St. Patrick's Day causes spats as it falls during Holy Week this year

COLUMBUS, Ohio - That famous saint named Patrick will have his green-drenched party this year, but it's unclear when the guests are supposed to arrive.

For the first time since 1940, St. Patrick's Day will fall during Holy Week, the sacred seven days preceding Easter.

Because of the overlap, liturgical rules dictate that no mass in honour of the saint can be celebrated on Monday, March 17, according to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

But a few Roman Catholic leaders are asking for even more moderation in their dioceses - they want parades and other festivities kept out of Holy Week as well.

Bishop Kevin Boland of the Diocese of Savannah, Georgia, wrote to practically every agency in his city, from the Chamber of Commerce to the Board of Education, saying the diocese was changing the date of its celebration this year.

In response, the citywide Irish festival was moved to Friday, March 14, when schools will close and bagpipe-driven parties will carry into the streets.

More than half a million people stream into the Southern city for the festival, one of the country's largest St. Patrick's Day affairs, said Bret Bell, Savannah's public information director.

Savannah bars will be open March 17, but no organized events will be held that day, he said.

"The city has a very strong Irish Catholic community, a very traditional Irish Catholic community," Bell said. "They attend mass regularly. And the last thing they want to do is get in the bad graces of the Catholic Church."

Philadelphia has also moved its parade date to avoid giving offence, and Milwaukee is hitting the streets sooner than usual, too.

But in Columbus, the Shamrock Club is going ahead with its March 17 parade, drawing protests from the local bishop. A handful of Irish-American politicians have lined up behind church leaders, breaking with tradition by refusing to march in the parade.

In a letter last fall, the Catholic Diocese of Columbus told the Shamrock Club, the group that organizes the parade, that Bishop Frederick Campbell wanted "all observances honouring St. Patrick" - religious or otherwise - removed from Holy Week.

"It's not a sin to celebrate your Irish culture," countered Mark Dempsey, the club's president.

"Actually, you're born Irish first," he said, "and then you're baptized Catholic."

Not all Columbus Irish groups agree. Members of the local chapter of the Ancient Order of Hibernians, a national Irish Catholic organization, will skip the parade and will instead join the March 15 parade in Dublin, a Columbus suburb.

In New York and Boston, with legendary St. Patrick's events planned by the cities' large Irish communities, bishops are taking a hands-off approach, saying the church has no part in planning civic celebrations.

The Archdiocese of New York, which has St. Patrick as a patron saint, will hold the liturgical celebration for St. Patrick on March 14. Edward Cardinal Egan will then say mass on Monday, the same day as the parade, and will review the procession from the steps of St. Patrick's Cathedral, archdiocesan spokesman Joseph Zwilling said.

Boston's parade remains set for Sunday, March 16, which is Palm Sunday and the first day of Holy Week.

Other public dustups over St. Patrick's Day have erupted in past years, including a protracted fight between gay Irish groups and city leaders in New York and Boston over the right to march in the parades, which the Catholic Church has steadfastly opposed.

But a calendar conflict is a rare event: Holy Week won't clash with St. Patrick's Day again until 2160. This year's peculiar schedule also sees the feast day of St. Joseph - honoured by Catholics as the husband of the Virgin Mary - celebrated March 15, four days early.

Italian enclaves in many U.S. cities mark St. Joseph's with their own parades, but not on the level inspired by his Irish counterpart, so that shift hasn't produced any public grousing.

The St. Patrick's Day clash has a touch of the Christmas commercialism debate, about a holiday whose religious roots are tangled up in decidedly secular traditions. In most St. Patrick's traditions, parades are intertwined with mass.

"It's kind of a test of clerical power, in a way," said Mike Cronin, co-author of "The Wearing of the Green: History of St. Patrick's Day." "I think there's a real issue then around organizing committees saying, 'Do we need the church, or do we not?"'

The United States remains one of the few countries in the world to retain any religious traces of St. Patrick's Day, Cronin said. In Ireland, where the government sponsors the Dublin parade, the holiday has morphed into an arts festival that draws millions of people, he said.

Recognizing that, bishops there have moved the feast of the country's patron saint to March 15 this year. March 17 will remain an official Irish day off work and the Dublin parade will go on as scheduled.

Had Ireland's bishops shown the same insistence as some of their American counterparts, Cronin said, their comments almost certainly would have been ignored.

"It'd be like the (American) bishops arguing to move Super Bowl Sunday," he said.

The conflict is uncomfortable for some Irish-American Catholics. Franklin County Treasurer Ed Leonard bowed out of the Columbus parade but hopes a resolution might be reached.

"We wouldn't be celebrating St. Patrick's Day," he said, "were it not for the religious component of it."

Man, 18, charged after allegedly stealing camel marionette in Kingston, Ont.

KINGSTON, Ont. - An 18-year-old man from Kingston, Ont., has been charged with theft after a large marionette of a camel was stolen from a local store.

Police say a man went into Sultan's Bazaar, browsed for a while, and then on his way out pilfered the $65 marionette.

Police say the man ran down the street with the camel in hand, with a witness giving chase.

The witness called police, who say they quickly identified the suspect.

Officers went to a home in the city and allegedly found the stolen puppet in clear view in the hallway.

Nathan Pettigrew was charged with theft under $5,000.

Scientists' row over G spot nears a climax

After more than half a century of debate and bedroom exploration, a row about the location of the fabled G spot may be settled at last, the British weekly New Scientist says.

The G spot, named after a German gynaecologist called Ernst Graefenberg who first mooted its existence in 1950, is said to be a highly sensitive area in the vagina that, when stimulated, gives a woman a powerful orgasm.

But where the G spot is located has been clouded by evidence that is subjective or downright contradictory, and some experts have even concluded that it does not exist.

The answer, according to Italian researcher Emmanuele Jannini, is that, yes, the G spot does exist, but only among those women who are lucky enough to possess it, New Scientist reports.

Jannini, of the University of L'Aquila, used ultrasound to scan a key vaginal area among nine women who claimed to experience vaginal orgasms and 11 who said they didn't.

The target was an area of tissue on the front vaginal wall located behind the urethra. Tissue was notably thicker in this space among the first group of women compared with the second, the scans revealed.

Jannini, who reports the research in full in the Journal of Sexual Medicine, says the evidence is clear: "Women without any visible evidence of a G spot cannot have a vaginal orgasm."

"For the first time, it is possible to determine by a simple, rapid and inexpensive method if a woman has a G spot or not," he believes.

Some experts question whether what Jannini calls the G spot is a distinct structure or the internal part of the clitoris, whose size is highly variable.

Others say more work is needed to confirm Jannini's belief that the G spot is missing in women who don't experience vaginal orgasm. The G spot could be there in all women, but with differing degrees of sensitivity, they believe.

Women who do not have a G spot should not despair, according to the New Scientist report.

"They can still have a normal orgasm through stimulation of the clitoris," said Jannini.

Beijing to bring in extra pandas for Olympic games

Beijing Zoo is expanding its panda exhibit for the 2008 Olympics and will ship in up to 10 more for visitors to see during the August Games, an official said Thursday.

The zoo is expanding its facilities to accommodate the additional animals and is also building a Giant Panda Museum which will document efforts to save the endangered species, a zoo spokeswoman told AFP.

"The pandas will be on loan from the Wolong Giant Panda Centre, but the numbers to be brought in are still under negotiation," she said.

According to the Beijing Youth Daily, up to 10 more pandas would be brought in from Wolong, the world's most successful panda breeding centre located in southwest China's Sichuan province.

The panda exhibition is the most popular attraction at the Beijing Zoo and currently houses seven of the animals.

A record number of pandas have been bred in China in recent years, with 31 born and 25 surviving at breeding centres around the nation in the first 11 months of 2007, earlier press reports said.

In 2006, 33 pandas were born, with most of the new births in both years occurring at the Wolong centre, where artificial breeding techniques are continually improving, the reports said.

The giant panda, known for being sexually inactive, is among the world's most endangered animals.

As of November last year, China had 239 giant pandas in captivity, including 128 at the Wolong centre, while about 1,590 other pandas are thought to be living in the wild.

Drunk driver parks at police station

Police in the western Canadian town of Wetaskiwin didn't have to do much work when they arrested a drunk driver at the weekend -- he had parked his car next to their offices and wandered inside.

Police discovered the man as they drove by early on Saturday morning to respond to an unrelated call. Although the police office was locked, the lobby was open.

"There was a vehicle parked about 10 feet outside our front door. The gentleman had walked into the front lobby and he was displaying many indications of being intoxicated," Constable Mark Scheck said on Wednesday.

"So at that point we did take him into custody ... it's pretty unusual," he told Reuters by phone from Wetaskiwin, some 45 miles south of Edmonton, Alberta.

The 28-year-old man has been charged with impaired driving.

New York City man accused of taking $2M from account of man with same name

Prosecutors say a Brooklyn man withdrew $2 million from an account after a bank error gave him access to funds managed by a man with the same name.

Benjamin Lovell has been arraigned Tuesday on grand larceny charges. The 48-year-old salesman says he kept trying to tell officials at Commerce Bank that he did not have a $5 million account. But he says they told him it was his account and he could withdraw the money.

Prosecutors say the bank confused Lovell and a man with the same name. They say Lovell has subsequently lost much of the money on bad investments.

A call to Commerce Bank seeking comment was not immediately returned.

Jimmy Buffett to open restaurant in Waikiki

Expect occasional appearances by singer/author Jimmy Buffett at a new Waikiki restaurant that will bear his name and is expected to open later this year on Kalakaua Avenue in the Ohana Waikiki Beachcomber.

It will be known as Jimmy Buffett's At The Beachcomber and will occupy a prominent location on Kalakaua Avenue above Macy's on the hotel's lobby level.

The deal is a partnership with Outrigger Enterprises Group and will be the first Hawai'i restaurant for the singing entrepreneur, probably best-known for the song "Margaritaville."

It's not clear whether patrons will be "nibblin' on sponge cake," but margaritas will be served. And Barbara Campbell, vice president of retail development for Outrigger, said there will be live music and food, with a Hawai'i flair that should make the restaurant different from the Margaritaville-named restaurants Buffett has in other cities.

"They are designing this restaurant for Hawai'i; it's really customized," she said. She said the deal is part of a $21 million renovation of the Ohana Waikiki Beachcomber.

She said the $15 million restaurant project will take up more than 21,000 square feet in an area that fronts Kalakaua and was home to the late Don Ho in his last years, to the Blue Hawai'i showroom and to the Hibiscus Cafe restaurant.

She said Outrigger had been in discussions with the entrepreneurial singer for two years. "Jimmy absolutely loves Hawai'i and had been looking at locations for five years," she said.

Campbell said Buffett is not directly involved in restaurant management but "expect him to visit at least at twice a year."

In a written statement about the project, Buffett said:

"From the first time I rode a wave at Canoes on Waikiki I began to figure out how I could get back to Hawaii on a more regular basis to that One Particular Harbour. I have written many stories and songs inspired by my time in Hawaii and can't wait to see what the future holds in the land that is so far but yet so near."

Campbell said Buffett's other restaurants have a reputation of serving quality food and live entertainment along with the celebrity concept, something not all chain themes have achieved.

She said the restaurant will be designed with an architectural style that combines Buffett's image with the flavors of Hawai'i, with open-air lanais and the interior design of an "indoor island" setting.

She said the restaurant is slated to open in November, with construction beginning next month.

Actor Sharif ordered to pay valet $318,190 over altercation

Will actor Omar Sharif pay up in dollars or euros?

That's what parking valet Juan Anderson is wondering after the film star was ordered to pay him $318,190 as a result of a 2005 altercation outside a Beverly Hills restaurant.

Sharif, best known for his roles in the movies "Lawrence of Arabia" and "Dr. Zhivago," allegedly punched Anderson in the face when the valet refused to accept a 20-euro note as payment for retrieving his Porsche sport utility vehicle at Mastro's Steakhouse.

The actor and a female companion had just finished a $500 dinner at the North Canon Drive restaurant. Anderson, who believed he was not authorized to accept foreign currency, said he was bloodied by the attack.

Anderson, 50, alleged that Sharif angrily called him a "stupid Mexican." Anderson is from Guatemala. Sharif, 75, later pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor battery charge. In early 2007 he was ordered to pay a $100 fine and attend anger-management classes. He was also placed on two years' probation by a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge.

Anderson sued Sharif for assault and battery, emotional distress and commission of a hate crime. A 2005 state law prohibits racially motivated violence.

On Tuesday, Santa Monica Superior Court Judge Joe W. Hilberman awarded Anderson $318,190 in damages. Sharif, who earlier characterized the incident as a parking lot argument, did not appear at the trial.

The actor could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

It was unclear what currency Sharif will use to pay the judgment. That amount is the equivalent of 217,000 euros.

But Anderson's lawyer, John Carpenter, said collecting the cash in any currency could be difficult. Sharif is in Egypt, Carpenter said.

The Beverly Hills parking lot incident was not Sharif's first altercation. In 2003, he was fined $1,700 and given a one-month suspended sentence for head-butting a French police officer.

"It made me the hero of the whole of France," the actor later told the New Yorker magazine. "To head-butt a cop is the dream of every Frenchman."

California's budget gap at $16 billion

SACRAMENTO -- California's budget shortfall has swollen to $16 billion from $14.5 billion, according to the state's chief budget analyst, who says the governor's proposal for closing the deficit is so flawed that her office took the rare step of drafting an alternative state spending plan for legislators to consider.

The plan offered by Legislative Analyst Elizabeth G. Hill, whom lawmakers of both parties look to for advice on fiscal matters, calls on lawmakers to raise taxes by at least $2.7 billion. It urges them to reject Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's plans for a 10% across-the-board reduction in state spending, suggesting that such an approach is short-sighted.
Hill says the lawmakers should target a dozen tax breaks she says are ripe for modification or elimination. They include tax credits that individuals can claim for dependent children and seniors and that companies can claim for research and development as well as for hiring low-income workers.

And she suggests eliminating a loophole that allows buyers of yachts to avoid paying sales tax if they keep their newly purchased boats out of California for 90 days. Democrats call it the "sloophole."

Democrats embraced Hill's ideas. But the governor and Republican lawmakers said they would continue to block any tax increases.

"While I believe that we should begin negotiations with all ideas on the table, I have been very clear in my position against raising taxes to fix Sacramento's spending problem and our budget," Schwarzenegger said.

The increase in the size of the deficit, detailed in a report Hill released this morning, essentially erases the emergency spending cuts lawmakers have made so far to bring the budget into balance.

Those actions, approved by the Legislature and governor late last week, amounted to about $2 billion in service reductions, largely in school programs and healthcare for the poor.

Lawyers divided on death penalty system

Defense lawyers and prosecutors agreed Wednesday that California's death penalty system was deeply troubled but split over the causes and solutions.

During a hearing in Los Angeles before a state reform commission, prosecutors called for quicker appeals and amending the state Constitution to permit the California state Supreme Court to transfer some of the initial review of cases to state appeals courts.

Defense attorneys opposed the proposal, saying it would make the process more cumbersome.

Instead, they asked that the state pare the list of crimes that qualify for the death penalty and provide more funding for lawyers who represent accused killers.

But John Van de Kamp, chairman of the California Commission on the Fair Administration of Justice who previously served as Los Angeles County district attorney and state attorney general, said the prospects of increased state funding were bleak.

The California Commission on the Fair Administration of Justice was set up by the state Senate in 2004 to study the problem of wrongful convictions. Wednesday's meeting was the second focusing on the death penalty.

California has the nation's largest death row, with 669 condemned inmates, but has held only 13 executions since reinstating the death penalty in 1978. It takes as long as 24 years for some killers to complete their appeals before execution.

Before the hearing, two professors from Pepperdine Law School attempted to survey district attorneys around the state to learn how they decide when to seek the death penalty. But they met with little cooperation.

On Wednesday, San Bernardino County Dist. Atty. Michael Ramos defended his resistance to the study.

"If you ask us to give detailed public information on each case, you will create a chilling effect" on how those decisions are made and it might lead to increased pressure on prosecutors from victims groups and police officers to seek the death penalty more often, Ramos said.

He also said that his office was very restrained in seeking death sentences and that he has "lost sleep" over what he called the "ultimate decision" a prosecutor can make: "taking someone's life."

"We had 142 murders in the county in 2007" but sought the death penalty in only one of them after top staff in the office reviewed the cases.

Ramos said he did not give weight to the fact that a death penalty case is considerably more expensive than one seeking a lesser penalty. "When you are deciding for a victim's family who has lost a loved one, it is hard to think about money," he said in response to a question about costs.

That comment struck a chord with Cliff Gardner, a veteran San Francisco defense lawyer who has gotten several death sentences reversed.

"When I heard Mr. Ramos, I was struck by his sincerity," Gardner said. "He said when he meets with victims, no decisions are based on money. What a marvelous way to practice law.

"When I take these cases," which could involve reviewing up to 100 boxes of material, "every decision I make is based on money" because there is a limit on how much the state will pay to represent a death row inmate, he said.

Typically, Gardner said, after he reviews the case record he makes a list of 40 areas to explore that were missed or botched by the trial lawyer. Then he has to tell his client "maybe I can only do seven of them. That is an inequity the system has to address," Gardner said.

After listening to more than a dozen lawyers, professors and a researcher from the Rand Corp., the commission heard moving testimony from Aba Gayle, whose teenage daughter, Catherine Blount, was murdered in Auburn in 1980. "The district attorney assured me that the execution of the man responsible for Catherine's murder would help me heal, and for many years I believed him."

She said she was consumed with a desire for revenge against Douglas Mickey, who was sentenced to death in 1983. But eight years after the killing, Gayle said, she had "a spiritual epiphany," forgave Mickey and has since visited him at San Quentin.

Two years ago, she said, a federal district judge overturned Mickey's death penalty because of the ineffectiveness of his defense lawyer. Gayle said she called the district attorney and asked him to drop his effort for execution.

"I told him I would be satisfied with a life sentence. I did not want state-sanctioned murder to tarnish the life of my beautiful child." But she said the D.A. ignored her request and asked the state attorney general's office to appeal the ruling. The case is still pending.

The panel has one more hearing scheduled on the issue, on March 28 in Santa Clara.

Stanford offers middle-class tuition break

Joining a trend that reinforces the gap between the nation's wealthiest schools and those far short of multibillion-dollar endowments, Stanford University on Wednesday became the latest elite institution to announce a big boost in financial aid for undergraduates from the middle class.

Stanford is now among a small string of top-tier schools, including Harvard, Yale and Pomona College, that have taken steps in recent months to help middle-class families and, in some cases, households with incomes over $150,000.
Stanford will give free tuition to most undergraduates from families earning less than $100,000 a year.

Only about two dozen schools in the nation can afford to join the race to so dramatically boost financial aid, according to Terry W. Hartle, a senior vice president with the American Council on Education. "Most private colleges and universities simply don't have those resources," he said.

More relevant to most American college students and their parents, Hartle stressed, are current state budget deficits that are expected to lead to fee increases at many public universities, including the UC and Cal State systems.

It may be cheaper next year, Hartle said, for a student with a family income of $150,000 to attend Harvard than to pay fees, room, board and other expenses at UC Berkeley.

Experts say the newly enhanced aid at affluent private colleges may add even more public cachet to those campuses, some of which accept as little as 10% of their applicants. But they also stress that the schools are trying to keep up with one another, as well as fend off critics of their frequent tuition hikes.

The wealthiest universities are under congressional pressure to spend more of their huge endowments on scholarships. Harvard, the richest, had a $34.6-billion endowment as of June 30, and Stanford, ranked third after Yale, had $17.1 billion.

(Stanford raised the most in donations last year, with $832 million, besting second-place Harvard by $220 million, according to a new survey by the Council for Aid to Education.)

"There is a large gap between the haves and so called have-nots," said Tony Pals, a spokesman for the National Assn. of Independent Colleges and Universities. Still, he and other experts said many schools with relatively modest endowments are trying to sweeten financial aid and to hold down costs with, for example, initiatives that encourage students to graduate in three years instead of four.

USC Board of Trustees Chairman Stanley Gold said the school's $3.7-billion endowment amounts to $117,000 per student, compared with Harvard's $1.7 million per student. Although USC always looks at ways to bolster scholarships, the school needs a much larger endowment to compete with Harvard and Stanford, he said.

Jerry Lucido, USC's vice provost for enrollment policy and management, said that USC tuition rose about 65% over a decade but that aid grew about 80%.

Most USC students from families that earn less than $40,000 a year receive full tuition grants of more than $34,000 and use loans, jobs and family help to pay the other $15,000 in costs for a residential undergraduate, he said.

USC would offer the best package it could to a student also accepted at Stanford but would not engage in a bidding war, Lucido said. Instead, USC would stress, among other things, its commitment to undergraduate education and its Los Angeles location, he said.

At Santa Clara University, a $697-million endowment allows generous aid but not at the level of nearby Stanford, said Richard Toomey, associate vice provost for enrollment.

Santa Clara can't afford the additional $8 million a year it would cost to replace loans with grants for all students from families that earn under $60,000 -- steps taken recently by Caltech and Rice University in Houston. Pomona, Amherst and Williams colleges have eliminated all loans in aid packages.

Chris Munoz, Rice's vice president for enrollment, said the competition for top students could lead schools to offer more merit-based scholarships not linked to financial need.

Announcements like Stanford's, he said, are pressuring colleges "to rethink what they're doing."

Stanford's new plan will, on average, increase financial aid to students by about 16% and eliminate all loans for needy students, officials said.

For the 15% to 20% of its students from families earning less than $60,000, Stanford will cover the full $47,212 in tuition, room and board.

Except for those with very high assets, families earning $60,000 to $100,000 will have the $36,030 tuition waived next year. Some aid will also be available to wealthier families. (Details can be found at www .stanford.edu/dept/finaid/.)

Karen Cooper, Stanford's financial aid director, said the goal is that no high school senior rule out Stanford because of cost worries.

Princeton in 2001 was a pioneer in the movement by eliminating loans in all aid packages and offering more grants to families with incomes as high as $200,000. Yale and Harvard recently made education and living costs free to students from households earning less than $60,000 and adopted plans that would require upper-middle-income families -- up to $200,000 a year in Yale's case -- to pay only about 10% of their incomes.

Such announcements have not silenced congressional critics who want colleges to draw more from their tax-exempt endowments.

"Stanford is the latest big-name school to dip into the bank account and spend more on students," Sen. Charles E. Grassley of Iowa, the top Republican on the Senate's Finance Committee, said in a statement Wednesday. "I hope we're seeing a trend and a shift in thinking. Spending a little more on students won't break the bank for well-funded schools."

On average, colleges and universities earned 17.2% on their endowments in the fiscal year ending June 30.

But recent declines in the stock market and real estate values will probably make it harder for more schools to augment their financial aid, some officials said.

Even schools with medium-size endowments could expand aid if they were not so focused on building fancy dormitories or dangling premium salaries before star researchers, said Richard Vedder, director of the Center for College Affordability and Productivity, a Washington-based think tank.

"If most schools really wanted to make this the dominant consideration and put this ahead of all other priorities, I think they could go farther than they have," he said.

4 paparazzi arrested in West Hollywood

The price of chasing Britney Spears, Lindsay Lohan and other nightclub-hopping celebrities got steeper this week, at least for four paparazzi who were booked on charges arising from blocking sidewalks in West Hollywood.

The arrests, made by Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies Tuesday night and early Wednesday, continued law enforcement efforts to crack down on aggressive paparazzi in the weeks since Spears was rushed to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. So many photographers, celebrity reporters and onlookers crowded the scene last month that patients and hospital staffers had trouble getting into the facility.
The intense scene led Los Angeles Police Department and sheriff's officials to say they planned to use existing laws to crack down on what they described as increasingly aggressive paparazzi.

Authorities said their tools include anti-loitering ordinances, traffic laws and rules targeting infractions such as illegally tinted windows or paper license plates.

On Tuesday night and early Wednesday, sheriff's deputies booked four photographers in two separate incidents of allegedly blocking sidewalks.

Deputies arrested David Tonnessen, 31, and Christian Shostele, 37, outside B2V Salon in West Hollywood shortly before 8 p.m. Tuesday as they waited for Spears to finish inside the salon.

The men were among about 50 photographers, said sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore. The arrests came after the group refused deputies' requests over a loudspeaker to disperse, he said.

Tonnessen was taken to the West Hollywood sheriff's station, where he was ticketed for blocking an entrance, a misdemeanor, and released on $250 bail, authorities said. Shostele was cited for blocking a sidewalk and was released at the scene after posting $500 bail.

Deputies were first called to the salon more than an hour earlier and left believing that photographers were complying with their requests to keep the area clear. Whitmore said deputies then were called back to find the sidewalk blocked.

"They don't disperse. They don't listen to warnings," Whitmore said, adding that after the arrests were made the others cleared out.

About 1:30 a.m. Wednesday, two other photographers -- Christopher Gonzalez, 21, and Vagn Rauch, 23 -- were booked outside the West Hollywood nightclub Villa, again after they allegedly failed to keep a path clear for passersby and patrons.

Deputies at that scene began warning photographers to disperse shortly after midnight, again over loudspeakers.

About two dozen paparazzi had gathered there, apparently waiting for actress Lindsay Lohan to leave the club.

Gonzalez and Rauch were taken to the West Hollywood station, where they were cited on misdemeanor charges and released on $250 bail. All four face up to a year in jail and a $1,000 fine, authorities said.

Harvey Levin, managing editor of TMZ.com called the arrests "bizarre."

"We have been saying for months that law enforcement needs to arrest people but for really compromising public safety," said Levin, who said that two of those detained work for his website.

"There are photographers who are blowing red lights, chasing celebrities, running people off the road and threatening to kill people in order to get a shot. We're all for a crackdown."

Levin described the actions of photographers Tuesday night as something "every single news outlet in town has done for years."

After everything else that has gone on in pursuit of valuable celebrity shots, he said, "it's bizarre that after watching it all happen, the sheriff's launching pad is photographers on a sidewalk."

The arrests this week came about a month after Los Angeles police took four paparazzi into custody on suspicion of reckless driving in the San Fernando Valley.

The men had been following Spears to her Studio City home. At least four others were also stopped by police but were not arrested.

Police alleged that at least one of the men following Spears, who was driving her car, tried to run her off the road.

City to pass the bucks on sidewalks

Faced with more than 4,000 miles of broken sidewalks and scarce money to make repairs, Los Angeles officials are weighing a proposal to put responsibility for making the fixes squarely on homeowners.

Under the proposal, homeowners would be forced to replace the damaged pavement -- or pay the city a fee -- when they sell their property, before the close of escrow.

The City Council's Public Works Committee got its first look Wednesday at the "point of sale" plan, which could cost the average homeowner as much as $15 for each square foot of sidewalk, and dramatically shift the burden for such repairs from city government to the private sector.

The proposal is backed by Service Employees International Union Local 721, which said it would address a growing backlog of repairs while boosting economic development in the city.

"It's probably the only way of addressing the problem in a comprehensive way," said SEIU policy coordinator Teresa Sanchez, whose union represents about 11,000 city employees.

Several members of Southern California's real estate lobby hate the idea, saying it would complicate a real estate market already gripped by foreclosures and "short sales" -- sellers unloading their property at a loss.

"To put an additional burden on property owners when they're already suffering is pretty insensitive," said Mel Wilson, legislative advocate for the Southland Regional Assn. of Realtors.

Los Angeles spends $9 million annually on sidewalk repairs, enough to replace a little more than 50 miles each year, said Bill Robertson, general manager of the Bureau of Street Services.

At that rate, the city will fix its current 4,600 miles of broken sidewalks around 2091, he said.

Los Angeles has 6,000 additional miles of sidewalk considered in good condition.

The city also spends about $3 million annually on lawsuits and legal claims stemming from injuries blamed on uneven sidewalks.

Although city inspectors can issue citations to property owners with broken sidewalks -- forcing them to make the necessary repairs -- they have not done so since 1973.

That year the City Council passed an ordinance that said private property owners were not responsible for sidewalks damaged by tree roots.

The legal view turned out to be incorrect, and city officials began putting money toward sidewalk repairs shortly after 2000, Robertson said.

But it never recovered from the backlog that accrued over 35 years, he said.

"The question is, do we want to bear the $1.2-billion burden of those repairs, or do we want to . . . have the property owners share that cost when they sell their homes?" he asked.

The council took a stab at addressing cracked sidewalks three years ago when it created the “50-50” program, allowing homeowners to get repairs done on a priority basis as long as they paid half the cost.

That program now has its own backlog, with more than 400 property owners waiting to qualify for the fiscal year that starts July 1.

Because the city spends about $7,000 to replace a sidewalk in front of the average single-family home, participants in the 50-50 program pay an average of $3,500, according to city officials.

If approved, the sidewalk plan could apply to every property owner, depending on how it is written.

Backers say the city already requires that homeowners install low-flush toilets and gas shut-off valves each time a property changes hands.

Sanchez, the policy coordinator for SEIU, said the program would allow the city to focus on other needs.

And she said the repair bill would represent a "minimal cost" to property owners.

Highland Park real estate agent Eric Toro disagreed, saying low- and middle-income buyers would find even $3,500 in repairs to be a burden.

The plan will receive another airing in 60 days.

Although Councilman Greig Smith asked for other ways of getting property owners to cover sidewalk costs, Councilman Bill Rosendahl said he was keeping an open mind.

California schools with high dropout rates listed

Just 25 of California's 2,462 high schools account for more than a fifth of the state's dropouts, with the problem heavily concentrated in charter and alternative schools, according to a study being released today by UC Santa Barbara.

However, a UCSB researcher said it wasn't clear whether the schools were responsible for the problem or were simply the recipients of a disproportionate share of troubled students. And some educators and school advocates criticized the report -- either for relying on questionable data or for releasing potentially explosive statistics without context.

The report, issued as part of the California Dropout Research Project, used readily available state data to compile a list of every high school in the state ranked by the number of students listed as dropouts last year.

It showed that, of the 10 schools that reported the highest numbers of dropouts, only one was a traditional, comprehensive high school -- and the principal of that school said it ranked so high because of a data error. The rest were alternative schools, most of them charters and all specializing in education for high-risk students who couldn't make it in conventional schools.

Russell Rumberger, a professor of education at UC Santa Barbara and director of the dropout project, said Wednesday that the report wasn't intended to answer questions about why the schools had so many dropouts but rather to give educators a snapshot they could use to map out future research.

"Is the school doing a bad job, or are the kids at risk anyway no matter what setting they're in?" Rumberger asked in a conference call with reporters. Either way, he said, the value of the study is in telling the public, "This is where we should be concerned."

Rumberger stressed that he wasn't judging the individual schools at the top of the list, but added, "If that many kids are dropping out, it's unlikely that you're doing a good job."

That comment angered Buzz Breedlove, director of John Muir Charter School, a Sacramento-based organization that operates programs for at-risk students at 43 locations throughout California. It was No. 1 on the UC Santa Barbara list, with 1,856 dropouts -- more students than are enrolled at the school.

"To reconfigure numbers and come up with a dropout rate of 149%, which on its face is ludicrous, doesn't suggest to me that very much thought went into these numbers," said Breedlove, a former nonpartisan policy analyst for the California Legislature.

More than half a dozen of the schools on the list had dropout rates over 100% because enrollment is based on the number of students attending classes on a single day in October, but alternative schools typically have students arriving and leaving throughout the year.

According to Breedlove, the typical John Muir student is 19, has already dropped out of school two or three times and has completed only 75 of the required 210 credits for high school graduation. The school serves students who are enrolled in several organizations, including the California Conservation Corps.

"I would submit to you that one reason that our students drop out the way they do is that, absent our program, they wouldn't be in school at all," Breedlove said. "They would be terminal dropouts."

Much the same story came from the No. 2 school on the list, SIATech (School for Integrated Academics and Technologies), a San Diego-based alternative charter with seven campuses. SIATech works with the Job Corps to reclaim students who have already dropped out.

Spokeswoman Linda Leigh said a high dropout rate "is one of the pitfalls of trying to recover students who are really high-risk individuals."

The only conventional, comprehensive school among the top 10 was Madera High North in the San Joaquin Valley, listed at No. 9 with 539 dropouts. But the school's principal, Ron Pisk, said that figure was wrong, the result of a coding glitch that occurred when the Madera Unified School District recently switched data systems.

"It's absolutely driving us crazy," he said. "I've been losing sleep over this." The true figure, he said, is about half what is listed in the report.

Four of the schools in the top 10 are charters run by the same couple, John and Joan Hall. Their nonprofit charter, Options for Youth, has campuses ranked sixth, seventh and eighth, and their for-profit charter, Opportunities for Learning, was ranked third. The schools, which allow students to work independently, were the subject of a Times article in 2006 that found they had a poor record of keeping students until graduation.

A spokesman for the organization, Stevan Allen, issued a statement saying it was "not at all surprising that schools specializing in dropout recovery have a high number of dropouts -- just as obesity clinics have higher incidences of diabetes and heart disease among their patients. By definition, we are dealing with a population highly inclined to drop out."

He estimated that the true dropout rate at the four schools ranges from 15% to 35%, rather than the 42% to 49% shown in the report.

Gary Larson, a spokesman for the California Charter Schools Assn., also criticized the UC Santa Barbara report and said it could be interpreted as painting charter schools -- particularly those that specialize in educating troubled youth -- in a bad light.

Charters are independently run but publicly funded campuses that are free from many state and local regulations in exchange for boosting achievement.

Daria Hall, assistant director of the Education Trust, a Washington-based nonprofit dedicated to improving education, complained in an e-mail that the report was based on "state-reported dropout figures that are wildly inaccurate."

As an example, she said that John C. Fremont High School in Los Angeles, ranked No. 16 in the report, has an official dropout rate of 9%, yet it has more than 1,900 students entering as freshmen but fewer than 500 enrolled as seniors.

"Unless almost 70% of the entering class transferred out, and no one transferred in, this school loses more than 9% of its students to dropout," Hall wrote.

Rumberger, the dropout project director, said the data were accurate but conceded that the state's method of calculating dropouts leaves a great deal to be desired.

"I don't think the data are flawed," he said. "I think the data give an incomplete picture."

Suspect arrested in Beverly Hills shooting

Beverly Hills police this morning arrested a suspect in connection with a Wednesday night shooting that critically injured a man, authorities said.

Police arrested Adel Hakim, 47, of Beverly Hills at about midnight in connection with the shooting of a 50-year-old man three hours earlier at an apartment complex in the 400 block of North Palm Drive, according to Beverly Hills police Sgt. Renato Moreno.

Moreno said the shooting victim remained in critical condition this morning at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.

Beverly Hills, a city of about 35,000 residents, rarely sees serious violent crime, according to federally reported crime statistics.

California's schools gird for steep cuts

The Long Beach school board voted to close an elementary school this week. The Rialto Unified School District, in what is believed to be the first such action in the state this year, sent notices to 305 employees including teachers, informing them that they may not have a job next fall. The San Francisco school district may take city "rainy day" money to help balance its budget.

School districts across California have begun trimming services and preparing to lay off teachers in response to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's proposed budget, which could cut about $4.8 billion in education funding this year and next year. Educators say it's the worst financial crisis they can remember.

In previous budget cycles, school district and union officials have cried foul when the governor's budget was announced early in the year, only to have funding levels return to normal -- or near normal -- before school started in the fall.

In addition, officials say they have trimmed their budgets in recent years without having to lay off teachers or increase class sizes. But many don't see a light at the end of this budget tunnel.

"There isn't a whole lot of fat left to squeeze. You squeeze now by cutting jobs and teachers," said Bill Hedrick, president of the Rialto Education Assn. "We expect some of our members not to have jobs next fall. That's the reality of the situation."

The Los Angeles Unified School District, the state's largest, could have a $560-million deficit next year, an amount that would affect classroom programs. The district already had agreed to trim almost $100 million from next year's budget to comply with county guidelines before Schwarzenegger's announcement in January of his fiscal plan, which includes $460 million more in potential reductions.

The combined sums would be the district's biggest shortfall ever.

"When I first saw the governor's proposed budget, quite frankly, I was in a state of shock," Supt. David L. Brewer said at a recent board meeting.

District officials have begun raising some scary scenarios to illustrate the depth of the potential problem. Chief Financial Officer Megan K. Reilly said the $460-million cut would be the equivalent of closing 22 high schools, firing 5,750 employees or instituting an 8% pay cut for all employees.

The timing is particularly awkward because state law requires districts to initially inform teachers by March 15 that they may be unemployed, even though that deadline is well before the state's budget is finalized.

The teachers union has warned L.A. Unified not to cut from classrooms.

"It's about time we cut fat from this district. We expect before they start cutting from the heart of the schools and classrooms that they will cut the non-school-site administration," said A.J. Duffy, president of United Teachers Los Angeles.

District officials already plan to reduce the administrative staff. The board approved a proposal to potentially trim about $48 million from central and local offices over the next two years, although that figure could change. But those cuts alone won't be enough to balance the books, said board member Julie Korenstein.

"There's no way you could get that much money from just efficiency," she said.

Other districts have begun to take preliminary steps to make layoffs. The Rialto school board voted last week to notify almost 300 employees that they could lose their jobs. That represents almost a fourth of the district's workforce.

The nearly 30,000-student district faces a $23-million shortfall, mainly because of the proposed budget but also because of declining enrollment.

"We're in the middle of the hotbed of foreclosures, so we've been losing students at an accelerated rate," said Deputy Supt. Joseph Davis. He said there have been about 400 foreclosures in the district's area.

It's not unusual for school districts to issue preliminary layoff notices during tough budget times, and the teachers are often hired back during the summer. But this time could be different, said Hedrick, the Rialto teachers union president.

"Clearly, if a budget resolution is not found, then the intent is to balance the budget on the back of public schools," he said.

The San Francisco school district is facing a $40-million deficit next year but may be able to draw on the city's "rainy day" fund, which could provide the district with about $30 million.

"Play ball!" Major League umpires won't shout those magical words in the Southland for nearly two more months. Can't wait that long? Then plan a jaunt to Arizona, where the Angels and 11 other teams will play in the Cactus League. In late March, they'll be joined by the Dodgers, who are moving their spring training from Florida to Arizona. It's all just a short flight -- or an easy drive -- from L.A. Ticket prices are a real steal, starting around $5 for lawn seating to $25 for a seat behind home plate. Check out schedules at cactusleague.com and springtrainingonline.com.

O.C. toll road hearing draws thousands

Several thousand people turned out today for a California Coastal Commission hearing that will decide whether to approve a six-lane tollway through San Onofre State Beach, a popular preserve known for its ocean setting and famous surf spots.

Commission officials estimated that about 3,000 people--both toll road supporters and opponents--had filled Wyland Hall, a large pavilion at the Del Mar Fairgrounds that had been set aside for the toll road hearing.
They sat in rows of chairs and banks of bleachers at the back of the hall to hear what could turn into a daylong discussion about the Foothill South project.

"This is the largest turnout we have ever had," said Sarah Christie, the commission's legislative director.

Estimated to cost at least $875 million, the Foothill South would run 16-miles from Oso Parkway in Rancho Santa Margarita to I-5 at Basilone Road south of San Clemente. The highway would course through the northern half of San Onofre and pass over the Trestles marine estuary, which is a nature preserve. About 320 of the park's 2,100 acres would be taken for the road.

The controversy has generated intense public interest across the state. Local governments in Southern California have voted to support or oppose the highway. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger endorsed the project in January and other high-ranking state officials have taken positions on the road.

Before the hearing even began this morning„ such surfing-related companies, as Billabong, Etnies, Vans, Reef, and GFH Boards bused hundreds of tollway opponents to the Del Mar Fairgrounds. Cars of protesters bore painted signs that read, "Honk to Save Trestles," and "Save the Park."

Popular among the opposition were blue T-shirts that stated "Save the Park, Stop the Tollroad."

"There are only so many state parks left and we really should not pave over them," said Mike Matey, 40, of San Diego, who frequently camps and surfs at San Onofre. "I can't trust what the TCA says about the impacts of the highway on our coast."

Just outside Wyland Hall there was a carnival atmosphere. Hundreds of people milled about, sometimes shoulder to shoulder. Booths set up by the Sierra Club, the Surfrider Foundation and other environmental groups dispensed anti-tollroad literature while concessionaires sold hot dogs, burgers, coffee, mochas and lattes.

Heading inside the pavilion was Armando Esparza, secretary for Laborers' Union Local 652, which is affiliated with the Southern California District Council of Laborers. He was part of a group of more than 100 union members and tollway supporters from Orange County, the Inland Empire, and Los Angeles and San Diego counties.

"Maybe at the end of the day, this project will mean more jobs, but it also will help relieve congestion," Esparza said. "Look at our freeways now--the 91 and the 710. They are all congested. People are now coming in from San Diego County to work in Orange County. That creates a bottleneck on the 5."

55 charged in welfare fraud scheme

More than 50 people were charged in a $3 million child-care scam that involved bogus corporations and child-care facilities set up to receive state welfare funds, the Los Angeles County district attorney said Thursday.

In what prosecutors described as the largest such fraud case in the state, and possibly the nation, alleged ring-leader Demetrius Eugene, 36, created six bogus child-care facilities under the name of Home Sweet Home Day Care Inc. and listed family members and friends as care providers.
According to Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley, Eugene and fellow defendants recruited individuals qualified for state "welfare-to-work" programs, which provide child-care support for welfare recipients transitioning into employment.

One arm of Eugene's corporation provided false employment to parents, while the other claimed to provide child-care to those parents to collect state funds, prosecutors said.

The "welfare-to-work" candidates signed fake time cards for themselves and attendance sheets for their children at the operation's headquarters in Los Angeles, and received roughly $300 per child per month in return, authorities said. At most of the facilities, there was no evidence that child-care services were ever provided.

Cooley said the case was an indication of a complete lack of accountability and verification in the welfare transition program run by the state Department of Education.

"It's not just this crime, the way they perpetrated it, or how much money they got. It's really about the fact that it could have been prevented," Cooley said. "It will occur again and we won't be able to detect it."

Dist. Atty. James Baker, who worked on the case, said the ring is one of hundreds of child-care fraud operations that are referred each year to the county Department of Public Social Services.

"This might be one of the most sophisticated," he said. "They were able to fool the child-care agencies that they were legitimate."

The 55 defendants named in five separate complaints include nearly 50 parents, most of whom said they knew about the scheme, prosecutors said.

Eugene, a former employee of the California Department of Corporations, had little difficulty turning the day care center he inherited from his mother into a corporation, Baker said.

Most of the fraud alleged in the complaints occurred between 2000 and 2004, Baker said.

Among those charged in the case was Kmond Day, 32, who received his child-care license from a state agency and set up a facility shortly before he was convicted of drug trafficking. But even after Day was sent to prison, the state continued to provide welfare funds to his care center.

Day and his wife received more than $400,000 in state funds, authorities said.

"He surely wasn't there taking care of children, he was in federal prison." Cooley said.

Two buses involved in crash in South Los Angeles

An accident involving a transit bus, a school bus and three cars in South Los Angeles has left six people injured.

The crash happened about 4:20 p.m. on Manchester Avenue near Western Avenue. A city fire spokeswoman says no students were on the school bus nor was anyone aboard the Metropolitan Transportation Authority bus.

Six people had minor injuries but none of them were taken to a hospital.

The crash is under investigation.

This time, Microsoft may meet its match in Google

WASHINGTON -- Bill Gates worried that something like Google would come along before it even existed.

In 1995, the Microsoft leader recognized how a powerful Internet player could topple his company from the high-tech pyramid and launched an attack on all potential threats. Netscape, Sun Microsystems and other competitors paid the price.
So did Microsoft. Its tactics triggered a landmark antitrust case that handcuffed the software giant for a decade, hampering its ability to respond when the real Web boogeyman appeared: Google Inc.

But today the shackles are off. Largely unconstrained by the antitrust problems that have dogged it since the late 1990s, Microsoft is the aggressor again.

Its surprise $44.6-billion offer for Yahoo Inc. capped off a year in which Microsoft proved that it was serious about the Internet and willing to throw around its cash hoard.

Yahoo's board of directors has decided to reject the offer, a person familiar with the matter said Saturday. The person, who is close to Yahoo management, said the company planned to tell Microsoft in a letter Monday that the deal undervalues the Internet company and fails to offset its risk if regulators were to overturn the merger.

Although Yahoo doesn't want to sell to Microsoft, it has few alternatives. Many analysts expect Microsoft to sweeten its offer, and Yahoo to accept it.

If it wins Yahoo, the Redmond, Wash.-based software giant will have pulled off by far the largest acquisition in its 33-year history to try to keep Google from getting further ahead.

"Microsoft tends to be a reactive company," said Mark Anderson, an entrepreneur and author of an industry newsletter that counts Gates and Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer among its subscribers. "They also tend to always be focused on their competition, even down to the individuals that run divisions on both sides."

Google is lobbying against a potential Yahoo deal, saying Microsoft can't be trusted. Microsoft counters that it isn't the dominant player in Web advertising as it is in operating systems and office productivity software.

Pulling for former foe

Fearful of the new giant on the block, some of Microsoft's old enemies are rooting for it.

For years, Chris Tolles had a front-row seat to the brutal side of the so-called Beast from Redmond. The software developer worked at companies that went head-to-head with Microsoft, including Sun and Netscape.

But now he's running Topix, a Silicon Valley company that offers local news and other information online. Google launched a competing product last week.

"Creating a valid competitor for Google would be very helpful to the industry," Tolles said. "That's the irritating part: I'm rooting for Microsoft."

Microsoft, which declined to comment, doesn't enjoy the underdog role.

After its previous attempts to acquire Yahoo or strike a partnership were rebuffed, Microsoft made an unsolicited bid for the company Jan. 31 and announced it the next day. The half-cash, half-stock bid valued the struggling Internet company at $31 a share -- 62% more than its stock's closing price Jan. 31. But with the slump in Microsoft's share price since then, the offer's value has declined to $29.08 a share. Investors expect Microsoft to offer more.

"We keep at things," Ballmer told employees when the bid was announced. "We don't start and stop."

It's been a long, eventful struggle since Microsoft began its online push.

In a lengthy memo sent to Microsoft executives May 26, 1995, Gates warned that the young World Wide Web could spawn a competitor to threaten the software giant's computing dominance. He assigned the Internet "the highest level of importance."

Funeral horses stampede, overturn hearse

LONDON (Reuters) - A hearse overturned when the horses pulling it to a south London cemetery stampeded, dragging the carriage and coffin past appalled relatives and sending floral tributes flying.

"It was dreadful," a mourner told the South London Press. "The horses dragged the carriage to the cemetery on its side, tossing the coffin all over the place and destroying all the flowers inside.

"Some people got very angry and had to be restrained by other mourners... It is understandable given the circumstances. I'm horrified that something like this could happen."

Police were called to calm angry mourners so that the funeral last month could go ahead.

The carriage appeared to have clipped a mini-roundabout as it entered Lambeth Cemetery for the funeral, the local council which administers the graveyard said Friday.

Police say Florida woman strapped beer in with seat belt but not baby

ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. - Florida police arrested a motorist they said had a 24-pack of beer strapped in with a seat belt but had a 16-month-old girl unrestrained in the back seat with the toddler's mother.

Tina Williams was pulled over in St. Augustine on Sunday for allegedly running a red light.

A 24-pack of Busch beer was strapped in with the passenger-side seat belt, said an arrest report. The girl was in the back seat with 20-year-old Amber Tedrick, who is the toddler's mother.

Williams, 46, said she didn't know why the child wasn't restrained.

Williams refused to take a breath test and a deputy found two metal pipes commonly used to smoke drugs in her purse, authorities said.

Williams was charged with driving under the influence, child abuse, possession of drug paraphernalia and driving without a licence, a jail official said. She remained in the St. Johns County jail Tuesday after bail was set at $31,000.

The jail did not have the name of her lawyer. It was not clear if Tedrick would face any charges but the child was released to her care, the Florida Times-Union newspaper reported.

Drunk threatened city with TV remote

CANBERRA (Reuters) - A drunken man's threat to blow up half a city with his television remote control forced Australian police to declare a state of emergency at a luxury golf resort, a local court heard Thursday.

Geoffrey Martin Fryatt, 57, a resident of the Fairways Golf and Lifestyle Retreat in Brisbane, was arrested by elite paramilitary police after terrifying neighbors with a knife and threatening to detonate a store of chemicals with the TV remote.

"One push of the button will blow up half of Brisbane," Fryatt shouted in the standoff last May before police in the Queensland state capital opened fire with rubber bullets.

Fryatt's lawyer told the Brisbane District Court that his client lost control after losing much of his life savings in a fraud carried out by his finance broker, local media said.

"People are genuinely scared of sudden explosions," the judge said, sentencing Fryatt to a year's probation. "Frightening members of the public with threats of bombs and bomb hoaxes has a much greater impact than it once did," she said.

Fryatt accepted probation, but said he was concerned it could interrupt plans to travel overseas to do humanitarian aid work, the Brisbane Times newspaper reported.

"Let's get you right before we send you off to a third world country," the judge said.

Minnesota man who robbed woman and licked toes put on probation

MINNEAPOLIS - A man who robbed a woman of her keys and cellphone, then licked her toes, was sentenced Wednesday to five years' probation.

Carlton Jermaine Davis, 26, faces 21 months in prison if he fails to complete probation for the robbery charge in Ramsey County District Court.

A criminal complaint said Davis approached the woman around 1 a.m. on Sept. 9 as she was leaving work and forced her to put her phone and purse inside a bag.

Then he told her: "Now I'm going to suck your feet."

Police arrested Davis a few minutes later about four blocks away.

Have you heard? Hospitals to ban gossiping

BELGRADE (Reuters) - A ban on grumpiness, gossiping, mini-skirts and rudeness is what the doctor orders to improve patient care in Serbia's hospitals, according to new rules issued by the country's Health Ministry.

The rules, posted on the ministry's Web site, say staff are not allowed to criticize their hospital or their superiors, and should not accept gifts for their services.

Hospital staff are often bribed with cash or gifts for attention or better treatment.

"There needs to be ground rules for decency," a ministry spokesman said.

Serbia's public health system crumbled during the conflicts of the 1990s, with patients' relatives having to provide everything from bandages and antibiotics to food.

Funding improved as stability returned but bribery, often involving hundreds of euros, is still widespread.

Woman just misses hit when falling ice explodes through bedroom ceiling

CALGARY - A Calgary woman narrowly avoided getting hit by several chunks of ice that crashed through her bedroom ceiling Thursday morning, likely dropped from a passing airplane.

The city fire department says the woman was in the room and only a few steps away when debris "exploded" from the roof shortly before 9:30 a.m.

Fire crews found several chunks of ice about 15 centimetres long on the bed, along with pieces of shingles, plywood, drywall and insulation.

The best guess is the "frozen liquid" fell from a passing airplane. And fire department spokesman Jeff Budai says he can't think of anything else that would cause such damage.

The Transportation Safety Board of Canada is looking into the incident and confirms that a couple of airplanes were in the area at the time.

Winnipeg group breaks ball hockey record set by Edmonton players

WINNIPEG - A group of friends in Winnipeg has made it into the Guinness Book of World Records.

University student Chris Watchorn and more than 30 friends have been deemed to have played the longest marathon ball-hockey game - 100 hours and two minutes. The game was played last spring, and Watchorn only received the official confirmation of his world record this week. The new record shattered the previous mark of 30 hours set by a group in Edmonton in 2004.

Watchorn says the long game was hard on his body, but the official recognition is great.

He says the main goal was to raise money for cancer research, and he and friends managed to gather $25,000.

DUBLIN (Reuters) - Ireland should consider giving up driving on the left to reduce accidents by foreigners accustomed to right side motoring, a senior politician said Friday.

Donie Cassidy, the leader of Ireland's upper chamber Senate, cited Sweden -- which moved to the right in 1967 -- as an example of a country that switched decades after most of Europe did.

Ireland's economic growth over the past decade has attracted tens of thousands of workers especially from central and eastern European countries. It is also a popular tourist destination for visitors from the United States.

"We have all of these people coming in from Europe and from America and (because of) the roads that they are used to driving on in their own countries it is a huge difficulty when they start driving here," Cassidy told public broadcaster RTE.

"I know when I go to America it takes me five or six days to adjust."

Motoring body the AA said the idea was "completely impractical."

As another remedy, Cassidy suggested in the Senate on Thursday that people from countries driving on the right should observe a 50 mile per hour speed limit, compared with speeds up to 120 km permitted for Irish drivers.

Besides Ireland, many former British colonies such as India and Australia keep to the left as does Japan.

Afghan mission becomes election fodder with tabling of confidence bill

OTTAWA - The future of Canada's combat mission in Afghanistan has been tossed into the election incubator.

The minority Conservative government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper introduced a confidence motion Friday that proposes extending Canada's "current responsibility for security in Kandahar" by almost three years.

"It requires other parties to make a simple decision," government House leader Peter Van Loan told a news conference. "Either you support the military mission in Afghanistan or you don't."

Van Loan's tough talk sets up the Afghanistan question as a possible spring election trigger when the matter comes to a vote in Parliament next month.

It was the second confidence motion introduced by Van Loan in as many days, establishing the combative House leader as the Dr. Kevorkian of a minority government apparently determined to euthanize itself.

The opposition Liberals have consistently said they want Canada's combat role to end on schedule when the current mandate expires next February, but they maintain Canadian troops should stay on in Kandahar to help train Afghan forces and provide security for humanitarian projects.

It's a scenario that was explicitly rejected in the panel report on the mission delivered last month by former Liberal deputy prime minister John Manley. Gen. Rick Hillier, the chief of defence staff, has also dismissed the concept.

But the Liberals are sticking to their guns, saying Canada's combat role must end.

"Our position is that combat aspect of the mission has a deadline, which is February 2009," Dion said Friday in Vancouver.

The government motion proposes an "increasing emphasis on training" in coming years and suggests "Canada's combat role should be commensurately reduced."

The extension is also predicated on NATO finding another 1,000 troops for southern Afghanistan and helicopters and unmanned drones to assist Canadian troops there, as recommended in the Manley report. The Liberals back those recommendations.

NATO defence ministers were meeting Friday in Vilnius, Lithuania, where France suggested it might be prepared to come to Canada's aid in Kandahar.

Ottawa responded by sending the prime minister's chief of staff, Ian Brodie, to Paris for followup discussions.

But French officials have suggested a firm commitment won't be made before April, and they can't provide the entire 1,000-soldier contingent that Canada is seeking.

The Manley panel suggested the government wait until after NATO's critical planning session in Bucharest scheduled for April before putting the mission's future to Parliament.

That suggests the Conservative and Liberal positions could converge at some point - a point emphasized Friday by Liberal deputy leader Michael Ignatieff - but not necessarily before the arbitrary end-of-March deadline set for a vote by the government.

"We have a motion that we cannot accept today," said Dion. "We'll come with our own proposal next week, and we'll let the Parliament (do) its job."

While both Van Loan and Dion said they're looking for compromise, both seemed to indicate it had to come on their terms.

Critics pointed out the Conservative ultimatum could now force Canada into an election campaign during this crucial period of NATO decision making.

"The prime minister has to explain how he's manoeuvred and levered us into a situation in which it is possible . . . that we'll be in Bucharest without a Canadian government," said Liberal deputy leader Michael Ignatieff. "And who's responsible for that? Stephen Harper."

Green party leader Elizabeth May said in a release that Harper may be jeopardizing Canadian soldiers by "further polarizing the mission."

"When the Taliban realize that our continued presence in Afghanistan depends on the results of an election, their insurgents will undoubtedly target Canadian soldiers in a move to influence public opinion in our country," said May.

Both Conservatives and Liberals insist they don't want to fight a campaign on the issue.

"In terms of prompting an election, I don't think any political strategist - and I've spent my bit of time in back rooms - would be there going, 'Hey, have an election on Afghanistan, that's a real winner for you,"' said Van Loan.

Yet a former Harper adviser gave a more nuanced assessment this week.

"Afghanistan is a risky thing to force an election on, but I actually think it could work out reasonably well for the government," political scientist Tom Flanagan said Thursday in an interview with The Canadian Press.

"They are the only party that's clearly in favour of the mission now, so there would be four parties denouncing it," - and splitting the vote on the left.

He noted that roughly 45 per cent of Canadians say they'd consider voting Conservative, about the same number as supports an ongoing Afghan mission. Flanagan posits they're the same constituency, and theoretically more than enough for a Tory majority.

Yet Flanagan raised the same concern as the Green party's May, saying Taliban insurgents might see a Canadian election as the perfect opportunity for a "Tet offensive" - an allusion to the 1968 Viet Cong offensive that turned American opinion against the Vietnam War.

"That's obviously got to be a concern (for the government)," said Flanagan.

The more salient question is why either Tories or Grits would want to fight an election at this time.

The Tories have generally maintained a slim lead for months in public opinion surveys - albeit firmly in minority government territory - and yet have recorded below Liberal support in two recent polls by Harris-Decima Research and pollster Nick Nanos.

What seems more likely is that the Afghan question falls into the ongoing Conservative campaign to castigate Dion as a weak leader unprepared for the big job.

Van Loan missed no opportunities to work that theme Friday when he unveiled the latest confidence motion.

"At the end of the day this is a question of leadership," Van Loan said to close the news conference. "It needs strong leadership, not dithering. That's what we're providing."

Canadians have been in Afghanistan since 2002 in a mission which has cost the lives of 78 soldiers and a diplomat. It's estimated that the mission will have cost $6.3 billion by the end of next February.

Greek cabbie demands steep fare for cellphone sex video

ATHENS (AFP) - A young Greek actress who forgot her cellphone in an Athens cab found herself blackmailed for 1,500 euros (2,200 dollars) when the driver threatened to post sex footage stored inside the phone on the Internet, the Greek police department said on Friday.

The 30-year-old driver was arrested on Thursday after the unnamed actress gave him the demanded sum in marked currency.

The taxi driver, also unidentified, who had initially tried to peddle the sex footage to a reporter, told police he was facing "serious financial difficulties."

The behaviour of taxi drivers in Greece usually tops visitors' grudge lists with complaints ranging from boorish conduct and rip-off pricing to general uncleanliness.

The union representing Athens' some 15,000 taxi drivers has repeatedly promised to organise behavioural seminars for its members but the effect on the street has been minimal.

British mapmakers battle-scarred by blunder

LONDON (AFP) - The Duke of Wellington's descendants could be forgiven for wanting to put the boot in after blundering mapmakers said he led the 1066 invasion of England, newspapers reported Saturday.

William the Conqueror is usually credited with leading the Norman invasion and winning the Battle of Hastings.

But locals in Battle, near Hastings on the southern English coast, got a surprise when they got their hands on the new Battle Town Map And Guide.

The guide said it was Britain's 1815 Battle of Waterloo hero the Duke of Wellington who fought king Harold II's forces.

"I'm obviously living in the wrong place or time," said Fred Carver, from the Battle Museum of Local History.

"Or we have been rather misguided in thinking William the Conqueror ever came here. How it occurred I have no idea," he was quoted as saying in The Daily Telegraph.

The town council did not get the chance to proof-read the guide before it went to print and only found out about the historical howler when they and advertisers received copies this week.

"We are aware there is an error on the Battle map and guide," said managing director Les Ball.

"We will be going to press shortly, with any errors rectified accordingly."

Leatherback turtle swims from Indonesia to Oregon in epic journey

BANGKOK, Thailand - Scientists tracked a leatherback turtle that swam from Indonesia to the United States in an epic 20,000-kilometre journey as it searched for food - research they hope will boost international efforts to save the endangered species.

Leatherbacks, which can grow up to 2.75 metres in length, have roamed the oceans for 100 million years. But researchers at the U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service in California say commercial fishing makes the oceans too dangerous for the globe-trotting sea turtles, which face extinction if no action is taken.

"Migrations of this magnitude expose animals to a multitude of risks from fisheries on the high seas," Scott Benson and Peter Dutton, scientists with the service, co-wrote in a paper that appeared last month in the peer-reviewed Chelonian Conservation and Biology.

"Effective conservation requires a better understanding of migratory routes and destinations to understand and mitigate the risks at sea," they wrote.

The leatherback is the world's most endangered sea turtle. In a telephone interview Friday, Benson estimated fewer than 5,000 adult females now live in the Pacific region. Males cannot be easily counted because they don't come ashore. Conservationists estimate the breed could become extinct within 30 years.

Turtles "face a myriad of risks from things like ingesting debris like plastic, to travelling through areas that are used by multinational fisheries - fisheries that would catch (the turtles) in the course of trying to catch fish," Benson said.

Benson and Dutton went to Indonesia in 2001 hoping to track some turtles using satellite transmitters, confirm their transpacific route and prompt action to prevent their extinction. Their research showed the animals ranged from the South China Sea to the Sea of Japan to the North Pacific.

One adult female began her journey in 2003 on a nesting beach in Jamursbamedi in Papua province, Benson said. He and Dutton tracked the leatherback and her hunt for food for 647 days until the transmitter's battery ran out just off Hawaii. During her travels she swam as far as the state of Oregon.

"It's the old adage of not putting all your eggs in one basket," Benson said.

"If a foraging ground was bad one year, maybe another foraging ground would be good. Some portion of the population would always be able to find food."

Peter Pritchard, a turtle expert and director of the Chelonian Research Institute in Florida, said he wasn't surprised to learn how far the turtle travelled.

"It's possible and only limited by the geography of the world," Pritchard said Friday.

"They are masters of the ocean. There is a tremendous amount of muscle in the front."

"This is a powerful fishing machine and remarkable diving machine."

Benson called for action to protect leatherback turtles as they roam the seas.

"It will be the responsibility of many countries to ensure the species survives in the Pacific Ocean for future generations," he said.

"It's an animal that doesn't recognize international boundaries. You can protect the nesting beaches but if you can't protect the animal in the water, you haven't done anything."

Philadelphia traffic judge apologizes to man nagged for years over twin's tickets

PHILADELPHIA - A judge in Philadelphia has apologized to a man who was hounded for 17 years by officials trying to get his twin brother to resolve $1,800 in unpaid tickets and fines.

The problems all started for 40-year-old Edward Harris in October 1990 when his twin brother, Edwin Harris, received eight tickets for moving violations.

Edwin Harris pleaded guilty in traffic court in September 1991 and was ordered to pay $1,501, but never paid and later drifted south and lost touch with his brother.

In the fall of 1992, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation confusing Edward Harris with his brother, told him his license would be suspended for nonpayment of tickets.

Eventually, the department got things cleared up and withdrew the suspension threat, but every year or so, it would rediscover Edwin Harris' unpaid tickets and threaten to suspend his twin's license.

Edward Harris had enough and in November he decided to take his story to the Philadelphia Daily News - a move that eventually led to this week's apology by the judge.

Forget checking out the scene where truck packed with coins crashed

KAMLOOPS, B.C. - Forget checking out the crash site where a truck packed with coins crashed.

That's the word from RCMP Staff Sgt. Dale Einarson after a vehicle containing mostly quarters crashed Thursday night on Highway 1, just west of Kamloops, B.C.

Einarson said the coins were being transported to Vancouver from the Royal Canadian Mint in Winnipeg when it tumbled down a nine-metre embankment.

"We certainly don't want people going out there to observe the scene," Einarson said.

The driver and passenger in the truck were not injured

Christine Acquino, spokeswoman for the Mint, cited security reasons for not disclosing the value of the spilled load.

She said the quarters feature snowboarding designs that are part of the Olympic collection that will be released Feb. 20.

"The design has been launched for over a year now so there's no secret on the design," Acquino said.

RCMP Const. Randi Love said a Mountie is guarding the winding section of the Trans-Canada Highway, "just due to the fact that there's money involved."

B.C. man who hits deer in Ont. wanted on failure to pay child support

DRYDEN, Ont. - A man's run-in with a deer is going to cost him - dearly.

A B.C. man is in custody after he was picked up by Dryden police on Highway 17 in northwestern Ontario on Wednesday night.

The man had just hit a deer and was waiting for help.

Raymond Thomson was likely not pleased when police arrived.

An investigation revealed Thomson was wanted for failure to pay child support.

Former caddie Shiv Chowrasia clinches Indian Masters with 5-under 67

NEW DELHI - Former caddie Shiv Chowrasia of India clinched the Indian Masters title with a 5-under-67 Sunday at the Delhi Golf Club.

The 29-year-old had a bogey-free final round to win his maiden European Tour title. He finished at 9-under 279, two strokes ahead of Ireland's Damien McGrane. Chowrasia surged into the lead with three birdies over the first four holes.

"This is the biggest achievement of my life, it's beyond my expectations," said Chowrasia, the son of a greenskeeper at the Royal Calcutta Golf Club.

"I can't describe my emotions as it hasn't quite sunk in yet," he said. "Playing the last few holes, I realized the title was within my grasp.

"Playing safe and keeping my calm was important at that stage, so I kept my cool," he said.

McGrane shot a 70 with three bogies and five birdies to finish two shots ahead of Jose Manuel Lara. The Spaniard had a 72.

Overnight leader Raphael Jacquelin of France shot a 74 to leave him five strokes back, in tied fourth with local Digvijay Singh.

World No. 4 and two-time U.S. Open champion Ernie Els shot a 71 and finished in a five-way tie for the sixth along with Thomas Bjorn, Gaurav Ghei, Maarten Lafeber and Ross McGowan.

Els was unable to recover from a disappointing opening round, which featured a quadruple-bogey 9.

The US$2.5 million Indian Masters was jointly sanctioned by the Asian Tour on which Chowrasia plays regularly, but without previously winning a title.

Pedestrian fatality identified as Waianae woman

The city Department of the Medical Examiner has identified Florentina Ganitano, 80, of Wai'anae as the woman who died of injuries Thursday morning after being struck by a car Wednesday evening in Ma'ili.

Ganitano was crossing Farrington Highway near Liliana Street in a crosswalk when a pickup truck hit her about 5:30 p.m.

Speeding and alcohol were not factors, police said.

Ganitano was taken to The Queen's Medical Center. She died there at 12:33 a.m. Thursday, police said.

It was the fourth pedestrian fatality on O'ahu this year.

Hawaii Superferry suspends operations for two weeks

Hawaii Superferry will suspend service for at least two weeks starting Feb. 13 as it repairs its rudders.

The Superferry has been plagued by cancellations in the past two months, mostly due to bad weather or problems with the Maui harbor.

The company said today it would put the ship in dry dock for "approximately two weeks" for repairs related to the vessel's auxiliary rudders.

The company said it was "taking advantage of the off-peak travel season" to make the repairs. It said the repairs to the rudders will enhance passenger comfort.

"Voyages have been canceled during this period, with service expected to resume March 3," the company said.

Passengers with reservations for the two weeks will get a refund or a ticket for a later date.

"We appreciate the patience and understanding of our passengers while our vessel is out of service," said Lani Olds, a spokeswoman for the Hawaii Superferry.

Fire set at UCLA scientist's house

Authorities are investigating a fire caused by a device left Tuesday at a house owned by a UCLA professor who conducts animal research -- the second time the house has been targeted in less than four months.

The device was placed Monday morning on the front porch of a Westside house owned by Edythe London, FBI officials in Los Angeles said.
London, a professor of psychiatry and bio-behavioral sciences and of molecular and medical pharmacology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, uses lab monkeys in her research on nicotine addiction.

FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller confirmed that officials with the Joint Terrorism Task Force were investigating the incident.

"It was ignited and caused damage to the property," Eimiller said. "No one was home at the time and nobody was hurt."

Eimiller said no one had claimed responsibility. But the agency is investigating the allegation that the Animal Liberation Front used a garden hose to flood London's house Oct. 20 in an attempt to stop her animal experiments.

UCLA Chancellor Gene Block condemned Tuesday's vandalism.

"Violence has once again been directed at a UCLA faculty member who conducts research involving laboratory animals. . . . These kinds of deplorable tactics have no place in a civilized society," Block said.

"UCLA is working closely with the FBI and other law enforcement agencies to bring to justice those responsible for this and other acts of violence against our researchers," he said.

Meanwhile, authorities are also investigating ties between the October incident and one in June in which an incendiary device was lighted, but did not explode, next to a car at the home of a UCLA eye disease researcher.

In an op-ed piece in The Times in November, London wrote that researchers should not give in to intimidation and violence. "To me, nothing could be more important than solving the mysteries of addiction and learning how we can restore a person's control over his or her own life," London wrote. "We must not allow these extremists to stop important research that advances the human condition."

Spears released from UCLA hospital

Singer Britney Spears was released from a psychiatric ward at the UCLA Medical Center on Wednesday after nearly a week of treatment and later checked briefly into the Beverly Hills Hotel, trailed by a parade of paparazzi, authorities said.

The release prompted an angry response from the performer's parents, Jamie and Lynne Spears, who issued a joint statement suggesting that her freedom posed a threat to her life.
"As parents of an adult child in the throes of a mental health crisis, we were extremely disappointed this morning to learn that over the recommendation of her treating psychiatrist, our daughter Britney was released from the hospital that could best care for her and keep her safe," the statement read.

"We are deeply concerned about our daughter's safety and vulnerability and we believe her life is presently at risk. There are conservatorship orders in place created to protect our daughter that are being blatantly disregarded. We ask only that the court's orders be enforced so that a tragedy may be averted."

The statement came after eight hours of erratic behavior on the part of the performer.

After being released from the hospital, Spears made a brief stop around noon at her gated Coldwater Canyon home.

She then drove off in her black Mercedes sports car. The paparazzi at times hopped out of their vehicles and surrounded her car in traffic, snapping shots of the 26-year-old pop star, authorities said.

Beverly Hills police went to the hotel about 3:20 p.m. in response to a call "to keep the peace," Lt. Tony Lee said. Police did not stop Spears or detain any members of paparazzi, and she later drove from the hotel, Lee said.

Spears was admitted to the medical facility Jan. 31 under Section 5150 of California's Welfare and Institutions Code, which greatly restricts the ability of government officials to hospitalize an individual against their will, but allows a person to be held for 72 hours for evaluation. Spears' hold was later extended to two weeks. Release in such cases is contingent on a finding the patient is not a danger to herself or others.

A UCLA Medical Center spokeswoman declined to comment, citing patient privacy.

Spears' father and an attorney have been granted temporary conservatorship over her and her estate. Spears' mother, in an application for a restraining order, accused her daughter's friend and sometime manager, Sam Lutfi, of cutting the singer's phone lines, disabling her vehicles and grinding up pills to place in her food. An order was issued barring Lutfi from coming within 250 yards of the pop star.

According to sources, Spears' father filed a grand theft report after the singer was hospitalized, alleging that paintings, jewelry and other valuables had been taken from her home.

New heights of luxury in Century City

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Plans for a 45-story, wisp-thin tower of ultra-luxury condominiums between Beverly Hills High School and the Los Angeles Country Club are set to be unveiled today. Developers say it would be one of the most expensive residential buildings in the West.

The $400-million tower along one of the area's toniest corridors would be the first building in California designed by renowned Paris architect Jean Nouvel, known for his daring designs. He is proposing a narrow glass structure with sweeping views through the building and extensive greenery ringing each floor.
The developer predicts the project will attract European and Asian globe-trotters as well as local empty-nesters ready to move from sprawling Westside mansions to roomy condominiums complete with concierge services, a private club, first-run movie screenings and valet parking.

Even at a time of economic uncertainty -- when Southern California employers are trimming payrolls, stock prices are falling and home values are dropping -- the demand for luxury housing continues nearly unabated in the Westside. And with it has come more traffic and growing homeowner resentment about construction and congestion.

Prices have not been set for the proposed condos at 10000 Santa Monica Blvd. But units in the ultra-luxury Century tower being built in nearby Century City are being offered at a range of $3.2 million to $30 million, and the Nouvel condos are expected to be even more pricey.

Two top-drawer projects are also being planned around the intersection of Santa Monica and Wilshire boulevards in Beverly Hills. Last year, British developers paid $500 million for the former Robinson-May department store at the site, where a 252-unit condo and retail complex designed by prominent architect Richard Meier has been proposed.

"How much high-end product can the market bear in such a close proximity?" asked real estate broker Gary Weiss of Madison Partners, who called the planned Nouvel building "extraordinarily ambitious."

Nouvel's developer, SunCal Cos., said it was undeterred by slumping home sales in Southern California and hoped to break ground in 2009. The company said it expected to start seeking formal city approvals next week.

"What we are really doing is addressing an underserved component of the market," said Frank Faye, chief operating officer of SunCal. "We are confident we would be able to sell these units today and we will be able to sell them quite rapidly once they're made available."

Considered one of the most desirable locations for development in the country, the vacant lot was the object of a high-profile bidding war in 2006 when Irvine home builder SunCal finally topped New York developer Donald Trump with a $110.2-million offer for just 2.4 acres.

Ever since, the site has been eyed with curiosity and suspicion in an area where homeowners have already expressed alarm about the rapid pace of development. "The truth is that people are happy in their neighborhood and they don't want to see it change," said Kevin Hughes, president of the Cheviot Hills Homeowners' Assn.

Plans call for 177 units, with two to six condominiums per floor. Elevators would serve every condo directly so there would be no corridors between units. "Each residence is designed as a home in the sky surrounded by an abundance of plants and flowers but with no visual limits to the spectacular views of the city, mountains and ocean," Nouvel said.

In Los Angeles, "we have to build buildings especially for this climate," he said. "From the boulevard, it will look like a vertical garden."

City Councilman Jack Weiss, who represents Century City, said he supported Nouvel's concept. "We have never had someone of this caliber designing something residential on the Westside," he said.

"My public-policy goal has been to make Century City a world-class residential destination," Weiss said. "That creates benefits because people can live near where they work and traffic is generated at off-peak hours."

But some neighborhood residents are skeptical about how beneficial ultra-luxury housing would be.

"To make Century City truly livable you need housing for people who work there who aren't presidents of their companies," said Barbara Broide, president of the Westwood South of Santa Monica Boulevard Homeowners Assn. "That's what we need to take car trips off the street."

The mayor of Beverly Hills echoes Broide's concern about how the building might add to congestion. "It will not be easy to digest for Beverly Hills people who are already getting a lot of traffic that is not Beverly Hills traffic."

Faye, the developer, however, said that the residential tower would generate less traffic than the office building that used to occupy the site. The previous owner demolished the building that once housed several tenants, including Jimmy's restaurant.

Faye also said he thought the Nouvel building would be set apart from rivals both in price and amenities.

But competition lurks with many other pricey units coming to market.

Westfield, the owner of Century City's shopping center, plans to build 262 upscale condos or apartments to complement its recent $170-million makeover of the mall.

And Century City landlord JMB Realty Corp. plans to build 483 units on Constellation Boulevard.

Owners of the Beverly Hilton Hotel also plan to add upmarket condos as part of a major upgrade and expansion on the property. Other high-end condos overlooking the Los Angeles Country Club and at the Montage Hotel in Beverly Hills are being built.

The Nouvel design of SunCal's planned tower is intentionally ambitious, Faye said. "This is an exciting opportunity," he said. "The worst thing we could do is under-deliver."