THE TICKER // WORLD

U.S. Draws Up Trade `Hit List' WASHINGTON - The Clintonadministration, under fire in an election year for doing too littleto protect American workers against foreign competition, took thefirst step to establish a "hit list" of countries with the mostharmful barriers against U.S. companies. Japan, China and 40 othercountries and four trading groups were singled out for criticismMonday in the administration's annual review of the most oneroustrade barriers around the world.Group of 7 Seeks Job Strategy LILLE, France - Searching for remediesto high unemployment, economic officials from the …

AP NewsAlert

MIAMI (AP) — Tropical storm warning, hurricane watch …

White House party will fete Jewish culture

In politics, as elsewhere, it's a sport that's almost as popular as people-watching: Guest-list watching.

And this week, it's the Jewish community in Washington and beyond that's buzzing over who'll be on the list when Barack and Michelle Obama host the first-ever White House reception marking Jewish Heritage Month.

The White House won't divulge the guest list for Thursday afternoon's event in the East Room. But those with knowledge of the list say it's an eclectic and interesting one _ and markedly different from past Jewish-themed events like the president's annual Hanukkah party.

Where that event brings established Jewish community leaders to …

Elkview woman files suit in mall accident

An Elkview woman has filed a lawsuit against the city ofCharleston and Town Center Mall for a fall she suffered two years agowhile painting outside a restaurant on Court Street.

Sallie Engle, who was working for W.Q. Watters at the time, saidshe stepped off a curb onto a lower curb and fell, breaking bothlegs. Engle said the city …

This Protein Has an Affinity for Lead

BIOTECHNOLOGY

A new fluorescent sensor based on a protein from a bacterium that thrives in a brew of heavy toxic metals has revealed its potential as a lead detector. The protein could be used to develop more selective chelating agents for treating lead poisoning (Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2005, 44,pp. 2). "Current treatments also strip away beneficial metals, such as iron and zinc, which results in serious side effects," says biologist Daniel (Niels) van der Lelie, a scientist at Brookhaven National Laboratory (Upton, NY; www.bnl.gov).

Fellow researchers the Univ. of Chicago (IL; www.uchicago.edu) led by Chuan He demonstrated the affinity of the protein for lead using Ralstonia …

Wall Street's nervous about more bank rescues

Shares of Citigroup Inc. and other financial stocks soared Monday on a bet that a long line of government-funded financial bailouts could be nearing a close. But if the last few months have taught us anything, it's that new problems always seem to crop up.

New York-based Citigroup was widely known to have worse problems than many of its peers in the financial industry even as the government began doling out the first payments to it and seven other banks from the $700 billion relief program last month.

How much worse, though, is now a top question dogging investors. And until it's answered, it's not likely anyone will know if another major bank will need to …

Aliens in love: `Sweet Starfire' a world of fun and adventure

Credit Jayne Ann Krentz with a vivid imagination. Her futuristicSweet Starfire (Popular Library, $3.95) is grand fun. While atbottom the romance is the usualvirile-male-awakening-passions-long-dormant-in-spiritual-femaleformula, Krantz has given it an unusual setting, entertaining twists,and thrown in a potpourri of adventure, wildly inventive aliencreatures (some of them - ah - absolutely out of this world) andformidable human opponents.

Cidra Rainforest is searching for the key that will make her atrue Harmonic. She hires Teague Severance, an intergalactic"mailman" with a Wolf background, to fly her to the planetRenaissance. Despite her ethereal background, Cidra is no …