Plan to Put Kids to Work Filled With Promise, Peril

WASHINGTON Barraka Baber is a 12th-grader in Saginaw, Mich., whohas spent the last three summers in federally funded jobs, working asa student aide and a park helper.

"The summer jobs helped me stay out of trouble, kept me on astraight line and helped me with my financial problems, too," Babersaid. "Sometimes I sit back and wonder where I would be without it.Would I be in jail? Would I have a child? Or would I be on my wayto college like I am now?"

But Marvin Turner, a job training advocate who has run Saginaw'ssummer jobs program for 25 years, is not so sure that all of themoney President Clinton is seeking will produce similar results.Kids like Baber, he said, …

Guerrero bows out of Maidana fight with injury

SAN JOSE, California (AP) — Robert Guerrero pulled out of his upcoming WBA super lightweight title fight against Marcos Maidana on Thursday after injuring his left shoulder during training.

Guerrero hurt the shoulder while sparring at his training site in Big Bear on Wednesday but initially hoped he'd be able to recover in time for the Aug. 27 fight in San Jose, near where he was born in Gilroy.

But the injury was worse on Thursday morning and he had to pull out of the fight.

"It was numb and he couldn't move it at all. They iced it. They were hoping it was going to get better overnight. It did not. It got worse," Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer said. "He …

Hundreds of Paris flights canceled Tuesday

Hundreds of flights at Paris' two main airports will be canceled Tuesday at the start of a four-day strike by air traffic controllers, the French civil aviation authority said.

The DGAC aviation authority ordered airlines to cancel 50 percent of flights at Orly and 25 percent of flights at Charles de Gaulle.

French carrier Air France said it would maintain all of its long-haul flights during the strike, with the protest movement affecting only its routes within France and Europe.

The Union of French Airports said Monday that some airports in provincial cities, including Pau, Biarritz, Grenoble, La Rochelle and Chambery, …

Kyoto accord alarmists misguided, dangerous

The temperature still hasn't reached 90 degrees in Chicago thissummer-a phenomenon not seen since 1916. And the weather is sopleasant in many other areas of the country this summer that talk ofthe dreaded global warming phenomenon has fallen by the wayside.

Even the Clinton-Gore administration is taking a decidedlysheepish approach to one of its favorite international environmentalvehicles, the Kyoto Protocol.

Drafted at a 1997 conference, the Kyoto Protocol is intended toreduce man-made emissions of heat-trapping "greenhouse gases," suchas carbon dioxide produced by burning coal and oil. The agreementcalls for the United States to cut carbon dioxide emissions by …

WASHINGTON UPDATE

Nanotechnology Forges Ahead with Government Support

Last November, the Senate unanimously passed a version of the longawaited Nanotechnology Research and Development Act (S. 189) that will allocate $3.7 billion over the next four years for the National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI; CEP, Nov. 2003, p. S18). The bill now goes to the President, who is expected to sign it. With S. 189, Congress will mobilize cross-disciplinary research across many federal agencies, while establishing a series of coordination offices and advisory committees to ensure that information regarding nanotechnology is shared.

Similar initiatives in Europe evidence consistent regulatory support and a …

Oswalt wins again, leads Astros to 6-0 win

Roy Oswalt threw his second straight complete-game shutout and set a Houston record for consecutive scoreless innings, helping the surging Astros beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 6-0 Thursday night for their 14th win in 15 games.

Houston was 66-66 and 11 games back of Milwaukee, the NL wild-card leader, before the surge began Aug, 27. The latest win closed the Astros within three games of the Brewers, who lost 6-3 at Philadelphia.

It's uncertain when the Astros will play again. The first two games of their weekend series against the Chicago Cubs were postponed and Sunday's matchup could be next with Hurricane Ike closing in on Texas.

Oswalt (15-9) hasn't …

Insurance group says Cadillac Escalade SUV is most likely to be stolen

ARLINGTON, Va. - The blinged-out Cadillac Escalade SUV, afavorite of A-listers like Tiger Woods, is once again the vehiclevoted most likely to be stolen, according to an insurance industrygroup.

The F-250 crew cab pickup, Infiniti G37 luxury sedan, DodgeCharger with its high-power HEMI engine and Chevrolet Corvette Z06round out the list of the top five vehicles most likely to be thesubject of insurance theft claims. Least likely targets of thievesare family vehicles like the Volvo S80, Saturn Vue and NissanMurano, Honda Pilot and Subaru Impreza.

The Highway Loss Data Institute, which is part of the Arlington-based Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, calculated …

Home Depot Reports 3Q Profit Drop

ATLANTA - The Home Depot Inc., the nation's largest home improvement store chain, blamed a slowing housing market as it reported a 3.1 percent drop in third-quarter profit on a marked decline in sales at stores open at least a year. The company also lowered its earnings per share and sales growth guidance for the year.

The results, announced before the stock market opened Tuesday, missed Wall Street expectations.

The Atlanta-based company said it earned $1.49 billion, or 73 cents a share, for the three months ending Oct. 29, compared with a profit of $1.54 billion, or 72 cents a share, for the same period a year ago.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial were …

Key demographics of Muslim-Americans

Gallup Organization interviews with a random sample of 946 Muslim Americans in 2008 shed light on the demographics of this rarely studied group:

RACE: Muslims are the nation's most racially diverse religious group. At least a third of Muslim-Americans are black _ mostly converts or children of converts to Islam. "The significant proportion of native-born converts to Islam is a characteristic unique to the United States," Gallup said. More than a quarter call themselves white, while nearly one in five identified as Asian and about as many classified themselves as "other."

RELIGIOSITY: Muslim-Americans are more religious than other …

Hospital birth too risky, says health aide

JERUSALEM An international health official has warned doctorsthat hospital births endanger mothers and babies.

Hospital births risked lives because of impersonal proceduresand overuse of technology and drugs, said Dr. Marsden Wagner,European regional director of the World Health Organization.

"I am convinced the procedure of placing all newborn babies inone room was the biggest mistake of modern medicine," he told aninternational medical conference on the psychology and medicine ofbirth.

Wagner said a hospital nursery was a cradle of germs, separatingbabies from their mothers at the most sensitive point of theirrelationship. He said studies linked …

5 dead, including baby, in rural Ohio house fire

PEDRO, Ohio (AP) — Kyle Whitmer jumped from a second-story balcony as flames swallowed his mother's 12-bedroom home, then ran to the door to try to save some of the 11 relatives and friends who were living there.

Four women — including Whitmer's 21-year-old sister — and an 8-month-old boy died. Whitmer's mother and five others made it out with burns and smoke inhalation as the fire turned the home into ash.

The fire started early Monday morning near a space heater on the first floor where Whitmer's mother, 52-year-old Kathy Whitmer, kept her plants — some aloe, a cactus. The state fire marshal said the blaze was accidental, and authorities hadn't officially identified the …

Golovin withdraws from Olympic tennis

Tatiana Golovin of France withdrew from singles and doubles Sunday shortly before the scheduled start of the Olympic tennis tournament.

Golovin has been hampered …

Ex-Kremlin aide elected Norilsk Nickel chairman

A former Kremlin chief of staff was elected Friday to chair the board of mining giant Norilsk Nickel as the state appeared to tighten its grip on the strategic company.

Alexander Voloshin, who was chosen unanimously at an extraordinary board meeting at a Moscow hotel, denied being a de facto Kremlin envoy.

"There are no representatives of the state on the board," Voloshin said after his appointment, but added that "the successful development of Norilsk Nickel will benefit my dear country."

Voloshin brings to the post a wealth of government experience and connections. He served as former President Boris Yeltsin's chief of staff, a job he retained for several years under Yeltsin's successor, Vladimir Putin. One of his deputies under Putin was Dmitry Medvedev, the current president.

After leaving the presidential administration, Voloshin chaired the board at the state-run electricity giant Unified Energy Systems.

His election is part of a compromise to settle a feud between Norilsk Nickel's two main shareholders, Vladimir Potanin and Oleg Deripaska.

Potanin, who owns 30 percent of Norilsk, and Deripaska, the owner of aluminum giant UC Rusal, surprised the market last month when they brought an end to a bitter seven-month dispute over strategy and control, which had hurt the company's share value and contributed to a management crisis.

The two metals tycoons agreed that the Norilsk board would be headed by an independent chairman, replacing Potanin, with both billionaires agreeing not to stand for election.

Potanin's Interros investment vehicle and Deripaska's Rusal each received four seats on the board. The other five seats went to independents.

The global financial crisis, which has hit Russian stocks particularly hard, forced the shareholders to set aside their differences, Potanin said. Norilsk's shares have plummeted more than 65 percent since the beginning of the year, and investors have criticized the company for failing to overcome the management crisis.

Norilsk general director Vladimir Strzhalkovsky warned on Friday that things could get worse.

"A further decline in metal prices will take a great toll on the company's performance," he said.

Voloshin had been expected to compete for the post against Sergei Chemezov, the director of the state holding Russian Technologies, but Chemezov pulled out of the running earlier Friday.

Levante's top scorer Juanlu out with broken leg

VALENCIA, Spain (AP) — Spanish club Levante will be without top scorer Juan Luis "Juanlu" Gomez for a lengthy spell after the Spanish player fractured his shin in Wednesday's 4-1 Copa del Rey victory over Deportivo La Coruna.

Juanlu rolled in agony after a hasty challenge, and medical scans revealed a fractured right fibula.

Levante says Juanlu will undergo surgery on Friday on an injury similar to Barcelona striker David Villa's, who is expected to be out for up to five months.

Juanlu has scored six goals in 14 appearances for the Valencia-based club.

Levante, which is fourth in the league, advanced to the last 16 of the domestic cup with a 5-4 aggregate victory.

Scientists developing rice with 50 pct more yield

An international team of scientists is attempting to develop a new rice strain that will use less water and fertilizer but could boost yields by up to 50 percent to meet growing demand, a research institute said Wednesday.

The ambitious laboratory project involving molecular biologists, geneticists, physiologists and biochemists from research organizations across the globe could take a decade or more to complete, said the Philippines-based International Rice Research Institute.

About half of the world's population consumes rice as a staple, and increasing its productivity is crucial to achieving long-term food security, the institute said. Nearly a billion people worldwide live in hunger.

The project aims to improve the efficiency of a rice plant's photosynthesis, the process by which plants use solar energy to capture carbon dioxide and convert it into carbohydrates.

Some species, including rice, have a mode of photosynthesis known as C3 in which the capture of carbon dioxide is relatively inefficient. Other plants, such as maize and sorghum, have evolved a much more efficient form of photosynthesis known as C4.

Jacqueline Dionora, an associate scientist at the institute who is involved in the project, said the researchers "would like to learn how to switch on the C4 genes that could be possibly present in rice." She said they are not looking at genetic modification.

She said yields could be increased by 50 percent or more by re-engineering rice to have a more efficient photosynthesis mode.

But University of Western Australia crop scientist Stephen Powles said the researchers would face numerous hurdles and he predicted producing a variety that would increase yields by 50 percent was "unlikely."

"It is a formidable technical challenge to turn a C3 plant into a C4 plant," Powles said. "There are many genes involved and a number of those genes are unknown. There are structural changes with the plants that will be difficult to change."

The institute has been helping farmers for decades to develop more resilient rice varieties that can withstand flooding and drought and increase yields. The institute helped develop a variety of flood-tolerant rice in 2006.

"The benefits of such an improvement in the face of increasing world population, increasing food prices and decreasing natural resources would be immense," said project leader John Sheehy.

The project was funded by an $11 million three-year grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, regular contributors to the institute.

The institute has forecast earlier that the price of benchmark Thai 100 percent Grade B rice could jump again this year after hitting record highs in 2008 because of an economic slowdown and lack of credit facilities for farmers who have to pay for seeds and fertilizer.

___

Associated Press writer Michael Casey in Bangkok contributed to this report.

___

On the Net:

International Rice Research Institute: http://www.irri.org

LeBron mum on future at appearance in Cleveland

Fresh from a postseason vacation, LeBron James was back among Cleveland fans for the first time since the Cavaliers' playoff flop.

The reunion was somewhat awkward.

James, whose impending free agency could change the course of several NBA franchises, was a guest judge at an amateur dunk contest that drew a large crowd because of the two-time MVP's appearance, his first public outing since the Cavs lost in the second round to the Boston Celtics.

Wearing a blue "Witness" T-shirt and designer sunglasses, James had little interaction with fans after arriving in a four-car motorcade and being escorted by police and security personnel through the crowd to a basketball court set up on the banks of the Cuyahoga River.

Some in the crowd seemed uncertain how to act around James, perhaps fearing the wrong comment could drive him away for good.

James ducked under a tent and slid into a folding chair next to former NBA player Darryl Dawkins to judge the final round of dunks as fans and several star-stuck competitors snapped photos with their cell phones of one of the world's best players and Cleveland's most revered pro athlete in generations.

As he sat at a table and held up scores, some Cleveland fans pleaded with him to re-sign with the Cavs.

"Don't leave, LeBron!" one yelled.

"Please, please don't go!" offered another.

James, who is eligible for free agency on July 1, smiled nervously as one of the dunkers missed several attempts and he politely applauded when the runner-up finally got a two-handed reverse down. After the event sponsored by Sprite, one of James' corporate business partners, he posed for a group photo with all the dunkers and signed a giant check for the winner.

James did not speak with reporters as he excited and offered no hints about his future, adding more suspense to a story already spinning off rumors and guesses about his plans.

Maverick Carter, James' manager and business partner, said "there's nothing to say right now" when asked for details about James' next move.

Before James arrived _ about 45 minutes after promised _ fans waited patiently on a grassy hill overlooking the hoop court. One of them, Audrey Staton, was convinced it would be one of her last chances to see James, who will be courted by the New York Knicks, Chicago Bulls and other teams.

"He's going," Staton said, keeping one eye on her 7-year-old son, Aaron, playing nearby. "We can't keep him in Cleveland because we're a dying city. There isn't enough hoopla for him here right now. He's young and he wants the excitement."

Dawkins, who jumped from high school to the NBA decades before James did it, believes Cleveland's All-Star should follow his heart.

"He should go where he thinks he'll be happy," said one of the most powerful dunkers in league history. "Make the right decision for your family and get as much money as you can. If he leaves Cleveland, basketball as we know it here is going to go down. They have to do what they can to keep here. I would like to see him stay in Cleveland, but he has to do what is right for him."

As James and his entourage made their way back to their vehicles, he offered one handshake and yelled "Hey, homey!" at a young fan screaming his name. James and his girlfriend, Savannah Brinson, then climbed into a Range Rover.

But before they left, one fan got the superstar's attention.

Walking up the hill alongside James' SUV, Greg Poulin of Sagamore Hills delivered a message on the minds of Cavaliers fans everywhere.

"Stay in Cleveland, my man," Poulin told James, who nodded his head in acknowledgment.

Later as he and his wife, Katie, tried to soothe their crying son, Max, before their trip home, Poulin said it was important for him to reach out to James.

"I just wanted to say what I had to say to him, which was, 'Stay in Cleveland, don't leave'," said Poulin, wearing a wine-colored Cavs shirt. "I don't think he knows what he's going to do yet, but I think he's going to stay. The King can't leave his people."

FIBA World Championships Glance

All Times EDT
Preliminary Round
Top four in each group advance to eighth-finals
Two points for a victory, one for a loss
x-advanced to Eighth-finals
Group A
At Kayseri, Turkey
Team	GP	W	L	Pts
x-Serbia	5	4	1	9
x-Argentina	5	4	1	9
x-Australia	5	3	2	8
x-Angola	5	2	3	7
Germany	5	2	3	7
Jordan	5	0	5	5
Saturday, Aug. 28

Australia 76, Jordan 75

Serbia 94, Angola 44

Argentina 78, Germany 74

Sunday, Aug. 29

Angola 79, Jordan 65

Germany 82, Serbia 81, 2OT

Argentina 74, Australia 72

Monday, Aug. 30

Serbia 112, Jordan 69

Australia 78, Germany 43

Argentina 91, Angola 70

Wednesday, Sept. 1

Serbia 94, Australia 79

Angola 92, Germany 88, OT

Argentina 88, Jordan 79

Thursday, Sept. 2

Australia 76, Angola 55

Serbia 84, Argentina 82

Germany 91, Jordan 73

Group B
At Istanbul
Team	GP	W	L	Pts
x-United States	5	5	0	10
x-Slovenia	5	4	1	9
x-Brazil	5	3	2	8
x-Croatia	5	2	3	7
Iran	5	1	4	6
Tunisia	5	0	5	5
Saturday, Aug. 28

Slovenia 80, Tunisia 56

United States 106, Croatia 78

Brazil 81, Iran 65

Sunday, Aug. 29

United States 99, Slovenia 77

Croatia 75, Iran 54

Brazil 80, Tunisia 65

Monday, Aug. 30

Slovenia 91, Croatia 84

Iran 71, Tunisia 58

United States 70, Brazil 68

Wednesday, Sept. 1

Croatia 84, Tunisia 64

United States 88, Iran 51

Slovenia 80, Brazil 77

Thursday, Sept. 2

United States 92, Tunisia 57

Slovenia 65, Iran 60

Brazil 92, Croatia 74

Group C
At Ankara, Turkey
Team	GP	W	L	Pts
x-Turkey	5	5	0	10
x-Russia	5	4	1	9
x-Greece	5	3	2	8
x-China	5	1	4	6
Ivory Coast	5	1	4	6
Puerto Rico	5	1	4	6
Saturday, Aug. 28

Greece 89, China 81

Russia 75, Puerto Rico 66

Turkey 86, Ivory Coast 47

Sunday, Aug. 29

China 83, Ivory Coast 73

Greece 83, Puerto Rico 80

Turkey 65, Russia 56

Tuesday, Aug. 31

Russia 72, Ivory Coast 66

Puerto Rico 84, China 76

Turkey 76, Greece 65

Wednesday, Sept. 1

Russia 89, China 80

Greece 97, Ivory Coast 60

Turkey 79, Puerto Rico 77

Thursday, Sept. 2

Ivory Coast 88, Puerto Rico 79

Russia 73, Greece 69

Turkey 87, China 40

Group D
At Izmir, Turkey
Team	GP	W	L	Pts
x-Lithuania	5	5	0	10
x-Spain	5	3	2	8
x-New Zealand	5	3	2	8
x-France	5	3	2	8
Lebanon	5	1	4	6
Canada	5	0	5	5
Saturday, Aug. 28

Lithuania 92, New Zealand 79

Lebanon 81, Canada 71

France 72, Spain 66

Sunday, Aug. 29

Lithuania 70, Canada 68

France 86, Lebanon 59

Spain 101, New Zealand 84

Tuesday, Aug. 31

New Zealand 108, Lebanon 76

France 68, Canada 63

Lithuania 76, Spain 73

Wednesday, Sept. 1

New Zealand 71, Canada 61

Spain 91, Lebanon 57

Lithuania 69, France 55

Thursday, Sept. 2

Spain 89, Canada 67

Lithuania 84, Lebanon 66

New Zealand 82, France 70

Eighth-Finals
At Istanbul
Saturday, Sept. 4
At Istanbul

Serbia 73, Croatia 72

Spain 80, Greece 72

Sunday, Sept. 5

Slovenia 87, Australia 58

Turkey 95, France 77

Monday, Sept. 6

United States 121, Angola 66

Russia 78, New Zealand 56

Tuesday, Sept. 7

Lithuania 78, China 67

Argentina 93, Brazil 89

Quarterfinals
At Istanbul
Wednesday, Sept. 8

Serbia 92, Spain 89

Turkey 95, Slovenia 68

Thursday, Sept. 9

United States 89, Russia 79

Lithuania 104, Argentina 85

Classification Semifinals
At Istanbul
Friday, Sept. 10

Spain 97, Slovenia 80

Argentina 73, Russia 61

Medal Round
At Istanbul
Saturday, Sept. 11

Semifinal — United States vs. Lithuania, Noon

Semifinal — Serbia vs. Turkey, 2:30 p.m.

Seventh/Eighth Place — Slovenia vs. Russia, 9 a.m.

Finals
At Istanbul
Sunday, Sept. 12

Fifth/Sixth Place — Spain vs. Argentina, 9 a.m.

Bronze Medal — United States-Lithuania loser vs. Serbia-Turkey loser, Noon

Gold Medal — United States-Lithuania winner vs. Serbia-Turkey winner, 2:30 p.m.

U.S. probes '85 fire at Koen rights office

SPRINGFIELD (UPI) A fire at the headquarters of a civil rightsgroup headed by the Rev. Charles Koen, a gubernatorial candidate, isbeing investigated by federal authorities, investigators said.

The fire gutted Koen's United Front headquarters in Cairo onSept. 19, 1985. James Elder, special agent in charge of the federalBureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms in St. Louis, said the blazeclearly was arson.

Koen is the Illinois Independent Party candidate for governor.He is executive director of United Front and a Cairo alderman.

United Front was active in the 1960s and 1970s promoting civilrights in southern Illinois. The group led the drive to integrateCairo's restaurants and a city pool.

Prosecutor in Ted Stevens case commits suicide

WASHINGTON (AP) — A Justice Department prosecutor killed himself while under investigation over whether he and other attorneys in the prosecution of Sen. Ted Stevens acted improperly in the case, officials said.

Nicholas A. Marsh, 37, committed suicide on Sunday, two years after being part of the Justice Department team that convicted Stevens on corruption charges that were eventually thrown out. Marsh's suicide was confirmed by his lawyer, Robert Luskin.

"I think Nick loved being a prosecutor and I think he was incredibly fearful that this would prevent him from continuing to work for the Justice Department," Luskin said Monday. "It's incredibly tragic after all this time when we were on the verge of a successful resolution."

The prosecutors in the Stevens case failed to disclose evidence favorable to the defendant as Supreme Court precedent requires. The omission was so serious that Attorney General Eric Holder stepped in and asked a federal judge to throw out Stevens' convictions, which the judge did, while taking the additional step of appointing a prominent Washington attorney, Henry Schuelke, to investigate possible improprieties by the prosecutors.

"My general sense is that with the direction things are going, I really would have been shocked if Hank had done anything other than exonerate Nick Marsh," said Luskin, who called the suicide a "terrible tragedy."

Luskin said his impression was that the investigation was drawing to a close.

"I think we were within shouting distance of the finish line," the attorney said.

Stevens, a longtime Republican senator from Alaska, lost his Senate seat in an election shortly after his October 2008 conviction. He died in a plane crash in Alaska in August.

Lanny Breuer, the assistant attorney general in charge of the Justice Department's criminal division, said, "Our deepest sympathies go out to Nick's family and friends on this sad day. The Department of Justice is a community, and today our community is mourning the loss of this dedicated young attorney."

During the Schuelke investigation, Marsh had been transferred from the department's Public Integrity Section, which handles corruption probes. Marsh most recently been working in the department's Office of International Affairs.

"Notwithstanding the unfounded accusations recently made against him, he took his ethical and professional obligations as seriously as any prosecutor or lawyer I've ever met," Joshua Berman, a former prosecutor and close friend of Marsh, said in a statement.

Ryan Howard's 7th grand slam ties Phillies record

Ryan Howard has hit his seventh career grand slam, tying Hall of Famer Mike Schmidt for the Philadelphia Phillies record.

Howard hit a 1-1 pitch from St. Louis Cardinals right-hander Kyle Lohse well over the right-field wall, an estimated 428 feet, in the fifth inning Monday night to put the Phillies ahead 6-1. It was his second slam of the season after connecting off the Nationals' Shairon Martis last Monday in Philadelphia.

The homer was Howard's fifth of the season, and his seventh in 59 career at-bats at 4-year-old Busch Stadium.

Howard was born in St. Louis and went to Missouri State University.