Lofa Tatupu and the Seattle Seahawks have agreed to a new contract for the Pro Bowl linebacker through the 2015 season.
The deal includes the final two years on his original contract for the second-round selection in 2005 out of Southern California, plus six …
Behind Black Music Two intriguing critical overviews Boogaloo: The Quintessence of American Popular Music by Arthur Kempton Pantheon, june 2003 $27.50, ISBN 0-375-40612-3
Race Music: Black Cultures From Bebop to Hip-Hop by Guthrie R Ramsey Jr. University of California Press, june 2003 $29.95, ISBN 0-520-21048-4
As legendary jazz saxophonist John Collrane once reflected after reading a Downbeat article deconstructing his sound: "Everybody writing about music don't know what they're talking about." Most serious jazz lovers distrusted many of the declarations coming from noted white so-called music experts, spouting their academic analysis of black music, a majority of their …
The remnants of Tropical Storm Gustav were rumbling northeastward into the Great Lakes early Friday, while rain hit the central Plains and the Northeast and Southwest were toasty warm.
The weakened storm will bring moderate to heavy rain showers and thunderstorms as it treks quickly across the Great Lakes. The mid- and lower Mississippi Valleys will see diminishing rainfall.
Tropical Storm Hanna was expected to gradually increase in speed as it continues moving toward the northwest. Hanna was expected to turn to the north and move near the Southeast Coast by late Friday evening, bringing heavy rains and high winds.
The mid-Atlantic and New England …
A Yemeni court has sentenced in absentia a female journalist to one year in prison for insulting the president.
Anisa Mohammed Ali Othman told The Associated Press Sunday that the two-year-old case over a pair of articles she wrote about corruption and injustice in Yemen was politically motivated.
Othman, who has also …
ELLICOTT CITY, Md. Prosecutors in Linda Tripp's state wiretap casehave subpoenaed five current and former members of special prosecutorKenneth Starr's staff, hoping they may be able to clarify whenTripp's federal immunity took effect.
In subpoenas dated Tuesday, the staff members were ordered toappear at a Dec. 13 hearing by Judge Diane O. Leasure.
Tripp's secretly tape-recorded phone calls with former White Houseintern Monica Lewinsky, in which Lewinsky confided an affair withPresident Clinton, formed the starting point for his impeachment inthe House. The Senate acquitted him.
The Maryland prosecutor argues that the federal immunity agreementdoes not shield …
A look at major attacks in the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia attributed to the al-Qaida-linked Abu Sayyaf group and their allies from the regional terrorist network Jemaah Islamiyah.
— April 1995: Abu Sayyaf militants raid the mostly Christian town of Ipil in southern Philippines, killing more than 50 people after robbing banks and stores and burning the town center.
— April 2000: Abu Sayyaf gunmen seize 21 people, including Western tourists, from a Malaysian resort and take them to their Philippine stronghold on Jolo Island; most are released in exchange for millions of dollars in ransom reportedly paid by Libya.
— May 2001: Americans and other tourists are …
Sotheby's auctioneers is offering a long-lost trove of Impressionist and Modern art.
The 140 works are going on display Friday and will be auctioned later in the month.
They belonged to Parisian art dealer Ambroise Vollard and had not been seen since they were deposited in a Paris bank vault in 1939.
The collection was found in 1979. It had been neglected for decades …
One week after Chicago Public Schools officials announced that four "underperforming" schools will be shuttered, angry parents, students, teachers and community activists board buses and descended on City Hall, demanding a meeting with Mayor Richard Daley to intervene in the decision.
Chanting "You want to close our school? You must be a fool," the protesters marched in an orderly manner around the entire square block of City Hall, eventually ending on the fifth floor to seek an audience with Daley.
The group of protesters represented George W. Collins High School, 1313 S. Sacramento Drive; Samuel F.B. Morse Elementary School, 620 N. Sawyer Ave.; and Frazier Elementary …
A volcano in southern Chile erupted, spewing lava, ash and smoke and forcing the evacuation of scores of people from the area, officials said.
Authorities declared an "early alert" in the area of the Llaima volcano, putting police, firefighters and other services on high readiness in case further evacuations were necessary, the government's Emergency Bureau said in a communique.
The bureau director, Carmen Fernandez, said 150 tourists and a group of employees of the National Forest Service were evacuated from the Conguillio National Park where the volcano is located, some 650 kilometers south of Santiago.
She said if necessary …
Three weeks after the breakup, Guy came to my home. It was the week of his wedding, which he never bothered to mention. I later heard he had been married. I knew Guy had been seeing someone, but he never indicated that it was serious.
We have been having an affair ever since our breakup. Because I love him, I can't say no to him. He'll go through periods where he says he's getting divorced. He even told my mom that. Then he calls and says they're going to work it out. I never pushed. I want him to be …
WASHINGTON Industrial production at the nation's factories,utilities and mines rose by 0.3 percent in November, the 11thconsecutive month of increased output.
The Federal Reserve reported today that the increase followed a0.8 percent gain in October, stronger than the Fed previouslythought.
November's advance was in line with the 0.3 percent range ofincrease many analysts were expecting. Gains in output were fairlybroad-based except for utilities where, as many analysts anticipated,output fell. Unusually warm weather last month depressed demand.
Operating capacity held steady at 81 percent, the same as inOctober. Generally, an operating capacity of 84 percent would alarmeconomists, indicating that factories just can't produce fast enough -which could lead to price increases.
In a separate report, the Commerce Department reported today thatstockpiles of goods on shelves and backlots rose by 0.2 percent inOctober, the smallest gain in six months.
That pushed total business inventories to $1.26 trillion.October's performance was weaker than the 0.4 percent increase manyanalysts were expecting.
While it marked the slowest growth in business inventories sinceApril, when they rose by 0.2 percent, October's gain also marked theninth straight monthly increase this year.
In September, total business inventories rose by 0.4 percent, thefastest pace in six months.
Meanwhile, sales increased by a solid 0.5 percent in October, thelargest gain since August. Sales fell by 0.2 percent in September,the first decline since the beginning of the year.
The increase in October's sales brought the inventory-to-salesratio to 1.33, meaning it would take 1.33 months to exhaustinventories at the October sales pace.
Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan and his colleagues meetnext week to decide whether to boost interest rates. Many economistsbelieve the central bank will leave rates unchanged, citing concernsabout problems that might arise from the Y2K computer changeover.However, the Fed is expected to bump up rates again in February orMarch because the economy is still growing at a rapid pace that couldspark inflation down the road, economists said.
STILLWATER, Okla. (AP) — With nonconference play winding down, two Big 12 South schools will meet in an early divisional showdown to remain undefeated.
One team is from Oklahoma, the other from Texas. No, not the Sooners and the Longhorns. This week's lone Big 12 game between undefeated teams is not the Red River Rivalry, but Texas A&M (3-0) at Oklahoma State (3-0) on Thursday night.
Both teams come in without a blemish on their records, but also without much acclaim leading into the nationally televised showcase. It's the first time the Aggies have been on TV this season.
"As long as we play every game like we're supposed to, we'll be where we want to be at the end of the year. It's OK that we haven't been on TV, we'll get our time eventually," said Von Miller, A&M's ace pass rusher.
The game provides the winner the early position as the top challenger to perennial powers Oklahoma and Texas in the Big 12 South, and perhaps a shot at cracking the Top 25.
"Our coaching staff has enjoyed being under the radar, but our players understand the importance of performing in big games," Cowboys coach Mike Gundy said. "We want them to relax, we want them to go out and have fun and play hard and play with great effort."
Oklahoma State will be trying to carry over its momentum from an eye-popping offensive start. The Cowboys lead the nation with 596 yards of total offense per game and boast the country's No. 1 receiver (Justin Blackmon, 144 ypg), No. 3 passer (Brandon Weeden, 325 ypg) and No. 3 rusher (Kendall Hunter, 158 ypg).
They've scored 65 points in two of their three games, blowouts against Washington State and Tulsa, and edged Troy 41-38 in between.
Texas A&M opened with back-to-back routs and is trying to get back on track after a sloppy 27-20 win against Florida International.
"We had a blowout game and a big confidence-booster, and they had a bit of a scare," OSU cornerback Andrew McGee said. "Now, that could help them in a way, too, because I think it helped us against Troy. It kind of (brought) us back to reality, that you can't sleep on anybody."
The Aggies also started last season 3-0 but followed the hot start with a three-game losing streak that included a second-straight loss to Oklahoma State. The slide started when Arkansas put up 30 consecutive points in turning the Southwest Classic into a 47-19 rout.
"We're a year older and a year wiser. I don't think we're as fragile as we were a year ago," Aggies coach Mike Sherman said. "When things went south in the fourth ballgame last year against Arkansas, and they went south very fast, I don't think we handled that very well.
"I think our team is more mentally mature to be able to handle the adversity and the bumps in the road that come in a game. If you can't handle those things, it's difficult to win games consistently."
Texas A&M showed early signs of being able to handle hard times when Jerrod Johnson, the conference's preseason offensive player of the year, threw interceptions on four straight drives to start the second half against Florida International. The Aggies trailed 20-6 at the start of the fourth quarter, then came back with 21 unanswered points to win.
"It was a game that keeps us humble," linebacker Garrick Williams said. "We faced adversity, and maybe last year we wouldn't have gotten out of that. This year, I think we are able to fight through that and we are ready for things like that."
Oklahoma State, which is averaging three takeaways per game, will by trying to get Johnson rattled again.
"All the offense revolves around him," defensive tackle Nigel Nicholas said. "So if we just keep him unsettled and hit him a couple times and get him frustrated and impatient, we should come out with the win."
The Cowboys will be trying to win three straight games for the first time in a series they trail 17-8. Texas A&M had won 10 of the previous 12 games, including one-point decisions in 2006 and 2007, before OSU's recent success.
"They're going to be fired up to beat us since we beat them last year," Nicholas said. "We know we've got to come with it, play them like it's any other team, play like it's any other game."
BRUSSELS (AP) — NATO says it wasn't targeting Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi when it bombed the presidential compound in Tripoli, saying it was trying instead to set the stage for diplomacy.
The NATO operation's commander, Canadian Lt. Gen. Charles Bouchard, said Tuesday the attack on the Bab al-Aziziya complex was aimed at an army command center.
Bouchard said the complex is "a military compound in which there are various houses and residences ... and various military command and control nodes throughout."
A Libyan government spokesman called Monday's bombing an assassination attempt.
Bouchard said he doubted Gadhafi was in the building, adding: "This is about bringing an end to the violence and shaping an environment for dialogue and diplomacy."
Clockwise from left, Ken Buetow (NCI) presents the latest initiatives with caBIG (cancer Biomedical Informatics Grid) to build a more richly interconnected health car ecosystem; Craig Lips off the e-clinical track by discussing mobile and Internet-based technologies to foster patient-centric clinical trials; and Les Jordan (Micr Dft) announcing Microsoft's decision to spin off the BiolT Alliance as an independent body, with the blessing of charter sponsors HP, Accelrys, and Thermo Fisher, focused on standards for translational research.
The U.S. government agreed to allow a Native American lacrosse team to travel to England for a world championship competition under passports issued by the Iroquois Confederacy, officials said Wednesday.
Tonya Gonnella Frichner, a member of the Onondaga Nation who works with the team, said the State Department dropped a demand that the players and their entourage travel using higher-security U.S. passports. The team members regard U.S. government-issued documents as an attack on their identity.
The team still needs British visas to attend the Lacrosse World Championship in Manchester, England. The British government said previously it wouldn't give the players visas if they could not guarantee they'd be allowed to go home.
A British Consulate spokeswoman couldn't immediately say whether the visas were forthcoming.
"I am relieved that this bureaucratic technicality has been papered over and these young men can go and do what they have trained to do: play lacrosse and compete on the international scene," Rep. Louise Slaughter, D-N.Y., said Wednesday.
Slaughter said in a statement she had spoken Wednesday with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton about the case and they "agreed that the issue ought to be resolved."
U.S. officials previously informed the team that new security rules for international travelers meant that their old passports _ low-tech, partly handwritten documents issued by the Iroquois Confederacy of six Indian nations _ wouldn't be honored.
The team needs to get on a Wednesday flight to make a Thursday evening game.
The Iroquois Confederacy oversees land that stretches from upstate New York into Ontario, Canada.
On Tuesday, the 23 members of the squad arrived at a Delta terminal at Kennedy International Airport wearing team jackets and shirts. Their manager, Ansley Jemison, didn't expect to be allowed to board their flight to Amsterdam and wasn't surprised to be turned away at the check-in desk.
But by showing up, the team avoided forfeiting its tickets. Airline officials said they would allow the squad to rebook its flight for Wednesday without penalty if it secured the proper documents, according to Jemison.
___
Associated Press writer Matthew Lee in Washington contributed to this report.
Russia's industrial production shrank by 16 percent in January compared to the same month a year ago, the government statistics agency said Monday.
Industrial output was down even more sharply _ by 20 percent _ compared to December, the Federal Statistics Agency said in a monthly report.
Russia's economy is struggling with plunging commodity prices which have already wiped out 35 percent off the value of the national currency and depleted the country's foreign reserves.
The Kremlin's top economic advisor warned last week that Russia was on the way to run an 8 percent budget deficit this year.
Italian internet service provider Tiscali SpA said Tuesday its net loss narrowed after the company made some disposals and acquired more profitable businesses.
The net loss for the nine months through Sept. 30 narrowed to euro8.8 million (US$12.9 million), compared with euro67.2 million in the same period a year earlier, the company said in a statement. Revenue rose 26 percent to euro614.3 million (US$897.4 million).
In July, Tiscali agreed to buy the broadband and voice divisions of the Britain's Pipex Communications Plc for 210 million pounds (euro310 million, US$427 million).
Based in Cagliari, Sardinia, Tiscali said in a statement that it saw Pipex broadband and voice operations generating 300 million pounds (euro442 million, US$609 million) in revenues in 2007. The deal raised the number of Tiscali's subscribers in the United Kingdom to 1.9 million.
In addition, Tiscali sold its operations in the Netherlands, Germany and the Czech Republic to focus on Britain and Italy.
Shares in the company gained 2.2 percent to euro2.355 (US$3.44) in Milan.
CHICAGO (AP) — Oprah has made way for Rosie.
Oprah Winfrey and Rosie O'Donnell unveiled a sign Thursday in front of Chicago's Harpo Studios. It reads: "Harpo Studios. The Rosie Show. Former Home of The Oprah Winfrey Show." O'Donnell has started work in the same studio where Winfrey taped her talk show until it ended in May after 25 years.
O'Donnell's one-hour talk show debuts next month on the Oprah Winfrey Network. She calls the opportunity a "thrill and an honor." Winfrey says she's happy her former studio "gets to rise up and be passed up in the name of entertainment."
Winfrey says she and O'Donnell "collaborate on everything."
O'Donnell says she's bought a Chicago home and Winfrey says she still keeps an office at Harpo Studios.
