McNeese St. cancels game Saturday against Cal Poly

McNeese State canceled Saturday's home football game against Cal Poly because of Hurricane Ike's potential effects on Lake Charles.

The university is scheduled to close Thursday at noon, and Calcasieu Parish has called an 8 p.m. to …

SYMPHONY REVIEW: ; Orchestra does well with real German music

Pianist Markus Groh brought a prodigious amount of technicalability and a thorough understanding of the Old World-style ofplaying Beethoven's

Piano Concerto No. 3 to Thursday's West Virginia SymphonyOrchestra rehearsal.

Groh and conductor Grant Cooper were bound cheek to jowl in theirefforts to have the orchestra musicians understand how veryimportant all of the markings on the page were.

Beethoven really meant it when he called for sudden crescendosand dimuendos and accents on certain beats.

The orchestra was a quick study and by the time the entire workhad been gone over, real German music in the real German style wasechoing throughout the …

3-Day-Old Baby Seized at Texas Hospital

LUBBOCK, Texas - A woman posing as a medical worker kidnapped a 3-day-old girl from a hospital early Saturday, police said.

Mychael Darthard-Dawodu was last seen at 1:20 a.m. at Covenant Lakeside Hospital when a woman wearing blue and flower-print hospital scrubs and a gray hooded jacket took her and drove off in a pickup truck, police said.

Hospital surveillance video showed the woman with the jacket hood pulled around her head and holding a purse as she walked out of the building through the lobby.

It wasn't immediately clear if the kidnapper was wearing a hospital name badge, Gwen Stafford, senior vice president of Covenant Health System, said at a news …

US official: talks on Kyrgyzstan base continue

A senior U.S. official said Friday that Kyrgyzstan and Washington have agreed to continue talks over a key American air base that American forces had been told to leave within six months.

A Kyrgyz presidential spokesman reiterated that the base decision was final, but said the Central Asian country was still open to a new deal with the United States.

The base provides support for military operations in Afghanistan, and its potential closure poses a challenge to President Barack Obama's plan to send up to 30,000 additional troops to Afghanistan this year to fight surging Taliban and al-Qaida violence.

Kyrgyzstan last month ordered the United …

Stock Spotlight

BEST BUY REPORT LIFTS HEWLETT-PACKARD

Hewlett-Packard Co. gained 1 percent Friday after the Wall StreetJournal reported that HP's flat-panel televisions with Internet-ready technology will be sold at Best Buy Co. stores beginning nextmonth. The agreement may generate as much as $200 …

Dallas Recruiter's first contract, his own brother

WAXAHACHIE, Texas-Staff Sgt. Jose Rivera, 33, and his younger brother Ariel Antonio Rivera, 25, grew up on the Island of Puerto Rico in a town called Bayamon. The two brothers are eight years apart and neither one imagined that more than 20 years later they would both be soldiers.

The Rivera brothers grew up in a middle class family, their mother, Maria, a housewife and their father, Jose, a mechanic. Staff Sgt. Rivera had always been interested in the military since he was small boy and after high school he decided to join the Army.

"I wanted to improve my life," explained he said. "Living in Puerto Rico was great, but I needed to expand my education. Joining the Army was …

Super 14: Queensland starts new season with 22-16 win over Otago

The Queensland Reds, last-place finishers in rugby's Super 14 last year, ran in two tries in the first 20 minutes Friday to set up a 22-16 win over the Otago Highlanders in the teams' season-opening match.

Queensland opened the scoring in the 15th minute through a pick-and-drive from skipper John Roe after strong leadup work by Digby Ioane.

Winger Clinton Schifcofske was awarded a contentious try five minutes later after several replays from the television match official failed to show him grounding the ball in the tackle of fullback Paul Williams.

The Highlanders picked up their three first-half points on a penalty goal to Daniel Bowden just …

Smith downplays Briggs’ posturing for contract

Asked about the impact of linebacker Lance Briggs' dissatisfaction with his contract, Bears coach Lovie Smith pointed to one of the fields at Halas Hall.

"I go on this right here," Smith said. "Whether a player is disgruntled or something like that, I don't know about any of that. But I base it on what they do every day.

"Lance hasn't missed a meeting. He's out here every day. Even when he's injured — you see him — he's coaching up the guys. I couldn't be more pleased with Lance on the football field. As a pro, you have a job to do and you do it every day, and that's what Lance has done."

Briggs did not stop when approached by reporters after practice …

Landlords, tenants find balance

REGION

Landlords and tenants continue to tango toward a shared goal of getting signatures on the dotted line. They're offering and asking for incentives that will seal the deal, commercial Realtors said.

In 2009, the market was strongly tenant driven, said Drew Bobincheck, who does commercial and multifamily investment with Landmark Commercial Realty Inc./Oncor International in East Pennsboro Township.

"Prospective tenants still have the upper hand," he said. "However, it is quickly becoming more even."

Incentives such as free rent for a month or two, tenant-requested improvements to the building, or office reconfigurations and decor are just some of the …

Iran's supreme leader opposes US-Iraq deal

Iraq's prime minister made little headway in easing Iranian opposition to a U.S.-Iraqi security pact, as Iran's supreme leader told him Monday that American troops must leave the country.

The deal, which is still under negotiation, could lay the groundwork for a long-term U.S. military presence in Iraq. The Iranians fear the deal would solidify U.S. influence in Iraq and give American forces a launching pad for military action against them.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki met over three days with Iranian leaders in Tehran, trying to ease the neighboring country's opposition to the agreement _ apparently hoping to stop Iranian denunciations while assuring …

Why IT firms love doctors? ; Indian IT and BPO companies are stepping up their focus on newer markets, and many of them have identified healthcare and life sciences as key growth drivers.

Indian IT and BPO companies are stepping up their focus on newermarkets, and many of them have identified healthcare and lifesciences as key growth drivers. Already, large firms such as TCS,Wipro and Infosys Technologies have 3,500, 3,000 and 1,500 people,respectively, in their healthcare practices. The opportunity ismassive; the global healthcare and life sciences industry isexpected to spend $40 billion (Rs 1.6 lakh crore) on its ITrequirements in 2008. Healthcare providers are looking to modernisetheir legacy infrastructure and cut costs by outsourcing both theirtechnology and BPO work to us, says V. …

Producer and Cast of the movie `When Thugs Cry' talk

Movie buffs will have a chance to screen Hawkfimz's ghetto reality film "When Thugs Cry" Thursday, May 9 at 7 p.m. just before Mother's Day, at Inner City Entertainment's Loews Cineplex Theater, 210 W. 87th St., in the Chatham Ridge Mall complex.

Written, directed and produced by veteran guerrilla filmmaker Parris Reaves, "When Thugs Cry" tells the story of how two brothers making a transition from Alabama to Chicago is a realistic account of struggling African American youth.

None of the actors, consisting of JahRista, SoundMaster-T and Clarence Lawrence Jr. and Suzette Lloyd, are seasoned performers. However, each one drew on his actual experience to accomplish the …

IEA says $10 trillion needed for clean technology

The International Energy Agency said Tuesday that a $10 trillion investment in renewable energy, biofuels and nuclear power over the next 20 years is necessary in order to stabilize greenhouse gas emissions.

The Paris-based agency, which serves as a policy adviser on energy issues to 28 industrialized countries, warned that if governments failed to commit to an investment capable of remaking the energy sector, greenhouse gas emissions would more than double above safe levels in the "longer term." The energy sector _ which includes the oil, gas and coal used to power industry and fuel vehicles _ represents 85 percent of all global carbon dioxide emissions.

But the organization said if the money were poured into the right technology, leaders would succeed in preventing temperatures from rising 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit (2 degrees Celsius) above preindustrial levels _ the threshold at which most scientists say serious climate change will ensue.

The IEA recommends that most of the spending until 2020 go into increasing energy efficiency, renewable energy and biofuels. In the following decade, more should be directed into nuclear power and the largely untested scheme of capturing carbon dioxide produced from burning coal and storing it underground, known as carbon capture and sequestration.

The IEA plan calls for 33 percent of energy to come from renewables, including nuclear power, by 2030 _ about triple today's 18 percent. That would mean constructing 18 nuclear reactors and 17,000 windmills ever year. About 60 percent of vehicles worldwide would have to be either hybrid or electric.

"The message is simple and stark: If the world continues on the basis of today's energy and climate policies, the consequences of climate change will be severe," said IEA Executive Director Nobuo Tanaka, noting that under the agency's plan, fossil fuel usage would peak by 2020 and emissions would be capped at 6 percent above 2007 levels.

"Energy is at the heart of the problem _ and so must form the core of the solution," he said.

The report was presented on the sidelines of the U.N. climate talks where negotiators are working feverishly to craft a new climate pact that would replace the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012. World leaders are hoping to forge a new deal in December in Copenhagen.

But negotiators from industrialized countries have yet to commit to any budget to finance clean technology and the other measures needed to move to a low-carbon economy. They also haven't agreed to the deep emissions cuts that the IEA plan endorses.

The agency said three-quarters of its plan should be financed by industrialized countries and more than 40 percent of the money would be spent in poor countries, mostly in world's top emitter, China, which IEA estimates could account for about a third of global emission reductions by 2020.

The plan would require, among other things, "a major revolution on the car manufactures side, a big task," IEA Chief Economist Fatih Biroh said. "They will change their business plans if they get a signal from Copenhagen. They will not change themselves."

Most delegates and environmentalists Tuesday welcomed the IEA report as a reminder that negotiators need to put aside their differences and come to an agreement on the core issues.

"The IEA clearly states that the world needs a binding international climate agreement. The longer we postpone action, the more expensive it will be," Danish Climate and Energy Minister Connie Hedegaard said in a statement. "That is why the world needs to act now."

A Striking Symbiosis Of Church and City

Roman Catholicism, especially in its Irish guise, was essentialto the making of Chicago. In sheer numbers of adherents, theCatholic church dominated. Its parish structure created mile-squareneighborhoods of the expanding city starting in the late 1800s andcontinuing well into this century. Its members toiled in thestockyards and steel mills and dominated the police and firedepartments. Its sons ran the city's politics, its daughtersdominated public school teaching staffs.

One would have to attend today's outdoor mass in Grant Park tosee what the church will make of this in its 150th anniversarycelebration, but the symbiosis of church and city is clearly thestuff of Catholicism, Chicago Style, a collection of essays by EllenSkerrett, Edward R. Kantowicz and Steven M. Avella (Loyola UniversityPress, $21.95 paperback, $35 hardcover).

The book contains an introduction by Joseph Cardinal Bernardin,but it is not an official church publication. And while the essayscelebrate the church's role here, they are not uncritical.

Kantowicz opens with an examination of ethnicity, suggestingthat church authorities prevented splintering by tying parishes tothe archbishop through central ownership of church holdings. Thechurches these groups built, he notes, were statements of grandeur bythe working poor.

Other essays look at the Irish influence, the role of Chicagoin shaping American Catholicism, at the church's role in empoweringits members in politics and business. The authors also examine theinfluence of several leading churchmen, including George CardinalMundelein and John Cardinal Cody, the alpha and omega of Catholictriumphalism here.

For all its merits, this book is not a comprehensive history.Most of the essays were originally published in magazines andacademic journals. Materials in one essay often duplicate those inanother. There is not enough about the non-Irish Catholics. And hadwe the space, we would challenge the profile of Cody, that, inattempting balance, sanitizes a man with serious personal andprofessional failings.

Still, for those interested in Chicago history, Catholicism,Chicago Style is well worth the price.

A Book of Saints: True Stories of How They Touch Our Lives, byAnne Gordon (Bantam, $12.95). Chicagoans who think of saints' namesas shorthand for apartment-to-rent ads can find a fuller appreciationof some of those who lent their names to Chicago parishes in thiscollection of short biographies.

A Dictionary of Angels: Including the Fallen Angels, by GustavDavidson (Free Press, $19.95). Traditional religion meets the NewAge in this compendium of angels for all occasions, from abortion tothe zodiac reading. Among choices appropriate for today: Hamaliel,angel of August; Raphael and Michael, the archangel and angel withspecial dominion over Sunday, and Tubiel, Gargatel, Gaviel andTariel, angels who rule summer.

Conversing with the Planets: How Science and Myth Invented theCosmos, by Anthony Aveni (Kodansha, $14). Angels haven't beenwithout rivals in the struggle for celestial dominion. In this lookat how metaphysics and science have sometimes vied and sometimesmeshed in the effort to understand the heavens, ananthropologist/archaeoastronomer explores the cosmic insights ofastronomy, mythology and anthropology.

Scissors, Paper, Rock, by Fenton Johnson (Washington Square,$10). In this novel built on 11 related stories, a Kentucky familystruggles with terminal cancer in one generation and AIDS in thenext.

A Big Storm Knocked It Over, by Laurie Colwin (HarperPerennial, $12). In her fifth and final novel, the author (who diedin 1992) takes a comic look at marriage, careers and parenthood inManhattan.

The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea, by Yukio Mishima(Vintage, $10). The adolescent boys at the heart of thisimpressionistic novel aspire to a life free of sentiment. A sailor,admired by the boys for his strength and masculinity, becomes anobject of scorn when he turns his romantic attentions to the motherof one of the group.

New on the mass market racks: A Fit of Tempera, by Mary Daheim(Avon, $4.99), a mystery about a murderer drawn to artists asvictims, one of the Bed-and-Breakfast series; Rescued, by JessicaDoyle and Carolyn Nichols (Harper, $5.99), a nonfiction account of amother's battle to rescue her abducted children; The Angel Maker, byRidley Pearson (Dell/Island, $5.99), a forensic thriller, about thetheft of organs for transplant from runaway Seattle teens; The ChildQueen, by Nancy McKenzie (DelRey, $4.99), a fantasy novel, retellingthe legend of King Arthur and Queen Guinevere.

Also, Swan Star, by Betina Lindsey (Pocket, $5.50), a romanticfairy tale, the concluding novel of the Swan trilogy, about a warriorthreatened with death for his abduction of a swan maiden; Armed &Female, by Paxton Quigley (St. Martin's Press, $4.99), a gunadvocate's advice to women on buying and learning to fire a gun;Winter Rain, by Terry C. Johnston (Bantam, $5.99), a frontier novel,sequel to Cry of the Hawk, about Civil War veteran Jonah Hook'sefforts to rescue his kidnapped wife and children; Widow's Web, byGene Lyons (Ivy, $5.99), a nonfiction account of a Little Rock murderand sex scandal.

IBM's '100% Mandate' Big Blue may be allowing customers to download only small software packages right now. But the general manager of IBM.com says the company is headed toward fulfilling all software sales online. Corporations may not be ready.

Would you buy all your software over the Internet? IBM thinks you will.

As 2002 began, IBM VP and IBM.com General Manager Doug Maine told Baseline that he had an executive mandate to fulfill 100% of IBM's software sales through IBM.com. An IBM spokesman, Michael Rowin-ski, later would say Maine was referring only to IBM's public Web site, which serves consumers and smaller businesses that lack volume- license agreements or their own private sites with IBM. Even so, the message was unmistakable.

IBM.com accounted for $12 billion of IBM's revenue in 2001, up 41% from the year before. That now represents 14% of IBM's sales of $85.9 billion a year.

IBM.com is also where the savings are. And they can be passed on to corporate customers.

IBM is offering a 10% discount on software obtained through IBM.com. Already, IBM claims 60% of the site's software sales in the Americas are fulfilled electronically, up from the low teens at the end of 2000. The site now carries for sale only smaller software packages such as Lotus Notes and WebSphere Commerce Suite for OS/ 390, which run on workstations or midrange servers and can be downloaded in a relatively short time.

As for cutting costs, IBM estimates that sales completed online with help from a telesales representative cost 40% less than sales completed face-to-face; sales completed online with no human intervention cost 80% less. It won't state absolute dollar savings.

To help, the company is sprucing up its software to make it easier to sell online. IBM director of e-business enablement Darryl Turner attributes part of last year's jump in IBM.com's software sales to new technology IBM developed to speed and restart software downloads. IBM's labs are also investigating ways to break software into modules so it can be downloaded in smaller chunks, an effort Turner says is in the very early planning stages.

Yet corporate customers say that IBMor any software vendor, for that matterhas a long way to go before they would consider buying all their software online as a routine practice.

In general, IBM sells very complex software whose online delivery time can be measured in hours. Would we buy online? With little items [like Java licenses], no problem, but with big items like Content Manager we would want to discuss with [the IBM support staff] whether we need it, says David Bush, CIO of corporate truck and fleet management company Lease Plan USA, which uses IBM software to manage documents electronically.

Resellers of IBM software may lose revenue from IBM's shift online, but one integrator says the benefits of having customers educate themselves and try out software before embarking on a major project will be well worth it. All of the other software vendors will follow this if they aren't doing it already," says Richard Came, CEO of global business strategy for Dimension Data, a technology services company.

Nonetheless, says office automation consultant Amy Wohl, customers will still want to keep a physical copy of the software on hand. Otherwise, when software goes bad, I have to go back and get if off the Net," she says. Meaning: You have to re-download software you thought you already had.

NBA slaps suspension on Tarpley

The Dallas Mavericks' hopes of rebuilding behind talented buttroubled forward Roy Tarpley took another tumble Friday when he wassuspended indefinitely without pay for violating his NBA-mandatedaftercare program for substance abuse.

Tarpley, 26, admitted having three beers before his arrest lastweekend on suspicion of driving while intoxicated.

Because the 7-foot, 245-pound Tarpley was sidelined for theseason because of a knee injury in the fifth game, the suspensionwith 10 games left likely won't affect his playing status.

Tarpley had not been expected to return to the team untilpre-season workouts in the fall. But the suspension definitely willcost him money. Tarpley reportedly earns $765,000 a year, or $63,750a month. GOLF TOURNEY RAINED OUT: PGA Tour and tournament officials canceledthe $1 million Independent Insurance Agent Open and rescheduled itfor Oct. 23-26 after rain had washed out the first two rounds at TheWoodlands, Texas. It was the first PGA Tour event canceled since the1966 Houston Open won by Arnold Palmer. RODGERS LEADS SENIORS: Phil Rodgers shot a 5-under-par 67 to build asix-stroke lead over five players with a 12-under-par 132 after tworounds of the PGA Seniors' The Tradition at Scottsdale, Ariz. GeorgeArcher, Jim Colbert, Ben Smith, Jim Dent and Chi Chi Rodriguez wereat 138. KERDYK TIES FOR LEAD: Tracy Kerdyk shot a career-low 6-under-par 66for a 36-hole total 136 to catch Chris Johnson for a share of thesecond-round lead of the $350,000 PING-Welch's Championship atTucson, Ariz. NAVRATILOVA TRAILS: Three of the semifinalists in the Family CircleMagazine Cup were decided, but defending champion Martina Navratilovatrailed No. 9 Leila Meskhi 6-4, 2-6, 5-4 in the third set when rainsuspended play at Hilton Head Island, S.C. The match is to becompleted today.

Second-seeded Gabriela Sabatini beat No. 7 Helena Sukova 6-0,6-1, No. 3 Arantxa Sanchez Vicario elimi nated Federica Bonsignori 6-3, 6-2 and No. 8 Natalia Zvereva oustedNo. 4 Jana Novotna 7-6 (7-3), 6-4. SAMPRAS, ROSTAGNO WIN: Second seed Pete Sampras blitzed No. 8 DavidPate 6-3, 6-3 and No. 4 Derrick Rostagno dominated sixth-seeded JimmyArias 6-1, 6-4 in quarterfinal matches and will meet in thesemifinals of the Prudential Securities Classic at Orlando, Fla. CHANG UPSET: Top-seeded Michael Chang, the last seed left in theHong Kong Open, was beaten in the quarterfinals by Gary Muller ofSouth Africa 5-7, 6-3, 7-6 (7-1). Felix Barrientos of thePhilippines was dispatched by Australian Wally Masur 6-0, 6-1. McENROE IN ROW: John McEnroe and news photographers scuffled in aHong Kong bar early Friday morning, the manager of the bar said, butno one was hurt. MONACELLI LEADS PBA: Amleto Monacelli, the reigning PBA Player ofthe Year, took the top spot in the PBA $200,000 True Value Open atPeoria. George Branham III, Kelly Coffman, Del Ballard Jr. andCurtis Odom also reached the stepladder finals. MORRIS, SHULER SUE NFL: NFL players Joe Morris and Mickey Shulerhave filed a $5 million lawsuit against the NFL and commissioner PaulTagliabue, according to a published report. CFA ACCEPTS TULSA: The College Football Association's executivecommittee voted to accept the University of Tulsa, a move that couldmean an added $250,000 a year in television revenues for the school.The CFA's full membership must approve the move at its June meeting. CORDOBA WINS TITLE: Panama's Victor Cordoba stopped France'sChristophe Tiozzo in the ninth round to win the WBAsuper-middleweight title at Marseille, France.

Sedish swimmer has butterfly world record erased

Sweden's Therese Alshammar broke her own 50-meter butterfly world record at the Australian swimming titles Tuesday but was later disqualified by Swimming Australia for wearing two swimsuits.

Alshammar set a time of 25.44 seconds in the morning qualifying heats to take 0.02 of a second off the record 25.46 she set at Barcelona, Spain on June 13, 2007.

But officials later discovered that Alshammar was wearing two suits in the race. Swimming Australia said that under swimming governing body FINA's new rules that were ratified last weekend, and Swimming Australia's rules instituted last year, Alshammar would be disqualified because it states that swimmers may only wear one suit.

Alshammar had initially planned to appeal the decision, which came after a five-hour meeting. But later Tuesday, Swimming Australia spokesman Ian Hanson said Alshammar had withdrawn her appeal.

Australia head coach Alan Thompson was blunt when asked if he felt Alshammar was cheating.

"Well obviously, I guess in general terms any breach of the rules is cheating," he said. "The main point to be made is that she wore two swimsuits and it was quite clear on the video and it was noticed by quite a large number of people around the pool this morning."

Triple Olympic gold medalist Stephanie Rice said she was surprised that a swimmer would make such a mistake.

"It is a bit surprising that people are still wearing two suits after they (FINA) made the rules," Rice said.

Last Saturday in Dubai, FINA adopted new rules for the high-tech suits that helped produce more than 100 world records in just over a year.

The guidelines "revise the requirements for swimsuit approval" and it was said they would be in place for the world championships in Rome from July 17. FINA stipulated that swimsuits should not cover the neck and will not extend past the shoulders and ankles.

The 31-year-old Alshammar would not have had another chance to break her mark at the Australian championships. As a foreigner, she is not allowed to compete in semifinals or finals and there is no B final for the race.

Alshammar, the reigning world champion in the non-Olympic event, has been training with Australian swimmers in Sydney for the past two months.

"I am a bit shocked myself, and I am very happy," Alshammar told reporters before she was disqualified. "I have had a great couple of months in Australia, it is the best place in the world for swimming."

It continued the Swedish swimmer's strong performances in the Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre pool _ her three Olympic medals all came at Sydney in 2000.

Alshammar had a disappointing Beijing Olympics, heading to last year's Games as a strong medal prospect in the 50 freestyle. But she missed the final at the Water Cube after she discovered a tear in her swimsuit just before the start of her semifinal, and failed to qualify for the final eight.

Federal funds to expand PBS investigative series

Federal funding will expand the PBS investigative series "Frontline" to a year-round broadcast schedule over the next two years.

On Tuesday, the federally funded Corporation for Public Broadcasting announced a $6 million grant over two years for the program from WGBH in Boston.

The announcement follows $10 million to expand local news coverage on public radio and TV stations. The corporation has invested heavily to boost journalism on public media over the past two years as newspapers decline.

Officials say the expanded "Frontline" will partner with journalism schools at the University of California at Berkeley and American University's Investigative Reporting Workshop, as well as the nonprofit Center for Investigative Reporting, ProPublica and others.

Malaysia's king urges lawmakers to protect racial peace as he opens new Parliament

Malaysia's king urged lawmakers to preserve racial peace as he formally opened the multiethnic country's new Parliament on Tuesday, packed with a record number of opposition members.

Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin, Malaysia's constitutional monarch, noted that "the key to this country's success is political stability and racial unity."

"With that I urge all parties to bear the responsibility of ensuring that all races are united and to combat any efforts to split the people," he said in a speech to the joint sitting of the lower and upper chambers of Parliament.

A record number of 82 opposition legislators were elected to the 222-member lower house in the March 8 general elections, which dramatically changed the balance of power for the first time in history.

The ruling National Front coalition, which has been in power since independence in 1957, lost its traditional two-thirds majority, winning only 140 seats. Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim has said he can bring down the government, saying at least 30 government lawmakers are willing to defect. But he says he wants to wait until more are ready to cross over.

The National Front's massive loss was attributed to a protest vote for the opposition by the minority ethnic Chinese and Indians, who together form 40 percent of Malaysia's 27 million population.

The minorities are bitter about the government's policies favoring the majority Malays, and say they face racial discrimination in religion, jobs, education, and in dealing with the Malay-dominated bureaucracy.

Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's government has said it has learnt its lesson from the election losses. Still, the minority anger has raised fears of racial instability in this country, which has largely been at peace since deadly Chinese-Malay riots in 1969.

Sultan Mizan also urged Parliament to be vigilant about fighting corruption, noting that Abdullah has recently announced a blueprint to restructure the government's Anti-Corruption Agency.

"I hope efforts will be made to raise the effectiveness, transparency and accountability in eliminating corruption in this country," he said. The economic achievements and development of the country "will be meaningless if bribery, abuse of power and corruption still occur," he said.

Parliament will begin its official business on Wednesday when the government will answer questions by lawmakers.

For the first time in Malaysia's history, the opposition leader in Parliament is a woman _ Anwar's wife Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, head of the People's Justice Party.

Anwar is the brains behind the party as well as the chief strategist of the opposition alliance that includes his party as well as the left-leaning Democratic Action Party and the religion-based Pan Malaysian Islamic Party.

Strauss-Kahn lawyer: Meeting with NY DA productive

NEW YORK (AP) — Defense lawyers pushing for sexual assault charges against Dominique Strauss-Kahn to be dropped say they had a productive meeting with prosecutors.

Attorney Benjamin Brafman declined to comment further or answer questions from reporters as he left Wednesday's meeting.

Just a few weeks ago, the sex case against the former International Monetary Fund leader looked ironclad.

Prosecutors are now rethinking whether they can even go forward with the case after finding that Strauss-Kahn's accuser wasn't truthful about her background and about the aftermath of the alleged sex attack.

BETWEEN HOMES

BETWEEN HOMES

Zine, fen Pilles, 11 Ascot Court, Wetland, ON, L3C 6K7, jenpilles@hotmail.com, $2 or trade

Between Homes takes a look at what it really means to pack up your things and move from one place to another. As the author shares her moving experience with us, she shows that a house is never just a house. Like all things in life, one thing is always connected to another, and the author spins a web of emotions that tangles her old blue house with many other things. The blue house was a place of fun and suffering, love and hurtful betrayal. It was a place in suburban Oakville where she was supposed to give living a stable life a test run, but it turned out to be a place of emotional turmoil and unachieved expectations that left her feeling as if she's been dragged around the entire world twice over.

The author's narrative voice is consistently filled with emotion that drew me in to her experiences. She never just simply narrates settings or events and she's more likely to describe her feelings than she is to describe the walls and floors of the house. The illustrations depicting the blue house and the author are messy - more aimless scribbles than solid shapes - but the art is wonderfully fitting. There's a sad emptiness in how the author fills so little space when contrasted to the house.

Stapled between two pieces of thin cardboard, Between Homes is a moving box carrying thoughts and feelings. The contents of which took something simple and mundane - moving - and turned it into a story that is epic and life changing. (Terry Harjanto)

Early release inmate returned for attempted murder

When Gov. Pat Quinn halted a secret early prison release program last week, he acknowledged that 56 of the freed inmates were already back behind bars _ 48 of them for violating rules of their parole.

What he didn't say was that those broken rules included at least 17 allegations of violent crimes, including attempted murder, armed robbery and domestic battery, according to Associated Press interviews and reviews of both public and internal Corrections Department documents.

One offender who's back after he was released under the program known as "MGT Push" allegedly shot his victim in the leg. Victims of nine others who earned return trips to the penitentiary contend they were battered.

Seven parolees are back in lockup for crimes involving guns or other weapons.

Two who returned after arrests on domestic battery allegations could have been picked up by the Corrections Department earlier, following busts for less serious crimes, but were not.

The cases represent new problems for Quinn, who already is facing intense criticism over MGT Push _ so-named because it refers to giving prisoners "meritorious good time" credit.

The program, and how much Quinn knew about it before The Associated Press revealed its existence in December, have become major issues in the governor's race. The primary union for prison guards and parole officers this week issued the latest call for a legislative investigation.

MGT Push involved secretly changing a Corrections policy that required inmates to stay a minimum of 61 days. Inmates also were given as much as six months' time off for good conduct as soon as they arrived, before they had a chance to display any conduct, good or bad.

That made inmates _ some of them violent _ eligible for release in as little as three weeks, including county jail time. Quinn has stressed that even without MGT Push, discretionary awards of good-conduct credit would have qualified them for release in another month or two.

When he reinstated the minimum-stay policy and announced other reforms on Dec. 30, Quinn said eight MGT Push parolees were back in prison serving sentences for new crimes including domestic battery, aggravated drunken driving, theft and drug charges. A ninth was returned for a new drug sentence the next day.

The remainder of the 56 he labeled "technical violations" held over parolees' heads for not following the rules.

Spokesman Bob Reed said Quinn wasn't trying to mislead anyone about the conduct of the inmates who had been released early. Quinn was not told that those technical violations included allegations of serious crimes, he said.

"The governor worked with the best information he had at the time," Reed said. He stressed the new offenses are accusations, not convictions.

Documents and police reports show allegations of new crimes against 21 of the 48 parolees, with 17 accusations of violence, including:

_Anthony Finley, 21, arrested in Chicago nine days after leaving prison for allegedly shooting a victim in the thigh. He is charged with attempted murder, aggravated battery with a firearm and two aggravated weapons charges. Finley had been sentenced in 2008 to three years for a drug charge. He spent a little under a year in Cook County Jail, was transferred to state prison and was released three weeks later, on Oct. 10.

_Eric Hicks, 24, arrested Nov. 23 for allegedly using a gun to rob a pedestrian in Chicago of cash and a cell phone. He had been sentenced in 2008 to three years for attempted robbery, served 14 months in county jail and was paroled Oct. 6 after 14 days in state prison.

_Timothy Warren, 38, arrested Oct. 10 in Chicago when a search of his home turned up a .32-caliber handgun and two pit bulls. He is charged with unlawful use of a weapon and possession of vicious dogs by a felon. He had been paroled 11 days earlier after serving just six months of a two-year sentence for a similar weapons charge, with just under five months in county jail.

_Alfred Wooten, 40, arrested Dec. 2 on domestic battery allegations after police saw him knocking a woman to the ground and striking her head. He had been paroled Oct. 15 after serving just 54 days _ 13 in state prison _ of a one-year sentence for retail theft.

Wooten is one of those charged with battery who could have been returned to prison earlier. Police arrested him Nov. 17 on suspicion of criminal trespass to a vehicle, but internal Corrections documents indicate officials decided not to pick him up on a parole-violation warrant.

The other was Joshua Paddock, 21, paroled Nov. 6 as part of MGT Push after serving a stint for aggravated battery. He was arrested Nov. 19 for driving without a license but was not returned to prison.

Zion police arrested him Dec. 17 on four counts of domestic battery, which then earned him a trip back to prison.

According to the Corrections documents, the victim contends Paddock stripped her, kicked her, choked her and dragged her across the pavement and back into a hotel room over the course of four hours.

Decisions to revoke parole are made individually on each case, said Corrections spokeswoman Januari Smith, adding that officials may also stiffen a parolee's restrictions instead of taking him back to the pen.

It was not immediately clear whether any of the re-incarcerated men has an attorney.

The Associated Press has repeatedly requested details of the 56 returnees since Quinn's Dec. 30 statement. The agency finally produced a document Thursday, confirming the AP findings.

It shows 13 offenders went back to prison after going AWOL from parole or failing to comply with regulations, testing positive for drug use or moving to another location without permission. Fourteen spent little if any time on the street because they failed to find or keep an approved place to live.

Quadrophenia review: Theatre Royal Bath

Quadrophenia is an extraordinary word that was the title of anextraordinary rock album. It then subsequently went on to be anextraordinary film and this week theatregoers in Bath have seen thatit has also now been reborn into an extraordinary stage play too.

The film is probably the best known of all. Starring Phil Danielsas Jimmy, the challenged young man who suffers from multiplepersonality problems, it charts his struggle to find his place inthe world by joining the burgeoning mod movement of the early 1960s.From being an outsider all his life, he discovers people and musicthat he can identify with and his life seems to be on an upwardspiral. Until, that is, he realises that even this new 'mod' worldisn't quite as it seems.

The film is a mixture of words and music but the stage play istotally different. It is quite simply a rock opera and the entirestory is told through the Who's incredible music and by the vividacting of the four people who simultaneously play Jimmy. Yes, fourpeople. At the same time. That may sound incredibly confusing but itworks because the actors are so strong you believe in all the fourindividual parts that make up the whole.

Staged in just two acts, the play takes us from Jimmy's troubledhome life to the beaches of Brighton where the mods verses rockersbattles go on, but more importantly Jimmy's battles within himselfintensify.

This is simply a superb production. The music is relentless,powerful and mesmerising - and the action on stage is exactly thesame. An incredibly young cast display unlimited energy, passionand commitment and they leave you with the feeling that they arereally living the various roles they inhabit.

At the end of two mesmerising hours, the faultless cast andmusicians were rewarded with a thoroughly deserved standing ovation.They were applauding that rare beast - a rock opera that trulyworked and which gave us all a truly absorbing and unforgettableevening.

Sam Holliday

Gay activists march in Calif. ahead of showdown

Advocates on both sides of the gay marriage issue demonstrated outside California's highest court Thursday before justices heard arguments on lawsuits seeking to overturn the state's ban on same-sex nuptials.

Supporters of gay marriage carried rainbow flags and banners that urged the overturning of voter-approved Proposition 8, which took away the right of gay men and lesbians to wed.

Nearby, opponents of the unions held yellow signs left over from last year's campaign that said "Yes on 8." Others said, "A moral wrong cannot be a civil right."

Police officers stood watch, and while emotions ran high, the demonstration was peaceful.

Fewer than two dozen people who waited in line early Thursday were able to get a seats in the courtroom for the three-hour hearing. Gay rights groups also rented out a nearby auditorium and a big screen television for the outdoor plaza.

"It's important to show the Supreme Court justices history is on our side," said Paul Sousa, 22, of Boston, who flew to San Francisco on Wednesday to be close to the action. "Courts often can be a couple steps ahead of the curve on civil rights issues. We just have to help them get there."

The ballot initiative, which passed with 52 percent of the vote in November, changed the California Constitution to trump last year's 4-3 Supreme Court decision that held that denying same-sex couples the right to wed was an unconstitutional civil rights violation.

On Wednesday night, several thousand people marched from San Francisco's pro-gay Castro District to City Hall both to demonstrate public support for invalidating Proposition 8.

The Supreme Court's seven justices have 90 days after the oral arguments in which to issue a ruling.

"This is really about what the rest of the world sees _ the rest of the world seeing there are huge numbers of people this issue touches," said Cherie Tony, 52, of San Francisco, who was among the crowd carrying candles and chanting "What do we want? Equal rights! When we do we want it? Now!"

Similar vigils were held in Los Angeles, other California cities, and as far away as New York. At the Los Angeles event, gay and lesbian couples decked out in wedding finery participated in a public "recommitment" ceremony.

Todd Barrett said he and his partner Joe Witmore, who were married during the 4 1/2-month window last year when same-sex couples could wed in California, brought their 5-year-old daughter to show that Proposition 8's passage affected families.

"I don't know how I would explain to her that Daddy and Pappa aren't married anymore," Barrett said.

The coalition of religious and conservative groups that sponsored the ballot initiative organized a statewide day of prayer on Sunday to rally support for upholding the measure and encouraged supporters to peacefully join same-sex marriage advocates outside the Supreme Court on Thursday.

"Our only purpose is to remind the media, Californians and Americans everywhere that support for traditional marriage is the majority position in the state," Ron Prentice, chairman of the ProtectMarriage coalition, said in a statement. "We won the Prop 8 election. The Constitution has been amended. The will of the people should now prevail."

Gay rights groups, couples and more than a dozen local governments are urging the court to overturn the measure on the grounds that it was put before voters improperly, or at least prematurely. Under state law, the Legislature must approve significant constitutional changes before they can go on the ballot.

Attorney General Jerry Brown has taken the unusual step of refusing to defend the gay marriage ban in court. His office argues that because the court has already recognized marriage as a fundamental right and gays as a minority group deserving of judicial protection, outlawing same-sex marriage is a constitutional breach.

Both Brown and the parties behind the lawsuits also claim that the ballot measure abrogates the court's role as the ultimate guardian of civil rights and if allowed to stand would leave other groups vulnerable to having their liberties curtailed.

The Supreme Court has asked the attorney general and lawyers for the couples, local governments and Proposition 8's sponsors to limit their arguments to three specific questions:

_ Is Proposition 8 invalid because it constitutes a revision of, rather than an amendment to, the California Constitution?

_ Does Proposition 8 violate the separation of powers doctrine under the California Constitution?

_ If Proposition 8 is not unconstitutional, what is its effect, if any, on the marriages of same-sex couples performed before the adoption of Proposition 8?

Proposition 8's sponsors are being represented in court by former Pepperdine law school dean Kenneth Starr, who investigated President Bill Clinton during the Monica Lewinsky scandal. He argues that the ballot initiative was approved correctly and that it would be a miscarriage of justice for the court to overturn the results of a fair election.

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Associated Press writer Raquel Dillon in Los Angeles contributed to this report.

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On the Net:

Watch the arguments: http://www.calchannel.com

Equality California: http://www.eqca.org

ProtectMarriage coalition: http://www.protectmarriage.com

Fed Expected to Keep Rates Steady

WASHINGTON - It's been nearly a year since the Federal Reserve last changed interest rates and there are no expectations the central bank is going to deviate from its stay-the-course policy any time soon.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and his colleagues were expected to announce at the end of Wednesday's meeting that they decided for the eighth straight time to leave the federal funds rate unchanged at 5.25 percent.

That is where it has been since the Fed last changed rates June 29, when it raised the funds rate for a 17th consecutive time over a two-year period. That was the longest stretch of Fed rate hikes on record as the central bank sought to slow the economy and combat rising inflation pressures.

According to recent economic data, the Fed's effort seems to be working according to plan.

Economic growth slowed to an annual rate of just 1.3 percent in the January-March quarter, the slowest pace in four years.

That slow growth is having the desired effect of taking some of the pressure off tight labor markets. The unemployment rate inched up a tad to 4.5 percent in April with businesses creating just 88,000 new jobs, the weakest showing in 2 1/2 years.

And the economic slowdown is helping reduce inflation. The Fed's preferred inflation gauge rose by just 2.1 percent for the 12 months ending in March, down from what had been a worrisome 2.4 percent 12-month increase for the period ending in February.

"Fed officials must feel they are in a pretty good place," said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Economy.com. "Growth has slowed and underlying inflation appears to be moderating, just according to their script."

Because the scenario for a soft landing for the economy appears to be unfolding, analysts said the Fed won't see any need to make changes. That will be a disappointment for those in financial markets, who have been hoping that the Fed will respond to the slowing economy by starting to cut rates.

Such hope was stirred at the Fed's last meeting, on March 21, when officials replaced wording on the possible need for "additional firming," the Fed's phrase for rate hikes, with the more neutral statement of "future policy adjustments."

Even that small wording change was enough to stoke investors' hopes that Fed rate cuts might be in the offing and sent stock prices soaring immediately after the meeting.

However, Fed officials from Bernanke on down have thrown cold water on the possibility of imminent rate cuts, stressing that while the economy has slowed, they still believe the biggest threat is that inflation will not slow as much as desired.

Some analysts believe the Fed could stay on hold for the entire year although others say they are still looking for one or possibly two rate cuts late in 2007 if inflation has fallen further by that time in response to below-par economic growth.

Many economists believe the economy is growing at around a 2 percent pace in the current spring quarter and will probably average around 2.5 percent in the summer - growth that will not be fast enough to keep the unemployment rate from rising further.

David Wyss, chief economist at Standard & Poor's in New York, said he expected the jobless rate to peak out at 5 percent by the end of this year.

"By the end of the year, the Fed may see enough evidence of economic slowness along with lower inflation to convince them that they can start cutting rates," Wyss said.

David Jones, chief economist at DMJ Advisors, said he was looking for at the most two rate cuts in the fall but stressed that "the timing and frequency of any rate cuts will depend critically on incoming information about the economy."

Lyle Gramley, a former Fed board member and economic adviser to Schwab Washington Research Group, said while he believed the Fed could leave rates along for the rest of this year, the central bank could quickly alter that stance if concerns about the economic slowdown start rising.

"The Fed is not going to put the economy through a ringer to get inflation down," he said. "If we get closer to a recession, they will cut rates."

Monday's Sports Scoreboard

All Times Eastern
American League
Chicago White Sox vs Cleveland, 7:05 p.m.
Kansas City vs N.Y. Yankees, 7:05 p.m.
Minnesota vs Detroit, 7:05 p.m.
Baltimore vs Tampa Bay, 7:08 p.m.
Toronto vs Boston, 7:10 p.m.
Texas vs L.A. Angels, 10:05 p.m.
National League
L.A. Dodgers vs Pittsburgh, 12:35 p.m.
Houston vs Philadelphia, 7:05 p.m.
N.Y. Mets vs Washington, 7:05 p.m.
Florida vs Atlanta, 7:10 p.m.
National Football League
Carolina vs Dallas, 8:30 p.m.
National Hockey League Preseason
No games today.
Top 25 College Football
No games today.
WNBA Basketball Playoffs
No games today.
Major League Soccer
No games today.

YFC holds rally

CARMARTHEN'S United Counties Showground is hosting the countyYoung Farmers Club Rally this weekend.

The rally takes place at the Nantyci venue on May 7.