LOS ANGELES - An attorney representing the family of Nicole Brown Simpson accused eBay on Thursday of not moving quickly enough to yank auctions of "If I Did It," O.J. Simpson's hypothetical story of how he would have killed his ex-wife.

The book had been scheduled for release Nov. 30 following a two-part Simpson interview on Fox, but News Corp., owner of Fox Broadcasting and publisher HarperCollins, canceled the project after an outcry condemning it as revolting and exploitive.

Responding to concerns from HarperCollins, eBay spokesman Hani Durzy said Wednesday that the online auction house has been removing offers to sell purported copies of the book from the site. In one case, bids had topped $1 million.

A phone message left for eBay representatives was not immediately returned Thursday.

Brown family attorney Natasha Roit said the site's deadline-style auctions means some transactions could finish before eBay acts. HarperCollins has said all copies of the book would be destroyed, but is always a chance some could get out.

"The voice of the American public was heard loud and clear by News Corp. and HarperCollins in recalling the books," Roit said. "We really need to stem the tide and get these books out of circulation because anything that's out there now is really hurtful to the family."

Simpson, 59, was acquitted of the double murder of his ex-wife and her friend Ron Goldman in 1995 but was later found liable in a wrongful-death lawsuit filed by Goldman's family. The former football star has not paid the $33.5 million civil judgment, and his NFL pension and Florida home cannot be seized.

In interviews with The Associated Press, Simpson denied committing the murders. He also disputed his publisher's contention that the book amounts to a confession, insisted the title was not his idea, and said the hypothetical sections were written by a ghostwriter.

News Corp. spokesman Andrew Butcher said the company paid $880,000 to a third party in connection with the project. Of that amount, $100,000 was to go to the ghostwriter and the rest to Simpson's children.

"Absolutely no money was ever given to O.J. Simpson by us," Butcher said Wednesday.

Simpson said any profit from the book would be "blood money," but he said he needed to pay his bills.

"It's all blood money, and unfortunately I had to join the jackals," Simpson said, referring to authors of books about him. "It helped me get out of debt and secure my homestead."

Simpson would not say how much he was paid in advance, but he said it was less than the $3.5 million that has been reported. He said the money already has been spent, some of it on tax obligations.

Butcher said News Corp. cannot recoup any of the money because Simpson honored his end of the contract by producing the book.

Simpson said he was convinced the book would have been a best-seller.

"If I Did It" cracked the top 20 of Amazon.com last weekend in prepublication sales, but by Monday, when it was canceled, the book had fallen to No. 51.

'Jezebel of Jazz' Anita O'Day dies at 87

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Anita O'Day, whose sassy renditions of "Honeysuckle Rose," "Sweet Georgia Brown" and other song standards that made her one of the most respected jazz vocalists of the 1940s and '50s, has died. She was 87.

O'Day died in her sleep early Thursday morning at a convalescent hospital in West Hollywood where she was recovering from a bout with pneumonia, said her manager Robbie Cavolina.

"On Tuesday night, she said to me, get me out of here," Cavolina said. "But it didn't happen."

Once known as the "Jezebel of Jazz" for her reckless, drug-induced lifestyle, O'Day lived to sing and she did so from her teen years until this year when she released "Indestructible!"

"All I ever wanted to do is perform," she said in a June 1999 interview with The Associated Press. "When I'm singing, I'm happy. I'm doing what I can do and this is my contribution to life."

Cavolina recently completed a feature film about O'Day and accompanied her to shows and on tours.

"She got to see how many people really loved her at the shows we did, in New York, in London," Cavolina said. "She had come back after all of this time. She really lived a very full and exciting life."

O'Day was born in Chicago, Ill. She left home at age 12 and often bragged about being "self-made" and never having a singing lesson.

She began her career in her teens and later recorded hits with Stan Kenton and Gene Krupa. Her highly stylized performance of songs like "And Her Tears Flowed Like Wine," "Let Me Off Uptown," "Honeysuckle Rose" and "Sweet Georgia Brown" made her famous the world over.

In her prime, O'Day was described as a scat singer and a natural improviser whose unique interpretations energized the most familiar songs. She inspired many singers, including June Christy and Chris Connor.

Her fame came at a price.

She suffered from a 16-year heroin addiction and an even longer alcohol problem. Wild, drug-related behavior and occasional stints in jail on drug charges earned her the nickname "Jezebel of Jazz."

"I tried everything," she once said. "Curiosity will make you go your own way."

She overdosed many times and on one occasion in the late 1940s, it was almost fatal.

The experience shocked her into giving up drugs, but she continued to drink.

In late 1996, the same year she received a lifetime achievement award from the National Endowment for the Arts, O'Day fell down the stairs of her Hemet, Calif., home after a drinking binge. She was admitted to a hospital with a broken arm but ended up with severe food poisoning and pneumonia.

She survived the ordeal but her recovery - both physical and emotional - was painful. She left the hospital in a wheelchair and didn't walk for nearly a year. Her right hand was paralyzed but worst of all, she said, she had lost her singing voice.

Although she blamed the complications on poor hospital care, the near-death experience convinced O'Day to give up alcohol.

It took nearly a year to get her voice back and start singing again. But once she did, she was right back on stage.

For the last years of her life, O'Day performed at various Los Angeles night spots.

O'Day had no children and no immediate family, Cavolina said.

Two women taken hostage in Chicago; gunman fires on police in hours-long standoff

CHICAGO (AP) - Two women were taken hostage inside their Chicago apartment building early Thursday, sparking a police standoff that stretched more than 14 hours. - The women were being held by a gunman in his 20s or 30s who fired at police at least once, and officers were negotiating with the suspect by phone, police spokeswoman Monique Bond said.

"We don't actually know what precipitated it," Bond said. "Time's on our side in situations like this. Hopefully it'll be resolved soon and the outcome will be a safe one."

Police believe the man is armed with a semiautomatic weapon. Police 1st Deputy Dana Starks declined to say how many shots he fired.

"We're trying to ensure that there are no injuries," said Starks.

Bond said the man's family was on the scene helping police negotiators.

The standoff in the city's South Shore neighborhood began about 2:30 a.m. after a 911 call about gunshots in the building. The police department's hostage barricade terrorist team responded, and officers surrounded the three-flat building, police said.

No injuries were reported, Bond said. She described the female hostages as young adults, but did not know their ages or relationship to the gunman.

Police surrounded the building, which sits among brick houses and apartment buildings. Authorities also closed several blocks and surrounded the scene with yellow police tape while neighbors walked by with groceries.

Gwendolyn Hodges, 48, who lives in the building where the hostages were being held, said she spent the morning in her car, waiting to be allowed inside so she could start preparing for a Thanksgiving meal with her family.

"This is ridiculous," she said. "What kind of holiday is this for people?"

Earthquake with at least 4.5 magnitude hits Hawaii's Big Island, rattles Maui, Oahu

KAILUA-KONA, Hawaii (AP) - An earthquake with a magnitude of at least 4.5 struck off the northwest coast of the Big Island on Thursday in the same area where two stronger temblors struck last month.

The quake, centered about 11 miles northwest of Puuanahulu, shook homes on the Big Island, Maui and Oahu, but it did not produce a tsunami threat, according to the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center.

The U.S. Geological Survey estimated its magnitude at 5.0; the Tsunami Warning Center estimated it at 4.5.

There were isolated power outages in Kona on the Big Island, but no other damages were immediately reported.

Magnitude 6.7 and 6.0 earthquakes shook the islands Oct. 15, causing power outages, bridge collapses and road closures. Those quakes caused an estimated $200 million in damages.

On the Net:

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/regional/neic/

Chicago student wins turkey-eating contest

NEW YORK (AP) - There won't be any turkey for Patrick Bertoletti on Thanksgiving - he's already had his fill. - Bertoletti, a 21-year-old culinary student from Chicago, won the annual turkey-eating contest at Artie's Deli on Wednesday, eating 4.8 pounds of the holiday bird - a full pound more than the runner-up.

The eight contestants in the competition had 12 minutes to eat as much of a 12-pound turkey as they could manage. And their handling of the birds wouldn't have won them any etiquette medals.

The defending turkey-eating champion, Sonya Thomas, known as the "Black Widow," got her mouth too full of turkey to swallow as the contest moved into the homestretch. She was disqualified.

Bertoletti's winning strategy had him starting his attack on the turkey breast. "It's white meat and harder to eat. You want to get it out of the way first," he said.

Bertoletti, who weighs 190 pounds, has won eating contests ranging from pizza to ice cream. But he said turkey was much harder, with all that chewing.

"My jaws are pretty tired," he said after winning the contest. But his appetite hadn't been sated. He and his friends were looking around for a spot to get some pizza before flying home.

He was planning to dine on venison for Thanksgiving.

Searchers using sonar find 6 bodies in Utah lake; some missing more than a decade

STRAWBERRY RESERVOIR, Utah (AP) - For more than a decade, the remains of several boaters have been hidden in the dark, cold depths of this 26-square-mile lake high in the Uinta National Forest. - Then, in a span of just two weeks, Strawberry Reservoir gave up six of its dead during a search for a couple whose boat capsized in mid-November.

What loosened the reservoir's grip on the dead was sonar, which transmits high-frequency waves through water and registers vibrations that bounce off an object.

Search and rescue crews in the past dragged the lake for bodies with a triangular sheet of metal that had hooks on it, said Lt. Jeff Winterton of the Wasatch County sheriff's office in central Utah.

But when Steven Roundy, 28, and his wife, Catheryn, 23, disappeared from their overturned aluminum fishing boat Nov. 8, authorities were able to search for the bodies with recently acquired sonar equipment.

Freezing water temperatures, 90-foot depths and an elevation of more than 7,600 feet made it too dangerous to send divers to look for the couple.

Rescuers thought they had located one of the Roundys on Nov. 11 when the first blip appeared on the sonar screen. But video from the lake bottom indicated otherwise. It was the body of Drake McMillan, a 46-year-old Salt Lake City man who disappeared while swimming Aug. 31, 2001.

"We were very surprised and somewhat taken back when the first victim we found was not one of the Roundys," said Utah Department of Public Safety Capt. Doug McCleve.

A few days later, the sonar picked up two more bodies, believed to be two of three men missing since a 1995 fishing trip.

"When we started doing the autopsies and identified the remains we found, it (brought) a sense of closure to one family, but still not the other one. Then we find other bodies and it's still not the Roundys," Winterton said. "I'm a firm believer that things happen for a reason."

Searchers found the Roundy bodies on Nov. 17.

If the couple's bodies had been found first, deputies would have ended their search and none of the other bodies would have been discovered.

Because of their success with the sonar, crews continued to look for the third member of the 1995 fishing party. On Monday, they located another body, which might be that man, deputies said.

If so, authorities will be able to account for every person believed to have drowned in the lake in the past decade.

"A bad situation actually turned out to be somewhat of a good situation because of the bodies we recovered … and peace that's returned to those families," Winterton said.

On Wednesday, authorities identified the remains of one member of the 1995 fishing party: Phillip Shepherd, 26, of Spanish Fork. His fishing buddies, Austin Lloyd and Daniel Maycock, both 19 and from Spanish Fork, have not been identified.

"This is as hard as the first time," Tom Lloyd, Austin's father, told the Deseret Morning News. "It's heartache. Pure heartache."

No survivors found in Poland mine explosion, all 17 missing men found dead

RUDA SLASKA, Poland (AP) - The bodies of all 17 men trapped underground after a mine explosion in southern Poland have been found, bringing the death toll to 23 in the country's worst mining disaster in three decades, the mining company said Thursday. - President Lech Kaczynski declared three days of mourning after the last of the victims were found following an arduous 38-hour search more than 3,000 feet below ground.

The men, aged between 21 and 59, were killed by a methane gas explosion Tuesday at the Halemba coal mine in the economically depressed region of Silesia in southern Poland. There were no survivors, and rescue officials said all probably perished in the initial blast.

"This brings to an end this very sad day," Zbigniew Madej, spokesman for the state-run Coal Co., said at the scene. "Nobody has a sense of relief, but rather a great weight on their heart."

Mourners, including many victim's families, prayed and lit candles at an impromptu shrine at the entrance to the mine complex. Many gathered around a list of the victims posted by the company.

"I came to support my mother," said Mariola Pietkiewicz, crying as she explained her brother was among the dead. "I'm the only one left for her."

Jan Gawra, one of 220 miners involved in the rescue attempt, emerged from the mines after digging through the night, his face and clothes black with coal dust. He said he had worked for 22 years with some of the men whose bodies he helped recover.

"I didn't want to meet with them in this way," said Gawra with a deep breath. "We knew who was down there but we couldn't tell who was who. They were too burned for that."

Condolences arrived from world leaders including German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Pope Benedict XVI.

"The pope entrusts the souls of the dead to God's mercy, asking him to accept the offer of their toil and their life," the message from the Vatican said.

The search had to be put on hold for much of Wednesday when teams encountered high concentrations of methane gas that they feared could cause a second explosion.

It resumed shortly before midnight and the rescue teams found the bodies after digging through hundreds of feet of rubble for more than three hours, Madej said.

The methane gas explosion also would have produced temperatures of up to 1,800 degrees, Madej said.

"Rescuers were working in extremely difficult conditions," said Zygmunt Goldstein, a main adviser to a mine rescue center based in nearby Bytom. "We had methane, we had poisonous gases, high temperatures, high humidity, water threats, structural changes after the explosion. Everything that can happen down there."

It may take some time to determine whether the miners were killed in the initial blast or afterward, rescue officials said.

Kaczynski, who surveyed the site on Wednesday and met with grieving family members, has pledged a full investigation while the government has promised a review of safety at all Polish mines.

The miners were attempting to retrieve $23 million worth of equipment from a shaft that was closed in March because of dangerously high gas concentrations.

Labor unions complain that a lack of investment and massive layoffs in recent years have resulted in falling safety standards at the nation's mines.

The nearly 50-year-old Halemba mine, located in the heart of the Silesia industrial region, is one of the oldest in Poland, and has a record of serious accidents. In 1990, 19 miners were killed and 20 injured in a gas explosion at the mine. In 1991, five miners were killed in a cave-in.

Poland's worst mining accidents were in 1974 and 1979, when explosions killed 34 miners each at the Czechowice-Dziedzice in Silesia and the Dymitrow mine in Bytom.

South African court rules gay partners have same inheritance rights as married couples

CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) - South Africa's highest court ruled Thursday that gay partners must have the same inheritance rights as married couples, a decision in line with its landmark 2005 judgment that same sex marriages should be legalized. - The 10-member Constitutional Court ruled unanimously that existing succession laws were illegal because they excluded gay partners from provisions giving spouses automatic inheritance rights if a partner dies without leaving a will. The order was to have immediate effect.

It said the law should be changed to insert after every mention of the word "spouse," the phrase "or partner in a permanent same-sex life partnership in which the partners have undertaken reciprocal duties of support."

The current regulation "amounts to discrimination on the listed ground of sexual orientation," it said.

The ruling was a further victory for gay rights activists who are anticipating being able to marry their partners from Dec. 1, making South Africa the first nation on a deeply conservative continent to legalize same sex marriages.

Still, homosexuality remains largely taboo in South Africa, with many people saying it violates African cultural norms. The legislation met with heated opposition from many religious bodies and traditional leaders and only passed through the National Assembly because the ruling African National Congress ordered reluctant lawmakers to vote in favor.

South Africa's higher legislative chamber is expected to vote Monday on the Civil Union Bill, which was approved last week by the main parliamentary chamber, the National Assembly. President Thabo Mbeki must sign the law before Dec. 1 to meet the court's deadline. Otherwise, gay marriages will enter into effect by default.

South Africa recognized the rights of gay people in the constitution adopted after apartheid ended in 1994 - the first in the world to prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.

The case that led to Thursday's ruling was brought before the court by Mark Gory, whose long term partner, Henry Harrison Brooks, died without leaving a will.

Brooks' parents appointed another man as the executor of the will and claimed his estate. Gory disputed this and won an initial ruling the Pretoria high court.

The Constitutional Court ruled that Gory was Brooks' sole heir and that they had been living in a permanent relationship.

It canceled the sale of Gory and Brooks' joint Johannesburg home, which had been registered in Brooks' name, and ordered the return of Brooks' personal property to Gory.

Yacht capsizes during around-the-world race

LONDON (AP) - British skipper Alex Thomson's yacht capsized in the Southern Ocean during the Velux 5 Oceans solo around-the-world race Thursday and a rival sailor turned back to rescue him. - Thomson's yacht capsized early Thursday, but he was not hurt. He was trying to repair a damaged keel when he finally abandoned ship.

Mike Golding of Britain, who was in second place ahead of Thomson, responded to a request for assistance and turned upwind to pick up Thomson. Thomson said he is 1,000 miles south of Africa, with the closest land the uninhabited Prince Edward Islands, according to the race's Web site.

He said he has stopped the keel swinging, but he's expecting severe winds. In rough conditions, he said the keel could swing into the boat and sink it.

"I have spoken to Mike and it is very kind of him to come and help," Thomson told organizers by satellite phone. "He is making his way here as quickly as possible and I just hope he gets here in time."

Thomson communicated by phone at 6:30 p.m. local time. He estimated then that Golding was about 70 miles away. Considering the wind, he thought it would take Golding six hours to arrive.

Thompson said he was napping in his bunk when he was suddenly thrown across the cabin, according to organizers.

"The boat was leaning right over on its side with the (mast) spreaders in the water," he said.

Thomson said he was in touch with his shore crew, trying to find a way to regain control of the keel. He had been closing in on Golding when the keel broke free.

The 35,000-mile race has been has been held every four years since 1982. The fleet left Bilbao, Spain, on Oct. 22. The first leg is to finish in Fremantle, Australia, in early December. The race ends in Bilbao in April.

As of Wednesday, defending champion Bernard Stamm was leading. He was followed by Golding, Thomson, Kojiro Shiraishi, Robin Knox-Johnston, Graham Dalton and Unai Basurko.

On The Net:

Velux 5 Oceans: www.velux5oceans.com

Patrons get testy as NYC nightclub is shut down just before Jay-Z album party

NEW YORK (AP) - Authorities closed a big Manhattan nightclub a half-hour before it was to host a party with hundreds of people celebrating hip hop titan Jay-Z's new album Wednesday night, a club manager and a witness said.

Police and fire department spokespeople had no immediate comment on the shutdown of Avalon in the city's Chelsea neighborhood, which prompted testy exchanges as angry patrons were told to leave.

The club, a converted church, hosts a variety of parties, concerts and other events. It has a dance floor that holds about 700 people and other spaces that hold several hundred more, according to a director, Carmelo Citron.

Wednesday's shutdown came as patrons were lined up outside, waiting for the 10 p.m. start of a party to celebrate the recent release of the new album, "Kingdom Come," Citron said. He said the artist was not expected at the event.

Citron said the club was ordered to close because of ongoing problems with its certificate of occupancy. He said the trouble centered on a "clerical issue," and managers had tried to resolve it for the past several weeks.

The scene became heated as police dispersed the patrons, many of whom had prepaid for admission, Citron said.

Bystander Carmen Lopez of New Jersey was watching from a nearby store. She said a large number of people were outside the club around 10:15 p.m., cursing and exchanging words with police.

"It's kind of crazy out there," she said.

Managers expected Avalon to be closed throughout the holiday weekend, costing the club an estimated $500,000, Citron said.

Chain store founder dead at 86

HONOLULU (AP) - Sidney Kosasa, the founder of the ABC Stores chain of convenience stores catering to tourists, died Friday in his sleep, the company said. He was 86.

Kosasa opened his first ABC Stores in 1964 and eventually expanded to 55 storefronts in Hawaii, eight in Guam, two in Saipan and six in Las Vegas.

He was born December 1919 in Palolo Valley on Oahu. Kosasa attended the University of California at Berkeley where he earned a pharmacist's degree.

During World War II, he was sent to Tule Lake Internment Camp in northern California. There he met and married his wife, Minnie.

He left the camp in 1943 and got a job at Benson Smith Drug Store in Hawaii, where he worked his way up to store manager.

Kosasa and his wife opened their own drug store, later known as Thrifty Drugs, in Kaimuki, Hawaii, in 1949. He operated the pharmacy and in 10 years expanded the store to four locations.

While attending a convention in Miami Beach, Fla., he noticed all the tourists near the large hotels and came up with the idea for ABC Stores as he predicted Waikiki would someday be as busy as the Florida beach.

ABC Stores now has locations all over Waikiki serving as a spot for tourists to get beach gear, food, souvenirs and local apparel.

Scarecrows on toilets repel golfers

SOAP LAKE, Wash. (AP) - Some people use scarecrows to chase away birds, or garlic to block vampires. Rick Froebe uses toilets to repel golfers.

Froebe has erected a backyard "fence" made of seven old toilets, a few used bathtubs and some broken-down water heaters, all designed to prevent golfers from the adjacent Lakeview Golf & Country Club from approaching his yard.

While critics say Froebe is acting out in a dispute with the golf course and other neighbors, the plumber insists his fence is not meant to be offensive.

"It's plumber art," Froebe, 52, said.

Besides, he added, "It's not like this is Pebble Beach. This is Lakeview."

On Monday, three scarecrow-like dummies sat on toilets and looked on as golfers finished their putts on the 354-yard, par-4 first hole. The old commodes, bathtubs and water heaters first appeared on Halloween.

Froebe, co-owner of Coulee Dam/Ephrata Plumbing, used to belong to the golf club, but resigned in May in a dispute with other members.

He said the golfers near his property make his four dogs start barking, which has prompted upset neighbors to call the Grant County sheriff's office. Froebe has lived in the house for 15 years.

Gerald Coulter, representing the country club's nine-member board of directors, called the situation "completely ridiculous."

"I've had several people call that were upset with (the 'fence'). It's an eyesore," Coulter said. "I'm surprised the health department hasn't been out there because of the used toilets and water tanks. It's not a sanitary condition."

Grandmas help out at schools

BONITA SPRINGS, Fla. (AP) - Kindergartners and first-graders here are getting some "old school" education.

A group of 15 grandmothers logged more than 1,500 hours volunteering with struggling students at Bonita Springs Charter school last year. "Grandma Time" began after 70-year-old Ceil Jennings started volunteering in her grandsons' class in 2002.

Jennings, a mother of five with 11 grandkids, said grandmas help children learn in a different way than teachers. They go over areas where the children need help, like letters, numbers or hand-eye coordination, and hand out high-fives and hugs, the News-Press of Fort Myers reported Wednesday.

"One asked me, 'Are we allowed to hug the kids?' I told her, 'You can't avoid it!"' Jennings said.

All kindergartners, not just those who are having trouble, get Grandma Time at one point or another.

"The other kids go, 'Why can't I go with Grandma?' " Jennings said.

Las Vegas high school football players arrested for arson

LAS VEGAS (AP) - Five high school students have been arrested in connection with two arson fires at another school in August, authorities said. - Four of the students are varsity football players at Palo Verde High School, which is sending its team to Saturday's state championship semifinal game against Galena High School.

The juveniles face state felony charges, said Don York, resident agent in charge of the Las Vegas field office for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

In the incidents, glass bottles filled with flammable liquid scorched the side of a portable classroom at Faith Lutheran junior and senior high school.

Those arrested were taken to the Clark County Juvenile Detention Center, said the county's fire department spokesman Scott Allison.

Superintendent Walt Rulffes said five students had been suspended.

School board member Larry Mason, who also sits on the Nevada Interscholastic Athletic Association, said it's the right decision to suspend students from play if they've been involved in crimes.

"The game will go on," Mason said. "PV (Palo Verde) will have to revamp and go forward."

Las Vegas corrections officer caught in sex act, robbed

LAS VEGAS (AP) - A corrections officer who claimed to have been mugged and carjacked was likely the victim of a "trick roll" after he admitted to being robbed while having sex with an underage prostitute, authorities say.

Walter Washington, 28, initially said he was attacked at around 1 a.m. on Oct. 25 by two Hispanic men after he bought a soda at a convenience store.

But the officer was seen on security tapes buying condoms at the store with a teenage girl he met at a nearby Denny's, said Las Vegas police Lt. Ted Snodgrass.

He was then robbed while having sex with the girl in his car in an alley behind the convenience store, police say.

Robbers made off with his uniform, handgun, badge and Metropolitan Police Department ID. They also stole his wallet and his 1999 white Lexus sedan.

No criminal charges have yet been filed against Washington or the girl.

"The guy is still a victim, whether people think so or not," Snodgrass said.

Washington is now the subject of an internal affairs investigation and is on paid administrative leave, said Las Vegas police Deputy Chief Mike Ault.

Immediately after the robbery, Washington ran to a nearby motel and called a friend because he needed clothes, police said. They then drove to the friend's house to call police, according to the report.

Police weren't certain whether the prostitute was involved in the robbery, because normally in "trick rolls," the "john" is robbed before any sex takes place, police said.

But police "are leaning toward this being an organized" trick roll, Snodgrass said, because the two robbers are believed to be from the Balkans and the girl was born in Romania.

Carson City investigators probe blood-soaked motel room

CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) - Carson City investigators are trying to find two people who checked into a motel room and left behind blood-soaked bedding and walls. - Police were called Wednesday afternoon to the Rand Avenue Motel when a maid discovered the grisly scene in a room rented to Cynthia Markham, 47, and Steven Martinoni, 50.

Misty Jordan, who manages the motel with her husband, Robert, said the couple checked into the motel Tuesday night and paid $38.50 in cash for one night. There was no indication anything was wrong.

"They seemed to like each other," she said.

Around 11:20 a.m. Wednesday, a man called from room 203 and said he would be staying another night and to not send up the maid, Misty Jordan said.

She said the comment struck her as odd.

"Usually when people stay another night, they want new towels or sheets," she said.

She also said the man sounded nervous.

"He was talking fast and stuff," she said.

After a few hours when she hadn't seen him or received payment for a second night, Jordan sent the maid up to check the room, and the large blood stain on the mattress and splatter on the walls were discovered. The room was also empty of any sheets and towels and neither the room key nor personal items were left behind.

Motel employees then found the room's bloody bedding in an outside trash bin.

"It looked like somebody had taken a baseball bat to someone's head," Robert Jordan said. "Seeing that pillow and stuff - it was pretty gory."

The Jordans live in the space just below the room 203 and said they didn't hear or see anything suspicious last night.

About a week ago, Markham and Martinoni were involved in a domestic dispute at the Carson City Inn, according to police records.

In that case, a caller reported on Nov. 14 both the man and woman were bleeding. Martinoni was detained and released and Markham was taken into civil protective custody for being intoxicated, records show.

Memorial planned Saturday for Reno hotel fire victims

RENO, Nev. (AP) - A memorial service will held Saturday for victims of Reno's deadliest hotel fire.

Twelve people died and 31 were injured in the Halloween night arson at the historic Mizpah Hotel.

Valerie Moore, a 47-year-old paroled killer and casino cook who lived at the hotel, was arrested the next day. She is charged with 12 counts of first-degree murder and one count of first-degree arson.

A preliminary hearing is set for Dec. 12.

Saturday's service is scheduled for 2 p.m. at Trinity Episcopal Church downtown.

The service is being coordinated by Joyce Allen, an American Red Cross volunteer who helped many Mizpah victims.

Donations will not be accepted at the services. Instead, Allen asked people to donate to the Red Cross or ReStart, which has been helping more than 70 displaced residents find affordable permanent housing.

Of those who died, eight have been identified as Gregory Wiltse, Ernest Duarte, Paul Drum Smith, Christopher Covert, Nadine Nicodemus, Phillip Bridges, Jeremy Wren and Alford Yates.

Authorities are hoping the remaining four can be identified through DNA or dental records.

Neighbors and hotel workers at the Mizpah - who were unaware of her criminal record - had described her as a "nice woman" and "good tenant." But they said Moore had been drinking and apparently flew into a rage the night of the fire after she quarreled with a fellow hotel resident before setting a mattress afire.

Moore was paroled last year after serving 17 years in a Nevada prison for second-degree murder for killing an unemployed Reno waitress in 1987.

Murder plot suspect founded Polyvac medical supply firm

DERRY, N.H. (AP) - One of the four men charged with murder conspiracy in the 2005 death of a Derry man had owned a successful medical supply company, two newspapers reported Thursday. - John Brooks, 54, was arrested in Las Vegas on Tuesday morning, where he was being held pending a court hearing Monday.

The body of Jack Reid, 57, was found in the back of his dump truck in Saugus, Mass., on July 5, 2005, several days after prosecutors believe he was killed in Deerfield.

Brooks is a former resident of Londonderry who still owns property in Derry and New Castle, records show. He founded PolyVac Inc. of Manchester, but sold the company several years ago, the Eagle-Tribune and New Hampshire Union Leader reported.

"I saw it on TV and couldn't believe it. I'm still in shock," said Gardner Berry, who said he was a longtime friend of Brooks. PolyVac made an innovative plastic surgical tray, he said.

Brooks is accused of flying from Las Vegas to Manchester with two other suspects, Joseph Vrooman, of Las Vegas, and Robin Knight, 55, of North Hampton. The three then met up with Michael Benton, 30, of Manchester, at or near the home in Deerfield where Reid was killed on June 27, 2005, authorities said.

All are charged with conspiracy to murder, but none is charged with murder. The conspiracy charge carries a possible sentence of 15 to 30 years in prison, compared to life without possibility of parole for first-degree murder.

Authorities would not comment on how the men knew each other, how they killed Reid or what their motives were. All court records in the case are sealed.

Massachusetts medical examiners did not determine a cause of death for nearly a year. Last June, they said Reid died of "homicidal violence."

Vrooman, also a former New Hampshire resident, was arrested in Whitwell, Tenn., where he was being held as New Hampshire authorities seek his return to the state.

Knight and Benton are being held on $500,000 cash bail each. Benton faces a preliminary hearing on the evidence against him Dec. 11 in Auburn District. Knight is due back in court Wednesday.

Kansas man accused of exposing women to HIV sentenced to nearly 3 years in prison

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) - An HIV-positive man accused of knowingly exposing three women to the virus has been sentenced to nearly three years in prison.

Robert Richardson II, 30, apologized at his sentencing Wednesday, but he argued that while his behavior was unethical, it wasn't criminal.

Richardson was found guilty last month of four counts of HIV exposure involving three women, and he was found not guilty of exposing a fourth woman.

Jurors said they were appalled by how he deceived the women by telling them his health problems were from a heart condition. Richardson said he didn't lie, and that he did have a "HAART" condition - short for Highly Active Anti-Retroviral Therapy, the name he used for his HIV-treatment drug regimen.

Defense attorneys said that Richardson had been taking drugs to lower the amount of the virus in his blood and that he believed it was physically impossible for the women to get the virus.

His attorney, Thomas Johnson, argued for probation, claiming the women were not "seriously injured" because all had tested negative for HIV. He also said they engaged in "reckless sex."

The "injury isn't just physical" prosecutor Amy McGowan said.

Richardson was sentenced to 32 months in prison. Other cases are pending against him in Missouri and Kansas.

Student accused with 4 others in school attack pleads no contest

COLUMBUS, Kan. (AP) - A teenager accused with four others of plotting an armed attack on their high school has been sentenced to probation and community service.

Caleb Byrd, 16, pleaded no contest Wednesday to a misdemeanor charge of disorderly conduct. Judge Robert Fleming put him on probation until the end of the school year and ordered him to serve 100 hours of community service.

"He wants to start moving out of this fiasco, so to speak," Byrd's attorney, Eddie Battitori, said after the hearing.

Another of the accused boys, Andrew Jaeger, 15, pleaded no contest to the same charge last week. Fleming sentenced him to probation until the end of the school year, too.

Fleming said he did not sentence Jaeger to do community service because Jaeger's father has a health condition that requires care from his son.

Byrd; Jaeger, Coy New, 18; James Tillman 16; and Robby Hunt, 17, were accused of plotting an attack at Riverton High School on April 20. All five were arrested that day, the anniversary of the Columbine High School shooting in which 15 people were killed in 1999 in Colorado.

Tillman and Hunt have pleaded guilty and were sentenced to a year of probation and community service. New, the only defendant who is legally an adult, is set for trial Monday.

Jury orders rancher to pay nearly $100,000 for threatening hunting party

SIERRA VISTA, Ariz. (AP) - An anti-illegal immigration activist accused of threatening to shoot a Mexican-American family of hunters with an assault rifle and using racial slurs against them was ordered to pay them $98,000.

A civil jury held rancher Roger Barnett only partly responsible, saying some of the blame lay with the man who sued and the man's father.

Ronald Morales and his father, Arturo, were with his two young daughters and their friend when Barnett confronted them near his Douglas-area ranch and accused them of trespassing Oct. 30, 2004.

Morales' lawsuit claims they were legally crossing land Barnett leases from the state. The Moraleses are U.S. citizens of Mexican descent.

Barnett, who claims to have detained more than 10,000 migrants in the last 10 years, denied threatening the hunting party. He testified that he only took out his AR-15 rifle because the adults in the group were carrying rifles.

Morales, a Navy veteran, said he felt justice had been served by the verdict.

"We came to court and spoke the truth, and the jury heard that truth," Morales said. "Hopefully this sends a message that you can't point a gun at little kids - or anybody for that matter - and then threaten to shoot them."

Barnett declined to comment, saying his lawyer advised him against speaking. His brother, Donald Barnett, expressed disappointment.

"In the Morales family, the father taught the son to trespass, and now the father's teaching the daughters how to trespass in blatant disregard for the law," said Donald Barnett, who was initially named in the suit but later dropped as a defendant. "I guess in this country, private property and a person's rights don't mean much any more."

The lawsuit was sponsored by the Border Action Network and the Southern Poverty Law Center, civil rights groups that have accused Barnett of acting as a vigilante and abusing illegal immigrants he detains on his ranch.

The family sued Barnett for assault, false imprisonment, negligence and intentional infliction of emotional distress. The jury found in favor of all five plaintiffs Wednesday.

Morales said he asked the Cochise County Attorney to press criminal charges against Barnett, but was told no jury would convict him.

Activists allege spill at chemical weapons reprocessing site in Russia

MOSCOW - (AP) An environmental activist alleged Thursday that highly toxic chemicals had accidentally spilled from weapons being reprocessed at a central Russian plant.

Russian officials, however, denied there was a spill at the Maradykovsky complex.

Lev Fyodorov, the head of the Union for Chemical Safety in Moscow, said several aviation bomb casings had ruptured last week during reprocessing and that toxic liquid had spilled onto the ground.

But he said that the chances of environmental damage from the alleged accident were slim, since it occurred inside the reprocessing complex, 450 miles northeast of Moscow.

"I think it's an accident. They (Russian officials) don't think so," Fyodorov told The Associated Press, adding that the alleged spill was a sign that the reprocessing method Russia chose "is convenient only for making a quick accounting" before other signatories to the 1997 Chemical Weapons Convention.

The Maradykovsky reprocessing plant opened to great fanfare in September on the site of one of Russia's seven former chemical weapons production plants.

The plant is a focal point of the push to meet an April 2007 target set by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons for Russia to destroy 20 percent of its stockpile.

To date, Russia has eliminated just 3 percent of its stockpile, compared to 39 percent destroyed by the United States, home to the world's second-largest stockpile.

News of the spill first broke Wednesday when Tatyana Korolyovaya, an environmental activist in a town close to the Maradykovsky complex, made the allegations on Radio Liberty.

The Maradykovsky plant holds 6,900 tons of nerve agents stored in aerial bombs and missile warheads, more than 17 percent of Russia's chemical weapons stockpile.

Mikhail Manin, the official in the Volga region responsible for weapons-related issues, said in a statement that he had been in touch Lt. Gen. Valery Kapashin, a top chemical weapons destruction official who was at the plant this week, and other officials who said there were no spill.

The bombs stored at Maradykovsky hold VX, soman, sarin, and a less deadly mixture of lewisite and mustard gas. Technicians are to open each bomb, drain out some agent if necessary, insert a neutralizing reagent, close up the bomb and let it sit for 80-110 days to let the chemical processes take place, Gennady Bezrukov, a chemical weapons destruction program official, said at the plant opening in September.

When it is running at full strength, the plant will be able to neutralize 96 weapons a day, he said.

Fyodorov said officials had chosen an unreliable reprocessing technique, since it involves filling the bombs and warheads with water to start the process. That does not leave adequate room for the liquids inside to expand if the temperature rises, he said.

"When you have 22,000 weapons filled with water lying around, there is the probability that one or the other will explode, and it's a high probability," he said.

Paris-Ivory Coast flight diverted, evacuated following bomb threat

PARIS (AP) - A plane heading from Paris to the West African nation of Ivory Coast was diverted to an airport in southern France Thursday and it was safely evacuated following a bomb threat, officials said.

The Air Ivoire Airbus A321 with 52 people on board was flying from Orly Airport, outside Paris, to Abidjan in Ivory Coast. It landed at the airport in Marseille, the southern French port city, an airline official in Abidjan, Ivory Coast said.

Officials received a threatening phone call saying a bomb was aboard the flight, Christian Fremont, top official in the southern Bouches-du-Rhone region, told France 2 television.

The airplane was isolated at the Marseille airport, which was shut down for an hour Thursday afternoon because of the threat.

Police display fakes at exhibition to warn art dealers in London

LONDON (AP) - Pseudo Picassos, counterfeit Chagalls and other fakes are on display in London this week, part of an effort by Scotland Yard to warn dealers about forged art that it says fuels crime gangs around the world.

While the exhibit at the Victoria and Albert Museum looks like any other art gallery, the chatter among dealers centered on crime rather than composition, and the program was not open to the public.

"It made you fascinated by the terrifying skills of some of these people," said Fiona Ford of LAPADA, The Association of Arts & Antiques Dealers. "If every dealer saw this exhibition, it would further impress on them how careful they have to be."

For the art world, the danger is that forgeries can devalue the real thing. Documentation - allegedly authenticating a piece of art - can also be forged, according to Detective Sgt. Vernon Rapley, so even art accompanied by a detailed provenance can be suspect.

Art historian Thomas Hoving, former director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, has estimated that up to 40 percent of the market is comprised of some type of forgery.

Police say the work of one talented duo could keep devaluing art in the future.

John Drewe worked in Britain 20 years ago. While his partner in crime, John Myatt, would copy the works of Marc Chagall, Georges Braque and Ben Nicholson. Drewe would create the documentation to pass them off as genuine. A few hours' work could net the pair thousands, Rapley said.

Myatt assisted police in the investigation of Drewe, and served one year in prison. Drewe was sentenced to six years in prison and ordered to pay $238,000 in restitution. Officers said Drewe may have made as much as $1.9 million from the scheme.

Up to 100 Myatt fake paintings could still be on the market, Rapley said.

After completing his jail term, Myatt is now taking orders for what he calls "genuine fakes" in the style of famous artists, which can also cost thousands of dollars.

Drewe's work included planting faked catalogues, which experts rely on to authenticate a work, in the libraries of legitimate art dealers. That scam was ultimately more damaging to the art world, Rapley said, because it could cause a real painting with little documentation to be valued at less than a fake with Drewe's documents.

"That would obviously be a very sad day for the history of art," Rapley said.

Brothers Robert and Brian Thwaites were also renowned forgers, noted for their attention to detail.

The pair was careful to use materials from the era of the artists they copied, even sticking scraps of Victorian newspapers to the backs of canvasses to make them look more authentic. That made it difficult to detect their forgeries.

The brothers duped two dealers out of more than $229,000 but came under suspicion when they tried to sell a third painting. When police raided their studio, they found a fake Edgar Hunt painting still wet on the easel, according to Detective Constable Michelle Roycroft.

In addition to Hunt, the brothers also forged Victorian painter John Anster Fitzgerald - famous for his paintings of fairies.

The Thwaites were convicted in September of deception. Robert Thwaites was sentenced to two years in prison while Brian received a suspended one-year sentence.

When the art unit executes a search warrant, they often find drugs and evidence of other crimes, such as fake Rolex watches, Detective Constable Ian Lawson said.

Another thriving area of forgery is the faking of archaeological finds.

"We know for a fact that there is a terrorism link," Lawson said. "Archaeological stuff is being exported by the ton load from Middle Eastern countries. If the money goes back into criminality, some will inevitably end up in the hands of terrorists."