stu

LOS ANGELES - Prosecutors charged actor Lou Diamond Phillips on Thursday with domestic battery in connection with an incident last month involving his live-in girlfriend. Phillips, best known for his roles in "La Bamba" and "Stand and Deliver," could face a maximum of one year in jail and a $2,000 fine if convicted of the misdemeanor charge. His arraignment was scheduled for Oct. 18. According to police reports, the 44-year-old actor got into an argument with his girlfriend, and it escalated into a physical fight in the early hours of Aug. 11. His girlfriend, who was not identified in court documents, "was pushed and dragged across the house resulting in scrapes to both knees," City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo said in a statement. The woman grabbed a phone, locked herself in a bathroom and dialed 9-1-1, Delgadillo said. Phillips was arrested and held for about 10 hours before being released. A message left for Phillips' publicist, Eddie Michaels, was not immediately returned. It was not immediately known whether Phillips had retained a lawyer. In recent years, Phillips has made a number of guest appearances on TV, including "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" and "24."

AP - The Commerce Department has lost 1,137 laptop computers since 2001, most of them assigned to the Census Bureau, officials said Thursday night.

By ASIF SHAHZAD, Associated Press Writer Thu Sep 21, 10:03 PM ET LAHORE, Pakistan - About 1,000 Muslim clerics and religious scholars meeting Thursday in eastern Pakistan demanded the removal of Pope Benedict XVI for making what they called "insulting remarks" against Islam. Benedict "should be removed from his position immediately for encouraging war and fanning hostility between various faiths" and "making insulting remarks" against Islam, said a joint statement issued by the clerics and scholars at the end of their one-day convention. The "pope, and all infidels, should know that no Muslim, under any circumstances, can tolerate an insult to the Prophet (Muhammad). ... If the West does not change its stance regarding Islam, it will face severe consequences," it said. The meeting was organized by the radical Islamic group Jamaat al-Dawat, which runs schools, colleges and medical clinics. In April, Washington put the group on a list of terrorist organizations for its alleged links with militants fighting in the Indian part of Kashmir. The meeting came after the pope said Sunday he was "deeply sorry" about the reactions to his remarks and that they did not reflect his own opinions. He said Wednesday that he has "deep respect" for Islam, but he did not offer an apology that was demanded by some Muslim leaders offended by his remarks in Germany last week. The pope acknowledged that his remarks were open to misinterpretation, but insisted he had not intended to endorse a negative view of Islam. In Germany, Benedict cited the words of a Byzantine emperor who characterized some of the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad as "evil and inhuman," particularly "his command to spread by the sword the faith." "This quote unfortunately lent itself to be misunderstood," the pontiff said Wednesday. "In no way did I wish to make my own the words of the medieval emperor. I wished to explain that not religion and violence, but religion and reason go together." The clerics and religious scholars said they did not regard Benedict's latest comments as an apology. "The pope has neither accepted his mistake, nor apologized for his words," it said. The statement also said jihad was not terrorism and that "Islam was not propagated with the sword, but it became popular and was accepted by the oppressed peoples of the world because of its universal values and teachings." "Jihad is waged to rid an area, state, or the world of oppression, violence, cruelty, and terrorism, and bring peace and relief to the people. History is full of incidents where Muslims waged jihad to provide relief to people of many faiths, especially Jews and Christians," it said. Pakistan is the world's second most populous Muslim country, and its people have held small, peaceful rallies since the publication of pope's remarks about Islam.

By KIMBERLY HEFLING, Associated Press Writer Thu Sep 21, 11:15 PM ET WASHINGTON - A Pentagon report rejects the idea that intelligence gathered by a secret military unit could have been used to stop the Sept. 11 hijackings. The Pentagon inspector general's office said Thursday that a review of records from the unit, known as Able Danger, found no evidence it had identified ringleader Mohamed Atta or any other terrorist who participated in the 2001 attacks. The report was ordered following the assertion last year that the unit had identified four of the 19 hijackers in 2000. That claim was made by a former intelligence officer who worked on Able Danger, Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer, and by Rep. Curt Weldon (news, bio, voting record), vice chairman of the House Armed Services and Homeland Security committees. Weldon, R-Pa., has said the unit used data-mining to link Atta and three other hijackers to al-Qaida more than a year before the attacks. The 71-page report, blacked out in parts, rejected Weldon's claim that the unit wanted information given to the FBI but that Pentagon lawyers would not allow it. Weldon questioned the "motives and the content" of the report and rejected its conclusions. "Acting in a sickening bureaucratic manner, the DOD IG cherry-picked testimony from witnesses in an effort to minimize the historical importance of the Able Danger effort," Weldon said in a statement. "The report trashes the reputations of military officers who had the courage to step forward and put their necks on the line to describe important work they were doing to track al-Qaida prior to 9/11," Weldon said. He said the investigation did little to answer the questions it was supposed to examine. The report acknowledged that one Able Danger member alleged he was prohibited from providing a chart to the FBI in 2000 by a senior Special Operations commander. But, the report said, "the senior official did not recall the incident and we are persuaded that the chart would have been of minimal value to the FBI." The Pentagon had said some employees recall seeing an intelligence chart identifying Atta as a terrorist before the attacks. The report said those accounts "varied significantly" and witnesses were inconsistent at times in their statements. Several lawmakers had asked the Pentagon to investigate whether Defense Department officials mismanaged Able Danger and retaliated against Shaffer. He was a leading proponent of the program who later had his security clearance revoked. The report said Shaffer was not retaliated against because of his involvement. But the inspector general did find "procedural oversights" in the handling of his office contents and his performance evaluations. A message left with Shaffer's lawyer was not returned immediately on Thursday. Last year, the bipartisan commission that investigated the attacks dispensed with the issue by calling it "not historically significant." Thomas Kean, the commission's co-chairman, said he hoped the report would put an end to discussion about Able Danger. "After this I don't know where it can go," Kean said. ___ Associated Press writer Pauline Jelinek contributed to this report.

By Vicki Allen 2 hours, 5 minutes ago WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Congressional Democrats were skeptical on Friday of a deal negotiated by three hold-out Republican senators to rein in President George W. Bush's program to interrogate and try terrorism suspects. As Bush's fellow Republicans prepared to move the agreement through Congress next week, lawmakers checked the fine print of a compromise bill that would allow aggressive CIA interrogations of foreign suspects but require that they comply with Geneva Conventions, which ensures humane treatment of prisoners of war. Sen. Carl Levin (news, bio, voting record) of Michigan, the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, called the deal "a substantial improvement" over Bush's plan, but said it still had "a number of problems." But Rep. Edward Markey (news, bio, voting record), a Massachusetts Democrat on the Homeland Security Committee, derided it for using "legal mumbo jumbo to obscure the fact that the CIA will continue to be allowed to use torture and will actually be insulated from legal liability for previous acts of torture." Many Democrats were formulating their positions on the bill. Bush went to Congress after the Supreme Court in June ruled that his plan for trying foreign suspects did not meet judicial standards. He has repeatedly denied charges by international critics that interrogations of suspects amount to torture. Bush and the Senate Republicans who challenged his proposal -- John McCain of Arizona, John Warner of Virginia and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina -- cinched a deal on Thursday that allows aggressive CIA interrogations and would more narrowly define what is punishable as a war crime under U.S. law. But Bush agreed to drop an effort to redefine U.S. obligations under the Geneva Conventions. The agreement gives defendants access to classified evidence being used to convict them, although it could be in redacted or summary form. It sets stricter limits than Bush wanted on evidence obtained by coercion, requiring a judge to decide if it is reliable and in the interest of justice. MIXED REVIEWS FROM HUMAN RIGHTS ADVOCATES Congress is expected to consider the legislation next week to set up trials for suspects at the U.S. naval facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. U.S intelligence chief John Negroponte, at a conference in Oxford, England, told Reuters and the International Herald Tribune that "work is already being done amongst our prosecutors to prepare the cases for trial," but declined to give a timetable for their start. Human rights groups disagreed on whether the bill would significantly change CIA's interrogations, which have been condemned for violating international standards. Christopher Anders, of the American Civil Liberties Union, called it "a significant step back," although much better than Bush's proposal. But Elisa Massimino of Human Rights First said the agreement that would criminalize "serious" acts of cruelty and would bar "waterboarding" that simulates drowning, and should bar other harsh methods such as induced hypothermia. With the deal, Bush would outline interrogation techniques that must comply with the Geneva Conventions, and the Senate and House Intelligence committees would review those. Levin complained that while the deal limits use of testimony obtained by coercion, "it inexplicably" allows such statements obtained before December 30, 2005. A number of Democrats also object that the deal strips detainees' habeas corpus rights to challenge their detentions. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter, a Pennsylvania Republican, said excluding habeas corpus rights was unconstitutional and set a hearing on the issue for Monday. (Additional reporting by Mark Trevelyan in Oxford, England)

BURBANK, Calif. - Rosie O'Donnell gave co-star Julian McMahon an eyeful when they were shooting a [bleeped!] scene for FX Networks' Golden Globe-winning drama "Nip/Tuck." O'Donnell told "Access Hollywood" that the director tried to shoot around a tube-top that they made her wear. But the director kept yelling "cut" because a bit of the tube-top could be seen in the shot. So, Rosie fixed the situation by pulling down the top. O'Donnell said McMahon, who plays plastic surgeon Dr. Christian Troy on the show, looked down and told her "nice boobs," adding, "but he was so nice." O'Donnell said she would "love to do that show again and again and again." O'Donnell's episode of "Nip/Tuck" airs Oct. 3. She plays a woman who has just won $381 million in a Powerball lottery and goes to the South Beach plastic surgery practice for her whole family.

By KELLEY SHANNON, Associated Press Writer Thu Sep 21, 9:18 PM ET AUSTIN, Texas - Comedian and independent gubernatorial candidate Kinky Friedman on Thursday defended his use of a racial slur during a performance at Houston nightclub 26 years ago after an audio clip of the standup routine was posted on the Internet. Friedman, 61, said he has tried to expose and lampoon racism, and was making fun of bigots when he used the n-word twice in a joke. "They're attacking me for something that Richard Pryor did, that Lenny Bruce did, which is to have the freedom to poke fun at anybody that you want. The whole show is satirizing racism," Friedman said at a fundraiser in New York. But State Rep. Garnet Coleman, former chairman of the Texas Legislative Black Caucus, said it was difficult to find the humor in his joke after his remarks about Katrina evacuees in Houston in which he referred to them as "crackheads and thugs." Coleman, who has endorsed Democratic candidate Chris Bell, said nobody would have scrutinized Friedman's 1980 joke before the comments about Katrina evacuees, most of whom are black. "It makes it more relevant because people then look to see, is this part of your character," Coleman said. He said Friedman "needs to change his tune or get out of the race." A staffer for Coleman posted the audio on the left-leaning political Web site Burnt Orange Report. Phillip Martin said he did the posting in his off time after getting it from an old fan of Friedman's. Other Friedman comments criticized recently include a television interview from a year ago in which he said sexual predators should be thrown in prison "and make them listen to a Negro talking to himself," Friedman said. He also called "Negro" a "charming word." Friedman's campaign has said the CNBC interview in which he made the "Negro" remark was a reference to a book he wrote in the 1980s. His spokeswoman said Friedman, who also is a country singer, is a threat to the two-party system, so his opponents are digging through fictional books, comedy shows and song lyrics to try to paint him as a racist. Gov. Rick Perry, a Republican seeking re-election, Bell and independent candidate Carole Keeton Strayhorn said Friedman's language was unacceptable.

By Joal Ryan Fri Sep 22, 1:58 PM ET A bad night for a bank teller was a good night for the CW. America's Top Model helped inaugurate the green network with a strong season debut Wednesday. Per Nielsen Media Research stats, 5.3 million passed the channel-changing test and witnessed the demise of aspiring diva Christian Evans, a teller from South Carolina. Top Model averaged 5 million viewers in its final season on UPN. Wednesday's audience was the second biggest for a Top Model premiere and the biggest for a CW premiere. The former takes three years of history into account; the latter takes three days of history into account. Made from salvaged parts of the late WB and the late UPN, the of-the-present CW launched Monday. It didn't launch a new show, however, until the two-hour Top Model. Having declared itself on the prowl for 18-to-34-year-olds, the new network was particularly proud that Top Model was Wednesday's most watched show in the 8-10 p.m. time slot among its coveted adult life forms. Another note for the horn-blowing CW: Top Model found its audience despite the show airing on a new channel in 71 percent of the TV nation. (In most of the top markets, the CW airs on stations formerly associated with the WB, requiring fans of UPN shows picked up by the new network to retrain their remotes.) While the CW is off and running, Evans isn't. The season's first Top Model dismissal, the 19-year-old was advised by harsh taskmistress Tyra Banks that "there's something that's just not popping through." NBC's Wednesday lineup suffered the same lack of pizzazz. The season premiere of The Biggest Loser and the series debut of Kidnapped ran third for the night, averaging an estimated 7.2 million and 7.5 million viewers respectively, according to Variety. Fox fared even worse, with Bones (estimated 7.5 million) and Justice (estimated 5.6 million) dragging down the network to a fourth-place finish. In a very bad sign for a new show, the Victor Garber-led Justice was down 37 percent from its Aug. 30 debut. In a perhaps very good sign of troubled times, Jericho, CBS' new family-hour drama about nuclear annihilation, "social, psychological and physical mayhem," "terror, anger and confusion" and (don't forget) "chaos," gave the network a giant 71 percent boost in the 8-9 p.m. Wednesday hour over last season's harmless comedy occupants, Still Standing and Yes, Dear. All told, Jericho's series premiere blew up before an estimated 11.7 million. It ran second in its time slot behind ABC's Dancing with the Stars results show, which managed 15 million viewers despite no greater annihilation than that of Shanna Moakler's ballroom dreams. Elsewhere on Wednesday, the third-season premiere of CBS' CSI: NY proved no stiff with an estimated 16.1 million viewers, tops for the night; while CBS' Criminal Minds avoided the sophomore slump with an estimated 15.7 million. CBS finished first for the night, followed by ABC.

By Sue Pleming Thu Sep 21, 7:59 PM ET UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Determined to revive the stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace process, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Thursday she planned to travel to the Middle East soon. ADVERTISEMENT Speaking to reporters after a U.N. Security Council meeting to discuss the situation in the Middle East, Rice said she would seek out moderate Arab leaders and try to help both sides in the Arab-Israeli conflict resolve their differences. Earlier this week, President Bush told the U.N. General Assembly he had instructed Rice to lead a new diplomatic push in the Middle East. "I expect to go to the region fairly soon," said Rice, without giving details. Rice said she would try to "accelerate progress" on the U.S.-led "road map" for Middle East peace and for implementation of an agreement she helped broker last November allowing for the free access of people and goods into Gaza. She reiterated the U.S. call for the immediate release of Israeli soldiers held in both Gaza and Lebanon and said such a move would improve the "atmosphere." "We really want to see the conditions created where we can have a celebration of the work on the road map and return to the access of movement agreement that was negotiated so that economic life can return to the Palestinian Territories," she said. The road map lays out steps for a two-state solution in which Palestinians and the Israelis live side-by-side. A senior State Department official, who asked not to be named, said he did not expect Rice to engage in high-speed shuttle diplomacy of some previous administrations and overall strategy was still being worked out. The immediate plan was to boost support for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, whose Fatah Party lost in January elections to the militant group Hamas. The Quartet of Middle East mediators issued a statement on Wednesday supporting efforts by Abbas to form a unity government that would include Hamas and other groups and said it hoped it would "reflect" principles laid down by the group. The Quartet, which groups the United States, United Nations, European Union and Russia, has demanded that Hamas recognize Israel, renounce violence and agree to previous accords signed by Palestinians and Israelis. U.S. support for Abbas' efforts as well as agreement on extending a financial aid mechanism to ease the economic crisis created by an aid embargo since Hamas came to power, was seen as a softening of the hard-line U.S. position. But the senior official said U.S. support for the Quartet's statement should be seen as a bid to show strong support for Abbas rather than a softening. "It would be very odd for us to come out against his efforts. Why would we do that?" said the official. Bush administration efforts in the Middle East have been met with suspicion by many in the region, particularly after the U.S. invasion of Iraq and attempts to create what Rice has called a "new Middle East" in line with the president's democracy and freedom agenda. The official noted that when Bush addressed the U.N. this week he avoided using such language as "Islamo-fascism" and a "new Middle East," not wanting to further distance an already suspicious audience.

Reuters - She's become one of the world's experts on telling people how to raise their children, but "Supernanny" Jo Frost is unsure if she will ever have children of her own.

AP - Henri Jayer, a master of supremely concentrated, immaculately balanced pinot noir who was viewed by many connoisseurs to be the finest Burgundy winemaker of his generation, has died, his daughter said Thursday. He was 84.

Reuters - A Raytheon Co. mini-missile defense system at the heart of a U.S. Army weapons-buying storm was clearly the best choice under the circumstances, a top general told Congress Thursday.

Reuters - Public transportation use was up 3.2 percent in the first half of 2006, more than double the increase in the first half of 2005, according to the American Public Transportation Association.

SPACE.com / LiveScience.com - Satellite images of the Arctic show large openings in the perennial ice cover, yet another consequence of greenhouse warming, scientists announced this week.

BEIJING (Reuters) - An intoxicated Chinese man who tried to give a panda a hug at Beijing Zoo found himself biting it in self defense after his clumsy attempt at affection was savagely rejected, local media reported Thursday. Zhang Xinyan, a building worker on holiday from China's central Henan province, climbed into an enclosure that held Gu Gu, a seven-year-old panda, at Beijing Zoo after the man had drunk four pints of beer during lunch at a nearby restaurant, the Yanzhao Metropolis Daily said. Zhang, who couldn't remember the incident clearly, had wanted to hug the panda and shake its hand after having watched similar scenes on television. "When I was in there, the panda was eating bamboo. Then, it seemed some people shouted, which startled the panda. He rushed over to bite my leg," Zhang said. Zhang, who tried in vain to push the panda away, was bitten twice and forced to the ground, the paper said. "I took the opportunity to bite the panda's back, but its fur was too thick," Zhang said. Eventually, a zoo worker sprayed water from a hose to rescue Zhang from the panda's clutches, the paper said. Both were worse for wear after the tussle. Zhang was rushed to hospital and given tetanus and rabies shots, while Gu Gu lost her appetite, Xinhua news agency reported. "It was scared by the intruder and refused to eat for one and a half days," a zoo spokeswoman, surnamed Ye, told Xinhua. But Gu Gu had recovered and was back on display Thursday. Zhang, however, faces at least a half-month convalescence, due to the "deep wounds," Xinhua said, citing Zhang's doctor. His pride had also been injured, after reading stories of his exploits in newspapers. "I wouldn't have jumped in if I knew what would happen," Zhang said. The zoo, which plans to install cameras to monitor the enclosure, would not prosecute, Xinhua said. But Zhang had already been tried and found guilty by Chinese Internet surfers. "The man should be fined for the trouble he made," an anonymous commentator said in a posting on 163.com. "He deserved to be bitten."

Reuters - U.S. researchers said on Wednesday they had identified an "on-off" switch in the brain that controls the emotional response to fear, and said it might some day be manipulated to help patients with anxiety disorders.

SPACE.com / LiveScience.com - Boosting breast size with plastic surgery has been linked to a significantly higher suicide rate among women in a new 15-year study.

It's always good to make your own skins, you can make it just the way you like it

By VINNEE TONG, AP Business Writer 1 hour, 19 minutes ago For the first time, Forbes magazine's list of the 400 richest Americans consists exclusively of people worth $1 billion or more. As a group, the people who made the rankings released Thursday are worth a record $1.25 trillion, compared with $1.13 trillion last year. In the billionaire-athon, casino magnate Sheldon Adelson pole-vaulted to No. 3 from 15 in last year's ranking, finishing behind the mainstays at Nos. 1 and 2: Microsoft Corp. founder Bill Gates and Warren Buffett of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. Adelson is now estimated to have $20.5 billion, Buffett $46 billion and Gates $53 billion. Gates has held the No. 1 spot for the last 13 years while Buffett has been No. 2 every year since 1994 except 2000, when Larry Ellison of Oracle Corp. held that spot. Adelson's expanding net worth is related in no small part to his decision to open a casino two years ago on the island of Macau, an emerging gambling haven off the southeastern coast of China. Profits are growing rapidly thanks to the Las Vegas Sands Corp.'s Macau casino. Adelson personally and through family trusts controls 70 percent of the company, Las Vegas Sands spokesman Ron Reese said. Forbes estimates Adelson earned about $1 million an hour over the past two years. In the second quarter alone, the Sands Macau property saw net revenue jump to $310.4 million, up from $205.1 million a year ago. To tap the demand from gamblers in Asia going forward, the Sands Corp. plans a second property on Macau and a casino in Singapore. The two Google Inc. founders were also big earners. Sergey Brin and Larry Page gained about $13 million a day over the last two years, according to Forbes. That puts them in 12th and 13th place, up from a tie at 16th place last year. Page and Brin also share the distinction of being, at 33 years old, the two youngest people on the list and two of only eight who are younger than 40. The list was led off by technologists, such as Gates, Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, Dell Inc.'s Michael Dell and Ellison, and rounded out by five members of the Walton clan who have fortunes amassed from sales by the world's largest retailer. Ellison, with $19.5 billion, moved to fourth place from fifth, while Allen, last year's No. 3, was fifth this year with $16 billion. Dell fell to a tie at ninth place from fourth in last year's list; he is worth $15.5 billion Adelson's ascension knocks Helen Walton, the wife of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. founder Sam Walton, into 11th place with a net worth of $15.3 billion. Her children, Jim, S. Robson and Alice, and Christy Walton, the widow of her son John, ranked in the bottom half of the top 10 this year. Each was worth between $15.5 billion and $15.7 billion, Forbes reported. Martha Stewart, founder of the eponymous Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Inc., fell off the list completely, as she lost $395 million over the past year. The biggest number of people on the list live in California, which houses 90 of the 400, and another 44 live in New York City. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060921/ap_on_...HE0BHNlYwN0bWE-