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By David Morgan Sat Sep 23, 11:08 AM ET WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. government is unable to confirm a French newspaper report that al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden is believed to have died last month in Pakistan, the U.S. State Department said on Saturday. ADVERTISEMENT "We don't have any confirmation of those reports," said State Department spokesman Sean McCormack. "We have no confirmation of that report," echoed White House spokesman Blair Jones. A U.S. intelligence official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, came closer to an outright denial, saying Washington had no evidence to suggest the French report was true. "We don't have anything to support it," the official said. "We've heard these things before and have no reason to think this is any different. There's just nothing we can point to, to say this report has any more credence than other reports we've seen in the past." The French regional daily L'Est Republicain reported that, according to a French secret service report, Saudi Arabia is convinced bin Laden died of typhoid in Pakistan in late August. The French government has said it could not confirm the report and would investigate the intelligence leak. Media reports suggesting bin Laden was dead, seriously wounded or in ill health have surfaced periodically over the years, especially during lengthy periods of time without taped messages from the al Qaeda leader. U.S. officials have suggested that his death would be accompanied by a surge of e-mail and telephone chatter among bereaved al Qaeda members, if not an actual announcement from the militant network. But officials said they were not aware of any such chatter in recent weeks. Still, a U.S. counterterrorism official, who spoke off the record, declined to completely rule out bin Laden's death. "It's quite possible (that) there was some talk of this, but in terms of being able to confirm this, that I can't do," said the official, who declined to be identified. A factor fueling persistent speculation about bin Laden's health is that he has not been seen on a new videotape since late 2004, while his second-in-command, Ayman al-Zawahri, has made a number of videotaped appearances. But bin Laden, 49, a Saudi-born fugitive with a $25 million price on his head, has released several audiotapes this year, which U.S. intelligence has authenticated. His latest audiotape surfaced in July. In it, he warned Iraq's Shi'ite majority of retaliation for attacks on Sunni Arabs and said al Qaeda would fight the United States anywhere in the world. (Additional reporting by Sue Pleming in New York and Caren Bohan in Washington)

HONOLULU - TV bounty hunter Duane "Dog" Chapman hopes to work out a deal to avoid extradition to Mexico to faces charges of illegal detention and conspiracy in his capture of a cosmetics company heir there three years ago, his lawyer said. Bounty hunting is a crime in Mexico. Chapman and his two co-stars on the show "Dog The Bounty Hunter," were arrested and jailed in Hawaii last week. The U.S. Attorney's Office has until Oct. 16 to file papers in support of their extradition, but Chapman's attorney, Brook Hart, hopes to resolve the issue before then. Chapman is said he would offer an apology, pay a fine, forfeit the bail he posted in Mexico and make a charitable contribution, Hart said. "What he's prepared to do is take responsibility for not having to stay around to face the charge," he said. The trio had ensnared convicted rapist Andrew Luster, the Max Factor heir, on June 18, 2003, in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. But they, too, were arrested by Mexican authorities. Chapman posted about $1,300 for his release, and based on "flawed legal advice" thought he could leave the country and Mexican authorities would have no further interest in him, Hart said. Chapman's capture of Luster, who had fled the country during his trial on charges he raped three women, catapulted the 53-year-old bounty hunter to fame and led to the reality series on A&E. Luster is now serving a 124-year prison term.

AP - A man repeatedly stabbed his toddler and estranged wife along an interstate while horrified people watched from their cars in rush-hour traffic Friday night, police and witnesses said.

Sat Sep 23, 1:36 AM ET TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese electronics maker Sony (6758.T) said on Saturday it is investigating a fire incident on a Lenovo (0992.HK) laptop PC that reportedly used a Sony-made battery. Media reports said a Lenovo notebook computer equipped with a Sony battery caught fire at Los Angeles International Airport last weekend. The incident came after Dell (Nasdaq:DELL - news) and Apple Computer (Nasdaq:AAPL - news) last month recalled almost 6 million Sony-made batteries, saying they could produce smoke and catch fire. A Sony spokesman said the Tokyo-based company is looking into the matter, without specifying. He also said, however, he is not aware of an official confirmation that a Sony battery was used at the PC. Officials at Lenovo's Japanese unit were not immediately available for comment.

HealthDay - FRIDAY, Sept. 22 (HealthDay News) -- Weight-gain worries may help drive women who quit smoking during their pregnancy to start up again after delivery, new research shows.

By Joanne Morrison Fri Sep 22, 11:42 PM ET WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Former President Bill Clinton, angrily defending his efforts to capture Osama bin Laden, accused the Bush administration of doing far less to stop the al Qaeda leader before the September 11 attacks. ADVERTISEMENT In a heated interview to be aired on Sunday on "Fox News Sunday," the former Democratic president defended the steps he took after al Qaeda's attack on the USS Cole in 2000 and faulted "right-wingers" for their criticism of his efforts to capture Osama bin Laden. "But at least I tried. That's the difference in me and some, including all of the right-wingers who are attacking me now," Clinton said when asked whether he had failed to fully anticipate bin Laden's danger. "They had eight months to try, they did not try. I tried. So I tried and failed." The September 11 attacks occurred almost eight months after President George W. Bush succeeded Clinton in January 2001. "I authorized the CIA to get groups together to try to kill him," Clinton said. He added he had drawn up plans to go into Afghanistan to overthrow the Taliban and launch an attack against bin Laden after the attack on the Cole in the Yemeni port of Aden. "Now if you want to criticize me for one thing, you can criticize me for this: after the Cole, I had battle plans drawn to go into Afghanistan, overthrow the Taliban and launch a full-scale attack search for bin Laden. But we needed basing rights in Uzbekistan -- which we got after 9/11," Clinton said. The former president complained at the time the CIA and FBI refused to certify bin Laden was responsible for the USS Cole attack. "While I was there, they refused to certify. So that meant I would have had to send a few hundred special forces in helicopters, refuel at night," he said. Earlier this month, Clinton dismissed as "indisputably wrong" a U.S. television show that suggested her was too distracted by the Monica Lewinsky scandal to confront the Islamic militant threat that culminated in the September 11 attacks.

By JENNIFER LOVEN, Associated Press Writer Sat Sep 23, 10:47 AM ET WASHINGTON - President Bush, playing middleman next week between sometimes-sparring neighbors Afghanistan and Pakistan, praised the U.S. allies Saturday for their work in defeating terrorism under difficult circumstances. Bush met with Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf at the White House on Friday and has talks with Afghan President Hamid Karzai scheduled for Tuesday. The next day, Bush hosts a meeting in the Oval Office with both presidents, followed by a working dinner. The unusual set of meetings has two aims. One is placating the concerns of Pakistan, whose alliance with the U.S. in the war on terror causes domestic problems for Musharraf. The other is soothing the struggling democratic government in Afghanistan, which is suffering its heaviest insurgent threat since U.S.-led troops toppled the Taliban in late 2001. "This will mark the second time in a few weeks that President Karzai and President Musharraf have also met together, and that's an important thing," White House press secretary Tony Snow said. "So anything we can do to support them in their efforts to conduct as aggressively and effectively as possible the war on terror, we're going to do what we can to assist them." In his weekly radio address, Bush complimented Musharraf for "siding with the forces of freedom and moderation and helping to defend the civilized world." As for Afghanistan, Bush said on the radio that Karzai is continuing "the work of building a safer and brighter future for his nation." Musharraf and Karzai met in Kabul earlier this month and pledged to jointly fight militants. With Pakistan, the United States has urged Musharraf to do more to stop militants from crossing from Pakistan's tribal regions into Afghanistan and fanning the violence by Taliban extremists. Afghan leaders say remnants of the Taliban have established hideouts in Pakistan along the mountainous border, while Pakistan rejects the charges. Pakistan has deployed 80,000 troops along the border and signed a truce this month with tribal figures in an area where bin Laden is believed to be hiding. Musharraf said the truce calls for no al-Qaida or Taliban activity. Some Afghan officials have labeled the truce as a deal with the Taliban. Musharraf strongly rejected that at Bush's side in the East Room after their meeting Friday. "This is against the Taliban, actually," Musharraf said. Bush said he takes Musharraf at his word. "When the president looks me in the eye and says the tribal deal is intended to reject the Talibanization of the people, and that there won't be a Taliban and won't be al-Qaida, I believe him," he said. There was some dispute around the Bush-Musharraf meeting as to how Pakistan's decision to join the war on terror was made. Musharraf told CBS' "60 Minutes" that then-Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage told Pakistan's intelligence director right after the Sept. 11 attacks that the United States would bomb the country if it didn't become a partner in the war against terrorism. Bush said Friday he first learned of the purported conversation from news reports. "I just don't know about it," he said. "I guess I was taken aback by the harshness of the words." Musharraf declined to comment further, citing a book deal. Armitage said he never threatened a military strike but did tell Pakistan firmly that "you are either for us or against us."

AP - An undercover police operation took an odd turn Thursday when a Syracuse police officer pretending to be a john met a suspected prostitute who pretended to be a police officer.

By Natalie Finn Fri Sep 22, 10:23 PM ET If you want American Idol exposure, you have to pay the price. For the third year in a row, Fox's ratings winner will command the highest advertising prices on television, with a 30-second spot going for $500,000 to $700,000, Advertising Age reported Thursday. The network will charge the most during Tuesday night's performance show, with Wednesday night's results show remaining the second-most pricey hour of TV. This estimate doesn't include, of course, what advertisers will end up paying for 30 seconds of commercial time during Idol's finale. Companies ponied up $1.3 million for spots this year, betting that many, many youngsters would tune in to see the Soul Patrol conquer McPheever. They were right--30.2 million people watched the May 24 finale. Prices will also rise this year as the season goes by and the competition heats up. According to Ad Age, Fox and Idol creator Simon Fuller aren't the only ones to benefit from the series' surging ad prices. House, which airs after Idol on Tuesdays, is getting twice as much money from advertisers this year, up to $400,000 per 30 seconds, landing it in Desperate Housewives territory and surpassing what NBC is getting for Sunday Night Football (about $350,000). Idol's first million-dollar finale aired in 2003, Ruben Studdard's year to shine. Oscar ads started pulling in $1 million apiece in 2000 and hit $1.7 million this year, still short of the Super Bowl's mighty record of $2.5 million, set in February. Meanwhile, at the bottom of the heap lies the programming on News Corp.'s recently launched My Network TV, which, in Los Angeles at least, has taken over the channel vacated by UPN when the Viacom-owned net teamed up with the WB to form the CW. (Which has taken over the vacant WB channel.) Does that make sense? Anyway, ad prices for My Network TV's telenovelas Desire: Table for Two and Fashion House are hovering between $20,000 and $35,000, per Ad Age. And, not that you were worried, but just so you know, the talent pool that American Idol uses to pluck young hopefuls and launch them into the stratosphere is in no danger of drying up. More than 9,000 wannabe pop stars showed up at Seattle's KeyArena this week to strut for Idol producers and music experts, who narrow the field before anyone is subjected to the opinion of Cowell & Co.

By Joal Ryan Fri Sep 22, 10:22 PM ET Meredith Grey can't make up her mind. Imagine how torn TV viewers felt. With a choice between the season premieres of Grey's Anatomy and CSI Thursday night, channel surfers, by and large, chose the ABC doctor drama. Per final numbers from Nielsen Media Research, Grey's Anatomy won the 9-10 p.m. time slot with 25.4 million viewers; CSI trailed with 22.6 million. The victory is a huge one for ABC, which gambled by moving Grey's Anatomy from Sundays, where it was ensconced after Desperate Housewives, to a historically blighted night for the network. Instead of becoming a Wasteland or a Push, Nevada, two latter-day ABC Thursday-night bombs, Grey's Anatomy became a giant-slayer. CSI has ruled Thursdays since moving there in 2001, mid-way through its first season. More than that, Gil Grissom's forensic gang has ruled prime time as TV's most watched scripted show since the 2002-03 TV year. Up against Grey's Anatomy, CSI saw its audience shrink 22 percent from last fall's premiere. (Grey's Anatomy, by comparison, was up 32 percent.) CSI got beat in total viewers, it got beat in the 18-to-49-year-old demographic, and it got beat in the 18-to-34-year-old demographic. According to ABC, the defeats were the first for CSI in five years, excluding a handful of times it lost out to supersized finales, a la the 2004 Friends farewell. In the drama department, CSI countered Grey's Anatomy's man troubles (Will Meredith choose Dr. McDreamy or Chris O'Donnell-y Finn?) with the apparent date rape of Catherine ( Marg Helgenberger). Thursday marked the first time both science-minded shows went blood lab to blood lab with new episodes. Grey's Anatomy rolled out its third-season premiere; CSI, its seventh. By the end of the night, Grey's Anatomy had its third most watched episode ever. Only the two hours that aired after last February's Super Bowl attracted more viewers. Looking for a bright side, CBS found it by crunching the numbers for its entire Thursday lineup--including the latest episode of Survivior: Cook Islands (17.4 million) and the series premiere of James Woods' Shark (14.7 million)--and declaring itself the most watched network of TV's most watched night. Usually a non-player on Thursdays, ABC kept things close by managing 13.7 million for a Grey's Anatomy clip show that aired from 8-9 p.m., and 12.6 million for the series premiere of Six Degrees in the 10-11 p.m. hour. Though its numbers weren't as scarce as, say, Kidnapped's, and marked a big improvement for ABC in the time period, Six Degrees needs to work on relationship-building. In the course of an hour, the J.J. Abrams soap lost fully 50 percent of the audience ABC assembled for Grey's Anatomy. (Shark lost 35 percent of its CSI lead-in.) Still, with CBS moving hit Without a Trace to Sundays, the 10 p.m. Thursday hour is up for grabs. NBC's aged ER, now 13 seasons old, eked out a win there with an estimated 15.6 million viewers. NBC couldn't eke out much else on the competitive night. Fresh out of footballs, the Peacock made do with the season premieres of My Name Is Earl (estimated 9.9 million), The Office (estimated 9.1 million) and another Deal or No Deal (10.1 million). Earl's Emmy win last month translated into an opener that was 29 percent down from last fall's; The Office's was good for a whopping 1 percent gain. Fox, meanwhile, presumably would like to be left alone with its thoughts after viewers left it alone with three new episodes of 'Til Death (estimated 5.7 million), Happy Hour (estimated 4.4 million) and Celebrity Duets (estimated 3.3 million).

By JORDAN ROBERTSON, AP Business Writer Sat Sep 23, 1:59 AM ET PALO ALTO, Calif. - Hewlett-Packard Co. shoved Chairwoman Patricia Dunn off its board Friday, severing its ties to a leader whose efforts to plug a media leak morphed into a spying scandal that has spawned criminal and congressional investigations. ADVERTISEMENT The Palo Alto, Calif.-based company will turn the chairmanship over to its chief executive, Mark Hurd, who was supposed to take over that job in January as part of a realignment announced two weeks ago. But things have changed since then amid a wave of leaked documents revealing how deeply HP's investigators intruded into the personal lives of seven directors, nine journalists, two employees and family members of those targeted individuals. Dunn authorized the investigation and received regular updates, although she said she didn't realize HP's investigators were going to such extremes. Two other HP employees who played pivotal roles in the scandal are also being let go, according to a person familiar with the matter. They are Kevin Hunsaker, HP's chief ethics officer, and Anthony Gentilucci, who manages HP's global investigations unit in Boston, according to the person, who asked not to be identified because the terms of their departure were still being negotiated. "Now that we know the depth of what has transpired, I take full accountability to drive the actions to set it right," Hurd said at a Friday news conference to announce Dunn's departure as well as review what the company has learned about its spying program. Dunn had previously planned to remain an HP director after relinquishing the chairmanship in January, but now she is leaving the board entirely. "I continue to have the best interests of HP at heart and thus I have accepted the board's request to resign," Dunn said in a statement. Dunn, 53, continued to defend her decision to initiate the probe to identify the boardroom leak and reiterated her intention to appear Thursday before a congressional panel looking into HP's spying spree. Determined to protect confidential board discussions, Dunn hired investigators who impersonated board members, employees and journalists to obtain their phone records. The detectives also spied on an HP director and concocted an e-mail sting to dupe a reporter for CNet Networks Inc.'s News.com, an online technology site. Hurd on Friday acknowledged authorizing the bogus e-mail, but said he didn't recall approving the use of software to trace the reporter's computer. He also said he attended a meeting in March where he was briefed on the investigation, but said he did not read a written report that included the identity of the leaker and details of the detectives' tactics. "While many of the right processes were in place,they unfortunately broke down and no one in the management chain including me, caught them," Hurd said. Cindy Shaw, an independent technology analyst who formerly worked for HP, said Hurd's explanation about his involvement in the probe will likely calm investors worried that he might get sucked into the maelstrom. Hurd, hired as CEO nearly 18 months ago, is highly regarded on Wall Street because the company's fortunes have soared since his arrival. "With the appearance that Mr. Hurd did not have direct knowledge of anything unseemly until after the fact, we think this will stem the death by 1,000 cuts that has been occurring," Shaw said. HP shares gained 24 cents to close at $35.11 on the New York Stock Exchange, then added another 44 cents in extended trading after Hurd's explanation. The stock had slid by more than 5 percent amid reports that Hurd may have been more involved in the spying program than previously thought. But the company has more to worry about than its stock price. California Attorney General Bill Lockyer and several federal agencies are investigating whether HP and its executives broke any laws in their crusade. Hurd so far isn't among the group of HP insiders that Lockyer expects to charge, spokesman Tom Dresslar said Friday. But the attorney general is still examining Hurd's role in the scandal. "We are not ruling anybody out in terms of criminal culpability, Dresslar said. Hurd also said Friday he plans to appear at the hearing being held by the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Dunn and General Counsel Ann Baskins, who also played a central role in the spying program, previously accepted the panel's invitation to appear. Tom Perkins, who resigned from the board in protest of the spying tactics, praised the board's decision in a statement released through a spokesman. "Mark Hurd has shown that he is the right man to take HP to new heights," Perkins said. "I would like to thank Pattie Dunn for stepping aside, allowing Mark Hurd to lead and HP to move on." Hurd also announced two other changes: Director Richard Hackborn was named the company's independent lead director, and a former federal prosecutor, Bart Schwartz, was hired to review of the company's investigative methods and business practices. Hurd was flanked on stage by attorney Mike Holston, who was hired Sept. 8 to unravel Dunn's ill-fated leaks investigation. He said the chain of command started with Hunsaker and included Gentilucci, Vincent Nye of HP's Global Security team, and Fred Adler of the company's IT security arm. They contracted Ronald DeLia of Security Outsourcing Solutions, near Boston. The team gave regular updates to Dunn and Baskins, assuring them the tactics being used were legal. There was one instance in January in which Gentilucci gave the Social Security Number of an HP employee to Security Outsourcing Solutions, Holston said. The same month, Security Outsourcing Solutions forwarded Social Security numbers for three journalists, three current or former board members, and one HP employee to another contractor, Action Research Group. Holston said his firm also found one other instance, in March, in which Security Outsourcing Solutions used a journalist's Social Security Number to obtain telephone records. Physical surveillance was also used to track directors and journalists, including an investigator who shadowed a board member and his family and watched the home of a journalist, Holston said.

AP - Bill Cosby called Friday on each American to contribute $8 to help build a national slavery museum amid the battlefields of the Civil War.

By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Correspondent Fri Sep 22, 9:30 PM ET WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. officials searching for the source of an E. coli outbreak that may have killed three people said on Friday they had found "situations of concern" at farms and food processing plants in California but cleared spinach grown elsewhere in the country. ADVERTISEMENT The Food and Drug Administration said 166 people in 25 states had been sickened in the outbreak, with one death. State health officials reported a 2-year-old boy from Idaho and an 86-year-old woman from Maryland had died and said they suspected E. coli from spinach was to blame. FDA officials could not confirm that link. Federal and state officials were inspecting nine farms in California's Salinas Valley, where the outbreak of E. coli 0157:H7 is suspected to have originated. "There are some situations of concern, may I say, that would warrant some possible correction in the near future," Mark Roh, acting regional food and drug director for the FDA's Pacific Region, told reporters, but declined to give details. Roh and Dr. David Acheson of the FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition said inspectors were looking at 10 fields representing six growers in California's Salinas Valley, looking for evidence of contaminated water, equipment or other signs of poor hygiene. "All the farms that we have been visiting have been linked somehow to the illnesses," Roh said. "We know that spinach grown in the rest of the United States ... has not been implicated in the current E. coli 0157 outbreak," Acheson added. "Therefore, the public can be confident that spinach not grown in the implicated areas is safe." He said the food industry was working with the FDA to get safe spinach back on store shelves. State health officials were recording reports of diarrheal illness without a fever, which could indicate E. coli infection. Acheson said it could take up to two more weeks to hear about all the possible cases. TAKING SAMPLES Each time a case is reported, doctors must take fecal samples to be sent for testing. Field officers ask questions about what the patient ate, where the food was bought and then search for the actual packages, which can be traced back to the farms. "The current information that we have from the bags we have allowed us to narrow it down from nationwide to the state of California to three counties," Acheson said. "The intention is to narrow it further within these three counties." Growers pledged to help find and plug safety gaps. The Produce Marketing Association, the largest group representing companies along supply chains for fruits, vegetables and flowers, estimates farmers and food processors may lose up to $100 million a month if consumers stop eating spinach. "Obviously there was a breakdown in the system somewhere," added Dave Kranz, spokesman for the California Farm Bureau Federation, the state's largest farm organization. "Now we need to find out if the system was flawed ... or if it was a breakdown that can be corrected." California officials said an unrelated outbreak of E. coli had sickened four people in Southern California and had been traced to raw milk from an organic supplier. Most milk sold in the state is pasteurized, which should limit the spread of that outbreak. At least two Democratic congressmen raised questions about farm and food safety regulation. "Quick action is needed at the federal level. Today, we have 12 different federal agencies stumbling over each other to ensure the safety of our food supply," Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin told a news conference held with consumer and food safety advocates. (Additional reporting by Dan Whitcomb in Los Angeles, Jim Christie in San Francisco and Mike Conlon in Chicago)

By Duncan Martell Fri Sep 22, 8:19 PM ET PALO ALTO, California (Reuters) - Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE:HPQ - news) Chief Executive Officer Mark Hurd said he had approved an e-mail ruse to track down boardroom leaks, admitting for the first time his involvement in a scandal that also on Friday forced out the company's chairman. HP's board appointed Hurd as chairman after asking Patricia Dunn to resign for her role in a company probe into board leaks to the media. The company said Dunn's departure would remove a distraction and allow the company to move forward. But analysts were not convinced these moves would end a controversy that has tarnished the reputation of a venerable Silicon Valley company, drawing the attention of California's attorney general, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the U.S. Justice Committee and a Congressional panel. "It's tough to say that (Hurd) is definitely in the clear," said Shaw Wu, an analyst at American Technology Research. "I don't think we have all the answers. At minimum, this investigation is still a distraction for the company." HP Chief Ethics Officer Kevin Hunsaker and Chief Security Officer Anthony Gentilucci also will leave their jobs and are "on their way out" of the company, a person familiar with the matter said. Hurd, who has won investor support for leading a comeback at HP since taking over as chief executive in April 2005, told a news conference he approved the sending of e-mails from a fictitious source in an effort to root out the media leaks. He apologized on behalf of the company and vowed to get to the bottom of the HP probe in which investigators used false identities to obtain the phone records of directors, employees and journalists. "On behalf of HP I extend my sincere apologies to those journalists who were investigated and everyone who was impacted," said Hurd at the news conference which represented the company's most detailed account to date of the probe. "We believe that these were isolated instances of impropriety and not indicative of how we conduct business at HP." HP shares rose 1 percent in extended trade following Dunn's resignation on Friday. The stock had been largely unaffected by the controversy, but fell about 5 percent on Thursday on speculation that Hurd might have been closer than thought to the investigation. Deborah Rhode, a law professor and director of the Center on Ethics at Stanford University, said other top executives should lose their jobs in addition to Dunn but that it was too early to say whether Hurd would go as well. Dunn, who had been scheduled to step down as chairman in January, will now leave the board altogether and immediately. "She shouldn't be the only one to fall on her sword at this point," Rhode said. "There are a lot of questions whether Hurd can command the credibility and confidence the company badly needs at this point given the mismanagement of the investigation." Hurd told reporters HP still did not have all the facts about its inquiry into leaks dating back to 2005, but some of the findings are "disturbing." He acknowledged there was a written report of the investigation that he did not read. "In the second phase, while many of the right processes were in place, they unfortunately broke down and no one in the management chain, including me, caught them," Hurd said. "I understand there is also a written report of the investigation (the second phase) addressed to me and others but I did not read it. I could have, and I should have." Nevertheless, Hurd defended the investigation, saying it was important to discover the source of the leaks and that he believed Dunn had the company's best interests in mind. "It was the responsibility of the HP chairman to pursue the leak situation," he said at a news conference where he declined to take questions. "This was an appropriate course of action." Mike Holston, an outside attorney for HP, said the company's investigation ranged from the review of internal e-mails and instant messages, to the surveillance of an HP board member and at least one journalist. He said investigators may have also sifted through individuals' trash. HP also said it appointed Bart Schwartz, a former U.S. prosecutor, to conduct an independent review of the methods the company used in its leaks investigation. Schwartz will report to Hurd and Chief Financial Officer Bob Wayman. (Additional reporting by Michael Kahn in San Francisco, Lisa Baertlein in Los Angeles, Herb Lash and Chris Sanders in New York and Daisuke Wakabayashi in Seattle.)

Fri Sep 22, 6:25 PM ET NEW YORK (AFP) - Author Noam Chomsky, whose three-year-old book shot to the top of the Amazon.com bestseller list after Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez touted it at the United Nations, reportedly said he would like to meet Chavez. "I would be happy to meet him," said Chomsky according to the New York Times. The American author told the Times he received "10,000 e-mails" after Chavez recommended his 2003 book "Hegemony or Survival" in remarks before the United Nations General Assembly. Chavez made headlines this week for railing against US "imperialism" in the eyebrow-raising speech. Chomsky, 77, told the newspaper he would not use the same words -- "alcoholic," "sick man" and "tyrant" -- that Chavez used to describe President George W. Bush. But he said he understood where the Venezuelan president was coming from. "The Bush administration backed a coup to overthrow his government," Chomsky said. "Suppose Venezuela supported a military coup that overthrew the government of the United States? Would we think it was a joke?" The leftist author, a linguistics scholar and longtime critic of US foreign policy, told the Times he is "quite interested" in Chavez's policies and finds many of them "quite constructive."

By DAVID BAUDER, AP Television Writer Fri Sep 22, 5:57 PM ET NEW YORK - The new TV season's biggest faceoff so far went to the randy doctors. ABC's "Grey's Anatomy" beat CBS' "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," for years TV's most popular drama and leader of its own franchise, in their first competition. "Grey's Anatomy" had 25.4 million viewers for its season premiere, compared to 22.6 million for "CSI" in the same 9 p.m. time slot, according to Nielsen Media Research. That's a sharp drop from last year, when more than 29 million people tuned in to the "CSI" season premiere. ABC, owned by the Walt Disney Co., has heavily promoted the move of "Grey's Anatomy" from Sundays. It's always risky to move a show, but the potential payoff is big: Thursday is considered the most lucrative night in the television business, primarily because movie companies are looking to advertise right before the weekend. It was ABC's best Thursday night with entertainment programming since May 2000, the network said. There were mixed results for all the networks throughout the night. NBC's venerable "ER" came back to win its 10 p.m. time slot with 15.6 million viewers, no small feat considering both CBS (owned by CBS Corp.) and ABC premiered new dramas with powerful lead-ins then. CBS' lawyer drama "Shark" was second with 14.7 million while the ABC drama "Six Degrees" had 12.6 million. In both cases, particularly "Six Degrees," there was a large drop in viewers during the second half-hour, an indication of people who didn't like what they saw. CBS, meanwhile, was pleasantly surprised that "Survivor: Cook Island," with 17.4 million, held up against strong competition. ABC ran a clip show of "Grey's Anatomy" in that time slot that drew 13.7 million viewers.

By MELISSA NELSON, Associated Press Writer Fri Sep 22, 5:26 PM ET PENSACOLA, Fla. - Eleven Domino's employees hoping to make a little more dough and get a bigger slice of the profits have formed the nation's first union of pizza delivery drivers. The American Union of Pizza Delivery Drivers won recognition from the National Labor Relations Board over the summer as the bargaining agent for drivers at a Pensacola franchise. The union organizing drive was started by Jim Pohle, a 37-year-old Domino's driver who said he delivers pizzas because he likes to sleep late, smoke on the job and listen to the radio. "When they declared us tipped employees and refused to pay us the Florida minimum wage of $6.40, I was kind of angry. I came home that night and I told my buddy, I said. `We are forming a union,'" he said. He said he got on the Internet and found St. Louis labor attorney Mark Potashnick, who worked on unsuccessful organizing efforts by pizza workers in Ohio, Michigan and St. Louis. He coached Pohle on submitting a petition to the NLRB. Rodney Johnson, a regional director for NLRB, said the union appears to be the first of its kind. Tim McIntyre, a spokesman for Ann Arbor, Mich.-based Domino's Pizza Inc., said that while the Pensacola franchise was independently owned and operated, the company was disappointed by the union vote. "We do not believe it is necessary in our industry, and are surprised that the individual employees in that store voted to turn over their ability to represent themselves to their supervisor to someone else," he said in a statement. Pohle's union and the franchise owner have not agreed on wages and working conditions Apart from wages, many pizza delivery drivers nationally have discussed forming unions because they are often the victims of robbers. In the meantime, the franchise owners have raised the pay of some drivers at their six nonunion stores, Pohle said. Keith Pyburn, an attorney for the franchise owner, would not discuss employee pay, and said only that the company is meeting its legal obligation to bargain with the union. The union could open doors for other fast-food workers, said Kate Bronfenbrenner, director of labor education research at Cornell University's School of Industrial and Labor Relations. She pointed to recent organizing efforts by Starbucks employees in New York and Chicago. The Industrial Workers of the World has members at seven Starbucks Corp. stores. Mark Damron, spokesman for Industrial Workers of the World, said the prospects for unionizing fast-food employees are encouraging because older people are taking service industry jobs that were traditionally held by younger workers. "As these people move into those jobs, they have higher expectations. You are going to see more agitation and expectations among middle-aged men who have been downsized and are now working as baristas or short-order cooks," he said.