Man faces court over five deaths

Prosecutors were today to outline the case against a former pubboss accused of murdering five prostitutes.

Steve Wright, 49, of Ipswich, Suffolk, denies murdering GemmaAdams, 25, Tania Nicol, 19, Anneli Alderton, 24, Paula Clennell, 24,and Annette …

IN OTHER WORDS

Seventy percent of consumers who say they have obtained their credit report have done so even though they weren't denied credit or felt they were a victim of ID theft. A survey conducted in October 2003 by Harris Interactive and Dr. Alan F. Westin, professor of public law and government emeritus at Columbia University, also found that 63 percent of the public - almost two-thirds - say they are very or somewhat …

Argentine union suspends wage requests amid crisis

Argentina's main labor group is suspending wage-hike requests through December due to the world financial crisis.

General Labor Confederation head Hugo Moyano said Saturday that it's not the time to demand higher salaries as economic turmoil rattles the globe.

His group began working with business and government …

'Those dark days of 1939-1941 showed great comradeship'

Community correspondent Gareth Jones recounts the memories andexperience of the man in charge of preventing the Cheddar Valleyfrom burning to the ground during the blitz of the Second World War.When WJ Egan was appointed chief officer of fire services toAxbridge Rural District Council under the Fire Brigades Act (1938),the fire protection was deplorable.

Apart from two old fire engines on solid tyres, the youngest ofwhich was 20 years of age, a very old manual pump and some much usedhose and equipment, there was nothing worthy of consideration.

Under the above Act of Parliament the council were to take overall parish and volunteer brigades in the district …

Bradley has options as Fire regains health

Now things should get very interesting for the Fire.

With the exception of forward Josh Wolff--felled by a broken leftfoot early in the season--coach Bob Bradley has a full roster for thefirst time. Captain Peter Nowak, sidelined the last six games by asprained right ankle, could return for Saturday's match with theTampa Bay Mutiny at Soldier Field. If not, he'll be back forWednesday's home game with the Miami Fusion.

Defender Carlos Bocanegra also is ready for full-time duty after along battle with a left ankle sprain. His return puts Bradley on thespot. Bocanegra was last year's rookie of the year in Major LeagueSoccer. Jim Curtin, who got his chance in part because …

Israel begins work on Egypt border fence

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel began work Monday on a border fence along its frontier with Egypt that is meant to keep out Islamic militants and African migrants, the Defense Ministry said.

Bulldozers were dispatched to three points along the 150-mile (250-kilometer) boundary and Israeli TV showed them clearing patches of land and digging trenches near Egyptian border posts.

Israel approved the fence earlier this year in a bid to keep out militants believed to be operating in Egypt's Sinai desert and migrants from Africa.

The project is estimated to cost $370 million, the ministry said, and will take up to two years to complete.

The fence is expected to cover at least 87 …

Criticism leads Roethlisberger to alter hometown

For two-time Super Bowl winner Ben Roethlisberger, there really is no place like home.

In his Pittsburgh Steelers biography, Roethlisberger now lists his birthplace as the fictitious and the incorrectly spelled Corey Rawson, Ohio. There is no such community, although he did attend Cory-Rawson School in Rawson, Ohio.

Roethlisberger apparently made …

Midstate sees mammoth number of mergers, acquisitions in 2006

REGION

Here's a roundup of top firms, deals

Three companies were especially busy dealmakers in 2006. Armstrong World Industries Inc.'s emergence from bankruptcy protection in October capped a busy year for the Lancaster County manufacturer. Cumberland County-based Harsco Corp. landed at least 23 contracts worth a total of about $300 million for its industrial-services work. And Hersha Hospitality Trust, a Harrisburg-based owner and manager of hotels nationwide, aggressively added to its portfolio of properties.

Here's a recap of their doings throughout last year.

Armstrong

Armstrong World Industries, a Manor Township-based maker of floors, ceilings and …

Georgian billionare opposition figure Patarkatsishvili dies, spokesman says

Georgian opposition billionaire businessman Badri Patarkatsishvili has died in London of a heart …

Unions create problems

Upon reading the column by Jesse Jackson ["Conference comes atcritical time," Tuesday], I couldn't help but notice the omissionsregarding unions. As far as I'm concerned, unions are responsiblefor laziness in the work force.

While I was supervising construction work, I can't tell you howoften I heard "you can't fire me, I'm union," and they go abouttheir work at a snail's pace. They are also responsible for our hugelocal, state and …

Public needs, public purse

A new research project attempts to provide governments with guidance to cost services, measure performance and enhance accountability

Government services are complex, and costing them appropriately is challenging. This is a reflection of the extraordinary diversity in services offered by Canada's three levels of government, the multiple stakeholders and interests in such services, the ever-changing environment in which services must be delivered, the difficulty in fairly allocating certain costs that do not have a causal link to services, and the difficulty in measuring their performance and accountability.

To meet this challenge, the CICA's Public Sector Accounting and …

China slams US defense strategy with Asian slant

BEIJING (AP) — China has slammed as "groundless and untrustworthy" the United States' new defense strategy that says China's strategic intentions are unclear.

The strategy unveiled Thursday intends to assert America's position in the Asia-Pacific region.

The document says the growth of China's military power must be accompanied by greater clarity of its strategic intentions to …

Rice: Now Is Time for Palestinian State

RAMALLAH, West Bank - The time has come for establishing a Palestinian state and it is in the interest of the U.S. to do so, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Monday in one of her most forceful statements yet on the issue.

The comments from Rice, after a meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, suggested that the Bush administration is determined to try to bridge the wide gaps between Israel and the Palestinians ahead of a U.S.-hosted Mideast conference.

The gathering is expected to take place next month, though no date has been announced. Moderate Arab countries, whose participation is widely viewed as critical, have not committed to attending.

"Frankly, it's time for the establishment of a Palestinian state," Rice said in Ramallah, standing next to Abbas.

"I wanted to say in my own voice to be able to say to as many people as possible that the United States sees the establishment of a Palestinian state and a two-state solution as absolutely essential for the future, not just of Palestinians and Israelis but also for the Middle East and indeed to American interests," she said. "That's really a message that I think only I can deliver."

On Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told his Cabinet that he did not view a joint declaration of principles for a future peace deal to be a prerequisite for the conference. The Palestinians said that without such a document, they wouldn't attend the meeting in Annapolis, Md.

Rice suggested Monday that she was siding with the Palestinians in that dispute, but was cool to their request for a deadline for reaching a final peace deal.

"I am not certain that a timetable that says we have to complete X by Y time is where we want to go," she told reporters.

She said a joint document "does not have to be detailed in order to be serious." She reiterated that "we frankly have better things to do than invite people to Annapolis for a photo op."

The U.S. has said it wants a substantive working paper dealing with all the key disputes before the start of the conference. The issues include borders, the status of disputed Jerusalem, Israeli settlements and Palestinian refugees.

The chief Palestinian negotiator, Ahmed Qureia, has said one or two sentences outlining a solution for each issue would be sufficient.

Concerning Jerusalem, for example, he said it would be enough to declare that west Jerusalem will be the capital of Israel and east Jerusalem the capital of Palestine. The line of division would then be determined in negotiations.

Olmert hinted Monday that he is ready to share control of the holy city, saying that Israel could do without controlling some of Jerusalem's outlying Arab neighborhoods.

Olmert's top ally, Vice Premier Haim Ramon, has made such statements in the past, but it was the first time Olmert adopted this position.

Later Monday, the Israeli and Palestinian drafting teams were to meet in Jerusalem, Qureia's office said. The teams had met only once before. It was not clear whether Rice would join them.

Rice said ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was a priority for President Bush and praised Israel and Palestinians for making their "most serious effort" in years to end the conflict. Olmert and Abbas have held a series of meetings in recent months, and the two sides have appointed negotiating teams to hammer out their joint vision for peace in time for the gathering.

Abbas said he has asked for U.S. help in halting Israeli settlement expansion and the ongoing construction of Israel's West Bank separation barrier.

Rice is on a four-day shuttle mission, trying to create common ground ahead of the Mideast meeting. A State Department official hinted on Sunday that the conference might be postponed. However, Abbas aides suggested Monday that the gathering would at most be rescheduled for early December.

Abbas and Rice met for 3 1/2 hours Monday at his headquarters in the West Bank city of Ramallah. On Sunday, Rice had held a first round of talks with Israeli leaders.

Environmental issues need more coverage in media

Every year, Earth Day comes and goes. T-shirts are worn, beaches get some cleanup, trees and bushes are planted -- and then another year goes by without the major change in environmental policy and legislation that we need.

And the next year finds us again ready with our shovels, our cleanup bags, and our T-shirts, yet that much closer to possible climate crisis.

The Sun-Times deserves credit for the periodic coverage of global warming and other environmental problems to date, especially in a difficult time for all publications, but clearly we all need to bring this issue front-burner, more frequently and more forcefully, to get the attention of our legislatures as well as support the cultural changes we need to make. The media have an important part to play in this regard, and it would be nice to see more coverage of climate issues on a regular basis.

Mike Konwiak, Lake View

Photo: keith hale~sun-times / Students from Bret Harte Elementary School celebrate Earth Day by planting Smart Home gardens at the Museum of Science and Industry ;

Transgressing privilege

This is my second attempt at writing this column. I wrote another two weeks ago, but it stalled. The editor, whom I respect and consider a friend, sent it for review to the board of this magazine and an informal editorial advisory committee (I'm a part of both).

The groups were divided, with the most commonly expressed and strongest feelings that it should not be printed.

My goal with this space is to push the boundaries of our love ever wider. It is provocation for edification. For the sake of provoking, I advocated dialogue and participation with a marginalized group seeking greater inclusion, the Postcard Project (see related news story at left).

For the sake of edification, I'm now stepping back to talk about our posture towards people at the margins. Some may wonder why I don't just leave the church if I differ so widely on some points of faith and practice. But I can't leave; this is my church. It has given me a gospel of radical love, such as Jesus' Sermon on the Mount, in which the outcasts and downtrodden receive blessing and hope. It is colourful and full of misfits.

When Zacchaeus, a chief tax collector who was rich, met Jesus, he gave half his possessions to the poor and repaid those whom he had defrauded (Luke 19). His was a gesture of solidarity with the marginalized.

I am like Zacchaeus before he shed some wealth. Our systems of exploitation are similar, but better veiled. My power and privilege is more than financial: I am a white, male, heterosexual, able-bodied, highly educated, urban-living, home-owning, cardriving Christian. Each of these attributes moves me closer to centres of power.

As I seek comfort in my social and economic status, I need less spiritual liberation. Jesus will pass by me en route to the poor unless I leave my station and seek him out. As Mary announced, God "has brought down the powerful... and lifted up the lowly; [God] has filled the hungry with good things and sent the rich away empty" ( Luke 1).

In silence, I can ignore my complicity in injustice. I can enjoy privilege, but not receive liberation. I pursue security at the expense of freedom. I deeply regret that not enough Mennonites have shown me the path to the periphery. I wander far.

For the sake of spiritual vitality and radical discipleship, I need to migrate to the margins in as many ways as I can. Each encounter and every action represents who I am and how I deal with power imbalances.

Paradoxically, it is for my own comfort that I attempt to leave my sites of privilege and move towards the stranger, the one who acts differently, the one who transgresses my codes of propriety.

This is a self-imposed move into a "wilderness" of insecurity, led by love, buoyed by the promise of liberation and peace. On the journey I forfeit privilege for the sake of others' pain. I shed a layer of guilt and explore new levels of acceptance. I accept more of myself, my neighbour and our God.

For those with an urge to engage a Samaritan, a woman, a harlot, a Roman centurion or a tax collector, I hope this is an incentive to transgress privilege in the pursuit of love.

[Sidebar]

I need to migrate to the margins In as many ways as I can.

[Author Affiliation]

Aiden Enns can be reached at aiden@geezmagazine.org. He is a member of Hope Mennonite Church in Winnipeg and sits on the Canadian Mennonite board.

Maldon beer is a champion brew ; Essex has many fine, small-scale breweries and the Maldon Brewing Company has just won an award for one of its ales

Winter Ale Festivals: Dates for your beer diary Nigel Farmer istoasting yet another success for the Maldon Brewing Company afterPuck's Folly scooped the Champion Golden Beer of East Anglia Award.CAMRA (the Campaign for Real Ale) announced the winning brew at theColchester Winter Ale Festival last weekend and Nigel is delightedwith the news.

"We're very pleased with ourselves, it's not something to besniffed at," says Nigel.

"Golden beer is a very popular beer style - it's light and easyto drink, and it's popular with men and women. " Puck's Folly is oneof Maldon Brewing Company's five regular beers, alongside a bitter,A Drop Of Nelson's Blood, the Hotel Porter, Captain Ann and Farmer'sGolden Boar. The beers keep winning awards, but Puck's Folly seemsto be a particular favourite.

"It's the most popular beer we do," says Charlie Saville, brewingconsultant. "It's light, golden, aromatic and lightly spiced. It'sbrewed with English hops and it's always been a favourite."

Traditions Nigel started the Maldon Brewing Company (also knownas Farmer's Ales) in 2005, having toyed with the idea for a coupleof years.

His base is the stables at the Blue Boar Hotel, Maldon, a 14thcentury coaching inn which provides a suitably historic backdrop forNigel's business which draws on all the best traditions ofbeermaking.

The idea of brewing came to Nigel in a pub when a friendsuggested he could make better beer than the one he was drinking. Heagreed and when he discovered the right site at the Blue Boar, theStable Brewery was born.

Now Nigel's business is well-established and he sells his beersto pubs, restaurants and shops. He's looking forward to even moresuccess in 2010.

"We had a good Christmas and it looks like the recession iscoming to an end, so we're hopeful about the year ahead."

As well as their regular beers, Farmer's Ales also come up withseasonal brews. Nigel, Charlie and the company's other brewer FezPowell came up with Ploughboys for January, a stout to commemoratePlough Monday in Maldon.

Nigel says stouts have been very popular over the winter monthsand they're currently working on Edward Bright's Stout, named afterthe famous "fat man" of Maldon.

With the Maldon Brewing Company's record, don't be surprised ifit's another award-winner.

Chelmsford Winter Beer Festival, Essex County Council Social Club(Triangle Club) February 4-6 This 11th annual event is sure to pulla big crowd of ale aficionados with dozens of types of the darkstuff from all over the country to choose from, as well as a numberof ciders. The festival is open noon to 11pm every day with membersallowed in free. More details at www.chelmsfordcamra.org.uk/wbfChappel Winter Beer Festival East Anglian Railway Museum, ChappelFebruary 26-27 Famous for its successful summer festival, Chappelholds its first winter festival in the atmospheric surrounds of therailway museum where Blur played their first ever gig. Expect morethan 65 beers and ciders. Open 11am-5pm and 6pm-11pm on both days.More at www.essex-camra.org.uk Farmer's Ales Winter Beer FestivalBlue Boar Hotel, Maldon February 25-28 Another brand new festival,this is unique because it champions only Essex breweries, featuringFarmer's Ales, Mighty Oak, Wibblers, Red Fox, Mersea Island,Brentwood Brewing Company, Crouch Vale, Shalford Brewery. Held inthe sloping Oak Room of the pub so you'll feel tipsy from the start!

24 Seven; A day on the Chicago crime and fire beats. Incidents from 8 p.m. to 8 p.m.

1. SUNDAY

12:19 A.M.

SOUTH CHICAGO

Boy shot while walking on street with friend

A 13-year-old boy was injured in a possible gang-related shootingwhile walking down the street with a friend. A tan car pulled upalongside the two friends in the 8600 block of South Burley. Someonein the car fired several shots at the boy, hitting him once in thetorso.

2. Sunday

1 a.m. Brainerd

Man dies after being shot in face on South Side

A 21-year-old man was shot in the face and killed. Policeresponded to the 9200 block of South May Street and found the manunresponsive, with a gunshot wound to the face. He was pronounceddead at the Stein Institute, authorities said.

3. Sunday

1:10 a.m. Pilsen

Two men exchange words, one wounded by gunfire

A 22-year-old man was shot multiple times after an argument. Thevictim got into the argument with another man in the 1200 block ofWest 18th Street. The offender pulled out a gun and shot him. Thevictim was taken to Stroger Hospital and was in critical condition.

4. SUNDAY

12:45 P.M.

GRAND CROSSING

34-year-old shot dead after argument

A 34-year-old man was shot and killed after getting into anargument in the 7500 block of South Kimbark Avenue, police said. Theman was pronounced dead at Stroger Hospital.

Lenovo says business will focus on mobile Internet

Lenovo Group expects wireless Internet products to account for up to 80 percent of its sales within five years as it pursues expansion in faster-growing emerging markets, CEO Yang Yuanqing said Friday.

Lenovo, the world's fourth-largest personal computer maker, jumped into the mobile Internet market in January with the unveiling of a smart phone and two Web-linked portable computers.

"Mobile Internet is very important," Yang said in an interview. "Even today, notebook sales already are higher than desktops. Mobile Internet products are going to be 70 to 80 percent of our sales ... within three to five years."

Yang said Lenovo plans this year to focus on promoting mobile Internet and sales in emerging economies in Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe.

Lenovo, based in Beijing and Morrisville, North Carolina, was hit hard by the global crisis, which prompted its core corporate customers to slash spending. It suffered three losing quarters before rebounding to a profit in the second half of last year.

Yang said Lenovo's longer-term strategy, dubbed "protect and attack," calls for building up its dominant presence in China. The country accounts for nearly half of Lenovo's global sales but it faces competition from industry leaders Hewlett-Packard Co. and Dell Inc., which are creating products tailored to Chinese customers.

In the latest quarter, Lenovo said sales in India and other emerging markets rose 52 percent over a year earlier, far ahead of the 13 percent sales growth reported for the United States and Western Europe.

Lenovo, which acquired IBM Corp.'s PC unit in 2005, says its global market share last year rose to 9 percent, its highest level to date.

Yang said Lenovo has no plans for foreign acquisitions but is ready to look at any deals that fit its strategic plans.

Corporate spending on computers has yet to rebound but companies are expected to step up purchasing in the second half of this year, Yang said. He said he could not foresee when global PC sales might recover to pre-crisis levels.

"I'm not an economist," he said. "Even for economists, it's difficult to forecast."

___

On the Net:

Lenovo Group: http://www.lenovo.com

Pedro Pan flight veterans mark 50th anniversary

MIAMI (AP) — The last thing 13-year-old Mercedes Argiz's father told her before she boarded the plane from Cuba to the U.S. was: "I will see you for Christmas."

That was nearly half a century ago, just days before the Cuban Missile Crisis. She never saw him again.

Argiz was one of more than 14,000 Cuban children spirited out of the country between late 1960 and 1962 on the so-called Pedro Pan flights organized by Catholic Church leaders following the Cuban revolution. On Friday, she flew from northern Virginia to join more than 100 other Cuban-Americans in Miami to mark the 50th anniversary of their exodus and tour the South Florida refugee camps they first stayed in.

Operation Pedro Pan — the term is Spanish for Peter Pan — was organized at the behest of Cuban parents, fearful of the new communist government's efforts to take control of their children. Most of the refugees spent time in one of several Florida refugee camps before they moved into foster homes or orphanages around the country.

The children thought they would be reunited with their parents within a few weeks. But heightened tension between the two countries following the missile crisis — the nuclear standoff over missile sites on the island — meant many had to wait years to see their parents again. Some never did.

On Friday, dozens of Pedro Pan veterans cheered and shouted as they hugged friends they had not seen since childhood. They waved American and Cuban flags and sang the camp songs they learned upon their arrival, Spanish children's tunes exhorting communists to leave Cuba while promising "Americans" they would be friends.

Cuban officials and some researchers have long maintained the effort was a CIA-backed plot to create a brain-drain from the island. The U.S. government denies those accusations.

The effort drew its name in part from an unaccompanied minor from Cuba named Pedro who came to the attention of the late Bryan O. Walsh, an Irish priest who headed the Catholic Welfare Bureau in Miami. Walsh, who died in 2001, was instrumental in providing care for the young refugees.

Argiz, who now goes by her married name Precht-Matuschek, says it was her own experience that prompted her departure. After the government shut down her Catholic school, she was transferred to a communist-run public school where she excelled. Asked to recite a poem at the school year's closing ceremonies, she planned to thank her family, friends and God, she says. A teacher warned her to replace God with the name of revolutionary leader Fidel Castro. Precht-Matuschek didn't, and the local dignitaries in attendance were not pleased.

A short time later, her family was informed she was selected to go to Russia to continue her studies.

Precht-Matuschek's family was able to get her a temporary visa, promising she would soon return. After a brief stay in the camps, she ended up with a wealthy family in Cincinnati until she was reunited with her younger brother and mother five years later. She says her father, who had owned a canning company before the revolution, was not allowed to leave.

At Camp Matecumbe in the south Miami suburb of Kendall, the former Pedro Pan children walked the grounds of what were once dorms for the newly arrived teenage boys. Julio A. Martinez, now a Miami-Dade County civil engineer, recalled sleeping in tents as the number of children arriving outpaced dormitory space, unable to fall asleep because he was terrified of the rattle snakes that haunted the nearby pine and palmetto tree woods.

Housing developments and shopping malls have displaced most of the tangled forest. The camp is now an activity center for children with disabilities. But for Martinez and his friend Andres Garcia Fernandez of San Francisco, returning for the first time in 50 years, it was as if time had stood still.

They recalled desperately trying to help their parents leave Cuba as they were bounced from camp to camp.

They were both eventually able to help get their parents out as part of the 1963 prisoner exchanges between the U.S. and Cuba following the failed CIA-backed Bay of Pigs invasion of the island by Cuban exiles. Martinez said he was able to convince a Bay of Pigs veteran to claim his stepfather as family because the two shared a last name.

"We had to survive. We had to figure it out. We were adults at the age of 15," he said, blinking away tears.

Martinez says he is ever grateful to the U.S. for giving him the chance to remake his life and raise his two daughters and grandchildren.

Nearby, Garcia's adult daughter, sporting a video camera and nose ring, watched her father protectively.

"It is so good for my dad to be here with his friends," said Rachel Garcia, 22. "He's always talked about it. And he carries so much sadness and grief from that time, but no one where we live in San Francisco has any idea about it. It's just not history people know about."

Precht-Matuschek, a retiree who lives in Spotsylvania, Virginia near her two daughters, says her father was forced to work once a week cutting sugar cane after she left as punishment. Years later, she moved to Germany with her husband, and in 1973 became pregnant with their daughter. Her father was finally granted a visa to visit her there.

He died of a heart attack at age 47 before he could make the trip.

On the Net: www.pedropan.org

Complex Mental Arithmetic: The Contribution of the Number Sense

Young adults were asked to solve two-digit addition problems and to say aloud the result of each calculation step to allow the identification of computation strategies. We manipulated the position of the largest addend (e.g., 25 + 48 vs. 48 + 25) to assess whether strategies are modulated by magnitude characteristics. With some strategies, participants demonstrated a clear preference to take the largest addend as the starting point for the calculation. Hence, rather than applying strategies in an inflexible manner, participants evaluated and compared the operands before proceeding to calculation. Further, mathematically skilled participants tended to use those magnitude-based strategies more often than less skilled ones. The findings demonstrate that magnitude information plays a role in complex arithmetic by guiding the process of strategy selection, and possibly more so for mathematically skilled participants.

Keywords: approximate number system, mathematical ability, mental arithmetic, number sense, strategy

There is now a large body of evidence showing that humans as well as several other animal species possess a specific representational system for quantity, which provides an approximate code for abstract numerical magnitude. This approximate number system is considered as the foundation of the "number sense" (Dehaene, 1997, 2001), a cover term accounting for the core nonverbal abilities allowing to quickly apprehend, estimate, and roughly manipulate numerosities. How the approximate number sense relates to arithmetical abilities is however an open question. The present research aimed at examining the role of the number sense in complex arithmetic by investigating whether the relative magnitude of operands influences the way strategies are selected and applied. Evidence for an influence of the magnitude would be indicative of a contribution of the number sense, because it encompasses magnitude apprehension and comparison.

How do we solve problems such as "48 + 25"? Previous studies have shown that many strategies can be used, and that different people choose amongst different strategies for different problems (e.g., Blöte, Klein, & Beishuizen, 2000; Fuson et al., 1997; Green, Lemaire, & Dufau, 2007; Heirdsfield, 2000; Lemaire & Arnaud, 2008; Lucangeli, Tressoldi, Bendotti, Bonanomi, & Siegel, 2003). Amongst problem features, carry, problem size and parity have been shown to influence arithmetical processing (e.g., Fürst & Hitch, 2000; Imbo, Vantherendonck, & de Rammelaere, 2007; LeFevre, Sadesky, & Bisanz, 1996; Lemaire & Reder, 1999).

Surprisingly, other features such as the position of the largest addend, or more generally the magnitude relations across operands, have hardly been examined despite indications that they might influence the selection and application of calculation strategies. With single-digit addition problems, young children generally prefer to add the value of the smallest addend to the other digit (Groen & Parkman, 1972). This technique, known as the Min strategy, implies that the magnitude of the addends was apprehended precociously during processing and determined the execution of the incrementation. Interestingly, Butterworth, Zorzi, Girelli, and Jonckheere (2001) produced evidence for an addendcomparison stage in adults' arithmetical facts retrieval (but see Robert & Campbell, 2008).

Because magnitude characteristics have an impact on the strategies used to solve simple arithmetic problems in children, and possibly on the organisation of the arithmetical facts network in adults as suggested by Butterworth et al. (2001), they might also intervene in complex arithmetic. Indeed, Trbovich and LeFevre (2003) manipulated operand order and found that, with horizontal presentation, participants were faster to solve two-digit + onedigit problems (e.g., 52 + 3) than the reverse (3 + 52). Although the study did not examine calculation strategies, this finding suggests that the relative magnitude of operands may influence processing. Here, we wondered whether strategies are influenced by magnitude in adults. In a pilot study with complex additions, participants reported preferring to start the calculation from the largest of the two operands rather than systematically from the left (or right) one. Therefore, in the present experiment, we varied the position of the largest addend in a controlled way by presenting the problems twice, as a + b and b + a, to test whether adults evaluate magnitude and use the largest operand as calculation anchor, whatever its position.

Strategies were identified by requiring participants to verbalise online the result of each calculation step. For instance, when solving the "48 + 25" problem, one participant would successively produce 68, then 73. Another might say 50, 75, 73, or 60, 13, 73. We assumed that the Intermediate Results Verbalization (henceforth, IRV) technique would explicitly reveal mental calculation steps without imposing a strong cognitive overload that would modify the course of processing (Kirk & Ashcraft, 2001; SmithChant & LeFevre, 2003), while at the same time avoiding the risk of post hoc reelaboration (Ericsson & Simon, 1980). Latencies to the first intermediate result, as an index of the time required for strategy choice and initialization, and IRV sequences were recorded. Participants also received a standard mathematical test to evaluate the relation between mathematical ability and strategic preferences.

Method

Participants

Fifty undergraduate French-speaking students at the Université libre de Bruxelles (mean age = 20.96 years, 25 men) took part. All had normal or corrected vision. Most of them had received their education in the French Community of Belgium or in France.

Stimuli

Forty-two pairs of addition problems were used. AU contained two-digit operands and required a carry. Addends were sampled across aU tens (excluding the tens themselves) to avoid biases in the response range. In each pair, the position of the largest addend was manipulated by reversing the order of the two addends, so that the largest was located to the right or left side of the sign (see Table 1). Unit-decade compatibihty effects have been reported in Arabic number comparison studies (e.g., Nuerk, Weger, & Willmes, 2001), such that interference was observed when the comparison of the tens and of the units did not match (for instance, 64 vs. 37 slower than 67 vs. 34). Here, we only used compatible addends, so that the unit of the largest addend was always larger than the unit of the smallest addend. Moreover, we modulated the salience of the position manipulation, by varying the numerical distance between the addends. For small distance problems, the difference between addends was smaller than 40; for large distance problems, it was larger than 40. Distance was partly confounded with problem size, which ranged between 30 and 140 and from 70 to 150, respectively (r = .58).

The set of problems was divided into three blocks, in such a way that each block comprised equal numbers of the four kinds of problems. Paired problems appeared in different blocks.

Procedure

Testing occurred individually in a quiet room and required about 40 min. The word-problems subtest of the WAIS ("Arithmetic subtest," Wechsler, 1989) was administered first, as a measure of mathematical ability. Then, participants were asked to mentaUy solve the experimental addition problems. They were asked to say the result of each calculation step as soon as possible. One training block (14 trials) was then passed, followed by three blocks of 28 trials presented in a fixed pseudorandom order. Block order was varied across participants and short breaks were allowed between blocks.

Presentation of the stimuli and timing were controlled by PsyScope running on an Apple Macintosh computer. Stimuli were displayed at the centre of the screen using Arial 120 and participants were seated at a comfortable viewing distance (~50 cm). Each trial started with a central fixation point (a "X" sign) during 600 ms. Then, the problem appeared in a horizontal configuration, and remained on the screen until the end of the trial. The experimenter recorded IRV sequences as well as final responses. Response latencies from the appearance of the stimulus to the first intermediate result produced were coUected through a microphone and voice key. When ready, the experimenter pressed the space key to initiate the next trial after an 800 ms blank interval.

Results

An a level of .05 was used for all statistical tests. Overall, participants made very few errors when solving the problems (M = 7.1%, SD = 7.4). Error rates were entered in a within-subject ANOVA with Position (left vs. right largest addend) and Distance (small vs. large). The analysis revealed no significant effect (Fs < 1).1

Regarding calculation processes, we first analysed the latencies of first verbalizations. AU latencies above 500 ms, except voicekey malfunctions, were taken into account (8% discarded), whatever the final response. The ANOVA revealed a significant effect of Position, F(I, 49) = 5.90, MSE = 317,873, p = .019, η^sup 2^ = .11. Indeed, latencies were shorter when the largest addend was located on the left side of the operation sign (2,871 vs. 3,065 ms). No other significant effect was found (Fs < 1).

Based on previous studies (Blöte et al., 2000; Heirdsfield, 2000), we classified the IRV sequences into four categories (Aggregation, Rounding, Tens & Units, and Pen & Paper). Virtually all responses (97.7%) could be categorized according to that scheme. The four categories generally entailed distinct IRV sequences (see Table 2), so there was little ambiguity in the classification.2 Tens & Units was the most used strategy in terms of overall frequency (34.9, 24.9, 23.7, and 14.3%, respectively, for Tens & Units, Aggregation, Rounding, and Pen & Paper), as well as in terms of number of participants (28, 19, 20, and 1 1 participants used the respective strategies at least once). About 60% of the participants used only one strategy (11, 6, 6, and 6, respectively), 30% used two, with virtually all possible combinations, and few showed evidence of using more than two strategies.

To assess whether problem characteristics influence strategy selection, we conducted ANOVAs on the percentage of use of each strategy, with Position and Distance as within-subject factors. The only significant effect was that Rounding was employed more frequently when the distance was large (26.0%) than when it was small (21.3%), F(1, 49) = 11.52, MSE = 95.9, p = .001, η^sup 2^ = .19.

To assess whether problem characteristics influence strategy application, Aggregation and Rounding were further differentiated as different IRV sequences occur depending on the anchor addend, the operand to which the strategy is applied. In Left-anchored Aggregation, the left addend is used without decomposition (e.g., 48 + 25 would produce the sequence "68, 73"); whereas the opposite happens in Right-anchored Aggregation (i.e., starting from 25: "65, 73"). Similarly, Rounding was split into two variants, which correspond, respectively, to the rounding up of the left ("50, 75, 73") or right addend ("30, 78, 73"). Overall, leftanchored strategies were used more frequently than right-anchored strategies, suggestive of a default left-to-right preference (35.3 vs. 14.6% for Left- and Right-anchored Aggregation; 25.3 vs. 22.0% for Left- and Right-anchored Rounding).

However, over and above this default preference, participants who used these two strategies tended to start quite systematically from the largest operand. As shown in Figure 1, Left-anchored Aggregation was used more when the largest addend was on the left (23.5%) than when it was on the right (11.8%), and the opposite trend was observed for Right-anchored Aggregation (1.3 vs. 13.3%). Similarly for Rounding (see Figure 2), the leftanchored strategy prevailed when the largest addend was on the left (24.1%) relative to the right (1.2%) and the mirror pattern came out for Right-anchored Rounding (0.7 vs. 21.3%, respectively). As a result, 74% of Aggregation IRVs and 96% of Rounding IRVs were based on the largest addend, and both rates were significantly higher than the value expected if participants started from either addend at random, f(18) = 2.45; p = .025; f(19) = 45.60; p < .001 for Aggregation and Rounding, respectively. The magnitude-based preferences did not vary significantly according to distance, both Fs ~1.

Because unit values were systematically larger in the largest addend, one might wonder whether the magnitude-based preferences described above rely on the comparison of the addends values themselves or of their respective units magnitudes. To disentangle the two factors, we ran multiple regression analyses on the percentage of use of Aggregation and Rounding across problems, using the Addends Difference and the Units Difference as predictors. The Addends Difference (left addend value minus right addend value) accounts for the distance between operands and for the position of the largest addend (positive difference when the left operand is the largest, negative otherwise), and similarly for the Units Difference. Hence, if the trend to start from the largest operand occurs because of a comparison of the unit values rather than of the addends values, Units Difference should come out rather than Addends Difference. Furthermore, as the distance manipulation was partially confounded with problem size, the Addends Sum was entered as an additional predictor to capture problem magnitude. Addends Difference, Units Difference, and Addends Sum were entered simultaneously in the analyses.

Each model explained about 75% of the variance, with independent contributions of both Units Difference and Addends Difference (see Table 3). The β coefficients were positive for Left-

anchored strategies, indicating that their use augmented with both larger left addends and larger left units. Conversely, the ß were negative for Right-anchored strategies, suggesting that Rightanchored Aggregation and Rounding were increasingly used with larger right addend and unit values. In sum, the regressions confirm that Aggregation and Rounding are magnitude-based strategies in that they are sensitive to the relative magnitude of both the addends and the units.

Finally, to assess whether strategy selection was related to mathematical skill, we examined the correlations between the percentage of use of each strategy and the raw score obtained in the WAIS subtest (Raw score: M= 13.4; SD = 4.7; Standardised score: M = 9.7; SD = 2.6). No correlation was found for the Tens & Units strategy (r = .009, p = .95). The Pen & Paper strategy was negatively correlated with the WAIS subtest (r = -.45, p = .001), and there was a nonsignificant trend toward a positive correlation for Aggregation (r = .26, p = .07), as well as for Rounding (r = .11, p = .45). When the two magnitude-based strategies were considered together, a positive correlation (r = .31, p = .03) was observed, suggesting that mathematically skilled participants were inclined to use magnitude-based strategies more often.

Discussion

Does the number sense contribute to complex mental arithmetic? Our findings lead to a positive answer by demonstrating that participants use magnitude information to guide and adapt the application of their calculation strategies. The position of the largest addend was one critical determinant of the way Aggregation and Rounding were executed, so that participants choose to start calculation from the largest addend most of the time. Interestingly, this finding is in line with recent observations on complex subtraction problems. Torbeyns, Ghesquière, and Verschaffel (2009) manipulated the numerical features of subtractions and reported that when the subtrahend was large (e.g., 71-59), participants used a strategy of indirect addition (59 + 10 = 69, 69 + 2 = 71, so the response is 10 + 2 = 12) more often than when it was small (e.g., 71-29). Both observations suggest that calculators evoke the magnitude of the operands, compare them, and use the result of this comparison to organise the computation.

By contrast, in our study, no evidence indicative of an influence of magnitude properties was found for the Pen & Paper and Tens & Units strategies, and one might think that they are more dependent on the formal structure of the Arabic notation than on the magnitude characteristics of the addends. Interestingly, the correlations with the WAIS subtest revealed that mathematically skilled participants tend to use Pen & Paper less and either magnitudebased strategy more than less skilled ones. While the correlations could be mediated by cultural, educational, as well as instructional differences (see, e.g., Imbo & LeFevre, 2009), they nevertheless support the distinction between magnitude-based and non magnitude-based calculation strategies.

Why would one want to evaluate and compare operands before doing the computation? Is adding 25 to 48 easier than adding 48 to 25? Every coUeague with whom we discussed the present findings shared the intuition that it is. One possible explanation is that starting from the largest addend constitutes a remnant of the Min strategy (Groen & Parkman, 1972). Further, if one assumes, as for the elementary facts (Butterworth et al., 2001), that sums of tens (e.g., 40 + 20) are stored in long-term memory following a MAX + MIN organisation, the anchoring of Aggregation and Rounding on the largest addend would suit memory retrieval constraints.

An alternative hypothesis is that starting from the largest addend enables the excitation of a region of the analogical number representation system that is closer to the region of the sum (i.e., 73 is closer to 48 than to 25; for a similar hypothesis, see Restie, 1970). This might facilitate the activation of the numerosity detectors corresponding to the response. The envisaged process is similar to one mechanism operating in number priming experiments (Koechlin, Naccache, Block, & Dehaene, 1999; Reynvoet, Brysbaert, & Fias, 2002), in which a prime facilitates the naming or numerical categorization of a target, and more so when the prime and the target are numerically close to each other. Further experiments would be required to determine whether starting from the largest operand is indeed more efficient than starting from the smallest, especially when the former is close to the sum.

In conclusion, we believe that the present findings have implications for the understanding of both arithmetic processing and individual differences in numerical cognition. Regarding processing, they corroborate the notion of a tight connection between magnitude representations and exact calculation mechanisms. Even though it would seem premature to propose a processing model, the data offer several constraints that should be taken into account. Left-anchored strategies were used more frequently overall than right-anchored strategies, suggestive of a natural left-toright preference. The default left-to-right procedure can however be modulated by the evaluation of operands and units values, possibly leading to a reorganization of the calculation. Indeed the longer latencies for the first intermediate result when the largest operand appeared on the right suggest such a reorganization (see also Trbovich & LeFevre, 2003, for a similar finding). Exactly how the comparison of operands and of units influence processing requires further research, but the observation that both come into play is reminiscent of the current debate on the holistic or componential nature of mental magnitude (e.g., Nuerk et al., 2001). In summary, the present findings invite to consider more systematically the influence of magnitude characteristics in behavioural as well as in neuroimaging investigations of calculation processes.

Regarding individual differences, it is worth noticing that not all participants used either Aggregation or Rounding. The trend for mathematically skilled participants to use magnitude-based strategies more often than less skilled ones is compatible with Gallistel and Gelman's assumption that "the acquisition and performance of verbal arithmetic is mediated by the preverbal system for represented numerosity and doing arithmetic computation" (Gallistel & Gelman, 1992, p. 67). One may further wonder whether the strategic preferences are related to individual differences in the number sense, given Halberda, Mazzocco, and Feigenson's (2008) recent data showing a link between the acuity of the approximate number system and mathematical ability. Studies bearing on the role of magnitude in calculation strategies such as the present one contribute to clarify ways in which the approximate number system could impact on learning and performing arithmetic. For instance, children prone to access and use magnitude information would select adaptive incrementation strategies mat might enhance the structure of their arithmetic facts network and the strength of the stored associations. This view opens further perspectives for the analysis of the causal mechanisms through which a core number system deficit might explain certain dyscalculias (Butterworth, 1999; Mussolin, Mejias, & Noël, 2010; Price, Holloway, Räsänen, Vesterinen, & Ansari, 2007; Wilson & Dehaene, 2007) and leads to promote educational and remediation programs that incorporate training on quantity representations (e.g., Wilson, Dehaene, Pinel, Revkin, Cohen, & Cohen, 2006; Wilson, Revkin, Cohen, Cohen, & Dehaene, 2006).

[Sidebar]

Résumé

Des jeunes adultes devaient résoudre des problèmes d'addition à deux chiffres et décrire à haute voix toutes les étapes de leurs calculs afin d'en identifier les stratégies. Nous avons manipulé la position de l'opérande le plus grand (par ex., 25_48 vs 48_25) afin de tester si les stratégies sont modulées par des caractéristiques de magnitude. Avec certaines stratégies, les participants ont démontré une nette préférence pour prendre le plus grand opérande comme point de départ du calcul. Ainsi, plutôt que d'appliquer les stratégies de façon inflexible, les participants ont évalué et comparé les opérandes avant de procéder au calcul. De plus, les participants habiles en mathématiques ont montré une plus grande tendance à utiliser ces stratégies basées sur la magnitude. Les résultats démontrent que l'information de magnitude joue un rôle dans l'arithmétique complexe en guidant le processus de sélection de stratégie, et ce, possiblement de façon plus marquée pour les participants habiles en mathématiques.

Mots-clés : système de nombres approximatifs, habileté mathématique, arithmétique mentale, sens du nombre, stratégie

1 This analysis and the following ones were also run with Gender as an additional factor. No significant effect of Gender was observed, and the inclusion of Gender did not change any of the conclusions.

2 Interrater agreement on a sample of 1,680 items (20 participants) was 96.8%.

[Reference]

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Wilson, A. J., Dehaene, S., Pinel, P., Revkin, S. K., Cohen, L., & Cohen, D. (2006). Principles underlying the design of "The Number Race", an adaptive computer game for remediation of dyscalculia. Behavioral and Brain Functions, 2, 19.

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Received December 29, 2009

Accepted May 17, 2010

[Author Affiliation]

Julie Nys and Alain Content

Université Libre de Bruxelles

[Author Affiliation]

Julie Nys and Alain Content, Laboratoire Cognition, Langage & Développement (LCLD), Université Libre de Bruxelles.

The present work was partially supported by Concerted Research Action (ARC - 06/1 1 - 342) funded by the Direction générale de l'Enseignement non obligatoire et de la Recherche scientifique-Communauté française de Belgique. We thank Jacqueline Leybaert, Wim Gevers, and the reviewers for their helpful comments.

Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Julie Nys, Laboratoire Cognition, Langage et Développement (LCLD), Université Libre de Bruxelles, Av. Roosevelt, 50/CP 191, B - 1050 Brussels, Belgium. E-mail: julienys@ulb.ac.be

Loss means WCup adios for several Mexico players

For many in the Mexico team, the loss to Argentina was probably a World Cup adios.

Veterans Rafael Marquez, Gerardo Torrado, Carlos Salcido, Adolfo Bautista, Oscar Perez, Cuauhtemoc Blanco and Guillermo Franco are unlikely to be included if Mexico qualifies for the 2014 World Cup.

Argentina beat Mexico 3-1 at Soccer City in the round of 16 on Sunday, ending Mexico's hopes of getting past the quarterfinals for the first time.

Marquez will be 35 in 2014 and he doesn't have high hopes of being there.

"I think this could be my last World Cup," he said. "I don't know if there can be another one."

This tournament was the midfielder's third and he holds the Mexico record for most World Cup appearances with 12. For Blanco, Perez and Torrado, it was also their third World Cup.

"I don't feel bad physically," Torrado said. "But I think it's time for me to step aside to give an opportunity to players behind me. Yes, I think this was my last World Cup and it's a shame that we didn't make it to the fifth match."

Blanco didn't want to comment, but at age 37, the forward seems likely to retire before 2014. Perez, a goalkeeper the same age, was called up to the squad at the last minute and at first it seemed he would only be a spectator before being given the No. 1 jersey.

This World Cup "was farewell for me," Perez said. "We're not leaving as we wanted to because there remains this little step that we couldn't get past, but I'm confident that the boys can do it in the future."

Bautista, who was a surprise selection for the Argentina match, played in his one and only World Cup. The 31-year-old forward said it was his debut and farewell.

"I'm sad, because personally I didn't want to retire this way," he said. "It was a World Cup in which I didn't have many chances to play."

Franco, who was born in Argentina but has Mexican citizenship, cried as he talked about his retirement from international football.

"This has all been a beautiful experience but also difficult too," the 33-year-old forward said. "Since making the decision to become Mexican a lot of criticism has been hanging over me and it's been hard because I'm proud to be Mexican."

Salcido, a 30-year-old defender, said he wouldn't be at the 2014 World Cup if Mexico qualifies, but he hopes to be in the team for matches this year and next.

Coach Javier Aguirre's future is also up in the air and there has been speculation that he may return to Europe, where "El Vasco" has managed Osasuna and Atletico Madrid.

"I couldn't change the course of history," Aguirre said. "I lacked something, perhaps convincing the players. But I thank them for supporting my decisions over the past 13 months."

Aguirre took over the team during the World Cup qualifiers after the dismissal of his predecessor, Sven-Goran Eriksson, for a string of poor results.

"I'm a bit disappointed because we worked hard and built up a group that could aspire to something, so I don't have any reason to reproach anybody," Aguirre said.

The coach, however, has been met with criticism over his decision not to start 22-year-old forward Javier Hernandez during the group stage. Many critics say Hernandez, whose magnificent goal against Argentina was his second of the tournament, could have led the team to the top of Group A, and thereby would have avoided playing the South Americans in the round of 16.

O'Grady working on building GOP for '90s

It's not quite so easy.

In the afterglow of former Northwest Side Democrat Jim O'Grady'selection as the first Republican Cook County sheriff in 20 years,some of the local GOP's power brokers waxed poetic about therenaissance of the Chicago GOP.

The voters, though, weren't buying.

Northwestern University Professor Donald H. Haider, recruited bya blue-ribbon panel of Republican suburbanites and lakefronters asthe "blue-ribbon" candidate for mayor, got just 4 percent of the voteon April 7, the weakest showing in the history of the local GOP. Afew witty commentators, evidently assuming that 96 percent of theelectorate made a terrible mistake, have suggested that Haider has apolitical future.

An even bigger disappointment to the local GOP was the shutoutin aldermanic contests. It has been 12 years since a Republicanalderman was last elected and 31 years since a GOP congressmanrepresented the city, and their losing streak is intact.

Yet there's some fire in the ashes, and if O'Grady can attractsome of his old Democratic pals into the Republican camp, it'spossible they may fan the flames enough to get something going.

What made O'Grady's candidacy succeed where other GOP effortshad failed is that the former Chicago police superintendent was awell-known personality with a large and deeply committed following inthe city's ethnic neighborhoods. He didn't have to put on a redjacket to demonstrate that he was one of the guys. As a 30-yearveteran of the Chicago Police Department, O'Grady also had a keenerunderstanding of the local power structure than more traditionalRepublican candidates.

O'Grady told party bosses that it was a blunder to exclude stateSenators Walter W. Dudycz and Robert M. Raica and state Rep. Roger P.McAuliffe, the city's three Republican legislators, fromparticipation in mayoral slatemaking. The suburbs of Kenilworth andHoffman Estates had more input into the selection of Haider than theNorthwest and Southwest sides. It wasn't surprising, then, thatDudycz backed former Ald. Edward R. Vrdolyak (10th), the IllinoisSolidarity Party mayoral nominee, over Haider.

Despite his skepticism about the GOP's mayoral selectionprocess, O'Grady campaigned with Haider and contributed $1,000 to hiscampaign. O'Grady isn't among those, however, encouraging Haider tosee if he can break into double digits in the 1991 mayoral election.

Now that he's in office, O'Grady is showing more interest inparty-building than has any countywide Republican elected officialsince Richard Ogilvie served as sheriff and later County Boardpresident in the 1960s. Like Ogilvie, O'Grady knows how to use jobsand connections to build political alliances.

At the same time, O'Grady has won high marks fromlaw-enforcement officials and editorial boards for his administrationof the sheriff's office. He is keeping his campaign pledge tosharply reduce the number of part-time deputies and has signed up topprofessionals for key positions.

O'Grady is already being promoted for political advancement.One of Gov. Thompson's chief political associates is suggesting thatO'Grady could be a formidable contender for the Illinois governorshipin 1990.

White House press secretary Jim Brady recently described O'Gradyas one of the GOP's brightest prospects in the Midwest. PresidentReagan and Republican National Chairman Frank Fahrenkopf also havetouted O'Grady as a rising Republican star.

With Thompson, a Chicagoan, expected to quit after four terms,two Downstaters, Secretary of State Jim Edgar of Charleston and Lt.Gov. George Ryan of Kankakee, are viewed as the leading GOPcandidates to succeed him. O'Grady is probably better known thaneither of them in the Chicago area, which has more than 60 percent ofthe Republican primary vote.

O'Grady, though, says he wouldn't run against Edgar, with whomhe shared a political headquarters in 1986, or against Ryan, withwhom he shares an Irish heritage and a conservative politicalphilosophy. If Edgar and Ryan decided not to run, then O'Grady mightbe interested.

Another possibility is that O'Grady could be tapped forlieutenant governor to bring geographic balance to a ticket headed bya Downstater. Or he might emerge as the party's nominee for Illinoissecretary of state.

As the ranking member of the Cook County Republican Party,O'Grady might decide to run for president of the County Board if hisDemocratic pal, George W. Dunne, doesn't seek an unprecedented sixthterm in 1990. Ogilvie made the same move in 1966, then used theboard presidency as a springboard to the governor's mansion.

But O'Grady, a veteran cop, isn't eager to become a man withouta star. So, at least for now, O'Grady is focusing on becoming thefirst two-term Republican sheriff of Cook County.

Political Editor Steve Neal's column appears Mondays andFridays.

US buses request stopped at a pair

Geoffrey so proud of his Routemasters PRINTED in colour on thefront page of the Gazette on June 4, 1971, was Geoffrey Upson'sminiature London bus. The electrical engineer and motor racingenthusiast was asked to produce two toy Routemasters to show off thebest of British to an American audience. Now, almost 40 years to theday his children posed beside the seven-seater, he spoke to TanyaRosie about a life powered by battery.

THE creation of Geoffrey Upson, of Upson Mobility Vehicles,stands proudly as the only colour image in the Gazette in 1971.

Mr Upson, now 78, built two miniature replicas of a London busthat delighted the children and adults of Brentwood alike.

The vehicles were five feet tall, carried seven youngsters andwere to be sold for Pounds 1,000 apiece - equivalent to about Pounds19,000 today.

Not a single bus was sold, but Mr Upson's story is one far fromfailure.

The father of four made the buses for an exhibition called"British Week" in San Francisco.

Each Routemaster cost Pounds 2,500 to make, and only two wereproduced, but Mr Upson remembers the project with fondness.

Attention Parked up outside his company premises on Roman Road,Mountnessing, the buses gained much attention from neighbours.

"A lot of people were interested and tried to come to see it," hesaid.

His daughters were pictured next to the bus in the 1971 image,and loved their father's work.

Mr Upson, who has been married for 51 years, said: "We had afarm, so the children had plenty of space to try them out."

The buses toured Belgium, appeared on Blue Peter, and wereeventually flown to the US.

He said: "The Americans were very excited to see them becausethey love anything English.

"To see a bus in miniature and working was of great interest tothem."

The British Week assignment was just one episode in a lifeimmersed in vehicles.

The son of a buyer for Ford, Mr Upson entered the company himselfat 14 as a mailboy.

There, he learnt all about vehicles and was even taught to driveby one of the chauffeurs.

He was later asked to become a representative, which had itsperks: "They said 'Now you're a representative of Ford, you'rerepresenting Henry Ford', so I used to travel everywhere first classand got a new car."

But Mr Upson now manages his own company, making mobilityvehicles for the disabled.

Rewarding He said: "It's a rewarding job in the sense thateverybody comes in, they go away and you've helped them, which isgood."

His industriousness has also earned him the respect of hiscolleagues and customers alike. "If I had a job to do and it meantgoing in on a Saturday or a Sunday, I went in," he said. "It was myjob. That's what's important and people notice that."

Mr Upson still works a five-day week and doesn't see himselfretiring any time soon. He said: "I can't walk away because when Istarted it was seven days a week, working all day, then coming homeand doing my paperwork in the evening.

"The ladies enjoy a holiday, but I think the men get a bit fed upand want to get back."

Mr Upson added: "If somebody asks me to do something cheap, Iwouldn't get excited about that at all, but if somebody wanted aproduct that they could be proud of, and I could be proud of, then Iwould be happy to do it."

Mr Upson's little red buses may not have sold, but they werevehicles of quality, and it is this emphasis on excellence that hasmade him successful throughout his long career.

Kenyan opposition threatens to halt regional meeting with mass rallies as peace talks continue

A U.N. fact-finding mission has arrived in Kenya to assess allegations of grave human rights violations since the country's disputed presidential election, which unleashed weeks of deadly violence.

The three-week mission _ sent by the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour _ arrived Wednesday and will gather information from the government and the opposition, along with victims and witnesses. The findings will be made public.

"Truth and accountability are of critical importance in putting an end to the violence and preventing future human rights violations," Arbour said in a statement Tuesday from her agency's headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland.

U.N. associate spokesman Farhan Haq, at U.N. headquarters in New York, confirmed that the fact-finding mission had "arrived in Kenya today."

The Dec. 27 election, which foreign and local observers say was rigged, returned President Mwai Kibaki to power for a second five-year term after opposition leader Raila Odinga's lead evaporated overnight.

The ensuing violence has killed more than 1,000 people and has devastated the country's economy.

Violence continued in western Kenya, scene of some of the worst postelection clashes.

Police said they fired to disperse hundreds of residents who had barricaded the gates of the police station in Litein on Tuesday, 145 miles (235 kilometers) west of Nairobi. Two teachers were killed.

In a forest nearby, officers on Wednesday retrieved 18 bodies with gunshot and machete wounds. They had been killed in four days of clashes between rival gangs which police stopped by throwing grenades.

Aside from clashes with police, much of the fighting has been between rival ethnic groups, with much of the anger aimed at Kibaki's Kikuyu tribe, long resented for dominating politics and the economy.

The violence has been shockingly brutal in a country once considered among the most stable in Africa, with thugs using crude weapons such as machetes and bows and poisoned arrows. The top U.S. diplomat for Africa said last month she saw the violence as ethnic cleansing, but the State Department backed away from her statement, saying the U.S. had not yet concluded whether atrocities had been committed.

Odinga is demanding a new election, but Kibaki has refused, arguing his re-election was fair.

On Wednesday, Odinga's Orange Democratic Movement threatened to organize more mass rallies and stop a gathering of African foreign ministers in Nairobi because they were not consulted about the meeting.

The opposition's previous protests have turned violent, with police firing tear gas and live bullets to break up crowds. "The (threat) of a mass rally stands," said Ahmed Hashi, an ODM spokesman, adding the party "will make sure that they do not meet here."

He did not say when or where the protests would take place or what other measures the party planned.

The opposition is upset at not being consulted over plans for a meeting Thursday of the foreign ministers from an East African bloc known as IGAD, which Kibaki heads.

"This government is an illegitimate one and the arrival of the ministers means recognizing an illegitimate government," Hashi said. "Let them go elsewhere."

Last month, former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan managed to bring together Kibaki and Odinga who agreed to peace talks aimed at breaking the political impasse and ending weeks of postelection violence.

U.S. State Department spokesman Tom Casey said the talks were going forward. "The most important thing for us is that these two parties work together to end the violence and to arrive at the kind of political settlement that they agree to, whether that's a power-sharing arrangement or some other kind of outcome," he said.

On Tuesday, the two sides began discussing deeper political issues, which Annan said would be tough. But progress was possible _ "there are no hard-liners in the talks," he told reporters. The talks, expected to last two weeks, continued Wednesday.

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Associated Press writers Malkhadir M. Muhumed and Matti Huuhtanen in Nairobi, and Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations, contributed to this report.

Act too Sports world makes for one giant stage

When it comes to being like Mike, the play's the thing.

As in the screenplay.

Sports Illustrated reports 20th Century Fox has purchased a moviescript titled "Like Miko." The plot involves a teenager who receivesa pair of Michael Jordan basketball shoes, discovers their magicalpowers, becomes a star and leads the Bulls to a title. Obviously thework of a fiction writer.

Rap star Lil' Bow Wow is up for the starring role. Jordan has notcommitted to the project.

"I'm hoping he'll be in it," screenwriter Michael Elliot said ofJordan, whose "Space Jam" was a box-office success.

Failure is well-documented in Boston, where the Red Sox have notwon a World Series since 1918. (They sold Babe Ruth to the Yankees in1920 so owner Harry Frazee could finance the musical "No NoNanette.") Last Friday in Boston, a baseball musical-"The Curse ofthe Bambino"-opened.

Bo Eason, brother of former Illini and NFL quarterback Tony Eason,may have a play heading to Broadway in the fall, SI reports. Theformer Oilers defensive back's "Runt of the Litter" is asemiautobiographical tale about living with a domineering father andstruggling in the shadow of his brother. It is not a musical.

Ex-Mountaineer rattling in playoffs

DAILY MAIL SPORTSWRITER

Accept the concept or not, it seems NCAA Division I-A was a farmteam for Division I-AA.

Such is the case of JaJuan Seider, who learned the art ofquarterbacking while at West Virginia University from 1995-98.Facing a final year on the bench, Seider moved to I-AA Florida A&M,where he has become one of the most prolific performers in thedivision.

"It's unbelievable," Seider said Wednesday night. "To come here,start eight games and get like 40 touchdowns."

Seider briefly spoke of the weather in Tallahassee. Thetemperature was rapidly descending as practice ended. In fact,Florida's panhandle felt the 20s Wednesday evening.

He did not seem to mind toiling in the chill. After all, had hestayed in Morgantown, he would not be practicing at all. TheMountaineers ended their disappointing 4-7 season last weekend.

"It was a tough one," Seider said. "I was feeling their pain whenthey were losing."

Some of his WVU-based friends probably felt Seider's gleeSaturday when he ran and threw for a combined six touchdowns in the13th-seeded Rattlers' 44-29 upset of No. 4 Appalachian State atBoone, N.C., in the first round of the I-AA playoffs. That boostsA&M (9-3) into Saturday's quarterfinal against No. 5 Troy State (11-1).

Seider did not choose A&M until June. Rightfully convinced hewould see limited playing time as a senior behind record-settingMarc Bulger, Seider followed the lead of another Big East Conferencequarterback who found playing time and statistical happiness inTallahassee. Ex-Temple performer Pat Bonner is also a Florida native(Fort Lauderdale) like Seider (Belle Glade). Bonner played lastseason at A&M.

Including the playoff game, Seider has completed 182-of-295attempts for 2,361 yards and 26 touchdowns with just threeinterceptions. The 6-foot-2, 228-pounder - down from the 245 helugged during a brief try at linebacker at WVU - also ran 136 timesfor 668 yards and 13 scores. He did not become the starter until thefourth game.

"They throw a lot and the quarterback calls all the plays,"Seider said. "I'm more of a coach that's playing the game."

Another former Mountaineer briefly played at A&M this season.Tailback Alvin Swoope left after one game.

"He gave up too early," Seider said.

His stat-compiling senior year has brought Seider attention. Hewon he Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference's Offensive Player of theYear honor and is one of 16 finalists for the Walter Payton Award, I-AA's Heisman equivalent. Seider said there has been interest fromCanadian Football League teams.

Seider, who keeps in touch with several Mountaineers (includingassistant coach Doc Holliday), could appear next month inMorgantown. He will need one class to complete his degree.

"I want my degree to be from there," Seider said.

"I wish," he added, "they gave me more of an opportunity. Not totake anything away from Marc. They made up their mind too fast."

Writer Mike Cherry can be reached at 348-5170.

'Salt' in Jolie's wounds

The producers of Angelina Jolie's ''Salt'' film insist the Oscar winner is just fine, but friends of the actress are concerned her recent on-set collapse indicates she's verging on total exhaustion.

''She's just doing too much,'' a longtime associate of Jolie said Tuesday. ''Angie's trying to be a supermom, a superstar actress and a super partner [to Brad Pitt] -- and it's just getting overwhelming."

Jolie complained she couldn't catch her breath, felt dizzy and briefly collapsed while shooting scenes for the spy thriller in New York the other day. Jolie reportedly had not been eating properly -- trying to get by drinking dietary supplement shakes.

''She's way too thin -- even by Angie's standards, and that's really skinny to begin with,'' said the source, who was on the set when Jolie fainted.

After seeking medical attention, Jolie was declared fit to continue working on the movie.

- Though they have plenty of help, including nannies and assistants to help with their children, ''she is so hands-on with those kids ... and is never properly rested. Trying to do it all could do her in,'' added the source.

ROMANTIC RUMBLINGS: Though Paris Hilton's official camp is laughing this off, a longtime member of the hotel heiress' inner circle swears Hilton's current beau, ex-baseball player and reality TV star Doug Reinhardt, has popped the question. Paris told him he's hot, but it's ''too soon'' to get hitched.

- Despite being unemployed in the midst of this tough economy, Chicago's own reality TV survivor Jen Schefft isn't delaying her walk down the aisle to marry trader Joe Waterman next month. ''The Bachelor'' and ''The Bachelorette'' veteran's tips for marrying on a budget are featured in a big spread in Us Weekly -- hitting newsstands Friday.

- Maybe a few of Dwyane Wade's teammates were pulling a belated April's Fool joke on him, but Wade's Chicago-based sports agent Henry I. Thomas insists there's no truth to stories circulating about the NBA star telling people Gabrielle Union is expecting his baby.

STAGE SET: Goodman Theatre's artistic director Robert Falls, now in New York prepping for the Broadway run of ''Desire Under the Elms,'' already is looking ahead to next year. Falls has signed on to direct Rebecca Gilman's new play, ''A True Story of the Johnstown Flood,'' premiering at the Goodman next March. Previews for "Elms," starring Brian Dennehy, begin Tuesday.

TV TALK: Don't know exactly what Tina Fey and the ''30 Rock'' honchos will do with it, but a clip of Tracy Morgan's infamous, hilariously bizarre (and seemingly stoned) appearance on the WGN-Channel 9 morning news awhile back will resurface as part of ''30 Rock's'' April 23 episode.

Since Morgan's original appearance on Channel 9, the segment (including Morgan coming on to Robin Baumgarten and crawling all over the top of the news set's desk) has become a big YouTube hit.

KEEP HER AWAY! According to a spokeswoman for the Beverly Hills Police Department, members of Samantha Ronson's family -- including fashion designer Charlotte Ronson -- picked up information about obtaining restraining orders on Monday but have yet to file for one.

This comes after all the weekend furor involving Ronson's now-dumped girlfriend Lindsay Lohan being banned from a big party Charlotte hosted Friday night.

It sure wouldn't take a genius to figure out exactly who the potential restraining order would target, would it?

DADDY DEAREST: Longtime Barbados friends of Rihanna are somewhat surprised by her father, Ronald Fenty's, ongoing rants about the possibility that Chris Brown may get a reduced sentence or just probation for allegedly beating Rihanna on Grammy weekend.

While Brown has pleaded not guilty to the charges, a close pal of the Fenty family reminds us that Ronald himself reportedly was guilty of abusing his wife and daughter ''in the not too distant past. ... For him to talk about beating women takes a lot of gall."

Bill Zwecker is seen at 5:50, 6:25 and 11:25 a.m. weekdays on WBBM-Channel 2.

Photo: Angelina Jolie collapsed while filming a scene in "Salt," in which she plays a CIA agent accused of spying. She's reportedly tired and thin. ; Photo: Tracy Morgan ;