PARIS - Is the Louvre wrong to lend out treasures to Atlanta or Abu Dhabi in exchange for funding? An argument is dividing France's art world, with protesters circulating an online petition that declares, "Museums are not for sale."

At issue is whether French museums, including the Louvre, are selling their souls by loaning too many works to museums abroad, and whether the government is turning France's rich artistic heritage into a commercial brand.

The Louvre has already begun lending art to the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, part of an ambitious three-year plan. Talks are under way to build a mini-Louvre in Abu Dhabi, in the United Arab Emirates, and a branch of the Pompidou Center museum of contemporary art in Shanghai, China.

Such deep cooperation goes far beyond the typical museum loans for exhibits - and the sheer number of operations in progress has some in the art world worried that France's museums will be put under strain.

Didier Rykner, who founded a Web site called "La Tribune de l'Art," has collected 1,400 signatures against the projects. He fears the government is hijacking art to promote France's trade and diplomatic interests.

"I'm not sure the role of French museums is to develop tourism in Abu Dhabi," he said in a telephone interview.

Rykner says he supports museum exchanges and corporate sponsorship, and that he has no fear of globalization. The issue, he says, is the scope of the new projects, and the huge sums of money at stake.

The affair began last month, when three prominent art world figures wrote an open letter in Le Monde newspaper under the headline, "Museums are not for sale." The authors were Francoise Cachin, former director of France's museum system; Jean Clair, one-time director of the Picasso Museum; and Roland Recht, an art historian and critic. Their letter formed the basis for the petition on Rykner's site.

The authors took issue with the Atlanta exchange, complaining that treasures by Poussin and Raphael "were sent to the rich city of Coca-Cola," with money flowing back to the Louvre from the exhibit's sponsors. The Louvre says that the $7.2 million in donations from sponsors will pay for renovations of its decorative arts galleries. Atlanta is the headquarters of the Coca-Cola Co.

"The worst is yet to come," the authors wrote of the Abu Dhabi project, complaining of the government's "diplomatic gift" to the oil-rich United Arab Emirates.

"Isn't that 'selling your soul?"' they asked. Le Monde reported that France's museums were to gain about $653 million for their role in Abu Dhabi. That project, and the talks for the museum in China, are still largely under wraps, and the Culture Ministry did not return calls seeking details.

Abu Dhabi officials want the Louvre to be one of five prestigious art museum branches anchoring a US$27 billion (euro20.76 billion) cultural district it is building on Saadiyat Island.

Bassem Terkawi, a spokesman for Abu Dhabi's Tourism Development and Investment Company, said the Louvre talks were at a "very early stage" and no announcement is likely soon. France's Culture Ministry did not return calls seeking comment.

The Abu Dhabi museum is expected to gather art from French museums beyond just the Louvre, but it would bear the venerable museum's name for a time, until it can build its own collection, said Henri Loyrette, the Louvre's director.

In an interview with Le Monde, Loyrette said he couldn't understand what the fuss was about, since both Cachin and Clair also raised money in their day by lending out major masterpieces. As director of France's national museum network, for example, Cachin allowed Claude Monet's "Water Lilies," from the Orangerie Museum, to travel for more than three years to help pay for renovations to the building, Loyrette pointed out.

Beyond that, he said, the Louvre doesn't charge rent for loans, but it accepts contributions from the private donors who sponsor exhibits.

"It's obvious that there are economic stakes," Loyrette said. "Money brought in from this type of operation is important, we can't hide it.

"But we must recall that the Louvre was set up during the Revolution and the (Napoleonic) Empire as a universal museum. And all throughout its two-century history, it has always been attached to having partnerships abroad."

First vulture chick born in captivity in India, sparks hope for endangered species

MUMBAI, India (AP) - The oriental white-backed vulture, endangered across South Asia by eating tainted meat, has been bred in captivity for the first time in India, scientists said Monday.

The chick, hatched Jan. 1 in a breeding center in Pinjore, in northern India's Haryana state, belongs to one of three species of Asian vultures facing extinction.

"This is the best New Year's gift we could get," said Vibhu Prakash, who heads a vulture breeding initiative. "We are waiting for a couple more eggs to hatch."

Millions of long-billed, slender-billed and oriental white-backed vultures have died in South Asia over the past 12 years after eating cattle carcasses tainted with diclofenac, an anti-inflammatory painkiller given to sick cows.

Conservationists had not expected the vultures, which are captured and isolated for the breeding program, to breed until the end of 2007.

"This is the first vulture baby of this species to breed in captivity," said Prakash. "None of the vultures bred in other parts of the world were as endangered as this species."

Scientists believe two breeding centers, one in Haryana and the other in West Bengal, are the only hope for the survival of the species.

The World Conservation Union has listed the three Indian vulture species as critically endangered, the category applied to animals closest to extinction.

Tens of millions of vultures played a key role in South Asia's ecosystem by disposing of carcasses, keeping down populations of stray dogs and rats that also feed on dead carcasses and can spread diseases among humans.

But the population of the three species of vultures has dropped by as much as 97 percent, according to Britain's Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, which provides funds and technical expertise for the Indian breeding program.

"It is a hugely important milestone and in terms of international conservation it is very significant," said Chris Bowden, head of the Royal Society's Vulture Conservation Program. "It gives us confidence the program is on the right track and breeding is the key solution to save such a rare and endangered species."

Conservationists plan to release the vultures to the wild. "Now every year we hope to have more and more young ones," said Asad Rahmani, director of the Bombay Natural History Society. "Once there are 25 young ones we will release them together."

Pakistani immigrant sentenced to 30 years for plotting to blow up Manhattan subway station

NEW YORK (AP) - A Pakistani immigrant was sentenced to 30 years in prison Monday for hatching an unsuccessful plot to blow up a busy Manhattan subway station as revenge for wartime abuses of Iraqis.

Shahawar Matin Siraj, 24, was arrested on the eve of the 2004 Republican National Convention. Though there was no proof he ever obtained explosives or was linked to any terror organizations, prosecutors said his intentions were ominous: He wanted to blow up the Herald Square subway station, a bustling transportation hub located beneath Macy's flagship department store.

Defense attorneys had sought to convince U.S. District Judge Nina Gershon that Siraj's sentence should not exceed 10 years, arguing in recent court filings that their client was "not a dangerous psychopath but more of a confused and misguided youngster." Prosecutors countered that the defendant deserved at least 30 years behind bars as the "driving force" behind a "workable terrorist plot."

Siraj was convicted of conspiracy last year based partly on the testimony of a police informant, Osama Eldawoody, who was recruited to monitor radical Muslims at mosques and elsewhere following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Inside an Islamic bookstore near a Brooklyn mosque, Eldawoody wore a wire and chatted up an employee who lived with his parents in Queens - Siraj. When the topic turned to the war in Iraq, Siraj ranted about rumors among radicals that U.S. soldiers were sexually abusing Iraqi girls.

Heart of downtown Austin closed for testing after dozens of birds found dead overnight

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) - Police shut down 10 blocks in downtown Austin for several hours Monday after 63 birds were found dead in the street, but officials said preliminary tests found no threat to people.

Workers in yellow hazardous-materials suits tested for contaminants in a cordoned-off section near the state Capitol and the governor's mansion before authorities finally gave the all-clear in the afternoon.

Although officials could not immediately determine whether poison or something else killed the birds, "there's no threat to humans at this point," said Assistant City Manager Michael McDonald.

The dead grackles, sparrows and pigeons will be tested.

Some experts said the most likely cause of the die-off was a deliberate poisoning. "It happens quite frequently," said Greg Butcher, director of bird conservation at the National Audubon Society in Washington.

Grackles are a crowlike bird regarded as a major pest in Texas, with Austin sidewalks sometimes covered in their droppings.

The dead birds were found overnight along Congress Avenue, a major downtown thoroughfare. Police closed the route through downtown and two side streets, and a staging area was set up near the Capitol, with dozens of fire trucks, police cars and ambulances.

The Capitol opened on schedule, however. And the governor was not asked to leave the mansion.

Dr. Adolfo Valadez, medical director for the Austin and Travis County Health and Human Services Division, said the birds will be tested for signs of poison or viral infections. But officials do not believe bird flu is involved.

It could be days or weeks before a cause is determined, he said.

The Austin street closures were not the only public health concern in Texas on Monday. In the Houston suburb of Sugar Land, authorities asked people to stay indoors with windows closed after a chemical release at an industrial plant. Ethylenediamine was released into the air while a tanker truck was unloading at a division of Nalco Co.

The warning was lifted a little more than an hour later after emergency crews contained the leak of the colorless liquid, which has an amomonia-like odor and can cause skin and nasal irritation, and possible damage to the kidneys and liver.

Three employees were sent to a hospital and about a dozen others were treated on the scene.

- Associated Press Science Writer Seth Borenstein in Washington contributed to this report.

Senate restores pay increase for federal judges

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Senate passed legislation awarding federal judges their annual cost-of-living pay raise immediately rather than keeping their pay frozen along with that of lawmakers.

U.S. lawmakers last month voted to deny themselves their annual cost-of-living pay raise - though only through Feb. 15 - keeping a promise made by Democrats in the campaign to freeze Congress' pay until raising the $5.15 per hour minimum wage.

That move also had the effect of freezing the pay of federal judges, slated to receive a 1.7 percent hike on Jan. 1. The Senate bill, which passed Monday by unanimous voice vote, lifts the COLA freeze for judges.

For Chief Justice John Roberts, who currently makes $212,100 per year, the bill would make up for about $400 in lost pay - the total of his scheduled raise between Jan. 1 and Feb. 15. He's slated to start receiving the rest of his approximately $3,600 pay hike on Feb. 16. The associate justices currently make $203,000 per year, while district judges make $165,200, the same amount as members of Congress.

The controversy is separate from Roberts' crusade for higher pay for federal judges, who are rapidly falling behind contemporaries such as law school deans and senior professors.

Aides to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., were not available for comment about the measure's prospects in the House.

Utility says 1 killed and 9 injured by explosion at Ohio power plant

BEVERLY, Ohio (AP) - An explosion at a coal-burning power plant killed a worker delivering liquid hydrogen and injured nine others Monday, authorities said.

Officials weren't sure what caused the blast outside the Muskingum River Plant, said Vikki Michalski, a spokeswoman for American Electric Power.

"It was real strong," said Doug Burke, who was operating a front-end loader about a half-mile from the plant. "I felt it inside my loader, and I looked up and saw smoke and then fire, and then after that steam."

Although hydrogen gas is highly explosive, it is used to cool steam generators at the plant because it has a high capacity for heat and is more efficient than using air.

Nine workers were treated at local hospitals for injuries, mostly cuts and bruises, authorities said. None of the injuries was considered life-threatening.

There was no major damage to the plant, where 210 people work, officials said.

There are just a handful of homes and businesses near the plant.

AEP is one of the nation's largest power generators, with more than 5 million customers in 11 states.

The plant, which is near the West Virginia border and about 100 miles southeast of Columbus, continued to produce electricity after the explosion although the unit near the blast was shut down.

Fla. judge throws out defendant's statements in slaying of 9-year-old Jessica Lunsford

INVERNESS, Fla. (AP) - A judge ruled Monday that statements allegedly made to detectives by the man accused of kidnapping, raping and burying alive 9-year-old Jessica Lunsford will not be allowed at his trial.

Circuit Judge Ric Howard said Orlando police detectives should not have been allowed to question John Evander Couey about a 1985 murder case because he had already told Citrus County authorities he wanted a lawyer.

A taped confession to Jessica's slaying was thrown out in June for the same reason.

Couey has pleaded not guilty to charges of first-degree murder, sexual battery on a child, kidnapping and burglary in Jessica's death. Authorities found the girl's body in March 2005 after Couey told them where to look near her Homosassa home in central Florida. She had been missing for about a month.

Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.

The statements Howard ruled on Monday involve unrecorded comments Couey allegedly gave to Orlando police after he was arrested in March 2005. They asked Couey about the unsolved 1985 murder of 15-year-old Regina Armstrong because he had grown up near Orlando.

Orlando police Detective Joel Wright testified Friday that Couey told him: "I wish I could help you, but I can't … If I did it, I would tell you, they can only kill me once."

The judge agreed with Assistant Public Defender Dan Lewan that the questioning violated Couey's right to an attorney and his right to remain silent.

Assistant State Attorney Ric Ridgeway said he will not appeal the ruling.

Jury selection is set to begin Feb. 12 for his trial in Miami.

Prosecutors have said they are confident the physical evidence is enough to convict Couey.

Jessica's body was found with her hands tied with wire and her fingers poking through the garbage bags in which she was buried. The case sparked new state laws that dramatically stiffened penalties for some sex offenders who target children, requiring lifetime electronic monitoring for others.

Ivy League professor charged with beating estranged wife to death in Pennsylvania

NORRISTOWN, Pa. (AP) - A University of Pennsylvania professor was charged Monday with bludgeoning his wife to death in their suburban kitchen after she told friends she was going to divorce him.

Rafael Robb, 56, taught economics at the Ivy League school and is an expert in game theory, the study of how people and governments make decisions by calculating what others might do.

Robb told investigators he was in Philadelphia when his wife was killed Dec. 22. But prosecutors doubted his alibi.

District Attorney Bruce Castor said the crime scene was arranged to make it look as if Robb's wife, Ellen Robb, was killed during a burglary.

Robb "lied to the police about an obvious motive for this murder, his knowledge of his wife's recent plans to divorce him and obtain a significant portion of his wealth," police said in court papers.

He was arraigned on murder charges and jailed without bail.

Authorities said Ellen Robb's injuries were so extensive they initially thought she was killed with a shotgun blast to the face. The murder weapon has not been found.

Ellen Robb, 49, had told relatives and others that she had hired a divorce lawyer and was expecting $4,000 a month in spousal support, prosecutors said in court papers.

Robb had said he took the couple's 12-year-old daughter to school that morning and last saw his wife alive before driving to work. He said he returned home later that day and found her body.

Robb's lawyer, Francis Genovese, said the arrest warrant was largely based on circumstantial evidence. "I was expecting I would see more hard evidence - maybe forensic evidence - come before pointing to Dr. Robb as the killer," Genovese said.

Robb, who is originally from Israel, has been at Penn for at least four years, according to a resume posted on his university Web site.

University officials said only that that someone else would be teaching Robb's graduate seminar in game theory this semester. Game theory is used to understand consumer behavior. It is also used by military experts to develop nuclear warfare strategies.

High court hears fight over garbage

WASHINGTON - Local officials unfairly hurt private trash haulers by requiring them to process garbage at government-owned facilities, the haulers' lawyer told the Supreme Court Monday.

"No waste can leave the counties," Evan Tager said, in describing how two upstate New York counties are violating constitutional protections for interstate commerce.

The trash companies say they would pay much less to send the garbage to out-of-state transfer stations where it is sorted and baled before being shipped off for permanent disposal.

Like other local governments that have built recycling centers and landfills, Oneida and Herkimer counties rely on the fees to help pay off millions of dollars in debt they incurred to build the facilities.

The outcome of the case could hinge on whether the justices view trash disposal as a government responsibility or a service that could just as well be provided by competing private businesses.

The court decided a similar case in 1994, ruling 6-3 that local governments unlawfully restricted interstate commerce by requiring that garbage be sent to a designated transfer facility.

In that case, the facility was privately owned. The case before the court Monday involves government-owned transfer stations.

An appeals court determined that the difference was critical in ruling that the Oneida-Herkimer Solid Waste Management Authority was within its rights to mandate that private haulers use its facilities.

No private company is reaping a benefit and none is being discriminated against, Michael Cahill, the authority's lawyer, told justices. "Why public ownership matters is that it's not discriminatory," Cahill said.

But Tager said the counties are benefitting at the haulers' expense. "Every time trash comes in, they make more money," he said.

The counties also run a landfill, a recycling center, a compost facility and a hazardous waste disposal station. Only the pickup of garbage is done by private companies.

The authority charges $72.15 a ton for solid waste. The trash haulers say they could dispose of the garbage they collect in the two counties for $37 to $55 a ton.

Twenty-six states and 25 other local governments and trash authorities also urged the court to uphold the ruling of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals because state and local governments ultimately are responsible for their own garbage.

Five justices who voted to strike down the local ordinance in 1994 remain on the court. One of the five from the 1994 majority, Justice Antonin Scalia, derisively summarized the local governments' argument: "We're the government and we're here to help you."

Justice David Souter is the only one of three dissenters still on the bench. "Every municipal utility in the United States is going to fall," Souter said, if the court accepts the trash haulers' argument.

A decision is expected before July.

The case is United Haulers Association v. Oneida-Herkimer Solid Waste Management Authority, 05-1345.

Eastern Washington storms knock out electricity for thousands, flatten trees

WENATCHEE, Wash. (AP) - Utility crews worked to restore power to thousands of homes Monday after a fierce wind storm struck eastern Washington, toppling trees and tearing down power lines.

The wind on Sunday was clocked unofficially at 130 mph at the Mission Ridge ski area, about 12 miles southwest of Wenatchee.

Chelan County Public Utility District officials reported about 15,000 customers in the dark at the height of the windstorm, and thousands of others lost electricity in neighboring Douglas County. The roof was blown off a billiard hall in East Wenatchee.

The power could be out for days in some areas, said utility district spokesman Steve Lachowicz.

Sunday's storm east of the Cascades followed blustery weather that cut electricity to around 150,000 utility customers late Friday and early Saturday in western Washington.

Major east-west routes through the Cascade Range were also closed periodically for avalanche control. Interstate 90 at Snoqualmie Pass and U.S. 2 at Stevens Pass were closed off Sunday so explosives could be detonated to remove avalanche hazards.

Thief foiled and pantless

DUBLIN, N.H. (AP) - A would-be thief found himself foiled, under gunfire - and without pants.

Police said a homeowner discovered an intruder one night two weeks ago. The homeowner pulled a gun, fired what police described as warning shots, and told the intruder to shed his pants and shoes.

The two scuffled and the burglar ran from the home, barefoot and pantless.

"I believe his thinking was that by taking away the suspect's pants, it would slow him down or prevent him from trying to get away, or make it easier for us to find him if he did get away," New Hampshire State Police Sgt. Christopher Aucoin said.

The homeowner called police, who swarmed the area with search dogs. Police are still looking for the man, and it's not clear if anything was stolen.

The homeowner wasn't hurt.

Christmas trees get second life

BOZEMAN, Mont. (AP) - More than 1,000 old Christmas trees were loaded onto a flatbed truck and taken to a lake with the hope of deep-sixing them - literally.

A walleye fishing club Saturday dumped the trees on the banks of Canyon Ferry Lake, one step in a plan to create a suitable nesting space for perch to lay their eggs, which will hatch and become food for other fish, namely walleye.

"Some people think we're crazy," said Marvin Hansen, president of a local chapter of Walleyes Unlimited, the group doing the picking up and the dumping.

What makes the effort even more unusual is that no one is sure how effective it will be. "There's no proof it works," Hansen said. "But there's no evidence against it, either."

The group has been tree dumping for almost a decade, hoping that laying a Christmas tree carpet on the lake bottom will improve the lake's ecosystem. They are officially authorized by the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks to dump the trees.

In a few months, Walleye Unlimited members will drill holes into the trunks, thread cables though, and attach the cables to cinder blocks. Then the trees will be dragged to a spot on the frozen lake to wait for the thaw, when the trees sink to the bottom.

11-year-old now university student

HAYWARD, Calif. (AP) - Terence Candell Jr. works hard in college. He gets decent grades. But the California State University-East Bay sophomore needs to call his father to get a ride home.

Terence is only 11 years old.

The precocious Oakland resident started college when he was 10 hoping to become an astronaut. Now the campus's youngest student says he's more interested in mass communications.

Terence was doing high-school level work by age 6 and would get in trouble at school because he was bored, he says. He started attending a private academy founded by his father in East Oakland and took the SAT when he was 9.

But academic success has been a mixed blessing for Terence.

"If I could do it over again, I probably wouldn't have gone," he says. "My parents are always working, and I'm studying so much that sometimes I wish I can spend more time with my family."

Thai company offers naptime

BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) - A Bangkok municipal office has launched a new program to increase productivity: Lights go out just past noon and civil servants are invited to take an afternoon nap.

Seeking to infuse city workers with a bit more pep, the Pathumwan district office in central Bangkok has set up a lunchtime "nap room" with soft music, sweet-smelling flowers and strict rules barring mobile phones and talking, said Surakiet Limcharoen, the district's top official who started the program.

"I've been taking naps at lunchtime for a long time, and decided to introduce the project to my staff in November," he said, noting that many use the naps to recharge their batteries ahead of evening shifts.

Of 200 employees at the municipal office, there are about 20 regular nappers who have reported feeling "fresher and brighter" after a midday snooze, Surakiet said.

Wives of jailed dissidents urge Sheehan to visit Cuba's prisons

HAVANA (AP) - Wives and mothers of Cuban political prisoners urged U.S. peace activist Cindy Sheehan on Monday to visit the island's state-run jails during her weeklong trip to Cuba to call for the closure of the U.S.-operated Guantanamo prison.

The Ladies in White, a group of women demanding the release of their loved ones, described what they called "inhumane" conditions at Cuba's prisons in a letter for Sheehan that was sent to international reporters. The group said it was trying to get a copy to Sheehan as well.

"At the same time you and your noble followers fight for the closure of the U.S. prison at the Guantanamo naval base … just a few miles away at the provincial Guantanamo prison in Cuban territory, peaceful and defenseless political prisoners suffer inhumane conditions, (living) without potable water and with poor nutrition, deficient medical assistance, insects and rodents, limited visits and precarious communication," the letter said.

"We exhort you to visit the prisons of Cuba, chosen randomly, and not those prepared" by authorities, it added.

Sheehan arrived in Havana on Saturday with a dozen other peace activists and plans to attend a human rights conference in the eastern Cuban city of Guantanamo on Wednesday. On Thursday, the group is to hold a protest outside the U.S. Navy's Guantanamo base, where nearly 400 men are being held on suspicion of links to al-Qaida or the Taliban.

In the letter, the Ladies in White said they are a peaceful group that faces constant harassment from Cuban officials. They also asked Sheehan to meet with them so she "could know this other reality of Cuban society."

Their jailed husbands and sons are among 75 activists rounded up in the spring of 2003 and sentenced to prison terms ranging from six to 28 years. Sixteen of those prisoners have since been released for health reasons, but more than 300 human rights activists, independent journalists and members of outlawed political parties remain behind bars, according to rights groups.

Thursday's protest outside the U.S. military base will coincide with demonstrations around the world to mark the fifth anniversary of the first prisoners' arrival and demand that Washington close the prison.