UNIONDALE, New York (AP) -- Brother Kenneth M. Hoagland had heard all the stories about prom-night debauchery at his Long Island high school:Students putting down $10,000 to rent a party house in the Hamptons.Pre-prom cocktail parties followed by a trip to the dance in a liquor-loaded limo.Fathers chartering a boat for their children's late-night "booze cruise."Enough was enough, Hoagland said. So the principal of Kellenberg Memorial High School canceled the spring prom in a 2,000-word letter to parents this fall."It is not primarily the sex/booze/drugs that surround this event, as problematic as they might be; it is rather the flaunting of affluence, assuming exaggerated expenses, a pursuit of vanity for vanity's sake -- in a word, financial decadence," Hoagland said, fed up with what he called the "bacchanalian aspects.""Each year it gets worse -- becomes more exaggerated, more expensive, more emotionally traumatic," he said."We are withdrawing from the battle and allowing the parents full responsibility. [Kellenberg] is willing to sponsor a prom, but not an orgy."The move brought a mixed, albeit passionate, reaction from students and parents at the Roman Catholic school, which is owned by the Society of Mary (Marianists), a religious order of priests and brothers."I don't think it's fair, obviously, that they canceled prom," said senior Alyssa Johnson of Westbury. "There are problems with the prom, but I don't think their reasons or the actions they took solved anything."Hoagland began talking about the future of the prom last spring after 46 Kellenberg seniors made a $10,000 down payment on a $20,000 rental in the Hamptons for a post-prom party.When school officials found out, they forced the students to cancel the deal; the kids got their money back and the prom went on as planned.But some parents went ahead and rented a Hamptons house anyway, Hoagland said.Amy Best, an associate professor of sociology and anthropology at George Mason University in Virginia and the author of "Prom Night: Youth, Schools and Popular Culture," said this is the first time she has heard of a school canceling the prom for such reasons."A lot of people have lamented the growing consumption that surrounds the prom," she said, noting it is not uncommon for students to pay $1,000 on the dance and surrounding folderol: expensive dresses, tuxedo rentals, flowers, limousines, pre- and post-prom parties.Best pinned some of the blame for the burgeoning costs on parents, who are often willing to open their wallets for whatever their child demands."It is a huge misperception that the kids themselves are totally driving this," she said.Edward Lawson, the father of a Kellenberg senior, said he and other parents are discussing whether to organize a prom without the sponsorship of the 2,500-student school."This is my fourth child to go through Kellenberg and I don't think they have a right to judge what goes on after the prom," he said. "They put everybody in the category of drinkers and drug addicts. I don't believe that's the right thing to do."Some parents waiting to pick up their children on a recent afternoon said they support Hoagland."The school has excellent values," said Margaret Cameron of Plainview. "We send our children here because we support the values and the administration of the school and I totally back everything they do."Hoagland said in an interview that parents, who pay $6,025 in annual tuition, have expressed appreciation for his stern stand."For some, it [the letter] was an eye-opener," he said. "Others feel relieved that the pressure is off of them."Chris Laine, a senior from Rockville Centre, said the cancellation was "unfortunate, but you can't really argue with the facts they present. ... It's just what it's evolved into. It's not what it was 20, 30 or 40 years ago. It's turned into something it wasn't originally intended to be."Besides, Laine noted, the senior class still has a four-day trip to Disney World scheduled for April."We go to all the parks with our friends," Laine said just before hopping into his jet-black Infiniti and driving off to meet friends for an after-school snack."We fly down together and stay in the same hotel and so it's not like we're totally losing everything."Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

NORFOLK, Virginia (AP) -- A testing company that incorrectly scored online versions of Virginia's high school exit exam has offered $5,000 scholarships to five students who were blocked from graduating.The five students had already failed the English portion of the Standards of Learning test and had retaken it over the summer.In all, Pearson Educational Measurement told 60 Virginia students they had failed when they had actually passed. Students typically first take the exam in their junior year and are allowed to retake it. Five were prevented from graduating because of the error.Roanoke school officials alerted the company to the problem September 27 after discovering a student who had passed was listed as failing, said Charles B. Pyle, Virginia Department of Education spokesman.Pearson recently won a $139.9 million contract to take over the state's SOL testing program next year. It had been subcontracting the work."This is not common at all," said David Hakensen, Pearson's vice president for public relations. "This is a very unusual occurrence for us."In 2000, a Pearson scoring error caused 8,000 Minnesota students to flunk and kept 50 seniors from graduating. The company offered $7 million to wronged students in a mass settlement.Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

CHICAGO, Illinois (Reuters) -- U.S. online travel agencies like Expedia and Orbitz are increasingly setting their sights overseas, especially in Europe where vacations are longer, as U.S. demand rises more slowly.Foreign markets, where low-cost airlines are adding more routes, are ripe for one-stop online shops where users can book flights, hotels and rental cars all at once, experts say."Definitely the growth has slowed in the U.S.," even though it is far from saturated, said Lorraine Sileo of PhoCusWright, a travel research company. "The growth overseas is particularly in Europe, the UK, Germany, France."International growth far outpaces that in the United States, where online travel agencies have a huge footprint.PhoCusWright data show that gross U.S. bookings for U.S. online travel agencies grew 19 percent in 2005, down from 21 percent a year earlier and 33 percent in 2003.By contrast, international gross bookings increased by 115 percent so far this year, up from 97 percent in full-year 2004 and 109 percent in 2003, PhoCusWright said.European vacation habits are key to expanding regional online travel, said Ronen Stauber, chief executive of Consumer Travel International Markets at Cendant Corp., which owns Orbitz, the No. 3 U.S.-based online travel agency."Europeans, unlike Americans, actually take vacations," he said. "When you do that across more people with more vacation days, it just opens up more opportunities."Orbitz, together with market leaders Expedia, the lead brand of Expedia Inc., and Travelocity, a unit of Sabre Holdings Corp., control about 77 percent of online travel bookings."We clearly do believe that we'll continue to see growth in Europe on par with the States," Stauber said.Europe lags the United States in the adoption of Internet commerce, with online travel booking trends mirroring American ones a few years ago.Asian countries, with large populations, also are a solid growth area for online travel companies, but Internet penetration lags Europe by a few years, PhoCusWright said.Cendant, which purchased Orbitz in 2004, has been expanding its online travel business in Europe, most notably with the acquisitions of Britain's Ebookers Plc, owner of Europe's No. 2 travel site, and British distributor Gullivers Travel Associates.Expedia's former parent, IAC/InteractiveCorp., last year bought a 52 percent stake in eLong Inc., the second largest online travel agency in China.But Expedia generally prefers creating new operations abroad rather than acquiring existing businesses, Dennis said. Last year, Expedia launched branded sites in Italy and France."We started investing overseas quite a while ago -- for at least the last five or six years," said David Dennis, Expedia spokesman. "We continue to branch that out."Copyright 2005 Reuters. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (AP) -- Jeanie Reavis has come for Mardi Gras and Jazzfest and Creole Christmas, dozens of trips to the city she loves. She will head to New Orleans again Monday, undeterred by the destruction she witnessed on her TV screen from 700 miles away. She says she has to."Everyone thinks I'm crazy, but everyone that knows me knew that as soon as it was open I'd be getting down there," said the 54-year-old secretary from Loami, Illinois, near Springfield. "I really need to see it."With the French Quarter, the city's main tourist draw, spared from most of Hurricane Katrina's wrath, visitors are beginning to trickle back and others are vowing to keep upcoming reservations.Reavis will visit New Orleans with her husband, as they have more than 30 times before, though this time will be more a pilgrimage than a vacation."For me, New Orleans is my favorite place in the world," Reavis said. "My only reservation is that I'm sure I'm going to cry when I see it."She may be surprised.Bourbon Street is already alive with drink-guzzling, bead-tossing, music-blaring action, though much of it is generated by relief and reconstruction workers, reporters, locals and military personnel, who represent a big chunk of New Orleans' current population."The city's coming back to life," said 41-year-old Treila Griffin of St. Joseph, Missouri, enjoying a cigarette and a drink served in one of the city's trademark cups shaped like a hand grenade. "They're not going to let it take them down, that's for sure."The dichotomy of the city is stark.Revelers enjoy a weekend night at a strip club or on the balcony of a bar while other residents return to neighborhoods nearly washed away by the storm. Restaurants that are open grapple with inadequate staffing and use paper and plastic instead of china and glass, while some New Orleanians debate bulldozing their homes or whether to return at all."You've got to start rebuilding somewhere," said Eric Bansch, a 21-year-old student from College Station, Texas, visiting New Orleans with friends. "They can still party. That's what I like to see."Kim Priez, vice president of tourism for the New Orleans Convention and Visitors Bureau, said the city is officially reopening to travelers on January 1, though she is frequently encountering those who can't wait."It's not going to be quite where we used to be," Priez said. "But if they know that, then we're welcoming them."Priez notes that businesses are slowly reopening, but many remain shuttered. Visitors who previously made reservations are advised to call hotels to be sure they've reopened. The status of landmark establishments is as varied as everything else here -- revered beignet stop Cafe Du Monde is due to reopen Wednesday, but the National D-Day Museum will likely remain closed for months.Steve Litvin, a hospitality and tourism professor at the College of Charleston in South Carolina, said he'd be surprised if New Orleans sees many visitors in the next year."Tourists can go wherever it is they wish, when they wish," he said. "When a tourist picks their destination of choice, the choice will be someplace without problems. Why go somewhere that will provide anything less than a wonderful experience?"It's clear, though, the emotional attachment of many to this city -- its architecture, its food, its music, and everything else that makes it unique -- would bring them back.Mike Zaborowski knows he may not be able to do everything he'd like when he visits November 2 from Newark, Ohio, but he's not willing to cancel a trip he's been planning since last year."It's not that I want to see the devastation," the 51-year-old park ranger said. "I just want to enjoy the French Quarter like I did all the other years."Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

BEIJING, China (AP) -- The two astronauts on China's second manned space flight landed Monday to a heroes' welcome. Beijing called the five-day mission a boost for the ruling Communist Party and announced its next ambition: a space walk by 2007.The Shenzhou 6 capsule with astronauts Fei Junlong and Nie Haisheng aboard landed by parachute at 4:32 a.m. local time in China's northern grasslands, a flight meant to boost Beijing's global stature and domestic support for its rulers.Crews rushed to the site in helicopters and off-road vehicles. State television showed the astronauts climbing out of their kettle-shaped capsule with the help of two technicians and clambering down a ladder in the pre-dawn darkness.They smiled, waved to the cheering ground crew, accepted bouquets of flowers and sat in metal chairs beside the capsule."I want to thank the people for their love and care. Thank you very much," Fei said.The country's No. 2 leader, Wu Bangguo, who watched the landing from the Beijing mission control center, declared the flight a success."This will further improve the country's international status and national strength, and will help to mobilize its people to rally around the Communist Party and work harder for the future of the country," Wu said in a brief speech to technicians.Tang Xiangming, director of the China Manned Space Engineering Office, told a news conference that the next step for China's space program was to develop the ability for astronauts to work outside their capsule and to dock with other craft."Our estimate is that around 2007 we will be able to achieve extravehicular activity by our astronauts and they will walk in space," Tang said. He said the program also might recruit women in its next group of astronaut candidates.Fei and Nie blasted off Wednesday from a base in China's desert northwest, almost exactly two years after the first Chinese manned space flight made this only the third country to send a human into orbit on its own, after Russia and the United States.In a break with the military-linked space program's usual intense secrecy, state media lavished coverage on this mission -- a decision that paid off in an outpouring of patriotic excitement."Today, every son of the Yellow Emperor feels very proud," said Shanghai furniture salesman Zhang Jinhua, 34, referring to the legendary founder of the Chinese nation.Communist leaders hope that such pride will shore up their standing at a time of public frustration at corruption, wrenching economic change and a growing gap between rich and poor.State media showed playful scenes of Fei and Nie in orbit, turning somersaults and setting morsels of food floating in zero gravity.On Monday, state television showed technicians at the Beijing control center, once a closely guarded secret, cheering when word came that the astronauts were safe.After a snack of noodles, tea and chocolate, Fei and Nie were flown to Beijing and a heroes' welcome.On the tarmac in the Chinese capital, Defense Minister Cao Gangchuan saluted them and other members of the astronaut corps embraced them, one with tears in his eyes.Fei and Nie, both military men and former fighter pilots, rode in an open car in a parade through a military facility.Dressed in blue jumpsuits and white gloves, they waved to thousands of cheering soldiers and groups of children as musicians beat Chinese drums and cymbals. "Welcome the space heroes," said a banner hung along the route.Shenzhou 6 flew 2 million miles in 115 hours and 32 minutes in space, the official Xinhua News Agency said. The mission was far longer and more complex than the 2003 flight, when astronaut Yang Liwei orbited for 21 1/2 hours.The government already has announced plans to land an unmanned probe on the Moon by 2010 and eventually to send up an orbiting laboratory.The Shenzhou 6 is a modified version of Russia's Soyuz capsule. China also bought Russian technology for spacesuits, life-support systems and other equipment. But space officials say all the items launched into orbit were Chinese-made.Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The National Zoo's giant panda cub, known to its keepers simply as "the Cub" since his birth 100 days ago, finally has a name: Tai Shan, which means "peaceful mountain."The name received 44 percent of the estimated 200,000 votes cast on the zoo's Web site, zoo officials said Monday.The panda went without a name for its first hundred days in observance of a Chinese custom. It's rare for pandas born in captivity to live more than a few days, and keeping the animals nameless is seen as a way to trick fate into letting them survive.The cub wasn't present at his naming ceremony. Zoo officials say he probably won't be making his public debut until sometime in December, since his mother is still quite protective of him.Panda fans celebrated the 100-day milestone at a zoo ceremony featuring performances by Chinese dance troops and martial artists. Officials from China delivered speeches toasting the fuzzy little cub.Tai Shan, pronounced "tie-SHON," spent the morning with his mother, Mei Xiang, in a den that's still off limits to zoo visitors. His handlers are slowly introducing him to the exhibit enclosure where he's expected to go on public view within the next couple months.The male cub, born July 9, is the first giant panda born at the National Zoo to survive more than a few weeks. The mother, Mei Xiang, and the father, Tian Tian, are on a 10-year loan from China. The cub will be sent to China when it is 2.The panda cub recently took its first steps and zoo examiners say its teeth have started coming in. They said the cub has begun to exhibit signs that he's ready to play. On Sunday, Mei Xiang was resting on her platform when the cub stretched up and touched his nose hers, then swatted her with his paw. When the mother came down from the platform and picked him up, he squirmed and swatted her again.Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

BOISE, Idaho (AP) -- From the moment Joan Kingsford first saw her husband stagger in his welding shop, she wanted two things: His recovery and to know what made him sick.She got neither. Alvin Kingsford, 72, died recently of suspected sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, the fatal brain-wasting illness. The disease can only be conclusively diagnosed with an autopsy, which Kingsford declined to allow.State and federal health officials are trying to get to the bottom of nine reported cases of suspected sporadic CJD in Idaho this year. Sporadic, or naturally occurring, CJD differs from the permutation dubbed variant CJD, which is caused by eating mad-cow-tainted beef and has killed at least 180 people in the United Kingdom and continental Europe since the 1990s."One thing is very clear in Idaho -- the number seems to be higher than the number reported in previous years," said Dr. Ermias Belay, a CJD expert with the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "So far, the investigations have not found any evidence of any exposure that might be common among the cases."Normally, sporadic CJD only strikes about one person in a million each year, with an average of just 300 cases per year in the United States, or just over one case a year in Idaho. Over the past two decades, the most cases reported in Idaho in a single year has been three.Until this year.Of the nine suspected cases reported so far in 2005, three tested positive for an infectious disease of the nervous system, though more tests are pending to determine if the fatal illness was in fact sporadic CJD. Four apparent victims were buried without autopsies. Two suspected cases tested negative.Still, federal and state health officials are stopping just short of calling the Idaho cases a "cluster," waiting for final test results from the victims who got autopsies.The best tool of investigators to pin down the diagnosis -- the autopsy -- is sometimes hard to get, said Tom Shanahan with the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare.Pathologists are often reluctant to perform the procedures, the cost of an autopsy can be high and some families are reluctant to give their consent, officials say.Joan Kingsford wanted an autopsy done on her husband, but no mortician in the area would agree to handle Alvin's body after his brain cavity had been opened. They feared they would catch the rare disease, Kingsford said.Ultimately, she opted to skip the autopsy and have a traditional funeral service."A week before he passed away, the funeral homes said they wouldn't take the blood out" if an autopsy was done on him, she said. "They just put some embalming in him and told me I had to have a funeral in three days."CJD is transmitted through a malformed prion found primarily in the brain and spinal fluid of those infected, Belay said. Standard sterilization procedures don't eliminate the risk of infection; instead equipment must be soaked in a chemical solution for more than an hour and then heated, according to the World Health Organization.Mortuary procedures -- including embalming -- can be done safely on intact bodies of CJD victims as long as extra precautions are taken, but the World Health Organization does not recommend embalming patients who have had autopsies.Larry Whitaker, a Beaverton, Oregon-based regional salesman for the embalming chemical and equipment manufacturer Dodge Company, offers workshops to his clients on safe handling of CJD-infected bodies."When the brain has been removed, it is an extraordinary risk," Whitaker said. "This is one time I think that cremation has to be more than mildly considered."A member of the Mormon Church, Joan Kingsford's church discourages cremation. She was thrown into making a decision about her husband's remains much sooner than she expected."It was two and a half months before we knew what was wrong with him, and by that time he was in the hospital," she said. "I wish we could have done the autopsy, because I think people need to know about this.""We definitely have a problem in Idaho," she added.Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

(CNN) -- Adam Silvas was riding his all-terrain vehicle through the Pennsylvania woods when he came across a woman acting "really weird," standing near another woman, who was bloody, pregnant and lying on the ground by a car. "I initially thought it was a murder," he told CNN affiliate WTAE in Pittsburgh. Silvas, 17, went and got help. He's being hailed as a hero for saving the lives of Valerie Oskin, 30, and her son, who was born by Caesarean section at a hospital hours after the attack on Wednesday. Oskin's neighbor, Peggy Jo Conner, 38, is charged with attempted homicide, aggravated assault and aggravated assault of an unborn child. She is in jail.Silvas recalled the strange series of events in Armstrong County for WTAE on Friday. (See Silvas on the video -- 3:11)"When I first saw it, I knew it was foul play because it was just very suspicious happening. The lady acted really weird," he said.Conner told him "everything was fine," he said. He said he was going into the woods to ride, and she "smiled and waved at me.""I didn't really say too much because I knew something was wrong. I had seen somebody laying beside the car," he recalled. Instead he said he raced -- heart pounding, a lump in his throat -- back home to get his father, Andrew Silvas. The two rushed back to the site, unsure what they would find. "It was pretty frightening," the father told WTAE. "You just don't know what you're going to get into when you head out for something like that, especially in remote areas like that." When they arrived, he said, the woman who was standing had "an eerie calm about her." He asked her what she was doing. "She said, 'Nothing, nothing.'" She told him she was planning to take the bloodied woman to the hospital. "How come you didn't ask my son for help?" he said he asked. "She replied, 'I don't know.'" The father then told his son to get back to the house and tell his mother to call 911. As they waited for police, Adam Silvas said he saw that Oskin had severe wounds but was conscious. She later identified Conner as her attacker, police said. (Full story)He said he got some blankets when he heard her mumble that she was cold and wanted a warm shower. Conner seemed "spaced out, like she was hollow. She barely said a word," Silvas said. Adam Silvas said he doesn't want to be viewed as a hero, although he's extremely happy that Oskin and her baby are doing well.His father said, "I'm extremely proud of him. He handled himself very well."

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Notes by the New York Times' Judith Miller that were turned over in a criminal investigation contain the name of a covert CIA officer, but the reporter has told prosecutors she cannot recall who disclosed the name, the newspaper reported Saturday.The prosecutor in the case asked Miller in recent days to explain how Valerie Plame -- misspelled in those notes as "Valerie Flame" -- appeared in the same notebook the reporter used in interviewing her confidential source, Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, according to the Times.In response to questioning by Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald, Miller replied that she "didn't think" she heard Plame's name from Cheney's aide, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby."I said I believed the information came from another source, whom I could not recall," Miller wrote, recounting her testimony for an article that the newspaper posted on its Web site Saturday afternoon."Valerie Flame" actually was the name in the notebook, and the Times said Miller should have written Valerie Plame.Fitzgerald has focused on three conversations Miller had with Libby as the prosecutor investigates whether a crime was committed in the leaking of Plame's identity to reporters.The public disclosure of Plame's identify followed strong criticism of the Bush administration by Plame's husband, former U.S. Ambassador Joseph Wilson.The newspaper said that Miller and Libby met for breakfast at a hotel near the White House on July 8, 2003, two days after Wilson stated that the Bush administration had manipulated prewar intelligence to exaggerate the Iraqi threat. Miller had been assigned to write a story about the failure to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.The notebook Miller used for that July 8 interview includes the reference to "Valerie Flame." But Miller said that name did not appear in the same portion of her notebook as the interview notes from Libby, according to the Times.At the breakfast, Libby provided a detail about Wilson's wife, saying she worked in a CIA unit known as Winpac. The name stands for weapons intelligence, nonproliferation and arms control. Miller said she understood this to mean that Wilson's wife was an analyst rather than an undercover operative.In a July 12, 2003, phone call with Libby, another variant on Plame's name appears in Miller's notes -- "Victoria Wilson." The newspapers account Saturday says that by the time of the July 12 phone call, Miller had called other sources about Wilson's wife. The Times said Miller would not discuss her sources for the newspaper's account.Miller spent 85 days in a federal jail in Virginia for refusing to cooperate with Fitzgerald's investigation. Other reporters already had cooperated with the prosecutor.Miller relented when she received a personal waiver of confidentiality in September from her source. Miller then testified before the grand jury in late September and this month.The Times said Fitzgerald questioned Miller about a letter that Libby sent her while she was in jail. Libby assured her that he wanted her to testify, but the letter also said, according to the Times, "the public report of every other reporter's testimony makes clear that they did not discuss Ms. Plame's name or identity with me."Fitzgerald questioned Miller about Libby's letter, the newspaper said. Miller said she told Fitzgerald in her sworn testimony that the letter could be perceived as an effort by Libby "to suggest that I, too, would say that we had not discussed Ms. Plame's identity." But she added, "My notes suggested that we had discussed her job."Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

CULVER CITY, California (AP) -- Paris Hilton says she isn't giving up "The Simple Life" just yet."We're shooting November 1," said the 24-year-old hotel heiress, who had a front-row seat at the Louis Verdad fashion show Sunday. "All the networks are fighting over it."Fox said last week it had canceled the reality show starring Hilton and Nicole Richie. The network said its midseason schedule didn't have a time slot for a fourth season of the show, prompting speculation the feuding ex-friends no longer proved compatible.Hilton said she and Richie will continue working on "The Simple Life" because other networks want it.Last week, 20th Century Fox Television, the studio that produces the show, said it hopes "The Simple Life" will move to another network -- with Hilton and Richie."We believe this series ... is still a dynamic and valuable franchise," the studio said. "We hope to be able to announce a new network partner in the coming days."Bunim-Murray Productions, which produces the show with 20th Century Fox, also released a hopeful statement: "We're very excited about the creative plans for the next group of episodes, and are confident this situation will be remedied quickly."Hilton's friend Kimberly Stewart, Rod Stewart's 26-year-old daughter, dismissed as "rumor" reports that she had been touted as a replacement for Richie.But Stewart was coy about doing a future project with Hilton, telling reporters Sunday, "You never know."In April, Hilton issued a terse statement saying it was "no big secret that Nicole and I are no longer friends. Nicole knows what she did, and that's all I'm ever going to say about it."Hilton has given no reason for the split.Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

NEW YORK (AP) -- Like the novels and essays that made her famous, Joan Didion is sad-eyed, even-voiced and pared to the bone, as if all excess had been burned off by her deep and doubting mind.The author of "Slouching Towards Bethlehem," "Play It as It Lays" and other acclaimed books has always looked like someone for whom life was harder than expected, a weary soul endlessly under trial, but her burden has never been greater than over the past couple of years.She need not leave home to be reminded.The 70-year-old Didion sat for a recent interview in the same room, the living room, where her husband and writing partner, John Gregory Dunne, collapsed and died in 2003 of a heart attack. Their daughter, Quintana, was hospitalized at the time with pneumonia and septic shock.It is all recorded, indelibly, in her new and most personal work, "The Year of Magical Thinking." Famous for her dissections of cultural matters ranging from hippies and politics to the kidnapping of Patty Hearst, Didion has now assembled a narrative out of the chaos of her own grief."You know what was odd about the book?" she says during the interview, wearing a long, cream-colored blouse and purple slacks, leaning forward in a small, wicker-backed armchair. "I didn't think of it as writing. I didn't think of it as written ... until I saw the copy-edited version.""We tell ourselves stories in order to live," Didion wrote in her essay collection, "The White Album." But this story was at first untellable. For months, she wrote nothing. After agreeing to cover the 2004 Democratic National Convention, as an assignment for The New York Review of Books, she found herself in tears on the floor of Boston's Fleet Center and fled in panic, unable to console herself by pretending she was acting in a Hitchcock movie.But once she could concentrate, she worked quickly. Her book about Dunne was a race against the deadline of her own emotions, she says. She finished it over the last three months of 2004, so as not lose a sense of "rawness.""There was nothing between me and the page," she says.Her risk has apparently triumphed. Reviewers have been deeply moved, with The New York Times' Michiko Kakutani calling it "an utterly shattering book" and The Washington Post's Jonathan Yardley praising its "surpassing clarity and honesty." Within days of publication, Alfred A. Knopf reprinted "Magical Thinking" five times, for a total of 100,000 copies."On the first day it went on sale, it seemed like every third person who came into the store was buying her book," says Toby Cox, owner of the Three Lives & Company bookstore in New York.'Don't do that'"The Year of Magical Thinking" begins with the death itself, a December night when Dunne was in a living room chair by the fire, drinking Scotch, while Didion was preparing dinner. The two were discussing Scotch, or World War I -- Didion doesn't remember -- when he suddenly fell silent and slumped in his chair."At first I thought he was making a failed joke," she writes. "I remember saying, 'Don't do that.' "She writes of dialing the emergency number she always thought she'd use for a neighbor in distress, not for herself, and learning as she entered the hospital that she had been assigned a social worker, an omen of Dunne's fate. Inside, she recalls asking if her husband has died, and hearing the social worker assure the doctor, "It's OK. She's a pretty cool customer."She not only endured grief, but researched it. She read medical works, poetry, C.S. Lewis and Thomas Mann. In her book, she quotes Emily Post on the etiquette of funerals: "No one should ever be forced upon those in grief, and all over-emotional people, no matter how near and dear, should be barred absolutely."And her own grief taught her how little understood it was."We have kind of evolved into a society where grieving is totally hidden. It doesn't take place in our family. It takes place not at all," she says."I remember a friend, whose wife had died, telling me to his surprise that six months seemed to be the official mourning period in New York. After six months, he started getting calls from the wife's friends, trying to invite him to dinner so he could meet someone."She structured her story by giving it no structure. She wanted to show how the mind works in grief, and through grief. Obsessively, she circled back to that fatal moment, looking for signs, imagining a different ending, believing her husband could somehow return, a symptom of her "magical thinking."She acknowledges that at times she was like a conspiracy theorist watching the Zapruder film of President Kennedy's assassination."It's the idea that everything can change in a moment," she says. "When you look at the film of Kennedy, there's this drama in the story. There's the king. There's the pretty young queen and there's her pink suit. And we know what's going to happen."Good for each other Didion has lived in this apartment just off Madison Avenue since she and Dunne moved from California in the late 1980s. Her home is spacious, white-walled and rich in details: family photographs on shelves and walls; works of abstract art, in splotches and geometric patterns; a row of glass kerosene lamps in the living room window, holdovers from the days of blackouts in California.Born in 1934 in Sacramento, California, Didion was fascinated by books and writing from an early age and was especially impressed by the prose of Ernest Hemingway, whose tense rhythms anticipated her own. She and Dunne met at a dinner party in the late 1950s, and were close friends ("we amused each other") before becoming romantically involved and marrying, in 1964. Two years later, they adopted a baby girl, Quintana Roo.Author couples are notoriously combustible, whether the drunken brawl of Lillian Hellman and Dashiell Hammett or the infidelity and suicidal demons of Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath. But despite their own conflicts, Didion says she and Dunne grew and endured, never seeing each other as competitors."Whatever troubles we had were not derived from being writers. What was good for one was good for the other," she says.Collaborators on "A Star Is Born," "Up Close and Personal" and other screenplays, Didion and Dunne were as one in the public's mind, but their books were easy to tell apart. Dunne's trademarks were the emotion and Irish fatalism of "True Confessions" and "Harp." Didion was cooler, a voice of detached pessimism, treating accepted truths as so much drapery to be parted."They understood who they were individually and they understood who they were as a couple," says author David Halberstam, a longtime friend whose many books include "The Best and the Brightest" and the upcoming "The Education of a Coach.""They were marvelously locked in together. For my wife and myself, among the most cherished times were the four-person dinners, because you got these extraordinary intellectuals who were enormously respectful of each other."Didion thinks of "The Year of Magical Thinking" as a testament of a specific time; tragically, the memoir has already dated. Their daughter, Quintana, died last summer at age 39 of acute pancreatitis. "Lunchtime. June 14," Didion says plainly during the interview, remembering the day she fell fatally ill.She has no plans to update her book and, though still grieving for Quintana, will tour throughout the fall.But she has not decided what to write about next."I'll think about it on the road," she says.Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

LA MIRADA, California (AP) -- What would Jesus blog?That and other pressing questions drew 135 Christians to Southern California this weekend for a national conference billed as the first-ever for "God bloggers," a growing community of online writers who exchange information and analyze current events from a Christian perspective.The three-day conference at Biola University marked an important benchmark for Christian bloggers, who have worked behind the scenes for years to spread the Gospel and infuse politics with religion.Topics included God bloggers' relationship with the traditional church, their growing influence on mainstream politics and how to manage outsiders' perceptions.Some predicted bloggers could play a role in reforming the modern church by keeping televangelists and other high-profile Christian leaders honest.Joe Carter, author of evangelicaloutpost.com, compared blogging to the 95 Theses posted by Martin Luther nearly 500 years ago that launched the Protestant Reformation."It's like putting 95 blogs out there," said Carter, who previously said God bloggers offer an "uncensored and unadulterated" view of contemporary Christian thought on politics and organized religion.Many bloggers are now writing about religious oppression, poverty and world hunger, instead of hot-button issues such as abortion, homosexuality and assisted suicide, said the Rev. Andrew Jackson, a seminary professor and pastor at the Word of Grace Church in Mesa, Arizona."With blogging you tend to break out of those circles and you see other points of view," Carter said. "There's a bigger world out there than gay marriage and abortion."At one well-attended workshop -- "When Non-Christians Read Your Blog" -- Biola University professor Timothy Muehlhoff gave instructions on writing about faith without alienating nonbelievers.He stressed that God blogging has the potential to be a "train wreck" because done wrong it can reinforce stereotypes of evangelical Christians as angry and close-minded "pit bulls of the culture wars.""As Christians today we are embroiled in the argument culture and we have forgotten this one thing: 'Blessed are the peacemakers.'," he said. "Wouldn't it be nice if we could say we brought a level of civility back to the conversation?"Jackson, who blogs at smartchristian.com, said he wasn't as sure what long-term influence blogging would have on evangelical Christians -- but he knew it would be important."We are just at the beginning of what is going on," he said. "We need to start thinking about how we can harness and focus the Christian blogosphere for greater impact."Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) -- Amina Harun, a 45-year-old farmer, used to traipse around for hours looking for a working pay phone on which to call the markets and find the best prices for her fruit.Then cell phones changed her life."We can easily link up with customers, brokers and the market," she says, sitting between two piles of watermelons at Wakulima Market in Kenya's capital.Harun is one of a rapidly swelling army of wired-up Africans -- an estimated 100 million of the continent's 906 million people. Another is Omar Abdulla Saidi, phoning in from his sailboat on the Zanzibar coast looking for the port that will give him the biggest profit on his freshly caught red snapper, tuna and shellfish.Then there are South Africans and Kenyans slinging cell phones round the necks of elephants to track them through bush and jungle. And there's Beatrice Enyonam, a cosmetics vendor in Togo, keeping in touch with her husband by cell phone when he's traveling in the West African interior.As cell-phone relay towers sprout on the slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro and the Serengeti plain, providers are racing to keep up with their exploding market.The numbers are staggering.Cell phones made up 74.6 percent of all African phone subscriptions last year, says the U.N.'s International Telecommunication Union. Cell phone subscriptions jumped 67 percent south of the Sahara in 2004, compared with 10 percent in cell-phone-saturated Western Europe, according to Mo Ibrahim, the Sudanese who chairs Celtel, a leading African provider.An industry that barely existed 10 years ago is now worth $25 billion, he says. Prepaid air minutes are the preferred means of usage and have created their own $2 billion-a-year industry of small-time vendors, the Celtel chief says. Air minutes have even become a form of currency, transactable from phone to phone by text message, he says.This is particularly useful in Africa, where transferring small amounts of money through banks is costly."We are developing unique ways to use the phone, which has not been done anywhere else," says South African Michael Joseph, chief executive officer of Safaricom, one of two service providers in Kenya. For an impoverished continent, low-cost phones make "a perfect fit."And cash-strapped governments which have had to give up their monopoly on land lines are looking to reap huge revenues from license fees, customs duties and taxes on calls."We all misread the market," Joseph said.The mistake, providers say, was to make plans based on GDP figures, which ignore the strong informal economy, and to assume that because land line use was low, little demand for phones existed.The real reason for weak demand was that land lines were expensive, subscribers had to wait for months to get hooked up, and the lines often went down because of poor maintenance, floods and theft of copper cables.Cell phones slice through all those obstacles and provide African solutions to African problems.Wildlife researchers in Kenya and South Africa have put no-frills cell phones in weatherproof cases on a collar that goes around an elephant's neck. The phone sends a message every hour, revealing the animal's whereabouts.It cuts the cost of tracking wildlife by up to 60 percent, said Professor Wouter van Hoven of the University of Pretoria's Center for Wildlife Management."You don't have to walk around the bush searching for the animals," he says. "I have sat around in Europe and was able to monitor animals in the mountains using a cell phone that had access to the Internet."Saidi, the Zanzibar fisherman, can now check beforehand whether prices justify him sailing his catch to the Tanzanian mainland, while Wilson Kuria Macharia, head of the traders' association at the Nairobi market, says he no longer has to spend two to four weeks at a time roaming across Kenya and Tanzania in search of fresh produce."A few mobile phone calls take care of what used to be the most grueling part of the business," said Macharia, 61.Cell phones also make traders more competitive, meaning better prices for farmers, he said.People who don't own a cell phone can use public telephone centers linked to cellular networks, creating badly needed jobs.Across the continent, in Nigeria, privately run cell phone services arrived in 2001 and started out charging $150 just to sign up. Nowadays four companies vie for customers by offering free sign-ups and introductory air minutes.The number of subscribers in the nation of more than 130 million has jumped from about 700,000 to over 10 million, and hawkers make a living selling air time cards to motorists trapped in traffic.On the downside, however, bus passengers on cross-country journeys have to turn off their cell phones because criminals are known to use them to coordinate highway robberies.Inevitably, cell phones have become status symbols. "If you do not have one, your friends will laugh at you and say that you are outmoded," says Akpene Rose, a 23-year-old hairdressing student in Togo, a tiny West African country where every sixth person is estimated to have a cell phone.And just as inevitably, there are those who wish they had never been invented.Ayi Aime, a 60-year-old Togolese, says both her school-age daughters have cell phones. "I do not know how they got them. I do not mind," she says. "But the persistent noisemaking, constant ringing, has become a nuisance."Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

MONROVIA, Liberia (AP) -- Former soccer star George Weah will face off with Liberia's former finance minister in a presidential election run-off on November 8, National Electoral Commission Chairman Frances Morris told reporters.With 90 percent of votes tallied, Weah received 257,027 while his closest rival, former Finance Minister Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf got 175,520. The latest results were based on votes counted from 2,781 polling stations out of 3,000.The run-off is necessary because none of the 22 candidates in the October 11 polls won at least 51 percent of the vote.Liberia was once among Africa's richest countries, with vast fields of gems and valuable groves of hardwood trees and rubber plants. It has known little but strife since a first coup in 1980. Years of war ended in 2003 after warlord president Charles Taylor stepped down in favor of a transitional government and went into exile in Nigeria.Millionaire Weah, 39, and Johnson-Sirleaf, 66, who is bidding to become Africa's first elected female president, emerged as early leaders from a field of 22 candidates including former warlords and wealthy lawyers.A runoff gives Liberian voters a choice between a national sports hero, who is a political novice, and a longtime politician, who has an impressive international resume.Opponents had questioned whether Weah, who went from a childhood in a Monrovia slum to winning the World Player of the Year award in 1995, has the qualifications or experience to be president."Politicians have been up there and the masses have been down for many years. It is time for the masses to go up," Weah told The Associated Press in a pre-election interview. "With all their education and experience, they have governed this nation for hundreds of years. They have never done anything for the nation."In contrast, Johnson-Sirleaf, vying to become the first woman elected president in Africa, stresses her long resume.Johnson-Sirleaf was a Cabinet minister until President William Tolbert's ouster in the 1980 coup. She was runner-up to warlord Charles Taylor in the 1997 presidential election. A Harvard University graduate who has been a top official at the United Nations and the World Bank, Johnson-Sirleaf is viewed by many as a strong administrator, but hampered by her ties to the old political order.Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (CNN) -- More than a week into the relief effort after the South Asia earthquake, a U.N. official said Monday the situation remains grave and the effort is facing daunting problems."The race against time is shorter and shorter as weather closes in," said Kevin Kennedy, the United Nations' director for coordination and response for humanitarian affairs.With more than 3.3 million people homeless in and around the Pakistani-controlled region of Kashmir, the threat of hypothermia is increasing as the temperature drops below freezing."We are still at life-saving stage," said Kennedy, who added that 1 million people are severely affected and left "without anything" -- including shelter, medical help and food aid.The United Nations estimates it needs 300,000 tents, saying 20,000 have been delivered, 150,000 are en route and 100,000 more are pledged.The United Nations lists 38,000 dead and 60,000 injured but says it is preparing an update to those numbers.Comparing the earthquake relief efforts with recent disaster responses, Kennedy said it was easier to reach people affected by last year's tsunami because it primarily affected only coastal areas. The South Asia earthquake caused landslides along access routes, making hundreds of thousands of people unreachable by land. The winter temperatures have also made humanitarian aid far more difficult. "Even Hurricane Katrina had better weather," Kennedy said.The United Nations has made an urgent appeal for $312 million. So far, it has received only $6 million with an additional $50 million pledged. "We're only eight days in. The basic message is that we need more resources," Kennedy said.Six die in crashHelicopters resumed relief flights in Pakistan following the crash of an army helicopter early Sunday that killed six people. Torrential rains had caused authorities to temporarily ground planes.The MI-17 transport helicopter was returning home after dropping off relief workers in Bagh when it crashed, killing six Pakistani soldiers.Meanwhile, soldiers worked in the rain to cover up aid supplies delivered by helicopters in previous days. Because of the weather, few relief helicopters took off Sunday.The October 8 quake's epicenter was near Balakot, a city of about 250,000 in Pakistan's North-West Frontier province, 145 kilometers (90 miles) north-northeast of Islamabad.Pakistani Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz's office said Saturday it killed at least 38,000 people in Pakistan and injured 62,000. Another 1,300 deaths were reported in India, most of them in Indian-controlled Kashmir.More than 40,000 Pakistani troops are taking part in rescue and relief efforts, focusing on North-West Frontier province and Pakistani-controlled Kashmir.Officials said 4,000 injured people have been admitted to hospitals in the twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi.Pakistani officials have said as much as 20 percent of the devastated areas have yet to receive any aid due to damaged roads and inclement weather. Pakistani rangers have secured all roads leading to Muzaffarabad, one of the hardest-hit towns, and other affected areas, officials said.Hundreds of rangers are deployed along the routes to stop the looting of trucks carrying relief supplies to the most affected areas, said a rangers official.Roads to many areas were clogged with traffic, slowing ground efforts to reach the most vulnerable.Meanwhile, Saudi King Abdullah II donated $133 million for victims of the quake, said Ali Asseri, Saudi Arabia's ambassador in Pakistan.The money will be used to construct schools, hospitals and roads in the region, and will be available to the Pakistani government immediately, Asseri told CNN.The king has also ordered the dispatch of a daily fleet of 10 cargo planes filled with relief supplies to Pakistan until the country's need for goods, medicines, tents and food for victims is fulfilled.Aziz said Saturday the quake had caused an estimated loss of $5 billion in his country.The quake has prompted rival nations to put aside their differences -- at least for the moment -- to help the tens of thousands of people left homeless. India, which has fought three wars with Pakistan since 1947, sent a plane loaded with humanitarian supplies on Friday to Lahore. It was the second shipment to its nuclear rival.When an Iranian plane arrived at Chaklala air base in Pakistan, it received help with unloading the cargo from U.S. military personnel already on site. (Watch efforts to get aid to hard-hit areas -- 2:40)The quake, however, has not ceased violence in the region. Militants in Indian-controlled Kashmir killed two Indian army soldiers and wounded six others early Saturday at an Indian army camp in the town of Kathua, according to state police sources.CNN's Becky Anderson, Satinder Bindra, Ram Ramgopal and Syed Mohsin Naqvi contributed to this report.

JERUSALEM (CNN) -- Israel suspended security coordination with the Palestinians on Monday, an Israeli official said, following the killings of three Israeli settlers by Palestinians Sunday.The official said that until the Palestinians take real and active steps to fight terrorism, there is nothing to talk about.Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat told CNN the suspension of security contacts was the wrong decision and called it "unfortunate.""Those who plan these attacks want to undermine the contacts and [the] hope that has been developing in the minds of Israelis and Palestinians," he said in a telephone interview."I urge the Israelis to understand that we need to continue talking. I also urge the good office of President Bush to exert every possible effort to resume the contacts," Erakat added.Israeli security sources said the Israeli government is also taking other measures in the wake of the settlers' slayings.Palestinian cars will not be allowed to travel on some main roads in the West Bank, the sources said, and cordons will be placed around Bethlehem and Hebron.Arrest operations will also continue, the security sources said.The three settlers were killed and five others were wounded in two shootings Sunday in the West Bank, Israeli medical services and security sources said.The Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades claimed responsibility for both shootings. The group is a militant offshoot of Fatah, the ruling party of the Palestinian Authority.One shooting took place at Gush Etzion junction, an area of Jewish settlements. A group of Palestinians opened fire on Israelis standing at a hitchhiking post, killing three and wounding four, Israeli medical teams said.An IDF soldier was lightly wounded in that incident, the IDF said.At the Eli settlement north of Ramallah, Palestinians in a vehicle opened fire on a group of Israelis walking along the entrance to the settlement, critically wounding one of them, Israeli security and medical sources said.Separately, during a routine army operation near the city of Jenin in the northern West Bank, Israeli troops clashed with an armed Palestinian and hit him with gunfire, Israeli security sources said.The man was killed, according to the Israel Defense Forces Web site.Israeli media reported that the man is a senior leader of Islamic Jihad, a group that orchestrates terrorist attacks against civilians.Palestinian Islamic Jihad, which operates from Gaza, is considered to be a terrorist organization by Israel and the United States.Palestinian officials had no immediate response to the incidents.CNN's Shira Medding contributed to this report.

TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) -- The city was calm Monday after weekend violence triggered by a white supremacist group's march along the sidewalks of a racially mixed neighborhood.A melee broke out Saturday when protesters confronted members of the National Socialist Movement who had gathered at a city park."They do have a right to walk on the Toledo sidewalks," Mayor Jack Ford said Sunday.An angry mob, some of them gang members, threw baseball-sized rocks at police, vandalized vehicles and stores, and set fire to a bar. More than 100 people were arrested and one officer was seriously injured.The march was called off after the rioting started.Police Chief Mike Navarre said Monday there had been no trouble since Saturday."After the four-hour disturbance ended, we have not had a problem in the neighborhood since," Navarre said on CBS's "The Early Show."Much of the anger erupted because residents were upset that city leaders allowed about a dozen white supremacists to walk through the neighborhood and shout insults."They don't have the right to bring hate to my front yard," said Terrance Anderson, who lives near the bar that was destroyed. Three other businesses were looted or damaged.Others joined the mayor in saying the neo-Nazis had the right to march. "Too bad the people couldn't ignore them," said Dee Huntley.Police arrested 114 people on charges including assault, vandalism, failure to obey police, failure to disperse and overnight curfew violations.Twelve police officers were injured, including one who suffered a concussion when a brick came through a side window of her cruiser and hit her on the head.Arraignments began Monday morning in Municipal Court for some of those arrested. A judge set bail at $10,000 for defendants accused of aggravated riot.Donna Reid said two of her sons faced felony charges. She wasn't sure why they were charged and wished they had stayed away."They weren't thinking, wrong place and wrong time," she said.The disturbances were confined to a 1-square-mile area, police said. At one point, the crowd grew to about 600 people.Nearly all of the violence ended by late afternoon Saturday, and police set an evening curfew for the city through Monday morning.The neighborhood northwest of downtown once was a thriving Polish community. Now it's a mix of Hispanic, Polish and black residents, many of them poor living in modest homes.Police began hearing at the middle of last week from officers on the street that gangs planned to descend on the neighborhood, the police chief said."We knew during the preparation that it was going to be a tremendous challenge," Navarre said. "Anyone who would accuse us of being underprepared I would take exception with that."However, he said the protest lasted longer and was more intense than expected.Authorities delayed releasing the route of the march so protesters wouldn't have advance notice of where the demonstration would take place.Community leaders organized an "Erase the Hate" rally to draw people away from the march. And the mayor spoke to 2,000 people at a Baptist church Friday night, urging them to ignore the neo-Nazis.A spokesman for the National Socialist Movement accused police of losing control of the situation.The neo-Nazi group came to the city, which relies heavily on the auto industry and has high unemployment in minority neighborhoods, because of a dispute between neighbors, one white and the other black."This is not a police problem," Navarre said. "This is a social problem."Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

BOSTON, Massachusetts (Reuters) -- Police urged about 2,000 people to evacuate their homes in southern Massachusetts on Monday after a dam strained by record rainfall began to buckle and threatened to flood low-lying neighborhoods.Massachusetts emergency management officials said the Whittendon Pond Dam in Taunton about 33 miles (53 kilometers) south of Boston could fail after record rainfall swelled rivers and ponds across northeastern United States last week."Downstream from the river there are about 100 homes, as well as downtown Taunton," said Peter Judge, spokesman for the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency, referring to the city of 49,800 people.The National Weather Service issued a "flash flood" advisory that said the situation was "extremely dangerous" and "life threatening." A makeshift shelter was opened for residents who live along a river downstream from the dam.Torrential rain and floods swamped cities across the Northeast last week, washing out roads, triggering mudslides, leading to power outages and forcing hundreds of people to flee their drenched homes.Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney has estimated the week of rain and floods likely caused $6.5 million in damage, a threshold that would make the state eligible for federal aid.Copyright 2005 Reuters. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

DALLAS, Texas (CNN) -- Investigators want criminally negligent homicide charges brought against the driver of a bus that caught fire and exploded outside Dallas, killing 23 nursing home patients who were fleeing Hurricane Rita, a sheriff's spokesman said Monday.The driver, Juan Gutierrez Robles, is currently in federal custody on immigration charges, Sgt. Don Peritz told CNN."We are recommending prosecution on 23 counts of criminally negligent homicide, one for each of the decedents," Peritz said. "It's now up to the district attorney's office to forward that information to a grand jury."Each charge is a felony punishable by up to two years in prison under Texas law, and Dallas County Sheriff Lupe Valdez said an investigation by local, state and federal agencies could yield additional charges.The bus was carrying patients from a nursing home in Bel Air, Texas, near Houston, on September 23, as residents of the Texas Gulf Coast evacuated their homes ahead of the hurricane. The bus caught fire near Wilmer, on the southern outskirts of Dallas, and the blaze caused oxygen canisters brought for the nursing home patients to explode, destroying the vehicle, investigators found.Robles, 37, of Pharr, Texas, and 14 patients escaped the burning bus. The driver was initially credited with rescuing some of the passengers, but Valdez said police "haven't been able to find anyone to confirm that he actually helped someone off the bus."Peritz said the recommended charges were based on "the totality of his actions from the time he left Bel Air until the time the bus caught fire outside Wilmer.""Everyone on the bus was under his care and control," he said.Investigators are still trying to determine who was responsible for the vehicle's maintenance and safety, Peritz said. The bus was owned by a Canadian company and leased to a firm in the United States, which leased it to another company that then contracted with the company Robles worked for -- Global Limo, of Pharr, Texas."We've got to backtrack all the way back to the original bus owners and see who owns what, who leased what to whom, when did they do that, who maintained the bus and how did they maintain the bus," Peritz said.Global Limo, which was shut down by federal officials this month, had no comment Monday, according to The Associated Press.

NEW YORK (AP) -- On what would be the last day of his life, John Lennon posed for photographs with Yoko Ono in a session with photographer Annie Leibovitz. One of the pictures, a naked Lennon curled around and kissing a clothed Ono, became the cover for Rolling Stone magazine's tribute to him.That iconic image published a month after his December 1980 death has been ranked the top magazine cover of the last 40 years by a panel of magazine editors, artists and designers. Others on the list include images from the September 11 attacks, the Vietnam War and of Katiti Kironde II, the first black woman on the cover of a national women's magazine, in the August 1968 Glamour.The American Society of Magazine Editors announced the winners of the competition on Monday during the American Magazine Conference in Puerto Rico. The competition was held as a way to mark the 40th anniversary of the group's awards."Both the choice of a cover and the execution of a cover are crucial for any magazine," said Mark Whitaker, editor of Newsweek and ASME president. "Every editor wants their cover to stand out."Coming in second was the shot of a very pregnant Demi Moore on the August 1991 cover of Vanity Fair (also shot by Leibovitz), followed by an April 1968 image from Esquire of boxer Muhammad Ali with arrows in his body. The Saul Steinberg drawing of New York's West Side dwarfing the rest of the country, published in The New Yorker on March 29, 1976, came in fourth. Esquire's May 1969 image of Pop Art maven Andy Warhol drowning in a can of tomato soup took the fifth spot.Other covers on the list include The New Yorker from September 24, 2001, silhouettes of the World Trade Center towers against a black background; National Geographic's June 1985 cover of an Afghan refugee girl with haunted eyes; People magazine's cover from September 15, 1997 -- a black-and-white portrait of a smiling Princess Diana; and Life magazine's image of man on the moon from 1969.There were a few ties, leading to a total of 41 images chosen.Magazine covers can reflect the society around them, by how controversial they choose to be, said Johanna Keller, professor of magazine journalism at Syracuse University's Newhouse School of Public Communications."They're absolutely a societal barometer of what we find acceptable to look at," she said.Good covers can range from funny to poignant, she said. "The ones that work best touch us in the same way that great art touches us ... stirring our very deepest human emotions."The list was decided on by a panel of 52 magazine editors, design directors, art directors and photography editors.Esquire, Time and Life each had four covers on the list. Eleven of the covers came from the 1960s, eight from the 1970s, three from the 1980s, 10 from the 1990s and nine from this decade. Thirty-two covers were photographs, while seven were illustrations and two were text.Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

FARMINGTON, Connecticut (AP) -- Charles Rocket, a comedian and actor who appeared on "Saturday Night Live" and had roles in a variety of movies and television series, committed suicide, the state medical examiner has ruled.Rocket, 56, whose real name was Charles Claverie, was found dead in a field near his home in Canterbury on October 7. His throat had been cut, the medical examiner said."An investigation determined there was no criminal aspect to this case," State Police Sgt. J. Paul Vance said Monday.Rocket was a cast member on NBC's "Saturday Night Live" during the 1980-81 season, a tumultuous year that followed the departure of the original "Not Ready for Prime Time Players" and founding producer Lorne Michaels. Rocket gained notoriety when he was fired from "SNL" for swearing on the air.He went on to appear in numerous TV shows, including "Moonlighting" and "Max Headroom," and provided voices for cartoon series. His movie credits included "Earth Girls are Easy," "Dumb and Dumber" and "Dances With Wolves," according to the Internet Movie Database.Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AP) -- A Somali suspected of being a militia leader during the 1993 "Black Hawk Down" battle that left 18 Americans dead was arrested Monday on suspicion of war crimes while attending a conference in Sweden, police and organizers said.A man identified as Abdi Hassan Awale, who once served as Somalia's interior minister, was taken into custody after Somalis living in Sweden recognized him and reported him to police, said Gillian Nilsson, an organizer of the conference on development in the Horn of Africa.Awale, also known as Abdi Qeybdiid, was a commander in warlord Farah Aidid's militia when it fought a 19-hour battle against American troops in Mogadishu on October 3, 1993.Two U.S. helicopters were shot down and hundreds of Somalis died, in addition to the American soldiers. The story was featured in the book and movie "Black Hawk Down."Police spokesman Karl Sandberg would not confirm the suspect's identity, but said the 57-year-old Somali man was arrested on suspicion of war crimes early Monday at a hotel in Lund and taken to Goteborg for questioning.The suspect's lawyer, Pieter Kjessler, told Swedish public radio that he denied the allegations against him during questioning on Monday.Somalia was thrown into civil war and anarchy after clan-based warlords overthrew dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991. More than 500,000 people have been killed and some 3.5 million have been driven from their homes, 1.5 million of whom have taken refuge in neighboring countries.Awale, who was a colonel in Somalia's former army, was named interior minister in the internationally unrecognized government that was declared in the capital after Barre's ouster.News of Awale's capture was welcomed by Somalis living in the United States."We were joyous to hear this," said Omar Jamal, executive director of the Somali Justice Advocacy center in St. Paul, Minnesota. "It sends a loud and clear message to all the other Somali war criminals."Jamal said Awale was involved in the 1993 militia fighting with American troops.Nilsson said Awale was part of a six-member Somali delegation headed by Parliamentary speaker Sharif Hassan Sheikh Aden that attended the development conference in Sweden.Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

ATHENS, Greece (CNN) -- European Union officials said Monday that bird flu had been found on one of the Greek isles and tests were being conducted to determine if it is the deadly H5N1 virus.The European Commission said Greek veterinary authorities had informed it of a suspected case of avian influenza on the island of Inousses, based on a serological test that proved positive for the presence of avian influenza H5 antibodies.The samples were in the process of being sent for confirmation and virus isolation tests at the Greek national reference laboratory in Thessaloniki, and the European Commission said it had requested that samples also be sent immediately to the Community Reference Laboratory in Weybridge, England.The commission said it is preparing to ban the movement of live poultry and poultry products from the infected area in the Chios region.The EU said its ban would be adopted as soon as the Greek national reference laboratory confirmed the results, expected Tuesday.The EU said following consultations between the commission and the Greek Ministry of Agriculture, Greek authorities had agreed to restrict the dispatch of live poultry and poultry products as a precautionary measure.Monday afternoon the mayor of the island of Chios said a farmer on nearby Inousses who raises turkeys and chickens noted on Thursday that some of his birds had died.Two state veterinarians were sent in to look at nine turkeys. They also took blood samples from some chickens.The mayor said a state lab in Athens confirmed Monday afternoon that one of the nine samples proved positive for an H5-type virus.The Romanian government confirmed Saturday that the H5N1 strain of avian influenza had been confirmed in Romania, the first instance of the lethal strain known to have reached Europe.A statement posted on the government Web site said the strain had been confirmed. Its existence in Romania bolsters the theory that the virus may be spread by migratory birds.On Thursday, the European Union said the H5N1 strain had been confirmed in Turkish poultry, and said the virus "is H5N1 closely related to a virus detected in a wild bird in central Asia a few months ago."The EU said then that the strain likely would be found in Romania, and the European Commission said it would ban imports of live birds, poultry meat and other products from Romania. Imports of live birds and feathers from Turkey were banned earlier in the week.Despite the fact that 117 people in Asia have been infected by the strain and 60 have died, H5N1 in its current form does not easily infect humans.However, officials fear it could mutate into a more easily transmissible strain and result in a global pandemic.Journalist Anthee Carassava in Athens conributed to this report

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The White House on Monday began a renewed attempt to rally backing for Harriet Miers, the Texas lawyer whose nomination to replace retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor on the U.S. Supreme Court has failed to attract widespread support from any part of the political spectrum.Flanked by six current and former justices of the Texas Supreme Court who vouched for the qualifications of the former president of the Texas Bar Association, President Bush said, "They are here to send a message here in Washington that the person I picked to take Sandra Day O'Connor's place is not only a person of high character and integrity but a person who can get the job done. Harriet Miers is a uniquely qualified person to serve on the bench."Bush has described Miers as "a pioneer of law" in Texas, where she was the first woman to become a partner in her Dallas law firm and the first female president of the Dallas and Texas bar associations.She has worked for Bush since 1994, most recently as White House counsel.'Pivot day' on nomination"Mr. President, we just all want to thank you for this nomination," said John Hill Jr., a Democrat who was chief justice of the Texas Supreme Court from 1985 to 1988 and served with Miers on the Texas Lottery Commission."We are excited about it, and we are here to try and let the people of America know what we all know, which is that she is an absolutely fantastic person and a great lawyer and will make a great judge," he said.Asked about the event, White House press secretary Scott McClellan said the men are qualified to attest to the abilities of the nominee."These are former justices of the highest court in Texas who know Harriet Miers very well," he told reporters. As someone who has not "sought the limelight," Miers is only now becoming known to the American people, he said. "We want the American people to get to know Harriet Miers like the president knows her," McCellan said.A Bush official said over the weekend that Monday would be "pivot day" on the administration's strategy to drum up support for Miers, whose membership in an evangelical, conservative church failed to ignite support among anti-abortion activists, the GOP establishment or key Democrats."We actually know Harriet Miers; I hope that still counts for something, somewhere," Hill said. "I'd trust her with my wife and my life."Miers has never served as a judge, but Hill said that is not a critical drawback. "You get the briefs, you hear the arguments, you study the facts, you study the law and you try to make a square decision based on the law and the Constitution, and I don't think it matters that much whether you were a judge before," he said.Miers was on Capitol Hill on Monday. By the end of the day, she was to have visited 18 senators -- including Senate Judicial Committee members Sens. Charles Schumer, D-New York, and Dianne Feinstein, D-California -- in her quest for approval, McClellan said.Conservatives dividedBush's decision to name Miers, his White House counsel and a longtime adviser, to the Supreme Court has divided even his supporters, many of whom had hoped for a nominee with a clear record of opposition to abortion. Miers has left few clues to her position on that issue in her previous public posts, which include service on the Dallas City Council and as Bush's lottery commissioner when he was governor of Texas.Miers' nomination also has failed to attract much popular support. In a CNN/USA Today/Gallup Poll released Monday, 36 percent of respondents said Bush should withdraw her nomination, versus 46 percent who opposed the idea and 18 percent who said they were unsure. The question on withdrawal had a sampling error of plus or minus 5 percentage points.The poll of 1,012 American adults was carried out Thursday through Sunday.Forty-four percent of respondents said they felt the Senate should confirm her, 36 percent expressed opposition and 20 percent said they were unsure. That question also had a sampling error of plus or minus 5 percentage points. Asked their opinion of Miers, 31 percent described it as favorable, 26 percent as unfavorable and 43 percent said they were unsure. That portion had a sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.In an editorial last week, the conservative weekly magazine National Review called on Miers to withdraw."Leaving aside the president and his employees, even Miers' fiercest defenders allow that she was not their top pick -- or even their 10th," the editors said."As one of her former colleagues has said of her, Miers' office was the 'place where the action stopped and the hand-wringing began.' If she follows that course, we will be left with a court that retains immense and inappropriate lawmaking power but refuses to make clear laws."

(CNN) -- President Bush's job approval rating continues to plummet, with 39 percent of Americans surveyed in the latest CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll supporting his performance, compared to 58 percent expressing disapproval.The approval rating was lowest the poll has recorded during Bush's presidency, down from 45 percent in a survey taken September 26-28, and the disapproval rating was up from 50 percent.The latest poll results, released Monday, were based on interviews with 1,012 adult Americans conducted by telephone October 13-16. In both surveys, the questions on approval ratings had a sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.Bush has seen his approval rating steadily decline since he was sworn in for a second term in January, when 57 percent approved of his handling of the job and 40 percent disapproved.The rating in the September 26-28 poll was an uptick that reflected the public's generally favorable view of the way Bush handled Hurricane Rita. (Full story)His previous low of 40 percent came earlier in September and reflected the public's strongly negative view of his actions following Hurricane Katrina. (Full story)Until then, pollsters attributed the president's poll slippage largely to perceptions of the administration's handling of the war in Iraq. (Full story)In the latest poll, Bush's support appeared to have eroded even among suburban residents, who had been among his strongest backers, falling from 51 percent in last month's poll to 41 percent in the latest survey.Among urban residents, his approval rating did not budge from 34 percent, and among rural residents it was almost the same, 44 percent versus 45 percent last month.The sampling error for these and other questions that were broken down among groups was plus or minus 7 percentage points in both polls.Base remains supportiveBush's base appeared to remain largely supportive, with 62 percent of respondents who described themselves as conservative approving of his performance, down from 68 percent last month.Support from moderates fell from 40 percent to 32 percent, and remained about the same for liberals, rising from 14 percent to 17 percent.And the GOP faithful remained overwhelmingly steadfast in their support, with 84 percent voicing approval, versus 85 percent in last month's poll.That was not the case among those who identified themselves as Democrats, whose support for Bush dropped from 15 percent to 8 percent.It appeared that many Americans do not know what to make of the travails of top Bush political adviser Karl Rove, who was interviewed again last week by a grand jury regarding his possible role in leaking the name of a CIA operative.Asked their opinion Rove, 22 percent of respondents said it was favorable, down from 25 percent in July, and 39 percent said it was unfavorable, up from 34 percent in July.But 39 percent said they were unsure, down from 41 percent in July's poll. Both questions had a sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

MARTINEZ, California (CNN) -- The wife of a prominent San Francisco Bay Area lawyer was beaten to death over the weekend, and the investigation into her slaying remains "wide open," a sheriff's spokesman said Monday.Pamela Vitale, 52, was found dead Saturday evening. Her husband, attorney Daniel Horowitz, 50, reported finding her dead at a trailer where the couple was living while they oversaw construction of a new home in the hills outside Lafayette, east of Oakland.Medical examiners concluded that Vitale died from blunt trauma to the head, said Jimmy Lee, a spokesman for the Contra Costa County Sheriff's Department.Lee criticized the "rumors and misinformation" surrounding the case, including reports Monday that an arrest in Vitale's slaying was imminent."No one is under arrest. We have nobody in custody right now. This is still a wide-open investigation," he said.Attorney and friend Ivan Golde told KTVU-TV earlier in the day that police were closer to solving the case, according to The Associated Press."I don't think this situation involves a former client. I think the police kind of know, have some leads," he told the TV station. "I'm really not at liberty to comment on specifics right now. I think they are getting closer."Horowitz has represented numerous high-profile defendants and appears frequently as a legal analyst on cable television networks, including CNN. Horowitz, along with Golde as co-counsel, spent the past week representing murder defendant Susan Polk, who is accused of stabbing her millionaire husband to death in 2002.Polk's trial began October 12 in San Francisco, but the judge in that case declared a mistrial Monday after Vitale's death. Michael Cardoza, a fellow lawyer and a friend, said Horowitz was devastated by his wife's killing."I could hardly understand what he was saying because he was sobbing so deeply," Cardoza said.Lee said detectives have interviewed Horowitz, describing him as cooperative."We're not focused on anyone, nor have we ruled anyone out," Lee said. Horowitz and Vitale married about 10 years ago, and both had previous marriages, the AP reported.After the death, a deputy stood watch Sunday at the bottom of the steep driveway leading to the home, with a canopy of trees obscuring views of the sprawling estate, according to the AP.Copyright 2005 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report.