iPhone 5 hits China, as Apple market share slips

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SHANGHAI (Reuters) - The China release of its iPhone 5 on Friday should win Apple Inc some respite from a recent slide in its share of what is likely already the world's biggest smartphone market, but its longer-term hopes may depend on new technology being tested by China's top telecoms carrier.

Cupertino, California-based Apple has been in talks about a tie-up with China Mobile for four years. A deal with China's biggest carrier is seen as crucial to improve Apple's distribution in a market of 290 million users - which is forecast to double this year.

China is Apple's second-largest and fastest-growing market - it brings in around 15 percent of total revenue - but the company's failure to strike a deal with China Mobile means it is missing out on a large number of phone users. As the China pie grows, Apple's sales increase, but without China Mobile, it's losing ground at a faster rate compared to other brands.

"In absolute terms, this (iPhone 5) launch will certainly result in strong sales for Apple in China. However, in relative terms, I don't believe it will move the needle enough in market share," said Shiv Putcha, a Mumbai-based analyst at Ovum, a global technology consultant.

On Friday, just one person was waiting outside the Apple store in Shanghai's financial district when its doors opened at 9 a.m., a contrast to the launch of the iPhone 4 earlier this year when rowdy crowds pelted a Beijing store with eggs.

China Mobile and Apple initially said they were separated only by a technical issue - as the Chinese carrier runs a different 3G network from most of the world - but that has evolved into a broader and more complex issue of revenue-sharing.

"China Mobile and Apple still have to solve many issues, such as the business model, articles of cooperation and revenue division, but I believe we will reach an agreement eventually," China Mobile CEO Li Yue was reported by Chinese media as saying in Guangzhou last week.

Apple China declined to comment. China Mobile said it had no update to the Apple discussions.

STRONG PRE-ORDERS

Apple's ranking in China's smartphone market slipped to sixth in July-September, according to research firm IDC, but investors, primed to look to China product launches for an uptick in Apple's quarterly sales, have good headline numbers to digest - more than 300,000 iPhones pre-ordered on one carrier alone. But it's the lack of a deal with the No.1 carrier that prevents those numbers being stronger.

The iPhone is currently sold through Apple's seven stores, resellers and through China Unicom and China Telecom - which together have fewer than half the mobile subscribers of bigger rival China Mobile.

"Apple's market share declined because of the transition between the iPhone 4S and 5. Their market share will recover (with the iPhone 5), but if you don't have China Mobile, the significant market share gains will be very difficult," said Huang Leping, an analyst at Nomura in Hong Kong.

TD-LTE: STILL DISTANT

Cutting a deal with a Chinese state-owned carrier may be less optimal than the deals Apple is used to in other markets, and analysts note that China Mobile wouldn't necessarily open the flood gates for Apple.

Ovum's Putcha believes Apple and China Mobile will eventually strike a deal - though this would be for an iPhone running on China Mobile's next-generation network rather than its current 3G network.

Of China Mobile's 704 million subscribers, only 79 million are on its 3G network, and Apple has been reluctant to sign up to China Mobile's under-utilized, homegrown TD-SCDMA technology. "Apple likely doesn't see the return-on-investment in extending themselves for TD-SCDMA," Putcha said.

China Mobile is currently trialing its next-generation network, TD-LTE, which could be of more interest to Apple, but full-scale commercial use - and an iPhone tie-up - could still be years away.

ANDROID THREAT

Meanwhile, rivals are circling, eating away at Apple's smartphone market share. Samsung Electronics, Lenovo Group and little-known Chinese brand Coolpad held the top three slots in the third quarter, according to IDC.

All three have relationships with China Mobile and offer smartphone models at different price points. Apple competes exclusively at the high-end, and even there, rivals are rolling out models with China Mobile. Last week, Nokia said it planned to release its latest Lumia smartphone with China's top carrier, which is also expected to launch Research in Motion's new Blackberry 10, analysts predict.

"The threat will still come more from the Android camp where they have many vendors already working with China Mobile and offering high-end phones," said TZ Wong, a Singapore-based IDC analyst.

While these smartphones don't generate the buzz of a new iPhone, Chinese buyers are not known for their brand loyalty, and this could siphon away users considering an Apple upgrade.

"I've used a Blackberry, Android and iOS and, personally, I want to try the Windows 8," said Andy Huang, a 37-year-old fund manager, who owns most iPad models, an iPhone 4 and a 4S. "I think the Windows 8 is very innovative."

With a China Mobile deal looking some way off, Apple could always boost market share by offering cheaper models - the basic iPhone 5 will cost 5,288 yuan ($850) without a contract - though this appears an unlikely route for a high-end brand.

"If they want to expand market share, probably the only way to do it here dramatically would be to put out a lower cost phone," said Michael Clendenin, managing director at RedTech Advisors. "It's really uncertain if they'd decide to go that route ... Apple's a mystery in that regard."

($1 = 6.2518 Chinese yuan)

(Additional reporting by the Shanghai Newsroom, Jane Lee and Anita Li; Editing by Kazunori Takada and Ian Geoghegan)

Selling flak jackets in the cyberwars

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - When the Israeli army and Hamas trade virtual blows in cyberspace, or when hacker groups like Anonymous rise from the digital ether, or when WikiLeaks dumps a trove of classified documents, some see a lawless Internet.

But Matthew Prince, chief executive at CloudFlare, a little-known Internet start-up that serves some of the Web's most controversial characters, sees a business opportunity.

Founded in 2010, CloudFlare markets itself as an Internet intermediary that shields websites from distributed denial-of-service, or DDoS, attacks, the crude but effective weapon that hackers use to bludgeon websites until they go dark. The 40-person company claims to route up to 5 percent of all Internet traffic through its global network.

Prince calls his company the "Switzerland" of cyberspace - assiduously neutral and open to all comers. But just as companies like Twitter, YouTube and Facebook have faced profound questions about the balance between free speech and openness on the Internet and national security and law enforcement concerns, CloudFlare's business has posed another thorny question: what kinds of services, if any, should an American company be allowed to offer designated terrorists and cyber criminals?

CloudFlare's unusual position at the heart of this debate came to the fore last month, when the Israel Defense Forces sought help from CloudFlare after its website was struck by attackers based in Gaza. The IDF was turning to the same company that provides those services to Hamas and the al-Quds Brigades, according to publicly searchable domain information. Both Hamas and al-Quds, the military wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, are designated by the United States as terrorist groups.

Under the USA Patriot Act, U.S. firms are forbidden from providing "material support" to groups deemed foreign terrorist organizations. But what constitutes material support - like many other facets of the law itself - has been subject to intense debate.

CloudFlare's dealings have attracted heated criticism in the blogosphere from both Israelis and Palestinians, but Prince defended his company as a champion of free speech.

"Both sides have an absolute right to tell their story," said Prince, a 38-year old former lawyer. "We're not providing material support for anybody. We're not sending money, or helping people arm themselves."

Prince noted that his company only provides defensive capabilities that enable websites to stay online.

"We can't be sitting in a role where we decide what is good or what is bad based on our own personal biases," he said. "That's a huge slippery slope."

Many U.S. agencies are customers, but so is WikiLeaks, the whistle-blowing organization. CloudFlare has consulted for many Wall Street institutions, yet also protects Anonymous, the "hacktivist" group associated with the Occupy movement.

Prince's stance could be tested at a time when some lawmakers in the United States and Europe, armed with evidence that militant groups rely on the Web for critical operations and recruitment purposes, have pressured Internet companies to censor content or cut off customers.

Last month, conservative political lobbies, as well as seven lawmakers led by Ted Poe, a Republican from Texas, urged the FBI to shut down the Hamas Twitter account. The account remains active; Twitter declined to comment.

MATERIAL SUPPORT

Although it has never prosecuted an Internet company under the Patriot Act, the government's use of the material support argument has steadily risen since 2006. Since September 11, 2001, more than 260 cases have been charged under the provision, according to Fordham Law School's Terrorism Trends database.

Catherine Lotrionte, the director of Georgetown University's Institute for Law, Science and Global Security and a former Central Intelligence Agency lawyer, argued that Internet companies should be more closely regulated.

"Material support includes web services," Lotrionte said. "Denying them services makes it more costly for the terrorists. You're cornering them."

But others have warned that an aggressive government approach would have a chilling effect on free speech.

"We're resurrecting the kind of broad-brush approaches we used in the McCarthy era," said David Cole, who represented the Humanitarian Law Project, a non-profit organization that was charged by the Justice Department for teaching law to the Kurdistan Workers' Party, which is designated by the United States as a terrorist group. The group took its case to the Supreme Court but lost in 2010.

The material support law is vague and ill-crafted, to the point where basic telecom providers, for instance, could be found guilty by association if a terrorist logs onto the Web to plot an attack, Cole said.

In that case, he asked, "Do we really think that AT&T or Google should be held accountable?"

CloudFlare said it has not been contacted about its services by the U.S. government. Spokespeople for Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, told Reuters they contracted a cyber-security company in Gaza that out-sources work to foreign companies, but declined to comment further. The IDF confirmed it had hired CloudFlare, but declined to discuss "internal security" matters.

CloudFlare offers many of its services for free, but the company says websites seeking advanced protection and features can see their bill rise to more than $3,000 a month. Prince declined to discuss the business arrangements with specific customers.

While not yet profitable, CloudFlare has more than doubled its revenue in the past four months, according to Prince, and is picking up 3,000 new customers a day. The company has raked in more than $22 million from venture capital firms including New Enterprise Associates, Venrock and Pelion Venture Partners.

Prince, a Midwestern native with mussed brown hair who holds a law degree from the University of Chicago, said he has a track record of working on the right side of the law.

A decade ago, Prince provided free legal aid to Spamhaus, an international group that tracked email spammers and identity thieves. He went on to create Project Honey Pot, an open source spam-tracking endeavor that turned over findings to police.

Prince's latest company, CloudFlare, has been hailed by groups such as the Committee to Protect Journalists for protecting speech. Another client, the World Economic Forum, named CloudFlareamong its 2012 "technology pioneers" for its work. But it also owes its profile to its most controversial customers.

CloudFlare has served 4Chan, the online messaging community that spawned Anonymous. LulzSec, the hacker group best known for targeting Sony Corp, is another customer. And since last May, the company has propped up WikiLeaks after a vigilante hacker group crashed the document repository.

Last year, members of the hacker collective UgNazi, whose exploits include pilfering user account information from eBay and crashing the CIA.gov website, broke into Prince's cell phone and email accounts.

"It was a personal affront," Prince said. "But we never kicked them off either."

Prince said CloudFlare would comply with a valid court order to remove a customer, but that the Federal Bureau of Investigation has never requested a takedown. The company has agreed to turn over information to authorities on "exceedingly rare" occasions, he acknowledged, declining to elaborate.

"Any company that doesn't do that won't be in business long," Prince said. But in an email, he added: "We have a deep and abiding respect for our users' privacy, disclose to our users whenever possible if we are ordered to turn over information and would fight an order that we believed was not proper."

Juliannne Sohn, an FBI spokeswoman, declined to comment.

Michael Sussmann, a former Justice Department lawyer who prosecuted computer crimes, said U.S. law enforcement agencies may in fact prefer that the Web's most wanted are parked behind CloudFlare rather than a foreign service over which they have no jurisdiction.

Federal investigators "want to gather information from as many sources as they can, and they're happy to get it," Sussmann said.

In an era of rampant cyber warfare, Prince acknowledged he is something of a war profiteer, but with a wrinkle.

"We're not selling bullets," he said. "We're selling flak jackets."

(The story corrects paragraph 23 to read "3,000 new customers a day")

(Reporting By Gerry Shih in San Francisco and Nidal al-Mughrabi in Gaza; editing by Jonathan Weber and Claudia Parsons)

Honda car production in China hit by strike

Honda Motor Co. has halted production at one of its car assembly plants in China because a strike has caused a shortage of auto parts.

Japan's No. 2 automaker said production was halted Wednesday at one of two plants run by Honda joint venture Guangqi Honda …

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Anchorage 43 30 Cldy

Baltimore 71 56 Rain

Boston 53 43 Rain

Chicago 53 47 Rain

Dallas-Ft Worth 71 52 PCldy

Denver 72 35 Clr

Detroit 57 47 Rain

Honolulu 84 70 PCldy

Houston 75 55 PCldy

Indianapolis 62 53 Rain

Jacksonville 81 56 Rain

Kansas City 62 45 Cldy

Las Vegas 85 57 PCldy

Little Rock 66 49 Cldy

Los Angeles 69 53 …

2 Plead Guilty in Cuban Militant Case

Two men who refused to testify before a federal grand jury investigating a Cuban militant pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice charges, authorities said.

Osvaldo Mitat and Santiago Alvarez, both Cuban exiles, were initially indicted on criminal contempt charges for refusing to testify before the grand jury even after being granted immunity. On Friday, they pleaded guilty to a superseding indictment charging them with obstruction, the U.S. Department of Justice announced.

Mitat, 65, and Alvarez, 66, each face up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine when they are sentenced Feb. 1.

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No matter which team comes away with bragging rights today when DePaul (5-3) hosts city neighbor UIC (1-5), both teams already have a victory.

The ''win'' is for the future of college basketball in Chicago.

''The bottom line is we have to be our brothers' keepers,'' UIC coach Jimmy Collins said. ''Basketball dies if we don't generate interest, and when we play each other, it doesn't matter what [the team] records are. Everyone is interested. You don't have to work to get the kids up for the game.''

DePaul coach Jerry Wainwright echoes that sentiment. In fact, it has become a point of consensus among all the area coaches, including Loyola's Jim Whitesell and …

Ethanol production from food processing residuals

Located in the heart of Wisconsin's vegetable farming community, Renewable Oxygenates Industries (ROI) has started to turn some of the area's food processing residuals into fuel grade ethanol. Operational since July, 1996, ROI originally utilized cheese whey and beets as feedstocks. The. company has turned its attention to potato residuals, and with the help of a $367,000 grant from the U.S. Dept. of Energy, has recently doubled its production capacity.

The ROI facility currently has a total capacity of 225,000 gallons at its ten acre site in Plover, with 80,000 gallons of …

Bush to Urge U.N. to Fight for Freedom

UNITED NATIONS - President Bush will address the U.N. General Assembly this morning at 9:45 a.m. EDT. Bush wants the U.N. to uphold its pledge to fight for freedom in lands of poverty and terror, and plans to punctuate his challenge by promising new sanctions against the military regime in Myanmar.

Bush is expected to mention Iran in his speech - but only briefly, citing Iran in a list of countries where people lack freedoms and live in fear. The White House wants to avoid giving any more attention to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, whose splash of speeches and interviews has dominated the days leading to the U.N. meeting.

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Boonen takes Tour appeal to French sports chiefs

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Boonen is seeking to overturn a ban by Tour organizers after he tested positive twice for cocaine in less than a year. The race starts Saturday.

Boonen's Quick Step team said in a statement released Tuesday that they had sought a ruling from the French Arbitration Chamber for Sport, which falls under France's national Olympic committee.

A French court in Nanterre opened a hearing last week into an appeal by Boonen, but the …

Braves' Rally Tips Phils

Greg Olson capped a four-run Atlanta rally in the eighth inningwith a three-run homer to give the Braves a 9-8 victory over thevisiting Philadelphia Phillies Wednesday night.

The Braves have won 10 of their last 12 games.

Fred McGriff led off the eighth with a single off reliever DavidWest (3-3) and David Justice walked. West struck out Terry Pendletonand pinch hitter Francisco Cabrera before giving up an RBI single toMark Lemke.

Olson then hit his fourth homer.

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Accident at German flight show kills 1, injures 38

BERLIN (AP) — A pilot of a small propeller-driven plane lost control of his aircraft while taking off at a flight show in southern Germany and crashed into a group of spectators Sunday, leaving one person dead and 38 injured, police said.

The crash occurred at the Lillinghof airfield about 20 miles (30 kilometers) northeast of the city of Nuremberg, where up to 5,000 people attended the flight show, German news agency ddp reported.

Five people were seriously injured, while 33 others were slightly injured, of whom 22 were taken to a hospital, a police spokesman said at a news conference. Among those hospitalized was a 7-year-old …

Former UK commander denies knowing of Iraqi abuse

The former commanding officer of a British army unit accused of mistreating Iraqi detainees in 2003 said Monday he was unaware of any alleged abuse at the time, and denied a claim he assaulted an Iraqi himself.

Col. Jorge Mendonca told an inquiry into the death of Iraqi hotel receptionist Baha Mousa that fellow officers might have kept him "out of the loop" because of his reputation for following the rules.

Mendonca also denied a claim by a soldier who testified that he saw the officer punch an Iraqi prisoner in front of more than 100 troops. He said the alleged incident "absolutely never" happened.

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Pittsburgh honors `Pops' at PNC opener

Reds 8 Pirates 2

PITTSBURGH A day of celebration for the Pittsburgh Pirates becamea rite of sadness Monday as they mourned the death of Hall of FamerWillie Stargell on the very day they moved into PNC Park.

As fans streamed across the Roberto Clemente Bridge for the firstopening day at the riverside ballpark, many crowded around a bronzestatue of Stargell that was unveiled only Saturday.

The 12-foot statue, as imposing as Stargell was to opposingpitchers, became a touchstone for thousands who needed a moment tostare, to reflect, to remember the player known as "Pops."

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Report: Zimbabwe coalition failing to end violence

HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — A top international rights group said Friday that Zimbabwe's two-year-old coalition government has failed to end human rights abuses and political violence.

Amnesty International said in a Friday report that violence, mainly by militants of President Robert Mugabe's party, continued with the "tacit approval" of police.

Its researchers witnessed a Jan. 21 incident in which riot police watched but did not intervene when mobs seriously injured two people in an attack on suspected supporters of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, the former opposition leader.

Amnesty called for urgent reforms in police and military units traditionally loyal to …

Russian fishing boat catches fire off island

VLADIVOSTOK, Russia - A Russian trawler caught fire off the FarEastern island of Sakhalin today, provoking fears that its large fuelreserves could explode and pollute a vast area, a disaster reliefofficial said.

The 56-member crew of the fishing boat, the Kaskad-103, wasevacuated from the ship, said Dmitry Ryabchenko, an official at therescue center in the Russian Pacific port of Vladivostok. The shipwas en route to Sakhalin from the South Korean port of Pusan.

It was impossible to approach the blazing ship to put out theflames and emergency workers were waiting for the fire to abate,Ryabchenko said.

(null)

A handful of key Olympic leaders applauded the U.S. Olympic Committee's hiring of chief executive officer Scott Blackmun, a good start for the new boss who will need that support to reshape the reputation of the struggling federation.

Blackmun, a former interim CEO at the USOC and chief operating officer for sports-and-entertainment behemoth AEG Worldwide, was picked on Tuesday to take control at the end of the month.

Two people familiar with the search told The Associated Press that Blackmun would be announced as the new CEO on Wednesday. They spoke on condition of anonymity because the announcement had not yet been made.

But as word spread, Blackmun was generating support _ a reaction quite the opposite of when Stephanie Streeter unexpectedly got the job last March after Jim Scherr was ousted.

"I think it's a good hire," said Doug Logan, CEO of USA Track and Field. "If you accept that the organization needs some stability, he'll bring some stability. He doesn't have much of a learning curve. He knows what the drill is all about. He'll hit the pavement running."

Steve Penny, the CEO of USA Gymnastics agreed.

"He's the right person for right now," Penny said. "He brings a great combination of Olympic experience and expertise in other type of sport and entertainment issues."

In an internal memo to his staff, obtained by The Associated Press, USA Swimming CEO Chuck Wielgus said he sent a congratulatory letter to Blackmun. Wielgus was the other finalist for the job.

"This is a great hire ... and Scott is going to do a wonderful job," Wielgus wrote.

Currently working as an attorney in Colorado Springs, where the USOC has its headquarters, Blackmun will be trying to improve a federation that has been consumed by problems, including Chicago's embarrassing last-place finish in the bidding to host the 2016 Summer Olympics.

Skip Gilbert, head of the National Governing Bodies Council that was most critical of Streeter and the USOC, called Blackmun's hire the "most critical hire at the USOC in years," and said the support of the NGB leaders was key.

"If the USOC had gone out and found a chief from some other part of the corporate sector who had absolutely no connection to anything Olympic or anything sport, we would've been screaming bloody murder," Gilbert said. "This way, we have a basic understanding of the type of guy who's coming in. I think they made a good choice."

Blackmun worked at the USOC from 1999-2002 and served as interim CEO in 2000. After that, he went to AEG Worldwide, which owns several teams and puts on sports and entertainment events across the globe.

Counting his own interim stint, Blackmun will be the seventh USOC leader since 2000.

Blackmun will be on board in March when the board of directors is supposed to receive a report from an advisory committee chaired by Paul Tagliabue that will recommend other possible changes.

Palestinian Interior Minister Resigns

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh on Monday accepted the resignation of his interior minister following a new wave of factional fighting in the Gaza Strip, officials said.

Interior Minister Hani Kawasmeh had offered his resignation two weeks ago to protest the deteriorating security situation in Gaza. But Haniyeh had tried to persuade Kawasmeh to stay on.

After a new wave of fighting left six people dead, Haniyeh on Monday accepted the resignation, said two officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to speak to the media. Kawasmeh recently offered a security plan aimed at bringing law and order to Gaza, but the plan was never carried out.

This is a breaking news update. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) - Hamas and Fatah gunmen traded fire Monday despite an Egyptian-brokered agreement to end fighting between the rival movements. The violence - which killed two Fatah militants - is straining the Palestinian government's power-sharing deal.

The latest clashes erupted in several locations in the coastal strip and brought the toll to six dead and 52 wounded in 24 hours, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.

Among the dead were two employees of a Hamas-affiliated newspaper who were shot after being pulled out of a taxi at a Fatah roadblock Sunday, according to Hamas' account. If confirmed, this tactic would mark a further escalation and likely provoke more execution-style killings.

Israel's Security Cabinet, meanwhile, decided to hold off for now on a major military operation in Gaza. In a meeting Sunday, the ministers were weighing a response to intensifying rocket fire from Gaza and the army's warnings that Hamas is stockpiling weapons smuggled into the strip.

Instead, the army was given permission to step up targeted attacks against those firing the rockets, said Defense Minister Amir Peretz.

"The decision to go into Gaza, to occupy Gaza is one that can be taken at any time but we have to understand its significance," Peretz told Israel Radio. "We, the government, need to examine, what are the consequences of each and every action and ... (whether) we want to play into the hands of those extremists who are interested in bringing about escalation."

In Gaza, an Egyptian security delegation brought Hamas and Fatah together Sunday night and got them to agree to withdraw their forces and exchange captives.

But hours later, Fatah said Hamas attacked one of its offices in Gaza City, firing automatic weapons and hurling hand grenades. Hamas said Fatah men attacked a roadblock manned by its militiamen.

Hospital officials said two Fatah men were killed and 10 people wounded, from both sides.

Hamas and Fatah set up a coalition government in March, with the goal of ending months of bloody clashes between forces loyal to the two sides. But a new round of violence followed last week's deployment of 3,000 police in Gaza from forces loyal to Abbas, over Hamas objections.

The latest escalation began Sunday, when a shooting ambush blamed on Hamas killed a Fatah militant commander and his bodyguard.

In a firefight that followed, Suleiman Ashi, 26, a reporter for the Hamas-affiliated Palestine Daily, was pulled from a taxi by Fatah gunmen and shot, according to the newspaper. He and another employee of the paper wounded in the incident died later of their wounds.

The Palestinian Journalists Union condemned the attack.

In another incident Sunday, masked gunmen abducted a well-known religious scholar from Hamas as he returned from evening prayers at a local mosque in Gaza City. He was released after three hours, Hamas said.

His abduction set off a wave of kidnappings by both sides, security officials said. At least 14 people were snatched, a Hamas official said.

Palestinian Information Minister Mustafa Barghouti had pleaded with the two sides to bring their forces under control. "Not only the future of the government but the future of all the Palestinian people will be endangered if these bloody acts continue," he warned.

Also Sunday, Jordan's King Abdullah called off what was to have been a rare visit to the West Bank.

The king hoped to push an Arab peace plan and show support for Abbas, a moderate and leader of Fatah. The monarch, who was to have arrived by helicopter, cited low clouds and poor visibility for the cancellation. The Abbas-Abdullah meeting is to be rescheduled in coming days, said aides to the king and Abbas.

Abdullah has warned that time is running out for reaching a peace deal based on the Arab plan, which offers Arab recognition of Israel for an Israeli withdrawal from the territories Israel captured in the 1967 Mideast War. On Tuesday, Abdullah is to talk to Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in Jordan about the plan.

Despite the king's push, progress on the Arab plan appears unlikely. Olmert has been weakened by scathing criticism of his handling of last summer's war against Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon, while Abbas lacks the clout to stop the fighting between Hamas gunmen and security forces loyal to him.

Findings

CAs LEAD LARGE

CAs play a leadership role in many Canada's largest companies. Each year the CICA reviews the positions of chair, CEO, president, CFO, COO and corporate secretary at companies in the Globe and Mail's Report on Business 1,000 (ROB) magazine: to determine how many top spots are held by CAs.

In 2005, 61% of the ROB 1,000 companies had at least one CA in these six positions, comparable to last year's 62% and 59% in 2003. The results also indicate 23% of officers holding one of these positions at ROB 1,000 companies are CAs, an increase from last year (22%).

Of the top six positions, the CA designation is most valued for the CFO position (58%), suggesting CAs are becoming more critical in this role. The percentage of CFOs who are CAs has also risen steadily over the past five years. Companies that have a CA as the CFO were rewarded with better performance and outperformed other companies on several key measures such as return on equity, return on capital and return on assets.

While the CFO position is the one most likely to be held by CAs, the ROB 1,000 companies also list 12.6% of CAs as chairs, 9.8% as CEOs, 10% as presidents, 17% as corporate secretaries and 8.2% as COOs.

[Author Affiliation]

John Tabone is CICA's manager of innovation

Iverson will not return to 76ers

Allen Iverson's second stint with the Philadelphia 76ers ended on Tuesday when the team announced he would not return for the rest of the NBA season.

Iverson has mostly been absent from the team for a month, returning to Atlanta to be with his family as they deal with an undisclosed illness of his 4-year-old daughter, Messiah.

Iverson, who returned as a free-agent to the 76ers in December, has not played since Feb. 20.

"After discussing the situation with Allen, we have come to the conclusion that he will not return to the Sixers for the remainder of the season, as he no longer wishes to be a distraction to the organization and teammates that he loves very deeply," team president Ed Stefanski said. "It has been very difficult for Allen and the team to maintain any consistency as he tries to balance his career with his personal life."

The former NBA MVP and four-time scoring champion averaged 13.8 points in 28 games this season. He started the season with the Memphis Grizzlies but played only three games before he announced a short-lived retirement.

The 34-year-old Iverson made a tearful return to Philadelphia eager to prove he wasn't finished after disastrous stints in Detroit and Memphis. He returned to a sold-out crowd dotted with No. 3 jerseys, but he showed only flashes of his former playmaking self when he ruled the NBA as one of the best guards around and led the 76ers to the NBA finals. He scored at least 20 points six times _ including a 23-point effort in a game against the Los Angeles Lakers that turned into a retro 1-on-1 duel vs. Kobe Bryant.

Iverson said at a Feb. 15 practice that it was emotionally draining to leave his family to play basketball.

He was hobbled by an arthritic left knee and constantly needed it drained. His dwindling production didn't bother his fans _ Iverson was voted an Eastern Conference All-Starter, though he did not play.

Dalembert, who played with Iverson in both stints, said A.I. was not the same player who once terrorized the opposition. But Dalembert also noticed a more reserved, humbled Iverson who just wanted to fit in instead of dominating the ball or making splashy headlines with controversial or selfish actions.

The Sixers have been awful with or without Iverson. They are 22-37 after a 126-105 loss to Orlando on Monday.

Projects' fates uncertain with board appointments

DAILY MAIL CAPITOL REPORTER

It's not clear what Gov. Bob Wise's appointments to a nine-membereconomic development committee will mean for Charleston's proposedballpark or Wheeling's proposed Victorian outlet center, advocatesfor the two projects said.

Wise named Mallie Combs, Bernard Twigg, William Baker, Dan Moore,Mark Prince and David Hofstetter to the committee Monday. Thegovernor, tax secretary and economic development director are membersby statute.

Charleston Mayor Jay Goldman said Monday that, after looking overthe list of appointees, he did not have a good idea of whether thepanel might vote to fund a ballpark in Charleston.

"I don't have the slightest idea," he said.

George Manahan is a spokesman for WVWINS, a group pushing for anew ballpark for the Charleston Alley Cats minor league baseballteam. He said he was pleased with the makeup of the committee.

"It has a mix of financial advisers and bankers. I think there's agood mix of Charleston and statewide representation," he said.

Manahan said he hoped Goldman and Alley Cats owner Tom Dicksonwould work out some of their differences over how to finance the parkbefore it was time to pitch the project to the economic developmentcommittee.

"We would call on them to get together to iron out thosedifferences," he said.

Wheeling Victorian outlet center developer Danny Aderholt said hewasn't sure what the appointments meant for his project.

"I assume that they're all good people," he said. "I'm justwaiting to see what's going to happen."

He said he was ready to pitch the Wheeling project to thecommittee at the appropriate time.

"We've had a lot of material ready for a long time," he said."We're prepared whenever anybody wants to hear from us."

The committee's first meeting is set for April 8. Jack Canfield, aspokesman for Wise, said members would put together an applicationprocess at that meeting.

Sen. Vic Sprouse, R-Kanawha, said he expects the committee willapprove funding for both the ballpark and the outlet mall.

"I think it's pretty obvious that those two projects especiallywould be funded as well as one or two others that the Legislaturetalked about," he said.

One committee member said he had no idea which specific projectswould win funding.

"I'm trying to go into this without any pre-conceived ideas abouthow the committee's going to operate and what's going to come beforethe committee," Hofstetter said. "I'm wide open to whatever mightcome before us."

He said that he believed economic development money would be wellspent on tourism related projects.

"Tourism is very important to West Virginia," he said. "I thinkfrom what I've seen it's our fastest growing part of the state'seconomy."

He also said he felt it was unlikely that the regional airportwould even be one of the projects presented to the committee.

"I question whether the regional airport will be a part of this,"he said.

Sprouse said he was disappointed that no delegates or senatorswere included in Wise's appointments.

"I had hoped for legislative representation," he said. "TheLegislature should have a major say in what happens here."

Sprouse said the Legislature does have the power to block anyproject the committee decides to fund.

Sen. Brooks McCabe, D-Kanawha, on the other hand, said he washappy no lawmakers were picked.

"I think it gives it a little more validation that you havebusiness and economic development people that are looking at it onthe merits of the project and it moves it a little bit further fromthe political arena and closer to the economic development arena,which is where it should be," he said.

Mallie Combs is the director of the Hardy County Rural DevelopmentAuthority. Bernard Twigg is an executive with BB&T bank in MarshallCounty. Bill Baker is president of the Raleigh County Commission.

Dan Moore, of Williamson, is chairman of the Moore Group. MarkPrince, is chairman of Bank One, West Virginia. David Hofstetter, ofWinfield, is co-chairman of the Business Development Committee ofAdvantage Valley.

House Speaker Bob Kiss, D-Raleigh, said he worked hard to makesure the members of the committee were from all across the state. Butsome lawmakers criticized the picks, saying they favored the southernportion of the state.

According to the Associated Press, Sen. Herb Snyder, D-Jefferson,was upset because his district wasn't represented on the committee.He vowed to begin lobbying for a special session to repeal the billthat created the committee.

Writer Sam Tranum can be reached at 348-4872 or by e-mail atsamt@dailymail.com.

Borghi, Adelaide

Borghi, Adelaide, Italian mezzo-soprano; b. Bologna, Aug. 9, 1829; d. there, Sept. 28, 1901. Acting on the advice of Pasta, she trained herself for the stage, making her debut at Urbino (1846) in Mercadante's II Giuramento. She toured through Italy and in Vienna and Paris (1854–56), sang with the Grand Opéra in Paris (1856–59), and appeared in London with great success (1860) before returning to Italy.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire

Rocker Mellencamp's divorce from model Irwin final

NASHVILLE, Ind. (AP) — Rocker John Mellencamp and his ex-wife, Elaine Irwin, have finalized their divorce, taking joint custody of their two sons with Mellencamp paying an unspecified amount of child support.

The Herald-Times (http://bit.ly/q76AZf ) reported Tuesday that Irwin will have primary physical custody of the couple's two sons, 17-year-old Speck and 16-year-old Hud.

The couple's dissolution was made final Aug. 12 in Brown Circuit Court in Nashville, Ind. The newspaper reports the couple's property and assets will be divided according to a prenuptial agreement both signed Sept. 3, 1992, two days before their wedding.

Further details of the divorce were relegated to a 31-page confidential settlement agreement.

Western Illinois ousts Coastal Carolina 17-10

CONWAY, S.C. (AP) — Quarterback Matt Barr's second rushing touchdown of the game with 1:50 remaining gave Western Illinois a 17-10 victory over Coastal Carolina on Saturday in the first round of the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs.

The Leathernecks (8-4), who finished second in the Missouri Valley Conference, will play at top-seeded Appalachian State on Dec. 4.

Barr's 5-yard winning score came three plays after he threw a 38-yard pass to Bryce Flowers moved the ball to the Coastal Carolina 7-yard line.

The Chanticleers (6-6), who finished in a three-way tie for the Big South Conference title, then drove to the Western Illinois 4, aided by two major penalties, before Kieron James picked off a pass by Zach MacDowall.

MacDowall was intercepted four times in the game, and Coastal Carolina also lost a fumble. Western Illinois was intercepted twice.

AP mistakes impersonator for Christopher Walken

WASHINGTON (AP) — An Associated Press reporter mistook an impersonator of actor Christopher Walken on a sports-talk radio program Friday for Walken himself, leading the news cooperative to include comments mistakenly attributed to the actor in its coverage of the Natalie Wood death investigation.

The AP corrected the story about an hour later and told its members not to use the incorrect information.

The radio station, Washington, D.C.-based ESPN 980, informed the AP that the Walken impersonator appears weekly to discuss sports-related topics for a humorous segment. Walken has a distinctive, staccato style of speaking.

Walken was sharing a yacht with Wood and her husband, actor Robert Wagner, when the actress drowned on Nov. 29, 1981. The death was ruled an accident. But this week, authorities in Los Angeles reopened their investigation into Wood's death based on new information but said that Wagner is not a suspect.

The Walken impersonator, Marc Sterne, appeared Friday afternoon on "The Sports Fix," an afternoon talk show hosted by Kevin Sheehan and Thom Loverro.

Chuck Sapienza, ESPN 980's program director, told the AP on Friday evening that Sterne has made regular Friday appearances impersonating Walken during the past few football seasons. While playing Walken, Sterne gives fantasy football advice and sometimes discusses other topics.

"It's not set up as real. It's not like we're trying to fool anybody," Sapienza said. "We say it's the person on the air but we never believe that someone actually thinks the person's actually there."

After the story was published, an AP reporter phoned the station and left a message. A station employee called back to say a Walken impersonator, not the actor, had been on the air.

ESPN 980 is owned by Washington Redskins owner Daniel Snyder.

During Friday's appearance, Sheehan asked Sterne about the Wood case. Sterne, impersonating Walken, remarked: "We had a lot to drink that night. There was Sambuca. There was shouting. And then there was tragedy. And that's all I can remember."

The Walken impersonator added that he went to bed after reading "one of the Hardy Boys novels" and awoke to learn that Wood was dead.

The AP incorporated those comments into its story Friday afternoon, attributing them to Walken.

"It was a mistake," AP spokesman Jack Stokes said in a statement.

US, Cuba to hold immigration talks next week

The United States and Cuba have agreed to hold immigration talks in Washington within days, a U.S. official said Saturday, the first since a similar meeting in Havana in February.

The talks scheduled for Friday are intended to monitor adherence to a 16-year-old agreement under which the United States issues 20,000 visas to Cubans a year, though in the past the sides have used the meeting to delve into more contentious issues.

In the last round of talks, U.S. diplomats pressed Cuba to release Alan Gross, a jailed American contractor that Cuba has accused of spying. Gross has been jailed for more than 6 months without charge.

The American delegation also met with dissidents in Havana, raising the ire of Cuban officials.

The latest round of talks will take place at an as-yet undetermined location in Washington, Gloria Berbena, a spokeswoman for the U.S Interests Section in Havana, told The Associated Press. The U.S. maintains the Interests Section instead of an embassy.

After a brief period of hope that U.S. President Barack Obama would usher in a new era of rapprochement with America's longtime Caribbean foe, relations between the United States and Cuba have been on a downward trajectory for some months.

Fidel Castro, once a grudging admirer of the president, has been harshly critical lately of everything from Obama's work at global climate change talks, to America's backing of Israel, to the use of American soldiers as part of relief efforts in quake-ravaged Haiti.

Cuba was particularly angry when Washington included the island on a list of state sponsors of terrorism back in December.

For its part, U.S. officials have made clear that there is little hope for improved relations while Cuba holds Gross. They have also continued to call on Fidel and his brother, President Raul Castro, to open up the island's political system to democratic reform. Cuba insists that the U.S. drop its 48-year trade embargo and stop meddling in the island's internal affairs.

Despite the lukewarm relations, there have been far more contacts between U.S. and Cuban officials than in years past. The State Department confirmed bilateral talks a few weeks ago on how to respond to the Gulf oil spill, which could threaten Cuban shores. And American and Cuban officials have met to discuss ways to coordinate aid to Haiti.

Patrick Sticks With IRL, Joins Andretti

CHICAGO - Danica Patrick's "heart and soul" are with the Indy Racing League, so that's where she'll stay - for now. A new career in NASCAR will have to wait.

Though she isn't ready to give up the speed of open-wheel racers for the popularity of stock cars, Patrick is switching teams. One of the IRL's most popular drivers in years signed Tuesday with Andretti Green Racing, which has produced two straight series champions and last year's Indy 500 winner.

Her current contract with Rahal Letterman Racing expires at the end of the season, and she had toyed with the idea of joining NASCAR - a possibility she left open for the future.

"NASCAR is not out for good," she said. "It's out for right now."

Patrick said she was just exploring every option and was always leaning toward staying in the IndyCar series. She will start driving for the team led by Michael Andretti in 2007.

"My heart and soul is in IndyCar racing," Patrick said at a news conference.

Patrick burst on the scene in 2005 when she nearly won the pole at the Indianapolis 500 as a rookie, then went on to become the first woman to lead laps at the Brickyard and finished fourth. She was also named IndyCar rookie of the year.

"She has made it very clear that one of her goals as a driver is to win the Indianapolis 500," Andretti said, "and we are looking forward to giving her a great opportunity to do that."

Patrick is the third driver under contract to Andretti Green racing for 2007, joining Tony Kanaan and 19-year-old Marco Andretti, Michael Andretti's son and the sport's other budding young star.

"Danica has shown great talent during her first two seasons in the IndyCar Series," Michael Andretti said in a statement. "Our focus has been and always will be on winning races and winning championships. We certainly believe Danica will do that."

Patrick has finished fourth in back-to-back races and is currently ninth in the IndyCar standings, but her Rahal team had problems this season before switching to a more competitive chassis.

"I've had a very good run, a very good relationship with Rahal Letterman and Bobby Rahal," Patrick said. "He helped me when no one else stepped up. And I will be forever grateful for that.

"But at some point in time, there's just time for a change, time for something new. I feel Andretti Green is going to give me the opportunity to win races, and while Rahal Letterman still can, too, I have to go with what I think is best for my future. I feel like that's the place."

Patrick and AGR officials did not release the length or terms of the deal.

Brent Maurer, Rahal Letterman's director of public relations, said: "She told us she's leaving and we wish her well in her future endeavors."

Patrick's father, T.J., caused a stir earlier this month when he showed up at a Nextel Cup race at Chicagoland Speedway and told a Chicago Tribune reporter that Patrick was interested in switching to NASCAR.

But for now, the IRL is keeping one of its most popular drivers.

"She's been an important part of our growth and general awareness," IRL president Brian Barnhart said. "We're excited that's going to continue in the future."

Patrick's year got off to an awful start, as teammate Paul Dana died in a warmup session for the season-opening race at Homestead-Miami Speedway. IRL ran the race, but the Rahal-Letterman team withdrew.

It didn't get much better after that, as the Rahal-Letterman cars weren't able to keep pace with the dominant Penske and Ganassi teams. Through the first eight races, her best finish was sixth.

But the team began to turn things around after switching from the Panoz chassis to the more competitive Dallara. After the Milwaukee race on Sunday, she credited her team for working hard to make the midseason switch.

"We've struggled a bit with the transition of cars, but we're getting the hang of it," Patrick said. "It's just time for a change."

Andretti Green also has had a hard time keeping up with Penske and Ganassi this year. When AGR driver Tony Kanaan won at Milwaukee on Sunday, it was the first non-Penske or Ganassi car to win this year.

The Andretti father-and-son combo had a surprising run at Indy, with Michael leading the race late and Marco nearly winning it before Penske's Sam Hornish passed him in the final stretch.

But they younger Andretti's second-place finish established him as the series' next popular, up-and-coming driver. Now he and Patrick will race not as rivals, but as teammates.

"Obviously, I've been frustrated over the past year, but I promise you even Andretti Green has been frustrated," Patrick said. "Everybody at some point in time has been. I'm excited to go to a team that has a lot of drivers I can learn from and knows how to win. They've been doing a lot of that."

---

AP Sports Writer Chris Jenkins in Milwaukee contributed to this report.

WAY OUT THERE

Timothy Egan, The New York Times's eye on the West

Timothy Egan is happy to admit that he and a myriad of other marquee-name thinkers about the West were wrong about their home turf. That lack of hubris may be one of the reasons that Egan is still one of the more compelling members of the mainstream media writing about the West.

Egan, for years a Seattle-based national enterprise reporter for The New York Times, came to Boise this week to address the City Club of Boise and to sign copies of his 2006 book, The Worst Hard Time, a National Book Awardwinning recounting of the Dust Bowl era. Egan began his career with the Times as a correspondent covering the Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989. He's been with the paper ever since, covering Western issues from his home in Seattle, but also in travel throughout the West. In recent years, he began writing books of essays about his home country, including 1991's The Good Rain about the Pacific Northwest, and 1999's Lasso The Wind.

These days, Egan is back in the pages of the Times, writing an online opinion column, "Outposts," that allows him to roam from pillar to post around the country, with a predictable emphasis on Western issues. He's also used the column to reach back to Pulitzer Prize-winning work he did for the Times about race in politics-writing that has become prescient in this year of Barack Obama's candidacy.

His talk at the City Club was titled "Enough of the New West: Bring On The New, New West."

The title of the speech, Egan said in an interview, was intended to "have some fun with my preconceptions," to note "how I've been wrong, and how others have been wrong."

Egan said he was just as wrong as anyone in the early 1990s who thought that a new sort of Western politics would emerge in the interior West. At least wrong on timing. Egan recalled speaking with former Arizona governor and Interior secretary Bruce Babbit, who predicted then that Democrats would control Western states because, he said, "environmentalist!! was ascendant."

Then came 1994's midterm elections, which Democrats have been trying to forget.

"The'y got clobbered," Egan said. The "Republican Revolution" of that year toppled many a Western Democrat's dreams. Western states seemed red to the core. GOP candidates ran on basic Republican issues: guns, god and gays.

Well, that was then, Egan said. Looking across the Western political landscape, Egan sees several Democratic governors in the West, recent turnovers of long-held Republican congressional posts and other advances from the party of the donkey.

."I think what Babbitt thought about the New West in the 1990s is sort of happening," Egan said. New Democratic politicians like Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer "take the gun issue off the table. They take the culture issue off the table," Egan said.

"We always thought, 'This is how the Republicans will win the West: on gays, guns and god,'" Egan said. "Schweitzer was the first to say, 'Wait a minute.'"

Egan himself was brought up short on the question of race in Western politics. In 2000, he was part of a Pulitzer Prize-winning team of reporters for a Times series called "How Race Is Lived in America." In an article about former Washington State Gov. Gary Locke, who is Asian, and King County executive Ron Sims, who is black, Egan described many of the pitfalls and challenges that are now being faced by Barack Obama.

Sims struggled every day, Egan reported, with the dilemma of trying to succeed not just as an elected official, but also as a black man in a largely white state.

"The way to succeed is to be seen but not seen," Egan wrote then. "Flesh without color. What people want to hear from the second-highestranking elected official in the state are his views on property taxes, traffic, growth."

Sims told Egan that he leads a "dual life" between Ron Sims, the person, and Ron Sims, the public official.

"In the new century, in the New West, the expressed hope is that politics has shed its color barriers, and even its color consciousness," Egan wrote then.

Egan reconnected with Sims to talk about his cautions for Obama.

"He's got to stay away from race," Sims said, in an article that ran on The New York Times Web site in mid-January. "Race remains the one thing a black cannot talk about openly in a political campaign in this country."

So much for that.

Obama's recent speech on race, in the wake of the imbroglio over his controversial pastor Jeffrey Wright, seemed to go directly where Sims cautioned not to.

"All of the things he said you couldn't do, Obama is doing," Egan said in a recent interview on NYTimes.com.

The Web, Egan said, has been a boon to his work. Whether he's posting his "Outpost" columns or subbing in for other op-ed columnists from time to time, Egan said he's found the Web to be "the most valuable piece of journalistic real estate in the world."

"You get these fantastic responses from people," he said.

The "Outposts" online column, Egan said, is quick satisfaction. He was brought on to bring a Western perspective to the election news cycle. And in so doing, he may be one of the luckiest journalists working today.

"You get an amazing amount of freedom," Egan said. "After a while, the topics just start to pop up." Offl

To listen to Egan's speech, check Boise State Radio listings for a broadcast at Radio.BoiseState.edu.

Phil Collins acts shady in Bristol

The Latimer Towers music collection, it must be admitted, tends tobe dominated by regimental bands and Vera Lynn's wartime recordings -although Mrs L is into folkie types - and, for some reason,recordings of Latvian dance tunes.

The younger Latimers - Lancelot and Leaticia - seem to preferemaciated young men in black who scream about how lonely they are, orobese American rappers with odd-sounding names like Daddy Piddly.

But even they were excited to discover that Phil Collins wasgetting involved in a music project in the city. Of course, it turnsout to be a completely different Phil Collins - not the Genesis frontman and drummer at all, but an internationally-acclaimed contemporaryartist, who just happens to share the same name.

This Phil Collins is setting up a video production company inBristol called Shady Lane Promotions, which will create promotionalvideos for local unsigned acts. It's a major new art projectcommissioned by Bristol Legible City for Thinking Of The Outside.

Working with a film crew, choreographers and stylists, Shady LanePromotions will select three acts from a city-wide campaign andcreate videos for them in various locations.

Acts of all ages and musical styles are invited to submit a CD -or cassette - with a note describing who they are and where they'regoing. A photo is essential. These should be sent to: Shady LanePromotions, 4th Floor, Bush House, 72 Prince Street, Bristol, BS14HN. The company says: "By accepting Shady Lane's final decision, allthree selected acts must agree to the wildest fantasies of our pop-svengali."

Collins, a Paul Hamlyn Award-winning artist, is best known for hisstriking, intimate, often controversial portraits, but he oftencommunicates through forms of popular and youth culture such as danceand pop music.

His work, according to reviews, "combines an infectious humour andenergy that creates an immediate connection with the viewer andparticipant".

Recent projects have included They Shoot Horses, a real-time videoof a disco-dance marathon in Ramallah, and The World Won't Listen,the re-recording of a Smiths album made in Bogota in Colombia withlocal musicians to produce a karaoke machine for fans.

Racism conference connects oppressed people [World Conference on Racism]

Media coverage of the recent United Nations Conference on Racism in Durban, South Africa, left the impression that little was accomplished due to disagreements over Israeli-Palestinian relations and reparations for slavery. Three Mennonite Central Committee U.S. staff who attended the event tell a different story.

"The conference was an incredible opportunity to learn and make connections," said Iris de Leon-Hartshorn, director of MCC U.S. Peace and Justice Ministries. "Oppressed people from all over the world were there, and they were meeting each other and finally speaking for themselves."

A forum for non-governmental organizations took place before the official August 31 to September 7 conference. The MCC staff participated in discussions on indigenous peoples, Africans and African descendents, women, immigrants and religions. They heard the stories of Dalits, India's "untouchables," and Roma (gypsies) from Europe.

Attended by representatives from over 130 countries, the pre-conference event compiled a document for government delegates at the UN conference. Michelle Armster, director of Mennonite Conciliation Services in the U.S., and Conrad Moore, co-director of the Damascus Road anti-racism program, were part of discussions on reparations for slavery.

"Most people picture reparations as African-Americans getting a cheque in the mail to make up for 400 years of slavery," Moore said. But discussions at the conference also focused on debt relief for struggling African nations and the recognition of slavery as a "crime against humanity."

Armster got a unique perspective on anti-Zionism protests during a discussion with a Hasidic Jewish rabbi.

"He and two other rabbis were there protesting Israeli policies," Armster said. "His family had lived for centuries in what is now Israel and had always maintained good relationships with their Arab neighbours."

On a panel, De Leon-Hartshorn gave an overview of racism in the Mennonite church and steps being taken to address it. Many who knew of MCC's work were surprised to meet African-American and Hispanic Mennonites.

"They would ask us, 'So, are you really Mennonite?'" Armster remembered. After the conference, the three visited MCC projects in South Africa and Zambia. In Zambia, they shared anti-racism analysis with students.

"They said they finally had a language to put to their experiences," Armster said. Moore added that the students helped him understand the Rwandan genocide of the 1990s by applying the Damascus Road analysis to conflict between Hutus and Tutsis.

"I returned with a real hunger to educate my community--people of colour in America, especially African descendants--about what people are facing all around the world," Moore said. "We are all connected, and we are not in our struggle alone."

How the major stock indexes fared Wednesday

Widespread gains in commodity prices lifted energy and materials companies as part of a broad stock market rally Wednesday after three days of declines. Stocks built on morning gains after the Federal Reserve released minutes that showed that officials agreed that the economy is improving, which could lead to higher demand for raw materials like steel and fertilizer.

The Dow Jones industrial average added 80.60 points, or 0.6 percent, to close at 12,560.18.

The S&P index rose 11.70, or 0.9 percent, to 1,340.68.

The Nasdaq composite gained 31.79, or 1.1 percent, to 2,815.

For the week:

The Dow is down 35.57, or 0.3 percent.

The S&P is up 2.9, or 0.2 percent.

The Nasdaq is down 13.47, or 0.5 percent.

For the year to date:

The Dow is up 982.67, or 8.5 percent.

The S&P is up 83.04, or 6.6 percent.

The Nasdaq is up 162.13, or 6.1 percent.