ELKO, Nev. - Citing support from readers, The Elko Daily Free Press will continue to run the opinion column written by conservative Ann Coulter that some newspapers are dropping at the urging of a gay and lesbian advocacy group, the paper said Friday.

The Human Rights Campaign started a campaign to pressure the Universal Press Syndicate and newspapers that publish Coulter's words to drop her after she used a slur in reference to Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards.

"I was going to have a few comments on the other Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards, but it turns out you have to go into rehab if you use the word 'faggot,' so I - so kind of an impasse, can't really talk about Edwards," Coulter told GOP activists attending the annual Conservative Political Action Conference last Friday.

Jeff Mullins, managing editor of the Elko Daily Free Press, said the newspaper had been flooded with e-mails from a gay and lesbian advocacy group so he decided to ask readers to call or write with their opinions about whether to keep printing Coulter's column.

"As of this morning we had received nearly 60 phone calls or faxes, and about nine out of 10 wanted us to keep running Ann Coulter," Mullins said in a story that appeared in the paper on Friday.

Editor & Publisher magazine reported on Thursday that the Times of Shreveport, La., had become at least the fourth newspaper this week to drop Coulter.

But most of the Free Press readers had a different take, Mullins said.

"Many callers said they thought Ann Coulter had a right to express herself, and they did not want us to be swayed by those seeking her removal," he said. "Several said they would consider it censorship, and added that they would no longer subscribe to the paper if we caved in to the special-interest groups request."

Reese Witherspoon quits movie

LOS ANGELES - Only weeks before Reese Witherspoon was to star and produce "Bunny Lake Is Missing," the Oscar-winning actress has abruptly pulled out of the project, and the production has been shut down indefinitely, it was reported today. - Joe Carnahan was on board to direct the remake of the 1965 Otto Preminger film about an American woman whose daughter goes missing from a new nursery school in England.

Witherspoon, 30, told the film's makers she was pulling out of the project just weeks before the movie was supposed to start filming, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Cast and crew, in active pre-production for the past month in Los Angeles, have been encouraged to look for other projects, according to the newspaper.

Witherspoon is in the midst of a divorce from actor Ryan Phillippe and told filmmakers she did not feel emotionally invested in the role, sources on the production told The Times.

But there is another reason for the pullout, the TMZ.com celebrity-news Web site reported.

A well-placed, high-powered Hollywood source told TMZ that Witherspoon signed onto the project after being presented with the idea and a draft script. Last week, she was presented with what she thought would be a completed script, but it turned out to be 80 pages that had major sections of the movie outlined but not written, TMZ reported.

As the deadline approached for a summer shooting, Witherspoon exercised her option not to approve the incomplete script. "She's just as disappointed as anybody," the Hollywood source told TMZ.

It's not clear if the movie can be recast on such short notice, though scripts have gone out to Kate Winslet and Charlize Theron, sources at the production told The Times.

- North County Times wire services

After lavish blowout, Michael Jackson attends party for his less affluent fans

TOKYO (AP) - After a $3,500-a-head gala the day before, Michael Jackson attended another party in Tokyo for his less affluent fans, more than 1,000 of whom crowded a popular nightclub Friday for an evening with the reclusive pop star.

Tickets for Friday's party went for $130, a fraction of the $3,500 that several hundred fans and business people paid for a chance to meet and greet Jackson the night before at a dinner held in his honor.

Jackson offered only brief remarks at the end of that six-hour party and did not perform.

At Friday's party, guests - most in the 20s or 30s - were treated to a stage show of gospel singers, Michael Jackson impersonators, but were not given the one-on-one opportunity that "premium" ticket partygoers got the night before. Jackson watched the show from a second-floor VIP room.

Japan remains one of Jackson's strongest fan bases, and Jackson fans have been out in force since his arrival in Tokyo on Sunday.

A screaming mob greeted him at the airport and more crowded outside a popular electronics shop that gave him the run of the store after-hours the following day. Before leaving Japan, Jackson was also scheduled to tour a U.S. Army base just south of Tokyo on Saturday.

Jackson, one of the best-selling artists of all time, had lived abroad since his 2005 acquittal on child molestation charges, forsaking his Neverland Ranch in California for Bahrain, France and a castle in Ireland. He now lives in Las Vegas.

This is Jackson's second trip to Tokyo in less than a year.

"Japan is one of my favorite places to visit in the world," Jackson told the crowd Thursday, reading from a statement. "I want to thank all of you for making me the biggest-selling artist in Japan."

In comments to The Associated Press, Jackson said he is happy with his career, which he is trying to revive after his 2005 acquittal and a series of other legal battles over his personal finances.

"I've been in the entertainment industry since I was 6 years old," he told AP. "As Charles Dickens says, 'It's been the best of times, the worst of times.' But I would not change my career."

Jackson, 48, said he was not bitter over his succession of difficulties.

"While some have made deliberate attempts to hurt me, I take it in stride because I have a loving family, a strong faith and wonderful friends and fans who have, and continue, to support me," he said.

Texas Supreme Court justice who supported Harriet Miers wants state to pay $340K in legal fees

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) - A Texas justice who fended off judicial admonishment over his support for former U.S. Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers wants the state to cover his $340,000 legal tab.

President Bush nominated Miers to the nation's high court in October 2005, but she dropped out under fire from conservatives who questioned her qualifications.

State Supreme Court Justice Nathan Hecht, the senior judge on the state's highest civil court, drew criticism for praising Miers in about 120 media interviews during the nomination process. Hecht and Miers, who later resigned as White House counsel, had once dated.

The judicial commission admonished Hecht in May, accusing him of improperly using his office to promote Miers' candidacy, but a special court of review dismissed the admonition.

"Part of being a judge is to answer for what you've done, but I don't think you should be out-of-pocket when you didn't do anything wrong," Hecht told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram on Thursday.

At Hecht's request, a legislator is expected to file legislation this week that would allow a judge who wins an appeal of a sanction by the State Commission on Judicial Conduct to recover reasonable attorney's fees, litigation expenses and other costs. Hecht's appeal is the only case so far that would qualify.

Seana Willing, the judicial commission's executive director, said it was "shameful" to ask taxpayers to pay for Hecht's legal expenses.

The three appeals court justices on the panel that dismissed the admonition did not fault the commission but said the state's judicial conduct code should be clarified.

Victims of Hawaii helicopter crash from 3 states: Arkansas, California, New York

PRINCEVILLE, Hawaii (AP) - The three passengers killed when their tour helicopter crashed on Kauai and the three survivors were from Arkansas, California and New York, authorities said Friday.

None of the victims' names or ages was released.

The helicopter went down at Princeville Airport on Thursday shortly after its Heli-USA Airways pilot radioed that he was having problems with the hydraulics.

Witnesses reported hearing a loud boom as far as a mile away and the sound of crunching metal as the helicopter hit the ground about 200 yards from its normal landing pad. Two men and two women died, three in the crash and one on the way to a hospital.

The three survivors were flown to Queen's Medical Center in Honolulu in critical condition. The pilot didn't survive, Kauai County spokeswoman Mary Daubert said.

On Friday, investigators from the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board headed to the crash scene to try to determine what went wrong.

FAA spokesman Ian Gregor said that the pilot had more than 10,000 hours flying an A-Star, the model that crashed. The craft itself had showed no significant problems in past FAA inspections, he said.

Nigel Turner, chief executive of Las Vegas-based Heli-USA, said the aircraft, one of six in his Hawaii fleet, was minutes from its scheduled landing when it crashed.

"We are in the process of notifying the families of those individuals involved and our sincere condolences goes out at this time," he said. "We are working with authorities to find out exactly what happened."

Turner defended the safety of his helicopters, which also fly tours in Nevada.

"The company has flown over a million passengers. This is our second accident in a million people," he said. He said he wouldn't hesitate to put his own family in his helicopters.

The crash comes one month after the FAA announced new safety standards for air tour companies that operate at many scenic vacation spots around the country and for pilots who offer rides at air shows.

The FAA promised to closely monitor deaths and other accidents involving air tours after looking into 107 accidents that killed 98 people between 1988 and 1995. The safety rule takes effect in August.

The safety board on Feb. 13 also called for tougher standards for monitoring of tour operators across the country based on two earlier crashes on Kauai, including one involving a Heli-USA helicopter.

Ballistics investigator's deception prompts questions about cases in Maryland

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) - Joseph Kopera was known admiringly as "Dr. K" and Joe "No Compare 'em" Kopera, a veteran police ballistics expert who testified in hundreds of cases over four decades and was respected by prosecutors and defense attorneys alike.

But earlier this month, Kopera committed suicide on the very day of his retirement from the Maryland State Police, weeks after Maryland defense attorneys confronted him with evidence that he had falsified his academic credentials.

Now investigators are going to take a long, hard look at the cases he worked on.

"Someone who has gone to the lengths to create a false background, I believe, also will go to some lengths to fabricate information about the ballistics evidence itself," said Suzanne Drouet, a public defender for a Baltimore police officer convicted of murder in a case in which Kopera testified. She helped uncover the falsifications.

Kopera, 61, was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound at his Baltimore-area home March 1.

State police investigators this week announced that Kopera did not hold degrees from the Rochester Institute of Technology or the University of Maryland, contrary to what he claimed on the stand in numerous cases in which he appeared as an expert witness.

In fact, state police said that as far as they can determine, he only attended the University of Baltimore for a year and never obtained a degree.

Col. Thomas Hutchins, who heads the state police, said he will ask the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to review the violent crime cases examined by Kopera, who joined the state police in 1991 after working for 21 years in the Baltimore Police Department's crime laboratory. Hutchins also launched an internal investigation to verify the credentials of 40 forensic scientists and 16 crime scene technicians.

Hutchins said he did not know how many cases Kopera testified on during his 37 years as a firearms examiner. However, Kopera regularly said in court that he testified between 100 and 125 times a year, according to transcripts obtained by lawyers for the Innocence Project, a group that works to exonerate the wrongly convicted.

Kopera became the supervisor of the state police firearms and toolmarks unit in 2000. He also supervised the Integrated Ballistics Identification System, in which data from shell casings from all new regulated firearms sold in Maryland are kept in a database for comparison with casings found at crime scenes.

He earned a mention in author David Simon's book "Homicide, A Year on the Killing Streets," which chronicles police work in Baltimore and was the basis for the TV show "Homicide." Simon described him as "the dean of Baltimore's firearms examiners."

Over the years, Kopera testified in cases throughout the state and in Virginia, Delaware and Pennsylvania. One of the biggest cases was the trial of Erika Sifrit, who was found guilty of killing and dismembering a Virginia couple in Ocean City in 2002 with her husband, Benjamin, who also was convicted.

Michelle Nethercott, a Maryland public defender and chief attorney in Maryland for the Innocence Project, said Kopera provided a fake document purportedly from the University of Maryland when confronted in mid-February.

She said someone who would lie about his credentials and then produce a phony document might also have been "extremely helpful about filling in the blanks" for police to help them secure a conviction.

"In just a few transcripts that I've seen of his, in at least two of them there are indications to me that he gave an expert opinion that was, to say the least, of questionable accuracy," Nethercott said.

But Warren Brown, a prominent defense attorney in Baltimore who estimates he worked on five to 10 cases involving Kopera, said: "I never got the impression that Kopera was being anything other than on top of his game and honest in his investigations. I'd be very surprised if one finds that any of his results were wrong."

Thomas Fleckenstein, who as a prosecutor in Anne Arundel County from 1997 to 2003 worked on cases with Kopera, called the scandal a "bombshell."

"Any case he worked on is potentially ripe for review by a defense attorney," Fleckenstein said.

Harford County State's Attorney Joe Cassilly said that Kopera's lack of a degree may not be enough to seriously call into question the evidence in some cases, since a lot of forensic work is learned on the job, through police departments.

"I've had experts over the years who have done the same type of work that were basically trained through the system," Cassilly said.

Drouet, the lawyer who uncovered the falsifications, said that she asked Kopera last month if he had any explanation for why the schools he claimed to have attended had no record of his attendance.

"He was silent and then he said it was a long time ago," Drouet recalled.

Houston district, citing computer glitch, says some teachers got overpaid for bonuses

HOUSTON (AP) - The school district that runs the nation's largest merit pay program gave oversized bonuses to nearly 100 teachers and is asking them to give it back.

The president of Houston's largest teachers' union is telling members not to return the overpayments, which range from $62.50 to $2,790.

A total of almost $75,000 was overpaid because a computer program mistakenly calculated the bonuses of part-time personnel as if they were full-time employees, according to the Houston Independent School District. Less than 1 percent of teachers were affected, the district said.

Gayle Fallon, president of the Houston Federation of Teachers, said the district can't force the 99 teachers to sign forms authorizing it to deduct the money from their paychecks, and promised legal action if it attempts to do so.

"If it's the district's error, then the district should bear the loss," she said.

District spokesman Terry Abbott, however, said the money must be repaid.

The union opposes the merit system unanimously approved by the school board last year. The district doled out $14 million to almost 8,000 teachers two months ago, but distributed another $1 million after officials realized several hundred teachers had been overlooked.

Salaries for full-time teachers in the district range from about $40,000 to nearly $68,000.

Ex-cop pleads not guilty in ex-wife's killing at park-and-ride

NEW YORK (AP) - A former New York City police officer accused of fatally shooting his ex-wife at a park-and-ride lot pleaded not guilty Friday and was ordered held without bail.

If convicted of second-degree murder, John Galtieri could faces 25 years to life in prison. He is also charged with criminal possession of a weapon and stalking.

Authorities arrested Galtieri, 61, in South Carolina on Jan. 31, a day after his ex-wife, Jeanne Kane, was found dead from a gunshot wound to the head. Galtieri had sued his former wife the morning she was shot, protesting terms of their divorce.

In her younger days, Kane, 58, sang pop songs as a member of the Kane Triplets. During the 1960s, the group performed on TV variety shows including the Ed Sullivan and Jack Benny programs.

District Attorney Daniel Donovan Jr. said surveillance video was being used in preparing the case against Galtieri.

Galtieri's lawyer, Mario Gallucci, said he had cell phone records and video evidence showing Galtieri was not in the area at the time of the shooting.

"I urge everybody not to condemn this man before they hear all of the evidence," Gallucci said. "He completely denies all of the allegations."

Man who killed jogger, hid body on property of 'Sesame Street' performer gets life in prison

DANIELSON, Conn. (AP) - A man who killed a jogger and hid her body on property owned by the performer who plays Big Bird on "Sesame Street" was sentenced Friday to life in prison without parole.

Scott Deojay had been a caretaker for Caroll Spinney's property, where the bound body of Judith Nilan was found in a storage building in December 2005.

Deojay initially told police he killed the 44-year-old middle school social worker by hitting her with his vehicle while she was jogging in Woodstock. Prosecutors, however, said an autopsy showed Nilan had been beaten and strangled. Her running pants were pulled down to her knees.

State police say Deojay, 37, of Plainfield hid the body on Spinney's property near the Massachusetts state line. Spinney, who plays Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch on the popular children's television show, was not home at the time, and police say he had nothing to do with Nilan's death.

Deojay was also sentenced to 20 years in prison in the 2004 rape of a 57-year-old Plainfield woman. He was linked to that unsolved crime after he was arrested for Nilan's death.

Deojay pleaded in December to both charges under the Alford doctrine, which means he does not admit guilt but acknowledges there is enough evidence to convict him.

Safety agency looking at space heater's role in NYC fire that killed 9 relatives

NEW YORK (AP) - Federal product-safety officials said Friday they were investigating whether there were any design flaws in a portable space heater blamed for a house fire that killed nine people.

City fire marshals, meanwhile, were examining whether the device had a damaged electrical cord.

Eight children and one adult died in Wednesday night's blaze near Yankee Stadium. Fire Department officials said it appeared to have been ignited by an electric heater used to warm a bedroom.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission's inquiry was routine, spokesman Scott Wolfson said Friday.

He declined to identify the brand of heater involved in the fire.

Space heaters are a common source of home fires, although design improvements have made them safer in recent years.

Most new models automatically shut off when they tip over. They also are supposed to have guards to prevent flammable objects from brushing against a heating element.

The number of annual U.S. residential fires related to portable heaters dropped from 3,800 to 2,400 between 1999 and 2003, a commission report found. During that period, 480 people died in such fires.

On the Net:

http://www.cpsc.gov

Heartbreak on 2 continents as 9 die in NYC fire, including 8 children; parents came from Mali

NEW YORK (AP) - Two fathers who lost nine of their relatives to the city's deadliest fire in years grieved together Friday at an Islamic Cultural Center and planned the final arrangements for the victims, eight of them children.

Neither man had been at the two-family home near Yankee Stadium when the fire broke out on a lower floor late Wednesday night.

Moussa Magassa was on a business trip in his native Mali in West Africa and flew home to New York on Friday. Mamadou Soumare had been at work driving a cab when his wife called, screaming that the house was on fire. Soumare's wife, Fatoumata, died in the blaze, along with three of the couple's children and five of Magassa's.

"Parents should never have to bury their children," Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Friday after meeting with the men. "It's not the logical order of things."

Two Mali ambassadors joined Bloomberg and attended a prayer service for the victims. Twenty-two relatives, including 17 children, lived in the home.

The families are "getting a lot of comfort from the community," said Sidi Darrah, Mali ambassador to the United Nations. Donations for the surviving family members had already topped $21,000, he said. Several mosques were leading the effort, Imam Konate Souleimane said.

The tentative plan was to fly Fatoumata Soumare and her three children to Mali for burial, while Magassa's children would be buried in the New York area, Souleimane said.

"These people are good Muslims," said Dukary Camara, a spokesman for Islamic Cultural Center. "They understand that what is destiny for them, there's nothing that can prevent that from happening."

The fire started with a space heater and quickly climbed through the three-story house, authorities said. Inside, the adults apparently tried to extinguish the flames themselves, but those on the upper floors were trapped.

Mamadou Soumare was driving his livery cab through Harlem when he got a frantic call from his wife.

"She said, `We have a fire,"' he recalled. "She was screaming."

"I might die with my kids," she told him.

He called 911, but by the time he got home, the house was a fiery tomb. Two neighbors, Edward Soto and David Todd, had rescued a couple of children tossed from a window, but for the others it was too late.

Neighbor Charles O'Neal, 21, said he saw firefighters pass along babies still clad in their pajamas and lay two dead children on sheets of white plastic.

Family members identified the dead as Fatoumata Soumare, 42, her son Dgibril and 7-month-old twins Sisi and Harouma. The couple's fourth child, 7-year-old Hasimy, escaped, her father said. Family members provided different name spellings than the authorities did.

Magassa lost four sons - Bandiougou, 11, Mahamadou, 8, Abudubucary, 5, and Bilaly, 1, and his 3-year-old daughter Diaba. Their mother and six siblings survived. City records and phone listings spell their surname as Magassa, although various other spellings were provided after the fire.

"It's very, very, very sad what has happened," said Imam Mahamadou Soukouna, a Muslim cleric and family friend. He described Magassa, an official of the New York chapter of the international High Council for Malians Living Abroad, as "the best in our community."

At least three children were among the injured. A 7-year-old girl was in critical condition at Jacobi Medical Center, and a pair of 6-year-olds were upgraded from critical to good condition and transferred to Lincoln Hospital.

The home had two smoke alarms, but the batteries were missing, authorities said.

The family that owned the building had planned renovations, including sprinklers that would have drenched the hallways and the home's central stairwell in the event of a fire, city records show. A change to multi-family status would have also required the at least one additional fire-resistant stairwell, city buildings officials said, but the project was suspended by the city for further evaluation.

The fire was the city's deadliest since the 1990 Happy Land social club blaze in the Bronx that killed 87 people, with the exception of the World Trade Center attacks.

"I can't recollect a fire where we lost eight children," said Chief of Department Salvatore Cassano, who has 37 years in the department.

The blaze broke hearts from the South Bronx to West Africa. All the parents had immigrated from Mali, one of the poorest countries in the world.

Near the home Friday, neighbors added to a memorial of flowers, notes and stuffed animals. The family van was still parked in the driveway, its roof strewn with debris.

"We are standing with them and supporting them, and we are thanking God," said Camara, of the Islamic Cultural Center. "God is the one who gives us the children and the family, and he is the one who takes them."

Police look for gunman who chased ex-girlfriend through office, shooting

POMPANO BEACH, Fla. (AP) - A gunman chased his ex-girlfriend through her office Friday morning, shooting at her over the cubicles and leaving her in critical before fleeing, authorities said.

Police quickly tracked down the car they believe Roger Murray fled in, but it was empty, Broward County sheriff's spokesman Elliott Cohen said.

The victim was working at Florida Builder Appliances when she was attacked. She was shot more than once and was taken to North Broward Medical Center in critical condition, Pompano Beach city spokeswoman Sandra King said.

Cohen said a second man, whose identity was not released, was in the car with Murray, 27, and went into the building with him. He said both show up on surveillance video, which was not immediately released.

"Both of them may have entered the business, but Murray was the gunman," Cohen said.

Deputies found the car outside a nearby grocery store, sheriff's spokeswoman Keyla Concepcion said. They charged at the vehicle with gun drawn, but officers opening its doors and trunk found no one.

Florida Builder Appliances sells kitchen appliances, according to its Web site. Manny Lavernia, the branch manager at another store in Miami, said the company did not want to comment.

Justice Kennedy takes passion for Shakespeare to the stage

WASHINGTON (AP) - Justice Anthony Kennedy faced a problem he never had in his day job at the Supreme Court.

The defendant has been dead for 400 years, ordinarily reason enough to dismiss criminal charges. But the show, as they say, must go on. So Kennedy had to dream up a way to bring Hamlet back to life, at least long enough to put him on trial for an unusual evening that mixes Shakespeare and the law.

Kennedy will preside for the fourth time at the trial of Hamlet, an unscripted performance that tries to determine whether the Danish prince is insane or should be held responsible for the death of Polonius.

The purpose is to make Shakespeare more accessible, and also to explore vexing modern legal issues, like the insanity defense.

"Hamlet is the greatest dramatic composition in the history of literature. He continues to perplex us. It is so difficult," Kennedy said in an interview in his court office. "If people can be interested in that, then the easier plays follow."

The trial will take place March 15 in a sold-out, 1,100-seat theater at Washington's John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. The trial is part of the capital's six-month Shakespeare festival.

Almost every year since 1994, at least one Supreme Court justice has participated in a mock trial that uses a Shakespeare play to explore the American legal system.

Lawyers often tell the justices the Supreme Court can do anything. Kennedy contemplated stretching that notion to its literary limits in making Hamlet well enough to stand trial.

"Originally, I was going to rewrite the last 12 lines or so and then I thought that would be marginally presumptuous," Kennedy said.

Instead, he left the play untouched and invented a brief news item saying, contrary to initial reports, Hamlet was not fatally poisoned during the death-filled final act.

A brief summary of the action: Hamlet returns to Denmark for the funeral of his father, the king, finds his mother married to his uncle Claudius - the new king - listens to his father's ghost blame Claudius for his demise, swears revenge, rejects his love Ophelia and kills her father, Polonius, having mistaken him for Claudius.

Ever the judge, Kennedy refused to say whether he believes Hamlet is insane. "I'd argue either side," he said.

Bipolar disorder and other terms to describe mental illness were, of course, not known to Shakespeare. "But he knew about insanity. Notice that Ophelia goes insane and notice that the people who know Hamlet best, Horatio, Ophelia, his mother, his uncle, all think he could be daft," Kennedy said.

The insanity defense has long been controversial. John Hinckley was judged insane when he shot President Reagan, as was Andrea Yates, the Texas mother who killed her five children.

But the court continues to wrestle with the issue. Last year, the justices dealt with the first direct constitutional challenge to insanity defense laws since lawmakers nationwide imposed new restrictions in response to Hinckley's acquittal by reason of insanity.

The court ruled that Arizona's law on the insanity defense is not too restrictive in limiting evidence defendants can present at trial. Kennedy, though, dissented from that ruling, saying that restricting expert testimony deprived jurors of evidence they needed to "make sense" of an accused killer's claims of mental illness.

The upcoming trial will include prominent psychiatrists on both sides, as well as seasoned trial lawyers.

Abbe Lowell, whose clients have included convicted former GOP lobbyist Jack Abramoff, will argue that Hamlet is insane, reprising a role he played in Hamlet's first trial in Washington 13 years ago.

Lowell said society sees more clearly than ever the difference between crime and mental illness. "We are very forgiving as to how the events of the play can cause Ophelia to go from sanity to madness and kill herself. Poor Hamlet has more going on, but we are less sympathetic," said Lowell, a literature major in college who estimates he has read or seen Hamlet more than a dozen times.

Miles Ehrlich, a former clerk to Kennedy who is in private practice in the San Francisco Bay area, will try to establish that Hamlet was rational when he killed Polonius.

Ehrlich, who said he has spent 50 to 60 hours preparing for the trial, notes that Hamlet passes up a chance to kill Claudius while the king is praying and then repents after he plunges his sword into Polonius.

"You repent because you know you did something wrong," Ehrlich said.

In three previous performances, in Boston, Chicago and Washington, juries have found Hamlet sane, but they have not been unanimous. The Washington jury included Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who thought Hamlet quite sane and possibly also culpable in driving Ophelia to suicide.

Kennedy said he is determined to have a unanimous verdict to "put this issue to rest for all time."

And yet he was unwilling to say that the upcoming performance would be his dramatic swan song, recalling an exchange with a theater manager during Hamlet's Boston trial.

"He said, 'Justice Kennedy, I have really good news. We can sell you out for a month."'

Financially troubled New Jersey Symphony Orchestra to sell its collection of rare instruments

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) - The financially struggling New Jersey Symphony Orchestra is selling its prized collection of "Golden Age" string instruments, four years after acquiring them for $17 million from a benefactor who wound up in jail.

The NJSO had hoped the 30 violins, violas and cellos made by such Italian makers as Antonio Stradivari and Giuseppe Guarneri del Gesu would place it among the world's top orchestras.

But orchestra officials said the debt from the 2003 purchase hasn't been relieved by ticket sales or donations.

With demand for such instruments high, the orchestra expects to make a profit that would provide financial security, orchestra president and CEO Andre Gremillet said in Friday's editions of The Star-Ledger of Newark.

"It was not an easy decision to make, but it is clear to me and the board (of trustees) that we have to … be responsible," said Gremillet, who joined the orchestra in January.

The orchestra paid $17 million for the instruments. At the time, philanthropist Herbert Axelrod said the instruments were worth $49 million. However, experts questioned that valuation and in December 2004 an internal orchestra panel found that for tax purposes, the instruments should be valued at the purchase price, not $49 million. The panel said the orchestra erred in taking Axelrod's word for the value, and not seeking an independent appraisal.

Since then, Axelrod served a 16-month federal sentence after pleading guilty in an unrelated tax-fraud case.

Axelrod, who had lived in Ocean Township and built a fortune by selling pet products, told the newspaper that NJSO board chairman Victor Parsonnet asked him to waive a requirement that the orchestra keep the instruments for at least 10 years.

"According to Dr. Parsonnet, they were going bankrupt, so what could I do?" said Axelrod, who now lives in Zurich, Switzerland.

He said their new deal allows him to match the price for one or all of the instruments and buy them himself.

Gremillet said he hoped the orchestra would find buyers who would be willing to lend the instruments back to the NJSO.

On the Net:

http://www.njsymphony.org

Bluffton baseball player dies a week after bus crash that killed 4 teammates and 2 others

ATLANTA (AP) - A college baseball player pulled from the wreckage of his team's charter bus died of his injuries Friday, raising the death toll from last week's crash to seven.

Zach Arend, 18, had been in critical condition since the bus went off a highway overpass before dawn last Friday.

He died about 6 a.m., said Grady Memorial Hospital spokeswoman Denise Simpson. Arend's grandmother, Ann Miller, had said the Ohio teenager had suffered chest and abdominal injuries, a fractured pelvis and collapsed lungs.

"He had a great sense of humor," said Mike Engler, a sophomore who suffered minor injuries in the crash. "He got along with everybody."

Arend's parents, Dana and Caroline, wrote in a family statement that he was a wonderful son. "He loved baseball, and he loved being with his family and friends."

Four of Arend's Bluffton University teammates, the bus driver and the driver's wife were killed when the bus plowed off an overpass in Atlanta and crashed onto the Interstate 75 pavement below. More than two dozen others aboard were injured.

The Ohio team's coach, James Grandey, was listed in stable condition in the intensive care unit at Piedmont Hospital Friday. Two players remained hospitalized at Grady Memorial, one in critical condition and one in fair condition, Simpson said. Another player was in stable condition at Atlanta Medical Center.

Investigators have said the driver apparently mistook an exit ramp for a highway lane, continued along it without stopping at a "T" intersection at the top of the ramp and then went over the edge.

Team member Kyle King, talking to reporters from his hospital room earlier this week, said most of the players were asleep when he heard the bus driver's wife scream, the tires screech and the bus hit the concrete barrier.

On Thursday, hundreds of mourners gathered in the Ohio towns of Lima and Lewisburg for the funerals of his Bluffton teammates Tyler Williams and Cody Holp, both 19.

Williams' cleats and glove rested among the flowers at Philippian Missionary Baptist Church in Lima. Outside were pictures from his life, many showing the outfielder in uniform.

"Tyler was already making a difference in this world," Bluffton President James Harder said. "A difference that will now be missing."

Sixty-five miles away in Lewisburg, mourners held copies of a poem Holp had written that read: "I hope to change the world when I die so when looked upon they say he was a good man."

"Cody wanted people to smile, so he started the contagion by smiling all the time himself," the Rev. Mike Pratt said. "That's what makes him so unforgettable and his legacy enduring."

The crash also killed the bus driver and his wife, Jerome and Jean Niemeyer, and players David Betts and Scott Harmon. Arend had been a pitcher at Paulding High School, a small school in rural northwest Ohio.

The team had been scheduled to play Eastern Mennonite University in Florida. Instead, players from the school in Harrisonburg, Va., attended a memorial service.

Texas Ranger tells lawmakers his investigation into youth prisoner abuse was ignored

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) - A Texas Ranger told lawmakers he tried in vain for two years to get prosecutors to look into evidence that employees at a youth prison in West Texas had repeated sexual contact with the young inmates.

He took the results of his 2005 investigation of the West Texas State School in Pyote to federal, state and local prosecutors, but none would pursue the case, he said.

"I promised each one of those victims that I would do everything in my power to ensure that justice would not fail them, the Rangers would not fail them," Brian Burzynski told a legislative committee Thursday, his voice quivering. "I can only imagine what the students think about the Ranger who was unable to bring them justice."

Recent discussions of the agency's budget brought Burzynski's investigation to the Legislature's attention, and an internal investigation confirmed his findings and determined top officials knew of the abuse but did nothing to stop it.

This week, state leaders dispatched law enforcement officials to all 22 state youth facilities and the commission's headquarters to investigate as the sexual abuse scandal became public.

The Texas attorney general's office opened an investigation and aimed to bring the case before a grand jury by May. Lawmakers urged them to hurry.

The legislative committee Burzynski testified before, set up to look into the scandal, also gave the Texas Youth Commission Board of Directors a vote of no confidence during its first meeting Thursday after board members refused to resign.

"You're responsible for 5,000 children that are incarcerated and they're God's children," said state Rep. Jim McReynolds. "I read (investigation reports) last night 'til I wanted to vomit."

Lawmakers are trying to determine who knew that inmates had accused top officials of molesting them, when they knew about it and why they didn't stop the abuse and expose it.

During the often tear-filled testimony, members of the board claimed they didn't know about many of the allegations and didn't have time in their meetings to categorically address reports of abuse.

"I've never been involved in anything where you had to follow up on a case that was done by a Texas Ranger or by a police department or was turned over to a district attorney," said Board Chairman Donald Bethel. "We didn't know anything about that."

Bethel insisted that the board did the best it could with the information it had.

"I don't think anyone else would have done different than what this board did," Bethel said.

Sen. John Whitmire, a Houston Democrat who leads the committee, told the five board members they should all resign: "I think you ought to do the state and the young people of Texas a service by getting out of the way and letting someone else lead."

Investigators on Thursday converged on a halfway house in San Antonio after getting a tip that the superintendent had been shredding documents. Executive Director Ed Owens had previously ordered that no document be destroyed at any of the facilities.

"They conducted a search of her office, vehicle and residence with her consent and they seized state-issued computers as well as a shredder and its contents," said Ted Royer, a spokesman for Gov. Rick Perry. "She was immediately escorted off the facilities and Ed Owens has ordered that she be suspended immediately while this investigation moves forward."

Missouri man gets unexpected visitors - rabbit and bobcat - in passenger seat of golf cart

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. (AP) - It's best not to get between a predator and its prey - especially when they're in the passenger seat of your golf cart.

Water plant worker Mitch Walter would offer that bit of advice and bears the scratches of one who speaks from experience.

As Walter was inspecting the Cape Rock Water Treatment Plant property Tuesday night, a rabbit leaped into his golf cart - followed by a 25-pound bobcat. The rabbit then jumped back out, leaving Walter alone with a large, frightened feline.

"The cat went from a sleek predator after fast food to a ball of fur trying to jump through the windshield of the golf cart," Walter said.

Walter received scratches on his neck while shoving the bobcat out, necessitating a round of rabies shots, but was otherwise unhurt.

Despite warm December, cherry blossoms in Washington, D.C., to peak by festival, official says

WASHINGTON (AP) - After an unusually warm December rattled the nerves of anyone eagerly anticipating Washington's grand rite of spring, the National Park Service predicted the cherry blossoms will bloom in time for the two-week National Cherry Blossom Festival.

A majority of the 3,700 trees lining the Tidal Basin will be in bloom from April 1-7 "barring the advent of an ice age or rapid acceleration of global warming," Robert DeFeo, the park service's chief horticulturist, said Thursday.

Winter temperatures that climbed into the 70s sparked concern the trees would bloom prematurely, with none of the pink and white blossoms left for the annual festival that brings 1 million visitors and $150 million in tourism money to the city.

"I was a little nervous too, but fortunately for all of us, the cherry trees, I'd say, are the most reliable living species in our nation's capital," DeFeo said.

Some cherry trees did bloom in December, but they weren't the Yoshino variety that were presented to the United States by Japan in 1912.

DeFeo said his predictions, which have been fairly accurate in past years, come from a combination of weather forecasts and close observation of the trees and their buds.

Thursday's announcement was part of an event previewing the festival, which will run from March 31 to April 15.

The city will be treated to more than 90 events and 200 cultural performances and presentations, most highlighting Japanese culture, said Diana Mayhew, the festival's executive director.

Highlights include the opening ceremony, fireworks, and a parade featuring kimono-wearing Mickey and Minnie Mouse as grand marshals. For the first time, a District of Columbia all-star marching band will participate in the parade, with 250 students chosen from the city's public schools.

Events in all neighborhoods of the city will include sake and sushi tasting, Japanese flower arranging and Zen garden presentations, a seminar on Japanese pop culture and a downtown street fair.

Minister Mitsuro Kitano from the Japanese Embassy spoke of his pride in being from Japan as Washington celebrates his culture, and of his country's love of the cherry blossom.

"With the coming of the cherry blossoms, we feel that now spring has come. We look at the cherry blossom as a lot of things. When it blossoms, it is like we are seeing life," Kitano said.

The city plans to host the 90-year-old daughter and other family of former Tokyo Mayor Yukio Ozaki, who initially gave the trees to Washington in 1912 as a symbol of Japanese and American friendship.

On the Net:

National Park Service: http://www.nps.gov/cherry

Cherry Blossom Festival: http://www.nationalcherryblossomfestival.org/

Plane carrying peacekeepers on fire in Mogadishu, no injuries

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) - A plane carrying several African Union peacekeepers caught fire Friday as it landed in Mogadishu but nobody was injured, officials said.

An Islamic group claimed responsibility, but Somali and peacekeeping officials said it was likely a mechanical failure.

The peacekeepers - the first in Mogadishu in more than a decade - have faced mortar attacks since they arrived Tuesday from Uganda in one of the world's most violent and gun-infested cities. Two peacekeepers have been wounded in the attacks.

Paddy Ankunda, the Ugandan forces' spokesman, said Friday's fire appeared to be a mechanical failure and that all seven peacekeepers and crew were unharmed. But a newly formed extremist group, the Popular Resistance Movement in the Land of the Two Migrations, posted a Web notice Friday saying it had fired missiles at the plane.

"Two missiles hit at the center of the plane," said the statement by the coordinator of the group Hadith Aba Sadiq.

The group said it has "succeeded in burning one military plane of the black enemy in its planned attack against the Mogadishu airport."

The approximately 1,000 peacekeepers from Uganda are the vanguard of a larger force authorized by the United Nations to help the government assert its authority. The government, backed by troops from neighboring Ethiopia, toppled a radical Islamic militia here in late December, but is struggling to keep control.

Insurgents believed to be the remnants of Somalia's Council of Islamic Courts have staged almost daily attacks against the government, its armed forces or the Ethiopian military.

The Islamic Courts' military commander, Aden Hashi Ayro, allegedly trained by al-Qaida, urged Somalis to attack peacekeepers, according to a Web posting late Wednesday.

"It is time for the Somali youth to fight the occupation by Ethiopia and others," he said. "The Muslims shall not surrender to nonbelievers."

Ayro, who is in his mid-30s, is said to have received al-Qaida training in Afghanistan. He has been linked by U.N. officials to the murders of 16 people, including BBC journalist Kate Peyton. Counterterrorism officials also believe he was involved in a plot - never carried out - to bring down an Ethiopian airliner.

Late Wednesday, gunmen attacked a Ugandan convoy with a rocket-propelled grenade. At least 10 civilians were killed in the blast and subsequent gunbattle; two peacekeepers were wounded.

The surge of violence shows the volatility peacekeepers face in a country that has seen little more than anarchy for more than a decade. Several other African countries also have promised troops, but no date has been set for their arrival.

The first batch of Ugandan troops arrived Tuesday at Mogadishu International Airport, and insurgents fired mortars at them during the welcoming ceremony. One civilian was wounded.

Botan Hirey Kheyre, a local elder, said Wednesday's ambush was the latest example of civilians suffering.

"Both the assailants and the AU troops disappeared immediately," he said. "It was the civilians who suffered before our eyes," he said.

- Associated Press Writer Mohamed Sheikh Nor contributed to this report.

Mexican professional wrestler joins campaign to fight enemies of the sea

MEXICO CITY (AP) - Mexico's famous professional wrestler "Hijo del Santo," or "Son of the Saint" broadened his battle arena Thursday to encompass the Pacific Ocean's eastern coastline, where overfishing, turtle egg hunting, and pollution are threatening marine resources. - In addition to performing acrobatic duels in the ring with opponents dressed as evil characters, the silver-masked "Hijo del Santo" pledged to devote the greater part of this year helping to raise consciousness about how human actions are threatening the ocean.

The wrestler, son of Mexico's most famous fighter, "El Santo," will aid the nongovernmental, U.S.-based organization WildCoast with its campaign to stop sea turtle consumption in Mexico, defend protected areas on California's coast, and promote saving the gray whales in Baja California.

"I began to worry, to become interested, and I was affected very much by the statistics on what is happening," El Hijo told a news conference that included the presentation of a mock movie trailer announcing "Santo Vs. the Enemies of the Sea."

To raise consciousness, El Hijo will visit various coastal communities in northern Mexico, where he will distribute educational comics featuring his character confronting threats to the ocean.

His father, "El Santo," appeared in more than 50 films and comic books, battling supernatural creatures, evil scientists and other societal ills.

El Hijo's latest venture reflects a long tradition in Mexico, where legions of the leotard-wearing wrestlers have participated in everything from presidential campaigns to battles for affordable housing.

He also will travel to California to promote conservation in Latino communities and will head a petition drive in Mexico City demanding that lawmakers create more protected marine zones.

"I am prepared to go straight to Los Pinos and chat with President Felipe Calderon," El Hijo said, referring to the president's official residence.

On the Net:

WildCoast: www.wildcoast.net

El Hijo del Santo's Web site: www.elhijodelsanto.com.mx (in Spanish)

Cyclone kills at least 1, injures 20 in northwestern Australia

PERTH, Australia (AP) - A powerful cyclone ripped across Australia's northwestern coast on Friday, tearing roofs from houses in remote towns and laying waste to at least one mining camp. Officials said at least one person was killed and 20 injured. - Several communities in the iron ore-rich Pilbara region were cut off by air and road, and communications were limited on Friday as Cyclone George swirled near the town of Port Hedland overnight, police and other officials said.

The storm, packing sustained winds of 121 mph but much stronger gusts, also damaged property and cut power and phone lines to at least three towns, said State Emergency Services manager Derek Jones.

Police spokesman Ian Hasleby said the confirmed casualties occurred at the Wadgina mine to the south of Port Hedland, about 1,025 miles north of Perth,

A rescue team reached the camp later Friday and began evacuating the injured, said Julian Tapp, a spokesman for Fortescue Metals Group that was building the railway.

Western Australia state Premier Alan Carpenter said there were unconfirmed reports of three deaths.

Residents in the region were being warned to stay inside because the storm was still raging Friday, though it was weakening. Rescue workers were unable to immediately travel to the workers camp.

Police have also received reports of people being trapped inside collapsed buildings, said inspector Phil Clews.

"We have a number of injured people, some serious. We have concerns about the possibility of fatalities," Clews said.

Forecasters warned of potentially dangerous winds as the storm moved inland to the Pilbara region.

Cyclones - called typhoons throughout much of Asia and hurricanes in the Western hemisphere - are large-scale rotating storms that generate high winds and typically form at sea before moving inland.

Indian farmer finds fame when he catches a calf eating chickens

CALCUTTA, India (AP) - When his chickens started disappearing a few weeks ago, a farmer in eastern India figured dogs or jackals were to blame - until he discovered his calf making a meal of his poultry.

The farmer and his 1-year-old calf have since become local celebrities, with the carnivorous cow appearing on television in India's West Bengal state and hundreds of people flocking to see them in Chandipur, a village 145 miles southwest of Calcutta, the state capital.

The farmer got up early to catch the culprit "and to his disbelief found that it was his calf which came out from the cow shed and was eating the chickens alive," Debjyoti Chatterjee, a local resident who filmed the calf eating a chicken, said Thursday.

The local veterinarian was at a loss for an explanation.

"I've never read or heard about cows turning carnivorous," said Mihir Tripathy. "They eat grass and other vegetarian food but not fish or other non-vegetarian stuff."

Turkish ban on YouTube lifted

ISTANBUL, Turkey (AP) - Turkey lifted its ban on YouTube Friday, an official for the country's largest telecommunications firm said, two days after a court ordered the Web site blocked because of videos that allegedly insulted the founder of modern Turkey.

Ahter Kutadgu, head of corporate communications for Turk Telekom, told the Anatolia news agency his company had been notified of a court decision to lift the ban.

Kutadgu did not elaborate on the court's reasoning. "As soon as the court decision lifting the ban reached us, we immediately opened YouTube," he said.

The Istanbul court that ordered the site blocked on Wednesday had said it would lift the ban as soon as it ascertained that videos insulting Turkey's founding father, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, were removed.

The ban had been condemned by the press freedom group Reporters without Borders and drew attention to Turkey's shaky record on permitting free expression.

It is illegal in Turkey to insult Ataturk, a revered figure whose image graces every denomination of currency and whose portrait hangs in nearly all government offices.

Several prominent Turkish journalists and writers have been tried for allegedly insulting Ataturk or for the crime of insulting "Turkishness."

Sudden downdraft cited as factor in Indonesian jetliner fire

YOGYAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) - An Indonesian jetliner battled sudden wind shear before crash-landing, damaging an emergency door in business class that may have prevented some passengers from escaping after it erupted in flames, the pilot and an investigator said Friday.

Twenty-one people died, but 119 others survived after scrambling through exits at the back of the Boeing 737-400's cabin through black smoke and flames.

The Garuda Airlines crash - the fourth involving a commercial jetliner since 2005 - has put the spotlight back on Indonesia's aviation safety record. Experts say poor maintenance, rule-bending and a shortage of trained professionals in the country's booming aviation industry are likely factors in the disasters.

Vice President Yusuf Kalla said Friday that Indonesia should be "ashamed," and vowed to replace several top Transport Ministry officials. "We will issue stronger regulations and older aircraft will be banned."

Investigators say data from the plane's flight recorders, which are being analyzed in Australia, was needed before drawing any firm conclusions on the cause of Wednesday's crash at Yogyakarta's international airport.

But the pilot of doomed aircraft said "he felt a very powerful downdraft just before landing," Capt. Stephanus Geraldus, president of Garuda's pilots' association, told The Associated Press, referring to a phenomena typically caused by differences in air temperature or pressure.

Such wind shears have been blamed in other accidents involving commercial jetliners.

Pilots experiencing a strong downdraft are "one moment sitting with the aircraft under control and the next minute pushed to the ground very rapidly," said Tom Ballantyne, chief correspondent of Orient Aviation magazine.

"As he reacts, the aircraft will become slightly unstable, it may start to shudder or shake," Ballantyne said, adding that while there are standard ways to restore control of the plane, the pilot's natural reaction is unfortunately to speed up.

"When the wind changes direction again, he ends up going too fast," he said.

Several passengers reported that plane appeared to be traveling too fast as it approached the runway for landing.

Investigators said front wheels of the plane snapped off on landing and that fuel from a punctured tank in the right wing fed the flames, which reached up to 1,112 degrees Fahrenheit.

Many of the dead were sitting in business class.

"We found that the front left door could not be opened because it was damaged when the plane hit a dike," said crash investigator Frans Wenas. "It is possible that some of the passengers could not get out because of that."

Australian Federal Police Commissioner Mick Keelty said Friday it was too early in the investigation to speculate on the cause of the crash, though he had also been told of reports of wind shear.

"We really won't know until all the data is known and all the exhibits put back together," he told Australian Broadcasting Corp.

Indonesia tries to stem flow from mud volcano with hundreds of concrete balls

PORONG, Indonesia (AP) - For nine months, a gaping hole in the ground has spit out a biblical torrent of hot, black mud, swallowing thousands of homes outside Indonesia's second-largest city and attracting amazed geologists from around the world.

Most say the flow is unstoppable, but Indonesian experts refuse to listen, and they have recently begun carrying out a scheme straight from a Hollywood movie: dropping nearly 1,500 concrete balls into the mouth of the mud volcano.

"We know lots of people think this is a crazy idea," said professor Satria Bijaksana, one of three geologists behind the $130 million plan aimed at reducing the spew of the sludge by as much as 70 percent. "But we think it will work."

Mud volcanos are fairly common along volatile tectonic belts and in areas rich in oil and natural gas like Indonesia.

But the eruption just outside the city of Surabaya is exceptional because of the sheer volume of mud that has been surging each day from the hole - enough to fill 50 Olympic-sized swimming pools. Twelve villages and 20 factories have been swallowed, with mud-caked roofs and the tops of lamp posts as the only reminders of what once was there.

Some scientists suggest the rupture was triggered by improper drilling at a nearby natural gas site. Other research points to a major earthquake two days before the mud first appeared in a rice field in May 2006.

The ball-dropping operation, which began last month, follows several failed attempts to contain or stop the mud.

Engineers tried building earthen dams to hold back the sludge, but they are about to overflow. The viscosity of the mud hindered efforts to channel it into the sea. A plan to cap the volcano with concrete was abandoned almost immediately as ill-conceived.

Now, engineers are using a pulley system to hoist the beachball-sized concrete spheres over the crater before dropping them from a height of around two stories. The balls, each weighing about 150 pounds, are chained together in clusters of four.

So far, nearly 150 have been tossed into the abyss, too few to make a real impact. The government has given them another five weeks to make a difference, or walk away and let the volcano run its course.

Critics say almost everything depends on the shape of the mammoth gullet, believed by the ball-dropping team to resemble a champagne glass, although recent sonar readings indicate its base may be larger than initially thought.

"The hope is that the balls will fit snuggle at the bottom, but it is unlikely to be that simple," said Richard Davies, a geologist at Durham University in Britain who has studied the mud volcano, noting that there apparently are several separate vents.

"When they drop these balls in, it could be that they just drop straight down, they could drop hundreds of meters (yards) and just fill a large void."

Another concern is that if the hole is effectively blocked, pressure will build up behind the balls and trigger eruptions elsewhere.

"It's like putting your thumb at the end a hose pipe - a fairly rotten hose which could spring a leak anywhere along its length," said Davies. "The fluid will take the next easiest path … if it's a really solid plug, then the pressure would go elsewhere and possibly reactivate other fractures."

But with scientists predicting the mud could flow for decades or even centuries, those who have been made homeless say it's worth a shot. Already, 2 square miles of land has been submerged, and a key rail line and highway are now being threatened.

The displaced residents are living in a former market near the site.

"They can't just give up, they have to fight this mud," said Subagio, a 49-year-old father of four. "We have no home, no job, nothing. And who knows how long we will be able to stay here?"

Much of his anger is directed at PT Lapindo Brantas, the Indonesian gas company accused of triggering the eruption by creating fissures in a bed of porous limestone during faulty drilling. The company denies it is to blame, but it is under investigation.

The government estimates the eruption will cause $844 million in damage and has ordered Lapindo, which is funding the concrete-ball experiment, to pay half that. Some of the money will go to compensate victims.

The disaster zone has been turned into a stopping point for some tourists, who pay about 10 cents to young, unemployed men for a glimpse. Dodik Prastia, who worked in a watch factory before it was swallowed up by the mud, sells anti-Lapindo DVDs to visitors.

"It's appalling, I don't know what to say," said Bobbe Wood, from Vancouver, British Columbia, as her eyes skim over the massive black lake, balls being dropped in the distance.

"Let's hope this project works, because if it doesn't, well what then? The road, the railway, everything will be washed away," she said

Experts warn of raised volcanic activity after powerful Indonesian quake

MOUNT TALANG, Indonesia (AP) - An earthquake that killed more than 70 people in western Indonesia may have led to heightened activity at three volcanoes, experts warned Friday.

Geologists said sensors on the slopes of three active volcanoes - Talang, Tandikat and Merapi - have detected above-average activity since the 6.3 magnitude temblor, which was also felt in Singapore and Malaysia.

"We usually need about a month to observe whether the earthquake could trigger an eruption," said Gede Suantika, an official from Indonesia's volcanology institute.

Tuesday's quake, which was followed by a powerful aftershock, flattened scores of homes and buckled roads on Sumatra island's western side.

"We should see the quake as a test for all of us … and redeem ourselves by doing good deeds," Muhammad Thantawi, a preacher, told worshippers gathered outside a destroyed mosque.

Residents living near Talang - one of the country's most active mountains - were nervous. In 2005, a minor eruption forced the evacuation of more than 2,500 people.

"Every night I keep my eyes on the peak before I go to sleep," said Nur Hayati, adding that an official from the volcano's monitoring post had told her village to be alert.

Indonesia, the world's largest archipelago, is prone to seismic upheaval because of its location on the Pacific "Ring of Fire," an arc of volcanos and fault lines encircling the Pacific Basin.

Suantika said the quake's epicenter was located on a fault line that goes close to the three volcanoes on its way to the southern part of Sumatra, which like many of Indonesia's 17,000 islands is dotted with volcanoes.

Some survivors living near Mount Talang said they were running low on food because they had not returned to work in fields on its slopes.

Food, water and instant noodles have arrived in cities, but assistance has been slow to reach victims in surrounding areas, said Ahmad Arsnal, an official at the provincial emergency relief agency.

Agencies have given conflicting death tolls, as is common in disasters here.

A presidential spokesman said Wednesday that 52 people died, revising the toll down from 70 reported on the day of the quake. But a day later, West Sumatra vice governor Marlis Rahman said 74 people had died.