WASHINGTON (AP) -- The idea of academics collaborating with the FBI might once have aroused loud complaints on some campuses where agents had spied on student protesters and government institutions were viewed with mistrust.But when FBI Director Robert Mueller announced he had recruited 17 university presidents to offer advice on the culture of higher education, there were a few laudatory e-mails and a couple of mentions in campus newspapers, but mostly silence, according to several school presidents.The National Security Higher Education Advisory Board planned to hold its first meeting Friday in Washington. Set to attend are representatives from schools across the political spectrum, from the more liberal University of Wisconsin and its history of protest to the more conservative Texas A&M University with its Corps of Cadets.The board includes former CIA Director Robert Gates, Texas A&M's president, and former Democratic Sen. Bob Kerrey of Nebraska, a member of the September 11 commission and president of the New School University in New York."The times have changed and they've changed in this case for the better," said board member Amy Gutmann, president of the University of Pennsylvania."The idea that we can sit down at a table and have a true dialogue which is open and aimed at mutual understanding across differences is terrific," Gutmann said. "We're under no illusion that we'll agree on everything, but we do agree on the importance of reaching some common understanding."The group's chairman is Graham Spanier, president of Pennsylvania State University. Spanier said much of the change described by Gutmann dates from the attacks of September 11, 2001."The university community generally has come to feel that they need to be part of the solution," Spanier said.Gates recalled going to see Vice President Dick Cheney and Andrew Card, President Bush's chief of staff, to discuss problems foreign students were having obtaining visas after the attacks."I made the comment that this isn't the 60s and 70s. The universities want to be helpful. We understand the threats to the country and, unlike in the past, there is a real opportunity for cooperation that is beneficial to both sides," Gates said.The FBI has described the board's mission as offering advice about the traditions of openness, academic freedom and international collaboration. Mueller has said the board also could serve as a recruitment tool for the FBI and other law enforcement agencies.The presidents see the exchange as an opportunity to press their own concerns about the treatment of foreign students, the international exchange of technology and security issues at laboratories that work with anthrax and other deadly substances.Yet the terrorist attacks have not completely rehabilitated the FBI's image on college campuses, several presidents and historians said.The bureau was badly damaged in the 1970s by revelations about its COINTELPRO program, begun under J. Edgar Hoover and aimed at disrupting civil rights, student and dissident groups.Even since September 11, civil libertarians and student activists have voiced concerns that the bureau again is trying to stifle lawful protest, and that the FBI's presence on campuses could chill open exchanges.They point to some provisions of the anti-terrorism Patriot Act, including one that allows the FBI to obtain library records, and to bureau documents that detail monitoring of anti-war groups and enhanced cooperation between the FBI and campus police."The FBI does have a public relations problem that stems from its past history and extends to concerns raised by federal surveillance policy post-9/11, including the ability to access library records," said Athan Theoharris, a Marquette University historian who has written extensively on the FBI.John Wiley, the University of Wisconsin's chancellor, said distrust of law enforcement is most pronounced among the many foreign students on his campus. "They typically arrive from places where the police are not viewed as being there to protect you or someone you typically turn to for help," Wiley said.There were mild protests at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, Massachusetts, in 2003 when a campus officer assigned to an FBI task force interviewed an Iraqi-born professor about his political views. The FBI would not give any details about the episode, and the professor said the questioning was brief and nonthreatening.Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The nation's students are getting better at math, but their reading performance is mixed, with slight progress in grade four and a slip backward in grade eight.The 2005 scores come from the National Assessment of Educational Progress, a federal test considered the best measure of how students in every state perform on core subjects.Released Wednesday, the results will be widely used as a way to measure whether the country's emphasis on math and reading -- fueled by President Bush and Congress -- is working."What we've got here is a pretty satisfactory elementary performance -- better math and reading," said Darvin Winick, chairman of the National Assessment Governing Board, the bipartisan panel that oversees the test. "The eighth-grade performance is much more mixed."The strongest results came in math, particularly in fourth grade, where scores were up for every major racial and ethnic group since the last test in 2003. Math scores increased slightly in eighth grade, where black and Hispanic students narrowed their gap with whites.President Bush, meeting with Education Secretary Margaret Spellings at the White House Wednesday, called the report encouraging. "It shows there's an achievement gap in America that is closing," Bush said. Overall in math, 36 percent of fourth-graders could handle challenging material, up from 32 percent in 2003. Among eighth-graders, 30 percent reached at least that "proficient" level, up from 29 percent.But in reading, another skill vital for success in other subjects, scores weren't so solid.The average reading score rose one point to 219 on a scale of 500 in fourth grade, a statistically significant increase. But only 31 percent of fourth-graders showed mastery of demanding material -- the figure that typically matters the most. That performance was flat compared to 2003.The same share of eighth-graders, 31 percent, were proficient in reading. That performance actually dropped compared to 2003.Winick said that taking a longer view, back to 2000, shows steady gains in math in both grades. And reading is up overall in grade four, too. But, he said: "There's no dancing around the flat eighth-grade performance in reading. I think it's a national problem."In perspective, the numbers show a majority of students don't have the math or reading skills they should based on rigorous federal standards.Much higher numbers of students in both subjects showed basic skills, a lesser category meaning partial mastery of grade-level work.As usual, the numbers left much room for interpretation, from the scores themselves to whether the federal government's more aggressive role in education was having an effect.Education Secretary Margaret Spellings said she was heartened to see narrowing academic gaps between whites and minorities in both grades and both subjects. She said the core principles of the 2002 No Child Left Behind Act, including annual testing in reading and math and reporting of scores for all groups of students, were paying off for younger children."Most of the investment has been in grades K-3, where we can get the most bang for the buck, with little kids -- getting them on track to be good readers," she said. The president has also proposed extra help for older students, she added, "because we need not give up on middle and high school students who have intractable reading issues."Patricia Sullivan, director of the independent Center on Education Policy, questioned why gains weren't higher given the time schools devote to reading and math. States choose varying curriculum, which means some students may face unfamiliar material on the test.Still, she said: "The numbers aren't jumping in big ways, which tells us something's not right here. We're not doing enough." If scores only increase by a point every two years, she said, "Boy, we've got a long way to go."The increase in math scores is small but encouraging, said Jo Ellen Roseman, director of Project 2061, an initiative of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. The project seeks to improve standards, teaching and testing in math, science and technology."It's great that we're improving, but we shouldn't expect that this is going to happen until we put in more resources, including research into what works," she said. "Are we going to intervene with the students and try to figure out what their difficulties are? Are we going to imbed those things into curriculum and teaching? These things take time."Under federal law, all states must take part in the test every two years. About 660,000 children were tested this year, with each student taking only a portion of an entire test. No student or school scores are reported, and there are no penalties tied to performance.In math, students tackled measurement, geometry, data analysis and probability and algebra. The reading test measured whether students could form a general understanding, develop an interpretation, make connections to the text and examine content and structure.Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

KIRKWALL, Scotland (AP) -- A famous signpost at the Scottish village of John O'Groats marks it as the farthest tip of mainland Britain -- 874 miles from Lands End in Cornwall, the country's most southerly settlement.But getting here is only the beginning of a journey that takes visitors more than 5,000 years back in time.The Orkney Islands are at once remote and mysterious, yet sophisticated -- transformed by the economic boom that followed the discovery of oil in the North Sea. Yet the islands also have archaeological wonders around every corner, along with spectacular scenery, wildlife and some incredible modern history.Visitors to Scotland come expecting green mountains and deep glens, yet the northeast tip of Scotland is remarkably flat, and that flatness is all the more apparent on Orkney, which has almost no trees.Thus the 4,000-year-old standing stones of the Ring of Brogar -- a UNESCO World Heritage Site -- are startling. Thirty-six of the original 60 stones remain, in a perfect circle, each up to 13 feet tall, surrounded by a deep ditch cut into the rock. At dawn and dusk the stones stand dark and imposing against the light reflecting off the Loch of Stenness below.Farther along is the biggest tourist attraction on Orkney, the village of Skara Brae, protected under the sand for nearly 5,000 years until it was revealed by a huge storm in 1850.Each of the stone houses still contains its central hearth, a pair of stone beds and a stone dresser used for storage and display of prized possessions.Another must-see is Maes Howe, a Neolithic chambered tomb older than the Egyptian Pyramids that is most remarkable for the graffiti inscribed there more than 4,000 years later by 12th-century Viking invaders. Like modern-day scribblers leaving graffiti on a wall, they carved their names and the names of the women they loved in runes on the stones of the chamber.Ruled by Norway until the 15th century -- Norway still hasn't formally recognized it as part of Scotland -- there are more than 70 islands in the Orkney group, but only 17 of them are inhabited.Strategically important during both world wars -- the German High Seas fleet was scuttled in Scapa Flow in 1919 -- the Orkneys were given an unplanned new lease of life when Prime Minister Winston Churchill ordered the building of a series of barriers between the islands to block German U-boats' access to Scapa Flow during World War II.The Churchill Barriers created five causeways that linked Orkney's Mainland to the southernmost island, South Ronaldsay, and for some older residents marked the first time that they had left their island.The barriers also mark the dividing line between the North Sea and the Atlantic Ocean, and visitors often are astonished by the very different water levels just a few yards apart on each side of the causeway.The huge civil engineering project was carried out by thousands of Italian prisoners of war. And they left behind them one of the most extraordinary objects in deeply Protestant Orkney -- a lavishly decorated chapel.The Italian Chapel was built from the meager resources available to the prisoners. Based on two Nissen Huts -- semicircular wartime buildings made of corrugated iron -- placed end to end, it was painted inside in rich colors to resemble tiled mosaics by a team led by one of the prisoners, Domenico Chiocchetti, while other prisoners built the altar from concrete, fashioned the wrought iron screens and built the remarkable facade that hides the Nissen Hut shape.Chiocchetti was also responsible for the statue of St. George that stands outside the chapel, built from the only things he had available -- barbed wire covered with concrete.Nowadays, Orkney is a sophisticated place, supported by money from oil companies, loved by artists and adventurers, filled with craft shops and coffee houses -- though the flier in one cafe inviting people to come in for a coffee "to escape the bustle of Kirkwall," may be something of an exaggeration. The Italian Chapel was built by Italian prisoners of war during WWII on the island of Lamb Holm, Orkney. Kirkwall is the capital and biggest town on the Orkney island group, famed for the red-and-yellow-sandstone St. Magnus Cathedral. The population of this bustling metropolis: 7,500.For those seeking a more active vacation, Orkney boasts two golf courses and many opportunities for fishing, diving in the wrecks of Scapa Flow and watching wildlife including seals, dolphins and puffins.Whisky lovers will make a stop at Scotland's most northerly distillery, Highland Park, where visitors can follow the process of making the famous spirit and taste the finished product -- without having to wait the normal 12 years.Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

CHESAPEAKE, Virginia (AP) -- There are no rolling hills at Carafe Winemakers.No rows of vine-ripened grapes ready to be transformed into sophisticated wines -- none of the typical pastoral landscapes and none of the historic wine cellars found at most wineries.But the micro-winery's retail storefront still gives wine-lovers a unique experience by allowing visitors to choose their own custom blend and complement it with their own label.And while it doesn't offer the natural beauty of a rural vineyard, "it has the charm of letting you get your hands in the process," said John Goss, who along with his wife, Kathy, were among the first to bottle their custom wine at Carafe's first U.S. location. "It's just fascinating that you get to mix grapes from all over the globe."Micro-wineries have dominated the Canadian province of Ontario, boasting nearly 640 different storefronts and sales of $100 million in 2004. But the idea of creating custom wines from the bare bones of yeast and grape juice has only recently made its way south."All over the U.S. there is a growing interest in wine, and consumption of wine is increasing," said Carafe's president Stewart Petrie.Carafe started in Canada with brew-your-own beer stores called Brew Kettle. Its first winemaking store opened in 1993 in Ontario, where it now has 13 blend-your-own wine stores. The Virginia store is Carafe's only U.S. location.Other companies with blend-your-own locations in Ontario and the U.S. are Vintner's Cellar (stores in Florida, Illinois, Kansas, Michigan, New Hampshire, North Dakota, South Carolina and Texas); and Wine Not (stores in California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio and Texas).At Crushpad, a San Francisco blend-your-own store, customer involvement ranges from those who get their fingers purple sorting through grapes and adding the yeast, to people as far away as Sweden who design their custom wines over the Internet.Fermenting and filteringOccasionally traditional wineries or regional harvest festivals will have blend-your-own sessions -- sometimes referred to as "u-vint." But many blend-your-own stores are far from the bucolic landscapes associated with places like Napa Valley, California, or New York's Finger Lakes.The Carafe is tucked in a strip mall in Chesapeake, next to a vinyl sign maker. Crushpad is located in what was once an industrial district in San Francisco."We make no illusion," said Bob Miller, proprietor of the Chesapeake store. "We're not a farm winery, nor do we want to be. But from the point of having the grapes picked and crushed, we are doing the exact same thing that a winery is doing."Shelves of bottle-openers, wine bottles and other accessories line the white walls in front of the store's tasting bar. Visitors can taste the wines they are interested in creating to decide whether they fancy a Chardonnay from Australian grapes or a Chilean Merlot.Customers can choose from 30 wines that are immediately available to create, browsing through descriptions of wines with hints of black cherry, toasted oak or grapefruit. Proprietors Robert and Cynthia Miller stand inside the storage and fermentation area at Carafe Winemakers. But it is the back of the store where the wine creations really begin.Once a wine is chosen, visitors fill a plastic container with water, grape juice, yeast and other chemicals needed to make sure the wine begins fermenting.The complex concoction sits on the shelf in the back of the store for about six weeks. That allows the wine to ferment.Like all wines, it then goes through other filtering processes before it may be consumed. When it is ready, visitors can return to bottle, cork and label the wine.Customer prideFor an average price of $175, visitors can take home 30 bottles of their own wine, which can be customized for sweetness or other flavors. Visitors can bring their own bottles or buy the bottles for $25. Customers can also buy non-customized wine by the bottle for around $8.Miller said the novice would enjoy coming out and making wine to learn what goes into it and how it is made. Wine connoisseurs can try different varieties or make wines that they may not otherwise be able to afford, such as a Barolo or Amarone, which can go for as much as $60 a bottle."What they are buying at Carafe is wine meant to drink," Miller said. "They're buying their everyday wine that they are going to come home from work and have it with dinner, or have when friends are over."For Miller, it all comes down to the customers' pride of walking out with bottles of wine they made themselves.The customers' labels range from Al's Fine Wines and Kathy's Best Sauvignon Blanc to Shenanigan Chardonnay and Compass Rose Cabernet bottled by Pirate Pete and First Mate Missy.But the wine isn't quite at its peak when it leaves the store. It's drinkable, Miller said, but the wines benefit from aging about a month or so. Once the 30-day period has passed, the wine should be consumed within two years.Still, Miller is quickly learning about "trunk-agers." Those are the customers who age their wine from the time the bottles go in the trunk until the time they get home.Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, California (AP) -- For the 368th and last time, the United States launched a Titan rocket into space.The blastoff on Wednesday of the 16-story, unmanned Titan IV signaled the end of an era that began in 1959, as the U.S. military converts to cheaper space boosters.The last Titan carried a secret payload for the National Reconnaissance Office, which oversees the nation's spy satellites.Titan's past included many high-profile missions, including boosting Gemini manned spacecraft into orbit in the mid-1960s as preparation for the Apollo moon landings.The workhorse rocket, originally designed as a weapon-bearing intercontinental ballistic missile for the Cold War, also sent many scientific craft on their way to Mercury, Mars and the outer planets.About 3,000 spectators and military dignitaries gathered at Vandenberg Air Force Base, north of Los Angeles, to watch Wednesday's historic launch."The Titan has been the backbone of heavy launch for many, many years," said Walt Yager, vice president of the Titan program at Denver-based Lockheed Martin Corp., which developed the rocket.Of the 368 Titan launches, 200 took place at Vandenberg. In April, spectators gathered at Cape Canaveral, Florida, to bid farewell during the final Titan rocket launch there.The rockets have always been expensive and time-consuming to launch. Titan's retirement will make way for a new generation of rockets, including Lockheed Martin's Atlas 5 and Boeing's Delta 4.Both are designed to be cheaper, more reliable and less dependent on big support staffs.Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (AP) -- The Hubble Space Telescope has taken a rare look at the moon to gauge the amount of oxygen-bearing minerals in the lunar soil that could be mined by astronauts and used in a new moon mission.NASA said Wednesday that the telescope's ultraviolet observations of two Apollo landing sites and an unexplored but geologically intriguing area will help scientists pick the best spots for robot and human exploration. The space agency hopes to return astronauts to the moon by 2018 using Apollo-like capsules and rockets made of shuttle parts. (Full story)The data also will benefit a lunar reconnaissance spacecraft to be launched in 2008.NASA scientist Jim Garvin described the August observations as "CSI does the moon through Hubble.""We're going to try to do forensic science using places on the moon we know, two of the Apollo sites particularly noteworthy for their soils," he said.The space telescope photographed the landing sites of Apollo 15 and 17. Scientists know from rocks collected by the moonwalkers how much of the mineral ilmenite, an iron titanium oxide, is present at those locations.Oxygen could be extracted from ilmenite with relative ease to provide air, water and rocket fuel for astronauts, allowing them to live off the land and helping to drive down exploration costs.Hubble made 60 lunar observations over three days in August, around the time of the full moon. It has observed the moon just once before, in the late 1990s. The moon is a difficult target for the space telescope, which was not designed to track the fast-moving orb.Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

SILVER SPRING, Maryland (AP) -- Antibacterial soaps and body washes in the household aren't any more effective in reducing illness than regular soap, and could potentially contribute to bacterial resistance to antibiotics, experts told a government advisory panel Thursday.The independent panel, the Nonprescription Drugs Advisory Committee, advises the Food and Drug Administration. Panelists were to vote later Thursday whether they believed such soaps provided any benefits above regular soap for people outside of health care.The FDA is not bound by their decisions but often follows their advice. The agency has the authority to add warning labels to or restrict the availability of such soaps and related items, but it has given no indication any such ruling is imminent. (Watch: Ineffective soap? -- 1:20)Representatives of the soap industry argue antibacterials are safe and more effective than regular soap."The importance of controlling bacteria in the home is no different than the professional setting," said Elizabeth Anderson, associate general counsel for the Cosmetic, Toiletry and Fragrance Association. "We feel strongly that consumers must continue to have the choice to use these products."In documents, FDA officials have raised concerns about whether the antibacterials contribute to the growth of drug-resistant bacteria, and said the agency has not found any medical studies that definitively linked specific anti-bacterial products to reduced infection rates.The committee was told that "there's a lack of evidence that antiseptic soaps provide a benefit beyond plain soap," said Allison E. Aiello, an assistant professor at the Department of Epidemiology at the University of Michigan, citing a series of studies in the United States and Pakistan.Both kinds of soaps reduced infections in households, but neither one worked better than the other, she said.The popularity of antibacterials has skyrocketed in the last decade as consumers decided killing bacteria in the home was better than just washing them off.Anti-bacterial products kill most of the bacteria they encounter. Regular soap helps separate bacteria from the skin so it washes down the drain, or transfers to a towel.But Dr. Stuart B. Levy, president of the Alliance for Prudent Use of Antibiotics, said laboratory studies have suggested the soaps sometimes leave behind bacteria that have a better ability to flush threatening substances -- from anti-bacterial soap chemicals to antibiotics -- from their system."What we're seeing is evolution in action," he said.He advocates restricting anti-bacterial products from consumer use, leaving them for hospitals and homes with very sick people, where he says they are needed most."Bacteria are not going to be destroyed," he said. "They've seen dinosaurs come and go. They will be happy to see us come and go. Any attempt to sterilize our home is fraught with failure."Levy said overuse of antibiotics is the main cause of bacteria developing resistance to them. He acknowledged that a yearlong study showed that homes using anti-bacterial soaps did not show an increase in resistant bacteria in significant numbers. But he argued the soaps will still contribute to resistance over a longer period.Antibacterials use alcohol, bleach or synthetic chemicals. Levy, a professor of medicine and molecular biology at Tufts University School of Medicine, had particular criticism for those using synthetic chemicals, which he said remain in the environment instead of breaking down.Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

(AP) -- Many doctors and patients are embracing a drug described as perhaps the most powerful cancer medicine in a decade, taking their cue from recent studies showing it can halve the risk of relapse for a very aggressive form of breast cancer.Several experts used words like "revolutionary," "stunning" and "jaw-dropping" to describe the findings on the impact of the drug, Herceptin. Some even talked of a "cure" for a considerable number of women."The strength of the evidence is so overwhelming at this point that it would be almost impossible to withhold this drug from the appropriate group of patients," said Dr. Gabriel Hortobagyi, of the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. He is president-elect of the American Society of Clinical Oncology.Others, while excited about the findings, said women who take the drug must be watched for years more to get a better idea how many will benefit. "I think it's way too soon to talk about a cure," said Debbie Saslow, director of the breast cancer section of the American Cancer Society.The drug, Herceptin, targets only diseased cells and is already used for advanced cancer. But in three studies involving thousands of women with early-stage disease, it cut the risk of a relapse in half.The drug, made by Genentech, does not help everyone, though. For one thing, it is only for the estimated 20 percent of patients whose breast tumors churn out too much of a protein known as HER2. In the recent studies, the drug was used along with standard treatments, including surgery and chemotherapy. Even then, some patients relapsed.Still, such benefits haven't been seen for a cancer drug since research a decade ago demonstrated the extraordinary strength of tamoxifen. Both drugs home in on cancer cells while sparing healthy ones -- part of the class of "targeted" drugs.The Herceptin studies were published Thursday in The New England Journal of Medicine. One was an international study sponsored by Herceptin's European marketer, Roche. The others were North American studies sponsored by the National Cancer Institute and partly funded by Genentech. The researchers followed a total of more than 6,500 women with early-stage breast cancer.In the first study, 220 women taking standard therapy for a year either developed breast cancer again, showed other kinds of tumors, or died. Only 127 did when Herceptin was added.The two other studies reached similar findings in their combined results. At three years, patients on Herceptin showed a disease-free survival rate that was 12 percentage points higher than without it.Herceptin appears to have "changed one of the most worrisome kinds of cancers into one that may have a relatively good prognosis," said Dr. Ed Romond, one of the North American study researchers at the University of Kentucky.The medical community began adopting the drug for early breast cancer after details of the three studies were publicized last spring at a medical conference. American sales of Herceptin leaped by two-thirds, to $215 million, in the three months ending October 1, compared with the year's first quarter, according to Genentech.The San Francisco-based company intends to apply to the U.S. government to add early-stage cancer use to Herceptin's label, company spokeswoman Colleen Wilson said. But doctors are already free prescribe the drug for early breast cancer on their own authority.About 200,000 women are diagnosed with breast cancer each year in this country, and 40,000 die. About 30,000 American women will probably be taking Herceptin for breast cancer within a couple of years, curing perhaps 7,000 who would otherwise relapse, some doctors predicted.However, doctors cautioned that some women get better without Herceptin, especially when there is little evidence that the cancer is spreading within the breast. Also, a small number taking the drug suffer heart failure.A year of Herceptin could cost $48,000 even at wholesale prices.Barbara Brenner, who was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1993 and runs the San Francisco-based advocacy group, Breast Cancer Action, said it's misleading to talk about a cure at this time."I have no idea what's going to happen to me. This is a disease that can and does happen at any time. It's not five years -- and a cure," she said.It remains unclear whether Herceptin should be taken with chemotherapy drugs or afterward, and whether it can help even years later. Herceptin appears so potent, some researchers said, that it raises the possibility that targeted drugs will someday let patients skip chemotherapy, radiation and surgery, which destroy both healthy and diseased tissue.Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

KNOXVILLE, Tennessee (AP) -- A fugitive couple accused of killing a prison guard during a daring courthouse escape were indicted on first-degree murder charges and could face the death penalty, prosecutors said Thursday.A grand jury returned separate murder indictments against former prison nurse Jennifer Hyatte, 31, and her career criminal husband, George Hyatte, 34, in the August 9 shooting of corrections officer Wayne "Cotton" Morgan, 56.Morgan was killed in the parking lot of the Roane County Courthouse in Kingston, about 30 miles west of Knoxville, as he escorted George Hyatte from a hearing to a van to take him back to prison.Morgan's partner, Larry Harris, testified at a preliminary hearing in Kingston last month that Jennifer Hyatte surprised the guards and began firing when George Hyatte yelled, "Shoot him."Harris emptied his revolver, then used his dying partner's gun, firing 11 shots at the fleeing couple. Jennifer Hyatte was wounded but the two made their getaway. The Hyattes were caught 36 hours later in a motel in Columbus, Ohio.Prosecutors will seek the death penalty upon conviction, District Attorney General Scott McCluen said in a statement.McCluen said he will seek separate trials because some evidence against Jennifer Hyatte could not be used if George Hyatte were also a defendant.That evidence likely is Jennifer Hyatte's 34-page diary about the crime found in the Ohio motel room. She titled it "A Modern Day Bonnie and Clyde," referring to the Depression-era bank-robbing lovers, and wrote that Hyatte was the love of her life.Prosecutors expect the defendants to be arraigned Monday and held without bond pending their trials.George Hyatte is ineligible for bond because he is serving a 41-year sentence for robbery and related offenses. Jennifer Hyatte, a divorced mother of three met and married George Hyatte in prison and lost her prison nursing job over the relationship. She had no prior criminal record.The trials will be set for March, McCluen said. Besides murder, the Hyattes were each charged with attempted first-degree murder. George Hyatte was also charged with escape, and Jennifer Hyatte with facilitating a prisoner's escape.Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Top White House aides Karl Rove and I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby discussed their contacts with reporters about an undercover CIA officer in the days before her identity was published, the first known intersection between two central figures in the criminal leak investigation.Rove told grand jurors it was possible he first heard in the White House that Valerie Plame, wife of Bush administration critic Joseph Wilson, worked for the CIA from Libby's recounting of a conversation with a journalist, according to people familiar with his testimony.They said Rove testified that his discussions with Libby before Plame's CIA cover was blown were limited to information reporters had passed to them. Some evidence prosecutors have gathered conflicts with Libby's account.Rove is deputy White House chief of staff and President George W. Bush's closest political adviser. Libby is Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff.Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald must determine whether the contacts between the two men concerning Plame's CIA work were part of an effort to undercut her husband's criticism of the Iraq war or simply the trading of information and rumors that typically occurs inside the White House.Other areas of probeThe prosecutor also is examining whether any witnesses gave false testimony or withheld information from the investigation. His spokesman, Randall Samborn, declined to comment Wednesday.The Rove-Libby contacts were confirmed to The Associated Press by people directly familiar with testimony the two witnesses gave before the grand jury. All spoke on condition of anonymity because of the secrecy of the proceedings.Libby's lawyer, Joseph Tate, did not return repeated phone calls this week seeking comment.Rove and Libby have emerged as central figures in Fitzgerald's investigation because both had contacts with reporters who ultimately disclosed Plame's work for the CIA. Federal law on intelligence operativesFederal law prohibits government officials from knowingly disclosing the identity of intelligence operatives.Those familiar with the testimony and evidence said that:During one of his grand jury appearances, Rove was shown testimony from Libby suggesting the two had discussed with each other information they had gotten about Wilson's wife from reporters in early July 2003.Rove responded that Libby's testimony was consistent with his general recollection that he had first learned Wilson's wife worked for the CIA from reporters or government officials who had talked with reporters.Rove testified that he never intended any of his comments to reporters about Wilson's wife to serve as confirmation of Plame's identity. Rove "has always clearly left open that he first heard this information from Libby," said one person directly familiar with Rove's grand jury testimony.That person said Rove testified he believes he heard general information about Wilson's wife on two occasions before he talked with reporters in July 2003 and then learned her name from syndicated columnist Robert Novak.Rove testified he probably first heard of Wilson's wife in a casual social setting outside the White House in the spring of 2003 but could not remember who provided the information.Novak conversationOn July 9, 2003, Novak told him he was writing a column that would report that Plame worked for the CIA, and Rove told the columnist he had heard similar information, according to his testimony.Novak published a column the next week that said Plame worked for the CIA and suggested her agency sent Wilson, a former ambassador, on a mission that raised questions about prewar intelligence the Bush administration used to justify invading Iraq.Rove testified he told Libby about his contact with Novak about two days after it happened.In testimony shown to Rove, Libby stated that numerous journalists appeared to have learned about Plame's identity in the period before her name was published and that he and Rove talked to each other about their contacts with reporters.Libby's testimony stated that Rove had told him about his contact with Novak and that Libby had told Rove about information he had gotten about Wilson's wife from NBC's Tim Russert, according to a person familiar with the information shown to Rove.Russert accountProsecutors, however, have a different account from Russert. The network has said Russert told authorities he did not know about Wilson's wife's identity until it was published and therefore could not have told Libby about it.Prosecutors also have evidence that Libby initiated the call with Russert and had initiated similar contact with another reporter, Judith Miller of The New York Times, several weeks earlier. Miller was jailed for 85 days before agreeing to testify before the grand jury.Even if Rove, Libby or other White House aides did not knowingly reveal Plame's covert identity, the prosecutor could consider other charges such as the mishandling of classified information, false statements and obstruction of justice, lawyers have said.Rove was pressed by prosecutors on several matters, including why he failed to mention during the first of his four grand jury appearances that he also had discussed the Plame matter with a second reporter, Matthew Cooper of Time magazine.Rove testified during the first appearance about his contacts with Novak in the days before Novak wrote a column outing Plame's identity. When asked generally if he had conversations with other reporters in that session, he answered "no."Rove and his lawyer subsequently discovered an e-mail Rove had sent top national security aide Steve Hadley referring to a brief phone interview he had with Cooper.The e-mail jogged Rove's memory and during a subsequent grand jury appearance, he volunteered his recollections about his conversation with Cooper, and his lawyer provided the e-mail to prosecutors. Cooper also wrote a story about Plame.Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

LOS ANGELES, California (Billboard) -- Alicia Keys extends her chart-topping legacy this week, notching her third consecutive No. 1 bow on the Billboard 200.With first-week U.S. sales of 196,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan, "Unplugged" (J Records) arrives ahead of last week's No. 1, Nickelback's "All the Right Reasons," as well as new offerings from Gary Allan and Ricky Martin.In 2003, "The Diary of Alicia Keys" took the top slot with a 618,000-copy start, following the No. 1 opening of her 2001 debut, "Songs in A Minor," which reaped first-week sales of 236,000. Those titles have sold 4.4 million and 6 million, respectively.Recorded in July at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, "Unplugged" is a mix of Keys originals and covers with special guests who include Common, Mos Def, Damian Marley and Maroon 5's Adam Levine.After spending one week at the summit, Nickelback's Roadrunner/IDJMG set falls to No. 2 on sales of 170,000, a typical 48 percent second-week sales slide.At No. 3, "Tough All Over" gives Allan a career-high perch on the Billboard 200. And sales of 97,000 mark the best sales week the MCA Nashville country artist has posted. His 2003 set "See If I Care" started at No. 17 with 58,000 copies and has sold 800,000 to date.The yo-yo effect strikes the Black Eyed Peas' "Monkey Business" (A&M/Interscope) again as the album rebounds from No. 9 to No. 4 on a 13 percent gain to 90,000 copies. Kanye West's "Late Registration" (Roc-A-Fella/Def Jam) jumps from No. 6 to No. 5 despite a 12 percent dip to 83,000.Martin's "Life" (Columbia), his first English-language album in five years, opens at No. 6 on the strength of 73,000 copies. His last such set, 2000's "Sound Loaded," bowed at No. 4 with 318,000 units and has sold 1.7 million.Rounding out the top tier is Sheryl Crow's "Wildflower" (A&M), falling 5-7 on a 44 percent drop to 59,000; Twista's "The Day After" (Atlantic), which dips 2-8 on a 55 percent skid to 58,000; Gretchen Wilson's "All Jacked Up" (Epic), slipping 4-9 as sales slide 52 percent to 57,000; and Young Jeezy's "Let's Get It: Thug Motivation" (Corporate Thugz/Def Jam/IDJMG), which leaps 19-10 on a 3 percent rise to 54,000.Also debuting this week is Story Of The Year's sophomore effort, "In the Wake of Determination" (Maverick). The No. 19 entry and first-week sales of 42,000 are career bests for the St. Louis-based rock act. It's a marked improvement over the group's 2003 debut, "Page Avenue," which started at No. 104 with 11,000 units and has sold 790,000.Sevendust's first post-TVT Records album, "Next" (Winedark), starts at No. 20 with 41,000 copies. The band's 2003 set "Seasons" entered at No. 14 with 67,000 and has sold 303,000.Other notable entries include Danger Doom's "The Mouse and the Mask" (Epitaph, No. 41), Dolly Parton's "Those Were the Days" (Sugar Hill, No. 48) and Jamie Cullum's "Catching Tales" (Verve, No. 49).Overall U.S. album sales were down 6 percent from last week at 10 million units, about 2.6 percent off the same week last year. Year-to-date sales trail 2004 by 10 percent at 436 million units.Copyright 2005 Reuters. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

NEW YORK (AP) -- John Berendt is a very deliberate man.He parts his silver hair in a perfect line and wears a crisp, blue button-down shirt. As he sits in the living room of his Upper West Side town house, he chooses his words carefully and gestures sparingly, as if he is being interviewed by a bank manager, not a reporter.Berendt's home, which took him years to renovate, is meticulously decorated and spotlessly clean, with a giant map of Central Park's Strawberry Fields -- named in honor of John Lennon -- mounted above the fireplace, pieces of art placed just-so on end-tables, and books neatly lining the shelves.It's really no surprise, then, that Berendt writes with a similar fastidiousness. It took nearly a decade of painstaking research, interviews and writing to finish "City of Falling Angels," his follow-up book to the hugely successful "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil." And if he hadn't had a deadline, he'd probably still be working on it."I wasn't in any hurry," Berendt says, a wry smile creeping across his face.That may be a slight understatement. By 2003, his first deadline for completing the new book, Berendt had written just 75 pages. When his editor, Ann Godoff of The Penguin Press, called to check -- "I'm just calling to take your pulse," she said -- Berendt suddenly realized he didn't have the luxury of being an anonymous writer anymore, working at his own methodical speed."I said, 'I will promise you one thing: I will do nothing but write the book,"' he recalls. It was a promise he would keep -- just barely. Berendt wrote right up to the last minute, finishing the day of the deadline so Penguin could get bound galleys to booksellers at this summer's annual BookExpo convention in New York.Although she acknowledges a few moments of near-panic, Godoff says this is just Berendt's way."He's not only methodical, he's completely scrupulous. Everything is sourced and double-sourced," she says. "So I said, 'OK, John, you're a journalist, I'm going to give you a bunch of deadlines.' I knew if I laid it out for him, he'd respond."Getting lost The long-awaited "City of Falling Angels" hit shelves late last month, just in time for the holiday buying season. Thus far, the reviews are mixed. USA Today says Berendt "crafts a lean and elegant narrative," while The Seattle Times says it's a "book in desperate search of a center" and The New York Times says it "bogs down in minutiae, often involving subplots that occur largely offstage."Nonetheless, Penguin is hoping that Berendt's sophomore effort will have the same success as "Midnight," the author's lyrical portrait of eccentric characters living in Savannah, Georgia, that spent a record four years on The New York Times list of best sellers and inspired Clint Eastwood to direct a film version in 1997. (Indeed, in Savannah Berendt's work has been known as "The Book.")For Berendt, though, the pressure of following up on such a colossal -- and completely unexpected -- achievement was not what slowed him down.He merely got lost in his subject again."Falling Angels" does for Venice, Italy, what "Midnight" did for Savannah, creating a love story of a place as it explores its hidden passageways, cafes emptied of tourists in the winter and characters like the Rat Man of Treviso and Ezra Pound's 90-year-old mistress -- a woman Berendt met on his various sojourns to the city.It's also part mystery, as Berendt searches for clues to the sudden burning of the city's fabled Fenice Opera House on January 29, 1996, just before he arrived in Venice. He wraps his florid descriptions of the historic city around this event, which he says marked a symbolic moment for many Venetians."Suddenly, the people realized that although they once had 12 opera houses, they now had not one," he says. "The living city no longer had a living cultural aspect. It became crucial for Venice to rebuild the Fenice."Delving into this psychological aspect of the people's lives proved to be one of the most difficult aspects of researching the book, Berendt says. While he can understand Italian and read it, he didn't want to feel handicapped by not understanding the subtleties of the language, particularly the words and phrases unique to Venetians.So the workmanlike Berendt started taking killer language classes: three-hour intensive conversation drills with an instructor each day, that left him feeling "dizzy." These would understandably be followed by lively Italian lunches with a glass of wine or two, then a nap, the writer says with a laugh."By then, it's mid-afternoon and you haven't gotten any work done," he says.'I build the scene'The classes didn't last long. Soon, he began recording his interviews instead, translating the conversations himself or having someone do it for him. When he couldn't have a tape recorder with him, he would take notes and recount the conversations later with his interview subjects to make sure he got the wording exact.Godoff, for one, was impressed."I think the truth is it was a great leap for John, to have him do it all in a foreign language and yet pulling it off as if he was the same careful observer he was in Savannah," she says.Though he took some liberties with the sequencing of events in "Midnight" -- which was technically nonfiction -- Berendt says he stuck strictly to the script this time. Taking into account his meticulous nature, as well as his background as a journalist, this is not difficult to believe.It does make categorizing the book a challenge, though. Some book stores shocked him by placing his first book in the true crime section because it dealt with the events and characters surrounding a real-life murder trial. At least one publication is calling "Falling Angels" a travel book. Berendt, who chafes at the labels, likes to call his style "literary journalism," written from the point of view of a magazine writer but without the traditional structure of journalism."Instead of 'just the facts, ma'am,' I build the scene," he explains.It's a style Berendt has honed throughout his career. Brought up in Syracuse, New York, he was an English major at Harvard University, then went on to become a journalist, working as an editor at New York Magazine from 1977 to 1979 and as a columnist for Esquire from 1982 to 1994. He decided to write "Midnight" -- his first book -- because he wanted to delve more deeply into a subject than magazine writing would allow.Berendt sees other similarities between his books. Though the cities he inhabits are widely divergent, they are both inward looking, phenomenally beautiful, isolated physically and emotionally, and culturally self-sufficient.The settings give readers an escape "into a magical place." Many readers even sought to discover the real Savannah after "Midnight" was published, transforming the sleepy seaside town into a tourist Mecca in the late 1990s.Although he came to fall in love with both cities, he may not play the outsider discovering a new place in his next book -- which he is already planning. He won't discuss details but says it may be somewhere closer to the place he's called home for 44 years: New York.Of course, knowing Berendt, his readers may be in for a wait. He won't be in any rush to get started.Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

SAN FRANCISCO, California (Reuters) -- Five major publishers filed suit against Google Inc. in Manhattan's federal court on Wednesday seeking to block plans to scan copyrighted works without permission.The complaint lodged in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York against Google names as plaintiffs McGraw-Hill Cos. Inc., Pearson Plc's Pearson Education and Penguin Group (USA) units, Viacom Inc.'s Simon & Schuster and John Wiley & Sons Inc.The suit seeks a declaration that the Web search leader commits infringement when it scans entire books covered by copyright without permission of the copyright owner.Legal experts say the spat between Google and the publishing industry is shaping up as a new front in the battle over digital duplication of media, including music, movies and now books.At issue are the rights of copyright holders versus the public's "fair use" interest in being free to use limited portions of these materials for commentary or review, analysts say.A spokeswoman for the Association of American Publishers said the suit was filed after lengthy discussions broke down last week over the alleged copyright infringement implications of Google's Print Library Project."Creating an easy-to-use index of books is fair use under copyright law and supports the purpose of copyright: to increase the awareness and sales of books, directly benefiting copyright holders," David Drummond, Google's general counsel, said in a statement."This short-sighted attempt to block Google Print works counter to the interests of not just the world's readers, but also the world's authors and publishers," Drummond said.The Authors Guild and writers Herbert Mitgang, Betty Miles and Daniel Hoffman filed a separate suit against Google making similar charges in September.The Authors Guild suit is a class action suit that seeks damages from Google. The newly filed publishers suit seeks a declaratory judgment that Google is committing copyright infringement by scanning books, said Patricia Schroeder, president of the Association of American Publishers.In August, Google, which is working with five of the world's great libraries to digitize their book collections, temporarily stopped scanning copyrighted books in the face of a growing outcry by publishers. The libraries have continued to scan public domain works, which are not covered by copyright.The Google library project plans to resume scanning copyrighted works as well starting in November. The copyrighted books being scanned by libraries are for use in what amounts to a digital card catalog, Google and its backers argue.Supporters of the Google Print project say the scanning of the full text of the books is necessary to create a searchable catalog of the books located within the five libraries' collections. Google says it has no plans to make full copies of copyrighted works available without their owners' permission.Google operates a parallel program with major academic, technical and trade publishers to allow readers to search the text of copyrighted books on publisher-controlled Web pages that show several pages of adjoining text and feature links to publisher and other retail outlets for purchasing the books.All five of the publishers named as plaintiffs in the latest lawsuit have participated in Google's publisher program, according to the company.Copyright 2005 Reuters. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- U.S. lawmakers are urging the Bush administration to resist a push from other countries to shift control of the Internet to the United Nations, arguing that such a move would stifle innovation and free expression."Is it going to become a vehicle for global taxation of domain names? Are you going to allow folks who have demonstrated a pattern of suppression of content, are they going to be put in charge of running this thing?" said Minnesota Republican Sen. Norm Coleman, sponsor of a Senate resolution that calls for the Internet's core addressing system to remain under U.S. control.Coleman's resolution, along with similar remarks by senior lawmakers in the House of Representatives, should give a boost to U.S. negotiators as they prepare for a United Nations summit in Tunisia next month where the issue will loom large.Though no one country controls the Internet as a whole, the U.S. Commerce Department maintains final authority over the domain-name system that matches easy-to-remember names like "example.com" with the Internet Protocol numbers that are assigned to each computer on the Internet.That system is overseen by a California-based nonprofit group called the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, or ICANN.If other countries refuse to recognize ICANN's legitimacy, Internet users in different parts of the globe could wind up at different Web sites when they type "www.example.com" into their browsers.Countries like Brazil and Iran have argued in a series of meetings over the past two years that the Internet is now a global resource that should be overseen by the United Nations or some other international body.The European Union withdrew its support of the current system last month.The United States has made clear that it intends to maintain control.In an interview, Coleman said a bureaucratic body like the United Nations' International Telecommunications Union would slow innovation and extend its reach beyond the domain-name system. Countries that censor online content could use the forum to ban free expression elsewhere, he said."I don't think this is mundane. I really think you're talking about the future of the Internet here," said Coleman, a prominent UN critic who has overseen a Senate investigation into the UN's oil-for-food scandal.Since it was founded in 1998, ICANN has introduced competition into the market for domain names and expanded the number of names available by introducing new suffixes like .info and .biz. as alternatives to standbys like .com and .org.But the nonprofit body has also been plagued by infighting, charges that it does not operate in a transparent manner, and the perception that it is cowed by the U.S. government.ICANN agreed to suspend work on a proposed .xxx domain name for sex sites after the Bush administration objected in August.Despite the nonprofit group's flaws, "I don't think anyone would argue that there is any demonstrated effort to limit access, to control content, to limit growth. If anything ICANN has overseen a tremendous positive expansion," Coleman said.Copyright 2005 Reuters. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Bush said Thursday he has never been more confident of peace between Israel and the Palestinians but "old feuds aren't settled easily" and it may not happen before he leaves office in 2009."It takes a while," Bush said as he lauded Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, his aspirations for a Palestinian state and his plans for legislative elections in January. "We will work hard to lay that foundation so that the process becomes irreversible," the president said.In June 2002, Bush set 2005 as his goal for Palestinian statehood.At a joint news conference after an hour-long meeting in the Oval Office on Thursday, Bush cautioned the Palestinian leader that "the way forward is confronting the threat armed gangs present to creation of a democratic Palestine."But Bush did not directly question Abbas' intention to permit political participation by Hamas and other Palestinian groups that have carried out terror attacks against Israelis. Nor did Bush publicly urge Abbas to screen out extremists in those groups from participating, a proposal discussed with other Palestinian officials before Abbas arrived in Washington for their first White House meeting since May.In Jerusalem, Zalman Shoval, a former Israeli ambassador to Washington and an adviser to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, said he was not concerned. Shoval said he was confident Bush had told Abbas privately that Hamas should not play a role in the January elections.State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the U.S. view remains that Hamas is a terrorist organization. But he added, "It is also the case that how the Palestinian political process unfolds and evolves is a question for the Palestinian people."Offering assurances on that front, Saeb Erekat, senior Palestinian negotiator, said on Israel's Channel 2 TV that "no one can get their political goals through the means of force."In a harsh reaction, meanwhile, Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri dismissed Bush's remarks in support of Palestinian statehood. "This statement and this pledge to establish a state added nothing new for us," he said in Gaza City. "It's an old promise without any credit, while we are witnessing unlimited support for the (Israeli) occupation."Abbas 'a man devoted to peace'At their news conference, Bush was unqualified in his praise of Abbas as "a man devoted to peace and to his people's aspiration for a state of their own.""Today the Palestinian people are closer to realizing their aspirations," Bush said.Supporting Abbas, Bush urged Israel to stop constructing settlements on the West Bank. He assured Abbas he shared his vision of two states living side by side in peace and security."Israel should not undertake any activity that contravenes its roadmap obligations," Bush said, referring to a blueprint for peacemaking approved by the United States, the United Nations, the European Union and Russia.Without elaboration, Bush said Israel would be "held to account" for any actions that hamper peacemaking or burden the lives of Palestinians.But Bush said he was a "heck of a lot more confident" of peace prospects than when he first took office five years ago. Both Abbas and Sharon are committed to making peace, he said.Abbas, in response, insisted that Israel lift curbs on Palestinian travel in the West Bank, saying the restrictions had caused the Palestinians "hardship and humiliation."The Palestinian leader also criticized Israel's security wall, particularly its location in Jerusalem, where the Palestinians intended to establish the capital of their state.He assured Bush that election of a Palestinian legislature in January would establish one law to govern the area.Leveling demands on Israel, he said Palestinians must be able to cross between Gaza, which they took over after Israel's withdrawal last month, and the West Bank. Roadblocks must be removed, settlement construction halted and construction of a security wall suspended, he said.The roadblocks, imposed by Israel in response to deadly terror attacks, "unfortunately turned the lives of Palestinians into hardship, suffering, humiliation," Abbas said. He called the imprisonment of Palestinians "a very sensitive issue."Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

MOSCOW, Russia (Reuters) -- Jailed Russian oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky has been taken to a prison in a remote Siberian region bordering China to serve his eight-year fraud and tax evasion sentence, Russian news agencies reported.The prison, whose original inmates in the 1960s helped build a uranium processing plant, is near the town of Krasnokamensk in the Chita region some 5,000 km (3,107 miles) east of Moscow."It is a normal colony providing normal living conditions," Interfax quoted the local prison administration head Alexander Pleshkov as saying.The prison is not home to especially dangerous criminals, he added, mainly those convicted of theft and fraud. "There are no criminal bosses here."Khodorkovsky's supporters say he is the victim of a Kremlin campaign to neutralise him as a political rival and break up his company. Russian officials say he is a common criminal who has tried to paint himself as a political martyr.The tycoon's whereabouts have been the subject of intense speculation since he was taken away from his pre-trial centre in Moscow earlier this month. His sentence came into force on September 22 when a Moscow court rejected his appeal, though it did cut one year off the initial term.Copyright 2005 Reuters. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

BODEGA BAY, California (AP) -- A surfer received a bad gash Wednesday when a 14-foot shark bit her leg in the waters off northern California and pulled her underwater, authorities said.Megan Halavais, 20, was paddling into the water off Salmon Creek Beach in Sonoma County around 11 a.m. when the shark attacked her from behind.Halavais, an experienced surfer, said she got away after she hit the shark on its tail, according to sheriff's Lt. Roger Rude. Halavais, of Santa Rosa, was helped from the water by other surfers. (Watch the rescuer's account of the attack -- 4:14)She was taken to a hospital with a bite that stretched from her thigh to her calf, Rude said. She was listed in good condition.The beach has been the site of several shark attacks in recent years, Rude said. Police believe the shark likely was a great white. They have closed the beach and warned surfers in nearby locations.Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

SAN FRANCISCO, California (CNN) -- Police, U.S. Coast Guard and firefighters searched the chilly waters of San Francisco Bay and its shoreline Thursday after a mother allegedly threw her three children off a pier.Search teams found the body of one of the children late Wednesday, about five hours after police got a 911 call. Rescuers have been scouring the area since the call from a man who said he saw a woman put children in the water, San Francisco Police Chief Heather Fong told reporters Thursday. (Watch video of the search efforts -- 1:39)Officers responded quickly to the 911 call, which came in at 5:27 p.m. Wednesday (8:27 p.m. ET), and detained a woman they found walking on the pier with a stroller, according to Fong.Fong identified the woman as 23-year-old Lashaun Harris of Oakland, the children's mother.Harris has been booked on suspicion of three counts of murder, Fong said. She's in jail under the custody of the San Francisco Sheriff's Department. The chief identified the children as Treyshun Harris, 6; Taronta Greely, 2 1/2; and Joshoa Greely, 16 months.Fong asked that anyone who may have seen a woman with children and a stroller in the area contact police. Taronta Greely's body was recovered Wednesday night, according to San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom. The body was found two miles away from the pier. It's unlikely that anyone could survive in the 55-degree water for more than about 2 1/2 hours, said Capt. David Swatland of the Coast Guard.Authorities told the San Francisco Chronicle that Harris told them that voices told her to throw the children in the water.Relatives said Harris suffers from schizophrenia and wasn't taking her medication."She was out of her mind. She wasn't in her right mind," a woman who identified herself as Harris' cousin told KGO-TV. "Lashaun wasn't the kind of person to do anything wrong to her kids."Family members said Harris had been living at a shelter in Oakland but recently said she was going to San Francisco.Mary Ann Ramirez, the shelter's social services manager, told the Chronicle that Treyshun was "such a sweet child -- he loved school. He started first grade when he came to the Salvation Army; it was a new school." "He would come home every day, ask his mom to please take me to homework club. He really loved school. He loved his brothers, helped his mom with the kids a lot,'' Ramirez said. At a news conference Thursday, Newsom said the alleged actions make "you frankly sick to your stomach." He cited the city's resources for people who feel they can't care for their children, such as drop-off stations known as "safe havens."Scenic Pier 7, which juts some 900 feet out into San Francisco Bay and sits adjacent to the historic Ferry Building, would typically be crowded with commuters and tourists at the time of the incident.CNN's Rahul Bali, Rusty Dornin and Augie Martin contributed to this report.

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (AP) -- Desertions, allegations of looting and theft, and the videotaped beating of a retired teacher have contributed to a growing sense that the New Orleans Police Department is reverting to its dirty-cop past as the city is trying to persuade residents to return. No hard evidence exists of a rise in police misconduct since Hurricane Katrina hit on August 29.But the American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana said it is investigating at least 10 brutality complaints filed in the past month or so. And stories are making the rounds at Uptown coffee houses and French Quarter bars of overbearing cops abusing their power, of a force seemingly out of control."There's a credibility issue that is manifesting itself in New Orleans," said Rafael Goyeneche of the Metropolitan Crime Commission of Greater New Orleans, a police watchdog group. "Part of that is the disconnect the public feels with the police department. The reputation of corruption lingers, and the new problems compound it."Since the storm, the videotaped beating by police of Robert Davis, 64, and the roughing up an Associated Press TV producer in the French Quarter have focused new attention on the department. Police said Davis was drunk and combative; Davis denied he was drinking and said he put up no resistance. The U.S. Justice Department is investigating. (Full story)Also, 12 New Orleans officers are suspected of looting or condoning looting at a Wal-Mart in Katrina's aftermath. Authorities are investigating allegations that police took more than 200 cars, including 41 new Cadillacs, from a dealership as the storm closed in. And nearly 250 officers on the 1,450-member force are under investigation for leaving their posts during the storm."People are right on the edge because they think police are hired to protect them, but that's not what seems to be happening," John Penny, who teaches criminal justice at Southern University at New Orleans. "I think there's a high feeling of anxiety in the community."Josh Clark, who works for a monthly entertainment publication, admitted he and his girlfriend were out past curfew two weeks after Katrina. Still, he said, the police reaction seemed extreme."They pulled their guns out and pointed them at us," Clark said. "They wouldn't listen to anything."Clark said he was finally able to show his press pass to one of the officers. He said that when the policeman learned he worked for a publication whose editor was a friend, Clark and his girlfriend were allowed to leave."If they know you, they'll do anything for you," Clark said. "If they don't, you're in deep doo-doo."Department defendedPolice spokesman Marlon Defillo denied the department is slipping back into its old habits, saying discipline is being maintained. He said the department has launched four formal investigations post-Katrina into police wrongdoing.Asked about the notion that the department is out of control, Mayor Ray Nagin said Wednesday: "We're going to have to deal with this perception as we're going forward."He acknowledged the department "is a little battered and torn right now" and said all officers had gone through physical and psychological evaluations since the storm. He also noted that two officers had committed suicide."They have gone through hell and back," he said.But Nagin added: "We're going to try to deal with this as best we can. We are going to infuse the police department with new blood. We're going to build one of the best departments in the country. That's all we can do."The department's reputation for corruption and brutality goes back generations, but it was solidified in the 1990s when police were arrested for crimes ranging from shoplifting and bribery to bank robbery, drug dealing, rape and murder. Two officers from that period are on death row, one for having a woman killed after she filed a complaint against him.Former Police Superintendent Richard Pennington, now Atlanta's chief, is widely credited with cleaning up the department, purging it of scores of bad cops and establishing procedures for investigating complaints. Critics say many of those reforms have fallen into disuse."We're back in denial," said civil rights attorney Mary Howell. "If people are saying there isn't a problem, that's part of the problem."Since Katrina, there has been widespread suspicion among police watchdog groups that the misconduct reflects the unprecedented stresses and demands put on officers by the hurricane, which wiped out many cops' homes and scattered their families.Council concernBut even before the hurricane, the City Council was concerned enough about misconduct that it planned to hold a hearing on the subject. Katrina forced its cancellation.It is impossible to say how big the problem is because there has been so much chaos since the storm hit. Floodwaters wiped out some police records, and independent agencies that take complaints have only recently re-established telephone service.Warren Riley, who took over as superintendent last month, does seem determined to restore public confidence in the department, said Goyeneche, who met with Riley this week.That will be difficult, said Ed White, spokesman for Louisiana Victims and Citizens Against Crime."We're asking people to return to this city and rebuild it and their lives," White said. "If people don't have confidence in the police doing their jobs, why would they do that?"Penny said decisive action is needed to prove to returning residents they will be protected by police, not terrorized by them. "We have to have that administrative, managerial cleansing so people will gain confidence to be in a city that's being protected," he said.Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (CNN) -- The scene at Caf� du Monde on Tuesday was frenetic: employees polishing the counters and wiping the windows, contractors installing new equipment in the kitchen and applying one last coat of paint inside and around the landmark's outside seating area.Early Wednesday morning, the hard work paid-off, as the cafe's trademark beignets and coffee were once again available to the public. More than seven weeks after Katrina, the reopening of Caf� du Monde is helping New Orleans project a "back in business" image. "There are many jobs to be had here right now in the city of New Orleans," Caf� du Monde vice president Burt Benrud said. "If you come to the city of New Orleans and you don't have a job, you're not looking." (Watch: Influx of Latino workers -- 1:32)Despite his optimism about New Orleans' economic climate, Benrud acknowledges a fair amount of uncertainty. In his case, he wonders what will happen to a 142-year-old business that operates around the clock when the city's curfew kicks in."(Are) the cops going to show up over here and say it is midnight -- you guys need to close? It is my hope that that situation gets resolved shortly, so we can go back to business as usual: 24 hours a day, 364 days a year." Caf� du Monde gives its workers Christmas Day off.In addition to restaurants, some of the downtown art galleries are reopening. "Help wanted" signs are everywhere, underscoring what economist and University of New Orleans Chancellor Tim Ryan says is the city's most pressing post-Katrina economic and social issue: a shortage of working-class housing."In the short run there is a real critical problem," Ryan told CNN. "If you don't have housing you don't get the people back, and you are going to be limited in the number of businesses you will be able to open ... Right now businesses are not very encouraged, and we are hearing that message from the business community."In fact, "back in business" is in many ways more a slogan than a fact on the ground, especially outside of the French Quarter and downtown's central business district.There were 3,708 licensed retail food establishments in New Orleans when Katrina hit. Fewer than one-third of those, 1,193, have been certified to reopen by the state Department of Health and Hospitals.Further evidence of the devastating economic impact is found in the state's new data on unemployment claims. The state Department of Labor reports more than 281,000 unemployment filings in the past seven weeks since Katrina hit. That's more than 13 times the normal average for a seven-week period and well in excess of the 193,000 claims filed statewide in all of 2004.At Antoine's, the French Quarter restaurant that is as much a museum to the city's Mardi Gras culture as it is an eating establishment, general manager Mike Guste tells CNN the goal is to reopen by Christmas. Katrina ravaged the restaurant, knocking open a brick wall on the fourth floor and leaving significant water damage."I'm really hoping it is going to be Christmas," Guste said as he led CNN on a tour of the damage. "Christmas or sometime in the middle of December."Guste said negotiations with his insurer are proceeding reasonably well. Contractors are beginning the early stages of reconstruction, and Guste and other managers are gathering the records necessary for their claim under a "business disruption" clause in his insurance policy."I haven't had any definitive answer either way," he said. "I've got my CFO and CEO and some other accountants working on it. ... It's a bean-counter thing. I will leave it to them."Because of that clause, Guste says he hopes to soon begin regular payments to many of the restaurant's employees, and he anticipates minimal turnover in the most crucial positions. Antoine's maitre' d, however, was among those killed by Katrina. Guste said he ignored pleas from family members to evacuate.Mayor Ray Nagin has said it makes sense for the business reopenings to begin in the downtown area, and then in areas that suffered less damage from Katrina and Rita. Visits to lower-income and harder-hit neighborhoods suggest "back in business" is a distant dream at best.On St. Claude Avenue in the predominantly black neighborhood of Bywater, banks, restaurants, fast-food establishments and corner groceries remain shuttered, many of them heavily damaged.But count Joseph Peters among the optimists there.Peters reopened his tire-repair shop within a week of Katrina passing, when there was still water in the streets. His business is bustling because of all the damage to cars caused by the debris-strewn streets, and Peters says cleanup crews have been showing up in recent days at a seafood restaurant across the street from his shop. As Peters spoke to CNN on Tuesday, a man with a wheelbarrow made more than a dozen trips in and out of a small, mom-and-pop grocery store nearby, dumping debris on the median of what once was a busy thoroughfare from the working-class neighborhood to the central city."I don't think it is being unfair. It's just the way it works," Peters said between repairs when asked if he believed more help was going first to downtown and richer neighborhoods."You come back in six months you are going to see this up and running," Peters said. "Those people are going back into business. Trust me, they will be back. ... This is home."

WASHINGTON (AP) -- In the midst of the chaos that followed Hurricane Katrina, a Federal Emergency Management Agency official in New Orleans sent a dire e-mail to Director Michael Brown saying victims had no food and were dying.No response came from Brown.Instead, less than three hours later, an aide to Brown sent an e-mail saying her boss wanted to go on a television program that night -- after needing at least an hour to eat dinner at a Baton Rouge, Louisiana, restaurant.The e-mails were made public Thursday at a Senate Homeland Security Committee hearing featuring Marty Bahamonde, the first agency official to arrive in New Orleans in advance of the August 29 storm. The hurricane killed more than 1,200 people and forced hundreds of thousands to evacuate.Bahamonde, who sent the e-mail to Brown two days after the storm struck, said the correspondence illustrates the government's failure to grasp what was happening."There was a systematic failure at all levels of government to understand the magnitude of the situation," Bahamonde testified. "The leadership from top down in our agency is unprepared and out of touch."The 19 pages of internal FEMA e-mails show Bahamonde gave regular updates to people in contact with Brown as early as August 28, the day before Katrina made landfall. They appear to contradict Brown, who has said he was not fully aware of the conditions until days after the storm hit. Brown quit after being recalled from New Orleans amid criticism of his work.Brown had sent Bahamonde, FEMA's regional director in New England, to New Orleans to help coordinate the agency's response. Bahamonde arrived on August 27 and was the only FEMA official at the scene until FEMA disaster teams arrived on August 30.As Katrina's outer bands began drenching the city August 28, Bahamonde sent an e-mail to Deborah Wing, a FEMA response specialist. He wrote: "Everyone is soaked. This is going to get ugly real fast."Subsequent e-mails told of an increasingly desperate situation at the New Orleans Superdome, where tens of thousands of evacuees were staying. Bahamonde spent two nights there with the evacuees.'Infuriating' storyOn August 31, Bahamonde e-mailed Brown to tell him that thousands of evacuees were gathering in the streets with no food or water and that "estimates are many will die within hours.""Sir, I know that you know the situation is past critical," Bahamonde wrote. "The sooner we can get the medical patients out, the sooner we can get them out."A short time later, Brown's press secretary, Sharon Worthy, wrote colleagues to complain that the FEMA director needed more time to eat dinner at a Baton Rouge restaurant that evening. "He needs much more that [sic] 20 or 30 minutes," Worthy wrote."Restaurants are getting busy," she said. "We now have traffic to encounter to go to and from a location of his choise [sic], followed by wait service from the restaurant staff, eating, etc. Thank you."In an August 29 phone call to Brown informing him that the first levee had failed, Bahamonde said he asked for guidance but did not get a response."He just said, 'Thank you,' and that he was going to call the White House," Bahamonde said.Senators on the committee were dismayed."We will examine further why critical information provided by Mr. Bahamonde was either discounted, misunderstood, or simply not acted upon," said GOP Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, who heads the committee. She decried the "complete disconnect between senior officials and the reality of the situation."Connecticut Sen. Joseph Lieberman, committee's top Democrat, said Bahamonde's story is "ultimately infuriating and raises serious questions which our committee's investigation must answer."In e-mails, Bahamonde described to his bosses a chaotic situation at the Superdome. Bahamonde noted also that local officials were asking for toilet paper, a sign that supplies were lacking at the shelter."Issues developing at the Superdome. The medical staff at the dome says they will run out of oxygen in about two hours and are looking for alternative oxygen," Bahamonde wrote regional director David Passey on August 28.Bahamonde said he was stunned that FEMA officials responded by continuing to send truckloads of evacuees to the Superdome for two more days even though they knew supplies were in short supply."I thought it amazing," he said. "I believed at the time and still do today, that I was confirming the worst-case scenario that everyone had always talked about regarding New Orleans."Congress mulls fundsAt a separate congressional hearing, lawmakers considering Louisiana's request for $32 billion for Gulf Coast rebuilding were told that Mississippi would need tens of billions of dollars of its own to restore its coastline.Gulf Coast lawmakers and state officials have been pushing for vast infusions of federal aid since Katrina hit."It will be in the billions, with a 'b,' level, it may be in the tens of billions; it won't be in the hundreds of billions," William W. Walker, head of the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources, told a House Transportation and Infrastructure subcommittee.But Rep. John J. Duncan Jr., the subcommittee chairman, earlier had said Congress cannot afford Louisiana's request. "This is just not going to happen," said Duncan, a Tennessee Republican.Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) -- A disabled lobsterman who received a $500,000 log home from the TV show "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" in an episode yet to be aired has a criminal past, including an armed robbery conviction, The Portland Press Herald reported Thursday.The criminal offenses and two drunken driving convictions occurred before Doug Goodale of Wells lost his arm in a fishing accident in 1997. That story caught the attention of the hit ABC reality show.Goodale told the Press Herald that an agreement with the show's producers bars him from talking until the episode airs, possibly next month.Melissa Armstrong, a spokeswoman for the producers of "Extreme Makeover," declined to discuss Goodale's criminal history or whether it would have disqualified him. The application form, which was submitted by a family member, asks candidates whether they have been convicted of crimes, but the spokeswoman would not say whether the Goodale application had that information.Goodale was working alone on his boat in 1997 when a winch caught his arm. He had to amputate it to free himself and then steer the boat back to port, where he was taken to the hospital."It was twisting my arm off," Goodale said in an interview as he recovered. "I had a knife there and I just started cutting. If I didn't, I was dead meat."The newspaper said it looked into Goodale's criminal record after receiving several tips from residents of Wells.In the armed robbery case, Goodale was arrested in 1982 a day after a fast-food restaurant was robbed of $300 and its employees were forced into a walk-in cooler. Goodale pleaded guilty to a felony and served 60 days in jail. The rest of his one-year sentence was suspended.In 1997, he was given a suspended sentence for misdemeanor assault. His Maine driving record, which is separate from his criminal record, shows his license was suspended twice for drunken driving, in 1985 and 1995.The Press Herald reported that the records it researched show different birth dates for Goodale, perhaps one reason "Extreme Makeover" may not have known about Goodale's crimes. Many court records list him as born in January 1964 -- making him an adult at the time of the 1982 robbery -- while other records, including his driver's license, say he was born in 1965.Goodale's ex-wife Becky Sellers was one of those who contacted the newspaper after his story was published. She thinks Goodale's past is part of the story and should not be glossed over or ignored by the television show."He's had a hard life, but he brought it all on himself," said Sellers, who was married to Goodale from 1985 until 1992.Officials with Katahdin Cedar Log Homes, which supplied the materials and workers to build the home, estimated its value at $500,000. Company president David Gordon said he wasn't troubled by Goodale's past, "as long as he paid his debt to society."Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Sen. Judd Gregg won $853,492 from the Powerball lottery after matching five of six numbers in Wednesday's drawing, adding to his already sizable wealth."Even senators can be lucky," he told reporters outside the D.C. Lottery claims center, where he picked up his check.The Republican from New Hampshire -- who chairs the Budget Committee and who has a reputation as a strict fiscal conservative -- said his wife is currently remodeling their home and already has plans for the new money."She's already told me, 'Don't spend it. I've already got plans.'"He said he bought about $20 of tickets on Monday at a D.C. Citgo gas station as he headed from Baltimore to Washington for a Senate vote."I don't plan to quit my job," he said with a smile.He will owe 25 percent in federal taxes on the $853,492. New Hampshire doesn't have state income taxes and so he will get to keep the rest.Gregg already is a millionaire, according to personal financial records that senators are required to file annually.His latest filing, which documents his financial records for the calendar year of 2004, shows that Gregg has assets between $2,697,000 and $9,430,000, mostly in an extensive stock and real estate portfolio.After hearing the lottery news, Sen. Kent Conrad, D-North Dakota, the top Democrat on the Budget Committee, quipped the money should be used to pay down the federal deficit."We'll take it all," he said.Gregg was one of 49 winners of the runner-up cash award in a drawing that also earned one lucky winner from Oregon $340 million.The Gregg family was in the news for less happy reasons two years ago when two men entered their McLean, Virginia, home and abducted Gregg's wife, Kathleen. She was driven to a nearby ATM where she gave the knife-wielding robbers money before escaping from them. CNN Producer Ted Barrett and Senior Political Researcher Robert Yoon contributed to this report.

PARIS, France (AP) -- Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said Thursday that his government is preparing for a possible U.S. invasion, and he warned that such "aggression" would send gasoline prices in the United States soaring.The U.S. government repeated that it is not planning any such thing.Chavez, a vocal critic of "imperialism" and the Bush administration, said he was not against the American people -- just the current government."We are sure that it will be very difficult for the United States to attack Venezuela," Chavez said. He said his country has eight oil refineries and 14,000 gasoline stations in the United States."If the United States tried to attack Venezuela by a direct invasion, forget the oil," he said during a two-hour news conference beamed live to Venezuela. "Everyday we send 1.5 million barrels to the United States."The barrel price of crude oil could hit $150 following a U.S. attack, Chavez said. Currently New York light sweet crude oil trades around $60 a barrel."That's why Pat Robertson, the spiritual adviser of Mr. Bush, is calling for my assassination. That would be much cheaper than an invasion," Chavez said.Robertson, the U.S. religious broadcaster, said in August that Chavez should be killed, then later apologized.In Washington, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Chavez's suspicions were unfounded."I've stated many times before, the United States is prepared to work with any government in the region: left of center, center, right of center. Our issue is with states that don't govern in a democratic manner," McCormack said.The Venezuelan leader used his news conference to trumpet what he called his "alternative" vision of a world that works for the poor rather than corporations seeking profits.Chavez reiterated longtime claims that the United States finances his opponents, seeks his ouster and sabotages efforts to move his country forward."Venezuela is used to defending itself ... and fighting imperialism," Chavez said, speaking in Spanish with a French translator."We must be ready for an aggression," said Chavez, who previously said Venezuela is organizing an expanded military reserve and civilian defense units.In an interview with the British Broadcasting Corp. radio aired earlier Thursday, Chavez said he had evidence to prove the U.S. government was planning an invasion.Chavez said he believed the reason Washington was plotting an invasion was to take control of Venezuela's oil fields.Meanwhile, Israel canceled -- under American pressure -- a lucrative deal to upgrade Venezuelan warplanes, Israel TV reported Thursday.The report said Israel was to install its own systems in U.S.-made F-16 fighters for the Venezuelan air force, but the U.S. government forced Israel to call off the deal. No dollar figure for the deal was given.Israeli Defense Ministry officials were not immediately available for comment.Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

MARTINEZ, California (CNN) -- Investigators have arrested a 16-year-old boy in connection with the killing of Pamela Vitale, wife of high-profile attorney and television legal analyst Daniel Horowitz, a sheriff's spokesman said Thursday.The suspect is from Lafayette, California, where the couple were building their dream house in the hills east of Oakland. The teenager was arrested Wednesday night and was being held in the Contra Costa County juvenile detention facility, said Jimmy Lee, a spokesman for the Contra Costa County Sheriff's Department. (Watch a report on the arrest -- 4:35)"We are still trying to establish the exact motive," Lee said. Investigators would not name the youth, Lee said. Vitale was beaten with a piece of crown molding, and a cross was carved into her back, a law enforcement official with detailed knowledge of the case said. Investigators suspect the youth was confronted while trespassing on the couple's property and probably did not go there with the intention of killing her, the official said. The teenager was arrested at a relative's home in the town of Walnut Creek, just east of Lafayette, the law enforcement official said. Horowitz said he found Vitale, 52, when he returned from San Francisco to the mobile home where the couple lived for the past two years while building a 7,000-square-foot Italian-style mansion.It was Vitale's dream house and she supervised the project down to the last detail, Horowitz told CNN.Medical examiners have concluded that Vitale died from blunt trauma to the head, said a spokesman for the Contra Costa County Sheriff's Department. "I took it all in, and I knew she was dead," Horowitz told CNN's Nancy Grace in an exclusive interview. (Watch Horowitz describe his last minutes with his wife's body -- 4:50)Horowitz told CNN he had been in San Francisco preparing for the trial of Susan Polk, accused of stabbing her millionaire husband to death in 2002. The judge declared a mistrial in the high-profile case because of Vitale's slaying.Horowitz has represented high-profile defendants and appears frequently as a legal analyst on cable television networks, including CNN.

(CNN) -- Rep. Tom DeLay, the former House majority leader who faces conspiracy and money laundering charges, turned himself in Thursday in Houston, one day after an arrest warrant was issued for him.DeLay walked into the bonding department of the Harris County Sheriff's Office shortly after noon and was fingerprinted, photographed and released after posting $10,000 bond, sheriff's spokeswoman Lisa Martinez said. DeLay's district office is in Sugar Land, a Houston suburb.Outside the building, DeLay attorney Dick DeGuerin blasted prosecutor Ronnie Earle, accusing him of singling out the Texas Republican for political retribution and planning to use DeLay's mug shot in Democratic mailings."He's got what he wanted. There's no reason for this. It was pure retaliation on the part of Ronnie Earle," DeGuerin said, holding up DeLay's mug shot. "There he is. Take a good look at him."He also said the defense team "will expose his prosecution for what he is."(Watch: Report on DeLay being booked -- 2:03)In his mug shot, a smiling DeLay is wearing a coat and tie. The photograph doesn't have numbers below his face like many mug shots because the county no longer uses such a system, Martinez said.The booking happened a day after a state court issued an arrest warrant for him, ahead of his first scheduled court appearance Friday in Austin.DeLay was indicted October 3 and an arrest warrant was issued Wednesday.On September 28, a grand jury indicted Delay and associates John Colyandro and Jim Ellis on a conspiracy charge on allegations they steered $190,000 in corporate donations to state legislative candidates in 2002 and disguised the source by sending the money through national Republican campaign committees. Texas law prohibits corporate donations to political campaigns.DeLay has accused Austin prosecutor Ronnie Earle, the Travis County district attorney, of launching a partisan vendetta against him. He showed his frustration Wednesday, telling CNN, "We all know what this is about. The quicker it's over the better."There was no immediate official comment from the congressman's lawyers. But in a written statement, Earle's office said, "We believe that Congressman DeLay should be treated like everyone else."Jeffrey Toobin, senior legal analyst for CNN, said he didn't see the issuance of the arrest warrant necessarily as a personal attack. When a warrant is issued in Texas after an indictment, "it is usually, but not always, a formality," Toobin told CNN's Lou Dobbs.However, in many white-collar cases, Toobin said, the defense attorney and the prosecutor work out a surrender time for the defendant without a warrant being issued."That's kind of the civilized way to do it," he said. But there is nothing civil about the conflict between Earle and DeLay, "And this arrest warrant is further proof of that," Toobin said.In addition, said Toobin, the fingerprinting and mug shot also will be embarrassing.DeLay already has subpoenaed Earle, claiming prosecutorial misconduct in the case, and a hearing will be held on the legitimacy of the prosecution. Earle issued a subpoena last week for DeLay's phone records.Because of his felony indictment, House GOP rules required DeLay to step down as majority leader, the No. 2 position in the House hierarchy. He was replaced by Rep. Roy Blunt, R-Missouri.After DeLay's defense raised questions about whether the conspiracy charge applied to the state election code back in 2002, Earle went to a second grand jury to instead seek a money-laundering charge against the three.That grand jury refused to indict DeLay. But a third grand jury returned an indictment October 3, charging DeLay, Colyandro and Ellis with money-laundering and conspiracy.Before DeLay's indictment on felony charges, according to DeLay's attorney, Dick DeGuerin, his client turned down an offer from the Texas prosecutor to plead guilty to a misdemeanor, which would have allowed him to remain as House majority leader.The offer was revealed Monday in a letter from DeGuerin to Earle among a new batch of motions filed in the case. DeGuerin wrote that both Colyandro and Ellis have told prosecutors that DeLay "played no part in the transactions described in the indictment."In motions filed Monday, DeGuerin requested a speedy trial and asked that DeLay be tried separately from Colyandro and Ellis because they want to pursue appeals of issues in the case that would delay the proceedings.DeGuerin also filed motions to quash both of the criminal charges against DeLay on a laundry list of legal grounds.Among the arguments raised by DeLay's defense was that the charges should have been brought in DeLay's home county rather than in Travis County, which includes the state capital, Austin.In his letter to Earle, DeGuerin charged that Earle "contrived" to bring the indictment in Travis County because the district attorney in Fort Bend County "would reject the case."