Bankleer (Christopher Leither, Karin Kasbock) Kunstbank, Berlin.

The Devil's Platform is a carnival game played by drunken visitors to Munich's Oktoberfest, hosted by an MC with a microphone. The object of the game is to stay on a spinning platform as long as possible without loosing one's balance or being thrown off by the other players, the MC's provocation or his large leather ball. The artist duo Bankleer used the game in a video as a metaphor for the Germany economy, the MC narrating the action with statements from Germany's Minister of Employment, and quotes critical of the Minister's policies and the market economy in general.

The video's title, Rotate: Work Simulation, refers to the Ministry's attempt to force the …

Official Says Castro Fit to Run in 2008

HAVANA - Fidel Castro will be in "perfect shape" to run for re-election to parliament next spring, the first step toward securing yet another term as Cuba's president, National Assembly head Ricardo Alarcon said Thursday.

"I would nominate him," said Alarcon, the highest-ranking member of parliament. "I'm sure he will be in perfect shape to continue handling his responsibilities."

Mobbed by foreign reporters following a parliamentary session to discuss Cuba's upcoming elections, Alarcon said Castro "is doing fine and continuing to focus on recovery and rehabilitation."

A lengthy process of nominating candidates for municipal elections will begin this summer, …

Michelle talks Chicago in Mexico

On her first trip to Mexico, first lady Michelle Obama on Wednesday talked about Chicago's Mexican-American communities in Pilsen, Little Village and the Southeast Side.

"Growing up in Chicago on the South Side, I lived next to one of the largest Mexican-American communities in the city," Mrs. Obama said in a session with six print journalists following her in Mexico.

We're on the campus of Universidad Iberoamericana, and Mrs. Obama just delivered a speech to college and high school students to inspire them to help others. She ended her address with the rousing battle cry of President Obama's 2008 presidential quest -- "Si, se puede -- Yes we can" -- but the crowd did not …

WELL AND GOOD.(Health)

Holistic health

http://blog.timesunion.com/holistichealth/

On the Holistic Health blog, Judi England takes charge of her decisions and tells us how to do the same:

My life isn't much different than anyone else's I suppose. I try to look ahead, organize and schedule. I do my homework, make the calls, remember the dates and still I'm caught by life happening. At that point there are only two choices -- you can say "yes" or you can say "no" -- you can't change the fact that you need to make a choice.

One of the gifts of getting older is just getting more comfortable with who you are and the decisions that you make. The opinions of other …

SENATE GOP FRACTURED BY UPSTATE- DOWNSTATE POWER FIGHT.(Local)

Byline: Jeannie H. Cross United Press International

While speculation at the Capitol is rampant that Senate Majority Leader Warren M. Anderson is headed for retirement, few are focusing on the major reason for him to stay: He is the glue that is keeping the increasingly fractured Republican Senate majority together.

Cracks in what was once a monolithic majority have been developing for at least 10 years, as the GOP lost seats in upstate cities and gained them in New York City and its suburbs.

At the moment, the downstaters have a one-seat edge over the upstaters but they also have been asserting their ascendancy more.

This was particularly …

CANADA AUDITS INDIAN RESERVE BOOKS AMID ALLEGATIONS.(MAIN)

Byline: Associated Press

TORONTO -- In the Rocky Mountain foothills of Alberta, a government-hired consulting firm decides how to spend millions in tax dollars to help an Indian reserve -- a task of tribal leaders until accusations mounted of fiscal abuse in native communities.

Auditors are checking the books of at least two Alberta tribes, and a taxpayers' lobby, Canadian Taxpayers Federation, is demanding an audit of spending for all 600 Indian reserves. In Parliament, the main opposition faction, the Reform Party, wants to take matters further, recommending all federal spending programs for aboriginals -- $4.5 billion a year -- be phased out.

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Gene profiles could improve AML diagnosis, provide insight on better treatments.

2004 AUG 12 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The results of a microarray analysis of genes from both children and adults with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) could significantly improve the ability to make accurate diagnoses and prognoses for the major genetic (molecular) subtypes of the pediatric form of this disease and lead to better treatments.

This finding, by investigators at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, has been published in the journal Blood.

AML is a cancer that arises in bone marrow hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) or progenitor cells that are destined to become myeloid cells (cells normally committed to fighting infections). Gene microarray …