PROVIDENCE, Rhode Island (AP) -- He's the top rusher in Division I-AA, most likely good enough for a shot at the pros. But Brown's Nick Hartigan would gladly set the NFL aside for the chance to study at Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar.What he won't do is abandon his teammates with the Ivy League title on the line.So, with his two big dreams on a collision course, Hartigan is crafting an ambitious travel plan.The senior running back has made the finals in the Rhodes selection process and will have to interview November 18 in Pittsburgh for the scholarship. Then he'll have to jump on a plane for New York, where Brown plays Columbia in its season finale the following day; at least a share of the Ivy League title could be on the line.Afterward, he might have to fly back to Pittsburgh for another round of interviews that night.But missing the game is not an option, even for a chance at Oxford."These kids are my brothers," said Hartigan, who's averaging 163 yards a game. "I've spent four years killing myself -- we all have -- to get this Ivy League title. It's not something I can skip."Hartigan's lucky he even has a chance to both interview and play: Rhodes committees are famous for refusing to accommodate scheduling requests. But he caught a break. Unusually, his selection committee planned to start interviewing some candidates Friday afternoon. Late Wednesday he got word he could have one of those slots.That means Hartigan will have a shot at one of the two scholarships being awarded from the Pittsburgh region, out of 32 nationally. He'll be up against a dozen or so other exemplary finalists in a pool where even his 3.91 GPA could be near the bottom.But he'll get to make his case."It's about as great a situation as I could have hoped for," said Hartigan, also a candidate for the Draddy Award -- the "academic Heisman Trophy." "I'm incredibly grateful to them."No mere bookwormWhether he wins or not, Hartigan looks like just the kind of Renaissance young man diamond magnate Cecil Rhodes had in mind a century ago when he created the Rhodes Scholarship.Rhodes's will ordered that recipients "shall not be merely bookworms" and shall be chosen for their scholastic achievements, character and "fondness of and success in manly outdoor sports such as cricket, football and the like."Over the years, selectees have included Heisman Trophy winner Pete Dawkins and runner-up Byron White, along with eventual NBA players -- and members of Congress -- Tom McMillan and Bill Bradley.The emphasis on sports has declined, but "athletic interest and success are still relevant," said Elliot Gerson, American secretary of the Rhodes Trust. "They have not been written out of the will. If someone demonstrates outstanding athletic success, it is in his or her favor as other factors are considered."Hartigan is the biggest reason Brown (7-1, 4-1 Ivy League) is guaranteed a share of the Ivy title if it wins its last two games; the Bears play Dartmouth (2-6, 1-4) this Saturday. Last week, he ran for 192 yards and scored four touchdowns against Yale, winning conference player of the week for the fifth time. He's rewritten Brown's record book and will likely finish as the Ivy League's third all-time leading rusher. Ed Marinaro, a 1971 Heisman Trophy finalist, tops the list followed by another Cornell back, Chad Levitt.But none of Hartigan's achievements on the field would matter without his stellar academic record -- earned in an era when big-time college sports have become so intense that Gerson says it is practically impossible for a star in a marquee sport to assemble the wide-ranging credentials a Rhodes Committee are after.About a half-dozen or so varsity athletes are still usually among the 32 American scholars selected each year -- many of them standouts and some even Olympians. But generally they have come from sports like swimming and track, where it is still possible for a committed college athlete to do other things. That has become harder in football, even at a I-AA program."I've pretty much been working from the day I got out of my parents' car four years ago August," Hartigan said this week, on a day when had been up for a 7 a.m. walkthrough, film time, class, practice and proctoring study hall for the team's freshmen. He double-majored in history and political science, and also ran a deck-washing business back home in Northern Virginia.He first learned about the Rhodes by reading "A Sense of Where You Are," a book about Bradley that his father gave him for inspiration. Hartigan wants to study health policy -- examining why Great Britain has managed to create a national health insurance system but the United States has not -- with an eye toward a career in law, policy or, perhaps, elective office.Pro scouts have stopped in regularly to watch film on Hartigan, and if Oxford doesn't work out he will likely have his shot at the NFL. It's a good consolation prize -- and at least he won't have to wonder what might have been.Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Staying up an hour or two past bedtime makes it far harder for kids to learn, say scientists who deprived youngsters of sleep and tested whether their teachers could tell the difference.They could.If parents want their children to thrive academically, "Getting them to sleep on time is as important as getting them to school on time," said psychologist Gahan Fallone, who conducted the research at Brown Medical School.The study, unveiled Thursday at an American Medical Association science writers meeting, was conducted on healthy children who had no evidence of sleep- or learning-related disorders.Difficulty paying attention was among the problems the sleepy youngsters faced -- raising the question of whether sleep deprivation could prove even worse for people with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD.Fallone now is studying that question, and suspects that sleep problems "could hit children with ADHD as a double whammy."Sleep experts have long warned that Americans of all ages don't get enough shuteye. Sleep is important for health, bringing a range of benefits that, as Shakespeare put it, "knits up the raveled sleave of care." Not getting enough is linked to a host of problems, from car crashes as drivers doze off to crippled memory and inhibited creativity. (See how much sleep your children need)Teachers detect lack of sleepBut exactly how much sleep correlates with school performance is hard to prove.So Brown researchers set out to test whether teachers could detect problems with attention and learning when children stayed up late -- even if the teachers had no idea how much sleep their students actually got.They recruited 74 6- to 12-year-olds from Rhode Island and southern Massachusetts for the three-week study.For one week, the youngsters went to bed and woke up at their usual times. They already were fairly good sleepers, getting nine to 9.5 hours of sleep a night.Another week, they were assigned to spend no fewer than 10 hours in bed a night. And another week, they were kept up later than usual: First- and second-graders were in bed no more than eight hours and the older children no more than 6.5 hours.In addition to parents' reports, the youngsters wore motion-detecting wrist monitors to ensure compliance.Teachers weren't told how much the children slept or which week they stayed up late, but rated the students on a variety of performance measures each week.The teachers reported significantly more academic problems during the week of sleep deprivation, the study, which will be published in the journal Sleep in December, concluded.Students who got eight hours of sleep or less a night were more forgetful, had the most trouble learning new lessons, and had the most problems paying attention, reported Fallone, now at the Forest Institute of Professional Psychology in Springfield, Missouri.How much sleep?Sleep has long been a concern of educators.Consider: Potter-Burns Elementary School in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, sends notes to parents reminding them to make sure students get enough sleep prior to the school's yearly achievement testing. Principal John Haidemenos considers it important enough to include in the school's monthly newsletters, too."Definitely there is an impact on students' performance if they come to school tired," he said.But the findings may change physician practice, said Dr. Regina Benjamin, a family physician in Bayou La Batre, Alabama, who reviewed the data at Thursday's AMA meeting."I don't ask about sleep" when evaluating academically struggling students, she noted. "I'm going to start."So how much sleep do kids need? Recommended amounts range from about 10 to 11 hours a night for young elementary students to 8.5 hours for teens.Fallone insists that his own second-grader gets 10 hours a night, even when it meant dropping soccer the season that practice didn't start until 7:30 -- too late for her to fit in dinner and time to wind down before she needed to be snoozing."It's tough," he acknowledged. But "parents must believe in the importance of sleep."The study was funded by the National Institutes of Health.Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

LOUISVILLE, Kentucky (AP) -- The relationship between this city and native son Muhammad Ali always comes back to the story of the brash Olympic boxing champ -- then known as Cassius Clay -- tossing his 1960 gold medal into the Ohio River in disgust over entrenched racism.But the story may be apocryphal -- Ali later told friends he simply misplaced the medal -- and as the years passed, Louisville and Ali eventually came to appreciate each other.Now, Ali's hometown is ready to unveil its most lasting tribute, a museum celebrating the life of one of the 20th century's most recognizable figures.The Muhammad Ali Center opens November 21, chronicling the life of "The Greatest" inside and outside the ring, emphasizing his peaceful values and vision of global tolerance, and setting the record straight about that infamous gold medal."People will be surprised when they visit the Ali center," said museum spokeswoman Jeanie Kahnke. "Many people only know of Ali as a boxer and a three-time heavyweight champion of the world. What they may not know about him is how he has been a charitable individual for most of his life. That has only grown since he has retired from the ring."Ali, now 63 and battling Parkinson's Disease, is expected to attend a star-studded opening gala November 19, along with celebrities Will Smith, Angelina Jolie, Jamie Foxx, Jim Carrey, James Taylor and B.B. King. The event is even attracting guests all the way from England, New Zealand, Australia, Pakistan, South Africa, Jamaica and Barbados."There are very few in the world who affect people the way Ali does," Kahnke said. "We've heard from people who are suffering from diseases and young kids who were born 15 years after Ali's last fight. Ali gives them the strength to achieve their own goals and fight for their own beliefs."Ali the boxer retired in 1981 with a 56-5 record, 37 knockouts and an Olympic gold medal. By then, the legendary fighting career was only part of his story.He became the world's best-known Muslim, took a peaceful stand against the Vietnam War that cost him his heavyweight title and has worked in his later years as a United Nations peace ambassador, helping raise awareness and money for the world's poorest nations.Embracing a native sonOrganizers broke ground on the $75 million, 93,000-square-foot project in 2002. Experts were summoned on the Vietnam War, Islam, civil rights and other areas to create a center related intimately to Ali's life. Some of the exhibits were reviewed by longtime Ali coach Angelo Dundee and biographers Robert Lipsyte and Thomas Hauser."When you think about boxing, you just see the athlete on a stage," said curator Susan Shaffer Nahmias. "For many years, Ali's story stopped at the ring. This center shows a picture of Ali through a voice that isn't a sportswriter."Numerous exhibits highlight parts of Ali's life often buried beneath his athletic prowess.One exhibit aims to set the record straight about the story in Ali's autobiography of him flinging his light heavyweight Olympic gold medal into the river. The since-denied story goes that he tossed the medal in disgust over continued racism in his hometown after he was refused service in a restaurant and harassed by a group of racist motorcyclists.Other displays recall the lighting of the Olympic flame at the 1996 Atlanta Games, when a trembling Ali hoisted a golden torch as spectators frantically clicked cameras and stood to give him a loud, emotional ovation."He held the torch, with the world watching and somehow, his disability enhanced his persona," said Tom Owen, a Louisville historian and professor. "He continues to have an energetic spirit. You see that man ascending to light the Olympic torch. What city wouldn't want to embrace a native son like that?"Longtime friend Howard Bingham, a Life magazine photographer who has shot hundreds of pictures of Ali since the 1960s, said it was one of the champ's defining moments."I told him, 'Ali, this is a time when the world is saying thank you for what you have done and sacrificed, and how you've helped people throughout your life,"' Bingham said.In a hands-on area designed to look like Ali's training camp in Deer Lake, Pennsylvania, visitors can learn how to shadowbox and hit a speed bag. Onlookers can gawk at Ali's Olympic gold medal that he received in Atlanta to replace the one that was lost.There is also the hope the center will become a bipartisan place where leaders can come, share their viewpoints and cultivate peace. The Muhammad Ali Institute for Peace and Justice, which is based at the University of Louisville, plans to hold seminars at the center to promote peace-making and conflict resolution. With Ali's international appeal, the goal is certainly within reach."We are not a world capital. But I believe they have hope that disputing peoples will come here," Owen said. "I would love to see Muhammad Ali come back and put his blessing and his encouragement at those tables of reconciliation."Ali, who currently lives in Michigan with his wife, Lonnie, has long hinted at moving back to the city where he grew up."He is the most recognized figure in the history of this city and when visitors ask about him, I point to the center," Owen said. "We hope he has a long and continuing life and hopefully, one day, he will come home."Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

(Southern Living) -- We searched Washington, D.C., for the ultimate value meal: great tasting, excellent service, unique atmosphere, and -- hardest of all -- close to the sites and attractions you want to see. Near the White House and want a bargain lunch? No problem. Spent a bundle on tickets to the Kennedy Center but don't have any money left for a pre-show dinner? Read on. All of the following restaurants are centrally located, and you won't need a wad of Benjamins to eat at them. A couple of Abes should do you just fine. Here are our top 10.Cheap eat No. 1: The BreadlineYou could almost hit the White House with a rock from this bright, tiny restaurant. (Editor's note: Rock throwing is not recommended in D.C.) Walls are decorated with old rationing signs that seem campy to modern politicos. One says: "Save a loaf a week, help us win the war!" But you'll definitely want to eat the bread here. It's crusty on the outside, soft inside -- perfect to house sweet Italian sausage, peppers and provolone ($6.90) or prosciutto, Gorgonzola, and fig jam ($6.90). The curried chicken salad has a fresh, spicy richness and packs a sweet aftertaste, probably accounting for why it's one of The Breadline's most popular dishes ($5.95). Splurge for the tangy, fresh-squeezed lemonade ($2.25). 1751 Pennsylvania Avenue; (202) 822-8900.Cheap eat No. 2: Ben's Chili BowlOK, everyone expects hot dogs and chili to be cheap. Roger that. But excellent, dare we say "gourmet"? You bet. Ben's, a D.C. institution since the Eisenhower administration, has tempted everyone from Bill Cosby to Nat King Cole with their famous "half-smoke," a special chili dog served with chips on the side ($4.35). The soft, steamed bun soaks up Ben's mild chili. The spicy sausage is split and grilled to crusty perfection. We recommend you wash your half-smoke down with a chocolate shake ($2.49). 1213 U Street NW.; (202) 667-0909.Cheap eat No. 3: Lauriol Plaza RestaurantWhile it resembles an old high school gymnasium on the outside, the inside of Lauriol is richly appointed and expensive looking. Big margaritas (both frozen and on the rocks) are popular with locals ($5.50). The chips are the lightest we've tasted, and the mild salsa arrives at your table warm, which enhances its deep tomato flavor. Order the giant Burrito Gordo, a flour tortilla stuffed with chicken or beef, melted cheese, beans, and an ancho chile sauce ($8.95). Maduros, the fried plantains that are served as an appetizer, will wow any true lover of Mexican food ($2.95). 1835 18th Street NW.; (202) 387-0035.Cheap eat No. 4: Matchbox Eleven dollars gets you a savory meal at Matchbox, a trendy new restaurant in the shadow of Chinatown's Friendship Arch.On a special date or want to feel like a Beltway insider? Come here and order the salty and savory Prosciutto White pizza, a mix of prosciutto, kalamata olives, garlic, ricotta, mozzarella and extra-virgin olive oil ($11 for a small). For fun, get a plate of three mini burgers ($7) and a mixed drink called the Ginger Snap, a concoction of pineapple rum, ginger, lemon juice and Sprite ($7). 713 H Street NW.; (202) 289-4441.Cheap eat No. 5: Capital Q Texas BBQI asked how hot the sauces got at this D.C. landmark, just a few doors down from Matchbox. "We got mild and spicy," said the general manager from behind the counter, "but if that isn't hot enough for you, I'll fix something that will kill you!" Luckily, I tried the smoky beef brisket sandwich ($6.50) before I sampled a spoonful of the "kill-you" sauce (free). I used the homemade banana pudding ($2) to extinguish my tongue, so I have no idea whether it tastes good or not. Order it before taking them up on their saucy death threats. 707 H Street NW.; (202) 347-8396.Cheap eat No. 6: The BurroThis restaurant is obviously a favorite for The George Washington University students, and it sits in power digs behind The Mall at 2000 Pennsylvania Avenue. Try the fish taco, a masterpiece of spice, onion, corn crunch, lime-cilantro slaw, pico de gallo and mahi mahi ($2.95). Fresh produce reigns in the Bean Basic gourmet burrito -- low-fat black beans, rice, lettuce, and tomato ($3.95; add grilled spinach or vegetables for another 95 cents). 2000 Pennsylvania Avenue NW.; (202) 293-9449.Cheap eat No. 7: Left BankThe space age and minimalist modern meet at this spare, elegant restaurant. The setting and service give such an expensive feel that you'll think the menu prices are a misprint. Sandwiches begin at $1. A buck gets you a cheese sandwich with your choice of prosciutto or applewood-smoked bacon. The most expensive sandwich is the grilled steak with saut�ed onions and bitter greens on a whole wheat baguette ($10). The Black Angus sirloin burger comes topped with mushrooms, cheese, bacon, and grilled onions, making it well worth its price tag ($8). 2424 18th Street NW.; (202) 464-2100.Cheap eat No. 8: The DinerThe cops love this Adams Morgan neighborhood diner, complete with red vinyl barstools, a tile floor, pressed tin ceiling, and Ella Fitzgerald crooning from the sound system. Open 24-7, the restaurant promises to serve "early birds, night owls and everyone in between." Portions go beyond huge to gargantuan. The "Croque and Dagger," a mystery of eggs, bacon, bechamel, melted Gruyere and toasted French bread comes with home fries ($7.99). For lunch or dinner, the succulent ginger-lime-glazed swordfish accompanied by steamed rice and a side salad is a tangy treat ($10.05). 2453 18th Street NW.; (202) 232-8800.Cheap eat No. 9: Sushi AoiExceptional sushi can really suck the yen out of your wallet. But not at Sushi Aoi. Take the Roll Combo. The perfect choice for newcomers to sushi, the combo features a tuna roll, a cucumber roll and a California roll. Each delicate roll uses exceptional ingredients that seem far more luxurious than the $9.50 price tag. Miso soup and a mixed green salad come free of charge with all entrees. Dinner prices are just $2 to $3 higher, on average, than the lunch prices. 1100 New York Avenue NW.; (202) 408-7770.Cheap eat No. 10: Moby Dick House of KabobYou can stuff yourself like a Christmas goose here for less than $8. The menu is complicated, but don't be put off. Just order a kabob with your favorite meat or veggie. Take the Kabob-E Joojeh: Skinless chunks of tender, juicy chicken with a caramelized crust come with your choice of yogurt-cucumber sauce, salad, rice or bread ($7.75). Absolutely order the Mast-o Kheyar (99 cents, small), yogurt mixed with chopped cucumber, which should be used as a dipping sauce for the fresh, warm pita bread. 1300 Connecticut Avenue; (202) 833-9788.

(CNN) -- Scientists say they have discovered the intact fossilized skull of a marine crocodile with a dinosaur-like head and a fish-like tail that likely terrorized the Pacific Ocean 135 million years ago. The head of the expedition that found the specimen has dubbed it "Godzilla."The fossil was discovered in 1996 in the Patagonia region of Argentina and researchers spent years uncovering the skull and analyzing their find. They published their work Thursday in the journal Science.Zulma Gasparini, paleozoology professor at Argentina's Universidad Nacional de La Plata, said the fierce-looking animal probably terrorized creatures in the Pacific Ocean in the late Jurassic era, just as the film monster Godzilla frightened the people of Tokyo in the movies."We are calling him the 'chico malo' -- 'bad boy'" of the ocean, she said.Report co-author Diego Pol of Ohio State University said "Godzilla," whose scientific name is Dakosaurus andiniensis, had a short, high snout and large, jagged teeth for biting and cutting prey. He said this was surprising, because other marine crocodiles have long, thin snouts and many smaller teeth.But Pol said "Godzilla" was a top ocean predator and preyed much like the dinosaurs of its era.He said it was probably about 12 feet long and had four paddle-like limbs instead of the legs of today's crocodiles.The National Geographic Society and Argentina's National Council of Scientific and Technical Research funded the research.

(SPACE.com) -- A new image from the Hubble Space Telescope reveals stars in the process of being born amid a fantastic scene of wispy space structures and intense radiation.The stars have yet to condense into small enough packages to trigger thermonuclear fusion, which is what powers stars, but they appear to be on the verge, astronomers said Thursday.The setting is 210,000 light-years away in the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC), a satellite galaxy of our Milky Way. At the center of the region is a brilliant star cluster called NGC 346. Arched and ragged filaments with a distinct ridge surround the cluster.Radiation from the cluster's hot stars eats into denser areas, creating the features. The dark, intricately beaded edge of the ridge, seen in silhouette, contains several small dust globules that point back towards the central cluster, like windsocks caught in a gale.Energetic outflows and radiation from hot young stars erode the dense outer portions of the star-forming region, formally known as N66, exposing new stellar nurseries. The diffuse fringes of the nebula prevent the energetic outflows from streaming directly away from the cluster, leaving instead a trail of filaments marking the swirling path of the outflows, astronomers said.The NGC 346 cluster, at the center of the new picture, is resolved into at least three sub-clusters and collectively contains dozens of hot, blue, high-mass stars, more than half of the known high-mass stars in the entire SMC galaxy. A myriad of smaller, compact clusters is also visible throughout the region.A rich population of infant stars is scattered around the young cluster NGC 346, reports a team led by Antonella Nota of the Space Telescope Science Institute/European Space Agency in Baltimore. These stars are likely to have formed 3 to 5 million years ago, together with the other stars in the NGC 346 cluster.These infant stars are particularly interesting as they have not yet contracted to the point where their interiors are hot enough to convert hydrogen to helium.The findings will be detailed in the Astrophysical Journal Letters.The Small and Large Magellanic Clouds are diffuse irregular galaxies visible to the naked eye in the southern hemisphere. They are two smallish satellite galaxies that orbit our own Milky Way Galaxy and will eventually merge with it.

BEIJING, China (AP) -- China has reported the fourth bird flu outbreak in a northeastern province in the past two weeks amid fears that counterfeit flu vaccines being sold there might be worsening the public health threat.The report on Friday brought the total number of outbreaks reported by China in the latest round of cases to seven.The outbreak Sunday killed 300 chickens in Beining, a village near Jinzhou, a city in Liaoning province, the Agriculture Ministry said in a report on the Web site of the Paris-based International Organization for Animal Health. It said officials destroyed 2.5 million birds to contain the virus.Liaoning has reported three other outbreaks since November 3 -- two on farms near Jinzhou and the other near the city of Fuxin.China earlier warned that counterfeit vaccines were being sold in Liaoning, raising the possibility that millions of chickens, ducks and other birds weren't properly inoculated. China suffers from rampant counterfeiting of food and medicines."Quite clearly, there's a major problem in Liaoning, and it seems from what the Chinese are saying this has to do with using shoddy, inferior or maybe fake vaccines for poultry," a World Health Organization spokesman, Peter Cordingley, in comments broadcast Thursday by Hong Kong's Cable TV."And what we have now, almost certainly, we think, is sick chickens who are showing no symptoms, and that is very, very bad. They are silent carriers of the virus," he said.China hasn't reported any human infections in this round of outbreaks, but experts say one is inevitable with so many cases in poultry.Chinese authorities quarantined 116 people after outbreaks Sunday in Jinzhou and Fuxin killed 1,100 chickens, the Agriculture Ministry said Thursday.The first case in Jinzhou on October 26 prompted officials to destroy more than 6 million birds.On Thursday, state television showed government workers in white protective suits and masks spraying disinfectant on chicken coops and farm buildings.One man was shown pouring a bag of chalky, white disinfect on the ground where dead chickens were buried. Others sprayed disinfectant on car tires and roads.China has also reported outbreaks in poultry in the Inner Mongolia region in the north, and in the provinces of Anhui in the east and Hunan in central China.H5N1 first appeared in Hong Kong in 1997 but was curbed when authorities destroyed all poultry in the territory. It re-emerged in December 2003, and has recently spread from Asia to Europe.Meanwhile, WHO is sending experts to Hunan to help investigate whether bird flu caused a 12-year-old girl's death and two illnesses in an area hit by an outbreak in poultry last month, said Roy Wadia, a spokesman in Beijing for the agency.Chinese officials earlier said those three people tested negative for the virus.Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

(AP) -- Overweight? Diabetic? Cholesterol out of control? Have we got a deal on a meal for you!If that sales pitch sounds a little sick, that's the point. Aging baby boomers and rising rates of obesity, diabetes and other health conditions have marketers looking to chronic illness as the new must-reach demographic.It's part of a cultural shift that increasingly sees health problems as lifestyles rather than diseases. Now the food industry is realizing those lifestyles can have a major influence on spending habits.It's easy to see why this is a fast-growing trend. For people like Karen Merrill, her lifestyle has become a matter of life and death.The 49-year-old Barrington, New Hampshire, woman had a heart attack and quintuple bypass in 2002. She credits the chronic disease-pitch -- which gives good-for-you branding to everything from menu items to entire supermarket shelves -- makes it easier for her to eat and shop.During a recent trip to her local grocer, she was thrilled to spot several new whole-grain breakfast cereals -- foods she's supposed to be eating more of -- displayed in a special "heart-healthy" section of the cereal aisle."I never would have known that this cereal existed if it wasn't for that display," said Merrill. "By coupling things like that, it introduces me to new things. Normally I would have been heading to the health food store to get it."And there's plenty of incentive for these efforts.Americans with heart problems -- there are more than 70 million of them -- represent $71 billion in annual buying power. The nation's nearly 21 million diabetics command around $14 billion. And don't forget that about two-thirds of American adults are overweight or obese.People with chronic health conditions also are two to three times more likely than their healthy peers to follow special diets, making them prime targets for low-fat, low-sugar and other specialty foods, according to a report by IRI Healthcare, a Chicago-based marketing research firm that recently studied the disease-marketing trend.There's also a spillover effect."If Mom comes down with something, the entire household's diet changes," says Bob Doyle, a senior vice president at IRI.Merrill, for example, shops not just for herself, but also hopes to prevent her husband and 11-year-old daughter from suffering her fate.Some critics accuse the industry of trying to profit off sickness, but American Dietetic Association spokeswoman Dawn Jackson Blatner says anything that makes it easier for consumers to make healthy choices is a good thing.Marketing gets more sophisticatedMarketing good-for-you foods is nothing new, but the tactic is becoming increasingly sophisticated and ailment-specific.Broad healthy living campaigns are being replaced with efforts that narrowly target foods to people with particular conditions, says John Stanton, a food marketing professor at St. Joseph's University in Philadelphia.Along with those heart-healthy sections that appealed to Merrill, grocers increasingly are introducing shelves of sugar-free items for diabetics and gluten-free foods for people with wheat allergies.The Maine-based Hannaford Bros. Co. grocery chain, for example, recently added gluten-free and dairy-free sections to its 140 stores in the Northeast and is developing plans for additional health-inspired sections."It absolutely is a question of making a grocery store more user-friendly," says Hannaford spokeswoman Caren Epstein, who notes that the typical grocer offers 35,000 items these customers otherwise would need to comb through.Products also are becoming more specialized. Low-fat and low-sugar are old news. Minute Maid has an entire line of health-based orange juices, including its Heart Wise, which the company claims helps lower cholesterol because it is fortified with plant sterols.Since its introduction two years ago, Heart Wise has outsold most other Minute Maid orange juices, says company spokesman Ray Crockett. With so many people concerned about cholesterol, offering such a product just made sense, he says.Companies eager for healthy bragging rights also can seek certification from the American Heart Association, which awards its Heart Check Mark to items low in saturated fat and cholesterol. So far 850 products from 100 companies have passed muster.And the increasingly ubiquitous in-store pharmacy isn't just a convenience anymore; it also is an opportunity to cross-merchandise. Why not grab some oatmeal -- purported to reduce cholesterol -- while waiting for your heart medications?Stand-alone pharmacies -- already chipping into the grocery market with growing food offerings -- are using the same tactic to fight back. Rite Aid, which operates 3,350 shops nationwide, recently said it wants its brand to be synonymous with caring for diabetes.Among efforts to that end, the Pennsylvania company has broadened its selection of diabetic-friendly products and at many stores offers cooking lessons to help diabetics and their families understand the role of diet in managing the condition.But there are potential pitfalls, including a tendency to oversimplify the market, says IRI's Doyle.Though people with high cholesterol buy more vitamins than diabetics (who spend more on meat and eggs), men coping with cholesterol shop differently than women, buying more indulgences such as cookies, according to IRI.Misinformation is another concern. Dietitians say look to the back of packages for nutrition facts; assume anything else is advertising. Even accurate information can give consumers the wrong impression (fat-free or not, cookies require portion control).Companies also risk backlash when consumers don't see instant -- or sometimes any -- results from foods that make health promises."You don't drop 2 pounds in two days. You don't see your cholesterol cut in half," says Cornell University marketing and nutrition professor Brian Wansink. "It sets these foods up for failure when people don't see immediate cure-all benefits." .Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

DENVER, Colorado (AP) -- A man who sued Home Depot claiming that a prank left him glued to a restroom toilet seat has passed a lie detector test, a newspaper reported.The questions covered allegations that he made previous a similar claim in another town, according to a story in The Rocky Mountain News. Bob Dougherty answered 20 questions in the polygraph test, including four related to a former Nederland town official's allegation that Dougherty made similar claims there, the newspaper story said. Dougherty, 57, offered to take the test to dispel doubts about his story. The test, administered Wednesday, was paid for by television station KDVR.Ron Trzepacz, former director of operations in Nederland, where Dougherty lives, said that Dougherty claimed in 2004 that he was glued to a toilet seat in the town's visitor center but pulled himself free.Dougherty has denied that and has said he did not know Trzepacz.Dougherty's lawsuit, filed October 28, claims that officials at the Home Depot in Louisville, Colorado, called for an ambulance after he had been stuck for about 15 minutes. Paramedics unbolted the toilet seat, which separated from his skin, leaving abrasions, according to the suit.The lawsuit also claims Dougherty was recovering from heart bypass surgery and thought he was having a heart attack when he got stuck. The lawsuit claims he suffered pain, humiliation and financial losses and seeks $3 million in damages.Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

PUNTA GORDA, Florida (AP) -- A man on death row for murdering a prosecutor 17 years ago has died of natural causes, leaving some close to the victim lamenting that he was never executed.Samuel A. Pettit, who suffered from a degenerative brain disorder and had been in a wheelchair for several years, died November 4 at Union Correctional Institution in Raiford. He was 43."I know Pettit's in hell and I feel good about that," former state prosecutor Kathleen Finnegan said.Finnegan was 28 in 1988, when Pettit approached her and Norman Langston, 27, with a gun in Punta Gorda as they got into a car after a social gathering.He forced them to drive to a dam, robbed them and fired his gun four times in the car. Langston covered Finnegan with his body, shielding her from the bullets. Pettit was arrested the next night and sentenced to death in 1989."I always knew we would receive justice from God, long before his case made it through the quagmire of the appeals process," Finnegan said.Pettit had 17 prior arrests and had served only a small portion of his previous sentence before being let out of prison in 1988. The crime inspired Finnegan to lead an initiative to pass legislation forcing prisoners to serve at least 85 percent of their sentences.Pettit's death provided little comfort to Norman Langston's brother."He shouldn't have died in prison; he should have been executed in prison," Richard Langston said.Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

(CNN) -- You know the classic definition of inflation? "Too much money chasing too few goods." Well, off-year elections provide fertile ground for a different kind of inflation: too many political pundits chasing too few items of significance. So here's an effort to sort out the pretense of significance from results that may actually mean something a year -- or three -- from now.1. In off-years, almost all politics really is localFormer House Speaker Tip O'Neill's maxim that "all politics is local" is way overrated as a guide to what happens. Sometimes national and international events far outweigh local concerns: President Bush's re-election was rooted in the voters' conclusion -- by a narrow margin, to be sure -- that he represented a better leader in the fight against terror than did John Kerry. But in a governor's or mayor's race, matters such as property taxes, the state of education, and crime really do matter most. Republicans lost the Virginia governor's race four years ago, but there was no fallout in the congressional or presidential elections that followed. And if there's anyone who thinks national Republicans can take much heart from New York Mayor Bloomberg's re-election, I've got a bridge in Brooklyn I'd like to sell -- unless Bloomberg bought that as part of his campaign. Which reminds me ....2. It's money that matters -- more than everWe don't really know how much of his $5 billion fortune Bloomberg spent on his re-election. The ballpark figure is $70 million (speaking of which, it was a big help to Mike that his clumsy and obsessive push for a new football stadium and the 2012 Olympics ended in failure last spring, giving New Yorkers time to forget). But at more than $100 a vote, it reminds us of how many really, really rich folks there are in politics. In New Jersey, John Corzine ($300 million net worth) beat Republican Doug Forrester, a piker at $50 million. Outgoing Virginia Gov. Mark Warner, who apparently has visions of 1600 Pennsylvania dancing in his head, is worth upwards of $200 million. California Gov Schwarzenegger put some of his $100 million into the 2003 recall and into his unsuccessful fight for ballot propositions. More and more, the political arena seems like the world's most pricey private club.3. It takes a busload of faith to get byThe race for Virginia's governor will have Democrats sifting through the results like an Alaskan prospector. Why? Because the victor, Democrat Tim Kaine, may have provided a lesson on the "faith and values" front. At a time when only 29 percent of voters see Democrats as "friendly to religion," as opposed to 55 percent who see Republicans that way, Kaine ran by openly talking about his religious faith. He went on Christian radio and embraced the conversation that so many secular Democrats seem either unfamiliar or uncomfortable with. Moreover, it gave Kaine a frame in which to put his views against capital punishment, ordinarily a kiss of political death in a hard-line state like Virginia. When you remember that the only successful Democratic presidential contenders in the past 45 years -- Carter and Clinton -- both were immersed in the language of faith, it holds out the promise that economic liberals with a grounding in traditional religious beliefs may be able to win back culturally conservative Democrats.4. Fading fear of Ah-noldEarlier this year I went out to Sacramento to investigate the "Ah-nold" phenomenon. The bodybuilder-turned-actor-turned-candidate had swept to victory in the recall that ousted Gov. Gray Davis, and his popularity was above 70 percent in opinion polls. Schwarzenegger believed, as did many Democrats, that this gave him enormous clout with the Democratic legislature. He could, he and they believed, threaten to take his case directly to voters through the ballot initiative if the legislature did not follow his led on spending and other matters. Well, last Tuesday voters rejected every one of the governor's proposals: curb spending, toughen teacher tenure, take redistricting away from the legislature, and make pubic employee unions get permission from individual members to spend their dues on politics. The consequence? Ah-nold is no longer in a position to echo Ronald Reagan's famous observation/threat that if legislators don't see the light maybe they'll feel the heat. And this, in turn, means that the structural, seemingly intractable fiscal dilemma of California -- with Democrats frozen on spending cuts and Republicans frozen on tax increases -- will remain for the foreseeable future. With Schwarzenegger up for re-election next year, and with Democrats smelling blood, the idea of some kind of grand compromise seems farther away than ever.5. Less than met the eyeLate in the New Jersey campaign, the Forrester forces aired TV ads quoting the ex-wife of John Corzine. She said that he'd let his family down and he'd probably let New Jersey down, too.This, many political types felt, was a potential blockbuster: it would peel women away from Corzine on the primal ground that they world see him as a bad husband and father. And without women, Democrats don't win. Polls in the last weekend showed a sharp drop in Corzine's support; and there was a wide belief that many women represented a "hidden vote" -- unwilling to tell pollsters they were deserting a Democrat on such grounds. Well, Corzine won by a double-digit margin. Lesson for next year? When insiders excitedly read entrails and tell you that their insights let them foresee the behavior of voters, tell them to try the decaf and back off.

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- House Republican leaders abruptly called off a vote Thursday on a bill that would trim $50 billion in spending after moderate Republicans resisted cuts to a range of social programs, including Medicaid, student loans and food stamps.House Majority Leader Roy Blunt, R-Missouri, acknowledged the leadership team was "not quite where we need to be to go to the floor." He said the vote was postponed because representatives needed to get back to their districts for Veterans Day events.Blunt said he needed to do some work getting members "more comfortable" with the bill, and he said he would bring the measure back for a vote next week.The unusual debate was the first big test for the House Republican leadership since Rep. Tom DeLay was required by congressional rules to step down as majority leader in September following his indictment in Texas on money laundering and conspiracy charges. He has pleaded not guilty.Late Wednesday night, House leaders -- bowing to objections from two dozen moderate Republicans -- dropped a provision in the bill that would have allowed oil drilling in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.The concession was a blow to President Bush, who has been urging Congress to open ANWR as part of an effort to develop more domestic energy sources. However, the Senate has included ANWR exploration in its version of the budget bill, which means it could be revived when the two versions are reconciled by a conference committee.One of the GOP moderates, Rep. Mike Castle, R-Delaware, said the move to strip ANWR out of the bill was significant, but he said it was not enough to garner support from House members concerned with the level of spending cuts. He said he remained undecided on whether to vote for the measure at the time it was pulled.House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-California, said Democrats made the bill "too hot to handle" for Republicans, and she called the cuts "anti-family, anti-taxpayer and anti-American.""By having to pull it today, it is a failure on the part of the Republicans," she said.Blunt downplayed the idea that the decision could prompt questions about his leadership abilities, saying, "It's pretty easy to criticize leadership."Though no longer an official member of the House leadership, DeLay was involved throughout the day in meetings to secure votes, and he appeared with the leadership team when they announced they were postponing the vote.DeLay described his role to reporters as "advising the speaker and the leadership. I worked the votes, did it all."He blamed Democrats for refusing to work across party lines, charging that "if it weren't for the political scheming of the Democratic leadership, there would be Democrats who would be excited for voting for this bill."The budget bill passed by the Senate last week had $35 billion in spending cuts, as opposed to $50 billion in the House version.

NEW YORK (Billboard) -- As it prepares for its maiden tour of South America, which begins November 22 in Santiago, Chile, Pearl Jam is still working on its first studio album since 2002's "Riot Act."The as-yet-untitled set is due next spring via Sony BMG's J Records label."It's been a difficult record and it's like sometimes the harder something is, then the more valuable it becomes," frontman Eddie Vedder said during a Brazilian radio interview earlier this week."It's easily the best stuff we've done but also some of the hardest stuff. It's very aggressive, because again, it's kind of a product of what it's like to be an American these days. It's pretty aggressive, especially when you turn it loud."The band has been working on and off throughout the year on the set, but Vedder said, "It's not quite done. I'm hoping to finish the last of the songs while I'm down (in South America). I'm bringing my tape machines and all that down. If I can come back and finish the last few songs in January, then it will be out in April or something."For now, Pearl Jam is not planning to unveil any new songs in a live setting. "We want them to be heard for the first time when the record comes out," Vedder said.But he added he had been mulling an album title that was a play on Soundgarden's "Superunknown": "I was thinking of the word 'un-owned' -- not owned by anybody," he said. "The sky is un-owned. The moon is un-owned. We're un-owned. We want to remain un-owned. The title was 'Superun-owned.' "Continuing an initiative launched during Pearl Jam's recent fall North American tour, the South American shows will be available for paid download from the band's Web site (http://www.pearljam.com) within hours of their completion.Copyright 2005 Reuters. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

(CNN) -- You know this much from thrillers: Bad things happen to good people. You can be at the right place at the wrong time. Changing a set schedule yields terrible results.All of these time-honored plot points come into play in "Derailed," with nail-biting consequences. The climax isn't much -- even the most mundane episode of "Law & Order" would have concluded more realistically -- but, if you suspend a bit of logic and get on the ride, it's one heck of a good time, with some surprising twists and turns.Charles Schine (Clive Owen) is a brooding husband. He's drifted apart from his wife Deanna (Melissa George), though they maintain a united front for their daughter Amy (Addison Timlin), who is suffering from kidney failure and awaiting a transplant.One day Charlie, who works at an ad agency, misses his usual train into Chicago. On the train he meets a beautiful stranger, Lucinda Harris, played by Jennifer Aniston. She, too, is trapped in a dull marriage. Soon the two find themselves having lunch together, which escalates into dinner and finally to a seedy hotel room.Then an armed man bursts into the room, demanding their wallets and money, and proceeds to pistol-whip Charles and rape Lucinda. After this horrendous ordeal they both decide not to go to the police in order to keep their affair a secret from their respective spouses. And, as terrible as the event was, both think it will end there.Of course, they're wrong.Making a caseThe armed robber, Laroche (Vincent Cassel), begins to blackmail Charles. Laroche, it appears, is not a common mugger, but a sophisticated criminal. As Laroche's demands for money escalate, so do his threats to do physical harm to Charles' family. He even comes to Charles' home posing as a client.Charles pleads with Lucinda to go to the police. She refuses. Without her testimony, Charles' lawyer tells Charles, he has no case.Charles decides to take the situation into his own hands, and now the film really gets twisted -- and entertaining. The lightning pace is maintained with excellent skill by Swedish director Mikael Hafstrom -- making his first English-language film -- as Charles enters a world way over his head.Look for hip-hop artists RZA and Xzibit in small but pivotal roles, and Giancarlo Esposito as the Chicago detective looking into the mounting pile of bodies resulting from Charles' vengefulness.Owen delivers a solid performance and Aniston is excellent in a demanding role that requires her to switch gears at some pivotal moments in the plot. The sexual chemistry between the two, while not overwhelming, is believable; overall, they make a solid pair.Cassel isn't quite as good. His teeth-gnashing exertions diminish the otherwise natural relationships established by Aniston and Owen.Given that we're now entering Oscar season, "Derailed" -- a pure popcorn thriller -- may find it hard to make a dent at the box office. But it is worth seeing. Just stay on the ride.

NEW YORK (AP) -- A Miami resident has bought a virtual space station for $100,000 and wants to turn it into a cross between Jurassic Park and a disco.Jon Jacobs, a director of independent films, plans to call the space resort, in the science-fiction themed game Project Entropia, "Club Neverdie." Like other land areas in the game that has been visited by 300,000 players, the resort grounds will spawn dinosaur-like monsters, which visitors can kill.Jacobs will take a cut of the virtual resources that the carcasses yield, like hides.Jacobs, 39, plans to hire famous disc jockeys to entertain visitors once a week or so at the resort but still reckons on netting $20,000 a month from the hunting tax and other income."I want to operate this thing at the level of a major nightclub in a major city," Jacobs said.Jacobs bought the property late last month from MindArk PE AB, Project Entropia's Swedish developer. The game, which has no subscription fee, has its own currency but it's convertible at a fixed rate to dollars.About a quarter of the purchase money came from Jacobs' in-game earnings.Over three years playing Project Entropia, Jacobs accumulated items that later became worth thousands of dollars, like first-aid kits and powerful weapons.He sold those items last year to buy an island in Project Entropia, but was outbid -- it sold for $26,500, the previous record sale in that world.He refinanced his house shortly after and considered investing some of the cash in the hot Miami real-estate market, but he realized that if he bought a rental property, it really wouldn't generate any income beyond what he'd pay for the mortgage and repairs.So he invested the proceeds in the game.IGE, a leading broker of game property, said it has handled deals worth more than $100,000, but would not provide details because of client confidentiality.Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

LONDON, England (Reuters) -- Britain's remembrance poppies have gone high-tech, as digital versions of the red paper flowers are now available for downloading to mobiles.The poppies' move into cyberspace is a bid to get younger Britons aware of the sacrifices made by those who fell in battle, the Royal British Legion charity said."This is the first time the poppy can be downloaded to mobile telephones," a spokesman said. "The Poppy is about remembering those who did not come back."The digital image can be accessed via www.poppy.org.This year's Poppy Appeal has been fronted by an Iraq war widow and her young daughter, a move designed to show the charitable work of the Legion will continue so long as Britain is engaged in military conflicts.The symbol was adopted in the 1920s after the end of World War One because the poppy, a wild flower, was the only plant that grew in the aftermath of the bloody trench warfare which devastated parts of northern France and Belgium.Millions will remember those who died in all Britain's wars with a two-minute silence at 1100 GMT on Friday. The silence, at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, marks the moment when the guns fell silent at the end of World War One in 1918.The first Legion Poppy Day was inspired by a 1915 poem written by John McCrae, a serving officer, which starts: "In Flanders' fields the poppies blow, Between the crosses, row on row, That mark our place: and in the sky, The larks, still bravely singing, fly, Scare heard amid the guns below."Copyright 2005 Reuters. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

TEHRAN, Iran (Reuters) -- Iran said on Friday it would not accept any proposal aimed at solving its nuclear standoff with the West that did not allow it to enrich uranium on its own territory."For Iran it is important to have (uranium) enrichment on its own soil," Ali Larijani, Iran's chief nuclear negotiator, was quoted as saying by the official IRNA news agency.He was responding to questions about reports that Russia planned to propose a compromise plan, with tentative backing from the European Union and Washington.Under the proposal Iran, which insists its nuclear program would never be used to make atomic arms, would be allowed to "convert" uranium, a preliminary stage in the process of making nuclear fuel.But the later, more sensitive process of uranium enrichment would be carried out only as a joint venture with Russia on Russian soil.European diplomats have said the proposal would be acceptable to Washington, the EU and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).But Larijani's comments appeared to confirm their doubts as to whether Iran would forego enrichment on its own soil.Speaking to domestic journalists, Larijani said Iran had not received a formal proposal from Russia but would study it if it did."We are not opposed to enriching uranium outside our borders for other countries if it is in line with peaceful purposes," the ISNA student news agency quoted him as saying.Igor Ivanov, secretary of Russia's Security Council, is to visit Iran in coming days for talks over the nuclear issue.Tehran is hoping to avoid referral to the U.N. Security Council later this month when the IAEA board meets to discuss its case.Copyright 2005 Reuters. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

PARIS, France (Reuters) -- Police banned any gathering that might provoke disorder in Paris this weekend, saying they had been warned violence was planned for Saturday after two weeks of rioting across France.The intensity of France's most serious unrest in four decades has dropped since President Jacques Chirac's government adopted emergency measures including curfews on Tuesday to curb unrest by youngsters complaining of racism and unemployment.But there was a rise in violence in suburbs of the capital overnight. Police said 463 vehicles were set on fire across France, a slight fall from the previous night, but the number of vehicles torched in the areas around Paris rose from 84 to 111."This confirms the downward trend overall, with some resistance in the Paris region," national police chief Michel Gaudin told reporters on Friday. "This weekend we will exercise extra vigilance in the Paris region."Police said the Paris ban would run from 10 a.m. (0900 GMT) on Saturday to 8 a.m. (0700 GMT) on Sunday.Some 3,000 police officers were mobilized in the capital, and forces were increased in other French cities, police said.Bomb squads with police dogs were out in force and riot police looked on as Chirac attended remembrance ceremonies at the Arc de Triomphe in central Paris to commemorate Armistice Day, which marks the end of World War I in 1918.The unrest has eased from a peak on Sunday night. Police hope it will continue to drop during the Armistice Day weekend, when offices close and city centers are less crowded.Some 200-300 residents of riot-torn suburbs staged a peace protest by the Eiffel Tower in central Paris on Friday afternoon, calling for an end to violence and urging the government to listen to the angry youths. Fewer people showed up than expected.Protesters held up banners declaring "Yes to peace" and "No to violence". "I am against the violence but I think the government must react to the poverty in the suburbs," said Adama Drame, a 24-year-old Frenchman of African origins.Paris police chief Pierre Mutz banned the transport and purchase of petrol in cans after a string of arrests in the capital of people carrying firebombs. He also says he fears violence is being planned in the capital itself."Calls have been launched over the past few days on Internet sites and by SMS messages urging meetings within Paris and calling for 'violent actions'," Mutz's office said.Violence in the Paris area has been largely confined to the suburban housing estates far from the city center. The rioters are youngsters who say they are angered by racism, high unemployment, poor prospects and harsh treatment by police.In the capital itself, life has continued as usual.Chirac and the government have been heavily criticized over their handling of the crisis. But an opinion poll carried out by the BVA research group on Nov. 4-5, and published on Saturday, showed 56 percent of French people approved of Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy's tough actions.Fears that the violence would spread across Europe have proved unfounded, despite isolated cases of youths burning cars in Germany and Belgium.In Greece, groups of anarchists broke windows, threw paint and spray-painted "Rioters Are Right" on the front of a French cultural institute, police said on Friday.Violence in France fell after the emergency powers announced by Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin allowed local officials to impose night curfews, though few have felt the need to do so.Police said 201 people had been detained overnight but unrest was more scattered than on previous nights. Cars were set on fire in Toulouse, Marseille, Strasbourg and Mulhouse.Copyright 2005 Reuters. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

UNITED NATIONS (CNN) -- U.N. peacekeepers in Liberia now have the authority to arrest former President Charles Taylor and transfer him to Sierra Leone for trial should he return to the country.The U.N. Security Council on Friday voted unanimously to expand the mandate of the peacekeepers on the heels of Tuesday's democratic presidential elections in Liberia. With nearly all the votes counted, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf was poised to defeat international soccer star George Weah in a runoff. Johnson-Sirleaf would be Africa's first democratically elected female president.Diplomats said they received reports Taylor had been active behind the scenes, trying to influence Liberia's elections. The current Security Council president, Russian Ambassdaor Andrey Denisov, said the resolution was intended to send a "strong signal" to Taylor that he would be expected to face trial.There was no agreement in the Security Council on a call to extradite Taylor from Nigeria, where he was given asylum in July 2003 as the United States and other nations sought to bring an end to years of civil war in Liberia.Nigeria -- the powerful nation that currently heads the African Union -- has resisted calls to hand over Taylor, citing its agreement with Taylor for asylum. Taylor's exit from Liberia was part of a peace deal.A diplomat from Denmark who co-sponsored the resolution called it "more preventive action, and now we'll have to work on how we get him extradited. ... At least now it tells Taylor to stay out of Liberia."Taylor -- Liberian president from 1997 until forced out in 2003 -- was indicted in 2003 by a U.N.-backed court in neighboring Sierra Leone. The charges of war crimes were related to his support for rebels in Sierra Leone who were committing widespread atrocities against civilians. He reportedly supplied arms to the Sierra Leone rebels in exchange for diamonds.Taylor also is banned from traveling outside Nigeria under a previous U.N. resolution. A U.N. panel of experts has said he has violated this ban within Africa.There are roughly 15,000 U.N. peacekeepers in Liberia. After a briefing by top peacekeeping official H�di Annabi, the Security Council "welcomed the peaceful and orderly conduct of the elections," Denisov said in a written statement.The council, he said, "underlined that the completion of free and fair presidential elections will be a key step forward towards restoring the normal state functions of Liberia and will pave the way for the return of Liberian refugees."But Weah, who came out ahead in the first round of voting, has alleged fraud in the runoff. His supporters have taken to the streets, clashing with peacekeepers and police even as the candidate appealed for peace. Johnson-Sirleaf, a Harvard-educated economist and political veteran, said she will offer her opponent a job, possibly the ministry of youth and sports. "I hope he will agree to work with me," she said.Denisov's statement said the council "urged the candidates, their parties and all their supporters to respect the final results of the election once they are officially declared."Liz Neisloss and Zain Verjee contributed to this report.

ATLANTA, Georgia (AP) -- Scattered flu shot shortages around the country should be eased by 10 million new doses scheduled to be delivered this month, a top federal health official said Thursday.Private companies and state and local health care providers buy most flu shot doses, but the federal government is buying more than 900,000 doses this month to shore up supplies, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.About 71 million doses of flu vaccine have been distributed so far, despite delivery delays and shortfalls from manufacturers. Some doctors, health departments and companies have had trouble getting vaccine, and some have canceled vaccination clinics.Fortunately, the flu season is off to a gentle start, said CDC Director Dr. Julie Gerberding."If we continue along this track, we expect there's time for most people to have their vaccine," she said at the CDC's Atlanta headquarters.Last week, fewer than 2 percent of patients visiting their doctors had flu-like illness, according to the CDC.Most Americans should be able to get shots in November and December and still have full vaccine protection by the time flu season peaks, which in most states is January and February, federal and state health officials said.Vaccine shortages have been reported in Arizona and Connecticut, among other places.Flu shot demand appears to be up this year because of last year's vaccine shortage and because of fears of a deadly bird flu epidemic. However, the flu vaccine is not expected to protect people from the viral strain seen in Asian poultry.Federal money is being used to buy about 11.5 million doses this season, including 6.5 million already purchased by state and local officials. By the end of the month the government expects to get 800,000 doses of shots from a California manufacturer, Chiron Corp., and 110,000 doses of FluMist from a Maryland manufacturer, MedImmune Inc.More than 4 million more doses are to be delivered in December or January, in case they are needed late in the flu season, a CDC spokesman said.Complications from the flu kill an estimated 36,000 Americans a year.Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Lloyd Brown remembers Armistice Day in 1918 as few -- ever so few -- veterans can."For the servicemen there were lots of hugs and kisses," recalls Brown, of Charlotte Hall, Maryland, a teenage seaman aboard the battleship USS New Hampshire, in port stateside when the fighting stopped. "We were so happy that the war was over."Now 104, Brown adds, "There's not too many of us around any more."No one knows exactly how many of America's World War I veterans will celebrate Veterans Day, which marks the armistice of November 11, 1918, that ended what then was considered the Great War. An estimated 2 million Americans served in Europe after the U.S. entered the war in 1917.Today, the Veterans Affairs Department lists just eight veterans as receiving disability benefits or pension compensation from service in World War I. It says a few dozen other veterans of the war probably are alive, too, but the government does not keep a comprehensive list.The Census Bureau stopped asking for data about those veterans years ago. Using a report of 65,000 alive in 1990 as a baseline, the VA estimates that no more than 50 remain, perhaps as few as 30.World War I, fueled by intense nationalism and conflicting economic and colonial interests, began in the Balkans in 1914 and quickly spread across Europe because of military alliances. The major allied powers were Great Britain, France and Russia, and they were opposed by Germany, Austria-Hungary and a few others.The U.S. remained neutral even as Germany threatened its shipping and as anti-German sentiment grew among Americans. Congress declared war on Germany in April 1917 at the urging of President Woodrow Wilson. "The world must be made safe for democracy," Wilson said.More than 10 million troops died before the war ended with Germany's surrender. Of the U.S. troops, more than 116,000 died and more than 200,000 were wounded.Long-lived veterans are common among America's warriors. The last veteran to fight in the American Revolution died at age 109 in 1869, according to Defense Department statistics.Other wars and the ages of their last veterans the year they died: the War of 1812, 105, 1905; the Indian Wars, 101, 1973; the Mexican War, 98, 1929; the Civil War, 112, 1958; and the Spanish-American War, 106, 1992.The ranks of all World War I veterans grow thinner as the months pass. One of France's seven remaining veterans died two weeks ago, and the last Australian to serve in a war zone died a week earlier.In the U.S., the last known American veteran wounded in the war died at 108 in January 2004. West Virginia's last veteran passed away in October 2004, and Iowa lost its only remaining Great War veteran two months later. An Alabama veteran of the war died last March at 110.With each death, what was called "the war to end all wars" fades in American memory."It's a war that's out of mind," says Sean Flynn, who teaches World War I history at Dakota Wesleyan University in Mitchell, South Dakota. "The U.S. entered it late and we have no real connection to it."Unlike the wars that followed, World War I doesn't have the visual record so important to becoming part of American consciousness, Flynn says. Yet its impact can be linked to many problems facing the world today, including conflict in the Balkans and the rise of Arab nationalism that occurred after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire."We learn about war through television and through film," Flynn says. "There's just not a lot of moving-picture footage of World War I. There's no visual image there for the public to identify with."Lloyd Brown spends little time thinking about the days his ship escorted convoys in North Atlantic waters threatened by German submarines. Living alone in a house in southern Maryland, just a few blocks from his daughter, Nancy, he does not believe that his war has been forgotten and feels satisfied with the attention paid to its veterans over the years."You can't celebrate World War I year after year after year, because there are other events taking place," says Brown, who watches the news each day to keep up with the world. "You have to honor them."Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

The following is the first in a series of journal entries a member of the CareerBuilder.com community is sharing about losing his job and searching for a new one. At his request, we are withholding his real name so that he can relay his experiences with his former company and potential employers with impunity."Joe" (his nom de blog) is 45 years old and was let go from a management position at a major consumer products company. He relocated with his family to take the job a little over a year ago. He has agreed to write an online diary for us about his experience.After creeping up the ranks in sales and marketing at a major consumer products company, I was fired -- just days before Christmas. No lie. For weeks I'd been trying to talk to my manager about 2005 planning. Finally he agreed to meet with me.When I entered his office, not only was my boss' boss present, but an HR representative from corporate headquarters was on the speakerphone. Wow. All this to hear my first pass at the 2005 revenue plan.Not quite."We're not here to talk about that today," my boss intoned. Then, he began reading from a prepared script the words that ended my 15-year career with the company.The severance package was stingy... especially for a guy from Wisconsin who just a year before had relocated to this job and New York's pricey Westchester County -- taking on a hefty mortgage, $18,000 in property taxes and an array of other expenses that come with living in the New York metro area.I was promised three months' pay -- nothing close to the millions our former failed CEO got or even the golden parachute granted to a senior executive who was caught embezzling a few years back.Those who have come back from a near-death experience say their life flashes before their eyes. What flashed before mine was the casual "chat" I'd had with my boss at a convention in San Francisco where I dropped my guard and told him that I found working in a cubicle distracting and the systems part of my job difficult to master. Oh... and in all my uncharacteristic vulnerability with my "mentor," I mentioned I'd like to get back out in the field to sell again.My wife always told me it wouldn't kill me to be more open. I guess she was wrong.What flashed through my mind next were the promises and financial commitments I had made. How I'd generously told my parents I'd pay their way to fly out and see us for the holidays -- and agreed to chip in with my two brothers to send them on a cruise for their 50th anniversary. Then there was the deposit I had just put down for my son's combo gymnastics/rock climbing birthday party for 20 of his closest friends. Had the invitations gone out yet?When you suffer a loss, psychologists say you go through five stages: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. I'm with them on the anger thing, but rather than denial for me it was more a sense of clarity.Everything began to fit now. I know why my boss was avoiding me, why I was invited to fewer meetings, why I couldn't get access to the 2005 budget and why no one was terribly interested in my 2005 revenue plan.I returned to my cube. I didn't call my wife... I didn't call anyone. I packed up my things, threw them in my gym bag and tossed it over my shoulder like some low-rent Santa Claus.As I made my way through the maze of tinsel-covered cubicles all I could think to say to my wide-eyed colleagues was: "Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!"I felt a strange sense of peace as I walked past the rows of empty parking spaces reserved for executives in the heated garage into the cold, clear air.

LAS VEGAS (CNN/Money) - If you missed your opportunity to buy a brand-new Chevrolet Camaro before General Motors stopped making them in 2002, here's your chance.You'd better have some serious cash, though.The reincarnation of a muscle-car era team that specialized in making high-performance Chevrolets has brought the reincarnation of the Camaro itself. This time, they're making their own Camaros from scratch with bodies designed with the help of a 22-year-old California car artist.The look of the new Baldwin-Motion 540 Camaro SuperCoupe calls to mind the the 1969 Camaro, but this is a bigger, broader two-seat monster. The SuperCoupe is powered by a 700-horsepower V-8 engine.In a nod to the good old days, the company lists the engine's displacement as 540 cubic inches. That's about 8.9 liters for those of you too young to remember when engine displacement was measured in cubic inches.Even the car's price is a nod to those old English-unit days: $427,000.Camaros with General Motors' 427-cubic-inch engine were the basis for some of the most famous cars created by the original Baldwin-Motion Performance Group.That company was formed when Motion Performance, a Brooklyn, NY, speed shop, moved their operations to the suburban town of Baldwin, NY. There, in 1966, they partnered with a local Chevy dealership to sell custom performance upgrades.Their cars, mostly high-horsepower Corvettes, Camaros and Chevelles, became some of the most prized muscle cars of the era.Joel Rosen and Martyn Schorr were largely responsible for creating the original Baldwin-Motion. Rosen was the mechanic, Schorr was responsible for public relations, advertising and marketing.The pair started their new company, now based in Florida, last summer along with several business partners.This time, the cars are being created without factory-built Camaros to base them on. The new cars' all-steel bodies will be built by Time Machines, a Florida company specializing in body work for classic muscle cars.The success legendary performance tuner Carroll Shelby has had with a line of faithfully recreated Shelby muscle cars -- not to mention an upcoming Shelby version of the new Ford Mustang -- had something to do with inspiring this venture, said Lawrence Jaworske, Motion's chief executive officer."Why should Carroll get to have all the fun?" he said.Designer Kris Horton worked with Rosen to pen the prototype car. Horton came to the attention of the Baldwin-Motion team because of a sketch he did for Popular Hot-Rodding magazine in the summer of 2003. That computer sketch, which was distributed widely on the Internet, illustrated what a Chevrolet Camaro might look like if General Motors were to produce the car again.The Baldwin-Motion SuperCoupe's body, while resembling a 1969 Camaro in the front grill, rear and overall shape, actually shares no sheet-metal or dimensions with that car.Each of the 12 SuperCoupes the company plans to sell will be hand-made according to the customer's desires, said Lawrence Jaworske, Motion's chief executive officer. That 700-horsepower engine isn't supercharged, for example. If you really want, it could be.The company is proud of the fact that its supercars will be totally "streetable," said Joworske. In other words, the cars are designed to be safely and legally driven on public roads by non-professional drivers. Motion will not want to do anything to jeopardize the car's road-ready nature, said Jaworske."We want to be responsible about what we're doing," he said.The company will tell buyers to allow a year for their cars to be completed.The new Motion Camaro will also bring back "the guarantee" that went with the original cars.Those cars were guaranteed to be able to run a quarter mile from a dead stop in 11.5 seconds at a top speed of 120 miles per hour.The new guarantee has been tightened to 10 seconds, said Jaworske.For those with a little less to spend, the company is also making 25 Motion Phase III Camaros which it will sell for about $189,000 each, said Jaworske. Those cars, Jaworske said, will more closely resemble original 1969 Camaros and will use some original body parts.While he's not exactly sure who the "typical buyer" for a $400,000 to $500,000 700-horsepower Camaro might be, Schorr pointed to the current market in highly collectible muscle cars, including classic Baldwin Motion Camaros from the 1960s and '70s. While not common, extremely rare muscle cars in pristine condition can sell for prices well into six figures.The prototype Motion Super-Coupe will be sold at the Barrett-Jackson collectible car auction in Scottsdale, Ariz. in January. That event, which is broadcast live on cable television, generally brings some of the highest prices paid for collectible muscle cars."If it doesn't bring big bucks at that auction it never will," said Schorr.Gallery:Baldwin-Motion 540 Camaro SuperCoupeMore 'fun on wheels':Dating in cars: Things people noticeSmall cars staging a big comebackBack to the '70s: GM hot on custom vansFeedback

WASHINGTON (AP) -- These days it seems that some people just can't go anywhere or do anything without a cell phone to their ear.In northern Virginia, police say they're looking for a woman who's been holding up banks while chatting on her phone."This is the first time that I can recall where we've had a crime committed while the person was using a cell phone," Loudoun County sheriff's spokesman Kraig Troxell told The Washington Post in a story published Friday. "The question would be whether anyone is on the other end of the line or not."Investigators believe the woman has hit four Wachovia bank branches in recent weeks in Fairfax, Loudoun and Prince William counties.In three of those bank jobs, she was talking on a cell phone, while showing the teller a box with a holdup note attached to it. In the most recent holdup, on November 4, in Ashburn, the robber showed the teller a gun.The woman is described as well-spoken, with a slight Hispanic accent.Investigators say they're not sure if she's actually talking to someone on the phone or just pretending. They also won't speculate on why she's chosen only Wachovia branches.Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

NAIROBI, Kenya (Reuters) -- Somali pirates attacked five ships in the past week in a sharp rise of banditry apparently orchestrated by a mysterious "mothership" prowling the busy Indian Ocean corridor, shipping experts said Friday.Most vessels escaped, but one was commandeered, bringing to seven the total vessels and crews now being held captive by pirates plundering the coastline, the International Maritime Bureau said."Insecurity off the Somali coast has escalated sharply -- it is very worrying," Andrew Mwangura, program coordinator at the Kenyan Seafarers' Association, told Reuters. He said nine ships have been seized.Mwangura said five vessels were attacked in the past week alone including the attempt last Saturday to board the Bahamas-registered Seabourn Spirit, which was carrying 151 Western tourists. (Watch passengers recall their encounter with ocean marauders -- 2:34)Rocket-propelled grenades and assault rifles were fired at the U.S.-owned Spirit by gunmen in two small speedboats, but the ship's captain managed to change course and speed away. (Full story)The northern and southern coastline of Somalia -- Africa's longest -- links trade routes for key commodities like oil, grains and iron ore from the Gulf and Red Sea region down to the Mozambique Channel. Thousands of merchant ships snake down the Somali coast to the Cape of Good Hope every year.Some of the world's leading shipping bodies called on the U.N. International Maritime Organization and the U.N. Security Council to urgently address the issue."We think it most important that this clearly growing threat to the safety of ships on the high seas is taken up at the highest diplomatic level," a joint letter to IMO's Secretary General read."The attacks against shipping off Somalia have direct implications for the security of the world's transport supply chain."Reports of 'mothership'At the center of the wave of recent attacks is a mysterious, so-called mothership that has been spotted three times since late July drifting off the northeast coast of Somalia."We understand that this is the vessel that is launching the speedboats that go to attack the victims," Mwangura said. "We are still trying to discover the name of this ship, its owner, its nationality and the identity of the crew on board."The IMB, which called the situation completely out of control, confirmed a mothership had been involved in the attacks, which took place well off the coast.The piracy watchdog has warned merchant ships to stay at least 200 nautical miles away from the Somali coast -- an admonition that has gone unheeded.After two years of relative calm, 32 pirate attacks have been recorded since mid-March, including raids on ships carrying supplies for the U.N. World Food Program, according to the IMB.Mwangura said among the ships being held hostage by pirates were vessels registered in Thailand, Taiwan, Malta and Ukraine. More than 100 crew members were being held for ransom.Somalia has been ruled by rival warlords since dictator Mohammed Siad Barre was overthrown in 1991. Many of the warlords are believed to run gangs who smuggle drugs, weapons and people by road, sea and air around the region.Piracy is a lucrative and growing offshoot of this trade.On Wednesday, the U.N. Security Council scolded Somalia's squabbling government and urged rival factions to come together to confront the chaos and piracy plaguing the lawless nation.The council expressed "serious concern" about the recent wave of pirate attacks off the coast, and called on regional powers and international bodies to address the problem urgently.

AMMAN, Jordan (CNN) -- The Syrian-American filmmaker best known for producing the "Halloween" series of horror movies died Friday from injuries sustained when suicide bombers attacked three hotels here, sources said. Moustapha Akkad, and his daughter, Rima Akkad Monla, 34, were killed by the blasts, according to the U.S. State Department and a spokeswoman for Trancas International, his film studio. Monla, who also had dual citizenship and lived in Beirut, Lebanon, died Wednesday in the attacks that took 60 lives, including those of the three suicide bombers.The two reportedly were attending a wedding reception at the Radisson hotel, where the first and deadliest of the blasts took place. Akkad and his daughter are two of the three Americans killed in the attacks. (Watch: Pair knew of danger -- 1:27)Akkad's biography on Internet Movie Database states he was born in Aleppo, Syria, in 1935.He produced all eight "Halloween" films since the series began in 1978 with the unveiling of a then-unknown Jamie Lee Curtis as protagonist Laurie Strode. It was Curtis' first movie on the big screen.The first film was so popular that it attracted two competitors, "Friday the 13th" and "Nightmare on Elm Street," which featured as their main characters deadly stalkers similar to "Halloween's" white-masked Michael Myers. All three franchises became long-running series, widely panned by movie critics."For four years, we didn't do any 'Halloweens,' " Akkad told the Los Angeles Times in 1989. "But I believed in it. It's not a genius creation or anything. But whenever Halloween season comes around audiences want something like this."Akkad came to the United States in 1954 when he was 19 and graduated from UCLA's theater arts program before earning a master's degree from the University of Southern California, according to the Times.He founded Trancas in 1977, a year after directing "The Message," starring Anthony Quinn, a movie about the history of Islam. The film was nominated for an Academy Award for its musical score.Akkad said he did the film because he felt it was his duty as a Muslim in America to teach the West about Islam. "I thought I should tell the story that will bring this bridge," he told the newspaper.

BEIRUT, Lebanon (CNN) -- Two members of a U.N. team investigating the February assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri on Friday interviewed Lebanon's pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud, his office said.Lahoud gave the investigators the "true and accurate facts" about phone calls made from the presidential palace before and after the assassination, and he discounted "rumors" in the media, the presidential statement said.A preliminary report from U.N. investigators last month said that a man accused of being involved in the plot to kill Hariri, Mahmud Abdel-Al, telephoned Lahoud minutes before the February 14 explosion in central Beirut that killed the former prime minister and 20 other people.Lahoud has steadfastly denied having any role in the death of Hariri, who was a leading opponent of Syria's military occupation of Lebanon.Lahoud has specifically denied that he received a call from the suspect.The assassination sparked a wave of protests in Beirut that helped lead to Syria's announced withdrawal from the country in April.Abdel-Al and his brother, Ahmad, have been charged by Lebanese authorities in connection with Hariri's assassination. Lahoud's spokesman said the two had ties to a radical Sunni fundamentalist group, Al-Ahbash.The preliminary U.N. report concluded that there was "converging evidence" that Syrian leaders and pro-Syrian Lebanese officials were involved in the assassination. Syria has denied any role. (Full story)The U.N. Security Council has demanded that Syria cooperate with the investigation, although it stopped short of threatening Syria with sanctions if it refuses to comply.Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad has insisted that his government is cooperating, although he dismissed the U.N. probe on Thursday as a "game" designed to create "chaos" for his nation.

TOBYHANNA, Pennsylvania (CNN) -- President Bush Friday accused critics of the Iraq war of distorting the events that led to the U.S. invasion, saying Democrats viewed the same intelligence and came to similar conclusions."While it's perfectly legitimate to criticize my decision or the conduct of the war, it is deeply irresponsible to rewrite the history of how that war began," the president said during a Veterans Day speech in Tobyhanna, Pennsylvania."Some Democrats and anti-war critics are now claiming we manipulated the intelligence and misled the American people about why we went to war," Bush said. "They also know that intelligence agencies from around the world agreed with our assessment of Saddam Hussein." (Watch Bush attack his critics -- 1:17)"These baseless attacks send the wrong signal to our troops and to an enemy that is questioning America's will," Bush said. The president also cited a Senate Intelligence Committee report issued in July 2004 that said the committee "was not presented with any evidence that intelligence analysts changed their judgments as a result of political pressure, altered or produced intelligence products to conform with Administration policy, or that anyone even attempted to coerce, influence or pressure analysts to do so." Senate Democrats are pressuring the committee to complete a "Phase 2" of the report that would focus on how the prewar intelligence was used by the administration. (Full Story)A bipartisan panel headed by federal Circuit Court Judge Laurence Silberman and former Republican Sen. Charles Robb, also came to similar conclusions. However, that committee only examined the intelligence community's prewar assessments of Iraq's weapons programs, not how the intelligence was used. Democrats respondDemocrats responded immediately -- and angrily -- to Bush's comments.Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, responded to Bush's speech in a statement, saying that the commander-in-chief missed an opportunity to lay out "a clear strategy for success in the war in Iraq.""Attacking those patriotic Americans who have raised serious questions about the case the Bush administration made to take our country to war does not provide us a plan for success that will bring our troops home," Reid said. "The American people are demanding a comprehensive plan and the benchmarks by which to measure our success for the war in Iraq," Reid said. "The president's continued refusal to provide that plan does nothing to support our troops or their families."In a statement, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, noting that a majority of House Democrats voted against the resolution that authorized the war, faulted the president for politicizing Veterans Day."On Veterans Day we should come together to honor those who have served in our Armed Forces. Instead, President Bush is using Veterans Day to try to bolster his political standing on the war in Iraq rather than honor our nation's men and women in uniform. "The president does a disservice to the troops and the American people when he tries to silence those asking questions about putting our men and women in uniform in harm's way," Pelosi said.Continuing the warBush reiterated his argument that the United States must continue to fight to prevent Iraq from becoming a failed state from which terrorists would launch attacks on other nations to implement their radical ideology.Bush referred to a letter he said was written by Ayman al-Zawahiri, al Qaeda's No. 2 leader. The letter, according to Bush, said the group's goal is to force the United States to leave Iraq, just as it had departed from Vietnam, Beirut and other engagements, after suffering heavy casualties. (Read a report on al-Zawahiri's letter)The authenticity of the letter has been questioned by some terrorism experts. (Full story)"They believe that America can be made to run again, only this time on a larger scale, with greater consequences," Bush said."The terrorists regard Iraq as the central front in their war against humanity," the president said. "We must recognize the Iraq war as our central front against the terrorist."If the terrorists drive America out of Iraq, Bush said, they could develop weapons of mass destruction, intimidate Middle East regimes friendly to the West, attack the United States and "blackmail our government into isolation.""Some might be tempted to dismiss these goals as fanatical or extreme," Bush said. "They are fanatical and extreme but they should not be dismissed."Comparing the terrorists to Hitler, Stalin and Pol Pot, Bush said "evil men obsessed with ambition and unburdened by conscience must be taken very seriously and we must stop them before their crimes can multiply."Staying in IraqBush also dismissed critics who say the U.S. invasion of Iraq has strengthened the terrorists."No act of ours invited the rage of killers and no concession, bribe or act of appeasement would change or limit their plans for murder," Bush said. "Against such an enemy, there is only one effective response: We will never back down, we will never give in, we will never accept anything less than complete victory." The president said the U.S. forces -- along with Iraqi partners -- are implementing a strategy he described as "clear, hold and build.""We're working to clear areas from terrorist control, to hold those areas securely, and to build lasting democratic Iraqi institutions through an increasingly inclusive political process."About 2,500 people had been expected to attend the event, including veterans and their families and members of the state's congressional delegation.The speech was meant to "directly take on some of these false attacks that have been recently brought up by some Democratic leaders," a White House official said Thursday.National security adviser Stephen Hadley told reporters Thursday that the thrust of Bush's speech "is to continue to talk to the American people about the war on terror, the nature of the enemy, what is at stake (and) the importance that we see it through to success."'Campaign-style' strategyEarlier this week, senior White House officials told CNN they were working on a "campaign-style" strategy to respond to stepped-up Democratic criticism that Bush officials manipulated intelligence in making the case for war, an accusation the administration repeatedly has denied. The intelligence debate intensified following the October 28 indictment of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, who resigned the day he was indicted. Libby was charged with obstruction of justice, perjury and making false statements to federal agents investigating the leak to reporters of the identity of CIA undercover agent Valerie Plame. Her husband, former ambassador Joe Wilson, had publicly challenged a key element of the administration's case for war. In his briefing Thursday, Hadley detoured from the president's upcoming four-nation Asia tour to defend the administration's rationale for invading Iraq and to rebut charges that intelligence had been manipulated.Hadley told reporters the intelligence used to support the war had been developed over a "long period of time."2003 CIA report raised doubt"We all looked at the same intelligence, and most people -- on the intelligence -- reached the same conclusion," Hadley said, referring to the present and previous administrations and to Congress. Adding to the intelligence dispute is a January 2003 CIA report that raised doubts about claims that al Qaeda sent operatives to Iraq to acquire chemical and biological weapons. (Full story)In January and February 2003, President Bush and then-Secretary of State Colin Powell made dramatic assertions that Iraq had ties to al Qaeda and argued for military action to prevent Baghdad from providing its suspected stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction to terrorists. (Watch: CIA experts question intelligence source -- 2:17)Powell repeated the claim before the United Nations in making the case for the invasion of Iraq.No such stockpiles turned up after the U.S.-led invasion, and the independent commission investigating al Qaeda's 2001 attacks on New York and Washington found no evidence of a collaborative relationship between the two entities.CNN obtained a CIA document Thursday that outlined the history of the claim, which originated in 2002 with a captured al Qaeda operative who recanted two years later. The CIA report appears to support a recently declassified document that revealed the Defense Intelligence Agency thought in February 2002 that the source, Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi, was lying to interrogators.Sen. Carl Levin of Michigan, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, this week released the DIA report in alleging the administration cited faulty intelligence to argue for the March 2003 invasion of Iraq.

WEST KARABILA, Iraq (CNN) -- U.S. Marines and Iraqi soldiers Friday battled an unseen enemy -- the handmade bombs that the the military calls improvised explosive devices -- on day seven of a major anti-insurgent offensive in northwestern Iraq.Five Marines were injured when they stepped on a pressure plate, detonating a hidden device, according to CNN's Arwa Damon, who is embedded with U.S. troops taking part in Operation Steel Curtain.Meanwhile, Arabic-language news network Al-Arabiya reported that Saddam Hussein's former deputy, Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, has died. The report quoted a Baath Party statement.CNN has not been able to confirm the death, and previous reports of Ibrahim's death or capture have proven to be unfounded. Al-Arabiya gave no details on how or where he died. (Watch: Who is Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri? -- 1:30)Ibrahim was the most senior member of the former regime still at large and had been an insurgent leader. He is sixth on the U.S. military's list of the 55 most-wanted Iraqis, with a $10 million reward offered for his capture. (Reward offered)In northwestern Iraq, Marines are becoming frustrated because insurgents have vanished and left hidden in their wake a large number of handmade bombs.One was discovered when Marines spotted what looked like a small bunker along a main road. Inside was a switch hooked to a wireless telephone. Wires leading from the switch led to a crater beneath the road filled with artillery shells and propane tanks.Marines said the device was in a crater that had once been used to hide a bomb. The insurgents refilled the hole with explosives and covered it with asphalt.The Marines dug out the materials and detonated them in a massive explosion.Advances through western Karabila slowed to a crawl as troops picked through a minefield of handmade bombs.One Marine commander called the bombs a "very effective enemy," saying they "can lay in wait for days, months and years."Marines found two bomb-making factories a few hundred yards apart filled with supplies including electronics, explosives and wires, along with propane tanks and mortar rounds primed to explode. The troops also found sniper rifles and a vest similar to those used by suicide bombers.Thursday afternoon, a Marine was killed and an Iraqi soldier was wounded by a roadside bomb. In addition, Marines and Iraqi soldiers discovered three missiles hidden under a room filled with hay. During the first phase of Operation Steel Curtain, troops focused on Husayba, a town thought to have been used by insurgents as a base -- and a conduit into and out of Syria. Major sweeps there ended Monday.Marines entered Karabila early Thursday afternoon, discovering and detonating a car bomb and a warehouse that had been wired to explode. (Full story)Operation Spear also pushed through Karabila in June. But the U.S. military says that the latest operation will be followed by placement of a permanent Iraqi Army presence in Karabila, as was done in Husayba.Rice visitsU.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice made surprise visits to the northern Iraqi city of Mosul and the capital, Baghdad, during a tour of the Middle East to promote democracy.After arriving in Mosul early Friday from Bahrain, Rice appealed for Iraqis to bridge their sectarian differences before the elections on December 15. (Watch: A wish and a warning from Rice -- 2:06)"The United States is not going to support any particular political candidate," news agencies quoted Rice as telling reporters traveling with her. "I want to talk about the importance of reaching across the sectarian divide, and the future of Iraq has to be one which includes everyone," she was quoted as saying. Rice said she delivered the same message of unity to Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Chalabi during their meeting in Washington this week. The once-dominant Sunni Arab minority boycotted U.S.-backed attempts to establish a representative government in Iraq and last month voted against a national constitution. America's top diplomat began her Iraq visit by meeting with political leaders in the majority-Sunni city of Mosul, including the U.S. ambassador to Baghdad, Zalmay Khalilzad. In her second visit to Iraq as secretary of state, Rice then traveled to Baghdad for meetings with Iraqi and U.S. military leaders as well as embassy officials. Rice arrived in Iraq the day after a series of attacks in the Iraqi capital on police and civilians, including a suicide bombing at a restaurant that killed at least 34 people, Iraqi police said. (Full story)Other developmentsPresident Bush on Friday accused critics of the Iraq war of distorting the events that led to the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, saying Democrats viewed the same intelligence and came to similar conclusions. Democrats responded immediately -- and angrily -- to Bush's comments. (Full story)Two U.S. soldiers were killed Friday and two others were injured in a vehicular accident during a combat logistical patrol northwest of Kirkuk. Two other U.S. soldiers died Thursday from small arms fire near al-Khalidiya, the military said Friday. The deaths bring the number of U.S. service members killed in Iraq to 2,065. Gunmen in two vehicles opened fire on a police checkpoint in central Baquba Friday, killing three police officers and wounding two others, police said. It happened around 6:30 a.m. (10:30 p.m. ET), near the Shareef Bridge. A spokesman for the Army's 3rd Infantry Division, 3rd Brigade said suspects had been detained and were being questioned. The bodies of two unidentified civilians were found in separate locations Friday in Baghdad. Both had their hands tied behind their backs and were blindfolded. They had been shot in the head execution-style, Baghdad emergency police said. A remotely detonated car bomb targeting an Iraqi police patrol in the eastern Baghdad neighborhood of Karrada wounded two police officers and a civilian, police said.CNN's Enes Dulami and Octavia Nasr contributed to this report.