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Jan 04, 12:42 PM

Three-day/Sunday subscribers will receive delivery of The Topeka Capital-Journal on the following days: New Year's Day: Tuesday, Jan. 1, 2008; Martin Luther King Jr. Day: Monday, Jan. 21, 2008; President's Day: Monday, Feb. 18, 2008; Graduation Feature: Monday, May 19, 2008; Memorial Day: Monday, May 26, 2008; Independence Day: Friday, July 4, 2008; Back to School Feature: Thursday, July 24, 2008; Primary Election Feature: Monday, July 28; Labor Day: Monday, Sept. 1, 2008; Columbus Day: Monday, Oct. 13, 2008; Veterans Day: Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2008; Thanksgiving Day: Thursday, Nov. 27, 2008; Christmas Day: Thursday, Dec. 25, 2008.

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Postmaster: Send address changes to Mail Subscriptions, The Topeka Capital-Journal, 616 S.E. Jefferson, Topeka, KS 66607.PARIS - What's that nice smell? For drinkers and diners in France on Wednesday, the answer was fresh air.

France reinvented itself with a new ban on smoking in cafes, restaurants and night spots, the most drastic measure yet to curb the habit in a country where cigarettes were long a potent lifestyle symbol.

Some diehard smokers blamed health-obsessed Americans for starting the trend. But others were delighted by being able to sip or serve a strong espresso without finishing the day with clothes smelling of second-hand smoke.

"It's a new art of living," Health Minister Roselyne Bachelot insisted on a visit to a cafe.

With the ban, France joined the ranks of European countries and more than two dozen U.S. states that have enacted anti-smoking restrictions. In 1994, California became the first U.S. state to ban smoking in restaurants and bars.

In France, a New Year's Day reprieve allowed revelers their last legal drags in public places before the law took effect, the latest measure in a progressive crackdown that began 15 years ago.

Some called it the end of an era in a nation that long portrayed the cigarette as a sign of freedom, rebellion, individualism or even intellect, indeed, a certain idea of the country.

"They're banning tobacco practically like it's cocaine," said Jean-Yves Oussedik, drawing on his pipe - and braving a near- freezing chill - on the sidewalk terrace of cafe Les Deux Magots, a famed Left Bank institution. Outdoors is now the only place where smoking is allowed at cafes.

Personalities like author Albert Camus and thinker Jean-Paul Sartre smoked their cigarettes and pipes in the warm, leathery interior of Les Deux Magots, once a gathering place for literati.

The more than century-old establishment has actually forced smokers outside since last February, when smoking was banned in offices, train stations and other public places.

But has it lost its soul in the process?

"No," says a waiter there for the past 19 years who gave his name only as Gilles. "On the contrary, we are breathing."

Dinos Rodopoulos, a 51-year-old Greek media executive smoking with his wife on the cafe's outdoor terrace, said he felt a little like an outlaw.

"It's fun to have the feeling of illegality," he said, although he also lamented that France was becoming health-obsessed like the United States.

Under the measure, those caught lighting up inside face a fine of more than $90, while owners who turn a blind eye to smoking face a nearly $200 fine.

However, the health minister said dialogue, not punishment, would be the first step with fines leveled only against "foot-draggers" and "repeat offenders."

On the first full day of the law, one could find all points of view, from supporters to hard-core smokers saying their liberty had been infringed upon.

"People will get used to it gradually," said Alex Nesanir, who runs "La Havane," where the smell of stale smoke clung to the walls.

One also could find shivering smokers looking on the bright side, like Elie Tasso, 49, who saw conviviality rising to new heights huddling outside "Le Dragon" restaurant after lunch.

"It allows us to discuss ... We all have the same worry, to smoke," he said.

NEW YORK - Start spreading the news: Liza Minnelli will sing again.

Almost three weeks after collapsing during a show in Sweden, the 61-year-old entertainer was doing fine and preparing for her next gig, Minnelli's attorney, Allen Arrow, told The Associated Press on Wednesday.

"Not to worry," said Arrow. He wouldn't elaborate on Minnelli's health scare.

Arrow said Minnelli was going back into rehearsals at the end of the week and will resume her touring schedule Jan. 12 in Providence, R.I.

The singer was performing in a Christmas show Dec. 12 in Goteborg, Sweden's second-largest city, when she collapsed while walking offstage. She flew to the United States the next day on the advice of doctors there.

"She was that sick," Arrow said. "You wonder why she had the courage to get on the stage when she shouldn't have."

Minnelli, the daughter of Judy Garland, won an Oscar and a Golden Globe for her portrayal of Sally Bowles in the 1972 film "Cabaret." She won an Emmy for the 1972 TV special "Liza with a Z," and Tony Awards in 1974 and 1978.

1521 - Martin Luther was excommunicated from the Roman Catholic Church by Pope Leo X.

1777 - Gen. George Washington's army routed the British in the Battle of Princeton, N.J.

1833 - Britain seized control of the Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic. (Almost 150 years later, Argentina seized the islands from the British, but Britain took them back after a 74-day war.)

1868 - The Meiji Restoration re-established the authority of Japan's emperor and heralded the fall of the military rulers known as shoguns.

1938 - The March of Dimes campaign to fight polio was organized.

1993 - President George H.W. Bush and Russian President Boris Yeltsin signed a historic nuclear missile-reduction treaty in Moscow.

1998 - Funeral services were held in Centerville, Mass., for Michael Kennedy, the son of Robert and Ethel Kennedy who was killed New Year's Eve in a skiing accident in Aspen, Colo.

2003 - Taking a brief timeout from his two-week vacation, President Bush visited Fort Hood in Texas, where he rallied Army troops as the nation faced the prospect of war with Iraq.

2007 - Gerald R. Ford was laid to rest on the grounds of his presidential museum in Grand Rapids, Mich., during a ceremony watched by thousands.

The following is a list of deaths in the area. Obituaries are on Page 3B.

Ruby Bean/Lincoln, Mo.

Agnes Elliott/Topeka

John Hill/Wellsville

Gertrude Petr/Lawrence

Carol Purcell/Topeka

Randy Smoot/Topeka

Crawford Taylor/Westmoreland

David Tozier/FairviewActor Robert Loggia__78

Actor Dabney Coleman__76

Journalist-author Betty Rollin__72

Hockey Hall-of-Famer Bobby Hull__69

Musician Stephen Stills__63

Actress Victoria Principal__58

Actor-director Mel Gibson__52

Actress Shannon Sturges__40

Contemporary Christian singer

Nichole Nordeman__36

Actor Jason Marsden__33

Actress Danica McKellar__33

Actor Nicholas Gonzalez__32

Singer Kimberley Locke ("American Idol")__30

Rhythm-and-blues singer Lloyd__22

Actor Alex D. Linz__19

LOS ANGELES - Eddie Murphy celebrated New Year's Day by tying the knot with film producer Tracey Edmonds.

The pair exchanged vows Tuesday on a private island off Bora Bora in French Polynesia in front of a small group of family members and friends, their representatives told People magazine.

A call to Murphy's publicist, Arnold Robinson, wasn't immediately returned early Wednesday .

Murphy, 46, has five children from his marriage to Nicole Mitchell Murphy, who filed for divorce in 2005.

He also has a daughter with Spice Girls singer Melanie Brown.

Edmonds, 40, has two sons from her 13-year marriage to Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds. As head of Edmonds Entertainment Group Inc., she has produced the film and television series "Soul Food."

Murphy's film credits include "Dreamgirls," and the "Beverly Hills Cop," ''Nutty Professor," ''Shrek" and "Dr. Doolittle" movies.

Powerball $52.7 million

2-11-31-34-48-5

Power play: 4

Hot Lotto $2.5 million

2-19-22-26-32-16

Super Kansas Cash $140,000

1-4-5-7-12-17

2by2 $20,000

Red numbers: 8-15

White numbers: 11-21

Pick 3

9-0-8

WORLD

21 KILLED IN ROADSIDE BOMBINGS, FIGHTING: Roadside bombs and military operations in Afghanistan killed 21 people, including a coalition soldier and 14 Taliban fighters, officials said Wednesday in Kabul.

A roadside bomb hit a U.S.-led coalition vehicle in eastern Khost province, killing a soldier and an Afghan interpreter, the coalition said. The soldier's nationality wasn't released, but a majority of the troops in the east are American. Two other soldiers were wounded.

Afghanistan saw a record level of violence in 2007, with more than 6,500 people killed, according to an Associated Press count based on figures from Western and Afghan officials.

HEZBOLLAH LEADER THREATENS TO BLOCK ELECTION: No president will be elected in Lebanon unless the Hezbollah-led opposition gets veto power in the future government, the leader of the militant group declared Wednesday in Beirut.

Sheik Hassan Nasrallah accused the anti-Syrian parliamentary majority of creating the current presidential deadlock by refusing a partnership with the Syrian-backed opposition.

"A solution lies in a partnership through a constitutional guarantee (and) through a veto power for the opposition, which represents more than half of the Lebanese people," Nasrallah said in an interview with the private Lebanese NBN television.

A parliamentary session to elect a new president was postponed for the 11th time on Dec. 28. A new parliament session has been set for Jan. 12.

Compiled by Kelly Adams from wire reports

NATION

PRISONER WHO FLED HOSPITAL DIES AFTER SHOOTOUT: An inmate who escaped from a hospital Wednesday in Laurel, Md., briefly taking a worker hostage and stealing two getaway cars, was captured and killed by police hours later in a cemetery, authorities said.

Kelvin Poke, 45, overpowered guards at Laurel Regional Hospital and fired several shots before fleeing, authorities said. Once outside, he shot out the window of a car and drove away, dumping the driver, said Maryland State Police spokesman Greg Shipley.

He was captured hours later about 30 miles away. Officers had tailed a suspicious vehicle into a cemetery shortly after 3 p.m. Poke got out of the vehicle and opened fire on police, who then shot back, police said.

BAIL SET FOR DRIVER ACCUSED IN WRONG-WAY WRECK: Bail was set at $1.25 million Wednesday in Toledo, Ohio, for a man accused of driving the wrong way on a divided highway while drunk and causing a wreck that killed a woman and four children.

Michael Gagnon, 24, is charged with five counts of aggravated vehicular homicide in the Sunday night crash on Interstate 280.

Police said tests showed Gagnon, of Adrian, Mich., had a blood- alcohol level more than three times the legal limit when his pickup truck smashed into a minivan filled with eight people returning to Maryland from a holiday trip to Michigan.

LETTERMAN, LENO COME BACK TO LATE NIGHT: The return of TV's late- night funnymen after a two-month strike hiatus turned into a bizarre mix of picketing and presidential politics Wednesday as Mike Huckabee headed for Jay Leno's show and Hillary Clinton turned to David Letterman.

The biggest celebrity guest, Robin Williams, appeared with Letterman, while Leno welcomed chef Emeril Lagasse and rapper Chingy.

ADMISSIONS OF IRAQI REFUGEES FALLING SHORT: U.S. admissions of Iraqi refugees are nose-diving amid bureaucratic in-fighting despite the Bush administration's pledge to boost them to roughly 1,000 per month, according to State Department statistics obtained by The Associated Press.

For the third straight month since the United States said it would improve processing and resettle 12,000 Iraqis by the end of the current budget year on Sept. 30, the number admitted has actually slid, the figures show.

The steady decline means the administration will have to allow in 10,943 Iraqis during the next nine months, or roughly 1,215 per month, to meet the target it has set for itself.

SOUTHERN FARMERS SCRAMBLE TO PROTECT CROPS FROM FREEZE: A wintry system that added inches to record snow accumulations in some Northern states sent temperatures plummeting Wednesday in the South, where farmers fought to protect crops.

Temperatures were expected to drop into the 20s and teens in parts of Florida by this morning, following the 30-degree temperatures some northern parts of the state saw Wednesday.

The cold spell could prove devastating to the state's citrus industry, which is the nation's largest and already has suffered from years of disease and hurricanes.

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