Abdul Rahman discloses Sayed Khail investigates said the two suspects had ordered women to leave before the blast. Six lawmakers were among the dead, but most of the victims were believed to be schoolchildren. Afghan President Hamid Karzai watched honor guards carry the lawmakers' coffins down a red carpet at Kabul's main airport Wednesday, after they were flown from the blast site, north of the capital. Hundreds of mourners gathered at a mosque near the blast site in the town of Baghlan-i-Jadid before moving to a hilltop graveyard to bury most of the dead. Either McCain will be the last 20th century president, or Obama will be the first 21st. --Virtues, to be sureYou don't have to be a Democrat to admire Obama's sweeping eloquence, and you don't have to be a Republican to admire McCain's raw physical courage. Barack Obama's campaign has done well among independents in some states and hoped to in California. In Los Angeles County, problems for independent voters were compounded by a unique voting system that required them to mark the party designation in addition to the candidatePaul Drugan, executive assistant with the Los Angeles County registrar-recorder's office, acknowledged that hundreds of ballots might be thrown out because the party bubble wasn't marked. Clinton would require people to buy health insurance; not so for Obama or Edwards. But those details probably won't make an enormous difference in the White House.

At least 40 people were wounded, police said. "Shrapnel hit my chest and my head . 11 in Iowa, and moving on to New Hampshire and South Carolina . Did I want to be some dreamer hippie loser, or a person who understands that change emerges from hard work and conflict? "People are projecting an awful lot onto him," Mom said . Goldman Sachs Group this month plans to launch a market that would allow private investment firms to offer stock in themselves to well-heeled investors -- without going public. The first firm stepping up to try the brokerage's market: Oaktree Capital Management, one of the largest private investment outfits in Southern California. Los Angeles-based Oaktree is best known as an investor in "distressed" assets, including bonds of struggling companies . 2 e-mail, noting that there would soon be a change of administrations in Washington. "It wouldn't be a bad idea to distance yourself from a process that has become largely discredited, or at least distinguish yourself as one of the good guys, an ethical prosecutor trying to do the right thing," Frakt wrote. On Sept. Chad Dreier, saw his pay plunge 55%. The idea of linking pay to performance has been around for decades.

Mitt Romney and won decisively among independents who voted in the GOP primary, an exit poll showed . A key barometer of their success will be interest rates in money markets, which have generally fallen since the announcements Dec . They argued with the abbot and ordered stunned and frightened survivors to leave, said Pone Nya, an assistant to the abbot. "They were informed that if they continued to stay in this monastery they would be put in jail," the 25-year-old monk said in an interview Wednesday. "These local officials told us the refugees are from all walks of life, good men, bad men and rebels," Pone Nya added . She wanted to meet with other Clinton delegates privately, but was refused. So, no surprise, Allred decided to take her case to the media. She tied a cloth napkin around her mouth and distributed a flier asking the question: "Why is Gloria being gagged?"Later, she said she wanted to "fight for Obama, but first I want to honor the votes that were cast for Clinton. "--One more time for 3 a. m . We see Taylor and her mom, Michele Gerren, struggling to navigate the sexualized world of fashion, while arguing about whether it's too soon for the young model to start wearing a bra. You want to make him look good. "Lackey did just that, getting Bobby Abreu to ground to second baseman Howie Kendrick, who threw out Melky Cabrera at home, and striking out Alex Rodriguez to end the inning. Guard Sasha Vujacic, who is not injured, didn't play either. . . .

It was an easy ascent, rocky and just slightly muddy from yesterday's rain. Johan took some pictures Jenna pushed ahead . Some of Obama's closest advisors lean toward that pragmatic view. But others, who built the grass-roots organization, worry that linking it too closely to the party could cause the unusual network to unravel -- and squander an extraordinary resource. The Obama machinery relied heavily on idealistic political outsiders committed to breaking free from old ways of doing politics . As soon as the chum appeared, there was a frenzied cyclone of fish, some silvertip and nurse sharks, all of which arrived in seconds . That's why retailers have taken what seems like the path of least resistance, locating in the suburbs instead of the inner city . Life and death took center stage over wins and losses. Then his son, Coby, a good college player at Boise State but on few NBA draft lists, had two bouts with thyroid cancer, the last in 2006. Then Coby made the Lakers, and is a reserve on the team that is currently beating up on his father.

Local Realtors termed the house overpriced, but Cage, a savvy investor, held tight . SOUTH BEND, Ind . In 1967, he led the American League in batting with a . 326 average, home runs with 44 and runs batted in with 121. --Amelie Mauresmo dominated at times and struggled at others in a 6-2, 6-7 (3), 6-2 victory over Kaia Kanepi in the first round of the Pilot Pen tournament at New Haven, Conn . Lakers reserve guard Sasha Vujacic, a restricted free agent, is prepared to leave the team and accept an offer from a European team in the next few days if the Lakers don't make him an offer he deems fair, according to a source in the Vujacic camp who spoke only on the condition of anonymity. The source said Vujacic is seeking a multiyear deal from the Lakers averaging about $5 million a year . My girlfriend is a frequent flier there and they know how to take care of her. The Israeli company's chief executive officer, who fled the country, was arrested in Italy last month after a monthlong manhunt. Tuesday's court ruling did not resolve the land acquisition question.

"Whether he's radical or moderate, the Iranian people chose him. "--daragahiTimes staff writer Tina Susman contributed to this report. . The government said it had seized 23,000 cases of fake and low-quality food valued at $26 million between December and May. Inspectors found traces of dyes, mineral oils, paraffin wax, formaldehyde and malachite green chloride, an antifungal agent used in fish farming that is a suspected carcinogenThe substances had been used in the production of flour, candy, pickles, biscuits, black fungus, melon seeds, bean curd and seafood, said Han, a senior official with the general administration of quality supervision, inspection and quarantine. Hu said most of the cases involved small, unlicensed plants. --mitchell. landsbergGu Bo in The Times' Beijing Bureau contributed to this report. . When he attended Los Angeles High School, he was one of only three Chinese Americans in his class, a classmate said. From an early age, Hong expressed a flair for drawing and sketching . Sure, he said, it's important to make parents aware of the challenges and recruit them into the cause, but "a slick, Fifth Avenue brochure" might not be the best way to reach the many parents who are unemployed, on welfare, or uninterested in the nuances of categorical funding. With Cortines' help, I found out the text was written not by one of the many PR people on the LAUSD payroll, but by an outside contractor . "By providing lists of retail outlets during recalls, USDA's Food Safety Inspection Service will improve public health protection. "The announcement comes on the heels of two serious beef recalls that began in late June and were expanded over the Fourth of July weekend. A Nebraska firm recalled more than 5 million pounds of beef, and an Ohio retailer recalled an "undetermined amount" of ground beef products, both because of suspected E.

At least 10 rebels also were dead, he said. There was no confirmation of his numbers, and the government denied any aerial bombing. . California's top insurance regulator has accused Blue Shield, one of the state's largest health plans, of 1,262 violations of claims-handling laws and regulations that resulted in more than 200 people losing their medical coverage. Calling the allegations "serious violations that completely undermine the public's trust in our healthcare delivery system and are potentially devastating to patients," Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner said he would announce today that he would seek a $12. 6-million fine. Blue Shield called the charges "grossly unfair" and vowed to vigorously contest them and the proposed fine. In a statement issued to The Times on Wednesday, Duncan Ross, president of Blue Shield of California Life & Health Insurance Co. , said "we are outraged by the excessive penalties for nonsubstantive issues," and called the actions "a radical departure from the [Department of Insurance's] widely accepted and long-standing interpretation of the law. ""The department's position penalizes practices that have previously been approved by the department and have been followed for years by all health insurers," Ross said. The company has long maintained that its cancellation practices follow the law and are an important guard against insurance fraud . When their access to Spears dried up, Stern said, they had no incentive to stay on the beat or even in the field. "These guys don't really have any interest in the media or reporting news It was about money . Tu remembers wading up to his neck in an ice-cold river, the bodies of slain comrades floating past as enemy planes swooped down, dropping their bombs. He recalls facing a devil's order the night after the fighting "The leaders told the wounded, 'If you can walk, then go .

"Mexico: Splendor of Thirty Centuries," which traveled from New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art to LACMA in 1991, was the first important American exhibition to fill the colonial gap . Unless requested otherwise, the Los Angeles Times Family Fund makes every effort to acknowledge donations of $100 or more received by Sept . Inspector Frank Garrido of the Los Angeles County Fire Department said she suffered possible fractures to her right leg and pelvis, along with cuts to her forehead and face. The woman, who was not identified, was described as being in her late 40s or early 50s. . "We were in the ninth grade!"When a Los Feliz art house screened Sergio Leone's classic "Once Upon a Time in the West," he asked who wanted to see it with him and was swamped with takers; it was the first time many of the sheltered students had been east of the 405. "I had a mini existential crisis as a 10th-grader," said Charlie Dahlgren, the son of two scientists who says he has spent most of his adult life toiling to write screenplays that live up to what he learned from Hosney . 29 Chevrolet for Richard Childress Racing. Well, not everybody. media," according to the solicitation issued last week. Bidders also will be evaluated on how they will provide analytical reports and customized briefings to the military, "including, but not limited to tone (positive, neutral, negative) and scope of media coverage. "The winner of the contract will probably also be required to develop an Arabic version of the multinational force's website. Attempts by the Associated Press to contact officials connected to the project via telephone and e-mail were not successful Thursday night. The program comes during what has appeared to be a White House effort to take the offensive against critics at a time of doubt about the future of Iraq. Defense Secretary Donald H. It would examine nearly 400,000 loans across the nation -- about 125,000 of them in California -- to see how they could be reworked and made more affordable.

Will their passion push Paul into an independent run?-- Don Frederick--Frederick is one of the writers of The Times' political blog, Top of the Ticket, at latimes. com/topoftheticket. --PREDICTIONSWhy did the polls get it wrong?Shortly before Tuesday's New Hampshire primary, various polls found that Barack Obama, with a late surge, had overcome Hillary Rodham Clinton's once-commanding lead in the Democratic contest Some gave the Illinois senator a double-digit advantage Yet the New York senator beat him 39% to 36% . Similarly, the case has divided Hickman and nearby farm communities. While Porter's backers insist that the man portrayed by prosecutors is a fiction, attendance at Hickman Community Church has dropped off quite a bit. Where all Craig's tractors wound up, nobody seems to know . The seven-bedroom, 9,200-square-foot house is in a gated community. --Writer turns page with sale of homeThe Pacific Palisades home that Basketball Hall of Famer James Worthy and then-wife Angela Wilder bought in 1996, the year they divorced, has been sold for close to $2 million. The five-bedroom, ocean-view house is in the Summit, a gated community with three tennis courts, a pool, a spa, a gym and -- appropriately -- a basketball court . States can't impose taxes that interfere with interstate commerce, but user fees -- which are spent on projects that directly benefit those paying the fees -- are legal .