Supermodels aren't super anymore!

Munich: A radiant smile, a seductive glance, it takes supermodel Naomi Campbell only three seconds on the red carpet to win over the crowds. Admiring photographers call out to her, while teenagers behind the barriers are so nervous they can't say a word.

Naomi is considered one of the remaining few major star models, who fascinate the next generation, as seen by her recent appearance at the GQ Style Night during the Munich sports fair.

"She's an icon," Hana Nitsche, who won third place on Heidi Klum's television programme Germany's Next Top Model, says about the British supermodel. "She has her very own walking style and fantastic charisma," she adds.

Naomi masters glamorous appearances like this one with perfection. She is often considered one of the few remaining big stars of the fashion industry.

In the 1990s, women like Cindy Crawford or Claudia Schiffer gained world fame through their looks, banking breathtaking sums for their appearances.

However, the star cult has been waning since the beginning of the new millennium. Younger and particularly cheaper models have been replacing the big stars on catwalks and at photo shoots. It's getting harder to become a top model.

"I think you can learn an awful lot from her, she has so much experience," says Barbara Meier, who since Klum's television vote is now the reigning Next Top Model in Germany. "However, I have my difficulties with the word 'role model'," Barbara adds. "It's not that I say: I want to be exactly like her. I do want to try to be successful in my own way."

Some colleagues consider Naomi as someone with unnerving airs and graces. The young models don't want to be like that at all.

"Everybody always says she's a b***h. I'd really like to know whether that's true," Hana says. But she would rather not emulate the attitude of the experienced colleague. "Each model should be an individual," Hana says.

Naomi was groomed for the catwalk at a young age. Her mother did everything she could to make her daughter a celebrity. Naomi left school at 14, and since then her model career has been rocketing. However, Naomi soon acquired a reputation as an eccentric superstar, who sometimes trashes hotel rooms in a rage or throws mobile phones at domestic staff.

For her physical attack on a maid, a court ordered the star model to do a week's community service with the New York City sanitation department, where Naomi appeared for her shift in black stiletto boots and a knee-long black coat.

Barbara doesn't want to go down that road. "I think a lot would have to happen for me to flip out," she says. However, the job can sometimes be nerve-wracking, she admits.

"There will always be envy between models. That's part of the job. If you work in this area this shouldn't bother you," Barbara adds.

But Barbara isn't quite sure whether she really wants to be a world star - even though the next few weeks are already booked up with fashion shows and photo shootings.

"Of course I want to try and be successful, and I will work hard for it. But I believe I can't even judge what it's like to be a star. I do wonder whether you really want it if that means you will no longer have a private sphere at all."

NFL Has Faith

Sunday Night Football just got a little bit country.

Faith Hill has been recruited by the NFL to sing the opening theme to the series this season, taking over the crooning duties from last year's songster, Pink.

As per tradition, Hill's rendition of "Waiting All Day for Sunday Night," an ode to the weekly football game sung to the tune of Joan Jett's "I Hate Myself for Loving You," will air prior to each season game. Hill has already recorded the tune, along with several team-specific variations, to be played before the match-ups.

"It's exciting to have been asked to sing the open for this season's Sunday Night games," the five-time Grammy winner said. "Maybe now I'll be able to get my jersey size and some better seats for the games?"

Hill recorded the songs in New York earlier this year and shot an accompanying video for the tune in Los Angeles.

"I'm honored to have been asked," Hill told the Associated Press. "I truly am a football fan. Particularly, men find it hard to believe that women can be big fans of football, but I love it. I loved it in junior high and high school. But being married to a man who schedules his life around football games, it makes it a lot easier."

Not least of all because Hill's hubby, Tim McGraw, has already paved the way in football theme songs. Several years ago, he recorded a NFL-skewed version of his hit "I Like It, I Love It," which accompanied the halftime reel on Monday Night Football.

Hill will sing a special version of the song Sept. 6 in NFL Opening Kickoff, when the Super Bowl champs, the Indiana Colts, host the New Orleans Saints. She'll perform in a special pregame show, along with Kelly Clarkson and John Mellencamp.

In the meantime, Hill is scheduled to appear on the New York-set season premiere of The Ellen DeGeneres Show, on which she'll debut her new single, "Red Umbrella." The episode airs Sept. 5.

Italian sues Fanny Ardant for praising guerrilla

The son of a former Italian policeman killed by the Red Brigades said on Tuesday he was suing actress Fanny Ardant, who is due to attend this week's Venice film festival, for calling the founder of the guerrilla group her "hero."

Piero Mazzola told Reuters he had filed suit against the French actress on grounds that she had praised a murderer. In Italy it is illegal to praise someone for committing a crime.

The 58-year-old star sparked an angry response in Italy last week when she told an Italian magazine she admired jailed guerrilla Renato Curcio because, unlike leaders of the 1968 Paris student revolt, he did not abandon leftist ideals.

"For me Renato Curcio is a hero. I always considered the Red Brigades phenomenon to be very moving and passionate," she told the magazine "A" in an interview, adding that Curcio "didn't become a businessman" like French leftists of his generation.

Conservative politicians in Italy called for Ardant, former partner of director Francois Truffaut, to stay away from the film festival, which opens on Wednesday and where her latest film is premiering.

Ardant has since offered a contrite apology in an interview with Italian state television, saying she was sorry to have "caused suffering to people who have already suffered."

But Mazzola, a lawyer whose father was gunned down with a colleague near Venice in 1974 -- one of the Red Brigades' first victims -- said her apologies were not enough.

"Curcio was convicted for the killing my father, among other crimes. So, together with my family, I have filed legal proceedings against Ardant because she is praising a murderer," Mazzola said.

"I just can't see how killing people can be called heroism," he said. "She may see the Red Brigades as passionate while sipping champagne in Paris, but for us it's very different."

TRIP TO VENICE CANCELLED?

Italian media said Ardant was thinking of cancelling her trip to Venice out of fear that the controversy would overshadow the release of "L'Ora di Punta," by Italian director Vincenzo Marra, whose premiere is scheduled for September 6.

"Let her come to Venice and realize that not so long ago this land was soaking with blood. And I don't mean the tomato sauce they use in movies, I mean real blood," Mazzola said.

Marco Mueller, the director of the festival, said it was up to Ardant to decide whether to come.

"We are obviously ready to welcome her, but that does not mean that we agree with her views about some of the most tragic events of our recent past," Mueller told Reuters.

Curcio was a founder of the Marxist urban guerrilla group and was jailed for a series of killings and kidnappings starting in 1970 that became known as the "years of lead."

The band's most notorious act was the kidnap and murder of Christian Democrat leader Aldo Moro in 1978.

Britney Spears Scraps Wig, Stepping Up Her Game

Britney Spears has has decided to ditch the wigs and hats… at least for the time being. The troubled pop tart was spotted out showing off her real hair for the first time since she gave herself a buzz cut six LONG months ago.

The more natural look may be the first of her reported moves to step up her custody case against ex-husband Kevin Federline.


Sources close to Britney claim that she has been busily working on building her case against K-Fed. One of these insiders revealed: “It’s not just Kevin’s partying and gambling, there are all sorts of things she thinks lawyers should know about.”

Continuing on, the source claims: “She may not be Snow White, but she is determined to show he is no knight in shining armor either.”

Did anyone really think that he was to begin with?

Enjoy the first picture of a wigless Bitney. Also included are some shots of her out partying on the August 16.

Miss Teen USA 2007 - Hilary Carol Cruz

Miss Teen USA 2007 - Hilary Carol Cruz

It is the dream of every starry eyed teenager in USA. It is the title that young and aspiring pretty ones, year after year, battle for. Yes, it is Miss Teen USA. It was not any different this time around as beautiful and talented contestants fought their way to the top race.

As everyone waited with baited breaths, Miss Colorado, Hilary Carol Cruz, was announced the Miss Teen USA 2007, during the Live NBC telecast on the glittering evening of August 24.

A star-studded panel of judges chose Hilary Carol Cruz, Miss Colorado Teen USA, as Miss Teen USA 2007. Miss Teen USA 2006, Katie Blair made a stunning appearance and became a part of the excitement as she crowned Hilary.

Hilary who is from Louisville, Colorado, could not stop smiling as the overwhelming feeling of being crowned a beauty queen took over her.

Nineteen-year-old singing superstar, Kat DeLuna performed "Whine Up" and the sensational Jonas Brothers performed a medley of their hits "Hold On" and "S.O.S." to add the necessary glamour and entertainment quotient to the event.

Hilary seemed on top of the world as she joined arms with Riyo Mori, Miss Universe 2007 and Rachel Smith, Miss USA 2007.

The judges for this year’s competition included: Coty Beauty Vice President- Jay Clarke; Victoria’s Secret model- Selita Ebanks; William Morris Agency’s Senior Vice President- John Ferriter; actress- Melissa Joan Hart; former Miss Teen USA 2004 and Days of our Lives actress- Shelley Hennig; actor, Joey Lawrence; Warner Bros. Records Vice President of Artist Development - Nick Light; professional skateboarder and MTV’s My Life of Ryan star - Ryan Sheckler; Friday Night Lights actress - Aimee Teegarden; and President of YMI Jeans - David Vered.

The judges chose Hilary as their Miss Teen USA 2007 as other contestants looked-on and joined in the celebrations.

Throughout the live television event, the contestants competed in three categories: swimsuit, evening gown and interview, and the 'Top Five' finalists were selected.

Katie Blair, Miss Teen USA 2006, crowned her successor at the conclusion of this two-hour primetime telecast, before an estimated worldwide viewing audience of more than 250 million in over 70 countries.
The other positions were:

First Runner Up: Alyssa Campanella, Miss New Jersey Teen USA, will assume the duties of Miss Teen USA 2007 if for some reason Hilary Carol Cruz cannot fulfill her responsibilities.

Second Runner Up: Kaitlin Coble, Miss North Carolina Teen USA

Third Runner Up: Lauren Caitlin Upton, Miss South Carolina Teen USA

Fourth Runner Up: Chelsea Welch, Miss West Virginia Teen USA

Miss Teen USA 2007

Miss Teen USA 2007 contestants dance on stage during the preliminary show at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium in Pasadena in California on August 19, 2007. The 25th Miss Teen USA pageant will be held on August 24 in Pasadena. (Photo: Reuters)

Miss Teen USA 2007 contestant Kylee Lin from San Rafael, California walks on stage during the preliminary show at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium in Pasadena, California. (Photo: Reuters)

Miss Teen USA 2007 contestant Allison Farrow from Earleville, Maryland walks on stage during the preliminary show at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium in Pasadena, California. (Photo: Reuters)

Miss Teen USA 2006 Katie Blair gestures on stage during the Miss Teen USA 2007 preliminary show at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium in Pasadena, California. At the conclusion of the final night of competition, Katie will crown her successor.(Photo: Reuters)

A Perfect 10 Miss Teen USA 2007 contestant Logan Brook Travis from Amite, Louisiana walks on stage during the preliminary show at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium in Pasadena, California. (Photo: Reuters)

'High School Musical 2' sets record

"High School Musical 2" proved the Disney Channel can boast of more than a one-hit TV wonder.

Friday's premiere drew an estimated audience of 17.2 million, which would make it the most-watched basic cable program ever, according to Nielsen Media Research. It more than doubled the viewership of the first movie, "High School Musical," which drew 7.7 million in 2006.

The basic cable record had been held by a "Monday Night Football" game on ESPN in 2006, which was watched by 16 million.

"High School Musical" has become a cultural phenomenon with hit records, concerts and newly minted young stars including Ashley Tisdale and Zac Efron. The sequel followed the summer adventures of students Sharpay and Troy and their fellow Wildcats of East High.

World's oldest person sprightly until end

The world's oldest person Yone Minagawa, who has died at age 114, was as sprightly as ever until the moment she got into bed for her eternal rest, her carer said Tuesday.

Minagawa, who enjoyed good food and a bit of alcohol, died Monday at a nursing home in Japan's southwestern Fukuoka prefecture.

"She was sprightly until a day before," the caretaker told AFP. "When I found her, she looked as if she was sleeping peacefully."

Born on January 4, 1893, Minagawa was widowed at an early age. She raised her five children by selling flowers and vegetables in a coal mining town.

Stout-hearted even after age 100, Minagawa would drink some Japanese sake or other alcoholic beverage every day, although in more recent years her favourite treat became sweets.

"She would tell me, 'arigato, thank you,'" saying the phrase both in Japanese and English, the caretaker said. "That was her habit."

"She was very charming," said the caretaker, who declined to give her name.

Minagawa -- born the same year as Mao Zedong and Mae West -- counted her healthy appetite and getting a good night's sleep as the secrets of her longevity.

"She was the type of person who would always show such compassion for other people," said one of her grandchildren, Akitoshi Yasunaga, quoted by Jiji Press. "I believe she lived out her life."

Her reign as the world's oldest person lasted just over six months. The Guinness Book of World Records certified her as the world's oldest person after Emma Faust Tillman, the daughter of freed American slaves, died in January.

The next to become the world's oldest person is set to be another American woman, according to the International Committee on Supercentenarians, a US-based group which documents longevity records.

Edna Parker, who lives in the midwestern state of Indiana, is also 114, having been born on April 20, 1893, according to the group.

Japanese women are the world's oldest living people, with an expectancy of 85.81 years, in what experts attribute to a traditionally healthy diet and a high standard of medical care.

More than 28,000 Japanese are 100 years or older, up from a mere 1,000 at the start of the 1980s.

Following Minagawa, the oldest person in Japan is Shitsu Nakano, 113, who also lives in a nursing home in Fukuoka prefecture. She is now fourth among the world's supercentenarians.

Southern Japan, with its more balmy climate, is particularly renowned for longevity.

The world's oldest man is also Japanese -- Tomoji Tanabe, a 111-year-old who lives in southern Miyazaki prefecture.

Japanese men are the world's second oldest with a life expectancy of 78.8 -- second only to men in Iceland, who on average live to be 79.4.

However, the longevity is a mixed blessing for a country with a declining birthrate, with the government fearing that a small pool of workers will eventually be supporting a mass of pensioners.

Saudi Arabia makes first music video

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates - The Arab world's hugely popular music video industry often features sexy performers in revealing clothes crooning about love.

But the first clip to be fully produced in Saudi Arabia has a message of a different kind: You can be cool and devout.

The video is unusual because it was made in a country where the religious establishment considers music un-Islamic and bans it in public places. And the main cast includes a Saudi woman, something rare in a work produced inside the kingdom.

But in a sign of Saudi impatience with the restrictions, "Malak Ghair Allah" or "You Only Have God to Count On" was a hit when it was launched at a popular mall in the western seaport of Jiddah last week. Hundreds of people showed up to watch it on a giant screen in the mall's main hall.

"People didn't stop clapping. Some had tears in their eyes," Kaswara al-Khatib, the video's director, told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.

The video is expected to air on most of the Middle East's more than 30 music satellite TV channels this week. Despite fears among the Saudi clergy over the corrupting influence of music videos, the clip had implicit government approval. The credits thank "those who helped make this work a success," including the Information Ministry.

"You Only Have God to Count On" uses upbeat music to tell the story of a successful man who had strayed from the path of true Islam. He smokes, flirts with women even though he's engaged and doesn't join his colleagues at work in performing the five daily Muslim prayers.

Things slowly start to go bad: He has a flat tire and problems at work and his fiancee leaves him when she sees him talking to another woman. He then has a serious accident while recklessly driving his motorcycle. After he recovers, the man starts to pray, stops smoking, wins back his fiancee and excels at work.

Significantly, the man sports a hip goatee and doesn't grow the big, bushy beard favored by fundamentalist Muslims. He still wears T-shirts and jeans and sticks to his old friends, including a man who favors the much-frowned-upon ponytails.

"I wanted the youths to understand that it's not the looks that count. It's what inside that matters," al-Khatib said.

"The video also has this message: Don't give up and think, 'I sinned, therefore I'm going to hell,'" the director added. "Think that there's a God and he is always there to help you."

While there's no lack of production crews, dancers and singers in Lebanon, Egypt and other Arab countries that produce music videos, things are different in Saudi Arabia. The kingdom follows the strictest school of Islam that bans the mixing of the sexes and all forms of entertainment, including music in restaurants, concerts and movie theaters.

Al-Khatib, 37, who heads an advertising agency, has previously produced music videos, but this is the first that is an all-Saudi work. It was filmed along Jiddah's boardwalk on the Red Sea, a popular hangout for youths.

The lyrics of the song, performed by Muhammed al-Haddad, say in part: "If things go bad ... if your dreams have been lost ... you only have God to count on."

Al-Khatib said that for the lead female part, he had to get permission from the parents of Ruwaina al-Jihani before he could cast her in the role of the fiancee.

"They consulted with the extended family before giving their consent," said al-Khatib.

Al-Jihani appeared covered in the traditional black cloak and headcover, with only her face showing. One shot showed her all in white at her engagement.

Al-Khatib said that while music is controversial in Saudi Arabia, he has heard fatwas (religious edicts) from non-Saudi clerics who say music for a good cause should not be illegal.

Plus, al-Khatib said he wanted to give Saudi youths an alternative to music videos produced abroad but popular on satellite TV.

"The problem is not the music. It's how you utilize it," said the director.

"We wanted to talk to them in their own language," he added. "Instead of saying, 'Don't listen to music,' we're saying, 'Listen to music that's good for you.'"

Mecca's hallowed skyline transformed

MECCA, Saudi Arabia - These days it's easier to find a Cinnabon in Mecca than the house where the Prophet Muhammad was born.

The ancient sites in Islam's holiest city are under attack from both money and extreme religion. Developers are building giant glass and marble towers that loom over the revered Kaaba which millions of Muslims face in their daily prayers. At the same time, religious zealots continue to work, as they have for decades, to destroy landmarks that they say encourage the worship of idols instead of God.

As a result, some complain that the kingdom's Islamic austerity and oil-stoked capitalism are robbing this city of its history.

"To me, Mecca is not a city. It is a sanctuary. It is a place of diversity and tolerance. ... Unfortunately it isn't anymore," said Sami Angawi, a Saudi architect who has devoted his life to preserving what remains of the area's history. "Every day you come and see the buildings becoming bigger and bigger and higher and higher."

Abraj al-Bait is a complex of seven towers, some of them still under construction, rising only yards from the Kaaba, the cube-like black shrine at the center of Muslim worship in Mecca. "Be a neighbor to the Prophet," promises an Arabic-language newspaper ad for apartments there.

The towers are the biggest of the giant construction projects that have gone up in recent years, as the number of Muslims attending the hajj, the annual pilgrimage to Mecca, has swelled to nearly 4 million last year. Saudi Arabia is trying to better serve the growing upscale end of the pilgrimage crowd, while investors — many of them members of the Saudi royal family — realize the huge profits to be made.

Saudi Arabia boasts that Abraj al-Bait — Arabic for "Towers of the House," referring to the Kaaba's nickname, "the house of God" — will be the largest building in the world in terms of floor space. Developers have said the completed building will total 15.6 million square feet — more than twice the floor space of the Pentagon, the largest in the United States.

Three of the towers, each nearly 30 stories, are already completed, and the others are rapidly going up. A mall at their base has already opened, where customers — many of them in the simple white robes of pilgrims — shop at international chains such as The Body Shop and eat at fast-food restaurants. Other nearby complexes include upscale hotels.

The building boom is in some cases destroying Mecca's historic heritage, not just overshadowing it. In 2002, Saudi authorities tore down a 200-year-old fort built by the city's then-rulers, the Ottomans, on a hill overlooking the Kaaba to build a multi-million-dollar housing complex for pilgrims.

The holy sites have also been targeted for decades by the clerics who give Saudi Arabia's leadership religious legitimacy. In their puritanical Wahhabi view, worship at historic sites connected to mere mortals — such as Muhammad or his contemporaries — can easily become a form of idolatry. (Worship at the Kabaa, which is ordered in the Quran, is an exception.)

"Obviously, this is an exaggerated interpretation. But unfortunately, it is favored among officials," said Anwar Eshky, a Saudi analyst and head of a Jiddah-based research center.

The house where Muhammad is believed to have been born in 570 now lies under a rundown building overshadowed by a giant royal palace and hotel towers. The then king, Abdul-Aziz, ordered a library built on top of the site 70 years ago as a compromise after Wahhabi clerics called for it to be torn down.

Other sites disappeared long ago, as Saudi authorities expanded the Grand Mosque around the Kaaba in the 1980s. The house of Khadija, Muhammad's first wife, where Muslims believe he received some of the first revelations of the Quran, was lost under the construction, as was the Dar al-Arqam, the first Islamic school, where Muhammad taught.

At Hira'a Cave, where Muhammad is believed to have received the first verses of the Quran in the mountains on the edge of Mecca, a warning posted by Wahhabi religious police warns pilgrims not to pray or "touch stones" to receive blessings.

In Medina, 250 miles north of Mecca, Muhammad's tomb is the only shrine to have survived the Wahhabis, and a monumental mosque has been built around it. But religious police bar visitors from praying in the tomb chamber or touching the silver cage around it.

"You shouldn't do that," a bearded policeman tells pilgrims trying to pray at the site.

Outside the Prophet's Mosque, Wahhabis have destroyed the Baqi, a large cemetery where tombs of several of the Prophet's wives, daughters, sons and as many as six grandsons and Shiite saints were once located. Grave markers at the site have been bulldozed away, and religious police open the site only once a day to let in male pilgrims. The visitors are prevented from praying.

"It is pretty sad that our imams do not even have tombstones to tell where they are buried," said Indian pilgrim Zuhairi Mashouk Khan, who was weeping because he was barred from praying at the site. "They deserve a shrine as monumental as Taj Mahal."

Several Islamic groups, such as the U.K.-based Islamic Heritage and Research Foundation and the U.S- based Institute for Gulf Affairs, are campaigning to restore ancient sites. Khaled Azab, an Egyptian expert on Islamic heritage at the Bibliotheca Alexandria, suggests that the Saudi government should bring in UNESCO to help.

But after years of campaigning, Angawi is on the verge of giving up.

"I have been saying this for 35 years but nobody listens," he said. "It is becoming hopeless case."

'Second Life' sex program spawns lawsuit

TAMPA, Fla. - Kevin Alderman didn't bring sex to "Second Life." He just made it better. The 46-year-old entrepreneur recognized four years ago that people would pay to equip their online selves — which start out with the smooth anatomy of a Barbie or Ken doll — with realistic genitalia and even more to add some sexy moves.

Business at Eros LLC has been brisk. One of his creations, the SexGen Platinum, has gotten so popular that he's now had to hire lawyers to track down the flesh-and-blood person behind the online identity, or avatar, that he says illegally copied and sold it.

The $45 SexGen animates amorous avatars in erotic positions. It is software code, written in the scripting language of "Second Life" and placed in virtual furniture and other objects. Avatars click on the object and choose from a menu of animated sex acts.

Alderman filed a civil lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Tampa, Fla., last month alleging an avatar named "Volkov Catteneo" broke the program's copy protection and sold unauthorized copies. Alderman, who runs his business from home in a Tampa suburb, allows users to transfer his products, but prohibits copying.

"We confronted him about it and his basic response was, 'What are you going to do? Sue me?'" Alderman said. "I guess the mentality is that because you're an avatar ... that you are untouchable. The purpose of this suit is not only to protect our income and our product, but also to show, yes, you can be prosecuted and brought to justice."

Catherine Smith, director of marketing for "Second Life" creator Linden Lab, said she knew of no other real-world legal fight between two avatars.

However, Linden Labs itself has been sued more than once by subscribers over seizures of virtual property. In 2005, Japanese media reported that a Chinese exchange student was arrested for stealing virtual items from other players in an online game, "Lineage II."

"Second Life" isn't a game. There are no dragons to slay or other traditional game objectives. San Francisco-based Linden Lab describes it as "an online digital world imagined, created & owned by its residents."

Linden Lab provides a free basic avatar, a 3-D virtual representation of the user in male or female form. Everything else costs real money. A 16-acre virtual island costs $1,675 plus monthly maintenance fees of $295. Virtual money, called Lindens, can be exchanged with real dollars at an average rate of about 270 Lindens per $1.

Avatars can be equipped with flowing gowns and tiny tattoos, and users with programming and Photoshop skills can reshape themselves into a virtual Greta Garbo or just about any shape imaginable. With a little cash, users can also have people like Alderman transform the avatars for them.

At Alderman's "Second Life" shop, shoppers can try out a dragon bed powered by one of his SexGen engines. Along with programmers and designers, he employs a sales staff who hang around the shop like real salespeople to pitch the perfect sex toys. He is investing in a $25,000 motion-capture suit, a low-end version of one used to create digital characters in movies, to create more realistic sex moves for "Second Life" avatars.

As customers demand more real life in their "Second Life," though, these virtual creations can collide with reality.

"Virtually every aspect of real life is getting duplicated, and all the laws that can be applied to the real world are being applied in 'Second Life,'" said Jorge Contreras Jr., an intellectual-property attorney in Washington, D.C.

Last year, "Second Life" was rocked by a scandal over users who had modified their avatars to look like children and simulated pedophilia. Last month, Linden Lab shut down gambling in "Second Life" after concerns arose that virtual games of chance might violate U.S. gambling laws when members cashed in Lindens for real money.

Now comes Alderman's SexGen suit, which was filed July 3 and seeks unspecified damages. It accuses the unknown owner of the Catteneo avatar of violating copyright and trademark protections by copying, distributing and selling copies of Alderman's software.

Alderman's attorney, Francis X. Taney Jr. of Philadelphia, said the lawsuit has gotten a lot of attention because it involves sex, but is fundamentally about long-established law.

"It's a piece of software and software is copyrightable," Taney said. "It's also expressed in graphics, which also are copyrightable. There is some sizzle. People like to say it's really far out there, but at the end of the day I equate it to basic intellectual property principles."

Unlike many popular online worlds, such as "World of Warcraft," Linden Lab grants its users broad rights to create and sell content with few restrictions. Users can install copy protection and seek U.S. copyright and trademark protections, all of which Alderman did for the SexGen software.

"Whenever you create a situation where people are buying and selling things and potentially misappropriating them from their rightful owners, it is only a matter of time before the legal system gets called in," said Fred von Lohmann, a senior staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation in San Francisco. "This seems like a relatively straightforward case. It sounds like there is a real copyright issue."

Taney believes he knows who Catteneo is in real life, but is confirming it through subpoenas of records of eBay Inc.'s PayPal payment service as well as chat logs and trade history in "Second Life." He said Linden Lab and PayPal turned over their records, and he is preparing another round of subpoenas.

"We're proceeding carefully," Taney said. "This guy has claimed the information he gave to Linden was bogus. We are looking for ways to cross check and corroborate the information."

Catteneo, who did not respond to several interview requests sent through the "Second Life" messaging system, will likely have a hard time hiding.

"There is a whole lot less anonymity online than people think," von Lohmann said. "There are over 20,000 people who have been sued for downloading music. They may have felt anonymous, but they're weren't."

Alderman is unlikely to be the last to drag an avatar into court as the designers in "Second Life" try to protect their creations in the same way clothing designers such as Gucci try to eliminate realistic knockoffs

In recognition of the growing legal issues "Second Life" is likely to generate, the country of Portugal recently set up an arbitration center in the virtual world, though it has no power to enforce its decisions.

The legal issues may be similar offline and online, but von Lohmann said the trials could be a lot more interesting.

"In a virtual world, you have the ability to gather evidence you don't have in the real world," he said. "Everything that happens in 'Second Life' is reflected on computer servers. Depending on how long they keep the records, you could actually replay the event as it happens."

Hospitals are shutting down burn centers

U.S. hospitals are increasingly shutting down their burn centers in a trend experts say could leave the nation unable to handle widespread burn casualties from a fiery terrorist attack or other major disaster.

Associated Press interviews and an examination of official figures found that the shrinking number of beds is a growing cause for concern in this post-Sept. 11 world.

Experts say burn centers are expensive to maintain and often lose money because they are staffed with highly specialized surgeons and nurses and stocked with sophisticated equipment designed to ease patients' excruciating pain, fend off deadly complications and promote healing.

The number of burn centers in the U.S. has dropped from 132 in 2004 to 127, and burn beds have fallen from 1,897 to 1,820, according to American Burn Association records compiled from voluntary reporting by hospitals.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services puts the number of burn beds even lower, at just 1,500. And most of those are already filled, with the number available on any given day variously estimated at just 300 to 500.

"If something happens and we need the beds for burn patients, it is going to be a real catastrophe," said Dr. Alan R. Dimick, past president of the American Burn Association and founder of the burn center at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Some states — Mississippi, North Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, Idaho and New Hampshire among them — have no burn centers at all. South Carolina has only a children's burn center, and there are just a few dedicated burn beds in Maine, Alaska and Hawaii.

"People ought to be pretty frightened by this," said Dr. Barbara Latenser, burn center director at the University of Iowa Hospitals. "Some people who live out West, they are 800 miles from a burn center."

Many hospitals contend their general trauma units can handle burn victims adequately. But many authorities say burn units are far superior because of the equipment and expertise they offer.

"You need a burn team to take care of folks, not just docs and nurses," Dimick said.

HHS oversees the Homeland Security Department's efforts to prepare the nation's medical system for a disaster. HHS preparedness spokesman Marc Wolfson acknowledged that a disaster such as nuclear blast in a large urban area could produce thousands of burn victims, and that there would not be enough burn facilities to treat everyone.

"The number of total beds available in hospitals, we don't have direct control over that," he said.

But he said he hopes some of the money the government has been dispensing to hospitals since 9-11 for disaster readiness goes toward preparing for a surge of burn victims, even if does not lead to an increase in burn beds.

Wolfson said that if burn beds are full, patients can be taken to trauma units. Also, he said some veterans hospitals have beds that could be used in a fiery catastrophe. And he said burn centers can be expanded in an emergency.

Some burn experts are not reassured.

Severely burned patients suffer extreme pain, their bodies lose the ability to regulate temperature and fluid levels, and they are highly vulnerable to infections because their skin has been stripped away.

Burn centers are staffed by medical professionals specially trained in treating people with severe burns.

They also have special features such as individually temperature-controlled rooms, mattresses with circulating air to support a burn victim, and beds that automatically turn immobile patients to prevent further skin damage.

In addition, there are warming devices for beds since burn patients get cold easily, and tubs in which patients can be immersed to clean their wounds and promote drainage.

Other burn center features include synthetic material that serves as a temporary skin substitute, and a device that uses ultrasound to determine the severity of burns without having to touch a seriously burned patient.

The exact number of burn beds in the U.S. is a matter of dispute, and may well be overstated, because hospitals do not always distinguish between specialized burn beds and beds that are used for various traumatic injuries, including burns.

Wolfson said one recent report to the federal government showed that only 520 beds were actually available for use. Dr. William B. Hughes, director of the Temple University Hospital Burn Center in Philadelphia, said that more commonly, only about 300 beds are available at any one time.

Hughes said the United States had easily more than 3,000 dedicated burn beds in the early 1970s. But there has been a steady decline since then.

"We keep hearing we are ready for a terrorist attack," said Dr. Jeffrey Guy, director of the 29-bed Vanderbilt University Burn Center in Nashville. But even now, "our space is full almost all the time."

Guy said it is not uncommon for regional burn centers to be full and for patients to be transported long distances. "There are days we are taking burn calls for Chicago," he said.

Burn center directors say more beds are likely to disappear. Most burn centers are losing money because Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements have not kept up with the cost of providing care, experts say. Private insurers often follow Medicare's lead.

Since it costs about $10,000 a day to treat a patient with severe burns, and such patients typically require 50 days of intensive care, a single uninsured patient can wreck the finances of a small burn program.

Some burn centers around the country have lost a lot of money treating uninsured adults and children who were severely burned in explosions of clandestine methamphetamine labs.

"Burn units are money-losers," Hughes said.

Some health industry officials say that it is unreasonable to expect the nation's hospitals to be prepared for a worst-case burn scenario at all times.

"You don't want to have so much capacity you lose your shirt on it," said Jim Bentley, the American Hospital Association's senior vice president for strategic policy planning.

Dr. David Mozingo, director of the Shands Burn Center at the University of Florida in Gainesville, said state officials there have, in fact, begun committing some terrorism and disaster-preparedness money to burn care.

"They have been buying equipment and training. A lot of supplies and equipment have been distributed that are burn-care specific," he said.

Some burn-care experts warn that in an all-out disaster, health professionals would have to conduct a pitiless form of triage and decide which patients get sent to burn centers and which ones do not.

"The person on scene is going to look at people who have the best chance of surviving," Iowa's Latenser said. "We will not have the resources."

Burn care professionals "spend a lot of time talking about, `How do we get the government to listen to this?'" Latenser said. "You can't have the disasters and then say, `Oh golly, we should have had the centers.'"

Roberts says cancer surgery `went well'

ABC "Good Morning America" anchor Robin Roberts says messages of support from her fans helped her get through breast cancer surgery last Friday.

"I am incredibly grateful that my surgery went well Friday," Roberts said in a posting on ABC News' Web site. "Thanks for all the prayers — I owe you big time!"

Roberts, 46, told "GMA" viewers last Tuesday that she had cancer, which she discovered through self-examination.

Her mother and sisters traveled from the Mississippi Gulf Coast and New Orleans to be with her for the operation. The former college basketball star and sportscaster grew up in Pass Christian, Miss.

"My family read many of your e-mails while I was in surgery," said Roberts, who has been an anchor at "GMA" since 2005. "It brought them such comfort. My big sis, Sally-Ann, marked all the survivor stories with a big S."

She said her co-anchor, Diane Sawyer, had visited her in the hospital.

"I woke up in the recovery room with sweet Diane gently tugging on my big toe," she said in a posting Monday. "As you can imagine, I am still quite sore from the procedure and need to take some time for my body to heal."

Roberts left the hospital on the day of her surgery.

"Right now the best medicine for me is to be at home surrounded by family and loved ones," she said. "I expect to get the final test results later this week, which will determine the course of my treatment."

Female Cancer Survivors Lack Frank Sex Talk From Docs

Three out of four women treated for genital tract cancer feel their doctors should initiate more conversations about the cancer's impact on their sexual health, new research finds.

"We found that these women valued sexuality and participated in sexual relationships and activities at a rate similar to women who had not been through cancer treatment, but they were not adequately prepared for the sexual issues that their cancer or its treatment introduced," study author Dr. Stacy Lindau said in a prepared statement. The sexual problems included pain and limited lubrication.

Two out of three women whose reproductive and sexual organs were severely compromised by the treatment also reported that their doctors never brought up sex, according to the study.
Writing in the August issue of Gynecologic Oncology, University of Chicago Medical Center researchers expressed concern that if doctors are not discussing the impact of medical treatment on sexuality under these circumstances, sexual health was even less likely to be discussed in other situations, particularly with older women. Previous studies have shown that patients are themselves reluctant to bring up sexual issues.

The research team surveyed 219 women aged 40 to 50 years old who had been treated for a rare form of vaginal or cervical cancer. The women were all members of a registry for people who might have been exposed to synthetic hormones while in their mother's womb. Most of the women had been treated with surgery or radiation therapy when they were in their late teens or 20s and had survived more than two decades after their diagnosis. The researchers then compared the responses from these women with race- and age-matched controls selected from a 1992 national study on sexual norms.

The cancer survivors reported more sexual problems and four times more health problems that interfered with sex all or most of the time, but they were just as likely to be married as the comparison group. Fifty percent of the survivors reported three or more sexual problems, compared to 15 percent of their peers. They were also seven times more likely to feel pain during intercourse and three times more likely to have difficulty lubricating.
More than one out of three survivors complained about the scars from their treatment as well as frequent bladder infections and incontinence.

Those of the survivors who reported a conversation with their physician about the sexual impact of treatment were the women who were more likely to have three or more sexual problems at the same time.

Dirt digger rocketing toward Mars

A robotic dirt and ice digger rocketed toward Mars on Saturday, beginning a 422 million-mile journey that NASA hopes will culminate next spring in the first ever landing within the red planet's Arctic Circle.

The Phoenix Mars Lander blasted off before dawn, precisely on time, hurtling through the clear moonlit sky aboard an unmanned Delta rocket. The rocket looked as though it was heading straight for Mars, a bright reddish dot in the eastern sky.

Peter Smith, the mission's principal scientist from the University of Arizona, ran out of the control center just before liftoff to watch from outside and took Mars' visibility as an auspicious sign for the spacecraft.

"It seemed to kind of get the scent there, you know, it was on its way," Smith said with a laugh. "Sort of like a bloodhound, it's going to find Mars."

Other researchers, such as Michael Hecht with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, jammed the beach. They shouted out the final 10 seconds of the countdown and hooted and hollered "Go, baby!" then toasted with champagne.

Not quite six hours later, the Phoenix Mars Lander was already 365,000 miles from Earth and had settled into a cruising speed of more than 12,000 mph. Everything seemed to be working fine, mission officials said.

"Next stop is Mars," exulted Doug McCuistion, director of NASA's Mars exploration program.

If all goes as planned — a big if considering only five of the world's 15 attempts to land on Mars have succeeded — the spacecraft will set down on the Martian Arctic plains on May 25, 2008, and spend three months scooping up soil and ice, analyzing the samples in minuscule ovens and mixing bowls.

The Phoenix Mars Lander won't be looking for evidence of life on Mars but rather traces of organic compounds in the baked and moistened samples, which would be a possible indicator of conditions favorable for life, either now or once upon a time.

If organic compounds are present on Mars, they're more likely to have been preserved in ice. That's why NASA is aiming for the planet's high northern latitudes, where ice is almost certainly lurking just beneath the surface.

Only about six inches of soft red soil should cover the ice, and so the digger shouldn't have to probe too deeply. The ice is expected to be as hard as concrete, and a drill on the scoop will help gather enough frozen samples. Some dirt and ice samples will be baked and their vapors analyzed. Other soil samples will be mixed with onboard water and the muddy soup examined by onboard microscopes.

"We're really going there just to understand whether the conditions might have been hospitable for microbial life at some point," said the University of Arizona's William Boynton, lead scientist for the oven experiment.

Even if organic molecules pop up, they could be from incoming meteorites, Boynton noted. "It is important, I think, to keep in mind that we are just looking for organic molecules to see if the conditions are right that they could survive," he said, "and that we aren't really going to be making any inference about whether these molecules are indicative of life."

Mars landings are especially risky. Only five of the 15 U.S., Russian and European attempts have worked, all of them American successes beginning with the 1976 Viking touchdowns. Given those odds, the Phoenix team said it did everything possible to test for failures and will continue to do so as the spacecraft flies to Mars. The entire mission costs $420 million.

NASA has never attempted to land a spacecraft on Mars at such a high northern latitude. A lander intended for the red planet's South Pole went silent immediately upon arrival in 1999. That failure, combined with the loss of the companion Mars orbiter, prompted NASA to cancel a 2001 lander mission. The parts from that scrapped mission were used for Phoenix, thus its name, which alludes to the mythological bird that rises from its own ashes.

Mars' North Pole would have been too cold for Phoenix to operate, and so scientists opted for a little lower latitude for touchdown. Phoenix will be shooting for 68.35 degrees north latitude, comparable to Greenland or northern Alaska, and 233 degrees east longitude. The lander will parachute down, with pulse thrusters easing its final descent.

Scientists chose the flattest, rock-free zone they could to ensure success. The target landing area is "Kansas flat," according to the spacecraft team, with few if any big rocks that could overturn the stationary three-legged lander or bump against its circular solar panels and jam them. The 772-pound lander will stretch 18 feet across once its solar panels are deployed on Mars, and its weather mast will tower 7 feet.

Phoenix should help pave the way for human visitors, especially if it confirms the presence of water ice in large amounts near the pole, said Michael Meyer, NASA's lead Mars scientist. That would be a tremendous resource, he noted. But if organic matter is indeed found, it could pose a dichotomy: "As Mars gets more interesting, you may not want to send humans right away until you learn out a little bit more about the red planet and find out whether or not life ever got started there."

Science fiction writer Kim Stanley Robinson is thrilled to see another robot headed to Mars and is confident humans will follow. His novel "Green Mars" is one of dozens of writings going up on a disk aboard Phoenix.

"When people get there, they'll be able to do on the ground what maybe 100 robotic missions would have been able to do," Robinson said.

Dogs kill man in home of US actor Ving Rhames

A man working as a caretaker in a home owned by "Pulp Fiction" star Ving Rhames was found dead inside the property, apparently the victim of a vicious attack by two dogs, police said Friday.

The man, who as in his 40s, had dog bites all over his body when he was found in the upscale Los Angeles suburb of Brentwood, but a coroner has yet to determine the exact cause of death, authorities said.

The man, whose name was not immediately released, "appears to have suffered a number of injuries as a result of the dog mauling," Los Angeles police lieutenant Ray Lombardo told ABC7.

Authorities captured four dogs inside the property and put them under quarantine while they investigate the death.

Police believe two of the dogs -- mastiffs weighing 200 pounds (90 kilos) -- attacked the caretaker.

"Normally we understand they are pretty friendly dogs" Lombardo said. "But, you know, there are occasions where dogs will turn on their owners or their caretakers, and this looks like a tragic accident."

Rhames, who has played tough-guy roles in "Pulp Fiction" and "Mission: Impossible," was out of the country when the incident took place, according to celebrity news website TMZ.com.

After 22 years, teacher ready to rocket

When former schoolteacher Barbara Morgan leaves Earth on a space shuttle next week, she hopes her students back in Idaho learn a lesson from her 22-year wait to get into orbit: perseverance and patience.

That's what defines teachers, said the astronaut, who is achieving her dream at age 55.

Morgan will fly with six other astronauts to the international space station on the shuttle Endeavour, assuming launch goes forward on Tuesday as planned.

The mission comes less than two weeks after am embarrassing report by a panel of medical experts suggested some astronauts were cleared to fly after drinking too much — despite concerns raised by flight surgeons and other astronauts. NASA says it's investigating those claims. The report on astronaut health also called for regular psychological tests.

Endeavour commander Scott Kelly said he has already discussed behavior expectations for the upcoming flight. Until the news about possible astronaut drinking, most of the attention in recent weeks has been on the next mission and Barbara Morgan.

In 1985, Morgan was chosen from thousands of applicants to be the back-up to teacher-in-space Christa McAuliffe. They trained together at Johnson Space Center in Houston for six months, and it was McAuliffe who was on board Challenger when it blew apart on Jan. 28, 1986. A poorly designed seal in the shuttle's solid rocket booster was blamed for the disaster that killed her and six astronauts.

After the Challenger accident, Morgan returned to teaching grade school students in Idaho, but NASA asked her to stay on as the teacher-in-space designee. She gave speeches and served on a federal task force for women. She helped NASA figure out how to include space in schools' curriculum.

She waited to go to space.

NASA struggled with whether to continue the teacher-in-space program or whether to include teachers in the astronaut experience in another way. The agency chose the latter, and in 1998 Morgan was asked to become a full-fledged astronaut. Three other teachers have since joined the astronaut corps.

For Morgan, astronaut-educators are just another category of professionals in the astronaut corps. NASA's original astronauts were test pilots, but the astronaut corps opened up to scientists and engineers during the Apollo program in the late 1960s.

Morgan's duties during the Endeavour mission will include helping move 5,000 pounds of cargo from the shuttle to the space station and relocating a stowage platform using the shuttle's robotic arm.

"She's a tough cookie and I don't think anything is going to stand in the way of her doing the job that she has been asked to do and that she has been trained well to do," said crew mate Tracy Caldwell, who was selected in the same astronaut class as Morgan.

Unlike McAuliffe, who wasn't a fully trained astronaut, Morgan has no plans to give a lesson from space. Instead she will answer questions from schoolchildren in Idaho. If the 11-day shuttle mission is extended to 14 days as expected, she also will get a chance to talk to young students in Virginia and Massachusetts.

"Because she is an educator, we will be able to get the attention of students and educators in a way which perhaps we were unable to do in previous missions," said Joyce Winterton, NASA's assistant administrator for education.

The Endeavour crew — which includes commander Scott Kelly, pilot Charles Hobaugh and mission specialists Tracy Caldwell, Dave Williams, Rick Mastracchio and Alvin Drew — have been good- natured about all the attention on Morgan, although Kelly recently admitted it has been a little distracting.

"If you have any other questions for the rest of the crew, Barbara will be happy to answer them," Kelly joked to reporters.

The astronauts will be flying in a vehicle that has been refurbished from nosecap to tail, part of a regular maintenance overhaul for the shuttles every three or four years.

During the 11-day mission, the astronauts will deliver 5,000 pounds of cargo to the space station, attach a new truss segment to the outpost and replace a gyroscope which helps control the station's orientation. Three spacewalks are planned.

If the mission is extended to 14 days_ a decision that won't be made until the mission is well under way — the astronauts will take a fourth spacewalk to install protective panels to stop debris from hitting the station.

Despite her celebrity, Morgan has insisted all along that McAuliffe "was, is and always will be our first teacher in space" — even though McAuliffe technically never reached space since Challenger broke apart 73 seconds after liftoff.

"I'm just another teacher going in space and there are more to come," Morgan said. "People will be thinking of Christa and the Challenger crew and what they were trying to do and that's a good thing."

Police: More victims in submerged cars

Divers checked submerged cars in the Mississippi River Thursday for victims still trapped beneath the twisted steel and concrete slabs of a collapsed bridge. As many as 30 people were reported missing as the rescue effort shifted to recovery.

Gov. Tim Pawlenty also ordered an immediate inspection of all bridges in the state with similar designs.

The official death count from Wednesday evening's collapse stood at four, but Police Chief Tim Dolan said more bodies were in the water. Hospitals officials said 79 others were injured.

"We have a number of vehicles that are underneath big pieces of concrete, and we do know we have some people in those vehicles," Dolan said, though he said he did not have a number. "We know we do have more casualties at the scene."

The eight-lane Interstate 35W bridge, a major Minneapolis artery, was in the midst of repairs when the bridge buckled during the evening rush hour Wednesday. Dozens of cars plummeted more than 60 feet into the Mississippi River, some falling on top one of another. A school bus sat on the angled concrete.

The bridge was crowded with traffic, and a train had been passing beneath the roadway at the time it fell.

In the river, divers were checking for bodies and taking down license plate numbers for authorities to track down the vehicles' owners. Getting the vehicles out was expected to take several days and involve moving around very large, heavy pieces of bridge.

Police estimate that 20 to 30 people were unaccounted for, though Dolan stressed that it was just an estimate.

At Hennepin County Medical Center, patients arrived in a steady stream after the collapse, some unconscious or moaning, some barely breathing, others with serious head and back injuries, Dr. William Heegaard said.

"There was blood everywhere," he said.

Relatives who couldn't find their loved ones at hospitals gathered in a hotel ballroom Thursday morning for any news, hoping for the best.

Ronald Engebretsen, 57, was searching for his wife, Sherry. His daughter last heard from her when she left work in downtown Minneapolis Wednesday. Her cell phone has picked up with voice mail ever since.

"We are left with the hope that there is a Jane Doe in a hospital somewhere that's her," Engebretsen said.

As many as 50 vehicles tumbled into the river when the bridge collapsed, leaving those who could escape to scramble to shore. Some survivors carried the injured up the riverbank, while emergency workers tended to others on the ground and some jumped into the water to look for survivors. Fire and black smoke rose from the wreckage.

"People who were pinned or partly crushed told emergency workers to say 'hello' or say 'goodbye' to their loved ones," Dolan said.

The Homeland Security Department said the collapse did not appear to be terrorism-related, but the cause was still unknown.

The first step of the federal investigation will be to recover pieces of the bridge and reassemble them, kind of like a jigsaw puzzle, to try and determine what happened, NTSB Chairman Mark Rosenker said.

Investigators also want to review video of the collapse, and were setting up a phone number for witnesses to call with information.

"It is clearly much too early in the initial stages of this investigation to have any idea what happened," Rosenker said.

As the divers worked their way around at least a dozen submerged vehicles, Transportation Secretary Mary Peters announced a $5 million grant to help pay for rerouting traffic patterns around the disaster site. Members of the state's congressional delegation said up to $100 million could be available for repairs and recovery.

In 2005, the 40-year-old bridge had been rated as "structurally deficient" and possibly in need of replacement, according to a federal database. The span rated 50 on a scale of 100 for structural stability in that review, Peters said.

The U.S. Department of Transportation's inspector general last year criticized the Federal Highway Administration's oversight of interstate bridges, saying investigators found incorrect or outdated maximum weight limit calculations and weight limit postings in the National Bridge Inventory and in states' bridge databases.

Incorrect load ratings could endanger bridges by allowing heavier vehicles to cross than should be allowed, the inspector general said. The audit didn't identify any Minnesota bridges beyond noting that 3 percent of the state's bridges were structurally deficient, placing it at the low end among states.

Pawlenty said that there was no indication from that and other reviews that the bridge should be shut down. Peters added that "none of those ratings indicated there was any kind of danger."

This week, road crews had been working on the bridge's joints, guardrails and lights, with lane closures overnight on Tuesday and Wednesday. In 2001, the bridge had been fitted with a computerized anti-icing system that sprayed chemicals on the surface during winter weather, according to documents posted on the Minnesota Department of Transportation's Web site.

Eighteen construction workers were on the bridge when it collapsed, said Tom Sloan, head of the bridge division for Progressive Contractors Inc., in St. Michael. One was unaccounted for. The crew was placing concrete finish on the bridge for what he called a routine resurfacing project.

"They said they basically rode the bridge down to the water. They were sliding into cars and cars were sliding into them," he said.

The school bus had just crossed the bridge when the entire span of Interstate 35W crumpled into the river below. The bus stayed on concrete, and the children were able to escape unharmed out the back door.

Christine Swift's 10-year-old daughter, Kaleigh, was on the bus, returning from a field trip to Bunker Hills in Blaine. She said her daughter called her about 6:10 p.m.

"She was screaming, 'The bridge collapsed,'" Swift said. All the kids got off the bus safely, but about 10 of the children were injured, officials said.

The bridge is blocks from the heart of Minneapolis, near tourist attractions such as the new Guthrie Theater and the Stone Arch Bridge. As the steamy night progressed massive crowds of onlookers circulated in the area on foot or bicycle, some of them wearing Twins T-shirts and caps after departing Wednesday night's game at the nearby Metrodome early.

Thursday's game between the Twins and Kansas City Royals was called off, but the Twins decided to go ahead with Wednesday's rather than sending about 25,000 fans back out onto the congested highways. Inside the stadium, there was a moment of silence to honor victims.

The steel-arched bridge, built in 1967, rose 64 feet above the river and stretched 1,900 feet across the water. It was built with a single 458-foot-long steel arch to avoid the need for piers that might interfere with river navigation. The depth of the water underneath the bridge is between 4 to 14 feet, according to the Army Corps of Engineers.

NASA scrambles to fix shuttle problems

With a launch countdown looming, NASA scrambled to fix a cabin leak and a bad thermostat aboard space shuttle Endeavour on Wednesday.

The leak was traced overnight to one of two pressure-relief valves in Endeavour's crew cabin, located behind the toilet but separate from the bathroom plumbing, said NASA spokesman George Diller.

Engineers likely will replace the bad valve with one taken from Atlantis, but a firm decision has yet to be made, he said.

A problem with one of two thermostats for one of Endeavour's auxiliary power units also cropped up. Both thermostats will be replaced, Diller said. These units generate power for the shuttle's crucial hydraulic systems.

All this extra work can be completed in time for Endeavour's planned liftoff Tuesday, Diller said, but it will be tight and anything else — like more thunderstorms or mechanical problems — could force NASA to postpone the flight to the international space station.

Storms already interrupted work at the shuttle launch pad and forced a one-day postponement for the launch of NASA's Mars lander, Phoenix, now scheduled for Saturday.

The shuttle countdown is expected to begin on time Saturday night, and managers will assess the workload on Sunday and decide whether a Tuesday launch is still achievable, Diller said. Phoenix may factor into that decision. NASA has only three weeks to launch the Mars lander before standing down for two years, and officials may decide to put Phoenix ahead of Endeavour.

NASA needs at least two days between launch attempts for the lander and the shuttle.

Endeavour will carry Barbara Morgan, a schoolteacher-turned-astronaut who was Christa McAuliffe's backup in 1986. McAuliffe was aboard the Challenger when it broke apart shortly after liftoff.