WASHINGTON (AP) -- Inside Dukem, one of the city's best-known Ethiopian restaurants, the bustle on the street seems far-removed as burning incense mingles with the aroma of spicy stews.On a small stage, performers in sequined white gowns thump on drums and sing traditional music from the East African nation. Patrons sitting nearby use their fingers -- no forks here -- to tear into spongy pancakes and scoop up exotic cuisine such as awaze tibs, which is lamb marinated with jalapeno, tomato and garlic.A new ethnic identity is taking root in a once-decaying neighborhood not far from the White House, where 10 Ethiopian restaurants are clustered together and dingy storefronts are now splashed with bright hues of blues, yellows and reds."You feel like you're in your own country when you come here," said Tefera Zewdie, the owner of Dukem, who left Ethiopia as a teenager 20 years ago.The Washington region has the world's biggest Ethiopian community outside of Africa, according to the Ethiopian embassy. The 2000 Census reports 15,000 Ethiopians have settled in the Washington area. But the embassy and those who study African immigration argue that number is far too low, saying the actual number is closer to 200,000.Now this growing ethnic group wants to be recognized in the city by naming a street "Little Ethiopia."But the location -- near U Street -- faces resistance from some in the community who want to preserve the area's historic significance. Before riots erupted in the 1960s, the area was known as America's "Black Broadway" because of its thriving black-owned jazz clubs, shops and theaters."They're trying to erase us," said longtime city resident Ora E. Drummer. "This community was built by African-Americans. I would never go to Ethiopia and name it 'Duke Ellington Way,"' she said. Ellington, an influential jazz musician, was a native of Washington and is closely linked with the neighborhood's history.Kinuthia Macharia, a sociology professor at American University, said he believes the special ethnic designation is more about the potential economic benefit for business owners, rather than an attempt by Ethiopians to elbow out other cultures."If you go to San Francisco or New York, people tell you about Chinatown," Macharia said. "In addition to eating, you visit businesses" giving them more exposure and raising their profile.There is already a Little Ethiopia in Los Angeles on Fairfax Avenue between Olympic and Pico boulevards. The area has many Ethiopian businesses and restaurants.A formal designation in Washington would be welcomed by Senedu Zewdie, Tefera's sister. She decided to open her own restaurant, Sodere, last spring a few blocks away from Dukem. On a recent weekday afternoon the restaurant was nearly empty -- but she says the crowds pick up on weekends.Designating the area Little Ethiopia, she said, would make it more of a destination for tourists who might otherwise ignore that section of Washington.Opponents include community activist Deairich "Dee" Hunter, who claims the campaign is the work of a "small group of people who are obsessed" with the idea. But several thousand people have signed a petition circulated in support of the name change, said Tamrat Medhin, who is leading the effort to hang signs that say Little Ethiopia, or something similar, on Ninth Street between U and T streets NW."The Ethiopian community came in and moved in when people were afraid to come to the neighborhood," said Medhin, who chairs the Ethiopian-American Constituency Foundation. His idea has the support of District of Columbia Councilman Jim Graham, who represents the neighborhood.Graham said he favors the idea of Little Ethiopia because of the immigrants' significant contributions. Besides restaurants, Ethiopians also have opened churches, hair salons and a community services center."Anything we do that underscores the multicultural nature of where we live ... is fine with me," said Graham, who spent about a month in Africa last year to learn more about the people he represents.Many Ethiopians began arriving in the United States after a military coup in the 1970s, said Hermela Kebede, the leader of Washington's Ethiopian Community Center, which assists newcomers by helping them find housing and offering English classes.She said the presence of the embassy is a big reason Ethiopians initially decided to settle in Washington. Now, the community has grown so large it has its own Ethiopian Yellow Pages."They're coming from one Ethiopia to another," Kebede said.Graham said it is too soon to say when the D.C. Council will act on the Little Ethiopia proposal. In the meantime, he said it is important to win the support of those who are angered by the Ethiopians' campaign.Zewdie, the owner of Sodere, also hopes that naming the area Little Ethiopia will increase Americans' awareness of her homeland, pointing out that many people know little about Ethiopia, except for what they have seen and read in the news about famines and war."Ethiopia has a rich culture," she said. "We want (people) to come back again and again."Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

I used to think there was nothing worse than imagining your own parents having sex. I was wrong. You know what's worse? Learning your parents' sex life is more interesting than your own.As a kid, sex was something I never really discussed with my parents. WASPs generally don't talk about such things. My mom never talked about sex with her mom, and she never brought it up with me. My dad died when I was 10, and though I knew my mom dated guys, I never thought about what went on after I toddled off to bed.Chaste and pure, not pawing and petting: That's the way we like to think of our folks. During childhood it's easy to keep that illusion. Until we're teens we never consider what goes on behind mom's bedroom door, and once we do, we try never to think of it again.But now my mom is 81, and all of a sudden she's started talking about sex. I know, I know -- I should be mature, supportive of her sexual identity, and I am, intellectually, but there are some things I'd prefer to stay ignorant about. No matter how much my cerebrum says "Okay," my gut still sort of shudders at the thought of her, you know, touching the monkey. The really weird thing is, a few months ago my mom's sex life became an open book. Literally.She decided to write a memoir discussing the men in her life. It turns out there have been rather a lot of them -- romances and hookups, big names and big drama. She asked me to proofread an early draft, and if you think talking with your mom about sex is awkward, try reading about her romances, page after page, paragraph after paragraph.The book is titled "It Seemed Important at the Time," and it's really well written -- sexy, funny, and smart. If it had been written by anyone else, I wouldn't have blinked at the content. But it's not anyone else; it's my mom, and reading her description of her current boyfriend as the "Nijinsky of cunnilingus" was kind of shocking. It's not really a visual image I wanted to have. The truth is, I don't know much about dance history, but I'm guessing Nijinsky was creative, or at least very limber.My mom is Gloria Vanderbilt, and she's been in the public eye since she was born. She's always been extraordinarily beautiful, and even as a kid, I knew men found her irresistible, but I was always happily hazy on the details.When I was about 8, I remember looking at a Richard Avedon book about beauty, and there was a striking photo of a young woman staring seductively into the camera. It was my mother, though to me the woman had no relation to the person I knew. That wasn't my mom.I guess I always knew she had a history, as they used to say -- after all, she had been married four times. I remember when I was a kid, we'd be watching an old movie and I'd ask her if she knew one of the actors in it. "Oh, yes," she'd say wistfully. She never went into specifics, but even then I knew that yes was packed with meaning.In school, whenever I read a 20th-century-history textbook, I kind of assumed my mom had at least met many of the main characters: Marlon Brando (check), Frank Sinatra (check), Howard Hughes (check). I just never really thought about how she knew them.I now know Howard Hughes used to take my mom for night flights above L.A., just like in "The Aviator. " (Now, thanks to Scorsese, I can't stop imagining my mom with Leonardo DiCaprio.) She also hooked up with Sinatra while she was still married to her second husband, a famous conductor; and as she lay in bed with a young Brando, she noticed he kept a framed 10-by-12 photo of himself nearby.By the time she was 18, she'd had romances with some of the most well-known people in the world. When I was 18, I was still watching late-night public-access TV and popping zits.My mom has never been a typical mother. She's very cool, and way ahead of her time. On report day at school, she'd show up dressed in a purple beaver-skin coat and matching stockings. Where she found a purple beaver I have no idea.She's not the milk-and-cookies type. Growing up, the only snack food we had in the house was Carr's water biscuits. You know, the dry crackers people use for cheese? Yum. I always knew she was different, but until I read her romance memoir, I never really saw her as a sexual being.I was in a bookstore soon after the memoir was published, and two teenage boys were looking at the cover photograph taken of my mom in her early twenties. "She's hot," one of them said. "Yeah, totally," the other responded. I nearly slapped the book out of their sweaty little hands.Why does the thought of our parents having sex bother us so much, even as adults? I suppose a Freudian would say we never get over the Oedipal idea that our mothers shouldn't have feelings for anyone else. Or perhaps it's because in our age-obsessed culture, sex is always viewed as a youthful act.If our folks are doing it, they're stealing the one thing we have over them. I think the reality is much simpler: We don't want to think about our parents as real people, with needs and desires, fetishes and faults. But that, of course, is exactly what they are.The book got great reviews and a wonderful response. It's taken me a while to adjust, but I think I've finally gotten used to the notion of my mom as a hottie.When I suggested she take the whole cunnilingus thing out of the book, she just laughed and told me I should have a sense of humor about it. She's right, of course, and that's the most embarrassing thing of all. I'm 37 and my mom is still able to teach me something about sex.

Washington (AP) -- One in 20 students was a victim of violence or theft at school in 2003, the government said in a report that shows school crime rates about were half what they were 10 years earlier.Yet the school crime rate essentially has leveled off, showing no change since 2000, according to a report Sunday from the departments of Education and Justice.There were about 28 crimes of rape, sexual assault, robbery and physical assault for every 1,000 students in 2003, compared with 59 per 1,000 a decade earlier. The study looked at crimes against the 26.4 million students who were 12 years old to 18 years old in 2003.In 2002, the violent crime rate per 1,000 students was 24, but government researchers said there was no statistically significant change between 2002 and 2003 because the numbers are estimates from relatively small surveys."The level of precision isn't good enough to say whether there has been a change," said Thomas Snyder, a report author at the Education Department.Snyder said, however, there has been no change in the crime rate in several years. The report does not attempt to explain rises and falls.The drop from the early 1990s is long-standing and large enough to overcome any doubts about comparing one year to the next, according to the report. Indeed, it mirrors the general trend in the United States, in which crime is at a 30-year low.In 2003, there were about 738,700 violent crimes involving students at school and about 846,400 away from school property. For the most serious nonfatal violent crimes -- rape, assault and robbery -- the crime rates were at least 50 percent lower in school than away from school every year from 1992 to 2003.Students were twice as likely to be victims of serious violent crimes away from school than at school, but more likely to have things stolen from them at school than elsewhere.Pupils from poorer families were more likely to be victims of a violent crime at school than were wealthier students, while the opposite was true for theft, with richer students more likely to be victims.Some school safety experts have attributed the fall in the crime rate in the last decade to installing metal detectors, hiring more security personnel and implementing programs aimed at curbing bullying, which can lead to more serious crimes.A separate measure showed 17 homicides and five suicides in the 2001-02 school year, compared to 12 and five, respectively, a year earlier. By contrast, in the late 1990s there were two to three dozen killings year, the result of a string of fatal shootings. The most notable was the killings of 13 people at Columbine High School in Colorado by two heavily armed students in 1999.Teachers are also targets of school crime. The report found that from 1999 through 2003 teachers were victims of an annual average of 183,000 crimes at school, 65,000 of them violent. That translates to an annual rate of 39 crimes per 1,000 teachers.High school teachers were more than twice as likely as elementary school teachers to be violent crime victims. This month, an assistant principal at a high school in Jacksboro, Tenn., was shot to death by a student and two other administrators were wounded.Yet some school violence experts said the annual report routinely understates crime in schools because it is based on limited surveys and self-reporting. The data also already is outdated, saidKenneth Trump, president of National School Safety and Security Services, a consulting firm in Cleveland, Ohio."Even if the government had actual real-time data, it's two to three years old," Trump said. "School administrators need to know what is happening today and what to anticipate tomorrow, not outdated numbers from yesteryear."Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

LAWRENCE, Kansas (AP) -- Creationism and intelligent design are going to be studied at the University of Kansas, but not in the way advocated by opponents of the theory of evolution.A course being offered next semester by the university religious studies department is titled "Special Topics in Religion: Intelligent Design, Creationism and other Religious Mythologies.""The KU faculty has had enough," said Paul Mirecki, department chairman."Creationism is mythology," Mirecki said. "Intelligent design is mythology. It's not science. They try to make it sound like science. It clearly is not."Earlier this month, the state Board of Education adopted new science teaching standards that treat evolution as a flawed theory, defying the view of science groups.Although local school boards still decide how science is taught in the classrooms, the vote was seen as a major victory for proponents of intelligent design, which says that the universe is so complex that it must have been created by a higher power.Critics say intelligent design is merely creationism -- a literal reading of the Bible's story of creation as the handiwork of God -- camouflaged in scientific language as a way to get around court rulings that creationism injects religion into public schools.John Calvert, an attorney and managing director of the Intelligent Design Network in Johnson County, Kansas, said Mirecki will go down in history as a laughingstock."To equate intelligent design to mythology is really an absurdity, and it's just another example of labeling anybody who proposes [intelligent design] to be simply a religious nut," Calvert said. "That's the reason for this little charade."Mirecki said his course, limited to 120 students, would explore intelligent design as a modern American mythology. Several faculty members have volunteered to be guest lecturers, he said.University Chancellor Robert Hemenway said Monday he didn't know all the details about the new course."If it's a course that's being offered in a serious and intellectually honest way, those are the kind of courses a university frequently offers," he said.Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- If you're flying for the holidays you have lots to think about: what to pack -- and leave behind -- what to wear and how early to get to the airport.Tight security, new technology and airlines' financial woes are making air travel more complicated than ever this Thanksgiving, when many travelers take their one big trip of the year.For the infrequent flyer, there's much to remember even before leaving home. There's the Transportation Security Administration's list of items that can't go into the passenger cabin, such as scissors, small knives and cigarette lighters.Don't forget to wear sensible footwear, like loafers, since you'll probably have to take off your shoes to go through security.Don't carry wrapped presents on the plane -- security may unwrap them to see what's inside. Don't plan on saying goodbye to family or friends at the gate -- people without boarding passes are not allowed past the security check.All the rules mean more opportunities for inexperienced passengers to gum up the works during the busiest travel time of the year. The Air Transport Association, which represents major airlines, predicts 21.7 million people will fly on U.S. airlines over the Thanksgiving travel season between November 19 and November 29, slightly more than the record number that took to the air a year ago. The peak travel time starts Tuesday night.Ron Luczak flies a good deal as marketing director for The Travel Team, a Buffalo, New York-based travel management company. On Veterans Day, he spent an hour and 20 minutes in the security line at Buffalo Niagara International Airport. He was, he said, behind infrequent travelers who didn't know that they had to take off their shoes, belts and jackets -- and forgot to shed other metal -- before walking through the metal detectors."There was mutiny," Luczak said. "People were going to the front of the line saying, 'I'm going to miss my flight,' but so was everyone else."Part of the problem, he said, was that the airlines didn't have enough staff to call the names of people who were about to miss their flights and give them priority.That may be because cash-strapped airlines have been trimming employees to cut costs. From December 2000 to December 2004, the number of airline employees fell 19 percent, from 525,137 to 424,312, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics.Travelers Aid International, a nonprofit that assists people in transit, expects to serve a record number of passengers this holiday season. The agency answers questions, gives directions and escorts people, such as children or the elderly, who need help meeting a connecting flight.Travelers Aid President Ray Flynt said his organization is getting more requests at some of the nation's largest airports. For example, it helped 27 percent more people at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport in September than during the same month last year.Airline industry spokesman David Castelveter said the bulk of job cuts are not on the customer service side of the business. And, he said, new technology such as automated document readers at the gates speeds the boarding process."It takes one person to work a flight, whereas in the past it took a few," said Castelveter, ATA spokesman.Airlines are encouraging passengers to buy their tickets on the Internet and print their boarding passes at home, or to use the growing number of self-service kiosks.Kinetics, the NCR Co. subsidiary that sells two-thirds of all airport kiosks in the United States, says the number of self-service stations has climbed by 40 percent annually since 2001.Terri MacKenzie, a 70-year-old nun returning to Chicago, happily selected her seat and printed her boarding pass at United Airlines' self-service kiosk at Reagan Washington National Airport on Monday."I'm delighted to do it this way," MacKenzie said. "It saves loads of time."Still, there's no avoiding the security lines. In an effort to keep them moving quickly, the TSA has issued a press release reminding passengers to leave prohibited items at home and to dress sensibly.Forgetting to leave behind a pen knife can result in a patdown, a stern letter from the government and even a fine.At some airports, there's an added penalty if you don't get through security early enough: you'll miss your flight if you aren't at the gate 30 minutes beforehand.Carl Willis, a ticket agent at American Airlines, said air travelers have had a hard time adjusting to the 30-minute cutoff."A lot of people don't make it," he said.Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (AP) -- The baseball-sized French glass Mardi Gras beads still dangle on live oak trees outside the New Orleans Museum of Art. Somehow, they defied Hurricane Katrina's fury.The Degas, Monet and Gauguin paintings, the jeweled Faberge eggs, the Ansel Adams photographs, they're all safe inside. Even though storm winds uprooted 60-foot-tall trees nearby and 8-foot-deep floodwaters surrounded the museum like a lake with an island castle, the art treasures were spared.But the museum wasn't and its scars are just beginning to show.The New Orleans Museum of Art has been forced to lay off most of its 86 workers, it must raise millions of dollars to survive the next few years and it will not reopen its doors for months. And that's just for starters."It's going to take years to get back to where we were," says Jackie Sullivan, the museum's deputy director. "The toughest time is definitely now."The museum's plight typifies the dilemma a cultural institution here -- especially one dependent on city dollars -- faces in this post-Katrina era. New Orleans has no money, no sizable number of tourists and no crystal ball to predict when all will change.Then there's the matter of priorities.In a city where hundreds of people died, thousands of homes were destroyed, jobs are gone and schools and businesses closed, the preservation of an art museum just doesn't rank at the top of the must-do list.But E. John Bullard, the museum's director, argues that art must be a part of the city's revival."Obviously, the people have to have houses to live in," he says. "They have to have hospitals. They have to have schools. I think museums ... are on the same level. You can't live in a cultural desert. Especially in New Orleans. You just can't."The 94-year-old museum, a neoclassical white stone building set on a circle, is important, too, because it attracts out-of-town visitors -- and that means money."I think the city has wakened up to the fact that tourism is its last great hope," says John Keefe, one of the laid-off museum workers.'I feared that and it came true'The museum needs $15 million in the next three years and is now trying to raise money to make up for losing visitors (about 150,000 a year) and fees from its 10,000 members, many of whom have fled New Orleans."We're hanging out a little tin cup," says Bullard, who says his recent trip to New York to appeal to foundations for help brought in pledges of $900,000.The museum's crisis came after the storm. Mayor Ray Nagin announced in October that New Orleans was broke and had to lay off as many as 3,000 people, about half the city's work force.That had a dramatic impact on the museum because 60 percent of the staff are civil servants, including most curators. One of them, Dan Piersol, suddenly found himself out of work after 25 years. A volunteer rakes debris from the grounds of the sculpture garden at the New Orleans Museum of Art."If there's anyone expendable, it's got to be museum people," says Piersol, who was curator of prints and drawings. "I feared that and it came true."Friends, he says, urged him to look for a new job and he did even before his layoff notice arrived. He quickly was hired as deputy director at the Mississippi Museum of Art in Jackson."It was self-preservation," he says. "Everyone did or will get to that point."Piersol also had another bit of luck. When he returned to his New Orleans house in the Bywater neighborhood, "it was dry as a bone" and 30 years of his paintings were not damaged. "It was just astonishing to see everything exactly as we left it," he says.While Piersol has a new career, some colleagues scattered around the country are in limbo -- and waiting to return to their old jobs."I can't imagine not being there," says Victoria Cooke, the museum's curator of European painting who is living in New York, working on her dissertation and planning an impressionist exhibition for 2008.Cooke, who just bought a new house near the museum last year, says it's painful being laid off but she understands. "I have to put my faith in the people who have to deal with this, that they'll find a solution," she says. "That's my hope. I'm trying to be patient."'Tremendous' voidBut for Keefe, curator of decorative arts, these are worrisome days. After 23 years at the museum, he says he thought he had enough seniority to still be working and is annoyed the board didn't give the staff even a few hundred dollars each to tide them over. At age 64, he fears he'll be forced into retirement without a good pension."After all these years of service," Keefe says, "you kind of feel, 'Why did I do this?' "Sullivan, the deputy director, says the museum had to pare its staff to 14 workers and with the doors closed, there's no need for people such as education curators or a volunteer coordinator.She's also aware there will be permanent losses. "The void is tremendous," she says. "It's hard to replace someone who was a curator with 30 years of experience." The Orleans Parish sheriff's department is manning a post inside the museum around the clock.Bullard worries, too, about the obstacles in reopening: Will workers want to return? Where will they find housing? How will his museum compete with other places offering fatter paychecks?"How many people will want to come to New Orleans at the salary we pay? ... When we go to rehire people, it's going to be hard," he says.Many staff members had worked at the museum for a decade or more and were a close-knit group, working as a team even as they prepared for Katrina: They took paintings off the walls that were near skylights and put others on wooden blocks in basement storage areas. Some sculptures were brought inside and some others -- including the Mardi Gras beads -- were tied to trees.Several workers -- maintenance and security crew, along with their families -- took refuge in the building and stayed there in the turbulent first week after the storm. They were so determined to protect the treasures from possible looters, they refused to leave when they had the chance.Some stayed downstairs, while others kept vigil on the main floor. They had already stocked up on food and filled giant garbage cans and ice chests with water. They watched the news on a television powered by a generator until they were finally ordered out by the National Guard.On the Saturday after the storm, Sullivan, the deputy director, finally made her way to the building in a harrowing nine-hour journey in a two-boat convoy, passing floating bodies along the way. She was accompanied by M-16 rifle-toting security guards, mostly former New York City police working for a firm that had been hired by the museum's insurer.Enhancing lifeThe security force remained there for six weeks. Two Orleans Parish sheriff's deputies now guard the museum.Sullivan says she was thrilled at what she found. "I could have just screamed," she says. "Everything was pristine."Though there was no flooding in the galleries, the ground floor had cracks that caused some water to seep in the storage and office areas. Only one sculpture, a piece of furniture, two Kachina dolls and a pair of Japanese screens were damaged but the inventory is still being taken.Only a fraction of the 40,000 or so pieces in the museum's $250 million collection is normally on display. The museum also remains a temporary home to about 1,000 works from private collectors.The museum needs to make repairs valued at more than $6 million, including fixing the huge freight elevator, waterproofing the basement, landscaping, new outside lights and other improvements in the sculpture garden. Most of those costs will be covered by insurance or the Federal Emergency Management Agency.The public will be able to walk around the sculpture garden next month, but the museum won't be open until March 1, Ash Wednesday, the day after Mardi Gras.Meanwhile, Bullard plans a fund-raising campaign, making stops in such cities as Los Angeles, Chicago and Palm Beach, Florida, to encourage more people to open their checkbooks.Already, there are signs of good will. French officials recently announced they'll loan some 50 paintings from their institutions, including the Louvre, to be displayed in a special exhibition late next year or in early 2007 at the New Orleans Museum of Art.The museum will also bring some works to a New York gallery next year to raise money and pay tribute to the security force that guarded the building.Meanwhile, George Roland, who was a donor, volunteer and eventually an assistant at the museum, wonders about the future -- the museum's, the city's and his own."I don't think anything in the city is going to come back the way it is," he says. "I think New Orleans is gone, at least the New Orleans that everyone thinks about."But he says the camaraderie with his co-workers and the museum are reasons enough for him to return."It's not New Orleans as a city that will bring me back," he says. "It's the museum."Keefe, his former colleague, says even though people are worried about housing and other essential needs now, he's certain the museum will survive because it's part of the fabric and the future of New Orleans."Art is not a luxury," he says. "It's something that enhances life. And this city is all about the enhancement of life."Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

HARSTAD, Norway (Reuters) -- Life is harsh on the freezing tundra of the Arctic Circle where Anna Prakhova lives. But it can be much harder when snows do not fall.In recent years, snows have failed to fall as normal across large parts of the barren land dotted with low birch and pines."We are experiencing the reality of climate change," Prakhova, who leads a group representing indigenous people in Russia and the Nordic nations, said on a snow-free day in Harstad, a Norwegian Arctic port of about 15,000 people.Evidence that humans are pushing up global temperatures is growing ever stronger, ranging from a shrinking of ice in the Arctic to a warming of the Indian Ocean, many experts say.The scientific panel that advises the United Nations looks likely to issue sterner warnings in its next report in 2007 that emissions of heat-trapping gases from power plants, factories and cars are disrupting the climate, they say.And mounting conviction among experts may add pressure on governments, who next meet for climate talks in Montreal, Canada, from Nov. 28 to Dec. 9, to do more about a problem that could cost trillions of dollars to fix in coming decades.Are we to blame?"There is stronger and stronger evidence that there is an anthropogenic (human) element affecting the climate," said Paal Prestrud, head of the Center for International Climate and Environmental Research in Oslo.The 10,000 delegates to the Montreal talks will discuss how to fight climate change, especially after 2012 when the U.N. Kyoto Protocol on curbing greenhouse gas emissions runs out.Prakhova is more worried about what is happening now.She said reindeer, traditionally herded by Sami people -- who live in Russia, Finland, Sweden and Norway -- were vulnerable when winter snows did not fall."Snow is cold for us but for reindeer it is a soft winter bed," said Prakhova, a Russian Sami. Lack of snow also makes it hard for reindeer to feed on lichen because the plants can get covered by sharp ice, which cuts their soft muzzles.In September, polar ice contracted to its smallest size in at least a century, according to measurements by space agency NASA and the U.S. National Snow and Ice Data Center.Around Harstad, less bone-chilling winters have helped some pests to thrive, like beetles and worms that destroy Arctic forests. In northern Russia, frogs have been spotted more often on the tundra and some birds are not even bothering to migrate.The idea that humans are to blame is growing: A survey this year by scientists at the U.S. Scripps Institution of Oceanography showing a warming of the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian oceans over recent decades has been among the strongest evidence that human activities are responsible.The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), of scientists who advise the United Nations, concluded in its last report in 2001 that: "There is new and stronger evidence that most of the warming observed over the last 50 years is attributable to human activities."Most research since 2001 has downgraded theories that swings in the power of the sun, volcanic dust or warmth from cities are mainly to blame for rising temperatures, rather than emissions of carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels."Based on new research, which is already available in the journals, we can say that there is stronger evidence about the human influence" on the climate, said Albert Klein Tank of the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute. He is among scientists working on the next IPCC report, due in 2007.Guessing gameBut there is still huge uncertainty about the impact of warming. IPCC reports say climate change might bring more powerful hurricanes, heatwaves, droughts and raise sea levels by almost a 3 feet by 2100.Other scientists say humans will be able to adapt, arguing that IPCC models may be wrong. They point, for instance, to a lingering dispute about whether temperatures are rising more slowly higher in the atmosphere than at the surface."I don't see the catastrophic effects from warming that others predict," said John Christy, a professor at the University of Alabama in Huntsville who says satellite data since 1979 shows temperatures rising fastest at the surface."All I can offer is guesses," he said of the temperature discrepancy. "Perhaps as the surface warms the atmosphere has a capacity to release warmth to space in a way the climate models don't take into account."Environmentalists say that any suggestion that humans are causing warming "beyond a reasonable doubt" might spur lawsuits against nations accused of doing too little. Environmentalists often single out the United States and Australia as laggards.Those two countries are the main rich nations outside Kyoto, which demands cuts in emissions of 5 percent below 1990 levels by 2008 to 2012. Nations will have to curb fossil fuel use and shift to clean energy like wind or solar power.President George W. Bush pulled out in 2001, arguing that Kyoto would be too costly and wrongly excluded poor nations from a first round of cuts. He says more research is needed and is investing heavily in technology like pollution-free hydrogen.There is growing evidence that time is of the essence, especially for people like Prakhova who live on the front-line of climate change.A report by 250 experts late last year said that the Arctic was warming twice as fast as the rest of the globe. That could push polar bears towards extinction and leave the Arctic Ocean ice-free in summers by 2100.Copyright 2005 Reuters. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

OSLO, Norway (Reuters) -- About 190 nations meet in Canada next week to try to enlist the United States and such developing nations as China and India in the U.N.-led fight against global warming beyond 2012.Negotiators will meet in Montreal from November 28 to December 9 for talks on how to replace the U.N.'s 1997 Kyoto Protocol, a tiny first step to curb rising emissions of heat-trapping gases from power plants, factories and cars.Environment ministers from around the globe will attend the final three days in Montreal. Some predict the negotiations they launch may last 5 years."It will be very complex," said Elliot Diringer, a director of the Washington-based Pew Center on Global Climate Change. "Any agreement has to be more flexible than Kyoto but at the same time has to deliver real cuts in emissions.""And the Bush administration is adamantly opposed to any process aimed at widening Kyoto," he said.Many scientists say that a buildup of greenhouse gases from burning fossil fuels could have catastrophic effects on the climate by spurring more hurricanes, spreading deserts, driving thousands of species to extinction and raising sea levels.Under Kyoto, which entered into force in February after years of dispute between Washington and its main allies, about 40 rich nations have to cut emissions of heat-trapping carbon dioxide by 5.2 percent below 1990 levels by 2008-12.One trick will be to extend a U.N. scheme to poor countries, which reject Kyoto-style caps because higher energy use -- like bringing electricity to slum dwellers or building roads to help trade -- is a key to ending poverty.Adding to the tangle, the world's biggest polluter has rejected Kyoto. President George W. Bush pulled the United States out in 2001, saying Kyoto was too costly and wrongly excluded developing nations before 2012.Paula Dobriansky, U.S. Under Secretary for Global Affairs, who leads U.S. climate policy, will lead the U.S. delegation in Montreal.Businesses planning long-term investments in new technologies, and investors in carbon markets set up to squeeze industrial emissions, want to know what to expect after 2012.A report for the European Commission said the climate talks were "a Gordian knot that will need much creativity to unravel.""Developed countries should continue after 2012 with Kyoto-type commitments with ever deeper cuts," said Jennifer Morgan, climate policy director at the WWF environmental group. "But developing countries should start with less strict goals."Goals for poor nations could include brakes on the rise of emissions, promises to clean up heavy-polluting industries like coal-fired power plants or targets for higher use of non-polluting solar or wind power.Some experts favor goals for industrial sectors, such as a target for how much carbon dioxide is emitted per tonne of steel or cement, for instance, or global auto emission standards.Some nations favor a revival of nuclear power, which produces no greenhouse gases. The United States is expected to push at Montreal for a scheme to bury carbon dioxide underground."There are, let's admit it, very wide differences of opinion amongst governments," said Richard Kinley, acting head of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change."It will be over the course of the next say 2-3 years that the process of coming to grips about what needs to be done about climate change could be addressed," he said. Many nations indicated agreement could be reached around 2008-10, he said.And global warming will worsen if poor nations follow the rich in use of fossil fuels since the Industrial Revolution. Average per capita emissions of greenhouse gases worldwide, for instance, are 3.6 tonnes against 20.1 per American.Copyright 2005 Reuters. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

LONDON, England (AP) -- The global HIV epidemic continues to expand, with more than 40 million people now estimated to have the AIDS virus, but in some countries prevention efforts are finally starting to pay off, the United Nations says.AIDS has killed more than 25 million people since it was first recognized in 1981, making it one of the most destructive epidemics in history. An estimated 3.1 million people died from the virus last year and another 4.9 million people became infected, according to a U.N. update published Monday.The deaths and new infection estimates were in line with those from last year, when the total number of people living with the virus was estimated at 39.4 million.However, for the first time there is solid evidence that increased efforts to combat the disease over the last five years have led to fewer new infections in some places, said UNAIDS chief Peter Piot.Previously improvements had been seen in places such as Senegal, Uganda and Thailand, but those were rare exceptions."Now we have Kenya, several of the Caribbean countries and Zimbabwe with a decline," Piot said, adding that Zimbabwe is the first place in Southern Africa, the hardest-hit area, to show improvement.These are all countries that have invested heavily in safe-sex campaigns and other prevention programs, with the result that prevalence of HIV among the young has declined."People are starting later with their first sexual intercourse, they are having fewer partners, there's more condom use," Piot said.The epidemic also appears to be tapering off in other countries. "We see similar trends in countries in East Africa, but the evidence was not good enough to put in the report," he said.The most dramatic drops in prevalence have been among pregnant women in urban Kenya, where in some areas the proportion of pregnant women infected plummeted from approximately 28 percent in 1999 to 9 percent in 2003.In the Caribbean, declines are evident in Barbados, the Bahamas and Bermuda, Piot said.In Zimbabwe HIV prevalence among pregnant women in the capital Harare has decreased from 35 percent in 1999 to 21 percent in 2004."I absolutely believe we are on a roll," added Dr. Jim Kim, HIV chief at the World Health Organization. "Everyone is sort of jumping on the bandwagon. I think there's been a fundamental change, even in the past one year, in all the efforts in HIV."There's a new energy, Kim said, and much of that comes from the recent availability of HIV treatment in the developing world.About 1 million HIV patients in the developing world now are on treatment. While that is just a small fraction of the people needing treatment, the availability of drugs has meant that people see a point to getting tested for the virus, which is crucial for prevention efforts. About 300,000 deaths were avoided last year because of treatment, the report said."As much as possible, we've got to get that energy into prevention as well," Kim said.So far this year the world has spent slightly more than $8 billion on tackling HIV in the developing world. That was a big increase from the $6 billion spent last year but was still far short of the need.UNAIDS estimates that $9 billion will be spent next year but say $15 billion will be needed.The epidemics continue to intensify in southern Africa. Growing epidemics are under way in Eastern Europe and in Central and East Asia. Five years ago, one in 10 new infections were in Asia. Today the number is one in four or five.China, Papua New Guinea and Vietnam are facing significant increases. There are also alarming signs that Pakistan and Indonesia could be on the verge of serious epidemics, the report said.Intravenous drug use and commercial sex are fueling the epidemic in Asia, where few countries are doing enough to inform people about the danger of such behavior, the report warned.Worldwide, less than one in five people at risk of becoming infected with HIV has access to basic prevention services. Of people living with HIV only one in 10 has been tested and knows that he or she is infected.Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A fog is slowly creeping over Dr. William Deutsch's brain. He would try a risky experiment, even one requiring brain surgery, in hopes of at least stalling his incurable dementia. But scientists have little to offer.Families battling Alzheimer's disease and similar dementias increasingly are calling for a shot at riskier therapies that might bring bigger benefits than today's pretty safe but largely disappointing drugs.It's a conundrum: Dementia robs its victims of the ability to fully consent to medical experiments. When loved ones can do so for them varies in part according to how much risk is involved.Critics say that's one reason scientists and regulators have generally treated Alzheimer's more like a chronic disease than the killer it is, tolerating fewer side effects than for, say, cancer therapies. Further chilling was the 2002 halt of a study of a vaccine designed to attack Alzheimer's brain-clogging gunk that caused serious brain inflammation in a few patients.The tide seems to be turning. Scientists are tentatively exploring a handful of bold, sometimes invasive, approaches -- from another vaccine attempt to a gene therapy that requires brain injections -- prompting an ethical debate about how to study a vulnerable population.Patients and caregivers want a voice in those decisions, and often accept more risk than doctors predict, was the overarching message when the Alzheimer's Association arranged an unusual meeting between families, drug developers and the Food and Drug Administration."No one has ever survived this disease," Frank Broyles, the University of Arkansas' athletics director whose wife recently died of Alzheimer's, reminded the meeting."We would take any risk," even a drug with a 50 percent chance of death if there were an equal shot at benefit, he said of his own family.Added Deutsch, a former New York podiatrist in the early stages of a similar dementia: "You're going to have to have some more invasive procedure done to get dramatic results. ... You should at least be given the choice."The first formal study of family risk tolerance, published in this month's journal Neurology, supports those calls. University of Michigan researchers wondered: Is it OK for grandma to undergo a spinal tap when she doesn't understand why? What if the research won't help her but might lead to future Alzheimer's treatments?Using 10 research scenarios, they surveyed 229 elderly people at increased risk of developing Alzheimer's because a close relative had it. Most accepted even the greatest potential for side effects, such as gene therapy or a painful spinal tap, for themselves, and were only slightly less risk-tolerant when deciding for a loved one.Yet until now, "the patient community's been conspicuous by its absence," Dr. Russell Katz, FDA's neurologic drugs chief, told the recent Alzheimer's Association meeting, to which a reporter was invited.In contrast, a handful of cancer survivors helps the FDA privately deliberate what cancer drug research to allow, and the agency is starting a similar pilot project in Parkinson's disease -- two patient groups that requested a role.It's easy to say you'll accept more risk in hope of more gain. How to quantify that is the vexing problem of regulators like Katz. Does risk mean pain? Premature death? And what benefit justifies those risks, improved functioning or merely hope?An experiment is just that: Nobody knows the full risks until participants have been treated, something difficult for desperate families to grasp, cautioned Dr. Steven DeKosky, the University of Pittsburgh's neurology chief.Still, Katz said FDA ultimately allows most Alzheimer's proposals.Among the most invasive: Scientists at Rush University in Chicago, Illinois, recently injected six patients' brains with a virus carrying a nerve growth factor that might reverse deterioration. A slightly different gene therapy approach, in California, produced promising preliminary results although two patients experienced dangerous bleeding in their brains. The Chicago researchers are tracking patient reactions, and a follow-up study could begin in a year.Broyles and others complain that such research moves too slowly. Consider Elan Corp.'s 2002 vaccine, ultimately found to slow memory decline somewhat and clear out some plaque, even though the experiment was halted before participants received a full dose. It took FDA more than three years to allow Elan to study a potentially safer version.Caregivers differ on how much risk they'll tolerate; one called it gut-wrenching to watch a loved one suffer even a minor side effect.But Deutsch, still able to measure how his abilities are melting away, boils the question down to family choice: "I don't think it's the scientists' job to pick who's going to get the treatment."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 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.

NEW YORK (AP) -- The New York Civil Liberties Union has filed a federal discrimination complaint against a Catholic school, charging that it unjustly fired an unmarried teacher for being pregnant."I don't understand how a religion that prides itself on forgiving and on valuing life could terminate me because I'm pregnant and choosing to have this baby," Michelle McCusker said Monday at a news conference to announce the suit.The 26-year-old preschool teacher was fired last month from St. Rose of Lima in Queens, according to published reports. (Watch what was in her termination letter -- 1:36) The Diocese of Brooklyn also was named in the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission complaint."This is a difficult situation for every person involved, but the school had no choice but to follow the principles contained in the teachers' personnel handbook," diocese spokesman Frank DeRosa said in a news release.The handbook says that each teacher must "convey the teachings of the Catholic faith by his or her words and actions."Lawyers at the NYCLU, which filed the suit on McCusker's behalf, argued that administrators enforced the policy in a way that disproportionately affects women."The school used her pregnancy as a marker," attorney Cassandra Stubbs said. "How do they determine if male employees engage in premarital sex?"It's not the first time the NYCLU has argued such a case. In 2003, the unmarried director of an after-school program run by a Catholic charity in Buffalo was demoted when she became pregnant. The equal employment commission found that the charity had violated federal anti-discrimination laws, the NYCLU said.That charity agreed to ban discrimination based on marital status or pregnancy.Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The combination of a distinguished military career and an ability to deliver federal dollars to his western Pennsylvania district is shielding Democratic Rep. John Murtha from criticism back home over his recent assessment of the Iraq War.Even a Republican official in Murtha's district acknowledged Monday that Murtha would easily win re-election next year."I think Jack is a good guy," said Robert Gleason, chairman of the Cambria County Republican Committee. "He has helped our community. He has been the king of appropriations. He has gotten a lot of great things here. This town would be a ghost town without him."Since his arrival in Congress more than 30 years ago, Murtha has helped blunt the loss of the steel industry by pumping federal dollars into his district as a powerful member of the House Appropriations Committee. He has also been a hawk on military matters, reflecting the strong patriotic nature of this southwestern corner of the state.That changed last week when Murtha called for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq over a six-month period. Murtha's comments initially drew a strong rebuke from the White House with Bush spokesman Scott McClellan linking Murtha to liberal filmmaker Michael Moore. And some of his GOP colleagues suggested Murtha was advocating a "cut and run" policy in Iraq. His Republican critics have since curbed their criticism of the veteran congressman.Vice President Dick Cheney even described Murtha on Monday as "my friend and former colleague" during a speech defending the administration's policy on Iraq."I disagree with Jack and believe his proposal would not serve the best interest of this nation," Cheney said at the American Enterprise Institute. "But he's a good man, a Marine, a patriot, and he's taking a clear stand in an entirely legitimate discussion."Ray Wrabley, a political science professor at the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown, said Murtha is held in high regard by Democrats and Republicans in his district."This is a constituency that is fairly pro-military and patriotic, that hangs flags up and down the street on Veterans Day and the Fourth of July, but also one that Congressman Murtha is respected," Wrabley said. "He will have his critics, but a lot of the constituents will support him even if they don't go as far as taking the same opinion he took."Chip Minemyer, editor of The Tribune-Democrat, said reaction from readers so far weighs in favor of Murtha's position."He is pretty well respected by his constituents, even folks in the Republican Party here," said Minemyer, of the Johnstown paper. "So, people are naturally willing to give him the benefit of the doubt."Gleason concurred that it would be hard to find a person willing to openly criticize Murtha, but he added not everyone is happy with his comments. "To a man, the (people) I have spoken too are pretty upset about it," Gleason said.That being said, Gleason added that people would not criticize Murtha publicly. "He is powerful," Gleason said. "He has been around for a long time. They are absolutely not going to do it."Gleason noted he has already spoken to a couple of Republicans interested in running against Murtha in 2006, but he added the Pennsylvania Democrats' comments on Iraq ultimately "won't hurt him politically."A Washington GOP strategist agreed that it would be next to impossible to defeat Murtha next year."This is a very difficult district for Republicans to get," said the strategist, who spoke on the condition of anonymity so as not to anger Republican leaders.

NEW YORK (AP) -- Oprah, Dave. Dave, Oprah.The cold war between television titans Oprah Winfrey and David Letterman has thawed to the point where Winfrey has accepted Letterman's invitation to appear on the "Late Show" on December 1.Letterman made the announcement during a taping of his show on Monday. Winfrey's appearance will coincide with opening night of the Broadway musical "The Color Purple," which she is producing."What a big night that is going to be -- not only for us, not only for Oprah, but for Broadway," Letterman said. "You have the big 'Color Purple' Broadway opening, and then right across the street here in this theater, you have Oprah appearing here. I mean, that's what Broadway is all about -- it's a street of dreams."It's Winfrey's first visit to "Late Show," although she was twice Letterman's guest on his NBC show before the late-night comic moved to CBS in 1993.The origin of their "feud" was murky, although Letterman has frequently joked about her through the years. Letterman's failed 1995 stint as Academy Awards host is best remembered for his awkward "Oprah, Uma. Uma, Oprah" introduction.Winfrey told Time magazine in 2003 that she wouldn't go on Letterman's show because she's been "completely uncomfortable" as the target of his jokes."This just gives you an idea of what a big, big star this really is," Letterman said on Monday. "She's huge. Put bygones behind us, the water under the bridge, over the dam, wherever water goes -- standing in your basement -- she's going to be here on this show and it's going to be fantastic."Back in 2003, Letterman joked about wanting Winfrey on his show to hold "the Super Bowl of love." Winfrey -- who had sent an olive branch gift of books for Letterman's newborn son -- called his bluff and invited him on her show. He declined."Here's what would happen: I would go on the 'Oprah' show, and I would break down and sob like a little girl ... I don't want to have that happen," he said at the time. "I'd feel ridiculous. I'd never be able to live that down, that Oprah would make me sob."Former Winfrey protege Dr. Phil has been a frequent Letterman guest, offering his own form of "tough love" in a needling relationship.Oprah's appearance is a big boost for Letterman, who has been struggling in the ratings this season and falling further behind his nemesis, NBC's Jay Leno.The timing isn't quite ideal, however: Winfrey will visit the day after the November ratings sweeps period ends.Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

NEW YORK (AP) -- Carlos Santana has never been one to follow the record industry map to success.Though the guitar great is now one of the world's best-selling artists thanks to the 25-million selling "Supernatural" and its best-selling follow-up "Shaman," Santana took the long route to the top. In fact, he recalls being told more than once that his career was on the verge of collapse.Santana usually heard such comments when he eschewed more commercial material to pursue his dreams, whether it was jamming with jazz greats like Herbie Hancock or deciding to take time off to focus on his family.Santana's detours off pop's path never caused any long-term damage, however, and at 58, he remains among the music world's elite. This month, he released his latest album, "All That I Am," which again pairs his frenetic guitar licks with some of today's hottest acts (Michelle Branch, Mary J. Blige and Big Boi). And like his previous albums, "All That I Am" has become a best-seller.Q: Why do you think collaboration albums with veteran artists have become so popular?Santana: For me it's not a formula or a gimmick or shtick or anything. I started in San Francisco learning from everyone from John Lee Hooker to Miles Davis. If you look at the list of all the people that I've played with all my life, this is just an extension of it. It's just because of "Supernatural," other people catch on to it. But a lot of people tried it and it didn't necessarily work. I think it's the intentions. Do you wanna do it just to cash in, or do you want to really intertwine with the person's soul? If you only want to do it just to make money and just to cash in, it's not going to go that far.Q: How do you respond to fans who want you to return to your free-flowing roots?Santana: Well, they can have that in the next CD that I do. It's probably 80 percent done. There's no singers, it's just guitars. It's basically just what I did for 30 years. ... (My) wife is the one that put the (collaborations) thing on me. She said, "You know I think it would be nice for you to try something different and reconnect with (record mogul) Clive Davis." It was Deborah who was the architect, helped the vision. She connected us both again and to my great surprise Clive Davis was open to collaborating with me again.Q: Why were you surprised?Santana: Because it had been so long. I remember the last time we were in the studio together, he told me, "This CD, doesn't have one single, it's not going to sell that much." It was still platinum, but he was right. You know, I've been accused of committing career suicide many many times. They said if you play with Wayne Shorter or Miles Davis or Herbie Hancock, that's like career suicide because they're not pop or whatever. So, I'll just commit career suicide. ... Those are people I love and treasure hanging around.Q: You're very vocal in your spiritual beliefs and your concerns about the state of the world. Have you ever worried about backlash from expressing your views?Santana: No, I don't have any fear. If my intentions, motives and purpose, or at least my principles of creating a CD have people get upset, then I say drown in a glass of water then, because I have to swim in an ocean. But if you're going to be a multidimensional spirit like myself, it will not threaten you. It will invite you to become a conscious participant. A conscious participant understands one thing ... you can do something from your heart, make a difference in the world and still be profitable. Give the money back to people who need it, because you can't take it with you anyway. How many homes, how many boats? How much bling-bling? When you start healing your neighborhood?Q: Have you ever craved the bling-bling?Santana: No. I just wanted to keep my promise to my mom. When I was child in Tijuana, and we didn't have running water or electricity, she was washing in the river, and I said to her, "Someday I'm going to get you a washing machine, a dishwasher in your own house." I've tasted just about everything but I don't like being that person that doesn't care for other people. Ice cream -- everything tastes better when you share it -- except your wife! (laughs)Q: You've said the demands put on you after spectacular success of "Supernatural" in 1999 almost wrecked your marriage. But you've toured a lot over the years -- what made this different?Santana: It was different because my children needed me more at home and (my wife) needed me more at home because they were starting to gang up on her, as teenagers do, so she needed me to be there with her and back them down to the point of reasoning. I've been married for 32 years, and Deborah and my children, they are first, middle and last. Everything else will fit in between or it won't fit in at all. I just made a decision. I said that's it. Most people would say, the iron is really hot, you've got to hit it. We said stop. For a whole year we just stopped, at the peak of it we said stop. And here comes another career suicide, but we're still here. My family doesn't have a pricetag on itQ: Your wife recently wrote a book -- how did you her encourage her?Santana: In the beginning, it wasn't encouragement. I wasn't involved enough to pay attention to what she was trying to do, even though I knew she was an artist even before she met me. But when I read the first draft, I realized that she has the gift; I'm glad she wrote the book because I think it will help other women and men to learn that you need to be validated in your own light. You don't have to be so-and-so's wife or whatever. I am happy to tell you that I am becoming known as Deborah's husband instead of the Santana guy. It gives me a lot of joy.Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Federal Bureau of Investigation issued an alert Monday about a scam involving unsolicited e-mails, purportedly sent by the FBI, that tell computer users that their Internet surfing is being monitored by the agency.The users are told they have visited illegal Web sites and are instructed to open an attachment to answer questions.The FBI did not send these e-mails and does not send any other unsolicited e-mails to the public, an agency statement said. As many harmful computer viruses are located in e-mail attachments, the FBI said it strongly encourages computer users not to open attachments from unknown recipients.The FBI is investigating the scam. Recipients of these e-mails are asked to report them by visiting the Internet Crime Complaint Center at http://www.ic3.gov.Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

NEW YORK (AP) -- After standing on a city street for more than 28 hours, with only a blanket to protect him from the cold and rain, Peter Gonzalez had no doubt about what he should do next: stay up all night playing video games. The 19-year-old college student was among the gaming fanatics who waited for hours to be among the first to snag an Xbox 360. Stores began selling the systems at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday."I feel amazing," said Gonzalez, who was first in line at a Best Buy store and planned to play all night before heading to an 8 a.m. class at the College of Staten Island. "It's going to be worth it."GameStop, EB Games and Best Buy opened hundreds of stores across the country for midnight launch events.At a 24-hour Wal-Mart location in Woodbridge, Virginia, where hopefuls sat in folding chairs that snaked around several aisles, staffers said the waiting line had exceeded their inventory by 10 a.m. Monday.Most retailers have refused to say how many of the consoles they have in stock, but Microsoft has conceded that an ambitious plan to launch the console worldwide within a few weeks will mean fewer consoles initially in North America.While many of the eager buyers were focusing on the system's high-definition graphics and gaming aptitude, executives at Microsoft see video games as just the beginning.The new consoles, which also can play music, display photos and show DVDs, are at the center of a strategy that will eventually tie in elements of Microsoft's new online initiative, called Windows Live, said company Chairman Bill Gates."In the living room itself, Xbox 360 is our centerpiece and a product that redefines what goes on there," Gates said.Gates said Monday that he expects Xbox Live, Microsoft's service that allows gamers worldwide to play one another, to eventually work with a Microsoft instant messenger that is slated to become part of Windows Live.Windows Live is Microsoft's newly launched effort to better compete with free, advertising-financed Web services like e-mail and search technology from competitors led by Google Inc. and Yahoo Inc.Microsoft already offers limited ways for people on Xbox Live to communicate with those on Microsoft's messaging software, but the new offering -- not yet slated for release -- would expand that significantly.Gates said he's also expecting a new Xbox service called Microsoft Points, which lets people prepay for things like virtual armor or other game-related items, to eventually work with Windows Live, so people could use a single account to pay for offerings there, too.Analyst Rob Enderle said the move to more closely link Xbox Live with Windows Live intends to bolster loyalty to Microsoft products. Microsoft "can tie that stuff together so that you as a customer become wedded to the Microsoft platform for everything you do," he said.Microsoft's major console rival, Sony Corp.'s PlayStation 3, also is expected to offer alluring digital entertainment capabilities when it debuts next year.With the new Xbox system, Microsoft also is significantly expanding what people can do -- and buy -- from Xbox Live itself.Gates said one big bet is that game companies will use Xbox Live to sell incremental upgrades and additions to existing games, thus extending a game's life. Microsoft's Bill Gates greeted Xbox shoppers at a Best Buy store Monday night in Bellevue, Washington.Analyst Matt Rosoff with independent researchers Directions on Microsoft said efforts to sell game add-ons through Xbox Live are probably more likely to immediately meet success than the grander plans to become a home entertainment hub.Microsoft -- and Gates in particular -- have long touted the idea of the high-tech living room and den, but the concept is still too geeky for most people, Rosoff said.While Gates may spend lots of time thinking about how important Xbox is to his corporate strategy, the Microsoft co-founder said he doesn't have much time to play the game system himself."I'm not a heavy gamer, I'm a light gamer -- something to do with my job," Gates said."The people on (the Xbox) team can all kill me within about 60 seconds on Halo, so I try and avoid them."Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

JERUSALEM (CNN) -- A well-known hawk appeared to spread dovish wings this week as Prime Minister Ariel Sharon abandoned his Likud Party, saying it is unable to lead the country to its "national goals," a move that triggered early elections here.President Moshe Katsav and parliament leaders agreed Tuesday to schedule the next round of Israeli elections on March 28.However, the president first must hold consultations with legal advisers and with candidates from major parties to see if any of them can form a ruling coalition, which is considered unlikely.Sharon announced Monday he was leaving Likud, which he helped create, to launch a new "liberal movement" that aims to "lay the foundations for a peace settlement" with the Palestinians, the prime minister said. (Watch what a former ambassador has to say about Sharon's unprecedented move -- 3:18)Despite the announcement of his new destination for Israel, Sharon said he will be using an old map to get there: the U.S.-brokered "road map" for peace. The goal of that plan is a "two-state solution" with a secure Israel living alongside a Palestinian state. More specifically, it calls for Palestinians to put an end to terrorist organizations and for Israel to freeze settlement activities.Monday's announcement will undoubtedly make an already tumultuous relationship with Likud hardliners, such as Benjamin Netanyahu, even more bitter. Sharon will be seeking his third term as prime minister, and the March elections are expected to pit Sharon as a centrist against Netanyahu, who resigned from Sharon's government after it orchestrated a pullout from Gaza.Sharon, 77, said that this year's military and civilian withdrawal from Gaza had created new possibilities for peace and he wanted to further "lay the foundations for a peace settlement in which the state's permanent borders will be set with the terrorist organizations being dismantled. This is not a new plan. I'm talking about the road map." (Watch how Sharon shakes up Israeli politics -- 3:14)Sharon will campaign under the banner of his new party, to be called either National Responsibility Party or Kadima, Hebrew for "forward." The early election date is expected to benefit them both. Overnight polls show that if the elections were held today the NRP would become the largest party in the Knesset. Who was going to set the election date, and how, became a contentious matter Monday when Sharon asked Katsav to dissolve parliament and call new elections. The Knesset quickly introduced eight bills calling on parliament to dissolve itself.The move in the Knesset was seen as an attempt by Sharon's enemies, particularly within Likud, to blunt Sharon's ample political momentum and delay the elections.Katsav was prepared to ask the Knesset to shelve that legislation so he could dissolve parliament by decree, but that sparked wrangling in the Knesset over whether it would be giving up its legislative rights to the executive branch.Katsav proposed a compromise in which he would sign an executive order dissolving the Knesset, and in return, parliament would vote on the date of the elections.After a series of meetings, Katsav asked Attorney General Menachem Mazuz to review a compromise with the Knesset leadership. Under the deal, the president would sign an executive order to dissolve the Knesset, and the elections date would not be determined by the decree.A spokesman for Knesset leaders said they agreed with Katsav on a March 28 vote.Sharon said that it would've been easier for him to lead Likud in next year's elections, but the party "in its current format is unable to lead Israel to its national goals."Israel Radio reported that Sharon had resigned in a letter handed to Likud chairman Tzachi Hanegbi. Sharon's decision to abandon Likud, which has traditionally won the support of Orthodox Jews and settlers, was unprecedented in Israeli politics.After resigning, Sharon met with potential members of his new party. Sharon could be joined in the new party by high-profile political figures on the left and right, including Finance Minister Ehud Olmert.

BERLIN, Germany (CNN) -- Angela Merkel was sworn in Tuesday as Germany's eighth post-World War II leader and its first female chancellor, taking an oath of office that commits her to "dedicate my strength to the welfare of the German people."The inauguration ceremony in parliament formally sealed the conservative Merkel's rise to power after lawmakers elected her chancellor on a vote of 397-202, with 12 abstentions.Merkel, who succeeds Gerhard Schroeder, is also the first former East German to lead her country. (Watch as Merkel becomes chancellor -- 1:17)She heads a right-left "grand coalition" that joins her center-right Christian Democrats (CDU) and their sister Christian Social Union (CSU) with Schroeder's Social Democrats (SPD).But about 50 of Schroeder's Social Democrats voted against her, indicating dissent among the coalition's ranks.Schroeder was the first to walk over and congratulate a smiling Merkel after the vote was announced. "Dear Mrs. Merkel, you are the first democratically elected female head of government in Germany," parliament president Norbert Lammert said. "That is a strong signal for women and certainly for some men, too. I wish you strength, God's blessing and also some enjoyment in your high office." The parliamentary vote came six months after Schroeder announced he was seeking national elections a year early, plunging Germany into a period of political uncertainty.An inconclusive election forced Germany's largest parties into talks, and it took two months after the vote to reach the end result.Merkel's CDU/CSU won the September 18 elections by a razor-thin plurality in the Bundestag, or lower house of parliament, forcing the parties to form a "grand coalition" with Schroeder's SPD.After weeks of negotiations, the two blocks reached agreement on measures aimed at fighting 11 percent unemployment, controlling spending and reforming the government.But some SPD members opposed some of the measures, including loosening labor market rules. Their votes against the coalition could mean trouble ahead for a government with a four-year mandate.Pastor's daughterMerkel, 51, was born in Hamburg but grew up in East Germany as the daughter of a pastor. She joined the pro-democracy movement in the waning days of the communist era, then rose through the ranks of the Christian Democrats under then-Chancellor Helmut Kohl.Polls show many Germans are unconvinced the CDU leader will last a full four-year term because of the tough coalition deal she had to strike with the SPD. The SPD finished a close second and secured half of the 16 seats in Merkel's Cabinet, including the high-profile finance and foreign affairs portfolios.Merkel was forced during the hard coalition talks to abandon a planned major shake-up of the German social welfare system that had been a cornerstone of her economic reforms.The new chancellor bargained away key campaign pledges such as limiting union power in regional wage negotiations and accepted a Social Democrat demand for a "rich tax" on top earners.However, the Social Democrats' parliamentary leader said he was convinced the new government would succeed."For that we require a strong chancellor," Peter Struck, defense minister under Schroeder, told The Associated Press. "The foundation stone will be set with the election of Ms. Merkel."Merkel has vowed to resuscitate the economy -- once Europe's motor but now one of the most sluggish in the 25-nation European Union -- and cut unemployment that hit post-war highs under Schroeder.Merkel also wants to repair relations with the United States, strained by Schroeder's vocal opposition to the U.S.-led war in Iraq.After Tuesday's vote in parliament, she and her Cabinet were sworn in and formally took over from the SPD-Greens coalition government that Schroeder led for the past seven years.Her clinical, almost shy approach, has been mocked in the German media, but some commentators, Reuters says, believe it is tailor-made for a coalition that bridges right and left and requires delicate handling."Her dislike of the theatrical in politics, of the show and big words, fits with the new sobriety of Germany's younger generation," the German daily newspaper Handelsblatt said in an editorial on Tuesday.One of Merkel's first engagements will be in Paris to meet French President Jacques Chirac Wednesday -- and then on to Brussels to meet EU officials.She is flying to London on Thursday to meet British PM Tony Blair. The EU budget is certain to be among topics discussed.Schroeder said he will step down from his Bundestag seat Wednesday to return to private life. CNN's Chris Burns contributed to this reportCopyright 2005 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Stung by complaints it was pushing hurricane victims out before the holidays, FEMA extended its hotel housing program Tuesday by one month in 10 states where most of the homeless evacuees sought shelter after Katrina and Rita.More than 46,000 families in those states now have until January 7 to move out of hotels and into travel trailers, mobile homes or apartments until they find permanent homes.The deadline comes much sooner -- December 15 -- for 3,500 other households scattered nationwide, before the Federal Emergency Management Agency stops paying their hotel bills.In all, FEMA is paying for 49,826 hotel rooms for hurricane victims at an estimated $3 million a day.The hotel program has cost the agency at least $300 million since Katrina hit August 29, followed by Rita on September 24. At its height, FEMA was housing 85,000 families in hotels.'We want them in decent housing'Last week, FEMA set a December 1 deadline to stop hotel payments everywhere but Louisiana and Mississippi, where housing remains scarce.But that plan drew sharp criticism from Congress, city and state officials and housing advocates who feared 15 days would not be enough time for evacuees to find stable housing and sign leases -- a process that can take months in rental markets already nearing capacity."We want these families to be back in some semblance of normalcy," FEMA acting director R. David Paulison told reporters."We want them in decent housing. We want them out of these hotels and motels and into apartments."Still, Paulison said, "Let me make this really clear: We are not kicking people out into the street. We are simply moving them from hotels and motels and into apartments that we will continue to pay for."In Las Vegas, the Rev. Jesse Jackson said the FEMA extension did nothing to solve what he called certain eviction of evacuees. Nearly 730 families remain in hotels in Nevada."These are artificial deadlines that do not correspond to a house in which to move," Jackson said.'We know it's going to be difficult'Under the new guidelines, officials in the 10 states will have to file plans with FEMA by December 15 outlining how they will help evacuees move out of hotels and into travel trailers, mobile homes or apartments until they find permanent homes.Those states are: Alabama, Arkansas, California, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nevada, Tennessee and Texas.Those states "should be able to get these people out by December 15, we believe," Paulison said. "But we know it's going to be difficult. ... So that's why we are giving them through January 7, if they feel like they need that time."Louisiana and Mississippi previously faced the January 7 deadline for evacuees living in a combined 13,600 hotel rooms in the two states.But Texas took in the greatest number of evacuees, including 16,100 families who were still living in hotel rooms across the state.Texas officials welcomed the extension they had pushed for since FEMA announced the December 1 deadline.Republican Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas called the new plan "what's right for the victims of Hurricane Katrina and the state of Texas.""I will work with our cities to ensure we have a plan in place so we can continue to take care of our neighbors in need," Hutchison said.Housing advocates said they were cautiously optimistic about the extension."It's reasonable," said Barbara A. Vassallo of the National Apartment Association. "We think that's workable."She questioned, however, whether the extension would affect deadlines for other housing programs, and if FEMA was planning to give pending applications for assistance a fast review.Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

LANCASTER, Pennsylvania (AP) -- A 14-year-old girl who ran off with her boyfriend after he allegedly gunned down her parents did not know that he was going to kill them, her lawyer said Tuesday."All she is, is a witness. And a victim to the extent that her parents were killed," the attorney, Robert Beyer, said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press.Beyer spoke out a day after prosecutors said Kara Borden had fled willingly with David Ludwig. He said Borden had no role in the shootings of Michael and Cathryn Borden inside their Lititz home on November 13. (What she said to suspect when leaving)"It's Ludwig's case, not hers," Beyer said. He declined to discuss the case further.Neither District Attorney Donald Totaro nor Ludwig's attorney, James Gratton, returned messages Tuesday seeking comment.Prosecutors announced Monday that they would drop kidnapping charges against Ludwig after interviews with Ludwig and Borden determined she had gone with him voluntarily. The case had initially been treated as an abduction.Ludwig, 18, is being held without bail, awaiting a Dec. 16 preliminary hearing on murder charges.He told detectives that the girl wanted to "get as far away as possible, get married, and start a new life," according to court documents. The two were caught in Indiana one day after the killings.Ludwig said he went to the home armed with several weapons and shot the parents, both 50, after Michael Borden told the teenager to stop seeing his daughter, prosecutors said.Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

VANCOUVER, Washington (AP) -- Falling rocks at Mount St. Helens kicked up a dust plume Tuesday that rose above the rim of the volcano's crater, prompting second looks from the region's wary populace."We're having the first couple of rockfalls that we've had in a while ... and people can see it -- especially from Portland," said U.S. Geological Survey geologist Seth Moran at the agency's Cascade Volcano Observatory, about 50 miles south of the mountain.Overcast weather had hidden the mountain for weeks, and people tend to notice activity more whenever the peak comes back into view, Moran said.Mount St. Helens rumbled back to life in 2004 after years of quiet, with a flow of molten rock reaching the surface. In 1980, an eruption killed 57 people.Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

(CNN) -- Thanksgiving is the time of year when individuals and families celebrate all things great in their lives. It's a time for good food, parades, fun and some serious reflection.And, as CNN.com found out when we asked readers to send in their favorite holiday memories, Thanksgiving also can be a time for some funny family antics.Here's a sampling of those Thanksgiving stories, both funny and sweet, sent in by e-mail. (Some have been edited.)A few years back, when our grandson Darren, was about 5 or 6 years old, he was asked if he would like to say the prayer before our family Thanksgiving dinner. His prayer began as, "God, I'm really sorry about the turkey. I hope he is in heaven, making new friends." Wanda Dobbins, Gold River, CaliforniaLast year at 3 a.m. Thanksgiving morning, my boyfriend whispered that he loved me. This Thanksgiving is even better, because we're married! Kristie, Washington, District of ColumbiaMy most memorable Thanksgiving was when I was 15, during my sophomore year in high school. On that Thanksgiving, in 1992, I had the privilege of marching in the Macy's parade in New York City. As the Boardman Spartan Band, from Boardman Ohio, marched before the TV cameras, we were asked to stop and perform for the cameras. As a Spartan majorette, I had the opportunity to perform a dance routine for live television. During my stay at the Big Apple, I was able to shop at Macy's, see Chinatown, visit Radio City Music Hall and the Empire State Building and see a Broadway play. Even though I was away from my family for the first time, and missed our traditional turkey dinner, they all saw me on television. My dad taped the entire parade so I can show my children some day. I had the experience of a lifetime on Thanksgiving Day 1992. Toni Marie Shields, Boardman, OhioOne year, while we were waiting for dinner to be done, we were snacking on appetizers. My grandfather came into the room and told me that the dried fruit he ate was really good. I told him we didn't have any dried fruit and asked him to show me what he ate. He showed me and it was scented potpourri!!! We still laugh about it to this day and we make sure that we put the potpourri away before he can eat it!!! Amanda, Cincinnati, OhioMy worst memory of Thanksgiving was when our dog was sprayed by a skunk the night before. She ran into the house before we knew it and the entire place smelled horribly! It was late at night and all the stores were closed, so we had nothing strong enough to get rid of the smell. And over twenty people were coming for Thanksgiving the next day! Needless to say, every time someone stepped into the house, we heard, "Something smells like skunk." Ryan Doherty, Rochester, New YorkInstigators. I live in a house full of them. Last year, we had just finished eating our Thanksgiving dinner when my eldest son, Andrew, thought it would be funny to throw a piece of skin at his brother, Matt. Of course Matt responded by tossing some mashed potatoes. My wife issued a stern warning for them to stop. I gave her my best expression of support: I flicked some stuffing at her. Chaos ensued. Turkey, mashed potatoes (with gravy), stuffing, cranberries and any other food that was handy went flying in all directions. No one was safe. The walls, the floor, the table and everyone at the table were covered in food. It was a food fight that would have made John Belushi proud. Definitely a Thanksgiving none of us will ever forget. By the way, the dogs were very happy that day! Todd Sargent, Lake Orion, Michigan Many years ago, my mother was in the hospital for Thanksgiving, and my father bragged to everyone that he made the dessert. But what he failed to mention is that it was a Mrs. Smith's pie, all he did was put it in the oven. It's been a family-favorite for years. Cathy, Sparrowbush, New YorkWe were having 16 people (family) for dinner. My wife cooked the Turkey and put it in the garage to cool. Soon afterward I went out to get the morning paper and left the garage door open as I always do. A bit later I heard a scream and found my wife nearly in tears as I surveyed the carcass of the 20 pounder. I called my neighbor to tell him I suspected that his friendly Golden Retriever had had a feast and I was worried because I loved the dog who was constantly visiting us. He said, "Here he comes now...oh, oh...he has a drumstick in his mouth." Bob Marciano, Torrington, ConnecticutAbout six years ago, while stuffing our "bird," my ceramic fingernail loosened up and got lodged somewhere in the stuffing in the turkey! We had to empty out the bird and literally paw through the entire mess! We found it, but needless to say, I trashed the first batch, and made up a second, "pristine" batch of stuffing to put in the turkey. We were frantic at the time, but now it's just a funny memory. And, of course, we never shared this (unsavory) story with our guests! Joyce Burke, Lake Lure, North CarolinaLast Thanksgiving, my husband decided to clean up the dishes and since the first course dishes were already washing in the dishwasher, he decided to wash the dinner plates, serving platters by hand. The problem arose when he decided to put them in a small wooden drying rack. The rack could not take the weight of the dishes and so they all came crashing down. I'm left with 3 dinner plates. Nine other plates and large platter had to be shop-vacced from the floor. Janet, River Vale, New JerseyIt isn't my story, but it is one I've told over and over. A friend of mine was at a military funeral that was adjacent to a turkey ranch with a chain-linked fence separating it from the cemetery. The curious turkeys all came over to the fence as the funeral was going on. They stuck their heads through the chain link to watch. When the 21 gun salute was fired off they all reacted by jumping back, without removing their heads from the fence. Needless to say, they all died of a broken neck. All funeral attendees were allowed to take home a dead turkey for Thanksgiving that year!!! B. Wolfsen, Sutherlin, OregonWhen I was in my early twenties, I traveled to the Midwest to meet my then girlfriend's family and reunite her with her dad. Her aunt had prepared this magnificent Thanksgiving dinner and I was the only one left at the table as everyone else had moved to the television and were deciding on which show to watch. As her dad announced we should watch "Star Trek," everyone booed at him and I unloaded a spray of milk through my braces, all over the food! This was the most embarrassing moment of my life! Shawn Williams, Anchorage, AlaskaI was a young bride at the age of 19. It was our first Thanksgiving and I invited my husband's parent over for dinner. I defrosted my turkey, but on Thanksgiving Day when I went to prepare it, my husband says are you sure that's a turkey? Unfortunately it was not, it was a duck. I was so upset and we wound up going to his parents house since she had already cooked a turkey. Then my second year of trying to prepare a turkey dinner, I didn't know you had to remove the package that contained the innards and neck (which is located in the back side of a turkey) and cooked the turkey with the packet inside. I can say, I have learned from my mistakes and am now capable of preparing great turkey dinners for my family. Deborah A. Coyle, Moorestown, New JerseyIt was our first year living in Orange, CA, and my Dad decided to grill a turkey (which he had never done before). He set the grill up by the pool and proceeded to check on it quite regularly. When it was done to absolute perfection (a beautiful, deep golden brown), he went into the house to grab a tray. Not even a minute went by when out of our patio window; we saw huge flames coming from the grill. My dad ran out there and for some reason decided the best way to put out the flames was to push the whole grill (with Turkey) into the pool. That day actually started a favorite family tradition of always having take-out Chinese food on Thanksgiving. KB, Coon Rapids, Minnesota

LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- Mariah Carey continued her career comeback Tuesday, receiving the favorite female artist in the soul/R&B category at Tuesday's 33rd annual American Music Awards -- one of four honors for which she was nominated."Thank you so much for the warmth and the love," said the pop diva, whose chart-topping album "The Emancipation of Mimi" was also nominated for two awards.Carey bested Ciara and Fantasia to collect the first award of the night. However, she lost out later for best female pop artist to Gwen Stefani.Stefani's win came as a shock to the singer, who had just left the stage after performing with rapper Pharrell."What did I win?" she asked as she was presented her first American Music Award. "I guess whatever I won, I just want to say thank you to the fans, especially all my girls. Imagine what it feels like to be me all these years and have your support. It's just outrageous."Taking the award for country female artist was Gretchen Wilson.Sugarland and EminemPop trio Destiny's Child took home the favorite band award in the soul/R&B category."This feels very awkward being up here by myself," said singer Kelly Rowland, who accepted the award on behalf of the group. "I miss my girls, Beyonce and Michelle, wherever you are. I love you so much."In a cross-genre category, country group Sugarland bested alternative rockers The Killers and pop singer Jesse McCartney for the breakthrough new artist award.And in awards presented off-camera, rapper Eminem won the favorite male artist in the rap/hip-hop division where he had been up against 50 Cent and Ludacris.Carey opened the telecast wearing a sequined, silver, spaghetti-strap gown slit to the waist as she performed a rousing rendition of "Don't Forget About Us." Before collecting her award, she performed a quick change into a black evening gown.Green Day, 50 Cent and Clarkson had three nominations each. Other multiple nominees included Wilson, the Black Eyed Peas, Destiny's Child, Eminem, Fantasia, Toby Keith and Tim McGraw.Host Cedric The Entertainer took to the stage wearing a grey pinstripe suit and holding a boombox that he dubbed the first iPod. He noted that new versions of Apple Computer Inc.'s digital music player seemed to be coming out all the time and getting smaller and smaller."I got the new Apple Tic-Tac. It freshens your breath and plays one song," he said.The scene on the red carpet before the show reflected the hodgepodge of musical genres being honored at the AMAs, with hip-hop, pop and country stars making their way through the gantlet of press."It's an American quilt," said Cyndi Lauper, who arrived in a black dress with sheer sleeves and a fringed hem. She performed a soulful version of her 1980's hit "Time After Time" with Canadian singer-songwriter Sarah McLachlan.Others slated to perform were the Rolling Stones via satellite, Lindsay Lohan, Keith Urban, the Eurythmics, Santana and Los Lonely Boys.Carey's album has sold about 6 million copies to date, re-igniting the 35-year-old's career and helping earn her a string of honors at September's Vibe Awards and World Music Awards."The Emancipation of Mimi" was nominated for favorite album in the pop/rock division along with Green Day's "American Idiot" and Clarkson's "Breakaway." Carey's album also was nominated in the soul/R&B category along with pop trio Destiny's Child's swan song, "Destiny Fulfilled," and Fantasia's debut, "Free Yourself."Green Day was vying for favorite pop/rock band, duo or group against the funky Black Eyed Peas and rockers 3 Doors Down. The "American Idiot" rockers were also up for a favorite artist honor in the Alternative category along with Britain's Coldplay and metal band System of a Down.Other awards were to be presented to artists in the Latin, contemporary inspirational and adult contemporary categories during the three-hour ceremony, broadcast live on ABC from the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles.Nominees were chosen on the basis of record sales, with winners selected through a survey of about 20,000 listeners.Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.