Breakaway

Serbian President Boris Tadic made a last-minute plea to world leaders Friday to avoid recognizing an independent Kosovo, insisting that though Serbia remains committed to full integration with Europe, "we cannot accept the dismemberment of our nation." With the Serbian province now widely expected to declare independence Feb.

Quebec nearly split from Canada this week, a fact I feel compelled to mention because it is the first time I have ever begun a column with the letter Q. From a sports standpoint, Monday's vote did have a serious impact. For one thing, Wayne Gretzky will not be referred to as the most famous athlete from the "tricountry area." For another, national anthem singers will not need to learn how to butcher a third song.

Leaders of a California labor group battling the giant Service Employees International Union alleged in a lawsuit Tuesday that the SEIU engaged in a pattern of violent threats and strong-arm tactics against dissident unionists. The suit, filed in Superior Court in San Francisco, is the latest salvo in the bitter intra-union clash pitting the SEIU against the breakaway National Union of Healthcare Workers. For two years, the rival group has been trying to woo SEIU members at California hospitals and healthcare facilities.

The latest installment in the "Twilight" series didn't break franchise records this past weekend, but the film still had the fifth-best domestic opening of all time at the box office. "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn — Part 1" raked in $139.5 million, according to an estimate from distributor Summit Entertainment. While that was an impressive opening, "Breaking Dawn" fell just short of the $142.8-million opening weekend record held by the second movie in the series, 2009's "New Moon.

A bishop in China's breakaway Catholic Church on Friday called for the Vatican to settle differences with his church through negotiations. "If China and the Vatican want to improve their relations, they must sit down and negotiate," said the Bishop of Shanghai, Jin Luxian, who served an 18-year jail sentence in China after being accused of spying.

Georgia and its breakaway province of Abkhazia signed a cease-fire agreement to silence the guns in the region and pave the way for ending the 11-month separatist conflict. The accord, signed on neutral Russian territory in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, provides for a cease-fire to come into force in the province starting at noon today. The agreement, concluded after mediating-power Russia brought pressure to bear on Georgia, was immediately hailed by Russian President Boris N.

For 15 frustrating years, Roger Hall has been trying to convince baseball that his breakaway bases will drastically reduce the most common sliding injuries. For just as long, he has been rebuffed at almost every turn by traditionalists unwilling to alter such an integral part of the game. The mere idea of bases designed to break apart in a hard slide seemed to horrify the purists of the game. Most regarded Hall's product as nothing more than a gimmick, like Charles Finley's orange baseballs.

Nearly a dozen conservative congregations have won a state lawsuit in which they sought to split from the U.S. Episcopal Church in a dispute over theology and homosexuality. The rulings came from a Fairfax County judge who said the departing congregations are allowed to keep church buildings and other property as they realign under the authority of conservative Anglican bishops from Africa. Eleven Virginia congregations were involved in the lawsuit. Since then, entire dioceses have voted to leave.

In a defiant gesture rooted in the battle over homosexuality, two Third World Anglican archbishops on Sunday consecrated four conservative American priests as bishops. The elevation of the four priests on U.S. soil by foreign archbishops sent shock waves through the worldwide Anglican Communion and its U.S. member, the Episcopal Church. It was decried by the Archbishop of Canterbury as trespassing and brought the 2.3-million-member Episcopal denomination closer to formal schism.

With nothing but open ice and an Ottawa Senators' goaltender ahead of him, Petr Nedved broke out of his slump to lead the New York Rangers to a 4-3 victory Monday night at New York. Nedved, whose three goals this season have all come against the last-place Senators, scored his first goal in 15 games at 5:29 of the third period to help the Rangers overcome a 3-1 deficit.