Articles by journalist Pearl to be published

NEW YORK -- A compilation of articles by Daniel Pearl, the Wall Street Journal reporter abducted and killed in Pakistan, will come out in book form this summer.

Pearl's widow, Mariane, will write the foreword; his colleagues will contribute personal anecdotes.

"Whether uncovering wrongdoing, profiling memorable characters or highlighting the hilarious and the absurd, his articles represent the best of The Journal -- and of journalism," Stephen J. Adler, the newspaper's deputy managing editor, said in a statement this week.

Wall Street Journal Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, will publish the Pearl book, which is not yet titled. Profits will be donated to the Daniel Pearl Memorial Trust, for Mariane Pearl and their child, due to be born in May.

R.E.M. guitarist explains rampage on plane

LONDON -- R.E.M. guitarist Peter Buck denied prosecutors' suggestions that he lied about taking a sleeping pill on a trans-Atlantic flight to avoid accusations of drunkenness after his alleged rampage on the plane.

In his second day on the stand in Isleworth Crown Court, Buck said Thursday that he couldn't explain why he didn't mention downing the tablet with a glass of wine when police interviewed him in a cell at London's Heathrow airport.

The 45-year-old, who lives in Seattle, denies charges of being drunk on an aircraft, assault and damaging British Airways crockery.

Prosecutors say Buck drank about 15 glasses of wine in the first three hours of the 10-hour flight from Seattle to London last April. They say he became increasingly unruly, staggering up the aisle and assaulted crew members.

Questioned by prosecutor David Bate, the musician testified that he hadn't thought of mentioning the sleeping pill to police.

"It didn't really occur to me. I felt scared, kind of terrified, kind of foggy," Buck said. "I was not lying. I was just trying to deal with a very difficult situation. I didn't know exactly what was going through my mind at the time."

18-year-old without hand wins violin competition

WASHINGTON -- He was born without a right hand, and yet he had no trouble playing a 300-year-old Stradivarius violin at the Kennedy Center.

Eighteen-year-old Adrian Anantawan was among the winners of the Rosemary Kennedy International Young Soloists Award given by VSA Arts, which Jean Kennedy Smith founded.

Using what he calls a "spatula" attached the end of a prosthetic arm, the first-year Curtis Institute student performed the slow movement to Henryk Weiniawski's Concerto No. 2 and Pablo Sarasate's dazzling "Zigeunerweisen."

At the end of the spatula is a device attaching to the bow.

"I can probably, with work and practice, play any piece that a two-handed violinist can play -- and probably even better sometimes," the Canadian-born Anantawan told The Washington Post.

He used the 300-year-old Taft Stradivarius, which was loaned to him for Wednesday night's performance.

--From wire reports