NASSAU, Bahamas - The four graves are unmarked for now, with just a patch of fresh sod showing where Anna Nicole Smith's son was laid to rest. But the humble cemetery meant for the "common people of the Bahamas" could soon become a tourist magnet.

A Florida judge gave custody of the former Playboy Playmate's body to her baby daughter's guardian on Thursday but said in a surprise ruling that he hoped Smith would be buried alongside her 20-year-old son in the Bahamas.

Tourists have already begun coming to the Lakeview Memorial Gardens & Mausoleums cemetery since Daniel Smith was buried here in October, and local tour operators say the site could soon become even more of a tourist attraction.

Anna Nicole Smith's will did not say where she wanted to buried, but her companion, Howard K. Stern, testified this week in court that she wanted to be buried in the Bahamas. An attorney for Smith's estate, Wayne Munroe, said she bought funeral plots for four people - Daniel, her 5-month-old daughter Dannielynn, Stern and herself.

If the former reality star is buried at the cemetery located on John F. Kennedy Drive, a busy road leading from the airport to downtown Nassau, tour operators would likely include it as an attraction, said Rosco Welch, secretary of the Bahamas Taxi Cab Union.

"The only interesting person at Lakeview right now is Daniel Smith, but we've been having quite a bit of tourists ask where he's buried," Welch said.

Many drivers are already offering to show tourists Smith's waterfront residence, he said.

Cemetery employee Tamita Barr said dozens of journalists have visited Lakeview Memorial since Smith died Feb. 8 at the age of 39 after she was found unconscious in a Florida hotel room. No cause of death has been determined.

"From the day the lady died there have been reporters," Barr said. "We don't stop them from coming, and we don't really know what drives them to come."

Some 1,500 people have been buried at Lakeview Memorial, one of two private cemeteries on New Providence island, since it opened in 1999. A double plot costs $3,700, and the cemetery shows signs of an unfinished expansion, including a large patch still waiting to be covered with grass.

Until now, no celebrities are counted among those buried there, only "common people of the Bahamas," Barr said.

Daniel Smith was buried at Lakeview Memorial after he died Sept. 10 while visiting his mother in the Bahamas after she gave birth to her daughter. A private pathologist concluded he died from a combination of methadone and antidepressants.

Separately Thursday, a Supreme Court judge in Nassau ordered a closed-door hearing on who should have custody of Smith's daughter to resume on Monday, attorneys said outside the courthouse. Emerick Knowles, an attorney for Smith's ex-boyfriend Larry Birkhead, said he filed a motion on his client's behalf claiming paternity of the baby girl.

Judge refuses to dismiss kidnapping charges against reputed Klansman in 1964 case

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) - A federal judge refused to dismiss charges Thursday against a reputed Ku Klux Klansman in the 1964 slayings of two black men, rejecting arguments that the statute of limitations ran out long ago. - U.S. District Judge Henry T. Wingate also denied a request to let James Ford Seale, 71, out on bail while he awaits trial. Seale's wife testified that her ailing husband was not getting proper medical care in jail.

Seale's lawyer Dennis Joiner asked Wingate to throw out the kidnapping charges. There was no time limit for filing federal kidnapping charges in 1964, but Joiner argued that when Congress in 1972 repealed a law that made kidnapping a capital offense, kidnapping became subject to a five-year statute of limitations.

The judge, however, sided with prosecutors, who contended the 1972 repeal did not apply retroactively.

Seale could get life in prison if convicted in connection with the deaths of Charles Eddie Moore and Henry Hezekiah Dee. Prosecutors said Moore and Dee were seized and beaten by Klansmen, then thrown into the Mississippi River to drown.

Seale was arrested Jan. 24 after the U.S. Justice Department reopened its investigation and learned that Seale was still alive.

Donald Trump tells newspaper he is eyeing N.J. golf course as his final resting place

BEDMINSTER, N.J. (AP) - He may be a New York native. But it's the Garden State that may own "The Donald" for eternity. - Real-estate mogul Donald Trump has filed paperwork to build a wedding chapel on his golf course in Bedminster. He told The Star-Ledger of Newark that he wants to later convert the building into a mausoleum for himself and his family.

Trump called the 525-acre Trump National Golf Club property in picturesque Somerset County hill country, about 50 miles west of Manhattan, a "beautiful place." Trump built the course, which opened in 2004, on the former estate of the late automaker John DeLorean.

Plans to build the chapel would be contingent on approval from the Bedminster Planning Board, Trump said. The board is expected to review the application next month.

Man receives $24 billion electric bill

WEATHERFORD, Texas (AP) - Perhaps his $24 billion electric bill will teach Richard Redden to turn down the thermostat a bit.

Redden and more than 1,300 Weatherford utility customers this week received billion-dollar electric bills marked as late notices. The mega-charges were attributed to a printing error.

Irving-bases DataProse, which prints customer bills for Weatherford Electric, said the company was embarrassed by the error.

"Obviously, this is not something we are pleased about," said Curtis Nelson, DataProse vice president and general manager.

Weatherford Electric spokeswoman Pam Pearson said customers can expect their correct bills later this month. She said the company's records were correct and showed the right balances.

"I know they raised the rates on kilowatt hours a little bit," Redden said. "I guess we shouldn't have run the heater quite so much this month."

Hard-luck lesson learned

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) - A business student at the University of Virginia has learned a hard lesson in risk management.

Hideki Inoue, dressed as a samurai to psyche himself, had a chance Wednesday to win $17,500 if he had picked the correct briefcase during a class exercise in risk management. He picked the wrong one, and took it in stride.

"I started from nothing, so I didn't lose anything," said Inoue, a first-year graduate student from Japan.

Inoue was given the choice: pick one of two briefcases, with the chance of pocketing $17,500, the contents of one of them. The money, from an anonymous donor, equals one year of in-state tuition.

Inoue could have passed on the guessing game and settled for a guaranteed sum. He asked for $8,000, but was offered only $5,679.

His gamble led to Wednesday's drama in front of several hundred classmates.

Business professors Sam Bodily and Phil Pfeifer thought up the exercise to teach students about risk and luck in the world of business.

"We're interested in how prospective managers react to risk," Bodily said. "You use real experiments in physics and, well, this is a real experiment."

The unclaimed money will be used for a similar class experiment next year.

Yellow submarine falls off the radar

FELTON, Calif.- A 3.5-ton yellow submarine has fallen off the radar.

The 10-foot-long sub, built by a resident to patrol Monterey Bay during the 1940s and 1950s, was reported missing Feb. 15 from its Santa Cruz Mountains berth by owner Carl Barker.

"It sounds bizarre," said Detective Kevin Coyne of the Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Office. "All I know is … there's no suspects."

Irven Thomson built the vessel from an old propane tank about 60 years ago. He added a turret, hatch, windows and a cement keel, rudder and navigational instruments.

"One of the neighbors said they saw a tow truck loading it up," Barker, 38, said. "Someone knew they wanted it and came and took it. I don't think they stole it for any kind of recycling value."

Barker said Thomson went on vigilante patrols of the bay and used the Santa Cruz Municipal Wharf as his home base. Neighbors said Thomson quickly gave up the patrols and beached the vessel on his land.

Thomson left the yellow submarine on the property when he moved years ago.

Girl dies after being trampled by horses in Arizona rodeo parade

TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) - A 5-year-old girl died Thursday after she was thrown from a horse in a rodeo parade and was trampled then by more horses pulling a wagon, officials said.

The girl was rushed to a hospital but did not survive, Police Sgt. Decio Hopffer said.

The parade started in 1925 and is billed as one of the world's longest. The participants in the nonmotorized parade include horses, marching bands, folklorico dancers and beauty queens.

Woman sentenced to life in prison with parole for murder of disabled 3-year-old foster son

BATAVIA, Ohio (AP) - A woman was sentenced Thursday to life in prison with parole for killing her 3-year-old developmentally disabled foster son by binding him in blankets and tape and leaving him inside a closet for a weekend.

A day earlier, jurors convicted Liz Carroll, 30, of murder and other charges. Under the life sentence for murder, she has no possibility for parole for 15 years. Some of the other sentences must be served consecutively.

Prosecutor Don White said Carroll is expected to spend at least 54 years in prison.

Jurors decided she caused foster son Marcus Fiesel's death, though unintentionally, by leaving him alone, bound in a blanket and packing tape, while she went to a family reunion in Kentucky.

Carroll, who did not testify during trial, said Thursday she was not responsible.

"I didn't do this to Marcus," she said. "I did not and would not ever hurt a child."

Judge Robert Ringland told Carroll that no matter how much she blamed other people, she had to accept responsibility. He also said she hadn't seemed sorry for the boy's death.

"There has never been a sincere concern for Marcus Fiesel," Ringland told her. "Even to this day, the only remorse is that you are being found guilty and not the death of this child."

Carroll's husband, David Carroll Jr., 29, is to be tried separately in March on the same charges as his wife, along with gross abuse of a corpse. Prosecutors allege that after the boy's death, he burned the body and dumped the remains in the Ohio River.

The Carrolls told authorities the boy wandered off or had been snatched from a park in suburban Cincinnati, sparking a search by thousands of volunteers that lasted several days. When authorities began to suspect the story was a ruse, the Carrolls' live-in companion, Amy Baker, told them how the boy died, prosecutors said.

The case led to calls for reform of Ohio's foster care system. An investigation by the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services said the Carrolls were unqualified to care for Fiesel and cited failure to check references and inadequate home study and follow-up visits.

The state report recommended increased training, thorough background checks, drug testing and more data-sharing among agencies, courts and law enforcement as solutions. Legislators expect to work on reform measures this year.

Boy shot with state senator's gun may have killed himself, crime lab expert testifies

GREENSBURG, Pa. (AP) - Blood droplets around the body of a 14-year-old boy who was shot to death with a lawmaker's gun show the boy could have shot himself, an investigator said at a coroner's inquest Thursday.

No charges have been filed in the shooting death of Louis Farrell, who lived next door to state Sen. Robert Regola and was friends with the Republican lawmaker's 16-year-old son, Bobby.

The teenager was found dead July 22 from a single gunshot wound to the head, but authorities have yet to determine if he committed suicide, shot himself accidentally or was shot by someone else.

Sarah Kinneer, a state police crime lab expert, testified at the start of a two-day inquest Thursday that she examined microscopic blood droplets found near the barrel of the gun and under one fingernail clipped from one of the boy's fingers.

"In order for it to be deposited under these fingernails, it's got to be really close," she said.

Farrell's body was found in a nearby wooded area with the senator's 9 mm handgun, a flashlight and a cigar.

Sen. Regola was in Harrisburg, the state capital, at the time of the shooting. Farrell had a key to the home because he watched the family's dogs when the senator and his wife were out of town, authorities have said.

Regola and his son were interviewed by police shortly after the death, but the district attorney and state police say the Regolas' attorneys have refused to let police interview them again.

Bobby Regola and the senator are among 20 witnesses the prosecution had planned to call to testify at the inquest, Westmoreland County Coroner Ken Bacha said.

Sen. Regola was expected to take the stand Thursday or Friday, but Bobby Regola's attorney, Duke George, told The Associated Press on Wednesday that he will advise the lawmaker's son not to testify.

District Attorney John Peck declined to comment on George's recommendation, but said that in general, witnesses at an open inquest may refuse to testify only if they invoke their Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.

In a search warrant for the Regola home in August, state police said Bobby Regola seemed to know that his teenage friend was dead before anyone told him and was "somewhat deceptive" when investigators asked him about how the lawmaker's gun wound up next to the boy's body.

CD players blast 'pornographic messages' at Ash Wednesday Mass in N.M.; bomb squad called

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) - Three CD players hidden under a cathedral's pews blared sexually explicit language in the middle of an Ash Wednesday Mass, leading a bomb squad to detonate two of the devices.

Authorities determined the music players were not dangerous and kept the third one to check it for clues, said police Capt. Gary Johnson.

The CD players, duct-taped to the bottoms of the pews, were set to turn on in the middle of noon Mass on Wednesday at the Roman Catholic Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi.

The recordings, made on store-bought blank discs, featured people using foul language and "pornographic messages," Johnson said. He would not elaborate because of the ongoing investigation.

Church staff members took the CD players to the basement and called police, who sent the bomb squad, Johnson said.

The bomb squad blew up two players outside and kept the third one to test for fingerprints or DNA and trace its components, he said.

Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent, which marks a 40-day period of fasting and penitence before Easter.

Boston police getting rid of pellet guns that killed Red Sox fan, will melt them down

BOSTON (AP) - The Boston Police Department is getting rid of the pepper-pellet guns blamed for the death of a college student during Red Sox celebrations more than two years ago.

"Never. They'll never again be used in the city of Boston," police Commissioner Edward Davis told the Boston Herald for Thursday's editions.

The department's 13 pellet guns, bought before the 2004 Democratic National Convention, will be melted down and recycled into sewer caps.

The weapons, designed to deliver non-lethal force, haven't been used since Oct. 21, 2004 when Emerson College student Victoria Snelgrove died hours after being struck in the left eye with a pellet fired by police.

Snelgrove's death, which occurred as thousands of people celebrated the Red Sox American League Championship Series Game Seven victory over the New York Yankees, was the only time the weapons were used by Boston police. Two other revelers were struck in the head and survived.

Davis decided they weren't fit for the department. The weapons were "much more powerful than what they were perceived to be," he said.

The department will use horse patrols or pepper spray foggers for future crowd control issues, Davis said.

Boston paid a $5.1 million settlement to Snelgrove's parents. The Snelgroves also reached an undisclosed settlement with the gun's manufacturer.

Boy, 12, falls to death from fifth-floor apartment in New York City

NEW YORK (AP) - A cab driver arrived home to find his 12-year-old son's body in a courtyard below their fifth-floor apartment, wrapped in blankets tied together like a rope.

Police said Jonathan Batista's injuries were consistent with a fall and that the death was not suspicious. The boy had learning disabilities.

Teodoro Batista, 42, had just finished an overnight shift driving a cab on Wednesday when he discovered that Jonathan was missing from the Manhattan apartment where they live with Jonathan's stepmother.

Jonathan's bedroom window was open, and the window's air conditioning unit was gone.

"I checked under the bed, and he wasn't there," the father told The New York Times for Thursday's editions.

He ran from the apartment, shouting for the boy in Spanish, a neighbor said.

He found Jonathan's body in the small courtyard below the boy's bedroom window. With him were the bed linens, which were tied together as if he had been making a rope to lower himself from his window.

The boy had his backpack and was wearing a jacket and sneakers.

Jonathan's stepmother, Maria Rosario, said she had told the boy to go to bed around midnight. He brushed his teeth and put on his pajamas, she said. She went to bed.

"If he wanted to go out, he could have walked out the front door," said Rosario, 41. "He never said he wanted to go outside."

Batista told the New York Post that he last saw his son before he left for work Tuesday evening, while the boy was folding clothes.

"I said, 'Son, don't stay up too late,"' the father said.

In tabloid and cable era, Anna Nicole Smith's messy death eclipses even her wacky life

NEW YORK - "Dying is a very dull, dreary affair," the late British author W. Somerset Maugham has oft been quoted as saying. He obviously didn't live in the Anna Nicole Smith era.

It's been two weeks since the aspiring heiress, reality star and just plain famous-for-being-famous Smith died in the aptly named town of Hollywood, Fla. But her strange tale has far from died with her. Instead, the messy, convoluted aftermath of her death seems to have eclipsed even her wackiest moments on earth.

Turns out all those references to Smith's "train wreck" life were premature. The real wreck has been unfolding this week with the unseemly dispute on one coast over paternity of her baby, and, on the opposite coast, the bizarre hearing over where her body will ultimately rest. That six-day proceeding ended Thursday with the judge, already compared to a reality show host for his oddly jocular behavior, breaking down and weeping as he granted custody of Smith's remains to a guardian for her baby daughter.

And all the while, Smith's body has been decomposing in a morgue - more rapidly than expected, according to the medical examiner. It's as if even the publicity-friendly Smith was tiring of the attention and wanted to get it over with.

Meanwhile, the blanket coverage continues, particularly on cable news channels, leading to that chicken-or-egg question: Are people really so interested in this story? Or, is it the media that's telling them they're interested, with its nonstop coverage? CNN host Jack Cafferty couldn't seem to hide his skepticism when, handing off recently to Wolf Blitzer, he asked, "Is Anna Nicole Smith still dead yet?"

But the story has its genuine newsworthy elements: a fight over a defenseless baby, the race for millions in potential inheritance, the tug-of-war between a mother and a (maybe) lover.

"We're covering this story because we think people care about it," says Larry Hackett, managing editor of People magazine, which put Smith on last week's cover. "On the one hand, the story on so many levels is depressing and sordid," he says. "It's difficult to find somebody to root for" - except, of course, the baby.

But on the other hand, he says, "this is someone you know. You saw her as that Guess jeans model, as the woman who married the rich husband, the woman who slurred her words on TV. So you're repelled by it, but still, it was someone you knew."

From the moment news of Smith's death broke, it was clear this was going to be a death like few others. A hint was those frantic moments when medical workers tried to revive her by massaging her heart; the tape is still viewable on YouTube.

Immediately there were questions about her 5-month-old daughter, Dannielynn, who could inherit millions. There were the dueling paternity claims by Howard K. Stern, her longtime companion, and ex-boyfriend Larry Birkhead, the boyish photographer - and then the strangest one, from none other than Zsa Zsa Gabor's 59-year-old husband, Prince Frederic von Anhalt.

With the paternity case continuing in California, there was Smith's tearful mother, Virgie Arthur, facing off against Stern in that Florida courtroom in a hearing sprinkled with details of Smith's active sex life and insinuations from sparring attorneys that all sides were profiting from the deaths of Smith and her son.

And there was the heartbreaking detail that Smith wanted, according to her mother and Birkhead, to be interred near Marilyn Monroe, whom she emulated in life. And that, according to Stern, she was afraid that bugs might get into her grave.

Even Circuit Judge Larry Seidlin was a larger-than-life character in this made-for-cable passion play. A former cab driver, he peppered the proceedings with jocular comments that made one analyst, Dan Abrams of MSNBC, compare the hearing to an episode of "Seinfeld," and others predict that he'd be the next judge to host a reality show.

"Money is the root of all evil, am I right?" the judge commented at one point. At another, he discussed the outfit he used to wear to play tennis. He called the lawyers "Texas" and "Los Angeles" and Smith's mother simply "Mama." He called the medical examiner, Dr. Joshua Perper, "Dr. Pepper."

How breathless has the media coverage been? A study by the Project for Excellence in Journalism showed that on the day Smith died and the following day, she consumed fully 50 percent of cable news coverage. And even though the story broke at the end of the week, it was the number 3 story for the week in all media combined - newspapers, online, network TV, cable and radio. If it had broken earlier in the week, it might have edged out the Iraq war.

"The numbers were phenomenal," says Mark Jurkowitz, associate director of the project. he compared them to celebrity deaths of past years like John F. Kennedy, Jr. and Princess Diana.

"I don't think her life was ever considered that newsworthy or impactful," he says. But he can't come up with any deeper meaning in what draws people to the story. "I'm not sure it's anything more than raw voyeurism," he says.

For another news analyst, it's not particularly discouraging that people are watching - only that they're watching so much, pushing out more meaningful stories. And clearly, they're watching: "If people weren't, somebody at these cable networks would say, 'let's dial it back,"' says Bob Steele of the Poynter Institute in Florida.

Hackett, of People magazine, doesn't see the story generating huge interest once the paternity and burial are resolved. "I'm not sure how much further it goes," he says. People sold 1.6 million copies with its cover on Smith - a good number, but nothing like the 2 million-plus it sold with the Pitt-Jolie baby or the death of "Crocodile Hunter" Steve Irwin.

And now, he says, there's something else that's eclipsing Smith, at least for the moment: the newly shaven Britney Spears, who's on the magazine's current cover. "Right now," he says, "that's blotting everything else out."

Judge speculates about Anna Nicole Smith's drug problems

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) - Anna Nicole Smith's ex-boyfriend Larry Birkhead testified Thursday that he tried to curb the former centerfold's drug use as the judge questioned whether her longtime companion, Howard K. Stern, was "maybe an enabler." - Circuit Judge Larry Seidlin began the sixth day of a hearing to decide the fate of Smith's body with a long diatribe, saying she lacked a strong support system. The judge speculated that her relationships with estranged mother Virgie Arthur and Birkhead soured because of she overused of prescription drugs.

"We have Stern. Is he a bad guy or is he a fellow that has some form of a love for her? We don't know," Seidlin said. "Whatever relationship he had with her, he would be called maybe an enabler."

Stern's attorney, Krista Barth, rose in objection, but Seidlin continued in what promised to be a long day of testimony.

The judge set a self-imposed deadline to rule by Friday, so Smith's embalmed body won't decompose too much for a public viewing. Arthur wants to bring Smith home to her native Texas, and attorney-turned-boyfriend Stern wants a burial in the Bahamas, where her son, Daniel, died of apparent drug-related causes last year.

Birkhead testified that when he visited the Bahamas home Smith and Stern shared last year, he became increasingly concerned about her drug use.

"They kept bringing more and more drugs in the house," he said, adding that Stern told him that Smith needed the prescriptions to live.

Birkhead said he suggested she enter drug rehabilitation, but that she told him: "I'm not a drug addict and quit calling me one."

Birkhead also testified that Stern repeatedly asked him to deny he was the father of Smith's 5-month-old daughter, Dannielynn. Stern and Birkhead both claim to be the father, although Stern is listed on the birth certificate. Barth submitted e-mails Birkhead sent to Smith in which he called her "sick," "psycho" and "devil."

Birkhead's attorneys again sought to force the DNA tests that could finally determine who is Dannielynn's father, but Seidlin declined, siding with attorney Richard Milstein, who has been appointed to represent the child in court.

"We're muddying the waters and we're wasting time," Milstein said.

Smith died Feb. 8 in a Florida hotel, but the cause is still unknown.

So far, the testimony has been peppered with details of Smith's her sexual liaisons and the deals allegedly being pursued to profit from the deaths of the starlet and her son.

Also Thursday, celebrity news Web site TMZ.com posted a video of Smith hugging and being kissed by a shirtless doctor, who is under investigation by the California state medical board for unspecified possible misconduct related to Smith. In the video from a nightclub, Stern and Birkhead watch as Dr. Sandeep Kapoor nuzzles Smith.

Messages left for Kapoor's Los Angeles publicist Mark Saylor, on his cell phone and at his office, were not returned. A message was also left for Kapoor's Los Angeles attorney, Ellyn Garofalo.

Smith married Texas oil tycoon J. Howard Marshall II in 1994 when he was 89 and she was 26 and she had been fighting his family over his estimated $500 million fortune since his death in 1995.

Ferry catches fire in Indonesia; nearly 300 people rescued

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) - A mother begged a cargo hand to take her 18-month-old daughter after fire engulfed an Indonesian ferry Thursday, then jumped into the sea along with hundreds of other passengers. Sixteen people died and scores were injured. - Heru, who goes by one name, said he tried to scale a rope with the toddler as smoke billowed around him, but was knocked into the water by a falling passenger. He saw the woman clinging to a water cooler and swam toward her.

"The baby was crying 'Mama! Mama! and she insisted I hand over the child," he said. Fifteen minutes later, the two disappeared beneath the dark waves. "Now they're gone."

The Levina 1 was carrying 300 passengers when a pre-dawn blaze broke out in a truck on the car deck hours after the ferry left the capital, Jakarta, for the northwestern island of Bangka, port official Sato Bisri said. The cause of the fire was not immediately known.

Remarkably, 275 people were rescued from the Java Sea and the 2,000-ton vessel's charred hull by fishing boats, warships and helicopters, averting a second major maritime disaster in Indonesia the last several months. In late December, a ferry sank in a storm in the Java Sea, killing more than 400 people.

At least 17 people were still missing following Thursday's fire, Navy spokesman Hendra Pakan. The search for survivors continued after darkness fell.

"It was terrifying," said Yas Rijal, 33, who was with his wife and son on the upper deck when the fire broke out. "The crew ordered us to put on yellow life vests and we jumped."

Rosiah, 28, who also goes by one name, was among those who did not get a life vest. But as the ferry's deck got hotter, she became increasingly desperate and plunged into the sea with her 5-month-old son.

"I just wanted save my baby," she said, weeping. "I didn't think of the risk."

"We sank for a long time and by the time we came to the surface, he wasn't breathing," Rosiah said. "He was dead, but I couldn't let go. I held onto him for what felt like an hour before being rescued by a fisherman."

She said she did not know what happened to her husband and two other children.

One survivor told AP Television News he was sleeping when the fire started.

"When I woke up, I saw a big fire and I just jumped into the water. All I was thinking was how I had to survive," Tarjani said.

Sunarjo, another survivor, said he swam all morning before being rescued. "If I hadn't torn off my pants I'd probably be dead now," he said.

Most survivors were taken to the port at Jakarta, about 50 miles from where the ship caught fire. The injured were taken to hospitals or cared for at a makeshift treatment center at the port.

Transportation Minister Hatta Rajasa said the ferry carried 300 passengers, but the ship's log indicated there were 228 passengers, 42 trucks and eight cars on board. Tallies of ferry passengers are often incomplete and boats overloaded in Indonesia.

In the vast nation of 17,000 islands, ferries are the cheapest and most popular form of public transportation. But safety standards are poor, leading to hundreds of deaths each year.

Last year, Indonesia recorded more deaths from disasters than any other country, according to a U.N. tally, with a massive earthquake on Java killing nearly 6,000 - the highest death toll in a single event.

Since December, flooding and landslides on Java and Sumatra islands have killed more than 200 people and driven hundreds of thousands of residents from their homes.

Days after the December ferry sinking, a passenger plane operated by a budget airline crashed into the ocean, killing all 102 people aboard.

Baltimore mayor sacks head of firefighter training after recruit's death

BALTIMORE (AP) - The city's head of firefighter training was fired for "unacceptable mistakes" after a recruit died during an exercise in a building that was deliberately set on fire, the mayor said Thursday. - Kenneth Hyde, the division chief of training, was responsible for the safety lapses that led to the death of Racheal Wilson, Mayor Sheila Dixon said, speaking hours before Wilson's burial service in Denver.

Two other fire officials were suspended without pay for 60 days.

The abandoned West Baltimore home was approved for a fire-free training session, Fire Chief William J. Goodwin Jr. said, but "it was never chosen for a live burn."

Wilson collapsed Feb. 9 during the training exercise and died at a local hospital of thermal injuries and asphyxia, the medical examiner's office said. Two other firefighters were injured when they went to Wilson's aid.

"Why this went bad, we'll get to the bottom of," Goodwin said. He said the exercise may have been "a little more than a rookie should encounter."

A preliminary report on the exercise was scheduled to be released Friday, and Dixon asked for an independent panel review with recommendations by March 30.

Salesman ordered to repay wages after faking 3-year-old son's death from cancer

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (AP) - A salesman was ordered to pay back more than $50,000 to an Atlanta-based software company that accused him of begging off work for months by falsely claiming his young son was stricken with cancer.

Lancope Inc. said in a lawsuit that Michael Ruffalo launched a tale of hardship right after he took a sales job in November 2005 as a regional account manager. He was given paid leave and unmasked as a liar four months later when the firm tried to send flowers after being told the boy had died, the lawsuit said.

Ruffalo must return $52,517 in wages, benefits and interest because he failed to answer Lancope's complaints over the last nine months, state Supreme Court Justice Kenneth Fisher ruled in a default judgment this week.

"It's incredibly hard to understand why somebody would do something like this," David Cocchiara, Lancope's chief financial officer, said Thursday. "Using your child as a method of getting money out of companies while not doing any work is not good karma."

Six other technology firms that employed Ruffalo at various times dating back to 2002 had similar stories of him doing little or no work by claiming his son was seriously ill, Cocchiara said. "They chose not to deal with the legal hassle, but it was something we felt strongly about pursuing because it seemed so wrong," he said.

Calls to Ruffalo's home in Macedon, near Rochester, and to his lawyer were not immediately returned Thursday.

According to the lawsuit, Ruffalo was employed full-time by Invoke Solutions of Waltham, Mass., and Chordiant Software of Cupertino, Calif., when he took the job at Lancope.

He told Lancope soon afterward that his son Aidan, who was 3 years old at the time, had just been diagnosed with leukemia, the lawsuit said.

Messages to the company from Ruffalo in January 2006 reported "things aren't going as well as we had hoped … (we) continue to hope for a miracle," and then, after the boy allegedly died, "It's been an extremely difficult time for us losing our son."

He also reported his pregnant wife had to undergo a Caesarean section and their newborn had a lung ailment, the lawsuit said.

Finally, Lancope called the school where the wife worked to ask about sending flowers and learned that neither Aidan nor his baby brother was ill, the lawsuit said.

EncryptX Corp., an e-mail security company in Boulder, Colo., said it hired Ruffalo in March 2005 and within two weeks, got an e-mail saying his son had been rushed to a hospital.

In the end, "we tried to send flowers to the funeral home and they said we never heard of the son that had died," said the company's president, David Duncan. EncryptX demanded Ruffalo pay back $21,464 but, getting nowhere, decided to "just write it off as a bad experience," he said.

Judge suspends Atlanta courthouse shooting trial for a month

ATLANTA (AP) - The murder trial of a man accused of a shooting spree that began in a courthouse has been suspended for about a month by the judge, who cited state delays in covering some defense expenses.

Superior Court Judge Hilton Fuller said Thursday that individual questioning by attorneys of potential jurors in the trial of Brian Nichols will be delayed from Monday until March 27.

Nichols' attorneys and the agency that covers costs for indigent defendants have clashed over the payment of some expenses. The defense had cost the state $1.2 million as of Dec. 31.

"It is not my responsibility to provide the funding," Fuller said. "It is my responsibility to provide a constitutionally sound trial."

Fuller also said he may have to suspend the trial further if by March 16, prosecutors still have not given the defense transcripts of hundreds of hours of telephone calls Nichols made while in jail. Prosecutors have said they may not be able to comply.

Nichols, 35, could be sentenced to death if convicted of a March 2005 shooting spree that began in the Fulton County Courthouse in downtown Atlanta and left four people dead. He has pleaded not guilty.

Nichols was being escorted to a courtroom for the continuation of his retrial on rape charges when he allegedly beat a deputy, stole her gun and killed the judge presiding over his case and a court reporter.

Nichols also is accused of killing a sheriff's deputy who chased him outside the courtroom and a federal agent he encountered that night. Nichols surrendered the next day after allegedly taking a woman hostage.

Residents get keys for first new houses in New Orleans' Lower Ninth Ward

NEW ORLEANS (AP) - Two residents got the keys Thursday to what are believed to be the first homes built in the Lower Ninth Ward since Hurricane Katrina hit 18 months ago, and officials hope the houses - elevated against floodwaters and designed to withstand 160 mph winds - will help spark a revival in the devastated neighborhood.

"It's overwhelming," said one of the new homeowners, Gwendolyn Guice, who found the design of her house "kind of strange" but all right. "I went and got my Kleenex to wipe my eyes."

The homes resemble the wood-frame shotgun style prevalent in many New Orleans neighborhoods, in which rooms are built in a straight line from front to back. But instead of the traditional cypress wood exterior, they are covered with mold- and termite-resistant siding.

A community group called ACORN Housing lined up financing for the two houses, valued at about $125,000 each, and the homeowners will have to repay the organization, perhaps through the insurance proceeds on their destroyed houses.

The houses were designed by Louisiana State University architecture students and built with a combination of paid labor and volunteers.

Reminders of Katrina are still abundant in the Lower Ninth Ward, where Katrina's storm surge broke the levee at the Industrial Canal, flooding hundreds of homes. Street signs are missing. Many businesses and houses stand empty.

The view from the back porch of the new home built for Josephine Butler, who lost the house her husband and brother built decades ago, is one of mudholes, a debris pile, crumpled or vacant buildings and tangles of vines.

ACORN Housing has lined up $500,000 for interest-free loans and acquired about 100 blighted properties in the Lower Ninth, with plans to build houses there, too.

The project comes as a $14 billion blueprint for rebuilding New Orleans slowly makes its way through city government.

Manatees released

ORANGE CITY, Fla. (AP) - Gene and Dundee are free.

The father and son manatees were released Tuesday at Blue Spring State Park.

Gene is 32 years old and weighs 1,930 pounds. He was rescued in February 1977 from Indian Harbor Beach near Cape Canaveral after he was found suffering from injuries caused by a boat.

"We didn't know then if manatees could successfully be released after spending a long period of time in captivity," research scientist Monica Ross said. "We now know they can."

Gene fathered Dundee at Sea World in 1986. The 1,300-pound mammal was released last year but researches discovered that he had been losing weight during his nine months in the wild, The Daytona Beach News-Journal reported.

Ross said Dundee has gained 300 pounds this year, and she feels confident this release will be a success.

Both manatees were brought to Blue Spring from the Lowry Park Zoo in Tampa. The animals were documented, given a health checkup and tagged with satellite tracking equipment before they were released.

Indonesia to use giant concrete balls to try to halt mud eruption

SURABAYA, Indonesia (AP) - Indonesian authorities will drop hundreds of giant concrete balls into a fissure Friday to try to stem a gushing mud eruption that has inundated villages and factories, an official said.

The hot, noxious mud - enough to fill 50 Olympic-sized swimming pools - has flowed from the hole each day for the last nine months, forcing at least 11,000 people from their homes. Four villages and 25 factories have been buried under a 30-foot layer of mud.

The chained cement balls, weighing up to 550 pounds each, will be dropped from a scaffolding into the so-called mud volcano on the island of Java starting Friday, said Rudi Novrianto, a spokesman for a national task force handling the disaster.

If successful, the project will decrease by up to 70 percent the volume of the mud now being channeled by a system of dams into a nearby river and out to sea.

Mud fissures are fairly common along volatile tectonic belts like that one running below Indonesia, the world's largest archipelago.

Opinions differ about the cause of the mudflow, the largest on record in Indonesia, but experts agree it could flow for years.

Some scientists suggest the rupture was triggered by faulty gas exploration techniques by operator PT Lapindo Brantas, which created fissures in a bed of porous limestone. Other research suggests it was the result of increased seismic activity following a major earthquake two days before the mud began flowing.

The government has said PT Lapindo Brantas must pay about $420 million in damages, including $276 million to the victims, by next month.

Lapindo is controlled by the family of Welfare Minister Aburizal Bakrie. He has repeatedly claimed the geyser was sparked by a May 27 earthquake and that his company bears no financial liability.

An attempt last year to channel the mud to the sea triggered an explosion that killed 13 people when a natural gas pipeline cracked under the weight of a dam.

Estonian president vetoes law calling for removal of Soviet monument

TALLINN, Estonia (AP) - Estonia's president vetoed legislation Thursday calling for the removal of a Soviet war memorial, averting at least temporarily a confrontation with Russia.

The bill, which had provoked an angry response from Moscow, now goes back to parliament where lawmakers could override the veto.

The measure would prohibit the public display of monuments that glorify the five-decade Soviet occupation of Estonia. It was specifically aimed at the Bronze Soldier, a World War II memorial in Tallinn, the capital, that has become a rallying point for Estonia's Russian-speaking minority, about one-third of the 1.3 million population.

President Toomas Hendrik Ilves announced he would not sign the bill after lawmakers approved it Feb. 15. He said the measure violated six articles of the constitution.

Ilves has made clear, though, that his rejection of the legislation was based on technical details, not Russia's loud protests.

Plans to remove the monument have infuriated Moscow, with Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov calling it "a sacrilegious action," according to Russian media.

If lawmakers override Ilves' veto, the president could take the issue to the country's Supreme Court.

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.

For Russians, the Red Army's crucial role in defeating Nazi Germany remains a cherished point of national pride.

Estonia and Baltic neighbors Latvia and Lithuania regained independence in 1991 amid the collapse of communism in eastern Europe.

Government approves draft plan to improve mortality rate in Russia

MOSCOW (AP) - The government approved a new draft program Thursday to fight diabetes, tuberculosis, AIDS and other diseases partly blamed for Russia's steadily declining population, a spokeswoman said.

The new five-year plan, presented by Health Minister Mikhail Zurabov, aims to raise Russia's life expectancy - which is among the lowest in the developed world. The program will cost $2.9 billion, news agencies quoted Zurabov as saying.

Russia's population fell by more than 560,000 last year to 142.2 million, a new post-Soviet low, the state statistics agency said.

President Vladimir Putin has openly lamented the population decline, which has come despite years of oil-fueled economic growth that has raised incomes for many Russians.

Putin has focused on increasing the birthrate by establishing subsidies for parents, starting with their second child. But deaths continue to outnumber births and life expectancy remains brutally short, particularly for men.

Life expectancy for Russian men in 2005 was 58.9 years, 15-20 years shorter than in the United States, France and Japan, a health ministry official said.

For women, it was 72.3 years - four to seven years shorter than in the U.S., France and Japan, the ITAR-Tass news agency reported.

The suicide rate in Russia - already among the world's highest - is rising, the official said, with nearly 40,000 each year.

Deaths outpace births by at least 50 percent in most parts of Russia, ITAR-Tass reported.

Low living standards and financial worries aggravate stress and lead to unhealthy behavior, domestic violence and psychological problems, the agency quoted the unidentified official as saying.

Harry Potter fans line up to meet Hebrew translator

JERUSALEM (AP) - Israeli Harry Potter fans elbowed their way in for autographs and photos - not with the author of the best-selling books, but with the Hebrew translator.

More than 100 devotees of British writer J.K. Rowling's series about a young wizard sat and stood for an hour Wednesday listening to Gili Bar-Hillel discuss the process of translating the six Harry Potter books, hoping for a hint about the upcoming seventh and last book.

"It's ridiculous, this is something that never happens to translators," Bar-Hillel said after speaking at the Jerusalem International Book Fair. "The attention I've received is because I'm translating Harry Potter. It's Harry, not me."

The six Harry Potter books have been translated into 64 languages and are such a huge hit that even their translators get a slice of the fame.

Fans crowded Bar-Hillel for handshakes, hugs, pictures and autographs. One even had Bar-Hillel sign his well-worn copy of "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince," even though it was in English.

Yuval Avrami, a 17-year-old in a Harry Potter scarf that his aunt made for him, said he had to come to hear Bar-Hillel speak because he's read all the books in English and Hebrew. The fifth book, he said, was even better in Hebrew.

"I grew up with Harry," Avrami said. "When I was 7, he was 11 and we just grew up together."

The book fair teased fans by hinting that Bar-Hillel might give some educated guesses on the content of the seventh book, but she wasn't talking.

"I know one single shard of information, but I'm not allowed to reveal it," Bar-Hillel said. "And I don't like to make speculations."

Estonian president vetoes law calling for removal of Soviet monument

TALLINN, Estonia (AP) - President Toomas Hendrik Ilves vetoed legislation Thursday calling for the removal of a Soviet war memorial from the capital, saying the measure violated the constitution.

The bill, which provoked an angry response from Moscow, now goes back to parliament where lawmakers could override Ilves' veto.

The measure would prohibit the public display of monuments that glorify the five-decade Soviet occupation of Estonia. It was specifically aimed at the Bronze Soldier, a World War II memorial in Tallinn, the capital, that has become a rallying point for Estonia's Russian-speaking minority, about one-third of the 1.3 million population.

Ilves announced he would not sign the bill after lawmakers approved it Feb. 15.

"I find it necessary to have a new discussion on the Law on Removal of Forbidden Structures in Parliament and bring it in line with the Constitution of the Republic of Estonia," Ilves said.

He said the measure violated six articles of the constitution. Ilves has made clear, though, that his rejection of the legislation was based on technical details, not Russia's loud protests.

Plans to remove the monument have infuriated Moscow, with Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov calling it "a sacrilegious action," according to Russian media.

If lawmakers override Ilves' veto, the president could take the issue to the country's Supreme Court.

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.

For Russians, the Red Army's crucial role in defeating Nazi Germany remains a cherished point of national pride.

Estonia and Baltic neighbors Latvia and Lithuania regained independence in 1991 amid the collapse of communism in eastern Europe.

British police charge school caretaker in letter bombs

LONDON (AP) - A primary-school caretaker has been charged in connection with a series of letter bombs sent to offices linked to traffic enforcement in Britain, police said Thursday.

Miles Cooper, 27, will appear Friday at a Magistrates Court in Banbury, west of London, to face charges of 12 offenses under explosives and assault laws, the Association of Chief Police Officers said.

Cooper was arrested Monday near Cambridge, 55 miles northeast of London.

Nine people were injured in seven letter bomb attacks, police said. The last three attacks, which occurred over three days, drew national attention.

On Feb. 5, a woman was injured by an exploding parcel at the head office of Capita Group PLC in London. One of the company's many government contracts is for designing and running a system for enforcing the $16 daily congestion charge imposed on motorists in central London.

Two people were injured Feb. 6 in an explosion at Vantis PLC in Wokingham, 40 miles southwest of London. The accounting company reported the package was addressed to a client. Police said the company's clients include Speed Check Services, which provides traffic monitoring technology.

The next day, three people were treated after a parcel bomb exploded at the headquarters of the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency in Swansea, Wales.

Swimming lessons provide lifeline for Ugandans

KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) - When many people think of aid to Africa, they imagine sacks of grain for the starving or blankets for the homeless.

But in Uganda, one charity is offering something different: swimming lessons.

"After AIDS and malaria, drowning is the biggest cause of death in our local communities here on the lake," says Patrick Tumwijukye, manager of a charity that is coordinating swimming lessons on Lake Bunyonyi, in the country's far west.

In the last five years alone more than 1,000 residents have drowned in Uganda's lakes, though officials say the actual number is far higher - only a small fraction of drownings are reported to authorities.

Marine police do not keep records on how many victims have been claimed by the 67-square-mile Lake Bunyonyi, Africa's second-deepest lake.

Landlocked Uganda's 10 major lakes are a lifeline for much of the population, providing fish, water and fertile ground for growing crops. The government Water Resources department estimates Uganda's fisheries earn the country some $150 million each year.

But poor public transportation links on Uganda's lakes means residents often rely on homemade boats and dugout canoes to fish and transport goods to markets. These makeshift vessels are often unstable or overloaded and frequently cause fatal accidents.

And in spite of their reliance on these waters, the majority of Uganda's 25 million people cannot swim.

"Even me, I am just now learning to swim," Simon Peter Okoshi, the marine police chief, told The Associated Press. "Swimming is not in the culture here, many people are hydrophobic."

Water Minister Maria Mutagamba welcomed the swimming lesson initiative and suggested it could be replicated on other lakes. "I think it's a good idea that so many people have acquired this important skill," she said.

Tumwijukye said the program, run by the nonprofit Lake Bunyonyi Development Company, has taught 2,200 Ugandans to swim since 2003. The group, a government-registered charity, also funds programs for HIV/AIDS education, orphan care, agro-forestry and small livestock distribution, as well as offering scholarships for local students.

"At first the ladies were resistant to (swimming) lessons because they didn't want to expose themselves and get wet, but they are changing their minds and now they enjoy swimming," Tumwijukye said. "We don't have anyone ready to compete in the Olympics yet, but we hope to do that in the future."

Twenty-two local and international instructors are providing lessons to children and villagers in Lake Bunyonyi. Money for the program comes mostly from profits made by an associated eco-tourism lodge.

Bryony Smith, 23, is a swimming instructor from Toronto who has been volunteering at Bunyonyi for four months.

"Word is spreading about the lessons and interest is growing. They're becoming really popular," she told the AP. "I definitely think the lessons have saved lives."

On the Net:

Lake Bunyonyi Development Company, http://www.busharaislandcamp.com/lbdc.htm

Report: Oscar-winning Dutch filmmaker Fons Rademakers dies at 86

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands (AP) - Fons Rademakers, whose 1986 movie "De Aanslag" ("The Assault") won an Academy Award as best foreign language film, died Thursday of emphysema at age 86, his son said.

The son, also named Fons, confirmed to The Associated Press his father died in the early morning after doctors turned off life support machines at the filmmaker's request.

Rademakers was known for his theatrical narrative style, and was one of a small number of filmmakers in the Netherlands - including "Basic Instinct" director Paul Verhoeven - to produce a large number of full-budget feature films over a long career.

"De Aanslag," which also won a Golden Globe, told the story of a young boy whose family is killed by Germans during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands because they were wrongly believed to have been involved in the killing of a collaborator.

Rademakers also was known for the 1976 film "Max Havelaar," about corruption and exploitation in Indonesia during the era of Dutch colonial rule.

Both films, and others that Rademakers made, were based on classic Dutch novels, and his work was sometimes criticized as derivative.

"Well, you know, Shakespeare and Moliere didn't create their subjects either," he said after winning the Oscar.

Rademakers is survived by his sons Fons and Alfred, and his wife, Lili.

Man sought in 1990s NYC slaying arrested in Montenegro

PODGORICA, Montenegro (AP) - A man arrested in Montenegro in the killing and dismemberment of an elderly woman in New York City in 1990 is also suspected in similar slayings of women throughout Europe, police in this tiny Balkan country said Thursday.

Smail Tulja, 67, was arrested in his home in Montenegro's capital, Podgorica, on an international arrest warrant that the authorities received from FBI and Interpol agents, national police spokeswoman Tamara Popovic said.

Tulja is suspected in the murder of Mary Beal of New York City's Bronx borough, where he worked as a taxi driver.

The 61-year-old woman disappeared in September 1990 and her dismembered body was found weeks later in two plastic bags, Popovic said.

The spokeswoman could not confirm when U.S. authorities brought charges against Tulja, but he "apparently fled the United States," she said.

Police in Belgium and Albania investigating the killings of several women in those countries consider Tulja a suspect in the cases, she said.

Tulja was to be arraigned Thursday. An attorney for the man declined to comment.

Tulja, who was born in Montenegro, resettled in his native country in the late 1990s and lived alone on the outskirts of Podgorica.

"Several pieces of evidence and some documents have been seized in his home that may be connected to the alleged crimes committed in the foreign countries," Popovic added.

Cyclone makes landfall in flooded Mozambique; 2nd storm threatens

MAPUTO, Mozambique (AP) - Cyclone Favio swept ashore Thursday in central Mozambique with sustained winds of 125 mph, bringing heavy rain and new misery to tens of thousands of people already forced from their homes by flooding.

A second storm, Cyclone Gamede, churned in the Indian Ocean northeast of Madagascar and threatened to make landfall in the same area before dawn Friday, officials said.

As Favio moved ashore at Vilankulo south of Beira, it destroyed some homes and ripped the roofs off of others.

The government had evacuated many of the residents further inland.

The cyclone hit an area already flooded by torrential rains that have drenched central Mozambique since January. Forecasters said Favio would bring damaging winds and heavy rain to Sofala, Inhambane and Gaza provinces.

About 30 people were killed in Mozambique and nearly 90,000 forced from their homes by the earlier floods. The government said 37,000 people were being housed in tented camps before Favio struck.

Some 800 Mozambicans died in floods caused by two cyclones in 2000 and 2001.

Russia approves plan aimed at fighting diseases driving population plunge

MOSCOW (AP) - The government Thursday approved a new program to fight diseases that contribute to Russia's plunging population, which President Vladimir Putin has singled out as a serious hindrance to its prosperity, news reports said.

Approval of a five-year financing plan aimed to decrease mortality from diseases including diabetes, tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS and cancer came as the state statistics agency said Russia's population dropped by more than 560,000 last year to 142.2 million, a new post-Soviet low.

Putin has lamented a persistent population decline that has served as a stark backdrop for the largely oil-fueled economic growth that has rejuvenated Russia during his presidency. He has focused largely on increasing the birthrate, encouraging childbirth by establishing subsidies for parents starting with their second child, but deaths continue to outnumber births and life expectancy remains short, particularly for men.

A Health and Social Development Ministry official said male life expectancy in 2005 was 58.9 years, which it said was 15-20 years shorter than in the United States, France and Japan, while female life expectancy of 72.3 years was 4-7 years shorter than in those countries, the ITAR-Tass news agency reported.

The official said the suicide rate was rising, with nearly 40,000 each year, and deaths outpace births by at least 50 percent in most parts of Russia, ITAR-Tass reported.

Low living standards and financial worries aggravate stress and lead to unhealthy behavior, domestic violence and psychological problems, the agency quoted the unidentified official as saying.

The anti-disease program for 2007-11 is to be financed with $2.9 billion, more than half of it from regional budgets, ITAR-Tass and RIA-Novosti quoted Health and Social Development Minister Mikhail Zurabov as saying. He said Russia's provinces had fallen far short of financing targets for the program that expired last year and urged them to do better.

According to ITAR-Tass, allocations for the 2002-06 previous program totaled only $750 million.

Prison sentence reduced for Chinese editor of newspaper that angered officials

HONG KONG (AP) - A jailed editor of a Chinese newspaper known for its aggressive reporting has had his eight-year prison sentence reduced by one year, a Hong Kong newspaper said Thursday.

The news about Yu Huafeng came just weeks after his colleague, Li Minying, was released from prison three years before the end of his six-year sentence, Ming Pao Daily News reported.

Both were convicted of embezzlement and graft, but many believe the charges were trumped up by officials seeking revenge for media reports that embarrassed the local government in the southern province of Guangdong.

The journalists were detained in 2004 after their newspaper, the Southern Metropolitan Daily, reported the beating death of a college graduate in detention. The newspaper also broke the news of a case of severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, before Beijing reported it to the World Health Organization.

On Thursday, the Ming Pao quoted Yu's lawyer, Xu Zhiyong, as saying that the editor's sentence was reduced by one year after the Beijing Supreme People's Court decided to review the decision of a lower court in Guangdong. It wasn't clear why the sentence was reduced.

"The Supreme People's Court's decision to review the case with the subordinate court implies that there may be some problems with the case," Ming Pao quoted the lawyer as saying.

Yu's wife, Xiang Li, said her husband insists he is innocent, Ming Pao reported.

A Southern Metropolitan Daily spokesman, who declined to give his name, told The Associated Press the newspaper's management was on vacation and he was unable to comment on the case.