Sunday, September 30, 2007

September Mourning - the monthly death tolls continue...

EVA ESMANN.
Foto: Maria Fonfara

Varmt hjerte for fristaden
Eva Esmann ~ (1924-2007)

An excerpt from nekrolog, 08/31/2007:
Jeg er så glad for at få lov til at
fortælle om Christiania en sid-
ste gang, inden jeg kreperer«,
indledte forfatteren Eva Es-
mann et længere interview
her i avisen for halv anden må-
ned siden. Nu er hun så død, 83 år.
Eva Esmann, der voksede op
i et kunstnerhjem i Frankrig,
faldt som lille på en trappe og
kvæstede underkæben så al-
vorligt, at den holdt op med at vokse.
Det havde nok slået mange
unge piger ud, men ikke hen-
de. Hun ville have sin kæbe la-
vet, uanset hvor mange opera-
tioner hun skulle igennem, og
det var mange.
Og så skulle det være den
dygtigste kæbekirurg i Euro-
pa, en tysk læge fra Berlin. Da
krigen brød ud i 1939, var ræk-
ken af operationer ikke over-
stået, men hvad gjorde Eva Esmann?
At rejse til Berlin var ikke til-
ladt enhver, så hun bad om et
job som sporvognskonduktør
dernede, for så kunne hun jo
få lejlighed til at opsøge den
dygtige læge. Han var imidler-
tid optaget af mere alvorlige
læsioner hos sårede fra Øst-
fronten, og Eva Esmann blev
bedt om at vente, til der igen
blev fred. Så tog hun hjem
igen, flygtede med fare for sit
liv fra sit job, og tilbage i Dan-
mark gik hun ind i mod-
standsbevægelsen. Men ty-
skerne kom på sporet af hen-
de, så hun måtte flygte til Sverige.
Efter krigen fandt hun frem
til, at lægen stadig levede, nu i
Hamburg. Hun tog job hos en
hjælpeorganisation og fik ar-
bejde dernede et par år, og her
fik hun så endelig sin kæbe på
plads efter i alt 40 kirurgiske
indgreb og i alt syv års
hospi-talsindlæggelser.
Disse oplevelser beskrev Eva
Esmann i sin første bog, ’En
kvindes ansigt’, der er en af
dansk litteraturs erindrings-
klassikere og udkom i mange oplag.
I bogen ’Den evige dansker’
har hun skrevet historien om
Karl Friedrich Gøbelsmann,
der voksede op i det krigshær-
gede Europa som pacifist og
overlevede tre dødsdomme.
En anden af hendes mange
bøger hedder ’Der er en regn-
bue over Christiania’, for her
lagde Eva Esmann mange
kræfter. Fristaden tiltrak sidst
i 1970’erne en del eksistenser
(...)

A great woman
a pioneer
and a patron of the arts
has left us, in Eva Esmann
Her kind is dwindling in numbers
and she is so greatly missed by all who knew her
by those who have only heard of her,
and wished to have known her,
and by those who will never know her,
perhaps, ironically, this latter category
will suffer the most
from Eva's absence in this world.

Rest In Peace, Eva Esmann

Body Shop founder Anita Roddick poses for photographers
Thursday Dec. 11, 1997 in London.
Roddick died, aged 64, of a brain haemorrage
Monday night Sept 10 2007, her family said.
Body Shop International PLC,
the British retailer which promotes
natural-based cosmetics and has branches worldwide,
was taken over by L'Oreal of France in a 652 million pound
(euro944 million; US$1.14 billion) cash deal in 2006.
(AP Photo/Dave Thomson)
A true "winner"
as defined in our society;
a self-made woman
and an example of emancipation
well-managed ambition
as well as business acumen
contained within a delicate feminine shell,
Anita Roddick accomplished a lot indeed
while she was "with us"...
Let's hope that the "Body Shop"
she spent countless hours in
did not impede her from devoting time
to 'Soul Shaping' as well...!
One look into her soulful eyes, though,
appears to indicate that, indeed,
she found the time to indulge both
- and, on top of that,
rapatriate over a billion bucks
from England's perennial rival, France -
via corporative sucker L'Oréal...!
She was smart enough to know
that buying one's competition
is really folly, not wisdom at all...!
But selling to an overzealous competitor
and retiring - is very smart, aye!
I hope she had worthy heirs though...
Leona Helmsley, who died last month,
was the Queen of Mean...
Anita Roddick was the Queen of Green.
And a beautiful lady, inside and out.
R.I.P. Amazing Anita

Ronald Reagan and his first wife, Jane Wyman,
attend a traditional Hollywood world premiere,
December 23, 1945, in Los Angeles.
Wyman, an Academy Award winner
for her performance as
the deaf rape victim in 'Johnny Belinda,'
star of the long-running TV series 'Falcon Crest'
and Reagan's first wife,
died Monday morning, Sept. 10, 2007, at 93.
(AP Photo)
They are, indeed, reunited now
together again
for the first time ever
in God's Domain...!
A first spouse is
one's true spouse
before the Eyes of The Lord
- don't you know...?
Not that wedding vows mean anything
in any way, shape or form
once you're in the afterlife...

And I could not make omission here, again,
of the September 11th victims
over 3,000 of them died 6 years ago...
And how many more have died since...
From the toxic dust left behind...?
Just the other day, two firemen died on the site.
Really, Bin Laden's coup
is the Trojan Horse - perfected.
The gift of death
that keeps on giving...

And the mourning will never end.

Not as long as there are those kindhearted ones
that REMEMBER...

This month of September was the time chosen, also,
specifically for the purpose of mourning...
no... CELEBRATING...
the Passage Into The Light of all of those that crossed over
before the rest of us... who remain, hence...
It was chosen as such by my local cemetery
on the exact day that, for me,
is a most lugubrious anniversary - the 22nd...

And it doesn't get any more lugubrious than this too:
the same month that saw the departure of the King of Tenors
also saw the King of Mimes leaving us as well
(as a matter of fact, on the 22nd, I do believe...)
And the most tragic aspect of it all, for me,
who am an ocean away from his human remains,
is that the first thought that crossed my mind was
"will he do 'the cage' once they seal him tight
inside his final home on earth - his coffin"...

Might not even apply
if he chose to be incinerated...

Either way, he is not boxed in at all -
he is truly free now.

Labels: Anita Roddick, Eva Esmann, Jane Wyman, Lois Maxwell, Luciano Pavarotti, Marcel Marceau

3 Comments:

At 1:13 PM, Luminous (\ô/) Luciano™ said...: 70 insurgents killed in Afghanistan

By CHRIS BRUMMITT, Associated Press Writer Sat Sep 1, 2:03 PM ET

KABUL, Afghanistan - U.S.-led coalition and Afghan security forces killed about 70 suspected militants in Afghanistan, where violence is running at its highest level since the ouster of the Taliban regime six years ago, authorities said Saturday.

The surge in militant attacks comes despite the presence of more than 50,000 foreign troops and 110,000 Afghan police and military officers, as well as a multimillion dollar reconstruction effort to rebuild the shattered nation.

Late Friday, Afghan security forces backed by U.S.-led troops raided compounds in three villages in the remote Pitigal Valley border region, where the coalition said intelligence showed that top militant leaders take refuge as they travel between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Afghanistan has accused Pakistan of failing to do enough to prevent the movement of militants and weapons across the frontier. Pakistan — which before 2001 had close ties with the Taliban — denies the charge, saying it has deployed tens of thousands of troops.

The troops killed more than 20 insurgents and detained 11 others in the raids, which were just 3 miles from the border. They discovered a bomb-making factory and seized weapons and communication gear, the statement said. One coalition solider was wounded in the raids, it said.

Meanwhile, a bomb attached to a bicycle in a commercial district of the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif wounded nine people, two seriously, said police spokesman Sher Jan Durani.

In the central province of Ghazni, where the Taliban last week released 19 South Koreans they had held hostage for six weeks, Afghan police attacked a group of Taliban planning to strike security forces, killing 18 and arresting six others, said provincial police Gen. Ali Shah Ahmadai.

"It was a successful operation," he said.

A coalition statement said the raid resulted in the seizure of mortar and artillery rounds, numerous hand grenades, rocket-propelled grenades and other ammunition, it said. It gave no more details.

The Taliban abducted 23 South Koreans in Ghazni six weeks ago. They killed two male hostages, released two women last month and freed the final 19 last week after holding unprecedented negotiations with the South Korean government that critics said risked emboldening the insurgents.

In the Musa Qala district in southern Helmand province, a combined police and coalition patrol came under attack on Friday from mortars, rocket-propelled grenades and small-arms fire, the coalition said in a statement. In the fight that ensued, almost two dozen insurgents were killed.

No Afghan or coalition soldiers, or civilians, were killed, the statement said.

Also in Musa Qala, Afghan forces Saturday called in coalition airstrikes after coming under attack, the coalition said. The strikes on the "known enemy positions" killed seven insurgents, the statement said.

Militants have been running parts of Musa Qala since a peace deal last year between local elders and Afghan government officials, supported by British troops in the province. The deal effectively turned over Musa Qala town and surrounding areas to Taliban control.

It was not possible to independently verify any of the death tolls because travel to the areas is extremely dangerous. Taliban commanders were not available for comment.

The Taliban ruled most of Afghanistan from the mid-1990s until 2001, imposing an extreme version of Islam and harboring al-Qaida leaders and thousands of other Muslim militants from around the world.

They were ousted by a U.S.-led coalition following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the United States, but are now leading an increasingly bloody campaign against the country's Western-backed government.

More than 4,200 people — most of them insurgents — have been killed so far this year, according to an Associated Press count.

Lebanese army kills 15 militants

By SAM F. GHATTAS, Associated Press Writer 46 minutes ago - Sept. 1st

BEIRUT, Lebanon - Lebanese troops fought al-Qaida-inspired militants who attempted to flee a besieged Palestinian refugee camp in northern Lebanon on Sunday, killing 15 and wounding or capturing 15 others, officials said.

In a statement, the military said troops were attacking the remaining strongholds of the Fatah Islam fighters in Nahr el-Bared camp and "chasing the fugitives outside the camp" who had staged "a desperate attempt to flee."

It called on Lebanese citizens to inform the nearest army patrol of any suspected militants in their area, but gave no specifics on casualties excepting saying "a large number" had been killed or captured.

But Lebanese security officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because no official casualty figure had been released by the military, said 15 militants had been killed and 15 wounded — including seven captured.

How about those Lebanese, eh?

Now each time I hear about them, I think of the old joke of the guy who writes in to one of those dime-a-dozen "counselors" (the Dear Abbys, Joyces, Mary Worths of this world!) - and he rambles on and on about this neighbour he has, a girl he finds odd while having the hots for her... And then, after revealing that said neighbour appears to be shacking up with another woman, he asks "I wonder if they are Lebanese?"

My neighbour -who was was also my landlord's sister- was Lebanese. I did not fancy her but she fancied me! After quizzing me (quizzing, not cruising, yes) she discovered that I did not embody all that she sought in a man (she wanted a cook, chauffeur, bodyguard, maître d' and lover, obviously... I shall not divulge which roles I wasn't willing to play for her...) and she vanished from both the building and my life altogether!
Heck, she vanished from my neighborhood! Yet her family's still around...

Surely she did not go BACK to Lebanon now...?
That would have been terrible timing on her part - especially since many of her kins did perish the same way that these 15 just died here...

Five dead after fire tears through remote fishing camp in Quebec

Sun Sep 2, 6:30 PM

LA BOSTONNAIS, Que. (CP) - A fire ripped through a fishing camp in a Quebec nature preserve Sunday, leaving five people dead, including three family members.

Six people were staying at the camp, 140 kilometres north of Shawinigan, when the blaze broke out early in the morning.

A 49-year-old man escaped the fire and paddled the length of Lescarbot Lake in a canoe to reach his car, said provincial police spokesman Sgt. Michel Brunet.

"It took approximately 10 to 15 minutes to cross the lake, after that he took his car and drove approximately 50 kilometres to 70 kilometres with bad burns over his body," Brunet said.

The man, who was the only survivor, suffered severe burns to 20 per cent of his upper body, police said. He was taken to a burn centre in Montreal for treatment and his life is not in danger.

Diane Morin, who works for the local wildlife management organization, said the man pulled up to their office frantically honking his car's horn at around 5 a.m.

"It's a nightmare - it's terrible," Diane Morin of the Kiskissink controlled harvesting zone said. "The man said, 'The fire had already started and all my children, everybody, burned at the chalet,' "

Police confirmed five people from the Montreal area died in the fire, including the injured man's daughter, 19, son, 26, and his wife's 13-year-old daughter. The man's friend, around 50 years old, and his daughter's boyfriend, 22, also perished.

Brunet said the group arrived Saturday to rent the chalet.

Being a very remote area, emergency services took some time to reach the lodge and find the victims.

"It was impossible this morning (Sunday) for the firefighters to get there because of the lake," Brunet said. "There's no road and it's a camp used by fishermen and hunters during the season.

He said the cause of the fire had not been determined, although possible causes included some type of heating source inside the lodge.

"We're investigating everything," Brunet said. "The scene is completely destroyed by the fire. It's not easy to do that kind of investigation right now. We will have more clues when we talk to him (the man)."

It is the renter's responsibility to check smoke detectors when they arrive at the cottages, he added.

Meanwhile, Kiskissink's president says news of the blaze sent shockwaves through the organization, which he called a "big family."

"It's indescribable." Pierre Lefebvre told the French-language LCN network on Sunday. "Employees are in shock, as well as members. When something happens to one of our members we are all touched."

He said he knows about half the group's 750 members, but did not know the victims.

Kiskissink's management area covers 830 square kilometres and encompasses more than 300 lakes, according to its website.

Only three articles into this month's recap - and we already have 90 deaths!
Gee - is the Grim Reaper ever in a frenzy or what?
All the more reason to believe that there are sevearal reapers at work - all for the "common cause" so to speak...!
Shows like "Dead Like Me", perhaps the upcoming CW Kevin Smith Reaper and even "Touched By An Angel" have acclimated us to buy into this pluralization of ressources - even DEATH has to be, in fact, many and a veritable allegorical/fantasmagorical "Death Squad" - a plethore of reapers or "angels of death" rather than just one lonesome ghastly figure...
Otherwise, how would He/She/It ever suffice to the monumental task of claiming every last one of them, often at different and completely opposite ends of the globe...?
If logistics affect Santa Claus, it should also affect Mr. Frost (Perma Frost?) here...!
It is only logical...!

Then again, sometimes, the Reaper gets lucky and can reap 5, 15, 70 or more ALL in ONE PLACE... As we've seen so far this month already...

Mourners attend funerals for five of six people killed in B.C. pre-wedding accident

2 hours, 25 minutes ago - on September 2nd

By Camille Bains

DELTA, B.C. (CP) - Mourners filled two B.C. funeral homes Sunday to honour five of six people killed in a pre-wedding ceremony that came to a halt when a pickup truck plowed into a group of revellers.

Among the dead were three Toronto-area residents, including a young boy who'd planned to celebrate his 13th birthday with friends and family in the Fraser Valley community of Abbotsford.

But Damanpreet Kang's short life was snuffed out on Aug. 24 as he and about 30 others were walking along a dimly lit country road toward the home of the bride-to-be.

Rubel Gill, 21, and her 25-year-old brother Bhupinder Kaler, also of the Toronto area, were among the dead. They had each recently married in India, and their spouses were to join them in Canada.

Also killed were Satwinder Kaur Mahil and her lifelong friend Harjinder Kaur Sanghera, both in their 50s.

The body of Ripudaman Singh Dhillon, 34, was to be flown to India for a service later this week.

Rattan Singh Girn, president of the Akali Singh Sikh Society, was among about 1,000 people who packed a funeral home in Delta, B.C. to mourn Kang, Gill, Kaler and Mahil.

Girn said the families of the dead are terribly upset about the devastation that has tarnished what was supposed to be a joyful event but have accepted it as God's will.

"Nobody was expecting this," he said before entering the funeral home. "Moments before they were celebrating their joyful ceremony but all of a sudden this happened."

At a service in Abbotsford, hundreds of people filled a chapel and packed an overflow room and parking lot of a funeral home for a service to honour 57-year-old Sanghera.

Her children spoke eloquently about their mother at the service attended by people from the local community and others who had come from around the world to attend the wedding a week ago.

"Our mom has left us but we will never forget the love with which she raised us," said son Charanjit Sanghera.

Ruby Sanghera said her mother never had the chance to be a grandmother.

"She always told us everything would be OK and it always was," Sanghera said through tears. "I have lost not only my mother but also my best friend and I will miss her every day of my life."

Local MP Sukh Dhaliwal said the tragic accident has touched people across the country.

"I was travelling through Newfoundland and people were asking me (about it) there, too," Dhaliwal said.

"They were expressing their condolences, their sympathy with the families, and I'm talking about the community at large," he said before entering the service where the dead were to be cremated according to Sikh tradition.

Jagmohan Singh did not know any of the people killed but said after the service that the deaths have left the community at a loss.

"It's a big, big tragedy, a huge tragedy that affected everybody in the community," he said. "So everybody came here today to share the grief of the families."

Singh said it was standing room only at the service.

Most of those killed were friends and relatives of the bride, and Girn said it was courageous of her family to go ahead with the wedding at such a difficult time.

The deaths have devastated the tight-knit group of Indo-Canadian families in the farming community of Abbotsford.

The dead were among about 30 people who had gathered on the road for a jaago - an Indian pre-wedding celebration in which a group of revellers goes from house to house at night, inviting neighbours to wake up and join them in singing and dancing.

The party had barely begun when a pickup truck plowed into the celebrants, turning their joy into a nightmare of carnage on a dimly lit country road filled with blaring sirens and the stark glare of flashing emergency lights.

Witnesses have described the scene as chaotic, with people screaming and falling into ditches after the pickup truck seemed to come from nowhere.

The driver, 71-year-old farmer Bachittar Singh Brar, has said he became confused when he saw the large group of people on the road at about 11:15 p.m. and that by the time he braked it was too late.

Brar said the accident, which injured 17 people including two infants, wasn't his fault.

His son, Kulwant Brar, has said his father was beaten by some boys who were part of the group and that he suffered injuries to his eyes, neck, chest and face, and that his nose was broken.

The younger Brar said the family doesn't blame anyone and that they're grieving along with the relatives of those who were killed and injured.

Police have said neither drugs nor alcohol was involved, and have not said whether Brar will be charged.

The wedding of Simne (Harsimran) Mahil and Robbie (Jarnail) Grewal went ahead last Sunday but only close family and friends attended what was planned for several hundred people. The reception was cancelled.

Before and after the wedding, a steady group of friends and relatives of the dead came to the accident scene, quietly surveying the road and trying to make sense of the tragedy.

They included Avtar Kang, whose teenage son took his last breath there.

Kang was overcome with emotion, unable to speak as he glanced at a few bouquets of flowers at the site surrounded by blueberry farms.

About 200 people attend funeral for Paul Cheema in Delta, B.C.

1 hour, 32 minutes ago - still September 2nd

DELTA, B.C. (CP) - Friends and family of Paul Cheema gathered in Delta, B.C., today to remember the man who was questioned but never charged in the death of his wife, elementary school principal Shemina Hirji.

She was killed in July.

Hirji's name was brought up several times during the service, which was attended by about 200 people.

A picture of the pair on their wedding day greeted mourners as they made their way into the funeral home.

During the service, Cheema's niece thanked him for making her a flower girl at the couple's wedding.

The 34-year-old Cheema was found dead in his parents' basement earlier this week. Police don't suspect foul play.

Two die after explosion flattens summer home north of Montreal

Sun Sep 2, 7:16 PM

ENTRELACS, Que. (CP) - Two people were killed and another injured when a summer house exploded Saturday in Entrelacs, Que., about 100 kilometres north of Montreal.

Provincial police say James Wright, 64, and Meriem Maza, 30, died in the blast, which destroyed the building.

One media source reports that Wright was a well-known Montreal lawyer and a former city councillor in the island's upper-class Westmount neighbourhood.

Wright's 62-year-old wife was seriously injured in the explosion, but her life is not in danger. Police say Maza was visiting the lakefront home from Algeria.

Investigators believe several propane tanks found on the property may be linked to the explosion.

The victims were found outside the residence.

Girl, 13, found dead in Ariz. mine shaft

By AMANDA LEE MYERS, Associated Press Writer Sun Sep 2, 7:29 PM ET

PHOENIX, Ariz. - A 13-year-old girl who fell into an unmarked mine shaft while riding an all-terrain vehicle was found dead at the bottom Sunday, and her 10-year old sister was rescued with serious injuries, authorities said.

The girls, 13-year-old Rikki Howard and 10-year-old Casie Hicks, were riding around 7 p.m. Saturday when their father, who was riding ahead of them on a dirt bike, noticed the girls were missing.

"They were driving along and they went into the mine. It was a total accident," Mohave County Sheriff's Department spokeswoman Sandy Edwards said.

Sheriff's personnel tracked the ATV to the 125-foot mine shaft at 6:20 a.m. Sunday, and one of the girls responded when her father called out, officials said. Crews later rappelled into the mine and found the girls and the vehicle at the bottom.

The mine is located in Chloride, about 17 miles north of Kingman. It had no signs or barriers, and officials believe it was inactive.

The 10-year-old girl was transported to University Medical Center in Las Vegas, Edwards said. She was in critical condition Sunday afternoon, a hospital spokesman said. The girl's family declined to comment through the hospital.

Seth Johnson, a neighbor of the girls and their family's landlord, said the two were half-sisters. Their family was at the Las Vegas hospital, he said.

"It's an awful shock," Johnson said. "Their parents are very distraught."

Cathy Kelso, a bus driver, said she has been driving the two girls to school for a year and a half. "They're little sweetheart girls," she said. "I just keep hoping it's not true, but it's horrible."

Laurie Swartzbaugh, deputy director of the Arizona State Mine Inspector's office, said that the mine had not been used for some time, and that the office was investigating. She said abandoned mines are common in the state, and that since Jan. 1, the office has secured 108 of them.

"There's a significant amount of abandoned mines out there that are hazardous to the public's health," she said. "Most of those mines are from old prospectors who would go in and they would mine and they'd just pick up leave. And there are some very dangerous ones that are very deep."

___

Associated Press Writer Ryan Nakashima in Las Vegas contributed to this report.

2 die in stampedes at Zimbabwe exhibit

By ANGUS SHAW, associated Press Writer Sun Sep 2, 2:23 PM ET

HARARE, Zimbabwe - A woman and a child were killed in stampedes at a Zimbabwe agriculture show packed with people lured by scarce snack foods and cheap Chinese toys and exhibitors hoping to skirt a government price freeze and sell their animals, police said Sunday.

The two died Saturday in two separate surges against the exit gates as the show at the Harare Exhibition Park was closing, police spokesman James Sabau told state radio. People were hurrying to get into lines for public transportation outside, witnesses said.

Acute gasoline shortages have crippled transportation services and commuters routinely wait more than three hours to board buses for a 30-minute trip to the capital Harare's impoverished satellite townships.

The child killed was one of scores of lost children separated from family members in large crowds.

Attendance at the six-day annual event was the highest in years, with many people hoping to find produce that has disappeared from stores along with meat, corn meal, bread, milk, eggs and other staples amid soaring inflation. Officials said about 100,000 people came on Friday alone.

Zimbabwe is in the midst of a dire economic crisis blamed largely on President Robert Mugabe's seizure of white-owned commercial farms for redistribution to blacks, which began in 2000 and disrupted the agriculture-based economy.

A government order in June to slash prices of all goods and services by about half in a bid to tame the world's highest inflation. Official inflation is 7,634 percent annually, though independent estimates put actual inflation closer to 25,000 percent. The International Monetary Fund has forecast it could reach 100,000 percent by the end of the year.

The agriculture show was packed with people lured by scarce snack foods and soft drinks and stalls selling cheap Chinese toys and other goods. The show was the biggest in years and many exhibitors said they came in hopes of being allowed to sell their animals without being subjected to a government price freeze.

A cattle auction was banned Thursday at the show ground by price control authorities after it became clear bidders from butcheries, hotels and groups of private buyers were willing to pay up to 10 times the government's fixed price for livestock in the meat-starved nation.

Earlier this month, two people died in a stampede in a sugar line in the city of Bulawayo. In southern Zimbabwe, another woman died of strangulation when her neck scarf caught in a gas-fueled generator during the nation's daily power outages.

Attorneys this week reported clients facing acute food shortages in prisons. Relatives asked to bring food often could not find enough in the shops or get rides to prisons.

A panel of lawmakers has reported acute shortages of basic foods in government youth training centers, which are used to train the ruling-party militants blamed for much of country's political violence and intimidation.

The state Sunday Mail newspaper, meanwhile, reported 36,000 tons of wheat destined for Zimbabwe was being held at the Mozambique port of Beira awaiting payment.

With shortages of bread and bakery products worsening, Didymus Mutasa, the powerful security and lands minister, said the nation's wheat was down to a week's supply.

"We do not have wheat stocks at the moment. We are feeding from hand to mouth. As soon as we pay, a little amount is brought in ... this is usually a week's supply," he was quoted as saying by the paper.

Shark panics Long Island beachgoers, then dies and washes ashore

Sun Sep 2, 4:33 PM

NEW YORK (AP) - The swimmers were back at Long Island's Rockaway Beach on Sunday after hundreds were scared out of the water a day earlier by an apparently ill shark.

The 1½-metre thresher shark frightened crowds on Saturday as it splashed along the Long Island shore.

Although it wasn't believed to be a threat, hundreds of swimmers left the water and authorities closed a 10-block stretch of beach for hours.

The fish even came ashore at one point and several beachgoers pushed it back into the water.

"It was like freaking out. Its tail was flopping everywhere," 10-year-old McKenzie Pontieri told the Daily News. "It looked sick."

On Sunday morning, the dead shark washed ashore, and beaches in the area were reopened.

"It is now safe to go back into the water," said Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe.

Keyboard player with Edie Brickell & New Bohemians shot dead

Mon Sep 3, 7:15 PM

DALLAS (AP) - Jeffrey Albrecht, a keyboard player for the band Edie Brickell & New Bohemians, was shot to death early Monday while trying to kick in the door of his girlfriend's neighbour, police said.

The neighbour believed a burglar was trying to break in and fired a shot through the door around 4 a.m., Dallas police spokesman Sgt. Gil Cerda said.

Albrecht, 34, died at the scene. It was not clear why Albrecht went to the house and the case is under investigation. No arrests have been made.

"He was at his girlfriend's house last night," said Danny Balis, Albrecht's roommate. "He left the house and went next door and - for whatever reason, which we don't know - he knocked on the neighbour's door. And from what I understand, he was persistent. I don't know if there was a verbal exchange, but the person panicked and fired a shot through the door."

Albrecht, who went by his middle name, had been with the New Bohemians since 1999, according to the band's website. He also played keyboard and guitar and sang in the Dallas rock band Sorta with Balis.

Albrecht played with Brickell's husband, Paul Simon, when he did a show in Dallas, Balis said. He also played with Texas musician Charlie Sexton, a renowned guitarist.

Albrecht was working on a solo album that Balis called "the best thing he has ever done."

"He was the best musician I've ever played with - no question," Balis said. "He could play anything. It's a shame not enough people outside of Dallas heard him."

Army sounds fresh alert after blast kills one in Kashmir

31 minutes ago

SRINAGAR, India (AFP) - The Indian army in Kashmir urged people Tuesday not to touch abandoned shells that rained down on villages after one of its biggest ammunition depots caught fire last month.
ADVERTISEMENT

The warning came after a civilian was killed and six others hurt Monday evening when they touched an abandoned shell in southern Khundroo village.

The fire at the depot killed some 20 people, mostly soldiers, and displaced nearly 20,000 villagers.

"Villagers returning to their houses and area should continue to take precautions and remain vigilant," army spokesman Anil Kumar Mathur told AFP.

Mathur said Khundroo village, where the depot is located, had been declared clear of unexploded shells and handed over to village authorities on August 24.

The army says it will need several more months to clear an area covering 225 square kilometres (90.5 square miles).

The fresh explosion sparked a protest demonstration in the village with residents shouting anti-government slogans, witnesses said.

Twin Pakistan suicide bombings kill 24

12 minutes ago

RAWALPINDI (AFP) - Two suicide bombers blew themselves up on a bus carrying Pakistani defence ministry workers and in a market in the garrison city of Rawalpindi on Tuesday, killing at least 24 people, officials said.

The blasts came minutes apart in sensitive areas of the city, which is near the capital Islamabad and is the site of Pakistan's military headquarters and the official army residence of President Pervez Musharraf.

The Pakistani military and government have suffered a string of attacks blamed on the Taliban and Al-Qaeda in the last two months, deepening the pressure on Musharraf as he battles a mounting political crisis.

"Initial investigations show the two were carried out by suicide bombers," interior ministry spokesman Brigadier Javed Cheema told AFP. Cheema and the army both said 24 people were killed and 66 were wounded.

The first bombing ripped apart a bus taking defence employees to work during the morning rush-hour, leaving 16 of them dead, government interior secretary Kamal Shah said.

"It looks like a man boarded the bus at the last minute and he was not a defence employee. There is a possibility that he might have blown himself up," Shah said.

The white 40-seater bus was almost completely destroyed by the blast, with its roof ripped open and windows blown out. Rescue workers cut open the wreckage to pull out injured people and dead bodies.

"There was a huge bang, then I saw the bus in a mangled heap. Body parts were scattered across the road and there was blood everywhere," witness Mohammad Tahir said.

A police source said the bus was carrying employees from Pakistan's premier spy agency, the ISI or Inter-Services Intelligence, but this was not confirmed by other officials.

The second suicide blast about three kilometres (two miles) away in the city's crowded Royal Artillery bazaar was timed to target army officers who use the route to reach the military headquarters, security officials said.

At least eight people were killed in that blast, but it was not clear if any military personnel were among them, Shah said. Other officials said the attacker may have been on a motorcycle. A burnt bike was found at the scene.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for either blast.

Attacks have spiked in Pakistan since the military's storming of the hardline Red Mosque in Islamabad in July. More than 100 people were killed in the siege and storming of the pro-Taliban mosque.

Military officials say 60 soldiers and 250 militants have been killed in violence in recent weeks.

A suicide bomber rammed his explosives-filled car into a paramilitary vehicle in the Pakistani tribal region of Bajaur on Saturday, killing three soldiers and two civilians, officials said.

The situation is also tense after the breakdown of a controversial peace deal between the government and pro-Taliban Islamic militants in Pakistan's troubled tribal belt bordering Afghanistan.

The army is still trying to secure the safety of more than 150 soldiers whom militants say they abducted late last week in the tribal area of South Waziristan.

The military insists the troops were "trapped" amid a dispute between the rebels and local tribesmen, but the insurgents say they will not be freed until Pakistan pulls all soldiers from the area.

Pakistan sent troops into the tribal zone to track down Al-Qaeda and Taliban rebels who fled the fall of the hardline Taliban regime after the US-led military response to the September 11, 2001 attacks.

Military ruler Musharraf, who is also trying for a power-sharing deal with ex-premier Benazir Bhutto to end a political crisis, has come under mounting pressure from Washington to crack down on Islamic extremism in the area.

US officials have said that Osama Bin Laden's Al-Qaeda network has regrouped in Pakistan's tribal belt to plot attacks on international targets.

Taliban involved in SKorean kidnappings killed: government

Tue Sep 4, 11:40 AM

GHAZNI, Afghanistan (AFP) - Security forces killed a Taliban commander involved in the July kidnapping of 23 South Koreans, officials said Tuesday, as around 40 other rebels were reported killed in fresh fighting.

The commander, Mullah Mateen, and 15 other insurgents died in an Afghan and US-led coalition operation that started late Monday in the central province of Ghazni and lasted several hours, they said.

Mateen was a "key person" in the abduction of the group of Christian aid workers, two of whom were killed before the remainder were freed late last week, Ghazni police chief Alishah Ahmadzai said.

"We are sure that Mullah Mateen is dead and I'm sure and everyone knows that he was behind the kidnapping of the South Koreans," he told AFP.

The operation took place in the Qarabagh district, where the group was captured while travelling by bus. The area is about 180 kilometres (120 miles) south of Kabul.

The interior ministry in the capital confirmed that Mateen was dead and had been involved in the abductions.

He was a "key person behind the kidnapping of the Koreans," ministry spokesman Zemarai Bashary told AFP.

The US-led coalition, which is supporting the Afghan security forces, said only that "several" insurgents were killed in Ghazni overnight.

"The forces suspected Taliban militants were hiding in an area of Qarabagh district," it said in a statement.

The forces had gone there and were attacked. The return fire resulted "in the death of several militants who were armed and wearing ammunition vests."

The Koreans, from a Christian church, were kidnapped in mid-July by men posing as police. They were split into small groups and held in different locations.

Two men after the Afghan government refused to release Taliban prisoners.

Two female hostages were freed mid-August after the rebels began direct talks with the South Korean government which resulted in a deal that saw the remainder released last week.

Both sides said the deal included Seoul's agreement to withdraw its 210 non-combat troops in Afghanistan by year-end, as previously scheduled, and to stop trips by its missionaries to Afghanistan.

They have denied foreign media reports that a ransom was paid to the Taliban.

The last 19 aid workers returned to Seoul on Sunday amid criticism about what was seen as a reckless trip to a war-torn devoutly Islamic nation.

A Taliban spokesman told AFP Tuesday that abductions had proven to be an "effective tactic" which the rebels planned to use again.

"Through the kidnapping of the Koreans we gained worldwide media coverage," Yousuf Ahmadi told AFP.

"The Kabul administration was saying that we do not exist and we are a group based outside Afghanistan. When we held face-to-face talks with the Koreans, we showed that we're here and have control over ground inside the country."

Elsewhere, two Afghans doing development work with the ministry of rural development were kidnapped Monday in the southwestern province of Nimroz, the government announced.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the abduction.

The Taliban were in government until 2001 and are now waging an insurgency against the new Western-backed administration of President Hamid Karzai.

The violence has reach a new high this year, with regular Taliban attacks such as an apparent suicide bombing in the northern city of Kunduz on Tuesday that killed two Afghan policemen.

The US-led coalition announced meanwhile that more than a dozen insurgents were killed in new clashes Monday in the southern province of Kandahar. Ten more were killed Tuesday when they tried to attack a base in Uruzgan province.

Felix sparks flood Fears after killing 3

By PAUL KIERNAN, Associated Press Writer 15 minutes ago - on Sept. 5th

CABO SAN LUCAS, Mexico - Tropical storm Felix is forecast to dump up to 25 inches of rain on parts of Nicaragua and Honduras, officials said early Wednesday, triggering fears of flooding and mudslides in areas where shantytowns cling precariously to hillsides.

At least three people were killed and thousands of homes destroyed as Felix pushed over Nicaragua and Honduras on Tuesday, officials said.

Hurricane Henriette, meanwhile, made landfall on the region's west coast just hours after Felix hit, and punished resorts on the southern tip of Baja California. Henriette forced airports to close and left tourists to face driving rain and 15-foot waves, but caused no deaths as it headed toward mainland Mexico.

Despite quickly diminishing from a Category 5 hurricane to a tropical storm, Felix sparked fears that the worst of its destruction is yet to come.

Nervous residents still remember Hurricane Mitch in 1998, which parked over Central America for days, causing flooding and mudslides that killed nearly 11,000 people and left more than 8,000 missing.

The National Hurricane Center in Miami said Felix could produce 25 inches of rain in some mountainous areas across the region. At least 8 to 12 inches are expected across much of Nicaragua and El Salvador, with 10 to 15 inches forecast for much of Honduras.

The rains, the center said, are likely to produce life-threatening flash floods and mudslides.

Eight hours after Felix hit land in Central America on Tuesday, the eye of Hurricane Henriette struck Baja California and hurled toward mainland Mexico — the first time two Atlantic and Pacific hurricanes made landfall the same day, according to records dating back to 1949.

Some blame global warming.

"Today hurricanes are becoming increasingly violent. For example, water from the Caribbean, the ocean, is two degrees hotter than before," Mexican President Felipe Calderon said Tuesday, siding with those who blame climate-change. "This makes steam rise off the ocean more quickly: Hurricanes form faster and are more violent."

Dr. Chris Landsea, science operations officer at the National Hurricane Center, agreed that global warming is a factor — but a very small one.

"All of the studies suggest that by the end of this century, hurricanes may become stronger by five percent because of global warming. So a 100-miles-per-hour hurricane would be 105 miles per hour," he said. "Most of what we're seeing is natural fluctuations."

At 11 p.m. EDT, Henriette had crossed the Baja California peninsula and was over the Gulf of California headed toward the mainland with winds near 75 mph. Its center was 125 miles east of La Paz and it was forecast to reach mainland Mexico within 24 hours.

The Hurricane Center issued hurricane warnings for Mexico's coast from Topolobampo in Sinaloa state north to Bahia Kino. Henriette was expected to drop an inch or two of rain on the U.S. southwest Thursday night.

In Nicaragua, Felix slammed into Puerto Cabezas Tuesday with 160 mph winds, peeling roofs off shelters, knocking down electric poles and destroying or damaging some 5,000 homes, according to Lt. Col. Samuel Perez, Nicaragua's deputy head of civil defense.

The Puerto Cabezas area has about 60,000 residents and 12,000 homes. Perez said one man drowned when his boat capsized, a woman was killed when a tree fell on her house and a girl died shortly after birth because the storm made it impossible for her to receive medical attention.

Nicaragua's government declared the northern Caribbean region a disaster area.

In Honduras, the government was letting water out of dams in an attempt to reduce flooding, and 10,000 people were being evacuated from the capital.

President Manuel Zelaya said the densely forested region along Honduras' border with Nicaragua served to break down Felix. He said he doubted the storm would bring the devastating mudslides and flooding triggered by Mitch.

Rain was pelting down in sheets late Tuesday in La Ceiba on Honduras' coast and the streets were flooded waist-deep in water.

"The government hasn't done its job. It hasn't fixed the streets," said 55-year-old Paco de Rivera.

At 11 p.m. EDT, Felix's center was 100 miles east of Tegucigalpa, and it was moving westward at 12 mph, the hurricane center said.

___

Associated Press writers Freddy Cuevas in Tegicugalpa, Honduras, Ioan Grillo in La Ceiba, Honduras; Filadelfo Aleman in Managua, Nicaragua; Traci Carl in Mexico City and Jennifer Kay in Miami contributed to this report.

___

On the Net:

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov

Five people, including a boy, found dead in upscale home in Victoria suburb

Tue Sep 4, 11:34 PM

By Dirk Meissner

VICTORIA (CP) - Four adults and a six-year-old boy were found dead early Tuesday in the upscale home of a family reportedly at the centre of legal troubles involving a restaurant owner and his wife.

Regional coroner Rose Stanton said blood-spatter experts and other crime scene investigators have been called in and the bodies likely won't be removed from the house in suburban Oak Bay until Wednesday.

When asked why a blood spatter team from Vancouver was being brought in when the coroner said no gunshots were involved, a police officer at the scene responded: "Use your imagination.

"It's bad, for 30 years of doing this, it's bad."

Saanich police said the attack wasn't random and the assailant was among the dead and knew the other victims.

Stanton said there were signs someone tried to set something on fire.

"There was some flammable material involved," she said.

Officers were summoned to the home around 3 a.m. by a 911 call to police and discovered two people dead as they entered the home.

Police then backed out of the house, called the emergency response team and evacuated six surrounding homes as a safety precaution.

It was only hours later that police searched the home and discovered three other bodies.

"Our main priority now is to ensure the persons are properly identified," said Oak Bay Chief Const. Ron Gaudet in a short statement to the media.

Initially 30 officers were at the crime scene.

He said about a dozen officers will take over the investigation.

Neighbour Maureen Ross was awakened early Tuesday by the noise of police vehicles.

"I got up at 4 (a.m.) and I could see the police vans, I could hear noises. I said to my husband, 'it looks like there's something going on up the road."'

She and her husband went back to bed, but a few hours later Ross said she thought she heard gunshots, like someone was setting off firecrackers.

Another woman who lives in the neighbourhood but declined to be named said she walked near the house Tuesday morning and could smell gas.

She said one officer told her there had been a gas leak.

Land titles records show Sunny Yong Sun Park, a Victoria businesswoman, became the registered owner of the property in June.

The property was recently listed for sale at a price of more than $1 million.

The couple had owned a Korean restaurant in Victoria.

Christabel Padmore, who bought the bakery-restaurant next door last February, was shocked by the news of the deaths and suggestions it was a murder-suicide.

"It was not the relationship that I saw on a day-to-day basis," she said. "It's impossible for me to think that either of them were involved in this way.

"They seemed to get along just fine at a professional level and Peter was a really happy, easygoing guy," said Padmore, who saw him fairly often until the couple was in a car accident a month ago in which Lee was charged with dangerous driving causing bodily harm.

Both he and his wife suffered injuries in the accident.

"Sunny had a fairly badly broken arm and Peter had a head injury. He had a severe concussion and was having some problems with his memory," said Padmore

"Holding a conversation was a little bit difficult for him," she added.

"He really wasn't happy about being in the accident but didn't seem like a changed man or anything."

At the home Tuesday, the windows of the home were blown out, police in white outfits were inside and uniformed officers were outside guarding the perimeter.

Stanton said emergency workers knocked out the windows.

The house is on a road considered part of Victoria's scenic drive, which winds along the bluffs overlooking the ocean.

As police and reporters swarmed around the neighbourhood, tour buses continued to drone past the house.

George, another neighbour who would only give his first name, said one of the child's grandmothers had recently arrived from Korea to stay with the family and the man had inquired about buying one of George's homes.

"The mother or mother-in-law was coming over to visit them for a couple of months, in fact was thinking of moving here. He wanted to buy one of my properties."

-

A list of some multiple murder-suicides in Canada in the last few years:

Toronto, June 26, 2007: Alton Beckford, apparently despondent over losing his job as a machine technician kills his common-law wife and her mother, then himself. The woman's 13-year-old girl escapes.

Toronto, November 2006 : Kathiravelu (Kumar) Thayakumar, who had a history of violence and mental illness, stabs his wife and strangles his teenage daughter, then walks to his in-laws' ninth-floor apartment, phones police then jumps to his death.

London, Ont. May 29, 2006: John Daubs, under a restraining order after uttering threats against his estranged wife, crashes his car head-on into a dump truck, killing himself and daughters, Ashley, 15, and Stephanie, 12, in what police believe is a murder-suicide.

Gatineau, Que., May 23, 2006: Abdulnasser Chamouri, recently separated after 22 years of marriage, bludgeons his estranged wife, Nassima Saroufim, and her mother, Afife Saroufim, before hanging himself.

Toronto, Dec. 1, 2004: Andrea Labbe, in a severe bout of postpartum psychosis, kills her husband Brian Langer, daughter Zoe, 3, and attempts to kill two-year-old Brigitte before turning the knife on herself.

Rossland, B.C., October 7, 2004: Jennifer MacNeil, a 30-year-old single mother, kills her twin four-year-old daughters and herself by car exhaust into her vehicle in her garage.

Mallaige, Alta., July 29, 2004: Depressed beekeeper Gerald Christensen calls 911 to tell police he has shot his wife Yvette and 18-year-old daughter before turning the gun on himself.

Bonnyville, Alta., April 23, 2004: Henry Dejarlais, former Alberta Metis leader, shoots his common-law wife's daughter LeeAnne John and her boyfriend Ed Vallee to death before shooting himself.

Vancouver, March 2004: Daewook Kwon, apparently facing financial ruin after business problems, kills his wife Keumhee, 44, and daughter Daisy, 18, before hanging himself.

Kitchener, Ont., July 6, 2000: Bill Luft, battling with bipolar disorder and refusing treatment, stabs and shoots his wife and four young children to death before shooting himself.

Ohio congressman found dead in apartment

By JIM ABRAMS, Associated Press Writer 38 minutes ago (Sept. 5th)

WASHINGTON - Ohio Rep. Paul Gillmor, a Republican whose political career covered four decades, has died, party officials said. "Born, raised and educated in our home state of Ohio, Paul never lost sight of the reason he came to Congress — to serve this great institution and his constituents with dedication and distinction," House Republican Leader John Boehner, also of Ohio, said in a statement.

"With the passing of Paul Gillmor, the people of northwest Ohio have lost a favorite son," said House Republican Conference Chairman Adam Putnam, R-Fla.

The body of the 68-year-old congressman was found by staff members who went to his apartment Wednesday after he failed to show up for work, according to a Republican aide who spoke on condition of anonymity pending an official announcement.There was no immediate word on the cause of his death.

Gillmor's office did not respond to a reporter's call.

Gillmor had been in Ohio last week to attend a series of town meetings and tour areas of the state that were hit hard by flooding. "His sudden passing is a shock to us all and he will be greatly missed," Ohio House Speaker Jon Husted said in a statement.

Gillmor, who represented Ohio's heavily Republican 5th District in the Bowling Green area, was first elected to Congress in 1988.

He served as a Vietnam War-era judge advocate in the Air Force after graduating law school, won a seat in the Ohio state senate in 1966, and served there for 22 years, rising to the senate presidency. After an unsuccessful run for governor in 1986, Gillmor was elected to the U.S. House in 1988 after eking out a 27-vote victory in the primary.

As a House member he was a little-known but solid Republican vote, a reliable conservative on social issues, and a strong proponent of the military.

He led legislative efforts in such areas as cleanups of commercially contaminated sites known as brownfields and enacting financial service reforms. He was also a strong advocate of a constitutional amendment to ban unfunded mandates on the states.

He is survived by his wife, Karen, and five children.

Italian tenor Luciano Pavarotti dies at age 71

By ALESSANDRA RIZZO, Associated Press Writer

ROME - Luciano Pavarotti, whose vibrant high C's and ebullient showmanship made him the most beloved and celebrated tenor since Caruso and one of the few opera singers to win crossover fame as a popular superstar, died Thursday. He was 71.

His manager, Terri Robson, told the AP in an e-mailed statement that Pavarotti died at his home in Modena, Italy, at 5 a.m. local time. Pavarotti had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer last year and underwent further treatment in August.

"The Maestro fought a long, tough battle against the pancreatic cancer which eventually took his life. In fitting with the approach that characterised his life and work, he remained positive until finally succumbing to the last stages of his illness," the statement said.

For serious fans, the unforced beauty and thrilling urgency of Pavarotti's voice made him the ideal interpreter of the Italian lyric repertory, especially in the 1960s and '70s when he first achieved stardom. For millions more, his charismatic performances of standards like "Nessun Dorma" from Puccini's "Turandot" came to represent what opera is all about.

In fact, "Nessun Dorma" was Pavarotti's last performance, sung at at the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy, in February 2006. His last full-scale concert was in Taipei in, December 2005.

It was the second monumental loss in the opera world in recent months. American soprano Beverly Sills, whose widespread popularity mirrored Pavarotti's, died July 2 at her home in New York. She was 78 and suffered from cancer.

Instantly recognizable from his charcoal black beard and tuxedo-busting girth, Pavarotti radiated an intangible magic that helped him win hearts in a way Placido Domingo and Jose Carreras — his partners in the "Three Tenors" concerts — never quite could.

"I always admired the God-given glory of his voice — that unmistakable special timbre from the bottom up to the very top of the tenor range," Domingo said in a statement from Los Angeles.

"I also loved his wonderful sense of humor and on several occasions of our concerts with Jose Carreras — the so-called Three Tenors concerts — we had trouble remembering that we were giving a concert before a paying audience, because we had so much fun between ourselves," he said.

Pavarotti, who seemed equally at ease singing with soprano Joan Sutherland as with the Spice Girls, scoffed at accusations that he was sacrificing his art in favor of commercialism.

"The word commercial is exactly what we want," he said, after appearing in the widely publicized "Three Tenors" concerts. "We've reached 1.5 billion people with opera. If you want to use the word commercial, or something more derogatory, we don't care. Use whatever you want."

In the annals of that rare and coddled breed, the operatic tenor, it may well be said the 20th century began with Enrico Caruso and ended with Pavarotti. Other tenors — Domingo included — may have drawn more praise from critics for their artistic range and insights, but none could equal the combination of natural talent and personal charm that so endeared Pavarotti to audiences.

"Pavarotti is the biggest superstar of all," the late New York Times music critic Harold Schonberg once said. "He's correspondingly more spoiled than anybody else. They think they can get away with anything. Thanks to the glory of his voice, he probably can."

In his heyday, he was known as the "King of the High C's" for the ease with which he tossed off difficult top notes. In fact it was his ability to hit nine glorious high C's in quick succession that first turned him into an international superstar singing Tonio's aria "Ah! Mes amis," in Donizetti's "La Fille du Regiment" at New York's Metropolitan Opera in 1972.

In the 1990s, Pavarotti's teaming with Domingo and Carreras became a music business phenomenon and spawned copycats such as the Three Irish Tenors.

Pavarotti starred in a film called "Yes, Giorgio" (though its failure scuttled his hopes for a Hollywood career) and appeared in a filmed version of "Rigoletto." He wrote an autobiography, "I, Luciano Pavarotti," and made more than 90 recordings.

From Beijing to Buenos Aires, people immediately recognized his incandescent smile and lumbering bulk, clutching a white handkerchief as he sang arias and Neapolitan folk songs, pop numbers and Christmas carols for hundreds of thousands in outdoor concerts.

His name seemed to show up as much in gossip columns as serious music reviews, particularly after he split with Adua Veroni, his wife of 35 years and mother of their three daughters, and then took up with his 26-year-old secretary in 1996.

In late 2003, he married Nicoletta Mantovani in a lavish, star-studded ceremony. Pavarotti said their daughter Alice, nearly a year old at the time of the wedding, was the main reason he and Mantovani finally wed after years together.

In the latter part of his career, some music critics cited what they saw as an increasing tendency toward the vulgar and the commercial.

He came under fire for canceling performances or pandering to the lowest common denominator in his choice of programs, or for the Three Tenors tours and their millions of dollars in fees.

He was criticized for lip-synching at a concert in Modena, Italy, his hometown. An artist accused him of copying her works from a how-to-draw book and selling the paintings.

The son of a baker who was an amateur singer, Pavarotti was born Oct. 12, 1935, in Modena. He had a meager upbringing, though he said it was rich with happiness.

"Our family had very little, but I couldn't imagine one could have any more," Pavarotti said.

As a boy, Pavarotti showed more interest in soccer than his studies, but he also was fond of listening to his father's recordings of tenor greats like Beniamino Gigli, Tito Schipa, Jussi Bjoerling and Giuseppe Di Stefano, his favorite.

Among his close childhood friends was Mirella Freni, who would eventually become a soprano and an opera great herself. The two studied singing together and years later ended up making records and concerts together, according to Elvio Giudici, an Italian opera critic.

In his teens, Pavarotti joined his father, also a tenor, in the church choir and local opera chorus. He was influenced by the American movie actor-singer Mario Lanza.

"In my teens I used to go to Mario Lanza movies and then come home and imitate him in the mirror," Pavarotti said.

Singing was still nothing more than a passion while Pavarotti trained to become a teacher and began working in a school.

But at 20, he traveled with his chorus to an international music competition in Wales. The Modena group won first place, and Pavarotti began to dedicate himself to singing.

With the encouragement of his then fiancee, Adua Veroni, he started lessons, selling insurance to pay for them. He studied with Arrigo Pola and later Ettore Campogalliani.

In 1961, Pavarotti won a local voice competition and with it a debut as Rodolfo in Puccini's "La Boheme."

He followed with a series of successes in small opera houses throughout Europe before his 1963 debut at Covent Garden in London, where he stood in for Di Stefano as Rodolfo.

Having impressed conductor Richard Bonynge, Pavarotti was given a role opposite Bonynge's wife, soprano Joan Sutherland, in a Miami production of "Lucia di Lamermoor." They subsequently signed him for a 14-week tour of Australia.

It was the recognition Pavarotti needed to launch his career. He also credited Sutherland with teaching him how to breathe correctly.

In the following years, Pavarotti made a series of major debuts, appearing at La Scala in Milan in 1965, San Francisco in 1967 and New York's Metropolitan Opera House in 1968. Other early venues included Vienna, Paris and Chicago.

Throughout his career, Pavarotti struggled with a much-publicized weight problem. His love of food caused him to balloon to a reported high of 396 pounds in 1978.

"Maybe this time I'll really do it and keep it up," he said during one of his constant attempts at dieting.

Pavarotti, who had been trained as a lyric tenor, began taking on heavier dramatic tenor roles, such as Manrico in Verdi's "Trovatore" and the title role in "Otello."

Pavarotti often drew comparisons with Domingo, his most notable contemporary. Aficionados judged Domingo the more complete and consistent musician, but he never captured the public imagination like Pavarotti.

Though there appeared to be professional jealousy between the great singers, Pavarotti claimed he preferred to judge himself only against his earlier performances.

In the mid-1970s, Pavarotti became a true media star. He appeared in television commercials and began appearing in hugely lucrative mega-concerts outdoors and in stadiums around the world. Soon came joint concerts with pop stars. A concert in New York's Central Park in 1993 drew 500,000 fans.

Pavarotti's recording of "Volare" went platinum in 1988.

In 1990, he appeared with Domingo and Carreras in a concert at the Baths of Caracalla in Rome for the end of soccer's World Cup. The concert was a huge success, and the record known as "The Three Tenors" was a best-seller and was nominated for two Grammy awards. The video sold over 750,000 copies.

The three-tenor extravaganza became a mini-industry. With a follow-up album recorded at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles in 1994, the three have outsold every other performer of classical music. A 1996 tour earned each tenor an estimated $10 million.

Pavarotti liked to mingle with pop stars in his series of charity concerts, "Pavarotti & Friends," held annually in Modena. He performed with artists as varied as Ricky Martin, James Brown and the Spice Girls.

The performances raised some eyebrows but he always shrugged off the criticism.

Some say the "word pop is a derogatory word to say 'not important' — I do not accept that," Pavarotti said in a 2004 interview with the AP. "If the word classic is the word to say 'boring,' I do not accept. There is good and bad music."

It was not just his annual extravaganza that saw Pavarotti involved in humanitarian work.

During the 1992-95 Bosnia war, he collected humanitarian aid along with U2 lead singer Bono, and after the war he financed and established the Pavarotti Music Center in the southern city of Mostar to offer Bosnia's artists the opportunity to develop their skills.

He performed at benefit concerts to raise money for victims of tragedies such as an earthquake in December 1988 that killed 25,000 people in northern Armenia.

Pavarotti was also dogged by accusations of tax evasion, and in 2000 he agreed to pay nearly roughly $12 million to the Italian state after he had unsuccessfully claimed that the tax haven of Monte Carlo rather than Italy was his official residence.

He had been accused in 1996 of filing false tax returns for 1989-91.

Pavarotti always denied wrongdoing, saying he paid taxes wherever he performed. But, upon agreeing to the settlement, he said: "I cannot live being thought not a good person."

Pavarotti was preparing to leave New York in July 2006 to resume a farewell tour when doctors discovered a malignant pancreatic mass, his manager Robson said at the time. He underwent surgery in a New York hospital, and all his remaining 2006 concerts were canceled.

Pancreatic cancer is one of the most dangerous forms of the disease, though doctors said the surgery offered improved hopes for survival.

"I was a fortunate and happy man," Pavarotti told Italian daily Corriere della Sera in an interview published about a month after the surgery. "After that, this blow arrived."

"And now I am paying the penalty for this fortune and happiness," he told the newspaper.

Fans were still waiting for a public appearance a year after his surgery. In the summer, Pavarotti taught a group of selected students and worked on a recording of sacred songs, a work expected to be released in early 2008, according to his manager. He mostly divided his time between his home town, Modena, and his villa in the Adriatic seaside resort of Pesaro.

Faced with speculation that the tenor was near death, Mantovani, his second wife, told Italian newspaper La Stampa in July 2007: "He's fighting like a lion and he has never lost his heart."

Pavarotti had three daughters with his first wife, Lorenza, Cristina and Giuliana; and one, Alice, with his second wife.

At his side when he died were his wife, Nicoletta; his four daughters; his sister, Gabriela; his nephews and close relatives and friends, Robson said.

Crowd mourns Pavarotti in his hometown

By TRISHA THOMAS and COLLEEN BARRY, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 33 minutes ago

MODENA, Italy - Admirers massed by the hundreds in Modena's main piazza Thursday night to pay their final respects to Luciano Pavarotti, the tenor cherished by many as "the last, great voice" of Italian opera.

The crowd applauded as pallbearers carried the white casket into the cathdral, where a funeral Saturday will draw dignitaries from opera, politics and culture. The tenor died early Thursday in his hometown at age 71 after a yearlong battle with pancreatic cancer.

While Pavarotti moved the world with a wonderous voice, his legacy went beyond the opera house. The tenor collaborated with classical singers and pop icons alike to bring opera to the masses, rescuing the art from highbrow obscurity in the process.

In many ways, Pavarotti fulfilled the public's imagination of what an opera star should be. He often wore a colorful scarf and a hat, be it a fedora or a beret, and while he didn't always have a beard, it was hard to imagine him without it. His heft — as well as a restaurant on his property in Modena — underlined his gourmet appetite.

But above all, his crystal clear voice, prized for its diction, made him the most celebrated tenor since Caruso. "Pavarotti was the last great Italian voice able to move the world," said Bruno Cagli, president of the Santa Cecilia National Academy in Rome.

On the Piazza Grande, hundreds of people gathered for the first evening of public viewing. Police on horseback stood at attention as mourners shuffled up the steps into the cathedral to view Pavarotti, dressed in his trademark white tie and tails, a white handkerchief and white rosary clutched in his hands.

His wife, Nicoletta Mantovani, stood off to the side of the casket, chatting calmly with well-wishers.

The atmosphere wasn't sad or tearful but warm, as Modena residents celebrated their native son, many bringing their children to see what they said was an unforgettable moment for the city and world.

Simone Sarrau, 32, waited in line until nearly midnight to pay his respects.

"He's a symbol. He's a symbol of Modena, a symbol of Italy, he's international," Sarrau said. "I think this demonstration of affection is justified, and it's not just Modena its in the whole world. He's a one-of-a-kind. There's only him, and there will always only be him."

Mayor Giorgia Pighi said the singer had been a beacon for the city.

"Thanks to Luciano Pavarotti, the name of Modena has gone around the world as the name of a city much bigger than it actually is," Pighi told Associated Press Television News before the casket arrived.

The viewing was scheduled to end at midnight and then resume Friday at 6 a.m. and last, but for a few hours of closure overnight, until shortly before the funeral.

Authorities planned for a massive outpouring of grief: Giant television screens were to be set up near the cathedral where Italian Premier Romano Prodi, among others, would pay their final respects.

From the world of music, tenor Andrea Bocelli planned to sing the hymn "Panis angelicus" at the service, the ANSA news agency reported.

Within hours of Pavarotti's death, Modena authorities had posted information on the city Web site detailing the extraordinary public transport services that would be put in place to help get mourners from parking lots to the city center for Saturday's service.

Amid an outpouring of tributes, the Vienna State Opera raised a black flag in mourning and the Guards band at Buckingham Palace played Pavarotti's signature aria "Nessun Dorma" at the Changing of the Guard ceremony.

In his heyday, Pavarotti was known as "the King of the High C's" for his ease at hitting the top notes. The Venezuelan soprano Ines Salazar recalled hearing him warm up backstage and thinking it was a recording. Even when critics complained he had lost his voice, audiences didn't mind.

While opera lovers treasure recordings with soprano Joan Sutherland, Pavarotti slipped into the CD collections of the hipper set mixing notes with Elton John, the Spice Girls, Cheryl Crow and Liza Minnelli, among others.

He was the best-selling classical artist, with more than 100 million records sold since the 1960s, and he had the first classical album to reach No. 1 on the pop charts.

U2 frontman Bono said Pavarotti was "a great volcano of a man who sang fire but spilled over with a love of life in all its complexity."

"No one could inhabit those acrobatic melodies and words like him. He lived the songs, his opera was a great mash of joy and sadness; surreal and earthy at the same time," Bono said in a statement. "Even when the voice was dimmed in power, his interpretative skills left him a giant among a few tall men."

Some of the greatest opera stars were in his debt — from the young talent whom he fostered to Spanish tenor Jose Carreras, who said Pavarotti had supported him in moments of difficulty, including his battle with leukemia. Some would argue opera owed itself to "Big Luciano."

"When I wanted to construct the Bastille opera house in Paris about 30 years ago, they told me I was crazy. Opera was dead, they said," former French Culture Minister Jack Lang told the news agency ANSA. "Pavarotti returned opera to popularity and contributed to its rebirth."

Pavarotti sought to commercialize opera, scoffing at accusations that he was sacrificing art. He relished that the hugely successful "Three Tenors" concerts with Placido Domingo and Carreras reached 1.5 billion people, filling stadiums.

In his 1995 autobiography: "Pavarotti: My World," he said the first of the "Three Tenors" concerts was a major event for each man. "I hope I am not immodest to think it was also unforgettable for most of the people who were present."

In a statement from Los Angeles, Domingo said he "always admired the God-given glory of his voice — that unmistakable special timbre from the bottom up to the very top of the tenor range." In Germany, Carreras told reporters he was "one of the greatest tenors ever."

"We all hoped for a miracle ... but unfortunately that was not possible," Carreras said.

Pavarotti was born Oct. 12, 1935, the son of a baker who was an amateur singer. He had a meager upbringing, though he said it was rich with happiness. In his teens, Pavarotti joined his father, also a tenor, in the church choir and local opera chorus. He trained to become a teacher, but at age 20, he took part with the Modena chorus in an international music competition in Wales. When the group won first place, Pavarotti began to dedicate himself to singing.

With the encouragement of his then-fiancee, Adua, he started lessons, selling insurance to pay for them. In 1961, Pavarotti won a local competition. He followed with a series of successes in small European opera houses before his 1963 debut at Covent Garden in London, where he stood in for Giuseppe Di Stefano as Rodolfo in Puccini's "La Boheme."

Having impressed conductor Richard Bonynge, Pavarotti was given a role opposite Bonynge's wife, Sutherland, in a production of "Lucia di Lammermoor" and, then, in a tour. It was the recognition Pavarotti needed. He also credited Sutherland with teaching him how to breathe correctly.

Debuts followed at La Scala in Milan in 1965, San Francisco in 1967 and New York's Metropolitan Opera in 1968. Pavarotti, who had been trained as a lyric tenor, began taking on heavier dramatic roles.

In the mid-1970s, Pavarotti became a true media star. He appeared in television commercials and began singing in hugely lucrative mega-concerts outdoors and in stadiums around the world. Soon came joint concerts with pop stars.

His name seemed to show up as much in gossip columns as in serious music reviews, particularly after he split with Adua Veroni, his wife of 35 years and mother of their three daughters, and took up with his 26-year-old secretary in 1996.

In late 2003, he married Nicoletta Mantovani in a lavish, star-studded ceremony. Pavarotti said their daughter, Alice, nearly a year old at the time of the wedding, was the main reason they finally wed after years together.

He was pained when he made headlines for tax evasion, saying he couldn't bear not to be seen as a good person, and reached a deal with authorities to repay roughly $12 million to the Italian government.

He had as many nicknames as hats. To some, he was simply "the Maestro." To his countrymen, he was "Big Luciano," beloved for both his talent and for spreading across the globe an image of Italian style and flair, a man at ease on the arm of Princess Diana as he was under a stadium spotlight.

And yet, at heart, he was a local boy. Pavarotti returned to his native Modena to convalesce after falling ill this summer, receiving a steady stream of well-wishers, including local officials and businessmen.

His oncologist, Antonio Frassoldati, said Pavarotti remained "serene" even as his medical condition worsened, and fought until the end. "I was struck by his character, his desire to live and to be involved in every decision," Frassoldati told Sky Tg24.

When he died before dawn Thursday, his wife, Nicoletta, four daughters and sister were among those at his side, manager Terri Robson said.

Pavarotti himself was clear on his legacy. "I think a life in music is a life beautifully spent, and this is what I have devoted my life to," he said in a quote posted on his Web site after his death Thursday.

___

Associated Press writer Trisha Thomas reported from Modena and Colleen Barry from Milan.

Luciano Pavarotti, 1935-2007

Related Video
ABCNEWS.com
story image Play
The Career of Luciano Pavarotti
ABC News
60 Minutes
story image Play
Luciano Pavarotti in 1993
60 Minutes

A picture of Luciano Pavarotti is printed on the frontpage of an Italian daily newspaper, on display at a news stand in Modena, northern Italy, with the headline ADDIO MAESTRO, Thursday, Sept. 6, 2007. Pavarotti, whose vibrant singing and ebullient showmanship made him a beloved and celebrated tenor, and one of the few opera singers to win crossover fame as a popular superstar, died Thursday. He was 71. The funeral will be held Saturday at Modena's Cathedral. (AP Photo/Marco Vasini)

2 British soldiers killed in Afghanistan

By CHRIS BRUMMITT, Associated Press Writer

KABUL, Afghanistan - Taliban attacks killed two British soldiers and two Afghan police officers Wednesday in restive southern Afghanistan, while nearly 30 militants were killed elsewhere, authorities said.

The deaths were the latest in a surge of violence that underlines the weakness of the central government six years after U.S.-led forces invaded the country and toppled its Taliban rulers.

Most of the insurgent strikes are in the form of roadside bombs or suicide blasts, a tactic that NATO said had killed 227 Afghan civilians this year — a toll it said was "significantly higher" than the number of Afghan or international soldiers killed by the blasts.

NATO, which itself has faced criticism over civilian casualties at the hands of its troops, announced the findings as part of efforts to draw attention to noncombatant deaths caused by the Taliban.

"These improvised explosive devices will have no impact on our ability to carry out our missions ... but are having a devastating affect on the Afghans," said Maj. Charles Anthony, a spokesman for NATO's International Security Assistance Force.

The two British soldiers were killed in an explosion as they patrolled in southern Helmand province, the UK's defense ministry said. A third British soldier and an Afghan interpreter were wounded, the ministry said, giving no more details.

Earlier Wednesday, insurgents detonated a remote-controlled bomb under a police vehicle in neighboring Helmand province, killing two police and wounding three, said Abdul Manan, a local official.

Also in Helmand, Afghan and coalition forces called in airstrikes Wednesday after coming under attack during a combat patrol, the U.S.-led coalition said. It said "more than 24" insurgents were killed.

In central Ghazni province, a joint coalition and Afghan force Wednesday killed "several militants" in a clash, a coalition statement said. A number of civilians were wounded, it said.

Afghan and coalition soldiers in Kandahar came under attack while on patrol Tuesday. They fought back before calling in airstrikes that killed "over a dozen" insurgents, a coalition statement said.

About 18 miles away, insurgents sheltering in a traditional low-walled Afghan compound attacked another joint patrol on Tuesday. Airstrikes later pounded the position, killing six insurgents, the statement said.

It was not possible to confirm casualty figures because of the remote locations of the fighting and the dangers of traveling there.

More than 4,200 people — most of them militants — have been killed so far this year in Afghanistan, according to an Associated Press count.

U.S. troops join search for Felix dead

By BAYARDO MENDOZA and FREDDY CUEVAS, Associated Press Writers 6 minutes ago

PUERTO CABEZAS, Nicaragua - U.S., Honduran and Nicaraguan soldiers searched remote jungle beaches and the open sea Thursday looking for survivors and the dead from Hurricane Felix's rampage. Villagers in canoes helped, paddling through waters thick with fallen trees.

Two days after the storm hit, 25 more dead were found, raising the known toll to 65, many of them Miskito Indians who had tried to flee the Category 5 hurricane. Officials believed more dead would be found by teams combing the coast stretching across the Nicaragua-Honduras border.

At least 32 people were still missing after their village was destroyed and the boats they fled in capsized. Many of the 52 survivors who washed ashore or were found clinging to debris were being treated for dehydration in the seaside Honduran village of Villeda Morales.

Rescue and aid was arriving slowly in the impoverished region, where descendants of Indians, European settlers and African slaves live in stilt homes on island reefs and in small hamlets, surviving by fishing and diving for lobster.

Interviewed by phone from the area, Honduran Col. Saul Orlando Coca told The Associated Press that 25 bodies were found Thursday. Earlier, Nicaraguan and Honduran officials had put the death toll at 40, almost all along the Miskito Coast.

The colonel said U.S. and Honduran military personnel were patrolling the sea and inlets with helicopters and boats while soldiers walked the shore on foot.

Martin Alvarez, who captains a fishing boat, radioed Nicaraguan authorities that he had pulled nine bodies from the ocean and was bringing them to port, but that had yet to be confirmed, said Ramon Arnesto Soza, a Nicaraguan civil defense chief.

The ocean was filled with debris, preventing a rescue mission from going ashore at Sandy Bay, Nicaragua, the village where the eye of Felix made landfall with catastrophic 160 mph winds and a storm surge estimated at 18 feet above normal tides.

From a distance, rescue teams could see fallen palm trees, roofless concrete structures and wooden homes reduced to splinters at Sandy Bay. Women on the shore wept in anguish.

Food and fuel were scarce as emergency aid was airlifted into the hard-hit regional capital of Puerto Cabezas, a town difficult to reach even in good weather.

Throughout the region, people were short of food and fresh water. An AP photographer reached one isolated village where the only thing to drink was the water in fallen coconuts.

The Nicaraguan government said it would need at least $30 million to rebuild.

The U.S. Southern Command sent an amphibious warship, the USS Wasp, to help coordinate American relief efforts. Venezuela also sent aid, and 57 Cuban doctors and nurses already on medical missions along the Miskito coast pitched in.

Felix developed very quickly over the warm waters of the southern Caribbean, and Nicaragua posted a hurricane warning less than 24 hours before it hit the coast.

Officials had scrambled to notify the remote, autonomous region where many people have a long-standing mistrust of the Nicaraguan government. Few realized the storm would grow to a Category 5 hurricane so quickly, and some who were warned didn't believe it would be so dangerous.

By Thursday, Felix was nothing more than a steady rain in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas, but swollen rivers and soggy, unstable mountainsides kept thousands of people from their homes in Central America.

In Honduras, a 15-year-old was buried by mud while trying to repair a water line in Tegucigalpa and a 34-year-old man drowned in a ditch in El Progreso.

The remnants of Henriette, meanwhile, dumped rain on Arizona and New Mexico. That hurricane hit Mexico on Tuesday near Cabo San Lucas at the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula and again on Wednesday near the port of Guaymas, before weakening over the Sonoran desert.

It left eight dead, including a man who fell while trying to repair his roof. One woman drowned in high surf in Cabo San Lucas, and landslides buried six people in Acapulco as Henriette moved up the Pacific Coast.

Some 5,000 people woke up in Mexican shelters Thursday. San Carlos, a beach town near Guaymas packed with American retirees, was among those hit.

"Waves reached up to the boulevard," said resident Fatima Reyes, 23. "It blew away roofing, trees and signs."

Mexican navy Capt. Leopoldo Mendoza said a helicopter was searching the Bay of La Paz for a small boat missing since Tuesday in Henriette's high seas with two Mexicans and two Japanese citizens on board.

___

Associated Press writers Bayardo Mendoza reported from Puerto Cabezas, Nicaragua, and Freddy Cuevas from Tegucigalpa, Honduras. AP writers Filadelfo Aleman in Managua, Nicaragua, and Richard Jacobsen in Mexico City contributed to this report.

___

On the Net:

National Hurricane Center: http://www.nhc.noaa.gov

Woman lived with dead aunt for year

Wed Sep 5, 9:14 AM ET

VIENNA (Reuters) - An Austrian woman lived with the mummified remains of her aunt for a year, Vienna police said Wednesday.

Officers found the corpse of the 96-year-old aunt under a blanket on a bed after ignoring the 51-year-old niece's claim that her aunt was sleeping and should not be disturbed, a police statement said.

A preliminary inquiry had determined that the niece, who was taken to a psychiatric hospital for examination, may have covered up the death for financial reasons, it added.

Austrian news agency APA quoted police investigator Gerald Hoebart as saying possible theft was being looked into since the younger woman appeared to have lived off her aunt's pension since the death and used her cashpoint card to withdraw money.

An autopsy was planned to check whether any foul play was involved in the death, believed to have happened in August 2006.

Sometimes it sure is hard
to let go...

+++
At 1:14 PM, Luminous (\ô/) Luciano™ said...: 'A Wrinkle in Time' author L'Engle dies

By CARA RUBINSKY, Associated Press Writer Fri Sep 7, 5:55 PM ET

HARTFORD, Conn. - Author Madeleine L'Engle, whose novel "A Wrinkle in Time" has captivated generations of schoolchildren and adults since the 1960s, has died, her publicist said Friday. She was 88. L'Engle died Thursday at a nursing home in Litchfield, said Jennifer Doerr, publicity manager for publisher Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

The Newbery Medal winner wrote more than 60 books, including fantasies, poetry and memoirs, often highlighting spiritual themes and her Christian faith.

For many years, she was the writer in residence and librarian at the Episcopal Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine in New York City.

Although L'Engle was often labeled a children's author, she disliked that classification. In a 1993 Associated Press interview, she said she did not write down to children.

"In my dreams, I never have an age," she said. "I never write for any age group in mind. ... When you underestimate your audience, you're cutting yourself off from your best work."

"A Wrinkle in Time" — which L'Engle said was rejected repeatedly before it found a publisher in 1962 — won the American Library Association's 1963 Newbery Medal for best American children's book. Her "A Ring of Endless Light" was a Newbery Honor Book, or medal runner-up, in 1981.

In 2004, President Bush awarded her a National Humanities Medal.

Keith Call, special collections assistant at Wheaton College in Illinois, which has a collection of L'Engle's papers, said he considers her the female counterpart of science fiction author Ray Bradbury because people loved her personally as much as they loved her books.

"She was tremendously important initially as a children's book author, and then as she wrote meditative Christian essays, that sort of expanded her audience," he said. "She spoke exactly the way she wrote, very elegant, no nonsense, crisp, and deeply spiritual."

"Wrinkle" tells the story of adolescent Meg Murry, her genius little brother Charles Wallace, and their battle against evil as they search across the universe for their missing father, a scientist.

The brother and sister, helped by a young neighbor, Calvin, and some supernatural spirits, must pass through a time travel corridor (the "wrinkle in time") and overcome the ruling powers on a planet with a totalitarian government reminiscent of George Orwell's "1984."

"A Wrinkle in Time" exposes readers to the words of great thinkers, as its characters quote Shakespeare, the Bible, Euripides, Dante and others.

L'Engle followed it up with further adventures of the Murry children, including "A Wind in the Door," 1973; "A Swiftly Tilting Planet," 1978, which won an American Book Award; and "Many Waters," 1986.

"A Ring of Endless Light," 1980, is part of another L'Engle series, the Austin family books. In all, there were nine Austin books from 1960 to 1999, and eight Murry books from 1962 to 1989, many featuring a grown-up, married Meg and Calvin and their children.

Among L'Engle's memoirs are "The Summer of the Great-Grandmother" in 1974, about life at the family home in Connecticut. The great-grandmother is L'Engle's own mother; the story deals with L'Engle's memories and emotions as her mother dies at age 90.

After Harry Potter mania swept the world of children's literature, "A Wrinkle in Time" was often cited as a precursor or, for frantic Potter fans, something to read while waiting for their hero's next installment.

L'Engle told Newsweek in 2006 that she had read one Potter book and, "It's a nice story but there's nothing underneath it. I don't want to be bothered with stuff where there's nothing underneath."

Born Madeleine L'Engle Camp in 1918, L'Engle graduated from Smith College in 1941 and worked as an actress in New York City. There, she met her future husband, Hugh Franklin, an accomplished stage actor who became known later for his portrayal of Dr. Charles Tyler on the soap opera "All My Children."

In 1945, her first book, "The Small Rain," was published; she and Franklin married the following year. They moved to Connecticut in 1951 and for several years, the couple ran a general store to make ends meet.

They had a son, Bion, and two daughters, Josephine and Maria. The couple had adopted Maria after her parents, who were friends of theirs, died.

The family later moved back to New York; Franklin died of cancer in 1986. Her son died in 1999 at age 47.

___

Associated Press writers Polly Anderson in New York and John Christoffersen in New Haven contributed to this report.

Pilot dies after stunt plane crashes

By SONJA BARISIC, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 48 minutes ago

NORFOLK, Va. - The pilot of a civilian World War II stunt plane died Friday after the plane crashed while practicing just hours before an air show, officials said.

Jan Wildbergh, the flight leader with the Skytypers Air Show Team, died following the crash at the Oceana Naval Air Station, team sponsor GEICO Insurance said in a statement.

Larry Arken, deputy squadron commander of the six-man team, said earlier that the pilots had just finished rehearsing their routine at the Virginia Beach base and were coming in for a landing when the No. 6 plane, the last in the formation, crashed.

Arken was flying first, so he did not see the plane go down. But he said he heard from witnesses that the plane flew into the ground while still under its own power, he told The Associated Press from Oceana when reached on his cell phone.

Wildbergh trained with the Dutch Air Force, for which he flew first-generation jet fighters during the Cold War, the GEICO statement said. He moved to the U.S. to pilot private aircraft, ran a flight school and joined Skytypers in 1986.

The crash was being investigated, base spokesman Troy Snead said. The base was not open to the public when the plane crashed about noon, but some invited guests were watching the practice, Snead said.

The plane had no ejection system, and the pilot was flying too low to use his parachute, team spokesman Ralph Roberts told WAVY-TV in Portsmouth.

"He probably tried to continue to make the maneuver and save the plane, possibly by doing a belly flop," Roberts said.

The Skytypers Air Show Team performs at shows across the country, often doing low-level flying maneuvers and creating aerial smoke messages, called skytyping, according to its Web site. A computer in the lead plane sends radio signals to the others to coordinate puffs of smoke to form words while the planes fly about 250 feet apart.

The New York City-based team consists of six SNJ-2 planes, which were used to train Allied pilots in World War II. Only about 10 of them are left in the world, according to the Web site, which says the team is the "only World War II civilian squadron flying today."

The annual three-day air show, sponsored by the Navy, was still scheduled to begin Friday evening, Snead said. About 250,000 people are expected for exhibits and aerial performers including the Blue Angels, the Navy's precision flying team.

___

On the Net:

GEICO Skytypers: http://www.geicoskytypers.com/

Oceana air show: http://www.oceanaairshow.com/index.php

U.S. Military: 7 Troops Killed in Iraq

Sep 7, 7:23 PM (ET)

By ROBERT H. REID

BAGHDAD (AP) - The U.S. military on Friday announced the deaths of seven more American troops in combat, including four in Anbar province, the Sunni stronghold where U.S. officials say a tribal revolt against al-Qaida in Iraq has brought dramatic improvements in security.

Two of Iraq's top political leaders, meanwhile, raised objections to the planned execution of three former Saddam Hussein lieutenants - all Sunnis - convicted of massacring Kurds in the late 1980s.

A hardline Sunni clerical group warned the executions would become a "negative factor" in efforts to reconcile Sunnis and Shiites.

A U.S. statement said four Marines assigned to Multinational Force-West were killed Thursday in combat in Anbar, but gave no further details.

Three soldiers from the Army's Task Force Lightning died Thursday when a bomb exploded near their vehicle in Ninevah, a northern province that includes Iraq's third-largest city Mosul, the military also said.

Those deaths raised to at least 3,760 members of the U.S. military who have died since the Iraq war started in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

Britain's Defense Ministry also announced Friday that a British soldier was killed two days earlier, but news of the death was kept secret for security reasons. The British statement did not say how or where the soldier died.

However, the British news agency Press Association it was believed the soldier was killed in central Iraq rather than the south where most of Britain's 5,500 soldiers are based. British soldiers serve in a U.S.-run special operations command that hunts al-Qaida in Iraq leaders in central Iraq.

A total of 169 British military or civilian employees have died in Iraq since the war began in March 2003, according to the ministry.

The U.S. statement did not say where the Marines were killed in Anbar, a vast, mostly desert province that extends from the western outskirts of Baghdad to the borders of Syria, Jordan and Saudi Arabia.

On Monday, President Bush declared Anbar "one of the safest places in Iraq" after many Sunni tribal sheiks broke with al-Qaida in Iraq and threw their support to U.S. efforts to pacify the province.

U.S. officers say Anbar is far from secure. But the top U.S. commander, Gen. David Petraeus, is expected to point to a dramatic drop in violence there when he reports to Congress next week on the situation in Iraq after this year's troop buildup.

Petraeus is expected to tell lawmakers he wants to maintain the troop buildup here until next spring to bolster the security gains achieved in Anbar and elsewhere.

Meanwhile, in Anbar, insurgents blew up two suspension bridges on the main highway leading to Jordan and Saudi Arabia, a police intelligence officer said, speaking on condition of anonymity for security reasons.

The blasts against the Anbar bridges occurred about dawn in a sparsely populated area about 100 miles west of Baghdad, according to the National Iraqi News Agency, quoting an unidentified official of the highway patrol.

The intelligence officer said the attacks occurred near a spot where the road forks - with one part heading to Saudi Arabia and the other to Jordan. He said five bridges have been hit by insurgents in Anbar so far this year.

U.S. officials have been pressing Iraq's Shiite-led government to step up financial support to Anbar to lure disaffected Sunnis away from the insurgency.

The Iraqi government announced Thursday it was sending $70 million to Anbar to create thousands of new jobs. Another $50 million was allocated to compensate citizens who suffered from military operations.

U.S. officials have been urging the Shiite-led government to make political concessions to Sunnis, who took up arms against the U.S. after the collapse of Saddam's Sunni-dominated regime.

Earlier this week, an Iraqi appeals court upheld the death sentences imposed against Saddam's cousin, Ali Hassan al-Majid - widely known as "Chemical Ali" - former Defense Minister Sultan Hashim Ahmad al-Tai and Hussein Rashid Mohammed, former deputy director of operations for the Iraqi Armed Forces.

All three were convicted of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity in June for their role in the brutal crackdown that killed up to 180,000 Kurdish civilians and guerrillas two decades ago known as "Operation Anfal."

President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, told reporters al-Tai should be spared the gallows because he carried out orders under threat of death by Saddam and engaged in unofficial contacts with the Kurds during the former regime.

The Sunni vice president, Tariq al-Hashemi, told CNN the hangings should not proceed until he, Talabani and the Shiite vice president, Adil Abdul-Mahdi, signed off on the executions, which he said was a required step under the constitution.

A senior government official said the three signatures were unnecessary, but that the executions could be delayed because of Talabani's and al-Hashemi's objections. He spoke on condition of anonymity because the subject is controversial.

In a statement late Friday, the Sunni clerical Association of Muslim Scholars said the executions were part of a plot by "the occupier," meaning the United States, to tarnish the traditions of the Iraqi military.

Hanging the three would deliver an "unforgettable wound to the chests of military institution's sons" and be a "negative factor in the future" as the country seeks "to forget pains and wounds" of the past.

Elsewhere, U.S. troops killed three people and detained 18 others during raids against the senior leadership of al-Qaida in Iraq in central and northern parts of the country, the U.S. command said Friday. No further details were released on the raids, which began Thursday night.

Iraqi special forces and their U.S. advisers arrested two suspected al-Qaida in Iraq cell leaders in Azamiyah, a Sunni district of north Baghdad, the command said.

In another operation, U.S. Special Forces and Iraqi troops captured two Shiite extremists, including a brigade commander believed responsible for the deaths of 13 Iraqis in an attack on an apartment house in May, the U.S. said.

Bombing in Baghdad's Sadr City kills 12

By KIM GAMEL, Associated Press Writer 2 hours, 11 minutes ago (on Sept. 8th)

BAGHDAD - A suicide car bomber detonated his explosives-packed Mercedes near a row of stores in the Shiite militia stronghold of Sadr City on Saturday, killing at least 15 people, police and hospital officials said.

The attack in the eastern Baghdad enclave came as at least 36 other people were killed or found dead in Iraq, including four who died in a bombing of an outdoor market in the Shiite holy city of Kufa.

Violence has been unrelenting in Iraq and the suicide bombing in Baghdad was among a series of attacks tempering U.S. claims of success in taming the capital just days before a pivotal progress report is due to be delivered to Congress by the top commander in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus, and U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker.

Petraeus acknowledged the difficulties in a letter to U.S. forces on Friday summarizing the results of the troop increase President Bush ordered last winter.

"It has not worked out as we had hoped," he wrote, offering a preview of what he planned to tell Congress in hearings that begin Monday amid a fierce debate over whether Bush should begin withdrawing troops from Iraq.

The British military, meanwhile, said 500 troops would be withdrawn from Iraq in coming months as part of its planned reduction in forces as Iraqis assume control of their own security in southern Iraq. The withdrawals will reduce the British force in Iraq to 5,000, based around Basra, Iraq's second-largest city, 340 miles southeast of Baghdad.

Basra, a predominantly Shiite city, has been largely calm since the British soldiers pulled back from the city center to the airport last Sunday, ceding responsibility to Iraqi security forces.

U.S. commanders have warned that Sunni insurgents would step up attacks ahead of the Petraeus-Crocker report to try to influence the debate. They also appeared to be determined to try to provoke Shiite militia violence, though radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr ordered his fighters to stand down for up to six months.

The attacker in Sadr City was believed to be aiming for a busy market but was forced to detonate his explosives early after Iraqi police fired at his car, devastating a barber shop and other nearby stores.

Two barbers and six clients were among the 12 people killed, a police official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release the information.

AP Television News footage showed the charred wreckage of several cars that were destroyed in the blast, with pools of blood left on the pavement. A man with a cast on his leg lay on a hospital bed in an overwhelmed emergency room as people fanned patients with pieces of paper to offer relief from the searing summer heat.

The overall number of civilians killed in Iraq has declined since Bush ordered some 30,000 American troops to Baghdad and surrounding areas earlier this year, but suspected Sunni insurgents have staged several spectacular bombings.

A prominent Sunni politician warned the drop was a "temporary improvement" that would be reversed by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's failure to achieve national reconciliation.

"We need a liberal government we need a secular government, without such a government the violence will continue," Saleh al-Mutlaq told Al-Jazeera in an interview from Amman, Jordan.

"The violence will grow again, as people will lose hope if nothing changes on the political side," he said.

Al-Mutlaq's Sunni party, the Iraqi National Dialogue Front, announced it was ending its parliamentary boycott so it can participate in the debate over stalled benchmark legislation demanded by Washington, including a draft law on sharing Iraq's oil riches. The party has only 11 of the 275 seats and its return has limited effect.

A law aimed at returning thousands of members of Saddam Hussein's ousted Baath Party to government appeared to be the closest to being ready.

"We will receive it today or tomorrow and then it will be put forward in parliament for discussion this week," deputy parliament speaker Khaled al-Attiyah told The Associated Press by telephone.

Elsewhere, the U.S. military announced the Army's first-ever use of a drone aircraft to kill enemy fighters in Iraq.

The Hunter unmanned aerial vehicle, or UAV, dropped a precision bomb on two suspected insurgents believed to be preparing to plant roadside bombs on Sept. 1, the military said. The drone was called in for the attack near Qarraya, 180 miles northwest of Baghdad, after a scout team from the 2nd Battalion, 25th Aviation Regiment, observed the insurgents at work.

In a major step to try end attacks on the country's oil industry, Iraq's Defense Ministry warned Iraqis to keep their distance from oil pipelines or power lines because military planes "will open fire immediately on anyone who tries to harm the nation's wealth or infrastructure."

___

Associated Press writers Bassem Mroue and David Rising contributed to this report.

JUST IMAGINE...

In closing arguments, prosecutor asks Spector jurors to imagine night of actress's death

By Harriet Ryan, Court TV Wed Sep 5, 5:40 PM ET

LOS ANGELES (Court TV) - The four-month-long murder trial of Phil Spector entered its final phase Wednesday with a prosecutor instructing jurors to imagine they could travel back in time and speak directly to actress Lana Clarkson at the moment she decided to go home with the music legend.

"If you can say but one thing, one sentence, two words, even if you had to whisper it, what would you say?" Deputy District Attorney Alan Jackson asked the panelists at the start of two days of closing arguments in the case.

Cupping his hands around his mouth and leaning close to jurors, Jackson stage-whispered, "'Don't go. Don't go.' You'd simply say, 'Lana, don't go.'"

As the nine men and three women stared back at him, Jackson said he was convinced "everybody in this jury box" would speak the same words, "because you know something she didn't know. You know the real Phil Spector."

"You know in your heart of hearts he is responsible for her death. ... He killed her," the prosecutor said.

The jury will begin deliberating a second-degree murder charge against Spector on Friday. The 67-year-old producer, who revolutionized pop music in the 1960s and '70s, faces 15 years to life in prison if convicted.

A defense attorney, Linda Kenney-Baden, was expected to begin delivering the defense summation Wednesday afternoon, after Jackson completed his.

Clarkson, 40, was shot in the mouth in the foyer of Spector's suburban estate Feb. 3, 2003. Prosecutors claim he killed her after she tried to leave. His defense says she killed herself.

Jackson spent much of his summation on the definition of second-degree murder. Jurors do not have the option of convicting Spector of manslaughter or another lesser charge in the shooting.

The prosecutor told jurors that second-degree murder requires them to find that Spector showed "a conscious disregard for human life," but not that he purposely pulled the trigger or intended to kill Clarkson.

"If one knowingly points a loaded gun at a person and that gun goes off for any reason, that is second-degree murder, plain and simple," he said.

He ticked off a list of possible reasons the gun may have discharged in the actress's mouth as Spector held it - from the hand tremor caused by his medication to Clarkson slapping at the weapon to an earthquake shaking him. He said each still amounted to second-degree murder and offered individual panelists scripts for the jury room to rebut anyone who argued for acquittal on those grounds.

"'Juror No. 3,' you would stand up and say, 'It doesn't matter how the gun went off.' That's how you correct that juror," Jackson said.

The prosecutor slammed the many expert scientific witnesses who took the stand on Spector's behalf as a "checkbook defense."

"If you hire enough lawyers who hire enough experts who are paid enough money, you can get them to say just about anything," he charged.

Spector, dressed in a light gray suit and matching tie, looked toward the prosecutor occasionally as he spoke. His hands, which he held clasped in front of him, shook throughout the proceeding. His lawyers have said the shaking is a side effect of drugs for a neurological condition.

Both sides agreed not to object during summations, but after jurors filed out for a lunch break, Spector's attorneys lodged a string of objections, including a motion for a mistrial.

Dennis Riordan, a San Francisco attorney recently hired by Spector's team, said Jackson erred in explaining the law to the jurors. He said the prosecutor invited jurors to convict Spector of murder even if they determined facts amounting only to manslaughter.

Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Larry Fidler rejected that argument, saying he had told jurors to be guided only by his explanation of the law.

The judge, however, agreed with the defense that Jackson improperly implied that the defense had asked a key witness, Punkin Irene Elizabeth Laughlin, to lie or embellish her More trial and crime news from Court TV.

2 officers killed responding to 911 call

Sun Sep 9, 10:35 AM ET

ODESSA, Texas - Two police officers responding to a domestic disturbance were killed and a third was critically wounded by a gunman who led authorities on an hours-long standoff, authorities said.

Investigators said a woman leaving the home Saturday night told the responding officers her husband had hit her. When the officers were unable to enter the house through the front door, they tried to go in the back door, where a man came out shooting at them, said Tela Mange, a Department of Public Safety spokeswoman.

The suspected gunman, Larry White, 58, went back into the house, where he held police in a four-hour standoff until he surrendered around 10 p.m., Mange said.

The Texas Rangers are investigating the shooting deaths of Odessa Cpl. Arlie Jones, 48, and Cpl. John "Scott" Gardner, Mange said.

Cpl. Abel Marquez remained hospitalized in critical condition after being shot in the face, Mange said.

White, who was shot in the abdomen and was in stable condition at a hospital under police guard, likely will face two counts of capital murder and attempted murder of an officer, Mange said. It was not immediately clear who shot White.

"This is a tragic day for Odessa," Mayor Larry Melton said. "Our concern now is for the families of the officers."

Odessa is about 300 miles west of Austin.

Pa. man held after death of wife in Peru

1 hour, 29 minutes ago

HARRISBURG, Pa. - A Pennsylvania man was being held on a parole violation while police in Peru investigate the death of his Internet bride, whose body was found in a suitcase fished out of the ocean.

Peruvian police consider William Trickett Smith Jr. a suspect in the death and are seeking, through Interpol, to bring him to Peru, according to Manuel Leon, a detective in the homicide division of Peru's national police.

Smith, 26, of Harrisburg, met university student Jana Gomez Menendez de Smith, 21, over the Internet last year and married her in March, the woman's family told The Patriot-News of Harrisburg.

The couple were married in Trujillo, Peru — the bride's hometown — and lived for a time with her parents.

The victim told her parents in early July that she was taking a train to Lima to meet up with Smith. She had her passport with her and hoped to move to Pennsylvania. They never saw her alive again and reported her missing on July 26.

Smith, who has served time on drug and escape charges, was arrested on Aug. 24 for taking trips to Peru without informing his parole officer. He is being held in the Dauphin County Prison.

Authorities want to know how he funded the trips to Peru, Dauphin County District Attorney Edward M. Marsico Jr. said.

Smith's father, former Dauphin County Republican chairman William T. Smith Sr., referred calls to attorney Don Bailey. Telephone messages left by The Associated Press at Bailey's home and office on Sunday were not immediately returned.

Peruvian police believe the killer rented a boat and dropped the body into the ocean. They have not ruled out other suspects, Leon said.

The blue suitcase, which was tied with ropes and weighted down, surfaced in Barranco, near Lima, a day after an earthquake.

Smith was given a 2- to 4-year drug sentence in 2000 and was sentenced to more than nine months in prison for eluding police after a 2004 vehicle stop in Harrisburg.

At least 15 killed in India flyover collapse

Sun Sep 9, 1:01 PM

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - At least 15 people were killed when part of a flyover under construction collapsed in India's southern IT hub of Hyderabad, the Press Trust of India reported on Sunday.

Another 10 people were injured. Local television showed cars crushed under slabs of concrete.

The flyover was located in a busy commercial area of the city, local television said.

Two UK troops killed in Afghanistan: military

Sun Sep 9, 2:10 AM

KABUL (Reuters) - Two British soldiers and more than 30 Taliban guerrillas were killed in separate incidents in southern Afghanistan, the British and U.S. military said, the latest clashes in a raging insurgency.

In another incident in the same restive southern province of Helmand on Saturday, an Afghan employee of a U.S. security firm was killed and three others were wounded in a suicide bomb attack, the Interior Ministry said on Sunday.

The British soldiers were killed while taking part in a pre-dawn operation on Saturday to disrupt the Taliban in Helmand when their patrol came under attack, Britain's Ministry of Defence said.

Two other British troops were seriously wounded and several insurgents were killed, it added.

Afghan and U.S.-led coalition forces backed by air strikes meanwhile killed more than 30 Taliban fighters in a separate clash in Helmand on Saturday, and destroyed a large cache of weaponry, the U.S. military said.

"Afghan and Coalition forces found large weapons caches in three buildings and smaller caches in other buildings. The caches included rockets, anti-tank rockets, and an improvised explosive device, all of which were destroyed by a coalition airstrike," it said in a statement.

"During the course of operations, the combined force also returned small-arms fire and employed precision munitions on locations where suspected militants were hiding. Forces estimate more than 30 suspected militants were killed in the engagement."

There were no independent accounts of how many people were killed or what happened.

The Taliban were not immediately available for comment.

The U.S.-led military says coalition forces have killed hundreds of Taliban militants in a spree of confrontations in recent weeks. The Taliban have admitted some losses, but say Afghan and foreign troops vastly exaggerate enemy death tolls.

More than 7,000 people have been killed during the past 19 months in Afghanistan, the bloodiest period since the resurgent Taliban's overthrow in 2001.

(Additional reporting by Sayed Salahuddin in Kabul and Paul Majendie in London)

Body Shop founder Anita Roddick dies

By D'ARCY DORAN, Associated Press Writer Mon Sep 10, 6:04 PM ET

LONDON - Anita Roddick, founder of the international Body Shop cosmetics chain, died Monday night after suffering a major brain hemorrhage, her family said. She was 64.

Roddick, who died at a hospital in Chichester, had revealed in February that she contracted hepatitis C through a blood transfusion while giving birth to a daughter in 1971. She made the announcement after being named head of the British charity Hepatitis C Trust.

The business woman was lauded as the "Queen of Green" for trailblazing business practices that sought to be environmentally friendly and won her renown in her native England and around the world.

"Businesses have the power to do good," she wrote on the Web site of the company, which was bought last year by the French company L'Oreal Group.

Roddick opened her first Body Shop outlet in 1976 in Brighton, southern England, before fair trade and eco-friendly businesses were fashionable.

She said her business ethics were inspired in part by women's beauty rituals that she discovered while traveling in developing countries and lessons from closer to home that her mother passed on from life during the hard years of World War II.

"Why waste a container when you can refill it? And why buy more of something than you can use? We behaved as she did in the Second World War, we reused everything, we refilled everything and we recycled all we could," Roddick wrote.

The Body Shop opposed product testing on animals and tried to encourage development by purchasing materials from small communities in the Third World. It also invested in a wind farm in Wales as part of its campaign to support renewable energy, and it set up its own human rights award.

The company has grown into a global phenomenon with nearly 2,000 stores in 50 countries and remains independently run despite being owned by L'Oreal Group.

In recognition of Roddick's contribution to business and charity, Queen Elizabeth II made her a dame, the female equivalent of a knight, in 2003.

Greenpeace executive director John Sauven called Roddick an "incredible woman" who would be "sorely missed."

"She was so ahead of her time when it came to issues of how business could be done in different ways, not just profit motivated but taking into account environmental issues," Sauven said.

"When you look at it today, and how every company claims to be green, she was living this decades ago," he added.

Roddick, the daughter of Italian immigrants, said she opened her Brighton store with only modest hopes.

"I started the Body Shop simply to create a livelihood for myself and my two daughters while my husband, Gordon, was trekking across the Americas," she wrote. "I had no training or experience ... ."

Roddick and her husband stepped down as co-chairmen of the company in 2002, but she continued to contribute as a consultant.

She joked that the Body Shop's trademark green color scheme came by accident because it was the only color that could cover the mold on the walls of her first shop.

Iraq: nine soldier deaths reported

By ROBERT H. REID, Associated Press Writer Mon Sep 10, 6:52 PM ET

BAGHDAD - The U.S. military reported the deaths of nine soldiers Monday — including seven killed in a vehicle accident — and Iraq's prime minister said the nation's armed forces were not ready to fight without American help.
ADVERTISEMENT

The statements — more Pentagon death notices and appeals for more time from Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki — echoed some of the key struggles in Washington as lawmakers began long-awaited hearings on U.S. strategies in Iraq.

Among the core issues is whether Iraq's leadership is moving fast enough at political reconciliation and assuming security responsibilities while U.S. troop deaths have risen to at least 3,771 in the 4 1/2-year war.

Al-Maliki told Iraq's parliament that the American military is still needed despite what he described as a sharp drop in violence in the Baghdad area since President Bush ordered nearly 30,000 extra troops to Iraq this year.

"We still need more efforts and time in order for our armed forces to be able to take over security in all Iraqi provinces from the multinational forces that helped us a great deal in fighting terrorism and outlaws," al-Maliki said just hours before U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker and top commander in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus, began their statements on Capitol Hill.

Petraeus said he envisions gradually scaling back the U.S. troop strength in Iraq to about 130,00 by next summer — roughly the number before the U.S. surge earlier this year.

In western Baghdad, seven U.S. soldiers were killed in a vehicle accident that also claimed the lives of two detainees, the military said. Eleven soldiers from Multinational Division-Baghdad and one detainee were also injured in the west Baghdad accident, the military said without giving further details. The U.S. statement made no mention of hostile fire and did not specify the neighborhood.

A U.S. spokesman, Lt. Col. Scott Bleichwehl, said all the victims were traveling in the same vehicle.

Another U.S. soldier was killed and two were injured when their vehicle overturned east of the capital, the military said in a statement. The military also said a soldier died Sunday of wounds suffered in fighting near Kirkuk in northern Iraq.

Al-Maliki, a Shiite, said violence had dropped 75 percent in the Baghdad area since stepped-up military operations began in the capital Feb. 14 — although he offered no detailed figures. He also said his government had kept the country from descending into all-out Sunni-Shiite civil war after the wave of sectarian bloodletting last year.

A tally of civilian deaths compiled by The Associated Press showed a less dramatic drop in the Baghdad area — from 1,148 in February to 669 in August. The overall level of civilian deaths around the country, however, remained relatively steady during the period as violence shifted to other regions, according to the AP figures, based on government, police and hospital records.

In his address to parliament, al-Maliki said his Cabinet had finalized a draft bill to allow thousands of former Saddam Hussein supporters to serve in government posts — a major demand of the Sunnis and one of the 18 benchmarks demanded by Washington.

Sunni politicians acknowledged that Iraq's security forces were not ready to defend the country on their own, but challenged al-Maliki's statements that life was improving.

"Al-Maliki was talking about the illusion of improvement in the security situation," Sunni lawmaker Mohammed al-Dayni. "This is just talk ... All streets are blocked with concrete walls and barbed wires ... You can see only few people in the streets. People are living a confused and abnormal life."

Salim Abdullah al-Jubouri, spokesman for the main Sunni bloc in parliament, said the "real solution" to the Iraq crisis was a "fundamental change in the political process," dominated by Shiite religious parties and their Kurdish allies.

Such views appear to be shared by a large number of Iraqis, according to a poll released Monday by ABC News, Britain's BBC, and Japan's public broadcaster NHK.

The poll found that 47 percent of those surveyed want U.S. forces and their coalition allies to leave the country immediately and only 39 percent said their lives were going well. Only 25 percent said their own communities have become safer in the past half year.

The poll was conducted August 17 to 24 with 2,212 randomly chosen adult Iraqis from across the country. The poll has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 2.5 percentage points.

"Things have improved in one respect only," said Qassim Uraibi, a baker from the Shiite enclave of Sadr City. "We have fewer bombs, but everything else is going from bad to worse."

Mustapha Abdul-Razak, a Sunni and retired army officer in Saddam's regime, called the testimony in Washington nothing more than "empty talk."

"It will not change anything," he said. "The Americans are experimenting with our lives."

As politicians spoke of reconciliation, the bloodletting continued.

In the north, a suicide car bomber killed eight people and injured 20 others in an attack near an Iraqi army headquarters near Tall Afar, 260 miles northwest of Baghdad, the local mayor Nam Abdullah said.

Also Monday, U.S. and Iraqi troops killed three civilians during a raid in Sadr City, police and residents said.

Bleichwehl, the military spokesman, said the raid targeted a suspected Shiite extremist who eluded capture. He said there were no reports of civilian or military casualties.

But residents showed AP Television News the coffins of the people they said were killed in the raid — a woman and her two daughters. A police officer, speaking on condition of anonymity for security reasons, confirmed they were killed in the firefight.

In Samarra, 60 miles north of Baghdad, U.S. and Iraqi troops killed 12 insurgents in a morning attack, the U.S. said. Three American soldiers were wounded.

___

Associated Press writer Hamza Hendawi contributed to this report.

Murder case against Spector goes to jury

By LINDA DEUTSCH, AP Special Correspondent Mon Sep 10, 5:27 PM ET

LOS ANGELES - The murder case against record producer Phil Spector went to jurors Monday after Spector's wife sparred with the judge over a gag order and Spector himself publicly denied he had criticized the judge and jury pool.

Superior Court Judge Larry Paul Fidler sent the jurors into deliberations after asking if any had heard or seen any news reports over the weekend that could affect their discussions. No one raised a hand.

The London newspaper The Mail on Sunday reported that Spector had said most of the prospective jurors thought he was either guilty or insane and Fidler "doesn't like me."

The newspaper said Spector made the remarks to a documentary filmmaker he spoke to over a five-month period. Spector denied it.

"I did not make those statements," Spector told The Associated Press as he arrived at the courthouse Monday. "They are reprehensible and false. Whoever made them on my behalf should be put in jail. I'm sure the jury will do a good job."

Fidler said nothing about the accuracy of the newspaper report, but he said in a short hearing outside the jury's presence: "I would think anyone who wants to make a comment like that to a jury that's about to deliberate their fate isn't thinking about it."

Spector, 67, is charged with second-degree murder in the death of actress Lana Clarkson, 40, who was shot through the mouth after going home with Spector from a nightclub on Feb. 3, 2003. He faces 15 years to life in prison if convicted.

Spector gained fame decades ago for what became known as the "Wall of Sound" recording technique. Clarkson was the star of the 1985 cult film "Barbarian Queen."

Vikram Jayanti, who is working on a documentary on the trial, told the AP he wrote a piece for The Mail in which he told of his evolving belief that Spector may be innocent.

"I referred to things he has said to me well before trial," Jayanti said. "He was not talking about this jury. ... It's a complete misrepresentation that Spector is being quoted as lashing out at this jury."

Deliberations for the jury of nine men and three women began after five months of testimony.

Prosecutors sought to show during the trial that Spector had a history threatening women. The defense contended the actress killed herself.

Most of the trial revolved around forensic evidence. Blood spatter, gunshot residue and the positions of Spector and the actress were debated by a roster of experts who often differed in their opinions. None of the forensic experts was able to say who pulled the trigger on the small Colt revolver.

The jury must decide whether Spector is guilty or innocent of second-degree murder. Fidler decided earlier there would be no lesser charges such as voluntary or involuntary manslaughter offered as alternatives.

Just before sending the case to the jury, Fidler slapped a gag order on Spector and his wife in a contentious hearing away from the jury on media contacts. Fidler said Rachelle Spector sent e-mails to reporters over the weekend pointing out a TV interview she had given, despite the fact that Fidler had warned her against such activity.

"Ma'am, I'm going to do something I've never done before," Fidler said. "You are here in the courtroom. You will not talk to the press ... until a verdict or other decision is arrived at in this case. If you do, you're in violation of my order and you know what I do to people who violate my orders."

Rachelle Spector began to talk back from the gallery.

"Ma'am, you're in front of me," the angered judge interjected. "You're in front of me! I'm making an order. You want to violate my order, go ahead and do so. I can assure you I will hold you in contempt of court for violating my order and I will treat it according."

She then began to argue, and the judge jumped in and again warned of consequences.

"That's right, I am talking to you, and what you need to do is listen," he said.

Fidler also admonished Spector and Clarkson's family not to speak to the press, though he noted that Clarkson's family had not done so.

Rachelle Spector later sent the judge a note of apology, which he accepted. He said he understood there is "stress" on family members at this stage of a trial.

`Johnny Belinda' actress Jane Wyman dies

(and 'Johnny Suede' so-called thespians live on... There really is no justice in this world, eh? But that is another story...)

By BOB THOMAS, Associated Press Writer Mon Sep 10, 7:04 PM ET

LOS ANGELES - Jane Wyman won an Oscar for her role as a deaf rape victim in the film "Johnny Belinda" and she'll probably be best remembered for her portrayal of a power-mad winery owner in TV's "Falcon Crest."

But her greatest distinction may have been refusing to kiss and tell about her love life, most especially her marriage to future president Ronald Reagan.

Wyman died early Monday at her Palm Springs home, son Michael Reagan said. Wyman's age was listed as 93 in several reference books, however other sources, including the official family Web site, say she was 90.

"I have lost a loving mother, my children Cameron and Ashley have lost a loving grandmother, my wife Colleen has lost a loving friend she called Mom and Hollywood has lost the classiest lady to ever grace the silver screen," Reagan said in a statement.

Wyman's film career started in the 1930s and stretched from the "Gold Diggers of 1937" to 1969's "How to Commit Marriage," co-starring Bob Hope and Jackie Gleason. From 1981 to 1990 she played Angela Channing, a Napa Valley vintner who maintained her grip with a steely will on CBS' "Falcon Crest."

Her marriage in 1940 to fellow Warner Bros. contract player Ronald Reagan was celebrated in the fan magazines as one of Hollywood's ideal unions. While he was in uniform during World War II, her career ascended, signaled by her 1946 Oscar nomination for "The Yearling."

She and Reagan divorced in 1948, the year she won an Oscar for "Johnny Belinda." Reagan reportedly cracked to a friend: "Maybe I should name Johnny Belinda as co-respondent."

After Reagan became governor of California and then president of the United States, Wyman kept a decorous silence about her ex-husband, who had married actress Nancy Davis. In a 1968 newspaper interview, Wyman explained the reason:

"It's not because I'm bitter or because I don't agree with him politically. I've always been a registered Republican. But it's bad taste to talk about ex-husbands and ex-wives, that's all. Also, I don't know a damn thing about politics."

A few days after Reagan died on June 5, 2004, Wyman broke her silence, saying: "America has lost a great president and a great, kind and gentle man."

Warner Bros. signed Wyman to a long-term contract in 1936, and the studio was notorious for typecasting its contract players.

Wyman suffered that fate. She recalled in 1968: "For 10 years I was the wisecracking lady reporter who stormed the city desk snapping, `Stop the presses! I've got a story that will break this town wide open!'"

In 1937, Wyman married a wealthy manufacturer of children's clothes, Myron Futterman, in New Orleans. The marriage was reported as her second, but an earlier marriage was never confirmed. She divorced him in November 1938, declaring she wanted children and he didn't.

The actress became entranced by Reagan, a handsome former sportscaster who was a newcomer to the Warner lot. She finagled a date with him, and romance ensued.

After returning from a personal appearance tour with columnist Louella Parsons, they were married on Jan. 26, 1940. The following year she gave birth to a daughter, Maureen. They later adopted a son, Michael. They also had a daughter who was born several months premature in June 1947 and died a day later.

In Reagan's autobiography "An American Life," the index shows only one mention of Wyman, and it runs for only two sentences.

Their daughter Maureen died in August 2001 after a battle with cancer. At the funeral, Wyman, balancing on a cane, put a cross on the casket. Reagan, suffering from Alzheimer's disease, was not well enough to attend.

Wyman escaped B-pictures by persuading Jack Warner to loan her to Paramount for "The Lost Weekend." The film won the Academy Award for 1945 and led to another loanout — to MGM for "The Yearling." De-glamourized as a backwoods wife and mother, the actress received her first Oscar nomination.

After 40 films at Warner Bros., Wyman achieved her first acting challenge with "Johnny Belinda." When Jack Warner saw a rough cut of the film, he ranted to the director, Jean Negulesco: "We invented talking pictures, and you make a picture about a deaf and dumb girl!"

He changed his attitude when "Johnny Belinda" received 12 Academy Award nominations and the Oscar for Jane Wyman.

Wyman continued making prestigious films such as "The Glass Menagerie," Alfred Hitchcock's "Stage Fright" and "Here Comes the Groom" (with Bing Crosby). Two tearjerkers, "The Blue Veil" (1951) and "Magnificent Obsession" (1954), brought her Oscar nominations as best actress.

Other film credits included: "So Big," "Lucy Gallant," "All That Heaven Allows," "Miracle in the Rain," "Holiday for Lovers," "Pollyanna" and "Bon Voyage!"

Her first entry into television came with "The Jane Wyman Show," an anthology series that appeared on NBC from 1955 to 1958. She introduced the shows, half of them starring herself, half with other actors. She quit the show after three years, saying that "putting on a miniature movie once a week" was exhausting.

In 1952 Wyman married Fred Karger, a studio music director. They divorced, later remarried and divorced the second time in 1965.

When Wyman received the script for "Falcon Crest," she was undecided about undertaking the nasty, power-hungry Angela Channing, so different from the self-sacrificing characters of her movie days.

But she liked the idea that Angela "runs everything. She goes straight through everything like a Mack truck."

Riding the wave of prime-time soap operas that made "Dallas" and "Dynasty" national sensations, "Falcon Crest" lasted nine seasons. The series ended with Angela again in control of the vineyard. Her battered family raised their glasses in a toast: "The land endures."

"Next to my parents, Jane was the most influential person in my young career," said Lorenzo Lamas, who starred with Wyman on "Falcon Crest." "She has left an incredible body of work and accomplishments that cannot go without being recognized and celebrated. I will miss her greatly."

After Reagan became president in 1981, his former wife gave few interviews and responded to questions about him with a stony look. When "Falcon Crest" ended, she withdrew from public view. She saw a few intimates and devoted much time to painting.

"She was a wonderful woman and great to work with," said actress Jane Seymour, who starred in TV's "Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman," where Wyman guest-starred in a 1993 episode as Seymour's mother. "She was an amazing pro."

Wyman summed up her long career in a 1981 newspaper interview: "I've been through four different cycles in pictures: the brassy blonde, then came the musicals, the high dramas, then the inauguration of television."

Born Sarah Jane Fulks in St. Joseph, Mo, she grew up in a cheerless home in which her mother's time was devoted to her seriously ailing husband. After her father died, Sarah Jane accompanied her mother to Los Angeles, where the girl tried to get jobs in the studios. There was no work for the snub-nosed teenager, and she returned to St. Joseph.

She attended the University of Missouri, worked as a manicurist and switchboard operator, then sang on radio as Jane Durrell. When that career dwindled, she decided to try Hollywood again, began playing bit parts, and changed Durrell to Wyman.

___

On the Net: http://www.jane-wyman.com

Jazz great Joe Zawinul dies at 75

By VERONIKA OLEKSYN, Associated Press Writer 22 minutes ago

VIENNA, Austria - Joe Zawinul, the jazz keyboardist who soared to fame as one of the creators of jazz-rock fusion with the band Weather Report, has died, a hospital official said. He was 75.

Zawinul died early Tuesday, a spokeswoman for Vienna's Wilhelmina Clinic said, without giving details. He had been hospitalized since last month and suffered from a rare form of skin cancer, said Risa Zincke, his manager, according to the Austria Press Agency.

Zawinul won acclaim for his keyboard work on chart-topping Miles Davis albums such as "In A Silent Way" and "Bitches Brew," and was a leading force behind the so-called "Electric Jazz" movement.

In 1970, Zawinul and saxophonist Wayne Shorter founded Weather Report and produced a series of albums including "Heavy Weather," "Black Market," "I Sing the Body Electric," and the Grammy-winning live recording "8:30."

He is credited with bringing the electric piano and synthesizer into the jazz mainstream, but was frustrated by the lack of respect for electric keyboards and new technology among jazz purists.

"There is no difference between a Stradivarius or a beautiful synthesizer sound," Zawinul told Jazziz magazine earlier this year. "People make a big mistake in putting down electronic music. Yes, it's been misused and abused, but that's true of every music.

"There is nothing wrong with electronic music as long as you're putting some soul behind the technology."

Austrian Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer praised Zawinul's "unpretentious way of dealing with listeners" and said he wasn't "blinded by superficialities."

Born in 1932, Zawinul grew up in a working-class family during World War II in the Austrian capital. He played accordion on the streets to make money and received classical piano training as a child prodigy at the Vienna Conservatory. In the postwar years, he grew interested in American jazz, playing in a dance band that included the future Austrian President Thomas Klestil and making a name for himself on the local jazz scene in bands led by saxophonist Hans Koller and others.

"One thing about Viennese musicians, they can really groove, more than even the German bands can," Zawinul said in a 2007 Downbeat magazine interview. "It's something in our nature, perhaps. We're cosmopolitan and interracial — Czech, Slavic, Hungarian, Romanian, Bulgarian, Turkish a little bit."

In 1959, Zawinul emigrated to the United States on a scholarship to study at the Berklee School of Music in Boston, but left to join Maynard Fergusion's big band. He next landed a gig with Dinah Washington; his funky piano can be heard on her 1959 hit "What a Diff'rence a Day Made."

Zawinul rose to international fame after joining alto saxophonist Cannonball Adderley's band in 1961. During his nine-year stint with the band, he composed such tunes as "Walk Tall," "Country Preacher," and most notably the gospel-influenced, soul-jazz anthem "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy," his first important recording on electric piano, which climbed the pop charts and won a Grammy for Adderley.

In the late '60s, Zawinul recorded with Davis' studio band, His tune "In a Silent Way" served as the title track for the trumpeter's first foray into the electric arena. Zawinul's composition "Pharoah's Dance" was featured on Davis' groundbreaking 1970 jazz-rock fusion album "Bitches Brew," which won Davis a 1970 Grammy for best jazz performance, large group or soloist with large group.

Weather Report enjoyed its biggest commercial success with the 1977 album "Heavy Weather" which featured Zawinul's catchy tune "Birdland," which became one of the most recognizable jazz hits of the '70s after it was also recorded by Maynard Ferguson and the vocal group Manhattan Transfer.

After Weather Report broke up in 1986, Zawinul went on to form The Zawinul Syndicate, which brought together a global village of musicians who recorded such albums at the Grammy-nominated "My People" (1996) and "World Tour" (1998).

____

Associated Press Writer Charles J. Gans in New York contributed to this report.

_____

On the Net:

http://www.zawinulmusic.com

Viking queen exhumed to solve mystery

By Alister Doyle Mon Sep 10, 10:00 AM ET

SLAGEN, Norway (Reuters) - Archaeologists exhumed the body of a Viking queen on Monday, hoping to solve a riddle about whether a woman buried with her 1,200 years ago was a servant killed to be a companion into the afterlife.

As a less gruesome alternative, the two women in the grass-covered Oseberg mound in south Norway might be a royal mother and daughter who died of the same disease and were buried together in 834.

"We will do DNA tests to try to find out. I don't know of any Viking skeletons that have been analyzed as we plan to do," Egil Mikkelsen, director of Oslo's Museum of Cultural History, told Reuters at the graveside.

As rain pelted down, four men lifted an aluminum coffin containing the bones of two women after digging a 1.5 meter (5 ft) deep hole in the mound where the women were originally buried in a spectacular Viking longboat.

The women and the 22-metre (70 ft) longboat, with its curling oak prow still intact, were unearthed in 1904 in the 5-metre high mound, surrounded by cornfields, in one of the archaeological sensations of the 20th century.

The longboat, known as the Oseberg ship, is in a museum in Oslo but the bones were reburied in 1948 and have since lain undisturbed. About 200 people, including schoolchildren, watched the exhumation.

"We don't know who the women were," Mikkelsen said, adding that DNA tests could tell if they were related. "DNA analysis could prove if they were mother and daughter," he said.

"But I have always thought of them as the queen and her maid," he added. If the two women had widely differing DNA it could be a sign that the second woman was a servant.

DECAPITATED

A servant might have been the victim of a ritual killing, perhaps her throat slit to accompany her queen to an afterlife in Valhalla. In one Danish Viking grave, for instance, an old man lying by a younger man had been decapitated.

And new chemical analysis of bones can also tell what people ate. In Viking times meat, such as elk, was prized while poorer people ate fish.

"If they were mother and daughter they would probably have had the same food. If one woman was a maid they would have had different diets," Mikkelsen said.

The aluminum coffin will be driven to Oslo and opened for analyses, likely to last a year.

The archaeologists placed a Norwegian 20 crown coin -- dated 2007 and with a picture of the prow of the Oseberg ship on one side -- in the sarcophagus to show any future generations when the grave had been disturbed.

Among those at the graveside was a man dressed as a Viking with a sword hanging from his belt. "This is an experience you get once in a lifetime," said Leszek Gardela, 23, a Polish student of archaeology.

Mikkelsen said he saw no ethical objections to opening the grave, partly because the two were buried so long ago and no one even knew their names.

5 young people killed in Ariz. crash
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz., Sept. 11 (UPI) --

Five young people ages 15 to 21 were killed in an automobile accident in northern Arizona.

The Arizona Daily Sun said four residents of Williams, Ariz., and a man from California were killed when their car crashed into a tree Monday night.

Matthew Dent, 20, the driver, and passengers Elena Rivera, 15, Prescott McDaniel, 16, both of Williams, and Matthew Small, 18, of Claremont, Calif., were dead at the scene, officials said. Jesse Buchmoyer, 21, also a passenger and a resident of Williams later died of his injuries.

Passenger Jennifer Miller, 16, of Williams was in stable condition at Flagstaff (Ariz.) Medical Center with minor injuries, the newspaper said.

Speed and failure to use seat belts contributed to the deaths, officials said.

Williams is near the South Rim of the Grand Canyon National Park.

Print article · Return to Website · Email This Article

© UPI, Headline News Powered by Bravenet.com

Prosecutor in Scott Peterson case dies
MODESTO, Calif., Sept. 11 (UPI) --

Jim Brazelton, the former California district attorney who prosecuted Scott Peterson for the murder of his wife Laci and her fetus, has died at age 66.

Brazelton died Monday at Memorial Medical Center in Modesto, Calif., where he had been treated for several days. The cause of death was not disclosed but the Stanislaus County District Attorney's Office issued a statement indicating he died of natural causes.

Brazelton ran the district attorney's office for nine years and successfully prosecuted all 35 murder cases he handled, The Modesto Bee reported Tuesday. Five of those convictions led to the death penalty, including Peterson, who was convicted in 2004.

"He was a tough prosecutor," Assistant District Attorney Carol Shipley said. "He was one of the best in the courtroom. And he had a heart of gold when it came to friends and family."

He is survived by his wife Patricia, three sons and a stepson.

Print article · Return to Website · Email This Article

© UPI, Headline News Powered by Bravenet.com

Baby found safe after father shot dead
ST. LOUIS, Sept. 11 (UPI) --

A carjacked Lincoln Navigator with a missing baby girl inside was found parked at a St. Louis hospital Tuesday, about 10 hours after her father was shot dead.

Passersby who had heard about the carjacking spotted the luxury SUV and freed Ivory Roach, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported. The 10-month-old was reported to be in good condition.

Leroy Wilson Jr., a pipefitter, was on his way to work when he stopped to help get the door open.

"She was fine," he said of the baby. "She started crying though when we picked her up. She was scared to death more than anything."

Ivory's father, Tionna Roach, was found dead in a parking lot late Monday by police responding to a call that shots had been fired. An Amber Alert was issued just after midnight when police determined the baby was probably in the missing car.

Print article · Return to Website · Email This Article

© UPI, Headline News Powered by Bravenet.com

Powerful Earthquake Kills 5 in Indonesia

Sep 12, 5:36 PM (ET)

By ROBIN McDOWELL

(AP) Residents and rescuers inspect a building destroyed by earthquake in Padang, Sumatra island,...

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) - A powerful earthquake shook Indonesia on Wednesday, killing at least five people, injuring scores and triggering a small tsunami that hit one city on the island of Sumatra, authorities said.

The 8.4-magnitude quake off Sumatra damaged homes, mosques and shopping malls along the coast and could be felt in at least four countries, with tall buildings swaying as far as 1,200 miles away.

It was followed by a series of aftershocks, the strongest of which registered at a magnitude of 6.6 and triggered a second tsunami alert for Indonesia, which was lifted about an hour later, said Suhardjono, an official with Indonesia's meteorological agency, who goes by only one name.

At least five people were killed. The Health Ministry reported two people killed in Bengkulu, a town in Sumatra close to the epicenter. And in the city of Padang, three bodies were pulled from badly damaged buildings, a witness, Alfin, said by phone.

Excavation machinery was used to search for survivors.

Most of the damage appeared to be from the quake.

A tsunami about 3 feet high was reported to have struck Padang about 20 minutes after the initial quake, Suhardjono said, adding that severed phone lines made it hard to get details. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center also reported that a small tsunami hit Padang.

Several buildings in Padang were damaged and at least one car showroom collapsed in the quake, according to detik.com, which said people were searching to see if anyone was inside.

Dozens of people were injured in Bengkulu, local government official Salamun Harius told El Shinta radio. At least 100 others were hospitalized, senior Health Ministry official Rustam Pakaya said.

(AP) Sri Lankan women rush with their belongings to safer area, after the government issued a tsunami...

Residents in Bengkulu, where at least one building was demolished, said the quake triggered panic and that people ran inland.

"Everyone is running out of their houses in every direction," said Wati Said, who spoke by cell phone standing outside her house. "We think our neighborhood is high enough. God willing, if the water comes, it will not touch us here."

"Communication is cut, we can't call out," she added. "I don't know how you contacted us. Everyone is afraid."

The quake could be felt in the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, 375 miles away, where office workers streamed down the stairwells of tall, swaying buildings. It also caused tall buildings to sway in neighboring Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand.

The undersea quake hit at about 6:10 p.m. (7:10 a.m. EDT), the U.S. Geological Survey said. It was centered 80 miles southwest of Sumatra island at a depth of 18.6 miles.

(AP) A collapsed building in Sumbar, Indonesia, after an earthquake Wednesday, Sept. 12, 2007 in this...

"Earthquakes of this size have the potential to generate a widespread destructive tsunami that can affect coastlines across the entire Indian Ocean Basin," the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said, warning that waves could hit Indonesia and Australia within an hour, and Sri Lanka and India within three hours.

It lifted the alert for Indonesia about two hours later, saying there was no longer a potential for a destructive wave.

An official with Thailand's National Disaster Warning Center, Passakorn Khanthasap, said it had sent cell phone text messages alerting hundreds of officials in six southern provinces.

The Kenyan and Tanzanian governments issued tsunami warnings and told people to leave beaches.

Residents of the coastal city of Mombasa crowded into buses and left sprawling public beaches after hearing the warning over the radio. Police were moving people off the coastline.

In Seychelles, which would likely be hit by a tsunami before Kenya, authorities said they had downgraded a tsunami warning because the window for a strike had passed.

In India, officials said nothing was felt in the remote Andaman and Nicobar islands, some of which are just 150 miles north of Sumatra.

The Indian government issued a tsunami alert for the islands, and officials told authorities to take precautions, said Dharam Pal, the regional relief commissioner.In Australia, the tsunami warning was lifted after only small rises in the sea level were measured at Cocos Island and the Christmas Islands. But officials warned residents to stay away from the ocean, warning that dangerous waves and currents could still affect beaches, harbors and rivers for several hours.

Indonesia, the world's largest archipelago, is prone to seismic upheaval due to its location on the so-called Pacific "Ring of Fire," an arc of volcanos and fault lines encircling the Pacific Basin.

In December 2004, a magnitude-9 earthquake struck off Sumatra island and triggered a tsunami that killed more than 230,000 people in a dozen countries, including 160,000 people in Indonesia's westernmost province of Aceh.

CORRECTION: Indonesia says 2 dead and 11 injured in quake

Wed Sep 12, 3:03 PM

(Official correction of number of dead and injured)

JAKARTA (Reuters) - An Indonesian government official at the Disaster Management Office said two people died and 11 were injured in an earthquake of 8.4 magnitude which struck Indonesia's Sumatra region on Wednesday.

The quake triggered tsunami warnings in the Indian Ocean, sparking panic in coastal areas across Southeast Asia.

Six dead after big quake in Indonesia

36 minutes ago

By John Nedi

PADANG, Indonesia (Reuters) - Rescue teams headed for Indonesia's Sumatra coast on Thursday as aftershocks pounded the region where a powerful earthquake killed six people and perhaps many more the night before.

Tsunami warnings were issued but later lifted for Indian Ocean rim countries after the latest aftershocks, including a shallow quake the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) said had a magnitude of 7.8.

"We can expect aftershocks to continue for some time," USGS Geophysicist Dale Grant told Reuters.

The tremors sowed fresh panic among residents in Padang, the capital of West Sumatra. The town was thrown into chaos and many fled after the initial 8.4-magnitude quake, which the USGS said was the most powerful in the world this year.

"My family and neighbors are evacuating to higher ground. Everyone in the place where I live decided to evacuate," said 35-year-old Padang resident Eri Kamra.

"I saw buildings collapse and one person lost consciousness after the morning quake," he told Reuters.

Yuli Bersi, a 42-year-old, housewife said she had also fled with her three children to higher ground after the latest quakes.

"We are really scared. This is the only way for us to survive," she said. Huge traffic jams were reported in the city.

A Reuters witness said that a four-storey car showroom had collapsed, trapping several staff, and some injured people had to be moved out of hospital wards to the relative safety of tents.

Part of Padang's main hospital had also collapsed.

DEEPLY CONCERNED

Officials were also deeply concerned about the situation in Bengkulu, a coastal city of about 300,000 people and the closest major town to the epicenter of last night's huge quake.

"The North Bengkulu area has been identified as the worst hit with half the area destroyed," Rustam Pakaya, head of the health ministry's crisis centre in Jakarta, said.

"Many hospitals, houses, government buildings and clinics have been destroyed," he added.

The crisis centre's latest casualty figures showed that six people had been killed and 40 injured after the first quake, which was also felt in neighboring Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia.

"There is no explanation about why there are so many quakes hitting Indonesia at this time but Indonesia is perhaps the most active earthquake area in the world," Geophysicist Grant told Reuters.

Indonesia suffers frequent quakes, as it lies on an active seismic belt on part of the so-called Pacific "Ring of Fire."

A huge earthquake measuring more than 9 struck the same area of Indonesia on December 26, 2004, causing a massive tsunami and over 230,000 deaths in countries across the Indian Ocean region.

Many people chose to sleep out in the open on Wednesday night rather than return indoors, said a Red Cross official in Bengkulu, a mountainous area that sees few foreign tourists.

"The emergency rescue system has mobilized and the president has ordered the military to help the rescue effort," President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's spokesman said.

(Additional reporting by Telly Nathalia in Jakarta, Mark Bendeich in Kuala Lumpur and John Chalmers in Singapore)

16-year-old student dies after stabbing behind Toronto high school

Tue Sep 11, 8:10 PM

TORONTO (CP) - A 16-year-old Toronto boy died in hospital Tuesday afternoon after he was stabbed near his east-end high school.

The boy, a student at Winston Churchill Collegiate Institute, was reportedly stabbed in the stomach. The incident occurred on a walkway behind the school that was not part of school property.

The boy was taken to hospital with life-threatening injuries, but was later pronounced dead.

No arrests have been made.

However, police are looking for a vehicle that was spotted leaving the scene.

"They were looking for a vehicle that was seen leaving the scene that was described as a blue or green mid-'90s Honda Civic," said Const. George Schuurman.

On the provincial election campaign trail, Progressive Conservative Leader John Tory said these kind of tragedies must come to an end.

"We simply can't let this kind of thing go on," Tory said. "We have to deal with this crime and the causes of this crime. I've been to too many funerals for these young people. We can't let them keep dying in our streets and in our community. It's just unacceptable."

Air raids kill dozens of Taliban in Afghan south: U.S.

1 hour, 51 minutes ago - September 12 (their way to commemorate Sept. 11's anniversary...?)

By Simon Gardner

KABUL (Reuters) - U.S.-led coalition airstrikes killed more than 45 Islamist Taliban fighters in southern Afghanistan on Wednesday, the U.S. military said.

More than 7,000 people have been killed during the past 19 months in Afghanistan, the worst violence since the militants' U.S.-led ouster in 2001.

In separate incidents, an Afghan security guard was killed in a roadside bomb attack in the eastern province of Paktia on Wednesday and a Bangladeshi national was shot dead in the north-eastern province of Badakshan by suspected insurgents, officials said.

Afghan and U.S.-led coalition troops called in close air support after their patrol was attacked by Taliban fighters in a village in the Deh Rawood district of Uruzgan province, the U.S. military said.

"Insurgents ... attacked a combined Afghan National Army and coalition patrol with rocket-propelled grenades and small arms fire," it said in a statement. "Coalition aircraft destroyed the positively identified insurgent positions using precision guided munitions."

A similar clash on Tuesday in the southern province of Zabul killed a dozen Taliban, the U.S. military said.

There were no independent accounts of how many people were killed or what happened. The Taliban were not immediately available for comment.

The fighting came after a suicide bomber rammed a U.S. security firm convoy in the southern province of Helmand on Tuesday, killing two local staff and wounding eight other people.

The U.S.-led military says coalition forces have killed hundreds of Taliban militants in a series of confrontations in recent weeks. The Taliban have admitted some losses, but say Afghan and foreign troops vastly exaggerate enemy death tolls.

Facing the naked truth in murder probe

Tue Sep 11, 8:41 AM

JAIPUR, India (Reuters) - Every man in an Indian village was made to strip to his underwear for inspection before village leaders investigating the rape and murder of a woman, police and villagers said Tuesday.

Members of the panchayat -- or village council -- publicly inspected the bodies of around 1,500 men and boys one by one for signs of a violent struggle as a crowd looked on in Boraj village in Rajasthan state Monday.

"This is a very old tradition of the panchayat," Tara Rawat, the village's elected leader, said by telephone. "We always do this kind of thing if there is this sort of crime."

The disfigured body of a 35-year-old village woman was discovered Saturday night, police said, adding she was raped before being killed.

Every male between 10 and 60 was inspected Monday, including the panchayat members themselves, Rawat said.

However they found no marks that might connect any of the men with the crime.

Police said the panchayat's actions were separate to their own investigation but welcomed the check.

NEWS - FROM BOSTON

New England in brief
Entwistle trial postponed until January

September 12, 2007

The trial of Neil Entwistle, the man accused of fatally shooting his wife and 9-month-old daughter in Hopkinton last year, has been postponed until late January. Prosecutors said defense lawyer Elliot Weinstein asked for the delay, saying he needed more time to analyze results of DNA and other scientific tests performed by the state. District Attorney Gerard T. Leone Jr. said prosecutors would "continue to prepare and will be ready to present our case on behalf of the victims, their family, and the Commonwealth in January." The trial, which had been scheduled for Oct. 1, will now begin Jan. 28. Prosecutors allege that Entwistle shot and killed his wife Rachel and daughter Lillian in their Hopkinton home on the morning of Jan. 20, 2006. Entwistle left for his family's home in England the next day. He was arrested in England several weeks later.
Article Tools

* PRINTER FRIENDLYPrinter friendly
* E-MAILE-mail to a friend
* RSS FEEDSMass. RSS feed
* RSS FEEDSAvailable RSS feeds
* MOST E-MAILEDMost e-mailed
* REPRINTS & LICENSINGReprints & Licensing
* Share on DiggShare on Digg
* Share on Facebook
* Tag with Del.icio.us Save this article
* powered by Del.icio.us

More:

* Globe City/Region stories |
* Latest local news |
* Globe front page |
* Boston.com

* Sign up for: Globe Headlines e-mail |
* Breaking News Alerts

Man sentenced for assault on ex-girlfriend
A Roxbury man was sentenced to 15 years in prison yesterday after pleading guilty to raping and terrorizing his former girlfriend last year. On Feb. 26, 2006 police went to the apartment of Keith Ashby Jr., 27, after the building manager called 911. When the manager entered the apartment to inspect a water leak, Ashby's former girlfriend told him she had been held hostage since 4 p.m. the previous day. Ashby, armed with a machine gun, had threatened to kill her and then raped her, the Suffolk district attorney's office said. Ashby later raped the victim twice more, prosecutors said.

Poll shows Tsongas leading in 5th District
A WBZ-TV poll released last night shows that the campaign in the Fifth Congressional District is a 10-point race, with Democrat Niki Tsongas up 51 percent to 41 percent for Republican Jim Ogonowski. Republicans have been trumpeting the Oct. 16 election as their best chance in years to gain a congressional seat for the first time in more than a decade. Of the 411 likely voters polled, 2 percent supported independent candidate Kurt Hayes, and 2 percent said they would vote for Constitution Party candidate Kevin Thompson, while independent candidate Patrick Murphy got 1 percent. Four percent were undecided. The poll, which was conducted Sept. 7-9 by SurveyUSA, has a margin of error of 4.9 percent.

DA to transfer Boston MBTA murder cases to state police

September 13, 2007

BOSTON --Suffolk District Attorney Daniel Conley is transferring the job of investigating killings on MBTA property in Boston from city police homicide detectives to state police assigned to his office.
Article Tools

* PRINTER FRIENDLYPrinter friendly
* E-MAILE-mail to a friend
* RSS FEEDSMass. RSS feed
* RSS FEEDSAvailable RSS feeds
* MOST E-MAILEDMost e-mailed
* Share on DiggShare on Digg
* Share on Facebook
* Tag with Del.icio.us Save this article
* powered by Del.icio.us

More:

* Globe City/Region stories |
* Latest local news |
* Globe front page |
* Boston.com

* Sign up for: Globe Headlines e-mail |
* Breaking News Alerts

Conley's spokesman Jake Wark said the move, first reported by the Boston Herald, is to ease the burden on the Boston detectives. It's the first time such cases on MBTA property would be the job of state police.

The state police detective unit also is assigned to investigate in Chelsea, Revere and Winthrop as well as on state property throughout the county.

Detective Jack Parlon, head of the Boston police detectives union, told the Herald: "It's a slap in the face to every detective. It's unbelievable. I want to hear it from him. I intend to have a meeting with him tomorrow."

Wark said Conley has "tremendous respect for the men and women of the Boston police homicide unit and for every Boston detective. He has two groups of top-notch investigators, one of them underutilized and one of them working nonstop."

There was friction last month between Conley and Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis after Davis replaced the head of the homicide unit without consulting Conley.

"It would be premature for us to comment as we have not yet reviewed the DA's plan," Boston police spokesman Dave Estrada said. He said there are about 33 detectives in the homicide unit.

Wark said Boston detectives investigated about 70 homicides and suspicious deaths in each of the past two years, while the nine state police detectives assigned to the Suffolk DA responded to about a dozen such cases every year.

"This is a decision made in the interest of the cases and the investigators who work on them, it's about nothing else," Wark said.

------

Information from: Boston Herald, http://www.bostonherald.com
© Copyright 2007 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Man dies after falling ill in police custody
He was Brazilian immigrant; cause of death unknown

By Maria Sacchetti and Brian R. Ballou, Globe Staff | September 12, 2007

An immigrant from Brazil, stricken with an unknown illness while in State Police custody on Friday, died yesterday at Massachusetts General Hospital, the Essex district attorney's office reported.
Article Tools

* PRINTER FRIENDLYPrinter friendly
* E-MAILE-mail to a friend
* RSS FEEDSMass. RSS feed
* RSS FEEDSAvailable RSS feeds
* MOST E-MAILEDMost e-mailed
* REPRINTS & LICENSINGReprints & Licensing
* Share on DiggShare on Digg
* Share on Facebook
* Tag with Del.icio.us Save this article
* powered by Del.icio.us

More:

* Globe City/Region stories |
* Latest local news |
* Globe front page |
* Boston.com

* Sign up for: Globe Headlines e-mail |
* Breaking News Alerts

Maxsuel Medeiros, 25, a roofer who lived in Framingham, was a passenger in a car State Police stopped for a lane change violation at 5:20 p.m. Friday on Interstate 495 south in Andover, according to the district attorney's office.

Police said they had varying identities for Medeiros, including Maxeel Campos and Maxwell Pires, and arrested Medeiros after determining that he had two outstanding state warrants. They brought him to the Andover barracks and placed him in a cell, said Stephen O'Connell, spokesman for the Essex district attorney's office. The nature of the warrants was unknown yesterday.

Later that evening, he became ill while in his cell, according to O'Connell and State Police. Police called an ambulance, which transported him to Lawrence General Hospital. He was later taken to Mass. General, where he died at 6 a.m. yesterday.

The death marks the second time in about a month a Brazilian immigrant from Massachusetts has died in the region while in police custody. On Aug. 7, Edimar Alves Araujo, 34, of Milford died shortly after Woonsocket, R.I., police stopped him on a traffic violation and turned him over to federal immigration authorities. He fell ill while in federal custody in Rhode Island, and was later pronounced dead at a hospital.

PORTUGUESE TRANSLATION: Brasileiro morre após sofrer ataque cardíaco dentro da cadeia

His death, under investigation by the state medical examiner in Rhode Island, sparked outrage because his sister, Irene, said she had tried to get the police to give her brother his epilepsy medicine. Police denied her account and said Araujo was fine when they turned him over to federal authorities.

Medeiros was undocumented, having entered the United States through Mexico about eight years ago, his aunt, Meire Medeiros, said yesterday, speaking in Portuguese during a telephone interview from her Framingham home. "He came here to have a better life,"she said. Medeiros lived in Framingham with another aunt, Maisa Hamel.

Medeiros immersed himself in this country's culture, relatives said. He learned English, listened to hip-hop, and played video games in his spare time. He worked for a Framingham roofing company, and planned to attend the Mexico vs. Brazil soccer match at Gillette Stadium today. He owned the red 1990 Acura Legend that police stopped Saturday. The car was being driven by a friend.

Meire Medeiros, 51, said she has another nephew, Lucas, who was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement last month in Framingham and is scheduled for deportation.

She said the family found out on Saturday that Maxsuel suffered what appeared to be a heart attack and was in a coma. Officials at Mass. General contacted Medeiros's mother, who lives in Brazil, and told her that her son was brain dead. With permission granted by his mother, Maxsuel was removed from life support. The family decided to donate his organs.

"He never had any problems with his health; he was a young man," said Meire Medeiros.

The state medical examiner's office plans to conduct an autopsy today, and the district attorney's office will investigate, O'Connell said. State Police refused to release the police report yesterday because the matter is under investigation.

Globe correspondent Eduardo A. de Oliveira contributed to this report.
© Copyright 2007 Globe Newspaper Company.

Solemn ceremonies for state's 206 victims
Awards, honors mark 9/11 tributes in Massachusetts

John Muthua, Kevin Jenkins, with his 2-year old son John, and Frank Zarba attended the ceremony in the House chamber of the State House yesterday. (Suzanne Kreiter/ Globe Staff)

By April Simpson, Globe Staff | September 12, 2007

Clergy, political leaders, and relatives of victims observed the sixth anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks yesterday in a series of somber gatherings. Around the state, they remembered loved ones with memorial awards and scholarships, laid wreaths, and lowered flags.
Article Tools

* PRINTER FRIENDLYPrinter friendly
* E-MAILE-mail to a friend
* RSS FEEDSMass. RSS feed
* RSS FEEDSAvailable RSS feeds
* MOST E-MAILEDMost e-mailed
* REPRINTS & LICENSINGReprints & Licensing
* Share on DiggShare on Digg
* Share on Facebook
* Tag with Del.icio.us Save this article
* powered by Del.icio.us

More:

* Globe City/Region stories |
* Latest local news |
* Globe front page |
* Boston.com

* Sign up for: Globe Headlines e-mail |
* Breaking News Alerts

About 200 people gathered at 8:30 yesterday morning on the front steps of the State House. Under gray skies, they joined Governor Deval Patrick and Lieutenant Governor Timothy P. Murray in a flag-lowering ceremony, a moment of silence, and a reading of the names of the deceased.

"We meet to honor the lives of the 206 sons and daughters of our community who were lost six years ago," Patrick said, speaking on the State House lawn. "Our tribute is for each of them, and our condolences are with each of you."

It was a solemn ceremony to mark the day terrorists hijacked four commercial jetliners and flew three into the Pentagon and towers in New York City. The fourth plane was headed to the White House but crashed into a field in southwestern Pennsylvania. In all, nearly 3,000 people died.

It was the first time the 9/11 anniversary fell on a Tuesday, the same day of the week as the attacks. The flag ceremony outside the State House was followed by a commemoration in the House chamber. Since the attacks, more than $10 million has been raised by the families and friends of victims to honor them through awards, events, facilities, and more.

"We can think of no better way to honor our loved ones than to make a difference in someone else's life," said Diane Hunt, whose 32-year-old son worked on the 84th floor of the World Trade Center's South Tower. Hunt has started the William Christopher Hunt Annual Scholarship at Sacred Heart High School in Kingston.

Earlier, Mayor Thomas M. Menino placed a wreath of red, white, and blue flowers at a pink granite memorial in Boston Public Garden. Bells from the nearby Arlington Street Church rang the tunes of "Amazing Grace" and "America the Beautiful."

The American Red Cross and the Boston Red Sox held a blood drive at Fenway Park. At Logan International Airport, where the two aircraft that flew into the towers departed, US flags were draped over checkpoints, and a moment of silence was observed.

Religious leaders, including Cardinal Sean P. O'Malley, urged prayers for peace. "We pray that with each passing year, we find the peace of Christ in our hearts and minds and work towards reconciliation along every walk of life," O'Malley said in a statement.

Following the House ceremony, the father and uncle of Christopher R. Zarba Jr., who was in the first plane when it was crashed into the towers, sang "On Eagles Wings": "You need not fear the terror of the night; Nor the arrow that flied by day; Though thousands fall about you; Near you it shall not come."

Material from the Associated Press was used in this report. April Simpson can be reached at asimpson@globe.com.
© Copyright 2007 Globe Newspaper Company.

Key anti-al-Qaida sheik slain in Iraq

By ROBERT H. REID, Associated Press Writer

BAGHDAD - The assassination Thursday of the leader of the Sunni Arab revolt against al-Qaida militants dealt a setback to one of the few success stories in U.S. efforts to stabilize Iraq, but tribesmen in Anbar province vowed not to be deterred in fighting the terror movement.

American and Iraqi officials hoped the death of Abdul-Sattar Abu Risha would not stall the campaign to drive al-Qaida in Iraq from the vast province spreading west of Baghdad and reconcile Sunnis with the Shiite-led national government.

It was the biggest blow to the Anbar tribal alliance since a suicide bomber killed four anti-al-Qaida sheiks as they met in a Baghdad hotel in June. Abu Risha himself had escaped a suicide attack in February. But those attacks and others did not stop the campaign against al-Qaida.

Abu Risha, head of the Anbar Awakening Council who met with President Bush just 10 days earlier, died when a roadside bomb exploded near his home just west of Ramadi as he returned from his farm, police Col. Tareq Youssef said. Two bodyguards and the driver also were killed.

Moments later a car bomb exploded nearby but caused no casualties. An Interior Ministry spokesman, Maj. Gen. Abdul-Karim Khalaf, said the second bomb was intended as a backup in case Abu Risha escaped the first blast.

The attack occurred one year after the goateed, charismatic, chain-smoking young sheik organized 25 Sunni Arab clans into an alliance against al-Qaida in Iraq, seeking to drive the terror movement from sanctuaries where it had flourished after the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.

No group claimed responsibility for the assassination, but it was widely assumed to have been carried out by al-Qaida, which already had killed four of Abu Risha's brothers and six other relatives for working with the U.S. military.

U.S. officials credit Abu Risha and allied sheiks with a dramatic improvement in security in such Anbar flashpoints as Fallujah and Ramadi after years of American failure to subdue the extremists. U.S. officials now talk of using the Anbar model to organize tribal fighters elsewhere in Iraq.

Abu Risha's allies as well as U.S. and Iraqi officials insisted the assassination would not deter them from fighting al-Qaida, and the tribal alliance appears to have gained enough momentum to survive the loss of a single figure, no matter how key. Late Thursday, Abu Risha's brother, Ahmed, was selected to replace him as head of the council.

Still, the loss of such a charismatic leader is bound to complicate efforts to recruit more tribal leaders in the war against the terror network. Two Pentagon officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak about the matter, said the assassination sent a chilling message about the consequences of cooperating with the Americans.

"This is a criminal act and al-Qaida is behind it," said Sheik Jubeir Rashid, a senior member of Abu Risha's council. "We have to admit that it is a major blow to the council. But we are determined to strike back and continue our work. Such attack was expected, but this will not deter us."

Ali Hatem al-Sulaiman, deputy chief of the province's biggest Sunni tribe, said that if "only one small boy remains alive in Anbar, we will not hand the province over to al-Qaida."

Islamic extremist Web sites praised the killing in a flurry of postings, one of which called Abu Risha "one of the biggest pigs of the Crusaders," meaning the Americans. Another said Abu Risha would spend the Muslim holy month of Ramadan "in the pits of hell."

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, a Shiite who had been reluctant to support Abu Risha, expressed "great sorrow" over the killing, but said he was confident "that this criminal act will strengthen the determination of Anbar people to wipe out the terrorists."

During a visit Sept. 3 to al-Asad Air Base, Bush hailed the courage of Abu Risha and others "who have made a decision to reject violence and murder in return for moderation and peace."

"I'm looking forward to hearing from the tribal leaders who led the fight against the terrorists and are now leading the effort to rebuild their communities," Bush said. "I'm going to reassure them that America does not abandon our friends, and America will not abandon the Iraqi people."

In his appearance before Congress this week to testify about the situation in Iraq, the top U.S. military commander, Gen. David Petraeus, often cited the recent success in Anbar of the forces organized by Abu Risha, and he called the leader's killing tragic.

"It's a terrible loss for Anbar province and all of Iraq," Petraeus said in a statement released in Washington. "It shows how significant his importance was and it shows al-Qaida in Iraq remains a very dangerous and barbaric enemy. He was an organizing force that did help organize alliances and did help keep the various tribes together."

Bush spokeswoman Dana Perino said Abu Risha "was one of the first to come forward to want to work with the United States to repel al-Qaida."

She said U.S. officials would "redouble our efforts" to work with local Iraqis to build support against those behind such killings. "There has been a complete shift in attitude over the past year or so and we have to capitalize on that," Perino said.

It was unclear how the killers managed to penetrate the web of security which protected Abu Risha, suggesting someone in his clan might have turned against him.

Abu Risha, who was in his mid-30s, lived in a walled compound of several villas that were home to him and his extended family, across the street from the largest U.S. military base in Ramadi. Within the walls were camels, other animals and palm trees, which he showed off to visitors.

He spent his days meeting with tribal sheiks, discussing the fate of Anbar and al-Qaida. He was constantly busy, with lines of people waiting to speak to him, and took endless calls on his cell phone.

He smoked profusely and drank endless glasses of sweet tea. He carried a pistol, usually stuck in a holster strapped around his waist, and dressed in traditional flowing robes and headdresses.

Many Ramadi residents reacted with shock and sadness, calling Abu Risha a "hero" who helped pacify their city.

"We were able to reopen our shops and send our children back to school," said Alaa Abid, who owns an auto parts store. "Now we're afraid that the black days of al-Qaida will return to our city."

A U.S. general, meanwhile, said a fatal attack on the headquarters garrison of the American military in Iraq this week was carried out with 240 mm rocket — a type of weapon that he said Iran provides to Shiite extremists.

One person was killed and 11 were wounded in the attack Tuesday outside Baghdad at Camp Victory, which includes the headquarters of Multinational Forces-Iraq.

Maj. Gen. Kevin Bergner said the rocket was launched from the Rasheed district of west Baghdad, which he said was infiltrated by breakaway factions of the Mahdi Army militia of Muqtada al-Sadr.

Displaying a twisted piece of shrapnel from the attack, Bergner said military experts had so far determined only that its markings and manufacture were "consistent with" Iranian-produced munitions.

"Can I hold up a piece of fragment today that has a specific marking on it that traces this back to Iranian making?" he said. "At this moment I can't do that, but explosive experts — as I said — are still analyzing all the different fragments that they have gathered."

Miami-Dade officer killed, 3 wounded

CUTLER BAY, Fla. - A gunman killed a police officer and injured three others during a traffic stop Thursday, triggering a manhunt in a suburban Miami neighborhood, officials said.

Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Alvarez confirmed that one of the officers died. All four were taken to hospitals, but authorities refused to release further information because they were trying to notify the officers' families.

The officers were conducting burglary surveillance when they stopped the man because he was driving a car erratically, said Linda O'Brien, a police spokeswoman. The man opened fire with a high-powered weapon and fled. It was not immediately clear if the officers returned fire.

TV footage showed several officers briefly surrounding a house, guns drawn, before moving on. Others swept through a grassy area on foot and picked through a garbage truck.

Authorities were looking for Shawn Sherwin Labeet, 25. Authorities initially identified a different suspect as the gunman, but that person was actually hundreds of miles away in the Jacksonville area.

"It appears that we were being misled ... by somebody we were talking to who said they were giving us correct information," O'Brien said.

Investigators believed they had recovered a vehicle and a gun used in the shooting, O'Brien said.

No other details were immediately available.

Cutler Bay is a suburb southwest of downtown Miami. Several schools were locked down due to the search.

Two other officers were shot separately last month in neighboring Broward County. One was killed, the other badly injured.

(This version corrects the suspect's name.)

Rally champion Colin McRae feared dead in helicopter crash

Sun Sep 16, 7:48 AM

LONDON (AFP) - Colin McRae, the first Briton to win the world rally championship, was believed Sunday to have been among those killed in a helicopter crash near his home.

The Sunday Times newspaper, citing McRae's agent Jean-Eric Freudiger, said the 39-year-old Scot had been piloting the helicopter himself.

McRae's son Johnny, another adult and another child were also believed to have been on board, according to the weekly paper.

And the rally driver's official website, www.colinmcrae.com, was changed to a black screen on Sunday morning. It was previously filled with information about McRae.

Colin McRae, whose name also adorns a successful range of rallying computer games, was believed to have been among four people killed, police told AFP.

There were "no survivors" in the crash at Jerviswood near the town of Lanark in southern Scotland, Strathclyde Police said.

However, a police spokesman said the bodies were not expected to be formally identified on Sunday.

McRae, a licensed pilot who owns a helicopter, is married to Alison and has two children Hollie and Johnny.

Police did not say who they believed the others killed in the crash were.

"We can now confirm that four people were on board the helicopter which crashed in the wooded area in Lanark at 16:10," a Strathclyde Police spokesman told AFP.

"The bodies were found within the helicopter which is owned by Mr Colin McRae. It is believed he was on board.

"However, until formal identification has taken place we will be unable to confirm the identities of those on board.

"Police are still at the scene where further searches are continuing. Air accident investigations will be carrying out a full investigation into the cause of the crash."

Police initially said the crash wreckage was so bad it was difficult to determine how many people were involved.

The Scottish Ambulance Service despatched a helicopter and three ambulance crews to the scene, while Strathclyde Fire Brigade also had units in attendance.

Police cordoned off the site, which is in thick woods and not easy to access.

Born in Lanark on August 5, 1968, Colin Steele McRae had rallying in the blood. His father Jimmy was a five-time British rally champion.

McRae competed in his first rally on the World Rally Championship circuit in Sweden in 1987, earning his first win in New Zealand in 1993.

Driving a Subaru Impreza 555, the Scot won the 1995 World Rally Championship in a nail-biting finish on home soil and was the runner-up in 1996, 1997 and 2001.

He was made a Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II in 1996 in recognition of his achievements.

Fans loved his aggressive style at the wheel.

The driving ace is also known for "Colin McRae Rally" a series of racing video games, played on many platforms, which have sold more than eight million copies.

The first title in the series was released in 1998 in Britain and 2000 in the United States.

This year's release, "Colin McRae: DiRT", is the sixth game in the series.

"I'm not really a fan of computers," the motorsport icon was quoted as saying on his website before it turned black on Sunday.

"Yes, I can play 'DiRT' on my X-Box 360 and I can just about access the Internet, but as for the rest of it, much of it is a complete mystery to me.

"When it comes to computers and electronics, give me 300 brake horsepower, a winding road -- and no brakes, and then you've got my attention!"

Jet crash in Thailand's Phuket kills 88

By AUDRA ANG, Associated Press Writer 40 minutes ago

PHUKET, Thailand - A passenger plane filled with foreign tourists crashed Sunday as it tried to land in pouring rain on the island of Phuket, splitting in two and bursting into flames, officials said. At least 88 people were killed.

The budget One-Two-Go Airlines domestic flight OG269 was carrying 123 passengers and seven crew members from the capital, Bangkokm to Phuket — popular among tourists for its pristine beaches and one of the areas hardest hit by the 2004 tsunami.

Survivors described their escape amid chaos, smoke and fire.

"As soon as we hit, everything went dark and everything fell," said Mildred Furlong, 23, a waitress from Prince George, British Columbia, in Canada. The plane started filling with smoke and fires broke out, she said. A passenger in front of her caught fire, while one in the back kicked out a plane window.

"I saw passengers engulfed in fire as I stepped over them on way out of the plane," Parinwit Chusaeng, a survivor who suffered minor burns, told the Nation television channel. "I was afraid that the airplane was going to explode so I ran away."

Wallop Thainua, the country's deputy health minister, said about 60 bodies were retrieved quickly, but it took hours to get the other bodies out. Seventy-eight of those on board were foreigners.

Officials said the McDonnell Douglas MD-82 crashed in a downpour, skidded off the runaway and broke in two. Some said weather was likely a factor in the crash.

"The visibility was poor as the pilot attempted to land. He decided to make a go-around but the plane lost balance and crashed," said Chaisak Angsuwan, director general of the Air Transport Authority of Thailand. "It was torn into two parts."

Local television reports showed parts of the twisted and smoking wreckage sitting off to the side of the runaway. Masked rescue workers converged on the plane, carrying away bodies wrapped in white sheets.

Lt. Gen. Amporn Charuchinda, chief of the police forensic bureau, said that the authorities might move some of the dead bodies to a mortuary in Phang Nga province where some of the tsunami victims were kept. Some 8,000 people were killed in Phuket in the 2004 disaster.

Sunday's crash is the country's deadliest aviation accident since Dec. 11, 1998, when 101 people were in the crash of Thai Airways plane at Surat Thani, 330 miles south of Bangkok. Forty-five people survived.

An Irish survivor, identified as Sean, told of being badly burned on his arms, legs and back as he escaped the flames. Speaking to TITV from a local hospital, he said he knew something was wrong before the flight landed.

"You could tell when it was landing it was in trouble," he said. "It was making a noise, this bang."

One-Two-Go is one of several budget airlines started up in the past few years after Thailand's airline sector was liberalized. It started operations in December 2003, and is the domestic subsidiary of Orient-Thai Airlines, a low-cost regional carrier based in Thailand.

The crash is the latest to hit the booming budget airline industry in Asia, which has been seen its rapid growth sometimes overshadowed a serious of accidents in the recent years.

An Adam Air flight plunged into off the Indonesian coast on New Year's Day, killing 102 people. In 2004, a MD-82 operated by Indonesian budget carrier Lion Air skidded off the runaway in heavy rain at Solo airport in Central Java and crashed, killing 26 people.

3 alleged Taliban kidnappers killed

Sun Sep 16, 2:38 AM ET

KABUL, Afghanistan - Afghan police killed three Taliban commanders allegedly involved in the abduction of 23 South Koreans two months ago, the Interior Ministry said.

The police operation took place Friday in the Qarabagh district of Ghazni province, where insurgents seized the 23 South Koreans on July 19, the Interior Ministry said.

"The commanders who were killed during this operation were directly involved in the kidnapping case of the Korean hostages," the ministry said in a statement Saturday. It did not provide any further details or the identities of the slain Taliban.

There have been several military operations in Ghazni since the release of the last of the captives on Aug. 30, possibly reflecting the Afghan government's desire to assert authority over the rebellious region following the abductions.

Earlier this month, Afghan officials said they killed a Taliban commander called Mullah Mateen, accused of being behind the kidnapping of the South Korean church workers.

Two of the Korean hostages were slain soon after the kidnapping. Two women were released during Taliban negotiations with South Korea, and the remaining 19 were freed after Seoul repeated a long-standing commitment to withdraw its 200 soldiers in Afghanistan by year's end and prevent Christian missionaries from traveling to Afghanistan.

Early Sunday in Garmsir district in the south, Afghan and coalition forces using small-arms fire and airstrikes "killed several suspected militants" during an operation, the coalition said.

Meanwhile, an estimated 40 insurgents armed with mortars and rocket-propelled grenades attacked an Afghan police and coalition patrol Saturday afternoon in the Musa Qala district of nearby Helmand province, the coalition said in a statement.

The joint forces repelled the attack and called in airstrikes, leaving a dozen suspected militants dead, it said.

Suicide Bombing Kills at Least 26 in Southern Afghan Market

* Sign In to E-Mail or Save This
* Print
* Reprints
* Share
o Digg
o Facebook
o Newsvine
o Permalink

Article Tools Sponsored By
By DAVID ROHDE
Published: September 11, 2007

KABUL, Afghanistan, Sept. 10 — In one of the deadliest suicide attacks in Afghanistan this year, at least one suicide bomber killed at least 26 Afghans, half of them civilians, in a crowded market in southern Afghanistan on Monday night, Afghan officials said.

One bomber walked up to a truck full of policemen in one of the main markets in the town of Gereshk, Helmand Province, and detonated his explosive,said Abdul Manaf, the Gereshk district chief. The bomb or bombs killed 13 policemen and 13 pedestrians. At least two dozen other people were wounded. “The bodies were burned beyond recognition,” Mr. Manaf said.

The attack came two days after the United Nations said 103 suicide bombings had been carried out in Afghanistan in the first eight months of 2007, a 69 percent increase over the same period last year. The report said suicide attacks are on a pace to exceed the record 123 bombings carried out in 2006.

Monday’s death toll appeared to be higher than an attack in Kabul in June, when a suicide attacker boarded a bus carrying Afghan police trainers and detonated a bomb, killing 24 people and wounding 35 others. More than 225 people have died in bombings this year, according to Afghan and United Nations officials. Last year, 305 died.

In Gereshk, investigators were trying to determine whether more than one bomb had been set off, given the number of people killed. Officials found a suicide vest and the bomber’s partial remains at the scene, but no evidence of a car bomb.

“We don’t really understand,” Mr. Manaf said. “We just have a vest and a pair of legs.”

Afghanistan experienced the second highest number of suicide bombings in the world in 2006 and so far in 2007, according to Mohammed Hafiz, a political science professor at the University of Missouri who tracks suicide bombings. He said Afghanistan trailed only Iraq, which had 322 suicide bombings this year through the end of August, and 179 in all of 2006.

A former Taliban commander told United Nations investigators that half of suicide bombers had been foreigners and that “almost all undergo some form of training and preparation in madrasas based in Pakistan,” the report said.

“Over 80 percent of suicide attackers pass through recruitment, training facilities or safe houses in North or South Waziristan en route to their targets inside Afghanistan,” it added.

Many of the bombers appear to be young, poorly educated Afghans who had attended religious schools in Pakistan, investigators found. Suicide bombers also receive support from networks inside Afghanistan.

Unlike bombings in Iraq, where insurgents have aimed attacks at civilians to incite sectarian tensions, suicide bombers in Afghanistan have generally attacked Afghan and foreign security forces, the report said.

But the report found that bombings this year have killed twice as many civilian bystanders as they have soldiers and police officers.

Sep 15, 2007 4:36 pm US/Eastern
N.H. Woman Killed In Crash During Heavy Rain

(WBZ) BOSTON A Boscawen, N.H. woman was killed and a man was seriously injured in a Saturday morning crash during heavy rain on Interstate 93 in Concord.

It happened around 9:30 a.m. at Exit 14.

State police said 60-year-old Louise Cassidy was a passenger in a vehicle when the driver lost control in the rain and hit the end of a guardrail. The vehicle rolled over and landed on its roof on the southbound exit ramp. She was pronounced dead at the scene.

The driver, 62-year-old Leonard Cassidy of Boscawen suffered non-life-threatening injuries.

Police said drugs and alcohol are not considered factors in the crash.

(© 2007 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report. )

Sep 16, 2007 1:35 pm US/Eastern
Homeless Man Run Over While Sleeping Under Truck

(AP) BOSTON A homeless man sleeping beneath a truck is killed when the driver began to move the vehicle.

That accident happened Saturday just before noon near the Pine Street Inn, a homeless shelter in Boston's South End neighborhood.

Officials at the shelter said the man had stayed there only about a half dozen times over the past few years and had not stayed at the shelter the night before the accident.

Police and staff at the shelter are investigating why the man was under the truck.

Shelter officials are also reviewing the driving record of the truck operator, who is also an employee of the shelter.

(© 2007 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. )

Africa floods bring death, devastation

By KATY POWNALL, Associated Press Writer Sat Sep 15, 1:50 PM ET

KAMPALA, Uganda - Torrential downpours and flash floods across Africa have submerged whole towns and washed away bridges, farms and schools. This summer's rains have killed at least 150 people, displaced hundreds of thousands and prompted the U.N. to warn Saturday of a rising risk of disease outbreaks.

In eastern Uganda, nine people have been reported killed and 150,000 have been made homeless since early August. Another 400,000 — mainly subsistence farmers — have lost their livelihoods after their fields were flooded or roads washed away and the rains are forecast to worsen in the next month.

"The problem is getting worse by the hour," said Uganda's Minister for Relief and Disaster Preparedness Musa Ecweru, who spent Saturday viewing the affected areas by plane. "Access to some communities is almost impossible. We will need boats and helicopters to deliver emergency interventions," he added.

"In some places, the water is the same color as the earth so when you look at it you think it is a field then you realize it's water," Ecweru said.

On the other side of the continent, Ghana in west Africa has also been heavily hit. Three regions in the north, the country's traditional breadbasket, have been declared an official disaster zone after whole towns and villages were submerged. Torrential rains between July and August killed at least 18 persons and displaced a quarter of a million, Information Minister Oboshie-Sai Cofie said Saturday.

"It is a humanitarian disaster. People have nowhere to go. Some of them are just hanging out there waiting for help to come at a point," Cofie said. The Ghanian government had received considerable aid, she said.

More than a million people across at least 17 countries have been affected, said Elisabeth Byrs of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. People need clean water after their normal sources were contaminated, and emergency food and shelter after fields and houses were washed away.

"The rains are set to continue and we are really concerned about the situation, because a lot of people are homeless and infectious diseases could emerge," Byrs said by phone from Geneva.

It is difficult to say how much rain has fallen; few African countries have meteorological services, and those that do only offer forecasting, lacking the staff and infrastructure to track weather in remote areas.

Governments say tens of thousands need aid in Kenya and Ethiopia, which was devastated by flooding last year as well.

In Sudan, refugees who had just returned at the end of a brutal civil war had to flee their homes again through waist-high waters in what the government called "the worst floods in living memory." So far, 119 people have died and tens of thousands been made homeless since the flooding began in mid-June, but the figure may be higher as much of its vast swampland is inaccessible except by air.

In the tiny west African nation of Togo, 20 people are dead and 66,000 displaced after a deluge washed away 100 bridges and seven dams in the last week. The waters also destroyed 46 schools and some college buildings, forcing authorities to postpone the start of the school year.

French military helicopters from the peacekeeping mission in nearby Ivory Coast, which has also been affected, have been deployed to help airlift government-provided food and medical supplies to the needy.

In Burkina Faso, Amade Belem, who heads the country's national emergency management agency, said maize and millet farms were ruined.

"Our main concern is rehousing the population. We need food and medical supplies because it goes without saying that the conditions in which these people are living, there will be no shortage of disease," Belem said.

Five of the country's 13 regions have been affected and local media say the floods are the worst here since 1954.

In the oil giant of Nigeria, 68 people have died and 50,000 are affected, according to the Red Cross. Even the desert nations of Niger, Mali and Mauritania have been hit.

In some parts of Africa, officials say deforestation has exacerbated the problem.

Charles Ngiratware, the mayor of western Nyabihu district in Rwanda, said nearby Gishwati forest used to hold in far more floodwater and flash floods were not common. It was about 52,000 acres in 1981, but pressure to clear land for farming means it was only about 1,500 hectares by 2002.

"The reason the rains devastated this district is because of the deforestation of Gishwati natural forest," he said. Fifteen people, mainly women and children, have drowned after flash floods in his district this week.

____

Associated Press Writers Ebow Godwin in Lome, Togo; Brahima Ouedraogo in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso; Ahmed Mohamed in Nouakchott, Mauritania; Kimenyi Felly in Kigali, Rwanda; Kwasi Kpodo in Accra, Ghana; and Bradley S. Klapper in Geneva, Switzerland contributed to this report.

Fantasy novelist Robert Jordan dies at age 58

Mon Sep 17, 7:04 PM

By Bruce Smith

CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) - Author Robert Jordan, whose "Wheel of Time" series of fantasy novels sold millions of copies, died Sunday of a rare blood disease. He was 58.

Jordan, whose real name was James Oliver Rigney Jr., was born and lived in this southern city most of his life. He died at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston of complications from primary amyloidosis with cardiomyopathy, his personal assistant, Maria Simons, said Monday. The blood disease caused the walls of Rigney's heart to thicken.

He wrote a trilogy of historical novels set in Charleston under the pen name Reagan O'Neal in the early 1980s. Then he turned his attention to fantasy and the first volume in his Wheel of Time epic, "The Eye of the World," was published in 1990 under the name Robert Jordan.

Jordan's books tells of Rand al'Thor, who is destined to become the champion who will battle ultimate evil in a mythical land.

Book 11, "Knife of Dreams," came out in 2005; there was also a prequel, "New Spring: The Novel," in 2004. The other titles in the series include "The Great Hunt," "Lord of Chaos" and "The Path of Daggers." Jordan was working on a 12th volume at the time of his death, Simons said.

"The younger devotees of the series, who seem to be legion, have a habit of dutifully rereading the complete gospel before each addition. ... (Jordan) creates a universe simple enough to master and then challenges the characters to do the same in meticulously choreographed battles against chaos and dissolution."

In a 2004 online chat on the USA Today website, Jordan said he hoped to finish the main "Wheel" series in two more books. "It's not an absolute promise, but I'm very much hoping for it and I think I can do it," he wrote.

Most of the books made the New York Times list of bestsellers.

In an interview with The Associated Press in 2003, Jordan discussed having a bestseller. The first time it happens "you go out in the middle of the floor and you do a little dance. Then you go someplace booze is being served and buy a drink for everybody in the house.

"You have to have talent to some extent - I certainly hope I have talent - but you have to have luck as well," Jordan said. "Once you get that first shot, that will get you noticed for the rest of your books and that will give the rest of your books a better chance."

He said in the interview that his southern background came through in his work, even though it is set in a fantasy world.

13-Year-Old Struck, Killed Riding Bike
Crash Under Investigation

POSTED: 6:12 pm EDT September 17, 2007
UPDATED: 6:52 pm EDT September 17, 2007
[NEWSVINE: 13-Year-Old Struck, Killed Riding Bike] [DELICIOUS: 13-Year-Old Struck, Killed Riding Bike] [DIGG: 13-Year-Old Struck, Killed Riding Bike] [FACEBOOK: 13-Year-Old Struck, Killed Riding Bike] [REDDIT: 13-Year-Old Struck, Killed Riding Bike] [RSS] [PRINT: 13-Year-Old Struck, Killed Riding Bike] [EMAIL: 13-Year-Old Struck, Killed Riding Bike]
BOSTON -- A 13-year-old girl was struck and killed Monday while riding a bike in Walpole.

The teenager was riding a bike on Main Street when she was struck by an NSTAR truck as it turned into a utility yard, officials said.

The child, whose name hasn't been released, is a student at the Johnson Middle School.

"On behalf of all NSTAR employees, I want to express our deepest sympathy and sadness to the family of this young girl for the tragic accident that occurred today. This is something that every parent worries about and something that every driver is concerned about," NSTAR President Tom May said.

May said that the driver of the NSTAR vehicle was a long-standing employee who is distraught about the crash.

The crash remained under investigation.

NewsCenter 5 and TheBostonChannel.com will have more information when it becomes available.

Copyright 2007 by TheBostonChannel.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

A man is shot to death in Dorchester
Two others suffer bullet wounds in second attack
This man and another were shot last night in a parking lot but sustained injuries that were not life-threatening. This man and another were shot last night in a parking lot but sustained injuries that were not life-threatening. (Justine Hunt/globe staff)

By John C. Drake, Globe Staff | September 18, 2007

A man was shot to death at the Franklin Hill housing development in Dorchester last night, the same complex where two men were fatally shot while sitting in a car two months ago.

Officers at the scene were focusing last night on the stairwell and the entryway of 23 Shandon Road, a four-story building with multiple apartments. Several people gathered outside said police had stopped them from going home.

The shooting occurred about 8:10, said a Boston police spokesman, Officer James Kenneally. The victim, whose age and identity were not released, died at Boston Medical Center. Four people were taken in for questioning but were not arrested, police on the scene said.

Investigators also examined and impounded a dark Ford Explorer.

On July 12, Jeffrey Jones, 41, and Jarrid Campbell, 27, were slain while sitting in a car at the intersection of Franklin Hill Avenue and Shandon Road. And on Aug. 4, Jones's girlfriend, Danielle Grady, 30, was killed when a gunman fired into the car she was riding in on Dunkeld Street, about 2 miles from the housing development.

Bettie Jones, a 68-year-old Franklin Hill resident who was waiting to get to her apartment last night, said the shootings are frightening.

"It's even scarier when it's near your home," she said.

Bettie Jones said she saw one man placed on a stretcher shortly after the shooting.

Last night's death marked the 49th homicide in the city this year. Last year at this time, the city had seen 54 homicides.

Also last night in Dorchester, two people were shot at the intersection of Bowdoin Street and Geneva Avenue about 9:25 Kenneally said. The shooting was in the parking lot of a Walgreens. The injuries were not life-threatening, Kenneally said. No further information on the shooting was available.

Two hours earlier, a man was stabbed in the hand at 10 Putnam St. in Roxbury, after someone approached his car and tried to rob him, Kenneally said. The victim was taken to Boston Medical Center with injuries that were not life-threatening.

Globe correspondent Dan Peleschuk contributed to this report.
© Copyright 2007 Globe Newspaper Company.

Small plane crashes into North Carolina restaurant; 1 person killed

Fri Sep 21, 4:34 PM

CLAYTON, N.C. (AP) - A small plane plowed into the front entrance of a barbecue restaurant Friday morning, killing one person, believed to be the pilot.

According to witnesses, the crash did not hurt any employees at McCall's BBQ & Seafood Restaurant, which had yet to open.

"The front is completely gone," said Rhonda Hobbs, who lives behind the restaurant. "The plane is all the way on the inside." The crash around 10 a.m. "shook the house," she said.

Kathleen Bergen, a spokeswoman for the Federal Aviation Administration in Atlanta, said officials are only aware of one person killed. Johnston County spokesman Pat LaCarter said that although he could not confirm it was the pilot who died, all employees at the restaurant had been accounted for and that only one person was believed to have been on the plane.

Bergen said the plane was a single-engine Navion built in 1947, registered in Chantilly, Va. Bergen said officials don't believe there was a flight plan.

The plane "was a smaller airplane, flying low, out of controlled airspace," Bergen said.

Baby cribs recalled after three deaths

By ANN SANNER, Associated Press Writer Fri Sep 21, 7:47 PM ET

WASHINGTON - About 1 million Simplicity and Graco cribs have been recalled after three children became entrapped and suffocated.

The recall was announced by the Consumer Product Safety Commission on Friday, more than two years after a California lawyer says he alerted the federal agency about a 9-month-old who died in a faulty crib.

"Two years and two deaths is not fast enough. It's inexcusable that it took that long," said Charles Kelly, who represents the parents of the 9-month-old. Liam Johns of Citrus Heights, Calif., died in April 2005.

In addition to the Johns baby, a 6-month-old died in one of the cribs that was listed as part of Friday's recall. A 1-year-old child died in a newer model of the cribs, which has not been recalled but is being investigated by the safety agency, commission officials said.

In all three deaths, consumers had installed the drop-rail side of the crib upside down, the agency said. This creates a gap in the crib that children can slide into and suffocate.

Seven other infants have been entrapped in the cribs, according to the commission. There have been 55 reports of the cribs' drop sides detaching or the hardware failing to hold the side to the crib.

Kelly said he alerted the Consumer Product Safety Commission about the faulty crib in June 2005 but didn't hear from the agency again until this week, when the commission sent someone to pick up the crib. The cribs were sold in stores nationwide through May 2007.

Commission spokesman Scott Wolfson said the agency has the crib, but he would not comment on the specific details of the case because it is under investigation.

"When we learn of a crib-related death, we take it very seriously," Wolfson said. "Our No. 1 goal is to obtain custody of the dangerous product for the ability to look at it or analyze it."

Simplicity Inc., of Reading, Pa., manufactured all the cribs, which were made in China. The recalled cribs were sold under the Simplicity or Graco brands, from January 1998 through May 2007. The recall involves multiple models and model numbers.

"We feel comfortable that our products are safe," Simplicity President Ken Waldman said in a telephone interview.

The newer model cribs are safe, even though the 1-year-old died in one of the updated versions, Waldman said. "There are other factors involved with that case," he said, refusing to discuss the details because of the investigation.

Child advocate Nancy A. Cowles said she feared the recall could lead parents to let their children sleep in less safe environments, such in the parents' bed. "If this scares people out of cribs, then you are going to end up with other injuries," said Cowles, executive director of Kids In Danger.

Friday's recall was the second-largest of full-size cribs since the commission was created in 1972.

In a separate crib recall in June, the commission recalled about 40,000 Nursery-in-a-Box cribs, manufactured by Simplicity, because the assembly instructions incorrectly explained how to attach the drop side.

None of the cribs that Simplicity currently supplies to stores is included in a recall, the company said in a statement.

The commission, however, cautioned consumers who have the newer versions not covered by the recall to check to make sure the drop side is installed right side up and securely attached. The newer hardware has a flexible tab at the top of the lower track and a permanent stop at the bottom. The older hardware has a flexible tab at the bottom of the lower tracks.

In an earlier Simplicity crib recall, a 19-month-old child in Myrtle Creek, Ore., died Jan. 6, 2006, in a crib that carried the Graco logo, the commission said in February 2006. Mattress support slats came out of the crib, and the child suffocated after getting trapped between the mattress and the footboard. That type of crib had been included in a December 2005 recall of about 104,000 Aspen 3 in 1 Cribs.

Friday's recalled Simplicity crib models include: Aspen 3 in 1, Aspen 4 in 1, Nursery-in-a-Box, Crib N Changer Combo, Chelsea and Pooh 4 in 1. The recalled cribs with the Graco logo are the Aspen 3 in 1, Ultra 3 in 1, Ultra 4 in 1, Ultra 5 in 1, Whitney and the Trio.

The cribs have one of the following model numbers: 4600, 4605, 4705, 5000, 8000, 8324, 8800, 8740, 8910, 8994, 8050, 8750, 8760 and 8996. The numbers are on the envelope attached to the mattress support and on the label attached to the headboard.

The company is offering free repairs for cribs with older hardware. For more information, consumers can contact Simplicity at 888-593-9274.

___

On the Net:

Consumer Product Safety Commission: http://www.cpsc.gov

Simplicity: http://www.simplicityforchildren.com

Va. Tech inspired Delaware St. response

By RANDALL CHASE, Associated Press Writer Sat Sep 22, 10:00 AM ET

DOVER, Del. - Alex Bishoff heard five gunshots from inside his dorm room at Delaware State University and looked out his window to see people scattering. He immediately thought of the Virginia Tech shootings in April.

So did Delaware State officials. Even as two students who were shot were being transported to hospitals, campus police and residence hall advisers were knocking on doors and telling students to stay in their rooms.

Administrators mindful of the Virginia Tech massacre ordered a swift shutdown of the campus Friday, lowering gates to keep anyone from coming onto it, while police searched for the gunman.

"The biggest lesson learned from that whole situation at Virginia Tech is don't wait. Once you have an incident, start notifying the community," said university spokesman Carlos Holmes.

Students were warned within about 15 minutes, said Bishoff, 20, a freshman from Washington, D.C. "I think they handled it pretty well," he said.

The shootings, reported to police at 12:54 a.m. Friday, occurred as a group of students were returning from an on-campus cafe. A 17-year-old male student was in stable condition with a wound to the ankle; a female student, also 17, was shot in the abdomen and in serious condition.

John Stokes, a spokesman for the District of Columbia schools superintendent, identified the victims as Shalita Middleton and Nathaniel Pugh. Middleton attended Washington's Woodrow Wilson High School, and Pugh attended Dunbar High School, Stokes said. He said he did not know what year they graduated.

University police said they had identified two persons of interest, both students. Both were interviewed and then released, university spokesman Carlos Holmes said Saturday morning. Police had identified no suspects.

A federal law enforcement official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation was ongoing, had said the male victim refused to answer questions by police about the shootings, raising the likelihood that he knew his attacker.

But Holmes, who spoke to university police about the investigation, said that report was incorrect. "They said (the victim) is answering their questions," Holmes said.

The students were shot on the Campus Mall, between the Memorial Hall gymnasium and Richard S. Grossley Hall, an administrative building. Investigators believed the shootings may have been preceded by an argument at the cafe, and officials said it did not appear to be random.

"This is an internal problem," university President Allen Sessoms said. "There are no externalities ... this is just kids who did very, very stupid things."

Campus officials acted much more swiftly than officials at Virginia Tech did five months ago, when administrators delayed notifying students nearly two hours after gunman Seung-Hui Cho killed his first two victims. By then, he had already started shooting 30 other people in a classroom building across campus.

A report by a panel appointed by Virginia Gov. Timothy M. Kaine concluded that lives could have been saved if alerts had been sent out earlier and classes canceled after Cho killed his first two victims.

At Delaware State, officials didn't wait. By 2:11 a.m., Overton was meeting with another university official to discuss the school's response. Notices were posted in dormitories and the school Web site by about 2:40 a.m., and the decision to cancel classes was made shortly after 5 a.m., well before the school day started.

At Virginia Tech, the rampage began at 7 a.m. as students thronged the campus and headed to morning classes; at Delaware State, it happened in the middle of the night, when many students were in their dorm rooms.

The panel that investigated the response to the Virginia Tech shootings noted that it would have been tough to shut down the 2,600-acre Tech campus; Delaware State is only about 400 acres. But it appears Delaware State responded to the crisis well, said Gerald Massengill, who led the group.

"I think just like post-9/11, there's a post-April 16 mentality," he said.

Officials said access to the campus would remain limited Saturday, and that Saturday classes, a weekend farmers market and an alumni meeting had been canceled.

Delaware State, a historically black, 400-acre school with 3,690 students, began the school year mourning four victims of the Aug. 4 shootings that occurred at an elementary school in their hometown of Newark, N.J. The only survivor, helped police identify six suspects who have been arrested.

Holmes said there was no indication that Friday's shooting was related in any way to the New Jersey killings.

___

Associated Press writer Lara Jakes Jordan and Brett Zongker in Washington contributed to this report.

___

On the Net:

Delaware State University: http://www.desu.edu

French mime artist Marcel Marceau dies

Sun Sep 23, 9:49 AM

By Francois Murphy

PARIS (Reuters) - Marcel Marceau, the world's best-known mime artist who for decades moved audiences across the globe without uttering a single word, has died aged 84.

The Frenchman's extensive tours and appearances on camera brought his silent art to people around the world. His comic and tragic sketches appealed on a universal level, with each audience interpreting his performance in its own way.

"Mime, like music, knows neither borders nor nationalities," he once said. "If laughter and tears are the characteristics of humanity, all cultures are steeped in our discipline."

On stage, he charmed with his deft silent movements, a white-faced figure with a striped jersey and battered top hat.

Off stage, with the costume and the pancake makeup removed, Marceau was a slim, agile man whose eloquent description and explanation complemented his mute mastery of mime.

In mime, Marceau said, gestures express the essence of the soul's most secret aspiration. "To mime the wind, one becomes a tempest. To mime a fish, you throw yourself into the sea."

He created the figure of Bip, the melancholy, engaging clown with a limp red flower in his hat, 60 years ago this year.

"The mime Marceau will forever be the character of Bip," Prime Minister Francois Fillon said in a statement confirming the performer's death.

"He became one of the best-known French artists in the world. His students and the showbusiness world will miss him."

The exact cause of his death was not immediately known.

Marceau traced his ancestry back through U.S. silent film greats Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton to the clowns of the Commedia dell'Arte, a centuries-old European tradition, and to the stylised gestures of Chinese opera and Japan's Noh plays.

RESISTANCE

Marceau was born in the Alsatian town of Strasbourg on March 22, 1923. He was brought up in Lille, where his father was a butcher. When World War Two came, his father was taken hostage and later killed by the invading Nazis and in 1944 Marcel joined his elder brother in the Resistance.

He later joined the French Army and served with occupation forces in Germany at the end of the war.

He began to study acting in 1946 under Charles Dullin and the great mime teacher Etienne Decroux, who also taught Jean-Louis Barrault.

It was in Marcel Carne's famous 1947 film starring Barrault, "Les Enfants du Paradis," that Marceau, who played Arlequin, first became known as a mime artist.

He formed his own mime company in 1948, and the troupe was soon touring other European countries, presenting mime dramas. The company failed financially in 1959, but was revived as a school, the Ecole Internationale de Mimodrame, in 1984.

A veteran of dozens of films, one of his best remembered roles was a speaking cameo in "Silent Movie," made by American director Mel Brooks.

For Marceau, mime had a philosophical and political level.

One of his most famous sketches was "The Cage," in which he struggled to escape through an invisible ring of barriers, only to find that one cage succeeds another and there is no escape.

In Czechoslovakia before the Soviet-led invasion of 1968, he recalled that audiences understood it as an allegory about capitalism. After the invasion, they saw in it an image of themselves under Russian domination.

"I am a progressive, a man who deals for peace, and who has struggled for enlightenment in the world. I am not just an entertainer," he said.

"I want to be a man who will represent as an active witness my time, and who wants to say, without words, my feelings about the world."

Slain breeder had ties to Vick kennel
Dogs connected by records, but there is no link to April slaying, police in N.C. say

Friday, Sep 21, 2007 - 12:08 AM Updated: 08:52 AM

Article Tools
Email a FriendEmail a Friend
RSSRSS
digg itdigg it

Printer FriendlyPrinter Friendly
Mobile AlertsMobile Alerts
Sphere IT
deliciousSave This Page
By BILL GEROUX
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER

A pit bull breeder who was shot to death execution-style in rural North Carolina in April had business dealings with Bad Newz Kennels, Michael Vick's now-defunct dogfighting operation in Surry County, authorities said yesterday.

Maj. Coy Reid, chief deputy of the Catawba County, N.C., Sheriff's Office, said investigators have found no evidence that Vick or anyone else associated with Bad Newz Kennels was involved in the killing of Roy Thomas Melton, although the homicide remains unsolved.

Melton, 38, was found dead April 16 in his mobile home in a rural part of Catawba County, which is about an hour's drive northwest of Charlotte, N.C., Reid said. The motive remains unclear, but it does not seem to have been robbery because nothing was taken, he said.

Investigators discovered a treadmill and 33 pit bulls chained in a wooded area adjoining the trailer, Reid said. Some of the dogs bore wounds consistent with dogfighting, although there were no signs that fighting had taken place there, he said. All the dogs were euthanized.

Detectives poring over Melton's "meticulous" records found the names of several dogs that also appear in the federal indictments of Vick relating to Bad Newz Kennels, Reid said. Other evidence clearly shows Melton had had dealings over dogs with Bad Newz Kennels, Reid said, but he would not elaborate.

Reid said Catawba County authorities have been in touch with federal prosecutors and agents of the U.S. Department of Agriculture who have handled the Vick dogfighting case.

Vick, a quarterback with the Atlanta Falcons and former Virginia Tech star, pleaded guilty in Richmond federal court Aug. 27 to a dogfighting conspiracy charge that is likely to send him to prison for at least a year. Vick is to be sentenced Dec. 10 by U.S. District Judge Henry E. Hudson.

Vick also faces possible charges in Surry, whose grand jury is scheduled to convene Tuesday. Surry Commonwealth's Attorney Gerald Poindexter has not said whether he will seek to indict Vick then. Poindexter did not return calls yesterday.
Contact Bill Geroux at (757) 625-1358 or wgeroux@timesdispatch.com.

© 2007, Media General Inc. All Rights Reserved.

'At The Crease' artist Ken Danby remembered as Canada's storyteller

Mon Sep 24, 5:39 PM

By Lee-Anne Goodman, The Canadian Press

TORONTO - Ken Danby, recognized as one of the world's foremost realist artists and best-known in Canada for his iconic hockey painting, "At The Crease," has died at the age of 67 while canoeing in Algonquin Park.

Born in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., Danby's vast portfolio includes everything from portraits of famous Canadians to athletes in mid-play and landscape paintings so crystalline that at first glance they resemble photographs.

"He aspired to be - and in many ways achieved - the status of Canada's storyteller," Matthew Teitelbaum, director of the Art Gallery of Ontario, said in an interview on Monday.

"He wanted to be an artist who painted Canada in its heroic moments and in its everyday moments ... he wanted to tell people through his art that you could paint realistically and capture great emotion and generate great feeling, and he did."

Ken McGee, manager of the Danby Studio in Guelph, Ont., called his friend a Canadian treasure.

"He's been called a national icon and that's basically what he was," he said.

The prolific Danby was said to have known from a young age that he wanted to paint, and enrolled in the Ontario College of Art in 1958. His first one-man show in 1964 sold out, an occurrence that would become commonplace as his work proved popular with private, corporate and museum collectors.

When asked to identify his favourite work, he frequently replied: "My next one."

His 1972 painting of a masked hockey goalie hunched in the crease is considered by many to be a Canadian national symbol and is sometimes mistakenly thought to be a portrait of legendary netminder Ken Dryden. "Lacing Up," another hockey painting of someone tying his skates in a locker room, is almost equally iconic.

On his website, Danby recalled an encounter about "At The Crease": "One day, a woman complimented me on my painting 'At the Crease,' which she referred to as 'That painting you did of the goalie, Ken Dryden,"' he recalled.

"She said that she had long had a print of it in her home and really enjoyed it. I thanked her, but also explained that, 'It isn't an image of Ken Dryden.' Looking puzzled, she replied, 'Yes it is.' I responded, 'No it isn't.' After a long pause, she loudly exclaimed, 'Yes it is!' I quickly apologized, with the sudden realization that she was right. It's really whomever one wants it to be."

The goalie painting is Danby's most successful but there's a lot more to his work, McGee said.

"It's a worldwide image now. Over the years we have sold literally hundreds of thousands of those images - anybody who knows hockey knows that image and therefore knows Ken Danby," he said.

"But his reputation seemed to be, from the public point of view, that of a sports artist and he was certainly much, much, much more than that. His works ranged from sports images and panoramic landscapes to huge oils and figurative works and just some stunning works. Particularly in the last few years, his work has expanded both in size and imagery."

In the 1980s, Danby prepared a series of watercolours on the Americas Cup and the Canadian athletes at the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo.

He also served on the governing board of the Canada Council and as a member of the Board of Trustees of the National Gallery of Canada. McGee said Danby, who continued to paint avidly, was on the lookout for new inspiration while canoeing with his wife, Gillian, in Ontario's pristine Algonquin Park on Sunday.

"He died gathering information for more paintings," said McGee, who remembered his friend as "amenable, friendly, approachable, kind and generous."

Danby was also touched by admirers of his work.

"When my painting, 'Acapulco,' was first exhibited, I happened to be in the gallery one day and observed a gentleman standing in front of it for the longest time, seemingly lost in thought," he once recalled. "Suddenly and quite unconsciously, I'm sure, he concluded his absorption by rising up on tip-toes, as if by doing so he just might be able to see behind the diving board. What a compliment!"

Danby was a big supporter of the arts, and frequently railed against the lack of arts education in the public school system.

"The arts are just as important as math and science in education, and just as important as any other endeavour in our lives," he said. "Art is a necessity. Art is an absolutely essential part of our enlightenment process. We cannot, as a species, as a civilized society, regard ourselves as being enlightened without the arts."

In 1975, Danby was elected a member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts. He was also been a recipient of the Jessie Dow Prize, the 125th Anniversary Commemorative Medal of Canada, the City of Sault Ste. Marie's Award of Merit and both the Queen's Silver and Golden Jubilee Medals.

In 2001, he was vested in both the Order of Ontario and the Order of Canada.

Ontario provincial police say Danby collapsed while canoeing on North Tea Lake. He was transported by air ambulance to North Bay General Hospital where he was pronounced dead.

He's survived by his wife and three sons.

"Batman" film technician dies in accident
Tuesday September 25 11:33 AM ET

A special effects technician involved in the filming of the new Batman movie has died in a car accident, the film's producers said on Tuesday.

An investigation has been launched after the man was killed when his 4x4 vehicle crashed into a tree during a dummy film run, Warner Brothers said in a statement.

The studio said that none of the cast, which includes several Hollywood stars, was involved in the accident that occurred at a special effects facility.
OMG, yes - Thank God For THAT! Heaven forbid that any one of those precious "stars" get a single hiar from their head singed - EVER! What would we do if we lost Batty Bale or Lurid Ledger - how could we make do without their brand of "neo-westerns" for instance; where cowboys are sometimes angst-ridden and without a clue or simply gay and without a clue!? Let no one mess with Silverado ever again, I say! But I digress... "Stars" must live forever. A mere FX techie; that's expendable! BUT GOD SAVE OUR STARS; puh-leeze!

It added the fatal crash did not happen on the set or during filming for "Batman: The Dark Knight." A project that should have never even BEEN in the first place - if that is what "it" was trying to express, RIGHT ON! But I doubt it is what "it" was saying there...

Media reports said the vehicle was following a stunt car, believed to be the Batmobile, at a property near Chertsey, Surrey.

"There was a fatal accident ... at a special effects facility for "The Dark Knight," the studio said in a statement. "A special effects technician on the film was in a truck that struck a tree at the end of a test run-through."

The name of the deceased has not been released.

An HSE spokesman added: "There was filming of some sort involving a vehicle stunt and there was an accident.

"It appears one vehicle was undertaking some stunt driving and another 4x4 provided the camera platform. The second vehicle and a camera operator were involved in a collision with a tree."

"Batman: The Dark Knight," starring Christian Bale, Michael Caine as his butler, Gary Oldman, Heath Ledger and Morgan Freeman, is due for release in the United Kingdom next year.

Most of the film, British director Christopher Nolan's follow-up to "Batman Begins," has been shot in Chicago, with other scenes from London and Hong Kong.

21 Tamil Tigers killed in clashes
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka, Sept. 27 (UPI) --

Sri Lankan forces have killed at least 21 Tamil Tiger rebels in the country's troubled northern region after an explosion killed two civilians.

Udaya Nankara, a Sri Lankan defense spokesman, said 14 of the guerrillas were killed late Wednesday night during an attempt to breach the Muhamalai forward defense line, The Press Trust of India reported Thursday.

He said as many as seven additional rebels were killed in continuing clashes Thursday.

Tamil Tiger communications revealed that an area leader was among those killed by the security forces but no official response has been made to the death.

The Sri Lankan army said two civilians were killed and 17 others were injured when a bomb that was concealed in a bicycle detonated.

© UPI, Headline News Powered by Bravenet.com

At least 52 killed in Vietnam bridge collapse

Wed Sep 26, 10:38 AM

HANOI (AFP) - A bridge under construction in southern Vietnam collapsed on Wednesday killing at least 52 people and leaving dozens injured, state television reported.

About 250 labourers and engineers were working on the bridge in Vinh Long province when it gave way, sending slabs of concrete crashing into the river below, officials said.

"The latest death toll has reached 52 now," Vietnam Television said in an evening broadcast updating earlier tolls.

A senior police officer earlier said at least 38 were killed but he also had reports of a higher toll.

"We have received reports of the death toll reaching 38," said Le Van Ut, deputy director of the provincial police department, adding he had reports of up to 52 killed.

Rescuers were still working Wednesday night to free others trapped under slabs of broken concrete. About 150 military personnel have been mobilised to help with the rescue efforts, officials said.

People trapped under the rubble were making noises to attract attention and families of suspected victims were joining the rescue effort, the online newspaper VNExpress said.

"The top priority now is rescue work," said Ngo Thinh Duc, vice transport minister told VTV.

"The most difficult thing now is to dismantle the huge fallen concrete blocks to save people underneath," he told VTV.

One witness said he heard a very loud noise at one end of the bridge and then screams from workers for help.

"Workers started shouting. The scene was terrible as a giant concrete block fell onto so many people working underneath," worker Manh Hung was quoted by the VNExpress newspaper's website as saying.

About 79 of those injured were still being treated in hospital Wednesday evening, VTV reported, adding "17 were in very serious condition."

Officials previously talked about more than 160 injured in the disaster.

Deputy vice chairman of the Can Tho People's Committee, Pham Phuoc Nhu, said recent rains in the area might have weakened the structure as well as scaffolding attached to the bridge.

"So much rain over the last few days might have weakened and caused the collapse of the two bridge piers, leading also to the fall of the scaffolding system," Nhu said.

VNExpress quoted police sources as saying a weakened scaffolding system fell down, leading to the collapse of parts of the bridge that were only set in concrete on Tuesday.

Funded by the Japanese government, the 16-kilometre (10-mile) long bridge was being built across the Hau river and to link Can Tho and Vinh Long provinces. Japan was expected to donate up to 24,8 billion yen (215 million dollars for the project.

A Japanese embassy spokesman in Hanoi, Seiki Furudate, said it had not heard of any Japanese victims in the accident.

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, in New York for the United Nations General Assembly, sent an urgent message asking authorities to instigate a major rescue operation and investigate the cause of the accident.

VNExpress said construction on the site started in September 2004. The bridge was expected to be completed next year, it added.

"We have not known of any foreign engineers among the victims," police officer Hung told AFP from the site.

6 die from brain-eating amoeba after swimming
Rare organism that lives in lakes entered victims’ bodies through the nose
Most Popular
• Most Viewed • Top Rated • Most E-mailed
Woman missing 8 days found alive in ravine
Some types of cancer cause divorce
Lost at Sea
Police find older of two girls on sex tape
Shades of ‘Oliver Twist’
Most viewed on MSNBC.com
A girl and her dog share fictional adventures
For monks in Myanmar, an uphill battle
The Problem With Burma
Germs taken to space come back stronger
Hope over tumor-killing skin cancer drug
Most viewed on MSNBC.com
Feds raid pot-laced-candy factory in Calif.
Nickelodeon to go dark to get kids to go play
3 drinks a day raises breast cancer risk
Shades of ‘Oliver Twist’
Michael Jackson did not get married again
Most viewed on MSNBC.com
Updated: 2:36 p.m. ET Sept 28, 2007

PHOENIX - It sounds like science fiction but it’s true: A killer amoeba living in lakes enters the body through the nose and attacks the brain where it feeds until you die.

Even though encounters with the microscopic bug are extraordinarily rare, it’s killed six boys and young men this year. The spike in cases has health officials concerned, and they are predicting more cases in the future.

“This is definitely something we need to track,” said Michael Beach, a specialist in recreational waterborne illnesses for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Story continues below ↓advertisement

“This is a heat-loving amoeba. As water temperatures go up, it does better,” Beach said. “In future decades, as temperatures rise, we’d expect to see more cases.”

According to the CDC, the amoeba called Naegleria fowleri (nuh-GLEER-ee-uh FOWL’-erh-eye) killed 23 people in the United States, from 1995 to 2004. This year health officials noticed a spike with six cases — three in Florida, two in Texas and one in Arizona. The CDC knows of only several hundred cases worldwide since its discovery in Australia in the 1960s.

In Arizona, David Evans said nobody knew his son, Aaron, was infected with the amoeba until after the 14-year-old died on Sept. 17. At first, the teen seemed to be suffering from nothing more than a headache.

“We didn’t know,” Evans said. “And here I am: I come home and I’m burying him.”

After doing more tests, doctors said Aaron probably picked up the amoeba a week before while swimming in the balmy shallows of Lake Havasu, a popular man-made lake on the Colorado River between Arizona and California.

Deadly infection
Though infections tend to be found in southern states, Naegleria lives almost everywhere in lakes, hot springs, even dirty swimming pools, grazing off algae and bacteria in the sediment.

Beach said people become infected when they wade through shallow water and stir up the bottom. If someone allows water to shoot up the nose — say, by doing a somersault in chest-deep water — the amoeba can latch onto the olfactory nerve.

The amoeba destroys tissue as it makes its way up into the brain, where it continues the damage, “basically feeding on the brain cells,” Beach said.

People who are infected tend to complain of a stiff neck, headaches and fevers. In the later stages, they’ll show signs of brain damage such as hallucinations and behavioral changes, he said.

Once infected, most people have little chance of survival. Some drugs have stopped the amoeba in lab experiments, but people who have been attacked rarely survive, Beach said.

Click for related content
21 people may be ill from E. coli-tainted burgers
Scientists find hundreds of new cold viruses
Woman left in CT scanner after clinic closes

“Usually, from initial exposure it’s fatal within two weeks,” he said.

Researchers still have much to learn about Naegleria. They don’t know why, for example, children are more likely to be infected, and boys are more often victims than girls.

“Boys tend to have more boisterous activities (in water), but we’re not clear,” Beach said.

Extremely rare
In central Florida, authorities started an amoeba phone hotline advising people to avoid warm, standing water and areas with algae blooms. Texas health officials also have issued warnings.

People “seem to think that everything can be made safe, including any river, any creek, but that’s just not the case,” said Doug McBride, a spokesman for the Texas Department of State Health Services.

Officials in the town of Lake Havasu City are discussing whether to take action. “Some folks think we should be putting up signs. Some people think we should close the lake,” city spokesman Charlie Cassens said.
Story continues below ↓advertisement

Beach cautioned that people shouldn’t panic about the dangers of the brain-eating bug. Cases are still extremely rare considering the number of people swimming in lakes. The easiest way to prevent infection, Beach said, is to use nose clips when swimming or diving in fresh water.

“You’d have to have water going way up in your nose to begin with” to be infected, he said.

David Evans has tried to learn as much as possible about the amoeba over the past month. But it still doesn’t make much sense to him. His family had gone to Lake Havasu countless times. Have people always been in danger? Did city officials know about the amoeba? Can they do anything to kill them off?

Evans lives within eyesight of the lake. Temperatures hover in the triple digits all summer, and like almost everyone else in this desert region, the Evanses look to the lake to cool off.

It was on David Evans’ birthday Sept. 8 that he brought Aaron, his other two children, and his parents to Lake Havasu. They ate sandwiches and spent a few hours splashing around.

“For a week, everything was fine,” Evans said.

Click for related content
21 people may be ill from E. coli-tainted burgers
Scientists find hundreds of new cold viruses
Woman left in CT scanner after clinic closes

Then Aaron got the headache that wouldn’t go away. At the hospital, doctors first suspected meningitis. Aaron was rushed to another hospital in Las Vegas.

“He asked me at one time, ’Can I die from this?”’ David Evans said. “We said, ’No, no.”’

On Sept. 17, Aaron stopped breathing as his father held him in his arms.

“He was brain dead,” Evans said. Only later did doctors and the CDC determine that the boy had been infected with Naegleria.

“My kids won’t ever swim on Lake Havasu again,” he said.

© 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Dead? You still have to pay library fine

Wed Sep 26, 10:18 PM ET

HARRISON, N.Y. - Even the dead apparently have to pay the fines on their overdue books at one Westchester County library. Elizabeth Schaper said she was charged a 50-cent late fee while turning in a book that her late mother had checked out of a Harrison Public Library branch.

"I was in shock," Schaper said. "This has rocked me to my core."

Schaper's mother, Ethel Schaper, died at the age of 87 on Sept. 16 after suffering a massive stroke. A few days later, Schaper said she found a library book, "The Price of Silence," by Camilla Trinchieri, that her mother had checked out from the library.

"My mother was an avid reader — she read an average of two books a week," Schaper said. "She was a frequent patron of the library."

Schaper said she returned the book last week, and was stunned when the man behind the library counter told her of the 50-cent fee.

"I told him that maybe he didn't hear me right, that my mother had just died, otherwise I'm sure that she would have returned it on time," Schaper said. "His only reply was that, 'That will be 50 cents.'"

Connie Perrotta, a secretary for the director of the Harrison Public Library, confirmed the incident occurred but said that the library would have no comment.

Schaper said a couple days after the incident another library employee called to apologize and offered to return the fine she had paid.

___

Information from: The Journal News, http://www.thejournalnews.com

Bond's Moneypenny, Lois Maxwell, Dies
Sunday September 30 10:22 AM ET

LONDON (AP) Lois Maxwell, who starred as Miss Moneypenny in 14 James Bond movies, has died, the British Broadcasting Corp. reported Sunday. She was 80.

The Canadian-born actress starred alongside Sean Connery in the first James Bond movie, "Dr. No," in 1962 as the secretary to M, the head of the secret service.

She died Saturday night at Fremantle Hospital near her home in Perth, Australia, the BBC cited a hospital official as saying.

Bond star Roger Moore said she was suffering from cancer.

"It's rather a shock," Moore, who had known her since they were students at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in 1944, told BBC radio.

"She was always fun and she was wonderful to be with," he said.

Born Lois Hooker in Ontario, Canada, in 1927, she began her acting on radio before moving to Britain with the Entertainment Corps of the Canadian army at the age of 15, the BBC said.

In the late 1940s, she moved to Hollywood and won a Golden Globe for her part in the Shirley Temple comedy "That Hagen Girl."

After working in Italy, she returned to Britain in the mid-1950s.

In addition to her 14 appearances as Miss Moneypenny, she also acted in Stanley Kubrick's "Lolita" and worked on TV shows including "The Saint" "The Baron, Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased)," and "The Persuaders!," the BBC said.

She was 58 when she appeared in her final Bond film, 1985's "A View To A Kill." She was replaced by 26-year-old Caroline Bliss for "The Living Daylights."

Her last film was a 2001 thriller called "The Fourth Angel," alongside Jeremy Irons.

++++
At 2:34 PM, Luminous (\ô/) Luciano™ said...: Gunmen kill nine in Russian village
MAKHACHKALA, Russia, Sept. 30 (UPI) --

A group of unidentified gunmen killed nine people this weekend in the Russian village of Gonada and escaped before authorities could arrive.

The interior ministry for the Dagestan Republic said the armed assailants came to the village regarding a cash debt and unknown circumstances lead to the deadly shooting, Itar-Tass reported Sunday.

An Interior Ministry investigative group was at the scene of Saturday's deadly shooting.

Meanwhile, another ministry dispatch said another group of unidentified gunmen shot and killed a 57-year-old Muslim official in the village of Gubden. One report said the deadly shooting occurred because the man was an opponent of an radical Islamic trend known as Wahhabism, Itar-Tass reported.

Print article · Return to Website · Email This Article

© UPI, Headline News
Powered by Bravenet.com

+++