Sunday Gazette-Mail

Happy Birthday, Sao Paulo, World's Second-Largest City Is 450 Years Old Today

SAO PAULO, Brazil - Just south of the Tropic of Capricorn, on a breezy plateau whose rivers were harnessed for electricity by an engineer from Omaha, one of the world's greatest cities is celebrating its 450th birthday today. As the dancers and samba bands hit the streets and fireworks light up the summer night, Sao Paulo has much to celebrate, not least its sheer size: With 18.3 million people in 2001, it has edged out Mexico City as the world's second-largest metropolitan area, behind Tokyo...

For Rent: Babies, to Drug Smugglers Seeking Cover

CHICAGO - He knocked on the door of the squalid basement apartment, looking for a young couple. Their baby girl had been stopped at an airport thousands of miles away, and it wasn't her first suspicious trip. The 8-month-old had already traveled to Panama and London five times, usually in the arms of strangers and often exposed to danger. The latest trip had ended abruptly with an arrest - at Heathrow Airport.

Israel, Hezbollah to Swap Prisoners

JERUSALEM - A prisoner exchange between Israel and Hezbollah guerrillas will take place Tuesday, with two Lebanese and other prisoners in Israeli custody to be swapped for an Israeli businessman and the bodies of three Israeli soldiers, a lawyer for the Lebanese said Saturday. The lawyer, Zvi Rish, told The Associated Press that two Lebanese militants captured by Israel and other prisoners from Arab countries would be freed in exchange for Israeli businessman Elhanan Tannenbaum and the bodies...

Sharon Will Fight to Keep His Job, He Says

JERUSALEM - Ariel Sharon's premiership appears to be in serious jeopardy for the first time in three years on the job. Corruption allegations against Sharon had been percolating for years, but last week's indictment of real estate mogul David Appel for allegedly bribing the prime minister with $690,000 has set off a political storm.

Irish Leader's Daughter Lands Literary Success

DUBLIN, Ireland - In Ireland, a first-time author is garnering bucketloads of publicity, six-figure deals and Hollywood interest for her new tear-jerker novel. She also happens to be the prime minister's daughter. Cecelia Ahern, 22, who spent Saturday signing newly minted copies of "PS, I Love You," for several hundred fans at a Dublin bookstore, rejects claims her success is due to the high profile of her father, Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern.

Martha Stewart Selling Less

NEW YORK - The jury verdict in Martha Stewart's trial will do more than determine the future of the doyenne of style - it could also seal the fate of her multimedia company. Analysts say anything short of a full acquittal on charges she lied to prosecutors in a 2001 stock sale could further damage Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Inc. And even if the namesake founder and former CEO is found innocent, the brand stamped on products from bed sheets to magazines will have a hard time reclaiming th...

Scientists Fear Bird Flu May Threaten Humans.: ; Asian Outbreaks Spur Concerns That World Could Soon Face Flu Pandemic

With luck, the world will escape the latest outbreak of bird flu with no more than the six human deaths already blamed on it and the loss of millions of chickens. But public health experts worry of a much greater disaster. Their foreboding: a catastrophe they say is among the worst imaginable, a global outbreak of an entirely new form of human flu.

Aid Volunteers Struck by Experience in Iran

PHILADELPHIA - Dr. Christopher Born got the telephone call at 2 a.m. the Saturday after Christmas: An earthquake had leveled the ancient Iranian city of Bam, and the United States was sending help. Hours later, he joined about 60 other surgeons, nurses and paramedics from the International Medical Surgical Response Team on the first U.S. military flight to Iran in 24 years.

Er, Baghdad-Style, a Struggle for Doctors

BAGHDAD, Iraq - The patient had tried to foil a kidnapping. He was a large man, with a black shadow of a beard. Now he lay stretched out on a gurney in the spare emergency room of Al Kindi Hospital, bleeding profusely from a chest wound. The doctors wanted to transport him by ambulance to a specialty hospital. But two of the Al Kindi ambulances were broken down; a third was in use. So they gathered around to try to save a life.

Struggling to Find Her Place As a Woman in Islam.

Pakistani Nukes Secure, President Says.: ; Musharraf Admits Possibility Scientists Sold Secret Information

DAVOS, Switzerland - Pakistan's president said Saturday that airtight military control over his country's nuclear weapons will keep them safe from terrorists - even if something happens to him. Pervez Musharraf, who endured two assassination attempts in the past month, told The Associated Press that "as long as the military of Pakistan remains, nothing can go wrong."

Iraqis Want Quick U.N. Decision On Elections

DAVOS, Switzerland - Iraq's foreign minister said Saturday he expects the United Nations to accept a U.S. request to study prospects for elections before America transfers power to the Iraqis and hopes the recommendations can be ready quickly - within two to three weeks. If there is a pre-handover legislative election, Hoshyar Zebari told The Associated Press it would require a census and could delay giving power back to Iraqis by a month or two.

Tricky Tests Try to Find Out Why Americans Are Fat

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - On a brisk fall morning, professor Brian Wansink welcomed four graduate students to his lab for what they thought was a taste test of tomato soup. Unbeknown to the students, two of the four soup bowls were rigged to remain full, fed by hidden tubes. Twenty minutes later, the two students were surprised to learn their bowls had supply holes in the bottom and that they had eaten a third more than their colleagues.

Web Site Shows Candidate Stands

CONCORD, N.H. - A new Internet phenomenon is adding a twist to the town hall meetings and candidate shake-and-howdies that have long been the staples of presidential campaigning here: bird- dogging. To "bird-dog" means to observe, follow, monitor or seek out with persistent attention. In recent weeks, "bird-dogging" activists, mostly liberals, have made their way into numerous Democratic campaign events, asking the candidates about all manner of topics ranging from medical marijuana to U.S. m...

Kerry Was Wrong On Both Iraq Wars, Dean Says

CONCORD, N.H. - Howard Dean sharply questioned John Kerry's judgment on Iraq on Saturday as Democratic presidential rivals raced through a final, frozen weekend of campaigning before New Hampshire's first-in-the-nation primary. "I would be deeply concerned about that kind of judgment in the White House," said Dean, the one-time front-runner struggling to overcome a reversal that has vaulted Kerry into first place in the New Hampshire polls.

Weather Data

CHARLESTON AND VICINITY Saturday's temperatures High 39

State & Regional Weather

W.Va. Today: Today, a 100 percent chance of snow, changing to sleet and freezing rain in the afternoon, and possibly changing to rain late. Snow and sleet accumulation of 1 to 3 inches. Ice accumulation possible. Highs in the lower 30s. Tonight, occasional freezing rain in the evening, then rain with areas of freezing drizzle after midnight. Additional ice accumulation possible. Lows in the lower 30s.

World Weather

Amsterdam 44 32 Cldy Athens 39 28 Cldy

U.S. Weather

Anchorage 8 15 Cldy Atlanta 58 45 Rain

Crowded Court.: ; State's One-Stop Family Court System Struggles to Deal with Caseload.

West Virginians are getting divorced, arguing over their children or with each other so much that they are already stressing the state's 2-year-old family court system. The system was established to give families one venue for all of their problems. Family court judges are dealing with such a high number of cases that they are forced to squeeze hearings on top of each other while still keeping pace with ongoing cases and the thousands more filed each year.