Police: We will enforce the law

Police have made it clear they will uphold the new law banninghunting with hounds, which comes into effect tomorrow.

Specialist wildlife crime officers will be sent to investigate allallegations and extra police may also be brought in to break upillegal hunts.

All files concerning unlawful activities will be passed to the CPSfor them to consider prosecution, said Superintendent Adrian Coombs,Avon and Somerset's hunt liaison officer.

The Hunting Act bans the hunting of wild animals with dogs and allhare coursing events in England and Wales.

During the last 12 months, Avon and Somerset police has beentalking with groups from both sides of the debate to …

Bette Midler: The Showgirl Must Go On

Bette Midler: The Showgirl Must Go On

"I'm alive!" Bette Midler joyfully proclaims at the onset of her appropriately glitzy, gay and all together fab Vegas show. Unless you were aware that the Divine Miss M spent two years (180 shows!) at Vegas 'Colosseum in Caesars Palace, who can blame you for thinking Midler had dropped dead? M's been on the downlow in the last decade, releasing just a Christmas album in 2006 before heading out to Sin City for this wildly entertaining but less-ornate-than-Celine show at the Colesseum, now on DVD and Blu-ray. You'll feel jipped considering that almost a third of the live show was cut for the release, an abbreviated version that clocks in at just …

InBev snags Anheuser-Busch and its marketing clout

The King of Beers, the folks who spent lavishly to bring you the Bud Bowl, the Talking Frogs, the Whassup Guys and the Clydesdales, is being swallowed by a Belgian brewer known for its frugality.

But InBev SA has an ambitious plan behind its $52 billion acquisition of Anheuser-Busch, hoping to tap into the U.S. company's massive marketing power and make the Budweiser and Bud Light brands into globally recognized products akin to Coca-Cola or Pepsi.

Leaving marketing untouched, though, will mean cuts elsewhere. InBev expects to wring out $1.5 billion in annual savings, most of which will come from better managing the supply chain. InBev keeps a sharp eye on …

Both companies focus on research: Dow creating more new products

Like Union Carbide, Dow Chemical has a strong emphasis on researchand development.

In the Kanawha Valley, 68 percent of Union Carbide's workers areemployed in offices and labs at the South Charleston TechnicalCenter.

Dow's purchase of Union Carbide, announced Wednesday, puts Dow'sresearch and development component under the microscope.

The South Charleston Tech Center is Union Carbide's research gem.Most of the 1,800 employees there are highly trained professionals.Many have advanced degrees.

Although Union Carbide's research focus is at the Tech Center,Carbide spokesman Tom Sprick said about 925 people are also employedin similar centers at Carbide's …

ISP owners start firm after non-compete clause ends

The business cycle has come full circle for Brian Amerman and Scott Musser. A few years ago, they were Internet service providers. Amerman and members of his family owned SunLink Inc., in Sunbury, Northumberland County. Musser owned LebaNet Inc., a Lebanon ISP.

Both companies were sold about two years ago to OneMain.com of Reston, Va., which merged with EarthLink Inc. in September 2000. Today, Amerman and Musser are back in business.

Amerman is president of PaISP Inc., a Lebanon corporation that operates Joust.net. Musser is a PaISP consultant. Ben Amerman, Brian's brother, has also started EvenLink, an ISP in Sunbury that has already gathered 1,700 customers.

Since …

ICC withdraws Asif and Amir from awards list

ISLAMABAD (AP) — The International Cricket Council has withdrawn the names of suspended Pakistan fast bowlers Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir from next month's ICC awards in India.

An ICC spokesman said Friday that both pacemen were struck off the nominations list.

Amir was nominated in the emerging player of the year category while …

NY exhibit imagines utopian, green cities in 2030

Imagine no cars _ or fewer, anyway.

In New York, a two-mile stretch of the FDR Drive parkway is torn down to open lower Manhattan for parks and plazas, and bicyclists are given their own lane on the Brooklyn Bridge.

An elevated highway in Guangzhou, China, is transformed into a pedestrian promenade, and rooftops are linked by raised walkways and bikeways.

In Jakarta, Indonesia, traditional bike taxis called becaks are re-engineered to be lighter and easier to steer.

The three cities and seven others are featured in an exhibit on environmentally friendly transportation of the future opening Thursday in New York. The exhibit, titled …