By Nell Henderson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said yesterday, for the first time explicitly, that he expects tax increases to be part of any eventual agreement to reduce the federal budget deficit.
Greenspan, appearing before the Senate Budget Committee, also acknowledged that his support for tax cuts in early 2001 unintentionally led to policies that helped swing the federal budget from surplus to deficits. In pointed comments, Greenspan addressed recent Democratic critics who have sought to blame him for the return to deficits.
Greenspan reminded lawmakers that government economists at the time predicted budget surpluses "as far as the eye can see." Yet Greenspan had warned then in congressional testimony that the forecasts might be wrong, and he recommended some "trigger" mechanism that would limit the tax cuts if certain budget targets were not met.
Greenspan said he thinks "it's frankly unfair" for critics to blame him now for the fact that Congress chose to "read half [his] testimony and discard the rest."
Sen. Paul S. Sarbanes (D-Md.) said he believed it was "fair to consider how your message would be taken" and that lawmakers saw Greenspan's 2001 remarks as "providing a green light" for tax cuts, which were enacted without triggers.
"I plead guilty to that," Greenspan said. "If indeed that is the way it was interpreted, I missed it. In other words, I did not intend it that way."
The deficit hit a record $412 billion last year and is projected to expand dramatically as the huge baby boom generation starts retiring and collecting Social Security and Medicare benefits.
"The federal budget deficit is on an unsustainable path, in which large deficits result in rising interest rates and ever-growing interest payments that augment deficits in future years," Greenspan said in his prepared testimony yesterday.
The economy is "expanding at a reasonably good pace," Greenspan said, without commenting on the recent slowdown in spending and hiring or the outlook for inflation and interest rates.
But, he said, the economy's "positive" short-term prospects contrast with longer-run concerns that unrestrained growth in the budget deficit will eventually "cause the economy to stagnate or worse."
The Fed chief called for "major deficit-reducing actions" and proposed several procedural steps Congress could implement to restrain the deficit's growth.
Greenspan has frequently said he would prefer the deficit be shrunk as much as possible through spending cuts -- including reductions in Social Security and Medicare benefits -- before taxes are increased. He said yesterday that he believes raising taxes restrains economic growth and that there is "no way you can raise tax rates enough" to cover future spending commitments.
But he also implied that reaching a bipartisan agreement to reduce the deficit will require some compromises, saying, "We can raise taxes, and I don't deny we probably at the end of the day will do them [tax increases] in order to get an ultimate resolution of this."
Republican congressional leaders have ruled out tax increases to shrink the deficit anytime soon. On the contrary, they are pushing to extend President Bush's expiring tax cut provisions and to pass new tax breaks for energy companies.
But Senate Budget Committee Chairman Judd Gregg (R-N.H.) said after the hearing that he agreed with Greenspan that "both sides of the ledger will have to be looked at" to address the long-term budget challenges. "We're going to have to reduce the benefits, and we're going to have to look at revenues."
Gregg added, "I'm not sure there will be an ultimate agreement."
Greenspan has endorsed extending the recent tax cuts. But he has always done so while urging Congress to restore budget controls requiring lost tax revenue to be offset by similarly sized spending reductions, so there is no net growth in the deficit.
The White House and congressional Republicans support applying the rules to spending increases and not tax cuts, because they would make it nearly impossible politically to extend the tax cuts.
Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Friday, April 22, 2005
BAGHDAD — The Army and Air Force Exchange Service’s newest Burger King in Iraq opened in the International Zone last week. The post exchange food courtyard also has a Pizza Inn, Gyro King and coffee shop, according to an AAFES press release.
The new Burger King averaged more than 80 Whoppers an hour, and by the end of the busy opening day had served 888 Whoppers and 357 pounds of fries. AAFES also offers the restaurant at Tallil, Tikrit, Balad, Kirkuk, Taji and Camp Liberty, the release said. In all, AAFES operates 31 fast-food restaurants in Iraq and has 23 more sites planned.
Daily Mail
He looks like something from a prehistoric age or a fantastic creation from Hollywood.
But Hercules is very much living flesh and blood - as he proves every time he opens his gigantic mouth to roar.
Part lion, part tiger, he is not just a big cat but a huge one, standing 10ft tall on his back legs.
Called a liger, in reference to his crossbreed parentage, he is the largest of all the cat species.
On a typical day he will devour 20lb of meat, usually beef or chicken, and is capable of eating 100lb at a single setting.
At just three years old, Hercules already weighs half a ton. When he is fully grown he is expected to reach 12ft, and almost 90 stone. (1260Lbs.)
He is the accidental result of two amorous big cats living close together at the Institute of Greatly Endangered and Rare Species, in Miami, Florida, and already dwarfs both his parents.
"Ligers are not something we planned on having," said institute owner Dr Bhagavan Antle.
"We have lions and tigers living together in large enclosures and at first we had no idea how well one of the lion boys was getting along with a tiger girl, then lo and behold we had a liger."
50mph runner
Hercules has the strength of a lion and the speed of a tiger, reaching 50mph.
He will also grow a mane like his father, but just a small one, and sports his mother's tiger stripes on his huge body. And when he opens his fearsome mouth he can both roar like a lion and give a purr-like snort like his mother.
Not only that, but he likes to swim, a feat unheard of among water-fearing lions.
In the wild it is virtually impossible for lions and tigers to mate. Not only are they enemies likely to kill one another, but most lions are in Africa and most tigers in Asia.
But incredible though he is, Hercules is not unique. Ligers have been bred in captivity, deliberately and accidentally, since shortly before World War II.
Today there are believed to be a handful of ligers around the world and a similar number of tigons, the product of a tiger father and lion mother.
Tigons are smaller than ligers and take on more physical characteristics of the tiger.
Famous cross-breeds
There are hundreds of hybrids in the animal world, some common such as the mule - a cross between a female horse and a male donkey - and some more unusual, such as the labradoodle, a mix of labrador and poodle.
Other exotic hybrids include the zeedonk, a cross between a zebra and a donkey; the zorse or zebroid, a zebra/horse cross; and the beefalo, an American bison/ domestic cow cross.
Another rare creature is the wolphin, the offspring of a whale and a dolphin.
Back in the big cat world zoos in Japan, Germany and Italy have bred leopons, a male leopard/lioness cross, while Salzburg Zoo in Austria has bred jaguar/leopard hybrids known as lepjags.
Story from BBC NEWS:
Seven prisoners, including a number convicted of murder, have escaped from a Pakistani jail by using their turbans for ropes.
The prisoners broke through a toilet window in the jail in Machh, 50km (31 miles) south of the capital of Balochistan province, Quetta.
They then scaled the high-security jail's perimeter wall with the turbans.
Most of the convicts were serving terms of more than 20 years. A hunt is under way in nearby villages.
Machh is Balochistan's leading jail and houses many criminals facing the death penalty.
Abdur Razzaq Shah, the prison's deputy superintendent, told the Associated Press the prisoners were being held in the jail's hospital because of overcrowding.
He said the prison was almost twice over its 550-inmate capacity.
Mr Shah said the pre-dawn escape occurred when the convicts disconnected an electric security fence.
Home department officials are investigating the case.
Nine prisoners escaped from the same prison last year, although a number were later rearrested in Dera Ismail Khan in North-West Frontier Province.
2005 Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Creative Paper Tasmania's roo poo paper has generated unprecedented interest ahead of its official launch next month.
Papermaker Joanna Gair says they have taken more than 50 bulk orders and 150 individual orders for the paper, which is made from kangaroo dung.
She says it has captured the imagination of people locally, interstate and internationally.
"It's just so funny, as well as it being, the eco-message, which we try to get across as well, there's a real giggle factor," she said.
"It's made out of poo, but also it's so Aussie."
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Reuters) - Scott MacInnes set an Alaskan record this week, although not one contenders would seek to break, by becoming the state's first person to survive two bear attacks, state officials said on Wednesday.
MacInnes, a 51-year-old biologist, was mauled during his early morning jog on Monday when he met up with a brown bear and one or two cubs near his home in the Kenai Peninsula town of Soldotna.
He had been mauled 38 years earlier on a well-used hiking trail in the Chugach National Forest, according to a government biologist.
"That's the only time in the history of the state that I have a record that anybody's been attacked twice," said Tom Smith, a bear biologist with the U.S. Geological Survey who keeps records of Alaska bear attacks dating to the late 1800s.
The presence of a dog and a food source, a freshly killed moose found nearby, made the bear more aggressive, said Bruce Bartley, a spokesman for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.
"There's just hardly any other factors that could make it worse," Bartley said.
MacInnes was one of eight people in Alaska who had been attacked by bears while jogging, according to Smith's records. Including MacInnes' second attack, Smith's records recount 519 bear maulings in Alaska.
MacInnes' first bear attack in 1967 resulted in wounds on his legs and an injured arm, but he was able to walk a few days later.
Monday's attack, which took place about 60 miles southwest of Anchorage, appeared more serious, inflicting wounds on MacInnes' head, neck and abdomen. He is expected to make a full recovery.
Outside of Alaska, a Canadian man claims to have been attacked on two occasions by polar bears, Smith said.
By David Kelly, Times Staff Writer
DENVER — The Air Force Academy, still recovering from rape and sexual harassment scandals, is facing charges that some Christian cadets have bullied and berated Jews and students of other religious backgrounds.
School officials said Tuesday they had received 55 complaints over the last few months and were requiring students — and eventually all employees — to attend a course on religious tolerance.
"Some complaints had to do with people … saying bad things about persons of other religions or proselytizing in inappropriate places," said academy spokesman Johnny Whitaker. "There have been cases of maliciousness, mean-spiritedness and attacking or baiting someone over religion."
About 90% of the academy's 4,300 cadets identify themselves as Christians; the school's commandant, Brig. Gen. Johnny A. Weida, describes himself as a born-again Christian.
Mikey Weinstein, an academy graduate and a lawyer in Albuquerque, said that his son Curtis — a sophomore at the academy — had been called a "filthy Jew."
"When I visited my son, he told me he wanted us to go off base because he had something to tell me," Weinstein said. "He said, 'They are calling me a … Jew and that I am responsible for killing Christ.' My son told me that he was going to hit the next one who called him something."
Weinstein, 50, said he wanted Congress to investigate what he said was a pervasive Christian bias at the academy.
"When I was at the academy, there wasn't this institutional notion that if you didn't accept Christ you would burn eternally in hell," he said. "I want the generals to come out and say, 'Yes, we have a systemic problem and we are working to fix it.' "
Air Force officials said they got an inkling of a problem after reading the results of a student survey last May.
Many cadets expressed concern over religious respect and a lack of tolerance. Then "The Passion of the Christ," Mel Gibson's film about the crucifixion, was released. Hundreds of movie posters were pinned up in the academy dining hall advertising the film. Cadets did mass e-mailings urging people to see it.
School leaders denounced the e-mails, saying students should not use government equipment to promote their religion.
At that point, officials began looking into the situation.
"We started getting people coming forward," Whitaker said. "Folks sent e-mails to the chaplain describing events — none of which were reported when they happened. Many of the complaints have been addressed."
Two years ago, the academy's reputation was tarnished by a scandal in which dozens of female cadets said their complaints about sexual assaults had been ignored.
In response to the complaints of religious intolerance, the Colorado Springs, Colo., campus created the RSVP program, which stands for Respecting the Spiritual Values of all People.
The cadets are required to attend a 50-minute class; soon all 9,000 employees of the academy will have to take part.
"A lot of this is just insensitivity or ignorance," Whitaker said. "These are people who are going into a very diverse Air Force, where they will have to deal with people of all faiths."
Weinstein called the RSVP program window dressing for a more serious problem.
"It's Jim Crow, it's lipstick on a pig, it's eye candy," he said. "I love the academy, but they are lying when they say this isn't a systemic problem. Do you know how much courage it takes for these kids to come forward?"
The academy is about 60% Protestant and 30% Catholic. Included in the number of Christian cadets are 120 Mormons. There are 44 Jews and a handful of Hindus and Buddhists at the academy, officials said.
Colorado Springs is home to more than 100 evangelical Christian organizations, including Focus on the Family, the International Bible Society and New Life Church, whose pastor, Ted Haggard, heads the National Assn. of Evangelicals.
Tom Minnery, vice president of public policy at Focus on the Family, denounced any acts of bigotry but said it was Christians who were facing discrimination.
"If 90% of cadets identify themselves as Christian, it is common sense that Christianity will be in evidence on the campus," he said. "Christianity is deeply felt and very important to people … and to suggest that it should be bottled up is nonsense. I think a witch hunt is underway to root out Christian beliefs. To root out what is pervasive in 90% of the group is ridiculous."
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Salvador Dali Atomicus Photo by Philippe Halsman
(This could be the photograph which best sums up Thorn in Paw)
There was nothing ordinary about Salvador Dali . . . nothing ordinary about his life and nothing ordinary about his art. So, it is not surprising that a photographic portrait of Salvador Dali should reflect the eccentric nature of his life and work. Perhaps most famous of the variety of unusual photographs made of Salvador Dali is the most unusual "Dali Atomicus" by Philippe Halsman.
How the Photograph was Made:
The photograph was made in the New York Studio of Philippe Halsman in 1948. The photograph was taken with Halsman's 4 x 5 format twin lens reflex camera. In order to make the photograph, the easel, two Dali paintings, and the step stool were suspended from the ceiling by strings. So these items were easy, since they were really held in the air by string. Halsman's wife held the chair in the air. Note that one leg of the chair is not in the picture. His wife is holding the leg of the chair that is out of the picture. So, all of these items while appearing to be part of the massive confusion and motion of the picture, are actually fixed in place.
The parts that are moving, and that required the precise timing are the cats, water and Dali himself. Yes, the cats are in fact flying through the air as they appear to be in the picture. The timing sequence was pretty simple. Halsman began to count, and on three his assistants threw the cats, and the water, and then on four Dali jumped in the air, and then Halsman would take the picture. Of course to get the perfect picture took not only careful timing but good luck as well. After taking a picture, Halsman would immediately go to the dark room and develop it. He would then come back and try again. It took a number of tries to get the perfect timing and perfect picture. Halsman wrote that it took six hours and twenty-eight throws to get the picture that we now know as Dali's atomicus. Halsman indicated that the cats were not harmed in the making of the photograph.
Interpretation of the Photograph:
The photograph was immediately given a two-page spread in a 1948 edition of LIFE magazine. The photograph went on to become one of the most famous and printed, copied and reproduced photographs of all time. On its own, the photograph merits notice and attention, but what is truly unusual about the image is that it is eccentric art about an eccentric artist. The fact that Dali and Dali's work are the subject of the unusual photograph makes it particularly worthy of attention and consideration.
While we have explained how the photograph was made, people often ask what it means, or what it is about. Both Dali and Halsman were intrigued by the concept of suspension. They were both enamored with the photograph by Harold Edgerton known as the “Coronet” milk drop photo. This photograph was made in the 1930's and is presented above. The photograph was taken the instant after a droplet of milk lands in a saucer of milk. 
A crown or coronet is seen rising from the milk, and a tiny satellite droplet is seen suspended over the center of the coronet. It is an exquisite photograph capturing a perfect instant in time. It represents the beauty and perfection of physics which would have gone unnoticed if not for the perfect timing of the photographer.
At the same time, the world was just becoming aware of the nature of the atom. The concept of matter was of interest to Dali. The knowledge that solid objects were make up of atomic particles, all in motion, and in perfect balance between repulsion and attraction. Unimaginable complexity and confusion at the atomic level led to well behaved simple objects in the macro world in which we live.
These concepts of suspension and atomic repulsion was being reflected in Dali's work. His famous painting of Leda Atomica presents a portrait of a woman and a number of everyday objects. All the objects, however, are suspended relative to each other, as are atomic and subatomic particles. The painting would be normal, except that none of the objects you would expect to be touching are touching.
It is interesting to note that the Atomicus photograph actually features Dali's Leda Atomica painting. In the Dali Atomicus photograph, notice that the painting on the right side of the photograph is actually his Leda Atomica painting (which is presented here at your right). The theme of suspension is carried even further in that Dali's Leda Atomica painting is suspended in the Atomicus photograph, as are the cats, and Dali himself.
It is today, April 19, 2005, between the hours of 12 and 8pm.
Use this guide to find the nearest shop to you!
Lindsey Collom
The Arizona Republic
Apr. 19, 2005 12:00 AM
It could have been a zoo on wheels.
A Department of Public Safety officer discovered the cargo packed inside a fifth-wheel recreational vehicle during a traffic stop on Interstate 10.
The officer was patrolling the interstate south of Case Grande about 11 p.m. Sunday when he noticed a pickup truck pulling a large trailer without functioning taillights. He said he decided to search the vehicle after the driver, 38-year-old Damon Heymen, and his wife began acting unusual.
"Here our officer had thought he was getting a dope load, and it was a bunch of alligators," DPS Officer Frank Valenzuela said.
Thirty-two alligators to be exact, half a dozen fully grown, but most under 3 feet. More than 50 boa constrictors, tortoises, chickens, rats, rabbits and dogs also were also part of the menagerie.
The couple told investigators they were just passing through, relocating from San Bernardino, Calif., to Georgia.
Even so, the gators and tortoises were illegal cargo. It is against the law to possess an alligator in Arizona without a permit.
The tortoises also may be endangered. Arizona Game and Fish officials believe they are Mojave Desert tortoises, a "threatened" reptile according to the federal Endangered Species Act.
Like Arizona, California labels alligators a restricted animal. It was unclear Monday whether Heymen had a permit from the California Department of Fish and Game.
A crew of three officers from Arizona Game and Fish spent seven hours binding the alligators' mouths with duct tape before loading them into several trucks and trailers.
"They were a little feisty," said Ken Dinquel, a Game and Fish investigator. "A couple of them were pretty large, and they were snapping. The big bruiser was 400 pounds."
Dinquel said it's "fairly common" for officers to encounter alligators in the Valley.
"We get folks moving into Arizona, bringing their pets with them and just assume it's legal," he said. " . . . But this many is unprecedented."
The alligators are being housed at the Phoenix Herpetological Society in north Scottsdale during the investigation.
Heymen was ticketed for the equipment violation and cited for possessing a restricted animal without permit, then released. Game and Fish spokesman Rory Aikens said there also might be a federal investigation.
"Federal officers may have an interest in this case because they were being transported across state lines," Aikens said. "Whatever the state may issue could be the least of this individual's worries."
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/0419gatorbust19.html
BBC News-January 31, 2005
US oil giant Exxon Mobil made a record $25.3bn (£13.4bn; 19.4bn euros) profit in 2004 as it benefited from the surge in crude oil prices.
The world's largest public oil company saw income from exploration, production and refining soar despite a decline in the amount of oil and gas produced.
Revenues hit a record $298bn as worries over disruption to oil supplies in Iraq, Nigeria and Russia lifted prices.
The firm's annual profit is higher than the gross domestic product of Syria.
Soaring prices
Exxon Mobil's profits rose to $25.33bn from $21.51bn last year, on revenues up 17% to $298bn.
The strong performance boosted its shares, which rose 39 cents to $51.66 in early trading.
Along with the world's other biggest oil producers, Exxon Mobil benefited from the giddy rise in crude oil prices last year.
Ever-increasing demand for oil from China and India plus worries over interruptions to output from key markets fuelled a rise in prices to a thirty year high.
The increases culminated in prices hitting $55 a barrel in October.
The Texas-based company exceeded market expectations with its performance, which also broke records for the fourth quarter of 2004.
It made an $8.4bn quarterly profit - its highest ever - on revenues of $83.3bn.
Bumper year
"Strong operational performance in all areas of our business helped Exxon Mobil capture the benefits of favourable market conditions in 2004," said chairman Lee Raymond.
Profits from production and exploration in 2004 rose by more than $1.5bn to $4.8bn while profits from refining tripled to $2.3bn.
Exxon Mobil's chemicals business also prospered, generating profits of $1.25bn, compared to $476m the year before.
The sharp rise in profit was achieved despite a 1% fall in oil production and a 2% decline in gas output.
Analysts said the company's profits were much higher than expected, even taking into account the escalation in crude oil prices.
"This is a particularly impressive set of results given that every segment outperformed expectations," Credit Suisse First Boston said.
According to media reports, Anglo-Dutch oil firm Shell is expected on Thursday to reveal a record annual profit for a UK firm of about £9.2bn.
By Justin Blum
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, April 19, 2005; Page A04
The House this week will consider $8 billion in tax breaks targeted to the energy industry at a time when some of those companies are enjoying soaring profits from high consumer prices.
The vast majority of the tax breaks would benefit companies that produce and supply traditional forms of energy, with a large portion going to the oil and natural gas sector.
The House legislation, approved last week by the Ways and Means Committee, is at odds with the Bush administration's approach. The president's proposed budget calls for $6.7 billion in tax breaks for energy, with 72 percent going toward renewable sources of energy and energy efficiency, compared with about 6 percent in the House plan.
Dana M. Perino, a White House spokeswoman, would not comment on the House measure but referred to comments made by President Bush last week. "I will tell you with $55 oil we don't need incentives to oil and gas companies to explore," Bush said in a speech to newspaper editors in Washington. "There are plenty of incentives. What we need is to put a strategy in place that will help this country over time become less dependent."
Crude oil prices have been high because of increasing demand that has pushed production close to its limits. That has helped send the cost of gasoline at the gas pump to record highs in recent weeks. The price of other sources of energy have been unusually high as well.
For the oil and gas industry, the legislation allows some costs associated with exploration to be deducted over a shorter time period and provides tax benefits when oil and gas production is delayed and a lease is extended. It reduces the depreciation period for natural gas distribution and gathering lines as well as the depreciation period for electricity transmission and pollution-reducing facilities added to some coal-fired power plants.
The measure also includes some tax credits for solar energy equipment, fuel cells and energy efficiency improvements to existing homes.
Environmentalists are outraged, saying the bill provides giveaways to big energy companies, such as ExxonMobil Corp., whose 2004 profits set a record. "The energy bill is just another example of the House Republican leadership overreaching for corporate interests," said Erich Pica of Friends of the Earth.
Navin Nayak of the U.S. Public Interest Research Group said the measure should have included tax breaks for hybrid cars, wind energy production and other efficiency and renewable energy items included in failed 2003 energy legislation. "They've clearly gone on a junk-food diet," Nayak said of the House. "They've cut out everything healthy."
The tax package will be considered as part of a larger energy bill that is expected to be debated before the full House beginning tomorrow. The Senate, where a similar energy bill failed in 2003 after a filibuster, is still crafting its new version. The Bush administration has said passage of the legislation is a top priority and will help address increasing prices, a contention disputed by opponents.
House Republicans stood by the measure, which provides the $8 billion in tax savings over a 10-year period. It was approved by the committee in a 26 to 11 vote that was generally along party lines but with five Democrats supporting the legislation and one Republican voting against it.
Rep. Mark Foley (R-Fla.) said that he and some other committee members wanted a larger percentage of the tax breaks going for energy efficiency and renewable energy, but that Chairman Bill Thomas (R-Calif.) did not want to add those, as a way of gaining negotiating power with the Senate.
"It's not always pretty watching this stuff happen, and some of us were concerned," Foley said. "There's a lot of give and take that has to occur. [Thomas] plays a better hand of poker than I do, so I'll have to defer to him at this point."
Christin Baker, a spokeswoman for Thomas, pointed to comments Thomas made before the committee vote in which he said he expects the percentage of tax breaks for traditional energy companies to decrease before a final bill is drafted.
"Members of this committee perhaps cannot, in this bill, express their full support for a wide range of diversified energy production," Thomas said. He added that negotiations with the Senate will lead to legislation that "will look somewhat different and more diversified than the measure before the committee today."
SYDNEY, Australia (AP) - Qantas Airways Ltd. on Friday suspended a baggage handler who was caught on video opening a passenger's bag which contained a camel costume, donning the head and wandering around the airport tarmac.
The costume's owner, David Cox, said he was waiting inside the terminal at Sydney Airport earlier this week when he glanced outside and saw the baggage handler wearing his camel head. "I obviously was flabbergasted, my jaw dropped to the ground," Cox told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio on Friday.
He said he was shocked to realize that his luggage had been tampered with, and reported the incident to the airline.
Qantas Chief Executive Geoff Dixon said a security camera had recorded the baggage handler, whose name was not immediately available, opening the bag and trying on the camel head.
He said the baggage handler had been suspended and could be fired pending further investigation.
"We are acutely aware of heightened community concerns around security of baggage," Dixon said in a statement. "What has happened is completely unacceptable and is unacceptable to the vast majority of decent, hardworking Qantas employees."
Mercury News Wire Services
NFL fans, get the remote ready. ``Monday Night Football'' is changing channels.
One of broadcast television's longest-running programs, the show will move in 2006 from ABC to its sister station ESPN, officials said Monday.
ESPN agreed to pay $1.1 billion a year for eight years to wrest the Monday night game from ABC, though both stations are owned by Walt Disney Co.
The new broadcast deal also brings the NFL to NBC for the first time since 1997. The network gets Sunday night football -- which the league now considers its marquee TV showcase.
Monday night games will shift to the earlier start time of 5:40 p.m. Pacific on ESPN.
It was not known whether popular ``Monday Night Football'' announcers John Madden and Al Michaels would move to the ESPN games. Network officials said no decision on announcers had been made.
During the first seven seasons of its current eight-year contract, ``Monday Night Football'' has seen ratings slip 21 percent.
By LIBBY QUAID, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON - A makeover for the food pyramid — that triangle-shaped guide to better eating — might renew interest in healthy habits, but officials say it likely will take time to make a difference for America's growing girth.
"We didn't get to be obese overnight. We're not going to reverse it overnight," said Eric Hentges, the Agriculture Department official who is overseeing the new pyramid.
After months of revision, a new symbol for healthy habits was being introduced Tuesday. The image has been kept under wraps, but the real question is whether Americans — two out of three of whom are overweight if not obese — will follow the new guide no matter what its shape.
People have steadily grown fatter since the food pyramid debuted in 1992. A report last month in The New England Journal of Medicine contended that obesity, particularly in children, was fueling a reversal in life expectancy, shaving four to nine months off the average life span.
The new guide is just one element of a system aimed at making people slimmer and healthier, said Hentges, director of the Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion. Also in store are Internet tools to help follow the new recommendations, as well as tools to help educators and nutritionists spread the word.
"Part of the problem previously was that we had this one symbol, this one pyramid, and it was one size fits all," Hentges told agriculture reporters last week. "Or it was a misinterpretation. In the case of grain servings, it said six to 11 servings. Well, if you're supposed to be eating 1,600 calories, you never did get to choose these 11 servings of grain.
"Who knows what a serving is?" Hentges added. "It's whatever I put on my plate. The servings differ for you than for your spouse, maybe."
This time, to make its advice more understandable, the government will switch to cups, ounces and other household measures. The switch was recommended in a 70-page booklet, "Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2005," that was developed by a panel of scientists and doctors and released in January.
The guidelines, which were the basis for revising the pyramid, include eating 2 cups of fruit and 2 1/2 cups of vegetables a day; eating 3 ounces of whole-grain foods a day and drinking 3 cups of fat-free or lowfat milk a day. The government also advises exercising at least 30 minutes a day to reduce the risk of chronic disease, even more to prevent weight gain or maintain weight loss.
In all, there were 23 general recommendations and 18 suggestions for older people, children and other special populations.
That's too much to cram into a symbol that is supposed to be clipped out and stuck to the refrigerator, Hentges said.
The Agriculture Department will offer Web pages that let people appraise their diet and exercise habits. Such a tool has already been available through the agency's Web site; the Interactive Healthy Eating Index has a notice on its home page that it will soon be updated.
Even if the symbol and online tools don't motivate people to change their habits, they'll still have some healthier choices. Food companies have been removing trans fats from their products and adding whole grains because of the government guidance.
"If you get the industry involved and make them feel that they're doing a good thing and that they're getting credit for doing a good thing, they'll do it. They'll change their product," said K. Dun Gifford, president of Oldways Preservation Trust, a Boston-based think tank that specializes in food issues.
Critics have raised questions about the public relations agency hired to help create the new version of the pyramid. The firm, Porter Novelli, has food companies as clients, but both Agriculture Department and Porter Novelli officials have said the firm's industry work is handled separately and there would be no conflict of interest.
Hentges said his staff of scientists, economists and nutritionists isn't equipped to promote its new approach. If it's not marketed effectively, he said, "then we're not going to be able to get this behavior change or improve anything for Americans."
By Tsegaye Tadesse
AXUM, Ethiopia (Reuters) - Ethiopian veterans demanded Sunday that Rome return heads severed from their fallen heroes by fascist Italian invaders in the 1930s, saying the expected return of an obelisk this week was not enough.
Ethiopian and Italian officials in the northern Ethiopian city of Axum say the first part of the obelisk, plundered nearly 70 years ago, is due to be flown back to the city in a giant cargo plane Tuesday after repeated delays.
"We welcome the belated return of the Axum obelisk, but the present Italian government must return the skull of Hailu Kebede and of others which Italian fascist forces brutally severed from their dead bodies and displayed in Italian military museums in Rome," Workineh Tegegne, vice president of the Ethiopian Patriotic Association of guerrillas, told Reuters.
"The return of the obelisk is a historic occasion because it heralds the final defeat of fascism and its relegation to the dustbin of history," he said.
Italy promised in 1947 to return the 200-tongranite column, a symbol of the dawn of Ethiopian civilization, but arguments and logistical problems delayed it until November, when the two countries finally agreed to fly it home. Italy's Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini ordered the obelisk --
which is believed to be 1,700 years old -- to be seized from Axum, 850 km (530 miles) north of the capital Addis Ababa, and erected in Rome as a symbol of Italy's victory over Ethiopia in the years leading up to World War II.
Celebrations are planned for the return of the obelisk to Axum, where bridges have been strengthened and roads widened to accommodate the huge pieces of stone that make up the column.
Italy has agreed to cover the transport cost of the obelisk by cargo plane. Landlocked Ethiopia had to build a special runway to accommodate the Russian Antonov 124 jet, one of only two types of aircraft that can carry its sections.
The column, a funerary monument, is considered to be among the finest from Axum, the center of pre-Christian Ethiopia's civilization and the city of the Queen of Sheba, who ruled 1,000 years before the birth of Christ.
Legend has it that God bestowed his favor on the city after the Queen of Sheba's son Menelik I stole the Ark of the Covenant from his father King Solomon in Jerusalem and brought it to Axum where many Ethiopians believe it remains to this day.
HOUSTON (AP) - With an assault weapon in each hand, rocker and gun rights advocate Ted Nugent urged National Rifle Association members to be "hardcore, radical extremists demanding the right to self defense."
Speaking at the NRA's annual convention Saturday, Nugent said each NRA member should try to enroll 10 new members over the next year and associate only with other members.
"Let's next year sit here and say, 'Holy smokes, the NRA has 40 million members now,'" he said. "No one is allowed at our barbecues unless they are an NRA member. Do that in your life."
Nugent sang and played a guitar painted with red and white stripes for the crowd at Houston's downtown convention center.
He drew the most cheers when he told gun owners they should never give up their right to bear arms and should use their guns to protect themselves if needed.
"Remember the Alamo! Shoot 'em!" he screamed to applause. "To show you how radical I am, I want carjackers dead. I want rapists dead. I want burglars dead. I want child molesters dead. I want the bad guys dead. No court case. No parole. No early release. I want 'em dead. Get a gun and when they attack you, shoot 'em."
By ROD McGUIRK, Associated Press Writer
CANBERRA, Australia - A surfer in Australia fought off a seven-foot shark with his board — and kept on surfing, a lifeguard said.
Simon Letch returned to Sydney's Bronte Beach 30 minutes after surviving the attack, despite the beach being closed because of the danger, lifeguard Aaron Graham said.
"He was pretty calm about it, very laid back," said Graham, who was on the beach when the 40-year-old surfer rode his damaged board back in after the attack.
Letch was sitting on his board about 100 feet offshore when the shark attacked. He told a newspaper that he rammed the board, a recent 40th birthday present from his girlfriend, into the shark's mouth. He said it was a bronze whaler.
"I shoved the board at it like a barge pole," Sydney's The Sunday Telegraph quoted him as saying.
He said the shark released the board and he quickly headed for shore.
"It was only about 10 or 15 seconds that I was waiting for a wave but it seemed like an eternity," he told the newspaper. "You think you'd go to jelly when something like this happens but I was surprisingly calm."
Nine Network television news reported that Letch is English.
The shark took two bites of the fiberglass board before stopping the attack, Graham told The Associated Press by telephone.
"There were two big puncture mark bites on the board, but it didn't actually bite a hunk out of it so he was able to ride it in," Graham said
He came back 30 minutes later to surf with a replacement board, Graham said.
Last month, 20-foot great white shark tore a man in half, killing him instantly as he snorkeled off Australia's west coast.
April 16, 2005 (CHICAGO) —AP- The Illinois Institute of Technology on Chicago's South Side is auctioning off a chance to smash a plate-glass window at its architectural masterpiece, Crown Hall.
The auction began yesterday and continues through April 22nd on e-Bay. It gives the winning bidder a chance to smash the first of 204 panes of glass that will be replaced this summer. The building is being restored and the next phase will renovate the building's steel frame.
The building was experimental at the time it was designed in the mid-1950s, and the architect, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe didn't put enough space between the steel rails in the window frames to account for the metal's expansion as it rusts.
The pressure on the panes led many windows to break over the years.
You have the right to remain silent...
Associated Press
Apr. 16, 2005 03:10 PM
MESA, Ariz. - The Mesa Police Department is looking to add some primal instinct to its SWAT team. And to do that, it's looking to a monkey.
"Everybody laughs about it until they really start thinking about it," said Mesa Officer Sean Truelove, who builds and operates tactical robots for the suburban Phoenix SWAT team. "It would change the way we do business."
Truelove is spearheading the department's request to purchase and train a capuchin monkey, considered the second smartest primate to the chimpanzee. The department is seeking about $100,000 in federal grant money to put the idea to use in Mesa SWAT operations.
The monkey, which costs $15,000, is what Truelove envisions as the ultimate SWAT reconnaissance tool.
Since 1979, capuchin monkeys have been trained to be companions for people who are quadriplegics by performing daily tasks, such as serving food, opening and closing doors, turning lights on and off, retrieving objects and brushing hair.
Truelove hopes the same training could prepare a monkey for special-ops intelligence.
Weighing only 3 to 8 pounds with tiny humanlike hands and puzzle-solving skills, Truelove said it could unlock doors, search buildings and find suicide victims on command. Dressed in a Kevlar vest, video camera and two-way radio, the small monkey would be able to get into places no officer or robot could go.
It has been a little over a year since Truelove filed a grant proposal with the U.S. Department of Defense under the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, and he is still waiting for word.
If the grant goes through, Truelove plans on learning how to train the monkey himself and keeping the sociable monkey at home, just like a K-9 officer would. He projects that $85,000 in grant money would outfit the monkey with gear and pay for veterinarian care, food and habitat for three years.