Australian rugby league results

SYDNEY (AP) — Result of Monday's 11th-round match in Australia's National Rugby League:

Parramatta 40, Cronulla 6

Previous 11th-Round Results

New Zealand …

Streaking

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Back in the 1970s, a truly strange fad briefly captivated the nation: Streaking, the practice of removing one's clothes and running about stark naked in a public place, whether a ballpark or a meeting hall, a college campus, or even an Academy Awards ceremony. Streaking should not be confused with nudism. For nudists, nakedness is a lifestyle; nudists are private in their state of undress and socialize only among themselves. Streaking is an act of exhibitionism. It is meant to shock and amuse and attract attention.

The fad reached its peak in 1974. That March, over six hundred University of Missouri students disrobed and marched across the campus, while …

Sweet recipes with sweet potatoes

Chef D's Kitchen

Want to do something different with an old stand by? Try doing something with sweet potatoes. Now according to my farmer's guide, sweet potatoes are considered best in season from mid-fall to mid-winter, thus their popularity on Thanksgiving, we could assume. But "I love me some sweet potatoes," so sorry folks, I can't wait until Thanksgiving.

Here are a couple of tips to remember with these beautiful tuberous roots.

1. Sweet potatoes don't store as well as white potatoes, so enjoy them within a week of purchasing.

2. Choose ones that are firm, with unwrinkled skin and no bruises or soft spots.

3. Store them in a cool, dry place in a …

US LPGA Stanford International Scores

Second Round

Young Kim 67-67_134

Annika Sorenstam 68-67_135

Paula Creamer 68-71_139

Angela Stanford 69-70_139

Meena Lee 69-71_140

Momoko Ueda 68-72_140

Juli Inkster 70-71_141

Christina Kim 70-71_141

Cristie Kerr …

Isner pulls out of French Open

John Isner of the United States pulled out of the French Open on Thursday because of illness.

The 114th-ranked Isner earned a wild card for Roland Garros by winning a qualifying event held by the U.S. Tennis Association. The USTA said it will return that wild-card slot to the French federation, which can hand it out to another player.

Isner led …

WCKG Promotes Haze to Mornings

Patti Haze, the smoky-voiced veteran of Chicago rock radio, ismoving up to mornings at WCKG-FM (105.9).

After three years as midday host at the classic rock station,Haze will shift to mornings later this month under a new five-yearcontract negotiated by her agent, attorney Saul Foos.

WCKG's morning top spot has been officially vacant since theinvoluntary departure of Mitch Michaels last May. The stationstumbled briefly when it announced the hiring of an out-of-townreplacement, Steve Cochran, who backed out at the 11th hour.

Haze, who served two stints at WLUP-FM (97.9) and one at theformer WMET since arriving here in 1977, was the "ideal choice" …

Kenyan court frees 17 suspected Somali pirates

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — A Kenyan court on Friday freed 17 Somali men detained by the U.S. Navy at sea and accused of piracy, saying the Navy didn't provide the necessary evidence to convict the suspects.

The decision has left authorities in a dilemma over what to do with the Somali men since the court did not order them repatriated back to their country, the men's lawyer said.

Attorney Jared Magolo said a magistrate's court in the coastal town of Mombasa ruled that there was insufficient evidence to prove that the Somali men attacked the MV Amira, an Egyptian-flagged ship, in May 2009.

Magolo said the magistrate blamed the loss of the case on the U.S. Navy, who captured …

Report: Blackwater guards linked to CIA raids

Private security guards working for Blackwater USA participated in clandestine CIA raids against suspected insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan, The New York Times reported Thursday.

Blackwater's role points to a much deeper connection between the company and the spy agency than has been previously disclosed and raises concerns over the legalities of involving contractors in the most sensitive operations conducted by the U.S. government.

The "snatch and grab" raids took place regularly between 2004 and 2006, the Times reported, when the insurgency in Iraq was escalating and security throughout the country was deteriorating.

A U.S. official …

Beanie toys hit the auction block

Just in time for Christmas, the Beanie Baby auction is on.

DuPage County Judge Peter Dockery on Monday approved anagreement between Oak Brook-based toymaker Ty Inc., Carol Streampolice and Glendale Heights resident Ben Perri to sell 1,200 BeanieBabies for charity.

The toys that had been the focus of a months-long court disputeover their ownership were delivered to WGN Radio studios Monday.The station will begin selling the now-discontinued models ofthe toys, in groups of four, on the air beginning today. The saleis expected to raise $60,000 for WGN's …

US gives $10 million more to Hariri tribunal

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The United States is giving an additional $10 million to the U.N.-backed tribunal set up to prosecute the assassins of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice announced the donation Wednesday, saying the tribunal must continue operating and expressing confidence its work can help deter further violence in …

Pakistani leader in Paris, to discuss Afghan war

Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari is in Paris for talks with his French counterpart expected to center around the Asian nation's troubled neighbor, Afghanistan.

Pakistani embassy officials say Zardari will also meet with French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner and visit a Pakistan art exhibition at Paris' Guimet Museum with Culture Minister Frederic …

Coldplay to livestream Madrid concert online

NEW YORK (AP) — Coldplay will livestream a concert from Madrid just as the band is releasing its fifth album.

The concert will be streamed live on YouTube from the Plaza de Toros de Las Ventas on Oct. 26 (4 p.m. ET). The concert, part of the ongoing online series "American Express Unstaged," takes place two days after Coldplay releases "Mylo Xyloto."

"Until we can come to a video as good as 'Single Ladies' by Beyonce, we have to rely on just the meat and vegetables of playing songs live," says Coldplay frontman Chris Martin, speaking from Cape Town, South Africa, where the band played Wednesday. "And this is just a nice way of doing it for a few more people at once."

"Unstaged" has frequently paired acts such as Arcade Fire, John Legend and My Morning Jacket with famous directors. The Coldplay concert will be directed by Anton Corbijn, the photographer, music-video maker and filmmaker of "Control" and "The American."

Corbijn is known for black-and-white and color-drained images in his work with Joy Division, Depeche Mode and R.E.M. He's directed several Coldplay videos but has one quibble with the planned concert.

"I don't particularly like lasers," says Corbijn, speaking from London. "At the moment, I've given into two songs."

Says Martin: "He'll win, of course. He's much better at the visual stuff."

Corbijn says it's challenging doing a concert like this without designing the whole show, and without the band being on tour ahead of it. Coldplay is currently playing a handful of festivals. But Las Ventas, a famed bullfighting ring, is a unique location.

"Even if you just look through one camera, it's going to look great," says Corbijn. "The arena is so beautiful."

It's the first international concert for "Unstaged," which is eager to benefit from a global audience. It will be streamed via music video service VEVO and also will be available through YouTube and VEVO apps on some smartphones and tablets.

Rich Lehrfeld, vice president of global sponsorship, access and experimental marketing for American Express, says the series has been a success and will continue. Lehrfeld declined to say how many people have watched the five previous "Unstaged" performances, but American Express says there have been more than 40 million streams altogether.

Coldplay is planning a wristband experiment for the Madrid crowd. Corbijn will shoot a pre-show segment of banter among himself and members of the band.

The concert comes as a welcome distraction for Martin.

"When we're in countries which don't speak English, it's harder for us to understand bad reviews," says Martin. "The week an album comes out is a tense week. So if you go and play in a place where the audiences are very loud and very passionate and even if they're swearing at you it sounds melodic — that's a nice way to distract you."

Martin and Corbijn, though, don't consider themselves bullfighting fans.

Says Corbijn: "I'm a Taurus myself, so I feel sorry for the bulls."

___

Online:

http://www.youtube.com/coldplayVEVO

http://www.coldplay.com/

Insurgents attack bus in southern Thailand

Suspected Muslim insurgents in southern Thailand Saturday killed two persons and wounded 20 others in separate incidents, police said, the latest in a spree of violence since a prayer-time massacre at a mosque nearly a week ago.

The incidents involved a bomb attack on a bus, a drive-by shooting and a bomb explosion at a grocery store, according to police reports.

Incidents of violence have occurred daily in southern Thailand since Monday's killing of 10 Muslims at a mosque in neighboring Narathiwat province.

Thai authorities say the attacks are aimed at igniting sectarian conflict between Muslims and Buddhists in Thailand's three southernmost provinces where the five-year-old insurgency has taken the lives of more than 3,400 people.

Two suspected Muslim insurgents riding a motorcycle hurled a bomb at a bus, killing one passenger and wounding 13 others, as the vehicle was leaving downtown Yala city, said police Lt. Col. Wattanachai Chantimangkul.

In neighboring Narathiwat province, a village headman's wife was killed and another person wounded while they were riding a motorcycle to a market, said police Lt. Col. Jamlong Suwalak. The assailants were also on a motorcycle.

In another area of the province, six persons were slightly injured when a 1-kilogram (2.2-pound), homemade bomb exploded in a grocery store, said police Capt. Attawut Petchkaew.

He said two teenagers went into the shop and pretended to look for some drinks before planting the bomb, secreted in a metal box, near the drinks freezer. The explosive went off shortly after they left, he said.

Rumors continued to circulate that the mosque attack was masterminded by Thai authorities, something strongly denied by the government which has stepped up security measures in the mainly-Muslim south.

Human Rights Watch called Friday on Thai authorities to impartially investigate the mosque killings as well as retaliatory attacks on Buddhist monks and civilians.

"Several ethnic Malay Muslims from the region told Human Rights Watch that they believe Thai security forces targeted the Muslim community to avenge recent killings of Buddhist Thai civilians and officials by separatist insurgents," a statement from the New York-based group said.

Recent attacks by suspected insurgents have included the killings of a Buddhist monk, a pregnant woman and her husband, four Buddhist teachers and two elderly Buddhist women who were burned to death after being shot.

Security forces sometimes blame the insurgents for attacks on Muslim individuals and institutions, claiming they mean to stir up hatred to boost their cause and trigger sectarian strife.

But it is widely believed that some local Buddhists, with the help of rogue security forces, have their own vigilante groups to fight against suspected insurgents.

The shadowy insurgents are generally believed to be fighting to carve out an independent Muslim state from the provinces of Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat. While many in these provinces do not support the rebels, there is a widespread feeling among Muslims that they are regarded as second-class citizens by predominantly Buddhist Thai authorities.

Talladega crash knocks Martin out early

Mark Martin went from first to last in seven days.

Last week's winner at Phoenix had a short run Sunday at Talladega Superspeedway, a track he loathes so much he left it off his schedule the past two seasons when he ran only 24 races a year. Back in a full-time ride this season for Hendrick Motorsports, he couldn't skip Talladega, but didn't have to stick around very long.

He was one of 13 cars collected in an accident seven laps into the race that began when Matt Kenseth and Jeff Gordon made contact. Cars around them couldn't avoid the carnage, including Martin _ his car was briefly lifted off the track after it hit the wall.

Martin was too far away from the start of the wreck to know how it began. A better question because of the tightly packed driving, he figured: "How could that not happen, is what I say?"

Martin wound up 43rd in his first race at Talladega since 2006. The return visit did spark some nostalgia for the 50-year-old racer _ for the Daytona 500.

"I forgot how cool racing at Daytona was, because handling really does separate the cars more than it does here," Martin said. "It's not like a normal race track, but it's a lot more than it is here. Here, having a great car doesn't do you any good, because you can't separate yourselves from the other cars."

Martin had broken a 97-race winless streak last week, becoming the third-oldest winner in NASCAR history. The Phoenix victory moved him to 13th in the standings and on the verge of a spot in the Chase for the championship, but Sunday's accident dropped him to 18th.

"I told you I wasn't racing for points," Martin said. "I got a win last weekend. I'm fine. Maybe we'll go do that again at Richmond."

___

HEALING HORNISH: Sam Hornish Jr. really had a reason to feel sick after Sunday's race.

Hornish had led three laps at Talladega Superspeedway and was running in the top 10 most of the race until a late accident knocked him out and he finished 34th. It was a disappointing result to a race he nearly missed.

Hornish, who started fourth, got sick Saturday night and woke up with flu-like symptoms. He needed intravenous fluids before the race and had Travis Kvapil standing by to relieve him.

"It ended on a little bit of a downer," crew chief Travis Geisler said. "We had a good car and just tried to buy our time. Unfortunately, it's Talladega and you just get caught up in some other people's incidents and that's what happened to us today."

Kvapil has been out of work since Yates Racing closed its No. 28 team last month when it couldn't find sponsorship.

___

LOGANO'S RUN: Like a golfer shooting his age, Joey Logano accomplished an impressive feat.

The 18-year-old cut his own age in half with a ninth-place finish. That was four better than his previous best at Las Vegas, but Logano was still thinking what might have been if he and David Ragan could have hooked up at the end.

"He hit me once and we tried to go, and we couldn't stay together and keep going so we ended up losing spots because it," Logano said. "So that was kind of that."

A day earlier, Logano pushed Ragan to the win in the Nationwide Series race.

Logano still leads Scott Speed, who finished fifth, in the race for rookie of the year.

Logano twice made it to the front and led for a total of four laps. He also managed to avoid accidents.

"We didn't hit anything all day, so that was good," Logano said. "I guess that's good."

Health care workers hold forum on race

Health care workers hold forum on race

As a nurse, Barbara Blakeney sees it too often - a person in dire need of medical attention turned away for lack of health insurance.

Even if it looks as if the physician may have treated the person, beware, Blakeney said. She said that many times the physician will write up a recommendation so well that the reality of a person's critical state remains hidden.

Blakeney, who works in a homeless shelter and serves on the board of the American Nurses Association, said that the worst case she could recall was a man who had undergone a quadruple by-pass procedure, or replacement of the blood vessels in his heart, and whose condition was so critical that he was placed in the intensive care unit. When the hospital realized that his insurance was not up-to-date, they immediately released him to a homeless shelter, Blakeney said.

"We see these things happen all the time," she commented. "We've had nursed fired for protecting their patients."

Blakeney is also dismayed at how minority clientele are more likely to be denied or receive inadequate care and how they have no one to defend them in the system. She points out the lack of minority physicians and caretakers in the field.

"I hope ... that they look at the barriers," Blakeney said. "Those barriers look different to different people. We need to respect those differences and break down those barriers. We need to talk to each other and we need ethnic minorities to be a part of the field. I would love it if there were more African American physicians, more Asian American physicians, more Asian nurses, more Phillipino physical therapists."

Blakeney, whose association has addressed the issue on the local level, finally turned to President Clinton for solutions.

Last week, Blakeney was one of 300 people crowded into a Faneuil Hall meetinghouse to participate in one of Clinton's race initiative forums. Appalled by the disparities in the health care system between the country's minorities and white counterparts, President Bill Clinton has undertaken the responsibility to bridge these gaps in opening up dialogue among distinguished community leaders across the country.

Stopping in Beantown, the prominent meeting point of the slavery abolitionist movement and home of the first health center founded by Paul Revere, US Surgeon General Dr. David Satcher said that the aired concerns of the panel very seriously, considering that in the year 2030, minorities will make up 40 percent of the population.

Satcher said that the future of the country is unstable as he began to list dismaying statistics: African Americans have a higher infant mortality rate than any other racial group and African American women are least likely to receive prenatal care, Hispanics are twice as likely as whites to be diabetic, Vietnamese women are six times as likely to die of cervical cancer, and Hispanics and African Americans have been contracting HIV faster than any other group.

"You can go on and on," Dr. Satcher said. "We will make a difference in the health of people in America. Access [to health care] is crucial."

Satcher said that he takes his role in the public debate quite seriously, emphasizing how he has been personally affected as an African American. He recalled contracting whooping cough when he was a child and having his mother nurse him back to health because he was not able to receive care at the local segregated white clinic. He also recalled an instance when he walked out of his class in medical school because the students were asked to conduct pelvic examinations on uninsured women, who were primarily African American.

Satcher, who was the person to receive a standing ovation from the crowd in Faneuil Hall, called for a more diverse faculty and student body in the country's medical schools and an increase in minority participation in the health care field.

"We are under represented in the health field," Satcher said. "Ten percent of physicians are minorities. We need more diversity, because it is a major better to access."

Hortensia Amaro, professor from the Boston University School of Public Health, acted as a moderator for a panel whose views were taped and later shown to the president. Panelists acted as the voices for Native American Indians, Latinos, African Americans and Asian Americans across the state.

Among many of the concerns aired, Marianela Garcia, spokeswoman for the Economic Development and Social Services at the Worcester Housing Authority, said that a lack of Spanish speakers in the health field was a significant barrier for Latinos to obtain care.

"The Latino community experiences great difficulty obtaining health coverage for themselves and their children," Garcia said. "I know that language barriers play a major part in accessing quality health care. This is a barrier in my community. English is a second language in my community, and offering services in a language that residents can understand is essential."

Craig Cobb of the Dimock Community Health Center, emphasized other issues afflicting the black community, such as lack of education and substance addiction, particularly crack cocaine. He said that the only cure for these problems are trades and education.

"Neither cultural diversity for access to quality health care and coverage exists in vacuums," Cobb said. "They are clearly parts of socio-economic conditions which repeat themselves throughout generations. Clearly, the less education or training a person has will reflect the jobs they get, the amount of money they generate, and ultimately, the quality of life they live."

While Satcher admits that some of the president's initiatives on health care were dashed in the past, he stated that the president was overlooking any risks of disapproval by a conservative congress to move ahead with his agenda.

"I think we plan to move forward," Satcher told the Banner. "It would be great if we had a supportive congress, but we aren't giving up."

Photo (Dr. John Hope Franklin as part of Health Care panel)

Lady Gaga, revamped Paco Rabanne's got your number

PARIS (AP) — The message going out over the surreal satellite dish hats at Paco Rabanne was loud and crystal clear — "Lady Gaga, we've got something for you."

If she's having trouble finding outfits that can top a meat dress — and frankly, who wouldn't? — the pop star need look no further than the newly revamped and relaunched Paco Rabanne, which shot the futuristic legacy of the legendary '60s house into orbit.

There were second-skin sheath dresses with sharp shoulders and protruding hips on view Tuesday that looked like the uniforms of a flight crew on a spaceship. And a catsuit in gold lame that was hung with thick metal coils and tangled chains, like so much space debris. Foil candy-wrapper dresses were kitted out with sculptural whorls of fabric — shaped like the rings of Saturn — that enveloped the models, turning them into prisoners of their own dresses — One model even had to fold her hands behind her in backward prayer to order not to muss the rings.)

Variations on Rabanne's iconic chain mail dresses — made from plastic trapezoids linked together with metal rings — were served up in bustier dresses, pencil skirts and even a slinky hooded catsuit worthy of a Space Age Joan of Arc.

It was an astonishing debut from Delhi-based madcap Manish Arora, who, as the new creative director, is charged with rebuilding the historic brand.

Founded by a Spanish designer of the same name, Paco Rabanne shot into the fashion stratosphere in the mid-1960s with futuristic designs that cleverly incorporated metal and plastic. The house's fortunes later dwindled, and its current owners, cosmetics and high-end clothing company the Puig Group, shuttered the ready-to-wear line several years ago to focus on its lucrative perfume operations.

Arora, whose demented styles for his signature line have garnered considerable critical praise, seemed on paper like just the man to revive the house, and Tuesday's show confirmed as much.

Sure, you could not sit down, walk, use your hands or even breathe in most of the looks on the ravamped Rabanne runway. But walking, talking, gesticulating or breathing are simply besides the point as far as these kind of clothes-as-talking-pieces are concerned.

Just ask Gaga, or Katy Perry, or Beyonce or any of the other superstars that the collection was shouting out to.

60 second interview

NAME: Melissa Wise

TITLE: Vice president of East Pennsboro Township-based Central Pennsylvania College, which offers career-focused bachelor's and associate's degree programs.

PERSONAL: Husband, Chris Wise, chief financial officer of RTA Furniture; son, Britton Wise, 5

WHAT WAS THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE YOU OVERCAME AT YOUR COMPANY? "One of the most significant challenges has been getting others within the organization to embrace change and grow with the college, without burning them out. People are an organization's greatest resource and keeping the people within your organization excited and upbeat can take a lot of energy."

WHAT SHOULD PEOPLE KNOW ABOUT YOUR INDUSTRY? "When people think of for-profit higher education institutions, many envision large publicly traded corporate entities, This doesn't describe Central Penn. Central Penn is a closely held, ESOP (employee stock ownership plan) owned, small private college. The nature of our institution embraces and promotes a student-centered atmosphere."

WHAT TRENDS IN YOUR PROFESSION DO YOU SEE IN CENTRAL PA? "Online and blended (part classroom and part online) instruction is a growing demand from 'college in high school' programs -- through traditional college curriculum. I believe that aspects of online education will become commonplace throughout the education process."

YOUR DEFINITION OF A LEADER: "A leader has a strong sense of vision and has the ability to motivate, challenge, and respect others."

Doubts About Serbia's European Role

BRUSSELS, Belgium - Serbia takes over the chairmanship of the Council of Europe on Friday amid concerns about its suitability to run the continent's leading human rights watchdog after an ultranationalist was elected to the country's No. 2 position.

Countries rotate by alphabetical order every six months at the helm of the 46-nation body, and Serbia takes over just half a year after Russia, another country frequently criticized for rights breaches.

Belgrade's turn comes days after lawmakers elected Tomislav Nikolic, an admirer of the country's late autocratic President Slobodan Milosevic and a Serb Radical Party member, to the post of parliament speaker.

The Radical Party is led by Vojislav Seselj, who awaits trial at the U.N. war crimes tribunal in the Netherlands for allegedly committing atrocities during the Bosnian war in the 1990s.

Serbia is also embroiled in a four-month political deadlock, with pro-democracy parties still unable to form a Cabinet after Jan. 21 elections. Pro-western President Boris Tadic has given an alliance of conservatives and nationalists until Friday to resolve the stalemate or face new elections.

"It doesn't help that so long after the elections there is still no new government. We had hoped this would have been sorted out by now," said Matjaz Gruden, a spokesman for the Council or Europe. The council, based in Strasbourg, France, is the first pan-European political organization, founded in 1949 to promote democracy, human rights and the rule of law.

Nikolic's election has caused widespread consternation in Europe and led to European Union calls for reform-friendly parties to form a government on a "pro-European" path.

Council members said that a Serbia run by politicians such a Nikolic would not be suitable to run the organization - although no European government has so far officially voiced opposition to Belgrade taking over leadership.

"Nikolic's election is a burden on Serbia's ability to carry out its task," said Dutch senator Rene Van der Linden, who chairs the council's parliamentary assembly.

Belgrade is also under pressure to arrest fugitive Bosnian Serb wartime commander Ratko Mladic more than a decade after he was indicted for genocide in the Balkan wars of the 1990s, and is at odds with the European Union over a U.N. plan that would give independence to Kosovo, Serbia's southern province where ethnic Albanians form a majority.

The council has lost much of its clout since the fall of Communism in eastern Europe as more than half of its members have now joined the much more influential EU, but it has been profiling itself as a guardian of human rights in Europe.

Rights advocates say Serbia's leadership, coming three months after Belgrade was found to have breached the Genocide Convention by failing to hand over Mladic, the alleged architect of the killing of some 8,000 Muslim men in Srebrenica, Bosnia, raises questions about the organization's credibility, other rights advocates said.

"Ignoring Serbia's failure to comply with its obligations to turn over fugitives at this critical moment would risk undermining efforts to move Serbia towards a stable and democratic future. It would ... also bring into question the Council of Europe's standing as the leading institutional champion of human rights in Europe," New York-based Human Rights Watch said in a letter sent to the council last week.

Human Rights Watch last month also sharply criticized the council for yielding to pressure from Moscow and failing to respond to documented Russian violations of civil liberties in Chechnya.

Serbia's outgoing Foreign Minister Vuk Draskovic said Serbia must fulfill its obligations to the U.N. war crimes tribunal and apprehend Mladic and other remaining war crimes suspects.

But Draskovic, who will represent Serbia at the handover ceremony in Strasbourg on Friday, warned against granting independence to Kosovo, saying it could lead to further anti-Western sentiments in Serbia.

"The Europe we are seeking has overlooked the fact that Serbia will be humiliated if it is split against its will, law and history, and if the part of its territory where the Serbian state was born is taken away," he said, adding that he would do his best to ensure "Serbia ends its chairmanship with its current borders."

Britain defies order to shut cultural offices in Russian cities; Russia calls it provocation

Russia responded angrily Monday to Britain's defiance of its order to close two offices of a cultural organization, calling it a deliberate provocation and vowing punitive measures including restrictions on entry visas for consular officials.

Britain refused to back down. Its ambassador said the British Council offices would remain open and that any Russian action against the organization would violate international law.

The British Council offices in St. Petersburg and Yekaterinburg reopened after the holiday break, despite Moscow's warnings that defying orders to suspend their operations by Jan. 1 would worsen bilateral relations.

Ties between London and Moscow already are at a post-Cold War low, badly frayed by the 2006 poisoning death in Britain of former KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko.

Moscow last month ordered the closure of the two regional offices of the British Council, a nonprofit organization that acts as the cultural arm of the British Embassy, saying they were operating illegally. British officials dispute that claim, and the offices reopened on schedule after a holiday break.

The defiance prompted Russia's Foreign Ministry to summon British Ambassador Anthony Brenton for a dressing down.

"The ambassador was told that the Russian side sees such actions as a deliberate provocation aimed at inciting tension in Russian-British relations," the ministry said.

It promised "a series of administrative and legal measures," including moves to recover what it said are back taxes owed by the British Council's St. Petersburg office.

In addition, Russia said it will stop issuing visas for new employees assigned to posts related to the British Council at Britain's consulates in St. Petersburg and the Ural Mountains city of Yekaterinburg, and will not renew the accreditation of existing staffers.

"We expect our British partners to stop ignoring obvious facts and refrain from a line of further confrontation that is fraught with the most negative consequences for Russian-British relations," the ministry said.

Britain remained defiant.

"I said to him ... that the British Council is working entirely legally and it will continue, therefore, to work _ and any Russian action against it would be a breach of international law," Brenton told reporters after meeting with Deputy Foreign Minister Vladimir Titov.

The ministry warned that keeping the offices operating could lead to "additional measures, including in relation to the British Council office in Moscow" _ an apparent warning that the organization's main office in Russia could be shut.

Russia contends that the British Council acts as a for-profit organization, and said St. Petersburg and Yekaterinburg offices violate the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations. British authorities say the organization's operations comply with that pact as well as Russian law and a 1994 bilateral agreement.

"We have received no information to indicate that our work is not legal," James Kennedy, director of the British Council in Russia, told reporters at the St. Petersburg office after it opened Monday.

The dispute has been politically charged amid broader tension over Litvinenko's 2006 poisoning death in London. Russia has refused Britain's request to extradite the man it considers the main suspect. Last year, Britain expelled four Russian diplomats in protest, and Russia in turn kicked out four British diplomats.

Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov last month called the British Council order a "countermeasure" to the diplomat expulsion.

"Mr. Lavrov himself made it very clear that the actions that the Russians are taking against the British Council stem from the disagreement that happened at the time that we tried to extradite Mr. Lugovoi. So they have made a very clear political connection," Brenton said. "We think that connection is a mistake."

"There is an issue about Mr. Lugovoi ... but to turn that issue into an attack on an institution that is valuable to Russia, and valuable to the United Kingdom, is frankly mystifying," he said.

Brenton said "we need to be quite careful to prevent this situation from infecting all the other pieces of business which we need to work on together."

Russia also has been angry at Britain for years over its refusal to extradite Kremlin critic and billionaire Boris Berezovsky and Chechen separatist envoy Akhmed Zakayev.

President Vladimir Putin and his government have voiced concerns about foreign organizations operating in Russia, accused them of meddling and seeking to undermine the government.

___

Associated Press writer Irina Titova contributed to this report from St. Petersburg.

Nehlen issues a challenge

MORGANTOWN - Coach Don Nehlen said Sunday his West VirginiaUniversity football players must want to keep playing hard or suffermore defeats.

Unless they motivate themselves, now that the team has been allbut eliminated from the Big East championship race, he doesn't thinkthe Mountaineers can improve on their disappointing 4-3 record.

He challenged them to show strong character in the four gamesleft, including Saturday night's clash with Big East leader Syracusehere.Nehlen said a brief scuffle between Barrett Green and a teammate,shown on television, stemmed from an argument after Virginia Techblocked a punt to take an early lead in Saturday's 27-13 loss atBlacksburg. He said it was "no big deal."The veteran coach thought WVU's offensive play was its poorest ofthe season. He noted that quarterback Marc Bulger began pressingafter his unit failed to score in the third quarter.Other comments are included in the weekly postgame interview whichfollows:Q. Do you have an update on injuries?A. I don't think we've got anybody hurt bad. Barrett Green is theworst one. He fractured a thumb. Ryan Brady's injured hip is a day-to-day thing. Hopefully, that will come around.Q. Now that WVU has been eliminated from the Big East title race,how do you get your players motivated for the remaining four games?A. That's a good question. First of all, you hope they'refootball players and a football team and that they're willing to goout and claw and scratch.If they're not, then you've got a major problem. There's nothinga coach is going to say to get them to go.Q. Can you recall another game in which one of your teams failedto score on either of two back-to-back opportunities from the 1 andthe 7?A. No. That killed us. It really did, it really did.Q. If you had it to do over, would you change any of the fourplays called after getting first-and-goal at the two?A. Oh, you know, maybe. But the one run should have scored. Andthe two passes could have scored if guys blocked where they weresupposed to block. You get about nine out of 11 guys doing the rightthing. Two guys that don't do the right thing foul up the wholeworks.Q. Was Marc Bulger groggy after Tech was penalized for roughingthe passer on the first drive of the third quarter? He did not seemas sharp after that.A. I don't think so. When we didn't get it in down there, I thinkhe started to press and that led to a couple other mistakes. Butthat's the first time he's really pressed like that.Q. How did tailback Amos Zereoue grade out in both running andblocking?A. I thought Amos played pretty well. He ran better than he had.But he still doesn't seem to have that gear he had last year. We gothim in the open three or four times.Q. WVU had more first downs, more plays, more yards and morecompletions against the Hokies than any other Tech opponent had.Does this make the defeat even more difficult to digest?A. Oh, yeah. Heavens, if we execute just two or three plays, it'snot even close. And if the defense eliminates three plays, theydon't even get on the board.Q. Bulger was sacked only seven times in the first five games buteight times in the last two. Were there breakdowns in passprotection or just great defense?A. Well, I think it's a combination of both. When you throw 40-some times, that ups your average. We sacked Tech five times andthey threw only 21 passes. They sacked us four times and we threw46. But that's no consolation.Q. TV showed a shot of two WVU players scuffling on the sidelinesduring the game. What was the problem?A. It happened after the punt got blocked. We had a new guy inthere, and he and Barrett Green started to argue.It was no big deal. The TV guys blew everything up. And theperception of us is damaging.Q. Finally, any lingering thoughts about the Virginia Tech game oryour team?A. Our guys really played hard Saturday. But, offensively, thatprobably was the poorest game we've played all year.Also, the Big East scheduling kind of bothers me. Here VirginiaTech plays Alabama-Birmingham before us. Then after our game theyget a week off before playing Syracuse.We play Temple, Miami, Virginia Tech and Syracuse in succession.And this is two years (of that) in a row.When you have to play the top dogs 1-2-3, it's murder. Plus youstill have got to play the other ones, too.

Private industry hazards

A WORD OF CAUTION: A CA WHO ACTS AS CFO CAN BE PERSONALLY LIABLE TO HIS OR HER EMPLOYER FOR LOSSES TO THE COMPANY

In the past few years, there has been intense media focus on the public accounting profession and its accountability for the financial results of reporting companies. However, little attention has been paid to the possible legal liability of chartered accountants engaged as employees in private industry. There are at least two distinct situations in which a CA, acting as a controller or CFO, may find him or herself facing personal liability: individually to third persons with whom he or she deals on behalf of his or her employer, and to the employer.

Liability to third persons

It has been clearly established that professionals engaged in public practice cannot hide behind the "corporate veil" to distance themselves from personal liability. In a BC case, Strata Plan No. VR1720 v. Bart Developments [1999] B.C.]. No. 382 (BCSC), Justice Edwards had this to say about individual engineers not having personal liability for the negligent performance of engagements by their consulting employer: "Limited companies cannot exercise professional functions except through qualified individual employees. Those employees must realize it is their skill and experience the clients are engaging and will rely upon. They therefore owe a concomitant duty of care to those clients and are potentially liable in tort if they fail to meet that duty."

What of the CFO who prepares monthly financial statements, lists of accounts receivables and payables and forwards them to the banker or a supplier?

The CA, whether in public practice or private industry, is bound by the Rules of Professional Conduct. The provincial institutes impose the same obligations of integrity and due care upon a CA CFO in preparing financial statements for the bank as if that CA were in public practice. But does the law?

There are two diverging schools of thought. The traditional view was that an employee who causes a breach of contract between his or her employer and a third person cannot be liable in tort at the suit of that third party (Said v. Butt [1920] 3 K.B. 497 at p. 505; Lehndorff Canadian Pension Properties v. Davis 6 Co., [1987] BCJ No. 85 at p. 5). However, more recent cases suggest the traditional view has been abandoned. The case of London Drugs Ltd. v. Kuehne & Nagel International Ltd. [1992], 73 B.C.L.R. (2d) 1 (SCC) is an unfortunate example of everything that can possibly go wrong in litigation.

Kuehne & Nagel was warehousing a transformer owned by London Drugs pursuant to an agreement that contained an express limitation of liability for any damage to the transformer at $40. Two employees of Kuehne & Nagel were negligently operating forklifts, whereupon they dropped and broke the $32,000 transformer. The insurer for London Drugs, in an attempt to circumvent the $40 limitation in the warehousing contract, also sued the two employees, arguing they owed a distinct duty of care to London Drugs and could not claim the benefit of the limitation clause because they were not parties to the contract. Despite the small amount involved, the case went through the BC courts to the Supreme Court of Canada.

The Supreme Court issued three separate reasons for judgment holding the employees personally liable, but limiting their liability to the $40 limit in the warehousing agreement. Mr. Justice Iacobucci in writing for the majority of the court wrote: "There is no general rule in Canada to the effect that an employee acting in the course of his or her employment in performing the 'very essence" of his or her employer's contractual obligations with a customer, does not owe a duty of care to the employer's customer.

'Our law of negligence has long since moved away from the category approach when dealing with duties of care.

"It is now well established that the question of whether a duty of care arises will depend on the circumstances of each particular case, not on predetermined categories and blanket rules as to who is, and who is not, under a duty to exercise reasonable care."

In 1995 and 1999, the Ontario Court of Appeal attempted to set forth a rational test upon which to determine whether an employee owed an independent duty of care to third persons arising out of his employment activity. In Montreal Trust Co. of Canada v. Scotia McLeod Inc. (1995), 129 D.L.R. (4th) 711 at 720, as approved in ADGA Systems International Ltd. v. Valcom Ltd. (1999), 168 D.L.R. (4th) 351, the Ontario Court of Appeal concluded that absent fraud, deceit or want of authority "officers or employees of limited companies are protected from personal liability unless it can be shown that their actions are themselves tortious or exhibit a separate identity or interest from that of the company so as to make the act or conduct complained of their own."

This reasoning was misapplied in BC in 1999 in a case known as Rafiki Properties Ltd. wherein the learned trial judge appears to have misread the Montreal Trust decision and substituted the word "and" for the word "or," temporarily creating for BC a two-part test upon which to find personal liability. Two subsequent decisions of the Supreme Court of BC applied Rafiki until February 2003 when Mr. Justice Ian Melnick in Glenayre Manufacturing Ltd. v. Pilot Pacific Properties Inc., 2003 BCSC 0303 noted the error of the earlier BC decisions and applied the Ontario law.

In short, the way is open for creditors to pursue the CFO who, in the course of employment, negligently misrepresents the financial affairs of his or her employer. This in turn raises the question of whether the insurance industry would be prepared to respond and provide third-party liability insurance to CAs in private industry.

Liability of the CA to the employer

Most individuals are surprised at the concept that an employee can be personally liable to an employer for negligently carrying out his or her employment duties. When pressed, most will concede they would expect that exceptions to that rule would involve deceit, fraud or breach of authority. Perhaps this perception is further enforced by WCB legislation and general insurance principles wherein the employee comes within the definition of the named insured and is thus protected from subrogation by the employer's insurer. The law however suggests otherwise.

In the 1970s, the general manager of Wallace Transfer Ltd. was responsible for the administration of the company's lease with its landlord. He failed to give the neeessary notice to terminate the tenancy as instructed. When the landlord sued Wallace Transfer, Wallace Transfer in turn sought indemnity from the general manager in third-party proceedings.

In a two-to-one decision, the BC Court of Appeal in D.H. Overmyer Co. v. Wallace Transfer Ltd. (1976), 65 DLR (3d) 717 (BCCA) held that the manager was liable to indemnify his employer on the basis he had breached his duty of care to exercise his managerial duties with reasonable care and skill.

In 1989, the Ontario District Court in Dominion Manufacturers Ltd. v. O'Gorman (1989), 24 C.C.E.L. 218 held a former accountant and comptroller liable to his employer for failing to remit employee withholdings for income tax purposes when the employer was assessed penalties and interest. The accountant was also found liable to his former employer for the additional audit fees made necessary because the books and records of the company were so inadequately maintained.

The Ontario court reviewed a number of English and Canadian decisions as well as the Wallace Transfer decision and summarized the following proposition: a person who professes skill in a calling is bound by law to show a reasonable amount of such skill in the performance of his or her duty even where the duties are under a contract of employment.

In 1996, the Alberta Queen's Bench held that a construction supervisor had failed to properly ensure that the appropriate forms were used to construct a single block of municipal concrete sidewalks. The municipality required the sidewalks to be replaced at a cost to his employer of $45,000. In a counterclaim in response to the employee's suit for wrongful dismissal, Mr. Justice Fraser in Pelione v. Marmot Concrete Services Ltd. [1996] AJ No. 104 (Alta. QB) allowed the $45,000 claim. The Alberta court held that the loss was directly caused by Mr. Pelione's breach of his implied obligation pursuant to his contract to supervise the work to the degree, skill and care expected of a person of that experience holding that position.

These cases serve to dispel the myth that employees in management positions who are expected to use their education, skill and experience cannot be held liable to their employers for damages in the nature of pure economic loss when they fail to meet the standard of care expected of a reasonable person in their position.

Thus the CA who acts as the corporate CFO is exposed to personal liability to his or her employer for losses to the company by inadvertence, oversight or failure to comprehend the employer's obligations with respect to tax installments or other omissions, where the skill of the CA is being relied upon by the employer. Recent claims that I have defended have included the alleged failure to properly calculate and remit GST for a new housing developer that resulted in extensive penalties and interest payable by the former employer.

There is no insurance product available to my knowledge that will provide coverage for claims against a CA by his or her own employer. Thus a word of caution to those CAs in private industry.

[Sidebar]

Most individuals are surprised at the concept that an employee can be personally liable to an employer for neqliqentiy carryinq out his or her employment duties

[Author Affiliation]

David B. Wende, LLB, is with Alexander Holburn Beaudin & Lang in Vancouver

Technical editor: Mindy Paskell-Mede, BCL, LIB, partner Nicholl Paskell-Mede in Montreal

Woods Surges Into Tie at Bay Hill

Arnold Palmer was walking into the locker room Saturday morning at Bay Hill when he bumped into Tiger Woods, who recently surpassed him on the PGA Tour's career victory list by winning every tournament since September.

"He told me to get off my butt and play a good round," Woods said.

He responded with birdies on the three toughest holes at Bay Hill for a 4-under 66 and a five-way tie for the lead. The King must have said something to Mother Nature, too, for blustery conditions that contributed to a series of spectacular crashes late in the afternoon turned the Arnold Palmer Invitational into quite a show.

Nine players had at least a share of the lead at one point in the third round.

When the zany, windy and splash-filled afternoon finally ended, Woods was in a familiar position as he tries to extend a winning streak that spans seven months and keep alive the ridiculed notion of a perfect season.

Woods will be in the final pairing Sunday with Sean O'Hair, who won last week at Innisbrook and gave himself a chance for another victory at Bay Hill with a 63, a round he finished before the leaders even teed off.

They were at 6-under 204, joined by Bart Bryant (68), Bubba Watson (68) and Vijay Singh, whose 73 made this all possible.

Singh had a two-shot lead and showed no signs of a struggle until dropping five shots in a four-hole stretch in his front nine of 40. He hit three balls into the water, but chipped in from 30 feet for par on the last miscue to stay in the hunt.

It was the largest log jam in the 30-year history at Bay Hill, and the largest on the PGA Tour since a five-way tie for the lead at the Deutsche Bank Championship in 2005.

Woods never looked to be part of it until two spectacular shots in the toughest conditions.

He carved a 4-iron around the trees to 2 feet on the 15th hole for a birdie, then followed that with a 7-iron that held up against the wind and dropped softly to 3 feet right of the flag.

It was one of only three birdies at the 16th, the scene of so much calamity that followed.

"I've played my way back into the tournament," said Woods, who finished two hours before the round ended and had no idea he would be in the final pairing for the fifth straight time on the PGA Tour.

Woods is 42-3 when he has at least a share of the 54-hole lead on the PGA Tour, but two of those three losses came when he shared the lead with someone else. He has never started a final round tied with more than one player.

And it's not just the other four still in the hunt.

Sixteen players were separated by a mere three shots heading into the final round. One of them was Hunter Mahan, who bogeyed two of his final five holes and still shot 65. He was one shot behind at 205.

By all rights, it's anyone's tournament.

Sort of.

"It's pretty much Tiger's game," Bryant said. "When Tiger plays great, he's tough to beat. The guy has won six or seven in a row or something, and he's not playing great and he's tied for the lead. So you figure he's got to play good at some point. But not to say that somebody can't go out and play a great round and beat him. And not to say he's going to play perfect golf, either.

"It's definitely there for the taking."

Over the last two hours, Bay Hill did most of the taking.

Singh got it all started by taking double bogey on the par-5 sixth with a tee shot in the water, and another ball in the pond in front of the eighth green that led to bogey. He was the only one who truly recovered. The big Fijian birdied the next two holes, then escaped trouble on the 16th when he chipped in for par from 30 feet after hitting yet another ball in the water.

Nick Watney made two eagles, the second one at No. 12 to take a two-shot lead. He came unraveled with a tee shot out-of-bounds, another shot into the water and a putt he missed from 4 feet _ all on the 16th hole, leading to a quadruple-bogey 8.

He went from the lead to 12th, and wound up in a five-way tie for seventh, only two shots behind.

"I'm closer to the lead than when I started," Watney said.

Bryant hit a 4-iron into the water on the 16th, but escaped with bogey when he holed a 12-foot putt.

"To hit that good of a drive on that tough of a hole, and walk out of there with a double bogey, that would have been a killer," Bryant said. "It was a huge putt for me."

Carl Pettersson, playing in the final group with Singh, opened with nine straight pars to join the leaders. Then the Swede pulled his tee shot on the 10th and went out-of-bounds, making double bogey.

O'Hair had no such worries, playing most of his round during a lull in the windy conditions. He played superbly, particularly on the back nine when he hit 3-wood to 7 feet for eagle on No. 12, wedge into 4 feet for birdie on No. 13, then holing a chip from 65 feet for birdie on the next hole. He signed for his 63 about 20 minutes before Singh even teed off, not knowing that he would end up in the lead.

Woods finally found the right speed on the greens, and it helped that he made birdies in some unlikely spots. Blocked by the trees on the 15th, he played a cut with his 4-iron, then ran to the left to see the outcome, although the cheers told him everything.

"Got the ball over the left bunker and let the wind bring it back over, and it worked out perfect," he said.

All it took was two great shots to get back into the mix, then a series of mistakes to put him in a familiar position.

Equipping to Win The Long War

For MSgt. Rick Burnette, the day started like any other. He got up at 0500 hours, worked out, had breakfast, conducted pre-combat inspections and prepared to leave his forward operating base to survey a sewage plant in Zafaraniya on the southern side of Baghdad. His convoy pulled just off the road and parked its four vehicles in a densely populated residential neighborhood where the soldiers took defensive positions. To ensure an adequate safety perimeter, MSgt. Burnette instructed the children in the area to leave. They did, but returned a short time afterward, just as a small car down-shifted while making a U-turn, heading straight for the soldiers.

"The explosion was loud and powerful," recalls Burnette. "I stumbled backwards and tried to collect my senses, then opened my eyes to see the children who had just returned lying lifeless on the ground."

MSgt. Burnette was in medical hold at Walter Reed Army Medical Center when he volunteered to come to work for the deputy chief of staff, G-8. He asked to come to this office because he wanted to share his story and to make a contribution in helping to equip soldiers. MSgt. Bumette maintains that, even though the explosion had resulted in nerve damage throughout his body, shrapnel in both thighs and his hip, hearing loss in one ear and two severed thumbs, he survived the blast because the equipment he was wearing "had prevented further catastrophic injuries."

The Army G-8 allocates the resources and equipment that provides our soldiers with updated force protection gear such as Interceptor body armor, ballistic eyewear, one-hand tourniquet and combat-arms earplugs; these items are now standard issue and are items that MSgt. Bumette cites as instrumental in saving his life. MSgt. Burnette's story of survival is but one boots-on-the-ground example of the combat capability that we in G-8 strive to deliver each and every day.

The primary challenge confronting our Army is how to balance near-term readiness, operational commitments and the Army's longer term modernization needs within fiscal realities. Also, the Army must continue to fund our operations and support accounts while at the same time taking care of our most valuable asset, soldiers like MSgt. Burnette.

As the Army's lead for allocating resources and equipment, the Army G-8 is responsible for developing, independently assessing, integrating and synchronizing the Army's program and equipment. We accomplish this through the programming of resources, materiel integration, analytical and modeling capabilities, and the management of Department of the Army studies and analyses.

The Army G-8:

* Serves as the principal adviser to the Army Chief of Staff on materiel program execution; joint materiel requirements; and doctrine, organization, training material, leadership and education-personnel and facilities integration.

* Advises the secretary of the Army and Chief of Staff on resource allocation and development of the Army Program Objective Memorandum (POM).

* Serves as the Army lead for the Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR), defense strategic planning guidance and the joint programming guidance.

* Is the focal point and proponent for Army operations research and systems analysis.

The G-8 team is made up of three directorates-Army Quadrennial Defense Review Office, Program Analysis & Evaluation (PAED) and Force Development (FD)-and one field operating agency, the Center for Army Analysis (CAA). The G-8 team works to plan, develop and resource programs that support soldiers by balancing current force needs with Future Force capabilities. To meet the Army's goal of sustaining the all-volunteer force with fully trained and equipped soldiers, G-8 has partnered with the Marine Corps and Special Operations Forces to develop tactical equipment to modernize and replace our current equipment to the benefit of all. By modernizing as a joint team-operationally, organizationally and doctrinally-we can leverage joint interdependences. The support of the President and Congress is essential to fund the Army's modernization and maintain our ability and capability to act decisively.

The international security environment has changed dramatically since the terrorist attacks of 9/11. The QDR's principal purpose is to develop operational guidance for the national defense and national military strategies and shape the Future Force. This is accomplished through strategic initiatives like preventing the acquisition of weapons of mass destruction by a hostile state, defending the homeland and building partnerships to defeat extremism. The Army's continuing development of modular, multipurpose, brigade-based combat and support forces will ensure the most appropriate force mix for combat operations, irregular warfare and the global war on terrorism.

The challenges posed by the 21st-century security environment also drive our vision of the force we must become. The planning, programming, budgeting and execution (PPBE) process uses the 2006 strategic planning guidance to develop the Army's current and Future Forces. The Army plan is the framework that guides key initiatives to build our Army. Army PAED manages the resourcing of the Army plan, leads Army participation in the Department of Defense PPBE process, manages the development of the Army's input to the POM and provides a single authoritative source for resource information.

In addition to the POM, PAED supports the Army's business transformation efforts by aggressively seeking ways to prioritize limited resources. To achieve this, PAED is working to restructure the Army's institutional base by divesting from non-core functions, as well as improving the level of proficiency to implement disciplined and measurable approaches to reduce waste and streamline organizations.

The Army's ongoing transformation will result in an organizational redesign that will significantly improve our operational capability. The FD mission is to allocate the Army's equipment in accordance with the Army Campaign Plan and Army priorities, while transforming the Army into a modular force. By the end of fiscal year 2006, the Army converted 26 active component brigade combat teams (BCTs), activated nine additional active component BCTs and began the conversion of 14 Army National Guard (ARNG) BCTs, bringing the total number of modular BCTs to 49. The goal is to complete transforming the modular BCTs by 2011.

MSgt. Bumette left G-8 and joined a modular unit after his convalescence. He returned to Fort Stewart, Ga., to the 3rd Infantry Division (Mechanized), the first unit in the Army to transform into the modular force design. The 3rd Infantry Division now boasts increased combat power and provides the combatant commander with full spectrum capabilities for the fight.

The G-8 also plays a key role in the development and fielding of Future Combat Systems (FCS) which serves as the Army's primary transformation program to increase capabilities and reduce or eliminate vulnerabilities in the Future Force. It is the fastest and most efficient way to modernize the Army. The Army is planning to stand up the evaluation brigade combat team (EBCT) in 2007, with FCS capabilities flowing into this unit by 2008. The EBCT will evaluate how FCS enables the modular force with a family of systems designed around a common network.

The Center for Army Analysis plays an important role in transforming the force by helping to provide the analytical foundation for transformation efforts. CAA uses mathematical models and operations research techniques to conduct analyses of Army forces and systems in the context of joint and combined warfighting. CAA's focus is theater level operations and Army-wide processes, especially those that involve resource and force allocation. These responsive analytical studies help the Army senior leadership, the Army staff and combatant commanders address top transformation and operational issues. In addition, for the past several years, CAA has maintained full-time deployed analysts in both Iraq and Afghanistan.

Lessons learned are another way that G-8 ensures the Army uses its scarce resources to best equip the force. For example, based on Army-wide soldier feedback, the Army's Rapid Fielding Initiative and Rapid Equipping Force (RFI/REF) have both accelerated the fielding of equipment to soldiers, and can better support the global war on terrorism by using current programs and commercial off-the-shelf technologies. Initiatives such as RFI and REF continue to provide soldiers and units the mission-essential items and equipment designed to enhance combat effectiveness, survivability and capability for full spectrum operations.

In addition, the Army uses reset as a means of maintaining readiness and equipment reliability. Reset actions include repair and replacement of equipment lost to combat operations or worn to the point of being uneconomically repairable. Reset also includes recapitalization of equipment when feasible and necessary. The funding of reset requires additional resources above the base budget. Sustaining trained and ready forces will depend on how well we allocate new production and reset equipment across the Army. To do this, G-8 force developers convene semiannual Army equipping and reuse conferences to discuss how best to allocate all available equipment in the Army's inventory based on Army priorities. The results ensure that units understand where equipment is located, who is getting which equipment and when it will be received. Resetting the Army will continue to be a significant challenge as we fight this war, implement Base Realignment and Closure and complete Global Defense Posture Realignment recommendations.

The Army also is committed to protecting the lives of citizens here in the United States. Last year when Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast, the Army provided equipment capabilities for 100 percent of every validated request in support of relief operations. To prepare for this year's hurricane season, G-8 was part of a team made up of representatives from Army G-3, Army Materiel Command, Forces Command, ARNG and Army Reserve to develop equipping solutions for identified shortfalls for the states of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina and North Carolina. The equipping solutions consisted of both materiel and operational solutions involving more than 11,000 items of equipment. Materiel solutions consisted of permanent and temporary loan equipment from other units, new production diversions and diversions from national level reset. Operational solutions consisted of a hurricane response plan tied to Federal Emergency Management Agency regions, leveraging Army Reserve unit capabilities by which equipment is prepositioned in hurricane states for the duration of the hurricane season.

Transformation into a modular force represents the most extensive reorganization of our Army since World War II. By 2011 we plan to have reconfigured the total force into the modular design. We are engaged in a Long War that will be waged primarily by ground forces-the first challenge confronting the Army G-8 is how to balance near-term readiness, operational commitments and the Army's longer term modernization needs within fiscal constraints. But whether supporting the global war on terrorism in Iraq and Afghanistan, homeland defense or disaster relief, no soldier with boots on the ground ever is placed in harm's way with anything less than a full complement of mission-enhancing, life-sustaining equipment. That is the mission of the G-8 and our pledge to the soldiers we support.

The Army continues to learn, adapt and transform. Our values, however, remain intact; our loyalties, nonwaiverable. MSgt. Burnette, a stellar example of an American soldier, likewise continues to develop and transform. He is confident because he trained for the right mission with the right equipment. Both he and the G-8 team understand that soldiers must have what they need, when they need it-never late and never too little.

Honored in July by Army Times as its Soldier of the Year, MSgt. Burnette is preparing to leave Fort Stewart for a Reserve Officer Training Corps instructor position at Old Dominion University, on the Virginia coast, where he will prepare a new generation of Americans to defend our nation.

As these soldiers begin their Army experience, the Army and the nation must continue to properly resource and equip these young men and women in a manner befitting their patriotism and selfless service.

[Sidebar]

The Army's Shadow 200 Tactical Unmanned Aerial Vehicle, the tactical maneuver commander's premier reconnaissance, surveillance and target acquisition system, provides greater situations! awareness on the battlefield and supports the commander's ability to shape the battlefield.

[Sidebar]

The Buffalo vehicle protects convoys against the threat of mines and improvised explosive devices.

[Sidebar]

Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 17th Infantry Regiment, 172ndStryker Brigade Combat Team, patrol a neighborhood In Mosul, Iraq, where insurgents have been known to be operating. The Stryker reactive armor tiles were developed to provide a rocket propelled grenade level of protection.

[Sidebar]

The non-line-of-sight cannon will provide networked, extended-range targeting and precision attack fires on point and area targets in support of the modular force.

The mounted combat system will provide direct and beyond-line-of-sight offensive firepower. It will be capable of delivering precision fires at a rapid rate and destroy multiple targets at standoff ranges, complementing the fires of other systems.

[Author Affiliation]

By Lt. Gen. David F. Melcher

Deputy Chief of Staff, G-8

[Author Affiliation]

LT. GEN. DAVID F. MELCHER assumed duties as deputy chief of staff, G-8, in October 2004 after serving as the Army's director of Program Analysis and Evaluation from June 2002 to September 2004. Gen. Melcher's command assignments include: commanding general, Southwestern Engineer Division, Dallas, Texas, from September 2000 to May 2002; commander, Engineer Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Hood, Texas, July 1996 to July 1998; commander, 6th Engineer Battalion, 6th Infantry Division (Light), Fort Wainwright, Alaska, from July 1992 to June 1994; and company commander in 14th Engineer Battalion, 7th Infantry Division, Fort Ord, Calif. Gen. Melcher served as the deputy director, Strategy, Plans and Policy Directorate, and executive officer to the deputy chief of staff for Operations and Plans, Washington, D.C.,from July 1998 to July 2000; regimental tactical officer, U.S. Military Academy, West Point, N.Y.,from June 1994 to June 1996; special assistant to the Chief of Staff, Army, Washington, D.C.,from June 1991 to June 1992; S-3 (operations officer) during Operation Just Cause, Panama, and executive officer, 13th Engineer Battalion, 7th Infantry Division (Light), Fort Ord, Calif,, from September 1988 to June 1991; White House fellow and executive assistant for the director. Office of Management and Budget, Washington, D.C., from August 1987 to September 1988; economic analyst, Force Structure, Resource and Assessment Directorate (J-8), The Joint Staff, Washington, D.C, from June 1986 to August 1987; and assistant professor of Economics, U.S. Military Academy, West Point, N.Y.,from January 1985 to June 1986. Gen. Melcher was commissioned in the Corps of Engineers in 1976 after graduating from the U.S. Military Academy as a Distinguished Cadet. He earned a master's degree in publk administration from Shippensburg University and a master's in business administration from Harvard University. His military education includes the Engineer Officer Basic and Advanced courses; U.S. Army Command and General Staff College; U.S. Marine Corps Command and Staff College; and the U.S. Army War College. He is a registered professional engineer in New Hampshire.

Patient's cut on finger and stuck with bill, too

Q. I am in a point-of-service plan through the Chicago Board ofEducation with Blue Cross/Blue Shield. One Saturday last November,I cut my finger at home. When it was still bleeding four hourslater, I went to the emergency room of the hospital on my plan andwas treated.

The next morning I phoned my insurer and was given aconfirmation number. On Monday morning I received a call from theconfirmation area asking how I was doing; no mention was made tocall my primary care physician. I thought I had dotted every "i" andcrossed every "t" and followed every rule of my plan.

I certainly was surprised when I received an explanation ofbenefits indicating my charges of $252 were going toward a $400deductible. I told the insurance company I thought I was supposedto pay only a $25 emergency visit fee.I was told I was being penalized because I did not call myprimary care physician, and that is the only way to get the highestbenefit offered by the plan. I have put in a review and was againdenied the level of benefits I was seeking. Do I have any furtherrecourse?A. I checked with Blue Cross/Blue Shield about your situationand was told that when you are in a point-of-service plan you must gothrough the primary care doctor in order to receive the highest levelof payment. Even though you called the number on your insurancecard and had an authorization number, the guidelines for maximumpayment were not met.Q. I am seriously considering a new job offer. The problem ismy wife is four months pregnant, and I am afraid if I leave thecompany we will lose our maternity coverage. Would my presentcompany be responsible for the bills, or the insurance carrier of thenew employer?A. If you have been covered by your current plan for at least18 months, you are eligible for benefits under the Health InsurancePortability and Accountability Act. This means your new employermust cover you and your family for all pre-existing conditions theday you become eligible for their plan.You will receive a certificate of creditable coverage to presentto the new insurer. You also must determine that the new plan hasmaternity coverage. Also, check with your current employer todetermine whether you would be eligible for COBRA or similarstate-run programs.Q. I am insured through my company's group plan forhospitalization, major medical and dental. If the company is soldand the new owners do not keep the same medical insurance company, doI lose my COBRA rights?I was told by the insurance carrier that they do not have to bebound by COBRA if they are not the insuring group. If I am insuredunder COBRA and then the successor owners change insurance companies,does COBRA end at that time? Is there any information available thatexplains COBRA options, qualifications and restrictions?A. Call the customer service area of the Department of LaborPension and Welfare Benefits Administration at (312) 353-0900. Theyshould be able to address all of your questions.Barbara Melman is president of Claim Relief, a Chicago companythat helps people with health insurance problems. Write to her atthe Chicago Sun-Times, 401 N. Wabash, Chicago, 60611.

China names aluminum executive to Cabinet post

The general manager of a state-owned Chinese aluminum producer that is in the midst of a $19.5 billion deal to invest in global miner Rio Tinto Group has been named to a Cabinet post, the government said Monday.

Xiao Yaqing of Aluminum Corp. of China, or Chinalco, will be a deputy secretary-general of the Cabinet, the body said on its Web site.

The Cabinet announcement gave no indication why Xiao, 49, who has no known government experience, was picked for such a high-level post. Bosses of Chinese banks, oil producers and other state companies routinely alternative between government and corporate jobs but usually start at lower levels.

Chinalco is trying to secure Australian regulatory approval to increase its stake in Anglo-Australian miner Rio Tinto Group for $19.5 billion.

Australia's Foreign Investment Review Board said last week it would investigate the plan for another 90 days before making a recommendation to Treasurer Wayne Swan, who says he will only approve it if it is in the national interest. The plan requires shareholder approval.

Xiao's appointment comes amid a flurry of foreign investments by China's resource companies.

Chinalco and other metals producers surged to prominence as China's economic boom drove demand for commodities. Flush with cash, they are pursuing acquisitions abroad despite global financial turmoil.

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Chinese Cabinet (in Chinese): http://www.gov.cn

Aluminum Corp. of China (in Chinese): http://www.chinalco.com.cn

Our man for District 7

Our man for District 7

The election of a new city councilor for District 7 in Roxbury and Dorchester has become a battle between the community and City Hall.

It is not unusual for a strong mayor to try to gain control of the City Council. A compliant City Council would give the mayor unbridled power.

Mayor Thomas Menino saw his chance to move on the black community when 12 potential candidates announced that they would seek the seat vacated by Gareth Saunders. Undoubtedly, City Hall reasoned that with so many candidates splitting the vote, the candidate with the backing of the mayor's machine would cruise to victory.

Tracy Litthcut, a well respected youth worker for the city, jumped into the race with the apparent backing of the mayor. City workers staffed his campaign effort. Signs popped up throughout the district. According to reports, there was some expectation that City Hall would control the District 7 seat.

This is not to imply that Litthcut is merely Mayor Menino's toady. Litthcut is an honorable man who has worked for years successfully as an employee of the mayor to decrease the involvement of community youth in crime. It just so happens that his views on many subjects of importance to the community comport with those of the mayor. For example, he supports the return to neighborhood schools, a policy which existed prior to the 1974 school desegregation decision.

City Hall underestimated the appeal of Chuck Turner. It would be inaccurate to state that Turner is a newcomer to politics. He has been involved in the political and social affairs of the community for more than 30 years. However, this is the first time he ran for office himself.

After the smoke cleared on primary day Turner had amassed 1,153 votes for 31 percent of the total. Litthcut, with all the help of City Hall, came in a distant second with 590 votes for 16 percent of the total.

The battle is not yet over. On Tuesday, November 2, Turner and Menino's champion will confront each other at the polls, mano a mano. The result will determine whether the community has an independent councilor or one whose philosophy is to go along to get along.

Be sure to register and vote! Much is at stake. Do your duty!

Flyers-Bruins, Sums

Philadelphia 0 2 0 0_2
Boston 1 0 1 1_3
First Period_1, Boston, Kobasew 21 (Sturm, Kessel), 12:21. Penalties_Cote, Phi, major (fighting), 3:02	Thornton, Bos, major (fighting), 3:02	Wideman, Bos (hooking), 8:15	Kessel, Bos (holding), 12:54	Stuart, Bos (holding), 16:43	Hartnell, Phi (roughing), 19:59	Stuart, Bos (roughing), 19:59.
Second Period_2, Philadelphia, Richards 24 (Lupul, Hartnell), 9:14. 3, Philadelphia, Briere 26 (Prospal, Umberger), 12:25. Penalties_Timonen, Phi (interference), :32	Knuble, Phi (holding), 6:09	Ward, Bos (high-sticking), 20:00	Upshall, Phi (high-sticking), 20:00.
Third Period_4, Boston, Ference 1 (Kobasew, Wideman), 19:33. Penalties_Modry, Phi (tripping), 1:07	Ference, Bos (tripping), 15:17.
Overtime_5, Boston, Ward 5 (Axelsson, Ference), 2:17. Penalties_Coburn, Phi (roughing), :27	Sturm, Bos (roughing), :27.
Shots on Goal_Philadelphia 6-7-11-2_26. Boston 9-14-10-3_36.
Power-play opportunities_Philadelphia 0 of 4	Boston 0 of 3.
Goalies_Philadelphia, Biron 25-18-8 (36 shots-33 saves). Boston, Thomas 24-17-4 (26-24).
A_17,565 (17,565). T_2:38.
Referees_Dave Jackson, Mike Hasenfratz. Linesmen_Steve Miller, Pierre Racicot.

P&G, rivals hope fake fats bring fat profit

CINCINNATI Procter & Gamble spends more time in the morning withmany Americans than some families spend together for breakfast.

From the time you brush your teeth (Crest), gargle (Scope), washyour face (Ivory), slap on deodorant (Secret), have a cup of coffee(Folger's), clean out the mug (Joy) and change Junior's diapers(Pampers), you most likely have used products made by P & G, thenation's largest seller of household goods.

But P & G has done more than keep America clean. It also hashelped shape the history of fat consumption, and with its currentprojects, may chart the future.

The company revolutionized American biscuits and pie crusts in1911 by …