GENEVA, Switzerland - The International Committee of the Red Cross issued a global call Thursday for more "political will" in tracking down people missing due to conflicts.The ICRC issued the statement in Geneva marking Aug. 30 as the International Day of the Disappeared, with Director of Operations Pierre Krahenbuhl calling on all nations to sign onto the December 2006 International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, a legally binding document that ... [full story]

If Joe Harper were a racehorse, one friend speculates, he would be something along the lines of John Henry.   DEL MAR CHIEF - Joe Harper has headed the Del Mar Racetrack for nearly three decades, leading it through an $80 million renovation and challenges such as the introduction of intertrack betting. CNS Photo by John Gastaldo. The undersized but canny American thoroughbred - voted racehorse of the decade for the 1980s - endeared himself to racing ... [full story]

PRINCE ALBERT, Saskatechewan - A Canadian woman is to appear in court next month to face charges she abandoned her baby son in a Wal-Mart store toilet.The 21-year-old woman, whose name has not been released by Prince Albert police, is alleged to have left the infant a washroom stall May 21. The case drew national attention when store video was shown of a woman wearing a heavy coat entering the store and leaving a few ... [full story]

BAGHDAD - The top U.S. commander in Iraq, U.S. Army Gen. David Petraeus told an Arabic news magazine that politics will ultimately determine Iraq's future.In an interview with the al Watan al Arabi weekly, Petraeus was asked how effective a military campaign could be in ever-changing political situations."Our strategy does not rely on the military alone to ensure success in Iraq," Petraeus responded. "Eighty percent of counterinsurgency is political and politics -- in both Baghdad ... [full story]

  Nine cycles, three men - It’s one of the rarer events in Major League Baseball, a player hitting for “the cycle.”  One thing that makes it difficult is that it usually requires a player with the rare combination of power and speed. The cycle happens when a player hits a single, double, triple and home run in a single game. In more than a century of professional baseball …  [full story]

BAGHDAD - Five people have died and 2,000 others have been infected with cholera in northern Iraq because of poor water quality, U.N. officials reported.UNICEF said that since Monday 500 people in the Sulaimaniya province and the nearby Kirkuk region have been hospitalized with severe diarrhea, CNN reported.UNICEF said it was rushing emergency water purification kits to the region, as 47 cases have been confirmed as epidemic cholera. The bacterial disease is caused by drinking ... [full story]

BEIRUT, Lebanon - A human rights organization said Hezbollah's 2006 rocket attacks on northern Israel deliberately targeted civilian areas, killing 39 people.The non-governmental organization Human Rights Watch said Hezbollah's explanation that the attacks on Israeli towns were a response to indiscriminate Israeli fire into southern Lebanon and to draw Israel into a ground war have no legal basis under the laws of war."Hezbollah’s explanations for why it fired rockets at Israel’s civilian population utterly fail ... [full story]

"A Memoir of Life on the Run" by Mike O'Connor; Random House; 304 pages; $25.   IDENTITY 'CRISIS' - A journalist's toughest story to unravel was his own family's tale. CNS Photo. On the last page of "A River Runs Through It," Norman Maclean's 1976 gem about fishing and family, the father says, "It is those we live with and love and should know who elude us." Mike O'Connor's story could be Exhibit A. He grew up ... [full story]

SEOUL - A Taliban spokesman in Afghanistan told South Korea's Yonhap news agency Thursday the release of seven remaining South Korean hostages was imminent.In a telephone interview, Qari Yousuf Ahmadi said the Christian missionaries would be released in groups of three and four.On July 19, Taliban militants abducted 23 South Koreans from vehicles on the Kandahar-Kabul highway. Soon after, they shot two men from the group and dumped their bodies on a roadside, making demands ... [full story]

  Left hand drill: Many players come over the top as they start their downswing. Even though they are aware of their mistake, it can be very difficult to incorporate the correct move as the downswing is initiated.  I have found the following drill to be extremely helpful with showing my students what it feels like to have the grip end of the club lead the swing (something that is impossible if you are coming over ... [full story]