Argo

Can one just go back and forth through the Panama Canal and spend a few days nearby, flying there and back?You can book a complete tour from the United States, including modations and a flight, so it might be cheaper and simpler to take a package after all.Canal transits are on ships operated by Argo Tours of Panama: the Islamorada, which holds up to 125 passengers, and the 500-passenger Fantasia del Mar.Argo's agent in the United ble range from $260 a...

SafeNet Inc., the Belcamp-based network security company, announced plans yesterday to buy a British Internet security company for $150 million. The cash deal to buy Cambridge, England-based nCipher would be the company's 11th acquisition in the past six years. It is expected to close in April. The acquisition of nCipher would bring the Maryland company more exposure in Europe, along with additional customers and important relationships, said Sean Jackson, a research analyst who follows SafeNet for the Nashville, Tenn.

Jack Smith, 58, a former Washington-based correspondent for ABC News who covered world events before helping that network shape its technology beat, died Wednesday at a hospital in Greenbrae, Calif. He had lived in Mill Valley, Calif. The cause was cancer, ABC News said. Mr. Smith joined the news staff at ABC in 1976 and was a Washington correspondent from 1980 until he left the network in 2001. As senior correspondent for This Week With David Brinkley for nine years, he provided viewers with background reports on major events such as the Iran-Contra affair and the collapse of Soviet communism.

It's been months of upheaval for tech company SafeNet Inc.: government inquiries about stock option manipulation, the resignations of top officers, an ownership change and - this week - the indictment of its former president. Yet in many respects, the Harford County company says, business has never been better. The information encryption and security firm, which went private in April amid the fallout from the stock option probe, said it has broken records for revenue and profit in the past two quarters despite the disruptions.

A stock options scandal has claimed the top two executives of Harford County technology company SafeNet Inc., part of an accelerating trend of resignations in corporate America stemming from investigations into whether option awards were rigged to maximize their value. SafeNet announced yesterday that Anthony A. Caputo, its chairman and chief executive, and Carole Argo, its president, chief operating officer and acting chief financial officer, voluntarily resigned Tuesday, effective immediately.

In an article Sunday, the name of state Mass Transit Administrator John A. Agro Jr. was misspelled.The Sun regrets the error.Baltimore area commuters who travel on light rail and Metro trains on weekdays now can take their bicycles with their briefcases and bag lunches.Mass Transit Administration officials yesterday launched a six-month pilot program that allows cyclists to carry their bicycles on the mass transit system at all times except two hours before and after Orioles home games.The program is the latest during a time when commuters more often prefer to drive and when the federal government is expected to cut the mass transit system's funding.

Trading card fans can soon add pictures of the Sykesville's police chief and six officers to their collections of famous sports figures.The cards with mugs on the front and brief biographical information on the back will "break the barrier between officers and citizens," said Officer John Iannone, a two-year veteran of the town police force."

BUSINESS DOW +91.702 14,066.01 NASDAQ +46.75 2,780.32 S&P +14.75 1,557.59 SUN INDEX +5.50 363.47 NATIONAL Bush rebuffs torture allegations President Bush insisted that "this government does not torture people" amid new questions about tough methods used by the administration to interrogate suspected terrorists. At the same time, officials are not discussing tactics reportedly used to get information. pg 3A GOP hopefuls scold Congress Republican presidential contenders admonished Congress for extravagant spending of tax dollars.

Q: My husband and I are interested in going through the Panama Canal, but not on a cruise. Is there any way we can do it?A: The short answer to this, one of the most-asked of all travel questions, is yes: Argo Tours of Panama conducts partial transits of the canal every other Saturday and full transits twice a year.The partial transits leave at 8 a.m. from Dock 17 in Balboa on the Pacific Ocean side of the canal.The ship sails though the Miraflores Locks and cruises Miraflores Lake up to Pedro Miguel Locks, but does not enter the locks.

The Stallions were rested and ready, and the opposition hadn't scored an offensive touchdown in more than a month.Baltimore came into yesterday's game with what looked to be a huge advantage over the reeling Toronto Argonauts. And, the Stallions departed with an even bigger win, scoring on their first four possessions and taking a 41-14 victory before 27,853 at Memorial Stadium.Toronto's defense had been more than respectable, allowing 20 points or fewer in four of its past five games. But the Stallions, given great field position by their special teams and effectively mixing the running of Mike Pringle and the passing of Tracy Ham, raced to a 20-7 lead at halftime.