FIBA seeks 4 more men's teams at London Olympics

Basketball's global governing body has asked the International Olympic Committee to include four more teams at the 2012 London Games.

FIBA said Friday that having 16 instead of 12 countries would deliver bigger audiences and a more efficient tournament.

"The game has exploded and it's time to recognize that," FIBA secretary-general Patrick Baumann told The Associated Press. "The ratings will just skyrocket and it's going to be good for the IOC, good for us."

The men's tournament has had 12 teams since the 1976 Montreal Games but has grown in stature since NBA players were first allowed to play, at Barcelona in 1992.

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Warren Park hosts 50-Fest

Fun, feasting and fireworks will be on the agenda from 11 a.m. to10 p.m. Sunday and Monday at the 11th annual Howard W. CarrollFoundation 50-Fest at Warren Park, 6600 N. Western.

Free continuous entertainment on the main stage and rock and'50s stage will showcase Chicago performers, while the show stagewill offer variety acts:

Main stage on Sunday will feature Jacquie Flores and the ObscureMessage (12:15 p.m.), Betsy and the Boneshakers (2:45 p.m.), ChicagoGrandstand Big Band (5:15 p.m.) and Mickey and the Memories (8 p.m.).

On Monday, performers will include Brush Fire (11 a.m.), Betsyand the Boneshakers (1 p.m.) Johnny Starr and the Meteors (3 …

EUROPE NEWS AT 1800 GMT

UPCOMING FOR THURSDAY, DEC. 2:

POLAND-GREECE

WARSAW, Poland — Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou delivers a speech to gathering of European socialist parties. Starts at 1530 GMT.

UN-ANTI-CRIME CHIEF

VIENNA — Yury Fedotov, the U.N.'s anti-crime chief, briefs reporters on his recent trip to Afghanistan, Pakistan and Central Asia. 1230 GMT.

TOP STORIES MOVED WEDNESDAY:

WIKILEAKS

LONDON — The lawyer for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange says his client is being persecuted by Swedish authorities whose accusations of sex crimes have prompted an Interpol alert for his arrest. By Raphael G. Satter And Malin Rising. AP Photos NY116, …

NATO issues directive restricting night raids

American troops knocked on the door and broke it down before the Afghan family could find the key to let them in.

What troubled 77-year-old Mohammad Nabi most about the intrusion in the southern town of Marjah? There was no time to take women in the home to another place.

"If they ask us to take our women and daughters in another place and then they do the search, we have no problems," the retired school teacher told an Associated Press reporter. "We will cooperate with them. But they just enter the house and start searching and they don't care who is there."

A new directive, confirmed Wednesday by U.S. Gen. Stanley …

'Chemical Ali' Saddam's hatchet man has a terrifying record

For two decades, he has been Saddam Hussein's "go-to" guy, the mantrusted to oversee the dirtiest brutal deeds of the Iraqi dictator.

In that time, Gen. Ali Hassan al-Majid--who carries the chillingnickname "Chemical Ali"--has amassed a remarkable record of murderand mayhem: The mass executions and gassing of tens of thousands ofethnic Kurds in 1988. The torture and deaths of 200,000 Shiite Iraqisafter an abortive uprising in 1991. The killing and looting in Kuwaitafter the Iraqi invasion that triggered the 1991 Persian Gulf War.Even the execution of two of his own nephews.

"He has been involved in some of Iraq's worst crimes--includinggenocide and crimes against …

This ain't no fairground! [Demo 2004]

[Graph Not Transcribed]

Plans for DEMO 2004 are off and running following the first planning committee meeting and site visit held this past October 17-18[Symbol Not Transcribed]. The 2004 live logging demo will be held just a few kilometres from the 1996 site, although the stands are a vast improvement over '96 - the wood is bigger, more varied and the stands are denser, promising even more action over the full three days.

The DEMO 2004 planning committee is based on the three main partners in the event:

- The Universite Laval Faculty of Forestry and Geomatics, with the staff from the experimental Montmorency Forest.

- The sponsors at the Canadian Woodlands …

Turkish men caught at border with Hungary

Romanian authorities say they have found 19 Turkish citizens hidden in a truck full of apricots who were trying to enter Germany illegally.

Border police say in a statement that the men aged 18-49 were discovered Tuesday at Romania's northwest border with Hungary. The …