Gutta-percha picture frames are unique

Most antiquers are familiar with old photographic portraits set,singly or in pairs, into decoratively molded cases.

During the last century, early photographs were commonly mountedin square, rectangular or round cases formed from gutta-percha, arubberlike plastic. Produced in muddy shades of brown, black and(less frequently) green, the material was used for a variety ofmoldings.

Some molded frames were works of art. Hinged and oftenfeaturing an ornamental clasp, they opened to reveal a decorativegilt border and sometimes plush accents surrounding a prized photo.

Dorothy Kliebhan of Antique Treasures (Booth 55) at the AntiqueMarket III, 413 W. Main in …

Risk-Takers: What Makes Them Tick?

NEW YORK - Steve Fossett's wealth made his epic adventures possible, but his relentless willingness to take risks is shared by other on-the-edge thrill-seekers whose exploits and setbacks have long fascinated psychologists as well as the public at large.

What prompts climbers to return to the mountains after losing toes to frostbite and partners to fatal falls? What prompts daredevil Alain Robert, the self-proclaimed "Spiderman," to scale scores of the world's tallest structures with bare hands and no safety net?

"When you get to the very bottom of people who take risks, it's the thrill of it," said Temple University psychologist Frank Farley. "It can be a physical …

CarMax 1Q earns fall, but tops view

Auto retailer CarMax says its fiscal first-quarter profit fell 2.7 percent on a double-digit sales drop. Its results still beat Wall Street expectations.

Richmond, Virginia-based Carmax Inc. said Friday it earned $28.7 million, or 13 cents per share, in the three months ended May 31. That's down from $29.6 million, or 13 cents per share, a year ago.

The latest results include a …

Clinton's Latest Cover-up Gains Public Exposure

Let's hope President Clinton has a sense of humor about histhighs. People magazine's Susan Ollinick sent him a pair oflonger-legged shorts to promote the "Best & Worst Dressed" issue.Though the issue doesn't come out until Sept. 12, both the …

Favorite Royal Delta wins BC Ladies' Classic

LOUISVILLE, Kentucky (AP) — Royal Delta rallied in the final furlong to win the $2 million Ladies' Classic by 2½ lengths in the opening day finale of the Breeders' Cup.

Ridden by Jose Lezcano, Royal Delta ran 1 1-8 miles in 1:50.78 under the lights Friday night at Churchill Downs to give Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott his second straight win …

Berkshire shareholders get reassurances as they worry about company future after Buffett goes

Warren Buffett tried to reassure his shareholders Saturday that Berkshire Hathaway will be fine once he is gone, but the 77-year-old billionaire offered few new details of the company's succession plan.

Berkshire vice chairman Charlie Munger may have done more to reassure the roughly 31,000 shareholders at the company's annual meeting.

"Well, we still have a rising young man here named Warren Buffett," Munger said, to which Buffett joked that everyone seems young to the 84-year-old Munger.

Munger continued: "I think we want to encourage this rising young man to reach his full potential."

Several shareholders still …

Bush aide denies war decision came early

WASHINGTON -- National security adviser Condoleezza Riceforcefully disputed on Sunday an assertion that President Bushdecided in early January 2003 to invade Iraq, three months beforeofficial accounts say the decision was made.

The statement, in Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward's new bookabout the run-up to war, is "simply not, not right," Rice said.

Bush told reporters a prime-time news conference on March 6 that aU.N. Security Council resolution authorizing action was days away.Ten days later, having failed to win approval, the resolution waswithdrawn, and the assault began March 20.

Rice did not deny the private conversation between her and Bushjust …

Nigeria's Obasanjo wins rare support on constitution

Nigeria's Obasanjo wins rare support on constitution

President Olusegun Obasanjo won rare encouragement last week when moderate Yorubas of his home region signaled support for his controversial plan to amend Nigeria's constitution.

"I was told I was going to have an empty hall here," Information Minister Jerry Gana told a packed audience at a presentation of the planned amendments in the southwestern city of Ibadan, an opposition stronghold.

"I am seeing here leaders in this zone who are respected throughout the country," Gana said.

Most of the politicians, traditional and church leaders as well as senior officials came at the invitation of the government. …

US Government seizes control of mortgage giants

The Bush administration seized control Sunday of troubled mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, aiming to stabilize the housing market turmoil that is threatening financial markets and the overall economy.

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson is betting that providing fresh capital to the two firms will eventually lead to lower mortgage rates, spur homebuying demand and slow the plunge in home prices that has ravaged many areas of the country.

The huge potential liabilities facing each company, as a result of soaring mortgage defaults, could cost taxpayers tens of billions of dollars, but Paulson stressed that the financial impacts if the two companies had …

Our views: ; A better way to start a new year in W.Va.; Mines cannot be switched on and off; like the lights that they help power

A better way to start a new year in W.Va. Mines cannot beswitched on and off like the lights that they help power

IN November, U.S. District Judge Robert Chambers suspended thesurface mining permits for two coal mines in Clay County. Miningcould continue on a limited basis until Jan. 23, he said.

The judge agreed with environmental groups that the U.S. ArmyCorps of Engineers had violated the Clean Water Act and NationalEnvironmental Policy Act when it issued permits for Penn Virginia'sNellis surface mine and Consol's Ike Fork mines.

He called for the permit process to begin anew.

"The court realizes that the procedural flaw identified byplaintiffs did …

Man Hoisting After Heist in Hoosegow

PORT TOWNSEND, Wash. - A man who was buying rounds of drinks at a pub on St. Patrick's Day, after earlier complaining he was broke, has been charged with robbing a bank that morning.

About $1,000 was taken from a Washington Mutual Bank soon after the bank opened at about 9 a.m. Saturday. Police found some cash in a room rented by Daniel Lee Semingson, 35, along with several drafts of a robbery note, police Sgt. Ed Green said.

Semingson was arrested Sunday and charged Monday with first-degree robbery in Jefferson County …

Molde wins second straight game in Norway

Senegalese pair Makhtar Thioune and Mame Biram Diouf scored the goals as Molde beat Bodo-Glimt 3-1 in the Norwegian league on Sunday.

Midfielder Thioune opened the scoring with a header in the 26th minute before striker Diouf scored twice for the second straight game, heading home in the 59th and 75th minutes.

Thomas Ronning pulled one back for visiting Bodo-Glimt in the 86th.

"There were a lot of players who wanted a lot in this game," said Molde coach Kjell Jonevret, whose side tops the standings after the first two games of the season. …

4th Sextuplet in Minn. Dies in Hospital

MINNEAPOLIS - Only two of the sextuplets born to a Minnesota couple were still alive Monday, and both remained in critical condition, hospital officials said.

The fourth sextuplet to die, Cadence Alana Morrison, died Saturday morning, officials at Children's Hospital in Minneapolis said. Three of her brothers died within the first week of their June 10 birth.

Parents Ryan and Brianna Morrison of St. Louis Park released a statement through the hospital saying: "Though our difficult time continues, our faith remains strong. Our families, friends, and churches have provided us with great comfort, for which we are deeply grateful."

The couple also thanked hospital staff, and asked for continued prayers of supporters.

Sextuplets Lucia Rae and Sylas Christopher, remained in critical condition Monday in the hospital's neonatal intensive care unit.

The babies were born about 4 1/2 months early. The smallest of the six weighed only 11 ounces at birth, and the largest was a little over a pound.

Hospital officials said no further information would be released and the Morrisons were not talking with the media.

The Morrisons, both 24, spent more than a year trying to conceive before Brianna Morrison started taking fertility drugs, according to the couple's Web site.

---

On the Net:

Ryan and Brianna Morrison: http://morrison6.com

An Asian adventure in Niles

As someone who has eaten steamed sand worms in Quemoy and still-wriggling shrimp in Tokyo, I know the Far East is a mecca for unexpected gastronomical delights . . . OK, perhaps "delights" is not the right word; you cannot call the snake bile sold in Taipei a "delight."

So let's say "challenges," at least to Westerners unaccustomed to the chewiness of octopi or the crunch of seaweed. Unfamiliar food can seem gross, but there is also a certain Geronimo thrill as you pop something unfamiliar into the old pie hole.

That said, Asia is far away, and you can't be hurrying there every time you have a hankering for bean paste. Luckily, you don't have to -- by now the shelves at every local Dominick's groan with tubes of green wasabi and bins of fresh bok choy.

Still, those limited sections don't offer the overwhelming, I-have-a-feeling-we're-not-in-Kansas-anymore-Toto strangeness of actually being there. For that, you have to journey all the way to Niles, to visit the Super H Mart, an enormous Korean supermarket showcasing the cuisines of China, Japan and points east.

My wife had previously taken the boys, who are well-versed in the joys of free samples from years of prowling Costco like a pair of hungry wolves. They were radiant at the prospect of visiting Super H Mart (slogan: "Better food, better life!"), and the moment we walked in, I could see why -- the place is teeming with eager employees offering little paper cups of hot soup, small cubes of fried tofu and dozens of other dishes.

After nearly a half-century of vigorous eating, plus several visits to East Asia, I thought I was at least familiar with Asian cuisine but found myself wandering the aisles, amazed at the sheer unexpected variety. Black goat stew. Acorn starch. Rice powder. Purple yam ice cream. Grass Jelly Drink. Tea-flavored sponge cake.

Here the free samples helped. "Hong Cho Drinking Vinegar" -- the concept never crossed my mind, and, when it did, I can't say my first thought was "bottoms up."

But Ross ran over with a sample of the stuff. My wife took one whiff and cringed, but I was game, and you know what? It really is good, or at least good enough to plunk down $7.99 for a bottle.

We bought sheets of dried seaweed, a tub of neon green fish roe, a loaf of chestnut bread. The boys grabbed bottles of melon soda and aloe drink, and I had to pick up cans of Yeo's White Gourd Drink and Foco Pennywort Drink.

We Americans are a shrink-wrapped people -- we like lots of packaging, and lots of distance between the preparation of our food and our shopping exertions.

Not so in Asia, nor at Super H, where men in rubber gloves stood in the store aisle mixing a huge glass basin of kimchi, the ubiquitous Korean reddish cabbage dish, which was then sold in enormous jars.

Fish is big in Asia, and the Super H seafood section is huge and varied: kingfish, butterfish, filefish, beltfish, cod, red mullet, live tilapia moseying around a big tank and iced piles of no-longer-live fish, lovely in repose, with delicate silver scales, pinkish skin, staring glassy eyes and little toothy mouths, gaping open as if in mute protest to this unexpected indignity.

Several ladies were lined up at a stainless steel trough, snapping long metal tongs expectantly, and, out of curiosity, I joined them, just as a worker in a white smock showed up with four round, rough wooden baskets filled with blue crabs ($1.99 a pound).

He began tossing the live crabs into the trough, and the women went after them with their tongs.

My family gathered nearby and spontaneously voted for a blue crab dinner, nominating me as the officially designated crab collector, a dubious honor, given the difficulty of snaring the obstinate, rebarbative, scuttling clawed beasties. Suddenly, the origins of the word "crabby" became clear.

Back home, cooking the crabs was also a challenge -- poised over the pot, one managed to grab onto the tongs, and though he didn't cry out "I want to live!" as I tried to shake him off, he might as well have.

Did I say "he?" I mean "it."

Each blue crab yields about a teaspoon of meat, making the whole endeavor seem like senseless murder. But everyone else said the crab-eating process was good, messy fun, though to me it seemed like a low-budget restaging of "Alien." I cracked open a can of White Gourd Drink and gamely choked back the sweet fluid, which tastes . . . ummm . . . Ross nailed what I was trying to describe.

"Like liquid marshmallows," he said. "Burnt marshmallows."

I'm certain that someday, as our population blends and obscure Asian culinary tastes become a quotidian part of the glorious American fabric, no one will think twice about stopping by McDonald's for some black goat stew, nor will they peer dubiously into their glass of green aloe drink, as I did, musing that the aloe suspended therein looks disquietingly like phlegm.

That day has not yet arrived, though Super H Mart is definitely here, now, in Niles of all places.

TODAY'S CHUCKLE

Ever notice on a box of cookies it says, "Open here." What do they think you're gonna do -- move to Hong Kong to open their cookies?

--George Carlin

Photo: Joel Lerner, Pioneer Press / Shoppers are given samples of boiled pork belly during Super H Mart's Asian Food Festival earlier this year. ;

No royal wedding break for snooker, cricket

LONDON (AP) — While sports icons David Beckham and Ian Thorpe join the celebrities and dignitaries inside Westminster Abbey for Friday's royal wedding, cricketers and snooker players will be trying to ignore the hoopla and carry on with their jobs as usual.

Just when Kate Middleton arrives at the abbey at 11 a.m. for her marriage to Prince William, the first ball will be bowled — weather permitting — in the third day of the county cricket match between Middlesex and Surrey at Lord's, a short underground ride away in northwest London.

By that time, play will have been under way for an hour in the televised second session of the first semifinal of snooker's world championship, featuring Judd Trump of England and Ding Junhui of China, in the northern English city of Sheffield.

The British government is predicting a global television audience of 2 billion for the royal wedding but Trump, snooker's new sensation, won't be tuning in.

"It's not too much of a disappointment to miss it," he said.

Friday is a national holiday for the wedding, but cricket and snooker have refused to change their schedules for the occasion.

"It was never a consideration to cancel the fixture," Middlesex spokesman Steven Fletcher told The Associated Press. "It was more a case of embracing the royal wedding than anything else. We are actually hoping for a bumper crowd."

To satisfy royal enthusiasts, Middlesex will show the wedding on giant screens around the ground as part of the club's Royal Wedding Street Party celebrations — allowing spectators to watch Kate and William exchange vows while hearing the thwack of cricket bats echo around one of Britain's most famous sporting venues.

The popularity of snooker has slightly dipped in recent years in Britain but the highly anticipated semifinal between Trump and Ding, two of the sport's rising stars, has captured the imagination of fans and provides armchair viewers with a dilemma.

The BBC will provide live coverage of the wedding on its primary channel, BBC1, while the snooker will be shown live on BBC2 — and on Eurosport.

"It will be interesting to see what the viewing figures are like," World Snooker spokesman Ivan Hirschowitz said. "We're fairly confident we'll keep our viewers."

Ding is one of the biggest sporting names in China, behind NBA star Yao Ming and hurdler Liu Xiang. Ding's match against Trump will be aired on the state television sports channel in China, where the royal wedding is not a major event for average Chinese.

The union of Kate and William, who is the president of England's Football Association and a patron of the Welsh Rugby Union, will have a sporting flavor of its own. They have invited a smattering of high-profile names from the world of sport for their big day.

Beckham became close to William last year when the pair worked together during England's failed bid to host the 2018 World Cup. The former England captain is taking a short break from the Los Angeles Galaxy to attend the wedding, but will fly back to the United States on Saturday morning in time to play for the Major League Soccer club.

Another member of the football fraternity invited to the wedding is Trevor Brooking, the ex-England and West Ham midfielder who is currently an FA director.

From rugby, England center Mike Tindall, who is due to marry Zara Phillips — Queen Elizabeth II's eldest granddaughter — on July 30, will attend along with Wales flanker Martyn Williams and England's 2003 World Cup-winning coach Clive Woodward.

New Zealand captain Richie McCaw rejected an invite due to his club duties with the Crusaders and Ireland captain Brian O'Driscoll also chose to turn down an opportunity to attend, ensuring he won't miss a training session with Leinster ahead of Saturday's European Cup match against French giant Toulouse.

"As big an honor as it was to be invited, I can't ask for team runs to be at 6:30 in the evening so I can go to the wedding," O'Driscoll told British newspaper The Guardian. "It's going to be an incredible thing, with 2 billion watching, but I'll be at home preparing for Toulouse."

Jockey Sam Waley-Cohen, who rode Long Run to success in both the King George VI Chase and the Cheltenham Gold Cup this year, will be present. After all, it was at a party hosted by Waley-Cohen at his family home in 2007 that William and Kate rekindled their romance after they had split for a short while.

Horse racing will be in full action Friday afternoon, hours after the ceremony.

Four of the five meets — Doncaster, Fontwell, Bangor-on-Dee and Leicester — have their racedays dedicated to the royal wedding. A horse called Royal Wedding, currently an 8-1 shot with some bookmakers, is scheduled to run in the 5:30 p.m. race at Fontwell.

With royal wedding fever big in Australia, Thorpe — one of the country's biggest sports stars — made the exclusive guest list.

The multiple Olympic swimming gold medalist met William for the first time last year, according to Australian media. The prince has since supported Thorpe's charitable organization — the Fountain for Youth — which focuses on improving health and education for children.

Surprise finalist vs SWilliams at Wimbledon

The contrast between the women's finalists at Wimbledon couldn't be greater.

On one side of the net Saturday will be Serena Williams, hoping to celebrate her 13th Grand Slam title.

On the other side will be Russian Vera Zvonareva, playing in her first major final and trying to shake a reputation for temper tantrums and fading in big matches.

In a tournament filled with surprises, the success of the hard-hitting Russian ranks with the warm, dry weather. Long regarded as an underachiever prone to self-destruction, the No. 21-seeded Zvonareva beat former No. 1s Kim Clijsters and Jelena Jankovic en route to the final. She also teamed with Elena Vesnina to beat the top-ranked Williams sisters in the quarterfinals of doubles.

In her past two singles victories, Zvonareva rallied from a set down.

"Experience helps me a lot," said Zvonareva, 25. "I've been in a lot of different situations in the past of my career, and I think I know how to turn the matches around much better now."

She was once a teenage prodigy, reaching the French Open quarterfinals in 2003 at age 18. That was her best Grand Slam showing until last year, when she made the semifinals at the Australian Open.

Zvonareva has been known to sob on court even when she's winning, and she has broken more than a few rackets in anger.

"She was so emotional and would get down on herself," three-time Grand Slam champion Lindsay Davenport said. "Now she seems like one of the most composed players on the WTA Tour."

A turnaround in her results came unexpectedly. When Zvonareva arrived in London, she had lost five of her past seven matches, including a second-round defeat at the French Open and a first-round defeat in the grass-court warmup event at Eastbourne. Her ranking slipped to 21st from a career-high fifth in early 2009.

Now she gives Wimbledon a fresh face: This is the first final since 2007 that's not Williams vs. Williams. Five-time champion Venus lost in the quarterfinals.

"I guess the crowd should like that _ not another Williams-Williams," said their mother and coach, Oracene Price.

Zvonareva's the second-lowest ranked woman to make the Wimbledon final, while No. 1-ranked Serena is 12-3 in Grand Slam finals and seeking her fourth title at the All England Club. Zvonareva is 1-5 against Williams, with the only victory coming at Cincinnati four years ago.

"On paper it looks like I should win," Williams said.

Defending champion Williams has yet to drop a set in six rounds, thanks in large part to her dominating serve. She has been broken only three times while hitting a tournament-record 80 aces, and she has won nearly 90 percent of the points when her first serve is good.

"It's a very big advantage, I would say, especially here on the grass," Zvonareva said. "But I think if you can find the timing, you can return it. It's very difficult when she's serving well, but there are moments where she may not serve as well. You just have to use those chances. I haven't seen anyone make 100 percent of first serves."

Mozambique police fire at crowds protesting prices

Police opened fire Wednesday on stone-throwing crowds who were protesting rising prices in this impoverished country, and a local TV station said six people were killed.

The mobs also burned tires and ransacked shops in the capital. Police responded by firing shots into the crowds and the air.

S-TV, a private station, said the dead included one child. The station said three adults were declared dead in hospitals and the other two died in the streets. The station gave no other details. It was not immediately clear if any of the six had fallen to police bullets or died from other causes.

A witness saw an ambulance remove the apparently lifeless body of a boy who had a severe head wound. The government hasn't given any casualty figures from Wednesday's rioting. Police appealed for calm on state radio and TV and said they had made an unspecified number of arrests.

Police had declared the marches illegal, saying no group sought permission to hold them. Word had spread for days in this former Portuguese colony in southeast Africa that there would be demonstrations.

Thousands of protesters, most of them young men, lined the streets of Bagamoyo, a crowded, impoverished neighborhood just north of downtown Maputo. As they moved into the city center, they looted shops and warehouses. Protests were also reported in other areas around Maputo.

Police appealed for calm on state radio and TV and said they had made some arrests. Youths were blocking streets and ransacking property. Many public transport drivers have abandoned their vehicles in the streets.

Mozambicans have seen the price of a loaf of bread rise by 25 percent, from four to five meticais (from about 11 cents to about 13 U.S. cents) in the past year. Fuel and water costs also have risen.

The Rome-based U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization said Wednesday international food prices have risen to their highest level in two years. Its food price index shot up 5 percent between July and August. That was still 38 percent down from its peak in June 2008.

Around the world, high prices have been blamed on dry weather's effect on harvests and high fuel costs incurred when moving food from producers to consumers. Some critics also say bad government decisions are making shortages worse and accuse producers of colluding to push up prices.

The FRELIMO party, in power since Mozambique won independence from Portugal in 1975, has been plagued by charges its government is corrupt and inefficient.

Violent protests over high costs erupted here in 2008, when global food prices jumped. Factors cited included a drop in the U.S. wheat harvest and higher demand for crops to use in biofuels. After a week of clashes between police and rioters that killed at least four people and seriously injured more than 100, the government cut fuel prices.

Egypt has in recent months seen protests over rising food prices.

The U.N. agency said the food price surge reflected a sudden sharp rise in wheat prices following drought in Russia and the country's subsequent restrictions on wheat sales. Higher sugar and oilseed prices also were factors.

__

Associated Press writer Victor L. Simpson in Rome contributed to this report.

Asian markets slump on falling oil, metal prices

Asian markets tumbled Wednesday, along with commodity prices and hopes for a rapid recovery of the global economy.

The pessimism permeated stock exchanges throughout the region, with several losing more than 2 percent in early afternoon trading. Oil prices slid to near $62 a barrel.

Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 stock average extended its losing streak to a sixth day, falling 2.2 percent to 9,434.91, after worse-than-expected machinery orders data disappointed investors and fanned concerns about the fragility of the world's second-biggest economy.

The country's core machinery orders, a closely watched indicator of spending on equipment and factories, fell 3 percent in May from a month earlier. That was far less than economists' expectations for a 1.8 percent rise and marked the lowest value on record since the government began compiling comparable data in April 1987.

A recovery in capital spending "remains distant," especially with Japan's high dependence on exports, said Chiwoong Lee, an economist at Goldman Sachs in Tokyo.

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index slid 301 points, or 1.7 percent, to 17,560.97, while South Korea's Kospi lost 0.9 percent to 1,421.16. Australia's key stock measure fell 0.5 percent, while mainland China's Shanghai Composite index _ the world's best-performing index this year _ tumbled 2.2 percent.

Investor confidence has waned after poor U.S. and European jobs data and plunging commodities prices. Oil prices have declined to near $62 a barrel from $73 last week amid growing concerns about a slower-than-expected global recovery.

Prices for other commodities from metals to soybeans have also headed south, putting an even greater drag on stock markets.

In Japan, steelmaker JFE Holdings Inc. plunged 5.1 percent and Nippon Mining Holdings Inc. fell 5.3 percent. Australian mining giant BHP Billiton Ltd. was off 1.8 percent in Sydney.

Recent economic data has stoked fears that the market might have gotten ahead of itself in March and April, when investors sent stocks soaring in hopes that the global recession will end some time this year.

On Tuesday, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 161.27, or 1.9 percent, to 8,163.60, the lowest finish for the blue chips since April 28. The S&P 500 fell 2 percent, while the Nasdaq sank 2.3 percent.

U.S. futures were down marginally, pointing to further declines Wednesday. Dow futures were down 21 points, or 0.3 percent, to 8,110, while S&P futures were down 1.3 points, or 0.2 percent, to 878.

Benchmark crude oil for August delivery fell 75 cents to $62.18 a barrel at midday in Singapore in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

The dollar slipped to 94.36 yen from 94.78 yen late Tuesday. The euro was lower at $1.3905 from $1.3918.

Fears over village green fighting fund shortfall [Edition 2]

ONGAR'S fight to secure a village green could depend on thecommunity's ability to raise funds.

A public inquiry this month is set to determine the future ofBowes Field, which has long been coveted by residents and Ongar TownCouncil as the site for a village green.

The council agreed to underwrite the legal costs of the inquiryon the grounds that a community working group would raise funds toensure other areas of council expenditure would not suffer. Thecouncil met again last week to discuss the workings of this group,which will comprise three town councillors and members of thepublic.

However, concerns were voiced that the sum, set aside by thecouncil to cover the legal costs of the inquiry, might not be enoughshould the inquiry result in an appeal.

Town councillor David Solomons said: "I am really concerned thatwe are spending this chunk of money. I just want to ensure that wedo not exceed that amount.

"We have not been given a blank cheque, which is why thisfighting fund is so important."

It is still unclear how funds will be generated by the workinggroup.

Town chairman Blane Judd says anything the council can do to helpoffset the legal costs will benefit the community.

The public inquiry will take place between December 14 and 16 atthe Churchgate Hotel, Churchgate Street Village, in Old Harlow.

INSIDE: YEAGER RETURNS

Aviation legend Chuck Yeager is returning to West Virginia thismonth for several public appearances. Organizers expect him to attenddedication ceremonies Oct. 19 for Lincoln County High School and awar memorial along Corridor G at the Lincoln-Kanawha county border.The public is invited. Yeager, 83, has also agreed to be the grandmarshal next May for the Armed Forces Day Parade in South Charleston,organizers said /5D

250 Tibetan exiles are detained in Nepal

Nepalese police broke up an anti-China protest Thursday by more than 250 Tibetan exiles, including many Buddhist monks and nuns, detaining all of them.

The protesters managed to break past a police line and reached the gates of the Chinese Embassy's visa office in Katmandu before being pushed back by police.

"Stop killing in Tibet. Stop rights violations," the protesters chanted as they were taken away by police.

There were brief scuffles between the police and protesters and at least one protester was slightly hurt.

Police official Ramesh Thapa said all 250 protesters were detained. They were expected to be released later in the day without charges.

Tibetans in Nepal began almost daily protests in March against China's crackdown in their homeland, but temporarily halted the demonstrations last month after the Tibetan government-in-exile based in India asked them to stop because of the massive earthquake in China. The protests resumed Tuesday with a demonstration by about 25 people.

Nepal's police have broken up almost all of the anti-China protests and detained participants. Officials say they will not allow demonstrations that could harm Nepal's friendly relations with neighboring China.

Cisco addition increases technology clout in Dow

Miles per hour _ out. Bits per second _ in.

Dow Jones & Co. said Monday it would add Cisco Systems Inc., the world's largest maker of computer networking hardware, to the 30-stock industrial average, replacing General Motors Corp. The change takes effect June 8.

The automotive giant filed for bankruptcy protection Monday. Meanwhile, Cisco has been weathering the recession without major layoffs, and has kept acquiring companies to expand its technology portfolio.

Shares of San Jose, California-based Cisco rose 96 cents, or 5.2 percent, to $19.46 in midday trading. Investment funds that track the Dow Jones industrials are now forced to buy Cisco shares to match the index.

The addition of Cisco reflects the increasing importance of information technology in the U.S. economy. IBM Corp. was added to the list in 1979. It was followed by Hewlett-Packard Co. in 1997, then Intel Corp. and Microsoft Corp. in 1999.

"We believe our inclusion in the Dow demonstrates not only Cisco's role as a broad technology indicator, but how remarkably the Internet and networking have transformed the way businesses and consumers connect, communicate and collaborate," Cisco said in a statement.

Intel and Microsoft were the first Dow components that are listed on the Nasdaq Stock Market rather than the New York Stock Exchange. Cisco will be the third.

The Dow Jones industrial average also includes the two largest telecommunications services providers in the U.S., AT&T Inc. and Verizon Communications Inc., which both are major Cisco customers.

Dow Jones also said Monday it will drop Citigroup Inc. in favor of Travelers Cos.

Fire Destroys 2 Colorado TV Studios

Fire destroyed the studios of two television stations in a shared building, blocking local broadcasts, officials said Monday.

The fire broke out Sunday morning in the studios of KREX-TV and KFQX-TV. Five people inside escaped safely, but the building was a total loss. Damage was put at about $6 million.

It wasn't clear when the stations, which have separate owners, would broadcast again. KREX is a CBS affiliate and KFQX is a Fox affiliate.

City fire investigators said were still looking into the cause. The building, which was several decades old, did not have a sprinkler system, fire department spokesman Mike Page said.

Investigators could not enter the building during the night because of flare-ups and the danger that the structure would collapse, Page said.

KREX general manager Ron Tillery said it was the first television station in western Colorado. The building that burned had been a former radio station that KREX adapted for TV.

"It is a sad day to see it destroyed that way," Tillery said after looking through the debris for anything salvageable. "We have a chance now to do something unique" with a new building.

No contact numbers were available for KFQX.

Giggs warns against repeat of 2006 Celtic loss

Ryan Giggs has urged his Manchester United teammates to quickly see off Celtic's challenge Wednesday to avoid a repeat of their loss in the 2006 Champions League.

The veteran winger is still astonished that United's supremacy was undone by one of Shunsuke Nakamura's trademark free kicks with 10 minutes remaining.

"We played really well in the first half but we just didn't put our chances away," Giggs said. "If you do that in Europe it doesn't matter who you're playing against, you're going to get punished. We played well, but ultimately we didn't put our chances away _ so we didn't deserve to win."

That defeat troubles manager Alex Ferguson even more as a former player with Celtic's fierce Glasgow rival Rangers.

The last trip to Glasgow, however, came after a slender 3-2 victory over Celtic, while the return two years later is on the back of an emphatic 3-0 win over Gordon Strachan's side last month.

"We need to win because it would guarantee qualification from the group," Ferguson said. "In 2006 we dominated possession and enjoyed our football but forgot to score a goal. We must remember it's important to finish the game off."

United is tied for the Group E lead with Villarreal on seven points, while both Celtic and Aalborg have just one.

"It won't be easy, only Barcelona have won at Parkhead (in the Champions League) so that tells you everything," Ferguson said. "You are going to have to run that extra yard or you will soon be found out by them. I don't think the Celtic fans would forgive non-triers. We know what it's like from two years ago and having watched the Champions League games over the years.

"You have to respect their home record and their fans have been fantastic. With 60,000 screaming banshees it will be electric. Celtic have also been chastened by the 3-0 defeat down here so the players will be fired up."

Strachan isn't relishing facing his former side.

"We need to be at our best and need to have a bit of luck. We must have things going for us," Strachan said. "In terms of effort, motivation, character and determination, we will be fine. But United are the best team in the world in terms of ability.

"Italy would have no chance against Man. United. France? No chance. Man United are far better. Roma lost 7-1 to them. It's unbelievable what they can do to other teams."

Camp operator gets 45 yrs. in sex abuse

A summer camp operator was sentenced Friday to 45 years inprison for sexually abusing two suburban Addison boys.

Before sentencing, Arthur J. Taggart, 59, told Du Page CountyCircuit Judge John J. Bowman that he had been framed byinvestigators.

But prosecutors produced a series of witnesses who testifiedthat Taggart had repeatedly engaged in sexual misconduct over theyears.

"What we proved up today was a 30-year history of sex abuse,"said Assistant State's Attorney Joseph Birkett.

A Du Page jury convicted Taggart on Feb. 23 of five counts ofsexually assaulting the two boys in 1986 while he was here to recruityouths for his Camp Running Deer in Kentucky. Taggart ran the smallcamp from 1956 to 1986.

Two Chicago-area men testified at Friday's sentencing hearingthat Taggart had beaten them with a wooden paddle during the 1970s,while they were students at the Wyler Military School for boys inEvansville, Wis.

Taggart, the academy's chief disciplinarian, beat some boys somuch that they could not sit for days, one man said.

Also testifying were police who said Taggart was convicted of asex-related felony in Tennessee.

Last-Second Tip Lifts Bulls Past Nuggets

CHICAGO - Rookie Tyrus Thomas scored on a tip-in with two-tenths of a second left after Ben Gordon's missed jumper, giving the Chicago Bulls a 109-108 victory over the Denver Nuggets on Thursday night.

Allen Iverson's drive along the right side gave the Nuggets a 108-107 lead with 13.1 seconds left, but the Nuggets saw their five-game win streak end in a wild finish.

Gordon got trapped in the right corner after catching an inbounds pass and threw a weak pass toward P.J. Brown on the wing. The Bulls maintained possession, and Gordon missed a jumper from the corner. Luol Deng kept the ball alive, and Thomas tipped in the winner.

Gordon finished with 25 points to lead the Bulls, who had lost two straight to Memphis and the Los Angeles Clippers.

Deng had 22 points and 14 rebounds, and Kirk Hinrich scored 21 points. Brown added 16 points and seven rebounds, and Thomas finished with nine points and 11 rebounds.

Iverson led Denver with 31 points, Carmelo Anthony added 28, and Nene had 18 points and 12 rebounds.

It was a much-needed victory for the Bulls after losing to two teams with losing records.

One of the Bulls' goals is to finish with fewer than 10 losses at home, and it's still within reach - barely. They're 26-9, with six games left at the United Center. Two of those are against Detroit and Cleveland, so achieving that goal will be difficult.

More important for the Bulls is securing home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs. That could be the difference between a postseason run and an early exit, given their 14-21 road record.

After shooting a combined 7-for-27 against the Clippers, Gordon and Deng rediscovered their touch. Gordon was 10-for-23 and even had a rare dunk late in the first quarter, and Deng was 10-for-23.

The Nuggets led 99-92 after Linas Kleiza's 3-pointer with 5:43 left, but Brown's jumper and Gordon's 3 made it a two-point game. Hinrich tied it at 101 with a drive through the lane, and Deng's basket gave the Bulls a 103-101 lead with 2:54 remaining. Deng, who got fouled, pumped his fist after the shot went in, but he missed the free throw.

Kleiza struck again with 2:03 left, hitting a 3 from the corner, but Deng wasn't finished, either. He drove the lane to put the Bulls back ahead, 105-104 with 1:38 left.

After two free throws by Nene, Gordon pulled up for a jumper on the left side that put the Bulls back ahead 107-106.

Notes:@ The Nuggets' Marcus Camby left in the third quarter with back spasms and headed to the locker room in the fourth. He had four points and eight rebounds. ... Hinrich headed to the locker room 3:34 into the third quarter to get stitches for a bloody mouth but returned less than three minutes later. ... Given that their friendship goes back to 1983, it was no surprise Skiles endorsed new Milwaukee Bucks coach Larry Krystkowiak. "I'm sure he'll do a great job. He's a good man," Skiles said.

American League Standings

East Division
W L Pct GB
New York 47 28 .627 _
Boston 46 31 .597 2
Tampa Bay 44 31 .587 3
Toronto 40 36 .526 7 1/2
Baltimore 23 52 .307 24
Central Division
W L Pct GB
Minnesota 41 34 .547 _
Detroit 40 34 .541 1/2
Chicago 39 35 .527 1 1/2
Kansas City 32 44 .421 9 1/2
Cleveland 27 47 .365 13 1/2
West Division
W L Pct GB
Texas 46 29 .613 _
Los Angeles 43 35 .551 4 1/2
Oakland 37 40 .481 10
Seattle 31 44 .413 15
___
Saturday's Games
Minnesota 6, N.Y. Mets 0
St. Louis 5, Kansas City 3
Texas 7, Houston 2
Tampa Bay 5, Arizona 3
Toronto 5, Philadelphia 1
Baltimore 6, Washington 5
Atlanta 4, Detroit 3
Seattle 5, Milwaukee 4
Boston 4, San Francisco 2
Chicago White Sox 3, Chicago Cubs 2
Cincinnati 6, Cleveland 4
L.A. Dodgers 9, N.Y. Yankees 4
L.A. Angels 4, Colorado 2
Oakland 5, Pittsburgh 0
Sunday's Games
Cleveland 5, Cincinnati 3
N.Y. Mets 6, Minnesota 0
Detroit 10, Atlanta 4
Philadelphia 11, Toronto 2
Baltimore 4, Washington 3
Arizona 2, Tampa Bay 1
Chicago Cubs 8, Chicago White Sox 6
Milwaukee 3, Seattle 0
Kansas City 10, St. Louis 3
L.A. Angels 10, Colorado 3
Boston 5, San Francisco 1
Oakland 3, Pittsburgh 2
Texas 10, Houston 1
N.Y. Yankees 8, L.A. Dodgers 6, 10 innings
Monday's Games
Toronto at Cleveland
Chicago White Sox at Kansas City
Detroit at Minnesota
Tuesday's Games
Oakland at Baltimore
Seattle at N.Y. Yankees
Toronto at Cleveland
Tampa Bay at Boston
Chicago White Sox at Kansas City
Detroit at Minnesota
Texas at L.A. Angels

Can Tom Cruise re-establish himself as `the guy'?

Early in his latest spy caper, "Knight and Day," Tom Cruise flashes that billion-dollar grin and proclaims, "I'm the guy."

But is he?

Cruise definitely is the guy who rang up $3 billion at the domestic box office since the early 1980s, making him one of the most enduring hit makers in Hollywood history.

He also is the guy who veered into his own personal bizarro world with Scientology rants that alienated or even offended fans and his love-drunk bouncing act on Oprah Winfrey's couch as he proclaimed his devotion to Katie Holmes.

His box-office returns soured, and he made some career choices which, while not disastrous, were not the sort to restore a stumbling star to the audience's good graces.

With Cruise's erratic behavior now a few years in the past, "Knight and Day" is the first real test of whether the dashing idol of "Risky Business," "Top Gun" and "Rain Man" has lost his appeal.

"The short answer is, I hope not. Those challenges have been there, but I think he has moved past that," said Chris Aronson, head of domestic distribution for 20th Century Fox, the studio behind "Knight and Day." "I think he still is the guy. If you look over the course of history, there are very few actors who are the guy as long as he has been and are still rolling along."

"Enough time has passed, and he has tried to make amends," said Chuck Walton, an editor for movie-ticket Web site Fandango.com. "This is sort of the perfect summer movie vehicle for him. I think most, if not all, is forgiven. ... Look at Robert Downey Jr. He's had plenty of things in the past and it hasn't stopped him."

It is Cruise's first all-out action adventure since 2006's "Mission: Impossible III" and the first movie since 1996's "Jerry Maguire" in which he turns on his full-blown comic and romantic charm.

The movie reunites Cruise with "Vanilla Sky" co-star Cameron Diaz. Known for a tireless work ethic, Cruise hurled himself into action scenes that could have been handled by stunt men and continually added spontaneous flourishes to his character, said "Knight and Day" director James Mangold.

The "I'm the guy" exchange was Cruise's invention, Mangold said. Diaz's June Havens, who restores classic cars for a living, has just had a near-fatal encounter with Cruise's Roy Miller, a secret agent who might be a good guy or a rogue spy gone bad.

When Roy reappears in her life, June stammers to her ex-boyfriend, "This is the guy." Cruise riffs off that line and delivers a memorable moment as Roy beams and agrees, repeating "I'm the guy" like a mantra.

"None of that was written. It was just Tom overhearing her and just flowing, creating a vibe on the set," Mangold said. "`I'm the guy. Hey, I'm the guy.' You realize on how many levels this was true. He is the guy in the movie. He is the spy, he is the romantic lead who will sweep her off her feet.

"He's also just the guy. `I am Tom Cruise, and I am here, and I will knock it out of the park.'"

Whether "Knight and Day" will be a home run or a swing and a miss is in the hands of fans now. Distributor Fox feels it has a good movie, but "Knight and Day" is a tough sell, an original story not based on a comic book, video game or other property with built-in familiarity.

Besides the uncertainty of Cruise's box-office pep, "Knight and Day" arrives during a fitful period for Hollywood. It is the time of year when movie fans traditionally flock to blockbusters, only this year known quantities such as "Sex and the City 2," "The A-Team" and Russell Crowe's "Robin Hood" have failed to live up to expectations.

Already stung by weak returns for "The A-Team" and "Marmaduke," Fox has scrambled to build buzz for "Knight and Day" with sneak peak screenings last Saturday in about 500 theaters. The studio also moved up the release date by two days to last Wednesday, hoping audiences will talk up the film and boost ticket sales through the weekend.

Opening weekend often is a make-or-break deal. But "Knight and Day" has it harder than most movies, sandwiched between two of the season's biggest releases, last weekend's blockbuster "Toy Story 3" and next week's hotly anticipated sequel "The Twilight Saga: Eclipse."

If "Knight and Day" does not find an audience this weekend, it probably never will.

"Everybody's nervous about every movie this summer. If `Sex and the City' or a Russell Crowe movie underperform, why wouldn't you be worried about a film like `Knight and Day'?" said Paul Dergarabedian, box-office analyst for entertainment Web site Hollywood.com. "There are no sure bets anymore. The audience is so fickle that you just don't know."

Cruise turns 48 next month, and while he retains his boyish good looks, it's hard to maintain an action career at that age and beyond, particularly with the personal baggage dogging him.

As his public image sagged in 2006, "Mission: Impossible III" came out to some of the best reviews in the series, yet it took in just $134 million, by far the worst return for the franchise.

Cruise has done serious roles, earning Academy Awards nominations for "Born on the Fourth of July," "Jerry Maguire" and "Magnolia." His three films since "Mission: Impossible III" showed new sides to the actor, with middling results.

The war-on-terror drama "Lions for Lambs" flopped, part of Cruise's ill-fated effort to revive moribund United Artists, the banner whose founders included Charles Chaplin and D.W. Griffith.

He drew praise for a hilarious supporting role in "Tropic Thunder," playing a bald, foul-mouthed studio boss. Cruise reprised the character at the recent MTV Movie Awards, and he is planning to play him again in a big-screen spinoff.

Cruise critics gleefully laid in wait to mock "Valkyrie," his World War II Nazi saga in which he donned an eyepatch to play the German colonel who led an assassination attempt on Adolf Hitler. The movie wound up getting decent reviews, and while it was not a big hit, it did respectable business.

A fourth "Mission: Impossible" installment is in the works, though coming after "Knight and Day," even Cruise fans think he needs to focus less on the spy game and find more diverse roles.

"When I first heard about `Knight and Day' being put into production, I thought, another spy movie," said Daniel Hubschman, content coordinator for Hollywood.com and a Cruise fan since he saw "Top Gun" at age 7. "I would like to see Tom Cruise move away from spy action. Whether it's comedy, straight-up action, sci-fi action. That's the one thing that might detract from this movie."

Even if "Knight and Day" flops, the film reveals that he has not lost the magnetism that made him a star in the first place. He will have other shots to restore his box-office trajectory, whether with "Mission: Impossible IV" or some other project.

"I saw my first Tom Cruise movie when I was in high school. I've grown up with him as a star of my generation, and THE star of my generation," said "Knight and Day" director Mangold. "With his talent and uncanny relationship with the camera, he's one of the few true movie stars in the last century of film."

Suspect in Wife's Dismemberment Captured

MOUNT CLEMENS, Mich. - A man suspected of killing and dismembering his wife was captured Sunday as he fled searchers, running through snow in northern Michigan, police said.

Stephen Grant had been the subject of a manhunt since police discovered what they believe to be the torso and other body parts of his wife, Tara Lynn Grant, in and around the couple's house in a suburb of Detroit.

Grant was arrested in Bliss Township in northern Michigan, some 225 miles from his home, after an air and ground search by local, state and federal agencies, according to the Emmet County sheriff's department.

Grant he did not struggle when he was caught in the cold weather, Macomb County Sheriff Mark Hackel said. Temperatures in the area of his capture were in the teens and 20s late Saturday and early Sunday, according to the National Weather Service.

"He was not in the condition to run anymore or obviously to flee," Hackel said.

Hackel said Grant was taken to a hospital with signs of frostbite or hypothermia. Grant was in serious condition, said Barbara Allen, a spokeswoman for Northern Michigan Hospital in Petoskey. She said she couldn't release any other information.

His lawyer, David Griem, said on Saturday that he feared his client was suicidal, but Hackel said there was no indication that Grant tried to commit suicide.

Griem said Sunday that he was withdrawing his representation of Grant. He said he wasn't aware if Grant had another lawyer.

Hackel said Grant apparently fled on his own. "I don't believe he's had any help since Friday night," he said.

A truck that police believe Grant drove from his home was found Saturday night near Carp Lake, close to the bridge linking Michigan's Lower and Upper Peninsulas.

An arrest warrant was issued Saturday charging Grant with murder, disinterment and mutilation.

Grant, 37, who had maintained his innocence in his wife's disappearance last month, went missing before police searched his home Friday and Saturday in Washington Township, about 30 miles outside Detroit. Searchers found the torso in the garage and what were thought to be other parts of Tara Grant's body in a nearby park. The search for evidence and other remains resumed Sunday.

The body had not been positively identified as of late Saturday, but the sheriff has said he was certain it was Tara Grant's. An autopsy was scheduled for Sunday.

Tara Grant, 34, last was seen Feb. 9. Stephen Grant reported her missing five days later. Police say that on the day she went missing, the Grants argued over her frequent business trips abroad.

---

Associated Press Writer David Runk in Detroit contributed to this report.

Digest

LEBANON

Lebanese security forces killed two suspected Islamist militantsSaturday, including the leader of an al-Qaeda-inspired group thatbattled Lebanon's army in 2007, military officials said.

One of those killed was Abdul-Rahman Awad, a Palestinian leaderof the Fatah al-Islam group. Awad's aide, Ghazi Faysal Abdullah, wasalso killed in the shootout in eastern Bekaa Valley, officials said.

Awad was one of the most wanted men in Lebanon.

-- Associated Press

PAKISTAN

Suspected U.S. missiles killed 12 people Saturday in NorthWaziristan, a Pakistani tribal region filled with Islamistinsurgents bent on pushing Western troops out of neighboringAfghanistan, intelligence officials said.

Also Saturday, gunmen targeted non-ethnic Baluchis -- sometraveling on a bus and others painting a house -- in two attacksin Baluchistan province Saturday, killing 16 people and woundingeight.

A nationalist movement led by ethnic Baluch groups has longsought greater autonomy from the central government for thesouthwestern province.

-- Associated Press

JAMAICA

Jamaican authorities imposed new curfews in communities west ofthe capital, Kingston, after 10 people were killed in gang attacksand a shootout with police last week.

The order applies to Tredegar Park, where dozens of residentsfled their homes last year during gang clashes before soldiersarrested about 100 people.

A curfew imposed during the hunt for alleged drug lordChristopher "Dudus" Coke was recently lifted.

-- Associated Press

6 migrants killed near Egypt-Israel border: Six African migrantswere shot dead near Egypt's border with Israel, the highest migrantdeath toll in one day at the border in recent years. Four werekilled by smugglers and two were shot by Egyptian police. The SinaiPeninsula is used as a transit route by African migrants seekingwork or asylum in Israel, as well as by smugglers of drugs andweapons.

2 more protesters killed in Kashmir: Two people were shot deadSaturday by security forces as deaths continued to mount duringweeks of defiant protests against India's rule over thepredominantly Muslim region of Kashmir. At least 57 people have beenkilled since June, and tens of thousands of Kashmiris stageddemonstrations Friday after government forces killed four people.Saturday's incidents occurred in Anantnag, a town south of theregion's main city, Srinagar, and in Narbal, to the north.

Dozens of wildfires rage in Portugal: More than 600 firefighterswere battling at least 26 serious wildfire outbreaks in three areasof Portugal. Fires fanned by strong winds have flared nearsouthwestern Sintra; in an area close to the northern border withSpain; and in the central Serra da Estrela national park.

-- From news services

Digest

LEBANON

Lebanese security forces killed two suspected Islamist militantsSaturday, including the leader of an al-Qaeda-inspired group thatbattled Lebanon's army in 2007, military officials said.

One of those killed was Abdul-Rahman Awad, a Palestinian leaderof the Fatah al-Islam group. Awad's aide, Ghazi Faysal Abdullah, wasalso killed in the shootout in eastern Bekaa Valley, officials said.

Awad was one of the most wanted men in Lebanon.

-- Associated Press

PAKISTAN

Suspected U.S. missiles killed 12 people Saturday in NorthWaziristan, a Pakistani tribal region filled with Islamistinsurgents bent on pushing Western troops out of neighboringAfghanistan, intelligence officials said.

Also Saturday, gunmen targeted non-ethnic Baluchis -- sometraveling on a bus and others painting a house -- in two attacksin Baluchistan province Saturday, killing 16 people and woundingeight.

A nationalist movement led by ethnic Baluch groups has longsought greater autonomy from the central government for thesouthwestern province.

-- Associated Press

JAMAICA

Jamaican authorities imposed new curfews in communities west ofthe capital, Kingston, after 10 people were killed in gang attacksand a shootout with police last week.

The order applies to Tredegar Park, where dozens of residentsfled their homes last year during gang clashes before soldiersarrested about 100 people.

A curfew imposed during the hunt for alleged drug lordChristopher "Dudus" Coke was recently lifted.

-- Associated Press

6 migrants killed near Egypt-Israel border: Six African migrantswere shot dead near Egypt's border with Israel, the highest migrantdeath toll in one day at the border in recent years. Four werekilled by smugglers and two were shot by Egyptian police. The SinaiPeninsula is used as a transit route by African migrants seekingwork or asylum in Israel, as well as by smugglers of drugs andweapons.

2 more protesters killed in Kashmir: Two people were shot deadSaturday by security forces as deaths continued to mount duringweeks of defiant protests against India's rule over thepredominantly Muslim region of Kashmir. At least 57 people have beenkilled since June, and tens of thousands of Kashmiris stageddemonstrations Friday after government forces killed four people.Saturday's incidents occurred in Anantnag, a town south of theregion's main city, Srinagar, and in Narbal, to the north.

Dozens of wildfires rage in Portugal: More than 600 firefighterswere battling at least 26 serious wildfire outbreaks in three areasof Portugal. Fires fanned by strong winds have flared nearsouthwestern Sintra; in an area close to the northern border withSpain; and in the central Serra da Estrela national park.

-- From news services

Digest

LEBANON

Lebanese security forces killed two suspected Islamist militantsSaturday, including the leader of an al-Qaeda-inspired group thatbattled Lebanon's army in 2007, military officials said.

One of those killed was Abdul-Rahman Awad, a Palestinian leaderof the Fatah al-Islam group. Awad's aide, Ghazi Faysal Abdullah, wasalso killed in the shootout in eastern Bekaa Valley, officials said.

Awad was one of the most wanted men in Lebanon.

-- Associated Press

PAKISTAN

Suspected U.S. missiles killed 12 people Saturday in NorthWaziristan, a Pakistani tribal region filled with Islamistinsurgents bent on pushing Western troops out of neighboringAfghanistan, intelligence officials said.

Also Saturday, gunmen targeted non-ethnic Baluchis -- sometraveling on a bus and others painting a house -- in two attacksin Baluchistan province Saturday, killing 16 people and woundingeight.

A nationalist movement led by ethnic Baluch groups has longsought greater autonomy from the central government for thesouthwestern province.

-- Associated Press

JAMAICA

Jamaican authorities imposed new curfews in communities west ofthe capital, Kingston, after 10 people were killed in gang attacksand a shootout with police last week.

The order applies to Tredegar Park, where dozens of residentsfled their homes last year during gang clashes before soldiersarrested about 100 people.

A curfew imposed during the hunt for alleged drug lordChristopher "Dudus" Coke was recently lifted.

-- Associated Press

6 migrants killed near Egypt-Israel border: Six African migrantswere shot dead near Egypt's border with Israel, the highest migrantdeath toll in one day at the border in recent years. Four werekilled by smugglers and two were shot by Egyptian police. The SinaiPeninsula is used as a transit route by African migrants seekingwork or asylum in Israel, as well as by smugglers of drugs andweapons.

2 more protesters killed in Kashmir: Two people were shot deadSaturday by security forces as deaths continued to mount duringweeks of defiant protests against India's rule over thepredominantly Muslim region of Kashmir. At least 57 people have beenkilled since June, and tens of thousands of Kashmiris stageddemonstrations Friday after government forces killed four people.Saturday's incidents occurred in Anantnag, a town south of theregion's main city, Srinagar, and in Narbal, to the north.

Dozens of wildfires rage in Portugal: More than 600 firefighterswere battling at least 26 serious wildfire outbreaks in three areasof Portugal. Fires fanned by strong winds have flared nearsouthwestern Sintra; in an area close to the northern border withSpain; and in the central Serra da Estrela national park.

-- From news services

Digest

LEBANON

Lebanese security forces killed two suspected Islamist militantsSaturday, including the leader of an al-Qaeda-inspired group thatbattled Lebanon's army in 2007, military officials said.

One of those killed was Abdul-Rahman Awad, a Palestinian leaderof the Fatah al-Islam group. Awad's aide, Ghazi Faysal Abdullah, wasalso killed in the shootout in eastern Bekaa Valley, officials said.

Awad was one of the most wanted men in Lebanon.

-- Associated Press

PAKISTAN

Suspected U.S. missiles killed 12 people Saturday in NorthWaziristan, a Pakistani tribal region filled with Islamistinsurgents bent on pushing Western troops out of neighboringAfghanistan, intelligence officials said.

Also Saturday, gunmen targeted non-ethnic Baluchis -- sometraveling on a bus and others painting a house -- in two attacksin Baluchistan province Saturday, killing 16 people and woundingeight.

A nationalist movement led by ethnic Baluch groups has longsought greater autonomy from the central government for thesouthwestern province.

-- Associated Press

JAMAICA

Jamaican authorities imposed new curfews in communities west ofthe capital, Kingston, after 10 people were killed in gang attacksand a shootout with police last week.

The order applies to Tredegar Park, where dozens of residentsfled their homes last year during gang clashes before soldiersarrested about 100 people.

A curfew imposed during the hunt for alleged drug lordChristopher "Dudus" Coke was recently lifted.

-- Associated Press

6 migrants killed near Egypt-Israel border: Six African migrantswere shot dead near Egypt's border with Israel, the highest migrantdeath toll in one day at the border in recent years. Four werekilled by smugglers and two were shot by Egyptian police. The SinaiPeninsula is used as a transit route by African migrants seekingwork or asylum in Israel, as well as by smugglers of drugs andweapons.

2 more protesters killed in Kashmir: Two people were shot deadSaturday by security forces as deaths continued to mount duringweeks of defiant protests against India's rule over thepredominantly Muslim region of Kashmir. At least 57 people have beenkilled since June, and tens of thousands of Kashmiris stageddemonstrations Friday after government forces killed four people.Saturday's incidents occurred in Anantnag, a town south of theregion's main city, Srinagar, and in Narbal, to the north.

Dozens of wildfires rage in Portugal: More than 600 firefighterswere battling at least 26 serious wildfire outbreaks in three areasof Portugal. Fires fanned by strong winds have flared nearsouthwestern Sintra; in an area close to the northern border withSpain; and in the central Serra da Estrela national park.

-- From news services

Sinkewitz Fired by T-Mobile for Doping

BERLIN - German cyclist Patrik Sinkewitz, who tested positive for elevated levels of testosterone in June, was fired from his T-Mobile team Tuesday after refusing to have his backup sample tested.

T-Mobile dismissed Sinkewitz after the German Cycling Federation said the 26-year-old rider declined to have his B-sample analyzed.

"The refusal to open the B-sample is tantamount to a positive doping test," said Christian Frommert, a spokesman for T-Mobile.

T-Mobile had initially suspended Sinkewitz after he tested positive during training on June 8 - a month before the start of the Tour de France. He competed in the race until he crashed into a spectator during the eighth stage on July 15.

Anne-Lise Coste

BARCELONA

Anne-Lise Coste

NOGUERAS BLANCHARD

Last winter, Anne-Lise Coste undertook a sort of exorcism of five years that she spent in clinical treatment during her youth. Working quickly and obsessively, she produced a large series of drawings (and one sculpture) that deals with that early traumatic experience. The result, on view in its entirety in an exhibition titled "5 days 5 years," was disturbing and vehement, if perfectly closed off and cohesive, making this one of the season's best shows in Barcelona.

The series, titled "There," 2010, does not constitute a documentary reconstruction of the episode in question, nor does it make reference to any one specific memory. The explicit and crucial concern here is, rather, the reproduction of a prolonged experience. Unlike most of Coste's prior work, these drawings do not make use of text but refer to physical space and architecture. With a single-minded minimalism reminiscent of Samuel Beckett, Coste created variation after variation of a severe room with only a chair, a bed, and a menacing cross - a composite scene built in her memory out of similar rooms in a clinic, a home, and a hospital. Far from being a sheltering room of one's own, this inhospitable cell is crowded with inner murmurings and housed by a geometric and austere architectural structure. Along with the drawings, a small iron sculpture (The Bedroom) offers a three-dimensional version of the room.

Though the drawings invite an attentive reading of iconographie detail - the recurrence of prisonlike grids and a brick chimney, the occasional use of scribbled self-portraits, the enigmatic presence of a notation of time - they do not seem to hide some meaningful secret. Unlike the language of much of Coste's work, where each sign is removed from convention, here each ingrethent seems absolutely literal. There is no metaphor but, rather, the open exhibition of a vital experience in a specific setting. Designed for containment, this space is violent due to its corrective severity and dramatic because of its supposed curative silence. Rather than ensuring a return to calm, the asepsis and hygienic asceticism of this hospital architecture houses only fear and loneliness.

The therapeutic potential of art has been widely discussed in the long tradition of writing on the field, and its importance to Coste's project and its reading cannot be dismissed. Yet what's really at stake in this series is something much more ambitious: the direct agency of lived experience on art. Whether the artist has managed to rework a memory through these drawings until it is rendered harmless isn't overly important. What matters, rather, is that we accept everything that goes through our minds, regardless of where it is locked away.

- Marti Peran

Translated from Spanish by Jane Brodie.

Victim quiet, very friendly: North Charleston resident was found by

Charleston police are investigating the shooting death of a manwho was found on his back porch in North Charleston.

A neighbor found Jason Venazi, 34, about 5:30 p.m. Wednesday athis home at 800 Larchmont Drive, said Charleston Police Sgt. AaronJames.

Venazi had at least one gunshot wound, police said. Detectivesknow of no witnesses to the incident, but they do not believe it tobe suicide, James said.

Venazi's wife was found dead in the couple's house last year of anapparent overdose, James said.

Joyce and John Butler live close to Venazi at 809 Larchmont Drive,and they described him as a quiet but friendly neighbor.

"It's just real sad," John …

Stickers Discover's Interim Mobile Bid.(Cards)(Discover Financial Services)

Byline: Andrew Johnson

Discover Financial Services is trying to broaden adoption of its contactless payment technology while it works with large wireless carriers on a new mobile payments system.

The Riverwoods, Ill., credit card issuer said Monday that it had begun sending its Zip contactless cards and payments stickers to "select" cardholders on Nov. 15 and will roll out the products to its wider customer base starting in January.

"Contactless is a good step to something that's going to be more significant in the future," Mark Scarborough, Discover's senior vice president of cardholder marketing, said in an interview Monday.

Discover is working …

Alone on the hill.(Sports)

Byline: STEPHEN HAWKINS Associated Press

HOUSTON - Roger Clemens dug his spikes into the dirt and stared momentarily at the ground before throwing his first pitch. He knew his mother wanted him on the mound.

"I get my determination from her," Clemens said. "She told me to go to work."

The Houston Astros ace made his scheduled start Wednesday night and allowed one run in 61/3 innings in a 10-2 win over the Florida Marlins, pitching in honor of his mother after she died early that morning.

Bess Clemens died in Georgetown, Texas, because of complications from emphysema. She was 75.

"I feel very blessed that she's at peace now. The …

Proven solutions in gear pumping: Maag has a complete gear pump range for the CPI.(Europe and Achema 2006 Special Advertising Section)(Advertisement)

Maag Pump Systems Textron (Hall 8.0 R10-12) builds its gear pumps to a modular design that adapts easily to customers' requirements and industrial standards. Housings are available in iron, steel or stainless steel, with or without heating jackets. Bearings, shafts and gears offer a similarly wide choice of materials and configurations.

Five classes of axial clearance and eight classes of radial clearance, coupled with Maag's expertise in simulation, allow individual pumps to be specified for the highest possible efficiency. A wide choice of seals ensures safety in demanding applications. Maag's sealing options include lip …

Fish loses; US without singles player in Paris

PARIS (AP) — Mardy Fish summed up the mindset of American tennis players at the French Open after his loss Saturday left the United States without a man or woman in the clay-court Grand Slam tournament's fourth round.

"It's never too early," the 10th-seeded Fish said, "to think about grass for us."

Only once before in the Open era, which began in 1968, had zero men or women from the U.S. reached the round of 16 at a Grand Slam tournament — and that was at the 1973 Australian Open, when no Americans entered.

Fish, a 29-year-old from Tampa, Fla., was beaten 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 by 18th-seeded Gilles Simon of France. Earlier in the day, the last U.S. woman playing singles at …

Jolly's raid: man arrested

A 29-year-old man has been arrested in connection with a raid onBath's oldest department store in which up to Pounds 40,000 worth ofdesigner clothes were stolen.

The break-in at Jolly's in Milsom Street happened in the earlyhours of last …