A wide U.S. life-span gap

Despite years of attempts to close a gap in average life spans, the healthiest Americans live more than 30 years longer than the least healthy.

According to a report in a scientific journal, Asian American women living in Bergen County, N.J., have the longest life spans, about 91 years.

At the other extreme are Native Americans in South Dakota, who live on average 58 years. That’s about the same life term as in some regions of sub-Saharan Africa or Southeast Asia.

Crucial factors in the shorter life span are tobacco and alcohol use, obesity, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and low physical activity.

The same data also show that the life-span gap is not closing and may actually be increasing despite policy initiatives designed to counter the trend. Page A14

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Next in line behind Castro?

Recuperating Cuban President Fidel Castro is a no-show at the official opening of the summit of developing nations.

But attendees may have been given a glimpse of the next generation of Cuban leaders.

These include Felipe Perez Rogue, the 41-year-old foreign minister, who hosted an inaugural reception and spoke at the start of the 14th summit of the Non-Aligned Movement.

They also included Carlos Lage Davila, the 54-year-old vice president and possible Castro heir apparent, who greeted leaders of the 116-nation group.

Also present was Ricardo Alarcon, the 69-year-old parliamentary speaker.

Although official reports speak of an ongoing recovery from surgery to stem intestinal bleeding, Castro has yet to make any public appearances and looks frail in recent photographs. Page A11

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Here’s a switch: Oil prices fall

Oil prices sag for a sixth straight trading session.

This pushes crude oil below $66 a barrel ($65.45) for the first time since March.

Analysts credit rising crude oil supplies and a damping of some geopolitical issues.

Gold also fell nearly $20 an ounce to $590 for a two-month low. Such broad commodity price declines (copper, coffee and cotton are also down) probably reflect investor fears of a slowing global economy in coming months, led by weaker U.S. consumption, especially in new housing demand. Page C1

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Schwarzenegger on immigration

Due to Congressional inaction and unwillingness to deal with the complex immigration issue, Americans have been left with a poisoned political debate that continues to spread mounting anger across the country, according to California’s highest elected immigrant.

Writing today in a Times op-ed article, Gov. Schwarzenegger has messages for all sides. To immigrant rights activists, he says change your message.

To those inflamed by large numbers of illegal immigrants, he says tone down your rhetoric.

We must first secure the borders, he argues, and it is unrealistic to round up 12 million illegal immigrants and send them home. But while the nation waits for Congress, it can still have civil debate. Page B13

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Five years later

Like millions of Americans, Californians mark 9/11 with private thoughts and public ceremonies. Gov. Schwarzenegger and his wife, Maria Shriver, join L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa at a fire training center to share memories in front of a piece of the World Trade Center. Pages A18-19

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CALENDAR

Rich, but too thin

It’s handsome, polite and deeply nostalgic, but the new Segerstrom Concert Hall in Costa Mesa should have been more challenging, architecture critic Christopher Hawthorne writes. Although the hall shows some good qualities, Hawthorne says it “sags under the weight of its eagerness to impress.” Page E1

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BUSINESS

Phones demand to be seen and heard

About 44% of the cellphones in the U.S. can play videos or songs. But most cellphone users don’t particularly care about those features, studies show.

And no one likes apathetic consumers, least of all the entertainment industry, which is charging forward with efforts to make people care.

Cases in point: Monday, EMI Music and T-Mobile announced a deal to offer mobile video in the United Kingdom. Today, Universal Music Group and MTV Networks are expected to unveil a plan giving the broadcaster easier access to Universal’s content when it creates mobile content.

“The industry has to push our products in front of people, instead of waiting for them to ask for it,” a Universal executive says. Page C1

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Doll maker adds new playmates

Bratz is teaming up with Little Tikes, which sounds like trouble for anyone who likes peace and quiet.

MGA Entertainment, the manufacturer of the brassy, belly-baring Bratz dolls, is buying Little Tikes, maker of plastic toys for the preschool set. The combination will allow MGA to diversify its product line and also its target-age audience.

One beneficiary of the deal: Los Angeles. Some operations of Ohio-based Little Tikes will be shifted to Van Nuys. Page C2

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SPORTS

Another shutout for USC football?

Some of the younger members of the Trojan family might be denied a seat at the regular Saturday feasts. USC has reduced the allocation of student seating at football games from about 12,000 to 8,000, which it says will allow it to sell tickets that previously went unused.

The athletic department says it determined that an average of about 6,500 students attended home games last season. But some USC students worry that they’ll be squeezed out of the college football experience. “I think it’s a money grab,” one complains. Page D1

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Tennis players show restraint

Instant replay was used for the first time in a Grand Slam tennis event at the U.S. Open. So, did the players go wild with challenges to line calls?

Not quite. Although players won 32% of their challenges, they didn’t use their allotment of protests. “It seems that there’s something weighing on the players psychologically, especially in a big stadium. It’s self-regulating,” an observer says. Page D1

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ON LATIMES.COM

Sin City’s 9/11

Las Vegas is famously impervious to international events; inside a casino, you can’t tell if it’s Christmas or Election Day. But even the Strip was forced to take notice of the events of Sept. 11, 2001. Movable Buffet blogger Richard Abowitz recalls how Las Vegas reacted and what it was like visiting the New York-New York Hotel that day. He also looks at how the tourism-dependent city has adjusted its security measures in the years since.

latimes.com/vegasblog