Woman gives birth to identical triplets

Mother was impregnated with just one embryo that split twice, doctors say

updated 7:27 p.m. ET March 4, 2008

MANHASSET, N.Y. - When they get older, Logan, Eli and Collin Penn may blanch at the notion they wore nail polish to their first press conference. But it's the only way their parents know how to tell the boys apart right now. The identical triplets were born last Wednesday at North Shore University Hospital — an event so rare that an obstetrician estimated it might happen just once in 200 million births.

The triplets' mother, Allison Penn, was impregnated with just one embryo through in vitro fertilization, said Dr. Victor Klein, a specialist in multiple births and high risk pregnancies who delivered the boys. That embryo split in half and then one half of that split again, he said.

"This is the first one we're aware of in the literature in the country in which they only put back one embryo" and a woman gave birth to triplets, said Klein. "Most people put back two or three embryos and you just never know."

Klein said identical triplets are born at a rate between one in 60,000 and one in 200 million, depending on the research.

Allison Penn, 31, said she and her husband Tom, 46, had tried to have a baby ever since they got married about four years ago. Although she once thought of having several children, the disappointments over four years revised her dreams downward.

"When it took us so long to get pregnant, I just assumed we were going to have one and that would probably be it," she said. "So I thought one would be good."

Ed Betz / AP Allison Penn looks at her identical triplets, from left, Logan, Eli and Collin, on March 4, 2008 at North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset, N.Y.

And when she and her husband were told three youngsters were on the way?

"I looked over at Allison and her mouth was wide open and her eyes were like saucers and she didn't say a word," Tom Penn said. "Then I realized that it was possible and then I started to laugh."

He confessed he couldn't get over the irony.

"Everything we had done was to have one baby," he said. "Anybody who says God doesn't have a sense of humor. Everything we did was just for having one baby and now we have three."

10,000 diapers a year
Tom Penn, a wildlife biologist for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, estimates that the family will go through 10,000 diapers a year, but North Shore University Hospital is donating a two-year supply for the boys, said executive director Susan Somerville.

The Patchogue couple is also relying on Allison Penn's mother, Marianne McGuire of Manchester, N.J., to help out with the eight feedings a day and other chores.

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'Mentally tired' Favre tells Packers his playing career is over

After flirting with retirement for years, Brett Favre means it this time. The Green Bay Packers quarterback quit Tuesday after a 17-season career in which he dazzled fans with his grit, heart and rocket of an arm.

"I know I can still play, but it's like I told my wife, I'm just tired mentally. I'm just tired," Favre, a three-time NFL MVP, told ESPN's Chris Mortensen in a voice mail message.

"If I felt like coming back -- and Deanna [his wife] and I talked about this -- the only way for me to be successful would be to win a Super Bowl. To go to the Super Bowl and lose, would almost be worse than anything else. Anything less than a Super Bowl win would be unsuccessful," Favre said in the message.

"I know it shouldn't feel unsuccessful, but the only way to come back and make that be the right decision would be to come back and win a Super Bowl. And honestly, the odds of that, they're tough. Those are big shoes for me to fill, and I guess it was a challenge I wasn't up for. "

Packers coach Mike McCarthy told Mortensen that Favre had called him Monday night to tell him his decision. He also said Favre had first mentioned the possibility of retiring on Thursday.

"He called me last night to tell me he'd thought this thing through, and he said, 'Well, you know how it is,' and 'I'm just tired and I just think it's time,'" McCarthy said.

"And I did tell him last Thursday when he mentioned retirement for the first time, I told him while we talked that he did have to trust his heart."

The Gunslinger Retires

Brett Favre leaves the NFL with his name atop several career passing categories. In 2007, he set the record for passing TDs (442), passing yards (61,655) and wins by a starting QB (160) and interceptions (288). Including the playoffs, he played in 275 consecutive games.
• Favre's career stats

Most TD passes

	TDs
Brett Favre	442
Dan Marino	420
Fran Tarkenton	342
Peyton Manning	306

Most passing yards

	Passing yards
Favre	61,655
Marino	61,361
John Elway	51,475
Warren Moon	49,325

QB wins by starter

	Wins
Favre	160
Elway	148
Marino	147
Tarkenton	125

Interceptions

	INTs
Favre	288
George Blanda	277
John Hadl	268
Vinny Testaverde	267

The news was a surprise to at least one of Favre's teammates. Most players expected Favre to return after a successful 2007 season.

"I just saw it come across the TV," Packers wide receiver Koren Robinson said when reached on his cell phone by The Associated Press.

Favre, 38, had made his annual flirtation with retirement a winter tradition in Wisconsin. He has taken weeks and even months to make his decision after recent seasons, with Cheeseheads hanging on his every word.

But unlike the final game of the 2006 season -- when Favre provided a cliffhanger by getting choked up in a television interview as he walked off the field in Chicago, only to return once again -- nearly everyone assumed he would be back.

"I think the finality of it just kind of hits you," Packers general manager Ted Thompson said. "Brett Favre's not going to be our quarterback anymore."

A surefire first-ballot Hall of Famer, Favre put the Packers back among the NFL's elite. He retires with 5,377 career completions in 8,758 attempts for 61,655 yards, 442 touchdowns and 288 interceptions, passing Dan Marino's touchdown mark last season.

"Brett Favre will always be remembered as one of the greatest players and fiercest competitors in NFL history," NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said in a statement. "His long list of accomplishments both on and off the field is remarkable. Brett's talent, enthusiasm and love of the game helped him become the only player to earn three MVP awards and he was a vital part of bringing a Super Bowl championship back to Green Bay. It has been a joy and privilege for all of us to watch him play. We wish Brett, Deanna and their family all the best and hope he will stay connected to the game that he honored with his brilliant play for so many years."

As a player, Favre was known for his durability, his willingness to take risks and turn broken plays into big gains, and his love for the game that was evident in the way he played. He led the Packers to Super Bowls in 1996 and 1997, winning it all on his first try in Super Bowl XXXI, and was named to nine Pro Bowls.

In Super Bowl XXXI, a win over the New England Patriots, Favre went 14-of-27 for 246 yards and two touchdowns. A year later, in Super Bowl XXXII, he went 25-of-42 for 256 yards, three TDs and an interception in a loss to the Denver Broncos.

He finished his career on a streak of 253 consecutive regular-season starts -- 275 including playoff games.

Favre's agent, Bus Cook, told Mortensen that, as of Tuesday morning, there were no plans for Favre to hold a news conference.

"I talked to Brett this morning and I told him, 'Nobody forced you to make this decision to retire, but the flip side is nobody encouraged you to play,'" Cook told Mortensen. "Two years ago, Ted [Thompson] encouraged him to play, but there was nothing this time around from them offering encouragement or him to come back."

Former Packers GM Ron Wolf, who engineered the trade that brought Favre to Lambeau Field, told ESPN Radio's Colin Cowherd that Favre was the best player he ever saw.

"I was in the game 41 years and was around an awful lot of great players, but the greatest player I was ever around was Brett Favre," Wolf said.

Wolf was surprised by Favre's announcement, but felt it was the right choice.

"The way he played and the style he played and how he played requires an awful lot of dedication and passion, and if he no longer has the passion to play, then it's very, very wise for him to hang 'em up," he said.

Favre, who returned for the 2007 season when many thought he should have left the game, had a career renaissance in his final season and led Green Bay to the NFC Championship Game, which the Packers lost to the eventual Super Bowl champion New York Giants in overtime.

Favre passed Marino for the all-time completions record in 2006, and in 2007 set NFL records for wins by a QB, touchdown passes, pass attempts, passing yards and interceptions. He claimed the NFL record for career quarterback wins with his 149th victory in Week 2, passed Marino for the TD record in Week 4 and overtook Marino's career passing yards record in Week 15.

Mortensen reported that Favre, who wanted the Packers to obtain Randy Moss when he was a free agent last season, once again had pushed for Moss to join the Packers.

Favre had spoken to Moss late last week and was willing to commit to more than just this season if Moss and the Packers could come to an agreement. But the Packers did not pursue Moss, who re-signed with the Patriots on Monday.

In his voice mail message to Mortensen, Favre said the Packers' lack of interest in Moss was not the driving reason behind his retiring.

"This is not about the Packers and who they got or who they didn't get. I get along fine with [Thompson], and I get along great with [McCarthy]. Do I agree with them all the time? No. But the bottom line is, none of that stuff affected my decision," Favre said.

McCarthy said he and Favre had never discussed bringing in Moss.

Favre as a starter

Brett Favre started in the NFL for 16 of his 17 seasons. A look at his numbers:

Category	Stats
Reg-season W-L	160-93
Losing seasons	1
Playoff appearances	11
Playoff W-L	12-10
Division titles	7
Super Bowls	2 (one win)

"But I can tell you one thing, never once in all my conversations with Brett this offseason has he ever asked or told me that we had to have Randy Moss for him to come back and play," McCarthy told Mortensen. "Randy Moss' name never came up once. And it bothers me that [Favre's agent] has made this an issue."

Surrounded by an underrated group of wide receivers who proved hard to tackle after the catch, Favre had a career-high completion percentage of 66.5 in 2007. He threw for 4,155 yards, 28 touchdowns and only 15 interceptions.

It was a remarkable turnaround from the previous two seasons. In 2005, Favre's final season under former coach Mike Sherman, he threw a career-worst 29 interceptions as the Packers went 4-12. In 2006, he completed 56 percent of his passes and threw for as many interceptions (18) as touchdowns.

Given Favre's career resurgence, it was widely assumed that he was leaning toward returning for the 2008 season.

He even said as much just before the Packers' Jan. 12 divisional playoff game against Seattle, telling his hometown newspaper he wasn't approaching the game as if it would be his last and was more optimistic about returning than in years past.

Favre's favorite targets

The players who caught the most touchdown passes from Brett Favre in his career, headed by Antonio Freeman.

Name	TD catches
Antonio Freeman	57
Sterling Sharpe	41
Donald Driver	36
Robert Brooks	32
Bubba Franks	29
Bill Schroeder	19
Javon Walker	19
Mark Chmura	16
Dorsey Levens	16
Greg Jennings	14
Ahman Green	14

"For the first time in three years, I haven't thought this could be my last game," Favre told the Biloxi [Miss.] Sun Herald. "I would like to continue longer."

The Falcons selected Favre out of Southern Mississippi with the 33rd pick of the 1991 NFL draft. He was then traded to Green Bay for the 17th pick in the 1992 draft and appeared in his first Packers game on Sept. 20 of that year, replacing injured starter Don Majkowski and leading Green Bay to a 24-23 come-from-behind victory over the Cincinnati Bengals. He was named the starter later in the season, a role he never relinquished.

By nature of his style of play -- he was willing to roll the dice on long throws and able to force passes into tight coverage thanks to a strong right arm -- Favre had a flair for the dramatic on the field. But his off-the-field life has been full of drama, as well.

He nearly died in a car accident in Mississippi in 1990, before his senior season at Southern Miss. In May 1996, Favre acknowledged he had developed an addiction to the painkiller Vicodin and sought treatment. In 2004, Deanna announced she was fighting breast cancer, for which she was treated successfully. That same year, his brother-in-law was killed in an ATV accident. And in 2005, Hurricane Katrina destroyed his boyhood home in Kiln, Miss., and damaged his current home in Hattiesburg.

Favre's off-field and on-field lives collided Dec. 21, 2003, when his father suffered a fatal heart attack in Kiln. The next night, Favre chose to play the Packers' scheduled "Monday Night Football" game against the Raiders and threw for 399 yards and four touchdowns in a 41-7 win.

Craigs list Overview

To say that craigslist.org is a simple site with a long list of blue links on a white background would be only a mere graphical description. This is because with local classifieds and forums for 450 cities worldwide Craiglists.org is a community. There are lists here that stretch from Goods right up to romance and from advice to jobs onwards to erotica and personals. Few things exist that one does not find in a Craig list and there are five billion page views per month to vouch for the fact. With fifteen million people using the site every month, craigslist.org stands at # 7 spot among other English language sites like Yahoo, Google and eBay.

The site has received awards like:

• Best Local Website, by Manhattan Reader's Poll Webby: 2001,
• Best Community Site, by the Academy Webby: 2001,
• Best Community Site, by the People's Voice

All this with a current staff of just 23 people!

It started when in 1994 Craigslist Newmark, a software engineer (a hardcore java programmer) first came to San Francisco, soon he felt isolated as a new comer. Therefore, when he observed the people on the internet, helping each other in a friendly, helping and social trusting community way he decided to start something similar for local events.

To do this he had to first create a mailing list and for this he started soliciting business cards from everyone he knew. He did that and by early 1995 the first posting had started, though Newmark had to suspend the postings for want of a better technology since the one he was using at the time was not good enough. June 1995 saw Craig list resuming operations after the new software Majordomo had been installed. The early postings were submitted by Newmark himself and were aimed at software and internet developers living and working in San Francisco.

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Website Development

Rapid growth was soon to follow the publicity generated by the users, soon people began posting for jobs as they found the site a good way to reach the people who could give them technical jobs for the skills they possessed. This made Newmark add a category for jobs. More user generated categories were added to form lists, and the first of the Craigslists were formed. Increasing number of users prompted the buying of a full time SPARC server for hosting the lists. Then later the demand for a web interface led to the registering of craigslist.org and also craigslist.com to prevent the use of the name. The site has still retained its .org original domain symbolising its service mission and non-corporate culture.

By 1999 Newmark had to devote all his time to the site, as the "hobby" that had initially made him get invited to all the geek and nerd parties, was now growing very rapidly. The site was also declared a non-for-profit. By 2000 he had nine employees working out in his flat on Cole Street in San Francisco.

Craigs list forums aggregate users all over the world, you can log on to the Travel forum and elicit responses worldwide in case you ask a question about how to get to the Pentagon from The Washington monument. Some forums do not require registration. Users must register and choose a "handle" or name in case they want to participate in restricted forums. Users are permitted to "flag" posts that violate Craigs list policy such as the ban on discrimination in housing this is done because after all Craigs staff cannot police the forums 24/7. A user whose handle has been flagged beyond permitted limits is banned and must re register under a different username to continue posting on a restricted forum. Craigslist will ban users who are critical of the owners while claiming publicly not to police the website. Craigslist allows volunteers to police the site who can easily abuse their power for their own gratification or egos since they are allowed that discretion. This is an issue faced by the Craigslist users who feel that more must be done by the company to take action by more intense screening of volunteers or monitoring of their behaviour.

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Craigslist's Controversies

The site has had its share of controversies starting with the San Francisco Chronicle July 2005 story that the site was allegedly encouraging the over breeding of pit bulls in the bay area, this by allowing the ads from dog breeders. Yet another controversy was generated in the same year when the site failed to remove the listings of Live 8 tickets that were for sale. The wrath of the San Francisco Bay Guardian was attracted in January, 2006 for "threatening to eviscerate" local alternative newspapers by moving into local communities. It was also compared to a multinational corporation called wal-mart that sells a wide assortment of goods in small towns at arguably cheaper prices thus crushing the smaller sellers. For allegedly allowing users to post discriminatory housing ads in Chicago that violate the Fair Housing Act Craigslist was sued by the Chicago Lawyers Committee for Civil rights under Law though the case was subsequently dismissed.

Yet another controversy involved the report that Craigs list's "Casual Encounters" forums in several cities was being compromised by the posting of fraudulent ads by individuals who then gathered personal information about people to send it to a drama website. This information, included email addresses, phone numbers, home addresses, photos, etc. and was being publicly posted.

Graigslist have stated many times that they cannot and will not police the site, referring to their policy of allowing users to flag offending posts. This, despite the prostitution crackdowns that have resulted in dozens of arrests, sometimes in massive stings, of Craigslist users suspected of posting dubious ads, including the exchange of sexual favours. Otherwise, the site cooperates with law enforcement agencies.

Today the Corporation has Jim Buckmaster for CEO and President who contributed the site's multi-city architecture, search engine, discussion forums, flagging system, self-posting process, homepage design, personals categories, and "best-of-Craigslist" feature. The site now supports its operations by charging below market fees for job ads in 7 cities and for broker apartment listings in NYC. The huge amount of users has required 450 Craigslist sites in all 50 US states, and over 50 countries. The employee count has gone up to 23 all working from a Victorian house in the Inner Sunset neighbourhood of San Francisco. It receives 14 million self published, new classified adds together with 750,000 new job listings each month besides the 50 million plus user postings in 100 topical forums. Despite its size Craigslist still doesn't care for generating more revenue depending on local communities instead, to suggest ways to make money without compromising Craigs list. In 2004, 25% of the equity was bought by eBay from a former shareholder. The Craigslist Foundation, a non-profit organisation was founded in 2001 to supposedly help budding non-profit organizations get established, gain visibility, attract the attention of potential donors, and develop the skills and knowledge required for long-term success. The foundation produces face-to-face events and offers online resources to help grassroots organizations get off the ground and contribute real value to the community rather than directly funding the organisations. For this it accepts charitable donations.

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Craigslist's US Cities

On Official Craigslist site you can find tons offers from following US cities:

abilene	grand rapids	pensacola / panhandle
akron / canton	green bay	peoria
alaska	greensboro	philadelphia
albany	greenville / upstate	phoenix
albuquerque	gulfport / biloxi	pittsburgh
altoona-johnstown	hampton roads	plattsburgh-adirondacks
amarillo	harrisburg	poconos
ames, IA	harrisonburg	portland, OR
ann arbor	hartford	prescott
appleton-oshkosh-FDL	hattiesburg	provo / orem
asheville	hawaii	pueblo
athens, GA	hilton head	pullman / moscow
athens, OH	houston	quad cities, IA/IL
atlanta	hudson valley	raleigh / durham / CH
auburn	humboldt county	reading
augusta	huntington-ashland	redding
austin	huntsville	reno / tahoe
bakersfield	indianapolis	rhode island
baltimore	inland empire	richmond
baton rouge	iowa city	roanoke
beaumont / port arthur	ithaca	rochester, MN
bellingham	jackson, MI	rochester, NY
bend	jackson, MS	rockford
binghamton	jacksonville	rocky mountains
birmingham, AL	jonesboro	roswell / carlsbad
blacksburg	joplin	sacramento
bloomington	kalamazoo	saginaw-midland-baycity
bloomington-normal	kansas city, MO	salem, OR
boise	kennewick-pasco-richland	salt lake city
boone	killeen / temple / ft hood	san antonio
boston	knoxville	san diego
boulder	la crosse	san francisco bay area
bowling green	lafayette	san luis obispo
brownsville	lake charles	san marcos
buffalo	lakeland	santa barbara
cape cod / islands	lancaster	santa fe / taos
carbondale	lansing	sarasota-bradenton
catskills	laredo	savannah
cedar rapids	las cruces	scranton / wilkes-barre
central NJ	las vegas	seattle-tacoma
central michigan	lawrence	shreveport
champaign urbana	lawton	sioux city, IA
charleston, SC	lehigh valley	south bend / michiana
charleston, WV	lexington, KY	south coast
charlotte	lima / findlay	south dakota
charlottesville	lincoln	south jersey
chattanooga	little rock	space coast
chautauqua	logan	spokane / coeur d'alene
chicago	long island	springfield, IL
chico	los angeles	springfield, MO
cincinnati, OH	louisville	st cloud
cleveland	lubbock	st george
college station	lynchburg	st louis, MO
colorado springs	macon	state college
columbia / jeff city	madison	stillwater
columbia, SC	maine	stockton
columbus	manhattan, KS	syracuse
columbus, GA	mankato	tallahassee
corpus christi	mansfield	tampa bay area
corvallis/albany	martinsburg	terre haute
dallas / fort worth	mcallen / edinburg	texarkana
danville	medford-ashland-klamath	tippecanoe
dayton	memphis, TN	toledo
daytona beach	merced	topeka
delaware	miami	treasure coast
denver / boulder	milwaukee	tri-cities, TN
des moines	minneapolis / st paul	tucson
detroit metro	mobile	tulsa
dubuque	modesto	tuscaloosa
duluth / superior	montana	tyler / east TX
east idaho	monterey bay	upper peninsula
east oregon	montgomery	utica
eastern CT	morgantown	valdosta
eastern NC	muncie / anderson	ventura county
eastern shore	myrtle beach	vermont
eau claire	nashville	visalia-tulare
el paso	new hampshire	waco
elmira-corning	new haven	washington, DC
erie	new orleans	watertown
eugene	new york city	wenatchee
evansville	north dakota	west palm beach
fargo / moorhead	north jersey	west virigina
fayetteville	north mississippi	western KY
fayetteville, AR	northern michigan	western maryland
flagstaff / sedona	northwest CT	western massachusetts
flint	ocala	western slope
florida keys	odessa / midland	wheeling, WV
fort lauderdale	ogden-clearfield	wichita
fort smith, AR	oklahoma city	wichita falls
fort wayne	omaha / council bluffs	wilmington, NC
fresno	orange county	winston-salem
ft collins / greeley	oregon coast	worcester / central MA
ft myers / SW florida	orlando	wyoming
gainesville	outer banks	yakima
gold country	palm springs, CA	york
grand island	parkersburg-marietta	youngstown
		yuma

Patrick Swayze has pancreatic cancer

Doctor says actor, 55, responding well to treatment despite dire reports

LOS ANGELES - Patrick Swayze’s doctor is “optimistic” about his prognosis for battling pancreatic cancer, and the “Dirty Dancing” actor’s upcoming cable pilot is still in contention to become a series.

With the writer’s strike over, the A&E pilot “The Beast,” starring Swayze as an unorthodox FBI agent, is being considered to be turned into a series by the cable network. If that happens, the “Dirty Dancing” and “Ghost” star hopes to continue to be part of the show, his representative Annett Wolf told The Associated Press on Wednesday.

Swayze has been undergoing treatment for the disease, Wolf confirmed in a statement. The National Cancer Institute estimates there will be 37,680 new cases of pancreatic cancer in 2008 with 34,290 deaths in the U.S.; only five percent of patients live more than five years after being diagnosed.

2008 Election Day Survey: Public Comment Period is open

The EAC announced the contents of the 2008 Election Day Survey (full disclosure: I worked as a subcontractor on the 2006 study and helped in the early design phase of the 2008 study).

The 60 day public comment period started on March 20 and ends on May 19.

The announcement is here.

The survey is Word document available here.

I'll flag a few important elements for any interested readers:

• The Commission is envisioning a two part survey, one a "statutory review" that would be distributed before the election and collects information on basic legal and administrative procedures in the states. This allows the Commission to get ahead of the curve on collecting the information, and also decouples this "state level" data from the county level information contained in the survey.
• The main data instrument is formatted like a paper survey for the purposes of OMB review, but I believe the EAC is contemplating different forms of data submission.
• Pay close attention to the section on definitions. I'd urge anyone who thinks these definitions are unclear to contact the EAC. It was very clear from the 2006 survey that is is incumbent on the Commission to come up with some sort of standardized definitions for states to follow, even if everyone doesn't agree with them, so that the data that is submitted can be comparable across jurisdictions.
  

Update: 2008 Election

From Kathy Gill,

The New Hampshire primary will be Tuesday 8 January 2008, followed by Minnesota on 15 January. Iowa caucuses remain on 3 January; Wyoming, 5 January.

This is the earliest date on record for the NH primary, which has held the first primary in the nation for almost 100 years. State law requires that the primary be a week earlier than any other primary.

ELECTION UPDATE (IN IRAQ)

Here's the good news in Iraq: provincial elections have been scheduled for October. And here's the bad news in Iraq: provincial elections have been scheduled for October.

In a nutshell, the problem is this: for the past few years, the south of Iraq has been the scene of a battle for control between the Mahdi Army of Muqtada al-Sadr and the Badr Organization of ISCI's Abdul Aziz al-Hakim. But while the surge and the various Sunni Awakenings have gotten most of the credit for the recent drop in violence in Iraq, another key ingredient has been a cease-fire announced by Sadr six months ago — a cease-fire that's looking less and less tenable with elections coming up. Sadr didn't contest the last round of elections, which left ISCI in political control of the region, and Sadr now feels that the U.S. is taking advantage of the cease-fire to team up with ISCI to make sure things stay that way. Tina Susman and Raheem Salman of the Los Angeles Times report:

Sadr loyalists have said their foes are taking advantage of the cease-fire to try to crush the movement politically and militarily.

....Sadr aides cited military raids on the group's strongholds, such as Baghdad's Sadr City district, and they accused U.S. and Iraqi security forces of targeting loyalists in southern provinces where the movement is vying for power with the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council. The council's leader, Abdelaziz Hakim, is a U.S. ally. Scores of Iraqis have died in clashes involving Sadr's Mahdi Army and the Council's Badr Organization.

....Salah Ubaidi, Sadr's spokesman, said the cleric, who rarely has appeared in public in the last year, would make a statement Saturday if he decided to extend the truce. That would mark the end of the six-month deadline according to the Islamic calendar.

If Sadr remains silent, Ubaidi said, it will mean the Mahdi Army is back in action.

Eric Martin suggests that although Sadr might have actually welcomed some of the early U.S.-ISCI raids as part of his "attempt to purge unruly, disloyal and radical elements from his ranks," things have since gotten out of hand:

But the US forces and ISCI went too far — creating a nearly untenable position for Sadr, who has been facing extreme pressure from within his movement's ranks to release his hold on the militia and respond to this aggression. Sadr is letting ISCI know that, going forward, full retaliation will result from any future assaults (with perhaps a bit of payback mixed in for good measure).

Like it or not, it's long been obvious that Sadr isn't going away. Eric notes that outwardly the U.S. is doing its best to treat Sadr respectfully, but that the raids on Sadr's forces have continued unabated. If Sadr decides that, deferential words to the contrary, this is our way of making sure that Hakim wins this year's elections — elections that Sadr plans to contest — he may decide that restarting the war is his only option. And that means restarting it against us, not just the Badr Organization.

There's no telling how this is going to play out, but it's definitely something to watch.

Election Update 2000

From deTraci Regula,
Your Guide to Greece Travel.
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As time runs out, final polling is showing ruling party Panhellino Socialistiko Kinima (PASOK) with a too-close-to-call lead over main opposition New Democracy (ND). PASOK's Prime Minister Costas Simitis still enjoys greater personal popularity than the New Democracy leader Costas Karamanlis, but will that be enough to carry the day? Recent setback in the finance sector have impacted PASOK, but most Greeks expect that the ruling party will remain unchanged.

Major attractions such as the Acropolis will be closed on Election Day, April 9th. PASOK, the empowered Socialist party headed by Costas Simitis, comes to the elections having effectively steered Greece through EU membership, bringing the economy in line with the strict requirements of EU monetary membership, and improving relations with Turkey.

New Democracy, (ND) under Costas Karamanlis, considered as the conservative party, which previously held power in Greece, is promising prison reform, improved social programs, support for teachers, and voices for those they believe have been disenfranchised under PASOK's rule.

Ever-present but running a distant third is the Greek Communist Party Kommunistiko Koma Ellados (KKE).

In fourth place, and fighting to retain the 3% of votes which will allow it to keep representation in Parliament, is DIKKI, the Democratic Social Movement (Dimokratiki Kinoniku Kinima) party led by Dimitris Tsavolas.

Election day itself may be challenging for a traveler, as many Greeks will be paying much more attention to the voting than to their usual occupations. Allow for delays.

Flights on and around Election Day are hard to get; expect delays if you do succeed in getting tickets.

Ultimately, both parties support travel and tourism, which is a major part of the Greek economy. There should be no negative changes for tourists regardless of the victor.