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(09/20/06 2:51am)
BEERWAH, Australia -- More than 5,000 people, including the Australian prime minister, are expected to cram the "Crocoseum" at the Australia Zoo Wednesday to say farewell to "Crocodile Hunter" Steve Irwin at a memorial service.\nFlags on the Sydney Harbor Bridge were to fly at half-staff, and giant television screens were set up in Irwin's home state of Queensland for people to watch the service.\nIrwin, 44, was killed Sept. 4 when the barb from a stingray pierced his chest while he was filming a TV show about the Great Barrier Reef. His family held a private funeral service Sept. 9.\nHis death set off an outpouring of grief. Tens of thousands of people traveled to the zoo near Brisbane to drop off flowers and other mementoes, many of them signing Irwin-styled khaki shirts instead of a condolence book.\nThere has been a surge of donations to the Irwin-instituted charity Wildlife Warriors, and millions of people have visited his Web site to find out more about Irwin and his conservation efforts.\nIrwin's widow, American-born Terri Irwin, is expected to make her first public appearance since his death at today's memorial service. The couple's daughter, Bindi, 8, and son Bob, 2, are expected to accompany their mother.\nPrime Minister John Howard also is expected to attend the service, and country singer John Williamson plans to sing "True Blue," a song Irwin loved.\nJohn Stainton, Irwin's manager and close friend, said the service will be a celebration of the naturalist's life.\n"There will be one seat alongside of the family for Steve because he loved the Crocoseum -- he built it," Stainton said. "And his Australia Zoo cap that he always wore watching all the shows with his daughter will be on the seat."\nStainton said there will be visual tributes to Irwin, with some "memorable film clips" and "funny moments" from his television career. Actor Russell Crowe reportedly will be among those paying tribute by video.\n"The one thing I hope everyone will take away from it is what a diverse character he was," Stainton said.\nThree of Australia's main television networks plan to carry the ceremony live and provide feeds to U.S. and international networks. The service is expected to start at 7 p.m. EDT.
(09/20/06 2:50am)
SAN FRANCISCO -- For a city boasting Rodins and Munchs in its public collection, the basement of Building 30 at San Francisco General Hospital is no place for art. Steam pipes lattice the ceiling, the dust on rusting file cabinets thickened by the years.\nSan Francisco owns more than 3,000 pieces of art, acquired mainly through commissions and gifts and valued at about $30 million. But decades of poor record-keeping and other factors have landed work by noted artists here at the hospital.\n"It's dirty. It's hot. It's moist. There's steam," said Carol Marie Daniels, a project manager for San Francisco's civic art collection who has spent more than a year sifting through the hospital basement and similar places for the city's lost and misplaced art.\n"These windows don't even have glass on them, so when it rains water can pool in here," she said. "There's rat droppings all over."\nThe city has hired art technician Brian Boeddeker to help Daniels inventory the collection and rescue treasures that have fallen into disrepair. Required physical inspections of art installations haven't been conducted for decades. Now a team of five is playing the dual role of art sleuths and data entry specialists.\nTheir task is considerable: Of the 3,301 pieces listed on the city's new art database, locations have been entered for just 793. Some items have not yet been archived from an outdated record-keeping system, while others are just now being rediscovered in dank corners of the city. Of the 793, 318 are listed as being in storage.\n"We had an old system of cataloging," said Richard Newirth, director of cultural affairs for the San Francisco Arts Commission. "We never really had the capacity to keep up with it on an ongoing basis to make sure we know exactly where every piece is. In fact, we've discovered that some pieces have disappeared."\nAmong the missing items are a painting by the late Jay DeFeo, a two-time National Endowment for the Arts fellowship recipient and highly regarded Bay Area artist.\n"It went to a branch library," said Susan Pontious, deputy director of the city's public art program. "That's one we would like to have back. ... Things that are not bolted down go away."\nWork by more well-known artists seems to get better treatment. Early prints by Richard Diebenkorn are safely installed in a meeting room at the art commission offices. And Wayne Thiebaud's work can be seen at San Francisco International Airport.\nOther big cities have done a better job keeping track of their art collections.\nChicago has more than 700 pieces of public art, ranging from a 70-foot Picasso sculpture in Daley Plaza to smaller pieces by the renowned sculptor Richard Serra. Everything is completely accessible to the public, said Elizabeth Kelley, curator of that city's public art program.\nPortland, Ore., has more than 2,000 pieces of art, and city departments that have the works displayed in their offices are responsible for their upkeep.\n"We're actually having them sign agreements that they are responsible for this work and if the work gets damaged while it's in their care then they are the responsible party financially," said Kristin Calhoun, who manages the collection.\nThings have historically played a little looser in San Francisco. And now the art is paying the price.\nOne recent weekday at the hospital, Daniels and Boeddeker rediscovered Ray Luazzana's etching, "The Last of the Unrealists," and "Nude in Studio," an acrylic by the well-known California artist Joan Brown, stacked like worthless pallets against a dirty wall.\nBrown, who died in 1990, won a National Endowment for the Arts grant and a Guggenheim Fellowship during her lifetime. Today, her posthumous award would be having "Nude in Studio" rescued from a dusty forgotten heap by the caring hands of Daniels.\n"It's heartbreaking," she said, brushing her hand along the dusty frame.\nWhen Daniels and Boeddeker find a painting, they cut it from its frame, store it between acid-free archival sheets and relocate it to the Arts Commission offices. They also attempt to reconcile the artist information with a hit list of works they expect to find so someone can later enter it into the new and growing database.\nArt migrates from the hospital walls to the basement for a variety of reasons, Daniels said.\n"People move. People retire. People don't like the work and put it in a closet," she said.\nThe largest piece uncovered in the hospital basement is "Loosender's Lost Summer Weekend," by Frederick Brayman. The 1976 painting, nearly 5 feet wide and 10 feet tall, once boasted bright colors. Daniels and Boeddeker found it against a wall wearing a coat of dirt and mildew, with a fist-sized depression in the canvas.\nReached at his home in Salt Lake City, Brayman said the fate of the painting was a sign of the times.
(09/20/06 2:41am)
UNITED NATIONS -- President Bush on Tuesday appealed directly to Muslims to assure them that the United States is not waging war with Islam as he laid out a vision for peace in the Middle East before skeptical world leaders at the United Nations.\nOn the sidelines, Bush pressed Iran to return at once to international talks on its nuclear program and threatened consequences if it does not.\nBut his speech to the United Nations General Assembly was less confrontational and aimed at building bridges with people in the Middle East angry with the United States.\n"My country desires peace," Bush told world leaders in the cavernous main hall at the U.N. "Extremists in your midst spread propaganda claiming that the West is engaged in a war against Islam. This propaganda is false, and its purpose is to confuse you and justify acts of terror. We respect Islam."\nAddressing Iraqis specifically, Bush said, "We will not abandon you in your struggle to build a free nation."\nBush said Iran "must abandon its nuclear weapons ambitions." Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was scheduled to speak to the body later Tuesday, but he was not at the country's table in the hall when Bush spoke.\nSpeaking to Iranians, Bush said their country's future has been clouded because "your rulers have chosen to deny you liberty and to use your nation's resources to fund terrorism and fuel extremism and pursue nuclear weapons."\nOn the crisis in Sudan's violence-wracked region of Darfur, Bush delivered strong warnings to both the United Nations and the Sudanese government, saying that both must act now to avert further humanitarian crisis.\nBush said that if the Sudanese government does not withdraw its rejection of a U.N. peacekeeping force for Darfur, the world body should act despite the government's objections. The U.N. Security Council last month passed a resolution that would give the U.N. control over the peacekeeping mission in Darfur, now run mostly ineffectively by the African Union. But Sudan has refused to give its consent.\n"The regime in Khartoum is stopping the deployment of this force," Bush said. "If the Sudanese government does not approve this peacekeeping force quickly, the United Nations must act."\nWith more than 200,000 people already killed in three years of fighting in Darfur and the violence threatening to increase again, Bush said the "credibility of the United Nations is at stake."\nIran's defiant pursuit of a nuclear program was at the top of the agenda when Bush met earlier with French President Jacques Chirac at the Waldorf Astoria hotel where the U.S. delegation was staying. The French leader is balking at the U.S. drive to sanction Iran for defying Security Council demands that it freeze uranium enrichment.\n"Should they continue to stall," Bush said of Iranian leaders, "we will then discuss the consequences of their stalling." The president, speaking after his meeting with Chirac, said those consequences would include the possibility of sanctions.\nChirac proposed on Monday that the international community compromise by suspending the threat of sanctions if Tehran agrees to halt its uranium enrichment program and return to negotiations. The U.S. and other countries fear Iran is trying to build nuclear weapons, while Tehran insists its uranium enrichment program is to make fuel for nuclear power plants.\nBush said Iran must first suspend uranium enrichment, "in which case the U.S. will come to the table."\nBut he also stressed that he and Chirac "share the same objective, and we're going to continue to strategize together."\n"Time is of the essence," Bush said. "Now is the time for the Iranians to come to the table"
(09/20/06 2:37am)
BANGKOK, Thailand -- Thailand's army commander ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra in a military coup Tuesday night while he was in New York, circling his offices with tanks, declaring martial law and revoking the constitution.\nAn announcement on national television signed by army Commander-in-Chief Gen. Sondhi Boonyaratkalin ordered all troops to report to their duty stations.\nSondhi, a Muslim in this Buddhist-dominated country, is known to be close to Thailand's revered monarch, King Bhumibol Adulyadej.\nA senior army general, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation, said the armed forces chiefs were meeting with the king to discuss forming an interim government, suggesting it would probably be led by civilians.\nAs soldiers and armored vehicles moved through a drizzly Bangkok, an announcement from the military had earlier declared a provisional authority loyal to the king.\nIt declared that a "Council of Administrative Reform" had seized power in Bangkok and nearby provinces without any resistance. It recognized the king as head of state.\n"The armed forces commander and the national police commander have successfully taken over Bangkok and the surrounding area in order to maintain peace and order. There has been no struggle," the announcement said. "We ask for the cooperation of the public and ask your pardon for the inconvenience."\nThaksin, who has faced calls to step down amid allegations of corruption and abuse of power, was in New York at the U.N. General Assembly, and he declared a state of emergency in an audio statement via a government-owned TV station in Bangkok.\nAt least 14 tanks surrounded Government House, Thaksin's office. A convoy of four tanks rigged with loudspeakers and sirens rolled through a busy commercial district of Bangkok, warning people to get off the street for their own safety.\nArmy spokesman Col. Akara Chitroj said Deputy Prime Minister Chitchai Wannasathit had been removed from his post.\nAn army general, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation, said Chitchai and Defense Minister Thammarak Isaragura na Ayuthaya -- two Thaksin loyalists -- had been arrested.\n"The government is no longer administering the country," Akara said.\nIn a vain attempt to stave off the coup, Thaksin in his state-of-emergency declaration from New York had ordered Sondhi to report to Chitchai immediately, effectively dismissing him.\nThaksin, who had been scheduled to address the General Assembly on Wednesday night, switched his speech to Tuesday at 7 p.m. EDT.\nThe coup went largely unnoticed in Bangkok's popular tourist districts, where foreigners packed bars and cabarets, oblivious to the activity about two miles away. But word raced among street vendors hawking T-shirts, who packed up their carts quickly and started heading home.\n"I don't agree with the coup, but now that they've done it, I support it because Thaksin has refused to resign from his position," said university student Sasiprapha Chantawong. "Allowing Thaksin to carry on will ruin the country more than this. The reputation of the country may be somewhat damaged, but it's better than letting Thaksin stay in power."\nThe White House said it was monitoring the events.\nFrederick Jones, a spokesman for the National Security Council, said President Bush's national security advisers had seen various reports of military movements as well as reports of a declaration of a state of emergency.\n"We are monitoring developments closely, but the situation at the moment is unclear," Jones said. "We look to the Thai people to resolve their political differences in a peaceful manner and in accordance with principles of democracy and rule of law."\nFormer Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai, and a member of the opposition Democrat Party, said Thaksin had forced the military to act.\n"As politicians, we do not support any kind of coup but during the past five years, the government of Thaksin created several conditions that forced the military to stage the coup. Thaksin has caused the crisis in the country," he told The Associated Press.
(09/19/06 4:22am)
Police issued arrest citations for possession of marijuana to three IU students at Alpha Epsilon Phi sorority Saturday afternoon, a police report said, after a fire alarm was set off in the building.\nThe report said the Bloomington Fire Department responded to an active fire alarm at 1110 N. Jordan Ave., where they met with the sorority's vice president and advised her to evacuate the house, the report said. When firefighters and police approached the location of the active alarm, the police said they smelled a strong odor of marijuana coming from room 305 of the house, Minger said. \nAfter obtaining a key to the room, police entered to find a "24-inch glass bong" and a "22-inch glass bong," both containing burnt marijuana in plain view, Minger said. Nobody was in the room at the time. Police sought out the room's occupant, who told them she had allowed two friends to use the room to watch a movie, the report said. \nMinger said IUPD responds to all fire alarms and frequently walks through with the firefighters to assist in evacuating the residents and locating the source of any danger. He said the police were there only on the "premise of an alarm" and didn't enter with the purpose of trying to find something illegal. \nOne of the subjects revealed to the officers two more pipes with marijuana residue, and police later located a bag containing 4 grams of marijuana and .03 grams of burnt marijuana in the room, Minger said. Minger said police issued three citations for marijuana possession and two citations for paraphernalia possession. Minger said all subjects cooperated fully with officers.\n"We're always extremely pleased when someone cooperates with us because it allows us to be cooperative in return," he said.\n
(09/19/06 3:51am)
If curds and whey sound better than corporate ladder climbing, get in line.\nScores of lawyers, engineers and other professionals with back-to-the-land yearnings and a love of good food are taking advantage of a booming market for specialty cheeses, launching second careers as small-scale dairy farmers.\nIt's a move they'd have been crazy to make just a few years ago. Never mind the long hours and backbreaking labor. Abysmal milk prices have been hurting family dairies for years, and the corporatization of the dairy world creates tough terrain for small-time operations.\nBut the era of so-called artisanal cheeses -- which are to processed cheese slices what Champagne is to soda pop -- has changed all that.\nJust as wine is nuanced by the "terroir" (geography) of the vineyard, these small-batch, hand-crafted cheeses from goat, sheep and cow milk telegraph flavors from the pastures and plants the animals grazed, making each one -- even each batch of each one -- distinct.\nAnd that has made them sought after staples of restaurant menus and dairy cases around the country, giving new life to a faltering industry and new jobs to those looking to trade meetings for milk.\n"I really enjoyed my former career," says John Putnam, a former lawyer who makes Alpine-style cows' milk cheeses on his Thistle Hill Farm in North Pomfret, Vt. "But I would say even in the early '90s, I was talking to other lawyers from a cell phone on a tractor."\nConsumption of specialty cheeses, a $6.4 billion industry in 2003, increased five times faster than overall cheese consumption from 1994 to 2004, according to a study by the California Milk Advisory Board. The agricultural community has taken notice.\nCheese-making hubs like Vermont and Pennsylvania have struggled for years to stem the loss of family dairy farms. Pennsylvania continues to lose them, but state agriculture officials say second-career producers are slowing the rate. In Vermont, they've helped bring it to a standstill.\nAnd in Wisconsin, production of specialty cheeses -- a broad category that includes artisanal cheeses and their close cousin, farmstead cheeses (which are made exclusively from milk produced onsite) -- more than doubled between 1994 and 2005.\nThat success marks the difference between selling milk as a commodity and using it to craft a product. Dairies that sell milk to processors earn a little more than a $1 per 10 pounds (more for organic). Turn that milk into fine cheese and the figure becomes $20 or more.\n"When they start doing the numbers they say, 'Hey! We just made $1,400 worth of cheese from $200 worth of commodity milk,'" Sandra Miller, spokeswoman for the Pennsylvania Farmstead & Artisan Cheese Alliance, says. "The light bulbs are going on."\nThough some artisan cheese makers buy milk, many prefer to milk their own animals. Such is the case with Miller, who six years ago left her career as a petroleum geologist to make chevre, feta and cultured butter on a Newburg, Penn., farm with a few goats and cows.\nShe credits the burgeoning opportunities for would-be cheese makers to the evolution of the American palate. Foreign travel and restaurants whose menus brag of artisanal products have shown people there is more to cheese than the yellow and white slices they grew up with.\n"Americans are finally getting it," Anita Eisenhauer, professor and executive chef at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, N.Y., says. "They're getting what is so special about Italy and all those countries Americans want to visit."\nBut how do people schooled in legal briefs or binary code learn about Brie? Cheese school.\nIn recent years, a handful of private and university programs have grown out of the demand for cheese-making skills, including the Vermont Institute for Artisan Cheese at the University of Vermont's Burlington campus.
(09/19/06 3:50am)
In 1937, Dale Carnegie wrote one of the greatest books on customer service, "How to Win Friends Influence People." Anyone interested in customer service and who hasn't read this book is a fool. If you read between the lines, this book can teach you how to deflate any argument and situation. \nI have used and expanded on his philosophies, with neuro-linguistic programming's concept of framing, to create an effective customer service policy that can be used by any company.\nThe customer service policy my company uses is based on four steps: \n1. Sympathize with the customer and act submissive. \n2. Create common enemies. \n3. Show authority and legitimacy. \n4. Offer a concluding apology.\nThe first step of my policy can be entirely credited to Carnegie himself. In the book he analyzes what happens in a verbal confrontation. Usually both sides attack each other verbally, and the argument is escalated. In a customer service situation, the customer and customer service representative slowly become more impatient and hostile toward each other.\nCarnegie offers an alternative. In step one he suggests that the customer service representative start out by apologizing for the situation and explaining how unfortunate it is. Carnegie then recommends that the representative continue to apologize to the customer by saying how wrong it was for the company to treat the customer this way. Eventually, due to human nature, the customer will start to calm the representative and assure him or her that the situation is truly not as bad as the customer had implied before. This is a sort of undercutting technique.\nThe second step is very important. During this step you create common enemies. This puts you on the same side of the confrontation as the customer. The common enemy for my company can be the box office, me (if my representative is on the call) or my representative (if I am on the phone). I give my employees full permission to blame me in any situation. The common enemy can be anyone as long as it makes at least a little sense. If played correctly this can be a psychological powerhouse.\nThe third step is short: Establish authority. It is important to show the customer that you are legitimate and that you have been in business for a while. If authority is established well, the customer sees your courtesy as an act of kindness rather than an act of despair. \nOnce you have established authority, and have shown that you have power in the situation, you are in a dominant position. To put the cherry on top -- this is step four -- you apologize again for the situation. This shows that your company truly cares about the customer's long-term business.\nIn my experience, the above techniques can be used to take care of 99 percent of all customer service problems. Using this technique, I have turned lawsuit threats into return business. I have studied customer service since the very first time a customer yelled at me when I was 12. Humbly, I can say my method works better than anything else I have read.
(09/19/06 3:45am)
It's 10 o'clock at night. You're craving a big bowl of ice cream or some crunchy potato chips, and you're finding it hard to resist the tantalizing smell of piping-hot pizza coming from down the hall. Is giving in to the urge to eat past the mythical 8 o'clock hour a reason to panic? Will it automatically create more fat cells? \nNot necessarily. A calorie is a calorie, no matter when you eat it. As long as you are eating and drinking roughly the same amount of calories you expend in a day, you will not gain weight. However, one issue with eating before bedtime is that people are more likely to choose high fat, high sugar foods in the evening hours. So placing restrictions on when a person eats may help them decrease their caloric intake. \nAnother issue is that people eat even though they are not hungry at night. \nBefore making an eating decision, ask, "Am I really hungry?" \nPeople often confuse appetite with hunger. Appetite is a psychological desire to eat because the food smells good, looks good or is free (and therefore impossible to pass up) or because there is an emotional reason to eat. For example, your appetite might tell you to eat because you are upset, angry, bored or lonely. Hunger, on the other hand, is a physiological desire -- your\nbody's way of telling you it needs more fuel to keep you going. Hunger signals are different for each of us but may include an empty feeling in your stomach, rumbling or growling in the stomach, shakiness, slight headache, irritability, lack of concentration, dizziness and nausea. If you're hungry, realize your body is attempting to communicate with you. Embrace the hunger and feel good about giving your body what it needs! This is especially important if you have several more hours of work or studying before you go to sleep. \nIt's also important to consider what food or beverage is right for you and your health. Choosing low-calorie, nutrient-dense options such as light microwave popcorn, a non-fat mocha or cappuccino, a cup of melon, a banana, no-sugar added applesauce, low-fat yogurt, a small bowl of whole grain cereal or piece (one ounce) of low-fat cheese can provide important vitamins, minerals and antioxidants without added unhealthy fats or sugars. It's also a good idea to drink water, herbal teas or low-calorie fruit drinks to fill the stomach and keep you hydrated. \nIf you have a question about food, nutrition, eating healthy or weight, please contact Nutrition Services, Health and Wellness Education at the IU Health Center for an individual nutrition appointment with a registered dietitian. Call 855-7338. These appointments are free to students who have paid the health fee.
(09/19/06 2:59am)
IT'S ALL GREEK -- Actors entertain Friday at the Third Street Park outdoor stage during the Monroe County Civic Theater's production of "Pericles, Prince of Tyre" by William Shakespeare. \nThe Monroe County Civic Theater has outdoor shows in the park during July and August; "Pericles" will be performed again September 22nd and 23rd.
(09/19/06 2:57am)
AIX-EN-PROVENCE, France -- Most museums take the anniversary of an artist's death as a chance to pull out a handful of his or her work stuck in the vaults and air them out for a few weeks. \nAix-en-Provence artist Paul Cézanne's ville maternelle, or birthplace, and the setting of his most famous paintings, is doing more than just a bit of airing out for the 100th anniversary of his death. \nThis petite town in southern France has gone Cézanne-zany, even laminating his scribbled signature on the side of the town buses to advertise the immense amount of Cézanne-related activities offered not just for a few weeks, but throughout the entire year. \nThe main event is "Cézanne en Provence," an exhibit being held at the Musée Granet, just around the corner from my apartment in the Quartier Mazarin. The exhibit ran from June 9 to Sept. 17, just long enough for every tourist to get in my way as I walked to class. Even before 9 a.m. the line at the billetrie, or ticket counter, is already two blocks long and growing. Between the amount of people wanting to see the exhibit and the amount of people who wander around the exhibit for hours, I've seen the billetrie close in the middle of the afternoon until further notice. \nIt's worth hustling through the crowds to see, though. With 116 of Cézanne's works on display, being without a tour guide or an audio headset can quickly become overwhelming. My personal favorite was the room of Mont Sainte-Victoire oil paintings, displayed in chronological order to display the evolution of his painting style through his different interpretations of Aix's most famous montagne, or mountain, Mont Sainte Victoire.\nOther events Aix offered were multiple musical and artistic tributes, as well as documentaries recounting the events of Cézanne's life. Now that school is starting, lectures discussing every topic possible about Cézanne are on the agenda. The Natural History Museum in Aix even has an exhibit of the evolution of Cézanne's beloved Mont Sainte-Victoire. You can wander outside of the city center and visit Cézanne's atelier, his childhood home Jas de Bouffan and favorite place by the sea, l'Estaque. \nEven though I am not the biggest Cézanne fan, it's amazing to spend an afternoon in a crowded museum looking at canvases and then exit the museum into that canvas. One of the defining characteristics of his work is his color, and until coming to Aix, I never would have believed that his color palette was realistic. But trust me, the sky really is that blue here.
(09/19/06 2:56am)
LONDON -- Ultrathin models walked the runways at London's Fashion Week on Monday, opening the weeklong event with a clear rejection of arguments that waiflike young women should not be permitted to showcase designs.\nDespite a ban on superskinny models imposed by Spanish organizers at their fashion week in Madrid, slinky women in London were ready to flaunt the spring and summer collections of designers such as Julien Macdonald, John Rocha and Zandra Rhodes.\nThe British capital was hoping to recapture a bit of bling and ditch its reputation as the poor cousin of more glamorous events in New York, Paris and Milan, Italy.\n"We are not a traditional capital for fashion, but we are a very creative crucible," said Stuart Rose, chairman of the British Fashion Council, which organizes London's twice-yearly Fashion Week.\nParis-based Garen Demerdjian, a Lebanese-Armenian designer, presented a layered look with shorts and skirts over long leggings, high cinched belts and leather jackets.\nHis models, stone-faced with tangled hair, walked slowly down the catwalk sporting hues of brown, green, apricot, black and silky white amid flashing lights and trancelike music.\nLater, John Rocha presented a collection of cropped cargo pants, silk shirts and parkas in shades of black, ivory, stone and khaki.\nOn Tuesday, designer Bella Freud was set to relaunch iconic 1960s label Biba, pioneer of caftans and flamboyant scarves.\nA-list stars including Beyonce and Alicia Keys were expected to attend the Emporio Armani catwalk show Thursday. U2's Bono was expected to be on hand to help launch Armani's Red collection, which will give a portion of its profits to help fight AIDS in Africa.\nKate Moss added star power by sitting in the front row at a pre-event show for British retailer Topshop on Sunday, alongside its billionaire owner Philip Green.\nA debate over whether models were too thin has raised London Fashion Week in the headlines, with a government minister's calls to follow Madrid's lead and ban extremely thin models from the catwalk.\n"The fashion industry's promotion of beauty as meaning stick-thin is damaging to young girls' self-image and to their health," Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell said Saturday.\nRose dismissed calls for a ban as "a knee-jerk reaction," but said the debate was a legitimate one and that he would discuss the issue with colleagues. Fashion Week canceled its opening photo shoot to avoid giving the issue more publicity.\n"I think that it's a debate that will happen all in good time, and all opinions are welcome," said supermodel Erin O'Connor.\nThe event, which runs through Friday, has long been known as a venue for seeing cutting-edge work from creative, young British designers, while the big fashion houses tend to showcase their wares in New York, Paris or Milan.\nThis year, though, there is an air of excitement around the spring/summer collections from designers including Jasper Conran, Paul Smith and Betty Jackson, and new talents such as 23-year-old Christopher Kane.
(09/19/06 2:33am)
HOUSTON -- International space station astronauts pulled an alarm and donned protective gear Monday after smelling a foul odor that turned out to be a harmful chemical leaking from an oxygen vent, NASA said.\n"We don't exactly know the nature of the spill ... but the crew is doing well," said Mike Suffredini, NASA's space station program manager. "It's not a life-threatening material."\nThe crew first reported smoke, but it turned out to be an irritant, potassium hydroxide, leaking from an oxygen vent, Suffredini said.\nThe crew donned surgical gloves and masks but did not have to put on gas or oxygen masks, Suffredini said.\nNASA declared a spacecraft emergency for only the second time in the eight-year history of the station. The first time was for a false alarm of an ammonia spill.\nNASA initially said that the crew in the orbiting lab 220 miles above Earth had been working on a Russian oxygen-generating system known as the Elektron. But Suffredini said no work on the system had been scheduled at that time.\nThe Elektron was activated at 6:30 a.m. EDT and shut down about a half hour later. Russian cosmonaut Pavel Vinogradov reported the leak to Mission Control in Russia at 7:23 a.m. EDT.\nVinogradov described the liquid as transparent, "like distilled water."\n"At first, small-sized bubbles escaped, drops, four or five," Vinogradov said.\nU.S. astronaut Jeff Williams described the smell of burning rubber, but Mission Control in Houston said that odor likely came from the overheating of a rubber gasket.\n"That also jibes with the visible smoke coming from the rubber gasket," Williams said.\nThe station's third crew member is Thomas Reiter of the European Space Agency, who arrived for his six-month stay in July aboard space shuttle Discovery. Williams and Vinogradov are slated to return to Earth at the end of the month.\nBecause the station's emergency system was activated, the ventilation system was shut down, but ground operations reactivated it a short time later. Astronauts used a charcoal air-scrubbing device to remove the offensive smell and Williams said the odor "decreased significantly."\nThe potassium hydroxide, a corrosive that can cause serious burns and can be harmful if inhaled, was cleaned up with towels and wrapped up in two rubber bags, Suffredini said.\nPotassium hydroxide can be used to power batteries and is also known as potash lye.\nThe Elektron system has given the space station headaches before. It had operated on-and-off for months before breaking down last spring. In June, the crew tried to reactivate it, with mixed results, after replacing a hydrogen vent valve outside during a spacewalk.\nThe failure of the Elektron, which looks like a water heater, had no impact on operations at the space station.\nThe international space station was in the middle of a revolving door of visitors. Space shuttle Atlantis' six astronauts departed on Sunday and a Russian Soyuz vehicle carrying two new station crew members and space tourist Anousheh Ansari were expected to arrive on Wednesday.
(09/19/06 2:32am)
NEW YORK -- President Bush on Monday linked his push for democratic reform across the world with first lady Laura Bush's call for governments to embrace literacy programs to improve lives.\n"The simple act of teaching a child to read or an adult to read has the capacity to transform nations and yield the peace we all want," the president said at the White House Conference on Global Literacy being hosted in New York by Laura Bush. "You can't realize the blessings of liberty if you can't read a ballot."\nBush attended his wife's event, which was being held on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly sessions this week. Later in the day, he had bilateral talks scheduled with several foreign leaders to kick off his attendance at the world body's annual meetings.\nLike Mrs. Bush, the president made the case that supporting effective literacy programs is a key to improving the economic prosperity of nations and their people.\n"You can't have prosperity unless people can read. It's just as simple as that," Bush said. "To be a productive worker, you have to be able to read the manual."\nBush came to the United Nations with a host of global issues facing his administration.\nThe president's three-day trip includes bilateral meetings with six foreign leaders, including the presidents of Iraq and the Palestinian Authority, and a speech to the U.N. General Assembly that will focus on his vision for the Middle East.\nThe days of diplomacy come as the president prepares for a busy political schedule. Bush, who lately has been trying to turn the election-year debate away from the unpopular war in Iraq and toward a broader war on terrorism, plans to spend much of the next seven weeks campaigning for fellow Republicans.\nAnd he isn't leaving politics behind while he's in New York: Monday night he headlines a fundraiser for the Republican National Committee at the Manhattan home of billionaire financier Henry Kravis.\nAt the United Nations, Bush will try to highlight his goal of spreading democracy. To that end, Bush was to spend his first day meeting with leaders of Malaysia, a democracy with a moderate Islamic government; El Salvador and Honduras, two Central American nations that have moved from military dictatorships to democracies; and the emerging African democracy of Tanzania.
(09/19/06 2:28am)
SOUL -- Edward Jackson dons sunglasses and a microphone as he beatboxes during a performance at the Soul Food Festival, held Saturday at Karst Farm Park. The festival's theme was "feed your body and feed your soul." Patrons enjoyed food, music, informational booths.
(09/19/06 2:27am)
INDIANAPOLIS -- The hospital where two babies died after receiving an overdose of blood thinner will double-check drug labels and remove certain doses of the medication under new procedures designed to prevent future mistakes.\nTwo premature baby girls died Saturday at Methodist Hospital, which is part of Clarian Health Partners, after receiving adult doses of heparin. The drug is often used in premature children to prevent blood clots that could clog intravenous drug tubes.\nFour other babies were also given overdoses of the drug. Three were hospitalized in critical but stable condition Monday at Methodist Hospital and were no longer showing ill effects from the heparin, said spokeswoman Jo Ann Klooz. The fourth was in critical condition and not stable at Riley Hospital for Children and continues to suffer from ill effects of the drug, she said.\nAutopsies were scheduled for Monday in the deaths, which the coroner has determined were accidental.\nThat's little comfort for families of Emmery Miller and D'myia Alexander Nelson, the two girls who died. The girls were born at 25 and 26 weeks' gestation; a normal pregnancy is about 40 weeks.\n"They couldn't give me enough apologies for what they have done," said Lena Nelson, whose granddaughter, D'myia, was five days old when she died. "They just took her away. It's like murder. She was just taken away from us."\nMethodist Hospital President and CEO Sam Odle announced procedure changes after a two-hour meeting with staff involved in the weekend incident.\nStarting immediately, he said, all Clarian hospitals -- which also include Indianapolis hospitals Indiana University Hospital and Riley Hospital for Children -- will no longer keep certain doses of heparin in inventory. All newborn and pediatric critical care units will require a minimum of two nurses to validate any dose of heparin. And nursing units will receive an alert when a change in packaging or dose is entered in the drug cabinet.\nIn addition, all employees will be required to sign a document about the importance of correct drug administration by Sept. 23.\nOdle stressed that the hospital is "among our nation's safest" and said Methodist would learn from the mistake.
(09/19/06 2:26am)
FORT WAYNE, Ind. -- Authorities on Monday sought the public's help in finding whoever wrote a series of notes boasting of responsibility for the 1988 abduction, molestation and death of an 8-year-old girl.\nThe murder of April Marie Tinsley has gone unsolved since the first-grader disappeared April 1, 1988, while walking to a friend's home near downtown Fort Wayne. Her body was found three days later in a ditch in rural DeKalb County, about 15 miles north of the city.\nIn the new plea for assistance, investigators released details of handwritten notes left in zip-closed plastic bags during 2004 at the homes of four young girls in and around Fort Wayne.\nThe note writer claimed to have killed April. The writer also threatened that if the notes did not receive news coverage, the girls who received them would become the next victims.\nInvestigators said the 2004 notes had similar writing, misspellings and wording as a message found in 1990 scrawled to the side of a barn in northeastern Allen County that said, "I kill 8-year-old April Marie Tisley (sic) I will kill again ha ha."\nAuthorities had not previously released any information about the notes, but Fort Wayne Police Chief Rusty York said city detectives and FBI agents had been working on them since their discovery.\nThe decision to seek the public's help was made with the FBI, and investigators would work around the clock if necessary on any new clues, he said.\n"We think we have a lot of potential here. But we really have to mine that information," York said. "We'd be remiss if we didn't take this tremendous opportunity."\nInvestigators hope someone will recognize the writing or the writer's use of certain phrases. They also said it was possible someone had received another communication from a neighbor, coworker or relative that bears a resemblance to the writing.\nYork said it was also possible that the writer might have left other notes or graffiti in and around Fort Wayne that were not reported to police.\n"It is understandable that a citizen finding such an item may not have recognized its significance because of the age of the Tinsley case and therefore may have discarded or even destroyed the note," York said.
(09/19/06 2:21am)
INDIANAPOLIS -- Three male inmates attacked a guard and two other inmates during a weekend rampage at a juvenile correctional lockup, officials said Monday.\nThe female correction officer sought medical treatment and returned to work Sunday, a day after the three inmates, ranging in age from 16 to 17, attacked her at the Indianapolis Juvenile Correctional Facility, said Laura Freeland, a correctional spokeswoman.\nThe injured boys were treated at a hospital and returned to the facility later Saturday, said Java Ahmed, a spokeswoman for the Indiana Department of Correction.\nThe three accused in the attack were placed in segregation as Indiana State Police and the center's internal affairs officers investigate, said Superintendent Steve McCauley.\nOfficials said the trio attacked the two other youths and began destroying property at the center Saturday morning and then attacked the first officer who responded.\nCommissioner J. David Donahue said in a written statement that the department's response team arrived and gained control by locking all youths in their rooms.\n"Staff did a good job of managing the incident," Donahue said.\nThe Indianapolis facility is a state-run lockup for juvenile offenders.\nIt is separate from the Marion County Juvenile Detention Center, which normally holds teens awaiting trial. That facility has been rocked recently with news that several guards allegedly had sex with female inmates.
(09/19/06 2:21am)
INDIANAPOLIS -- The state sued a California-based group Monday to stop it from making automated phone calls attacking Democratic candidate in the 9th District congressional race Baron Hill.\nThe group behind the calls, the Sacramento-based Economic Freedom Fund, is being funded by the Republican donor who helped bankroll the Swift Boat attack ads on Democratic Sen. John Kerry's war record during the 2004 presidential campaign.\nThe attorney general's office filed a lawsuit in Brown Circuit Court in Nashville seeking temporary and permanent injunctions against the calls as violations of Indiana's telemarketing law and fines of $5,000 for each violation. A hearing for the case is set for Sept. 27.\nAttorney General Steve Carter received 12 consumer complaints about the calls, including one from Philip Wilkinson, 41, of Bloomington, who said he was on the state's do-not-call list and is offended by negative political ads.\n"When somebody gets real ugly, I'll say, 'Heck, I'll vote for the other guy,'" Wilkinson said, adding that he does not support Hill or Sodrel.\nCarter said representatives of the Economic Freedom Fund agreed to stop the calls when his office contacted them Friday. He said he was unaware of any more being placed since then.\n"They implicitly acknowledged they were making the calls," Carter, a Republican, said during a news conference to announce the lawsuit.\nThe Associated Press left messages with the fund and its attorney Monday seeking comment on the lawsuit.\nBob J. Perry, a Texas homebuilder with close ties to White House adviser Karl Rove and former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, recently donated $5 million to the fund, a newly created California group targeting Democratic candidates.\nCarter played a recording of one of the automated calls. In the recording, the unidentified speaker attacks Hill for votes he made when he represented southern Indiana's 9th District. Republican Mike Sodrel unseated Hill in 2004, and the two are vying for the seat again this year.\nThe campaigns of both candidates praised Carter's action Monday.\nHill's campaign thanked Carter for "setting aside partisan alliances and doing what's right for all Hoosiers."\n"We believe there is no place for politics of hate and misrepresentation of the facts, which is why Hill has said he will denounce negative campaigns from both sides of the aisle," Hill campaign spokeswoman Abby Curran said in a news release.\nFor 14 months, Sodrel's campaign has battled liberal special interest groups that used the same tactics, but targeting the \nRepublican.\n"It's the worst kind of politics, and they've got to stop," Sodrel spokesman Cam Savage said of the automated calls.\nThe Economic Freedom Fund's political status is 527, which exempts it from conventional campaign finance restrictions and allows it to spend \nunlimited amounts on election advocacy, similar to the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. In the 2004 presidential race, the group of Vietnam veterans made unsubstantiated allegations challenging Kerry's record of wartime heroism.\nAccording to its filing, the Economic Freedom Fund was formed to "promote policies and issues favoring economic freedom, growth and prosperity of the economy."\nCarter sent an Aug. 22 letter to state Democratic and Republican parties informing them that a 1988 state law prohibited automated phone calls for political purposes and promising to enforce it, even though the law had been widely ignored during past political campaigns.\nHe said Monday that his office has received one other consumer complaint over a political telemarketing call, and that case remains under investigation by his office. He would not disclose any details of the complaint.
(09/18/06 4:05am)
NEW YORK -- Tens of thousands of people rallied in cities across the world Sunday to protest the violence in the war-torn Darfur region of Sudan and urge world leaders to intervene to resolve the conflict.\nTens of thousands of people demonstrated in New York City, religious leaders gathered outside Downing Street in London to pray for a resolution and a candlelight vigil was held in Cambodia to remember Darfur victims.\nIn a counter demonstration, about 150 people in Khartoum, Sudan, marched to the United Nations' offices to protest the proposed deployment of U.N. peacekeepers in Darfur.\nProtests and other events for the "Global Day for Darfur" were scheduled in four dozen cities worldwide to show support for Darfur's people and pressure the Sudanese government to protect its civilians and end the conflict.\nAt least 200,000 people have been killed in Darfur and more than 2 million have fled their homes since 2003, when ethnic African tribes revolted against the Arab-led government. The government is accused of unleashing brutal Arab militiamen known as janjaweed in the remote western province.\nSudanese President Omar al-Bashir again rejected U.N. peacekeepers during a meeting with U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan Saturday. Annan had urged Sudan to accept the U.N. Security Council's decision to replace the largely ineffective African Union peacekeeping force with better-equipped U.N. troops.\nNew York police estimated Sunday that 20,000 attended the demonstrations, while organizers said more than 30,000 attended.\nU.S. Rep Chris Smith, R-N.J., said the people of Darfur have "had atrocities imposed upon them that no human being would have to face." Smith added that China, which has major oil interests in Sudan, should "put its economic interests in Sudan aside and say enough is enough."\nIn London, Christian, Muslim and Jewish leaders evoked the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, where more than 500,000 people were slaughtered. The leaders were met by Baroness Amos, leader of the House of Lords, who warned that the world must not once again turn a blind eye to an unfolding crisis in Africa.\n"We do not want to see a repeat of what happened in Rwanda when the world community turned its face away," she said.\nThe gathering followed a march from the Sudanese Embassy by hundreds of protesters wearing the light blue berets of the U.N. to represent their call for a U.N. force in the area.\nAmos said the UK government would call for sanctions and the investigation of human rights abuses by the International Criminal Court.\nIn Phnom Penh, Cambodia, still haunted by memories of the brutal Khmer Rouge regime's rule in which some 1.7 million were killed in the late 1970s, protesters held a candlelight vigil in a local mosque.\nLy Sok Kheang said he feared the international community was repeating the same mistakes from Cambodia.\nHe said, "As far as the genocide in Cambodia is concerned, for over three years the state committed killings of its own people while the international community, including the United Nations, failed to intervene to stop it."
(09/18/06 3:38am)
Detroit Lions quarterback Jon Kitna (8) is sacked for a 6-yard loss by the Chicago Bears' Adewale Ogunleye, left, as the Bears' Brian Urlacher (54) and Alex Brown (96) look on during the first quarter Sunday in Chicago. The Bears won the game, 34-7.
