Major

Cal Ripken won't actually retire until the Orioles complete the 2001 season, but the announcement this week that signaled the end of his 21-year major-league career left friends, teammates and opposing players to ponder a baseball world without the legendary Iron Man. "He was the one player I enjoyed playing with and learned more from than just about any player," said Texas Rangers first baseman Rafael Palmeiro, who spent five seasons playing alongside Ripken...

Athletics: Oakland has scored 190 runs in August. Seattle's 191 runs in May were the most by a major-league team this season over one month.

Accenture becomes first major sponsor to sever ties with world's top golfer after he admits marital infidelity, takes break PG 14

Ryan Major was lying in a hospital bed, connected to monitors and a feeding tube, his arms broken and his legs amputated. But the 22-year-old soldier, who was critically injured in Iraq, still wanted to buy his friends Christmas presents. "That's just how he is," says Jen Feeney, one of Major's friends. When Feeney and other friends decided to raise money for some of Major's additional medical expenses, they said they knew how the 2003 Towson High School graduate would want to spend the proceeds -- on someone else.

BY CONVENTIONAL political thinking, Prime Minister John Major's Conservative government should be odds-on favorite to win the election in Britain he has just called for May 1.Mr. Major is one of the most successful politicians in an English-speaking country in modern times. Britain's economy is the best it has been in memory and, for once, stronger than most of Europe's. Mr. Major is an inspiring success story, having risen from the depths to the pinnacle through pluck and dedication.But Mr. Major is written off as a hapless paragon of bland.

Baltimore's music scene has rarely been more high profile. In the past few years, local music has been praised in magazines, released on high-profile record labels and played on radio stations here and abroad. Now, a song from Baltimore-based rocker Elise Major is featured on a new video game for the iPhone and iPod Touch. Released this week, the application, "Tap Tap Revenge 3" is modeled after franchises such as "Guitar Hero." Gamers touch the screen with their fingers to play along with notes and chords in the song.

LONDON -- Prime Minister John Major flew to Rome last night for a European summit at which he plans to change the style, if not the substance, of Britain's objections to European unity.Before leaving London, he told the House of Commons that he would not only protect British interests but would also consider "community interests as a whole."This signaled a shift from the confrontational style of former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and showed Mr. Major's determination to play a more cooperative role in developing economic and political union among the 12 members of the European Community.

Army Spc. Ryan Major is almost home. After extensive surgeries and six months of treatment for life-threatening injuries he suffered in Iraq, the 2003 Towson High School graduate is about a month away from moving into his mother's house. But there's one thing still in the way of his homecoming: the stairs. Yesterday, a group of volunteers worked to retrofit the home for his return. That project includes an elevator - Major will not have to be carried up the flight of steps from the garage to the first floor, as he has on his weekend visits home.

LONDON -- "Now, if we can," said the Downing Street aide impatiently yesterday, "let's get back to the current prime minister."It was a cozy, background meeting between an anonymous source and the inquisitive media inside London's corridors of power.The problem was that there was more interest in Margaret Thatcher's visit to the United States last week than there was in her successor John Major's meeting with President Bush this week."Former prime ministers can make these statements. The present one has to get on with working out his policies," said the aide.