FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - A judge ordered another DNA sample be taken from Anna Nicole Smith's body Thursday as he heard often fiery arguments in the fight over the former Playboy Playmate's remains and custody of her infant daughter. - The swab of Smith's cheek was to be taken in the afternoon, despite the objections of attorneys for her longtime companion, Howard K. Stern, and her estranged mother, Vergie Arthur, and testimony from the medical examiner and DNA experts that such an additional sample was likely not necessary.

Circuit Judge Larry Seidlin said he wanted to make sure all samples were taken before Smith was buried, so her body wouldn't have to be exhumed.

"When we bury her, I want it to be forever," he said in the second day of an emergency hearing.

Smith, 39, died Feb. 8 after collapsing at a Florida hotel.

As the proceedings dragged on, investigators in the Bahamas went into a mansion that Stern and Smith shared, though the officers declined to say why they were there. Stern filed a burglary report claiming a computer, home videos and other items were taken from the house after Smith's death.

Stern claims he is executor of Smith's will and wants to have her buried next to her son in the Bahamas. Arthur wants her daughter buried in her home state of Texas.

"She sits here today to take her to Texas and put her in the ground all alone … and it's sad and it's sick," Stern's lawyer, Krista Barth, told the judge in attacking Smith's mother.

Arthur's attorney, Stephen Tunstall, said his client "wants to take her home to Texas to bury her with the rest of her family." Arthur wiped tears away outside an elevator during a break in the proceedings.

Photographer Larry Birkhead hopes DNA taken from Smith will help prove he fathered the former centerfold's 5-month-old daughter, Dannielynn, who could inherit millions.

The judge has said the dispute could be lengthy. The hearing, which began Wednesday, stretched into the afternoon Thursday and was to continue Friday.

Debra Opri, an attorney for Birkhead, said earlier in a news release that she was satisfied DNA samples would be provided by Florida authorities. Opri has said Smith's DNA is needed to connect her with Dannielynn, and to help prove there was no baby switch.

Prince Frederic von Anhalt, the husband of the actress Zsa Zsa Gabor, has said he had a decade-long affair with Smith and may also be the father. He filed legal documents Thursday in California seeking a DNA test to determine if he is the father of the baby.

Smith's body remained at the medical examiner's office, and Seidlin said it would stay there. "This body's not leaving Broward County till I make the ruling."

Smith was the widow of Texas oil tycoon J. Howard Marshall II, whom she married in 1994 when he was 89 and she was 26. She had been fighting his family over his fortune since his death in 1995.

A judge in the Bahamas issued an injunction Tuesday preventing the baby from being taken out of the country until the custody case is resolved.

Arthur wants to be named guardian of her granddaughter and sought the order because she feared Stern would take the child from the Bahamas, her lawyer said.

Lively Florida judge tries to keep the peace in Anna Nicole Smith hearings

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - There were angry attacks at times, resounding laughter at others and a standing-room only audience.

And as custody of Anna Nicole Smith's body and of the former Playboy Playmate's infant daughter devolved Thursday into an all-out legal circus, Circuit Judge Larry Seidlin became the affable ringmaster.

On the second day of an often acrimonious emergency hearing over Smith's remains, Seidlin, 56, called lawyers "terrific" and "beautiful." He divulged the minutiae of his days, from his morning swim to the tuna sandwich he was having when assigned the case. He so frequently spoke off the cuff that he seemed like he was auditioning for a TV court show.

And he really seemed to enjoy it.

"It was delightful having everyone," he said at the end of the day.

Everyone probably would not agree.

Smith's longtime companion, Howard K. Stern, claims he is executor of her will and wants her buried next to her son in the Bahamas. Her estranged mother, Vergie Arthur, wants her buried in Smith's home state of Texas.

Photographer Larry Birkhead hopes DNA taken from Smith will help prove he fathered the former centerfold's 5-month-old daughter, Dannielynn, who could inherit millions.

Seidlin has said the dispute could be lengthy. The hearing, which began Wednesday, took all day Thursday and was to continue Friday.

Lawyers for all three took swipes at each other's clients throughout Thursday's hearing in a room jammed with about 50 people. Reporters sat on the floor and atop a credenza, punching away at handheld computers. Courthouse staff struggled to push their way through. There were not enough chairs for all the attorneys.

Lawyers for Stern and Arthur fought Birkhead's attorneys' plea to gather additional DNA from the body of Smith, who died a week earlier, though Seidlin eventually ordered another cheek swab taken. Stern's attorneys called Arthur's move to gain her estranged daughter's remains "sick" and the mother's attorneys charged back that Smith's longtime companion had no rights whatsoever.

The attorneys, at times, buried their faces in their hands. They interrupted Seidlin repeatedly. Some even refused to shake hands.

Unfazed, Seidlin addressed the attorneys as "my good lawyer," or as "California" or "Texas" to note their state. The more tense the mood got, the more steadfastly he sought civility.

"I don't want to attack one another," he said.

It was a milder tone than Seidlin struck as he took over the case Wednesday and declared Smith's corpse would stay refrigerated in the medical examiner's office until he said otherwise.

"This body belongs to me right now," he said then. "This body's not leaving Broward County till I make the ruling."

Seidlin ordered the medical examiner's office to swab Smith's cheek, even though DNA samples already had been collected. He said he wanted to make sure her body wouldn't have to be exhumed.

"When we bury her, I want it to be forever," he said.

Smith, 39, died Feb. 8 after collapsing at a Florida hotel.

As the proceedings dragged on, police investigating a burglary report in the Bahamas went into a mansion that Stern and Smith shared. Stern, who was at the mansion with the officers, claims a computer, home videos and other items were taken from the house after Smith's death.

Wayne Munroe, an attorney for Smith's estate, said police took computer hard drives and other items as evidence.

In California, Prince Frederic von Anhalt, the husband of actress Zsa Zsa Gabor, filed legal documents Thursday seeking a DNA test to determine if he fathered the baby. Von Anhalt, who says he is 59, has said he and Smith had a decade-long affair.

"Rest assured, Mr. von Anhalt's motives are pure," said his lawyer, Christopher Fields. "It is simply to accept responsibility as Dannielynn's father if the testing shows that he is."

Smith was the widow of Texas oil tycoon J. Howard Marshall II, whom she married in 1994 when he was 89 and she was 26. She had been fighting his family over his fortune since his death in 1995.

A judge in the Bahamas issued an injunction Tuesday preventing the baby from being taken out of the country until the custody case is resolved.

Arthur wants to be named guardian of her granddaughter and sought the order because she feared Stern would take the child from the Bahamas, her lawyer said.

Bahamas police enter mansion where Anna Nicole Smith lived

NASSAU, Bahamas (AP) - Police on Thursday entered the oceanfront home that was shared by Anna Nicole Smith and her companion, Howard K. Stern, until the former Playboy Playmate's death.

Two uniformed police arrived in a patrol car and passed through the gate, followed a short while later by a van marked "crime scene unit." One of the officers then escorted the three men from the van into the home through a side entrance, and declined to answer questions from reporters.

Later, members of the crime scene unit could be seen taking photos of the property, which is called "Horizons."

It was unknown if Stern was home at the time.

Stern filed a burglary report after claiming that a computer, home videos and other items were taken from the mansion before he returned from Florida, where the 39-year-old former model collapsed and died on Feb. 8.

Reginald Ferguson, assistant commissioner for the Royal Bahamas Police Force, said the officers "must be" investigating a burglary report filed by Stern, but he said he had not been aware that officers had come to the mansion, and had no other information.

Ford Shelley, the son-in-law of a South Carolina developer who claims ownership of the property, said he entered the property a day after Smith's death to "secure" it after he heard that someone had been removing items.

Inside a refrigerator in a bedroom, Shelley said he saw a bottle of methadone - a substance that was found in her son Daniel's system after he died in the Bahamas on Sept. 10. Shelley declined comment on Stern's allegations that he stole personal property while inside the mansion.

As for Thursday's police visit, Shelley said "there was no break-in at that house, so that doesn't affect me at all."

Shuttle commander: Astronaut's arrest won't affect mission

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) - The arrest of an astronaut on an attempted murder charge hasn't distracted the crew of the upcoming space shuttle mission, even though she had been scheduled to be part of the flight's ground team, the shuttle's commander said Thursday.

"I'm quite confident there will be no impact to our mission," commander Rick Sturckow said at a news conference in Houston. "We've just been focused on our training, which is pretty intensive at this point."

Lisa Nowak had been scheduled to be a Mission Control communicator who talks with the six crew members of space shuttle Atlantis during their journey to the international space station.

NASA relieved her of all mission duties after she was arrested last week in Orlando on charges that she tried to harm a woman she viewed as a rival for the affections of astronaut Bill Oefelein.

She is charged with attempted murder, attempted kidnapping and three other crimes.

The Atlantis crew has been training with another communicator, said crew members. They are scheduled to launch March 15 on a mission to continue construction on the international space station.

While the astronauts chatted with reporters in Houston, Atlantis finished its sluggish move to the launch pad at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

The shuttle started the 3.4-mile journey from the Vehicle Assembly Building aboard the massive crawler-transporter vehicle at 8:19 a.m. It arrived at the launch pad almost seven hours later.

Atlantis' flight will be the first space shuttle mission of the year. The crew will deliver a new segment and a pair of solar arrays that will be used to power the space station. They also will retract an old pair of solar arrays and perform at least three spacewalks.

NASA is hoping to launch as many as five shuttle missions this year, its most ambitious schedule since 2002.

On the Net:

http://www.nasa.gov/mission-pages/shuttle/main

Paris Hilton is the star guest at Vienna's prestigious Opera Ball

VIENNA, Austria (AP) - Hundreds of shrieking, frenzied fans welcomed Paris Hilton as she made an appearance at a Vienna mall Thursday to sign autographs.

"Hello everybody, it's so good to see you," the 25-year-old hotel heiress/reality TV star cooed as the crowd went crazy. "Happy late Valentine's Day!"

The session was cut short when several objects landed on the stage and Hilton was whisked away by security guards.

Richard Lugner, who is Hilton's Vienna host, said the flying objects included cigarette packs, tissues and lipsticks. The 74-year-old married construction magnate invites a celebrity to the city's prestigious Opera Ball each year. His previous guests include Geri Halliwell, Pamela Anderson and Carmen Electra.

The Austria Press Agency reported that sheets of paper that floated onto the stage were fliers from a communist youth organization.

Hilton later dismissed the incident as "no big deal" and said she loved her fans, APA reported.

She ran into a problem in Munich, Germany, on Wednesday because her passport had expired. Susan McCaw, U.S. ambassador to Austria, had to vouch for her so she could enter the country, APA said.

When asked what happened, Hilton replied: "Oh nothing, just my passport."

Taking questions from some 100 reporters earlier, Hilton said she "loved" classical music and that she grew up listening to it.

"As a little girl, it really helped me fall asleep at night," she said, adding later that she "really loved" old Michael Jackson songs, Madonna and hip-hop.

Hilton said there were "a lot of people who need help" in the world and that she planned to go to Africa sometime this year.

"As a celebrity, you can really make people aware of what's going on in the world," she said.

The Opera Ball, which was to be held Thursday night, draws about 4,500 well-heeled Austrian and foreign celebrities, dignitaries and socialites. Tickets often sell out months in advance.

Plane hijacking ends in Spain's Canary Islands, suspect arrested

MADRID, Spain (AP) - An armed man who hijacked a Mauritanian plane to Spain's Canary Islands Thursday was overpowered by passengers and crew before he was arrested by police who boarded the plane shortly after landing, government and airline officials said. - The man was overwhelmed by passengers and arrested when police stormed the Air Mauritania 737 shortly after the aircraft landed at Gando military base on Gran Canaria island, Spanish Interior Ministry official Carolina Darias said.

Air Mauritania director Mohamed Ould Aoufa said the crew was involved in overpowering the hijacker.

Twenty-one of the 71 passengers - mostly Spaniards and Mauritanians - 21 were treated for slight injuries, a Las Palmas police spokesman said. The most seriously affected was a pregnant woman was treated for severe shock.

Police said the man had been carrying two loaded handguns. Police did not say when during the incident he had been overpowered.

Mohamed Ould Mohamed Cheikh, Mauritania's top police official, said the hijacker was a Moroccan from Western Sahara who wanted to immigrate to France.

The man had tried many times to obtain a visa at the French embassy in the Mauritanian capital, Nouakchott, where he had lived for a few months, Mohamed said. The hijacker's identity wasn't given.

The Boeing 737, with eight crew, was hijacked after leaving Nouakchott at 4.30 p.m.

Aoufa said the hijacker demanded to go to France but after the crew refused because of a lack of fuel the plane turned toward the Spanish islands.

When it landed at Gando military airport shortly after 7 p.m., the plane was immediately surrounded by paramilitary Civil Guard police. The ordeal ended minutes later.

Moroccan authorities refused the hijacker's request to land in Moroccan territory, the North African kingdom's MAP news agency said. A spokesman for Morocco's Interior Ministry said he was not aware of the hijacking.

- Associated Press writers Ahmed Mohamed in Nouakchott, Mauritania and Juan Manuel Pardellas in the Canary Islands contributed to this report.

Listing Japanese whaling ship drifts off Antarctic area

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) - A Japanese whaling ship crippled by fire drifted off the world's largest penguin breeding grounds Friday, and New Zealand alerted other countries it may need help if the vessel leaked oil into the pristine Antarctic waters.

One crewmember was missing from the 8,000-ton Nisshin Maru, which had started to list from water pumped aboard to fight the fire. The fire was contained below decks but continued to burn, said New Zealand Conservation Minister Chris Carter.

No oil had spilled and the vessel was in no immediate danger of sinking, officials said.

Carter contacted his counterparts in Japan, Australia, United States and Britain - other signatories to the Antarctic Treaty with responsibility for protecting its environment - in case "an international environmental response is needed," ministerial spokesman Nick Maling said.

Antarctica New Zealand chief executive Lou Sanson said he had asked the U.S. Antarctic program to redirect a scheduled flight over the Nisshin Maru on Friday to check the ship's condition and provide the first independent assessment of the vessel since the fire began Thursday.

The ship was carrying 132,000 gallons of heavy oil and 211,000 gallons of furnace oil.

Steve Corbett, a spokesman for Maritime New Zealand, said his agency had spoken with the ship early Friday and the captain said overnight pumping had emptied excess water from the stricken vessel.

"That's corrected the list … but there is still no (engine) power," he said. The fire "is contained and controlled" at present.

"We're confident the situation is under control but there's still an environmental threat and a crewman is still missing," he told The Associated Press.

Search teams were waiting for smoke to clear in the burning area before attempting to assess its condition and search for crewman Kazutaka Makita, 27, Japan Fishery Agency official Kenji Masuda said.

Crew members also planned to reboard the ship to check its engine at that time and restart it if possible, he added.

Japanese officials said the blaze broke out below deck, where whale carcasses are processed. Most of the vessel's 148-member crew were evacuated Thursday to three other ships in the area that also belong to the Japanese whaling fleet, said Hideki Moronuki, an official with the Japan Fisheries Agency.

Hatches were closed to seal off the burning area, and some 30 crew members stayed aboard to fight the fire, pumping in seawater, Moronuki said.

The Nisshin Maru is the mother ship for five other Japanese vessels that hunt whales in annual hunts that Japan says are for research. The hunts began after the International Whaling Commission imposed a global ban on commercial whaling in 1986.

The program is allowed by the IWC, which uses its data and approves its kill quotas. But many environmental groups say the hunts are a pretext to keep Japan's tiny whaling industry alive. Meat from the catch is sold commercially, and canned or frozen whale can be found in most large supermarkets, though it is no longer an important part of the Japanese diet.

One of the ships in the Nisshin Maru's group collided on Monday with a ship from the Sea Shepherd anti-whaling group, which was protesting the hunt. The two Sea Shepherd ships left the area on Wednesday after running low on fuel.

Masuda said it was too early to determine what effect the fire would have on the whaling operation.

The ship was drifting 110 miles from Antarctica's Cape Adare, which hosts the world's largest penguin breeding rookeries with some 250,000 breeding pairs of Adelie penguins, Sanson said.

"It's a long way off the coast but the currents do go that way. We're very concerned about what could happen," Sanson told The Associated Press.

He said the ship was far from help and in a "high energy environment where you get a lot of storms." Conditions were calm Thursday.

The New Zealand navy said it had two frigates that could get to the scene quickly. A Greenpeace ship is also nearby, though Moronuki said Japan would not seek help from anti-whaling vessels.

Institute of Cetacean Research spokesman Glenn Inwood said the New Zealand-owned tug Pacific Chieftain, the closest salvage vessel to the Nisshin Maru, was 6.5 days away.

"Contingencies are being made at this stage but, again, it all depends on the damage assessment and that will be done over the next few hours," he told National Radio on Friday.

Associated Press Writer Carl Freire contributed to this report from Tokyo.

Dad jumps into wrestling match, tosses son's opponent out of ring

By:AURORA, Ill. (AP) - A father bounded into a youth wrestling match, picked up his son's winning opponent and launched him out of the ring, an episode caught on a home video. - After tossing the 11-year-old boy into the air Sunday, the angry father headed toward the cameraman, the father of the airborne boy.

"I was just wrestling, then the guy throws me," the boy, Nick Nasenbeny of suburban Aurora, told WMAQ-TV in Chicago. It was not known if the boy was injured.

Ray Hoffman, the father in the video and a part-time wrestling coach, told the television station he regrets his behavior and feels embarrassed. He said his son's shoulder was injured. Hoffman also said he will no longer be allowed to coach.

Dean Bogess, a wrestling coach who attended the meet, said Nick was using a legal move to pin his opponent and that the referee was about to stop the match when Hoffman intervened.

"The match was being stopped. He had blown his whistle already," Bogess said.

Nick's father, Dan Nasenbeny, said he was stunned by Hoffman's actions.

"I mean, there is a lot of different ways to stop a match. Not to pick up my son and launch him 5 feet, 10 feet in the air," Nasenbeny said.

Hoffman did not return messages left by The Associated Press.

New Mexico introduces talking urinal cakes in anti-DWI fight

RIO RANCHO, N.M. (AP) - New Mexico is hoping to keep drunks off the road by lecturing them at the last place they usually stop before getting behind the wheel: the urinal.

The state recently paid $21 each for about 500 talking urinal-deodorizer cakes and has put them in men's rooms in bars and restaurants across the state.

When a man steps up, the motion-sensitive plastic device says, in a woman's voice that is flirty, then stern: "Hey, big guy. Having a few drinks? Think you had one too many? Then it's time to call a cab or call a sober friend for a ride home."

The recorded message ends: "Remember, your future is in your hand."

The talking urinal represents just the latest effort to fight drunken driving in New Mexico, which has long had one of the highest rates of alcohol-related traffic deaths in the nation. (The new tactic is aimed only at men, since they account for 78 percent of all driving-under-the-influence-related convictions in New Mexico.)

"It startled me the first time I heard it, but it sure got my attention," said Ben Miller, a patron at the Turtle Mountain Brewing Co. bar and restaurant. "It's a fantastic idea."

Jim Swatek, who was drinking a beer nearby, said: "You think, `Maybe I should call the wife to come get me."'

Turtle Mountain Brewing owner Niko Ortiz commended the New Mexico Transportation Department for "thinking way outside the box."

Department spokesman S.U. Mahesh said the bathroom is a perfect place to get the message across. In the restroom, "guys don't chitchat with other guys," he said. "It's all business. We've got their total attention for 10 to 15 seconds"

Similar urinal cakes have been used for anti-drug campaigns in Colorado, Pennsylvania and Australia, and for anti-DWI efforts on New York's Long Island, said Richard Deutsch of New York-based Healthquest Technologies Inc., which manufactures the devices.

But Deutsch said he believes New Mexico is the only state to buy the devices.

New Mexico had 143 alcohol-related deaths in 2005, for the nation's eighth-highest rate per miles driven. The problem is blamed in part on the wide-open spaces that make it necessary to drive to get anywhere, and the poverty and isolation that can lead people to drink to relieve their boredom or misery.

Also, some have complained that the state has only recently begun to emerge from years of lax enforcement.

Gov. Bill Richardson led a successful push two years ago to require ignition locking devices for anyone convicted of DWI - a first in the nation - and each year the Legislature has agreed on tougher penalties for repeat offenders.

New Mexico also has started a toll-free "drunk buster" hot line, boosted DWI enforcement in problem areas and increased police checkpoints. The state also has a DWI czar.

In November, a wrong-way drunken driver slammed into a car near Santa Fe, killing five family members, authorities said. The governor has since directed state regulators to issue cease-and-desist orders against three airlines to stop serving alcohol on flights to and from New Mexico. The culprit in the fatal wreck had been seen drinking on a flight into Albuquerque hours before the accident.

At the Turtle Mountain, the urinal cakes have proved so intriguing that three have been swiped already.

"I'm mystified why someone would stick their hand into one of our urinals," Ortiz said. "But I'm sure we'll see them on eBay. Hopefully, the seller will advertise it as, `Stolen from Turtle Mountain."'

On the Net:

Healthquest Technologies product information: www.wizmark.com

Jail transfer denied for pizzeria manager accused of kidnapping 2 boys in Missouri

UNION, Mo. (AP) - A judge on Thursday denied a jail transfer request for a pizzeria manager accused of kidnapping two boys, rejecting defense claims that a reporter's jailhouse interview with the suspect amounted to a security breach.

Agreeing with prosecutors, Judge David Tobben found no security risk in keeping Michael Devlin at the Franklin County jail.

Defense lawyers had sought the transfer to St. Louis County after Devlin agreed to be interviewed by a New York Post reporter who visited him in rural Franklin County, about 50 miles west.

"You don't have stories about guys breaking into St. Louis County (jail). Let's put it that way," defense attorney Michael Kielty said after the hearing.

The judge said the interview did not breach security because Devlin agreed to see the reporter and was protected behind bulletproof glass.

Defense lawyer Ethan Corlija said he will argue again to have Devlin transferred when Devlin appears at a yet-to-be-scheduled arraignment in St. Louis.

Devlin, 41, faces a charge of first-degree kidnapping in Franklin County in the Jan. 8 abduction of Ben Ownby, 13. He also is accused of abducting Shawn Hornbeck of Washington County at gunpoint in 2003, when Shawn was just 11.

Devlin is charged in his home of St. Louis County with 69 counts of forcibly sodomizing Shawn over four years - and Ben over four days - before authorities rescued the boys Jan. 12. Each charge carries a life sentence.

Franklin County Prosecuting Attorney Robert Parks announced Wednesday he also plans to charge Devlin with armed criminal action, alleging that the suspect abducted Ben at gunpoint.

While it is The Associated Press' policy not to identify alleged victims of sexual abuse in most cases, the stories of Shawn and Ben have been widely publicized and their names are now well-known. Also, their families have gone public, conducting media interviews.

Oil executive's widow gives University of North Carolina $100M to expand scholarships

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - The widow of a Texas oil executive donated $100 million Thursday to expand a merit scholarship program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

The gift from Mary Cain will nearly double the size of the program, which will be renamed the Morehead-Cain Scholarship. The four-year scholarship covers all tuition, fees, and other typical college costs.

The scholarship is valued at $80,000 for in-state residents and $140,000 for out-of-state residents, according to the Morehead Foundation, which also will be renamed.

Cain's husband, Gordon, helped start Petro-Tex Chemical, now Texas Petrochemicals Inc. of Houston. He died in 2002 at age 90.

Mary Cain approached the school about helping her foundation establish a scholarship similar to the Morehead program, which was set up in 1951 by John Motley Morehead, a large stakeholder in chemical company Union Carbide Corp.

Neither of the Cains attended the university.

Man convicted of murder in Manhattan stripper slaying, faces 25 years to life

NEW YORK (AP) - A man was convicted Thursday of killing a classically trained dancer who chased her dream of stardom from the Midwest to Manhattan but wound up working in a strip club.

Paul Cortez, 26, was found guilty of second-degree murder for slashing the throat of his ex-girlfriend, 21-year-old Catherine Woods, on Nov. 27, 2005, in her Manhattan apartment. He faces 25 years to life in prison at his March 23 sentencing.

Cortez's mother wept in the courtroom as the verdict was read, but he showed no emotion.

Defense attorney Dawn Florio said Cortez would appeal. She predicted that her client would prevail, most likely by claiming prosecutors had no right to introduce Cortez's diaries, which detailed his tortured feelings over Woods' refusal to love him.

Woods moved to New York from Ohio hoping to make it on Broadway, but ended up dancing in topless bars to cover her expenses. Her father, Jon Woods, is director of the Ohio State University marching band.

During closing arguments, prosecutor Peter Casolaro cited the key piece of evidence - a bloody fingerprint, found on a wall in the apartment, that matched Cortez, a personal trainer and aspiring rock star.

Casolaro also submitted phone records showing that on the day of the slaying, Cortez repeatedly called Woods. The calls stopped during the time she was killed, and Cortez never placed another call to her, Casolaro said.

"He already knows she's dead and there is nobody to answer the phone," Casolaro told the jury.

Jon Woods testified that his daugther's killer had called him seven months before the slaying to say Catherine was abusing drugs and alcohol while dancing naked in strip clubs. The father testified that Catherine had denied Cortez's accusations.

10 people indicted for allegedly shoddy work on allergy shots in Ill., Ind., Ariz.

CHICAGO (AP) - Four doctors indicted on federal charges of swindling insurance companies out of more than $1.5 million are accused of using unqualified people to prepare hundreds of allergy shots, and of giving them to patients under unsanitary conditions.

The indictment Wednesday also alleged that blood samples for allergy tests were degraded because they weren't sent to labs until insurance payments were received.

The doctors and six other people were charged with various counts, including wire fraud and conspiring to misbrand drugs.

"The FDA takes seriously situations where individuals motivated by monetary gain place the public at risk," said Michael Cleary, who leads the Food and Drug Administration's criminal investigations office in Chicago.

The indictment said the 10 defendants were associated with businesses operating in Chicago, northwestern Indiana and Phoenix, mainly under the name American Institute of Allergy.

Man mauled by 2 pit bulls, loses left hand before dogs retreat in Memphis, Tenn.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) - Two pit bull dogs ripped off a man's left hand and badly mauled his right arm before other people were able to beat the dogs away.

"I couldn't believe I wasn't dead," James Chapple said from his hospital bed. "I'm going to church every day when I get out of here and talk to the man upstairs."

Chapple, 59, had just gotten off a bus and was walking home on Feb. 9 when the dogs ran out from an auto repair business, knocked him down and started biting.

In a bedside interview Wednesday, he said he yelled for help and one pedestrian grabbed a stick to hit the dogs but was unable to get them to stop.

"I was kicking and screaming at them to let me go, but they kept dragging me - they had my hand and wouldn't let go," Chapple said.

He passed out and didn't wake up until he was in an ambulance. Doctors had to amputate his lower left arm, but they saved his right arm. Chapple also suffered bites on his legs and one ear.

Memphis Animal Services captured the dogs and will euthanize them, authorities said.

Charles Lawson, who co-owns the business, said the dogs were guarding the shop and belong to his partner. He said he didn't know how the dogs got out, but declined to comment further.

Gas thief defends actions of retired Minnesota farmer who chased him with shotgun

CAMBRIDGE, Minn. (AP) - A man pleading guilty to stealing gas and a car radiator offered words of support for the retired farmer who was charged with threatening him with a shotgun.

Kenneth Englund, 74, confronted Christian Harris Smith and a woman on Oct. 15 at a vacant farm near Englund's home as Smith was taking gasoline from a vehicle, police said.

Englund chased the pair while calling the sheriff's office on a cell phone.

After the vehicles stopped and a deputy sheriff arrived, Englund's shotgun was found to be unloaded, according to the criminal complaint.

A felony assault charge against Englund on Monday was reduced to two misdemeanors: pointing a gun at another person and disorderly conduct.

A judge sentenced Smith, 28, to 90 days in jail last week. As Smith entered his guilty plea, he defended Englund's actions.

"I don't think he should be held responsible for, you know, anything involving any of these issues," Smith said. "I committed a crime and, you know, he did what he probably thought was right to … resolve the situation."

Smith said that in addition to paying restitution to the owner of the property, he would like to do "whatever I can" to help Englund, according to a court transcript.

Englund's attorney, Brian Toder, said he will fight the reduced charges.

Englund did not point the shotgun at anybody, Toder said. "Even if he did, that's reasonable force. He's with a guy who he thought was a drug-crazed meth-head."

Englund, a member of the Bradford Township Board, has received an outpouring of support in the community about 45 miles north of Minneapolis as well as from around the country.

Flu outbreak closes 3 schools in North Carolina until Monday/B>

SWAN QUARTER, N.C. (AP) - Three schools closed until Monday because of an outbreak of flu-like symptoms, an official said Thursday.

All 541 students were told to stay home Wednesday through Friday after attendance dropped 20 percent early in the week, said school system spokeswoman Carol Evans. Some students had symptoms of influenza Type B.

Hyde County's health director recommended the closings "to give these students a break to get to the doctor and to stay home and quit passing the germs back and forth," Evans said.

Evans said he didn't recall any previous school closings for illness.

"I've been here 32 years and I don't remember shutting down for illness," Evans said. "We've had to shut down for boiler problems, hurricanes and flooding."

Man who jogged naked in NorCal nabbed, fined

SAN JOSE (AP) - A 43-year-old man whose habit of jogging in a park wearing nothing but a pair of running shoes offended other trail users said he would keep his clothes on after he was fined $95 for indecent exposure. - Darryl Delacruz, a Silicon Valley engineer, said he would miss the "liberating feeling" of running naked in the Fremont Older Open Space Preserve, but conceded his personal comfort was less important than the discomfort his exercise habits caused others.

"I'll go back, but I'll be wearing clothes," the San Jose man said. "I don't want people to have the wrong impression."

After other park users complained about Delacruz streaking, park rangers kept an eye out for him and finally caught him in the buff Jan. 9. People are allowed to sunbathe naked in the park, but only out of eyeshot of others.

"We don't see it as appropriate behavior," said Kerry Carlson, president of the Midpeninsula Rangers Peace Officers Association. "A significant number of people feel uncomfortable with a nude person running around."

Delacruz said his preferred jogging attire was "about getting in touch with nature, not meeting people." Now that he's been exposed, though, he said he worries about being accused of doing something obscene.

"It just takes one bad apple to ruin it for everyone," he said. "That is not what nudism is about at all."

Steamed drivers stuck for a full day on Pennsylvania interstate paralyzed by storm

HAMBURG, Pa. (AP) - National Guardsmen in Humvees ferried food, fuel and baby supplies Thursday to hundreds of motorists stranded on a 50-mile stretch of highway for nearly a day by a monster storm blamed for 15 deaths. - The traffic jam on the icy, hilly section of Interstate 78 in eastern Pennsylvania forced authorities to also shut down portions of I-81 and I-80 Thursday afternoon as they struggled to gain ground on the colossal traffic jam.

Drivers were frustrated they were let on the road at all. State police did not close all the entrance ramps to I-78 until around 5 p.m., more than 24 hours after vehicles starting getting caught.

"Why would they have that exit open if they were just going to let us sit there?" said a crying Deborah Miller. Her 5-year-old son was trapped in the car with her, running a 103-degree fever from strep throat.

The sprawling storm system hit Wednesday and blew out to sea Thursday, leaving huge snow piles, frigid temperatures and tens of thousands without power across the Midwest and Northeast.

Numerous areas saw more than a foot of snow, with 42 inches falling in the southern Adirondacks in New York. Gusty wind had morning wind chills below zero, and in some areas, the snow was followed by several inches of ice.

A few flights were canceled Thursday after numerous cancelations Wednesday, and many school districts that had canceled classes Wednesday extended the unplanned vacation by an extra day.

"This storm was rare because of the unusual amount of snow and ice," Pennsylvania Transportation Secretary Allen D. Biehler said. "This series of accidents that blocked our way made it really, really difficult."

By early Thursday evening, state police said the logjam was breaking on the highways and traffic was creeping along. Nearly all cars were off the highway, but the trucks were asked to stay on the interstate because side roads were in such bad shape, state police said.

Eugene Coleman, who is hyperglycemic, was trapped for 20 hours while on his way home to Hartford, Conn. from visiting his terminally ill mother in Georgia, along with his girlfriend and pregnant daughter.

"How could you operate a state like this? It's totally disgusting," Coleman said. "God forbid somebody gets really stuck on the highway and has a life-threatening emergency. That person would have died."

Authorities also were flooded with calls from frustrated motorists wanting to know why the road hadn't reopened.

Police said they took fuel to some motorists and food to others, including several diabetics who called 911.

Ohio parents convicted in 'caged kids' case sentenced to 2 years in prison

NORWALK, Ohio (AP) - A couple who forced some of their 11 adopted, special-needs children to sleep in wire-and-wood cages were sentenced to two years in prison Thursday, after the parents insisted they were only trying to keep the kids safe. - Two of the children, however, said in statements read in court that they were treated harshly while they lived with Sharen and Michael Gravelle. One wrote that they should be imprisoned "for as long as my siblings had to be in cages."

Sharen Gravelle told the court the children were never confined as punishment but rather to protect them, including a child who wanted to jump out a second-floor window.

"Would you prefer that we let them jump? Either way, we'd be here. The difference is they're still alive," she said in a tearful, 26-minute statement.

Gravelle blamed social services officials for not helping her and her husband, Michael, control the destructive behavior of some of the youngsters.

The 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. They were placed in foster care in fall 2005 and the couple lost custody last March.

Sharen Gravelle kept her head down taking notes while the judge read the sentences. Michael Gravelle sat back in his chair, holding his face in his left hand.

Each could have received up to five years in prison for each of the four felonies they were convicted of in December. They also were convicted of seven misdemeanors.

Michael Gravelle, his face red and his voice rising, told the judge he and his wife "felt we were being led by the Lord" when they decided to bring the first child into their home.

He said problems began when they took in a group of siblings with an array of behavior and emotional problems.

"What do you do with these kids?" Michael Gravelle asked. "I prayed constantly for the answer."

He said the enclosures resulted from the suggestions of a social workers, who recommended strict rules to improve the children's behavior.

"I'm begging you," Michael Gravelle told the judge. "I do not deserve jail."

The two children whose statements were read in court, a girl and a boy, were in the courtroom Thursday. The boy wrote that he was "thankful that part of my life is behind me."

He said of his new foster parents, "Because of them I don't have to steal food. I can use the bathroom whenever I want. Never again will I have to sleep in a box."

The girl's statement said Sharen Gravelle treated the children more harshly than her husband did.

"Mom, you walked around like you were God, then whenever you did go places you were Mother Teresa taking in the poor black kids that no one wanted," she said.

The girl said the Gravelles "are grown adults who know the difference between right and wrong. So I ask that they get as much time in jail for as long as my siblings had to be in cages."

The Gravelles have said they will appeal their convictions. The judge allowed them to remain free on bond pending the appeal.

The couple has said they needed to keep some of the children in enclosed beds with alarms to protect them from their own dangerous behavior and stop them from wandering at night.

Prosecutors said the Gravelles were cruel. Witnesses, including the sheriff and some of the children, said the cages were urine-stained and lacked pillows or mattresses, but a social worker and others who testified for the defense said they never witnessed abuse and that the children's behavior improved because of the bright blue and red cages.

One Gravelle child testified he was forced to live in a bathroom for 81 days, sleeping in a bathtub because of a bed-wetting problem. The Gravelles' attorneys said the boy exaggerated the length of his bathroom stay, and an expert for the defense testified that the technique helped the boy.

Prosecutors: Ohio mom suggested wrapping foster son, 3, who died in closet

BATAVIA, Ohio (AP) - A woman suggested binding her developmentally disabled 3-year-old foster son inside a closet, making her responsible for his death even if she did not intend it, prosecutors said Thursday as her murder trial opened. - A defense attorney, however, argued that Liz Carroll was a wife intimidated into going along with a plan hatched by her husband and his live-in lover.

Carroll, 29, is charged with murder because prosecutors say she caused Marcus Fiesel's death by restraining him as she did. She and her husband also are charged with involuntary manslaughter, kidnapping, felonious assault and three counts of child endangerment.

In his opening statement, prosecutor Daniel "Woody" Breyer said Carroll suggested wrapping the boy in a blanket and leaving him alone while she and her husband, David Carroll Jr., and Amy Baker, who lived with the couple, went to a weekend family reunion in August.

Breyer told jurors that the child was wrapped "much like a cocoon" with only his head and bare feet sticking out, and had been left that way before when the adults ran errands.

"He was confined as effectively as if he had been placed in a straitjacket," Breyer said.

The child was dead when the Carrolls and Baker returned two days later.

The Carrolls made up a story that he had wandered off or been taken from a park, prompting a massive search by authorities and volunteers.

Defense attorney Gregory Cohen told the jury Liz Carroll was a caring person devoted to children and that David Carroll and Baker were responsible for the boy's death.

"I believe the evidence will show somebody else belongs there," Cohen told jurors of the prosecution's argument, pointing to an empty chair by his client at the defense table.

In addition to murder, David Carroll, 30, is accused of burning the boy's body and dumping the remains in the Ohio River, and is charged with gross abuse of a corpse. He is to be tried next month.

Baker, 25, has not been charged and is expected to be the main witness against the Carrolls, who also face trial on lesser charges, including perjury and inducing panic, on their claim that the boy disappeared from the park.

The child was placed with the Carrolls three months before he died. The case prompted an independent review that found Butler County Children Services officials were not notified of David Carroll's domestic violence arrest.

The detective who issued the report recommended the agency conduct better background checks and communicate more often with police.

Elderly man's death brings toll to 21 after Florida tornadoes

LEESBURG, Fla. (AP) - An 88-year-old man has become the 21st victim of the deadly tornadoes that struck central Florida earlier this month, officials said Thursday.

Albert Gantner died Wednesday in a hospital from injuries he suffered when a tornado destroyed his home in the middle of the night, Lake County officials and son Roger Gantner said.

He and his wife, Doris, lived in a Lady Lake mobile home belonging to his son. Doris Gantner, 81, was killed the night of the Feb. 2 storms.

Relatives found Albert Gantner about 50 yards from his wife. He suffered a concussion, a broken collarbone and broken vertebrae, his family has said.

He battled Parkinson's Disease and had been confined to a wheelchair for the last several years.

Including Gantner, the storms have left 21 dead and hundreds homeless in a 30-mile path in central Florida.

Woman sentenced for abuse, neglect of residents at her assisted-living homes

LEBANON, Pa. (AP) - A woman who owned assisted-living homes where prosecutors said residents were fed rotten food and put to work stuffing newspaper inserts was sentenced Thursday to prison for abuse and neglect.

Tina M. Fake, 42, pleaded guilty in April to more than 30 state criminal counts, including neglect, assault and theft. Fake ran the homes with her husband, who pleaded guilty to the same charges.

Prosecutors alleged that residents in the couples' five Lebanon County homes were fed rotten food, some of it obtained from trash bins, and were put to work stuffing the newspapers in an unheated garage. Three residents died while under the Fakes' care since 2000.

Fake expressed remorse Thursday to her victims and their families.

"If my sentence today eases your pain and suffering, then justice has been served," she said.

Fake was ordered to spend 15 to 35 years in state prison. She will serve the time concurrently with a federal sentence of more than 11 years issued earlier this month for bilking hundreds of thousands of dollars from government in a health care fraud.

Authorities began investigating the Reaching Out Personal Care Home facilities after a resident, Jeff Sees, was hospitalized in February 2005 with broken ribs, a broken arm and bruises.

Sees' sister, Bonita Heisey, said in court that Tina Fake isolated residents from relatives by telling them that their loved ones did not want to see them, and vice versa.

"She was greedy, selfish and her cruelty is still unimaginable to me," Heisey said.

Personal-care homes generally serve people who cannot live completely independently because of age or mental or physical disability. The homes help residents with such activities as bathing and dressing, taking medication and managing their money, unlike nursing homes, which provide 24-hour nursing care.

Fake's husband, Clifford Fake, is serving at least 22 years in prison on the state charges and a concurrent federal sentence of more than 18 years on health care fraud charges.

Federal prosecutors alleged that the couple falsified paperwork, including time sheets and care plans filed with the state, and have said they should forfeit the more than $236,000 they allegedly gained from that activity.

Mother cat at humane society adopts Rottweiler puppy rejected by its mother

MERIDEN, Conn. (AP) - Who says cats and dogs don't get along?

Workers at the Meriden Humane Society are marveling at a short-haired mother cat that has adopted a 6-day-old Rottweiler puppy that was rejected by its mother.

The tiny pup, named Charlie by Humane Society volunteers, nurses alongside a jumble of black and gray kittens recently born to Satin, who was taken to the shelter by an owner unable to care for her.

Charlie's mother was found by the side of the road in Meriden a couple of months ago. She gave birth to two puppies, but one was stillborn. As sometimes happens with a stillborn in the litter, the mother refused to accept Charlie.

Volunteers bottle-fed him every two hours, but the effort was exhausting for them and insufficient for the puppy, volunteer Chris Chorney said.

Research indicated that a suitable substitute could be Satin, who had given birth to four kittens that have quickly warmed to Charlie.

"The kittens scrum up with him and the kittens treat him like one of their own," Chorney said. "There's a certain social benefit of small animals being with each other."

Such relationships are not all that unusual in certain circumstances, said Deirdre Chiaramonte, a veterinarian at the Animal Medical Center, a specialty teaching hospital in New York.

The cozy arrangement between Charlie, Satin and the kittens will likely change as the pup grows. Full-grown male Rottweilers commonly weigh 100 pounds.

Volunteers are hoping that dog owners will volunteer their puppies to be Charlie's playmates.

"Dogs need to be with a litter of puppies, to learn to play with other dogs," Chorney said. "He has to learn to be a well-socialized dog."

Reports: Russian police considering alcohol ban on commercial flights

MOSCOW (AP) - Russian police say it happens far too often: Air travelers, drunk even before departure, cause disturbances that delay flights or worse.

Now the Interior Ministry is considering calling for an alcohol ban on commercial flights, Russian news agencies reported Thursday.

"I don't rule out that we will raise the question of the need to prohibit alcoholic drinks aboard airplanes," ITAR-Tass quoted the head of a ministry department responsible for transport, Vyacheslav Zakharenkov, as saying.

Police are concerned by "instances of debauches by drunken citizens that cause departure delays," RIA-Novosti quoted Zakharenkov as saying.

Zakharenkov mentioned a recent incident in which a flight from Moscow to Bangkok was reportedly delayed for some 10 hours after a handful of drunken passengers smoked cigarettes on the plane and became involved in a confrontation with the cabin crew.

The alleged offenders were eventually removed from the flight, but their baggage had to be removed and the cockpit crew replaced because of rules governing the amount of time pilots can spend on planes, according to media reports.

Zakharenkov also said people who have been drinking sometimes feel sick during flights, which can also cause problems. The reports did not specify whether the potential ban would include beer, and suggested that an alcohol ban in airports would not be proposed.

Casual drinking is widespread in Russia, where alcoholism is a major problem, and drinking during and before flights is a common practice. Some Russian vacationers like to unwind before they reach their destinations or dull the shock of returning home after a break, and business travelers sometimes see airline flights as a chance to relax.

German court sentences far-right activist to 5 years for Holocaust denial

MANNHEIM, Germany - A far-right activist was convicted of incitement and sentenced to the maximum five years in prison Thursday for anti-Semitic activities, including contributing to a Web site dedicated to Holocaust denial.

Ernst Zundel was deported to his native Germany from Canada in 2005 and has also lived in Tennessee. He and his supporters have argued that he is a peaceful campaigner denied his right to free speech.

Zundel, 67, showed no emotion when Judge Ulrich Meinerzhagen read the verdict, only nodding occasionally.

His attorney, Ludwig Bock, said he would appeal.

"What is notable is the iron-hard refusal of the court to allow consideration of new scientific findings or expert opinions," Bock said.

Zundel faced 14 counts of incitement for disseminating anti-Semitic propaganda through a series of pamphlets and the Web site. Denying the Holocaust is a crime in Germany and is punishable by three months to five years in prison.

His trial began in November in this southwestern city after an initial attempt to try him collapsed in March 2006 over a dispute with one of his attorneys, Sylvia Stolz.

At one stage, she was carried from the courtroom, screaming "Resistance! The German people are rising up," after she defied an order banning her from the trial on grounds she tried to sabotage the proceedings by denouncing the court as a "tool of foreign domination."

During the current trial, Bock quoted from Adolf Hitler's "Mein Kampf" and from Nazi race laws in his closing statements last week as argued for Zundel's acquittal.

Bock accused the Mannheim state court of not wanting to face a "scientific analysis" of the Holocaust and charged that prosecutors - one of whom has termed Zundel a "rat catcher" - had defamed his client.

Another of Zundel's five attorneys, Herbert Schaller, told the court that all of its evidence that the Holocaust took place was based only on witness reports, instead of hard facts.

In his own closing arguments, prosecutor Andreas Grossmann called Zundel a "political con man" from whom the German people must be protected, widely quoting from his writings, which argue that millions of Jews did not die at the hands of the Nazis.

"You might as well argue that the sun rises in the west," Grossmann said when asking that Zundel be given the maximum sentence. "But you cannot change that the Holocaust has been proven."

Born in Germany in 1939, Zundel emigrated to Canada in 1958 and lived in Toronto and Montreal until 2001. Canadian officials twice rejected his attempts to obtain Canadian citizenship, and he moved to Pigeon Forge, Tenn., until he was deported to Canada in 2003 for alleged immigration violations.

Mannheim prosecutors were able to open a case against Zundel because his Holocaust-denying Web site is available in Germany.

In February 2005, a Canadian judge ruled that Zundel's activities were not only a threat to national security, but "the international community of nations" as well.

A Canadian law, passed after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the United States, allows the government to hold terrorism suspects without charge, based on secret evidence that does not have to be disclosed to a suspect or his defense.

Zundel was deported a few days later.

Since the late 1970s, he had operated Samisdat Publishing, one of the leading distributors of Nazi propaganda and, since 1995, had been a key content provider for a Web site dedicated to Holocaust denial.

Zundel has claimed he is a peaceful man with no criminal record against him in Canada.

Listing Japanese whaling ship drifts off Antarctic area

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) - A Japanese whaling ship crippled by fire drifted off the world's largest penguin breeding grounds Friday, and New Zealand alerted other countries it may need help if the vessel leaked oil into the pristine Antarctic waters.

One crewmember was missing from the 8,000-ton Nisshin Maru, which was starting to list from water pumped aboard to fight the fire. The fire was contained below decks but continued to burn, said New Zealand Conservation Minister Chris Carter.

No oil had spilled and the vessel was in no immediate danger of sinking, officials said.

Carter contacted his counterparts in Japan, Australia, United States and Britain - other signatories to the Antarctic Treaty with responsibility for protecting its environment - in case "an international environmental response is needed," ministerial spokesman Nick Maling said.

Antarctica New Zealand chief executive Lou Sanson said he had asked the U.S. Antarctic program to redirect a scheduled flight over the Nisshin Maru on Friday to check the ship's condition and provide the first independent assessment of the vessel since the fire began.

The ship was carrying 132,000 gallons of heavy oil and 211,000 gallons of furnace oil.

Steve Corbett, a spokesman for Maritime New Zealand, said his agency had been in constant contact with the captain and was on standby to send ships to help.

Search teams were waiting for smoke to clear in the burning area before attempting to assess its condition and search for missing crewman Kazutaka Makita, 27, Japan Fishery Agency official Kenji Masuda said. They planned to evaluate the situation Friday, he said.

Crew members also planned to reboard the ship to check its engine at that time and restart it if possible, he added.

Japanese officials said the blaze broke out below deck, where whale carcasses are processed. Most of the vessel's 148-member crew were evacuated Thursday to three other ships in the are that also belong to the Japanese whaling fleet, said Hideki Moronuki, an official with the Japan Fisheries Agency.

Hatches were closed to seal off the burning area, and some 30 crew members stayed aboard to fight the fire, pumping in seawater, Moronuki said.

The Nisshin Maru is the mother ship for five other Japanese vessels that hunt whales in annual hunts that Japan says are for research. The hunts began after the International Whaling Commission imposed a global ban on commercial whaling in 1986.

The program is allowed by the IWC, which uses its data and approves its kill quotas. But many environmental groups say the hunts are a pretext to keep Japan's tiny whaling industry alive. Meat from the catch is sold commercially, and canned or frozen whale can be found in most large supermarkets, though it is no longer an important part of the Japanese diet.

One of the ships in the Nisshin Maru's group collided on Monday with a ship from the Sea Shepherd anti-whaling group, which was protesting the hunt. The two Sea Shepherd ships left the area on Wednesday after running low on fuel.

Masuda said it was too early to determine what affect the fire would have on the whaling operation.

The ship was drifting 110 miles from Antarctica's Cape Adare, which hosts the world's largest penguin breeding rookeries with some 250,000 breeding pairs of Adelie penguins, Sanson said.

"It's a long way off the coast but the currents do go that way. We're very concerned about what could happen," Sanson told The Associated Press.

He said the ship was far from help and in a "high energy environment where you get a lot of storms." Conditions were calm Thursday.

The New Zealand navy said it had two frigates that could get to the scene quickly. A Greenpeace ship is also nearby, though Moronuki said Japan would not seek help from anti-whaling vessels.

Institute of Cetacean Research spokesman Glenn Inwood said the New Zealand-owned tug Pacific Chieftain, the closest salvage vessel to the Nisshin Maru, was 6.5 days away.

"Contingencies are being made at this stage but, again, it all depends on the damage assessment and that will be done over the next few hours," he told National Radio on Friday.

Russian court puts off jury selection in retrial of 3 accused in Forbes editor murder

MOSCOW (AP) - A court postponed jury selection Thursday in the retrial of three men linked to the 2004 murder of the American-born editor of Forbes magazine's Russian edition after two of the defendants failed to show up, a court spokeswoman said.

Prosecutors had accused two Chechen men of killing Paul Klebnikov, but a jury trial acquitted them last year. The Supreme Court later overturned the acquittal and ordered a new trial.

Moscow City Court spokeswoman Anna Usacheva said Thursday's session to choose jurors for the retrial was postponed until March 14 because defendants Kazbek Dukuzov and Musa Vakhayev failed to show up. The two have been free since their acquittal.

A third man whom prosecutors linked to the Klebnikov case, Moscow notary Fail Sadretdinov, was convicted last month on an unrelated crime and sentenced to nine years in prison. Sadretdinov was brought to the courtroom Thursday, but his lawyer, Ruslan Koblev, argued that his poor health made it impossible to attend the retrial.

"Sadretdinov needs medical treatment," Koblev told The Associated Press, saying that his client was suffering from epilepsy and suffered seizures during his trial last year. "It's absurd to have him face trial."

Prosecutors accused Sadretdinov of involvement in the alleged attempted murder of a businessman, and claimed he was linked with the other two defendants who were accused of killing Klebnikov. Sadretdinov denies the charges.

Koblev criticized the retrial as politically driven, saying that authorities were pressuring the court to convict the defendants. President Vladimir Putin last year praised the Supreme Court's decision to launch a retrial.

Prosecutors have claimed that Dukuzov and Vakhayev killed Klebnikov on behalf of Khozh-Akhmed Nukhayev, who was the subject of Klebnikov's book "Conversations With a Barbarian." Nukhayev remains at large.

Critics of Russia's justice system, which is widely seen as lacking independence from the Kremlin, have said prosecutors failed to properly pursue other lines of investigation.

Klebnikov, 41, an American of Russian origin who was editor of Forbes magazine's Russian edition, was gunned down outside its Moscow offices in July 2004. Many believed the killing was connected to Klebnikov's work investigating corruption and Russia's shadowy business world, but the case remains unsolved.

The U.S.-based media watchdog group, the Committee to Protect Journalists, called on court officials to make the proceedings open to the public, to ensure the suspects are present for the trial and to make sure the jury is sequestered - something that rarely happens in Russian judicial proceedings.

"The first trial was riddled with procedural violations that were hidden from the public with closed-door proceedings and a gag order on all participants," Executive Director Joel Simon said.

Greek claim for compensation over Nazi atrocity suffers EU court setback

BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) - A group of Greeks seeking compensation from Germany for a 1943 Nazi massacre suffered a setback Thursday when the European Union's high court said EU law does not cover the claim.

Irini Lechouritou and other descendants of the World War II atrocity have been fighting in Greek courts since 1995 to secure reparations for financial loss, nonmaterial damage and mental anguish.

An early bid was rejected on the grounds that such cases could not be brought against a sovereign state.

The complainants then took their case to an appeals court, which asked the European Court Justice if the case could be considered under a 1968 convention on the enforcement of civil and commercial matters.

The Luxembourg-based court ruled that the convention does not cover actions "where the public authority acts in the exercise of its public powers," including military operations. The case will now go back to the court in Patras, Greece, for a decision.

Relatives of civilians killed by the Nazis have filed tens of thousands of compensation claims in Greek courts, but the country's highest court ruled in 2002 that such claims against a foreign state cannot be heard in Greece.

Lechouritou's case relates to the worst WWII massacre of civilians by the Nazis in Greece. On Dec. 13, 1943, German army troops marched into the remote mountain village of Kalavryta, rounded up all males over 15 and massacred hundreds in retaliation for an attack by resistance fighters.

In 2000, then German President Johannes Rau visited the site and issued an apology. On the same visit to Greece he said there was "no possibility" for Germany to pay compensation on legal grounds, but added that he would encourage a "symbolic contribution" in response to Greek reparation demands.

Estonian lawmakers vote to remove Soviet war memorial from capital

TALLINN, Estonia (AP) - Estonian lawmakers on Thursday approved a bill calling for the removal of a Soviet war memorial, ignoring Moscow's warning of "irreversible consequences" for relations between the two countries.

The vote was close, 46-44. Eleven of Parliament's 101 members abstained.

The Bronze Soldier, a World War II memorial in downtown Tallinn, has become a rallying point for Estonia's ethnic Russians, who make up about one-third of the Baltic country's 1.3 million residents.

Plans to remove the six-foot statue have infuriated officials in Russia, who accuse the Baltic states of discriminating against Russian-speakers.

Before the vote, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Vladimir Titov warned that the Law on Forbidden Structures would cause "irreversible consequences" for Estonian-Russian relations.

The law prohibits public display of monuments that glorify the five-decade Soviet occupation of Estonia.

Soviet forces took over the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania in 1940. They were driven out by Nazi forces a year later, but reoccupied the Baltics in 1944 and incorporated them into the Soviet Union.

The Bronze Soldier was erected in 1947 as a tribute to Red Army soldiers who were killed fighting Nazi Germany, but many Estonians see it as a bitter reminder of the hardships they endured under Soviet occupation.

The three countries regained independence in 1991 amid the collapse of communism in eastern Europe, and joined NATO and the European Union in 2004.

China sentences man to death in ant fraud case

BEIJING (AP) - A Chinese business executive was sentenced to death for swindling $385 million from investors in a bogus ant-breeding scheme, a court official said Thursday.

Wang Zhendong, chairman of Yingkou Donghua Trading Group Co., lured 10,000 investors between 2002 and 2005 by promising them returns of up to 60 percent on their stake in two companies that existed only on paper, the Xinhua News Agency said.

Only $1.3 million of the swindled money had been recovered when the case was filed last June with the Intermediate People's Court in Yingkou, a port city in northeastern China, Xinhua said.

Prosecutors told the court that one investor committed suicide after realizing he had been duped, Xinhua said.

On Tuesday the court sentenced Wang to death, said an official in the court's case office who gave only his surname, Yin.

Fifteen managers of the company were given prison terms ranging from five to 10 years and fined from $12,800 to $64,000, Xinhua said.

Fake investments and pyramid investment schemes have become common during China's transition from a planned economy to a free market. Chinese leaders have tried to eradicate the scams, fearing widespread losses could add to already percolating social unrest.

The death penalty is used broadly in China. Though usually reserved for violent crimes, it is also applied for non-violent offenses that involve large sums of money or are deemed to have a pernicious social impact.

Brazil students robbed, thrown into well, rescued after 60 hours

SAO PAULO, Brazil (AP) - Two students endured more than 60 hours without food and water before being rescued after being robbed and thrown into an abandoned well, authorities said Wednesday.

Aline Terumi Kariyazaki, 21, and Felipe Yoshikazu Era, 18, were found Tuesday afternoon by a man walking near the well. Police spokesman Roberto Paschoal said authorities did not have any suspects.

Kariyazaki and Era were examined at a hospital but did not have any significant injuries.

The two said they were in front of Kariyazaki's house in Mogi das Cruzes, about 60 miles east of Sao Paulo, when two armed men forced them into a car late Sunday and took them to an abandoned factory. The robbers stole the pair's belongings and threw the two into the 26-foot dry well before fleeing.

The exhausted pair was rescued when a man who had been wandering in the factory heard their cries and helped them escape from the well.

"I prayed a lot for this person to show up," Era said. "It was an angel who saved us."

Russian fisheries officials convicted of taking $3.7 million bribe

MOSCOW (AP) - A court Thursday convicted a former fisheries official on charges of taking a $3.7 million bribe to allocate fishing quotas to a businessman, news reports said.

Alexander Tugushev, a former deputy head of the State Committee for Fisheries, was sentenced to six years in prison, the ITAR-Tass, Interfax and RIA-Novosti news agencies reported.

Prosecutors said Tugushev accepted the bribe from a businessman in Russia's far eastern Khabarovsk region in exchange for a promise to allocate the fishing quotas to his company.

Two other officials and a businessman, who prosecutors claimed were Tugushev's accomplices, received prison terms ranging from five to 5.5 years for fraud, the reports said.

Though President Vladimir Putin has made fighting corruption a major goal, experts say the problem has worsened at all government levels since he came to power in 2000. The global anti-corruption group Transparency International estimates the level of graft has jumped as much as sevenfold since 2001.

Corrupt Russian officials are estimated to take bribes of $240 billion a year, an amount almost equal to the state's entire revenue, a senior prosecutor said this month.