AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) -- In this town, window shopping is attracting a lot more guys than usual.A lingerie store called Spellbound is grabbing attention with live models in the window. Some people have complained, but police say there is nothing illegal about the lingerie models."It's tainting the wholesome businesses down here," said Carrie Rossignol, co-owner of Video Game Exchange. "I think it's selfish, and I think it's morally reprehensible."Another downtown merchant likes the idea, saying the models are attracting more potential customers to the area."It's like a New York thing. It's urban. It's edgy," said Stacy Gervais, owner of Stacy's Hallmark Store and a founder of a downtown merchants group. "We need a shtick -- something that we do that attracts people and gets us remembered."Spellbound owner Felicia Stockford said she has had no trouble finding staffers. She said the young women enjoy strutting their stuff in the shop window.Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

(CNN) -- The white coats of cardiologists are a regular fixture for heart patients, but more and more, the furry coats of man's best friends might become a common sight.Researchers at UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles, California, found that a 12-minute bedside visit with a dog can help ease anxiety levels by 24 percent in heart failure patients, compared to a 10 percent drop when patients had a visit from a human volunteer, and no drop in patients who had no visit.Results of the 76-patient study were presented last week at the American Heart Association's annual Scientific Sessions in Dallas, Texas. The study was funded by the Pet Care Trust Foundation, a non-profit organization which promotes human-animal interaction and bonding.In the study, effects of dog and volunteer visits were compared with those of volunteers only, and with patients who had no visits and remained at rest.Heart pressures indicating cardiac function and stress hormone levels were monitored and patients answered an anxiety assessment questionnaire before and after the visits. Although levels of the stress hormone norepinephrine and critical pressure measures also decreased, suggesting improved cardiac function, the most marked response was seen in anxiety levels."The first thing you notice is that the patient's facial expression changes to a smile and the stress of the world seems to be lifted off their shoulders," study author Kathy Cole said.Feelings of depression and helplessness are common among heart patients, Cole said, and just three nights in a hospital is enough to make some patients feel anxious and unsettled.During the visit, the furry friend is allowed to lie on the bed next to the patient with its head within two feet of the patient's. Most patients petted the dog, while others engaged human volunteers in conversation about the dog.Canines used in the study are specially trained animal-assisted therapy dogs that undergo a series of trainings, evaluations and certifications to qualify as therapy dogs. Dog breeds varied: Researchers used everything from Bernese mountain dogs to miniature schnauzers.However, a dog doesn't have to be specially trained to have a calming effect on its human counterparts. In fact, the animal doesn't even have to be a dog in order to help."As long as the animal has meaning to the patient, or a relationship with the animal, it can help calm the patient," Cole said.The latest study falls in line with previous research in the field of animal-assisted therapy which has shown that the therapy reduces blood pressure in both healthy and hypertensive patients, and that it aids in the recovery of cancer patients as well.The study also supports the well-documented phenomenon that the greater a person's level of networking and social support, the more likely that person is to have healthier heart function, with or without heart disease.

BENNINGTON, Vermont (AP) -- A high school teacher is facing questions from administrators after giving a vocabulary quiz that included digs at President Bush and the extreme right.Bret Chenkin, a social studies and English teacher at Mount Anthony Union High School, said he gave the quiz to his students several months ago. The quiz asked students to pick the proper words to complete sentences.One example: "I wish Bush would be (coherent, eschewed) for once during a speech, but there are theories that his everyday diction charms the below-average mind, hence insuring him Republican votes." "Coherent" is the right answer.Principal Sue Maguire said she hoped to speak to whomever complained about the quiz and any students who might be concerned. She said she also would talk with Chenkin. School Superintendent Wesley Knapp said he was taking the situation seriously."It's absolutely unacceptable," Knapp said. "They (teachers) don't have a license to hold forth on a particular standpoint."Chenkin, 36, a teacher for seven years, said he isn't shy about sharing his liberal views with students as a way of prompting debate, but said the quizzes are being taken out of context."The kids know it's hyperbolic, so-to-speak," he said. "They know it's tongue in cheek." But he said he would change his teaching methods if some are concerned."I'll put in both sides," he said. "Especially if it's going to cause a lot of grief."The school is in Bennington, a community of about 16,500 in the southwest corner of the state.Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

OAK RIDGE, Tennessee (AP) -- Copies of a high school's student newspaper were seized by administrators because the edition contained stories about birth control and tattoos, stirring a First Amendment debate.Administrators at Oak Ridge High School went into teachers' classrooms, desks and mailboxes to retrieve all 1,800 copies of the newspaper Tuesday, said teacher Wanda Grooms, who advises the staff, and Brittany Thomas, the student editor.The Oak Leaf's birth control article listed success rates for different methods and said contraceptives were available from doctors and the local health department. Superintendent Tom Bailey said the article needed to be edited so it would be acceptable for the entire school.The edition also contained a photo of an unidentified student's tattoo, and the student had not told her parents about the tattoo, said Superintendent Tom Bailey."I have a problem with the idea of putting something in the paper that makes us a part of hiding something from the parents," he said.The paper can be reprinted if the changes are made, he said."We have a responsibility to the public to do the right thing," he said. "We've got 14-year-olds that read the newspaper."Thomas said she wasn't sure about making changes. "I'm not completely OK with reprinting the paper," she said.First Amendment experts were critical of the seizure."This is a terrible lesson in civics," University of Tennessee journalism professor Dwight Teeter said. "This is an issue about the administration wanting to have control. Either the students are going to have a voice, or you're going to have a PR rag for the administration."Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (AP) -- Thousands of people, some in tears, streamed into the Audubon Zoo on Friday, the first day it was open since Hurricane Katrina.Members of Audubon Nature Institute, which operates the zoo, were among the first visitors, with general public admission scheduled for Saturday, according to the Audubon Nature Institute. "It's a city without kids and families, and a city without kids and families is a city without soul and heart," said Ron Forman, president of Audubon Nature Institute. "So we just thought it was critical to get the thing open for Thanksgiving weekend." (Watch as families flock to the zoo -- 3:04)The reopening was so emotional for many visitors that the zoo decided to post huggers at the front gates, Forman said."As people walk in, they're crying," he said. "This is a time of sadness in this city."Like much in the city, the zoo has struggled to regain its footing after the hurricane. The zoo laid off about 600 workers.Most of the animals are fine, although two otters and a raccoon did not survive, and about 2,000 trees were destroyed. Audubon also operates the Aquarium of the Americas in the French Quarter, where about 10,000 animals died because of the hurricane. The aquarium and its Entergy IMAX Theater will open next summer at the earliest, Forman said.Another Audubon facility, the Louisiana Nature Center, may never reopen, he said. The opening for a new addition to the institute -- an insectarium -- has been pushed back to 2007.Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

PANAMA CITY, Panama (AP) -- Known for its famed waterway, Panama's capital boasts more than just a spot to watch the ships cross through the engineering marvel.Visitors can chose between a swim in the Pacific or the Caribbean, hear tales of pirates looting the city's original site, find bargain shopping, sample tropical fruits and try their luck at the horse races in Panama City.OUTDOORS: Head to the Amador Causeway and snap photos of Panama's downtown or the Bridge of the Americas, where traffic crosses over while ships cruise through the canal. Once part of the off-limits Canal Zone guarded by the U.S. military, the Causeway has become a favorite of locals and tourists. The thin strip surrounded by the ocean houses duty free shops, restaurants, hotels and dance clubs. Construction signs and sites make it evident that there's more on the way. Kiosks sell hammocks, guayaberas, hats and molas, brightly-colored fabrics with elaborate, hand-sewn designs of the Kuna Indian tribe.By day, 20-somethings and families catch the cool of the ocean breeze while biking, in-line skating, or jogging along the Causeway. It's a strenuous and humid walk, so renting multi-seat bikes at the stretch's entrance works best.For a day of diving, snorkeling and other water sports, head for Taboga Island, on the Pacific coast. Ferries bound for Isla Taboga leave from a Balboa pier and the Causeway each morning and return in the late afternoon.MUSEUMS: Check out any of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute's stations. Visit one of the island sites, such as the Barro Colorado Field Research Station, for a boat ride across the canal's Gatun Lake and a chance to see a half-dozen native monkey species in their natural setting.At the Marine Exhibition Center in Punta Culebra, view sloths, pelicans and other tropical forest-dwellers along with an unfettered view of the ships crossing and the rhythmic pounding of waves crashing on jagged rocks. Both kids and adults will be mesmerized watching the crab-eating shark and hearing the boas slithering in the dry forest walk within the park.CUSINE: For breakfast, sip a frothy cafe con leche, made with locally-grown coffee beans, or cinnamon tea. Beer connoisseurs should look for local brews Soberana, Balboa and Atlas, which have a light taste that's thirst-quenching in the sticky climate.Pencas offers a view of the ocean and authentic Panamanian cuisine, which is inexpensive even at many upscale eateries. On the restaurant's menu are mini-tamales wrapped in plantain leaves, pesada de nance (a cereal-textured fruit dessert with bits of white cheese), dorado en salsa de coco (fish in coconut sauce) and ojaldas (a fried bread). On Wednesday nights, Pencas features a troupe of foot-shuffling folk dancers and a live band complete with accordion. As the show wraps up, dancers and some of the servers extend their hands for a dance with audience members. When I told our waiter that I didn't know the steps, he turned to my mom and asked "Does the lady dance?"HISTORY: History buffs should explore the remnants of Panama's colonial past to learn about its history in the quest for riches in the Americas. Just a taxicab away from most points in the capital city is Panama la Vieja. In 1671, Panama la Vieja was sacked by pirates, led by Sir Henry Morgan. Red-brick streets, a cathedral spire and crumbling walls, arches and buildings of the Spanish settlement era remain.Guided tours telling of the colony's former grandeur and demise are available.Some miles away is the Casco Viejo, an old colonial neighborhood with narrow streets and pastel-colored buildings in the midst of renovation. Its architecture resembles New Orleans' French Quarter.Just like locals have for centuries, watch the sunset from the Paseo de las Bovedas, a sea walk along an old Spanish military fort that served as a prison. Other sites include the Catedral Metropolitana, El Teatro Nacional and the unguarded Church of the Golden Altar. Several restaurants and cafes also dot the neighborhood.GAMBLING: Place a bet on the horse races at the Hipodromo Presidente Jose A. Remon on a Thursday afternoon and mingle with locals and visitors. The horseracing park also opens weekends and holidays.More than a half-dozen other casinos also offer all night games of chance in Panama. Among the favorite spots is the casino at the Hotel Panama.NIGHTLIFE: Hit the Causeway or the city's financial district for some dancing, dining and drinking.ELSEWHERE: Panama City also connects travelers by plane, bus or boat to other provinces. You can spot large green plantain leaves and dozens of noni plants heading out of the capital city. If you roll down the car windows while driving through heavily forested areas, you might hear the monkeys shrieking. The province of Colon is where gold and silver from the Americas passed before being transported to Europe. Explore the cannons and the lush green Spanish fortress in Portobelo.Bocas del Toro offers scuba diving and national parks for trekking.Baru volcano is Panama's highest point at 11,408 feet. Close by is the alpine town of Boquete, in the province of Chiriqui.SAFETY: Panama is relatively safe, but be aware and don't venture into some neighborhoods at night. The country has a special police force to help tourists.DRIVING: Driving within the city can be erratic and some areas have few traffic signs or lights.TAXIS: Taxis looking for a fare usually honk. Wave to flag them down and settle on price before taking trips.Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

BERLIN, Germany (Reuters) -- Scientists monitoring earth movements in Antarctica believe they have found a singing iceberg.Sound waves from the iceberg had a frequency of around 0.5 hertz, too low to be heard by humans, but by playing them at higher speed the iceberg sounded like a swarm of bees or an orchestra warming up, the scientists said.The German Alfred Wegener institute for polar and marine research will publish the results of its study, done in 2002, in Science magazine on Friday.Between July and November 2002 researchers picked up acoustic signals of unprecedented clarity when recording seismic signals to measure earthquakes and tectonic movements on the Ekstroem ice shelf on Antarctica's South Atlantic coast.Tracking the signal, the scientists found a 50 by 20 kilometre iceberg that had collided with an underwater peninsula and was slowly scraping around it."Once the iceberg stuck fast on the seabed it was like a rock in a river," said scientist Vera Schlindwein. "The water pushes through its crevasses and tunnels at high pressure and the iceberg starts singing.""The tune even goes up and down, just like a real song." Copyright 2005 Reuters. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

TOKYO, Japan (Reuters) -- A Japanese space probe apparently succeeded in landing Saturday on an asteroid and collecting surface samples in an unprecedented mission to bring the extraterrestrial material back to Earth, but afterwards showed signs of trouble, Japan's space agency said.The probe, now hovering about 5 kilometers (3.1 miles) from the asteroid, appeared to be shaking vertically due to problems with its thruster, according to spokesman Atsushi Akoh of Japan's space agency JAXA. The agency would put the probe into "safety mode" to investigate, Akoh said. The Hayabusa appeared to have touched down for a few seconds on the asteroid -- floating 290 million kilometers (180 million miles) from Earth -- to collect powder from its surface before lifting off again to transmit data to mission controllers, according to spokesman Kiyotaka Yashiro of Japan's space agency, JAXA. More data confirming the mission's success is expected later in the day after scientists have examined additional transmissions from the probe, Yashiro said. But JAXA will not know for sure if Hayabusa collected surface samples until it returns to Earth. It is expected to land in the Australian Outback in June 2007.If all goes well, it will be the first time a probe returns to Earth with samples from an asteroid, according to JAXA. A NASA probe collected data for two weeks from the asteroid Eros in 2001, but did not return with samples. Saturday's landing on the asteroid was Hayabusa's second, following a faulty touchdown Sunday. JAXA lost contact with the probe during that attempt and did not even realize it had landed until days later -- long after Hayabusa had lifted off into orbit. The space agency hopes that examining asteroid samples will help unlock the secrets of how celestial bodies formed, because their surfaces are believed to have remained relatively unchanged over the eons, unlike larger bodies such the planets or moons. Hayabusa fired a metal projectile shortly before 8 a.m. Japan time (11 p.m. GMT), suggesting that the asteroid had landed and collected the dust that was kicked up. The whole procedure was over in a matter of seconds, as planned. "It is only a very small amount of material, powder really," Yashiro said. The landing could compensate for a series of glitches in Japan's attempt to complete the world's first two-way trip to an asteroid. Two rehearsal touchdowns were botched, one when the spacecraft had trouble finding a landing spot, and one when a small robot rover was lost in space. Hayabusa also had a problem with one of its three gyroscopes. Hayabusa was launched in May 2003 and has until early December before it must begin its journey home. On top of recovering samples from the Itokawa asteroid, the probe is also testing a new type of ion engine that uses an electric field to accelerate positive ions to a high velocity. It swung by Earth for a gravity assist that propelled the probe toward Itokawa, JAXA said on its Web site. JAXA hopes to use the fuel-saving technology in missions further into outer space, the Web site said. The potato-shaped asteroid is named after Hideo Itokawa, the father of rocket science in Japan, and is orbiting the sun between Earth and Mars. It is 690 meters (2,300 feet) long and 300 meters (1,000 feet) wide. Copyright 2005 Reuters. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

SARASOTA, Florida (AP) -- A former auto mechanic should be executed because he killed Carlie Brucia in order to cover up evidence that he had kidnapped and raped the 11-year-old girl, a prosecutor said Monday.Joseph Smith's desire to avoid arrest for the abduction and sexual battery of the girl was one of six "aggravators" that justify a recommendation of death, prosecutor Debra Riva told jurors on the first day of the sentencing phase of Smith's trial.Smith wanted "to eliminate Carlie as a witness," Riva said. "The defendant did not have to kill the girl."Other aggravating circumstances, Riva said, include that the victim was under 12, Smith was on probation for possession of cocaine at the time of the murder, and the slaying was premeditated and "heinous, atrocious and cruel."Defense attorney Carolyn DaSilva asked jurors to recommend sparing Smith's life. She noted that he had battled back pain, depression and drug addiction for the past dozen years, and said relatives, friends and a drug-addiction expert would testify how "a man with good qualities could have fallen so far.""You will hear from witnesses who can tell you about Joe's good qualities ... even though he was unable to control his drug addiction," DaSilva said. "You will hear from people who care about Joseph Smith, and that his life has value."Her slaying received worldwide attention because her abduction on February 1, 2004, was captured by a car wash surveillance camera. Her body was found five days later outside a church.Circuit Judge Andrew Owens, who ultimately will decide the sentence, said he would give the jurors' recommendation "great weight." Over the objections of the defense, the judge also said he would allow jurors to listen to victim impact statements from Carlie's father, mother, stepfather and a teacher.The same jury convicted Smith on November 17 of kidnapping, sexual battery and first-degree murder. Carlie's murder spurred the introduction of federal and state legislation to crack down on probation violators.Jurors must consider aggravating circumstances that would justify a recommendation of death by lethal injection and mitigating circumstances that would persuade jurors to recommend life in prison without parole. Their vote does not have to be unanimous.Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

NORTHPORT, New York (AP) -- In a mirror-lined dance studio teenagers sashay through a number from the musical "Hairspray." Next door in the weight room, teacher Shawn Scattergood demonstrates proper form on the leg press.At Northport High School on Long Island, physical education also includes yoga, step aerobics and fitness walking, as well as team sports like volleyball and basketball. There are archery targets, soccer fields and a rock-climbing wall where students inscribe their names to show how high they get.For anyone who grew up when P.E. meant being picked last for softball, it's a dizzying array of choices."What we try and do is give them a real broad offering so that they can choose things they want to do," said Robert Christenson, the director of physical education. He said the current curriculum has been developed over the last five years.While the offerings at Northport, where the median household income is $86,456, may exceed those at many public high schools, the school is representative of a national phys ed trend that promotes fitness and downplays competitive sports that leave the uncoordinated feeling left out."There's been a major trend by school districts to improve their fitness centers," said Tom Caione, director of physical education for the suburban Bedford Central School District north of New York City. "It's really not 'roll out the old ball,' as it was."George Graham, a professor of kinesiology at Penn State University and past president of the National Association for Sport and Physical Education, said there has been a revolution in the way physical education is taught in America."Historically, there were two emphases -- competitive team sports and physical fitness testing," he said. "The emphasis today is more on helping youngsters develop the competence that leads to confidence and enjoyment of a lifetime of physical activity.""We have schools teaching yoga, rock-climbing, martial arts, fly-fishing," Graham said. "If a kid is in a program that hasn't changed from when the parents were in school, it's just not OK."Countering childhood obesityThe changes are occurring amid growing concern that sedentary lifestyles are fueling an epidemic of childhood obesity, with experts estimating that 30 percent of American schoolchildren are overweight or obese. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, only about 6 percent to 8 percent of schools provide the daily physical education classes that advocates recommend.In Florida, high school students need only one year of P.E. to graduate, said Jane Greenberg, who heads the Division of Life Skills and Special Projects for Miami-Dade County public schools.But more Miami-Dade students are choosing to take phys ed since the district started providing elliptical trainers and heart-rate monitors and adding classes like kayaking and snorkeling, Greenberg said."By offering these more innovative lifetime activities we're getting them back," she said. "On the average the kids that are overweight are losing 8 to 10 pounds a semester."At Northport High, the gleaming weight machines and well-maintained tennis courts rival an expensive health club. There is also a sprawling "adventure" area where students can perform team wall-climbing exercises or reach for a trapeze from the top of an 18-foot pole.Fourteen-year-old Stephen Jackman said he enjoys team sports like flag football and ultimate Frisbee but was looking forward to the weightlifting unit, because "you're just competing against yourself."As remarkable as the up-to-date equipment, the school district's mission statement is striking, too: "Classes are undertaken in an active, caring, supportive and non-threatening atmosphere in which every student is challenged to grow. ... Every student, regardless of ability or ability level, is provided with a learning environment that is modified, when necessary, to allow for maximum participation."At the recent dance class, led by full-time dance teacher Kaylie Howard, pupils were at all ability levels, and one was in special education."There's no reason to feel bad," said Michael Carbuccia, 16. "Maybe it's just Ms. Howard. If you have trouble with something she'll help you personally. We're all doing our best and we're happy with it."Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

CRAWFORD, Texas (CNN) -- President Bush will make stops in Arizona and Texas this week to address an issue that has divided some members of his own Republican Party -- illegal immigration.After spending the holiday weekend with family at his Crawford ranch, the president will visit Tucson, Arizona, on Monday, and El Paso, Texas, on Tuesday.A senior administration official said that the president, in a speech on immigration, will focus on three areas: border security, enforcement and a temporary worker program.The official said the president will talk about "additional resources and the use of technology to secure the border," and will discuss it in terms of national security and the economy.Bush also is expected to raise the issue of interior enforcement. The administration official said that includes "interior repatriation," or returning illegal immigrants from Mexico to the interior of the country instead of on the other side of the border. In addition, the president will talk about adding beds to detention facilities "so we aren't catching and releasing illegal immigrants."A third component, according to the official, will be Bush's proposal for a temporary worker program that would allow illegal immigrants to obtain legal status. The president first introduced the idea in January 2004. (Full story)But some conservatives have fiercely opposed the program, viewing it as a form of amnesty for people who have entered the U.S. illegally.Because of that, one GOP analyst said, the Bush administration has a delicate balance to strike in appeasing those conservatives by talking tough on border security without alienating Hispanics, women and swing voters."Republicans are talking about solutions rather than just making a lot of noise," said Leslie Sanchez, the former director of Hispanic communications for the Republican National Committee. "But with those solutions come a lot of things that can look like immigrant bashing.""When you're talking about deportation and taking a very stringent stand on all immigrants, we have to be careful that we are specifically talking about those who have broken the law," Sanchez said.While in Arizona, the president also will attend a fundraiser for Sen. Jon Kyl Monday night, and on Tuesday, after his trip to El Paso, Bush is scheduled to make an appearance at a fundraiser in Colorado for Rep. Marilyn Musgrave.

MACON, Georgia (AP) -- A military vehicle carrying U.S. politicians overturned on the way to the Baghdad airport Saturday, injuring two congressmen, a fellow congressman traveling with them said.Rep. Tim Murphy, R-Pennsylvania, was airlifted to a military hospital in Germany for an MRI on his neck, and Rep. Ike Skelton, D-Missouri, was sent to a Baghdad hospital, said U.S. Rep. Jim Marshall. Marshall, a Georgia Democrat, was in the vehicle but was not hurt.The politicians were riding in a box-like vehicle in a convoy. The convoy was taking up the middle of the road, a common practice used by the military to deter oncoming motorists. Shortly after dark, an oncoming truck refused to yield, Marshall said. (Watch Murphy describe what happened -- 2:49)"Then all of a sudden brakes get slammed on. Then we hit something and go off the side of the road and tip over," Marshall said.Marshall said that as the vehicle toppled over, he held onto Skelton, who has limited use of his arms due to childhood polio.The delegation had traveled to Afghanistan for Thanksgiving with the troops and then on to Baghdad to meet with troops there.Calls to Skelton and Murphy on Sunday were not immediately returned, but Marshall spokesman Doug Moore said both suffered minor injuries. The U.S. Embassy in Baghdad confirmed the accident but declined to release further information.Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- Her nine years playing a no-nonsense wife on the CBS hit sitcom "Everybody Loves Raymond" proved to Patricia Heaton that family strife has universal appeal."Everyone related to 'Raymond,' " says the two-time Emmy winner, because "family emotions are a big deal." No surprise, then, that the actress, in her first big post-"Raymond" role, is starring in TNT's "The Engagement Ring," which she describes as a "sort of comic opera of grand emotions."(TNT is a division of Time Warner, as is CNN.)Premiering Monday at 8 p.m. Eastern, "The Engagement Ring" is a romantic story about the interwoven family lives of rival vintners of Italian heritage in California's Napa Valley (though most of the film was shot around Victoria, British Columbia).Heaton, who is also the film's executive producer, plays Sara Anselmi, whose desire to merge the two vineyards in order to create a new vintage heightens long-simmering resentments.Heaton's husband, David Hunt, plays Sara's cold-hearted, business-minded fiance, his ear constantly pressed to a cell phone. Vincent Spano is Tony Di Cenzo, a member of the rival family, whose very different freeform attitude toward life and love stirs Sara's untapped emotions.The senior generation in the families experience equally complex romantic entanglements, marked by fate and choice."In a way I'm the love interest" exclaims Lainie Kazan, 65, who plays Sara's mother, Alicia. Despite a girlhood romance with Tony's uncle (Tony Lo Bianco), Alicia married Sara's father (Chuck Shamata).Kazan says she responded instantly to the script's "visceral emotions" because, "I have those feelings, big feelings."Heaton, who had nurtured the film project for several years, says she was attracted to the script's exploration of "true love, and what it is, and how do you know what it is. Is it just chemistry, or is it years and years of commitment and being together and hanging in there building a history? And how do you find both?"Changing schedulesAs the mother of four sons, ranging in age from 6 to 12, Heaton knows quite a bit about finding such a balance in life. Snatching time for a quick lunch at a coffee shop near her Los Angeles home, the 47-year-old actress exudes the air of someone who can cope.But she explains that it was probably a little easier to organize her life when she was locked into the comfortable routine of sitcom production, where "the schedule gave a lot of time to be with the kids, be home, make good money, and have fun. And really what more could you ask for!"Heaton and her husband run a production company, Four Boys Films, and she's in the "early, early" stages of developing a possible sitcom for herself. She'll play someone, she says, "fairly close to who I am."Other projects from Four Boys, which produced "Ring," include a documentary feature called "The Bituminous Coal Queens of Pennsylvania," a portrait of small town America, and "Amazing Grace," a feature film, to be directed by Michael Apted, about William Wilberforce, an 18th century English anti-slavery activist.Heaton says she and her husband like to seek out stories that "are fairly uplifting," and that their goal is to "explore humanity without being either sentimental or nihilistic."As she moves on, she does so with no regrets about "Everybody Loves Raymond" ending. "It was a wonderful nine years, but I think it was really time to go."Is she bothered at all by the fame and relentless recognition that "Raymond" brought?"Bothered? Me? You're kidding! All my life I've waited for that moment. People say, 'Oh, you must get so tired of it.' I say, 'I didn't work in restaurants and hotels all those years in New York so people would ignore me!' I'm really at a point where I really enjoy it."Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

NEW YORK (AP) -- In a perfect world, all retired teachers would live like Frank McCourt, who divides his time between a spacious estate in Connecticut and this doorman building on Manhattan's Upper West Side, where the white-haired author sits tieless in his living room on a bright, calm morning."Angela's Ashes" raised his standard of living far beyond the reach of a teacher's pension, but time, wealth and adulation have not eroded his Irish accent or brightened his sad eyes or tanned his chalky skin. As millions of readers know, McCourt grew up poor in Ireland and didn't get much richer from his 30 years as a public school teacher in New York, memories of which he shares in his new book, "Teacher Man." (Read the EW.com review.)In a world of labor and management, says McCourt's friend Pete Hamill, McCourt's heart remains with the workers. When discussing a contract just ratified by New York City teachers, McCourt sounds not like a rich man showing pity, but like a union man getting the short end."It's a disgrace," McCourt says. "The teachers are kept in the school room an extra half hour a day. ... Then they get home and have bags of papers to correct."I know from my own experience that if you sit down, you can't make a dent on that bag of papers in an evening unless you ignore the wife, ignore the family, don't go out. Maybe, the best thing to do is sit at home with a bottle of wine, and correct the papers in a semi-delirious state.""Teacher Man" is the third and probably last memoir from the man who proved with "Angela's Ashes" that publishing is not just a young person's game and that you didn't need to be famous to get millions to care about your story. In 1996, at age 66, McCourt became an instant celebrity by making literature out of his dire upbringing in Ireland, famously observing that "worse than the ordinary miserable childhood is the miserable Irish childhood, and worse yet is the miserable Irish Catholic childhood."His new book begins in 1958, the year of McCourt's first teaching job, at the McKee Vocational and Technical School in the borough of Staten Island. He is in trouble from the start: in the classroom, where a thrown sandwich leads to a near-riot, and outside, where McCourt's decision to eat the thrown sandwich results in a lecture from the principal.Over the next three decades, much of them spent in the English department at the elite Stuyvesant High School, McCourt learned much about what rules to break and what to enforce: He defied the advice of his colleagues and shared his personal stories with the class; he slapped a student with a magazine and took on another known to have a black belt in karate.'She got it right' The classroom is a near universal experience, but McCourt believes the culture either ignores or romanticizes the teacher's life; even supposedly tough-minded movies such as "Dangerous Minds" and "Blackboard Jungle" fail to note that the high school teacher has not just one class, but often five." 'Up the Down Staircase' was a good story," McCourt says of Bel Kaufman's novel about an idealistic high school teacher. "Again, it was only one class. But she got it right. She got all the craziness of the paperwork and the administrators and supervisors."Like any other species, the teacher must adapt or perish, McCourt learned. Over time, McCourt would transform into a "drill sergeant, rabbi, a shoulder to cry on, a disciplinarian, a singer, a low-level scholar" and countless other roles. He would find himself the star and comic foil of the "great American drama ... the clash of adolescence and middle age.""There were always days when you couldn't do anything. Sometimes you just start off wrong," he says."It's like if a play starts off late. The people get angry and start clapping and then the actors have to bring them back. It's the same thing with teaching. A kid might say something. You might get angry and say something and crush her and humiliate her. And then you have to get the class back."But asked if he would have given it up for early success as an author, McCourt quickly shakes his head. On the good days, and there were many, he never felt so alive, caught up in the currents of adolescent energy. And McCourt brought his own spark, like having the students write each other's obituaries or set recipes to music.One former Stuyvesant student, Susan Gilman, remembers McCourt as an innovative and charismatic teacher so popular that students would "forget their program cards" to get in his class. For Gilman, the McCourt legend preceded meeting him. The year before she entered high school, her parents picked up a hitchhiker wearing a Stuyvesant High School shirt. He urged Susan to take McCourt's creative writing class because "he's the best teacher there is."Gilman is now an author, her latest book a novel, "Hypocrite in a Pouffy White Dress," and she credits her former teacher. "He encouraged me, praised me, pushed me, and submitted my writing to various scholastic contests, winning awards for me," she explains.'It was grim and we hated it'McCourt, 75, was born in Brooklyn, but moved to Ireland at age 4, enduring tragedy (three siblings died within a year) and hunger, with his father drinking what little money the family had. School was no easier than home, for he was not blessed to have a teacher like Frank McCourt."I never remember a teacher smiling. They would joke all right, but at our expense," he says. "It was grim and we hated it. Even in the morning, there was a line behind the school when we got there because we were often late, because my mother couldn't get the tea made on time; sometimes the kettle would tip and put out the fire. ... We went to school in dread."But hard times failed to destroy his gifts and ambition. He never stopped dreaming, privately jotting down pieces of his life story over the years and talking the talk with the gang at the Lion's Head, the long-shuttered Greenwich Village watering hole for wordsmiths, aspiring wordsmiths, jazz musicians and aging leftists."He was a very quiet guy, unlike the rest of the rabble," Lion's Head alumnus Pete Hamill says with a laugh. "He had a low-key, wicked sense of humor. I had no idea that he was writing anything until someone called me up and said, 'Frank McCourt's written this amazing book,' which turned out to be 'Angela's Ashes.' "Author of a second best-selling memoir, " 'Tis," McCourt has been famous long enough to think hard about what that means. He is relieved, amused and a little cynical. He sounds like so many other celebrities when he wonders why people treated him differently after "Angela's Ashes," even though he felt the same."I wasn't prepared for it. After teaching, I was getting all this attention. They actually looked at me -- people I had known for years -- and they were friendly and they looked me in a different way. And I was thinking, 'All those years I was a teacher, why didn't you look at me like that then?" he says."But the part of it I liked best was hearing from all those kids who were in my classes. At least they knew that when I talked about writing I wasn't just talking through my hat."Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

SAN JOSE, California (AP) -- Sony Corp. has become the latest of the video game console makers to announce parental controls in its newest machine, according to the Entertainment Software Association.Now, all three major console makers are promising parents the means to help restrict their children's access to violent video games.Sony will place the controls on its forthcoming machine, PlayStation 3, according to the ESA. Users of PlayStation 2 could limit access, but only to movies, not games.The company wasn't immediately prepared to comment.Microsoft Corp. had already placed parental controls in its new Xbox 360, which debuted last week. The machine lets users restrict access to video games and DVDs that carry certain ratings, such as "T" for "teen" or "M" for "mature." It also offers parental controls on the company's Xbox Live online gaming service, limiting who their children can interact with.Earlier this month, Nintendo Inc. announced similar plans for its next-generation machine, Revolution, due out in 2006.Sony, which leads the worldwide market with more than 102 million PlayStation and PlayStation 2 consoles sold, also introduced parental control for games in its PlayStation Portable, launched earlier this year.The video game industry has been under tougher scrutiny in recent years as lawmakers enacted legislation restricting sales of violent video games to minors. Industry groups have so far successfully challenged the laws in court, citing violations of the First Amendment."With the average age of game players now 30, our industry naturally creates content appropriate for a wide range of audiences, just as there are TV shows, films, music and books for people of all tastes, interests and values," said Doug Lowenstein, president of the Entertainment Software Association.Lowenstein commended the game console makers for voluntarily applying parental control technology that is not yet found in other media devices, such as DVD or music players.Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

CHICAGO, Illinois (AP) -- The jukebox at the bar Brian Toro manages isn't gathering dust just yet -- but it may only be a matter of time.The popular nightspot is among a growing number of places across the country where people can bring their iPods and other portable music players and, for as long as the bartender allows, share their personal favorites with the crowd."Everybody wants to be a DJ," says Toro, a 29-year-old Californian who recently moved to Chicago and now manages Bar Louie in the city's Gold Coast neighborhood. "People enjoy having a little control in their lives."Even Toro now brings in his music player so he can crank up rock and punk tunes for customers. He'll also let others play just about anything -- "even if it's country" -- as long as the music is upbeat.The trend, which is catching on from Washington, D.C., to San Pedro, California, is a reflection of just how portable music has become -- and how sharing it with others is becoming easier than ever, partly due to new products aimed at amateur DJs.Numark Industries, for instance, is out with a mixing device that allows users with two iPods to segue one song into the next. It's fairly basic stuff -- and not something necessarily aimed at professional DJs.Some professional DJs say they're waiting for technology that would enable them to perform on a single portable player all the creative mixing and "scratching" they do with vinyl albums.Already, many do so using software and a laptop, or larger MP3/CD player consoles made by such companies as Denon. But in the era of rapidly shrinking electronics, people want their gear as portable and lightweight as possible.For amateurs, a basic iPod or other small portable player -- and a simple hookup into a bar's sound system -- suffices.That's how it works at the Common Ground Bar and Grill in the Allston section of Boston, where amateurs can sign up to play 15-minute sets during "mp3j night" every Wednesday.Depending on the crowd, it might be a "chill night," with customers playing mellow jazz or obscure electronica, says Shannon Bullard, a 22-year-old Emerson College student who can often be found at the bar with her iPod.Other times, someone might be inspired, as her boyfriend was recently, to play a high-powered rock mix with everything from Bon Jovi to Journey."I've been here some nights when people dance. It's always something different," says Bullard, who also heard the crowd groan one night when someone played a cheesy remake of a popular tune by The Smiths."It's still one of those things where if you play the latest song, you're cool -- and in the know," she says.Experts who track technology trends say they're not surprised people are sharing more music in public."It's the same thing as sharing a hot new 45 or tape or CD," says Susan Barnes, associate director of the Lab for Social Computing at Rochester Institute of Technology in upstate New York.She also sees it as more proof that -- while some have accused a new wave of music listeners of shutting out the world with their headphones -- technology is actually encouraging people to socialize."All this stuff is set up for people to meet other people -- not isolate," Barnes says.John von Seggern, a laptop DJ and producer in Los Angeles," also sees DJing as part of an overall movement toward decentralizing control of many forms of media -- whether it be through podcasting, blogging or musicians and authors offering their work direct for downloading on the Internet.And that, he says, creates even more need for self-appointed reviewers and content editors -- DJs included."It becomes more and more of an art form to select out what is good -- because a lot of what's out there is not good," says von Seggern, author of the book "Laptop Music Power: The Comprehensive Guide."Often, it's not about the technology, professionals say."You can have the fanciest gadgets and gizmos, but if you don't get your crowd, there will still be nobody on the dance floor," says Patrick Kowalczyk, a 37-year-old New Yorker who works in public relations and DJs during his off hours.But, while they're waiting for technology that will make iPods and other small MP3 players even more useful on the club scene, he and many other DJs already see some advantages to carrying one along."It's MUCH lighter than hauling around vinyl," says Kendra Borowski, a 26-year-old New Yorker who got an iPod 10 months ago and now uses it at her DJing gigs at bars and nightclubs.She's also gotten a kick out of impressing friends by using an adapter with a built-in FM transmitter to play tunes from her personal library on cab radios as they ride through the city.Portable players also provide an easy way for professionals to expand their musical library in a pinch.Kenny Ulansey, who leads a self-titled ensemble in the Philadelphia area, finds it handy to use a player to supplement the songs his band performs at weddings, as well as bat and bar mitzvahs for Jewish teens."We'd go bonkers learning too many awful songs," the 53-year-old sax player says, referring to requests they get from the younger crowd for alternative rock, hip-hop songs "or the latest teeny-bop sensation."In that regard, he calls his portable music player "a savior."Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

TOKYO, Japan (AP) -- Police have arrested a former computer programmer for allegedly publishing a fabricated news article on a fake Yahoo Japan news Web site saying that China had invaded the Japanese island of Okinawa.Tokyo Metropolitan Police department arrested Takahiro Yamamoto, 30, Monday on suspicion of violating patent laws, a police spokesman said on condition of anonymity, citing departmental policy.He said Yamamoto allegedly accredited the fake article to Kyodo News Agency and published it on an Internet site that he had designed to look like Yahoo! Japan Corp's news site.The story was written in Japanese with a dateline "America, Oct. 18 Kyodo" followed by a headline saying "Chinese Military invades Okinawa," the police said.Police had confiscated Yamamoto's personal computer and analyzed the data stored in it.Kyodo said it and Yahoo had filed complaints to police in October.The Web site was accessed 66,000 times until it was taken down on October 19, Kyodo said, quoting police.Sunnyvale, California-based Yahoo is one of the world's largest Internet portal operators, with some 345 million people using its mix of search engines, news sites and online shopping.Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- A top Sunni Arab political activist, another sheik and their driver were killed in a shooting Monday afternoon after a meeting with local tribal chiefs in Falluja, west of Baghdad, a party official and police sources said.Sheikh Ayad al-Izzi, an Iraqi Islamic Party official, had been involved in the development of a new Iraqi constitution and the parliamentary elections on December 15.The attack happened in Zaydun, 25 miles (40 kilometers) west of Baghdad near Abu Ghraib prison, as the party was heading from Anbar province to Baghdad.The other sheik was identified as Ali al-Isawi, also a member of the Iraqi Islamic Party.An aide from Iraqi President Jalal Talabani's office condemned the killings and offered condolences to the victims' families.In a separate attack, two journalists for the state-run al-Iraqiya TV network were killed Monday in Baghdad, police said.Gunmen inside a car opened fire on Aqeel Abdul Ridha and Muqdad Muhsin in the western Baghdad neighborhood of Adil, police said.Five bystanders also were wounded, police said.Aid workers kidnappedFour Western aid workers in Iraq, including two from Canada, one from the United States and another from Britain, have been kidnapped, according to U.S., British and Canadian government officials.Dan McTeague, parliamentary secretary for Canadians abroad, said the four were kidnapped Saturday, but he declined to identify the agency with which they are affiliated.McTeague said the government is working to find out more about the circumstances surrounding the abductions. He said the government won't negotiate with kidnappers.The British Foreign Office confirmed that a British citizen, identified as Norman Kember, was one of those abducted.The U.S. Embassy in Baghdad said Monday that it could confirm reports an American working in Iraq was missing.Other developmentsThe chief judge in Saddam Hussein's trial adjourned it until December 5 to allow time for the defense to replace two attorneys who were killed recently. Joining Hussein's defense team is former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark, who questioned the adequacy of security measures for the defense team and attorneys' families. (Full story)The Iraqi army has detained a former intelligence officer from Hussein's regime alleged to be involved in a plot to kill Raad Johi, the head judge in the trial of the former Iraqi leader, a high-ranking Iraqi army official said. The intelligence officer, Khaz'al al-Kurdi, was detained Saturday in the northern city of Kirkuk after being under surveillance for three days, the army official said. Six others also were detained.Former Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi said in an interview published Sunday in Britain that human rights abuses in Iraq are as bad as, if not worse than, they were under Hussein. (Full story)Medical tests show that the injuries suffered by two U.S. congressmen in Iraq over the weekend were not serious, Rep. Tim Murphy said. The Pennsylvania Republican was one of three congressmen riding in a U.S. military convoy when their vehicle went off the road. (Full story) Three American soldiers were slightly wounded Monday when a car bomb detonated near a military patrol in Baquba, north of Baghdad, the U.S. military said.

JERUSALEM (CNN) -- The new party created amid political upheaval in Israel will support the creation of a peaceful Palestinian state, giving up some land to ensure Israel's Jewish majority and maintaining all of Jerusalem under Israeli control.The Kadima Party, headed by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, met Monday and laid out its central principles publicly for the first time.The announcement brought few surprises. The points laid out have long been espoused by Sharon and his supporters.Last week, Sharon left the Likud Party -- which he helped found in the 1970s -- and announced the creation of a new party, officially separating himself from those in Likud who protested his pullout of Israeli settlers and troops from Gaza.Sharon's move, which was widely expected, revolutionizes the Israeli political scene. Kadima, which means "Forward," is expected to end the longtime dominance of two parties in Israeli politics, Likud and the left-leaning Labor."Israel is a Jewish, democratic country," Justice Minister Tzipi Livni said Monday, laying out Kadima's main principles at the party meeting."The people of Israel have a national and historic right to the land of Israel," Livni said. "Because there is a need for Israel to remain a Jewish majority, we will have to give up part of the land of Israel in order to maintain a democratic, Jewish state."She added that the party supports "the establishment of a Palestinian state alongside Israel.""The Palestinians will have to commit to dismantle the terror organizations, collect illegal arms and carry out security reforms," Livni said. "Israel will keep the major settlement blocks, and Jerusalem will remain unified."She said political settlements will be based on the so-called road map for Middle East peace backed by the United States, the European Union, Russia and the United Nations.The new party's principles overlap in several cases with those of Labor and Likud. But Kadima positions itself as a centrist alternative and has attracted prominent members of both camps.Livni vowed that Kadima "will work to alter the method of governance in Israel."Kadima officials cautioned that the party is in its infancy, and its platform may grow and change.Parliamentary elections have been set for March 28.Polls taken last week suggested that if the elections took place immediately, Kadima would win the most seats in the 120-member Knesset, Israel's parliament.

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- High winds on Monday hampered crews who for a second day battled wildfires that destroyed homes, forced hundreds to evacuate and injured firefighters in parts of Oklahoma and Texas.The strong northwesterly wind, with gusts up to 30 mph, was part of a huge storm system that also produced blizzard conditions on the central and northern Plains, the National Weather Service said."I've seen winds like this before but not when the fuel conditions were as dry as they are right now," Duncan Assistant Fire Chief Bobby Beck said.Oklahoma is well below its average rainfall for this time of year and the southeastern portion of the state is experiencing a record-setting drought.Fires burned across 50,000 acres in 15 counties, Oklahoma Emergency Management spokeswoman Michelann Ooten said.Oklahoma Gov. Brad Henry issued an emergency wildfire declaration for the state, clearing the way for officials to request federal assistance for fire damage if needed."There have been houses lost across the state, but we don't have an exact number," she said. She also didn't have an exact number on how many people had been evacuated.Five buildings, including homes, were destroyed by three fires that continued to burn Monday in McIntosh County in east-central Oklahoma, Ooten said.A shelter was set up at the Methodist Church in Chouteau, just east of Tulsa, where 18 homes were destroyed. A dozen more burned elsewhere in Mayes County.In south-central Stephens County, fire destroyed 16 homes in the town of Velma, Ooten said.Velma Fire Chief Bruce Lynn told The Oklahoman newspaper that four firefighters suffered smoke inhalation and that some residents suffered burns.A number of firefighters across the state also suffered minor injuries.Most of the grass fires began Sunday as winds gusting to more than 60 mph raked the state. Power was restored Monday for most of the 40,000 customers left in the dark a day earlier.The wind also fanned grass fires in at least six northern Texas counties on Sunday.One Texas fire began west of Cleburne, about 30 miles south of Fort Worth, and spread north into neighboring Tarrant County, burning 1,000 acres and 24 structures along the way, Johnson County Sheriff's Department spokeswoman Cpl. Pam Jetsel said. She said the destroyed buildings included six homes.Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- A death-row inmate lost his chance Monday for clemency and a delay of his execution for strangling his mother-in-law and suffocating his 5-year-old stepdaughter while high on cocaine.The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati refused to postpone Tuesday's scheduled execution of John Hicks, 49. The request was Hicks' only pending appeal, but it was not immediately clear if his attorney would file any other motions.Hicks likely will be the 999th person executed since the United States reinstated the death penalty in 1977. The 1,000th execution is expected Wednesday in Virginia, of a man convicted of fatally stabbing a pool hall manager with a pair of scissors.Hicks was convicted of the aggravated murder of Maxine Armstrong, 56, and his stepdaughter Brandy Green in Armstrong's Cincinnati apartment in 1985. He was sentenced to die for the child's slaying.He strangled and robbed Armstrong so he could buy more drugs and later returned to kill Green when he realized she could identify him as the last person at the apartment.Hicks based his court request on the grounds that lethal injection can constitute cruel and unusual punishment.His attorney, Marc Mezibov, did not immediately return a message seeking comment on the ruling. Mezibov had said he wished that Gob. Bob Taft had more carefully considered the request for clemency."As difficult as the facts are in connection with Mr. Hicks' actions, there are nevertheless compelling and legitimate reasons why his life should be spared," Mezibov said.Hicks offered a tearful apology for the slaying in an early November interview before his clemency hearing but said he was under the control of cocaine and not fully aware of his actions.Mezibov described his client's addiction as a "cocaine psychosis" that led him to eliminate any barriers to his drug use.Taft could have changed the death sentence to life in prison. However, he cited the rulings throughout Hicks' appeals that found he had been given a fair trial and that there was overwhelming evidence of his guilt.Hicks arrived Monday at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville from Mansfield Correctional Institution, said Andrea Dean, spokeswoman for the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction. No family members planned to witness the execution.For his special meal, Hicks requested two medium rib eye steaks, a baked potato, a chef salad, garlic bread, apple pie a la mode, potato chips, A-1 Steak Sauce and a Pepsi.Hicks would be the fourth person executed in Ohio this year and the 19th since the state resumed executions in 1999.Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

DAVIS, West Virginia (AP) -- At the summit of Salamander Slope, Tom Blanzy kills the engine and hops off his six-wheeled all-terrain vehicle into ankle-deep snow. Gray clouds have dimmed the panoramic view from the top of Herz Mountain, elevation 4,268 feet, but the silence is nothing short of astounding.Starting in December, skiers will come to this spot and pick a path, from a beginner trail like the meandering two-mile Salamander, to the double black-diamond slope, suitably named Off the Wall. Cross-county skiers might venture just beyond the tree line and into the Dolly Sods Wilderness Area."You can strap on some skis, follow the upward elevation and just hear your heart beat," says Blanzy, general manager of Timberline Four Seasons Resort.Timberline and its nearby competitor, Canaan Valley Resort & Conference Center, are the main attractions in Davis, a little-known skiing and outdoor sports paradise that the November issue of Men's Journal declares one of the "10 Coolest Mountain Towns" in North America."Like redneck in-laws, serious snow is a secret many Southerners would prefer to keep," the magazine says. "But with 150-plus annual inches, Davis is the Dixie darling for skiers who'd rather drive to the Appalachians than fly to the Rockies.""I'm surprised the word hasn't gotten out sooner," says Laird Knight, owner of Granny Gear Productions, which stages mountain bike races. "I've lived here 23 years and I would have thought by now, the place really would have been discovered."It's everything that an urban refugee would look for," he says. "It's everything a city isn't."Davis is an old lumber and coal mining town, tapped by industrialists in the late 1800s and early 1900s, and named for former U.S. Sen. Henry Gassaway Davis, who paid between $5 and $15 an acre for land.But it is location, more than history, that makes it special.Davis sits at the edge of the highest mountain valley east of the Rockies, a 14-by-3-mile trough with an average snowfall of 160 inches. At 3,200 feet, Canaan Valley is drained by the Blackwater River, which occupies anglers and rafters alike. It is ringed by mountains perfect for hiking, biking and skiing, and it is filled with distinctively northern trees like red spruce and balsam fir.And with fewer than 700 full-time residents, it's a place that Claire Martin says often goes overlooked by Northeasterners in ski season."It was on our radar, but we realized it wasn't necessarily on the radar of the rest of the country," says Martin, deputy editor of Men's Journal. "We've all been to Vermont and seen the Green Mountains, and seen the White Mountains of New Hampshire, but not very many outdoor enthusiasts -- even in the know -- have been to West Virginia.""I tell ya, people in Virginia don't know about West Virginia," says Chip Chase, owner of a cross-country skiing company called White Grass Touring Center."We don't reach out to a national audience, but when people in the know do come, they really get off on it," he says. "I've been here 25 years, and I've never had a boring day."'Antithesis of commercialization'The ski stats speak for themselves.Timberline has a vertical drop of 1,000 feet, 37 slopes and trails and 94 percent snowmaking. Canaan has a vertical drop of 850 feet, 37 slopes and 85 percent snowmaking.This year, Timberline has improved its snowmaking capabilities, while Canaan is reaching out to families with a program allowing children under 12 to stay, eat and ski for free.Also new at Canaan is a high-tech form of sledding that spokesman Bryan Brown says only a half-dozen resorts in the country offer. Airboards are inflatable, lightweight, steerable sleds about 4 feet long, with a grooved surface that allows for quick turns and stops. Airboarders will have their own terrain at Canaan, just like snowboarders and tube-riders.But Brown says Canaan has lost none of the solitude and scenery that guests treasure."It's not overcommercialized," he says. Then he laughs. "It's not commercial at all. It's the antithesis of commercialization."When it comes to stores, well ... there aren't many."If they're after the Aspen experience, they're not going to get it here," says Roger Lilly, owner of Blackwater Bikes. "If the husband wants to be outdoors and the wife wants to shop, that's going to be a problem."In Davis, shopping is limited to antiques, a gourmet food store, an herb shop and an art gallery."It's not an area if you're looking for frills," Lilly says. "There are some really good small restaurants, but no big fancy dining experiences. And we'd like to keep it that way."Davis' few eateries include Muttley's steakhouse, the Flying Pigs Cafe, Blackwater Brewing and Sirianni's Cafe, a rustic pizza joint whose tantalizing aromas fill the still, cold air.Michael Goss manages Sirianni's, where the walls are decked with ski posters, some autographed by extreme skier and occasional visitor Glenn Plake. Plake's decadent "Extreme Garlic Chips" are featured on the menu, essentially a crispy pizza crust smothered with handfuls of fresh chopped garlic and gooey cheese, then cut into small squares."Every big city has its little communities, but they don't have the quaint, small-town charm," Goss says.That's why he believes most visitors return. Locals remember their faces and greet them at every sighting."We make them feel welcome," Goss says. "Here, they have a mountain they can call their own."Clare Ferguson and Andy Norton, Londoners now living in Takoma Park, Maryland, found Davis after less than a month in the United States. Clare's mother, Wendy Ferguson, was visiting from France for 10 days, so the family packed up and rented a cabin in the woods."We wanted to take my mom somewhere nice. We wanted to find someplace with beautiful trees, and arts and crafts," Clare says. "It's beautiful. Lovely."After lunch, the Fergusons head for the neighboring town of Thomas, where there are slightly more shops and the MountainMade Artisan Gallery, a showcase of West Virginia workmanship. Thomas also offers some hard-to-find nighttime entertainment, with live music at The Purple Fiddle Coffeehouse.Susan Moore, owner of the Bright Morning Inn, worked in the advertising business for years and says she always felt she could be honest about places like Davis."It is wild and wonderful," she says. "This is the closest real wilderness for lots of people who live in the mid-Atlantic. ... You can really feel totally lost and totally away from everything, and that's harder and harder to find."Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- The Supreme Court Monday allowed a California man to be sentenced to spend a day outside a San Francisco post office wearing a signboard stating, "I stole mail. This is my punishment."The justices rejected an appeal by Shawn Gementera, who argued that this was designed to publicly shame and humiliate him. He said it violated the Sentencing Reform Act and the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment.Gementera pleaded guilty to mail theft after the police arrested him and an accomplice in 2001 for stealing letters from several mailboxes in San Francisco.U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker in 2003 sentenced Walker to two months in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release.The conditions for his release required Gementera to spend four days at a post office observing patrons inquire about lost or stolen mail, to write letters of apology to the victims of his crime, to give three lectures at high schools about his crime and to wear the two-sided sign for one eight-hour day.Gementera appealed the legality of the signboard requirement, but a U.S. appeals court panel, by a 2-1 vote, ruled against him in August.The appeals court said the record in the case showed that the judge imposed the condition for the legitimate purpose of rehabilitation.It said the judge could have imposed a lengthier prison term instead of the signboard condition, and added that crimes and the resulting penalties nearly always cause shame and embarrassment.Gementera's attorneys appealed to the Supreme Court."The shaming condition amounted to nothing more than the piling on of an additional and quite gratuitous requirement -- designed to publicly humiliate (Gementera) -- in contravention of federal law," they said."Punishments aimed at imposing shame and humiliation are inconsistent with a constitutional requirement that punishments, even for heinous crimes, be consistent with human dignity," they said.Justice Department attorneys said a sentence may serve a legitimate rehabilitative purpose, even if makes the defendant feel uncomfortable or embarrassed in public.The high court turned down Gementera's appeal without any comment or recorded dissent.Copyright 2005 Reuters. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

SAGUENAY, Quebec (AP) -- A 15-year-old girl with a peanut allergy died after kissing her boyfriend, who had just eaten a peanut butter snack, hospital officials said Monday.Christina Desforges died in a Quebec hospital Wednesday after doctors were unable to treat her allergic reaction to the kiss the previous weekend.Desforges, who lived in Saguenay, about 155 miles north of Quebec City, was almost immediately given a shot of Adrenaline, a standard tool for treating the anaphylactic shock brought on by a peanut allergy, officials said.An autopsy was being performed. Dr. Nina Verreault, an allergist at the Chicoutimi Hospital in Saguenay, declined to comment on the case.The symptoms of peanut allergy can include hives, plunging blood pressure and swelling of the face and throat, which can block breathing.Peanut allergies have been rising in recent decades. The reason remains unclear, but one study found that baby creams or lotions with peanut oil may cause children to develop allergies later in life.About 1.5 million Americans are severely allergic to even the smallest trace of peanuts and peanut allergies account for 50 to 100 deaths in the United States each year. Canadian figures were not immediately available.Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) -- Spain agreed Monday to sell 12 military planes and eight patrol boats to Venezuela in a $2 billion deal that the United States has threatened to block.The State Department repeated reservations about the sale because the planes and boats carry U.S. parts and technology, but Spanish Defense Minister Jose Bono joined Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez in saying the sale should not concern Washington."Is there some rule that prohibits this sale? ... There is no international embargo," Bono said at the signing ceremony.Spain is selling 10 C-295 transport planes and two CN-235 patrol planes, as well as four ocean patrol boats and four coast patrol vessels. It is Spain's largest-ever defense deal.Bono said neither the boats nor transport planes were armed and that the patrol planes were only equipped for self-defense."This is not a warplane," he said.100,000 Kalashnikov assault rifles from RussiaChavez also criticized Washington for trying to hold up the sale."Venezuela was a colony of the U.S. empire for a long time. Today we're free, and the world should know it," Chavez said, repeating his frequent criticism that in past decades the United States held sway over the oil-producing country."We in Venezuela don't have to be giving any explanation, much less under imperialist pressure."Last week, the U.S. ambassador to Spain, Eduardo Aguirre, said Washington could refuse to allow U.S. technology to be transferred to Venezuela, and State Department spokesman Sean McCormack repeated concerns about the sale on Monday."We are currently looking at technology licensing issues," he said. "There hasn't been any final conclusion on that question yet."Venezuelan Navy Vice Adm. Armando Laguna said the boats and planes would be delivered within seven years, and any U.S.-made parts could be replaced easily with others made in Europe."We'll change the equipment if their export isn't approved or if they don't grant the export license," Laguna said, adding that the U.S. components "aren't vital, really."Chavez has said that the vessels and planes will be used to combat the drug trade in Venezuela, which borders Colombia, the world's top cocaine producer.The United States alleges that Chavez, an ally of Cuban leader Fidel Castro, supports radical political movements in Latin America and is "destabilizing" the region -- a charge he denies.Chavez, in turn, accuses the United States of planning to invade his country. The United States also has expressed concerns about Venezuela's purchase of 100,000 Kalashnikov assault rifles from Russia.The first 30,000 rifles are set to arrive next month.Relations between Spain and the United States also have chilled under Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, who withdrew peacekeeping troops from Iraq immediately after taking office in April 2004.Zapatero first announced the sale during a visit to Venezuela in March.Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

TUCSON, Arizona (CNN) -- President Bush launched a new push to crack down on illegal immigration from Mexico, promising to "harden" the southern U.S. border while reviving his proposal for a guest-worker program critics say is a form of amnesty."The American people should not have to choose between a welcoming society and a lawful society," Bush told an array of customs, immigration and border patrol officers at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base. "We can have both at the same time."After spending the Thanksgiving holiday with family at his Crawford, Texas, ranch, the president hit the road to sell his immigration policy, with a stop in El Paso, Texas, scheduled for Tuesday.Bush endorsed building more jail cells to hold those caught inside the United States illegally, speeding up deportations, cracking down on fraudulent papers and "hardening" the border with additional officers, fences and monitoring devices."Securing our border is essential to securing the homeland," he said.Bush also urged Congress to back his proposal for a temporary-worker program, a long-standing idea he said would match legal immigrants with employers "to fill jobs that Americans will not do." But he said the program would not provide a path to citizenship for those who entered the country illegally, saying that doing so would encourage other would-be migrants to cross the border."I support increasing the number of annual green cards that can lead to citizenship," Bush said. "But for the sake of justice and for the sake of border security, I'm not going to sign an immigration bill that includes amnesty."Bush also said he would crack down on U.S. businesses that hire illegal immigrants, saying American employers "have an obligation to abide by the law."The renewed focus on immigration follows a sharp drop in the president's approval rating, and recent polls indicate most of his fellow Republicans oppose his handling of the issue.Many of his conservative allies have criticized the guest-worker program, which they say would allow illegal immigrants to obtain legal status. Many Democrats have also opposed the proposal, which Bush first outlined in January 2004. (Full story)Rep. Tom Tancredo, an outspoken advocate of a tough stance on illegal immigration, said Bush's credibility "is on the line, big-time" over the issue."People even in his own party are worried about whether or not you can really take to the bank what he tells you," said the Colorado Republican. "So the president has not only got to actually say the right stuff, he's got to do the right stuff. We've got to see action on top of words."But one GOP analyst has warned that Bush must strike a delicate balance by talking tough on border security without alienating swing voters, women and Hispanics -- the latter a group Republicans have tried to court since Bush's first presidential campaign."Republicans are talking about solutions rather than just making a lot of noise," said Leslie Sanchez, the former director of Hispanic communications for the Republican National Committee. "But with those solutions come a lot of things that can look like immigrant-bashing."White House spokesman Scott McClellan said Bush wants a "comprehensive" overhaul of immigration policy, emphasizing both border security and the guest-worker proposal. But he denied that represented any shift in the president's focus.CNN's Elaine Quijano contributed to this report.

DENVER, Colorado (AP) -- Travelers trying to get home after Thanksgiving were stranded across the Plains on Monday as the region's first big snowstorm of the season closed hundreds of miles of highways, cutting visibility to zero and piling up drifts 6 feet high.Snow driven by wind up to 69 mph fell from North Dakota to the Texas Panhandle, shutting down schools, post offices and South Dakota state government.Four deaths were blamed on slippery roads in South Dakota, Nebraska and Kansas, and a fifth person was killed when tornado picked up and hurled a car in Arkansas. "It's not safe for anybody," said Sharon Rouse, owner of a towing service at Kearney, Nebraska.Eastbound lanes of Interstate 70 were closed for nearly 350 miles from Denver across the Plains to Russell, Kansas. Westbound lanes were reopened in some areas. (See some snowy trouble)"We're just waiting," said Corey Dagner, who was stuck in Limon, Colorado., on his way home to Illinois after attending a wedding at the Breckenridge ski resort. "Nobody's sure what's going on and what time they're going to open the interstate."Denver International Airport was spared, and had an estimated 158,000 travelers Sunday, one of the busiest travel days of the year. "We had some wind, that's it," said airport spokesman Chuck Cannon.Motels in Limon, 70 miles east of Denver, filled up quickly Sunday night. About 50 people who could not find or afford a room took refuge at First Baptist Church, sleeping on pews or in classrooms. Most left Monday morning in search of another route home."We're just a place where people get stranded in storms," pastor Rick Taylor said. It happens two or three times a year, he said.The Colorado portion of I-70 was dry Monday, but the highway was impassable in western and central Kansas because visibility was nearly zero. Colorado halted eastbound traffic because there are so few places to stop and wait on the state's sparsely populated eastern plains.Almost 1,000 people spent Sunday night in shelters along I-70, said Joy Moser, a spokeswoman for the Kansas Division of Emergency Management. Even though the blizzard warning for northwest and north-central Kansas expired Monday afternoon, shelters remained open in anticipation of more stranded travelers."You can't even see," said Bill Kanitig of the Sherman County, Kansas, sheriff's office. "The highway is snowpacked, and it's slick and everybody's sliding off."Numerous other highways also were closed across the Plains, including a 175-mile stretch of I-90 across South Dakota, and a 60-mile stretch of I-80 in Nebraska."This is probably the worst storm I've ever encountered," Terri Gosney said by telephone from a truck stop alongside I-90 in Mitchell, South Dakota, as she waited to resume her trip home to Minong, Wisconsin.Wind, snow and ice in South Dakota snapped electrical lines -- coating some cables with ice a few inches thick -- and knocked out power to much of the eastern part of the state, and it wasn't expected to be restored until at least Tuesday, Gov. Mike Rounds said."For a lot of people in eastern South Dakota, this is going to be one of those days where it's going to be very, very, cold before the heat gets turned back on," Rounds said.In Fairmount, North Dakota, electricians attempted to hook up generators to the town's water system on Monday afternoon. "There is no power to the well system," said Fairmount Fire Chief Dave Jacobson. "We still have water but it's getting pretty low here."Minnesota Department of Public Safety spokesman Kevin Smith said that despite the efforts to sand the major roads in northwestern parts of the state, "the wind is polishing the roads to glaze in about 20 minutes."The storm was heading toward the Great Lakes and retaining most of its clout, said National Weather Service meteorologist Fred Stasser of Goodland, Kansas."I would imagine they're going to get some of the same sort of deal," he said.The same storm whipped up tornadoes that destroyed at least eight homes in Arkansas on Sunday and damaged more than 30 homes at Fort Riley, Kansas. (See tornadoes touch down in Kansas -- 1:22)Grass fires driven by the storm system's wind blackened thousands of acres in Texas and Oklahoma. Several homes were destroyed in the two states and hundreds of families had to evacuate in Oklahoma.Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

(CNN) -- Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham said Monday he is resigning from Congress after pleading guilty to taking more than $2 million in bribes in a criminal conspiracy involving at least three defense contractors.After entering his plea in San Diego, California, the eight-term California Republican said he was "deeply sorry.""The truth is I broke the law, concealed my conduct and disgraced my office," he told reporters, his voice strained with emotion. "I know I will forfeit my reputation, my worldly possessions -- most importantly the trust of my friends and family." (Watch: 'Now I know great shame' -- 2:16)Asked by U.S. District Judge Larry Burns if he had accepted cash and gifts and then tried to influence the Defense Department on behalf of the donors, Cunningham said, "Yes, your honor."Cunningham's plea agreement with federal prosecutors stemmed from an investigation of the 2003 sale of his California home to a defense contractor for an inflated price.Under the agreement, Cunningham acknowledged a conspiracy to commit bribery, mail and wire fraud and tax evasion. He also pleaded guilty to a separate tax evasion violation for failing to disclose income in 2004.Prosecutors said Cunningham had taken bribes from contractors, which enabled him to buy a mansion, a suburban Washington condominium, a yacht and a Rolls Royce.A government statement said Cunningham received at least $2.4 million in bribes and will forfeit his $2.5 million mansion and about $1.8 million in cash, antiques, furnishings and other valuables.The charges carry a potential penalty of 10 years in prison and up to $350,000 in fines. Sentencing is scheduled for February 27."The citizens who elected Cunningham assumed that he would do his best for them," said U.S. Attorney Carol Lam. "Instead, he did the worst thing an elected official can do -- he enriched himself through his position and violated the trust of those who put him there."Cunningham, 63, sold his San Diego-area house in 2003 for $1.6 million to defense contractor Mitchell Wade, who then sold it for $700,000 less. The transactions sparked allegations that the contractor had bought the house at the higher price as payback for Cunningham's pressing the Pentagon to award contracts to the defense contractor.Cunningham, whose annual salary is about $160,000, then bought the $2.5 million mansion.Over the summer, federal agents raided Cunningham's California home, a boat he lives on while in Washington and the Washington offices of Wade's former employer, defense contractor MZM Inc.A decorated former Navy fighter pilot who shot down five MIGs in Vietnam, Cunningham served as an instructor in the Navy's famed "Top Gun" program."I learned in Vietnam that the true measure of a man is how he responds to adversity," he said. "I can't undo what I have done, but I can atone.""I'm almost 65 years old and I enter the twilight of my life. I intend to use the remaining time that God grants me to make amends, and I will."Cunningham would not respond to questions. "This is now a personal matter for the congressman and his family," said Harmony Allen, his chief of staff, in a written statement. "The office will not comment any further on today's proceedings other than to say that we are praying for Duke in these exceedingly difficult times." Cunningham was first elected in 1990. He represented the 50th District, which includes parts of San Diego and its northern suburbs. The district is solidly Republican.He served on a powerful defense appropriations subcommittee that approves spending for defense programs.Cunningham said in July that he wouldn't seek a ninth term next year; denying any wrongdoing at the time, he said that he intended to finish the remainder of his current term.The congressman said then that he decided not to run for re-election in part because of the toll the investigation had taken on his family and standing in the community. (Full story)"I publicly declared my innocence because I was not strong enough to face the truth," he said Monday. "So I misled my family, friends, staff, colleagues, the public, and even myself."In a written statement, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat, said the case "is just the latest example of the culture of corruption that pervades the Republican-controlled Congress, which ignores the needs of the American people to serve wealthy special interests and their cronies."Special electionCunningham's resignation will trigger a special election for his Southern California House seat, and at least half a dozen candidates are expected to make bids to succeed him.Some had begun taking steps to run for the seat after Cunningham announced in July that he would not seek re-election.Under California law, all candidates will appear on the same ballot in a special primary election to be held in January. If no single candidate receives more than half of the votes, a general election of the top vote-getters representing each political party would be held in March.The governor must specify within 14 days a date for the election.Despite Cunningham's admission of guilt, Democrats could have a hard time winning his seat. Last year, Cunningham easily defeated his Democratic opponent, Francine Busby, 58 percent to 36 percent.And President Bush beat his Democratic opponent, Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts, 55 percent to 44 percent in the district."It is a Republican seat," said Carl Forti, a spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee. "Even before the resignation, Democrats didn't have anybody running, and I wouldn't expect that to change."Busby is running again, and several Republicans have already announced or are eyeing a run, including ex-U.S. Rep. Brian Bilbray, ex-state assemblyman Howard Kaloogian, state Sen. Bill Morrow, businessman George Schwartzman and businessman Alan Uke.CNN's Ed Henry and Mark Preston contributed to this story.

(CNN) -- After months of political instability, the government of Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin fell Monday evening when three opposition parties united to topple him with a no-confidence vote in the House of Commons.Martin's center-left Liberal Party had been dogged by a corruption scandal. It will now face voters in an expected January election that could end 12 years of Liberal rule in America's largest trading partner -- after a campaign over the Christmas holidays that the prime minister argues most Canadians don't want.After losing the vote, a smiling and upbeat Martin rallied his Liberal caucus before they return to their home constituencies to "get fitted for snowshoes.""The decision about the future of our government will be made by Canadians. They will judge us, and they will judge our performance," said Martin. He said his party would run on its record of "hard work and good management."Addressing his troops, Conservative leader Stephen Harper called Monday "an historic evening.""This is not just just the end of a tired, directionless, scandal-plagued government. It's the start of a bright new future for this great country," Harper said.The opposition Conservatives, the leftist New Democrats and the separatist Bloc Quebecois joined forces to bring down Martin's government, which had lost its majority in an election last year. Monday's final vote was 171-133.Martin will meet Tuesday with Governor-General Michaelle Jean to set the date of the election, which is expected to be in mid- or late-January. Jean is the official representative of Canada's head of state, Queen Elizabeth II. The Conservatives and Bloc Quebecois had been threatening for months to bring down Martin and force an election. But until Monday, his government had survived with the support of the New Democrats and a handful of independents.After the vote, New Democratic leader Jack Layton accused the Liberals of "stubbornness" and "inflexibility," saying Martin's government had said no to "good ideas on key issues" that his party had put forward. The Liberals have run Canada since 1993. Recent polls give them the edge over Harper's Conservatives, but with fewer than 40 percent support among those polled, indicating that another minority government is likely.Polls also show that in vote-rich Quebec, the Bloc Quebecois is well ahead of the other parties, making the task of assembling a majority even more difficult.The leader of the Bloc, Gilles Duceppe, predicted voters in mostly French-speaking Quebec would issue "a judgment, and a very harsh one" on the Liberals in the wake of a corruption scandal that has particularly angered people in the province. The Liberals took big losses in the House of Commons in June 2004 amid what was known as the sponsorship scandal, in which government money was paid to advertising firms to shore up support for Canadian unity in French-speaking Quebec. Investigators determined most of the money went to firms with Liberal connections, with little or no work done in exchange, but placed most of the blame on former Prime Minister Jean Chretien.Martin was cleared of wrongdoing and issued a dramatic apology on behalf of his government in April. The Liberals agreed to pay $1.1 million back to the government after an initial report was issued November 1.But Harper's Tories have readied a good-government platform for the upcoming vote, with Harper vowing to curtail the influence of high-priced lobbyists in Ottawa if he becomes prime minister.Martin had proposed elections in March, after the expected release of a second report on the sponsorship scandal. He blasted the opposition earlier this month for moving toward a quick election, because the campaign would take place over the holidays -- "when Canadians least want one."Martin, who became prime minister in December 2003 after Chretien retired, became the fifth Canadian leader to lose a confidence vote. The last was Conservative Joe Clark, in 1979. He was replaced by Liberal Pierre Trudeau.The Liberals' political difficulties mark a sharp turnaround in Canadian politics. Just five years ago, with the political right divided between two rival parties, the Liberals coasted to a clear majority for their third consecutive election win.But the right has since unified into the new Conservative Party, which, coupled with the sponsorship scandal, helped cost the Liberals their majority in last year's election.The Liberals hold 133 of the 308 seats in the House of Commons, compared with 98 for the Conservatives, 53 for the Bloc Quebecois and 18 for the New Democrats. There are also four independents and two vacancies.