To help your readers support their loved ones through these health issues and many more, the FDA's Office of Women's Health and the GSA's Federal Citizen Information Center have created the free Friends and Family Health Kit. It contains more than 20 publications that are quick to read, easy to understand, and feature health care and prevention tips for women and their families.

Abby, thank you for letting your readers know about the Friends and Family Health Kit, and for sharing advice we can all use to better care for ourselves and for one another. -- MARSHA HENDERSON, FDA ASSISTANT COMMISSIONER FOR WOMEN'S HEALTH

DEAR MARSHA: Your letter is timely because we are in the middle of Women's Health Week, which runs from May 12-18. I'm always glad to receive your health kits because they are constantly being updated to reflect the latest information.

This year's health kits cover subjects that include recognizing health scams, preventing food poisoning, managing your medications from pregnancy to menopause, participating in clinical trials (which can be a lifesaver), controlling asthma, selecting a mammography facility, and staying safe with cosmetics and tattooing.

There is no charge for the Friends and Family Health Kits and they're easy to order. Just send your name and address to Friends and Family Health Kit, Pueblo, CO 81009; go online to www.promotions.usa.gov/dearabby.html; or call: 888-8-PUEBLO (that's 888-878-3256) weekdays, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Eastern time. The publications can also be read online in PDF format, or be downloaded to your computer and printed out. Print supplies are limited, so don't wait to order them.

DEAR ABBY: I live in Alaska and have good friends I visit every summer on the East Coast. I have some acquaintances and former co-workers who live there, too. Many of them want me to visit when I come down. I have grown apart from these former friends and keep in touch only through occasional emails and Facebook.

Flying from Alaska to the East Coast is expensive and time-consuming. I really just want to rest and hang out with the friends I'll be staying with. Even when I avoid posting pictures of my vacation on Facebook until after the trip, I get comments or emails about me not stopping by or letting them know I was in town.

What's the polite way to tell these former co-workers and acquaintances that I don't want to spend my vacation time with them? Or should I just get over it and devote some time to them as well? -- TRYING TO BE POLITE IN ANCHORAGE

DEAR TRYING TO BE POLITE: If you have any desire to continue the relationships with your former co-workers and acquaintances, why not arrange to meet a group of them at an agreed-upon place one afternoon for a "reunion"? If you don't, then either ignore their comments or respond to the emails by saying you needed to rest, which is the reason you didn't socialize more during your vacation.

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.

Good advice for everyone -- teens to seniors -- is in "The Anger in All of Us and How to Deal With It." To order, send your name and mailing address, plus check or money order for $7 (U.S. funds) to: Dear Abby, Anger Booklet, P.O. Box 447, Mount Morris, IL 61054-0447. (Shipping and handling are included in the price.)

"The complexity of the law didn't require the IRS to target people for their political beliefs," said Rep. David Camp, the Michigan Republican who chairs the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee. But, he added, "I think giving the IRS less discretion is going to be important, and that's what a simplified code would do."

Most taxpayers now pay someone to do their taxes or buy commercial software to help them file. In a report earlier this year, national taxpayer advocate Nina E. Olson ranked complexity as the most serious problem facing both taxpayers and the IRS. People simply trying to comply with the rules often make inadvertent errors and overpay or underpay, she said. Others, she added, "often find loopholes that enable them to reduce or eliminate their tax liabilities."

Camp and his Democratic counterpart in the Senate, Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus of Montana, have been working for months on what would be the first major tax overhaul since 1986. At nearly 4 million words, Camp likes to say the current code is "10 times the size of the Bible with none of the good news."

Lawmakers in both parties say the current storm buffeting the IRS underscores how overly complex tax provisions have given the agency too much discretion in interpreting and enforcing the law.

"This is the perfect example of why we need tax reform," said Rep. Tim Griffin, R-Ark., a member of the Ways and Means Committee. "If you want to diminish and limit the power of the IRS, you have got to reduce the complexity of the tax code and take them out of it."

There are formidable obstacles to completing a major tax overhaul this year or next. Both parties say they want to cut overall tax rates by getting rid of tax breaks but they disagree on whether more revenues should be part of the equation. And for all the work Camp and Baucus have done, they have yet to answer hard questions about which tax breaks to scrap.

Americans like their credits, deductions and exemptions the provisions that make the tax law so complicated in the first place. In exchange for lower tax rates, would workers be willing to pay taxes on employer-provided health benefits or on contributions to their retirement plans? How would homeowners feel about losing the mortgage interest deduction?

Those are among the three biggest tax breaks in the tax code, according to congressional estimates, together saving taxpayers nearly $300 billion this year.

The IRS scandal erupted a little over two weeks ago when the agency revealed that agents assigned to a special team in Cincinnati had targeted tea party and other conservative groups for additional, often burdensome scrutiny when they applied for tax-exempt status. The targeting lasted more than 18 months during the 2010 and 2012 election campaigns, hindering the groups' ability to raise money, according to a report by the agency's inspector general.

Since then, two top IRS have officials lost their jobs, and a third has been placed on paid administrative leave. Investigations by Congress and the Justice Department are under way.

The IRS was screening the groups' applications because agents were trying to determine their level of political activity. IRS regulations say tax-exempt social welfare organizations may engage in some political activity but the activity may not be their primary mission. It is a vague standard that agents struggled to apply, according to the inspector general's report. Lawmakers in both parties have complained for years that overtly political groups on the left and right have taken advantage of the rules to claim tax-exempt status and hide the identities of their donors.

"There are countless political organizations at both ends of the spectrum masquerading as social welfare groups in order to skirt the tax code," Baucus said. "Once the smoke of the current controversy clears, we need to examine the root of this issue and reform the nation's vague tax laws pertaining to these groups."

Some Republicans hope to use an upcoming debate over increasing the federal government's borrowing authority to trigger action on tax change. The government is expected to reach the borrowing limit by early fall, raising the possibility of another debt standoff like the one in 2011 that brought it to the brink of default.

Details are fluid, but congressional aides have been working on mechanisms to streamline the process of passing a tax package, in exchange for raising the debt ceiling, perhaps guaranteeing floor votes on bills approved by the tax-writing committees in the House and Senate.

President Barack Obama, however, has said he won't negotiate over raising the debt ceiling.

Obama has called for an overhaul of corporate taxes, and he laid some groundwork to accomplish that in his latest budget proposal. He also has said he wants to do comprehensive tax reform as part of a broad budget deal that cuts spending and reformulates entitlement programs. Such a grand bargain has proven elusive.

Camp and Baucus say they are open to a process that links tax reform to the debt ceiling. But Baucus warns: "I don't want to be part of something that's political or partisan. But I do want to be part of something that's practical and pragmatic that looks like it's going to advance the ball."

Baucus, who has been in the Senate since 1978, announced in April he won't run for re-election in 2014. He said he will focus much of his remaining time in the Senate on trying to steer a tax package through Congress.

Camp says he is committed to passing a tax bill out of his committee by the end of the year. There is no guarantee the full House would take up the bill, but Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, has signaled his support for the effort by reserving the prestigious bill number HR 1 for a tax overhaul measure.

Lawmakers in both parties are convinced that simpler, easier-to-understand tax laws would spur economic activity. But there are significant partisan differences.

The Republican recipe calls for reducing or eliminating tax breaks that benefit targeted taxpayers, and using all the additional revenue to reduce overall rates for everyone. The tax system would raise about the same amount of money, but businesses could focus on being more efficient instead of trying to take advantage of targeted tax breaks, supporters say.

Obama and Democratic leaders in Congress also want to reduce or eliminate various tax breaks. Overall income tax rates would be lower, but the wealthy would pay more each year because they would lose certain exemptions, deductions and credits.

___

Follow Stephen Ohlemacher on Twitter: http://twitter.com/stephenatap

It would seem to be something you'd see only in a cartoon or at a Phish concert, but according to park rangers in New South Wales, Australia, dozens of giant, fluorescent pink slugs have been popping up on a mountaintop there.

"As bright pink as you can imagine, that's how pink they are," Michael Murphy, a ranger with the National Parks and Wildlife Service, . "On a good morning, you can walk around and see hundreds of them."

The eight-inch creatures have been spotted only on Mount Kaputar, a 5,000-foot peak in the Nandewar Range in northern New South Wales.

Scientists believe the eye-catching organisms are survivors from an era when Australia was home to rainforests. A series of volcanoes, millions of years of erosion and other geological changes "have carved a dramatic landscape at Mount Kaputar," the , and unique arid conditions spared the slugs from extinction.

They "probably would have long since vanished, if a volcano had not erupted at Mount Kaputar about 17 million years ago," Ben Cubby . "The result of that eruption is a high-altitude haven for invertebrates and plant species that have been isolated for millions of years, after Australia dried out and the rainforests receded."

And they're not the only unusual inhabitants on the mountain.

"We've actually got three species of cannibal snail on Mount Kaputar, and they're voracious little fellas," Murphy said. "They hunt around on the forest floor to pick up the slime trail of another snail, then hunt it down and gobble it up."

If you're not into pink slugs - check out other pink creatures:

Stapleton died on Friday of natural causes at her home in New York City, film and television director John Putch said in a written statement released to Reuters.

The actress won three Emmys for her role as the long-suffering wife of loud-mouthed bigot Archie Bunker, played by the late Carroll O'Connor, in the hit TV sitcom.

Stapleton appeared in "All In The Family" from 1971 to 1979, and continued her role for a time in the 1979 spinoff show "Archie Bunker's Place."

The New York-born Stapleton had a lifelong love of the theater, and her stage roles after "All In the Family" included a part in a 1987 Broadway revival of the play "Arsenic and Old Lace."

In 1990, she received the Village Voice newspaper's Obie Award for her performances in Harold Pinter's plays "Mountain Language" and "The Birthday Party."

After spending a number of years living and working in Los Angeles, Stapleton returned to New York in 2002 to live permanently.

She is survived by her son, John Putch, and her daughter, television producer Pamela Putch. Her husband, William Putch, died in 1983.

(Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis and Barbara Goldberg; Editing by Dan Whitcomb and Peter Cooney)

Q. Is global warming to blame?

A. You can't blame a single weather event on global warming. In any case, scientists just don't know whether there will be more or fewer twisters as global warming increases. Tornadoes arise from very local conditions, and so they're not as influenced by climate change as much as larger weather systems like hurricanes and nor'easters. They're not easy to incorporate in the large computer simulations scientists use to gauge the impact of global warming.

And when scientists ponder the key weather ingredients that lead to twisters, there's still no clear answer about whether to expect more or fewer twisters. Some scientists theorize that the jet stream is changing because sea ice in the Arctic is shrinking. And the jet stream pattern drives weather in the Northern Hemisphere.

Q. How does this tornado season stack up against previous ones?

A. The season got off to a quiet start this year. Typically, there are more during spring, and the numbers dwindle in the worst heat of the summer. An unusually cool spring kept the funnel clouds at bay until mid-May this year. The last two seasons illustrate the extremes in tornado activity. In 2011, the United States saw its second-deadliest tornado season. Last year, it was busy in April but there were few twisters after that.

Q. What happened in Oklahoma?

A. The tornado destroyed two elementary schools and flattened neighborhoods with winds estimated between 200 and 210 mph. The National Weather Service on Tuesday gave the twister a top-of-the-scale ranking of EF5. The tornado at some points was 1.3 miles wide, and its path went on for 17 miles and 40 minutes.

Q. How did it form?

A. Like the most destructive and deadly tornadoes, this one came from a rotating thunderstorm. The thunderstorm developed in an area where warm moist air rose into cooler air. Winds in the area caused the storm to rotate, and that rotation promoted the development of a tornado.

HARRISBURG, Penn. (Reuters) - The family of late Penn State football coach Joe Paterno would be among a group of plaintiffs filing a lawsuit against the U.S. college sports association on Thursday over its reaction to the Jerry Sandusky scandal, the Paterno's lawyer said.

Speaking on "Costas Tonight" on NBC Sports Network, Wick Sollers said the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) used "coercion and behind-the-scenes threats" to force Penn to pay severe penalties for its handling of the sex abuse scandal.

The NCAA threatened the school with the so-called "Death Penalty", the complete elimination of the football program for one season, to force school officials into accepting the penalties, Sollers said on the sports channel on Wednesday.

The penalties imposed in July 2012 included a $60 million fine and a four-year loss of post-season eligibility, based on an independent investigation by former FBI Director Louis Freeh into how Penn handled reports of abuse by Sandusky, an assistant football coach.

Freeh found Paterno, who died in January 2012, along with other university officials, covered up Sandusky's sexual abuse for years and showed a callous disregard for the victims to protect a multimillion-dollar football program.

Sue Paterno, the coach's widow, has said her husband had never hindered investigators looking into Sandusky's behavior.

Sandusky is in prison serving a sentence of 30 years to 60 years for the sexual abuse of 10 boys in a 15-year period. Some of the abuse occurred in the Penn State locker room.

Until Sandusky's arrest in 2011, Paterno was one of the most revered figures in American sports due in large part to his ranking as the winningest coach in major college football.

The suit is expected to be filed in Centre County, Pennsylvania. Former Penn State football stars Michael Robinson, Patrick Mauti and Justin Kurpeikis are expected to be among the plaintiffs, Paterno family representatives said in a statement late on Wednesday.

Donald Remy, the NCAA's chief legal officer, declined to comment on the pending lawsuit.

Penn State officials said the school is not directly involved in any lawsuit against the NCAA that the Paterno family may join.

(Editing by Louise Ireland and Alex Dobuzinskis)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The amount of climate-warming carbon dioxide in the atmosphere topped 400 parts per million at a key observing station in Hawaii for the first time since measurement began in 1958, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said on Friday.

To many scientists, crossing the 400 ppm threshold, which means that there are 400 molecules of carbon dioxide for every million molecules in the air, is a bit like the Dow Jones Industrial Average rising above 15,000 points.

"It's important mainly as a milestone that marks a steady progress of increasing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere," said James Butler of NOAA's Earth System Research Laboratory.

The threshold has become an important marker in U.N. climate change negotiations, tagged as a dangerous level by most climate scientists.

For many years scientists have said that concentrations need to be kept below, or pushed back to, 350 ppm for countries to meet an international target of keeping the average temperature increase below 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit (2 degrees Celsius) this century.

Dozens of observing stations around the world monitor atmospheric carbon dioxide. But Mauna Loa, a volcanic mountain on the Big Island of Hawaii, is regarded as the benchmark site, NOAA said.

Two instruments at Mauna Loa showed carbon dioxide at 400.03 ppm on Thursday. Certain arctic observing stations exceeded 400 ppm more than a year ago, and the global average of atmospheric carbon dioxide could break the 400 ppm barrier in the next year or so, Butler said by telephone from Boulder, Colorado.

Whether or not that occurs, Earth's atmosphere hasn't had this much carbon dioxide in it for at least 800,000 years, and possibly for as long as 5 million years.

Carbon dioxide, a heat-trapping greenhouse gas, remains in the atmosphere for hundreds of years. It is emitted by fossil-fueled vehicles and coal-fired factories and power plants as well as by natural activities such as breathing.

Carbon dioxide concentrations at Mauna Loa are documented in a graph known as the Keeling Curve, named for Charles Keeling, who began measurements there in 1958, when the level was 317 ppm. Information on the Keeling Curve is available at http://keelingcurve.ucsd.edu.

During the last 800,000 years, the level of atmospheric carbon dioxide fluctuated between 180 ppm and 280 ppm. With the widespread burning of coal and oil during the Industrial Revolution, the concentration of carbon dioxide rose to about 290 ppm by the end of the 19th century, Butler said.

In the 20th century, the rate of increase accelerated, with levels between 370 and 380 ppm by the year 2000. An animated graph that shows the history of atmospheric carbon dioxide is online at http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/gmd/ccgg/trends/history.html .

(Reporting by Deborah Zabarenko; Editing by Ros Krasny and Xavier Briand)

Marc Garneau officially launched his bid Wednesday (Nov. 28) lead Canada's national opposition party. His goal, he said, is to put the country's Liberal Party back in power after the next election.

"The Liberal party is here to stay, but that doesn't mean we can stay the same. We must, as a party, embrace change," Garneau told supporters in Montreal, Quebec, during a televised speech.

The Liberals have been without a permanent leader since the end of the last Canadian election in 2011, when the Conservative Party easily won a majority and the Liberals lost many districts to other parties.

Garneau faces a slugfest for the leadership against several other candidates. His prime competition, political analysts have said, is another household name in Canada: Justin Trudeau. []

Trudeau is the son of former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau who was known as much for his charisma as his policies and has been in the public eye since childhood.

Astronaut turned politician

Garneau, who began his career in Canada's Navy, flew three times in space. His first mission in 1984 was as a payload specialist on STS-41G. Garneau was called to Houston for mission specialist training in 1992, then flew on STS-77 in 1996 and STS-97 in 2000.

While not naming his aims for Canadian space policy in the coming years, the former Canadian Space Agency president did include some space puns in the first day of his campaign, dubbed "Let's Take Canada To New Heights."

"Believe me, this isn't ," Garneau joked. "I know something about rocket science, and this isn't rocket science." Switching to speaking French, he added, "It is, nevertheless, a great challenge."

In the United States, several astronauts have run for Congress, with mixed success.

Most famously, John Glenn the represented Ohio in the U.S. Senate between 1974 and 1999. Glenn returned to space during STS-95 in 1998, becoming the oldest astronaut to fly at age 77.

In November, former NASA shuttle astronaut Jose Hernandez, a Democrat,to represent California when voters in the state's 10th District chose a farmer instead.

In the 1980s, Apollo astronauts Jack Schmitt and Jack Swigert were both elected as Republican representatives. Swigert died in 1982 before he could assume office, while Schmitt represented New Mexico for a single term.

Follow Elizabeth Howell , or SPACE.com . We're also onand .

Pfc. Bradley Manning appeared on the witness stand again Friday, the fourth day of a pretrial hearing at Fort Meade, Md. Manning was being cross-examined by Maj. Ashden Fein.

He testified Thursday in support of a defense motion claiming his confinement for nine months at a Marine Corps brig in Quantico, Va., was so harsh that his case should be dismissed.

Manning, speaking publicly Thursday for the first time since his May 2010 arrest, said he got so used to leg irons and being locked up 23 hours a day that when he was finally transferred to medium-security confinement at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., in April 2011, he felt uneasy moving freely around the cell block.

"There was the sense of, 'OK, I know they're going to put the hammer down on me soon,'" Manning said near the end of his five hours on the witness stand.

Besides being classified "maximum custody," Manning was subjected to additional restraints during his nine months at Quantico because he was either on suicide watch or considered at risk of hurting himself or others. Commanders maintained the extra restrictions despite repeated recommendations by brig psychiatrists that they be eased. They included scratchy, suicide-prevention bedding and sometimes having all his clothing, eyeglasses and reading material removed from his cell.

The military contends the treatment was proper.

Manning testified that he angered brig commander Chief Warrant Officer 2 Denise Barnes when he vented his frustration.

"There was a word, I think it was 'absurd,'" he said. "That was my opinion of how I see the restrictions at that point."

Manning said he got frustrated spending up to 23 hours a day in a windowless, 6-by-8-foot cell.

"It was pretty draining," Manning said under questioning by defense attorney David Coombs.

At one point during his testimony, Manning donned a dark-green, suicide-prevention smock resembling an oversized tank top made of stiff, thick fabric. He said it was similar to one he was issued in March 2011, several days after Quantico jailers started requiring him to surrender all his clothing and eyeglasses each night as a suicide-prevention measure. This occurred after he told them out of frustration, he said that if he really wanted to hurt himself, he could have done so with his underwear waistband or flip-flops.

Before receiving the smock, he was forced to stand naked at attention one morning for a prisoner count, he said.

"I had no socks, no underwear, I had no articles of clothing, I had no glasses," he said.

The 5-foot-3 soldier looked youthful in his dark-blue dress uniform, close-cropped hair and rimless eyeglasses. He was animated, often speaking in emphatic bursts, swiveling in the witness chair and gesturing with his hands.

Manning was polite throughout his testimony, referring to his attorney as "sir" and making frequent eye contact with Coombs and the judge. Only after watching two videos of himself speaking to his guards while wearing only his boxers the first video shows him surrendering his clothes did his voice waver.

"It brings that back, the fact that I was there," Manning said of the video.

Earlier Thursday, the military judge, Army Col. Denise Lind, accepted the terms under which Manning may plead guilty to eight of the 22 charges he faces. Coombs revealed the plea offer in early November, saying it would enable Manning to take responsibility for sending U.S. secrets to WikiLeaks.

Lind hasn't formally accepted the pleas but has indicated she will consider them at a hearing starting Dec. 10.

Under the offer, Manning would plead guilty to certain charges as violations of military regulations rather than as violations of federal espionage and computer security laws. The offenses would then carry maximum prison terms totaling 16 years rather than 72.

The pleas would include admissions that Manning sent WikiLeaks classified memos, Iraq and Afghanistan war logs, Guantanamo Bay prison records and a 2007 video clip of a U.S. helicopter crew gunning down 11 men later found to have included a Reuters news photographer and his driver. The video, titled "Collateral Murder" on WikiLeaks, garnered worldwide attention. The Pentagon concluded the troops acted appropriately during the attack, having mistaken the camera equipment for weapons.

The government could still prosecute Manning for all 22 counts he faces, including aiding the enemy. That offense carries a maximum penalty of life in prison.

Manning is accused of engineering the biggest leak of classified material in U.S. history. Besides the video, he is charged with sending hundreds of thousands of classified Iraq and Afghanistan war logs and more than 250,000 diplomatic cables to WikiLeaks while working as an intelligence analyst in Baghdad in 2009 and 2010.

Greene was met at the airport by an enterprising New Zealand-born journalist, Bernard Diederich, whom he had befriended in Haiti on previous trips a few years earlier.

"As I watched Graham's tall, lean figure make its way through customs, his blue eyes cutting across the airport with a hint of suspicion, I wonder if, indeed, he had the power to change Haiti," Diederich wrote in a new book, "Seeds of Fiction, Graham Greene's Adventures in Haiti and Central America 1954-83."

"Could he bring down Duvalier? And, more to the point, would he write a book about Haiti?" Diederich said.

Greene was in the prime of his writing career and had already published another Caribbean novel, "Our Man in Havana," set in Cuba.

Greene called Papa Doc a "madman" telling Diederich that he had "never felt such pervasive fear in a country as in Haiti."

When he picked Greene up at the airport he was visibly shaking, Diederich recalled in an interview. "He had a terrible dread he wasn't going to make it out."

Greene had hidden his notes, written in tiny, almost illegible script, in a hardback Victorian novel. "I don't know why he bothered to hide them because no-one could read his notes," laughed Diederich.

For years later Greene still had nightmares about Papa Doc and his dreaded henchmen, the Tonton Macoutes, he added.

During the next week Diederich took Greene on a trip along the border with Haiti introducing him to more characters for his book, including at an insane asylum where hopelessly ill-equipped rebels were training to overthrow Duvalier.

The resulting book, "The Comedians," is considered one of Greene's masterpieces, and infuriated Papa Doc, who banned it. "It was his most political novel. He wrote it for a purpose. We were really at war with Papa Doc," said Diederich.

When a movie came out the next year, starring Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton and Alec Guinness, Duvalier banned that too. "Graham wrote the script. He told me it was another arrow at Papa Doc," said Diederich.

Greene's rage at Duvalier stemmed from his first visit to Haiti in 1954 during the Caribbean nation's brief heyday as a hip destination for the jet-set before the election in 1957 of Duvalier, a supposedly unassuming country doctor, who soon turned into a bloody dictator.

Greene arrived from Jamaica where he had been staying at Goldeneye, the coastal estate owned by Ian Fleming, author of the James Bond novels. In Haiti, Greene stayed with theater and film director Peter Brook who was working on a Broadway musical "House of Flowers," based on a short story by Truman Capote.

COPIOUS NOTES

Diederich, who had been living in Haiti since 1949 and owned the English-language newspaper Haiti Sun, offered to help Greene on a return trip.

"Graham fell in love with Haiti the same way it collared me," said Diederich. "He had just finished writing 'The Quiet American' and he told me Haiti reminded him of Indo-China."

Greene returned in 1956 with Catherine Walston, the love of his life, and the trio spent a lot of time together, comparing copious notes they both took as they traveled interviewing possible characters for a book. Some of that material would later show up in the pages of "The Comedians."

"The rest of our lives we were competing with notes. I was in awe of Graham and wanted to help him as well as I could and certainly learn from him," said Diederich, the author of 15 books himself.

It was the beginning of a correspondence that lasted decades. In preparing his book Diederich drew on 132 letters from Greene, as well as dozens from Greene's mistress, Yvonne Cloetta.

Throughout his career Greene was always at pains to protect his privacy and hide his methodology. He gave few interviews and the two small autobiographies he wrote were deliberately uninformative and revealed very little about him.

They got along in large part because Diederich respected Greene's privacy. "He didn't want to be recognized and liked to travel about incognito. I never stepped over the edge with him. I never pried," he said.

"He was (Greene's) guide and enabler," said writer T.D. Allman, who introduced Diederich at a Miami Book Fair International reading earlier this week. "Greene had a genius in finding people who could tell him what was going on."

Diederich and Greene remained close, getting together again in Panama in 1976 when it was under the rule of another dictator, General Omar Torrijos. Working as Time magazine's bureau chief in Mexico City, Diederich had come to know the general well, and suggested that he and Greene would hit it off. "I told him you both have the same liberal compass," said Diederich.

They did, prompting Greene to write one of his occasional non-fiction works, titled "Getting to Know the General."

Greene and the general had something else in common; both liked to drink, which Torrijos often did to excess. Greene was not one to wait for the sun to go down over the yardarm before having a tipple, said Diederich, though he never saw him inebriated.

Greene showed up for the first encounter to find Torrijos still in his pajamas so hung-over he could barely speak. He sobered up on a helicopter ride from Panama City to the island of Contadora where Greene interviewed him over rum punches on the beach under a palm tree.

"In no time at all they seemed to click. It was very animated, they talked and talked," said Diederich.

Torrijos was briefly distracted by a Colombian beauty playing in the sand, said Diederich, and disappeared with her for 30 minutes before returning to continue the conversation with beads of sweat on his brow.

"It was like a scene out of a Graham Greene novel: a Central American strongman and an Oxford-educated Briton sat beneath a coconut tree on a tropical beach philosophizing," wrote Diederich.

(Editing by Christopher Wilson)