Attorney for Terri Shiavo's husband says she has died.

Terri Schiavo, the brain-damaged woman kept alive by a feeding tube for 15 years during an epic legal and medical battle, has died, her husband's attorney said Thursday.

Husband Buried Alive

BEIJING: A woman in eastern China drugged her husband with the help of her lesbian lover and then buried him alive in his own home to stop him from interfering in their relationship, state media said yesterday. The two women, Wang Lanying and Mou Hongxiu, from Jiangsu province have been arrested in what is being considered the first reported murder case motivated by a lesbian relationship in China, the Beijing News said.

Cuban Dissidents' Wives Allowed to Protest

One week after being confronted by a group of pro-government counter protesters, the wives of jailed dissidents marched peacefully Sunday after Easter services to demand the release of their husbands.

The counter protesters from the Federation of Cuban Women had indicated last week they would return again on Sunday, but they did not.

"I think that this time they didn't want to make the same big error, especially with the vote in Geneva coming," said marcher Gisela Delgado, referring to the expected vote on Cuba's human rights record in mid-April by the United Nations Human Rights Commission.

Delgado is the wife of prisoner Hector Palacios, one of 75 dissidents rounded up two years ago on a crackdown on independent writers and journalists.

Although 14 of the original 75 have been freed on medical parole, the other 61 remain behind bars serving sentences ranging from six to 28 years on charges of working with U.S. officials to undermine Fidel Castro's government — something the dissidents and Washington deny.

Delgado said her husband has been in the prison hospital for several months with arterial problems and called on the government to release him and other political prisoners.

Sunday's peaceful half-hour march by about 30 women dressed in white and each carrying a single orange gladiola after services at Santa Rita Catholic Church contrasted with that of the previous week, when more than 100 women government supporters held a noisy counter protest with shouts of "Viva Fidel!" — "Long live Fidel!"

While the wives demanded the release of their husbands, the protesters from the Federation of Cuban Woman called for the release of the "Five Heroes" — five Cuban intelligence agents serving long terms in U.S. federal prisons.

Afterward, Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque declared that the government supporters had every right to hold their counter protest, as long as they remained "within ethics and limits."

On Friday, the women known as the "Ladies in White" for the clothing worn during their weekly march, sent a letter to Castro asking that their right to peacefully protest be respected and calling the interruption of their previous demonstration "an act of provocation."

Also Friday, the European Union's development commissioner, Louis Michel, discussed human rights issues with Castro during a visit to the island.

He later stressed that the delicate nature of EU-Cuban relations made it crucial for European nations, the Cuban government and opposition leaders to avoid "useless provocations." Michel, who arrived in Cuba late Thursday, was leaving Cuba Sunday.

Shark Bites Australian Snorkeler in Half

Authorities were hunting Sunday for a 20-foot shark that tore a man in half as he snorkeled off Australia's west coast, an official said.

Geoffrey Brazier, the skipper of a pleasure cruiser, was snorkeling with two tourists when he was attacked Saturday. He died instantly off the Abrolhos Islands, about 250 miles north of the Western Australia state capital, Perth, police said. No one else was injured.

"The 26-year-old man was bitten in half by the six-meter (20-foot) animal and death seemed to be instantaneous," police Insp. George Putland said.

An air and sea search of the area 37 miles west of the coastal town of Geraldton Sunday failed to find the shark or human remains.

Government fisheries officer Rory McAuley said authorities wanted to kill the shark, suspected to be either a great white or tiger, to safeguard the public.

Residents of the area said the killer was far larger than sharks usually found there. The attack was the first to occur off the west coast since two sharks killed a 29-year-old surfer south of Perth in July.

The 13 crew and passengers disembarked Sunday at Geraldton where they were questioned by authorities.

The fatality is the first in Australian waters since December, when an 18-year-old surfer was bitten in half by a 16-foot great white shark off a beach in the southern city of Adelaide. A week earlier, a shark killed a 38-year-old diver spear fishing on the Great Barrier Reef off northeast Australia.

Riot in Bahrain Factory After Worker Commits Suicide

Five hundred Asian workers of a Bahraini garment factory rioted on Saturday night damaging machinery and factory premises after a fellow worker committed suicide.

Human rights activists expressed concern over the incident at MRS Fashions, which produces one of JC Penny brands, and called for a thorough investigation into a number of suicides at the factory in the past.

Madhu Babu, 28, was found hanging from the ceiling fan in an “isolation room” on the company premises. It was not clear why Babu, who is from Chittoor district in the south Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, had committed suicide. Babu, who is not married, arrived in Bahrain eight months ago to work as a line operator in the factory.

His death sparked a riot among workers who went on a rampage for almost two hours and prevented police from removing his body. Workers blocked the path to Babu’s room thus hampering the efforts of medical crews and police. It was not until riot police stepped in that the workers ended their protest and allowed the police to remove the body.

The workers, mainly from India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, branded the room where Babu’s body was found as a “torture room”. They claimed that workers were kept there as punishment for failing to meet target goals on production lines. They also claimed that two other workers had committed suicide in the past, another died of heart attack and five others went insane as a result of the harsh work conditions that require them to work more than 12-hour shifts daily.

“We get 37 Bahraini dinars ($98) as salary and if we meet production targets we receive up to 49 dinars ($130),” one worker said.

The workers also claimed physical abuse by floor managers and said they were not getting proper food or medical care.

Nabeel Rajab, vice president of the now dissolved Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR), expressed concern over the incident. “Not enough is being done to investigate the suicides by foreign workers here,” he said from the scene. Rajab had intervened to calm the situation but without success.

The company’s general manager, Harinder Lamba, dismissed the claims of mistreatment as untrue. “Babu had chicken pox that is why he was isolated,” he said. “We are saddened over his death and his family will be properly compensated”.

“We are one of the model factories here in Bahrain and the Ministry of Industry has just nominated us for the prime minister’s 2004 Industry Excellence Award,” he said.

MRS Fashions was set up by a group of non-resident Indians (NRIs) based in Hong Kong and run by Indian businessman Sanju Mahthni, in 2000.

The factory produces trousers for the JC Penny house brand St. John’s Bay which is marketed in the US and Europe. It has a turnover of $12 million.

Bottled message found in Iceland 18 years after Greenland sendoff

A four-year-old girl in Iceland has found a message in a bottle that was thrown into the sea off the coast of Greenland 18 years ago, Danish media reported.

The message was sent off in the summer of 1987 by a group of youngsters being shuttled by boat to a football match in the south of Greenland, a semi-autonomous Danish territory, Ritzau news agency reported, quoting Greenland radio.

A four-year-old Icelandic girl found the bottle and the message inside over the weekend on a beach in the Hafnarfjordur fjord near Reykjavik, about 750 kilometers (465 miles) from where it was thrown into the water.

The girl's family is reportedly planning to contact the Danish embassy for help finding the people who sent the message.

Ireland Celebrates First Smoke-Free Year

Ireland can breathe a smoke-free sigh of relief Tuesday when it marks the first anniversary of a pioneering ban on smoking, the success of which has inspired similar moves elsewhere.

The ban on smoking in pubs, restaurants and workplaces, introduced on March 29, 2004, had been expected to meet with widespread resistance in a country where the pub culture of a drink and a smoke were considered part of its lifeblood.

Instead, the sight of smokers puffing away outside pub doors has become familiar across Ireland, and the only haze wafting through bars these days comes from having one drink too many.

Similar laws had been introduced in cities and states like New York and California, but Ireland was the first country to introduce a nationwide ban. Malta, Norway and Italy have since followed suit.

"It's healthier," said bartender and non-smoker Paddy Martin, pouring pints at Foley's Bar, close to the Irish parliament buildings in Dublin. "I feel better when I go home."

Anti-smoking lobby group ASH reckons tobacco kills six times as many people in Ireland as road accidents, work accidents, drugs, murder, suicide and AIDS combined, and is a massive drain on health resources.

Professor Luke Clancy, chairman of ASH's Irish branch, has said the ban could become the "health initiative of the century."

QUIET PINT

But not everyone has welcomed it.

Some pub owners and drinks firms blame the ban for a drop-off in sales -- bar revenues fell 6.3 percent in the first nine months of 2004. Cigarette sales dropped about 18 percent last year compared to a 10 percent fall the previous year.

The subdued atmosphere in Foley's Bar -- where only a handful of people were drinking quietly Saturday night in a scene repeated in many other pubs outside Dublin's main tourist spots -- seemed to back the claims.

But the decline of the Irish pub has more to do with high prices and lifestyle changes than the smoking ban, locals say.

"It's the smoke and the drink," said Foley's Martin, handing over a half-pint of Guinness, which at 2.60 euros ($3.38) is one euro more expensive than buying a similar size can in an off-license.

Alcoholic beverages -- some 82 percent above the eurozone average -- cost more in Ireland than in any other European Union country, according to figures from Eurostat published last year. The newly affluent Irish, enjoying the fruits of Ireland's Celtic Tiger boom in the late 1990s, increasingly choose a glass of wine in their own home over a pub-poured beer.

But for those smokers and drinkers who venture out for a taste of Ireland's famed "craic" (fun), the smoking ban can have some benefits.

"I've met more people standing outside and having a cig," said Sue Taylor, visiting Dublin from Yorkshire in England, standing outside a pub in the popular Temple Bar area.

"But I'd be barred from every pub in Britain if they introduced it because I wouldn't do it."

The Fox Blocker

It sounds like a product made to be sold on Air America.

Sam Kimery of Tulsa, Oklahoma, has invented a device that he calls a Fox Blocker.

It's a metal object that's screwed into the back of a TV set and blocks out the Fox News Channel.

Kimery claims to be a former Republican but sounds more like another former G.O.P. guy: David Brock. He contends that Fox News' top-level management dictates a conservative journalistic bias.

When describing the Fox News Channel, Kimery told the Associated Press: "I might as well be reading tabloids out of the grocery store. Anything to get a rise out of the viewer and to reinforce certain retrograde notions."

CNN execs would love it if Kimery's invention sold well. Fox has averaged twice the viewers in prime time that CNN has brought in, according to Nielsen Media Research.

The Left Coast Report has a device that appropriately handles the nightly news broadcasts of ABC, NBC and CBS. It's called "Brick on a Rope."

Hillary Allies Commandeering Key Party Posts

Democratic Sen. Hillary Clinton continues to deny that she is interested in a bid for the White House in 2008. But if you look around at changes taking place within her party, you might not believe her.

The Washington Post reports that Friends of Hillary are cropping up in key posts at the Democratic National Committee and other DNC-friendly organizations.

For instance, the paper reported, Harold Ickes -- longtime Democratic operative and friend -- has taken the helm at America Coming Together, an influential labor organization.

Also, Howard Wolfson, another friend, is "taking on a contract to shape strategy at the state Democratic Party in New York," the paper reported.

And Howard Dean, head of the DNC, has replaced Jano Cabrera as communications director with Karen Finney, who served as deputy press secretary in the first lady's office during the Clinton years. Finney also served as Hillary's spokeswoman during the former's successful Senate bid in 2000.

Finally, Mike Gehrke is replacing the DNC's research director, Jason Miner. Gehrke once worked in the Clinton White House. He then lent his research skills to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee later on.

'Mein Kampf' a Best Seller

Another worrisome sign is the growing anti-Semitism in Turkey.

Turkey has been a strong U.S. ally and a friend of Israel. But in recent years, fundamentalist Islam has been growing there.

Now, years after the fall of Nazi Germany, Turkish bookshops are reporting that Adolf Hitler's book "Mein Kampf" ("My Struggle") is a best seller.

The book, "filled with anti-Jewish diatribes and dreams of world domination, is puzzling some Turks," The Associated Press reports. Some wonder if sales of the book are reflective of a rising anti-Semitic attitude, or perhaps a demonstration of anger over Israel's handling of the Palestinians.

Others question whether it is a rebellion against Turkish efforts to join the European Union, or if it just offers "a cheap thrill," AP reported.

Two new versions of the book are currently out in paperback and selling for about $4.50. However, AP says there could be some legal ramifications ahead.

The books "were printed without the permission of the Finance Ministry of the German state of Bavaria, which was given control of Hitler's estate after World War II and is keen to suppress the book."

Officials there say they restrict the granting of copyrights to the book because they don't want to spread Nazi ideals.

The book, written in the 1920s, has been available in Arab countries for many years but there has been no increases in sales, says AP.

Staged Dan Rather Interview?

After having one of his worst years in broadcasting, there is more disturbing news about former "CBS Evening News" anchor Dan Rather.

According to a report in Human Events, author Humberto Fontova says Rather's interview with Juan Miguel Gonzales, the father of Elian Gonzales, "was stage-managed by former Clinton lawyer and friend, Gregory Craig."

Fontova, who makes his assertions in his new book, "Fidel: Hollywood's Favorite Tyrant," wrote, according to a Cuban American translator: "The questions for Juan Miguel were actually fed to Dan Rather by Gregory Craig.

"After a taping session, Craig would call Dan over, give him some more instructions, and exchange papers with him. Then Dan would come back on the set and ask those."

Craig behaved like a movie director, Fontova says, "and even got a bona fide dramatic actor to translate and mouth the responses of Miguel," Human Events reported.

Another Dan Rather deception? You decide.

Clawless in West Hollywood

In a dog-eat-dog town like Hollywood, fights sometimes include teeth and claws.

That's how it is for real in the battle that's going on between California veterinarians and the city of West Hollywood.

West Hollywood, sometimes known as San Francisco South, was the first town in the nation to outlaw the removal of claws from cats (the removal of claws from agents, publicists and managers has not, as yet, been debated).

The city of West Hollywood would also like a ban on the tail docking and ear cropping of our four-legged friends.

In response to the furry flap, the California Veterinary Medical Association has filed a lawsuit. It is challenging the existing law and also trying to stop the proposed tail and ear legislation.

West Hollywood Mayor John Duran told Reuters that the city had led the way in outlawing animal cruelty. He touted the 2002 decree that pet owners should be known as "guardians" and their pets as "companion animals."

Jon Klingborg, president of the vet organization, said, "This is not an issue that has anything to do with whether a procedure is unkind or cruel. The city of West Hollywood is overstepping its bounds. It is taking away a pet owner's freedom to choose how they want their pets cared for."

But Jennifer Conrad, a practicing vet who actually supported the declawing ban, said that the California vets "should be spending their time on something more constructive when there are so many animal problems, like overpopulation."

Conrad added that "fighting for the right to amputate the fingers off cats is really a waste of their money."

West Hollywood has cats with fingers? That might be of interest to Garfield.

The Left Coast Report suspects that if a cat or dog could actually voice a complaint, it would be about a snip in another part of their anatomy.

Giuliani Quotes Disturb N.Y. Conservative

The battle for the 2008 nomination may be in full gear.

Tuesday a Catholic group issued a press release attacking former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani as unfit to be the Republican nominee for president in 2008.

The Culture of Life Foundation, headed by Austin Ruse, said it issued the anti-Rudy document as a way to "slow down and even stop the presidential buzz around former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani."

The release quotes extensively from a compilation of quotes from Giuliani that the group said "is sure to make social conservatives queasy."

The group cites a four-page document, "The Quotable Rudolph W. Giuliani," which has been compiled by George J. Marlin, an author and long-time activist in New York's Conservative party.

Marlin, former head of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, had run as a Conservative Party candidate against Giuliani when he first ran for mayor in 1989 on the Republican and Liberal party lines.

Marlin said that on a daily basis he hears Giuliani's name mentioned as a possible GOP candidate for the 2008 presidential elections, a prospect he finds frightening.

"I though that it was time that people get a better sense of where he stands on cultural issues," Marlin told Culture & Cosmos.

Marlin says one of the more telling quotes about Giuliani comes not from Giuliani but from a statement issued in 1989 by the New York State Liberal Party, which endorsed Giuliani during his run for mayor that year.

"[W]hen the Liberal Party Policy Committee reviewed a list of key social issues of deep concern to progressive New Yorkers, we found that Rudy Giuliani agreed with the Liberal Party's stance on a majority of such issues. He agreed with the Liberal Party's views on affirmative action, gay rights, gun control, school prayer and tuition tax credits. As Mayor, Rudy Giuliani would uphold the Constitutional and legal rights to abortion," the statement said.

Most troublesome for Rudy may be his strong advocacy for abortion rights.

The document shows Giuliani's support of abortion has been strident.

The Marlin document also contains a quote from the New York Newsday of Sept. 1, 1989 in which Giuliani says that he so strongly favored abortion, "I'd give my daughter the money for it [an abortion]."

According to the New York Times, Giuliani supports government funding for abortion.

Back in 1989 the newspaper of record said: "As mayor, Rudy Giuliani will uphold a woman's right of choice to have an abortion. Giuliani will fund all city programs which provide abortions to insure that no woman is deprived of her right due to an inability to pay. He will oppose reductions in state funding. He will oppose making abortion illegal."

In 1998 the New York Times reported that Giuliani opposed outlawing partial-birth abortions.

Giuliani, along with Arizona Sen. John McCain, has been touted as one of the leading candidates for the Republican nomination for president. A recent Quinnipiac University Poll had both of them tied in a hypothetical race against New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.

But Marlin and others believe Giuliani's fire will dwindle as Republican primary voters become more familiar with his positions.

Giuliani, for his part, has not made clear his intention for a 2008 race, nor has he indicated his current views on the social issues that may be so vexing for him.

Condi Rice, also touted as a presidential contender, may face similar problems. Rice told the Washington Times last week that she is pro-choice on the abortion issue.

ADL Angry with Mel Gibson's Re-release

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) is still angry with Mel Gibson for his movie "The Passion of the Christ" and issued a press release Tuesday blasting the actor for re-releasing the film.

In the recut of his film "The Passion of the Christ," now in theaters, Mel Gibson removed six minutes of violence.

But the ADL says Gibson "chose to leave untouched the anti-Jewish elements of the original, including scenes where Jews are portrayed as villains and responsible for the death of Jesus."

The ADL said it "expressed concern that the newly released film, 'The Passion Recut,' will now become the definitive version of the Passion story for the holy season."

Abraham H. Foxman, ADL national director, charged that "it is troubling that Mel Gibson made changes to 'The Passion of the Christ' to de-emphasize the violence, yet made no effort to mitigate or remove the film's anti-Jewish elements."

"In a world where anti-Semitism is on the rise and the classical canard that 'the Jews killed Jesus'" is being promulgated, Mr. Gibson has unfortunately become a contributor," Foxman said.

The Anti-Defamation League, founded in 1913, is the world's leading organization fighting anti-Semitism through programs and services that counteract hatred, prejudice and bigotry.

Jane Fonda: Kerry Suffered From 'Wimp' Image

In more bad news for Sen. John Kerry, "Hanoi" Jane Fonda is once again stepping into the media spotlight, promoting her new book, "My Life So Far," and explaining that Kerry lost the election because he came across as "a wimp" and a "girlie man."

Fonda bankrolled Kerry's anti-war protests during the 1970s, and last year she tried to help him by registering as many women as possible in her "Vaginas Vote" campaign.

In a preview of what's to come as her book tour hits the TV talk show circuit, Fonda discussed her life and times last month at the "Girls For A Change" conference held at Montana State University.

She began by explaining that she'd spent the last five years working on her memoir, and insisted that her own life story is universal. Even someone who's wealthy, privileged, famous and white can be hurt by the hierarchy's rules in profound ways, Fonda explained.

Before too long the former actress got around to the subject of Kerry's defeat.

In quotes picked up by Bozeman, Montana's Daily Chronicle, she complained: "Men who show compassion or try to make peace are ridiculed as 'girlie men' or, like John Kerry, as wimps."

It's all a part of the patriarchal society we live in, she said, where American boys learn as early as age 5 that they have to earn a place in the hierarchy by being "real men" - not sissies who express emotion.

"We have to feel true empathy for boys," she urged. "Males have the power, but at what cost."

The former Hollywood radical urged girls to be more assertive, saying: "Get mad. It's not the way it has to be. Don't succumb, don't take it sitting down."

The solution, she said, is for girls to realize it's society and not their own flaws that makes them feel anxious and inadequate.

Danny Glover, Alice Walker Back Castro on Human Rights

About 200 intellectuals, activists and artists from Latin America and elsewhere issued a letter Monday urging the top United Nations human rights watchdog to side with Cuba in an expected battle over the communist country's rights record.

A U.S.-backed resolution to condemn the island's record is usually presented at every spring meeting in Geneva of the U.N. Human Rights Commission, which this year was to open Monday and run through April 22.

No resolution targeting the island has emerged this year, but Cuba expects such a proposal will be presented and considered in mid-April. Last year's resolution passed narrowly, adopted by 22 votes to 21, with 10 abstentions.

"We urge the governments of the commission's member countries to not permit [the resolution] to be used to legitimize the anti-Cuban aggression of the administration of [President] Bush," the letter said.

Washington maintains a four-decades-old trade embargo against the island, and trade and travel restrictions have been steadily tightened in recent years.

Nobel Peace Prize laureates including Adolfo Perez Esquivel of Argentina and Rigoberta Menchu of Guatemala signed the letter, as did South Africa's Nadine Gordimer and Portugal's Jose Saramago, both recipients of the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Among American signatories were actor Danny Glover, author Alice Walker and historian and activist Howard Zinn. Other international figures included filmmaker Walter Salles of Brazil, the music group Manu Chau and France's former first lady, Danielle Mitterrand.

The letter said the U.S. government has no moral authority to criticize Cuba's human rights record after its own scandals over treatment of terror suspects at prisons in Iraq and the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay.

Some who signed the letter had criticized Cuba when the government sentenced 75 political opponents to long prison terms in 2003.

Mel Gibson Blasts Oscars, Plans Fatima Movie

Mel Gibson says he cut scenes from his soon-to-be-re-released blockbuster film, "Passion of the Christ," to tone down the violence that earned it an R rating and kept some people from seeing it.

Gibson said he received "truckloads of cards and letters” when the original film was released.

"What came up again and again was that a lot of people were turned away because of the brutality in the film and were afraid to watch," he told Raymond Arroyo on EWTN’s "World Over Live" Friday night.

"So I thought if I softened it up a bit, I could have a wider audience. Essentially it’s the same film, but what I’ve done is to excise some of the aspects of it,” he explained. "The trick was to excise or imply some of the aspects of it that were pretty much in your face, without actually showing them."

Gibson said he edited the film by reducing its length by about five or six minutes.

Gibson said among the changes he made was the scene showing the crowning of Christ with the crown of thorns.

"You see it, but it’s farther away," he said, adding that viewers no longer see the nails being driven into Christ’s hands.

Despite the changes, Gibson said, "it still works." Gibson spoke about his recent visit to meet Sister Lucia, the Fatima visionary, as first revealed by NewsMax.com in January.

Calling her "incredibly childlike," Gibson described her convent as "pretty austere and spartan."

Noting that he believes that the full contents of the famed Third Secret have not been revealed, he said, "I still don’t think we got all it," but said he did not raise the subject with her.

"You can’t go in there and say, 'So, what’s the Third Secret?'" he explained. "But I still want to know."

Sister Lucia passed away last month, renewing interest in the subject of her visions of the Virgin Mary. London's Daily Mail reported this weekend that Gibson is considering a movie about Fatima.

Commenting on the recent Oscar awards ceremonies, where Hollywood turned its back on "The Passion," Gibson said that he made none of the usual Hollywood moves to promote his film.

"The whole notion of these awards ceremonies is ludicrous. ... It’s really a marketing exercise."

The awards ceremonies, he added, are "a celebration of mediocrity."

"My film is not right wing or political, but they made it so," he said.

He noted that he was delighted that his film won the People’s Choice award.

As for the Oscar, Gibson said: "I didn’t expect one. I knew exactly what was going to happen. I didn’t try to market the film. People are spending 15 or 20 million dollars to market their films. That’s a lot of money for a little gold statue." Gibson also revealed that he will be going back to acting in a couple of upcoming films.

Did Hitler really invent the Volkswagen?

Well, not exactly invent, but Adolf Hitler was indeed the driving force behind the car. In the 1930s, cars cost more than most people earned in a year. When Hitler became the chancellor of Germany in 1933, he promoted the idea of a car affordable enough for the average working person. The Volkswagen, which means "people's car" in German, was essentially a political promise to win the public's goodwill.

Hitler met with automotive designer Ferdinand Porsche in 1933 and charged Porsche with creating the new car. The chancellor required that the Volkswagen carry two adults and three children, go up to 60 miles per hour, get at least 33 miles per gallon, and cost only 1,000 reichsmarks. Hitler may also have named the car the Beetle.

In 1938, Hitler had the KdF Wagen factory built to produce the cars designed by Porsche. But by the time the factory was complete, Hitler had invaded Czechoslovakia and Poland. The factory was dedicated to building military vehicles, and the people's car fell by the wayside during World War II.

After the war, the factory ended up in the British section of occupied Germany. The British military re-opened the factory, named it Volkswagen, and finally gave control of the company to the German government.

After 1948, Volkswagen introduced new models across Europe. By 1955, over 1 million cars had been built. The VW beetle started selling in the U.S., and in 1972 the people's car overtook the Ford Model T to become the most popular car ever made.

Snow: Bono Could Head World Bank

Treasury Secretary John Snow on Sunday would not rule out the idea of Irish singer Bono, an activist on debt relief and AIDS, making the short list of potential candidates to lead the World Bank even though an American is expected to get the job.

"He's somebody I admire. He does a lot of good in this world of economic development," Snow said.

"Most people know him as a rock star. He's in a way a rock star of the development world, too. He understands the give-and-take of development. He's a very pragmatic, effective and idealistic person," Snow said.

Snow is part of the Bush administration team working to find a successor to James Wolfensohn, who is stepping down as head of the development bank on June 1.

Asked whether the Irish singer would make the short list of candidates that Snow is preparing for President Bush, the secretary said: "I am not going to review here all the candidates that are on the list. But I will attest to my admiration for Bono."

Bono toured Africa with Snow's predecessor, Paul O'Neill, who focused a lot of attention during his time at Treasury on poverty and diseases such as AIDS in Africa.

Bono has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for international social justice efforts that include trying to persuade rich nations to relieve the debt of poor nations.

Another candidate who has surfaced is Carly Fiorina, the recently ousted chief executive of Hewlett-Packard Co.

"She's also a friend and somebody I think well of," Snow told ABC's "This Week." But, he added, "I think we're going to have to wait to reveal that next president of the World Bank for a little while."

The administration began the search for Wolfensohn's successor in early January and said it would talk to other countries that belong to the 184-nation World Bank. The administration wants to name a replacement before Wolfensohn's term ends.

The United States is the World Bank's largest member nation. The bank traditionally has had an American president.

"I fully expect that to be the case, yes, and so do the G-7 [Group of Seven[ finance ministers and all of the participants in the process," Snow said. "I've had any number of calls from finance ministers from around the world saying they want it to be an American."

The bank's sister institution, the International Monetary Fund, traditionally has been headed by a European.

Other names floated for the World Bank job include John Taylor, the Treasury Department's undersecretary for international affairs; Peter McPherson, the former head of Michigan State University, who served as Bush's point man on rebuilding Iraq's financial system; Randall Tobias, Bush's global AIDS coordinator; and Christine Todd Whitman, the former head of the Environmental Protection Agency.

Hillary May Back 'Another' 2008 Candidate Early

From Newsmax.com

Hillary's dilemma is a serious one.

So serious, we hear from New York Democratic circles, she and husband Bill may come out soon to back another Democrat as "their" 2008 candidate.

Are they serious?

Here's the reasoning.

Hillary is focusing on her re-election race for Senate in 2006. Hillary is a clear favorite to win re-election. She has done her homework for her constituents and remains quite popular in New York.

But she is leaving nothing to chance. Republicans are planning a massive effort to cripple Hillary in New York.

While focusing on re-election, openly running for the presidency could undermine her efforts in New York.

A prominent New York Democratic insider tells NewsMax to expect Hillary and Bill to back another presidential candidate early -- as a placeholder for Hillary if and when she decides to enter the race after 2006.

The way the presidential election cycle now works, it's a four-year game, one source tells us.

Hillary can't just decide to enter after 2006. By then, early Democratic candidates will have locked up key political power brokers in early primary states, big donors and the best campaign operatives.

Hillary also has to move now to outflank a growing faction in her own party that wants to stop her presidential ambitions. This faction includes new DNC chief Howard Dean, who openly detests the Clintons.

It's no secret that Dean was backed by the Kennedy-Kerry clique, as well as Al Gore, all of whom strongly oppose Hillary.

One scenario has retired General Wesley Clark back in the race again. Hillary and Bill backed Clark as their stalking horse to stop Howard Dean. This time Clark could become the meet-up place for Clintonistas -- until Hillary makes her bold move after re-election.

Buckle up, friends. We're in for one helluva a primary fight in the Democratic race!

Arnold: No Regrets for Steroid Use

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who has acknowledged using steroids during his years as a champion bodybuilder, said he doesn't regret using the performance-enhancing drugs.

In an interview broadcast Sunday, Schwarzenegger told ABC's George Stephanopoulos, "I have no regrets about it, because at that time, it was something new that came on the market, and we went to the doctor and did it under doctors' supervision."

Schwarzenegger has acknowledged taking steroids, but pointed out that they were legal at the time.

"We were experimenting with it. It was a new thing. So you can't roll the clock back and say, 'Now I would change my mind on this,'" he said, according to an excerpt posted on abcnews.com.

The former seven-time Mr. Olympia said he would not encourage drug use because it sent the wrong message to children. But he said he had no problem with athletes taking nutritional supplements and other legal substances to improve their performance.

Mapes Plans Rathergate Book

Fired CBS Rathergate producer Mary Mapes is planning a tell-all book that could blow the lid off the scandal that ended Dan Rather's tenure as "CBS Evening News" anchorman and destroyed the credibility of the once-golden "Tiffany" network.

Mapes, who obtained documents on President Bush's National Guard record that turned out to be forged, "is preparing to shop a book proposal offering an inside account of what happened at CBS News during the memo scandal," reports the New York Observer.

"The book will constitute Ms. Mapes’ defense against charges of journalistic misconduct," the paper says.

Mapes' literary agent explained that she "plans to argue for the veracity of the four memos supposedly typed by President Bush’s former National Guard squadron commander, Lt. Col. Jerry Killian, in the early 1970s," where Killian complained that Bush's Guard records had been "sugarcoated."

"Now that the other people have copped a plea ... she’s the only one who can tell this story," said Wesley Neff, president of the agency that is representing Mapes.

After being asked to resign, CBS producers Betsy West and Mary Murphy, who also worked on the Bush segment, have negotiated settlements with the network. A third producer, Josh Howard, is still working out the terms of his departure.

But with no such settlement to cushion her fall from grace, Mapes is undoubtedly looking for vindication. She is said to have put together 40 pages of analysis and documentation to back up her claims.

And if Mapes' comments after being thrown under the bus by her former employers are any indication, her book may point the finger at higher-ups at the network.

"If there was a journalistic crime committed here, it was not by me," the one-time CBS goldern girl complained after getting the ax. "I vetted all aspects of the story with my editors."

BTK suspect charged with 10 murder counts

DenverPost.com

Prosecutors today charged BTK serial killer suspect Dennis Rader with 10 counts of first-degree murder.

Rader's arrest has prompted nearby law enforcement agencies to revisit any cold cases that bear similarities to the string of slayings.

Investigators in Hutchinson, Harvey and Reno counties are wondering if the suspect also could be responsible for any unsolved deaths in their jurisdictions.

Reno County Sheriff Randy Henderson said Monday that he decided to ask for help after seeing news coverage of the arrest of Rader, the man police have said is responsible for 10 killings in the Wichita area between 1974 and 1991.

Investigators in Hutchinson, about 50 miles northwest of Wichita, also asked the Kansas Bureau of Investigation to test DNA samples from a 1977 unsolved killing to see if it matches samples connected to the BTK suspect.

Rader, 59, appeared today for an initial hearing in Sedgwick County District Court. He was formally charged with 10 counts of first-degree murder.

New details of the investigation emerged from Michigan. The Wichita Eagle and The Daily Oakland Press of Pontiac, Mich., reported today that FBI agents visited the Farmington, Mich., home of Rader's 26-year-old daughter, Kerri, on Friday to get a DNA sample.

The timing indicates she was not visited until after her father had been arrested that same day in Kansas, the Eagle said, suggesting her DNA helped confirm his identity but was not the original break in the case as some initial reports had suggested.

Charles Nebus, public safety director and police chief in Farmington, Mich., said today that the FBI told him Friday they were conducting an interview in the city in connection with the BTK case.

He said the family that was interviewed has since contacted police repeatedly complaining of being bothered by reporters. He would not confirm that the person interviewed was Rader's daughter, though public records indicated the daughter had lived in Farmington.

The BTK killer, whose nickname stands for "Bind, Torture, Kill," had been suspected of eight deaths, but law enforcement announced Saturday that they had linked two additional victims to the serial killer.

One of the newly attributed deaths was that of Delores Davis, who was abducted from her home near Park City and whose body was found 13 days later near a river in northern Sedgwick County.

Henderson said that was similar to the 1977 death of Gail Sorensen, who was also kidnapped and her body was found two days later near the Arkansas River near Hutchinson.

"We're looking at one," Henderson told The Associated Press.

"We've got five cold cases. But the other four didn't have the same details, the same modus operandi." Harvey County Sheriff Byron Motter said today he is reopening a cold case from 2001 in which a 46-year-old Wichita woman was strangled and her body dumped in a creek. "With this information that BTK has been caught, we are opening up cases to see if we have anything," Motter said.

Rader, 59, a Cub Scout leader, was arrested Friday. Authorities have declined to say what led them to concentrate on Rader, a married father of two and an active member of a Lutheran church.

Rader's younger brother, Jeff Rader, told The Wichita Eagle in today's editions that no one in the family believes his brother is the BTK serial killer.

"I don't think my brother is BTK," he said. "But if he is - if that's the truth - then let the truth be the truth. And may God have mercy on his soul." Speaking on the front porch of his mother's Park City home, Jeff Rader, 50, said the family never saw any sign that his brother could be a killer.

"My mother still can't believe it," he said. "She's still very much in denial. And so am I. But maybe, with me, acceptance is starting to creep in."

Investigators remained tightlipped Monday about the investigation, going so far as to warn that public speculation could complicate their investigation. Police Chief Norman Williams vowed that Rader will "not be tried in the media, but rather in a court of law."

In addition to the 10 deaths attributed to BTK, a source close to the investigation said on condition of anonymity that authorities were looking into whether the serial killer was responsible for the deaths of two Wichita State University students as well as a woman who lived down the street from another known victim of BTK.

It Isn't Often You See Breast Cream Used in Public

Reuters

A promotion for breast enhancing cream that involved three models having a 15 minute mammary massage in public has caused a furor in Thailand, with family groups saying it violates traditional values and morality.

Despite Bangkok's racy reputation as the "anything goes" sex capital of southeast Asia, most Thais are uncomfortable with public nudity and all newspaper pictures of the demonstration had the breasts blurred out.

"The campaign is just to promote the product without considering the damage to society," Ladda Thangsupachai of the Cultural Watch Center told the Nation newspaper on Friday. "This is taking advantage of society and an irresponsible act."

Executives of St Herb Co., which makes the "breast beautifying" cream, said they laid on the stunt merely to counter suggestions their advertising claims were exaggerated.

The Nation said Ying, one of the models, was embarrassed at having to bare herself in front of the cameras, but did believe her breasts had become firmer and the gap between them smaller as a result of the treatment.

St Herb is likely to evade the wrath of regulators because the cream is "breast beautifying" rather than "breast enlarging" -- a trick missed by makers of a "breast enlarging bra" now under scrutiny from the Thai Food and Drug Administration.

Whether it works or not, a headline in the Thai Post tabloid summed up the controversy best in a society obsessed with marketing gimmicks: "Big breast bras good for people with small brains."