ELIZABETH, Pennsylvania (AP) -- An elementary school principal resigned after parents denounced her for parading an 8-year-old girl from class to class after a classmate falsely accused her of stealing $5.Marlene Whitby, principal at William Penn Elementary School in the Pittsburgh suburb of Elizabeth, Pennsylvania, submitted her resignation Wednesday, and the district's school board accepted it unanimously.Whitby and the school's administration came under fire this month when the parents of third-grader Katie White protested that Whitby had not been punished for the September incident.After the classmate accused the girl of stealing the $5, Whitby took her from room to room, calling her a liar and thief. The other child later recanted the story.The girl's father, Ryan White, said that when he spoke to Whitby she acknowledged that she didn't look at a school bus video or talk to the bus driver to verify the theft accusation.He said Superintendent Paul Mueller and Whitby agreed that the principal would publicly apologize, but parents said the apology wasn't clearly worded and their children didn't understand what Whitby was saying. Whitby was also suspended for three days with pay.Whitby earlier declined to comment. No telephone listings in her name could be found this week.Police had to be called to Wednesday's board meeting because some in the crowd of about 70 people became upset when board President Lowell Meek said there would be no public comment on a personnel and discipline matter.Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Tinkering again with enforcement of the No Child Left Behind education law, the government plans to let some states fundamentally change how they measure yearly student progress.In an experiment that's been months in the making, up to 10 states will be allowed to measure not just how students are performing, but how that performance is changing over time.Currently, schools are judged based only on how today's students compare to last year's students in math and reading -- such as fourth-graders in 2005 versus fourth-graders in 2004.Many state leaders don't like the current system of comparing two different years of kids because it doesn't recognize changes in the population or growth by individual students.Education Secretary Margaret Spellings was announcing the "growth model" policy on Friday to a gathering of state school chiefs in Richmond, Virginia, The Associated Press learned."We're open to new ideas, but we're not taking our eye off the ball," Spellings said in remarks prepared for delivery to the state school officials.The latest shift in enforcement of the President Bush's No Child Left Behind law is significant politically. Frustrated states have been pleading for permission to measure growth by students, which may make it easier for schools to meet their goals and avoid penalties.Spellings has promised to be flexible in enforcing the law, one that is central to Bush's domestic agenda and often faces criticism in statehouses and schoolhouses.Other recent changes have dealt with testing, teacher quality and students with disabilities. Yet student progress is the cornerstone of the law.How it is measured has big implications.New measurement standardsSchools that receive federal poverty aid but don't make "adequate yearly progress" for at least two years face mounting penalties, from allowing students to transfer and providing tutoring to poor children to eventual restructuring of the school and its staff.Spellings said it makes sense to give schools credit for progress that students make.The states that win approval for the new flexibility, however, must do more than show growth. They still will have to get all children up to par in reading and math by 2014, as the law requires, and show consistent gains along the way.The Education Department, eager to show it is not weakening the law, will require states to take many steps before they can qualify for the "growth" option.States must have data systems to track individual students, close achievement gaps between whites and minorities, and prove they have at least one year of baseline testing.The law requires yearly testing in grades three through eight and once in high school.The department has not chosen the 10 states that will be part of the experiment. In practical terms, many states won't qualify because they don't have the kind of data systems to track individual students across grades. And others may not find the change helpful.To start, states that gain approval to measure student growth will also be required to chart progress the old way, comparing this year's students with last year's. The Education Department wants to see that data to help determine whether charting growth is a fair, accurate measure.Patricia Sullivan, director of the independent Center on Education Policy, praised federal leaders for showing flexibility and clearly outlining what states must do to get it.A growth model could benefit not just struggling students but also gifted ones who may be challenged anew to show their own yearly progress, beyond the school's standard benchmark."This is clearly what states have been asking for," Sullivan said. "It makes a lot of sense to measure growth. It's so discouraging for teachers when students make tremendous gains but don't get the credit because they don't get all the way over the bar."Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

WILLIAMSTOWN, Massachusetts (AP) -- He was as adept at drawing a charging brigade of Civil War soldiers as he was painting outdoorsmen scouting a mountaintop view in the Adirondacks.And the seascapes illustrated from his vantage point on the rocky Maine coast captured an uneasy balance between the violence of whitecapped ocean waves and the tranquility of a sunrise over the Atlantic's horizon.Winslow Homer was a chronicler of American times and a recorder of the country's landscapes, a mostly self-taught artist who did not have to wait for a posthumous nod from critics and collectors who called him one of the most important artists of the 19th century.A sweeping exhibit of Homer's works on display through January 16, 2006, at the Clark Art Institute showcases the artist's diversity of subjects and the mediums he chose to illustrate them."Winslow Homer: Making Art, Making History," displays about 170 works from the Clark's extensive collection of Homer's engravings, etchings, watercolors and oil paintings, collected by Robert Sterling Clark between 1916 and 1955. The show will not travel elsewhere."In all these realms, he achieved not only the highest levels of quality, but he altered what it meant to work in these mediums," said Marc Simpson, the Clark's curator of American art.The wood engravings he did as a freelancer for magazines like Harper's Weekly cast the mass produced images as works of fine art. The works marked the start of the Boston native's career as an artist and display his talent of being able to create realistic scenes from his imagination.Although he was often commissioned to illustrate Civil War battle scenes, he never witnessed a confrontation between Union and Confederate soldiers. Not all his journalistic work focused on the war. Several prints from his wood engraving drawings show the pleasant and bucolic side of America, with men and women gathered at social engagements and lumberjacks working on a winter day.Homer started painting with oils when the war ended, and his works in the late 1860s and 1870s reflect a shift in the country's focus from the ravages of war to the escapism of leisure activities.He found plenty of inspiration in the mountains of the Northeast, where he painted a woman on horseback at the top of New Hampshire's Mount Washington and a pair of woodsmen stopping along an Adirondack trail.Homer's compositions draw in the viewer to see things from his subject's perspective.In "Two Guides," Homer's outdoorsmen stand at the center of the canvas. A glint of light reflects from the older man's ax blade, first attracting the viewer's eye and then leading it to follow the guide's outstretched hand and the gaze of his younger companion.But the painting leaves one nagging question: What are they observing?In 1873, Homer began working with watercolors, a medium that gave his work a looser feel. In "An October Day," he frames a deer swimming across a mountain lake with the glowing colors of fall's foliage reflecting off the water."He's letting serendipity work its way throughout the image," Simpson said.He also tried his hand at etchings, doing some of the work of which he was most proud. But after devoting most of his time to the medium after two years, he stopped doing etchings because they weren't selling.By the mid-1880s, Homer had moved to Prout's Neck on the coast of Maine and produced some of the nautical images with which he's most commonly associated.In "West Point, Prout's Neck," Homer's sea splashes in the foreground as the sun casts a blaze of orange over the horizon.While the Clark's exhibit spans the shifts in Homer's work, it also captures the museum founder's fascination with the artist. Clark began collecting Homer's illustrations in 1916, six years after the artist died. He acquired more than 200 of Homer's works between then and his last purchase in 1955."His collection of Homer is the best collection assembled by anyone since the artist's death," Simpson said.While the exhibit doesn't display all the museum's holdings, it gives viewers an overwhelming sense of the scope of Homer's work.Pamela Allen, an art conservationist visiting the museum from Yorkshire, England, said she was surprised by the etchings and drawings she never associated with Homer."Much of what I'm seeing here is completely different from what I had expected from a Homer exhibit," she said.Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

(AP) -- Each year, families set out on the country's interstate highways risking frayed nerves, cramped legs and juice-stained upholstery to share a few days of holiday cheer with far-flung relatives.But do road trips really have to turn into your customized sequel to "National Lampoon's Vacation"? Not necessarily, say parents who've mastered the carefully orchestrated mix of creativity and gadgetry that can make long car trips not only bearable, but also fun.Strategies for success vary widely, but one theme is consistent among experienced road-trippers: Plan ahead. While most people think of preparing for the vacation itself, parents with young children also need to map out the way they'll spend time on the road.That's what Vicky Cusick did when her three kids were younger. "We would plan the trip, breaking it down," says Cusick, of Nashville, Tennessee, who makes several interstate car trips each year with her family.The Cusicks would leave home around 5 a.m. "and bank on the kids sleeping for three hours." When they awoke, Vicky would hand out pre-packed cups of cereal while her husband drove. "Finally we got smart and we'd make them go to sleep in their clothes the night before. Because in their pajamas, they'd wake up wanting to stop and get dressed."That's just the sort of planning recommended by Michael H. Popkin, psychologist and author of "Doc Pop's 52 Weeks of Active Parenting," who advises getting plenty of rest before you leave so that parental tension and crankiness doesn't rub off on the children.Dr. Popkin also suggests frequent breaks. "Stop every two hours for a five-minute break," he says. "And bring a ball or a Frisbee."Just about everyone who's done the family road trip or studied it has a tip for smoothing the ride:Combine breaks with meals to save travel time -- and choose places that have play areas. "Let them run, burn off some steam, and then take the food in the car and risk the mess," says Jeanne Murphy, an author of child-care books and program director of the iParenting Media Awards.Burn up travel time by preparing for a meal or snack in the car, eating it, then having the kids pitch in with clean-up.Fill a bag with a mix of new toys and older ones that are awaiting rediscovery, especially for kids below school age. Carla Lev of Chicago, who has traveled across states and oceans with her three school-age daughters since they were born, suggests plundering the dollar store for gifts to wrap up and dole out gradually. "Every hour it's, 'Look what's in the grab bag this hour!"' she says.Read to the kids or play books on tape, then talk about the stories, imagining alternate endings and discussing how characters might have felt at certain moments.Build in special stops that will capture the kids' imaginations. That's Elizabeth Lasseter's solution. "We're going to do our first leg and try to make it to Louisville," says Lasseter, of Birmingham, Alabama, who is planning a car trip to Wisconsin with her two sons. "The Louisville Slugger baseball museum and factory are there."Making the most of 'forced togetherness'But success often depends on children's temperaments. Some families find that brief stops create more stress than they relieve, and prefer simply reaching their destination as fast as possible.Some opt to drive at night. That was the solution for Stephanie Werren of Canton, Ohio, a mother of triplets who wanted to get them to Florida painlessly. "We'd leave at 5 p.m., stop for dinner at eight and they were asleep by 10," she says. "By the time they woke up in the morning, we were there by 10 a.m."The overnight drive can be peaceful, but it can also be exhausting. After a sleepless night, parents may have little energy left to handle their well-rested children.Now that Werren's children are 7, the family no longer drives overnight. But on recent back-to-back trips to New York, Massachusetts and Michigan, they stopped only for a few quick bathroom breaks. Her secret weapon? Consumer electronics."It was so different when we were kids. I came from a family where it was too expensive to fly, so we drove. And my mom would get so mad at us, she wouldn't be talking to us halfway down," Werren says. "But if we'd had a DVD or Gameboys -- they are just amazing."Others, like Lasseter, haven't been helped much by DVDs: Her kids fought over movies and refused to take turns. Besides, movies don't necessarily help families make the most of the hours together."If your goal is to just make the trip not negative, then the DVD is great," says Wendy S. Grolnick, whose research at Clark University, in Worcester, Massachusetts, explores children's ability to manage their emotions. "But if your goal is to make it especially positive and even educational, then you may not want to go in that direction."Many families also turn to an old standard: word games -- searching out letters of the alphabet on license plates or naming state capitals. That can be a great way to sneak in a bit of education amid the entertainment.On last year's Thanksgiving road trip, Vicky Cusick made paper turkeys with her kids before leaving. "The feathers said all the things we were thankful for. We saved some of it to do in the car," she says. And on the way home, after passing through Washington, D.C., she suggested a poetry contest to occupy her restless kids. "This took them hours, writing and rewriting and trying to win."It may seem like extra work, but the dividends can be enormous."In this busy world that we have, it's forced togetherness," Grolnick says. "These are things your kids are going to remember: a joke-telling contest or a 20 Questions ritual or an 'I'm Going on a Picnic' game. They remember that more than they'll remember the trip."Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

TOKYO, Japan (AP) -- A Japanese research probe failed to touch down on an asteroid Sunday after maneuvering within meters (yards) to collect surface samples, Japan's space agency said.The Hayabusa probe, which botched a rehearsal earlier this month, was on a mission to briefly land on the asteroid, collect material, then bring it back to Earth.When Hayabusa was 40 meters (130 feet) above the asteroid Itokawa, it dropped a small object as a touchdown target, then descended to 17 meters (56 feet), said officials from Japan's space agency, JAXA.At that point, ground control lost contact with the probe for about three hours, the officials said."Hayabusa reached extremely close, but could not make the landing," said JAXA spokesman Toshihisa Horiguchi, adding that the reason for the failure was unknown.The probe switched to auto-control, storing data about itself and later transmitting it to ground control to be analyzed.The exact location of the probe was unknown, Horiguchi said, but it was believed to be within 10-100 kilometers (6-60 miles) of the asteroid. Officials plan to make a second landing attempt on Friday.The mission has been troubled by a series of glitches.A rehearsal was aborted earlier this month when it had trouble finding a landing spot, and a small robotic lander deployed from the probe was lost. Hayabusa also suffered a problem with one of its three gyroscopes, but it has since been repaired.Hayabusa was launched in May 2003 and has until early December before it must leave orbit and begin its 290 million-kilometer (180 million-mile) journey home. It is expected to return to Earth and land in the Australian Outback in June 2007.The asteroid is named after Hideo Itokawa, the father of rocket science in Japan, and is orbiting the sun between Earth and Mars. It is 690 meters (2,300 feet) long and 300 meters (1,000 feet) wide and has a gravitational pull of only 1/100,000th of Earth's, which makes landing a probe there difficult.Japan was the fourth country to launch a satellite, in 1972, and announced earlier this year a major project to send its first astronauts into space and set up a base on the moon by 2025.Examining asteroid samples is expected to help unlock secrets of how celestial bodies were formed because their surfaces are believed to have remained relatively unchanged over the eons, unlike those of larger bodies such the planets or moons, JAXA said.A NASA probe collected data for two weeks from the Manhattan-sized asteroid Eros in 2001, but did not return with samples.Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

ATLANTA, Georgia (AP) -- The rate of newly reported HIV cases among blacks has been dropping by about 5 percent a year since 2001, the government said Thursday. But blacks are still eight times more likely than whites to be diagnosed with the AIDS virus."The racial disparities remain severe," said Lisa Lee, an epidemiologist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.The falling rate among blacks seems to be tied to overlapping drops in diagnoses among intravenous drug users and heterosexuals, CDC researchers said.The study was based on 2001-04 data from 33 states that have name-based reporting systems for HIV. Health officials do not know which diagnoses represent new infections and which ones were infections people had for years but had just discovered.The CDC found that overall diagnoses in the 33 states decreased slightly, from 41,207 cases in 2001 to 38,685 in 2004. The rate fell from 22.8 cases per 100,000 people in 2001 to 20.7 per 100,000 in 2004.The decline was more pronounced among blacks -- the rate dropped from 88.7 per 100,000 in 2001 to 76.3 in 2004. Among whites, the rate rose slightly from 8.7 to 9.0.At least part of the decline among blacks appears to be tied to a 9 percent annual decline in diagnoses among intravenous drug users, who can get the virus from contaminated needles. More than half of the drug users were black, Lee said.The decline is also linked to a 4 percent decline in diagnoses among heterosexuals. About 69 percent of the heterosexuals diagnosed with HIV were black.Diagnoses among men who have sex with men remained roughly stable from 2001 to 2003 but climbed 8 percent between 2003 and 2004. That was true for men of all races, CDC officials said. But they could not explain the recent increase.In New York, needle exchange programs helped explain declining HIV infection rates, said state Health Department spokeswoman Claire Pospisil. New York introduced needle exchanges in 1992, and 114,500 people have participated, she said.Most public health researchers say such programs have been clearly effective against the spread of HIV, but some argue they work against efforts to fight drug abuse."The AIDS virus is spread through voluntary behavior. An unlimited supply of needles will not alter behavior patterns of irresponsible and often psychotic addicts," the conservative Family Research Council said in a statement.The government does not know exactly how many people have HIV. Roughly 25 percent of people living with HIV do not know they are infected, health officials said.The study for the first time includes data from New York, which accounted for more than 20 percent of the diagnoses seen in the 33 states. "The inclusion of New York data gives us more representative picture what going on," Lee said.California and Illinois are among the states still missing from the database.Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The antiflu drug Tamiflu is safe, federal health advisers said Friday, after finding no direct link between the drug and the deaths of 12 Japanese children who had taken it."If we ever have a pandemic of avian flu, which is a debatable point, people want to know that they have a drug that will not cause more (harm) than the flu itself," said Dr. Robert Nelson, chairman of the Food and Drug Administration's Pediatric Advisory Committee. "There is no evidence that this will."The committee reviewed Tamiflu as part of a routine safety check of drugs whose original uses had been extended to cover children.Interest was raised, however, because the drug is key in the arsenal of treatments for pandemics caused by bird flu or another superflu strain.The committee voted unanimously that no change was needed in the label to reflect the deaths of the Japanese children or other adverse affects. But it did say that information should be added to the label about serious skin reactions.The FDA is not bound by its advisory committee recommendations, but usually follows them.Nelson said the FDA should still be vigilant in going forward despite the finding that there was reason for concern about the drug at this point.The committee asked the FDA staff to provide an update in about a year on any adverse reactions associated with Tamiflu. A full-report should be made in two years, the committee said."Influenza is a serious disease. Kids die of influenza, both in Japan and the United States, and if you give a drug to people who are at risk of dying, there will be people who die who got the drug," Nelson said. "There is no signal the drug is doing it as opposed to the disease."There have been no reports of deaths linked to Tamiflu in the United States or Europe.Melissa Truffa, of the FDA's Office of Drug Safety, told the panel earlier Friday that they found no direct link between the use of Tamiflu and the deaths in Japan.The FDA staff said Tamiflu is used much more often in Japan than in the United States -- 11.6 million prescriptions for children in Japan between 2001 and 2005, compared to about 872,000 during that same period in the United States.An official with the drug maker Roche Holdings AG told the commission that there are 10 times the number of adverse reactions to the drug in Japan than in the United States and about 10 times the number of prescriptions. He said that studies show no higher mortality rates for users of Tamiflu versus nonusers."The absolute numbers are in the opposite direction," said Joseph Hoffman, a vice president at Roche.In addition to the deaths, briefing material prepared by the FDA staff also includes reports of 32 "neuropsychiatric events" associated with Tamiflu, all but one experienced by Japanese patients. Those cases included delirium, hallucinations, convulsions and encephalitis.Roche said several studies in the United States and Canada had shown that the incidence of death in influenza patients who took Tamiflu was far lower than in those who did not.The company also has supplied the FDA with two additional studies it commissioned that evaluated the safety of Tamiflu in pediatric patients.Complicating the issue is that many of the Japanese death and adverse reaction reports list symptoms commonly associated with the flu, Dr. Murray Lumpkin, deputy commissioner of the FDA, said prior to the meeting."It is very difficult, when the underlying disease causes what it is being reported, to figure out: Is it the underlying disease? Is it the drug?" he said.The popularity of Tamiflu in Japan may explain in part the number of reports from that country: Of 32 million people treated with Tamiflu since its approval in 1999, 24 million were in Japan, according to Roche.Japan's Health Ministry warned last week that Tamiflu may induce "strange behavior" after reporting that two teenage boys died shortly after taking the medicine.The Japanese distributor of the Roche-patented drug told health officials it could not rule out a link between Tamiflu and the deaths.However, Roche said earlier this week that it "carefully reviewed these events and has concluded that a causal link cannot be established."The U.S. labeling for Tamiflu lists nausea and vomiting as its most serious side effects. Its labeling in Japan includes any adverse effects that have been reported -- including impaired consciousness, abnormal behavior and hallucinations -- regardless of whether they can be attributed to the drug, according to Roche.Tamiflu is one of the few drugs believed effective in treating bird flu, which health officials fear could spark a pandemic should it mutate into a form easily passed from human to human.Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

BEIJING, China (CNN) -- Days after a Democratic congressman's call to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq set off angry debate in Washington, President Bush said Sunday that leaving now would only embolden insurgents.Bush told reporters in China that Rep. John Murtha of Pennsylvania, a senior Democrat regarded as a defense hawk, was "a good man who served our country with honor and distinction as a Marine in Vietnam and as a United States congressman."But, Bush said, "I disagree with his position."The retired Marine colonel delivered an emotional statement Thursday, saying he had concluded that the presence of U.S. troops in Iraq was counterproductive because they had become a magnet for insurgent violence and that troops should be redeployed over six months. He also took a swipe at Vice President Dick Cheney and Bush, who have accused Democratic critics of playing politics during a war. "I like guys who've never been there who criticize us who've been there," Murtha said. (Watch Murtha's take on 'flawed policy wrapped in illusion' -- 8:11)Appearing Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press," Murtha said, "I'm very hopeful that my proposal [of a four-step plan to get U.S. forces out of Iraq] is something they'll take seriously, that [Bush will] get a few of us to the White House and talk to us about this very difficult problem which the whole nation wants to solve with a bipartisan manner." Murtha said conditions in Iraq had changed since he wrote last year that an "untimely exit" could lead to civil war."It's different because there's no progress at all," Murtha said Sunday. The 17-term congressman said the U.S. needs to rethink its military strategy due to a persistent insurgency."... Since they're attacking our troops, and we have destabilized the area, I've changed my mind and I've come to the conclusion that now is the time to start to redeploy our troops to the periphery and let the Iraqis take over," Murtha said. A decidedly different toneIn his remarks Sunday, the president used a decidedly different tone than was heard from the administration on the day of Murtha's comments, when White House spokesman Scott McClellan compared the congressman to anti-war filmmaker Michael Moore.McClellan said it is "baffling that [Murtha] is endorsing the policy positions of Michael Moore and the extreme liberal wing of the Democratic party."McClellan called Murtha, who earned a Bronze Star and two Purple Hearts for his service in Vietnam, "a respected veteran and politician who has a record of supporting America." (Watch Democrats defend Murtha's character -- 3:13)But, McClellan added, "The eve of an historic democratic election in Iraq is not the time to surrender to the terrorists." Bush, in China as part of an eight-day tour of Asia, said Murtha was a strong supporter of the military who had come to his decision "in a careful and thoughtful way."But Bush reiterated his policy that U.S. troops will stay in Iraq until that country's security forces can stand on their own. "An immediate withdrawal of our troops from Iraq will only strengthen the terrorists' hand in Iraq and in the broader war on terror," Bush said. The president said the Sunni-dominated insurgency's goal was to "break our will" so that an early withdrawal would lead to "a safe haven for terror."Leaving Iraq prematurely, he said, is "not going to happen, so long as I'm the president."After Murtha's statement, House GOP leaders tried Friday to force Democrats to take a stand on a quick exit from Iraq by bringing up a resolution calling for the immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops. The resolution was soundly defeated, with only three yes votes. (Full story)Democrats called the resolution a political stunt.Nearly 2,100 American troops have died in Iraq since the March 2003 invasion that toppled Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein -- a war that top U.S. officials said was needed to strip Iraq of illicit stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons and efforts to produce a nuclear bomb. No such stockpiles have been found since Hussein's government collapsed in April 2003. CNN's Dana Bash contributed to this report.

ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- In a world where a park bench can function as an office cubicle, iPods play video and cell phones serve as mini-computers, the risk for both the consumer and the corporate world is sometimes overlooked.At a recent summit held by the Georgia Tech Information Security Center, Chris Rouland, the chief technology officer for Internet Security Systems, and Richard A. DeMillo, the dean at Georgia Tech's College of Computing, spoke to CNN's Manav Tanneeru about some of the security issues associated with the emergence of a truly wireless society.CNN: It almost seems like the beginning of a new era with the movement toward a more wireless platform for the Internet versus the traditional, wired version. How have things changed over the last two or three years?DEMILLO: One of the things you have to believe is that the train is clearly leaving the station, you don't know if it's just going to pick up steam or head into a brick wall, and one of the things you have to believe is that whatever we learned about security in the wired world probably has to be rethought for wireless.Take the issue of using Windows updates to patch your operating system. It's a different world when you have a million [cell phones] floating around. Where is the update button on here, and who do I go to if there is an intrusion on the device. I think a lot of the basic business issues are yet to be [solved].ROULAND: In general, as we move to wireless, one of the biggest challenges and one of the things to overcome is ease of use. Today, for instance, to deploy a wireless network in your home, you might skip some things that are hard to do. So, as the vendors are making things easier to use, we also need to encourage them to make security easier to use. Some of the important research that's going on at Georgia Tech is how to make security automatic and easier to understand in wireless and other areas.CNN: How concerned are you about the common consumer who is going from traditional Internet usage to a wireless world where the boundary between the public and private space is shrinking? What concerns you the most about the behaviors about the common consumer?ROULAND: If you look at what we are seeing in the wired world today -- the wild, wired world maybe -- it's becoming very difficult for big businesses to protect themselves -- not because they can't protect their own networks, but because they can't protect what the consumer sees. You can receive an e-mail and it really looks like it's from the Bank of America, or Paypal; however, it's not. It's some guy from Kazakhstan who is waiting for you to click "yes" so that he can drain your bank account. Then, the consumer will go to the financial institution to mediate, and they'll end up taking the loss.So, the extension of the network to the end consumer and the end consumer being hijacked is great concern, it's a very difficult problem.DEMILLO: [Chris], are you worried about people just sort of radiating their identity? For instance, if you walk through this space, [this cell phone] is radiating. It's radiating the number, it's got personal information that's stored on it, and you don't know who's picking up on it. I think that's something really different in the mobile world.ROULAND: A metaphor...is that you are not really aware of it, but if you have a wireless network on your laptop at home, when you turn that on, it beacons out a broadcast saying, "Where are you, where are you?" Even if that SSID, or the identification of that network, is hidden, it actually beacons that out. It's analogous to standing out [on a street corner] and shouting out your Social Security number.CNN: Could you speak a bit about how iPods, portable hard drives, and other USB devices -- which now have the capability of storing large amounts of information -- are creating new security concerns?ROULAND: That's a big a concern for us and our customers as well. We're one of the market leaders in protecting corporate desktops and one of the concerns our customers have is someone plugging in their iPod and copying all their corporate secrets onto the iPod because an iPod not only stores music, but large amounts of data. So, just as we saw 10 years ago when companies started taking out floppy drives because there was no real use for them, they're taking out USB drives as well.CNN: Many media outlets speak of the convergence of online media going to wireless devices. For example, video being broadcast on cell phones or iPods, or Web sites being available on the same devices. What kind of security issues might such a convergence raise?DEMILLO: I'm not sure convergence by itself buys you that much more in terms of risk. It really has to do with the number of devices, the sheer scale, and what you're going to do on those devices. If all you're doing is streaming video, there's one set of applications, but if it's interactive video -- for example, are you pushing games out to a CNN portal -- then there's financial transactions taking place, and I think that's where the risk, at least the initial risk.CNN: What is approaching on the horizon that is worrisome in regards to security?ROULAND: The windows for attacks have become so compressed now. From the time a vulnerability is found to the time it is actually exploited, it is very a short period now. One of the key reasons for that is the profitability for this type of fraud. Whereas 10 years ago when a lot of computer viruses were written to send out greetings and for bragging rights, today it's all about the money.So, as we enable these devices with more and more capability, and the capability of a mobile device becomes as rich as a personal computer, it will become a richer target to attack. There is a linear relationship between the amount of bandwidth and the amount of devices an attacker can take over. So, the faster the bandwidth, the richer the resources available, and the more attractive the target becomes, then they will be taken over.CNN: What are you general impressions on the current state of wireless security?DEMILLO: I think it's too hard for the average consumer. For someone who knows how to use a personal computer, it's different. There is the educational issue and the vendors have to be more engaged in security. The infrastructure will continue to build up and we'll make progress there.ROULAND: I think we're very much at a stage of immaturity in wireless security. We're just graduating past the "OK, make it work stage." While we are rapidly trying to add features, we're also trying to add security, and as we overcome some of these stumbling blocks of making security easy to use, I think we'll see security catch up with features and functions.

LONDON, England (AP) -- "Romeo, Romeo -- wher4 Rt thou Romeo?"It could be the future of Shakespeare.Dot mobile, a British mobile phone service aimed at students, says it plans to condense classic works of literature into SMS text messages. The company claims the service will be a valuable resource for studying for exams.Academic purists will be horrified. Hamlet's famous query, "To be or not to be, that is the question," becomes "2b? Nt2b? ???"John Milton's epic poem "Paradise Lost" begins "devl kikd outa hevn coz jelus of jesus&strts war." ("The devil is kicked out of heaven because he is jealous of Jesus and starts a war.")Some may dismiss the summaries as cheat notes for the attention-deficit generation, but John Sutherland, a University College London English professor who consulted on the project, said they could act as a useful memory aid."The educational opportunities it offers are immense," said Sutherland, who chaired the judging panel for this year's Booker Prize for fiction.Sutherland said the compressed nature of text messages allowed them to "fillet out the important elements in a plot.""Take for example the ending to Jane Eyre -- 'MadwyfSetsFyr2Haus.' (Mad wife sets fire to house.) Was ever a climax better compressed?"But political commentator and author Oliver Kamm said the terse texts were "more than a travesty.""What you lose with text messaging in literature is what makes literature what it is -- the imagery, the irony, the nuance," he told British Broadcasting Corp. radio."What I fear will happen with text versions of Shakespeare is that students will be encouraged not to read the books but to settle for something else, and people don't need excuses not to read books. They don't read enough as it is."Books planned for the service include Charles Dickens' "Bleak House," whose tale of the interminable legal suit of Jarndyce and Jarndyce is reduced to a few snappy lines, and Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice," which describes hunky Mr. Darcy as "fit&loadd" (handsome and wealthy).Dot mobile said it planned to launch the service in January, with Shakespeare's complete works available by April. The texts will be free to subscribers to the company's phone service.Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

GUADALAJARA, Mexico (AP) -- The Vatican on Sunday was beatifying 13 Mexican martyrs who died during a Roman Catholic uprising in the late 1920s that was crushed by the Mexican government.Cardinal Jose Saraiva Martins, prefect of the Congregation for Saints, arrived from Rome to oversee the ceremony, and Pope Benedict XVI was to deliver a message by satellite to spectators in a 60,000-seat soccer stadium in Guadalajara, Mexico's second-largest city, 280 miles (450 kilometers) northwest of Mexico City.Beatification is the last formal step before sainthood.The 1917 constitution that grew out of the Mexican Revolution tightened already tough restrictions on the church, banning public masses and religious garb. It capped a century of setbacks for the church, which had enjoyed a government-imposed monopoly of faith for most of the 300 years following Spain's conquest of Mexico in 1521.The revolutionary limits sparked the Cristero War of 1926-29 in which tens of thousands of people died fighting the government over religious restrictions.Among those to be beatified is Luis Padilla Gomez, who was born in Guadalajara on December 9, 1899, and served as president of Mexico's Young Catholic Association. He was arrested, tortured and killed by soldiers for his work in 1927. Also tortured before his death in 1927 was Ezequiel Huerta Gutierrez.Ramon Vargas Gonzalez studied medicine and was known for his preaching on behalf of the church before he was shot along with his brother on April 1, 1927.Others chosen for beatification include Jose Sanchez del Rio, who was stabbed to death at age 14, and priests Jose Trinidad Rangel, Andres Sola Molist and Dario Acosta Zurita.Restrictions on the church have gradually eased, though Mexico did not re-establish diplomatic relations with the Vatican until 1992.The ceremony marked the first Mexican beatifications since April 2004, when Pope John Paul II beatified Guadalupe Garcia, a Guadalajara native who founded hospitals and a religious order that has 22 foundations in Mexico, Peru, Iceland, Greece and Italy.In 2000 John Paul II canonized 25 Mexican martyrs from the era of the Cristero uprising -- giving Mexico the most saints in Latin America behind Brazil.The best-known of that group was Father Cristobal Magallanes, who reputedly pardoned his killers as he died by firing squad May 25, 1927.So far passed over for sainthood was the most famous priest from that era, Father Miguel Pro, who was beatified in 1988.Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

MADRID, Spain (AP) -- Hundreds of right-wing demonstrators made stiff-armed fascist salutes and shouted insults against gays, Muslims and immigrants at a rally Sunday marking the 30th anniversary of the death of dictator Gen. Francisco Franco.Waving red and yellow Spanish flags with the insignia of the Franco regime's Falange party, the crowd gathered at the Plaza de Oriente, right beside the royal palace in Madrid's old quarter.It is a traditional meeting place for Spaniards nostalgic for Franco's rule, some of them elderly and some so young they had not been born when Franco died November 20, 1975, at the age of 82 after nearly 40 years in power.Representatives of far-right parties from Germany, Italy and France attended the gathering. Police declined to give an estimate of how many people were there, but one officer estimated the crowd at a thousand, or slightly more.At several points during the rally the crowd used foul language to shout insults about Spain's Socialist Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero.Franco supporters are a small minority in Spain and there is no significant far-right party. The demonstrators ranged in age from the elderly to young couples pushing strollers with babies. Boys in their teens or younger walked around wrapped in the Spanish flag.Blas Pinar, the aging leader of a largely defunct far-right party called New Force, said Franco had transformed Spain from a country riddled with poverty and illiteracy into one with "enviable industrial development" and an acute, unified national identity.Still, Franco today is dismissed as "a mediocre military leader, ambitious and bloodthirsty, a man who enjoyed imposing the death penalty and whose monuments are removed under the cover of night, with hatred," Pinar said.He depicted Spain's post-Franco, democratic constitution of 1978 as the root of all ills in a country he described as riddled with crime, decadence and regional separatism -- mainly from Basques and Catalans -- that threatens to break the country apart.His grandson, Miguel Menendez Pinar, spoke insultingly of homosexuals and Muslims and said: "Spain is dying, or better said, Spain is being murdered." The crowd roared in agreement.Parliament passed a gay marriage bill in June giving full legal recognition to same-sex marriages. The law angered the predominant Roman Catholic Church and Spanish conservatives but polls suggest most Spaniards back it. Spain's Constitutional Court said in October that it would study the conservative opposition Popular Party's appeal against the law.Spain has an estimated 1 million-member Muslim community, many recent immigrants from Morocco.Some demonstrators had spent Saturday night walking from Valle de los Caidos, the mausoleum 30 kilometers (20 miles) outside Madrid where Franco is buried, in a march culminating in the Plaza de Oriente.The square is symbolic for them because during his regime, Franco would address crowds -- many of them bused into the city by the government -- there every year on July 18.He appeared on a balcony of the royal palace to commemorate the day he launched a military uprising against Spain's elected, Republican government in 1936, starting the civil war his fascist forces would eventually win.Angry right-wing demonstrators gathered there in March, taunting police and making fascist salutes, after the Socialist government tore down Madrid's last publicly displayed statue of the late dictator.Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) -- Parliament approved a bill Sunday requiring the government to block international inspections of its atomic facilities if the U.N. nuclear monitoring agency refers Iran to the Security Council for possible sanctions.The bill was approved by 183 of the 197 lawmakers present at the session, which was broadcast live on state-run radio. The vote came four days before the International Atomic Energy Agency board meets to consider referring Tehran for violating a nuclear arms control treaty.When the bill becomes law, as is expected, it will strengthen the government's hand in resisting international pressure to abandon uranium enrichment, a process that can be used to produce fuel for nuclear reactors or an atomic bomb.The United States accuses Iran of trying to build a nuclear weapon. Iran says its program is for generating electricity.The bill will go to the Guardian Council, a hard-line constitutional watchdog, for expected ratification."If Iran's nuclear file is referred or reported to the U.N. Security Council, the government will be required to cancel all voluntary measures it has taken and implement all scientific, research and executive programs to enable the rights of the nation under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty," lawmaker Kazem Jalali quoted the bill as saying.Canceling voluntary measures means Iran will stop allowing IAEA inspections of its nuclear facilities and would resume uranium enrichment.Iran resumed uranium reprocessing activities -- a step before enrichment -- at its Isfahan Uranium Conversion Facility in August but said it preferred a negotiated solution to begin uranium enrichment.Under an additional protocol to the treaty, Iran has been allowing IAEA inspectors to carry out short-notice inspections of its nuclear facilities. Iran has signed the protocol but never ratified it.The United States and European Union want Iran to permanently halt uranium enrichment. But Tehran says the nonproliferation treaty allows it to pursue a nuclear program for peaceful purposes, adding it will never give up the right to enrich uranium to produce nuclear fuel.The 35-member IAEA board of governors meets Thursday. In a preparatory report, the U.N. agency found that Iran received detailed nuclear designs from a black-market network run by Abdul Qadeer Khan, the father of Pakistan's atomic program. Diplomats say those designs appear to be blueprints for the core of a nuclear warhead.Khan's network supplied Libya with information for its now-dismantled nuclear weapons program that included an engineer's drawing of an atomic bomb.The document given to Iran in 1987 showed how to cast "enriched, natural and depleted uranium metal into hemispherical forms," said the confidential IAEA report.Iran sought Sunday to blunt potential international action over its nuclear program, labeling the report about its blueprints "baseless.""This is just a media speculation," Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said. "It is baseless."Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

LITITZ, Pennsylvania (CNN) -- The images are disturbing: A 14-year-old girl in various stages of undress; two gun-toting young men making plans to break into a house and kill everyone inside.According to a court affidavit, police found the images on computers belonging to David Ludwig, the 18-year-old Pennsylvania man charged with shooting his girlfriend's parents and fleeing the state with her.The affidavit was filed Friday in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. In the document, Lt. Edward Tobin of the Warwick Township Police Department said two of Ludwig's laptops were being examined by a computer forensics expert.The office of Lancaster County District Attorney Donald Totaro said he wasn't commenting on whether more charges might be filed against Ludwig in light of the computer discoveries.Police searched the 18-year-old's home Sunday, a day before before Ludwig was captured in Indiana with his girlfriend, Kara Borden, nearly 600 miles from their homes.Kara is the young woman shown on the computer in various stages of undress, the affidavit said. Police have been treating her as a kidnapping victim. On Thursday, police said they had found ammunition and 54 firearms during their search of Ludwig's home.Ludwig is being held in the Lancaster County jail awaiting a preliminary hearing, scheduled for Wednesday. He is charged with two counts of homicide, one count of kidnapping and one count of reckless endangerment. If convicted he could face life in prison.Samuel Lohr, a close friend of Ludwig, told police he was aware that Ludwig and Borden were having a sexual relationship and that they frequently communicated using cell phones and computer messages. (Watch the teens' secret life -- 2:34)Detective Christopher Erb, a computer expert, has found nearly 400 pieces of possible evidence, Tobin wrote in the affidavit. Other images, besides the ones of Borden, included pictures of Ludwig with family and friends "possessing firearms and swords," the affidavit said.One video shows the two friends, dressed in dark clothing, entering a room where they handled firearms and ammunition, Tobin said. The video shows the young men leaving the house with weapons and driving to a house where they are heard planning "an armed forcible entry ... by climbing onto a roof and entering through a dormer window," Tobin says in the document.The alleged plot was never carried out."Ludwig and Lohr talked about using their weapons to shoot and kill family members inside of the residence," the affidavit says.While the two men walked back to the car, they can be heard discussing having sex with Kara and her 13-year-old sister, Katelyn, and that "the sex would constitute statutory rape and the potential to have to shoot a guy named 'Jonathan' if he found out about it," the affidavit says.Katelyn Borden has told police she witnessed the slaying of her father and then hid in a bathroom, from where she heard the shot that killed her mother. Her 9-year-old brother, David, also was in the home and ran to a neighbor's house to summon help, police said.

PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania (AP) -- A city health official has apologized to the relatives of a woman whose body sat unidentified in the medical examiner's office for more than two years."It's something certainly the family is due," Health Commissioner Joanne Godley told The Philadelphia Inquirer.Godley said what happened to the remains of Unisha "Niecey" Jefferson, 38, was an "aberration" and that the city would conduct an extensive review to prevent similar mishaps in the future, the newspaper reported Saturday.Jefferson's sister, Katrina Johnson, 35, questioned the sincerity of the apology, which she said should have come from Mayor John Street."I don't feel like the apology is genuine," Johnson said. "Why did it take until (the story of what happened) was printed in the paper for an apology to be offered?"Jefferson vanished April 14, 2003. Police found the body that turned out to be hers in an abandoned factory five months later.The medical examiner's office was unable to identify the decomposed remains and failed to match the body with missing-person reports filed two weeks after Jefferson's disappearance.The body was identified Tuesday after news reports about a missing-persons conference highlighted the case.Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (CNN) -- New Orleans' largest newspaper accused some federal lawmakers of considering the city a "burden" and called on the U.S. government Sunday to "fulfill the promises" it made before the most destructive hurricane in U.S. history.The Times-Picayune, in a front-page editorial under the headline "It's time for a nation to return the favor," also called on residents -- whether at home or "still in exile waiting to return" -- to lobby Congress."The federal government wrapped levees around greater New Orleans so that the rest of the country could share in our bounty," the editorial said, adding that the government "convinced us that we were safe. "We weren't."The levees, we were told, could stand up to a Category 3 hurricane."They couldn't. "By the time Katrina surged into New Orleans, it had weakened to Category 3. Yet our levee system wasn't as strong as the Army Corps of Engineers said it was. Barely anchored in mushy soil, the floodwalls gave way."The paper's editorial follows Mayor Ray Nagin's testimony last week in Washington before a House committee and Gov. Kathleen Blanco's public plea for federal funds."We feel like we are citizens of the United States who are nearly forgotten," Blanco said Thursday. "It is a very frustrating thing. People are weary. They want to move on. ... It's going to take us a while. And we still need help from Washington."The paper agreed, saying, "We need the federal government -- we need our Congress -- to fulfill the promises made to us in the past. We need to be safe."The editorial said New Orleans residents should not be ridiculed for living where they do, on land that is below sea level and which flooded when the levee system failed at key points. "Some voices in Washington are arguing against us. We were foolish, they say. We settled in a place that is lower than the sea. We should have expected to drown. As if choosing to live in one of the nation's great cities amounted to a death wish. As if living in San Francisco or Miami or Boston is any more logical... The federal government decided long ago to try to tame the river and the swampy land spreading out from it. The country needed this waterlogged land of ours to prosper, so that the nation could prosper even more."Some people in Washington don't seem to remember that. They act as if we are a burden. They act as if we wore our skirts too short and invited trouble. We can't put up with that. We have to stand up for ourselves."The editorial called on residents, and readers throughout the country, to "let Congress know that this metro area must be made safe from future storms. ... Remind them that this is a singular American city and that this nation still needs what we can give it."The Louisiana legislature has been meeting in special session since November 6 to deal with hurricane-related matters.According to the Army Corps of Engineers, the 350-mile system of levees and floodwalls will be shored up by next summer but not completely repaired, The Associated Press reported November 12."Construction might continue past June ... but it will be capable of protecting from a hurricane," Walter Baumy, chief engineer for the agency's New Orleans district, told the AP. Congress is on Thanksgiving break and will not meet again until December. Copyright 2005 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report.

LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- The bespectacled boy wizard has worked his biggest box-office magic to date."Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" grossed $101.4 million in its debut weekend, the best results yet for the franchise, according to studio estimates released Sunday.The latest Potter movie led a lineup that helped reverse the Hollywood box-office slump, with the top 12 films raking in $171 million, up 19 percent from the same weekend last year when "National Treasure" was No. 1 with $35.1 million."Goblet of Fire" was the fourth-best, three-day opening weekend ever, behind "Spider-Man" at $114.8 million in 2002 and "Star Wars: Episode III -- Revenge of the Sith" and "Shrek 2," at $108 million apiece.The fourth installment of the adventures of Harry and his curious classmates at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry is the first Potter film to earn a PG-13 rating for its fantasy violence and special effects. But that did not deter audiences."The Potter franchise is just irresistible to moviegoers," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Exhibitor Relations. "The combination of the Potter books and the love audiences have for the movies conspired a big opening weekend."Debuting in second place was the Johnny Cash film biopic "Walk the Line," which took in $22.4 million. The film chronicles the early musical career of Cash, played by Joaquin Phoenix, and also stars Reese Witherspoon as Cash's lifelong love, June Carter. Phoenix and Witherspoon do their own singing.Disney's computer-animated film "Chicken Little," which held the top spot last week, slipped to No. 3 with $14.8 million. Jennifer Anniston's thriller "Derailed" ranked fourth with $6.5 million and the sci-fi fantasy "Zathura: A Space Adventure" rounded out the top five with $5.1 million.Based on the best-selling books by J.K. Rowling, "Goblet of Fire" follows 14-year-old Harry, who unwillingly competes against three older wizards in a dangerous Triwizard Tournament. The movie features a dramatic face-off between Harry and Lord Voldemort -- He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named -- the dark warlock who killed Harry's parents and who tried to kill him when he was a baby.Dan Fellman, head of distribution at Warner Bros., which released "Goblet of Fire," said the results exceeded the studio's expectations. The third Potter film, "Prisoner of Azkaban," premiered last year at $93.7 million. Warner Bros. and CNN are divisions of Time Warner Inc."As the audience has gotten older in time, faithful readers of the Potter books will remain faithful to the movies," Fellman said.Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

HOUSTON, Texas (AP) -- Doubts are being cast on the guilt of a Texas man executed more than a dozen years ago after the crime's lone witness recanted and a co-defendant said he allowed his friend to be falsely accused under police pressure, the Houston Chronicle reported Sunday.Ruben Cantu was 17 in 1984 when he was charged with capital murder in the fatal shooting of a man during an attempted robbery in San Antonio. The victim was shot nine times with a rifle before the gunman unloaded more rounds into the only eyewitness.The eyewitness, Juan Moreno, told the Chronicle that it wasn't Cantu who shot him. Moreno said he identified Cantu as the killer during his 1985 trial because he felt pressured and was afraid of authorities. (Watch the reporter investigating the case -- 3:16)Meanwhile, Cantu's co-defendant, David Garza, recently signed a sworn affidavit saying he allowed his friend to be accused, even though Cantu wasn't with him the night of the killing.Cantu was executed at age 26. He had long professed his innocence."Part of me died when he died," said Garza, who was 15 at the time of the murder. "You've got a 17-year-old who went to his grave for something he did not do. Texas murdered an innocent person."Miriam Ward, forewoman of the jury that convicted Cantu, said the panel's decision was the best they could do based on the information presented during the trial."With a little extra work, a little extra effort, maybe we'd have gotten the right information," Ward said. "The bottom line is, an innocent person was put to death for it. We all have our finger in that."Sam D. Millsap Jr., then the Bexar County district attorney who decided to charge Cantu with capital murder, told the newspaper he never should have sought the death penalty in a case based on testimony from an eyewitness who identified a suspect only after police showed him Cantu's photo three separate times.On the night of the attack, 19-year-old Moreno and his friend, 25-year-old Pedro Gomez, were sleeping in a house they were helping build for Moreno's brother. Burglars had recently struck, so they were guarding the home, located across the street from the trailer where Cantu lived.Both were awoken by a pair of teenagers demanding money. The older of the two carried a .22-caliber rifle. Gomez was killed; Moreno was shot but survived.Afterward, Moreno described his attackers as two Mexican-Americans he thought lived nearby.After a South San Antonio High School teacher mentioned that students were saying Cantu had done the killing, police showed Moreno photos of five Hispanic men, including Cantu. Moreno, however, did not identify Cantu as his attacker and the case appeared closed.About four months later, Cantu was involved in a bar shooting that injured an off-duty police officer. Cantu said the shooting erupted over a pool game and that he fired only when the officer flashed a gun and threatened him. The officer later said Cantu shot him four times in an unprovoked attack.That case against Cantu was dropped."There was an overreaction, and some of the evidence may have been tainted. It could not be prosecuted," said former homicide Sgt. Bill Ewell, who oversaw the investigation.Ewell, a friend of the officer, said the bar shooting prompted him to reopen the Gomez murder case.He sent a bilingual homicide detective to show Cantu's photo to Moreno for the second time. Moreno still did not identify Cantu.The next day, Ewell sent out a different bilingual detective who brought Moreno, who was then an illegal immigrant, back to the police station. Moreno was again shown Cantu's photo along with four others. The officer's report indicates that Moreno picked out Cantu, then signed and dated the back of the photo.But the photo submitted into evidence at trial was not dated on the back, according to trial transcripts. Moreno said he felt compelled to do what police wanted, even though he knew it was wrong."The police were sure it was (Cantu) because he had hurt a police officer," Moreno said in a recent interview. "They told me they were certain it was him, and that's why I testified."Ewell, now retired, told the Chronicle, "I'm confident the right people were prosecuted."Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

ULAANBAATAR, Mongolia (AP) -- The United States is more than an ocean away, but to many Mongolians, it's a cherished neighbor and an ally for their struggling democracy.President Bush's planned stop Monday in subfreezing wintertime Ulan Bator -- the first by a serving U.S. president -- is widely viewed here as vital evidence of America's diplomatic and economic backing for the former Soviet satellite.Nearly 15 years after discarding communism, Mongolia -- a vast, sparsely populated stretch of deserts, steppe and mountains sandwiched between Russia and China -- is counting on that support to help counter the influence of its huge neighbors to the north and south."We need another big neighbor," said retired teacher Donjoo, who like most Mongolians uses only one name."Perhaps Mr. Bush's visit will bring in more aid," said his wife, Dungaa, who stood smiling and nodding beside him in a pink silk traditional robe and fuzzy white hat atop a monument to Soviet soldiers overlooking the Mongolian capital.Mongolia's pursuit of democracy and its support for the U.S. war against terrorism -- it deployed 120 troops to Iraq and about 50 to Afghanistan -- have clinched its status as an ally."My visit should send a signal to the people of Mongolia that you've got a friend in the United States and a friend in George W. Bush," the president said in a recent interview with Mongolian television station Eagle TV.But while this Buddhist nation of 2.8 million people holds democratic elections and allows Western-style freedoms, many worry that it risks being swallowed up economically by China.It's a terrifying prospect for the proud descendants of Genghis Khan, whose empire once reached as far south as Southeast Asia and west to Hungary.Despite economic growth that exceeded 10 percent last year, nearly 40 percent of Mongolians live in poverty. Inflation is a volatile 11 percent. International investment remains meager and the country's schools and health system have crumbled.A program to privatize industries, launched in the early 1990s, has put much of the wealth in the hands of a politically powerful elite, bound by vested interests and blood ties that so far have transcended efforts to fight corruption, critics say."It was a great opportunity when Mongolia broke away from the Soviet Union. They turned to the West instead of to China," said Morris Rossabi, an expert on Mongolia at Columbia University."But the results have not been particularly good," he said. "The agenda was for limited government and privatization. But this doesn't particularly suit Mongolia's culture and traditions."In the 1990s, poverty soared as Soviet support evaporated and workers lost their jobs in defunct or privatizing state companies. Millions of head of state-owned cattle and sheep were given to traditional herders, but many lost everything in droughts and harsh winters several years ago.While the newly rich in Ulan Bator drive Land Cruisers and live in modern apartments or villas, roughly half the residents are clustered in slums on the city's outskirts that lack plumbing, sewage or other public services.Many, accustomed to a nomadic way of life, find it difficult to find or keep jobs in a labor market increasingly crowded by Chinese migrants. Neighborhoods fester with alcoholism, domestic violence and other social ills, and anger over official corruption and abuse of power is growing."I worry that if this situation persists for another couple of years, there will be social unrest," said Dorjdari, an economist with the Open Society Forum, a think tank supported by billionaire philanthropist George Soros.China's influence over the economy has become overwhelming, eclipsing Russia in most areas except oil, which Mongolia continues to import from Siberia.Mongolians complain that the cashmere industry -- a major export earner -- is dominated by low-cost Chinese manufacturers. Local markets are crammed with Chinese-made food, clothing and shoes.In Ulan Bator, employers increasingly favor hardworking Chinese for jobs in construction and restaurants. Many of the city's private businesses are owned and operated by Chinese and Koreans."We can't hide from China," said Dorjdari. "Economically, we are totally dependent on China."Meanwhile, many Mongolians fear that the wealth from abundant mineral reserves, including a huge copper deposit recently discovered by Ivanhoe Mines Ltd., will profit foreign investors, not Mongolians.Given all those anxieties, the prospect of more American money, through a new U.S. aid program known as the Millennium Challenge Account, is a rare bright spot.The millions of dollars expected from the program could make a big difference for a country with a total gross domestic product of only $1.1 billion, and many here hope Bush will be bearing good news."Yes, I heard President Bush is coming to visit. Let him come, I'll let him wear my warm coat," said Galya, a 68-year-old grandfather. "I think it's good for Mongolia that he's coming."Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

TACOMA, Washington (AP) -- At first it sounded like a kiosk had fallen over in the Tacoma Mall, but then people started screaming and Stacy Wilson spotted the gunman."He was walking backward and shooting. I couldn't see his face," Wilson, 29, said Sunday afternoon. "Everyone was running and screaming."Wilson ran with a group of women into a Victoria's Secret store and crouched behind a wall. She heard 15, maybe 20 shots. Then the shooting subsided, and a store employee ran to shut a security gate.In the Sam Goody music store down the hall, another crisis was playing out Sunday afternoon. The gunman had ducked inside and was holding three people hostage. Nearly four hours would go by before the gunman finally walked out and surrendered to a SWAT team.Tacoma Police spokesman Mark Fulghum said the suspect was a young man, but he had no other details about him or any possible motives.Police were interviewing the victims and hostages Sunday to determine what happened, he said. Six people were injured, at least one of them critically, authorities said.During the standoff at the music store, employee Joe Hudson was able to pick up a phone call from The Associated Press and say he and others had been taken hostage. He said little more but could be heard telling others that he was talking to the AP.Susan Serveau said she also called her daughter, Kathy Riggans, 24, a manager at Sam Goody, as soon as she heard about the shooting."She was upset and scared. She was crying," Serveau said, waiting for her daughter Sunday in a parking lot near the mall. "All she would say was that she was OK."Authorities said they began getting calls about 12:15 p.m. that shots had been fired in the sprawling shopping mall. The first caller said there was a gunman, "He was in the mall, walking along, firing," Fulghum said.State Patrol and police units from nearby agencies clustered around an entrance at the south end.Betz Dejarnatt, who works at the J.C. Penney store, said workers were herded into dressing rooms and offices, then police took them outside to a parking lot.Officials weren't likely to release the man's identity or any other details Sunday night, Fulghum said.Six people were taken to hospitals, most with minor injuries, according to Tacoma Fire Department Deputy Chief Jon Lendosky. One person was in critical condition at Tacoma General Hospital, spokesman Todd Kelley said.Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

(CNN) -- A man accused of shooting six people at a Tacoma, Washington, shopping mall surrendered to police after a three-hour hostage standoff Sunday afternoon, authorities said.One of the wounded was in critical condition Sunday evening, a hospital spokesman said.The man barricaded himself in a music store at Tacoma Mall, taking three employees hostage, after opening fire with a semi-automatic rifle about 12:15 p.m. (3:15 p.m. ET), Tacoma Police spokesman Mark Fulghum said.A SWAT team arrested the suspect after a period of negotiations, Fulghum said."The suspect is in custody; all three hostages are out of the business, and they're fine," Fulghum said. He had few details about the arrest, but said, "There were no shots fired or anything like that."He said the shooter, who was armed with a semi-automatic rifle, "was just in the mall and he opened fire," apparently at random."He was in the mall, walking along, firing," he said.Jon Lendosky, Tacoma's deputy fire chief, said five of the six people wounded had minor injuries. Todd Kelley, a spokesman for Tacoma General Hospital, said one person was received in critical condition. (Watch authorities arrive, tend to wounded -- :48)Tacoma Mall is about four miles south of downtown Tacoma. Among its 140 merchants are Nordstrom, Macy's, JCPenney, Sears and Mervyn's.Joanne Woods, an employee at a nearby Krispy Kreme donut shop, said police were "on every corner" during the standoff."It's sad that people have gotten hurt, but it's a nice neighborhood," she said.

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A former top State Department official said Sunday that Vice President Dick Cheney provided the "philosophical guidance" and "flexibility" that led to the torture of detainees in U.S. facilities.Retired U.S. Army Col. Larry Wilkerson, who served as former Secretary of State Colin Powell's chief of staff, told CNN that the practice of torture may be continuing in U.S.-run facilities."There's no question in my mind that we did. There's no question in my mind that we may be still doing it," Wilkerson said on CNN's "Late Edition.""There's no question in my mind where the philosophical guidance and the flexibility in order to do so originated -- in the vice president of the United States' office," he said. "His implementer in this case was [Defense Secretary] Donald Rumsfeld and the Defense Department."At another point in the interview, Wilkerson said "the vice president had to cover this in order for it to happen and in order for Secretary Rumsfeld to feel as though he had freedom of action."Traveling in Latin America earlier this month, President Bush defended U.S. treatment of prisoners, saying flatly, "We do not torture." (Full story)Cheney has lobbied against a measure in Congress that would outlaw "cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment" of prisoners, calling for an exception for the CIA in cases that involve a detainee who may have knowledge of an imminent attack.The amendment was included in a $491 billion Pentagon spending bill that declared 2006 to be "a period of significant transition" for Iraq. (Full story)Proposed by Sen. John McCain, an Arizona Republican who was tortured as a prisoner of war in North Vietnam, the amendment was approved in the Senate last month by a 90-9 vote. It was not included in the House version of the bill.The White House has said that Bush would likely veto the bill if McCain's language is included, calling the amendment "unnecessary and duplicative."Rumsfeld told ABC's "This Week" on Sunday that the White House was in negotiations with the Senate over the amendment. "There's a discussion and debate taking place as to what the implications might be and what is supportable and what is not," he told the program. "But the fact of the matter is the president from the outset has said that he required that there be humane treatment."Cheney has come under mounting criticism for his position. Last week, Stansfield Turner, a military veteran who served as director of the CIA during the Carter administration, labeled him the "vice president for torture." (Full story)In a statement responding to Turner's remark, Cheney said his views "are reflected in the administration's policy. Our country is at war and our government has an obligation to protect the American people from a brutal enemy that has declared war upon us.""We are aggressively finding terrorists and bringing them to justice and anything we do within this effort is within the law," the statement said, adding that the United States "does not torture."Rumsfeld denies 'cabal' chargeBush administration officials, including Rumsfeld and military officials, have denied that instances of torture were ever officially condoned. Some personnel accused of torture have been convicted and sentenced for prisoner abuse."All the instructions I issued required humane treatment," Rumsfeld told ABC. "Anything that was done that was not humane has been prosecuted."But Wilkerson argued last month in a speech that Cheney and Rumsfeld formed a cabal that "made decisions that the bureaucracy did not know were being made."Wilkerson told CNN Sunday he does not know "if the president was witting in this or not.""I voted for him twice," he said. "I prefer to think that he was not."Earlier, on the same CNN program, Rumsfeld dismissed as "ridiculous" the claim that he was involved in a cabal.Rumsfeld and Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said they had no recollection of Wilkerson having attended meetings with Rumsfeld or Cheney."In terms of having first-hand information, I just can't imagine that he does," said Rumsfeld. "The allegation is ridiculous.""I was in every meeting with the joint chiefs. I was in every meeting with the combatant commanders. I went to the White House multiple times to meet with the National Security Council and with the president of the United States. I have never seen that colonel," added Pace."They made my point for me," responded Wilkerson. "The decisions were not made in the principals' process, in the deputies' process, in the policy coordinating committee process. They were not made in the statutory process."Wilkerson said his "insights" came from Powell "walking through my door in April or March of 2004 and telling me to get everything I could get my hands on with regard to the detainee abuse issue -- ICRC [International Committee of the Red Cross] reporting, memoranda, open-source information and so forth -- so that I could build some kind of story, some kind of audit trail so we could understand the chronology and we can understand how it developed."While he acknowledged having no proof that the United States is torturing detainees, Wilkerson said, "I can only assume that, when the vice president of the United States lobbies the Congress on behalf of cruel and unusual punishment and the need to be able to do that in order to get information out of potential terrorists... that it's still going on."He said U.S. officials should realize they are involved in "a war of ideas" that cannot be advanced with torture."In a war of ideas, you cannot damage your own ideas, your own position by seeming to do things that are in contradiction of your values," he said. Rumsfeld told ABC that the military has "overwhelmingly treated people humanely." "The history of the United States military is clear. Torture doesn't work. The military knows that. We want our people treated humanely," he said.

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- The U.S. military is conducting tests to determine whether terrorist leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was among those killed in a weekend raid in northern Iraq, but a White House official called that prospect "highly unlikely."The raid took place Saturday in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, a U.S. counterterrorism official said Sunday. The official said U.S. commanders do not know whether al-Zarqawi -- whom U.S. authorities call al Qaeda's top man in Iraq -- was in the house, which was targeted because suspected al Qaeda members were thought to be inside.In Beijing, China, a stop on President Bush's trip to Asia, National Security Council spokesman Frederick Jones discounted the prospect of al-Zarqawi's death."The report is highly unlikely and not credible," he said.The Jordanian-born al-Zarqawi is the most-wanted terrorist in Iraq, with the United States offering a $25 million reward for his capture or death. (Watch: Dead or alive, or does it matter? -- 2:34)He is blamed by authorities for numerous major bombings in Iraq and for the November 9 attacks on three hotels in Jordan's capital, Amman, which left 60 people dead, including the three bombers.A Friday statement attributed to him said the hotel bombings were aimed at U.S., Israeli and Iraqi intelligence agents and Israeli tourists. But most of those who died in the attacks were Jordanians attending a wedding party at a Radisson hotel.Also Sunday, a U.S. military statement said gunmen ambushed a U.S. Marine convoy in Iraq after it was struck by a roadside bomb. A Marine died when his vehicle was hit by the explosion near the western city of Haditha, the statement said. Gunmen then shot at the convoy, and Marines and Iraqi soldiers fired back, the military said. Fifteen civilians and eight insurgents were killed in the gunbattle on Saturday, according to officials.Presidents address insurgencyViolence continued across Iraq on Sunday, with the presidents of Iraq and the U.S. addressing ways to deal with the insurgency.Iraqi President Jalal Talabani said he was prepared to hold talks with those who opposed his government. "I want to listen to all Iraqis. I am committed to listen to them, even those who are criminals and are on trial," he told reporters in Cairo, Egypt, adding that he would only meet those who had laid down their arms. (Full story)In China, Bush repeated that he would not withdraw American forces from Iraq prematurely.He praised the service record of Democrat Congressman John Murtha but said heeding his call to pull troops out would only embolden the insurgency. (Full story)The U.S. military launched a new offensive overnight, with about 150 Iraqi Army soldiers and 300 U.S. Marines and soldiers deployed for launched Operation Bruins in Ramadi, west of Baghdad, a statement said.The operation is part of a series of "disruption operations" in Ramadi and aimed at stabilizing the area in time for December 15 elections, the military said.Forces were conducting cordon-and-search operations, blocking escape routes for suspected insurgents and searching for weapons caches, officials said in the statement.The push follows Operation Panthers, which targeted operations in eastern Ramadi, and a November 17 engagement where soldiers repelled an insurgent attack and killed 32 suspected insurgents in downtown Ramadi."The caches found during Operation Panthers, along with the recent capture of three high-value insurgent targets, have been part of continuous disruption operations in the Ramadi area," the military said. "Attacks against Iraqi and U.S. forces in the Ramadi area have decreased 60 percent in the last few weeks."Violence continued for the third consecutive day Sunday.A British soldier was killed in the southern city of Basra and four other soldiers were wounded in the midday attack, the British military said. According to the British government, 98 British troops have died in the Iraq war.Basra is one of the largest cities in Iraq and is the base of the British command.The U.S. death toll in Iraq rose to 2,092 after a U.S. Marine died Sunday of gunshot wounds suffered during combat operations in al-Karmah. Also on Sunday, insurgents shot dead a U.S. soldier north of Baghdad. Bomb blast kills childInsurgents in the Baghdad area killed a child and a police officer and wounded at least 12 people Sunday.A roadside bomb killed the child and wounded five other Iraqi civilians in western Baghdad's al-Jamia neighborhood, Iraqi police said. Insurgents also was gunned down an Iraqi police officer in a drive-by shooting in western Baghdad, police said.Maj. Nasir Hamid Bunni, who worked in al-Dora police station, was driving his private car and wearing civilian clothes when he was killed in the Nafaq al-Shurta neighborhood, police said. Also Sunday, five Iraqi citizens were wounded when a roadside bomb exploded near a U.S. military convoy, Iraqi police said. The U.S. military sealed off the area on Mohammed al-Qasim highway.In central Baghdad, two civilians were wounded when insurgents fired a rocket that landed on a house in the al-Iqari neighborhood, police said.Minutes earlier, three bodies were found by Iraqi police on the outskirts of Sadr City in eastern Baghdad. The men were blindfolded, had their hands tied behind their backs and had been shot in the head, police said.Also Sunday, the head of the Iraqi Islamic Party in Moqtadiye, Sheik Sa'ed El-Mehdawi, died of wounds he received four days earlier when he was shot as he was leaving his home in Moqtadiye, about 60 miles northeast of Baghdad, Iraqi police said.Sunday's bloodshed came one day after a suicide car bomber struck a funeral Saturday evening north of Baghdad, killing at least 25 people, Iraqi police in Abu Sayda said. (Full story)The attack occurred just hours after two separate car bombings in Baghdad killed 12 people Saturday, police said. (Watch: Funeral, market attacks widen sectarian split -- 1:33)Suicide bombings killed nearly 100 people Friday in Baghdad and in the eastern town of Khanaqin near the Iranian border, hospital officials said. (Full story)Other developmentsAbout 125 miles north of the capital, five U.S. soldiers were killed and five were wounded in two separate homemade bomb attacks Saturday in the vicinity of Bayji, the U.S. military said. The soldiers were with the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division. The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights called Saturday for an international investigation into detention conditions in Iraq. The discovery of more than 160 prisoners at an Iraq ministry compound revealed signs of torture. (Full story)CNN's Cal Perry contributed to this report.

BEIJING, China (AP) -- U.S. President George W. Bush pressed China on Sunday to expand religious, political and social freedoms and won renewed promises -- but no concrete actions -- from President Hu Jintao to open China's huge markets to U.S. farmers and businesses.Hu said the two leaders sought an outcome of "mutual benefit and win-win results."But their meeting Sunday at the Great Hall of the People on the edge of Tiananmen Square appeared to produce no breakthroughs on U.S. demands for currency reforms in China, and no details about how China would cut its trade surplus with the United States, on track to hit US$200 billion this year.Bush's two-day China stop -- his third as president to the communist giant -- was the centerpiece of a weeklong Asia tour, but an acrid debate at home about the war in Iraq has followed him here. While overseas, the White House has not let a day go by without a no-holds-barred verbal counterattack against Democratic critics of the president's war policies.Bush appeared determined Sunday to scale back the rhetoric. Appearing before reporters at his hotel before he attended a lavish dinner with his Chinese hosts, Bush rejected the notion that it was unpatriotic to disagree with him."People should feel comfortable about expressing their opinions about Iraq," he said. "This is not an issue of who is patriotic and who is not patriotic. It's an issue of an honest open debate about the way forward in Iraq."A Chinese crackdown on dissidents before Bush arrived dismayed U.S. officials, and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the U.S. side would continue to raise the issue "quite vociferously with the Chinese government."She also expressed disappointment with China's response to a U.S. request in September for action on specific human rights cases -- a list Bush described bluntly as "dissidents that we believe are unfairly imprisoned.""We've certainly not seen the progress that we would expect," Rice said.No questions from the press were permitted during the joint appearance by Bush and Hu, so the U.S. president's give-and-take with reporters on his own was scheduled later in part to make a point about press freedom.Bush said he pressed Hu for fairer treatment of non-governmental charity organizations that operate in China and suggested that the Chinese invite the Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, and Roman Catholic leaders to China to discuss religious freedom.Bush's first public event during his visit was a worship service at Gangwashi Church, one of five officially recognized Protestant churches in Beijing."It is important that social, political and religious freedoms grow in China," the president said at Hu's side.Later, Bush said pressing for religious freedom was a good way to ensure that other freedoms follow."They go hand in hand. A society which recognizes religious freedom is a society which will recognize political freedom as well," he said. "President Hu is a thoughtful fellow, and he listened to what I had to say."Trade, currency questionsChina's massive trade surplus is a political headache for Bush. As the president opened his visit, U.S. officials spread word that Beijing was buying 70 737 planes from Chicago-based Boeing Co.The administration said the purchase was "a testament to how our approach to China is yielding real results." But in a joint appearance with Hu, Bush said China needs to do more to provide fair opportunities for American farmers and businesses seeking access to China's market. Later, Bush specifically cited a desire to sell U.S. beef in China.He said China also needs to work harder to protect intellectual property rights. Piracy of U.S. movies, computer programs and other copyright material is rampant in China. Rice suggested that China is beginning to take the problem more seriously, and that Hu talked about specific steps to crack down on piracy.Bush is pressing China to quickly revalue its currency, the yuan, which U.S. companies contend is undervalued by as much as 40 percent, making Chinese goods cheaper in the United States and American goods more expensive in China."We've seen some movement but not much in the currency valuation," Bush said.Hu promised Bush that China will move to reduce its trade imbalance with the United States, but he did not discuss any specific steps.He said China was willing to step up protection for intellectual property and would "unswervingly" press ahead with currency reform.The two leaders readily acknowledged differences but stressed cooperation in preventing and controlling bird flu and persuading North Korea to abandon its nuclear ambitions.Bush noted that North Korea has pledged in six-party talks to do just that. "The United States expects them to honor that commitment," he said.Bush said the U.S. relationship with China was important and "this trip will make it stronger." He invited Hu to the United States next year, to make up for a visit postponed in September because of Hurricane Katrina that Hu accepted.The president's visit wasn't all serious. After the meetings with Hu and Premier Wen Jiabao, Bush went for a vigorous hourlong mountain bike ride with six young men and women vying for spots on China's Olympic mountain biking team. (Full story)Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

NEW YORK (AP) -- Christina Aguilera has found out what a girl wants, and now she's married him.The 24-year-old pop singer tied the knot with music executive Jordan Bratman in a Saturday evening ceremony at Staglin Family Vineyard in northern California's Napa Valley, Us Weekly reported on its Web site.Sources told the magazine that Aguilera, her hair decorated in jewels and pulled back in a bun topped by white flowers, walked down the aisle in a Christian Lacroix gown. The couple exchanged rings in front of about 130 guests.Aguilera and Bratman arrived in Napa Valley on Wednesday to kick off wedding festivities, with a Japanese-themed rehearsal dinner Friday night at the Auberge Du Soleil resort, Us Weekly reported.Bratman, 28, proposed to Aguilera in February while on vacation in Carmel, California. Their hotel room was filled with rose petals, balloons and gift boxes."When I got to the last box, there was a ring in it," Aguilera told People magazine. "He got down on one knee and said 'Will you do me the honor of being my wife?' I've been floating ever since."Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

JERUSALEM (CNN) -- Israel's Labor Party voted Sunday to withdraw from Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's ruling coalition, a move that is expected to force the dissolution of Israel's parliament and leave Sharon poised to leave the right-wing Likud party to form a more moderate political organization.Sharon's political advisers told CNN that the prime minister would announce his moves on Monday.If Sharon forms a new party, it would be an odd move for the longtime hawk who, at 77, has become something of a political pragmatist.He could be joined by high-profile political figures on the left and the right, including the current finance minister, Ehud Olmert, and former Labor leader Shimon Peres, a longtime political foe but a personal friend.For the past year, Sharon has faced rebellion inside the Likud, a party he helped found in the 1970s, over his decision to pull Israeli soldiers and settlers from Gaza and parts of the West Bank, Palestinian territories Israel has held since 1967.Now Labor, which had been Sharon's main partner in his ruling coalition in the Knesset, Israel's parliament, has voted to quit the coalition.'Tantamount to a huge political earthquake'Martin Indyk, who served as U.S. ambassador to Israel during the Clinton administration, said Sharon's expected decision was "unprecedented in Israeli history and tantamount to a huge political earthquake.""In what presumably would be his last term in office, he intends to make big strides which he cannot do hobbled by a right-wing party, and therefore his calculation is that he can, through this big bang, create a large center bloc that would give him the basis for making some political decisions vis-a-vis the Palestinians," Indyk told CNN.Elections would likely be held next March, and the vote is expected to pit Sharon as a centrist against Likud hardliners such as Benjamin Netanyahu and against Labor members angry over his economic austerity measures.Netanyahu, who served as prime minister in the late 1990s, quit as Sharon's finance minister because of his opposition to the territorial concessions in Gaza.Peres was ousted as Labor leader last week by Amir Peretz, a self-described socialist known for his fiery rhetoric and class-warfare style. Peretz has called on Likud members to switch to Labor.Sunday's vote was considered a formality, as both major parties have declared they are in favor of March elections. The Knesset is due to vote on an election date Wednesday.CNN Correspondent Guy Raz contributed to this report.