In the beginning was A.P.

The story of Virginia's musical Carter family is filled with thepathos, humor and endurance of the country music they helped turnloose on the rest of the nation. Will You Miss Me When I'm Gone? TheCarter Family & Their Legacy in American Music, by Mark Zwonitzer andCharles Hirshberg (Simon & Schuster, $15) tells their story.

The Carters, whose hundreds of recorded songs included suchclassics as "Will the Circle Be Unbroken?" and "Keep on the SunnySide," weren't simply an act, the authors tell us in theintroduction. "They were the real deal." The following 400 pages ofdetail about lives that spanned and created enormous change offerstrong support for that …

BRINGING IN THE CLEANER; Boise's new mayor takes control

Carolyn Terteling-Payne was sworn into office, as mayor of the city of Boise, on February 18, 2003 after a unanimous vote by the city council. Terteling-Payne was nominated by councilwoman Paula Forney to take the reigns of city hall until fall when voters pick a new leader. Terteling-Payne has said she will not run in the fall election.

"My council post is coming up in November and I've been toying with the idea that 10 years in long enough," said Terteling-Payne. "The fact that I've said I won't run in the fall helps people. The council is disallowing an incumbent."

Terteling-Payne has her sights on restoring public faith in city hall; a goal championed by her former …

Thai importer will return powered milk to China

A Thai dairy company announced Thursday that it will return 122 tons of milk powder imported from China because of fears over contamination, a move that highlighted the continued spread of the tainted dairy crisis.

The plan by Thailand's Dutch Mill Group was announced even though the country's food inspection authorities said they have not yet found dangerous amounts of the industrial chemical melamine in any foods tested.

Taiwan and Laos meanwhile announced measures to stop the sale of some milk products, after tests in the two countries found melamine in several brands of milk powder originating from China.

Milk containing melamine has been …

Tributes pour in for tragic Chris

A man who had been training for the Bath Half Marathon aftersurviving a life-threatening heart condition has died just daysbefore the race.

Bath City stalwart Chris Stillman, from Peasedown St John, waspreparing to run 13.1 miles in support of the race charity Golden-Oldies.

But he died, aged 59, after being admitted to hospital with aurine infection.

Retired legal executive Mr Stillman had major heart surgery lastyear, and was in hospital for six weeks.

To celebrate his recovery, he had been planning to run the halfmarathon for the first time on Sunday, saying he felt the fittest hehad been for more than 30 years.

He had set himself …

2 Italian Oil Workers Freed in Nigeria

PORT HARCOURT, Nigeria - Militants on Thursday released two Italian oil worker hostages who were seized more than three months ago in Nigeria's restive southern region, militants and officials said.

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta militants said the two captives seized Dec. 7 were handed over to an Italian journalist visiting the region where Nigeria's crude is pumped.

The militants said the long captivity of the two Italians was meant to show Italy the injustice of their region, which remains impoverished despite its great natural resources. In a statement, they said they had achieved that goal, but vowed more kidnappings.

The Italians "will …

Cole's winner gives Liverpool 2-1 win over Bolton

LIVERPOOL, England (AP) — Joe Cole scored an injury-time winner Saturday to give Liverpool a much-needed 2-1 win over Bolton to provide some relief for under-pressure manager Roy Hodgson.

Kevin Davies had given Bolton the lead in the 43rd minute before Fernando Torres equalized four minutes after the break with his first goal since Nov. 10.

Cole then secured the win with an easy tap-in after Steven Gerrard's deep cross was touched back by Maxi Rodriguez, although replays suggested he was offside.

Hodgson has come under increased criticism after a home loss to relegation-threatened Wolverhampton in the last round, with British media reporting that the club's new owners …

Strike paralyzes Belgian trains, hit traffic

BRUSSELS (AP) — A 24-hour pre-Christmas public sector strike to protest pension reform has hit rail and bus traffic across Belgium, but major airports were operating close to normal.

Thursday's rush-hour train traffic was dense but not as chaotic as expected as many people decided to take a day off or work from home.

Intermittent road blocks by strikers worsened delays around the capital. The strike major …

NEWSMAKERS

PEOPLE: promotions, appointments and hires

ARCHITECTURE/ENGINEERING

West Hempfield Townshipbased David Miller/Associates Inc. named Stephen Kruzik a planner and geographic-information systems specialist with its planning group. He has a bachelor's degree in geography with a minor in environmental health and emergency management from Millersville University.

East Pennsboro Townshipbased Gannett Fleming Inc. named Brian A. Seip electrical design group leader of instrumentation, control and electrical technologies with its facilities division. Previously, he was a project electrical engineer. He is a professional engineer and has more than nine years of experience and a …

Bush takes break from Mideast peacemaking to tour Christian holy sites

Immersed for two days in the intense and arcane world of Mideast peacemaking, President George W. Bush looked relieved to see something of the landscape that all the fighting is about. Obviously moved, he even giggled, too.

Bush retraced the steps of Jesus and his disciples in the ancient town of Capernaum on Friday and gazed out on the nearby Sea of Galilee, where the Bible says Jesus walked on water and calmed a sudden storm by commanding the wind and waves to cease. The waters were crystal blue and calm when Bush visited, leaning in to listen as a brown-robed friar narrated his tour with New Testament passages.

"An amazing experience," Bush …

If you go...“Ground Zero 360” runs Sept. 2 through Jan. 1, 2012, at the ...

If you go...

"Ground Zero 360" runs Sept. 2 through Jan. 1, 2012, at the Field Museum, 1400 S. Lake Shore.

The exhibit is included in basic admission, which is $15 for adults, $10 for children 3-11 and $12 for seniors (65-older) and students (with valid ID). …

FFIEC updates its Y2K examination procedures

An updated work program for conducting Year 2000 examinations in all federally supervised banks, savings associations and credit unions, as well as service providers and certain software vendors supporting these institutions, was issued early this month by the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC) Task Force on Supervision.

The program is designed for use in a second round of examinations beginning later this summer.

The examination procedures are risk focused and will help the examiner to determine if the institution has addressed the Year 2000 problems inherent in many computer software, hardware and environmental systems.

The procedures are …

Venus, Serena Williams pair up to win 3rd Wimbledon doubles title

When Venus Williams won her second match point of the day at Wimbledon, even little sister Serena could celebrate.

About 3 1/2 hours after Venus beat Serena to win the women's singles title, the Americans paired up Saturday to win their seventh Grand Slam doubles title, beating Lisa Raymond of the United States and Samantha Stosur of Australia 6-2, 6-2.

The victory improved Venus and Serena to 7-0 in Grand Slam doubles finals, and gave them their third doubles title at All England Club on the same day they played each other in their third all-in-the-family Wimbledon singles final.

"We've both worked really hard this year, and I think the …

Nursery praised by care report

Young children get their self-esteem boosted by staff at anAberdeen nursery, according to a Care Commission report.

The Daffodil Nursery at St Margaret's School for Girls waspraised during an inspection.

Staff were interviewed and 13 children of the mixed-sex nurserywere also asked about their experiences.

The report found children liked going to the nursery and enjoyeda range of activities including dancing, puzzles, water play andcrafts.

And parents who filled out questionnaires were also positive.

St Margaret's head teacher Anne Everest said she was delightedbut not surprised at the results.

She said: "All the staff at the nursery work exceptionally hardto ensure that our children have a stimulating, fun and educationalexperience."

Fans Obtain the Final Harry Potter Book

NEW YORK - You're safe now, Potter people. Open your eyes, unplug your ears. The spoilers can't hurt you. You have the book. The answers are in your hands.

And if you can't bear to finish, to say farewell to Harry, you can always read him again.

The world on Saturday welcomed one last visit from Planet Potter as "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," the seventh and last of J.K. Rowling's supernatural series, touched down at midnight and wrapped up the most extraordinary literary story of modern times, some 4,000 pages about a wizard and his friends that broke the rules and started new ones.

Bookstores across the United States and Britain, as far away as Singapore and Sydney, welcomed eager readers, young and old, in glasses and capes, some shivering, some sweaty, all joined by the thick hardback book with the opening words: "The two men appeared out of nowhere, a few yards apart in the narrow, moonlit lane."

In Hudson, Ohio, 17-year-old Kelly Kubik was on Chapter 2 just half an hour after getting the book. But other fans, warned by Rowling that two major characters would die, one of them maybe Harry, couldn't bear to start at the beginning. After receiving her copy at a Singapore bookstore, Adela Lim, 16, flipped right to the end of the book, scanned the text furiously and exclaimed to her friends, "Oh my god! Oh my god!"

"I am aghast at the ending," she said. "I've waited since the first book all the way until now, so I can't wait anymore, I just want to find out the ending."

Rowling, an unknown a decade ago when she introduced her magical character in "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone," gave a midnight reading to 500 competition-winning children in the grand Victorian surroundings of London's Natural History Museum. Now richer than the queen, she sat in a large wing-backed chair and read the opening pages - description of a mysterious assignation, a clandestine meeting and important news for Voldemort.

For many of the hardcore Potter-maniacs, the place to be was Waterstone's bookstore on Piccadilly in central London. More than 5,000 people lined up for hours before the midnight opening, in a festive, colorful line stretching around the block. Among the fans from as far away as Finland and Mexico were dozens of witches and wizards, a couple of house elves, a pair of owls and a woman dressed as Hogwarts castle.

At the Barnes & Noble in Manhattan's Union Square, Anna Todd and Kelsey Barry, both 20, jumped up and down, screaming and hugging as they touched their Harry Potter books and smelled them as if handling a newborn baby.

"It smells like fresh parchment," said Barry. "It smells like magic."

Barry waited hours; others waited days. One man even risked his life for Potter. In Canberra, Australia, a 21-year-old man jumped into the frigid waters of Lake Burley Griffin on Friday afternoon to retrieve a pre-order voucher he had dropped. Paramedics found the man shivering and distressed - and without the voucher, Emergency Services spokesman Darren Cutrupi said. He was given another voucher by the bookstore.

Competition to sell Potter led to prices wars everywhere and a shutdown in Malaysia, as major stores pulled the final volume in protest of supermarkets offering the book for $11.49, barely a third of its suggested price. Booksellers have acknowledged in the United States and elsewhere that they don't expect to make a profit.

Rowling's books about the bespectacled orphan with the lightning-bolt scar have sold 325 million copies in 64 languages, and the launch of each new volume has become a Hollywood-scale extravaganza.

"Deathly Hallows" has a print run of 12 million in the United States alone, and Internet retailer Amazon says it has taken 2.2 million orders for the book. Britain's Royal Mail says it will deliver 600,000 copies on Saturday; the U.S. Postal Service says it will ship 1.8 million.

Security for the launch was fist-tight, with books shipped in sealed pallets and legal contracts binding stores not to sell the book before the midnight release time.

But despite pleas from Rowling and leading fan sites, spoilers sprouted on the Internet in the days before the release, including photographed images of what turned out to be all 700-plus pages of the book's U.S. edition. A blogger identified as "Gabriel," who started the spoiler wave in June by posting alleged plot points, has been discredited.

In France, the daily Le Parisien revealed how the final installment ends, in a small article which it printed upside down. The book's French publishing house, Gallimard Jeunesse, condemned the newspaper's revelation, saying it showed "a total lack of respect for J.K. Rowling" and "disdain for readers."

As many as 1,200 copies were shipped early in the United States by an online retailer, and two U.S. newspapers published reviews Wednesday, more than two days ahead of the official release.

Rowling said she was "staggered" by the embargo-busting reviews, but few authors have been better treated by critics. "Deathly Hallows" is receiving near-universal raves, with The New York Times, Los Angeles Times and The Associated Press among those praising it as a worthy conclusion to a classic series.

True believers, of course, don't look to experts. At a Borders bookstore in Coral Springs, Fla., Lori Mauer yelled "It's mine! It's mine!" upon grabbing one of the first copies sold. As Mauer rushed out of the store with her 10-year-old daughter, Melissa, and 13-year-old son, Billy, she opened the first page.

"The first word is ..., " Mauer said to her children in her storytelling voice, "THE."

---

Associated Press writers Jill Lawless, Lindsay Toler and Romina Spina in London, Colleen Long in New York and correspondents around the world contributed to this report.

Magic and Bulls are waiting to begin battle for free agents

The Bulls and Orlando Magic are playing a waiting game.

They're waiting for next summer's crop of free agents, includingTim Duncan of the San Antonio Spurs, Grant Hill of the DetroitPistons, Eddie Jones of the Charlotte Hornets, Tracy McGrady of theToronto Raptors and Maurice Taylor of the Los Angeles Clippers.

The Bulls and Magic have cleared their rosters of older playerswith little talent and big contracts. They have created salary-caproom to sign the best free agents.

So now, they wait. But in preparing for their bidding war, bothfranchises tore up winning teams. The Magic broke up a team thatnever reached the top. It included talented veterans such as AnferneeHardaway, Horace Grant and Nick Anderson and was coached by ChuckDaly, one of the game's best.

That left the Magic with a payroll of $42 million and a team goodenough to contend for the playoffs with a nucleus of DarrellArmstrong, Corey Maggette, Michael Doleac, Matt Harpring, Bo Outlawand Derek Strong.

The Bulls dismantled a six-title dynasty.

They have been left with a payroll of $27 million, second-lowestin the league, and an injury-riddled non-playoff team that is theworst in the league. They have a nucleus of rookies Elton Brand andRon Artest, veteran Hersey Hawkins and second-year guard CoreyBenjamin with contracts for next season.

Advantages for the Bulls? They will offer a championshiptradition, a bigger market, an arena almost twice as large,operations chief Jerry Krause and new coach Tim Floyd as their frontmen and more than $20 million in cap room.

Magic advantages? They will offer a better supporting cast ofplayers, a training facility twice as big, better weather and abasketball management run by Julius Erving, John Gabriel and rookiecoach Doc Rivers.

Yes, Dr. J is selling the Magic. But Michael Jordan is nowherearound trying to encourage players to come to the Bulls.

As for the money, the Bulls will have more. But the Magic willhave enough to offer Duncan and Hill the maximum. And I don't thinkmoney will be the decisive factor.

Gone is the day when money was the primary reason a player choseto play for a team. The new collective bargaining agreement is riggedto favor the team a star is currently playing for. It allows thecurrent team to re-sign a player for seven years and pay him a raiseof 12.5 percent a year, compared to limiting an opposing team to asix-year contract with a 10 percent annual raise.

But Antonio McDyess, Tom Gugliotta and Danny Manning are starswho didn't sign with the highest bidder. McDyess accepted millionsless when he left the Phoenix Suns and returned to his originalteam, the Denver Nuggets. Gugliotta turned down more money from theMinnesota Timberwolves to play for the Suns. Manning turned down moremoney from the Atlanta Hawks to play for the Suns.

Generally, players want to play for a management they can betterrelate to, for a team that's ready to win and for a team in a warm climate. Even Chicago native Maggette said he's glad he was notdrafted No. 1.

"It's nice to play for your home team," he said. "But it's toocold in Chicago. I like the warm weather here better."

Over 50 injured in bomb blast at independence day concert in Belarus' capital

A homemade bomb exploded at an outdoor concert in Belarus' capital early Friday, injuring at least 50 people. Officials blamed hooligans.

The blast took place in downtown Minsk at a concert marking the ex-Soviet nation's independence day. Minsk police spokesman Alexander Lastovsky said authorities had opened a criminal investigation.

Lastovsky said more than 20 people were hospitalized, but the Health Ministry put that number at more than 50. The bomb was rigged with nuts and bolts.

Belarusian Interior Minister Vladimir Naumov said that police later found an unexploded homemade bomb in the same area. The cardboard juice carton contained explosives along with nuts and bolts, a device similar to the one that exploded.

"It had many fingerprints and other traces that could allow us to solve the crime," Naumov told reporters.

Belarusian Emergency Situations Ministry spokesman Alexei Usatov said the bomb went off about 12:30 a.m. The concert was held at the Hero City memorial, which commemorates Minsk's suffering during World War II.

Dmitry Kudyakov, a 32-year old engineer at the concert, said he felt a strong shock wave and saw smoke.

"People started crying," he said. "Some fell on me and there was a lot of blood."

Viktor Sirenko, chief doctor of the city's Emergency Hospital, said that three people were in grave condition. "We are struggling to save their lives," he said.

Viktor Gurko, chief doctor of the city Hospital No. 6 displayed nuts and bolts and doctors recovered from the victims' bodies.

Most of those injured were people in their 20s, but two children aged 5 and 6 and several elderly people also were among the victims.

The explosion was unprecedented in Belarus, a Baltic nation of 10 million that has been tightly controlled by authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko.

Lukashenko, who was attending the concert, inspected the explosion site and urged officials to quickly track down the perpetrators.

Indicators Pointing To Slower Economy

WASHINGTON - The Commerce Department on Wednesday reported asharp drop in its key economic forecasting gauge in February and arise in stocks of unsold goods on wholesalers' shelves, adding tosigns of a slowing economy.

The Index of Leading Indicators, which forecasts economictrends six to nine months ahead, fell 0.2 percent in February,continuing a pattern of weakness since last fall.

It was the index's sharpest monthly decline since a 0.2 percentdrop in July, 1993, and the biggest fall since a 0.4 percent slide inMay, 1993.

The department said, meanwhile, that wholesalers' inventoriesgrew for the eighth month in a row in February, rising 1.2 percent toa seasonally adjusted $241.21 billion after a revised 1.5 percentincrease in January.

The department previously said January inventories rose 0.6percent.

Department officials said the jump in inventories during thefirst two months of 1995 was the largest for any two months Septemberand October, 1987, when they climbed a total 3.0 percent.

Seven of the 11 separate indicators in the leading indexweakened in February, led by lower commodity prices, which fell atthe sharpest rate since November, 1992, according to departmentofficials.

But money supply also was lower, orders for consumer goodsdeclined and consumer expectations fell. The average work week wasshorter, applications for building permits fell and new claims forunemployment insurance pay increased.

House's FTs, LeBron's 39 lift Heat, 88-87

MIAMI (AP) — All on the same play in the second quarter, LeBron James twisted his left ankle, lost the ball and took a knee in the forehead from teammate Joel Anthony.

Safe to say, the Miami Heat felt no pain in a joyous postgame locker room.

Eddie House hit two deciding free throws with 6.5 seconds left, James led all scorers with 39 points and the Heat rallied late to beat the Detroit Pistons 88-87 on Friday night.

James finished with nine assists and eight rebounds for the Heat, who played without Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade and trailed by 10 late in the third quarter. House had 15 points and Mike Miller added 12 for Miami, which had lost five of its last six games.

Ben Gordon scored 21 points for Detroit, which had a chance to win it on the final play, but Austin Daye's dunk attempt after a pass by Tayshaun Prince bounced off the rim. Daye was closely guarded by a leaping James Jones, but replays indicated the dunk try simply skipped off the rim.

House threw the ball skyward as time expired, and Miami escaped.

House's game-winning points came after he tried a pullup against Ben Gordon, who hit him on the shot attempt. House made both free throws for a one-point lead, and Detroit called time to set up a final play.

Miami had a foul to give, and James used it with 2.7 seconds left, forcing Detroit to draw up another last-ditch try. From the right sideline, Prince threw a lob to Daye, who tried to dunk from the left side but couldn't convert.

It was just the second time in 10 tries that Miami won a game decided by fewer than five points this season.

Wade sat out with a sprained right wrist, the second time a malady kept him sidelined in the past week. He missed Miami's game against Toronto with a migraine headache last Saturday. Bosh remained sidelined with a sprained left ankle.

Detroit was depleted as well.

The Pistons were without starting guard Rodney Stuckey, who sat out with a bruised right shoulder. He got hurt in a collision with Denver's Carmelo Anthony on Wednesday night. Richard Hamilton was out with the flu, and Ben Wallace was not with the team to tend to a family matter.

Daye had 19 points and nine rebounds, Tracy McGrady finished with 14 points, 10 assists and eight rebounds, and Chris Wilcox had 10 points and 10 rebounds for the Pistons.

With all the absences, the rotations were wild — as was the finish.

Miami missed 17 of its first 20 attempts from 3-point range, then got one from House with 4:20 remaining to tie the game at 80. And when James connected — the ball barely getting over the rim — from straightaway with 3:01 remaining, Miami took its first lead since the opening quarter, 83-82.

When the Knicks beat Miami on Thursday, New York was able to work the ball for two clutch open perimeter shots late.

Detroit must have been watching.

Daye was left alone with 1:07 remaining, hitting a 3-pointer from near the Heat bench to put Detroit up 87-86. It stayed that way until 6.5 seconds remained, when House got fouled while trying a 15-footer and hit both free throws.

James played the final 32:19 of the game.

Detroit led most of the first half, though never by any more than eight, and took a 42-39 lead into halftime.

Given the way Miami was playing, the Heat might have considered themselves fortunate.

Miami missed 13 of 14 shots from 3-point range in the half, had eight turnovers to Detroit's two, and relied almost entirely on James for all its offense. James shot 10 for 16 in the half, his 23 points representing his best first two quarters of the season.

The rest of the Heat in the first half? They shot 6 for 26, good for 16 points.

McGrady missed all eight of his shots in the opening half, then found his rhythm in the third quarter with nine points — including a layup with 2:52 left in the period that gave Detroit what was its biggest lead, 66-56.

Miami made a dent by the time the third quarter ended, House banking one in with 12 seconds left to get Miami within 68-64 entering the fourth.

And House came up even bigger late in the fourth, dancing to the Heat bench after the second free throw went down.

NOTES: One of the greatest backcourts in NBA history — Florida International coach Isiah Thomas and Detroit president Joe Dumars — sat together for the game. ... Highlights of last week's fundraiser at Heat president Pat Riley's home were shown during a first-half timeout, including Riley twirling an autographed Bruce Springsteen guitar that was auctioned off for charity. ... McGrady reached double-digits in assists for the second time this month. He had 11 against Utah on Jan. 3.

Queen Elizabeth II will make her first visit to Slovenia and Slovakia later this year

Buckingham Palace has announced that Queen Elizabeth II will make her first visit to Slovenia and Slovakia later this year.

The palace says the queen will travel sometime in the autumn with her husband, Prince Philip.

Thursday's announcement did not give dates for the state visits.

FIFA overlooks risks in picking Russia and Qatar

LONDON (AP) — The warnings were there in black and white.

The operational risk of staging the World Cup in Russia: medium.

The operational risk of holding the tournament in Qatar: high.

All the other bids were listed as low risk.

Yet, FIFA overlooked those findings in its own technical report and picked Russia (2018) and Qatar (2022) to host football's showcase championship.

Surprise? Not really. Potential risks — based on the amount of work the successful bidders would have to undertake to prepare for the competition — were never the key factor in this race, just as they weren't in recent Olympic host-city votes.

This was a decision based on politics, voting alliances, commercial interests, backroom lobbying and the trend among international sports bodies to take their events to new territories.

"If you don't take risks, you don't drink champagne," Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said, quoting a Russian saying.

Just as the IOC is taking the Winter Olympics to Sochi, Russia, in 2014 and the Summer Games to Rio de Janeiro in 2016, FIFA is breaking new ground by sending the World Cup to Eastern Europe and the Middle East for the first time. South Africa held the first World Cup in Africa this year.

"There's not much doubt that the world is moving east," British IOC executive board member Craig Reedie said Friday.

There were technical risks and concerns, too, about Sochi, Rio and South Africa. But South Africa turned out to be a big success, and the International Olympic Committee is confident that all the necessary construction work will be completed for the 2014 and 2016 Games.

"Most of these decisions are not made by the deciders on a technical basis," senior Canadian IOC member Dick Pound said. "A lot of it is geopolitical. The last two Olympic decisions have been done the same way."

Russia was chosen by FIFA on Thursday over bids from England, Spain-Portugal and Belgium-Netherlands. Qatar beat out the United States, South Korea, Japan and Australia.

While Russia and Qatar will need to spend billions on new stadiums and infrastructure, both countries enjoy huge oil and gas wealth and have vast resources to prepare for tournaments that are eight and 12 years away.

"It's as much about market growth potential as it is about anything else," said Simon Chadwick, a professor of sports business at Coventry University in England. "Russia and Qatar are the two countries that commercially and politically played it best."

In its evaluation report issued last month, FIFA rated Qatar as the only "high risk" option of the 2018 and 2022 bids based on a current assessment of stadiums, transportation and accommodation. Russia was the only one rated as "medium risk."

The report also highlighted concerns that Qatar's desert heat posed a health risk to players and officials, and that Russia would rely heavily on air transport to move teams and fans around the country.

Putin said Thursday that Russia will spend about $10 billion to build stadiums in 13 host cities, stretching from the enclave of Kaliningrad in the west to Yekaterinburg in the east.

"You can take my word for it, it will be up to the highest standards. New modern facilities will be built on time and to perfection," Putin said.

Ruled by the Al Thani family without any opposition, there is little doubt that Qatar will make good on its commitment to spend $42.9 billion on infrastructure upgrades and $4 billion to build nine stadiums and renovate three others. All those stadiums, Qatar says, will have a state-of-the art cooling system that will keep temperatures at about 27 degrees Celsius (81 F).

That most eye-catching result of Thursday's vote in Zurich was England's first-round elimination in the 2018 contest. Despite high-profile appearances by Prime Minister David Cameron, Prince William and David Beckham and a reputation as the home of football, England garnered just two votes from the 22-man FIFA committee — including one from its own delegate.

Jeremy Hunt, Britain's culture and sports secretary, called it a "slap in the face" and questioned FIFA's methods.

"If the strategy is to take the game to new parts of the world, what is the point of a technical evaluation at all?" Hunt wrote in his blog. "Throughout my whole time in Zurich, any discussion about the respective merits of bids was eclipsed by speculation about who was doing deals with who."

But even though FIFA's technical report flagged up concerns about Russia and Qatar, it didn't matter in the long run because the countries were already deemed perfectly capable of staging the World Cup.

"The FIFA executive committee members would have looked at the technical report and said, 'OK, if there is more of a risk in Russia than there is for example in England, is it worth taking that risk?'" Reedie said. "Clearly on balance, enough people believed that to be the case."

Chadwick, the Coventry University professor, said the decisions made the most commercial and political sense for FIFA.

"It doesn't matter about your technical bid," he said. "It doesn't actually matter about things like risk factors. What's much more important is the political lobbying and the political posturing. Along side of that is the need to present a very, very strong commercial case."

Qatar's victory will also offer further hope of the Middle East hosting the Olympics for the first time.

Doha, which hosted the 2006 Asian Games, mounted a bid for the 2016 Olympics but failed to make the list of finalists because of IOC concerns over the summer heat. Dubai has been weighing a possible 2020 Olympic bid.

The Olympics pose a much bigger logistical challenge. While the World Cup is a single-sport event featuring 64 games spread across a country over one month, the Olympics amounts to 26 world championships in one city over 17 days.

Reedie said the Olympics will "inevitably" go to the Middle East one day, but stressed that potential bidders should be allowed to propose holding the games outside the hottest period.

"I don't see anything wrong with the Middle East wanting to bid for the games and saying, 'We will do it at the end of October, beginning of November. If you tell us it has to be the end of July and beginning of August, you tie our hands behind our backs,'" Reedie said.

___

AP Sports Writer Graham Dunbar in Zurich contributed to this report.

Mark Lombardi

Mark Lombardi

PIEROGI

While living in Houston during the late 1980s, Mark Lombardi wrote two seemingly unrelated book manuscripts: one on panoramic painting and the other on the decade's domestic and international drug wars. He then began to collect information on a subject that would transform him from part-time painter into one of the most prominent emerging artists at the turn of the millennium: the savings and loan crisis and its connections to President George H .W Bush, Texas politics, and various US allies around the world. Starting with small, rough sketches he made on scraps of paper and napkins in an effort to better organize the details of his research, Lombardi made such works as the meticulous and sprawling Bank of Credit and Commerce International, International Credit and Investment Corporation and First American Bank Shares, ca. 1972-91 aka BCCI-ICIC-FAB (4th Version), 1996, first shown at the inaugural installment of "Greater New York" at moma PSl in 2000. The savings and loan crisis was one of the many subjects he would address.

As with all of Lombardi's large-scale drawings, which he collectively called "narrative structures" and produced between 1994 and 2000, BCCI-ICIC-FAB consists of an elaborate network of lines and circles connecting institutions, individuals, dates, and legal details - in this case, related to the massive money-laundering schemes of the Bank of Credit and Commerce International, the International Credit and Investment Corporation, and First American Bank. Organized along three long horizontal axes that both anchor the piece visually and unfold its information chronologically, a reticular proliferation of straight, curling, and arcing solid and dotted lines links the many players. And yet, before one gets close enough to view the names and dates carefully handwritten in graphite, one is confronted by the most striking aspect of B CCI-I CI C-FAB: its formal intricacy and aesthetically virtuosic mapping of information. "Mark Lombardi: Index" at Pierogi contained the penultimate version of the work. Stained with a sweep of brown water splotches, it was damaged by a faulty sprinkler system in Lombardi's studio a week before "Greater New York" opened, forcing him to go seven days and nights without sleep re-creating and expanding it. A month later, he committed suicide.

The Pierogi show sought to shed light on Lombardi's research methods and artistic process by including shelves of books and magazines from his personal library, small preparatory sketches, and a video of the artist explaining his breakthrough work. A display case contained notebooks, file folders, a small sampling of the more than ten thousand index cards Lombardi made to catalogue his research (the rest are in the Museum of Modern Art's archives), and photocopied news articles. Among the latter, a newspaper story detailing George W. Bush's own shady financial dealings was strategically located beneath George W. Bush, Harken Energy, and Jackson Stephens, ca. 1979-90 (5th Version), 1999. Somewhat smaller in size at forty-one by sixteen inches, the work was one of five "completed" narrative structures included in the show.

Yet Lombardi's research was never finished. He labeled each work a version, aware that new pertinent facts might come to light and the piece would need to be recrafted. Preparatory sketches and earlier iterations of larger drawings, on view at Pierogi, showed just how much Lombardi both developed and visually refined each piece. The gallery also displayed three works that indicated his art's final phase. In World Finance Corporation and Associates, ca. 1970-84: Miami-AjmanBogota-Caracas (7th Version), 1999, Lombardi moved away from a linear presentation of information to a more spherical, allover approach. Just as panoramic in scope, although not in horizontal execution, these big, bulbous drawings dispense with a clear chronology in order to better manifest the incessantly swirling flow of capital and information. Abandoning a timeline approach, Lombardi's final works utilize an encircling connectivity to illustrate an economic system with seemingly total reach. As a result, these drawings visually approximate the globe, or perhaps even a galaxy.

- Alan Gilbert

Polish brothers doped at cyclo-cross worlds

Polish brothers Pawel and Kacper Szczepaniak have been suspended after failing doping tests when finishing 1-2 in the under-23 Cyclo-cross World Championship race.

The International Cycling Union said Thursday they tested positive for the banned hormone EPO in urine samples taken after the Jan. 30 race in Tabor, Czech Republic. EPO boosts endurance by increasing the production of oxygen-carrying red blood cells.

The UCI said the Szczepaniaks had been under suspicion before the gold-medal race.

"The blood samples collected before the event from (Pawel and Kacper) Szczepaniak had already shown, within the biological passport program, that the blood profiles of these two riders were suspect," the UCI said in a statement.

The Szczepaniak brothers have been provisionally suspended until the Polish cycling federation conducts disciplinary hearings.

They can ask to be present for testing of their back up samples at a World Anti-Doping Agency-accredited laboratory.

French rider Arnaud Jouffroy finished third in the under-23 worlds race, and could receive the gold medal if the Szczepaniaks are found to have committed a doping violation and then disqualified.

Tom Meeusen of Belgium, the pre-race favorite, was fourth and would be in line for silver. The Szczepaniaks' Poland teammate Marek Konwa was fifth and could get bronze.

OU's Alexander won't let stabbing define season

Frank Alexander's career at Oklahoma nearly ended before it got started.

Hours after making his debut for the Sooners on Aug. 30, Alexander was stabbed in the right arm during a private party at a nightclub east of campus. In a flash, he was hospitalized.

"I had high expectations about playing this year. I just wanted to go out there and just have a smooth season. It got took away from me after the first game," said Alexander, a 6-foot-4 defensive end from Baton Rouge, La. "The whole time I was down, I was just thinking about, `Maybe if I wouldn't have went, I would have still been playing.'

"That had just been beating me down and beating me down. And then when I got back and got the opportunity, I just wanted to go out and do something with it."

After a month of healing, Alexander did more than just salvage the rest of his season. He made his first career start against Texas A&M, which came a month after he had returned to the field against Texas. As injuries depleted the Oklahoma front line, he became a pivotal player for the second-ranked Sooners (12-1) in their run to the BCS title game Thursday night against No. 1 Florida (12-1).

"He gets in there and does a couple of knucklehead things, but he'll fall into some things and really make some good things happen. I think he's got a tremendous, tremendous future if he keeps progressing like he has," defensive coordinator Brent Venables said.

"He's been a real blessing for us, having some injuries there and not being real deep."

Venables compared Alexander's start to former middle linebacker Curtis Lofton's string of game-changing takeaways for Oklahoma last season en route to the Big 12 championship.

Alexander had a fumble recovery against Texas Tech and then returned a fumble for a rare defensive 2-point conversion against Oklahoma State that kept the Cowboys from tying the game. He followed that up with a career-best six tackles and 1 1/2 sacks in the Big 12 championship win against Missouri that sent the Sooners to Miami.

"I didn't ever think I'd be in this situation," Alexander said. "It's just like a dream come true, getting the chance to play for a national championship."

The dream became a nightmare early on Aug. 31. Police reported that guns, knives and tire irons were used in a brawl at the Sooner Knights club around 2:30 a.m., about four hours after the Sooners' season-opening 57-2 blowout of Chattanooga. Alexander, who made his first career tackle in that game, and Ray Willis, a freshman guard on the Oklahoma basketball team, were stabbed in the melee.

"It's kind of scary a little bit when a player's like that and they're in a hospital, when you get stabbed like that," defensive end Jeremy Beal said.

Alexander felt he had been granted a second chance and set out to make the most of it. He continued to do work in the weight room and kept himself in playing shape at the urging of his teammates.

As it turned out, the Sooners needed him. Auston English, the Big 12's sacks leader a season ago, sprained his knee and missed the last two games of the regular season and the Big 12 title game. Backup Alan Davis also was sidelined by a knee injury.

That left the Sooners, already shorthanded after senior John Williams decided to end his career following a series of injuries, without many options at defensive end.

"He just came through and when he got back, he's been a heck of a player for us," said Beal, an all-Big 12 selection who leads the team with 8 1/2 sacks. "Getting pressure on the QB, helping stop the run, he's been coming through. He stepped up for us when Auston went down."

(This version CORRECTS SUBS 9th graf to correct wording in 2nd sentence; PICKS up 10th graf 'I didn't ...')

Greek protesters occupy Chile consulate

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — A group of Greek protesters have briefly occupied the Chilean consulate in central Athens in support of jailed hunger strikers in the South American country.

Police say the occupation on Monday lasted for an hour and ended peacefully with no arrests being made.

The protest was held in support of 14 hunger strikers in Chile, most of whom have been refusing food for more than a month. The suspects are in pre-trial detention in connection with arson attacks and small bombings carried out by anarchist groups and groups representing demands by Mapuche Indians for improved indigenous rights.

In November, the Chilean embassy in Athens was targeted in a spate of mail bombings claimed by an armed anarchist group. Police destroyed the device by controlled explosion.

Obama challenges Cabinet, sets bipartisan talks

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama sought Thursday to retake the political initiative after a bruising election, inviting Republican and Democratic congressional leaders to meet with him on the economy and jobs. The White House said Obama would consider extending Bush-era tax cuts even for upper income Americans for a year or two.

The Nov. 18 meeting will be closely watched, in particular, for any signs of cooperation between Obama and his two frequent Republican antagonists, incoming House speaker-in-waiting John Boehner and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. They will be joined by the top Democrats in Congress, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

Four other lawmakers will attend: Republicans Rep. Eric Cantor of Virginia and Arizona Sen. Jon Kyl, and Democrats Rep. Steny Hoyer of Maryland and Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said no staff would take part in the meeting, which will include dinner. Gibbs said he expects the meeting to be the first of many.

While the White House said the date of the meeting was set, McConnell spokesman Don Stewart said the date and time were still being worked out. Stewart said McConnell is "encouraged" by the chance to meet with Obama to discuss issues including trade, reducing spending and increasing domestic energy production.

But McConnell himself threw down the gauntlet, taking a confrontational tone in a speech to the conservative-oriented Heritage Foundation. He called for Senate votes to repeal or erode Obama's signature health care law, to cut spending and to shrink government.

"The only way to do all these things it is to put someone in the White House who won't veto any of these things," McConnell said. He also said that Obama would have to move toward GOP positions on critical issues if he wants to save his agenda.

Tuesday's elections amounted to a national political reset, shifting control of the House to Republicans when the new Congress convenes early next year.

During the campaign, Obama called for extending tax cuts for middle-income families. Gibbs said Thursday that Obama continues to believe that extending tax cuts permanently for upper income earners "is something the president does not believe is a good idea" but that he would be open to the possibility of extending the cuts for one or two years.

"It's clear that the voters sent a message, which is that they want us to focus on the economy and jobs," Obama told reporters, with Cabinet members at his side. The president said he instructed his Cabinet to make a "sincere and consistent" effort to change how Washington works, something he acknowledges has been a failing of his administration so far.

The president said he wants the bipartisan meeting with congressional leaders to be a substantive discussion on the economy, tax cuts and unemployment insurance. He wants to focus on the busy legislative agenda that awaits Congress when lawmakers return for a lame-duck session. Among the top front-burner issues: renewing Bush-era tax cuts due to expire at year's end.

Aware that he's been pegged as antibusiness, Obama said, "We've got to provide businesses with some certainty about what their tax landscape is going to look like." He added that it's critical for middle class families to have that same sense of reassurance.

Obama also said the work that needs to be done during this month's legislative session extends to foreign policy. Specifically, he said, the Senate should ratify a new arms control treaty with Russia. Obama said the START treaty, which would cut U.S. and Russian nuclear arsenals by one-fourth, is something that is essential to the country's national security and should have bipartisan support.

McConnell responded that he didn't think there would be enough time in the lame-duck session of Congress to address the START issue.

Obama said: "What's going to be critically important over the coming months is going to be creating a better working relationship between this White House and the congressional leadership that's coming in."

The gap between the announcement of an Obama-Hill leadership meeting and the session itself — two weeks from now —is due to Obama's foreign travels. He will be on a four-country trip to Asia from Friday through Nov. 14.

The president said one of his top priorities on the trip is to open Asian markets to U.S. companies so they can sell in the region, a development Obama said would help create jobs at home.

"My hope is that we've got some specific announcements to show the connection between what we're doing overseas and what happens over here at home in terms of job growth and economic growth," Obama said.

The president will also hold a meeting at the White House with newly elected Democratic and Republican governors on Dec. 2.

(This version corrects the name of the Heritage Foundation.)

Open to struggle to keep up prize money lead

This year's British Open will struggle to live up to its status as the most lucrative major in dollar terms because of the fluctuating exchange rates, organizers said on Tuesday.

At its annual news conference three months ahead of the championship, the Royal & Ancient Club, which administers golf's oldest major, gave details of the changes made to the Turnberry course since it was last played there 15 years ago. But, for the second year in a row, it was unable to give prize money details.

There have been reports that it is not likely to change much from last year's 4.2 million pounds (euro4.75 million). But because of the weakened British pound that would be just over $6 million, compared to almost $8.4 million last year in a tournament where Americans have dominated.

"The Open has been the most lucrative of all the four majors in dollar terms for some years now, but with the dollar exchange rate having swung back that's a position that is probably going to be difficult for us to maintain this year," said R&A chief executive Peter Dawson.

"We will be taking judgments about that in the weeks ahead. The Masters made no increase this year and we are aware of the pressures upon us and will make an appropriate decision.

Dawson said it cost the R&A between three and four million pounds ($4.3-5.8 million) a year to govern the sport internationally and it also now had to calculate the effects the global economic downturn was having on sponsorship.

Meanwhile, organizers announced that the Turnberry course had been lengthened by 247 yards (226 meters) since it was last played there 15 years ago.

The new layout features six new tees, including a spectacular 200-yard (182 meter) drive over the bay near the famous Lighthouse at the 10th hole.

The yardage changes for the July 16-19 championship include 135 (123 m) added to the final three holes, with the par-5 17th stretched from 498 to 559 (455 to 511 m) and the 16th changing from a 410-yard (375 m) straight hole to a 455-yard (416 m) dogleg right.

The course on the west coast of Scotland, which held the tournament in 1977, '86 and '94, now has an overall length of 7,204 yards (6,587 m) from 6,957 (6,361 m).

Tiger Woods, who has won the Open three times, plays the course for the first time. Padraig Harrington, winner at Carnoustie in 2007 and Royal Birkdale last year, is trying to become the first player to win the championship three years in a row since Peter Thomson in 1956.

Turnberry made its debut on the Open rota of links courses in 1977 when Tom Watson, who went on to win the Open five times, edged Jack Nicklaus in what became known as the "Duel in the Sun" over the last 36 holes. Although Nicklaus finished 65-66, Watson made 65-65 and third-place Hubert Green finished 10 shots back.

Greg Norman won his first Open title in '86, helped by a second round 63, and Nick Price won in '94 after he eagled the 17th with a 50-foot putt and overtook Jesper Parnevik.

The R&A dismissed speculation that nearby Royal Troon, which also hosts Open championships, is on standby to stage this year's tournament because of delayed renovation of the five-star Turnberry Hotel, which overlooks the links.

"We are quite satisfied that the hotel will be ready to serve as the headquarters for competitors," said David Hill, the Royal & Ancient's director of championships. "We are in constant touch with (Turnberry owners) Leisurecorp and are assured it will be ready in time."

Officials: US shooter depressed over failures

The man blamed for the worst massacre in Alabama history was depressed and frustrated with his inability to become a Marine or a police officer, officials said Thursday.

Michael McLendon, 28, killed five family members and five others before fatally shooting himself Tuesday.

McLendon had told a confidant in the days before the shootings that he was depressed and unfulfilled, according to Barry Tucker of the Alabama Bureau of Investigation.

"He talked about his depression, his lack of fulfillment in his jobs, in becoming a police officer and in becoming a Marine," Tucker said.

McLendon had been a Marine briefly but was discharged for falsifying information. Officials said he was released from the police academy because he couldn't meet some of the physical requirements.

Authorities also said McLendon admitted in a two-page, handwritten letter that he had killed his mother and planned to commit suicide. He mentioned a family dispute over a legal issue but didn't reveal plans to kill anyone else. Investigators said they found the letter in a mailbox. They would not disclose its intended recipient.

After killing his mother at the house they shared in Kinson, McLendon started a rampage that ended with him taking his own life following a shootout with police in nearby Geneva at Reliable Products, the metals plant where he worked until 2003.

In between, he gunned down three relatives and the wife and 18-month-old daughter of a local sheriff's deputy on a front porch in Samson. He turned his gun next door and killed his 74-year-old grandmother and sent panicked bystanders fleeing and ducking behind cars.

McLendon then drove off, spraying bullets through the town, killing three more bystanders.

Jerry Conner, chief of the Alabama Bureau of Investigation, said people who spoke to McLendon in the days before the shooting knew he was depressed but did not feel that would prompt violence, even in a man who loved weapons and spent his free time at the local firing range.

"This gives a window into what happened. But this sort of violence and rage, it just boggles the mind," he said.

County District Attorney Gary McAliley said the only complaint neighbors had about McLendon was that he was constantly behind his home firing a weapon and they were worried about their cows.

"I don't think anybody could have anticipated this by looking at him and interacting with him," McAliley said. "But certainly he had a volcano inside of him."

___

Associated Press Writer Kate Brumback in Montgomery contributed to this report.

Greenpeace's Bold Vision: A Future Without Oil Use

LONDON Greenpeace is no stranger to controversy, and its latestgoal - phasing out the global use of oil - is sure to stir uptroubled waters.

For more than a decade, the international environmental groupprotested nuclear testing in the Pacific until France finally changedits policy after admitting it had blown up the Greenpeace flagship,Rainbow Warrior, in 1985.

Despite being told it was "totally unrealistic," the group alsopushed for an international agreement to ban mining in Antarctica fora minimum of 50 years.

An accord was signed in 1991.

"We're now talking about an oil-free future as opposed to justraising the issue of global warming," said Australian Paul Gilding,the new executive director of Greenpeace International.

"Nuclear testing was the issue for the first 20 years ofGreenpeace, and I think oil will be for the next 20."

Gilding readily acknowledges that phasing out oil won't beeasy, and he sees it as an arena in which Greenpeace will face somebig battles.

"We won't take second best for a solution," he said.

"We set our sights high and have proven that it could be verysuccessful. No one ever believed that the French would stop nucleartesting."

Greenpeace says phasing out oil and other fossil fuels, such ascoal and natural gas, is necessary because they contribute to globalwarming and acid rain and because of the environmental damage fromoil spills.

A study commissioned by Greenpeace, titled "Energy WithoutOil," contends that other energy options already are available andthat such a transition would not bankrupt economies.

"It is technically and economically feasible to halve currentglobal use of oil within 40 years," the report says, adding that oiland other fossil fuels could be phased out over the next century.

It calls for improvements in energy efficiency, especially intransportation and power, and replacing oil with biofuels derivedfrom agricultural sources such as plants and hydrogen and electricitygenerating sources such as solar and wind power.

Among the report's recommendations are government support forpublic transport, tough new fuel-efficiency standards for vehiclesand pollution taxes on oil and other fossil fuels to reflect thecosts of oil spills and pollution damage.

"If the public want to see a halt to the continuing tragedy ofoil spills like those in the Shetlands and also prevent climatecatastrophe, the choices are now clearly available," the report saysin a reference to the Liberian-registered tanker Braer, which ranaground in January in bad weather off Scotland's Shetland Islands andspilled 84,500 tons of crude oil into the sea.

Greenpeace has been monitoring oil spills, exploration anddrilling sites for many years.

It is developing a long-term concept, focusing on car-freecities and oil-free cars and trying to persuade oil companies tochange their policies.

In Australia, the group is focusing on smog as a way to drawthe public's attention to the oil issue. In Britain, it hasemphasized the environmental damage to the Shetlands.

"The campaign," Gilding said, "depends on where it is beingrun, but the ultimate goal is to phase out oil."

A Sales Strategy That Works

Trying to get fish into the boat before catching them sounds crazy, something that wouldn't make sense to experienced fishermen. Even so, it's the most common error salespeople make and accounts, more than anything else, for lost orders and prospects who never become customers. That's what happens when you try to get the order before you have a customer.

What salespeople are doing makes perfect sense to them. Unfortunately, it doesn't compute so well with their prospects and customers. They are so focused on making the sale, they don't think about what's going on in the customer's head, and what they often say tells the story. They like to brag about 'wrestling the big one,' even though 'the big one' often gets away.

Here's the point: getting the fish in the boat is the wrong analogy to use in sales, even though it sounds somewhat macho and even a bit romantic.

The sales task is totally different. The job is creating an environment so that customers decide to do business with you. If this is accurate, then pushing for a meeting, getting a proposal out the door, or anything else that attempts to cut short the process more often than not ends in disaster--a lost sale.

For selling to work well today, the prospect must first say "this is the person and company I want to do business with." In fact, making sure this occurs is the salesperson's primary task. This is the difference between the traditional salesperson and one who understands today's selling environment.

Here are some thoughts on how to improve your selling record by being a magnet for prospects and customers.

1. The wrong talk can spring a trap. Incredible as it may seem, salespeople fall in the trap of talking about what they think is important--and it's fatal. Here's an example. A media rep called and said, "I think our station is a really good fit for your client. Perhaps we could get together and talk about it." I responded by suggesting that, before we do that, it would be helpful if she would e-mail her analysis of why she thought her station was a good fit.

Shortly, an e-mail with her answer arrived--which, even though she didn't realize it, triggered the trap. She was so intent on getting the sale, she failed to ask about our client's target customer. None of her comments was even remotely a close fit. When I pointed that out, she replied, "I still think it's a good fit." The sale was dead on arrival.

2. "Let's be sure we get our name out there." This may have been all it took some years ago, but not today, whether it's an individual, a product, or a company. If just getting your name out there could do the job, then Toyota would be selling more vehicles than ever and Tiger Woods would be the world's most prominent celebrity, bar none.

Being known isn't what's important. What adds to your panache and builds credibility is what you want to be known for. What's important isn't the Nordstrom's name; it's the link to extraordinary customer service that makes the store unique.

In a radio ad, a financial advisor says he was named "the number-one advisor in the country" by a highly regarded financial magazine. That phrase is a differentiator that separates him from the pack.

What you want the customer to think about when they see your name is the critical question.

3. Subterfuges make customers angry. Some marketers may think it's cool to trick people, but it isn't. For example, when some companies offer a a 'free white paper,' they mean it. Once you call or 'click here,' it comes your way, and that's it. You received what was promised. But not always.

You might request an article or a report, but before the article arrives and certainly before you have a chance to read it, you find yourself sliding down a sales track at full speed. Such tricks only serve one purpose: to undermine the credibility and integrity of the company making the offer. Yes, the tactic may help grab a few sales, but it will alienate far more prospects.

4. Watch out for the early adopters. It's long been thought that getting the early adopters on board has enormous value and sets the pace for success. Whether it's opening a restaurant, launching a product or initiating a service, the steeper the bet-ter. And it actually seems to make sense, doesn't it?

Well, before jumping on that bandwagon, it might be a good idea to consider another view. Researchers Jonah Berger of the Wharton School and Gael Le Mens of Barcelona's Universitat Pompeau Fabra have shown that the"velocity of the adoption may affect the abandonment." In other words, early can result in something becoming a flash in the pan, which can depress the interest of others and help something die out faster.

The early-adopter concept has interesting implications when prospecting for customers. Trying to move the process along too quickly may undermine your chances of getting an order or keeping one. Pushing too fast or too hard may damage relationships, whereas calculated or sustained persistence may produce more solid and longer-term results.

5. Don't let a lack of vision kill your business. It's easy to get clobbered by what we don't know. Before Apple launched the iPod a decade ago, there were dire predictions of its failure because no one would actually buy songs. It was the same story before the iPhone arrived--specifically, that it would be barred from the Enterprise. It was--until employees revolted and demanded that it be available to them.

Now, we hear it all again with the launch of Apple's iPad. Predictions of failure are everywhere. As one owner of a small company selling management-software systems said, "even if there were no other issue with it, the most important reason I can't justify it for my employees, or my clients' employees, is that there's no ROI." This was written eight weeks before the iPad arrived in the stores. Again, history will repeat itself.

Apple hits the target better than any other company because it's immersed in helping people do more of what they want with their lives. It's a good lesson for anyone in marketing or sales. It isn't the gadget that's important, it's what it allows people to do that creates satisfaction and passion.

6. If you want the sale, lay the groundwork. Leadership in sales is not a matter of push; it's a process of pulling the prospect in closer and closer. Even though selling is clearly a strategic activity, most salespeople seem to treat it as opportunistic. In other words, they fail to lay the groundwork that increases the probability of getting the order.

Whether its B2C or B2B, the 'gotta have it' mentality is gone. No one wants to be taken for a sucker. No one wants to make a mistake. Even so, salespeople want to clear the way to get the order--now.

A marketing executive contacted the regional rep of a well-known national direct-mail company regarding a campaign for a client and provided the requested initial information. A couple days later, a proposal came back, much to the executive's surprise. It was like going from zero to 60 mph in three seconds.

Then after a week or so of silence, the prospect e-mailed the rep, "we'll take a pass." The sales rep lacked a plan to turn the lead into a sale, as well as enthusiasm to do so. There was no effort to engage the prospect. What could have been a significant order for the rep was lost.

The point is simply that getting the fish in the boat is the easy part. Creating actual customers who want to do business with you takes far more insight and skill.

UNLUCKY FOR SOME ; Today, Friday the Thirteenth, fills many people with dread. Kerry McKittrick asks if our celebs have any superstitions

Chancing it? Like Renee Zellweger in Bridget Jones (above), youcould avoid trouble by staying in bed today; other people rely onsalt and black cats for good luck Noel Thompson (53) presentsNewsline for BBC Northern Ireland and lives in Belfast. He says:

"I am and I'm not superstitious. I wouldn't worry if I broke amirror, I wouldn't walk under a ladder without gauging the dangerfirst, but if I spilt some salt I'll probably throw it over my leftshoulder.

I am aware of Friday 13th as part of popular culture and I'llprobably be aware if it's coming up.

It's not something I would be aware of on the day though as I'mnever aware of the day most of the time anyway. Thus said I wouldn'tavoid doing something because of the date.

I read that a Dutch study revealed that there were less caraccidents and less insurance claims from things that occurred onFriday 13th.

They think it's because people avoid their cars or things theymay have an accident in. For me, the best thing about Friday 13th isthe word used to describe a phobia of it; Paraskevidekatriaphobia,that's a great word and I can't even say it."

Don Gordon (48) is an actor and writer from Belfast. He says:

"I hate to admit it but I am superstitious. I will deliberatelywalk under a ladder to take on the superstition. I get a warm glowwhen a black cat crosses my path. However, I don't like singlemagpies, I don't like whistling in the dressing room and I don'tlike mentioning Macbeth in a theatre.

Whistling in the dressing room has some thing to do with usingwhistling as a cue to people off stage to drop scenery, so if youdid it when it wasn't necessary you could be killed by a piece ofscenery dropping on you. I think the superstition of Macbeth comesfrom it having a lot of the supernatural in it. It's said that itsummoned up nasty things in the past when the witches were on stage.We call Macbeth himself Harry Lauder on stage.

Break a leg is an old theatre tradition too. In Shakespeareantimes they would throw money at the stage at the end of aperformance. The actors would have to bend or break their legs inorder to bend down and pick it up. I was writing something the otherday and I finished on the 13th draft. Instead of calling it draft 13I called it final draft just in case.

On Friday 13th I think you're probably more aware of the badthings that can happen. My Father died on the Ides of March so I'vealways been very aware of that day. I would do most things on Friday13th, but I don't think I would be happy to open a show on that day,I would make them open it the day before instead.

That's about it. Well, I wouldn't juggle daggers or bungee jumpon Friday 13th either.

William Crawley (40) is a TV and radio presenter from Belfast. Hesays:

"I think that unlucky 13 goes back many years. It probably hassomething to do with Judas being the 13th person to sit down at theLast Supper and there are only 12 signs of the Zodiac. I think thatFriday became an unlucky day because Jesus was crucified on GoodFriday and through history the day and the number have probablyblended together.

People tell me stories of what has happened to them on Friday the13th but I think if you believe that something is unlucky then badthings will probably happen to you. It's all in the eye of thebeholder.

I'm not superstitious at all. If you told me that something wasunlucky I would probably head straight for it. I think if you attachimportance to something then it will increase its power. I don'tbelieve in it at all, I think good and bad things happen any day ofthe week.

I know that some airlines don't have row 13 on their planes andthat in some countries they don't have a 13th floor in theirbuildings. Things like that, if people are nervous about it then itwill change their behaviour, make them nervous to do everyday thingslike drive, which could explain car accidents and similar events onFriday 13th. I don't rate it at all though."

Julian Simmons (40-ish) is a TV presenter from Belfast. He says:

"I'm not really superstitious at all. I will walk around a ladderrather than underneath it, but that's because something could fallon me from the top.

I try to disregard any disasters that may befall me on Friday13th. There's nothing you can do about it, just like there's nothingyou can do about it any other day of the week. The worst thing thathappened to me was a few years ago. I was talking live and in visionon TV and the wheel on my chair went. For a moment I looked I like Iwas on the Titanic as I was sitting at an angle. I had to grab theside of the table and use my legs to look as if I was sittingproperly. I wrenched a muscle in my side but I don't think anyonereally noticed what had happened. There's nothing I wouldn't do onFriday 13th. I've commuted to London regularly, so I've flown lotsof times on the day.

I think it's something that has importance only if you give itimportance. Mind you I've been sitting through this interview withmy fingers crossed!"

UNLUCKY FOR SOME ; Today, Friday the Thirteenth, fills many people with dread. Kerry McKittrick asks if our celebs have any superstitions

Chancing it? Like Renee Zellweger in Bridget Jones (above), youcould avoid trouble by staying in bed today; other people rely onsalt and black cats for good luck Noel Thompson (53) presentsNewsline for BBC Northern Ireland and lives in Belfast. He says:

"I am and I'm not superstitious. I wouldn't worry if I broke amirror, I wouldn't walk under a ladder without gauging the dangerfirst, but if I spilt some salt I'll probably throw it over my leftshoulder.

I am aware of Friday 13th as part of popular culture and I'llprobably be aware if it's coming up.

It's not something I would be aware of on the day though as I'mnever aware of the day most of the time anyway. Thus said I wouldn'tavoid doing something because of the date.

I read that a Dutch study revealed that there were less caraccidents and less insurance claims from things that occurred onFriday 13th.

They think it's because people avoid their cars or things theymay have an accident in. For me, the best thing about Friday 13th isthe word used to describe a phobia of it; Paraskevidekatriaphobia,that's a great word and I can't even say it."

Don Gordon (48) is an actor and writer from Belfast. He says:

"I hate to admit it but I am superstitious. I will deliberatelywalk under a ladder to take on the superstition. I get a warm glowwhen a black cat crosses my path. However, I don't like singlemagpies, I don't like whistling in the dressing room and I don'tlike mentioning Macbeth in a theatre.

Whistling in the dressing room has some thing to do with usingwhistling as a cue to people off stage to drop scenery, so if youdid it when it wasn't necessary you could be killed by a piece ofscenery dropping on you. I think the superstition of Macbeth comesfrom it having a lot of the supernatural in it. It's said that itsummoned up nasty things in the past when the witches were on stage.We call Macbeth himself Harry Lauder on stage.

Break a leg is an old theatre tradition too. In Shakespeareantimes they would throw money at the stage at the end of aperformance. The actors would have to bend or break their legs inorder to bend down and pick it up. I was writing something the otherday and I finished on the 13th draft. Instead of calling it draft 13I called it final draft just in case.

On Friday 13th I think you're probably more aware of the badthings that can happen. My Father died on the Ides of March so I'vealways been very aware of that day. I would do most things on Friday13th, but I don't think I would be happy to open a show on that day,I would make them open it the day before instead.

That's about it. Well, I wouldn't juggle daggers or bungee jumpon Friday 13th either.

William Crawley (40) is a TV and radio presenter from Belfast. Hesays:

"I think that unlucky 13 goes back many years. It probably hassomething to do with Judas being the 13th person to sit down at theLast Supper and there are only 12 signs of the Zodiac. I think thatFriday became an unlucky day because Jesus was crucified on GoodFriday and through history the day and the number have probablyblended together.

People tell me stories of what has happened to them on Friday the13th but I think if you believe that something is unlucky then badthings will probably happen to you. It's all in the eye of thebeholder.

I'm not superstitious at all. If you told me that something wasunlucky I would probably head straight for it. I think if you attachimportance to something then it will increase its power. I don'tbelieve in it at all, I think good and bad things happen any day ofthe week.

I know that some airlines don't have row 13 on their planes andthat in some countries they don't have a 13th floor in theirbuildings. Things like that, if people are nervous about it then itwill change their behaviour, make them nervous to do everyday thingslike drive, which could explain car accidents and similar events onFriday 13th. I don't rate it at all though."

Julian Simmons (40-ish) is a TV presenter from Belfast. He says:

"I'm not really superstitious at all. I will walk around a ladderrather than underneath it, but that's because something could fallon me from the top.

I try to disregard any disasters that may befall me on Friday13th. There's nothing you can do about it, just like there's nothingyou can do about it any other day of the week. The worst thing thathappened to me was a few years ago. I was talking live and in visionon TV and the wheel on my chair went. For a moment I looked I like Iwas on the Titanic as I was sitting at an angle. I had to grab theside of the table and use my legs to look as if I was sittingproperly. I wrenched a muscle in my side but I don't think anyonereally noticed what had happened. There's nothing I wouldn't do onFriday 13th. I've commuted to London regularly, so I've flown lotsof times on the day.

I think it's something that has importance only if you give itimportance. Mind you I've been sitting through this interview withmy fingers crossed!"

Conference `Comes Home' to DuSable // Director's Ouster Difficult for Group

The African American Museums Association arrives Thursday inChicago for its annual conference, sponsored this year by the DuSableMuseum of African American History.

It is a timely arrival in Chicago because DuSable is the oldestsuch museum in the country and its recently ousted director,Gwendolyn Robinson, is responsible for bringing the group to town.

Jocelyn Robinson-Hubbuch, executive director of the 300-membermuseum association based in Wilberforce, Ohio, said the board choseChicago as the convention site "to come home in a sense because(founder Margaret) Burroughs and the DuSable Museum are thecornerstones of the African-American museum community."

She said she hopes the shift of power at the museum doesn'timpede the strides the convention hopes to make.

The theme of the conference is, "The Future of the Past:Planning to Educate America in the 21st Century." Sessions include"everything you wanted to know about museum operations but wereafraid to ask," Robinson-Hubbach said.

African-American museums developed in the same manner the blackcommunity's churches sprouted - initially within homes andstorefronts and, more recently, in buildings that could be calledmuseums, Robinson-Hubbach said. Such is the case with the DuSable,the oldest African-American museum in the country, which had itsbeginnings in the home of Burroughs, an educator.

"New museums are being formed all the time," Robinson-Hubbuchsaid. "In the black museum community, even though money is tight, wehave a history of being creative with scant resources. We haveinstitutions not so much thriving but moving along and growingdaily."

Media coverage of the DuSable board's decision not to renewRobinson's contract was not positive for the museum orAfrican-American museums, she said.

African-American museums have historically come up short onfoundation funding. Meanwhile, the professionals who staff them arecontinually hired away by mainstream museums as those museums areencouraged by foundations to become more multicultural.

A committee of Robinson supporters has asked the DuSable boardto reinstate her. Earl Moore, chairman of the museum's board, saidthat Robinson will not be reinstated and a search for a new directoris under way. But he promised the museum association that theDuSable and Robinson will make sure the Aug. 25-27 gathering at theSwissotel is a success.

Biker gets a suitable send-off

The friends and family of a biker who died in a crash in Bathhave given him a suitable send-off.

Tributes have been paid to Gary Del Bono, a passionatemotorcyclist, whose funeral procession to Haycombe Crematoriumfeatured an unusual trike hearse.

Around 60 people gathered at Haycombe to remember the 56-year-old former soldier, who was killed after his bike was involved in acollision with a car at Pines Way on September 14.

He received treatment for his injuries at the Royal UnitedHospital, but died 16 days later. Police are investigating thecrash.

Mr Del Bono was born at St Martin's Hospital in Bath and was apupil at both Writhlington and Ralph Allen schools.

He married Tracey in 1985 and although the pair divorced after 15years of marriage, they remained close friends.

The couple had two children Domenica, 28, and Samantha, 24, andfour grandchildren, and family members all live near each other inSouthdown, Twerton and Whiteway.

Mr Del Bono had a lifelong interest in motorbikes and was amember of the Outlaws Motorcycle Club and an avid visitor to Chopperrallies.

Ms Del Bono said that everyone who knew him would have fondmemories of her ex-husband.

She said: "The way to sum him up, everybody has said that he wasquite a character, that is the only way to describe him.

"He was quite diverse in everything he did and he was here, thereand everywhere. He would like everything and everybody, he was avery friendly person."

The funeral last Thursday was designed to be a tribute to Mr DelBono's life and the Meatloaf classic Bat out of Hell, as well asChildren by Italian musician Robert Miles, were played during theservice.

His daughter Domenica also gave a eulogy about how she wouldremember her father.

The congregation then went to Randall's bar at Bath City'sTwerton Park ground for a wake. Police are investigating theaccident which Mr Del Bono was involved in and anyone withinformation is asked to contact the collision investigation unit onthe force's new non-emergency number 101.

As United comes untied, answers in short supply

"Lame lame lame! Does United train their people to lie?"

-United Airlines passenger Laura Bradley, one of hundreds ofdissatisfied customers who have vented their frustrations on thegriping Web site, www.untied.com.

Unlike just about everybody else who has flown United Airlinesthis summer, I've had lovely experiences with the beleagueredcarrier.

On-time departures and early arrivals. Tasty meals served with asmile. Plenty of leg room. Courteous ticket clerks. Luggage deliveredwith a gentle, caring touch.

One crew even sang "Leaving on a Jet Plane" over the intercom asour flight took off from O'Hare, and their harmonizing abilities putPeter, Paul & Mary to …

Fireplaces 'n' Stoves Direct opens in Ballymena.

ThatCOs where CyFireplaces CynCO Stoves Direct can help.

Just opened at 40-42 Broughshane Street, Ballymena, it is a one-stop-shop for all your stove and fireplace needs.

The staff team have a wealth of experience in the business and offer a friendly, efficient service.

Prepare to be wowed as you step into the exciting new dynamic fireplace and stove showroom featuring a huge range of …

PATRIOTS SEARCH FOR DYNASTY.(SPORTS)

Byline: DAVID J. NEAL

Super Bowl season can seem an eternal, exhausting task to its constructors, much like the creation of the world. Allegedly, that was so draining that The Creator granted Himself a one-day off-season. That's only slightly shorter than the New England Patriots' off-season, one that ends as their quest for ultimate immortality starts Thursday vs. the Indianapolis Colts.

This team is 19 or 20 games from another Super Bowl win and status as an NFL dynasty. Such an accomplishment would almost assure them of Team of the Decade status and solid placement in any legitimate discussion of the post-1970 merger's great teams.

And it would …

FIRST DATA'S ENCORUS FALLS VICTIM TO SIMPAY'S COLLAPSE.(First Data Corp. ends financing Encorus Technologies)

First Data Corp. today announced that it has closed its checkbook on Encorus, a provider of mobile-payments software, mobile merchant-acquisition services and transaction processing. First Data's decision to drop its investment in Encorus and First Data's Mobile Solutions, of which Encorus was the major part, comes less than a month after the unexpected closing of Simpay, the pan-European mobile payments platform, with which Encorus had a major contract. "That's right, that's right. Simpay was Encorus' main client," a First Data spokesperson tells CardLine today. In April 2004, Simpay named Encorus as its exclusive transaction processor in multiyear deal (CardLine, 4/5/04). …

Rampl to be interim CEO at Unicredit

MILAN (AP) — Unicredit chairman Dieter Rampl has been named interim CEO of Italy's largest bank following the boardroom ouster of Alessandro Profumo.

Unicredit said in a statement Wednesday that "the time is right for a change of leadership," without elaborating on the reasons for the move.

Profumo, who has led the bank and its predecessor for 13 years including a period of great expansion, submitted his resignation late Tuesday after losing shareholder confidence over the increase in Libya's stake in the bank.

The markets reacted to news of the midnight resignation badly, with Unicredit stock shedding 3 percent in Milan trading Wednesday to €1.84 ($2.41).

Analysts …

WVU medical school gets funds for clinical campus

MORGANTOWN - The West Virginia University School of Medicine hasreceived more than $3.4 million in federal funds to establish aclinical campus in the Eastern Panhandle.

The funds were added to an appropriations bill last year by Sen.Robert Byrd, D-W.Va.

The new medical campus will house primary and specialtyphysicians and will be home to a medical residency program to …