Mohammed Morsi told thousands of supporters at a rally in Cairo that his government was also withdrawing the Egyptian charge d'affaires from Damascus. He called on Lebanon's Hezbollah to leave Syria, where the Iranian-backed Shiite militant group has been fighting alongside troops loyal to embattled President Bashar Assad against the mostly Sunni rebels.

"Hezbollah must leave Syria. This is serious talk: There is no business or place for Hezbollah in Syria," said Morsi, Egypt's first freely elected president. Assad's regime, he said, will have no place in the future of Syria after committing what Morsi called "horrors" against its people.

Morsi's address, particularly his call on Hezbollah to leave Syria, and the fiery rhetoric used by well-known Muslim clerics this weekend point to the increasing perception of the Syrian conflict as sectarian. At least 93,000 people have been killed since turmoil there began more than two years ago.

The rally that Morsi addressed on Saturday was called for by hardline Islamists loyal to the Egyptian president to show solidarity with the people of Syria. Morsi addressed the rally after several hardline Islamist clerics spoke, all of whom called on him to do everything he could to help the Syrian rebels. Those attending the rally, about 20,000, chanted for solidarity with the Syrians, but occasionally deviated to shout slogans in support of Morsi.

The Egyptian president picked up a flag of the Syrian revolution and another of Egypt and waved them to the crowd as he entered the indoor stadium in a Cairo suburb.

Morsi also used the occasion to warn his opponents at home against the use of violence in mass protests planned for June 30, the anniversary of his assumption to power. Before he spoke, one hardline cleric, Mohammed Abdel-Maqsoud, recited an often repeated Muslim prayer against the "enemies" of God and Islam but used it to refer to the June 30 protesters.

The climate in the Cairo indoor stadium where the rally was held appeared to further entrench the division of Egypt into two camps: one led by Morsi, his Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamist groups, and the other grouping the secular and liberal opposition together with moderate Muslims, minority Christians and a large percentage of women.

In his address, Morsi repeated the allegation that Egyptians loyal to the now-ousted regime of autocrat Hosni Mubarak were behind the planned protests and that they were working against the January 2011 uprising that toppled Mubarak. As customary since taking office, he spoke of himself as a guardian and protector of the revolution, an assertion hotly disputed by his critics.

"Some who are delusionary want to pounce on the January revolution and think that they can undermine the stability that is growing daily or undermine the resolve that people have clearly forged with their will," said Morsi.

"We will deal with them decisively and there will never be a place for them among us," he told his supporters.

Morsi's government is widely thought to have failed to tackle any of the seemingly endless problems facing the country, from power cuts and surging crime to unemployment, steep price rises and fuel shortages. The declared aim of the June 30 protests is to force Morsi out and hold early presidential elections.

Morsi's allies say the protests have no legal basis and amount to a coup against his legitimate rule. They have been calling on opposition leaders to enter a national political dialogue to resolve the crisis, but the opposition has turned down the offer, claiming that previous rounds of dialogue did not yield results.

Spearheading the opposition to Morsi's rule now is a youth protest movement called Tamarod, or rebel, which claims to have collected millions of signatures of Egyptians who want Morsi to step down. Organizers say they aim to collect the signatures of more people than those who voted for Morsi in the June 2012 election.

Some of the hard-line clerics who support Morsi have branded Tamarod activists as infidels or heretics and sought to frame their movement as an act against Islam.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng, who left his home country last year and became a visiting scholar at New York University, will leave the school this summer but will likely remain in the United States, university officials said on Thursday.

Chen made international headlines last year when he escaped house arrest in China's Shandong province, after campaigning for farmers and disabled citizens and exposing forced abortions in China. Chen spent 20 hours on the run before finding refuge at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, prompting urgent negotiations between the two countries and, finally, China's agreement to let him travel to the United States.

Chen, who was born blind and taught himself law, may head to Fordham University Law School, also in New York City, according to a Fordham spokesman who said negotiations were still underway.

Chen could not immediately be reached for comment, but Danica Mills, an interpreter for Chen, said he may release a statement later.

Since moving with his wife and children to New York, working at NYU's U.S.-Asia Law Institute and working to learn English, Chen has continued to criticize China's human rights record, both through NYU forums and elsewhere.

On Thursday, the New York Post, citing an anonymous professor, reported that NYU had asked Chen to leave the school earlier than agreed at the behest of the Chinese authorities for fear that displeasing them would disrupt the construction of an NYU campus in Shanghai.

NYU confirmed that Chen would leave the school, but a spokesman called the Post's report "fanciful and false."

"If it were true, why would NYU have taken Mr. Chen in at the height of the public fervor, and why would the Chinese authorities have given us permissions to move forward with our Shanghai campus AFTER his arrival here?" spokesman John Beckman said in an email. "The plain fact is that these are unrelated matters. In countless hours of conversations involving the establishment of our Shanghai campus, this matter has never come up."

Jerome Cohen, an NYU law professor and friend of Chen who helped broker his departure from China, stated in May 2012, before Chen left Beijing, that he would be at NYU for a year at most.

Cohen had said, in an interview with PBS, "The idea would be, they could come for up to a year. And, at that point, he will be more comfortable with himself. He will be more adjusted to freedom. And he will have to decide, 'What next?'"

Cohen, who is travelling in China, said in a statement that: "No political refugee, even Albert Einstein, has received better treatment by an American academic institution than that received by Chen from NYU, and I am grateful to the university administration for its extraordinary generosity, which could not reasonably be expected to go on indefinitely."

In an interview with Reuters last month, Chen criticized China in the wake of reports that his relatives there had been harassed and mistreated by local authorities, and urged the United States to intervene, saying China had promised that his family would not be targeted.

(Editing by Barbara Goldberg and David Gregorio)

The Chihuahua and two terrier-poodle mixes were found at the Ohio house where Castro allegedly kept Amanda Berry, 27, Gina DeJesus, 23, and Michelle Knight, 32,in captivity for more than a decade.

Knight's attorney, Kathryn Joseph, said she appreciates officials' giving the women time and the opportunity to decide whether they want the dogs.

"I think it's really nice that they're hanging on to them because I know they were meaningful, at least to my client," Joseph said today. "I don't know if she's interested, so it's something I have to talk to her about."

Knight is "doing very well" and has not had or needed facial reconstruction surgery, contrary to some reports, Joseph said.

"They're all doing pretty well, amazingly well. You'd be shocked," she said. "They're happy. They're optimistic. They're excited about their futures."

Another member of the legal team whose firm is working primarily with Berry and DeJesus declined to comment.

John Baird, chief animal control officer for Cleveland, said the dogs are at a foster home, pending a decision by the women.

"We're going to try to give them as much time as they need," Baird said.

He said all three dogs have since been sterilized and micro-chipped. Two of them had matted hair and have been groomed. He said they "seem to be great" and did not appear to have been abused or mistreated.

"We think that maybe one of these women, or all of the women, may have bonded with one or more of these dogs and we'd like to make sure they get a chance to get one of them, or whatever dog they bonded with, to maybe make things a little bit easier on them," Baird said.

All three women have kept a low profile since Berry escaped and the other two women were

Their attorneysearlier this week on behalf of their clients, thanking the public for their encouragement, as well as for respecting their requests for privacy.

"The outpouring of public support has been nothing short of remarkable," the letter said.

"To have complete strangers offer loving support in the form of money, goods and services, reaching out to help like a family member, is appreciated in ways that are impossible to put into words. Amanda, Gina and Michelle, who have asked for nothing, are frankly overwhelmed by it all."

Castro, 52, has been charged with kidnapping and rape. He is being help on an $8 million bond and has yet to enter a plea.

I have just learned that my ex is having a baby boy with a woman he has stated he does not love and isn't even in a committed relationship with. I would like to protect Mandy from any pain this might cause her because she is a Daddy's girl.

How should I deal with this and maintain my composure regarding the sibling who will now forever be a part of my daughter's life (and mine)? -- STRESSED OUT IN SAN DIEGO

DEAR STRESSED OUT: It is not appropriate to show your disgust with this situation to your daughter. Because your ex has gone on record that he doesn't love the woman he impregnated, and he is not in a committed relationship with her, you may be worrying needlessly. He will have a financial obligation to his son, but whether he's willing to be a father in the best sense of the word we don't know.

If Mandy interacts with her half brother she will have to learn to share, which is an important life lesson every child must learn sooner or later.

DEAR ABBY: I am a 40-something divorced female. After my divorce I met a man I enjoyed being with. He led me to believe he cared for me and I bought into it. It was a vulnerable time for me and, unfortunately, I let my guard down. I did something stupid and co-signed for a student loan for him. He has stopped making payments, has blocked my calls, moved, etc., and now I'm stuck with the financial burden.

I have learned that he had a fiancee while we were involved and they are now married. Abby, he was bilking me the whole time.

I need to know what legal recourse I have. I know where he lives and possibly where he works, so if he needs to be served with papers, he can be found. I regret that I didn't keep my guard up, and I don't feel he should get away with this. What should I do now? -- LET MY GUARD DOWN IN OHIO

DEAR LET YOUR GUARD DOWN: It appears you have been the victim of a fraud. If I were you, the first thing I'd do is share his address with the loan company. Then I'd discuss this matter with the police to find out if he has a history of bilking women and if I could file charges. If that isn't possible, the next thing I'd do is talk with a lawyer about any legal remedies available to me. And that's what I'm advising you to do.

DEAR ABBY: I work in the media and meet a lot of people. I have arthritis in my hands. I have always believed in a firm handshake, but I'm finding that receiving one is crippling my hand. I don't want to appear unfriendly by not reciprocating a handshake, but I don't want my hand to ache for hours on end after meeting someone. Any suggestions? -- HURTING IN DOVER, DEL.

DEAR HURTING: It would not be unfriendly to simply say, "It's nice to meet you, but I can't shake hands because I have arthritis." Many people do, and it's the truth.

Dear Abby is written by Abigail Van Buren, also known as Jeanne Phillips, and was founded by her mother, Pauline Phillips. Write Dear Abby ator P.O. Box 69440, Los Angeles, CA 90069.

Abby shares more than 100 of her favorite recipes in two booklets: "Abby's Favorite Recipes" and "More Favorite Recipes by Dear Abby." Send your name and mailing address, plus check or money order for $14 (U.S. funds) to: Dear Abby, Cookbooklet Set, P.O. Box 447, Mount Morris, IL 61054-0447. (Shipping and handling are included in the price.)

Major League Baseball will open the 2014 regular season in Australia, with the Dodgers and Diamondbacks playing a two-game series at the Sydney Cricket Ground.

The matchups March 22-23 mark baseball's first games in Australia that count.

"It's going to be fantastic," Aussie-born Dodgers reliever Peter Moylan said Wednesday. "I've been trying to preach the game back in Australia for years."

MLB and the players' union announced the international opening day just one day after Los Angeles and Arizona mixed it up in a big brawl at Dodger Stadium. The Diamondbacks and Dodgers already had a testy relationship before this scrape that resulted in six ejections.

"I always wanted to go to Australia," Dodgers outfielder Matt Kemp said. "Now I got a real reason to go and I get to play baseball."

Baseball opened its season at Tokyo in 2000, 2004, 2008 and 2012. The 1999 opener was held at Monterrey, Mexico, and the 2001 season began in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

The rest of the big league season next year is slated to resume on March 30.

The Dodgers-Diamondbacks opener will come 100 years after the Chicago White Sox and New York Giants played exhibition games at the same cricket venue. On Jan. 2, 1914, the White Sox beat the Giants 5-4 before an estimated 10,000 fans.

There also was an exhibition baseball game at the same site in December 1888 featuring Spalding's World Tourists.

"It's cool. It's great the sport is going to get a big game like that down there," said Oakland Athletics closer Grant Balfour, who is from Australia. "We had the Sydney Olympics there and Intercontinental Cup games, but we haven't had that kind of level of baseball there in a long, long time. It'll be fun to see."

The Sydney Cricket Ground will be configured to MLB standards for the opening series.

"I'm sure people are going to fly from all over the country to see the game," Moylan said. "The presentation of the grounds is going to be fantastic."

Moylan makes the grueling trip home to Melbourne in the offseason, and he expects the travel will take a toll on the players.

"Coming back is going to be the worst," he said.

Union head Michael Weiner said "the players are excited about opening the 2014 season in Sydney, and they view this series as an important step in furthering their commitment to help increase the global popularity of baseball."

Commissioner Bud Selig said in a statement, "The globalization of our game continues to be paramount to Major League Baseball, and Australia is an essential part of our long-term efforts to grow the sport. We look forward to writing an exciting new chapter in international baseball history at the historic Sydney Cricket Ground next March."

Dodgers President Stan Kasten said the team was eager to begin the season "in one of the most exciting and rapidly developing baseball markets on earth." Diamondbacks President Derrick Hall said "being at the forefront of spreading international goodwill on this prominent stage is a feat that we enthusiastically embrace and accept."

The Dodgers and Diamondbacks will play spring training games in Arizona on March 16, then leave for Australia and arrive on March 18. The teams will open the regular season on Saturday night, the 22nd, and meet again the next afternoon. Arizona will be the home team for both games.

"It should be a little tiring, but a lot of fun, too," Kemp said.

There have been 28 major leaguers born in Australia. The Dodgers have had five natives on their roster.

___

AP Baseball Writer Janie McCauley in Oakland, Calif., and AP Sports Writers Ronald Blum in New York and Beth Harris in Los Angeles contributed to this report.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Paris Jackson, the 15-year-old daughter of late pop star Michael Jackson, was rushed to a Los Angeles-area hospital on Wednesday after an apparent suicide attempt, her mother said, but her family later reported she is "physically fine."

"Paris is physically fine and is getting appropriate medical attention," Perry Sanders, an attorney for Paris' grandmother and guardian, Katherine Jackson, said in a statement.

"Being a sensitive 15-year-old is difficult no matter who you are," the statement added. "It is especially difficult when you lose the person closest to you."

Pop singer Jackson died in 2009 at age 50 from a lethal dose of surgical anesthetic propofol while preparing for his "This Is It" series of concerts in London.

The Jackson family's wrongful-death lawsuit against concert promoter AEG Live is currently at trial in Los Angeles and family attorneys have been expected to call Paris as a witness.

Paris' mother, Debbie Rowe, told entertainment TV program "Entertainment Tonight" that her daughter attempted suicide and had "a lot going on (lately)."

"We appreciate everyone's thoughts for Paris at this time and their respect for the family's privacy," an attorney for Rowe said in a statement.

Celebrity website TMZ.com, which first reported the suicide attempt, said Paris had been taken from her family's home in Calabasas, California, by ambulance at about 2 a.m. time, citing unnamed sources.

Los Angeles County Sheriff deputies responded to a medical situation in Calabasas at 1:27 a.m., sheriff spokesman Steve Whitmore said, declining to provide additional details because of privacy laws.

Jackson was married to Rowe from 1996 to 1999, and the couple had two children together, Prince Michael in 1997 and Paris in 1998. Jackson later had a third child, Prince Michael II, also known as Blanket.

Rowe turned over full custody of the children to Jackson as part of their divorce but she had recently rekindled her relationship with Paris.

Jackson's children live under the custody of their 83-year-old grandmother, Katherine, and their cousin, T.J. Jackson.

(Editing by Piya Sinha-Roy and Sandra Maler)

TOKYO (Reuters) - Prime Minister Shinzo Abe could be about to take the biggest bet of his six-month old administration - sucking the savings of the country's notoriously risk-averse and fast ageing constituents out of the relative safe haven of government bonds.

He could announce the move as soon as Wednesday as part of a package of measures designed to kick economic growth into a higher gear. The prime minister has already pushed through $100 billion in government spending and shaken up monetary policy by prodding the Bank of Japan into a $1.4 trillion stimulus effort.

Having long prescribed "bold" economic measures to turn around 15 years of grinding deflation and sluggish economic growth, he now wants the nation's public pensions to take more risk with their $2 trillion pool of funds.

It is a policy that directly affects tens of millions of Japanese workers and pensioners in a country that is very conscious of how rapidly it is ageing. A government survey last year estimated those aged 65 or over would double by 2060.

"The government is trying to do this with pension money," said Nobusuke Tamaki, a professor at Otsuma Women's University and a former director general of the country's biggest public pensions fund, the Government Pension Investment Fund (GPIF).

"But how would the public at large feel if their pensions suffer huge losses? Politicians need to talk to the public about this and debate the issue in an intensive way."

Shifting hundreds of billions of dollars from bonds into riskier assets, such as equities or infrastructure financing, also risks disrupting markets, already jittery following two weeks of volatility and some analysts questioned if the public funds had the expertise to manage greater investment risk.

The justification is that nudging GPIF and dozens of other public and semi-public funds to diversify could increase returns while supporting Abe's push to drive Japan out of its deflationary spiral.

LAGGARD

GPIF's returns have lagged some other big national pensions funds and its asset allocation is more risk averse.

It hit its own internal return targets in recent years, a payout of 1.1 percentage point over wage increases in the economy. But it has been helped in that by falling salaries.

Wages have dropped by almost a percent per year over the past nine years. GPIF's total return on investment over the same period averaged 2.4 percent a year based on a target portfolio that allocates two-thirds of the fund to domestic bonds.

But it has underperformed funds like Canada's Pension Plan Investment Board, with $183 billion in assets, and Norway's $686 billion pool of government savings from petroleum revenue known as the Government Pension Fund Global. Both these funds allocate most of their money to equities.

Norway's GPFG, for example, has a 60 percent weighting in equity markets and 40 percent in bonds and real estate. It returned almost 6 percent a year over the past decade.

Critics have long said GPIF lacks the staff, budget or investment mandate to keep pace with other large public funds.

It has more than $1 trillion under management, but only about 70 staff working from a non-descript office in Tokyo's Kasumigaseki district.

An advisory panel to the pension fund had been working on proposed changes to its investment strategy since April, before the Abe-backed reform proposals surfaced.

With its bureaucratic-payscale, the fund also lacks the ability to lure star fund managers. The highest paid employee is the chairman, Takahiro Mitani, who made the equivalent of $192,000 for the fiscal year ended March 2012.

IT WON'T BE CHEAP

Professor Tamaki said it is uncertain if Abe can convince the Japanese public to support the kinds of reforms needed to make it more like counterparts in Canada or Norway.

"We would have to budget to hire professionals and that won't be cheap," he said. "Very importantly, the government should set up a means to govern and evaluate those new professional fund managers to convince the Japanese public. That won't be easy."

Even with its conservative portfolio, GPIF took a loss of almost 8 percent in 2008 during the global financial crisis.

A higher weighting on equities would mean accepting higher risk in a crisis, a potentially unpopular choice in Japan where many chose to keep savings in almost interest-free bank deposits.

There is also the risk to the Japanese government bond (JGB) market just as it is trying to adjust to huge bond buying by the more activist Bank of Japan, a reason behind recent volatility.

Shifting to the bond-weighting of Norway or Canada would mean GPIF pulling 27 trillion yen ($272 billion) from the JGB market. That would be over half of the amount of additional JGBs that the Bank of Japan has pledged to buy this year as part of a massive round of asset purchases under its stimulus program.

At the same time, GPIF would have to invest another 45 trillion yen ($454 billion) in equities to match the portfolio of its international peers in Canada and Norway.

The scale of the shift means any changes would have to be gradual, analysts said.

"Pension funds tend to play it safe," said Toshihiko Matsuno, senior strategist at SMBC Friend Securities. "It's too early to believe that pension funds are aggressively chasing the market higher."

CREDIBILITY TEST?

Abe's also faces losing some hard-won credibility with markets. Talk of the shift in pension fund investment strategy is emerging at a time when the Nikkei average, Japan's benchmark stock index, has been in retreat and near six-week lows.

It is still up more than 50 percent since Abe started pushing his brand of economic policies, but investors are uncertain about the shape of his growth strategy for the future.

Abe is expected to announce the setting up of special economic zones, targets for domestic private-sector investment and a doubling of farm exports. But analysts say he will avoid major reforms, such as big deregulation or labor reform ahead of an upper-house election in July.

With that vote looming, some questioned whether Abe's team was resorting to the kind of tactics that previous Liberal Democratic Party administrations had tried and famously failed to make work.

In the early 1990s, the pension savings that were later organized into GPIF were a regular target for finance ministry officials who tried to support stock prices with public funds.

The policies - known as "Price Keeping Operations" in a play on the United Nations' organized Peace Keeping Operations - failed and even backfired by encouraging banks to hold riskier assets, said Junji Narita, a professor at Aoyama Gakuin, who has studied the period.

Many say the key is what Abe does on other aspects of economic reform.

"Tweaking pension funds' investment policy is a step forward but it has to be accompanied by structural changes," said Xiao Minjie, an independent economist in Tokyo. "There have to be strategies to make domestic investors feel justified in investing in home markets."

He added: "Markets are desperately looking for that kind of detail."

(Reporting by Chikafumi Hodo, Chikako Mogi, Emi Emoto, Taro Fuse, Noriyuki Hirata, Dominic Lau, Takefumi Ito; writing by Kevin Krolicki; Editing by Neil Fullick)

The house has been shown three times, and one of the times another neighbor was in the backyard sitting on the deck. Another time, a neighbor walked into the house during a private showing. We have been as polite as possible in requesting them to please not do this. We finally told them plainly to stay off the property. But it continues.

We would hate to post "No Trespassing" signs for fear that a prospective buyer may think there are problems with the neighborhood, and I don't think a sign would deter these perpetrators. Any ideas on how to get them to stay in their own homes? My sisters and I are starting to think the neighbors don't want the house to sell so they can enjoy it themselves. -- FED UP IN TENNESSEE

DEAR FED UP: Because of the long relationship your parents may have had with these neighbors, ask them once more, firmly and politely, to stop using the property as an extension of theirs. If the request is ignored, it will be time to involve your lawyer, who will have to write these nervy people a strong letter on your behalf. Not only is what they are doing illegal, but if an accident should happen while they are on your property, your family would be liable.

DEAR ABBY: Living in New York City, public transport is the way to travel. After picking up my 5-year-old from school, we took the train home as usual. During the ride, my son fell asleep and his head happened to rest on the arm of another passenger -- a middle-aged man who was sitting next to us.

As my son's head rested on the man's arm, he reacted by pushing my son's head up violently, waking him from his sleep. Disgusted by the man's reaction, I lost my cool and yelled at him, almost forgetting my screaming 5-year-old. Other passengers expressed their feelings, too, and the man left the train earlier than he wanted.

After my boy calmed down, I had time to reflect and concluded I didn't handle the situation correctly. The other passengers suggested I hadn't been assertive enough. What should I have done? -- COMMUTER MOMMY IN BROOKLYN

DEAR COMMUTER MOMMY: Your seat partner clearly overreacted to having his space invaded. But by screaming at him, you escalated the situation. So your little boy wasn't caught in the crossfire, it would have been better to have moved your seats. If that wasn't possible, you should have switched seats with your son so he wouldn't be near that volatile individual.

DEAR ABBY: If a doctor is present at a party and another guest takes ill, would it be appropriate to ask the doctor to treat the person? -- CURIOUS IN DAYTON

DEAR CURIOUS: If the problem is not life-threatening, it would be advisable that the guest contact his or her own doctor, who is already familiar with the person's medical history. However, in an acute emergency such as a stroke or a heart attack, help should be summoned by calling 911 immediately.

Dear Abby is written by Abigail Van Buren, also known as Jeanne Phillips, and was founded by her mother, Pauline Phillips. Write Dear Abby ator P.O. Box 69440, Los Angeles, CA 90069.

For everything you need to know about wedding planning, order "How to Have a Lovely Wedding." Send your name and mailing address, plus check or money order for $7 (U.S. funds) to: Dear Abby, Wedding Booklet, P.O. Box 447, Mount Morris, IL 61054-0447. (Shipping and handling are included in the price.)

BOSTON (Reuters) - Paul Theroux said his literary goodbye to Africa at a train station in Luanda, Angola, five decades after he first visited the continent as a Peace Corps volunteer.

In his new book, "The Last Train to Zona Verde: My Ultimate African Safari," Theroux describes a journey through South Africa, Botswana, Namibia and Angola that dead-ended at the depot when he felt no need to go further. The book, he says, represents a final chapter on his travels in Africa.

Theroux's first book on Africa was a novel. He became one of his era's most influential travel writers and chronicled his global journeys in books including "The Great Railway Bazaar," "The Old Patagonian Express," and "Dark Star Safari." His novels include "Saint Jack" and "Mosquito Coast."

Theroux, who lives in Hawaii and Cape Cod, Massachusetts, spoke to Reuters about the role of the travel writer, Africa's uncertain prospects, and how it would be to die doing what he loved.

Q: I wondered as I read your book whether you were done traveling.

A: It's quite a lot of trouble to take buses and trains and trucks and taxis and so forth overland in Africa. When I got to the point in Angola where I thought there really isn't a lot of value in suffering if you're not learning something, I thought well, this is the end of the line.

I'll always be traveling in Africa, but I think I've written all that I can possibly write of a useful kind.

Q: What is it about rail travel that makes you say you've seldom heard a train go by and not wished to be on it?

A: The pleasure of it is indescribable. You can sleep, you can write, you can walk around. It's very comforting, very reassuring, and for a writer, really wonderful.

Q: You wrote about squalid cities, but you also said you are not a pessimist about Africa.

A: I don't know what's going to happen to Africa. The infrastructure is very poor. It's a house of cards. The governments are fragile. In general, they're corrupt.

The cities are big and horrible, but the hinterland, the bush, is emptier than it's ever been. It's still full of possibility.

Q: How has travel evolved over your career?

A: When I first started traveling it was full of problems to solve. (Now) it's really not a lot of trouble to get on a plane.

The other is the Americanization of the world. Everyone dresses the same. People wear a T-shirt and shorts. The whole world wears baseball hats. Fifty years ago when I was traveling you didn't see baseball hats in India. You didn't seem them in Africa.

Q: Are travel writers still relevant?

A: The role of a travel writer is to discover the world, to verify what's out there. It's more necessary than ever, because the Internet makes people think they can just sit at home and know everything. But they don't realize what the world is really like: how poor it is, how wonderful it is in other places, and how much there is to discover.

Q: Do you have a preparation routine?

A: You need to be strong, optimistic and able to meet the demands of being alone.

I read practical things. I buy a lot of detailed maps. I talk to people. I try to be as widely read as possible on the place, not necessarily before I go, but afterwards. I want to make discoveries by myself.

I don't make lists of people to look up. I would rather stay in the simplest hotel. I don't like the social obligation that staying with people imposes on me.

Q: What do you read on the road?

A: Books completely unrelated to the place that I'm in.

Lately, I've been reading a lot of D.H. Lawrence. I make a little study of a writer - reading the books, stories, and then reading a biography, so that I know the author.

Q: Travel can seem courageous, but it's also an everyday occurrence for locals on the same roads.

A: They know where they are going. I'm going to a place that I'll have to figure out.

At my age, I take fewer and fewer risks. But it takes a certain confidence. The buses are old, the food is bad, the weather is horrible. Maybe you'll get to the other end and not find anything new.

Q: Three people you profiled in the book died soon after. What impact did that have?

A: (It was) a great shock. It made me examine my motives and think "Well, what if I died, am I doing what I love? Is what I am doing worth risking my life?"

Died doing what I loved would be having a Mai Tai on the beach in Hawaii and being overwhelmed by a wave. I'd be doing what I love then, with my wife just having a drink. It wouldn't be on a bus in Angola.

(Reporting by Randall Mikkelsen; editing by Patricia Reaney and Jackie Frank)