KI Bush 40

WASHINGTON – For years, the brick facade of a three-story house near the Capitol has functioned as a shield for the lawmakers who live and pray there, offering sanctuary from the temptations of political life — and discretion for those who succumbed.
South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford blew away much of the privacy of the place over the past week, revealing he had confided in his "C Street" friends, a collection of current and former lawmakers, about the cross-continental affair he had hidden from his wife.
Their universal response: Break up with the mistress, according to several knowledgeable people who spoke on condition of anonymity.
That these details and more have been connected with the red brick house at 133 C Street SE defies the secrecy that those associated with the Christian facility have long sought to maintain.
The building, registered in District of Columbia tax records as a religious and commercial building, is affiliated with a Christian group of many names, including the "Fellowship Foundation." The group sponsors the annual National Prayer Breakfast attended by the president, members of Congress and dignitaries around the world.
It also hosts luncheons and prayer groups on the first two floors. The top floor of bedrooms is occupied by both Democratic and Republican members of Congress, all Christians, who pay rent that, in the past has been partially subsidized by the fellowship.
Those who have lived and prayed there have described the building as a home away from home for lawmakers, a space for them to socialize, live a Christian lifestyle and confide in each other while they're away from their families.
Some of those private subjects have become embarrassingly public. Two lawmakers connected to the so-called "C Street community" have revealed they had had extramarital affairs.
Sanford, who apparently has never lived there, nonetheless said he turned to "C Street" for counsel and solace while in the throes of extramarital romance with a woman named Maria from Argentina. His spiritual adviser, Warren "Cubby" Culbertson, in an interview with The Associated Press, described the C Street crowd as "the guys Mark hung out with in Washington."
One of group on Wednesday confirmed counseling Sanford about the governor's affair.
"Former Rep. Steve Largent, a member of the C Street community, said he had discussions with both Mark and Jenny Sanford this year, regarding their marriage," Largent said in a statement to the AP.
Sanford wasn't a unique case. Sen. John Ensign, who has lived at the C Street address, is reported to have been confronted about his recently disclosed affair with a female campaign staffer who was married to one of his top Senate aides. The woman's husband, Douglas Hampton, wrote in a letter to Fox News that another resident of the house, Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., did the confronting.
All the recent talk has made for a convulsion of publicity, tinged with scandal, for a house and a community of the devout who have labored for years to avoid it.
At least six lawmakers lived at the house as of January, including Coburn and Ensign, according to information provided by knowledgeable Republican, Democratic and nonpartisan officials who demanded anonymity because the information was not public.
Representatives for the Fellowship are hard to find. No spokesman could be reached directly or had responded by Wednesday to requests for comment submitted through members of the C Street community. The building itself is owned by a group called Youth With A Mission Washington DC Inc. C St. Center, according to city records. An e-mail to the founders of Youth With A Mission seeking comment went unanswered.
In a 2003 AP story, Richard Carver, then a member of the group's board of directors, said that the group's goal with members of Congress was "to hope that we can assist them in better understandings of the teachings of Christ, and applying it to their jobs."
Jim Winkler, then a lobbyist for the church, said of lawmakers, "We don't approach them and ask for their support for anything."
It is not the only Capitol Hill home away from home run by a religious group for lawmakers.

The United Methodist Building, at 100 Maryland Avenue across from the Capitol, has for 75 years been the church's office in Washington. It also has been home to members of Congress and even the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s ecumenical offices, from which the march on Washington was planned, according to its Web site.

There's a difference, according to one who has worked in the Methodist Building. Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, says the secrecy surrounding the C Street house makes it possible for the Fellowship to influence lawmakers who live and pray there beyond the public eye.

They have said community members "sit down every week at a specific time and talk about religion in our lives. Well, these are members of Congress," Lynn said. "Part of their life is what they're voting on in Congress."

"When you have this kind of cozy secretive arrangement it does raise red flags," he added. "And the continuing secrecy makes the red brighter."

___

Associated Press Writer Allen G. Breed contributed to this report from Columbia, S.C.

Halloween Costume

It is not always easy to track the development of Halloween in Ireland and Scotland from the mid-seventeenth century, largely because one has to trace ritual practices from [modern] folkloric evidence that do not necessarily reflect how the holiday might have changed; these rituals may not be "authentic" or "timeless" examples of pre-industrial times.

Scotland, having a shared Gaelic culture and language with Ireland, has celebrated the festival of Samhain (Pronounced Sow-win) robustly for many centuries. The autumn festival is pre-Christian Celtic in origin, and is known in Scottish Gaelic as Oidhche Shamhna the “End of Summer”. During the fire festival, souls of the dead wander the earth and are free to return to the mortal world until dawn. Traditionally bonfires and lanterns (samhnag) in Scottish Gaelic, would be lit to ward off the phantoms and evil spirits that emerge at midnight. The term Samhainn or Samhuinn is used for the harvest feast, and an t-Samhain is used for the entire month of November.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) –
U.S. health officials on Wednesday ordered Pfizer Inc and GlaxoSmithKline PLC to add strong "black box" warnings on their anti-smoking drugs to highlight the risk of serious mental health problems, including suicidal thoughts.

The warnings, which must be added to Pfizer's Chantix and Glaxo's Zyban, follow more than five thousand reports of depression, hostility and other behavioral changes, the Food and Drug Administration said.

FDA officials said there was still a need for the medications, their concerns tempered by smoking's health dangers, such as lung cancer and heart disease.

"We don't want to scare people off from trying to use the medication to stop smoking. We just want them carefully monitored," said Dr. Curt Rosebraugh, who oversees the FDA office that reviews smoking-cessation drugs.

Additionally, the FDA strengthened its caution about possible accidents and serious injuries with Chantix linked to loss of consciousness, mental confusion, dizziness and muscle spasms. But it stopped short of adding it to the boxed warning as some health advocates had urged.

Rosebraugh told reporters the FDA could not directly link the reported problems to the drugs, adding that withdrawal from nicotine in tobacco can also cause problems.

The agency is also requiring the companies to conduct additional clinical trials to help determine how serious a problem the mood disorders are, including among patients who already have depression or other similar conditions.

The warnings will limit Pfizer's ability to run some types of advertisements for Chantix, which the world's largest drugmaker had been counting on to help revive profits.

Instead, Pfizer has seen the drug's sales plunge over the last year amid safety concerns. Global first-quarter sales of Chantix fell 36 percent to $177 million.

THOUSAND OF REPORTS

FDA first alerted patients and doctors about possible mood changes with Chantix in November 2007, and has continued to receive reports of problems.

Overall, the agency received 4,762 reports of serious psychiatric events since Chantix's 2006 approval. For Zyban and its generic rivals, it received a total 527 reports, it said.

Specifically, the FDA said it received 98 reports of suicide and 188 reports of attempted suicide with Chantix and 14 reports of suicide and 17 attempts with Zyban and related generics.

Some analysts said investors have already factored in the continuing safety concerns. BMO Capital Markets analyst Robert Hazlett said he was lowering his estimated Chantix sales by $50 million per year starting in 2010.

Pfizer shares finished down less than 1 percent at $14.90 on the New York Stock Exchange on Wednesday. Glaxo shares gained 2 percent to close at $36.04, also on the NYSE.

Chantix, also known as varenicline, is designed to stimulate a type of nicotine receptor in the brain while preventing nicotine from binding to another receptor.

Zyban includes the same active ingredient, bupropion, as Glaxo's antidepressant Wellbutrin, which already carries a boxed warning about suicide and other behavioral risks.

Both Pfizer and Glaxo said they would add the new warning to their products.

Pfizer said it has already begun studying Chantix in hundreds of schizophrenia patients and was planning another trial that would include people with and without psychiatric disorders.

"The benefits of Chantix outweigh the risks for many patients when used as directed," said Dr. Briggs Morrison, a Pfizer senior vice president.

But some consumer advocates said the FDA's Chantix warning was not strong enough for a drug that has been banned for use by pilots.

Thomas Moore, a scientist at the Drug Safety and Policy Institute for Safe Medication Practices, said making the accident caution more prominent was an improvement but it should be as strong as the one for mental side effects.

"Both doctors and patients should carefully weigh the risks and benefits of this drug... and consider alternatives" such as nicotine patches and gums, said Moore, whose group called attention to reported accidents and injuries last year.

(Reporting by Susan Heavey with additional reporting by Lisa Richwine in Washington and Ransdell Pierson in New York; editing by Maureen Bavdek, Richard Chang and Tim Dobbyn)

Some car seat systems are set up with an battery-powered automatic control to adjust how the seat sits in the car.

In suitably equipped cars, seats and mirrors can be adjusted using electric controls. Some vehicles let the driver(s) save the adjustments in memory for later recall, with the push of a button. Most systems allow users to store more than one set of adjustments. This allows multiple drivers to store their comfort settings, or a single driver to store several different occupant positions. Some vehicles associate memorized settings with a specifically numbered, remotely operated key fob, resetting a seat to the position associated with that fob when the vehicle is unlocked (e.g. key fob #1 sets seats to memory position #1, #2 to #2, etc.)

Site

The word "wallet" has been in use since the first century A.D. to refer to a bag or a knapsack for carrying articles. The word may derive from Proto-Germanic. The ancient Greek word kibisis, used to describe the sack carried by the god Hermes and the sack in which the mythical hero Perseus carried the decapitated head of the monster Medusa, has been typically translated as "wallet". Usage of the term "wallet" in its modern meaning of "billfold" in American English dates to 1834.

Billfolds were developed after the introduction of paper currency to the West in the 1600s. (The first paper currency was introduced in the New World by the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1690.) Prior to the introduction of paper currency, purses (usually simple drawstring leather pouches) were used for storing coins. Early wallets were made primarily of cow or horse leather and included a small pouch for printed calling cards.

RFID Blocking Wallet

The spider is usually made of a corrugated fabric disk, generally with a coating of a material intended to improve mechanical properties. Unusually, a German manufacturer, Klangfilm, used bakelite for spiders in some of its early drivers, and another German company currently offers a spider made of wood. The surround can be a roll of rubber or foam, or a ring of corrugated fabric (often coated), attached to the outer circumference of the cone and to the frame. The choice of suspension materials affects driver lifetime, especially in the case of foam surrounds which are susceptible to aging and environmental damage.

Very few manufacturers use electrically powered field coils as was common in the earliest designs. The size and type of magnet and details of the magnetic circuit differ, depending on design goals. For instance, the shape of the pole piece affects the magnetic interaction between the voice coil and the magnetic field, and is sometimes used to modify a driver's behavior. As well, a 'shorting ring' or cap is sometimes used near the magnetic gap to reduce adverse distortion effects of high current in the voice coil.

IPOD Speakers

In October 2005 Hurricane Wilma passed directly over Playa del Carmen, remaining in the vicinity for two days and causing significant damage and a temporary drop in tourist arrivals. Fortunately most of the damage was relatively superficial and repaired within a few weeks of the storm. Hurricane Wilma arrived from the Caribbean sea, passing over Cozumel before making landfall in Playa del Carmen. It then moved north along the Mexican coast, hitting Cancún especially hard.

Playa del Carmen (Xaman Ha' or Pláaya in Modern Maya) is a city on the coast of the Caribbean Sea, in the northeast of the Mexican state of Quintana Roo. The city is the seat of the Solidaridad municipality. In the 2005 census, the city had a population of about 100,383 people and it is rapidly growing in population. It is the third largest city in Quintana Roo, after Cancún and Chetumal.

Playa Del Carmen Villas

Forex Signals

Foreign exchange trading increased by 38% between April 2005 and April 2006 and has more than doubled since 2001. This is largely due to the growing importance of foreign exchange as an asset class and an increase in fund management assets, particularly of hedge funds and pension funds. The diverse selection of execution venues such as internet trading platforms offered by companies such as First Prudential Markets and Saxo Bank have made it easier for retail traders to trade in the foreign exchange market.

Long-term trends: Currency markets often move in visible long-term trends. Although currencies do not have an annual growing season like physical commodities, business cycles do make themselves felt. Cycle analysis looks at longer-term price trends that may rise from economic or political trends.

Designer Perfume

During the Renaissance period, perfumes were used primarily by royalty and the wealthy to mask body odors resulting from the sanitary practices of the day. Partly due to this patronage, the western perfumery industry was created. By the 18th century, aromatic plants were being grown in the Grasse region of France to provide the growing perfume industry with raw materials. Even today, France remains the centre of the European perfume design and trade.

The Fragrance wheel is a relatively new classification method that is widely used in retail and in the fragrance industry. The method was created in 1983 by Michael Edwards, a consultant in the perfume industry, who designed his own scheme of fragrance classification.The new scheme was created in order to simplify fragrance classification and naming scheme, as well as to show the relationships between each of the individual classes.

EDMONTON. Alberta – The Edmonton Oilers are turning to another veteran goaltender.
Edmonton signed 36-year-old Nikolai Khabibulin to a four-year, 15-million deal on Wednesday. He'll replace 39-year-old Dwayne Roloson, who signed earlier in the day with the New York Islanders.
Khabibulin is a former Stanley Cup winner who spent last season with the Chicago Blackhawks.
He went 25-8-7 with a 2.33 goals-against average and .919 save percentage despite missing time due to a nagging groin injury.
Khabibulin joins his fifth NHL team after stops with the Chicago Blackhawks, Tampa Bay Lightning, Phoenix Coyotes and Winnipeg Jets. He backstopped the Lightning to the Stanley Cup title in 2004.

The cities of Berkeley, California and Boulder, Colorado have passed laws stating that people who have pets do not "own" them; rather, they are the pet's "guardian."

The central issue in the adoption of a pet is whether a new owner can provide a safe, secure, permanent home for the pet. Many shelters and pounds cannot supply the animal with a suitable home. A new owner might also face a pet who has been neglected or abused. In those cases, the owner must be extra patient with the animal and provide it with the right care to help the pet overcome the past.

Personalized Dog Supplies

Skepparkroken, Sweden –
How can it be that 70,000 protesters in Leipzig in 1989 tore down the Berlin Wall, while up to a million protesters in Tehran in 2009 managed only – so far – to trigger repression? Or, to phrase it differently, what's the tipping point for revolution? Just when does civil society trump entrenched political power?
Different observers would, of course, give different answers along the spectrum, running from a historian's retrospective determinism to a journalist's fixation on daily blips.
But whatever the viewpoint, the similarities and the differences between Leipzig and Tehran are striking.
In both cases a robust civil society and middle class that habitually guarded their private sphere by eschewing politics suddenly turned political and challenged an authoritarian power structure. In both cases a mobilizing spark was the insult to citizens in apparent official falsification of formal elections that offered little genuine choice anyway. In both cases the social contract snapped; a wide range of businessmen, technocrats, and young mothers spontaneously joined the protest of elite student malcontents.
Furthermore, both framed their demands in religious terms – calling on the moral authority of the Protestant church in then East Germany, chanting "Allahu Akbar" (God is great) nightly in Tehran.
Yet in neither case were the powerful religious or nationalist motives that drive many revolutions a major factor. In Iran both the ruling hierarchy and the demonstrators spoke as Muslims. And nationalism was neutralized as an issue by President Obama's refusal to cheer on the protesters and thus expose them to branding as traitors in service of the Great Satan.
Similarly, in Leipzig, the appeal to East Germany's only autonomous institution – the Protestant Church – was pragmatic rather than devout, and nationalism was negligible. When the chants morphed from "We are the people" to "We are one people," this was no Pan-German chauvinism, but an equally pragmatic move by Leipzigers to lay claim to the same freedom and well-being the West Germans enjoyed.
Despite the similarities, the outcomes in 1989 in Leipzig and 2009 in Tehran were very different. When the Leipzigers on the evening of Oct. 9 ignored their decades-old fear to face down the threat of massed security forces armed with live ammunition and orders to suppress the "counterrevolution," it was the hierarchy that blinked and pulled back the 8,000 police and backups minutes before the unauthorized march started. Four weeks later, this successful defiance nudged the more timid East Berliners to demonstrate; five weeks later, the 28-year-old Berlin Wall fell, without a single casualty. Shortly thereafter, street protesters in Prague, Czechoslovakia; Sofia, Bulgaria; and Timisoara, Romania; ousted their own Communist bosses and gave the death blow to Moscow's external empire. Within less than a year, West and East Germany were reunited. Within two years, the Soviet Union imploded.
By contrast, last month close to a million Iranian demonstrators failed even to pry open the factional fault lines in the ayatollahs' hierarchy and thus expand political participation. Far from chaining the basij militia, the establishment sicced it on the crowds. At least 20 people were killed, hundreds more arrested.
Part of the explanation for this dichotomy can be found in the largest single difference between Leipzig and Tehran: the contexts of 1989 in Europe and 2009 in the Middle East. In 1989 the reforming head of the Soviet Communist Party, Mikhail Gorbachev, had made it clear to his East Berlin dependant, Erich Honecker, that he would not again send Soviet tanks into Berlin to prop him up (as Mr. Gorbachev's predecessor had done for Mr. Honecker's predecessor 36 years earlier).
In 2009, however, Iran's Guardian Council was not answerable to any outsider, nor did it face the kind of existential threat it had come under in the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s. The council sees Iran as a rising power, one well on the way to restoring its rightful historical hegemony in the region. It chose to lose its electoral legitimacy rather than share power with the street.
Or at least that might be the provisional judgment of both historian and journalist at this point.
And yet it's instructive that the best specialists had no clue beforehand that the East Germans, of all acquiescent people, would erupt in 1989. Or that Iran's vibrant civil society would erupt as soon as this summer over abstract electoral fraud.
Perhaps the moral here is that the only honest answer to the nagging questions about what constitutes a revolutionary tipping point is this: You never really know until after it has already happened.
Elizabeth Pond, a Berlin-based journalist, is the author of "Beyond the Wall: Germany's Road to Unification."

Running a distance is the most basic form of racing, but races are often conducted in vehicles, such as boats, cars and aircraft, or with animals such as horses.

One-make, or single marque, championships often employ production-based cars from a single manufacturer or even a single model from a manufacturer's range. There are numerous notable one-make formulae from various countries and regions, some of which – such as the Porsche Supercup and, previously, IROC – have fostered many distinct national championships. Single marque series are often found at club level, to which the production-based cars, limited modifications, and close parity in performance are very well suited. There are also single-chassis single seater formulae, such as Formula Ford, Formula Saab, Formula BMW, and defunct Formula Vee, usually as "feeder" series for "senior" race formula (in the fashion of farm teams).

High Performance Driving

Palm springs Rental Homes

As of the 2000 census, there were 42,807 people, 20,516 households, and 9,457 families residing in the city. The population density was 454.2 people per square mile (175.4/km²). There were 30,823 housing units at an average density of 327.0/sq mi (126.3/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 78.33% White, 3.93% African American, 0.94% Native American, 3.83% Asian, 0.14% Pacific Islander, 9.78% from other races, and 3.06% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 23.72% of the population.

The Agua Caliente band of Cahuilla Indians is composed of several small groups of Indians who were living in the modern day Palm Springs area when the Agua Caliente Reservation was established by the United States Government in 1896. Archaeological research has shown that the Cahuilla have lived in the area for the past 350-500 years. The reservation occupies 32,000 acres (130 km²), of which 6,700 acres (27 km²) lie within the city limits, making the Agua Caliente band the city's largest landowner. The reservation land was originally composed of alternating squares of land laid out across the desert in a checkerboard pattern. The alternating, non-reservation squares, were provided by the United States Government to the Southern Pacific Railroad as an incentive to bring rail lines through the open desert. Tribal enrollment is currently estimated at between 296 and 365 people. The Cahuilla name for the area was "Se-Khi" (boiling water).

LOS ANGELES – Michael Jackson was so distraught over persistent insomnia in recent months that he pleaded for a powerful sedative despite warnings it could be harmful, says a nutritionist who was working with the singer as he prepared his comeback bid.
Cherilyn Lee, a registered nurse whose specialty includes nutritional counseling, said Tuesday that she repeatedly rejected his demands for the drug, Diprivan, which is given intravenously.
But a frantic phone call she received from Jackson four days before his death made her fear that he somehow obtained Diprivan or another drug to induce sleep, Lee said.
While in Florida on June 21, Lee was contacted by a member of Jackson's staff.
"He called and was very frantic and said, `Michael needs to see you right away.' I said, 'What's wrong?' And I could hear Michael in the background ..., 'One side of my body is hot, it's hot, and one side of my body is cold. It's very cold,'" Lee said.
"I said, `Tell him he needs to go the hospital. I don't know what's going on, but he needs to go to the hospital ... right away."
"At that point, I knew that somebody had given him something that hit the central nervous system," she said, adding, "He was in trouble Sunday and he was crying out."
Jackson did not go to the hospital. He died June 25 after suffering cardiac arrest, his family said. Autopsies have been conducted, but an official cause of death is not expected for several weeks.
"I don't know what happened there. The only thing I can say is he was adamant about this drug," Lee said.
Following Jackson's death, allegations emerged that the 50-year-old King of Pop had been consuming painkillers, sedatives and antidepressants. But Lee said she encountered a man tortured by sleep deprivation and one who expressed opposition to recreational drug use.
"He wasn't looking to get high or feel good and sedated from drugs," she said. "This was a person who was not on drugs. This was a person who was seeking help, desperately, to get some sleep, to get some rest."
Jackson was rehearsing hard for what would have been his big comeback — his "This Is It" tour, a series of performances that would have strained his aging dancer's body. Also, pain had been a part of his life since 1984, when his scalp was severely burned during a Pepsi commercial shoot.
Several months ago, Jackson had begun badgering Lee about Diprivan, also known as Propofol, Lee said. It is an intravenous anesthetic drug widely used in operating rooms to induce unconsciousness. It is generally given through an IV needle in the hand.
Patients given Propofol take less time to regain consciousness than those administered certain other drugs, and they report waking up more clear-headed and refreshed, said University of Chicago psychopharmacologist James Zacny.
It has also been implicated in drug abuse, with people using it to "chill out" or to commit suicide, Zacny said. Accidental deaths linked to abuse have been reported. The powerful drug has a very narrow therapeutic window, meaning it doesn't take doses much larger than the medically recommended amount to stop a person's breathing.
An overdose that stops breathing can result in a buildup of carbon dioxide, causing the heart to beat erratically and leading to cardiac arrest, said Dr. John Dombrowski, a member of the board of directors of the American Society of Anesthesiologists.
Because it is given intravenously and is not the kind of prescription drug typically available from pharmacists, abuse cases have involved anesthesiologists, nurses and other hospital staffers with easy access to the drug, Zacny said.
In recent months, Lee said, Jackson waved away her warnings about it.

"I had an IV and when it hit my vein, I was sleeping. That's what I want," Lee said Jackson told her.

"I said, 'Michael, the only problem with you taking this medication' — and I had a chill in my body and tears in my eyes three months ago — 'the only problem is you're going to take it and you're not going to wake up," she recalled.

According to Lee, Jackson said it had been given to him before but he didn't want to discuss the circumstances or identify the doctor involved.

The singer also drew his own distinctions when it came to drugs versus prescription medicine.

"He said, `I don't like drugs. I don't want any drugs. My doctor told me this is a safe medicine,'" Lee said. The next day, she said she brought a copy of the Physician's Desk Reference to show him the section on Diprivan.

"He said, 'No, my doctor said it's safe. It works quick and it's safe as long as somebody's here to monitor me and wake me up. It's going be OK,'" Lee said. She said he did not give the doctor's name.

Lee said at one point, she spent the night with Jackson to monitor him while he slept. She said she gave him herbal remedies and stayed in a corner chair in his vast bedroom.

After he settled in bed, Lee told Jackson to turn down the lights and music — he had classical music playing in the house. "He also had a computer on the bed because he loved Walt Disney," she said. "He was watching Donald Duck and it was ongoing. I said, `Maybe if we put on softer music,' and he said, `No, this is how I go to sleep.'"

Three and a half hours later, Jackson jumped up and looked at Lee, eyes wide open, according to Lee. "This is what happens to me," she quoted him as saying. "All I want is to be able to sleep. I want to be able to sleep eight hours. I know I'll feel better the next day."

Lee, 56, is licensed as a registered nurse and nurse practitioner in California, according to the state Board of Registered Nursing's Web site. She attended Los Angeles Southwest College and the Charles Drew University of Medicine and Sciences in Los Angeles.

Comedian Dick Gregory, who knows Lee and her work, said he believes Jackson's insomnia had its roots in the pop star's 2005 trial on child molestation charges. Jackson's health had deteriorated so much that his parents called Gregory, a natural foods proponent, for help.

Gregory said Jackson wasn't eating or drinking at the time and, after he was persuaded by Gregory to undergo testing, ended up hospitalized for severe dehydration.

But Jackson obviously was healthy enough to withstand the level of medical scrutiny needed to insure him for the upcoming high-stakes London concerts, Gregory said. "That you don't trick," he said of the exams.

Lee, who has also worked with Stevie Wonder, Marla Gibbs, Reynaldo Rey and other celebrities, said she was introduced to Jackson by the mother of one of his staff members. Jackson's three children had minor cold symptoms and their pediatrician was out of town.

Lee said she went to the house in January, the first of about 10 visits there through April, and treated the children with vitamins. Michael, intrigued, asked what else she did and took her up on her claim she could boost his energy.

After running blood tests, she devised protein shakes for him and gave him an intravenous vitamin and mineral mixture — known as a "Myers cocktail," after Dr. John Myers — which Lee said she uses routinely in her practice.

"It wasn't that he felt sick," she said. "He just wanted more energy."

Lee said she decided to speak out to protect Jackson's reputation from what she considers unfounded allegations of drug abuse or shortcomings as a parent.

"I think it's so wrong for people to say these things about him," she said. "He was a wonderful, loving father who wanted the best for his children."

___

AP Medical Writer Lindsey Tanner in Chicago and AP Television Writer David Bauder in New York contributed to this report.

Oleanna - directed by Tony Award winner Doug Hughes (Doubt) - will open Oct. 11 at the intimate house that Avenue Q has occupied since 2003.

Producer Jeffrey Finn is behind the Broadway production of the provocative drama by Pulitzer Prize winner Mamet. The world premiere of Mamet's Race will also play Broadway this fall.

The "gripping account of a power struggle between a male university professor and one of his female students" is currently being presented by Center Theatre Group at Mark Taper Forum in L.A. by special arrangement with Jeffrey Finn. The run ends July 12. It received solid reviews. It opened June 5 after previews from May 28.

Tickets for the Broadway run will go on sale July 19 and will be available for purchase at Telecharge.com or by calling (212) 239-6200.

The Broadway production will feature the L.A. creative team, including scenic designer Neil Patel, costume designer Catherine Zuber, lighting designer Donald Holder and fight director Rick Sordelet. Production stage manager is Charles Means.

According to production notes, "Written in the heyday of political correctness and the culture wars of the early 1990s, Oleanna made an instantly incendiary debut - dividing audiences at every performance into two camps, compelled to attack or defend either character. Critics weighing in on this new production confirm that the play hasn't lost any of its bite, power or relevance, noting the intense post-show conversations that continue to erupt nightly."

Pullman (who plays John) returns to the Broadway stage for the first time since he received a 2002 Drama Desk Award nomination starring opposite Mercedes Ruehl in Edward Albee's Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning play The Goat, or Who is Sylvia? His other recent stage work includes a second Drama Desk nomination for his appearance in Albee's Peter and Jerry in 2007 at Second Stage and the 2006 Kennedy Center production of The Subject Was Roses (Helen Hayes Award nomination). His films include "Independence Day," "Lost Highway," "Sleepless in Seattle," "Ruthless People," "While You Were Sleeping" and more.

Stiles (who plays Carol) earned acclaim for her performance in a previous production of Oleanna in London's West End in 2004. Her additional stage credits include the 2002 Shakespeare in the Park production of Twelfth Night as Viola, James Lapine's Fran's Bed at Playwrights Horizons and The Vagina Monologues. Oleanna will mark her Broadway debut. She made her cinematic debut at age 15 in "I Love You, I Love You Not" with Claire Danes. Her movies include "10 Things I Hate About You"; "Save the Last Dance"; "Mona Lisa Smiles"; two David Mamet films, "State and Main" and "Edmond"; and the three Bourne movies, "The Bourne Identity," "The Bourne Supremacy" and "The Bourne Ultimatum."

Mamet is the award-winning author of many plays including Glengarry Glen Ross (1984 Pulitzer Prize and New York Drama Critics Circle Award, 2005 Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play), American Buffalo, Boston Marriage, November, Speed-the-Plow and The Cryptogram.

Mamet has written the screenplays for such films as "The Verdict," "The Untouchables," "Wag the Dog" and his own adaptation of "Oleanna." He has twice been nominated for an Academy Award. He has written and directed ten films including "Homicide," "The Spanish Prisoner," "State and Main," "House of Games," "Spartan" and "Redbelt."

He is co-creator and executive producer of the CBS hit series "The Unit," and is a founding member of The Atlantic Theatre Company.

This fall, director Doug Hughes will also direct a Broadway revival of The Royal Family for Manhattan Theatre Club.

Following a world premiere in May 1992 as the first production of David Mamet's Back Bay Theater Company in Cambridge, MA and starring William H. Macy and Rebecca Pidgeon, Oleanna had its New York premiere Off-Broadway at The Orpheum Theatre on Oct. 23, 1992. Directed by Mamet and again starring Macy and Pidgeon, the hit production ran 513 performances, eventually featuring Treat Williams as John.

Visit www.OleannaOnBroadway.com.

A lantern is a portable lighting device used to illuminate broad areas. Lanterns may be used for signaling, or as general light sources for camping. Dim varieties are often used for decoration. The term "lantern" is also used more generically to mean a 'light source' or the enclosure for a light source, i.e., the housing for the lamp and lens -- that is the top section -- of a lighthouse

Many portable mantle-type fuel lanterns now use fuel gases that becomes liquid when compressed, such as propane, either alone or combined with butane. Such lamps usually use a small disposable steel container to provide the fuel. The ability to refuel without liquid fuel handling increases safety and additional fuel supplies for such lamps have an indefinite shelf life if the containers are protected from moisture (which can cause corrosion of the container) and excess heat.

Paper Star Lanterns

WASHINGTON – The Treasury Department said Tuesday that it has approved three more firms for its mortgage relief program.
The new approvals brought the number of companies participating in the mortgage effort to 23 with the total amount authorized for all of the firms rising to $17.98 billion out of a maximum of $50 billion the government has said it could spend on this program.
The money is being provided to support the government's effort to combat a wave of mortgage foreclosures by giving incentives for homeowners to modify their existing mortgages.
The new approvals for this program included National City Bank of Miamisburg, Ohio; Technology Credit Union of San Jose, Calif., and Citizens First Wholesale Mortgage Co. of The Villages, Fla.
The government also confirmed Tuesday that Hartford Financial Services Group Inc. had become the first among a group of six major life insurers to get assistance from the government's $700 billion financial rescue fund.
Hartford won approval in May from the government to gain access to the bailout program. The six companies had sought federal aid in the wake of major investment losses resulting from the financial market turmoil of last fall.
Hartford announced the federal support on Friday, but under the rules that govern the bailout program, Treasury has two business days to acknowledge transactions involving the fund.
The $3.4 billion in support provided to Hartford was by far the largest award on Tuesday. In addition, a group of 15 smaller banks received $226 million from the rescue fund bringing the total in support to $203.2 billion.
Last week, Treasury established a process for pricing billions of dollars worth of warrants that banks much repurchase from the government to exit the bailout program. Treasury said that the banks can make the first offer of a purchase price and then Treasury will decide whether to accept that offer or make a counteroffer.

HOUSTON (Reuters) –
A federal judge on Tuesday ordered Texas financier Allen Stanford, accused of a $7 billion fraud, held without bail until trial.

U.S. prosecutors had argued that Stanford, who faces life in prison if convicted on all charges contained in a 21-count indictment, had the means and motive to flee.

"In total, the evidence proffered by the government is sufficient to weigh in favor of detention," U.S. District Judge David Hittner said in an order that revokes a $500,000 bond that a magistrate had granted Stanford on Thursday.

"We are very disappointed and we are going to appeal to the 5th Circuit," Dick DeGuerin, Stanford's lawyer said in a statement.

Stanford, who is more accustomed to jetting around the globe in his private planes, has been in custody since his arrest on June 18 in Virginia. He is currently being held in a federal detention center in a facility 40 miles north of Houston.

The government accuses the billionaire of leading a massive Ponzi scheme using the investor funds from certificates of deposit issued by his bank in Antigua.

Stanford sought to avoid detection by creating false accounting records, lying to investors and bribing a regulatory official in Antigua, according to prosecutors.

The case, filed in federal court in Houston, is United States of America v. Robert Allen Stanford H-09-342.

(Additional reporting by Bruce Nichols and Erwin Seba in Houston; editing by Carol Bishopric)

The term costume can refer to wardrobe and dress in general, or to the distinctive style of dress of a particular people, class, or period. Costume may also refer to the artistic arrangement of accessories in a picture, statue, poem, or play, appropriate to the time, place, or other circumstances represented or described, or to a particular style of clothing worn to portray the wearer as a character or type of character other than their regular persona at a social event such as a masquerade, a fancy dress party or in an artistic theatrical performance.

The eyes are the most expressive part of the face. To enhance their features dancers should draw attention to and make their eyes appear larger. However, to maintain unity, the intensity of the eyes must be balanced with color and shape of the lips. The color of the lips needs to be complimentary to the skin color and costume (Art of Production 123).

French Maid Costume

One ancient design, the fighter kite, became popular throughout Asia. Most variations, including the fighter kites of India, Thailand and Japan, are small, flat, roughly diamond-shaped kites made of paper, with a tapered bamboo spine and a balanced bow. Flown without tails that would hinder their agility, these highly maneuverable flat kites have a length of cutting line coated with an abrasive attached to the bridle, which is then tied to a light cotton flying line. Although the rules of kite fighting varied from country to country, the basic combat was to maneuver the swift kite in such a way as to cut the opponent's flying line.

Kite flying began much later in Europe than in Asia. While unambiguous drawings of kites first appeared in print in the Netherlands and England in the 17th century, pennon-type kites that evolved from military banners dating back to Roman times and earlier were flown during the Middle Ages. Joseph Needham says that the earliest European description of a kite comes from the Magia Naturalis written in 1589 by the Italian polymath Giambattista della Porta (1535–1615).

Kites

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – A midnight deadline loomed Tuesday as California lawmakers and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger dueled over ways to cut into a $24.3 billion budget deficit or face having to issue IOUs to cover the state's bills.
Democrats lawmakers, the majority in both houses, tried two approaches Monday but both failed to draw Republican support.
Voting almost totally along party lines, the state Senate approved a package of bills featuring spending cuts and fee and tax increases to close the deficit.
But the Republican governor quickly promised to veto the legislation, saying he wouldn't sign anything that raised taxes or fees more than he has proposed.
"They should forget about that," he said, accusing Democrats of going through a "song and dance. Let's get to work, fix it."
Hours later, Senate Democrats put up three stopgap spending cut bills that passed the Assembly last week with bipartisan support. But again Republicans refused to budge, saying the budget problems needed a comprehensive solution focusing on spending cuts.
Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg said Democrats would not accept the deep cuts in college aid, health care and welfare programs sought by Schwarzenegger.
State Controller John Chiang has said he would have to start issuing IOUs unless lawmakers act by the end of the fiscal year on Tuesday.
Without a compromise, roughly $3 billion worth of IOUs will be issued in July to everyone from contractors to welfare recipients.
Democratic Assembly Speaker Karen Bass and Steinberg accused the governor of using last-minute maneuvers to push a laundry list of policy reforms rather than addressing the budget gap.
"It's not the way to go about working with people," Steinberg said. "It's not the way to go about working with your partner."
Democrats want to solve the deficit by cutting spending by $11 billion, raising the vehicle license fee by $15 to keep state parks open and increasing taxes on tobacco products and companies that drill for oil.
Schwarzenegger has proposed more aggressive cuts of $16 billion, including dropping health care for 930,000 low-income children and eliminating the state's main welfare program. He also would borrow $2 billion from local governments, take $6 billion from other government accounts, accelerate personal and corporate income tax collections, and cut state employee pay by another 5 percent.
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Associated Press Writers Juliet Williams, Samantha Young and Don Thompson contributed to this report.

NEWPORT, R.I. – Scott Greenberg reached the breaking point of frustration when he was slapped with a $25 ticket for unwittingly leaving his Honda Accord in a spot reserved for Newport residents.
He fired off an angry letter to city officials, calling Newport the "wild west of parking" and expressing a sarcastic gratitude for the warm welcome. He vowed never to return.
"I tried to do it exactly right. I don't want to go on vacation and get aggravated. I go on vacation so I don't get aggravated," Greenberg, 51, who runs a wholesale fishing tackle distributor in Shandaken, N.Y., said in an interview.
Drivers navigating the warren of narrow, one-way streets of downtown Newport have long endured a frustrating, pound-the-dashboard fight for parking, particularly during the peak summer season when the city swells with tourists and the daily demand for spaces — roughly 20,000 — far outpaces the supply of 6,000 downtown public and private spots.
Business leaders, environmentalists and city officials have been brainstorming solutions, discussing in particular a streetcar or trolley system that could link visitors from downtown to beaches, hotels and major attractions like the historic Gilded Age mansions and the Cliff Walk hiking path.
The goal is to not only ease congestion but also appease the more than 3 million annual visitors who are vital to the city's economy.
"To me, parking is the No. 1 issue that impacts quality of business and quality of life in this city," said Keith Stokes, executive director of the Newport County Chamber of Commerce, which is leading the push for a trolley system. "And the future of Newport is tied to a comprehensive management and public transportation plan."
Details like permits and funding haven't been worked out, and the conversations are still preliminary. But the proposal reflects a broader effort to solve a problem that's long bedeviled this colonial city, whose 8-square-miles are already largely built out or protected lands.
The one major parking garage in the downtown isn't well marked. There's no subway system that connects major sites and public buses can get ensnared in traffic.
The chamber has taken steps recently to crystallize a streetcar proposal that has been floated for several years, tallying for the first time the number of available private and public parking spaces in the downtown. It's also been studying alternatives including valet parking, improved signage and expanding existing parking lots.
Stokes said he envisions a trolley system as privately operated and at least partially federally funded.
The chamber and city officials have discussed running it along America's Cup Avenue and Memorial Boulevard, two congested state highways that cut through Newport. Stokes said the system should be environmentally friendly — with rubber tires and natural gas or electricity.
The trolleys would also need a designated lane to avoid getting stuck in traffic, an inconvenience affecting buses operated by Rhode Island's public transit authority.
"Getting them from point A to point B quicker than if they took their vehicle or walked is a necessity for them to ride this people mover," said Paige Bronk, Newport's director of planning, zoning, development and inspection.
Though a modern streetcar system may seem out-of-place with the city's colonial appeal, officials say it could actually be a throwback to the early 20th century, when trolleys operated in the city. Plus, Bronk said, there's nothing quaint about the city's traffic.
"Does four lanes of automobile congestion, is that in keeping with the colonial period? It's not," he said. "Is a highway downtown in keeping with the colonial era? It's not."
The issue is personal to Stokes, a lifelong Newport resident who collects letters from disgruntled visitors. Frustrated drivers overstay at meters or park in spots reserved for residents. Private lots hike up their rates at night, and motorists can get stuck behind a driver inching like a tortoise in a vain pursuit of an open spot.
The city takes in roughly $900,000 a year from parking tickets, said city Finance Director Laura Sitrin.

Locals deal with the problem, too.

"I have a business in town, and people sneak into my parking," said Donna Karlovich, 52, who runs the Historic Hill Inn. "It's tough. I feel for them because there's only so many spots."

Greenberg said Newport shouldn't be a hassle to the same out-of-towners whose business it's trying to court.

"I like that area, I'm just trying to make a point," Greenberg said. "You don't feel welcome when you have to worry about stuff like that."

Tacori

Post-Roman Europe continued to develop jewellery making skills; the Celts and Merovingians in particular are noted for their jewellery, which in terms of quality matched or exceeded that of Byzantium. Clothing fasteners, amulets, and to a lesser extent signet rings are the most common artefacts known to us; a particularly striking celtic example is the Tara Brooch. The Torc was common throughout Europe as a symbol of status and power. By the 8th century, jewelled weaponry was common for men, while other jewellery (with the exception of signet rings) seems to become the domain of women. Grave goods found in a 6th-7th century burial near Chalon-sur-Saône are illustrative; the young girl was buried with: 2 silver fibulae, a necklace (with coins), bracelet, gold earings, a pair of hair-pins, comb, and buckle. The Celts specialized in continuous patterns and designs; while Merovignian designs are best known for stylized animal figures. They were not the only groups known for high quality work; note the Visigoth work shown here, and the numerous decorative objects found at the Anglo-Saxon Ship burial at Sutton Hoo Suffolk, England, are a particularly well-known example. On the continent, cloisonné and garnet were perhaps the quintessential method and gemstone of the period.

The Indian sub-continent has the longest continuous legacy of jewellery making anywhere. While Western traditions were heavily influenced by waxing and waning empires, India enjoyed a continuous development of art forms for some 5000 years. One of the first to start jewellery making were the peoples of the Indus Valley Civilization. By 1,500 BC the peoples of the Indus Valley were creating gold earrings and necklaces, bead necklaces and metallic bangles. Before 2,100 BC, prior to the period when metals were widely used, the largest jewellery trade in the Indus Valley region was the bead trade. Beads in the Indus Valley were made using simple techniques. First, a bead maker would need a rough stone, which would be bought from an eastern stone trader. The stone would then be placed into a hot oven where it would be heated until it turned deep red, a colour highly prized by people of the Indus Valley. The red stone would then be chipped to the right size and a hole drilled through it with primitive drills. The beads were then polished. Some beads were also painted with designs. This art form was often passed down through family; children of bead makers often learnt how to work beads from a young age.

LONDON (AFP) –
The recession-battered economy shrank at its fastest pace in more than 50 years in the first quarter of 2009, revised official data showed on Tuesday, amid the worst global slowdown in decades.

Gross domestic product (GDP) contracted 2.4 percent in the first three months of the year from the final quarter of 2008, said the Office for National Statistics.

"GDP in real terms fell by 2.4 percent compared with the previous quarter, revised down from last month's estimate of 1.9 percent. This is the largest decrease since the second quarter of 1958," the ONS said in a statement.

"Around half the revision... is a result of new construction output data, while the remainder reflects more complete data for services," it added.

On a year-on-year basis, the economy declined by 4.9 percent in the first quarter, the largest contraction since records began in 1948, and compared to the statistic office's earlier estimate of minus 4.1 percent.

"Even deeper contraction in GDP in the first quarter is obviously unwelcome news, but it is also old news and matters have moved on appreciably since then," said Howard Archer, chief Britain economist at IHS Global Insight.

"The good news is that the economy probably at worst contracted only modestly in the second quarter and it is not inconceivable that it managed to eke out marginal growth," he added.

The ONS on Tuesday added that GDP had stood at minus 0.1 percent in the second quarter of 2008 rather than showing flat growth, meaning the current recession began earlier than expected.

However fresh signs of better times ahead for the economy also appeared on Tuesday as home-loans provider Nationwide said house prices had increased by 0.9 percent in June from May.

"House prices have now risen in three of the last four months, suggesting that the improvement that began to show up in March represents more than just statistical noise," Nationwide's chief economist Martin Gahbauer said in a statement.

Economists' consensus forecast had been for a 0.5 percent drop in house prices in June compared to May.

"On balance, the stabilisation of house prices is a welcome surprise that did not seem likely at the beginning of the year," said Gahbauer.

"However, there are still considerable headwinds facing the demand side and until we see a more robust recovery in house purchase activity, it is too early to be confident about a full-scale recovery of prices," he added.

Office for National Statistics

ATLANTA – Emergency workers have resumed searching the wreckage of a collapsed Atlanta parking garage to see if anyone was trapped inside.
There are no reports of injuries from Monday's collapse, but rescuers early Tuesday morning began digging back into the tangle of concrete and cars to be sure. They had to stop the search Monday night to shore up the building after it shifted.
Atlanta Fire Battalion Chief Steven Woodworth says rescuers are working their way down through the four pancaked floors with dogs, cameras and listening devices.
A hot line set up to take reports of missing people had not received any calls overnight.
The middle sections of about four floors in the six-story building collapsed around lunchtime in Atlanta's busy Midtown area. At least 35 cars were crushed.

LOS ANGELES (AFP) –
"Charlie's Angels" sex symbol Farrah Fawcett, who died last week after a long battle with cancer, will have a private funeral on Tuesday, her family said.

The family said Monday that the ceremony would take place in downtown Los Angeles at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels. It will be closed to the public and media.

A judge is expected to allow Redmond, her 24-year-old son with longtime companion Ryan O'Neal, to attend the funeral. He is in jail on drug-related charges.

Fawcett, 62, died on Thursday from anal cancer. Her battle against the disease, which was first announced in 2006, was made into a documentary, "Farrah's Story," which NBC television said it would re-air Friday night.

Fawcett emerged as a pop-culture icon in the 1970s and 1980s after her role in "Charlie's Angels" and appearance on a famous poster wearing a red swimsuit that would come to be her defining image.

In 2007 she declared that months of grueling chemotherapy had seen her beat the cancer despite "excruciating pain and uncertainty."

However, in April this year it emerged that the cancer had returned and the actress was gravely ill.

BANGKOK – Asian markets were mixed Tuesday and European shares opened lower as investors braced for economic reports that will train a spotlight on the vitality of a possible global economic recovery.
Oil powered above $73 a barrel to eight-month highs, boosting resource stocks, and the dollar fell against the yen.
Overnight gains on Wall Street underpinned sentiment in Asia, helping some of the region's markets to extend a massive rally that began in March on hopes the worst of the global recession has passed. Japan's Nikkei 225 stock average clocked a 23 percent gain over the past three months — its best quarterly performance since 1995.
Investors in Tokyo were largely unfazed by news that unemployment in Japan jumped to a 5 1/2-year high of 5.2 percent in May.
"The surging unemployment doesn't seem to have much impact on investors. The markets are following the overnight rise on Wall Street. In the U.S. it seems that investors are still optimistic," said Castor Pang, an analyst at Sun Hung Kai Financial in Hong Kong.
But he cautioned that Asian markets will find it difficult to continue rallying if a turn for the worse in U.S. economic data unsettles Wall Street.
Investors are awaiting major economic indicators this week, including the Bank of Japan's "tankan" survey of business sentiment, Chinese manufacturing data and a key U.S. employment report.
"These results will set the stage for where stocks go from here," said Kenichi Hirano, equity general manager at Tachibana Securities in Tokyo.
European shares were lackluster in early trade, with benchmarks in Britain, Germany and France all down about 0.1 percent.
U.S. stock index futures were up slightly. Dow futures were up 18 points, or 0.2 percent, to 8,476, while S&P futures were up 2.2 points, or 0.2 percent, to 923.30.
Earlier in Asia, Japan's Nikkei 225 rose 174.97 points, or 1.8 percent, to 9,958.44, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng reversed early gains to close down 149.78, or 0.8 percent, at 18,378.73. South Korea's Kospi inched up 0.1 percent to 1,390.07.
Elsewhere, Australia's benchmark rose 1.8 percent, Singapore's market gained 0.4 percent, while China's Shanghai index dropped 0.5 percent and India's Sensex was down 1.4 percent.
Oil's rise above $73 a barrel boosted commodity stocks with global miner Rio Tinto jumping 3.8 percent in Sydney, China's largest oil refiner Sinopec advancing 1.1 percent in Hong Kong and Japan Petroleum Exploration Co. soaring 7.2 percent in Tokyo.
The rise in crude also lifted Wall Street on Monday. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 90.99, or 1.1 percent, to 8,529.38. The S&P 500 index rose 8.33, or 0.9 percent, to 927.23, while the Nasdaq composite index rose 5.84, or 0.3 percent, to 1,844.06.
Benchmark crude oil for August delivery was up 67 cents to $72.15 a barrel by late afternoon Singapore time after trading as high as $73.38.
In currency trading, the dollar fell to 95.55 yen from 96.10 late Monday in New York and the euro gained to $1.4081 from $1.4078.
____
Associated Press Writer Tomoko A. Hosaka in Tokyo contributed to this report.

MELBOURNE (AFP) –
An Australian serial rapist who dressed his unconscious victims in his collection of women's underwear and filmed assaults on them has been jailed for 28 years.

Victorian Supreme Court Chief Justice Marilyn Warren said John Xydias, 45, had degraded women in a spree lasting 15 years which media described as one of the country's worst sex crimes.

"Your offending was sustained over a period of 15 years, your conduct was not low-level or less-serious rape," Warren said.

"The worst aspect of your conduct was the degrading and dehumanising of your victims."

Xydias showed little emotion as the sentence was read out. He pleaded guilty to 25 counts of rape and 61 indecent assaults at the Melbourne house he shares with his parents and at the family holiday home.

The crimes were discovered when Xydias's girlfriend handed a suspicious DVD to police, who searched his home and found 13 videos of his sex assaults as well as recording equipment and women's underwear.

Xydias denied doping his victims with date-rape drug Rohypnol and said they had fallen unconscious after drinking and smoking cannabis. The court earlier heard that one of the women had been unconscious for two days.

Xydias will serve a minimum of 20 years before being eligible for parole.

OAKLAND, Calif. – Mark Ellis hit a two-run homer in his second game back from a two-month injury absence, and Ryan Sweeney homered and drove in two runs in the Oakland Athletics' 7-1 win over the Detroit Tigers on Monday night.
Kurt Suzuki had a run-scoring double for the last-place A's, who snapped a five-game losing streak with a rare 11-hit effort from a club that's last in the AL in batting average, hits, total bases and homers.
Gerald Laird had an RBI double for the AL Central-leading Tigers, who have lost three of four after a seven-game winning streak.
Detroit's Rick Porcello (8-5) made one of the poorest starts of his rookie season, yielding nine hits and five runs while failing to get out of the fifth inning. The right-hander had won seven of his previous 10 starts, but matched his second-shortest appearance of the season against Oakland's unimpressive lineup.
Brett Anderson (4-7) earned his first victory in four starts, allowing four hits and four walks but mostly escaping trouble in 5 1-3 innings.
Oakland got a surprising boost from Ellis, the veteran infielder who returned Sunday after missing two months with a strained left calf. Sweeney also contributed three hits for the second straight game, while Matt Holliday had two hits and scored two runs.
Yet the A's still didn't get much from Jason Giambi, who scored a run but went 0 for 3 to drop his average to .200. The former MVP is 12 for 76 in June, including a current 2-for-23 slump.
Holliday started Oakland's first rally with a one-out single in the fourth. After Giambi walked, Suzuki knocked a double just inside the left-field line to score Holliday, and Giambi hustled home on Sweeney's infield single.
An inning later, Ellis' line drive hit the first row of seats above the "330" sign in the left-field corner, scoring Landon Powell. Adam Kennedy then put Oakland up 5-0 by scoring on Holliday's grounder.
After Porcello was chased, left-hander Fu-Te Ni struck out Giambi in his major league debut. Ni, who had three strikeouts but allowed Sweeney's homer leading off the sixth, is the first Taiwanese pitcher in Tigers history.
Marcus Thames drew a leadoff walk from Anderson in the sixth and scored on Laird's double off reliever Michael Wuertz, who struck out four of the six batters he faced.
NOTES: About two hours before game time, the A's optioned INF Jack Hannahan to Triple-A Sacramento and recalled OF Travis Buck, who was batting .350 in Sacramento during a rehab assignment for a strained oblique muscle. Hannahan already had taken batting practice when the decision was announced. ... A's manager Bob Geren dropped RF Jack Cust to seventh in the batting order and promoted SS Orlando Cabrera to the No. 2 slot. Cust went 0 for 3, grounding into a double play and striking out. ... Cabrera extended his hitting streak to a season-high 12 games.