In his assesses report to informs the Security Council, he described allegations of "indiscriminate and disproportionate" airstrikes by the Sudanese government this year, as well as allegations of crimes committed by rebel forces against international peacekeepers and aid workers. "It appears that the parties to the conflict continue to violate international humanitarian law," he said. But like its rivals, the company keeps its focus on the bottom line. He went to El Salvador and Mexico last May for a mission that was cut short when police beat demonstrators and journalists during an immigrant-rights gathering in MacArthur Park. --duke. helfand. "It's like we get a gift in return finally being able to do this. "But they know others feel differently. Looming is the November ballot initiative that would amend the state Constitution to ban same-sex marriage.

closed a trailer plant in Rialto earlier this year. And it is unclear how much profit dealers are making on their sales . "How he's played the last five, six months, if you beat him, you'll probably win . When Gerald McAfee was hired as comptroller of a small hospital in Downey two decades ago, he quickly convinced his new boss to let him move $1. 6 million of the hospital's money from low-risk, low-yield CDs into a more aggressive bond fund, authorities said. Four months after that authorization, hospital officials were shocked to learn that the account McAfee set up contained just $11, according to court documents . There's too many people and not enough jobs. "Politicians seized on Friday's news, with Democrats blaming Republicans for not doing enough to forestall an economic slowdown and Republicans warning that the Democrats would do even worse if they won the White House in November. On Capitol Hill, Democrats argued that Congress should work quickly to extend unemployment benefits as part of a second stimulus package .

BAGHDAD — Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki on Friday declared a halt to raids on armed Shiite Muslim gangs in Baghdad and southern Iraq, just a day after announcing his intent to carry out operations in districts of the capital that are under de facto control of a key Shiite cleric's militia. The new statement, released by Maliki's office, left unanswered whether the prime minister was retreating or taking a break from his pledge to take on lawless elements often associated by U. S . "Right here in Lancaster. "It's heady talk, and people are listening . Eventually, the Defense Department inspector general began a probe into how the Army handled the incident. The inspector general's report, released in March, was critical of the actions of nine officers, including four generals That report was handed over to Gen William S . Some have already started to downsize or have moved on to other work, leaving vacant spaces that have hurt business for those who remain .

In six years at the Pentagon, Rumsfeld gained a reputation for imposing his own vision on the military, ignoring the advice of experienced veterans. Gates bristles at the comparison. "I have never said a negative thing about Don Rumsfeld," he said . Though Ramirez singled in Pierre in the bottom half of the inning, the Brewers scored again in the second to go up, 3-1, as Mike Cameron tripled into the left-field corner and was singled in by Jason Kendall. Billingsley recovered to strike out the side in the third, the first of his five straight scoreless innings. The Dodgers encountered trouble in the eighth, when Ramon Troncoso took over for Billingsley and gave up back-to-back one-out singles to J. J Hardy and Kapler . None of the residents interviewed said they saw a missile, but some reported hearing a loud hissing sound just before the blast. Grimsley denied that the bus was fired on. --ashraf. khalil . The authors thus became Alpher, Bethe and Gamow, a play on the first letters of the Greek alphabet and a popular name for a theory that dealt with the beginning of the universe. Unfortunately, with two such distinguished physicists listed as coauthors, other scientists incorrectly assumed that Alpher had made only a small contribution to the research. Nonetheless, the paper was published shortly before Alpher was scheduled to defend his thesis and an unprecedented 300 people -- as well as several newspaper reporters -- showed up for the defense. Asked how long the primordial nucleosynthesis would have taken, Alpher replied 300 seconds, and a story in the next day's Washington Post was headlined: "World Began in 5 Minutes, New Theory. "Alpher quickly followed up with a second paper, written with Robert Herman of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, predicting that the radiation from the original explosion was still present in the universe, having cooled to a temperature of about 5 degrees Celsius above absolute zero, or about 450 degrees Fahrenheit below zero. But astronomers were still committed to the steady-state universe, and most did not think it was technically possible to look for the remnant radiation. As a consequence, Alpher's contributions faded from memory and, disheartened, he left academia in 1955 to join General Electric's research laboratory in Schenectady, N. Y. , where he spent 32 years. In 1964, radio astronomers Penzias and Robert Wilson of Bell Telephone Laboratories in Holmdel, N. J. , were tuning their radio telescope with it pointed toward space when they detected a background hissing that could not be explained . We do make our decision based on what we think is best for the show's diverse audience and what's best creatively. "She said their story has been unfolding deliberately in a slow manner to keep interest alive "That's the thing with soap operas," she said. Can you imagine? Faulkner by way of Borges? I wish I could see what he did. "Discreetly drinking a smuggled bottle of beer on the patio at UCLA's Faculty Center, Flanagan has just finished his panel at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books, where he discussed his new novel, "The Unknown Terrorist. " He's by turns jocular and thoughtful as he ponders his triptych -- "Death of a River Guide," "The Sound of One Hand Clapping," "Gould's Book of Fish" -- and his effort with "Terrorist" to strike out in a new direction. Flanagan, in his relationship to his native Tasmania and in his narrative techniques, has long been compared with Faulkner Asked if he tires of hearing this, his voice grows soft. "They just wanted to get Micah some snaps," he said. With the temperature reaching 90 degrees in Palo Alto, the sunken field at Stanford Stadium feeling breezeless and even hotter, UCLA struggled with the weather. Large fans blew mist across the bench and players shoved cooling tubes down into their shoulder pads. Some of the players "were feeling sorry for ourselves in the heat" until coaches lit into them at halftime, tailback Kahlil Bell said. Defensive end Bruce Davis suffered cramps and missed the first few minutes of the second half, staying behind to take extra fluids in the locker room. "It was warm out there," Davis said.

"Our whole thrust is to work to drive down costs. "The settlements followed allegations from state officials that the companies enjoyed too-cozy relationships with drug makers that resulted in money changing hands to push favored medicines. "What we found is that, very often, they would get rebates from the manufacturers but wouldn't pass it along to the plans," said Al Shelden, a senior official in California Atty Gen . By that, I mean that to define an innocent man's guilty plea as "voluntary" and to factor it into a compensation decision sounds like a lawyer's strained attempt to find a loophole. Baugh says the second element was meant to stop frivolous claims. "Hypothetically," he says, "if some guy who was mouthing off and he says he did something he didn't do and later was proved innocent, he contributed to his own incarceration . The rovers' marquee discovery was that a shallow sea once covered portions of the planet's surface. The next craft to visit Mars will be NASA's Phoenix lander, which is scheduled to touch down near the north pole this summer to analyze the large quantities of ice that have been detected just beneath the planet's surface. But the most ambitious mission is MSL, which has the broadest possible mandate: to find out whether Mars was, or might still be, habitable for rudimentary life forms. It also will assess the potential for human settlement, on the assumption that future presidents will carry through on President Bush's plan to send astronauts to Mars this century. Doing all this requires what Crisp called a "souped-up rover. "On first glance, MSL has the vaguely insect-like look of Spirit and Opportunity: a flat, spider-like body with a mast at the front containing cameras to help the rover plot its course across the planet's surface. But there are important differences . Next year it will be held in South America instead. Meanwhile, Moroccan militants flow abroad for training and combat .

Ten Percent. "Nothing is, but what is not. More tolerant IslamThe most interesting part of Bhutto's book is her argument with Samuel Huntington and the rest of the "Clash of Civilizations" crowd, who said that a confrontation between the West and militant Islam was inevitable after the Cold War was resolved . Mark Bradford had just made the catch of his life, Stanford's do-or-die touchdown that last season beat 41-point favorite USC . It was just a hit. "Quick kicksSafety Kevin Ellison (knee) completed the full practice and said he would play against UCLA . Anti-Doping Agency, referring to the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative, the steroid dispensary that allegedly supplied Bonds, along with dozens of other athletes, with illicit drugs .

Of those making between $60,000 and $100,000 a year, 26% described their finances as shaky; 10% of those making more than $100,000, including Fleckenstein, used the same terminology. "I just bought gasoline at $3. 96, and milk is about off the chart," Fleckenstein said in a follow-up interview after participating in the poll, in which he indicated that he had income of more than $100,000 a year . I would have liked to have spent some quality time exploring it . Add the beans, one-fourth teaspoon salt and a pinch of pepper and cook, stirring often, until heated through and fragrant, 3 to 5 minutes . These could well increase a car's price, but drivers could make up for the increase by paying less at the pump. In Germany, automotive fleets are required to achieve an emissions level that's the U. S equivalent of a 40-mpg fuel economy standard Now that's Fahrvergnügen. . Carl Edwards dropped from third to sixth in NASCAR's Chase playoff standings Tuesday after he was docked 25 points for a technical infraction found after his victory Sunday at Dover, Del. The victory had catapulted Edwards to within three points of Chase leader Jeff Gordon and one behind second-place Tony Stewart, but Edwards is now 28 points back. Edwards' Ford failed to meet NASCAR's minimum height requirements in its right-rear fender area during post-race inspection. NASCAR officials believed the violation was unintentional, and that probably was the reason Edwards' penalty was relatively mild for a technical infraction on the Car of Tomorrow. -- Ed HintonTony Raines was fined $15,000 and docked 25 Busch Series points for throwing his helmet at Robby Gordon. Raines was angry at Gordon after Gordon knocked him out of Saturday's race at Dover International Raceway, and he waited on the track for Gordon to pass by under caution. As the Angels paid dearly to acquire Mark Teixeira from the Atlanta Braves, shocking fans accustomed to Team Halo standing pat in July and flaming out in October, Teixeira talked the talk as well. This is not one of those trades where we have to wait two or three years to determine whether the Angels won.

Initially, the parents were concerned that a group of new mothers and fathers were pushing their personal agendas on the school, said Luis Valentino, the director of elementary school services for the area. "The one thing they feared was that someone was coming in to take their seats," Valentino said. No one was displaced, and the program has an equal number of native Spanish and English speakers with the goal that all of them will be fluent in both languages by fifth grade . He also pushed for incentive bonuses for good healthcare results. In the end, the negotiators agreed only to a one-time 1. 6% increase in the Medicare reimbursement rate for dialysis, which will cost taxpayers $400 million over five years, according to the Congressional Budget Office. Thomas' staff and DaVita officials said the campaign contributions and the congressman's ties to Abernathy played no role in his championing of the dialysis cause. "Bill Thomas makes policy decisions based on the merits of policy, not on campaign contributions," said Rob Vanden Heuvel, spokesman for the ways and means committee. LeAnne Zumwalt, a DaVita vice president, said effective lobbying was important for the dialysis coalition. "Dialysis is the only Medicare program without an annual update for inflation," Zumwalt said, noting that increased funding had earned support across both parties and houses of Congress. DaVita executives called the final decision "a step in the right direction. "The company had also sent contributions to other lawmakers who participated in the secret conference, including the only Democratic lawmaker in the room, Baucus, who received $22,000 from DaVita this cycle, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. A Baucus aide said the Montana senator supported a rate hike because of his concerns about the financial stability of dialysis facilities in his home state . "Having a young-of-the-year shark seems to evoke the exact opposite of the 'something evil' reaction. "Sure enough, the attack on Todd Endris was sensationalized . "Fiction, nonfiction, science, history, autobiographies, the works, I just read across the board. "Just as when he was university president, he still answers every piece of mail he receives and talks to the many people who call him. "The phone is almost a nuisance because it's ringing all the time But again I'm not griping about it . The image bursts with potential, and this potential commands your attention. Weiss has also pointed out, this is not a one-time fix. " Weiss has long fought for increased funding for DNA analysis and spearheaded the city's current proposal. The hastily arranged news conference was the culmination of several months of mounting concern for the mayor, Bratton and top advisors as the LAPD came under increasing criticism for its efforts to reduce the backlog.

If Carson Treasurer Karen Avilla had had a nagging feeling she was being watched whenever she got on her laptop computer, she would have been right. Cyber-thieves were able to shift nearly $450,000 from the city's general fund last week by using a program that was able to mimic the computer strokes made by Carson's financial officer . . California, picked to finish eighth in the Pac-10 under first-year Coach Mike Montgomery, is 7-2 in nonconference play with quality wins over Nevada Las Vegas and Utah. Montgomery doesn't seem that impressed: "We're not anywhere close to a finished product," he said. --chris. dufresneArizona has made 24 straight NCAA tournament appearances. Here's a thought: Before the entire program roof caves in, why not make it 25 straight?Pac piecesWashington State Coach Tony Bennett said last month his players were stepping all over the line trying to adjust to the new three-point distance. UCLA Coach Ben Howland thought moving the arc back one foot would be detrimental to the game, having the opposite effect of what the rule change intended: to unclog the lane and open up the game. How's it going?So far, Pac-10 schools have combined to shoot 37. 6% from the new distance of 20 feet 9 inches . Some officials here view the debate as similar to the one in the U. S . It was probably a combination of all of us. "A losing combination, to be sure. Favre, who has hinted he will play an 18th season but has not committed to returning, completed 19 of 35 passes for 236 yards and two touchdowns. The first touchdown, on a 90-yard pass to Driver, gave the Packers a 7-6 lead in the second quarter . But I've wanted to explore the possibility of a more permanent -- and less obtrusive -- solution, namely Lasik.

"I'm wearing them," his dad told him. David, 22, just graduated from USC's film school and a younger son also wants to get into the movie biz, where a lot of ideas sound great at pitch meetings but no one knows which will go over with the audience. "Some will work, some won't," says Leon Botstein, the Renaissance man conductor and Bard College president, offering his take on Gelb's initiatives at the Met . Ahmad Moussa was struck in the forehead and died instantly, according to paramedics. The shooting followed the latest unruly protest by Nilin residents against the Israeli fence being built across their land . An Army brigade is made up of about 3,500 soldiers. The Marines also face a 1-to-1 deployment ratio, officials said . soldiers discovered a script outlining scenes in which children question and execute hostages, plant bombs and fire rifles, Smith said The second raid was carried out Dec . And then with their audience, they become as comfortable as old shoes. Enrollment at one primary school soared from 50 students a classroom to more than 100. "It's causing us a lot of problems," said Danstone Luseno, a schoolteacher who bought a parcel of Gombe's family property. Chronic unemployment in Nyanza is what drove Doris Awino, 30, and her husband to move away to Nakuru 10 years ago. "There are a lot of bad actors out there. "Indeed, the market is inundated with merchandise that purports to minimize off-gassing or eliminate volatile organic compounds.