Moenchengladbach beats Mainz 1-0 in Bundesliga

BERLIN (AP) — Borussia Moenchengladbach completed its best first half of a season in 35 years by beating Mainz 1-0 Sunday in the Bundesliga's last game before a four-week winter break.

Marco Reus wore a special boot after breaking his left-foot little toe on Nov. 25 and set up the only goal in the fifth minute with an incisive ball for Patrick Herrmann to score through Christian Wetklo's legs.

"We'll go on and fight for every point," said Moenchengladbach coach Lucien Favre, whose side remains unbeaten at home. "We're taking every game as it comes."

Moenchengladbach stays fourth and in touch with the league leaders, one point behind Borussia Dortmund and Schalke, and four behind Bayern Munich which tops the standings with 37 points. The season resumes Jan. 20.

"Mainz was better," Favre said, and his coaching counterpart agreed.

"It was a draw that we lost," said Thomas Tuchel, who was sent to the stands early in the second half for a disagreement with referee Peter Gagelmann.

Gagelmann waved away Moenchengladbach's penalty appeals before the interval, when former Borussia player Eugen Polanski appeared to bring down Roman Neustaedter.

Juan Arango should have made it 2-0 in the 67th when Wetklo denied the Venezuelan, before Tony Jantschke went close from the resulting corner.

Reus limped off with an injury in the 83rd, holding his knee after a collision with Niko Bungert

"It hurt a lot at the time, but it seems more or less OK now," Reus said. An examination Monday will reveal the full extent of any damage.

Mainz defender Zdenek Pospech appeared to be knocked unconscious after clashing heads with Arango in the 88th, but the Czech was able to see out the game.

Earlier Sunday, Kaiserslautern and Hannover drew 1-1 as each side prolonged its winless streak to seven games in the league.

"At least we got our effectiveness back," Hannover coach Mirko Slomka said. "We had one big chance and we took it."

Mohammed Abdellaoue scored his ninth goal of the season for Hannover in the 13th when he capitalized on a mistake from Kaiserslautern defender Mathias Abel.

Abel misjudged a hopeful ball forward from Sofian Chahed, allowing the grateful Abdellaoue to collect the loose ball and sweep it through the legs of Kevin Trapp.

For all of Kaiserslautern's endeavor, Ron-Robert Zieler didn't have a save to make until Alexander Bugera's strong shot in the 65th.

But Adam Nemec finally equalized three minutes later, when Christian Tiffert played the ball left to Olcay Sahan, who crossed for the Slovenian's first goal of the season.

Kaiserslautern striker Itay Shechter was sent off with three minutes remaining for kicking out at Manuel Schmiedebach.

Kaiserslautern's last success in the Bundesliga was a 1-0 victory over Freiburg on Oct. 22, while Hannover hasn't won since beating Bayern Munich 2-1 on Oct. 23.

"We played brilliantly, but the goals were missing," said Kaiserslautern coach Marco Kurz, whose side drops to the relegation playoff place.

Hussein rages in letter to Bush: `You will lose'

NICOSIA, Cyprus Iraqi President Saddam Hussein warned PresidentBush in a blistering letter today that thousands of U.S. troops wouldgo home in coffins if they attacked Iraq and that he had no intentionof withdrawing from Kuwait.

"You are going to be defeated," he said.

There was no hint of compromise in the 15-minute televisedmessage in which Hussein answered Bush's "insults" in branding him aliar and a killer in a speech Wednesday. The letter was mainly atirade against Bush and appeared to contain no new initiatives.

Saddam renewed his call to all Arabs for a holy war againstforeign troops and said Bush was bent on humiliating Islamic holysites in Saudi …

THE GIVING TREE.(Unwind)

This holiday season, smaller, sometimes overlooked nonprofits could use your contributions. The Music Mobile -- an outreach organization that engages the community through music -- is encumbered by the wear and tear of its resources, as are many small nonprofits in the greater Capital Region, says Ruth Pelham, its founder and director. "There is a lot of time that is spent so inefficiently fixing old equipment," Pelham says. "When technology changes so quickly, organizations like ours don't have time to keep up with the speed of change." Outdated office equipment and computers are only a secondary concern for Music Mobile, as the musical van that epitomizes the organization has deteriorated past fixing, says Pelham. "We're really the only organization that uses this very innovative form of outreach that go to where the people are in the van," she says. "The van becomes a vehicle of …

BROOKS, JOE EDWARD.(CAPITAL REGION)

GRANTS PASS, OR -- Joe Edward Brooks, 70, of Grants Pass, OR, passed away April 5, 2001 at his home. A corpsman in the U.S. Navy during World War II, he was a biologist for the State of New York from 1968 to 1976, the World Health Organization in Asia from 1976 to 1990 and for the USDA on Loan to the agency of International Development until his retirement in …

Revenues Beat Expectations for Singapore Mobile Phone Operator DTAC.

Byline: Srisamorn Phoosuphanusorn

Mar. 4--Mobile phone operator DTAC reported better-than-expected operating results for last year, boosted by its innovative Baby Sim and 50-baht refill card promotion services.

The Singaporean-listed telecom firm posted a 20 percent jump in revenue in 2003, to 30.27 billion baht, thanks to a strong increase in the airtime revenue of its prepaid and postpaid subscribers and an 81 percent revenue growth in value added services.

Earnings before interest and tax (EBITDA) totalled 12.14 billion baht in 2003, up 16 percent from the year before, on the strength of higher operating profits and lower doubtful accounts. Net …

Religion in the News

NEW YORK - Michael Bloomberg isn't known here as the Jewish mayor. In fact, his religion is a non-issue in a city that had its first Jewish chief executive, Abe Beame, three decades ago. The New York Jewish community is so large and active that even non-Jewish mayors take counsel from rabbis. So when Bloomberg won the 2001 mayoral race, Jews saw no significant advantage in having one of their own in City Hall.

But if the billionaire businessman decides to run for the White House, his faith will become much more than an afterthought: He would be on a path toward being elected the first Jewish president of the United States.

"I think it's a great commentary on American …

Lights Go On At Mall

Nearly 300 youngsters joined Pudsey Bear and Radio Bristol'sTrevor Fry for The Mall shopping centre's first Christmas parade.

The children, aged from just four to 17, were from four Stagecoachtheatre schools in central and north Bristol, Keynsham and Portishead.

They sang and danced their way along the upper level of The Mallbefore the switching on of the centre's Christmas lights at thecentral fountain.

The children rehearsed for their big moment for weeks.

Di Noden-Wilkinson, principal of the four Stagecoach schools said:"As a theatre arts school, we are always keen for our youngsters toperform in public. The …