Today in history - Sept. 28

The Associated Press

Today is Thursday, Sept. 28, the 271st day of 2006. There are 94 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On Sept. 28, 1066, William the Conqueror invaded England to claim the English throne.

On this date:

In 1542, Portuguese navigator Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo arrived at present-day San Diego.

In 1781, American forces in the Revolutionary War, backed by a French fleet, began their siege of Yorktown Heights, Va.

In 1787, Congress voted to send the just-completed Constitution of the United States to state legislatures for their approval.

In 1850, flogging was abolished as a form of punishment in the U.S. Navy.

In 1924, two U.S. Army planes landed in Seattle, Wash., having completed the first round-the-world flight in 175 days.

In 1939, during World War II, Germany and the Soviet Union agreed on a plan to partition Poland.

In 1974, first lady Betty Ford underwent a mastectomy at Bethesda Naval Medical Center in Maryland, following discovery of a cancerous lump in her breast.

In 1976, Muhammad Ali kept his world heavyweight boxing championship with a close 15-round decision over Ken Norton at New York's Yankee Stadium.

In 1989, deposed Philippine President Ferdinand E. Marcos died in exile in Hawaii at age 72.

In 1991, jazz great Miles Davis died in Santa Monica, Calif., at age 65.

Ten years ago: With the United States abstaining, the U.N. Security Council passed a resolution indirectly calling on Israel to close an archaeological tunnel in Jerusalem that had touched off fighting between Israelis and Palestinians. Landmark legislation to crack down on illegal immigrants in the United States won House passage as part of a giant federal spending bill.

Five years ago: President Bush told reporters the United States was in "hot pursuit" of terrorists behind the Sept. 11 attacks. The U.N. Security Council approved a sweeping resolution sponsored by the United States requiring all 189 U.N.-member nations to deny money, support and sanctuary to terrorists.

One year ago: House Majority Leader Tom DeLay was indicted by a Texas grand jury on a charge of conspiring to violate political fundraising laws. A woman disguised as a man slipped into a line of Iraqi army recruits and detonated explosives strapped to her body, killing at least six recruits in the first known suicide attack by a woman in Iraq's insurgency. The U.S. Treasury unveiled the new $10 bill, featuring splashes of red, yellow and orange.

Today's Birthdays: Actor William Windom is 83. Actor Arnold Stang is 81. Blues singer Koko Taylor is 78. Actress Brigitte Bardot is 72. Singer Ben E. King is 68. Actor Joel Higgins is 63. Singer Helen Shapiro is 60. Actor Jeffrey Jones is 60. Movie writer-director-actor John Sayles is 56. Actress Sylvia Kristel is 54. Rock musician George Lynch is 52. Actress-comedian Janeane Garofalo is 42. Country singer Matt King is 40. Actress Mira Sorvino is 39. TV personality Moon Zappa is 39. Rhythm-and-blues singer Sean Levert (Levert) is 38. Actress-model Carre Otis is 38. Actress Naomi Watts is 38. Country singer Mandy Barnett is 31. Actress Hilary Duff is 19. Actress Skye McCole Bartusiak is 14.

Thought for Today: "The conventional notions of happiness cannot possibly be taken seriously by anyone whose intellectual or moral development has progressed beyond that of a three-week-old puppy." — John W. Gardner, U.S. government official (1912-2002).

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Girl In Coma After Trip To Dentist - Prayin' Family' Says They Won't Consider Pulling Plug

A Chicago 5-year-old named Diamond Brownbridge fell into a coma after being sedated at a dentist's office this weekend, and allegedly suffered a heart attack.

Television station WMAQ reported said that Diamond's family has been told that the girl is brain dead and her vital organs are severely damaged. Doctors told the family that they must decide when to take Brownridge off of life support.

The dentist who treated the girl spoke exclusively with the Chicago Sun Times on Tuesday.

Dr. Hicham Riba told the paper that he feels like he's being treated like a criminal even though, he said, "I am a very responsible person. I never intended to harm anybody."

In the published report, Riba said, "I don't think I will ever go back to a normal life after an experience like this."

The family of Brownbridge, who remained unresponsive at Children's Memorial Hospital on Wednesday, said they are not going to take her off life support.

"It's a wait-and-see type of game," said her mother, Omettress Travis. "They haven't offered us any hope, but we have that in ourselves -- we're a prayin' family."

The dentist has been in contact with family twice to see how Diamond is doing.

Family described the 5-year-old as a charter school student who is full of life, receiving A's and a few B's, and as a little girl who loves church.

"I told her 'Time to come home. Wake up. Daddy needs you at home,'" said her father, Paris. "She's got to come home. Her daddy loves her (and) misses her. She's my world."

As the family waited at Children's for any sign of improvement, they encountered more and more unanswered questions.

The child's mother, who is a medical assistant at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, said that she doesn't understand why she immediately noticed that her daughter was in distress and the dentist in charge of the procedure did not.

"I just want to know, what did they give my baby to make her just lose her life?" Travis asked.

Diamond went to Little Angel Dental, a storefront office, to have two cavities filled and her front, bottom teeth capped.

According to Travis, the dentist gave her a yellow liquid to drink, then nitrous oxide, also known as laughing gas. (Note: Previous versions of this story incorrectly referred to nitric oxide.) On top of that, Travis said, the dentists gave the 35-pound girl an IV sedation.

Travis said she was asked to leave the room while the dental work was done. When she returned, her daughter had no pulse and wasn't breathing.

"They did not monitor my daughter when she was having the work done," said the mother. "They also asked me to leave out of the room ... I didn't know why because I was going to sit there, but they said, 'You have to get out of the room.' ... At least if they weren't going to monitor her, I could have watched her."

WMAQ reported Monday that the office had no heart monitor or blood pressure cuff, instruments that are required by Illinois law when sedation is involved.

Last April, Diamond was sedated without incident at Children's Memorial when she had a broken arm. Family members said they don't know what went wrong on Saturday and they want the health department to shut down Little Angel Dental.

"He doesn't need a license," the girl's aunt, Danetta Dupree, said.

Dentist Defends His Practice

WMAQ learned from the Department of Professional Regulation that the dentist is licensed, with a special certification for sedation. The department indicated that it appeared the doctor has the correct certification for the work that was performed on Diamond.

Riba spoke with the station late in the day Monday at his home. He would not go on camera but said his thoughts and prayers were with Diamond and her family. Riba gave the station a written statement defending his practice.

"I have treated thousands of children since 1997 and many of my patients require intravenous sedation," Riba wrote. "I am board certified in pediatric dentistry, licensed for intravenous sedation and have always been in good standing with all licensing bodies."

Riba said that all sedated patients are monitored throughout their procedures, but he could not talk about any specific case because of privacy laws.

"We are cooperating with investigators and at this time. My office has canceled all intravenous sedation procedures," he added.

The director of pediatric dentistry at the University of Illinois-Chicago, Dr. Indru Punwani, said it was rare to use three sedations on a young child, but if a child undergoes deep sedation, there must be a finger monitor to measure oxygen, pulse rate and blood pressure.

"We monitor these very, very carefully," Punwani said. "The monitoring devices are such that even if the oxygen saturation goes a few points, we are monitoring it, and we have a stethoscope on the chest, so we are listening the chest."

This is the first complaint registered against Riba, according to the state's regulatory agency.

Little Angel Dental did not open for business Monday. Patient after patient showed up, only to find the doors closed and security gates locked.

Nathaniel Williams took his 3-year-old son to the office for a Monday appointment, and said he only learned the office was closed when he showed up.

"No one called," he said.

Williams said he was supposed to have his son, Nate, sedated for dental work.

"Now I'm having doubts. I've got to go and talk with my wife about the whole thing here," he said.

Williams said his 5-year-old daughter, Natalie, was put under sedation at Little Angel last month, and everything went well. But like other parents who learned of what happened to Diamond, Williams said that he was worried for his child's safety.

Diamond remained in critical condition on the second-floor intensive care unit on Monday afternoon.

"I believe that's a miracle baby. I'm hoping that God sees fit to bring her back to us, and she's going to be well," said the father Monday.

The dental office was open Sunday until 3 p.m., but no one returned a reporter's phone call.

WMAQ has not been told if there was a dental anesthesiologist or if there was an anesthesiologist nurse in the room.

The Chicago Health Department learned of the incident Sunday and is investigating.

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First female space tourist inspires fans on Earth

Brian Jackson ,
DiscoveryChannel.ca

Anousheh Ansari, world's first female space tourist, is nearing an end to her stay on the International Space Station.

Ansari hoped to inspire children - especially girls - to follow in her footsteps and become engineers. Her agenda while in space seems set on accomplishing that.

The first Iranian-born astronaut spoke with high school students in Washington, D.C. via radio as the ISS passed by the national capital Sept. 20.

As the ISS became visible from an observatory in Tehran, Iran's capital, dozens of Iranian women burst into applause early Tuesday morning.

The spacecraft launched from Baikonur in Kazakhstan on Monday morning. Crewmembers Michael Lopez-Alegria of NASA and Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Tyurin will take over from Expedition 13 commander Pavel Vinogradov and science officer Jeff Williams.

Ansari came aboard as a member of the primary crew after paying about $20 million US for a seat aboard the spacecraft. The U.S.-based Iranian-born entrepreneur plans to mix business with pleasure during her stay on the ISS, as she's slated to conduct several experiments for the European Space Agency.

Ansari is set to return to earth with the Expedition 13 crew on Thursday. She is the fourth civilian to purchase a space visit. Space Adventures, a company that sells tickets on space-bound rockets to the ultra-rich, facilitated the trip.

The first experiment Ansari is slated to conduct is called "Neocytolysis". It may help scientists understand space-induced anemia, or red blood cell shortage. Blood normally held in the body's extremities by gravity is free to move around in space, causing a high density of red blood cells.

The body then responds by killing them, and when astronauts get back to Earth, they find themselves a few cells short.

Ansari has spent six months training for the eight-day journey at Gargarin Cosmonauts Training center in Star City, Russia as well as at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.

The family name Ansari is already popularly associated with space-oriented firsts. They provided title sponsorship for the $10 million X-Prize award.

That prize was awarded to the first private endeavour able to reach outer space twice within two weeks.

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Nigeria’s name missing among countries fighting corruption

SEUN ADESIDA,

Despite the loud ovation that greeted the presentation of Chairman, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, at the World Bank/ IMF spring meeting in Singapore, Nigeria’s name is conspicuously missing on the list of countries which have made progress in improving governance and curbing corruption.

According to a new report, Governance Matters 2006: Worldwide Governance Indicators, released by the World Bank after the meetings, only African nations, such as Botswana, Ghana, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Mozambique and Liberia, are making progress in improving governance and curbing corruption.
Co-author and director of Global Governance at the World Bank Institute, Daniel Kaufmann, said the findings dispel a number of myths. One myth, he said, was about Africa.

"The indicators challenged Afro-pessimism and by looking at the data, on average, Africa has enormous challenges. But it’s a mistake just to look at the averages," he said, adding:
"Our report is very frank in suggesting that Africa, on average, faces enormous governance challenges. Many countries are not doing well in terms of governance and in terms of controlling corruption. But there are shining stars, which have been doing well and increasingly better over the past decade. And it shows in the case of Ghana, Botswana, Mozambique, Tanzania, Senegal and others."

The second myth dispelled by the research is that strong performance on governance and curbing graft are the preserve of the wealthy developed nations. The research, covering well over 200 countries, also showed that more than 12 non-OECD countries, including Botswana and Estonia, scored higher in the rule of law and in control of corruption than some industrialized countries, like Greece and Italy. It showed that democratic accountability and clean government most often go hand in hand.
"We find in the evidence that countries that have a freer press also have more transparent government and more effective government and more control of corruption," says Kaufmann, who wrote the report with Aart Kraay and Massimo Mastruzzi.

The research cited Chile, Portugal and Canada as nations with vibrant democracies and little corruption. It’s in contrast to countries with what the report calls "voice and accountability challenges, such as China and the Russian Federation, who tend to have more corruption."
It said, however, that there are exceptions to the link between the extent of voice and democratic accountability a country exhibits and its success in controlling corruption.

Singapore, for example, is cited as having one of the best rankings in the world, on control of corruption, but it ranks in the middle of the pack on vice and accountability – below much poorer countries, such as Brazil and Botswana.
The research is based on responses from over 120,000 citizens, enterprises and experts worldwide, provided by 25 different organisations worldwide. These, in turn, are used to construct the worldwide governance indicators through a state-of-the-art methodology.

Overall, it paints a sobering picture of global trends in governance. The report suggests that over the past decade there is little evidence of a significant improvement, on average, among industrialized and developing countries. However, it pointed out that in many specific countries, there have been significant improvements.
Kaufmann says even if these improvements are not universal, the minority of countries, where improvements are already evident, do suggest that where there is leadership and reform, governance and corruption control can improve significantly in a relatively short period of time.

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Steve Irwin's Wife Speaks Publicly First Time Since His Death

Terri Irwin Talks to Barbara Walters in First Interview Since Husband's Death

The widow of "Crocodile Hunter" Steve Irwin says she is coping with his death "one minute at a time — sometimes an hour at a time with great faith, great determination," in an exclusive interview with ABC News' Barbara Walters.

In an interview to be aired on "20/20" on Wednesday, Terri Irwin sits down with Walters to remember her husband, discuss his death and talk about her family's future. Steve Irwin died on Sept. 4, when a stingray barb pierced his heart during TV filming in the Great Barrier Reef.

The interview is Terri Irwin's first since her husband's death. Walters also sits down the Irwins' two children, Bindi Sue, 8, and Bob, 2, and his longtime business partner and friend, John Stainton, who was with Irwin on the day of his death.

Terri Irwin said she felt blessed to have had to life she did with Steve.

"If I had to do it all over again, even knowing how it ended, I would in a minute," she said. "I feel I was so blessed. I had the best 14 years, two beautiful children, and just a romance like I didn't think existed anymore."

Terri, a native of Eugene, Ore., met her husband at Irwin's Australia Zoo while vacationing in Australia in 1991. Sometimes called the "Crocodile Huntress," she co-starred on her husband's TV show and in his 2002 movie, "The Crocodile Hunter — Collision Course."

Children to Carry on 'Croc Hunter' Legacy?

Friends, family members and celebrities paid their final respects to Steve Irwin in speeches and televised tributes at a public memorial service at the Australia Zoo on Sept. 20. His family held a private service for him there on Sept. 9.

Some observers have predicted that Irwin's children will carry on his wild conservationist legacy. Bindi and Bob Irwin made frequent appearances on their father's TV show. Bindi's own TV show is scheduled to debut in 2007.

At the public memorial, there was hardly a dry eye when Bindi Irwin eulogized her father.

"I don't want daddy's passion to ever end," she said. "I want to help endangered wildlife just like he did. I had the best daddy in the whole world," she said.

"I know that daddy had an important job," Bindi continued. "He was working to change the world so that everybody would love wildlife like he did."

The wildlife enthusiast's show "Crocodile Hunter" was broadcast internationally by the Discovery network. Irwin's documentaries were seen by 200 million people around the world.

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Today in history - Sept. 27

The Associated Press

Today is Wednesday, Sept. 27, the 270th day of 2006. There are 95 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On Sept. 27, 1964, the Warren Commission issued a report concluding that Lee Harvey Oswald had acted alone in assassinating President Kennedy.

On this date:

In 1779, John Adams was named to negotiate the Revolutionary War's peace terms with Britain.

In 1854, the first great disaster involving an Atlantic Ocean liner occurred when the steamship Arctic sank with 300 people aboard.

In 1928, the United States said it was recognizing the Nationalist Chinese government.

In 1939, Warsaw, Poland, surrendered after weeks of resistance to invading forces from Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union during World War II.

In 1942, Glenn Miller and his Orchestra performed together for the last time, at the Central Theater in Passaic, N.J. prior to Miller's entry into the Army.

In 1943, Bing Crosby, the Andrews Sisters and the Vic Schoen Orchestra recorded "Pistol Packin' Mama" and "Jingle Bells" for Decca Records.

In 1954, "Tonight!" hosted by Steve Allen, made its debut on NBC TV.

In 1956, Olympic track and field gold medalist and Hall of Fame golfer Babe Didrikson Zaharias died in Galveston, Texas, at age 45.

In 1991, President George H.W. Bush announced in a nationally broadcast address that he was eliminating all U.S. battlefield nuclear weapons, and called on the Soviet Union to match the gesture.

In 1994, more than 350 Republican congressional candidates gathered on the steps of the U.S. Capitol to sign the "Contract with America," a 10-point platform they pledged to enact if voters sent a GOP majority to the House.

Ten years ago: In Afghanistan, the Taliban, a band of former seminary students, drove the government of President Burhanuddin Rabbani out of Kabul, captured the capital and executed former leader Najibullah.

Five years ago: An armed man went on a shooting rampage in the local parliament of Zug, Switzerland, killing 14 people before taking his own life. President Bush asked the nation's governors to post National Guard troops at airports as a first step toward federal control of airline security.

One year ago: Former FEMA director Michael Brown angrily blamed the Louisiana governor, the New Orleans mayor and even the Bush White House that appointed him for the dismal response to Hurricane Katrina in a fiery appearance before Congress; in response, lawmakers alternately lambasted and mocked the former official. New Orleans Police Superintendent Eddie Compass stepped down from his post four weeks after Hurricane Katrina destroyed the city. Army reservist Lynndie England was sentenced to three years behind bars for her role in the Abu Ghraib prison scandal.

Today's Birthdays: Former Illinois Sen. Charles Percy is 87. Actress Jayne Meadows is 86. Movie director Arthur Penn is 84. Actress Sada Thompson is 77. Actress Kathleen Nolan is 73. Actor Wilford Brimley is 72. Actor Claude Jarman Jr. is 72. Author Barbara Howar is 72. Producer Don Cornelius ("Soul Train") is 70. Singer-musician Randy Bachman (Bachman-Turner Overdrive) is 63. Actress Liz Torres is 59. Actor A Martinez is 58. Actor Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa is 56. Rock singer Meat Loaf is 55. Rock musician Greg Ham (Men At Work) is 53. Singer Shaun Cassidy is 48. Rock singer Stephan Jenkins (Third Eye Blind) is 42. Actor Patrick Muldoon is 38. Singer Mark Calderon is 36. Actress Amanda Detmer is 35. Actress Gwyneth Paltrow is 34. Country musician Patrick Bourque (Emerson Drive) is 29. Rock singer Brad Arnold (3 Doors Down) is 28. Rapper Lil' Wayne is 24. Singer Avril Lavigne is 22.

Thought for Today: "The more you practice, the better. But in any case, practice more than you play." — Babe Didrikson Zaharias, American athlete (1911-1946).

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Life sentence for banned driver

A banned driver who did not call 999 when his girlfriend was fatally hurt in a crash has been jailed for life for her manslaughter.

Kirsty Cash, 17, died after Andrew Bennett, 20, crashed a Subaru Impreza on the outskirts of Sheffield in April.

Sheffield Crown Court heard Miss Cash might have lived, but Bennett failed to call an ambulance for 45 minutes.

Bennett, from Sheffield, admitted manslaughter, perverting the course of justice and driving while disqualified.

He must spend four and a half years in jail before he can be considered for parole.

His mother and two friends were sentenced to six months for conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.

The court heard Bennett had a prolific criminal record, was high on drink and drugs at the time of the crash and was driving at speeds reaching 90mph (145km/h).

The Subaru left the road, collided with a series of trees and then turned on its side and Kirsty Cash was thrown through the windscreen.

Kirsty was taken to Bennett's Sheffield home before an ambulance was called.

The delay probably led to her death, Sheffield Crown Court heard.

Bennett's mother Linda Bennett, 48, her partner Robin Scholes, 39, and a friend Steven Scott, 19, all admitted a charge of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.

The Recorder of Sheffield Judge Alan Goldsack QC told Bennett: "When you found Kirsty seriously injured, you had no thought for anyone but yourself. You were determined to evade detection."

The judge said there was a good chance his girlfriend would have survived if he had sought medical help immediately.

He said Bennett posed a risk to the public and an indeterminate life sentence at a young offenders' institution was the right course of action.

He added: "In my judgment there is a significant risk that, without proper safeguards, you will again be tempted to drive a car.

"If a police car came up behind you, you would put your foot down to try and evade detection, with further serious consequences."

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Russia soldier jailed for abuse

A Russian soldier has been sentenced to four years in jail for abusing a conscript soldier so badly that his legs and genitals required amputation.

Sgt Alexander Sivyakov was the main defendant among three soldiers accused of abusing Andrei Sychev, 18.

The case has made headlines in Russia for highlighting army brutality.

The BBC's Moscow correspondent says the incident could return to haunt Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov, who has been tipped for a future presidential bid.

The incident took place at the Chelyabinsk Tank Academy in the Ural Mountains on New Year's Eve 2005, while Sgt Sivyakov's unit went on a drinking spree to celebrate the holiday.

The conscript soldier was tied to a chair and beaten, and made to crouch for so long that the blood flow to his legs was cut off and he developed gangrene.

Nine months after the attack, he remains in hospital.

Sivyakov, was convicted of exceeding his authority and using violence. He always denied any wrongdoing.

The prosecution had demanded a penalty of six years in jail. Pte Sychev's family denounced the punishment - even before it was handed out - as inadequate.

More than 6,000 soldiers were victims of abuse last year, the military has said.

The case sparked an outcry in Russia, with liberal groups using it to demand an end to conscription to the armed forces.

The Kremlin has refused to end the draft, under which all Russian men between 18 and 27 must spend two years in the military.

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Fresh appeal over strangled woman

Sex motive probed in murder hunt

Police investigating the murder of a young woman in County Antrim have said a sexual motive is one of their main lines of inquiry.

Shirley Finlay, 24, from Crebilly Road, Ballymena, was found strangled in Mount Street car park on 19 September.

Police want to hear from anyone who may have seen her in the Harryville area on Monday 18 September with a tall, dark haired man in his late 20s/early 30s.

They are also looking for her footwear and her jeans or black track bottoms.

Detective Chief Inspector Tom Woods said the response to the initial police appeal for information had been good, but detectives needed to find out more about Ms Finlay's last movements.

He said police still had an open mind as to the motive for the death, but added: "A sexual motive is very much a main line of enquiry."

He added: "Shirley was found wrapped in a duvet in Mount Street car park with a grey fleece, but we don't know where her shoes and trousers are.

"If they've been dumped somewhere, we need to find them.

Appeal

"We have also had a number of sightings of her in the Harryville area with a tall, slim man with dark hair. We need this man to come forward."

Police have printed posters and leaflets with Ms Finlay's photograph to raise public awareness.

A mobile police station is also in operation at the Mount Street car park where her body was found.

Inspector Woods said that in the photograph issued of Ms Finlay, she has dark hair. But when she was last seen alive, her hair had been dyed blonde.

She was five ft tall, of slim to average build and was wearing a grey fleece, black trouser bottoms and, possibly, trainers.

Ms Finlay has been described as a woman who had mental health problems and who regularly walked alone in Ballymena.

Police have described her murder as "brutal".

She would have celebrated her 25th birthday last Friday.

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Today in history - Sept. 26

The Associated Press

Today is Tuesday, Sept. 26, the 269th day of 2006. There are 96 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On Sept. 26, 1960, the first televised debate between presidential candidates John F. Kennedy and Richard M. Nixon took place in Chicago.

On this date:

In 1777, British troops occupied Philadelphia during the American Revolution.

In 1789, Thomas Jefferson was appointed America's first secretary of state.

In 1888, poet T.S. Eliot was born in St. Louis.

In 1914, the Federal Trade Commission was established.

In 1952, philosopher George Santayana died in Rome at age 88.

In 1955, following word that President Eisenhower had suffered a heart attack, the New York Stock Exchange saw its worst price decline since 1929.

In 1980, the Cuban government abruptly closed Mariel Harbor, ending the "freedom flotilla" of Cuban refugees that had begun the previous April.

In 1981, the twin-engine Boeing 767 made its maiden flight in Everett, Wash.

In 1986, William H. Rehnquist was sworn in as the 16th chief justice of the United States, while Antonin Scalia joined the Supreme Court as its 103rd member.

In 1991, four men and four women began a two-year stay inside a sealed-off structure in Oracle, Ariz., called Biosphere 2. (They emerged from the Biosphere on this date in 1993.)

Ten years ago: Astronaut Shannon Lucid returned to Earth in the shuttle Atlantis after six months aboard the Russian Mir space station. President Clinton signed a bill ensuring two-day hospital stays for new mothers and their babies. ValuJet received federal permission to fly again three months after it was grounded following a deadly crash. Richard Allen Davis, the killer of 12-year-old Polly Klaas, was formally sentenced to death in San Jose, Calif.

Five years ago: In truce talks held at the urging of the United States, Israel and the Palestinians agreed on a series of confidence-building measures aimed at ending a year of fighting. During a visit to Armenia, Pope John Paul II paid his respects to the vast number of Armenians who perished under Ottoman rule. In Cincinnati, a white police officer was acquitted in the shooting death of an unarmed black man, a killing that sparked the city's worst racial unrest in three decades.

One year ago: Army Private First Class Lynndie England was convicted by a military jury in Fort Hood, Texas, on six of seven counts stemming from the Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal. (England was later sentenced to three years in prison.) International weapons inspectors backed by Protestant and Catholic clergymen announced the Irish Republican Army's full disarmament.

Today's Birthdays: Fitness expert Jack LaLanne is 92. Actor Philip Bosco is 76. Country singer David Frizzell is 65. Actor Kent McCord is 64. Television host Anne Robinson is 62. Singer Bryan Ferry is 61. Former Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Christie Whitman is 60. Singer Lynn Anderson is 59. Singer Olivia Newton-John is 58. Actress Mary Beth Hurt is 58. Actor James Keane is 54. Rock singer-musician Cesar Rosas (Los Lobos) is 52. Country singer Carlene Carter is 51. Actress Linda Hamilton is 50. Country singer Doug Supernaw is 46. Actress Melissa Sue Anderson is 44. Actor Patrick Bristow is 44. Rock musician Al Pitrelli is 44. Singer Tracey Thorn (Everything But The Girl) is 44. TV personality Jillian Barberie is 40. Actor Jim Caviezel is 38. Singer Shawn Stockman (Boyz II Men) is 34. Jazz musician Nicholas Payton is 33. Actor Mark Famiglietti is 27. Singer-actress Christina Milian is 25. Tennis player Serena Williams is 25.

Thought for Today: "That the end of life should be death may sound sad; yet what other end can anything have?" — George Santayana, American philosopher (1863-1952).

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India: Dance bars facilitate prostitution

Prasad Ramamurthy and Bhupen Patel

Dance bars in Mumbai have become outlets for cheap sex, some even doubling up as brothels. It is a switch that bar owners seem to have accepted without too much reluctance.

Talk to any bar owner or dancer and you are bound to hear the well-practised pitch for the lifting of the ban on dancing in bars.

''When the bars were open we'd earn more. Now that they have shut, they trouble us. The police say show your identity card to prove you are a singer," said a bar owner.

''We are five brothers and sisters. My mother and my aunt all live together. I am the only earning member. All these years I've worked at the dance bars and we were fine. I would earn Rs 10,000 a month and we'd manage. Now we can barely make ends meet,'' said a former bar dancer.

Candid statements however, are made off camera.

''Bars and pick up joints are separate. The government knows about the pick up joints. Bars entertain, there is no prostitution here. We just sell entertainment,'' said Vikas, Owner, Utsav Bar.

But rooms are readily available at the bar itself or at hotels and lodges not too far from the bar. Ask any waiter or valet outside a bar and he'll tell you where to go.

NDTV: How do I contact you?

Security guard: Come tomorrow. I will give you my number. But the girls won't go to Bhandup. You will have to take them to a lodge in Thane.

NDTV: Are there many lodges in Thane?

Security guard: Yes there are. There is Madan Maharaja and Kinara.

The bar owners say that not all the bars are pick-up joints but conversations with the waiters prove that many bars facilitate prostitution in their premises. Some of them even offer cheaper rooms for customers if they pick up girls from there.

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Japan: Top cop gives reporter wrong sort of hot tip

Ryann Connell

A police officer once penciled in for prominence in crime fighting now seems to have placed himself on the wrong side of the law enforcement business after copping a feel of a young female reporter chasing a hot story, according to Shukan Shincho.

The 38-year-old assistant superintendent from the Nagasaki Prefectural Police is accused of ordering the young TV journalist to sit on his lap and let him feel her up in exchange for a tip-off that could give her a huge scoop.

But the reporter was no shrinking violet and earlier this month threatened the force with legal action if the officer is not punished quickly and an apology soon forthcoming.

In Japan, it's not uncommon for reporters to head out to the private homes of law enforcers for a chat that could give them a top story. It was on just such an occasion in May this year when the sexual harassment case involving the 20-something reporter occurred.

"She was really serious about tracking down the facts involved in a corruption case. She accepted the police officer's invitation to his home in the belief that she was going to get a story, but instead, he said to her: 'Come and sit in my lap and I'll give you a good tip,' " a police officer knowledgeable in the case tells Shukan Shincho. "She felt she had no choice but to do what he was asking, so she went and sat on his knees. He gave her a really powerful hug and began feeling all over her body. She's a very proper young woman, so even though she'd been terrified by the sexual harassment, she realized she still had to work with the guy, so kept the incident quiet for as long as she could bear. It was an enormous strain on her."

Police have questioned the superintendent, who admitted to the allegations, but added that he had been drinking at the time. He said it was meant to be nothing more than a joke, but the woman involved is not laughing, having succumbed to post-traumatic stress disorder and requiring hospitalization.

The Chiba Prefecture-born superintendent graduated from posh Keio University and joined the police force in 1991. He passed a national government test that moved him onto the force's elite career pat. He married a woman on the force with equally fine career prospects and they had three kids together. The superintendent later took a year off to study in the United States before returning to a posting in Yamanashi Prefecture in August 2004. In March this year, he was promoted and transferred to Nagasaki Prefecture.

He had been regarded as a chance to one day head a prefectural police force. But it seems he didn't realize the importance of his position, particularly -- the weekly claims -- as he had been collared for sexual harassment when he was stationed in Yamanashi Prefecture.

"There was a big corruption case involving the local board of education when he was up there. He doesn't mind dealing with the media and even when reporters suddenly turned up on his doorstep, he'd bring them out a chair and sit down and chat with them," a reporter on the Yamanashi police beat tells the weekly. "But, whenever he'd had a few, he got like he did in Nagasaki, asking the women reporters to sit on his lap and telling stories about how he and his wife had no sex life and he had to go to brothels to get himself off."

Nagasaki Prefectural Police currently refuse to comment on the case other than to say that it is still under investigation. The superintendent's parents, though, are filled with shame.

"Our son must take responsibility for what he did. We're sorry, too, for the awful thing he did," one of the parents tells Shukan Shincho. "We've heard he handed in his resignation on Sept. 1. He never used to drink too much."

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Korean 'sex tourists' may lose passports

South Korean "sex tourists" could lose their passports under new proposals to crack down on prostitution at home and abroad, media reports said this week.

The proposals and others directed at the Korean market were announced by the ministry of gender equality and family to mark the second anniversary of an anti-prostitution law.

Since then, the number of brothels has fallen and more sex workers are training for new jobs, vice-minister Kim Chang-Soon was quoted by the Korea Times as saying.

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Korean 'sex tourists' may lose passports

South Korean "sex tourists" could lose their passports under new proposals to crack down on prostitution at home and abroad, media reports said this week.

The proposals and others directed at the Korean market were announced by the ministry of gender equality and family to mark the second anniversary of an anti-prostitution law.

Since then, the number of brothels has fallen and more sex workers are training for new jobs, vice-minister Kim Chang-Soon was quoted by the Korea Times as saying.

However, there are also new kinds of problems to deal with, such as the sex trade going underground at hotels, massage parlours and bars, and the growing number of people going overseas to buy sex," he added.

Kim said the government would form a special team to monitor Koreans buying sex overseas and investigate Internet dating services which were sometimes a front for the trade.

Under a new law being drafted, authorities will be empowered to shut down hotels, massage parlours, karaoke bars and other establishments found to be offering sex.

Building owners could be punished for knowingly renting space to sex operations.While the number of brothels has fallen since the 2004 law took effect, other establishments are filling the gap. The Korea Herald said a 50-day crackdown this summer recorded almost 14,700 offences, two-thirds of them involving massage parlours and what were described as "male resting rooms".

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Prosecutors: Nurse May Have Sought Revenge

Former Schoolmate Dies Under Watch of Nurse Who Might Have Held a Grudge.

It sounds like a plot straight out of a soap opera: A nurse crosses paths with a former schoolmate in a recovery room, and the patient winds up dead.

Was it an accident or was an old high school grudge a motive for murder?

Right now, investigators in Charlotte, N.C., think it may be the latter.

Looking at Olympic High School yearbooks from 1972 and 1973, it would appear that Sandra Baker and Sally Jordan had everything going for them.

Both were extremely pretty and moved in the same circles. They even reportedly dated the same young man.

But Baker was the queen bee — the popular head cheerleader — while Jordan remained in her shadow.

She didn't make the cheerleading squad and had to settle for the flag corps, a less prominent status.

The two women's paths didn't cross for 30 years, until Baker underwent a mini-facelift at a Charlotte, N.C. clinic.

Jordan, in a surprising twist of fate, was her nurse.

After her procedure, Baker was fine and talking in the recovery room.

Suddenly, she went into cardiac arrest.

Jordan, the nurse in the recovery room at the time, was cited for moving slowly, even continuing to eat a biscuit, instead of working to save Baker.

Still, the death was ruled an accident.

"There was an autopsy, and the medical examiner said it was an accidental poisoning," said Melissa Manware, a reporter for The Charlotte Observer.

Now, authorities have arrested Jordan for murder.

The suspected motive is a 30-year-old high school grudge between the former classmates, allegedly involving an old boyfriend.

"A nurse who worked with Sally and was interviewed on the case [said] that she was told that Sally was overheard saying that Sandra was the one who stole her boyfriend," Manware said.

Dr. Casey Jordan, a criminologist, says women have been known to hold grudges with catastrophic results.

"We have this saying that hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, and that's really come about because women can be extremely vindictive," Jordan said.

Authorities are not confirming there was a grudge between Baker and Jordan.

But that's not stopping Charlotte residents from watching the case with growing interest.

"Everybody has a grudge or had a beef with someone back in high school so I think people can identify with this story," Manware said. "They're very curious about it."

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Judge throws Saddam out of courtroom

BUSHRA JUHI And JAMAL HALABY,
Associated Press Writer

The chief judge in Saddam Hussein's genocide trial threw the ex-president out of the courtroom Monday in a stormy session boycotted by the former ruler's defense team.

"I have a request here that I don't want to be in this cage anymore" Saddam said, referring to the court. He waved a yellow paper before he spoke to chief judge Mohammed Oreibi al-Khalifa.

Al-Khalifa snapped back: "I'm the presiding judge. I decide about your presence here. Get him out!" — pointing to guards to take Saddam out.

"You need to show respect to the court and the case, and those who don't show it, I'm sorry, but I have to apply the law," the judge said.

The exchange began when Sabri al-Douri, director of military intelligence under Saddam, referred to a fellow co-defendant — Sultan Hashim Ahmad al-Tai — by his former rank of lieutenant general.

The judge then said that the defendants could not be referred to by their former rank.

An angry Saddam then insisted that he be allowed to leave and the judge ordered him out of the courtroom.

Saddam and six co-defendants have been on trial since Aug. 21 for their roles in a crackdown against Kurdish guerrillas in the late 1980s. The prosecution says about 180,000 people, mostly civilians, died in the crackdown, codenamed Operation Anfal.

The Monday session got off to a rough start when Saddam's defense attorneys followed through on their threat to boycott the proceedings to protest the replacement of the chief judge and other alleged irregularities.

Several other lawyers representing other defendants were also absent when the session began. The judge appointed replacement lawyers so the trial could proceed.

Al-Douri and another defendant, former intelligence official Farhan Mutlak Saleh, complained to the judge that they did not accept their court-appointed attorneys.

"Did I dismiss your attorney?" the judge asked "He just walked out!"

The judge told Saleh that he would be given time with his court-appointed attorney to plan a defense.

Saleh said: "Good, that's all I ask."

Another defendant, Saddam's cousin "Chemical" Ali al-Majid, also rejected his court-appointed lawyer.

"I refuse such an attorney, who cannot defend me," he said, apparently because the lawyer didn't cross-examine a witness who implicated him the Operation Anfal.

"We agree that you can contact your original attorney or hire new ones," the judge said.

"I am here against my will and by force," the defendant said.

He also accused the judge of leading the witness.

"If you allow me to walk out of the session because I expect the verdict to be political and pre-arranged," he asked. But the judge didn't reply and called a second witness to the stand.

In announcing the boycott, Khalil al-Dulaimi, Saddam's chief lawyer, complained that last week's decision to replace chief judge Abdullah al-Amiri violated judicial rules.

Al-Dulaimi also protested the court's refusal to hear non-Iraqi lawyers and its demand that foreign attorneys seek permission to enter the courtroom.

Among Saddam's nine lawyers are a Jordanian, a Spaniard, a Frenchman and two Americans, including former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark.

Al-Khalifa opened the session by calling an elderly Kurdish man to take the witness stand.

Mohammed Rasul Mustafa, 65, sporting the traditional Kurdish headdress, said he witnessed the bombing of the northern Sawisaynan village, from his own northern Kurdish village, which was an hour's walk away.

"I saw the smoke cover the village with my own eyes," Mustafa said.

He said that as he traveled toward the village, he smelled a strange odor which was like "apples." The man said he turned around and fled the area along with village residents and those from other nearby towns.

Mustafa said that when he returned home, he felt short of breath because of his alleged exposure to the gas.

Eventually Mustafa and his family were captured and held in a prison before being transferred to the southern Nugrat Salman detention camp.

"For the first three days of our arrival we were without food and water, then we received salty water and (prison) bread," Mustafa said.

During his five-month imprisonment, Mustafa said he saw guards "kill a man with a steel cable" and that at up to 500 people died, most of them elderly. He did not elaborate.

The court appointed a defense attorney for al-Tai, a former defense minister, and asked the witness how the other 3,000 to 4,000 prisoners in Nugrat Salman jail escaped chemical weapons.

But al-Tai abruptly stood up and said: "I don't acknowledge this attorney. He does not represent me." The judge told al-Tai to sit down and be quiet.

Associated Press writers Bushra Juhi reported from Baghdad and Jamal Halaby from Amman, Jordan. Some material in this story came from a pool report at the trial in Baghdad.

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Pope meets with Muslim diplomats

Pope Benedict XVI told Muslim diplomats Monday that "our future" depends on dialogue between Christians and Muslims, an attempt to ease relations strained by his recent remarks about Islam and violence.

The pontiff quoted from his predecessor, John Paul II, who had close relations with the Muslim world, when he described the need for "reciprocity in all fields," including religious freedom. Benedict spoke in French to a roomful of diplomats from 21 countries and the Arab League in his summer residence in Castel Gandolfo in the Alban Hills near Rome.

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Pope meets with Muslim diplomats

MARTA FALCONI,
Associated Press Writer

Pope Benedict XVI told Muslim diplomats Monday that "our future" depends on dialogue between Christians and Muslims, an attempt to ease relations strained by his recent remarks about Islam and violence.

The pontiff quoted from his predecessor, John Paul II, who had close relations with the Muslim world, when he described the need for "reciprocity in all fields," including religious freedom. Benedict spoke in French to a roomful of diplomats from 21 countries and the Arab League in his summer residence in Castel Gandolfo in the Alban Hills near Rome.

After his five-minute speech in a salon in the papal palace, Benedict greeted each envoy individually, clasping their hands warmly and chatting for a few moments with every one.

"The circumstances which have given risen to our gathering are well known," Benedict said, referring to his remarks on Islam in a Sept. 12 speech at Regensburg, Germany. He did not address those remarks at length.

Speaking in Germany, Benedict quoted the words of a Byzantine emperor who characterized some of the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad as "evil and inhuman," particularly "his command to spread by the sword the faith."

Benedict cited John Paul II's statement that "Respect and dialogue require reciprocity in all spheres," particularly religious freedom, a major issue for the Vatican in Saudi Arabia and other countries where non-Muslims cannot worship openly.

Of predominantly Muslim nations that have diplomatic relations with the Vatican, only Sudan did not participate in the meeting.

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Bill Clinton: I got closer to killing bin Laden

NEW YORK (CNN) -- In a contentious taped interview that aired on "Fox News Sunday," former president Bill Clinton vigorously defended his efforts as president to capture and kill al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

"I got closer to killing him than anybody has gotten since. And if I were still president, we'd have more than 20,000 troops there trying to kill him," Clinton said, referring to Afghanistan.

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Why The Democratic Wave Could Be A Washout

MIKE ALLEN

American voters have been in a bad mood lately. They don't think highly of the President's performance. They aren't crazy about the war. They certainly don't like the G.O.P.-led Congress--a New York Times poll last week put its approval rating at just 25%. And while disapproval of Congress as a whole isn't rare, polls are finding that more and more voters are dissatisfied with their own lawmakers--a more telling phenomenon. The Democrats hope that come Election Day, this perfect storm of discontent will stir a giant wave to sweep the G.O.P. out of the majority. In a recent presentation to top Democrats, pollster Cornell Belcher said the party has its best chance since the Reagan era to win slices of the electorate that have come to be identified with the G.O.P. base, including churchgoers, young white men and Southern men. Frank Newport, editor in chief of the Gallup Poll, sees conditions ripe for an electoral tsunami but says it depends on "whether Democrats can take advantage of it."

In the past, moments like this have produced what political scientists call "wave elections," in which voters oust even lawmakers who don't seem vulnerable and political icons lose to underfunded unknowns. In 1948 there was widespread disappointment with the Republican-held "do nothing" Congress. It turned out to be an easy target for President Truman's Democrats, who retook both chambers. Such waves can sneak up. In September 1994 a Congressional Quarterly columnist, voicing the conventional wisdom of the time, wrote that the G.O.P.'s chances of taking the House were "dim." Two months later, Newt Gingrich and company capitalized on disaffection with the Democrats that peaked on Election Day and pulverized the Dems' Capitol Hill majorities.

But November is still a way off. Republicans are more chipper than they have been in months, with falling gas prices and an uptick in President Bush's approval ratings. In a Gallup poll of likely voters last week, 48% said they would vote Democratic for Congress--and 48% said they'd vote Republican. Ken Mehlman, chairman of the Republican National Committee, says the opposition hasn't sold a vision for handling terrorism, Iraq or jobs. He also cites a drop-off in turnout for most Democratic primaries this year as one sign that the Dems aren't strong enough to mount a takeover of power on Capitol Hill. Which leaves the G.O.P. cautious but hopeful that it will be able to hang on to its majority. "The challenges aren't less, but the environment is better," says Mehlman. "If you look at the overall picture, this environment is not consistent with a surge election." In other words, the conditions aren't great, but maybe the Democrats' wave won't be quite big enough to let them surf into power.

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Today in history - Sept. 25

Today is Monday, Sept. 25, the 268th day of 2006. There are 97 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On Sept. 25, 1789, the first United States Congress adopted 12 amendments to the Constitution and sent them to the states for ratification. (Ten of the amendments became the Bill of Rights.)

On this date:

In 1506, King Philip I of Castile died.

In 1775, American Revolutionary War hero Ethan Allen was captured by the British as he led an attack on Montreal

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Is Bin Laden Dead?

Saudi sources tell TIME that credible reports suggest the fugitive Qaeda leader has contracted a serious 'water-borne illness,' and may have already died

Fugitive Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, believed to be on the run in rugged terrain in the Afghan-Pakistani border region since the September 11 attacks five years ago, has become seriously ill and may have already died, a Saudi source tells TIME, echoing earlier reports in the French media.

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Crazy Like a Fox - How Hugo Chávez turned Bush bashing into a global political movement--backed by a lot of oil

TIM PADGETT

It's no surprise that the first thing Hugo Chávez offers me as we sit down for an interview is a cup of coffee. Chávez is a renowned caffeine fanatic, known for downing as many as two dozen small cups a day. Venezuelans speculate that it's one reason their President is so prone to impulsive diatribes like the one he delivered at the U.N. General Assembly last week, in which he accused President George W. Bush of being the "devil" and leaving a satanic "smell of sulfur" in the U.N. hall. Chávez wasn't done. A few hours before he met me, he gave a speech in Harlem in which he called Bush an "alcoholic."

But by the time he arrived at Venezuela's U.N. mission last Thursday, Hurricane Hugo had lost some of his bluster. On the basis of two previous meetings with Chávez, I expected him to be considerably less strident when sitting over a cup of guayoyo (a Venezuelan-style cup of coffee) than while standing at a lectern. Indeed, when an aide reminded him that my wife is Venezuelan, he asked to see pictures of her and our kids. He seemed genuinely surprised when I informed him that rebukes were pouring in from liberals in the U.S. Congress over the way he insulted Bush on U.S. soil. "Bush has called me worse," Chávez said, with a shrug. "Tyrant, populist dictator, drug trafficker, to name a few. I was simply telling a truth that people should know about this President, a man with gigantic power that no one seems to be braking."

Chávez, 52, believes it's his destiny to be the leftist David who puts the brakes on what he calls Bush's imperialist Goliath--not just in Venezuela, which has the hemisphere's largest oil reserves, but in Latin America and the world. In his eight years as President, Chávez has gone from a backwater strongman to a genuine global player, capitalizing on sky-high oil prices to spread his influence across Latin America and to win attention when he denounces the Bush Administration. That has made Caracas a hot destination for leftist tourists, bolstered Chávez's celebrity cachet--he counts Danny Glover and Harry Belafonte as friends--and made him the most visible Latin leader since Fidel Castro. But his rhetorical excesses, like his antics at the U.N., allow his critics to dismiss him as a buffoonish pretender. It was a sign of how badly his act played in New York City last week that even Democratic Representative Charles Rangel, a harsh critic of Bush's, went out of his way to tell Chávez that "you don't come into my country, you don't come into my congressional district and ... condemn my President."

Yet the problem for the Bush Administration is that while many Americans recoil, much of the rest of the world applauds. That's a big reason the U.S. is lobbying hard to prevent Venezuela from winning a nonvoting seat next month on the U.N. Security Council, where Chávez could run interference for his friend, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, in the dispute over Iran's nuclear ambitions. The U.S. is backing Guatemala for the seat, but Chávez has lined up the support of such influential nations as Russia, China and Brazil. And if Venezuela does win it, it would be the latest reminder that while 20th century rebels like Castro could do little more than rail at Washington, the U.S. today faces post--cold war radicals like Chávez and Ahmadinejad who have the will, savvy and resources to constrain American power and thwart U.S. interests. Says an African diplomat: "Chávez will stand up and articulate, however coarsely, the notion many of our citizens hold--that Bush and the U.S. have kicked us around for some time now after 9/11 and we would like it to stop."

Chávez has long been an insurgent. He grew up idolizing his great-grandfather, who went into the mountains to lead a revolt against an early 20th century Venezuelan dictator, and Simón Bolívar, South America's 19th century independence hero. "Chávez has always seen himself as that kind of heroic man of action on horseback," says Alberto Barrera, co-author of the biography Hugo Chávez sin Uniforme (Hugo Chávez Out of Uniform). Venezuela's ambassador to the U.N., Francisco Arias, a former classmate who took part with Chávez in a 1992 coup attempt, says that when the two men went through military training together, "Hugo was the one cadet who stood up to the awful hazing" at the academy.

When Chávez went to jail in 1992 for attempting to overthrow the government, the joke on the streets was that he deserved 30 years: one for the coup and 29 for failing. The incident won him admiration among ordinary Venezuelans, who backed Chávez for taking a stand against their criminally corrupt élite, who for decades had pillaged the oil wealth and left half the population in poverty. That popular support got him and his comrades released, and Chávez set out to take power at the ballot box instead. In 1998 he won a landslide presidential victory (and another in a special 2001 election).

Having vanquished Venezuela's political establishment, Chávez has set his sights on bigger targets. Exploiting the fact that the U.S. gets about 15% of its foreign oil from Venezuela, he pushed the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, of which Venezuela is a founding member, to pump up crude prices. In 1998, Venezuela's state-run oil monopoly, PDVSA, earned less than $14 billion in export revenue; this year it is expected to rake in almost $40 billion. In 2002 the White House was widely perceived to have backed a failed coup attempt against Chávez. (The Bush Administration denies that.) The resulting sympathy Chávez won coincided with the new petro-largesse he could spread around Latin America to curry favor for his Bolivarian revolution--including epic projects like a proposed $20 billion, 6,000-mile-long gas pipeline from Venezuela to Argentina to help integrate South America's economies. Chávez's anti-Yanqui message has changed the hemisphere's political equation, catapulting Latin leftists like Bolivia's Evo Morales into power and helping nonhemispheric powers like China gain a stronger economic foothold. "The U.S. fears Venezuela's presence on the Security Council," Chávez says, "because it knows we'll be a genuinely independent vote for the Third World."

Chávez has also poured the country's oil windfall into a New Deal's worth of social programs in Venezuela, including the first medical clinics that many dirt-poor Caracas barrios have ever seen--usually staffed by doctors from Cuba whom Castro sends in exchange for cut-rate oil. "I don't care if our doctors are from Mars," says Manuel Tejera, who is helping build a clinic and lay potable-water pipes in the La Vega barrio. "We feel more like real citizens here for once."

But Chávez is also a polarizing figure at home. Although his approval ratings are in the high 50s, there is growing impatience with the country's stubborn unemployment and violent crime. Teodoro Petkoff, an erstwhile socialist leader who is a campaign strategist for Chávez's main opponent in the December presidential election, Manuel Rosales, says Chávez's "21st century socialism" is only a short-term fix. "The real fight against poverty is a fight against unemployment," Petkoff says. Others complain that Chávez is a Castro wannabe who has subverted Venezuela's democratic institutions, especially the courts, and may well seek a constitutional change to let him run for a third term in 2012 if, as expected, he wins re-election in December. For the most part, Venezuelan media are still free to rail at Chávez--and they do. "Just watch two hours of television there," Chávez says. "My God, devil is the least of things the opposition is allowed to call me on the air."

What may ultimately erode Chávez's stature are exactly the things that he has skillfully used to boost it. As the price of oil begins to fall, critics predict Chávez's radical influence will too. Some analysts believe that Mexico's leftist candidate, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, narrowly lost the recent presidential race in large part because his conservative opponent painted him as a Chávez clone. The same thing happened a month earlier in presidential elections in Peru.

Chávez considers his bravado his chief asset, but critics say it too often makes it hard to take him seriously as a statesman. While Ahmadinejad wowed U.S. audiences with his verbal dexterity last week, Chávez seemed only to enhance his reputation for gratuitous Bush baiting. After Chávez's speech at the General Assembly, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., John Bolton, called the performance "a comic-strip approach to international affairs." A product of Venezuela's llanos, or rural plains, Chávez patterns his style after the straight-talking vaqueros (cowboys) he grew up with. (One of his favorite American films is Clint Eastwood's Pale Rider.) And Chávez is fond of calling Bush "Mister Danger," a reference to a quintessential Ugly American in Venezuela's best-known novel, Doña Bárbara, a torrid story set not far from where Chávez was raised. And the "devil" barb, he points out, stems from a legend about a vaquero who beats Satan in a singing contest. But at some point even cowboys have to learn a more diplomatic tune.

With reporting by Jens Erik Gould/Caracas

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Today in history - Sept. 25

The Associated Press

Today is Monday, Sept. 25, the 268th day of 2006. There are 97 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On Sept. 25, 1789, the first United States Congress adopted 12 amendments to the Constitution and sent them to the states for ratification. (Ten of the amendments became the Bill of Rights.)

On this date:

In 1506, King Philip I of Castile died.

In 1775, American Revolutionary War hero Ethan Allen was captured by the British as he led an attack on Montreal.

In 1890, Wilford Woodruff, president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, issued a Manifesto formally renouncing the practice of polygamy.

In 1906, Russian composer Dmitry Shostakovich was born in St. Petersburg.

In 1919, President Wilson collapsed from a stroke after a speech in Pueblo, Colo., during a national speaking tour in support of the Treaty of Versailles.

In 1956, the first trans-Atlantic telephone cable went into service.

In 1957, with 300 U.S. Army troops standing guard, nine black children forced to withdraw from Central High School in Little Rock, Ark., because of unruly white crowds were escorted to class.

In 1973, the three-man crew of the U.S. space laboratory Skylab 2 splashed down safely in the Pacific Ocean after spending 59 days in orbit.

In 1978, 144 people were killed when a Pacific Southwest Airlines Boeing 727 and a private plane collided over San Diego.

In 1981, Sandra Day O'Connor was sworn in as the first female justice on the Supreme Court.

Ten years ago: Stone-throwing protests by thousands of Palestinians angered by Israel's decision to open an archaeological tunnel near Jerusalem's Al Aqsa Mosque compound led to battles with Israeli troops in which seven people died.

Five years ago: Saudi Arabia formally severed relations with Afghanistan's hard-line Taliban government. Former Chicago Bulls player Michael Jordan, who'd left professional basketball after winning a half-dozen championship rings, announced he was returning to the game with the Washington Wizards. General Motors Corp. announced the 2002 model year would be the last for the Chevrolet Camaro and Pontiac Firebird.

One year ago: President Bush wrapped up a three-day trip designed to convey hands-on leadership during the Gulf Coast hurricanes, promising to act on military leaders' request for a national search-and-rescue strategy. A U.S. military helicopter crashed in Afghanistan, killing all five American crew members. Actor Don Adams died in Los Angeles at age 82.

Today's Birthdays: Baseball Hall-of-Famer Phil Rizzuto is 89. Country singer Ian Tyson is 73. Rhythm-and-blues singer Joe Russell is 67. Actor Robert Walden is 63. Actor-producer Michael Douglas is 62. Model Cheryl Tiegs is 59. Actress Mimi Kennedy is 57. Actor-director Anson Williams is 57. Actor Mark Hamill is 55. Actor Colin Friels is 54. Actor Michael Madsen is 48. Actress Heather Locklear is 45. Actress Aida Turturro is 44. Actor Tate Donovan is 43. Basketball player Scottie Pippen is 41. Actor Jason Flemyng is 40. Actor Will Smith is 38. Actor Hal Sparks is 37. Actress Catherine Zeta-Jones is 37. Actress Bridgette Wilson is 33. Actor Chris Owen is 26. Rapper T. I. is 26. Actor Lee Norris is 25. Singer Diana Ortiz (Dream) is 21.

Thought for Today: "The richer your friends, the more they will cost you." — Elisabeth Marbury, American writer (1856-1933).

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