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Theft-proofing your home

NEW YORK  - Suntan lotion...check. Bermuda shorts...check. Now that you're packed and ready to hit the road, make sure your most valuable asset will remain safe and sound.

Today's Five Tips Home Edition will tell you how.

There were over 2 million burglaries nationally for the 2004 year, the latest year that stats are available, according to the FBI. Most burglaries happen in July and August - exactly when many homeowners are off on their summer vacations. In fact, most communities will experience a 10 to 18 percent increase in home burglaries during the summer, according to the Burglary Prevention Council.

Southern states had the most burglaries, followed by the Midwest, the West and finally the Northeast. The average home loss totaled over $1,600 dollars. The most common time for a burglary to happen was during daylight hours from 6 am to 6 pm. Burglars spend no more than 60 seconds breaking into a home, so you'll want to make it as hard as possible for them.

Before you pull out of the driveway, disable the electric garage door opener and make sure the door is locked securely. If you have manual lock make sure you use it. While it might be rare, you don't want someone with a universal garage door opener gaining any access to your garage and your home.

In some cases, it's even easier to break into a garage than into the house. Remove the tools, the ladder, the sledgehammer or the ax you may store in the garage. If a burglar does make it into your garage, you don't want these tools making it easier for them to break into your house.

Take a walk around the yard. If you see shrubs or trees that provide sufficient cover to a would-be burglar, you'll want to trim them. Keep these bushes far away from the house. You may also want to plant thorny bushes, like firethorns or rosebushes, closer to the windows.

Pay special attention to your first floor windows. Over 60 percent of burglars come through a window that should have been locked, according to the National Crime Prevention Council. People that break into homes usually find an opening that should have been closed, says Tom Kraeutler, host of the radio show, "The Money Pit."

Burglars want to blend in as much as possible. So consider investing in motion detector lights for the outside and light timers for the inside of your home.

With a motion-sensitive light, an intruder is bathed in light the instant he steps into your yard. You'll also want to use light-timers on lamps near the front and the back windows. This way you'll be able to create the impression the home is lived in. You can buy them for as little as $20 to $50.

While you're on vacation, the last thing you want to think about is coming home to what could be a disaster. Before you leave, turn off the main water valve, says Kraeutler. If a pipe bursts while you're away, you could return to a pool of floating furniture.

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Ex-wives favoured in ground-breaking divorce ruling

The Law Lords ruled in favour of ex-wives today in a major legal ruling on two big money divorce cases.

The House of Lords held that Melissa Miller can keep the £5 million she was awarded out of the £17.5 million fortune of her husband Alan and that Julia McFarlane is entitled to £250,000 a year from her husband Kenneth for life rather than just for five years as decided by the Court of Appeal.

The judgment, which lays down guidelines for the courts on how to split the assets between partners in multi-million-pound settlements, has taken on added significance since the separation of Heather Mills McCartney and Sir Paul McCartney, whose personal wealth is said to exceed £820 million.

Outside court Mrs McFarlane's lawyer James Pirrie said: "We are delighted for Julia. It is a ground-breaking ruling.

"Until today maintenance for a stay-at-home mum was based purely on her living costs.

"Now judges must consider contribution and compensation for people like Julia.

;This is only fair. The judgment recognises her sacrifice and that marriage is a partnership."

Another member of Mrs McFarlane's legal team, Bradley Williams, said she was pleased with the outcome but disappointed that it had taken five years to get there with the consequential effects on her family life and children.

He added that Mrs McFarlane had given up her promising career as a city solicitor in 1991 with her husband's agreement so she could bring up their children.

During this time his earning levels accelerated with her support and by 2002 his total net income exceeded £750,000 a year.

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500-pound bear chases girl into home, mauls woman

ORWELL, Ohio (AP) -- A 500-pound bear escaped from an animal breeder Monday, entered a neighboring home and attacked a woman, a state wildlife officer said.

The victim was expected to survive, and the bear was lured out of the house and shot to death by the breeder, said Reno Reda of the state Department of Natural Resources wildlife division.

The owner of Grand River Fur Exchange, Mark Gutman, was attempting to enter the bear's cage to clean it when the animal escaped, Reda said.

The bear walked into a neighbor's garage, Reda said. A 15-year-old girl saw the animal and fled into the house, but the bear pushed the door open behind her and followed her inside, Reda said.

The girl's mother, Rachel Supplee, 36, was attacked in a nearby room, Reda said.

She was in satisfactory condition Monday night at St. Elizabeth Health Center in Youngstown, Reda said, but details on the injuries to several parts of her body weren't available.

The bear was shot about 20 minutes after it escaped. Gutman immediately called authorities, as required, when the bear broke loose, Reda said.

The bear was about 9 years old and raised in captivity, making it unafraid of people, Reda said.

Gutman is licensed for commercial game propagation, which allows him to breed animals and sell the offspring, Reda said. His business is in Hartsgrove Township, 50 miles east of Cleveland.

No charges had been filed and the Ashtabula County Sheriff's Office was reviewing the matter, Reda said. The sheriff's office didn't return a phone message Monday night.

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By Harlan Jacobson, Special for USA TODAY

MORE FROM CANNES: Dreamgirls details

British director Ken Loach's (Sweet Sixteen) latest, The Wind That Shakes the Barley, was well received. It stars Cillian Murphy (Red Eye) in a story set during the Irish uprising of 1920 against the British that established the troubled borders of the modern state.

Southland Tales, Richard Kelly's. 160-minute anti-futuristic satire with The Rock and Sarah Michelle Gellar, had critics wincing in the aisles as they left.

It is Kelly's follow up to his 2001 debut Donnie Darko, which became a cult hit, and Kelly put himself on record as having fought off Hollywood offers to remain true to his artistic vision. Now he's got to figure out what to do about his artistic vision. The critical bet is Universal will have a few things to say about its length, for starters.

Fairing mixed were Richard Linklater's Fast Food Nation, a muckraking fiction film about the fast-food industry, and John Cameron Mitchell's (Hedwig and the Angry Inch). explicit Short Bus. The plot involves patients of a sex therapist, but the theme is one of loneliness.

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Duncan, Spurs hold on in final seconds of Game 5

SAN ANTONIO (AP) -- Just when it seemed the Dallas-San Antonio series couldn't get any more amazing or intense, the closing seconds of a thrilling Game 5 ratcheted everything up another level.

And thanks to Tim Duncan, there will be a Game 6.

Duncan tied an NBA postseason record by making his first 12 shots and scored 36 points, Tony Parker scored 27, and the Spurs withstood losing two jump balls in the final 6.3 seconds to keep their title defense alive with a 98-97 victory over the Mavericks on Wednesday night.

"Everyone wants this badly," San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich said. "Both teams are filled with character and toughness. This doesn't surprise me. I would have been surprised if we beat them by 20 or if they beat us by 20."

After two excruciating, late losses on the road, the Spurs let the Mavs know what it feels like. San Antonio ended its first three-game losing streak of the season to get within 3-2 in this second-round series that's quickly becoming a classic.

"We didn't expect them to roll over," Dallas' Jerry Stackhouse said. "They're the world champs. They did what they're supposed to do. Every possession in the game meant something."

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Record-Breaking Temperatures Throughout Utah

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- It's only May, but it feels like July as much of Utah experiences record-breaking temperatures.

The National Weather Service reported eleven areas throughout the state set record high temperatures yesterday.

Salt Lake City was one of them. It set a record high yesterday of 90 degrees. That ties with the old record set back in 1948. Salt Lake also set a record high on Monday of 88 degrees, tying with the old record set in 1934.

Provo broke the 1997 record high of 87 degrees when it reached 89 yesterday. While Tooele got up to 90 degrees, breaking the old record of 86 degrees set back in 1964.

Other record-breaking areas include: Delta, Grantsville, Helper, Trenton, Coalville, Morgan, Bryce Canyon and Utah Test Range.

Forecasters say the hot weather will continue throughout the rest of the week.

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CIA nominee Hayden to face senators

WASHINGTON -- Discussion of a classified government wiretap program is expected to dominate Thursday's confirmation hearing for Gen. Michael Hayden, tapped by the White House to be the next CIA chief.

Ahead of the hearing, details of the National Security Agency's wiretap program were given for the first time to the intelligence committees of both the House and Senate on Wednesday.

Previously only a handful of senior senators and congressmen were told about the domestic spying operation authorized by the president, which is run outside the court system.

The wiretapping will be a "central" topic of discussions on whether to approve Hayden as the next CIA chief, Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kansas, said in a prepared statement.

Hayden was NSA director when President Bush authorized the then-secret surveillance program after the 9/11 attacks.

Roberts said the committees needed to be briefed on the program before they could question Hayden on Thursday.

"It became apparent that in order to have a fully informed confirmation hearing, all members of my committee needed to know the full width and breadth of the president's program," Roberts said ahead of the briefings.

"This issue will be central to the committee's deliberations on Gen. Hayden's nomination, and there was no way we could fulfill our collective constitutional responsibilities without that knowledge."

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Peter Hoekstra, R-Michigan, whose committee also was briefed, called the wiretap program "a critical tool in keeping this country safe." He also said he hopes the briefing will "put an end to the politics surrounding this issue."

The program involves the NSA monitoring, without obtaining a court warrant, the phone calls, e-mails and other communications of people inside the United States and those overseas when at least one of the parties is a suspected terrorist.

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