Graduation ceremonies kicked off Friday at UC Berkeley's Greek Theatre with words of wisdom for the Class of 2002 from professors, alumni and an Olympic gold medalist. Thousands of parents, alumni, faculty and friends watched and cheered as a portion of the university's 6,000 graduating seniors donned caps and gowns and participated in the commencement convocation. -more-

In 1896 the first motion picture in the United States was presented to the public in a New York City music hall, and for the next decade most films were shown as fillers in travelling vaudeville shows. The films were short and the subjects — such as dancing girls and moving trains — were limited. Partially because of lawsuits over patent infringements, the U.S. film industry lagged behind France and England until there was a patent settlement in 1908. -more-

Saturday, May 18

LOS ANGELES — Mexican singer Paulina Rubio has topped People en Espanol’s list of the ”25 Most Beautiful” Latin entertainers. -more-

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Complicated tie-breakers keep Berkeley in suspense as NCS playoffs loom -more-

Berkeley is oft maligned by much of the nation for being divisive and living in a sort of time warp, but no more. A new monument is being developed in Cesar Chavez Park that will provide Berkeleyans not only with a sense of time but also of universal direction -- a solar calendar. -more-

To the Editor: -more-

What happens when catty people collide? -more-

FRESNO – The fifth-ranked Golden Bears (50-19 overall) won their 50th game of the season, only the third team to do so in Cal history, on junior Courtney Scott’s double to center in the bottom of the sixth inning to defeat No. 2 seed Stanford, 1-0, in the second round of the NCAA West Regional at Bulldog Diamond. -more-

Five Berkeley High School students were among 140 East Bay girls at a young women’s health conference convened Friday afternoon by State Assemblywoman Dion Aroner, D-Berkeley, at Mills College in Oakland. -more-

To the Editor: -more-

Some news stories that may seem too small to thrive, actually grow to haunt a culture. In this country the Jon Benet Ramsey murder lives on in seemingly endless permutations, while the shame and scandal of Stephen Lawrence’s death plagues England nearly a decade after the bloody act. -more-

Today’s Bay Shore Athletic League baseball championship game has been moved from Washington Park in Alameda to Salesian High School in Richmond. -more-

Today is Sunday, May 19, the 139th day of 2002. There are 226 days left in the year. -more-

To the Editor: -more-

I recognize the scene of John Osborne’s dark and disturbing “The Entertainer,” now at Berkeley’s Aurora Theater, a play about the travails of a family of music hall performers in a declining British seaside resort. -more-

Armored car spills -more-

LOS ANGELES — “Star Wars: Episode II — Attack of the Clones” took in more money Thursday than any weekday release in movie history but failed to beat the best single-day box office take of all time, set this month by high-flying “Spider-Man.” -more-

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Computer security firm Network Associates restated its earnings from 1998 to 2000 on Friday, reducing reported profits by about $28 million, after completing an internal probe that uncovered accounting irregularities. -more-

Almost everywhere you turn, flats of seedlings are crying out to be bought — from drugstores, from supermarkets, from department stores, and, of course, from nurseries. -more-

Outdoor grills aren’t just for flame-broiled burgers and steaks anymore. -more-

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Photography is history in the making. -more-

SAN FRANCISCO — Telephone clerks at the state’s largest HMO were given bonuses for keeping calls with patients brief and limiting the number of doctor appointments scheduled, a program some opponents argue was deceitful and harmful to patients with serious medical problems. -more-

SAN FRANCISCO — The family firm of millionaire Republican gubernatorial candidate Bill Simon was fined and censured by securities regulators in the 1990s, the San Francisco Chronicle reported Friday. -more-

HOUSTON — Former Arthur Andersen partner David Duncan wrapped up a week of testimony in the firm’s obstruction of justice trial Friday by saying he never explicitly told his colleagues to “destroy” Enron documents. -more-

WASHINGTON — Two years before the Sept. 11 attacks, an analysis prepared for U.S. intelligence warned that Osama bin Laden’s terrorists could hijack an airliner and fly it into government buildings like the Pentagon. -more-

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — A co-leader of an Internet software piracy group that authorities say was responsible for billions of dollars in lost sales was sentenced to nearly four years in prison Friday. -more-

HAVANA — Jimmy Carter ended a historic visit to Cuba Friday sharply at odds with the Bush administration over how to deal with Fidel Castro. The former president said limits on tourism and trade often hurt Americans more than Cubans. -more-

HYDERABAD, India — India baked in a heat wave Friday so intense that mud huts became as hot as ovens and birds in trees dropped dead, villagers said. This month’s heat has killed 638 people nationwide. -more-

Last week, Verlon Bourd was shot and killed at 1001 Chester St. in Oakland, making him the sixth young black man to be murdered in Oakland this month and rounding out a recent spat or similar murders in the last month. -more-