Dempsey goal gives US 1-1 tie against England

England's players couldn't get off the field fast enough. The Americans lingered to savor the night.

They walked to the end of Royal Bafokeng Stadium where thousands of red, white and blue-clad fans were waving the Stars and Stripes and cheering their heads off.

Try convincing the U.S. team and its fans there wasn't a winner in the 1-1 draw with mighty England.

"We'll take more out of a draw than they will," said U.S. goalkeeper Tim Howard, the man of the match. "They're going to feel like they should have won the game."

Facing the Three Lions in the World Cup for the first time in 60 years, the United States rallied …

Information leak worries senator, Rockefeller says special counsel should investigate

DAILY MAIL WASHINGTON BUREAU

WASHINGTON - Sen. Jay Rockefeller, the top Democrat on theIntelligence Committee, said the leak of the identity of a CIAoperative, allegedly by Bush administration officials, could have a"chilling effect" on agents' willingness to express dissentingassessments and on recruitment of new agents.

As the Justice Department Tuesday announced a full-blown criminalinvestigation, Rockefeller, D-W.Va., and other Democrats continued topress for the appointment of a special counsel "because of theobvious and inherent conflicts of interest involved."

"We believe it is imperative that this matter be investigated asquickly and thoroughly as …

Ford Reports $380M Loss for 3rd-Qtr

Ford Motor Co. posted a third-quarter loss of $380 million on Thursday, a vast improvement over its $5.2 billion loss a year earlier.

But it was a worse performance than its second-quarter profit of $750 million, its first profitable quarter in two years.

The overall net loss amounted to 19 cents per share for the July-September period in contrast to a net loss of $2.79 per share in the third quarter of last year.

Much of the loss was attributed to $350 million in special …

Paige Wiser's TV highlights

Barack Obama news conference (7 p.m., ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, FNC): Marking the president's first 100 days in office. Just like on Election Night, CNN's John King will get to use his giant magic touch-screen.

"Lie to Me" (7 p.m., WFLD-Channel 32): Tim Roth plays a human lie detector. Fox refuses to cede this hour to the president -- it's the first time a network has refused Obama's request. You could switch back and forth …

Why would anyone kill Brown?

April ought to be the month that we not only reflect upon the Crucifixion of Jesus but also the untimely deaths of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and former Commerce Secretary Ron Brown, the man often suggested to become the nation's first Black president.

What's the connection? So glad you asked.

If the reporter/witnesses, such as Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, had stopped talking and writing about the Assassination of Jesus and his subsequent Resurrection, what Scriptures would Christians have to base their faith upon? The Jesus followers could no more have depended upon the Roman soldiers to report truthfully on the Crucifixion than we can depend upon the FBI and the legacy …

Animal Health Labs Blamed Over Outbreak

LONDON - Faulty drains, construction work, heavy rain and vehicle movements at an animal health facility where workers handled live viruses probably led to an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in southern England, according to an official report Friday.

The report was released as the government declared Surrey county, where the outbreak was detected Aug. 3, to be free of the disease. The outbreak led to Britain slaughtering about 600 animals and suspending exports of livestock, meat and milk products for nearly three weeks.

Two reports focused on a site at Pirbright, England, shared by the government-funded Institute for Animal Health, a diagnostic laboratory, and Merial …

A glance at British lawmakers' expense claims

Britain's Parliament posted copies of lawmakers' expense claims online Thursday, weeks after uncensored files were leaked to a newspaper. Here are some of the new revelations about what legislators charged the public for:

___

TONY BLAIR: The former prime minister claimed 6,900 ($11,230) for roof repairs days before he quit Parliament, 260 pounds ($425) for shredding of confidential data and charged for daily newspapers _ at a cost of about 1,168 pounds ($1,912) per year.

___

DAVID CAMERON: Britain's opposition Conservative Party leader _ a likely future prime minister _ used public money to help sharpen his public speeches, charging …

Oct. Trade Deficit Improves

WASHINGTON The U.S. trade deficit improved dramatically inOctober, narrowing to $7.03 billion as American exports climbed to anall-time high, the government said today.

In another economic report, the Labor Department said that newclaims for unemployment benefits rose for the first time in fourweeks in early December. The level of applications for joblessbenefits climbed by 22,000 to 347,000 for the week ending Dec. 5,primarily reflecting the fact that claims offices had one extra dayto process applications as compared to the previous holiday-shortenedweek.

The Commerce Department said the October trade deficit, thelowest since June, was 18 percent below …

Analyst upgrades Newpark Resources to 'Buy'

NEW YORK (AP) — An analyst for Jefferies on Thursday upgraded his rating on Newpark Resources Inc. and raised his price targets and earnings estimates for the drilling services company.

Analyst Stephen Gengaro said Newpark is currently undervalued by Wall Street and noted that its various services should be driving profits over the next few years. Newpark provides fluids management, waste disposal, and well site preparation products and services for petroleum drillers.

Gengaro upgraded Newpark to "Buy" from "Hold" and …

NBA Standings

…

All Times EST
EASTERN CONFERENCE
Atlantic Division
W L Pct GB
Boston 29 14 .674 _
Toronto 25 22 .532 6
New York 18 27 .400 12
Philadelphia 15 30 .333 15
New Jersey 4 40 .091 25 1/2
Southeast Division
W L Pct GB

GOOD FOR YOUR GAME

The long bunker shot is one of the toughest shots in golf.

To execute it, begin by widening your stance to slightly more thanshoulder width. This will give you a solid foundation for the swing.If your stance is too narrow you risk losing your balance, and thatwould cause a poor shot.

Take a three-quarters backswing, bringing the club on a slightlyinward arc. On the downswing imagine another ball in front of theball you are …

Tejada hits 1st homer, Mets pound Cubs 18-5

CHICAGO (AP) — Ruben Tejada hit his first major league homer and drove in five runs, Ike Davis also connected and the New York Mets erupted for 21 hits and pounded the Chicago Cubs 18-5 Sunday to avoid a weekend sweep.

The Mets' bats perked up for season highs in runs and hits even though David Wright got a day off and Jose Reyes was still nursing a strained right oblique. They scored five runs in the fifth, eighth and ninth innings while winning for just the second time in seven games.

Tejada, who had never knocked in more than a run, had a two-run single in the fifth and homered leading off the seventh.

Davis had four hits and drove in three runs while scoring three. …

Syria praises Obama election

A state-run Syrian newspaper has welcomed the victory of U.S. President-elect Barack Obama and says the country is ready for serious dialogue with the new leader.

Al-Thawra says Obama's victory has "inspired" people across the globe and the American people should be congratulated for electing him.

It is rare praise from a country that has been shunned and isolated by the current administration of U.S. President George W. Bush.

Tension between the two sides increased last month following an American attack inside Syria near Iraq that Damascus says killed eight civilians. U.S. officials say the attack targeted an al-Qaida in Iraq figure.

Al-Thawra said Thursday Syria "extends its hand" to Obama and is ready for dialogue.

Spanish Vuelta Results

HARO, Spain (AP) — Results Tuesday from the 16th stage of the Spanish Vuelta, a 203.6-kilometer (127-mile) ride from Palencia to Haro in the northerneastern region of La Rioja:

1. Juan Jose Haedo, Argentina, Saxo Bank-Sunguard, 4 hours, 41 minutes, 56 seconds.

2. Alessandro Petacchi, Italy, Lampre-ISD, same time.

3. Daniele Bennati, Italy, Leopard Trek, same time.

4. Vicente Reynes, Spain, Omega Pharma-Lotto, same time.

5. Leigh Howard, Australia, HTC-Highroad, 2 seconds behind.

6. Koen de Koert, Netherlands, Skill-Shimano, same time.

7. Lloyd Mondory, France, AG2R La Mondiale, same time.

8. Nikolas Maes, Belgium, QuickStep, same time.

9. Christopher Sutton, Australia, Sky, same time.

10. Juan Jose Cobo, Spain, Geox, same time.

___

Overall Standings
(After 16 of 21 stages)

1. Juan Jose Cobo, Spain, Geox, 64 hours, 39 minutes, 14 seconds.

2. Christopher Froome, Britain, Sky, :22.

3. Bradley Wiggins, Britain, Sky, :51.

4. Bauke Mollema, Netherlands, Rabobank, 1:41.

5. Maxime Monfort, Belgium, Leopard Trek, 2:40.

6. Denis Menchov, Russia, Geox, 3:06.

7. Jakob Fuglsang, Denmark, Leopard Trek, 3:08.

8. Vicenzo Nibali, Italy, Liquigas-Cannondale, 3:49.

9. Jurgen Van Den Broeck, Belgium, Omega Pharma Lotto, 4:03.

10. Wouter Poels, Netherlands, Vacansoleil, 4:18.

Cusiter has talks with Hadden

Scotland scrum-half Chris Cusiter has held showdown talks withcoach Frank Hadden.

The former Robert Gordon's College pupil was dropped from thesquad for tomorrow's Calcutta Cup clash with England at Murrayfield.

Despite featuring from the bench in all of Scotland's Six Nationsmatches so far, the 25-year-old did not make the 22-man matchdaysquad.

Hadden, pictured, opted to go with Gloucester's Rory Lawson onthe bench, with stand-in captain Mike Blair continuing at scrumhalf.

Cusiter said: "I've asked what I can do to improve my game inorder to get myself into the starting line-up.

"Frank is open and honest enough to give you a straight answer.When a coach's mind is made up, the only way you can change it is byplaying well and making it hard for them to ignore you."

But despite his disappointment at not making the squad, thePerpignan player is confident his team-mates can cause a shock anddump Brian Ashton's men.

He said: "Every time we play England, we are reminded of howphysical a side they can be. It's necessary to front up to that ifyou are to have a chance of winning the game.

"We defended really well in 2006 to beat them as we managed tokeep their pack at bay."

Meanwhile, Scotland flanker Alasdair Strokosch reckons the Scotshave to bully England.

He said: "You've got to step up and hit them harder than they canhit you."

Roma wins stage, Peterhansel keeps overall lead

ANTOFAGASTA, Chile (AP) — Joan Roma of Spain won Monday's eighth stage of the Dakar Rally in the car category with Stephane Peterhansel finishing fourth to keep the overall lead as the rally heads into the final week.

In the motorcycle category, defending champion Marc Coma of Spain won the stage and also took the overall lead from Frenchman Cyril Despres, who got stuck in mud and lost 10 minutes trying to escape the mire.

The 477-kilometer (296-mile) special stage, coming after Sunday's rest day, took riders due north from Copiapo to the coastal city of Antofagasta. The rally ends on Jan. 15 in Lima, Peru.

Roma, driving a Mini, finished in 4 hours, 25 minutes, 44 seconds. He was five seconds ahead of American Robby Gordon in a Hummer and 2:04 ahead of Krzysztof Holowczyc of Poland, also in a Mini. Peterhansel in a Mini was fourth, 5:38 behind the leader.

Coma, on a KTM, won the stage in 5 hours, 3 minutes, 52 seconds. He was 7 minutes in front of Ruben Faria of Portugal, riding a KTM, and 7:10 clear of Portuguese rider Helder Rodrigues on a Yamaha. Despres finished more than nine minutes behind in sixth place and forfeited the lead after getting stuck early in the stage.

"I was lucky not to lose too much time in the mud and then I saw I could open a gap," Coma said. "So I attacked really hard."

Coma leads Despres by 1:26 in the overall standings in what is a two-man race on bikes. Rodrigues is third, more than 49 minutes behind the leader.

Jet-set pets Law to improve care of animals

Traveling pets are getting as common as rolling luggage, and theestimated half-million jet-setters among them soon should be assuredof better treatment than your garment bag, thanks to new legislationthat recently cleared Congress.

The FAA Reauthorization Bill (HR 1000), which includes provisionsadopted from a bill that was called the Safe Air Travel for AnimalsAct, requires airlines to improve employees' training in handlinganimals and to report the loss, injury or death of any pets entrustedto their care. The reported incidents will for the first time be madeavailable to the public, just like on-time records and lost-baggagestatistics.

"This is a stunning win for animals that must travel by air aswell as for consumers who travel with their companion animals," NancyBlaney, director of the ASPCA National Legislative Office inWashington, D.C., said when the bill won congressional approval.

Pets have been left on freezing cold and searing hot tarmacs; theyhave been abandoned overnight on luggage carts; baggage has fallen onthem; baggage carts have been driven over them, the ASPCA says. Petshave also died from lack of air or excessive heat or cold in thecargo hold_which the Safe Air Travel for Animals Act would haveaddressed with climate-control requirements (dropped from the finalbill along with a provision for increased liability for incidentsinvolving animals), the ASPCA said.

When pets arrive at their destinations, they are also getting awarmer reception from mainstream lodgings eager to win the hearts oftheir doting owners.

"Finding a dog-friendly hotel has become much easier in the fiveyears we've had our dog," said Vicki Kung, co-founder ofDogpark.com. It lists, among other things, places where travelers canlet their pets run off-leash. "More people feel a vacation withoutthe dog is not a complete vacation, and dogs as members of the familyare much more accepted," she said. "I even know of a few places thatprefer dogs to children in terms of behavior."

Islamic Games canceled over 'Persian Gulf' logo

A sporting event meant to strengthen ties among Muslim nations has been canceled because of a dispute between Arab countries and Iran over the name of the waterway dividing them, organizers said Sunday.

The Saudi-based sports federation that organizes the games said it canceled the event after Iran used the name "Persian Gulf" in the logo. Arabs call the waterway the Arabian Gulf and many of them feel offended by references to its other common name.

The Islamic Solidarity Games were to be held in Iran's capital, Tehran, in the spring.

"The federation regrettably declares the cancellation of the games in Iran because the organizers did not comply with the rules of games and the federation's bylaws," a federation statement said.

Iran maintains the strategic waterway on its southern coast has historically been known as the Persian Gulf. It has even banned publication of maps showing it as just "the Gulf."

The western shores of the waterway are held by Saudi Arabia and six other Arab countries.

The five-year-old games were created to strengthen ties among the 57-nations of the Organization of the Islamic Conference. Events include athletics, swimming, basketball, football and wrestling.

The 2010 games would have permitted female athletes to compete for the first time.

Fed seeks comment on holding company rating system

Public comment is requested by the Federal Reserve on proposed revisions that would better align the bank holding company rating system with current supervisory practices. The proposed rating system incorporates an increased emphasis on risk management, a more flexible and comprehensive evaluation of financial condition and an explicit determination of the likelihood that the nondepository entities of a holding company will have a significant negative impact on the depository subsidiaries.

Under the revised rating system, each holding company would be assigned a composite rating based on an evaluation of three essential components of financial condition and operations: risk management; financial condition; and potential impact of the parent company and nondepository subsidiaries on the subsidiary depository institutions. A fourth component in the rating system would generally mirror the primary supervisors' assessment of the subsidiary depository institutions. The Fed said a simplified version of the rating system would be applied to noncomplex bank holding companies with assets of less than $1 billion.

To provide a consistent framework for assessing risk management, the Fed said, the risk management component is supported by four qualitatively rated subcomponents: competence of board and senior management; policies, procedures and limits; risk monitoring and management information systems; and internal controls.

The financial condition component is supported by four numerically rated subcomponents: capital adequacy; asset quality; earnings; and liquidity.

The proposal also contains guidance on implementation of the revised rating system based on holding company size and complexity.

Libya case gets US lobbyists $2M

EDITOR'S NOTE _ An occasional look at how behind-the-scenes influence is exercised in Washington.

By ALAN FRAM

Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) _ Two decades after a bomb blew Pan Am Flight 103 from the skies over Lockerbie, Scotland, the victims' families have finally received the full compensation Libya promised. And a lobbying firm that helped them collect is getting its share: A tidy $2 million.

The payout to Quinn Gillespie & Associates is rare, even for Washington's lucrative influence business. Of 18,989 reported lobbying fees collected last year, just 24 hit the $1 million mark, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics, which traces political influence in Washington.

A report the lobbying firm filed in January and interviews with participants illuminate a little-noticed side of the long battle the victims' families waged in Washington, including how they were guided behind the scenes by experts in the capital's ways.

Quinn Gillespie's payment covers work it did from 2006 through 2008 helping the relatives plot strategy, generate publicity and arrange meetings at the State Department and elsewhere.

The 1988 blast killed all 259 people on the jetliner, including 180 Americans, plus 11 on the ground. After extended negotiations, Libya agreed to pay restitution of $10 million to each family of a victim. Payment of the final $2 million to each family became stalled, and the families hired the lobbying firm to help them collect it.

"I was a lobbyist for 30 years, and I thought the families were our best lobbyists," said Frank Duggan, a retired attorney who helped the families and initially opposed hiring Quinn Gillespie. "It was worth it. They opened doors we could not have opened."

The Quinn Gillespie report shows the firm collected $1 million in lobbying fees, the only public disclosure the law requires. But the firm's president, J. David Hoppe, and a lawyer for the families, Douglas E. Rosenthal, confirmed that the firm collected another $1 million payment for non-lobbying work, including planning how to attract publicity for the families' cause.

The $1 million lobbying fee was the biggest the firm reported last year out of $16.2 million in lobbying income, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. The contract was also unusual for lobbyists because the firm agreed to take its fee only if the relatives were fully paid, which Rosenthal said the families believed was unlikely.

Another firm, Palumbo & Cerrell, also reported a $1 million fee last year for its work lobbying Congress to help dozens of relatives win compensation from Libya for its 1986 bombing of the La Belle disco in Berlin, which was packed with U.S. soldiers. Three people, including two Americans, were killed and 230 wounded.

In August, Libya agreed to pay $1.5 billion to finish payments to the Lockerbie relatives, and to cover the La Belle families and other claims.

In the end, the lobbyists helped pressure a reluctant Bush administration to squeeze the remaining reparations out of Libya, a one-time pariah state, even as the administration seemed more interested in normalizing relations with the oil-rich North African country. The terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and the subsequent focus on combatting terrorism, had made the Lockerbie tragedy even less of a government priority.

"People were getting burned out," said Kara Weipz , a leader of the victims' families whose brother, Rick Monetti, was among many Syracuse University students returning from London on the doomed flight. "They had the clout to get us where we needed to be."

After years of hostility, a U.S.-Libya thaw took hold in 2003 when Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi renounced terrorism and agreed to pay restitution of $2.7 billion.

By 2006 Libya was stalling on the final portion. Though they had long been helped by many lawmakers, including Sen. Frank Lautenberg, a Democrat, the families retained Quinn Gillespie that January to dissuade the administration from restoring full diplomatic ties with Tripoli and removing Libya from its list of countries that sponsor terrorism, a designation that restricts foreign aid and trade.

Those moves would have meant less leverage for the families with Libya, they feared. They were also worried because many victims came from the Democratic-leaning Northeast, at a time when the families needed help from the Republican Bush administration.

"We'd kind of hit a wall," said Weipz. "We knew we definitely needed to be more bipartisan."

The lobbyists and their clients hit a setback in May 2006 when the administration announced it was restoring relations with Libya and taking it off the terrorism list.

"They had to go back to the drawing board," said Rosenthal, the attorney. "They met with the lawyers, the families and came up with the strategy of trying to affect the funding" the administration needed to mend ties with Libya.

That meant getting Congress to block money for a new U.S. embassy in Tripoli and sending an American ambassador there unless Libya agreed to compensate the Flight 103 families, pay reparations for the Berlin disco bombing and settle other claims. Lawmakers did that, using language in legislation and procedural delays that blocked bills bearing the needed money.

"This forced the administration and Libya to realize this was not something that would go away," said Hoppe.

Meanwhile, the lobbyists were arranging meetings and making phone calls to the State Department, the White House and Congress, even as Weipz and others drew publicity with interviews with local news organizations. They never could arrange a session between the families and then-Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, though they had met her predecessor, Colin Powell.

Congress provided a carrot last summer, exempting Libya from lawsuits by terror victims once it fully paid reparations.

In August, Libya agreed to pay the final compensation, money the families said in November they had received.

EU Not Satisfied With Chinese Reports

BEIJING - China has not followed through on promises to provide information about what actions it has taken against companies that made products recalled in Europe, the EU's consumer protection chief said Tuesday.

The commitment to giving detailed quarterly reports was made in January 2006, but Beijing has only delivered twice since, said European Union Consumer Commissioner Meglena Kuneva.

"The first report was very poor," Kuneva said at a news conference. "The second was better but still not sufficient. That's why I am here."

Kuneva's comments came amid global concerns over the safety of Chinese goods because of potentially dangerous levels of chemicals found in products ranging from toothpaste to pet food to toys.

A Japanese official said the quality of Chinese exports is a huge issue in his country, where millions of Chinese-made toothpaste products were recalled last month after diethylene glycol, a thickening agent used in antifreeze, was found.

"It's going to remain one of the biggest concerns for the foreseeable future," Tomohiko Taniguchi of the Japanese Foreign Ministry said during a visit to Hong Kong.

Chinese authorities, initially reticent about addressing the issue, have been making efforts to reassure the world and regain consumer confidence. Quality officials have promised stricter surveillance and have threatened severe punishment for violators.

Kuneva, who met Monday with the head of the China's product safety watchdog, said they reached an agreement for Beijing to submit by October a report on prevention and follow-up actions to European alerts. This comes ahead of a November meeting between Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso.

"China is in a position really to prove how serious it is about investigating more thoroughly the problems we identify," she said.

Kuneva defended EU bans on Chinese imports deemed dangerous or unsafe, saying they were dealt with in the same way as unsafe products from any other third country or Europe.

"There is no double standard," she said.

The EU in 2006 identified 924 products - from unsafe lighters to wobbly strollers to short-circuiting kettles - as too dangerous to be sold in its 27 member nations, plus Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway. China was the country of origin in almost half of the cases.

More than a quarter of all goods the EU imports are from China.

Kuneva, on a five-day visit, also planned to tour a toy inspection laboratory and several toy factories in the eastern province of Jiangsu.

Also Tuesday, the state-run Beijing Evening News said officials were promising Beijing food producers and sellers lighter punishments if they voluntarily recalled food they knew to be harmful.

"If they recall their tainted food, their punishment will be lighter or they will not be punished at all," the newspaper said.

If unapproved ingredients or additives are found in 65 types of food commonly consumed - including rice, soy sauce, flour - manufacturers can be fined up to $13,000 and have their production certification revoked, the report said.

Telephones were not answered Tuesday at city government offices.

---

Associated Press writers Alexa Olesen in Beijing and Sylvia Hui in Hong Kong contributed to the report.

Heterotypic docking of Cx43 and Cx45 connexons blocks fast voltage gating of Cx43

ABSTRACT Immunohistochemical co-localization of distinct connexins (Cxs) in functional areas suggests the formation of heteromultimeric channels. To determine the docking effects of the heterotypic combination of Cx43 and Cx45 on the voltage-gating properties of their channels, we transfected DNA encoding Cx43 or Cx45 into N2A neuroblastoma or HeLa cells. Using a double whole-cell voltage-clamp technique, we determined macroscopic and single-channel gating properties of the intercellular channels formed. Cx43-Cx45 heterotypic channels had rectifying properties where Cx45 connexons inactivated rapidly upon hyperpolarizing voltage pulses applied to the Cx45-expressing cell. During depolarizing pulses to the Cx45-expressing cell, Cx43 connexons inactivated with substantially reduced kinetics as compared with homotypic Cx43 channels. Similar slow kinetics was observed for homotypic Cx43M257 (truncation mutant). Heterotypic channels had a main conductance whose value was predicted by the sum of corresponding homomeric connexon conductances; it was not voltage dependent and had no detectable residual conductance. The voltage-gating kinetics of heterotypic channels and their single-channel behavior implicate a role for the Cx43 carboxyl-terminal domain in the fast gating mechanism and in the establishment of residual conductance. Our results also suggest that heterotypic docking may lead to conformational changes that inhibit this action of the Cx43 carboxyl-terminal domain.

INTRODUCTION

Gap junctions contain intercellular channels that allow communication between adjacent cells. Connexins constitute a homologous family of gap junction proteins. A connexon (or hemichannel) is formed by the oligomerization of six connexin subunits, and the assembly and docking of two connexons leads to the formation of a complete gap junction channel.

Multiple connexins are expressed in the mammalian heart and many other organs (Kanter et al., 1993; Gros and Jongsma, 1996; Coppen et al., 1998). Using specific antibodies, connexin43 (Cx43), connexin40 (Cx4O), and connexin45 (Cx45) have been detected in the working myocardium. Other connexins have also been described in this organ, but their expression either is restricted to endothelial cells (Cx37) (Reed et al., 1993; Haefliger et al., 2000) or only their mRNA has been identified in the heart (Cx46) (Paul et al., 1991).

The co-existence of connexins in tissue indicates that channels could be assembled with more than one type of connexin. A complete new nomenclature for the different possible configurations has already been generated (Wang and Peracchia, 1998). The most relevant issue for channels formed of different connexins is that each one could provide the channels with different gating and permeability properties. Therefore, the interactions between these isoforms could result in channels with highly complex gating mechanisms. To fully understand the outcome of these interactions, it has been necessary to use simple cellular systems in which the expression and assembly of hemichannels among different cells can be controlled. One of the simplest configurations where. connexin interaction can be studied is the heterotypic channel, which results from the assembly of two different homomeric hemichannels (Fig. 1).

In this manuscript, we have further characterized the effects of heterotypic docking between Cx43 and Cx45 on gating produced by transjunctional voltage. Despite the homology of connexin sequences, strong differences exist in their gating and permeability properties. The channels formed by these connexins are sensitive to transjunctional voltage, as shown in studies performed in cellular systems that permit the expression of exogenous genes, such as Xenopus oocytes (Werner et al., 1989; Steiner and Ebihara, 1996) or transfected cells (Moreno et al., 1995a,b). The use of transfected cells has several advantages over Xenopus oocyte expression, including possible differences in behavior of mammalian connexins expressed in non-mammalian cells. Besides, transfection of cDNA into communication-- deficient tumor cell lines has become a standard procedure (Moreno et al., 1991) that allows single-channel recordings, necessary to elaborate a complete gating model of these mammalian connexins.

For our studies, we stably transfected cloned cDNAs for rat Cx43 (rCx43) (Beyer et al., 1987), chicken Cx45 (chCx45) (Beyer, 1990), or mouse Cx45 (mCx45) (Hennemann et al., 1992) in two different tumor cell lines: HeLa and neuroblastoma N2A. Having ascertained the individual gating behavior and unitary conductances for the channels containing only Cx43 or Cx45, we then performed studies on cell pairs that were forced to form heterotypic channels. To determine whether opposite gating polarities of Cx43 and Cx45 were responsible for the observed behaviors, we performed studies on heterotypic channels formed by wild-type Cx43 and Cx43M257, a mutant of Cx43 that is insensitive to pH gating (EkVitorin et al., 1996) and lacks the fast component of voltage-dependent inactivation (Revilla et al., 1999).

Our data provide evidence that the heterotypic combination of homomeric Cx43 and Cx45 connexons generates channels with complex behavior, where the voltage-gating mechanism of Cx43 becomes impaired after docking, and the residual conductance of the channels is no longer detectable. The data also imply that connexon interaction participates in the modulation of intercellular communication.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Cells in culture and transfection

We thank Dr. Steve Taffet for allowing us to use the Cx43M257 transfected cells. We thank also Patricia L. Mantel for her technical and writing assistance.

This work was supported by National Institutes of Health grants 1IL63969 and HL50485 to A.P.M. and HL59199 and HDO9402 to E.C.B.

[Reference]

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Chen-Izu, Y., A. P. Moreno, and R. A. Spangler. 2001. A two opposing gates model for the asymmetric voltage gating of gap junction channels. Am. J. Physiol. In press.

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Crow, D. S., E. C. Beyer, D. L. Paul, S. S. Kobe, and A. F. Lau. 1990. Phosphorylation of connexin43 gap junction protein in uninfected and Rous sarcoma virus-transformed mammalian fibroblasts. Mol. Cell Biol. 10:1754-1763.

Ek-Vitorin, J. F., G. Calero, G. E. Money, W. Coombs, S. M. Taffet, and M. Delmar. 1996. pH regulation of connexin43: molecular analysis of the gating particle. Biophys. J. 71:1273-1284.

Elenes, S., M. Chanson, and A. P. Moreno. 2000. The carboxyl-terminal of connexin43 modulates channels' unitary conductance distribution and their voltage gating kinetics. Biophys. J. 78:319a.

Elenes, S., M. H. Rubart, and A. P. Moreno. 1999. functional communication between isolated pairs of canine atrial cells is mediated by homogeneous and heterogeneous gap junction channels. J. Cardiovasc. Electrophys. 10:990.

Elenes, S., and A. P. Moreno. 1998. Murine Cx45: voltage dependence characterization at physiological conditions. Mol. Biol. Cell. 9:95a. Gros, D. B., and H. J. Jongsma. 1996. Connexins in mammalian heart function. Bioessays. 18:719-730.

Haefliger, J. A., R. Polikar, G. Schnyder, M. Burdet, E. Sutter, T. Pexieder, P. Nicod, and P. Meda. 2000. Connexin37 in normal and pathological development of mouse heart and great arteries. Dev. Dynam. 218: 331-344.

Hennemann, H., H. J. Schwarz, and K. Willecke. 1992. Characterization of gap junction genes expressed in F9 embryonic carcinoma cells: molecular cloning of mouse connexin3l and -45 cDNAs. Eur. J. Cell. Biol. 57:51-58.

Hermans, M. M., P. Kortekaas, H. J. Jongsma, and M. B. Rook. 1995. pH sensitivity of the cardiac gap junction proteins, connexin 45 and 43. Pflugers. Arch. 431:138-140.

Kanter, H. L., J. G. Laing, E. C. Beyer, K. G. Green, and J. E. Saffitz. 1993. Multiple connexins colocalize in canine ventricular myocyte gap junctions. Circ. Res. 73:344-350.

Koval, M., S. T. Geist, E. M. Westphale, A. E. Kemendy, R. Civitelli, E. C. Beyer, and T. H. Steinberg. 1995. Transfected connexin45 alters gap junction permeability in cells expressing endogenous connexin43. J. Cell Biol. 130:987-995.

Kwak, B. R., M. M. Hermans, H. R. De Jonge, S. M. Lohmann, H. J. Jongsma, and M. Chanson. 1995. Differential regulation of distinct types of gap junction channels by similar phosphorylating conditions. Mol. Biol. Cell. 6:1707-1719.

Moreno, A. P., A. C. Campos de Carvalho, G. Christ, A. Melman, and D. C. Spray. 1993a. Gap junctions between human corpus cavernosum smooth muscle cells: gating properties and unitary conductance. Am. J. Physiol. 264:C80-C92.

Moreno, A. P., B. Eghbali, and D. C. Spray. 1991. Connexin32 gap junction channels in stably transfected cells: equilibrium and kinetic properties. Biophys. J 60:1267-1277.

Moreno, A. P., G. I. Fishman, E. C. Beyer, and D. C. Spray. 1995a. Voltage dependent gating and single channel analysis of heterotypic gap junction channels formed of Cx45 and Cx43. In Intercellular Communication through Gap Junctions. Y. Kanno, K. Kataoka, Y. Shiba, Y. Shibata, and T. Shimazu, editors. Elsevier Science, Amsterdam. 405-408.

Moreno, A. P., G. I. Fishman, B. Eghbali, and D. C. Spray. 1993b. Unmasking electrophysiological properties of connexins32 and 43: transfection of communication-deficient cells with wild type and mutant connexins. Prog. Cell Res. 3:127-132.

Moreno, A. P., G. I. Fishman, and D. C. Spray. 1992. Phosphorylation shifts unitary conductance and modifies voltage dependent kinetics of human connexin43 gap junction channels. Biophys. J. 62:51-53.

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Moreno, A. P., M. B. Rook, G. I. Fishman, and D. C. Spray. 1994a. Gap junction channels: distinct voltage-sensitive and -insensitive conductance states. Biophys. J. 67:113-119.

Moreno, A. P., J. C. Saez, G. I. Fishman, and D. C. Spray. 1994b. Human connexin43 gap junction channels: regulation of unitary conductances by phosphorylation. Circ. Res. 74:1050-1057.

Musil, L. S., E. C. Beyer, and D. A. Goodenough. 1990. Expression of the gap junction protein connexin43 in embryonic chick lens: molecular cloning, ultrastructural localization, and post-translational phosphorylation. J. Membr. Biol. 116:163-175.

Paul, D. L., L. Ebihara, L. J. Takemoto, K. I. Swenson, and D. A. Goodenough. 1991. Connexin46, a novel lens gap junction protein, induces voltage- gated currents in nonfunctional plasma membrane of Xenopus oocytes. J. Cell Biol. 115:1077-1089.

Perez-Armendariz, E. M., M. C. Romano, J. Luna, C. Miranda, M. V. Bennett, and A. P. Moreno. 1994. Characterization of gap junctions between pairs of Leydig cells from mouse testis. Am. J. Physiol. 267: C570-C580.

Reed, K. E., E. M. Westphale, D. M. Larson, H. Z. Wang, R. D. Veenstra, and E. C. Beyer. 1993. Molecular cloning and functional expression of human connexin37, an endothelial cell gap junction protein. J. Clin. Invest. 91:997-1004.

Revilla, A., C. Castro, and L. C. Barrio. 1999. Molecular dissection of transjunctional voltage dependence in the connexin-32 and connexin-43 junctions. Biophys. J. 77:1374-1383.

Steinberg, T. H., R. Civitelli, S. T. Geist, A. J. Robertson, E. Hick, R. D. Veenstra, H. Z. Wang, P. M. Warlow, E. M. Westphale, J. G. Laing, and E. C. Beyer. 1994. Connexin43 and connexin45 form gap junctions with different molecular permeabilities in osteoblastic cells. EMBO J. 13: 744-750.

Steiner, E., and L. Ebihara. 1996. Functional characterization of canine connexin45. J. Membr. Biol. 150:153-161.

Traub, O., R. Eckert, H. Lichtenberg-Frate, C. Elfgang, D. F. Hulser, K. Willecke, B. Bastide, and K. H. Scheidtmann. 1994. Immunochemical and electrophysiological characterization of marine connexin40 and -43 in mouse tissues and transfected human cells. Eur. J. Cell Biol. 64:101-112.

Trexler, E. B., M. V. Bennett, T. A. Bargiello, and V. K. Verselis. 1996. Voltage gating and permeation in a gap junction hemichannel. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 93:5836-5841.

Valiunas, V., F. F. Bukauskas, and R. Weingart. 1997. Conductances and selective permeability of connexin43 gap junction channels examined in neonatal rat heart cells. Circ. Res. 80:708-719.

van Rijen, H., M. Hermans, H. J. Jongsma, and M. Rook. 1997. Human connexin40 gap junction channels are modulated by cAMP. Proc. Int. Gap Junction Conf., Key Largo, FL. 98-99.

vanVeen, T. A. B., H. V. M. vanRijen, and H. J. Jongsma. 2000. Electrical conductance of mouse connexin45 gap junction channels is modulated by phosphorylation. Cardiovasc. Res. 46:496-510.

Veenstra, R. D., H. Z. Wang, D. A. Beblo, M. G. Chilton, A. L. Harris, E. C. Beyer, and P. R. Brink. 1995. Selectivity of connexin-specific gap junctions does not correlate with channel conductance. Circ. Res. 77: 1156-1165.

Veenstra, R. D., H. Z. Wang, E. M. Westphale, and E. C. Beyer. 1992. Multiple connexins confer distinct regulatory and conductance properties of gap junctions in developing heart. Circ. Res. 71:1277-1283.

Wang, X. G. and C. Peracchia. 1998. Chemical gating of heteromeric and heterotypic gap junction channels. J. Membr. Biol. 162:169-176. Werner, R., E. Levine, C. Rabadan Diehl, and G. Dahl. 1989. Formation of

hybrid cell-cell channels. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 86:5380-5384.

[Author Affiliation]

Sergio Elenes,* Agustin D. Martinez,^ Mario Delmar,^^ Eric C. Beyer,^ and Alonso P. Moreno*

[Author Affiliation]

*Krannert Institute of Cardiology, Indiana University, Indianapolis, Indiana 46202; ^Department of Pediatrics, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637; and ^^Department of Pharmacology, State University of New York Upstate Medical University, Syracuse, New York USA

[Author Affiliation]

Received for publication 10 October 2000 and in final form 7 June 2001. Address reprint requests to Dr. Alonso P. Moreno, Krannert Institute of Cardiology, 1111 West 10th Street, Indianapolis, IN 46202. Tel.: 317-6306051; Fax: 317-630-7776; E-mail: amoreno@iupui.edu.

Clean Campaigning?

The traditional post-Labor Day campaign season will undoubtedly bring a sharpening of campaign attack ads. But according to at least one survey taken by two prominent polling firms, more than 80 percent of voters say negative campaigning is detrimental to democracy and may be morally wrong.

The poll of 800 likely voters, conducted for the Camden, Maine-based Institute for Global Ethics by the polling firms of Lake Snell Perry & Associates and Deardourff/The Media Company, found that 86 percent believed "unfair" attack campaigning is "unethical," while 81 percent said they believed attack-oriented campaigning is "undermining and damaging our democracy."

Other results found that three in five of those surveyed said questioning an opponent's patriotism is unfair, while nine in ten said they want candidates to participate in public debates and in forums where the public can question them directly.

"A healthy democracy depends on drawing distinctions between opposing candidates for office, but there are certain types of criticism that are considered out of bounds," said Dale Lawton, director of the institute's Project on Campaign Conduct.

According to the survey, activities considered unfair by an overwhelming majority of voters include "calling attention to the actions of an opponent's family, criticizing past personal problems such as marital issues and alcohol or marijuana abuse, personal past financial troubles, and criticisms about financing your own campaign."

What constitutes a "negative ad," of course, is in the eye of the beholder, as campaign consultants contend each election cycle that their clients are simply pointing out legitimate differences with their opponents on issues of public concern. Consultants also regularly argue that negative ads persist in campaigns because, simply put, they work. In many cases candidates, particularly incumbents, know that their own approval ratings are not likely to rise further, so the only way to win is to shred support for their opponent by increasing their negatives.

The results were released by the IGE as it begins to work in 48 congressional districts in 20 states to promote candidate-endorsed codes of campaign conduct as a way to raise the level of debate and improve political campaigns.

India to reintroduce cheetahs into grasslands

The Indian government plans to import cheetahs from Africa and introduce them into the country's grasslands, six decades after the fleet-footed feline was hunted here until it disappeared, officials said Monday.

Two wildlife groups have already carried out a feasibility study on bringing the cats to three reserves that will total more than 4,500 square miles (about 12,000 square kilometers) in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan states, India's ministry of environment and forests said Monday.

The cheetah, the world's fastest land animal, roamed the wilds of central and western India until, in the face of relentless hunting by trophy-seekers and poachers, it vanished from here about 60 years ago.

The Asiatic cheetah _ the sub-species that once lived in India _ no longer exists in the wild, though some survive in zoos.

So scientists will import 18 wild cheetahs from Namibia and South Africa, said a ministry official, speaking on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to speak to the media.

The three wildlife habitats are now inhabited by small cattle farmers and shepherds, who would have to be relocated to other parts of the country. The government plans to spend around $6 million relocating inhabitants and readying the wildlife reserves, an official said.

Scientists expect that within two decades the cheetahs would number around 60, he said.

India's environment minister Jairam Ramesh said that bringing cheetahs back would help restore India's grasslands _ as villagers would no longer be cutting the grass to use as fodder _ and eventually help stabilize the populations of other endangered native species.

"The way the tiger restores the forest ecosystem, the snow leopard restores the mountain ecosystem, the Gangetic dolphin restores waters in the rivers, the cheetah will restore India's grasslands," Ramesh said.

But conservation experts were skeptical, citing India's poor record of protecting the tiger. Despite expensive protection campaigns, the Indian tiger population has dropped from nearly 3,600 seven years ago to about 1,400 today.

"We have been unable to save and protect big cats such as the tiger. I am not sure if it's wise to divert funds and attention from the big cats," said Belinda Wright of the Wildlife Protection Society of India.

Wright also questioned the wisdom of introducing an African sub-species of the cheetah. "If these were Asiatic cheetahs, the chances of survival would be greater," Wright said.

Kazmir pitches Rays to win over; Angels win, too

Alex Rodriguez and the New York Yankees are struggling to get back into the playoff race while the Los Angeles Angels are closing in on another postseason berth.

Scott Kazmir allowed one hit in six scoreless innings, and Tampa Bay's bullpen weathered ninth-inning home runs by Rodriguez and Derek Jeter to hang on for a 7-5 victory Thursday night.

The Yankees' slim playoff hopes were dealt another blow. They trail the Rays by 11 games in the AL East and Boston by 7 1/2 in the wild-card race.

"We're not looking at series," Rodriguez said. "We're looking at games as must-win games, and that's the situation tomorrow. It's almost like college. Double-elimination and you go home. That has to be the approach. Urgent."

The Angels trimmed their magic number to six for clinching their fourth AL West title in five seasons, getting a home run from Torii Hunter in a 7-1 victory over the Detroit Tigers.

Ervin Santana (15-5) struck out eight in 7 1-3 innings, allowing one run and six hits.

In other AL games, Toronto beat Minnesota 9-0 and Kansas City swept a doubleheader against Oakland, winning the opener 5-4 in 10 innings and holding on for a 9-6 victory in the nightcap.

Mark Teixeira and Juan Rivera each drove in a pair of runs for the Angels, who broke open the game against Detroit with a four-run third inning.

Kenny Rogers (9-13) allowed six runs and eight hits in two-plus innings for the Tigers.

Hunter connected against Nate Robertson in the eighth, reaching 20 homers for the third consecutive season and seventh time in eight years. The drive landed an estimated 435 feet away in the upper hedgerow at Comerica Park.

"That's the longest ball I've ever hit here," said Hunter, who made frequent stops in Detroit during his first seven full seasons in the majors with Minnesota.

Kazmir (11-6) limited the Yankees to Cody Ransom's fifth-inning double, walked five and struck out seven, but a high pitch count (98) prevented him from going deeper into the game.

Chad Bradford worked a scoreless eighth but Tampa Bay lost its bid for its 13th shutout of the season in the ninth when Jason Hammel surrendered an RBI single to Ransom, who finished 3-for-3, and home runs to Jeter and Rodriguez.

Jeter's three-run shot to right field moved him within four hits of tying Babe Ruth for second on the Yankees' career hits list. Rodriguez followed with career homer No. 550 to cut it to 7-5.

Dan Wheeler replaced Hammel and earned his 11th save in 14 opportunities, retiring Xavier Nady on a first-pitch flyball.

Darrell Rasner (5-10) gave up five runs and six hits in 1 1-3 innings for New York.

"It's good to keep them in our rear view mirror because they've played well against us," Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon said. "To lose three in a row here would not have been any fun at all."

Blue Jays 9, Twins 0

At Toronto, Jesse Litsch threw a four-hit shutout and the Blue Jays completed a three-game sweep of Minnesota.

Litsch (10-8) walked two, struck out three and is 2-1 with a 0.94 ERA in four starts since being recalled from Triple-A Syracuse on Aug. 14.

Travis Snider hit his first career home run and went 3-for-4 with two RBIs to help Toronto beat Minnesota for the ninth straight time.

The Twins' Kevin Slowey (11-9) allowed three runs in 5 2-3 innings to lose for the first time in six starts.

Royals 5, Athletics 4, 10 innings

Royals 9, Athletics 6

At Kansas City, Mo., Jose Guillen drove in three runs, Kyle Davies (6-6) ended a four-game losing streak and the Royals swept a doubleheader from the Athletics.

The Royals jumped out to a 9-1 lead in the second game and finished with 15 hits.

Oakland scored three in the seventh and two in the ninth to cut it to 9-6 before Ramon Ramirez finished for his first career save.

Oakland had a chance in the first game and tried to rally from a big deficit in the second, but continued its free fall in the standings. The A's were four games behind AL West-leading Los Angeles on July 11 and have lost 35 of 47 since, dropping 22 1/2 games behind the Angels.

Joakim Soria (2-3) pitched two scoreless innings to get the win in the opener.

Joey Devine (4-1) and Dan Meyer (0-4) picked up the losses for Oakland.

New membership plan for Mennonite Church USA

In a 180-degree switch from a previous plan, a new proposal would have congregations and area conferences in the General Conference (GC) and Mennonite Church (MC) apply for membership in the new Mennonite Church USA. This proposal received majority assent from the Constituency Leaders Council here in late May.

Earlier, executive committees from the GC, MC and Mennonite Church Canada had proposed that current members automatically become members of the new denomination. That provision, approved for MC Canada, has died in the U.S. since delegates in St. Louis last summer charged that it included congregations currently under MC discipline for their stance on homosexuality.

Under the new proposal, conferences and congregations that "share...vision and commmitments" may join MC USA. Those commitments include the Confession of Faith in a Mennonite Perspective and denominational statements, particularly the statements on sexuality.

Dual-conference congregations currently under MC discipline "must clarify their willingness to support" the new guidelines to join. Pastors "are expected to uphold the wider church's discernment as the teaching points of the church" or risk disciplinary action, state the guidelines.

The new proposal was discussed by nearly 100 representatives from all area conferences and associate groups at the May meeting. No votes or polls were taken to quantify support.

"It sounds like the majority would be more likely to affirm this set of membership guidelines," said Ervin Stutzman, Mennonite Church USA moderator-elect and chair of the Leaders Council. He cautioned, however, that dissenting views not be ignored.

Of the 23 U.S. area conferences, 4 are GC and 2 are dually-affiliated, making the Constituency Leaders Council predominantly MC. The council is a forum for conference representatives, not a decision-making body.

As in the original plan, congregations hold denominational membership through area conferences which, in turn, accept or reject congregations. But the proposal does not spell out who is responsible for accepting or rejecting conferences at the national level.

For example, Marv Zehr of the Western District Conference said that his conference could develop a satisfactory relationship with Rainbow Mennonite Church (which openly affirms homosexual members), but who would decide if that is good enough to be accepted by the denomination?

The new guidelines will be presented to delegates at next year's convention in Nashville, where passage will require a two-thirds vote by GCs and MCs.

Israeli airstrike kills 3 militants in north Gaza

An Islamic militant group in the Gaza Strip says three of its members have been killed in an Israeli airstrike in northern Gaza.

The Iranian-backed Islamic Jihad says the fighters were killed shortly after firing rockets into southern Israel. Israeli authorities say the rockets landed in open areas and caused no injuries.

The Israeli military is confirming it carried out an airstrike Tuesday, and Gaza's chief medical examiner also says there were three deaths.

Tensions have been high since Israeli naval commandos stormed a flotilla carrying hundreds of pro-Palestinian activists to Gaza on Monday. Nine activists were killed.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AP) _ Several thousand Gazans are making a furious rush to the Egyptian border, hoping to take advantage of a rare chance to escape the blockaded territory.

Egypt announced Tuesday it was temporarily opening the border, a day after an Israeli naval raid killed nine pro-Palestinian activists sailing to Gaza.

Cars with suitcases piled on their roofs are streaming to the border, while many others are lugging overstaffed bags on foot. Dozens of Hamas police with automatic weapons are patrolling the area to maintain order.

Bush Steps Up Mideast Peace Push

LONDON - President Bush is sending his national security adviser to the Middle East next week and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will make a return visit soon afterward to keep up pressure on Israeli and the Palestinians to start peace negotiations.

National security adviser Stephen Hadley and Rice will make separate trips to the region to bridge wide gaps between the two sides on a document outlining how they intend to resume talks that will be presented at a U.S.-hosted conference this fall, a senior official said.

The announcement came as Rice said she was encouraged by what she had heard during four days of intense meetings with Israeli and Palestinian officials and civic and business leaders in Jerusalem, and Ramallah and Bethlehem in the West Bank.

But Rice also acknowledged splits between the two sides as they try to craft a joint statement that is to be endorsed at the conference in late November or December at Annapolis, Md., which the United States hopes will relaunch negotiations to create a Palestinian state.

"I think they are very serious," Rice told reporters Thursday as she flew to London after completing her seventh trip to the Middle East this year. "The teams are serious. The people are serious. The issues are serious.

"So I am not surprised that there are tensions, I am not surprised that there are some ups and downs," she said. "That is the character of this kind of endeavor, but I was encouraged by what I heard."

Hadley's trip, so close on the heels of Rice's visit this week, is intended not only to move the two sides closer but to underscore the U.S. commitment to the creation of a Palestinian state, the official said. Rice will then return in late October or in early November.

Rice's trip will also take her to an Iraq neighbors meeting in Istanbul, Turkey, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because neither the Hadley trip nor Rice's return visit have been formally announced. The official did not give specific dates for the travel.

The flurry of diplomatic activity aims to push Israel and the Palestinians into consensus on the substance of the conference's joint declaration, which would outline a way for the two sides to return to the negotiating table after seven years of bloodshed and diplomatic paralysis.

The Palestinians and their Arab allies such as Egypt and Jordan are insisting the document be detailed and specific with a timetable for formal peace talks, and the Israelis want language that is more vague.

Rice, who won public backing for the conference from Egypt during a Tuesday stop in Cairo, was in London on Thursday to lobby for backing from Jordan's King Abdullah II. The two had a private lunch.

Rice had downplayed the chances for any breakthroughs this week but appeared pleased with the results of the mission even as she continued to warn that difficult work is still ahead.

Many of her discussions focused on the security and economic issues that will present themselves once a Palestinian state is created side-by-side with Israel.

"I am quite convinced that one of the really crucial pieces that has to be filled in are these concepts of how the states will relate to each other in practical terms concerning security and in practical terms concerning economic issues," she said.

Rice also stressed that the joint statement will only be a starting point for formal peace talks and will not be intended to resolve those issues.

"All this document is trying to do is to demonstrate that they now believe they have a basis for pushing forward on the resolution of those outstanding issues," Rice said.

The Palestinians want the document to include at least a sentence or two on how to solve each of the major issues of dispute, such as borders and Jerusalem, which both sides want to claim as their capital.

The Palestinians' core demand is that the future border between Israel and Palestine be based on the pre-1967 Mideast War lines, with modifications through land swaps. Israel captured the West Bank and other areas in the 1967 war.

But Israel has balked at such specificity and the Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas angrily complained when Rice tried to get him to back down, according to a senior Palestinian official.

Israel is "hindering the endeavor to reach a document with substance," Abbas said. His comments drew a rebuke from Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni who said she would not stoop to play "the blame game."

3 Priests on `Stand-By' in Wis. Trial

Chief Criminal Court Judge Thomas R. Fitzgerald on Tuesdayordered three Chicago priests to be on "stand-by" as possible state'switnesses in the upcoming Wisconsin trial of the Rev. Norbert Maday.

Fitzgerald said the priests did not have to be in Oshkosh, Wis.,when the trial starts Monday, as Wisconsin prosecutors had requested.Prosectors said they would call the priests to testify only if Madaytakes the stand.

Archdiocese attorney Carrie Huff had complained that WinnebagoCounty district attorney Joseph Paulus only wanted "the priests upthere for a media show" because the trial will be broadcastnationally on television.

The archdiocese also turned over subpoenaed records soFitzgerald could determine whether they are "material," or relevant,to the trial. Fitzgerald will announce his decision Friday.

If he decides the records are relevant, he will then decidewhether a court in Wisconsin or Illinois should hear archdiocesearguments that the documents are shielded from prosecutors by"pastoral privilege."

The archdiocese would like Fitzgerald to apply his Nov. 16ruling in an unrelated case. In that decision, Fitzgerald said theprivilege allows the archdiocese to withhold documents subpoenaed bythe Cook County state's attorney in an investigation of sexualmisconduct by priests. The Wisconsin prosecutors say their state'spastoral privilege laws are not as broad.

Maday, 54, the former pastor of Our Lady of the Ridge parish inChicago Ridge, is charged in the sexual assault of two 14-year-oldaltar boys during a 1986 religious outing to Wisconsin.

Fitzgerald is handling the Wisconsin prosecutors' summonsbecause the law requires a local judge's certification ofout-of-state subpoenas. Paulus and Deputy District Attorney VincentBiskupic were seeking certified summonses for 16 Cook Countyresidents, including the priests, to testify.

Biskupic said the priests would only be called to testify aboutother incidents of sexual abuse if Maday takes the stand.

Fitzgerald issued summonses to 10 other men to appear aswitnesses in Wisconsin, but delayed until Friday deciding whether afourth priest, the Rev. Jerry Duggan, who suffered a stroke in July,must travel to Wisconsin to testify.

Prosecutors had also subpoenaed Joseph Cardinal Bernardin, asthe keeper of archdiocese records, to supply a list of altar boys atthe parishes in which Maday served since 1964. Huff said thearchdiocese did not keep such records.

Maday, who is free on $15,000 bond posted by the ChicagoArchdiocese, was removed last spring from his most recent post withSt. Jude the Apostle Parish in South Holland.

Blackout victims get a feel for how truly powerless live

On Thursday, homeless people had unexpected company. FromNew York to Kalamazoo, millions of people were stranded by darkness--most of them caught so off guard they didn't have 50 cents in theirpockets to make a phone call.

In New York, some people spread their newspapers out on thesidewalk and slept. One family with small children sought refuge inan alley. Others bartered their material goods for a deli sandwich.And in one Canadian neighborhood, residents were so hot, they lefttheir apartments to sleep in a nearby park.

"I had never experienced anything that horrible before," ReneeMitchell-Williams told me. I was related to Mitchell-Williams by aformer …

Obama to offer incentives to Sudanese government

President Barack Obama said Monday that the U.S. will shift its policy toward Sudan to one based on working with the Khartoum government instead of isolating it.

Still, Obama said he later this week will renew tough sanctions against the Sudanese government.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton was announcing details of the new approach at a news conference Monday, joined by U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice and Scott Gration, the administration's envoy to Sudan.

In a statement Monday, Obama said the U.S. and international community must act "with a sense of urgency and purpose" to seek and end to conflict, human rights abuses and genocide in Darfur. He said an agreement between the North and South in Sudan must be implemented for there to be any chance for long-term peace.

"These two goals must both be pursued simultaneously with urgency," Obama said.

Rice and Gration have clashed over how far to engage the Sudanese government of President Omar al-Bashir, charged by the International Criminal Court with crimes against humanity and war crimes for allegedly masterminding deadly attacks throughout the Darfur region of Sudan.

Gration has argued in public for a less strict line toward Bashir, who he has told officials is the key to resolving the situation in Darfur as well as in southern Sudan, which in 2005 signed a provisional peace deal with the government in Khartoum, ending Africa's longest-running civil war.

Rice favors taking a harder line approach.

However, the new policy will not make major concessions to Bashir, whose government is designated a "state sponsor of terrorism" by the State Department, U.S. officials said last week, speaking on condition of anonymity because Congress had yet to be briefed on the planned policy shift.

Instead, the new policy is designed to bring Khartoum into the fold by offering incentives for improved relations for improvements in the situation in Darfur as well as in southern Sudan, which will hold a referendum on succession scheduled to take place in 2011, they said.

"If the government of Sudan acts to improve the situation on the ground and to advance peace, there will be incentives; if it does not, then there will be increased pressure imposed by the United States and the international community," Obama said. "As the United States and our international partners meet our responsibility to act, the government of Sudan must meet its responsibilities to take concrete steps in a new direction."

The Darfur conflict began in February 2003 when ethnic African rebels took up arms against the Arab-dominated Sudanese government in Khartoum, claiming discrimination and neglect.

U.N. officials say the war has claimed at least 300,000 lives from violence, disease and displacement. They say some 2.7 million people were driven from their homes and at its height, in 2003-2005, it was called the world's worst humanitarian crisis.

___

Associated Press writer Matt Lee contributed to this report.

Apple fans are prepared for a part-time Jobs

Five and a half months ago, word that Steve Jobs would only work part-time as he recovered from a liver transplant would have sent investors into a selling frenzy, so closely linked was Apple's charismatic co-founder and CEO to the company's success.

But now, with Jobs' return to Apple just days away that prospect is a lot less daunting.

Wall Street has grappled with the implications of Jobs' illness since August 2004, when investors learned the CEO had kept a cancer diagnosis secret until after he underwent surgery. Investors feared a half-year absence would leave one of the oldest computer makers adrift, because Jobs had become the essence of the company he co-founded in 1976. But in the last few months, the company released must-have gadgets and software improvements with nary a public hiccup. Its shares have almost doubled, raising the question of how central Jobs is to Apple today?

The company's past silence on matters of Jobs' health made shareholders jittery when Jobs appeared increasingly, even alarmingly, thin last year. Easily spooked, investors sent the stock tumbling 5 percent to its lowest point in a year on a rumor last October that Jobs had suffered a heart attack.

Then shares slipped 2 percent in December when Apple said that Jobs would not speak as usual the next month at the annual Macworld conference, then bounced up 4 percent on Jan. 5 when Jobs explained his weight loss as a treatable hormone imbalance. They sank 7 percent a week later after Apple said he would be taking six months off because his medical problems were more complex than he initially thought.

Since then, Wall Street's whiplash has had time to heal, especially because Apple's stock has weathered the recession better than those of most of its competitors. Shares have improved 76 percent since the dark day in January when Jobs announced his leave, closing Friday at $139.48.

It is not yet clear how investors will take the latest word, that Jobs had a liver transplant two months ago in Tennessee, according to The Wall Street Journal, and that he will likely work part-time, at least at first.

Apple has not confirmed the report, and has said only that Jobs is looking forward to returning to Apple at the end of the month. Spokesman Steve Dowling had no further comment Sunday.

Cupertino, Calif.-based Apple put its chief operating officer at the helm during Jobs' absence. Tim Cook had been tested in the role during Jobs' first bout with cancer and shared the stage with the CEO during key product announcements last fall. He brimmed with confidence in the early days of Jobs' medical leave, assuring analysts that the show would go on even without its frontman.

"The values of our company are extremely well entrenched," Cook said in the company's fiscal first-quarter earnings call in January. "We believe that we're on the face of the Earth to make great products, and that's not changing."

Indeed, Apple has produced in the last six months: updated laptops with lower entry-level prices, updated Mac software and a faster iPhone with many requested features. Apple's cult-like followers remain avid, some camping overnight at Apple stores last week to be one of the first to snatch up the new iPhone 3G S, despite a pre-order option offered for the first time by Apple and wireless carriers.

Tim Bajarin, an analyst for Creative Strategies who has been following Apple for more than 25 years, said things ran smoothly in Jobs' absence because he had already relinquished much of his control over the company.

"Jobs hasn't been running day to day operations for almost two years, well before he got sick," Bajarin said. Cook was de facto in charge, and the people in charge of each of Apple's gadgets and programs were, for the most part, working without a net.

"They only went to Jobs on big issues and questions and making sure their programs where in line with Jobs' overall vision," he said, which the CEO scopes out in 10-year increments.

While Jobs has taken much of the credit for Apple's turnaround in the last decade, Cook has played an import role behind the scenes, says Roger Kay, an industry analyst and president of Endpoint Technologies Associates.

"If you want to look at Apple's history and see where they made execution errors and when those ceased, you can time it almost exactly to the arrival of Tim Cook," Kay said, pointing to several product launches around the late 1990s where Apple would create demand for a new product, and then have problems delivering enough of it. "He, as the operations guy, has really made the trains run on time."

While Jobs has reportedly recovered well from his transplant and Apple has said repeatedly that the CEO will be back at the end of June, the company will eventually have to confront the fact of its leader's mortality. And no matter how many accolades Cook and the Apple product teams garner, it will be near-impossible to find someone like Jobs to replace him.

Kay is skeptical Apple will be able to continue its success simply by asking itself, "What would Steve do?" After all, the message that Apple's bench is deep and capable is coming from Apple itself.

"You can always do product extensions, it doesn't take a genius," Kay said. "Who's going to come up with a new product category that's going to do what the iPhone and the iPod have done?"

Jobs' health problems could push him to groom a successor, a task Kay said the CEO has not likely undertaken.

"You don't have a little Steve somewhere waiting in the wings," Kay said. "An autocrat like Steve would not allow somebody like Steve anywhere near himself."

SEC Widens Orange County Probe

SANTA ANA, Calif. The Securities and Exchange Commissionbroadened its investigation into the Orange County financial crisis,issuing subpoenas for records of the county Board of Supervisors, anofficial said today.

The SEC, the federal agency that oversees the nation's financialmarkets, has been probing the role of Merrill Lynch & Co. and itsbrokers in the $2 billion investment-fund loss that forced thewealthy Southern California county to seek bankruptcy …

Prospective first-generation college students: a social-cognitive perspective.(Social-cognitive career theory)

The authors investigated differences in college-going expectations of middle school students who would be the 1st in their families to attend college. Social-cognitive career theory (SCCT; R. W. Lent, S. D. Brown, & G, Hackett, 1994) was used to examine college-related expectations in 272 seventh-grade students. Differences were found between prospective 1st-generation college students (PFGCSs) and their non-PFGCS peers, with the former group demonstrating lower self-efficacy, higher negative outcome expectations, and more perceived barriers. Path analysis demonstrated partial support for the SCCT model. An alternative model for PFGCSs is proposed.

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To date, little research has been conducted that goes beyond descriptive characteristics of first-generation college students (FGCSs) prior to their arrival to college. This group contains more minorities, is more likely to be from lower income families, and has lower academic achievement compared with their peers whose parents have some experience in college (Nunez & Cuccaro-Alamin, 1998; Terenzini, Springer, Yaeger, Pascarella, & Nora, 1996). Additionally, FGCSs have higher attrition rates once they arrive at college than do their non-FGCS peers (Nunez & Cuccaro-Alamin, 1998). Because taking rigorous course work in high school, by itself, is not enough to even the odds (Horn & Nunez, 2000), it seems important to assess for other differences that could influence this group's college decision making. In this study, we investigated social-cognitive variables of students who would be the first in their families to attend college and whose parents had some level of postsecondary education.

For the purposes of this study, the term FGCSs refers to students whose parents have no formal education beyond high school and who attend college. The term prospective first-generation college students (PFGCSs) are middle and high school students whose parents lack education beyond high school and who have not yet graduated themselves. Finally, students whose parents have any college education, including 2- or 4-year college and regardless of degree status, are termed non-FGCSs or non-PFGCSs when the students are specifically of middle or high school age.

More and more, students in general are planning to continue their education beyond high school. In fact, the majority of middle and high school students intend to enter into some type of postsecondary education after high school graduation (Venezia, Kirst, & Antonio, 2003). Yet, the connection between intentions and actual college attendance and completion does not occur for many students. Although most students plan to continue their education, the national average of students continuing directly to any type of college for 2000 was 56.7% (National Information Center for Higher Education Policymaking and Analysis, 2002). Reasons for tire disconnect between plans and actions have yet to be fully identified.

FGCSs

One group of students in particular--those whose parents have no formal education beyond high school--experience significant difficulties related to college going. Slightly more than 25% of 1992 high school graduates were PFGCSs (Horn & Nunez, 2000), and 43% of all students (including non-traditional-age students) entering postsecondary education were FGCSs (Nunez & Cuccaro-Alamin, 1998).

In terms of educational attainment, FGCSs tend to perceive less family support for attending college (York-Anderson & Bowman, 1991), are less likely to take college preparatory course work (Horn & Nunez, 2000), and are more likely to have lower grade point averages during their 1st year of college (Warburton, Bugarin, Nunez, & Carroll, 2001) compared with students with college-educated parents. In addition, FGCSs are less likely to complete college than are their non-FGCS peers (Nunez & Cuccaro-Alamin, 1998). These differences hold true even when controlling for family income, academic preparation, and ethnicity (Horn & Nunez, 2000; Terenzini et al., 1996), suggesting first-generation status is a unique contributor to differences in college preparation, attendance, and persistence.

Clearly, this population needs assistance in order to succeed at the college level. Unfortunately, most research to date has been focused on these students once they arrive at college rather than on factors that influence their decision making before they arrive at college--or decide not to attend. In fact, students begin making critical educational planning decisions as early as middle school. Thus, the critical need to study middle school students who would be the first in their families to attend college is clear.

Social-Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT) With Middle School Students

SCCT (Lent, Brown, & Hackett, 1994) is particularly relevant to an examination of middle school students who would be the first in their family to attend college. SCCT was developed to explain "processes through which (a) academic and career interests develop, (b) interests, in concert with other variables, promote career-relevant choices, and (c) people attain varying levels of performance and persistence in their educational and career pursuits" (Lent & Brown, 1996, p. 311). SCCT is composed of three major constructs that interact with each other to affect career and educational intentions and actions. These constructs--self-efficacy, outcome expectations, and goals--are also directly and indirectly affected by background and proximal influences, along with genetic predispositions and learning experiences (Lent et al., 1994). SCCT has been found to explain the career and educational experiences of a variety of populations, including minority students (Flores & O'Brien, 2002) and international students (Lent, Brown, Nota, & Soresi, 2003).

Recently, researchers (e.g., Fouad & Smith, 1996; Turner & Lapan, 2002) have examined the fit of SCCT with middle school students and found that the data do support the SCCT model. Fouad and Smith (1996) assessed math- and science-related self-efficacy, outcome expectations, and interests of 380 seventh and eighth graders. In place of career-choice goals, they substituted the more developmentally appropriate construct of choice intentions. Fouad and Smith found the SCCT model worked with both male and female students and with Hispanic, African American, and White students. Turner and Lapan (2002) also found that SCCT constructs predicted career interests for all types of careers and that perceived parent support directly affected self-efficacy expectations.

SCCT is directly applicable to PFGCSs in that the theory links academic and career pursuits while taking into consideration variables such as back-ground and contextual influences on these pursuits. Social and economic factors, personal perceptions, and belief systems, critical issues for first-generation students, are all accounted for within the SCCT model (Lent et al., 1994). Researchers have identified differences between FGCSs and other college students in each of these areas. Thus, by identifying first-generation status as a background characteristic, the framework of SCCT makes it possible to research differences in social-cognitive variables related to college going and how each of these directly or indirectly affects educational and career intentions in middle school students.

We used the SCCT model of …