JAPAN CONCERNED BY REPORTS OF U.S. SPYING.(MAIN)

Byline: Associated Press

TOKYO Government leaders said Monday that Japan's relations with the United States could be seriously damaged if a report that the CIA spied on Japanese representatives at auto talks proves true.

The New York Times reported Sunday that the CIA eavesdropped on conversations between Japanese negotiators and automakers during the talks in Geneva this year, reporting the results daily to U.S. Trade Representative Mickey Kantor.

``If true, I'm afraid this is a matter of grave …

Crimean Tatars stage protest to demand land plots

About two dozen Crimean Tatars staged a noisy rally outside Ukraine's government headquarters on Wednesday to demand land in compensation for family property seized in World War II.

Protesters blew horns and chanted Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko's name, urging the government to allocate 15,000 plots of land to Tatars in the Ukraine's Black Sea peninsula.

Several protesters said they have been on a hunger strike for almost a week and demonstrators vowed to carry on until their demands are met.

Hunger striker Yulian Rybchynsky, who returned to the Crimean capital Simferopol three years ago, said he wants compensation for family land seized when …

Teens usually come up short when asked how money works

WASHINGTON - They like to spend it, but young people don't know much about how money works.

On average, high school seniors answered correctly only 52.4 percent of questions about personal finance and economics, according to a nationwide survey released Wednesday. Still, that was a smidgen better than the 52.3 percent in the previous survey in 2004 and was up from the lowest-ever score of 50.2 percent in 2002.

"This indicates that, despite the attention now paid to the lack of financial literacy, the problem is not about to resolve itself anytime soon," said Lewis Mandell, a professor of finance and managerial economics at the University of Buffalo School of Management who …

CCB Financial Corp.(Brief Article)

DURHAM -- CCB Financial Corp. got shareholder approval for its merger with Memphis-based National Commerce Bancorp. Six shareholders, controlling about 2.6% of the stock, groused that their side …

Reports on poultry science findings from University of Georgia provide new insights.

According to recent research published in the journal Poultry Science, "Skip-a-day feed restriction is a common industry management technique that is used in rearing broiler breeder pullets. Often pullets are maintained on a skip-a-day feeding program after they have been photostimulated for reproduction, and in some cases until 5% egg production is reached."

"The current research examined whether providing daily nutrient intake during the critical period of ovarian development that follows photostimulation for reproduction improves subsequent egg production. Pullets and cockerels were fed on a skip-a-day basis during rearing. Pullets were weighed at 20 wk of age and …

SPORTS TEACHES LIFE LESSONS BY ISSAC J. BAILEY.(MAIN)

I can still see their faces.

They were standing in long overcoats next to a fence surrounding the football field, about six former high school football players who had followed us to a playoff game more than a hundred miles from home.

It was my last game as a high school player. And it was cold -- really cold -- and rainy. Yet they came. And cheered and clapped and high fived. As long as we were winning.

For most of the game we were, until a last-minute touchdown pass. They were crushed, their disappointment immediately turning to disgust.

It dripped from their faces.

They mumbled, waved us off and walked away. It hurt. Bad. …

Outlandish!(art ACROSS the CURRICULUM)(Lureca Outland's quilt)

"We had to vote to get the things we want. Now these kids can vote and they don't." *

--Lureca Outland as quoted in article "A Patchwork Life that Spans a Century" by Andriena Baldwin in The Demopolis Times, March 13, 2006.

Back when men's trousers were called "britches," Lureca Outland (b. 1904) made the quilt to your left. It is called "Britchy" as a reference to the material from which it was made--a selection of men's britches. The "Roman Stripes" part of the title refers to sewing together several narrow strips to make striped blocks that alternate directions.

Imagine, in this case, hand cutting the legs from different pants in inch-wide increments all the way from the ankle to the hip, thus making lots of skinny, leg-long strips. Gather as many different colors of these long strips as possible, and stitch them together lengthwise. Cut up more pants and repeat. When you have five or six very long lengths with four strips each, cut them into manageable squares. Turn the squares so the stripes alternate vertically and horizontally. Sew the squares together, keeping in mind the aesthetic placement of colors and patterns: blue next to gray, black next to maroon, solid next to plaid, and so on.

While all the colors in the world were available …