Special Olympics World Games open with a bang

Upbeat

Hundreds of Chinese drummers robed in eye-popping reds and yellows pounded a sound like rolling thunder Tuesday night, as Shanghai welcomed the Special Olympics World Games with a spectacular opening ceremony. More than 5,000 elegantly choreographed performers lit by brilliant bursts of colored lights and fireworks greeted the participating 7,000 intellectually disabled athletes, representing 165 countries, who have descended on the city over the past week.

People

This just in: Anchor's out

Mirthala Salinas, 35, a Spanish-language newscaster who had an affair with Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa while reporting on him, parted ways with Los Angeles Telemundo station KVEA-TV Monday. "Telemundo and Mirtha Salinas have mutually agreed to end our employment relationship effective October 1," a station spokesman said, declining to elaborate. The mayor acknowledged the affair July 3; his wife has filed for divorce.

On the block

Perfect for Seattle traffic?

A yellow bulldozer that helped angry demonstrators storm key government buildings during Serbia's 2000 popular uprising has gone on sale. Advertised as "the historical excavator that collapsed communism in Serbia," the bulldozer is being auctioned online with a starting price of $128,088, even though it is not in working condition. The owner drove the bulldozer during the Oct. 5 uprising against former strongman Slobodan Milosevic's attempt to maintain his decadelong rule by preventing Serbia's pro-Western opposition from taking power after an election victory.

Law & disorder

Called to account

In apparently unrelated cases, two New Jersey men have been charged with stealing from the bank accounts of billionaire New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, prosecutors said Tuesday. Odalis Bostic, 23, was charged with depositing two fraudulent checks totaling $420,000, drawn in the name of Bloomberg's financial manager, Geller & Company, with the mayor's personal account information on both checks. Separately, investigators said that in May, Charles Nelson, 31, transferred $10,000 from Bloomberg's account to an account he had set up, prosecutors said.

Passages

Randy Van Horn, 83, whose Randy Van Horn Singers performed the theme songs for "The Flintstones," "The Jetsons," "The Huckleberry Hound Show" and several other popular TV cartoons of the 1960s, died of cancer Sept. 26 at the Motion Picture and Television Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills, Calif.

Charles Griffith, 77, a screenwriter and director best known for writing low-budget Roger Corman movies such as "The Little Shop of Horrors" and "The Wild Angels," died Friday at his home in San Diego.

Today in History

1863: President Lincoln proclaimed the last Thursday in November Thanksgiving Day.

1941: Adolf Hitler declared in a speech in Berlin that Russia had been "broken" and would "never rise again."

1957: The comedy series "The Real McCoys" premiered on ABC-TV.

Today's Birthdays

Author Gore Vidal, 82. Actor Alan Rachins, 65. Actor Clive Owen, 43. Actress Janel Moloney, 38. Singer Gwen Stefani, 38. Actor Erik Von Detten, 25. Actress-singer Ashlee Simpson, 23.

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