ZITO'S HEART IS IN NEW YORK.(SPORTS)

Byline: MATT GRAVES

It worked for Neil Drysdale and Fusaichi Pegasus last year, and now trainer Nick Zito is hoping his revised game plan will spell D-E-R-B-Y for A P Valentine.

Zito said this week that he will abandon his Florida campaign, including the Florida Derby a week from Saturday, and try to get to the Kentucky Derby via the Long Island Expressway.

``It would be suicide putting him in (the Florida Derby),'' Zito said. ``We're behind with him right now. You've just got to put the egos on ice.''

Owned by Rick Pitino's Celtic Pride Stable, A P Valentine made his 3-year-old debut in an allowance race Feb. 17 and finished third in the …

CHINA TROOP CLASH REPORTED UNITS SAID FIGHTING EACH OTHER.(Main)

Byline: Associated Press

Soldiers swept through Beijing today, shooting at enraged civilians, and there were reports of fighting between military units sent to quell the unarmed pro-democracy protests. The army, which killed hundreds of people in a crackdown on the protests over the weekend, reportedly shot and killed at least three civilians today.

One Chinese military source said soldiers fought each other around the Nanyuan military air base on the southern outskirts of the city today. He said the fighting was serious.

But residents living near the restricted base said they had seen a steady stream of planes landing and taking off but had not seen or heard fighting.

Artillery shelling also was heard in a far northwestern suburb.

Asked whether soldiers were fighting each other, one Western diplomat said: "It's more than that. There is solid evidence." He would not elaborate.

Chinese …

Indian judge accepts Mumbai gunman's …

Indian judge accepts Mumbai gunman's …

AAC and AMC to Host Annual Conference

The Army Acquisition Corps (AAC) and the Army Materiel Command (AMC) are joining forces to produce the 2005 Acquisition Senior Leaders and AMC Commanders Conference. The 4-day event will be held Aug. 22-25 in the automobile capitol of the world - Detroit, Ml.

Since 1990, the conference has served as a platform that enables the Army Acquisition Executive, Deputy Assistant secretaries of the Army and other Army senior leaders a unique opportunity to communicate directly with program executive officers (PEOs), program/project/product managers (PMs) and acquisition and contracting commanders to discuss new direction, guidance and policies, as well as best business practices affecting …

INDUSTRY, ADVOCACY GROUPS BACK HEALTH TRACKING SYSTEM.(Brief Article)

The Pew Environmental Health Commission at Johns Hopkins University (Baltimore) urged Congress last week to establish a national system to track diseases, including asthma, birth defects, and cancer, that may be caused by pollution or other environmental factors.

The proposed system, which has been endorsed by both environmental groups and the chemical industry, would cost $275 million/year. Health and …

QUOTABLE.(Sports)(Quotation)

" Where it hit home for me is my three sons. They encouraged me to come here. They said, '800 may not mean much to you, but it will to us and our children 20 years from …

2 SUSPECTS FLEE OFFICERS; TROY COP HURT IN ARREST.(CAPITAL REGION)

Byline: CAILIN BROWN Staff writer

TROY -- Two suspects in a neighborhood drug deal escaped -- handcuffed together -- from city police Friday afternoon, while an alleged accomplice and eight other people were taken into custody. The two men were still at large Friday night.

Officer Frank Durkee was on routine patrol about 4 p.m. when he spotted what he saw as a drug deal near the intersection of Sixth Avenue and Middleburgh Street, according to Capt. John Tedesco.

As Durkee handcuffed two men together, a third allegedly jumped him and the other two escaped, Tedesco said.

Durkee was treated at Samaritan Hospital for a broken thumb and …