MYSPACE TO POST ADS PROMOTING ONLINE SAFETY

MySpace to post adspromoting online safety
LOS ANGELES -- Popular online social networking hub MySpace.com said Monday it will begin displaying public service ads aimed at educating its users, many of them teens, about the dangers posed by sexual predators on the Internet. MySpace, a division of News Corp., enables computer users to meet any of more than 60 million members. Users put up profiles that are searchable and can include photos of themselves and such details as where they live and what music they like. But MySpace's features and popularity with teens has raised concerns with authorities across the nation. There have been scattered accounts of sexual predators targeting minors they met through the site. The ads were slated to begin running Monday on MySpace and through a host of News Corp. outlets, including other Fox Interactive Media Web sites, the 28 Fox Networks Group broadcast networks, Fox All Access radio and the New York Post.
New Orleans election
LAKE CHARLES, La. -- Hundreds of Hurricane Katrina evacuees in Texas and other states boarded buses and traveled to Louisiana on Monday to cast early ballots in New Orleans' storm-delayed election for mayor. The election officially is April 22, but residents scattered around the country by the storm will be able to vote all week at satellite voting centers set up in Lake Charles, Shreveport, New Orleans and seven other cities around the state. "We need to be a part of the political process," said Cara Harrison, an evacuee from the flood-devastated 9th Ward. By the end of the first day of voting, an estimated 1,600 had cast early ballots, including nearly 1,000 in two New Orleans locations. In Houston, about 110 hurricane evacuees boarded buses for a two-hour trip to Lake Charles. Many said they wanted to vote in person, rather than using mailed-in absentee ballots, because mail delivery in New Orleans remains unreliable.
Italy heads towarda split parliament
ROME -- Silvio Berlusconi, Italy's longest-serving premier since World War II, was locked in a battle for power today with his center-left challenger, as the country's parliament apparently headed toward an irreconcilable split between their coalitions. Final results in the two-day vote ending Monday showed Romano Prodi's center-left winning control in the lower house of parliament, with 49.8 percent of the vote compared with 49.7 won by Berlusconi's conservatives. The winning coalition is automatically awarded 55 percent of the seats, according to a new electoral law. According to the results, Berlusconi's conservatives held a one-seat lead in the Senate, although six seats elected abroad were still to be counted. "We have won, and now we have to start working to implement our program and unify the country," said a jubilant Prodi, speaking to his supporters.
Hamas works to endsurge in Gaza violence
JERUSALEM -- The new Hamas-led Palestinian government is quietly working to end a surge in violence, urging rival militant groups in the Gaza Strip to refrain from launching rockets at Israel without official permission. Although the rocket attacks have not stopped and Hamas says it still supports violent resistance against Israel, its subtle efforts at persuasion look like an attempt to stabilize a chaotic situation so that it can focus on governing the West Bank and Gaza Strip. "We want resistance to be arranged and organized," said government spokesman Ghazi Hamad, adding that Hamas would try to get control over the rocket fire by negotiating with other militant factions. Hamas has not been participating in the attacks. The emnity between the two sides prompted Israel's Security Cabinet on Sunday to declare the Hamas-led Palestinian government a "hostile entity" and ruled out contacts with it.
French governmentbacktracks on jobs law
PARIS -- President Jacques Chirac caved in to protesters Monday, canceling a law on youth employment that fueled nationwide unrest and raising questions about France's ability to reform rigid labor laws in a globalized world. Unions declared victory, but energized students decided to go ahead with a "day of action" today to try to knock down other measures -- designed to reduce the 22 percent unemployment rate among youths -- that are viewed as threatening coveted job protections. In an announcement that amounted to a humiliating admission of defeat, Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin said on nationwide TV that the contested measure would be replaced. Chirac had ordered the pullback after weighing the results of talks with students and unions, the debilitating political fallout for the right and the danger of increasingly daring student protests on railroad tracks and highways.
Associated Press