NATIONAL: Drugs supplier PowderJect Pharmaceuticals saw GBP90million wiped from its market value yesterday after warning thatrecalling its tuberculosis vaccine would knock GBP5 million fromprofits.
The group said late on Friday it was recalling the BCG vaccinefollowing the temporary …
Vermeer Manufacturing of Pella, Iowa was recently presented the Presidential E-Star Award by Iowa Governor Terry Branstad for the company's excellence in exporting. Vermeer -- which is celebrating its 50th anniversary - was recognized for its successful expansion into new …
Ailing Fidel Castro said Wednesday that Cuba's president was right to adopt a "dignified silence" over a Moscow newspaper report that Russia may send nuclear bombers to the island, and said Cuba doesn't owe any explanation to Washington about the story.
In a brief, cryptic essay posted on a government Web site Wednesday night, the 81-year-old former president neither confirmed nor denied the Monday report in Izvestia newspaper.
Moscow is angry about U.S. plans for missile-defense sites in eastern Europe and Izvestia cited a "highly placed" military aviation source as saying, "While they are deploying the anti-missile systems in …
Officials seek help in catching arsonist
Fire officials in a Kanawha County town want to catch an arsonistbefore someone gets hurt. A house fire Tuesday morning in Rand wasthe 16th arson in the town in the last year. All of the fires wereset in empty buildings, fire officials said.
The Rand Fire Department is asking the community for help incatching the arsonist.
"One day it's going to injure someone. It's going to injure oneof our firefighters. I don't want to see someone die - no one gethurt. That's where it's heading," said firefighter Bernard Hendrick.
Fire Chief Bill White said anyone with information on the firesshould call the Kanawha County …
Is offensive coordinator Matt Cavanaugh losing patience with RickMirer?
It sure looked that way when Mirer badly underthrew a receiveron one play, then was intercepted by cornerback Tom Carter on thenext during a morning drill Tuesday. Cavanaugh snapped his playlistagainst his leg in …
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Rian Lindell had a second chance he did not want and missed. Ryan Succop had the second chance he was yearning for and made it count.
As a result, the Kansas City Chiefs escaped with a 13-10 victory over the winless Buffalo Bills as time expired in overtime.
Succop, after missing from 39 yards in overtime, made good on a 35-yarder Sunday as the final seconds ticked away, giving the Chiefs (5-2) a victory that kept them comfortably atop the AFC West and made sure the Bills (0-7) would remain the league's only winless team.
Buffalo's Lindell hit what would have been a 53-yard game-winner earlier in the overtime, but the kick was nullified because …
Saints coach Sean Payton says he expects Jeremy Shockey to practice during the club's three-day minicamp that starts Friday.
Shockey was hospitalized last week following a seizure that occurred while he was lifting weights at the Saints' training headquarters. Hours after the seizure, the star tight end …
FOR eons, human beings have judged others by the color of theirskin or hair or even by their width.
But if we judge others, we judge ourselves. We are 99.9 percentthe same.
The deciphering of the human genome has taught us that and more.
The man who essentially did it - J. Craig Venter - said he wastotally surprised by the incredible similarity of genetic content notonly among humans, but between humans and other animals.
"It was unpredicted and pretty exciting," Venter said.
"We have 100 trillion cells and the same genetic code as eachother, with minor differences among all of us," he said. "We givegreat importance to what seem like big …
Researchers who study the wilderness of heat-loving bacteria that thrives in Yellowstone's hot springs are starting to pay more attention to the even smaller organisms that keep those bacteria populations in check: viruses.
A study by researchers at Montana State University and the Idaho National Laboratory concludes that certain viruses appear to migrate around Yellowstone on steam droplets.
"To me, the big question is what do these viruses do in these hot springs?" said Frank Roberto, a microbiologist at the Idaho National Laboratory who sequenced and analyzed the DNA of Yellowstone viruses.
The findings are expected to be published …
Druimnond, Billy, drummer; b. Newport News, Va., 1959. He began to play drums at the age of four, influenced by his father, who was also a drummer. His love for jazz was sparked by his father's record collection, which included many of the classic recordings of Miles Davis, Art Blakey, Max Roach, and so on. During his youth, Drummond played in various school and local bands, and studied many styles of music. He then went on to college, taking a degree in Music Performance. In early 1988, Billy arrived in N.Y. His first major break on the circuit was to join the young band "Out of the Blue" (OTB), with which he played on the group's final recording for …
An entire evening was devoted to the honor and progress of Columbia College Chicago producers George Tillman Jr. and Bob Teitel during an advanced screening premiere of "Barbershop," their third feature film.
During the days. before "Barbershop" made its Chicago premiere, there were festivities in the early evening before the screening at a VIP reception at Gioco's and there were members of the cast and crew who walked into the Burnham Theater for the screening. Students, alumni, friends and faculty packed the theater for the preview.
Columbia's president Dr. Warrick Carter in his introductory speech told the audience that Columbia College is the largest visual, performing, …
HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — Britain has sent a formal diplomatic complaint to Zimbabwean authorities protesting harassment of a diplomat and attempts by ruling party supporters to disrupt the handover of a British aid project, officials said Friday.
In a statement, the British embassy said Mugabe's party bussed protesters to a mission hospital in eastern Zimbabwe where the diplomat, second secretary Sarah Bennett, handed over British-funded hospital equipment.
Demonstrators mobbed local officials and visiting dignitaries, demanding the lifting of Western economic sanctions targeted at Mugabe and his ruling elite. It was "deeply depressing" the project was subjected to party …
Today is Tuesday, August 17, the 229th day of 2010. There are 136 days left in the year.
Highlights in history on this date:
1510 - Pedro Navarro, having taken Algiers and Tripoli for Spain, is killed in ambush in North Africa.
1577 - Peace of Bergerac ends Sixth War of Religion in France, whereby Huguenots secure important concessions for exercising their religion.
1626 - Flemish forces under Count Tilly defeat Denmark's King Christian IV at Lutter, east Germany, leading to the sack of Jutland and Denmark's exit from the Thirty Years' War.
1743 - Sweden cedes southern Finland to Russia in the Peace of Abo.
1759 - British fleet under Admiral Boscawen defeats French off Cape St. Vincent in West Indies.
1863 - Federal ships bombard Fort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina, harbor during America's Civil War.
1896 - Gold is discovered in Klondike territory, Canada, attracting 100,000 adventurers in a two-year rush.
1920 - Romania joins Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia in alliance that becomes Triple Entente, where each country pledges not to conclude peace separately.
1945 - Sukarno proclaims Indonesian independence, but it is refused by the Dutch.
1954 - Two-thousand religious pilgrims drown in a flash flood at the Muslim shrine of the Imam Zadeh Davud in Farahzad, Iran.
1962 - East German border guards shoot and kill an 18-year-old who attempted to cross over the Berlin Wall into the western sector.
1964 - Congolese Premier Moise Tshombe appeals to five African nations to help put down rebellion in the Congo.
1969 - Hurricane Camille hits the Gulf Coast, killing 248 people.
1972 - Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Dayan offers an interim peace agreement with Egypt based on a truce line dividing the Sinai Peninsula.
1976 - Tidal wave on Philippine island of Mindanao leaves estimated 8,000 people dead or missing.
1980 - Diplomatic officials close the British Embassy in Iran because of hostile demonstrations.
1985 - A car packed with dynamite explodes outside crowded supermarket in Lebanon's Christian east Beirut, Lebanon, killing at least 50 people and wounding 80.
1986 - Rescuers continue evacuating by boat more than 100,000 people marooned in flood-swept southeastern India.
1988 - Pakistan's President Zia ul-Haq and U.S. Ambassador Arnold Raphel are killed when their Pakistani military plane explodes.
1990 - Iraq announces policy of holding foreign nationals in Iraq and Kuwait as human shields against attack.
1991 - Italy repatriates the last of an estimated 18,000 Albanian refugees who arrived in southern Italy by boat earlier in the month. The Italian government admitted the offer of asylum was a ruse to persuade Albanians to give up their often-violent resistance. Only 154 refugees stayed in Italy.
1992 - Mortar shells blast a crowded refugee hotel in Sarajevo, setting it ablaze. At least two people die.
1993 - Miners massacre 73 Yanomami Indians in the Brazilian Amazon.
1994 - Food distribution to 350,000 Rwandan refugees in camps in Congo is suspended because of riots and thefts by machete-wielding gangs.
1996 - Despite an appeal for restraint from King Hussein, stone-throwing demonstrators in Amman, Jordan, clash with police for a second day to protest the doubling of bread prices.
1997 - The NATO-led peace force intervenes to keep a standoff between policemen backing Bosnian Serb President Biljana Plavsic and her opponents from breaking into violence.
1998 - The impoverished Russian government devalues the ruble and defaults on billions of dollars in debt, causing a collapse in financial markets; President Clinton admits to an affair with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky.
1999 - A powerful 7.4 earthquake hits western Turkey, killing at least 17,200 and injuring more than 20,000. Officials estimate that the numbers are higher; many families buried relatives without notifying authorities.
2001 - A protest in Guyana over the recent shooting deaths of three Muslims leave four persons dead after police open fire on the protesters.
2003 - Reuters cameraman Mazen Dana, 41, is shot dead, apparently by U.S. soldiers while filming outside Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad, Iraq. Dana was videotaping outside the prison after a mortar attack, in which six prisoners were killed and about 60 others were wounded.
2004 - Louis-Jodel Chamblain, a leader of a paramilitary group in Haiti, is acquitted of killing some 3,000 people. The 14-hour murder trial angers human rights groups and provokes criticism of the new U.S.-backed government.
2005 - Russian navy ships and long-range bombers head to a Chinese peninsula jutting into the Yellow Sea for the first-ever joint military exercises between the two countries.
2006 - Afghan President Hamid Karzai condemns a U.S. airstrike that Afghan officials say killed 10 border policemen.
2007 - The rescue mission to reach six miners trapped inside a mountain in Utah since Aug. 6 is suspended indefinitely after a cave-in kills three rescuers inside a mountainside mine.
2008 - Israel's Cabinet approves the release of some 200 Palestinian prisoners as a goodwill gesture to the government of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
2009 - The Libyan convicted of the 1988 Lockerbie bombing, Abdel Baset al-Megrahi, is expected to drop his appeal, a step that could lead to his rapid release and puts Scotland's left-of-center government into a rare international spotlight.
Today's Birthdays:
Pierre de Fermat, French mathematician (1601-1665); Jan III Sobieski, king of Poland (1629-1696); William Carey, English pioneer missionary (1761-1834); Marcus Garvey, Jamaican black leader (1887-1940); Mae West, U.S. actress (1892-1980); Maureen O'Hara, Irish-born actress (1920--); V(idiadhar) S(urajprasad) Naipaul, Trinidadian writer (1932--); Robert DeNiro, U.S. actor (1943--); Sean Penn, U.S. actor (1960--).
Thought For Today:
Everyone is necessarily the hero of his own life story -- John Barth, American author.
Central Coast, California
"Tucked in a valley amidst the fertile, rolling hills of California's Central Coast lies New Natives - a mini-- green growing venture operated by Sandra Ward and Ken Kimes," reports Small Farm News, published by the California Cooperative Extension. Begun in 1980, they started with soil-grown organic wheat grass and expanded to include tresses and baby salad greens. Their marketing niche reaches from Santa Cruz to San Jose; their specialty crops grown and packed in a "sun-dappled greenhouse" on their five acres. The partners have a special fondness for selling at farmers' markets
"Instead of moving crops from field to field, we move blended soil into the greenhouse, we plant and then we move that soil again and take it outside and compost it," explained Kimes and Ward at last winter's Eco-Farm Conference. They plant the equivalent of ten tons to the acre of seeds, and turn over the greenhouse about 35 times a year or roughly every ten days. "The duo have always made their own compost, using only sawdust and leftovers from the bed," notes Small Farm News.
As a result of foodborne illness outbreaks in the last few years associated with fresh produce, the two growers have educated themselves extensively about food safety. "Their advice to fellow growers: Avoid raw manure and have a safe water supply."
This one's for the Republicans. Admittedly, it's a huge leap of faith to suppose there are any them who have enough sense left to reason with. But here's hopin'.
Be prepared, Republicans, I'll be asking you to use your imaginations. I know you have 'em, people. Hey, not so long ago, you were able to imagine weapons of mass destruction all over Iraq. You imagined that Saddam Hussein had something to do with 9/11, and you imagined that the war was going to be a waltz. And the most remarkable thing of all is that you were capable of imagining all of this without a shred of evidence to support your convictions. So don't try to tell me you don't have imaginations, you Republican dreamers, you. Far as I'm concerned, you guys are better at living in a fantasy world than Willy Wonka and Michael Jackson combined.
Now relax. Just close your eyes and come with me for a brief cruise through the Land of "What If?" And I apologize for that crack about you not having enough sense left to reason with. Sometimes I can't stop myself from being a snot. But for the rest of the column, I'll try to behave myself.
Imagine ... what if it's November 2008, and Hillary Clinton has just won the presidential election? (Calm down there, Red. Remember, it's only make-believe.)
Yes, Clinton won, but only after another bruising, vicious campaign season that divided the country into screaming opposites, and only after a another squeaker at the polls. It was a close 'un, I tell you. And in one or two of those states with a pivotal role in the Electoral College, it could have gone either way, depending on ... say ... that ice storm in Cincinnati, or those lost ballots in Orlando.
But by midnight on the West Coast, the Republican candidate had graciously conceded defeat and Hillary was giving credit for her victory to a massive turnout of Unitarians and Scientologists. Tom Delay and Bill Frist issued a joint statement saying, "The American people have spoken, and it is now our duty to put the rancor behind us and cooperate with the new president." (I realize some of this may be hard to imagine. But look, it's easier to swallow than the notion we'll be done in Iraq anytime soon, isn't it?)
So the wheels were greased for a smooth transition of power. Only, in the days and weeks since the election, accounts have been pouring out of the suburbs of Cincinnati and Columbus, Toledo and Cleveland and Dayton, that indicate there was something fishy about the way the election was run. There are reports of persistent and unexplained voting machine malfunctions in dozens of Ohio precincts, and in several rural counties, warehouses full of the machines were not even deployed, leaving citizens in those areas to stand in line for hours to cast their ballots.
Bloggers glommed onto the incidents like plaque on teeth. PowerLine.com turned itself into a national registry of the irregularities, but it was Michelle Malkin who put the two and two together, pointing out that every county, every precinct, and every polling place with a suspicious story to tell were in areas known to be most heavily populated with Republicans. Very odd, don't you think?
Then there were those crazy exit polls, every one of which put President Clinton's opponent ahead by substantial margins early in the day, and every one of which proved wrong. Curiouser and curiouser. How could it be that every last darn thing that went wrong, went wrong in Clinton's favor?
Finally, the doubts accumulated to such a degree that Congressional Republicans demanded an investigation, and what they found was disturbing, indeed. Fraudulent and illegal pre-election maneuvering, a concentrated effort to disenfranchise voters in GOP neighborhoods, an insidious scheme to keep reporters and other observers away from polling stations ... to sum it up, the inquiry led the House committee to the conclusion there were "massive and unprecedented voter irregularities and anomalies." And most of these anomalies seemed to center on the Ohio secretary of state, who--what a surprise--also served as the co-chair for Ms. Clinton's Ohio campaign committee.
Trouble is, nobody but the most ardent Republicans paid any attention. Democrats ridiculed the whole thing, calling the findings "laughable, if it weren't so sad," and pundits dismissed it all as the ravings of the "looney right." The so-called "fair and balanced" media buried the affair, all except for CBS anchor Katy Couric, who joked about the complainers being "totally divorced from reality ... duh!"
A smattering of intrepid independent journalists continued to pursue the leads. Mark Crispin Miller, the author of several books on chicanery in American politics, laid it out succinctly in an article--"None Dare Call It Stolen"--published in the August 2009 Harper's Magazine, almost a year after the election. But for all purposes, the deed was done and the message was apparent to anyone who cared: Whether Clinton was aware of it or not, it has become clear that powerful figures in the Democratic Party set about systematically to steal the 2008 election. And it appears they got away with it.
That's it, Republicans. You can open your eyes now. Story's over. And please, feel free to tell me how you feel.
Outraged, perhaps? That such a thing is even conceivable? That after 230 years of America being the beacon on the hill, the bright and shining light to all those down-trodden fledgling democracies around the world, a cabal of self-serving criminals could so easily turn our election process into an unsolved crime scene?
I'll bet you're even thinking that if such a thing were to happen, it would be time to get those citizen militias kicked up another notch. That somebody--probably a lot of somebodies--should hang. If such a thing were to happen, I mean. That this foul betrayal is the highest treason a democracy can suffer, and that if justice is not served, maybe a little civil war is in order to set things right ... if such a thing were to happen.
By the way, if you truly give a damn about America like you pretend you do, Mark Miller's article is in this month's Harper's, so you don't have to wait until 2009 to get outraged. He ends with this: "This nation can survive a plot to hijack an election. What it cannot survive is our indifference to, or unawareness of, the evidence that such a plot has succeeded."
Oh, and the article is not about the future--and it's not about Hillary.
Article copyright Bar Bar Inc.
A former Chicago lawyer was accused Thursday of swindling acouple out of more than $1 million by falsely claiming he had boughtthem a Lake Shore Drive building and resold it to Donald Trump at a100 percent profit.
But Robert Carrane, 58, never purchased the building at 219 E.Lake Shore because he could not obtain the financing and never talkedto Trump about it, according to criminal charges.
The bogus sale was one of four alleged fraud schemes totaling$2.796 million listed in a four-count criminal information againstCarrane.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Sheila Finnegan said Carrane is expectedto plead guilty in the case, as well as to a separate charge ofdefrauding the Kempton (Ill.) State Bank of $225,000.
Carrane, of Kenilworth, once was owner and chairman of theKempton bank. He voluntarily disbarred himself as an Illinoisattorney in March after the Attorneys Registration and DisciplinaryCommittee accused him of stealing money from a client's estate, saidJames Grogan, counsel to the committee.
Thursday's charges include allegations Carrane obtained $250,000from one couple in 1982 by telling them he would assign them 50percent interest in a building at 1004-1008 N. Clark, which he neverdid. In 1986, the same couple gave Carrane $1.1 million to buy abuilding at 219 E. Lake Shore, and a second couple gave another$20,000 for a 1 percent share, the complaint charged.
Carrane allegedly obtained an additional $406,000 from thefirst couple and $20,000 from the second in 1988 to buy the LawsonYMCA. The couples later learned he never bought the YMCA, thecomplaint charged.
Carrane also was accused of stealing $100,000 from an estatebetween 1988 and 1992 and of fraudulently obtaining $1.15 million inloans from two banks from 1987 to 1990.
CHICAGO - Real estate services company Fidelity National FinancialInc. has agreed to buy larger rival Chicago Title Corp. for about$1.2 billion, or $52 a share, in about equal amounts of cash andstock.
The purchase, announced Sunday, more than doubles the size ofFidelity National Financial to about 1,000 offices throughout thecountry. The combined company will retain the name Fidelity NationalFinancial, but will be run separately, First National said in a newsrelease.
Based on 1998 combined revenue of about $3.2 billion, FidelityNational said the combined company will be the largest titleinsurance company in the United States.
The $52 a share offer represents a 42 percent premium over ChicagoTitle's closing price Thursday, the day before talks between the twocompanies were announced. The cash and stock balance will beadjusted so Chicago Title stockholders will receive more than 50percent of the outstanding stock of the new company, FidelityNational said.
The deal, is expected to be completed by the end of March, willhelp Fidelity National, the nation's No. 5 title insurance company,expand its commercial insurance business.
Chicago Title, the nation's No. 3 title insurer, is a holdingcompany for a group of insurance companies that provide titleinsurance, property valuation and other services for real estatetransactions involving financial institutions, insurers and companiesbuying commercial properties. The group writes about one-fifth ofall title insurance policies in the U.S.
"The addition of Chicago Title's operations, products and skillswill result in the creation of a preeminent competitor in the titleinsurance industry," William P. Foley II, Fidelity's chairman andchief executive officer, said in a news release.
Shares of Fidelity National closed Friday at $17.43 3/4, down 61/4 cents, on the New York Stock Exchange. Chicago Title's shareswere up 16.5 percent, or $6.06 1/4, at $42.75, also on the Big Board.
DETROIT (AP) — United Auto Workers President Bob King on Tuesday criticized the nearly $60 million in stock awards given to Ford CEO Alan Mulally earlier this month.
King spoke at a union meeting that sets goals for bargaining a new labor contract with automakers later this year.
"I think Alan Mulally is a great CEO, but I don't think any human being in the world deserves that much money," King said at the opening of a three-day UAW convention in Detroit. The UAW's current contract with Detroit's three automakers expires Sept. 14
Mulally received stock valued at $56.6 million, before taxes, for his performance in 2009 and 2010. His total compensation for 2010 hasn't yet been released.
Ford Motor Co. responded that Mulally's leadership has been "widely recognized as extraordinary." Ford earned $6.6 billion in 2010, its biggest profit in 11 years.
"His compensation reflects Ford's goal of retaining a world-class CEO, providing appropriate performance-based incentives to promote continued strong progress, and aligning his interests with those of our shareholders," the company said Tuesday.
But many of the 1,200 delegates at the convention voiced displeasure about Mulally's pay, saying the $5,000 profit-sharing checks Ford gave its 40,000 factory workers aren't appeasing their anger.
Ford workers "felt like they were slapped," said Todd Wyse, a member of Local 249 in Pleasant Valley, Mo. "Mulally set the plan up, but we achieved the plan."
The UAW bargains with Ford, General Motors Co. and Chrysler Group LLC every four years. In 2007, when the economy was heading into a downturn and the companies' future was in doubt, workers gave up raises and agreed to allow the companies to hire entry-level workers at a lower wage. Now that Ford and GM are profitable again, and Chrysler is close to achieving a profit, workers want to take back some of those concessions.
King said the union has to strike a balance and not make demands that will weaken the companies. The automakers are still recovering from the recession and are facing a variety of problems. They include higher gas prices that could steer buyers toward less profitable small cars and production slowdowns due to a shortage of parts from Japan.
King said the union is also working on a plan to organize workers at a foreign-owned automaker in the U.S. He confirmed that UAW members went door to door in Alabama last month talking to workers from Hyundai Motor Co. and Kia Motor Co., but he wouldn't say which company the union will target. The union is talking to various companies about whether they will allow union elections at their plants.
King also said the UAW is trying to organize workers at a Honda Motor Co. plant in Mexico.
MOSCOW (AP) — Qualifier Zarina Diyas upset top-seeded Jelena Jankovic 6-1, 6-2 Thursday in the second round at the Kremlin Cup.
The 268th-ranked Diyas, who celebrated her 17th birthday on Monday, led 5-0 in the first set when Jankovic called for a doctor and had her blood pressure checked. Jankovic said she had a hard time breathing, and had been ill since coming from a tournament in China.
Jankovic, who has qualified for next week's WTA championships, managed to break back early in the second set, but Diyas then broke the Serb two times.
"I had nothing to lose," Diyas said. "I just relaxed and played my best tennis."
In the quarterfinals, Diyas will face sixth-seeded Maria Kirilenko of Russia, who routed Kateryna Bondarenko of Ukraine 6-0, 6-0.
Jankovic said she had an infection and was on antibiotics for a week.
"I was suffering on the court but I really wanted to be out there and didn't want to retire," Jankovic said. "I finished as well as I could, but obviously it was tough for me to focus on my tennis."
The seventh-ranked Jankovic hopes to recover in time for the end-of-season championships in Doha on Tuesday.
"Doha is a different type of tournament," she said. "You can lose a match and still win the whole tournament. So anything can happen, but for me the biggest concern is being healthy. I will see the doctors, take some blood tests and take some more medicine. We will see what happens and hopefully I can be ready in time."
Diyas, whose parents moved 12 years ago from Kazakhstan to Prague, Czech Republic, said watching Martina Hingis on TV had inspired her to play tennis.
The 24th-ranked Kirilenko, who is looking for her first title this season, broke Bondarenko three times in each set.
Vera Dushevina advanced to the quarterfinals with 6-4, 6-2 win over her fellow Russian Elena Vesnina.
In the men's second round, Horacio Zebalos beat qualifier Victor Crivoi 7-5, 7-6 (1), while Alexandr Dolgopolov upset his fellow Ukrainian, seventh-seeded Sergiy Stakhovsky, 6-2, 7-6 (4).
Igor Kunitsyn upset sixth-seeded Andrey Golubev 6-4, 7-5. Denis Istomin rallied to beat former champion Paul-Henri Mathieu 1-6, 7-5, 6-3.
Mathieu, who won the tournament in 2002, replaced defending champion Mikhail Youzhny, who pulled out on Wednesday with a viral infection.
By Peter Pophamin Modena
Modena bade a loud and long farewell to its most famous sonyesterday. The bells rang out, "Nessun Dorma" echoed across thepiazzas, the local choir gave it their all and Luciano Pavarottitook his leave of Italy and the world under a carpet of sunflowersand carnations.
The world's greatest contemporary tenor was a Catholic, ofcourse, but he was also a divorcee. Late in the day controversyerupted around the Archbishop of Modena's decision to allow him tolie in state in the heart of the city's cathedral. "This is theconsummation of the profanation of the temple," said Fr GiorgioBellei, a priest in the city, in Corriere della Sera yesterday.
It proved the sort of storm in a teacup without which no Italianceremony would be complete, and his fellow-citizens turned out instrength to say goodbye. The piazzas on either side of the cathedralwere packed and a queue of thousands snaked towards it to pay theirrespects. By the time the line closed 100,000 had filed past thesinger's open coffin.
But Pavarotti had banned gloom from his funeral. Italian popsinger Zucchero said after his death, "I hope that God welcomes himto heaven with a bottle of Lambrusco".
Fittingly, the mass itself was a richly musical occasion, withsoprano Raina Kabaivanska and Pavarotti's close friend, the blindtenor Andrea Bocelli. But its highlight was the finale: in arecording from the 1990s, Pavarotti father and son together in arendering of "Panis Angelicus".
comment pages 42-43
American Airlines says it is again canceling hundreds of flights to inspect wire bundles on its MD-80 planes.
The carrier said Tuesday the additional inspections are based on Federal Aviation Administration audits involving technical compliance issues. As many as 500 flights could be canceled today, with additional cancellations likely tomorrow.
American says it is putting affected passengers on other flights. It is instructing travelers to check AA.com or with travel agents about a flight's status.
Several major airlines have grounded planes in recent weeks amid tighter FAA oversight.
AP Business Writer
SEATTLE - The people who call Dell Inc.'s customer service lineoften have no idea why their computers are running so slow. The oneswho call America Online Inc. can't necessarily explain why Internetconnections keep dropping. And those who file error reports withMicrosoft Corp. don't always know why their computers inexplicablycrash.
Sometimes, the company that gets the complaint is rightly toblame. But with alarming frequency, officials at these and othertechnology companies say they are tracing customer problems back toone culprit: spyware.
In the past year, spyware problems have become especiallypernicious, leaving companies scrambling to respond to customers whodon't necessarily realize they have spyware.
Companies are concerned about the cost of dealing with such calls.But perhaps more worrisome, they fear customers will wrongly blamethem.
Spyware generally refers to programs that land on computerswithout their owners' knowledge. They can deliver hordes of pop-upads, redirect people to unfamiliar search engines or, in rare cases,steal personal information.
Users most often get them by downloading free games or file-sharing software - and consenting to language buried deep within alicensing agreement.
And because they consented, "in some ways it ties our handsbecause we can't legally interfere," said Mike George, head of Dell'sU.S. consumer business.
Russ Cooper, senior scientist with TruSecure Corp., said alongstanding fear of legal repercussions is likely one reasoncompanies have only recently begun to address the problem.
But now that spyware has become epidemic, he believes Microsoftand other companies ought to do much more to educate the public -such as by running public-awareness commercials akin to the oldSmokey Bear slogan "Only you can prevent forest fires."
The industry's incentive is simple survival, Cooper said.
Microsoft officials blame unwanted software for up to one-third ofapplication crashes on Windows XP computers. AOL estimates that justthree such programs together cause some 300,000 Internetdisconnections per day.
Forrester Research analyst Jonathan Penn said a spyware-relatedsupport call can cost $15 to $45, and companies may lose business.
"Security is a component of loyalty," Penn said. "People, theywant all these various services, but they expect security to comewith it."
Some companies have begun offering spyware-detection tools - YahooInc.'s is free, while AOL and EarthLink Inc. limit key features topaid subscribers. Anti-spyware software that Hewlett-Packard beganshipping with new computers in June comes with a 30-day free trial;it's about $20 a year after that.
Most tools leave it to users to decide what to do with anyprograms found.
EarthLink's tool - and AOL's by default - will quarantine spywarewithout removing it completely. EarthLink spokesman Jerry Grasso saidsome users may decide that having spyware is worth the nuisance inexchange for the free program that came with it.
Microsoft's Service Pack 2 security upgrade for Windows XP warnsusers of spyware and other unexpected programs before they areloaded. And the company plans spyware-specific tools to give usersmore control, said Paul Bryan, a director in the security, businessand technology unit.
Advertisers are responding, too. After using the criticizeddelivery methods for nearly two years, Verizon Communications Inc.suspended those campaigns in July.
"We realize it was being raised as a consumer issue," spokesmanJohn Bonomo said. "We wanted to make sure we were keeping with thetrust they place in us."
KHARTOUM, Sudan - Rioters burned cars and threw stones in Sudan'scapital today after a helicopter crash killed the country's vicepresident, who until recently was a southern rebel leader.
Sudanese leaders appealed for calm and said the nation's peaceprocess would remain on track. But some southern Sudanese said theywere suspicious about the circumstances of the death of John Garang,who was a key figure in a fledgling peace deal between thepredominantly Arab Muslim government and the Christian south.
Anti-riot police were deployed to several areas of Sudan'scapital, Khartoum, where crowds were pelting passers-by with stonesand smashing car windows. At least 10 private and government-ownedcars were set on fire.
The U.S. Embassy in Khartoum said there were reports of violencein south Sudan and issued a reminder of its warnings to Americans toavoid non-essential travel to the country. There were no details onthe southern violence.
The violence and widespread grief surrounding Garang's deathforced most in the capital to lock themselves inside their homes.Shop owners shuttered their stores.
"Murderers! Murderers!" yelled some southern Sudanese protesterswho alleged the Sudanese government, which had battled Garang's rebelforce for two decades before this year's peace deals, may have beenbehind the crash.
"We lost Garang at a time when we needed him the most, but wethink that we have made great strides toward peace and we believethat that peace process should continue," said Garang aide Nihal Dengduring an emergency Cabinet meeting.
Garang's longtime deputy, Silva Kiir, was quickly named to succeedhim as head of his Sudan People's Liberation Army and as president ofsouth Sudan, Garang spokesman Yasser Arman told The Associated Press.
Kiir said he called a meeting of the Sudan People's LiberationMovement top decision-making body to assemble for an emergencymeeting.
The SPLM became part of the national unity government in July,when Garang became vice president.
Garang died when the helicopter he was flying in crashed into amountain in southern Sudan in bad weather, killing him and the other13 people on board, Sudan's government said today.
In the capital of neighboring Kenya, groups of southern Sudanesemen huddled to discuss Garang's death. Nairobi has been the base forGarang's southern Sudan liberation movement and is home to thousandsof southern Sudanese.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Having topped the international chart on and off since its release 10 weeks ago, "Tangled" has proven to be a favorite with overseas audiences, teasing another $15.8 million in 34 territories this past weekend. With a worldwide total of nearly $434 million, the animated film is proving the power of the Disney brand with families around the globe.
Foreign audiences looking for their action-movie fix have made "The Green Hornet" a solid hit and Seth Rogen an international star with $14.1 million for the weekend in an impressive 52 territories and a global total approaching $140 million.
The international marketplace has had a so-called "Oscar bump" of its own with "The Black Swan" and odds-on favorite "The King's Speech" landing impressively in the third and fourth spots, with $11.5 million and $11.2 million respectively. "Swan" has crossed the $100 million mark worldwide and "Speech" is closing in on the $150 million global milestone.
Here are the top 20 movies at international theaters last weekend, followed by international gross for the weekend (excluding North America), number of theater locations, number of territories, worldwide gross to date (including North America), and number of weeks in release as compiled Wednesday by global media measurement company Rentrak Corp. and provided by Hollywood.com:
1. "Tangled," $15,835,054, 4,281 locations, 34 territories, $433,780,536, 10 weeks.
2. "The Green Hornet," $14,070,766, 6,851 locations, 52 territories, $139,608,672, three weeks.
3. "Black Swan," $11,533,457, 3,390 locations, 16 territories, $108,440,623, nine weeks.
4. "The King's Speech," $11,205,166, 3,347 locations, 14 territories, $141,309,273, 10 weeks.
5. "Hereafter," $10,120,908, 1,806 locations, 28 territories, $74,895,559, four weeks.
6. "Gulliver's Travels," $8,364,013, 2,446 locations, 31 territories, $156,885,330, six weeks.
7. "Tron Legacy," $8,071,478, 3,371 locations, 34 territories, $334,976,331, seven weeks.
8. "Yogi Bear," $7,302,881, 3,458 locations, 20 territories, $126,619,246, seven weeks.
9. "Gantz," $7,220,595, NA, one territory, $7,220,595, one week.
10. "The Tourist," $6,548,240, 2,894 locations, 53 territories, $216,060,417, eight weeks.
11. "The Mechanic," $6,376,314, 3,528 locations, five territories, $19,558,697, one week.
12. "Season of the Witch," $6,085,551, 2,248 locations, 20 territories, $56,924,905, four weeks.
13. "Love and Other Drugs," $5,830,171, 2,239 locations, 30 territories, $77,970,948, 10 weeks.
14. "Qualunquemente," $5,114,027, NA, one territory, $15,360,495, two weeks.
15. "Immaturi," $4,859,627, NA, one territory, $11,373,215, two weeks.
16. "Kurtlar Vadisi: Filistin," $4,731,616, 440 locations, three territories, $4,731,621, one week.
17. "Red," $4,594,656, 837 locations, 15 territories, $168,129,327, 16 weeks.
18. "Detective K: Secret of a Peddler's Inn," $4,246,587, NA, one territory, $4,946,130, one week.
19. "How Do You Know," $3,819,277, 1,262 locations, 10 territories, $37,090,773, six weeks.
20. "Burlesque," $3,816,217, 1,641 locations, 35 territories, $76,657,069, 10 weeks.
___
Paul Dergarabedian is president of the Box Office Division of Hollywood.com and a longtime box office analyst for The Associated Press.
___
Online:
www.Hollywood.com/boxoffice
www.rentrak.com
WASHINGTON - The medicines long used by parents to treat their children's coughs and colds don't work and shouldn't be used in those younger than 6, federal health advisers recommended Friday.
The over-the-counter medicines should be studied further, even after decades in which children have received billions of doses a year, the outside experts told the Food and Drug Administration. The FDA isn't required to follow the advice of its panels of outside experts but does so most of the time.
"The data that we have now is they don't seem to work," said Sean Hennessy, a University of Pennsylvania epidemiologist, one of the FDA experts gathered to examine the medicines sold to treat common cold symptoms. The recommendation applies to medicines containing one or more of the following ingredients: decongestants, antihistamines and antitussives. It doesn't apply to expectorants, though many of the medicines also contain that ingredient.
The nonbinding recommendation is likely to lead to a shake up in how the medicines - which have long escaped much scrutiny - are labeled, marketed and used. Just how and how quickly wasn't immediately clear.
"If the agency chose to restrict use in children 6 and under, that won't necessarily lead to a ban on the products. It might lead to labeling that says 'do not use,'" said Dr. John Jenkins, director of the FDA's office of new drugs.
Such labeling changes could take years to put in place, since the FDA would have to undertake a lengthy rule-making process. Jenkins suggested if the drug industry took it upon itself to make such changes, the FDA could use its enforcement discretion to allow it to do so more quickly than would be done otherwise.
In fact, the Thursday-Friday meeting came just a week after the industry pre-emptively moved to eliminate sales of the nonprescription drugs targeted at children under 2.
So what are parents to do if they chose to use the medicines, pending further action? Jenkins recommended they follow the directions when giving the medicines to their children, and use them only as directed. He also counseled they pay close attention to what ingredients the medicines contain and to ask a doctor if they have any questions.
In two separate votes Friday, the panelists said the medicines shouldn't be used in children younger than 2 or in those younger than 6. A third vote, to recommend against use in children 6 to 11, failed.
Earlier, the panelists voted unanimously to recommend the medicines be studied in children to determine whether they work. That recommendation also would require the FDA to undertake a rule-making process to reclassify the medicines, since the ingredients they include are now generally recognized as safe and effective, which doesn't require testing. Again, that process could take years, even before any studies themselves get under way.
The panel's advice dovetails with a petition filed by pediatricians that argued the over-the-counter medicines shouldn't be given to children younger than 6, an age group they called the most vulnerable to potential ill effects. The American Academy of Pediatrics and other groups back the petition.
But FDA officials and panelists agreed there's no evidence they work in older children, either. Still, panelists held off from recommending against use in those 6 and older. And some said they feared such a prohibition wouldn't eliminate use of the medicines by parents.
"They will administer adult products to their children because they work for them or feel they work for them," said the panel's patient and family representative, Amy Celento of Nutley, N.J.
The drug industry says the medicines, used 3.8 billion times a year in treating cold and cough symptoms in children, do work and are safe.
"We worked very hard to present data to the panel and in some cases I felt as though they didn't listen and when you are in that position, it's tough," Linda Suydam, president of the Consumer Healthcare Products Association, the trade group that represents over-the-counter medicines, told reporters. Suydam pledged the industry would study the medicines as recommended and try harder to educate parents to avoid overdoses that in rare cases have been fatal.
Some of the drugs - which include Wyeth's Dimetapp and Robitussin, Johnson & Johnson's Pediacare and Novartis AG's Triaminic products - have never been tested in children, something flagged as long ago as 1972 by a previous FDA panel.
An FDA review found just 11 studies of children published over the last half-century. Those studies did not establish that the medicines worked in those cases, according to the agency.
For the most part, the results from tests in adults have been extrapolated to determine whether the medicines work in children. But even that evidence is "modest at best," said panel chairwoman Dr. Mary Tinetti of Yale University School of Medicine. Indeed, all but one of the 22 panelists then voted to say that extrapolation is unacceptable.
The panel also recommended drug makers provide standardized droppers with their liquid cough and cold medicines. Experts had told the panel the sometimes hard-to-use dosing devices contribute to parents unwittingly overdosing their children.
Later Friday, the panel recommended the dizzying array of medicines that combine multiple ingredients remain on the market - but only pending the results of future studies to determine whether they work.
The panel also said cold and cough medicines should not be allowed to bear "doctor-recommended" and similar statements. It wasn't immediately clear if such a prohibition would be constitutional.
One health expert told the panel that children catch five to eight colds each year. Those colds don't necessarily require treatment beyond comfort measures that don't involve drugs, said Patricia Jackson Allen, of the National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners.
An exclusive room-service menu, a skyline cruise around Chicago, aspecial breakfast--sounds like great indulgences for a Chicagotourist.
Unfortunately these activities are only for those with four legs,fur and a wicked bark.
"When you can order a ground sirloin steak burger or have amassage therapist come to rub your puppy down, it certainly is livingthe good life," says Keith Douglas, general manager of the House ofBlues Hotel, a Loews property.
"I think a certain portion of it may be a bit extreme. But if adog is getting lots of love and attention, what really is the harm?"
A large part of the $29.5 billion pet owners spend annually isused to pamper their pooches. And Chicago wants to grab its share.
Dogs are welcome to stay at the House of Blues Hotel and HotelMonaco. These hotels are prepared to cater to all their clientele,even those with specific needs--special dog beds, doggie bones atturndown and spa and grooming services.
The House of Blues even goes a step further with the creation ofspecial events.
Part of the hotel's Loews Loves Pets program this weekend willinclude Yappy hour, held from 2 to 5 p.m. on Sunday. Milk bones,doggie hors d'oeurves and bottled water to lap up will be part of thefestivities.
Dogs also are invited to the hotel's fourth annual Bark Breakfaston June 20. This event is held in conjunction with Pet SittersInternational Take Your Pets to Work Day. All dogs will get a barkbriefcase to prepare them for their first day in the rat race.
After a tough time at the office, pooches can rest their wearypaws aboard the Mercury, Chicago's Skyline Cruiselines Canine Cruisesdeparting at 10 a.m. every Sunday starting June 1 and continuingthrough the end of August.
We now know why they are called the dog days of summer.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Tuesday ordered a review of California's response to the deadly wildfires that destroyed more than 2,000 homes last month, including whether home and business construction should be allowed in fire-prone areas.
He asked the state's Blue Ribbon Task Force on wildfires, made up of fire chiefs and state appointees, to identify weaknesses that could be fixed.
Schwarzenegger initially was impressed with the state's actions, saying for days after the fires grew out of control on Oct. 21 that its disaster response was textbook.
Only after Southern California fire officials clamored for additional support and The Associated Press revealed government rules delayed dozens of water-dumping aircraft from reaching the blazes did Schwarzenegger acknowledge the state may have been able to do better.
He asked the task force to study not only whether California had enough fire engines and personnel to coordinate its response, but also to look at whether the state should allow homes and businesses to be built in areas most prone to wildfires.
If that construction is allowed, he asked the group to determine if the buildings should have to meet higher fire-resistance standards.
"The governor believes the state did a great job in its response to the fires, but we should always be asking ourselves what additional steps we need to take to do even better," said Schwarzenegger spokesman Aaron McLear. "He is calling on the experts to examine the most recent fires and to make additional recommendations to ensure we are always improving our fire response."
The Blue Ribbon Task Force was set up after the 2003 fires that destroyed more than 3,600 homes, many in the same areas.
The panel's chairman, Corona Fire Department Chief Mike Warren, said the group would review recommendations generated after the 2003 blazes and determine what was implemented and whether or not it worked in the recent fires.
Delays launching aircraft revealed a system still suffering from communication and planning shortfalls.
The AP reported on Oct. 25 that Marine, Navy and National Guard helicopters were grounded for days because state personnel required to be on board were not immediately available. The National Guard's two newest C-130 cargo planes also could not help because they had yet to be outfitted with tanks needed to carry thousands of gallons of fire retardant.
___
Associated Press Writer Michael R. Blood in Los Angeles contributed to this report.
One enormous myth that has been propagated (sometimes innocently, sometimes not) in recent debates over the future of the auto industry is the claim that auto workers "make" $75 per hour.
Auto workers don't remotely make that much money - yet the lie has been repeated so often that many people now actually seem to believe it. In reality, CAW-represented production workers in the major auto plants are paid a starting wage of about $24 per hour. This grows (as they earn seniority) to a maximum of $34 per hour. Skilled-trades specialists (in electrical, machining, tool, or related trades) earn up to $40 per hour. On a weighted average basis (counting production and trades together), …
He won't be a Detroit Red Wing, but Chris Chelios still wants to play.
The 47-year-old defenseman said Wednesday he has no hard feelings about Detroit's decision not to sign him for next season.
Chelios says he wants to sign with another NHL team. Chelios says his family won't move from the Detroit area, where he owns a bar.
Chelios says he would …
BANGKOK, Thailand - An Orient Thai Airways jet crashed and was engulfed in flames as it attempted to land in heavy rain at the Phuket airport in southern Thailand on Sunday, authorities said.
Maj. Gen. Deecha Butnamphet, police chief in Phuket, said on local television station TITV that "we believe that there are many people who are dead. We are taking the dead and injured out from the scene.
"The airplane is completely destroyed and inflamed," he said.
TITV reported 60 dead, but Chaisak Angsuwan, director general of the Air Transport Authority of Thailand, could not confirm that.
Angsuwan told The Associated Press by telephone he believes "there are …
AIRLINE INDUSTRY INFORMATION-(C)1997-2001 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD
The Allied Pilots Association (APA), which represents pilots with American Airlines, has issued a list of demands to the carrier regarding the purchase of Trans World Airlines.
The demands, which are intended to ensure a smooth integration of TWA pilots into the system, include pension enhancements and protection against furloughs, pay reduction or …
Authors: Jaina Mistry (corresponding author) [1]; Alex Bateman [1]; Robert D Finn [1]
Background
Enzymes play a considerable role in controlling the flow of metabolites within a cell; they catalyze virtually all of the reactions that make and modify the molecules required in biological pathways. Only a small number of residues within an enzyme are directly involved in catalysis and the structure and chemical properties of these residues (termed the active site) determine the chemistry of the enzyme. For this reason active site residues are highly conserved.
Pfam [1] is a database of 8296 protein families (as of Pfam release 20.0). Only ~0.4% of the sequences contained within the enzymatic Pfam families (i.e. those families that contain at least one characterized catalytic site) have the active site residues experimentally determined. There are families within Pfam which we know are catalytic, yet the residues that perform catalysis have not been characterized for any of the sequences within them, for example family YgbB (PF02542). Even where a structure is known, there are cases where the catalytic residues have not been identified (e.g. Swiss-Prot:P30085). Although the proportion of characterised catalytic residues known is low, many enzymatic sequences within a Pfam alignment are homologous to a protein whose catalytic residues have been characterised.
The fraction of characterized sequences continues to diminish as high throughput genome sequencing projects generate more and more data. To overcome the lack of experimental data we can use computational methods to predict functional residues on new protein sequences.
A range of approaches has been applied to the task of predicting active sites in protein sequences computationally. These can be split into two broad categories: those that transfer experimentally characterized active site data by similarity and those that predict active site residues
The
Similarity transfer based methods use tools such as BLAST searches, hidden Markov models (HMMs), pattern matching and structural templates to first identify sequences homologous to those with known active site residues, and then transfer active site residues from the characterized sequences to the uncharacterized sequences. The Catalytic Site Atlas (CSA) [22] is a database that collates active site residues from the literature for proteins with a known structure. It also provides active site residue predictions for proteins with a known structure which it infers on the basis of PSI-BLAST hits, and it is one of the largest resources for catalytic sites. Another database containing literature collated active site residues and predicted active site residues is UniProtKB [23], the central repository for protein sequences. UniProtKB is composed of two sections, the hand annotated 'UniProtKB/Swiss-Prot' section and the automatically generated 'UniProtKB/TrEMBL' section. UniProtKB however, currently only predicts active site residues by similarity for sequences in UniProtKB/Swiss-Prot, and not for the sequences in the automatically generated UniProtKB/TrEMBL entries which form ~94% of this database. Additionally, it can sometimes be difficult to trace the evidence for a particular active site prediction in UniProtKB. PROSITE [24] is a database that contains a collection of regular expressions (patterns) against which sequences can be searched. Each regular expression represents a conserved motif such as an active site region. Each PROSITE pattern is searched against UniProtKB/Swiss-Prot and the resulting matches are manually annotated by curators as true positives (TP), false positives (FP), false negatives (FN) or potential (P). PROSITE matches to UniProtKB/TrEMBL sequences are available via InterPro [25]. These matches are verified using a set of secondary patterns derived from the PROSITE pattern which are computed with the eMotif algorithm [26]. A stringent threshold of E = 10
Protein domain databases such as SMART [27] and
Pfam contains a large collection of protein alignments and is one of the leading protein domain databases in terms of sequence coverage; 74% of the sequences in UniProtKB have at least one match to a Pfam domain (statistics taken from Pfam 20.0). Pfam contains the experimental active site annotations present in UniProtKB. To enrich the sequence annotations in Pfam, we have taken known active site residues defined by UniProtKB that occur within a Pfam alignment and used them to predict active site residues on other sequences within the same alignment. Using this methodology we have created one of the largest databases of active site predictions. Here we outline our methodology for active site residue transfer and compare our prediction data to four other databases. We also estimate the specificity and sensitivity of our methodology.
Construction and content
The manually curated thresholds for each Pfam family are chosen such that the family contains no known FPs, therefore all sequences within a family can be considered homologous [1]. The active site Pfam families can contain both active and inactive homologues. This gives us an initial starting point of an alignment of sequences that share a particular domain.
The Pfam flatfiles originally contained the active site residue annotations present in UniProtKB/Swiss-Prot. As authors of the Pfam database we noticed that within the catalytic Pfam families, very few sequences had active site residue annotations and within the large alignments, the known active …
Byline: Paul Grondahl
Power saws shriek in their ears, sawdust clings to their hair and the acrid scent of epoxy fills their nostrils, but being a worker at the Apocalypse Snowboards factory here has its perks.
When the snow flies and a new prototype board is ready to be tested, it's off to Hunter Mountain for an afternoon of -- ahem -- research and development on the slopes.
"One of the reasons we work here is because we love to snowboard," says Alan Johnson, marketing and sales manager. "Everyone looks forward to testing day. We live to use the product."
Besides such pleasurable interludes and the mystique of working on a product so …
World stocks fell Wednesday, extending Tuesday's heavy losses as evidence mounted that the global financial crisis is hurting economies and company profits.
The Dow Jones industrial average was down 1.8 percent at 8541.19 in New York morning trading after dropping 2 percent the previous day.
The drops followed similar losses in Asia and Europe. Britain's benchmark FTSE 100 was 1.0 percent lower at 4204.79 points, while Germany's DAX was down 2.3 percent at 4654.26. In France, the CAC 40 dropped 1.6 percent to 3282.63.
Although the European indexes were higher on the open, they were soon sent lower as economic data and earnings reports soured …
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. The only thing certain in this wild andunpredictable Florida recount battle is that the 43rd president ofthe United States will be sworn in Jan 20.
The federal and Florida courts, the Florida Legislature and evenCongress are-or may soon be-on parallel tracks to pick a president.
After getting beat in court all week, Vice President Al Gore wasbrought back from the near dead Friday when the Florida Supreme Courtordered a statewide hand recount on a 4-3 vote.
Now it is Texas Gov. George Bush who is sweating, anxiously tryingto preserve a shrinking lead, down to 154 votes. Late Friday, heasked the federal courts to stall the recounts before they …
Costa Rican banana producers set an export record in the first five months of the year, said the National Banana Corp. (Corbana), reports Xinhua News Agency (July 9, 1999). January-May banana exports amounted to 48 million 18-kilogram boxes, up 3.8% from the same period of 1998. Costa Rican banana exports increased at a time of uncertainty after the European Union changed its …
BRIDLINGTON Rugby Union Football Club started the new year with a fine win over Old Brodleians and will be looking to take that performance into Saturday's derby at Malton & Norton.
Bridlington played well in their 37-16 win and had they turned the screw a bit more could have put even more points on the board.
But this Saturday's game will be a much sterner test, and although Malton are second from bottom they have lost most of their games by only one score, so perhaps they are lying in a false league position.
Bridlington themselves are only three points clear of the relegation zone and will be hoping to make it back-to-back victories to take them …
Byline: Tim Beidel Staff writer
A cancer-stricken 73-year-old Schenectady man, serving a long prison sentence for killing his son and shooting his estranged wife and her boyfriend, has asked Gov. Mario M. Cuomo for clemency, saying he doesn't want to die "all alone in prison."
Joseph Raucci, who pleaded guilty in 1986 to two counts of attempted murder and a count of manslaughter, is serving a 16 2/3-to-50-year sentence in the Shawangunk Correctional Facility in this Ulster County community. He has asked Cuomo to waive guidelines that require a clemency applicant to have served half his minimum sentence.
According to the prison's medical director, Raucci suffers from prostate cancer that has spread to his bones and spinal cord. An operation to relieve the pain in 1987 was unsuccessful, and Raucci receives pain-killing morphine every three hours …
A Lebanese military prosecutor on Wednesday indicted 11 suspected militants, including the alleged leader of an al-Qaida-inspired organization, with plotting terrorist attacks and monitoring U.N. peacekeeper movements, judicial officials said.
Military prosecutor Samih Hajj charged the men with forming an "armed gang," planning bombings against civilian targets and undermining the state, the judicial officials said. The suspects were also charged with trailing Lebanese forces and U.N. peacekeepers in southern Lebanon, as well as forging Lebanese passports and Palestinian refugees documents, they said.
Hajj requested the death penalty for the men, …
NEW YORK - Charlie Sheen is engaged.
His bride-to-be is Brooke Mueller, a real estate investor, Sheen's spokesman, Stan Rosenfield, said Thursday.
Rosenfield said Sheen, 41, proposed to Mueller, 29, during a recent trip to Costa Rica. He said the couple met in April 2006.
Sheen has two daughters, Sam, 3, and …
Some suppliers that have worked with Jay Alix & Associates of Southfield, Mich., and the year the work began
* Hayes Lemmerz International Inc. - 2001: Work in progress
* Exide Technologies - 2001: Work …
Auto Business News-12 June 2008-Volkswagen's China venture to add new Audi assembly line(C)2008 ENPublishing - http://www.enpublishing.co.uk
Auto Business News - 12 June 2008(c)2005 - Electronic News Publishing - http://www.enpublishing.co.uk
Germany-based Volkswagen AG's (VW) (Xetra: VW) car venture in northeast China is planning to add a new Audi assembly line.
The …
Byline: WILLIAM R. MACKLIN Knight-Ridder
PHILADELPHIA You've probably never met Sharon Rementer, but if you do, understand one thing: She doesn't trust you.
It's nothing personal.
Rementer is 27, a protective homemaker with a husband she adores, a 3-year-old daughter she idolizes, and fears of violent crime and institutional and personal betrayal that keep her wary and on guard.
If Bill Clinton could feel her pain, he'd know that the current presidential scandal with its suggestions of fresh marital infidelity and repellent allegations of how Linda Tripp tape-recorded phone conversations with her supposed friend, White House intern Monica Lewinsky, has radiated right into Rementer's West Mayfair home, deepening her distrust.
``It's like you can't even trust your own friends,'' Rementer said. ``I guess it's true that you just can't trust anybody.''
Everyone, it seems, is suspect from the politicians who court your votes to the co-workers who buy you lunch. From the stranger who checks you out as you walk toward your car at the mall to the spouse who shares your bed.
Every headline about a priest assaulting a child, every pink slip issued by a profitable corporation, every fratricide, patricide, matricide or domestic beat-down, every highway dispute settled with gunfire, every tale of a renegade cop or a racially motivated imbroglio, carries an indelible message: You have no right to trust.
``I don't think there's any question that trust has gone down,'' said Walter Williams, an economist, public policy …
Spain's northeastern Catalonia region has outlawed bullfighting, becoming the country's first mainland region to do so after a heated debate that pitted animal rights against the idea of preserving a pillar of traditional culture.
…
Co-op meeting set for Jan. 24
The basement meeting room in Boise's St. John's Cathedral has a maximum capacity of about 100 people. That's the location for the Monday, Jan. 24, meeting of Boise Co-op members who total more than 40,000. No one is expecting all of the members to attend, but if even a fraction show up, it will be a logistical challenge.
"They'll probably need to usher in 100 people, tell them what's going on and then circulate in another 100," said a co-op employee who asked to remain anonymous.
The reason for anonymity is that the co-op veteran is concerned about repercussions. Workers have been asked by acting co-op manager Gary Lyons not to speak …
