(Continued from page 30)

• SOCHI, Russia (AP) -- U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned attacks and discrimination against homosexuals on Thursday, touching on the gay rights issue in Russia that has overshadowed preparations for the Sochi Olympics.
• In a speech to the IOC a day before the opening of the games, Ban also reiterated his call for warring parties around the world to lay down their arms during the Olympics.
• Ban said many professional athletes, gay and straight, are speaking out against prejudice and discrimination.
• "We must all raise our voices against attacks on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or intersex people," he said. "We must oppose the arrests, imprisonments and discriminatory restrictions they face."
• Ban's remarks came at a time when activists and protesters have stepped up their campaign against Russia's law restricting gay rights activities.
• ___

• NEW YORK (AP) -- While three of four people arrested amid the investigation of the Philip Seymour Hoffman's death were arraigned on drug charges, the New York theater community mourned the actor with a dimming of Broadway's marquee lights and a candlelight vigil.
• The vigil Wednesday night was held outside the 90-seat home of the LAByrinth Theatre Company, where Hoffman had long been a member. And at 7:45 p.m., Broadway's lights turned off for a minute.
• "We come together tonight in a spirit of terrible mourning and incredible loss," the Rev. Jim Martin, a Jesuit priest and LAByrinth member, told the crowd of about 200 people who stood in a chilly drizzle. "But we also come together to celebrate a remarkable life."
• "Courage was his forte, always," said playwright and actor Eric Bogosian, a longtime LAByrinth collaborator. "Phil set his bar on the highest rung, on a rung above the highest rung. He pushed himself relentlessly until finally his efforts virtually rede

(Continued on page 32)