Scotland

James McAvoy doesn't look like a traditional movie star. He's not tall, dark or classically handsome. In fact, the 28-year-old Scotsman is rather slight and talks in a brogue so thick at times it makes you desperate for a translator. But the Glasgow native has that indefinable something that makes him eminently fascinating to watch on screen. With that kind of presence and his flurry of recent movies (six in the last two years), he's bound to soon become better known in this country. American movie audiences first took notice of him as the charming faun Mr. Tumnus in 2005's The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and then again late last year as the ambitious young doctor to Idi Amin in The Last King of Scotland (a "weak, despicable human being," he says of his character)

CARNOUSTIE, Scotland -- The name of Sergio Garcia, familiar to the world's golf fans for eight years and 36 major tournaments seems ripe for new recognition. Sometime today, here on the east coast of Scotland, the Spaniard could fulfill his huge promise by commanding this 136th British Open and claiming his first major title at age 27. British Open Final round today, Carnoustie, Scotland TV: 6 a.m., TNT; 8 a.m., chs. 2, 7

CARNOUSTIE, Scotland -- The winds blew across the links of the Carnoustie Golf Club in yesterday's opening round of the 128th British Open, and the glowering skies early in the day were a telling sign."

EDINBURGH, Scotland -- Last month, as officials planned the ceremony to mark the opening of the first Scottish Parliament in nearly 300 years, an aide to Queen Elizabeth II suggested the monarch sit in the speaker's chair.A Scottish official leaned over and discreetly informed the queen's aide that her majesty might want to sit elsewhere, given that there had been a war over a similar seating arrangement a few centuries ago.It was a classically awkward moment for the English and the Scots, and it was one that would only feed the perception here that the British establishment in London knows little and cares less about Scotland.

EDINBURGH, Scotland -- The Scots will be voting for their first Parliament since 1707. The Welsh will be electing the first one they have ever had. And Prime Minister Tony Blair will be looking for validation of his 2-year-old government's transformation of how the British govern themselves.The elections of members of the two new legislatures and of 362 councils across Britain today are being called the most important midterm balloting in the country's history. In addition to providing the traditional barometer of a government, this year's elections confirm Britain's move to decentralize political authority.

Rex Lyons scored four goals, including the game-winner with 16 seconds remaining, as the Iroquois Nation upset England, 10-9, yesterday at Homewood Field.Lyons, the son of Oren Lyons, founder of the first Iroquois Nation lacrosse team in 1983, scored the winning goal off a rebound against an English squad that was playing two men down.It was the first victory for the Iroquois over one of the Big Four nations -- England, United States, Australia and Canada. England, which had beaten the Iroquois twice by a combined score of 34-18, has never finished lower than fourth in the World Games.

Naotaka Shibata scored all three of his goals in the second half as Japan won for the first time in the World Games, defeating Scotland, 10-7, to open the 1998 World Championships yesterday at Homewood Field.Japan (1-0), which is competing in its second World Championships, went 0-6 in the 1994 World Games, losing by an average margin of 19 goals. Japan outshot Scotland, 49-23, in a battle between two of the pre-tournament favorites to win the Red Division."Clearly this is the first step," Shibata said through an interpreter.

SEIL, Scotland -- Like his forebears, Patrick Cadzow is a farmer. But instead of raising crops and cattle on this wind-swept spit of land that looks over the Firth of Lorn, he grows his crop in the frigid, salty water.Cadzow raises oysters."We'll never be rich," Cadzow says. "But it's a way of life."In an emerald corner of northwestern Scotland, where the sky is gray, the landscape is rugged and the sheep outnumber the people, Cadzow has found contentment -- and a steady trade.He is the oysterman who clings to the land, a big, bluff 50-year-old with a firm handshake, a strong back and a ready smile.

WASHINGTON -- The book on Scotland was great defense, no offense. The book on the U.S. national team was solid defense, look-good but no-finish offense.The wish by both World Cup-bound teams: get past one another yesterday at RFK Stadium -- the last friendly stop before France -- injury-free.Result: Scotland 0, United States 0. Mission accomplished. Even so, it was an often entertaining match in front of 46,037 on an 88-degree day that created no new pages in the "book" on either team for their first-round opponents in two weeks.

WELL MIGHT British Prime Minister Tony Blair warn Scots against the Scottish National Party. Should it win the Scottish election next May, he said, the new Scottish parliament could become "a battering ram for separatism." So it would.That would be the last thing his government intended when enacting state governments for Scotland, Wales and Greater London on the model of Northern Ireland.Mr. Blair's British Labor Party should have worried about this earlier. During a revival of the Scottish Nationalists in the 1970s, Labor advocated a middle way, "devolution" of some power to a Scottish assembly in Edinburgh, and has never reconsidered the policy.

TURNBERRY, SCOTLAND - That pristine ogre known as golf has struck again, choosing a gorgeous setting by the Irish Sea to unleash its full and singular meanness upon a cherished 59-year-old man. It enticed him for four days of enchantment. It ushered him to the 72nd hole with a one-shot lead in a British Open and a chance to broaden earthly possibility. It brought Tom Watson down that No. 18 fairway to deeply felt applause, and then it threw in a blaring roar when his well-struck 8-iron approach on an 8-foot putt smacked down and bounded onto the green.

TURNBERRY, Scotland -- Golf had another of its inconceivable dreams Saturday. In this one, the image of 53-year-old Greg Norman in 2008 walking up No. 18 at Royal Birkdale down the coast in England with a 54-hole lead in the British Open had not been sufficient, for clearly, Norman had been too bloody young. No, this one starred a man with a phalanx of wrinkles, a bunch of glowing 32-year-old memories and an age just seven weeks shy of 60, so it made sense that somebody asked Tom Watson whether he needed to pinch himself.

The best castle hotels in Europe, according to TripAdvisor.com, based on rankings by travelers who contribute reviews to the Web site and TripAdvisor editors. 1. Glin Castle in Glin, Ireland ($491 average nightly rate) 2. Castle Stuart, Inverness, Scotland ($614) 3. Thornbury Castle, Thornbury, England ($394) 4. Domaine de la Tortiniere, Tours, France ($310) 5. Borthwick Castle, Edinburgh, Scotland ($273) 6. Chateau de Bagnols, Lyon, France ($1,335) 7. Castelletto di Montebenichi, Bucine, Italy ($242)

CARNOUSTIE, Scotland -- The name of Sergio Garcia, familiar to the world's golf fans for eight years and 36 major tournaments seems ripe for new recognition. Sometime today, here on the east coast of Scotland, the Spaniard could fulfill his huge promise by commanding this 136th British Open and claiming his first major title at age 27. British Open Final round today, Carnoustie, Scotland TV: 6 a.m., TNT; 8 a.m., chs. 2, 7

CARNOUSTIE, Scotland -- That old beast Carnoustie must have snickered yesterday when it saw Sergio Garcia ambling toward the first hole with his caddie and his bag and his new belly putter. That's funny, because when Garcia and the caddie and the bag and the belly putter ambled back down from No. 18 in the evening, the beast lay conquered in the first round by Garcia's 6-under-par 65, and the 136th British Open had another theme. Not only had Garcia, who had shot an 89 in the first round here in 1999, shaved 24 shots off that horror to lead the field by two strokes, but Garcia might just spend the weekend trying to defend the honor of the belly putter.

GLASGOW, Scotland -- Investigators have identified two "principal protagonists" in the botched attacks in London and Glasgow and are trying to establish how the other detained suspects fit in, a British security official said yesterday. The two principal suspects are almost certainly the two men arrested after crashing their Jeep Cherokee into a terminal at Glasgow's international airport: Dr. Bilal Abdulla, a British-born Iraqi doctor who was formally charged yesterday, and a man known both as Kaleef and Khalid Ahmed, an Indian engineer who is being treated for severe burns sustained in the attack last week.

HOUSTON, Scotland -- British investigators have concluded that the two men who carried out an attack at Glasgow International Airport last Saturday had sped there after a failed attempt to bomb a nightclub in central London, a British security official said yesterday. And, for the first time, witnesses, a neighbor and the police have provided descriptions of the two men - Dr. Bilal Abdulla and Dr. Khalil Ahmed - saying they might have lived together intermittently in this placid neighborhood outside Glasgow and that a Jeep Cherokee similar to the one used in the airport attack had been seen speeding around in the weeks before the botched bombing.

James McAvoy doesn't look like a traditional movie star. He's not tall, dark or classically handsome. In fact, the 28-year-old Scotsman is rather slight and talks in a brogue so thick at times it makes you desperate for a translator. But the Glasgow native has that indefinable something that makes him eminently fascinating to watch on screen. With that kind of presence and his flurry of recent movies (six in the last two years), he's bound to soon become better known in this country. American movie audiences first took notice of him as the charming faun Mr. Tumnus in 2005's The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and then again late last year as the ambitious young doctor to Idi Amin in The Last King of Scotland (a "weak, despicable human being," he says of his character)

BURBANK, Calif.-- --Forest Whitaker still uses the occasional Britishism, a vestige of his part in Neil Jordan's gender-bender, The Crying Game. If it weren't so emotionally painful to pick up an alto sax, Whitaker could probably revisit Bird with a few jazz blasts from his Charlie Parker past. Ten years from now, he says, he may not be thinking about Panic Room, but he'll probably be able to drill a safe. The research and immersion in character that Whitaker has performed for the various roles he's created -- from the football star in Fast Times at Ridgemont High, to his Private Garlick in Good Morning, Vietnam, to his breakout role channeling Charlie Parker -- have left their traces on his own character, he says.

On March 1, 2006 ALVIN PAUL SZCZESNIAK of Millersville, MD beloved husband of Anne Szczesniak; dearest father of Joanne Leonberger and Richard Szczesniak; cherished brother of Gene, Ted, Terry, Kay and Tom; loving grandfather to Valerie and Rachel Leonberger. Mr. Szczesniak was in the US Navy from 1965-1988, serving in Great Lakes, IL from March-May 1965, USNCTC Pensacola, FL from June 1965-Jan. 1966, NCS Sidi Yahia, Morocco from Feb. 1966-Feb. 1967, NSGA Edzell, Scotland from March 1967-Feb 1969, NSGA Winter Harbor, ME from May 1969-May 1971, NSGA Hanza, Okinawa from Aug. 1971-Feb.