Ozzie wants Hurt's leadership New Sox manager expects Thomas to produce on the field and set example for young players

NEW ORLEANS -- On another slow day for the White Sox at the wintermeetings, manager Ozzie Guillen helped speed things up.

While general manager Ken Williams was monotone Saturday eveningexplaining he is not close to any deals, Guillen was his usual upbeatself talking about the anticipation of his first season as manager.

And just like at his introductory news conference at U.S. CellularField in early November, Guillen was bombarded with questions aboutFrank Thomas and what the relationship between former teammates willbe like now.

Guillen said he still hasn't had an opportunity to speak withThomas directly, but that his new third-base coach Joey Cora spokewith …

Actress sees human side of `Delta' role

Actress sees human side of `Delta' role

Kay Bourne

Loretta is a fall down drunk who sneaks nickels and dimes from her small children to buy a bottle in the Maya Angelou directed movie "Down In The Delta" (Miramax Pictures).

Even so, actress Alfre Woodard, who plays the distraught Loretta, right away recognized in this despondent woman, a person of courage.

The enthralling saga relates the story of a proud African American family whose acknowledged patriarch is the father of a soldier in the Civil War.

The movie opens Christmas Day at the Kendall Theater in Cambridge. The film also features Al Freeman, Jr., Mary Alice, Loretta Devine, and Wesley …

New Kids on the Block soak up love on reunion tour

Donnie Wahlberg might look and act tough, but he's a softie underneath.

The resident bad boy of New Kids on the Block said he has cried tears of joy while performing for thousands of screaming fans on the reunited band's arena tour, which began in Canada last week.

"We've had old banners being held up, new banners being held up, people singing the old songs, partying with the new songs, bras thrown onstage with women flashing us," Wahlberg said by phone from Toronto. "Husbands holding their wives and singing along to the songs with their wives in their arms ... I don't like to overblow the significance of anything, we're a pop group after …

Slimmers meet comedian at awards

Two Slimming World teachers from Keynsham met TV presenter JustinLee Collins at an event to celebrate slimmers' achievements.

Anna-Marie Manning and Ann Rose, who run Slimming World groupsevery Wednesday and Thursday, met the comedian at the organisation'sannual awards ceremony in Birmingham.

Mr Collins, best known for presenting The Sunday Night Projectand Justin Lee Collins: Good Times, joined Slimming World's founderMargaret Miles-Bramwell to …

Stoudemire, Suns Win 15 in a Row - Again

NEW YORK - The Phoenix Suns took nearly 40 years to win 15 straight games. They needed only a month to do it again.

Amare Stoudemire scored 26 of his 30 points in Phoenix's big second half, and the Suns beat the New York Knicks 112-107 Wednesday night for their second 15-game winning streak of the season.

Barely a month after establishing the longest winning streak in franchise history, the Suns equaled it by turning things around after a sluggish first half in the second night of a back-to-back.

"I think you've got to be a good team," Steve Nash said. "I think we have a lot of talent and have great chemistry and some mental toughness. Whatever mental toughness …

Olivo powers Mariners past Rays

SEATTLE (AP) — Miguel Olivo really enjoyed Tampa Bay's trip to Seattle.

Olivo hit a tiebreaking three-run homer off Joel Peralta in the eighth inning and the Mariners rallied for a 9-6 win over the Rays on Sunday.

Olivo also connected against Peralta on Saturday and has homered in three straight games overall. He is batting .378 (17 for 45) with four homers and 13 RBIs in his last 13 games.

The catcher has raised his batting average to .251 and hit five of his seven homers this season since he struggled through a rough April.

"He's putting up better at-bats. I think he's recognizing pitches better," manager Eric Wedge said. "He's a big-game player. He's had a lot …

South Africa wants to join so-called BRIC nations

South Africa wants to be considered among the leaders of the developing world along with Brazil, Russia, India and China, its president said Wednesday, pushing for membership of a grouping that has growing global influence.

President Jacob Zuma told reporters during a state visit to China that South Africa has discussed its interest in joining the informal grouping of the four major developing nations, known as BRIC, with each member government.

The four nations work to boost trade with each other and have called for developing countries to have bigger role in major global financial decisions, primarily within institutions such as the International Monetary …

Contractor blamed for ongoing problems at incinerator

The authority that owns Harrisburg's incinerator says the company that retrofit the trash-burning plant is responsible for a series of setbacks that has cost the city millions of dollars in revenue.

The incinerator reopened in April. Harrisburg Authority officials said Colorado-based Barlow Projects Inc. will have to spend about $10 million to get the South 19th Street incinerator running properly.

"They (Barlow) were supposed to deliver a plant that worked efficiently," said Dan Lispi, a consultant to the Harrisburg Authority who helped develop the retrofit. "It dogs up, and someone has to go out manually and unclog it. It happens all too frequently."

Lispi is …

With Pakistan as backdrop, McCain emphasizes foreign policy experience

Republican presidential hopeful John McCain focused on Pakistan during campaign stops Saturday, arguing the United States needs a president with his experience to deal with international crises.

McCain opened several town hall meetings with comments on Pakistan, where the assassination of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto has triggered riots. He told crowds that the situation in Pakistan should matter to voters because it has implications for national security at home.

"I've been to Waziristan," he said, referring to a tribal region where al-Qaida fighters have been active. "I know (President Pervez) Musharraf. I know these people, …

Mr. Garlington’s Famous Bacon Candy

This is one of my favorite party tricks and comes to me from one of my antique Amish cookbooks. This is old-school finger food, so fire up a defibrillator and put your apron on.

First, get a whole lot of bacon. Cheap skinny bacon you can read through. This recipe does not require the hand-crafted, independently farmed, organic, free-range massaged and cuddled pork you might buy at Whole Foods. Get the generic stuff.

Put the bacon on a rack over a pan in the oven and baked it until it's just almost crispy — 350 degrees for about 10 minutes. Take it out to cool and leave the oven on. Drain the fat off the pan.

While it's baking, mix up the following:

1 …

Damian Ortega

FIRST TAKE

ONE OF A COTERIE GROUPED AROUND MEXICO CITY'S Galeria Kurimanzutto, Damian Ortega conceives his artworks not as discrete, rarefied objects but rather as forms of action combining material with thought. The young Mexican artist leaped onto the international stage this fall with "Cosmic Thing," a solo exhibition at the Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia, which followed contributions in 2001 to a number of notable group shows, like "Squatters #1" at Witte de With, Rotterdam, and the Museu de Arte Contemporanea de Serralves, Porto, and "Animations" at P.S. 1 Contemporary Art Center in New York. If you're traveling south this winter, check him out (through March i) …

Suicide attack kills 20 west of Baghdad, car bomb in Mosul leaves 18 people dead

A suicide bomber struck Thursday inside a municipal building west of Baghdad, killing at least 20 people at a meeting of tribal sheiks opposed to al-Qaida, police said. The U.S. confirmed American casualties but gave no further details.

Another 18 people were killed and about 60 wounded in a car bombing Thursday near a government headquarters in the northern city of Mosul, officials said. The attacks were part of a spike in violence in Iraq after weeks of relative calm.

Col. Fawzi Fraih, civil defense director of Anbar province, said the sheiks were meeting with Americans when the attack occurred in the town of Karmah, about 20 miles (30 kilometers) west of …

Buhlig, Richard

Buhlig, Richard, American pianist and teacher; b. Chicago, Dec. 21, 1880; d. Los Angeles, Jan. 30, 1952. He studied in Chicago, and in Vienna with Leschetizky (1897–1900); made his recital debut in Berlin (1901); then toured Europe and the U.S. (American debut with the Philadelphia Orch. in N.Y., Nov. 5, 1907). In 1918 he was appointed teacher of piano at the Inst. of Musical Arts in N.Y. He eventually settled in Los Angeles as a performer and teacher.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire

Tony Smith

MITCHELL-INNES & NASH, NEW YORK

One pleasant surprise of Tony Smith's retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art (five years ago already!) was the group of paintings known as the "Louisenberg" series, dating from 1953-55, together with a related set begun at the same time but completed earlier and left untitled. (For brevity's sake I'll christen this group "Robotnik," after a popular Tetris-like computer game called Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine.) Reviewing the MOMA exhibition in these pages, I voiced my regret that Smith had not pursued this vein further, and I privately hoped that there might be more work of the kind. The recent Mitchell-Innes & Nash show of Smith's paintings unfortunately did not alter the size of the corpus, but it did provide an opportunity to zoom in on these works, whose importance in Smith's development-and extraordinary inventiveness in the context of the early '505-was somewhat lost in the retrospective, dwarfed, in my mind without justification, by the gigantism of the sculptures.

What is immediately striking is the date of the paintings-they look a decade ahead of their time, at least in the situation of postwar American art. They share this characteristic with the work executed by Ellsworth Kelly during the period he lived in Paris (1948-54)-and perhaps for the same reasons: Not only were the "Robotnik" and "Louisenberg" series painted during Smith's two-year stay in Europe, but like Kelly's early works they also revolved around the dialectic of order and randomness, chance and systematicity. It is not fortuitous that Kelly's and Smith's work from the early '505 should have been selected by Eugene Goossen for his "Art of the Real" show of 1968, for they look contemporary to the Minimalist sculpture that exhibition was devoted to glorifying. Nor was it fortuitous that their radical novelty should have gone mostly unnoticed at the time: Praising someone for being a "precursor" might be well intentioned, but it ends up providing nothing more than a first-class burial.

This is not to say that artists work in a vacuum, unaware of their predecessors. There is definitely something European about the two Smith series, for example-and Robert Storr, the author of the catalogue essay, is right in alluding to Hans Arp's biomorphs and to the paintings of Arp's wife, Sophie Taeuber-Arp. But finding out whether Smith was aware of the Dadaistic overtone of his work during his sojourn in Germany is less relevant than understanding why he would have been drawn to a way of thinking close to Arp's and Taeuber-Arp's from twenty years prior.

Unlike Kelly, Smith was probably not engaged in a search for ways "not to compose" when he set out to paint during his prolonged European vacation. It is more likely that he wanted to find a way to begin, or rather to begin anew. He had not painted much since his student years at Chicago's New Bauhaus, and since the end of the war he had earned his living as an art teacher and architect while befriending many Abstract Expressionists, foremost among them Pollock and Newman. With his intimidating AbEx friends no longer lurking over his shoulder, and in need of some footing, he felt free to reconnect with his youth-where indeed we can find the origin of his extraordinary painting campaign of 1953-55.

Smith's interest in D'Arcy Thompson's Ow Growth and Form (1917) figures prominently in all major studies of his work, and rightly so. The artist's rather awkward use of a hexagonal grid as a planning device for his first major architectural project, the Brotherton House (1944), bespeaks his early fascination for the honeycomb pattern celebrated by the Scottish zoologist (more at least than it betrays his debt to Frank Lloyd Wright, for example). But I don't think Smith knew how to channel his lust for modularity until the "Robotnik" and "Louisenberg" series.

Another trope of the Smith literature is the artist's interest in mazes. Late in life (1975) he described labyrinths as "formal and symbolic analogues of a breakdown in intellect and will," adding, "They are of the underworld and they fascinate children." The remark is rather counterintuitive, coming from an admirer of Thompson and his zealous attempt to find a geometric rationale behind all natural shapes. Labyrinths are dangerous-one gets lost in them, even their makers. The sculptor Daedalus, who built the most famous maze for King Minos (to host the Minotaur), could not remember its plan: When Ariadne secretly asked for his help he gave her a ball of thread, and once condemned for such a treasonous act to being trapped in his own construction with his son Icarus, his only escape was by inventing artificial wings to fly out. Yet labyrinths are orderly. Like Thompson's honeycomb, they are decentered but reticular. The main difference between the two structures is that in the bee's alveolate architecture repetition is the rule; in the human-made maze it is a lure.

"Any search for the center, or for the 'recipe' for getting out of the maze failed to interest me," Smith wrote in the same 1975 statement. he could have penned the sentence two decades earlier-with the "Robotnik" and the "Louisenberg" series he discovered the connection between his appetite for "systems of order" (his words) and the pleasure one can find, momentarily at least, in being lost. An anecdotal, serendipitous element might have informed Smith's eureka: The "Louisenberg" series, we are told, was named after a geological site near Bayreuth recently identified (so recently that this fact could not be included in the catalogue) as the Luisenburg Labyrinth, a park celebrated by Goethe for its multiple assemblages of peanut-shaped boulders. This is no more to say, of course, that the peanut forms populating Smith's "Louisenberg" series are based on the configuration of Luisenburg's rocks than to claim that the overall structure of these paintings would be based on the labyrinthine promenade loop found at the park. But something there might have triggered Smith's revisiting of Thompson, and my guess is that it may be the way in which rounded boulders aggregate to form a mass and the nature of interstices between the stones (a 1954 drawing included in the MOMA retrospective and reproduced on page 81 of the catalogue to that show provides us with the best evidence).

The passage that most impressed Smith in On Growth and form is Thompson's discussion of "close-packing," with its brilliant exposition of the bee's hexagon as a space-saving device, a product of natural forces striving to square the circle, so to speak (having to grow within a limited surface, circular cells will of necessity become hexagonal because this represents the maximal possibility of expansion). In the "Robotnik" and "Louisenberg" series, Smith asks: And what about mergers? What happens when the destiny of a cell is not expansion (through occupying as much space as possible) but through fusion with its neighbors?

The two series provide a somewhat different answer. The works in "Robotnik," like its namesake computer game, stress dynamism, temporality: We are witnessing the process in which a cohabitation of circles arranged in a regular grid pattern arbitrarily transforms itself, by sheer capillarity, into a differentiated grouping of amoebas of various sizes and colors. The more unit cells merge, the greater are the possibilities of morphological change. A two-unit group will invariably be a peanut, either vertical or horizontal, but a three-unit group can be formed of three cells in a row, in a right-angle configuration, or in what would be the equivalent of the knight's march in chess. Four cells could assemble to form a squarish shape or a rhomboid one, but they may lead to irregular formations as well. As a rule, the potential for irregularity grows with the numbers of cells that fuse, and the degree of anthropomorphism (or at least zoomorphism) increases as well.

In the "Louisenberg" group, it is the seriality of the system that is emphasized, and as if to make the point ever clearer, Smith charted the whole set in a single drawing (the many diagrammatic sketches in the exhibition, transforming us into attentive sleuths, was a major component of its success). The beauty of his concept lies in the fact that the largest canvas, Louisenberg #4, contains all the twenty-four other compositions. That is: Except for Louisenberg #8, which reproduces it in toto, albeit in other colors, the composition of every single canvas of this series is the duplication of a fragment, at a different scale or not, of the mother composition #4 (and when he re-created the mother composition in a mural scale for the "Art of the Real" show-at 8' 3/4'' x II' 7 3/4''-Smith also made sure to exhibit close to it about half its offspring). The growth is not by accretion, as was the case in the protozoan "Robotnik" series, but scission (another strong biological model). The result is perhaps less comic, but more rewarding, for it raises an essential question-one that, sadly, Smith chose to ignore when he turned to sculpture a decade or so later.

One of the complaints I have expressed about Smith's mode of working is that it ignores scale (he proceeded from small models up, as if the size of a shape had no bearing on its effect). But looking at several paintings of the "Louisenberg" series side by side, one realizes that in these works scale, particularly internal scale, was a pre-dominant factor, a variable that Smith set out to test with remarkable wit and flair. Louisenberg #2 comprises two peanut shapes, one stacked above the other, filling a square canvas; in Louisenberg #7, also square but about two-fifths the size of #2, the lower peanut has been replaced by two circles, the peanut form's antecedent before merger. The configuration of Louisenberg #2 is to be found in the upper-left corner of Louisenberg #4, and that of Louisenberg #7 close to the lower-right corner, but it takes a special effort to identify the precise nature of the kinship. The main source of difficulty is the dramatic alteration of internal scale (two or three shapes are of a much larger scale, no matter what their size, than the same shapes within the context of a multitude). And we can see how Smith inquired about external scale as well: The size of his peanuts and circles are the same in Louisenberg #7 and #4 (the original 1953-54 version), but not so in #2, where the units are much larger, in proportion with the increased size of the square support. Perhaps so we can't miss his point-that variation in scale necessarily alters our perception of a shape and how we relate to it-Smith multiplied the colors and textural modalities in the series: In some the paint is brushed with bravado, allowing the white ground to breathe through, and the color contrasts are gentle; in others the paint is applied as flatly as possible, the edges are sharp, and the optical, simultaneous contrast of color dizzying. More likely, he wanted to prevent his work from looking too much like a pedagogic demonstration. By all accounts Smith was a brilliant teacher, and he knew that a lesson is always better learned if received unknowingly.

[Sidebar]

WITH HIS INTIMIDATING ABEX FRIENDS NO LONGER LURKING OVER HIS SHOULDER, SMITH FELT FREE TO RECONNECT WITH HIS YOUTH.

[Author Affiliation]

Yve-Alain Bois is a contributing editor of Artforum. (See Contributors.)

YVE-ALAIN BOIS is Joseph Pulitzer Jr. Professor of Modern Art at Harvard University, a contributing editor of Artforum, and a coeditor of the journal October. The author of Painting as Model (MIT Press, 1990) and coauthor with Rosalind E. Krauss of Formless: A User's Guide (Zone Books, 1997), Bois curated "Matisse and Picasso: A Gentle Rivalry" at the Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, Texas, in 1999; his study Matisse and Picasso (Flammarion, 1998) served as the show's catalogue. Bois is currently at work on a major study of the oeuvre of Barnett Newman. For this issue, he reviews the recent exhibition of Tony Smith's "Louisenberg" series at Mitchell-Innes & Nash, New York.

[ BULLS&BEARS ]

Notable stock upgrades issued in the last week. (Trading symbolsin parentheses.)

On the mend

Aetna Inc. (AET) was raised to "outperform" from "market perform"by analyst Edmund E. Kroll Jr. at SG Cowen. It closed Friday at$48.42.

Banking on it

* Southwest Bancorp (OKSB) was raised to "outperform" from"neutral" by analyst Brett Rabatin at FTN Financial Securities. Theprice target range is $27-$28. It closed Friday at $23.50.

* Republic Bancshares (REPB) was raised to "outperform" from"neutral" by analyst Jeff Davis at FTN Financial Securities. The 12-month price target is $24. It closed Friday at $20.75.

Snoozin' to wealth

La-Z-Boy Inc. (LZB) was rated new "buy" in new coverage by analystTodd A. Schwartzman at Sidoti & Co. The 12-month price target is $25.Friday close: $18.07.

The Bright One

Hollinger International (HLR), parent company of the Chicago Sun-Times, was rated "buy" in new coverage by analyst Jan H. Loeb atJefferies & Co. The 12- to 18-month price target is $13.50. The stockclosed Friday at $9.25.

Notable stock downgrades issued in the last week. (Trading symbolsin parentheses.)

Static on the line

SBC Communications (SBC) was downgraded to "underperform" from"sector perform" by analyst Richard E. Talbot at RBC Capital Markets.The price target is $22. It closed Friday at $22.12.

Bitter brew

Starbucks Corp. (SBUX) was downgraded to "in-line" from"outperform" by analyst Mark Kalinowski at Smith Barney. The pricetarget was cut to $26. Friday close: $23.47.

Local downgrades

Sara Lee Corp. (SLE), which closed Friday at $16.96, wasdowngraded to:

* "Hold" from "buy" by analyst John M. McMillin at PrudentialSecurities. The price target was cut to $20.

* "In-line" from "outperform" by analyst Romitha Mally at Goldman,Sachs & Co.

* "Neutral" from "buy" by analyst William Leach at Banc ofAmerica. The 12-month price target is $18.

Cabot Microelectronics (CMP) was downgraded to "neutral" from"buy" by Fahnestock & Co. It closed Friday at $42.68.

* BorgWarner (BWA) was downgraded to "neutral 2" from "buy 2" byanalyst Robert Hinchliffe at UBS Warburg. It closed Friday at $57.07.

Report: Columbus to Hire Howson as GM

COLUMBUS, Ohio - The Columbus Blue Jackets have agreed to terms with Edmonton Oilers assistant general manager Scott Howson to make him their new general manager, The Columbus Dispatch reported on its Web site Wednesday night.

The newspaper, citing an unidentified NHL source, said the team and Howson had reached a deal Wednesday, and an announcement would be made Friday.

Blue Jackets spokesman Todd Sharrock would not comment on the report, and Oilers spokesman J.J. Hebert said he was unaware of any deal.

A message seeking comment was left by the AP at Howson's home in Edmonton, Alberta, on Wednesday.

Howson, 47, played for the New York Islanders in 1984-85, scoring five goals with three assists in 18 games as a forward.

He graduated from law school at York University in Toronto in 1990 and ran Edmonton's top farm club from 1994-2000. He was hired by the Oilers in 2000 and was promoted to assistant general manager in 2001.

Spain: housing slump drags on

House prices in Spain have fallen for a second straight quarter, the government said Wednesday, offering more bad news for the real estate sector which fueled a decade of economic growth but has now gone flat.

The Housing Ministry said prices fell 1.3 percent in the third quarter of this year compared to the second quarter. That means home prices are now only 0.4 percent higher than they were in September of 2007.

A London-based economic research organization said the situation is actually much worse, with price declines of 30 percent likely.

The ministry said that, in quarterly terms, prices fell in all but two of Spain's 17 regions.

On a yearly basis, prices did rise in some areas, such as Catalonia and the Balearic islands, where many Germans and other Europeans own vacation property.

But they fell 3.7 percent in the metropolitan Madrid region, for instance, the ministry's director of housing policy, Anunciacion Romero, told reporters.

The Spanish construction and property industries have been hit hard by a sharp rise in interest rates on adjustable-rate mortgages, which the vast majority of Spanish homeowners have. They are also suffering due to tighter lending policies at banks spooked by the sub-prime crisis in the United States and the broader international credit crunch.

The housing collapse has been devastating for the economy because construction and related industries account for up to 20 percent of Spanish GDP.

After growing 3.8 percent last year, the Spanish economy is now expected to expand just over 1 percent in 2008. The IMF predicts Spain will go into recession next year.

Capital Economics, an economic research consultancy in London, said Wednesday that Spanish housing prices will fall by around one-third over the next few years and push the economy into a prolonged recession.

It said that, with unemployment at an EU-high of 11.3 percent and consumer confidence low, only sharp declines in housing prices will lure people back onto the market.

Furthermore, Bank of Spain data suggests banks here are continuing to tighten the supply of mortgages, and a glut of unsold houses _ some estimates say there could be as many as 1 million by the end of the year _ "could ultimately force struggling property developers into a fire sale of unsold properties to balance their books."

His Thoughts Will Be With Oklahoma City

Garth Brooks wants to commemorate another day that shall live ininfamy - April 19, 1995.

While touring the heartland, he sent a letter to country radioand video outlets, asking them to play appropriate music at 9:02 a.m.(CDT) Friday to mark the first anniversary of the Oklahoma Citybombing. A native of Yukon, Okla., Brooks also is a graduate ofOklahoma State University.

"What country radio chooses is up to them," said Brooks, who onFriday will be in the middle of a three-night stand in Miami. "Somehave said they will play `The Change' (his ballad of faith inspiredby the bombing). Others have said they will play Vince Gill's `GoRest High on That Mountain.' "In Chicago, after a moment of silence, WUSN-FM (99.5) andWKXK-FM (94.7) simultaneously will play "The Change" at 9:02 a.m.Friday."So long as we, as a country music family, celebrate orrecognize Oklahoma and the year that they went through, it will beenough for me," Brooks told a Reuters interviewer last week.Brooks rejected the idea of traveling to Oklahoma City on theanniversary."I feel that to be in Oklahoma on the 19th is an extreme honor,and I don't feel I'm worthy of that," he said. "I wasn't there whenit happened. . . . That day should be for the victims, for thesurvivors and for the volunteers. . . . If Garth Brooks goes down,to me it looks like Garth Brooks is trying to cash in on something,so I'm going to stay far away and just let them know that, likemillions of others, I'm there in spirit."

Military Announces 8 U.S. Deaths in Iraq

Al-ASAD AIR BASE, Iraq - Iraq's prime minister and two top American officials flew to the blistering western desert Saturday in a rare joint outing to highlight gains there in the fight against insurgents, hours before the military reported the deaths of eight U.S. troops.

One of those killed, a Marine, died in combat in Anbar province, once the site of some of the fiercest fighting in the country - and where the U.S. ambassador, the American commander in Iraq, and the Iraqi leader traveled Saturday.

The Sunni-dominated province has grown calmer in recent months with the flowering of a new alliance among Sunni tribal leaders, the Iraqi government and U.S. led forces, but peace continues to be elusive - as the death Saturday of the Marine demonstrated.

"We are not saying Anbar province is all sweetness and light, there are still a lot of challenges," said Gen. David Petraeus, the U.S. commander.

Elsewhere on Saturday, three U.S. soldiers were killed in Salahuddin Province, north of Baghdad, when an explosion hit their patrol; another died in a roadside bombing in south Baghdad.

Late Friday, a soldier was killed in an ambush near Taji, north of the capital, and two other soldiers were hit by a roadside bomb on Wednesday in eastern Baghdad, the military said.

Al-Qaida in Iraq is still active in Anbar - which includes the cities of Fallujah and Ramadi - and continues to launch devastating attacks, U.S. military officials said. On Thursday, insurgents exploded a car bomb on a passing funeral procession in Fallujah for a tribal leader opposed to al-Qaida. At least 26 mourners were killed.

Despite the security accomplishments, an al-Qaida front group affiliated with insurgent Sunnis warned President Bush on Saturday that the newly approved $95 billion in funds for fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan would not improve Washington's chances for success.

"With God's help, the money will heal no wound and change nothing at all," said a statement issued by the Islamic State of Iraq and posted on a Web site commonly used by Islamic extremists. The statement's authenticity could not be verified.

As part of the U.S.-led security crackdown in Baghdad, American forces raided the Shiite neighborhood of Sadr City early Saturday and captured a "suspected terrorist cell leader," who helped smuggle powerful, armor-piercing bombs from Iran, the U.S. military said in statement.

After the raid, around 2 a.m., U.S. and Iraqi forces called in air strikes on nine cars positioning themselves to attack American forces, killing five suspected militants, the military said.

An Iraqi police official said the strikes hit 10 cars in line to buy gasoline, killing three civilians and wounding eight others. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not allowed to release the information.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker and Petraeus had planned to travel Saturday to al-Qaim, an Anbar town on the Syrian border, to meet with tribal leaders and survey a $20 million border terminal under construction.

But low visibility prevented their aircraft from completing the trip, and they could only reach the al-Asad air base in Anbar.

So, with temperatures soaring above 100 degrees, al-Maliki and several of his Cabinet ministers met with the Anbar governor and police and army chiefs. Crocker and Petraeus, meanwhile, were briefed by local U.S. commanders.

Just a few months ago, Anbar was thought to be so strongly in the grip of al-Qaida foreign fighters and Sunni insurgents that it was believed a lost cause, the military officials said.

But al-Qaida went too far, killing several tribal leaders, and terrorizing the local population, said Maj. Gen. Walter Gaskin, commander of U.S.-led forces in Anbar.

"All Iraqis live in violence," he said. "They are sick of it, and al-Qaida overplayed its hand in the murder and intimidation campaign."

The fed-up tribal leaders banded together against al-Qaida several months ago and began working with U.S. and Iraqi forces, he said.

"They didn't just fall in love with coalition forces. We had a mutual interest: security," Gaskin said.

Since then, the changes in some parts of the province have been dramatic, he said.

During a recruitment campaign for the Iraqi military and police last summer, only 34 people signed up. Since then, more than 14,000 have joined, Gaskin said.

The increase in Iraqi forces, with their knowledge of the local terrain, helped U.S. and Iraqi troops push most of the insurgents out of the city of Ramadi, or at least drove them underground, he said. A similar operation in Hit reduced violence so much that Petraeus said he was able to walk down the street there recently, eating an ice cream, without fear of attack.

With the help of the local population, the military has uncovered more weapons caches in Anbar in the first five months of this year, than in all of last year, Petraeus said.

"When we came in here, we didn't get it right with the tribes," Crocker said. "It was just too complicated to figure out at the time, and we ran into a lot of problems. Al-Qaida got it even more wrong."

Crocker said he hoped planned provincial elections - which cannot be held until parliament agrees on a new election law - will cement the tribes' participation in government and their loyalty to the new Iraqi regime.

Petraeus warned that the situation in Anbar may not be a realistic blueprint for restoring order in the rest of the country, because the province is heavily Sunni and has been spared much of the sectarian violence roiling other areas.

"The biggest lesson learned in Iraq is that every place is unique," he said.

Penguins-Red Wings Sums

Pittsburgh	3 1 1—5
Detroit	1 0 1—2

First Period_1, Pittsburgh, Comrie 3 (Michalek, Malkin), 4:19. 2, Pittsburgh, Kunitz 2 (Malkin, Letestu), 7:40. 3, Detroit, Datsyuk 1 (Zetterberg, Lidstrom), 10:24. 4, Pittsburgh, Comrie 4 (Goligoski, Kunitz), 19:46 (pp). Penalties_Michalek, Pit (holding), 1:21; Fleury, Pit, served by Kennedy (holding stick), 12:18; Detroit bench, served by Hudler (too many men), 18:53.

Second Period_5, Pittsburgh, Goligoski 2 (Michalek, Malkin), 4:35. Penalties_Kunitz, Pit, double minor (roughing, tripping), 13:44; Franzen, Det (roughing, cross-checking), 13:44; Letang, Pit (slashing), 14:19; Holmstrom, Det (slashing, unsportsmanlike conduct), 14:19.

Third Period_6, Pittsburgh, Malkin 3, 2:43. 7, Detroit, Modano 1 (Datsyuk), 3:22. Penalties_Letang, Pit (delay of game), :32; Letang, Pit (tripping), 4:40; Dupuis, Pit (tripping), 8:21; Holmstrom, Det (interference), 12:14.

Shots on Goal_Pittsburgh 7-10-8_25. Detroit 10-6-8_24.

Power-play opportunities_Pittsburgh 1 of 3; Detroit 0 of 6.

Goalies_Pittsburgh, Fleury 3-0-0 (24 shots-22 saves). Detroit, Osgood 0-3-0 (25-20).

A_17,501 (20,066). T_2:23.

Referees_Kevin Pollock, Ian Walsh. Linesmen_Thor Nelson, Darren Gibbs.

Jazz end 3-game skid with win over Suns

Carlos Boozer had 21 points and 15 rebounds, Andrei Kirilenko added 19 points and two big blocks in the fourth quarter, and the Utah Jazz snapped a three-game losing streak by beating the Phoenix Suns 109-97 Monday night.

C.J. Miles scored a season-high 21 points and Brevin Knight had six assists and 12 points, going 6-for-7 from the floor as the Jazz got the Suns in foul trouble and pulled away in the second half.

Steve Nash and Shaquille O'Neal both drew their fourth fouls early in the third quarter, then the Suns couldn't shoot early in the fourth as Utah scored 13 straight during one stretch.

Amare Stoudemire led Phoenix with 30 points and eight rebounds. Nash had 14 points and eight assists, but O'Neal finished with just nine points and one rebound. O'Neal had back-to-back shots blocked by Kirilenko during Phoenix's slump in the fourth quarter.

The Jazz outrebounded Phoenix 47-26, getting seven boards from Kirilenko.

Kirilenko had missed the last two games with a dislocated finger, but returned to his new role as Utah's sixth man and flourished again. He went 5-for-10 from the floor and made all eight of his foul shots, then topped off Utah's homecoming by swatting away two shots by O'Neal in the lane with about 5 minutes left.

The Jazz were playing without starters Deron Williams and Mehmet Okur, but stayed unbeaten at home after going 1-4 on a five-game road trip.

The Suns had won four of five but made it hard on themselves by sending the Jazz to the line 36 times. Utah made 26 free throws and took advantage after Nash went to the bench with his fifth foul with 5:06 still left in the third.

Nash was called for his fifth when Ronnie Brewer was trying to put back a rebound. Nash contended he wasn't the one who hit Brewer and pleaded from the bench for the officials to change the call.

It didn't happen and Brewer made both free throws to put Utah up 73-69 and start an 8-3 run for the Jazz, who blew it open in the fourth when the Suns' shooting stalled.

Phoenix opened the fourth 5-for-17 and the Jazz scored 13 straight during a 17-2 run that put away the game. The home fans knew the win was just about wrapped up, then got even louder when Kirilenko blocked O'Neal's shot out of bounds. The Suns got the ball back to O'Neal after the inbounds pass and Kirilenko swatted it away again to the Utah fans' delight.

Notes@: Jazz C Mehmet Okur was back with the team but did not play after spending most of last week in Turkey to be with his ailing father. ... The Jazz were scheduled to honor Jerry Sloan before the game with the game ball from his 1,000th win with the team, but postponed it because owner Larry Miller wasn't feeling well and missed the game. ... O'Neal was fined $25,000 earlier Monday for verbally abusing officials and not leaving the court in a timely manner when he was ejected Sunday.

Analysis: Al-Qaida ties obstacle to Afghan peace

Afghan President Hamid Karzai is using old friends and new allies to try to bring some of the fiercest Taliban to the negotiating table, although their links to al-Qaida might scuttle any deal.

Pakistan is trying to broker a deal between the Afghan government and the Haqqani group, one of the most violent Taliban factions led by veteran rebel leader Jalaluddin Haqqani, according to Afghan parliamentarians and Pakistani analysts.

Haqqani was a legendary commander in the war against the Soviets who had close ties to the Reagan administration. Now, he and his son Sirajuddin command hundreds _ perhaps thousands _ of fighters blamed for some of the most audacious attacks in Kabul and eastern Afghanistan. Their network is based in the North Waziristan tribal area along Pakistan's border with Afghanistan.

"The president is trying to use old friendships with Jalaluddin Haqqani and his sons to make them participate in the reconciliation process," said Khaled Pashtun, an Afghan lawmaker from the Taliban heartland of southern Kandahar. "Pakistan is also pressurizing the government to bring this person (Haqqani) in the government."

Yet Haqqani's ties to al-Qaida run deep. His friendship with Osama bin Laden dates back to the war against the Soviets in the 1980s. Haqqani allowed bin Laden to set up a base on his territory in Khost province of eastern Afghanistan. The United States fired cruise missiles at the base in 1998 in a bid to kill bin Laden.

Haqqani also ensured safe passage for foreign fighters, including senior al-Qaida figures, when they fled into Pakistan after the collapse of Taliban rule in the 2001 U.S. invasion, according to Taliban officials in Kabul at the time.

Since President Barack Obama announced the start of a U.S. withdrawal in July 2011, Karzai has sought to improve relations with Pakistan and reach out to the insurgents. Last month he told a national peace conference in Kabul he would talk with any militant leader.

As a sign of good faith, he pledged to seek the release of detainees and lobby the United Nations to remove some of the insurgent leaders from a blacklist that froze their bank accounts and prevents them from traveling abroad.

He also signed a reintegration decree this week offering amnesty and economic incentives to Taliban fighters who want to leave the battlefield, if they accept the Afghan constitution and break ties with al-Qaida and other terrorist groups.

Obama has said the July 2011 date does not herald a rapid American withdrawal from Afghanistan and Washington is committed to a long-term relationship with the Afghans.

Nonetheless, Obama's deadline has prompted Pakistan to review its own strategy in neighboring Afghanistan. The Pakistani military and the country's spy service _ the Inter-Services Intelligence or ISI _ believes the Haqqani group is an important force to protect Pakistani interests in Afghanistan.

Retired Pakistani Gen. Talat Masood said Pakistan's military believes that bringing insurgents _ including the Haqqani group _ into the Afghan government is the only way of stabilizing the country once America and its allies leave.

But the Institute for the Study of War, a U.S.-based think tank, describes Haqqani as "irreconcilable," saying negotiations with his network would strengthen al-Qaida, undermine regional stability and threaten U.S. security.

In a study released this week, the Institute cited a statement released in April by Sirajuddin Haqqani, describing cooperation with al-Qaida as "at its highest level."

"Any negotiated settlement with the Haqqanis threatens to undermine the raison d'etre for U.S. involvement in Afghanistan over the past decade," the study said.

The Haqqani group trains, lives and works with a list of deadly international terrorist groups, including Pakistan's Lashkar-e-Taiba, and the Islamic Jihad Union, whose ranks include Kurdish, Uzbek, Azerbaijani, Turkish and German fighters, it said.

The Haqqani group's headquarters is believed to be in the mountains of Pakistan's North Waziristan tribal area. The U.S. has repeatedly urged Pakistan to launch ground operations there. Pakistan has so far refused, saying its forces are spread too thin.

With 120,000 soldiers deployed to the tribal region, the Pakistan military is fighting a series of deadly wars along the length of the border area with Afghanistan.

Brian Cloughley, South Asia defense analyst for Jane's Sentinel, Country Risk, said it's clear that Pakistan has leverage with Haqqani and other extremist groups.

But he added Haqqani's tight links to al-Qaida "may be just a shade too deep for the Americans to accept."

___

EDITOR'S NOTE _ Kathy Gannon has written about Afghanistan and Pakistan for The Associated Press for more than two decades.

Business centre under review leaving county jobs at risk

The future of up to 21 local authority jobs at a Rooksbridgebusiness centre is under review.

The jobs of people employed by Somerset County Council could bemoved and the offices at The Stables Business centre closed as partof plans to reduce council spending.

The council employs the 21 people in Rooksbridge as part of theSouth West One contract negotiated with IBM.

A list of more than 30 offices in Somerset being reviewed wasdiscussed by the council's scrutiny committee at a meeting held lastThursday at Taunton County Hall.

In the review, which is entitled the property rationalisationprogramme report, it said that the plan is to reduce 32 offices downto between five and ten.

It states: "The provision of office accommodation will be reducedsignificantly - the target is a 40 per cent reduction in officespace.

"We are at an early stage in this project with no decisions madeyet on the number and locations of offices.

"We are still assessing the most suitable sites to retain and useas office bases."

The council is considering whether to reduce office centres sothere is one large office for all county functions in each countyarea, with one satellite office as support.

The project, called Somerset Office of the Future, aims toincrease the number of council staff who work from home or remotely,and offices would be shared with authorities such as Mendip DistrictCouncil and the police. The county council has decided that reducingthe number of buildings it uses below the current target would costtoo much, as staff would have to be paid relocation expenses.

Staff would have their workload analysed to find out whether theyneed a fixed desk in an office, or could work elsewhere.

The council is also considering selling county hall in Tauntonand moving to a new, cheaper site.

The scrutiny committee endorsed the review at the meeting.

Better home sales numbers fail to budge Treasurys

Interest rates were little changed in the bond market Tuesday even as new signs of strength emerged in the housing market.

The National Association of Realtors said its pending homes sales index rose 1 percent in December, providing the latest evidence the economy is improving. Positive economic reports over the past two days have helped push stocks higher.

Normally Treasurys would fall on signs of a strengthening economy because investors would be opting for riskier investments that have the potential for bigger returns, like stocks. An improving economy also creates inflation, which must be kept in check by higher interest rates.

However demand for bonds has been holding up in recent weeks, partly on reassurances from the Federal Reserve Board that inflation is still at bay. The Fed has also pledged to keep short-term rates at their historic lows for now, another factor that supports the bond market.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury note that matures in November 2019 fell to 3.65 percent from 3.66 percent late Monday. Its price edged up 1/32 to 97 23/32. That yield is a widely used benchmark for consumer loans including mortgages.

Tom di Galoma, head of U.S. rates trading at Guggenheim Capital Markets LLC, said the bond market is still benefiting from the traditional rush of buying at the beginning of the year to build up their portfolios. Di Galoma said demand will likely remain strong through early March.

Fresh signs that demand for U.S. government bonds remains strong among overseas investors was also keeping the market stable, Di Galoma said. Japan Post Bank is reportedly being urged by government officials there to diversify its holdings beyond Japanese government bonds by adding Treasurys.

In other trading, the yield on the two-year note maturing in January 2012 was unchanged at 0.86 percent. Its price was flat at 100 1/32.

The yield of the 30-year bond that matures in November 2039 was flat at 4.57 percent, while its price rose fell 4/32 to 96 24/32.

The yield on the three-month T-bill that matures May 6 rose to 0.10 percent from 0.08 percent.

The cost of borrowing between banks rose fractionally. The British Bankers' Association said the rate on the three-month loans in dollars _ the London Interbank Offered Rate, or Libor _ rose to 0.25031 percent from 0.24906 percent.

Police probing airport CCTV cameras after terror attacks Police have launched a probe into whether airport security cameras were tampered with ahead of the recent terror attacks.

Police have launched a probe into whether airport security cameraswere tampered with ahead of the recent terror attacks.

A number of cameras at the Dyce airport are believed to have beenmoved just three days before the failed car bomb attacks in London.

And the incident came four days ahead of the failed car bombattack at Glasgow Airport.

Taxi drivers and airport staff have been quizzed over thepossibility security cameras on the city's Argyll Road were moved.

Grampian Police control room inspector Ian Swan today said: "Weare investigating the possibility that security cameras on ArgyllRoad at Aberdeen Airport were tampered with between 8am and 12.30pmon June 26.

"The position of the cameras is such that a ladder or vehiclewould be required to access them.

"There is nothing to suggest the incident is related to the recentevents in London and Glasgow but we need to keep an open mind."

He confirmed the possibility of a link between the three incidentscould not be ruled out and said this would be part of the ongoinginvestigation.

Police understand there are four of this type of camera whichmonitor traffic going into the airport.

However, they are not thought to be monitored at all times and itwas thought the incident was not detected until after the failedattacks further south.

An airport spokesman said: "The airport is aware of a policeinvestigation into a traffic monitoring system. We cannot say anymore as the police are investigating it."

Today it was not known if any specific footage was beinginvestigated.

Some cameras on Argyll Road were covered with plastic bags in thedays following the failed attacks.

Grampian Police said that there was no armed police presence atAberdeen Airport when Glasgow Airport was attacked, but that afirearms unit was deployed to the terminal as soon as they heardabout the incident in Glasgow.

A civilian hero who helped tackle the Glasgow Airport terrorsuspects yesterday said he hoped his actions would show that Britonswon't stand for such acts. John Smeaton became a cult hero in theaftermath of the drama last Saturday after a string of TV interviewssaw him describe the incident in forthright terms.

He was among several members of the public who intervened to helppolice during the incident.

And 31-year-old John, from Erskine, Renfrewshire, said yesterdaythat the public were ready to stand up to such attacks.

He said: "I hope my actions and the actions of everyone else thatday show that Britain will not stand for it.

"And if any more extremists are still wanting to rise up and starttrouble, know this: We'll rise right back up against you.

"New York, Madrid, London, Paisley . . . we're all in thistogether and make no mistake, none of us will hold back from puttingthe boot in."

"Britain defends border check procedures", Page 8

fmcwhirter@ajl.co.uk

Support for talks lukewarm Barak to give Cabinet briefing

JERUSALEM Back home after two days of icebreaking meetings betweenSyria and Israel in Washington, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barakfaces a possible rebellion within his own government.

The prime minister is scheduled to brief the Cabinet today on hispreliminary round of talks with Syrian Foreign minister Farouk al-Sharaa that ended Thursday in Washington.

Two of Barak's Cabinet ministers, the heads of small but keyfactions within the government, are expressing discomfort with thenegotiations and warn that they might pull their parties out of thecoalition if an accord with Syria includes the return of thestrategic Golan Heights. Both ministers, Yitzhak Levy of the NationalReligious Party and Natan Sharansky of Yisrael B'Aliya, say theywould fight to torpedo such an agreement.

The two leaders met last week to try to coordinate theiropposition to a withdrawal from the Golan, a fertile, picturesqueplateau that looms over the Sea of Galilee. Israel captured theheights in 1967, and 17,000 Israelis have since settled there. Syriainsists on the return of all of the territory.

If the two parties resign from the coalition, the loss of theirnine seats would leave Barak's government with 59 votes, two short ofa majority, although it could rely on support from Arab and left-leaning parties outside the coalition.

More significantly, though, defections could make it tougher forBarak to win the national referendum he has promised to hold on anypeace deal with Syria.

His peace initiative met with surprisingly tepid support from theKnesset (parliament) on the eve of his departure for Washington.

A divided or shrinking Cabinet could make it even more difficult.

Polls indicate that Israelis are about evenly split on whether totrade the Golan Heights for peace.

Levy's party, which has strong support among Jewish settlers inthe West Bank, says it will bolt the coalition if a peace accordmeans the return of the Golan to Syria and the removal of anysettlers from the area, seemingly an inevitable ingredient of anyworkable agreement.

"We have agreed that if the agreement will mean tearing downJewish, legal villages on the Golan - a transfer of those villages(to) some other place . . . we will no longer be a part of thisgovernment," said Yitzhak Rath, an aide to Levy, who is Barak'shousing minister.

Sharansky's objections are rooted in his view that Syria, a hard-line Arab state with a closed society, is not a stable or trustworthypeace partner.

He argued in an interview Thursday that any Israeli concessionsmust be proportionate to "the transparency and openness of Syriansociety," and not linked to early warning stations or other securityarrangements on the Golan.

A former dissident in the old Soviet Union, Sharansky said hedoubts that the talks between Syrian and Israeli negotiators, whichare due to resume near Washington in early January, will produce anaccord that his party can support. Yisrael B'Aliya's membership ismade up mainly of immigrants from the former Soviet Union and oftenis hawkish on territorial and security issues.

A third coalition member, the powerful religious party, Shas,appears to be on the fence on the Syria issue. The party abstainedfrom a parliament vote Monday on Barak's initiative with Syria.

President Ezer Weizman, a strong supporter of the peace process,has tried to help Barak win support for his talks with Syria, holdingdiscussions last week with Sharansky, Levy, and Shas leader EliYishai.

The talks with Syria come as Barak faces a deadline to work outdetails of a peace deal with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.

Israeli officials said Saturday that Barak will meet with Arafatsoon to try to ease Palestinian fears that they will be brushed asidewith the renewal of Israeli-Syrian talks.

"I estimate that I will meet him in the near future," Barak toldIsrael television. "Our intention is to, the entire way, to holdsimultaneous negotiations . . . without any track stopping the otheror being played one against the other by us."

The United States expects Barak and Arafat to iron out a frameworkfor an accord on the thorniest issues between them in time for anexpected summit with President Clinton in February. The sides haveset Feb. 13 as a deadline for an agreement on the framework.

In addition, Arafat expects Israel to quickly implement overdueaspects of interim agreements, namely an Israeli withdrawal from fivepercent of the West Bank and the prisoner release.

Arafat will also demand that Barak cease all Jewish settlementactivity in the areas the Palestinians hope to make into a state,another Palestinian official said on condition of anonymity.

Coyotes CEO Shumway resigns

Jeff Shumway resigned as chairman and CEO of the financially troubled Phoenix Coyotes on Friday.

Shumway had served as CEO of the Coyotes since April 2006. He was relinquishing his duties with the NHL team to manage other business ventures of team owner Jerry Moyes.

"Jeff has done a great job in managing the team for me but right now I need him to focus on some of my other projects," Moyes said in a statement.

The 51-year-old Shumway's resignation removes an upper layer of management for the team coached by Wayne Gretzky. Moyes will take over as the Coyotes' governor on the NHL Board of Governors, and president Doug Moss and general manager Don Maloney will report directly to Moyes.

Moyes has been seeking buyers for the Coyotes, who are reportedly losing more than $30 million (23 million) per year. With the NHL's help, they are attempting to renegotiate their Jobing.com Arena lease with the city of Glendale in an apparent effort to make the deal more attractive to potential buyers.

The Coyotes enter the All-Star break in fifth place in the Western Conference. If the playoffs started this week, they would qualify for the first time since 2002.

Henin says she can be better than before

Former world No.1 Justine Henin says she has matured during her 20-month break from tennis and can be a better player when she makes a return to the sport next week.

Henin, 27, told a news conference Tuesday she "grew up" during her absence from the court and can eclipse the standard she set in winning seven grand slam titles.

The Belgian will play in next week's Brisbane International and the subsequent Sydney International before contesting the Jan. 18-31 Australian Open as a wild card.

While keeping expectations in check, she said a second Australian Open title was "possible."

"I believe I can be a better player, I believe I can use my experience more than in the past," Henin said. "When you are into (playing tennis at) 200 percent you have no time to realize it. You are too involved all the time and all this time off helped me to realize everything I achieved.

Henin said her absence from tennis has given her personal insight and perspective, adding that she didn't watch a set of tennis in the first 12 months after retirement and now returns to the sport refreshed and self-aware.

"What I can say is I know myself much better and that's the most important thing," she said.

Henin appeared more relaxed at Tuesday's news conference than in the past, when she was often perceived as aloof.

"I'm 27 now I just want to live my second career differently to how I did in the past," she said. "It's been a great experience to go out of the tennis world for 18 months and to come back because I feel I grew up."

Henin, who won the 2004 Australian Open, will use the Brisbane International to find her tournament rhythm. She showed early form, and a stronger serve, when she beat Russia's Nadia Petrova in an exhibition in Cairo earlier this month.

"Of course I will need some time to be 100 percent, to be the level I was when I stopped my career, but I'm ready to live anything here," she said.

PD News

For detailed course descriptions or a complete schedule of upcoming PD seminars, consult your spring 2009 PD brochure or visit our website at www.icabc-pd.com. To register, call the PD department at 604-681-3264.

Audit & Accounting

IFRS - Intangible Assets and Impairment of Assets

This seminar will provide comprehensive information on the accounting treatment for, and the measurement and disclosure of, intangible assets in accordance with international financial reporting standards (IFRS) - specifically where these are not addressed by any other standards.

The seminar will also cover the IFRS procedures an entity must apply to ensure that its assets are carried at no more than their recoverable amounts. This will include discussion of the reversal of impairment losses and disclosure requirements.

Jun 22, 9am-5pm, Four Seasons, Vancouver

IFRS - Mining Industry

This seminar will familiarize participants with the accounting and disclosure requirements of IFRS 6, and update them on the current status of the International Accounting Standards Board's ongoing extractive industries project.

In particular, the key standards that affect the mining industry will be reviewed, including IFRS rules on exploration, impairment of assets, property, plant and equipment, closure and environmental liabilities, and derivative and hedge accounting.

Jun 25, 9am-5pm, Four Seasons, Vancouver

IFRS - Financial Services: Banking

The objective of this seminar is to provide participants with a solid understanding of the implications of IFRS for the banking side of the financial services sector. It will provide participants with an understanding of how the accounting for assets and liabilities will differ under IFRS, as well as an appreciation of the accounting choices that companies will need to make before changeover, and the implications of these choices on corporate financial statements.

Jun 26, 9am-5pm Sutton Place, Vancouver

Management

Credit and Collection

This two-hour workshop will provide basic principles and simple applications for maximizing profitability through credit management. This course is a must for CAs who have accounts receivable of their own and for those who provide advice to organizations with accounts receivable.

Jun 16, 7:30-9:30am, Sutton Place, Vancouver

Critical Thinking and Self-Reflection

Successful leaders and managers all have one thing in common: They learn by doing and by applying their experience to day-to-day activities. At the core of their learning style is an ongoing assessment of the assumptions that inform their approach to both decision-making and relationships.

This seminar will identify the links between (earning style, critical thinking, and self-reflection in both our professional and personal lives, and explain how to use these tools to enhance personal effectiveness.

Jun 17, 9am-5pm, Sutton Place, Vancouver

Employment Standards Overview

This seminar will provide a general introduction to key provisions of the BC Employment Standards Act (ESA), with an emphasis on commonly misunderstood requirements. The seminar is designed to help participants identify ESA compliance requirements and current HR compliance issues, and formulate solutions.

Jun 25, 9am-12:30pm, Sutton Place, Vancouver

Faster and Better Financial Processes

Financial processes affect alt areas of business: operations, sales, marketing, purchasing, R&D, etc. These functions require timely and accurate information and transaction processing. Improving financial processes can decrease cost and improve the bottom line by increasing efficiency and effectiveness. Financial process review (FPR) can be used to achieve dramatic improvements in critical performance measures: cost, quality, capital, service, and speed.

This seminar will teach participants how to implement an FPR in their organizations in a realistic and effective manner.

Jul 09, 9am-5pm, Sutton Place, Vancouver

Financial Tools that Go Beyond the Statement

Do the owners and managers of your company fully comprehend the financial statements and performance reports you provide? Do people in your company or organization really use financial statements as strategic planning tools?

This program will focus on practical and proven financial tools to go "beyond the statement" and turn your company's income statement and balance sheet into incredibly powerful management tools. By analysing the financial statements for your company and by implementing these tools, you will strengthen your role as a trusted advisor and manager.

Jun 19, 9am-5pm, Four Seasons, Vancouver

Lenders, Banking, and Your Client: What You Need to Know to Get Through die Recession

This is a hands-on course designed to introduce accounting professionals to the seemingly impenetrable world of commercial lending. This course has been overhauled and updated to reflect the new economic reality; it will give you the information you need to better manage borrowing relationships during the recession.

Jun 24, 9am-12:30pm, Sutton Place, Vancouver

Strategy Tools for Not-for-Profit

This seminar will take the concepts of strategic planning and extend them using strategy maps specifically designed for not-for-profits (NFPs), with the ultimate goal of managing resources more effectively.

One of the problems facing NFP management today is the need to allocate resources to several key initiatives while at the same time trying to maintain excellence in core operations. This seminar will use lecture, discussion, and case study exercises to show you how to apply performance measurement in practical ways to achieve strategic goals.

Jul 07, 9am-5pm, Grand Okanagan, Kelowna

Jul 08, 9am-5pm, Sutton Place, Vancouver

Taxation

Foreign Affiliate Rules for the Mining Industry

Canada's tax system is uniquely complex when it comes to foreign-controlled corporations. This seminar will provide you with a basic understanding of the framework of these important rules under both the existing law and the proposed amendments. The seminar will also describe how these rules typically apply in the context of foreign mining operations.

Jul 13, 9am-12:30pm, Sutton Place, Vancouver

Marshall recruiting

A look at reported signees and commitments to Marshall's 2009football recruiting class:

Player Pos. Ht. Wt. Hometown School

Marques Aiken DE 6-4 230 Lauderdale Lakes, Fla. Boyd Anderson HS

Cartavious Baldwin S 6-1 180 Belle Glade, Fla. Central HS

Zakee Bashir OLB 6-1 210 Columbus, Ohio Walnut Ridge HS

Trevor Black OLB 6-2 196 Charlotte, N.C. West Mecklenburg HS

Wayne Bonner WR 6-4 210 Milledgeville, Ga. East Mississippi CC

Andre Booker RB 5-10 170 Sarasota, Fla. Riverview HS

Donald Brown LB 6-0 175 Frostproof, Fla. Frostproof HS

C.J. Crawford DB 6-2 196 Huntington Huntington HS

Aaron Dobson WR 6-3 185 South Charleston …

`Karnak's' Costume Change

Beverly Hills collector James Comisar just talked Johnny Carsoninto giving him that "Karnak the Magnificent" costume - the onlything Johnny asked to take when he left the "Tonight Show."Comisar's working on a museum to house his stuff, including a lifepreserver from the SS Minnow on "Gilligan's Island," WilliamShatner's "Star Trek" phaser gun and Sally Field's "Flying Nun"costume.

But there are "missing links." Know where Comisar could findthat "M" that hung in Mary Tyler Moore's TV apartment or ChuckConnors' rifle from "The Rifleman"? Call (310) 273-1717.

National weather

Hi Lo Otlk

Anchorage 41 25 Snow

Baltimore 58 35 Rain

Boston 56 34 Rain

Chicago 52 41 Clr

Dallas-Ft Worth 73 53 Clr

Denver 70 38 PCldy

Detroit 47 36 Cldy

Honolulu 81 68 Cldy

Houston 74 50 Clr

Indianapolis 51 38 PCldy

Kansas City 66 45 Clr

Las Vegas 81 62 PCldy

Little Rock 67 45 Clr

Los Angeles 73 57 PCldy

Memphis 62 45 Clr

Miami Beach 87 68 Cldy

Milwaukee 49 38 Clr

Nashville 56 36 Clr

New Orleans 67 51 Cldy

New York City 56 33 Rain

Oklahoma City 73 48 Clr

Orlando 79 54 Rain

Phoenix 90 63 PCldy

St Louis 60 42 Clr

Salt Lake City 66 38 Cldy

San Diego 66 55 PCldy

San Francisco 63 46 PCldy

Seattle 49 41 Rain

Kick back and get ready for tiki time

"Exotica 2000" 7 p.m. Saturday

Right-On Futon,

1184 N. Milwaukee

(773) 235-2533

It's best not to approach tiki culture lying down. Tikisoriginated as the tall carvings of gods and ancestors in the SouthPacific. But that doesn't prevent the Right-On Futon store fromhosting "Exotica 2000," a free tiki art event and party on Saturday.If things go swimmingly, you'll need a futon to de-tiki.

Tiki culture has always been popular along the West Coast, particularly in San Francisco, where Otto von Stroheim publishes thebrilliant "Tiki News" (2215-R Market St., No. 177, San Francisco,Calif. 94114), and in Seattle, where home tiki bars are …

Nutreco H1 2010 net profit rises to EUR 40.4m.(Financial report)

(ADPnews) - Jul 29, 2010 - Dutch food group Nutreco (AMS:NUO) reported today its first-half net profit rose to EUR 40.4 million (USD 52.6m) from EUR 13.7 million a year ago.

The earnings before interest, tax and amortisation (EBITA) doubled to EUR 84 million from EUR 41.6 million a year ago. The net profit was slightly higher than analyst projections, while the operating profit was well above the company's guidance and expectations on the market.

Sales rose 5.8% in annual terms to EUR 2.25 billion in …

LANDFILL YIELDS BODY OF WIFE.(MAIN)

Byline: Associated Press

SALT LAKE CITY -- The body of a young Utah woman allegedly killed by her husband has turned up in a landfill that police had been searching since her disappearance in late July.

The state medical examiner's office used dental records to identify Lori Hacking's remains about six hours after they were discovered Friday.

``It means everything to us to find Lori's mortal remains so that we might lay them to rest with …

Airline Baggage Handler Convicted In Card Scheme.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. -- A baggage handler for United Airlines at Dulles International Airport pleaded guilty last week to stealing bulk quantities of credit card mailings from mail routed through the airport, then passing on the cards to confederates who used them to charge up as much as $4 million on area credit unions.

In a sophisticated scheme, Emmanuel Osho, a 49-year-old baggage supervisor at Dulles International, would steal as many envelopes as he could while the mail sat on the tarmac awaiting transfer to mail facilities and searched out those containing credit cards, then stuff them into a black duffel bag, according to authorities.

Osho, a Nigerian …

Attorney: there was 'culture of hazing' at FAMU

LITHONIA, Ga. (AP) — An attorney for the family of a Florida A&M University band member who died from suspected hazing says the university had a history and 'culture of hazing.'

Attorney Christopher Chestnut made his remarks at a news conference in Georgia on Monday. Chestnut is representing the family of 26-year-old Robert Champion, who was found Nov. 19 on a bus parked outside an Orlando, Fla., hotel …

UC golfers shooting for regional title

DAILY MAIL SPORTS EDITOR

These guys swing better than Austin Powers.

Minus the bad threads.

Fresh off its record-shattering performance in last week's WestVirginia Conference Tournament, the University of Charleston golfteam is preparing for NCAA Division II regional play and a probableberth in the Division II national tournament May 22-25 in GrandRapids, Mich. The talented Golden Eagles need only a top-fivefinish at next week's North Regional to advance to their thirdconsecutive Division II national tournament.

But ninth-year UC Coach Mike Good thinks his team can do betterthan that.

"I'm real hopeful we'll win the regional," Good …

Gunmen kill policeman in central Mosul.

NINEWA / Aswat al-Iraq: Unknown gunmen killed a policeman on Monday in central Mosul, a police source said.

"Unknown gunmen opened fire on a police checkpoint on Ghazi street, central Mosul, killing a policeman," the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

…

Listen to the students.(News)

I am a Wynberg Girls Junior School pupil in grade six.

With the strike going on, we have been missing some days of school.

I know we are one of the fortunate schools and have not missed as many days as other schools.

I would like the government to pay our teachers a better salary because they did not become teachers …

HISTORIAN RECOUNTS `A HELLFIRE TIME' FOR BLACK AMERICANS.(CAPITAL REGION)

Byline: CAROL DEMARE Staff writer

ALBANY -- A noted journalist, lawyer and official in the administration of President Johnson said Wednesday that black Americans are writing history every day.

Roger Wilkins, currently a professor of history and American culture at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va., told a luncheon audience if black history month means anything, it's a reminder to ``use our heritage better than we used it before.''

Wilkins, a lawyer with wide-ranging experiences in the public and private sectors, was the keynote speaker at the University at Albany's 17th Annual Martin Luther King Jr. Black History Month Luncheon.

The …

Waldegrave draws response. (William Waldegrave's call for opinions on future of science)

William Waldegrave's call for opinions on the future of science, in anticipation of his White Paper, due to be published next year, has produced two cries for help. Both the Royal Society and the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) have produced reports for the UK science minister's perusal.

The ABPI report calls on the government to halt the decline in state spending on science in order to put Britain on a par with other nations in health spending. The group says that the UK government contributes a smaller percentage to R&D in higher education than any of 13 other industrialised countries. The report's author, Mike Hall says: 'We're actually …