Goals by Robinho and Nilmar rallied Brazil to a 2-1 victory over Paraguay in World Cup qualifying on Wednesday, almost assuring the five-time champion of a place next year in South Africa.
Salvador Cabanas gave Paraguay a 1-0 lead in the 26th minute, stunning Brazil's home crowd in the northeastern city of Recife. The goal …
CAIRO, Egypt Libya, seeking to avert the threat of escalatedsanctions in the case of two suspects wanted in the Lockerbieairliner bombing, has indicated it might consider releasing the twomen for trial in Scotland with the presence of observers from neutralcountries, Arab diplomatic sources said.
But Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak returned Wednesday fromtalks in Libya without any commitment, and Arab League officials saidthere was only "a very limited possibility" of a breakthrough in thecase soon.
The UN Security Council, shortly after Mubarak's return,declared that it would continue the four-month-old air and militaryembargo against Libya that was imposed …
| Washington | 1 0 3—4 |
|---|---|
| Toronto | 0 0 1—1 |
First Period_1, Washington, Ovechkin 17 (Schultz, Backstrom), 14:27. Penalties_Knuble, Was (tripping), 1:32; Grabovski, Tor (tripping), 3:43; Hendricks, Was, major (fighting), 6:48; Brown, Tor, major (fighting), 6:48; Backstrom, Was (tripping), 11:58; Backstrom, Was (high-sticking), 19:18.
Second Period_None. Penalties_Toronto bench, served by Versteeg (too many men), 1:19.
Third …
China's demand for iron ore, copper, coal and aluminum will increase dramatically during the next 15 years before India takes the lead in its need for those commodities, global miner Rio Tinto Ltd. predicted in its annual report released Tuesday.
Rio Tinto chief executive Tom Albanese said the strong demand for iron ore clearly provided the most obvious option for production growth in Australia.
Albanese was optimistic about long-term growth prospects and said China's demand for iron ore, copper, coal and aluminum was expected to grow exponentially for the next 15 years.
"India is expected to follow, supporting a further potential wave of …
Q. As a potential first-time condominium buyer, how do I protectmyself from an association with runaway assessments?
A. The homeowners association board has the right to increaseassessments and impose special assessments. Potential condominiumpurchasers should obtain information in advance to best protectthemselves against unexpected, unusually high assessment increases orspecial fees.
Get the answers to these questions before buying: How much have homeowners' fees risen in the immediate past? Byobtaining a history of the past five years from the seller ormanaging agent, a potential buyer will have an idea of what futureincreases might be. How often have …
Christian Peacemaker Teams get a nod in Deborah Campell's new book, This Heated Place: Encounters in the Promised Land (Douglas & McIntyre). Campbell, a young Canadian journalist, tried to remain non-judgmental as she recorded her encounters with people in Israel/Palestine. Reviewer Bronwyn Drainie (Nov. 23 Globe and Mail) noted that Campbell is typical of visitors to the Middle East, displaying "initial sympathy for the …
Defending champion Sebastien Loeb moved closer to a fourth straight Catalunya Rally victory after winning four of Saturday's six stages to extend his overall lead.
The Frenchman, who had swept all six of Friday's opening stages, leads Citroen teammate Dani Sordo by 27.7 seconds with an overall time of 2 hours, 22 minutes, 57.2 seconds.
"The day has been almost perfect," Loeb said. "OK, I lost a little time in (stage 12) but it was really tricky, there were stones …
Have you won Pounds 1,000 this week? If you are a member of theWeston Hospicecare Lottery then check your numbers here.If you wantto become a member and have the chance to win Pounds 1,000 everyweek visit www.we stonhospicecare.org.uk, email lottery@westonhospicecare.org.uk or ring 01934 423923.
The winner of draw number 511 on June 16 was 785360 Holehouse.Second …
CAMP FALLUJAH, Iraq - Being a little bit scared is good. Many Marines say it keeps them sharp during a war in which combat comes in spurts, separated by lengthy bouts of boredom.
A fair amount of fear was in the air as a convoy of six Humvees made the 40-mile journey from Baghdad to Camp Fallujah.
"The IEDs," said Sgt. Andrew Wharton, referring to roadside bombs known in the military as improvised explosive devices. "That's what you've got to be worried about."
"I try not to think about that stuff," he said. "You just try to keep your mind on what you're doing."
Leaning out of the driver's seat of a heavily armored Humvee, Wharton poured coffee he had …
Austria Post AG said Tuesday it plans to close 300 branch offices nationwide as part of restructuring to be completed by 2011.
Workers in the branches tagged for closure will not lose their jobs, the company said in a statement.
Austria Post, buffeted …
LOVETTSVILLE, Va. It is in the nature of cats to do a certainamount of unescorted roaming, as the late Gov. Adlai Stevenson wrotein vetoing a feline leash bill that was gormless even by the lowstandards of the Legislature at Springfield.
Consequently, no one thought much about it on the second nightof spring when Farouk, a.k.a. the Spot Cat, asked to be let out. Hedidn't show up when it came time for the humans to turn in, but againnobody gave it much thought. It was a nice night, cool and a bitbreezy, and there were things out there to check out, especiallyafter an enforced absence of three months while wintering-overindoors in Washington, D.C.
Overnight …
SEOUL, South Korea - Satellite images indicate North Korea appears to be getting ready for a second nuclear test, officials said Tuesday, as the defiant communist regime held huge rallies and proclaimed that U.N. sanctions amount to a declaration of war.
China, the North's longtime ally and biggest trading partner, warned Pyongyang not to aggravate tensions in the wake of U.N. condemnation of its Oct. 9 atomic blast. And U.S. nuclear envoy Christopher Hill told reporters in Seoul that another nuclear explosion would be "a very belligerent answer" to the world.
As the White House acknowledged that the isolated nation might try a second test, Secretary of State Condoleezza …
The basic intentions of a reverent neighborhood bar are not tomeddle in the middle, play its music too low or wear its britches toohigh.
Nick's Tavern is soul deep.
It's been a great 10-year run for Nick's, 1973 N. Halsted(664-7383), and a weeklong celebration kicks off at 3 p.m. Sundaywhen bartending alumni will serve beverages at 1977 prices ($1 for adrink, 75 cents for a draft beer).
Other highlights this week include live appearances by MarkHannon and his seven-piece blues band at 8 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday,and a Wednesday night Polynesian party laced with limbo dancing and lots of hula skirts.Drawings will be held nightly for free private parties at Nick's, andnext Sunday, a week's worth of raffle tickets will be thrown togetherin a drawing for a Rock-ola jukebox featuring the best selectionsfrom Nick's legendary jukebox.
It's difficult to explain your fatherland: I've been part of thewoodwork at Nick's since 1980 and have danced to "The Monkey Time"by Major Lance, stumbled across Caroline Kennedy at the jukebox,rumbled over waitresses Fran and Sue, and watched usually dignifiedfriends like Hughes and O'Brien act like Marvin Gaye and TammiTerrell. Someone - usually Torrez - would stand up on the wobbly legof a bar stool and dangle a green beer bottle as if it were a boommicrophone. Hughes and O'Brien would then close their eyes and croonto memories that rolled off the jukebox like new quarters in awaterfall.
The jukebox always has been the heartbeat of Nick's. With aheavy emphasis on seminal soul and rhythm and blues, the music isloud for people who like dance in their romance. Nick's staff (andlots of customers) have programmed the 100-selection box withdefinitive rock 'n' roll energy, changing a dozen selections a month.There's a library of 200 45s waiting for rotation in the bar'sbasement, but standards include Martha & the Vandellas' "JimmyMack" (on the box from Day One), James Brown's "I Got You (I FeelGood)" and Robert Palmer's "Sneakin' Sally Thru the Alley."
Some of Nick's other greatest hits were played out in recentnights of the round table discussion with owner Nick Novich;bartender Roger "Father Time" Moy; former bartender, advertisingrep Richard Newman, and longtime customer, artist Richard Hull.
The naked spirit of Nick's may best be personified in"Peaches," whose lava-like nude portrait hangs on a wall behind thebar. "A guy walked into the bar at two in the morning in the winterof 1978 when we were wall to wall with people," recalled Novich. "Hehad three sips of beer and tried to start an altercation. Threepeople were escorting him out and he reached into his pocket andpulled out a loaded .45. As the guy behind the bar was calling thepolice, he went down and four shots went into the painting. One hitthe frame down below her, two went just above the body, one justbelow the knee. But Peaches herself never was hit. We always feltlike that was history, so we never patched it up."
Peaches has been a part of Nick's since the bar opened in 1977.
"I'm Yugoslavian and I had a Yugoslavian friend who was helpingme renovate the place," Novich continued. "I wanted to get the rightthing behind the bar and it was driving me crazy because prices werealways exorbitant. My friend's mother had just moved into a studioapartment and she had this painting that was much too large for herstudio. She brought it over from Yugoslavia, where it was apparentlystolen by German soldiers, and when they had to evacuate, they leftthe painting behind. It was just perfect for the bar."
Novich said Peaches has had other names over the past decade."For a long time she was known as `Our Lady of Halsted Street,' " helaughed.
Moy has been behind the bar as long as Peaches.
"I was teaching at the Art Institute and used to go to threedifferent bars - the last bar was where I'd play pool to try and winenough money to buy dinner on the way home," Moy remembered. "The barbefore that stop was Glascott's, where Nick was a bartender at thetime. (Novich, Tim Glascott and Joe Carlucci, the trio that hasreshaped North Halsted Street, are lifelong friends.) A couple yearslater I wandered down this way and saw Nick's and Nick was tendingbar here. We got to talking and found out we had a lot in common -he had been a teacher, I was a teacher - and I was waiting for ateaching job in southern Florida. I asked him if he needed abartender without any experience while I was waiting for this job.Well, I didn't get the job in Florida, but I kept this one for thelast 10 years."
In its seedy mid-'70s life before Nick's, the bar was a dark,package liquor store with a tiny tap and a big reputation as anArmitage Avenue shooting gallery (as in heroin). There was amethadone clinic at Willow at Halsted, and the Ultimate Sports Barwas the Club Ole strip joint.
"We were the first ones to dare to have open windows nearArmitage and Halsted," Moy said. "And we had iron bars and gates thatwe finally took down five years ago."
The shake-and-bake character of the neighborhood is what madeNick's so vital in the early days. There was Freddie (a.k.a.Professor Longhair), the real-gone dancer with the pork-pie hat,Viola the Pillar of Fire Lady, the city's only courteous Biblethumper, who would graciously pass out religious literature at Nick'son Friday nights (and sometimes fresh fruit, from which Novich wouldmake delicacies such as plum daquiris), and the memorable comedy teamof Gus and Shook.
"Gus lived upstairs, and he was a reformed alcoholic - actuallya reformed human being," said Moy, as Tyrone Davis's "Turn Back theHands of Time" provided background ambience. "He had given up on thehuman race completely. Everything was negative and could best bedescribed as an equal opportunity racist. His buddy, Forrest Shook,was just the opposite - everything was rosy for him.
"They were about the same age and they'd always come intogether. Shook would talk about (in an optimistic falsetto) `Oooh,that woman I was with last night, ooh-wee!' And Gus would say (in adoomed bass) `Awh, you wouldn't know what to do with her, you idiot.'Gus and Shook would always go back and forth, and I'd be inhysterics. I'm sure they knew they were being funny; it was likethey were rehearsing this for years. They were so opposite, but whenthey were together, the chemistry was exciting."
Even the celebrities who hung out at Nick's were cool. FormerCubs shortstop Ivan DeJesus was a semi-regular, as was reborn ChicagoBull Artis Gilmore. Former New York Doll singer David Johansen stillstops at Nick's when he's in town, as does the Boston Celtics' KevinMcHale. And the heart and soul of the '84 Cubs, Gary "The Sarge"Matthews, said goodbye to Nick's just before he was shipped off tothe Seattle Mariners.
Moy recalled the night Caroline Kennedy came to Nick's. "Shehit on every man in this place, but no one took her up on it becausethere were three guys in dark glasses following her around," he said.
It's safe to say many of those days are part of the past.
Sandwiched between "I came, Izod, I conquered" clone cafes - theHunt Club, Gamekeeper's and Beaumont's, Nick's finds there's no moreroom for rootsy neighborhood individuality - at least on Friday andSaturday night.
That's the price you pay for progress.
"With these big windows, you can keep a good eye on the streetcorner, and it looks like 5,000 of the exact same people - like onecouple keeps walking back and forth all day," Moy said. "It justreflects the complexion of the neighborhood - no pun intended. Itisn't culturally diverse anymore. The tradeoff is that you don'thave the weird things that used to happen in here. I'd much prefernot wondering if I'm man enough to work at Nick's."
Novich said, "I think it's somewhat unfortunate, but nothingremains the same. In this business, there's a regular turnover ofpeople from six months to a year. I know I'd rather have a businessin this area than a lot of other areas in the city of Chicago. Indefense of all the changes, I think this is one of the few areaswhere it's really a genuine Chicago neighborhood. You come down toHalsted Street and you come down to Nick's, and it's still authenticChicago, where other nightlife sections of the city are prettygeneric. I mean, you could be in Atlanta.
"You'll always know Nick's is Chicago."
THE WANDERER: Julian Cope, former lead singer-songwriter andbass player of the Teardrop Explodes ("When I Dream"), brings his newfour-piece band to the Riviera, 4746 N. Racine at 8 p.m. Sunday.The Way Moves will open the show.
Cope's band will play tunes from its debut album, "SaintJulian," which has more of a cutting edge than the Teardrop materialdid. Cope - who collects Dinky toy cars in his spare time - got offone of the better rock 'n' roll quotes of 1987 when he explained hisformerly inconsistent public persona - "Mine's a different kind ofoff-your-treeness. I was a little bit skew-whiff, but never off myhead."
Yeah, that's the ticket.
Former Formula One driver Nelson Piquet Jr. will enter the NASCAR Truck Series race at Daytona International Speedway.
Red Horse Racing announced Monday that Piquet will enter the No. 1 Toyota in Friday's race at Daytona.
"We have closely observed Nelson in our testing and believe he has a great future in NASCAR," said Tom DeLoach, managing partner of Red Horse. "He exhibits excellent car control, gives good feedback, but needs the side-by-side experience. He'll get plenty of that in Daytona."
The Brazilian driver has tested several times with Red Horse and made his stock-car debut in Saturday's ARCA race at Daytona. He started seventh, finished 27th, and bumped fenders with Danica Patrick to trigger her spin through the grass that took Patrick out of race-winning contention.
"The size of the Daytona track is amazing," Piquet said. "I can't wait to reach 200 mph side by side in a tight drafting pack of trucks. I can't wait to get out on track and start my NASCAR career."
Piquet triggered an F1 scandal last year when he revealed he deliberately crashed his car to help teammate Fernando Alonso win the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix.
Piquet was fired by Renault in August, and began exploring opportunities in NASCAR shortly afterward.
Red Horse Racing is still searching for a sponsor for Piquet's entry, and there was no immediate word on any future races with the team.
"Nelson has a huge international following, which hopefully will attract a race partner for the team," DeLoach said.
QUESTION: I am writing on behalf of my father. He wants to knowif it is safe to eat the fish from Lake Michigan. I guess this wouldgo for fish caught offshore and on a boat.
Arturo ANSWER: Yes, it is safe with a few precautions andexceptions. Page 39 of the 1999 Illinois Fishing Information booklethas an updated list of fish-consumption advisories. Yellow perch,small rainbow trout and smelt are the safest fish to eat, but onlyone meal a week is recommended. Carp and channel catfish from LakeMichigan should never be eaten. Very large brown trout, lake troutand chinook salmon should only be eaten once every couple months.Preparation tips: When filleting salmon or trout, remove as muchfatty tissue as possible and the skin.
NEW YORK - In most boldface-name paternity disputes, men denythey're the baby-daddy. But in a he said/he said twist to the AnnaNicole Smith tabloid saga, two guys are claiming to be the father ofher baby girl.
Smith's lawyer and boyfriend, Howard K. Stern, says he is thefather of Dannie Lynn Hope, born Sept. 7. Smith and Stern haveexchanged non-legal vows and say they plan to officially tie theknot.
But Smith's ex-boyfriend, photographer Larry Birkhead, says HE isthe dad and has filed a lawsuit demanding that she and the babyreturn to California for DNA testing. He also wants the baby testedfor drugs. Smith was served with court papers Monday in the Bahamas,Birkhead's attorney, Debra Opri, said.
Two wannabe dads, one mother.
Is this normal, or does Smith have some 'splaining to do?
"Generally, the guy doesn't want to step forward because he'sgoing to end up paying child support," said California-based divorceattorney Connolly Oyler.
"And many paternity suits filed by women are out of disappointmentthat, 'He told me he loved me and we went to bed, and I'm pregnant.He ran.'
"Those are the typical situations ... It's usually a one-on-onesituation. Very seldom (do) you have a multiple."
The 38-year-old former Playboy playmate and celebrity widow wentto the Bahamas to give birth to Dannie. Three days after Dannie wasborn, her 20-year-old son, Daniel Smith, died of an accidental lethalcombination of methadone and two antidepressants, according to aprivate autopsy.
Eighteen days after that, Smith and Stern exchanged vows on acatamaran near Nassau but there was no formal marriage. Peoplemagazine bought photos of the event and will feature them in its nextissue, according to Smith's attorney, Michael Scott.
Oyler said if DNA testing confirms Birkhead to be the "bio-dad,"or biological father, then he can get visitation rights and perhapseven joint custody. He also could get "a huge amount for childsupport," based on a formula that compares incomes.
That's a nice incentive, considering Smith's wealth - but it's notthe right one, Opri said. Birkhead "truly wants to be involved inthat child's life. This is his first child and he does not want tolose that child. And that's why we're doing all this," she said.
A Bath-based design agency has been chosen to revamp one of theUK's biggest exhibitions of contemporary glass.
Mytton Williams, which designed and installed internal signs forthe Thermae Bath Spa, has given a makeover to the image of theBritish Glass Biennale (BGB) which features as the highlight of theInternational Festival of Glass.
The agency has carved out a new identity for the BGB includingredesigning its exhibition catalogue, advertising, exhibitiongraphics and launching a new website for the 2008 event.
Mytton Williams co-founder and creative director Bob Mytton saidthe BGB exhibition had been a stimulating project to work on.
He said: "The client wanted bold and challenging design ideas toindicate significant developments in the growth of the exhibition.
"Creatively we were briefed to grasp the essence of theexhibition, the contemporary, varied and artistic value of glass."
The International Festival of Glass in Stourbridge, which hasbeen held every two years since 2004, runs from Friday, August 22 toMonday, August 25 and features workshops from experts around theworld.
The BGB runs from Friday, August 22 until Sunday, September 28.
Mytton Williams based its designs around the refractive anddistorting qualities of glass to create the new BGB logo which isavailable in black or white.
The business fought off competition from four agencies around thecountry with its successful pitch.
BGB exhibition organiser Candice-Elena Greer said she wasimpressed by a thorough brief for the project from the MyttonWilliams team.
She said: "We felt Bob Mytton was the person to take on the wholejob.
"He was very thorough in his brief and presentation and therewere projects he had worked on before with a similar feel for whatwe were looking for.
"The Mytton Williams team was very creative in working with ourlimited budget."
The BGB runs alongside the International Festival of Glass andorganisers were keen to give the exhibition its own distinct brand.
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Former Afghan president who heads new peace council says Taliban are ready to talk peace.
LAS VEGAS - A Catholic priest wanted for questioning in connection with the assault of a woman at a church has been suspended by the Diocese of Las Vegas.
The Rev. George Chaanine of Our Lady of Las Vegas was placed on administrative leave, meaning he cannot act in any capacity as a priest, said diocese spokeswoman Rachel Wilkinson.
Police said a church employee accused Chaanine of striking her Friday afternoon after he made sexual advances on her and she resisted inside a building on the church's campus. No sexual assault is alleged, said Lt. Kevin McMahill.
Police continued their search Sunday for the priest, but he was not found at his home or the church, said Lt. Jeff Whitehead. "He's on the lam," Whitehead said.
The incident began at 4:22 p.m. Friday, when police received a call about an assault or battery at the church. A woman ran out of one of the church buildings and accused Chaanine of beating her, police said.
Authorities took the woman to University Medical Center's trauma unit. She was treated and released Friday night.
J.P. Primm scored 23 points and dished out 11 assists in North Carolina-Asheville's 84-73 win over High Point in the quarterfinals of the Big South Conference tournament on Tuesday night.
Sean Smith added 20 points, going 5-for-11 on 3-pointers, and Matt Dickey had 18 for the Bulldogs (15-15), who won their ninth straight.
UNC-Asheville broke a three-game conference tournament losing streak to the Panthers (15-15), and will play host Coastal Carolina in the semifinals on Thursday.
The Bulldogs led 12-9 with 12:29 left in the first half, and pulled away with a 13-2 run to lead 25-11 on Dickey's 3 with 7:51 left in the first half.
High Point pulled within 76-70 with 58 seconds left, but UNC-Asheville scored seven straight _ all on free throws _ to seal the win.
Nick Barbour scored 25 points, Corey Law added 14 and David Campbell 10 for the Panthers.
SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (AP) — An American singer suspected of trying to smuggle more than a kilogram (2 pounds) of heroin in his stomach was detained as he tried to board a U.S.-bound flight at a Dominican airport, authorities said Tuesday.
Ramon Alcides Rodriguez, spokesman of the country's drug control agency, said that New York-born bachata singer Jimmy Bauer became sick at Santo Domingo's international airport on Monday when a couple of pellets he had swallowed apparently burst.
Bauer, whose real name is Jaime Vargas, was trying to board a flight to the United States when customs and drug authorities stopped him for "strange behavior," Rodriguez said. He said an X-ray examination of Bauer's abdomen showed dozens of pellets in his stomach.
Dominican authorities rushed Bauer to a nearby military hospital, where 88 pellets were extracted from his stomach, Rodriguez said. Two other pellets had burst, he added.
Authorities initially suspected the pellets contained cocaine, but Rodriguez said laboratory tests showed it was 1.04 kilograms (2.2 pounds) of pure heroin.
Bauer, who was hospitalized in serious condition, was being guarded by three officers of the drug agency.
The New York resident of Dominican heritage is a minor figure in bachata, a musical genre that originated in the Caribbean nation's countryside and is recognizable for its slow, sensual sound marked by bongos, maracas and the pluck of guitars.
It was not clear if Bauer, who was part of a merengue group in Puerto Rico before focusing on bachata in 2005, had a lawyer. His hometown was not immediately available.
The singer's manager, Irvin Lozada, said Tuesday he was "completely astonished" to hear of Bauer's situation in the Dominican Republic.
"I never saw Jimmy use drugs," Lozada said from New Jersey, while adding that he knew little about Bauer's personal life. He said he was trying to get in contact with the singer's relatives.
The Dominican Republic is a major transit point for drugs bound for the United States.
(This version CORRECTS that manager spoke from New Jersey instead of New York.)
Martin Brodeur's latest shutout left the New Jersey Devils onevictory away from the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs andthe Boston Bruins wondering how to get the puck past him.
Brodeur posted his 14th shutout in 70 career playoff victoriesSunday when the visiting Devils beat the Bruins 3-0 to open a 3-0lead in the series. Game 4 is scheduled for Tuesday in Boston.
"They have an unbelievable wall back there, and that weighs onyou," Bruins right wing Mike Knuble said.
It should bother the Devils' potential playoff opponents,especially with the confidence Brodeur brings to the postseason.
"I still have a long way to go and many more shutouts to get," hesaid.
The Bruins now face a daunting task. In 13 previous playoff seriesin which they trailed 3-0, they never made it to Game 6. They lostseven of those series 4-0 and six 4-1.
"Anything's doable," said Bruins center Brian Rolston, who managedonly one shot on goal and has no points in the series.
The Devils got goals from Scott Stevens in the second period andJay Pandolfo and John Madden in the third.
The Bruins, meanwhile, got none of their 29 shots past Brodeur,who led the league with 41 victories and nine shutouts during theregular season.
"He's a big-time goalie and thrives on games like this," Maddensaid. "He plays just well enough to be better than everybody, butwhen big games come, he takes it to another level."
OILERS 3, STARS 2: Georges Laraque, Fernando Pisani and RadekDvorak scored in a 3:05 span in the third period to rally hostEdmonton past Dallas. The result gave the Oilers a 2-1 lead in theseries, with Game 4 scheduled for Tuesday in Edmonton, Alberta.
The Stars entered the third period leading 1-0, but Laraque tiedthe score at 2:33. After Jere Lehtinen gave the Stars a 2-1 lead 50seconds later, Pisani scored at 4:40 and Dvor-ak at 5:38. GoalieTommy Salo did the rest, turning aside 30 of the 32 shots he faced.
Capping a long day and a consuming political journey, President Barack Obama celebrated the passage of health care legislation with hugs, high fives and an emboldened attitude. Said the president to the nation, "Tonight, we answered the call of history."
At nearly midnight in Washington, with a big swath of country asleep or headed that way, Obama strode into the ornate East Room with Vice President Joe Biden backing him. There was no hour too late for the president to embrace this moment.
"I want to thank every member of Congress who stood up tonight with courage and conviction to make health care reform a reality," Obama said as the top members of his own health care team stood beaming nearby. "I know this wasn't an easy vote for a lot of people. But it was the right vote."
Obama was proud but not unrestrained in victory, mindful that the Senate still has not gotten to a companion bill to fix problems with the one that just passed. The sense in the West Wing was one of perseverance after a debate with so many turns and doubts.
"We did not fear our future," Obama said. "We shaped it."
The final day had been a low-key one for Obama. No more fiery speeches, no trips to Capitol Hill, no ventures outside the White House gates at all.
Instead, the most visible spokesman for health care reform spent the final day of an exhaustive lobbying campaign out of public view.
Aides said he was roaming the West Wing, getting updates, calling lawmakers with thanks as a huge legislative win was imminent.
As the president said when he crashed a morning meeting of senior staff, this was a big day. But the spotlight fell on the House of Representatives.
The first glimpse of the president on Sunday did not come until late at night, after the final House vote on legislation to revamp health insurance rules for millions of people. But the announcement that he would give such a statement underscored that Obama was sensing victory _ and history.
Beforehand, the White House released two photos showing hand-picked images of a president in a serious fight for votes until the end.
In one, Obama was on a cell phone talking to an unidentified lawmaker from the office of his chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel. The president was surrounded by Emanuel and four other legislative and political advisers. There wasn't a smile in the room.
The other photo showed Obama in the Oval Office, sleeves rolled up, working the phones again in conversation with another unnamed lawmaker.
Obama called more than a dozen lawmakers on Sunday and got in touch with more than 90 during the week, the White House said without identifying them.
Before nightfall, the only burst of Obama news came in a press release around 4 p.m.
Obama revealed he would issue an executive order to make sure that the emerging health care legislation would uphold all federal funding restrictions on abortion. That step had the enormously important effect of locking in the votes of a bloc of anti-abortion House Democrats.
After that, around the White House, it was mostly a matter of counting down until the House acted.
Obama watched the main House vote on the Senate-approved health care bill in the Roosevelt Room with Biden and about 40 other members of the White House staff. When the bill won enough votes to pass, the room burst into applause and hugs.
Had this been any other spring day in Washington, Obama might have ventured out for basketball or golf.
Not on this Sunday, when no hint of taking the vote for granted would be allowed.
However, Obama did have time, like many Americans, to absorb the reality of his own busted March Madness bracket.
The president picked Kansas to win the men's NCAA basketball title; the Jayhawks fell in a big upset on Saturday. The basketball tournament continued Sunday, when some TVs in the West Wing were tuned to the games and other carried the action on the House floor.
Obama caught some of both.
NEW YORK (AP) — The NCAA tournament's new television format drew more viewers to the first full day of March Madness.
Thursday's games across four networks averaged 7.4 million viewers. That's up 16 percent from last year, when games were only on CBS.
The NCAA's 14-year, $10.8 billion deal with CBS and Turner means each game is televised nationally in its entirety on CBS, TNT, TBS or truTV. In the past, broadcasts on CBS were regionalized, and the network would switch among games.
Ratings were up big for the afternoon games, when most of the matchups went down to the final seconds. Ratings were up only slightly for the less-dramatic night games.
A Cypriot police spokesman says a key suspect in the alleged contract killing of the island's only media baron has been arrested in Moldova.
Michalis Katsounotos said on Tuesday that extradition proceedings have begun for 29-year-old fugitive Gregoris Xenofontos.
Investigators believe that Xenofontos was the triggerman in the Jan. 11 fatal shooting of 41-year-old Andy Hadjicostis outside his Nicosia home.
Xenofontos flew to Moldova 3 days after the killing.
Television host Elena Skordelli, her brother Anastasios Krasopoullis and another man are currently being tried on premeditated murder charges. They have pleaded not guilty to plotting and ordering the killing, allegedly prompted by the host's dismissal from a Hadjicostis-owned TV station.
MANAGUA, Nicaragua - Daniel Ortega, the revolutionary Marxist who battled a U.S.-backed Contra insurgency in the 1980s, was closing in on Nicaragua's presidency, appearing Monday to have defeated four opponents with promises that he was a changed man.
Electoral officials had yet to release final results from Sunday's vote, but preliminary results and two of the country's top electoral watchdog groups all gave Ortega about 40 percent of the vote. That was more than enough to avoid a runoff against Harvard-educated banker Eduardo Montealegre, who trailed by at least seven percentage points.
Former Contra rebel and last-place presidential candidate Eden Pastora admitted defeat Monday. But the other three candidates refused to recognize Ortega's victory, saying they would wait until all the votes had been counted. The United States, which has threatened to pull aid from an Ortega government, also said it was too soon to declare the Sandinista leader a winner.
"This isn't over until the last vote has been counted," Montealegre said.
If his victory is confirmed, the Cold War icon would join a growing number of leftist Latin American rulers, led by Venezuela's Hugo Chavez, who has tried to help his Nicaraguan ally by shipping cheap oil to the poor, energy-starved nation.
"This is good for the people of Nicaragua and for the integration of Latin America," Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque told The Associated Press Monday.
Ortega's supporters celebrated in the streets Monday, with caravans of hundreds of cars filing into the capital, honking, waving party flags and blasting the Sandinista campaign song, set to the tune of John Lennon's "Give Peace a Chance."
Ortega met Monday evening with former President Jimmy Carter, who served as an election observer. But Ortega did not declare victory, saying "no one wins until the electoral council says so."
Herberto Jose Lopez, who earns about $235 a month selling CDs from a kiosk, said Monday he voted for Ortega in hopes that he would help Nicaragua's poor.
"I've got a wife and kid and I'm lucky because I have a job, but most people will tell you the same thing: The current administration just governs for the guys in ties," said the 32-year-old Lopez.
Some Nicaraguans worried that an Ortega win would drive away the country's business leaders and elite, as they did the first time he came to power.
"We're just trying to figure out which country to go to," said 27-year-old Karen Sandoval, a Coca-Cola marketer shopping with a friend at an upscale Managua mall. "This sets the country back 20 years."
Ortega, who served as president from 1985-90, toned down his once fiery rhetoric during the campaign, promising to support the Central American Free Trade Agreement and even maintain good relations with Washington.
The balding, 60-year-old leftist often appears more preacher than revolutionary, calling for peace and reconciliation and urging his supporters to pray.
He says he has changed profoundly since he befriended Soviet leaders, expropriated land and fought Contra rebels in a war that left 30,000 dead and the economy in shambles.
An Ortega victory would cap a 16-year quest to return to his old job. Ortega lost the presidency in 1990, ending Sandinista rule and the Contra war. He has run for president in every election since.
Ortega's vote percentage was similar to what he received in his last two failed presidential bids, but the right was divided this time between Montealegre and ruling party candidate Jose Rizo. The constitution allowed him to win on the first round with only 35 percent of the vote and a lead of five percentage points over his closest rival.
With more than 60 percent of the vote counted, Ortega had 39 percent to Montealegre's 31 percent. Three other candidates trailed: Rizo, Sandinista dissident Edmundo Jarquin and Pastora. Statistical surveys of votes conducted by two respected Nicaraguan electoral watchdog groups also gave Ortega a similar margin.
Many Nicaraguans who fled the country for the U.S. during Sandinista rule, and even those who left later, said they feared an Ortega victory would mean a return to the chaos the country suffered during the 1980s. But Nicaraguans in the U.S. said they hoped Ortega's election would be a wake-up call to the country's opposition to better respond to the needs of Nicaraguans.
"They are talking that there will be more problems again, more violence, but you have to hope that that won't happen. You have to hope that there will be a change," said Managuan native Josefa Ortega, 49, as she sold avocados and fruit outside a shopping center in Miami.
Electoral observers have said the vote was mostly peaceful and orderly, despite long lines and angry confrontations by people who said polling stations closed before they could vote. Observers from the Organization of American States said 2 percent of potential voters weren't able to cast a ballot, and they estimated turnout around 70 percent.
The race generated intense international interest, including a visit by Oliver North, the former White House aide at the heart of the Iran-Contra controversy, which created a huge scandal when it emerged that Washington secretly sold arms to Iran and used the money to arm the Contras.
These days, U.S. money is flowing to Nicaragua in the form of investments by foreign companies drawn by the country's cheap labor, low crime rates and recent decision to join the Central American Free Trade Agreement.
Nicaraguan presidents cannot serve consecutive terms, and President Enrique Bolanos steps down Jan. 10.
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Police say a bomb hidden in a trash heap has killed six children and one man in southern Afghanistan.
Police spokesman Farid Ayal says the children were rummaging for scrap metal and bottles when the homemade bomb exploded Friday in Trinkot, capital of Uruzgan province, about 250 miles (400 kilometers) southwest of Kabul.
Four other children were wounded by the explosion.
Roadside bombs are a favorite weapon of Taliban insurgents against foreign troops and the U.S.-backed government, but they also kill dozens of civilians each month.
The U.N. estimates improvised bombs and suicide attacks accounted for half of nearly 1,500 civilian deaths in the first six months of last year, the most recent statistics.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Roadside bombs killed five NATO service members in southern Afghanistan on Friday, the alliance said. NATO did not identify the troops or disclose what countries they came from.
The deaths brought to nine the number of coalition troops killed in the first week of the year. At least 544 NATO troops died in Afghanistan in 2011, the second-deadliest year for the coalition in the decade-old war.
Four troops died in one of Friday's bombings, and one was killed in a separate blast. The alliance said both incidents occurred in southern Afghanistan but provided no further details.
U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan have been significantly increased since 2009 and the government's army and police have rapidly expanded, resulting in the capture and killing of thousands of Taliban insurgents. Nonetheless, the guerrillas have retained their capability to inflict losses on coalition forces.
Faced with overwhelming allied superiority in numbers and firepower, the Taliban largely avoid direct combat, relying instead on roadside bombs, small ambushes and hit-and-run tactics to harass NATO and government forces.
Taliban military activities typically abate during the winter months, due to heavy snows and bitter cold in the rough mountain terrain.
The steady flow of casualties and the high costs of the operation have undermined support for the war, particularly among European allies who make up about a third of the approximately 130,000-member NATO-led force. They come at a time when defense budgets are being slashed as part of public spending cuts and other austerity measures designed to deal with the worsening economic crisis.
NATO is gradually handing over responsibility for security to the rapidly expanding Afghan police and army. Coalition forces plan to cease combat operations in 2014, when most foreign troops will be withdrawn.
The government's army and police will assume the lead role in about half the nation over the next several months.
On Thursday, President Hamid Karzai demanded that the largest detention center in the country be handed over to exclusive Afghan control.
The state-of-the-art internment facility located near Bagram Airfield is now jointly run by U.S. and Afghan authorities. It was completed in 2009 to replace another jail, where human rights groups claimed detainees were menaced, forced to strip naked and kept in solitary confinement in windowless cells.
Karzai also demanded that all Afghan citizens held by the coalition troops across the nation be turned over to the government. A presidential statement said that keeping Afghan citizens imprisoned without trial violates the country's constitution, as well as international human rights conventions.
In Washington, State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said the U.S. and Afghanistan have been working on the transfer of detention facilities for a long time. She said no timeline has been agreed on.
"We're going to continue to work with the Afghan government to implement the transition that we have both agreed needs to happen," Nuland told reporters. "We need to do this in a manner that is maximally responsible."
___
Associated Press reporter Bradley Klapper in Washington contributed to this report.
Israeli President Shimon Peres says the country was compelled to launch its deadliest-ever offensive against Gaza militants by the actions of the radical Islamic Hamas and the campaign would continue for as long as necessary to deter the group from future attacks.
Speaking during a visit to defense headquarters in Tel Aviv on Tuesday, he said the military faced a hard struggle in the days ahead.
Peres said Israel's goal went beyond halting rocket attacks from Gaza into southern Israel but he did not go into detail. The president said only that the campaign is not about stopping the fire but about stopping terrorism.
Tank Johnson beat the original prognosis for his torn left quadmuscle by a long ways. Expected to begin the season on the non-football injury list, Johnson was promoted to the active rosterMonday and is on target to be ready for the season opener Sept. 10 atGreen Bay. Johnson tore the quad in March and following surgery itwas said he could miss as many as six months, which would have meantmissing the first six weeks of the regular season, at the minimum.
His return bolsters an area that has been struck by injury withIan Scott (left knee), Michael Haynes (back) and Dusty Dvoracek(right foot) still out.
Johnson was expected to push Scott for the starting job at nosetackle, but now he figures to start the year in the role he playedlast season, as a nickel pass rusher. Johnson had five sacks lastseason, including two in the victory over Baltimore, when he led theline with eight tackles. He doesn't think the long layoff will effecthim too much.
"The defense is easy," he said. "Where you go on any given play isone or two steps. It's not going to be that big of a deal in respectto being sharp.
"Fortunately, I was able to keep my weight [300 pounds] down anddidn't gain a lot. I am really happy about that."
Johnson could play Friday vs. Arizona, but the club might hold himout until the preseason finale Aug. 31 at Cleveland.
PINBALL WIZARD: Chris Harris said he was too jacked up for thegame Friday night and that's why he bounced off the ball carrier afew times, failing to wrap up.
"I was just a little wired up, a little too excited," he said. "Ineed to calm down and get an even keel. I felt I handled [the switchto strong safety in place of Mike Brown] pretty well. I didn't try todo anything too special. I just let the position come to me."
ROSTERING: Linebacker Joe Odom, a sixth-round pick in 2003, wasplaced on waivers. Odom had eight career starts, making 49 tackles,but played only two games last season before going on injured reservewith a sprained ankle.
Backup linebacker Leon Joe had a solid game Friday against SanDiego and is figured to be the fourth linebacker at this point. TheBears will keep Brendon Ayanbadejo because of his value on specialteams and that leaves perhaps one more roster spot. The team has itsgreatest investment in fourth-round pick Jamar Williams, and themoney trail is smart to follow when assessing the approaching cutdowndate.
Defensive end Khari Long was placed on injured reserve with ashoulder injury. Added were linebacker Mike Mendenhall of Temple, whowas brought in for a tryout during rookie minicamp, and fullbackQuadtrine Hill of Miami.
EXTRA POINTS: Cornerback Nathan Vasher remained out with his mid-back injury and is not expected to play Friday. He was injured in thepreseason opener Aug. 11.
"It's coming along but I still won't get out there until I am 100percent," he said. "They just told me to chalk it up as backsoreness, so that's all I can really tell you guys. More or less I'mtaking a precaution. I don't want to get out there until I am 100percent and I'm not in any rush to get back."
Left guard Ruben Brown was held out of practice with a minor groinpull. He's probable for Friday's game. Wide receiver Airese Currie(left knee) returned to practice after having arthroscopic surgery.Coach Lovie Smith said he is looking forward to the return of backupguard Terrence Metcalf, who also had arthroscopic knee surgery.
bbiggs@suntimes.com
WASHINGTON
Like all such scandals, the matter of Mark Foley and his luridvalentines to congressional pages is instructive for what it reveals,and not just about Foley, but about his party, its leaders and us.
Having checked into "rehab" after it was revealed that he hadwritten salacious e-mails and instant messages to House pages, Foleyshoved his lawyer out front to say he was an alcoholic, gay and hadbeen abused by a clergyman as a boy. What is Foley up to?
Rather than speak directly to the charge against him -- that he isa homosexual with the hots for teenage boys -- Foley's lawyer isentering a plea, in the court of public opinion, of diminishedcapacity.
Foley is portraying himself not as a sexual predator out to pickup boys, an unappealing figure, but as a victim of compulsive forcesover which he had no control and for which he cannot be heldaccountable.
Call it the Larry King-Oprah defense. Even as he takes "fullresponsibility" for his lewd and lascivious conduct, his lawyerimplies he didn't know what he was doing. The e-mails and IMs weresent in an alcoholic-induced stupor -- between votes on the Housefloor
Will it work? Perhaps. The shamed and shunned Foley will appearincreasingly as a figure of interest, and then of sympathy, in ourforgiving society. Offers of six-figure book advances are probably inthe mail.
What does the episode say about Speaker Hastert and the GOP?Surely, it speaks poorly of their executive decisiveness, though,thus far, it does not speak all that badly of them as human beings.
All of them knew Foley was gay. All of them had to recognize thatthe early e-mails -- where Foley was asking for a picture of adeparted page now 1,000 miles away -- were warning flags.
With this limited knowledge, Foley's colleagues did what Fox Newsand the Miami Herald did. They chose not to reveal the e-mails, whichwould have outed Foley, ruined his career and destroyed his life, asthey had no evidence he had committed any indecent act with the pagesunder their supervision.
Two decades ago, Gerry Studds of Massachusetts attempted theseduction of several pages, had an affair with one and took him offon a European tryst. Though censured, Studds was re-elected fivetimes and given a chairmanship by the Democratic Party of NancyPelosi -- which now professes itself sickened at how Denny Hastertand Co. tried to protect the homosexual in their midst, who, whilecommitting sins of desire, has, as far as we know, committed no lewdor indecent act.
In Washington, D.C., the most Democratic precinct in America, theage of consent is 16. Had Foley and his heartthrob skipped off to amotel, there would have been no crime involved. Yet Foley has the FBIon his trail for sending lewd e-mails to a 16-year-old.
If the Republican House leadership is guilty of anything, it is ofbeing too tolerant, of allowing political correctness, a fear ofbeing called homophobic, to trump common sense.
The GOP leadership should have followed up to see if there wasmore than one page with whom Foley was flirting. If the pages knewFoley was someone to steer clear of, why did not the leadership?
Yet, even if the GOP takes the hit in November for this sordid,squalid mess, the party of gay activists is setting the bar mightyhigh for its libertine wing. If salacious e-mails to teens are now acapital crime, Foley is not going to be the last congressmen outedand ousted.
Pat Buchanan edits The American Conservative magazine.
Foley's Oprah defenseWASHINGTON
Like all such scandals, the matter of Mark Foley and his luridvalentines to congressional pages is instructive for what it reveals,and not just about Foley, but about his party, its leaders and us.
Having checked into "rehab" after it was revealed that he hadwritten salacious e-mails and instant messages to House pages, Foleyshoved his lawyer out front to say he was an alcoholic, gay and hadbeen abused by a clergyman as a boy. What is Foley up to?
Rather than speak directly to the charge against him -- that he isa homosexual with the hots for teenage boys -- Foley's lawyer isentering a plea, in the court of public opinion, of diminishedcapacity.
Foley is portraying himself not as a sexual predator out to pickup boys, an unappealing figure, but as a victim of compulsive forcesover which he had no control and for which he cannot be heldaccountable.
Call it the Larry King-Oprah defense. Even as he takes "fullresponsibility" for his lewd and lascivious conduct, his lawyerimplies he didn't know what he was doing. The e-mails and IMs weresent in an alcoholic-induced stupor -- between votes on the Housefloor
Will it work? Perhaps. The shamed and shunned Foley will appearincreasingly as a figure of interest, and then of sympathy, in ourforgiving society. Offers of six-figure book advances are probably inthe mail.
What does the episode say about Speaker Hastert and the GOP?Surely, it speaks poorly of their executive decisiveness, though,thus far, it does not speak all that badly of them as human beings.
All of them knew Foley was gay. All of them had to recognize thatthe early e-mails -- where Foley was asking for a picture of adeparted page now 1,000 miles away -- were warning flags.
With this limited knowledge, Foley's colleagues did what Fox Newsand the Miami Herald did. They chose not to reveal the e-mails, whichwould have outed Foley, ruined his career and destroyed his life, asthey had no evidence he had committed any indecent act with the pagesunder their supervision.
Two decades ago, Gerry Studds of Massachusetts attempted theseduction of several pages, had an affair with one and took him offon a European tryst. Though censured, Studds was re-elected fivetimes and given a chairmanship by the Democratic Party of NancyPelosi -- which now professes itself sickened at how Denny Hastertand Co. tried to protect the homosexual in their midst, who, whilecommitting sins of desire, has, as far as we know, committed no lewdor indecent act.
In Washington, D.C., the most Democratic precinct in America, theage of consent is 16. Had Foley and his heartthrob skipped off to amotel, there would have been no crime involved. Yet Foley has the FBIon his trail for sending lewd e-mails to a 16-year-old.
If the Republican House leadership is guilty of anything, it is ofbeing too tolerant, of allowing political correctness, a fear ofbeing called homophobic, to trump common sense.
The GOP leadership should have followed up to see if there wasmore than one page with whom Foley was flirting. If the pages knewFoley was someone to steer clear of, why did not the leadership?
Yet, even if the GOP takes the hit in November for this sordid,squalid mess, the party of gay activists is setting the bar mightyhigh for its libertine wing. If salacious e-mails to teens are now acapital crime, Foley is not going to be the last congressmen outedand ousted.
Pat Buchanan edits The American Conservative magazine.
Foley's Oprah defenseWASHINGTON
Like all such scandals, the matter of Mark Foley and his luridvalentines to congressional pages is instructive for what it reveals,and not just about Foley, but about his party, its leaders and us.
Having checked into "rehab" after it was revealed that he hadwritten salacious e-mails and instant messages to House pages, Foleyshoved his lawyer out front to say he was an alcoholic, gay and hadbeen abused by a clergyman as a boy. What is Foley up to?
Rather than speak directly to the charge against him -- that he isa homosexual with the hots for teenage boys -- Foley's lawyer isentering a plea, in the court of public opinion, of diminishedcapacity.
Foley is portraying himself not as a sexual predator out to pickup boys, an unappealing figure, but as a victim of compulsive forcesover which he had no control and for which he cannot be heldaccountable.
Call it the Larry King-Oprah defense. Even as he takes "fullresponsibility" for his lewd and lascivious conduct, his lawyerimplies he didn't know what he was doing. The e-mails and IMs weresent in an alcoholic-induced stupor -- between votes on the Housefloor
Will it work? Perhaps. The shamed and shunned Foley will appearincreasingly as a figure of interest, and then of sympathy, in ourforgiving society. Offers of six-figure book advances are probably inthe mail.
What does the episode say about Speaker Hastert and the GOP?Surely, it speaks poorly of their executive decisiveness, though,thus far, it does not speak all that badly of them as human beings.
All of them knew Foley was gay. All of them had to recognize thatthe early e-mails -- where Foley was asking for a picture of adeparted page now 1,000 miles away -- were warning flags.
With this limited knowledge, Foley's colleagues did what Fox Newsand the Miami Herald did. They chose not to reveal the e-mails, whichwould have outed Foley, ruined his career and destroyed his life, asthey had no evidence he had committed any indecent act with the pagesunder their supervision.
Two decades ago, Gerry Studds of Massachusetts attempted theseduction of several pages, had an affair with one and took him offon a European tryst. Though censured, Studds was re-elected fivetimes and given a chairmanship by the Democratic Party of NancyPelosi -- which now professes itself sickened at how Denny Hastertand Co. tried to protect the homosexual in their midst, who, whilecommitting sins of desire, has, as far as we know, committed no lewdor indecent act.
In Washington, D.C., the most Democratic precinct in America, theage of consent is 16. Had Foley and his heartthrob skipped off to amotel, there would have been no crime involved. Yet Foley has the FBIon his trail for sending lewd e-mails to a 16-year-old.
If the Republican House leadership is guilty of anything, it is ofbeing too tolerant, of allowing political correctness, a fear ofbeing called homophobic, to trump common sense.
The GOP leadership should have followed up to see if there wasmore than one page with whom Foley was flirting. If the pages knewFoley was someone to steer clear of, why did not the leadership?
Yet, even if the GOP takes the hit in November for this sordid,squalid mess, the party of gay activists is setting the bar mightyhigh for its libertine wing. If salacious e-mails to teens are now acapital crime, Foley is not going to be the last congressmen outedand ousted.
Pat Buchanan edits The American Conservative magazine.
BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Riot police firing rubber bullets and wielding truncheons clashed Friday with protesters as authorities cleared away a makeshift camp set up as part of a Spain-wide demonstration against the country's economic problems. More than 100 people were injured.
The trouble started when police tried to clear the protesters from a main square in Barcelona so sanitation workers could clean it up before possible celebrations after a soccer match Saturday night.
Many of the protesters, who are angry about high unemployment, anti-austerity measures and politicians' handling of the economy, refused to move. TV images showed officers beating the demonstrators and dragging them on the ground. Some wound up with bloodied hands and heads, or broken limbs.
Felip Puig, the spokesman for Catalonia's regional Interior Ministry, said 84 protesters and 37 police were injured. Officers were seen hauling people away, but Puig did not say how many had been arrested and he didn't say how serious the injuries were.
He did say one protester had a broken arm.
"I can assure you that there was aggression against the police with rocks, bits of wood, blows, shoves, with violence, with sprays," Puig said.
He said police had fired six rubber bullets, 12 unspecified "projectiles" and 236 rounds of blank warning shots.
The protesters were allowed to return to the plaza, which has been occupied by protesters for nearly two weeks, after it was cleaned.
Puig justified the authorities' action by saying the plaza had to be cleaned because soccer fans will gather there Saturday night after the Champions League final between Barcelona and Manchester United in London.
Scuffles also broke out between authorities and protesters in the city of Lleida, west of Barcelona. Two people were arrested, according to the Europa Press news agency.
United behind the slogan "Real Democracy Now," tens of thousands of mostly young people have set up around-the-clock protest camps in cities and town across Spain since May 15 to complain about the government's handling of the economic crisis and what they see as a corrupted political party system.
Nearly two years of recession have left Spain with a 21.3-percent unemployment rate, the highest in the eurozone, and major debt problems. The rate jumps to 35 percent for people aged 16 to 29, and many young and highly educated Spaniards can't find jobs as the eurozone's No. 4 economy struggles.
The biggest protest has been in Madrid's Puerta del Sol square, where tens of thousands of people held nightly protests for nearly a week before regional elections last weekend. On Friday, about 500 people were still camping in the plaza, but they indicated they might move on within several days.
Riot police have monitored the Madrid protesters, but have not intervened. Interior Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba said Friday he was reviewing a request by Madrid's regional government to dismantle the city's protest zone because of complaints by merchants that business is suffering in the key tourist area.
__
Ciaran Giles, Harold Heckle, Daniel Woolls and Alan Clendenning contributed to this report from Madrid.
DAILY MAIL SPORTSWRITER
Not many athletes can say they have won a couple of state crowns,played for a national title, and competed for a world championshipall in different sports ... especially in a period of less than 12months.
Well Sissonville has just such a young athlete.
Make that a very young athlete.
This weekend 9-year-old Bryce Taylor leaves with the rest of hisWest Virginia Bombers AAU basketball team to compete in the national9-and-under tournament in Orlando, Florida.
That event lasts through July 21.
As soon as it finishes, Taylor will hop a plane and head forAkron, Ohio, for the All-American Soap Box Derby worldchampionships.
Last fall, Taylor's team won the under-10 state soccer crown atthe Kohl's Cup at Jackson's Mill.
Thursday night, the unassuming youngster was in action with theBombers in a summer league game at George Washington High.
With 1:02 to play in the first half he hit a 3-pointer from theleft side to break a 17-17 tie and start his team on a 19-4 run.
They went on to defeat a scrappy Lightning squad 43-39.
Afterwards he talked about his upcoming adventures.
"I think it's going to be fun," Taylor said. "We're going to begoing to water parks before the games and doing things after thegames."
His mother, Billie Jo, and his 11-year-old brother will be withhim on the Orlando trip.
When that tournament finishes, hopefully with the Bombers winningthe national title in the 9-and-under division, they put him on aplane to meet his father, Chad, in Akron.
"I'm flying by myself," Taylor said proudly. "I've flown before,but never by myself."
He knows competition at the Soap Box Derby will be tough.
"There's going to be like 500 racers up there," Taylor said."People from all around the world."
This is his second trip to Akron after winning the West VirginiaSoap Box Derby for the big races.
"Last year I was in the stock car division," said Taylor. "I camein ninth."
Those are the sleek, pointed cars. This year he moves up to thesuper stock division, where the cars are flatter and rounder.
His dad helped him build his car. It took them about a week.
Soap Box Derby racing runs in the youngster's blood. His fatherraced in the late 1980's and his grandfather, Pat, is a regionaldirector for the organization.
Taylor says he has no special secret for his racing success savefor a lucky coin.
"A guy gave it to me from Canada," Taylor said.
He began playing basketball and soccer around age 4. This is thefirst year he has played AAU basketball.
He also started in baseball at the same time.
His Little League All-Star team was eliminated about three weeksago, or otherwise the summer schedule could have been even morehectic.
Not that he of his parents mind.
"My philosophy is athletics teaches kids a lot about life," saidTaylor's father.
"It also teaches sportsmanship and just not to quit."
It is that part of his son's make-up he sees leading to hissuccess.
"He is like a bulldog," said his dad.
Taylor says his favorite sport is basketball.
Former Capital High and West Virginia State star athlete VarianCunningham coaches Taylor's hoops' squad and fully supports hisyoung player's endeavors.
"I love what he is doing," Cunningham said. "I love the way kidsstay busy, there's so much trouble to get into out there."
As for Taylor and his teammate's chances in Orlando, Cunninghamhas both experience there and a sobering memory.
"I played with Jason Williams and Randy Moss," he said. "We wentto Orlando and finished third."
That's not a bad crowd for a 9-year-old from Sissonville to bementioned with in the same breath.
Contact sportswriter J.T. Simms at jtsimms@dailymail.com or 348-1735.
Sissonville youth a busy winner: ; Taylor splits time between All-Star baseball, AAU and national Soap Box DerbyDAILY MAIL SPORTSWRITER
Not many athletes can say they have won a couple of state crowns,played for a national title, and competed for a world championshipall in different sports ... especially in a period of less than 12months.
Well Sissonville has just such a young athlete.
Make that a very young athlete.
This weekend 9-year-old Bryce Taylor leaves with the rest of hisWest Virginia Bombers AAU basketball team to compete in the national9-and-under tournament in Orlando, Florida.
That event lasts through July 21.
As soon as it finishes, Taylor will hop a plane and head forAkron, Ohio, for the All-American Soap Box Derby worldchampionships.
Last fall, Taylor's team won the under-10 state soccer crown atthe Kohl's Cup at Jackson's Mill.
Thursday night, the unassuming youngster was in action with theBombers in a summer league game at George Washington High.
With 1:02 to play in the first half he hit a 3-pointer from theleft side to break a 17-17 tie and start his team on a 19-4 run.
They went on to defeat a scrappy Lightning squad 43-39.
Afterwards he talked about his upcoming adventures.
"I think it's going to be fun," Taylor said. "We're going to begoing to water parks before the games and doing things after thegames."
His mother, Billie Jo, and his 11-year-old brother will be withhim on the Orlando trip.
When that tournament finishes, hopefully with the Bombers winningthe national title in the 9-and-under division, they put him on aplane to meet his father, Chad, in Akron.
"I'm flying by myself," Taylor said proudly. "I've flown before,but never by myself."
He knows competition at the Soap Box Derby will be tough.
"There's going to be like 500 racers up there," Taylor said."People from all around the world."
This is his second trip to Akron after winning the West VirginiaSoap Box Derby for the big races.
"Last year I was in the stock car division," said Taylor. "I camein ninth."
Those are the sleek, pointed cars. This year he moves up to thesuper stock division, where the cars are flatter and rounder.
His dad helped him build his car. It took them about a week.
Soap Box Derby racing runs in the youngster's blood. His fatherraced in the late 1980's and his grandfather, Pat, is a regionaldirector for the organization.
Taylor says he has no special secret for his racing success savefor a lucky coin.
"A guy gave it to me from Canada," Taylor said.
He began playing basketball and soccer around age 4. This is thefirst year he has played AAU basketball.
He also started in baseball at the same time.
His Little League All-Star team was eliminated about three weeksago, or otherwise the summer schedule could have been even morehectic.
Not that he of his parents mind.
"My philosophy is athletics teaches kids a lot about life," saidTaylor's father.
"It also teaches sportsmanship and just not to quit."
It is that part of his son's make-up he sees leading to hissuccess.
"He is like a bulldog," said his dad.
Taylor says his favorite sport is basketball.
Former Capital High and West Virginia State star athlete VarianCunningham coaches Taylor's hoops' squad and fully supports hisyoung player's endeavors.
"I love what he is doing," Cunningham said. "I love the way kidsstay busy, there's so much trouble to get into out there."
As for Taylor and his teammate's chances in Orlando, Cunninghamhas both experience there and a sobering memory.
"I played with Jason Williams and Randy Moss," he said. "We wentto Orlando and finished third."
That's not a bad crowd for a 9-year-old from Sissonville to bementioned with in the same breath.
Contact sportswriter J.T. Simms at jtsimms@dailymail.com or 348-1735.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrats and Republicans are setting aside their sharp political differences to agree on a policy toward Myanmar.
The Obama administration has support from key Republicans to restore full diplomatic relations and contemplate easing sanctions against the country also known as Burma, reversing two decades of U.S. isolation of a reviled military regime.
Primarily, that is because the president has political cover from a slight figure idolized on both sides of the political aisle in Washington: democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell is a longtime supporter of Suu Kyi. He has praised the administration's decision to exchange ambassadors with Myanmar and says he would take his cue from Suu Kyi on whether to lift sanctions.
Depending on which mood Ozzie Guillen is in, his baseball careermight last anywhere from two more years to infinity.
And his mood sometimes varies during a half-hour chat.
Before a recent game, for instance, Guillen talked about hisfuture this way:
"I don't want to be here too long. You're away from yourfamily, you wait for games, you take 0-for-4s, you travel and you'vegot hotel rooms. This (game) can drive you crazy."
He also talked about his future this way:
"The only thing I know is I love baseball. . . . I don't thinkI can live without this game. I've got nothing else to do. They'regoing to have to kick me out of here. I'm going to …
Alcoa recently commissioned the opening of its new bauxite operations in Juruti, Brazil. The Juruti operations, which are part of the Alcoa World Alumina and Chemicals (AWAC) joint venture with Alumina Limited in which Alcoa holds a 60% share, consist of a port facility, a mine and a 50 km rail system to the port. Initial output at the mine will ramp up to 2.6 million metric tons per year (mmtpy).
…
Byline: -- Staff report
GUILDERLAND -- Disappointing holiday sales helped to slim profits for Trans World Entertainment Corp. last year.
Trans World, an audio and video retailer that operates stores such as Record Town, Coconuts and Camelot, saw net income in fiscal 2000 of $40.1 million, or 83 cents a share, on sales of $1.4 billion, compared to earnings of $61.4 million, or $1.15 per share, on sales of $1.4 billion for the previous fiscal year.
Robert J. Higgins, chairman and chief executive …
Byline: Parista Yuthamanop
Sep. 18--The International Finance Corporation (IFC), the investment arm of the World Bank, plans to increase its exposure in Thailand by $100 million to $200 million by June 2004.
Michael Higgins, IFC country manager, said its key strategies were to assist in the development of a domestic bond market, give partial guarantees or provide long-term loans to corporations, help local companies expand overseas and invest in health and education projects.
The IFC currently has commitments in Thailand of around $900 million, with $370 million from its own account and the rest mostly in the form of syndicated loans.
Part …
TORONTO - The Canadian government has reversed a decade-old policy that forced Indian Sikhs with the common last names Singh or Kaur to change their surname before they could immigrate.
The Canadian High Commission in New Delhi had told Indians wishing to immigrate that the religious Sikh surnames were too common to process quickly and thus a name change would be required.
Sikhs, an Indian religious minority, commonly name males Singh and females Kaur.
After the World Sikh Organization raised the issue Tuesday, Citizenship and Immigration Canada announced it was canceling the policy Wednesday. CCI said the "policy" was a misunderstanding based on a "poorly …
Five years ago the community of Southmead was "consulted" byBristol City Council regarding the future of Pen Park School.
Many people were cynical about this process, thinking the decisionwas a foregone conclusion.
They thought they knew exactly what was going to happen, and theytold the consultation team so: "You're going to close our school,sell the site for housing and use the profits to build a new schoolfor middle-class kids …
A Kern County voter initiative prohibiting the disposal of sewage sludge on fields in the county has new life. The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a federal District Court judge's ruling that the initiative violated the United Slates constitution's commerce clause.
The unanimous three-judge appellate panel held that the alleged harm caused by the initiative is not even "marginally related" to the purpose of the commerce clause. The suit, which was filed by Southern California sanitation agencies, sludge trucking companies and Kern County landowners, was returned to the District Court for the Central District of California for further consideration.
Sewage sludge is the common name for the organic solids leftover from the treatment of municipal wastewater. For decades, …
Byline: Pete Iorizzo
Mar. 4--Marist 71, Siena 59 BRIDGEPORT, Conn. -- As she left a college basketball court for the last time Saturday, Katelyn Dooley charted her future. Her eyes wet with tears, she exited the floor just one second ahead of the final buzzer. She hugged every teammate and every coach. Then she decided that though her Siena playing career ended, her basketball career can continue. "I love basketball so much," Dooley said. "It hurts to know that I'll never play again. I need to be around basketball. I thought about that. I love it too much." Dooley's final season ended better than it started. But she and the Siena women's basketball …
Byline: WINIFRED YU AND DENNIS YUSKO Staff writers
GHENT -- A 17-year-old girl was killed Saturday morning when police said she fell asleep at the wheel and went off the road.
Bree H. Burlarley of Philmont was driving south just before 7 a.m. on Route 66 when the car she was driving veered off the west shoulder, struck several trees and turned over on its roof.
A passenger, Jennifer Flynn, 15, of Copake, was taken to Berkshire Medical Center in Pittsfield, Mass., with internal injuries. She was in serious but stable condition Saturday.
Burlarley, a senior at Taconic Hills High School, was ``a strong art student'' and former cheerleader, …
SINCE 1989 events in Central and Eastern Europe have given rise to a number of questions--and false hopes--about the alternatives to communism in countries that have been ruled by Marxist-Leninist governments for many decades. The dissolution of communist regimes in the former Warsaw Pact countries and the disintegration of the former Soviet Union make the question of the alternatives into a central issue of current international politics. They also pose some tough challenges for political analysts about the limits of their own professional expertise.
It is obvious that the defeat of communism is primarily seen in the West through an ideological prism. It is equally obvious that such a prism may sometimes impose triumphalist distortions on the interpretive faculties of the observer. Thus in the rush of the initial enthusiasm over the demise of communism, some Western analysts went so far as to announce the End of History. Finally--so they argued--liberal democracy, with the free market as its mainstay, had won its ultimate victory. After defeating fascism and Nazism in World War 11, Western liberalism had triumphed over the other alternative ideology confronting it, communism. No other system or ideology could ever successfully challenge it. The Sons of Light had finally vanquished the Sons of Darkness. Gloria in excelsis.
Actual developments in Eastern Europe and the currently unfolding drama in the former Soviet Union itself, however, advise caution. Although there is no doubt that the communist system as such--a one-party dictatorship coupled with a planned command economy--is dead and buried in Central and Eastern Europe (China, Vietnam, and North Korea may be a different story), it becomes less and less clear whether the emerging alternative is a democratic and free-market society. Even in the brief period since the autumn of 1989, clear differences in developments in several postcommunist societies suggest that not all these societies are traveling on the same tracks or even necessarily moving in the same direction. Czechoslovakia and Romania, for example, show completely different patterns of development.
If one begins to look more carefully at these differences, as well as at the vastly different course taken by the various former Soviet republics, it becomes clear that the most pronounced determinants in these different developments are historical factors. Far from seeing an end of history, Eastern Europe now goes through a massive return of history and to history. Past structures and ideologies become a more reliable guide to the general contour of things to come than any other indicator, just as pre-1914 atlases give a better picture of the tangled conflicts emerging in post-communist societies …
Italian police arrested 38 suspects on Monday in a sweep against a clan of the 'ndrangheta organized crime syndicate that allegedly committed murders, engaged in extortion and trafficked in drugs and arms.
Three suspects were still being sought after the early morning raids conducted across Italy and centered in the southern Calabria region, where the powerful mob group is based.
Police in the city of Crotone said the operation has crippled a clan that terrorized businesses in the area with attacks and firebombings if they refused to pay protection money.
…
MUNCIE, Ind. Ball Corp. said Wednesday it will spin off its homecanning business and several other operations to concentrate on itscore business in packaging products.
The new company, which has not been named, will be headed byWilliam L. Peterson, Ball vice chairman and chief financial officer.It will employ about 1,500 people at 11 sites in the United Statesand Puerto Rico.
The seven product lines involved in the spinoff accounted forabout $250 million of Ball's total $2.3 billion in sales last year.The lines include Ball's home canning jars, a zinc business thatmakes dry-cell …
(ADPnews) - May 26, 2010 - Ecuador's state-run power corporation Corporacion Electrica del Ecuador (Celec) received eight offers yesterday in its tender for the installation of diesel-fired power units with a combined capacity of up to 380 MW.
The offers of TSK Electronica y Electricidad, Consorcio Jatun, Equigener Equipos y Generadores, Caterpillar Motors, Almacenes El Globo, Isolux Ingenieria, Equitatis SA and Sampol range from USD 21 …
