LONDON - Jimmy James, a British WWII pilot famous for his attempts to escape German captivity has died at age 92.James died Jan. 18, the BBC said.He was captured by the Germans in 1940 when his plane was shot down over occupied Netherlands, The New York Times reported Thursday. By the time he was liberated in 1945, James had tried to escape at least 11 times. He had succeeded twice but was recaptured both times, ... [full story]

WAPAKONETA - An Ohio woman said she is upset that people from a Kansas church plan to picket the funeral of her son, who died while serving in the U.S. Army in Iraq.Cindy Schoolcraft Hooker of Lima, Ohio, said the church is showing disrespect for her son, Sgt. Jon Michael Schoolcraft III, 26, who was killed Jan. 18."He was over there for them, too," Hooker told the Dayton (Ohio) Daily News.Schoolcraft's funeral is scheduled for ... [full story]

A recent graduate of the University of Iowa and still dripping wet behind the ears, Terry O'Quinn made his professional acting debut in a production of "Tartuffe" at Baltimore's Center Stage in 1975.   TERRY O'QUINN - Terry O'Quinn, who recently earned the 2007 Emmy for best supporting actor in a drama series, is back on eight new episodes of 'Lost.' CNS Photo courtesy of ABC.In fact, he loved it so much that he hung around ... [full story]

PARIS - A report by French government researchers said morale in France is at its lowest point since they started tracking it in 1987.The report said French people's belief that their living standards will improve has declined steadily since President Nicolas Sarkozy took office last June. The gloom has been exacerbated by rising fuel and food prices, the Daily Telegraph said.Sociologist Gerard Mermet, however, said "collective pessimism is engraved in French culture." He told the ... [full story]

Diane Keaton stars in the caper comedy "Mad Money" as a suburban housewife who decides to rip off the super-secure Federal Reserve Bank. She has a low-level job at the facility and hatches a plan to steal millions with the help of two other staffers, played by Queen Latifah and Katie Holmes.   DIANE KEATON - Diane Keaton stars in 'Mad Money,' a comedy about three women who work for the Federal Reserve and plot to ... [full story]

DETROIT - Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick returned to work Thursday after an emotional apology Wednesday night for a text message scandal.In a televised appearance, Kilpatrick apologized for "the embarrassment and disappointment" that has come out of the scandal involving thousands of text messages from former chief of staff Christine Beatty's pager, the Detroit Free Press said."I want to start tonight by saying to the citizens of this great city: I'm sorry," Kilpatrick said in the ... [full story]

Jake at last seems on the brink of cracking the best-seller list - and with any luck, breaking it wide open. Actually, writer Brian Alexander, 48, hasn't been Jake, Glamour magazine's (formerly anonymous) dating-advice columnist, since 1996. But with "America Unzipped: In Search of Sex and Satisfaction," he has taken his reluctantly won reputation as a go-to guy for naughty stuff - he's currently the twice-monthly "Sexploration" columnist for msnbc.com - and fashioned it into ... [full story]

WASHINGTON - NASA senior managers completed a review Wednesday of space shuttle Atlantis' readiness for flight. Pending closure of an issue with a shuttle radiator hose, the STS-122 mission will launch Feb. 7 at 2:45 p.m. EST.During an inspection of Atlantis Tuesday, one of four hoses that carry Freon to the shuttle radiators in the payload bay was found bent and not properly retracted in its storage box. The others were fully retracted into their ... [full story]

The news is in. In 2007, 1.3 million U.S. households faced some stage of foreclosure. That's an increase of 79 percent from the 2006, according to RealtyTrac, an Irvine, Calif.-based company that tracks foreclosures nationwide. This startling statistic coupled with declines in housing starts and sales explains to some extent why our nation's leaders want to as soon as possible stem the tide of economic decline in which the subprime mortgage debacle has no doubt ... [full story]

The Old Testament book of Ecclesiastes tells us that "to everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven." So, although Ecclesiastes' lilting verses of prose poetry do not mention it, the time must inevitably come to say goodbye. For me, that time is now. After 29 years at the San Diego Union-Tribune and 21 years as editor of Insight and its predecessor Sunday Opinion section, I'm retiring from the ... [full story]