Bruce Matthews one noticeable blocker By BARRY WILNER, AP Football Writer

Bruce Matthews one noticeable blocker By BARRY WILNER, AP Football Writer
2 hours, 34 minutes ago



Except for the occasional holding penalty that negates a big play, offensive linemen are the anonymous creatures on NFL teams. That makes Bruce Matthews' immediate election to the Pro Football Hall of Fame somewhat remarkable.

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It can take years, even decades, for blockers to get noticed by the Hall voters. Not Matthews, whose versatility and reliability for 19 seasons made him an easy choice in his first year of eligibility.

On Saturday, the outstanding guard-tackle-center for the Houston Oilers and Tennessee Titans will join Thurman Thomas, Michael Irvin, Roger Wehrli, Charlie Sanders and Gene Hickerson in football's shrine. Matthews is the only inductee to make it on his first try this year.

"If you would've told me then that one day I'd play in the NFL and one day I'd make the Hall of Fame, I would've said you've got to be kidding," Matthews said.

And if you'd told Matthews — or anyone else — that he would play every offensive line position, well, that would have seemed absurd. Yet Matthews did so, and excelled at all of them.

In his 296 games, more than any full-time positional player in league history when he retired, Matthews spent 99 at left guard, 87 at center, 67 at right guard, 22 at right tackle and 17 at left tackle.

Nothing he did, including the skills and leadership he brought to the field, surpassed that unheard-of versatility. That's what most impresses Jeff Fisher, Matthews' teammate at Southern Cal and his coach for Matthews' final seven NFL seasons.

"More incredible in our business is the starts he had at each different position on the offensive line. That's incredible and to play at such a high level for so many years," Fisher said.

So while Irvin "the playmaker," and Thomas, the onetime MVP, get much of the airtime, the heaviest accolades go to Matthews.

"A lot of guys can't move around because mentally it's hard, especially to go from center to tackle," said former Matthews teammate Mike Munchak, himself a Canton inductee. "Not many guys in football can do that and also play center. Usually center-guard or guard-tackle, but not a guy who can play center, run the show and do all that for you, but if someone gets hurt can go to left tackle and finish the game."

Munchak will present Matthews on Saturday night.

"I don't think there'll be too many guys like him around again," Munchak said.

Hickerson is the other offensive lineman going into the Hall. He and Sanders were chosen by the veterans committee.

As a 248-pound guard — about 100 pounds lighter than some guards today — Hickerson played 15 seasons for the Browns and Cleveland never had a losing record in that time. He made five straight All-Pro teams (1966-70) and was a lead blocker for Hall of Famers Jim Brown, Bobby Mitchell and Leroy Kelly. In 1964, he helped Cleveland to the NFL championship.

"Gene was the leader of a great line," Brown said, "and the greatest downfield blocker in the history of pro football."

Sanders was a standout blocking tight end who became a pass-catching threat, as well. He was a three-time All-Pro who made 30 or more receptions in a season seven times and had more than 500 yards receiving in six seasons in an era when quarterbacks rarely threw to tight ends.

"He was one of the best that we ever faced," said Bears linebacker Dick Butkus, himself a Hall of Fame member. "He was big and had good speed and was a tough guy. He could make some great catches."

So could Irvin, who is the second member of Dallas' vaunted "Triplets" on offense to make the Hall, along with QB Troy Aikman. Running back Emmitt Smith, the NFL's career rushing leader, will be a slam-dunk when he becomes eligible.

Irvin was the top receiver on three Super Bowl champions, and he made the league's All-1990s team. As a rookie in 1988, he led the league with a 20.4-yard per catch average, and he had 11 100-yard receiving games in 1995, setting an NFL record.

Irvin had several off-field problems during his career and was voted into the Hall in his third year of eligibility.

"Mistakes will cost you. That's the reality," Irvin said. "You have to pay the price for your mistakes, but, also, don't give up. Keep going and try to overcome that. That's the reality, too. I like that it worked out the way it worked out."

Thomas was the 1991 league MVP and, like Matthews, was known for his versatility. A superb runner with darting quickness and surprising power, he also was a terrific receiver. He helped Buffalo win four straight AFC titles, but no Super Bowl crowns.

"People can say what they want to say," Thomas said. "We put Buffalo on the map. Whether you want to label us as losers or winners or what have you, there have been a lot of other teams that have never been to the Super Bowl."

One of only three Hall of Fame running backs, with Walter Payton and Marcus Allen, to have more than 400 receptions and 10,000 yards rushing, Thomas also set playoff records for career points (126), touchdowns (21), and consecutive games with a TD (nine).

Wehrli was one of the game's first shutdown cornerbacks and was a starter from his rookie season in 1969 through 1982 for the St. Louis Cardinals. He was elected in his final year of eligibility, even though he was a five-time All-Pro.

"He was overdue, I'll tell you that," said Don Coryell, who coached those "Cardiac Cards."

"He's a great one. He's everything you would want in a professional football player."

Ochoa's 67 leads Women's British Open By ROBERT MILLWARD, AP Sports Writer

Ochoa's 67 leads Women's British Open By ROBERT MILLWARD, AP Sports Writer
1 hour, 28 minutes ago



ST. ANDREWS, Scotland - If Lorena Ochoa has been saving her first major for the home of golf, it gave her the ideal start. The Mexican compiled a bogey-free 6-under 67 at St. Andrews in calm, sunny conditions on Thursday to take a two-shot lead in the Women's British Open. It was the first time the women pros had played at the famous course and she came up with the best opening round.

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"It was just a really good day, one of those days when things are easy and really good. There was only a little bit of a breeze and I took advantage of that and made some birdies.

"I had in my head 2 or 3 under so it's even better than I thought."

Ochoa finished well before lunch and then sat back to see if any of her rivals could catch up.

Sweden's Louise Friberg and South Korea's In-Bee Park are two behind after 69s with Japan's Ai Miyazato and England's Rebecca Hudson three off the lead after 70s. Annika Sorenstam had a 1-under 72 while Michelle Wie showed signs of straightening out her game with an even-par 73.

The strong winds that often blow across this part of Scotland took the day off and Ochoa took full advantage. The forecast for Friday and Saturday includes winds of up to 35 mph.

"I believe in myself and I was feeling good in the morning," said Ochoa, who tied for second at the U.S. Women's Open a month ago and finished second, third and fourth in other majors. "We are all excited to be here and I'm just glad I did it right on my first try and take as much advantage as you can and now I'm feeling good.

Many of the star names teed off early — before 7 am local time — for the benefit of live TV coverage in Asia and that suited Ochoa.

"It was a really early wakeup call but I don't mind that," she said. "I'm a morning person. I don't know how the next three days look and how the weather is going to be, but I'm happy I did it today."

By the time she walked off the 18th green, few players out on the course were threatening her lead.

The 17-year-old Wie was two shots behind Ochoa until bogeys on two of the final five holes.

"It was semi-disappointing and semi-successful," said Wie, who is recovering from an injured left wrist and has failed to break 70 in more than a year.

"It's the first time I've played really solidly, but I missed some reasonably easy putts. I'm starting to see a light at the end of the tunnel now."

In perfect weather at St. Andrews, Ochoa birdied three straight holes and stretched her lead to three shots when her long approach to the 15th settled 2 feet from the pin.

That was her fifth birdie, and another followed at the 17th, the usually tough Road Hole which has been made a par 5 for the Women's Open and became the easiest to score under par.

Ochoa's second shot finished at the back of the green and her first putt left her with a 5-footer for birdie. After Miyazato bogeyed the 16th, Ochoa walked onto the 18th green four ahead of the field, then narrowly missed a 15-foot birdie on the final hole.

After winning her first title at the Evian Masters on Sunday, Natalie Gulbis didn't expect to be five behind at the turn. Without a birdie on the front nine, the American was 1 over after her bogey 5 at the second and went on for par 73, along with Paula Creamer.

U.S. Women's Open champion Cristie Kerr struggled to a 77, beginning her round with two bogeys.

"I've been putting way too much pressure on myself since the Open and it has backfired on me," she said. "I'm pushing it way too hard."

Another major winner Morgan Pressel, who won the Kraft Nabisco, had even more problems. She finished at 80, which included nine bogeys.

Defending champion Sherri Steinhauer, who is going for her fourth title in this tournament, had a 72.

Crazy 8s: White Sox beat Yankees 13-9 By RICK FREEMAN, AP Sports Writer

Crazy 8s: White Sox beat Yankees 13-9 By RICK FREEMAN, AP Sports Writer
1 hour, 56 minutes ago



NEW YORK - All these runs, all these hits, and not one single homer for Alex Rodriguez. On a day of crazy 8s, the White Sox and New York Yankees scored eight runs each in the second-highest scoring inning in major league history. Jermaine Dye homered twice and doubled twice, including a go-ahead drive that led Chicago to a 13-9 victory Thursday.

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New York scored 33 runs and had 15 homers in the series. But there were no home runs by A-Rod, who ended a career-high hitless streak at 22 at-bats when he singled in the second. Rodriguez went 2-for-5 and keeps up his quest to become the youngest player to reach 500 homers on Friday against Kansas City — the team that allowed No. 499 on July 25.

After losing the first two games of the series 16-3 and 8-1, the White Sox took an 8-0 lead as Dye doubled twice in the second against Roger Clemens, who left after five outs in his shortest outing since June 14, 2000, when he got just three outs against Boston. Jon Garland didn't do much better, and the second inning dragged on for exactly 1 hour and 90 pitches.

It was only the second time in major league history both teams scored eight or more in an inning. The first was on May 8, 2004, when visiting Detroit got eight and Texas had 10 in the fifth inning of the Rangers' 16-15, 10-inning win. The 16 runs combined were a record for a second inning, two more than the previous mark.

Dye homered off Jeff Karstens (0-2) for a 10-8 lead in the fourth and hit a solo shot that nearly reached the center-field bleachers in the eighth off Kyle Farnsworth. Paul Konerko also homered for Chicago and had three hits.

Clemens was booed off the mound after allowing eight runs and nine hits in 1 2-3 innings. Garland gave up eight runs and nine hits in 1 1-3 innings.

Only three of the runs off Clemens were earned thanks to the first of Robinson Cano's two errors. The second baseman mishandled Jerry Owens' grounder near the bag with one out and Clemens threw out Darin Erstad at the plate on Alex Cintron's dribbler, but the next four batters all got hits before manager Joe Torre replaced Clemens.

Making his last start before turning 45, the Rocket pitched a perfect first inning before the White Sox got to him with a series of singles and doubles that eluded fielders. When Torre replaced him with left-hander Mike Myers, the fans at Yankee Stadium booed loudly, but the boos faded to polite applause by the time Clemens trudged to the dugout.

New York came back quickly, getting five straight hits off Garland, including Wilson Betemit's three-run homer and Rodriguez's RBI single. Betemit, acquired this week and making his first start for New York, received a curtain call.

After that, Garland was removed for Boone Logan (2-0), who allowed a tying, two-run double to Jorge Posada, but got a grounder from Cano that brought the inning to an end.

Notes:@ Darin Erstad hurt himself when he flied out to center in the sixth inning. After hitting the ball, he fell down at the plate, and limped his way toward first until the ball was caught. Then was escorted off the field by a White Sox trainer. ... The White Sox wore their black alternate jerseys, despite temperatures in the mid-90s. ... There was a moment of silence before the game to remember the victims of Wednesday's bridge collapse in Minneapolis. ... Derek Jeter pinch-hit for SS Wilson Betemit in the seventh inning. ... Clemens hadn't allowed that many runs since Aug. 29, 2003, when all nine runs he gave up against the White Sox were earned.

Peavy, Ensberg boost Padres past D'backs By BERNIE WILSON, AP Sports Writer

Peavy, Ensberg boost Padres past D'backs By BERNIE WILSON, AP Sports Writer
50 minutes ago



SAN DIEGO - Jake Peavy and Morgan Ensberg helped the slumping San Diego Padres get back on their feet, just in time to face Barry Bonds. Peavy struck out 10 to pass 1,000 for his career and Ensberg hit two two-run homers in his first start with the Padres, helping San Diego to an 11-0 win over first-place Arizona on Thursday.

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With Wally Joyner in his first day as the Padres' hitting coach, San Diego's anemic offense provided a rare power display. Khalil Greene added a three-run homer and Adrian Gonzalez had a solo shot. Gonzalez, aboard for both of Ensberg's homers, scored three runs. Joyner replaced Merv Rettenmund, who was fired on Tuesday.

Ensberg homered for the Padres a week after homering against them. He was acquired from Houston on Tuesday, one of three deals the Padres made before the non-waiver deadline. Another newcomer, Rob Mackowiak, also made his first San Diego start, filling in for injured right fielder Brian Giles. Batting leadoff, Mackowiak went 2-for-5, stole a base and scored two runs.

The 26-year-old Peavy (1,004) joined Andy Benes (1,036) as the only Padres pitchers to reach the 1,000-strikeout plateau. Peavy (11-5) reached double digits in strikeouts for the fifth time this season and the 20th time in his career. He had gone 13 straight starts without striking out at least 10 after doing so in four straight starts from April 25-May 11. That streak started at Arizona when he struck out 16 to tie his club record.

Peavy, the All-Star starter, leads the NL with 154 punchouts.

Peavy returned to the form that earned him the start in the All-Star game, holding Arizona to three hits in seven innings. He walked one. Relievers Cla Meredith and newcomer Wilfredo Ledezma held Arizona hitless to finish San Diego's 15th shutout, tops in the majors.

Peavy struck out the side in the first inning. He reached 1,000 when he got Jeff DaVanon to look at strike three leading off the fourth. Peavy struck out DaVanon three times.

Only one Arizona baserunner reached third against Peavy.

The third-place Padres, who are trying to capture their third straight NL West title, have won just eight of 20 games since the All-Star break. They avoided a three-game sweep and pulled to 1 1/2 games of the Diamondbacks.

The Padres open a three-game series against Bonds and the San Francisco Giants on Friday night. Bonds went into Thursday night's game at Los Angeles one home run shy of tying Hank Aaron's career record of 755.

Bonds has hit 86 home runs against the Padres, his most against any team. He's hit only three in 73 at-bats at Petco Park, which opened in 2004.

Ensberg, acquired from Houston before Tuesday's trade deadline for a player to be named or cash, started at third in place of rookie Kevin Kouzmanoff. With Gonzalez on board with a leadoff walk in the second, Ensberg hit a two-out homer to left on a 1-1 pitch from Yusmeiro Petit (2-3). He homered into the second deck in left on a full-count pitch from reliever Dustin Nippert with two outs in the seventh, his 10th. Josh Bard was aboard on a walk.

Two batters earlier, Greene hit a three-run shot into the balcony on the third level of the Western Metal Supply Co. brick warehouse in the left-field corner, his 17th.

The slumping Ensberg had been designated for assignment by the Astros on Sunday. He homered off new teammate David Wells last Thursday in the Astros' 7-1 win over the Padres.

Gonzalez homered with one out in the fourth off Petit, his 17th.

Petit allowed five runs and five hits in 4 1-3 innings, struck out four and walked four.

Notes:@ Arizona's top prospect, Justin Upton, was called up earlier in the day and made his big league debut when he came in to play right field in the eighth. He fouled out leading off the ninth. ... Ensberg has five career multihomer games. ... Goose Gossage, a reliever with the Padres' 1984 World Series team, threw out the ceremonial first pitch.

Brewers scuffle in 12-4 loss to Mets By CHRIS JENKINS, AP Sports Writer

Brewers scuffle in 12-4 loss to Mets By CHRIS JENKINS, AP Sports Writer
6 minutes ago



MILWAUKEE - Already fighting to stay in first place, the Milwaukee Brewers are now scuffling among themselves. Catcher Johnny Estrada and manager Ned Yost nearly tangled in a dugout tunnel late in Thursday's 12-4 loss to the New York Mets, the Brewers' 10th defeat in 14 games.

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"There was frustration expressed on a number of different sides about our style of play and about the way we've been playing," Yost said. "We handled it and took care of it like good teams do."

Damion Easley hit the first inside-the-park homer at Miller Park in five years, breaking a sixth-inning tie. The Mets scored three more times in the seventh, helped by shortstop J.J. Hardy's error and an RBI double from reliever Jorge Sosa.

When the half-inning ended, Estrada and Yost got into a heated dispute in the tunnel leading from the dugout to the clubhouse. Infielder Tony Graffanino stepped between them while pitcher Ben Sheets and pitching coach Mike Maddux stood in front of Estrada.

The next inning, Yost motioned with his finger for Estrada to come talk with him, and they disappeared out of sight down the tunnel.

Asked if such a conflict could spur a team, Yost said, "We'll see." He then abruptly walked out of his postgame news conference.

Estrada declined comment through a team spokesman.

"It's our business," Brewers first baseman Prince Fielder said. "It's team business. I think it's good for the players, for us, we go over some business stuff and it should put us back on track."

Bill Hall was one of several players who claimed not to see the incident. He insisted there aren't any problems in the Brewers clubhouse.

"I know that for a fact," Hall said. "Everybody is fine with everybody."

Corey Hart homered twice for Milwaukee, which lost two of three in the series. The Brewers led the NL Central by 8 1/2 games on June 23, but their defeat Wednesday night dropping them out of first place for the first time since April 21.

First-place Chicago also lost Thursday, and the Cubs remained one percentage point ahead of Milwaukee.

"We'll stick together," Brewers outfielder Geoff Jenkins said. "We'll be fine."

Before this game, Yost said it was too early to start worrying about the division race, a point he'll likely be driving home to his young team in coming weeks.

"I wish we could just erase our minds at the start of every game and just focus on this game and not worrying about being in first of being in second," Yost said prior to the first pitch.

Brian Lawrence (1-0) gave up three runs and eight hits in five innings for the victory — his first major league win since Sept. 29, 2005.

Chris Capuano (5-8) gave up 10 hits and five runs in six innings and lost his eighth straight decision. He started the season 5-0, but hasn't recorded a victory since May 5.

The game was tied at 3 when Moises Alou led off the Mets sixth with a double. Easley followed with a shot to deep right-center and ball hit the angled fence on a fly. The carom eluded Hall and Easley scored easily ahead of the relay.

Not bad for a 37-year-old guy.

"It was tough," Easley said.

It was the Mets' 24th such homer, the last by Jose Reyes last September at Shea Stadium. Easley hit his second career inside-the-parker, the other coming for Detroit in 2001 against Anaheim, and Mets teammates playfully waved towels to cool him off.

"When he rounded third base, he looked tired," Reyes said.

Houston's Lance Berkman hit the previous inside-the-park home run at Miller Park on June 17, 2002, the Elias Sports Bureau said. Fernando Vina hit the other inside-the-park at the stadium in 2001, the year it opened.

Easley came into Thursday's game with a career .311 average against the Brewers. Yost said Wednesday that the Brewers always pay extra attention to Easley because he "just hammers us."

Lawrence, who last pitched in the major leagues with the San Diego Padres, missed the entire 2006 season after having surgery to repair a tear in his right shoulder. He was called up from Triple-A New Orleans and added to the roster on Thursday morning after the team moved Sosa to the bullpen.

As if giving up an inside-the-park homer wasn't bad enough, Capuano also ran into home plate umpire Bill Miller while running to back up first base later in the sixth inning.

The Mets loaded the bases against reliever Carlos Villanueva in the seventh and Lastings Milledge's ground ball glanced off Hardy's glove for an error and two runs scored. Sosa then hit a ground-rule double to put the Mets ahead 8-3.

Reyes hit a two-run homer in the ninth and Marlon Anderson had a two-run double.

David Wright hit his 19th home run in the fifth on his way to the eighth four-hit game of his career.

Notes:@ Hart had his third multihomer game and second this season. ... Luis Castillo's family hasn't yet made the move from Minneapolis, so the Mets new second baseman initially was concerned when he heard about the bridge collapse on Wednesday evening. His family was fine, but the former Twins player was left shaking his head about the tragedy. "It's unbelievable," Castillo said. ... The Mets designated catcher Mike DiFelice for assignment on Thursday.

Jay Peak head against passport rule By WILSON RING, Associated Press Writer

Jay Peak head against passport rule By WILSON RING, Associated Press Writer
2 hours, 20 minutes ago



MONTPELIER, Vt. - The president of the Jay Peak ski resort says that requiring passports to enter the United States by land from Canada is an "impending disaster" for American businesses that rely on Canadian tourists.

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Bill Stenger said the two or three hour delays some people had while trying to enter the U.S. last month during Quebec's two-week construction holiday last month would only get worse if all travelers needed passports.

"I think the delays at the border will be huge. A lot of Canadians will just say 'I'm not going, I'm not going to spend the money,'" said Stenger, whose northern Vermont ski resort, which has a golf course for summer guests, gets half its business from Canada.

"Homeland Security could give a damn about the economy," Stenger said. "There's a very important economic energy which exists with Quebec and Ontario which may be stifled and maybe killed. This is very serious."

Stenger said that rather than go to the trouble of getting a passport Canadians would go to Canadian ski resorts.

"I'm worried about Canadians feeling welcome to come to this country," Stenger said.

He praised efforts by Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy to delay the passport requirement until the middle of 2009.

The Department of Homeland Security had set a date of Jan. 1 2008 for when travelers would need passports to enter the United States by land from Canada and Mexico. But that was pushed back after months-long delays followed the implementation in January of a passport requirement for people traveling by air between the U.S., Canada, Mexica and the Caribbean.

Now the passport requirement was pushed back until next summer.

But Leahy sponsored an amendment that has received wide bipartisan support that would push that requirement back until mid 2009.

Still, under current plans, on Jan. 31 people will need a driver's license and birth certificate to enter the United States by land from Canada.

Many Canadians along the border were complaining last month about the long lines caused by the Quebec construction vacation. Stenger said his business wasn't hit too hard by that because many of his customers know to cross at the less traveled border posts.

"It's predictable there will be a heavy influx of Canadians into the state" in July, Stenger said. "There's a certain amount of delay from time to tome. Two and three-hour delays are unaccetable."

French president to visit N.H. lake By PHILIP ELLIOTT, Associated Press Writer

French president to visit N.H. lake By PHILIP ELLIOTT, Associated Press Writer
2 hours, 16 minutes ago



CONCORD, N.H. - French President Nicolas Sarkozy is coming to New Hampshire on vacation.

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Sarkozy is expected early this month for a visit of up to two weeks in Wolfeboro, a resort community on the state's largest lake, a source told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. The source, who confirmed a report in Wednesday's Boston Globe, was not authorized to speak about Sarkozy's private travel.

Sarkozy will join a list of current and past vacationers that includes Drew Barrymore, Taiwan's Madame Chiang Kai-shek and Mitt Romney in Wolfeboro, which calls itself the country's oldest summer resort community. The picturesque town is on Lake Winnipesaukee, about two hours north of Boston.

The source said the trip will be a private visit.

Rumors of a Sarkozy visit have circulated for weeks.

"We're going to have to get our French flags out, I guess," Town Manager David Owen said when asked about them last month.

A spokesman for Gov. John Lynch said officials knew Sarkozy was on his way.

"The governor was aware the president of France is vacationing in New Hampshire," Colin Manning said. "The governor hopes he enjoys his time here. He has offered to assist him in any way he can."

Wolfeboro is familiar with celebrities and international guests. Monaco's Prince Rainier and Princess Grace and author Kurt Vonnegut vacationed here. Romney, the former Massachusetts governor and current presidential hopeful, has an 11-acre estate valued at more than $10 million on the shore of the lake.

Wolfeboro does its best to maintain a quaint image. A trolley named Molly takes visitors from one end of Main Street to the other, and the town has numerous plush summer homes.

Richie wants to do time at county jail 1 hour, 23 minutes ago

Richie wants to do time at county jail 1 hour, 23 minutes ago



LOS ANGELES - Nicole Richie wants to do her time in the Los Angeles County jail.

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Richie's lawyer contacted the county Sheriff's Department earlier this week and indicated the reality TV star wanted to serve her four-day sentence in county lockup rather than a city jail, sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore said Thursday.

Whitmore said he had no additional details, including when Richie might surrender to begin the sentence that she must complete by Sept. 28.

At the county jail, inmates often serve only a fraction of their sentence for various reasons, including overcrowding and good behavior.

A call to Richie's attorney, Shawn Chapman Holley, was not immediately returned.

The county has a special women's-only facility in Lynwood. It's the same place where Richie's friend Paris Hilton recently completed a 23-day stay for violating probation in an alcohol-related reckless driving case.

Richie, 25, was arrested in December for driving the wrong way on a freeway in Burbank.

The daughter of Lionel Richie, who confirmed earlier this week that she's pregnant, pleaded guilty last week to a misdemeanor charge in a deal with prosecutors that helped her avoid a potential year in jail on her second DUI conviction (she had an alcohol-related conviction in 2003).

Richie was ordered to spend 90 hours, either in county jail or at any city jail in the county that would accept her.

Rappers cleaning up lyrics post-Imus By NEKESA MUMBI MOODY, AP Music Writer

Rappers cleaning up lyrics post-Imus By NEKESA MUMBI MOODY, AP Music Writer
2 hours, 17 minutes ago



NEW YORK - Rap's critics have been complaining for years, only to watch the music become even more profane — and more popular. But now it seems as if Don Imus may be accomplishing what a generation of detractors could not.

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Four months after outrage over Imus' sexist and racial comments led to intense scrutiny of rap's negative imagery, and as the genre's sales continue to plummet, some artists are publicly abandoning offensive language.

The platinum-seller Chamillionaire recently announced that his new album, "Ultimate Victory," would be cuss- and N-word free. Numerous lesser-known rappers are promoting themselves as alternatives to misogynistic gangsta rap. The handlers behind 17-year-old sensation Sean Kingston are touting him as PG-rated. And the veteran gangsta Master P also declared that he would make clean music (though the "Dancing With the Stars" contestant's hitmaking days now seem long gone).

Still, others remain defiant amid increasing pressure from the public and corporations. They vow to remain, in the words of rap's raunch king Uncle Luke, as nasty as they wanna be.

"It would have to pay something real strong to make me change the way I do my music," said Twista, whose explicit lyrics got him dropped from a McDonald's-sponsored concert this week. "I'm gonna keep saying it because I know I'm just making good music."

Chamillionaire figured he could still make good music — just without the rough language. The rapper, who won a Grammy this year for his socially charged smash "Ridin,'" says he never cursed all that much in his music anyway. The N-word was a different story: "I've always used the N-word."

But after the success of his last album, he went out on tour and saw mostly white faces lip-synching the epithet along with his lyrics. Now Chamillionaire has had a change of heart for his new album, due in September on Universal Music Group, a unit of General Electric Co.

"I was like, 'You know what? I'm not going to say the N-word on this one because when I go back on the road, and I start performing, I don't want them to be saying it, like me teaching them,'" he told The Associated Press.

Chamillionaire insists his conversion is a moral issue and not due to the Imus backlash: "There are a lot of people who are opportunists ... I'm definitely not that." But more opportunities may arise for rappers with clean lyrics in the wake of Imus' firing for calling the Rutgers University women's basketball team "nappy-headed hos" on his radio broadcast.

The Imus outrage was soon redirected toward equally misogynistic references in rap, as many questioned whether there was a double standard. Then came calls from everyone from civil rights leaders to rap pioneer Russell Simmons for corporations and radio stations to more closely censor profanity and racial epithets.

Fifteen to 20 years ago, when the likes of Tipper Gore and C. Dolores Tucker were protesting, rap just fed off the controversy and gained momentum amid booming sales that generated hundreds of millions of dollars for publicly owned corporations. But now rap sales have plunged a dramatic 33 percent from 2006 — double the decline of the overall music industry. And rappers have moved from the fringe to the mainstream, which makes them — and their endorsements, movie roles and clothing lines — more vulnerable to outside pressure.

Talib Kweli, widely known as a socially conscious artist, says there's always been positive rappers, but they haven't received the attention of their gangsta counterparts. He's not convinced that will change post-Imus, but says Chamillionaire's decision is "a wise one, a smart one and a creative one, and I commend him on it.

"He's the type of artist who is talented enough to pull that off, and he's making a point. Industry executives ... are so used to the formula that they don't know what to do, and I think they're scared."

A few may have been scared straight. The new CD from Sean Kingston, featuring the hit "Beautiful Girls" and a mix of reggae, rap and R&B, is being promoted as curse-free. You might not think the baby-faced Sean would put out raunchy lyrics due to his young age, but this is an industry that gave the world a 15-year-old Foxy Brown rapping about the power of sex and one-hit wonder J-Kwon bragging about getting "Tipsy" at 17.

"I just wanted to make every fan base happy," says the Miami-born, Jamaican-reared Kingston. "I don't want nobody to say, 'He's disrespectful, he curses a lot.'"

Not that many rappers have followed his lead. Check any rap song on the radio and you will likely hear plenty of bleeped out language, violent references and sexual content.

Tolerance for such language may be diminishing. Corporations had cozied up to gangsta rappers in recent years, taking their message mainstream — both Snoop Dogg and T.I., for example, were featured in major car ads. In recent months, however, companies seem less likely to align themselves with rougher artists.

Verizon dropped its sponsorship of Gwen Stefani's tour when a videotape surfaced of opening act Akon simulating sex onstage at a separate concert with a fan later revealed to be 14. (Akon says he didn't know the girl was underage.) And while McDonald's Corp. signed Twista on for their free summer concert series, they quickly dropped him after public pressure mounted due to his lyrics.

Twista's replacement? Sean Kingston.

"I know there are a lot of artists being blocked out of sponsorships because of the content of the lyrics," says Chuck Creekmur, who runs the Web site allhiphop.com.

Ted Lucas, CEO of Slip-N-Slide Records, says he's gotten some of the pressure himself. Lucas, whose label is home to thug rapper Trick Daddy, sex bomb Trina, gangsta Rick Ross and new star Plies, says in recent weeks distributors have tried to get him to persuade his stars to tone down their language.

"They have come to me and said ... 'This word right here is going to cause some heat down the line — is it possible you can get him to change it?' I have ran into that with the N-word, 'snitching,' different words," he said. "But I tell everybody that these are things in our environment we see on a day-to-day basis. It's hard for you to go tell that person that they can't go use that word."

50 Cent invoked the classic hip-hop defense: rappers are telling stories based on their own gritty streets.

"They forget that the art form is a mirror and what we're writing is a reflection of where we grew up," he told The AP. "They can be interpreted as glorifying it on some levels but they're trying to capture a particular feel."

His new single, "I Get Money," features plenty of bleep-worthy moments — and he makes no apologies for it.

"I've made it this far without having to compromise myself," he said. "Ain't no changing what I'm doing now."

Obama to Vibe: Rap creates own reality 2 hours, 12 minutes ago

Obama to Vibe: Rap creates own reality 2 hours, 12 minutes ago



NEW YORK - Barack Obama is now officially hot — he's on the cover of Vibe magazine.

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In a profile for the 14th anniversary issue of the music and lifestyle glossy, the Democratic presidential candidate clarifies his views on rap. Though he had a high-profile meeting with rap star Ludacris last fall, he was also quoted by The Associated Press in April as saying that rappers were "degrading their sisters. That doesn't inspire me."

Obama told Vibe that he was misquoted — he was talking about the culture as a whole, not rappers in particular.

"I stand by exactly what I said, which was that the degrading comments about women that (radio host Don) Imus said is language that we hear not just on the radio, not just in music. We ourselves perpetuate that, and we all have to take responsibility for that."

But the Illinois senator also didn't let rappers off the hook.

"There's no doubt that hip-hop culture moves our young people powerfully. And some of it is not just a reflection of reality," he told the magazine. "It also creates reality. I think that if all our kids see is a glorification of materialism and bling and casual sex and kids are never seeing themselves reflected as hitting the books and being responsible and delaying gratification, then they are getting an unrealistic picture of what the world is like."

Still, Obama seemed unwilling to use raunchy rap as a rallying cry in his campaign: "My priority as a U.S. senator is dealing with poverty and educational opportunity and adequate health care. If I'm ignoring those issues and spending all my time worrying about rap lyrics, then I'm wasting my time."

So why put a politician on the cover of a magazine that had 50 Cent fronting last month's issue?

"Because for the first time since VIBE was launched in 1993, a political figure has burst on the scene and fired up young people in a major way," Vibe editor in chief Danyel Smith said by e-mail. "Because regardless of who wins the election, the Senator will have inspired many new voters to the polls. Because Obama is frank, brilliant, vibrant, and not cynical — all things that make him a perfect VIBE cover."

CNN gets beat on video of collapse By DAVID BAUDER, AP Television Writer

CNN gets beat on video of collapse By DAVID BAUDER, AP Television Writer
38 minutes ago



NEW YORK - CNN scored a coup Thursday when a tipster leaked security camera video of the deadly Minnesota bridge collapse.

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The stop-action footage — taken by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers — showed a middle section of the bridge breaking apart and rapidly plunging into the Mississippi River, raising a cloud of white dust.

It was the most arresting early image of the disaster, along with the pictures of a school bus teetering on a crumpled section of pavement.

CNN has aggressively sought amateur news footage from viewers, and had many shots from the immediate aftermath of the collapse. But on a story like this, the most sought-after footage is the event itself.

It came into CNN shortly before 4 a.m. from a source who asked for anonymity, said Nancy Lane, a CNN senior vice president. "It gives us a better understanding of a moment in time," she said.

The footage came from one of three security cameras that the Army Corps of Engineers has placed alongside the Mississippi River in Minneapolis, said Shannon Bauer, a spokeswoman for the agency. It was the only one to capture an image of the bridge collapse.

No one from the Army Corps of Engineers leaked the footage, she said. The agency had turned over the footage before the leak to Minnesota emergency management officials, she said.

CNN touted the footage as "exclusive" and other networks credited CNN, until later Thursday morning when it was released generally to all news media.

Senate nears vote on kids' health bill By JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS, Associated Press Writer

Senate nears vote on kids' health bill By JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS, Associated Press Writer
1 hour, 25 minutes ago



WASHINGTON - The Senate moved slowly Thursday toward passage of legislation to add 3 million lower-income children to a popular health insurance program, in bipartisan defiance of President Bush's threatened veto.

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Democrats pressed to complete the measure in time for the Friday start of their monthlong summer break, a prime opportunity to showcase the accomplishments of their new majority.

House Democratic leaders on Wednesday pushed through a more ambitious and expensive version of the health insurance legislation.

Senate passage would give Democrats, who were aiming for a a veto-proof vote, a chance to draw a stark distinction between their priorities and Bush's on a potent issue that resonates with voters.

Republicans are "going to face a choice with children's health: Are they going to turn their backs on three and a half million children in this country that don't have health care?" said Sen. Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., the chairman of his party's campaign committee.

Bush has proposed spending $5 billion to extend the program. he says the Senate's $35 billion expansion would balloon the decade-old program beyond its original mission of covering working poor children, and inappropriately would move it toward government-run health care.

The State Children's Health Insurance Program expires Sept. 30.

Once passed, the Senate bill will have to be reconciled with the House-passed $50 billion expansion, which was paid for partly by cutting government payments to Medicare health maintenance organizations.

Both bills include hefty tax increases on tobacco products to pay for the spending increase.

The health program is designed to subsidize the cost of insurance for children whose families earn too much to participate in Medicaid, but not enough to afford private health insurance.

Through federal waivers, the program has expanded in many states to include middle-income children and adults. That has led Republicans to argue that it has become a backdoor way to extend government-provided health care to an increasing number of people.

National polls show overwhelming majorities of voters support expanding the children's health program and are more likely to support candidates who back it.

Review: Google simple, PayPal versatile By ANICK JESDANUN, AP Internet Writer

Review: Google simple, PayPal versatile By ANICK JESDANUN, AP Internet Writer
2 hours, 46 minutes ago



NEW YORK - It's been a year since Google Inc. launched its much-anticipated payment service, and I've been curious whether a company known best for its search engine can deliver a money service as good as industry leader PayPal.

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In many ways, I found Google Checkout much easier to use. I can pay for merchandise in fewer steps and more easily understand my account options.

But the ultimate test is whether Checkout works with the tasks for which I've been using PayPal, and the answer is no.

Checkout works well as an online wallet, a way to store credit card numbers and addresses so you don't have to retype all that information each time. PayPal functions more like a bank account: You can do much more, such as receiving money, but the array of options can be confusing and add steps to the shopping process.

Both are free to set up and make payments, and signing up is easy.

With Checkout, you provide at the outset an e-mail address — through Google's Gmail or any other provider — along with your credit card, billing and shipping information.

PayPal requires only your e-mail address and basic details to start and asks for your credit card or bank account information later as needed. (Google accepts payments via credit or debit cards only, while PayPal lets you withdraw funds from a regular bank account.)

In terms of buying goods, what I like about Checkout is its consistency and simplicity.

The layout and process are familiar whether I'm shopping at the Web site for Starbucks Corp., RadioShack Corp. or a small outfit called Weloveipod. I simply click on a "Google Checkout" logo, sign in, review my order and accept. There's a pull-down menu at the review stage where I can choose standard, express or other shipping option.

PayPal's look and feel vary, and it's not as seamless as Checkout.

Like Checkout, PayPal offers merchants various ways to integrate the service with their own online stores. That's good because sole proprietors will have different needs from a large merchant like Southwest Airlines Co. or Toys "R" Us Inc. But while the back end may vary, Checkout manages to make the front end appear consistent to the customer.

It took seven steps — compared with Checkout's four — to place a Starbucks order with PayPal. First, I encountered a PayPal screen where I must verify the information I have with the payment service. I then had to choose a shipping option separately and create a separate account with Starbucks.

It's worse at Toys "R" Us. I had to retype my billing and shipping information even though PayPal had all that.

But Checkout isn't accepted where it counts. Google claims tens of thousands of merchants accepting Checkout, compared with millions claimed by PayPal.

Online auctioneer eBay Inc., which owns PayPal, doesn't allow its auction sellers to accept payments from Checkout. And some smaller merchants take PayPal only (Some merchants accept Checkout but not PayPal, but none are places I'd regularly shop at.)

Unlike Checkout, PayPal sometimes lets you make one-time payments without creating an account, though the merchant then gets your credit card information to complete the transaction.

Normally, PayPal, like Checkout, limits what it shares. Of course, merchants will need your name, shipping address and sometimes your phone number.

Checkout will sometimes give merchants your billing address and the last four digits of your credit card as well, while PayPal says it won't unless you use the one-time option. On the other hand, PayPal shares your e-mail address with merchants that request it, while Checkout lets you keep that private — and Google will forward receipts and other important e-mails to you.

PayPal is better abroad. You can buy goods from about 190 markets with PayPal compared with some 140 for Checkout. With PayPal, you can receive money in about 50 countries, while Checkout accepts U.S. and U.K. merchants only. And while PayPal is offered in 17 currencies, Checkout deals only with dollars and pounds.

Most importantly, Checkout won't let you receive money with regular accounts — you'd need a special merchant account and provide a Social Security number or federal tax identification number. I haven't used PayPal often to receive money, but it sure came in handy when I've needed to.

Of course, PayPal's versatility also leads to complications.

With Checkout, you either have a regular account for making payments only or a merchant account for receiving payments.

PayPal offers three types of accounts, all letting people send and receive payments, but each with different fees and restrictions. You also have additional options within each account type to boost your trust level.

For example, you can connect a PayPal account with a regular bank account to lift spending limits. But doing so makes subsequent payments by credit cards more cumbersome — PayPal obviously wants to avoid their higher processing fees.

With both Checkout and PayPal, consumers are charged nothing to send money or make payments.

Merchants are charged based on transaction amounts.

Checkout's rates are much easier to understand: It's 2 percent plus 20 cents per transaction; fees are waived through the end of the year and beyond that merchants can receive subsidies by spending money on Google search ads.

With PayPal, fees depend on your account type, monthly sales amounts and whether the buyer is sending money from a bank account or credit card.

Simplicity wins any day. Unfortunately, until Checkout is more widely adopted by merchants and begins to let regular accountholders receive money, I must accept PayPal's complexities to fully engage in e-commerce.

Microsoft Works goes free, ad-supported By JESSICA MINTZ, AP Technology Writer

Microsoft Works goes free, ad-supported By JESSICA MINTZ, AP Technology Writer
2 hours, 49 minutes ago



SEATTLE - Microsoft Corp. will test a free, advertising-supported version of Works, an already inexpensive package of word processing, spreadsheet and other programs, but would not say whether it is exploring a similar Web-based suite.

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The company said Wednesday that a limited number of computer makers will pre-install Microsoft Works 9 SE on new PCs in certain markets, and that the test of the business model will last about a year.

Microsoft's announcement comes a week after its top executives sketched out a strategy for supplementing traditional packaged software revenue with subscriptions and Web-based services, during a day of meetings with financial analysts at its Redmond, Wash., headquarters.

Industry watchers have been parsing those speeches for signs the company will develop an online version of the more expensive Office suite to compete with free offerings from Google Inc., but the company has so far been silent on the issue.

In an interview Thursday, Melissa Stern, a senior product manager at Microsoft, said the ad-supported programs address requests by customers for free productivity software and concerns from PC makers about rising costs.

The display ads will appear in the lower corners of the screen while users work on spreadsheets, calendar appointments and other documents. The suite will come pre-loaded with ads, and new ones will download when users' computers connect to the Internet.

Advertisers can buy space inside of Works the same way they plan online advertising campaigns on Microsoft's Web sites.

The ads, which Stern says are "not intrusive," will be targeted based on what Microsoft knows about Works users' demographics, and will relate to common tasks like household budgeting and vacation planning.

Users of the free Works suite will be able to click from inside the program to upgrade to the $40, ad-free version of Works 9, or download a free trial version of Office 2007, which costs from $149 to $679.

Self-service economy arrives gradually By DAN CATERINICCHIA, AP Business Writer

Self-service economy arrives gradually By DAN CATERINICCHIA, AP Business Writer
1 hour, 15 minutes ago



WASHINGTON - At airports, supermarkets and big-box retailers, "customer service" in recent years has meant self-serve — aided by touch-screen kiosks.

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As digital kiosks become more user-friendly and capable of handling more complicated tasks, health care providers, fast-food chains and other businesses say trading face-to-face encounters for face-to-monitor transactions improves service and saves money.

Yet the complexity of human decision-making and service expectations in different industries means any possible self-serve revolution is more likely to be a gradual transition.

"Every time you see a door, there's an opportunity for a kiosk to be deployed," Juhi Jotwani, director of marketing and strategy for retail stores at Armonk, N.Y.-based IBM, likes to tell her staff. Opportunity is knocking: IBM's kiosk orders have quadrupled in the past four years.

Numerous airlines use IBM's customer kiosks. Caribou Coffee and Cheesecake Factory employees use them to manage recipes and to enhance order speed and accuracy. The Virgin Megastore in Times Square has 150 kiosks that process 450,000 music previews per month.

Still, "none of the players in this market have even scratched the surface" of the multibillion-dollar potential, Jotwani said, even though consumers hooked on text-messaging and interactive Internet gaming now expect greater control over their purchasing experiences.

An April report by consulting firm Summit Research Associates Inc., estimated 800,000 customer kiosks, not including ATMs, will be installed in North America by the end of 2007 and hit 1.2 million by 2009.

North American consumers in 2007 are forecast to spend more than $525 billion at self-checkout lanes, ticketing kiosks and other self-service machines, including postal kiosks, according to IHL Consulting Group. That figure could reach nearly $1.3 trillion by 2011.

NCR Corp. products process more than 23 billion transactions annually and roughly 40 percent of the Dayton, Ohio-based company's $6.1 billion in 2006 revenue was from self-service hardware, software and services.

Since a 2-for-1 stock split in January 2005, the company's stock has risen about 50 percent, and earlier this week its second-quarter results beat Wall Street estimates. NCR shares rose 50 cents Thursday to close at $52.60.

Consumers now accustomed to ATMs dispensing cash and self check-out aisles in supermarkets and home improvement stores expect self-service options in other parts of their lives.

Mike Webster, NCR's vice president and general manager of self-service, is targeting the health care market. More than 100 U.S. hospitals use NCR technology and the company plans to expand overseas by year-end.

NCR's Web-based "patient portal" allow appointment scheduling, lab result viewing, and the updating of insurance information or family history.

The Heritage Valley Health System in southwestern Pennsylvania said check-in and registration times dropped to two minutes from nearly 10 since it began using NCR products last year.

The change cost Heritage Valley $750,000 over four years, and David Carleton, the company's chief information officer, is pleased with the return on investment.

Yet many retail outlets remain kiosk-free, with consumers preferring to try on clothes and ask sales associates for help. Fast-food executives say they're waiting for better, more flexible technology.

Gap Inc.'s use of consumer kiosks failed because shoppers were being left alone for too long and many preferred talking with sales people, said Praveen Kopalle, a professor in Dartmouth College's Tuck School of Business.

"This technology is very useful when customers immediately see where the benefit is, where the convenience is and where it's more personalized," Kopalle said, citing simple tasks such as withdrawing cash or placing a fast-food order.

McDonald's, Burger King, Subway and others are testing kiosks and while technology providers predict widespread adoption by 2010, restaurant executives seem unconvinced.

Burger King, Arby's, Taco Bell, Jack in the Box and other restaurants are testing kiosk software from San Diego-based EMN8, which can run on both IBM and NCR hardware. Basic machines that allow customers to order and pay with credit, debit and gift cards cost about $3,000 each, while full-service models that accept cash run up to $17,000 apiece.

Peter Boylan, EMN8's vice president of sales, said restaurants like the machines' "upsell" potential when customers realize they can add a milkshake or other item to a combo meal for just a few cents.

Some restaurant kiosks may even become advanced enough to recall past orders and ask customers if that's what they want. The impact on employees should be minimal as cashiers most likely will be redeployed to help customers use the kiosks and to assist on food preparation and delivery, particularly at locations with drive throughs, analysts said.

Airlines that use check-in kiosks are reaping upsell rewards on upgrades for first-class or aisle seats. It costs airlines more than $3 per customer when agents check them in versus as little as 14 cents each with a kiosk, said Forrester Research analyst Henry Harteveldt.

"Mobile commerce," which involves tapping a credit card "wand" or cell phone against a kiosk at a gas station is offered by some U.S. companies, but is more the norm in Japan and some parts of Europe, said Craig Johnson, president of Customer Growth Partners, a retail consultancy in New Canaan, Conn.

"The technology is here now, it's just a question of companies providing it and then consumers" buying in, Johnson said.

Those that prefer the personal touch can rest easy, at least for a little while.

Video game lets players be immigrants By LAURA WIDES-MUNOZ, Associated Press Writer

Video game lets players be immigrants By LAURA WIDES-MUNOZ, Associated Press Writer
1 hour, 3 minutes ago



MIAMI - A Japanese computer science student fails to take a full load of university classes and loses his student visa. A 10th-grade Indian girl is detained because of a high school essay she wrote on the Department of Homeland Security. These are two of the characters in "ICED!" — a new video game that invites players to step into the shoes of foreigners who run afoul of the U.S. immigration system.

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It is part of a burgeoning genre of video games that examine major social and policy issues such as the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, the situation in Darfur and the Electoral College.

"The game allows you to get into the body of a person, so you can experience what they are going through. There are very few opportunities to get that perspective," said Mallika Dutt, head of the nonprofit Breakthrough, which produced the game and uses new media to highlight social issues around the world.

"ICED!" — a play on the acronym for the Department of Homeland Security's Immigration and Customs Enforcement office — is scheduled to be available for free download next month. It differs greatly from games like "Border Patrol," which popped up on the Internet last year and exhorted players to kill illegal immigrants as they entered the country.

"ICED!" seeks to show how immigration laws passed in 1996 expanded the number of crimes that can trigger deportation and limited immigrants' rights to appeal.

Players try to avoid deportation by keeping a low profile and performing community service. Shoplifting or jumping a subway turnstile loses points. Lose too many, and your character ends up in a federal detention facility.

"You can get a lot out of a game, more than from film and other media in some ways, because you are actively engaged rather than just a passive consumer," said Suzanne Seggerman, head of the nonprofit group Games for Change.

Barbara Gonzalez, a spokeswoman for ICE, said the agency was confident players would recognize the game is fiction.

"ICED!" gamers can become a Mexican high school graduate whose family overstayed its visa, or a Haitian war veteran who faces deportation when he turns to alcohol and crime after returning from Iraq.

In the first level, players keep a low profile in a city vaguely resembling New York. In the second level, they must navigate an immigration detention center. Programmer Heidi Boisvert estimates the game can take 10 to 30 minutes to play.

Boisvert and Natalia Rodriguez came up with the idea in graduate school and approached Breakthrough about helping them develop it. Boisvert said they didn't talk to immigration authorities, but they did speak to immigration experts, attorneys and advocacy groups, as well as their target audience of voting-age teens.

All of the characters they chose were based on real situations, including the case of a 16-year-old New York girl from Guinea who was accused of planning a suicide bombing and detained for six weeks in 2005 before the charges dropped.

Steven Camarota, head of research at the Washington-based Center for Immigration Studies, questioned the value of a game that focuses on individual cases rather than the complex issues surrounding immigration. While the U.S. immigration system is flawed, it is also one of the most generous in the world, said Camarota, whose organization favors strict enforcement of current laws.

"Any reasonable person should say your immigration system should always be tempered with mercy and justice," he said. "But it's like anything else. What exactly do you gain by looking at a small aspect of the debate?"

Louis DeSipio, a University of California, Irvine, political science professor and immigration expert, believes players do gain something.

"It's very important, especially for younger people, to understand the diversity of American society. It's easy to assume that everyone is like you," he said. "A game like this can show that."

But unless they want to preach solely to the converted, such games need widespread distribution — something most nonprofits like Breakthrough lack the resources to do — and to be part of a larger outreach campaign, he added.

That was the thinking of "PeaceMaker" creator Asi Burak, whose game allows players to act as both Israeli and Palestinian leaders as they seek to diffuse tension in the Middle East. It is one of the few such games to be sold commercially, including on Amazon.com. Burak claims it has sold thousands of copies in 60 countries at $20 per download.

Burak said he conceived "PeaceMaker" as a way to promote empathy between the two sides. To his surprise, those who played were more excited about finally understanding the broader Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Even if such games can explain political and social issues, they are only effective if they are fun to play, he cautioned.

"It's like a film," he said. "If it's not good, it's going to bore the audience.".

___

On the Net:

Games for Change: http://www.gamesforchange.org/

Breakthrough: http://breakthrough.tv/

PeaceMaker: http://www.peacemakergame.com/

'LonelyGirl15' to meet fate Friday By GARY GENTILE, AP Business Writer

'LonelyGirl15' to meet fate Friday By GARY GENTILE, AP Business Writer
1 hour, 14 minutes ago



LOS ANGELES - "LonelyGirl15," the sweet 16-year-old who set the Web buzzing last year with her playful and mysterious video blogs, will meet her fate Friday when the successful and influential show ends its first season.

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Will Bree die at the hands of the strange cult that abducted her? Will her friends save her in time? Will she once again play with hand puppets and engage with best friend Daniel in the precocious game "Proving Science Wrong?"

The answers will come in 12 episodes to be posted one per hour starting Friday morning.

But here's the good news for fans: No matter what happens to Bree, the show will continue with its second season starting Monday.

"LonelyGirl15" started with a test-the-waters video on May 24, 2006, posted on the video sharing site YouTube. The character Bree made her on-screen debut on June 16 in a video titled "First Blog: Dorkiness Prevails."

Nearly 260 episodes later — more than most TV shows — the series still ranks as one of the most-watched on YouTube and has expanded its audience to other video sites as well.

The "12 in 12" finale will air exclusively on MySpaceTV in a new deal with the huge social networking site. The episodes also will air on the official "LonelyGirl15" site.

The online drama has come a long way in little over a year.

"LonelyGirl15" burst onto the national scene in September, when reports began to surface that Bree was not a real 16-year-old home-schooled girl at all, but an actress playing a role in a scripted series.

Speculation was that some Hollywood studio was behind "LonelyGirl15," taking advantage of the video blogging trend to hype some new horror flick or TV show, a la "The Blair Witch Project."

Finally, "The Creators," as they called themselves, confessed: They weren't Hollywood but "LonelyGirl15" was indeed fake, and Bree was played by a then unknown actress, 19-year-old Jessica Lee Rose of New Zealand.

The three creators saw the show as a new form of interactive storytelling, involving the viewers in ways network TV or Hollywood films could not.

"We were the first ones to tell stories using social networks and the tools they have on their platforms," said Greg Goodfried, a 27-year-old Los Angeles lawyer. "Our goal has been to continue doing that and pushing the envelope and staying ahead of the pack. We have the freedom of not asking a network executive, `What do we do now?'"

While the episodes are still produced on a shoestring budget, the show's creators are no longer begging fans for donations or relying on loans from family members to pay the bills.

"There was a good solid month when payroll for the actors was coming from revenue from donations," Goodfried said. "The show would have stopped if the fans hadn't reached into their pockets."

Miles Beckett, 28, Mesh Flinders, 26, and Goodfried have already created a spin-off series, "Kate Modern," which airs on Bebo, a social networking site in Britain. Each show now employs a staff of about 20 and more spin-offs in other countries are in the works.

"This has changed from a fun thing in our apartment to an actual business," Beckett said.

The show has also boosted the career of its star.

Rose is represented by the talent agency CAA and is a regular on the new ABC Family series "Greek." She also appears in the latest Lindsay Lohan film "I Know Who Killed Me."

"LonelyGirl15" has evolved into more of an ensemble show, introducing new characters as it prepares for its second season.

The most notable is Sarah, a sometime prickly, sometimes beguiling 18-year-old who has an on-again, off-again romantic relationship with Daniel.

"I wanted her to be that 18-year-old everyone knew," said Alexandra Dreyfus, the 21-year-old actress who portrays Sarah. "She is selfish and self-absorbed, but so is every 18-year-old. She also wants to do the right thing."

The show is still filmed as though it were a video blog, or vlog. Using the homes of friends or family as sets, the characters film the scenes they are not in or sometimes turn the camera on themselves to comment on a particular scene. Outdoor scenes are shot "guerrilla style" without any formal permits — just the way they would be if it were a genuine vlog.

"It makes it interesting from an acting perspective," Dreyfus said. "You are the one in charge of that camera. It's a completely different way to film, and it works."

Dreyfus joined the cast in April and was immediately embraced by fans, who post hundreds of comments on each episode.

She also reflects the changes in the online video world since the series began last June.

While Web videos were once seen as a way to season a story idea before it found a "legitimate" home on TV or the big screen, big-time producers now see the Internet as a legitimate destination for new content.

Former Disney chief executive Michael Eisner has started a studio to produce video shows and other celebrities, such as Will Ferrell and Harry Shearer, are embracing the Web's creative freedom.

Advertisers, too, are joining in.

"LonelyGirl15" broke ground when it became the first Web show to incorporate product placement, signing a deal to promote the Hershey Co.'s Ice Breakers Sours Gum.

The show pushed the concept further, adding a character who worked as a scientist for Neutrogena, a skin-care brand owned by Johnson & Johnson. Neutrogena was so excited about the deal, they even named the character "employee of the month" on its own Web site and allowed people to send e-mails to his corporate address.

___

On the Net:

http://www.lonelygirl15.com

http://www.bebo.com

Russian subs seek glory at North Pole By DOUGLAS BIRCH, Associated Press Writer

Russian subs seek glory at North Pole By DOUGLAS BIRCH, Associated Press Writer
1 hour, 39 minutes ago



MOSCOW - Two small Russian submarines completed a risky voyage deep below the North Pole Thursday, planting their country's flag in a titanium capsule on the Arctic Ocean floor to symbolically claim what could be vast energy reserves beneath the seabed.

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The subs dove some 2 1/2 miles to the Arctic shelf, where they collected geologic and water samples and dropped the yard-long canister. After spending most of the day below water, they surfaced near the pole, guided from the murky depths by four radio beacons on the perimeter of a football field-sized hole cut in the thick Arctic pack ice.

"It was so good down there," expedition leader Artur Chilingarov, 68, a famed polar scientist, said after coming back, according to the state-owned ITAR-Tass news service. "If someone else goes down there in 100 or 1,000 years, he will see our Russian flag."

Warming global temperatures have made the region, a frozen terra incognita for most of human history, increasingly open to shipping and energy exploration.

Thursday's dive was part serious scientific expedition and part political theater. But it could mark the start of a fierce legal scramble for control of the sea bed among nations that border the Arctic, including Russia, the U.S., Canada, Norway and Denmark, through its territory Greenland.

Canada dismissed the flag-planting as empty showmanship, and the U.S. said Russia's move had no legal importance regardless of whether it planted "a metal flag, a rubber flag or a bedsheet."

Chilingarov, who surfaced to cheers from colleagues aboard the polar research vessel Akademik Fyodorov, spent 8 hours and 40 minutes submerged with his two crew mates, ITAR-Tass said, with the last 40 minutes used to find the break in the ice. The second sub and its three-member crew, including a Swede and an Australian, surfaced more than an hour after the first, after about 9 1/2 hours under the ice.

Expedition organizers said the greatest risk was being trapped under the ice and running out of air. Each of the subs, which had 72-hour air supplies, spent about 40 minutes on the sea floor, said Sergei Balyasnikov, a spokesman for Russia's Institute of the Arctic and Antarctic which organized the expedition. He said the crews were in good physical condition.

The expedition received intense coverage in the media here. While some Russians were blase, others expressed pride.

"Russia is a great power which needs resources, territories and the prospect of its development determines its action," Muscovite Yevgeny Gaziyev told The Associated Press.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said during a visit to Manila, Philippines that the expedition should substantiate Russia's claim that the Eurasian continental shelf, which is under its jurisdiction, extends to the North Pole.

"I think this expedition will supply additional scientific evidence for our aspirations," Lavrov said in televised remarks. He added that the issue of which nation what portion of the polar region "will be resolved in strict compliance with international law."

A U.S. State Department spokesman, Tom Casey, said that the Russian government was entitled to submit its claim but he dismissed the significance of planting a flag in the North Pole seabed.

"I'm not sure whether they put a metal flag, a rubber flag or a bedsheet on the ocean floor," he said. "Either way it doesn't have any legal standing."

Peter Mackay, Canada's minister of foreign affairs, dismissed the voyage to the Arctic floor as "just a show."

"Look, this isn't the 15th century," he said, according to the Web site of Canadian Television. "You can't go around the world and just plant flags and say 'We're claiming this territory.'"

Canada's own claims to the Arctic, he said, were "well-established."

"This is posturing," he said. "They're fooling themselves if they think dropping a flag on the ocean floor is going to change anything."

Chilingarov told colleagues on the surface that his craft, the Mir-1, had reached the seabed about 2 1/2 hours after beginning his drive.

"The landing was smooth, the yellowish ground is around us, no sea dwellers are seen," he said, according to the ITAR-Tass news agency. Mir-2 reached the bottom about a half hour later.

The subs and their three-member crews each spent about an hour in the murky depths. They had planned to conduct a study of the water chemistry, biology and geology near the seabed at the pole, according to Russia's Institute of the Arctic and Antarctic, which organized the expedition.

Russian researchers also planned to use the dive to help map the Lomonosov ridge, a 1,240-mile underwater mountain range that crosses the polar region. The ridge was discovered by the Soviets in 1948 and named after a famed 18th-century Russian scientist, Mikhail Lomonosov.

In December 2001, Moscow claimed that the ridge was an extension of the Eurasian continent, and therefore part of Russia's continental shelf under international law. The U.N. rejected Moscow's claim, citing a lack of evidence, but Russia is set to resubmit it in 2009.

If recognized, the claim would give Russia control of more than 460,000 square miles, representing almost half of the Arctic seabed. Little is known about the ocean floor near the pole, but by some estimates it could contain vast oil and gas deposits.

Chilingarov became a hero of the Soviet Union in the 1980s after successfully leading an expedition aboard a research vessel that was trapped for a time in Antarctic sea ice. He is a deputy speaker of the Duma, Russia's lower house of parliament.

The Mir-1 reached a depth of 13,980 feet Thursday, Tass reported. The Mir-2 went deeper, to 14,144 feet below the surface.

The deepest dive on record, according to several sources, was by the bathyscaphe Trieste, which in January 1960 descended 35,810 feet into the Mariana Trench in the Pacific.

Russia launches space cargo ship 1 hour, 36 minutes ago

Russia launches space cargo ship 1 hour, 36 minutes ago



MOSCOW - An unmanned Russian cargo ship carrying over 2.5 tons of supplies, equipment and gifts blasted off Thursday for the international space station.

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The Progress M-61, mounted atop a Soyuz-U booster rocket, lifted off as scheduled at 9:34 p.m. from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, said Russia's Mission Control spokesman Valery Lyndin.

"The launch went on without a hitch, and nine minutes later the ship entered the designated preliminary orbit," Lyndin told The Associated Press.

After a series of maneuvers to adjust its orbit to that of the station, the ship is scheduled to moor at the orbiting outpost Sunday, Lyndin said.

It will deliver oxygen, water, food and scientific equipment to the station's current crew — Russian cosmonauts Fyodor Yurchikhin and Oleg Kotov and U.S. astronaut Clayton Anderson.

The cargo ship is also carrying two spare computers to back up those which failed in June, briefly disabling orientation and oxygen production on the Russian side of the space station. The breakdown was quickly fixed, and the computers have since been working normally.

"The crew isn't going to replace the station's computers, which are functioning normally; those delivered by Progress will serve as a back up," Lyndin said.

The breakdown in June was apparently caused by a spike in static electricity while power cables were being hooked up to the station's new solar panels. The crew unplugged and then reconnected the power feed between the U.S. and Russian sections and rebooted the computers, fixing the problem. Engineers also changed the software to make sure the problem was fixed, Lyndin said.

Along with other cargo, the spaceship is also carrying books, movies, gifts and other personal items for the crew.

Pierce, Fenner & Smith Inc.; UBS Securities LLC; Goldman Sachs & Co.; and Pardus Capital Management L.P.

Pierce, Fenner & Smith Inc.; UBS Securities LLC; Goldman Sachs & Co.; and Pardus Capital Management L.P.

Under the terms of the agreement, Appaloosa and its partners will buy $800 million in convertible preferred shares and about $175 million of common stock in Delphi. The investment group also agreed to buy any leftover shares after a $1.6 billion rights offering to existing common stockholders.

Delphi struck the deal after it scrapped an earlier agreement, worth up to $3.4 billion, involving Appaloosa and other investors. That plan fell apart when one of the key investors, Cerberus Capital Management LP, decided to pull out shortly before it agreed to buy an 80 percent stake in Chrysler Group from DaimlerChrysler AG.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robert Drain approved the new deal quickly and with little comment Thursday. He called the investment agreement "an extremely important step."

In opting for the Appaloosa offer, Delphi turned down an unsolicited proposal from Highland Capital Management LP. It said in court that the only objection it received to its plan came from Highland.

The approval comes on the heels of the deal between Delphi and the United Auto Workers, which represents about 16,000 Delphi employees. That agreement, which followed two years of contentious talks, keeps some plants once in jeopardy from closing in exchange for the concessions.

Miller said Delphi has now reached agreements with four of its six unions and is in discussions with the remaining two, which he did not name. He said the company remains committed to achieving a "consensual resolution."

Delphi's second-largest union, the International Union of Electronic Workers-Communications Workers of America, last month said it planned to terminate its contracts with the company and said a strike was a "real possibility."

A spokeswoman for the union, which represents about 2,000 hourly workers, said the IUE-CWA was not among the four that had reached a deal with the company.

While GM remains Delphi's largest customer, more than half of Delphi's revenue now comes from other sources.

As part of its reorganization plan, Delphi expects to provide $2.70 billion in cash to GM. The auto maker has agreed to subsidize the wages of, and pay other costs for, some longtime Delphi employees, and will operate or find a third-party to run several of the parts company's factories.

Mattel: Recall has $30 million impact By ALEX VEIGA, AP Business Writer

Mattel: Recall has $30 million impact By ALEX VEIGA, AP Business Writer
2 minutes ago



LOS ANGELES - Mattel apologized Thursday to customers affected by a recall nearly a million toys from its Fisher-Price division and said the move will cut pretax operating income at the world's largest toymaker by $30 million.

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The plastic preschool toys were made in China with paint found to have excessive amounts of lead.

"We apologize to everyone affected by this recall, especially those who bought the toys in question," Robert A. Eckert, Mattel Inc.'s chairman and CEO, said in a statement.

"Our goal is to correct this problem, improve our systems and maintain the trust of the families that have allowed us to be part of their lives by acting responsibly and quickly to address their concerns," he said.

Mattel shares fell 40 cents, or 1.7 percent, to $23.18 Thursday.

The apology came a day after El Segundo-based Mattel disclosed the recall of 967,000 toys manufactured by a Chinese vendor and sold in the United States between May and August.

Included in the recall were 83 types of toys based on the popular characters Big Bird, Elmo and Dora, among others.

Mattel will adjust its already reported 2007 second-quarter results to reflect the impact of the recall, the company said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Mattel also said it was not aware of any additional issues related to lead in paints with its products but cannot guarantee that more issues will not be identified.

"We require our manufacturing partners to use paint from approved and certified suppliers and have procedures in place to test and verify, but in this particular case our procedures were not followed," Jim Walter, Mattel's senior vice president of worldwide quality assurance, said in a statement. "We are investigating the cause to ensure such events do not reoccur."

The company said it was reviewing the procedures of all of its manufacturing partners in China.

Last month, Mattel reported a 15 percent increase in its second-quarter profit on strong sales of toy cars.

___

On the Net:

Mattel Recall site: http://www.service.mattel.com

Fiserv buying CheckFree for $4.2 billion By HARRY R. WEBER, AP Business Writer

Fiserv buying CheckFree for $4.2 billion By HARRY R. WEBER, AP Business Writer
2 hours, 8 minutes ago



ATLANTA - Fiserv Inc., a provider of information management systems and services, is buying online banking company CheckFree Corp. for about $4.2 billion in cash, the companies said Thursday.

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Officials said there would be cost savings from combining the two companies which serve banks and other financial institutions, but did not say how many, if any, jobs will be shed.

The two companies employ a total of 27,000 people.

"Between now and the time we close, we'll be working diligently to come to those right answers," Fiserv Chief Executive Jeffery Yabuki said during a conference call with analysts and investors when asked for specifics about the synergies from the deal.

On an annualized basis, Fiserv said it expects to realize more than $100 million in cost savings and more than $125 million in extra revenue as a result of the deal. For 2008, the acquisition is expected to add to Fiserv's underlying cash earnings per share, the company said.

The deal, set to close by year-end, is worth $4.22 billion based on the purchase price of $48 per share and the 87.9 million CheckFree shares outstanding as of April 30. The two sides value the deal at $4.4 billion, which includes an unspecified amount of debt, according to a spokeswoman.

Asked about the fate of employee jobs, Fiserv spokeswoman Melanie Tolley said the planned integration of the two companies will be reviewed over the next few months.

"We are definitely putting together some transition teams," she said. "I think they're going to have to look at every piece of the business."

The combined company will have revenue of about $6 billion.

The $48 a share offer for CheckFree is a 30 percent premium over its closing price of $36.83 on Wednesday.

CheckFree shares rose $8.57, or 23 percent, to $45.40 Thursday after rising to a new 52-week high of $46.10 earlier in the session. Fiserv shares climbed 31 cents to $49.50.

Brookfield, Wis.-based Fiserv, which serves the financial and insurance industries, said CheckFree has complementary technology, services and business models. Norcross, Ga.-based CheckFree provides electronic billing and payment, online banking and investment management technology services, among others.

CheckFree Chairman and Chief Executive Pete Kight was asked during the analyst call whether he had any misgivings about selling the company he founded in 1981, and he was asked if the company could have gotten more.

"We have a lot of moving parts," Kight said. "The market has a lot of moving parts. Perhaps the biggest issue I focus on, we really have a definition of stakeholder as shareholders, associates and the clients we serve."

He added, "What we're trying to do is balance out the best way to serve the stakeholders."

Kight declined to say if there were any other bidders for his company. Executives said CheckFree and Fiserv had been in discussions for several months.

Yabuki said a goal of the acquisition is to "tightly integrate electronic bill payment and settlement capabilities with our core account processing and risk management solutions."

He also said the two companies have complementary client bases. Fiserv's core processing base consists of smaller and mid-market banks, credit unions and thrifts. CheckFree serves mostly larger banks.

Yabuki was asked whether any customers in the highly competitive online banking industry might be lost after the deal closes.

"We made a set of assumptions that we think are appropriate for the future," he said. "I believe some institutions will go in-house and I think some institutions will end up outsourcing."

Kight will be employed by the combined company and named to its board. The deal is subject to regulatory approval.

Jobless claims up, but labor market OK By JEANNINE AVERSA, AP Economics Writer

Jobless claims up, but labor market OK By JEANNINE AVERSA, AP Economics Writer
1 hour, 39 minutes ago



WASHINGTON - The number of newly laid off people signing up for jobless benefits rose modestly last week, although the latest figures suggest employment conditions are good.

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The Labor Department reported Thursday that new applications filed for unemployment insurance increased by a seasonally adjusted 4,000 to 307,000 for the week ending July 28. That was a better than the 310,000 that economists expected.

New claims also are lower now than a year ago, when they stood at 315,000.

In another report, U.S. factories saw demand for their products improve in June, but not as much as some hoped. The Commerce Department said new orders rose 0.6 percent, compared with a 0.5 percent drop in May. Economists were calling for a bigger, 1 percent gain.

Still, the overall gain in June did mark the best showing since March.

For the economy, the latest batch of reports suggests "it is sort of steady as she goes despite this financial market hoo-ha," said Bill Cheney, chief economist at John Hancock Financial Services, referring to the recent turbulence on Wall Street. "It really seems like the underlying economic reality is much more placid."

The fresh economic news helped to soothe investors and give stocks a lift. The Dow Jones industrials gained 100.96 points to close at 13,463.33.

Looking at the details in the manufacturing report, demand for durable goods, including machinery, airplanes, turbines, generators and electrical equipment rose by 1.3 percent in June. Orders for such goods dropped 2.4 percent in May.

"The production pipeline is still full and the inventory overhang, which slowed manufacturing earlier this year, seems to be behind us," said Tim Quinlan, economic analyst at Wachovia, pointing to some positives in the report.

Demand for nondurable goods, including clothing and meat, poultry and seafood products, fell by 0.1 percent in June after a 1.5 percent increase the previous month.

A more forward-looking report released by the Institute for Supply Management showed that the manufacturing sector lost momentum in July and grew at the slowest pace in four months. The report is consistent with analysts' forecasts that the economy will grow gradually through the rest of this year.

In the layoffs report, the four-week moving average of new claims, which smooths out week-to-week fluctuations, fell last week by 3,500 to 305,500. That was the lowest level since late May.

The number of people continuing to collect unemployment benefits dropped by 16,000 to 2.5 million for the work week ending July 21, the most recent period for which this information is available.

Even as economic growth has seesawed, companies have hired at a steady and decent pace.

Economists predict that companies added 135,000 new jobs to their payrolls in July, about the same as the 132,000 positions added in June. The unemployment rate is expected to hold steady at 4.5 percent, relatively low by historical standards.

The government was to release July's employment report on Friday.

Still, there has been pain from the sour housing market and from the meltdown involving higher-risk "subprime" mortgages. Affected industries have seen some job losses.

The Federal Reserve, which meets next week, is expected to hold an important interest rate at 5.25 percent, extending a more than yearlong breather for borrowers. Before that, the Fed had boosted interest rates for two years to fend off inflation.

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and his colleagues, however, still believe inflation is a potential threat to the economy. One of the things they are watching closely is whether the sturdy labor market, which has allowed some workers to command higher wages and benefits, could add to inflation pressures.

High gasoline and food prices in recent months have made some workers feel that any increases in their paychecks have not been large enough.

___

On the Net:

Unemployment initial claims: http://www.dol.gov

Factory orders: http://www.census.gov/indicator/www/m3/index.htm

Minneapolis mayor relies on training By GREGG AAMOT, Associated Press Writer

Minneapolis mayor relies on training By GREGG AAMOT, Associated Press Writer
16 minutes ago



MINNEAPOLIS - Shortly after Mayor R.T. Rybak was elected, the Sept. 11 attacks led him to join federal officials for training sessions that would help him if he had to handle a local disaster.

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That disaster came Wednesday, when a bridge spanning the Mississippi River buckled and collapsed. By Thursday afternoon, at least four people were confirmed dead, 79 were injured and dozens were missing.

The biggest crisis the 51-year-old mayor had handled to date during his time in office was the demotion of the fire chief after an investigation into allegations of sexual harassment.

That wasn't evident Thursday as Rybak spoke to reporters and officials. As crews searched the Mississippi River for submerged vehicles and bodies, Rybak sprung to work preparing for investigations and the construction of a new I-35W bridge along one of the city's busies thoroughfares.

"We can never be prepared for something as horrendous as this," he said, but praised rescue workers for their heroics, saying they showed "tremendous courage and compassion at a time when we need huge doses of both."

The post-Sept. 11 training "was the backbone of the training we put into place immediately," at City Hall, Rybak said at a morning news conference. That enabled the city to respond quickly to the disaster, he said.

A former Twin Cities newspaper reporter and community activist, Rybak has developed a reputation as a high-energy, fit and environmentally conscious mayor, a polished spokesman for his green and progressive city.

Neal St. Anthony, a business columnist for the Star Tribune who worked with Rybak at the paper, said the mayor will fare well managing the crisis because he "cares very much for the city."

"He'll deal with this situation exceptionally well because he connects well with people," he said.

Hours after the bridge collapse, Rybak visited a makeshift Red Cross center at a hotel overlooking the river, where he consoled a handful of family members who feared the worst for relatives who had likely taken the bridge route that night but hadn't been heard from.

When he emerged from meetings, his eyes reddened and sleeves rolled up, he reminded people that the tragedy was ultimately about people.

"I think over the next few days, our focus will turn from statistics and numbers to the unfortunate horrible human stories that will be unfolding," Rybak said.

He asked the public for "sustained compassion," saying, "it is really about families that are now only beginning to understand the depth of what it means to have a loved one who is no longer here or to have a loved one whose whereabouts we don't know about."

Governors order new bridge inspections By BETSY TAYLOR, Associated Press Writer

Governors order new bridge inspections By BETSY TAYLOR, Associated Press Writer
1 hour, 36 minutes ago



ST. LOUIS - Governors around the nation scrambled Thursday to conduct bridge inspections, ordering engineers to review the safety of thousands of structures a day after a span over the Mississippi collapsed in Minneapolis.

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States such as Missouri and Massachusetts had already identified bridges similar to the one that collapsed in Minnesota. Missouri, for instance, has 11 so-called truss bridges and planned to examine them first.

New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine said officials planned to evaluate all 6,400 of the state's bridges, regardless of whether the structures are maintained by state, local or federal governments.

University of Missouri-Columbia civil engineer Glenn Washer said Wednesday's catastrophe may spur states to revise how they fund bridge inspection and repair.

"There are almost 600,000 bridges in this country, with an average age of 42 years," Washer said. "There is a massive effort by state departments of transportation to inspect, monitor and maintain bridges, but implementing some of the new technology and getting the work done is a significant challenge."

Other states ordering new inspections included Illinois, Michigan and New Mexico.

Nationwide, nearly 13 percent of the nation's bridges were classified as "structurally deficient" in 2004, meaning they are deteriorating, according to a report issued by the Federal Highway Administration.

Another 13 percent of bridges were classified as "functionally obsolete," meaning they are structurally sound but no longer meet transportation standards and demands.

In Missouri, state Department of Transportation spokesman Jeff Briggs said more than 1,600 of the 10,240 bridges in the state's highway system have been deemed "structurally deficient." That figure does not include thousands of bridges under the watch of cities and counties.

Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick said none of his state's 27 steel truss bridges are considered in danger of collapsing, but he still asked transportation officials to review inspection records.

States such as Texas and Georgia were confident that routine bridge inspections would be sufficient. Texas officials, for instance, inspect every bridge on a public road at least every two years.

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Associated Press writers Tom Hester Jr. in South Plainfield, N.J., Glen Johnson in Boston, Giovanna Dell'Orto in Atlanta and Cheryl Wittenauer in St. Louis contributed to this story.

Location sought for Korea-Taliban talks By AMIR SHAH, Associated Press Writer

Location sought for Korea-Taliban talks By AMIR SHAH, Associated Press Writer
2 hours, 20 minutes ago



GHAZNI, Afghanistan - Officials searched Thursday for a neutral meeting place that would be safe for both South Korean negotiators and Taliban captors to hold face-to-face talks about the release of 21 South Koreans held hostage in Afghanistan.

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At an Asian security conference in the Philippines, South Korean Foreign Minister Song Min-soon and U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte agreed to place top priority on safely freeing the hostages, ruling out a military option for ending the standoff, a South Korean official said.

But in Washington, senior State Department official Richard Boucher said the United States is not ruling out military force to free the hostages.

A delegation of South Korean lawmakers left for Washington in the latest diplomatic effort to urge the United States to help end the 15-day crisis.

Afghan officials said the Taliban captors have agreed to meet with South Korea's ambassador, but they had not yet agreed on a venue.

"If the Taliban want to come to the area where we are for the sake of these hostages, 100 percent, they will be safe," Ghazni Gov. Marajudin Pathan told a news conference.

But both sides have proposed places that could put them at risk — including the office of the provincial reconstruction team, which is run by international troops.

"The Koreans told the Taliban to come to the PRT, and the Taliban told the Koreans to come to their base," Pathan told The Associated Press after the news conference.

Purported Taliban spokesman Qari Yousef Ahmadi said the South Koreans had not requested direct talks with the militants, but the insurgents would be willing to hold such a meeting in Taliban-controlled territory.

The Taliban "want to negotiate directly with the Koreans because the Kabul administration is not sincere about releasing the Taliban prisoners," Ahmadi told The Associated Press by telephone from an undisclosed location.

A South Korean Embassy official in Kabul would not confirm any Korean efforts to hold face-to-face talks with Taliban.

Ahmadi said the remaining 21 hostages were still alive, but two of the women were very sick and could die from illness.

Meanwhile, Newsweek magazine reported a regional Taliban commander claiming to be the mastermind behind the abductions said the militants might prolong the crisis to embarrass President Hamid Karzai.

The commander, who did not give his name, said the militants want to secure the freedom of eight Taliban prisoners in exchange for all the South Korean hostages. He also said the 16 women among the captives were safe for now.

None of the claims could be independently verified. But Afghan officials have said the militants have demanded the release of local Taliban fighters from Ghazni province as well as a former militia spokesman, Mohammad Hanif.

The Afghan government has said it is opposed to a prisoner swap out of concern that it could encourage more kidnappings.

In Islamabad, a leader of a coalition of hardline Pakistani religious parties met for one hour with a five-member South Korean delegation seeking the Islamist politician's help to win the hostages' release.

Fazlur Rahman, who strongly opposes the presence of foreign troops in Afghanistan, said afterward the delegates had said South Korea was offering an early withdrawal of its troops in a U.S.-led coalition. He said in response, the Taliban should release the women captives and the sick as a "goodwill gesture."

"The abducted Koreans had been on a medical mission. They should have protection in war zones," Rahman said. "When the Korean president plans to withdraw troops before their proposed withdrawal time, the Taliban should release at least the women and those who are reportedly ill."

He did not elaborate on when South Korea was willing to withdraw its 210 troops serving in the U.S.-led coalition in Afghanistan. They are scheduled to leave in December.

The 23 Korean church group volunteers were kidnapped in Ghazni province on July 19 as they traveled by bus from Kabul to the southern city of Kandahar. The Taliban have shot and killed two men in the group.

Also Thursday, a delegation of eight South Korean lawmakers departed for Washington to "sincerely plead with the United States to take more substantial and meaningful measures to resolve this crisis," one of the group, Rep. Cheon Young-se, said.

The delegation expects to meet U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and national security adviser Stephen Hadley, as well as U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, a former South Korean foreign minister.

Earlier South Korean efforts — including sending the presidential envoy to Afghanistan and phone calls between President Roh Moo-hyun and Karzai — failed to bend Afghanistan's refusal to respond to Taliban demands.

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Associated Press Writers Noor Khan in Kandahar, Rahim Faiez in Kabul, Jae-soon Chang in Seoul and Kwang-tae Kim in Manila contributed to this report.