Davis, White lead original dance at GP final

Meryl Davis and Charlie White of the United States finished first in the original dance on Thursday, the opening day of the International Skating Union's Grand Prix final.

Skating to Indian folk dance, Davis and White received a season's best 65.80 points to finish ahead of Canada's Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir, who were second with 64.01 points. Nathalie Pechalat and Fabian Bourzat of France were third with 56.93 points.

"We skated well today," White said. "We weren't perfect and there is room for improvement but we were happy to get a level 4 on all elements. It's important to have fun in the original dance and we were able to do …

Filling station

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Strasburg beats Marlins 3-1 in stadium finale

MIAMI (AP) — While Stephen Strasburg is just getting started, the Florida Marlins' first home is history.

The Washington ace allowed one hit and struck out 10 in six scoreless innings Wednesday to earn his first win since July 2010, and the Marlins bid their much-maligned stadium goodbye with a 3-1 loss.

Next year the Marlins move into a new ballpark with new manager Ozzie Guillen, who held his introductory news conference before the game. The Nationals also have a brighter future thanks to Strasburg (1-1), who threw a gem in his fifth start since returning from elbow surgery.

"It felt pretty good out there to go out and pound the strike zone like I know I can," …

Dutch coach out to avoid tendency to self destruct

One game away from a World Cup final, the Dutch hope their notorious tendency to self-destruct doesn't come back to haunt them.

After five World Cup wins in a row, including a memorable 2-1 quarterfinal victory over five-time champion Brazil, the Dutch have an impressive record and are strong favorites to beat Uruguay in Cape Town on Tuesday.

But the team is well short of its best form, and coach Bert van Marwijk says the Dutch have a history of thinking too far ahead.

"We have witnessed it before in the past," he said. "Think about two years ago in Austria and Switzerland. We beat Italy and France and everybody already thought we …

UIC stalls plan to demolish 6 Maxwell Street buildings

A controversial plan to demolish six buildings in the old MaxwellStreet market area has been put on hold, a spokesman for theUniversity of Illinois at Chicago said Tuesday.

Preservationists oppose the plan, part of a southward expansionby UIC.

The six buildings, described by the university as boarded up anddilapidated, are among about 50 in the redevelopment area."I don't want to imply we are never going to tear down thebuildings," said UIC spokesman Danny Chun. "(Preservationists) wantto save every building. That's not practical."The university hasn't decided how many of the structures …

AIChE®: Proudly Announces New Fellows for 2004

The grade of Fellow is a special category of AIChE membership, reserved for those tenured Institute members who have display significant service to AIChE and the profession, and who have achieved significant accomplishments in chemical engineering.

Arthur E. Bergles

Lorenz T. Biegler (Pittsburgh)

Thomas R. Blackwood (St. Louis)

Neil L Book (St. Louis)

Charles N. Carpenter (St. Louis)

Jorge M. Ferrer (Baton Rouge)

Robert R Gale (St. Louis)

lgnacio E. Grossmann (Pittsburgh)

Robert B. James, Jr. (Chicago)

LarryA. Kaye (lowa)

Gregory L. Keeports (Delaware Valley)

Thomas A. Kenat (Akron)

Peter N. Lodal …

Scottish Football Results

Results Sunday in Scottish football (home teams listed first):

Scottish Cup

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HUD moves to cut fraud on mortgages

WASHINGTON (AP) Housing and Urban Development Secretary SamuelR. Pierce Jr. yesterday announced measures to reduce fraud on homemortgages, particularly those insured by the Federal HousingAdministration.

Pierce, implementing recommendations made by a task force heappointed, said he will order lenders …

House Votes to Overturn Court on Pay

WASHINGTON - The House voted Tuesday to reverse the Supreme Court's decision limiting the time that workers have to sue their employers for pay discrimination.

The Bush administration has threatened to veto the legislation, pushed almost entirely by Democrats.

The House voted 225-199 to effectively remove the statute of limitations for pay discrimination lawsuits for longtime company employees, repudiating a decision by the high court's five most conservative justices.

"Discrimination has no place in our law, no place in our hearts and no place because of technicalities," said Rep. Robert Andrews, D-N.J.

The Supreme Court voted 5-4 on May 29 to throw out …

Russian economic official sees recovery in 2H

Russia's economy is on its way to recovery and will pick up in the second half of the year, the deputy economic development minister was quoted as saying Tuesday by national news agencies.

Andrey Klepach, who came under fierce criticism of the Kremlin last fall for being too pessimistic in his forecasts, said Russia's economic output would rise 4 to 5 percent in the second half of the year compared to the disasterous first half.

Russia's economy shrank 9.8 percent in the first four months of the year compared with the year-earlier period and most forecasters expect it will shrink 6 to 8 percent over the entire year.

Russia's economy has been …

Man Accused of Sexually Abusing Daughters

Bond was set at $300,000 Thursday for a 41-year-old man chargedwith sexually abusing his two daughters, ages 2 and 4.

Stephen Finney, an environmental consultant for an Oak Brookfirm, was arrested Tuesday after he allegedly was seen by someone ina nearby building fondling and kissing the …

What to do if an airline changes your flight plan

NEW YORK (AP) — It's the ultimate travel bait and switch.

You book a ticket on a non-stop flight but the airline cancels it a few weeks later, leaving a computer to automatically rebook you. Your new itinerary includes a layover, turning a five-hour trip into an eight-hour journey.

"You are at the mercy of the airline," says Anna Stinson, 40, of Minneapolis

In May, Stinson bought tickets for a trip to North Carolina in the middle of August. She is traveling with her four-year-old son and picked Delta because it offered a nonstop flight.

Then as part of system-wide cuts, the flight was eliminated. She was rebooked with a connection in Atlanta.

"I'm …

Wings' Conklin caps stellar 3 days with shutout

It's been a pretty good few days for Detroit goalie Ty Conklin.

The backup goalie's wife gave birth to the couple's third child on Saturday, then he got his fifth career shutout on Monday night in Detroit's 4-0 win over Edmonton.

"Got a win Friday (3-2 in Florida). Got to see my wife and the baby (son Nash) and now the shutout. Been a good three days," Conklin said.

It was his first shutout with the Red Wings.

"It's nice to get that first one here to get rid of the butterflies early," Conklin said.

The Red Wings signed him as a free agent in July. He had been with the Pittsburgh Penguins, who Detroit beat in the Stanley Cup finals, and is now 5-1-0 with his new team.

In other NHL games Monday night, it was: the New York Rangers 2, Ottawa 1 in a shootout; the New York Islanders 2, Vancouver 1 in a shootout; San Jose 4, Nashville 1; and Boston 3, Toronto 2.

At Detroit, Jiri Hudler and Niklas Kronwall each had a goal and an assist and Mikael Samuelsson and Johan Franzen also scored for Detroit, which has won five of its last six. Henrik Zetterberg added two assists for the defending Stanley Cup champions.

"I thought we played well tonight," said Red Wings' coach Mike Babcock. "We didn't give up much. We looked good on special teams."

Rangers 2, Senators 1, SO

At New York, Nikolai Zherdev scored the only goal in a shootout and the Rangers' Henrik Lundqvist denied all three Ottawa shooters.

The Rangers opted to shoot first and Zherdev beat Alex Auld between the pads. That left it up to Lundqvist to stop Jason Spezza, Jarko Ruutu and Antoine Vermette for his NHL-leading 12th win.

Fredrik Sjostrom scored in regulation for the East-leading Rangers, who stretched their winning streak to three.

Daniel Alfredsson had the lone goal for the Senators, who lost their fifth straight. They've scored only five goals during the skid.

Islanders 2, Canucks 1, SO

At Uniondale, N.Y., Roberto Luongo made 34 saves against the team that let him get away but couldn't stop Frans Nielsen in a shootout as New York won its season-best third straight.

Nielsen scored on the first shot of the tiebreaker, and Joey MacDonald turned aside all three Canucks shooters _ ending the game with a poke check against Alex Burrows. MacDonald stopped 31 shots through overtime.

Luongo, the Canucks captain, could've been the Islanders' prized possession after he was taken with the No. 4 pick in the 1997 draft. He appeared in 24 games with New York during the 1999-2000 season, but was traded when the team made goalie Rick DiPietro the face of the franchise.

Pavol Demitra gave Vancouver a 1-0 lead in the opening minute, and it stood up until Doug Weight tied it with a power-play goal in the second period.

Luongo is on an amazing run, one that recently featured a team-record shutout streak of 242 minutes, 36 seconds. During the just-completed homestand, Luongo went 4-1-1 and allowed only six goals _ five on power plays.

Sharks 4, Predators 1

At Nashville, Tenn., Devin Setoguchi had a power-play goal and an assist to lead San Jose.

Jody Shelley, Tomas Plihal and Patrick Marleau also scored for the Sharks, who jumped to a 2-0 lead with two goals in a span of 1 1/2 minutes during the first period.

David Legwand scored for the Predators.

Nashville's Jason Arnott got hurt in a collision near the net and was carried off after lying motionless on the ice for several minutes. He was taken to the hospital as a precaution.

Bruins 3, Maple Leafs 2

At Toronto, Michael Ryder, Phil Kessel and Matt Hunwick scored to lift Boston.

Marc Savard and Milan Lucic each added two assists for the Northeast Division-leading Bruins, who handed Toronto a loss in its return from a weeklong road trip.

Jason Blake and Mikhail Grabovski scored for the Maple Leafs, who have only two wins in their last eight games.

The Leafs returned home from a swing through Western Canada about 24 hours before the game and it showed during a sluggish start.

Spokeswoman for families says American hikers freed from Iran prison to arrive in US on Sunday

NEW YORK (AP) — Spokeswoman for families says American hikers freed from Iran prison to arrive in US on Sunday

Iraqi: U.S. Pullout Could Mean Civil War

BAGHDAD - Iraq's foreign minister warned Monday that a quick American troop withdrawal could lead to civil war and the collapse of the Iraqi state, adding that the U.S. has a responsibility to build Iraqi forces so that they take over.

Hoshyar Zebari told reporters that the Iraqis "understand the huge pressure that will increase more and more in the United States" ahead of a September report to Congress by U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker and military commander Gen. David Petraeus.

The report will assess progress toward national reconciliation. Leading Republicans say if there is no sign of progress they will demand a change in Iraq policy.

"We have held discussion with members of Congress and explained to them the dangers of a quick pullout and leaving a security vacuum," Zebari, a Kurd, told reporters. "The dangers could be a civil war, dividing the country, regional wars and the collapse of the state.

"In our estimation, until Iraqi forces are ready, there is a responsibility on the United States which is to stand with the (government) as the forces are being built," he said.

How have you been affected by the house price boom?

I'm still living at home and I'm 24 now. I just don't know how Iwould be able to afford the repayments on a mortgage.

Sean Holland, 24, field engineer, Redmoss

I came home from working in Trinidad and now rent. I just decidedto wait a while for the housing market to come down a little.

Bill Roberts, 53, company director, Cornhill

We bought our house seven years ago and prices have gone up quitea lot since then. One of my neighbours just moved and I couldn'tbelieve the price.

Margaret Forrest, 48, bakery worker, Garthdee

We have been in our house for five years now and the value of ourhouse has doubled since then. The prices are ridiculous.

Alison Robertson, 38, unemployed, Anderson Drive

Mourners have fond Brickhouse memories

Wearing a Cubs T-shirt and shorts, Doug Ryan stood in the linethat passed by Jack Brickhouse's open coffin.

"I was a fan," Ryan said at the wake Monday at Blake-LambFuneral Home, 1035 N. Dearborn.

"I heard Jack Brickhouse's voice just as much as my father'swhen I was growing up," said Ryan, 37. His father was president ofthe Chicago Transportation Club, and when Brickhouse spoke to thegroup, 11-year-old Ryan got to sit next to him.

"I'm glad he's with Harry (Caray)," Ryan said. "They're playingcards at the bar and fighting over who's going to pay the tab."

Brickhouse's widow, Pat, sat in a row of chairs just in front ofthe coffin, greeting mourners, many of whom knew Brickhousepersonally.

As Herb Kraus, a public relations man who met Brickhouse in1947, said, "I can't think of anybody else, with the possibleexception of (Chicago Sun-Times columnist) Kup, who knew so manypeople. And he always remembered everybody's name."

Fellow broadcaster Jack Taylor worked at WGN-Channel 9 withBrickhouse for 26 years, until 1984. "He was my mentor and bigbrother there," he said.

When Brickhouse was doing a baseball game, "I used to enjoy therain delays," Taylor said. "For two or three hours, he was rivetingand galvanizing with the stories he would tell."

Brickhouse's death Thursday "brought my happy childhood back"with memories of Cubs games she enjoyed with her mother even beforeBrickhouse's career began, said Norma Wood, 77.

"The Cubs had ladies' day, and my mother would take me - I wasabout 8 or 9," she said.

When she signed the register in the funeral home, Wood said, "Ididn't sign my name. I signed my mother's name."

Reginald Bishop, 53, was grateful to Brickhouse for helpingattract him to baseball, which "kept me off the streets and out ofgangs. He made baseball warm and bright with his enthusiasm."

Rich Dibbern also grew up with Brickhouse. When he was 14, heand his friends took a tape recorder and made up sports broadcasts."I was Jack Brickhouse," Dibbern, 49, said proudly.

Visitation continues from 3 to 9 p.m. today. The funeral willbe open to the public at 11 a.m. Wednesday at St. James EpiscopalCathedral, 65 E. Huron.

There will be no procession to the church, and burial will beprivate. Donations may be made to the Jack Brickhouse Memorial Fund,Midwest Bank and Trust Co., 300 S. Michigan, Chicago 60604.

Milestone for bank

Clifton ethical bank Triodos Bank has topped GBP100 million incurrent lending for the first time.

The bank lends only to organisations that benefit people and theenvironment, with customers locally ranging from St Peter's Hospiceto Easton vegetarian and organic restaurant Cafe Maitreya, whoseowner Rob Booth is pictured.

Triodos, which won the Queen's Award for Enterprise earlier in theyear, currently has about GBP180 million lodged with it by savers,lent to clients from organic farms and fairtrade shops to renewableenergy projects.

This milestone comes as the bank prepares to celebrate a decade oftrading in the UK.

Gavin Smith, head of business banking at Triodos Bank, said: "Theyear 2005 will mark our 10th birthday and what better way to start itthan with GBP100 million working to deliver genuine change across thecountry.

"It's enormously satisfying to know that so much money is workingin such a positive way, and that it's all made possible by thousandsof people who want their savings to support genuine change."

Triodos Bank arrived in the UK in 1995 when it merged with Sussexethical bank Mercury Provident.

Then its total lending came to under GBP5 million.

Now, says Mr Smith, the company is looking forward to a record-breaking year in 2005.

He said: "With savers who care about the impact of their money,and the success of an increasing number of well-run, progressiveenterprises that deliver more than just profit, we're optimisticabout another record-breaking year in 2005."

In its first-half results, reported in September, the bank saidlending in the first six months of the year had risen by 14 per centto GBP86.7 million, with profits rising to GBP0.43 million.

At the time it said it was on track to reach GBP100 million oflending by the end of the year in the UK, a target it has nowachieved.

Analysis: Clinton Goes for Young Voters

It wasn't long ago that Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign scoffed at the notion that young voters would deliver an election. How quickly things can change.

Just seconds into her speech Friday morning, Clinton was declaring herself the candidate for America's youth _ stealing a page from the new Democratic presidential front-runner, Barack Obama. The night before, the under-30 crowd came out in larger numbers than ever in Iowa caucuses normally dominated by the AARP-card set, delivering victory for the Illinois senator who promised to bring change to Washington.

That's why after her third-place finish in Iowa, Clinton got off her plane in New Hampshire and declared: "This is especially about all of the young people in New Hampshire who need a president who won't just call for change, or a president who won't just demand change, but a president who will produce change, just like I've been doing for 35 years."

"I'm running for president to reclaim the future _ the future for all of us, of all ages, but particularly for young Americans," she said a few seconds later.

Obama has campaigned on his ability to change politics in America, and he's proven he can do it in at least one state. Fifty-seven percent of Iowa Democratic caucus-goers who were surveyed were participating for the first time, contributing to the record-breaking turnout. Obama got 41 percent of them, to 29 percent for Clinton.

Obama also showed he could appeal across racial lines in his bid to becomes the first black president, winning in one of the whitest states in the country.

Clinton has just a few days to turn the race around before New Hampshire voters go to the polls.

John Edwards, who edged Clinton for second place in Iowa, also will be trying to combat the perception that New Hampshire is a two-person race between one-time leader Clinton and Obama. Edwards' campaign has not been as strong in New Hampshire, where he finished in fourth place in 2004, and his advisers acknowledged he must come in at least second. Long-shot candidate Bill Richardson is looking to edge Edwards out of third place by arguing he would end the war in Iraq the fastest.

In Iowa, the size of the turnout of young voters was just one item in a long list of flawed calculations from the Clinton camp in Iowa. Her advisers assumed voters would be looking for experience in a time of instability. But only 20 percent of Democratic caucus-goers polled on the way in said that was the most important factor, compared to 51 percent who wanted change.

The Clinton camp counted on women voters flocking to her, but Obama edged her among women, 35 percent to 30 percent, according to the surveys taken by The Associated Press and the television networks.

And the Clinton campaign made the election about her _ one approach she doesn't seem to be changing.

"This has been very much a referendum on her," Clinton's top strategist, Mark Penn, told reporters on the flight out of Iowa. "And people will take a harder look at the choice and the kind of president who will be needed in these times."

Obama had made the election about himself as well, but there was a shift when he delivered a victory speech Thursday night that envisioned a new future for America. He used the word "I" just 17 times in the speech, compared with 43 times in his closing argument speech in Iowa just one week before.

Changes for Clinton were evident immediately upon her arrival in New Hampshire. She combined the appeal for younger voters with suggestions that Obama should be more thoroughly vetted. And she showed an openness to answer any questions instead of producing a tightly controlled message. She took questions from her audience and then held a news conference during which she acknowledged she would be adjusting her approach.

"I did very well with people over 45, and I didn't do as well with people under 30. I take responsibility for that," she said. "I'm going to talk over the next five days as much as I can about creating opportunities for young people."

Obama, meanwhile, continued his pitch to independents as well as Democrats _ a fifth of those surveyed on the way into the Democratic contest in Iowa identified themselves as independents, and that group could be even more important in a primary state where registered independents can vote in either partisan contest.

Obama also took a page from a rival's playbook on the first day of New Hampshire campaigning. "We need someone who exercises straight talk instead of spin," he said, lifting the "straight talk" catch phrase of Republican John McCain, a favorite of New Hampshire's independent voters eight years ago.

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EDITOR'S NOTE _ Nedra Pickler covers the Democratic presidential campaign for The Associated Press.

Canada court ends US bid for terror suspect

TORONTO (AP) — A Canadian indicted in the U.S. on charges he supplied al-Qaida with weapons in Pakistan will not be extradited to the United States after Canada's Supreme Court said Thursday it wouldn't hear the case.

Abdullah Khadr had been held in Canada on a U.S. warrant after his December 2005 arrest before he was released in 2010. He was released after two provincial courts in Ontario suspended his extradition, ruling his rights were violated during his detention in Pakistan.

Dennis Edney, his lawyer, said the top court's decision not to hear the Canadian government's appeal means the case is over. The government had argued it was wrong to prevent an "admitted" terrorist from facing trial in the U.S.

As is usual practice, the Supreme Court did not give reasons why it didn't hear the case.

Abdullah Khadr's younger brother, Omar Khadr, is the last Western detainee held at Guantanamo Bay. Omar is accused of killing an American soldier with a grenade during a 2002 battle in Afghanistan. Omar pleaded guilty and was eligible to return to Canada by Nov. 1 to continue serving his sentence, but he remains in custody there and the Canadian government has said prisoner transfer cases typically take 18 months.

The father, Ahmed Said Khadr, was an alleged al-Qaida militant and financier, killed in 2003 when a Pakistani military helicopter attacked the house where he was staying with some senior al-Qaida operatives.

Another of Khadr's brothers, Abdurahman Khadr, has acknowledged that their Egyptian-born father and some of his brothers fought for al-Qaida and had stayed with Osama bin Laden.

The U.S. case against Abdullah Khadr relied on statements he made to the FBI and Canadian police in Pakistan, and information he gave when he arrived in Toronto in December 2005. Khadr's lawyers argued the statements made in Pakistan were the result of torture.

The CIA paid Pakistani authorities a $500,000 bounty to detain Abdullah Khadr in October 2004. He was prevented from speaking to Canadian consular officials and allegedly beaten until he cooperated with Pakistani intelligence. American agents also interrogated him in Pakistani detention and got him to admit he had procured weapons for al-Qaida.

The U.S. alleges Abdullah Khadr bought AK-47 and mortar rounds, rocket-propelled grenades and containers of mine components for al-Qaida for use against coalition forces in Afghanistan. He allegedly bought the weapons at the request of his father, authorities said.

After Pakistani intelligence officers detained Abdullah Khadr in 2004, he was returned to Canada in 2005. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police arrested him at the request of the United States.

In August 2010, Ontario Superior Court Justice Christopher Speyer ruled there were sufficient grounds to send Khadr to the U.S. based on self-incriminating statements he'd given to Canadian police, but Speyer stopped the extradition on the grounds the U.S. had violated fundamental justice with its involvement in Khadr's "shocking" mistreatment during his time in custody in Pakistan.

Speyer ruled that extraditing him would only serve to reward the Americans' "gross misconduct."

This past May, the Ontario Court of Appeal upheld Speyer's ruling.

Edney said the court's decision showed that human rights and the rule of law trump security.