Wall Street pares losses as markets digest JPMorgan Chase buyout of Bear Stearns

Wall Street fell in temperamental trading Monday as investors grappled with news of JPMorgan Chase & Co. buying the stricken Bear Stearns & Co. in a deal backed by the government. The Dow Jones industrials, down nearly 200 points in the early going, fluctuated into positive territory and then sank again by more than 100 points.

A buyout of Bear Stearns was certainly more appealing than the alternative: letting the investment bank collapse and causing huge losses for anyone linked to it. And some unprecedented moves by the Federal Reserve gave the market a bit of solace on what many predicted would be a day of precipitous losses in the stock market.

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Lollapalooza mixes it up

In its sixth year as a Chicago-based "destination festival," Lollapalooza will be headlined by a mix of best-selling modern rockers, a reunited alternative-era legend and a cutting-edge dance-pop diva when it rolls into Grant Park on Aug. 6-8.

As in years past, and much to the chagrin of Austin, Texas-based promoters C3 Presents, the names of the top six main-stage acts all leaked to the press over the last few months. But the list was made official Monday, when the complete roster of 123 acts was announced.

The headliners are the reunited Seattle grunge merchants Soundgarden, long-running Broadway-bound pop-punks Green Day, avant-garde dance-pop phenom Lady Gaga, Canada's …

New Transit Project Near Los Angeles International Airport.

Staff

Los Angeles, Calif.- Parsons Brinckerhoff (PB) has been retained by the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) to evaluate alternative alignments, prepare an environmental impact report (EIR), and provide conceptual engineering services for the Crenshaw-Prairie Transit Corridor project.

The study will evaluate the feasibility of implementing a high-capacity transit system within a 10.5-mile corridor from Wilshire Boulevard south to El Segundo Boulevard, near the Los Angeles Airport. The analysis will determine the type of transit improvements needed in …

ANTARCTIC ICE CAP HOLES MAY SHAPE CLIMATE.(Living Today)

Byline: William C. Hidlay Associated Press

Mysterious holes that periodically form in the ice covering Antarctic seas may serve as vents for excess heat and trapped gas, helping to shape the Earth's climate and influencing the "greenhouse effect."

These ice-free regions, some as large as France, weren't discovered until 1974 when scientists began examining new satellite images of Antarctica and the frozen ocean encircling it. Scientists don't know if the holes called polynyas existed before then or even how frequently they develop in the vast ice cover.

Teams of scientists from the Soviet Union, the United States and West Germany have worked since 1981 to figure out how the holes form, what role they play in ocean circulation and how they affect the climate.

Polynya (pronounced "pa-lean-yah"') is a …

Libya: NATO hits gov't missile launchers, boats

TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) — NATO warplanes on Saturday struck a missile launching position that Libyan ruler Moammar Gadhafi's forces used to target the civilians in western Libya, the alliance said in a statement.

Government troops used the missile site outside the rebel-held port city of Misrata to fire indiscriminately on civilians in the area, NATO said.

Since the uprising against Gadhafi's 42-year rule broke out in February, armed rebels saying they seek democracy have seized much of the country's east, where they've set up an administration in the city of Benghazi. They also control much of the western Nafusa mountains and Misrata, Libya's third largest city.

The civil …

Ban Urges Reconciliation in Lebanon

UNITED NATIONS - Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday urged Lebanon's prime minister and parliament speaker to reconcile and try to elect a new president, warning that failure could lead to two governments and two presidents.

Prime Minister Fuad Saniora's U.S.-backed government has been locked in a fierce power struggle for months with the pro-Syrian, pro-Iranian opposition, led by the military group Hezbollah and backed by opposition-aligned Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri.

It is the most serious political crisis since the end of the country's 1975-90 civil war.

Berri has set Sept. 25 for parliament to meet to start voting on a new head of state to replace …

Ex-professor pleads innocent to stalking.

RUSSELLVILLE - A former chemistry professor at Arkansas Tech University pleaded innocent Monday in Pope County Circuit Court to a charge of Internet stalking of a child. …