Peter Moore

Peter Moore, a video game industry veteran who became the face of Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox business, resigned Tuesday to join top game publisher Electronic Arts Inc. Moore, 52, plans to leave the Redmond, Wash., company Sept. 1 to become president of EA's sports games division, which generated one-quarter of the company's $3.1 billion in revenue last year, Lazard Capital Markets estimated. Moore had been vice president of interactive entertainment at Microsoft.

The Iraqi government freed a leading Shiite Muslim militant on Tuesday, his followers said, part of an exchange that saw a longtime British hostage freed last week. High-level officials in the Iraqi government refused to confirm the release of Qais Khazali, a onetime aide and now rival of influential Shiite cleric Muqtada Sadr. Two of Khazali's followers discussed the release on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue. A spokesman for the Iraqi Interior Ministry, Alaa Taii, told the Associated Press that Khazali had been freed.

* Sprint Corp., which is being acquired by rival MCI WorldCom Inc., said it will sell packages of local and long-distance phone service in New York as local service provider Bell Atlantic Corp. prepares to enter the long-distance market. The plans will be available next week. * Sega Enterprises Ltd., the No. 3 maker of video-game console systems, said it will sell 1.5 million units of its new Dreamcast device in the U.S. by year-end, 50% more than previously forecast.

A British hostage held for 2 1/2 years by a militant Iraqi Shiite Muslim group was freed Wednesday in a move his family hailed as "the best Christmas present ever." Computer consultant Peter Moore was freed as the United States handed over to Iraqi authorities Qais Khazali, the leader of the group suspected of kidnapping him and four British security guards, and an undetermined number of Khazali's followers. The U.S. had blamed the group Asaib al Haq, or League of the Righteous, for the killings of five American soldiers.

How not to come off as a second-rate Raymond Chandler is a problem that afflicts every contemporary writer of hard-boiled fiction. Peter Moore Smith solves it by copping to it -- "Los Angeles," his second novel (after "Raveling"), can be described as a postmodern mystery of the highest order and, at the same time, an unabashed homage to the noir genre. The voice we hear in "Los Angeles" belongs to Angel, an aspiring but so-far-failed screenwriter.

A British hostage held for 2 1/2 years by a militant Iraqi Shiite Muslim group was freed Wednesday in a move his family hailed as "the best Christmas present ever." Computer consultant Peter Moore was freed as the United States handed over to Iraqi authorities Qais Khazali, the leader of the group suspected of kidnapping him and four British security guards, and an undetermined number of Khazali's followers. The U.S. had blamed the group Asaib al Haq, or League of the Righteous, for the killings of five American soldiers.

The Iraqi government freed a leading Shiite Muslim militant on Tuesday, his followers said, part of an exchange that saw a longtime British hostage freed last week. High-level officials in the Iraqi government refused to confirm the release of Qais Khazali, a onetime aide and now rival of influential Shiite cleric Muqtada Sadr. Two of Khazali's followers discussed the release on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue. A spokesman for the Iraqi Interior Ministry, Alaa Taii, told the Associated Press that Khazali had been freed.

* Microsoft Corp. promoted longtime industry executive Peter Moore to a job overseeing global game production and marketing and formally named Shane Kim to head its video game development studios.

The Culver City Council on Monday appointed 12 members to the new Recycling and Conservation Task Force, established to make recommendations on how the city can improve and expand its efforts to reduce waste and protect the environment. The members are: Gary Petersen, Earle C. Hartling, Mary Pat Curran, Mark Shear, Peter Moore-Kochlacs, Eric L. Stone, Ethan Greenspan, Dena Bates, Janet L. Shelton, David Yudess, Judy Goldsmith, and Donna Bamber.

Peter Moore, a video game industry veteran who became the face of Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox business, resigned Tuesday to join top game publisher Electronic Arts Inc. Moore, 52, plans to leave the Redmond, Wash., company Sept. 1 to become president of EA's sports games division, which generated one-quarter of the company's $3.1 billion in revenue last year, Lazard Capital Markets estimated. Moore had been vice president of interactive entertainment at Microsoft.

How not to come off as a second-rate Raymond Chandler is a problem that afflicts every contemporary writer of hard-boiled fiction. Peter Moore Smith solves it by copping to it -- "Los Angeles," his second novel (after "Raveling"), can be described as a postmodern mystery of the highest order and, at the same time, an unabashed homage to the noir genre. The voice we hear in "Los Angeles" belongs to Angel, an aspiring but so-far-failed screenwriter.

* Sprint Corp., which is being acquired by rival MCI WorldCom Inc., said it will sell packages of local and long-distance phone service in New York as local service provider Bell Atlantic Corp. prepares to enter the long-distance market. The plans will be available next week. * Sega Enterprises Ltd., the No. 3 maker of video-game console systems, said it will sell 1.5 million units of its new Dreamcast device in the U.S. by year-end, 50% more than previously forecast.

Sega Corp. wants to boost its percentage of U.S. video-game software sales to the "mid-teens" by the fiscal year ending March 2003, almost tripling its 2000 share, said Peter Moore, president of Sega's U.S. unit. "What they are saying is that they can match Electronic Arts," the No. 1 independent game-software maker, said Miguel Iribarren, an analyst with Wedbush Morgan Securities. "That's a bit ambitious given the time frame."

An Irish art collector said Sunday he is donating his 300-painting collection of works by surrealist painter Salvador Dali to the Spanish state. "It's an obvious thing to do. The Dali paintings belong to Spain," said Peter Moore, a former secretary to Dali who now operates a Dali museum in the Spanish coastal of Cadaques. His collection represents about one-fifth of Dali's work and includes the "Apotheosis of the Dollar." Completed in 1966 and insured for $1.