Georgia inmate Troy Davis was defiant to the end, proclaiming his innocence in the 1989 slaying of off-duty Savannah police officer Mark MacPhail.
Here are his final words, as witnessed by an Associated Press reporter:
"I'd like to address the MacPhail family. Let you know, despite the situation you are in, I'm not the one who personally killed your son, your father, …
Supplying compostable film to replace nondegradables, EarthSafe (Eco Film) is heat and water stable and does not disintegrate, making it ideal for community recycling. It will decompose into carbon dioxide and water within …
Vice President Dick Cheney, concluding two days of talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders, said Monday that Hamas militants and their backers in Iran and Syria are playing the role of spoiler in Mideast peace talks.
"It is clearly a difficult situation, in part, because I think it's true, there's evidence, that Hamas is supported by Iran and Syria and that they're doing everything they can to torpedo the peace process," Cheney told reporters before heading to Turkey, the final stop on his 10-day trip to the Mideast.
Cheney said there's ongoing concern about the extent to which arms are being smuggled across the Egyptian border into Gaza where …
WASHINGTON--Eight times during the two decades that Katrina Leungwas paid about $1.7 million by the FBI to spy on the Chinesegovernment, U.S. agents in California discussed the possibility thatshe might be a double agent for China. At least once, a report of theagents' suspicions reached FBI headquarters here.
But for years, nothing happened. Senior law enforcement officialssay Leung, who became a prominent fund-raiser for the RepublicanParty, was never questioned seriously. Nor was her FBI handler,counterterrorism agent James J. Smith. Meanwhile, authorities nowallege, a romantic relationship between Leung and Smith flourished,and Smith allowed Leung access to classified …
DUBLIN (AP) — Britain offered a public apology Wednesday over its forces' murky role in the 1989 killing of a Belfast lawyer and pledged to publish a report into the extent of police and army involvement in the attack.
The government appointed a leading human rights lawyer to review a mountain of secret evidence into the slaying of Patrick Finucane. The investigator, Desmond da Silva, is supposed to publish his findings by December 2012.
"The government is deeply sorry for what happened," Britain's secretary of state for Northern Ireland, Owen Paterson, told lawmakers in London.
Finucane's family expressed fury that Britain had dismissed their long-held demand for a …
The Washington Redskins couldn't even hold off San Diego's backups in Jim Zorn's last game as coach.
Billy Volek threw a 2-yard touchdown pass to fullback Mike Tolbert with 35 seconds left to rally the playoff-bound Chargers to a 23-20 win over the Redskins, San Diego's 11th straight victory.
The Redskins (4-12) plan to fire Zorn on Monday, an official within the NFL told The Associated Press on Sunday. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because no formal announcement has been made. Zorn's dismissal has been expected for months.
The AFC West champion Chargers (13-3) already clinched the AFC's No. 2 playoff seed and a first-round bye and had …
Those who rail about the button-down corporate dullness and utterlack of passion in rock music today, take notice: Rock got emotionalthis weekend.
Controversial Irish singer Sinead O'Connor - she of the rippedpicture of Pope John Paul II on "Saturday Night Live" in 1992, thesubsequent boo-vation at the Madison Square Garden tribute to BobDylan and, oh yes, the original "G.I. Jane" hairdo - ignited the VicTheatre Saturday night, not with a match, but with an incendiary setof folk-tinged rock 'n' roll.O'Connor has largely forsaken touring to concentrate onmotherhood, but Saturday, with a rich voice that can pierce the soullike a silver …
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Mississippi rediscovered its outside shooting touch to open the second half and surged away from LSU for a 78-51 victory Saturday.
The win halted the worst start in SEC play for the Rebels (13-7, 1-4) since 2000.
Chris Warren scored 18 points, Zach Graham 17, Nick Williams 14 and Terrence Henry produced a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds to lead Ole Miss.
The Rebels buried four consecutive 3-pointers in just over 3 minutes early in the second half to blow the game open. They shot 7 of 10 outside the arc over the final 20 minutes, anchored by Warren, who led Ole Miss with four 3-pointers.
Meanwhile, LSU (10-9, 2-2) came out ice …
The Netherlands leads Slovakia 1-0 after 60 minutes Monday in the round of 16 match, following Arjen Robben's goal in his first starting appearance at this World Cup.
Robben eluded two defenders by cutting inside on to his left foot before stroking a low shot into the net in the 18th minute, keeping the Dutch on course for their fourth straight win in South Africa.
…
Driving is a necessary evil for many people living in Central Pennsylvania. A car is necessary to get to work, to go grocery shopping or to dine at a favorite restaurant.
An emerging development trend could break that dependence. The concept, called transit-oriented development, involves putting a high-density mix of homes and businesses near train stations, major bus stops and other transit hubs. Although the idea hasn't been widely embraced in the midstate yet, a combination of factors such as high gas prices and new state programs could make TOD more common.
"Really, our development pattern is based on $1 a gallon," said Janet Milkman, president and chief executive …
ATHENS (AP) — Results from the 22nd round of the Greek football league (home teams listed first):
| Saturday's Games |
|---|
Xanthi 0, Asteras 1
Ergotelis 0, Panathinaikos 2
If you don't believe it, just ask a room full of kindergartnersto draw a picture of God. Absent that, tune in to the Nickelodeoncable channel for The First Ever Short Films by Short People FilmFestival at 7 p.m. this Sunday.
You'll agree after watching "Foilman" and the musical, "ThePiranha and the Mailman," these ideas could not have been born in themind of an adult. OK, every adult remembers the green meat served inthe school cafeteria, but if you weren't still living it, could youthink to turn that meat into a fiendish enemy to be fought and foiledby our foil hero who, while he is fighting the enemy, can also sing amean version of "I'm a Little Teapot"?Nor could anybody who is pushing 20 think to combine a piranha,a mailman, a troupe of singing statues, an evil prime minister and anoodle casserole shaped like a brain.Clearly from kids, these are the ideas behind just two of thefour films featured in the 30-minute show that spotlights films madein conjunction with Nickelodeon's Creative Lab. The Lab has amandate from the station to develop and produce experimental andkid-oriented live-action and animated short films.Segments of four other films will be woven into demonstrationsof filmmaking techniques, animation and special effects.The films, made over the past three years, have already airedseparately on "Snick Snacks," a segment for shorts sandwiched betweenregular programs about 8 p.m. during the station's Saturday lineup.But this is the first time they have been combined."Foilman" was created by Brennan Weir of Monticello, N.Y.; "ThePiranha and the Mailman" was created by David Harold of New York,N.Y.; "The Adventures of Sam Digital in the 21st Century" was createdby Nick Claridge of Toronto, and "Attack of the Giant Vulture" wascreated by Jessica May Liu and Leslie Cheung of New York, N.Y.And this is not the end. At the close of the show, viewers willsee a special address where they can send a postcard. From thoseentries, one short person will be selected to be the source ofanother short film this year.COSTUME TIME: Kids will have a chance to act out the"Gingerbread Man" story while visiting the Chicago Children's Museum.Andrea Salloum of Kidswork Touring Theatre Co. will conduct ahands-on drama workshop from 3:30-4:15 p.m. Sunday, Monday (open forthe holidays), Dec. 27 and Dec. 28 at the museum, Navy Pier, 700 E.Grand.Salloum also will lead participants in theatre games andimagination exercises. Free with museum admission. Forinformation, call (312) 527-1000.SPECIAL `NIGHTINGALE': The Children's Theatre Fantasy Orchardwill offer a special matinee performance of "The Nightingale." Thefairy tale will be performed at 1 p.m. Saturday at the IvanhoeTheatre, 750 W. Wellington.Tickets are $7 for adults, $5 for children, and advancereservations are required. Call the Children's Theatre (773)539-4211.
WHEELING - An argument between two motorists led to the death oftwo people on Interstate 70 Saturday near The Highlands shoppingcomplex.
The crash involving three vehicles near the end of the I-70westbound on-ramp near the shopping site also resulted in two otherpassengers being injured.
Justin Wright, 20, of Toronto, a town north of Weirton, andBrittney Lynn Kusic, 26, of Weirton both died as a result of thecrash that occurred about 9:45 a.m. Both were transported toWheeling Hospital where they were pronounced dead, said Valley GroveFire Chief Bob Young.
At press time, Steven Carpenter, 20, of Toronto was listed incritical condition at Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh, andAshley Wright, 20, of Toronto was listed in fair condition at OhioValley Medical Center in Wheeling.
West Virginia State Police Sgt. Scott Adams said an altercationhappened on the roadway between Justin Wright, who was driving aFord Ranger, and another man - David Hancher Palmer, 22, of Rayland.
Palmer was driving a 1992 Chevy Beretta. Both were driving whenthe argument occurred.
Justin Wright's passengers included Kusic, Ashley Wright andCarpenter.
"At some point the vehicles collided with one another, Palmer'svehicle collided with Wright's vehicle. That collision sent thetruck that Wright was driving into the westbound lanes of I-70 whereit was struck by a tractor-trailer that was also going westbound,"Adams said.
Adams said Palmer turned himself in to the Wheeling State Policebarracks two hours after the crash. Adams then placed Palmer underarrest.
"They knew each other. They were friends in the past, but in thepast month they hadn't been getting along," Adams said of JustinWright and Palmer.
At press time, Palmer was being arraigned on a $50,000 cash-onlybond and was lodged in the Northern Regional Jail. He is chargedwith four counts of malicious assault, leaving the scene of anaccident and driving with a suspended license.
A team of West Virginia State Police, with the assistance of theWest Virginia Division of Highways, closed the on-ramp for a shorttime Saturday evening to reconstruct the crash. The Ohio CountySheriff's Department also responded, in addition to Valley Grove,Triadelphia, Wheeling and Stone Church fire departments.
Staff Writer Shelley Hanson contributed to this report.
NEW YORK (AP) — Yankees reliever Joba Chamberlain has a torn ligament in his right elbow, a startling injury that's likely to require Tommy John surgery and end his season.
A test Thursday morning revealed the tear. It came a day after New York put Chamberlain on the 15-day disabled list with a stiff elbow, the latest setback for the back of the Yankees' bullpen.
But Chamberlain and the Yankees said they had no idea the injury was so severe when he went for the additional checkup. Chamberlain said he was "kind of in shock" and shed a few tears at the diagnosis, and said he didn't know how or when he hurt himself.
"I know I can get surgery and get it fixed," he said.
The Yankees said they would send reports on Chamberlain to noted orthopedist Dr. James Andrews. Chamberlain, Andrews and the Yankees plan to discuss the condition before deciding on a course of action.
While Chamberlain spoke on the Yankees bench before Thursday night's game against Boston, his father sat in his wheelchair outside the New York dugout.
Harlan Chamberlain said it was "kind of a foregone conclusion" his son would need Tommy John surgery, in which a ligament is reconstructed in an elbow. The recovery time is usually listed as 12 to 18 months, though Harlan Chamberlain said he thought it could be 8 to 9 months for a reliever.
"He's done for the season," his dad said. "Now that he's facing what every pitcher doesn't want to face, he's going to face it with a positive attitude. Let's get it done."
Said Yankees manager Joe Girardi: "My guess is he's going to have to have the surgery."
Intense thunderstorms rolled through the Bronx before the series finale, delaying the start by 3 hours, 27 minutes. The game began at 10:32 p.m. and Curtis Granderson got New York off to fast start with a two-run homer in the first inning.
The 25-year-old Chamberlain is 2-0 with a 2.83 ERA in 27 games. The hard-throwing righty has been a key member of the Yankees' staff for several years, and has pitched in a variety of roles.
The Yankees already were missing setup man Rafael Soriano, out with inflammation in his right elbow. He led the AL in saves last year with Tampa Bay, and there's no timetable for his return. Lefty specialist Pedro Feliciano has not pitched this year because of a tear in his shoulder.
Girardi said David Robertson would inherit the role as setup man for closer Mariano Rivera. The Yankees went into the day trying to avoid a Red Sox sweep — Boston won the first two games of the series, dropping New York into second place in the AL East.
Chamberlain last pitched Sunday against the Los Angeles Angels, his eighth straight scoreless appearance. His velocity has been in the mid-90s mph and he'd been able to throw effective breaking balls. He said he played long toss on Tuesday without any pain.
Chamberlain had been getting regular treatment on the area where his forearm and elbow met for nearly two weeks. He said his elbow felt fine when he pitched, but stiffened after games. An MRI on Wednesday showed a strained flexor muscle and he was put on the DL retroactive to June 6.
"He wasn't on my radar for any concern," general manager Brian Cashman said.
Girardi said some of the off-the-field indicators that a pitcher has elbow problems and might need Tommy John surgery — trouble turning door knobs and twisting bottle caps, for example — were not present.
"I think he's a little confused by it all," Girardi said.
Chamberlain made his major league debut with the Yankees in 2007 and the team has tried to limit his innings with the "Joba Rules," being careful not to overuse him. He was a starter in 2009 and moved back to the bullpen on a full-time basis the next season.
Girardi said there was no second-guessing on how the Yankees had handled Chamberlain.
"There's no exact science," he said.
REGION
New federal regulations require more documents
New rules that went into effect at the end of 2006 could require trucking companies to produce more types of electronic documents during federal court cases. That would make it harder and more expensive for companies to defend themselves in court, said Kim Selemba, an attorney with McNees, Wallace & Nurick in Harrisburg.
Trucking companies have many kinds of electronic records, ranging from shipping invoices to e-mail messages. The new rules mean companies need to keep those records for up to four years. Companies often need those records to defend themselves against lawsuits, such as after accidents.
Companies will spend more money backing up files that are periodically erased in electronic-recycling programs. This is easier for smaller companies to accomplish because they have fewer drivers, trucks, routes and customers, Selemba said. But larger companies will require additional backup tapes and will have to temporarily stop electronic-recycling schedules.
The rules stem from the increased use of electronic documents in all industries over the past six years. Other sectors, such as government, have begun using electronic documents and data storage, which reduces the need for expensive paper and filing space.
"The transportation industry more than any other has embraced technology, including electronic documents," said Curtis Stambaugh, also an attorney with McNees, Wallace & Nurick. Stambaugh and Selemba concentrate on transportation, distribution and logistics law. Court cases involving trucking companies often end up in federal court because drivers make cross-country trips when accidents occur. If a company is based in Texas and its driver has an accident in Pennsylvania, chances are, the case will be filed in federal court.
Lawsuits involving accidents and damage to freight are two common types of cases, Stambaugh said. Electronic information such as satellite tracking of trucks, engine-monitoring devices, package tracking and even e-mail could become relevant to a court case.
"Everything and anything the driver can come in contact with is asupporting document, and it's important, especially after an accident," said Don Scikerman, safety director for the Pennsylvania Motor Truck Association.
With the shifting rules, Seikerman advises companies and truckers to save and back up all electronic documents. That way, those documents will be available when they're needed. Even still, he said, electronic documents can get erased or lost like paper documents.
"There's probably an inherent concern about whether the data will inhibit the company's ability to defend itself," Stambaugh said. "But often it proves the company and the driver were not liable."
If a company's management does not understand the rules, the firm should call an attorney to clarify the company's responsibility, Stambaugh said. And if you think the company could be sued in the future for an incident, don't erase electronic documents.
"Drivers need to be aware," Selemba said. "That duty arises as soon as he's in an accident. Steps should be taken to preserve those documents." The statute of limitations in federal court for accident cases is two years, Selemba said. Breach-of-contract suits can be filed up to four years after the dispute.
Court penalties for not producing required documents could include fines. Another sort of penalty is adverse jury instruction. That's when the judge tells the jury to assume that missing documents are detrimental to the company's case.
The new rules partially stem from an employment lawsuit, said Michael Moore, an attorney with the firm of Russell, Krafft & Gruber in East Hempfield Township, Lancaster.
Known as Zubalake v. UBS Warburg, the case established the standards for how companies should keep and handle records, Moore said. The case said companies should have well-defined retention and recycling policies for records, otherwise they could be liable for not producing those records later in court.
"They don't prescribe any time schedule," Moore said of the new rules.
Companies should consider the records they have, their importance and the expense of maintaining them. Then they should develop a policy for storage and purging.
"Generally, I think people would understand that you can't keep things forever," Moore said. Frank Costanzo, president of J.P. Donmoyer Inc., agreed that things can't be kept forever but said lawsuits can be avoided. J.P. Donmoyer, based in East Hanover Township, Lebanon County, hauls dry bulk items such as limestone regionally with 165 trucks and 190 drivers. The company's drivers seldom cross the Mississippi River.
"I would be fine by it, because we run a safe operation, a legal operation," Costanzo said of the new rules.
In most cases, J.P. Donmoyer only keeps its electronic documents for about two weeks, he said. Most other documents are kept for six months before being purged. Keeping them longer could increase costs.
"There may be some mandates we don't like, but we can fight those through our industry's lobbyist, we can challenge them, or we can just find other ways to save money," Costanzo said.
[Sidebar]
Records required
On Dec. 1, stricter federal court rules were put into place that require trucking and transportation companies to produce electronic documents the same as they would paper records in lawsuits. Here are some examples of those electronic documents:
* Bills and computer shipping records
* Dispatch records
* Service and maintenance records for the vehicle involved in the particular litigation
* Logbooks maintained by the driver involved in the case
* Supporting documentation for logbooks
* Downloads from the relevant vehicle's electronic-data module, global positioning system and engine-monitoring system
* Black-box-type records, including on-board electronic data-recording devices.
* E-mail between drivers and their home offices
SOURCE: MCNEES, WALLACE & NURICK
[Author Affiliation]
BY JIM T. RYAN
jimr@journalpub.com
Fans turned out despite the SARS outbreak, and the Toronto BlueJays treated them to a victory.
Vernon Wells homered in the ninth inning as the host Blue Jayscooled off the Kansas City Royals, winning 6-5 Friday night.
A crowd of 16,417, the largest since Opening Day, turned out atSkyDome two days after the World Health Organization warned againsttravel to Toronto because of severe acute respiratory syndrome. Acouple of fans were shown on the JumboTron holding up a sign thatread: "What SARS?"
"It's good to see the fans come out," Wells said. "They came outto Maple Leaf games, and they weren't worried about SARS. I lookedaround, and there were a few more people in the stands than before."
Michael Tucker, Angel Berroa and Brent Mayne homered for theRoyals, who had won five straight. Kansas City's 16-3 record comingin was the best in the major leagues. The Royals dropped to 6-4 onthe road but are 10-0 at home.
YANKEES 3, RANGERS 2: Mike Mussina struck out nine over eightsharp innings, and Nick Johnson hit a tiebreaking homer to leadvisiting New York.
Playing against former manager Buck Showalter for the first time,the Yankees rebounded from Thursday's 6-2 loss at Anaheim, whichended a seven-game winning streak, and improved their record to 19-4, best in the major leagues.
Mussina (5-0), the first five-game winner in the major leagues,held Texas to one run on five hits and matched his best season start,for Baltimore in 1992.
Since giving up four runs in a win at Toronto in his first gamethis season, Mussina has allowed just three earned runs over 31innings.
ATHLETICS 5, INDIANS 2: Mark Ellis went 3-for-4 with a home run,and Ted Lilly (2-0) pitched 72/3 strong innings for host Oakland.
Ellis homered in the first, singled in the fifth and doubled inthe seventh. He also scored two runs as the Oakland offense showedsigns of waking up.
Eric Chavez, Ramon Hernandez and Chris Singleton each had twohits. Hernandez hit a home run.
RED SOX 5, ANGELS 2: Casey Fossum pitched seven scoreless innings,and Shea Hillenbrand homered and had three RBI for visiting Boston.
The Angels lost for the eighth time in 11 games and also lost All-Star third baseman Troy Glaus in the fourth inning with an infectedleft foot. The World Series MVP, who had his foot examined earlierFriday, took himself out of the game after running out a single.
DEVIL RAYS 2, ORIOLES 1: Rookie Seth McClung allowed one run oversix-plus inning in his first career start to lead host Tampa Bay.
The 22-year-old McClung (2-0) allowed three hits, struck out threeand walked four. He had made seven appearances earlier this seasonout of the bullpen.
Rocco Baldelli had an RBI single during the Devil Rays' two-runfirst inning against Omar Daal (1-3). The rookie has a hit in 21 of22 games and is 13-for-26 with runners in scoring position.
MARINERS 6, TIGERS 0: Randy Winn tripled, doubled and singled, andBret Boone hit a three-run double as host Seattle won its fifthstraight.
Mike Maroth (0-6) became the second pitcher in major-leaguehistory to lose six times before the end of April. He joined DaveStewart, who lost six games before May 1 for the Texas Rangers in1984.
KFAR DAROM, Gaza Strip Two Palestinian suicide bombers onmissions of revenge killed at least six Israelis and wounded 47, mostof them soldiers, in separate attacks outside Jewish settlementsSunday.
Israel responded to the bombings by vowing to continue peacenegotiations with the Palestinians but warning that it will notwithdraw from the occupied West Bank before PLO chairman YasserArafat demonstrates that he can control security in the Gaza Strip.
"With suicide attacks, it is much harder to see how we can moveahead," Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin said as he visited the site ofthe first attack, outside the isolated settlement of Kfar Darom, 10miles south of Gaza City.
"We won't interrupt the negotiations," but "we'll demand thatthey prove here in Gaza that they are capable" of preventing attacks.
Nearby were the charred remains of the blue van that had blownup next to an Israeli bus. Shortly after noon, the No. 36 bus fromthe Israeli community of Ashkelon was approaching Kfar Darom,carrying settlers and young soldiers returning to their bases afterweekend leave, when the van suddenly pulled alongside it, witnessessaid.
A man later identified by Islamic Jihad, a militant Islamicgroup, as 24-year-old Khaled Mohammad Khatib from Gaza's Nusseiratrefugee camp was driving the van. Lt. Gen. Amnon Lipkin-Shahak,the Israeli army chief of staff, said that Khatib detonated dozens ofpounds of explosives hidden under bags of grass in the van.
The explosion killed Khatib and ripped out one side of the bus,hurling passengers into the air. Five soldiers, all of them 19- and20-year-olds, were killed. Dozens of people were injured.
Jewish settlers living in the stucco houses of Kfar Darom rushedto give first aid to the wounded. Army helicopters evacuated themost seriously injured to hospitals in Beersheba and Ashkelon assoldiers sealed off the area and began searching for otherexplosives. Palestinian police, who jointly patrol the road withIsraelis, and reporters were kept from the site.
Two hours after that attack, a second suicide bomber drove hiscar into a convoy of Israeli army jeeps escorting settler cars nearNetzarim, another isolated settlement just north of Kfar Darom thathas been the target of many attacks since Israel handed over most ofthe Gaza Strip to the Palestinians last May. One Israeli was killedand several were injured.
Hamas - as the Islamic Resistance Movement, the largest and mostpowerful Islamic organization in Gaza, is known - claimedresponsibility for the Netzarim attack. Both Hamas and Islamic Jihadsaid that they carried out Sunday's bombings to take revenge for lastweek's death of a key Hamas guerrilla, Kamal Kheil.
Kheil and five other Palestinians were killed when the Gaza Cityapartment building where they were staying was ripped by a powerfulexplosion. The Palestinian police and Israel said that Kheil, headof Hamas' Iziddin Qassam military wing, was operating a bomb factoryout of the apartment building and was the victim of an accidentalexplosion. But Hamas blamed Israel and the self-governingPalestinian Authority led by Arafat for the explosion and vowed toseek revenge.
Tension has been building between the Islamic organizations andthe Palestinian Authority for weeks since Arafat, the PalestineLiberation Organization chairman, stepped up public verbal attacks onthe groups and began allowing his security forces to arrest more oftheir activists.
Israeli officials recently noted that Arafat's attitude towardthe Islamic organizations seemed to be changing after months of whatthey regarded as his futile effort to bring the groups into thepolitical process by trying to accommodate them.
Arafat was quick to condemn Sunday's attacks, both publicly andin a phone call to Rabin offering his condolences to the families ofthe dead and wounded. Israel Television reported that Rabin demandedonce again that Arafat confront Hamas and Islamic Jihad and disarmtheir militias.
"We are committed to confronting terrorism. These people arethe enemies of peace," Arafat said in a statement released by hisoffice. "We call this peace the peace of the courageous, and we needcourage to confront these people."
Israel's Parliament, which is in recess for the upcomingPassover holiday, will meet in a special session Wednesday to discussSunday's attacks and Environment Minister Yossi Sarid's call lastweek for Israel to abandon the Netzarim settlement.
There are about 4,000 Jewish settlers in Gaza. Most of them areconcentrated in two blocs - one in the north and one in the south.When Israel withdrew most of its forces from Gaza last May, itmaintained control of roads leading to the settlements and jointlypatrols access roads with the Palestinians.
Talks between Israel and the Palestinians on the final status ofsettlements in the Gaza and the West Bank are due to start in 1996,but the Palestinians have called repeatedly on the Israelis todismantle the Gaza settlements now.
About 3,000 prospective candidates, most of them reformists seeking democratic changes within Iran's hard-line ruling Islamic establishment, were disqualified from running in the upcoming parliamentary elections, officials and party leaders said Wednesday.
The mass disqualification of reformist candidates removes the biggest rival to hard-liners _ including those allied with embattled President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad _ vying for the parliament seats in the crucial March 14 election.
Out of an initial 7,200 prospective candidates registered, some 4,200 remain in the running and must still be vetted by the Islamic regime.
Parliamentary elections are seen as a key test of Ahmadinejad's hold on power and a harbinger for the 2009 presidential elections. The hard-line president has come under increasing criticism _ from both allies and opponents _ about his failure to fix Iran's economic problems, which have most recently led to heating gas shortages.
The announcement _ made on the front pages of reformist newspapers and confirmed by several party officials _ provoked widespread condemnation from reformists. Earlier, former President Mohammad Khatami _ himself a reformist _ warned of possible disqualifications and said the government had no right to deprive Iranians the right to run in elections.
The government, meanwhile, said it mailed letters to prospective candidates informing them of their disqualification, but did not mention the 3,000 figure. In Tehran, some 400 out of 1,400 hopefuls were disqualified, the government said in a statement carried by the official IRNA news agency.
"Worrying reports have come true. The number of candidates disqualified is surprising," said Abdollah Naseri, spokesman for an umbrella group of 21 reformist factions.
Hardest hit in the vetting process are the Islamic Iran Participation Front (IIPF), Iran's largest reformist party, and the Islamic Revolution Mojahedeen Organization (IRMO), another reformist faction.
"All prospective candidates fielded by IIPF and IRMO in Tehran have been rejected," Saeed Shariati, a top Front figure said Wednesday. "Of 200 IIPF hopefuls registered throughout Iran, 190 of them have been disqualified."
Many of those disqualified were key lawmakers or cabinet ministers during the tenure of Khatami, who is a reformist.
Esmaeil Gerami Moghaddam, spokesman of the reformist National Confidence Party, said more than 70 percent of its hopefuls were rejected by authorities monitoring the elections. The front page Wednesday of the reformist daily newspaper Etemad, which means confidence in Farsi, read: "3,000 disqualified."
Tehran deputy governor, Hossein Tala, said 28 percent of hopefuls were disqualified in Tehran alone, the official IRNA news agency reported Wednesday. Of the total 1,403 prospective candidates registered in Tehran, more than 390 were disqualified by the executive committees affiliated with the Interior Ministry, Tala said, according to IRNA.
The hard-line constitutional watchdog, the Guardian Council, will announce a final list of approved candidates on March 5, leaving only a week for campaigning.
The disqualifications were reminiscent of 2004, when the Council barred thousands of reformists from running in that year's parliament elections, allowing hard-liners to regain control of the 290-seat legislative body. At the time, reformists denounced the elections as a "historical fiasco."
Key members of the Council are hand-picked by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the final say on all state matters. The supreme leader largely supported the Council in the 2004 bitter dispute.
The Guardian Council's chief, Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, a key Ahmadinejad ally, said last month that any candidate determined by the Council to be disloyal to the principles of Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution would be barred from running.
Ali Reza Afshar, a top Interior Ministry official in charge of elections, said those disqualified have the right to appeal.
"Instead of resorting to political fuss and taking the issue to the press, those disqualified can appeal through legal channels," Afshar was quoted by IRNA as saying Wednesday.
Afshar didn't rule out reversing some disqualified candidates, but reformists fear there won't be any major reversals.
Connie Chung's decision, at 44, to "take a very aggressiveapproach to having a baby" has fertility experts nodding inconsensus. "Aggressive," they agree, is what a woman her age hadbetter be if she wants to get pregnant.
The CBS television personality's public pronouncement about herprivate life, including her plan to cut way back on her workload aspart of the get-pregnant plan, reflects the "Oh my God, I forgot tohave children" panic of many career women today.
Age, as Chung herself admitted, is not on her side. Oldermothers have more infertility problems and miscarriages, and theirbabies are at risk for genetic abnormalities.
"You have to try harder at that age," agrees Dr. NorbertGleicher, chairman of obstetrics and gynecology at Mount SinaiMedical Center.
"Fertility potential is greatly reduced at that age. It takesthe average couple in their 20s four months to conceive. It willtake a woman in her 40s much longer and often never."
"Aggressive would be the approach of any woman past 40. Gettingpregnant can be a problem and often is," said Dr. Aaron Lifchez,associate director of the Fertility and Reproductive Endocrinologyclinic at Illinois Masonic Hospital.
Fertility in women peaks in the mid-20s, is followed by aprogressive decline, then nosedives about age 40.
Statistics aside, women over 35 comprise the most rapidlygrowing subgroup of first-time mothers as women marry later and delaychildbearing to establish careers.
Between 1986 and 1987, the rate of first births for women 35 to39 increased 8 percent, the largest reported for women in that groupsince 1943, according to the National Center for Health Statistics.
The rate of women 40 to 44 increased by 1 percent in the sametime period, but leaped more than 9 percent in 1988 - up 20 percentover 1985.
The numbers are still small. Nationwide in 1987, 5,658 firstbabies were born to women ages 40 to 44, and just 139 to women 45 to49. Many of those births were the result of medical advances. Womenwho earlier had no hope of having a baby finally were able to throughscience.
"If it hadn't been for the technology of the past couple ofyears, it never would have happened for me," said Carolyn Unger, whohad her first baby, through in vitro fertilization, at age 41 this year. She expects the number ofwomen like her to grow until "no longer will we be looked on as`older mothers.' "
The medical profession traditionally has branded fortysomethingmothers with such pejorative classifications as "post-mature,""pre-menopausal," "geriatric" - even "dangerous" - according to Dr. Donna S. Kirz, a Chicagoobstetrician who conducted a three-year study of older mothers. Herstudy found that when older mothers receive good care, "the risks tohealthy women 35 years and older may be no more than the risks toyounger" patients.
"When I was in training, we were warned not to treat women afterthe age of 35," said Lifchez, who has been in private practice for 17years. "Nowadays we see many (pregnant) women in their late 30s. Idon't think we're as concerned now about the risk to the baby or therisk to the mother in terms of being pregnant. Once pregnancyoccurs, the odds are overwhelmingly in favor of having a healthybaby. The struggle is getting pregnant."
Some conception problems can be solved by planning - simplytiming intercourse with ovulation.
And while many women at age 44 cannot conceive on their own,various fertility drugs, procedures and surgery can help make ithappen. Ninety-five percent of all infertility is hormonal - thewoman doesn't ovulate.
"If the problem is ovulation, in general, we can take care ofthat, but at age 44 or 45, a woman is already in or close tomenopause and the ovaries just won't put out," said Gleicher, who iseditor of the Journal of In-Vitro Fertilization and Embryo Transfer.
"Even once you conceive, the problems are not over yet, becauseolder women have a significantly higher miscarriage rate," cautionedGleicher. He said the numbers are difficult to establish becausesome miscarriages occur before women even know they are pregnant.
"However, from the in-vitro fertilization experience, we knowthat the miscarriage rate in women over 40 is at least 50 percent,"compared to 15 percent over age 30, he said. He termed it "verylikely" that miscarriage rates are the same for in-vitrofertilization and normal fertilization.
Other risks are associated with motherhood over 40. Chances ofhaving a baby with a chromosome abnormality increase steadily afterage 35 and rapidly after age 40.
"Those statistics are why we now recommend genetic evaluationfor mothers 35 years of age and older at the time of the birth,"Gleicher said. "Somebody who is 44 has a clearly significant risk ofa chromosomal abnormality."
"No woman is without a risk, no matter what her age," saidMelissa Caffarelli, a genetic counselor at the Reproductive GeneticsInstitute at Illinois Masonic Hospital. "The point at which we getreferrals for prenatal diagnosis is age 35, because at that point therisk of having a child with a chromosome abnormality is greater thanthe risk of the procedure."
Kirz, who practices at Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke's MedicalCenter, calls older, first-time mothers "a particularly fun group."
"These tend to be highly desired pregnancies," she said. "Thepatients pay attention to their nutrition and health care duringpregnancy and experience the true joy of the childbirth."
Her 1985 study, published in the American Journal of Obstetricsand Gynecology, compared mothers-to-be ages 35 to 40 with pregnantwomen ages 20 to 25.
When she looked specifically at the healthy women from the oldergroup, and there were no genetic problems with the fetus, "it turnedout that there were very few problems with maternal age alone," shesaid. "Most of these pregnancies do very well."
Members of the Lampre cycling team are under investigation as part of a widespread doping inquiry being carried out by prosecutors in Mantova, the Gazzetta dello Sport reported on Wednesday.
Former Giro d'Italia winner Damiano Cunego, Francesco Gavazzi and Mauro Santambrogio are among the 35 people reportedly under investigation. Also included is 2008 world champion Alessandro Ballan, who left Lampre to join the BMC team this season.
Team managers, technicians and physicians are also reportedly under investigation.
Lampre issued a statement denying any wrongdoing.
Centering on the period from Jan. 1, 2008 to July 31, 2009, the inquiry reportedly focuses on 55-year-old Guido Nigrelli, the owner of a pharmacy in Mariana Mantovana.
"I've been a friend of (Lampre general manager Giuseppe) Saronni for 30 years and Lampre's physicians are nice enough to purchase their medicine in this pharmacy, but it's all legal medicine," Nigrelli told Gazzetta.
Ballan said he received a legal notice of the investigation and gave it to his lawyer, while Cunego said he received nothing and he has never worked with Nigrelli.
TOULOUSE PRINTEMPS DE SEPTEMBRE
There aren't many exhibitions that take you through winding medieval streets, over rivers and canals, or in and out of former monasteries, power stations, water towers, and lockkeeper's houses. Then again, the annual Printemps de Septembre (September Springtime) is conceived not as an exhibition but as an itinerary of hybrid-and admission-free-encounters with contemporary visual and performing arts in and around the historic center of Toulouse. For its first ten seasons, this one-of-a-kind event was the Printemps de Cahors and really took place in the small southwestern town in springtime. But in 2001, divergences between local officials and festival organizers provoked the move to Toulouse, France's fourth-largest city, along with the resulting changes in scale, season, and name.
This minihistory would hardly be worth recalling had the first September Springtime not coincided with two terrible events both engraved in the collective memory of Toulouse: the 9/11 terrorist attacks and, ten days later, the explosion of a local chemical plant that killed thirty people, injured over 2,400 others, and devastated entire neighborhoods. If the Cahors springtime was often taxed with trendy "Parisianism," its September successor has, by the force of that circumstance, become grounded in realities at once more global and more local, as reflected in the sequence of themes judiciously proposed by Marta Gili, artistic director for the past two editions, with the "Fragilities" of 2002 giving rise to the "Gestures" of 2003.
Concretely, this Brechtian notion-the actor's gestus as a series of attitudes directed toward the audience to elicit new reactions and relations to the world-was given form and meaning through the "gestures" of forty-three international artists, mostly young and mostly working with photography and video, but also through the gestures of Gili and assistant curator Fabienne Fulcheri, who were the invisibly omnipresent intermediaries between artists and public, grouping ideas and separating sound tracks in the ten different venues on this year's itinerary. A centrally located but otherwise thankless storefront gallery, Espace Ecureuil, for instance, became the ideal setting for disparate works evoking war: On the street level, Paul Seawright's large-format photos of barren postwar Afghan landscapes (Hidden, 2002) had maximum visibility for passersby, while the low-ceilinged, claustrophobic basement was fully exploited for Omer Fast's video installation A Tank Translated, 2002, with its true-false interviews of young Israeli soldiers who had served together cooped up in a tank, and Florence Lazar's equally claustrophobic videos of the ex-Yugoslavia, Femmes en noir (Women in Black), 2002. By contrast, Kutlug Ataman's double video projection 1+1=1, 2002, a kind of "interior dialogue" by a Cypriot poet reflecting on her childhood war memories, had a room to itself in the out-of-the-way Musee du Vieux Toulouse. Sylvie Blocher's La Sauteuse (Jumping Woman), 2002, a literally breathtaking three-screen video loop of a trampolinist in action, found its way to the lockkeeper's house on La Brienne canal along with six of the artist's ongoing series of diary-like video "notes" begun in 1989.
How was such a fine-tuned itinerary put together? "Intuition," replies Gili, the director of the Fundacio Ea Caixa's photography and visual-arts department in Barcelona. And a willingness to take risks, notably with the one-third of the works specially produced for the festival. This was the case, for example, with photographer Hannah Collins's La Mina, 2002-2003, an epic video installation interweaving the threads of a docu-fiction elaborated and reenacted by two Gypsy communities in Barcelona: What Gili had to go on was a cassette of the ninety-minute film, Collins's first venture into 35 mm, from which the installation's five channels came to be edited. Similarly, Andrea Robbins and Max Becher's Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon, 2003, a series of ten photos plus a short video, was no more than an idea when the artists were contacted in December 2002. But installed at the street entrance to the festival's largest space, the former refectory of a Dominican monastery, the couple's latest project offered a singular "gesture" of welcome to the local public, with emblematic images of French gendarmes, bereted cafe clients, and soccer players in the uncannily un-French environment of the Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon islands, a full-fledged department of France notwithstanding their location some twenty miles off the coast of Newfoundland.
In fact, such welcoming gestures-invitations to enter a space, an image, a world-are common to practically all of the otherwise disparate works. But what makes these works more interesting, and essential, than the user-friendly products of the culture industry is their insistent challenge to perceptions and preconceptions, not through statements, but through understatements. Or, to borrow the tongue-in-cheek title of Blocher's video notes, "Daily Activities to Make Life Presentable."
-Miriam Rosen
Like most Americans, I support wholeheartedly President Bush'sdecision to send military forces into the Persian Gulf area to thwartthe aggressions of Iraq's Saddam Hussein.
My great reservation is that millions of Americans do not fullyunderstand that, in making a military move of moral and politicalprinciple, our president is placing some 50,000 American boys betweenIraq and a hard place. And when the going gets tough and we begin tocount the casualties, a lot of Americans will claim they weren'taware of the perils.
We know the Iraq side of the deadly jaws into which our GIs arebeing sent: a nation with a ruthless leader who has more than amillion almost suicidal troops under arms, an arsenal of mustard andnerve gases in artillery shells, bombs, missile heads - which Husseinhas used to win an eight-year war against Iran and the Kurds - andIraqis inspired by all the emotions of race and religion to believethat they can "annex" anything within their grasp. The "hard place"is the spot from which "the devil," the United States, assumes therole of destroying Saddam Hussein's Iraq so as to guarantee suppliesof Persian Gulf oil to the factories, schoolhouses and automobiles ofTokyo, Tallahassee, Toronto and Tipperary.
An awesome number of Arabs and Palestinians are siding withHussein, propelled by grievances, hatreds, notions of ethnicsolidarity that are centuries old.
My view from the start has been that Hussein is on a madmission, and that he will commit the lives of a million Iraqis, hisentire arsenal of chemical warfare, to make the gulf area a"graveyard" before he will retreat. The United States has entered anarena of warfare in which a lot of people are going to die. Those ofus who have exhorted the president to stand strong must not becomeweak-kneed when we begin to see what could be a gruesome price ofstanding up to a grotesque tyrant.
Carl T. Rowan is a nationally syndicated columnist of theChicago Sun-Times.
Today, I'm putting aside my disdain for tooting my own horn totalk about an honor I'm receiving.
There's a reason for that, which will become clear if you hear meout. On Friday, I will be among several people honored at the OneHundred Black Men of Chicago's 2000 Awards Benefit Gala: Investing inToday's Youth.
Others include: Alvenia Rhea Albright, American Express Co.,Patricia S. Harris, McDonald's Corp., Dr. Patricia Pickles, NorthChicago Public School system, Stanley Rakestraw, SCR MedicalTransportation Service and Steven White of AT&T Broadband & InternetServices. A special tribute will be given to Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr.(D-Ill.).
I'm overwhelmed because this recognition comes from black men.
It took a lot of guts for them to do that.
After all, in some circles a woman who speaks her mind aboutabsentee fathers is considered a male-basher. My e-mails runneth overwith men outraged that I would dare suggest African-American men havean obligation to marry their baby's mama. When I warned women not toleave their kids with their boyfriends, some men thought I wasstereotyping them as abusers. And my advice that women demand theirlovers put on a condom to stop the spread of HIV; AIDS sent some menover the edge.
It would have been easy for this prominent group of black men toavoid dealing with any controversy honoring me may have caused byleaving me out of the mix.
But these are men with a purpose.
I've watched my husband get up on weekends_the only time we reallyspend together_to rush off to a meeting of the 100 Black Men as if hewere getting paid by the hour. Most of us talk about what needs to bedone to help more black youth obtain higher education, but thesebrothers sponsor a daylong session in which high school students canpractice taking the ACT test.
I've watched these men, many of whom are successful businessowners or are at the top of their professions, give up their preciousfree time to mentor someone else's son or daughter.
I've watched them carry themselves in such a way that withoutusing words, they showed young brothers how to act in a way thatreminds us all that, yes, there are many well-spoken, courteous,young black males who are about the business of building a future.
It is a work of the heart that makes a black woman's mouth water.
So when I was notified that I would receive the group'shumanitarian award for my work on behalf of young people, I wasoverjoyed.
But a funny thing happened.
There was one little problem they didn't consider.
The event was being sponsored by the Chicago Tribune's charitablefoundation, and I, after all, write for the Chicago Sun-Times.
In an ideal world, that wouldn't matter. But let's be real. Thenewspapers are competitors, and it is a bit sticky to have acompetitor's columnist basking in the spotlight at an event primarilyfunded by the other paper.
For a moment, it looked like the brothers might renege on thehonor.
And I really couldn't have blamed them.
African-American organizations have not yet reached the pointwhere they are not dependent on funding from outside of thecommunity. Even though there's a lot of black wealth in this city,there is also a great need. In order to award scholarships, conductliteracy and mentoring programs, or take kids out of the neighborhoodfor cultural excursions, these not-for-profit groups have to holdfund-raisers.
Even then, the effort often falls short.
The situation isn't anything to be proud of, but it's reality.There is good news though. Because more African Americans have movedup the corporate ladder, more of them are in a position to access thesame level of funding that is doled out by the charitable foundationsof major corporations to other communities.
Still, as long as there are not enough black professionals andbusiness owners who are willing to support cultural institutions, thearts, and humanitarian efforts, groups that are working to save blackyouth are still dependent upon corporate donors or government grants.
Just as they took a risk by honoring me in the first place, theytook the risk that the Chicago Tribune Foundation would not balk. I'mglad the foundation found the work the 100 Black Men have done toimprove the educational opportunities for young black males worthsupporting no matter who was being honored.
Real men know what it takes to get the job done.
Thank you, 100 Black Men of Chicago Inc., for being real men.
E-mail: marym@suntimes.com
ESPN banned staffers from the New York Post from appearing on any of its programming on Wednesday after the newspaper published photos this week taken from a video showing sideline reporter Erin Andrews nude in a hotel room.
The Post published three images from the blurry video Tuesday.
"While we understand the Post's decision to cover this as a news story, their running photos obtained in such a fashion went well beyond the boundaries of common decency in the interest of sensationalism," ESPN senior vice president of communications Chris LaPlaca said in a statement Wednesday night.
Newspaper reporters are regular guests on ESPN shows.
Post spokesman Howard Rubenstein did not immediately return a call from The Associated Press.
The News Corp.-owned Post was one of several TV networks and newspapers that aired or published images from the video, which Andrews' attorney says was shot without her knowledge. Andrews plans to seek criminal charges and file civil lawsuits against the person who shot the video and anyone who publishes the material, attorney Marshall Grossman said.
Kelly McBride, a journalism ethics expert with the Florida-based Poynter Institute, said it was unethical for news organizations to show images from the Andrews video.
"There is some illegally obtained material, leaked documents or video of a CIA person torturing a soldier, or stuff taken out of Gitmo, that I think has great public importance," McBride said. "But this doesn't do that at all.
"I actually do believe in giving the audience what they want to certain restraints, and I think this clearly crosses that line," she said. "I don't think with a straight face you could justify this on journalistic grounds."
The blurry, five-minute video shows Andrews standing in front of a hotel room mirror, fixing her hair in the nude. It's unknown when or where it was shot.
Andrews, 31, has covered hockey, college football, college basketball and Major League Baseball for the Disney-owned network since 2004, often as a sideline reporter during games.
A former dance team member at the University of Florida, she was something of an Internet sensation even before the video's circulation. She has been referred to as "Erin Pageviews" because of the traffic that video clips and photos of her generate, and Playboy magazine named her "sexiest sportscaster" in both 2008 and 2009.
It was not clear when the video first appeared on the Internet. Most of the links to it had been removed by Tuesday.
Every state but Iowa now has some law on the books dealing with video voyeurism, according to the National Center for Victims of Crime.
"With people disseminating these images over the Internet, there is a potential for people to abuse the victim again and again," said Ilse Knecht, the center's deputy director for public policy. "States have begun to recognize that it's not just some guy taking a picture and looking at it in a dark room."
Many of the state laws are based on a 2004 federal statute that prohibits recording anyone's "private areas" without consent under circumstances where the victim has a reasonable expectation of privacy.
Penalties vary in each state, ranging from fines to several years in prison. Connecticut's law can result in up to five years in prison.
Knecht said several states, including New York, have laws prohibiting people from disseminating these images. Knecht said it's not clear whether that applies to the media.
"If they knew at the time that the conduct was unlawful, then it's kind of sketchy," she said.
xkcd webcomic, xkcd.com/
Deep geek webcomic. The characters are all stick figures, but that's not due to an inability to draw on the part of the artist. These are some of the most expressive stick figures you'll ever come across. Sometimes the jokes are about math. Sometimes the jokes are about the Internet. Sometimes a strip is about stick figures falling hopelessly in love and there isn't a joke at all. It's sweet, in a cartoon violence kind of way. Some are so geeky you'll have to keep Wi ki pedia, Slashdot and Boi ngBoing open in other tabs just to look up the references. Updates three times per week. Mandatory reading for some of you (you know who you are), totally incomprehensible to the rest. (Derek Winkler)
Por una Disputa de Tierras Asesinan a 22 Miembros de una Misma Familia
LIMA, Peru. -- Por lo menos 22 personas, en su mayoria ninos, integrantes de una misma familia fueron asesinadas en la region andina de Peru por un grupo de ocho sicarios, al parecer por una venganza vinculada a litigios de tierras, informo una fuente policial.
Entre las victimas de la matanza figuran 13 menores --de uno a diez anos-- y nueve adultos, incluyendo una pareja de ancianos de 73 y 75 anos, indico una fuente regional de la Policia.
Un nino de ocho anos, identificado como Eli Caqui, sobrevivio a los hechos de violencia, y es atendido por heridas de bala en un brazo y una pierna, segun el informe.
Todas las victimas pertenecen a una familia de apellido Caqui, que vivia en el caserio Queropata, en el distrito Chavin de Pariarca, departamento centroandino de Huanuco.
Un anciano tambien logro escapar de la masacre, dijeron.
"Se trataria de un ajuste de cuentas por litigios de terrenos", dijo Javier Fonseca, portavoz del municipio Huamalies, cercano al caserio, en declaraciones a una radioemisora.
Fuentes militares confirmaron que no fue un atentado guerrillero, aunque el departamento, una zona montanosa colindante a la selva peruana, es aun azotado por columnas del grupo terrorista Sendero Luminoso.
En el area tambien se han identificado actividades de narcotraficantes.
La familia, que se dedicaba a la agricultura, vivia en tres casas aledanas en las afueras del caserio, dijeron pobladores.
Los victimarios llegaron con la intencion de eliminar a toda la familia, por ello acribillaron a padres, tios, hijos y nietos.
La matanza se consumo con gran crueldad, segun advirtio la policia que llego al lugar y comprobo que dos ancianos, un hombre y una mujer, recibieron impactos de al menos ocho balas cada uno. Otras victimas, en especial los ninos, tienen perforaciones en la cabeza.
El crimen masivo se produjo cuando ocho desconocidos ingresaron a dos viviendas de la familia Caqui y amordazaron a todos sus integrantes. Luego les dieron muerte a sangre fria con disparos de revolveres y escopetas.
El menor sobreviviente relato que pudo ver a dos de los sicarios y dio sus caracteristicas faciales a la policia, que inicio una busqueda de sospechosos en las inmediaciones y en caserios cercanos, se informo.
Informes preliminares indican que la matanza se habria producido debido a problemas de posesion de tierras, que al parecer son comunes en esa region andina del pais.
Los lugarenos reclamaron ante la policia que el Ejercito reinstale en Queropata una base militar, que fue desactivada el ano pasado, ante la posibilidad de que puedan regresar los sicarios a generar nuevos brotes de violencia en la zona.
face=+Bold; By Kevin Cooneyface=-Bold;
THE INTELLIGENCER
PHILADELPHIA -- No sooner had the curveball locked Wily Mo Pena's knees for strike three than Brett Myers leaped off the mound, took one step towards his catcher Chris Coste and tossed his glove high to the sky like a mortarboard.
"I wish I could begin to describe that feeling," Myers would say later, "but there's no way to. You have to experience it first hand to know exactly what it is like."
Years from now, that same description will probably fit the way Phillies fans will feel towards the amazing ending of the 2007 regular season.
You had to experience it to fully understand just how truly incredible it really was.
Behind the arm of Jamie Moyer and three other relievers, the Phils finally graduated from the role of perennial contenders to National League East champions Sunday with a 6-1 victory over the Washington Nationals before 44,865 fans at a rocking Citizens Bank Park.
The win -- coupled with the Mets' 8-1 meltdown to the Marlins at Shea Stadium -- sent the Phils forward to the National League Division Series against either the Padres or Rockies. That series will begin on Wednesday night at Citizens Bank Park.
It also ended an amazing pennant race that will go down as one of baseball's biggest collapses. The Mets became the first team in baseball history to lose a seven-game lead with 17 to play, awaking the echoes of the 1964 Phillies.
"We never gave up on ourselves and each other," said second baseman Chase Utley, who was 1-for-3 with an RBI in the clincher. "We knew the character we had here. We knew that we could do it."
It is the club's first division championship since the "Macho Row" boys nearly ran wire-to-wire in the magical summer of 1993. This time, the Phils did it completely in reverse. They were alone in first place for only two days during the entire season -- Saturday and today. But as the Mets would undoubtedly vouch to this morning, that last one is the only day that truly matters.
"I always thought that we had a lot of character with the guys in this locker room," Phils manager Charlie Manuel said. "They just were not going to be denied. And now, we're going."
Sunday began as a showdown of 40-plus year olds pitching indirectly against one another from 110 miles apart.
But by the time Moyer -- a 44-year old native of Souderton who skipped school to go to the Phillies 1980 World Series victory parade -- got to the mound at 1:35, Mets starter Tom Glavine, 41, was already headed for the showers after yielding seven runs and five hits in just one-third of an inning of work to the Marlins.
"You could tell that something positive was obviously going on there," Moyer said. "But we still had to go out and get the job done ourselves."
"The Marlins could have scored 50 runs and it wouldn't have mattered if we didn't take care of business," shortstop Jimmy Rollins said.
Rollins would tally the first run of the game in the first, scoring on an Utley sacrifice fly to right. The lead would swell to 3-0 in the third when Ryan Howard beat the Nationals' shift and slammed a single into right, scoring Carlos Ruiz and Rollins.
Rollins added an RBI triple in the sixth -- his 20th of the year -- and Howard slammed his 47th homer of the season in the seventh to wrap up the scoring.
That's all the support the pitching staff would need. Moyer was effective in allowing a run and five hits in 5 1/3 innings of work. He gave Manuel a bridge to the bullpen trio of Tom Gordon (2/3 of an inning), J.C. Romero (two innings) and Myers, which closed Washington out with one hit and no runs.
"Jamie was exactly what we needed today," Manuel said. "He was strong and he worked well against that lineup. And those guys at the back of our bullpen have been strong all the way through this."
And after years of knocking on the door and being rejected for the wild-card, these Phils finally learned what it took to get over the first hump and into the post-season.
"You can't rely on anyone else," Rollins said. "When it comes down to it, you have to win your games and control what you can control. We did that and all of this happened."
Kevin Cooney can be reached at kcooney@phillyBurbs.com.
No sooner had the curveball locked Wily Mo Pena's knees for strike three [Derived headline]face=+Bold; By Kevin Cooneyface=-Bold;
THE INTELLIGENCER
PHILADELPHIA -- No sooner had the curveball locked Wily Mo Pena's knees for strike three than Brett Myers leaped off the mound, took one step towards his catcher Chris Coste and tossed his glove high to the sky like a mortarboard.
"I wish I could begin to describe that feeling," Myers would say later, "but there's no way to. You have to experience it first hand to know exactly what it is like."
Years from now, that same description will probably fit the way Phillies fans will feel towards the amazing ending of the 2007 regular season.
You had to experience it to fully understand just how truly incredible it really was.
Behind the arm of Jamie Moyer and three other relievers, the Phils finally graduated from the role of perennial contenders to National League East champions Sunday with a 6-1 victory over the Washington Nationals before 44,865 fans at a rocking Citizens Bank Park.
The win -- coupled with the Mets' 8-1 meltdown to the Marlins at Shea Stadium -- sent the Phils forward to the National League Division Series against either the Padres or Rockies. That series will begin on Wednesday night at Citizens Bank Park.
It also ended an amazing pennant race that will go down as one of baseball's biggest collapses. The Mets became the first team in baseball history to lose a seven-game lead with 17 to play, awaking the echoes of the 1964 Phillies.
"We never gave up on ourselves and each other," said second baseman Chase Utley, who was 1-for-3 with an RBI in the clincher. "We knew the character we had here. We knew that we could do it."
It is the club's first division championship since the "Macho Row" boys nearly ran wire-to-wire in the magical summer of 1993. This time, the Phils did it completely in reverse. They were alone in first place for only two days during the entire season -- Saturday and today. But as the Mets would undoubtedly vouch to this morning, that last one is the only day that truly matters.
"I always thought that we had a lot of character with the guys in this locker room," Phils manager Charlie Manuel said. "They just were not going to be denied. And now, we're going."
Sunday began as a showdown of 40-plus year olds pitching indirectly against one another from 110 miles apart.
But by the time Moyer -- a 44-year old native of Souderton who skipped school to go to the Phillies 1980 World Series victory parade -- got to the mound at 1:35, Mets starter Tom Glavine, 41, was already headed for the showers after yielding seven runs and five hits in just one-third of an inning of work to the Marlins.
"You could tell that something positive was obviously going on there," Moyer said. "But we still had to go out and get the job done ourselves."
"The Marlins could have scored 50 runs and it wouldn't have mattered if we didn't take care of business," shortstop Jimmy Rollins said.
Rollins would tally the first run of the game in the first, scoring on an Utley sacrifice fly to right. The lead would swell to 3-0 in the third when Ryan Howard beat the Nationals' shift and slammed a single into right, scoring Carlos Ruiz and Rollins.
Rollins added an RBI triple in the sixth -- his 20th of the year -- and Howard slammed his 47th homer of the season in the seventh to wrap up the scoring.
That's all the support the pitching staff would need. Moyer was effective in allowing a run and five hits in 5 1/3 innings of work. He gave Manuel a bridge to the bullpen trio of Tom Gordon (2/3 of an inning), J.C. Romero (two innings) and Myers, which closed Washington out with one hit and no runs.
"Jamie was exactly what we needed today," Manuel said. "He was strong and he worked well against that lineup. And those guys at the back of our bullpen have been strong all the way through this."
And after years of knocking on the door and being rejected for the wild-card, these Phils finally learned what it took to get over the first hump and into the post-season.
"You can't rely on anyone else," Rollins said. "When it comes down to it, you have to win your games and control what you can control. We did that and all of this happened."
Kevin Cooney can be reached at kcooney@phillyBurbs.com.
Team owner Rick Hendrick won't split Dale Earnhardt Jr. and his embattled crew chief despite their slow start to the season.
Tony Eury Jr. has always been under intense scrutiny as crew chief for NASCAR's most popular driver, but it has hit a new level this year as the No. 88 team has just one top-10 finish through five races. Earnhardt heads to Martinsville Speedway this weekend ranked 19th in the standings.
"Both Junior and Tony have told me that if they thought they needed to be split, that they understood," Hendrick said Wednesday in a national teleconference. "That's my call, and I'm not ready to make that call. Not even close. I am convinced that they're better together.
"We've got the right combination, and I think we're going to be able to prove that to you guys soon."
Hendrick said Earnhardt, a notorious late riser, was at the shop early Wednesday morning and participated in a three-hour team meeting aimed at turning the season around.
"He's all over it," Hendrick said. "Dale is as focused, maybe even more focused then I've seen since he's been here. Dale's taken all the suggestions that anyone has to heart, and we've got to give him the best stuff out there."
Earnhardt and Eury, who are cousins, have worked together in some form for all but a portion of the 2005 season.
Because the two bickered so much at the end of 2004, they were split the next season by Earnhardt's stepmother, Teresa. The results were disastrous for Earnhardt, who had the worst season of his nine-year career, and they were reunited with 10 races left in the year.
Earnhardt decided in 2007 to leave Dale Earnhardt Inc. for Hendrick Motorsports, and Eury negotiated a release from his contract to leave with him. But results have been mixed: they've combined for just one victory, and despite running strong all of last season, they faded during the Chase for the championship and finished last in the 12-driver field.
The disappointing close to their first year with Hendrick reignited the simmering Eury debate among Earnhardt's enormous fan base, and it has escalated through the first month of this season.
Earnhardt last week asked for relief from the constant criticism Eury has faced from fans and media.
"The guy that I feel bad for is Tony Jr. He gets criticized so badly," Earnhardt said at Bristol Motor Speedway. "Everybody in this room, and some of you have criticized him, know how smart a guy he is and that he's a good mechanic and a solid crew chief. He just wants to do this for a living, just like I do. I'll take the fall. I'd rather be crucified than him.
"Every time I read in the paper that people are on his case I feel like I'm sending my brother to jail for a crime I committed."
Earnhardt also acknowledged that his team is not meeting expectations.
They failed to silence the critics Sunday, when Earnhardt fell a lap down at Bristol before needing NASCAR's "free pass" to return to the lead lap and finish a distant 14th to winner Kyle Busch.
Mark Martin on Wednesday defended his Hendrick teammate and said Earnhardt is under tremendous pressure because he's the son of NASCAR icon Dale Earnhardt, a seven-time champion who was killed on the last lap of the 2001 Daytona 500.
"The biggest thing that Junior needs is support, a pat on the back," Martin said. "The guy is doing an incredible job. He's carrying a heavier load than any human being could be expected to, and you know what? He's fast. He was fast at Bristol. You can't just look at the black and white of the finish at Bristol and comprehend how he ran there.
"Right now he just has to keep focused and not listen to all the mania that's going on around him. That team is going to be strong, they were strong at Bristol and didn't get an opportunity to show it. Over time, they will."
Hendrick cautioned that it may take several races for Earnhardt to reach Victory Lane. He's currently riding a 26-race winless streak dating to Michigan in June.
"You just don't go from running 10th to winning every race," Hendrick said. "So the idea is just to keep inching it up, getting it better, working on areas. Our goal is to make the Chase and win races. To lead, to be competitive. That's always been my goal."
Hendrick committed to Earnhardt Jr., Eury Jr.Team owner Rick Hendrick won't split Dale Earnhardt Jr. and his embattled crew chief despite their slow start to the season.
Tony Eury Jr. has always been under intense scrutiny as crew chief for NASCAR's most popular driver, but it has hit a new level this year as the No. 88 team has just one top-10 finish through five races. Earnhardt heads to Martinsville Speedway this weekend ranked 19th in the standings.
"Both Junior and Tony have told me that if they thought they needed to be split, that they understood," Hendrick said Wednesday in a national teleconference. "That's my call, and I'm not ready to make that call. Not even close. I am convinced that they're better together.
"We've got the right combination, and I think we're going to be able to prove that to you guys soon."
Hendrick said Earnhardt, a notorious late riser, was at the shop early Wednesday morning and participated in a three-hour team meeting aimed at turning the season around.
"He's all over it," Hendrick said. "Dale is as focused, maybe even more focused then I've seen since he's been here. Dale's taken all the suggestions that anyone has to heart, and we've got to give him the best stuff out there."
Earnhardt and Eury, who are cousins, have worked together in some form for all but a portion of the 2005 season.
Because the two bickered so much at the end of 2004, they were split the next season by Earnhardt's stepmother, Teresa. The results were disastrous for Earnhardt, who had the worst season of his nine-year career, and they were reunited with 10 races left in the year.
Earnhardt decided in 2007 to leave Dale Earnhardt Inc. for Hendrick Motorsports, and Eury negotiated a release from his contract to leave with him. But results have been mixed: they've combined for just one victory, and despite running strong all of last season, they faded during the Chase for the championship and finished last in the 12-driver field.
The disappointing close to their first year with Hendrick reignited the simmering Eury debate among Earnhardt's enormous fan base, and it has escalated through the first month of this season.
Earnhardt last week asked for relief from the constant criticism Eury has faced from fans and media.
"The guy that I feel bad for is Tony Jr. He gets criticized so badly," Earnhardt said at Bristol Motor Speedway. "Everybody in this room, and some of you have criticized him, know how smart a guy he is and that he's a good mechanic and a solid crew chief. He just wants to do this for a living, just like I do. I'll take the fall. I'd rather be crucified than him.
"Every time I read in the paper that people are on his case I feel like I'm sending my brother to jail for a crime I committed."
Earnhardt also acknowledged that his team is not meeting expectations.
They failed to silence the critics Sunday, when Earnhardt fell a lap down at Bristol before needing NASCAR's "free pass" to return to the lead lap and finish a distant 14th to winner Kyle Busch.
Mark Martin on Wednesday defended his Hendrick teammate and said Earnhardt is under tremendous pressure because he's the son of NASCAR icon Dale Earnhardt, a seven-time champion who was killed on the last lap of the 2001 Daytona 500.
"The biggest thing that Junior needs is support, a pat on the back," Martin said. "The guy is doing an incredible job. He's carrying a heavier load than any human being could be expected to, and you know what? He's fast. He was fast at Bristol. You can't just look at the black and white of the finish at Bristol and comprehend how he ran there.
"Right now he just has to keep focused and not listen to all the mania that's going on around him. That team is going to be strong, they were strong at Bristol and didn't get an opportunity to show it. Over time, they will."
Hendrick cautioned that it may take several races for Earnhardt to reach Victory Lane. He's currently riding a 26-race winless streak dating to Michigan in June.
"You just don't go from running 10th to winning every race," Hendrick said. "So the idea is just to keep inching it up, getting it better, working on areas. Our goal is to make the Chase and win races. To lead, to be competitive. That's always been my goal."
Hendrick committed to Earnhardt Jr., Eury Jr.Team owner Rick Hendrick won't split Dale Earnhardt Jr. and his embattled crew chief despite their slow start to the season.
Tony Eury Jr. has always been under intense scrutiny as crew chief for NASCAR's most popular driver, but it has hit a new level this year as the No. 88 team has just one top-10 finish through five races. Earnhardt heads to Martinsville Speedway this weekend ranked 19th in the standings.
"Both Junior and Tony have told me that if they thought they needed to be split, that they understood," Hendrick said Wednesday in a national teleconference. "That's my call, and I'm not ready to make that call. Not even close. I am convinced that they're better together.
"We've got the right combination, and I think we're going to be able to prove that to you guys soon."
Hendrick said Earnhardt, a notorious late riser, was at the shop early Wednesday morning and participated in a three-hour team meeting aimed at turning the season around.
"He's all over it," Hendrick said. "Dale is as focused, maybe even more focused then I've seen since he's been here. Dale's taken all the suggestions that anyone has to heart, and we've got to give him the best stuff out there."
Earnhardt and Eury, who are cousins, have worked together in some form for all but a portion of the 2005 season.
Because the two bickered so much at the end of 2004, they were split the next season by Earnhardt's stepmother, Teresa. The results were disastrous for Earnhardt, who had the worst season of his nine-year career, and they were reunited with 10 races left in the year.
Earnhardt decided in 2007 to leave Dale Earnhardt Inc. for Hendrick Motorsports, and Eury negotiated a release from his contract to leave with him. But results have been mixed: they've combined for just one victory, and despite running strong all of last season, they faded during the Chase for the championship and finished last in the 12-driver field.
The disappointing close to their first year with Hendrick reignited the simmering Eury debate among Earnhardt's enormous fan base, and it has escalated through the first month of this season.
Earnhardt last week asked for relief from the constant criticism Eury has faced from fans and media.
"The guy that I feel bad for is Tony Jr. He gets criticized so badly," Earnhardt said at Bristol Motor Speedway. "Everybody in this room, and some of you have criticized him, know how smart a guy he is and that he's a good mechanic and a solid crew chief. He just wants to do this for a living, just like I do. I'll take the fall. I'd rather be crucified than him.
"Every time I read in the paper that people are on his case I feel like I'm sending my brother to jail for a crime I committed."
Earnhardt also acknowledged that his team is not meeting expectations.
They failed to silence the critics Sunday, when Earnhardt fell a lap down at Bristol before needing NASCAR's "free pass" to return to the lead lap and finish a distant 14th to winner Kyle Busch.
Mark Martin on Wednesday defended his Hendrick teammate and said Earnhardt is under tremendous pressure because he's the son of NASCAR icon Dale Earnhardt, a seven-time champion who was killed on the last lap of the 2001 Daytona 500.
"The biggest thing that Junior needs is support, a pat on the back," Martin said. "The guy is doing an incredible job. He's carrying a heavier load than any human being could be expected to, and you know what? He's fast. He was fast at Bristol. You can't just look at the black and white of the finish at Bristol and comprehend how he ran there.
"Right now he just has to keep focused and not listen to all the mania that's going on around him. That team is going to be strong, they were strong at Bristol and didn't get an opportunity to show it. Over time, they will."
Hendrick cautioned that it may take several races for Earnhardt to reach Victory Lane. He's currently riding a 26-race winless streak dating to Michigan in June.
"You just don't go from running 10th to winning every race," Hendrick said. "So the idea is just to keep inching it up, getting it better, working on areas. Our goal is to make the Chase and win races. To lead, to be competitive. That's always been my goal."
