Russia central banker fights for life after attack

Gleb Bryanski

The first deputy chairman of Russia's central bank was fighting for his life in hospital on Thursday after gunmen with automatic weapons attacked him outside a Moscow sports stadium and killed his driver.

Andrei Kozlov, 41, a high-profile figure in Russian finance who was in charge of cleaning up the murky and fragmented banking system, underwent emergency surgery for serious gunshot wounds to his chest and stomach.

"His condition is critical but stable. We operated on him and he is in intensive care," a duty nurse at Moscow's Hospital No. 33 told Reuters.

Sources close to police investigations said Wednesday's attack on Kozlov, who has led an aggressive drive to shut down banks accused of money laundering and other crimes, bore the hallmarks of an attempted contract killing.

A law enforcement official at the hospital told Reuters security at the complex had been stepped up in case of further attacks on Kozlov.

The attack could have an impact on banking stocks such as Sberbank and on the interbank market, especially if the Kremlin reacts by cracking down on banks Kozlov investigated, analysts said.

The gunmen struck after a soccer match between bank employees at the stadium in the Sokolniki district in the northeast of the Russian capital.

BLOOD

In a car park outside the stadium, a pool of blood could be seen next to a dark blue Mercedes car. Nearby lay a body draped in plastic sheeting.

Russia's banking system grew out of chaos after the collapse of the Soviet Union when violence was a part of doing business. One analyst said the attack showed the sector had still not shaken off its past.

Contract-style killings of wealthy businessmen and bankers were common in the 1990s but they tapered off after President Vladimir Putin came to power in 2000.

"We are looking at all possible versions, including (Kozlov's) professional activities, mistaken identity, and his personal relations," Moscow's chief prosecutor Yuri Syomin was quoted as saying by Interfax.

Only last week, Kozlov called at a banking forum in the southern city of Sochi for tougher penalties against bankers found guilty of money laundering.

Russia has about 1,200 banks, many of them tiny outfits with little capital.

"This event forces us to acknowledge what the central bank has been up against from a community which has its roots in the wild early years of transition," said Rory MacFarquhar, an economist at Goldman Sachs in Moscow.

Kozlov started at what was then the Soviet central bank at the age of 24. He rose quickly through the ranks to become first deputy chairman in 1997. He left two years later for a spell in the private sector, rejoining the central bank in April 2002.

(Additional reporting by Douglas Busvine and Vera Kalian)

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Six British terror suspects due to appear in court

Six men were set to appear in a British court on Thursday in connection with an investigation targeting an alleged terror recruitment network, police said.

They were among 14 arrested across London in overnight raids on September 1, including at a Chinese restaurant.

The six were charged on Wednesday, bringing the total number of suspects charged in connection with the investigation to 10. Two others have been released without charge, while the remaining two remain in police custody.

Under British anti-terror laws, suspects can be detained by police for up to 28 days without being charged, subject to regular court approval.

The six will appear before the City of Westminster Magistrates' Court.

Muhammad Al-Figari, 42, from Tottenham, north London, was hit with two charges of receiving "instruction or training ... connected with the commission or preparation of acts of terrorism" and another charge of possessing "a record containing information of a kind likely to be useful to a person committing an act of terrorism".

Kadar Ahmed, 19, and a 17-year-old male, who cannot be named because of his age, both from south London, were charged with three counts of receiving training connected with the commission or preparation of acts of terrorism.

The 17-year-old also faced one charge of possessing information likely to be useful to a person committing an act of terrorism.

Atilla Ahmet, 42, from south London, was charged with four counts of soliciting or encouraging people at a meeting to murder others, two counts of publishing a statement with the intention of encouraging people to commit, prepare or instigate acts of terrorism, and two counts of holding information likely to be useful to a person committing an act of terrorism.

Moussa Brown, 40, from Walthamstow, east London is charged with two counts of providing "instruction or training in the making or use of firearms".

Saloum Joh, 21, from south London, was charged with possession of a prohibited firearm.

Four other men, including two brothers, were remanded in custody on Tuesday after appearing in court over the inquiry.

The Metropolitan Police said following the arrests that they were not linked to the arrest of more than two dozen people on August 10 over an alleged plot to blow-up transatlantic aircraft, nor to last year's suicide bomb attacks in London.

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Nonaligned nations ponder loss of Castro

ANITA SNOW,
Associated Press Writer

When Cuba last hosted the Nonaligned Movement summit, the Cold War still divided the world and Fidel Castro was a strapping 53-year-old inspiring armed movements in poor countries the world over.

The Cuban-inspired Sandinista rebels had just triumphed in Nicaragua, the Shah of Iran had just fallen, the U.S. still controlled the Panama Canal and wars of liberation from colonial powers raged in Africa.

To the leaders who gathered in Havana in August 1979, Castro was the symbol of their struggle for self-determination and freedom from U.S. domination.

This time around, it's not even clear that Castro will show up. Now 80 and convalescing from intestinal surgery, he said he hopes to meet with some foreign dignitaries. No public appearances are on the schedule, but expectations of a formal appearance were raised Wednesday when state television showed photos of him sitting up in his pajamas and chatting with a visiting Argentine politician.

As Cubans contemplate life without the only ruler most of them have ever known, the nations coming together this week to map out the developing world's agenda must also learn to fight on without the bearded guerrilla leader.

This time, instead of rifles and rockets as their weapons against colonial oppressors, they are using pens, syringes and energy deals against the enemies of illiteracy, disease and poverty.

"The Cuban people have accepted his illness with great maturity," said Wayne Smith, the former top U.S. diplomat in Havana. "Now the rest of the world, and especially the developing world, needs to get used to Cuba being ruled by someone else."

Smith predicted that Castro, who temporarily ceded power in July to his 75-year-old brother while he recovers from surgery, will likely make at least a symbolic appearance.

"I think he will be there sufficiently in spirit, and to some extent in the flesh, enough to reassure the leaders," said Smith, who represented the United States as an observer at the 1979 summit and showed up in Havana on a nostalgic visit this week.

Cuban National Assembly President Ricardo Alarcon noted that most of the foreign leaders haven't arrived yet, and he wouldn't rule out an appearance by Castro when they do.

"Fidel is not lounging in bed," Alarcon said. "He has a telephone in his hand, directing everything; he's up to date on everything, following it step by step."

But even government officials acknowledge that if Castro recovers enough to resume the presidency, it's unlikely he'll keep up the exhausting schedule he blamed for his still-undisclosed ailment.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, Castro's good friend, has already begun asserting himself as the Third World's leading statesman, employing Castro's anti-imperialist rhetoric and building up Venezuela's military as he reaches out to other developing countries with social programs funded by his oil-rich nation.

But times have changed considerably since the days when Castro established himself as the iconic leader of the world's leftist revolutionaries, supplying troops and arms to Africa and training leftist guerrillas in Latin America.

"Another world is necessary, urgent and possible," but war is not necessary to achieve it, Cuban Vice President Carlos Lage told foreign ministers at the summit Wednesday. "If we use our conscience, if we unite, if we make ourselves willing to defend our rights with ideas and decisiveness, we can achieve it."

Some things haven't changed — U.S. domination remains a rhetorical favorite, and then as now, Israel's bombing of Lebanon angered the gathered leaders.

But Cuba stopped fomenting revolutions more than a decade ago, and more of the nonaligned nations are now young democracies. They came to Havana this time seeking support for trade deals and joint ventures, the training of doctors and teachers, and energy independence.

It was Castro who designed many of these social programs, aimed at peacefully capturing hearts and minds.

One example is the Operation Miracle campaign to provide free eye surgeries to the poor. Financed in part by Venezuela, the program has restored eyesight to hundreds of thousands of people in 28 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean and will be expanded to Africa and Asia soon.

Cuba's "Yes, I Can" adult literacy program also is being featured this week, as the kind of social program developing nations can share for mutual benefit.

But the nonaligned nations apparently aren't ready to work out the details of such social programs this week. A document describing an ambitious global expansion of Cuba's literacy, health care and energy programs was shelved, organizers said Wednesday, because the summit agenda is simply too full to deal with it.

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Montreal shooting rampage kills student

PHIL COUVRETTE,
Associated Press Writer

A man in a black trench coat and a mohawk haircut opened fire Wednesday at a downtown Montreal college, slaying a young woman and wounding at least 19 other people before police shot and killed him, witnesses and authorities said.

Police dismissed suggestions that terrorism played a role in the lunch-hour attack at Dawson College, where scores of panicked students fled into the streets after the shooting began. Some had clothes stained with blood; others cried and clung to each other. Two nearby shopping centers and a daycare center also were evacuated.

"I was terrified. The guy was shooting at people randomly. He didn't care, he was just shooting at everybody," said student Devansh Smri Vastava. "There were cops firing. It was so crazy."

Witnesses said the attacker started firing outside the college before walking in the front door. Much of the shooting was in the second-floor cafeteria, where students dropped to the floor and lay in terror. At times the gunman hid behind vending machines before emerging to take aim — at one point at a teenager who tried to photograph him with his cell phone. Teachers ran through the halls, telling everyone to get out of the building.

Police rushed to the scene, hiding behind a wall as they exchanged fire with the gunman, whose back was against a vending machine, said student Andrea Barone, who was in the cafeteria. He said the officers proceeded cautiously because many students were trapped around the assailant, who yelled "Get back! Get back!" every time an officer tried to move closer.

Eventually, Barone said, the gunman went down in hail of gunfire.

Authorities did not provide any information about the attacker. Police spokesman Ean Lafreniere said there was just one gunman at the school and the search for any others was over.

Although police initially suggested the gunman had killed himself, Police Director Yvan DeLorme later said at a news conference that "based on current information, the suspect was killed by police."

Police with guns drawn stood behind a police cruiser as a SWAT team swarmed the 12-acre campus. The attacker's bloody body, covered in a yellow sheet, lay next to a police cruiser near an entrance to a school building.

Montreal General Hospital said 11 people were admitted, including eight who were in critical condition. Nine others were taken to two other hospitals. One young woman later died, a police official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the victim's next-of-kin had not yet been notified.

"Today we have witnessed a cowardly and senseless act of violence unfold at Montreal's Dawson College," Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said. "Our primary concern right now is to ensure the safety and recovery of all those who were injured during this tragedy."

The shooting recalled the 1999 attack at Columbine High School in Colorado, where two students wearing trench coats killed 13 people before committing suicide.

Canada's worst mass shooting also happened in Montreal. Gunman Marc Lepine killed 14 women at the Ecole Polytechnic on Dec. 6, 1989, before shooting himself.

The 25-year-old Lepine roamed the halls of the school firing a rifle, specifically targeting women whom he claimed in a suicide note had ruined his life. Nine other women and four men were wounded.

That shooting spurred efforts for new gun laws and greater awareness of societal violence — particularly domestic abuse. Canada's tighter gun law was achieved mainly as the results of efforts by survivors and relatives of Lepine's victims.

Dawson is more of a pre-college division than a traditional university. It was the first English-language institution in Quebec's network of university preparatory colleges when it was founded in 1969. With about 10,000 students, it is the largest college of general and vocational education, known by its French acronym CEGEP, in the province.

Witnesses to Wednesday's attack said a man wearing a black trench coat entered the school cafeteria and opened fire without uttering a word.

Derick Osei, 19, said he was walking down the stairs to the cafeteria when he saw a man with a gun.

"He ... just started shooting up the place. I ran up to the third floor and I looked down and he was still shooting," Osei said. "He was hiding behind the vending machines and he came out with a gun and started pointing and pointed at me. So I ran up the stairs. I saw a girl get shot in the leg."

Osei said people in the cafeteria were all lying on the floor.

"I saw the gunman who was dressed in black and at that time he was shooting at people," student Michel Boyer told CTV. "I immediately hit the floor. It was probably one of the most frightening moments of my life."

"He was shooting randomly, I didn't know what he was shooting at, but everyone was screaming, Get out of the building!" Boyer said. "Everybody was in tears. Everybody was so worried for their own safety for their own lives."

Raamias Hernandez, 19, said he had just finished his class when he saw everyone start to run.

He said the gunman was dressed in a black jacket and had a mohawk haircut. Hernandez said he started to take pictures with his cell phone with his friend and the suspect saw them and started shooting.

Vastava said he saw a man in military fatigues with "a big rifle" storm the cafeteria.

"He just started shooting at people," Vastava said, adding that he heard about 20 shots fired. He also said teachers ran through the halls telling students to get out. "We all ran upstairs."

Barone, 17, said he was sitting in the cafeteria with his girlfriend and some friends when he heard some shots.

"At first I thought it was a firecracker," he said. "Then I turned around and I saw him. He was dressed in a black trench coat and I saw his hand firing a handgun in every direction."

Barone said a police officer emerged from a corner next to the cafeteria and fired a shot in the direction of the gunman no more than several yards away and missed him. Five or six more police officers showed up, he said. Barone said it was like a running battle with five or six shots fired in both directions every minute.

After police eventually killed the gunman, the officers helped the students leave the cafeteria, crawling out on their bellies along a wall.

Barone said as they were crawling out toward an exit they saw a girl who had been shot in the torso and who was face down surrounded by a pool of blood.

He said officers told them: "Don't look, don't look. Keep going out."

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AP Writer Rob Gillies contributed to this report from Toronto.

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Judge in Saddam trial deflects criticism

QAIS Al-BASHIR and JAMAL HALABY,

Associated Press Writer

The chief judge in Saddam Hussein's trial brushed aside prosecution demands to step down for letting the ousted president make political statements, as more witnesses on Wednesday told of chemical attacks against Kurds.

Chief prosecutor Minqith al-Faroon took offense at Saddam's remarks during Tuesday's session, when the ousted president lashed out at "agents of Iran and Zionism" and threatened to "crush the heads" of his accusers.

Saddam's remarks were directed at Kurdish witnesses who testified about chemical attacks and other atrocities during the government's Operation Anfal crackdown on the Kurds in the late 1980s.

"You allowed this court to become a political podium for the defendants," al-Faroon told Chief Judge Abdullah al-Amiri. "The action of the court leans toward the defendants. Therefore, I ask your honor to step down."

A lawyer for one of the Kurdish witnesses also told the court that Saddam "hurt our feelings" with his statements, which she said were "illegal and must be stopped." The lawyer's name was not made public because of court security rules.

Al-Amiri, a Shiite Arab, refused to step aside, arguing that a Muslim successor to the Prophet Muhammad allowed defendants to express their opinions. The judge said one of the "pillars of the judiciary is to treat everyone equally" and ordered the trial to continue.

Saddam and six others, including his cousin Ali "Chemical Ali" al-Majid, have been accused of genocide and other offenses in connection with the 1987-88 campaign to suppress a Kurdish revolt in northern Iraq.

The prosecution alleges that about 180,000 Kurds died — many of them civilians. Saddam and the others could face death by hanging if convicted.

Court treatment of Saddam has been a contentious issue in the other case against him — the killing of 148 Shiites following a 1982 assassination attempt against him in Dujail.

That trial was marked by frequent outbursts by Saddam and former intelligence chief Barzan Ibrahim until the trial judge was replaced by a no-nonsense jurist, Raouf Abdul-Rahman, who threw out defendants and defense lawyers when he decided they were out of order. His tough line brought defense demands that Abdul-Rahman step down for bias against the defendants.

The courts in both trials appeared to be trying to balance respect for a former Iraqi president — even one alleged to have committed horrific crimes — with the need to maintain order and prevent Saddam from using the proceedings for propaganda, especially among his fellow Sunni Arabs at a time of rising sectarian tensions.

A verdict in the Dujail trial is expected on Oct. 16. Saddam could also receive a death sentence in that trial.

The Anfal trial was due to resume on Thursday.

Saddam has insisted that the crackdown against the Kurds was directed at rebellious Kurdish militias that were allied with Iran during the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war. He maintains that his regime treated loyal Iraqi Kurds fairly.

On Wednesday, the court heard four witnesses testify about widespread chemical attacks against Kurdish villages. Several witnesses said they fled to Iran but returned after an amnesty decree — only to be rounded up, imprisoned and tortured.

"I fled to Iran with my family," farmer Saadoun Khudhir Qadir, 76, testified. "Eight months later, we heard there was an amnesty issued by Saddam. ... Upon our return, Iraqi authorities arrested us and put us in jail."

Another witness, Salah Qadir Amin, said his family also left Iran after hearing of an amnesty but ended up in prison.

"My father, mother, uncle, grandmother and two brothers, my other uncle were all in jailed in Irbil," he said as his voice choked with emotion. He said the identity cards of his mother and one brother were found in a mass grave near Sulaimaniyah but "they never found the rest.

The chief judge asked if he was seeking compensation.

"Nothing can compensate me for the loss of my parents and my family, who were killed without reason," Amin replied.

A self-described former Kurdish guerrilla, Omar Othman, said he received medical treatment in Iran and Germany after suffering chemical burns during an attack in March 1988.

Another witness, Hama Ahmed, told of attacks by Iraqi Sukhoi jets that dropped chemical weapons on his village in February 1988.

"Iraqi forces ransacked our village and took our animals," he said. "They took everything."

Saddam has accused the Kurdish witnesses of trying to sow ethnic division in Iraq by alleging chemical attacks and mass arrests in their villages.

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AP correspondents Qais al-Bashir reported from Baghdad and Jamal Halaby from Amman, Jordan.

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Nokia, EA Team Up for Gaming on the Go

Elizabeth Millard,

Newsfactor.com

Mobile communications company Nokia and game developer Electronic Arts have inked a collaboration deal that will see EA becoming a major supplier of games for Nokia mobile devices.

Customers will be able to access video games through a collection of e-stores from their mobile devices. Initially, they can choose from seven EA titles, which include some of the most popular games the company has produced, such as The Sims 2, Tetris, and Doom.

"Casual gaming should grow by leaps and bounds, now that there are more sophisticated games, and this deal gives EA a good opportunity to repurpose some content as well," JupiterResearch analyst Michael Gartenberg added.

Currently, only customers who have the Nokia Content Discoverer system will be able to download games. The system allows users to access the e-stores through their handsets, and is embedded in nine Nokia models. The company noted that it will be embedded in six more by the end of 2006.

Queue Factor

The team-up of Nokia and EA will likely boost mobile gaming, an entertainment arena that is already experiencing steady growth from burgeoning consumer interest, according to Gartenberg.

"There's definitely demand," he said. "It's just a different demographic than hardcore gamers. These aren't people who are going to sit on their couches playing games on their phones. Instead, it's more casual gaming, like killing some time while waiting in line."

Phones are ideal for capturing the attention, and discretionary dollars, of these particular game enthusiasts, Gartenberg said. Advances in cell phones in the last few years, with better graphics, higher resolution screens, and Internet connectivity, have made mobile gaming more of an option than ever before for mobile users.

Starting in mid-2007, EA will also support the launch of a new mobile games platform being developed by Nokia by creating some customized, exclusive games for Nokia S60 devices, the companies noted.

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Mobile phone operators to be forced to cut prices

Aissetou N'Gom

Ofcom, the UK telecoms regulator, said on Wednesday it planned to cut the prices that mobile phone operators can charge for connecting calls from rival networks or landlines. These changes would come into effect when the current regulation expires in March 2007.

Ofcom said it had imposed a limit on average termination charges of 5.63p per minute (ppm) or 6.31 ppm, depending on the extent to which operators can use 900MHz or 1800MHz spectrum bands for their networks.Generally speaking, lower frequencies allow carriers to provide coverage for a larger area, while higher frequencies allow carriers to provide service to more customers in a given area. These figures are subject to review and could change by half a pence.

Until now, restrictions on charges have only applied to calls connected using operators' 2G networks (ie Vodafone, O2, T-Mobile and Orange). Ofcom said it was unnecessary to place restrictions on 3G as too few customers were using the service at the point of the assessment.

In March 2006, Ofcom consulted on its view that the controls remain necessary, and proposed to extend regulation to include the connection of calls to 3G networks as 3 now had more than 1m customers. After considering responses to the March consultation, Ofcom confirmed that the connection of voice calls to the networks of Vodafone, O2, Orange, T-Mobile and 3 each constitute a separate economic market.

Regulation, therefore, remains necessary to protect consumers from unduly high prices. Ofcom therefore proposes that the average termination charges of Vodafone, O2, T-Mobile and Orange should be reduced to approximately 5.3ppm across 2G and 3G networks by 2010/11. The average termination charge of 3 should be reduced to approximately 6.0ppm by 2010/11.

This will be the first time that 3 has been subject to restrictions. Ofcom is consulting on how quickly these reductions should be implemented, they may stagger the changes or have one large reduction. These controls should expire on 31 March 2011. Ofcom states that the changes are not a response to customer issues as no consumer groups have voiced their concerns to Ofcom.

John Earl, a spokesman for Vodafone, said: "We're pleased to see that Ofcom is taking into account the cost of running a 2g and 3g network. We feel it's very positive that they have gone to a lot of effort to understand the way in which this running works. For us it's good that we have clarity on the termination through 2010 to 2011 and we welcome the move to a more level playing field of wholesale call termination services."

Edward Brewster, a spokesperson for 3, said that the proposals were in line with the announcements made earlier this year and that the company was reviewing the proposals with interest and would respond in due course.

Ofcom also announced that it intends to carry out a review of the wholesale SMS (text message) termination market in 2007.

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DoCoMo to buy stake in fuel cell company

HANS GREIMEL,
Associated Press Writer

Japan's largest mobile phone company plans to buy a large stake in a fuel cell maker to develop handsets with longer-lasting hydrogen-powered batteries that are friendly to the environment.

Tokyo-based NTT DoCoMo Inc. said it will buy a 36.5 percent stake in Aquafairy Co. through newly issued shares. Both companies are already developing a micro fuel cell recharger for DoCoMo's latest 3G FOMA handsets based on Aquafairy's hydrogen fuel cell technology. This week's announcement is likely to deepen their collaboration.

The move comes as DoCoMo and other mobile phone companies look for ways to extend talking hours and standby times as they pack new gadgets with power-hungry features like the video, Internet and digital camera capabilities found in FOMA.

Because fuel cells generate power, instead of simply storing it, by combining hydrogen and oxygen to produce electricity, the technology can overcome limitations of other batteries, such as the presence of hazardous metals or chemicals.

The arrival of fuel cells would eliminate the need for lithium ion batteries, which have been the subject of recalls by laptop makers Dell Inc. and Apple Computer Inc. after a few fires involving improperly manufactured batteries.

Lithium ion batteries also take time to recharge. Fuel cell systems, by contrast, are recharged simply by replacing methanol fuel cartridges, the source of the hydrogen, or by refilling them with fuel.

But fuel cells must still overcome such hurdles as water diffusion, a byproduct of electricity generation, and the handling of highly flammable hydrogen before they can be commercially successful in consumer electronics.

The Aquafairy deal follows a similar project DoCoMo launched with Japanese electronics firm Fujitsu Ltd. in 2004. It was not immediately clear how this week's announcement would affect the Fujitsu partnership.

Aquafairy is an Osaka-based start up that was founded earlier this year to develop and markets micro fuel cells.

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Official calls Smith death 'suspicious'

JESSICA ROBERTSON,
Associated Press Writer

The death of Anna Nicole Smith's 20-year-old sbbn was termed "suspicious" by the coroner's office Wednesday, and a formal inquiry that could lead to criminal charges has been scheduled.

Authorities said at least one other person was in the hospital room when Daniel Wayne Smith died Sunday while visiting his mother, a reality TV star and former Playboy playmate, three days after she gave birth to a baby girl.

The person was not a member of the hospital staff, Reginald Ferguson, assistant commissioner of the Royal Bahamian Police Force, told The Associated Press. He refused to reveal the person's identity, saying he did not want to jeopardize the investigation.

Her Majesty's Coroner Linda P. Virgill scheduled the inquest for the week of Oct. 23, saying it "is the right course of action." If jurors at the inquest decide a crime took place, the case would be sent to the attorney general's office, authorities said.

"Whenever there is a suspicious death we would have an inquest to determine how the person died," Bradley Neely, chief inspector of the coroner's office, told AP Television News.

The inquest would be open to the public, Virgill said.

She said authorities believe they know what killed Smith, but were awaiting a toxicology report to confirm the findings. She declined to disclose details but said there was no sign of physical injury to Smith.

"I can confirm that there was definitely a third person in the room at the time of death and I do know who that person is," Virgill said. "But I am unwilling to reveal that information at this time for various reasons."

Police were reconstructing Smith's steps since his arrival Saturday in the Bahamas, said Reginald Ferguson, the assistant commissioner of the Royal Bahamian Police Force.

Ferguson told the AP that no drug paraphernalia or traces of illegal drugs were found on Daniel Smith, in the hospital room or near the room.

Police believe Smith went directly to Doctors Hospital in Nassau, where his mother was, after flying in to the Bahamas, Ferguson said.

Daniel Smith was the son of Anna Nicole and Bill Smith, who married in 1985 and divorced two years later. The son had small roles in her movies "Skyscraper" and "To the Limit." He also appeared several times on the E! reality series "The Anna Nicole Show."

Anna Nicole Smith married Texas oil tycoon J. Howard Marshall II in 1994, when she was 26 and he was 89. He died the following year.

She then feuded with Marshall's son, Pierce Marshall, over her entitlement to the tycoon's estate before he died in June at age 67.

Smith won a $474 million judgment, which was cut to about $89 million, and eventually reduced to zero. In May, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Smith could continue to pursue her claim in federal courts in California, despite a Texas state court ruling that Marshall's youngest son was the sole heir.

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65 bodies found in latest Iraq bloodshed

SAMEER N. YACOUB,
Associated Press Writer

Police found the bodies of 65 men who had been tortured, shot and dumped, most around Baghdad, while car bombs, mortar attacks and shootings killed at least 30 people around Iraq and injured dozens more.

Two U.S. soldiers were killed, one by an attack in restive Anbar province Monday, and the other Tuesday by a roadside bomb south of Baghdad, the U.S. military command said.

Police said 60 of the bodies were found overnight around Baghdad, with the majority dumped in predominantly Sunni Arab neighborhoods, police said. Another five were found floating down the Tigris river in Suwayrah, 25 miles south of the capital.

The bodies were bound, bore signs of torture and had been shot, said police 1st Lt. Thayer. Such killings are usually the work of death squads — both Sunni Arab and Shiite — who kidnap people and often torture them with power drills or beat them badly before shooting them.

Forty-five of the victims were discovered in predominantly Sunni Arab parts of western Baghdad, and 15 were found in mostly Shiite areas of eastern Baghdad.

In the capital, a car bomb killed at least 19 people and wounded more than 62 after it detonated in a large square used mostly as a parking lot near the main headquarters of Baghdad's traffic police department, police said. At least two of the dead were traffic police officers.

In eastern Baghdad, a bomb in a parked car exploded next to a passing Iraqi police patrol in the Zayona neighborhood, killing 8 people and wounding 17, police said. At least 3 of the dead and 7 of the wounded were police officers.

Two mortar shells landed on al-Rashad police station in southeastern Baghdad, killing a policeman and wounding two others, police said. Another two policemen were killed when two mortar rounds landed near their station in Baghdad's eastern neighborhood of Mashtal. Three others were injured.

In the former insurgent stronghold of Fallujah, 40 miles west of Baghdad, two pedestrians were killed and two others injured, apparently in the crossfire between U.S. troops and unidentified gunmen in the city's main market, police said.

Baghdad has been the focus of most of Iraq's violence, and thousands of U.S. and Iraqi forces are taking part in a security crackdown. An average of 51 people a day died violently last month in the capital, according to the Iraqi Health Ministry.

Some lawmakers squabbled over a resolution demanding a timetable for a U.S. troop withdrawal, and others failed to resolve a deadlock over a Shiite-sponsored bill that Sunni Arabs fear will carve up the country.

A group of lawmakers tried to capitalize Tuesday on the unpopularity of U.S. troops among many Shiite and Sunni legislators, seeking approval of a resolution setting a timetable for the withdrawal of all foreign troops, which the Shiite-dominated government has so far refused to do.

Sponsored by supporters of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and some Sunni Arabs, the resolution managed to gather 104 signatures in the 275-member parliament before it was effectively shelved by being sent to a committee for review.

No headway was made on parliament's most contentious issue since it reconvened last week from summer recess — legislation that will set in place the mechanism for establishing autonomous regions as part of a federal Iraq.

Sunni Arabs have said the bill could split the country into three distinct sectarian and ethnic cantons and have vehemently opposed it.

Although federalism is part of Iraq's new constitution, and there is already an autonomous Kurdish region in the north, special legislation and a referendum would be needed to turn Iraq into a full federation.

Parliament's biggest political bloc, the Shiite United Iraqi Alliance submitted the bill last week. It would be the first step toward creating a separate autonomous state in the predominantly Shiite south, much like the zone run by Kurds in the north.

Objections from Sunni Arabs and an apparent split among Shiites led leaders to delay the debate until Sept. 19.

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Italy and Libya accused of abuse

David Willey

BBC News, Rome

Italy and Libya have been accused of abusing the human rights of African migrants trying to enter the EU.

The New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) group says Libyan and Italian authorities have forcibly repatriated thousands of foreigners.

Some of those faced possible persecution or torture in their home countries, HRW says in a new report.

The group says the Italian deportations took place under former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.

The detailed 135-page report documents how the Libyan authorities forcibly repatriated about 145,000 foreigners between 2003 and 2005.

Many of them were submitted to beatings and arbitrary arrest.

Those forcibly returned to Eritrea or Somalia faced possible persecution or torture, Human Rights Watch said.

'Mass deportations'

Bill Frelick, the Director of Refugee Policy for Human Rights Watch, said Libya is not a safe country for migrants, asylum seekers or refugees.

He accused the European Union of working with Libya to block people from reaching Europe rather than helping them to get the protection they need.

There is no asylum law in Libya, a country of just over five million people, which has more than a million foreigners living in the country without proper documentation.

Human Rights Watch castigated Italy also for flouting international law by carrying out mass deportations of refugees who did manage to cross the Mediterranean in small boats to the Italian island of Lampedusa near Sicily.

More than 2,800 mainly African refugees were shipped or flown back to Libya during the former government of Mr Berlusconi without being allowed to file asylum claims.

The Italian authorities refused permission for officials of the NGO to visit the detention centre on Lampedusa, where eyewitnesses have reported overcrowding and physical abuse by guards.

But Human Rights Watch said the new Italian government, led by Romano Prodi, has now halted collective expulsions and recognises that Libya is not a safe place for migrants to be returned.

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Reds in the bed - Stalin's sex drive exposed

Murdo MacLeod

He has been worshipped, feared, and even denounced. But now the sexy side of Joseph Stalin is being exposed in a controversial Russian film.

The Soviet tyrant's relationship with a woman 22 years his junior is to be turned into a steamy TV and film drama this autumn.

The production team admits it will provoke a storm of anger in Russia and reignite the debate over the portrayal of one of history's most infamous dictators who sent millions to their deaths. It comes a year after German filmmakers sparked a major row by depicting Hitler as warm and caring in the film Downfall.

Yevo Zhena, or 'His Wife', is being made as a £1.5m four-part blockbuster to be shown on the Rossiya TV Channel this autumn. There are also plans for a feature-film version to be sold internationally.

The drama focuses on Stalin's relationship with his second wife, Nadezhda Alliluyeva, and depicts the feared ruler as a passionate lover who missed the climax of the Russian Revolution because he was in bed with Alliluyeva, then a teenager.

The two first met in 1908. He was 30 and she was eight when her father, Sergei Alliluyeva, offered Stalin shelter after he had escaped from prison. Stalin's first wife, Ekaterina Svanidze, had died a year earlier after four years of marriage.

Stalin and Alliluyeva married in 1919 and had an often stormy relationship until she mysteriously died in 1932.

The film shows them striking up a romantic attachment in early 1917, after he returned from exile in Siberia. One scene sees Stalin helping the nervous teenager undress, and in another he pulls her into a bath with him.

Even more controversially, the film claims that he missed the storming of the Winter Palace during the October Revolution because he was in bed with Alliluyeva. As they listen to the shooting outside, Stalin casually remarks that the Bolsheviks may or may not have taken power. Yevo Zhena is based on a book published in 2001, called The Only Women, which was based on new material from archives but which dramatised the gaps between what could be proved from research.

The film takes the scholars' view of Alliluyeva's death, saying that she committed suicide after a public row, and dismisses popular conspiracy theories suggesting Stalin murdered her or had her killed.

After Stalin insults her at a banquet, she is shown walking through the Kremlin alone, and then a shot is heard.

Mira Todorovskaya, the co-director, said: "Stalin was a devil and monster, but in our film you can't see that.

"People will say that we have beautified Stalin and made him not as he was in real life. But I think my film will have opponents from both sides."

Todorovskaya said she believed that Alliluyeva helped keep Stalin's behaviour under control, calling her "his second conscience".

Historian Simon Sebag Montefiore, who wrote a best-selling book on the Soviet tyrant, Stalin: Court Of The Red Tsar, and who is now researching a volume on Stalin's early life to be published next April, said: "It's not correct to say that he missed out on the Revolution. He didn't help storm the buildings, but that's because he didn't have a military role. He was the editor of Pravda, which was a very important job because the paper was crucial in the days before radio and television.

"The producers are right to dismiss the conspiracy theories about Stalin killing her or having her killed. All the evidence points to her having committed suicide.

"Alliluyeva's death did affect Stalin, although I disagree with the suggestion that she kept him in check or acted as a 'conscience'. He was extremely brutal before she died. But losing her helped make him more paranoid and affected his views of families and spouses, such as imprisoning or torturing wives of suspects."

Dr Andrei Rogatchevski, a lecturer in Russian culture at Glasgow University, said: "It will be very interesting and will spark a lot of debate. There are still some who are nostalgic for the kind of strong leadership which Stalin gave. They don't want the gulags or terror back, but they believe that such a vast country can only be ruled by a strong man like Stalin. They won't like Stalin being portrayed as missing the Revolution to be with his lover.

"Many others in Russia will not like to see a man who caused the death of millions being seen as loving and tender. As well as the terror, many still blame Stalin for the blunders at the beginning of the Second World War which cost millions of lives and allowed the Germans to advance into Russia."

Three years after Stalin's death, the 'excesses' of his rule were denounced by Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev, who announced a policy of "De-Stalinisation."

In the film, Stalin is played by award-winning Georgian actor Duta Skhirtladze, with Olga Budina starring as his young lover.

Budina recently played the part of Grand Duchess Anastasia, the youngest daughter of the last Russian tsar, Nicholas II.

Anastasia's fate has been the subject of even more debate than Alliluyeva, with many believing Anastasia survived the murder of the Imperial family in 1918 and managed to escape to the West.

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Israel: Tourists asked about sex-trade

Michael Freund

When Devorah Leah Bandorenko went with her three-year-old son to the Israeli Embassy here earlier this year to apply for a tourist visa to visit her ailing 85-year-old grandmother in Karmiel, she did not expect to be asked whether she was a prostitute.

"I couldn't believe it," said the Orthodox Bandorenko, who covers her hair with a wig and works full-time at the Chabad-Lubavitch Center in Volgograd.

"The official at the Israeli Consulate told me I need to bring proof that I will not sell my child in Israel, and that I do not plan to work there as a prostitute," she said in an interview in fluent Hebrew, with tears welling up in her eyes.

"They told me that I was young and attractive, so they suspected that I was planning to go to Israel to make some money in a sordid and disgusting way. How can they treat people like this? And just how is someone supposed to prove that they are not a prostitute?"
Six months after submitting her application, Bandorenko has yet to receive a visa.

Although the Foreign Ministry vigorously denies that Russian Jewish women seeking visas at the Moscow embassy are subject to such questioning, Bandorenko, it appears, is not alone in having been confronted in such a manner by Israeli consular officials.

"That is a known thing, it has been going on for some time," said an Israeli official based in Moscow. "The consular staff frequently ask good-looking women seeking to visit Israel to prove that they are not prostitutes, or that they do not plan to work in the sex trade while they are there. It is completely outrageous, extremely insulting and it should be stopped."

"Consular officials do not speak that way, and I can assure you that such things do not happen," Foreign Ministry spokesman Eddie Shapira said.

According to Shapira, who served in Moscow until returning to Jerusalem last year, "Such claims are utterly baseless. Our staff meticulously follows the rules and procedures laid down by the Interior Ministry and by the consular section of the Foreign Ministry."

"Anyone who feels that a consular official has not treated them properly," he said, "can submit a complaint to the Interior Ministry and the Foreign Ministry, and it will be reviewed with the utmost seriousness."

Shapira noted that some 50,000 Russian citizens visited Israel last year, and that the consular staff at the Moscow embassy handled hundreds of requests for visas on a daily basis, largely without incident.

But Inna Chizikova, a Russian Jew with grown children who edits a Jewish community newspaper, told The Jerusalem Post about a similar experience she had when she went to the embassy to apply for a visa to attend her son's wedding in Jerusalem.

"My husband, my mother and I, together with our other son, went to request visas," Chizikova recalled. "Then, in front of my family members, the clerk told me that I was very pretty and asked if perhaps I was going to Israel to make money as a prostitute. My husband thought it was a joke, but for me it was terrible. I felt horrible afterward."

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Sex and the mobile Russian

Besides giving the world vodka and tennis ace Maria Sharapova, Russians are becoming famous for things far removed, like having sex in a moving car.

According to a poll conducted by KRC Research and Goodyear, 25 per cent Russians admitted to making out in a moving vehicle.

The poll also found that Russians, who were voted the worse drivers in over 40 European countries, do not use seatbelts, break speed limits, drive through red lights, drive drunk and have sex while driving more often than other Europeans.

Approximately 36 per cent of Russian drivers admitted to regularly exceeding speed limits, which was the highest rate in Europe, Ananova.com quoted a report from the Delovoi Peterburg newspaper, as saying. Russian natives even talk on their mobile phones while driving more often than in other European countries. And about 30% of those polled in Russia had driven drunk before. It was also found that folks of Russia do not pay enough attention to their physical condition when they are going to take charge of the steering wheel.

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China tightens controls on foreign news

China on Sunday announced detailed controls on the distribution of news by foreign news agencies, banning all content that violates its own tight media restrictions.

The new measures took effect as soon as they were issued by the official Xinhua News Agency.

They limit foreign news agencies to distributing news only through Xinhua or entities authorized by Xinhua.

The detailed rules ban news content that disrupts "China's economic and social order or undermine China's social stability," Xinhua said.

The limits also ban news that undermines the country's "national unity, sovereignty and territorial integrity," it said.

The announcement said the rules would also apply to release of news and information in Hong Kong and Taiwan, although it was unclear how they would be applied given the separate legal systems in those territories.

China has long sought to limit foreign distribution of news inside the country while exercising harsh limits on domestic media that are often arbitrarily enforced by vaguely worded state security rules that mandate harsh penalties, including long prison terms, for violations.

The new rules appeared designed to end any uncertainties over the government's determination to prevent foreign news businesses from operating in the Chinese mainland.

"Foreign news agencies shall not directly solicit subscription of their news and information services in China," it said.

Xinhua said the rules were meant to "promote the dissemination of news and information in a sound and orderly manner."

Other news banned by the rules included: information that may, "endanger China's national security, reputation and interests;" that which may "violation China's religious policies or preach 'evil cults' or superstition;" and that which might "incite hatred and discrimination among ethnic groups" or undermine their unity, it said.

Also forbidden are "other content banned by Chinese laws and administrative regulations," it said.

"Xinhua News Agency has the right to select the news and information released by foreign news agencies in China and shall delete any materials mentioned in the items above," it said.

"If a foreign news agency violates the Measures, for example, Xinhua News Agency shall give it a warning, demand rectification within a prescribed time limit, suspend its release of specified content, suspend or cancel its qualifications for releasing news and information in China," it added.

The rules impose "disciplinary penalties" on staff members who violate such restrictions, it said.

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Blair meets Palestinian leader

Phil Hazlewood

AP

British Prime Minister Tony Blair has met Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas as he continues a trip aimed at breathing new life into the dormant Middle East peace process and bolstering a UN-brokered ceasefire in Lebanon.

A day after extracting a pledge in Jerusalem from Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to meet the Palestinian leader without preconditions, Blair arrived in the West Bank town of Ramallah for his meeting with Abbas.

The two leaders shook hands on a red carpet outside the government compound in Ramallah and went inside for talks. They were due to hold a press conference later Sunday.

"There is a tremendous suffering amongst the Palestinian people as a result of the inability to make progress" in the peace talks, Blair said during a joint press conference with Olmert late Saturday.

"It is very important to see what we can do to re-energize this process," he said.

But the embattled Blair, who last week announced that he would stand down in the next 12 months, received a cool reception on the streets of Ramallah, where a demonstration has been called against his visit by groups who accuse him of pro-Israeli "bias."

Blair's office has already said his Middle East trip is unlikely to see any real breakthrough in the peace process, but that it is important to help restart talks.

Olmert told Blair late Saturday that he was ready to meet Abbas -- whom he last saw in an informal meeting in Jordan on June 23 -- without preconditions, but did not set a date.

"I am ready to work closely with the chairman of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmud Abbas, to implement the road map," Olmert said referring to a largely moribund internationally drafted peace blueprint.

"I intend to meet with chairman Abbas in order to make real progress on outstanding issues on our agenda. I have no preconditions or prerequisites for such a meeting," Olmert said after brief talks with the British premier at his Jerusalem residence.

Blair urged both sides to return to the roadmap, which has made next to no progress since it was launched in 2003.

"The only agreement that's ever going to stick... is an agreement where people resolve their differences through politics and not through violence," he said.

"We have a plan to get there -- the roadmap. We have to find a means of getting back to it," he said.

Drafted by the European Union, Russia, the United Nations and the United States, the roadmap sets out a series of steps necessary to establish a viable Palestinian state alongside a secure Israel.

The Israeli government cut nearly all contacts with the Palestinians after the radical Islamist movement Hamas formed a government in March following its upset January parliamentary election victory.

The European Union and the United States froze all direct financial aid to the Palestinian government, demanding that Hamas renounce violence, recognize the Jewish state and agree to abide by past agreements.

On Saturday, prime minister Ismail Haniya wrote in Britain's Guardian newspaper that by supporting boycotts and sanctions against his Hamas movement Blair had caused "untold hurt" to the Palestinians.

The letter came two days after a group of Palestinian intellectuals and political groups declared Blair persona non grata in the Palestinian territories, accusing him of "bias" on the Palestinian question.

Prior to his meeting with Abbas, Blair met with senior Israeli officials in Jerusalem and with families of Israeli soldiers seized by militants in Gaza and Lebanon.

On Monday he is due to travel on to Beirut.

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New Drug Treats Premature Ejaculation

Steven Reinberg
HealthDay Reporter

A new antidepressant drug designed specifically to treat premature ejaculation proved safe and effective in two large trials, researchers report.

However, it's not likely that dapoxetine, a short-acting selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI), will win U.S. approval anytime soon because it can produce side effects, one expert said.

SSRIs, which are used to treat depression and other psychiatric disorders, are now also used "off-label" as a treatment for premature ejaculation. They work because one of their side effects is to delay ejaculation. But, continued SSRI use can have some negative side effects, such as psychiatric problems, skin reactions, weight gain, and loss of libido, experts said.

"This is the first drug specifically developed for premature ejaculation," said lead researcher Dr. Jon L. Pryor, a professor and chairman of urologic surgery at the University of Minnesota. "It worked both in lengthening ejaculation time and in patients' feeling control over ejaculation and both subjects' and partners' feelings of satisfaction with intercourse," he said.

The findings are published in the Sept. 9 issue of The Lancet.

Premature ejaculation is the most common male sexual problem, even more common than erectile dysfunction, affecting 21 percent to 33 percent of American men.

In the study, Pryor and his colleagues looked at the combined results of two trials that tested dapoxetine. The trials included 2,614 men who had moderate to severe premature ejaculation.

The men were randomly assigned to receive a placebo or different doses of dapoxetine. They were told to take the drug one to three hours before having sex. At the start of the study, the men ejaculated, on average, in less than a minute after penetration.

However, after 12 weeks, men taking dapoxetine increased their time to ejaculation to 2.78 minutes for those receiving a 30-milligram dose, and to 3.32 minutes for those receiving a 60-milligram dose, the researchers found. For men taking a placebo, the time to ejaculation averaged 1.75 minutes.

Pryor thinks this study will get people talking more about the problem of premature ejaculation. "I hope this paper brings premature ejaculation out of the closet," he said. "I hope it allows for mature discussion about it, and that people realize that there is hope."

One expert familiar with dapoxetine thinks the drug has promise but will not be available in the United States.

"The problem is that dapoxetine was presented to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration last year, and they rejected it out-of-hand as a treatment for premature ejaculation," said Dr. James Barada, director of the Center for Sexual Health in Albany, N.Y.

The drug can produce side effects such as nausea, headache, upset stomach and weakness. It is being released in Europe, Barada said.

"Premature ejaculation is a real clinical condition that causes distress for the man, his partner and especially the relationship," he added. "Because we have no approved therapy, we are at somewhat of a loss to treat it. For many years, we have been using off-label therapies -- SSRIs -- because of the side effect they have of delaying ejaculation."

Doctors can still use SSRIs, Viagra, and psychotherapy to treat the problem, Barada said. "We need to get better research to understand the mechanisms of premature ejaculation and hopefully design a medicine that has good efficacy and safety that is not an SSRI," he said.

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Crew to inspect space shuttle for damage

MIKE SCHNEIDER,
Associated Press Writer

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Atlantis' six astronauts woke up Sunday prepared to inspect the space shuttle's thermal skin for damage as they soared toward the international space station.

NASA managers said hours after Saturday's launch that there was no obvious damage to Atlantis during liftoff. Carrying a 17 1/2-ton addition, Atlantis and its crew were scheduled to arrive at the space station on Monday to restart construction of the orbiting space lab.

The crew awoke to a version of "Moon River" sung by Audrey Hepburn in the movie "Breakfast at Tiffany's," a request of commander Brent Jett's wife.

"It really is a beautiful day up here," Jett said. "We're awake and ready to get to work with the inspection."

More than 100 cameras were focused on Atlantis during liftoff to capture any signs of foam breaking off its external fuel tank, the problem that doomed space shuttle Columbia. NASA's cameras spotted three possible hits — two small foam streams and one ice chunk — but they came so late that the debris wasn't moving fast enough to do much damage.

Still, the imagery review was preliminary, and NASA hoped to get a better look from the crew using the shuttle's 50-foot robotic arm, attached to a 50-foot boom with sensors at the end, to take a closer look at the spacecraft's nose cap and wing leading edge.

The inspection technique was introduced after the Columbia disaster in 2003, and Atlantis was to be the third flight to try it out.

In 2003, Columbia's heat shield was damaged by flyaway foam from its external fuel tank during liftoff, allowing fiery gases to penetrate its wing and tear the shuttle apart as it later re-entered the atmosphere. Since then, NASA has struggled to find ways to prevent the hard foam from breaking away.

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Video-Game Analytics Track Players' Behavior

Laurie Sullivan
TechWeb

A video game software maker wants to look over your shoulder while you play, and the company is developing software that will monitor and analyze every move you make.

Sound Orwellian? Some privacy advocates may think so, but the data revealed could help developers and publishers make better games.

Emergent Game Technologies is working on analytics software that will let video game developers and publishers glean information on peoples' behavioral patterns as they play, a company executive said Friday.

More than 15 years in development, Metrics Element, a tool to collect, analyze and distribute game data within a Web-based user interface, will ship around the first of the year.

The software would provide answers to many questions, from what players do in the game and how long it take to reach level 20, to where they spend their money and how many people saw the Pepsi product pitch in the game, for example.

Not only answers, but details on the number of people who viewed the ad, and how long they stayed to either look or interact with it, said Larry Mellon, Emergent vice president of engineering and systems architect.

"Massive multiplayer online games like War of Worldcraft are hitting some of the major problems in computer science," Mellon said. "Scale is one."

Mellon said Blizzard Entertainment Inc.'s War of Worldcraft has more than 6 million players. That means potentially you have 6 million PCs connected to 30,000 servers exchanging information in a real-time 3D virtual world where there are security and internal in-game economic implications, and social-network analysis required.

A probe-package inserts in the video game to collect and transmit data to Emergent's servers. It aggregates and displays the information in charts to view. The technology is written in a combination of Java, Flash, and C + +.

Users can customize the data collected. Engineers might choose to measure frames per second on the client to make sure the games proceed smoothly. Or measure latency between client and server to make sure the interactive game isn't bogged down by slow responses. Developers could measure how players spend their money to optimize ad placement.

The software can even look inside the online network as gamers play to help identify connection points within a game, providing insight into how information moves from one group to another.

"You can see how your marketing network moves, and how news propagates across the virtual world," said Michael Arrington, senior analyst at Acacia Research Group, Vancouver, Wash. "There are privacy concerns, but if you're playing in a MMOG world you've probably already given authorization for the site to collect data in aggregate, as long as they don't identify you as an individual."

Peeking into a live online game as people play will become more important as publishers ad more in-game advertising. Imagine being able to see what gamers do when they first enter a virtual world: Perhaps buy swords, potions or horses.

Knowing what players do in fantasy or sports games would assist developers to determine ad placement for in-game ads. "There aren't many tools that can measure in-game ad performance, and anything that can track users more accurately would help companies justify the motorization of advertising in games," said Colin Sebastian, senior research analyst with Lazard Capital Markets LLC

The analytics software may answer questions for game makers, but it also could create privacy issues.

"Players hate being measured surreptitiously, but as long as you're upfront with them it's typically not an issue," Mellon said. "For MMOGs, where you're continually improving the game over years, it's invaluable to see how people play the game today, when you're trying to plan for tomorrow."

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Australia's Crocodile Hunter gets private funeral

SYDNEY (Reuters)
A private funeral service was held for Australian TV naturalist Steve Irwin on Saturday and he will be buried at his family's zoo in the northern state of Queensland, local media reported.

Irwin's father, Bob Irwin, had declined a government offer for a state funeral for his son.

Irwin, known as the "Crocodile Hunter" after his popular TV documentaries which aired around the world, was killed six days ago by a stingray barb to the chest while diving on Australia's Great Barrier Reef.

After the funeral service his body was taken to his family's Australia Zoo wildlife park, where he is expected to be buried, local media reported on Sunday.

Irwin, 44, had flirted with death many times in his "Crocodile Hunter" documentaries, seen by 200 million people, wrestling with some of the world's most dangerous creatures.

News of Irwin's death clogged Internet news sites and drew tributes from around the world. Prime Minister John Howard interrupted parliament to pay tribute to him, saying he was distressed by the loss of a remarkable Australian.

A public memorial service that is likely to draw thousands of mourners was expected to take place later this month.

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Broadcaster demands compensation for missing All Blacks

WELLINGTON (AFP)
Media giant News Ltd has put a price on the heads of top All Blacks and will demand compensation if they fail to appear in early Super 14 matches next year.

The Super 14 paymaster is angered by New Zealand's plans to pull 22 leading players from the first half of the 2007 competition so they will be in peak physical and mental shape for the World Cup campaign at the end of the year.

The Australian-headquartered media conglomerate claims the New Zealand plan breaches the Super 14 broadcasting rights deal it has with South African, New Zealand and Australian Rugby (SANZAR), the Sunday Star-Times said.

New Zealand Rugby Union (NZRU) chairman Jock Hobbs met with exectives of the aggrieved broadcaster in Sydney last week, and was told to name the 22 World Cup contenders who will miss seven weeks of Super 14 rugby.

Once informed, New Ltd. would then talk to broadcasters in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa -- plus Sky TV in Great Britain -- to discuss what News Ltd. spokesman Greg Baxter described as "an acceptable compromise."

Baxter said that would probably involve negotiating a discount on the 660 million New Zealand dollar (418 million US) contract SANZAR signed with News Ltd. in 2004.

"I think so, because clearly there is a value attached to these players. If there wasn't they would not be resting them," the newspaper quoted him as saying.

Baxter said News Ltd. would prefer to avoid a protracted legal argument.

"To us, that is about as far away from where we want this relationship to be as you can get, so that would be an absolute last resort," he said.

"We will be trying to pursue other avenues, which will include the possibility of being compensated for the loss of those players."

The All Blacks to undergo the individually tailored reconditioning programmes were originally intended to be named after the All Blacks Tri-Nations campaign ended in South Africa last weekend.

However, a spokesman said the announcement had been delayed as they were "still working through the process."

The decision to keep players out of the Super 14 championship is part of New Zealand's plan to shake off their tag of World Cup chokers.

"It is critical that our top players have the opportunity to prepare in the right way so that they are in the best shape of their lives when they get to France," NZRU chief executive Chris Moller said.

Since winning the the inaugural World Cup in 1987, the All Blacks have failed in every attempt since, earning them a reputation as "chokers" in rugby's biggest tournament.

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Relatives greet rescued Siberia minersb

JIM HEINTZ,
Associated Press Writer

MOSCOW - Crying relatives greeted eight miners rescued Saturday from a burning Siberian gold mine after a raging fire killed at least 25 of their colleagues.

The bodies of the last four missing workers were recovered early Sunday.

As the survivors were rushed to hospital Saturday to be treated for hypothermia and carbon dioxide poisoning, they described their two-day ordeal, saying they managed to stay alive several hundred yards underground by sticking together.

"Nobody panicked, nobody quarreled," Yevgeny Slivka told state-run Channel One as he lay in a hospital bed, his face covered with soot.

"We shared one cigarette among the eight of us, we had two pieces of lard that we split into small equal pieces among all, we spread the bread evenly, too — nobody yelled at one each other ... everybody managed to stay together."

Miners' relatives had gathered outside the mine Saturday, waiting in the cold for news, hoping to ask survivors about the fate of those still missing.

But workers searching smoke-filled tunnels found the bodies of the last four missing workers Sunday, bringing the number of dead to 25, said Emergency Situations Ministry spokesman Natalya Lukash.

The blaze broke out Thursday in the Darasun mine some 3,000 miles east of Moscow.

Of the 64 who were in the mine when the fire broke out, 31 made it to the surface Thursday, and eight were rescued Saturday.

Another ministry spokeswoman, Yulia Stadnikova, said the fire, which erupted at a depth of 280 feet to 430 feet, was contained Thursday evening, but still burned Saturday and rescue efforts were hampered by damage and smoky conditions.

Emergency Situations Minister Sergei Shoigu flew to the mine to take charge of the physically and emotionally exhausting operation and to investigate the cause of the accident. Three hundred rescuers took part.

Officials said earlier that negligence during welding work may have sparked the blaze at the mine, which has been in operation since 1901.

The welders first attempted to put out the fire themselves and waited nearly an hour to call for help, which allowed the fire to spread quickly, according to the ITAR-Tass news agency, which cited Nikolai Kutin, deputy head of government safety watchdog agency Rostekhnadzor.

On survivor, Nikolai Selishev, said he and his companions had found an area where fresh air was blowing in and stayed there until smoke and gas lifted enough for them to move further.

The gold and metals mine is operated by London-listed Highland Gold Mining PLC. The 105-year-old mine has been plagued with operational problems for over a year, Dow Jones Newswires reported, badly delaying the schedule for raising output and contributing to the causes of Highland's net loss last year.

The accident "appears to be the worst in the gold mining industry in years," Rostekhnadzor spokeswoman Elena Kaliberda said.

Accidents are common in the mining industries in the former Soviet Union, where mine operators often lack funds to invest in safety equipment and technical upgrades.

Coal mining has been worst affected by accidents, with 1,744 miners dying while working since 1993, according to Vladimir Rossikhin, of the Russian Independent Union of Coal Miners. He said, however, that safety had improved in recent years amid Russia's economic recovery.

Regional authorities said the province will mark Monday as a day of mourning.

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Florence strengthens into a hurricane

LIZABETH ROBERTS,
Associated Press Writer

HAMILTON, Bermuda - Florence strengthened into a hurricane early Sunday as it approached Bermuda, where residents installed storm shutters and hauled their yachts onto beaches.

Florence became a Category 1 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 75 mph, the National Hurricane Center in Miami said.

The storm was expected to reach the tiny British territory Monday, according to the hurricane center. But it was too early to tell whether it will make a direct hit.

The storm became a Category 1 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 75 mph and was expected to strengthen further Sunday, the hurricane center said.

At 2 a.m. EDT, the center of Florence was 360 miles south of Bermuda, moving northwest at 13 mph.

Bermuda issued a hurricane watch and a tropical storm warning, and the government urged its 65,000 residents to take precautions. Part of Bermuda's volunteer army has been mobilized.

"We are asking residents to please stay home. We are urging the public's cooperation so that emergency vehicles will have free passage on the roads," Derrick Burgess, minister of public safety, said at a news conference. "Also, we are discouraging the public from sightseeing as this puts everyone at risk."

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Blair Launches Mideast Peace Mission

Robert Berger
Jerusalem

Mr. Blair opened his visit in Jerusalem, meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. At a joint news conference, the British Prime Minister said they discussed shoring up the fragile cease-fire in Lebanon and reviving the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

"The majority of people here, I'm sure, want to see what the majority of people in my country want to see, which is a Middle East that is stable, and democratic, with people living side by side in peace. It is very easy to be pessimistic in the light of everything that has happened recently, but I do believe that with good will and the right leadership it can be done," he said.

Mr. Blair also plans to visit the West Bank for talks with moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. The Israeli Prime Minister said he is ready to hold his first summit with Mr. Abbas to discuss the internationally-backed "road map" peace plan. "I remain dedicated to advancing to the political process with the Palestinians according to the road map, starting with implementation of the first phase which calls for the dismantling of the terrorist organizations and their infrastructure," he said.

But Mr. Olmert said there could be no progress until the crisis over a kidnapped Israeli soldier is resolved. The 19-year-old corporal was captured by militants from the ruling Hamas movement more than two months ago, and is being held in the Gaza Strip. "The issue that is our first priority with the Palestinians, naturally, is the immediate release of Corporal Gilad Shalit," he added.

The two leaders also discussed Iran and vowed to prevent that country from acquiring a nuclear bomb. "Our position remains as it's been throughout, which is to make sure that the will of the international community, in respect of Iran's nuclear weapons aspirations, is properly adhered to," he said.

Israel has grown increasingly alarmed about Iran's nuclear program since last October, when the Iranian president threatened to wipe the Jewish state "off the map."

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