No telling how long tallies will take

Just how long it will take teams to count the votes is anyone'sguess. Here is how long it took some Florida counties that have donemanual-or partial-recounts:

Broward County

Broward County started its manual recount of 588,000 ballots Nov.15. More than 60 teams of counters finished the first phase six dayslater.

Right before about 2,400 questionable ballots were to be counted,the elections supervisor, citing exhaustion, quit. A new supervisorwas appointed, and the count was finished Nov. 24.

Palm Beach County

After three days of legal challenges, Palm Beach County-with about30 two-member teams-started its hand recounts of 425,000 votes Nov.16. …

Women Over 40 Grand Slam Match Winners

Open era (1968-present)

Martina Navratilova, 2004 Wimbledon (47 years-235 days) — 1R: def. Catalina Castano, 6-0, 6-1.

Renee Richards, 1980 U.S. Open (46-6) — 1R: def. Zenda Liess, 3-6, 6-3, 6-3.

Renee Richards, 1979 U.S. Open (45-8) — 1R: def. Mary Carillo, 7-5, 6-3; 2R: …

Iran clerics denounce Saudi role in Bahrain

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — A leading Iranian cleric on Wednesday urged protesters in the Gulf kingdom of Bahrain to "stand up and resist" a government crackdown that has been backed by hundreds of Saudi Arabian troops.

Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami, speaking to clerics in the holy city of Qom, also demanded that Saudi Arabia withdraw its forces from Bahrain.

The unrest in Bahrain, which erupted in February, has played out against the region's deep rivalries between Shiite and Sunni Muslims. Protesters from Bahrain's Shiite majority have demanded that the kingdom's Sunni minority rulers grant them equal rights and a political voice.

Saudi Arabia, a largely Sunni nation, has rushed to …

NOWCAST: CONFERENCE NOTEBOOK

ARE HURRICANES POSSIBLE IN A DRY ENVIRONMENT?

Tropical cyclones result from a complex interaction between dynamics and thermodynamics. Contrary to popular thinking, moisture and precipitation are not necessary for the formation of hurricane-like vortices. Our research reveals that a hurricane-like vortex can form and exist in a dry environment. Dry thermodynamics provides a simplified system for studying the interactions between dynamics and thermodynamics of hurricanes, and should help us to improve the theory for hurricane intensity. Moreover, dry or almost dry hurricane dynamics may also be related to polar lows and extraterrestrial vortex phenomena, and may indicate that …

White House: Options Open on Wolfowitz

WASHINGTON - The White House said Tuesday that "all options are on the table" about the leadership of the World Bank, even as it publicly defended embattled President Paul Wolfowitz as he fights conflict-of-interest charges.

Wolfowitz maintains that he acted in good faith in arranging a generous pay package for his girlfriend and is waging a vigorous fight to keep running the institution. He will appear before the bank's 24-member board late Tuesday. The board, whose proceedings are carried out behind closed doors, ultimately will decide what actions to take against him.

"We have faith in Paul Wolfowitz," White House spokesman Tony Snow said. He insisted that the charges …

Anti-government protests in Hungary

Several thousand people held anti-government protests in the Hungarian capital during a national holiday on Sunday, and police detained 35 people.

Dressed in riot gear, the police chased some of the protesters through the streets of Budapest and prevented them from reaching Parliament, where violent anti-government protests had taken place in 2006.

At one point Sunday, tear gas was used to drive back a small group of demonstrators that tried to attack police lines near St. Stephen's Basilica, but law enforcement officials denied claims by Krisztina Morvai, a right-wing politician taking part in the protests, that she was beaten by police.

The …

Milburn: Pupils know `I'm one of them'

From a family of nine, Consuelo Milburn grew up poor and hungry.She shares those experiences with her fifth-graders during classroomchats at Earle Elementary to inspire them to beat the odds.

"I let them know that I'm one of them," she said. "I try to makestudents feel comfortable with me by letting them know that mygrowing up was similar to theirs. I remember nine children having toshare one comb and brush."

Milburn, 55, has taught at Earle, 6121 S. Hermitage, for 19years and considers herself like a "grandmother" to many students.Strict, yet loving, she demands that her students give their best.

"The one thing I know that works is setting high …