NEW YORK - Rutgers women's basketball coach urged the nation Tuesday to look closely at the players radio host Don Imus referred to as "nappy-headed hos" and see them for the human beings they are.

"These young ladies before you are valedictorians, future doctors, musical prodigies," coach C. Vivian Stringer told a nationally publicized news conference a day after the uproar over Imus' comments led to a two-week suspension of his show.

"These young ladies are the best this nation has to offer and we are so very fortunate to have them at Rutgers. They are young ladies of class, distinction. They are articulate. They are gifted," she said.

Rutgers President Richard McCormick also spoke, calling the Imus's words despicable, unconscionable and deeply hurtful to the players, students and their families.

"We cannot stand in silence and let these young women be unfairly attacked," McCormick said. "They did nothing to invite the words that Don Imus used."

Imus started the firestorm after the Rutgers team, which includes eight black women, lost the NCAA women's championship game to Tennessee. He was speaking with producer Bernard McGuirk and said "that's some rough girls from Rutgers. Man, they got tattoos …"

"Some hardcore hos," McGuirk said.

"That's some nappy-headed hos there, I'm going to tell you that," Imus said.

The Rutgers comment struck a chord, in part, because it was aimed at a group of young women at the pinnacle of athletic success.

It also came in a different public atmosphere following the Michael Richards and Mel Gibson incidents, said Eric Deggans, columnist for the St. Petersburg Times and chairman of the media monitoring committee of the National Association of Black Journalists. The NABJ's governing board, which doesn't include Deggans, wants Imus canned.

"What I did was make a stupid, idiotic mistake in a comedy context," Imus said on his show Tuesday morning, the final week before his suspension starts.

Asked by NBC "Today" host Matt Lauer if he could clean up his act as he promised on Monday, he said, "Well, perhaps I can't." But he added, "I have a history of keeping my word."

Imus said his staff had been trying to set up a meeting with the Rutgers players to apologize, but he said he didn't expect forgiveness. Of the two-week suspension by MSNBC and CBS Radio, he said: "I think it's appropriate, and I am going to try to serve it with some dignity."

The Rev. Al Sharpton also appeared on "Today" and called the suspension "not nearly enough. I think it is too little, too late." He said presidential candidates and other politicians should refrain from going on Imus' show in the future.

Comic Bill Maher, CBS News political analyst Jeff Greenfield and former Carter administration official Hamilton Jordan all appeared on Imus' show Tuesday.

Imus, who appeared on Sharpton's syndicated radio program for two hours Monday, accused the minister of lacking courage for refusing an invitation to appear on "Imus in the Morning." Sharpton said he couldn't tell people not to watch the show and then appear on it. "It's not about courage," he said.

MSNBC, which telecasts the radio show, said Imus' expressions of regret and embarrassment, coupled with his stated dedication to changing the show's discourse, made it believe suspension was the appropriate response.

"Our future relationship with Imus is contingent on his ability to live up to his word," the network said late Monday.

Imus, who has made a career of cranky insults in the morning, was fighting for his job following the joke that by his own admission went "way too far." He continued through the day Monday, both on his show and Sharpton's.

The Rev. Jesse Jackson, who marched with about 50 protesters Monday outside NBC offices in Chicago, said Imus' suspensions will not halt the protests.

"This is a two-week cooling off period," Jackson said. "It does not challenge the character of the show, its political impact, or the impact that these comments have had on our society."

Imus could be in real danger if the outcry causes advertisers to shy away from him, said Tom Taylor, editor of the trade publication Inside Radio. The National Organization for Women is also seeking Imus' ouster.

Imus isn't the most popular radio talk-show host - the trade publication Talkers ranks him the 14th most influential - but his audience is heavy on the political and media elite that advertisers pay a premium to reach. Authors, journalists and politicians are frequent guests - and targets for insults.

He has urged critics to recognize that his show is a comedy that spreads insults broadly. Imus or his cast have called Colin Powell a "weasel," New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson a "fat sissy" and referred to Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell of Colorado, an American Indian, as "the guy from `F Troop."' He and his colleagues also called the New York Knicks a group of "chest-thumping pimps."

On his show Monday, Imus called himself "a good person" who made a bad mistake.

"Here's what I've learned: that you can't make fun of everybody, because some people don't deserve it," he said. "And because the climate on this program has been what it's been for 30 years doesn't mean that it has to be that way for the next five years or whatever because that has to change, and I understand that."

Baseball star Cal Ripken Jr., who was to appear on Imus' show Tuesday to discuss a new book, canceled the appearance.

"He didn't want anyone getting the message that he agreed in any way, shape or form with the comments," said John Maroon, Ripken's publicist. "It was the right thing to do."

The "Today" show's Al Roker said Tuesday on his show's official blog that it was time for Imus to go. "I, for one, am really tired of the diatribes, the 'humor' at others' expense, the cruelty that passes for 'funny,"' Roker said.

Even Howard Stern of Sirius Satellite Radio, a big fan of unrestricted content, mocked Imus' apology, according to the New York Daily News. "He's apologizing like a guy who got his first broadcasting job," Stern said. "He should have said, '(expletive) you, it's a joke."'

Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain, whose presidential candidacy has been backed by Imus on the air, said he would still appear on Imus' program.

"He has apologized," McCain said. "He said that he is deeply sorry. I'm a great believer in redemption."

Imus' radio show originates from WFAN in New York City and is syndicated nationally by Westwood One, both managed by CBS. The show reached an estimated 361,000 viewers on MSNBC in the first three months of the year, up 39 percent from last year. That's the best competitive position it has ever achieved against CNN (372,000 viewers).

Imus' fate could ultimately rest with two of the nation's most prominent media executives: CBS Corp. chief Leslie Moonves and Jeff Zucker, head of NBC Universal.

"He will survive it if he stops apologizing so much," said Michael Harrison, publisher of Talkers. Imus clearly seems under corporate pressure to make amends, but he's nearly reached the point where he is alienating the fans who appreciate his grumpy outrageousness.

Even if he were to be fired, he's likely to land elsewhere in radio, Harrison said.

Imus was mostly contrite in his appearance with Sharpton, although the activist did not change his opinion that Imus should lose his job. At one point Imus seemed incredulous at Sharpton's suggestion that he might walk away from the incident unscathed.

"Unscathed?" Imus said. "How do you think I'm unscathed by this? Don't you think I'm humiliated?"

- Associated Press writers Deepti Hajela and Jacques Billeaud in New York and Nathaniel Hernandez in Chicago contributed to this report.

Results of DNA test on Anna Nicole Smith's daughter could be revealed

NASSAU, Bahamas (AP) - One of the biggest remaining questions surrounding Anna Nicole Smith - the identity of the father of her baby - may soon be resolved. - Smith's former boyfriend, Larry Birkhead, and her lawyer-turned-partner, Howard K. Stern, were expected to attend a closed session later Tuesday in the custody fight over the girl, Dannielynn, who could inherit a fortune in the wake of her mother's February death.

A DNA specialist who analyzed a sample taken from the child on March 21 was also expected to attend the meeting, said James Neavitt, an attorney for Stern.

If the results show that Birkhead is the father, Stern will relinquish custody of the girl to him and the two men would "cooperate in transitioning the child," he told The Associated Press.

"I think they have some understanding about how they're going to deal with it," Neavitt said by phone from his office in Los Angeles.

Stern, whose name is on the birth certificate and has said he believes he is the father, will not give up custody if the DNA shows someone other than Birkhead is the father, the lawyer said.

The hearing is closed to the media and public.

Birkhead, a Los Angeles photographer, also claims to be the father and began seeking custody before the reality TV star collapsed and died in a Florida hotel on Feb. 8.

Smith's mother, Virgie Arthur, is also seeking custody of the baby, who was born in the Bahamas in September.

Other lawyers involved have declined to comment, citing Bahamian legal rules that prohibit attorneys from discussing the closed proceedings.

The baby, whose full name is Dannielynn Hope Marshall Stern, could inherit millions from the estate of Smith's late husband, J. Howard Marshall II. The former model had been fighting the Texas oil tycoon's family over his estimated $500 million fortune since his death in 1995.

Founder of 'Girls Gone Wild' video empire in federal custody after contempt citation

PENSACOLA, Fla. (AP) - The founder of the "Girls Gone Wild" video empire was taken into custody by federal marshals early Tuesday to face a contempt of court citation after initially defying a federal judge.

Joe Francis was booked into the Bay County Jail, said Ruth Sasser, a spokeswoman for the sheriff's office. "His attorneys continue to work toward a settlement," Ronn Torossian, a Francis spokesman, said in a statement e-mailed to The Associated Press.

Francis, 34, makes an estimated $29 million a year from videos of young women baring their breasts and in other sexually provocative situations.

He drew the contempt citation during negotiations in a civil lawsuit brought by seven women who were underage when they were filmed by his company on Panama City Beach during spring break in 2003.

Lawyers for the women told U.S. District Judge Richard Smoak that Francis became enraged during the settlement talks, shouting obscenities at the lawyers and threatening to "bury them." Smoak ordered Francis to settle the case or go to jail for his behavior.

Negotiations continued with the help of a mediator, but broke down Thursday, and Smoak issued a contempt of court warrant.

Francis initially refused to surrender and called Smoak "a judge gone wild."

The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta refused to let him remain free pending an appeal.

Torossian told the AP that Francis "surrendered on his own 100 percent." But U.S. Marshals spokesman Dominic Guadagnoli said marshals were monitoring the airport and were tipped to Francis' arrival.

"We were not aware that he would be flying in in the morning. He stepped off the jet, and he was immediately arrested," he said. "If he was coming to Panama City to turn himself in, he was a day late and a dollar short."

Francis had said Thursday he would settle the case to avoid jail time. "I'll give up a billion dollars, but it will be under duress," he said, arguing that any money given would be voided in an appeal.

Elephant kills rider during festival parade in India

NEW DELHI (AP) - An elephant went on a rampage and killed its rider after being hit by stones during a festival parade in southern India.

Police arrested one person for throwing stones during the festival on Sunday in the town of Chettuva in Kerala state, 1,200 miles south of New Delhi, the Press Trust of India news agency reported Tuesday.

The elephant attacked another elephant taking part in the parade and later killed its rider, who fell down while trying to control it, PTI said.

Elephants are often seen on Indian streets and are used for pulling fallen trees and loading them onto vehicles.

European court rules against infertile woman seeking frozen embryos

STRASBOURG, France - A British woman left infertile after being treated for ovarian cancer has no right to frozen embryos against the wishes of her former fiance, who provided the sperm, the European Court of Human Rights ruled Tuesday.

The court's Grand Chamber, a panel of 17 European judges, confirmed a lower court ruling upholding a British law that stipulates consent from both parents is needed at every stage of the in vitro fertilization process.

Tuesday's verdict cannot be appealed, and the frozen embryos will be destroyed.

The court said it felt "great sympathy" for Natalie Evans, but ruled that her desire to become a parent should not be accorded greater weight than her former fiance's right not to have a genetically related child with her.

Evans, 35, was left infertile after receiving treatment for cancer, but in 2001, prior to the removal of her ovaries, six of her eggs were fertilized by Howard Johnston's sperm through in vitro fertilization.

The couple then split up, and Johnston withdrew his consent for her to use the embryos. Evans took him to a British court, but judges there rejected her legal appeals to implant an embryo, saying consent from both partners was needed and ordering the destruction of the embryos.

Evans claimed the British law breached her rights under the European Convention on Human Rights. She said her right to privacy and family life, and the embryo's right to life, were being violated by Johnston's refusal to grant permission for use of his sperm. She had also argued his attempt to prevent her from having the baby was discriminatory.

But the court said there was no violation of the convention, and upheld its earlier ruling that said it was up to national law to define when the right to life began. Under British law an embryo does not have independent rights or interests.

"I am distraught at the court's decision today. It's very hard for me to accept that the embryos will now be destroyed and that I will never become a mother," Evans said in a statement.

Johnston said that, while he sympathized with Evans, he was relieved that "common sense has prevailed."

"I want to be able to choose when I become a parent," he said.

The European court requested a stay of an order to destroy the embryos in February 2005 while it considered Evans' case.

Ohio social worker accused in 'caged kids' case avoids jail time

NORWALK, Ohio (AP) - A private social worker who knew that a couple forced some of their 11 adopted special-needs children to sleep in cages avoided a jail sentence Tuesday. - Elaine Thompson cried in relief after she received a suspended three-month jail term and five years of probation, during which she cannot serve as a social worker.

She counseled Michael and Sharen Gravelle, who were sentenced in February to two years each in prison for felony child endangering and other convictions. They remain free on bail pending their appeal.

"This entire situation has been tragic," Thompson said. "I'm sorry for the role that I played."

Thompson, 64, of Elyria, pleaded guilty in February to three counts of failing to report a crime. She had previously testified at a custody hearing that the children's behavior improved with use of the cages.

The 11 children, who suffered from problems such as fetal alcohol syndrome and a disorder that involves eating nonfood items, ranged in age from 1 to 14 when authorities removed them in September 2005 from the Gravelles' home in Wakeman, about 60 miles west of Cleveland.

Huron County Prosecutor Russell Leffler had requested that Thompson serve six months in jail and pay back the $100,000 in wages she collected from the county when serving the Gravelles.

"This is the worst form of failure to report child abuse you can have," Leffler said during the hearing. "She could have stopped this with a phone call. She chose not to do that."

Common Pleas Judge Earl McGimpsey said he received 85 letters from Thompson's colleagues, patients, friends and family, and said her compassion and exemplary career should not be ignored.

Texas judge grants family's request to keep boy on life-support, despite hospital's arguments

AUSTIN, Texas - A judge granted a family's request to keep their critically ill baby alive, ruling Tuesday that the boy should not yet be removed from life support as the hospital planned.

Children's Hospital of Austin has been caring for 17-month-old Emilio Gonzales since December, but it says its medical efforts are futile and the child is suffering. It invoked a state law that allows hospitals to end life-sustaining treatment in such cases with 10 days notice to the family.

Emilio's mother, Catarina Gonzales, 23, challenged the decision, and the judge agreed to block the hospital's move for at least nine more days.

"He may not live that long, but that's nobody's choice. That's my choice. And that's God's choice. Nobody can say, 'No we're going to take him off, that's it,"' she said. She says her only son isn't unresponsive, and that he smiles and turns his head toward voices.

Probate Judge Guy Herman set another hearing for April 19 to consider Emilio's case.

The boy has health coverage through Medicaid, and the hospital contends money is not part of its decision. Its concern, hospital officials said, is the boy.

Doctors and a hospital ethics panel determined the treatment is causing the boy to suffer without providing any medical benefit, said Michael Regier, general counsel for the Seton Family of Hospitals, which includes the children's hospital.

Emilio is believed to have Leigh's Disease, a progressive illness difficult to diagnose. He cannot breathe on his own, must have nutrition and water pumped into him, and can't swallow or make purposeful movements, Regier said. He said Emilio's higher order brain functions are destroyed.

The boy's family and the hospital have had difficulty finding another medical facility that will care for the boy, though Gonzales said Tuesday they had several promising leads.

"I'm really thankful that we got one week more," she said. "I believe that there's a hospital that is going to accept my son, and I know there is."

Texas is one of the few states with a timetable allowing hospitals to decide when to end life-sustaining treatment, according to studies cited by activist groups. Other states allow hospitals to cut off treatment but do not specify a time frame.

The Texas Legislature is considering changing the futile care law.

Man accused of shooting 3 during cross-country road trip; high school link probed

BOISE, Idaho - The investigation began with a university student slain in the Idaho town of Moscow. By week's end, authorities were unraveling the killing of a second young man, whose body was dumped in a Boise pond, and the wounding of a college student in Tucson, Ariz.

Police say the common thread is 21-year-old John Joseph Delling, a former high school classmate of two of the shooting victims. The third attended a nearby high school at about the same time.

Delling is now jailed in Nevada, but authorities fear there could be more victims along the path of his monthlong, 6,500-mile road trip across the West.

"We're concerned that this is not over yet," Ada County Sheriff Gary Raney said. "We've been overwhelmed with these possibilities."

The violence may have started March 20, when University of Arizona student Jacob J. Thompson was lured out of his Tucson home and then shot three times, in the face, shoulder and arm, Raney said. Thompson survived, and recently picked Delling out of a photo lineup.

Eleven days later, University of Idaho student David Boss apparently let someone into his Moscow apartment, only to be shot twice in the head at close range. On Monday night, Bradley Morse, 25, was shots in the head as he left his job as a janitor at the Idaho Department of Parks and Recreation in Boise. His body was found in a nearby pond.

Phone records show Delling called Boss about the time he was slain, and Delling was arrested April 3 in Sparks, Nev., driving Morse's car.

"All these seem to be specifically targeted, at least in time and place," Raney said. "The connection probably goes back four or six or eight years ago - that's our best guess."

After discovering Boss's body, Moscow police warned three other former classmates of Delling's that they may be in danger, Assistant Police Chief David Duke said. Authorities would not release their names, but said all been involved in an incident with Delling during his sophomore year at Timberline High School. Additional details weren't released.

Delling, who last lived in Antelope, Calif., was arrested on a stolen car warrant issued by Ada County and a first-degree murder warrant from Moscow police in connection with Boss's death. He was still awaiting extradition to Idaho, and Reno Justice Court officials said he had not been appointed a lawyer.

Delling has declined to talk to reporters, said Washoe County, Nev., sheriff's Deputy Brooke Keast.

Family and acquaintances of Delling have said the young man was troubled and acting increasingly erratic.

Starting March 1, Delling drove some 6,500 miles through California, Idaho, Oregon, Washington, Utah, Arizona and Nevada, Raney said. Police used financial records and rental car records to track his movements.

In the Tucson attack, Thompson was lured from his home after someone tapped on his window and yelled that he needed to move his truck, which was parked out front at an awkward angle, Raney said.

As Thompson moved the truck, he asked a man sitting on a bicycle if he was the one who wanted the truck moved, Raney said. The man on the bicycle approached the truck and fired five times at the driver's side door, Raney said.

Thompson was hit three times, with one bullet hitting his face and lodging in the back of his head.

Despite his injuries, Thompson can now speak and identified Delling from a photo lineup, Raney said.

"Often crimes are a matter of who did it. This is a matter of why did he do it," Raney said. "Thompson has lived at the University of Arizona for the past three years. Was it something that happened four years ago? Eight years ago? Ten years ago?"

3,200-year-old hair of Ramses II returns to Egyptian Museum

CAIRO, Egypt (AP) - Locks of 3,200-year-old hair from the pharaoh Ramses II were unveiled at the Egyptian Museum on Tuesday, returned to Egypt after being stolen 30 years ago in France and put up for sale on the Internet.

The small tufts of brown hair were displayed alongside pieces of linen bandages and 11 pieces of resin used in the mummification of Ramses and his son Merneptah in a glass display case. Photographers mobbed the case as Egypt's culture minister and antiquities chief showed off the returned items.

The hair will eventually be put on display next to Ramses' mummy at the museum.

The theft was discovered when the pieces of hair were put up for sale on a Web site last November by a French postman, Jean-Michel Diebolt, who gave the hair a price tag of $2,600.

Diebolt is the son of a French researcher who examined the 3,200-year-old mummy when it was brought to France in 1976 for treatment to stop the spread of a rare fungus. Diebolt is being investigated in France for allegedly possessing stolen goods.

Egyptian antiquities official Ahmed Saleh traveled to Paris early last week to retrieve the stolen items.

"It was wonderful mission. I felt very great when I had the lock of hair of Ramses II in my hand," said Saleh.

Ramses II, who ruled from 1270 to 1213 B.C., is one of ancient Egypt's most famous pharaohs, known for building some of its grandest monuments. Some believe him to be the pharaoh at the time of Moses.

Egypt's antiquities chief, Zahi Hawass, said the retrieval of the items was made possible by the strong diplomatic relations between Egypt and France.

Hawass, who has pressed several countries for the return of Egyptian antiquities, said the Internet is playing an important role in the search for other stolen relics.

"We open the Internet everyday, and the most important source you have are my spies," Hawass said. "I have spies all over the world, and those spies, they inform me every day of things you would not believe."

Hawass has sought - without success - the return of such finds as the Rosetta Stone at the British Museum, the bust of Nefertiti at Berlin's Egyptian Museum and a pharaonic mask at the St. Louis Art Museum.

But he said Egypt is awaiting the arrival of a statue coming from Spain, another artifact from Mexico and duck-shaped lamps that were stolen from Saqqara and will be retrieved from Paris.

If Egypt has its way, more artifacts will follow. Saleh added: "When one country gives you back your artifact, other countries will do the same."

Greek minister: Human error involved in cruise ship sinking in Aegean Sea

SANTORINI, Greece (AP) - Greece's merchant marine minister said Tuesday that human error contributed to the sinking of a cruise ship off a resort island in the Aegean Sea last week, forcing the evacuation of nearly 1,600 people.

Two French tourists are feared drowned after the Sea Diamond hit submerged rocks just off Santorini island on Thursday, causing the ship to take on water and eventually sink.

Six crew members of the Greek-flagged ship, including the captain and chief mate, have been charged with negligence. The captain has told investigators he was caught unawares by a sea current that swept his vessel onto the well-marked and charted rocks, minutes before it was due to dock.

The Greek crew members have been released from police custody, but are still on Santorini, officials said. If upheld in court, the charges carry a maximum five-year sentence.

On Tuesday, Merchant Marine Minister Manolis Kefaloyiannis said that "most definitely there was human error" involved in the accident, without elaborating.

He also praised the rescue effort, saying it worked "perfectly," despite some passengers complaining of an insufficient supply of life vests, little guidance from crew members and being forced into a steep climb down rope-ladders to safety.

"Our attention is now focused on the question of the environment … and, of course, to find the missing two," Kefaloyiannis said.

A robot submarine began filming the wreck Tuesday in an attempt to locate the missing tourists and the vessel's data recorder, while workers tried to clean up fuel that seeped into the sea from the ship's tanks.

The submarine was to take footage of the position of the vessel - which lies an estimated 230-430 feet beneath the surface on a steep incline - and determine its stability before divers are allowed to enter the wreck.

The missing pair - Frenchman Jean-Christophe Allain, 45, and his 16-year-old daughter Maud - are thought to have been trapped in their flooded cabin. Allain's wife narrowly escaped.

More than 50 tons of the ship's fuel leaked after the sinking, some of which has washed ashore.

An estimated 430 tons of oil are still inside the ship, threatening an environmental disaster at the onset of the busy summer season on Santorini - a volcanic island with spectacular cliffs that is one of Greece's most popular tourist destinations.

Workers collected oil from a pebble beach near the port on Tuesday, while trucks were siphoning oil from the island's harbor. Ships were also facilitating the cleanup, while floating booms were deployed to contain the spillage.

Kefaloyiannis said the oil spill "is under control."

A total of 1,156 passengers and 391 crew were traveling on the four-day Aegean Sea cruise, and included groups from the U.S., Canada, Britain, Spain, France, Australia and the Dominican Republic.

DVD-sniffing dogs to have Malaysian stay extended after successful anti-piracy raids

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) - Two Labradors that have become celebrities in Malaysia for sniffing out massive stashes of counterfeit DVDs will have their stint extended to help authorities hound movie pirates, an official said Tuesday.

Lucky and Flo, on loan from the Motion Picture Association of America, were originally scheduled to stay in Malaysia for a month, but they now will be based here "for the foreseeable future," said MPAA senior operations executive Neil Gane.

The extension was requested by the Malaysian government, which "found the help (of the dogs) in their operations to be very successful" and wants more time with Lucky and Flo to evaluate whether it should train its own canines to perform similar work, Gane said.

The black Labradors will mainly participate in more Malaysian raids, but they also could be deployed to other countries for anti-piracy operations from time to time, Gane said. He declined to identify which countries were being considered, citing security reasons.

Malaysian movie pirates have reportedly placed bounties on Lucky and Flo, who have so far helped uncover 1.2 million pirated DVDs and CDs worth nearly $3.5 million in raids on warehouses, shops and offices that served as storage centers for pirated discs.

Deputy Domestic Trade Minister S. Veerasingam said his ministry, which handles anti-piracy efforts, is considering setting up a canine unit to take over from Lucky and Flo, the national news agency Bernama reported.

"However, what we need is the cooperation of consumers to avoid buying pirated products," Veerasingam was quoted as saying by Bernama. "If the consumers refuse to cooperate, Lucky and Flo and any other dogs will not be able to eradicate piracy."

Lucky and Flo are the world's only dogs trained to detect a chemical used in making discs, the MPAA has said. Malaysian officials say they have been useful because they found discs that might otherwise have gone unnoticed in locked rooms and concealed compartments.

Malaysia is among the world's main producers and exporters of pirated discs, the U.S. government and the MPAA have said. According to the Malaysian government, 5 million discs were seized in more than 2,000 raids nationwide last year, and 780 people were arrested.

The MPAA says its members, which include Paramount Pictures, Warner Bros., 20th Century Fox and Universal, lost $1.2 billion to Asia-Pacific movie pirates in 2006.

22 dead, 58 injured in road accident in southern Sri Lanka

INDURUWA, Sri Lanka - A passenger bus collided with a beer delivery truck and burst into flames Tuesday in southern Sri Lanka, killing at least 22 people and injuring 56, a police official said.

The state-run bus was traveling from the southern city of Galle to the capital, Colombo, when it collided with the truck, which was traveling in the opposite direction, near the tourist town of Induruwa, local police chief Jayantha Gamage said. No foreign tourists were among the victims.

Twenty people died at the scene and two died later in a hospital. The dead included eight women and a 5-year-old child, Gamage said.

A total of 56 people were injured, and 20 of them remained hospitalized. It was not immediately clear if all the casualties were aboard the bus, or whether the drivers of the two vehicles were among the victims, Gamage said.

"The collision started a fire and most of the bodies are charred beyond recognition," Gamage said.

Family claims wide-awake surgery led to minister's suicide

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) - In the two weeks before he committed suicide, Sherman Sizemore thought people were trying to bury him alive.

Family members say the 73-year-old Baptist minister was driven to kill himself by the traumatic experience of being awake during surgery but unable to move or cry out in pain.

Sizemore's death has drawn attention to a little-discussed phenomenon called anesthesia awareness that some experts say may happen to 20,000 to 40,000 patients a year in this country. Typically they feel pain, pressure or other discomfort during surgery because they are not adequately anesthetized.

The causes can include doctor errors, faulty equipment or medical conditions so severe that the patient cannot be safely put under deep anesthesia.

"It's the first time I know of anyone succeeding in taking their own lives because of this, but suicidal thoughts are not all that uncommon" among such patients, said Carol Weihrer, president of the Virginia-based Anesthesia Awareness Campaign, which she founded after her own experience with anesthesia awareness.

Sizemore, a clergyman and former coal miner from the town of Beckley, was admitted to Raleigh General Hospital on Jan. 19, 2006, for exploratory surgery to diagnose the cause of abdominal pain, according to a lawsuit filed March 13.

An anesthesiologist and nurse anesthetist who worked for Raleigh Anesthesia Associates gave Sizemore paralyzing drugs to prevent his muscles from jerking and twitching during the surgery, the complaint alleges. But it says they failed to give him general anesthesia to render him unconscious until 16 minutes after the first cut into his abdomen. The family says he suffered excruciating pain.

Moreover, the lawsuit says, Sizemore was never told that he hadn't been properly anesthetized, and was tormented by doubts about whether his memories were real.

The lawsuit, filed against Raleigh Anesthesia Associates by two of his daughters, goes on to say that in the two weeks after his surgery, Sizemore couldn't sleep, refused to be left alone, suffered nightmares and complained people were trying to bury him alive.

On Feb. 2, 2006, Sizemore shot himself to death. His family says he had no history of psychological distress before his surgery. The abdominal pains were apparently related to gall bladder problems, according to the family.

"Being helpless and being in that situation can obviously be tough on people's psychological well-being," said Tony O'Dell, a lawyer for the family.

The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages.

Calls to Raleigh Anesthesia Associates were referred to a lawyer who had no comment Monday.

The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, which accredits hospitals, says studies show that anesthesia awareness may happen in 0.1 percent to 0.2 percent of operations involving general anesthesia in this country.

Half of all such patients also report mental distress after the surgery, including post-traumatic stress disorder.

In 2005, the American Society of Anesthesiologists adopted guidelines calling for doctors to follow a checklist to make sure anesthesia is delivered properly. The ASA stopped short of endorsing brain-monitoring machines as standard equipment, saying doctors should decide on a case-by-case basis whether such devices are necessary.

"It could be that someday everybody who gets anesthesia will have a brain-wave monitor," said Dr. Robert Johnstone, a professor of anesthesiology at the West Virginia University School of Medicine.

Johnstone said such monitors are used at WVU, but in conjunction with other equipment anesthesiologists use to measure such things as blood pressure and body temperature. When such monitors and tests are used properly, he said, the chances of someone being awake are slim.

It was not clear whether Raleigh General uses such monitors. Calls to the hospital were not immediately returned.

Weihrer said that recognition of the experience and psychological counseling are often the only thing patients want.

"The reason people sue is because they want to be acknowledged," said Weihrer, who received a settlement after her anesthesia failed during a five-hour eye operation in 1998. "They don't want to be told, `You weren't awake; it was a dream."'

Female counselor charged with helping male teen escape youth facility

WOOLFORD, Md. (AP) - A female counselor has been charged with helping a 17-year-old boy escape from a private school for troubled boys where she worked and driving him to Ohio.

Amanda Mae Beavers, 25, of Mardela Springs, Md., was charged with second-degree child abuse by a custodian. She turned herself in Friday and was released on bail, the Dorchester County sheriff's office said.

The teenager, whose name was not released, remained missing Tuesday.

Authorities said the boy had been referred to the Morning Star Youth Academy by the state Department of Juvenile Justice. The academy contracts with the state to provide schooling and counseling for boys who have had criminal histories, substance abuse problems or family and behavioral issues.

Investigators said the boy escaped March 30 and that Beavers reported to work that night but left an hour later, telling supervisors she had to return home to West Virginia because her father was ill.

On Friday, police said, Beavers' mother called 911 and said the teen had been at her house in Bradshaw, W.Va., for three days. She told police said she was suspicious because of the boy's age and because of the way he hugged and kissed her daughter.

Beavers and the boy left West Virginia after the 911 call, but she later returned a call from a detective, saying she was in Kentucky and had dropped the teen off in Ohio after they argued, authorities said. She agreed to return to Maryland and turn herself in.

Nurse used lighter to start Texas office building fire that killed 3, prosecutor says

HOUSTON (AP) - A building blaze that killed three people and injured six last month began in a supply closet when a nurse used a lighter to set fire to a box, a prosecutor said Tuesday.

Misty Ann Weaver, 33, has been charged with three counts of felony murder and one count of first-degree arson. The March 28 fire spread throughout the fifth floor of a six-story office building.

Weaver, a licensed vocational nurse, made her first court appearance Tuesday but did not enter a plea. According to authorities, she started the fire because she hadn't finished an assignment for her boss, a plastic surgeon, and feared she might lose her job.

During the brief hearing, prosecutor John Jocher said Weaver told authorities that on the day of the fire, she re-entered the building after 5 p.m. and went into her office's kitchen area, where she got a lighter.

"She went into a supply closet and set fire to a cardboard box she believed contained plastic tubing," Jocher said.

Weaver waited until the flames rose 4 to 5 inches before leaving, Jocher said.

The nurse is being held in the Harris County Jail under $330,000 bond. She said little during the hearing but smiled to her family just before she was taken away.

Her attorney, Todd Dupont, said he will hire experts to go into the building and review investigators' conclusions.

The victims were Jeanette Hargrove, 52, a victims' rights activist; Marvin Wells Sr., 46, a pastor; and Shana Ellis, 38.

Popular L.A. Spanish-language radio host acquitted of making threats

LOS ANGELES (AP) - A radio host who has one of the top-rated shows among the city's Hispanic listeners has been acquitted of a misdemeanor charge of making a criminal threat involving his son.

The court commissioner who acquitted Renan Almendarez Coello on Monday also dismissed eight other counts including battery and vandalism, prosecutors said.

Officers who had been sent to investigate a domestic violence call at Almendarez's San Fernando Valley home on New Year's Day reported finding traces of blood.

The officers said they learned that Almendarez's adult son had attempted to intervene in a dispute between his parents and that Almendarez had allegedly stabbed him with a steak knife. Almendarez turned himself in two days later.

Almendarez's attorney, Eugene Wellington Matthews, did not immediately respond to calls seeking comment.

Almendarez, who was born in Honduras, started his radio career when he was a teen. His show is titled "El Cucuy de la Manana," or "The Boogeyman of the morning."

Potential jurors in Tennessee preacher's wife's murder trial asked about domestic abuse

SELMER, Tenn. (AP) - Questions being asked of prospective jurors for the trial of a preacher's wife accused of killing her husband paint a picture of a woman who was psychologically unable to free herself from an abusive marriage.

As the questioning resumed Tuesday, defense attorney Leslie Ballin said there was a good chance a jury could be seated by the end of the day to hear the charges against Mary Winkler.

Potential jurors were asked on Monday if they had been in or knew of someone in an abusive relationship, believed domestic abuse was a real problem or were familiar with how brainwashing worked.

"Do you believe there are emotional and psychological chains that can keep you tied to a situation?" fellow defense attorney Steve Farese asked at one point.

Court officials had initially estimated the jury selection process could take up to a week. The entire trial could take several weeks.

Police have said Winkler admitted killing her husband last year, and that it had something to do with his constant criticism.

"It was just building up to this point," Winkler said, according to a statement taken by Alabama police. "I was just tired of it. I guess I just got to a point and snapped."

While her attorneys have never directly said she shot her husband, they have indicated their defense would be based on "how and why" the crime happened, rather than what happened, as fellow defense attorney Leslie Ballin told potential jurors.

Mary Winkler's father, Clark Freeman, has said his daughter might have been physically abused.

Farese and Ballin also asked potential jurors on Monday about their religious affiliations and familiarity with firearms.

Mary and Matthew Winkler both grew up in Churches of Christ, churches that believe the Bible should be interpreted literally, bar instrumental music and believe baptism by immersion in water is necessary for salvation.

Winkler, 33, a substitute teacher described as quiet and unassuming, is accused of gunning down her 31-year-old husband, who was a minister at the Fourth Street Church of Christ in this small western Tennessee town. A day after the March 2006 shooting, she was arrested some 340 miles away on the Alabama coast with their three young daughters.

Matthew Winkler's parents now have custody of their three daughters, ages 9, 7 and 2 at the time of the shooting, and they have filed a wrongful death lawsuit against their mother.

While Winkler has been found competent to stand trial, her attorneys have indicated they may argue that she lacked the required state of mind to commit premeditated first-degree murder.

After decades of segregated proms, south Georgia high school hopes to unite behind dance

ASHBURN, Ga. (AP) - Breaking from tradition, high school students in this small town are getting together for this year's prom.

Prom night at Turner County High has long been an evening of de facto segregation: white students organized their own unofficial prom, while black students did the same.

This year's group of seniors didn't want that legacy. When the four senior class officers - two whites and two blacks - met with Principal Chad Stone at the start of the school year, they had more on their minds than changes to the school's dress code.

They wanted a school-sponsored prom. They wanted everyone invited.

On April 21, they'll have their wish. The town's auditorium will be transformed into a tropical scene, and for the first time, every junior and senior, regardless of race, will be invited to an official prom.

The prom's theme: Breakaway.

"Everybody says that's just how it's always been. It's just the way of this very small town," said James Hall, a 17-year-old black student who is the senior class president.

"But it's time for a change."

There are excited announcements of the upcoming dance plastered all over the school, where about 55 percent of students are black and most of the rest are white.

A makeshift countdown to the prom is displayed as a cardboard cutout on a main hallway. Student council members canvass the hallways, asking students to buy a $25 ticket and be a part of history. In the cafeteria, images of palm trees and waterfalls brighten up the sterile walls. "The First Ever!" a poster exclaims. "Got your haircut?"

Students say the self-segregation that splits social circles in school mirrors the attitude of this town of 4,000 people. So getting every student to break from the past could be a difficult task.

With prom night about two weeks away, only half of the 160 upper-class students have bought tickets. And there's talk around the school that some white students might throw a competing party at a nearby lake.

"Everyone is saying they're not going to the school prom," said Steven Tuller, a 17-year-old white junior who doesn't plan to attend either event because he wants to wait until he's a senior. "They're saying it's tradition."

Yet Turner County High already has defied tradition this year. The school abandoned its practice of naming separate white and black homecoming queens. Instead, a mixed-race student was named the county's first solo homecoming queen.

Some alumni welcome change at Turner County High.

"People still think of how life was 20, 30 years ago," said Keith Massey, a 1990 graduate who now runs the popular Keith-A-Que restaurant in town, about 75 miles south of Macon. "And life's got to move on."

There have been attempts to integrate the prom in the past, but never as a school-sponsored dance. Massey recalls an effort to integrate a prom party when he was in school, but few whites showed up. A few years ago, organizers of a private party invited all students to attend.

But Stone said attempts to organize a school-sponsored prom have failed because of lack of student support.

Stone, serving his first year as the school's principal, has been enthusiastic about an integrated prom. He's funneling $5,000 of his meager discretionary fund to hire a DJ and buy decorations, and he's persuaded a photographer to set up shop at the civic center to snap photos of the couples before the dance.

"This senior class is a close-knit group from top to bottom, and they want to do what's right," said Stone, who is white. "They wanted a full school prom. And I told them if they would do it, I'd do them right."

On the Net:

Turner County: http://www.turnerchamber.com/

Jury selection starts for Tennessee teen accused of killing school administrator

JACKSBORO, Tenn. (AP) - Attorneys began questioning potential jurors Tuesday for the murder trial of Kenneth Bartley Jr., who was just 14 when he was accused of killing a school official and wounding two others.

Bartley, who lost a bid to keep the case in juvenile court, could face life in prison if convicted in the Nov. 8, 2005, shootings at Campbell County Comprehensive High School.

Police say Principal Gary Seale and Assistant Principals Ken Bruce and Jim Pierce had called Bartley into an office to question him about a tip that he had brought a pistol to school. In the office, according to witnesses, Bartley pulled a gun from his pocket, loaded it and fired.

Bruce, 48, died within hours. Seale and Pierce survived but still carry the bullets inside them.

Defense attorney Mike Hatmaker said the rural community, about 35 miles north of Knoxville, is divided in its sympathies for Bartley. The boy, now 15, pleaded not guilty, though Hatmaker has conceded his client pulled the trigger.

Bartley had been in and out of trouble while in middle school and had spent about a year and a half in a residential juvenile treatment program before his parents brought him home.

Deputy Sheriff Darrell Mongar testified during a February hearing that Bartley told him the pistol was his father's and he planned to trade it for OxyContin, a powerful painkiller.

Pierce testified at the hearing that he told Bartley he wanted "what you have in your pocket." That's when Bartley withdrew the gun, he said.

"Kenny stood up with the gun waving it at all of us," Pierce said. "Mr. Seale asked him if it was real. He said, 'Yes, it's real. I'll show you. I never liked you anyway."'

Pierce said Bartley pulled out an ammunition clip, loaded the gun and fired. Seale was shot first, in the lower abdomen. Bruce was shot in the chest. Pierce was hit in the chest as he struggled to disarm the youth, he testified.

The trial is expected to last four days.

Police say suspect in Detroit-area office shooting apparently targeted 2 victims

TROY, Mich. (AP) - Ninety minutes after reporting to work, Jean Larson heard what turned out to be deadly gunfire inside her office building - then "all hell broke loose."

Police say Anthony LaCalamita III, an accounting firm employee fired from his job last week, returned Monday to the building where he previously worked and shot three people, killing one. Two of the victims were apparently targeted, police said.

"We heard pop, pop, pop," smelled gunpowder and heard co-workers yelling, said Larson, 48, a staff accountant for G&C, a subsidiary of Gordon Advisors.

"I heard one employee screaming, `He's got a gun. He's got a gun.' … It was a panic. No one knew what to do. No one knew where to go."

The gunman then left the office complex and headed north, where he was spotted hours later by a motorist 50 miles north of Detroit. He was taken into custody after leading officers on a 30-mile highway chase that reached speeds up to 120 mph.

LaCalamita, 38, said nothing after officers surrounded him, Genesee County Sheriff Robert J. Pickell said. Officers subdued him and found a 12-gauge pump-action shotgun and three live shells in the vehicle, the sheriff said.

LaCalamita was being held on charges of fleeing and eluding police. Police investigators were expected to meet Tuesday with Oakland County prosecutors to authorize charges in the shootings, and LaCalamita was to be arraigned Wednesday, Troy Police Lt. Gerry Scherlinck said.

Troy Police Chief Charles Craft said LaCalamita was fired last week but still was listed on the Web site of Gordon Advisors, a 40- to 50-employee company where workers had been busy preparing tax returns.

Police said the person killed was a 63-year-old woman but would not name her.

Calls to Gordon Advisors were not answered Monday afternoon. A message posted on the company's Web site said the office would be closed Tuesday in memory of Madeline Kafoury.

Larson said Kafoury was well-known and well-liked. She said Kafoury retired last year after tax season ended, but returned part-time this year after her successor quit.

Scherlinck identified the other victims as a 47-year-old man and a 48-year-old man.

He said the men were in management positions, and the gunman may have also been seeking another man who wasn't at the office at the time.

"It appears that he was especially targeting those two males," Scherlinck said.

The families of the wounded men requested privacy, and Beaumont Hospital would not release any details about their conditions, hospital spokeswoman Ilene Wolff said.

"I'm not positive all three of the people were targeted but there appeared to be some purpose," said Craft, the police chief.

Witnesses told police that when the gunman walked into the office on the building's second floor around 10 a.m. Monday, he looked as if he was trying to hide something, Craft said.

Police couldn't say how many shots were fired.

After briefly assembling in the employee lunchroom, some employees opted to hole up inside individual offices. Larson joined two female co-workers, barricading the locked door with chairs, turning off the lights and silencing their cell phones.

Beneath a desk, the three curled up and kept quiet.

"I was just so scared," Larson said. "I just kept thinking, `This can't be happening."'

New York City admits a 'lack of diligence' in wake of rat infestation at fast-food restaurant

NEW YORK (AP) - In the first complaint the city health department received about a rodent-infested fast-food restaurant, someone said a rat fell from the ceiling as he or she was eating.

That was on Jan. 22 - a full month before the rat infestation at a KFC/Taco Bell in Manhattan was captured on video by a TV camera, causing a national embarrassment for the company and prompting increased enforcement of health code rules at city eateries.

The details came from one of two reports issued Monday by the city seeking to explain how the KFC/Taco Bell in Greenwich Village earned a passing grade following a February inspection.

The reports cited systemic failures and a health department inspector's "lack of diligence." The inspector resigned the same day the reports were released.

A report from the health department found plenty of shortcomings, such as the city's lack of an "adequate mechanism" to respond to repeated restaurant complaints and for focusing too heavily on signs of rodent activity rather than conditions that foster infestations.

The report from the Department of Investigation, however, did not hold back in its criticism. Its investigation "found a disturbing lack of diligence on the part of the public health sanitarian who inspected the restaurant as well as a breakdown in the supervision of the inspector," DOI Commissioner Rose Gill Hearn said.

The department said the inspector, Cemone Thomas, "underreported the rodent-related findings and failed to take proper action … which constituted a 'gross dereliction' of her duties."

On Feb. 22, Thomas documented only 87 rat droppings and didn't cite an additional 20, which would have caused the restaurant to fail the inspection and could have forced it to close immediately, the department said.

The next day, video shot through the restaurant window of rats scampering throughout the eatery before it would have opened for the day surfaced. The city dispatched a second inspector, who ordered the place closed.

The department said evidence in the case suggested that Thomas simply couldn't be bothered to do a more comprehensive report because she might have been trying to "avoid the additional time it would have taken for further enforcement steps."

Thomas' lawyer didn't return telephone messages left by The Associated Press at his office Monday.

A Department of Health spokesman, Geoffrey Cowley, said Thomas was a "superb inspector who made a very serious mistake."

Thomas resigned before the contents of the rat reports were released publicly. She would have been fired if she hadn't quit, Cowley said.

In response to the KFC/Taco Bell fiasco, Cowley said "a lot of things are going to change."

The parent company of KFC, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut, Louisville-based Yum Brands Inc., said it had asked a leading rat expert to review company standards at its New York outlets. The company apologized for the rats and said it was working to ensure another infestation didn't happen again.

Cartoonist Johnny Hart, creator of 'B.C.' and 'Wizard of Id,' dies at 76

ALBANY, N.Y. - For millions of comic strip readers, the prehistoric era was a hoot: Cavemen played baseball, ants went to school, birds rode on the back of turtles and snakes made quips.

All of it was thanks to cartoonist Johnny Hart, who died Saturday at age 76 while working at his home in the nearby hamlet of Nineveh. "He had a stroke," his wife, Bobby, said Sunday. "He died at his storyboard."

Hart's "B.C." strip was launched in 1958 and eventually appeared in more than 1,300 newspapers with an audience of 100 million, according to Creators Syndicate Inc., which distributes it.

"He was generally regarded as one of the best cartoonists we've ever had," Hart's friend Mel Lazarus, creator of the "Momma" and "Miss Peach" comic strips, said from his California home. "He was totally original. 'B.C' broke ground and led the way for a number of imitators, none of which ever came close."

Hart, who also co-created "The Wizard of Id," won numerous awards for his work, including the National Cartoonist Society's prestigious Reuben Award for Cartoonist of the Year and an award from the International Congress of Comics.

Richard Newcombe, founder and president of Creators Syndicate said "B.C." and "Wizard of Id" would continue. Family members have been helping produce the strips for years, and they have an extensive computer archive of Hart's drawings to work with, he said.

After his discharge from the military in 1954, Hart worked in the art department at General Electric while selling cartoons on the side. He began reading Charles Schulz's "Peanuts" and was inspired to start his own strip.

"Caveman gags, for reasons which I still cannot explain, were an obsession in those days," Hart told Creators. "One day, a friend jokingly suggested I create a strip revolving around prehistoric times."

Later in his career, some of Hart's cartoons had religious themes, a reflection of his own Christian faith. That sometimes led to controversy.

A strip published on Easter in 2001 drew protests from Jewish groups and led several newspapers to drop the strip. The cartoon depicted a menorah transforming into a cross, with accompanying text quoting some of Jesus Christ's dying words. Critics said it implied that Christianity supersedes Judaism.

Hart said he intended the strip as a tribute to both faiths. "He had such an emphasis on kindness, generosity, and patience," Newcombe said.

"B.C." was filled with puns and sly digs at modern society. One recent strip showed an ant teacher asking her class, "Who can tell me what secondhand smoke is?" One pupil raised his hand with an answer: "A political speech made by a vice presidential candidate."

After he graduated from Union-Endicott High School, Hart met Brant Parker, a young cartoonist who became a prime influence and eventual co-creator with Hart of "The Wizard of Id" in 1964.

Hart enlisted in the Air Force and began producing cartoons for Pacific Stars and Stripes. He sold his first freelance cartoon to the Saturday Evening Post after his discharge from the military in 1954.

Many of Hart's characters were patterned after his friends. "He was a free spirit who loved everybody, and everything," Jack Caprio, a childhood friend and model for "Clumsy Carp" in the "B.C." strip, told the Press & Sun-Bulletin of Binghamton. "He was never embarrassed by doing silly things."

Besides his wife, Hart is survived by two daughters, Patti and Perri. He was a native of Endicott, about 135 miles northwest of New York City, and drew his comic strip at a studio in his home in Nineveh until the day he died.

A funeral will be held Friday.

Capsule carrying software mogul docks at space station under Martha Stewart's watchful eye

KOROLYOV, Russia (AP) - Two Russian cosmonauts and a U.S. billionaire who helped develop Microsoft Word floated into the international space station early Tuesday - to the earthbound applause of Martha Stewart and others at Mission Control.

The lifestyle guru was among Russian and American officials and visitors monitoring the docking at Russian Mission Control, on Moscow's outskirts, as onboard TV cameras showed the Soyuz nearing the station and then jerking to a stop. Stewart is a friend of Charles Simonyi, the American who shelled out $20-25 million to be the world's fifth paying private space traveler.

The Soyuz capsule docked automatically with the ISS and Simonyi and two Russian cosmonauts entered the space station about 90 minutes later.

A video linkup at Russian Mission Control in Korolyov, on Moscow's outskirts, showed the three smiling and getting hugs and backslaps from the three-member crew already on the station.

The arrival of a new crew is always a happy event, and this time the residents are getting an extra treat - the gourmet dinner brought by Simonyi.

The menu, including quail marinated in wine, was selected by Stewart, who was also on hand at Baikonur for the rocket's launch Saturday.

Simonyi returns to Earth on April 20, along with Russian Mikhail Tyurin and the American astronaut Miguel Lopez-Alegria, who have been on the station since September. The other U.S. astronaut, Sunita Williams, will remain on board with cosmonauts Fyodor Yurchikhin and Oleg Kotov.

The dinner is to be eaten on Thursday, which Russia marks as Cosmonauts' Day, the anniversary of Yuri Gagarin making the first manned space flight in 1961.

Simonyi, 58, was born in Hungary but now lives in the United States, where he amassed a fortune through his work with computer software, including helping to develop Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel.

Simonyi was bringing with him a sample of the paper computer tapes that he used decades ago when he first learned programming on a bulky Soviet machine called Ural-2.

While at the space station, Simonyi will be conducting a number of experiments, including measuring radiation levels and studying biological organisms inside the lab.

Simonyi's blog:

http://www.charlesinspace.com

Louisiana is the last state standing on legal cockfighting circuit

BREAUX BRIDGE, La. (AP) - Spectators shake their fists, scream out wagers and cheer on their roosters, the air swirling with cigarette smoke and chicken feathers.

Saturday night in Breaux Bridge means rooster fights at the Atchafalaya Game Club, one of dozens of cockfighting venues in Louisiana - soon to be the last state where the practice is legal. Fans from around the country pay $10 and settle into padded seats overlooking the pit, where two roosters peck and claw each other, often to the death.

"I still go to the rooster fights on a regular basis because it's something I enjoy," said Billy Duplechein, 37, of St. Martinville. "And I'm trying to get my sons involved. It keeps our kids out of trouble."

But this Louisiana tradition - long decried by animal rights activists as cruel and barbaric - may be coming to an end.

Worried about the state's long-standing image as a corrupt backwater at a time when hurricane-stricken New Orleans desperately needs money from Capitol Hill, Gov. Kathleen Blanco and other politicians want cockfighting banned.

That is an unpopular idea at the Atchafalaya club, where enthusiasts consider it harmless fun. They say Louisiana has plenty of other problems to solve, including the stagnant recovery from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

"I just don't see how it's going to help the state to get rid of cockfighting," said Dale Barras, owner of the Atchafalaya club.

The Atchafalaya Game Club - home to the Christmas Derby, the Mardi Gras Cup and other cockfighting tournaments - is an unmarked warehouse in Breaux Bridge, a small Cajun town about 120 miles west of New Orleans.

Hundreds came to the fights on a recent Saturday night, and they were not unlike the typical high school football crowd: teenagers on dates, kids with their parents. They ate burgers and chili dogs and drank sodas and beer.

"We don't make no one come to the fights," Barras said. "And we don't make the chickens fight," he added, echoing the cockfighters' oft-repeated argument that roosters battle instinctively.

The birds are fitted with sharp metal blades or curved spikes on their legs, and tear into each other. Blood soaks the animals' feathers and their handlers' clothing. A match can end in minutes or an hour, when one bird is dead or refuses to fight.

Men tidy up the pit between fights, like groundskeepers on a baseball diamond. One dampens the dirt with a watering can, another rakes up feathers. Gamblers settle their bets, and another fight begins. By the end of the night, a trash can in a back room is full of dead roosters - the losers.

"The bottom line is, we have standards in society on how animals should be treated, and this activity violates those standards," said Wayne Pacelle, head of the Humane Society of the United States. "It's just not morally sensible to stage fights between animals for the purpose of gambling and entertainment."

That argument succeeded in Oklahoma, where voters approved a ban in 2002. A cockfighting ban takes effect in June in New Mexico, the only other state where the blood sport is legal. Gov. Bill Richardson signed the ban earlier this year, with some residents speculating that the Democratic candidate for president turned against the sport for fear of looking as if he comes from a backward state.

In Louisiana, pro-cockfighting politicians have blocked the animal rights movement for years. Some lawmakers say it should be a local matter: Towns and parishes can outlaw cockfighting if they choose.

State Sen. Donald Cravins Jr. said he will oppose a ban. "In my district, cockfighting has been a part of life forever," said Cravins, a Democrat whose largely Cajun area has several pits.

While cockfighting itself is legal in Louisiana, running a cockfighting operation that makes money off gambling is not. And in a measure of how political opinion has turned against the sport, state police have begun raiding cockfighting pits.

A husband and wife were arrested last month. That same night elsewhere in Louisiana, a Texas man was arrested on similar charges.

The governor and House speaker once tacitly approved of cockfighting but have come out against it more recently.

Because of the hurricanes, Louisiana relies on money from Washington to rebuild New Orleans and other areas. State leaders say they believe Congress will not want to send billions to a state where bloody animal fights are legal.

"It's not a positive perception about out state," House Speaker Joe Salter said.

On Capitol Hill, some lawmakers are trying to toughen the penalties for transporting fighting cocks across state lines.

Barras and others said the state should keep cockfighting legal but make money off it by licensing the owners of fighting roosters, or by taking a cut of the winnings in tournaments like the Christmas Derby.

"This idea is like our life jacket, to keep from being drowned," Barras said. "We're trying to find anything to keep us afloat."

Grandmother: Teen who married older woman, fathered child, is getting back to normal

GAINESVILLE, Ga. (AP) - The boy who married a woman more than 20 years older than him after fathering her child is now living like a regular teenager and dating a girl his own age, his grandmother said. - His son is 14 months old, and the infant's mother is in jail.

The 16-year-old boy is now a high school junior, plays guitar and talks about joining the Marines, his grandmother, Judith Ann Hayles, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Hayles said the boy - who is not being identified - is "getting out of the situation he's been in."

Lisa Lynette Clark, now 38, was the mother of one of the boy's high school friends. Their affair became public when Clark and the teen - then 15 - were married in November 2005 by a retired judge who performed the ceremony in his driveway.

State law allowed people younger than 16 to marry if the bride was pregnant. The law was changed last year, and now 16- and 17-year-olds can wed only with the approval of a parent or guardian and a probate judge.

Hall County authorities arrested Clark the day after the wedding and charged her with sexually molesting a minor.

Hayles said she believes Clark seduced and stalked her grandson.

"She's a pedophile, that's what I think," Hayles said.

In March 2006, Clark pleaded guilty as a first offender to statutory rape and spent nine months in jail, where she gave birth. She is now serving a two-year sentence after pleading guilty to helping her teenage husband's flight out of state in February 2006.

Hayles said she and her grandson are going to counseling. But he's behaving more like an average teenager, she said.

"He has a girlfriend now and she's his age, thank the Lord," Hayles said.

It was not clear whether the teen was still married to Clark. Hayles and attorneys in the case did not immediately return calls to The Associated Press on Monday.

Their son is being cared for by Clark's former employer.

Lawyer: Student to plead guilty in stabbing of UMass professor over grade

BOSTON (AP) - A college student accused of stabbing a science professor in the neck because she gave him a failing grade plans to plead guilty to the attack, his lawyer said Monday. - Nikhil Dhar, 24, feared he would be deported to his native India because he was flunking out of school, his lawyer said.

Mary Elizabeth Hooker, an assistant professor of clinical lab sciences at the University of Massachusetts at Lowell, was hospitalized for several days after the attack on Dec. 22, 2005.

Dhar was scheduled to go to trial Wednesday, but instead plans to enter guilty pleas that day to charges of armed assault with intent to murder and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, said his attorney, Stephen Hrones.

"The evidence is basically pretty overwhelming," Hrones said.

Dhar is accused of following Hooker more than 20 miles from the Lowell campus and attacking her at her Cambridge home.

Hooker told police Dhar initially wanted to talk about failing her class, then dragged into the yard, hit her and stabbed her.

Police said they found a bloody note in Dhar's pocket, which read: "I'm sorry I'm having to do this. But I have no options left. … You look at me and I will kill you. I have nothing to lose."

Hrones said Dhar, from Calcutta, India, felt pressure because of his fear of deportation.

"His family is also very highly educated, and he wasn't doing well. It was a combination of those two things that exploded. This was completely out of character," the lawyer said.

He said he has been talking with prosecutors about a sentencing recommendation to give to the judge, but there has been no agreement. Hrones would not say what sentence he is seeking, but said Dhar would be deported after completing any prison term.

Corey Welford, a spokesman for Middlesex District Attorney Gerard Leone, had no immediate comment.

Hooker did not immediately respond to a call seeing comment.

Police say suspect in Detroit-area office shooting had worked for the accounting firm

TROY, Mich. (AP) - A man suspected of shooting three people, killing one, at an accounting firm where he was fired last week was arrested after a high-speed chase a few hours after the Monday morning attack, authorities said.

Police said they had located Anthony LaCalamita, 38, on Interstate 75, north of the suburban Detroit office building where the shootings took place.

Sheriff's deputies and state police chased him for 30 miles, including through a construction zone, at speeds up to 120 mph before he finally pulled over after about 15 minutes, Genesee County Sheriff Robert J. Pickell said.

"He probably realized if he didn't, he was going to be shot," Undersheriff James Gage said.

LaCalamita said nothing after officers surrounded him, Pickell said, describing the suspect as "subdued. Very, very, very subdued."

Officers found a 12-gauge pump-action shotgun and three live shells in the vehicle, Pickell said. Witnesses said the shooter used a shotgun or a rifle, Troy police Lt. Gerry Scherlinck said.

Some witnesses told police that when the shooter walked into the office on the building's second floor around 10 a.m. Monday, he looked as if he was trying to hide something, Troy Police Chief Charles Craft said.

Police couldn't say how many shots were fired.

"I'm not positive all three of the people were targeted, but there appeared to be some purpose," Craft said.

The families of the two wounded men requested "total privacy," and the hospital would not release any details about their conditions, Beaumont Hospital spokeswoman Ilene Wolfe said. She said the third victim died on the way to the hospital.

LaCalamita was listed among the professional staff on the Web site of Gordon Advisors, a public accounting and business consulting firm in the building. Calls to Gordon Advisors were not answered Monday afternoon, and a recording said the offices were closed.

The 170,000-square-foot building houses a number of businesses, including law offices and the accounting firm. Police at first told workers to stay in their offices but a short time later evacuated the building, about 15 miles north of Detroit.

Bill Adgate, who works at LPL Financial inside the building, said he had hunkered down inside the office for a couple of hours with furniture pushed up against the door. He said police told the group to stay put until officers allowed them to leave.

"It's tough. I want to get out," Adgate said by telephone.

- Associated Press writers Ron Vample and Jeff Karoub contributed to this story from Detroit.

Anna Nicole companion Stern hires lawyer to tackle what he says are unfounded media attacks

ATLANTA (AP) - Howard K. Stern, the former companion of Anna Nicole Smith, has hired a lawyer who said Monday he may sue media Stern believes are implicating him in the overdose deaths of Smith and her son.

"The nightly television, tabloid and Internet trial of Mr. Stern in the court of public opinion based on sensational lies, speculation, rumor and gossip is over," Atlanta attorney Lin Wood said in a news release.

Smith, the former Playboy Playmate and reality TV star, died Feb. 8 after being found in a Florida hotel room.

A medical examiner ruled she died of an accidental overdose of sleeping medication and at least eight other prescription drugs, along with a case of the flu and a bacterial infection from injecting drugs into her buttocks. Most of the drugs were prescribed in Stern's name, the medical examiner found.

The release of the medical examiner's report marked the end of a police investigation in Florida.

"The medical examiner concluded that the death of Anna Nicole Smith was accidental. No one has produced any evidence to rebut this conclusion because no such evidence exists," said Wood, who represented John and Patsy Ramsey after the death of their daughter, child beauty queen JonBenet.

Daniel Smith, the model's 20-year-old son, died Sept. 10 as he visited his mother three days after she gave birth in a Bahamian hospital to her daughter, Dannielynn. Daniel Smith's death was ruled an overdose, but an inquest into whether it was accidental has been put on hold.

Deputy works to keep the peace during home foreclosures

LEXINGTON, S.C. (AP) - Deputy Jon Shokes knows a few things about you by the time he shows up on your doorstep.

He knows whether you or anyone who lived at your home has ever been to jail. He knows if police have ever been called to the house.

And, with his roll of industrial-strength tape and an eviction notice in hand, Shokes also knows that you haven't made your mortgage payments.

"Like anything else I do in law enforcement, I want as much information as possible to keep myself safe," Shokes said during one recent day spent posting some of the 150 eviction notices he's served in the past 18 months. So far this year, he's on pace to serve about 120 notices - about the same as last year.

As mortgage foreclosures increase around the country, it's left to Shokes and other law enforcement agents to complete the final steps in the wrenching process of forcing a family from a home. It's a lengthy trail that leads from notices of late payments to court hearings before being handed to someone like Shokes. When it goes smoothly, he often finds a family has moved out before he posts the final, 8.5-by-11 eviction notice on a door.

The few times it's gone badly, emotions run high.

"I guess the hardest part, and I don't run across it a whole lot, is when they have children and the children don't understand. They see the uniform, they see the car, so I kind of work a little bit harder," said Shokes, a 20-year veteran.

So Shokes, the only deputy who serves foreclosure notices in Lexington County, does his research. He also makes three attempts to contact a homeowner before posting the eviction notice. He stops by at different times of the day and chats for a spell, mostly to make sure they understand what's about to happen.

"I just don't arbitrarily walk into this and say OK, I'm going to serve someone with some papers and tell them that 'Hey, you've got to be out of the house at this date and this time.' I want to know who I'm dealing with," he said. "Most people - I'd say probably 99 percent of them - understand why they're losing the home and they don't take that out on me."

He's been fortunate to have avoided "major problems," he said, but "It's still a very dangerous situation any time you're taking something from someone."

The notices effectively start a clock ticking toward a deadline for a family to vacate a home, which is usually the next time Shokes will arrive at their door.

Home to about 240,000 people in central South Carolina, Lexington County's foreclosures typically have stemmed from divorces, job losses or illnesses that leave people unable to pay mortgages, according to the stories Shokes has heard from the people he has evicted.

But the fastest growing area of mortgage foreclosures are high-priced loans made to people with problem credit - also called subprime loans. Many of those mortgages came with low introductory rates and payments, but as the rates have risen, borrowers are finding it more difficult to make payments.

In the last three months of 2006, about one of every 14 of those adjustable rate mortgages in the state was in foreclosure, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. One consumer advocate group predicts that rate will increase to 17 percent for those loans made in South Carolina last year.

One day last month, Shokes made his rounds through Lexington County's tree-lined, middle-class neighborhoods, stopping at mostly middle-class, ranch-style homes on quiet streets.

On his first visit before posting a notice, he knocks on a door and - if nobody's home - he looks in windows to see if people are still living there and checks the meter to see if the electricity is still on. He can tell if power was cut off because the customer requested it or because they didn't pay the bills.

At one stop, when no one came to the door, Shokes touched the hood of the car parked outside - still warm. "I think someone's avoiding me on this one," he said.

Every so often, Shokes arrives at a home to find the residents in denial. They haven't prepared to leave, and eventually a bank sends a moving company to pack their things.

"I've had some that didn't want to leave," he said. "They don't believe that someone is actually going to take all their personal belongings and put them out on the street."

George Williams, a 54-year-old unemployed truck driver, had started renting a place to live by the time Shokes posted the eviction on his home in the Lexington County town of Cayce last month. He couldn't make payments after his subprime mortgage rose from a 7 percent rate to nearly 10 percent. He refinanced, starting with an 8.9 percent rate, but that then shot up - and his monthly payment went from $700 to nearly $1,800.

The two men had talked before the notice went up, and Williams said later by phone that he had no hard feelings for the deputy who "was just doing his job."

"I guess it would be worse if I had nowhere to go," Williams said. "If my stuff got put out on the street, I would have felt differently."

Butcher sentenced to 23 years to life for hacking wife to death on NYC street

NEW YORK (AP) - A butcher who hacked his wife to death on a Manhattan street with a boning knife because he thought she was cheating on him was sentenced Monday to 23 years to life in prison.

"Surely this was a culmination of anger at your wife because of your feelings of betrayal," Supreme Court Justice Michael Obus said as he sentenced Sergio Parra, 28. "You killed the mother of your daughter in such a brutal way that it is inexcusable."

Parra was convicted last month of second-degree murder in the Sept. 16, 2004, death of his wife, Jahaira Parra, 27, in their northern Manhattan neighborhood.

Parra's lawyer, David Blackstone, admitted his client killed his wife of three years but said he did it while suffering extreme emotional disturbance because she had left him.

Parra, who came from the Dominican Republic in 1996, was sentenced to two years less than the maximum 25 years to life because he had no prior arrest record and apparently had "psychological issues," the judge said.

Parra will be eligible for parole after 23 years.

"I'm very sorry for the death of my wife," Parra told the judge before sentencing.

Parra was arrested shortly after he had gone to the barbershop where his estranged wife worked as a cleaner and asked to speak with her, police said. Once outside, they said, he stabbed her more than 20 times, striking her in the chest and eyes while bystanders watched.

An auxiliary police officer grabbed Parra and held him with the help of several passers-by until more police came.

Dallas County DA, Innocence Project say conviction in 1982 rape was based on mistaken identity

DALLAS (AP) - James Curtis Giles spent 10 years in prison for a gang rape he has long said he did not commit. On Monday, more than a decade after his release, a prosecutor acknowledged Giles' arrest had been a case of mistaken identity, and a judge recommended he be exonerated.

If the appeals court formally approves State District Judge Robert Francis' recommendation as expected, Giles, now 53, will become the 13th Dallas County man to be exonerated since 2001 with the help of DNA evidence.

"I hope we continue to do the right thing in this situation," Giles told the judge Monday. "Don't wait this long to make it right."

About two dozen relatives packed into the courtroom and broke into applause after Giles spoke.

Giles, who left with courtroom with a smile, said he doesn't hold a grudge against the state. The judge complimented him on his positive attitude about his ordeal.

"This is not what I want to see as a judge," Francis said, "but I'm glad we can rectify as much as we can."

The Dallas County District Attorney's office and Giles' Innocence Project lawyer, Vanessa Potkin, both told the court they had evidence showing Giles was innocent of the 1982 gang rape of a Dallas woman.

It turned out to be a case of mistaken identity, said Assistant Dallas County District Attorney Lisa Smith.

A man who pleaded guilty to the gang rape, Stanley Bryant, implicated two other men in the crime: a James Giles and a Michael Brown. DNA evidence linked Brown and Bryant to the crime, Smith and Potkin said. Brown was never tried and died in prison after being convicted of another gang rape.

Police eventually arrested James Curtis Giles, who lived 25 miles away and did not match the description of the attacker given by the rape victim, Potkin said. Giles was about 10 years older and had gold teeth.

Investigators ignored another man with a similar name: James Earl Giles. That Giles lived across the street from the victim and had previously been arrested with Brown on other charges, the attorneys said. He died in prison in 2000 while serving time for robbery and assault.

The victim recently acknowledged some doubt as to whether James Curtis Giles was among the rapists. One witness also recently identified the other man, James Earl Giles, in a photo lineup, Smith said.

The DNA evidence that linked Brown to the crime was one factor that helped convince the district attorney's office to investigate James Curtis Giles' claim of innocence, especially because of Brown's "overwhelming connection" to the other James Giles, Potkin said.

Giles has had to register as a sex offender since his release. He is married and lives in Lufkin with his wife, working for an accounting business, Potkin said.

"It's been humiliating every day, knowing that a sex offender was the scum of the earth," Giles said after the hearing Monday.

Giles, who is black, would be the 13th Dallas County man since 2001 exonerated by DNA evidence, the most of any county in the nation. It would be the third exoneration since District Attorney Craig Watkins took office on Jan. 1 pledging to free anyone wrongfully convicted.

Watkins, the state's first black district attorney, took over an office with a history of racial discrimination, including a staff manual for prosecutors that described how to keep minorities off juries.

Giles is scheduled to appear Tuesday at the state Capitol in Austin with Barry Scheck, the co-director of the Innocence Project, a New York-based legal center that specializes in overturning wrongful convictions. They are scheduled to speak at Senate hearings regarding three reform bills designed to reduce wrongful convictions in Texas, said Eric Ferrero, a spokesman for the Innocence Project.

Texas leads the nation with 27 DNA exonerations, one more than Illinois, according to Innocence Project figures. There have been 198 exonerations nationwide.

Minister's wife in court Monday for start of murder trial in small western Tennessee town

SELMER, Tenn. (AP) - A young minister's wife walked into court with her lawyers Monday for the start of her murder trial in the shotgun killing of her husband in their church parsonage.

Mary Winkler, a quiet mother of three, was met by a crowd of photographers and TV cameras as she arrived for the start of jury selection.

Authorities said Matthew Winkler, 31, minister at the Fourth Street Church of Christ in this small western Tennessee town, was struck by a single blast on March 22, 2006. His wife was arrested a day later in Orange Beach, Ala., some 340 miles from Selmer, with their three young daughters.

Police say she admitted shooting her husband, and that it had something to do with his constant criticism.

"It was just building up to this point," Winkler said, according to a statement taken by Alabama police. "I was just tired of it. I guess I just got to a point and snapped."

The trial could last several weeks. Because of the attention the case has drawn, the town of about 4,500 people, some 80 miles east of Memphis, had to make preparations for the horde of reporters and spectators who showed up Monday.

About 160 potential jurors crowded into the tiny courtroom. As jury selection began, Judge Weber McCraw kept reporters out of the courtroom because of the lack of space.

"We've had some murders in this county, but nothing this sensationalized. It kind of caught us off guard," McNairy County Circuit Court Clerk Ronnie Brooks said.

Friends have said they can't understand how someone as sweet and quiet as Mary Winkler could be charged with murder.

"This was a perfect family," Judy Turner, a member of a church where Matthew Winkler was assigned before coming to Selmer.

If convicted, Winkler would be sentenced to life in prison with parole possible after 51 years.

While Winkler has been found competent to stand trial, her attorneys, Steve Farese and Leslie Ballin, have indicated they may argue that she lacked the required state of mind to commit premeditated first-degree murder.

But mostly, Farese, Ballin and prosecutors have been mum about the case.

"I'm sure it would allay a lot of people's fears if they know the whole story, but as you know, they cannot know the whole story until we go to court," Farese said in August when Winkler was released on $750,000 bail.

The Winklers were married in 1996. They met at Freed-Hardeman University, a Church of Christ-affiliated school in Henderson where Matthew's father was an adjunct professor. Mary took education classes, and Matthew took Bible classes. Neither graduated.

Before moving to Selmer, Matthew Winkler taught Bible classes part-time at Boyd Christian School, a Church of Christ-affiliated school in McMinnville.

The perfect name for a newborn Buckeye: Tressel Hayes

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - An Ohio State fan believed the last names of two Buckeyes football coaches would make the perfect first and middle names for his unborn child.

His wife wasn't so sure.

But Brent Huffines' choice won out. The couple named their newborn son Tressel Hayes.

"Tressel Hayes Huffines - sounds as sweet as an OSU victory over Michigan," Brent Huffines, 27, said Sunday while cradling the 3-day-old boy in the neonatal intensive care unit at Ohio State University Medical Center.

Wanting to honor Woody Hayes and Jim Tressel, Huffines suggested the name to his wife, Kattie, before they learned she was having a boy.

"I laughed. I thought he was joking," said Kattie Huffines, 21. "I was shocked to learn he was serious."

At least six Ohio parents have named a child Tressel since 2003, birth records show.

Tressel Hayes Huffines was born a month premature, weighing 5 pounds, 14 ounces. He will remain in the hospital for at least a few days and possibly a few weeks.

"If nothing else, it assures the Buckeye tradition stays in the family," the boy's father said of his son's name. "Can you imagine someone named Tressel Hayes going to Michigan for college?"

Teen charged with using Craigslist to run prostitution service from Chicago-area home

HILLSIDE, Ill. (AP) - A teenager once arrested alongside her mother in a prostitution case has been accused of running an escort service out of her suburban Chicago home using the popular Web site Craigslist.

Kimberly Petersen, 17, was arrested after detectives doing a routine search of the site's classified boards found one that included an offer to "enjoy a beautiful blonde" for $250 an hour and pictures of a smiling woman in lingerie.

An undercover detective who called the number in the ad and arrived at Peterson's home was quoted a $300 rate for a 27-year-old woman to perform a sex act, Hillside Police Chief Joseph Lukaszek said.

Petersen was released on bond late last week after being arrested and charged with a misdemeanor, police said. Heidi Mudge, 27, was charged with prostitution.

A 48-year-old man who came to the house while police were investigating also was arrested.

Petersen's mother, Kimberly Miniea, faced a similar charge last April after police said she told them she ran an escort service to "entertain married men." The charge was dropped.

Petersen, then 16, also was arrested at the time but was not charged. Miniea is now in prison serving a two-year sentence on an unrelated drunken driving conviction.