Bahrain

Gov. William Donald Schaefer today described war-ravaged Kuwait as a country darkened by clouds of smoke, littered with live ammunition and reeling from destruction at the hands of the Iraqi military."

Calendar NASCAR NEXTEL CUP Next race -- UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400 Site -- Las Vegas When -- March 12 FORMULA ONE First race -- Bahrain Grand Prix Site -- Manama, Bahrain When -- March 12 INDY RACING LEAGUE First race -- Toyota Indy 300 Site -- Homestead, Fla. When -- March 26 CHAMP CAR WORLD SERIES First race -- Streets of Long Beach Site -- Long Beach, Calif. When -- April 9 NASCAR 101 FAMILIAR TERMS Aero push -- When following another vehicle closely, the airflow off the lead vehicle does not travel across the rear one in a normal manner.

NASCAR NEXTEL CUP Daytona 500 Site -- Daytona, Fla. When -- Sunday, 2:30 p.m. TV -- Chs. 11, 4 (1:30 p.m.) Track -- Daytona International Speedway (2.5-mile tri-oval) Distance -- 200 laps, 500 miles Purse -- Approximately $18 million, with a minimum of $1,438,155 going to the winner. Last place pays at least $224,665. Pole sitter -- Jeff Burton Qualifying format -- Only the top two qualifiers from yesterday's qualifying session are locked into their starting positions (Burton and Jeff Gordon)

ANNAPOLIS -- Maryland Gov. William Donald Schaefer has accepted a cabled invitation from Kuwait's ambassador to the United States to join the emir of Kuwait on his triumphant return to his war-ravaged country.Mr. Schaefer apparently will be the only U.S. governor on the all-expenses-paid trip to Kuwait. The party is expected to include two former U.S. secretaries of state, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, the U.S. secretary of commerce, and the chief executive officers of 20 of the nation's top corporations.

A 22-year-old student from Parkville who planned a career in foreign service died Friday in a car accident in Morocco near Rabat, her family said. Kelly DallaTezza, who was born in Baltimore, was in northern Africa and had recently participated in a Fulbright conference on women's political roles in Bahrain. Her family said she had been accepted for graduate study at Harvard University and the Johns Hopkins University, among other schools. She was the daughter of Chester and Meg Doxzen DallaTezza and had been salutatorian of her 2007 class at Towson High School.

FRIDAY'S TELEVISION HIGHLIGHTS X Games Foz do Iguacu ESPN3, 7 F1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix, Practice 1 NBCSN7 a.m. NASCAR Sprint Cup STP 400, Practice SPEED1 CW Truck O'Reilly 250, Final Practice SPEED3 Sprint Cup STP 400, Qualifying SPEED4:30 MLB Tampa Bay@Orioles (T) MASN9 a.m. Dodgers@Orioles MASN7 Washington@Mets MASN27 Kansas City@Boston MLB7 Washington@Mets (T)

LOS ANGELES -- Bob Hope is still miffed -- miffed, that is, about not being able to bring women onstage in Saudi Arabia to entertain American troops over the holidays."

Seven Davis Cup first-round series, including the World Group matches between France and Israel, were postponed yesterday because of the Gulf war.The International Tennis Federation also announced that the defending champion United States' series with Mexico was under review for security reasons but remained scheduled Feb. 1-3 in Mexico City.There was no immediate word when a decision on the U.S.-Mexico series would be made.The ITF, tennis' ruling body, said that in addition to France-Israel, scheduled for Marseille, France, those matches postponed included Bangladesh at Bahrain, Syria at Sri Lanka, Kuwait at Singapore, Saudi Arabia at Malaysia, Senegal at Egypt and Cote d'Ivoire at Algeria.

Supersonic history 1956: Research begins in Europe to design a supersonic airliner. 1962: British and French agree to a joint venture to manufacture a supersonic jet. 1965: Construction of two prototypes begins. 1967: First test version unveiled. 1969: A supersonic flight from Toulouse, southern French city where the Concorde was built, to Le Bourget Airport near Paris. 1973: Maiden flight of the first commercially produced Concorde. Oil crisis causes fuel prices to skyrocket. Several air carriers cancel orders for the gas-guzzling Concorde.

Is there anyone out there who can clear my head on our country's foreign policy in the Middle East? We're after Gadhafi. He's a bad dictator — bomb his country, strafe his troops. We seem to be on the side of the "rebels. " How're we doin' there? We got a plan? So what's the deal in Yemen? Isn't their dictator whatshisname killing his subjects too? Oh, wait! Their government is helpful to Washington, right? And howzabout Bahrain? Didn't their dictator kill some of his folks too?