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Confident China Offers Taiwan Chance as Olympic Co-Host By Christopher Bodeen Associated Press Writer Published: May 16, 2001 BEIJING (AP) - State media stirred enthusiasm Wednesday for China's bid to stage the 2008 Summer Games after a glowing Olympic evaluation - and Beijing indicated it might let Taiwan handle some events. An International Olympic Committee report released Tuesday ranked Beijing among the top three candidate cities. Paris and Toronto also received top ratings. Osaka, Japan and Istanbul, Turkey, lagged behind, and the IOC considered Wednesday whether to force them to pull out. "Olympic report affirms Beijing," said a headline in ...

Wednesday, 16 May, 2001, 08:06 GMT Britney backs Blair Hands across the sea: Britney supports Blair Britney Spears has backed Labour in the general election - hot on the heels of Geri Halliwell's appearance in a Labour party election broadcast. A Labour Party spokesman confirmed that the pop queen had wished Labour leader Tony Blair good luck in the 7 June Election. The signed goodwill message from Spears, 19, was received by Tony Blair's press secretary, Alastair Campbell. Campbell has seen Britney Spears in concert Campbell, 43, took his six-year old daughter to see Spears perform at London's Wembley ...

Wednesday, 16 May, 2001, 07:02 GMT 08:02 UK China shuns US nuclear plans China fears its own missile capacity will be neutralised A United States envoy has failed to overcome China's opposition to Washington's plans for a new missile shield defence system. I stressed that our plans for a missile defence system would not be a threat to China James KellyUS envoy US Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly said, in a statement issued in Beijing on Wednesday, that there were clearly still "differences of opinion" between the two sides. Mr Kelly's visit to Beijing was part of a global ...

THE first polygamy trial for nearly 50 years in Utah, the home of the Mormon church, formally opened yesterday. Utah's 30,000 polygamists have been quietly tolerated by the authorities in recent decades on the implicit condition that they do not publicly promote their way of life. But Tom Green, 52, who lives with his five wives and 29 children in caravans near Salt Lake City, broke this accord with his outspoken campaigning for polygamy. He drew attention to himself by appearing on television shows including Jerry Springer's and declaring that polygamy is a valid religious practice. Speaking yesterday as jury ...

Encourage Hispanics to learn, speak English By Jeff Jacoby The Mexican holiday of Cinco de Mayo was last weekend, and George W. Bush played it up big. On Friday, he hosted a White House party for 200 that featured mariachi music, Mexican food, and folklorica dancing. The master of ceremonies was Don Franciso, host of Univision's popular Saturday-night variety show, "Sabado Gigante." Bush seasoned his own remarks with a little Spanish, as he usually does when speaking to Hispanic audiences. "Mi Casa Blanca," he told the crowd, "es su Casa Blanca." In his weekly radio address the next day, Bush ...

Sunday, 13 May, 2001, 16:00 GMT 17:00 UK Okinawa governor urges US troop cuts Okinawans resent the US presence The governor of the Japanese island of Okinawa is travelling to the United States to explain why the American military has become so unpopular. Governor Keiichi Inamine said he wanted Americans to know about the problems that had arisen on the island, which is home to 25,000 US personnel. It is the first time he has gone to the US to discuss the issue of its bases in Japan since he was elected governor in December 1998. Local opposition against the ...

Nominee linked to 'teen sex' businessSEC choice helped with stock problems05/13/2001Associated Press WASHINGTON – President Bush's choice to head the Securities and Exchange Commission helped an online distributor of "teen sex" videos and other adult entertainment resolve troubles with the NASDAQ stock market, SEC records show. Directors of New Frontier Media Inc. hired Harvey Pitt in 1999 to do legal work in an effort to help the company keep its NASDAQ listing, the company said in an SEC filing. NASDAQ officials agreed last year to continue trading the company's stock after executives restructured two stock sales that ran into problems ...

Police in the south western Nigerian state of Osun say they have embarked on a constant patrol after mobs lynched at least 12 people since last weekend. We are terribly worried about the mass hysteria State police commissioner All the killings occurred after the victims were accused of making people's genital organs disappear. The Osun state police commissioner Ganiu Dawodu, who dismissed claims of organ disappearance, told the BBC that the mob killings started two weeks ago and has swept though six main towns in the state including the university town of Ife and the state capital of Osogbo. ...

John Paul II is to become the first leader of the Catholic Church to set foot in a mosque when he visits Syria in May, a church official said on Monday. The Pope is hoping that by entering the Umayyed mosque in Damascus - the site of the tomb of John the Baptist - he will underline his attempts to bring Christianity and Islam closer together. Umayyed mosque Built in eighth century AD The site previously held pagan temples and a Christian church It contains the tomb of John the Baptist It is the oldest stone mosque in the ...

TELEVISION is the only mid-life recreation positively linked to developing Alzheimer's disease, says a report today. Alzheimer's affects one in 20 aged over 65 and nearly a quarter of those over 85, causing bouts of dementia, loss of memory, wrenching personality changes and, eventually, death. The study found that the disease was linked to those less involved in recreation between the ages of 20 and 60 than healthy people of similar background. The only exception was watching television, where Alzheimer's patients were more active viewers in mid-life, Dr Robert Friedland reports in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, ...

A public inquiry into last month's fatal collision between a US nuclear-powered submarine and a Japanese fishing vessel has heard that haste and faulty equipment on the submarine may have been to blame. An extended lunch was blamed for delays which in turn led to the collision with the Ehime Maru off the coast of Hawaii on 9 February, in which nine people died. The ship went deep too quickly Rear Admiral Charles Griffiths Relatives of the Japanese victims sat in the front row as the Court of Inquiry session opened at the Pearl Harbor naval base in Hawaii on ...

Dutch Detain Then Release Suspect in Tennis Star Computer Virus By Anthony Deutsch Associated Press Writer AMSTERDAM, Netherlands (AP) - Dutch police arrested the hacker known as "OnTheFly" on Wednesday, a 20-year-old man who claims he wrote a computer virus named for Anna Kournikova that backed up e-mail systems worldwide by purporting to offer a photograph of the comely tennis star. Authorities charged and sent the man home with his parents, saying the offense didn't warrant holding him. A prosecutor will decide later whether to seek a jail sentence or a fine, police said. "The offenses with which he ...

Medical Groups Push for Nonprescription Morning-After Pill By Lauran Neergaard The Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) - The maker of a morning-after pill is about to begin government-sanctioned studies to see if the emergency contraception can sell without a doctor's prescription. The maker of Plan B morning-after pills hopes the studies of hundreds of women will persuade the Food and Drug Administration to approve over-the-counter sales by next year. The announcement comes as 60 medical and women's groups file an unusual petition with the FDA Wednesday declaring morning-after pills as safe as aspirin and urging they be sold without a ...

Some of America's Wealthiest Join in Fight to Retain the Estate Tax The Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) - Dozens of the country's wealthiest citizens are urging Congress not to repeal taxes on estates and gifts, saying the proposal would come at the expense of working-class families. The petition drive against the repeal is being organized by Microsoft Corp. founder Bill Gates' father, William Gates, Sr., and includes billionaire investors Warren Buffett and George Soros, and Ben & Jerry's co-founder Ben Cohen. The petition, which was signed by some 120 wealthy Americans, will appear on the Op-Ed page of ...

Two Maryland Officers Fatally Shot The Associated Press BALTIMORE (AP) - A police officer and a sheriff's deputy were shot to death while responding to a call in a mobile home park. Centreville Officer Michael Nickerson, 26, was shot in the chest Tuesday night, said Dr. Thomas M. Scalea of the University of Maryland Shock Trauma Center. The Queen Anne's County deputy died at the scene, Scalea said. His identity was not immediately released. Police would not release details of the shooting. The Sun reported that the officers were killed while investigating a noise complaint in the trailer park, ...

Monday February 12 6:34 PM ET Ohio Men Charged With Corpse Abuse CINCINNATI (AP) - A deputy coroner and a commercial photographer were indicted Monday on charges of abusing a corpse after the coroner allegedly allowed the photographer to take pictures of bodies posed with syringes, sheet music, a key and other objects.Police say Dr. Jonathan Tobias let Thomas Condon use the Hamilton County morgue several times between August and Jan. 8 when Condon photographed 12 bodies.Tobias, 31, and Condon, 29, both of Cincinnati, were each charged with 12 felony counts of gross abuse of a corpse, 12 misdemeanor counts ...

Pagans are grateful for understanding They praise decision by Interfaith Council to move dinner rather than cut their group from program BY COLETTE M. JENKINS Beacon Journal religion writer Crow Welch has never denied that she is a witch. And she doesn't plan to start now. ``We are who we are. That might make some people uncomfortable. But I think that discomfort stems from a lot of misperceptions about who we are,'' said Welch, a retired priestess and outreach counselor for the Church of Spiral Oak of Akron, a pagan group that meets once a week for discussion and ...

Reporting from the bar at the Holiday Inn, Alexandria, Virginia. Freepers are a plenty and having a wonderful time. You are about to see some posts from various Freepers. Please excuse any mis-pelling and drooling on the keyboard. You're missing a great time! Ms. AntiFeminazi

A SECT of naked Hindu ascetics yesterday began a protest against the "unholy" presence of luxury tents reserved for Hollywood stars and other foreign celebrities on the banks of the Ganges, where million of pilgrims are gathering for a sin-cleansing dip. Officials at Allahabad, 500 miles east of New Delhi, said scores of sadhus belonging to the Naga sect held a sit-in outside the Cox & King's camp at the Kumbh Mela (Pitcher Festival), where stars such as Madonna, Sharon Stone and Demi Moore are expected to stay. More than 70 million pilgrims are expected at the 42-day festival, which ...

Ted Turner to buy £60m stake in Russian TV FROM GILES WHITTELL IN MOSCOW TED TURNER, the billionaire founder of CNN, is negotiating to buy a 25 per cent stake in Russia’s only independent television network. The NTV network is short of money and under threat for its criticisms of the Kremlin. Its owner, Vladimir Gusinsky, is under house arrest at his Spanish villa after being detained on an international warrant for alleged fraud. A campaign against him by pro-Kremlin officials appears to be politically inspired. As news emerged of Mr Turner’s interest in the embattled Russian channel, Moscow police ...