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Obama defends religious freedoms in Cairo speech

President Barack Obama says freedom of religion is central to peoples' ability to live together.

Obama on Thursday said Islam has a tradition of tolerance, something he saw firsthand as a child in Indonesia. Obama says people should be free to worship as they see fit and that Western countries should not impose restrictions on how Muslims practice their faith.

Obama …

UN Relief Convoy Makes 1st Delivery to Bosnian City

BELGRADE, Yugoslavia United Nations troops escorted a reliefconvoy to the beleaguered Bosnian city of Gorazde on Saturday, makingthe first delivery of food and medicine to 70,000 people trapped by afour-month-old Serb siege.

The arrival of eight truckloads of supplies in Gorazde marked apreliminary victory in the UN effort to help Muslims surrounded bySerbian militiamen in starving cities and villages acrossBosnia-Herzegovina.

It came two days after the UN Security Council issued a threatto use "all measures necessary" get supplies through.

An attempt to relieve Gorazde 10 days ago failed when a convoycame under fire and lost a vehicle in a …

Former CFL player Matechuk receives jail time

SAULT STE. MARIE, Mich. (AP) — Canadian football player Jordan Matechuk has been sentenced to 90 days in jail after pleading guilty in July to possession of steroids and marijuana.

Matechuk was a long snapper for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the Canadian Football League. They released him in early June after …

Summary Box: Google expands sales of business apps

NEW APPS STORE: Google is selling the online services of other business software makers.

THE SALES PITCH: By filling in some of the gaps in its own product line, Google hopes to persuade more companies to rely on …

Supreme entertainer Harry Connick Jr. celebrates holidays with rousing show

Harry Connick Jr.

AT the Chicago Theatre

Tuesday night's concert at the Chicago Theatre was billed as"Harry for the Holidays." This is also the name of the recentChristmas music collection by Harry Connick Jr. Although it is anaccurate description of the album, this title only told half thestory of the concert.

Playing the first of two sold-out shows, Connick offered aslightly schizophrenic program that was split evenly between holidaysongs and a whole bunch of other stuff, including show tunes, gospel,original swing numbers and traditional New Orleans jazz.

A self-described "entertainer," Connick is a pianist, singer,arranger, composer, actor and …

Super Tuesday will be 'do or die' for the candidates

Super Tuesday will be `do or die' for the candidates

With all eyes of the nation focused on Super Tuesday's series of primaries that could literally be do or die races for the presidential candidates, the Rev. Jesse L. Jackson Sr. has put his political muscle behind Vice President Al Gore.

He also made it clear that locally he's backing Rep. Bobby L. Rush (D-2nd) who'll square off with his foes on March 21st. Jackson praised Rush for "being there for the people" and for fighting civil rights causes over several decades.

But, today's races have Jackson and other African American leaders watching the returns in the primaries and caucuses being held in California, Conn., …

MLB officials meeting with bat manufacturers

After collecting more than 1,700 broken bats over 2 1/2 months, Major League Baseball officials have started meeting with manufacturers to discuss quality control.

Although commissioner Bud Selig has expressed concern over the increase in broken bats among maple models, no action has been taken. He can't ban maple bats unilaterally because their use is subject to collective bargaining.

MLB's safety and health advisory committee, which includes players' union officials, said on Tuesday it collected every broken bat …

Vent line

* Well, the Turnpike tolls were raised as was planned. I guessthat indirectly will keep the population higher in the state becausepeople wont be able to afford to go to points south to get good jobsbecause they cant afford to use the Turnpike. n Is there anywhere inthe Charleston area where you can buy gasoline that is not 10percent ethanol? If Im paying for gas, I want gas, not alcohol. *The tolls on the Turnpike should have been increased in incrementsover the last few decades, not all at once. * Its been reported thatthe population of Charleston is still dropping, down to about 50,000people. Why does it cost $180 million a year to govern that few? *It comes to my attention …

Wall Street Has Worst Day in 4 Months

NEW YORK - Wall Street had its worst day in more than four months Monday as the dollar weakened and concerns about the strength of the retail industry arose following a rare sales decline at Wal-Mart Stores Inc. The Dow Jones industrials fell 158 points.

Investors were uneasy after the dollar fell for the fifth straight day and after Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, reported a 0.1 percent drop in same-store sales, those from stores open at least a year. Same-store sales are the industry standard for assessing a retailer's strength, and while overall retail sales appeared strong last weekend, Wal-Mart's first deficit in a decade raised concerns about the strength of consumer …

Zimbabwe premier's wife to be buried at rural home

Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's wife was buried Wednesday near his father in his family's cemetery in rural southern Zimbabwe.

Tsvangirai, who did not speak at the cemetery service, was the first to toss a flower onto Susan Tsvangirai's coffin after it was lowered into the grave in their home village, Humanikwa, 250 kilometers (150 miles) southwest of Harare. Their children followed, then officials of Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change party and others.

Susan Tsvangirai was killed in a car crash Friday and her husband of 31 years was injured.

Tsvangirai formed a joint government with President Robert Mugabe last month after a year of …

Soviets spurn free economy

MOSCOW Soviet Premier Nikolai I. Ryzhkov, spurning the demandsof progressives, today offered an economic reform plan that continuesa ban on private property and generally maintains central control ofthe economy.

The 2,250-member Congress of People's Deputies interruptedRyzhkov's nearly two-hour speech with applause only once. About halfof the deputies clapped when he declared that "the state is the ownerof the means of production."

Ryzhkov said he was offering a radical reform "for carrying theeconomy out of a crisis." Food and consumer goods are in painfullyshort supply, and authorities now wonder if they will have enoughfuel to heat Soviet apartments through …

EU proposes $1.48 trillion budget for 2014-2020, up 5 percent from previous period

BRUSSLES (AP) — EU proposes $1.48 trillion budget …

Free event for cancer survivors

Women who have had breast cancer are being offered help to dealwith the condition.

The free course organised by Breast Cancer Care Scotland is foranyone who has completed their treatment in the last three years.

Topics will include diet, stress and relaxation techniques.

The event will take place in Aberdeen on October 25 and 26.

Everyone will also get a free copy of the charity's new DVD:Eating well being active: Healthy living after breast cancer.

To register call 0845 077 1892 or e-mailsco@breastcancercare.org.uk.

Praying for relief on Mideast trip

Dear Action Time: Channel 38, the religious television station,was planning a tour of the Holy Land. I decided to tag along, with afriend. I'm 81, in pretty good health, but I figured it would besafe to take along a companion, just in case.

Well, I spoke too soon. Because of illness, I had to cancelboth reservations. But I was shocked when the station retained $500.

RESENTFUL, Oak Park

Dear Resentful: Never doubt an angel. The tour coordinator toldAction Time she had decided to make an exception in your case byrefunding the money - when she returned from the trip. She's nowback and will be mailing the $500.

Keep in mind that the trip rules stated that each reservationwould be charged a $250 penalty if canceled after a specifieddeadline. You were late.

Dear Action Time: During a recent church program, a woman toldme about your everyday, ordinary playing cards and how eachrepresented part of the Bible. Can you dig up all the words to thestory?

PRAYING

Dear Praying: Sure. Country singer Tex Ritter recorded "Deck ofCards" many years ago, but it's still popular.

Ritter's tale, with a musical background, concerns a youngsoldier who is chastized for playing with a deck of cards during achurch service. However, the young man explains that the cards arehis Bible and almanac.

For instance, the ace reminded him there was only one God; thetwo told him the Bible was divided into two parts, the Old and NewTestaments; the trey represented the Father, the Son and the HolySpirit, etc.

Also, the spots on the cards totaled 365, the number of days ina year; there are 52 cards, the number of weeks in a year; 13tricks, the number of weeks in a quarter; four suits, the number ofweeks in a month, etc.

Beverly Records & Costumes, 11612 S. Western, Chicago, hascopies of the 45 r.p.m. record.

Dear Action Time: What am I? Wait. Perhaps I'd better explain.Astrologists seem to be in conflict.

I've seen them state that Gemini people were born between May 22and June 21. Yet I've seen other astrologers give the dates for thebirth sign as May 27 to June 20.

I was born May 22, so what am I? SIMEON

Dear Simeon: Sun-Times astrology columnist Sydney Omarr'ssecretary said her boss stands behind his dates - May 21 through June20 - which are endorsed by the American Federation of Astrologers.Sounds official enough to us, Gemini man.

And just for asking, the secretary tossed in a few descriptivewords for a Gemini born on your birthday: "If you were born May 22,you are unusual in that you carved out your own fate, could have beenseparated from one or both parents at a relatively early age. Youare versatile, possess intellectual curiosity and the ability tolaugh at your own foibles."

If that describes you, great. After all, astrology is veryimportant to those who believe in it. Which, incidentally, we donot. Not everyone is jolly this season

Dear Action Time: The holiday season is here and I'm enjoying somany of the festivities. Old friends, parties, sounds and sights ofthe season and so much more. At the same time, I'm reminded thatothers are not so fortunate.

Millions of people are struggling. Many of the poor are withchildren; others are all alone.

I'd like to donate some time and help those less fortunate. Butwhat's the best way?

TAMMY, Norridge

Dear Tammy: You're right. It's not only the season to be jolly;it is also the season to share.

And true to tradition, Action Time is offering advice aboutgroups that can use assistance: United Charities, 461-0800; CatholicCharities, 236-5172, or Little Brothers, Friends of the Elderly,477-7702. Also, the Chicago Human Services Department (744-4045)always can use donations and assistance in administering foodpantries and shelters for the homeless.

How about that old coat? Isn't there a toy or a game in thebasement that has long been forgotten? Somebody could use it. Mosthospitals need volunteers, too, particularily in the children'swards.

Also, don't neglect the Neediest Families Fund, Box 2500,Chicago 60690.

Action/advice appears each Sunday. We invite comments.

Gunmen kill 8 police at a checkpoint in southern Afghanistan, 2 others killed in road bomb

Gunmen lobbed a grenade and sprayed a police checkpoint with gunfire in southern Afghanistan, killing eight officers, a police chief said Friday.

The attack in Kandahar's Panjwayi district late Thursday also left one officer wounded and two others missing, said provincial police chief Sumanwal Matiullah.

The area where the attack occurred is known as a base for Taliban militants.

Police in Afghanistan are frequent targets of Taliban attacks. The under-trained and under-resourced force lost more than 1,000 officers in Taliban attacks last year.

Overall, more than 8,000 people were killed in insurgency-related attacks in Afghanistan last year _ the most since the 2001 U.S.-led invasion. Violence has claimed more than 2,100 lives so far this year.

Elsewhere, a roadside blast next to a police vehicle in central Ghazni province killed two officers and wounded five others, said deputy provincial police chief Mohammad Zaman. He blamed Taliban militants for the attack.

Meanwhile, in eastern Paktika province, Afghan and foreign troops killed seven suspected militants during a clash near the Pakistan border, said Ghamai Mohammadyar, a spokesman for the provincial governor.

The militants had crossed from Pakistan and attacked Afghan border guards in Bermal district, he said. There were no casualties among Afghan and foreign troops.

Afghan and Western officials say Taliban and other militants regularly use Pakistan's lawless tribal areas as bases for launching attacks against Afghan and foreign troops in the country.

The number of militant attacks have been on the rise this summer, compared with the same period last year, NATO officials say.

___

Associated Press reporter Amir Shah in Kabul contributed to this report.

Bush to meet with Arab, Israeli leaders in Egypt in May: Officials

An Israeli lawmaker says U.S. President George W. Bush plans to hold a summit with Israeli and Arab leaders in Egypt next month.

Palestinian officials confirm that Washington is trying to set up a meeting between Bush and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, and the leaders of Egypt and Jordan.

Israeli lawmaker Yossi Beilin said Tuesday that the summit would be held in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheik. The meeting is to be a follow-up to last November's peace conference in Annapolis, Maryland, where Israel and the Palestinians relaunched peace talks after seven years.

Senior Palestinian officials say the meeting would be held on May 17 or May 18. Bush is expected in the region in May to celebrate Israel's 60th birthday.

In Washington, White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said "it's premature to suggest any type of summit on the president's Middle East trip."

Multiple factors behind Africa's World Cup stumble

This was to be Africa's World Cup, not just the first to take place on the continent but also a showcase for its teams to excel. Mostly, however, it's been another letdown, and the post-mortems have begun.

Explanations abound, and several have the ring of truth. Lack of depth on the national teams, weak youth development programs, governing bodies that lack world-class professionalism, and _ perhaps most egregiously _ overreliance on non-African coaches hired for brief World Cup tenures.

The bottom line: the World Cup's six African teams _ the most ever in the tournament _ produced flashes of brilliance and feistiness, but collectively failed to close the gap with Europe and South America.

Ghana survived in its group, barely, to advance to a second-round match with the United States. But South Africa, Nigeria, Cameroon and Algeria have been eliminated, and Ivory Coast will join them unless it can miraculously overcome a goal differential of nine on Friday.

Hopes for an African breakthrough at the World Cup have simmered ever since Cameroon's performance in 1990, when charismatic 38-year-old striker Roger Milla led the Indomitable Lions to the quarterfinals, beating Argentina along the way. But that remains Africa's high-water mark _ none of its teams has matched that achievement in the past two decades.

Nigeria was two minutes away from reaching the quarterfinals in '94, leading Italy 1-0 in the round of 16 match until Roberto Baggio scored to take the game into extra time and then scored the winner for the Italians.

This year, talented Nigeria lost to Greece, due in part to Sani Kaita's red card on a foolish foul, and then could only draw with South Korea when it needed a win. Cameroon lost to Denmark and Japan, and was the first team eliminated. South Africa played valiantly before its impassioned fans, with a draw and a win in its first two games, but a 3-0 loss to Uruguay sealed its fate as the first World Cup host team ousted before the second round.

The traditional explanation for Africa's World Cup failures is excessive individualism and lack of team-oriented tactical discipline. But Neil Tovey, a former South Africa national team player and now a coach in the country's top professional league, places more blame on African soccer administration.

"We all know how talented African players are _ they're playing in the top leagues in the world," Tovey told The Associated Press. "To get it right, you need to have a foundation, and I don't believe the associations involved in African football are as professional as their European counterparts."

Seemingly simple matters such as setting up World Cup training camps seemed to vex some of the African teams, Tovey said.

"And we always seem to have this history of finding new coaches a few months before the tournament," Tovey added. "We run too quickly to get foreign coaches ... You're not going to get them coming in a couple of months before and getting to understand the culture of a player."

To any observant World Cup follower, that's been one of the striking features of this supposedly African-themed tournament. Algeria has an Algerian coach, but the five sub-Saharan teams all have white coaches imported from abroad _ Swedes Sven-Goren Eriksson with Ivory Coast and Lars Lagerback with Nigeria; Brazilian Carlos Alberto Parreira with South Africa; Frenchman Paul Le Guen with Cameroon; and Serbian Milovan Rajevac with Ghana.

All but Rajevac have had those jobs less than a year _ Eriksson took over his post just three months ago.

Even FIFA president Sepp Blatter, a booster of African football, has spoken critically of the coaching merry-go-round.

"The talent of African players is at least as great as that of players from other countries," he told a news conference ahead of the World Cup. "It is as if they are dancing or playing at acrobatics.

"What is missing is tactics. But how can they have this if they change the coach just a few months before the start of the biggest competition in the world?"

Kenya's former national team coach, Jacob Mulee, contrasted the short-term approach of many African soccer associations with the approach of some perennial World Cup powers.

"You cannot keep on changing coaches _ it takes time for a coach to gel with a number of players," Mulee said. "When you look at Germany, when you look at Brazil, these are teams which appointed their coaches four years ago."

Alexis Adele, a football specialist at Fanion, a sports daily in the Ivory Coast, said the fast-paced rotation of coaches is a problem across the continent _ and particularly in his own country. Ivory Coast's national team has had five coaches, all European, since 2008.

"We hire a coach for three or four months and if there aren't results, we send them packing," he said. "We hire someone on Monday and we want to be winning on Tuesday. It's not logical. This kind of work takes time."

In some cases, Adele suggested, political interference is a problem.

"Those in power control the money, so they think they should be able to control the teams," he said. "It's ironic because they don't hold themselves to these same standards. They stay in power for decades without much to show for it."

Another widely cited problem is that African national teams lack the depth of their European and South American rivals, so an injury or red card to a top African player can be more damaging. The African teams do contain world-class stars who play in Europe's top leagues _ but the squads predominantly comprise players from domestic or second-tier European leagues.

South Africa, whose final squad included seven overseas-based players, was ranked as high as 16th in the world by in the 1990s but entered this World Cup ranked 83rd.

Its priorities now are to replace the departing Parreira with a homegrown South African coach and beef up its youth development program, which was somewhat neglected amid the feverish efforts to prepare logistics for the World Cup.

Kirsten Nematandani, president of the South African Football Association, has acknowledged that SAFA "took our eyes off the grass-roots" and now hopes to make amends, with help from some FIFA-provided funds, by investing in new fields and development programs.

"We're not producing the results we should be," said Tovey, in comments that could apply to many African nations. "We need to put structures in place to run the correct development programs, for coaches as well as players."

___

Associated Press writers Marco Chown Oved in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, and Tom Maliti in Nairobi, Kenya, contributed to this report.

The Relation Between Maternal Schizophrenia and Low Birth Weight Is Modified by Paternal Age

Objective: Paternal characteristics have never been considered in the relation between maternal schizophrenia and adverse pregnancy outcomes. The aim of our study was to consider different paternal ages while investigating the relation between maternal schizophrenia and low birth weight (LBW), using a nationwide population-based dataset.

Method: Our study used data from the 2001 to 2003 Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Dataset and birth certificate registry. A total of 543 394 singleton live births were included. We performed multivariate logistic regression analyses to explore the relation between maternal schizophrenia and the risk of LBW, taking different paternal age groups into account (aged 29 years or younger, 30 to 39 years, and 40 years and older), and after adjusting for other characteristics of infant, mother, and father as well as the difference between the parent's ages.

Results: Mothers with schizophrenia had a higher percentage of LBW infants than mothers who did not (11.8%, compared with 6.8%). For infants whose mothers had schizophrenia, the adjusted odds ratios of LBW were 1.47 (95% CI 1.02 to 2.27, P < 0.05) and 2.80 (95% CI 1.42 to 5.51, P < 0.01) times greater than for infants whose mothers did not have schizophrenia, for paternal age groups of 30 to 39 years and 40 years or older, respectively. However, maternal schizophrenia was not a significant predictor of LBW for infants whose fathers were aged 29 years and younger.

Conclusions: The relation between LBW and maternal schizophrenia is modified by paternal age. More attention should be paid to the interaction of paternal characteristics and maternal psychiatric disorders in producing adverse pregnancy outcomes.

Can J Psychiatry. 2010;55(6):377-385.

Clinical Implications

* Maternal schizophrenia was not a significant predictor for LBW for children born to fathers aged 29 years and younger.

* We found that mothers with schizophrenia were at an increased risk of having LBW infants only if fathers were aged 30 years or older.

* For infants whose mothers did not have schizophrenia, the adjusted odds ratios of LBW was 1.47 (95% CI 1.02 to 2.27, P < 0.05) and 2.80 (95% CI 1.42 to 5.51 , P < 0.01) times greater than infants whose mothers did not have schizophrenia for paternal age groups of 30 to 39 years and 40 years or older, respectively.

Limitations

* Information such as parents' smoking history, substance abuse, alcohol consumption, nutrition, and body mass index are not available through ourdatasets.

* The dataset does not allow us to account for differences in schizophrenia severity among patients.

Key Words: schizophrenia, parental schizophrenia, paternal schizophrenia

Abbreviations used in this article

LBW low birth weight

NHI National Health Insurance

NHIRD NHI Research Dataset

Although women with schizophrenia have long been reported to have an increased risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes,1 no consensus has been reached. McNeil2 observed no difference in adverse birth outcomes for mothers with schizophrenia, compared with unaffected mothers. However, in a meta-analysis of 14 studies conducted before 1990, Sacker et al3 concluded the incidence of excessive LBW risk among neonates to mothers with schizophrenia, compared with mothers in the general population. Recently, a large register-based Danish study4 reported an increased risk of LBW among women with schizophrenia. Nilsson et al5 also confirmed this finding using different inclusion criteria (that is, diagnosis before childbirth and hospitalization during pregnancy) for mothers with schizophrenia and adjusting for possible risk factors (for example, socioeconomic status or smoking during pregnancy). The sources of discrepancy in these studies2'3'6 are likely to include different definitions and severities of schizophrenia and varieties in study designs and sample sizes. In fact, causes contributing to LBW are multifactorial, incorporating factors such as racial or ethnic origin, cigarette smoking, gestational nutrition, and paternal weight and height.7 Previous studies might also be limited by a lack of sufficient consideration of paternal traits.

Indeed, the important role of paternal characteristics (for example, paternal age, height, and birth weight) in pregnancy outcomes has recently been documented.8"10 Among these characteristics, paternal age was observed as a significant predictor of LBW in offspring, irrespective of other maternal or pregnancy-specific factors.8 Biological plausibility was proposed, as the placenta is mainly dependent on the expression of genes of paternal origins." Occurring more often among men of young and advanced age, these potentially detrimental mutations in genes on placentation may contribute to adverse pregnancy outcomes.12 Thus it is possible that paternal age might be involved in the association between maternal schizophrenia and birth outcomes. However, in studies on the relation between maternal schizophrenia and LBW, paternal characteristics have seldom been taken into consideration.

Based on a nationwide, population-based dataset, our study thus aimed to investigate the relation between maternal schizophrenia and LBW, as affected by the father's age. Multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed, with the simultaneous consideration on other characteristics of the infant (for example, sex and parity), the mother (for example, age, education level, and marital status), the father (for example, education), and family monthly income.

Methods

Database

Our study used 2 large-scale national databases. First, we used data from the 2001 to 2003 NHIRD, published by the National Health Research Institute in Taiwan. Taiwan initiated the NHI in 1995. The NHIRD includes all inpatient and ambulatory care claims for over 21 million enrollees, representing around 96% of the island's population. The NHIRD is plausibly one of the most comprehensive nationwide population-based datasets in the world.

The second database used in our study is the birth certificate registry published by Taiwan's Ministry of the Interior. Birth certificates include data on birthdates (for both infants and their parents), gestational week at birth, infant birth weight, sex, parity, place of birth, parental educational level, and maternal marital status.

With assistance from the Department of Health in Taiwan, the parents' and infants' unique personal identification numbers were used to link the NHIRD and birth certificate data. All personal identifiers were encrypted by the Bureau of the NHI before release to the researchers. Confidentiality assurances were addressed by abiding by the data regulations of the Bureau of the NHI. As our study uses secondary data released for public access for research purposes, with all identities removed, our study was exempt from full review by the Internal Review Board.

Study Sample

The study sample was initially comprised of all singleton live births in Taiwan between January 1 , 200 1 , and December 3 1 , 2003 (n = 593 205). We excluded infants whose mothers had any serious mental disorder, other than schizophrenia, identified in the registry of catastrophic illness (n = 835). In Taiwan, patients with serious mental disorders (senile and presenile organic psychotic conditions, transient organic psychotic conditions, other organic psychotic conditions, schizophrenia, affective psychoses, and paranoid states) are issued a catastrophic illness card once their diagnoses have been verified. As copayments for out- and inpatient psychiatric care are waived for catastrophic illness cardholders, most patients with serious mental disorders are likely to have applied for the catastrophic illness card and to be recorded in the registry of catastrophic illness.

We also excluded infants whose fathers had any serious mental disorder identified in the registry of catastrophic illness (� = 1050). In addition, for mothers who had more than one delivery during the study period, we only selected their first delivery to avoid the possible nonindependent observations contributed by the same mother (n = 47 926). Ultimately, 543 394 singleton live births fulfilled our criteria and were included in our study.

Variables of Interest

The key independent variable was dichotomous - whether or not an infant's mother had schizophrenia - while the dependent variable of interest was LBW, defined as a birth weight of less than 2500 g.

Other possible factors contributing to LBW in infants were adjusted for in the regression model. These factors include characteristics of the infant (sex and parity), the mother (age, gestational age, educational level, and marital status), the father (educational level), and family monthly income (including both the mother's and the father's monthly income). Parental ages were defined as each parent's age, in years, at the time of the infant's birth. Parity was grouped into the following categories: 1, 2, 3, or more. Maternal and paternal education levels were categorized into 4 levels: elementary school or lower, junior high school, senior high school, and college or above. Gestational age was selected to capture the effect of preterm birth (less than 37 weeks). Family monthly income was categorized into 4 groups: less thanNT$15 000, NTS 15 000 to NT$30 000, NT$30 001 to NTS50 000, and NT$50 001 or more.

Statistical Analysis

The SAS System statistical package version 8.2 (SAS Institute Inc, Cary, NC) was used to perform the analyses in our study. Pearson chi-square tests were used to examine differences between mothers with and without schizophrenia as they related to characteristics of the infant, mother, and father. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was also performed to explore the relation between maternal schizophrenia and the risk of LBW according to different paternal age groups (29 years and younger, 30 to 39 years, and 40 years and older), after adjusting for the other characteristics of the infant, mother, and father and differences between the parents' ages (that is, the difference between the people within the parental couple). Although maternal and paternal educational level are typically highly correlated with each other in other studies, the collinearity (coefficient = 0.466) between these 2 variables was tolerable in our study. Therefore, we kept both variables in the regression models. In addition, as prior studies have reported, parental age difference is associated with adverse pregnancy outcomes.13 We also added this variable into the regression model. A 2-sided P value of less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant for our study.

Results

Among the total sample of 543 394 singleton live births, 475 (0.087%) infants had mothers diagnosed with schizophrenia. Table 1 describes the distributions of sociodemographic characteristics of infant and parents relating to mothers with and without schizophrenia. It shows that mothers with schizophrenia had a higher percentage of LBW infants than mothers who did not (11.8%, compared with 6.8%). Pearson chi-square tests also show that there were significant differences in infant parity (P = 0.009), paternal age (P < 0.001), paternal educational level (P < 0.001), maternal age (P < 0.00 1 ), maternal educational level (P < 0.00 1 ), gestational age (P = 0.003), marital status (P < 0.001), and family monthly income (P < 0.00 1 ) between mothers with and without schizophrenia. Table 2 describes the distribution characteristics of infant, mother, and father by paternal age group. The relation between LBW and maternal schizophrenia was not significant for the paternal age group aged 29 years and younger. However, this relation became significant for the 30 to 39 years and 40 years and older paternal age groups. Pearson chi-square tests show that there were consistently significant differences in maternal highest educational level, paternal highest educational level, and family income across 3 paternal age groups, when comparing mothers with and without schizophrenia. The adjusted odds ratios of LBW for mothers with and without schizophrenia relating to paternal age are presented in Table 3. Interestingly, the relation between LWB and maternal schizophrenia was increasingly significant with advancing paternal age, after adjusting for the characteristics of infants and parents and the difference between parental ages. For infants whose mothers had schizophrenia, the adjusted odds ratios of LBW was 1.47 (95% CI 1.02 to 2.27, P < 0.05) and 2.80 (95% CI 1.42 to 5.51,P<0.01) times greater than infants whose mothers did not have schizophrenia for paternal age groups of 30 to 39 years and 40 years and older, respectively. Maternal schizophrenia was not a significant predictor for LBW for children born to fathers aged 29 years and younger. Finally, to further examine the effects of parental age among mothers with and without schizophrenia, we found that there was no relation between maternal age (aged 29 years and younger, 30 to 34 years, and 35 years and older) and LBW among mothers with schizophrenia. A null relation between paternal age (aged 29 years and younger, 30 to 39 years, and 40 years and older) and LBW was also observed among mothers without schizophrenia (data not shown in table).

Discussion

To our knowledge, this is the first attempt to compare the risk of LBW among women with and without schizophrenia that takes paternal characteristics into consideration. Briefly, we found that mothers with schizophrenia would be at an increased risk of having LBW infants only if fathers were aged 30 years or older. Thus it is reasonable to assume the relation between LBW and maternal schizophrenia is modified by paternal age. Consequently, the neglect of paternal characteristics in prior studies might be a cause of inconsistent findings.

Certain risk factors for LBW might be more common among mothers with schizophrenia, such as smoking, substance abuse, alcohol consumption, illicit drugs and caffeine, socioeconomic factors, parity and maternal age, nutritional factors, maternal physical illness, and antenatal care.6 As schizophrenia is regarded as involving a high degree of genetic influence and has a strong tendency to be transmitted genetically to offspring,1415 a genetic contribution is also plausibly a component of the relation between maternal schizophrenia and LBW.

In addition, advanced maternal and paternal ages together with other maternal risk behaviours and nonoptimal social circumstances might increase the risks of LBW.7 Indeed, existent literature consistently indicated that advanced maternal age was associated with an excess risk of adverse birth outcomes of LBW,1617 fetal death,18 and preterm delivery. Lower rates of ovulatory cycles among mothers with advanced age might be considered an adaptation that increases risk of an adverse pregnancy outcome.20 In contrast to the persistent attention on maternal factors, more evidence has accumulated regarding direct paternal influence on birth outcomes. 8-10 In recent years, numerous studies have found that advanced paternal age was related to a higher risk of sperm abnormalities and gene mutation,21-22 possibly resulting in adverse pregnancy outcomes such as preeclampsia,23 stillbirth,24 congenital malformations, and schizophrenia in offspring.25-27 One recent study by Reichman and Teitler28 suggested advanced paternal age as an independent risk factor of LWB. It is possible that owing to the sustained nature of spermatogenesis, it is affected by an age-related vulnerability to compromised DNA-protective mechanisms, with results that impede fetal growth.28,29 Potentially detrimental mutations in genes on placentation, more frequently observed among advancing age in men, may also be involved. I2 Taking the above findings into consideration, it is reasonable to assume that the relation between maternal schizophrenia and LBW is modified by paternal age. Indeed, we found that the risk of LBW was dependent on paternal age; specifically, the grathent of LBW risk increased with paternal age, after adjusting for characteristics of the infant, mother, and father.

Kinzler et al13 reported that adverse pregnancy outcomes were associated with parental age gaps. In our study, we found that parental age differences increased for the advanced paternal age group (2.4, 3.8, and 7.8 years for paternal age of 29 years and younger, 30 to 39 years, and 40 years and older groups, respectively). As we have adjusted for age difference in the regression model, the relation between maternal schizophrenia and LBW in the different paternal age groups found in our study were independent of the effects of a parental age gap.

Our study has 3 strengths. First, we used nationwide, 3-year, population-based datasets linking the NHIRD with birth certificates. Therefore, its robust findings can be generalized to the population as a whole. Second, the large size of our study allowed our analyses to be stratified by paternal age groups while maintaining a sample size that provided ample statistical power to detect differences between mothers with and without schizophrenia, after adjusting for confounding variables. Third, in contrast to other national data, in which a substantial portion of infants are lacking registered data about their fathers,30 only 0.3% of infants in our sample were missing fatherhood data, because registration of all birth information is mandatory and there is a very low rate (about 3% in 2001) of single motherhood in Taiwan.31

There are a couple of limitations to our study. First of all, information such as parents' smoking history, substance abuse, alcohol consumption, nutrition, and body mass index are not available through our datasets. These factors may increase the risk of LBW. Second, we identify mothers diagnosed with schizophrenia by the International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modifications, codes from the registry of catastrophic illness released by the Bureau of the NHI, and this dataset does not allow us to account for differences in schizophrenia severity among patients. In addition, some people might suffer from schizophrenia without possessing a catastrophic illness card. Probably owing to the stigma associated with psychiatric diseases or an unawareness of their illness, they were neither diagnosed nor given treatment for this mental illness.

As far as we know, this is the first study to document that the relation between maternal schizophrenia and LBW is modified by paternal age. Although the mechanism underlying the relation and the role of paternal age as a modifier remain unclear, they should be topics for future study. At a minimum, efforts should be made to protect pregnant women with schizophrenia whose partners are aged 30 years or older from the increased risk of LBW through more active monitoring and early intervention. Our findings also suggest that more attention needs to be paid to the interactive effect of paternal characteristics and maternal psychiatric disorders on adverse pregnancy outcomes.

Acknowledgements

This study is based, in part, on data from the National Health Insurance Research Dataset provided by the Bureau of NHI, Department of Health, Taiwan, and managed by the National Health Research Institutes. The interpretations and conclusions contained herein do not represent those of the Bureau of NHI, Department of Health, or the National Health Research Institutes.

No funding or support was received for this study.

[Sidebar]

R�sum� : La relation entre la schizophr�nie maternelle et l'insuffisance de poids � la naissance est modifi�e par l'�ge paternel

Objectif : Les caract�ristiques paternelles n'ont jamais �t� prises en compte dans la relation entre la schizophr�nie maternelle et les issues de grossesse d�favorables. Notre �tude visait � consid�rer diff�rents �ges paternels tout en explorant la relation entre la schizophr�nie maternelle et l'insuffisance de poids � la naissance (IPN), � l'aide d'un ensemble de donn�es bas�es dans la population nationale de Taiwan.

M�thode : Notre �tude a utilis� des donn�es de 2001 � 2003 du Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Dataset ainsi que du registre des certificats de naissance. Au total, 543 394 naissances vivantes simples ont �t� incluses. Nous avons effectu� des analyses de r�gression logistique multivari�e pour explorer la relation entre la schizophr�nie maternelle et le risque d'IPN, en prenant en compte diff�rents groupes d'�ge paternel (29 ans ou moins, 30 � 39 ans, et 40 ans et plus), et apr�s ajustement pour d'autres caract�ristiques du b�b�, de la m�re, et du p�re ainsi que pour la diff�rence d'�ge entre les parents.

R�sultats : Les m�res souffrant de schizophr�nie avaient un pourcentage plus �lev� de b�b�s ayant une IPN que les m�res qui n'en souffraient pas (1 1 ,8 %, compar� � 6,8 %). Pour les b�b�s dont les m�res souffraient de schizophr�nie, les rapports de cotes ajust�s d'IPN �taient 1 ,47 (IC � 95 % 1 ,02 � 2,27; P < 0,05) et 2,80 (IC � 95 % 1 ,42 � 5,51 ; P < 0,01) fois plus grands que pour les b�b�s dont les m�res ne souffraient pas de schizophr�nie, pour les groupes d'�ge paternel de 30 � 39 ans et de 40 ans et plus, respectivement. Cependant, la schizophr�nie maternelle n'�tait pas un pr�dicteur significatif d'IPN pour les b�b�s dont les p�res �taient �g�s de 29 ans et moins.

Conclusions : La relation entre l'IPN et la schizophr�nie maternelle est modifi�e par l'�ge paternel. Il faut se pencher davantage sur l'interaction des caract�ristiques paternelles et des troubles psychiatriques maternels face au risque de grossesses d�favorables.

[Reference]

References

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3. Sacker A, Done DJ, Crow TJ. Obstetric complications in children born to parents with schizophrenia: a meta-analysis of case-control studies. Psychol Med. 1996;26(2):279-287.

4. Bennedsen BE, Mortensen PB, Olesen AV, et al. Preterm birth and intra-uterine growth retardation among children of women with schizophrenia. Br J Psychiatry. 1999;175:239-245.

5. Nilsson E, Lichtenstein P, Cnattingius S, et al. Women with schizophrenia: pregnancy outcome and infant death among their offspring. Schizophr Res. 2002;58(2-3):221-229.

6. Bennedsen BE. Adverse pregnancy outcome in schizophrenic women: occurrence and risk factors. Schizophr Res. 1998;33(1-2):1-26.

7. Kramer MS. Determinants of low birth weight: methodological assessment and meta-analysis. Bull World Health Organ. 1987;65(5):663-737.

8. Chen XK, Wen SW, Krewski D, et al. Paternal age and adverse birth outcomes: teenager or 40+, who is at risk? Hum Reprod. 2008;23(6):1290-1296.

9. Magnus P, Gjessing HK, Skrondal A, et al. Paternal contribution to birth weight. J Epidemiol Community Health. 2001;55(12):873-877.

10. Nahum GG, Stanislaw H. Relationship of paternal factors to birth weight. J Reprod Med. 2003;48(12):963-968.

11. Miozzo M, Simoni G. The role of imprinted genes in fetal growth. Biol Neonate. 2002;81(4):217-228.

12. Slama R, Bouyer J, Windham G, et al. Influence of paternal age on the risk of spontaneous abortion. Am J Epidemiol. 2005;161(9):816-823.

13. Kinzler WL, Ananth CV, Smulian JC, et al. Parental age difference and adverse perinatal outcomes in the United States. Paediatr Perinat Epidemiol. 2002;16(4):320-327.

14. Avila M, Thaker G, Adami H. Genetic epidemiology and schizophrenia: a study of reproductive fitness. Schizophr Res. 2001;47(2-3):233-241.

15. Cannon TD, Kaprio J, Lonnqvist J, et al. The genetic epidemiology of schizophrenia in a Finnish twin cohort. A population-based modeling study. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 1998;55(1):67-74.

16. Nahum GG. Stanislaw H. Validation of a birth weight prediction equation based on maternal characteristics. J Reprod Med. 2002;47(9):752-760.

17. Khoshnood B, Wall S, Lee KS. Risk of low birth weight associated with advanced maternal age among four ethnic groups in the United States. Matern Child Health J. 2005;9(1):3-9.

18. Fretts RC, Usher RH. Causes of fetal death in women of advanced maternal age. Obstet Gynecol. 1997;89(1):40-45.

19. Astolfi P, Zonta LA. Risks of preterm delivery and association with maternal age, birth order, and fetal gender. Hum Reprod. 1999; 14(11):2891-2894.

20. Kirchengast S, Hartmann B. Advanced maternal age is not only associated with newborn somatometrics but also with the mode of delivery. Ann Hum Biol. 2003;30(1):1-12.

21. Glaser RL, Broman KW, Schulman RL, et al. The paternal-age effect in Apert syndrome is due, in part, to the increased frequency of mutations in sperm. Am J Hum Genet. 2003;73(4):939-947.

22. Goriely A, McVean GA, Rojmyr M, et al. Evidence for selective advantage of pathogenic FGFR2 mutations in the male germ line. Science. 2003;301(5633):64 3-646.

23. Harlap S, Paltiel O, Deutsch L, et al. Paternal age and preeclampsia. Epidemiology. 2002;13(6):660-667.

24. Astolfi P, De Pasquale A, Zonta LA. Late paternity and stillbirth risk. Hum Reprod. 2004:19(11):2497-2501.

25. Archer NP, Langlois PH, Suarez L, et al. Association of paternal age with prevalence of selected birth defects. Birth Defects Res. 2007;79(1):27-34.

26. Sipos A, Rasmussen F, Harrison G, et al. Paternal age and schizophrenia: a population based cohort study. BMJ. 2004;329(7474):1070.

27. Yang Q, Wen SW, Leader A, et al. Paternal age and birth defects: how strong is the association? Hum Reprod. 2007;22(3):696-701.

28. Reichman NE, Teitler JO. Paternal age as a risk factor for low birthweight. Am J Public Health. 2006;96(5):862-866.

29. Walter CA, Walter RB, McCarrey JR. Gennline genomes - a biological fountain of youth? Sci Aging Knowledge Environ. 2003;2003(8):PE4.

30. Webb RT, Pickles AR. King-Hele SA, et al. Parental mental illness and fatal birth defects in a national birth cohort. Psychol Med. 2008;38(10):1495-1503.

31. Lin HC, Tang CH, Lee HC. Association between paternal schizophrenia and low birthweight: a nationwide population-based study. Schizophr Bull. 2009;35(3):624-630. Epub 2008 Jul 15.

[Author Affiliation]

Herng-Ching Lin, PhD1; Hsin-Chien Lee, MD, MPH2; Chao-Hsiun Tang, PhD1; Yi-Hua Chen, PhD3

[Author Affiliation]

Manuscript received April 2009, revised, and accepted October 2009.

1 Professor, School of Health Care Administration, Taipei Medical

University, Taipei. Taiwan.

2 Director, Department of Psychiatry, Taipei Medical University-Shuang

Ho Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan; Professor, Department of Psychiatry,

Taipei Medical University, School of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan.

3 Associate Professor, Taipei Medical University, School of Public

Health, Taipei, Taiwan.

Address for correspondence: Dr H-C Lin, School of Health Care

Administration, Taipei Medical University, 250 Wu-Hsing St, Taipei 110,

Taiwan; henry11111@tmu.edu.fw

Media disinformation

Media disinformation

After Al Gore selected Sen. Joseph Lieberman as his running mate, the major media could not resist the opportunity to seek the comments of Minister Louis Farrakhan. Since Lieberman is an orthodox Jew, they believed that the outspoken Farrakhan, a Muslim, would have some choice anti-semitic remarks.

At a press conference in Los Angeles on Aug. 11 to promote the Million Family March, the media saw their opportunity. However, Farrakhan's response was disappointing. There were no fireworks for the media. So the media invented one.

The news reports were inconsistent with the transcript of the press conference. Far from attacking Lieberman for his Judaism, Farrakhan came close to endorsing him. Understandably, as a Muslim, Farrakhan expressed concern about Lieberman's Middle East policy.

The purpose of the news reports was to defame Farrakhan, but he clearly has the support of his people. Expect the attacks on efforts toward black unity to continue.

24 Palestinians Killed in Clashes

Escalating Israeli-Palestinian fighting left 24 Palestinians dead Friday and early Saturday, including a 13-month-old baby and two teenagers, and clouded peace efforts as Israel threatened a new invasion of Gaza.

Nine civilians were among the dead, and dozens were wounded, authorities said.

In all, 57 people have died since clashes between Israel and extremists affiliated with Gaza's ruling Hamas movement spiked Wednesday. At least 24 were civilians. An Israeli man was also killed by Palestinian rocket fire that grew more ominous when it struck closer to Israel's heartland.

Hamas said the baby girl, Malak Karfaneh, died just before midnight Friday in an Israeli strike on Beit Hanoun, a northern town where militants often launch rockets at Israel. But local residents said one of those rockets fell short and landed in the area of the child's house.

The Israeli military, which sent troops, tanks and aircraft to target Gaza rocket squads, said it only attacks rocket-launching operations, but said militants sometimes operate within civilian areas. On Saturday, it said troops identified 15 hits in its operations against rocket squads and militants laying explosive devices against Israeli targets.

Fierce fighting erupted Saturday near the northern town of Jebaliya, pitting Israeli troops backed by tanks and attack aircraft against Palestinian militants launching crude rockets and mortars.

Among those killed were at least nine militants, but also at least eight civilians, including a 17-year-old girl and her 16-year-old brother, a 45-year-old man and his 20-year-old son and two sisters thought to be in their early 20s.

The sisters and another civilian were killed by tank shells that struck two houses in separate attacks, Palestinian officials said. Rescue teams evacuated a 7-month-old boy from one of the houses, unharmed.

The Israeli military said it would look into reports of tank shells hitting houses.

Tareq Dardouna, a resident of the Jebaliya area, told The Associated Press that a relative was killed outside his home in the crossfire that began raging at 3 a.m.

"His body is still on the ground," Dardouna said in a phone interview from his home, where he was tending to four wounded people. "Ambulances tried to come, but they came under fire. ... We are in a real war."

The Israeli military said five soldiers were wounded in the clashes. Nearly two dozen rockets landed Saturday in southern Israel, including three that struck in and around the city of Ashkelon, 11 miles north of Gaza, the military said. Two children and a woman were slightly wounded in the Ashkelon attacks, the military said.

Hamas fighters were unbowed by the spiraling violence.

"The Zionist forces failed in Gaza before," said Abu Obeida, a spokesman for Hamas' military wing. "We will respond to any aggression ... with every available means."

Israel evacuated its troops and settlers from Gaza in late 2005, but militants proceeded to fire rockets from the abandoned territory. Militants raised the stakes significantly by firing Iranian-made rockets into Ashkelon, a coastal city of 120,000 people.

While Ashkelon had been targeted sporadically before, it never suffered direct hits. The assault increased the pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to protect a widening circle of people at risk.

Next week, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice plans to visit the region to try to prod Israel and moderate Palestinians forward in their bid to reach a peace accord by the end of the year. The two sides declared that goal at a U.S.-sponsored conference in November.

Senior European diplomat Javier Solana will also visit the region beginning Sunday to encourage Israeli and Palestinian leaders to keep the peace process on track, his office said in a statement.

But Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' efforts are compromised by the fact that he only rules the West Bank, while Gaza is controlled by the violently anti-Israel Hamas. And Israel's fragile governing coalition would be hard pressed to make concessions to the Palestinians while Gaza militants pummel southern Israel with rockets.

Ahead of the Bell: Monthly Trade

The U.S. trade deficit is expected to widen slightly in April as a rebound in exports of aircraft will be offset by higher oil imports. Economists are concerned that all the turmoil in Europe will cut into U.S. exports in coming months, weakening economic growth in the United States.

Economists surveyed by Thomson Reuters expect that the trade deficit widened slightly to $41 billion in April, up 1.5 percent from March. The Commerce Department will release the report at 8:30 a.m. EDT Thursday.

The deficit in March rose 2.5 percent to $40.4 billion, the highest level in 15 months, as rising oil prices pushed crude oil imports to the highest level since the fall of 2008. The big jump in oil imports had offset another strong gain in U.S. exports in March.

Before the trade report came out, Boeing Co. had announced that its orders for airplanes were rebounding. It announced that it had booked orders for 35 new 777 planes in April, a turnaround from last year when Boeing was cutting production.

With demand now rising, Boeing has said it plans to speed up production of the 777, as well as its large 747, next year.

However, economists are worried that America's rebound in exports could falter in coming months under the weight of Europe's debt problems.

The turmoil will mean weaker growth in Europe with many economists worried that Europe could fall into a double-dip recession. That will dampen demand for U.S. exports in a part of the world that accounts for about 15 percent of U.S. exports.

American sales are also threatened by the fact that the euro, the common currency of 16 European nations, has fallen in value against the dollar as investors, worried about possible defaults in countries such as Greece, have fled to the safety of dollar-denominated investments.

Earlier this week, the dollar reached a four-year year high against the euro. A stronger dollar and a weaker euro hurts America's trade balance with Europe by making U.S. products more expensive in European markets and European products cheaper for U.S. consumers.

Even before the debt problems hit Europe, economists were forecasting that America's trade deficit would widen this year as a rebounding U.S. economy boosts demand for foreign goods from the lows hit last year when the country was struggling to emerge from the worst recession in decades.

The trade deficit through March was running at an annual rate 23.4 percent higher than the deficit for all of 2009, which totaled $378.6 billion. That was the smallest trade deficit since 2001, another year when the United States was in a recession.

While the U.S. deficit with China declined slightly last year, it is still by far the largest for any individual country, a point that has attracted attention in Congress at a time when the United States is coping with unemployment near a 26-year high with more than 8 million jobs lost in the last recession.

Some lawmakers are pushing legislation that would impose stiff trade sanctions on China unless it allows its currency, the yuan, to start rising in value against the dollar. However, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton made no headway on the currency issue during high-level talks in Beijing late last month.

Geithner is scheduled to testify on America's trade relationship with China before the Senate Finance Committee on Thursday.

Weingarten Realty expands, extends tender offer

Real estate investment trust Weingarten Realty Investors said Monday it has expanded an offer to repurchase outstanding notes to a total $325 million, and extended the time it's giving investors to decide on the maximum tender offer.

The new total is nearly $78 million higher than the the amount specified in the original June 1 offer to exchange convertible notes due in 2026, Houston-based Weingarten Realty said. Investors have an additional 10 business days to consider the offer, which now expires July 13.

JPMorgan Securities Inc. is serving as dealer and manager for the offering from Weingarten Realty, which specializes in shopping center and industrial developments. Its shares rose 4 cents to $14.39 in midday trading.

Report: Feud, falsehoods sparked US Afghan attack

A British television report to be broadcast on Monday says American forces who killed scores of people last August in Azizabad, western Afghanistan, attacked the village on the basis of false allegations inspired by a blood feud with a neighboring community.

An hour-long, in-depth documentary, previewed by The Associated Press and to be broadcast by Channel 4, includes scenes from a Herat provincial court trial in which a leader from the rival village was sentenced to death for murder for having given false information leading to the deaths of 91 innocent Azizabad civilians.

Despite that court ruling, the U.S. Central Command maintains its position that the Americans killed 22 Taliban fighters, along with only 33 civilians.

The British broadcaster will also report that U.S. Special Forces are not cooperating with local police seeking three men from Kalask, the rival village, in the torture death of an Azizabad man. The suspects are guards at the U.S. base in nearby Shindand.

The report's producer-director and narrator, Tom Roberts, says provincial officials believe U.S. forces have taken sides in the inter-village feud, which apparently stems from competition for Shindand base jobs.

The Azizabad attack badly strained U.S. relations with its Afghan ally, as has a more recent U.S. attack, in Farah province on May 4-5, when Afghan officials say 140 villagers were killed. U.S. officials say no more than 30 civilians died, along with 60 to 65 militants.

After the ground and air assault by U.S. and Afghan forces last Aug. 22 on Azizabad, the U.S. military said 30 militants were killed and no civilians. It later acknowledged five civilian deaths. Still later, a Central Command investigative report raised the civilian toll to 33.

Investigations by the Afghan government and the United Nations, meanwhile, found that some 90 civilians were killed. Afghan President Hamid Karzai's office said no Taliban were killed, and the attack was based on "total misinformation" that enemy were present in Azizabad.

At the trial in March, a panel of judges found Kalask village's Mohammed Nader guilty of murder, saying he knowingly gave U.S. forces false information about Azizabad. Residents had testified to seeing Nader with the raiders that night. His conviction and death sentence are on appeal.

Local police appearing in the Channel 4 report also describe an ambush of Azizabad men by Kalask residents last December, when an Azizabad man was killed, fellow villagers rushed to the rescue, and Shindand base guards also arrived on the scene.

One Azizabad man was then seized and taken away in a convoy of U.S. Special Forces and Afghan guards, the police say. Four hours later, they say, the Americans delivered the man's body to an Afghan army headquarters. An autopsy found he had been tortured, Channel 4 reports.

Since then, authorities have been unable to get U.S. cooperation in disarming and handing over three Afghan guards suspected in the man's death, the report says.

Asked to comment on these elements of the TV report, spokesman Maj. John H. Redfield said the Central Command "stands by" its earlier investigation. Though asked specifically about the wanted men, he did not address the issue.

Mark Dion

MARK DION

AMERICAN FINE ARTS / ALDRICH MUSEUM

Mark Dion, like Broodthaers or Beuys, is an artist with an idiosyncratic formal lexicon. But instead of mussels or felt, Dion's materials are taxidermied members of the "R-select species," varieties of trees living and dead, and the systems and accoutrements of natural science.

Two shows running concurrently, at American Fine Arts in New York and at the Aldrich Museum in Ridgefield, Connecticut, offered in-depth looks at Dion's work from the mid-'80s to the present. At the gallery, the collaborative aspect of Dion's work was stressed, while the show at the Aldrich was a retrospective. Both demonstrated how Dion's notions of history and archaeology (or history as archaeology) have evolved into wide-ranging investigations into natural history, the relationship between animals, humans, and environments, and the Western systems of classification that overlay it all.

Dion's interest in this Foucauldian archaeology was visible in the earliest work on view, a video installation at AFA titled Artful History: A Restoration Comedy Installation, 1986. Featuring the artist, who was working at the time as a conservator, this project attempted to show how paintings are refigured in the restorer's studio, then sold as untouched "historical" works. In the video, Dion declares the whole practice to be "like an archaeological discovery" in which treasures and histories can be found under the top layer of paint ("one artwork discovered under another"). Restoration served as a springboard for Dion to other investigations.

Natural history and the natural history museum followed quickly. Tropical Rainforest Preserves, 1989/2003, a terrarium-like structure stocked with tropical flora, referred to the loss and destruction that came with exploration and colonization. With Library for the Birds of Connecticut, 1003, at the Aldrich, an upright dead tree, its branches laden with books, brought up ideas of history, nature, and systems of classification. Trees are, of course, the favored metaphor for genealogies, both scientific and art historical (think of Ad Reinhardt's 1946 cartoon How to Look at Modern Art in America or Dion's own multiple-diagram drawings). Dion's beloved "R-select species"-living things that thrive in disturbed habitats (climbing vines, seagulls, rats, and various bottom-feeding fish)-also made several appearances. In Concrete Jungle (The Mammals), 1993, an installation at the Aldrich, we saw garbage cans and piles of nonperishables-newspapers, plastics-installed alongside taxidermied scavengers (also the subject of related photographs at AFA, done in collaboration with Bob Braine and Alexis Rockman).

Many other works revealed the extraordinarily collaborative nature of much of Dion's practice. Almost all his work has been done in concert with others, from students and community members participating in a Connecticut archaeological dig to his partner J. Morgan Puett to longtime pals Braine, Rockman, and Jackie McAllister (with whom he created Thirst for Knowledge, 2003, a mock art-school cloakroom complete with clothing and books "typical" of various art-student types).

This method is itself part of Dion's critique of Western culture's premium on individual achievement. The Delirium of Alfred Russell Wallace, 1994/2003, an installation at the Aldrich inspired by Wallace's 1850 malaria-induced revelations in the Malay Archipelago, which Darwin apparently partially cribbed for The Origin of Species, brings together several of Dion's favorite binaries-the individual and the collective; art and science; imperialism and naturalism; nature and culture-in order to show how they are, in fact, inextricably linked.

With its multiauthored eclecticism, Dion's work can seem opaque-just like, come to think of it, that of Broodthaers and Beuys. As with those artists, he's dedicated to highlighting and undermining Enlightenment values through the use of his own formal vocabulary. Just the act of looking at Dion's work-all those books, photos, drawings, specimens, and objets trouves-can be fatiguing. But what he re-creates in his art simulates the fatigue of Western history: the headlong rush to conquer, acquire, accumulate, consume, collect, classify, arrange, display, reconfigure, reconstruct, restore, preserve, and represent. Art for Dion is both academic-evoking a history lesson or a science project-and highly social; working in idiosyncratic ways, he reminds us how effective art can be when it collapses these varieties of experience.

In-laws targeted by Calif. man with samurai sword

HEMET, Calif. (AP) — Police say a man swinging a samurai sword is in jail after wounding two relatives while chasing his in-laws through a Southern California neighborhood.

Hemet police say they will ask prosecutors to file attempted murder charges against 20-year-old Zen Timothy Singleton.

Lt. Mark Richards says neighbors called authorities Tuesday afternoon to report a man with a katana samurai sword chasing people through the neighborhood.

Singleton's 50-year-old father-in-law was slashed on his thigh and his 24-year-old brother-in-law was cut on his forehead by glass shattered by the sword.

The Riverside Press-Enterprise says Singleton was found sitting on a curb and was arrested. He has been booked for investigation of attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon, burglary and vandalism. Bail is set at $1 million.

Double woe for Timsbury

Timsbury Timsbury began the new season in disappointing fashion,losing their first game back in the Bristol & North SomersetDivision at Frenchay and then going out of the National Villagecompetition at home to Stogumber.

After being put into bat Frenchay lost their first four batsmenfor 79 but a stand of 88 between Kylander and Gould rescued the homeside and they finished on 196. Timsbury skipper Mark Sage took 3-54 and both Jez Hare and Neil Hucker finished with 2-31.

When Timsbury batted they were immediately handicapped by theabsence of key batsman Andrew Carter, who was injured while fieldingand unable to bat. It was soon 41-4 and despite 38 from Jeff Dentand a typically pugnacious knock of 48 not out from Jerry Thompson,Timsbury were all out for 147.

On Sunday an opening partnership of 110 between Mark Sage andDave Pippett provided Timsbury with the perfect platform for a largetotal. Sage eventually went for 57 but Pippett made 71 and, withJez Hare contributing a confident 41, the home side ended on 210-4. Timsbury then bowled badly and, with Wheech and Gilbert both hitting69, the visitors reached their target for the loss of four wicketswith 11 balls remaining.

There was better news for Timsbury 2nds in their fixture againstFrenchay. Batting first, the visitors ended on 195-9 with RobLangley taking 4-18. Ellis Grubb with 71 then provided the anchorin the Timsbury reply and with Langley capping a fine match with abreezy knock of 55, Timsbury won by six wickets in the last over.

A young Timsbury B side were beaten by 49 runs at Bradley Stoke3rd XI in the Bristol and District A XI League Division 2. The homeside made 209 and Timsbury replied with 160, 15-year-old Tom Parkhitting 59.

4 Troops Abducted, Killed in Iraq Attack

BAGHDAD, Iraq - In perhaps the boldest and most sophisticated attack in four years of warfare, gunmen speaking English, wearing U.S. military uniforms and carrying American weapons abducted four U.S. soldiers last week at the provincial headquarters in the Shiite holy city of Karbala and then shot them to death.

The U.S. military confirmed a report earlier Friday by The Associated Press that three of the soldiers were dead and one was mortally wounded with a gunshot to the head when they were found in a neighboring province, about 25 miles from the compound where they were captured. A fifth soldier was killed in the initial attack on the compound.

The new account contradicted a U.S. military statement on Jan. 20, the day of the raid on an Iraqi governor's office, that five soldiers were killed "repelling" the attack.

The security breakdown and the dramatic kidnapping and murder of four soldiers leaked out just as President Bush faces stiffening congressional opposition over his plan to flood Baghdad and surrounding regions with 21,500 more American troops. Two of Congress's most vocal war critics, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Rep. John Murtha, were in the Iraqi capital as the news broke.

In a statement issued late Friday, the military said two of the soldiers were handcuffed together in the back seat of an SUV near the southern Iraqi town of Mahawil. A third dead soldier was on the ground nearby. The fourth soldier died on the way to the hospital.

The brazen assault, 50 miles south of Baghdad, was conducted by nine to 12 gunmen posing as an American security team, the military confirmed. The attackers traveled in black GMC Suburban vehicles (the type used by U.S. government convoys), had American weapons, wore new U.S. military combat fatigues, and spoke English, according to two senior U.S. military officials as well as Iraqi officials.

None of the American or Iraqi officials would allow use of their names because of the sensitive nature of the information.

The confirmation came after nearly a week of inquiries. The U.S. military in Baghdad initially did not respond to repeated requests for comment on reports that began emerging from Iraqi government and military officials on the abduction and a major breakdown in security at the Karbala site.

Within hours of the AP report that four of the five dead soldiers had been abducted and found dead or dying about 25 miles east of Karbala, the military issued a long account of what took place.

"The precision of the attack, the equipment used and the possible use of explosives to destroy the military vehicles in the compound suggests that the attack was well rehearsed prior to execution," said Lt. Col. Scott Bleichwehl, spokesman for Multi-National Division-Baghdad.

"The attackers went straight to where Americans were located in the provincial government facility, bypassing the Iraqi police in the compound," he said. "We are looking at all the evidence to determine who or what was responsible for the breakdown in security at the compound and the perpetration of the assault."

The Karbala raid, as explained by the Iraqi and American officials, began after nightfall on Jan. 20, while American military officers were meeting with their Iraqi counterparts on the main floor of the Provisional Joint Coordination Center in Karbala.

Iraqi officials said the approaching convoy of black GMC Suburbans was waved through an Iraqi checkpoint at the edge of the city. The Iraqi soldiers believed it to be American because of the type of vehicles, the distinctive camouflage American uniforms and the fact that they spoke English. One Iraqi official said the leader of the assault team was blond, but no other official confirmed that.

A top Iraqi security official for Karbala province told the AP that the Iraqi guards at the checkpoint radioed ahead to the governor's compound to alert their compatriots that the convoy was on its way.

Iraqi officials said the attackers' convoy divided upon arrival, with some vehicles parking at the back of the main building where the meeting was taking place, and others parking in front.

The attackers threw a grenade and opened fire with automatic rifles as they grabbed two soldiers inside the compound. Then the guerrilla assault team jumped on top of an armored U.S. Humvee and captured two more soldiers, the U.S. military officials said.

In its statement, the U.S. military said one soldier was killed and three were wounded by a "hand grenade thrown into the center's main office which contains the provincial police chief's office on an upper floor."

The attackers captured four soldiers and fled with them and the computer east toward Mahawil in Babil province, crossing the Euphrates River, the U.S. military officials said.

The Iraqi officials said the four were captured alive and shot just before the vehicles were abandoned.

Police, who became suspicious when the convoy of attackers and their American captives did not stop at a roadblock, chased the vehicles and found the bodies, the gear and the abandoned SUVs.

The military statement said: "Two soldiers were found handcuffed together in the back of one of the SUVs. Both had suffered gunshot wounds and were dead. A third soldier was found shot and dead on the ground. Nearby, the fourth soldier was still alive, despite a gunshot wound to the head."

The wounded soldier was rushed to the hospital by Iraqi police but died on the way, the military said.

The military also said Iraqi police had found five SUVs, U.S. Army-type combat uniforms, boots, radios and a non-U.S. made rifle at the scene.

Three days after the killings, the U.S. military in Baghdad announced the arrest of four suspects in the attack and said they were detained on a tip from a Karbala resident. No further information was released about the suspects.

Friday's military statement referred to the attackers as "insurgents," which usually suggests Sunnis. Although Karbala province is predominantly Shiite, Babil province is heavily populated by Sunnis in the north, near Baghdad. Babil's central and southern regions are largely Shiite.

A senior Iraqi military official said the sophistication of the attack led him to believe it was the work of Iranian intelligence agents in conjunction with Iraq's Shiite Mahdi Army militia, which Iran funds, arms and trains.

The Defense Department has released the names of troops killed Jan. 20 but clearly identified only one as being killed because of the sneak attack.

Capt. Brian S. Freeman, 31, of Temecula, Calif., "died of wounds suffered when his meeting area came under attack by mortar and small arms fire." Freeman was assigned to the 412th Civil Affairs Battalion, Whitehall, Ohio.

The only other troops killed that day in that region of Iraq were four Army soldiers said to have been "ambushed while conducting dismounted operations" in Karbala.

The four were identified as 1st Lt. Jacob N. Fritz, 25, of Verdon, Neb.; Spc. Johnathan B. Chism, 22, of Prairieville, La.; Pfc. Shawn P. Falter, 25, of Homer, N.Y., and Pvt. Johnathon M. Millican, 20, of Trafford, Ala. All were with the 2nd Battalion, 377th Parachute Field Artillery Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, of Fort Richardson, Alaska.

FIREFIGHTERS USE INK AS LINK TO FALLEN FRIENDS TRADITION, TRAGEDY INSPIRE N.H. MAN TO COMMEMORATE HEROES WITH TATTOOS

After Massachusetts legalized tattoos in early 2001, Nashuafirefighter Roger Hall began exploring what kind he might get. Maybea burning shamrock or a fire-breathing dragon.

But after 9/11, Hall decided to get "inked" in a more personalway: to remember the 343 fellow firefighters who died in the WorldTrade Center attacks.

Hall eventually chose a delicate black ink drawing of St. Florian,often called the patron saint of firefighters, from an image he sawon the back of a firefighter prayer card.

Tattoos have always been popular among firefighters. But after theattack on the twin towers on Sept. 11, 2001, many local firefighterssaid they felt moved to honor the memory of their fallen comrades.

Some have designs that feature images of the burning towers;others depict fallen family members or friends. One Bellinghamfirefighter has the numerals 9-11-01, along with the date of anothertragedy for firefighters, 12-3-99, when six firefighters were lost ina Worcester warehouse blaze.

Nashua firefighter Michael Johansson struggled with how tocommemorate those lost in the terrorist attacks on the World TradeCenter. After making 10 trips to New York City for funerals andassisting local rescue efforts, Johansson chose a real-life scene forhis first tattoo: a well-known photograph showing a despondentfirefighter, his head down.

"To me, that was one of the first images I saw after the WorldTrade Center tragedy," said Johansson. The picture was taken justfour hours after the collapse of the north tower.

Mike Clarke, a fifth-generation firefighter, went to ground zeroin the immediate aftermath. Clarke works on the FEMA Urban Searchand Rescue Task Force in Beverly, but grew up on Long Island and lost22 firefighter and civilian friends that day. His tattoo includesthe image of a New York City firefighter he knew and an inscriptionthat replicates the POW-style memorial bracelet given to the familyof another firefighter friend who was killed.

Clarke got his tattoo in early 2002, after spending months drivingbetween New York City and Beverly to attend 18 funerals.

"It was very important to be there for as many as I could," saidClarke. "It's part of a firefighter tradition."

Exactly when tattoos became popular among firefighters is unclear.Some say it started hundreds of years ago during Japan's Edo period,when closely-built homes were made of paper and wood.

"In Japan, there is a tradition of firefighters getting tattooed,"said C. W. Eldridge, a tattoo historian in Berkeley, Calif."Firefighters would fight in loincloths, almost naked, so full-bodytattooing was a big part of their identity.

"Firefighting is one of those high-risk occupations that makepeople superstitious," Eldridge said. "They'll get tattoos to quellthat fear. It's commemorative, like divers get sharks tattooed onthem to keep the sharks away; it's the very thing they fear themost."

Richard Marcoux said his tattoo proclaiming, "Fallen Brothers,Never Forgotten" has gotten a lot of attention. That's just whatMarcoux, now retired after 28 years with the Bellingham FireDepartment, wanted.

"I sat and thought about it for a year after 9/11 before I decidedwhat I wanted," said Marcoux. "Firefighting is a very tightbrotherhood. It really hit me and this was the best way I felt itcould be commemorated." His is the tattoo that features both dates, 9-11-01, and 12-3-99.

Marcoux's tattooed forearm "brought out the intense feeling ofsorrow firefighters go through when they lose a brother," he said. "Iwanted it where everyone can see it and not forget. And as long asI'm walking around, they won't forget."

When Hall, the Nashua firefighter, was deciding what kind oftattoo to get, he asked his friends in firefighting to send himpictures of theirs. Word spread, and he received so many he started awebsite devoted strictly to firefighters and their tattoos.

Hall's website, strikethebox

.com, features more than 800 images, and each week, firefightersfrom across the United States send in dozens more new photos. Thesite now boasts 85,000 visitors a month, Hall said.

"I had no idea it would grow to what it is," he said. "It's greatto know the other firefighters enjoy it as well."

FIREFIGHTERS USE INK AS LINK TO FALLEN FRIENDS TRADITION, TRAGEDY INSPIRE N.H. MAN TO COMMEMORATE HEROES WITH TATTOOS

After Massachusetts legalized tattoos in early 2001, Nashuafirefighter Roger Hall began exploring what kind he might get. Maybea burning shamrock or a fire-breathing dragon.

But after 9/11, Hall decided to get "inked" in a more personalway: to remember the 343 fellow firefighters who died in the WorldTrade Center attacks.

Hall eventually chose a delicate black ink drawing of St. Florian,often called the patron saint of firefighters, from an image he sawon the back of a firefighter prayer card.

Tattoos have always been popular among firefighters. But after theattack on the twin towers on Sept. 11, 2001, many local firefighterssaid they felt moved to honor the memory of their fallen comrades.

Some have designs that feature images of the burning towers;others depict fallen family members or friends. One Bellinghamfirefighter has the numerals 9-11-01, along with the date of anothertragedy for firefighters, 12-3-99, when six firefighters were lost ina Worcester warehouse blaze.

Nashua firefighter Michael Johansson struggled with how tocommemorate those lost in the terrorist attacks on the World TradeCenter. After making 10 trips to New York City for funerals andassisting local rescue efforts, Johansson chose a real-life scene forhis first tattoo: a well-known photograph showing a despondentfirefighter, his head down.

"To me, that was one of the first images I saw after the WorldTrade Center tragedy," said Johansson. The picture was taken justfour hours after the collapse of the north tower.

Mike Clarke, a fifth-generation firefighter, went to ground zeroin the immediate aftermath. Clarke works on the FEMA Urban Searchand Rescue Task Force in Beverly, but grew up on Long Island and lost22 firefighter and civilian friends that day. His tattoo includesthe image of a New York City firefighter he knew and an inscriptionthat replicates the POW-style memorial bracelet given to the familyof another firefighter friend who was killed.

Clarke got his tattoo in early 2002, after spending months drivingbetween New York City and Beverly to attend 18 funerals.

"It was very important to be there for as many as I could," saidClarke. "It's part of a firefighter tradition."

Exactly when tattoos became popular among firefighters is unclear.Some say it started hundreds of years ago during Japan's Edo period,when closely-built homes were made of paper and wood.

"In Japan, there is a tradition of firefighters getting tattooed,"said C. W. Eldridge, a tattoo historian in Berkeley, Calif."Firefighters would fight in loincloths, almost naked, so full-bodytattooing was a big part of their identity.

"Firefighting is one of those high-risk occupations that makepeople superstitious," Eldridge said. "They'll get tattoos to quellthat fear. It's commemorative, like divers get sharks tattooed onthem to keep the sharks away; it's the very thing they fear themost."

Richard Marcoux said his tattoo proclaiming, "Fallen Brothers,Never Forgotten" has gotten a lot of attention. That's just whatMarcoux, now retired after 28 years with the Bellingham FireDepartment, wanted.

"I sat and thought about it for a year after 9/11 before I decidedwhat I wanted," said Marcoux. "Firefighting is a very tightbrotherhood. It really hit me and this was the best way I felt itcould be commemorated." His is the tattoo that features both dates, 9-11-01, and 12-3-99.

Marcoux's tattooed forearm "brought out the intense feeling ofsorrow firefighters go through when they lose a brother," he said. "Iwanted it where everyone can see it and not forget. And as long asI'm walking around, they won't forget."

When Hall, the Nashua firefighter, was deciding what kind oftattoo to get, he asked his friends in firefighting to send himpictures of theirs. Word spread, and he received so many he started awebsite devoted strictly to firefighters and their tattoos.

Hall's website, strikethebox

.com, features more than 800 images, and each week, firefightersfrom across the United States send in dozens more new photos. Thesite now boasts 85,000 visitors a month, Hall said.

"I had no idea it would grow to what it is," he said. "It's greatto know the other firefighters enjoy it as well."