2009-05-11 02:16:05 -

Below is a list of feature stories that The Associated Press plans to move in the coming week. Questions about the stories may be addressed to the North America Desk supervisor in New York at 212-621-1650 (fax 212-621-5449 or e-mail amidesk@ap.org) or to individual bureaus in your country or region.
We will update this digest daily, adding new features as available. Feature stories that moved in the previous three days are included at the bottom for editors who may not have seen them.
Monday, May 11
Malaysia racial ties fragile 40 years after riots
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia _ As Malaysia marks the anniversary of its worst race riots 40 years ago, a new prime minister is proposing a partial rollback of an affirmative action program for the majority Malays. In recent years, ethnic Chinese and Indians have vocally protested the program, especially as a tight economy makes jobs and housing harder to find. At the same time, several Malay ruling party officials have pledged to defend affirmative action «to the last drop of blood.» BC-AS-FEA--Malaysia-Race Relations. By Sean Yoong. AP Photos NY388-391
Cocaine trade revitalizes Peruvian rebels
UNION MANTARO, Peru _ The last town on a rutted dirt road in Peru's main cocaine-producing valley has no police post, no church, no health clinic. Against this backdrop of state neglect, a small but highly lethal band of drug-trafficking guerrillas, remnants of the fanatical Shining Path, is casting an outsized shadow. The insurgents have killed 33 soldiers since the army moved in last year. The goverment calls the guerrillas ideologically bankrupt, but the valley's people don't necessarily agree. BC-LT-FEA--Peru-Cocaine's Warriors. By Andrew Whalen. AP Photos NY436-443
5 years on, gay marriage debate fades in Massachusetts
WHITINSVILLE, Massachusetts _ It's five years since a surge of same-sex couples married in Massachusetts, amid protests and talk of a nullifying referendum that never came. And what has happened? Three other states _ Connecticut in 2008, Iowa and Vermont this year _ have legalized same-sex marriage, and more may follow soon. In Massachusetts, more than 12,167 same-sex marriages have been performed, setting off a boom for gay-friendly wedding businesses and other consequences. And the lead lawyer in the landmark lawsuit sums up the personal effect: «I know people who'd been together 20 years who say, 'Getting married _ it knocked my socks off.»' BC-US--FEA-Gay Marriage-Five Years. By David Crary. AP PhotosnNY339-350
WITH
BC-US--FEA-Gay Marriage-Five Years-Timeline
Yet another Gandhi rises in Indian politics
SULTANPUR, India _ Rahul Gandhi, a boyish-looking 38-year-old, comes from the fabled family that has run India for 37 years. That's one reason why, with just five years of political experience, Gandhi has become a force unto himself in Indian politics. He's an awkward public speaker, and he flunked his first big political test. But in a country enthralled with the ideals of family and the spectacle of celebrity, he has the right last name. BC-AS-FEA--India-Heir Apparent. By Muneeza Naqvi. AP Photos NY363-368
US Catholic political divide over Obama speech at Notre Dame
NEW YORK _ A campaign by outraged Roman Catholics to keep President Barack Obama from delivering the commencement address at Notre Dame shows that the gulf between the church and backers of abortion rights remains deep. Yet the effort to get the leading Catholic university to rescind its invitation to Obama also highlights a political disconnect between the church's conservative hierarchy and millions of U.S. Catholic voters. BC-US--FEA-REL-Catholics-Politics. By Beth Fouhy. AP Photos.
Author tells of US special forces in Afghanistan
TRAVERSE CITY, Michigan _ Shortly after the 2001 terrorist attacks, a couple dozen U.S. Army Special Forces personnel and CIA operatives slipped quietly into Afghanistan and, seemingly, back in time. As outraged Americans waited for a full-scale invasion of the country giving refuge to Osama bin Laden, the Green Berets teamed with Afghan warlords and their militias struggling to overthrow the Taliban regime. U.S. fighters schooled in modern warfare galloped into battle on horseback. «It's as if the Jetsons had met the Flintstones,» said one sergeant who appears in «Horse Soldiers,» a new book that tells their story. Against the odds, the horse soldiers' mission was accomplished within two months, as the oppressive Afghan rulers were swept from power. BC-US--FEA-Horse Soldiers. By John Flesher. AP Photos NY301-302
Tuesday, May 12
DETROIT _ A GM bankruptcy is all but inevitable, experts say. To remake itself out of court, the car company has just three weeks to convince skeptical bondholders to swap $27 billion in debt for 10 percent of the struggling company. Union deals still have to be worked out, plant closures must be announced, and brands must be cut or sold. All GM is doing now is lining up majorities of stakeholders to make bankruptcy protection easier. BC-US--FEA-GM-Inevitable Bankrupcty. By Tom Krisher.
`Underemployed': They have still have jobs, but their hours have been cut way back
ROCHESTER, New York _ Jody Taylor dodged the bullet twice in the past year when the industrial-coating factory where she works as a machine operator went through a series of layoffs. But her hours have been cut back to a four-day workweek. In this economy, she considers herself lucky. «I did lose some money, but I still have a job and health benefits,» said Taylor, 51, a single parent whose 17-year-old son recently had his wisdom teeth pulled. «Honest to God, I don't know how anybody can do it without their benefits.» BC-US--FEA-Economy-Underemployed. By Ben Dobbin. AP Photos NYDD201-204.
Threat-spotting cameras raise question: Is surveillance better when Big Brother is a computer
NEW YORK _ The surveillance cameras at Big Y, a Massachusetts grocery chain, are watching to see whether cashiers are passing free stuff to their friends. The cameras are programmed to spot the usual tricks: obscuring the bar code, slipping an item behind the scanner, passing two products at a time but charging for one. There aren't enough human eyes to keep it from happening, which is why Big Y is turning to a system that can pick out this behavior on its own. Researchers envision broad applications for this kind of technology _ but just how smart have these cameras really become? BC-US--FEA--Smarter Cameras. By Andrew Vanacore. AP Photo NYBZ117.
'Cult wine' followers find their prey easier to hunt, but still expensive
NAPA, California _ Wine-lover R.J. Hilgers is caught in a cabernet Catch-22. The good news, he notes, is that the recession means once impossible-to-find vintages suddenly are not so impossible to find. The bad news? There's a recession. «The cruel irony of the whole thing is all of a sudden it feels like these mailing lists are starting to open up,» he says of the ultra-exclusive buying lists some in-demand wineries use to sell their bottles. «So when you get on them you're like, 'Oh great.' Despite the economy, Americans aren't buying less wine. But they are buying less expensive wines. BC-US--FEA-Food-Sip-Vintage Values. By Michelle Locke. AP Photos NYLS110-112
Wednesday, May 13
Archive saves 84,000 pagers of US Portuguese newspaper
DARTMOUTH, Massachusetts _ In 1924, Diario de Noticias, the largest Portuguese-language newspaper in the United States, denounced a sociologist who investigated the high infant death rate among New England's Portuguese mill workers, including whether their darker skin was to blame. That's just one tidbit from the 84,000 pages of the now defunt paper that explored the lives and interests of Portuguese immigrants from the 1920s to the 1970s that have been preserved in a searchable, online archive. BC-US-FEA--Portuguese Newspaper. By Ray Henry. AP Photo BX301
The Four Seasons: NY 'power lunch' mecca turns 50
NEW YORK _ The Dalai Lama. Madonna. Bill Clinton. Mary J. Blige. And a 13-year-old celebrating his bar mitzvah, complete with scantily clad dancers his father hired to usher the teen into manhood. They all were guests at The Four Seasons restaurant, the storied dining room that practically invented New York's concept of the «power lunch» _ a networking mecca of money, clout, good looks, even global spirituality. This year marks the 50th anniversary for the restaurant just off Park Avenue on Manhattan's East Side, a two-story culinary cathedral awash in creamy Italian marble and French walnut designed by architect Philip Johnson. BC-US--FEA-The Four Seasons. By Verena Dobnik. AP Photos NYLS111-115
Arkanas hometown of Johnny Cash seeks new life
DYESS, Arkansas _ Dyess Colony developed as bread lines stretched for blocks in big cities during the Great Depression. In rural Arkansas, the devastating Mississippi River flood of 1927 and a drought that followed decimated farming in the Delta. W.R. Dyess, head of the state's relief effort, picked land covered by thick «gumbo» soil to build a colony, and soon workers were clearing it, building shotgun-style homes on 20- and 40-acre tracts, and choosing families who could prove they could bring in a harvest to pay off the loans. Now, there's an effort to restore the faded colony's decaying administration building, part of a local plan to expand tourist draws beyond the main one: Johnny Cash's boyhood home. BC-US--FEA-Dyess Depression. By Jon Gambrell. AP Photos NY309-314
Thursday, May 14
Seoul's ancient sights on a budget
SEOUL _ With the South Korean currency, called the won, down against the dollar, now's the time to wander the grounds of 600-year-old palaces, meditate in Buddhist temples and trawl cafes and markets in the labyrinthine capital city, Seoul. BC-US--FEA-Seoul on a Budget. By Nicolai Hartvig. AP Photos NY400-409
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Features already moved
Friday, May 8
BC-US--FEA-Shuttle-Hubble
Astronauts making one last house call to Hubble.
With BC-US--FEA-Shuttle-Astronauts, BC-US--FEA-Hubble Timeline
BC-US--FEA-Frank Lloyd Wright
Guggenheim celebrates Frank Lloyd Wright.
BC-US--FEA-Star Trek
'Star Trek' flies again, with unwritten future
BC-US--FEA-Hopper at the Harwood
Dennis Hopper curates show in of ex-L.A. artists.
ALSO MOVED
_BC-US--FEA-Chris Pine

_BC-US--FEA-Kenneth Branagh
_BC-US--FEA-Hanks-WWII
_BC-US--FEA-Ciara
_BC-US--FEA-Chrisette Michele
_BC-US--FEA-Soulja Boy
_BC-US--FEA-Bernie Williams
_BC-US--FEA-Zachary Quinto
_BC-US--FEA-Michael J Fox
_BC-US--FEA-Elliott Yamin
_BC-NA-FEA--US-Celebrity Birthdays
_BC-NA-FEA--US-Film Reviews
_BC-NA-FEA--US-Game Reviews
_BC-NA-FEA--US-Top Ten
Saturday, May 9
No features moved.
Sunday, May 10
Sunday, May 10
BC-LT-FEA--Brazil-God Not Guns
Brazil evangelicals target drug lords.
BC-AS-FEA--China-Earthquake Activists
Government blunts activism set off by China quake.
BC-AS-FEA--Bangladesh-Begging Ban
Bangladesh to ban begging and the poorest worry.
BC-AS-FEA--Taiwan-Art Odyssey
Taiwan art collection evokes tumultuous history.
BC-FEA--France-Crisis Cuisine
Crisis eating in France, land of haute cuisine.
The AP