HANOI, Vietnam - A Vietnamese soldier who was shot by U.S. troops in 1968 and has lived with a bullet lodged in his heart for nearly four decades underwent surgery and the slug was successfully removed, doctors said Monday. - Le Dinh Hung, 60, underwent surgery on Friday and is recovering quickly, said Dr. Nguyen Sinh Hien, who spent three hours operating on Hung at Hanoi Heart Hospital.

"It is the strangest case that I have ever seen," Hien said. "Normally a person with a bullet in his heart would die immediately if they didn't have surgery right away."

Hung said the surgery had eased the chest pain he had suffered since the 1968 Vietnam War battle, in Quang Tri province near the former Demilitarized Zone that separated North and South Vietnam.

"I was very lucky to survive," he said from his hospital bed. "People believe in their fate and I do too."

One year after Hung was shot, doctors tried unsuccessfully to remove the bullet, which just over an inch long.

Hien said the bullet went through Hung's stomach, damaged his cardiac valve and came to rest at the back of his heart.

Doctors, who replaced Hung's damaged valve with an artificial one, said he would be hospitalized for several more days.

Hung, who is retired, worked as an administrator at a Hanoi medical school after the war. He fought with the communist North, which defeated the army of the former South Vietnam in 1975. The war claimed the lives of 3 million people, including 58,000 U.S. troops.

Teen bullfighter's goring in Mexico raises questions about youth in the ring

MEXICO CITY - A 14-year-old Spanish bullfighter lay connected to a respirator on Monday after he was gored in an incident that has raised questions about young bullfighters, who increasingly have become an attraction in Latin America.

Jairo Miguel was billed as the youngest bullfighter in the world when he came to Mexico almost two years ago at age 12, apparently to escape Spain's ban on bullfighters younger than 16.

Miguel came an inch (2 centimeters) from likely death Sunday when a 414-kg (910-lb.) bull at the Aguascalientes Monumental Bull Ring rushed him at top speed and lifted him on its horns, appearing to carry him several yards with a horn lodged in his chest. The wound ripped one of the slightly built boy's lungs in half.

"It brushed his aorta and came 2 centimeters from the heart," said Dr. Luis Romero, the surgeon who operated on Miguel at Aguascalientes' Guadalupe Clinic.

"He was lucky, if you can call somebody who has been gored by a bull lucky," Romero told The Associated Press. If the 10-centimeter (4-inch) gash had been one inch closer to the heart, "this surely would have been a catastrophe, where it would have been very difficult to control" the bleeding.

The tendency toward younger fighters has raised questions.

"Bullfighting demonstrated today that it is an activity for men," the government news agency Notimex said of Miguel's injury, and noted the only thing he could be heard to say after the accident was, "I'm dying, dad, I'm dying."

His father, well-known bullfighter Antonio Sanchez Caceres, accompanied his son to Mexico and approves of his fighting. He was not immediately available for comment.

Doctors think they can restore much of the lung function, and expect him to recover. The boy was in serious but stable condition.

Another attending physician, Dr. Carlos Hernandez Sanchez, said Miguel was the youngest goring victim he had ever treated, but he said he did not think the boy was too young to be in the ring.

"These are injuries that happen. He's a great bullfighter," Hernandez Sanchez said.

Juan Carlos Lopez, the manager of the Aguascalientes ring, said there have been younger fighters in the ring there, but he would not cite their ages.

Bullfighting is fairly popular in Mexico, though it is far from being a national sport. Sunday's accident occurred at the popular San Marcos Fair, where bullfights are one of the main attractions.

In Miguel's native Spain, an aspiring "torero" must be at least 16 to begin training with small bulls but is not allowed to kill a bull in the ring before he or she is 18, an official from the Royal Bullfighting Federation of Spain said.

But in Mexico, some start as young as 12 or 13, and there appears to be a fad for ever-younger fighters.

In 2005, Rafita Mirabal, then age 8, started in the ring, also in Aguascalientes, a bull-mad city 415 kilometers (260 miles) northwest of Mexico City. "Rafita," as he was known, began facing down younger, smaller bulls and calves, but the animals still outweighed him by hundreds of pounds (kilograms).

The trend appears to have taken off when famed Spanish bullfighter Julian Lopez Escobar, "El Juli," made his debut in Mexico in 1997 at the age of 14.

"Rafita Mirabal is too little, in my view," said Inaki Negrete, of the Mexican Association of Fighting Bull Breeders. While the animals he fights are younger, "they can still break bones. … It's very dangerous."

Negrete says the influx of young aspiring Spanish bullfighters has been positive "because they can learn on Mexican bulls, which are a little softer or slower when they charge as compared to Spanish bulls, which charge more abruptly."

The age at which toreros start largely rests with the families.

"Normally, it's the parents of these children - and they are children - who look out for them and put them into bullfighting schools," Negrete said. "It depends on individual judgment."

Maria Lopes, of the International Movement Against Bullfights, said, "Children, many from poor families, are seduced into the world of bullfighting by promises of fame, glory and above all, money."

"What happened to Jairo Miguel is lamentable, but it is the result of laws that allow children to participate in bull fights," Lopes said in a written statement. "Parents who permit their children to engage in bull fights should be held responsible … and also those governments whose laws allow it to happen."

- Associated Press writer Baylee Simon in Madrid, Spain, contributed to this report.

Kindergartner dies when wind topples Ferndale school flagpole

FERNDALE, Mich. (AP) - High winds toppled a flagpole at an elementary school Monday, killing a kindergartner, a school spokeswoman said. - The accident happened at Roosevelt Primary School in Detroit's northern suburbs.

Schools spokeswoman Stephanie Hall said she could not release further details because the child's father had not yet been notified.

No others were hurt, Hall said.

Winds in the area were blowing out of the northeast at about 25 mph, with gusts near 40, the National Weather Service said.

Butterfly smuggler sent to prison

LOS ANGELES - A Japanese man who admitted smuggling and selling rare and protected butterflies was sentenced Monday in Los Angeles to 21 months in federal prison. - Hisayoshi Kojima, a 57-year-old Kyoto resident, also must pay a fine and restitution totaling $37,656, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Kojima pleaded guilty in January to 17 criminal counts, including smuggling wildlife and illegally importing wildlife.

He admitted that he smuggled a pair of endangered Queen Alexandra's birdwings - the largest butterfly in the world.

Prosecutors say Kojima smuggled into the United States another pair of the Queen Alexandra butterflies, using fraudulent documents that stated the insects were worth $30, when they actually were sold for $8,500.

Kojima also offered for sale the endangered Giant Swallowtail butterfly, an endangered species from Jamaica, and smuggled other protected and endangered butterflies into the United States, according to the U.S. government.

All of the species involved in the case are protected by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, and most are protected under the federal Endangered Species Act, according to prosecutors.

- North County Times wire services

Record storm lashes Northeast with heavy rain, flooding; forecasters say no letup in sight

CROTON-ON-HUDSON, N.Y. (AP) - A menacing spring storm punished the Northeast for a second straight day Monday, dumping more than 8 inches of rain on Central Park and sending refrigerators and pickup trucks floating down rivers in one of the region's worst storms in recent memory. - "This one is really a horror show," Gov. Eliot Spitzer said after touring hard-hit areas north of New York City.

The nor'easter left a huge swath of devastation, from the beaches of South Carolina to the mountains of Maine. It knocked out power to hundreds of thousands of people and was blamed for at least nine deaths nationwide, including a New Jersey man who drowned inside a car.

The storm showed no immediate sign of letting up. The National Weather Service predicted showers through Wednesday night in the New York City area, with rain mixed with snow at times.

The storm was especially harsh in the Westchester County suburbs north of New York City and in New Jersey, where the state was placed under a state of emergency and more than 1,400 residents were evacuated - many by boat.

Vermont got about 17 inches of snow, with flakes still falling Monday across sections of Pennsylvania, New York and Maine.

"We have incredible amounts of damage," said Steve Costello, a spokesman for Central Vermont Public Service, describing power lines brought down by high wind. "I've never seen anything like it."

New Jersey authorities called it the worst storm to hit the state in 15 years. Five homes burned down in one town after fire crews could not reach the buildings because of floodwaters.

"There was debris flowing down the river like you wouldn't believe - refrigerators, I mean, you name it, it was going down the river," said homeowner John Vitro, whose basement at one point had water 5 feet high.

Wind gusts registered 60 mph near Boston, where runners had to contend with rain and 52 mph winds during the Boston Marathon.

Gusts exceeding 80 mph in Maine toppled trees and drove rain that flooded roads and sank boats. In New Hampshire, a landslide forced the closure of part of the state's major east-west route, and winds blew out windows on oceanfront stores.

One person died in a car stalled in deep water in an underpass in New Jersey. Another person was killed by a tornado in South Carolina, and two died in car accidents - one in upstate New York and one in Connecticut. The same storm was blamed for five deaths earlier in Texas and Kansas.

In New York City, more than 8 inches of rain fell on Central Park, quadrupling the 101-year-old record for the date. In Croton-on-Hudson, north of the city, half of the commuter train station's parking lot was under water.

In nearby Mamaroneck, firefighters plucked Kathleen Reale, 41, and her twin boys from their window using a front-end loader. Knee-high flooding destroyed furniture in her garage and basement.

"I mean everything will be ruined," she said. "Everything will be gone. It's unbelievable."

Snow drifts stranded tractor-trailers on highways in Pennsylvania. Washouts, flooding, mudslides and fallen trees blocked roads from Kentucky to New England.

Pounding waves completely covered the beach at Hampton Beach, N.H., where residents reported up to 5 feet of water pouring through their front doors.

"We went to look, but the wind was so strong that you couldn't walk … The wind just turned you back," said Linda Pepin of Bristol, Conn., who owns a condominium less than 50 feet from shore.

Coastal residents were urged to evacuate in parts of Maine, where Amtrak's Downeaster suspended service because tracks were washed out. Flooding delayed or canceled Amtrak service between Boston and Washington.

The storm also grounded flights at New York's three major airports. Some stranded passengers slept on cots at LaGuardia Airport.

- Associated Press writers David Porter in Union City, N.J., Katharine Webster in Hampton, N.H., and Clarke Canfield in Portland, Maine, contributed to this report.

On the Net:

Weather Underground: http://www.wunderground.com/

National Weather Service: http://iwin.nws.noaa.gov/

Intellicast: http://www.intellicast.com/

Evidence delays robbery trial for man convicted of killing girl

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) - The robbery trial of Lionel Tate, once sentenced to life in prison for killing a girl when he was 12, was delayed several months Monday after defense attorneys said they have evidence that proves Tate did not hold up a pizza delivery man.

Tate attorney Jim Lewis said DNA taken from the mask allegedly used in the 2005 robbery belongs to another man. A new witness also claims Tate never committed the robbery and never carried the gun, Lewis said.

"There's great doubt to how and who committed this robbery," Lewis said.

The trial had been set to begin Monday, but the judge rescheduled it for Sept. 4 at the request of the defense and prosecutors.

Tate initially pleaded guilty to robbery and gun possession in the holdup in return for a sentence of between 10 and 30 years. He withdrew the plea in the robbery but was sentenced to 30 years on the gun charge.

Lewis asked the judge to overturn the gun possession charge, claiming that Tate's former attorney was incompetent.

Tate, 20, refused a plea deal that would have given him a 30-year total sentence for both charges in the holdup. A conviction on the robbery charges could add a life sentence to his existing sentence.

Prosecutor Chuck Morton declined to comment on the case.

Tate was convicted in the 1999 murder of 6-year-old Tiffany Eunick, and became the youngest person in modern U.S. history to get a life prison term before an appeals court intervened. Lawyers initially claimed that Tiffany, who suffered skull fractures and a lacerated liver, was accidentally killed when Tate, then 12, imitated pro wrestling moves he'd seen on television.

Tate said little in Monday's brief hearing except to answer the judge's questions.

A 12-year-old neighbor said that he allowed Tate, then 18, to use the telephone in his apartment to call for a pizza delivery. Tate then left, but later returned, forcing his way inside, authorities said.

The Domino's delivery man, Walter E. Gallardo, told police the door was open when he arrived at the apartment with four pizzas. As he entered, he saw someone with a gun that appeared to be a .38-caliber revolver.

Gallardo told detectives he "threw the pizzas and fled out the door," was chased by the gunman and fell. The delivery man returned to the apartment complex with sheriff's deputies, saw Tate in the area and identified him as the suspect, police said. No gun was recovered.

The neighbor also identified the suspect as Tate, but later said a man identified only as "Willie" did it.

Catholic high school in Iowa to enforce alcohol-free dances by using breath tests

DUBUQUE, Iowa (AP) - Students at Wahlert High School are being tested to make sure they're not DUI - dancing under the influence.

Officials at the Catholic school said students will have to undergo a breath test before they are admitted to any school-sponsored dances for the rest of this school year, including the May 5 prom.

"Our goal is to do what we can do to ensure that our events are alcohol free," Principal Don Sisler said. "It's a big step, but it's a real simple one."

A consent form giving the school permission to administer the test was sent home to parents along with a letter from Sisler.

Students from other schools who attend the dance also will be required to bring a signed consent form, Sisler said.

Students who test positive will be retested, he said.

"If there is any question about the first test, we administer a second," he said. "If it's a breath mint or some mouthwash throwing off the first reading, that tends to dissipate quickly. We'll retest them."

Sisler said the school previously used breath tests on an individual basis when officials suspected alcohol use at dances.

Madonna returns to Malawi with 1-year-old David

LILONGWE, Malawi - Madonna flew to Malawi on a silver jet Monday to continue her charity work in the impoverished southern African country, bringing along the Malawian boy she is in the process of adopting.

The 48-year-old pop star, wearing a baseball cap, carried a small boy down the steps of the jet, and a child's seat was fixed into a waiting sport utility vehicle. Her three-vehicle motorcade then drove off at top speed to a luxury lodge, followed by journalists.

Madonna visited Malawi last fall to pick up 1-year-old David Banda, who was in an orphanage after the death of his mother. That visit set off a controversy over concerns that regulations were being swept aside to benefit a pop star who has been generous to the country.

Madonna and her 38-year-old filmmaker-husband, Guy Ritchie, were granted an interim court order Oct. 12 allowing them to take initial custody of David. Under Malawi regulations, prospective parents must undergo an 18- to 24-month assessment period, but Madonna was allowed to take the boy to her London home soon after the court order.

Malawian child welfare officials are expected to file a report on the suitability of the couple as adoptive parents after two trips to their London residence in May and December. Madonna says she has followed the law.

After a rest in Lilongwe, Madonna toured U.N.-backed development projects in the small village of Mtanga, where farmers are being helped to grow maize and start fish farming.

The singer, dressed in combat trousers, khaki T-shirt and black boots, was greeted by singing women and children as she inspected the maize crop and storage facilities and stood by the fish pond.

Her 9-year-old daughter, Lourdes, accompanied Madonna on her trip to Mtanga.

Madonna's New York-based publicist Liz Rosenberg said the singer was visiting to continue her work with her Raising Malawi organization and denied speculation of another adoption.

"She is overseeing the building of a children's health care center. She is absolutely not adopting another baby," Rosenberg said in a statement.

There has also been much activity at the Home of Hope orphanage where David was cared for. The road to the village of Mchinji have been graded, new flowers planted and the children have received new uniforms. Three local police officers have been posted at the orphanage.

David's father, Yohane Banda, surrendered his son to the orphanage after his wife died of childbirth complications. The couple's two other sons died in infancy from malaria.

The road to Banda's village on the Zambian border has also been cleared, but it was unclear whether Madonna would visit him.

On the Net:

Raising Malawi:

http://www.raisingmalawi.org

Madonna:

http://www.madonna.com/

Minnesota airport approves penalties for cabbies who deny service to travelers carrying alcohol

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - Taxi drivers who refuse service to travelers carrying alcohol at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport face tougher penalties despite protests from Muslims cabbies who sought a compromise for religious reasons, officials said Monday.

The Metropolitan Airports Commission said new penalties were needed to ensure customers get safe and reliable taxi service, and voted to suspend a driver's airport taxi license for 30 days for the first offense and revoke it for two years for a second offense. The new penalties take effect May 11.

Airport officials say more than 70 percent of the cabbies at the airport are Muslim, and many of them say Islamic law forbids them from giving rides to people carrying alcohol.

Under the old rules, a driver who refused to transport someone carrying alcohol would be told to go to the back of the taxicab line. Airport officials said that since January 2002, there have been more than 4,800 instances of drivers' refusing to take alcohol-carrying travelers.

The airport tried one pilot program that had drivers who wouldn't transport alcohol display a different top light on their cab, but the public's reaction was overwhelmingly negative and taxi drivers feared it would make travelers avoid taxis altogether.

Ho's family holds gathering, viewing

HONOLULU (AP) - Family members of the late Don Ho held a private gathering and viewing Sunday for the legendary entertainer and plan a public tribute in a couple of weeks. - Dori Ho, one of Ho's six children from his first marriage, said tentative plans call for the singer's ashes to be scattered on waters off Waikiki and Lanikai, on opposite sides of Oahu.

"We're all so overwhelmed by the response of everybody who loved dad," she said. "It's such a blessing."

Dori Ho said the public tribute tentatively is scheduled for May 5 in Waikiki to allow the public to say farewell to Ho before his ashes are scattered the same day across waters in the area.

The legendary crooner, known for his catchy signature tune "Tiny Bubbles," died Saturday of heart failure at the age of 76.

Ho had suffered heart problems for the past several years, and had a pacemaker installed last fall. In 2005, he underwent an experimental stem cell procedure on his ailing heart in Thailand.

"He lived such a full life. We talked and laughed thinking about him, the simple things he did to let us know he was thinking of us," Dori Ho said.

Ho entertained thousands of tourists over four decades, with major Hollywood stars often stopping by to see the show and visit with Ho. For many, no trip to Hawaii was complete without seeing his Waikiki performance.

He is survived by his wife, Haumea, and 10 children. He also has 19 grandchildren, 15 great-grandchildren and two great-great-grandchildren.

On the Net:

Don Ho: http://www.donho.com/

Defense tries to discredit undercover FBI agent in former Tenn. lawmaker's corruption case

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) - An undercover FBI agent, who testified he posed as a business executive and paid bribes to an influential state senator, defended his role Monday as he was cross-examined by a defense attorney at the ex-legislator's corruption trial.

Former state Sen. John Ford is accused of accepting $55,000 in bribes from the FBI in a sting operation. Last week, federal jurors watched a video in which Ford could be seen reviewing legislation to benefit what he thought was a real company, then taking cash from the agent.

The agent, identified only by his undercover name, L.C. McNiel, said he befriended Ford, portraying himself as a top investor in a government-computer recycling operation that was supposedly trying to set up business in Tennessee. He testified the pair met often with Ford for over a year to discuss business, but the pair also attended sporting and social events together and partied at clubs and restaurants.

Defense lawyer Michael Scholl pressed McNiel on how he befriended Ford and pretended to be a player in the movie and music industries.

"You're lying to Mr. Ford, are you not?" Scholl asked.

"I'm playing a role," McNiel said.

At least seven videotapes of Ford taking E-Cycle money were made in Memphis, Nashville and Miami and on each, McNiel slowly counts out $100 bills before handing over the cash.

Prosecutors said they played the tapes of their business meetings for jurors as they tried to prove charges of extortion, bribery and threatening a federal witness in a corruption probe that has also ensnared local officials in Memphis and Chattanooga.

Scholl contends Ford was a part-time lawmaker and full-time business consultant who thought he was taking legitimate payments from the company for his legislative advice.

Ford resigned from the Senate shortly after his indictment two years ago.

Ford's trial began April 9 and is expected to last up to a month. Also on Monday, a juror was excused after suffering a death in his family. He was replaced by one of four alternates.

Ford, 64, is one of five current or former state lawmakers charged with taking bribes from agents posing as company executives. Ford, a Memphis Democrat, was in the Senate for 31 years.

He also has been charged in Nashville with taking $800,000 in illegal payments from state contractors. He is awaiting trial on those federal charges.

Closing arguments begin in case of N.J. woman accused of slaying, dismembering husband

NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. (AP) - A woman accused of killing and dismembering her husband was betrayed by the men in her life, hounded by investigators and physically incapable of the crime, her attorney said Monday during his closing argument.

"There is no proof that Melanie McGuire murdered her husband," said the defense attorney, Joseph Tacopina. "This case is a result of a tragic rush to judgment. They saw what they wanted to see. They heard what they wanted to hear."

Prosecutors contended during the six-week trial that McGuire, 34, drugged and killed her husband, then dumped his body in the Chesapeake Bay in three suitcases so she could have a more serious relationship with her lover, Dr. Bradley Miller, her boss at the fertility clinic where the two worked.

The suitcases washed up in May 2004. The affair began in 2002, when McGuire was nine months pregnant with her second child.

The prosecution pointed to Internet searches made from McGuire's computer on gun laws and ways to kill people, in addition to the fact that she purchased a gun days before her husband disappeared.

After Tacopina finished his closing argument, Judge Frederick DeVesa announced that the courthouse would be closing at 2 p.m. due to the violent nor'easter that hit the region; the prosecution will present their closing argument Tuesday.

Tacopina said the petite McGuire was physically unable to kill her husband - who at 6'3" weighed 210 pounds.

The prosecution has said Melanie McGuire most likely had help in carrying out her crime, but authorities have not named an accomplice or charged anyone else.

Tacopina pointed to testimony from the state's forensic expert, who testified that despite combing the couple's apartment, investigators found no blood or marks from the reciprocating saw prosecutors say she used to cut him up.

"If you're going to dismember someone in a porcelain bathtub, you're going to leave some marks," Tacopina said.

The defense also highlighted the fact that two men close to Melanie McGuire - Miller and her friend James Finn - both cooperated with authorities to record their telephone conversations with McGuire.

Playing short snippets of the recordings that were played previously during the court proceedings, Tacopina told jurors that they were hearing Melanie McGuire at her "most vulnerable."

"Melanie was remarkably consistent throughout," Tacopina said. "She repeatedly said 'I didn't do it."'

McGuire's lawyers also painted a picture of William McGuire as a man with a heavy gambling problem who may have been killed by people to whom he owed money.

Nine-year-old daughter or Tennessee preacher recalls hearing 'boom' on day of slaying

SELMER, Tenn. (AP) - The 9-year-old daughter of a preacher's wife testified Monday at her mother's murder trial that she heard a "big boom" coming from her parents' room, then saw her father on the ground.

"I went to mama and daddy's room to see what had happened. I saw daddy laying on the floor face down," Patricia Winkler said.

The girl kept her composure as she described her father's death, but just after taking the stand, she looked to her mother, Mary, and started crying when the prosecutor asked her for her name and birthday. Mary Winkler and several jurors also began weeping.

Matthew Winkler, a 31-year-old preacher at the Fourth Street Church of Christ in this west Tennessee town, was found dead in the parsonage where the family lived in March 2006. A day later, Mary Winkler was arrested on the Alabama coast 340 miles away, driving in the family minivan with Patricia and her two younger sisters.

Prosecutors have described Matthew Winkler as a good father and husband. But Mary Winkler's attorneys have said the evidence will show he was a dictator at home who terrorized his family and criticized his wife's every move.

Patricia testified he was a good father and she never saw him mistreat her mother. Later, under questioning from a defense attorney, the girl burst into tears after trying to explain why - after one visit - she stopped seeing her mother after Mary Winkler's release from jail.

"Because I didn't want to see her. Well, I mean, I still love her," Patricia said.

The girl recounted hearing a loud noise followed by a thump the day her father was killed.

"Well, at first I heard this big boom, or something, and it seemed like somebody fell on the ground," Patricia said.

Earlier Monday, a forensic pathologist testified that Matthew Winkler was killed by a shotgun blast in the middle of his back. Staci Turner, who conducted the autopsy, said shotgun pellets fractured his spine and ribs, damaging multiple organs.

Turner said she removed 77 pellets from his body.

The defense has said Mary Winkler, 33, intended to hold her husband at gunpoint only to force him to talk about his personal problems after a situation involving their 1-year-old daughter, Breanna. The defense did not describe the situation.

Defense attorneys have also called the shooting accidental.

Last week prosecutors played an audiotape in which Mary Winkler acknowledges shooting her husband, telling investigators her "ugly came out."

But Mary Winkler also told an Alabama Bureau of Investigation agent on the audiotape that her husband had threatened her. "He said something that really scared me. I don't know, something life-threatening," she said, without elaborating further.

She said her husband criticized her for "the way I walk, what I eat, everything. It was just building up to this point. I was just tired of it. I guess I just got to a point and snapped."

The prosecution has said the Winklers were in financial trouble and that bank managers were closing in on a check-kiting scheme that Mary Winkler wanted to conceal from her husband.

Defense attorney Leslie Ballin has hinted Mary Winkler could take the stand.

NYC investigating high school class that made spring break trip to Cuba

NEW YORK (AP) - A spring break trip to Cuba taken by students and a teacher from a New York City public high school has raised concerns about whether the group violated U.S. travel restrictions to the Communist country.

"We are investigating," Mayor Michael Bloomberg told reporters Monday.

A city Department of Education spokesman said this month's trip to Cuba was not officially sanctioned by the Beacon School, although the school's Web site featured a call for applications and a list of selected students, as well as details of previous sponsored trips to the island.

"We were told that it violated State Department travel restrictions," department spokesman David Cantor said.

Molly Millerwise, spokeswoman for the U.S. Treasury Department, declined to comment on the case.

The department hands out travel licenses for Cuba trips, and Millerwise said permission is granted to some groups, including for those seeking to engage in religious activity or humanitarian aid. Educational licenses also are granted, but not at the high school level, she said.

People who violate sanctions can face penalties ranging from warnings to a $65,000 fine.

Cantor said the education department had asked a special investigator to see if any school regulations were violated on this trip or previous ones. However, it's unclear what the education department could do if the teacher, Nate Turner, and the students acted independently, Cantor said.

In 2004-05, according to the school Web site, students had to take a class if they wanted to go on a trip to Cuba.

In mid-October, Turner posted a release on the school's Web site advertising that applications for this year's trip were available. An essay was one of the requirements. It was unclear how many students actually went on the trip, though a school Web site posting listed about 30 students who had been selected for it.

Turner did not respond to an e-mail request seeking comment on Monday. Neither did school principal Ruth Lacey, though she told the New York Post that the school had denied approval for the trip but that Turner went ahead and arranged it.

Lacey told the paper the previous trips to Cuba had been approved. "At the time, I think the climate in the country was different," she said.

Lee Kalcheim, whose twin sons chose not to go after being told only one could take the trip, said he felt it was ridiculous that there would be any problems with such a foray.

"Our policy toward Cuba is nonsense," Kalcheim said Monday. "You antagonize. You just make things worse. We should have just had normal relations with them."

Traveling to Cuba has been difficult for more than 40 years because of the country's rocky relations with the United States. In 2004, the U.S. implemented special restrictions that made it even more difficult.

Russian court upholds jailed tycoon's transfer from Siberia to Moscow prison

MOSCOW - (AP) A Russian court on Monday upheld a decision to transfer Mikhail Khodorkovsky from Siberia to a Moscow prison amid a new investigation into theft and money laundering charges against the former oil tycoon, court officials said.

Khodorkovsky, once Russia's richest man, was arrested in 2003 in a tax inquiry that eventually put the oil company he founded, OAO Yukos, into state hands.

Convicted of fraud and tax evasion in a trial widely seen as Kremlin-driven punishment for challenging President Vladimir Putin, he has been serving an eight-year sentence in the Siberian province of Chita, about 3,000 miles east of Moscow.

In February, prosecutors filed new charges, accusing Khodorkovsky of stealing property worth nearly $34.3 billion from Yukos subsidiaries.

The Moscow City Court on Monday rejected an appeal by prosecutors who sought to keep Khodorkovsky in Chita during the new investigation and the ruling was to come into force immediately, said court spokeswoman Anna Usacheva. The ruling also applied to Khodorkovsky's business partner Platon Lebedev, who faces similar charges.

"This significantly facilitates the work of the defense team," Yuri Shmidt, a lawyer for Khodorkovsky, told The Associated Press. Shmidt said most of the witnesses and evidence were in Moscow.

Khodorkovsky has denied the new charges against him as "shameful farce." His legal team has long insisted that the company's business structure was legal and had been meticulously audited by foreign consultants to meet international standards.

Berlin's lovable polar bear Knut taken off public display because of teething pain

BERLIN (AP) - Knut, the Berlin Zoo's lovable polar bear cub, was taken off display Monday because of teething pains.

"He is getting his right upper canine," zoo veterinarian Andre Schuele told The Associated Press.

Earlier, the 4.5-month old cub's daily public appearance was cut short after only 30 minutes and he was put on antibiotics.

"At the moment he is resting on his blanket and sleeping," Schuele said, adding that despite his lethargy Knut did eat his regular meal in the morning.

Thousands of people line up daily to see the cub, and his button-eyed face has been a fixture for newspapers, television and the Internet.

Born at the zoo on Dec. 5, Knut was rejected by his mother and hand-raised by zookeepers. So potent is his appeal that zoo attendance has roughly doubled to 15,000 on average daily since his debut, officials said. He has his own blog and TV show and appeared on the cover of Vanity Fair.

Schuele did not know if Knut would be strong enough for public appearances in the next days.

"We don't know yet - the little one is not a machine," he said.

On the Net:

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Hungary: 5,000 rabbits block traffic on major highway after accident

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) - Five thousand rabbits blocked a highway Monday, tying up traffic after the truck that was carrying them collided with another vehicle and overturned.

Neither driver was hurt, but some 500 rabbits were killed, authorities said.

The M1 highway - the main road between the capitals of Hungary and Austria - was closed for hours while authorities gathered up the animals, Highway Patrol Spokeswoman Viktoria Galik said.

"Those 100 are free to go. We will not collect them," Galik said.

The ending wasn't so happy for the ones that were recaptured. They were expected to complete the trip to a slaughterhouse, authorities said.

Japanese toilet maker: Bidets may catch fire, offers free repairs

TOKYO - Japan's leading toilet maker Toto Ltd. is offering free repairs for 180,000 bidet toilets after wiring problems caused several to catch fire, the company said Monday.

The electric bidet accessory of Toto's Z series caught fire in three separate incidents between March 2006 and March 2007, according to company spokeswoman Emi Tanaka. The bidet sent up smoke in 26 other incidents, the company said.

"Fortunately, nobody was using the toilets when the fire broke out and there were no injuries," Tanaka said. "The fire would have been just under your buttocks."

The company will repair 180,000 toilet units manufactured between May 1996 and December 2001 for free, she said. A manufacturing defect is thought to have led to the faulty wiring.

Toto has been a pioneer in high-tech toilets fitted with pressurized water sprayers - a standard fixture in Japanese homes.

The popular Z series features a pulsating massage spray, a power dryer, built-in-the-bowl deodorizing filter, the "Tornado Wash" flush and a lid that opens and closes automatically. Prices range from $1,680 to $2,600.

The model is not sold overseas.

Jury selection begins in S.C. trial of convict accused of raping girls in underground dungeon

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - Potential jurors were questioned Monday in the trial for a man accused of kidnapping and raping two teenagers and confining them to an underground room hidden behind his home. - Kenneth Glenn Hinson, 48, was arrested in March 2006 and is charged with criminal sexual assault, kidnapping and assault and battery with intent to kill.

The trial will be held in Darlington County, but because of pretrial publicity the jury was being selected at the Georgetown County Courthouse, about 70 miles away.

A pool of about 250 people reported to the Georgetown County Courthouse, said Cynthia Wragg of the clerk's office.

The case attracted national attention when South Carolina Attorney General Henry McMaster said during a four-day manhunt that Hinson - convicted in 1991 for the rape of a 12-year-old girl - could have been indefinitely committed to a state program for sexually violent predators after serving a nine-year prison sentence. Two review committees had recommended that Hinson be placed in the program, warning he could commit a future sex crime.

But Judge Edward Cottingham rejected the plan and set Hinson free. After Hinson's arrest, McMaster argued it was that crucial mistake on Cottingham's part that paved the way for Hinson to assault the teens in the dungeon-like space beneath his home.

Cottingham, a retired but active judge, has said he does not remember the 2000 case. Last year, Hinson appeared before Cottingham as McMaster presented his notice to seek a sentence of life without parole in the new charges.

The girls were sexually assaulted and were bound inside the underground room, but managed to free themselves and escape, authorities have said.

The room was just 4.5 feet deep and roughly the length and width of a midsize car. Its floor and walls were lined with two-by-fours. A single 75-watt bulb illuminated the space.

Rick Hoefer, Hinson's attorney, declined to make his client available for interviews and has refused to comment about the case before the trial.

On his own, however, Hinson has made repeated attempts to speak with media. Leaving a hearing last month, Hinson told reporters he was innocent of the charges.