Column: Stop shrieking about women's tennis noise

On serve and when whipping his forehand, Novak Djokovic's grunt is that of a bullfrog, "WooooAH-UH." Rafael Nadal goes for a throatier, "AAArrgggHH." Occasionally, Andy Murray offers up a more hushed, constricted, "Eeeeeehhh." From Roger Federer, of course, we tend to get the sound of silence.

Yet here is a selection of headlines you'll never read about tennis' top men: "Earplugs ready, it's the scream queen final," ''Shrieks of nature," or "It's squeally not on."

I didn't make those up. Oh-so-witty, that is all stuff written about Victoria Azarenka and Maria Sharapova before their women's final at the Australian Open on Saturday.

Anyone else spot the sexist …

Figure Skating World Championships Results

Results Friday from the figure skating world championships:

Ice Dance

Free Dance

1. Meryl Davis and Charlie White, United States, 110.49.

2. Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir, Canada, 110.03 53.10.

3. Nathalie Pechalat and Fabian Bourzat, France, 98.09.

4. Federica Faiella and Massimo Scali, Italy, 97.84.

5. Sinead and John Kerr, Britain, 93.32.

6. Alexandra Zaretsky and Roman Zaretsky, Israel, 91.34.

7. Vanessa Crone and Paul Poirier, Canada, 91.22.

8. Ekaterina Bobrova and Dmitri Soloviev, Russia, 89.76.

9. Nora Hoffman and Maxim Zavozin, Hungary, 83.52.

…

The Making of the Front-Runner

As the serious stage of the presidential campaign begins thisfall, Hillary Rodham Clinton has clearly established herself in thelead of the race for the Democratic nomination. That makes her themost worthy subject for examination among all the White Houseprospects.

I have been thinking a lot about Sen. Clinton because part of myvacation reading was Carl Bernstein's fine political biography ofher, "A Woman in Charge," published earlier this year. Its 600pages, carefully reported and written with a commendable evenness oftone, offer perhaps the fullest portrait of this potentialpresident.

The single strongest impression it leaves is that this is acomplex, talented …

SKorean businessman to debut fried chicken at first foreign-run restaurant in North Korea

A South Korean businessman plans to begin a fried chicken delivery service in the North Korean capital, with the first foreign-run restaurant in a country that struggles to feed its own people.

Choi Won-ho, head of a fried chicken franchiser that has about 70 restaurants across South Korea, said Friday he is opening a 50-table restaurant in Pyongyang on Nov. 15. It will also deliver chicken and beer to homes.

"I have wanted to be the world's best chicken brand," Choi told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.

"But I thought it makes no sense to conquer the world without sharing food with our compatriots. That's why I went …

Singapore defends Temasek's Bank of America sale

The Singapore government has defended state investment company Temasek's sale of its stake in Bank of America Corp., saying the loss-generating trade didn't reflect a shift to short-term investing.

Temasek sold its Bank of America shares after its 13.7 percent stake in Merrill Lynch & Co _ initially purchased in 2007 _ was converted after BoA bought the brokerage in January. Temasek held 188.8 million Bank of America shares worth about $2.6 billion in January.

"The investment thesis had changed, from the original focus on Merrill's specific businesses to BoA's linkage to the broader U.S. economy," Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam said …

Becky certainly back to her best with maximum

THE top six teams in the Boar's Head Hotel Felinfoel BreweryCarmarthen Mixed Darts League were all winners in the penultimategames of the first half.

Top two NKG A and Bizz B, with just one point separating them,both won 10-1 and have now extended their lead to 16 points.

Gremlin Club skipper Kathy Wray stopped the George winning all11, and it was a team of three, father, son and girlfriend Charlie,Gareth and Vicky from the NKG C that saved the brush from the Bizz.

Also scooping ten points were last year's runners-up Boar's HeadA, who just failed to win all 11 as young Daniel Lewis salvaged apoint for his team in the final game.

Third-placed …

Oil Prices Steady at $69 a Barrel

SINGAPORE - Oil prices held steady below $70 a barrel Friday in Asia after jumping above that mark in the previous session the first time in ten months.

Light, sweet crude for August delivery rose six cents to $69.63 a barrel in Asian electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, midmorning in Singapore.

The contract settled 60 cents higher at $69.57 a barrel Thursday in the U.S. after rising as high as $70.52 and trading above $70 for several hours.

Thursday's jump was driven by concerns over summer supplies following the release of a weekly U.S. government report that showed gasoline inventories dropped unexpectedly as the driving season neared its …

McEnroe advise Federer? You cannot be serious!

John McEnroe coaching Roger Federer? You CANNOT be serious!

While McEnroe would like to give the 13-time Grand Slam champion some pointers on how to snap out of his winless season, the mild-mannered Federer isn't quite taking him up on the offer. McEnroe told a French weekly that he'd like to help the Swiss star get on track after Federer lost in the semifinals of the Miami Masters.

"I guess anybody would like to give me advice," Federer said at the Rome Masters. "So I don't think that's a crazy comment we should look into much."

With the French Open looming, Federer is gearing up for another possible match against top-ranked …

Legacy achieves look with warmth, elegance

The newly built Legacy has the warmth and charm of an elegantvintage residence - a look achieved with updated colors and wallfinishes and traditional mahogany furnishings.

The $478,000 house is among eight custom residences at the 1991Parade of Homes, which ends Sunday at the Boulder Ridge Country Clubdevelopment in McHenry County.

Although the Legacy has been sold, builder Chic Martin SignatureHomes says the house could be reproduced for $425,000 - an amountthat does not include the price of the lot, any of the decorating orthe circular driveway.

The Legacy's sophisticated French interior theme complements theexterior of the 3,550-square-foot …

Driller to stop water to families in Dimock, Pa.

ALLENTOWN, Pa. (AP) — Families in a northeastern Pennsylvania village with tainted water wells will have to procure their own water for the first time in nearly three years as a natural-gas driller blamed for polluting the aquifer moves ahead with its plan to stop paying for daily deliveries.

Houston-based Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. ended delivery of bulk and bottled water to 11 families in Dimock on Wednesday. Cabot asserts Dimock's water is safe to drink and won permission from state environmental regulators last month to stop paying for water for the residents.

A judge on Wednesday declined to issue an emergency order compelling Cabot to continue the deliveries. The judge, …

Weaker dollar drives gold higher for 2nd day

Gold prices inched higher for a second day in a row, boosted by a weaker dollar.

Gold for February delivery rose $10.80 to settle at $1,104.80 an ounce in quiet, holiday-shortened trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange Thursday. Commodities markets closed early ahead of the Christmas holiday and will remain closed on Friday.

The modest gain in gold came as the ICE Futures U.S. dollar index dipped 0.1 percent. Gold, which is considered a hedge against a weak greenback, tends to rise when the dollar falls.

The dollar's sway over gold prices has been exceptionally strong this year. Gold prices had been on a record-setting climb over the past …

Holy Path Across Pilsen

For Mexican Americans in the Pilsen area, Viernes Santo (GoodFriday) always seems to come to life.

Roman soldiers, a solemn crowd and a man with a cross havewalked "the Stations of the Cross" down the streets of the South Sidecommunity for the last 16 years.

It happened again on Friday in a procession called the Live Wayof the Cross.

A tall, thin man dressed as Jesus Christ, with white robes, acrown of thorns and carrying a 10-foot wooden cross, made his waywest on 18th Street surrounded by more than a half dozen soldiers.

The readings of the "Stations of the Cross," or stops drawn frombiblical accounts of Jesus' forced march through the streets …

`Hurt Locker,' `Avatar' duel for top Oscar honors

This year's race for Sunday's top prize at the Academy Awards is anything but predictable.

In recent years, the drama has generally been sapped by a glut of earlier award shows that spell out what films will win at the Oscars before the show starts.

But with the best-picture lineup expanded to 10 films instead of the usual five, the science-fiction spectacle and box-office behemoth "Avatar" is going head-to-head with the low-budgeted, low-grossing Iraq war story "The Hurt Locker."

The acting prizes look as predictable as ever, with Oscars expected to go to Sandra Bullock as best actress for "The Blind Side," Jeff Bridges as best actor for "Crazy Heart," Mo'Nique as supporting actress for "Precious" and Austrian Christoph Waltz as supporting actor for "Inglourious Basterds."

"Avatar" won best drama at the Golden Globes, traditionally a good gauge for how the Oscars might play out. But the Globes were nearly two months ago, the first major ceremony in the long buildup to the Oscars. A lot has happened since.

"The Hurt Locker" dominated honors from Hollywood trade groups, including guilds representing directors, writers and producers. It also won best-picture and five other prizes at the British Academy Film Awards.

The films bring some behind-the-scenes drama. "Avatar" director James Cameron and "The Hurt Locker" director Kathryn Bigelow were married from 1989-91, making this the first time ex-spouses have competed for the directing Oscar.

Bigelow would be the first woman ever to win best director, a prize Cameron earned with 1997's "Titanic," whose box office records have been shattered by "Avatar."

And one of Bigelow's fellow producers on "The Hurt Locker," Nicolas Chartier, has been barred from attending the Oscars after he ran afoul of the awards rules by sending e-mails to academy voters urging them to support his film over "Avatar."

Overseers at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences took some heat after doubling the field to 10 films last summer. Many actors, filmmakers and others in Hollywood wondered if the Oscars had lowered their standards by letting so many films into the best-picture race.

But the move has brought a different energy to the show, both for producers with films in the running and TV viewers who have gradually lost interest in the Oscars. The ceremony's TV ratings sank to an all-time low two years ago, then bounced back a bit last year.

The top awards were utterly predictable both years, "No Country for Old Men" dominating two years ago and "Slumdog Millionaire" winning last time.

Oscar organizers say they sense greater interest in the awards all-around, from the A-list lineup that will strut the red carpet outside Hollywood's Kodak Theatre to the stargazers watching on TV at home.

"People seem to be talking about the movies. The idea that we've gone to 10 is something that's been a little controversial to some people, even though we've done it before," said Tom Sherak, academy president. The Oscars often had 10 or more best-picture nominees until 1943.

"It's created a conversation about the movies, and I don't think there's a clear-cut winner. We want it to be fun to watch, for people to have an interest in seeing what's going to happen with these 10 movies," Sherak said.

Also in the running for best picture: the football drama "The Blind Side," the science-fiction thriller "District 9," the British teen tale "An Education," the World War II saga "Inglourious Basterds," the Harlem story "Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire," the Jewish domestic chronicle "A Serious Man," the animated adventure "Up" and the recession-era yarn "Up in the Air."

Along with "The Hurt Locker," which took in just $12.6 million domestically, competitors such as "An Education" and "A Serious Man" have found relatively small audiences.

The lineup is balanced with huge hits, led by "Avatar," the biggest modern blockbuster with $700 million domestically and $2.6 billion worldwide. "Up" and "The Blind Side" both topped $200 million domestically, while "Inglourious Basterds" and "District 9" were $100 million hits.

Oscar TV ratings tend to rise in years when big hits are among the front-runners. The show had its biggest audience ever when Cameron's colossal hit "Titanic" won best-picture 12 years ago.

Academy organizers also aim to liven up the show, continuing a trend they began last year by hiring song-and-dance man Hugh Jackman as host, rather than a traditional comedian.

Sunday's show features past host Steve Martin paired with Alec Baldwin, the first time since 1987 that the Oscars have had more than one emcee.

Lifetime-achievement Oscars have been moved to a separate event to speed up the pace of the show.

Oscar producers Adam Shankman and Bill Mechanic also are mixing up the cast of awards presenters with young talent such as Miley Cyrus and "Twilight" co-stars Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner and veterans such as Sean Penn, Barbra Streisand and Samuel L. Jackson.

"New Hollywood and classic Hollywood. Love it," Shankman said.

"You'll see that quite a bit," Mechanic said. "Not paired together, but you'll see a respect for the traditions of Hollywood and a welcoming of new Hollywood."

And a scramble by Oscar bosses come Monday to see how the ratings went.

___

http://www.oscars.org

Dow up for a fourth day, turns positive for 2011

NEW YORK (AP) — The stock market is having a strong end to a wild month.

The Dow Jones industrial average turned positive for the year Wednesday after a surge in factory orders reassured investors that the manufacturing industry is still healthy. Industrial and raw materials companies had the biggest gains.

Factory orders rose 2.4 percent in July, the largest increase since March. Demand for cars jumped the most in eight years and orders for commercial airplanes soared. Orders fell 0.8 percent in June. That caused worries that manufacturing, one of the best-performing areas of the U.S. economy since the recession ended two years ago, might be starting to sputter.

The Dow rose 78 points, or 0.7 percent, to 11,638 in afternoon trading. It has risen seven of the last eight days and is up 0.5 percent for the year. Aluminum maker Alcoa Inc. rose 3.7 percent, the most of the 30 companies that make up the Dow average.

Joy Global rose 4.4 percent after the mining equipment maker said its earnings rose 46 percent because of strong global demand for commodities like copper and coal.

That helped to push up other stocks in the mining and commodities industry. Mining company Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. rose 3.8 percent. Equipment giant Caterpillar Inc. rose 2.8 percent.

The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 9, or 0.8 percent, to 1,222. Nine of the 10 company groups that make up the index rose. The telecommunications industry was the only one to fall.

AT&T Inc. plunged 4.2 percent after the Justice Department filed a lawsuit to stop the company's $39 billion merger with rival T-Mobile USA. Sprint Nextel Corp., which opposed the deal, rose 6.8 percent. It had the biggest gain in the S&P 500.

The Nasdaq composite index rose 15, or 0.6 percent, to 2,591.

The Dow is closing out an extraordinarily volatile month. The Dow had four consecutive days of 400-point swings after S&P downgraded the U.S. government's credit rating Aug. 5, the first time that happened in the Dow's 115-year history.

The S&P 500 hit a low for the year on Aug. 8, right after the downgrade, and has risen 9.7 percent since then.

Rex Macey, chief investment officer of Wilmington Trust, said he expected the big swings to continue until investors can determine if the U.S. economy is headed for another recession or a recovery.

"When you're on the edge of growth versus recession, that's a big difference," he said. "Being near the precipice means that markets are going to be more volatile."

Supportive Dad Drove MJ's Success

James Jordan will be remembered as a loving father to his fivechildren, exemplified most by his support for his famous son.

"I don't remember him ever missing a ballgame," said Fred Lynch,Michael Jordan's coach at Laney High School in Wilmington, N.C. "Andacademically, he was always pushing Mike to get the job done."

Mr. Jordan was born July 31, 1936, in Wallace, N.C. He neverwent to college, heading to the Air Force and then working at GeneralElectric. He began as a forklift operator for G.E. and retired as asupervisor. It was while he was in G.E. training school in Brooklyn,N.Y., that his wife, Deloris, gave birth to Michael on Feb. 17, 1963.

The family returned to Wallace and moved to Wilmington in 1970.

Mr. Jordan played an active part in making sure Michael becamesuccessful. Michael often spoke of how his parents were role modelsand how his father led by example in many ways, right down tosticking out his tongue while working - something Michael would laterimitate.

Mr. Jordan usually wasn't far from the court whenever Michaelplayed in high school, at the University of North Carolina or withthe Bulls. He sat by Michael's side for one of Chicago's mostcherished sports memories, when Michael sobbed into the championshiptrophy after the Bulls won their first title in 1991. And Mr. Jordanwas there for the tough times, such as last spring when Michael didnot speak to the media for 11 days after a trip to Atlantic City inthe midst of the playoffs caused a furor.

Mr. Jordan spent time with Michael and also became hisspokesman, telling the media, "The trip was my idea. I took him withme. He just paid the bill."

He took the blame that time. But for most of his life hedeserved only credit.

In addition to his wife and Michael, he is survived by childrenJames Ronald, Deloris, Larry and Roslyn. No arrangements have beenannounced.

Philippine court orders Aquino kin to give up land

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — The Philippine Supreme Court has ordered vast sugarcane plantation lands owned by relatives of the president to be distributed to thousands of farmers under a government land reform program.

The high court — which has recently been at odds with President Benigno Aquino III — said the 11,115-acre (4,500-hectare) Hacienda Luisita in northern Tarlac province should be turned over to 6,296 farm workers. The ruling, which was made public Thursday, changes a decision last July that gave the workers the option of getting shares of stock in a corporation that runs the plantation instead of land.

Left-wing peasant groups have alleged the stock-option scheme was conceived so the sprawling plantation owned by the president's relatives could evade the land reform program, which has been hampered for decades by opposition from influential landlords and a lack of government funds to buy the land from owners.

The court said the government's land reform policy aims to hand control over agricultural lands to farmers. "We realize that the farm worker beneficiaries will never have control over these agricultural lands for as long as they remain as stockholders" in Hacienda Luisita Inc., where they would remain minority owners, the court said.

Company lawyer and spokesman Antonio Ligon suggested that the sugar estate would likely comply with the order, which he has not yet received. "No one is above the law," Ligon told the ABS-CBN TV network.

He said about 4,000 other farm workers at the estate deserved land but were excluded in the court ruling.

The court also ordered Hacienda Luisita — owned mostly by Aquino's uncles, aunts and other relatives — to pay the farmers up to 1.3 billion pesos ($30 million) from past sales of plantation lands, including those that have been turned into a residential enclave and a modern highway.

The decades-old plantation, which features sugar mills and farming communities, has long served as a symbol of the Aquino family's economic might. A decision by his politically influential relatives to give up the bulk of their landholdings to poor farmers has been seen as a crucial test of the president's resolve to battle crushing poverty, which has largely been blamed on Filipino farmers' lack of land in the countryside.

Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said Aquino divested his share of the family wealth in the hacienda a month after he won a landslide victory in last year's presidential elections on a promise to battle corruption and appalling poverty, which afflicts a third of the Philippines' 94 million people.

"He has already divested, so there is nothing that will put him in a compromising position," Lacierda said in a news conference.

The Supreme Court has been at loggerheads with Aquino since his administration recently defied a court order that approved former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's request to leave the country for medical treatment as she faced elections fraud charges. Justice and elections officials later charged Arroyo in court, which ordered her placed under arrest in a hospital, where she has sought treatment for a bone disease.

The majority of the Supreme Court's 15 justices were appointed by Arroyo before she ended her stormy nine years in power in June last year. She then won a seat in the House of Representatives. Aquino refused to be sworn in as president by the current chief justice, Renato Corona, a former Arroyo chief of staff whom she appointed as head of the high tribunal shortly before she stepped down.

Supreme Court spokesman Midas Marquez and Lacierda separately said the court ruling on the hacienda was not influenced by differences between the high tribunal and the president, son of late pro-democracy icon Corazon Aquino, who had called on Arroyo to resign when she was implicated in corruption and vote-rigging scandals. Arroyo has denied any wrongdoing.

Wimbledon Results

Monday

At The All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club

Wimbledon, England

Purse: $20.3 million (Grand Slam)

Surface: Grass-Outdoor

Singles

Women

Fourth Round

Vera Zvonareva (21), Russia, def. Jelena Jankovic (4), Serbia, 6-1, 3-0 retired.

Li Na (9), China, def. Agnieszka Radwanska (7), Poland, 6-3, 6-2.

Tsvetana Pironkova, Bulgaria, def. Marion Bartoli (11), France, 6-4, 6-4.

Venus Williams (2), United States, def. Jarmila Groth, Australia, 6-4, 7-6.

Kim Clijsters (8), Belgium, def. Justine Henin (17), Belgium, 2-6, 6-2, 6-3.

Men

Fourth Round

Roger Federer (1), Switzerland, def. Jurgen Melzer (16), Austria, 6-2, 6-2, 6-3.

Doubles

Men

Second Round

Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan (2), United States, def. Colin Fleming and Kenneth Skupski, Britain, 6-2, 6-4, 7-6 (5).

Third Round

Marcel Granollers and Tommy Robredo (11), Spain, def. Julian Knowle, Austria, and Andy Ram (8), Israel, 6-2, 7-6 (2), 1-6, 7-6 (5).

Sean Snyder

Sean Snyder

ARTISTS SPACE

What does the classic Warner Brothers cartoon "Road Runner and Coyote" have to do with the urban condition? Sean Snyder's 1996-98 Urban Planning Documentation (Road Runner & Coyote) - the earliest of the eight works in this modest, twelve-year survey - proffers tentative answers. Beside a monitor playing clips of Wile E. Coyote's elaborate, doomed-to-fail schemes, Snyder presents two groups of black-and-white photos, all depicting seemingly innocuous elements from the urban landscape. In the first set, each image is accompanied by an ambiguously descriptive sentence: a failed landscaping attempt on a median, for instance, captions a photo of what appears to be sod and road infrastructure combined in an incongruously informal manner. In the second, ten images are collectively labeled with the single PHRASE AS A TERRORIST PRECAUTION EVERY PUBLIC TRASH CAN IN THE CITY WAS COVERED WITH A THIN METAL LID AND RENDERED USELESS. Apparently, Snyder appropriated these images from urban planning manuals and vandalism protection documents, and his reframing of the materials may be an attempt to lampoon the underlying ideologies of urban space - as well as to note the intrinsic interp�n�trations of representation, image, information, and ideology.

Snyder's concern with tracking the ways in which ideologies shape the representational language of mass media (primarily television) is evident in Dallas Southfork in Hermes Land, Slobozia, Romania, 2001, which centers on a Romanian amusement park that features a meticulous reconstruction of the ranch from the infamous 1 980s US television series Dallas. Presenting video, newspaper articles, digital photos, and architectural models, Snyder details the park's history, displaying ephemera documenting, for instance, a visit by Dallas actor Larry Hagman, as well as the nefarious financial and political collateral matters directly and indirectly related to this perverse episode of transcultural identification run amok. These elements seem to analyze the way in which this American television show (itself a kind of postmodern morality tale regarding the dynastic legacies of US oil wealth and corporate greed) was reframed by another society in transition, evidencing a range of cultural-ideological contradictions. E.g., Ceauce�cu broadcast the show as anticapitalist propaganda; the show became popular, and remained so in post-communist Romania; and Hagman appeared in advertisements for a Russian petroleum company with ties to the Romanian developer of the Dallas Southfork park. Yet once we put the disparate pieces together, what results? A sense of irony that what was demonized by a Communist dictator as emblematic of America's evil capitalism would be reappropriated by a Romanian capitalist for entrepreneurial ends? In other words, a cautionary tale of the global contagion of neoliberalism?

The Site, 2004-2005, is a collection of photographs and texts pertaining to Saddam Hussein's hideout, or "spider hole," at the time of his capture by US troops. Snyder includes a self-redacted e-mail exchange with a woman from the Associated Press regarding the purchase of the photos, thereby self-reflexi vely foregrounding the use of the media apparatus to obtain his source materials: Process is at once embedded and dismantled as subject. The tendency toward self-reflexivity spills over into "Disobethence in Byelorussia: Self-Interrogation on 'Research-Based Art,'" an entertaining text published in e-flux journal no. 4, in which the artist claims that "artistic experimentation, whether presented as research or not, precludes an outcome - a conclusion or a statement." By this he means, I assume, that we should not expect that an effect will result from a given artistic endeavor, and, by extension, that his dismantling and reframing of the representational systems of mass media acknowledges that the artist and artmaking can never be exempt from the nebula of globalized media. An ethics of uncertainty mobilizes Snyder's antiaesthetic, and his metapositionality - at once analytical and complicit - deploys a documentary language for postdocumentary ends.

- Joshua Decter

[Sidebar]

'Dallas' was one of the few American Television series broadcast during the communist regime

Dear Abby: ; Bride attracted to new man just weeks after wedding

DEAR ABBY: I have been married for four weeks. Two weeks after mywedding I met a man who excites me and makes my heart race. Myhusband, "Mitch," and I dated for eight years prior to gettingmarried. We're both 25.

I have only slept with one other man than Mitch in my entire life- someone I cheated on him with for a couple of weeks. Mitch and Ihad dated for two years at that point, and I was only 19. Mitchnever found out.

I have spent two nights with this new man. I think about himconstantly - at work and at night when Mitch is asleep. I can't gethim off my mind, and he feels the same about me. But he tells methat he feels guilty, that what we're doing is wrong and I shouldforget about him.

My relationship with Mitch is boring. We spend a lot of time athome and don't go out much. Mitch goes to bed early, and I'm temptedto leave and go see this other man. What do I do?

Married, but. . .

DEAR MARRIED, BUT ...: I suspect you already know what you needto do. First, level with your husband. Then see if you can have themarriage annulled because, although it has lasted only a month, itis already over.

DEAR ABBY: I have begun dating a man I'll call "Tom." Things seemto be going well. Tom has met my son - they get along beautifully -and we're starting to meet each other's families.

For my son's sake, I have stayed in fairly close contact with myex's parents. They have asked on more than one occasion when theycan meet my new boyfriend, but I haven't given them a straightanswer because, honestly, I don't want them to meet Tom. Since Istarted dating again, I have been trying hard to put my past behindme, and that includes my ex and his family. To do otherwise would bebad for me. What should I do?

Moving on

Duluth

DEAR MOVING ON: If you and Tom become more serious, at some pointhe is going to meet your son's grandparents.

If there is something that you are ashamed of, I think you shouldhave a frank talk with Tom and lay your cards on the table before hefinds out from someone else. Unless there's a court order preventingyour ex from seeing his son, I doubt that you will be able to keepthese two parts of your life completely separate.

DEAR ABBY: My divorce became final two months ago and severalpeople have congratulated me. Abby, the last thing I ever wanted wasto be another divorce statistic, but my ex- husband committed aheinous crime for which he will pay for the rest of his life. WhileI know I'm better off without him, what I would have preferred wasfor the circumstances not to have happened in the first place!

I am trying to get my life back on track, but it isn't easy. Andit doesn't help when some insensitive person offers"congratulations." They don't seem to understand that the subject ispainful. I have said, "Please don't say that," but what else can Isay? Please advise your readers to offer condolences instead.

Unhappily divorced

The East Coast

DEAR DIVORCED: I'm passing your message along. However, whensomeone makes an inappropriate comment, instead of saying, "Pleasedon't say that," try this: "Please don't bring that subject upagain. All it does is make me sad."

Spider-Man hire is Net topic

Now that Tobey Maguire is set to become Spider-Man in a big-screen version of the comic book, he faces the stickiest of all webs:the World Wide Web.

Maguire's casting as Spidey and his meek alter ego, Peter Parker,is one of the most anticipated since Hayden Christensen was namedAnakin Skywalker for the second "Star Wars" prequel, and comic bookand action movie fans have been hitting the Internet with theiropinions.

"Most think he's a good actor," says Patrick Sauriol, editor ofthe movie buzz site Coming Attractions (corona.bc.ca/films). "Still,they are cautiously optimistic. Once they see him in the costume,people will have a better sense."

Maguire ("The Cider House Rules") isn't a teen heartthrob, andfans are happy about that, says Harry Knowles, creator of Ain't ItCool News (aint-it-cool-news.com). "Many were convinced somebody likeFreddie Prinze Jr. would get the role," he says. "Maguire has thatgeeky feel that is Peter Parker. He always seemed like a guy whowould get sand kicked in his face."

Of course, not everybody is thrilled with the decision, Sauriolsays. "The people who don't like it are those who are genre fanswho'd rather have somebody like Bruce Campbell (`Evil Dead'), eventhough he's too old for the role," Sauriol says. "Some fans havealready had Spider-Man in their minds for years."

At the Spider-Man Hype! site (www.spidermanhype.com), fans likeMaguire, but a number of other actors also had supporters.

"From recent polls, Tobey was the favorite," says Spider-Man Hype!creator Mirko Parlevliet. "But our readers had a variety of othergreat ideas. Wes Bentley (`American Beauty') certainly was a favoriteamong many."

The Sony film, which is being directed by Sam Raimi ("A SimplePlan"), is scheduled to begin shooting in November for a tentativerelease in November 2001. It isn't at the top of fans' want-to-seelist yet, says Greg Dean Schmitz of Upcomingmovies.com.

"Fans are excited about the film, but they're not fervent," hesays. "The latest statistics of the most-visited previews on my sitehas `Spider-Man' No. 4 for 2001, which isn't bad. But it is stillbehind `Jurassic Park 3,' which is No. 1, `Harry Potter' and `FinalFantasy.' That may change now."

Valerie Plame to Testify Before Congress

WASHINGTON - Valerie Plame, the CIA operative exposed after her husband criticized President Bush's march to war, will testify next week before lawmakers probing how the White House dealt with her identity, the chairman of the panel said Thursday.

Also invited to testify March 16 before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee is Patrick Fitzgerald, who this week won conviction of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby of obstruction and perjury in the case, said Chairman Henry Waxman, D-Calif.

Waxman said Plame has accepted the invitation and Fitzgerald has not responded. In a letter to the prosecutor, Waxman proposed a meeting with ranking Republican Tom Davis of Virginia to discuss the terms of any testimony.

The hearing will be the first public forum at which Plame has agreed to answer questions. At a news conference in July announcing a lawsuit against Libby and other Bush administration officials, Plame read a short statement but did not respond to questions.

"The trial proceedings raise questions about whether senior White House officials, including the vice president and Senior Adviser to the President Karl Rove, complied with the requirements governing the handling of classified information," Waxman wrote in his invitation to Fitzgerald.

"They also raise questions about whether the White House took appropriate remedial action following the leak and whether the existing requirements are sufficient to protect against future leaks," Waxman added. "Your perspective on these matters is important."

Fitzgerald has made clear that, unlike earlier independent counsels appointed under a law now expired, he is not required to submit investigative reports to Congress.

"I think we should conduct this like any other criminal investigation: charge someone or be quiet," Fitzgerald said when he announced Libby's indictment.

His spokesman, Randall Samborn, said he didn't know whether that policy would affect Fitzgerald's response to Congress.

"We've only just received it and we're going to review it," he said. "No decision has been made."

Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff, is the highest-ranking White House official convicted in a government scandal since the Iran-Contra affair two decades ago.

Libby's attorneys, who are expected to ask for a new trial, told jurors that Libby was made a scapegoat while Rove, former White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer and former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage were the actual leakers. Attorney Theodore Wells said Thursday he didn't expect hearings to bring out any new information.

"I think, for anyone who followed the case, the facts are out there," Wells said. "I don't know of any other leaks. You've got Fleischer with multiple, Rove with two, Armitage with two. I'm assuming that's it and I still believe Libby didn't leak."

Plame's name was leaked to reporters in mid-2003 after her husband, former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, began criticizing the Bush administration's handling of prewar intelligence on Iraq.

Nobody was charged with breaking a law by discussing Plame and Libby is the only person charged with a crime in the case.

Plame's name arose often during Libby's trial, but she did not testify. Waxman said the trial raised questions that Plame and others could perhaps answer.

"The Committee will receive testimony from Ms. Wilson and other experts regarding the disclosure and internal White House security procedures for protecting her identity from disclosure and responding to the leak after it occurred," according to Waxman's statement.

Though the criminal case is over, Wilson and Plame have a civil lawsuit pending against Libby, Cheney, former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage and others.

---

Associated Press writer Matt Apuzzo contributed to this report.

Gingrich bidding for upset over Romney in SC

Newt Gingrich stormed toward an upset over Mitt Romney Saturday night in the South Carolina primary.

That's according to exit polls, which showed the former House speaker ahead of the former Massachusetts governor overall. Gingrich was leading by a wide margin among the state's conservatives, tea party supporters and born-again Christians.

Romney held a small advantage among moderate and liberal voters.

Army installations-sustainable foundations for combat power

The United States is committed to fighting and winning the war on terrorism. This year, our Army showed the world unequalled combat power; however, it could not have demonstrated this power without the firm foundation provided by our Army installations and surrounding communities. Our installations are our homes in peace but are also critical training and sustainment bases and deployment platforms in war.

This past year taxed our facilities and tested our people as they supported our nation's global war on terrorism. The Army's tactical and operational successes required vision, ingenuity, adaptability, speed and boldness. Our installations emulated these traits as they supported the war effort and ensured that the Army became more deployable, agile and lethal. By enhancing logistical, operational and support facilities, the Army's power projection platforms and power support platforms were validated, resulting in the deployment of more than 170,000 soldiers and their associated equipment in two thirds the time it took to deploy for Operation Desert Storm.

Despite challenges presented by the global war on terrorism, the Army continues to focus on centralizing installation management. The work accomplished by the Transformation of Installation Management Task Force paved the way for the activation of the Installation Management Agency (IMA) on October 1. The activation ceremony officially marked the beginning of the Army's dynamic transformation to standardized installation management.

Transferring the management of installations from the Army's major commands to the IMA presented, and will continue to present, significant challenges; however, we are already seeing positive results. These results are due to the work of installation management professionals drawn from across the Army to man the IMA. By reducing process deviation between our installations, the Army will improve mission readiness and installation services, preserve the environment, and enhance the well-being of soldiers, family members arid civilians.

In an effort to provide predictability, the Army initiated two major installation standardization initiatives-Army installation design standards and Army baseline services standards. The Army's installation design standards bring installation construction, renovation, repair and maintenance requirements into a framework that yields the desired end state across all Army installations. Apart from planning and budgeting benefits, installation, design standards will complement the operational, safety and aesthetic aspects of our installations.

In addition to design standards, the Army established performance standards for base support services by initiating the Army baseline service standards program. This program establishes standards for the 95 services delivered by our installations. This standard will be the foundation from which resource requirements will be based.

Although standardization will streamline operations, the Army remains committed to providing base support by the most cost-effective manner. To achieve the most costeffective processes, the Army is focused on adopting best practices from industry, city management and other services for facility and infrastructure efficiency programs. These include base realignment and closure, joint use installations, footprint reduction, competitive sourcing, enhanced use leasing and public-private ventures, allowing for more efficient use of critical base operations and sustainment restoration modernization dollars. The residential communities initiative is an excellent example of how the Army is partnering with the private sector to get commercial expertise and working capital in support of the housing management business.

Another innovative practice example is the Army's use of environmental guaranteed fixed price remediation contracts. Under this innovative, performance-based contracting strategy, the Army has seen cost savings of at least 14 percent and cleanup time lines approaching half the duration of traditional costplus contracting methods.

The Army looks to the future for its installations with the installation management strategy. It provides the framework for achieving the future force this decade. We have aggressively managed our strategy for the six Stryker brigade combat teams by enhancing power projection facilities, compressing construction programming schedules, emphasizing design standardization, developing installation facility templates and visiting sites. Our plan has made the fielding of the first unit possible this year, with another next year. We are well along in establishing installation facilities in Alaska and at Fort Polk, La., and planning and programming are under way for Hawaii and the Pennsylvania National Guard.

The installation management strategy focuses on expanding the installation's support to the combatant commanders at every point along the spectrum of military operations. Future installations will provide vital information hubs, expand power projection capabilities, prepare sustainment bases and provide for the well-being of the force.

The crucial role installations play in supporting morale, welfare and recreation is never more evident than when our nation is at war and they provide critical support to families. During Operation Iraqi Freedom, a family assistance hotline was expanded to provide families accurate information, useful resources and helpful referrals related to family issues. When soldiers began deploying to Southwest Asia for Operation Enduring Freedom, morale, welfare and recreation specialists were close behind, organizing recreational, sports and fitness activities. As deployed soldiers return home, Operation Ready provided information on coping with stress and making reunions work. Whether assisting families before military operations, assisting deployed soldiers and their family members back home during operations, or helping soldiers and family members reunite, installation morale, welfare and support programs and services are an integral part of any successful military operation.

The accomplishments of the soldiers and Army civilians at our installations proved to be exceptional this year, transcending the accomplishments of centralization, standardization, innovation, transformation and family support as previously mentioned. Installations will continue to provide the Army's foundation for waging the global war on terrorism and the basis for transforming the Army facilities into dynamic, responsive, sustainable installations.

[Author Affiliation]

By Maj. Gen. Larry J. Lust

Assistant Chief of Staff for Installation Management

[Author Affiliation]

MAJ. GEN. LARRY J. LUST assumed duties as the assistant chief of staff for Installation Management in June 2002 after serving as deputy chief of staff, G-4 since July 2000. Upon completion of Infantry Officer Candidate School in 1970, he was commissioned a second lieutenant in Armor. His initial tour of duty was as training officer, 19th Battalion, 5th Training Brigade, Fort Knox, Ky. He was then assigned to Vietnam where he served as rifle platoon leader, 1-327th Infantry Battalion, 101st Airborne Division; assistant S-2, 196th Light Infantry Brigade; assistant S-3, 3-21st Infantry Battalion (Task Force Gimlet); and tank company advisor, 22nd Tank Regiment, Army of Vietnam. He has held a variety of command and staff positions, including S-3 air, S-4, and commander, Company A, 3-63rd Armor Battalion, 3rd Infantry Division (Mechanized), Augsburg, Germany; commander, Combat Support Squadron, 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment; commander, Division Support Command, 3rd Infantry Division (Mechanized), U.S. Army Europe; deputy commanding general (Support), Joint Task force-Somalia; commanding general U.N. Logistics Support Command; deputy commanding general, U.S. Forces-Somalia; commanding general, 3rd Corps Support Command; deputy chief of staff for logistics, U.S. Army Europe and Seventh Army; and director of logistics and security assistance, Headquarters, U.S. European Command, Stuttgart-Vaihingen, Germany; chief, Tank Automotive and Armament Division, Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Logistics, Department of the Army, Washington, D.C. His military education includes Armor officer basic and advance courses, U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, and the Industrial College of the Armed Forces. He holds a master's degree In logistics management from Florida Institute of Technology.

Get ready to row

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Britain's Kate Middleton has famous US relatives

BOSTON (AP) — Britain's possible future queen Kate Middleton has family ties to America's most famous Founding Father and the author of its national anthem, according to a book released Wednesday.

The New England Historic Genealogical Society in Boston released a book on Kate Middleton's ancestry that shows she's an eighth cousin seven times removed of George Washington. She's also a cousin of Francis Scott Key, who wrote "The Star-Spangled Banner."

Among other notable relations detailed in "The Ancestry of Catherine Middleton": Explorer Meriwether Lewis, World War II Gen. George Patton and comedienne Ellen DeGeneres all are distant cousins. For example, she's DeGeneres' 14th cousin twice removed.

Middleton also is a 14th cousin once removed of her fiance, Prince William.

The genealogical society's marketing director, Tom Champoux, said a lot of Middleton's connections to famous Americans can be traced through seven families that immigrated to the Virginia area during the middle to late 1600s. There are likely "tens of thousands of everyday Americans" who are distant cousins of Middleton, he said.

He added that Middleton's connections to DeGeneres and Washington are traced back to the United Kingdom, to the family line of Sir Thomas Fairfax, who died in 1521, and his wife, Agnes Gascoigne.

The famous names aside, the book shows Middleton's ancestry is largely working class, unlike her fiance's. It shows her relations include merchants, messengers, solicitors, cabinet makers, butchers, bakers, coal miners and a laundress.

That makes Middleton easier to relate to, Champoux said.

"I see people understanding that there's a similar background to their own family now, and that's very impressive to them, to think that the future queen potentially has a similar family story to their own family story," Champoux said. "It's connecting in some way."

Regulation of force development studied by photolysis of caged ADP in rabbit skinned psoas fibers

ABSTRACT The present study examined the effects of Ca2+ and strongly bound cross-bridges on tension development induced by changes in the concentration of MgADP. Addition of MgADP to the bath increased isometric tension over a wide range of [Ca2+] in skinned fibers from rabbit psoas muscle. Tension-pCa (pCa is -log [Caz+]) relationships and stiffness measurements indicated that MgADP increased mean force per cross-bridge at maximal Ca2+ and increased recruitment of cross-bridges at submaximal Ca2+. Photolysis of caged ADP to cause a 0.5 mM MgADP jump initiated an increase in isometric tension under all conditions examined, even at pCa 6.4 where there was no active tension before ADP release. Tension increased monophasically with an observed rate constant, kApp, which was similar in rate and Ca2+ sensitivity to the rate constant of tension re-development, ktr, measured in the same fibers by a release-re-stretch protocol. The amplitude of the caged ADP tension transient had a bell-shaped dependence on Ca2+, reaching a maximum at intermediate Ca2+ (pCa 6). The role of strong binding cross-bridges in the ADP response was tested by treatment of fibers with a strong binding derivative of myosin subfragment 1 (NEM-Sl). In the presence of NEM-S1, the rate and amplitude of the caged ADP response were no longer sensitive to variations in the level of activator Ca2+. The results are consistent with a model in which ADP-bound cross-bridges cooperatively activate the thin filament regulatory system at submaximal Ce+. This cooperative interaction influences both the magnitude and kinetics of force generation in skeletal muscle.

INTRODUCTION

Regulation of muscle contraction is a relatively complex process that is initiated by binding of Ca2+ to specific low-affinity sites on the thin filament protein troponin (Gordon et al., 2000). A long-standing hypothesis is that Ca2+ relieves steric inhibition of myosin binding to actin, presumably by inducing a change in position of tropomyosin within the thin filament (Haselgrove, 1973; Huxley, 1973; Parry and Squire, 1973). This hypothesis was supported by the observation that in the presence of ATP(-gammaS) fibers exhibit Ca 21 -regulated stiffness but do not develop tension (Dantzig et al., 1988). Also, the extent of binding of myosin subfragment 1 (SI) to myofibrils has been shown to increase in the presence of Ca2+ (Swartz et al., 1990, 1996).

An alternative model of regulation proposes that Ca2+ regulates a kinetic transition in the cross-bridge cycle, e.g., the Pi release step (Chalovich et al., 1981; Chalovich and Eisenberg, 1982; Rosenfeld and Taylor, 1987). This model was proposed on the basis of observations that Ca2+ regulates acto-myosin ATPase activity but does not significantly influence the binding of myosin SI to actin (Chalovich et al., 1981; Chalovich and Eisenberg, 1982; Rosenfeld and Taylor, 1987). As evidence for regulation of kinetic transitions in muscle fibers, the rate of tension redevelopment (k^sub ^tr) following a period of unloaded shortening increased up to 10-fold over the physiological range of Ca2+ (Brenner, 1988; Metzger et al., 1989). Rates of tension development following photolysis of caged Ca2+ (k^sub ^ca) were similarly accelerated as Ca2+ concentration was increased (Ashley et al., 1991; Araujo and Walker, 1994, 1996).

This work was supported by National Institutes of Health grants HL44114 to J.W.W. and HL25861 to R.L.M.

[Reference]

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Araujo, A., and J. W. Walker. 1996. Phosphate release and force generation in cardiac myocytes investigated by photolysis of caged phosphate and caged calcium. Biophys. J. 70:2316-2326.

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Brandt, P. W., D. Roemer, and F. H. Schachat. 1990. Co-operative activation of skeletal muscle thin filaments by rigor cross-bridges. J. MoL BioL 212:437-480.

Bremel, B., and A. Weber. 1972. Cooperation within actin filaments in vertebrate skeletal muscle. Nat. New BioL 238:97-101.

Brenner, E. 1988. Effect of Ca2+ on cross-bridge turnover kinetics in skinned single rabbit psoas fibers: implication for regulation muscle contraction. Proc. NatL Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 85:3265-3269.

Campbell, K. 1997. Rate constant of muscle force redevelopment reflects cooperative activation as well as cross-bridge kinetics. Biophys. J. 72: 254-262.

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Chalovich, J. M., and E. Eisenberg. 1982. Inhibition of actomyosin ATPase activity by troponin without blocking binding of myosin to actin. J. Biol. Chem. 257:2432-2437.

Dantzig, J. A., M. G. Hibberd, D. R. Trentham, and Y. E. Goldman. 1991. Cross-bridge kinetics in the presence of MgADP investigated by photolysis of caged ATP in rabbit psoas muscle fibers. J. Physiol. 432: 639-680.

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Fabiato, A. 1988. Computer programs for calculating total from specified free or free from specified total ionic concentration in aqueous solutions containing multiple metals and ligands. Methods Enzymol. 157: 378-417.

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Glantz, S. A., and B. K. Slinker. 1990. Primer of Applied Regression and Analysis of Variance. McGraw Hill, New York.

Gordon, A. E., E. Homsher, and M. Regnier. 2000. Regulation of contraction in striated muscle. Physiol. Rev. 80:853-924.

Greene, L. E., and E. Eisenberg. 1980. Cooperative binding of myosin subfragment-1 to the actin-troponin-tropomyosin complex. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 77:2616-2620.

Haselgrove, J. C. 1973. X-ray evidence for a conformational change in the actin-containing filaments of vertebrate striated muscle. Cold Spring Harbor Symp. Quant. Biol. 37:341-352.

Higuchi, H., T. Yanagida, and Y. E. Goldman. 1995. Compliance of thin filaments in skinned fibers of rabbit psoas muscle. Biophys. J. 69: 1000-1010.

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Huxley, H. E. 1973. Structural changes in actin- and myosin-containing filaments during contraction. Cold Spring Harbor Symp. Quant. Biol. 37:361-376.

Lu, Z., R. L. Moss, and J. W. Walker. 1993. Tension transients initiated by photogeneration of MgADP in skinned skeletal muscle fibers. J. Gen. PhysioL 101:867-888.

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Metzger, J. M., M. L. Greaser, and R. L. Moss. 1989. Variation in cross-bridge attachment rate and tension with phosphorylation of myosin in mammalian skinned skeletal muscle fibers. J. Gen. Physiol. 93: 855-883.

Millar, N. C., and E. Homsher. 1990. The effect of phosphate and calcium on force generation in glycerinated rabbit skeletal muscle fibers. J. Biol. Chem. 265:20234-20240.

Moss, R. L. 1999. Plasticity in the dynamics of myocardial contraction: calcium, crossbridge kinetics or molecular cooperation. Circ. Res. 84: 862-865.

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Moss, R. L., A. E. Swinford, and M. L. Greaser. 1983. Alterations of the Ca2+ sensitivity of tension development by single muscle at stretched lengths. Biophys. J. 43:115-119.

Nagashima, H., and S. Asakura. 1982. Studies on co-operative properties of tropomyosin-actin and tropomyosin-troponin-actin complex by the use of N-ethylmaleimide treated and untreated species of myosin subfragment 1. J. Mol. Biol. 155:409-428.

Parry, D. A. D., and J. M. Squire. 1973. Structural role of tropomyosin in muscle regulation: analysis of the x-ray diffraction patterns from relaxed and contracting muscle. J. Mol. Biol. 75:33-55.

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Seow, C. Y., and L. E. Ford. 1997. Exchange of ATP for ADP on high force cross-bridges of skinned rabbit muscle fibers. Biophys. J. 72: 2719-2735.

Swartz, D. R., M. L. Greaser, and R. L. Moss. 1990. Regulation of binding of subfragment I in isolated rigor myofibrils. J. Cell Biol. 111: 2989-3001.

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Swartz, D. R., R. L. Moss, and M. L. Greaser. 1996. Calcium alone does not fully activate the thin filament for SI binding to rigor myofibrils. Biophys. J. 71:1891-1904.

Tesi, C., F. Colomo, S. Nencini, N. Piroddi, and C. Poggesi. 2000. The effect of inorganic phosphate on force generation in single myofibrils from rabbit skeletal muscle. Biophys. J. 78:3081-3092.

Thirlwell, H., J. E. T. Corrie, G. P. Reid, D. R. Trentham, and M. A. Ferenczi. 1994. Kinetics of relaxation from rigor of permeabilized fast-twitch skeletal fibers from the rabbit using a novel caged ATP and apyrase. Biophys. J. 67:2346-2447.

Walker, J. W., Z. Lu, and R. L. Moss. 1992. Effects of Ca 21 on the kinetics of phosphate release in skeletal muscle. J. BioL Chem. 267:2459-2466.

Walker, J. W., G. P. Reid, J. A. McCray, and D. R. Trentham. 1988. Photolabile 1-(2-nitrophenyl)ethyl phosphate esters of adenine nucleotide analogues. Synthesis and mechanism of photolysis. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 110:7170-7177.

White, D. C. S. 1970. Rigor contraction and the effect of various phosphate compounds on glycerinated insect flight and vertebrate muscle. J. Physiol. 208:583-605.

Williams, D. L., L. E. Greene, and E. Eisenberg. 1988. Cooperative turning on myosin subfragment I adenosine triphosphatase activity by the troponin-tropomyosin-actin complex. Biochemisry. 27:6987-6993.

[Author Affiliation]

Zhe Lu, Darl R. Swartz, Joseph M. Metzger, Richard L. Moss, and Jeffery W. Walker

Department of Physiology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin 53706 USA

[Author Affiliation]

Address reprint requests to Dr. Jeffery W. Walker, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine, Department of Physiology, 1300 University Avenue, Madison, WI 53706. Tel.: 608-262-6941; Fax: 608-265-5512; E-mail: jwalker@physiology.wisc.edu.

Aide: Iraqi PM's Comments Misconstrued

BAGHDAD - Iraq's prime minister was misunderstood when he said the Americans could leave "any time they want" an aide said Sunday, as politicians moved to end a pair of boycotts that are holding up work on crucial political reforms sought by Washington.

In Baghdad, a car bomb hit a central square in a Shiite neighborhood, killing 10 people and wounding 25. Police said 22 bullet-riddled bodies were found across the capital Sunday, apparent victims of sectarian death squads.

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki told reporters Saturday that the Iraqi army and police were capable of maintaining security when American troops leave.

"We say in full confidence that we are able, God willing, to take the responsibility completely in running the security file if the international forces withdraw at any time they want," al-Maliki said.

Those comments appeared to undercut President Bush's contention that the 155,000 U.S. troops must remain in Iraq because the Iraqis are not capable of providing for their own security.

On Sunday, al-Maliki's adviser Yassin Majid told The Associated Press that the prime minister meant that efforts to bolster Iraq's security forces would continue "side-by-side with the withdrawal."

Majid urged the United States to continue building up Iraqi forces so they would be ready whenever the White House orders a troop withdrawal.

Al-Maliki's remarks appeared to reflect Iraqi frustration with American complaints that the country's religious and ethnic communities have failed to move fast enough to enact power-sharing deals - the key to long-term stability after more than four years of war.

Legislation has stalled in part because of separate boycotts by Sunni legislators and Shiite lawmakers loyal to anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. Negotiations have been under way to convince both blocs to return during Monday's scheduled parliamentary session.

Adnan al-Dulaimi, a Sunni leader, met Sunday with al-Maliki to discuss the Sunni boycott, which began last month following the ouster of the Sunni speaker of parliament, Mahmoud al-Mashhadani.

The Shiite-dominated parliament voted June 11 to remove al-Mashhadani because of erratic behavior and comments that frequently embarrassed al-Maliki's government.

Sunnis also want the government to set aside an arrest warrant against the Sunni culture minister, accused of ordering an assassination attempt against a fellow Sunni legislator.

After the meeting, al-Dulaimi's spokesman, Muhannad al-Issawi, said that the boycott would continue and if the speaker were replaced, the decision should be made by the Sunnis and "not imposed" by Shiites and Kurds.

But al-Dulaimi was more optimistic about a settlement that would allow the Sunnis to return.

"Things are, God willing, on their way to be resolved," al-Dulaimi told The Associated Press. "The pending issue of al-Mashhadani and that of the minister of culture will be solved by the end of the week, and things will go back to their normal course."

Hassan al-Suneid, a Shiite lawmaker close to al-Maliki, also said a deal was near under which al-Mashhadani could return to his post briefly, then permitted to retire.

Meanwhile, a member of the Sadr bloc said his faction would meet Monday with parliament leaders to discuss their own boycott, launched to protest delays in rebuilding a Shiite shrine in Samarra that was damaged by a bomb in February 2006.

"We will end our boycott when our conditions are accepted," lawmaker Naser al-Saidi told the U.S.-funded Alhurra television.

Those conditions include a plan to rebuild the shrine and secure the road from Baghdad to Samarra, which passes through Sunni insurgent areas.

The absence of the two major blocs has delayed work on such key benchmark legislation as the oil bill, constitutional reform, scheduling local elections and restoring many former Saddam Hussein loyalists to government jobs.

Those are among the 18 benchmarks which Washington uses to measure progress toward national reconciliation. A White House report last week found that Iraqis had made only limited progress, fueling calls for a U.S. troop withdrawal.

The car bomb attack came in Hussein Square, a popular site of takeout restaurants in the central Baghdad district of Karradah. The afternoon blast ripped through nearby stalls and shops, killing 10 and wounding 25, according to officials at the two hospitals where the victims were taken. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the press.

"It was a big explosion and a fire followed," said one witness, the owner of a nearby mobile phone shop who would identify himself only by his first name, Haidar. "I rushed with others at site to see two burned corpses inside a car and wounded people."

In northern Iraq, gunmen ambushed a convoy of border guards, killing six of them along with a civilian, a border guard commander said. When reinforcements pulled in, another guard died in the clash, which took place in the Kani Khal area, 160 miles northeast of Baghdad. The commander said the Sunni extremist group Ansar al-Islam was believed to be behind the attack.

Elsewhere, shootings in the northern cities of Mosul and Kirkuk and several areas south of Baghdad killed eight people, according to police officers in the areas. Among there were the wife and son of a city council chief, slain outside their home. The police officials and guard commander also spoke on condition of anonymity.

Nevertheless, Rear Adm. Mark Fox told reporters that the sweeps in Baghdad, to the south and in the city of Baqouba to the northeast had stemmed bloodshed in the capital.

The offensives are "making a difference on the ground. We have seen a significant drop in the number of civilians murdered in Baghdad, the overall levels of sectarian violence has decreased," he said, without providing figures.

Recent weeks appear to have brought a decrease in dramatic car bomb attacks, though bombings still occur nearly daily. But according to figures gathered by The Associated Press, the daily rate of bodies found dumped in Baghdad - victims of sectarian slayings - has risen slightly so far this month from June.

In the first 14 days of July, 301 bodies were found in Baghdad, or an average of nearly 22 a day, compared to 19 a day in June, when 563 bodies were found, according to AP figures, gathered from daily reports by Iraqi police.

Ex-spymaster to testify against Fujimori

Six months into the murder trial of Alberto Fujimori, prosecutors have produced little hard evidence that the former Peruvian president approved of a death squad to eliminate rebel collaborators. But they're about to put a blockbuster witness on the stand in a trial that is riveting the nation.

Vladimiro Montesinos, the de-facto head of Peru's intelligence service during Fujimori's decade in power, allegedly organized the Colina group, a squad of army killers who slaughtered 25 civilians during Peru's war against leftist rebels. He finally faces his former boss in court on Monday.

Montesinos, 63, was the shadow behind Fujimori as the two men crushed the rebels and cemented the autocratic leader's popularity. He was accountable to none but the president, whom he preferred to meet in pre-dawn darkness. Secrets were his stock in trade. He paid off his opponents, or used information from his spy network to bend them to his will.

And by 2000, when Fujimori's government collapsed in a corruption scandal involving Montesinos, many believe the spymaster's power had grown to exceed even the president's.

"Montesinos controlled the armed forces, the judicial system, the attorney general's office. He had immense power," said Fernando Rospigliosi, a political scientist who reorganized Peru's intelligence agency in a post-Fujimori government.

He has also been linked to some of the Fujimori government's darkest days. A former death squad member testified he saw his leader meeting with Montesinos in 1991 a day after the squad, looking for a subversives' gathering, showered the wrong barbecue party with bullets, killing 15 people including an 8-year-old boy.

Now prosecutors hope Montesinos will provide the testimony they need to convict his former boss.

Fujimori, 69, faces up to 30 years in prison and a fine of $33 million if found guilty. He has denied any knowledge of the squad's existence and says he never approved a dirty war against leftist rebels. Montesinos has denied being involved, blaming the army instead.

In other cases, Montesinos has said he was acting on Fujimori's orders, and once dared his former boss to return from self-imposed exile and face Peruvian justice, saying from jail that "a responsible and courageous leader should face up to what his subordinates have done, or what he permitted them to do."

Fujimori, for his part, says Montesinos betrayed his trust.

"If you have contact with Montesinos, you have the impression you are dealing with a sincere man with a kind face," Fujimori said some years ago from Japan, his ancestral homeland where he fled after his ouster. "But behind that kind face, we now know a diabolical person is hidden."

Montesinos has a powerful incentive to keep quiet. Already serving up to 20 years for crimes including corruption and running guns to Colombian rebels, he faces a 35-year sentence in a separate trial if convicted of organizing the death squad.

Their courtroom encounter, to be broadcast live on Peruvian television, is sure to be dramatic. It will be their first meeting since Fujimori fired Montesinos in September 2000 when a videotape surfaced showing the spymaster bribing a congressman for political support.

The government soon collapsed and both men fled Peru, each apparently suspecting the other wanted him dead. Fujimori wore a bulletproof vest during his final weeks in power, and Montesinos appealed unsuccessfully for asylum in Panama, saying he feared for his life.

Now the ex-president's lawyer says he is ready to confront his former aide.

"Fujimori does not fear Vladimiro Montesinos," Cesar Nakazaki said. "Whoever has truth on his side has nothing to fear."

Fujimori testified he felt defrauded when he heard the allegations that Montesinos was involved in money laundering, drug-smuggling and influence peddling. But he heaped praise on his spy chief for helping to defeat the leftist Shining Path and Tupac Amaru rebels. Nearly 70,000 people were killed by rebels or the government in the political violence.

"He was an extremely able man in intelligence. I can't deny that. Independently of his crimes, he contributed to dismantling" the insurgencies, Fujimori said early in his trial.

He now denies Montesinos was his friend and says he was just one among many advisers. But in a carefully staged appearance on a TV news show in 1999, just as Fujimori prepared to run for a constitutionally questionable third term, the two men appeared together in identical suits and ties.

In another videotaped meeting, the two seemed so in tune that they repeatedly finished each other's sentences.

The "symbiosis," as Montesinos once called it, began in 1990, when Fujimori's presidential campaign was threatened by a tax investigation.

Montesinos, at the time a lawyer defending drug traffickers, was brought in to torpedo the probe using contacts in the justice system. He did the job in just three days, delighting the candidate, said Francisco Loayza, a former intelligence analyst and campaign adviser who introduced the men.

Loayza said Montesinos "crept in like gas under the door" and became a key operative overnight. By 1998, Loayza wrote in his book, "The Dark Face of Power," "the true power in Peru is Vladimiro Montesinos, an absolutely unscrupulous man."

Fujimori, a university dean before he ran for president, was a workaholic loner, and Montesinos controlled him by playing on his distrustful nature, said Carlos Orellana, Fujimori's speechwriter and closest aide.

"He fabricated enemies and then assured the president that he shouldn't worry, that he would take care of it," Orellana said.

But Dennis Jett, the U.S. ambassador to Peru from 1996-99, says Fujimori "was in charge at all times."

"I think he created Montesinos," Jett said. "He kept Montesinos there as long as he was useful, and he gave him a lot of discretion to do things.

"I think when the video was shown and he attempted to fire him, he discovered the monster he had created."

___

Monte Hayes, AP bureau chief in Lima, covered Fujimori's 10 years' in power, his exile in 2000, his extradition in 2007 and now his trial.

HOMICIDE COURTS-MARTIAL OF MARINE FLIERS SOUGHT.(News)

A military judge has recommended the pilot and navigator of a low-flying Marine jet that cut a gondola cable in the Italian Alps - killing 20 people - be court-martialed for negligent homicide, a senior military official said yesterday.

The military official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told The Associated Press the two other aviators in the EA-6B Prowler were not recommended for courts-martial.

The recommendations by military judge Lt. Col. Ronald Rodgers, first reported by NBC, will be sent to Lt. Gen. Peter Pace, commanding general of Marine Atlantic forces in Norfolk, Va., who will decide whether to order courts-martial or not.

``He doesn't have to take it, but he probably will,'' the source said of the recommendations.

Marine Corps spokesmen at Camp Lejeune and the Pentagon said Rodgers' recommendations will be released to attorneys today.

Last month, Rodgers held a hearing for the pilot, Capt. Richard Ashby, 30, of Mission Viejo, Calif., and the navigator, Capt. Joseph Schweitzer, 30, of Westbury, N.Y., to determine whether they should face trial.

In May, the judge held hearings for the jet's backseat crew - Capt. William Raney, 26, of Englewood, Colo., and Capt. Chandler Seagraves, 28, of Nineveh, Ind.

Ashby told the AP yesterday he hadn't been formally informed of the recommendation, but had heard from other sources he faces a court-martial.

``It just amazes me, the recommendation,'' Ashby said in a telephone interview. ``I'm pretty down, actually.''

The Feb. 3 tragedy happened when the jet clipped the gondola cable, which was 370 feet above the ground, while the Marines were on a practice run out of the Aviano air base. The four were on temporary assignment from Cherry Point Marine Air Station in North Carolina.

Each Marine is charged with 20 counts of involuntary manslaughter, 20 counts of negligent homicide, as well as charges of destruction of private property and military property and dereliction of duty. If tried and convicted of the charges, each faces life in prison.

The four fliers have denied flying recklessly, the major point of the government case against them.

The incident soured Italian-American relations, sparking protests at Aviano, calls to close U.S. bases throughout Italy and charges that American fliers routinely ``hot-dog'' in Italian airspace.

HOMICIDE COURTS-MARTIAL OF MARINE FLIERS SOUGHT.(News)

A military judge has recommended the pilot and navigator of a low-flying Marine jet that cut a gondola cable in the Italian Alps - killing 20 people - be court-martialed for negligent homicide, a senior military official said yesterday.

The military official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told The Associated Press the two other aviators in the EA-6B Prowler were not recommended for courts-martial.

The recommendations by military judge Lt. Col. Ronald Rodgers, first reported by NBC, will be sent to Lt. Gen. Peter Pace, commanding general of Marine Atlantic forces in Norfolk, Va., who will decide whether to order courts-martial or not.

``He doesn't have to take it, but he probably will,'' the source said of the recommendations.

Marine Corps spokesmen at Camp Lejeune and the Pentagon said Rodgers' recommendations will be released to attorneys today.

Last month, Rodgers held a hearing for the pilot, Capt. Richard Ashby, 30, of Mission Viejo, Calif., and the navigator, Capt. Joseph Schweitzer, 30, of Westbury, N.Y., to determine whether they should face trial.

In May, the judge held hearings for the jet's backseat crew - Capt. William Raney, 26, of Englewood, Colo., and Capt. Chandler Seagraves, 28, of Nineveh, Ind.

Ashby told the AP yesterday he hadn't been formally informed of the recommendation, but had heard from other sources he faces a court-martial.

``It just amazes me, the recommendation,'' Ashby said in a telephone interview. ``I'm pretty down, actually.''

The Feb. 3 tragedy happened when the jet clipped the gondola cable, which was 370 feet above the ground, while the Marines were on a practice run out of the Aviano air base. The four were on temporary assignment from Cherry Point Marine Air Station in North Carolina.

Each Marine is charged with 20 counts of involuntary manslaughter, 20 counts of negligent homicide, as well as charges of destruction of private property and military property and dereliction of duty. If tried and convicted of the charges, each faces life in prison.

The four fliers have denied flying recklessly, the major point of the government case against them.

The incident soured Italian-American relations, sparking protests at Aviano, calls to close U.S. bases throughout Italy and charges that American fliers routinely ``hot-dog'' in Italian airspace.

HOMICIDE COURTS-MARTIAL OF MARINE FLIERS SOUGHT.(News)

A military judge has recommended the pilot and navigator of a low-flying Marine jet that cut a gondola cable in the Italian Alps - killing 20 people - be court-martialed for negligent homicide, a senior military official said yesterday.

The military official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told The Associated Press the two other aviators in the EA-6B Prowler were not recommended for courts-martial.

The recommendations by military judge Lt. Col. Ronald Rodgers, first reported by NBC, will be sent to Lt. Gen. Peter Pace, commanding general of Marine Atlantic forces in Norfolk, Va., who will decide whether to order courts-martial or not.

``He doesn't have to take it, but he probably will,'' the source said of the recommendations.

Marine Corps spokesmen at Camp Lejeune and the Pentagon said Rodgers' recommendations will be released to attorneys today.

Last month, Rodgers held a hearing for the pilot, Capt. Richard Ashby, 30, of Mission Viejo, Calif., and the navigator, Capt. Joseph Schweitzer, 30, of Westbury, N.Y., to determine whether they should face trial.

In May, the judge held hearings for the jet's backseat crew - Capt. William Raney, 26, of Englewood, Colo., and Capt. Chandler Seagraves, 28, of Nineveh, Ind.

Ashby told the AP yesterday he hadn't been formally informed of the recommendation, but had heard from other sources he faces a court-martial.

``It just amazes me, the recommendation,'' Ashby said in a telephone interview. ``I'm pretty down, actually.''

The Feb. 3 tragedy happened when the jet clipped the gondola cable, which was 370 feet above the ground, while the Marines were on a practice run out of the Aviano air base. The four were on temporary assignment from Cherry Point Marine Air Station in North Carolina.

Each Marine is charged with 20 counts of involuntary manslaughter, 20 counts of negligent homicide, as well as charges of destruction of private property and military property and dereliction of duty. If tried and convicted of the charges, each faces life in prison.

The four fliers have denied flying recklessly, the major point of the government case against them.

The incident soured Italian-American relations, sparking protests at Aviano, calls to close U.S. bases throughout Italy and charges that American fliers routinely ``hot-dog'' in Italian airspace.

HOMICIDE COURTS-MARTIAL OF MARINE FLIERS SOUGHT.(News)

A military judge has recommended the pilot and navigator of a low-flying Marine jet that cut a gondola cable in the Italian Alps - killing 20 people - be court-martialed for negligent homicide, a senior military official said yesterday.

The military official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told The Associated Press the two other aviators in the EA-6B Prowler were not recommended for courts-martial.

The recommendations by military judge Lt. Col. Ronald Rodgers, first reported by NBC, will be sent to Lt. Gen. Peter Pace, commanding general of Marine Atlantic forces in Norfolk, Va., who will decide whether to order courts-martial or not.

``He doesn't have to take it, but he probably will,'' the source said of the recommendations.

Marine Corps spokesmen at Camp Lejeune and the Pentagon said Rodgers' recommendations will be released to attorneys today.

Last month, Rodgers held a hearing for the pilot, Capt. Richard Ashby, 30, of Mission Viejo, Calif., and the navigator, Capt. Joseph Schweitzer, 30, of Westbury, N.Y., to determine whether they should face trial.

In May, the judge held hearings for the jet's backseat crew - Capt. William Raney, 26, of Englewood, Colo., and Capt. Chandler Seagraves, 28, of Nineveh, Ind.

Ashby told the AP yesterday he hadn't been formally informed of the recommendation, but had heard from other sources he faces a court-martial.

``It just amazes me, the recommendation,'' Ashby said in a telephone interview. ``I'm pretty down, actually.''

The Feb. 3 tragedy happened when the jet clipped the gondola cable, which was 370 feet above the ground, while the Marines were on a practice run out of the Aviano air base. The four were on temporary assignment from Cherry Point Marine Air Station in North Carolina.

Each Marine is charged with 20 counts of involuntary manslaughter, 20 counts of negligent homicide, as well as charges of destruction of private property and military property and dereliction of duty. If tried and convicted of the charges, each faces life in prison.

The four fliers have denied flying recklessly, the major point of the government case against them.

The incident soured Italian-American relations, sparking protests at Aviano, calls to close U.S. bases throughout Italy and charges that American fliers routinely ``hot-dog'' in Italian airspace.

HOMICIDE COURTS-MARTIAL OF MARINE FLIERS SOUGHT.(News)

A military judge has recommended the pilot and navigator of a low-flying Marine jet that cut a gondola cable in the Italian Alps - killing 20 people - be court-martialed for negligent homicide, a senior military official said yesterday.

The military official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told The Associated Press the two other aviators in the EA-6B Prowler were not recommended for courts-martial.

The recommendations by military judge Lt. Col. Ronald Rodgers, first reported by NBC, will be sent to Lt. Gen. Peter Pace, commanding general of Marine Atlantic forces in Norfolk, Va., who will decide whether to order courts-martial or not.

``He doesn't have to take it, but he probably will,'' the source said of the recommendations.

Marine Corps spokesmen at Camp Lejeune and the Pentagon said Rodgers' recommendations will be released to attorneys today.

Last month, Rodgers held a hearing for the pilot, Capt. Richard Ashby, 30, of Mission Viejo, Calif., and the navigator, Capt. Joseph Schweitzer, 30, of Westbury, N.Y., to determine whether they should face trial.

In May, the judge held hearings for the jet's backseat crew - Capt. William Raney, 26, of Englewood, Colo., and Capt. Chandler Seagraves, 28, of Nineveh, Ind.

Ashby told the AP yesterday he hadn't been formally informed of the recommendation, but had heard from other sources he faces a court-martial.

``It just amazes me, the recommendation,'' Ashby said in a telephone interview. ``I'm pretty down, actually.''

The Feb. 3 tragedy happened when the jet clipped the gondola cable, which was 370 feet above the ground, while the Marines were on a practice run out of the Aviano air base. The four were on temporary assignment from Cherry Point Marine Air Station in North Carolina.

Each Marine is charged with 20 counts of involuntary manslaughter, 20 counts of negligent homicide, as well as charges of destruction of private property and military property and dereliction of duty. If tried and convicted of the charges, each faces life in prison.

The four fliers have denied flying recklessly, the major point of the government case against them.

The incident soured Italian-American relations, sparking protests at Aviano, calls to close U.S. bases throughout Italy and charges that American fliers routinely ``hot-dog'' in Italian airspace.