UPI NewsTrack articles from June 2006

UPI NewsTrack archives from June 2006

UPI Sports Calendar for Thursday, June 1.
June 1, 2006... Byline: United Press International (All Times Eastern): NBA Playoffs: Western Conference Finals: Phoenix at Dallas, 8:30 p.m. (Series tied, 2-2) NHL Playoffs: Eastern Conference Finals: Game Seven: Buffalo...

MLB: N.Y. Yankees 6, Detroit 1.
June 1, 2006... DETROIT, May 31 (UPI) -- Alex Rodriguez had one run, three hits and two RBI Wednesday night to help the New York Yankees beat Detroit, 6-1, for their fifth straight win. Jason Giambi had two runs, three hits and one RBI; and Andy Phillips...

MLB: Atlanta 9, L.A. Dodgers 3.
June 1, 2006... ATLANTA, May 31 (UPI) -- On a productive night Wednesday, Andruw Jones had three runs, three hits and three RBI as Atlanta beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 9-3. Chipper Jones had three runs, two hits and drove in two runs; Jeff Francoeur had...

MLB: Boston 8, Toronto 6.
June 1, 2006... TORONTO, June 1 (UPI) -- David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez both hit home runs Wednesday night as the Boston Red Sox beat Toronto, 8-6. Alex Gonzalez had one run and two hits; Mark Loretta hit a two-run homer; and Trot Nixon had one run, one hit...

MLB: N.Y. Mets 1, Arizona 0 (13 inn.).
June 1, 2006... NEW YORK, June 1 (UPI) -- Endy Chavez hit an RBI single in the bottom of the 13th inning Wednesday night to give the New York Mets a 1-0 win over Arizona. The lone run was scored by Jose Valentin, who like Chavez, had two hits for the Mets...

MLB: Cincinnati 3, Chi. Cubs 2.
June 1, 2006... CHICAGO, June 1 (UPI) -- Ken Griffey Jr. homered and drove in two runs Wednesday night as Cincinnati edged the Chicago Cubs, 3-2. Ryan Freel had one run and two its; while Jason Larue knocked in the other run for the Reds (29-24) who...

MLS: D.C. United 5, Columbus 1.
June 1, 2006... WASHINGTON, June 1 (UPI) -- Jaime Moreno scored his 100th MLS goal Wednesday night to help D.C. United beat the Columbus Crew, 5-1. Moreno, an original Major League Soccer member, became just the second player ever to reach the 100-goal...

MLB: Cleveland 5, Chi. White Sox 0.
June 1, 2006... CLEVELAND, June 1 (UPI) -- Grady Sizemore had two runs, three hits and two RBI Wednesday night as Cleveland beat the Chicago White Sox, 5-0. Jason Michaels had two runs and two hits; and Ben Broussard hit a solo home run for the Indians...

Japan to return S.Korea's ancient records.
June 1, 2006... TOKYO, June 1 (UPI) -- Korean historical records dating from the 14th century, stolen during Japan's rule of the Korean peninsula, will be returned to Seoul, Tokyo University said. The 47 volumes of "The Annals of the Choson Dynasty,"...

Jockstrip: The world as we know it.
June 1, 2006... Byline: United Press International Cop bugged by cockroach in coffee CLEBURNE, Texas, June 1 (UPI) -- McDonald's is reviewing security videotape to see if a cockroach found in a Texas policeman's coffee was placed there deliberately....

Mahathir urges Muslims to build weapons.
June 1, 2006... KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, June 1 (UPI) -- Former Malaysian leader Mahathir Mohamad has urged Muslims to build their own weapons rather than relying on Western imports, a news report said Thursday. Mahathir argued that Muslims would be...

Watercooler Stories.
June 1, 2006... Byline: United Press International Western N.Y. Bigfoot 'clearly phony' CLARENCE, N.Y., June 1 (UPI) -- Photographs of a hairy beast taken outside a forest in western New York are not of a Sasquatch or Bigfoot, a University of Idaho...

N. Korean reactor project abandoned.
June 1, 2006... NEW YORK, June 1 (UPI) -- A consortium set up to build nuclear power plants in North Korea has abandoned the project due to Pyongyang's failure to give up its nuclear weapons program. The Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization...

U.S. Iraq troops get refresher on values.
June 1, 2006... BAGHDAD, June 1 (UPI) -- All U.S. troops in Iraq were ordered Thursday to undergo a refresher on values and ethics in the wake of alleged killings of civilians by Marines last year. Commanders were ordered "to conduct core warrior values...

Iran says no to U.S. talk conditions.
June 1, 2006... TEHRAN, June 1 (UPI) -- Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki on Thursday rejected U.S. conditions of stopping nuclear enrichment before direct talks could begin. Speaking in Tehran, Mottaki said U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza...

Slain California family identified.
June 1, 2006... GARDEN GROVE, Calif., June 1 (UPI) -- Police in Garden Grove, Calif., have identified the family of three found stabbed to death in their home last weekend and appealed for the public's help. Investigators in the suburban community south of...

Taiwan president surrenders some powers.
June 1, 2006... TAIPEI, Taiwan, June 1 (UPI) -- Taiwan's President Chen Shui-bian yielded some of his powers to his prime minister and party leaders after a family scandal led to calls for his resignation. Chen said Wednesday that he would hand over...

Agency fails to deliver World Cup tickets.
June 1, 2006... TOKYO, June 1 (UPI) -- A Japanese travel agency canceled World Cup tours to Germany for about 1,000 people after a Chinese company failed to deliver game tickets as promised. Tokyo-based Max Air Services started advertising the World Cup...

MLB: Seattle 14, Texas 5.
June 1, 2006... ARLINGTON, Texas, June 1 (UPI) -- Raul Ibanez had four RBI and Ichiro Suzuki scored four runs in helping the Seattle Mariners to a 14-5 romp over the Texas Rangers. Ibanez hit a three-run home run in the third inning of Wednesday's game,...

Bus crash victims identities mistaken.
June 1, 2006... GRAND RAPIDS, Mich., June 1 (UPI) -- A teenage girl listed as killed in an Indiana bus crash in April has emerged from a coma in an identity mix-up of dead and surviving victims. Four students and an employee from Caledonia College were...

Leak: Marines falsified Iraq death reports.
June 1, 2006... WASHINGTON, June 1 (UPI) -- Some U.S. Marines gave false information to their officers about the deaths of 24 Iraqi civilians in Haditha last year, an Army source told The Washington Post. The unidentified source said the Pentagon...

UPI NewsTrack TopNews.
June 1, 2006... U.S. Iraq troops get refresher on values BAGHDAD, Iraq, June 1 (UPI) -- All U.S. troops in Iraq were ordered Thursday to undergo a refresher on values and ethics in the wake of alleged killings of civilians by Marines last year. ...

MLS: Colorado 1, Los Angeles 0.
June 1, 2006... DENVER, June 1 (UPI) -- Dedi Ben Dayan scored a goal in the Colorado Rapids' 1-0 MLS victory over the Los Angeles Galaxy, which was shutout for the fifth consecutive game. Colorado goaltender Bouna Coundoul stopped just four shots in...

U.S. Serbia humanitarian aid not suspended.
June 1, 2006... BELGRADE, Serbia-Montenegro, June 1 (UPI) -- A U.S. envoy says humanitarian funds are not included in a Bush administration decision to suspend aid to Serbia until a war-crimes suspect is arrested. The U.S. State Department said it would...

All quiet on Day 1 of hurricane season.
June 1, 2006... MIAMI, June 1 (UPI) -- There were no tropical systems moving off Africa toward the Americas Thursday, the first day of the 2006 Atlantic hurricane season. Max Mayfield, director of the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami, has been...

Sun Microsystems to lay off up to 5,000.
June 1, 2006... SANTA CLARA, Calif., June 1 (UPI) -- Sun Microsystems Inc., the California computer giant, said Thursday it was laying off as many as 5,000 employees. The layoffs are part of a plan to achieve an operating income goal of at least 10...

Arcelor owners push back at management.
June 1, 2006... LUXEMBOURG, June 1 (UPI) -- Arcelor SA shareholders are demanding the right to vote on a white-knight merger with a Russian steelmaker. As part of its effort to stop an unsolicited takeover by rival Mittal Steel Co., Luxembourg's Arcelor...

ACLU challenges Indiana sex offender law.
June 1, 2006... INDIANAPOLIS, June 1 (UPI) -- The American Civil Liberties Union is challenging an Indianapolis city ordinance on sex offenders the group claims is vague and impossible to uphold. The ordinance prohibits sex offenders convicted of crimes...

Vivendi settles with IRS for $686 million.
June 1, 2006... WASHINGTON, June 1 (UPI) -- U.S. authorities and Vivendi SA have settled a long-running tax dispute with the French company agreeing to pay $686 million. The payment to the Internal Revenue Service lets Vivendi eliminate a $1.85 billion...

EU allocates $2.5M to Kosovo judiciary.
June 1, 2006... PRISTINA, Serbia-Montenegro, June 1 (UPI) -- The European Union has allocated $2.5 million to Serbia's Kosovo province for developing the legislature and an independent judiciary. The European Agency for Reconstruction and Development said...

MLB: Minnesota 7, LA Angels 1.
June 1, 2006... ANAHEIM, Calif., June 1 (UPI) -- Francisco Liriano allowed one hit over six innings in pacing the Minnesota Twins to a 7-1 victory over the LA Angels of Anaheim. Liriano (4-0) and two Twins relievers combined on a three-hitter Wednesday,...

Haditha survivors recount Marine shootings.
June 1, 2006... HADITHA, Iraq, June 1 (UPI) -- A 12-year-old Iraqi orphan and only family survivor of a U.S. Marine raid on the town of Haditha last year says she now wishes she had also died. Safa Younis Salim told The Los Angeles Times she survived only...

London coal futures to start trading.
June 1, 2006... LONDON, June 1 (UPI) -- London's IntercontinentalExchange plans to launch its first coal futures as global demand for the commodity skyrockets. The all-electronic exchange move comes weeks after Leipzig's European Energy Exchange started...

Energy prices mixed as oil falls.
June 1, 2006... NEW YORK, June 1 (UPI) -- The cost of high-quality crude oil fell Thursday on the New York Mercantile Exchange to less than $71 per barrel. Oil for June delivery was off 81 cents to $70.48 per barrel, but natural gas was unchanged at...

China raises taxes on gold miners.
June 1, 2006... BEIJING, June 1 (UPI) -- The Chinese government is raising taxes on gold mines, the Shanghai Morning Post reported Thursday. The State Administration of Taxation has raised the resource tax on seven levels of "cliff" gold mines by an...

World War II bomb closes London airport.
June 1, 2006... LONDON, June 1 (UPI) -- London's City Airport was closed Thursday after the discovery of a suspected unexploded World War II bomb at a nearby construction site. It was not immediately clear whether the ordnance was of British or German...

U.S. film critic Ebert has cancer again.
June 1, 2006... CHICAGO, June 1 (UPI) -- Respected Chicago film critic Roger Ebert announced he will undergo surgery for a fourth recurrence of cancer two days before his 64th birthday. The Chicago Sun-Times movie critic and host of TV's "Ebert & Roeper"...

Melbourne wants more foreign airlines.
June 1, 2006... MELBOURNE, June 1 (UPI) -- Operators of a major Australian airport accuse the government of being stingy with access permits for foreign airlines. Officials at the Melbourne Airport, Australia's second largest airfield, are also warning...

Posco raising steel price 8 percent.
June 1, 2006... SEOUL, June 1 (UPI) -- Posco, South Korea's biggest steelmaker, is hiking prices as much as 8 percent, the Chosun Ilbo newspaper reported Thursday. Posco's move, which takes effect Wednesday, comes as the cost of iron ore was raised 19...

Motorola buying England's TTP for $163M.
June 1, 2006... SCHAUMBURG, Ill., June 1 (UPI) -- Motorola Inc. will pay $193.5 million in cash to buy England's TTP Communications PLC, a mobile phone technology company. The big U.S. electronics company said Thursday it already had firm commitments for...

Bank of China IPO jumps 14 percent.
June 1, 2006... HONG KONG, June 1 (UPI) -- The price of Bank of China stock rose 14 percent on the first day of its initial public offering, the Telegraph reported Thursday. Investors ordered about 17 times the stock on offer ahead of its $9.73 billion...

Ruling clears way for N.M. nuclear plant.
June 1, 2006... HOBBS, N.M., June 1 (UPI) -- The U.S. Atomic Safety and Licensing Board has resolved one of the last legal issues leading to construction of a nuclear fuel refinery near Hobbs, N.M. Although agreeing the plant's backers failed to justify...

Kinder Morgan sells Rocky Mountain assets.
June 1, 2006... HOUSTON, June 1 (UPI) -- Momentum Energy Group LLC paid $43 million in cash to buy key Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP assets in the Rocky Mountains. The deal gets MEG the Powder River Gathering System and the Painter Unit fractionation...

Douglas Pharmaceuticals sells unit.
June 1, 2006... AUCKLAND, New Zealand, June 1 (UPI) -- New Zealand's Douglas Pharmaceuticals is selling its Australian unit to generic drug maker Genepharm Australasia for $52.66 million. Douglas Pharmaceuticals, which is based in Auckland, makes, sells...

China closes 201 abortion clinics.
June 1, 2006... BEIJING, June 1 (UPI) -- A clampdown on gender selection in northern China has resulted in the closure of 201 abortion clinics and fines for hundreds of others, Xinhua reports. The state-run news agency said investigators determined the...

Actor Robert Sterling dead at age 88.
June 1, 2006... LOS ANGELES, June 1 (UPI) -- The star of the 1950s TV show "Topper," Robert Sterling, has died in Brentwood, Calif., at age 88. Sterling died of natural causes Tuesday but had been bedridden with shingles for five years, the Los Angeles...

Weakening manufacturing cheers Wall Street.
June 1, 2006... NEW YORK, June 1 (UPI) -- Word of declining U.S. manufacturing Thursday cheered Wall Street, which has been worried that inflation fears could mean more interest rate hikes. The Dow Jones industrial average was up 2.88 or 0.03 percent to...

UPI NewsTrack Business.
June 1, 2006... Weakening manufacturing cheers Wall Street NEW YORK, June 1 (UPI) -- Word of declining U.S. manufacturing Thursday cheered Wall Street, which has worried that inflation fears could mean more interest rate hikes. The Dow Jones...

Group plans cloaked commandments display.
June 1, 2006... WASHINGTON, June 1 (UPI) -- Unable to get sufficient permits, an evangelical Christian group plans to unveil a Ten Commandments display under wraps near the U.S. Supreme Court. Fast and Action says on its Web site it will put a monument to...

New evidence of 'Hobbits' in Indonesia.
June 1, 2006... CANBERRA, Australia, June 1 (UPI) -- An Australian-Indonesian archaeological team has found new evidence of tiny people dubbed "Hobbits," who used stone tools on a remote Indonesian island. Australian National University archaeologist Adam...

Rape report shocks Congo president.
June 1, 2006... KINSHASA, Democratic Republic of Congo, June 1 (UPI) -- A showing of a CNN report of rapes committed by his military so horrified Congolese President Joseph Kabila he has vowed to end it after elections. Kabila, who took over as the...

Tropical rain, magnetism have same physics.
June 1, 2006... SANTA FE, N.M., June 1 (UPI) -- U.S. scientists say they have found magnetism and the onset of intense tropical rainfall share the same underlying physics. Ole Peters and David Neelin of the Santa Fe (N.M.) Institute say they found a link...

Lebanon seeks disarm Palestinian militias.
June 1, 2006... NAAMEH, Lebanon, June 1 (UPI) -- Lebanese officials are focusing on radical Palestinian militiamen as key security problems while looking for a way to peacefully disarm them, reports say. Some see the current situation as resembling the...

U.S. construction spending off 0.1 percent.
June 1, 2006... WASHINGTON, June 1 (UPI) -- U.S. construction spending in April fell slightly to an annualized rate of $1.196 trillion, the Commerce Department reported Thursday. The 0.1 percent decline from March's level was still 8.5 percent greater...

U.S. envoy: Bosnia Serbs cannot secede.
June 1, 2006... SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina, June 1 (UPI) -- A U.S. ambassador says Bosnian Serbs cannot vote in an independence referendum in a bid to secede from Bosnia-Herzegovina. Ambassador Douglas McElhaney commented Thursday on a statement by...

U.S. petroleum inventories keep growing.
June 1, 2006... WASHINGTON, June 1 (UPI) -- U.S. crude oil inventories increased by 1.6 million barrels last week, the Energy Department reported Thursday. At 345.5 million barrels, U.S. crude oil inventories remain well above the upper end of the average...

Survey looks at religious 'sectarianism'.
June 1, 2006... SAN DIEGO, June 1 (UPI) -- A study finds U.S. "religious right" groups have negative attitudes toward similar religious groups on the right, making coalition forming more difficult. But, in contrast, the University of California-San Diego...

Deal struck in Lodi, Calif., terror trial.
June 1, 2006... SACRAMENTO, June 1 (UPI) -- A Lodi, Calif., man has struck a deal in a Sacramento terror prosecution case by pleading guilty to a lesser charge of lying to customs officials. Umer Hayat was charged with lying to FBI officials about...

Student scientist to meet Nobel laureates.
June 1, 2006... RICHLAND, Wash., June 1 (UPI) -- Virginia Tech University geosciences doctoral student Nicholas Wigginton of Holt, Mich., has been selected to attend a meeting of Nobel laureates. Nominated by the Richland, Wash., Pacific Northwest National...

D.C., New York anti-terror funds cut.
June 1, 2006... WASHINGTON, June 1 (UPI) -- Anti-terrorism funds for New York and Washington will be cut so the government can give such funds to mid-sized cities but the decision is under attack. The Department of Homeland Security's urban security funds...

D.C. sniper given six life sentences.
June 1, 2006... ROCKVILLE, Md., June 1 (UPI) -- John Allen Muhammad, convicted of carrying out a series of sniper killings in the Washington area, Thursday was sentenced to six life-in-prison terms. Montgomery County (Md.) District Court Judge James L....

Bosnian Muslims rebuild Serb-ruined mosque.
June 1, 2006... SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina, June 1 (UPI) -- Bosnian Muslims have begun rebuilding a 16th-century mosque, damaged in 1993 by Bosnian Serbs who controlled the town of Banja Luka. The Ferhard-pasha mosque was built in 1579 and survived two...

Cover blown, sky marshal continues to fly.
June 1, 2006... WASHINGTON, June 1 (UPI) -- His cover intentionally blown on national TV, Federal Sky Marshal Spencer Pickard continues to fly, a report says. Pickard, who was featured on ABC's 20/20 program May 19, said Wednesday that he flew, armed,...

U.S. Army copter crashes in Ga., 4 dead.
June 1, 2006... DOERUN, Ga., June 1 (UPI) -- A U.S Army helicopter clipped a television tower and crashed in southwest Georgia Thursday morning, killing four of five people aboard, reports said. Colquitt County Sheriff's Department dispatcher Becky Perry...

S.C. to execute two-time child rapists.
June 1, 2006... COLUMBIA, S.C., June 1 (UPI) -- South Carolina's state legislature has passed a measure that would make some twice-convicted child rapists eligible for the death penalty. By a vote of 84-27 in the Republican-dominated House, lawmakers...

Bush warns on 'harsh' immigration bill.
June 1, 2006... WASHINGTON, June 1 (UPI) -- U.S. President George Bush warned that "harsh language, unnecessary politics" sends the wrong message on immigration reform. Bush, speaking Thursday at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, outlined an immigration...

Indonesia quake injury toll doubled.
June 1, 2006... JAKARTA, June 1 (UPI) -- With the death toll more than 6,200, authorities Thursday raised the number injured in last weekend's Indonesian earthquake to 46,000. The number of people hurt in the 6.3 quake that struck Indonesia's main island...

Woman guilty in deaths of 8 newborns.
June 1, 2006... FRANKFURT, Germany, June 1 (UPI) -- A German woman who said she was too drunk to remember their births has been found guilty in the deaths of eight of her newborn babies. Sabine Hilschenz, 40, was convicted of manslaughter in a Frankfurt...

UPI NewsTrack TopNews.
June 1, 2006... Bush warns on 'harsh' immigration bill WASHINGTON, June 1 (UPI) -- U.S. President George Bush warned that "harsh language, unnecessary politics" sends the wrong message on immigration reform. Bush, speaking Thursday at the U.S. Chamber...

Scientists study arid, semiarid areas.
June 1, 2006... LAS CRUCES, N.M., June 1 (UPI) -- A team of U.S. scientists has developed a multi-faceted process to study arid and semiarid landscapes and determine what causes desertification. The team of New Mexico State University and government...

U.S. cities rated for 'sustainability'.
June 1, 2006... SAN FRANCISCO, June 1 (UPI) -- SustainLane has issued its 2006 ranking of U.S. cities across 12 major "sustainability" categories, with West Coast cities taking the top spots. The San Francisco organization examines such factors as clean...

International planetary probe meeting set.
June 1, 2006... PASADENA, Calif., June 1 (UPI) -- Robotic exploration of planets with atmospheres is the topic of NASA's Fourth International Planetary Probe Workshop this month in Pasadena, Calif. Attendees will assess the use of entry probes, aerial...

Man with plague hospitalized in N.M.
June 1, 2006... SANTA FE, N.M., June 1 (UPI) -- New Mexico health officials say a man has been hospitalized with a dangerous strain of plague in Santa Fe County, which is seen as a problem area in the state. "He is in critical but stable condition," state...

Tighter budgets raise medical bills.
June 1, 2006... WASHINGTON, June 1 (UPI) -- A new study says budgetary constraints in the U.S. government's healthcare programs have caused such costs to soar for both employers and consumers. Consumers and employers offering the benefits are paying...

Study discovers why guppies are colorful.
June 1, 2006... CHICAGO, June 1 (UPI) -- U.S. scientists say they have discovered why male guppies, the most fertile member of the fish tank, are so colorful. The University of Illinois researchers, working in Trinidad, say the answer is genetic, with the...

England probes chemical plant explosion.
June 1, 2006... BILLINGHAM, England, June 1 (UPI) -- British environmental and safety officials are investigating the cause of two major explosions early Thursday at a chemical plant in northeastern England. The blasts and enormous fireball occurred just...

California probing HMO's marketing ways.
June 1, 2006... SACRAMENTO, June 1 (UPI) -- Kaiser Permanente's Southern California operation reportedly is being probed by state authorities to see if the HMO misled customers about switching doctors. Regulators want to know if the healthcare provider...

Deadline passes in Darfur peace deal.
June 1, 2006... KHARTOUM, Sudan, June 1 (UPI) -- Two rebel groups in Sudan have allowed the deadline to pass without signing onto a peace deal in the embattled Darfur region. While the main faction of the Sudan Liberation Army agreed to the pact, one of...

Bullet hits electric panel, causes blast.
June 1, 2006... ISTANBUL, Turkey, June 1 (UPI) -- Turkish authorities say an explosion in Istanbul Thursday was caused by a bullet striking an electric power supply panel. Fourteen people were injured in the blast at a private shooting range in the...

Student loan-seekers have July 1 deadline.
June 1, 2006... NEW YORK, June 1 (UPI) -- Many of the more than 2 million U.S. college students of the Class of 2006 are reported scrambling to lock in student loans before rates go up July 1. An estimated 60-percent-plus of undergraduates and more than 80...

Wal-Mart may sell E85 motor fuel.
June 1, 2006... BENTONVILLE, Ark., June 1 (UPI) -- Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is evaluating whether it can make money selling so-called E85 at its 380-plus U.S. service stations. With carmakers producing more flexible fuel vehicles capable of running on a...

Jihad armed wing OKs 1967 borders deal.
June 1, 2006... GAZA, June 1 (UPI) -- The militant Palestinian Islamic Jihad said Thursday it would accept a deal that would recognize Israel if it withdrew to 1967 borders. The deal also would allow for the creation of a Palestinian state in the Gaza...

Research studies risks of plastic chemical.
June 1, 2006... CHICAGO, June 1 (UPI) -- U.S. researchers say a chemical used in plastic products such as baby bottles and microwave cookware permanently altered genes in newborn lab rats. The study by researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago...

Bush: 'Core values' retraining important.
June 1, 2006... WASHINGTON, June 1 (UPI) -- U.S. President George Bush said a Pentagon plan to have troops retained on "core values," is a reminder of the high standards expected of the U.S. military. The Department of Defense this week ordered commanders...