HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — An independent Zimbabwean human rights group says police arrested 13 of its members who staged a protest outside a court where allegations of police assaults and torture were to be raised.
Restoration of Human Rights representative Stendrick Zvorwadza says the 13 demonstrated with placards Wednesday calling for impartiality by police and judicial officials accused of …
The U.S. PGA Tour proudly points to Shanghai as an example that not all of the World Golf Championships are staged in America. That would be easier to accept if the tour actually counted the HSBC Champions as an official event.
Phil Mickelson received $1.2 million and 66 points toward the world ranking, although he was mildly annoyed that this WGC event didn't count toward his U.S. PGA Tour victory total.
The status of the HSBC Champions as an official U.S. PGA Tour event could be changing.
"I do think it's something we should look at, and we are looking at it," tour commissioner Tim Finchem said. "I can argue that it's not a big …
U.S. Rep. Rod Blagojevich's most powerful political backers saidMonday they would stick behind him in the governor's race no matterwho runs.
It's a story Blagojevich wanted to get out--to Bill Daley and therest of the state--as speculation increased about whether MayorRichard M. Daley's brother would run for governor. But Bill Daleymade a surprise announcement Monday that he would not run.
There were no surprises, however, among the 17 or so politiciansarrayed behind Blagojevich during his news conference at the HotelAllegro.
Featured speakers at the news conference included politicalveterans U.S. Rep. Bill Lipinski (D-Chicago), U.S. Rep. JanSchakowsky …
GOLD COAST, Australia (AP) — Backrower Anthony Laffranchi will join Super League side St. Helens in 2012, leaving the Gold Coast Titans in Australia's National Rugby League.
Off contract at the end of the season, Laffranchi said Wednesday he had signed a lucrative …
French lawmakers in the lower house on Tuesday passed a bill that would cut the Internet connections of those who repeatedly download music and films illegally, creating what may be the first government agency to track and punish online pirates.
The bill passed 296 to 233 in a show of force by President Nicolas Sarkozy's governing conservatives after an initial failure last month.
The Senate was likely to definitively pass the measure Wednesday. But even then, the battle will be far from over.
The bill defies a European Parliament measure passed last week prohibiting EU governments from cutting off a user's Internet connection without first …
HOLLYOAKS (Channel 4, 6.30pm). Sinead's resentment towards Jasoncontinues to grow as she feels more and more like a spare part intheir cosy little threesome. The group thinks they've struck goldwhen they stumble upon a farmhouse and go in search of food, butit's not long before they're arguing once again and Sinead runs off.Before …
NEW YORK - Wall Street recovered from a mostly down session Monday, eking out a gain as investors brushed off another slide in Chinese stocks.
The market had little in the way of corporate or economic news to give it direction, but while it was in negative territory for much of the day, in the end it shook off an 8.3 percent slide in the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index. The Chinese index had its biggest one-day drop since the Feb. 27 plunge that set off a brief global market selloff as the Chinese government attempts to cool the country's market boom.
Investors used Monday to adjust positions after both the Standard & Poor's 500 index and Dow Jones industrial …
Microsoft Corp.'s digital encyclopedia, Encarta, might have pushed its printed competitors off the shelves in some homes. Now Encarta itself has fallen victim to changes in technology, made all but obsolete by the likes of Web search and Wikipedia.
Microsoft said it will shut down the online version of Encarta in October and will discontinue sales of the PC software by June.
Encarta was first sold to computer users as a CD-ROM-based encyclopedia in 1993. Critics questioned some of Microsoft's editorial decisions, including the fact that Encarta's dictionary had a photo of Bill Gates and not one of John F. Kennedy. But the electronic knowledge base was an …
When the ignorance of some of our public officials is revealed, Iget truly frightened. Secretary of Transportation Samuel K. Skinner,speaking of America's threatened wetlands, complained that buildingprojects are being held up by "a puddle."
The lack of even a basic understanding of what makes thiscountry alive and viable as a home is evident both in his statementand in his agenda. You cannot destroy one thread in the fabricwithout the whole weave coming unraveled. The wetlands are anessential part of the delicate network of systems that mean thedifference between a living country and a dead one.
Wetlands act as the "lungs" of the water system, filtering …
WASHINGTON (AP) — Investigators are probing whether the Obama administration divulged too many details of the secret raid on Osama bin Laden to Hollywood filmmakers.
Rep. Peter King, a Republican who heads the House Homeland Security Committee, has questioned how much information was shared about the U.S. special operations mission in Pakistan that killed the al-Qaida leader in May.
King on Thursday released a December letter from the Pentagon saying that the inspector general's office covering intelligence matters "will address actions taken by Department of Defense personnel related to the release of information to the filmmakers."
King also released a November letter …
Sin City is pinning its biggest bet ever _ $8.5 billion _ on a 67-acre (27-hectare), six-tower complex of striking hotels, gourmet restaurants, swank shops and a single casino that starts opening Tuesday in the heart of the Las Vegas Strip.
Many watching the high-stakes roll of the dice shudder at the thought that nearly 5,900 rooms in three hotels will be awaiting guests when CityCenter's crown jewel _ the 4,004-room Aria Resort & Casino _ opens Dec. 16. That will increase Las Vegas' already saturated inventory by more than 4 percent at a time when fewer visitors are coming and room prices have fallen 25 percent from last year.
CityCenter's debut might …
Violent crime is up, up, up and away.
Murder, rape, robbery, and assorted mayhem, according to theFBI, rose 5 percent last year. The usual media experts round up theusual suspects: the drug dealers, the recession, even Ronald Reagan.(Remember him?)
But Attorney General William Barr looks in another direction.
"We now have a situation in the inner cities where 64 percent ofthe children are illegitimate, and there's a very small wonder thatwe have trouble instilling values in educating children when theyhave their home life so disrupted," he told a television interviewer.
The violent crime is committed by criminals who began asjuvenile …
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A federal investigation found that at least $7 million in federal stimulus money intended to provide jobs for unemployed Oregonians instead paid wages to 254 foreign workers.
The Oregonian reports (http://bit.ly/qIcQRW ) the money went for forest cleanup jobs in central Oregon in 2009 when unemployment was over 11 percent.
Contractors told federal regulators they could not find enough local workers for the jobs and brought in foreign workers.
A report this week from the Labor Department's inspector general found the contractors used legal loopholes but violated no laws or regulations.
Congressman Peter DeFazio who asked for the investigation says it's "obscene that U.S. companies were rewarded for abusing our American workers and immigration laws to undercut competition and squeeze more profits out of contracts."
___
Information from: The Oregonian, http://www.oregonlive.com
In-depth physicochemical characterization of therapeutic proteins is required during all phases of drug development to ensure drug safety and efficacy. In this application note the new Agilent Infinity Bio-inert LC was used for peptide mapping, SEC and IEX of a therapeutic protein.
In this article we show results for size exclusion chromatography of Pl 28, a therapeutic protein under development at Gangagen, India. SEC can demonstrate protein integrity or prove the absence of dimers or multimer formation in its native conformation. A disadvantage of size exclusion is its lack of resolution. Small particle SEC columns produce superior resolution with minimal secondary interaction, providing a powerful tool for detecting impurities or multimer formation. Results were compared for two 5-�m particle columns and a 3-�m particle column. The second compound present in the mixture could only be detected with the Agilent Bio-SEC 3-�m.
The Agilent 1260 Infinity Bio-inert Quaternary LC system in combination with the Agilent Bio HPLC column portfolio provides a powerful and versatile tool for characterizing the physicochemical properties of the therapeutic protein, drug Pl 28.
The Agilent solution for analysis of therapeutic proteins achieves bio-inertness, superior resolution, corrosion resistance, high sensitivity and fast separation speed.
[Author Affiliation]
Katja Kornetzk, Agilent Technologies
OSLO, Norway - Bangladeshi economist Muhammad Yunus and his Grameen Bank were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for pioneering the use of microcredit, the extension of small loans to benefit the rural poor.
PetroChina, the listed unit of China's biggest oil and gas producer, said Wednesday it saw its net profit surge 30 percent in the third quarter of this year, thanks to higher prices for both crude oil and processed oil products.
The 39.9 billion yuan ($5.8 billion) net profit for July-September _ a figure that surpassed analysts forecasts _ compared with a 30.7 billion yuan net profit for the same period a year earlier, the company said in a statement to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
PetroChina's oil sold for an average of $97.24 per barrel in January-September, up nearly 60 percent from the $60.93 per barrel that it earned a year earlier.
Its crude oil output rose 2.8 percent to 652.6 million barrels.
Both PetroChina and major refiner Sinopec were pinched by losses in the refining sector stemming from controls on prices for gasoline and other oil products that lag below the prices the refiners pay for imported crude oil.
PetroChina said its refineries processed 643 million barrels of crude oil in the first nine months of the year, up 5.1 percent from a year earlier.
"Key technological and economic indicators improved continuously and the allocation of resources and product mix were further optimized," the statement said.
Kinda-country darling is still stuck on boys - just not the 'gay' ones
Taylor Swift, 'Fearless'
Instead of juvenile gay jabs, we get fairytale name-drops. So, yeah, Taylor Swift hasn't grown up much after releasing her claim-to-fame debut at just 16. But on her No. 1-charting sophomore shiner, the quasi-country cutie swoons. Mostly free of feisty firecrackers, like last album's "Picture to Burn" (where she threatens to spread a gay rumor about her ex), her shtick pretty much falls into romantic Cinderella-like charmers and slower done-me-wrong ditties - all perfectly aimed at her authence (tween girls ... and me). "Love Story" is a chick-flick set to song, spilling more sweetness than chocolate cake andjolting hearts with its fanciful, yay-ending climax (all that's missing is the Disney movie that it's bound to accompany). But as marketable as her co-written songs are, Swift's anorexic voice puts her in the same league as Miley Cyrus or Hilary Duff; her sometimes- choppy notes aimed at disguising her shortcoming would have Simon Cowell grunting. Luckily, it's never too distracting, and she sticks to songs that require little vocal meat - like "Hey Stephen," "White Horse," and "The Best Day," where Swift writes a cute Hallmark card to her family. It makes it easier to adore her, but that's hardly an issue. She's already on our love-it list. B+
Bloc Party, 'Intimacy'
ABloc Party album is a bit like a schizophrenic. One minute, it's a Euro-trash dance party. The next, a hardcore mosh pit or a Lifetime movie sob fest. Their latest effort, "Intimacy" - the third installment from the gay-fronted alt-rock band - is a definite genre jumper. But this is one disorder worth having. Rockout moments come in catchy tunes like "Halo," angry-and-dumped "Trojan Horse" and "One Month Off," which picks up where their debut's hit "Helicopter" left off. The sadder songs make it clear that singer KeIe Okereke has had it tough. Break-ups aside, the two slow (andachingly good Coldplayesque) songs, "Biko" and "Signs," hint at loss. The techno tunes tell another truth: once-mum Okereke is unabashedly out. Straight (er, gay)-to-the-club songs like iTunes-only track "Your Visits Are Getting Shorter" (with lyrics like "Boys on your left side/ boys on your right") make it hard to imagine anything other than half-naked men grinding. Which is just an added bonus. A
- Jessica Carreras
David Arch ul eta, 'David Archuleta
On the seventh season of "American Idol," runner-up David Archuleta was an eye lash -batting teddy bear. Ignoring the oh-so-tiny fact that he can't even drink legally, who didn't wanna snuggle up with him? Problem is, just like a kid's sleepy-time animal, Archie's self-titled debut is stuffed with predictable goop that, unfortunately, exudes everything we ever knew about him: He's a skilled silky- srnoo Ih smger with zero personality. Nothing says, "That's totally true/5 iike his un-edgy, plethora of soggy mush tailored to make him into a cuter Clay Aiken. "Crush," the flavorful first single, seemed like a promising R&B mid-tempo heartbreaker, slathered with an infectious pop hook - but the album's bulk is scientifically engineered in the "American Idol" generic processor. We're mostly left with blandness, snoozy tunes like "You Can," lazily produced mewls like "Barriers" and piss-poor-penned laments like "A Little Too Not Over You." It makes "Idol" champ David Cook look like Steve Perry. C
Nepal's main political parties are struggling to break a deadlock over how to form a new government in the young republic, party officials said Monday.
The former communist rebels, formally called the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), won the largest number of seats for a constitution-drafting assembly in April but failed to get a clear majority and will have to form a coalition government.
The Maoists are seeking both the position of prime minister and the newly created position of president. But the idea has been rejected by the two other main political parties, the Nepali Congress and the Communist Party of Nepal (United Marxist-Leninist), who are only willing to give the ex-rebels one of the two positions.
"How can the Maoists, who do not have clear majority, claim the position of both the prime minister and the president? It is because of the Maoist's rigid position we have not been able to reach any agreement," Iswor Pokhrel, a senior leader of the Communist Party of Nepal (United Marxist-Leninist), said Monday.
The Constituent Assembly met for the first time last week, when the parties agreed to abolish the monarchy and gave deposed King Gyanendra a deadline for leaving the palace.
But the parties have had a harder time agreeing on how to form the new government.
Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala, who belongs to the Nepali Congress party, has already said the new government will be led by the Maoists but he has not stepped down or given indication of when he will resign.
The Maoists, meanwhile, have threatened to hold street protests if they are not allowed to immediately form a government and control both key positions.
"It would be mockery of democracy for a party who lost in the election to claim the position of president," Maoist chairman Prachanda said Sunday. Prachanda uses only one name.
The deadlock has led to political uncertainty in Nepal, which only two years ago saw the Maoists end a decade-old insurgency that killed more than 13,000 people.
HOUSTON--A computer model that convinced NASA the Columbiaastronauts were in no danger from damage done to the shuttle by apiece of falling debris was outdated and lacked the rightinformation, the accident investigators said Tuesday.
The analysis by Boeing Co. engineers concluded that little harmwas done to Columbia's left wing by a chunk of hardened foam thatcame off the fuel tank during liftoff. It was a crucial element inbelief by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration that theseven astronauts would return safely.
But the analytical model had never been used before to predictdamage from falling debris during an actual shuttle flight, saidformer astronaut Sally Ride, one of the board's newest members.
What's more, a team of engineers involved in the study realizedthey needed more data. They asked NASA officials to seek pictures ofthe orbiting shuttle, but no pictures were ever taken, Ride said.
In the two months since the disaster, attention has focused onflyaway foam insulation as a major suspect in causing the breach inColumbia's left wing. Superheated gases entered the wing, causing theshuttle to break apart over Texas on its way to a Florida landing.
NASA's video of the launch debris striking the wing was not clearenough. The engineers needed to know more about the speed andlocation of where the falling foam hit on the wing and the size ofthe foam itself, in order to properly assess the potential damage.
"If you had given them good information to start with, they couldhave given you an answer," she told reporters, referring to theanalytical program used by engineers to assess damage. "But therewasn't enough information. So you're asking them to predict wheresomething's going to hit but you can't tell them how it started."
All the unknowns "led this whole group to say, 'Get us more data,get us some photos."'
Speaking after Tuesday's hearing into the cause of the accident,Ride said the request for photos came out of a meeting that occurredJan. 21--just five days after Columbia was struck by foam.
"It looks as though it was literally a miscommunication," Ridesaid, "where one group was saying, 'Let's wait until the analysis iscomplete to see whether we need photos' and then that was interpretedas, 'There will be no photos.' In other cases, it was for differentreasons. It's a pretty complex story. It's a real web ofinterpersonal communications."
Ride said this web apparently stretched even up to the astronautsaboard Columbia, who accepted the engineers' conclusion that theywould be in no danger during their descent through the atmosphere onFeb. 1.
That conclusion by Boeing engineers, after just a week or so ofanalysis, was accepted by virtually everyone. But other companyengineers testified earlier Tuesday that the space shuttles' outerthermal protection layers were never meant to be struck by anythingstronger than perhaps bugs or rain--certainly not a 2-pound piece offoam.
NASA became accustomed to the more than 140 debris strikes thatoccurred on every flight. Such damage was viewed as a nuisance thatcalled for more maintenance, these engineers told the board. But thedamage wasn't always caused by flyaway foam. AP
Tean Valley are ready to test themselves against the best theWest Midlands can offer after finally breaking Newcastle Town A'snetball stranglehold to lift the Joyce Haynes Tournament 2010.
The Newcastle outfit - unbeaten in the top flight of the Stoke-on-Trent League for four successive seasons - were also reigningJoyce Haynes holders and had retained the trophy since 2005.
However, Tean Valley finally overcame their Newcastle hoodoo todump their rivals out in the semi-final - and in the process avengelast year's defeat at the same stage - before triumphing 6-4 overNorth Staffs to lift the cup.
Captain Becky Gerrard rated Tean Valley's tournament success hergreatest achievement in 10 years at the Moorlands club.
"It's massive for the team," she said. "I'd just like to thankeveryone involved for their hard work."
Crack Staffordshire outfit Newcastle A posed the biggest threatto Tean's cup ambitions. But Gerrard also praised North Staffs forgiving her side a run for their money in the final.
She added: "We had literally two minutes between the semi-finaland final so really had to pull ourselves together. We went into thefinal quite confident, but North Staffs played out of their skin."
Gerrard is now targeting qualification to the West MidlandsRegional League. Tean Valley will be bidding to earn their WestMidlands spurs in a qualification competition in 10 days' time.
And the skipper says it is imperative Tean Valley continue tomove forward if the club is to retain its talented youngsters. "Wehave some talented under-16s now moving into senior netball," addedGerrard. "They already play at a regional level so we need to havethat progression.
Tean Valley founder Ursula Smith, pictured left, also hopes cupsuccess plus entry into West Midlands Regional League will help keepthe present crop of talented youngsters at the club.
She said: "Newcastle have enjoyed a monopoly on the league andcup as the best team in the area, they can always attract the bestplayers.
"Qualifying for the regional league won't be easy, but with BeckyGerrard as captain this is probably our best chance.
"It was a tremendous achievement to win the cup and hopefully wewill build on this success."
Tean Valley finished fourth in the 2009/10 Stoke-on-Trent League,behind Harriers, Review Ladies and champions Newcastle - who featureex-Tean Valley star Jo Barnett and former Cheadle High ace JulieUnwin.
The club had led the way in January and Smith is confident Teanwill soon challenge Newcastle for the top honour.
She said: "We are still a very young team, but these girls havegrown up playing together and hopefully their best is in front ofthem.
"We have a very good team coming out of the under-16 age groupand it is important for the club to progress so we can keep themhere."
Oil prices fluctuated Monday, surging past $143 a barrel for the first time and then falling back as a rising dollar prompted some investors to sell. Meanwhile, the price of gas at the pump hit another record high.
Supply concerns, a weak dollar and a fragile global economy continue to drive the price of oil to new highs, as well as continued tensions in the Middle East. However, oil gave back its gains after the Chicago Purchasing Managers' index of Midwest manufacturing beat estimates and the dollar responded by rising against the euro.
Light, sweet crude for August delivery rose 10 cents to $140.31 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange but was moving in and out of positive territory. In early electronic trading, the contract hit a record $143.67.
On Friday, crude futures spiked at a record $142.99 a barrel in New York before falling to $140.21.
"Oil is being used as a flight to quality and hedge against the dollar and geopolitical risk," said Phil Flynn, an energy analyst at Alaron Trading Corp. in Chicago. "It pulled back some when PMI came in better than expected and the dollar is hanging in there right now."
The Chicago Purchasing Managers' index for June rose to 49.6 from 49.1 in May. Analysts were expecting a reading of 49.1. The report is seen as a precursor for the national Institute for Supply Management report, to be released Tuesday.
The report helped lift the dollar, sending the 15-nation euro down to $1.5756 from $1.5775 on Friday.
But there was little expectation in the market that Monday's trading was the start of a turnaround in the dollar that would send oil falling much further. The dollar has weakened on expectations the Federal Reserve Board won't soon raise interest rates as the U.S. economy struggles with low growth. The Fed left its benchmark rate unchanged last week.
European Central Bank "President Jean-Claude Trichet's hawkish stance (on) inflation" could mean the dollar may be headed for further weakness against the euro "and that's not bearish for oil," said The Schork Report edited by U.S. analyst and trader Stephen Schork. When other countries raise their interest rates, they are more competitive with U.S. rates, and that weakens the dollar.
Meanwhile, retail gasoline, which has been tracking oil higher, reached a new national average of $4.086 a gallon, according to a survey of stations by AAA, the Oil Price Information Service and Wright Express. The previous record of $4.08 was reached June 16; since then, oil has moved past $140 and been setting new records of its own.
Geopolitical tensions, particularly surrounding Iran, also continue to boost oil prices. Traders were digesting reported comments from the commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, who warned that if his country is attacked, Tehran would strike back by barraging Israel with missiles. In a report published Saturday in the conservative Jam-e-Jam newspaper, Gen. Mohammad Ali Jafari said that if Iran were provoked, it would also move to control a key oil passageway in the Gulf.
Iran is the world's fourth-largest oil exporter and about 60 percent of the world's oil passes through the strategic Strait of Hormuz.
Global supply also remains a concern. The Iraqi government opened six oil fields to international bidding Monday as the nation attempts to boost daily production by 60 percent.
The potential participation of big Western companies like BP PLC, Chevron Corp., Exxon Mobil Corp., Royal Dutch Shell PLC and Total SA in Iraq's oil industry has been criticized in recent weeks following published reports that several were close to signing no-bid contracts with the Iraqi government.
Those contracts were expected to be announced Monday, but Iraqi Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani instead named 35 companies that would be qualified to bid on service contracts for the oil fields of Rumeila, Zubair, Qurna West, Maysan, Kirkuk and Bay Hassan.
A falling U.S. stock market has also led investors to seek higher-yielding investments such as oil and other commodities. The Dow Jones industrial average has fallen to its lowest level in nearly two years _ and is down nearly 20 percent since its peak in October.
In other Nymex trading, heating oil futures rose 2.44 to $3.9310 a gallon while gasoline prices rose 1.47 cent to $3.5159 a gallon. Natural gas futures increased 9.3 cents to $13.291 per 1,000 cubic feet.
In London, Brent crude futures rose $1.04 to $141.35 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange in London. Earlier Monday, the price for Brent had peaked at $143.91.
___
AP Business Writer Malcolm Foster in Bangkok, Thailand, and Associated Press Writer Pablo Gorondi in Budapest, Hungary, contributed to this report.
Japan got a triple dose of bad economic news Tuesday when numbers showed that family spending dropped sharply, the jobless rate rose to a two-year high and industrial production at the nation's vital manufacturers declined.
That adds to growing evidence that an already faltering economy remains fragile amid a global slowdown and financial market turmoil.
Japan's jobless rate rose in August to 4.2 percent _ the highest level in more than two years and up from 4 percent in July, according to the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
Separate government data showed that monthly household spending, a key barometer of consumer demand, fell 4 percent in August from a year earlier to 291,154 yen ($2,781) as families cut back on housing, education and recreational expenses.
The steep drop took JP Morgan Securities economist Masamichi Adachi by surprise, though he acknowledges the figures are "consistent with the deteriorated environment."
"Looking ahead, while the recent slide in commodity prices should be positive for the real purchasing power for the household and corporate profits, the recent shock in the international financial markets most likely will affect negatively to the spending of both corporate and household through various routes, including export volume and stock prices," Adachi said in a report.
The government also said that Japanese industrial production declined 3.5 percent from July, the first fall in two months, amid slower output by makers of transport equipment, general machinery and electric machinery.
The jobs report showed that the number of unemployed persons stood at 2.72 million, a 9.2 percent increase from the previous year, while the number of employed persons fell 0.6 percent from a year earlier to 64.05 million.
Stock markets around Asia plunged Tuesday after U.S. lawmakers rejected a $700 billion bank rescue plan triggered a historic sell-off on Wall Street.
The benchmark Nikkei stock 225 index fell 483.75 points, or 4.12 percent, to close at 11,259.86 _ the lowest level since June 9, 2005.
Prime Minsiter Taro Aso urged Japanese financial officials to closely monitor the situation and take appropriate measures to protect Japan's economy, according to Kyodo News agency.
"We have to respond appropriately in order not to affect the Japanese economy and to prevent the financial system from falling apart," Aso was quoted as saying.
On Wednesday, the Bank of Japan will release its closely watched "tankan" survey of business confidence, which polls more than 10,000 companies across the country. Economists predict the quarterly report to reveal a significant deterioration in business confidene among the vital large manufacturers amid slowing overseas demand.
A bulletproof vest is credited with saving the life of a26-year-old Riverside police officer who was shot in the chestWednesday by an unknown attacker.
Patrolman Thomas Weitzel, who is in serious but stable conditionat Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood, was patrolling aloneat about 3 a.m. when he spotted a car with tinted windows, no licenseplates and three men inside.
The car was parked illegally in the 100 block of Northgate Road,Riverside police said.
Weitzel, a three-year veteran of the police force, parked about20 feet behind the car and had just stepped out of his patrol carwhen one of the men jumped out of the car and fired a shotgun at him,police said.
The bulletproof vest absorbed most of the shotgun pellets, butWeitzel was knocked down by the impact.
As his attackers drove away, heading east on Northgate, Weitzelmanaged to crawl back to his car and radio a description of theblack, four-door sedan and his attacker.
Weitzel, who is married, has worn his vest "religiously" sincecoming on the force, a fellow officer said.
Police said it is probable the three men were planning aburglary in the area.
It was the first time in Riverside Police Department historythat a police officer has been shot while on duty, officials said.
BRITNEY SPEARS:
Ivana Hump
BRAD PITT AND JENNIFER ANISTON:
Mr. and Mrs. Ross Vegas
OZZY OSBOURNE:
Prince Albert
CHARLES BARKLEY:
Homer Simpson, Fred Flintstone
CHRIS ROCK:
Slappy White
JOHNNY DEPP:
Mr. Stench
DON JOHNSON:
Mr. Head
SYLVESTER STALLONE:
Johnny Friendly
TROY AIKMAN:
Hell Astray
EDDIE MURPHY:
Joe Schmo
In the land of the free museum, the organizers of the city'snewest exhibit are betting you'll pay to role-play.
Today the International Spy Museum debuts "Operation Spy," aninteractive experience in which participants get to pretend they'respies for the U.S. government, traveling through and under the backstreets of a fictitious city, trying to find a missing nucleardevice.
"Operation Spy" is also one of the city's costlier museumexperiences. Tickets to the museum itself are $16, but if you wantto do the "Operation Spy" exhibit, too, you'll pay eight more bucks.
Or put another way: For $24, you can pretend you're on TV's "24."
"We perceive the additional $8 fee for 'Operation Spy' to be agreat value for the hour-long experience," museum spokeswoman AmandaAbrell said. (Tickets for admission only to "Operation Spy" are$14.)
The privately owned Spy Museum, run by the for-profit, Cleveland-based Malrite Co., is Washington's most expensive museum. TheSmithonian museums and the National Gallery of Art are free; amongmuseums that charge an admission, the Phillips Collection can costas much as $12 and the Corcoran Gallery of Art runs from $6 to $14.
With its emphasis on hands-on activities, the Spy Museum -- oneof the city's most popular tourist attractions -- seeks to draw,in part, a Disney-park audience. Since its opening in 2002, themuseum has drawn more than 3.5 million visitors.
"Operation Spy" cost between $1.5 million and $2 million tocreate, Abrell says.
During the one-hour virtual-world "mission," museum-goers get tomaneuver hidden cameras and fiddle with recording devices. Visitorsare on their feet nearly that entire time, at one point tiptoeingthrough a creepy, dark tunnel created by the exhibit designers, andlater ransacking an authentic-looking office of a "foreigngovernment official." The mission takes place within the confines ofthe Spy Museum at 800 F St. NW. "It takes interactivity one stepfurther," said Peter Earnest, the museum's executive director. "There's more of a visceral feel than just looking at stuff on adisplay case."
"Operation Spy" was scheduled to open in June, but glitchesthroughout the summer delayed the opening. "There's a number ofmoving parts," Earnest said. "A lot of synchronizing and specialeffects."
"Operation Spy" has its share of effects, but a promotional videorunning on the museum's Web site might oversell the experience withits claim: "Like the most intense movie you've ever seen -- exceptyou are in it."
Earnest also boasted: "It's sort of what it feels like to be in'24,' " referring to Fox's hit show.
Sort of, perhaps, but don't expect to extract any confessionsfrom bad guys through torture or to defuse a nuclear bomb with onehand tied behind your back.
Rather, it's more of a participatory experience, with muchconversation encouraged among exhibit-goers. There are also somethrills to be had; highlights include a noisy freight elevator ridein the dark and a (simulated) bumpy ride in the back of a cargo van.(Because of the complexity of the exhibit, participants must be atleast 12 years old.)
At first, the experience might feel more like jury duty as youand your fellow "spies" gather in a "bus depot" in the fictitiousKhandar City, a setting that has a Middle Eastern feel. AlthoughEarnest said the city depicted in "Operation Spy" is not modeledafter any particular country, he acknowledged that it could be inthe Middle East or southern Asia.
"We are taking you overseas to a foreign, exotic locale," hesays.
Earnest said the exhibit's story line is "loosely based" on thereal-life case of A.Q. Khan, a prominent Pakistani nuclear scientistwho in 2004 confessed to selling nuclear technology to othercountries. (Khan was pardoned by his government and remains underhouse arrest in Pakistan.)
After leaving the Khandar depot, visitors are rushed to a commandcenter to receive video screen instructions from an unidentifiedintelligence chief (played by Janet Hubert-Whitten, who played themother on the old Will Smith sitcom "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air")."You definitely look like tourists," she says. "Nice disguise."
Although this is a taped segment, our real-life team leader -- earlier this week, it was local actress Elise Arsenault -- skillfully talks to her and we are made to believe it's a liveconversation.
Visitors learn the particulars of the case -- that a nucleartrigger device has gone missing, say, and that there's a strongsuspicion that the country's energy director is involved. There'salso an on-screen secret agent, whom we see in video clips, whohas infiltrated the minister's office and may or may not be on ourside. During the preview, we were also made aware of a risingmovement within the country, seeking to dismantle the government.
Spy-philes at the preview this week were gung-ho for "OperationSpy," including Mark Dubowitz, chief operating officer of theFoundation for Defense of Democracies.
"It was part Jack Bauer, part Jennifer Garner," said Dubowitz,referring to the fictional "24" character and the actress whoportrayed "Alias" spy Sydney Barstow. "It was a great way to getpeople thinking about pressing issues in today's news."
In a preview earlier this summer, Speros Koumparakis, a 32-year-old Marine from the District, said he was "really into it." He alsoadmitted that his TiVo is filled with "24" episodes.
And Emily Guskin, 23, of Potomac said the experience was"somewhat akin to" a Disney ride, adding, "I guess it's aWashington, D.C., version."
