176 items found for your search. If no results were found please broaden your search.
(01/14/08 5:28am)
A second body was recovered Sunday in the search for four children allegedly thrown from a coastal bridge by their father, Mobile, Ala., County sheriff’s Sgt. Jerry Taylor said. The body was found by a search team near where a duck hunter found the body of an infant about five miles west of the bridge in a marshy area on Saturday, the sheriff said.
(01/11/08 2:14am)
Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts, the 2004 Democratic presidential nominee, endorsed Sen. Barack Obama for the White House Thursday in a timely slap at Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton as well as his own vice presidential running mate. Quoting a black American hero in endorsing the man who hopes to be the first black president, Kerry told a cheering crowd, “Martin Luther King said the time is always right to do what is right.” Now is the time, Kerry said, to declare “that Barack Obama can be, will be and should be the next president of the United States.”
(01/10/08 4:37am)
President Bush, in the Mideast to push along a peace deal by the end of his presidency, gave orders to both sides on Wednesday. He told Israelis that “illegal” outposts in disputed land must go and told Palestinians that no part of their territories can be “a safe haven for terrorists.” On that, Bush was echoing his ally and host, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who said in their joint news conference that “there will be no peace” unless attacks are halted from all parts of the Palestinian territories. He added, however, that both sides “are very seriously trying to move forward” on a peace agreement.
(01/07/08 4:02am)
A suicide bomber driving an explosives-laden truck filled with sand struck a police station north of Baghdad on Saturday, the latest in a week of bombings that have killed nearly 80 people. The truck was allowed through the main gate of the complex in Beiji, the site of Iraq’s largest refinery, after the driver told the guards he was delivering the sand to a construction site inside. The driver detonated his payload when two policemen approached him as he tried to enter a parking lot, police said. The blast, which damaged nearby homes and sent shards of glass flying through the air, killed eight people and wounded 16, police said.
(01/07/08 3:59am)
President Mikhail Saakashvili headed for victory in Saturday’s Georgian election, according to an exit poll in the former Soviet republic, where he is fighting accusations of authoritarian tendencies four years after coming to power as a champion of democracy. Saakashvili’s supporters waved flags and tooted car horns in the capital after the exit poll showed him winning 53.8 percent of the vote. But the poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points — casting doubt on whether the president would hang onto the absolute majority needed to avoid a runoff.
(12/07/07 2:21am)
Hundreds of thousands of strapped homeowners could get some relief from a plan negotiated by the Bush administration to freeze interest rates on subprime mortgages that are scheduled to rise in the coming months. Bush said 1.2 million people could be eligible for help, but only a fraction will be subject to the rate freeze. Others would get assistance in refinancing with their lenders and moving into loans secured by the Federal Housing Administration.
(12/06/07 5:17am)
LOS ANGELES – The TV industry braced Tuesday for what could become a long strike by writers, even as both sides returned to the bargaining table.\nLeslie Moonves, chief executive officer of CBS Corp., told an investor conference in New York that he was hopeful but “not terribly optimistic.”\nThe two sides conceded there were likely to be ratings shortfalls if the five-week strike dragged on, Moonves said. Programming costs would fall as well, resulting in no significant financial impact to the network in the short to medium term, Moonves said.\nBargaining resumed in Los Angeles after a four-day recess, with a relatively scant $21 million separating contract proposals by studios and striking Hollywood writers.\nThe more telling figure involves the $20,000-plus that writers now earn for a single network rerun of a TV episode and the $250 the studios are offering for a year’s online reuse of an hour-long show. That represents the chasm between the old business order and burgeoning new media faced by negotiators as they try to end the strike, now in its fifth week.\nThe strike shut down production on dozens of prime-time and late-night shows, sending a number of programs into reruns.\nStill, Moonves said CBS viewers will be served.\n“We are prepared to have a full schedule” in the spring, he said. “We’re certainly not going to go dark.”\nHe said the schedule will include programs from Showtime, the network’s sister cable channel that offers daring fare including “Weeds” and “Dexter,” a serial-killer drama.\nThe shows will be edited for network use, a CBS spokesman said.\nThe walkout could soon affect the development of pilot episodes, which networks use to determine which series they will order for the next season. The process typically begins early in the year.\n“If the strike is protracted, pilot season will be potentially ruined. Everything starts from the script,” said Matt Edelman, a film and TV producer who now is chief executive officer of a lifestyle Web site, PeopleJam Inc.\nHowever, Marc Berman, an analyst for Mediaweek, noted that networks have been cutting back on pilots for several years to save money.\nLast Thursday, before negotiations recessed, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers said it was willing to offer $130 million in extra pay over the life of its proposed three-year deal, on top of the $1.3 billion already paid annually to writers.\nThe Writers Guild of America countered by saying the proposal only addressed advertising-supported programs streamed for free on the Web and jurisdiction over shows made for the Internet. It said the offer constituted a “massive rollback.”\nThe writers said their plan, also presented Thursday, would cost producers $151 million over three years. Details of that plan were not publicly disclosed.\nHowever, citing an unidentified person close to guild negotiators, the Hollywood Reporter trade publication said the union was proposing fixed compensation rates that also are graduated in increments tied to viewership.\nDavid W. Rips, director of the media and entertainment practice at Deloitte Consulting, said there wasn’t enough information about the value of digital distribution to “have a legitimate negotiation” on compensation.\nHe suggested the alliance offer was an attempt to shift the decision a few years into a better-informed future.\n“I’m surprised producers offered a flat fee at all,” Rips said. “I don’t think they would even be tacitly acknowledging that there’s any relationship between that payment and real revenue.”
(12/06/07 5:11am)
WASHINGTON – Ol’ Blue Eyes will get his own postage stamp next spring.\nThe stamp commemorating Frank Sinatra was announced Wednesday by Postmaster General John Potter, who called the crooner “an extraordinary \nentertainer whose life and work left an indelible impression on American culture.”\n“His recordings, concert performances and film work place him among America’s top artists, and his legendary gift for transforming popular song into art is a rare feat that few have been able to replicate,” Potter said.\nThe stamp image will be unveiled next Wednesday – Sinatra’s birthday – at a ceremony in Beverly Hills, Calif.\nWhile the stamp will be for first-class mail, the rate has not been announced. Currently the letter rate is 41 cents, but the postal governing board is thought likely to raise the price next year.\nUnder new rules a hike in the letter rate would be limited to the rate of inflation, probably to 42 cents if it does go up in the spring.\nDuring his career, Sinatra won an Oscar, several Grammy awards and was recognized at the Kennedy Center Honors in 1983. President Reagan awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1985.\nHe was born in Hoboken, N.J., in 1915 and died in 1998. The Hoboken Post Office was renamed in his honor in 2002.
(12/04/07 2:49am)
A mass grave with the remains of 12 people was unearthed in an area long controlled by al-Qaida in Iraq, officials said Monday. Two of the decomposed bodies were beheaded, according to an official at Fallujah General Hospital, where the bodies were taken after their discovery on Sunday. Hospital officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not permitted to release details of the discovery, said some appeared to have been killed as recently as four months ago, and some of the deaths dated to 18 months ago.
(11/26/07 2:55am)
Labor leader Kevin Rudd appeared set for a sweeping victory in elections in Australia on Saturday, a win that would end a conservative era and usher in major changes to policies on global warming and the Iraq war. A Labor win would also hand outgoing Prime Minister John Howard a humiliating end to a career in which he became Australia’s second-longest serving leader, and who appeared almost unassailable as little as one year ago. Potentially adding insult to injury, Howard was among government lawmakers in danger of losing his seat in Parliament – a result that would make him only the second sitting prime minister in 106 years of federal government to be dumped from the legislature.\nOfficial figures from the Australian Electoral Commission showed Labor in front with more than 60 percent of the ballots counted.
(11/26/07 2:54am)
The police action came a week before parliamentary elections and a day after authorities detained anti-government demonstrators, including former chess champion Garry Kasparov, after a Moscow rally.\nAbout 100 activists holding white flowers gathered near the Yabloko party headquarters and headed to a downtown site where they were to hold a rally, when some younger protesters unfurled banners of the banned National Bolshevik Party.\nPolice moved in, detaining young marchers first and then several dozen other protesters.\nWhen several hundred demonstrators reached the Dvortsovaya Square in front of the State Hermitage Museum, they found it tightly blocked by riot police. Police quickly rounded up another 50-70 protesters.\nThe violence occurred amid an election campaign in which some opposition political groups have been sidelined by new election rules or have complained of being hobbled by official harassment.\nOn Saturday, Russian authorities arrested Kasparov, one of President Vladimir Putin’s harshest critics, and sentenced him to five days in prison after he helped lead a protest.\nKasparov was charged with organizing an unsanctioned procession of at least 1,500 people against Putin, chanting anti-government slogans and resisting arrest, court documents said. His assistant said he was beaten during the demonstration.\nAt the hastily organized trial, two police testified that they had been ordered before the rally to arrest Kasparov.\nThe Kremlin has mounted a major campaign to produce a crushing victory for Putin’s United Russia party in December elections – perhaps to ensure that Putin can continue to rule Russia even after he steps down as president in May.\nThe constitution prevents him from serving three consecutive terms.
(11/15/07 5:00am)
Vince Vaughn has done it again. And again. And again. And again. \nThe major criticism of Vaughn's work is that he always plays the same character -- a lovable oaf whose wink-and-a-one-liner combination can charm the pants off anyone. Vaughn started the trend with his breakout role in "Swingers" and, save a few detours, he has stayed on that same character path. \nVaughn's latest turn as the title character in "Fred Claus" is more of the same. The movie opens on the birth of Nicholas Claus in a fairy-tale cottage long ago. When the huge baby pops out and says, "Ho ho ho," the family is delighted, and Frederick promises to be the best big brother ever. However, as Nicholas becomes known for his giving nature, Frederick grows bitter. \nFlash forward to present day. Fred is a repo man; Nick (Paul Giamatti) is Santa Claus. Fred hates his family, but through a series of events he is forced to visit the North Pole for the first time. Throw in an efficiency expert (Kevin Spacey), a love-struck elf, an orphan who wants a puppy and an injured Santa, and you have a recipe for fun. \nThe movie's problem is that it contains so few surprises. Sure, Vaughn's one-liners keep the movie rolling, but there is no spark. Had "Fred Claus" gone the way of "Bad Santa" instead of pimping the same old Santa myth and the importance of family and forgiveness, it might have been a winner. Instead, it's a mediocre feel-good flop. \nEven the "special" effects are lame. Take, for example, a laughable scene in which a trail of light darts through stock film shots of skyways to show that Santa's sleigh is traveling around the world. The most disturbing effect, however, is the superimposing of average-sized actors' faces on the heads of little people. Ludacris as an elf-DJ is both creepy and distracting. \nI wasn't expecting "Fred Claus" to be a revelation in the film industry or in Vaughn's career, but I just hope at this point he's exhausted every possible role in which he says, "Let's get hopped up and make some bad decisions." Kids will love "Fred" and parents won't mind seeing it with them, but if Vaughn doesn't change his momentum, this could be the nail in the coffin of his career.
(11/15/07 5:00am)
They say ghosts only return to haunt the living because they have unresolved issues. With American Gangster, Jay-Z rises from the dead (again) to redeem his last comeback album and prove he's not a finished businessman; he's got unfinished business, man. \nOn Jigga's 13th studio release, he's well-aware of his other-worldly status, never hesitating to remind us that he's still the "best rapper alive." But unlike last year's disappointing brag-fest Kingdom Come, American Gangster finds Hova dropping verses that are more thought-provoking than ego-stroking. \nLike the '70s-era mobster flick it's inspired by, American Gangster tells a big-screen-worthy drug-dealer drama that's more than just a promotion of thug life. For 15 impeccable tracks, an older, wiser Shawn Carter explores the forces that shaped his ascent from the streets of Brooklyn to corporate offices in New York City. \nOn the soulful "Say Hello," Jay waxes socioeconomic: "We ain't thugs for the sake of being thugs / Nobody do that where we grew at, nigga duh ... We ain't doing crimes just for the sake of doing crimes / We move the dimes 'cause we ain't doin' fine." \nHova traces his career path back to his old stomping grounds on the Lil Wayne duet "Hello Brooklyn 2.0," a love song addressed to the city responsible for his miseducation. "Hello Brooklyn, you bad influence / Look what you had me doin', but I ain't mad at you," Jay raps over a bass-y Beastie Boys sample. \nOf course, there's still plenty of old-fashioned thug talk on American Gangster. Take the minimalist Neptunes-produced masterpiece "Blue Magic," in which Jigga pulls out enough drug puns make your head spin: "D.A. wanna indict me / 'Cause fish scales in my veins like a Pisces." The difference is that this time we actually believe him when he says he's not glorifying his blood-and-coke-soaked past with these sorts of lyrics; he's just being biographical. \nMusically, American Gangster makes good on its promise to take listeners back to the days of drug kingpin Frank Lucas. Hova does the hustle over samples of Marvin Gaye ("American Dreamin'") and Curtis Mayfield ("American Gangster"); and on the thunderous "Success," he shares a booming organ groove with former nemesis Nas. \nJay goes period again on "Roc Boys," a horn-heavy toast to his Roc-A-Fella empire. At the end of the track, CEO Carter proudly proclaims, "This is black superhero music." And while American Gangster shows that Jay-Z the rapper is nearly invincible, the album also provides listeners with an intimate glimpse into Shawn Carter, the boy from Brooklyn who was forced to play the cards he was dealt. Now, if you can't respect that, your whole perspective is wack.
(11/15/07 5:00am)
The line:\n"Number 69. Mmm. That sounds like the kind of thing I'd like."
(11/01/07 1:08am)
A powerful bomb ripped through a bus in central Russia Wednesday morning, killing eight people and wounding at least 53 in what one official called a terror attack. Investigators were trying to determine whether the explosive device was carried by a passenger or had been planted somewhere on the bus in the city of Togliatti, according to Russian news agencies. Yuri Rozhin, the head of a local branch of Russia’s Federal Security Service, said the bomb could have been detonated by a suicide attacker, the ITAR-Tass news agency reported.\nFloodwaters and mudslides spawned by Tropical Storm Noel killed at least 48 people in the Dominican Republic and Haiti, officials said Wednesday, raising the death toll as the storm regained force over water and curved toward Florida and the Bahamas. Hardest-hit by the sluggish storm were the Dominican Republic and Haiti on the island of Hispaniola, where thousands fled their homes and others sought refuge on rooftops. The U.S. National Hurricane Center said the storm’s center had emerged over the Atlantic and was regaining force after slogging across Cuba.
(10/29/07 1:53am)
U.S. forces will turn over security to Iraqi authorities in the southern Shiite province of Karbala on Monday, the American commander for the area said, despite fighting between rival militia factions that has killed dozens. Karbala will become only the eighth of Iraq’s 18 provinces to revert to Iraqi control, despite President Bush’s prediction in January that the Iraqi government would have responsibility for security in all of the provinces by November. But the target date has slipped repeatedly, highlighting the difficulties in developing Iraqi police forces and the slow pace of economic and political progress in areas still troubled by daily violence.
(10/11/07 2:50am)
NEW YORK – Britney Spears’ “Blackout” is coming sooner than expected.\nThe pop star’s highly anticipated new album will be released Oct. 30, Jive Records announced Wednesday, citing Internet leaks as the reason the date was moved up from Nov. 13.\nJive said it “is doing everything possible to prevent and avoid any further illegal distribution of songs,” including the leaking of “unfinished material and demos represented as completed legitimate songs” to the Internet.\nSpears’ new song, “Gimme More,” is the first single from “Blackout.” It is rising on the music charts – it jumped from No. 68 to No. 3 on Billboard’s Hot 100 last week – despite the pop star’s personal woes.\nSpears, 25, was ordered last week to temporarily surrender custody of her sons, Sean Preston, 2, and Jayden James, 1, to ex-husband Kevin Federline. Another custody hearing is set for Oct. 26.\nA day earlier, on Oct. 25, Spears is required to appear in a Los Angeles court to face charges of a hit-and-run and driving without a valid license.\nThe charges stem from an Aug. 6 wreck during which paparazzi filmed Spears steering her car into another vehicle as she tried to turn into a spot in a Studio City parking lot. The video showed her walking away after assessing the damage to her own car. The owner of the other car filed a police report three days later.
(10/09/07 3:39am)
INDIANAPOLIS – Butler University has received grants of $5.3 million from the Richard M. Fairbanks Foundation and $5 million from businessman Frank Levinson, a 1975 Butler graduate.\nBoth grants will be used for improvements in Butler’s science program and for the university’s first supercomputer, already nicknamed ‘Big Dawg’ in a word play on the school’s Bulldogs mascot.\nLevinson said that while Big Dawg is already in operation, it will be upgraded in the next few weeks to be eight times as fast.\nA university spokesman said Levinson’s donation is the largest individual gift so far in the $125 million ButlerRising fundraising campaign.
(10/09/07 3:39am)
TERRE HAUTE – A 15-member search committee has been named to help find a new president for Indiana State University.\nThe committee members include Terre Haute Mayor Kevin Burke and ISU trustees Ronald Carpenter and Brooks LaPlante, along with school administrators, professors and the alumni association president.\nThe search committee is to have its first meeting Oct. 18 and will be working with a consulting firm picked by school trustees last month.\nThe new president will succeed Lloyd Benjamin III, who is stepping down next June after seven years as president.\nISU board of trustees President Michael Alley said school officials hope to select the new president by the end of February.
(10/03/07 4:31am)
WEST LAFAYETTE – Purdue University will focus on increasing retention and graduation rates under a strategic plan taking shape under new President France Cordova.\nCordova will also form work groups of students, faculty, staff and community members to advise steps on student experience, campus design, interdisciplinary research, and quality of life for faculty and staff.\nCordova expects the strategic plan to be presented to the trustees by May.\n“We need a stronger focus on student success,” she told school trustees Friday.\nShe also named more research funding as one of the plan’s top goals.\n“Our aspiration is for Purdue to be a top-rank global research institution,” she said.\nPurdue’s previous plan lasted seven years and ended this summer with the retirement of Cordova’s predecessor, Martin Jischke.\nTrustees heard a presentation on retention and graduation rates. Several thought Purdue needed to be more selective to strengthen its academic reputation.\n“We’re letting in kids that don’t make it,” trustee William Oesterle said.\nThe school has a six-year graduation rate of 70.7 percent for students enrolled in 2001. The average for the peer schools that Purdue compares itself with is 80.9 percent.\nPurdue’s one-year retention rate is 84.8 percent, while peer schools kept 92.2 percent of their students.