YOGYAKARTA, Indonesia - Like many passengers on her flight, Nuniek Sufithri thanked God she was alive after the Boeing 737-400 made a terrifying descent and lurched off the runway, bouncing several times before plowing through a fence.

Then the jetliner burst into flames, sending panic through the rows of seats.

"People started yelling 'Fire! Fire!" said Sufithri, who is 10 weeks pregnant. "I tried to get out, but was trampled … someone pulled me up, carried me to the back door and threw me out."

At least 21 people were killed in the burning wreckage of the Garuda Airlines plane after it crash-landed Wednesday at Yogyakarta airport on Java island, the latest in a string of recent plane crashes that has cast doubt on the safety of Indonesia's airline industry.

About 115 others escaped through emergency exits as black smoke billowed behind them, and two passengers were missing, officials said. Most survivors escaped without major injuries, although several suffered burns and broken bones.

Sufithri, 30, was rushed to a hospital after a stranger swept her up from a rice paddy. She suffered no major injuries and did not miscarry.

Wayan Sukarda, an Indonesian cameraman for Australia's Seven Network, managed to scramble off the plane, then shot dramatic video of dazed passengers fleeing as black smoke and orange flames poured from the fuselage behind them.

An explosion and fireball then ripped through the air, apparently as the fire reached a fuel tank, the footage showed.

Sukarda had called the network as the plane was crashing, a colleague told The West Australian newspaper. "He was screaming, 'The plane's crashing.' I thought he must have seen another plane crash. I didn't know it was the one he was on. You could hear all the alarms and sirens going off, people screaming," said Channel Seven's Danny Sim.

A man who lived near the crash site said the plane reached the end of the runway and then "jumped in the air."

"I heard a loud noise and saw flames," said Subarno, who like many Indonesians uses a single name. "I saw a man - I think he was the pilot - shouting 'Get out! Get out!' Some people were on fire. Not long after, there were three explosions."

Of the 140 people on the plane, about 19 were foreigners, including nine Australian diplomats, journalists and security officials visiting for an anti-terrorism conference. Indonesian officials said at least two Australians were among the dead: a financial reporter and an embassy employee, said the journalist's assistant and the state news agency Antara.

"It is a terrible tragedy," Australian Prime Minister John Howard told a nationally televised news conference. "Many lives have been lost, and our love and sympathy and condolences go to those who are suffering distress and grief."

The Indonesian government ordered an investigation into the crash, the third involving a commercial jetliner in as many months. On New Year's Day, a jet plummeted into the sea, killing all 102 people on board. Weeks later, a plane broke apart on landing, though there were no casualties.

In response to the accidents, the government has said it would ban commercial airlines from operating planes more than 10 years old, but most experts say maintenance must be improved and the number of flights per day limited to reduce the amount of stress on planes.

Some have also called for Transportation Minister Hatta Radjasa to resign.

"He should not be allowed to wash his hands of this," Burhanuddin Napitulu, senior lawmaker from Indonesia's ruling party. "The public has lost all trust. They are too scared to take planes, trains or ferries any more because the disasters are never-ending."

Dozens of airlines have emerged since Indonesia started deregulating the industry in the late 1990s, and the rapid expansion has raised concerns that growth has outpaced the supply of trained aviation professionals, regulatory oversight, parts and ground infrastructure.

Although Garuda has had nine plane crashes in the past 30 years, killing 330, the airline has made strides recently on improving its safety regulations and training pilots. It had not had a major crash in a decade.

Survivors said the Garuda flight, which had taken off 50 minutes earlier from the capital Jakarta, shook violently as it approached Yogyakarta airport too fast in clear weather. It then shot off the runway and bounced several times before coming to rest in a rice field.

"The plane landed at a crazy speed. It was going into a dive and I was certain we would crash on the ground," Alessandro Bertellotti, a journalist with Italian broadcaster RAI, told the ANSA news agency. "I was sitting behind the wing. … I saw that the pilot was trying to stop it, but it was too fast. It literarily bounced on the strip."

He told the British Broadcasting Corp. that the jet "kept rolling even after we reached the end of the runway."

"It got dark, objects started flying around, people started screaming. I remember that I kept cool, thinking only about escaping, nothing else," he said.

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono appointed the security minister to look into possible "nontechnical" causes for the crash, said spokesman Andi Mallarangeng, an apparent reference to sabotage.

Howard, the Australian leader, said he did not believe foul play was involved. "I have not received any advice suggesting it was anything other than a tragic accident," he said in Melbourne.

Indonesia has been hit by a string of disasters in recent months. The plane crash came a day after an earthquake killed 52 people and injured hundreds on Sumatra island.

In late December, a passenger ferry sank in a storm in the Java Sea, killing more than 400 people. Days later, a Boeing 737 operated by the budget airline Adam Air crashed into the ocean, killing all 102 people aboard. And a ferry that sank near the capital's port last month left at least 50 dead.

Comic hero, foe of Hitler assassinated by sniper

NEW YORK (AP) - Holy homicide, Batman! Captain America is dead! Assassinated, in fact, as he walks into a federal courthouse in New York, under arrest and in handcuffs, headed to his arraignment for refusing to sign the government's Superhero Registration Act and forcibly revealing his true identity.

It all happens in the latest edition of Marvel Comics, which hit newsstands on Wednesday.

A sniper, firing a high-powered rifle from a rooftop, hits the famed red, white and blue leader of the Avengers with three bullets and escapes the scene, leaving the weapon behind Oswald-style, as police and Captain America's military escort cope with chaos in the streets.

What does this mean? Can the pulverizing patriot really be dead, shot down on the courthouse steps after 66 years of battling villains from Adolf Hitler to the Red Skull? Will the killer or killers be captured?

The only way to find out, says Dan Buckley, president and publisher of Marvel Entertainment, is to "read the book" as the story line unfolds.

Buckley will not divulge details of what he describes as "really cool plot twists," but does not rule out the possibility that Captain America is not really dead or is somehow resurrected.

"When you live in a world of make-believe, a lot of things are possible," he said in a telephone interview.

In any case, readers should not necessarily despair. After all, this is not the first time Captain America was presumed dead. In the last days of World War II, his alter-ego, the former arts student Steve Rogers, was believed killed by a bomb aboard an experimental pilot-less plane, only to have been found later, frozen in a cake of ice, by Sub-Mariner (remember him?).

Years later, when the Avengers retrieved Rogers' thawed-out body, they found Captain America's stars-and-stripes costume under the military uniform, along with his unbreakable shield.

One thing led to another and the revived superhero rose to become leader of the Avengers. From a headquarters in Brooklyn's shabby dockside Red Hook neighborhood, he embarked on new adventures with the Marvel cast of characters.

Whether this had anything to do with Red Hook's recent real estate boomlet is unclear.

Captain America was an early member of the pantheon of comic book heroes that began with Superman in the 1930s.

He landed on newsstands in March 1941, nine months before Pearl Harbor - delivering a a punch to Hitler on the cover of his first issue, a sock-in-the-jaw reminder that there was a war on and the United States was not involved.

Since then, Marvel Entertainment Inc., has sold more than 200 million copies of Captain America magazine in 75 countries.

In the most recent story line, he became involved in a superhero "civil war," taking up sides against former buddy Iron Man in the registration controversy, climaxed by his arrest and assassination.

The publisher said the theme was seriously debated in staff meetings with the decision that the assassination was "kind of logical in a very compelling story."

Buckley said that despite being handcuffed and without his shield, Captain America saved the life of another person by taking the bullets. He did not know whether the Captain's lawyer was present.

He said he did not anticipate widespread reaction to the slaying of the red white and blue superhero. "We'll get a few people upset, and I don't expect to hear, `Yeah, Captain America's dead,"' but the story continues.

On the Net:

www.marvelcomics.com

Angelina Jolie's adoption of Vietnamese boy should move swiftly, official says

HANOI, Vietnam (AP) - Angelina Jolie plans to adopt a young Vietnamese boy and he probably will be moving to the United States in no more than three months, Vietnam's top adoption official said Wednesday.

Jolie chose the boy, who is between 3 and 4 years old, during a recent visit to the Tam Binh orphanage on the outskirts of Ho Chi Minh City, said Vu Duc Long, the head of the justice ministry's international adoption department in Hanoi.

Under ordinary circumstances, it takes about four months to process an adoption after the forms arrive, Long said. If the prospective parent already has chosen a child, the adoption can be completed in just three months.

"Three months would be the longest," Long said, adding that Jolie's case could be processed faster than that.

Long confirmed last week that Jolie had filed adoption papers, but did not provide any details about the child or how long the process would take.

Jolie initiated the adoption process in the United States, but her application only arrived at Long's office last week. His department has approved the application and sent it to officials in Ho Chi Minh City, who also must review it.

Jolie and her partner, Brad Pitt, have three children: 5-year-old Maddox, adopted from Cambodia; 2-year-old Zahara, adopted from Ethiopia; and another daughter, Shiloh, who was born to the couple in May.

The pair made a surprise visit to the Tam Binh orphanage at Thanksgiving, when they were spotted cruising around Ho Chi Minh City on a motorbike.

Authorities: Suicides at schools in Michigan, Texas; girl wounded in Mich. shooting

MIDLAND, Mich. (AP) - A teenager shot his former girlfriend four times outside her high school, then killed himself in one of two fatal U.S. school shootings Wednesday, authorities said.

Jessica Forsyth, 17, was taken to Hurley Medical Center in Flint, where she was in serious but stable condition, hospital spokeswoman Christie White said Wednesday afternoon.

Midland Police Chief James St. Louis said the gunman died in the parking lot.

The boy, a 17-year-old from nearby Coleman, had gone to H.H. Dow High School on Wednesday morning to try to talk to Jessica, but he was turned away by school officials, the police chief said. The boy then called her and asked her to meet him outside the building.

After a conversation in the parking lot, the boy pulled a gun out of a backpack and shot her four times before turning the gun on himself, St. Louis said.

The girl's mother, who had dropped her daughter off at the school, saw the shooting from her car and drove between the two to try to protect the girl, authorities said.

The school, about 100 miles northwest of Detroit, was locked down after the shooting. Dow High is named after the founder of chemical giant Dow Chemical Co. and has 1,500 students. No school activities were canceled.

"It's kind of confusing," said junior Cory Hearns, who was taking an economics exam at the time. "I don't know what to say about it. People didn't know what to think or what was going on."

In Greenville, Texas, a 16-year-old student fatally shot himself inside the band hall at Greenville High School, police said.

Police responded to the shooting about 15 minutes before the first bell, and the student was pronounced dead later at a hospital, Greenville city spokeswoman Lori Philyaw said in a statement.

The student's body was taken to the Dallas County medical examiner's office for an autopsy, Philyaw said.

Greenville is a city of about 26,000 residents about 45 miles northeast of Dallas. Greenville High has an enrollment of about 5,200 students.

Associated Press writers Jeff Karoub in Detroit and Paul J. Weber in Dallas contributed to this report.

Suspect arrested in bus stop abduction of Fla. teen; boy escaped after being tied up in woods

BRADENTON, Fla. (AP) - Authorities arrested the man they believe abducted 13-year-old Clay Moore from a bus stop last month and left him tied up in the woods, officials said Wednesday.

Vicente Ignacio Beltran-Moreno, 22, agreed to voluntarily return from his native Mexico after several days of negotiations, Manatee County Sheriff Charlie Wells said.

Beltran-Moreno was arrested in Texas Wednesday morning at the U.S.-Mexico border and extradition proceedings were under way to get him back to Florida.

"We pretty much told him we weren't going to give up," sheriff's Maj. Connie Shingledecker said. She said they convinced him he would be better off in a U.S. prison, close to his girlfriend and two children, than incarcerated in Mexico.

Clay was grabbed Feb. 23 while waiting at his school bus stop in Parrish. The gunman drove off with him in a red pickup truck, then left him tied up in the woods about 20 miles away. The boy's parents have said he used a safety pin to pick apart the duct tape that held his wrists and then freed himself.

Beltran-Moreno became a suspect after investigators took an artist's sketch to a migrant worker camps east of Bradenton.

Investigators have said they believe that Clay was picked out at random and that the kidnapper planned to leave him tied up in the woods until a ransom was paid.

Clay's stepfather, Steve Kelle, said the boy's family was pleased with the arrest.

"We're just overjoyed and we're glad we can get past this," he said.

French law takes effect aiming to crack down on 'happy slapping' - the filming of violent acts

PARIS (AP) - A new law in France makes it a crime for anyone who is not a professional journalist to film real-world violence and distribute the images on the Internet.

Critics call it a clumsy effort by authorities to battle "happy slapping," the youth fad of filming violent acts - which most often they have provoked - and spreading the images on the Web or between mobile phones.

The measure, tucked deep into a vast anti-crime law that took effect Wednesday, has alarmed media advocates who say it tramples on freedom of expression.

Ligue Odebi, an association that seeks to protect freedom of expression on the Internet, said the measure will also hinder citizens' abilities to expose police brutality.

"This makes France the Western country that most infringes on freedom of expression and information - particularly on the Internet," the group said in a statement on its Web site.

The measure has implications for online video sites like YouTube, or France's Dailymotion.com. Authorities could ask them to identify the sources of images made available through their sites.

The new provision targets "happy slapping," a phenomenon that began in Britain and whose name belies the gravity of the attacks. Violators will be subject to up to five years in prison and nearly $100,000 in fines.

In France, "happy slapping" appears to be rare. Police have counted about 20 cases of filmed violence or sex attacks, but acknowledge there could be countless others.

Last year, a student used a cell phone camera to film an attack by a fellow student on a teacher at a high school in the town of Porcheville. In another incident, photos were taken of a young girl who was gang-raped in Nice and the images were circulated at her school.

Some believe that shows such as MTV's "Jackass," in which the regulars perform stunts involving self-inflicted pain and humiliation, are the inspiration for the acts.

French authorities have been seeking new ways to combat youth violence after a wave of rioting, car burnings and violence mostly in poor neighborhoods on the fringes of Paris and other cities in 2005. French police first grew concerned with "happy slapping" when youths filmed during the rioting were seen using cell phones to record clashes between their friends and police.

Media advocacy group Reporters Without Borders said it understood the government's need to crack down on "happy slapping," but feared the law draws a "dangerous" distinction that would punish "regular citizens" for doing what journalists are allowed to do.

"The sections of this law supposedly dealing with 'happy slapping' in fact have a much broader scope," Reporters Without Borders said in a statement. "Posting videos online showing violence against people could now be banned, even if it were the police carrying out the violence."

Ligue Odebi noted that the approval of the law by France's Constitutional Council on Saturday fell on the 16th anniversary of the March 3, 1991, beating of motorist Rodney King by Los Angeles police officers in a scene captured on amateur video - a case that sparked a national outcry in the United States.

Relatives mourn, cleanup begins after Indonesian earthquake kills 52

SOLOK, Indonesia (AP) - Okiardi wept and prayed at his daughter's grave Wednesday, a day after a concrete slab dislodged by an earthquake collapsed on top of the 5-year-old in a school playground.

Survivors began cleaning up homes damaged by the temblor, which killed 52 people and was another grim reminder of the powerful seismic forces that lie beneath Indonesia.

Okiardi said he identified his daughter by her earring because her face was smashed beyond recognition when he found her at a hospital.

"I could still feel her heart beating," he recalled, crying quietly. "Moments later, she died."

The 6.3 magnitude quake that struck Sumatra island Tuesday was felt as far away as neighboring Malaysia and Singapore, where some tall buildings were evacuated. Two hours later, a 6.1 aftershock rattled the region.

The quake left at least 52 dead, said Cabinet Secretary Sudi Silalahi, lowering the death toll by nearly 20. He said some victims had been counted twice.

In Solok, a bustling town close to the epicenter, three members of one family were killed when their collapsed home burst into flames, said police spokesman Supriadi, who like many Indonesians uses only one name. Military and work crews scrambled to clean up the charred remains of the house.

Another woman, Jaini, 71, died early Wednesday after being trapped inside her kitchen when the walls caved in. Her son-in-law dug her out of the rubble, but she refused to go to the hospital saying it was "no use," said her daughter, Kento.

Nursiam, Jaini's cousin, who was sitting with family members beside her dead relative before burial, said she had never felt such a powerful quake. "This was the biggest ever," she said.

The damage varied greatly. Some houses were flattened, with only tin roofs left sitting atop the ground, while others had only slight cracks in walls or porches. Many homes appeared to have escaped damage completely, but jittery residents were not taking any chances.

Many survivors lounged on straw mats under trees and cooked under plastic canopies in yards. They spent the night outside wrapped in blankets, hovering beside lanterns and fires to escape the cool mountain air.

Indonesia, which straddles one of the world's most seismically active zones, was hardest hit by the 2004 Asian tsunami that killed 160,000 people on Sumatra's northern tip. Since then, two other deadly quakes have occurred, as well as landslides, floods and volcanic eruptions.

Dozens of buildings were destroyed and hundreds others damaged in the latest quake, according to local police chief Lt. Col. Budi Sarwono. A three-story home was flattened, and wide cracks were left in roads.

Heavy machinery was used to knock down some buildings still standing after the quake but too damaged to be salvaged. Backhoes and dump trucks moved mounds of dirt and broken concrete, but many houses remained tilted sideways or perched precariously on cracked support beams.

Patients poured into hospitals, many with broken bones and cuts, but most were treated outside because of fears more quakes would follow.

A military hospital was deserted, and patients were treated across the street under tents in a soccer field. They were given oxygen and intravenous drips, and many had fresh bandages covering their heads.

"I tell them to keep their spirit alive," said Dr. Rocky Hendrawan, who was racing among the cots to check on patients. Officials said some 250 people were injured.

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

In addition to the 2004 tsunami, an earthquake killed nearly 5,000 on Java island last year.

Tuesday's quake was about 660 miles west of Jakarta.

Report: China to have 600 million cell phone users by 2010

BEIJING (AP) - China is expected to have more than 600 million cell phone users by 2010, state media said Wednesday.

The Xinhua News Agency, citing the Ministry of Information Industry, said the number of users this year should reach 520 million, up from 460 million in 2006.

It also said the number of Chinese using the Internet will top 200 million, accounting for 15 percent of the country's population of 1.3 billion.

China now has the world's second-largest population of Internet users after the United States, with 137 million people online, according to the government.

The Chinese government promotes Internet use for education and business, but tries to block the public from seeing material online that is deemed subversive or pornographic.

Xinhua said China imported its first cell phone telecommunication facilities in 1987, and it took a decade for the number of subscribers to reach 10 million.

Ex-convict guilty in Florida girl's slaying; case led a crackdown on sex offenders

MIAMI (AP) - A sex offender was found guilty Wednesday of kidnapping and raping a 9-year-old girl and burying her alive in a case that led to a crackdown around the country on people convicted of sex crimes.

Jurors deliberated about four hours before returning the verdict against John Evander Couey in the slaying of Jessica Lunsford, who was snatched from her bedroom in 2005 about 150 yards from the trailer where Couey had been living.

Her body was found in a shallow hole, encased in two black plastic trash bags. She had suffocated, and was found clutching a purple stuffed dolphin.

The jury next must decide whether Couey, 48, should get death by injection or life in prison.

Couey stood staring straight ahead and swaying slightly as the verdicts were read. Jessica's father, Mark Lunsford, who has helped push efforts for tougher monitoring of sex offenders, showed no emotion.

Couey admitted to investigators shortly after his arrest that he committed the crime, but the confession was thrown out because he did not have a lawyer present as he had requested.

The evidence at trial included DNA from Jessica's blood and Couey's semen on a mattress in his bedroom, as well as Jessica's fingerprints in a closet in the trailer.

Jail guards and investigators testified that Couey repeatedly admitted details of the slaying after his arrest and that he insisted he had not meant to kill the third-grader but panicked as police searched for her.

Couey had a record as a sex offender. In 1991, he was arrested on a charge of fondling a child. In 1978, he was accused of grabbing a girl in her bedroom, placing his hand over her mouth and kissing her.

But authorities had not known that Couey was living near the Lunsford home even though he was required to tell them he had moved.

Jessica's killing prompted Florida and a number of other states to pass new laws cracking down on sex offenders and improve tracking of them through databases and satellite positioning devices.

Sentencing is to begin Tuesday. A psychologist testified for the defense that Couey has signs of mental illness and mental retardation, mitigating circumstances that could help spare him the death penalty.

Couey spent much of the trial drawing with colored pencils.

Turkish court orders access to YouTube blocked, citing insult to Ataturk

ISTANBUL, Turkey (AP) - A court ordered access to YouTube's Web site blocked Wednesday after a prosecutor recommended the ban because of videos allegedly insulting the founder of modern Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.

Paul Doany, head of Turk Telekom, Turkey's largest telecommunications provider, said his company had immediately begun enforcing the ban.

"We are not in the position of saying that what YouTube did was an insult, that it was right or wrong," Doany told the state-run Anatolia news agency. "A court decision was proposed to us, and we are doing what that court decision says."

Visitors to the YouTube site from Turkey were greeted with the message: "Access to this site has been blocked by a court decision! …"

A message in both Turkish and English at the bottom of the page said, "Access to www.youtube.com site has been suspended in accordance with decision no: 2007/384 dated 06.03.2007 of Istanbul First Criminal Peace Court."

Doany said Turk Telekom would allow access to the popular video sharing site again if the court decision were rescinded. Access from Turkey might be possible through other service providers, he said.

Most Internet users in Turkey use Turk Telekom, a state-run monopoly until it was privatized in 2005.

During the past week, Turkish media publicized what some called a "virtual war" between Greeks and Turks on YouTube, with people from both sides posting videos to belittle and berate the other.

The video prompting the ban allegedly said Ataturk and the Turkish people were homosexuals, news reports said. The CNN-Turk Web site featured a link allowing Turks to complain directly by e-mail to YouTube about the "insult."

On its front page Wednesday, the newspaper Hurriyet said thousands of people had written to YouTube and that the Ataturk videos had been removed from the site. "YouTube got the message," the headline said.

Insulting Ataturk or "Turkishness" is a crime in Turkey punishable by prison.

Turkey, which hopes to join the European Union, has been roundly condemned for not doing enough to curb extreme nationalist sentiments and to protect freedom of expression.

It's not the first time YouTube has been banned. The Australian state of Victoria recently banned it from government schools in a crackdown on cyber-bullying after a gang of male students videotaped their assault on a 17-year-old girl on the outskirts of Melbourne.

State Department to Kazakhstan: Be nice to Borat

WASHINGTON (AP) - Borat, that crass chronicler of the American condition, has been singled out by the State Department as a victim of suppression in his own homeland.

The department's annual human rights report criticizes Kazakhstan for taking action against the satirical Web site of Sacha Baron Cohen, creator of the fictional Kazakh journalist in the film "Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan." Baron Cohen also starred in the movie.

Specifically, the government took control of the registration of .kz Internet domains in 2005 and revoked Baron Cohen's domain because it deemed his site offensive, the report said.

The State Department cited independent Web media reports that the government of the former Soviet state in central Asia monitored e-mail and Internet activity, blocked or slowed access to opposition Web sites and planted propaganda in Internet chat rooms.

"The government limited individuals' ability to criticize the country's leadership, and regional leaders attempted to limit local media outlets' criticism of them," said the report, which was released Tuesday.

The movie depicting Borat's pseudo-documentary wanderings across the U.S. became an unlikely hit and earned Baron Cohen a Golden Globe acting award. It also generated complaints that Baron Cohen duped his American subjects into making racist and sexist remarks and portrayed Kazakhs in a similarly unflattering light.

Borat, for example, asserted that Kazakhs are addicted to horse urine, enjoy shooting dogs, view rape and incest as respectable hobbies and are fond of "running of the Jew" festivals. Baron Cohen is a British comedian and observant Jew.

On the Web:

Report's findings on Kazakhstan: http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2006/78820.htm

U.S. Mint goof: Unknown number of new dollar coins missing "In God We Trust"

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - An unknown number of new George Washington dollar coins were mistakenly struck without their edge inscriptions, including "In God We Trust," and are fetching around $50 apiece online.

The properly struck dollar coins, bearing the likeness of the nation's first president, are inscribed along the edge with "In God We Trust," "E Pluribus Unum" and the year and mint mark. The flawed coins made it past inspectors and went into circulation Feb. 15.

The U.S. Mint struck 300 million of the coins, which are golden in color and slightly larger and thicker than a quarter.

About half were made in Philadelphia and the rest in Denver. So far the mint has only received reports of error coins coming from Philadelphia, mint spokeswoman Becky Bailey said.

Bailey said it was unknown how many coins lacked the inscriptions. Ron Guth, president of Professional Coin Grading Service, one of the world's largest coin authentication companies, said he believes that at least 50,000 error coins were put in circulation.

"The first one sold for $600 before everyone knew how common they actually were," he said. "They're going for around $40 to $60 on eBay now, and they'll probably settle in the $50 range."

Production of the presidential dollar entails a "new, complex, high-volume manufacturing system" that the mint will adjust to eliminate any future defects, the mint said in a statement.

"We take this matter seriously. We also consider quality control a high priority. The agency is looking into the matter to determine a possible cause in the manufacturing process," the statement said.

Guth said it appeared from the roughly 50 smooth-edge dollars he has authenticated that the problem had to do with quality control rather than a mechanical error.

"These coins are struck like normal coins, then they go through another machine that adds edge lettering in another process. These apparently skipped that process," he said. "We've seen a couple of instances where the edge lettering may be weak or indistinct, but we're not talking about that here."

The coin's design has already spurred e-mail conspiracy theories claiming that the religious motto was purposely omitted. That rumor may have started because the edge lettering cannot be seen in head-on photographs of properly struck coins.

It is the first U.S. coin to have words stamped around the edge since the storied 1933 $20 gold "double eagle," among the rarest and most valuable in the world. In 2002, a 1933 double eagle was sold for $7.59 million - the highest price ever paid for a coin.

The Washington dollars are the first in a series of presidential coins slated to run until 2016. After Washington, the presidents to be honored on dollar coins this year will be John Adams, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison.

The 215-year-old Philadelphia mint, located downtown on Independence Mall, employs about 500 people and last year produced about 7.8 billion coins. The overwhelming majority of error coins are caught by inspectors and melted down.

Bailey said the striking of the Adams coin, expected to roll out in mid-May, will proceed as planned.

"We are adjusting the manufacturing process to try to eliminate the problems," she said.

On the Net:

U.S. Mint: http://www.usmint.gov

Professional Coin Grading Service: http://www.pcgs.com

Tribe attaches massive steel bridge at edge of Grand Canyon

PHOENIX (AP) - An Indian tribe fastened a massive glass-bottomed walkway to the edge of the Grand Canyon on Wednesday as part of an ambitious tourism center that has angered environmentalists and some tribal members.

The Hualapai (pronounced WALL-uh-pie), an impoverished tribe of about 2,200 people at the canyon's remote western edge, allowed a private developer to construct the $30 million Skywalk in hopes of luring tourists to the region.

The tribe will open it to the public later this month, charging $25 per person in addition to other entry fees. Organizers expect the Skywalk to become the main draw in a community of tribal attractions that includes a cowboy town, an Indian village, helicopter tours and Hummer rides through the outback.

"The Grand Canyon has name appeal, and since part of the reservation lies in that, it only seems natural that we use the attraction to the benefit of the tribe," Hualapai Chairman Charlie Vaughn said.

At 1.07 million pounds, the Skywalk is about as heavy as four Boeing 757 jets stacked on top of each other. It was perched at the canyon's edge using an elaborate system of pulleys connected to four tractor-trailers.

Underneath, hydraulic "shoes" lifted the Skywalk above a cement track, rolled it across a bed of metal rods, and set it onto four steel anchors that were drilled deep into the canyon rock. Workers then welded the walkway to the anchors.

While it was pushed out, the walkway was not anchored to the canyon wall. To keep it from tipping over the side, engineers loaded the back end with a half-million pounds of steel cubes as counterweight.

Debra Wilkerson, an assistant operations manager for Grand Canyon West, the agency that supervises the Skywalk, said Wednesday that the rollout was finished without any problems. "Just smooth as glass," she said. "It's awesome."

The Skywalk extends about 75 feet over the rim and about 4,000 feet over the canyon floor. It's designed to withstand 100 mph winds and has shock absorbers to keep the walkway from wobbling as people walk through.

Construction began in April 2005.

David Jin, a Las Vegas developer, came up with the idea for the Skywalk a decade ago. He approached the Hualapai in 1996 with a plan to build it using his own money.

The tribe agreed on the condition that it will own the walkway. Jin will get a cut of the profits.

As it was being built this year, some Hualapai elders said they began to question the wisdom of the project. The tribe considers the canyon sacred ground, and the construction cut into land scattered with Hualapai burial sites.

"You have to be real gentle with the land," said Hualapai spiritual leader Frank Mapatis. "It's a living being, and it can feel those things."

Environmentalists also have criticized the project for diminishing the canyon's majesty.

Kieran Suckling, a policy analyst for the Center for Biological Diversity in Tucson, Ariz., called the Skywalk a "tacky tourist attraction."

If the Hualapais need to boost their economy, they should follow the national park's example and build their attractions away from the rim.

"The tribal leadership is turning the Grand Canyon into a zoo," Suckling said. "It's unbelievable."

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http://www.grandcanyonskywalk.com/

Jeffs indicted for his time on the run

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - A federal grand jury indicted the leader of a polygamous sect Wednesday, accusing him of fleeing to avoid prosecution on Utah sex charges during a manhunt that ended with his arrest near Las Vegas.

The one-count indictment covers a five-month period in 2006, although Warren Jeffs was believed to be on the run for a longer stretch.

Separately, he faces trial in southern Utah in April on charges of rape as an accomplice for his alleged role in the ceremonial marriage of a teenage girl to an older cousin.

Jeffs is president of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, whose members practice polygamy and live on the Utah-Arizona border.

While on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted List, he was arrested Aug. 28 during a traffic stop near Las Vegas.

Jeffs disappeared from public life in 2004 after lawsuits filed against him and his church alleged abuses of some members. Criminal charges in Arizona and Utah followed in 2005 and 2006.

To help in the search for Jeffs, federal prosecutors filed an arrest warrant against him on April 5, 2006, the same day that Washington County prosecutors charged him with two felony counts of rape as an accomplice.

Federal charges tied to such warrants typically are dropped once a suspect is caught and transferred to state authorities.

But with Jeffs, "we felt like if there were ever a time to pursue a defendant … this was it," said Melodie Rydalch, spokeswoman for U.S. Attorney Brett Tolman.

She said prosecutors based their decision on several factors, including the time and resources expended by state, local and federal authorities in trying to find Jeffs.

Jeffs is being held in the Washington County jail. A telephone message left for his attorney, Wally Bugden, was not immediately returned.

The federal charge carries a maximum punishment of five years in federal prison.

Jeffs also faces felony sex charges in Mohave County, Ariz., for his alleged role in arranging underage marriages for some of his followers. That case will be pursued after the Utah state case.

Louisiana mayor's body exhumed for unusual 3rd autopsy

WESTLAKE, La. (AP) - The body of the first black man elected mayor of this mostly white town was exhumed Wednesday for a third autopsy, commissioned by relatives who believe he was murdered and not a suicide as authorities have said.

Gerald Washington was found dead Dec. 30, 2006, with a gunshot to the chest, his gun nearby.

No suicide note was found but autopsies by both the state police and the local coroner concluded that Washington killed himself. The district attorney has said he plans to close the case.

However, Washington's family hired renowned forensic pathologist Cyril Wecht to perform a third autopsy.

After the exhumation and a memorial service Wednesday, the body was to be taken to Pittsburgh for the autopsy at Wecht's lab, said Lawrence Morrow, a spokesman for the Washington family.

Wecht said a third autopsy is highly unusual in any circumstance.

"I have been involved in less than a handful in 45 years where a third autopsy is done. Yes, that is rare," he said in a telephone interview.

Washington's widow, Mary, has said she believes her husband was murdered and that the killing was covered up as part of a conspiracy.

Washington, 57, won with 69 percent of the vote last year over a white candidate. He had not yet taken office when his body was found in the parking lot of a former high school, his alma mater.

Wecht has worked as a consultant on cases including Elvis Presley's death and the slayings of JonBenet Ramsey and Laci Peterson. Last year, he performed an autopsy on Anna Nicole Smith's 20-year-old son.

Westlake is 80 percent white, a refinery town with a population of 4,500, about 140 miles east of Houston.