UPI NewsTrack articles from March 2006

UPI NewsTrack archives from March 2006

UPI Sports Calendar for Wednesday, March 1.
March 1, 2006... (All Times Eastern): NBA: Atlanta at Toronto, 7 p.m. Indiana at Washington, 7 p.m. Sacramento at Cleveland, 7 p.m. Miami at Boston, 7:30 p.m. New York at Memphis, 8 p.m. New Jersey at Minnesota, 8 p.m. ...

NHL: Vancouver 2, Calgary 1.
March 1, 2006... CALGARY, Alberta, Feb. 28 (UPI) -- Markus Naslund and Anson Carter scored nine seconds apart late in the second period Tuesday to hand the Vanouver Canucks a 2-1 win over the Calgary Flames. Alex Auld stopped 30 shots for Vancouver, which...

COL BKB: Illinois 71, Minnesota 65.
March 1, 2006... MINNEAPOLIS, March 1 (UPI) -- James Augustine had 16 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists Tuesday as 10th-ranked Illinois pulled away in the second half to beat Minnesota, 71-65. Dee Brown added 14 points for the Fighting Illini (24-5,...

Roh criticizes Koizumi's shrine visits.
March 1, 2006... SEOUL, March 1 (UPI) -- The president of South Korea has strongly criticized the Japanese prime minister's visits to a controversial shrine for Japanese war dead. Roh Moo-hyun on Wednesday also criticized Japanese moves to amend its...

Judge in fen-phen suit resigns.
March 1, 2006... LEXINGTON, Ky., March 1 (UPI) -- A Kentucky judge under investigation for his actions in a lawsuit over a diet drug has resigned. Joseph "Jay" Bamberger was a senior status judge, the Lexington Herald-Leader reported. The Kentucky Judicial...

Baltimore County rejects Muslim holidays.
March 1, 2006... TOWSON, Md., March 1 (UPI) -- The Baltimore County Board of Education rejected a proposal Tuesday to close schools on two Muslim holidays. Members of the board said that attendance does not drop enough on those days to justify closing the...

Koizumi rebuts Roh's remarks.
March 1, 2006... TOKYO, March 1 (UPI) -- Japan's prime minister, deflecting criticisms by South Korea's president, pointed out Japan's efforts at peaceful relations over the past 60 years. Junichiro Koizumi told reporters in his official residence...

Japanese bullet train tested at 229 mph.
March 1, 2006... TOKYO, March 1 (UPI) -- The East Japan Railway Co. tested its new bullet train "Fastech" at 229 miles per hour during a test run, the Sankei Shimbun reported Wednesday. The Fastech is designed to be the world's fastest bullet train. The...

Banned news weekly returns in China.
March 1, 2006... BEIJING, March 1 (UPI) -- An outspoken newsweekly noted for in-depth reporting reappeared on newsstands in China Wednesday after a five-week ban and the removal of its top editors. The Bingdian weekly, or "Freezing Point," a four-page...

More than 1.3M birds culled in Russia.
March 1, 2006... MOSCOW, March 1 (UPI) -- Russia has culled more than 1.3 million birds and lost an additional 400,000 birds to bird flu since July 2005, officials have said. The Emergency Situations Ministry said Tuesday that 20,000 birds had been culled...

Hu blasts Taiwan's 'independence' move.
March 1, 2006... BEIJING, March 1 (UPI) -- China's President Hu Jintao has denounced Taiwan's closure of the island's unification body as "a dangerous step on the road toward Taiwan independence." "Any person who gets on the wrong side of history is doomed...

Russian, Indian banks sign agreement.
March 1, 2006... MOSCOW, March 1 (UPI) -- Russia's state-run bank Vnesheconombank has signed a cooperation agreement with ICICI, India's second largest bank. The foreign trade bank's press office said Tuesday that the agreement covers a long-term...

JAL president to resign.
March 1, 2006... TOKYO, March 1 (UPI) -- Japan Airlines Corp. announced Wednesday that its president, Toshiyuki Shinmachi, would resign following weeks of turbulence within the company. Shinmachi, 63, is to be replaced by Haruka Nishimatsu, a 58-year-old...

China school heads sacked over graft.
March 1, 2006... BEIJING, March 1 (UPI) -- The Chinese government has fired 794 schoolmasters in a campaign to curb graft in the nation's schools, Minister of Education Zhou Ji said. Speaking at a press conference in Beijing Tuesday, Zhou said the figure...

Jockstrip: The world as we know it.
March 1, 2006... Byline: United Press International English woman wins pancake race LIBERAL, Kan., March 1 (UPI) -- Andrea Rawlings won the English leg of the annual pancake race and her time stood up against U.S. competitors to snap a 7-year Olney,...

Religious freedom still a dream in China.
March 1, 2006... BEIJING, March 1 (UPI) -- Chinese citizens' religious rights remain severely restricted one year after laws protecting religious freedom were passed, a rights group said Wednesday. On March 1, 2005, the Chinese government issued regulations...

Russia, Norway to protect Barents Sea.
March 1, 2006... MOSCOW, March 1 (UPI) -- Russian and Norwegian environmental officials have met to discuss cooperative measures to protect the Barents Sea. Helen Bjornoy, Norwegian environmental minister, and Valentin Stepankov, Russian deputy natural...

Japan tightens immigration control.
March 1, 2006... TOKYO, March 1 (UPI) -- Japanese ports of entry will introduce fingerprinting and facial photos as part of new anti-terrorism measures. The newly revised Immigration Control Act will oblige all foreigners above 16 years old to have their...

Watercooler Stories.
March 1, 2006... Byline: United Press International Would-be judge's nickname challenged RALEIGH, N.C., March 1 (UPI) -- A challenge has been issued against a North Carolina lawyer who wants her nickname, "Madame Justice," on the ballot for an upcoming...

Japan unveils fastest supercomputer.
March 1, 2006... TSUKUBA, Japan, March 1 (UPI) -- Japan's fastest supercomputer system, running 59 trillion calculations per second, began operations Wednesday. The supercomputer, consisting of two systems -- Hitachi's multipurpose supercomputer with a...

India-bound Bush detours to Afghanistan.
March 1, 2006... KABUL, Afghanistan, March 1 (UPI) -- U.S. President George Bush diverted from his schedule Wednesday to make his first-ever stop in Afghanistan while en route to India. The side-trip was not announced for security reasons, and Bush spent...

NBA: Seattle 114, New Orleans/Okla. 104.
March 1, 2006... SEATTLE, March 1 (UPI) -- Seattle's Ray Allen led all scorers with 33 points, as the Supersonics battled for a 114-104 win over the visiting New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets. Rashard Lewis added 25 points and Nick Collison contributed 14...

NBA: L.A. Lakers 102, Orlando 87.
March 1, 2006... LOS ANGELES, March 1 (UPI) -- Kobe Bryant scored half of his game-high 28 points in the fourth quarter, powering the Los Angeles Lakers to a 102-87 victory over the Orlando Magic. Smush Parker tallied 17 points and seven assists for the...

Mardi Gras was 'a party with a purpose'.
March 1, 2006... NEW ORLEANS, March 1 (UPI) -- New Orleans' first Mardi Gras after being slammed by Hurricane Katrina has wound down peacefully as what Mayor Ray Nagin called a party with a purpose. "To me, this Mardi Gras is a symbol that we're on our way...

NHL: Colorado 4, Minnesota 2.
March 1, 2006... DENVER, March 1 (UPI) -- Colorado's Milan Hejduk had a goal and an assist to lead the Avalanche to a 4-2 victory over the visiting Minnesota Wild Tuesday night. Rob Blake, Brad May and Andrew Brunette also scored for the Avalanche, who...

NHL: San Jose 5, Detroit 1.
March 1, 2006... SAN JOSE, Calif., March 1 (UPI) -- San Jose's Joe Thornton scored on the power-play and assisted on three of four other power-play goals, as the Sharks downed the Detroit Red Wings, 5-1. Jonathan Cheechoo and Patrick Marleau each tallied a...

Dubai Ports CEO complains of waffling.
March 1, 2006... WASHINGTON, March 1 (UPI) -- The chief executive officer of the Dubai-based company seeking to manage six U.S. seaports has complained to a Senate committee that the rules keep changing. Ted Bilkey of Dubai Ports World told the Senate...

Fresh wave of Baghdad bombs kill 26.
March 1, 2006... BAGHDAD, March 1 (UPI) -- As families gathered in Baghdad to collect bodies of those killed a day earlier, a wave of new bombings shook Baghdad Wednesday, killing at least 26 people. A car bomb apparently timed to hit a police patrol near...

Saddam Hussein subdued at execution trial.
March 1, 2006... BAGHDAD, March 1 (UPI) -- For a second day, former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein was subdued Wednesday at his Baghdad trial for ordering the execution of 148 people. A defense boycott against the chief judge appeared to be over, as all of...

UPI NewsTrack TopNews.
March 1, 2006... India-bound Bush detours to Afghanistan KABUL, Afghanistan, March 1 (UPI) -- U.S. President George Bush diverted from his schedule Wednesday to make his first-ever stop in Afghanistan while en route to India. The side-trip was not...

Energy prices mixed on the Nymex.
March 1, 2006... NEW YORK, March 1 (UPI) -- Energy prices were mixed in early trading Wednesday on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices for high-quality crude oil for April delivery gained 33 cents to $61.74 a barrel, but natural gas was steady at...

U.S. incomes up in January.
March 1, 2006... WASHINGTON, March 1 (UPI) -- U.S. personal income rose in January by $75.2 billion -- 0.7 percent -- and consumer spending was up 0.4 percent. The Commerce Department also said Thursday that disposable personal income, which is personal...

Apple fields two new products.
March 1, 2006... CUPERTINO, Calif., March 1 (UPI) -- California-based Apple Computer Inc. has unveiled two new products in a challenge to Microsoft Corp. Apple introduced its iPod "Hi-Fi" home stereo system and a revamped Mac Mini computer that promises to...

U.S. mortgage applications down.
March 1, 2006... WASHINGTON, March 1 (UPI) -- U.S. mortgage applications last week fell 1.2 percent, an industry group said Wednesday. The Mortgage Bankers Association said its index of applications fell to 571.5 for the week ending Feb. 24 from the...

Northwest pilots vote to authorize strike.
March 1, 2006... MINNEAPOLIS, March 1 (UPI) -- Pilots for Minnesota-based Northwest Airlines pilots authorized a strike if union leaders are unhappy with management's pay and benefit plans. The strike authorization, with more than 90 percent of those voting...

Australian gold revival gets another boost.
March 1, 2006... PERTH, Australia, March 1 (UPI) -- Newmont Mining Corporation's decision to resume gold production from a giant Australian development could make the nation the world's top gold supplier. The Boddington mine redevelopment project, which...

Bush: Bin Laden tape key in 2004 victory.
March 1, 2006... WASHINGTON, March 1 (UPI) -- U.S. President George Bush says Osama bin Laden's taped diatribe against him days before the 2004 election inadvertently helped him win, a new book says. Bush made the first-time admission in an interview for...

South Korean train workers strike.
March 1, 2006... SEOUL, March 1 (UPI) -- More than 16,000 South Korean railway workers went on strike Wednesday, disrupting nearly 60 percent of train operations. The illegal walkout halted about half of commuter train services, the Korea Times said. ...

Clinton crusades against obesity.
March 1, 2006... WASHINGTON, March 1 (UPI) -- Former President Bill Clinton and National Governors Association Chairman Mike Huckabee are fighting U.S. childhood obesity, a problem each has faced. The former president, who underwent bypass surgery in 2004,...

Teens, 14, steal airplane, crash land.
March 1, 2006... SAN BERNARDINO, Calif., March 1 (UPI) -- Two California 14-year-old boys trying to run away from home have been charged with stealing a small plane and crash-landing it in a national park. The unidentified youths are from Big Bear Lake, and...

Jihad fugitive killed in Gaza blast.
March 1, 2006... GAZA, March 1 (UPI) -- Israeli officials denied any role in the death of a senior Islamic jihad fugitive in a bomb blast Wednesday in Gaza. The blast shook a busy street in a residential area and knocked out electricity in the area and...

MBA student gets grant for cast covers.
March 1, 2006... OXFORD, England, March 1 (UPI) -- A New Jersey native has won nearly $9,000 from a British business school to develop daily and evening wear to cover up casts for broken legs and arms. Jennifer Segal, an MBA student at Oxford, won the Said...

Bell sells 140 helicopters in two weeks.
March 1, 2006... FORT WORTH, Texas, March 1 (UPI) -- U.S.-based Bell Helicopter says it has booked 140 new aircraft orders in the last two weeks. The Textron Inc. unit sold 100 helicopters at the recent Helicopter Association International meeting in Dallas...

U.S. stocks up on economic news.
March 1, 2006... NEW YORK, March 1 (UPI) -- U.S. stocks rose Wednesday amid generally positive economic data and a rebound in Google shares. The Dow Jones industrial was up 28.42, or 0.26 percent, to 11,021.83 in mid-morning trading. The Nasdaq composite...

Isuzu struggles in tough U.S. market.
March 1, 2006... WASHINGTON, March 1 (UPI) -- Isuzu Motors America Inc. is losing U.S. market share fast and observers wonder if it is preparing to leave the United States. Last year the Japanese company sold 12,177 vehicles in the United States,...

Van used in major British heist located.
March 1, 2006... TONBRIDGE, England, March 1 (UPI) -- The van used to haul more than $93 million in Britain's largest robbery has been located, and investigators have swarmed a large farm in Kent. Police said the truck seen in security video tape leaving...

Force-feeding detainees termed torture.
March 1, 2006... WASHINGTON, March 1 (UPI) -- Force-feeding of detainees on hunger strike at the U.S. military prison in Guantanamo Bay amounts to torture under new laws, claim their lawyers in a lawsuit. The lawyers contend such tactics amount to cruel and...

British teachers gain disciplinary rights.
March 1, 2006... LONDON, March 1 (UPI) -- British teachers will have the right to discipline students, confiscate cell phones and knives and forcibly halt student fights under new legislation. The Education Bill announced Tuesday is the first time...

Germans strike for 5-percent pay hike.
March 1, 2006... FRANKFURT, Germany, March 1 (UPI) -- Germany's largest union started a series of brief regional strikes Wednesday to signal its seriousness about a better deal. Engineering union IG Metall staged a work stoppage, one of several, at a...

Thousands of Muslims protest Bush visit.
March 1, 2006... NEW DELHI, March 1 (UPI) -- Thousands of Muslims in India marched throughout India Wednesday to protest the visit of U.S. President George Bush ahead of his arrival. Shouting anti-Bush slogans, they condemned the war in Iraq and U.S....

Sectarian evictions reported in Iraq.
March 1, 2006... BAGHDAD, March 1 (UPI) -- Iraqi Sunnis are reportedly evicting Shiite families under threat of death as sectarian violence escalates in Iraq, The Washington Post reported Wednesday. A growing number of displaced Shiite families have been...

Tata to build truck factory in India.
March 1, 2006... GENEVA, Switzerland, March 1 (UPI) -- India's Tata Motors Ltd. will build a factory in India to make mini-trucks for domestic and foreign markets. The indigenously developed Ace was launched in May 2005 with an installed capacity of 30,000...

UPI NewsTrack Business.
March 1, 2006... U.S. stocks up on economic news NEW YORK, March 1 (UPI) -- U.S. stocks rose Wednesday amid generally positive economic data and a rebound in Google shares. The Dow Jones industrial was up 34.90 or 0.32 percent to 11,028.31 in...

Lobby reform off to tepid start.
March 1, 2006... WASHINGTON, March 1 (UPI) -- A U.S. Senate committee has unanimously approved lobbying reform although the bill doesn't include sweeping changes some members of Congress sought. The Senate Rules Committee voted 17-0 Tuesday to rein in the...

Woman refuses to testify about rape tape.
March 1, 2006... BRIDGEVIEW, Ill., March 1 (UPI) -- A judge threatened to cite a Chicago area woman with contempt for refusing to view or testify about a videotape of her alleged rape, reports said Wednesday. Circuit Judge Kerry Kennedy also threatened...

Transocean books $2 billion in contracts.
March 1, 2006... HOUSTON, March 1 (UPI) -- Houston-based Transocean Inc. has booked contracts worth as much as $2.2 billion, from Chevron Corp. and BP PLC. The Chevron contracts, worth as much as $1.7 billion, are for construction of a deepwater drillship,...

U.S. back taxes enough to erase deficit.
March 1, 2006... WASHINGTON, March 1 (UPI) -- The U.S. government is stepping up efforts to recover delinquent taxes, as the amount has reached a point where it could pay off the deficit. An Internal Revenue Service report took data from 2001 through the...

Pataki being treated for infection.
March 1, 2006... NEW YORK, March 1 (UPI) -- New York Gov. George Pataki reportedly is running a fever at a hospital where he is being treated for an abdominal infection resulting from ruptured appendix. Doctors at New York Presbyterian Hospital, where the...

Beetles devastate Canadian forests.
March 1, 2006... VICTORIA, British Columbia, March 1 (UPI) -- Millions of acres of Canadian forests are being killed by swarms of mountain pine beetles in the largest insect infestation in North American history. The beetles -- thriving in the Earth's...

Astronaut's father killed in accident.
March 1, 2006... ELMIRA, N.Y., March 1 (UPI) -- Hours after cheering on astronaut daughter Eileen Collins in her home town of Elmira, N.Y., James Collins, 79, was hit by a car and died, a report said. No charges will be brought against the driver in the...

Gonzales 'clarifies' NSA testimony.
March 1, 2006... WASHINGTON, March 1 (UPI) -- U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has asked to clarify Senate testimony saying the legal backing of a domestic spying program had evolved. Gonzales wrote during Senate testimony Feb. 6 he "did not and...

Former aides say Conyers violated ethics.
March 1, 2006... WASHINGTON, March 1 (UPI) -- Former aides of Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., have sent information to a U.S. House ethics committee and the FBI alleging Conyers violated ethics rules. The Hill, a Capitol Hill newspaper, said the former aides...

Grieving husband freezes wife's body.
March 1, 2006... BERWICK-UPON-TWEED, England, March 1 (UPI) -- A Scottish man kept the body of his wife, who died Valentine's Day of natural causes, in a freezer more than a week while grieving her death, a report said. Desmond Irvine, 74, notified a doctor...

Gulf of Mexico Katrina cleanup continues.
March 1, 2006... NEW ORLEANS, March 1 (UPI) -- Crews are frantically trying to repair damage caused by last year's Gulf of Mexico hurricanes, with the 2006 hurricane season only four months away. It's been six months since Hurricanes Katrina and Rita...

U.N.: Methamphetamine biggest drug worry.
March 1, 2006... GENEVA, Switzerland, March 1 (UPI) -- A United Nations drug official is warning that methamphetamine use is poised to become a global "pandemic" unless laws against its manufacture are tightened. Dr. Hamid Ghodse, president of the...

Simrad gets 80 percent of Tulsa's LEI.
March 1, 2006... HORTEN, Norway, March 1 (UPI) -- A unit of Simrad Yachting AS paid $152 million for 80 percent of Tulsa, Okla.-based rival Lowrance Electronics Inc. Simrad, which is owned by Norway's Kongsberg Gruppen, said Wednesday its offer for LEI...

UPI NewsTrack TopNews.
March 1, 2006... Thousands of Muslims protest Bush visit NEW DELHI, March 1 (UPI) -- Thousands of Muslims in India marched throughout India Wednesday to protest the visit of U.S. President George Bush ahead of his arrival. Shouting anti-Bush slogans,...

U.S. construction spending up 0.2 percent.
March 1, 2006... WASHINGTON, March 1 (UPI) -- U.S. construction spending in January rose 0.2 percent over December's level, the Commerce Department said Wednesday. Economists had expected January construction spending, which was $1.1634 billion, to be up 1...

Howard wants better Australia-China links.
March 1, 2006... SYDNEY, March 1 (UPI) -- Australian Prime Minister John Howard says he "would be crazy" not to pursue better bilateral relations with China, although he feels China is in for upheaval. In an interview with the Financial Times to mark his...

NASA still plans May shuttle launch.
March 1, 2006... CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla., March 1 (UPI) -- NASA officials say they hope to launch the next space shuttle in May but admit a major technical problem might delay lift-off. Wayne Hale, the space shuttle program manager, says NASA is preparing to...

Mariners extend Ibanez deal for 2 years.
March 1, 2006... PEORIA, Ariz., March 1 (UPI) -- Outfielder Raul Ibanez signed a two-year contract extension through 2008 with the Seattle Mariners on Wednesday for undisclosed terms. The 33-year-old Ibanez batted .280 with 20 home runs and 89 RBI last...

Tennis father accused in opponent drugging.
March 1, 2006... PARIS, March 1 (UPI) -- A retired soldier is on trial in France on charges that he drugged the tennis rivals of his children 27 times from 2000 to 2003, a report said. Christophe Fauviau, 46, is accused of unintentionally causing the death...

Taliban remains active in Afghanistan.
March 1, 2006... KABUL, Afghanistan, March 1 (UPI) -- The United States freed Afghanistan from the Taliban four years ago, but remnants of the dreaded regime remain active in the southern parts of the country. Unlike in the past, some village residents are...

China's No. 1 bad habit: Spitting.
March 1, 2006... BEIJING, March 1 (UPI) -- China is cracking down on the nation's No. 1 bad habit -- public spitting -- as it readies to be the site of the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, a report said. With the aid of street cameras to catch spitters in the...

Cattle might get individual ID numbers.
March 1, 2006... WASHINGTON, March 1 (UPI) -- U.S. livestock might soon receive individual identification numbers in a voluntary plan to prevent the spread of mad cow and other diseases. The U.S. Animal Identification Organization, a non-profit industry...

Virginians saddened over bears' deaths.
March 1, 2006... RICHMOND, Va., March 1 (UPI) -- Virginians' love for bears is evidenced by the grief engulfing the state over the recent deaths of two black ones at a Richmond wildlife exhibit. The bears were euthanized last month after one of them bit a...

Germany monitors inflammatory film.
March 1, 2006... BERLIN, March 1 (UPI) -- German intelligence officials have acknowledged they are monitoring the audiences of a new Turkish film with anti-Semitic and anti-U.S. themes. "Valley of the Wolves," by director Serdar Akar, shows crazed U.S....

Iranians still begrudge Britain for woes.
March 1, 2006... TEHRAN, March 1 (UPI) -- The majority of Iranians believe that almost everything wrong in their country is rooted in fault with the British, The Guardian reported Wednesday. The suspicion has long and deep roots, going back before 1979 when...

'Fast fashion' becomes British trend.
March 1, 2006... LONDON, March 1 (UPI) -- Spurred by plunging prices, British women are buying twice as much clothing as 10 years ago -- so-called "fast-fashion" that may be worn briefly and pitched. Women's clothing prices have fallen 34 percent since 1995...

EU cites U.S. barriers to free trade.
March 1, 2006... BRUSSELS, March 1 (UPI) -- The European Commission said Wednesday that the main obstacle to free trade with the United States comes in the form of non-tariff barriers. The commission's 21st annual report on barriers to European companies...

Black & Decker pays $160M for Vector.
March 1, 2006... TOWSON, Md., March 1 (UPI) -- Maryland-based Black & Decker Corp. said Wednesday it was paying $160 million in cash for Vector Products Inc. Vector makes consumer portable power products like power inverters, jump-starters, vehicle battery...

Incentives urged to make new antibiotics.
March 1, 2006... WASHINGTON, March 1 (UPI) -- The Infectious Diseases Society of America is urging federal legislation be enacted to give pharmaceutical companies incentives to produce more antibiotics. The IDSA -- an organization of physicians, scientists,...

Abramoff tried to get Israeli oil rights.
March 1, 2006... WASHINGTON, March 1 (UPI) -- Former high-powered U.S. lobbyist Jack Abramoff was in partnership with a Russian energy company to drill for oil in Israel, the Boston Globe reports. Federal agents are probing Abramoff's dealings with the...

Good response to gas pipeline expansion.
March 1, 2006... OWENSBORO, Ky., March 1 (UPI) -- A unit of Boardwalk Pipeline Partners LP said Wednesday it signed deals for natural gas shipments on its East Texas and Mississippi expansions. The contracts, which cover 1 billion cubic feet per day of...