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Surviving Wal-Mart A former Wal-Mart strategist tells you how to survive and thrive in a world dominated by the retail giant.

WAL-SMART

William H. Marquard

Tata McGraw-Hill

Pp: 272

Price: Rs 450

In the history of American business, there have been corporationsfar more powerful than Wal-Mart--for instance, Standard Oil and usSteel--but none of them was as feared or reviled as Wal-Mart istoday. True, this is a different day and age, but the universal awethat this hyphenated "beast from Bentonville" evokes is a left-handed compliment to its growing sphere of influence. It is not justsuppliers, competitors, state administrations, and technologyinnovators, but also employers who need to keep an eye on Wal-Mart.Consider this: Wal-Mart spends $240 billion every year on …

Jui Li sets aftermarket part recall in motion

After CAPA decertifies part, Jui Li takes responsibility for 5,000 hoods

OEMs conduct hundreds of recalls each year, but 2002-2003 marks the first year that an aftermarket part manufacturer has voluntarily recalled its wares since the parts were introduced in 1979. Beginning in December 2002, Taiwan-based Jui Li Enterprise Co. Ltd. began reeling in as many as 5,000 of its Toyota Tacoma hoods that were sold in the United States from July 15,1997 to March 29, 2002. A CAPA-certified hood that flew up as a repairer was taking a customer's Tacoma for a test ride sparked the recall. After examining the part, CAPA decertified all lots of Jui Li's P/N JLH13900. (See "NonOEM Tacoma hood …

Trouble understanding? EU nations will send police units abroad to tourist hotspots

European Union justice and interior ministers have agreed that member states can deploy special police units to tourist hotspots across Europe to handle complaints and problems when their citizens get in trouble with the law.

The EU-wide plan would see national police officers stationed abroad for several months at a time where large numbers of their nationals go on vacation or are attending a sports event.

"If you are abroad and you have been pickpocketed ... you will want local police that speak your language to help to solve the problem," said French Interior Minister Michele Alliot-Marie, who was chairing security talks in Cannes on …

Lukas is ready for challenge of Triple Crown

NEW YORK - In his Hall of Fame career, D. Wayne Lukas has trained18 Eclipse Award winners, won 13 Breeders' Cup races and saddled thewinners of four Kentucky Derbies and five Preakness Stakes.

He also won three Belmont Stakes in a row, from 1994-96, and thatexperience could work to his advantage on Saturday, when he sendsoutCharismatic in his bid to become only the 12th horse in history tosweep the Triple Crown.

"The first couple of times I tried it, I came away very, veryhumbled and very, very distressed over the Belmont Stakes," saidLukas, whose first Belmont starter, Preakness winner Codex, finishedseventh in the 1 1/2-mile race in 1980. "And then we had a …

Israeli settlements hinder Mideast peace, Clinton says

WASHINGTON President Clinton said today that Israel is nothelping Mideast peacemaking by its settlement activity. He said heis concerned and has informed Jerusalem of his views.

At a news conference, Clinton said Israel and the Palestinianshad agreed to deal with the explosive settlement issue throughnegotiations. "It just stands to reason that anything that preemptsthe outcome . . . cannot be helpful in making peace.

"I don't think anything should be done that would be seen aspreempting the outcome," Clinton said.He also called on the two sides to conclude their negotiationson a partial Israeli withdrawal in the West Bank town of Hebron.Former Secretary of …

Steelers fans' loyalty goes beyond Super Bowls

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Proud, tough and resilient. The same adjectives that could describe the Pittsburgh Steelers could also apply to their large and fiercely loyal fan base.

Now the team has rewarded its black-and-gold faithful with a shot at another Super Bowl. Only the Green Bay Packers stand between the Steelers from a seventh title when the tradition-rich teams play in Super Bowl XLV on Feb. 6 in Dallas.

Shuttling between stores for the latest Steelers gear, fans Monday in Pittsburgh's commercial Strip District were still giddy over the 24-19 victory over the New York Jets to win the AFC title.

"It's in your blood. I have the Terrible Towel that I was wrapped in as a …

Report: Ex-tennis star Nastase sick of Romania

A television station reports that tennis great Ilie Nastase is considering leaving Romania because of an allegedly interfering press.

Realitatea TV reported on its website on Tuesday that the 63-year-old Nastase was tired of having to hide from "the …

Local sports

WVC HONORS

Salem International's Wykeen Kelly was named to the Division IIall-America third team Wednesday.

Kelly helped the Tigers to a 23-3 record and a berth in theDivision II East Regional championship game, where they lost toIndiana, Pa.

The junior guard from Philadelphia also was the West VirginiaConference player of the year. He averaged 18.8 points per game whileshooting 55 percent from the floor.

Concord's Brian Atkins and the University of Charleston's KalanSmith were honorable mention picks and Bluefield State's Leon Smithwas named to the all-freshman team.

Glenville State's Tracy Wyatt and West Liberty's Kelly West werenamed to the …

2 French police to stand trial in deaths of teens

PARIS (AP) — Two French police officers will stand trial accused of failing to save the lives of two teens whose 2005 deaths sparked weeks of riots around the country, lawyers said Friday.

The officers will face charges of "non-assistance to a person in danger," said a lawyer for the victims' families, Jean-Pierre Mignard. The charge carries up to five years in prison and up to euro75,000 ($95,400) in fines.

Two boys, 15-year-old Bouna Traore and 17-year-old Zyed Benna, died while hiding from police in a power substation in the Paris suburb of Clichy-sous-Bois on Oct. 27, 2005 when they were electrocuted. Another boy with them suffered severe burns.

Local youths blamed …

Peirson's Milk-vetch

Astragalus magdalenae peirsonii

Status	Threatened
Listed	October 6, 1998
Family	Leguminosae (Fabaceae)
Description	Stout, short-lived perennial with stems covered with fine silky hairs and dull-purple files.
Habitat	Sonoran Desert on the slopes and hollows of windblown dunes.
Threats	Off-highway vehicle use; recreational development.
Range	California; Mexico

Description

Peirson's milk-vetch (Astragalus magdalenae peirsonii ) is a stout, short-lived perennial reaching 8-27 in (20.3-65.6 cm) in height. The stems and leaves are covered with fine silky hairs, and the leaves are 2-6 in (5-15.2 cm) long, with 3-13 small oblong leaflets. The dull-purple flowers are arranged in 10-to 17-flowered racemes; the resulting pods are 0.8-1.4 in (2-3.6 cm) long, …

The Holy Spirit will be with them, graduates told

Taking a cue from the church calendar which showed eight days until Pentecost, Dorothy Nickel Friesen told graduates that the Holy Spirit will be with them in their ministry

The John 15:9-17 passage that Dorothy used as the basis for her message at the May 23 service comes within a section in which Jesus is preparing his disciples for his death. The disciples are asking, "Where are you going? Can we go, too? Who will stay with us?"

Dorothy noted that as graduates leave the seminary and move into ministry, they, too, are asking, "Who will stay with us?" She reassured them that as they make hospital visits, wait with grooms as weddings begin, and do other ministry tasks, the …

Lawyer says US paid $2.34 million to secure release of CIA contractor in Pakistan

LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) — Lawyer says US paid $2.34 …

Soccer league formed U.S. beats Israeli basketball team

The MISL is back. Commissioner Steve Ryan announced the launch ofthe new Major Indoor Soccer League today. The league will operate asa single ownership entity, with a collection of individual teamoperators who each hold a financial stake in the MISL. The MISLreplaces the National Professional Soccer League, which disbandedthis week. Members of the NPSL's board of directors said the leagueno longer was financially viable. Eight former NPSL clubs haveindicated they will join the MISL. Baltimore; Cleveland; Harrisburg,Pa.; Kansas City, Mo.; Milwaukee; and Philadelphia plan toparticipate in the upcoming season. Detroit and Toronto will takepart in the 2002-03 season.

Caron Butler of Connecticut scored 21 points and keyed a third-quarter run today, leading the United States past Israel 98-74 for aquarterfinal berth in the World Basketball Championship for YoungMen.

Carlos Boozer of Duke added 16 points for the Americans, whoimproved to 5-0 in the 12-nation tournament for players under 21. TheAmericans will play Slovenia on Friday. "The more we play togetherthe stronger we get," said Boozer, the team's leading scorer in thetournament. Israel lost for the first time and will face the DomincanRepublic next.

Interpol issues alert for Gadhafi in move to help enforce sanctions

PARIS (AP) — Interpol issues alert for Gadhafi in move to help enforce sanctions

Texas is shooting donkeys, stirring burro backlash

PRESIDIO, Texas (AP) — Unofficially, the state of Texas celebrates donkeys and their historical and cultural significance in shaping the American West.

Officially? The policy on wild burros out here is shoot to kill.

Texas park rangers are trying to wipe out hundreds of free-roaming donkeys in Big Bend State Park, killing nearly 130 to date with .308-caliber bolt-action rifles on this side of the Rio Grande. But in the process, the shootings are stirring a whole new kind of cross-border controversy, pitting state officials against burro-lovers who believe the animal holds a special place in history and deserves protection.

The state's stance: wild donkeys wandering over from Mexico simply don't belong. The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department considers an estimated 300 burros in Big Bend to be destructive intruders, hogging forage and lapping up precious water in the drought-starved mountains — thereby threatening the survival of hundreds of native species.

Outraged locals, however, claim there's only one animal the state really cares about — bighorn sheep.

"They say we're doing this just so four rich white guys can hunt bighorn sheep out here," said David Riskind, director of natural resources for the parks agency. "That's just not true."

Once extinct in Texas for decades, bighorns made a heralded homecoming to Big Bend last year when a herd of nearly four dozen was relocated to the 316,000-acre (127,883-hectare) range. But even that's not big enough for what the state says are foreign burros and the native bighorns.

Skeptics suspect the state's stance is all a wink to wealthy and well-connected hunters. Coveted state permits to bag bighorns fetch upward of $100,000 at auction in Texas, and opponents like Margaret Farabee of the Wild Burro Protection League believe that's why the state wants to eliminate any threat to the sheep's survival so the bighorn hunters can one day return to Big Bend.

Riskind said it will take decades before the bighorn population is robust enough to possibly allow hunting in Big Bend, but that doesn't quiet the doubts of a growing campaign to save the burros — for a second time.

Among those trying to stop the shootings include a Wisconsin woman who's bombarded the state with open records requests; a former state park supervisor in Big Bend; and more than 94,000 supporters on Change.org, making it one of the website's most popular petitions ever.

But their biggest ally may be history. In 2007, a similar uproar caused the state to temporarily suspend its first foray into "lethal control" after park rangers killed 71 wild burros.

Luis Armenderiz, the former Big Bend supervisor who retired following the initial controversy, said the burros are no more destructive to the park than humans who put in bike trails.

"We are invading their ecosystem. They're not invading ours," Armenderiz said.

Shooting wild animals doesn't generally create much of a stir in Texas, where hunting is a celebrated pastime. A year ago, Gov. Rick Perry famously paused from a morning jog to take aim at a coyote. This past summer, state lawmakers made gunning down feral hogs from helicopters legal.

No one sticks up for the ugly, rooting, beastly feral hog. So why the burro backlash?

"They're charismatic," Riskind said.

Opponents say the reasons are cultural. Donkeys did the dirty work of hauling supplies during America's westward expansion in the 1800s, and here along the border, families owned burros like households today have dogs. When the peso was weak, Mexican families strapped American-bought microwaves to their burro's backs to haul across the Rio Grande.

Even at Big Bend National Park, right next door to the state-owned land, killing wild burros is prohibited by a 40-year-old federal ban that Congress said protects the "living symbols and pioneer spirit of the West."

Riskind is quick to call burros "historically significant" and said the state tells the animal's important legacy through its books and museums. But he said those creatures were domesticated donkeys — and times have changed.

Heightened border security has made walking a donkey across the Rio Grande nearly impossible, and Mexico's violent drug war has decimated small towns in northern states and sent families fleeing inward. Riskind said many of the wild burros in Big Bend today were simply abandoned by Mexican ranchers.

The donkey dust-up is playing out in an isolated, rugged region that looks like a stock Texas landscape in some old western shoot-'em-up. Residents proudly call it the Lone Star State's last frontier, but attitudes here lean more progressive than small-town rustic.

An hour up the road is Marfa, the arty desert oasis where Led Zeppelin frontman Robert Plant played a surprise show last month. In nearby Alpine, ranchers who drive into town to buy hay bales and horse feed drive past two yoga studios. Rachael Waller, who runs an equine rescue in Alpine, hands out "burro-friendly store" stickers to shop owners and said nearly every business in town is on board, including the local taxidermist.

Waller, who is the daughter of Robert Waller, author of "The Bridges of Madison County," has a 7-year-old burro named Penny on her 400-acre (162-hectare) ranch.

"We like going to Big Bend and seeing all the wildlife. It's all supposed to be there," she said.

Riskind described "lethal control" as a reluctant but necessary measure of last resort. Park rangers don't actively hunt for burros, and pull the trigger only when they stumble upon a herd. Conservancy groups tried trapping the burros in 2007 after the state backed down to protesters, but spent months without wrangling one donkey from the impossibly rocky terrain.

For now, Riskind doesn't see the state giving into opposition again.

"I think it's safe to say we're not re-evaluating," he said.