Success secret

France backs Britain in tensions with Iran

2012-03-15T05:57:00.000-07:00

French President Nicolas Sarkozy says France stands by Britain amid tensions with Iran over its postelection unrest.

Sarkozy said Britain "can count on our total solidarity."

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said at a joint news conference with Sarkozy on Monday that "the Iranian regime must be clear that we will act together with our European …

U.S. Is Firm for Yeltsin, Hopes for Russian Unity

2012-03-15T03:31:00.000-07:00

WASHINGTON After two days of uncertain reaction to Russianelections, the Clinton administration moved forcefully Wednesday toback Russian President Boris N. Yeltsin in the hope that he can unifydivided reformers and push the surging far right to the margins.

"I don't see any basis for a change in our policy," PresidentClinton said, except to "redouble our efforts to support the processof reform."

The administration's faith in Yeltsin will be tested against theRussian leader's record of being unable to deal effectively withparliamentary opponents, what Clinton called "psychological damage"among the Russian people and evidence that the parliament's reformersremain …

US attorney general says alleged Sept. 11 plotters to be referred to military commissions

2012-03-15T01:07:00.000-07:00

WASHINGTON (AP) — US attorney general says alleged …

Pawlenty orders planning for Minn. cash crunch

2012-03-14T22:47:00.000-07:00

Gov. Tim Pawlenty ordered state agencies on Friday to take an inventory of their programs and identify discretionary payments that can be put off in case of a cash crunch after a court ruling threw budget negotiations into turmoil.

Pawlenty eased off talk of a partial government shutdown after an emergency meeting of executive branch leaders. The Republican governor said his administration is merely planning for what he had described earlier as "an imminent and severe cash flow crisis."

The description was included in an executive order that instructed cabinet members to assess core functions pertaining to "life, health and safety of …

Nephew hints Arafat may have been killed Statement adds grist to rumors Israel poisoned leader

2012-03-14T20:26:00.000-07:00

RAMALLAH, West Bank -- Yasser Arafat's nephew said Saturday hisuncle may have died an "unnatural" death, a statement certain torenew speculation among Palestinians and in the rest of the Arabworld where many already believe the late leader was poisoned despiteIsrael's repeated and vehement denials.

Nasser al-Kidwa, who is also the Palestinian envoy to the UnitedNations, made the comments after he handed over the 558-page medicaldossier to Palestinian officials in Ramallah. No diagnosis has beengiven for Arafat's death Nov. 11 at a French hospital.

Al-Kidwa's remarks could cause fresh tension between Israel andthe Palestinians at a time when it appeared relations were …

THE EPIC 2001 STRATOCUMULUS STUDY

2012-03-14T18:06:00.000-07:00

A cruise to the southeast Pacific Ocean examines how turbulence, drizzle, aerosols, and the Andes combine to regulate the albedo of the most persistent stratocumulus cloud regime in the Tropics.

Stratocumulus cloud layers are the vast "climate refrigerators" of the Tropics and subtropics, which they cool by reflecting sunlight back to space that could otherwise warm the ocean surface. They favor the eastern subtropical oceans, where upwelling and cold currents keep the surface waters cool compared to the warm, dry subsiding air aloft (Klein and Hartmann 1993). These low clouds play a key supporting role in the seasonal cycle of the east Pacific Ocean and global climate, and may …

China's September trade surplus at US$29.3 billion

2012-03-14T15:46:00.000-07:00

China's trade surplus in September hit a new monthly high of US$29.3 billion, the government said Monday.

In a sign of more balanced trade, however, the surplus for the first nine months of the year actually shrank by 2.6 percent, or US$4.92 billion, when compared to the first nine months of last year.

The country's exports in September totaled US$136.4 billion, a 21.5 percent increase over the same month last year, while imports grew 21.3 percent to US$107.1 billion, the agency said.

The September figure surpasses the previous monthly high of US$28.7 billion set in August. The trade gap is fueling demands by the United States and the European …

ProKit UK Essex Olympian League

2012-03-14T13:25:00.000-07:00

ESSEX PREMIER CUP ROUND FOUR HUTTON were 3-0 up at halftime athome to Brightlingsea Regent after goals from Chris Jones, LukeBradon and Lee Guiver.

Just after the interval James Whelpdale scored a fourth to putthe tie beyond doubt.

In an exciting match at Runwell Hospital, the hosts were 3-0 downto Old Southendian with 10 minutes left after goals from Mark McHughand Mark Hampshire with two.

Goals by Luke Smith, Adam Green and Alex Dorney sent the gameinto extra-time and with no further goals scored Runwell wentthrough 4-2 on penalties.

ESSEX JUNIOR CUP ROUND FOUR KELVEDON Hatch …

Scientists: Storms Power Winds on Saturn

2012-03-14T11:05:00.000-07:00

PASADENA, Calif. - Scientists say they now believe rotating eddies are driving Saturn's jet stream winds, not the other way around.

The new view is based on images taken by the orbiting international Cassini spacecraft, which tracked the movement of cloud features on the ringed planet's southern hemisphere. Scientists initially believed eddies, or giant rotating storms, sapped energy out of the jets.

"Instead, what we find is that they are pumping energy into the jets," Cassini scientist Andrew Ingersoll of the California Institute of Technology said in a statement Tuesday.

The findings will appear in a future issue of the journal Icarus.

Jet streams are …

Vapor cloud from US chemical leak dissipating

2012-03-14T08:44:00.000-07:00

A large hydrochloric acid spill early Saturday at an Ohio plant that makes chemical additives spawned a massive vapor cloud that took hours to dissipate, officials said. No injuries were reported.

More than 27,000 gallons (100,000 liters) of hydrochloric acid leaked from a storage tank into a retention basin at Dover Chemical Corporation around 12:30 a.m. local time Saturday, Dover Fire Chief Brooks Ross said. The leak was contained onsite, but a vapor cloud developed and lingered for more than five hours after the leak was discovered, Ross said.

"It was a large spill," the chief said, "and it was a huge vapor cloud that covered a large …

Zorich: I'd pay to play for Bears

2012-03-14T06:24:00.000-07:00

If signability and desire to play for the Bears enter into theequation, the Bears will have to look hard at Notre Dame defensivetackle Chris Zorich when they decide on their first pick in the NFLdraft today.

Zorich, a Vocational grad, wants so badly to be a Bear that hetold listeners of WLUP-AM's Coppock on Sports Monday that he wouldpay the Bears to play for them.

Bears negotiator Ted Phillips reportedly stopped drooling latein the week.

Considering Zorich didn't have an agent as of last week, itprobably would be very difficult to sign him on draft day.

"I would be honored for a chance to play for that ballclub,"Zorich said in a telephone …

Fabled Burmese fighters forgotten but forgiving

2012-03-14T04:04:00.000-07:00

MAE LA CAMP, Thailand (AP) — "Colonel Peacock, Major Hogan, Captain Bower ... Shoot from the hip! Quick march! Right turn!" The names, ranks and barked commands of World War II British officers tumble from these old Asian soldiers' memories as if it all happened yesterday.

But the war never really ended for the Karen tribesmen who fought with the British to drive the Japanese out of Burma, and who now live as refugees in jungle camps astride the Thai-Myanmar border or inside their ravaged homeland, impoverished and driven from their homes in a brutal insurgency.

These ethnic minority people, who were made promises by the British that were fatally broken, remain virtually …

Egypt's Orascom faces new Algeria tax bill

2012-03-14T01:11:00.000-07:00

CAIRO (AP) — Egyptian telecom giant Orascom Telecom said Thursday its Algeria unit has been hit with a $230 million preliminary tax reassessment, marking a new and increasingly acrimonious chapter in the company's relations with the North African nation.

OT said in a statement that it would take all "necessary legal steps" to challenge the new tax bill, which came even after the company had already had its accounts audited by its local auditor and had paid the taxes due for 2008 and 2009, the years in question.

Orascom "fully objects to the reconstitution of its audited accounts," the company said. It also criticized the methodology used to re-evaluate its books, calling it "completely arbitrary and groundless especially given that OTA's accounts were fully audited and approved by both OTA's international auditors (KPMG), and its local statutory auditors."

The news sent OT's shares spiraling down more than 3.4 percent to 5.04 Egyptian pounds in early trading on Cairo's stock market.

OT, Egypt's largest mobile phone service provider by subscribers, operates in Algeria through its Djezzy subsidiary. The company unsuccessfully challenged a $600 million back-tax bill levied last year by Algeria for 2004-2007 — a feud many believe was sparked by a World Cup qualifier match between Egypt and Algeria that turned violent.

In filing appeals against the back taxes assessed when the company was supposed to be enjoying a tax holiday in the country, OT was forced to incrementally pay hundreds of millions of dollars which it could recoup if it prevailed. It did not.

The feud was further complicated by OT's proposed sale of many or all of its non-Egyptian assets to South Africa's MTN Group. Djezzy was seen as the prize in the deal and OT's willingness to sell off such a key asset was seen as a reflection of the company's apparent frustration with the status of negotiations over the back-tax issue.

But Algeria blocked the deal, saying it wanted to buy Djezzy.

Analysts saw the latest move as an attempt by Algeria to create further complications for Orascom. The reassessment would make it difficult for the company to repatriate dividends or transfer any funds outside of Algeria, Mideast investment bank Beltone Financial said in a report Thursday.

"The fact that the Algerian government is still continuing to place further pressure on Djezzy endorses our 'sell' recommendation, due to expectations of a disappointing offer to be made by the Algerian government in return for Djezzy," Beltone telecom analyst Sally Gerges said.

Gerges said the move reflects "an additional attempt by the government to pull down the valuation of the Algerian unit, which should be decided by a local Algerian financial adviser during the next few months."

Orascom said the latest reassessment was "based primarily on the unfounded allegation that (it) did not keep proper accounts for the years 2008 and 2009." The company also said the Algerian challenge comes despite the fact that OT has already paid the taxes due for the two years in question.

OT said it had 40 days to respond to the preliminary notification by Algerian tax authorities before receiving the final reassessment.

Aside from Egypt and Algeria, OT also operates GMS networks in Tunisia, North Korea, Canada, Pakistan, Bangladesh, the Central African Republic, Zimbabwe, Burundi and Namibia.

The Recovered Memory/False Memory Debate

2012-03-13T22:19:00.000-07:00

The elusive search for the truth: A review of Pezdek, K. and Banks, W.P. (1996). The recovered memory/false memory debate. San Diego: Academic Press. (394 pages).

Over the last decade, there has been a virtual explosion in the number of adults coming forward claiming to have been sexually abused as children. The prototypical claimant is an educated women in her late 20s who initially sought therapy for help in dealing with any of a variety of symptoms, including depression, low self-esteem, substance abuse, eating disorders, and sleeping disorders. Importantly, it is often the case that prior to beginning therapy there were no memories of childhood sexual abuse. The debate addressed by this book is whether memories of sexual abuse which are recalled during the course of therapy are real - i.e., recovered memories - or the result of suggestions made by the therapist - i.e., false memories.

The debate is primarily between clinicians and cognitive psychologists, and has at its root their different views of how memory operates. The model of memory held by many therapists is that memory is like a video-recorder, keeping a permanent record of all experiences. Failure to remember an event results either from a lack of the appropriate retrieval cues, or from the active repression of an event due to its traumatic nature. The general belief is that the symptoms which the patient is manifesting result from these unconscious, repressed memories. The goal of therapy, then, is to help the subject remember the childhood sexual abuse. By this model, there is no mechanism whereby a memory can be false; it may not be available, but once it becomes available, it is a veridical representation of a real event. There is no reason to expect memory distortion or fabrication.

In contrast, the model of memory adhered to by most cognitive psychologists is very different. Memory is not a passive recording of information, but an active, re-constructive process. Most importantly, memory is seen as being susceptible to suggestion. Since the groundbreaking work of Elizabeth Loftus, cognitive psychologists have demonstrated how suggestions can not only change memory, but actually produce new memories. In light of the susceptibility of memory to suggestions -- particularly if they are made repeatedly, and if the person making the suggestions is an authority figure -- cognitive psychologists have raised the possibility that some of the memories of childhood sexual abuse recovered during therapy may not be accurate.

The edited book by Pezdek and Banks is addressed to this issue. Despite the title, it is not really a debate in the strict sense of the word, in which a given position is taken by one person, attacked by someone on the other side, and followed by a rebuttal. Rather, the book presents a series of articles, some of which are sympathetic to the "recovered" memory approach and others to the "false" memory approach. In the preface, the authors write: "We tried to hew a middle course, looking for value in all sides." Many of the articles in the book originally appeared in a special issue of Consciousness & Cognition, Volume 3, 1994, the journal which is edited by William Banks, one of the editors of this volume. A major strength of the book is that all the included articles argue their respective positions based on actual experimental data rather than on philosophical biases. The book is divided into four sections, each devoted to a different aspect of the controversy. The comprehensive overview provided by Pezdek and Banks at the beginning of each section provides both a useful guide for the reader and a convenient summary. I will consider each of the sections separately.

I. Childhood Trauma and Memory

As noted by Pezdek and Banks in the introduction to this section, it is very difficult to do controlled studies of sexual abuse, which by its very nature is secretive, private, often repetitive, and often occurs at the hand of a caregiver with whom the child must remain attached. By definition, these factors cannot be replicated in the laboratory. Nonetheless, the studies presented in the first section attempt a close approximation by selecting situations which have at least some of the elements of sexual abuse. For example, Goodman, Quas, Batterman-Faunce, Riddlesberger, and Kuhn examined the recollections of 46 children, aged 3-10, for a painful, frightening medical procedure called Voiding Cystourethrogram Flouroscopy (VCUG). This procedure, which involves genital exposure and genital contact, requires urethral catheterization and infusion of liquid into the bladder. The children were questioned about their memories for the procedure after a period of one to four weeks (delay of test did not significantly influence recall). Not surprisingly, the older children's memories were both more complete and less prone to errors than those the younger children. The most interesting results, however, related to individual differences: How well a child remembered the event depended on a variety of factors including their understanding of the event, maternal attention and compassion, parent-child communication, and children's specific emotional reactions. Although this study makes a valid attempt at using a real-world traumatic situation, nonetheless it cannot avoid the fact that it lacks one of the most important components of childhood sexual abuse: secretiveness. Further, unlike real-life sexual abuse, the event was not denied by the offending parent. The study's finding of the importance of parental support and communication in aiding memory underlines the significance of this latter factor for children's recollections.

A different approach is taken in the Terr article, which examines the recollections of children who had been involved in the well-known Chowchilla kidnapping in 1976. Terr found that even four to five years after the kidnapping children could recall the central events with considerable accuracy. Nonetheless, memories for this highly charged emotional event were not perfect. The most common error was what Terr labels "time skew," which involved the erroneous misplacement of dreams, fears, crank calls, or statements made by other people after the kidnapping into positions prior to the kidnapping. Other errors involved misperceptions or hallucinations: Some children incorrectly reported seeing women, older men, black people, or "masterminds with peg legs" being arrested by the police. These results are important for showing that even though children's recall for the gist of an event is generally good, nonetheless memory for many of the details may be flawed. The study also raises the possibility that even those recollections that were accurate may have been influenced by the many media reports to which the children were exposed.

II. The Development of Self and Autobiographical Memory

The articles in this section cover some of the questions frequently asked about autobiographical memory. The question "What is the earliest age from which we can remember something?" is especially important because it would mark the earliest possible incident of abuse or sexual violation that a person could later recall. Unfortunately, no clear answer is given. Also important, given the traumatic nature of sexual abuse, is the question "Do traumatic memories - i.e., "flashbulb memories"- have privileged status in memory?" The studies reviewed here indicate that they do not: Memories for traumatic events were neither better nor worse than memories for nontraumatic events. In answer to the question "What is necessary for the development of memory?", data are presented supporting the importance of language (by Tessler and Nelson), of a developed concept of self (by Howe, Courage, and Peterson), and of the existence of schemas and perceptual integration (by Stein). Given the lack of any clear-cut answer to many of the questions raised in this section, perhaps its primary contribution is not at the empirical level, but in the demonstration of the wide range and varieties of methodologies which can be employed for addressing these questions.

III. Childhood Memory: Distortion and Suggestibility

These four research articles explore the conditions under which memory is either vulnerable to or resistant to suggestion. Whereas earlier studies of suggestibility focused primarily on how misinformation was incorporated into memory, these studies consider whether it is possible to implant entire false events in memory. Once again, no clear answer emerges. The susceptibility of children's memory is demonstrated by Ceci, Huffman and Smith, who found that preschoolers claimed to have experienced events which they had in fact only thought about. In contrast, Pezdek and Roe found that it was relatively difficult to suggest to a child that something had occurred when it had not. The complexity of the situation is demonstrated by Ornstein and Myer's findings that individual differences such as prior knowledge and coping style can affect memory, supposedly by influencing the deployment of attention during the event as well as the construction of a stable representation in memory. For example, they found that the more a child knew about the details of medical checkups, the better he or she remembered the components of a specific medical examination. Interestingly, the better an event was recalled initially, the more resistant it was found to be, both to suggestion and to forgetting over time. Finally, Saywitz and Moan-Hardie suggest that, with proper precautions, it is possible to increase children's resistance to misleading questions. These precautions include teaching the children that it is acceptable (1) to admit lack of memory or knowledge; (2) not to acquiesce to adults' suggestions in order to avoid adult disapproval, embarrassment, or peer rejection; and (3) to use self-statements during the interview, a technique which the authors found helps to promote confidence and assertiveness.

IV. Repressed Memory and Recovered Memory

Unlike the first three sections, these nine articles are theoretical discussions which attempt to bring some coherence to the issues. Particularly noteworthy is the article by Schooler, who argues that there are really two questions: Can memories be recovered? and Can memories be suggested? Associated with the first question are two more questions: Did abuse occur? and Was there a period of time in which the memory was not accessible? In other words, Schooler emphasizes that the whole issue is both complex and multi-layered. This section concludes with reports by committees of the American Psychological Society (which was not yet completed at time of publication of this volume, and is thus an interim report) and the British Psychological Society. Although much of what is known about memory, traumatic memory, and the possibility of accurate recovered memory is incorporated in these reports, Pezdek and Banks recommend that the reader refer to the critique of this report in Kihlstrom's chapter for a stricter interpretation of some of the evidence on which it is based.

In conclusion, if the reader approaches this volume looking for an unequivocal answer to the validity of repressed memory, he/she will be disappointed. On the other hand, the extensive range of approaches offered in the volume for the exploration of the effect of suggestibility on memory is extremely valuable. I found the articles to be generally well written and easy to read, and was impressed with the scholarship of the authors included in the volume.

The issue of repressed memory/recovered memory is one which is coming before the courts with increasing frequency -- since 1992 there have been 18 cases before the Canadian courts. In general, the courts are very much aware of the problems of suggestibility inherent in these cases, and have demonstrated a willingness (and in some cases a requirement) to be informed by expert testimony. In particular, the Canadian cases have been concerned about memories which were recovered during therapy and with memories of events purported to have occurred at very young ages - e.g., under three. Given the wealth of information contained in this volume, my guess is that it will become "required reading" for anyone in the criminal justice system involved in the issue of repressed memory for sexual abuse.

[Sidebar]

Date of acceptance: July 7, 1997

[Author Affiliation]

Reviewed by MARILYN C. SMITH, University of Toronto at Scarborough

`Slumdog Millionaire' wins top honor at Globes

2012-03-13T19:28:00.000-07:00

"Slumdog Millionaire" has lived up to its underdog theme at the Golden Globes, sweeping all four of its categories, including best drama and director for Danny Boyle.

Kate Winslet has won two Globes all on her own, best dramatic actress for "Revolutionary Road" and supporting actress for "The Reader." "The Wrestler" also has two, dramatic actor for Mickey Rourke and best song for Bruce Springsteen.

"Slumdog Millionaire" also won best screenplay and musical score, firming up its prospects for the Academy Awards.

Featuring a generally unknown cast in a story set on the streets of Mumbai, "Slumdog Millionaire" knocked off four other nominated films featuring such stars as Brad Pitt, Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio.

US calls detention of American subcontractor by Cuba a 'major impediment' to improved ties

2012-03-13T16:34:00.000-07:00

HAVANA (AP) — U.S. calls detention of American subcontractor by Cuba a "major impediment" to improved ties.

It's a health insurance subsidy, not health care reform

2012-03-13T13:42:00.000-07:00

OBAMACARE (1)

The health care legislation passed by Congress in March is important politically since President Obama now looks suddenly like a "winner." But will it actually achieve the objective of improving the nation's health care? More people will get insurance, yes, but will they actually get more health care paid for?

Not necessarily. We've had a bailout for bankers, and now the principle seems to be extended to the insurance industry. The health care bill entrenches the centrality of private health insurance companies and contains no serious proposals to limit costs. More people will get hit with deductions, co-pays, annual limits (for several more years), exclusions, and out-of-pocket expenses. This will ensure that health care remains too expensive for many Americans to actually take advantage of their new insurance. And premiums are bound to rise.

Health insurance remains the primary payment mechanism, not just for expenses that are unexpected and large, but also for nearly all health care expenses. The "reform" introduced by this bill largely promotes the status quo by pulling more people into an expensive health care system that is managed and funded by private insurers with no countervailing government option. Given that over half of all household bankruptcies are due to health care costs, forcing people to turn over an even larger portion of their income to insurance companies will further erode household finances. It's the Wall Street bailout principle extended to the health insurance industry.

Our progressive allies have criticized us for drawing attention to these uncomfortable truths and failing to celebrate the President's great social triumph. Yes, it may well have been catastrophic had the bill not passed, as it probably would have emboldened the radical forces of the right and torpedoed any hope of further significant reform legislation of any kind. But the "victory," such as it is, comes at the cost of a huge price subsidy to private health insurers.

Robert Prasch, a professor of economics at Middlebury College, notes that health insurers were losing premiums because employers were dropping coverage. This happened in part because they could not compete, since no other country in the Western world uses private insurance exclusively to provide health care. Healthy individuals were opting out because no reasonable calculation could show insurance to be good value for the money.

Why is this? Because the economics of private health insurance consists of marketing to people who are relatively unlikely to need health care, while avoiding selling it to those who are more prone to get sick. Of course, the opposite applies to a potential consumer of health care. Healthy individuals do not want to buy health insurance, and sick people pay too much on the basis of what the insurance industry considers to be actuarially sound principles.

What about insurance for unforeseeable events, socalled "Acts of God"? Almost by definition, these events are not insurable. In almost any bargaining situation, you never want to get to a place where something is most valuable to you at the same exact moment as it is least likely someone will pay it out. The cost of insuring one's house after a major earthquake or flood is likely to be prohibitive. You don't want to pay the price likely to be charged, nor does the insurer want to provide it at anything like an affordable rate. The objective is not to pay out.

Can you even imagine a universe where you could call your health insurance company and say, "I think I'll be sick next month - can you show me how you are putting aside money to make sure you'll cover my illness?" If anything, you'd be worried they'd start digging into you right then for pre-existing illness and other reasons to deny your claim.

Any real reform that cuts costs would be far less profitable. So the Obama administration has, in effect, made a grand bargain with the insurance companies: Force healthy people to pay premiums.

Yes, they knew there would be a trade-off; they'd have to take some unhealthy people. But, contrary to the cheerleaders for Obamacare, giving these people insurance via subsidization from the healthy part of the population is not synonymous with paying directly for health care. As anybody who has had regular experience with a health insurance company can attest, read the fine print of the policy. It doesn't follow that you'll get the health care provision you assumed you would receive when you were paying those expensive monthly health insurance premiums.

We need to reduce, rather than expand, the role of insurance. Nutrition, exercise, education, diet, and public safety may now be more important than care in producing further advances in longevity and quality of life. Expanded health care provision is a worthwhile and genuine reform. We want to ensure that the key components of a civilized life - including health care - are available to all, regardless of their money income. Unfortunately, Obamacare does nothing to help achieve this objective.

[Sidebar]

'Private health insurance consists of covering people who are unlikely to need health care while not selling policies to those more prone to get sick. The objective is not to pay out."

[Author Affiliation]

(Marshall Auerback has 27 years' experience in the investment management business and is a fellow of the Economists for Peace and Security. He originally wrote this essay for New Deal 2.0, a project of the Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute.)

Europeans seek ways to make Gaza truce last

2012-03-13T10:42:00.000-07:00

European nations accustomed to taking a back seat to the United States have taken a lead role in the bid to permanently quell the fighting between Israel and Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip.

But a cease-fire offered by Hamas expires in six days, giving the effort to cobble together a more durable agreement little time to work.

French, British, German, Spanish and Italian leaders helped get the truce in place by offering technical help to prevent the arms smuggling that infuriates Israel and humanitarian relief to ease the suffering of Palestinians in Gaza.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown has offered Britain's Royal Navy to help interdict arms shipments bound for Hamas. Several European newspapers have reported, citing unnamed officials, that there are ongoing discussions about deploying a European Union force for the mission.

European Union officials announced Monday they will hold special talks Wednesday with Israel's Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and meet Sunday with foreign ministers from Egypt, Jordan, Turkey and the Palestinian Authority to discuss prospects for a permanent peace agreement.

French officials said the time is right to move beyond the truce by organizing, within the next few weeks, an international conference with an eye toward a comprehensive peace settlement to resolve the underlying conflict between the Israelis and Palestinians.

"It is urgent that a dynamic of negotiations is launched," said French Foreign Ministry spokesman Eric Chevallier.

The goal would be the establishment of a Palestinian state, he said.

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier has drafted a five-point plan he hopes will guide EU discussions on providing relief to Gaza and restarting a peace process.

The draft, presented to EU leaders in Brussels and obtained by The Associated Press, says funding and aid such as food and medical supplies should be sent to Gaza. Steinmeier's plan also suggests a potential EU role "with regard to opening of Gaza-Israel crossing points."

Charles Heyman, a former Army officer and editor of Armed Forces of the United Kingdom, said he has been told by people with knowledge of the discussions that officials in Brussels are talking behind the scenes about the possibility of deploying an EU naval force to keep arms shipments out of Gaza. The goal is to prevent Hamas and other militant groups from being able to fire rockets into southern Israel with arms provided by Syria or other Hamas allies.

"The background talk is of a wider EU force, not just the British," Heyman said. "There's no doubt the Royal Navy could help prevent weapons delivery, they have the vessels and the training, but it is a very difficult task. This is one of those desperate jobs where both sides will probably hate them for it."

He said the main danger for Royal Navy sailors and those from other European nations would be a breakdown in communications with the Israeli Navy.

"They will have to work out between them very effective rules of engagement and lines of command or it could go drastically wrong," he said.

U.S. diplomats have also helped with key agreements in recent days, but their role has been muted, in part because of the impending transfer of power in Washington.

Christiane Hohmann, an EU spokeswoman, said the top item on the EU agenda is to get desperately needed supplies of fresh drinking water and medical supplies into Gaza and to restore electricity there.

"Even for that you need a sustainable cease-fire," she said.

Europeans are also seeking ways to keep Gaza's border crossings open to ease the humanitarian crisis confronting Palestinians.

Germany is directly involved in this effort, with plans to send a team of experts to consult with Egypt about how to improve security at the country's tense border with Gaza.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Jens Ploetner said Germany plans to start the mission in the near future.

But the border will remain under Egyptian, not European, control, said Ulrich Wilhelm, spokesman for Chancellor Angela Merkel. He said Germany could help Egypt "with technical equipment and technical advice."

German officials are also proposing a possible EU role in opening the borders between Israel and Gaza.

Turkey's top Middle East envoy, Ahmet Davutoglu, said Turkey is working quietly to try to reconcile Hamas and Fatah, the two bitterly divided Palestinian factions. He said this is the key to a durable peace.

______

Associated Press Writers Constant Brand in Brussels, Angela Charlton in Paris, Suzan Fraser in Istanbul and Geir Moulson in Germany contributed to this report.

Demand justifies rate hike, Edison says

2012-03-13T07:20:00.000-07:00

The hottest summer on record here has come at an ideal time forCommonwealth Edison.

Edison says surging demand for electricity from air-conditionersand fans bolsters its case for a 27 percent rate increase to pay forthe three new nuclear power plants Edison recently put in operation.

The plants cost $7 billion. Consumer groups say they aren'tneeded, and therefore customers shouldn't have to pay for them.Edison's rates already are the highest in the Midwest.

This week's record-high use of electricity was 8.5 percenthigher than last summer's peak. On Wednesday, the utility shut offpower to some industrial customers after demand came to within nearly2 percent of exhausting Edison's available generating capacity.

Nevertheless, critics say that even in a heat wave, Edison stillhas way too much generating capacity. A utility expert hired by theCitizens Utility Board has calculated that with proper management,the first new reactor won't be needed until 1993, the second until1997 and the third until 1999.

The three reactors have increased Edison's total generatingcapacity to about 22,000 megawatts of electricity. But this week,Edison's system produced 17,500 megawatts.

"It's not a capacity crisis," said Douglass Cassel of Businessand Professional People for the Public Interest. "It's poormanagement."

One reactor is shut down for repairs. Three other reactors arerunning at reduced power because environmental regulations restrictthe amount of hot water plants can discharge into rivers. Andseveral coal-fired plants are down for maintenance and repairs.

"We have 35 generators. They don't all run at full speed at thesnap of a finger," said Edison spokesman John Hogan. "Anyone who saysthere is something wrong with the system because it's not running 100percent doesn't understand the utility business."

It's unlikely the Illinois Commerce Commission will give Edisonits requested $1.4 billion increase. Commission staff members thisweek recommend a two-part $480 million increase that would raisebasic rates 6.6 percent. After increasing at the beginning of 1989and 1990, rates then would be frozen for four years.

Correction: Togo bus crash story

2012-03-13T03:31:00.000-07:00

LOME, Togo (AP) — In a story Nov. 26 about a bus crash in Togo, The Associated Press incorrectly identified the six victims as players from the Etoile Filante soccer club. The victims were all members of the Etoile Filante club delegation, but not current team players.

Is Rehnquist too extreme?

2012-03-13T00:26:00.000-07:00

It's a strange experience, seeing a member of the Supreme Courtbaited by politicians. But there was Justice William Rehnquist,sitting before the Senate Judiciary Committee, his character underscrutiny by the likes of Edward Kennedy and Howard Metzenbaum. Theinterrogators acted as if they were conducting the Nuremberg trials.

These are the Democrats who were lately complaining that RonaldReagan was demeaning the federal judiciary. Concerned that theadministration was subjecting prospective judges to "ideologicallitmus tests," they subjected a conservative nominee to a lowercourt, Daniel Manion, to a spelling test.

As soon as Manion was confirmed - by one vote - the Democratsdropped the pretense that they are concerned only with competence andmounted a fierce attack against Rehnquist on openly ideologicalgrounds. Sen. Kennedy denounced him as "too extreme on race, tooextreme on women's rights, too extreme on freedom of speech, tooextreme on separation of church and state, too extreme to be chiefjustice." By "too extreme" the senator means that he disagrees withRehnquist. He would predictably vote for the confirmation ofRehnquist's polar opposite.

The standard hypocrisy of the American liberal is that he isconcerned only with the purity of procedure, regardless ofsubstantive outcome. Liberals affected to be opposed to Manion onlybecause he was "incompetent" or "underqualified," not because theydisagreed with his political views. In Rehnquist they have a nomineefor chief justice whose brilliance is beyond dispute. And they areopposing him because they don't like the way he votes.

The Democrats have never acknowledged that there are members oftheir own party who may be too extreme. And because they don't evenrecognize this as a danger, the party has gotten more and moreextreme - while retaining its complacent assurance that it representsthe golden mean of American politics. For them, the left is themiddle.

Consider the flat statements that Rehnquist opposes "minorityrights." Well, he doesn't. He believes that membership in a group,minority or majority, has no bearing on the merits of a litigant'scase. And he is correct.

Minority rights, in the proper sense of the term, means thatboth parties in any dispute deserve to have their claims adjudicatedwithout reference to their wealth, status or political power. Allsuch considerations are left outside when a court deliberates. Thisis a hard-won principle, and it is enshrined in the phrase "equalitybefore the law." This used to be a matter of consensus. Untilrecently, in fact, it was the goal sought by the minority lobbies.

But the meaning of "minority rights" has been subtly twistedto imply that the law should actually favor anyone who can claimminority status. Rehnquist refuses to accept this twisted meaning,and that's why he is being called "too extreme."

Joseph Sobran's column is distributed by Universal PressSyndicate.

Barenboim heads Allied Arts lineup

2012-03-12T21:29:00.000-07:00

For the eighth consecutive year, Merrill Lynch will offer majorsupport for the Great Performers Series presented by Allied Arts.The concerts will take place in Orchestra Hall in 1990-91. Themajority are Sunday afternoon programs.

The 39 events for next season consist of 21 programs in theGreat Performers Series, a dozen recitals in the piano series and sixpops concerts to be announced.

Daniel Barenboim, music director designate of the ChicagoSymphony Orchestra, will appear as a pianist four times in the GreatPerformers Series. He will play a solo recital Sept. 25 and returnin April 27 and May 6 with violinist Itzhak Perlman in two differentprograms that begin a cycle of the Mozart violin sonatas. On May12, he will join Waltraud Meier in a song recital, and on May 13 hewill play a duo-piano recital with Martha Argerich.

Ten orchestras of various sizes will be heard in the 1990-91series. The Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam will appearSept. 29, directed by Riccardo Chailly. October contains threeorchestra programs, the Moscow Virtuosi led by Vladimir Spivakov onOct. 10, the "Franz Liszt" Chamber Orchestra of Budapest on Oct. 22,and the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Zdenek Macal conductor, on Oct.28.

The new year will bring the State Symphony of the U.S.S.R.,Yevgeny Svetlanov conductor, on Feb. 3 and the English Consort,Trevor Pinnock conducting, on Feb. 24.

There will be programs by the Chicago Symphony Chamber Ensembleon March 3, and the Israel Philharmonic, Zubin Mehta conducting, onMarch 24.

The series will end in April with appearances by the OchestreNational de Lyon (France) directed by Emmanuel Krivine on April 14,and the Boston Symphony, Seiji Ozawa conductor, on April 24.Subscribers may assemble their own six-program series and enjoydiscounts of as much as 30 percent.

There will be two vocal recitals, Leontyne Price on Nov. 11 andBen Holt on Jan. 23. Instrumental events will include a recital bycellist Heinrich Schiff on Nov. 21; an all-star quartet of EmmanuelAx, Isaac Stern, Jaime Laredo, and Yo-Yo Ma on Dec. 9, and a violinrecital by Samuel Magad on June 9.

Evgeny Kissin will open the Piano Series Oct. 7, followed byOlli Mustonen on Oct. 21. Kissin is an 18-year-old Russian who ismaking his first American tour. Mustonen is a Finnish pianist whoalso will be making an Orchestra Hall debut. Rudolf Firkusny willappear Nov. 4, followed by Ursula Oppens on Dec. 2 and VladimirAshkenazy on Dec. 9.

The seven events of the new year will begin Jan. 20, when JohnBowning returns to Orchestra Hall. Emmanuel Ax will play Feb. 24.Shura Cherkassky will appear on March 3 and Elisabeth Leonskaja onMarch 17. Alfred Brendel will be heard April 21, and the serieswill close with two recitals, Stephen Hough on May 12 and DavidSchane on May 26.

IMF Predicts US Economy to Pick Up Pace

2012-03-12T18:02:00.000-07:00

WASHINGTON - U.S. economic activity should pick up for the rest of this year and into 2008 as the drag from a decline in the housing market dissipates, the International Monetary Fund said Friday.

But the IMF warned that growth is uncomfortably close to the 2 percent "stall speed" associated with past recessions even if other accompanying factors -rising unemployment and high interest rates - are not evident.

"We, like the U.S. authorities, expect a favorable outcome for U.S growth," said John Lipsky, the IMF's leading deputy director, presenting the annual snapshot of the U.S. economy provided for under the rules of the 185-nation lending institution.

"We expect to see a gradual reacceleration towards a sustained pace of around 3 percent by 2008," he said.

Despite a subpar first quarter, the U.S economy should grow 2 percent this year, the IMF said, and 2.75 percent in 2008. The 2007 forecast is slightly below the 2.2 percent estimate the IMF issued in its World Economic Outlook two months ago.

The IMF said that fortunately for the global economy, the recent cooling of U.S. activity from the robust pace of recent years has coincided with a pick up in growth in Europe and Asia.

"We share the U.S. authorities' view that the most likely scenario is a soft landing as growth recovers and inflation falls, although both are subject to risks," the IMF said.

Lipsky said among the risks are rising oil and commodity prices.

The IMF said challenges facing the U.S. economy include raising domestic savings and lowering the trade deficit while resisting protectionism and tackling the longer-term fiscal difficulties posed by rising spending for the government pension plan and health care for the elderly.

"The central fiscal challenge is the projected unsustainable rise of entitlement spending over time," Lipsky said. "This is going to overwhelm in quantitative terms any other fiscal challenge."

The IMF applauded the Federal Reserve's decision one year ago to stop reducing interest rates. The current 5.25 percent interest rate "appears consistent with a soft landing," the IMF said.

The Fed meets next week and is expected to make no change in interest rates.

Mena

2012-03-12T14:13:00.000-07:00

Mena CD, recordingrecords@hotmail.com

I'm not sure if metal folk is a true musical genre, but there is no other way to describe Mena's raw-voiced melding of acoustic guitar with brooding, garage rock lyrics. Early Metallica often came to mind as I listened to her bemoan her inability to sustain relationships, keep away from the Devil, or live authentically in a pressure-filled world. No quirkiness, no cuteness, no apologies. Thank god! All you'll find here is ominous portent and rasping declarations of self. If only more female singersongwriters would follow Mena's example and make music with the same aggression and attitude. Somewhere, Carole Pope is smiling. (Karyn Bonham)

Bulls just one step away from official elimination

2012-03-12T10:43:00.000-07:00

With the Bulls' tragic number down to one with six games left, the fact their season will end without a playoff berth is more certain than interim coach Jim Boylan's future.

The Bulls lost 99-87 on Saturday to the Washington Wizards at the United Center to fall 5� games behind the Atlanta Hawks, who hold the eighth and last playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. One more Hawks victory or Bulls loss will end the Bulls' playoff hopes.

Still, Boylan said his first chance to be an NBA head coach after 14 seasons as an assistant has been fruitful.

''People come up to me sometimes and give me the old hang-in-there speech,'' said Boylan, who became the interim coach after the Bulls fired Scott Skiles on Christmas Eve. ''But I've had a great time doing it.

''You never know what it's like until you actually experience it. I've sat next to many, many head coaches -- Hall of Fame head coaches -- and learned from them and listened to them and watched and observed them very closely. But until you actually do it and actually feel it the way they've had to, it's totally different. I've learned some things you can do; I've learned some things you can't do. I'll continue to get better as a coach. I'm just looking forward to continuing my career, hopefully as the head coach here in Chicago. And if not, with some other franchise.''

General manager John Paxson has said his evaluation of Boylan wouldn't be limited to the Bulls' record. The Bulls (30-46) are 20-29 under Boylan.

The Wizards, who played without guard Gilbert Arenas (knee) and forward Antawn Jamison (shoulder), trailed 43-42 at halftime but outscored the Bulls 34-21 in the third quarter to take control. Arenas, who returned from knee surgery Wednesday after missing 66 games, sat out as a precautionary move because it was the second of back-to-back games for the Wizards, who clinched a playoff berth Friday.

''It's tough to compete when you're outrebounded by 25 [and outscored] 20-4 in second-chance points,'' Boylan said. ''We fell in love with the jump shot a little in the second half. We lost our momentum, our focus.''

Brendan Haywood led five Wizards in double figures with 25 points and grabbed 10 rebounds. Ben Gordon led the Bulls with 18.

''There's a fine line between winning and losing in the NBA,'' said Bulls guard Larry Hughes, who added 16 points. ''A couple of plays here and there make teams go from not so good to good or from good to great. It's been a tough year for everybody. We just have to pull together the remainder of the season and play well.''

NOTE: Bulls forward Drew Gooden missed his fourth consecutive game with a strained abdominal muscle. He vowed the injury wouldn't end his season, but coach Jim Boylan said Gooden isn't getting appreciably better and would be surprised if he could play Tuesday at Miami.

THE RECAP

Washington 25 17 34 23--99

BULLS 22 21 21 23--87

Wizards Min fg-a ft-a O-T A PF PTS

Butler 41:54 7-14 2-2 3-8 4 1 18

Songaila 32:46 7-11 0-0 2-8 2 3 14

Haywood 35:02 9-16 7-7 6-10 2 4 25

Daniels 36:20 3-7 3-4 1-7 5 0 9

Stevenson 36:38 5-15 0-0 0-6 3 1 11

Young 8:05 1-4 0-0 1-1 0 1 2

Mason 17:21 5-8 2-2 1-3 3 1 14

Blatche 24:10 2-6 2-2 3-10 1 5 6

McGuire 7:44 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 1 0

Totals 240 39-82 16-17 17-53 20 17 99

Percentages: FG .476, FT .941. 3-Point Goals: 5-21, .238 (Mason 2-4, Butler 2-6, Stevenson 1-7, Blatche 0-1, Daniels 0-1, Young 0-2). Team Rebounds: 5. Team Turnovers: 18 (13 PTS). Blocked Shots: 4 (Butler 2, Haywood 2). Turnovers: 18 (Songaila 4, Haywood 3, Mason 3, Blatche 2, Daniels 2, Stevenson 2, Butler, Young). Steals: 4 (Mason 2, Butler, Songaila). Technical Fouls: Songaila, 5:15 second.

BULLS Min fg-a ft-a O-T A PF PTS

Deng 19:09 4-8 0-0 2-4 3 4 8

TThomas 24:50 5-10 1-2 0-1 1 2 12

Noah 33:37 1-4 5-12 0-2 1 4 7

Hinrich 25:56 4-7 0-0 0-2 2 1 9

Hughes 32:21 5-12 4-4 1-3 2 2 16

Sefolosha 31:19 3-8 0-0 2-7 0 0 6

Nocioni 16:54 2-7 0-0 0-0 1 3 5

Gordon 26:34 6-12 4-5 0-5 4 2 18

Duhon 14:41 1-4 0-0 1-1 1 0 2

Gray 12:29 1-4 0-0 1-3 1 2 2

Nichols 2:10 1-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 2

Totals 240 33-77 14-23 7-28 16 20 87

Percentages: FG .429, FT .609. 3-Point Goals: 7-18, .389 (Hughes 2-3, Gordon 2-5, T.Thomas 1-1, Hinrich 1-2, Nocioni 1-3, Duhon 0-2, Sefolosha 0-2). Team Rebounds: 11. Team Turnovers: 9 (13 PTS). Blocked Shots: 4 (Sefolosha 2, Nichols, Noah). Turnovers: 9 (Nocioni 2, T.Thomas 2, Duhon, Gordon, Gray, Hughes, Noah). Steals: 12 (Hinrich 3, Gray 2, Sefolosha 2, Deng, Duhon, Hughes, Noah, T.Thomas). Technical Fouls: None.

Officials--Monty McCutchen, Scott Wall, Sean Wright. A--21,929. T--2:03.

Photo: Gary Dineen Getty Images / The Bulls' Andres Nocioni uses his left arm to fend off the Wizards' Brendan Haywood. He was called for an offensive foul. ;