Chicago Democrat who sponsored the measure.

Illinois would be the fourth state since 2007 to rid its books of capital punishment.

But Democrat Quinn. already wrapped up in a debate over a massive tax increase that could sully his political future, won't say what he will do with an issue historically so explosive it can end careers. He supports the death penalty but said he would not lift the moratorium on executions imposed in 2000 by then-Gov. George Ryan until he was sure the system worked.

National experts and advocates said repeal in Illinois - which has executed a dozen people in the last three decades and at one time had 170 condemned inmates - puts weight behind the national discussion.

"This is a state in which this was used and then stopped, it was debated for years, fixed - or reformed - and finally there was a resolution by just getting rid of it, so that's about as thorough a process as any state could do," said Richard Dieter. executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center. "Thai's significant."

Former law enforcement officials in the Senate had argued prosecutors need the threat of death to get guilty pleas from suspects who opt for life in prison. They said allowing police and state's attorneys to continue seeking capital punishment will make them more willing to accept reforms in the ways crimes are investigated and prosecuted.

Others argued citizens still want the death penalty option for the worst of crimes.

"It's not a question of vengeance," said Sen. Bill Haine, D-AIton. "it's a question of the people being outraged at such terrible crimes, such bloodletting."

Illinois would join 15 states and the District of Columbia in ridding its books of capital punishment, including three - New Jersey, New Mexico, and New York - since 2007. A New York court declared the state's law unconstitutional in 2004 but decreed three years later it applied to the last inmate on death row.

"It's a clear trend," said Debra Erenberg, Midwest regional director...

France on guard after al-Qaida threat

PARIS - French officials were on guard Wednesday after an al-Qaida affiliate threatened vengeance for President Nicolas Sarkozy'scriticism of the face-covering veils worn by some Muslim women.

France is maintaining "very great vigilance" toward actions andstatements by al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, or North Africa,French Foreign Ministry spokesman Eric Chevallier said in abriefing.

"French authorities reaffirm their determination to fightterrorism," he added.

The Algeria-based group issued a statement on Islamic Web sitesvowing to "seek vengeance against France" over Sarkozy's commentsabout face-covering Muslim veils such as the burqa and niqab. …

Class of '98 could set tough standard for Triple Crown

The 3-year-olds who competed in last year's Triple Crown will bea benchmark by which future generations are measured.

Silver Charm, Captain Bodgit, Free House and Touch Gold werefast, consistent and gutsy. They battled relentlessly each time theyfaced each other, and generated excitement that spread far beyond thenormal horse racing audience. When the Triple Crown series was over,fans wondered how long they would have to wait to see such a good3-year-old crop again.

The answer to that question appears to be: not very long. Thecolts preparing for the 1998 Triple Crown series appear to be anexceptional group. Indeed, it is possible that three top contenderscould take undefeated records into the May 2 Kentucky Derby. Itremains to be seen whether this will be an exceptional group of Derbyhorses - the stamina of many is questionable - but the raw talent isthere.I measure horses principally by how fast they run, and it wasevident before last year's classics that the class of '97 was astrong one. Four weeks before the Derby, four horses had earned aBeyer Speed Figure of 107, a solid mark: Silver Charm: 110; FreeHouse: 110; Pulpit: 108; Acceptable: 107.At a comparable stage of the current season, the 3-year-old cropseems to be deeper and faster. These are the top speed figuresearned by the leaders: Event of the Year: 114; Lil's Lad: 113; IndianCharlie: 112; Artax: 109; Coronado's Quest: 109; Real Quiet: 108;Halory Hunter: 108; Favorite Trick: 107; Cape Town: 107.This generation is loaded with horses possessing star potential.Favorite Trick, of course, already is a star. He became the first2-year-old since Secretariat to win the horse of the year title, andif he wins the Arkansas Derby next Saturday he will take a 10-for-10career record to Churchill Downs. Event of the Year already has runhis final Derby prep race, a smashing victory in the Jim Beam Stakesat Turfway Park, and will go into the Derby with a 4-for-4 record.Indian Charlie captured all three of his starts in impressive fashionbefore racing Saturday in the Santa Anita Derby.Yet many questions still surround the leading 3-year-olds,adding intrigue to the final prep races and the Derby itself.Sufficient seasoning is essential for Derby horses, and lightly racedlate bloomers regularly fail at Churchill Downs. So even if Event ofthe Year has the best speed figure, history will be against him. Notsince 1915 has a horse with four or fewer career starts won theDerby.The distance-running ability of many top 3-year-olds also isuncertain. Despite his imposing record, Favorite Trick is notconsidered a standout favorite for the Derby because of hissprint-oriented bloodlines. The other leaders of this generationhave stouter pedigrees, but many of them are speedsters who figure tonegate each other when they run head-to-head. That's what happenedin the Florida Derby. Lil's Lad may be the most brilliant horse ofhis generation, but he is a one-dimensional front-runner, and hisduel with Coronado's Quest led to the defeat of both.A similar scenario might develop in Saturday's Santa AnitaDerby, for three of the prime contenders all possessed high speed.Orville N Wilbur's can rocket a half-mile in 44 seconds or so, andtrainer Wally Dollase has been convinced that he is only effective ifhe can take the early lead. So when jockey Corey Nakatani gunsOrville N Wilbur's from the gate, Gary Stevens will try to forceIndian Charlie to sit behind the leader. Chris McCarron will try todo the same with the favored Artax, who has won two straight stakesraces by battling for the lead all the way. If these horses can'trestrain their speed, and they all get caught in a destructive fightfor the lead, they will set up the $750,000 race for Real Quiet.is2-for-11 record is hardly imposing, but he can win because he is thelone contender with a solid finishing kick.What happened in the Florida Derby, and what might happen in theSanta Anita Derby, very likely is to happen in the Kentucky Derby:The speed horses annihilate each other and set up the race for a darkhorse charging from behind.

St. Petersburg seeking help for stadium cash

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. St. Petersburg civic leaders, seeking to findmore money to complete a domed baseball stadium to attract a majorleague team, have gone to Gov. Bob Martinez for help.

Martinez, however, said he wanted to see a commitment from ateam before promising assistance. "I suggested they have a signedcontract for the move of a team because Florida cities areperiodically used by teams as leverage," Martinez said Thursday.

City leaders would like to push up the completion date of thestadium to lure the White Sox for the 1989 season, but they areapparently short some $20 million. The 43,000-seat stadium, underconstruction, was to have been paid for by an $85 million bond issuebacked by city and county taxes.

White Sox officials, who are unhappy with their situation ataging Comiskey Park and with efforts by Chicago city leaders to builda new park, toured the St. Petersburg stadium last week.

City officials and other stadium supporters met with PinellasCounty legislators Tuesday and Wednesday.

Sen. Curt Kiser (R-Palm Harbor) said local legislators wouldhelp push for state money to finish the stadium if negotiations withthe White Sox or any other team reached a critical stage.

Some lawmakers were not as eager to use state money to help lurebig league baseball to the state. "I don't like the principle of thestate spending money on stadiums," said Sen. Mary Grizzle (R-BelleairShore).

Senate President John Vogt (D-Merritt Island) said 1988 is thewrong year to look at providing state money for the stadium.

Even holidays offer good home-selling opportunities

During the wintertime, and especially during the holiday season,some would-be-sellers often decide to wait until spring to placetheir homes on the market. But every season-even the holidays-canoffer good selling opportunities, according to real estate brokers.

Spring still remains the strongest selling period, said LynnOrczyk, general sales manager for Coldwell Banker Sammis inHuntington, N.Y. Many buyers want to be in their new home before thestart of the next school year. So sellers, who also often becomebuyers of another home, list in April. Deals usually close when theschool year ends in June so new owners can settle in over the summer.

In the last few years, …

Lalu and Paswan join hands for Bihar assembly elections.

New Delhi, Aug. 17 -- Overcoming last-minute hiccups, Lalu Prasad-led RJD and Ram Vilas Paswan's LJP on Monday clinched an alliance for coming assembly elections in Bihar in which they will get 168 and 75 seats respectively.

Lalu Prasad will be chief ministerial candidate of the alliance while LJP Bihar unit chief Pashupati Kumar Paras, younger brother of Paswan, will be the deputy chief minister aspirant.

Uncertainties had gripped the tie-up in the last three-four days, triggering speculation that LJP would join hands with Congress in case the alliance with RJD broke down.

"Our alliance (with RJD) is rock solid and unbreakable. There is no truth in …

BOOKED FOR FALL HIGHLIGHTS OF BOOKS COMING OUT THIS FALL:.(BOOKS)

Fiction

``An Unfinished Life,'' Mark Spragg (Knopf), a woman's father-in-law blames her for the death of her husband.

``Citizen Girl,'' Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus (Atria), the ``Nanny Diaries'' team is back with the story of a young woman's search for a career.

``The Dark Tower VII,'' Stephen King (Donald M. Grant), the last of King's fantasy series.

``The Darling,'' Russell Banks (HarperCollins), an American seeks to escape her past by fleeing to Liberia in the Saratoga Springs' author's latest.

``The Final Solution,'' Michael Chabon (Fourth Estate), a Sherlock Holmes story from the author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning …

Identifying critical tasks for a modular Army.(School of Information Technology)

The training development process begins with identifying critical tasks at various skill levels within a particular specialty. From March 7-16, 2005, the School of Information Technology conducted their third Critical Task Site Selection Board at Fort Gordon in series designed to capture the latest information on Soldier performance requirements with emphasis on Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom.

Previous CTSSBs included the 250N, Network Management Technician and the Functional Area 53, Information Systems Management Officer. This time the board focused on the tasks of the 251A Warrant Officer, Information Systems Technician, that are deemed critical to …

Obama on unemployment rate: 'That's progress'

MIAMI (AP) — President Barack Obama says that a slight dip in the unemployment rate to 8.9 percent is a sign of continued progress but that keeping that momentum going is important to the economic recovery.

The government reported Friday that February's jobless rate had fallen to a two-year low, down from 9 percent in January. Obama says the …

Americans fond of mail

Americans' infatuation with receiving mail apparently is strongerthan their love of television, talking on the phone and even (ahem!)reading the newspaper, a nationwide survey found. Respondents from509 households across the United …

Banca Akros lifts Monte Paschi rating, cuts price target to EUR 1.10.

(ADPnews) - Aug 27, 2010 - Banca Akros has upgraded the rating on Italy's Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena (BIT:BMPS) to "accumulate" from "hold", cutting at the same time the share price target to EUR 1.10 from EUR 1.20.

Monte Paschi reported a net profit of EUR 261.2 million (USD 332.2m) for the first half of …

Posh to spice up herUS image on reality show.(News)

Former Spice Girl Victoria Beckham (Posh Spice) has been offered a spot on the American reality show Dancing With The Stars.

Vic was offered the role after the success of Heather Mills, estranged wife of Paul …

MAGINN FALLS IN `A' FINAL.(SPORTS)

Byline: BILL ARSENAULT Staff writer -

Times Union/STEVE JACOBSBISHOP MAGINN COACH DEBBIE BUFF reacts to a play during the Class A Federation championship game Saturday at Glens Falls Civic Center.

GLENS FALLS -- The King is still the king. But Bishop Maginn gave it its best shot.

Christ The King of the Bronx captured its seventh consecutive state Class A Federation girls' basketball title with a convincing 65-44 victory over Bishop Maginn on Saturday.

Christ The King finishes its season at 25-0 and kept its record against New York state teams unblemished since 1989.

``Our shots weren't falling, but we can't make any excuses,'' Bishop Maginn senior Kristan Pelletier said. ``They play defense at a different level than we're used to. They put on a lot of …

Guatemala and Turkey launch fall season.

While many emerging market bankers took a holiday break in August, at least a few spent the month fashioning cross-border deals to kick off the fall season. So far, what's in store for future flow investors is a first-time opportunity to try on some Guatemala and an offering from Turkey featuring public debuts for three monoline issuers.

Prior to last week, Wachovia Securities roadshowed a $125 million seven-year bond for Guatemala's Banco Industrial, expected to price shortly as of press-time. Thanks to a wrap from XLCA, the transaction has triple-A ratings from Moody's Investors Service and Standard & Poor's. The underlying ratings are BBB-' and Baa2', respectively. …

MIT-Harvard biomed institute gets $400M gift

Billionaire philanthropists Eli and Edythe Broad are adding $400 million to a joint biomedical venture at Harvard and MIT.

The endowment is on top of $200 million the Broads have already given the project.

The Broads also said Thursday that they are so pleased with how the experimental institute …

LA Film Critics pick best in year's movies

LOS ANGELES-- The family drama "In the Bedroom" and its leadactress Sissy Spacek received top honors Saturday from the LosAngeles Film Critics Association.

In Todd Field's directing debut, Spacek and Tom Wilkinson portraya grieving couple whose marriage nearly collapses under the strain oftheir son's murder.

David Lynch received directing honors for "Mulholland Drive," adark tale of obsession, danger and amnesia in Hollywood. Lynch alsowas named best director at the Cannes Film Festival and the film waschosen as best 2001 movie by the New York Film Critics Circle.

Denzel Washington was named best actor for "Training Day," inwhich he plays a rogue cop who …

Bulgarian Stock Exchange - Daily Bulletin, Selected Announcements - Feb 28, 2011.

Company: Zyrneni Hrani Bulgaria - Farin AD-Dobrich (9KDA)The powers of Galina Nikolova Dimitrova as a member of the Board of Directors have been terminated under a decision of the General Meeting of Shareholders as she is exempt from liability. Marcho Petkov Ivanov has been elected as a member of the Board instead.The entire notification is posted on X3News.

***

Company: Sopharma AD-Sofia (3JR)On 28 February 2011, Sopharma AD has signed a contract for implementation of an approved project under the Technological Modernisation in Large Enterprises Scheme. The project of the Company is about purchase and putting into operation of modern equipment for a …