Britain's queen celebrates the life of explorer Sir Edmund Hillary

Queen Elizabeth II joined New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark at a special service in a chapel at Windsor Castle on Wednesday to celebrate the life of Sir Edmund Hillary, the first to conquer Mount Everest.

Clark said the queen "shared a history" with the explorer. The monarch learned on the day of her coronation, June 2, 1953, that Hillary had climbed the world's highest peak three days earlier.

Hillary's son Peter told the congregation in the castle's St. George's Chapel that the two events were a "wonderful coincidence" that lifted the spirits of a nation ravaged by war.

The New Zealand explorer died in January at the …

Mystery cash eases retirement Extra $302,000 puts official's pension at top of the chart Series: PENSION JACKPOT: STRIKING IT RICH ON THE TAXPAYERS' DIME

The treasurer of an obscure township agency retired last fall withone of the richest government pensions in Illinois after hereportedly was paid an extra $103,000--more than 70 percent of hisannual salary.

It was at least the fifth straight year that Lawrence Hupe, theWorth Township school treasurer, was paid at least 25 percent morethan his annual salary, government records show.

Altogether, those unexplained increases were worth an extra$300,000-plus in pay for Hupe, whose final salary before retiringlast year was $143,325. That extra pay increased his annual pensionto $153,835, eclipsing most other government pensions in the state ofIllinois. Hupe's pension is …

A terrible idea whose time should never come

One of the worst proposals to come down the pike from Washington, D.C. in recent years is one that would do away with something that is the bedrock of our modern society -- the federal minimum wage. The Bush administration is moving to allow states to place welfare recipients in jobs that pay less than $5.15 an hour.

That is an affront to the dignity of such workers who are trying to improve their station in life and provide for their families.

It also would be a reversal of federal policy and a red flag to unions, including the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), which has vowed an all-out fight against the proposal.

The White House …

France's first lady sings live on BBC

Carla Bruni-Sarkozy has shared the world stage with Britain's queen, the pope and the Dalai Lama.

But in London on Tuesday night, France's first lady appeared on a different kind of stage, this time with rock royalty _ the Kings of Leon and Metallica.

Introduced simply as Carla Bruni, she sang live on the British Broadcasting Corp. television program "Later Live ... With Jools Holland" and was interviewed by the pianist.

Sitting at a grand piano, Bruni-Sarkozy was asked how she managed to balance her work as a musician with her duties as France's first lady.

"I don't really mix them up. I separate them. I play my music and …

Women's World Cup Downhill Results

Results Saturday from a women's World Cup downhill on the 2.828-kilometer (1.76-mile) Corviglia course:

1. Maria Riesch, Germany, 1 minute, 41.31 seconds.

2. Ingrid Jacquemod, France, 1:42.10.

3. Fabienne Suter, Switzerland, 1:42.27.

4. Anja Paerson, Sweden, 1:42.28.

5. Lindsey Vonn, United States, 1:42.52.

6. Lucia Recchia, Italy, 1:42.60.

7. Marion Rolland, France, 1:42.71.

8. Aurelie Revillet, France, 1:42.76.

9. Alice McKennis, United States, 1:42.90.

10. Chelsea Marshall, United States, 1:43.05.

11. Gina Stechert, Germany, 1:43.08.

12. Stacey …

Dench trades royalty for `Bombshells'

LONDON Judi Dench is hardly one to blow her own horn, but that'sexactly what she does-the tenor sax, to be precise-in the new TVmovie "The Last of the Blonde Bombshells."

"A lot of people gave me a funny look," says the legendary Britishactress, whose illustrious career has never before required such anassignment.

Dench has spent more time of late playing big-screen queens-Victoria in "Mrs. Brown" and Elizabeth I in "Shakespeare in Love."But "Blonde Bombshells" allowed her to forsake royalty to workalongside a friend and colleague, Ian Holm, whom Dench, now 65, hasknown for nearly 40 years.

"What attracts me is that a script should be totally different, soyou …

Panetta: Al-Qaida deaths hurt plans for attacks

ON BOARD A MILITARY AIRCRAFT (AP) — Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said Monday that the deaths of several top al-Qaida leaders in Pakistan and Yemen in recent months will make it much more difficult for the terror group and its affiliates to plan and launch large-scale attacks abroad, including against the United States.

Panetta said increased cooperation with Yemen against the al-Qaida affiliate there will not diminish if President Ali Abdullah Saleh leaves power as the U.S. and others have urged.

The Pentagon chief spoke to reporters as he was heading to the Middle East, where he is scheduled to meet with top Israeli and Palestinian leaders. After that he will participate in …

Monday's Sports Scoreboard

…

All Times Eastern
Interleague
Washington 2, Kansas City 1 F
Cincinnati 3, Oakland 2 -10 Innings
Arizona 7, N.Y. Yankees 3 -8
National Basketball Association Playoffs
No games today.
National Hockey League Playoffs

B2K makes debut on Epic

B2K makes debut on Epic

It was summer when this editor first met four youth after they had performed on Lil Bow Wow revue at the Arie Crown Theatre. We talked about their new entertainment adventure and the future of their career.

J-Boog, Raz-B, Lil' Fizz and Omarion were full of energy, coupled with plenty of enthusiasm to finish their album, scheduled to be released by Epic Record this fall.

It was a busy summer for B2K, traveling with the popular young entertainer and appearing in the video for his recent hit Ghetto Girls.

In contrast to other entertainers on the hip-hop circuit, B2K brings to the stage and audience the character-like persona of the …

Poet Robert Bly, Shakespearean actor Mark Rylance team to return Ibsen's anti-hero to stage

Henrik Ibsen's "Peer Gynt," an epic in verse that spans the decades and the globe, and features trolls, a devil and a mysterious stranger in its sprawling cast, seems worlds away from the somber domestic dramas for which the Norwegian playwright is best known.

But poet Robert Bly, whose lifelong fondness for Ibsen was fostered by their shared Norwegian lineage, thinks "Peer Gynt" has been unfairly neglected. "This play really shows the genius of Ibsen," Bly says. "The others show his intelligence."

Bly, best known for his best seller, "Iron John: A Book About Men," has for decades been intrigued by Ibsen's …

Q unlikely vs. Angels

Right fielder Carlos Quentin sprained the AC shoulder joint and is day-to-day for the White Sox.

He was injured Saturday in the first inning when he made a tumbling catch and rolled on his left shoulder. He underwent an MRI exam Sunday morning, and the timetable for his return is uncertain.

''It hurts, but nothing is broken, which is what I thought when it happened,'' Quentin said. ''Hopefully, in the next two or three days, we'll have a better gauge on it.

''They said at least it's not your throwing shoulder, but as a hitter, it's your front shoulder, and that's important.''

Manager Ozzie Guillen hadn't planned to play Quentin for at least several …

China thanks Russia for earthquake aid

Chinese President Hu Jintao thanked Russia's new president for offering speedy aid after last week's powerful earthquake, as the two began meetings Friday to bolster their partnership with expanded nuclear cooperation.

The trip is Dmitry Medvedev's first since his inauguration earlier this month as the hand-picked successor to Vladimir Putin, underscoring the importance the two countries place on a relationship that both see as a counterbalance to U.S. dominance. But continued friction between the neighboring giants remains _ especially over oil and gas in Central Asia.

At the start of their talks, Hu thanked both Medvedev and Putin _ now prime minister _ for assistance offered after the May 12 quake that struck central China. Russia sent rescue crews and a mobile hospital to the disaster area in central Sichuan province.

"Your visit to China is very important and will allow us to not only preserve but to advance all the good undertakings we have had," Hu said. "We are sure that it will give a powerful impulse to the development of strategic partnership and cooperation."

Medvedev offered his condolences to quake victims and relatives of more than 55,000 dead.

"Russia is ready to provide all the necessary assistance and aid to our Chinese friends," he said. "You must have no doubt that we will do everything necessary."

The two leaders' talks were to conclude later Friday with a series of agreements including a $1 billion deal on Russian help building a uranium enrichment facility for electricity generation and regular shipments of low-enriched uranium to China.

"We are ready to conduct general dialogue on all aspects of our strategic partnership," Medvedev said.

Medvedev's came to China from a stop in neighboring Kazakhstan, where he was seeking to preserve his country's clout in energy-rich central Asia and send a message to both Beijing and the West that Moscow continues to see the region as its home turf.

China already has won a cut of the region's riches, reaching an oil pipeline deal with Kazakhstan and negotiating a gas agreement with Turkmenistan.

There is also rich symbolism in Medvedev's choice of China as the main destination of his first foreign trip. When his predecessor Putin went abroad for the first time as president in 2000, he traveled to London _ via Belarus _ with a message Russia wanted closer ties to the West.

In recent years, China and Russia have made highly symbolic political overtures to one another, holding joint military maneuvers and engaging in high-level talks on creating a "multi-polar world."

They have taken a coordinated stance on several global issues, sharing opposition to Kosovo's independence and U.S. missile defense plans, and taking a similar approach to the Iran nuclear issue.

Putin greatly strengthened relations with China, reaching a long-delayed agreement on demarcation of the 2,700 mile border.

However, economic ties have lagged behind. Bilateral trade rose by about one-third last year to $48 billion, but still accounts for only 2 percent of China's global trade. China does more than eight times as much business with the United States.

Rio Tinto, BHP Billiton sign binding agreement

Mining companies Rio Tinto PLC and BHP Billiton Ltd. said Saturday that they have signed binding agreements to combine their Western Australian iron ore assets.

A joint news release said each company would take a 50 percent stake, and that they expect savings of at least $10 billion by combining their operations. Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton will sell their iron ore output separately.

The joint mining project between the two companies _ the world's No. 2 and No. 3 in the iron ore market _ was first announced in June. It came as Rio Tinto said it was scrapping a $19.5 billion deal with China's Chinalco after Australian opposition to a foreign state-backed enterprise owning a strategic stake in the country's biggest natural resource assets.

The deal between Rio and BHP has not been without opposition: Last month, European steel makers called for European Union antitrust regulators to probe the joint mining project, and last year, EU opposition to a hostile bid by BHP for Rio Tinto forced it to abandon a takeover attempt.

The companies' joint statement said they have filed submissions with both the EU and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, and that they expect to complete the deal in the second half of next year.

Youth need jobs, hope for the future

The jobs numbers were hailed as good news on Friday, with employers adding more than 200,000 jobs last month, and the unemployment rate ticking down to 8.8 percent. Less attention was given to the downside of these numbers. Black unemployment remains about twice as great as the national unemployment average — and is going up, not down.

What is going on here? To some extent, this reflects the old patterns: Minorities are the last hired and the first fired, and the last to be brought in and the first to go.

But it is more than that. The stepladders that hard-working minorities could climb into the middle class are being dismantled. With the migration to the North after World War II, African Americans flooded into cities and eagerly sought jobs in the growing manufacturing sector. But manufacturing has been in decline since the 1980s, as companies began shipping more good jobs than goods abroad.

Then African Americans with growing educational achievement sought employment in the public sector, particularly at the state and local level. As more equal opportunity opened up, they found work as teachers, managers, sanitation workers, cops and firefighters. But now, layoffs of public employees are spreading, and minorities often are those with the least seniority and the first to go. Latinos and blacks also flocked to the residential, often non-union, construction industries, but these were devastated when the housing bubble burst.

This Great Recession has been a Great Depression for young people. Hit with trillions in losses in retirement accounts and housing values, older workers struggle to hold onto their jobs longer. With jobs growth slow, openings for the young are scarce.

Here again, there is a racial divide. Over 40 percent of all African Americans between ages 16 and 19 are unemployed, compared with 21 percent of all whites of that age. This is, without question, a social catastrophe. Young people are graduating from high school or college into the worst jobs situation since the 1930s. Without jobs, they lose skills, discipline, dignity and hope. Economists tell us that those who lose months to unemployment often take years to catch up with their peers, if they ever do.

Beneath this is the continued legacy of discrimination in America. Young African Americans still suffer the disadvantage of unequal opportunity from the start. Too many are born into poverty, raised in broken homes, suffer the savage inequality that comes from the absence of affordable pre-K programs in underfunded public schools trying to cope with the absence of good teachers who flee to affluent suburbs. Urban residents also suffer from the rising cost of and decreasing access to mass transit, making it more and more difficult to get to jobs that might be available in the suburbs.

In Washington, the focus has turned to cutting deficits, not to creating jobs. With interest rates near zero, and businesses sitting on trillions waiting for customers, even conservatives have a hard time arguing that "cut and grow" works. They suggest that businesses aren't hiring because they are worried about potential future tax increases or befuddled by regulations, or lack confidence in the future. More likely, they simply lack customers, as 25 million are still in need of full-time work, wages are not keeping up with rising costs of food and gas, home values are continuing to sink, and Americans continue to tighten their belts.

This is a national emergency. We cannot allow mass unemployment to be the new normal. We cannot write off an entire generation. At the current rate of jobs generation, it will take six years to make up the jobs lost in the Great Recession. Young people can't wait six years to get to work. The long-term unemployed can't wait six years for jobs to come back.

We need a National Commission on Jobs and the Young. We need to focus on the depression that is devastating the newly emerging black middle class and snuffing out hope among the young. And if Washington can't hear this yet, we've got to raise our voices and demand that they listen.

Pull Quote: quoteThe stepladders that hard-working minorities could climb into the middle class are being dismantled.

N.Ireland leaders end 5-month deadlock

Northern Ireland's long-feuding Protestant and Catholic leaders ended a five-month deadlock Tuesday by agreeing to form a Justice Department that will oversee the police and courts.

Catholics have long rejected British control of law enforcement and justice in Northern Ireland. Handing joint control to British Protestants and Irish Catholics is meant to ensure that a power-sharing deal between the two sides will not unravel, undoing the central objective of a decade-old peace agreement.

"For the first time we have seen a breakthrough in the deadlock over the devolution of policing and justice," British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said in London. "This is the last building block in the process for bringing peace and democracy to Northern Ireland."

First Minister Peter Robinson, a Protestant, and Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness, a Catholic, stood side by side at Stormont Castle _ the power-sharing base in Protestant east Belfast _ to unveil a deal reached in behind-the-scenes negotiations over the weekend.

The agreement commits both sides to support the selection of a politician from another party to oversee the new Justice Department.

The IRA killed nearly 1,800 people, including 300 police officers, in a failed 1970-97 campaign to force Northern Ireland out of the United Kingdom. The IRA renounced violence and disarmed in 2005. McGuinness' party Sinn Fein accepted the authority of the Northern Ireland police in 2007, opening the door for power-sharing with the Protestant majority.

But Robinson's Democratic Unionists had been blocking a new Justice Department for more than a year, in part, because they oppose giving any role in overseeing law and order to McGuinness or other veterans of the outlawed Irish Republican Army.

Sinn Fein had been blocking all Cabinet meetings since June, rendering the power-sharing government dysfunctional. McGuinness said he would permit the Cabinet to resume meeting Thursday.

The two sides have already agreed to appoint a prominent lawyer, John Larkin, as Northern Ireland's attorney general, a new post.

McGuinness and Robinson declined to express any concrete deadlines or target dates. Instead, they expressed a word-for-word hope of seeing Britain transfer justice powers "without undue delay."

Robinson and McGuinness agreed that taxpayers throughout the United Kingdom should foot the bill of the new Justice Department, and said they expected Brown to agree to increase British funds to Northern Ireland.

The rest of the UK already subsidizes the cost of government services in Northern Ireland to the tune of several million pounds (more than $10 million) annually. Brown has emphasized that he expects Northern Ireland increasingly to cover its own costs _ or take responsibility for cutting services and the province's bloated government payroll.

Daley unveils heating assistance programs for winter

Daley unveils heating assistance programs for winter

Making sure the city does its part in helping residents keep track of their winter heating bills, Mayor Daley Wednesday unveiled a series of programs to curb energy costs and to audit bills.

"Even though Chicagoans will be enjoying backyard barbecues and afternoon at the beaches, we, in city government, have a duty to remind everyone that it's time to start planning for the winter heating season.

"We are determined not to have a repeat of last year when people were caught off guard by high natural gas prices and Peoples Energy was slow to implement needed customer service," said the mayor.

Adding that the best way to save money is to use less energy, Daley said now is the time for residents to make hope repairs/insulation that can save them money on their natural gas bills.

The mayor said customers can learn how to do this at six fairs that will be hosted by the city's Department of Housing this fall as part of the Affordable Neighborhoods Expo with the first being held Sept. 9th at Malcolm X College.

Other expos will be held Oct. 6 at the West Side Technical Institute, 2800 S. Western Ave., Oct. 27 at Olive Harvey College, 10001 S. Woodlawn Ave., Nov. 3 at Wright College, 4300 N. Narragansett Ave., Nov. 10 at a location to be determined and Nov. 17 at the Daley College, 7500 S. Pulaski Rd.

Daley, who was joined by Ald. Walter Burnett (27th), City Council Energy Committee Chairman Ald. Ginger Rugai (19th), City Colleges Chancellor Dr. Wayne Watson, Environment Comm. William F. Abolt, Housing Comm. Jack Markowski, and others, made his announcement at Malcolm X College, 1900 W. Van Buren, headed by Dr. Zerrie D. Campbell, president.

While the city is getting people prepared for the winter season, Abolt said: "We're asking Peoples Energy to in detail lay out its detail its plans for the public because if we step out to make people become prepared, the real issue is if Peoples Energy prepared and what are they doing. Can they guarantee the citizens of Chicago home heating at an affordable price this year."

Luis Diaz-Perez, a spokesperson for Peoples Energy, said: "We're happy that the mayor is calling attention to the need to prepare for the winter. We're focused on delivering to customers what they need from us.

"That's why we're holding this week's townhall meeting and are sending surveys to our customers who are concerned about lower prices, estimated bills and the need for more information."

Article Copyright Sengstacke Enterprises, Inc.

Brooks has Pens on a roll

German Titov scored Pittsburgh's first short-handed goal thisseason and the Penguins beat the visiting Boston Bruins 4-2 Tuesdaynight for their third straight victory under new coach Herb Brooks.

The Penguins were six games under .500 before Brooks replacedKevin Constantine on Thursday but have cut the margin in half.

The Penguins again played the up-tempo, crisscrossing Europeanstyle that Brooks prefers but limited Boston's scoring chances asJean-Sebastien Aubin played his fourth consecutive strong game bymaking 24 saves.

Aubin allowed six goals while going 3-1 during Tom Barrasso's four-game suspension for slashing Toronto's Yanic Perreault.

Oilers 4, Islanders 2: Bill Guerin had a goal and an assist forvisiting Edmonton to help Tommy Salo earn his first win against hisformer team. Salo, in his first start against the Islanders sincebeing traded last season, made 24 saves.

Flames 1, Blues 1: Fred Brathwaite made 49 saves for Calgary asthe Flames tied host St. Louis. Brathwaite had a shutout until thefinal minute, when Chris Pronger rushed the net and batted home arebound with 38.1 seconds remaining to forge the tie.

Predators 4, Lightning 4: Steve Guolla scored with just more thansix minutes left in the third period to complete a four-goal comebackas host Tampa Bay tied Nashville.

Sabres 3, Flyers 1: Host Buffalo took advantage of the absence ofPhiladelphia center Eric Lindros (left hand) and goaltender JohnVanbiesbrouck, who was given a rest.

Devils 7, Kings 1: Claude Lemieux and Patrik Elias scored in a 48-second span early in the first period as host New Jersey matched itsseason high for goals.

Hillary Clinton lobs easy question to Puerto Rico beauty contestant

Hillary Clinton admitted it was a softball question.

But beauty contestants already field plenty of hard queries, the Democratic presidential hopeful said in a video aired as part of the Miss World Puerto Rico pageant Thursday night.

"I'm going to make it easy for you," said Clinton _ herself no stranger to tough grilling on the campaign trail. "Tell us what you love the most about Puerto Rico."

Contestant Yashila Ayala beamed and mentioned several native treasures _ historic San Juan, El Yunque rainforest and her hometown of Comerio _ before touching on the day's biggest news: The announcement that 19 charges including conspiracy and corruption have been filed against Puerto Rico Gov. Anibal Acevedo Vila.

"We're going through a moment of doubt and uncertainty" and islanders should unite and show the world their true values, Ayala said.

Clinton and Democratic rival Barack Obama have been vying for votes in this U.S. Caribbean territory, where 55 delegates are up for grabs in the party's June 1 primary.

Acevedo, one of Puerto Rico's superdelegates to the Democratic convention, is backing Obama.

Pistons-Magic, Box

DETROIT (90)

Prince 7-14 2-2 17, McDyess 4-8 0-0 8, Wallace 7-15 2-2 16, Stuckey 2-7 2-2 6, Hamilton 12-24 8-9 32, Hunter 3-6 0-0 8, Hayes 1-3 0-0 3, Maxiell 0-1 0-0 0, Dixon 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 36-79 14-15 90.

ORLANDO (89)

Turkoglu 7-14 4-5 20, Lewis 6-13 1-2 15, Howard 3-12 2-2 8, Nelson 6-14 2-6 15, Evans 6-11 0-0 15, Bogans 2-3 2-2 6, Dooling 2-4 0-0 6, Gortat 2-2 0-0 4. Totals 34-73 11-17 89.

Detroit 21 23 26 20_90

Orlando 27 28 15 19_89

3-Point Goals_Detroit 4-13 (Hunter 2-3, Hayes 1-2, Prince 1-3, Stuckey 0-1, Wallace 0-4), Orlando 10-18 (Evans 3-6, Dooling 2-2, Turkoglu 2-3, Lewis 2-4, Nelson 1-3). Fouled Out_Dooling. Rebounds_Detroit 46 (McDyess 14), Orlando 43 (Howard 12). Assists_Detroit 18 (Prince 5), Orlando 13 (Nelson 6). Total Fouls_Detroit 23, Orlando 19. Technicals_McDyess, Dooling, Howard. A_17,519 (17,519).

Haiti's pop-star president knows politics

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — The presidential campaign of musician Michel "Sweet Micky" Martelly at first seemed like an afterthought, overshadowed by the short-lived run of the better-known star Wyclef Jean and dismissed as little more than a sideshow to an election that featured major Haitian political figures.

But Martelly, who has never held political office, turned out to be a serious, skilled and successful candidate. He captured nearly 68 percent of the vote, defeating opposition leader and former first lady Mirlande Manigat, according to preliminary election results released Monday night.

When initial results of the flawed first round in November put him out of the race, Martelly mobilized supporters to protest as if he were a veteran of Haiti's rough politics, and a new count got him a spot in the March 20 runoff. He ran a disciplined campaign, deftly depicting himself as an outsider and neophyte even though he has long been active in politics.

Thousands of supporters danced and cheered in the streets after his victory was announced. They ran through the streets, climbed atop cars, and even fired automatic rifles in the sky. Carrying posters of his smiling face and bald crown, supporters showed up outside his gated compound in Petionville, a city in the hills above Port-au-Prince.

"Micky is a political animal, and the political establishment failed to realize how much of a phenomenon he is," said Garry Pierre-Pierre, editor and publisher of The Haitian Times, a New York-based newspaper. "This is a man who literally can get a million people to move to his groove."

Although Martelly supporters crowded outside his house, the pop-star-turned-candidate made no public statements except on Twitter, where he thanked his supporters and added: "We're going to work for all Haitians. Together we can."

He scheduled a news conference for Tuesday. Manigat made no public statements.

To many Haitians, particularly the legions of young and jobless, Martelly is an outsider who can bring change to Haiti. "He knows the problems of the country," said Gardy Success, 24, a marketer for a cellphone company in Port-au-Prince. "He's aware of what's going on."

Those who backed Manigat or other candidates doubt the pop star will be a break from the past. "He's another politician," Thomas Mercius, a 39-year-old who sells books on the street in the capital, said dismissively of the musician-turned-president.

Martelly inherits a country in crisis, with hundreds of thousands of people still homeless from the January 2010 earthquake, the internationally financed reconstruction stalled and a cholera outbreak that may surge again with the rainy season.

And he will confront a Senate and Chamber of Deputies controlled by the party of outgoing President Rene Preval, whose chosen successor was ultimately excluded from the runoff, making way for Sweet Micky.

The son of an oil company executive, Martelly grew up in Carrefour, part of the dense urban mass that makes up the capital. He attended a prestigious Roman Catholic school in Port-au-Prince and junior colleges in the United States, though he never graduated. He worked as construction worker in Miami in the 1980s, a time when he says he occasionally smoked marijuana and crack cocaine.

A few years later, Martelly found his calling — playing compas, Haiti's high-energy, slowed-down version of merengue. He became a household name in Haiti.

Music and protest run in the family. His grandfather, Auguste "Kandjo" de Pradines, was a French protest singer who aimed his vitriol at the U.S. military occupation of Haiti from 1915 to 1934. His cousin, Richard Morse, manager of the storied Hotel Oloffson in downtown Port-au-Prince, uses his rock band RAM as an outlet for pro-democracy politics.

Over time, Martelly's shows became legendary, for he was a bona fide provocateur. As the self-proclaimed "bad boy of compas," Martelly mooned the audience, cursed his rivals, and donned diapers and dresses. Many credit him for reviving compas and proving Haitian musicians could earn a decent living.

At the time President Jean-Bertrand Aristide was deposed and exiled during his first term, in 1991, Martelly's fans included former army officers and paramilitary leaders. One of them, Lt. Col. Michel Francois, got Martelly to lead an anti-Aristide protest when a U.N. diplomat arrived in Haiti to negotiate the ousted leader's return.

Rivals tried to take advantage of Martelly's onstage antics during the campaign. Manigat, a former senator, avoided direct criticism during the runoff campaign but repeatedly stressed her "morality."

Martelly took the rare step in Haiti of hiring an international campaign consulting firm to transform his "Sweet Micky" alter ego into conservatively dressed presidential material. The Madrid-based Ostos & Sola company earlier had worked on presidential campaigns by U.S. Sen. John McCain and Mexico's Felipe Calderon.

"Without his handlers, he would have been dead in water," said Jocelyn McCalla, a senior adviser to Haiti's special envoy to the United Nations.

Martelly also won the endorsement of Wyclef Jean after that popular entertainer's own bid for the presidency was turned down because he didn't meet Haiti's residency requirements.

In December, minutes after election officials announced that Martelly wouldn't be in the runoff, his supporters poured into the streets. For nearly three days, they paralyzed Port-au-Prince with menacing protests. Eventually, the Organization of American States said its own count showed Martelly finished second, and he was given a runoff spot against Manigat.

Preval, the outgoing president, endured criticism for his remote and bland personality. Martelly, in contrast, is effusive and charismatic, an entertainer eager for an audience. Well before he became a candidate, he ventured into slums, playing soccer with children and hugging admirers. As a candidate, he held rallies in the earthquake settlement camps.

"The old politicians, they never did anything for us," Jean Marc, 37, said as he raced down the street celebrating Monday. "So I decided to give this guy a chance."

Critics say Martelly has street smarts but lacks the book smarts needed for Haiti's top job, though he says he will enlist a team of experts to guide him.

"He's the driver of the car," said Hypollite Pierre, a Maryland-based political analyst. "But what if he doesn't know how to drive and the passengers tell him to go the wrong way?"

His fans say they realize Martelly won't rid Haiti of its ills.

"I can't say he'll solve all our problems in five years, because Haiti's problems can't be solved in five years," said Ernst Nelson, 28, who lives in a camp across the street from the ruined National Palace. "But he can lay the groundwork."

Blair: Sailors' Capture Is 'Unjustified'

LONDON - Prime Minister Tony Blair on Sunday called the Iranian seizure of 15 British sailors and marines "unjustified and wrong," saying in his first remarks on the escalating confrontation that London saw it as a "very serious situation."

Iran said legal proceedings were under way, suggesting the possibility that the group may be tried for illegally entering Iranian waters off the coast of Iraq.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice insisted during a trip to the Middle East that the Britons be released, saying "we all fully trust the British" account.

Blair disputed Tehran's claim that the 15 were in Iranian territorial waters at the time they were seized on Friday.

"There is no doubt at all that these people were taken from a boat in Iraqi waters," Blair said during a European Union meeting in Berlin.

"It is simply not true that they went into Iranian territorial waters, and I hope the Iranian government understands how fundamental an issue this is for us. We have certainly sent the message back to them very clearly indeed. They should not be under any doubt at all about how seriously we regard this act, which is unjustified and wrong."

Britain and the United States have said the sailors and marines were intercepted just after they completed a search of a civilian vessel in the Iraqi part of the Shatt al-Arab waterway, where the border with Iran has historically been disputed.

"I have not been commenting up to now because I want to get it resolved in as easy and diplomatic a way as possible," Blair said. "But this is a very serious situation."

In a telephone conversation with British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett late Sunday, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki gave no firm commitment on the service members' release, or even whether British officials would be allowed to meet them, the British Foreign Office said.

"The charge against them is illegal entrance into Iranian waters," Mottaki said in Persian through a translator at a news conference in New York on Sunday. "In terms of legal issues, it's under investigation."

Mottaki declined to provide the exact coordinates of where the Britons were seized, saying this "very detailed information has been submitted to the representatives of the United Kingdom."

A spokesman for Britain's defense ministry said London was not releasing the coordinates.

Beckett reiterated that the sailors and marines had been searching for smugglers in Iraqi waters under an agreement with the Baghdad government when they were seized by the naval forces of Iran's Revolutionary Guard, the Foreign Office said.

"The Iranian authorities intercepted these sailors and marines in Iranian waters and detained them in Iranian waters. This has happened in the past, as well," Mottaki said.

The Iranian state news agency IRNA said that Ibrahim Rahimpour, the foreign ministry official in charge of western Europe, had told British Ambassador Geoffrey Adams that the British sailors and marines were "well and sound" and that "legal proceedings" were under way.

Iran's top military official, Gen. Ali Reza Afshar, said on Saturday the seized Britons were taken to Tehran for questioning and had confessed to what he called an "aggression into the Islamic Republic of Iran's waters."

The capture and detention of the British service personnel increased tensions between Iran and the West already high over Tehran's nuclear program and allegations that Iran is interfering with the U.S.-led war in Iraq.

The U.N. Security Council agreed Saturday to tougher sanctions against Iran for its refusal to meet U.N. demands that it halt uranium enrichment. Many in the West fear the country's civilian nuclear research is cover for a weapons program, a claim Iran denies.

Iranian hard-liners have already called for the 15 Britons to be held until Iran wins concessions from the West.

British, Israeli and Saudi media reports on Sunday suggested that Iran was hoping to trade them for Iranian officials it claims have been abducted by the West in recent months.

Ali Askari, former head of an elite unit of the Revolutionary Guard, disappeared in Turkey six weeks ago; several months earlier, six Iranian officials were captured by U.S. forces an Iranian liaison office in Irbil, the capital of the Kurdish self-ruled region of Iraq. One was later released.

Iran said it was a government liaison office. The U.S. military said those detained were connected to an Iranian Revolutionary Guard unit that funds and arms insurgents in Iraq.

Sobh-e-Sadegh, the official publication of the Revolutionary Guards, said in a January article that it would be easy to kidnap Americans and transfer them to "any location of choice" in retaliation for any attack.

According to IRNA's English-language Web site, Adams said during the meeting in Tehran that the British service members had been deployed in Iraq to establish security, and had no hostile intention toward Iran.

"Tehran has always exercised self-restraint in the face of border violations by the British troops," Rahimpour was quoted as saying. But after the "contradictory statements" in the seizure of the British, the case "required an inquiry into such suspicious events."

Rajanews.com, a Persian Web site of supporters of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, quoted a senior diplomat as saying the Britons were still being held by Iranian armed forces and would not be released until they promised "not to do similar things in future."

Ahmad Bakhshaysh, a political analyst and professor in politics in Tehran's Allameh University, said a prisoner swap was not what Iran wanted.

"Iran is not after retaliation regarding abduction of its diplomats. ... However, Iran will use this opportunity to show to the world public opinion that Britons were (the) invader and Iran was victim of the Westerners bullying policy," he said.

The capture of the British sailors and marines was not the first time Iranians have taken Western forces by surprise in the border area.

In June 2004, six British marines and two sailors were captured, then paraded blindfolded on Iranian television. They admitted they had entered Iranian waters illegally but were released unharmed after three days.

U.S. News and World Report, citing a U.S. Army report out of Iraq, said American troops working with Iraqi border guards within Iraq were attacked by a much larger Iranian military unit in September. U.S. News said no Americans were hurt in the incident, but four Iraqi soldiers, an interpreter, and an Iraqi border policeman remain missing.

The U.S. military said the account was accurate, adding that the incident with the American troops, who were training, advising and helping the Iraqi border police, could have been a result of confusion in the vast desert area along the border.

"There is a lot of open terrain," military spokesman Lt. Col. Mike Donnelly said in an e-mail. "Visual sighting and happenstance encounters from a distance occur routinely."

---

Associated Press Writers Paul Ames in Berlin, Robert Reid in Amman, Nasser Karimi in Tehran and Justin Bergman in New York contributed to this report.

Georgia and Russia to re-open border crossing

Georgia and Russia have reached a deal to open a border crossing that has been closed for three years, Georgia said Thursday, marking a significant thaw in diplomatic relations since last year's war between the two countries.

The Verkhny Lars crossing is expected to open next March after an agreement was reached during Swiss-brokered talks Wednesday, Deputy Foreign Minister Nino Kalandadze said.

Verkhny Lars is the only highway crossing between Russia and Georgia that does not go through the Kremlin-backed breakaway provinces of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, where most of the fighting was concentrated in the August 2008 war.

Russia has recognized both regions as independent states, but only Venezuela, Nicaragua and the South Pacific island nation of Nauru have followed its example. Georgia has fiercely protested, claiming that Russia is trying to annex the regions.

The opening would be the first concrete step in recent efforts to restore transport links between the two ex-Soviet neighbors.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said earlier this month that he saw no reason to keep the crossing closed or to ban direct flights between Russian and Georgia.

On Tuesday, the Georgian airline Airzena filed a plea with the Russian Transport Ministry to allow regular flights into Russia to resume and Russian Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov signaled Thursday that the application would be approved.

The closing of Verkhny Lars dealt a severe blow to Georgia's southern neighbor, Armenia, which was no longer able to receive direct overground transports of Russian goods through Georgia.

It has made it difficult for Russia to send supplies to its troops stationed in Armenia, and hurt private businesses on both sides of the border.

_____

Associated Press Writer Simon Shuster reported from Moscow.

Jeff Fisher Looking Into Pacman Incident

Tennessee coach Jeff Fisher said Tuesday he's gathering facts about a weekend incident between suspended cornerback Adam "Pacman" Jones and defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth.

"It doesn't appear to me to be anything of substance," Fisher said. "I'm not going to dwell on it. If I get more information, I'll deal with it in-house."

Metro Nashville Police Department public relations assistant Amy Raines said officers were not involved in investigating any incident between Jones and Haynesworth over the weekend.

Jones has been suspended for the season for violating the league's personal conduct policy, and commissioner Roger Goodell turned down his appeal for leniency earlier this month.

The cornerback agreed to a plea deal last week that will get him probation in a Las Vegas strip club triple shooting in return for his testimony. The deal turned two felony counts of coercion into a gross misdemeanor for conspiracy to commit disorderly conduct.

Jones' attorney, Manny Arora, did not immediately return a telephone message left by The Associated Press. Haynesworth's agent also did not respond to e-mail messages.

Haynesworth has missed two games with a sore right hamstring. The NFL suspended him for five games last season for stomping on the head of Dallas center Andre Gurode. Haynesworth has been the Titans' most dominant lineman this season with a career-high five sacks.

On the day Jones met with Goodell in New York asking for his suspension to be shortened, Haynesworth talked about how the cornerback wouldn't return and play immediately.

"Everybody on the field has earned their way. Nothing is given. We've proved ourselves. I don't think he would be on the field right away, and if he earned his way back on the field, then you'd see him play," Haynesworth said.

Fed Minutes: Rate Cut in Sept. "Prudent"

WASHINGTON - Worried that a jarring credit crunch would stifle the economy, Federal Reserve policymakers at their September meeting felt compelled to act aggressively in lowering a key interest rate for the first time in over four years.

Fed policymakers unanimously agreed to slash interest rates by one-half percentage point to 4.75 percent, calling it "the most prudent course of action," according to minutes of the Sept. 18 meeting released Tuesday.

The minutes underscored just how concerned Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and his central bank colleagues were that the credit crisis and the worst housing slump in 16 years could undermine the country's economic health. The minutes offered fresh insights into the September meeting, where Bernanke was faced with one of his most important decisions since taking office in February of last year.

"Given the unusual nature of the current financial shock, participants regarded the outlook for economic activity as characterized by particularly high uncertainty, with the risks to growth skewed to the downside," according to the minutes.

We're still in the fight ; Your views [Edition 3]

I AM responding to the letter in which Councillor John Robertsrequests that my group of walkers and joggers withdraw our petitionover parking limitation in Thorndon Park (Gazette, May 11).

Our primary concern has been addressed with the cessation ofrailway sleepers being placed along the access road. However, we donot consider that this is reason enough to withdraw our petition.

We have received assurances from experts in the ranger serviceand wildlife trust that no ecological damage would occur tosensitive areas from the implementation of their plans.

Regarding the councillor's inference regarding self-interest byour group, I should remind him that we were prime movers in opposingthe Go-Ape project, with nearly 100 members voicing our oppositionat the public meeting in 2006.

David Bland MBE, Warley Mount, Brentwood

Killer of ex-Iranian PM could be freed in France

France's interior minister signed an expulsion order on Monday paving the way for the likely release of a man convicted of assassinating former Iranian Prime Minister Shahpour Bakhtiar.

A Paris court is set to rule Tuesday on Ali Vakili Rad's release from prison where he has been serving a life sentence since 1994 for the strangling and stabbing death of the exiled Bakhtiar, then 76, the last prime minister under pro-Western Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi who was toppled in the 1979 Islamic revolution.

Judges already have said they favor a conditional release as long as an expulsion order comes through. However, the final decision has been delayed twice. With the order in hand, Vakili Rad can theoretically fly directly to Iran once freed _ less than two weeks after another Iranian detained in France on a U.S. warrant was allowed to return to Tehran.

Interior Minister Brice Hortefeux signed the expulsion order Monday, a source in the ministry said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the case.

The order came just one day after Clotilde Reiss, a young French academic, who had battled charges of spying in Iran for more than 10 months, returned to France.

French authorities have denied a link between the two cases _ or the case of Majid Kakavand, whom the United States wanted France to extradite for allegedly evading export controls to purchase technology over the Internet and sell to Iran's military. A French court rejected the request May 5.

Instead, France thanked Brazilian President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva, Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade and Syrian President Bashar Assad for their help in the case.

There had long been speculation that a deal between Paris and Tehran could win Reiss' freedom. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, in an interview last September with French television, hinted at an exchange of prisoners, saying: "There are several Iranians who have been in prison in France for several years" who, like Reiss, "also have families." French President Nicolas Sarkozy called any such exchange "blackmail."

Over the weekend, Iranian authorities commuted Reiss's 10-year jail term to a fine of 3 billion rials ($300,000). Once her lawyer paid, she was freed and allowed to return home.

The Reiss case had poisoned relations between France and Iran, already tense over France's tough stand on Iran's nuclear program.

A special French terrorism court convicted Vakili Rad and his aide, Souroush Katibeh, of assassinating Bakhtiar. Vakili Rad was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of seeking conditional freedom starting in June 2009. When a prisoner is released before a full sentence is completed, freedom is often conditional, forcing him or her to report to authorities regularly. However, French law allows foreigners with no ties to France to be expelled.

Vakili Rad's lawyer, Sorin Margulis, on Monday reiterated an earlier denial that his client's eventual freedom was part of a "barter."

However, France is no stranger to dealmaking to win freedom for its citizens trapped in the noose of terrorists or touchy geopolitics.

In 1990, France notably pardoned the man convicted of carrying out a 1980 failed attack on Bakhtiar that killed two other people. Anis Naccache, a Lebanese, and his four accomplices were expelled to Tehran. Naccache's freedom had been demanded by Iranian-backed terrorists who set off deadly bombs around Paris in 1986.

Bakhtiar was killed at his own home in the western Paris suburb of Suresnes. Two other Iranians were convicted for logistical roles in the killings, and two other alleged killers were never caught. Prosecutors contended the assassination was a plot by Iran's clerical regime.

___

Elaine Ganley in Paris contributed to this report.

Fresh pineapple springs forth in tangy stir-fry // Tropical fruit is at its sweet-tart best

Fresh pineapple is available year-round, but spring is when theprickly tropical fruit is at its peak.

Select pineapples are heavy for their size and slightly soft tothe touch, with a golden skin. When ripe, the fruit gives off alovely aroma. Ripe pineapples should be covered and refrigerated;use them as soon as possible. The fruit will ripen further at roomtemperature.

The easiest way to eat pineapple is to peel it with a small,sharp knife; core it, slice or dice it, and eat as is. But it'salso an ideal ingredient in dishes where a bit of piquant sweetnessis desired.

Pineapple stir-fry combines a little heat with a slightly tartsweetness to produce a fresh, unusual taste for spring. Garlic lendsits pungency to a refreshing pineapple-zucchini salad. PINEAPPLE STIR-FRY 1 small pineapple (3 to 3 1/2 pounds) 1 large red bell pepper 1medium-size mild onion 4 ounces snow pea pods 1 teaspoon cornstarch 2tablespoons soy sauce 2 to 3 tablespoons vegetable oil 2 dried red chilies 1 tablespoon minced or grated fresh ginger 1large clove garlic, minced Salt to taste

Peel and core pineapple. Cut into chunks. Place about half thepineapple in work area; reserve remaining pineapple for another use.

Core and seed pepper; cut into narrow strips. Peel onion andcut into wedges. Cut pea pods into matchstick-size strips.

Mix cornstarch with soy sauce; set aside.

In wok or large, heavy skillet, heat oil until very hot. Addchilies and cook until they turn black. Discard chilies. Add gingerand garlic to wok; stir-fry a few seconds. Add bell pepper andonion to wok; stir-fry for 1 minute. Add pineapple and pea pods;stir-fry for 2 minutes. Add soy sauce-cornstarch mixture; stir-fry1 minute, or until sauce thickens slightly. Season to taste andserve immediately with rice. Serves 3 to 4. PINEAPPLE-ZUCCHINI RICE SALAD 2 tablespoons butter 2 large cloves garlic, minced 1 medium onion,chopped 1 cup rice 1 1/4 cups vegetable or chicken broth 1/4 cuppineapple juice 1 tablespoon soy sauce Dash of cloves 1medium-size zucchini, diced 1 small pineapple (3 to 3 1/2 pounds),cut into chunks Salt and pepper to taste Romaine lettuce leaves

Use about half the pineapple in this recipe; reserve remainingpineapple for another use.

In heavy saucepan, heat butter. Add garlic and onion and sauteuntil onion is soft. Add rice and stir to coat all grains withbutter. Pour in broth and pineapple juice. Bring to boil, stir,then cover and cook rice over very low heat 20 to 25 minutes, untiltender.

Let rice cool to room temperature. Stir in soy sauce andcloves, then toss rice with zucchini and pineapple. Season to taste.Serve on lettuce leaves to 4.

Two Calendars, Two Birthdays; Washington Was Born Feb. 22, Right? Wrong.

Did you happen to check the date this morning? It's Feb. 22, andaccording to the calendar, George Washington's birthday.

Yes. Then again, no.

Our nation's first president was actually born on Feb. 11, 1731,according to the Julian calendar then used by the Colonies. For thefirst 19 years of his life, young George celebrated his birthday onthat date.

Then things got complicated.

The Julian calendar had a 12-month year measuring 365.25 days --an attempt to duplicate the time it takes the Earth to make acomplete revolution around the sun. However, the calendar exceededthe solar timetable by about 11 minutes a year. Over time, that errorcompounded so that every 128 years the calendar shifted out of syncby a full day.

As a result, by the late 16th century there was a 10-daydiscrepancy between the astronomical definition of time and thecalendar's definition. Easter, for example, was sliding towardsummer.

To rectify this, in 1582, Pope Gregory XIII decreed a calendarreform, starting with a new way of determining leap years, that cutthe annual time discrepancy from 11 minutes to about 30 seconds. And,to bring the secular calendar back in line with the sky calendar, 10days were dropped from the month of October that year.

In essence, "You went to bed on October 4 and woke up October 15,"said Geoff Chester, public affairs officer for the U.S. NavalObservatory in Washington.

The change to the new Gregorian calendar wasn't universallyaccepted, however. Great Britain and its colonies, for example,continued on the Julian system until 1752, by which time they were 11days out of whack with most of the world.

In another oddity, the British celebrated New Year's on March 25.The switch to the Gregorian calendar meant dramatic changes for theBritish Empire: The year 1751 was cut off at Dec. 31, rather thanextending to March 24, according to reference books.

The day after Dec. 31, 1751, was Jan. 1, 1752 -- meaning, inessence, that the days Jan. 1 to March 24, 1751, were dropped fromthe outgoing British calendar, and became Jan. 1 to March 24, 1752,under the newly adopted Gregorian system.

So while George Washington turned 19 on Feb. 11, 1750 (under theJulian calendar), his 20th birthday was celebrated in February 1752(under the Gregorian).

In the changeover to Gregorian, Britain eliminated 11 days fromthe month of September (similar to what was done in 1582) andParliament ordered that dates prior to 1752 on the Julian calendar bemoved 11 days.

That pushed Washington's birthday back to Feb. 22. The switchacknowledged that even though he was born Feb. 11, 1731, according tothe Julian calendar, to most of the world (which was using theGregorian calendar) it was Feb. 22, 1732.

Got it? If not, you're in good company. Historians often refer to1752 as "the year of confusion," Chester said.

Thankfully, by 1753 everyone was on the same track, and Washingtoncelebrated his birthday on Feb. 22 for the first time.

These days, the national observance of his natal day takes placeon the third Monday in February -- which, it should be noted, willnever fall on Feb. 22.

Happy Birthday, George!

Two Calendars, Two Birthdays; Washington Was Born Feb. 22, Right? Wrong.

Did you happen to check the date this morning? It's Feb. 22, andaccording to the calendar, George Washington's birthday.

Yes. Then again, no.

Our nation's first president was actually born on Feb. 11, 1731,according to the Julian calendar then used by the Colonies. For thefirst 19 years of his life, young George celebrated his birthday onthat date.

Then things got complicated.

The Julian calendar had a 12-month year measuring 365.25 days --an attempt to duplicate the time it takes the Earth to make acomplete revolution around the sun. However, the calendar exceededthe solar timetable by about 11 minutes a year. Over time, that errorcompounded so that every 128 years the calendar shifted out of syncby a full day.

As a result, by the late 16th century there was a 10-daydiscrepancy between the astronomical definition of time and thecalendar's definition. Easter, for example, was sliding towardsummer.

To rectify this, in 1582, Pope Gregory XIII decreed a calendarreform, starting with a new way of determining leap years, that cutthe annual time discrepancy from 11 minutes to about 30 seconds. And,to bring the secular calendar back in line with the sky calendar, 10days were dropped from the month of October that year.

In essence, "You went to bed on October 4 and woke up October 15,"said Geoff Chester, public affairs officer for the U.S. NavalObservatory in Washington.

The change to the new Gregorian calendar wasn't universallyaccepted, however. Great Britain and its colonies, for example,continued on the Julian system until 1752, by which time they were 11days out of whack with most of the world.

In another oddity, the British celebrated New Year's on March 25.The switch to the Gregorian calendar meant dramatic changes for theBritish Empire: The year 1751 was cut off at Dec. 31, rather thanextending to March 24, according to reference books.

The day after Dec. 31, 1751, was Jan. 1, 1752 -- meaning, inessence, that the days Jan. 1 to March 24, 1751, were dropped fromthe outgoing British calendar, and became Jan. 1 to March 24, 1752,under the newly adopted Gregorian system.

So while George Washington turned 19 on Feb. 11, 1750 (under theJulian calendar), his 20th birthday was celebrated in February 1752(under the Gregorian).

In the changeover to Gregorian, Britain eliminated 11 days fromthe month of September (similar to what was done in 1582) andParliament ordered that dates prior to 1752 on the Julian calendar bemoved 11 days.

That pushed Washington's birthday back to Feb. 22. The switchacknowledged that even though he was born Feb. 11, 1731, according tothe Julian calendar, to most of the world (which was using theGregorian calendar) it was Feb. 22, 1732.

Got it? If not, you're in good company. Historians often refer to1752 as "the year of confusion," Chester said.

Thankfully, by 1753 everyone was on the same track, and Washingtoncelebrated his birthday on Feb. 22 for the first time.

These days, the national observance of his natal day takes placeon the third Monday in February -- which, it should be noted, willnever fall on Feb. 22.

Happy Birthday, George!

Ohio State, Kansas, Pittsburgh and Duke are No. 1 seeds for NCAA men's basketball tourney

NEW YORK (AP) — Ohio State, Kansas, Pittsburgh and …

Reader tip: picture this. (Group Dynamics).(Brief Article)

Jaz Williams leads the Comics Discussion Group in Bloomington, Indiana, and loves graphic novels. "There's an added element because it's both word and picture," he says. "There's so much surprise in working with work [that is] so idiosyncratic." But his reason …

Reader tip: picture this. (Group Dynamics).(Brief Article)

Jaz Williams leads the Comics Discussion Group in Bloomington, Indiana, and loves graphic novels. "There's an added element because it's both word and picture," he says. "There's so much surprise in working with work [that is] so idiosyncratic." But his reason …

By the Numbers ; Are companies getting what they wanted out of their enterprise projects?

Enterprise Applications: What Returns May Come

Are companies getting what they wanted out of their enterprise projects? Only if they put enough resources into them, says a recent Accenture report. The yearlong global study analyzed 163 organizations that had spent an average of $51 million and installed at least two major applications. Accenture identified several characteristics common to the companies that met their goals: significant financial and time commitments; extensive implementation throughout the organization; and a long history of using the software. In addition, companies that held a specific individual accountable for benefits saw results faster.

Web …

Bench Press.(briefs)

C14: From Australopithecines to Adipose Tissue

Radioactive carbon dating is most commonly used to determine the age of specimens that are thousands to millions of years old. But researchers at the Swedish Karolinska Institutet have used the method to look at decidedly younger samples, comparing the fat in the cells of healthy and obese individuals. Looking at the C14 content of triglyceride fats, they found that fat cells have a typical life span of 10 years, and during that time, the fats are turned over an average of six times in normal individuals. Obese individuals, on the other hand, had older fat, implying their cells were less able to break down fats. Older fat also correlated with an increased likelihood of a person's having insulin resistance. The authors said their results established fat turnover as "a novel target for prevention and treatment of metabolic disease." Their work appeared in the Sept. 25, 2011, advance online edition of Nature.

One Thing Leads to Another

Their growth can be due to very specific mutations, but cancer cells also tend to have much more whole-sale level problems with their DNA. Problems can include having the wrong numbers of whole chromosomes (which is called aneuploidy) as well as structural abnormalities such as chunks of DNA that are missing, or in the wrong place on a chromosome. Those structural abnormalities occur when DNA breaks are "repaired" incorrectly, and so the two types of damage have been considered …

Leaders agree to overhaul of ethics enforcement.(Main)

ALBANY - Gov. Eliot Spitzer and legislative leaders have tentatively agreed to a major overhaul of ethics enforcement in Albany, including a new agency to investigate corruption, officials familiar with the negotiations said Tuesday.

The agreement is expected to consolidate the state Ethics Commission that …

HENDRICK LOOKS BACK ON LONG PUBLIC SERVICE.(Local)

Byline: Barbara Hayden Staff writer

It is nearly time to pack up his pipes and go home.

J. Robert Hendrick has "mixed feelings" about getting up from the supervisor's chair in his Town Hall office for the last time on Dec. 29.

The soft-spoken, white-haired and affable Hendrick decided this year that he did not want to run again as town supervisor.

"I decided it was time," he said. "I woke up to the fact that I have had 45 years in public service. But I will definitely miss it. This position as supervisor in Bethlehem is one of the most interesting and challenging jobs I have ever had."

Puffing on a pipe filled with Palladin black …

Report: German state governor considers ban on burqas in schools

A conservative German state governor is considering a ban on students wearing the all-encompassing Muslim burqa in schools, according to an interview published Sunday ahead of regional elections next month.

The state of Hesse _ which includes Germany's financial center, Frankfurt _ already has the country's widest-reaching legislation preventing public school teachers and civil servants from wearing head scarves at work.

Governor Roland Koch, a prominent member of Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats, was quoted as telling the weekly Focus that his government "specifically encourages the integration of the Muslim population in our …

COLLEGE REPORT

POINT PARADE: The title game between Duke and Nevada-Las Vegasshould be the highest-scoring one since 1978 when Kentucky beat Duke94-88 and probably the one with the most tenacious defense since 1980when Louisville beat UCLA 59-54.

"Both teams will play great defense but I don't think it will bea low-scoring game," UNLV coach Jerry Tarkanian said Sunday.

HURLEY RESTS UP: Ailing Duke point guard Bobby Hurley was given theusual remedies and was ordered to bed on Sunday in hopes he will berecovered for tonight's championship game.

Hurley, weak from diarrhea, played 36 minutes but scored onlythree points in Duke's 97-83 semifinal victory over Arkansas …

Business Appraisers; MARCIA TEAL, MANAGER AT WIPFLI, LLP CPA.

Ms. Teal has several years of experience in litigation support, business valuations, and due diligence related to M & A.

Region: UNITED STATES Area of Specialization: Litigation Support Certifications/Credentials: CPA/ABV, CFF, ASA, MBA Website: http://www.wipfli.com State or Country: WI Category: Listing …

Tik rehab/is man's alibi/in detective/murder trial.(News)

BYLINE: FATIMA SCHROEDER

ONE of the men accused of the murder of Woodstock police detective Lourens le Roux claims he had booked himself into a drug rehabilitation centre on the day of the murder because he had been battling with a tik and heroin addiction.

The morning of the murder he had been working and also met his co-accused, Ebrahim Jacobs, at the Mitchells Plain police station after Jacobs's car had been stolen.

Garth Leetz, who now uses the name Ghaliet Jacobs, testified before Justice Andre le Grange in the Cape High Court yesterday that he had left the rehabilitation centre on April 10 last year - two days before Le Roux was murdered but …

BACK IN OFFICE, BACK TO WORK.(CAPITAL REGION)

Byline: MICHELE MORGAN BOLTON Staff writer

East Nassau With the village election behind them, Mayor Mike Springer and trustees Regina Atchinson, Linda Dellea, Bob Henrickson and Roger Boyle can get on with the job of defining the future of the 3-year-old municipality.

Springer, Boyle and Henrickson last week were each re-elected to another two-year term.

This week, Springer was not only thankful for his win but also enthusiastic about what lies ahead for the small, rural community.

``It's good that we still have the original board intact who are committed to completing unfinished business,'' Springer said. ``It's a good feeling for me. …

Stanyl gears give road feel to joystick steering.(AUTOMOTIVE)

DSM Stanyl high performance PA46 is used in the production of Joysteer, a joystick-based car steering system for drivers with arm muscle disabilities. Developed at Bern University for Applied Sciences, Joysteer augments the conventional steering wheel with a pair of joysticks mounted one on each side of the wheel.

These are electronically coupled to the vehicle's steering system. Mikron Plastics Technologies moulds the precision gears employed and chose Stanyl because of its dimensional stability, low friction and ability to absorb vibration and noise.

Gear sets in both joysticks and the motor drives have zero backlash to ensure high precision for encoding …

Sheffield United players plan to sue West Ham

The manager and players of a former Premier League football club plan to sue the team they feel caused their relegation from England's top division by fielding Argentina striker Carlos Tevez.

Tevez, who scored seven goals for former club West Ham in the last 10 games of the 2006-07 season, netted in the team's final game to ensure that the London club moved ahead of Sheffield United in the standings.

Sheffield United reached an out-of-court settlement with West Ham on Monday that seemed to have resolved the long-running dispute, with the Hammers agreeing to pay a staggered compensation package of about $30 million.

However, about 20 unnamed …

Exile to Siberia, 1590-1822

Andrew A. Gentes. Exile to Siberia, 1590-1822. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008. xiii, 271 pp. Bibliography. Index. $80.00, cloth.

One of the curious aspects of the Siberian exile system in Russian historical writing is that it never seems to get better - it starts off bad and simply gets worse. As Andrew A. Gentes argues in his Exile to Siberia, 1590-1822, the Muscovite state invented the brutal habit of dumping unwanted people in Siberia. Peter the Great then expanded the scope of the system and made it even more brutal, while would-be "liberal" reformers like Mikhail Speranskii only made it more efficient. In fact, anyone who wants to see the Russian government become gentler …

EL SALVADOR: TELECOM ACCORD.

World Access Inc. (NASDAQ:WAXS) said March 5 it has entered into a telecom agreement with Grupo CentroAmericano de Telecomunicaciones (GCA Telecom), a private network operator based in El Salvador. The pact calls for World Access to supply, install and interconnect the telecommunications equipment …

Top Community Banks.(Statistical table)

MidWestern Banks

52-Week Div. Avg Volume $Change %Change

Hi Lo Name P/E Yld (000) %Chg Last Dy Wk Dy Wk

19.15 11.50 BNCCorp-ND 15.7 0.0 2 -56 18.50 0.35 0.55 1.9 3.1

14.47 12.07 CamcoFin-OH 17.0 4.7 16 30 12.88 0.08 -0.10 0.6 -0.8

11.69 7.88 CommtyCentrlBkCrp-MI 15.5 3.1 3 -59 7.80 -0.13 -0.55 -1.6 -6.6

19.25 15.69 CortlandBncrp-OH 14.4 5.3 1 7 16.55 0.00 -0.45 0.0 -2.7

24.28 14.40 DearbornBcp-MI 15.0 0.0 14 44 14.20 -0.55 -1.42 -3.7 -9.1

24.76 16.86 FirstBancorp-MI 11.9 5.3 18 705 16.89 -0.29 -1.11 -1.7 -6.2

19.25 16.38 FirstCapital-IN 13.3 4.2 LT LT 16.21 -0.17 -0.78 -1.0 -4.6

18.25 13.60 LNBBncp-OH 21.7 4.8 5 7 15.00 -0.05 -0.07 -0.3 -0.5

20.98 16.90 MahaskaInvestCo-IA 11.7 4.2 1 12 17.10 0.06 -0.64 0.4 -3.6

25.85 17.00 NorthernStates-IL 23.7 3.0 LT LT 23.50 -0.40 0.31 -1.7 1.3

26.50 24.15 OhioValleyBank-OH 19.8 2.9 LT LT 25.00 -0.73 0.00 -2.8 0.0

16.50 13.36 PremierFinBncrp-KY 11.6 2.7 1 LT 14.82 -0.04 -0.76 -0.3 -4.9

34.00 27.51 PrincetonNatl-IL 15.1 4.1 1 -48 27.84 0.33 -0.05 1.2 -0.2

18.86 14.83 QcrHolding-IL 25.8 …

INDUSTRY SUBSIDY.(Main)

It is unfortunate that the Associated Press article which appeared on the front page of the Jan. 28 Times Union, "NiMo Rates Going Up," did not accurately reflect the record that supported the New York State Public Service Commission's decision. The article states that the largest industrial customers "complained they were subsidizing bills by residential customers." This was not a mere "complaint." The unrefuted evidence in the record before the Public Service Commission demonstrates that the large industrial customers not only have been subsidizing residential customers, but, in fact, even under the commission's decision will continue to subsidize the cost of serving …