Tacoma Wa

This is likely to be another wild year for the nation's banking industry, with the drive to consolidate so powerful that few financial institutions, no matter how large, are safe from merger or takeover, industry experts say. The questions asked among industry leaders now: Who is on the prowl for what,and how fast is the current merger pace going to accelerate?

QUESTION: My neighbor has a very large yucca tree that is pushing against my block wall. The wall is now cracked and I'm afraid it will fall. The neighbor is not reluctant to remove the plant. Do you have any suggestions on the easiest method? --C.N., Inglewood ANSWER: I watched a neighbor struggle with a huge yucca only to give up, leaving the thick base of the trunk in the ground. If only they'd known that they were almost there.

India's mightiest earthquake in half a century tore at the subcontinent's entire midriff Friday, felling buildings, entombing victims in the rubble of homes and schools, and killing thousands of people. The Press Trust of India reported that 2,500 people had died in the huge temblor in the country's west, most of them in the old walled city of Bhuj, near the epicenter.

Relief workers struggled today to help massive numbers of earthquake victims amid shattered buildings and a lack of medical supplies, water and food in the devastated towns of Pakistan's mountainous north. The grounds of the destroyed Mansehra District Hospital had been turned into a makeshift relief camp, where thousands of suffering survivors, including about 4,600 with serious injuries, lay in tents, wearing bandages and slings.

Orlantha Ambrose adopted Sri Lanka, the land of her parents, as her home. Despite their concerns, the 33-year-old former kindergarten teacher moved from Encino to Colombo more than a year ago to teach poor children to play the violin. That mission drew her parents to Sri Lanka to see the culmination of her work: a holiday concert by her students. On Sunday, Ambrose and her mother, Beulah, were among the thousands swept away by the tsunami that ravaged the island nation.

States and many U.S. territories have tourism offices to help visitors. When requesting travel literature, be as specific as possible. Alabama: Alabama Tourism Department, 401 Adams Ave., Suite 126, P.O. Box 4927, Montgomery, AL 36103; (800) 252-2262 or (334) 242-4169, http://www.alabama.travel. Alaska: Alaska Travel Industry Assn., Visitor Information Center, 2600 Cordova St., Suite 201, Anchorage, AK 99503; (800) 862-5275 or (907) 929-2200, http://www.travelalaska.com. American Samoa: American Samoa Visitors Bureau, P.O. Box 4240, Pago Pago, AS 96799; (684)

In a bloody rampage that turned a children's summer camp into a scene of horror, a gunman shot an adult, a teenager and three children at a Jewish community center in Granada Hills on Tuesday. Police said the suspect was at large, armed and dangerous. By 9 p.m. Los Angeles police had encircled the 7-Star Suites Motel in Chatsworth, where the suspect, who reportedly had hijacked a car, was thought to be hiding.

-- 1 Tatyana Pozdnyakora, Ukraine 2:29:40 2 Lioudmila Kortchaguina, Russia 2:30:18 3 Zivile Balciunaite, Lithuania 2:33:22 4 Aurica Buia, Romania 2:34:15 5 Irina Safarova, Russia 2:34:23 6 Jackline Torori, Kenya 2:35:38 7 Lidia Vassilevskaia, Russia 2:35:44 8 Olga Kovpotinc, Russia 2:37:46 9 Mary Colburn, Redondo Beach 2:55:41 10 Margarita Conde Malin, Guat 3:00:02 11 Edith Martinez, Brea 3:05:37 12 Athena Countouriotis, L.A 3:09:44 13 Laurel Adair,...