Kyrgyz leaders take risky bet on referendum

Kyrgyzstan holds a referendum on a new constitution Sunday, a risky gamble amid deadly ethnic tensions but one the interim government hopes will legitimize their hold on power until new elections in October.

The Central Asian nation was on a high security alert for the vote, deploying almost 8,000 police officers and an equal number of defense volunteers to keep the peace. Checkpoints were set up throughout the capital, Bishkek, and in Osh and Jalal-Abad, two southern cities wracked by ethnic purges against minority Uzbeks earlier this month.

The vote _ supported by the U.N., the U.S. and Russia _ is seen as an important step on the road to democracy for the …

Field test for compost maturity

A rapid compost maturity test was evaluated by the Maine Compost Team at more than 40 sites in the state. To determine the accuracy, compost from the same samples also were compared using self-heating and respirometry tests in the lab.

IN THE fall of 1995, over 80 samples of composted materials were taken from more than 40 compost operations throughout Maine to evaluate a new test kit marketed as giving an accurate indication of the level of compost maturity in four hours. The site visits and testing were carried out by the Maine Compost Team, who gained first hand knowledge about the compost operations, the ingredients included and site management.

In recent years, …

Reports: Fernando Alonso signs with Renault

Renault has signed two-time Formula One world champion Fernando Alonso for the 2008 season, Spanish media reports said Monday.

Newspaper El Mundo said Alonso had agreed to a euro35 million (US$51.3 million) deal and that an announcement was expected imminently. The length of the contract was not reported.

Alonso had been linked with a return to Renault ever since he was released from his three-year contract with McLaren in November. A move to the French team gained momentum on Friday when motorsports governing body FIA decided against penalizing Renault for possessing confidential information about rival team McLaren.

The 26-year-old Spaniard …

family fare

Assessments from a parent's perspective of recent releases:

'Rise of the Planet of the Apes'

Rated PG-13 for intense and frightening sequences of action and violence.

Translation: Humans and animals injured, mistreated and killed in graphic images.

Recommendation: High school ages to adults.

Family discussion: What mistakes were made despite good intentions? How does this film build on and contradict the earlier "Planet of the Apes" titles?

If you like this, try: The previous "Apes" movies and the documentary "Project Nim."

'Cowboys & Aliens'

Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of Western and science-fiction action and …

`Colors' violent - but honest

These letters were written by students at Richard E. ByrdCommunity Academy, 363 W. Hill, in the Cabrini-Green neighborhood. -Editor.

"Colors" is a good movie. It showed that teens don't care aboutthemselves or how they live. Fifty percent of teenagers are in gangsor dealing with drugs. "Colors" shows the world how it really is.

And it is a shame for young people to be in gangs instead ofschool where they can get an education and be somebody one day.

I know that the picture has a lot of violence in it. I stillthink it is a good movie. Tamesha Crittle, …

Kenneth Lay Dies of Heart Disease at 64

HOUSTON - Enron Corp. founder Kenneth Lay gave his role in the scandal that enveloped him and his company the most final ending possible.

The ever-optimistic former business visionary whose reputation shattered in 2001 along with the one-time energy trading giant faced decades in prison - essentially a life sentence for someone a year away from qualifying for Medicare.

On Wednesday, he succumbed to a fatal heart attack at his rented vacation home in Aspen, Colo.

Now he won't see the inside of a cell. Nor will he see his wife, children or dozen grandchildren again.

"It's a sad ending to me. On the other hand, it might be a merciful one, because he was not …

US intel: Al-Qaida activity plunges in Iraq

The number of al-Qaida extremists in Iraq has plummeted and their ability to maintain a high-level of attacks has been eroded, U.S. intelligence suggests.

Battered by the surge of U.S. and allied troops into Iraq, and the slowly increasing effectiveness of Iraqi security forces, al-Qaida's franchise in the war-worn country is finding fewer foreign fighters to tap for suicide bombings, said U.S. intelligence and counterterrorism officials who have been studying the terror group's activities.

Those changes, officials say, suggest that the terror group is evolving to one more heavily dependent on local militants who are less committed to broader jihadist …