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Editorial Roundup: Excerpts From Recent Editorials

Excerpts from recent editorials in newspapers in the United States and abroad:

Dec. 12

China Today, Beijing, on China and the World Trade Organization:

Ten years ago, when China officially became the 143rd member of the World Trade Organization (WTO), wolf crying was pervasive.

The one conspicuous fact, acknowledged by leaders of the world's major trade establishments and reiterated by President Hu Jintao yesterday at the forum commemorating the 10th anniversary of the country's WTO membership, is that China committed far more for its admittance than other emerging economies. This was hardly mentioned at home then.

And it was not clear at the time whether …

NBA guard Deron Williams wins on Turkish debut

ISTANBUL (AP) — Deron Williams scored 11 points and had five assists to help Besiktas to a 107-69 victory over Bandirma Kirmizi on Sunday in the NBA player's Turkish league debut.

New Jersey Nets guard Williams — a two-time NBA all-star — is among a number of players from the North American league signed to overseas clubs until the end of the …

Russian made cold weather forwarder

Chetra Industrial Machinery JSC has introduced what they say is the first Russian-made forwarder. The KS 421 is fitted with a Cummins engine and the chassis is equipped with an …

Malaysian leader unveils market reforms, pledges to boost economy

Malaysia's leader on Tuesday unveiled measures to liberalize the capital markets and pledged to step up economic reforms to restore confidence in his government after recent electoral losses.

Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi also said fuel prices would not be raised, an apparent attempt to ensure he doesn't antagonize Malaysians further.

The government had earlier warned it may cut fuel subsidies after global oil prices shot past US$100 a barrel earlier this year. Retail prices have been unchanged since February 2006.

"The result of the elections was a strong message that I have not moved fast enough in pushing through with the reforms …

German job market misses out on spring recovery

Germany's labor market missed out on a traditional spring recovery in April as government figures showed Thursday that unadjusted employment levels got little help from the usual seasonal pickup.

Meanwhile, the seasonally adjusted unemployment figures were up for the sixth straight month.

The unadjusted jobless rate was unchanged at 8.6 percent in April, with 3.585 million people out of work _ only 1,000 fewer than in March _ the Federal Labor Agency said. Compared with last April, 171,000 more people were jobless.

"The recession in German industry is increasingly having effects on the labor market," labor agency chief Frank-Juergen …

Point Guards Provide Excitement in 1992-93

Summer basketball wrapup:

Nobody is surprised that King, Westinghouse, Marshall andtwo-time defending Class AA champion Proviso East emerged as theteams to beat for 1992-93. But what separates the haves from thehave-nots is what coaches, talent scouts and other observers say isthe best crop of point guards in memory.

Virtually every highly rated team is led by a blue-chip pointguard or boasts an outstanding backcourt tandem. However, collegerecruiters are complaining about a lack of quality big men in theChicago area. The top 10 teams:

1. King; 2. Westinghouse; 3. Marshall; 4. Proviso East; 5. MountCarmel; 6. Thornton; 7. Leo; 8. Young; 9. St. Francis …

Dubai's Abraaj snags Amundi's N. Africa business

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Mideast investment firm Abraaj Capital says it has bought French asset manager Amundi's private equity business in North Africa.

The Dubai-based private equity house said Sunday the deal includes assuming control of …

Cheney FBI interview: 72 times of can't recall

Federal prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald famously declared in the Valerie Plame affair that "there is a cloud over the vice president." Last week's release of an FBI interview summary of Dick Cheney's answers in the criminal investigation underscores why Fitzgerald felt that way.

On 72 occasions, according to the 28-page FBI summary, Cheney equivocated to the FBI during his lengthy May 2004 interview, saying he could not be certain in his answers to questions about matters large and small in the Plame controversy.

The Cheney interview reflects a team of prosecutors and FBI agents trying to find out whether the leaks of Plame's CIA identity were …

Married man enjoys flirting with attractive co-worker

Dear Zazz: A co-worker keeps hitting on me in a big way. She isgreat-looking and I love flirting with her, but I'd never act on myattraction because I'm married.

Still, flirting with her helps keep work interesting and gives mesomething to look forward to.

Also, after a day at work with "Shelly" I'm even moreinterested in my wife when I get home. What should I do?ENJOYS ITDear Enjoys: Flirting is a dangerous hobby for married people.If you need more stimulation to get motivated at work, get a morestimulating job.I'm not saying we can't have fun with co-workers of the oppositesex. And often when men and women interact, there's a sexualundertone.But you're …

McCaw in running for Player of the Year award

DUBLIN (AP) — New Zealand captain Richie McCaw is in the running to win the IRB's Player of the Year award for the third time after being included in a six-man shortlist for the 2010 accolade.

The All Blacks flanker, who won the award last year and in 2006, faces competition from teammate Mils Muliaina, South Africa lock Victor Matfield, Australia internationals Kurtley …

Will stocks keep rising? Profit reports may tell

Investors cast aside worries of another recession last week and bought stocks by the bucketful. This week brings hard evidence of whether they were right.

A new earnings reporting season kicks off Monday with Alcoa Inc., followed by dozens of other companies over the next few days. A question on everyone's lips: Will these second-quarter reports show that companies are feeling better about the future, too?

"We'll find out soon enough what the reality is," says Howard Silverblatt, a senior analyst at Standard & Poor's.

After dumping stocks since late April, investors last week drove the Dow Jones industrial average up 5.3 percent, …

Our Industrial Members--The Backbone Of AIChE

AIChE currently is in the middle of a new corporate campaign to raise support for the Institute from industries that employ our chemical engineers. In the course of this campaign, a number of us have been surveying and meeting with upper management to not only acquaint them with the campaign, but also to get feedback from them on what the Institute can do to help industry.

The majority of our membersabout 75 percent-work in industry. Clearly this group is vital to the Institute, and it's important that the Institute do all it can to help these industrial chemical engineers in their careers. However, we have been quite surprised to find that many CEOs and top executives of companies that hire our members aren't aware of the many AIChE programs available to their companies and employees. While we try to publicize our various activities, it's essential that individual members also do all they can to pass on to their upper management information on Institute activities in which they are involved and how these activities are valuable to them and their companies.

Working with our academic members, AIChE tries to ensure that the highest quality students enter the profession and benefit from chemical engineering's historically strong core curriculum. Our many continuing education and training courses are of great value to industry in keeping employees up to speed in this rapidly changing technological world. Equally important are the many national and international meetings we sponsor that provide forums for disseminating the latest technology, safety, and environmental information. Our industrially sponsored research efforts, such as the Center for Chemical Process Safety and Center for Waste Reduction Technologies, can be valuable not only to our members, but to the companies that employ them. Our many divisions and forums typically sponsor focused programs of use to industry in the areas of their interest.

You, as individual members, are our most effective tool for informing corporate management of the vital role AIChE plays in helping provide industry with the highest quality chemical engineers who have access to the latest technology. Keeping your boss and his/her boss informed of your involvement in AIChE will go a long way towards getting the message up the line. Clearly it is a win-win-win-win situation, with employees getting more recognition for their AIChE involvement (with more access to Institute activities), companies taking more advantage of the Institute's programs, and AIChE benefiting in turn from more industrial support.

Family: US school snared thousands of Web images

A suburban Philadelphia family claiming school employees spied on students through school-supplied laptops says tracking software captured thousands of images of students.

The motion filed Thursday by the family of Harriton High School student Blake Robbins says the records provided to them by Lower Merion School District also asserts that staff members viewed the images as a window into a school "soap opera," according to the Philadelphia Inquirer newspaper.

Robbins filed a federal lawsuit in February claiming the district spied on students in their homes.

District officials have acknowledged secretly activating Webcams to locate 42 missing laptops. They say Robbins' Webcam was activated because he wasn't authorized to take the laptop home.

A school attorney says there's no indication that images were misused.

A route to safer driving

Bob Parmacek, 78, was beginning to wonder if he was as sharp behind the wheel as he used to be.

"Night driving, particularly, bothered me a little bit," said Parmacek. "Before I started having a problem, I wanted to see what could be done."

Parmacek heard about a new brain-training computer software program called "DriveSharp," which claims to reduce crash risk for older drivers. Parmacek said he started doing the DriveSharp computer exercises and believes his driving has gotten better.

"I live in Highland Park, and we get deer on the road every so often, and I'm able to see them much quicker than I did before," said Parmacek, who says he also feels more comfortable merging onto the Edens Expy. "I don't want to give up my driving, so anything I can do, I'm all for it."

People over the age of 65 are mostly safe drivers -- they're less likely to drive drunk or drive while using a cell phone.

However, per mile traveled, crash and fatality rates start rising at age 70 and jump markedly after 80, as health conditions and declines in visual and cognitive skills start affecting some older drivers. Problems may include difficulty negotiating left turns and driving too slowly.

DriveSharp works with the idea that cognitive skills needed for driving can decline with age and can be strengthened with training, as muscles can be built by lifting weights.

DriveSharp is not like a classroom driving simulator, or one of those arcade games where you drive an imaginary race car. The Posit Science product consists of two computer games that, on the surface, don't seem to have much to do with the physical act of driving.

One game involves tracking jewels hidden behind moving fish. The other has the player locating road signs and identifying cars within a circle.

The games are designed to improve reaction time and your ability to notice things on the edge of your peripheral vision, according to Steven Aldrich, CEO of San Francisco-based Posit Science.

"It focuses on your divided attention, which is a key piece of driving because you have cars around you and cars behind and in front of you," said Aldrich.

Aldrich said independent research studies have shown DriveSharp improves users' "useful field of view" -- or the area from which one can extract visual data in a brief glance. Ten hours of useful field of view training can cut risk of an at-fault car crash in half, Aldrich said.

DriveSharp caught the interest of Allstate. To test the product, the Northbrook-based insurer offered Posit Science's InSight program, which includes the DriveSharp games, to 100,000 Pennsylvania customers 55 and over.

Allstate saw "a significant improvement" in driving in customers who used the product, compared with those who didn't, according to Tom Warden, manager of Allstate's research and planning center. "We saw fewer accidents and losses," Warden said. Allstate is looking into offering DriveSharp at a discount to customers. "We'd love to just be able to give it away for free," Warden said.

The AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, a nonprofit research arm of AAA, recommends DriveSharp to AAA members, offering it at a discount for $69 instead of the retail $89. Foundation CEO J. Peter Kissinger admitted he thought the product was "too good to be true" when he first heard about it, but was convinced by the research.

"We think it's a fantastic product," said Kissinger. As baby boomers age, it has become more important to help keep older drivers fit for the road, since not being able to drive limits people's lives, Kissinger said. "Driving is an incredibly important part of their well-being."

Anne Hegberg, a senior driver rehabilitation specialist at Marianjoy Rehabilitation Center in Wheaton, who is not familiar with DriveSharp, said one drawback she can see is that some older people aren't computer savvy.

"But if they are, anything you can do to increase the use of your brain couldn't hurt," Hegberg said. However, she noted that some problems that affect older drivers -- such as medication that causes dizzy spells -- couldn't be helped with a product like this.

To try DriveSharp, go to positscience.com/our-products/demo. Go to drivesharpnow.com at the AAA Foundation to measure your accident risk.

CITY WATCHES AS DENVER ROLLS OUT BIKE-SHARING PROGRAM

Bike sharing comes to Denver this week: Starting Thursday, 500 bicycles will be available at 50 stations around the mile-high city, offering an alternative to cars for short commutes.

Denver is the first of three U.S. cities to set up citywide bike-sharing programs this year, with Minneapolis and Boston planning to install systems in the coming months.

The program, provided by B-cycle, is similar to bike rental programs in European cities such as Paris and Barcelona. People who want to use the bikes must sign up for membership and use special access cards to unlock bikes. They can return bikes to another station anywhere else in town.

How about Chicago? Mayor Daley is a fan of the Paris program, and Bob Burns, B-cycle president, confirms that Chicago is "very interested'' but he couldn't say how soon a program could be set up here.

VOTE NEAR ON REQUIRING STOP FOR PEDESTRIANS

The Illinois Senate could vote this week on a bill that would require drivers to come to a complete stop for all pedestrians in crosswalks.

Current law requires drivers to only yield and stop when necessary. The measure, already passed by the House, will make the law clearer to drivers and easier for police to enforce, according to the Active Transportation Alliance, which supports the bill.

More than a dozen other states have similar laws.

RIDE TRIVIA QUIZ ANSWER

The Chicago mayor who promoted himself on campaign posters as "the Cyclists' Champion" was Carter H. Harrison II. He attributed his victory to strong support from cyclists and created a bike path along Sheridan Road. Walter Brzeski of Chicago was the winner.

Color Photo: (See microfilm for photo description). Color Photo: The DriveSharp software helps improve reaction time and perception, research has shown.

M&S and YSL in row

NATIONAL: One of the world's bestknown fashion labels, Yves SaintLaurent, is in dispute with high street store Marks & Spencer overthe use of three initials.

The French fashion company objected after Marks & Spencer tried toregister the name MSL which it used for the trial of a lingeriecollection on the continent.

Yves Saint Laurent is understood to be annoyed that the MSL nameis too similar to its own YSL abbreviation.

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

Will the paranoid streak that runs broadly through contemporary cultural life ever lose its intensity? "The enemy is clearly delineated: he is a perfect model of malice, a kind of amoral superman-sinister, ubiquitous, powerful, cruel, sensual, luxury-loving." So Richard Hofstadter described in Harper's in 1964 the particular frame of thinking that made up the "paranoid style" of American politics. The historian famously traced this thread of anti-intellectualism throughout the country's history and sized up the damage it had done to our political culture: "We are all sufferers from history," he wrote, "but the paranoid is a double sufferer, since he is afflicted not only by the real world, with the rest of us, but by his fantasies as well." Hofstadter's target then was the conspiracy-minded Right of the John Birch ilk, but what's changed perhaps most radically since the time of his analysis is the leftward migration of the paranoid style.

More than any other book, Thomas Pynchon's Gravity's Rainbow captured the very moment at which the paranoid worldview seemed to settle like a damp fog over American culture at large. In that sense, no writer was more of his time-or ours-than Pynchon. In this issue of Bookforum, we look behind the scenes at how this novel, which emerged as a cultural phenomenon, came to fruition-and how a difficult, spiraling 768page book, and its Greta Garbo of a reclusive author, galvanized a reading audience that included many future writers. Gerald Howard's text, presented on page twenty-nine, masterfully relates the hows and the whys-a story that includes far-seeing editors, marketing coups, and awards-banquet shenanigans around the publication of Pynchon's epic. As we considered the force of Howard's own opinion concerning Pynchon's influential shadow, we invited twenty other writers to weigh in on the novelist and his thirtytwo-year-old tome. (Our fiction editor, Albert Mobilio, deserves singular praise for the vision behind this selection.) The diversity of our respondents, in age, gender, and genre, speaks volumes about the gravity of Gravity's Rainbow. One virtue of the responses we have gathered here is that they make the case for Pynchon the writer-in some cases even when they are less interested in his picture-perfect reflection of paranoia as a cultural condition. It is what makes him so much more than a novelist of ideas-and makes his writing crucial even today.

Editorially yours, Eric Banks

Mexico: Starbucks owes for pre-Hispanic images

The Mexican government says it has notified Starbucks Corp. that Mexico is owed intellectual property rights for a line of coffee mugs showing pre-Hispanic images.

Starbucks says it is working with Mexico to resolve the issue as quickly as possible. It says the mugs have been removed from its shop shelves pending the discussions.

The mugs show images of the Aztec calendar stone and the Pyramid of the Moon from the pre-Aztec ruins of Teotihuacan, near Mexico City.

The government archaeological agency said Wednesday it will decide by next week whether Starbucks should pay any fees.

A company statement says the supplier of the mugs felt it made good faith efforts to offer payment and obtain permits.

Jays erupt, tip Rangers

Willie Upshaw and George Bell hit consecutive two-out home runsin the eighth inning to lift the Toronto Blue Jays to an 11-10victory over the Texas Rangers last night at Arlington, Texas.

Reliever Greg Harris (0-1) was the victim of the rally, whichbegan when Garth Iorg singled with two out. Upshaw then homered totie the game and Bell hit the game-winner over the wall in left.

Tom Henke (1-0) pitched the last two innings for Toronto. Theofficial scorer credited him with the victory rather than a save.

The Rangers had taken a 10-8 lead in the bottom of the seventhon Don Slaught's two-run double off Steve Davis. Texas rookie BobbyWitt, making his major league debut, lasted only 3 1/3 innings,walking six and yielding five hits and six runs, including a two-runhomer by Cecil Fielder.

Toronto starter Jimmy Key lasted just one-third of an inning,trailing 5-1. YANKEES 6, ROYALS 5

Pinch hitter Dale Berra's bases-loaded suicide squeeze buntsingle with one out in the 10th inning scored Mike Easler as host NewYork rallied from a five-run deficit to top Kansas City.

Easler led off the 10th against rookie reliever Al Hargesheimerwith a double to the base of the center-field wall. Easler went tothird on a grounder and Mike Pagliarulo and Butch Wynegar were walkedintentionally to load the bases.

Berra then dropped a 2-1 pitch between the mound and home platefor a single, Easler scoring without a throw home.

The winner was Dave Righetti, who came in after Frank White ledoff the top of the 10th against Rod Scurry with a double. Headvanced on an out. But when Lynn Jones missed a squeeze buntattempt, catcher Wynegar chased White toward third base and taggedhim out. A's 3, TWINS 0

Rookie slugger Jose Canseco escaped a 1-for-9 slump with atwo-run homer, leading Oakland over Minnesota for the host's firsttriumph of the year.

Veteran right-hander Moose Haas went 7 2/3 innings for thevictory. Jay Howell finished for his first save. John Butcher tookthe loss.

With the A's leading 1-0 in the seventh, Carney Lansford doubledinto the left-field corner. Canseco then hit a fly that barelycleared the wall in left-center for his first homer of the year.

The A's scored their first run in the fourth. Dwayne Murphysingled up the middle and moved to second on a bunt single by DaveKingman. Kingman was 0-for-8 this season before the surprising bunt.Murphy later scored on an error. MARINERS 5, ANGELS 2

Alvin Davis went 3-for-4 with three RBI and a homer and GormanThomas homered to back the six-hit pitching of Matt Young as hostSeattle beat California.

Young struck out four and walked two. George Hendrick homeredfor California. ORIOLES 5, INDIANS 1

Fred Lynn drilled a three-run homer in the seventh inning andRick Dempsey added a pair of solo home runs to power host Baltimoreover Cleveland.

Ken Dixon (1-0) scattered six hits and struck out five overseven innings. Rich Bordi pitched the final two innings for hisfirst save.

Reporter Appeals Judge's Contempt Order

A former USA Today reporter has asked an appeals court to block daily fines levied by a judge who wants her to disclose confidential sources about anthrax attacks.

Toni Locy (LOH-see) has been ordered to pay up to $5,000 a day out of her own pocket until she identifies her sources for news stories about a former Army scientist under scrutiny in the 2001 attacks.

Lawyers for Locy filed an appeal Monday saying that a judge is making demands that are overbroad and financially ruinous.

U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton says Locy must reveal many confidential sources in hopes that some might recall that they were sources for two stories Locy wrote about scientist Steven J. Hatfill.

Red Wings sign Hull in bid to win another Stanley Cup

DETROIT--The Detroit Red Wings signed free agent Brett Hull today,adding another aging star to one of the NHL's highest payrolls in abid to win a third Stanley Cup in six years.

The deal is for about $9 million over two years, a team sourcetold the Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

Hull, a 37-year-old right wing who ranks seventh in NHL historywith 649 goals, joins goaltender Dominik Hasek, 36, and left wing LucRobitaille, 35, as major off season acquisitions by Detroit. Hasekarrived in a trade, Robitaille signed as a free agent.

Hull scored 39 goals for the Dallas Stars last season, his 15th inthe league.

"By signing Brett Hull, we have added significant punch to rightside," Red Wings general manager Ken Holland said in a statement.

"He has a tremendous goal-scoring ability and is one of thegreatest goal scorers in the history of our game."

Hull will have a news conference in Detroit on Thursday.

The New York Rangers and Montreal Canadiens reportedly werecourting Hull, too, and offering two-year deals worth $10 million.

Hull enters the 2001-02 season second among active players ingoals, behind Mark Messier of the New York Rangers, who has 651.Hull's new Red Wings teammate, Steve Yzerman, has 645.

With the Stars, Hull scored the series-clinching goal againstHasek and the Buffalo Sabres in the third overtime of Game 6 of the1999 Stanley Cup finals.

Hull signed with Dallas as a free agent in 1998 and also playedwith the St. Louis Blues and Calgary Flames.

Hull and his father, Bobby, hold the record for NHL goals by afather-son combination with 1,259. Bobby Hull had 610 goals in a Hallof Fame career spent mostly with the Chicago Blackhawks.

AP

Starling design leads Huntley development

The new Starling design is the largest model at Southwind, adevelopment of single-family homes in Huntley.

Highlights of the 2,781-square-foot Starling include 2-storyfoyer, family room, basement and master bedroom with walk-in closet.It is base priced at $202,000.

Cambridge Homes, the builder, plans 224 houses.

Ten plans are sized from 1,456 to 2,781 square feet. Houseshave 3 to 5 bedrooms, 2 1/2 baths, basements and 2-car garages.

The Meadowlark is another model available for examination. TheMeadowlark, with 2,230 square feet, is priced from $181,000.Highlights include a pantry and breakfast area.

Southwind includes two nature areas. A 10-acre recreation parkis planned. Southwind, on Reed Road, 2 miles east of Illinois 47, Huntley;Cambridge Homes, (847) 669-2233.

2,000 RESTAURANTS, COFFEE SHOPS, MARKETS DIVERT FOOD SCRAPS IN CITY PROGRAM

San Francisco, California

Almost 2,000 restaurants, coffee shops, markets and other food establishments are diverting food residuals and food contaminated cardboard and paper to composting as part of a citywide program in San Francisco. "We have separate containers for compostables in our customer area," says Betsy Holwitz, owner of the Arizmendi Bakery, "plus six different compost bins in the work area." Twice named Commercial Recycler of the Year, the bakery also provides customers with compostable forks, knives and spoons. "We also give folks a 20-cent discount if they bring in their own coffee mug," adds Horwitz. The city program is actively supported by Sunset Scavenger Company which can be contacted at www.sunsetscavenger.com or www.goldengatedisposal.com.

NASA probes hits moon twice; few pictures yet

Take that, moon!

NASA smacked two spacecraft into the lunar south pole Friday morning in a search for hidden ice. Instruments confirm that a large empty rocket hull barreled into the moon at 7:31 a.m., followed four minutes later by a probe with cameras taking pictures of the first crash.

But initial photos show that the moon didn't give the reaction to the double jabs that NASA expected.

And the public definitely didn't get the live explosive views they may have anticipated from the mission called LCROSS, short for Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite.

Screens got fuzz and no immediate pictures of the crash or the six-mile plume of lunar dust that the mission was supposed to kick up for scientists to study. The public, which followed the crashes on the Internet and at observatories, seemed puzzled.

NASA officials touted loads of data from the probe and telescopes around the world and in orbit. But the crash photos and videos they offered at a morning news conference were few and showed little more than a fuzzy white flash.

Still, NASA scientists were happy.

"This is so cool," said Jennifer Heldmann, coordinator for NASA's observation campaign. "We're thrilled."

The first photos and videos that NASA got didn't show any plumes. They may still be coming or there may not have been much of a visible plume for the probe and Earth-bound telescopes to see, said LCROSS scientist Anthony Colaprete.

"We saw a crater; we saw a flash, so something had to happen in between," Colaprete said. The crater was the aftermath of the crash and the flash was the impact itself.

The unexpected lack of pictures of a plume could be because the plume was at a different angle, hit slopes or wasn't high enough to show up, he said. Or the lunar soil could have compressed down and not tossed up as much dust as expected, he said.

Colaprete played down the importance of pictures of the plume. Far more important is light spectrum measurements _ taken but not yet analyzed _ to show if there is water or some form of water in what was tossed up. The scientific instruments that took those measurements worked perfectly, he said.

"What matters for us is: What is the nature of the stuff that was kicked up going in?" said NASA project manager Dan Andrews. "All nine instruments were working fine and we received good data."

Andrews said the science team is pouring through the information to answer the big question: Is there some form of water under the moon's surface that was dislodged? It will probably be two weeks before scientists will be certain about the answer, he said.

"This is going to change the way we look at the moon," NASA chief lunar scientist Michael Wargo said at the news conference.

Expectations by the public for live plume video were probably too high and based on pre-crash animations, some of which were not by NASA, Andrews told The Associated Press Friday morning 80 minutes after impact.

Another issue, one NASA thought was a good possibility going into Friday, was that the lighting was bad and work needs to be done on images to make them easier to see, Andrews said.

People who got up before dawn to look for the crash at Los Angeles' Griffith Observatory threw confused looks at each other instead. They tried to watch on TV because the skies in Southern California were not clear enough, but that proved disappointing, too.

Telescope demonstrator Jim Mahon called the celestial show "anticlimactic."

"I was hoping we'd see a flash or a flare, evidence of a plume," Mahon said.

About 100 miles northeast of Los Angeles, 70 elementary school students at the Lewis Center for Educational Research charter school in Apple Valley capped off their weeklong "moon camp" experience by rising early to watch NASA television along with 300 members of the public.

"It was cool seeing actual pictures of the moon live," said 10-year-old Jackson Bridges, but he added: "I wanted to see the debris flying out."

___

Science Writer Alicia Chang contributed to this report from Los Angeles.

___

On the Net:

NASA's LCROSS site: http://www.nasa.gov/lcross

APPRENTICESHIP AND PUBLIC ART; The Urban Artworks Project

Just when I was beginning to think the young people of the country were all ecstasy-addled, steroid-crazed, hedonistic zombies whose utter nihilism - if it was ever left without the hypnotic salve of mindless entertainment - would quickly devour us all, I was introduced to a group of young people who seemed to be actually interested in the furtherance of civilization. To say the least, I was relieved. There before me sat a dozen new recruits in the civil tradition. They spoke in sentences; the sentences fit together in the form of thoughts. Their eyes were clear, their comments rang true, and though many of them were probably smarter than I am and would have asked better questions, they never let it show.

The meeting I was invited to attend was part of a photojournalism project, which precedes and will supplement a mural project, both of which stand under the banner of Urban Artworks. Urban Artworks is a neighborhood arts education and vocational training program for people aged 14 to 21. As apprentices in the creation of public art-works, the young people involved become familiar with the kinds of professional and creative processes society relies on. A statement about the project reads, "The project uses the arts to help youth gain vital and significant workplace skills; develop skills in the arts and learn the technical and creative processes involved in creating works of public art; and become connected and engaged in the community in a meaningful way." This isn't a paint-by-number exercise.

After applying for and being accepted as apprentice artists - into either the photojournalism project, the mural project, and/or the leadership team - the students were introduced to their mentors. Guiding the photojournalism side of things, which kicked off in early January, is professional photographer and journalist, Diane Ronayne, assisted by photographer Lisa Collard. Professional artist and muralist Ward Hooper will conduct the mural project, which begins the week of April 5.

The theme for the project as a whole is the past, present and future of Boise's North End as seen through the eyes of youth. Apprentice artists in the photojournalism project were given initial training in photography, interviewing techniques and North End history. Working in teams, they set out to photograph and gather sentiments, opinions and stories from North End residents. After weeks of gathering data, they will now focus on creating an anthology of photographs and interview materials that will capture the essence of the neighborhood and the community. The fruits of their labor will be on display April 1 at Incredible Edibles, in the Fort Street Marketplace from 4 to 6 p.m. There will also be a silent auction of donated artworks held in the Boise Consumer Co-op to raise funds for the completion of the mural project.

Apprentice artists in the mural project will work with Ward Hooper and the North End community to design and paint a mural on the Boise Consumer Co-op inspired by this anthology of images and stories from the photojournalism project. The mural is scheduled for an unveiling in late June.

Urban Artworks is supported by local organizations WorkSource, Workforce, Boise Parks and Recreation, Idaho Works, Boise City Arts Commission, Boise Art Museum and Boise State University, and individuals including Patty Urbach, Susan Whitlach and Jayne Sorrels. The project is a replication site for an internationally recognized project in Chicago called Gallery 37.

Talking to the young people involved in the photojournalism project I was struck by their professionalism and brains. The practical, creative and cooperative skills necessary in a successful public art project will serve them well. Future employers may want to jot these names down: Kyla Kidwell, Amanda Osterday, Libby Molina, Meagan Wolf, Greta Rybus, Rae Thiebert, Rachelle Deshazo, Niya Suddarth, Maggie Santoro, Mark Runsvold, Angela Hronek and Cierra Allen.

Article copyright Bar Bar Inc.

Photograph (Image of the Hollywood Market by artist intern Meagan Wolf is part of the Urban Artworks photojournalism project)

Soldier, policeman arrested over death in Kashmir

SRINAGAR, India (AP) — A soldier and police officer were arrested Monday as police investigate an alleged fake gunbattle and a civilian's death in Indian-controlled Kashmir, officials said.

The Indian army and police claimed they had killed a top commander of Lashkar-e-Taiba militants during a 12-hour gunbattle in a forested area in Poonch region on Sunday. The army identified the dead man as Abu Usman of Pakistan.

Further investigation found the dead man was a local Hindu resident and mentally unsound, said a police officer on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to speak to media.

The police registered a murder investigation case against an army soldier and an officer in a counterinsurgency police unit.

Omar Abdullah, Indian Kashmir's top elected official, said the arrested men confessed to passing the wrong information to the army, leading to the man's killing.

Rights groups have said impunity laws and a policy of rewards for killing militants have led to past abuses, and Kashmiris for years have said government officers killed innocent civilians passed off as armed rebels.

In 2007, seven police officers were arrested on charges that they killed civilians in staged gunbattles and claimed the victims were militants in order to get rewards and promotions.

The charges were the first brought against any police official for targeting civilians since the start of an armed conflict that has left tens of thousands of civilians dead in Indian Kashmir since 1989.

Anti-India sentiment runs deep in Kashmir, the Himalayan region divided between India and Pakistan and claimed entirely by both.

Under laws in place since 1990, army and paramilitary officers can search homes and make arrests without warrants. They can shoot at anyone suspected of being a separatist and can blow up a building or a home on suspicion that insurgents are using it.

The impunity laws also protect soldiers from being prosecuted in civilian courts unless the federal government approves.

US stocks fall as investors remain nervous about economy; Apple, Motorola results disappoint

Stocks pulled back again Wednesday, with investors uneasy about the health of the economy after reports from big names like Apple Inc. and Motorola Inc. dashed any notion that the Federal Reserve's emergency rate cut could in short order patch up the economy. Bond prices rose but came off their highs after stocks pared their losses.

Wall Street's weak opening occurred in tandem with a retrenchment in European markets, which fell after European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet appeared unmoved by the Federal Reserve's decision to cut interest rates, according to Dow Jones Newswires. Some investors had hoped the ECB would signal willingness to cut rates.

The Fed's decision Tuesday to lower its federal funds rate by a steep 0.75 basis points to 3.5 percent eventually helped calm U.S. markets, but it remains clear that investors have doubts about the potency of the Fed action. Rate cuts typically take months to work their way into the economy.

Meanwhile, a disappointing forecast from Apple showed how fragile investor sentiment is.

The maker of the iPod issued a forecast for its fiscal second quarter that said sales would likely grow by 29 percent. The figure would represent faster growth than in earlier years but fell short of what Wall Street had expected.

Apple's expectations appeared to confirm worries about consumer spending. As consumers account for more than two-thirds of the economy, investors are keen on learning whether retailers and other companies will have a harder time prying open wallets.

Shares of Apple fell $17.73, or 11.4 percent, to $137.91.

In midmorning trading, the Dow Jones industrial average, which had been down nearly 265 points early in the session, fell 123.97, or 1.04 percent, to 11,847.22.

Broader stock indicators also declined. The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 13.72, or 1.05 percent, to 1,296.78, and the Nasdaq composite index slid 33.41, or 1.46 percent, to 2,258.86.

The decline in stocks, while sizable, was in the early going less severe than in the minutes after the opening bell Tuesday, when the Dow fell by as much as 465 points in the first minutes of trading. It ended the day down 128.11, or just more than 1 percent, at 11,971.19.

Bond prices rose Wednesday as more investors sought the safety of government debt. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its price, fell to 3.38 percent from 3.41 percent late Tuesday. The dollar was mixed against other major currencies.

In other corporate news, Motorola fell $1.82, or 14.8 percent, to $10.50 after reporting its earnings fell sharply in the fourth quarter and the maker of mobile phones warned that the recovery in its struggling handset unit will take longer than expected.

United Technologies Corp., one of the 30 stocks that comprise the Dow industrials, said its fourth-quarter earnings rose 23 percent as sales increased across each of its businesses. The results from the parent of names like Sikorsky and Otis topped Wall Street's forecast, according to Thomson Financial. The stock rose 40 cents to $67.64.

Pfizer Inc., also a Dow component, reported a 70 percent decline in its fourth-quarter profit from the same period a year ago, which included the sale of the company's consumer health business. Excluding that one-time gain, profits topped Wall Street's expectations. Shares of the world's largest drug maker rose 13 cents to $22.36.

Delta Air Lines Inc., the No. 3 U.S. carrier, reported it was hampered by high fuel prices in the fourth quarter but was able to post a narrower loss on a solid increase in sales. Delta rose 8 cents to $14.93.

While investors worldwide remain concerned about the health of the U.S. economy, the Fed's rate cut and Wall Street's ability to come off its lows Tuesday helped drive a rebound in Asian trading Wednesday.

Declining issues outnumbered advancers by about 2 to 1 on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume came to a heavy 333.5 million shares.

The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies fell 6.52, or 0.97 percent, to 665.05.

Dael Orlandersmith's drama 'Yellow Man' at Next Theatre blazed with romantic impetuosity

Director Chuck Smith with two exceptional young actors, Jason Delane as Eugene and Jacqueline Williams as Alma introduced "Yellow Man," an incredible drama by playwright Dael Orlandersmith at Next Theatre.

"Yellow Man" is the story of a high yellow youth named Eugene and a young Black lady named Alma who live in the same town and fall in love. It is obvious that the production is set below the Mason/Dixon Line where during their era, it was terrible socially for two individuals with such color differences to exist comfortably. In this drama, Eugene is half-white and Alma is a young girl who is not considered a pleasant young lady. To Eugene, Alma is a very wonderful girl and he is seriously interested in her regardless of what anybody says or thinks.

Orlandersmith's play takes in ideas from the social situation that prevailed in the South.

Yellow people were not liked by the average Negro in the city, however it was not for the reason society has designated. They were not appreciated because of moral differences because many were children of passion that came from unmarried white and Black couples and were called bastards. Throughout the South there were many that lived in Black neighborhoods that were cared for by African Americans.

Alma was also attracted to Eugene who loved her; however, she refrained from an intimate relationship with him. The two actors expressed their experiences as well as those of others in the community. They played several roles, mothers, fathers, friends and others.

Endeavoring to express so many different characters is indeed very difficult, however Director Smith accomplished the essence of this play without reservations.

Article copyright REAL TIMES Inc.

Photograph (Jason Delane and Jacqueline Williams)

Defense figures indicted // 4 others plead guilty in arms scandal

ALEXANDRIA, Va. A federal grand jury Friday handed up the firstindictments in the Pentagon procurement scandal, accusing a defensecontractor, consultants and a Navy civilian employee of bribery andfraud.

Another defense contractor and three former executives pleadedguilty and are expected to cooperate with the FBI and the Navy in thecontinuing investigation of military contractors, middlemanconsultants and government officials.

A Navy electronics engineer, Stuart E. Berlin, so far the onlygovernment official charged in the scandal, was the central figureindicted Friday. He was accused of taking bribes in exchange forslipping contractors confidential information about bids by rivalcompanies and passing on other insider information about DefenseDepartment purchasing plans.

U.S. Attorney Henry E. Hudson singled out Berlin's role during apress conference called to announce the indictment of TeledyneIndustries, of Newberry Park, Calif.

"He sold information and his services to a private consultant,who in turn sold that to Teledyne Corp.," the federal prosecutorsaid. "Citizens of the United States . . . have an absolute right tothe honest services of public officials. And when individuals arereceiving money for violating rules and regulations, passingconfidential information, I think it strikes at the very heart of theprocurement process and that's what makes this a serious case."

Berlin and two private consultants who specialized in helpingclients land Pentagon contracts - Fred H. Lackner, of Woodland Hills,Calif., and William L. Parkin, of Alexandria - each face sentences ofup to 185 years in prison and fines up to $5.5 million, theprosecutor said. Also indicted were Teledyne officials George H.Kaub, Eugene R. Sullivan and Dale Schnittjer. The company itselfcould be fined $6.5 million, Hudson said.

The investigation, called Operation Ill Wind, was launched morethan two years ago by a tip that a private consultant was hawkingsecret information about bids and contracts.

The conspiracy indictment detailed times when money wasdiscussed while government investigators listened in on telephonewiretaps.

"It takes a lot of spaghetti and meatballs to grease the skidson some of these things," a Teledyne official was told by one of theconsultants in a Nov. 18, 1987, phone call, about one month beforethe company agreed to pay the consultants $150,000, the indictmentsaid.

"I'll have to give you a little green to do what we have to do,"the indictment said Parkin told fellow consultant Lackner in a May 5,1987, telephone conversation in which Parkin reported receiving a$4,000 payment from Hazeltine Corp., of Greenlawn, N.Y.

Hazeltine, a subsidiary of Emerson Electric Co., earlier in theday pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Claude M. Hilton andwas fined $1 million and agreed to pay a $500,000 civil penalty plus$410,000 that the prosecutor said would cover the cost of theinvestigation.

Hudson said executives of Hazeltine and Emerson "have been fullycooperative in connection with this investigation and upon theirdiscovery of this activity came forward to cooperate with us in thisinvestigation." The company issued a statement in New York that saidit already "has taken additional steps to enforce its long-standingrequirement of ethical business behavior and to guard against suchincidents in the future."

Two former Hazeltine executives - Joseph R. Colarusso, who wasthe senior vice president, and Charles A. Furciniti, a marketingrepresentative - also pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges and facesentencing on March 17. Each could be imprisoned for five years andfined $250,000.

Michael Savaides, a Teledyne marketing representativeresponsible for Navy procurements, also pleaded guilty and faces fiveyears in prison and a $250,000 for conspiracy to commit bribery.

The federal prosecutor said the guilty pleas and indictmentsrepresented "a small percentage" of the Operation Ill Wind cases andHudson said "over the next few months, perhaps the next year, you'llsee a great deal of additional activity."

Kenneth P. Walton heads up white-collar crime investigations forthe FBI. Said Walton, "The Department of Defense spends an estimated$620 million every day, every weekend, every holdiay. They have 6.3million employees. So the availability of funds, the number ofopportunities for corruption is substantial."

Defense figures indicted // 4 others plead guilty in arms scandal

ALEXANDRIA, Va. A federal grand jury Friday handed up the firstindictments in the Pentagon procurement scandal, accusing a defensecontractor, consultants and a Navy civilian employee of bribery andfraud.

Another defense contractor and three former executives pleadedguilty and are expected to cooperate with the FBI and the Navy in thecontinuing investigation of military contractors, middlemanconsultants and government officials.

A Navy electronics engineer, Stuart E. Berlin, so far the onlygovernment official charged in the scandal, was the central figureindicted Friday. He was accused of taking bribes in exchange forslipping contractors confidential information about bids by rivalcompanies and passing on other insider information about DefenseDepartment purchasing plans.

U.S. Attorney Henry E. Hudson singled out Berlin's role during apress conference called to announce the indictment of TeledyneIndustries, of Newberry Park, Calif.

"He sold information and his services to a private consultant,who in turn sold that to Teledyne Corp.," the federal prosecutorsaid. "Citizens of the United States . . . have an absolute right tothe honest services of public officials. And when individuals arereceiving money for violating rules and regulations, passingconfidential information, I think it strikes at the very heart of theprocurement process and that's what makes this a serious case."

Berlin and two private consultants who specialized in helpingclients land Pentagon contracts - Fred H. Lackner, of Woodland Hills,Calif., and William L. Parkin, of Alexandria - each face sentences ofup to 185 years in prison and fines up to $5.5 million, theprosecutor said. Also indicted were Teledyne officials George H.Kaub, Eugene R. Sullivan and Dale Schnittjer. The company itselfcould be fined $6.5 million, Hudson said.

The investigation, called Operation Ill Wind, was launched morethan two years ago by a tip that a private consultant was hawkingsecret information about bids and contracts.

The conspiracy indictment detailed times when money wasdiscussed while government investigators listened in on telephonewiretaps.

"It takes a lot of spaghetti and meatballs to grease the skidson some of these things," a Teledyne official was told by one of theconsultants in a Nov. 18, 1987, phone call, about one month beforethe company agreed to pay the consultants $150,000, the indictmentsaid.

"I'll have to give you a little green to do what we have to do,"the indictment said Parkin told fellow consultant Lackner in a May 5,1987, telephone conversation in which Parkin reported receiving a$4,000 payment from Hazeltine Corp., of Greenlawn, N.Y.

Hazeltine, a subsidiary of Emerson Electric Co., earlier in theday pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Claude M. Hilton andwas fined $1 million and agreed to pay a $500,000 civil penalty plus$410,000 that the prosecutor said would cover the cost of theinvestigation.

Hudson said executives of Hazeltine and Emerson "have been fullycooperative in connection with this investigation and upon theirdiscovery of this activity came forward to cooperate with us in thisinvestigation." The company issued a statement in New York that saidit already "has taken additional steps to enforce its long-standingrequirement of ethical business behavior and to guard against suchincidents in the future."

Two former Hazeltine executives - Joseph R. Colarusso, who wasthe senior vice president, and Charles A. Furciniti, a marketingrepresentative - also pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges and facesentencing on March 17. Each could be imprisoned for five years andfined $250,000.

Michael Savaides, a Teledyne marketing representativeresponsible for Navy procurements, also pleaded guilty and faces fiveyears in prison and a $250,000 for conspiracy to commit bribery.

The federal prosecutor said the guilty pleas and indictmentsrepresented "a small percentage" of the Operation Ill Wind cases andHudson said "over the next few months, perhaps the next year, you'llsee a great deal of additional activity."

Kenneth P. Walton heads up white-collar crime investigations forthe FBI. Said Walton, "The Department of Defense spends an estimated$620 million every day, every weekend, every holdiay. They have 6.3million employees. So the availability of funds, the number ofopportunities for corruption is substantial."

Regulators OK restart plan for Michigan pipeline

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Federal regulators have approved a plan that will allow Enbridge Inc. to gradually restart a repaired pipeline that spilled at least 820,000 gallons of oil into a southern Michigan waterway this summer.

The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration said Wednesday the gradual restart will be "tightly controlled and closely monitored." It wasn't …

SEARCH IS ON FOR LEAFHOPPER; AGRICULTURAL MENACE COSTS REGION PLENTY

Ventura County agriculture inspectors are out in full force againas they look for a halnch-long pest that potentially could decimateCalifornia's $33 billion wine industry.

A statewide inspection program in place since 2000 is working toslow the northern migration of the glassy-winged sharpshooter innursery stock - the fourth-largest crop in Ventura County, whereagriculture is the No. 1 industry.

But local growers face mounting financial losses as they try toprevent the bug from hitching a ride north.

"It's been a hardship for the nursery industry and the county,"Ventura County's deputy Agricultural Commissioner Alan Laird said."They, for the most …

SEARCH IS ON FOR LEAFHOPPER; AGRICULTURAL MENACE COSTS REGION PLENTY

Ventura County agriculture inspectors are out in full force againas they look for a halnch-long pest that potentially could decimateCalifornia's $33 billion wine industry.

A statewide inspection program in place since 2000 is working toslow the northern migration of the glassy-winged sharpshooter innursery stock - the fourth-largest crop in Ventura County, whereagriculture is the No. 1 industry.

But local growers face mounting financial losses as they try toprevent the bug from hitching a ride north.

"It's been a hardship for the nursery industry and the county,"Ventura County's deputy Agricultural Commissioner Alan Laird said."They, for the most …

SEARCH IS ON FOR LEAFHOPPER; AGRICULTURAL MENACE COSTS REGION PLENTY

Ventura County agriculture inspectors are out in full force againas they look for a halnch-long pest that potentially could decimateCalifornia's $33 billion wine industry.

A statewide inspection program in place since 2000 is working toslow the northern migration of the glassy-winged sharpshooter innursery stock - the fourth-largest crop in Ventura County, whereagriculture is the No. 1 industry.

But local growers face mounting financial losses as they try toprevent the bug from hitching a ride north.

"It's been a hardship for the nursery industry and the county,"Ventura County's deputy Agricultural Commissioner Alan Laird said."They, for the most …

Psychosis and Violence: Stories, Fears, and Reality

Individuals with psychosis are often feared. In fact, they are themselves likely to be victims of violence; however, the main aim of this review is to provide an overview of the evidence on relations between psychosis and violence to others. The terms psychosis and violence were used in a literature search limited to the Cochrane Library and PubMed, a manual search of 8 journals, and a follow-up of additional references in the articles found. The overview draws on new empirical data and major reviews. Almost all sound epidemiologic data on psychosis and violence dates from 1990. There is consistency on a small but significant relation between schizophrenia and violent acts. Since then …

Reports on Cardiovascular Research Findings from University of Sao Paulo Provide New Insights.

According to a study from Sao Paulo, Brazil, "Real time myocardial contrast echocardiography (RTMCE) is an emerging imaging modality for assessing myocardial perfusion that allows for noninvasive quantification of regional myocardial blood flow (MBF). We sought to assess the value of qualitative analysis of myocardial perfusion and quantitative assessment of myocardial blood flow (MBF) by RTMCE for predicting regional function recovery in patients with ischemic heart disease who underwent coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG)."

"Twenty-four patients with coronary disease and left ventricular systolic dysfunction (ejection fraction < 45%) underwent RTMCE before and 3 months …

Less is more to Ensor; After bypass, MAAC boss has dropped 140 pounds.(Sports)

Byline: PETE IORIZZO Staff Writer

You'll be seeing much less of Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference commissioner Richard Ensor this weekend.

Sure, Ensor will be around Pepsi Arena plenty. But he looks like half his former self.

Two years ago, Ensor underwent gastric bypass surgery, which helped him shed 140 pounds. Before the surgery, the 6-foot-3 Ensor said he weighed close to 400 pounds.

"I've always been lucky enough to have good health," Ensor said. "But I'm smart enough to know you can't carry around that much weight long term without having an impact on your body. I had an issue with weight, and I knew I had to deal with it."

…

U.S. economy grew at blistering pace during final months of 1993. (Brief Article)

The economy was even stronger at year-end 1993 than we had initially believed. Instead of a 5.9 percent gain in Gross Domestic Product (GDP)-- the none-too-shabby figure originally estimated by government economists -- we're now told by the Commerce Department that real economic growth in last year's fourth quarter was a sizzling 7.5 percent.

This was the best quarterly performance for the U.S. economy since the first quarter of 1984, and it evoked memories of a white-hot economic environment that many economists doubted that we'd see again this century. Some of this momentum carried over into 1994. However, there …

Thousands mourn death of former Argentine leader

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Latin American leaders and a crowd of thousands paid homage to former President Nestor Kirchner on Thursday as his body lay in state at Argentina's presidential palace.

The 60-year-old former leader's death from a heart attack leaves his widow, President Cristina Fernandez, alone to carry on their political dynasty and continue the combative, populist approach that made them a successful husband-and-wife team.

Fernandez wore dark sunglasses and at times rested her hands on the coffin as she was consoled by her daughter, Florencia. The presidents of Chile, Uruguay, Bolivia and Ecuador offered condolences and stood beside her, as did legendary …

Enjoying Fenway, Lee? // Ex-Cub Smith surrenders game-winning HR in 10th

TIGERS 5 RED SOX 3

BOSTON Lee Smith, expected to be the long-awaited savior of theRed Sox' bullpen, got a rude welcome to the American League.

Alan Trammell hit a two-run homer off the former Cub bullpen acein the 10th inning Monday to send the Detroit Tigers to aseason-opening 5-3 victory.

The two 10th-inning runs were unearned. Smith replaced starterRoger Clemens in the 10th and Gary Pettis led off with a grounder toshort that was bobbled by Spike Owen. Lou Whitaker sacrificed andDarrell Evans' deep fly to right advanced Pettis to third.

Trammell then belted Smith's 2-1 pitch into the left fieldscreen.

"I was trying to throw a strike and …

Celesc 2010 profit soars 119.8% Y/Y.

(ADPnews) - Mar 31, 2011 - Brazilian power holding company Centrais Eletricas de Santa Catarina SA (SAO:CLSC6), or Celesc, closed 2010 with a net profit of BRL 273.5 million (USD 168.2m/EUR 118.6m), a surge of 119.8% year-on-year.

The company's net …

Found Cape Town girl 'still in a daze'.(News)

BYLINE: KAREN BREYTENBACH

CITY graphic designer Annette de Klerk, who disappeared from the city centre last Sunday and was found in Groote Schuur's trauma unit on Wednesday, has not yet been able to tell the police or her parents where she went or whether she had been kidnapped.

All that is known at this stage is that an ambulance picked her up and took her to hospital and that the police were questioning a man from Milnerton, family friend Koos de Villiers said.

De Klerk's parents and two sisters, from Johannesburg, are spending Christmas in Cape Town to be with her.

"She's conscious, but still in a daze. She doesn't know what happened to …

PEF WILLING TO COMPROMISE ON PARKING DILEMMA.(MAIN)

Byline: ROGER E. BENSON President Public Employees Federation Albany

The opening of Albany's new Madison Avenue parking garage moves the city a step closer to solving its longtime parking shortage, but is by no means the final, fair solution. The Public Employees Federation long ago identified a need for additional parking to accommodate the workers who are being relocated downtown. Most of these employees have had free parking at their job sites for years and did not choose to work in downtown Albany. Paying for parking now, at either a garage or because of a residential permit parking system, would be like …

Aubrey goes back on disabled list: Right knee latest injury to plague first baseman.

Byline: Stephanie Storm

May 28--First baseman Michael Aubrey has spent more time on the disabled list than on the field since the Indians selected him as their No. 1 pick (11th overall) in the 2003 draft out of Tulane University.

Sidelined for a majority of the last three seasons with a nagging lower back injury, the Aeros left-handed hitter found himself back on the disabled list Saturday with a right knee strain after having just joined the Aeros last week. Aubrey, who opened the season at extended spring training continuing to rehab his back, hurt the knee in the first inning Friday trying to avoid a force out at second base on a double play. Pat …

Belgian day care suspect linked to 4th slaying

The thin, young suspect with the enigmatic smile who is charged with three killings at a Belgian day center was linked Monday to a fourth death _ the fatal slashing of a 73-year-old grandmother on a remote farm.

In his backpack, investigators found blueprints of the nearby Sunshine and Toddler's Land nurseries and a knife and an ax _ promises of more violence to come against babies and toddlers had he not been caught.

"He knew where he had to go," prosecutor Christian Du Four said in the provincial town of Dendermonde, where three people were killed and 12 badly wounded Friday in an attack on a day care center.

In both cases, the attacks …

Liverpool Biennial

LIVERPOOL, UK

Liverpool Biennial

VARIOUS VENUES

The Liverpool Biennial, now in its fifth edition, may never surpass Tatsurou Bashi's masterstroke, Villa Victoria, from the second edition in 2002. The artist had constructed a temporary hotel room around an imposing piece of nineteenth-century civic statuary dominating one of Liverpool's busiest squares. Guests spent a night in a makeshift bedroom dominated by a colossal bronze Queen Victoria while urban traffic swirled ceaselessly round just outside the room's thin walls, a dislocated island of intimacy and stillness amid a space of maximum exposure.

If Villa Victoria was all about displacement - the highlight …

17 October 1961 massacres: A bill to be debated by next fall in the French Senate.

PARIS- A bill on the recognition of France responsibility in the massacre of Algerians on October 17, 1961 in Paris will be subject to debate in the French Senate "by …

Senate bill targets automobile insurance fraud; Plan takes tough stance on staged wrecks, faces challenge in Assembly.(Main)

Byline: JAY GALLAGHER - Gannett News Service

ALBANY - In an effort to clamp down on automobile-insurance fraud, the state Senate is expected next week to pass a bill to increase penalties for people who help to stage fake accidents. But that's as far as the effort may go. The Senate has passed similar bills for the past few years, as auto insurance fraud has grown into a billion-dollar problem for insurance companies, and New York has retained its position as one of the most expensive states to insure cars and trucks.

There is no indication the measure will gain traction in the Democrat-led Assembly, where it has never been allowed on the floor for a vote. …

POLICE SEEK SUSPECT IN STABBING.(CAPITAL REGION)

Byline: TIM O ' BRIEN - Staff writer

City police are seeking a suspect who stabbed a city man and, in a separate case, two men who kidnapped and raped a woman as she walked downtown.

Stanley Golenbieski, 34, of 164 Hill St. was found lying in a pool of blood at Hill and Jefferson streets at 8:16 p.m. Tuesday. At first, police reported, he was uncooperative -- telling them and Fire Department medics not to come near him and that he had a gun.

No weapon was found, and medics were able to treat him and take him to Albany Medical Center Hospital. He remained in fair condition there Wednesday.

Capt. Albert Dirienzo said a witness to the …

French Football Results

Results from the 29th round of the French first-division football league (home teams listed first):

Saturday's Games

Le Havre 0, Bordeaux 3

Lille 2, Grenoble 1

Rennes 0, Valenciennes 0

Nice 2, Caen 2

Auxerre 2, Le Mans 0

Nancy 0, Monaco 1

Marseille 2, Nantes 0

Sunday's Games

Lyon vs. Sochaux

Lorient vs. …

Ex-exec gets 5 yrs. for defrauding brewery

Saying that a former G. Heileman Brewery executive betrayed hiscompany and several Hispanic organizations, a judge Thursdaysentenced him to five years in prison for orchestrating a fundingkickback scam.

U.S. District Judge Suzanne B. Conlon also ordered JosephMonreal, 47, of Muskego, Wis., to pay $295,000 in restitution -Monreal's admitted cut from the scheme.

Monreal, who pleaded guilty to racketeering charges, had servedas the government's key witness in the trial of his ex-girlfriend,Leticia Gutierrez, and Carlos Quintanilla, founder of OperationSearch, a Chicago-based Hispanic community organization.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Scott Mendeloff and …

PATERSON'S ADDRESS WAS HOLLOW.(Capital Region)

Gov. David Paterson should consider himself a lucky man, because he got a free ride with this year's state of the state address.

Under normal circumstances, we the people might be inclined to shoot the messenger when the economic news is as dire and gloomy and bottomless as what Paterson outlined in his address. By that I mean we could expect the reaction from the public and political opposition to be harshly critical of his bleak talk and plans or lack of them, to solve our problems.

But curiously, reaction to the hour-long speech before the joint houses of the Legislature was timid, even from the political opposition that usually rips apart even the most innocent proposals offered up in these …

D'AMATO DOMINATES CAPITOL MONEY CHASE.(MAIN)

Byline: ELIZABETH SCHWINN Times Union Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON In the great Washington money chase, Sen. Alfonse D'Amato is the unchallenged king of the Hill.

In addition to raising money for his own re-election, D'Amato, a New York Republican, heads the National Republican Senatorial Committee, which puts him in charge of raising funds and shaping strategy for the 1996 Senate races.

D'Amato's doing well for the NRSC so far. By mid-May, the committee had collected $13 million and the election isn't until November 1996. In the last election cycle, the NRSC amassed $66 million.

In 1992, his last re-election campaign, D'Amato raised more money than any other senator: $11,246,373, according to the lobbying group Common Cause.

D'Amato …