Wife, daughter of 'Crocodile Hunter' discuss life on the wild side

By: Associated Press - | Friday, January 19, 2007 7:21 PM PST ∞

WASHINGTON -- Bindi Irwin is ready to continue her famous father's work spreading the wonder of wildlife.

"I'm going to become a wildlife warrior just like he was," 8-year-old Bindi, daughter of the late Steve Irwin, told an audience Friday at Washington's National Press Club.

Five months after Steve Irwin was killed by a stingray, Bindi and her mother Terri are touring the United States to promote Bindi's upcoming television series.

Asked Friday if the attention was too much too soon, Terri said that Bindi told her after Steve's death that she wanted to get back to filming wildlife shows as soon as possible.

"Grief is a road that each individual travels in their own way," Terri said, her daughter by her side. "For us to get right back up and be able to say that Steve's work counted for something" has been a help to the Irwin family and others.

Steve Irwin was killed in September after a stingray's barb stabbed him in the chest during the filming of a documentary. Authorities have handed over the video of Irwin's death to his family; Terri has said the family destroyed the footage.

As proof of her commitment to her father's work, Bindi cheerfully described some of the world's most ferocious animals as "so sweet and gentle," praising crocodiles as "such great mothers" and snakes as "just gorgeous."

Bindi, who has appeared on several entertainment and news shows while in America, was asked how she compared snakes and reporters: "I really think I like poisonous snakes," she answered, grinning for the dozens of assembled cameras and journalists.

Roy E. Disney files for divorce in LA to end 52-year marriage

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Roy E. Disney filed for divorce from his wife, Patricia, on Friday, citing irreconcilable differences, according to court documents. - The Burbank couple, who have been married 52 years, have been living apart for an unspecified amount of time, according to the Los Angeles County Superior Court filing.

"This has been in the works for a long time. They've just decided to move forward with their lives," said Clifford A. Miller, managing director of Shamrock Holdings Inc., the Disney family's investment company.

Roy, 77, and Patricia, 72, have four adult children.

The couple agreed to treat the divorce as a collaborative law case, which means each will try to cooperate to reach a settlement out of court, according to the divorce papers.

"It will be privately and collaboratively worked out, and it will never go to court," said Forrest S. Mosten, Roy Disney's attorney.

Mosten declined to discuss any facts in the case.

Disney is nephew of Walt Disney and one of The Walt Disney Co.'s major shareholders.

A house divided: Amid a bitter divorce, a wall goes up in Brooklyn couple's home

NEW YORK (AP) -- Like two Cold War adversaries, Chana and Simon Taub are separated by a wall -- one that was built straight down the middle of their home to keep the bickering spouses apart. - Neither one wanted to move out of their beloved Brooklyn house, and so, in one of the strangest divorce battles the city has ever seen, a white drywall partition was erected a few weeks ago on orders from a judge.

The divorce case, which has been staggering through the courts for nearly two years, has been dubbed Brooklyn's "War of the Roses," after the 1989 movie starring Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner as a battling couple.

Aside from the wall, the Taub version of the story has some other farcical elements: Chana says her husband of more than 20 years has bugged her phones. Simon says his wife owns too many shoes.

It's not as if the Taubs have no place else to go. For one thing, they own a place two doors down. But for reasons that include stubbornness, spite and their love of the home, both insist on staying in this particular house in Borough Park, a heavily Orthodox Jewish neighborhood.

"It's my house. And emotionally, in my age, I want to be in my house!" says Simon, 57, who was the one who requested the wall. He calls his wife a gold-digger.

Chana, 57, who claims her husband abused her, says she has as much right to stay as he does, if not more. "I need a house to live in and money to live on!" she says. "I worked very hard, like a horse, like a slave for him."

In New York City, it is not unusual for couples to fight over a house or refuse to move out during divorce proceedings. Judges sometimes ask couples to set boundaries, such as letting a spouse have access to the study during a certain part of the day.

But an actual wall? That's a new one, says Barry Berkman, a New York divorce lawyer.

The wall separates the living room from the staircase on the bottom floor of the Taubs' richly decorated, wood-paneled home, a three-story brown-brick rowhouse whose market value has been put at $923,000 by the city.

She gets the top floor, where the bedrooms are situated, along with the kitchen on the second floor. He gets the living room on the first floor and the dining room on the second floor. So that they don't run into each other on the second floor, the door between the dining room and the kitchen is barricaded on both sides.

One of the couple's children is staying with Dad; three others are staying with Mom.

Chana says that for two decades she served Simon like a virtual slave, putting up with physical and mental abuse that grew more severe over the years. She says she had to flush the toilet after him, and put on his socks and shoes for him. He became so violent by mid-2005 that she filed for divorce, she says.

Simon denies ever laying a hand on Chana, and says he gave her a luxurious lifestyle. But he says his sweater manufacturing company went bankrupt in the late 1990s, and he suffered a second heart attack in 2005 that only worsened their financial problems. He says she wants a divorce to squeeze what money he has left.

Chana says she doesn't want much from her husband, mainly just alimony, child support and a fair share of property.

In August 2005, a judge said Simon, whom Chana had forced out of the house, could move back in after building a wall. Chana appealed. An appeals court eventually allowed the wall, calling it a novel concept. The wall went up in December, and Simon moved back in.

At one point during the transition, someone said Chana had 300 pairs of shoes trapped on Simon's side. Chana claims that is a lie Simon cooked up to make her look like the Imelda Marcos of the Orthodox Jewish community.

"I am not interested in shoes," she says.

Simon retorts: "Maybe it was 299. I didn't count it."

Chana says that since Simon has returned, he has been monitoring her via video cameras. Simon says the surveillance goes both ways, and points to cameras on her side, though Chana claims she does not control those. Chana says Simon has bugged her phones. Simon says that's crazy -- he doesn't care who she talks to.

Kimberly Flemke, a couples therapist in Philadelphia, says when spouses go so far as to refuse to leave a house while divorcing, it often means neither is ready to move on.

"It's clear that if they're going to go this length, there's still far too much connection," she says. "I would hope they'd both go to therapy."

Amateur historian believes he has found final resting place of the Mona Lisa

ROME -- It may be that the world's most famously enigmatic woman has shed some of her mystery.

An amateur historian believes he has found the final resting place of the Florentine Renaissance woman who inspired Leonardo da Vinci's most renowned painting -- the Mona Lisa.

Giuseppe Pallanti, a high school economics teacher from Florence who has written a book about the Mona Lisa, has unearthed a death certificate that shows the woman believed by some to have inspired the artist, Lisa Gherardini, died on July 15, 1542, in Florence and is buried in a convent in the center of the Tuscan city.

"Maybe Leonardo chose a woman like many others. She was not a noblewoman, or a princess. She was a family woman," Pallanti said Friday.

Gherardini was born in 1479 and married a rich silk merchant, Francesco del Giocondo. She has been linked to the painting -- known in Italian as "La Gioconda" -- because Giorgio Vasari, a 16th-century artist and biographer of Leonardo and other artists, wrote that Leonardo painted a portrait of del Giocondo's wife.

In addition, del Giocondo was a neighbor and acquaintance of the artist's father, Piero da Vinci, Pallanti said.

"I'm not taking a stance, I'm not an art historian," Pallanti said. "But it's hard to believe that Vasari lied."

Alessandro Vezzosi, a Leonardo expert and the director of a museum dedicated to the artist in his hometown of Vinci, said Pallanti is a respected researcher whose work sheds light on Gherardini. But, he said, she was not the woman depicted in the work that hangs in Paris' Louvre Museum.

"There is a basic mistake, to say that this is the real Gioconda," Vezzosi said.

A letter that Leonardo wrote indicates the Mona Lisa was probably a lover of the artist's sponsor, the Florentine nobleman Giuliano de Medici, Vezzosi said.

"This doesn't mean that he didn't also paint del Giocondo's wife," he said. But that portrait has yet to be located, he said.

Vasari also wrote that the portrait of Gherardini was of note because of the woman's beautifully painted eyelashes and eyebrows -- a feature that is absent from Leonardo's most famous work, Vezzosi said.

Pallanti, who unearthed Gherardini's death certificate late last month, said she was a mother of six. Her home was near Florence's Basilica of San Lorenzo, which is near the Convent of St. Ursula, where she is said to have been buried.

Gherardini's daughter Marietta, who was a nun, lived in that convent.

"Her husband's will said that after his death she would go and live with her daughter," Pallanti said, adding that is what led him to the convent and the eventual discovery of her death certificate.

Pallanti said the convent is not in good shape, and he has not tried to find the actual tomb.

"It may be that I will try later," he said.

N.H. tax evader prepares for raid, but marshals bide their time

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) -- A former militia man convicted of tax evasion prepared for a government siege Friday at his fortress-like home, but U.S. marshals gave no indication they were planning to confront him.

Ed Brown said he was ready for a swarm of federal agents to descend on his property to execute an arrest warrant issued after he failed to appear for the end of his trial. He and his wife contend that they did not have to pay income taxes, and his supporters say a conflict could be violent.

"If Mexico came up on my land and tried to take my land, would I not fight?" Brown said. "The United States is the same exact thing as Mexico in this state."

Brown, 63, and his wife, Elaine, 65, were convicted Thursday of plotting to conceal their income and avoid paying federal income tax. They argued the tax is illegitimate and they are not required to pay it.

U.S. marshals said negotiations with Brown continue and they have no plans to attack Brown's Plainfield home or act quickly on the arrest warrant. He has been holed up in his home with armed supporters for much of the trial.

"He wants attention. We're determined to keep this very low-profile," U.S. Marshal Stephen Monier said.

Brown said he has a stock of food and supplies and that his home can run on wind and solar generators.

"It's all set up for me to stay here forever," Brown said by phone.

Elaine Brown, a dentist who earned most of the couple's income, was staying at her son's home in Worcester, Mass., pending the couple's sentencing in April. She said she had no plans to return to Plainfield, where she fears there will be a violent confrontation.

The Browns' case has found support on the Internet from militia members to libertarians and anti-tax groups.

Rick Stanley, a Denver-based Web radio host and a militia leader, urged listeners to join Brown at his home.

"We are continuing to ask patriots to surround Ed Brown's property and life with a ring of armed Americans with firearms and video cameras to protect a fellow American," he said. "This is the flash point. This is the time of raised pitchforks."

Lawyer, witness claim police neglected evidence in Blake murder case

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- The Police Department's internal affairs division is investigating an allegation that the lead investigator in the Robert Blake murder case withheld evidence from the defense and that police wrongly assumed the actor was guilty because of his celebrity status. - The complaint was filed nearly a year ago by M. Gerald Schwartzbach, who won Blake's acquittal in his criminal trial, and Brian Allan Fiebelkorn, a car dealership manager who testified at Blake's civil trial and was interviewed as a potential witness in the murder trial.

Fiebelkorn disclosed the matter to The Associated Press this week, concerned about the delay.

"All that I can say is a complaint was filed and it is under investigation," said Andre Birotte Jr., inspector general of the LAPD.

Blake, former star of the "Baretta" TV show, was acquitted in 2005 in the death of his wife, Bonny Lee Bakley, but a civil jury found that he intentionally caused her death and award her children $30 million.

Bakley was shot to death in 2001 outside a restaurant where she and Blake had dined.

The claim against the lead investigator, police Detective Ron Ito, alleges he didn't adequately investigate the link between two former stuntmen who said Blake had asked them to commit the crime and Christian Brando, who had an affair with Bakley and was once thought to be the father of a child she had with Blake.

The claim also alleges that Ito withheld information from the defense that one of the stuntmen had used methamphetamines and another had been admitted to a mental ward.

LAPD spokesman Lt. Paul Vernon declined to comment, saying personnel complaint investigations were confidential.

Christian Brando, son of the late actor Marlon Brando, has denied any involvement in the killing, and defense attempts to link him to the shooting were barred from Blake's murder trial.

Virginia honors 200th anniversary of Robert E. Lee's birth

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) -- History buffs still captivated by Gen. Robert E. Lee planned lectures, a banquet and artillery salutes to mark the 200th anniversary of the Confederate strategist's birth.

Events were scheduled throughout the weekend at Washington & Lee University in Lexington, at Lee's birthplace at Stratford Hall Plantation, and in Richmond, the former Confederate capital.

"Robert E. Lee was an outstanding general, a groundbreaking educator and a profound gentleman," said S. Waite Rawls III, chief executive of the Museum of the Confederacy in Richmond. "But perhaps his greatest moments came after the war, when he worked very hard to reconcile a country that was still deeply divided after a bitter internal conflict."

While many Southern groups and Civil War enthusiasts revere him, others here and elsewhere objected to the glorification of Lee and the so-called Lost Cause.

Last week, the Virginia National Association for the Advancement of Colored People criticized the use of state funding for the events and plans to make recognition of the anniversary a part of the public school curriculum.

State NAACP director King Salim Khalfani said he doesn't have a problem with those who mark Lee's 200th birthday "as long as public dollars aren't used for promoting the Lost Cause."

In Florida, Hillsborough County proclaimed 2007 the "Year of Lee" and encouraged "all citizens to learn more about the life of Lee and attend the state's seminars and celebration tributes in his memory."

"That's a slap in the face to every African-American, Hispanic, and every minority in the county," said Curtis Stokes, president of the county's NAACP chapter.

A graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, Lee led the Army of Northern Virginia in several Southern victories that earned him the reputation as a top military commander, but he lost the battle at Gettysburg, Pa., considered by many a turning point in the war. In the final weeks of the conflict he took command of the entire depleted Confederate military, surrendering to Gen. Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox in April 1865.

After the war, Lee became president of Washington College, now Washington & Lee University, in Lexington.

J. Holt Merchant, a history professor at the university, said Lee helped rebuild Washington College's war-ravaged grounds while emphasizing to Southern men the importance education would play in the rebuilding of the South. Lee died five years after becoming the school's president.

Merchant said as a general, Lee compared favorably to any of the country's finest.

"But Lee the educator and Lee the reconciler are terribly important here" and perhaps overlooked, he said.

The Museum of the Confederacy is showcasing an oil painting of Lee that was last displayed publicly in 1868 in Paris. The gilt-framed oil painting is on loan from a Richmond-area man who bought it at an estate sale.

Stratford Hall Plantation, where Lee was born Jan. 19, 1807, will host house tours, lectures and artillery salutes. Saturday's events let youngsters learn about Lee's childhood at the 1,900-acre plantation, on the bluffs of the Potomac River.

The Virginia chapter of the Sons of Confederate Veterans planned a banquet Friday to celebrate Lee's life featuring a talk by Pat Falci, the historical director for the Civil War movies "Gods and Generals" and "Gettysburg."

On the Net:

Lee events: http://www.relee2007.com

Mystery visitor makes 58th appearance at Edgar Allan Poe's grave in Baltimore

BALTIMORE (AP) -- For the 58th straight year, a mysterious visitor left birthday cognac and roses at Edgar Allan Poe's grave Friday, and he was watched by more onlookers than ever, a faithful viewer said. - Jeff Jerome, curator of the Poe House and Museum, said 55 people braved a chilly morning to glimpse the annual ritual of the mysterious visitor known as the Poe toaster.

"If I were the Poe toaster, and I saw and heard that crowd, I wouldn't show up," Jerome said before the ceremony.

As in years past, the visitor placed a half-empty bottle of cognac and three red roses at the grave on Poe's birthday, Jerome said.

Once it realized who he was, the crowd rushed to one of the cemetery's entrances to get a glimpse, and the toaster slipped out another way, Jerome said.

He said this year's crowd was large but well behaved, unlike last year when watchers tried to interfere with the tribute.

Jerome said he would no longer describe the visitor or what he was wearing because of last year's unruly spectators.

One onlooker Friday dressed up to look like the Poe toaster had in a previous year, said Jerome, who has seen the mystery visitor every Jan. 19 since 1976.

Starting in 1949, a frail figure made the visit to Poe's grave. In 1993, the original visitor left a cryptic note saying, "The torch will be passed." A later note said the man, who apparently died in 1998, had handed the tradition on to his sons.

Poe, who wrote poems and horror stories such as "The Raven" and "The Telltale Heart," was born in Boston and raised in Richmond, Va. He died Oct. 7, 1849 in Baltimore at the age of 40 after collapsing in a tavern.

On the Net:

Poe House and Museum: http://www.eapoe.org/

Postal workers still waiting for checks in the mail

OWENSBORO, Ky. (AP) -- Postal workers apparently have no special clout when it comes to being told the check's in the mail.

That's the case in this western Kentucky city, where post office employees are still waiting for their Jan. 12 paychecks.

They seem to have been lost -- in the mail, Postmaster Kristine Fox told the Owensboro Messenger-Inquirer.

"Somebody somewhere made a mistake," she said. "And nobody has 'fessed up yet."

Fox said she called several postal centers to try to track down the missing checks but had no success. She said she waited to ask for new checks because she kept thinking the old ones would surface.

"I wouldn't have waited this long," she said. "But Monday was a holiday. And I kept thinking I would find them."

The biweekly checks come from Egan, Minn., she said, and are sorted several times along the way.

Wife who ran down cheating husband ordered to pay $3.75 million over his death

HOUSTON (AP) -- A woman who killed her cheating husband by mowing him down with her car in a jealous rage was ordered Friday to pay $3.75 million to her in-laws.

A jury awarded the sum in a wrongful-death lawsuit brought against Clara Harris.

Harris, 48, repeatedly ran over her orthodontist husband, David, 44, with her Mercedes-Benz in 2002 in the parking lot of a suburban hotel after finding him there with his receptionist-turned-mistress. She was convicted of murder in 2003 and sentenced to 20 years in prison.

Harris squeezed her eyes shut when the judge asked for the jury's decision.

She took the stand during the trial, but repeatedly invoked her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. Defense attorney Dean Blumrosen said he did not want to risk having Harris say anything in the civil trial that might endanger her appeal of the murder conviction.

Plaintiff Gerald Harris described the jury's verdict as "an equitable decision."

"We had an opportunity to tell the story of what a good man our son was, and now the door is closed," he said.

Blumrosen said Harris had expected the lawsuit and expected to pay damages. "She's not upset about the money," he said.

Jury forewoman Lorna Mullens said Harris "could have stopped and she didn't stop. She kept running over him."

Juror Brandon Pauler said the panel also felt some sympathy for Harris.

"I definitely think there was some empathy, some thoughts about what she'd been through as well," he said.

On the night of the slaying, Harris and the receptionist had a brawl in the hotel's lobby, and guards escorted both women out of the building -- the same place the Harrises were married a decade earlier.

Death toll for dolphins trapped in shallow N.Y. cove rises to 9, rescuers worried

GARDEN CITY, N.Y. (AP) -- The death toll of dolphins trapped in a shallow cove has risen to nine, and only three weak and hungry members of the group were believed to be alive after a weeklong rescue effort, officials said Friday.

At least two of the dead dolphins had empty stomachs, said Charles T. Hamilton, regional emergency response coordinator for the state Department of Environmental Conservation. Necropsies were ordered on the nine dead dolphins to determine the exact cause of death; results were expected in a week to 10 days.

About 20 of the "common dolphins" were first seen about 10 days ago in the Northwest Harbor cove, north of East Hampton, attracting spectators and marine biologists who feared for their safety.

The common dolphin in the wild feeds only on live fish, which the cove does not have, said Chuck Bowman, president of the Riverhead Foundation for Marine Research and Preservation, one of the leaders of the rescue effort.

"Time is not on our side," Hamilton said.

Ordinarily, the dolphins stay about 30 to 80 miles off shore but may have been chasing some food such as mackerel or squid closer to the coast when they swam into waters that separate the twin forks of eastern Long Island, probably during high tide.

Eight were coaxed out of the shallow cove and swam away earlier this week.

On the Net:

http://www.riverheadfoundation.org

Ill. mom convicted in her children's drowning seeks new trial; cites errors with jury

CLINTON, Ill. (AP) -- A mother facing up to 20 years in prison in the 2003 drowning deaths of her three young children has asked a judge to grant her a new trial, citing errors with the jury.

Amanda Hamm, 30, of Clinton, is scheduled to be sentenced Feb. 1 for her conviction of child endangerment last month. Her children, ages 3 to 6, died after the family's car sank in Clinton Lake.

A Macon County jury rejected first-degree murder charges that alleged Hamm and then-boyfriend Maurice LaGrone Jr. planned the drownings because the children were in the way of their relationship. Hamm and LaGrone have maintained the drownings were a tragic accident.

LaGrone was convicted of murder in April and is serving a life sentence.

Hamm's attorney filed a post-trial motion Wednesday seeking Hamm's release or a new trial, arguing that DeWitt County Judge Stephen H. Peters erred by seating jurors who were aware that LaGrone had been found guilty in the children's deaths.

"This is standard stuff," prosecutor Ed Parkinson said Friday. "He's doing it because he needs to protect issues for appeal."

No hearing date has been set on the motion.

Student charged with murder in fatal stabbing at suburban Massachusetts school

FRAMINGHAM, Mass. -- After seeing James Alenson's bloody, 15-year-old body in the school hallway Friday morning, Officer Nathan Hagglund said he walked into the principal's office and heard a confession before he could even ask a question. - "I did it. I did it. Is he OK? I don't want him to die," Alenson's classmate John Odgren said, according to the Sudbury police officer's report.

Hagglund told the 16-year-old not to say anything about the stabbing until he heard his Miranda rights read to him. Odgren replied he had a copy of the Miranda rights in his wallet. Then Odgren said there was a witness to the stabbing and gave Hagglund the person's description, according to the report.

It was as though Odgren, so fascinated by forensics that he took a crime scene investigation course at a nearby community college, wanted to participate in the investigation of the killing in which he was formally charged a few hours later.

Odgren pleaded not guilty and was jailed without bail. His attorney said the teen has Asperger's syndrome, a form of autism, and has been taking medications for many years.

Odgren and Alenson got into a fight in a bathroom, and it spilled out into a hallway at Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School, authorities said. Odgren stabbed Alenson twice with a long knife -- once in the abdomen and once in the heart, prosecutor Daniel Bennett said.

"The timing of the stabbing strongly suggests that Mr. Odgren planned this premeditated murder," Bennett said. Investigators would not comment on a motive.

Defense attorney Jonathan Shapiro said Odgren "has a serious disability."

"The defendant has a history of fairly serious psychological diagnoses and has also suffered from hyperactivity dysfunction for many years," Shapiro said.

Odgren's parents, Paul and Dorothy, silently consoled each other as they sat in the courtroom and stared at their son, who occasionally looked back. Shapiro said Paul Odgren is a cell research biologist and his wife is a nurse.

"This is a tragedy for all involved," Shapiro said outside the courtroom. "My client and his family feel for the victim and his family."

All 1,600 students at the school, in an affluent area about 17 miles west of Boston, were sent home.

"We're obviously heartbroken dealing with this," said John Ritchie, the school's superintendent and principal.

In addition to the murder charge, Odgren is charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, carrying a dangerous weapon illegally in a school. In first- and second-degree murder cases in Massachusetts, anyone age 14 or older is automatically tried as an adult.

Pregnant teens still on the run after attack in Utah group home

AMERICAN FORK, Utah (AP) -- Three pregnant teens who police say overwhelmed the caretaker of a maternity home by hitting her with a frying pan and tying her up with power cords remained on the run Friday.

The girls used the victim's credit card to buy a tank of gas immediately after Tuesday's attack, but there was no evidence of it being used elsewhere, police Sgt. Shauna Greening said.

"I don't know what their finances are," she said.

The teens, two 15-year-olds and a 16-year-old from Illinois, California and Texas, struck Jana Moody with a frying pan, then bound her and another pregnant girl and dashed away in the woman's van, Greening said. Moody was not seriously injured.

The New Hope Maternity Home, 30 miles south of Salt Lake City, is a place for struggling teens to learn about prenatal care, adoption and parenting skills. They are sent by their families to get them away from drugs or bad relationships.

"We haven't had one negative experience with a girl. ... We're just hoping they're found OK," Spencer Moody, who is Jana Moody's husband, said.

Woman allegedly kidnapped by parents on eve of wedding: 'I'm past forgiveness'

PROVO, Utah (AP) -- A woman whose parents are charged with kidnapping her on the eve of her wedding says she isn't about to forgive them.

Julianna Myers, 21, suggested she doesn't want her mother to see her baby, who is due in May.

"We have to protect our new baby. I don't trust my mom," she told the Deseret Morning News in a story published Friday.

Myers said she's tired of hearing her parents describe her in TV interviews as a disobedient child who wants to see them in prison.

"I'm past forgiveness," she said.

Myers' parents, Lemuel Redd, 60, and Julia Redd, 57, are charged with kidnapping her Aug. 4 to stop her from getting married the next day. A trial has been set for July 9 in Utah County.

Myers went ahead with the wedding a few days later than planned, marrying Perry Myers on Aug. 8 in the Mormon temple in Salt Lake City.

"It's so frustrating. They look like this innocent farm family," Perry Myers said. "People simply don't want to believe."

Perry Myers said Julia Redd once looked him in the eye and declared: "In this family, I am in charge, and you will do exactly what I say."

An attorney for the parents held out the possibility of a plea agreement to close the case before trial.

"I think it should have been mediated out," said Craig McLachlan. "They aren't criminals. This should be settled in the family room, not the courtroom."

Police: N.Y. house set on fire to cover slayings of 5 people

FISHKILL, N.Y. (AP) -- A house was set on fire early Friday to cover the slayings of at least two adults and three children, police said.

The bodies were found after fire partially collapsed the roof of the wood-frame house in Fishkill, 60 miles north of New York City.

One child, about 10 years old, died of multiple stab wounds, said Dr. Kari Reiber, chief medical examiner in Dutchess County. Another child, around 6 years old, died of blunt force trauma to the head, she said.

Their identities hadn't been confirmed, and autopsies on the other three bodies were scheduled for Saturday.

No other information about the victims was immediately available. Neighbors said the victims were renting the modest house, which is set back some 50 feet from a busy roadway amid tall trees.

"A lot of families come and go there," said Louanna Bell, who lives down the road but did not know the victims.

State police said a burned-out car found about a half-mile from the house played a role in the slayings, though it was not clear how.

A woman who said she was the aunt of the young victims talked to police at the scene briefly and left sobbing.

"They're my nephews. They're 13, 10 and five," Christine Zito said. "They don't deserve this."

Former Guatemalan anti-drug investigators get 10 years prison on cocaine charge

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Guatemala's former top anti-drug investigator and his one-time deputy were sentenced Friday to 10 years in a U.S. prison for conspiring to distribute cocaine.

Adan Castillo, the former chief of Guatemala's special anti-drug police force, and Jorge Aguilar Garcia, Castillo's one-time deputy, were arrested in 2005.

The men were lured to the United States for what they thought was training on fighting drug traffickers. In reality, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration had been investigating the men for four months with the help of the Guatemalan government.

The two men pleaded guilty last year.

U.S. officials estimate about 75 percent of the cocaine that reaches American soil passes through Guatemala, in part because its government long did little to stop it.

Task force to investigate suspected Mo. kidnapper's possible link to other missing children

ST. LOUIS (AP) -- Investigators on Friday announced a task force of federal, state and local investigators to examine whether the man accused of abducting two boys may have snatched other children who are still missing. - Michael Devlin is charged with kidnapping two boys found Jan. 12 in his suburban St. Louis apartment.

The search for Ben Ownby, who vanished after getting off the school bus in Beaufort on Jan. 8, led police to Devlin's home, where they found the 13-year-old and Shawn Hornbeck, who had been missing for more than four years.

Devlin was 36 when Shawn was abducted on Oct. 6, 2002. Several experts and police have called it unlikely that someone would commit such brazen crimes without any precedent.

"There are the possibilities that there may be other kids involved," Franklin County Sheriff Gary Toelke said.

The task force will include the FBI, state police, sheriff's departments in three counties and police in the towns of St. Charles and Kirkwood.

Authorities are looking into the cases of two boys and one girl who all disappeared from towns on the outskirts of St. Louis dating back to 1988.

One detective called Devlin the "most viable lead" in another missing boy case, mostly because of striking similarities between Shawn's abduction and that of 11-year-old Charles "Arlin" Henderson, who vanished in 1991.

Lincoln County detective Chris Bartlett said the boys were the same age when they vanished and both were taken while riding their bikes on rural roads about an hour's drive from St. Louis. Shawn, Ben and Arlin all weighed about 100 pounds.

Devlin's attorney, Ethan Corlija, did not return messages seeking comment on Friday.

Shawn's parents appeared Friday on several morning television shows. On NBC's "Today" show, the boy's stepfather, Craig Akers, said Shawn was surprised to find his room virtually the same as when he had last seen it.

"Believe it or not there was one T-shirt in that drawer that did fit him," Akers said. "He was just tickled pink that everything was just the way it was left."

Federal, airline officials still trying to figure out how 9-year-old got on 2 flights

SEATTLE (AP) -- How could anyone -- let alone a 9-year-old -- talk their way onto a flight without a reservation in the post-9/11 era? That's what federal and airline officials have been scrambling to figure out since Semaj Booker made his improbable journey from Washington state to Texas.

Southwest Airlines was still looking into how the 80-pound, 4-foot-9 fourth-grader made his way through security and onto two flights Monday, from Seattle to Phoenix and then to San Antonio. Semaj, said to have been trying to reach his grandfather in Dallas, also is accused of leading police on a high-speed chase in a stolen car on Sunday.

"This is such an unusual situation, there's a lot of facets to it that we're looking into," airline spokeswoman Marilee McInnis said Friday.

U.S. Rep. Norm Dicks, D-Wash., has asked the Transportation Security Administration to determine how the boy got another passenger's name to get on board.

"As Norm says, we spend billions of dollars inconveniencing the American public and making things safe -- we think," Dicks' spokesman George Behan. "Then a 9-year-old comes walking through."

The TSA was working with Southwest to find out more details, said Jennifer Peppin, a spokeswoman for the agency.

She noted that the boy had a proper boarding pass, which is necessary to clear federal screening. How he came about getting that pass from Southwest was "their issue," Peppin said.

In a statement Wednesday, Southwest said the boy was issued a boarding pass at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport after he gave information matching a reservation and told workers his mother was already in the boarding area.

On Friday, Semaj was being held at a center for runaways in Bexar County, which includes San Antonio. Semaj was stopped by Southwest employees at the airport there when he tried to board a Dallas-bound flight.

The boy probably will remain at the center until his grandfather or another guardian can take custody of him, said Fred Wist, a prosecutor in Washington state's Pierce County.

Wist has filed charges against Semaj in connection with Sunday's high-speed pursuit. Authorities say Semaj, who had run away before, eluded police at speeds of 80-90 mph until he took an exit and the engine blew. He was returned home but ran away again Monday.

Semaj's mother, Sakinah Booker, 29, has said her son dislikes the Lakewood neighborhood where the family lives and is afraid of a sex offender who lives nearby. Wist said Friday that investigators confirmed a sex offender was living in the area, but there had been no reports of any contact with the child.

Calls to Booker's home rang unanswered Thursday and Friday. She has retained Tacoma lawyer Brett Purtzer, who did not return several messages seeking comment.

Wist said it's too early to say whether his office will proceed with charges if Semaj is returned to Washington state.

Chemical fires finally out at site of train derailment near Louisville, Ky.

BROOKS, Ky. (AP) -- Fire officials have finished burning off chemicals left after a train derailed and ignited a massive blaze south of Louisville earlier this week, forcing nearby residents from their homes for days.

The last of a synthetic chemical left in three tanker cars was drained and burned in a pit Thursday night, said John Bastin, a spokesman for the Kentucky Division of Emergency Management. A rail car full of paper products still had some hot spots Friday morning, but Bastin said that was not a major concern.

Trains could be running at the site by Friday night, said CSX vice president Cindy Sandborn.

A dozen tanker cars derailed Tuesday morning, spilling various chemicals. Several cars caught fire, sending thick black smoke over northern Bullitt County. No one was seriously hurt, but nearby homes and a school were evacuated and part of a busy highway was closed for hours.

Residents near the crash scene were still not being let back into their homes Friday afternoon, said Rob Orkies, fire chief for the Zoneton community.

CSX officials had removed all 80 of the train's rail cars by Friday morning, and workers had removed sections of the track. The rail operator plans to install up to 900 feet of new track, Sandborn said.

Federal officials investigating the derailment have said early inspections indicate the CSX crew acted properly just before it went off the tracks, and that they were examining the equipment and track in their search for the cause.

Sea turtles are rescued in Texas after an arctic blast leaves them comatose

SOUTH PADRE ISLAND, Texas (AP) -- At least three dozen sea turtles are getting a little vacation under heat lamps in this spring-break capital after being rescued from an arctic blast that caused the water temperature in an arm of the Gulf of Mexico to plummet 18 degrees in 48 hours.

The cold-blooded animals were left comatose by the rapid temperature drop this week in the shallow bay where the young turtles feed. Animal rescuers feared the cold would kill the turtles or make them so sluggish as to be vulnerable to sharks.

Volunteers, students and others scooped them up from the surf, bundled them in blankets and towels and took them to the privately run Sea Turtle Inc. rescue center and a University of Texas marine laboratory.

The juvenile green turtles were scrubbed clean of grime, then put under a heat lamp until their eyes opened and their flippers twitched -- signs they were reviving and ready to be put in 66- to 68-degree holding tanks and feed on romaine lettuce.

Green turtles are born off the coast of Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula and spend their early years feeding on turtle grass in shallow bay areas such as South Padre's Laguna Madre. When they are mature -- 15 to 20 years old and weighing about 500 pounds -- they return to Mexican waters to breed.

But a cold spell that sent the mercury plummeting into the 30s on Monday and Tuesday caused the water temperature to fall into the 50s. The turtles' systems began shutting down, and they started washing ashore.

Robert Banard, a volunteer who found the first turtles with his wife, said the turtles were anywhere from three to 65 pounds and were almost immobile.

Each turtle was named by the volunteer who found it. Laurie, a 15-pounder, had lost a flipper, the result of a predator trying to take advantage of her lethargy.

The last time it got cold enough for turtles to wash up was in December 2004, when the Rio Grande Valley had its first white Christmas in memory. The last such operation before that was the 1980s, Sea Turtle curator Jeff George said.

With another cold front expected, George said the turtles would be there at least a week.

On the Net:

http://www.seaturtleinc.com

S.D. father charged in wife's death blames daughter for stabbing

PIERRE, S.D. (AP) -- A petite 13-year-old girl, testifying at her father's murder trial Friday, denied his claims that she stabbed her mother to death.

Prosecutors allege Brad Reay, 46, stabbed his wife dozens of times after she asked for a divorce.

Tami Reay's nude body was found near Lake Oahe two days after she disappeared last February. Some of the wounds in the 41-year-old's chest went all the way to the hilt of the knife.

Under questioning from a prosecutor trying to show that she could not have inflicted such wounds, Haylee testified that she weighed just 80 pounds when her mother was slain.

The defense alleges the Reay's daughter, Haylee, killed her because she was upset about the possible breakup.

On cross-examination, defense attorney Timothy Rensch asked the girl about her athletic abilities. She said she is good at basketball, volleyball and soccer.

Brad Reay watched his daughter carefully and occasionally smiled while she testified.

Haylee told the jury that the morning after her mother disappeared, her father told her she probably was with her boyfriend. "He said don't tell anybody because it's personal," she said.

Brad Reay was an assistant manager at a Wal-Mart. An assistant manager at a Kmart, where Tami Reay worked part time, testified earlier that he had become romantically involved with her.

Phony bomb stolen

LOS ALAMOS, N.M. (AP) -- It sounded like a case for TV's Jack Bauer. But at least this stolen bomb was fake.

A phony 500-pound bomb was taken Monday from a salvage store in Los Alamos, where the first atomic bomb was made during World War Two.

The government surplus practice bomb, which the military used for training, was one of several Ed Grothus bought for his store, the Black Hole.

Grothus, a peace activist, had joined several of the fake bombs together in the image of a sunflower and left another nearby to give people an idea of how the sunflower was constructed.

He said he last saw that bomb earlier this week.

South Park considers name change

MARYSVILLE, Ohio (AP) -- There are not many fans of Cartman and Kenny on the city's recreation board, which has recommended renaming what has become known as South Park.

Having a park with the same name as Comedy Central's popular but often vulgar cartoon show about four elementary-school boys in the Colorado town of South Park has become inappropriate, said Kathy House, the city's director of administration.

Story lines of the show regularly revolve around skewering celebrities, politicians and religion, peppered with lots of cussing and defecation jokes.

The green space in the southern part of Marysville never had an official name, but people started calling it South Park because of the location, officials said.

"We wanted to get away from (the name) South Park," said Deborah Groat, a member of the Parks and Recreation Commission.

"Far away from South Park," added fellow parks commissioner Cathy Dwertman.

So, the commission voted unanimously Tuesday in favor of a change to Greenwood Park, after a nearby subdivision.

The final decision rests with the city council, which meets later this month.

Soybean sleuth tracks sown missing beans

YORK, Neb. (AP) -- It's not every day that a detective has to track down purloined soybeans.

"It's hard to find the stolen property," said York County sheriff's investigator Scott Wiemer. "It's tough, if not impossible, to track grain."

That's his assignment, though, since somebody stole upward of $12,000 in soybeans from a grain dryer southeast of York in east-central Nebraska.

Someone backed up a truck to the bin dryer between Dec. 1 and Jan. 5 and hauled away the bean booty.

"This isn't your typical crime," Lt. Paul Vrbka said. "The last time I can remember anything like this was many years ago, when someone stole corn from a bin on a farm site where no one lived, but that's been a long time ago. It's not like we've seen a rash of these types of crime."

Allan Zumpfe, grain division manager for the United Farmers Cooperative in York, said Thursday he's never heard of anyone stealing what could be two grain trailers full of soybeans.

A regular customer who pulled up to one of the co-op elevators wouldn't have to prove the soybeans were his or hers to sell, Zumpfe said. But, "If someone we don't know shows up, we're gonna ask questions."

Submachine guns, rifles, ammunition among equipment stolen from car of D.C.-area FBI agent

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Two submachine guns, ammunition and body armor were among equipment stolen from an FBI agent's sport utility vehicle, authorities said.

Weapons taken Jan. 13 in southwest Washington from the vehicle issued to the agent also included two rifles and a .45-caliber semiautomatic handgun, the FBI said.

"We understand the seriousness of those weapons in the hands of untrained individuals," Joseph Persichini Jr., head of the FBI's Washington field office, said Friday. "We are doing everything possible to identify those responsible and recover the property."

The SUV had an alarm and the weapons were taken from security containers that were broken into, Persichini said.

The FBI decided this week to offer a $25,000 reward in the theft.

The SUV was one of about 20 vehicles vandalized in the area that day. A second bureau-issued car also was vandalized in the area, but nothing important was taken, authorities said.

Hilton at Dulles airport closes after 120 sickened by norovirus

HERNDON, Va. (AP) -- A Hilton hotel outside Washington has been closed for a top-to-bottom scrubbing after 15 employees and more than 100 guests were sickened by the highly contagious norovirus, a hotel spokesman said Friday.

Hotel officials first heard reports of sick guests Wednesday and contacted Fairfax County health authorities, said Jim Cree, the director of sales and marketing at the hotel near Dulles International Airport. Officials confirmed it was norovirus Thursday night, he said.

"Yesterday we stopped taking reservations," Cree said. "Today we're actually relocating guests, and we've relocated all of our events to other hotels."

Outbreaks of norovirus, which causes vomiting and diarrhea, are common on cruise ships and in places like hotels, prisons and nursing homes.

Cree said the hotel would reopen Tuesday at noon.

Meanwhile, Hilton Hotels Corp. has set up a hot line for anybody who stayed at the Dulles hotel this week: 800-328-7761.

Special-effects assistant critically injured on movie set outside Los Angeles

DOWNEY, Calif. (AP) -- Fire officials canceled Friday's shoot for a new Tom Hanks movie was canceled after a special-effects assistant was critically injured when a simulated stinger missile exploded. - Stars of "Charlie Wilson's War," including Hanks and Julia Roberts, were not on set at the time of Thursday's accident, Fire Capt. Darren Moon said.

The handheld device exploded as a group of special effects specialists tested it at Downey Studios, a former aerospace factory 10 miles southeast of downtown Los Angeles, Moon said.

The assistant, whose name was not released, remained in critical condition after surgery, Moon said.

The cause of the explosion was under investigation. The device had been scheduled to be launched from a helicopter during filming Friday, Moon said.

The film is based on a nonfiction book about former Rep. Charlie Wilson's covert dealings to fund the CIA's secret war against the former Soviet Union in Afghanistan during the 1980s.

DNA exonerations raise questions about the quality of Texas justice

DALLAS (AP) -- In a case that has renewed questions about the quality of Texas justice, a man who spent 10 years behind bars for the rape of a boy has become the 12th person in Dallas County to be cleared by DNA evidence.

That is more DNA exonerations than in all of California, and more than in Florida, too. In fact, Dallas County alone has more such cases than all but three states -- a situation one Texas lawmaker calls an "international embarrassment."

James Waller, 50, was exonerated by a judge earlier this week and received an apology from the district attorney's office after a new type of DNA testing on hair and semen showed he was not the rapist who attacked a 12-year-old a boy living in Waller's apartment building in 1983. The boy had been the chief witness against him.

"It's been a long, horrible road," said Waller, who has been out on parole since 1993.

Only New York, Illinois and Texas have had more DNA exonerations than Dallas County, which has a population of 2.3 million, according to the Innocence Project, a New York-based legal center that specializes in overturning wrongful convictions.

"These are appalling mistakes, and in the case of Dallas County, there have been so many," said Democratic state Sen. Rodney Ellis of Houston, who is sponsoring a bill to create Texas Innocence Commission to scrutinize the state's criminal justice system.

A similar bill failed to reach the floor in the past two legislative sessions. But "my colleagues in the Senate, in particular, are beginning to see these are human lives we are talking about," Ellis said. "There are times when we make mistakes, and when we do, we ought to be big enough to admit it."

Since the nation's first DNA exoneration in 1989, 26 defendants have been cleared in Illinois, including 11 in Chicago's Cook County, according to the Innocence Project. There have been 21 exonerations each in Texas and New York, nine in California and six in Florida, the organization said.

In Dallas County, about 400 prisoners who filed wrongful-conviction claims have received DNA testing, leading to the 12 exonerations, said Trista Allen, a spokeswoman for the district attorney's office. New District Attorney Craig Watkins, who took office two weeks ago, is determined to look into the underlying causes, she said.

"DNA testing is to make sure innocent folks are not in jail," Allen said. "If you are not guilty, we want to get you out of jail. We're not going to be the DA that stands in the way."

Barry Scheck, co-director of the Innocence Project, said the number of exonerations in Dallas County "demands a closer look and statewide action." He said there is no clear reason there have been so many wrongful convictions in Dallas, but "many of the cases have to do with eyewitness identification."

That was true with Waller. A day after the rape, the boy was at a convenience store when he heard Waller's voice and became convinced Waller was the man who attacked him in his apartment.

Earlier, the boy had told police that he never saw the attacker face-to-face and that the man had worn a bandanna covering most of his face. Waller was also heavier and taller than the man described by the youngster.

Waller and his family were the only black residents of the apartment complex, according to the Innocence Project.

He began seeking DNA testing in 1989. Since his parole, he has had to register as a sex offender, but his lawyers are trying to get that requirement lifted.

Denny Doherty of the 60s pop group Mamas and Papas dead at 66; hits included 'Monday, Monday'

MISSISSAUGA, Ont. (AP) -- Denny Doherty, one-quarter of the 1960s folk-rock group the Mamas and the Papas, known for their soaring harmony on hits like "California Dreamin"' and "Monday, Monday," died Friday at 66. - His sister Frances Arnold said the singer-songwriter died at his home in Mississauga, a city just west of Toronto, after a short illness. He had suffered kidney problems following surgery last month and had been put on dialysis, Arnold said.

The group burst on the national scene in 1966 with the top 10 smash "California Dreamin'." The Mamas and the Papas broke new ground by having women and men in one group at a time when most singing groups were unisex. John Phillips, the group's chief songwriter; his wife, Michelle; and another female vocalist, Cass Elliot, teamed with Doherty.

"Monday, Monday" hit No. 1 on the charts and won the band a Grammy for best contemporary group performance. Among the group's other songs were "I Saw Her Again Last Night," "Go Where You Wanna Go," "Dancing Bear," and versions of "I Call Your Name" and "Dedicated to the One I Love."

"What made the group special was their haunting and sumptuous harmony singing," according to "The Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock & Roll."

"Everybody used to think that John Phillips, who wrote the songs, was also the main voice of the group, but it wasn't -- it was the angelic voice of Denny Doherty," said Larry Leblanc, Canadian editor of Billboard Magazine. "He was often overlooked but it was really his voice that carried the group."

In 1998, the Mamas and the Papas were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

The group's catchy sound was a blend of '60s upbeat pop and the folk music that had surged in popularity early in the decade. The song "Creeque Alley" told the story of their formation amid the musical ferment of the folk scene; among the other stars-to-be mentioned in its lyrics were members of the Lovin' Spoonful and the Byrds.

Folk superstars Peter, Paul and Mary paid their own tribute to the Mamas and the Papas with their humorous 1967 hit "I Dig Rock and Roll Music."

But the group's heyday was brief and it disbanded in 1968 following John and Michelle Phillips' divorce. The members re-formed in 1971 for the album "People Like Us," but all hope for a reunion ended in 1974 when the 30-year-old Elliot suffered a fatal heart attack in London.

Phillips briefly re-formed the group in 1982 with Doherty, Phillips' actress daughter, Mackenzie, and Elaine "Spanky" McFarlane. The foursome toured playing oldies and new Phillips originals.

In 2003, Doherty was co-author and performer in an off-Broadway show called "Dream a Little Dream: The Mamas and the Papas Musical." It traced the band's early years, its dizzying fame and breakup amid drugs and alcohol and an affair between Doherty and Michelle Phillips.

"There's a part of this thing that if I'm not careful, I'd be just a blob on the stage crying my guts out," Doherty told The Associated Press at the time. "Everybody knows about death and dying and sadness, so it's an exercise in staying in the moment and not getting maudlin about your friends dying."

John Phillips died in 2001 at 65.

The Halifax-born Doherty started his music career in Montreal in 1960 as the co-founder of the Colonials, which later became the Halifax Three.

Doherty made a solo album in 1974 and achieved a bit of immortality by both playing the Harbormaster and voicing all the characters for the children's TV series "Theodore Tugboat."

Doherty, who was married twice, is survived by three children, John, Emberly and Jessica; three sisters; and a brother. Both of his wives predeceased him.

World's oldest woman dead at 115, according to Canadian media

MONTREAL (AP) -- Julie Winnifred Bertrand, the world's oldest woman at 115, died in her sleep in a Montreal nursing home, according to Canadian media reports Friday. - Bertrand, born Sept. 16, 1891, in the Quebec town of Coaticook, passed away in her sleep early Thursday at the nursing home where she has lived for the last 35 years, her nephew told The Gazette in Montreal.

"She just stopped breathing," said Andre Bertrand, 73. "That's a nice way to go."

Bertrand became the world's oldest woman last month, after the death of Elizabeth Bolden, a Tennessee woman born on Aug. 15, 1890, according to the Guinness Book of World Records.

The designation made her an instant celebrity. Bertrand's niece, Elaine Sauciere, said the fame her aunt acquired late in life was really quite "unbelievable."

"This little woman sold clothes at a department store in Coaticook," said Sauciere, 70.

A British film crew had just requested an interview with Bertrand for a documentary on people who live long lives. The work also features Emiliano Mercado del Toro of Puerto Rico, the world's oldest person, who was 26 days older than Bertrand.

Andre Bertrand said his aunt never had a problem saying no -- and did so to dozens of journalists, filmmakers and medical researchers intent on discovering her secret to long life.

"She was tough, feisty and self-sufficient," Bertrand said.

The eldest of six children, Bertrand never married.

She had her suitors, Sauciere said, adding it was difficult to say how close she may have been to Louis St. Laurent, a young lawyer who went on to become prime minister.

"She was friends with his sister and I think she was sweet on him, but how serious it was, I don't know," Sauciere told the Gazette.

Spanish designer uses illegal immigrants as models at fashion show in Barcelona

MADRID, Spain (AP) -- A Spanish fashion designer used illegal African immigrants as models at a Barcelona fashion show to draw attention to the plight of thousands of poor migrants who embark on dangerous sea expeditions for a chance at better lives in Europe.

Eight Senegalese immigrants paraded down the catwalk in white and beige outfits Thursday as part of the show, which also featured a white wooden fishing boat -- the same type many illegal immigrants use to reach Spain's Canary Islands off west Africa.

Antonio Miro, the fashion designer, used inmates as models in a show last year and said in Thursday's show he wanted to show his support for the immigrants, some of whom were in the process of obtaining working papers in Spain and others of whom were illegal.

"It's a way of giving them a tiny bit of me," Miro said, adding that the eight models were paid a small fee.

But a group representing Senegalese immigrants in Spain criticized the show, saying it may inspire more people to make the risky sea voyage. Many Africans die along the way.

"Every day there are mothers who weep for their sons lost at sea," said Abdoulaye Konate, of the group AISE. "It's not the best idea to give work to these eight illegal immigrants."

About 31,000 migrants fleeing poverty in Africa reached the Canary Islands by boat in 2006, almost as many arrivals as in the previous four years combined. The immigrants are sent back to their home countries if Spain has a repatriation accord with them, but many end up on the streets on the European mainland.

The vast majority of immigrants leave the west African coast bound for the Canary Islands in crowded open boats called "cayucos," though others attempt to reach mainland Spain's southern coast by crossing the Mediterranean from north Africa.

A non-governmental organization that advocates for immigrants in Spain praised Miro's idea of using the Senegalese in the show.

"As long as it is done in good taste, fashion is a form of expression like the cinema or painting," said Javier Perez, of the group SOS Racismo. "It's good that not only NGOs denounce the situation the immigrants are going through when they come by boat to Spain."

Exiled tycoon willing to speak to Russian investigators about death of ex-spy

LONDON (AP) -- An exiled Russian billionaire said Friday he would be willing to speak to Russian police investigating the death of former spy Alexander Litvinenko -- but only if they are first checked for weapons and poison.

Boris Berezovsky, a fierce critic of the Kremlin, was a friend of Litvinenko, who died in November several weeks after falling ill with what was later determined to be poisoning by the rare radioactive isotope polonium-210.

Russia's chief prosecutor, Yuri Chaika, said Tuesday he wanted to question Berezovsky about the death of the 43-year-old former KGB agent.

The former agent fled to Britain after leaving Russia and was granted asylum. In exile, he became a vocal opponent of President Vladimir Putin, accusing him in a deathbed statement of masterminding his death. Russian officials deny any involvement.

"I am willing to speak with these Russian investigators if it helps Scotland Yard with its investigation," Berezovsky told The Associated Press. "I am open to answer any questions under two conditions: It must not happen in the Russian Embassy, and the people must be checked by Scotland Yard for firearms and poison."

Berezovsky said he wanted the Russian officials to be searched by British police because he feared they might try to kill him.

Alex Goldfarb, an associate of both Litvinenko and Berezovsky, said the tycoon and other Russian exiles in London were willing to cooperate with the police inquiries.

He said that Litvinenko's widow, Marina, and Chechen rebel envoy Akhmed Zakayev would also be willing to meet with Russian police, provided that similar security conditions were met.

Neither Marina Litvinenko nor Zakayev were immediately available for comment.

Polish doctors, ambulance workers convicted in cash-for-corpses scheme

WARSAW, Poland (AP) -- A court Friday convicted two doctors and two ambulance workers of participating in a scheme in which 14 patients were allowed to die -- or in some cases killed with muscle relaxants -- in return for kickbacks from funeral homes.

All received prison sentences, ranging from five years to life.

Under the scheme, funeral homes in the central city of Lodz paid the ambulance service employees bribes in exchange for early tip-offs about deaths, so the homes could snap up clients.

A court in Lodz ruled that the defendants went a step further and killed patients or intentionally failed to save their lives in 2000 and 2001 to get a total of some $23,000 from the undertakers.

A 38-year-old ambulance crew member, identified only as Andrzej N., was sentenced to life in prison after being convicted of killing four patients with injections of a muscle relaxant and contributing to the death of a fifth.

Another ambulance worker, identified only as Karol B., 40, under Poland's privacy law, was given a 25-year term after the court found him guilty of causing the death of one patient and contributing to the deaths of four others.

Two doctors, identified only as Janusz K., 51, and Pawel W., 35, were given prison terms of six and five years, respectively, for intentionally failing to save the lives of a total of 14 patients.

"Evidence gathered in the case leaves no doubt that the defendants participated in the scheme," Judge Jaroslaw Papis said, calling it "uncontrolled insanity."

The verdict is subject to appeal.

The court heard dozens of witnesses in the case that shocked the nation when the investigation opened in 2002 following media reports.

State officials have blamed the scandal on low pay for government-employed medical workers and a lack of laws regulating competition among funeral homes.

Big Brother house mates apologize to Bollywood actress, but controversy rumbles on

LONDON (AP) -- Indian actress Shilpa Shetty has accepted apologies from her tormentors on the "Celebrity Big Brother" television show, but controversy rumbled on over what thousands of Britons see as racist abuse. - Channel 4 television, which has been under pressure from politicians and the public to deal with the issue, said producers had spoken to Shetty's antagonists, Jade Goody and Danielle Lloyd.

Goody, who became a celebrity after enduring much abuse herself in an earlier edition of Big Brother, approached Shetty on Thursday night, and said: "I know that what has happened has not been nice for you ... and a lot of stuff got said the other day from you and from myself."

"I didn't say it in a racial way... I do not judge people by the color of their skin," said Goody.

"I know that, I don't think you're racist," Shetty said, and the two hugged.

Lloyd, a former beauty queen, also apologized, saying she was disgusted with her own behavior.

"I didn't agree with some of the things you said to Jade, but I especially didn't agree with some of the things that Jade said to you," Lloyd said.

"I'm sorry. 'Cause I'm young and quite naive, I've probably took the route where I'll stick with Jade. I feel really disgusted at myself ... I'm following the leader, following the group -- when you are a really nice girl," Lloyd said.

Shetty responded: "Give me a hug."

On Wednesday, a major sponsor suspended its deal with "Celebrity Big Brother," a chain of perfume shops pulled Goody's fragrance, "Shh...", from its shelves, and an insurance company canceled its contract with Lloyd.

The Indian Tourism Office saw an opportunity to drum up a little business from the controversy, placing advertisements in several British newspapers on Friday.

"Dear Jade Goody," the ad said. "Once your current commitments are over, may we invite you to experience the healing nature of India.

"Being one of the world's oldest civilizations, our land is one where the ancient and the modern co-exist and a multitude of religions live in harmony."

Gas leak in Japan leaves 2 dead; 180 residents ordered to evacuate

TOKYO (AP) -- A gas leak in northern Japan left at least two people dead Friday, and nearly 200 residents were ordered to evacuate their neighborhood.

About 180 people in Kitami city in the northern Hokkaido prefecture were told to leave their homes after the leakage in residential gas lines occurred early Friday afternoon, said city official Osamu Oe.

At least eight people were hospitalized, but their conditions were not immediately known, said local fire department official Wataru Takayashiki.

The gas is believed to have escaped into a sewage system and then into nearby homes after leaking from a pipe beneath a sidewalk, Takayashiki said.

Officials were investigating the reason for the pipe's rupture. Takayashiki said it may have been caused by metal fatigue or frozen soil.

No fires or explosions were reported, said city official Chikara Kiyono. Residents were urged to shut off gas lines going into their homes before they evacuated, he said.

The fire department responded after local utility company Hokkaido Gas Co. notified it that residents were complaining of the smell of gas in their neighborhood, said another fire department official, Takao Yokoyama.

Police established an off-limits area while officials worked to determine the exact location and cause of the leak, he said. The leak had not yet been contained, he said.

Gas company officials were not immediately available for comment.

Kitami is about 600 miles northeast of Tokyo.

Up to 66 people missing, feared drowned in boat accident in southern India

HYDERABAD, India (AP) -- Army divers scoured a river in southern India on Friday looking for as many as 66 pilgrims feared drowned when their boat capsized a day earlier, officials said.

Only 10 bodies had been recovered from the site where the boat carrying people to a religious festival sank on the Krishna River, nearly 110 miles south of Hyderabad, the capital of the Andhra Pradesh state, police said. There were 18 survivors.

Local police superintendent K. Srinivas Reddy said he did not have an exact figure of how many people were on the boat, but believed that up to 66 people were still missing based on reports from relatives of the missing.

The boat, with a capacity for 35 people, apparently had more than 80 on board, he said.

"Their chances of survival after 24 hours are very low," he said.

Report: Israel freezes controversial plans for new West Bank settlement

JERUSALEM (AP) -- Israel has frozen controversial plans for a new settlement in the West Bank, Israel Radio reported Friday morning.

Defense Minister Amir Peretz ordered the plans for the settlement frozen indefinitely, the report said. No Defense Ministry confirmation was immediately available.

Israel's announcement in December that it had approved the construction of a new settlement in the West Bank to house settlers evacuated from the Gaza Strip in Israel's 2005 pullout drew international condemnation. The settlement, known as Maskiot, was the first new West Bank settlement officially approved since the early 1990s, when Israel promised to halt settlement construction as part of the Oslo peace process.

In an announcement at the time, the EU said such moves were "illegal under international law and threaten to render the two-state solution physically impossible to implement."

Trains roll, Europe cleans up after deadliest storm in years

BERLIN (AP) -- Workers across Europe hauled away fallen trees and repaired power lines Friday after the deadliest storm to strike the continent in eight years killed at least 47 people and caused hundreds of millions of dollars in damage.

Trains started rolling again after a near-total shutdown during Thursday night's hurricane-force winds. Airports from London to Frankfurt reported some delays and cancellations, but were returning to normal.

The disruption hit countries from Britain to Ukraine, where the flow of Russian oil through a key pipeline to Europe was temporarily halted after power to a pumping station was knocked out.

The storm knocked out electricity to more than 1 million home in the Czech Republic, which was hit by winds of up to 112 mph. Ladislav Kriz, spokesman for the main Czech CEZ utility, said Friday night that power was restored to most of the homes affected by the storm, although about 170,000 customers were still without electricity.

One million households in Germany and tens of thousands of homes in Poland and Austria also lost power.

EDF Energy in Britain said Friday it had restored power to more than 90 percent of the 350,000 customers cut off the night before, while Scottish Power said about 30,000 of its customers remained without electricity.

Stormy weather had been predicted this year for parts of Europe, with researchers saying unusually high temperatures in the North Atlantic would allow winds to accumulate more moisture and surge in energy.

The storm killed 14 people in Britain, 12 in Germany, six each in the Netherlands and Poland, four in the Czech Republic, three in France and two in Belgium.

Most of those killed were motorists. However, the victims also included two German firefighters; an 18-month-old child in Munich hit by a terrace door ripped from its hinges; a toddler killed in London when a brick wall collapsed on him; and a Polish crane operator killed when his crane broke in half.

It was the highest death toll from a European storm since 1999, when gales downed trees and driving snow brought on avalanches, killing more than 120 people.

Germany's GDV insurance association put insured losses at $1.3 billion in that country alone, and the Union of Insurers in the Netherlands estimated damage there at $207 million.

Association of British Insurers spokesman Malcolm Tarling said initial estimates suggested damage from the storm there could be hundreds of millions of dollars.

The head of Germany's national railroad, Deutsche Bahn, said the company would start assessing the cost of the damage after an unprecedented near-total shutdown. After thousands of travelers were stranded, Hartmut Mehdorn said that "we can't compensate everyone."

Two heavy steel girders came loose Thursday night from a glass facade at Berlin's new main station, one of them plunging onto an outdoor staircase, but no one was injured. The station remained shut until Friday afternoon.

"I can see maybe the glass falling, but not the steel," said electrician Thomas Mueller, who had stopped to survey the damage. "They just built this thing eight months ago."

In the British capital, London Bridge station reopened after being closed when part of a roof collapsed.

Scaffolding blew off the cathedral in Saint-Omer, France, damaging the facade and breaking a window as it fell. In Fourmies, also in northern France, the roof of a private school crashed into a parking lot.

"When it happened, everyone was in the buildings -- fortunately no one was in the cars ... otherwise there would have been deaths," the Saint-Pierre school's director, Regis Coustenoble, told France Info radio.

Off the coast of France, a coast guard tug was called to tow a damaged British container ship containing explosives to safety, a day after its crew of 26 was rescued from stormy seas.

-- Associated Press writers around Europe contributed to this report.

Granddaughter of last jailed 'witch' in Britain seeks pardon for her

LONDON (AP) -- She's 72 and a great-grandmother, but she still remembers how her classmates labeled her "witch-spawn" and "evil eye" -- because her grandmother was one of the last people jailed in Britain over witchcraft charges.

At the height of World War II, medium Helen Duncan was convicted under an 18th-century anti-witchcraft law and jailed by authorities who accused her of compromising Britain's safety.

Now, more than 50 years after Duncan's death, granddaughter Mary Martin is campaigning for a pardon.

"I was only 11 years old when the name-calling started," recalled Martin, who lives near Edinburgh, Scotland. "People said, 'Your grandmother was a witch."'

"But she was simply a woman with a gift and she never endangered anybody."

Martin has written to the Home Office asking for a meeting with Home Secretary John Reid and has given interviews to the media to raise her campaign's profile. Several hundred people have signed a petition asking for a pardon.

The campaign has the support of experts on the 1692 witch trials in Salem, Mass., where 20 people, including men and young women, were convicted of witchcraft and executed. A full pardon for all of them came only in 2001.

Alison D'Amario of the Salem Witch Museum said there were parallels between Duncan's case and that of the young women in Salem.

Duncan "was very much the victim of a witch hunt," D'Amario said.

In the 1940s, Duncan was a well-known medium and her clients reportedly included Winston Churchill and King George VI.

But she ran into trouble after reportedly telling the parents of a missing sailor that their son had gone down on the HMS Barham, a ship whose 1941 loss had not yet been reported to the public in hopes of keeping morale high.

Military authorities grew jittery as the war went on, particularly fearing that plans for the D-Day landings of Allied forces in northern France could be compromised. They accused Duncan of endangering public safety.

In January 1944, police broke into a seance in Portsmouth, in southern England, to arrest her and she was charged with "pretending to be a witch" under a 1735 law.

"At the time of D-Day, there was a lot of paranoia around, just like there was in the 17th century," D'Amario said.

Duncan was convicted and jailed for nine months in London's Holloway prison. In 1951, Churchill's government repealed the 1735 law, but her conviction remained. Duncan died in 1956.

Her case won attention last year when an art festival in the Scottish town of Prestonpans, which is near where Duncan lived, mounted an exhibit featuring Duncan by artist Andrew Crummy. Festival organizers then got involved in helping Martin try to clear her grandmother's name.

"There was a lot of interest, " Crummy said. "People were very sympathetic towards Duncan's cause."

In 2004, Gordon Prestoungrange, holder of Prestonpans' baronial title, used feudal laws still in effect to pardon 81 other "witches" convicted under laws that dated to 1604, when King James I made witchcraft a capital offense.

Church leaders in the 16th and 17th centuries regarded witches as heretics who worshipped the devil. Throwing the accused in a river and pronouncing them innocent if they sank was one method of meting out justice.

Prestoungrange could not pardon Duncan because she was convicted outside Prestonpans under modern laws -- though he said it was "hardly credible that a 20th-century court would be prepared to convict someone of witchcraft."

But to Martin it is personal, and about clearing the family name.

"My grandmother really suffered, but she committed no crime," Martin said. "In the modern world, it is ridiculous that this conviction stands."

On the Net:

Helen Duncan appeal, www.prestoungrange.org/helenduncan

British Airways reverses policy on employees wearing religious symbols

LONDON (AP) -- British Airways PLC said Friday that it had overturned a dress code rule that had barred employees from wearing visible religious symbols.

Public controversy flared over the policy after Nadia Eweida, a check-in clerk at Heathrow airport, refused to stop wearing a tiny cross on a neck chain. She protested that the policy amounted to religious discrimination because Sikhs and Muslims were allowed to wear head coverings.

British Airways said those coverings are part of the firm's official uniform and featured company colors.

In a statement, BA said it had reviewed the airline's uniform policy and consulted religious groups, including representatives from the Church of England, the Catholic Church and the Muslim Council of Britain.

"Uniform policy should be amended to allow a lapel pin symbol of faith such as a Christian cross or a Star of David, with some flexibility for individuals to wear a symbol of faith on a chain," the statement read.

BA chief executive Willie Walsh said the company had unintentionally found itself "at the center of one of the hottest social issues in current public debate," adding that the decision was taken to ensure employees of all faiths felt they were being treated equally.

Zeus worshippers demand access to ancient temple for rare religious ceremony

ATHENS, Greece (AP) -- After all these centuries, Zeus may have a few thunderbolts left. A tiny group of worshippers plans a rare ceremony Sunday to honor the ancient Greek gods, at Athens' 1,800-year-old Temple of Olympian Zeus.

Greece's Culture Ministry has declared the central Athens site off-limits, but worshippers say they will defy the decision.

"These are our temples and they should be used by followers of our religion," said Doreta Peppa, head of the Athens-based Ellinais, a group campaigning to revive the ancient religion.

"Of course we will go ahead with the event ... we will enter the site legally," said Peppa, who calls herself a high priestess of the revived faith. "We will issue a call for peace, who can be opposed to that?"

Peppa said the ceremony will be held in honor of Zeus, king of the ancient gods, but did not give other details. The daily Ethnos newspaper, citing the group's application to the Culture Ministry to use the site, said the 90-minute event would include hymns, dancers, torchbearers, and worshippers in ancient costumes.

Greece's archaic religion is believed to have several hundred official followers, mainly middle-aged and elderly academics, lawyers and other professionals. They typically share a keen interest in ancient history and a dislike for the Greek Orthodox Church.

Ancient rituals are re-enacted every two years at Olympia, in southern Greece, where the flame lighting ceremony is held for the summer and winter Olympic games. But the event is not regarded as a religious ceremony and actresses are used to pose as high priestesses.

Last year, the Culture Ministry, fearing damage to monuments, blocked an initiative to hold an international track meet at Olympia. A panel of ministry experts ruled against Sunday's ancient ceremony at the ruins of the Temple of Zeus on similar grounds.

"Ancient sites are not available for this kind of event," ministry official Eliza Kyrtsoglou said. It was not clear whether the government had plans to block the worshippers.

Peppa's group, dedicated to reviving worship of the 12 ancient gods, was founded last year and won a court battle for official state recognition of the ancient Greek religion.

Those who seek to revive the ancient Greek religion are split into rival organizations which trade insults over the Internet. P