Indiana holds Irish in check

INDIANA 76 NOTRE DAME 59

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. Sure, there were some early-season miscues.But these teams shouldn't play a game this interesting so early.They're going to give themselves too tough an act to follow.

About all you can say after Indiana beat Notre Dame 76-59Tuesday night is: Bring on Saturday's doubleheader at Indianapolis,when these two teams will mix it up with Louisville and Kentucky,respectively.

"I loved this game tonight," Irish coach Digger Phelps said."We'll get better from this. We're going to play 28 games. So let'sgo play."

It was the basic chess match you've come to expect when Phelpsand Bob Knight get together. The difference …

Group Calls for Probe Into Editor's Death

MOSCOW - The journalism watchdog group Reporters Without Borders on Friday called for the leaders of Russia and the United States to request a U.N. investigation into the killing of journalist Paul Klebnikov.

The American, who was editor of Forbes magazine's Russian edition, was gunned down on a Moscow street on July 9, 2004.

Two men were brought to trial on charges of carrying out the killing on behalf of a Chechen separatist who was the subject of a critical book written by Klebnikov, but were acquitted. The trial was dogged by criticism that prosecutors failed to pursue other lines of investigation in the case.

"At the end of a farce of a trial ... it is clear …

Islamic Web site says Taliban confirms …

Islamic Web site says Taliban confirms …

For the Holidays, Consider These Car-Related Presents

A uto-related gifts can make Christmas shopping a lot easier, if youknow someone who likes cars in general or has a particular fondnessfor their own auto.

Car buffs of all ages like specialized auto-related gifts, andaverage car owners can use general-interest car presents.

Here are a variety of auto-gift ideas - including some prettyfar-out ones - their cost and where to get the mechandise:

Al Unser Jr. Racing Suit: Perhaps the ultimate auto-relatedapparel item. It's the actual race suit of the guy who won thisyear's Indianapolis 500. For $1,400. At the Motorsport Collector,5120 Belmont Rd., Suite L, Downers Grove. (708-515-1440).

The Big Ride Art …

Moving toward equality

With the midterm elections behind ns, it's time to look ahead. The recent Republican victories would seem to be a major setback for the LGBT community. Since the early 1980s, the Republican Party has cozied up to the "religious right" in its efforts to win federal and state offices around the country and here in Michigan. Most prominent Republican officials have publicly stated their opposition to any measures that would guarantee equality based on sexual orientation or gender identity. The current debate over repeal of the military's "Don't ask, Don't tell" policy is an example of this, with Senate Republicans standing in the way of even debating this issue, despite overwhelming public …

Colombia denies Venezuelan claim that its troops crossed border

Colombia's defense minister on Sunday denied a Venezuelan claim that Colombian troops had crossed into that neighboring country.

"I've investigated and there was no incursion," Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos told Bogota-based Caracol radio. Rough terrain along the border would have "made it practically impossible for (the incursion) to have happened the way they say it happened," he said.

But Venezuelan Information Minister Andres Izarra told Venezuelan state television that officials had photographs showing "a military incursion in our territory."

Venezuela's foreign ministry sent Colombia a diplomatic note …

Bush says he isn't backing down in Iraq President says it's been 'tough,' but war isn't another Vietnam

Conceding a couple of "tough weeks in Iraq," President Bushsignaled Tuesday night he is ready to increase American troopstrength in the country, adding he intends to usher in a new era ofdemocracy and "finish the work of the fallen."

At a combination speech and news conference at the White House,Bush rejected a suggestion that Iraq was becoming another Vietnam --a quagmire without a ready exit. "I think that analogy is false," hesaid. "I also happen to think that analogy sends the wrong message toour troops and sends the wrong message to the enemy."

One year after the fall of Saddam Hussein, Bush said a recentspike in savage violence is neither a civil war nor a …