LODI, New Jersey (Reuters) - Every Saturday afternoon, the staff at the Satin Dolls go-go lounge clears the bar of matchbooks, coasters, napkins and anything else not nailed down because a sold-out tour bus is on the way from New York.

But the luxury coach heading for the nondescript, windowless building on a busy stretch of New Jersey highway isn't carrying rowdy bachelors with Bacchanalia in mind.

Soon, about four dozens fans of the hit television series "The Sopranos" file into the club, which since 1999 has doubled as the show's notorious, mob-run strip joint, the Bada Bing.

"Everything gets stolen off the bar, even if it doesn't say 'Satin Dolls' or 'Bada Bing' on it," said club manager Rouz, who, like the scantily-clad young women working the brass poles behind the bar, prefers to be known by just his first name.

HBO broadcasts the series finale of "The Sopranos" on June 10, and locations made famous by the saga of a northern New Jersey mob boss struggling to keep both his "families" in line attract flocks of fans.

"The 'Bada Bing' brings extra attention from people who wouldn't normally go to a go-go bar," Rouz said. "Most of them come in and have a look, then buy some merchandise and leave. And they don't know about the state laws."

Rouz was referring to the poetic license taken by the show's producers regarding New Jersey's policy on topless dancing and establishments that serve alcohol: you can have one or the other, but not both.

So while Tony Soprano and his crew sit in "the Bing" and plot their latest crimes amid a gaggle of topless dancers, Satin Dolls patrons are entertained by girls wearing bikinis and lingerie, albeit of the skimpiest variety.

One of the tour bus visitors is Paul Rickard of Inverness, Scotland, who says his rabid devotion to the show has little to do with the mob-related plot lines.

"It's about family, food and togetherness," he said between sips from a beer. "The mob is just a job, a distraction. Despite scenes of extreme violence, the show is about love."

Swiss tourist Antony Simone, sitting just down the bar from Rickard, says he's dreading a world in which he won't have fresh episodes to look forward to.

"I would like no end, because the Mafia has no end," he says.

PIZZA WITH MOB TIES

While "the Bing" has played a central role throughout the show's run and understandably attracts a fan following, any association with "The Sopranos" can prove a boon for business.

Pizzaland, a few miles south of Satin Dolls in North Arlington, appears for about one second during the show's opening credits. Despite never actually being in an episode, the already-thriving neighborhood favorite saw pizza sales spike once the show gained popularity.

The surprise to owner Paul Pawlowicz was how big a slice of his revenues now comes from shipping pizzas nationwide.

"They get shrink-wrapped, put on dry ice, and shipped overnight," Pawlowicz said as he pulled a steaming pie from the oven. "This week alone I've shipped pizzas to Texas, Louisiana and California, and I've sent 58 pies to a guy in Safety Harbor (Florida) this season alone."

"Hey, it's good pizza," he says, then adds a line that would be right at home in an episode of the show: "Once I get a customer, I got 'em for good."

THE HOUSE ON THE HILL

Interior scenes of the Soprano family home are actually shot on a soundstage in the New York City borough of Queens. But exterior shots, often showing Tony in an open bathrobe shuffling down his steep driveway to pick up the newspaper, are set at a "real home" in the affluent town of North Caldwell.

No federal agents taking pictures or waiting to have a "talk" with Tony were seen parked in front of the house on a recent drive-by. But the code of omerta was in effect for two carloads of fans circling the cul-de-sac to have a look at the house: both sped off quickly when approached for a comment.

PORK STORE? WHAT PORK STORE? yiwu shipping agent china stationary 晩云アニメ

While most of the well-known locations on the show are actual commercial establishments, Satriale's pork store in Kearny has never existed. china arts and crafts China manufacture

Signage and the large pig that sits atop the brick-faced building were put up only for filming, and the site that saw its share of sit-downs and dismemberments will soon be whacked itself: Kearny officials say the town's planning board has approved an application from the owner to turn the property into condominiums. smoke detector buy from yiwu Imitation jewelry

Whether sight-seeing fans will continue to seek out "Sopranos" locations after the show's finale remains to be seen. But tour bus guide Marc Baron of On Location Tours (http://www.screentours.com), who has been an extra in several episodes, is optimistic. Export from china CHANEL china scarf

"There is such an interest from overseas fans and the popularity of the show has only grown since it began showing on A&E," Baron said, noting the cleaned-up reruns now showing on another cable station. "I think we've got a good five years left."

Marco is an excellent student at Georgia Tech, one of the nation's premier colleges of engineering and the sciences, with nearly a 4.0 GPA. He was valedictorian of his senior class at a suburban Atlanta high school and earned a perfect score on the math portion of the SAT
Never mind those accomplishments. Letter writers were outraged because he is an illegal immigrant.

Scores of irate readers of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution don't think he deserves the perquisite of paying his college tuition at the lower rate given to Georgia residents. "The AJC can write all the heartwarming, sympathy-craving articles that you want, but I have no sympathy for any illegal alien who has to pay the high out-of-state tuition to go to one of our state colleges or universities," said one.

"You can try all you want to get us to feel sorry for the children who cannot afford to go to Georgia Tech, but you cannot change the fact that these kids should not even be here in the first place," said another.

Those sentiments expose the raw and visceral attitudes that have inflamed the debate over illegal immigration, the harshly punitive ideology that would brook no compromise. That "no way, Jose" dogma has fractured the Republican Party, delayed badly needed immigration reform and propelled bad public policy -- including a Georgia law that has apparently forced the state's colleges to stop granting in-state tuition waivers to a few students who are not legal residents. (While 10 states offer in-state tuition to illegal students with diplomas from local high schools, most states have refused to do so.)

But no matter how loudly and vehemently some proclaim their narrow-minded views, they simply cannot be the basis for public policy. Though the diehard nativists denounce as "amnesty" any proposal that offers a path to legalization to the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants already here, the comprehensive immigration reform bill now stalled in Congress had offered a practical approach. It combined tough border enforcement with a path to legalization that includes penalties. It's no easy forgiveness. Export agent in yiwu wow gold yiwu purchase agent

And if the bill doesn't pass, what's the alternative? Imitation jewelry smoke detector

No rational society would propose spending untold billions of dollars and imposing brutal tactics in an effort to round up millions of illegal immigrants and send them back to their native lands. Even Rep. Tom Tancredo, the Colorado Republican whose presidential bid is propelled by nativism, doesn't go that far.

And no rational society in desperate need of engineers would make it difficult for a young man like Marco to complete his degree. Dr. Shirley Jackson, president of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, has written of a "quiet crisis" that stems from the nation's failure to produce enough college graduates with expertise in math, physics, chemistry, computer science and engineering. The nation's big technology firms are already doing all they can to scoop up engineers and computer jocks from India, China and Malaysia.

Marco is practically American. He told AJC reporter Brian Feagans that his parents moved illegally from Mexico when he was 4. (Feagans withheld his name at his request.) They've lived in Georgia nearly a decade, which would ordinarily grant him residency and make him eligible for in-state tuition. LOUIS VUITTON yiwu

But a state law that will take effect July 1 apparently forbids granting in-state tuition to illegal immigrants, so Marco's college tuition bills are expected to increase fourfold. While some recent Georgia arrivals -- U.S. citizens -- have complained they have to pay out-of-state tuition, too, they could have paid lower rates in their home states. This is Marco's home. motion detector GUCCI powerleveling

After Feagans' moving story detailing Marco's plight, the reporter received several phone calls from readers, including Georgia Tech alumni, pledging help to ensure that Marco can pay his increased tuition. Cheers to them.

Meanwhile, how many other Marcos are being wasted?

Marco is an excellent student at Georgia Tech, one of the nation's premier colleges of engineering and the sciences, with nearly a 4.0 GPA. He was valedictorian of his senior class at a suburban Atlanta high school and earned a perfect score on the math portion of the SAT
Never mind those accomplishments. Letter writers were outraged because he is an illegal immigrant.

Scores of irate readers of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution don't think he deserves the perquisite of paying his college tuition at the lower rate given to Georgia residents. "The AJC can write all the heartwarming, sympathy-craving articles that you want, but I have no sympathy for any illegal alien who has to pay the high out-of-state tuition to go to one of our state colleges or universities," said one.

"You can try all you want to get us to feel sorry for the children who cannot afford to go to Georgia Tech, but you cannot change the fact that these kids should not even be here in the first place," said another.

Those sentiments expose the raw and visceral attitudes that have inflamed the debate over illegal immigration, the harshly punitive ideology that would brook no compromise. That "no way, Jose" dogma has fractured the Republican Party, delayed badly needed immigration reform and propelled bad public policy -- including a Georgia law that has apparently forced the state's colleges to stop granting in-state tuition waivers to a few students who are not legal residents. (While 10 states offer in-state tuition to illegal students with diplomas from local high schools, most states have refused to do so.)

But no matter how loudly and vehemently some proclaim their narrow-minded views, they simply cannot be the basis for public policy. Though the diehard nativists denounce as "amnesty" any proposal that offers a path to legalization to the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants already here, the comprehensive immigration reform bill now stalled in Congress had offered a practical approach. It combined tough border enforcement with a path to legalization that includes penalties. It's no easy forgiveness. Export agent in yiwu wow gold yiwu purchase agent

And if the bill doesn't pass, what's the alternative? Imitation jewelry smoke detector

No rational society would propose spending untold billions of dollars and imposing brutal tactics in an effort to round up millions of illegal immigrants and send them back to their native lands. Even Rep. Tom Tancredo, the Colorado Republican whose presidential bid is propelled by nativism, doesn't go that far.

And no rational society in desperate need of engineers would make it difficult for a young man like Marco to complete his degree. Dr. Shirley Jackson, president of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, has written of a "quiet crisis" that stems from the nation's failure to produce enough college graduates with expertise in math, physics, chemistry, computer science and engineering. The nation's big technology firms are already doing all they can to scoop up engineers and computer jocks from India, China and Malaysia.

Marco is practically American. He told AJC reporter Brian Feagans that his parents moved illegally from Mexico when he was 4. (Feagans withheld his name at his request.) They've lived in Georgia nearly a decade, which would ordinarily grant him residency and make him eligible for in-state tuition. LOUIS VUITTON yiwu

But a state law that will take effect July 1 apparently forbids granting in-state tuition to illegal immigrants, so Marco's college tuition bills are expected to increase fourfold. While some recent Georgia arrivals -- U.S. citizens -- have complained they have to pay out-of-state tuition, too, they could have paid lower rates in their home states. This is Marco's home. motion detector GUCCI powerleveling

After Feagans' moving story detailing Marco's plight, the reporter received several phone calls from readers, including Georgia Tech alumni, pledging help to ensure that Marco can pay his increased tuition. Cheers to them.

Meanwhile, how many other Marcos are being wasted?

Marco is an excellent student at Georgia Tech, one of the nation's premier colleges of engineering and the sciences, with nearly a 4.0 GPA. He was valedictorian of his senior class at a suburban Atlanta high school and earned a perfect score on the math portion of the SAT
Never mind those accomplishments. Letter writers were outraged because he is an illegal immigrant.

Scores of irate readers of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution don't think he deserves the perquisite of paying his college tuition at the lower rate given to Georgia residents. "The AJC can write all the heartwarming, sympathy-craving articles that you want, but I have no sympathy for any illegal alien who has to pay the high out-of-state tuition to go to one of our state colleges or universities," said one.

"You can try all you want to get us to feel sorry for the children who cannot afford to go to Georgia Tech, but you cannot change the fact that these kids should not even be here in the first place," said another.

Those sentiments expose the raw and visceral attitudes that have inflamed the debate over illegal immigration, the harshly punitive ideology that would brook no compromise. That "no way, Jose" dogma has fractured the Republican Party, delayed badly needed immigration reform and propelled bad public policy -- including a Georgia law that has apparently forced the state's colleges to stop granting in-state tuition waivers to a few students who are not legal residents. (While 10 states offer in-state tuition to illegal students with diplomas from local high schools, most states have refused to do so.)

But no matter how loudly and vehemently some proclaim their narrow-minded views, they simply cannot be the basis for public policy. Though the diehard nativists denounce as "amnesty" any proposal that offers a path to legalization to the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants already here, the comprehensive immigration reform bill now stalled in Congress had offered a practical approach. It combined tough border enforcement with a path to legalization that includes penalties. It's no easy forgiveness. Export agent in yiwu wow gold yiwu purchase agent

And if the bill doesn't pass, what's the alternative? Imitation jewelry smoke detector

No rational society would propose spending untold billions of dollars and imposing brutal tactics in an effort to round up millions of illegal immigrants and send them back to their native lands. Even Rep. Tom Tancredo, the Colorado Republican whose presidential bid is propelled by nativism, doesn't go that far.

And no rational society in desperate need of engineers would make it difficult for a young man like Marco to complete his degree. Dr. Shirley Jackson, president of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, has written of a "quiet crisis" that stems from the nation's failure to produce enough college graduates with expertise in math, physics, chemistry, computer science and engineering. The nation's big technology firms are already doing all they can to scoop up engineers and computer jocks from India, China and Malaysia.

Marco is practically American. He told AJC reporter Brian Feagans that his parents moved illegally from Mexico when he was 4. (Feagans withheld his name at his request.) They've lived in Georgia nearly a decade, which would ordinarily grant him residency and make him eligible for in-state tuition. LOUIS VUITTON yiwu

But a state law that will take effect July 1 apparently forbids granting in-state tuition to illegal immigrants, so Marco's college tuition bills are expected to increase fourfold. While some recent Georgia arrivals -- U.S. citizens -- have complained they have to pay out-of-state tuition, too, they could have paid lower rates in their home states. This is Marco's home. motion detector GUCCI powerleveling

After Feagans' moving story detailing Marco's plight, the reporter received several phone calls from readers, including Georgia Tech alumni, pledging help to ensure that Marco can pay his increased tuition. Cheers to them.

Meanwhile, how many other Marcos are being wasted?

Marco is an excellent student at Georgia Tech, one of the nation's premier colleges of engineering and the sciences, with nearly a 4.0 GPA. He was valedictorian of his senior class at a suburban Atlanta high school and earned a perfect score on the math portion of the SAT
Never mind those accomplishments. Letter writers were outraged because he is an illegal immigrant.

Scores of irate readers of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution don't think he deserves the perquisite of paying his college tuition at the lower rate given to Georgia residents. "The AJC can write all the heartwarming, sympathy-craving articles that you want, but I have no sympathy for any illegal alien who has to pay the high out-of-state tuition to go to one of our state colleges or universities," said one.

"You can try all you want to get us to feel sorry for the children who cannot afford to go to Georgia Tech, but you cannot change the fact that these kids should not even be here in the first place," said another.

Those sentiments expose the raw and visceral attitudes that have inflamed the debate over illegal immigration, the harshly punitive ideology that would brook no compromise. That "no way, Jose" dogma has fractured the Republican Party, delayed badly needed immigration reform and propelled bad public policy -- including a Georgia law that has apparently forced the state's colleges to stop granting in-state tuition waivers to a few students who are not legal residents. (While 10 states offer in-state tuition to illegal students with diplomas from local high schools, most states have refused to do so.)

But no matter how loudly and vehemently some proclaim their narrow-minded views, they simply cannot be the basis for public policy. Though the diehard nativists denounce as "amnesty" any proposal that offers a path to legalization to the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants already here, the comprehensive immigration reform bill now stalled in Congress had offered a practical approach. It combined tough border enforcement with a path to legalization that includes penalties. It's no easy forgiveness. Export agent in yiwu wow gold yiwu purchase agent

And if the bill doesn't pass, what's the alternative? Imitation jewelry smoke detector

No rational society would propose spending untold billions of dollars and imposing brutal tactics in an effort to round up millions of illegal immigrants and send them back to their native lands. Even Rep. Tom Tancredo, the Colorado Republican whose presidential bid is propelled by nativism, doesn't go that far.

And no rational society in desperate need of engineers would make it difficult for a young man like Marco to complete his degree. Dr. Shirley Jackson, president of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, has written of a "quiet crisis" that stems from the nation's failure to produce enough college graduates with expertise in math, physics, chemistry, computer science and engineering. The nation's big technology firms are already doing all they can to scoop up engineers and computer jocks from India, China and Malaysia.

Marco is practically American. He told AJC reporter Brian Feagans that his parents moved illegally from Mexico when he was 4. (Feagans withheld his name at his request.) They've lived in Georgia nearly a decade, which would ordinarily grant him residency and make him eligible for in-state tuition. LOUIS VUITTON yiwu

But a state law that will take effect July 1 apparently forbids granting in-state tuition to illegal immigrants, so Marco's college tuition bills are expected to increase fourfold. While some recent Georgia arrivals -- U.S. citizens -- have complained they have to pay out-of-state tuition, too, they could have paid lower rates in their home states. This is Marco's home. motion detector GUCCI powerleveling

After Feagans' moving story detailing Marco's plight, the reporter received several phone calls from readers, including Georgia Tech alumni, pledging help to ensure that Marco can pay his increased tuition. Cheers to them.

Meanwhile, how many other Marcos are being wasted?

TOULOUSE, France -- "We have become a nation consumed by fear, worried about terrorists and rogue nations, Muslims and Mexicans, foreign companies and free trade, immigrants and international organizations. The strongest nation in the history of the world, we see ourselves besieged and overwhelmed.The words are by Fareed Zakaria, the editor of Newsweek International, in an extraordinary essay in the June 11 issue of the magazine. Such direct words and Zakaria's brutal attack on Republican candidates for president are unusually strong fare for the weekly newsmagazines. The title is "Beyond Bush," without the question mark those magazines usually use to soften harsh words.

No question this time. The piece is not what Fox News would call "fair and balanced," but it happens to be true and straightforward. Fundamentally, Zakaria, who emigrated to the United States in 1982 as an 18-year-old student, is repeating the message delivered by an American president, Franklin D. Roosevelt, 30 years before Newsweek's star was born in India.

"Let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself," said FDR in his first inaugural address in 1933, "nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance."

What exactly are we afraid of now? Yes, we have been hurt by a small group of crazed international criminals, but we ourselves, particularly        President Bush, have unilaterally raised that threat to worldwide ideological warfare threatening all civilization. Yes, many poor Mexicans want to work in the United States, but so did English, Germans, Irish, Italians and brilliant young Indians before them. Yes, China is finally becoming a modern country, but is that bad news or good?

Zakaria slips in a couple of statistics. When he came to America, the United States was rich, accounting for 20 percent of the world's gross domestic product. That figure today is 29 percent. In little more than five years we have increased military spending by $187 billion. That increase alone is more than the combined military budgets of China, Russia, India and Great Britain.

Zakaria, generally considered conservative, seems to be afraid of Republican candidates, whose national security and foreign policy ideas, he writes, "range from bad to insane." He is especially hard on the man he calls "fearmonger in chief," Rudy Giuliani, who has been talking of enemies planning to "come here and kill us." Responds Zakaria: "The notion that the United States today is in grave danger of sitting back and going on the defensive is bizarre. ... How would Giuliani really go on the offensive? Invade a couple of more countries?"

The subtitle of the Newsweek piece is "How to Restore America's Place in the World." Zakaria says, quite correctly, "We have managed in six years to destroy decades of international goodwill, alienate allies, embolden enemies and yet solve few of the major international problems we face."

What now? "Confidence," he says in the Rooseveltian way. "America first needs to recover its confidence." china handbag agent in yiwu yiwu gsm alarm

I agree with that as a medium-range goal. I do not agree with his conclusion that the first step in that process is to "stop bashing Bush." He views the 19 months Bush has left in office as a short time.

The good news, to me at least, is that work like Newsweek's indicates that the press has finally found its legs -- or voice -- in evaluating what we have done over these years and are still doing. I see 19 more months of Bush as a long and dangerous time. I have no doubt that this president will soon begin announcing the withdrawal of "combat troops" from        Iraq, at the same time establishing permanent military bases there. Import from china smoke alarm fibreclay export from

That won't change much. The Americans will still be both targets and recruiting posters for al-Qaida and other stateless criminal enemies. The Iraqi civil war will continue whether we are there or not. And our position in        Afghanistan will almost certainly continue to deteriorate, as the Soviets and British lost their positions there before we came in with flags flying and thought we could stay forever. yiwu agent wow powerleveling

Do they want to kill us? Yes, as long as we are occupying their countries -- and we, or our weary young military personnel, are easy local targets. We have finally got to understand that if they want to kill each other in their own lands, there is little we can do to stop them. But should we duck and cover at home? No, we should restore ourselves and our real ideals. china imitation jewelry

Zakaria is right about that, and Newsweek deserves credit for bringing his ideas to a wide audience of Americans and people inclined to admire America.

The 34-year-old San Antonio shooting guard played in 85 games over seven trips to the playoffs in his 12-year NBA career before his first "It was a pretty exciting moment for me, but it was all about business once the ball went up," Finley said.

Among current NBA players, the only man with more playoff appearances without a trip to the best-of-seven final is Phoenix guard Steve Nash with 97.

When it comes to the finals, Finley is as much of a debutante as Cleveland's squad of 11 first-timers even with teammates like Tim Duncan seeking a fourth NBA crown in nine years.

"I'm enjoying the moment just as much as they are. I'm like a second-time rookie in the NBA Finals," Finley said. "It's calming to not see everybody get overexcited about this situation.

"I'm trying to enjoy all the hoopla but keep my focus. It could be a lot worse. I could be on a beach somewhere feeling sorry for myself about a lot of what-ifs. But I'm here, enjoying the moment."

Finley played in all 82 regular-season games, averaging 9.0 points while shooting 41 percent, and boosted his average to 13.1 a game in the playoffs, although he only managed two points in game one of the finals.

After a debut with Phoenix in 1995, Finley was traded to Dallas the next season and spent more than eight years with the Mavericks before being obtained by the Spurs in 2005.

"He's even more of a leader than I thought he would be. He's even more vocal than I thought he would be and he commands even more respect than I thought he would. He is really a remarkable individual," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said.China commodity yiwu trade agent China factory LPG cylinder export agent in yiwu wow lvl china toys

"He has just relaxed and feels more comfortable in his role. We just gave him the green light and I think it really helped him. If he is on the court and he has the ball and there is any space, we want him to fire it.

"We don't care if he's 1-for-10 or 6-for-6. He works better under that sort of a scenario."

Finley admitted a twinge of pain at watching the Mavericks in last year's NBA Finals, where they lost to Miami.

"I was a little bit jealous. I was part of building that team," he said. "To not get a chance to play, it hurt. It motivated me."soccer table yiwu Translation Service Shipping agent in yiwu

SAN ANTONIO (Reuters) - Lost amid the hype surrounding the match-ups of big men in the        NBA Finals is        Tony Parker, the tiny guard who could be the key to the series. Parker scored 27 points in the        San Antonio Spurs' 85-76 victory over the        Cleveland Cavaliers on Thursday yet the post-game attention was centered on        LeBron James.

The Cavaliers forward scored only 14 points in the series opener and most of the post-game attention focused on potential adjustments by James and how the Spurs planned to stop them.

Yet Parker was every bit as good as James was bad and if the Cavaliers fail to adjust to Parker's slashing drives to the basket the series might be over in four games.

San Antonio forward and future Hall of Famer        Tim Duncan knows Parker's value to the Spurs, a once-gloomy franchise now hoping to win its third championship in the last five years.

Duncan said the 25-year-old Parker drives to the basket better than any guard his size in the NBA.

"They have arguments all the time about who's the fastest in the NBA," Duncan told reporters on Friday. "I don't know if he's the fastest, but he will get around just about anybody.

"For his size, he has just a great ability to make shots over people. He also has the ability to stop on a dime, to shoot a floater or go right to the basket.

"It's so hard for a defender to stop and stay in front of that with all those options."

The 6-foot-2, 180-pound Parker grew up in France and was drafted by the Spurs in 2001 after playing for two years in the French basketball league.

Parker expects the Cavaliers to back off him in Sunday's game two and dare him to shoot the outside jumper. Phoenix unsuccessfully tried that tactic in the Western Conference semi-finals.china daily use articles motion detector China fair 晩云ドラマ Beijing tour trading company in yiwu Trading company in yiwu

"They put        Shawn Marion on me and he was going under and I start knocking down shots and then they have to come out," said Parker, who is engaged to actress Eva Longoria.wow powerleveling yiwu china yiwu market

"And that's when you penetrate again. The whole key is to make sure I shoot with confidence."

Cavaliers coach Mike Brown said he would try to get his team to block Parker's path to the basket but admitted that might not be enough.

SAN ANTONIO (Reuters) - Lost amid the hype surrounding the match-ups of big men in the        NBA Finals is        Tony Parker, the tiny guard who could be the key to the series. Parker scored 27 points in the        San Antonio Spurs' 85-76 victory over the        Cleveland Cavaliers on Thursday yet the post-game attention was centered on        LeBron James.

The Cavaliers forward scored only 14 points in the series opener and most of the post-game attention focused on potential adjustments by James and how the Spurs planned to stop them.

Yet Parker was every bit as good as James was bad and if the Cavaliers fail to adjust to Parker's slashing drives to the basket the series might be over in four games.

San Antonio forward and future Hall of Famer        Tim Duncan knows Parker's value to the Spurs, a once-gloomy franchise now hoping to win its third championship in the last five years.

Duncan said the 25-year-old Parker drives to the basket better than any guard his size in the NBA.

"They have arguments all the time about who's the fastest in the NBA," Duncan told reporters on Friday. "I don't know if he's the fastest, but he will get around just about anybody.

"For his size, he has just a great ability to make shots over people. He also has the ability to stop on a dime, to shoot a floater or go right to the basket.

"It's so hard for a defender to stop and stay in front of that with all those options."

The 6-foot-2, 180-pound Parker grew up in France and was drafted by the Spurs in 2001 after playing for two years in the French basketball league.

Parker expects the Cavaliers to back off him in Sunday's game two and dare him to shoot the outside jumper. Phoenix unsuccessfully tried that tactic in the Western Conference semi-finals.china daily use articles motion detector China fair 晩云ドラマ Beijing tour trading company in yiwu Trading company in yiwu

"They put        Shawn Marion on me and he was going under and I start knocking down shots and then they have to come out," said Parker, who is engaged to actress Eva Longoria.wow powerleveling yiwu china yiwu market

"And that's when you penetrate again. The whole key is to make sure I shoot with confidence."

Cavaliers coach Mike Brown said he would try to get his team to block Parker's path to the basket but admitted that might not be enough.

NEW YORK - Game 1 of the NBA finals drew the lowest rating ever for an opening-game in prime time, dropping 19 percent from last year.

The        San Antonio Spurs' 85-76 victory over the        Cleveland Cavaliers on Thursday night earned a 6.3 rating and 11 share on ABC. The previous low was a 6.4/11 in 2003.world of warcraft power leveling The biggest wholesale market in china yiwu hotels china Christmas item travel china gas detector China tour wow powerleveling

Last year's Game 1 between Miami and Dallas earned a 7.8 rating and 14 share.

The rating is the percentage watching a telecast among all homes with televisions, and the share is the percentage tuned in to a broadcast among those households with televisions on at the time. A ratings point represents 1,114,000 households.wow power leveling Yiwu trading company

SEATTLE - If David Stern has his way inside his own league, the SuperSonics will remain in Seattle.

The NBA commissioner, an associate of Sonics owner Clay Bennett for more than a decade since Bennett was the        San Antonio Spurs' representative on the league's board of governors, said he thinks Bennett will find a way to get a new arena built in the Seattle area to keep the Sonics in their home for the past 40 years.

If Bennett doesn't find that way by Oct. 31, he has promised to begin the process of relocating the team, most likely to his hometown of Oklahoma City or to Kansas City, which is looking for an anchor tenant for its new arena.

"I think it's just going to work itself out and I hope it does," Stern said Thursday at the NBA finals in San Antonio. "It's been a good city for the NBA and we'd love to stay there."

Stern acknowledged that Bennett "has more than exhausted the traditional means" to getting a new arena built in the Seattle area. Before it adjourned in April, the state legislature rejected a plan to use King County tax revenues to cover $278 million of a proposed $500 million arena in the suburb of Renton.

Short of Bennett asking Gov. Chris Gregoire to call back lawmakers for a special session to reconsider the issue — which the governor's office confirms Bennett has not done — there is no way the Sonics can get public money approved for a building before Bennett's deadline.

"But sometimes in situations like that, something that you couldn't have contemplated comes to the forefront and maybe there's some possibility," Stern said.

With public financing unavailable, Bennett currently has one private, Seattle-area investor interested in helping him build a new arena.

The Muckleshoot Indian tribe owns land that includes and surrounds the Emerald Downs race track in Auburn, Wash., and its tribal council is exploring how that land might be used for an arena, tribal spokesman Rollin Fatland said. The site is 24 miles from downtown Seattle.

Representatives of the tribe, which runs one of the state's biggest ******s, met with Bennett in February in what Bennett called "purely an introductory meeting."

"I have not spoken with them since," he said. "I am willing and ready to respond to anything they want to talk about."

For now, Muckleshoot leaders are talking among themselves in what Fatland called "a serious undertaking" to determine whether the site and the transportation infrastructure around it would work for a new arena. The tribal council met Friday, "but the Sonics were not on the agenda," Fatland said.

Bennett has yet to see the proposed 70-plus acre site between the track and a six-lane highway.

Fatland said "there's no hard and fast deadline," on when the tribe's assessment will be complete, "though I know sooner rather than later is the order of the day here."china auto accessory yiwu trading company

Fatland said the tribe does not want to prematurely raise the expectations of Seattle-area basketball fans because its interest is still so preliminary. But he added, "I think doing something good for the community was part of the motivation here, sure."china shoes and socks china suitecase Export from china

As for Seattle itself, deputy mayor Tim Ceis said Thursday the city will continue to enforce the lease the Sonics have to play in KeyArena through 2010, though he acknowledged both sides could agree to amend their agreement to allow a buyout.gas detector yiwu buying agent Purchasing agent in yiwu Made in china wow gold go to yiwu

Such an agreement would presumably cover the money the city would lose should the Sonics leave before 2010. Ceis said the Sonics have not yet approached the city about renegotiating the lease.

ALGIERS (AFP) - Algerian security forces have arrested 13 minors and dismantled a suspected training camp used by an al-Qaeda linked group east of the capital Algiers, security sources said Sunday.

After a two month investigation the minors, aged 12 to 17, 10 of them junior high school students, were arrested at the camp in the Boumerdes region 50 kilometres (30 miles) east of the capital, which the security forces suspect was being used by the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat.wow powerleveling yiwu export agent Import from china travel china China exporter foosball table china gifts Trading company in yiwu Buying agent in yiwu

The outlawed Islamic group has recently rebranded itself as the North African branch of        Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda network.

Local chiefs of the GSPC recruited teenage boys and gave them military training in a camp in the mountains near Boumerdes. The boys helped combatants by providing them with news about the movements of security forces, the sources said.import from yiwu yiwu purchasing agent

Mobile phones and CDs giving details of the activities of the GSPC and Osama bin Laden's international terrorist network were seized in searches of the homes of those detained.

KHARTOUM (AFP) - French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner arrived in Khartoum on Sunday ahead of talks with President Omar al-Beshir on the crisis in war-torn DarfurOn Monday Kouchner will also meet his Sudanese counterpart Lam Akol, and will "urge Sudan to accept the deployment of a hybrid (peacekeeping) force" in Darfur, a French diplomatic source told AFP.China manufacture smoke detector buy from yiwu Imitation jewelry Export from china CHANEL china scarf

Sudan has grudgingly accepted a UN force in Darfur, although the troops' mandate is still under discussion.

The proposal is for the deployment of a 23,000-strong peacekeeping force to replace the current 7,000 African Union soldiers in the region.

The        United Nations wants its own command system but Khartoum wants the force to be under African control.

According to UN figures, more than 200,000 people have been killed and more than two million displaced in four years of conflict in Darfur which the United States has called a "genocide."yiwu shipping agent china stationary 晩云アニメ china arts and crafts

Sudan says that only some 9,000 people have died.

Kouchner is on the final stop of an African tour that has also taken him to Sudan's western neighbour Chad and to Mali, where he attended the investiture of new president Amadou Toumani Toure.

KINSHASA (Reuters) - National park rangers in the        Democratic Republic of Congo are battling to save a 2-month-old gorilla found clinging to its dead mother, who was shot dead through the back of the head, conservationists said on Sunday.

"She's more or less OK. It is certainly a worrying situation, but not hopeless," Paulin Ngobobo, senior warden in eastern Congo's Virunga National Park, told Reuters from the city of Goma where he is looking after the female infant.

He said the young mountain gorilla, born on April 15 and named Ndakasi by conservationists, had accepted baby formula from a feeding bottle. Mountain gorillas usually suckle for up to three years in the wild.

Only 700 mountain gorillas survive in the wild, more than half of them in Virunga.

At least two have been killed and eaten already this year by rebels living off the land as militia fighting drags on despite the official end of Congo's five-year war in 2003, in which violence, hunger and disease killed around 4 million people.

It was unclear who had killed the adult female or why. She had been killed "execution-style" in the back of the head and left at the scene rather than taken away to be eaten, said Emmanuel de Merode of conservation group Wildlife Direct.

"It looks like she was lured with bananas because we found bananas at the site," de Merode said from Goma.

"She was shot at very close range ... a second gorilla was probably shot because there was a trail of blood nearby and three gunshots were heard. The other was probably wounded and got away," he said.

"There are militia groups there. This particular incident was in the Mikeno sector, which is on the border of Rwanda. There was a lot of fighting in that area in January and those problems have not entirely been solved," he said. Export agent in yiwu wow gold yiwu purchase agent Imitation jewelry smoke detector motion detector GUCCI powerleveling

Last month Mai Mai rebels attacked patrol posts in Virunga park, killing one wildlife officer and critically injuring three others, and threatened to slaughter gorillas if park rangers retaliated, Wildlife Direct said at the time.LOUIS VUITTON yiwu

More than 150 rangers have been killed in the last decade while protecting Congo's parks from poachers, rebel groups, illegal miners and land invasions, working through the war without pay, Wildlife Direct said.

MAPUTO (AFP) - Mozambique is set to end its blanket ban on abortion after the government acknowledged that current legislation was endangering the lives of women in one of Africa's most impoverished nations. The proposed shake-up follows the release of a report by the health ministry which said around 100 pregnant women were dying every year after seeing backstreet abortionists while many more suffered "serious after-effects."

Abortion was first outlawed in the former Portuguese colony in legislation dating back to 1886, a ban reaffirmed in a 1981 law six years after the southeastern African country gained independence.

However Justice Minister Esperanca Machavela has confirmed that a review is being drawn up and is likely to be presented to parliament after it reconvenes in October. With the ruling Frelimo party enjoying a majority in parliament, government legislation can be expected to pass comfortably.

The announcement has sparked emotions -- in a country where Catholicism is the most widely followed religion, practiced by about a third of the population, but where women's groups are calling for change.

"You're asking me if I am for or against the decriminalisation of abortion? My response is yes -- a thousand times over," says Laurinda Chirindza whose 15-year-old daughter died last year.

"My daughter fell pregnant to someone who was barely older than her," said the tearful 43-year-old.

"When I discovered what had happened, I immediately decided that she should have an abortion. I didn't want her to have the same life as me.

"I also fell pregnant when I was very young, when I was 14, and I had to abandon my studies."

"My friends told me about a nurse who could do the procedure at her own home. After agreeing on the price, 650 meticas (22 euros/30 dollars), we returned two days later."

The teenager took the abortion drugs supplied by the nurse, but she soon began vomiting and violently shaking.

"As her situation got worse, I insisted that she be taken to the A and E (accident and emergency) at the central hospital. We then had trouble finding a car, and when we finally arrived, the doctors told us that it was too late. My daughter died."

According to the health ministry, 30 percent of women admitted to Maputo's main hospital following a backstreet abortion end up dead.

Figures compiled by the UN's World Health Organisation show that some 68,000 women die annually due to unsafe abortions, most in developing countries such as Mozambique -- which is still reeling from a devastating 1976-1992 civil war that claimed up to one million lives.

The influential Catholic Church is firmly against decriminalisation, with the Archbishop of Maputo, Francisco Chimoio, even declaring last month that women who terminate pregnancy can expect to "live their lives in fear of divine punishment."

The admonition has not daunted women's groups.

"We should follow the path that has been taken by Portugal in decriminalising abortion," after a February referendum there, said Graca Sand, who works for the Forum Mulher, a charity for impoverished women.

Abortion still remains taboo in much of Africa where many countries have a blanket ban. Although South Africa does allow termination of pregnancy on demand, it is illegal in Mozambique's other neighbours, Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

According to the Mozambican health ministry, 58 percent of women who have had an abortion did so at home, very often without the help of anyone with medical training.

Rosa Mateus, 23, who works as a waitress, survived, but says she can never have children again. china imitation jewelry china handbag agent in yiwu Import from china

"I fell pregnant at a time when I was struggling on my own with my two other children ... After talking to some of my friends, I went to see a pharmacist who gave me some drugs which I took at home. But soon after I had taken those things, I began to feel very, very sick."

With her husband in prison, Mateus had to call her parents who rushed her round to the emergency ward. "The doctors told me I could easily have died." smoke alarm fibreclay export from yiwu gsm alarm yiwu agent wow powerleveling

"The law is a hypocrite," says Rogerio Sitoi, a doctor practising at a private clinic in the capital.

In a country where 54 percent of the population live on less than two dollars, "it's the poorest women who suffer, forced to go through abortions carried out by apprentice sorcerers and in dangerous conditions."

Mohamad Ali Hosseini, the spokesman of Iran's foreign ministry, said Iran welcomed diplomatic solutions "to answer questions and possible ambiguities over its peaceful nuclear program," IRNA said late Saturday.

But Hosseini said the G-8 statement went against what he called the intent of the international community, to work on the nuclear issue through talks and negotiation.

He reiterated that Iran would not accept demands that it suspend uranium enrichment, which can be used both to generate energy and to create a nuclear weapon, before any negotiations.

The Group of Eight indudstrialized countries said Friday they would "support adopting further measures" if Iran refused to put a halt to its uranium enrichment program.

The G-8 leaders, at a summit in Germany, said they would back

On Tuesday, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Iran's nuclear program could not be stopped, and that any Western attempt to force a halt to uranium enrichment would be like playing "with the lion's tail."

The Security Council first imposed sanctions on Iran in December and modestly increased them in March over Iran's refusal to suspend enrichment. China commodity yiwu trade agent China factory LPG cylinder export agent in yiwu wow lvl china toys

Iran says it is within its rights to pursue uranium enrichment for peaceful purposes.

The United States and some of its allies fear that Iran is pursuing a nuclear weapons program under cover of its civilian nuclear activities.soccer table yiwu Translation Service Shipping agent in yiwu

Iran denies that and says its program is aimedg at peaceful purposes such as generating electrical energy

BAGHDAD - A suicide truck bomber struck an Iraqi police agency in northern        Iraq on Sunday, killing at least seven people and wounding 45, police said.Meanwhile, police and witnesses in Baghdad said overnight clashes between U.S. troops and Shiite militiamen left at least five Iraqis dead and 19 wounded in an eastern district. The U.S. military had no immediate comment on the reports.

The explosion occurred about 10:30 a.m. and devastated a building housing the local highway police headquarters in the Albu Ajil village on the eastern outskirts of Tikrit, a police officer said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of security concerns.

Tikrit, 80 miles north of Baghdad, was ousted leader        Saddam Hussein's hometown.

The fighting in the predominantly Shiite Fidhiliyah area on the Baghdad's outskirts broke out after a U.S. military convoy came under attack near the local offices of Muqtada al-Sadr, the anti-American cleric whose Mahdi Army militia has recently stepped up attacks on American troops, according to police officers in the area who declined to be identified because they weren't authorized to release the information.

AP Television News video footage shot Sunday showed the charred skeleton of what appeared to be a Humvee and a low-flying Apache helicopter firing flares at several hundred people, mostly teenagers and children, who gathered around the smoldering vehicle.China fair 晩云ドラマ Beijing tour trading company in yiwu Trading company in yiwu

The U.S. military had no immediate comment on the reported clashes. The police and witnesses said those killed and wounded were Iraqis. They included bystanders caught in the crossfire, but did not know how many were al-Sadr loyalists.

U.S. troops stormed al-Sadr offices and detained 16 men, according to police and an official in al-Sadr's office who spoke anonymously because he feared retribution.wow powerleveling yiwu china yiwu market china daily use articles motion detector

Al-Sadr's Mahdi Army militia fought U.S. forces for much of 2004. More recently, the U.S. military has repeatedly blamed the militia for the death of American soldiers in deadly roadside bombs it says are provided by        Iran.

Al-Sadr himself resurfaced in late May for the first time in nearly four months, ending what U.S. officials have said was his voluntary exile in neighboring Iran, apparently to avoid arrest.

His public comments — in a Friday sermon May 25 and a television interview last week — have since been heavily anti-American, calling for the withdrawal of all foreign troops from Iraq and blaming the Americans for all of Iraq's woes.

TEHRAN, Iran -        Iran officially confirmed Sunday that it is holding an Iranian-American peace activist, the fourth dual citizen the country has detained in recent months.

Mohammad Ali Hosseini, the spokesman for Iran's foreign ministry, confirmed at his weekly news briefing that Iranian-American Ali Shakeri had been detained.

On Friday, the semi-official ISNA news agency had first reported that Shakeri of Lake Forest, Calif., was being held and investigated by the security department of the Tehran prosecutor's office.

At the briefing, Hosseini also reiterated that Iran has no information about a former        FBI agent, Robert Levinson, who the United States says has been missing since March after traveling to an Iranian resort island on private business.

"In a meeting with the Swiss ambassador, we reminded them that we have not found any information about him (Levinson)," Hosseini said when asked about the former FBI agent.

The Swiss Embassy handles U.S. interests in Iran because the United States and Iran do not have formal diplomatic ties.

At his briefing, Hosseini also accused the United States of using scientific and research cooperation as a guise to work against Iran. It was not clear what he referred to, but many academics have criticized Iran for arresting scholars.

The U.S. State Department has said Shakeri, a founding board member of the University of California, Irvine, Center for Citizen Peacebuilding was supposed to have left Iran for Europe on May 13 but never arrived.

Iranian officials previously have confirmed the detentions of three other Iranian-Americans: scholar Haleh Esfandiari, who is the director of the Middle East program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars; Kian Tajbakhsh, an urban planning consultant with George Soros' Open Society Institute; and journalist Parnaz Azima, who works for U.S. funded-Radio Farda.china Christmas item travel china gas detector China tour wow powerleveling

All three have been accused of endangering Iran's national security and of espionage, according to a judiciary spokesman.

It is not known if Shakeri has been accused of specific wrongdoing.

All were in Iran visiting family members or engaged in professional work, according to the U.S. State Department and their relatives and employers.

       President Bush has demanded that Iran "immediately and unconditionally" release those held, and has denied that they were spying for the U.S.world of warcraft power leveling The biggest wholesale market in china yiwu hotels

Family, colleagues and employers also have denied the allegations.

Bush's remarks drew sharp criticism from Iranian officials. Earlier this week, Iran accused Bush of interfering in the country's internal affairs.wow power leveling Yiwu trading company

Iran in recent weeks has escalated accusations against the U.S., saying it has uncovered spy rings organized by the U.S. and its Western allies.

TEHRAN, Iran - The Iranian Foreign Ministry cast doubt Sunday on whether a second round of U.S.-        Iran talks on the situation in        Iraq would take place this month, saying no decision had been taken on a second meeting. On May 28, U.S. and Iranian diplomats met for four hours in Baghdad to discuss security in Iraq. Afterward, Iranian Ambassador Hassan Kazemi Qomi told The Associated Press that the two sides would meet again in less than a month.

On Sunday, however, Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini told reporters that Iran had not agreed to a second round this month.Made in china wow gold go to yiwu china shoes and socks china suitecase Export from china

He said the Iranians were studying the results of the May 28 talks and would decide later whether to continue them.

The talks last month were the first formal, scheduled meeting between Iranian and American officials since the United States broke diplomatic relations with Iran following the Nov. 4, 1979 seizure of the U.S. Embassy by radical students.yiwu buying agent Purchasing agent in yiwu

Shortly after the May meeting, Iran's senior security official, Ali Larijani, said the U.S.-Iran dialogue could continue only if Americans offer new solutions to the security crisis in Iraq.

Iran considers the presence of U.S. troops in Iraq as a threat to its security and has demanded they leave. Washington, meanwhile, accuses Iran of arming and financing Shiite militias fighting American and Iraqi troops in Iraq — charges Iran denies.china auto accessory yiwu trading company gas detector 

ATLANTA - The family of a lawyer with a rare strain of tuberculosis released part of a tape recording Wednesday in which a health official is heard saying the man was not contagious and didn’t need to be isolated.china daily use articles china suitecase

Andrew Speaker, the subject of the first federal quarantine order since 1963, has maintained that officials never ordered him not to fly before he left for his wedding and honeymoon in Europe. Officials say he flouted their orders, and Congress is investigating how officials handled the situation.

On CNN’s “Larry King Live,” Speaker — talking from his Denver hospital room — said he had known since an X-ray in January that he had TB and had been taking a combination of four standard drugs to treat it.

Just before a May 10 meeting at which the tape was made, he said, he had learned that the bacteria in his lung were resistant to at least two of the drugs and that he would need special treatment at the Denver hospital.

In the tape recording — made by Speaker’s father, Ted, also a lawyer — the patient asks about the hospital’s accommodations.

“Now, that I don’t know,” says Dr. Eric Benning, medical director of the Fulton County health department. “But because of the fact that you actually are not contagious, there’s no reason for you to be sequestered.”china toys china imitation jewelry china handbag

At another point on the tape, Benning says: “As far as we can tell, you are not a threat to anybody right now.”

When King asked Speaker why he continued with his travel plans after learning that his disease was drug-resistant, Speaker said, “That doesn’t make me any more contagious.”china scarf china shoes and socks china auto accessory china Christmas item LPG cylinder

His wife, Sarah, said they would not have continued those plans if they thought he was dangerous.

“We made sure in that meeting that we were not putting anyone in harm’s way,” she said.