RIO DE JANEIRO - Gunbattles between police and gang members in Rio de Janeiro's slums left at least 19 people dead Wednesday, officials in the seaside city said. Violence broke out when more than 1,000 police officers converged on Alemao, a known drug haven slum, O Globo TV reported Wednesday. Rio authorities have been cracking down on gangs and drug-related violence in recent weeks hoping to make the city safer for the upcoming Panamerican games ... [full story]

TOKYO - Former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori -- who fled Peru in 2000 -- said Wednesday he will run for the Senate in Japan's upcoming election. Fujimori will run for office on the Kokumin Shinto (People's New Party)ticket, El Comercio newspaper reported online. If elected, the 68-year-old Fujimori -- who is wanted in Peru on corruption and human rights charges -- would be the first leader of another country to be elected to office in ... [full story]

SHIRQAT, Iraq - Fourteen Iraqi insurgents were killed Wednesday when a truck they were rigging with explosives blew up. Police said the blast occurred in the northern Iraqi town of Shirqat, CNN reported. People were picking up body parts of the insurgents when police arrived at the scene, the network said. Shirqat is a Sunni community in Salaheddin province. copyright © 2007, by United Press International. All Rights Reserved. [full story]

A 30-year old Bend man who was involved in a head-on crash in April, 2007 that resulted in the death of a Gates man was arrested yesterday for reckless driving.  Witnesses in Tuesday’s incident told police that John Eric Young crossed the centerline and was nearly collided head-on collision with a commercial truck.  Investigation officers also learned that Young was involved in a crash earlier in the morning.   John Eric Young - MCSO photo According to ... [full story]

Forget Spider-Man, who for all his cinematic web-slinging is still pretty much a one-trick phony. If you want to see truly marvelous silk savvy, look for the real thing: spiders.   GOT SILK? - A wasp spider sits in its web. Some spiders produce as many as seven kinds of silk, including dragline silk to support the spider as it moves about and adhesive silk for snaring prey. CNS Photo. Of course, they have had plenty of ... [full story]

Designer Kenneth Brown is as down-to-earth, friendly, inviting and comfortable as his designs. He isn't into patterns in his home; he wants to get inside your head, and everything he comes up with has to pass the "mom test."   KENNETH BROWN - Kenneth Brown is as down-to-earth as his designs. CNS Photo courtesy of Kenneth Brown Design.    SIZE SHOULDN'T MATTER - Kenneth Brown believes that small rooms are equally as important as larger rooms when it ... [full story]

SAN DIEGO - Pebble Beach had "Boat-Cam." Maybe Torrey Pines could have "Billabong-Cam." Or perhaps "Hang Glider-Cam." "We'll be looking for unique angles to show the place off," said Tommy Roy, NBC's longtime golf producer. At the last U.S. Open in California, in 2000 at Pebble Beach, "Boat-Cam" was just what it sounds like - a camera in a boat in Carmel Bay, which gave viewers a unique seal's-eye view of one of the most ... [full story]

If Amadou Fall had not been a champion African swimmer for Senegal in the 1970s, his son probably would not have taken up the sport. And if Assane Fall had not taken up competitive swimming, he probably wouldn't have heard from his coach about the lifeguard job on Yoff Beach outside the capital of Dakar.   THE ACCIDENTAL KAYAKER - Kayaker Assane Fall of Senagal, who has been training at the Olympic Training Center in California ... [full story]

  Tour de France jersey tied to yellow journalism – It wasn’t until the 16th running of the Tour de France that one of the race’s most distinctive features came to be. Partway through the race it occurred to tour organizer and newspaper editor Henri Desgrange that the race leader ought to wear something distinctive, because spectators along the route often had no idea who was winning.  [full story]

Summertime: Set your SPF at 30, your beach towel at McMansion and your reading at ... heavy. Yes, it's the 2007 edition of our Summer Reading Roundup, in which we suggest that, since you've got the time, serious books should be considered in season.   SUMMER READING - The weighty books of our summer reading roundup are just perfect. CNS Illustration. Disagree? Fine. Walk into a bookstore, take aim at the out-front displays and shoot off a ... [full story]