Region

Pope surprises with post-surgery blessing

By Alyson Brodsy and Brian Murphy · Sunday, Feb. 27,2005 11:41 p.m.

VATICAN CITY -- Touching his throat fitted with a breathing tube, Pope John Paul II on Sunday made a surprise first public appearance after surgery, appearing at his hospital window just moments after a Vatican official stood on the steps of St. Peter's Basilica to read the pontiff's appeal for prayers. The 84-year-old pope did not speak during his one-minute greeting from Rome's Gemelli Polyclinic hospital, but sent an implicit and powerful message about his determination to maintain continuity in the church.

'Public Parts' considers questions of love

By Patrick Doolin · Sunday, Feb. 27,2005 11:40 p.m.

Billed as a comedy, Rich Orloff's one-act "Public Parts" takes a hard, quick look at love, sex, relationships, getting ahead in life and other things people pretend to know more about than they really do. It is the latest addition of the Bloomington Playwright Project's Dark Alley series, which opened this weekend.

In with the 'in' minutes

By Melanie Sims · Sunday, Feb. 27,2005 11:26 p.m.

Judge me not by my lyric-less cell phone ringtone. Quite frankly, I don't have enough daytime minutes to hold off on my chit-chat while you laughingly play "name that tune" to the beep, beep, beeps of my old school, polyphonic audio ring. My ego bruises easy, so even if I'm using daytime, nighttime or Verizon's "in" minutes -- I can't deal with the jokes about a couple of my ringtones not including actual voices or instrument-produced music.

Iran, Russia sign nuclear fuel agreement

By Alyson Brodsy and Ali Akbar Dareini · Sunday, Feb. 27,2005 11:08 p.m.

BUSHEHR, Iran -- Iran and Russia ignored U.S. objections and signed a nuclear fuel agreement Sunday that is key to bringing Tehran's first reactor online by mid-2006. The long-delayed deal, signed at the heavily guarded Bushehr nuclear facility in southern Iran, dramatized President Bush's failure to persuade the Russians to curtail support for the Iranian nuclear program during his summit with Vladimir Putin Thursday in Slovakia.

The concern over Iran's nuclear power

By Ambrosia Borowski · Sunday, Feb. 27,2005 11:03 p.m.

Nuclear weapons have been a topic of concern since the development of the atomic bomb during World War I. But with President Bush's recent tour of Europe, they have become the backbone of political discourse.

Syrian officials hand over Saddam's half-brother

By Alyson Brodsy and Todd Pitman · Sunday, Feb. 27,2005 10:59 p.m.

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Iraqi officials said Sunday that Syria captured and handed over Saddam Hussein's half brother, a most-wanted leader in the Sunni-based insurgency, ending months of Syrian denials that it was harboring fugitives from the ousted Saddam regime. Iraq authorities said Damascus acted in a gesture of goodwill.

Kinsey Confidential

By Ab D. Phillip · Friday, Feb. 25,2005 2:32 p.m.

Question: My boyfriend and I have been together for seven months.

Homecourt Security

By John Rodgers · Friday, Feb. 25,2005 1:26 a.m.

Throughout the Big Ten season, the IU men's basketball team has relied on Assembly Hall. While the Hoosiers have struggled on the road, IU's bastion of hope is a home-court advantage that has afforded them a 6-0 home record in the conference.

Coming off opening win, 3 foes await IU

By Andrew Shaffer · Friday, Feb. 25,2005 1:23 a.m.

Fresh off his 22nd-straight opening day win at home, IU coach Bob Morgan will travel with the baseball team to Millington, Tenn., to the Service Academics Classic to play three games in three days.

Vote for Pedro narrowly captures IUSA election

By Colleen Corley · Friday, Feb. 25,2005 1:23 a.m.

Newly elected IUSA President-elect Alex Shortle has hardly slept in the past four days. After three weeks of campaigning, his Vote for Pedro ticket narrowly defeated runner-up Kirkwood in the closest IUSA election in history.

A clash on the 'Old Path'

By Sam Nissen · Friday, Feb. 25,2005 1:23 a.m.

More than 100 students, protesters and counterprotesters blocked the walkways between Ballantine and Woodburn Halls as student groups and religious demonstrators clashed Thursday afternoon.

Vaden, White win IUSA seats

Friday, Feb. 25,2005 1:23 a.m.

After deciding to withdraw from the IU Student Association elections, IU freshmen basketball players Robert Vaden and D.J. White won a seat in Congress anyway.

Pope undergoes tracheotomy to aid breathing

By Victor L. Simpson · Friday, Feb. 25,2005 1:23 a.m.

VATICAN CITY -- Pope John Paul II underwent a successful operation Thursday night to insert a tube in his throat to relieve his breathing problems, hours after he was rushed back to the hospital for the second time in a month with flu-like symptoms of fever and congestion, the Vatican said.

Scary 2nd half ruins IU's upset attempt

By Dan Click · Friday, Feb. 25,2005 1:22 a.m.

As much as IU has tried to get away from nightmarish halves in conference play, the Hoosiers were haunted again last night in the second half. IU's most recent episode resulted in a 52-35 loss to No. 15 Minnesota Thursday, only hitting three of their 27 shots after the break. The Hoosiers' 35 points stand as the second fewest allowed by Minnesota in their history.

Finish line in sight as Big Tens kick off

By Rob DeWitte and Rob eWitte · Friday, Feb. 25,2005 1:21 a.m.

When an IU track and field athlete looks back at his career, only two indoor meets matter -- the Big Ten Championships and the NCAA Championships.

No. 6 IU rides momentum to West Coast

By Steve Brennan · Friday, Feb. 25,2005 1:20 a.m.

The IU water polo team has posted a 4-3 record so far this season, with losses to the No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3 teams in the nation. Competition will be tough again this weekend as 19 of the top 20 teams in the nation await the Hoosiers in Santa Barbara, Calif., at the Gaucho Invitational. Still, the No. 6 Hoosiers are ready.

30 killed in attacks across Iraq Thursday

By Todd Pitman · Friday, Feb. 25,2005 1:15 a.m.

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- A suicide bomber wearing a police uniform blew up his car at police headquarters in Tikrit, killing at least 15 people in Saddam Hussein's hometown in the bloodiest of several attacks Thursday that claimed 30 lives. Two American soldiers were among the dead.

Around The Game

By Alyson Brodsy · Friday, Feb. 25,2005 12:51 a.m.

IU hockey team will hold senior game at 9 p.m. tonight IU's club hockey team is finishing its season on a high note. The team ended with a 19-8-2 record and will be heading to Rochester, Mich. with a No. 1 seed in the national tournament this Tuesday. The team will honor its graduating seniors at 9 p.m. tonight at the Frank Southern Ice Arena in Bloomington.

Improving Hoosiers prepare for Tulsa tourney

By Tim O Brien and Tim O'Brien · Friday, Feb. 25,2005 12:50 a.m.

With tournaments in Las Vegas and Baton Rouge, La. now behind them, the IU women's softball team will travel to Oklahoma this weekend for the Holiday Inn-Select Tulsa Festival. Last weekend after winning their first two games in Louisiana, one of which included pitcher Megan Roark's complete game no-hitter, the Hoosiers lost their next two games against Southern University and a nationally ranked LSU team.

No. 27 Hoosiers to face an 'upsetter' in Western Mich.

By Andy Romey · Friday, Feb. 25,2005 12:48 a.m.

No. 65 Ohio State, No. 41 Purdue and No. 45 Illinois -- all of these teams have something in common, and it's not that they're all in the Big Ten. Western Michigan's women's tennis team has upset all of them.