Library views sought ; In brief

ESSEX: More than 15,000 residents have responded to a countycouncil consultation on proposals to change the opening hours ofEssex's …

US to Press Ahead With Anti-Missile Plan

ROME - President Bush signaled Friday the United States will press ahead with a missile defense shield in Eastern Europe despite Russia's heated objections. Poland's president expressed support for installing interceptor rockets in his country.

An upset stomach crimped Bush's schedule on a busy day that took him from Germany to Poland and finally to Italy. The president stayed in bed and skipped morning sessions at the summit of world leaders in Heiligendamm, Germany, and he appeared subdued later after talks in Poland with President Lech Kaczynski.

"Still not 100 percent but better all the time," White House deputy press secretary Dana Perino said of her boss.

…

Bubble that covers Cowboys indoor field collapses

An air-supported practice bubble that covers a practice at the Dallas Cowboys' facility collapsed during a strong thunderstorm on Saturday.

There were no reports of injuries. An ambulance was seen arriving at the …

A capsule look at Reds-Phillies playoff series

A look at the best-of-five National League division …

Remembering William 'Billy' Carson

We regretfully announce the passing of our good friend, William "Billy" Carson.

Carson was host of the Gospel City Videos telecast and producer of many church telecasts which aired on the weekends during the Broadcast Ministers Alhance programming on Channel 25.

His spiritual nature and career in gospel music began at St. Lawrence Church of God in Christ, where he later organized the Billy Carson Singers.

This young group traveled with the late Anna Broy Crockett Ford to many C.O.G.I.C. conventions mroughout the U.S.

Carson was also an acclaimed teen percussionist, as seen on the gospel TV show Jubilee Showcase and heard on recordings and live broadcasts …

China announces US$700 million snow disaster fund for farmers as company losses rise

China announced a 5 billion yuan (US$700 million; euro500 million) fund Friday to help farmers recover from devastating snowstorms as more steel mills cut production due to lack of power and companies' losses mounted.

Total damages have risen to 53.8 billion yuan (US$7.5 billion; euro5 billion) from storms that have destroyed crops, ripped down phone lines and disrupted trains and trucking across central and southern China, the government said.

The central bank "will urgently create a 5 billion yuan farm support account, focusing on helping disaster lending by small institutions in disaster areas," it said on its Web site.

Commercial …

Solidarity at festive evening

Staff at the Cadbury plant manned two stalls at Keynsham's annualVictorian Evening on Friday, urging visitors to back their campaign.

They handed out chocolate bars and gifts to thank local peoplefor their support so far and invited residents to join them on …

New tools ease ECU development

Why Hewlett-Packard and ETAS are pressing for open standardization of tools in powertrain ECU design and testing.

n today's engineering environment, the "Dilbertization" of time management - so precisely captured in the phrase "pressure makes diamonds" - puts a premium on prioritization. This is increasingly true in the development of electronic control units (ECUs).

As available computing power and the functional complexity of ECUs rise, engineers face a problem - the lack of standardized tools (software and hardware) needed for ECU development. Two companies -Hewlett-Packard (H-P) and ETAS - claim open architecture will allow automotive electronics suppliers and …

Dutch telecom KPN 2Q earnings fall on restructuring charges

The Dutch telecommunications company Royal KPN NV said Wednesday its net profit fell 12 percent in the second quarter, due to restructuring charges, higher financing costs and taxes.

However, analysts said the company's underlying performance was better than expected and shares rose 5.1 percent to euro10.65 (US$16.74) in Amsterdam.

The company said net profit was euro353 million (US$555 million), down from euro401 million a year ago, while sales were up 22 percent to euro3.66 billion (US$5.75 billion).

Notably, the company added 780,000 customers at its German mobile telephone arm E-Plus in the quarter, and it lost fewer fixed line customers in …

The class is virtual; the grades are real: ; George Washington part of pilot program

DAILY MAIL STAFF

THERE are notes, homework, research projects, term papers,quizzes and tests.

Sure sounds like a class. The only thing missing is thechalkboard and the pencil sharpener. That's because this classmeets in cyberspace - that hazy area where computer networks linktogether to provide access to information, interactive communicationand a form of virtual reality.

Twenty-five West Virginia schools, including George WashingtonHigh School in Kanawha County, are offering these virtual classes ona trial basis this year in a variety of subjects ranging from healthto oceanography.

The state Department of Education addressed the issue of …

Nobel committee blasts Aung San Suu Kyi treatment

The Nobel Peace Prize awards committee issued a rare public statement Friday to condemn the imprisonment of 1991 peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and to demand her immediate release.

The 63-year-old opposition leader was jailed on Thursday on charges of violating her house arrest. She has spent 13 of the past 19 years in detention without trial for her nonviolent promotion of democracy.

The secretive Nobel committee traditionally does not comment on past laureates. However, its non-voting secretary Geir Lundestad said they are deeply concerned about Suu Kyi and had made earlier appeals on her behalf.

"We sent this because it is a matter of the life and health of a laureate," Lundestad told The Associated Press.

The five-member committee said in the statement that it "protests strongly against the way in which the government of Myanmar (Burma) has treated Aung San Suu Kyi. Her recent detention in prison is totally unacceptable. She has done nothing wrong."

Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy won national elections in 1990, but the military junta refused to relinquish power. She was not able to attend her Nobel Peace Prize awards ceremony because she was under house arrest, so her son Alexander Aris accepted the prize for her in 1991.

"The unacceptable treatment of her has to come to an immediate end. Recent reports about Aung San Suu Kyi's health are of great concern. We demand that she be given the necessary medical assistance without delay," said the Nobel committee.

____

On the Net:

http://www.government.no

NFL Fines Pats Coach, Team Loses Pick

NEW YORK - Bill Belichick should be able to read this signal clearly: Spy on your opponents, and it will cost you. The New England coach was fined the NFL maximum of $500,000 Thursday and the Patriots were ordered to pay $250,000 for stealing an opponent's defensive signals.

Commissioner Roger Goodell also ordered the team to give up next year's first-round draft choice if it reaches the playoffs and second- and third-round picks if it doesn't.

The videotaping came to light after a camera was confiscated from Patriots video assistant Matt Estrella while he was on the New York Jets' sideline during New England's 38-14 win last Sunday at Giants Stadium.

The NFL said the camera was seized before the end of the first quarter and had no impact on the game.

"This episode represents a calculated and deliberate attempt to avoid longstanding rules designed to encourage fair play and promote honest competition on the playing field," Goodell said in a letter to the Patriots.

He said he considered suspending Belichick but didn't "largely because I believe that the discipline I am imposing of a maximum fine and forfeiture of a first-round draft choice, or multiple draft choices, is in fact more significant and long-lasting, and therefore more effective, than a suspension."

Goodell's hard line on discipline has been aimed so far at players - most notably Michael Vick and Adam "Pacman" Jones.

By penalizing a coach and a team he showed that no one, not even management, was immune.

Reached at his home, Patriots owner Robert Kraft declined to comment.

The New York Jets said: "We support the commissioner and his findings."

New England, strengthened by the addition of Randy Moss, two other first-rate wide receivers and linebacker Adalius Thomas, is considered one of the favorites to win the Super Bowl for the fourth time since the 2001 season. If the Patriots lose their first-rounder next season they still will have a first-round pick, obtained from San Francisco in the deal that brought Moss from Oakland.

NFL rules state "no video recording devices of any kind are permitted to be in use in the coaches' booth, on the field, or in the locker room during the game." They also say all video for coaching purposes must be shot from locations "enclosed on all sides with a roof overhead."

That was re-emphasized in a memo sent Sept. 6 to NFL head coaches and general managers. In it, Ray Anderson, the league's executive vice president of football operations wrote: "Videotaping of any type, including but not limited to taping of an opponent's offensive or defensive signals, is prohibited on the sidelines, in the coaches' booth, in the locker room, or at any other locations accessible to club staff members during the game."

The NFL statement said Goodell believed Kraft was unaware of Belichick's actions.

But it said the commissioner believed penalties should be imposed on the club because "Coach Belichick not only serves as the head coach but also has substantial control over all aspects of New England's football operations. His actions and decisions are properly attributed to the club."

On Wednesday, Belichick issued a one-paragraph statement 10 minutes before his regular availability, saying he had spoken with Goodell "about a videotaping procedure during last Sunday's game and my interpretation of the rules."

"Although it remains a league matter, I want to apologize to everyone who has been affected, most of all ownership, staff and players," he said.

NFL coaches long have suspected opponents of spying. In the early 1970s, the late George Allen, coach of the Washington Redskins, routinely would send a security man into the woods surrounding the team's practice facility because he suspected there were spies from other teams there.

And coaches like Seattle's Mike Holmgren and Philadelphia's Andy Reid, among others, always cover their mouths when calling plays from the sideline because they fear other teams have lip readers trying to determine their calls.

The most recent hefty fine against a coach was in 2005, when Tagliabue fined former Minnesota coach Mike Tice $100,000 for scalping Super Bowl tickets.

Last November, Goodell fined Tennessee coach Jeff Fisher, co-chairman of the competition committee, $12,500 for criticizing officials. He also fined Pittsburgh owner Dan Rooney, one of his mentors and the man who informed him he had been elected commissioner, for the same violation.

Moderate quake rattles China's northwest

Chinese seismological authorities say a moderate earthquake registering a magnitude of 5.5 Sunday has struck China's far western Xinjiang region. No injuries were immediately reported.

An official from the Xinjiang seismological bureau says the quake's epicenter was northwest of the thinly populated county of Akqi, near the border with Kyrgyzstan.

He said authorities were assessing the damage caused by the temblor that struck at noon local time (0400h GMT). The U.S. Geological Survey recorded a magnitude 5.2 quake in Kyrgyzstan, 110 miles (177 kilometers) west of the Chinese city of Aksu in Xinjiang.

China's worst earthquake in recent years hit the southwestern province of Sichuan last May. The magnitude 7.9 quake left almost 90,000 people dead or missing.

Foreclosure activity up across most US metro areas

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The foreclosure crisis intensified across a majority of large U.S. metropolitan areas this summer, with Chicago and Seattle — cities outside of the states that have shouldered the worst of the housing downturn — seeing a sharp increase in foreclosure warnings.

California, Nevada, Florida and Arizona remain the country's foreclosure hotbeds, accounting for 19 of the top 20 metropolitan areas with the highest foreclosure rates between July and September, foreclosure listing firm RealtyTrac Inc. said Thursday.

Those states saw housing values surge during the housing boom years. When the boom ended, values collapsed and foreclosures soared.

But the latest data show that many of the metro areas in those states saw a decline in the number of households receiving foreclosure-related filings, while many cities in other states saw a spike in foreclosure activity.

"The epidemic is spreading from the states at the ground zero of the foreclosure problems out into areas that hadn't been previously affected," said Rick Sharga, a senior vice president at RealtyTrac.

The trend is the latest sign that the U.S. foreclosure crisis is worsening as homeowners facing high unemployment, slow job growth and uncertainty about home prices continue to fall behind on their mortgage payments.

In all, 133 out of 206 metropolitan areas with at least 200,000 residents posted an annual increase in foreclosure activity in the three months ended Sept. 30, RealtyTrac said.

The firm tracks notices for defaults, scheduled home auctions and home repossessions — warnings that can lead up to a home eventually being lost to foreclosure.

Eleven out of the nation's 20 largest metropolitan areas saw foreclosure activity increase in the third quarter compared to the same period last year.

The Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue metro area registered the sharpest annual increase — 71 percent. One in every 129 households received a foreclosure filing.

The Chicago-Naperville-Joliet metropolitan area posted the second-highest annual jump, a 35 percent increase. One in every 84 households received a foreclosure notice.

Among the other metro areas where foreclosure activity jumped by a large margin this summer were Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown, up 26 percent; Detroit-Warren-Livonia, at nearly 23 percent; and, Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta, up 20 percent.

Economic woes, such as unemployment or reduced income, continue to be the main catalysts for foreclosures this year. The U.S. unemployment rate hit 9.6 percent last month.

In the Seattle metro area, unemployment stood slightly lower at 8.5 percent in August and has been edging lower. It was 8.7 percent in August last year.

Still, many troubled homeowners have been unable to hang on. As a result, there's been no letup in the inventory of foreclosed homes on the market this year, says John Bauer, an agent with ZipRealty in Seattle who represents lenders selling foreclosed properties.

"It has been on an upward trend curve ever since 2008," Bauer said. "And not just the third quarter of this year, but the last 12 months, it's been on a steady ascension."

Chicago also had the third-highest number of homes repossessed by lenders during the quarter — 12,568 — behind the Phoenix metro area's 14,317 and the Miami metro area's 12,963, RealtyTrac said.

Banks have seized more than 816,000 homes through the first nine months of the year and are on pace to seize more than a million.

A controversy stemming from allegations that banks evicted people without reading foreclosure documents wasn't a factor in the July-September quarter, Sharga said.

Lenders such as Bank of America and Ally Financial's GMAC Mortgage initially halted foreclosure activity but have since resumed processing foreclosures.

Preliminary data from this month shows almost no change in foreclosure activity versus September, Sharga said.

"We're not seeing what we might have anticipated in terms of a falloff," he said.

The Las Vegas-Paradise, Nevada, metropolitan area topped the list of metropolitan areas with the highest foreclosure rates in July-September with one in every 25 homes receiving a foreclosure warning — more than five times the national average. But foreclosure filings declined 20 percent from the same quarter last year.

"It's not out of the woods yet, it's just less bad than it was a year ago," Sharga said.

Rounding out the rest of the top 10 metros with the highest foreclosure rate were Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Florida; Modesto, California; Stockton, California; Merced, California; Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, California; Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach, Florida; Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, Arizona; Bakersfield, California; and Vallejo-Fairfield, California.

Pledge to reduce food waste

A woman from Southdown has won a pounds50 voucher with a pledgeto reduce the amount of food she ends up throwing away.

Dawn Head won the prize as part of Bath and North East SomersetCouncil's support for the national Love Food, Hate Waste campaign.

Dozens of local residents submitted their ideas on how they wouldreduce the amount of food they throw away.

The ideas were collected by the council at its recyclingroadshows and community events where residents were also told how toprevent some of their uncooked food waste, such as vegetablepeelings and fruit waste, going to landfill by composting at home.

The voucher can be spent in the Harvest Natural Foods store inWalcot Street.

The average family throws away pounds610 of food shopping a year.

Ms Head said: "My pledge was to make a list before I go foodshopping and to check that my fridge is between 1C and 5C (34F to41F) so that it stores things properly. I was delighted to win thevoucher."

Longtime St. Jerome deacon

ROBERT MURPHY - 1923-2009

When parishioners at St. Jerome Catholic Church were in the hospital or at a nursing home, they knew they could count on getting communion from the North Side church's longtime parish deacon, Robert Murphy.

"On Sundays, he would be gone for hours," said his son Brian. "He would not only go to give communion, but he would also sit and visit people. If someone would need a new belt or something like that, he would take care of it. It was always communion and conversation. That was a real big part of his ministry."

As a lawyer, Mr. Murphy, also helped numerous parishioners with legal matters.

Mr. Murphy died Monday after suffering a stroke following a fall. He was 86.

Mr. Murphy was born in Downstate Bloomington, where he attended the former Trinity High School.

He attended Loras College in Dubuque, Iowa, before enlisting in the Marines during World War II.

He fought in the Battle of Okinawa and rose to the rank of corporal by the end of his service.

After the war, he completed his undergraduate degree at the University of Notre Dame, where he also earned his law degree.

While studying at Notre Dame, he met his future wife, Ann Christian, who attended nearby St. Mary's College.

They married in 1951 and had 11 children.

That's the year he began his law career; he was active in the profession until he was about 80. For most of those years, he represented petitioners in workers compensation cases.

"One thing that he was extremely proud of was that as a deacon and a lawyer, as families came through St. Jerome parish who were not citizens, he would work with immigration lawyers to help them," Brian Murphy said. "He was instrumental in getting them set up as documented aliens, and many of them became citizens."

He also did pro bono work for other members of the parish, Brian Murphy said.

For many years, he also ran St. Jerome's Share Food program, said his daughter Ellen O'Hanlon.

At the end of his legal career, Mr. Murphy gravitated to elder law and probate work, Brian Murphy said.

Other survivors include his children Nancy McGuire, Patti Williams, Kevin, Tim, Maureen Anderson, Michael, Teresa Quinlan, Terry and Sean, and 26 grandchildren.

Visitation will be from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. today at Maloney Funeral Home, 1359 W. Devon.

Funeral services will be at 10 a.m. Friday at St. Jerome, 1709 W. Lunt.

Obituary of Robert Murphy

Photo: Robert Murphy's son said he brought "communion and conversation" to church members in hospitals and nursing homes. ;

Nebraska's 'toilet-paper bandit' pleads guilty

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The so-called "toilet-paper bandit" has pleaded guilty to attempted robbery in Lincoln. Sentencing is set Oct. 28 for 29-year-old Joshua F. Nelson, of Lincoln. Nelson made his plea Wednesday in Lincoln County District Court after an agreement with prosecutors, who had lowered the charge and dismissed a weapons count.

Nelson faces a maximum of 20 years in prison.

Police said Nelson concealed his face by wrapping his head with toilet paper to rob a Lincoln convenience store on April 24. He was armed with a knife, but no one was hurt in the robbery.

Prosecutor Andrew Jacobsen told the Lincoln Journal Star that on May 2 a man found a roll of coins, a knife and a prescription pill bottle with Nelson's name on it. That led investigators to Nelson.

___

Information from: Lincoln Journal Star, http://www.journalstar.com

`X-Files' exec mourns loss of worker

The creator of "The X-Files" said he and his colleagues willdeeply miss the crew member accidentally electrocuted Monday duringfilming of the Fox series.

The worker, identified as Jim Engh, was killed (not injured, as aheadline Tuesday incorrectly stated) when an electrical line sent a4,800-volt charge through the scaffold he was using. Six others onthe scaffold were injured.

"All of us are deeply saddened by the tragic loss of our friendand colleague Jim Engh," Chris Carter, creator and executive producerof "The X-Files," said in a statement.

"Our hearts go out to his family and friends. He will be deeplymissed by all who have known him and worked with him. Our thoughtsand prayers are with the other crew members who were injured. We wishthem a speedy recovery."

None of the actors in the series, which stars Gillian Anderson andDavid Duchovny, was present when the accident occurred.

Serbia wants to keep control over Serb areas of Kosovo after province declares independence

Serbia's minister for Kosovo suggested Saturday that Belgrade will seek to keep control over Serb-populated areas after the predominantly ethnic Albanian province declares independence.

Slobodan Samardzic, Serbia's minister for Kosovo, said Friday that Belgrade had information indicating that Kosovo will unilaterally declare independence on Feb. 17.

Western officials said they expected the move a day later, and Kosovo's prime minister, Hashim Thaci, did not confirm or deny Samardzic's statement but said Kosovo's split from Serbia was "a done deal."

On Saturday, Samardzic said "all should be done for the Serbs to remain on their land and live safely as citizens of Serbia after possible unilateral independence declaration" _ a stance that seemed to set the two sides up for more tension and a de-facto division of the disputed territory.

Hard-line Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica, meanwhile, called any independent Kosovo a "false state" that Serbia would never recognize.

"Kosovo will always be Serbia," he said.

"Kosovo has no price," Kostunica added, rejecting the deployment of an EU mission in Kosovo as "legal violence" against Serbia.

Serbia strongly opposes independence for the separatist southern province, which it considers its historic heartland. The government in Belgrade has said it would ignore the move and retaliate against the countries that recognize Kosovo's statehood.

"We are immediately going to cancel this decision and we are going to use all legal and diplomatic instruments in terms of defending ... the territorial integrity and sovereignty of our country," President Boris Tadic said at a security gathering in Germany.

Serb leaders in Kosovo also said earlier in the week that they would reject any declaration of independence and set up their own institutions, including a parliament.

On Saturday, the influential Serbian Orthodox Church, which has hundreds of ancient monasteries and churches in Kosovo, warned that "granting independence to Kosovo would turn it into a long-term ... wound, not only in the Balkans, but the whole of Europe."

The United States and most EU nations support Kosovo's statehood, saying the U.N.-run province, where ethnic Albanians make up 90 percent of the population of 2 million, is a special case.

Traditional Serbian ally Russia opposes statehood for Kosovo, fearing that it would set a precedent worldwide. Serbia's EU neighbors Bulgaria and Romania also are opposed because they fear a destabilization of the Balkans, still reeling from the bloody civil wars of the 1990s.

Kosovo has been run by the United Nations and NATO since 1999, when a NATO launched an air war to force Serbia to end a crackdown on ethnic Albanian separatists.

US, nuclear powers join Hiroshima memorial

The site of the world's worst atomic bomb attack echoed with choirs of schoolchildren and the solemn ringing of bells Friday as Hiroshima marked its biggest memorial yet and the first to be attended by the U.S. and other major nuclear powers.

Washington's decision to send U.S. Ambassador John Roos to the 65th anniversary of the bombing was seen by many as potentially paving the way for President Barack Obama to visit Hiroshima _ which would be unprecedented for a sitting U.S. leader.

Along with the U.S., Britain and France also made their first official appearance at the memorial, as well as U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. Altogether, 74 nations were represented.

China, which sent a low-ranking official in 2008, was not participating. Officials said it did not give a reason.

Hiroshima was careful to ensure that the memorial _ while honoring the 140,000 who died on or soon after the attack on Aug. 6, 1945 _ emphasized a look-forward approach, focusing not on whether the bombing was justified, a point which many Japanese dispute, but on averting a future nuclear attack.

Roos said the memorial was a chance to show resolve toward nuclear disarmament.

"For the sake of future generations, we must continue to work together to realize a world without nuclear weapons," he said in a statement.

Ban, who presented flowers at the Eternal Flame in Hiroshima's Peace Memorial Park, said this year's memorial will send a strong signal to the world that nuclear weapons must be destroyed.

"Life is short, but memory is long," Ban said. "For many of you, that day endures ... as vivid as the white light that seared the sky, as dark as the black rains that followed."

Ban added that the time has come to move from "Ground Zero, to Global Zero" _ a world without any nuclear arms.

Washington's decision to attend the anniversary has been welcomed by Japan's government, but has generated complex feelings among some Japanese who see the bombing as unjustified and want the United States to apologize.

"Americans think that the bombing was reasonable because it speeded up the end of the war. They try to see it in a positive way," Naomi Sawa, a 69-year-old former teacher, said after paying her respects to the dead. "But we were devastated."

About 140,000 people were killed or died within months when the American B-29 "Enola Gay" bombed Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945. Three days later, about 80,000 people died after the United States attacked Nagasaki.

The United States decided to drop the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki because it believed that would speed up Japan's surrender and avoid the tough battles expected to take Japan's mainland. Fears of bloody battles were heightened by Japan's intense defenses of outlying islands _ such as Iwo Jima and Okinawa.

Japan surrendered on Aug. 15, ending World War II.

Concerns that attending the ceremony _ an emotional event beginning with the offering of water to the dead and a moment of silence to soothe their souls _ would reopen old wounds had kept the U.S. away until this year.

Former President Jimmy Carter visited Hiroshima's Peace Museum in 1984, years after he was out of office. The highest-ranking American to visit while in office is House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who went in 2008. Roos also visited Hiroshima soon after assuming his post last year.

None went for the annual memorial, however.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told reporters in Washington on Thursday that Obama believed "it would be appropriate to recognize this anniversary" by sending Roos.

The State Department deemed the time was right to do so, and it was a chance to push Obama's goal of nuclear disarmament.

Hiroshima's mayor praised that position.

"We are encouraged that our voice is being heard," Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba said in a speech at the ceremony. "It is the wish of the survivors of the bombing that the voices of peace will be heard."

Akiba called on the Japanese government to take a leadership role in nuclear disarmament toward "turning a new page in human history."

"I offer my prayers to those who died _ we will not make you be patient much longer."

Hiroshima has invited Obama to visit the city, and he has expressed interest in doing so at some point while he is in office.

But such a visit would be highly controversial.

At Hiroshima's Peace Memorial Park, where Friday's ceremony was held, some visitors expressed concerns that Japan's view of the bombing _ seen by many as excessive use of deadly force _ conflicts with America's view.

Katsuko Nishibe, a 61-year-old peace activist, said she welcomed the decision to send Roos, but added that she thought it was dangerous to think that the bombing of Hiroshima was justified.

"I don't think it was necessary," she said. "We have a very different interpretation of history. But we can disagree about history and still agree that peace is what is important. That is the real lesson of Hiroshima."

The number of survivors able to attend the ceremony is steadily falling as more die of old age.

According to Japan's Kyodo news agency, the average age of the survivors is over 76 years, and the number of certified survivors has fallen to 227,565 from a peak of 370,000.

Lord Black and his lady: 'Outrageous Fortune' delivers a banner story -- flaws and all

Nonfiction

Outrageous Fortune

The Rise and Ruin of Conrad and Lady Black

By Tom Bower

HarperCollins, 413 pages, $29.95

- - -

'Joe, baby, a great story has three elements," my first mentor inChicago journalism once told me. "Money, power and sex. Get one, andyou have a story. Get two, and you have a good story. Get all three,and you have a banner headline!"

My mentor, the great Sun-Times City Hall reporter Harry GoldenJr., has probably been turning over in his grave as Canadian pressbaron Conrad Black allegedly looted the company that owns hisbeloved newspaper to finance an outrageously lavish lifestyle.

But even Harry would have to admit: It's a story that's got itall.

Outrageous Fortune tells how Black, with cunning audacity,created an empire that included the Sun-Times, the London Telegraphand the Jerusalem Post, only to lose it through breathtakingavarice, hubris and miscalculation.

The British journalist Tom Bower has written a flawed book, butone that, to paraphrase W. H. Auden, is "marred by irritatingly goodfeatures."

He portrays Black and his wife, Barbara Amiel, as the Bonnie andClyde of publishing. "I have an extravagance," Amiel famously said,"that knows no bounds." They charge through these pages greedy,needy and flamboyantly evil. Bower reports it gleefully, with a keeneye for detail.

Black is bombastic, pugnacious and cynical. He adopts hisfather's sneering view of life: "Most people are bastards andeverything is bullsh--." Bower's account of how Black conned twoelderly widows out of their voting rights during his first takeoverbattle could make Jeffrey Skilling blush.

It establishes his business model: "The Black Factor" -- takeover a company, install an unquestioning board of directors, thenslash expenses and plunder assets. If anyone objects, shout themdown or sue.

Enter the lusty "Queen of Excess," Barbara Amiel. She is acelebrated Canadian writer -- a smart, irreverent, conservativescold -- when she snares Black at the apex of his wealth and power.

She is renowned for her beauty and notorious for her campy sexualstyle. She arrives at work "in open trench coat, under which couldbe seen a black bustier, garter belt and fishnet stockings."

One of her famous pieces of journalism, "Marrying Up," defines asuccessful match: "her looks for his money -- his power as her mealticket."

Behind their backs, they're mocked as Mister Money and Attila theHoney. "By understanding his vanities," Bower writes, "she enabledhis ambitions." He is "smitten by her sex . . . a man enslaved byhis wife's worship of him."

They enable each other's worst flaws, spending their way up the A-list, lavishing outlandish amounts on homes, clothes, planes andparties in an insatiable quest for acceptance by high society.

Their vanity is unquenchable. Black renounces his Canadiancitizenship and campaigns for a British title. "His Lardship," thewags joke.

Amiel presides over a household of garish excess with imperiousscorn. Her butler takes employees to the roof of the London mansionand warns them to "make sure the landing lights are on at all timesbecause Madame takes off from here on her broomstick. She needslights to guide her return."

The vast sums it takes to fuel this quest lead Black to thereckless financial schemes that end in his indictment. Bowerexplains the shenanigans clearly and describes Black's fall fromgrace in fascinating detail.

But there are problems. The portrait of the Blacks includesspecific quotes from specific people on specific days. But there arefew attributions. Bower says he interviewed 150 people. But it'simpossible to assess their credibility because we don't know theirnames.

Knowledgeable Chicagoans will wonder whether David Radler, theformer Sun-Times publisher who has pleaded guilty and will testifyagainst Black, is an unnamed source.

Radler is a "ratty, uncouth hypochondriac obsessed by fantasiesabout germs." Black's partner in larceny from the beginning, Radleris the cheapskate who docks an employee for taking off to bury herhusband, closes the escalator at the Sun-Times to save money and isknown as "The Chainsaw" for his coldly calculating firings --"Radler's gospel never changed. 'Count the chairs,' he habituallyordered."

But that is all we get of Radler, and nothing of the damage the"Black Factor" caused the Sun-Times.

Nor is there much about former Gov. James Thompson, the auditcommittee chairman who fiddled while Black allegedly fleeced hisshareholders.

The book's organization is clumsy, and the language is hackneyed.For example: "Historic acclaim, he argued, excused treachery.Eventual vindication after widespread hatred was the qualificationfor his worship. He preferred to forget that the rest of mankindlived by other rules -- namely contemporaneous judgement." Whew!

In the end, one wonders whether the Blacks have any redeemingqualities. Bower suggests they are clinically sick. He citestraumatic parental suicides and crippling childhood insecurities,implying their behavior is an overcompensation to shore up brittleselves. But he refers to borderline and narcissistic personalitydisorders without defining them. And while there's evidence tosupport this interpretation, Bower never makes the argumentpersuasively.

Perhaps Barbara Amiel is more perceptive. By mid-2005, ConradBlack has lost his empire. Their jet-set friends abandon them.Despite the humiliation, Amiel is defiant and unapologetic in aninterview with the Toronto Sun.

"I hoped I was shocking," she tells the paper. "I hoped I wasn'tboring. I hoped I was attractive and sexy. It's a combination ofmoney, power and glamor that is irresistible. You play for all it'sworth if you can."

Joe Kolina, senior executive producer at NBC-5 News, is a veteranChicago journalist, or as embattled Conrad Black puts it, a memberof a "degenerate group . . . temperamental, tiresome, nauseatinglyeccentric and simply obnoxious."

`Broke' LaRouche siphoned millions from firms, U.S. says

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Justice Department has charged in courtpapers that political radical Lyndon H. LaRouche Jr., who says he ispenniless, has siphoned millions of dollars from three corporationsthe government forced into bankruptcy proceedings.

Interim trustees appointed by federal bankruptcy court assumedcontrol of the corporations yesterday as LaRouche lawyers sought waysto block involuntary bankruptcy. LaRouche followers generally stayedaway from their Leesburg, Va., headquarters, which federal agentsalso have seized.

LaRouche, who left for Europe last December, has acknowledgedfiling no personal income tax returns in more than 10 years,contending he has no income.

The latest allegations about his use of corporate money emergedin the government's court pleadings unsealed yesterday by a federalbankruptcy judge. They cited a pattern of transferring assets fromthe companies "to cover the expenses and luxuries of LaRoucheorganization insiders."

"Millions of dollars have passed through the books with nocorporate purpose, on the whim of Lyndon LaRouche," the papers said."Assets continue to be siphoned off for the personal use of LyndonLaRouche and his cronies.

"The assets are used not only to pay ordinary living expenses ofmembers of the LaRouche organization . . . but also to provide LyndonLaRouche with a mansion and estate."

Allen could break Rec spell

One To WATCH When former Bath star and World Cup winner MikeTindall insists his Gloucester teammate Anthony Allen is ready forinternational rugby, his old clubmates would do well to heed thewarning ahead of tomorrow's Guinness Premiership date with theCherry and Whites.

Tindall first extolled the young centre's virtues ahead of hisEngland debut in November 2006 when England, still playing underAndy Robinson, took on the All Blacks to declare Twickenham's newSouth Stand open despite its lack of a roof.

The then 20-year-old was thrown in at the deep end by Robinsonand, like most of the England players that Sunday afternoon, hespent more time sinking than swimming.

Since then, Allen has missed out on a 2007 World Cup call-up - hewas axed by Brian Ashton early on in England's summer preparations -but he has become a key figure in Gloucester's back-line.

He first made his mark at the beginning of last season and hefinished the 2006-07 campaign on a high, playing alongside Tindalluntil the 2003 World Cup star broke his leg at Newcastle in April -an injury which, ultimately, cost Tindall his chance of playing in asecond World Cup.

This season, Tindall has come back with a bang and his midfieldpartnership with Allen has seen his cigar- smoking try celebrationso familiar to Bath fans reappear on the match-day menu atKingsholm.

This season, Allen has 13 appearances and four tries under hisbelt - two touchdowns in the Premiership and another two in theHeineken Cup under his belt, taking his career tallies to 54appearances and 19 tries.

A virtual ever-present at inside centre, playing alongsideanother young Kingsholm production line graduate in fly-half RyanLamb, Allen has been a key figure in Gloucester's back-line chargedwith helping Lamb release the likes of Tindall, James Simpson-Daniel, Lesley Vainikolo and full-back Iain Balshaw.

It is Bath's proud boast and a sad fact for Gloucester that theCherry and Whites have never won a Premiership match at The Rec,although they came close last season when a titanic battle finishedall-square at 21-21.

Another draw is unlikely and, if Allen is allowed to parade thetalent which could have him in line for an RBS 6 NationsChampionship call-up this month, Bath could see that record undone.

Scene change // Goodman breaks ground on new digs

Wearing white hardhats and wielding gilded shovels, Mayor Daleyand members of the Goodman Theatre board and artistic staff dug upthe first clumps of earth during the groundbreaking Tuesday for thenew Goodman Theatre at Randolph and Dearborn.

They heralded the arrival of another cornerstone in theredevelopment of the North Loop as a center for theater andnightlife.

"This groundbreaking really represents the past, present andfuture of our city," Daley said. "We are rebuilding Chicago throughits schools and its cultural institutions, and the Goodman Theatretruly represents this city's cultural history. An investment in acultural institution is one of the best investments we can make."The new Goodman Theatre, more than a decade in the planning, isa $44 million complex that will include an 800-seat mainstagetheater, a 400-seat studio, rehearsal space and administrativeoffices, plus a restaurant and retail component encased in anattention-getting glass structure on the corner site. The theater isscheduled to open in fall, 2000.Plans for the restaurant component will be announced in June."It's not just the Goodman Theatre," said Lewis Manilow,honorary president of the Goodman/Chicago Theatre Group Board and oneof the prime movers behind the project. "It's the whole downtownthat's being transformed into a cultural and educational campus -from the Lakefront Garden plan and the nearly completed MuseumCampus, to the restoration of the Oriental Theatre, and theconstruction of the Palace Theatre, and the linking of theAuditorium, Shubert and Chicago theaters."This is bringing thousands of people back to the city."Robert Falls, artistic director of the Goodman Theatre, paidtribute to the many local artists whose talents have graced the stageof the "old" Goodman at 200 S. Columbus."We are blessed to have such extraordinary artists working inthis city," said Falls, who singled out actors William Warfield, DelClose and Kevin Anderson in the crowd. Asked what he has in mind asthe opening production at the new Goodman, Falls said he was stillconsidering ideas."I think I'd prefer to do a new work to symbolize the newbuilding and our interest in new writers," he said. "Buthistorically, works commissioned for new buildings have tended to bedisasters. They seem to be overpowered by the building. A newmusical, a new play is one idea. But then sometimes I think it needsto be a `Hamlet' for the millennium."

Breaching whale smashes mast of sailboat off Wash.

ASTORIA, Ore. (AP) — A breaching whale smashed the mast and rigging of a 38-foot racing sailboat in a Pacific Ocean encounter off southwest Washington on Thursday, leaving bits of blubber behind, the sailors told the Coast Guard.

Crew members aboard the L'Orca were safely in the cockpit and unhurt during the encounter, said Ryan Barnes of Portland, Ore.

The crew said the whale did not appear seriously hurt.

The whale strike happened about a half hour after the L'Orca set out Thursday morning from the mouth of the Columbia River off Astoria in the 193-mile Oregon Offshore International Yacht Race to Victoria, British Columbia, Barnes said.

Barnes is the son of boat owner Jerry Barnes of Sandy, Ore.

"All of the sudden, a few inches, a foot maybe off the starboard side, a whale came breaching out of the water," Ryan Barnes told Coast Guard Petty Officer Shawn Eggert in a video interview. "It looked to be a humpback whale, about 30 feet in length roughly.

"It hit the mast about halfway to three-quarters of the way up, and then proceeded to fall forward and on the starboard side of the boat."

Barnes said that brought down the mast and the rigging.

Eggert described the bits of blubber left behind as "maybe a scrape for a 30-foot whale."

The L'Orca crew called for help and a Coast Guard motor lifeboat from nearby Ilwaco, Wash., helped bring it safely to port in Astoria.

Orca is another name for the black and white killer whales often seen in Northwest waters