2002 NEWS HISTORY ARCHIVE

-  -  - CLONING NEWS
"Cloning ban to face debate:  Congress could take up dilemma over experiments." ... "Real or hoax, the claim that the world's first human clone has been born puts the next step squarely into Congress's court: Will it ban baby-making via cloning?" ... "The nation has no specific law against human cloning. But the Food and Drug Administration, which regulates human experiments, contends that its regulations forbid human cloning without prior agency permission - permission it has no intention of giving." -By Lauran Neergaard -AP via  -Boston/Globe

- OPINION
"Jack Whittaker Caps The Year Of The Scam." ... "... Whitaker, the West Virginia man who won "$314.9 million" in the Powerball lottery on Christmas day, is now most known for his participation in a long-running, ever growing scam: the state lotteries." ... "First, the jackpot is not $314.9 million--that's what it would be if paid out over 30 years. Whittaker opted for a single lump sum payment of $170.5 million. That number gets reported, too, but it seems to get buried." ... "State lotteries are a sucker bet. They typically return about 55% of the money wagered. That's much less than a casino or a racetrack. The various lotteries admit it, but it's reported much less often than stories about winners, a staple on the local news. No one ever publicizes the millions of losers, but they're out there. You have to be in it to lose it." -By Dan Ackman -Forbes

-  - 
"North Korea orders expulsion of U.N. nuclear inspectors, says will open laboratory." ... "North Korea ordered the expulsion Friday of U.N. nuclear inspectors and announced it will reactivate a laboratory able to produce weapons-grade plutonium. The U.N. nuclear agency said its investigators were "staying put" for now." ... "The inspectors were the last means that the International Atomic Energy Agency had to monitor whether the facilities are being used for nuclear weapons projects. Despite IAEA warnings, the North removed monitoring seals and surveillance cameras from the nuclear complex at Yongbyon earlier this week." -By Paul Shin -AP via  -SFGate.com

"Democratic contenders challenge Bush's record on terrorism." ... "Democratic contenders for president are beginning to challenge President Bush's record on terrorism, arguing that Bush has failed to do enough to prevent another fatal attack on U.S. soil and that the nation is barely safer than it was before Sept. 11, 2001." ... "While so far the criticisms lack many specifics beyond asking for more money for police agencies or the creation of a new intelligence force, campaign aides said these early challenges on terrorism signaled what they expected to be a central theme in 2004. They argued that Bush was potentially vulnerable on the issue that Republicans view as a pillar of the president's political strength." ... ""It's time for us, without regard to party, to say what every American knows: Washington is not doing enough to make America safe," Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina said in a speech on domestic security in Washington last week. "If the administration continues to do too little, it will be too late again."" -By Adam Nagourney -NYTimes via -SeattlePI.NWsource

- Christmas News
"55-Year-Old Man Wins $314.9M Powerball: 55-Year-Old Contractor Is Sole Winner of $314.9 Million Powerball Jackpot." ... "A 55-year-old contractor won the $314.9 million Powerball jackpot, the largest single lottery jackpot in history, lottery officials said Thursday." ... "Andrew Jackson Whittaker Jr., opted to take the lump sum of more than $111 million after taxes, Lottery spokeswoman Nancy Bulla said." ... "The ticket for the Christmas night drawing was purchased Monday at the C&L Super Serve in Hurricane [West Virginia], 25 miles west of Charleston, officials of the multistate lottery said." -AP via -ABCNEWS.com

-  - 
"U.N.: N. Korea Engaging in 'Brinkmanship':  U.N. Agency Says North Korea Is Engaging in 'Nuclear Brinkmanship'" ... "North Korean workers have moved 1,000 fresh fuel rods to a storage site near the Soviet-designed, 5-megawatt reactor at Yongbyon that was frozen in a deal with Washington that ended the 1994 crisis, the U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency said. A total of 8,000 such rods is needed to start the reactor." ... ""Moving towards restarting its nuclear facilities without appropriate safeguards, and towards producing plutonium raises serious nonproliferation concerns and is tantamount to nuclear brinkmanship," Dr. Mohamed ElBaradei, director of the Vienna-based agency, said in a statement." -AP via -ABCNEWS.com

-  - Christmas News
"Anticipation builds for Christmas Powerball drawing:  An estimated $280 million is on the line." ... "One of the hottest stocking stuffers this Christmas may provide an extremely enriching holiday season for at least one lucky recipient." ... "With an estimated value of $280 million, the Powerball lottery jackpot -- the fifth largest lottery payoff in the world -- was attracting plenty of attention as a last-minute gift ahead of the Christmas night drawing." -AP via  -CNN

- Christmas News
"Christmas under tight security." ... "Christians in many parts of the world are celebrating Christmas this year under tight security, following the recent devastating attacks by Islamist militants in Indonesia and Kenya." ... "There has been particularly strong tension in Pakistan, after the authorities discovered grenades and ammunition close to a big church in the capital, Islamabad." -BBC/News

-  - Christmas News
"'Saddest Christmas Ever' in Bethlehem." ... "Palestinians marked what some called the saddest Christmas ever in the biblical city of Bethlehem, walking to Mass through cold rainy streets bereft of holiday cheer after weeks of Israeli military occupation." ... "Hundreds of Palestinians and a few hardy tourists and pilgrims attended Christmas Day services in the ancient Church of the Nativity, the reputed site of Jesus's birth, but found little joy from an Israeli army pullback for the occasion." -By Mark Heinrich -Reuters

- Christmas News

-  - 
"US tries diplomacy, firm line on N. Korea." ... "The Bush administration pressed North Korea diplomatically yesterday to refrain from restarting a dormant nuclear reactor, even as Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld warned that the US military could simultaneously take on both Iraq and the communist Pyongyang regime." ... "''We are capable of fighting two major regional conflicts,'' Rumsfeld said at the Pentagon. ''We're capable of winning decisively in one and swiftly defeating in the case of the other, and let there be no doubt about it.''" ... "Rumsfeld stressed that no military action to halt Pyongyang's renewed nuclear ambitions was imminent, and White House officials said the United States intends to pursue a diplomatic course to persuade North Korea to abandon efforts to expand its nuclear arsenal." -By John J. Lumpkin -AP via  -Boston/Globe

- Christmas News
"Eleven deaths blamed on winter storm." ... "A storm system blamed for at least 11 deaths moved across the Plains on a path toward the Northeast Tuesday, leaving up to a foot of snow across parts of Oklahoma and making travel hazardous in the Missouri Ozarks on the day before Christmas." ... "Winter storm warnings and advisories were in effect Tuesday from the mountains of New Mexico to Pennsylvania and northern West Virginia., and snow was likely on Christmas Day in northern New Jersey, southeastern New York and southern New England, the National Weather Service said." -AP via  -CNN

- 
"North Korea warns of 'catastrophe': North Korea has warned the United States that broadening the dispute over its nuclear program would result in what it calls an "uncontrollable catastrophe."" ... "Ratcheting up tensions on the Korean Peninsula Tuesday, the North's state-run Rodong Sinmun newspaper said the nuclear issue could only be resolved by North Korea and the United States, "the countries responsible for it."" ... ""If the U.S. persistently tries to internationalize the pending issue between the DPRK (North Korea) and the U.S. in a bid to flee from its responsibility, it will push the situation to an uncontrollable catastrophe," it said." -CNN /World /Asia

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"Yahoo buys search firm Inktomi for $235M." ... "Yahoo Inc. has purchased Inktomi Corp. for about $235 million, the companies announced today. Yahoo will add Inktomi's Web search technology to its portal sites in hopes of becoming the premier destination for Web searches, it said." ... "Foster City, Calif.-based Inktomi has deals with Amazon.com Inc., eBay Inc. and Microsoft Corp.'s MSN.com portal, according to its Web site. Computerworld.com also uses Inktomi search software." -By Tom Krazit -IDG.net via -Computerworld

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"Yahoo Buys Search-Software Maker Inktomi." ... "Internet media company Yahoo Inc. YHOO.O on Monday said it would pay $235 million to buy Internet search-software maker Inktomi Corp. INKT.O , strengthening its position in the growing Web search business." ... "The cash deal of $1.65 per share valued Inktomi, a high-flyer during the Internet boom, at a 41 percent premium to Friday's close but at less than a third of its value at its 1998 initial public offering." -By Ben Berkowitz -Reuters/Business

- 
Discussion - "Yahoo Buying Inktomi."  -Slashdot

- Christmas News
"Asia adopts Christmas." ... "Somewhere on the journey to becoming the world's biggest exporter of Christmas toys, China started importing yule for itself." ... "Christmas wreaths and lighted trees, white-foam snowmen and special dinners, as well as an ethos of "jingle-bell cool" are wafting in on the wings of global culture, bringing a holiday atmosphere to Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou." ... "Throughout Asia, in fact, Western holidays have become chic, both for their commercial potential and because new generations think the act of decorating and celebrating is fun and different. Not only Christmas, but Valentine's Day, Father's Day and Mother's Day, Thanksgiving and Halloween, are finding a Pacific niche - where five years ago there was none." -By Robert Marquand  -CSMonitor/buy

-  -  - OPINION
"[New York states Attorney General Eliot] Spitzer: Man Of The Year - Savior of Capitalism?" ... "Using a New York state law, he obtained some explosive internal emails from Merrill Lynch and secured a $100m fine. This pushed a complacent Securities and Exchange Commission into action, and finally yesterday Spitzer got the reward for his pursuit." ... "As part of the agreement forged with the Stock Exchange [full details], the ten leading brokerages must pay $900 million in retrospective relief, $450m to fund "independent" research and $85 million to "investor education". The brokerages, including Solomon Smith and Barney, CSFB, Lehman, Morgan Stanley and UBS Warburg, will not be allowed to reward CEOs with IPO offerings, and must operate at arms length from no less than independent analysts on each offering. (Since the brokers are still paying these independent analysts' fees, it's hard to see how this cure will be truly effective.)" ... "But for the Bronx-born Spitzer, his legend is assured as a pugilist populist attorney straight from central casting. He's taken on the mob, the music pigopolists (for CD price fixing), low-paying employers, and is currently suing President Bush for gutting the clean air act." -By Andrew Orlowski -TheRegister.co.uk

-  -  - 
"French journalist killed by US tank." ... "One of the best-known television journalists in France, Patrick Bourrat, has died in hospital in Kuwait." ... "He was injured on Saturday after being run over by a tank while covering US military exercises in the desert." ... "Mr Bourrat, who was in his 40s, was a correspondent for the TF-1 television station." ... "American military officials say the precise circumstances of the accident are being investigated."-BBC/News

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"Iraq welcomes 'American intelligence' to weapons hunt:  Denies 'material omissions' in declaration." ... "Iraq's top government scientist Sunday said his country would welcome "someone from American intelligence" to show U.N. weapons inspectors where President Bush believes Iraq is hiding its weapons programs." ... "Gen. Amir Al-Saadi said U.S. and British claims that Iraq is hiding nuclear, chemical or biological weapons programs are "old rehashed reports," some from as far back as 1990, that Iraq has already disproved." ... ""We even wouldn't mind if someone from the American intelligence were to accompany the inspection teams to show them the places in which they allege there is something," he said." -CNN /World

-  - 
"U.S. Said to Ready Kurd Areas in Iraq for Possible War." ... "American intelligence officials have been working alongside Kurdish officials in recent weeks, and recruiters for an American-sponsored opposition group have been selecting candidates for a program to train scouts and translators that one day may help American forces inside Iraq, according to Kurdish and Western officials." ... "American military planners have visited secluded corners of the country to examine potential basing sites for use in a war, according to a Western expert familiar with the activity." ... "No American military forces are based here yet, Kurdish officials say, and recent Turkish and Arabic news reports of sizable military deployments appear unfounded." (1, 2) -By C. J. Chivers -NYTimes via  -AltaVista-News

- Bill Frist

- Bill Frist
"'Fristy' is wealthy, personable and a friend of the president." ... "As he prepares to become the next Senate majority leader, Sen. Bill Frist is on the cusp of another milestone in his second career that some believe may include a run for the White House in 2008." ... ""Fristy" to his friend President Bush, the heart-and-lung transplant surgeon from Tennessee already had been mentioned as a possible secretary of the new Department of Homeland Security, a future party leader in the Senate, even Bush's running mate in 2004. Not bad for a man who didn't bother to vote until age 34."-LAtimes via -StarTribune.com

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"Critics Decry Detention of M. Eastern Men:  Critics Say Detention of Middle Eastern Men in California Harms Terrorism Fight." ... "A post-Sept. 11 federal registration policy that led to the detention of hundreds of Middle Eastern immigrants hurts more than it helps the war on terrorism, critics charged." ... "The detention of some immigrants who showed up to register under a new security policy drew comparisons to the internment of Japanese-Americans in World War II." ... "Critics alleged the detentions probably failed to net a single terrorist but did rile law-abiding Muslims who already feared being scapegoated." -AP via  -ABCNEWS.com

-  - 
"US agrees to share Iraq intelligence." ... "The United States says it will share intelligence data about Iraq with United Nations weapons inspectors following a request from chief inspector Hans Blix." ... "The agreement comes while the US is preparing for a rapid increase in its military strength in the Middle East, almost doubling the number of troops near Iraq." ... "Mr Blix told the BBC on Friday that, if US officials knew where they thought Iraq was storing banned materials, he could send his inspection teams to check." -BBC/News

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"California May Bar Judges from Joining the Boy Scouts." ... "he California Supreme Court is considering a proposal that would forbid the 1,600 judges in the state to belong to the Boy Scouts because of its refusal to accept gays." ... "California judges are prohibited from joining groups that discriminate based on sexual orientation, but nonprofit youth organizations are exempt. The Supreme Court took up the proposal to consider changing the rule at the request of bar associations in San Francisco and Los Angeles." -By Adam Liptak -NYTimes via  -AltaVista-News

- 

Trent Lott Controversy

- Trent Lott
"Politicos stunned by Bush's 'skilled' removal of Trent Lott:  President 'extracted' the senator without leaving fingerprints." ... "As President Bush was cheerily shaking the hands of thousands of guests at glittering White House Christmas parties this week, his advisers and influential Republicans were working overtime to jettison Trent Lott as the Senate Republican leader." ... "By the end of the week, as the White House watched its favorite, Sen. Bill Frist of Tennessee, step up to replace Lott, R-Miss., Washington's political professionals were left stunned and awed. They said that Bush and his powerful political adviser, Karl Rove, had stumbled at times, but still had managed to depose in eight days the unanimously elected Senate leader of their own party." -By Elisabeth Bumiller  -NYTimes via -SeattlePI.NWsource

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"Can Tribune's FitzSimons Do It Again?" ... "Watch for dramatic industry changes next year if the Tribune (nyse: TRB - news -people) broadcasting czar, Dennis J. FitzSimons, has his way. FitzSimons was named chief executive officer last week, replacing John W. Madigan as CEO of the No. 2 U.S. newspaper company (estimated 2002 revenue: $5.3 billion) behind Gannett (nyse: GCI - news -people). FitzSimons' fame? The 20-year Tribune veteran, who formerly ran Tribune's WGN-TV, put print-dominated Tribune on the television map, buying 18 of Tribune's 24 stations since 1992. TV is now Tribune's fastest growing unit, accounting for 26% of sales and 35% of operating profit." ... "Under FitzSimons, TV will get even bigger as soon as he can rally the Federal Communications Commission to repeal decades-old rules banning ownership of TV stations in markets where it already owns newspapers or other TV stations." -By Erin Killian -Forbes

-  -  - TIA: Total Information Awareness
"Bush Administration to Propose System for Monitoring Internet." ... "The Bush administration is planning to propose requiring Internet service providers to help build a centralized system to enable broad monitoring of the Internet and, potentially, surveillance of its users." ... "The proposal is part of a final version of a report, "The National Strategy to Secure Cyberspace," set for release early next year, according to several people who have been briefed on the report. It is a component of the effort to increase national security after the Sept. 11 attacks." ... "The President's Critical Infrastructure Protection Board is preparing the report, and it is intended to create public and private cooperation to regulate and defend the national computer networks, not only from everyday hazards like viruses but also from terrorist attack. Ultimately the report is intended to provide an Internet strategy for the new Department of Homeland Security." -By John Markoff and John Schwartz -NYTimes via  -Google-News

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"South Korea picks liberal Roh for president." ... "Ruling party candidate Roh Moo-hyun won South Korea's presidential election on Thursday, a result that could complicate ties with the United States as the allies grapple with North Korea's nuclear programme." ... "The triumph of Roh, 56, a populist human rights and labour lawyer, marks a stunning turnaround after the 11th-hour desertion of his election alliance partner, Chung Mong-joon." ... "The United States has 37,000 troops helping protect the South from its reclusive neighbour. North and South Korea are technically still at war as the 1950-53 conflict ended in a truce, not a peace treaty." -By Paul Eckert -Reuters via /Asia

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"U.S. Sets Late January Decision on Iraq War." ... "The Bush administration has set the last week in January as the make-or-break point in the long standoff with Iraq, and is increasingly confident that by then it will have marshaled the evidence to convince the U.N. Security Council that Iraq is in violation of a U.N. resolution passed last month and to call for the use of force, officials said yesterday." ... "In a boost to the administration's position, Hans Blix, the United Nations' chief weapons inspector, plans to tell the Security Council today that Iraq failed to account fully for chemical and biological bombs and warheads it had assembled as well as materials it bought that could be used to produce more of them, U.N. and administration officials said." -By Walter Pincus and Karen DeYoung-WashingtonPost

- Trent Lott

-  - 
"Halliburton settles asbestos claims:  Company paying about $4 billion to thousands of victims." ... "The company said at least 75 percent of plaintiffs with pending cases agreed to the settlement." ... "Representatives for the Houston-based oilfield-services company once led by Vice President Dick Cheney were in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Pittsburgh on Wednesday to settle most of the pending asbestos cases against the company and one of its former subsidiaries." -AP via  -MSNBC

-  -  - Christmas News - 
"When a 'Christmas Truce' put war on back burner." ... "Christmas came to the battlefield in "the Great War to end all wars," and that story became the stuff of legend." ... "The History Channel tells what happened when British and German soldiers laid down their arms to meet in a No Man's Land strewn with the bodies of their fallen comrades. Never before --and never again, probably -- was there ever such a celebration as The Christmas Truce." -By Ann Hodges -HoustonChronicle.com

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"Terror Suspects Found With Chemicals in Paris." ... "In the latest sweep against suspected Islamic militant groups here, French officials said today that they had arrested four people early Monday and had seized chemicals and a military personal-protection suit, suggesting that the suspects may have been preparing a chemical attack." -By John Tagliabue -NYTimes via  -Google-News

"Lott Vows Fight to Retain His Post as Senate Leader." ... "Mr. Lott, at a 100th-birthday party for Senator Strom Thurmond, referred with praise to Mr. Thurmond's presidential bid in 1948. The campaign was based on maintaining racial segregation. Mr. Lott had made similar comments two decades ago, and tonight MSNBC reported a third instance — at a bill signing ceremony in October 2000 — in which Mr. Lott said Mr. Thurmond "should have been president."" ... "As White House officials sought to gauge support for Mr. Lott or for possible rivals, Mr. Lott also spent his day making phone calls, trying to assess whether he could survive a Senate vote on his leadership called for Jan. 6." -By Elisabeth Bumiller and Carl Hulse -NYTimes via  -Google-News

-  - 
"U.S. officials: Saddam ready to target his own country, blame U.S." ... "Iraq is preparing to destroy its own oil fields, food supplies and power plants and blame the destruction on U.S. bombs during a war, U.S. intelligence officials said Wednesday." ... "The officials, briefing reporters at the Pentagon, said they have evidence Iraqi President Saddam Hussein has plans to wreck his own infrastructure to foster a humanitarian crisis and turn international opinion against any U.S. and British advance into his territory." ... "Citing the need to protect intelligence sources, the officials declined to describe that evidence. They spoke on condition of anonymity." -By John J. Lumpkin -AP via  -SFGate.com

- OPINION -  -  -  - TIA: Total Information Awareness
"Snooping in All the Wrong Places:  Not only would the Administration's plan to centralize every American's records destroy privacy, the security payoff would be minimal." ... "The 2002 elections proved one thing: The promise of security wins votes. The GOP campaigned on a pledge to make the country safer, and it brought home one of the biggest midterm victories in decades. That huge win may have emboldened the Bush Administration to ignore widespread criticism of the Defense Dept.'s $240 million effort to develop a Total Information Awareness system (TIA)." ... "The outrage over TIA doesn't seem to have reached the President's ear, but it should. It's not too late for him to realize the folly of such a plan. Funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the project would combine every American's bank records, tax filings, driver's license information, credit-card purchases, medical data, and phone and e-mail records into one giant centralized database. This would then be combed through for evidence of suspicious activity." -By Jane Black  -BusinessWeek/Daily

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"Feds Indict 7 in Texas Terror Probe:  Feds Indicte [sic] Employees of Texas Computer Firm and Hamas Leader on Terrorism-Related Charges." ... "The leader of an Islamic militant group, his wife, and five brothers work at a Texas computer firm were indicted on charges of trafficking with terrorist states Libya and Syria, Attorney General John Ashcroft announced Wednesday." ... """The war against terror is a war of accountants and auditors as well as weaponry and soldiers," Ashcroft said. "We will pursue the financiers of terror as well as pursue the thugs who do their work."" -AP via  -ABCNEWS.com

- 
"Four men arrested in Texas by anti-terrorism task force." ... "Four men connected to a computer company that did business in the Middle East were arrested by federal anti-terrorism agents early Wednesday on money-laundering charges." ... "The four men worked at Infocom, a suburban Richardson computer company that federal agents raided in September 2001." -By Angela K. Brown -StarTribune.com

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"Russia 'regrets' Bush missile plan:  Moscow has expressed "regret" at U.S. President George W. Bush's decision to deploy a limited missile shield by 2004, saying the move could lead to a new arms race." ... "The Russian statement came a day after Bush ordered the U.S. Defense Department to begin work within two years on deploying the first interceptors that are to form the base of the missile defence system." ... "The Bush administration intends to ask the U.S. Congress to allocate $1.5 billion for 2004-2005, on top of the $8 billion already budgeted."  -CNN /World /Europe

- Christmas
"Chain Stores Take on Christmas Trees." ... "Operating a roadside Christmas tree stand has never been a huge moneymaker, and now that the big boys have moved into the market it's even tougher." ... "The National Christmas Tree Association says 17 percent of the roughly 30 million Christmas trees sold last year were at large chain stores, such as Wal-Mart, Home Depot, Lowe's and Target. That's up from 14 percent in 2000 - the first year the association began tracking sales at chain stores - and came even as the overall market shrank a bit." -By Clarke Canfield -AP via  -SeattlePI.NWsource

- Christmas - 
"The gift of virus:  In the spirit of the holiday season, a tale of one man who clicked too soon but discovered that missent e-mail can still lead to a wonderful life." ... "This holiday season, when thoughts turn to family and friends, we are all perhaps a little more trusting, and maybe a little more gullible. This is not necessarily a bad thing. That's my one excuse for falling prey to a software virus that disguises itself as an e-card." -By Nick Altebrando -Salon

"Majority Say Lott Should Not Lead:  GOP Strategists Worry Over Backlash Among Voters." ... "Slightly more than half of all Americans believe incoming Senate majority leader Trent Lott should step down from his leadership post for making racially insensitive remarks two weeks ago at a birthday party for retiring Sen. Strom Thurmond, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll." ... "Fifty-one percent of those interviewed--including two out of three minorities--said Lott should not lead Senate Republicans when the new Congress convenes next month. Forty-one percent said he should continue to lead Senate Republicans." -By Richard Morin -WashingtonPost

- - 
"C.I.A. Chief Prospers From Bond With Bush." ... "When George W. Bush was president-elect, he got some fateful advice about his daily C.I.A. briefing from a man who would know." ... "Mr. Bush's father, the only president to have served as C.I.A. director, was in the unique position of having both given and received the secret morning updates, and often told friends that his time in the 1970's at the C.I.A. headquarters in Langley, Va., was one of the best jobs he ever had." ... "He unequivocally instructed his son, said Andrew H. Card Jr., the White House chief of staff, to develop a close relationship with the person who ran the spy organization and oversaw the other intelligence agencies that make up America's covert empire." (1, 2) -By Elisabeth Bumiller -NYTimes via  -AltaVista-News

-   - Christmas News
"Joyless Christmas in Holy Land." ... "Known as the birthplace of Jesus Christ, Bethlehem is epicenter for Christians in the holiday season. But the mood could not be further from the traditional spirit of Christmas. After more than two years of surging Israeli-Palestinian violence, fear and despair hang heavy over the West Bank town." ... "Christmas festivities, which before the 26-month-old Palestinian intifada used to bring in thousands of pilgrims and tourists a day, as well as tens of millions of dollars in revenue, have been canceled." ... "Only the midnight Mass at the Church of the Nativity, which was built in the 4th century A.D. to mark the spot where tradition holds that Jesus was born, will go ahead as planned. But few people are expected to attend, given curfew restrictions." -By Jim Maceda -MS NBC

-  -  - TIA: Total Information Awareness
"The web bites back." ... "Protesters are turning the tables on government officials and businessmen who they say are making the web less pleasant to use." ... "The web activists have found the personal details of the man behind a federal surveillance system [John Poindexter] and an e-mail spammer [Alan Ralsky] and are giving them a dose of their own medicine." -BBC/News

-  - Smallpox News
"Smallpox Vaccine Transmission Raises Liability Issue." ... "President Bush's decision on Friday to offer smallpox vaccinations to up to 10 million health care workers, firefighters, police officers and other emergency workers suddenly makes relevant the question of who pays the medical costs of illness from accidental infection." ... "Tommy G. Thompson, the secretary of health and human services, and other federal experts on smallpox were asked on Saturday who would pay. They said they expected standard health insurance to pay for such medical care." ... "But they left unanswered the question of who would pay if the accidentally infected individual was among the estimated 41 million Americans who had no health insurance." -By Lawrence K. Altman -NYTimes via -AltaVista-News

- ELECTION 2004
"Democrats expect wide-open fight:  More candidates likely to join 2004 fray." ... "Had Gore run, said veteran California Democratic consultant Bill Carrick, “everything would have pivoted off him as the front-runner, and people would have chosen sides for or against him. Now, all the candidates will be trying to find out exactly who their constituencies are, and the primary voters will be much more in a shopping-around mode.”" ... "Gore’s decision was not good news for the White House, where political aides had been openly hoping for a rematch. Despite the fact that Gore won the popular vote in 2000, he was viewed as a perfect foil for the president. One official commented that Gore “was very defined in his views, and one of those definitions was the fact that he kept changing those views.”" -Analysis By David S. Broder-WashingtonPost via  -MSNBC

- ELECTION 2004
"Gore takes self out of '04 race." ... "''I've decided not to run,'' the former vice president said during a last-minute interview with the CBS News program ''60 Minutes.'' ''I've decided that I will not be a candidate for president in 2004.''" ... "Gore, who also ran unsuccessfully for president in 1988, would not rule out another campaign in 2008 or beyond, but he said, ''I make this decision in the full knowledge and in awareness that if I don't run this time -which I'm not going to run in 2004 - that's probably the last opportunity I'll ever have to run for president.'' He added that he believes he can continue to affect policy outside the political arena." -By Glen Johnson -Boston/Globe

- ELECTION 2004
"Gore passes on 2004 presidential run." ... ""I personally have the energy and the drive and the ambition to make another campaign, but I don't think it's the right thing for me to do," Gore, 54, said on CBS' 60 Minutes. A rematch "would inevitably involve a focus on the past that would in some measure distract from the focus on the future that I think all campaigns have to be about."" -By Susan Page -USATODAY

- ELECTION 2004
"Gore won't run for president." ... "Former Vice President Al Gore won't run for president in 2004 and will make an announcement on CBS news program "60 Minutes" on Sunday evening." -By Allen Wan -CBSNews /MarketWatch

"European Union Acts to Admit 10 Nations." ... "The new members — Poland; the Czech Republic; Hungary; Slovakia; the former Soviet republics of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia; the ex-Yugoslav republic of Slovenia; and two Mediterranean islands, Cyprus and Malta — will formally join the European Union in May 2004." ... "Nothing was signed today. The European Union prides itself on process and consensus, which means serial meetings before decisions can be made. So a formal treaty will be signed in Athens in April." (1, 2) -By Elaine Sciolino -NYTimes via -Google-News

"'For first time in history, Europe will become one'." ... ""Accession of 10 new member states will bring an end to the divisions in Europe," said Romano Prodi, president of the European Commission. "For the first time in history, Europe will become one because unification is the free will of its people."" ... "But divisions remained in the Mediterranean after talks on reuniting Cyprus collapsed here Friday. The failure of these talks means the Greek-Cypriot part of the island could enter the European Union in 2004 without the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, which is recognized only by Turkey and which is home to almost 20 percent of the island's population." -By Thomas Fuller -IHT.com

"EU celebrates addition of 10 new member countries." ... "The European Union was on the road to becoming wider and bigger yesterday after embracing 10 mostly ex-communist nations, but now has to make an orderly home for 450 million people speaking a multitude of languages." ... "The decision to add 10 new members to the present 15 came at the end of an intense two-day Copenhagen summit and means the EU's population will grow by 20 percent to 450 million people, creating an economic colossus to rival the United States." -Reuters via -Ha'aretzDaily

- 
"Bush Has Widened Authority of C.I.A. to Kill Terrorists." ... "The Bush administration has prepared a list of terrorist leaders the Central Intelligence Agency is authorized to kill, if capture is impractical and civilian casualties can be minimized, senior military and intelligence officials said." ... "Despite the authority given to the agency, Mr. Bush has not waived the executive order banning assassinations, officials said. The presidential authority to kill terrorists defines operatives of Al Qaeda as enemy combatants and thus legitimate targets for lethal force." ... "The president is not legally required to approve each name added to the list, nor is the C.I.A. required to obtain presidential approval for specific attacks, although officials said Mr. Bush had been kept well informed about the agency's operations." ... "But the decision by the Bush administration to authorize, under certain circumstances, the killing of terrorist leaders threatens to thrust it into a murky area of national security and international law that is almost never debated in public because the covert operations are known only to a small circle of executive branch and Congressional officials." (1, 2) -By James Risen and David Johnstone -NYTimes via -AltaVista-News

"Turkey moves closer to entry negotiations." ... "The Union announced that it would open negotiations for Turkish membership after December 2004 if Ankara met conditions on such issues as human rights and the removal of the military from civilian life." ... "Officials then added "without further delay" to their communiqué." ... "Analysts and some EU officials said the Turks had realized that they had campaigned too aggressively in recent weeks - tactics that had emboldened some EU opponents to speak out against offering a firm date. "There has been strong pressure from Turkey, which many didn't like," the Italian prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, said Friday." ... "Analysts said some EU members also resented Turkey asking President George W. Bush to lobby on their behalf. The White House spokesman, Ari Fleischer, welcomed the EU decision Friday." -By Thomas Fuller -IHT.com

"Henry Kissinger quits 9/11 panel amid controversy." ... "Kissinger's appointment last month revived memories over his contentious service as national security adviser and secretary of state in the Nixon administration and his role in the Vietnam War. But more immediately, it set off an argument between congressional Democrats, who said he must disclose his financial ties, and the White House, which said there was no need to do so. Kissinger did not respond to a message left at his New York office last night, but his letter to Bush said he feared such arguments would soon engulf his firm, Kissinger Associates." ... "Kissinger's resignation was apparently triggered by a legal opinion from Republicans and Democrats on the Senate Ethics Committee, who said Thursday that all members of the commission would have to comply with congressional financial disclosure requirements." -By David Firestone -NYTimes via -SeattlePI.NWsource

- 
"US accuses Iran of secret nuclear weapons plan." ... "Washington edged closer to confrontation with all three members of President Bush's "axis of evil" yesterday when US officials accused Iran of secretly developing two nuclear plants which could be used to produce weapons." ... "Iran denied the charge, pointing out that officials from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) had been invited to visit the two sites, near the towns of Arak and Natanz, in February." -By Julian Borger  -Guardian.co.uk

- - 
"US cash for Middle East democracy." ... "America's answer is what it calls the US-Middle East Partnership Initiative." ... "An initial sum of $29m will initially be spent on education, projects to expand political participation and to encourage small businesses." ... "Mr Powell said the administration would ask Congress for more money next year - which will come in addition to the more than $1bn the US already provides in economic aid to Arab countries."  -BBC/News

"Kissinger steps down as chairman of 9/11 panel, citing conflicts." ... "Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger stepped down Friday as chairman of a panel investigating the Sept. 11 attacks, citing controversy over potential conflicts of interest with his business clients." ... "''It is clear that, although specific potential conflicts can be resolved in this manner, the controversy would quickly move to the consulting firm I have built and own,'' Kissinger wrote in a letter to President Bush, who appointed him. ''I have, therefore, concluded that I cannot accept the responsibility you proposed.''" -By Ron Fournier  -AP via -Boston/Globe

"Cardinal Law resigns:  In letter, he states: 'I both apologize and beg forgiveness'." ... "Pope John Paul II today accepted the resignation of Cardinal Bernard Francis Law of Boston, effectively ending the tarnished career of a man who had been one of the most influential figures in American religion before revelations of his repeated failure to remove sexually abusive priests from ministry sparked a scandal of unprecedented proportions." ... "The archdiocese of Boston, with an estimated 2 million Catholics, is the fourth largest Catholic see in the United States, and is by tradition one of the most important." ... "The scandal of priest abuse, which first came to light in the early 1980s in Louisiana and exploded in Boston this year, has been extraordinarily damaging to the largest and most influential religious denomination in the United States." -By Michael Paulson, and Charles M. Sennott -Boston/Globe

"Trent Lott's Segregationist College Days:  At Ole Miss, the Senator helped lead a fight to keep blacks out of his national fraternity." ... "Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott helped lead a successful battle to prevent his college fraternity from admitting blacks to any of its chapters, in a little-known incident now four decades old." ... "When the issue came to a head at Sigma Nu's national convention —known as a "Grand Chapter" — in the early 1960s, "Trent was one of the strongest leaders in resisting the integration of the national fraternity in any of the chapters," recalls former CNN President Tom Johnson, then a Sigma Nu member at the University of Georgia." -By Karen Tumulty -TIME.com

-  - 
"Iraqi jet tried to trap U.S. jets." ... "An Iraqi fighter jet attempted to lead two U.S. fighter planes over a battery of surface-to-air missiles Friday in the no-fly zone over southern Iraq, Pentagon officials told CNN." ... "Aware of the missiles' location, the U.S. planes turned south to avoid the potential trap, a Defense Department spokesman said. The pilots knew the location of the missiles because of training and coalition surveillance capabilities, the spokesman said." -By Kris Osborn -CNN /World

- 
"Tension as inspectors locked out:  The top Iraqi and U.N. monitoring officials were called to a Baghdad health center Friday after U.N. weapons inspectors reported a problem tagging equipment during a routine search for evidence of weapons of mass destruction, the officials said." ... "A gatekeeper at the facility -- which had never been searched before by the U.N. --said the inspection team was locked out of several rooms at the site because the employees holding the keys were not at work Friday, a Muslim holy day."  -Contributed to by Nic Robertson -CNN /World

- 
"U.S.: Iran working on nuclear weapons:  IAEA: Nuclear facilities not a surprise." ... "The United States accused Iran Friday of "actively working" on a nuclear weapons program and said that recent satellite photographs of a massive nuclear power construction project "reinforce" that belief." ... "But International Atomic Energy Agency Director-General Mohamed ElBaradei, in an interview with CNN's Christiane Amanpour, said the chief of Iran's atomic energy program had told him in September that the construction was for a 6,000-megawatt nuclear power facility." -Contributed to by Christiane Amanpour, David Ensor, and Elise Labott -CNN /World

-  - 
"UK internet shopping 'breaks £1bn mark'." ... "For the first time, UK consumers have spent more than £1bn ($1.6bn) in just one month shopping online, according to a survey." ... "Online sales have risen by 95% over the past year, IMRG said, compared with a rise of just 6.1% in general retail sales." ... "US figures for the July to September period this year showed online shopping sales were more than $11bn, representing 1.3% of total US retail sales, an increase of 34.3% on the same period last year." ... "In the UK, online sales over the same July to September period reached £2bn ($3.14bn), representing 4% of total UK retail sales, up 114.5% on the same period in 2001."-BBC/News

-  - 
Press Release  - "imrg e-retail sales index - internet shopping bursts £1bn barrier." - Links to [PDF]: "Internet Shopping Bursts £1 Billion Barrier!" ... "Santa is shopping online this year in a BIG WAY.  Monthly internet shopping soared into ten figures for the first time in November as Britain's 14.3 million online shoppers flooded e-retailers with £1,000 million worth of orders, according to the IMRG Index." ... "The Index has risen almost ten fold, from 100 to 993, during the 32 months it has tracked UK e-retail sales, since April 2000, and the pace of growth it reveals continues to accelerate.  The November Index was based on sales of £218 million reported by 77 participating e-retailers, which represents 22% of the estimated market." ... "UK online shopping is growing three times faster than in the USA, and is three times the proportion of total retail sales.  US retail e-commerce sales for the third quarter of 2002 was just over $11 billion, representing 1.3% of total US retail according to latest figures from the US Department of Commerce, an increase of 34.3 percent from Q3 2001.  UK e-retail during the same period was worth £2 billion ($3.14 billion), representing 4% of total UK retail, and was 114.5% higher than Q3 2001." -IMRGorg

-  - 
"Why the U.S. is Forced to Wait on Iraq:  As long as Saddam cooperates and the inspectors find nothing, it will be hard to win UN backing for war." ... "If the U.S. were to walk away at this stage from a UN process whose starting point is inspections to establish the facts regarding prohibited weapons in Iraq, the net effect would be to strengthen opposition to a war. UN Security Council Resolution 1441, which among other things demanded the Iraqi declaration delivered last weekend, makes clear that military action against Baghdad is contemplated by the Council only if Saddam either refuses to allow unfettered inspections or if those inspections turn up evidence of Iraq lying in its declaration." -By Tony Karon -TIME.com

-  - 
"U.S. Lets Missile Shipment Proceed." ... "Skirting a face-off with Yemen, the United States on Wednesday let an intercepted shipment of North Korean missiles proceed to the Persian Gulf country after receiving assurances the Scuds would not be transferred elsewhere in the tense region." ... "The agreement was reached through unusual high-level diplomacy involving Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of State Colin Powell, on the one hand, and President Ali Abdallah Salih of Yemen on the other." -By Barry Schweid -AP via -DesMoinesRegister

-  -  - 
"U.N. inspects new Iraqi military factory." ... "With a new group of inspectors at work in Iraq, bringing the total to 70, the U.N. inspection teams visited six sites Wednesday -- including a military factory built in 1999." ... "In other searches during the day, inspectors continued their work at the al-Tuwaitha Nuclear Research Center on the south side of Baghdad and at the Akashat uranium mine, about 420 kilometers (260 miles) west of Baghdad, near the Syrian border." ... "Several tons of uranium have been under seal at al-Tuwaitha since the previous round of inspections ended in 1998." -Contributed to by Nic Robertson and Rym Brahimi  -CNN /World

- Microsoft News
"Microsoft reveals 'critical' security flaws." ... "In a security bulletin published late Wednesday, Microsoft urged Windows users to download a new version of Microsoft Virtual Machine, which is the part of Windows that runs Java-language applications. The new version corrects eight vulnerabilities discovered by Microsoft and outside experts." -AP via -SiliconValley

- 
"U.N. nuclear agency warns N. Korea." ... "The head of the U.N. nuclear agency urged North Korea not to restart a nuclear power plant that Washington suspects was used to develop atomic arms before it was mothballed eight years ago." ... "Mohamed Elbaradei, director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, or IAEA, warned late Thursday that any unilateral move by the North Koreans to remove agency seals and monitoring cameras at its nuclear facilities would contravene agreements between Pyongyang and the United Nations." ... "The North Korean nuclear program was suspended under a 1994 deal with Washington, averting a possible war on the Korean peninsula. Experts say North Korea could quickly extract enough plutonium from its old facilities to make several nuclear weapons." -MS-NBC

- 
"eBay hit by credit card scam." ... "The world's largest online auction site eBay has been targeted by fraudsters using a shadow site to steal credit card details from its 55 million customers." ... "The scam involved sending e-mails to customers asking them to log on to a Florida-based website - ebayupdates.com - and re-submit their financial details." -By Stefan Armbruster-BBC/News

- Microsoft News
Microsoft.com Security Bulletin: - "What You Should Know About Microsoft Security Bulletin MS02-071:Security Update for Microsoft Windows." .... "Why We Are Issuing This Update:  A security issue has been identified that could allow an attacker to compromise a computer running Microsoft® Windows® and gain complete control over it. An attacker would need the ability to log onto the computer to carry out an attack. You can help protect your computer by installing this update from Microsoft." ...
"The following products require updating:
• Microsoft Windows NT 4.0
• Microsoft Windows NT 4.0, Terminal Server Edition
•Microsoft Windows 2000
• Microsoft Windows XP" -Microsoftcom/security

"Lott expresses regret for remarks; court filing from 1981 surfaces." ... "Senate Republican leader Trent Lott tried to help Bob Jones University keep its federal tax-exempt status despite the school's policy prohibiting interracial dating two decades before his recent comments stirred a race controversy." ... ""Racial discrimination does not always violate public policy," Lott, then a congressman from Mississippi, wrote in a 1981 friend of the court brief that cited prior court rulings upholding affirmative action programs at colleges." ... "Lott's filing unsuccessfully urged the U.S. Supreme Court to stop the Internal Revenue Service from stripping the university's tax exemption." -By John Solomon  -AP via  -SFGate.com

-  -  - 
"Key factor: Iraqi scientists:  US dampens expectations of 'smoking gun' on Iraq weapons and urges access to scientists." ... "... increasingly, experts are pointing to only one sure way to reveal the true scale of Iraq's weapons programs: talking to the Iraqi scientists who built the programs." ... "The UN's ability to talk with Iraqi scientists may turn on chief UN inspector Hans Blix's willingness to use a robust new plank in the UN disarmament mandate that permits the UN to spirit out of Iraq specialists and their families. The scientists could then speak freely without fear of reprisal from Saddam Hussein's regime." -By Scott Peterson -CSMonitor

- 
"Turkey Names Its Price for Aid Against Iraq:  Support on EU and Economy Sought From U.S. for Assistance in War Effort." ... "In exchange for use of its territory by U.S. troops and aircraft against Iraq, the Turkish government is asking for significant economic help to make sure there is no repeat of the recession that followed the 1991 war. Just as eagerly, it wants the Bush administration to persuade the European Union to respond more favorably to a long-delayed Turkish bid for membership." ... "The United States strongly backs the bid, as President Bush emphasized repeatedly in Washington today while receiving Recep Tayyip Erdogan, leader of Turkey's new governing party. Membership in the prosperous club of European nations, U.S. officials say, would not only boost Turkey's economy; it would enhance Turkey's status as a model of secular democracy in a Muslim country." -By Karl Vick-WashingtonPost

"Lott Remarks on Thurmond Echoed 1980 Words:  Criticism Unabated Despite Apology for Comment on Former Dixiecrat's Presidential Bid." ... "Twenty-two years ago, Trent Lott, then a House member from Mississippi, told a home state political gathering that if the country had elected segregationist candidate Strom Thurmond to the presidency "30 years ago, we wouldn't be in the mess we are today." The phrasing is very similar to incoming Senate Majority Leader Lott's controversial remarks at a 100th birthday party for Thurmond last week." ... "Last week, Lott provoked controversy when he declared at the Thurmond birthday celebration: "I want to say this about my state: When Strom Thurmond ran for president, we voted for him. We're proud of it. And if the rest of the country had followed our lead, we wouldn't have had all these problems over all these years."" -By Thomas B. Edsall and Brian Faler-WashingtonPost

-  -  - 
"U.S. Warns Iraq It Has Nuclear Option." ... "The United States raised the temperature in its confrontation with Iraq over weapons of mass destruction, saying it could go nuclear if such weapons were used against its forces or its allies." ... "Washington issued the warning Tuesday as U.N. arms inspectors carried out the most intensive inspections in Iraq of their current mission and the Iraqi Foreign Ministry accused Washington of trying to find a pretext for war." -By Nadim Ladki -Reuters /World

-  -  -
"U.S. Sees Nuclear Deterrence Against WMD Attack." ... "The six-page strategy document says deterring attacks with the threat of "overwhelming force" is an essential element in protecting America and its allies from weapons of mass destruction, also known as WMD." ... ""The United States will continue to make clear that it reserves the right to respond with overwhelming force -- including through resort to all our options -- to the use of WMD against the United States, our forces abroad, and friends and allies," the strategy report said." ... ""In addition to our conventional and nuclear response and defense capabilities, our overall deterrent posture against WMD threats is reinforced by effective intelligence, surveillance, interdiction and domestic law enforcement capabilities," it said." -By Randall Mikkelsen -Reuters /World

- "Jimmy Carter's Nobel Prize speech [excerpts]." ... "Instead of entering a millennium of peace, the world is now, in many ways, a more dangerous place. There is a plethora of civil wars... and recent appalling acts of terrorism have reminded us that no nations, even superpowers, are invulnerable." ... "It is clear that global challenges must be met with an emphasis on peace, in harmony with others, with strong alliances and international consensus." ... "Imperfect as it may be, there is no doubt that this can best be done through the United Nations."-BBC/News

"Black Caucus denounces Lott:  GOP Senate leader assailed for remarks praising Thurmond’s presidential bid." ... "Members of the
Congressional Black Caucus rejected Senate Republican leader Trent Lott’s apology for saying that America would have been better off if Strom Thurmond had won the presidency in 1948, when he ran as a segregationist and won four states." ... "The three dozen members of the caucus, all black Democrats in the House of Representatives, may push for a Senate censure of Lott and ask for his resignation as Senate Republican leader." -MSNBC

-  - 
"With forces at ready, war could be swift:  US troop counts in the Mideast rise, ready for a campaign very different from Gulf War." ... "The hammer of US military force is almost ready for use against Iraq, even as the diplomatic struggle between Washington and Baghdad continues." ... "There are now some 80,000 uniformed American personnel in the region, counting troops deployed in Afghanistan. While an actual attack would likely require a final sprint deployment of strike units, most of the elements for war are now in place, as symbolized by this week's command-and-control exercise in Qatar." -By Faye Bowers and Peter Grier -CSMonitor

-  - Accounting News
"Donaldson to head SEC:  Co-founder of DLJ and ex-NYSE chief would succeed Pitt as top market watchdog." ... "Wall Street veteran William Donaldson, the founder of the former firm Donaldson Lufkin & Jenrette, is the Bush administration's choice to be the new chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission." ... "Donaldson, whose firm was sold to Credit Suisse First Boston in 2000, was introduced by President Bush at a news conference Tuesday." ... "The SEC has been under greater scrutiny due to the attention given to accounting and corporate misdeeds that resulted in the nation's two largest bankruptcies, at WorldCom and Enron, and shook investors' confidence in the market." -CNN /fn

- 
"CSX chief named to run Treasury:  Bush also vows tax breaks to spur business revival." ... "President Bush moved on two fronts yesterday to demonstrate his concern about the flagging economy: nominating John W. Snow, chairman of railway conglomerate CSX Corp., as his Treasury secretary and promising a new package of tax breaks and other incentives to spur more vigorous business activity." ... "Snow has been chief executive and chairman of Richmond-based CSX Corp. since 1989 The firm, which runs one of the largest rail networks in the eastern half of the United States, and other transportation-related services, has been a major source of campaign donations to the Republican Party. Snow has been an advocate of more rigorous financial reporting for executives." -By Sue Kirchhoff -Boston/Globe

"58 priests send a letter urging cardinal to resign." ... "In an extraordinary rebellion by Catholic clerics against a bishop whom they had pledged to obey, 58 Boston-area priests called on Cardinal Bernard F. Law yesterday to resign, saying he was no longer an effective spiritual leader." ... "The signers make up a small minority of Boston's Catholic clergy, but are far more than have previously called for Law's resignation. Among them are a dozen religious order priests and two retired priests, in addition to active diocesan priests. There are about 550 active diocesan priests in the Boston archdiocese and 300 retired priests and 700 religious-order priests." ... "The letter was e-mailed to some priests, but others did not receive it and therefore did not have a chance to decide whether to sign." -By Michael Paulson -Boston/Globe

-
"Pentagon indicates progress in U.S.-China ties." ... "The Pentagon on Monday indicated creeping progress in resumed military ties with China after the first top-level defence talks between the two nations since President George W. Bush took office two years ago." ... ""The talks were useful, professional. They were real discussions. They were not stilted set pieces. And that's good," Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Douglas Feith said after a day-long meeting with Chinese General Xiong Guangkai, deputy chief of the People's Liberation Army[.]" -By Charles Aldinger -Reuters/Asia

- 
"Soaking rain ends Sydney bushfire crisis." ... "Soaking rain fell on Sydney on Tuesday to end the city's six-day bushfire emergency that killed one man, destroyed around 50 homes and left large tracts of bush scorched and blackened." ... "But officials said more hot, dry weather was forecast ahead of Christmas and the fires were expected to flare again. Australia is tinderbox dry due to one of the worst droughts in 100 years." -By Michael Perry -Reuters/Asia

- 
"Peace monitors arrive in Indonesia's bloodied Aceh." ... "The monitors are from the Geneva-based Henry Dunant Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue, which brokered the landmark deal between Indonesia and the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM)." ... "Thousands have died in the 26-year insurgency." ... "The accord calls for a ceasefire and elections in the staunchly Muslim province on the northern tip of Sumatra island and for monitoring teams comprising rebel, Indonesian and foreign representatives to be set up to ensure the ceasefire holds." ... "But unresolved by the peace plan is a fundamental disagreement: the rebels want independence while Jakarta is only prepared to grant special autonomy." -Reuters/Asia

- 
"Bush taps an economic salesman:  Bush names John Snow as new Treasury chief with task of selling tax cuts and buoying confidence." ... "By appointing John Snow, a railroad executive, as Treasury secretary Sunday, and probably Stephen Friedman, a Wall Street executive, as White House economic counselor Monday, Mr. Bush will be getting two people who are, by all accounts, consensus builders and "listeners."" ... "That will help the administration speak more with one voice on the economy, but not necessarily result in new initiatives. "I think the president is looking for a new messenger, not a new message," says Sung Won Sohn, chief economist at Wells Fargo Banks, of Mr. Snow's appointment. "So he would be a good messenger."" -By David R. Francis and Ron Scherer  -CSMonitor

-  -  - 
"Australia trial could set Web precedent." ... "Australia's highest court ruled on Tuesday that a defamation case sparked by a story on a U.S Web site could be heard in Australia, opening a legal minefield for web publishers over which libel laws they must follow."  ... "The landmark ruling that an article published by Dow Jones & Co was subject to Australian law -- because it was downloaded in Australia -- is being watched by media firms as it could set a precedent over where Internet publication occurs." -Reuters via -CNN /Sci-Tech

- 
"Iraq dossier hints at 'dirty bomb':  U.S.: Iraq hiding weapons, documents." ... "Iraq's declaration of its weapons programs could identify countries or firms that supplied its nuclear, chemical and biological weapons programs, according to a table of contents obtained Monday by CNN." ... "In a letter that accompanies the nearly 12,000-page document, Foreign Minister Naji Sabri said the dossier's publication "entails risk" of releasing information that violates nonproliferation standards." ... "Sabri called the report "currently accurate, full and complete," but told the U.N. Security Council it contains information that could aid countries seeking to develop nuclear, chemical or biological weapons." -Report contributed to by Nic Robertson, Rym Brahimi, Rebecca MacKinnon, & Maria Arelaez -CNN /Europe

-  - 
"Soldier Pleads in Classified Photo Case:  Soldier Pleads Guilty in Attempted Sale of Photos of Top-Secret Military Facility." ... "A soldier has pleaded guilty to trying to sell a newspaper photographs of a top-secret bunker where U.S. government leaders would be taken in a nuclear attack." -APvia -ABCNEWS.com

-  - 
"U.S. begins war game in Qatar in possible preparation for Iraq war." ... A U.S. war game believed to be a rehearsal for an invasion of Iraq began Monday in Qatar with senior commanders and battle planners conducting a computer-assisted exercise to improve their ability to fight a war in the region." ... General Tommy "Franks and his staff are controlling all of Central Command's forces from a high-tech, portable headquarters set up on Qatar's As Sayliyah army camp in the desert 20 miles outside of the capital, Doha." ... "The modular, portable buildings and the high-speed digital communications equipment, constructed by American defense contractor Raytheon, is being used for the first time." -AP via  -USATODAY

- - 
"Judge Rebuffs Effort to Obtain Records on Cheney [energy] Task Force." ... "In a case involving bedrock constitutional issues, a federal judge today threw out a lawsuit brought by an agency of Congress against Vice President Dick Cheney over the formulation of the administration's energy policy." ... "Judge John D. Bates of Federal District Court found that Comptroller General David M. Walker, the head of the General Accounting Office, did not have sufficient standing to sue the vice president." ... "Mr. Walker had asked the judge to order the White House to reveal the identities of industry executives who helped the administration develop its energy policy last year." -By David Stout -NYTimes via  -AltaVista-News

- Law Enforcement News
"Congress probes irregularities at Los Alamos:  UC asked to turn over records relating to cases of theft, fraud." ... "Congressional investigators, following up on a criminal probe launched by the FBI, have asked the University of California for dozens of records relating to allegations of illegal procurement practices, theft and misuse of government funds at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico." -Dan Morgan -WashingtonPost  via  -SFGate.com

-  - 
"National Guard aids North Carolina:  Tens of thousands are still without electricity." ... "In a region left dark and cold by a major ice storm, National Guard volunteers went door to door yesterday to show residents how to heat their homes safely after two people died of carbon monoxide poisoning while trying to keep warm." ... "More than 200 people have sought medical help for carbon monoxide poisoning since the ice storm downed trees and power lines Thursday." -By Emery P. Dalesio -AP via  -Boston/Globe

- 
"West Bank settlements accelerate:  Under Sharon, dozens of outposts sprout in past few months." ... "In the past two years — since the start of the Palestinian uprising and the subsequent election of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon — the number of new settlement outposts has exploded in the West Bank, far outstripping the pace of growth before 2001, according to records kept by several monitoring organizations." ... "At least 66 new Jewish outposts, or fledgling settlements, have sprouted across the ridgelines and hilltops in those two years, compared with the 44 outposts started over the previous five years combined, according to Peace Now, an advocacy group that opposes Jewish settlements in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. More than two-thirds of the new outposts were established in the last 11 months, the most intense period of the conflict." -By Molly Moore -WashingtonPost  via  -MSNBC

-  -  - 
"Lack of evidence hinders U.S. aims:  Little expectation of actionable ‘smoking gun’ in declaration." ... "During his recent trip to Europe to drum up support from the allies, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul D. Wolfowitz was asked by NATO ambassadors what it would take to prove that Iraq has failed to give up its weapons of mass destruction. His reply illustrated the subjective nature of the evidence against Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, which depends on the eye of the beholder." ... "“It's like the judge said about pornography,” Wolfowitz told the closed-door audience, according to a participant. “I can’t define it, but I will know it when I see it.”" ... "While the Bush administration may need little convincing that Iraq is in material breach of U.N. resolutions demanding its disarmament, a much higher standard of evidence will be required to convince key U.S. allies, including Turkey and Saudi Arabia, of the case for war." -Analysis by Michael Dobbs -WashingtonPost  via  -MSNBC

-  - 
"Chavez threatens state of emergency." ... "President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela has warned he may declare a state of emergency if disruption caused by an national strike continues to escalate." ... "In a speech to supporters in Caracas, Mr Chavez accused his opponents of trying to sabotage the oil industry, which provides half the government's revenue." ... "Crude oil production has dropped by up to a sixth of the total national output since refinery workers and oil tanker crews joined other strikers, threatening the economic backbone of the world's fifth biggest oil exporter." ... "Analysts have warned that a shutdown for longer than two days could have a major impact on US and world oil prices." -BBC/News

- ELECTION 2002 News
"Democrat retains Louisiana seat." ... "Mary Landrieu held off Suzanne Haik Terrell, who conceded the election late on Saturday evening." ... "In the new Senate, the Republicans will hold 51 seats to the Democrats 49." -BBC/News

- ELECTION 2002 News
"Landrieu Beats GOP Challenge In Louisiana:  Democrat Takes 52% of Vote In Runoff for Senate Seat." ... "Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, staving off a concerted challenge by the ascendant Republican Party and by President Bush, won reelection to a second term tonight [20021207] against state Elections Commissioner Suzanne Haik Terrell in a runoff." ... "Landrieu beat her Republican challenger by about 40,000 votes out of more than 1.2 million tallied. With all precincts reporting, Landrieu had 642,974, or 52 percent, to 603,160, or 48 percent, for Terrell." ... "Landrieu's victory limits the Republicans to a 51 to 49 majority in the Senate and stems the tide of GOP victories at the polls last month, which staggered and disoriented the Democrats." -By Lee Hockstader -WashingtonPost

-  - 

-  -  - 
"Ex-Regents official: U of Iowa should pay president more." ... "The University of Iowa president’s salary is “severely limiting the pool of people that will apply for the job,” former president of the Board of Regents said." ... "The salary of $281,875, puts Iowa next to last among public schools in the Big Ten Conference, after the Indiana University at Bloomington, according to The Chronicle of Higher Education Almanac." ... "Mark Yudof, the president of the University of Texas system, was among the highest-compensated university leaders last year. More than half of his $787,319 in salary and benefits comes from private sources." -AP via  -QCTimes

- 
"Bigfoot backers mourning:  But they remain Yeti loyalists despite family's admission of hoax." ... "Relatives of Ray L. Wallace, a logger who propelled one of California's earliest publicized claims of the creature's existence, have stepped forward in the shadow of his passing to say their patriarch admitted to trickery that fueled one of American culture's most enduring myths." ... "They say it was Wallace who stoked a fury in 1958 by slipping into two, carved, 16-inch-long wooden feet, then stomping around his Humboldt County site logging camp as a gag on fellow workmen." ... "[H]is son Michael .... said 1967's famous "Patterson-Gimlin Film" -- a grainy home movie that allegedly captures a startled specimen fleeing a streambed -- may be only his obliging mother wearing a monkey suit." -By John M. Hubbell-SFGate.com

-  - 
"Miss Turkey [Azra Akin] Wins Miss World Competition:  Miss Turkey Crowned Miss World in Pageant That Was Moved to London After Riots in Nigeria." ... "Ninety-two contestants took part in the show, which was shunted to London after Muslim-Christian rioting last month killed more than 200 people, forcing it out of Nigeria." ... "The pageant's motto is "beauty with a purpose," and among this year's contestants were lawyers, businesswomen, architects and a doctor." ... "Unlike the pageant's heyday in the 1970s, this year's contestants glided along the catwalk in evening gowns rather than swimsuits part of an effort to shed the show's sexist image." -AP via -ABCNEWS.com

- ELECTION 2002 News
"Democrat clings to lead in Louisiana in last Senate race of 2002." ... "The GOP failed to hold on to a U.S. House seat: With all precincts reporting, Democrat Rodney Alexander had 85,720 votes and Republican Lee Fletcher had 85,202 votes -- a difference of just 518 votes in the heavily conservative district." ... "The two men spent weeks swapping bitter accusations and attack ads as they sought the seat Republican Rep. John Cooksey gave up to run for Senate. There was no immediate word from Fletcher on whether he would seek a recount." -By Guy Coates -AP via  -SFGate.com

- ELECTION 2002 News
"New Orleans: a recount." ... "Republicans took control of the Senate last month and Bush had campaigned here last week in hopes of pushing Terrell to victory. Landrieu scrambled to cast herself as a centrist who backed Bush three-fourths of the time but wouldn't be a "rubber stamp" for the president." ... "Secretary of State Fox McKeithen said he expected turnout to be 45 percent -- low by Louisiana standards. Voters seemed dismayed by the sharp salvos between the two New Orleans women who share the same views on most political issues." -AP via  -SFGate.com

- ELECTION 2002 News
"Democrats in La. to face critical test in Senate runoff." ... "Louisiana hasn't sent a Republican to the US Senate since 1877, when it was forced under Reconstruction to embrace the party of Abraham Lincoln. It has sent only Democrats to the Senate ever since." ... "Yet time and political tide may finally be reaching the Bayou State, as they already have its neighbors, including Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina. Voters last month turned Democrats out of a Senate seat in Georgia and out of governors' offices in all three states." ... "Now it might be Senator Mary Landrieu's turn. Relentlessly labeled a liberal in a conservative state, Landrieu, Democrat of Louisiana, is locked in a tight race for reelection and could lose to Republican challenger Suzanne Haik Terrell, the state elections commissioner." -By Steven Thomma -Knight Ridder via -Boston/Globe

- ELECTION 2002 News
"Louisiana race down to wire:  A statistical dead heat makes voter turnout critical." ... "Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu is fighting for political survival against GOP state Elections Commissioner Suzanne Haik Terrell. Pre-election polls showed the race -- which drew President Bush and other Republican luminaries to the state on Terrell's behalf -- was too close to call." ... "Voters in northeast Louisiana's 5th Congressional District will also decide a runoff between Republican Lee Fletcher and Democrat Rodney Alexander for the seat vacated by GOP Rep. John Cooksey, who made an unsuccessful Senate bid." -By John Mercurio -CNN /AllPolitics.com

- 
"Iraq Hands UN Dossier, Denies It Has Banned Weapons." ... "Iraq handed the United Nations a huge dossier on its military programs on Saturday, denying Iraq has any banned weapons and setting the stage for a confrontation with Washington." ... "U.S. officials said on Friday Washington was expected to declare Iraq in "material breach" of last month's U.N. resolution 1441 if it stated it had no such weapons, setting the stage for a possible military attack on Iraq by the United States." ... "But they said Washington would not cite the breach as immediate grounds for war, letting U.N. inspections continue while Bush courts partners to help strike Iraq if needed." -By Haitham Haddadin -Reuters /World

- 
"Iraq Delivers Arms Declaration to U.N.:  Iraq Delivers Arms Declaration, Saying It Has No Weapons of Mass Destruction." ... ""We apologize to you," Saddam said in a letter to the Kuwaiti people read on prime-time Iraqi television. At the same time, at a U.N. compound on Baghdad's outskirts, a government delegation was delivering a massive collection of documents detailing Iraq's chemical, biological and nuclear programs, meeting a demand and a deadline set by U.N. resolution 1441." ... "Its thousands of pages, to be flown Sunday to U.N. headquarters in New York and the U.N. nuclear agency in Vienna, will be combed through for months to come by U.N. analysts, intelligence agencies and diplomats, as Middle East peace hangs in the balance." -AP via -ABCNEWS.com

- OPINION -  - 
"Digital Robber Barons?" ... "... the wide-open, competitive world of the dial-up Internet depended on the very government regulation so many Internet enthusiasts decried. Local phone service is a natural monopoly, and in an unregulated world local phone monopolies would probably insist that you use their dial-up service. The reason you have a choice is that they are required to act as common carriers, allowing independent service providers to use their lines." ... "Last March the F.C.C. used linguistic trickery — defining cable Internet access as an "information service" rather than as telecommunications — to exempt cable companies from the requirement to act as common carriers. The commission will probably make a similar ruling on DSL service, which runs over lines owned by your local phone company. The result will be a system in which most families and businesses will have no more choice about how to reach cyberspace than a typical 19th-century farmer had about which railroad would carry his grain." -By Paul Krugman -NYTimes via  -Google-News

- 
"Nigerian state stands firm on Sharia:  "Support Sharia, Allah's Law is Supreme," says a road sign on the way into the northwestern Nigerian city of Gusau." ... "Sharia, the Islamic penal code, is certainly a force to be reckoned with in Gusau, the capital of Zamfara state." ... "Last week the state's deputy governor declared a fatwa religious edict calling for the death of a Nigerian journalist for alleged blasphemy over an article at the centre of a recent controversy surrounding the Miss World beauty pageant." ... "The authorities seem to be standing firm, despite the fact that Nigeria's two main Islamic bodies and religious leaders in Saudi Arabia have harshly criticized the order." -Reuters via -CNN /World

-  - 
"Update: Bush Creates ".Kids" Domain." ... "President Bush signed into law on Wednesday a bill that would create a ".kids" domain name, and certify that the domain was "safe" for minors." ... "The .kids domain will actually be a subdomain of the ".us" suffix, and so will only apply to web sites based in the U.S, such as "www.example.kids.us". Since the domain is under the purview of the U.S. country code, it will be overseen by the Department of Commerce." -By Mark Hachman -ExtremeTech

- Law Enforcement News
"Feds Raid Software Firm." ... "Federal agents who raided a Quincy, Mass., software firm Thursday night continue to look for monetary connections to the al-Qaeda terrorist network, but sources say the firm's software appears safe." ... "Ptech Inc., a developer of business-process modeling software, was raided late Thursday night by U.S. Customs Service agents, according to law enforcement officials. But initial concerns that the company's technology may have compromised the security of its customers, which include the FBI, the Department of Energy, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the Navy, the Air Force, the Federal Aviation Administration and the U.S. House of Representatives, now appear unfounded, according to authorities." (1, 2) -By Renee Boucher Ferguson, Dennis Fisher and Chris Gonsalves -eWEEK

- ELECTION 2002 News
"One last Senate campaign - gumbo style:  Louisiana vote Saturday tests strength of GOP momentum." ... "As Republican donors stream through the lobby of the swank Fairmont hotel - where Christmas decorations have transformed the ceiling into a canopy of cotton "snow" - the sense of significance is palpable." ... "It was here that legendary populist Huey Long headquartered his campaign back in 1928, mapping out a winning coalition of small farmers and workers that would propel him into the governor's seat and shape Louisiana politics for decades to come." ... "Now, as the site of a high-profile campaign stop by President Bush, the Fairmont may play a key role in another transforming election: one that could send a Republican to the Senate from Louisiana for the first time since the days of Reconstruction." -By Liz Marlantes -CSMonitor

- 
"Bush Shakes Up Economic Team With Ouster of 2 Advisers." ... "Wrestling with a shaky economy and criticism that his administration projects a muddled message on how to respond, President Bush today dismissed his Treasury secretary, Paul H. O'Neill, and the director of his National Economic Council, Lawrence B. Lindsey." ... "The president's move also demonstrates that the White House has grown increasingly concerned that Mr. Bush, like his father, could pay a political price if the country's economic woes are not addressed more forcefully." ... "The dismissals also come when business confidence is stubbornly low, investment is weak and joblessness is rising. Less than two hours before Mr. O'Neill surprised Washington with his resignation, the Commerce Department reported that unemployment last month surged at an unexpectedly fast rate last month, to 6 percent from 5.7." (1, 2) -By Edmund L. Anderews -NYTimes via  -Google-News

- 
"Firefighters battle to control Sydney blazes." ... "Sydney firefighters are hoping to control as many of the 70 fires surrounding the city as possible over the next 72 hours before weather conditions are expected to deteriorate again on Monday." ... "More than 4,500 firefighters, supported by around 80 aircraft, are now battling major infernos to the south-west, west and north of the city." ... "New South Wales Rural Fire Commissioner Phil Koperberg told media Friday that authorities expected weather conditions to abate over the weekend but that Monday would be another very bad day with high temperatures and wind gusts of up to 80 kilometers (50 miles) an hour." -By Grant Holloway -CNN /World /Asia

-  - 
"US unpopular among key allies:  Turkish leaders put conditions on support for the US on Iraq, citing public opinion." ... "America's flagging image around the world since the September 2001 terrorist attacks is crimping the Bush administration's ability to build a coalition for a possible Iraq war." ... "This week, Turkey's new Islamist government bowed to domestic opinion, responding to American diplomatic pressure with a "yes, but": The US may use Turkish territory for a military campaign against Iraq, but only if it proceeds under the mantle of the United Nations Security Council, and with a second UN resolution authorizing the use of force." ... "The move represents the uneasy balance leaders around the world are striking between what they consider a geopolitical necessity -cooperating with the US - and domestic opposition to war with Iraq." -By Howard LaFranchi  -CSMonitor

- 
"Appointees' Bonuses Stir Anger:  Critics Say Bush Plan Slights Career Employees; Agencies Move Cautiously." ... "The Bush administration's decision to revive cash bonuses for political appointees touched off a fury of criticism yesterday from Democrats, unions and some policy experts who said the move slighted ordinary federal employees and raised the specter of cronyism." ... "The Clinton administration ended the practice of doling out bonuses to most political appointees in 1994 after questionable payments to some outgoing aides in the final days of the administration of President George H.W. Bush, the president's father." ... "Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), the former first lady, called it "a decision that beggars the imagination." She noted that Bush cited a "national emergency" and the need to conserve money for the fight against terrorism last week when he froze one part of a federal pay raise for 1.8 million civilian employees." -By Christopher Lee and Mike Allen-WashingtonPost

- 
"Lovable trickster created a monster with Bigfoot hoax." ... "Bigfoot is dead. Really." ... "Ray L. Wallace was Bigfoot. The reality is, Bigfoot just died," said Michael Wallace about his father, who died of heart failure Nov. 26 in a Centralia [Washington] nursing facility. He was 84." ... ""The fact is there was no Bigfoot in popular consciousness before 1958. America got its own monster, its own Abominable Snowman thanks to Ray Wallace," said Mark Chorvinsky, editor of Strange magazine and one of the leading proponents of the theory that Mr. Wallace fathered Bigfoot." ... "Chorvinsky believes the Wallace family's admission creates profound doubts about leading evidence of Bigfoot's existence: the so-called Patterson film, the grainy celluloid images of an erect apelike creature striding away from the movie camera of rodeo rider Roger Patterson in 1967. Mr. Wallace said he told Patterson where to go —near Bluff Creek, Calif. — to spot a Bigfoot, Chorvinsky said." -By Bob Young -SeattleTimes.NWsource

"US rebuffs United Airlines:  No on $1.8b loan guarantees; bankruptcy filing looks likely." ... "United is the world's second-largest airline, with routes around the globe. A bankruptcy filing would almost certainly lead to cost-cutting at other airlines with major networks, such as American, Delta, Northwest, and Continental. United likely would have to go back to labor groups, including pilots and flight attendants, and seek more concessions than those already given. US Airways last month went back to its labor groups - which had already given $850 million in concessions - to ask for changes in work rules to increase productivity. In addition, the airline said it would lay off an additional 2,500 employees." ... "United is the world's largest employee-owned company, and bankruptcy would wipe out the value of employees' holdings." -By Matthew Brelis -Boston/Globe

"Intelligence: Learning How to Share:  Is this a new era of closeness for the CIA and FBI?" -By Tamara Lipper and Mark Hosenball 20021209 -MSNBC /-Newsweek

-  - 
"Iraq inspectors hit back at criticism." ... "UN weapons inspectors in Iraq have defended themselves after accusations by Baghdad of spying and suggestions by Washington that searches are not "aggressive" enough." ... ""We believe we are doing the job we need to be doing. We have been unannounced and thorough," said Melissa Fleming, spokeswoman for the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), whose inspectors are helping with the search." ... "Ms Fleming rejected allegations of espionage, but added that if any inspector were found to be a spy, he would be immediately dismissed."  -BBC/News

-  -  - 
"U.S. Criticizes North Korea for Rejecting Inspections." ... "The White House issued a muted criticism of North Korea today, saying it was "disappointing" that North Korea had rejected a demand for inspections of its newly revealed program to develop nuclear weapons from highly enriched uranium." ... "The demand came from the International Atomic Energy Agency, the nuclear inspection and regulatory organization linked to the United Nations." ... "The White House comments appeared to be part of a strategy to defuse any sense of imminent confrontation with North Korea, which the Central Intelligence Agency believes is still a few years away from producing a nuclear weapon from its uranium program." -David E. Sanger -NYTimes via  -Moreover

-  -  - 
"Iraq criticizes surprise search at palace:  U.N. field chief defends team's work." ... "After a week of uneventful inspections, U.N. weapons experts on Wedneday came under furious Iraqi attack for having insisted on a no-notice search of one of President Saddam Hussein's palaces." ... "The harshest criticism came from Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan, who asserted -- in language reminiscent of clashes with inspectors in the 1990s -- that the new teams of U.N. monitors are gathering intelligence for Washington and Israel." ... "Ramadan, known for his fiery statements, offered no evidence for his claim about the current inspectors, only citing U.S. agents within the inspection agency of the 1990s." -SHNS/Wire via -Miami/Herald

- -  - 
"Iraq accuses inspectors of spying for U.S. and Israel." ... "Iraq on Wednesday accused U.N. arms inspectors of being U.S. and Israeli spies and helping Washington prepare for possible war on Baghdad, but the United States cooled any talk of imminent military action." ... ""The inspectors have come to provide better circumstances and more precise information for a coming aggression," Iraqi Vice-President Taha Yassin Ramadan said, speaking just after Baghdad promised to carry on cooperating with the United Nations." ... ""This is not an accusation, because the inspectors, from day one, their foremost work was spying. Their work was spying for the CIA and Mossad together," he said, referring to the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency and Israel's secret service." -By Nadim Ladki and Carol Giacomo -Reuters

-  -  - 
"High schools give it up for Pentagon:  Law requires giving recruiters access to juniors, seniors." ... "A little-noticed provision in a new federal education law is requiring high schools to hand over to military recruiters some key information about their juniors and seniors: name, address and phone number." ... "The No Child Left Behind law, signed last January, pumps billions into education but also gives military recruiters access to the names, addresses and phone numbers of students in 22,000 schools. The law also says that schools must give the military the same access to their campuses that businesses and college recruiters enjoy." ... "Students and parents who oppose the law can keep their information from being turned over to the military, but they must sign and return an “opt-out” form." -By Ken Maguire -AP via -MSNBC

-  - Law Enforcement News- Bali bombings
"Indonesians nab alleged terror chief." ... "Indonesian police said Wednesday they had arrested the operations chief of Jemaah Islamiyah [JI], an al-Qaeda-linked group widely blamed for attacks throughout Southeast Asia, including blasts that killed nearly 200 people on the resort island of Bali." ... "Investigators hope the arrest of Mukhlas, also known as Ali Gufron, will shed light on the shadowy group and expose the extent of al-Qaeda's reach in the world's most populous Muslim nation." -AP via  -USATODAY

- 
"Buy, Use, Dispose:  A Spike in Disposable Products Has Environmentalists Worried." ... "Scrub the floor, toss out the rag. Use up your minutes, toss out the phone. Watch a movie, throw away the DVD." ... "In a nation that places a high value on convenience, this is all possible or will soon be possible for consumers willing to pay a little more for products designed for one-time use. And the list is growing." ... ""The business model of the high-tech industry depends on us to continue to buy, consume and throw away," he [executive director of Californians Against Waste, Mark Murray] says. "That's the problem, they're not designing these things to last, they're designing them to use and throw out."" -By Amanda Onion -ABCNEWS.com

- - Law Enforcement News
"Police patrol riot-hit Timor." ... "Police, backed by U.N. peacekeepers, are patrolling the East Timorese capital Dili after a violent outbreak of rioting by students in the newly-independent nation." ... "The clashes broke out Wednesday morning after a group of high school students went to East Timor's parliament to protest the arrest of a fellow student a day earlier, according to the prime minister's office.": ... "A group of former guerilla fighters -- who have staged recent protests against the country's high unemployment level -- reportedly attended the students' protest and started throwing rocks, which led to the violence." -CNN /World

-
"Supreme Court reviews punishment of anti-abortion protesters:  Justices grapple with corruption law's use." ... "Anti-abortion protests have become commonplace at clinics across the country. Now the Supreme Court is being asked to clarify how to punish those who cross the line into disruptive, even violent civil disobedience." ... "The National Organization for Women (NOW) first filed a lawsuit on behalf of the clinics in 1986, and the Court eight years later ruled in its favor. Leaders of the anti-abortion movement, including Operation Rescue and the Pro-Life Action Network, filed a new legal claim the justices will now decide."  -CNN

-  - "Ricochet's Comeback Means Free Wireless Internet Access for Cities:  Municipal governments striking new deals to get free wireless access." ... "Denver-based Ricochet Networks offered Internet access to 51,000 subscribers in 21 cities until its owner, Metricom, went bankrupt last year." ... "Aerie Networks has resurrected Ricochet, spending $8.25 million for technology and equipment that Metricom spent $1.3 billion developing." ... "Technological Quid Pro Quo." ... "Now, Ricochet is offering cities free service and giving their public employees modems to use on the job. In return, Ricochet gets to use transmitters that fell into cities' control after Metricom went bankrupt." -By Catherine Tsai

- 
"Ex-Bush Aide Apologizes for Criticism." ... "A former senior aide to President Bush apologized yesterday after being quoted as saying a band of "Mayberry Machiavellis" is running a White House in which politics trumps policy."  -Reuters via  -WashingtonPost

- 
"Doonesbury's World:  Comic Creator Trudeau Gives Rare Interview." ... "Frank Sinatra once called him "funny as a tumor," but the success of cartoonist and political satirist Garry Trudeau tells a different story." ..."Trudeau's Pulitzer Prize-winning comic strip Doonesbury, first penned in 1970, is found in more than 1,400 newspapers worldwide and fills nearly 60 published collections. Along the way, it inspired ventures into film, Broadway and television. It gained Trudeau Academy Award and Drama Desk Award nominations, as well as the Cannes Special Jury Prize." -ABCNEWS.com

-  -  - 
"CIA Target: Americans:  Officials: U.S. Citizens Working for Al Qaeda Can Be Killed in CIA Actions." ... "American citizens working for al Qaeda overseas can legally be targeted and killed by the CIA under President Bush's rules for the war on terrorism, U.S. officials say." ... "The authority to kill U.S. citizens is granted under a secret finding signed by the president after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks that directs the CIA to covertly attack al Qaeda anywhere in the world. The authority makes no exception for Americans, so permission to strike them is understood rather than specifically described, officials said." ... "Previously, the government's authority to kill a citizen outside of the judicial process has been generally restricted to when the American is directly threatening the lives of other Americans or their allies." -By John J. Lumpkin -AP via -ABCNEWS.com

-TIA: Total Information Awareness -  -  - Law Enforcement News
"Why the Pentagon will watch where you shop:  New Total Information Awareness project will sniff company databases for terrorists." ... "Should Uncle Sam know as much about you as MasterCard does?" ... "In essence, that may be the key question posed by the Pentagon's new Total Information Awareness (TIA) project." ... "This effort - whose Latin motto [Scientia Est Potentia] translates as "knowledge is power" - aims to create huge databases that sift through the purchases, travel, immigration status, income, and other data of hundreds of millions of Americans. Its purpose: to sniff out the terrorists among us." ... ""There are three parts to the TIA project," says Edward Aldridge, undersecretary of Defense for acquisition, technology, and logistics." ... "The first part of the technology is voice recognition, which would include sifting through electronically recorded transmissions and provide rapid translations of foreign languages." ... "The second part is to develop a tool that would discover connections between transactions, such as passports, airline tickets, rental cars, gun or chemical purchases, as well as arrests and other suspicious activities." ... "And the third part is collaborative - a mechanism to allow information-and analysis-sharing among agencies." ... ""If [the testing] proves useful," Mr. Aldridge says, "TIA will then be turned over to the intelligence, counterintelligence, and law enforcement communities as a tool to help them in their battle against domestic terrorism."" -By Faye Bowers and Peter Grier -CSMonitor/buy

- 
"Why Are These Men Laughing?  Excerpts from our newsmaking story on Karl Rove, politics, and policy in the Bush administration." ... "" -By Ron Suskind -Esquire

OPINION

- 
"Ex-Official Blasts White House." ... "The former head of President Bush's faith-based office charged in a magazine article released yesterday that the administration's domestic policies are determined entirely by political considerations, with "everything" being run by the office of senior adviser Karl C. Rove." ... "John J. DiIulio Jr., a Democrat who resigned last year as the first director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, is one of only a few officials who have left Bush's senior staff since his inauguration, and the only one who has publicly attacked his colleagues." -By Mike Allen-WashingtonPost

- 
"Iraqi 'compliance' doubted." ... "President Bush said Monday that early signs of Iraq's compliance with United Nations arms inspections "are not encouraging" and warned that Baghdad must submit a "full and accurate" account of its weapons of mass destruction by week's end." ... "But the strong rhetoric also reflects U.S. officials' private concern about the perception that Iraq has largely cooperated with the initial five days of inspections. A chief administration worry: Even the appearance that Iraq is meeting its responsibilities could unravel the international will to use force to disarm Saddam." -By Bill Nichols -USATODAY

-  -  - 
"Antiwar Effort Gains Momentum:  Growing Peace Movement's Ranks Include Some Unlikely Allies." ... "... [Daphne] Reed fretted over the particular suffering that would befall Iraqi women; their sons and husbands would be killed, she said, and the women would be left in the rubble to fend off contaminated water and starvation." ... ""I said that all mothers should automatically be against war," Reed said. "It was against their nature to be violent instead of nurturing." Maybe, she said, it was time to start a movement -- Mothers Against War." ... "Most members of Mothers Against War are grandmothers in their seventies whose lives are already full. Yet they spend hours a day on the Internet, reading and spreading information on Iraq and the United States and planning for marches, e-mail campaigns and teach-ins." -By Evelyn Nieves-WashingtonPost

-
"U.S. quietly prepares to negotiate with N. Korea." ... "Despite North Korea's open breach of its promise to stop pursuing nuclear weapons, the Bush administration is quietly paving the way for negotiations that might give the reclusive country oil, food or other aid in exchange for verifiable shutdown of its bomb facilities." ... "... State Department officials said verification schemes are already being prepared by the Verification and Compliance Bureau in the office of John Bolton, the undersecretary for arms control." ... "Powell said officials from the Department of Energy and the International Atomic Energy Agency are already monitoring a North Korean nuclear facility that had produced plutonium." -By Barbara Slavin -USATODAY

- -  - 
"Russia and China urge Korea thaw." ... "Russia and China have urged the United States and North Korea to normalise diplomatic relations, and called for the Korean peninsula to be kept free of nuclear weapons." ... "The call came in a joint declaration by the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, and his Chinese counterpart, Jiang Zemin, who have been meeting in Beijing." ... "Mr Putin is in China on the first stop of an Asia tour, during which he became the first major world leader to meet Hu Jintao, who recently took over as leader of China's Communist Party."-BBC/News

-  -
"China and Russia hope for influence." ... "The joint declaration signed by Russia and China covers a huge swathe of international affairs, from North Korea to Iraq to the war against terror." ... "Last year total Sino-Russian trade amounted to just $10 billion." ... "That is a mere fraction of the $100 billion in trade China does each year with the United States." -By Rupert Wingfield-Hayes -BBC/News

-  - 
"Military space programs face delays:  Officials say defense programs are over budget, ‘in trouble’" ... "Senior military and defense-industry officials are acknowledging that most of the nation’s largest military-space programs —including the satellites needed to construct an elaborate missile-defense shield over the U.S. —are behind schedule and over budget." ... "Among the space programs experiencing problems are the two satellite systems needed to deploy a ground-based missile-defense system: both have been restructured this year after delays related to design and integration issues. The National Reconnaissance Office’s next-generation spy satellites, known as Future Imagery Architecture, are more than a year delayed and almost $3 billion over cost, spurring an internal Pentagon debate about whether to proceed with the program at all, say people familiar with the discussions." -By Anne Marie Squeo -WSJ.com via  -MSNBC

-  - 
"Two freed in Kenya attack probe." ... "On Friday, police found two launchers and two unused surface-to-air missiles less than a quarter mile from the end of the runway where the Arkia Boeing 757 narrowly escaped being shot down as it took off." ... "Israeli intelligence sources said the missiles used in the attack were "almost certainly SA-7s, or Strela missiles."" ... "Israel's Mossad spy agency, which has a long record of hunting terror suspects, is leading the investigation into the twin attacks on Israeli tourists in Kenya." -CNN /World /Asia

- 
"'No al-Qaeda link' to Kenya detainees." ... "No connection has yet been established between 12 people detained over attacks on Israeli targets in the Kenyan city of Mombasa and the al-Qaeda network, Kenyan authorities say." ... "United States officials have said they believe a Somali-based Islamic group may have carried out the bombing, which was immediately preceded by a failed missile attack on a nearby Israeli plane." ... "The officials say the group, Al-Ittihad al-Islamiya (AIAI), also known as the Islamic Union, is a prominent militant organisation in the Horn of Africa with links to Osama Bin Laden's al-Qaeda network." ... "A previously unknown group called the Army of Palestine earlier claimed responsibility for the attacks." ... "But US officials are focusing attention on AIAI because of its suspected al-Qaeda links and presence in Kenya." -BBC/News

"United shares nose dive as bankruptcy looms." ... "Shares in United parent UAL Corp. plunged $1.12, or 31 percent, to close at $2.51 in heavy trading on the New York Stock Exchange. The stock has lost 92 percent of its value since before the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001." ... "United, the world's second-largest airline, has been struggling since the attacks to reverse multimillion-dollar losses each day. The carrier has reduced service and laid off 20,000 workers in the face of a weak economy and sharply-reduced spending by business travelers." -By Dave Carpenter -AP via -SeattlePI.NWsource

- 
"Bankruptcy 'inevitable' for United:  Mechanics reject pay concessions; airline, union in last-minute talks." ... "Securing an agreement with District 141-M, which represents 13,000 mechanics and other employees, coupled with similar pacts with pilots, flight attendants, nonunionized workers and others, is a key part of a projected $5.2 billion in wage concessions that United hopes will allow it to avoid filing for Chapter 11." ... "Reducing labor costs is considered to be a crucial part of United's application for a $1.8 billion federal loan guarantee from the Air Transportation Stabilization Board. The board's ruling is expected any day, perhaps as early as Monday, the due date for United to repay $375 million in debt. UAL has up to 10 additional working days to repay the debt, which could push the payment deadline back to Dec. 16 and give the company more room to maneuver." -David Armstrong -SFGate.com

- Thanksgiving
"Marines Celebrate Thanksgiving in Kuwait:  Marines Make Their Own Thanksgiving in the Deserts of Kuwait." ... "As the United States prepares for a possible war with Iraq, the Marines have established Camp Commando on the edge of a Kuwaiti military base to act as their command headquarters. From here, they will be able to control the tens of thousands of Marines who could arrive in Kuwait." ... "A few weeks ago, the base was virtually sand." ... "For these soldiers mostly from the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, based in Camp Pendleton, Calif. it was yet another Thanksgiving away from home." -AP via -ABCNEWS.com

- Thanksgiving
"The first Thanksgiving:  In the fall of 1621, 90 Wampanoag Indians and 52 English colonists gathered for a three-day harvest feast. How did Americans get from that celebration to the Thanksgiving 'traditions' we observe today?" ... "Everyone knows about the Pilgrims and the Indians, right? How the two groups gathered peacefully in Plymouth, Mass., to feast on juicy turkeys and colorful pumpkin pies." ... "The trouble is, almost everything we've been taught about the first Thanksgiving in 1621 is a myth. The holiday has two distinct histories - the actual one and a romanticized portrayal." ... "... Everything historians know today is based on two passages written by colonists." -By Elizabeth Armstrong  -CSMonitor

- 
"President signs bill to establish independent Sept. 11 probe, names Kissinger as its head." ... "The commission has a broad mandate, building on the limited joint inquiry conducted by the House and Senate intelligence committees. The independent panel will have 18 months to examine issues such as aviation security and border problems, along with intelligence." ... "However, Bush did not set as a primary goal for the commission to uncover mistakes or lapses of the government that could have prevented the Sept. 11 attacks. Instead, he said it should try to help the administration learn the tactics and motives of the enemy." -AP via -USATODAY

- 
"U.N. inspectors complete surprise visits at two sites in Iraq." ... "International arms monitors searched a military missile-testing range and a state factory outside Baghdad Wednesday, starting a new round of inspections that could determine the future of peace in the Middle East." ... "Inspectors did not immediately disclose their findings." ... "On the basis of satellite photos, U.S. intelligence analysts have suggested that a new, square, steel-girder stand for holding and testing missile engines at al-Rafah might be used for missiles larger than allowed under U.N. resolutions. Iraq is forbidden to develop missiles over 90 miles in range." -AP via -USATODAY

"Big business funding shift aids GOP:  Tradition of bankrolling both major parties falls by wayside." ... "Major industries such as accounting, aerospace, commercial banking, defense, HMOs and pharmaceuticals have abandoned their tradition of bipartisan campaign contributions in favor of a commitment to the GOP, a trend that could deepen the problems of a Democratic Party rocked by this month’s elections." -By Thomas B. Edsall -WashingtonPost  via  -MSNBC

-  - 
"Nigerian state issues death threat on Miss World journalist." ... "A Nigerian state has ordered Muslims to kill a journalist whose report on the Miss World contest led to riots in which 200 people died." ... "An Islamic fatwa has been decreed against Isioma Daniel, whose article in the This Day newspaper suggested that if the prophet Mohammed were alive today, he would have wanted to marry one of the Miss World contestants." ... "Violence erupted in Nigeria last week when the article angered Muslim fundamentalists." ... "Estimates suggest that besides the 200 people killed, 1,200 have been hospitalised and 12,000 made homeless as a result of the riots." -By Julia Day -Guardian.co.uk /media

- 
"U.N. Monitor Says Iraqis Are Denying Having Arms Cache." ... "Iraqi officials have told United Nations inspectors in Baghdad that they have no weapons of mass destruction and expressed reservations about inspections of President Saddam Hussein's palaces, Hans Blix, one of the inspections chiefs, said here today." ... "Briefing the Security Council, Mr. Blix said Iraqi officials had pledged to cooperate fully with the inspections, but had also raised a host of skeptical questions about a declaration of chemical, biological and nuclear weapons due on Dec. 8." (1, 2) -By Julia Preston -NYTimes via  -AltaVista-News

-  - "Global goofs: U.S. youth can't find Iraq:  Young Americans may soon have to fight a war in Iraq, but most of them can't even find that country on a map, the National Geographic Society said Wednesday." ... "The society survey found that only about one in seven -- 13 percent -- of Americans between the age of 18 and 24, the prime age for military warriors, could find Iraq. The score was the same for Iran, an Iraqi neighbor."

- Bali bombings
"'Suicide bomber detonated one Bali blast'" ... "The alleged mastermind of last month's Bali bombing on Friday confessed to planning and staging the attack and revealed that one of the two bombs used in the attack was detonated by a suicide bomber." ... "Imam Samudra, who was arrested late on Thursday while trying to board a ferry in the west Java port of Merak, told investigators on Friday that he had planned the attack in an attempt to engage Jihad in Indonesia, police said." -By Shawn Donnan in Jakarta -FT.com

-  - "Pakistan gets new speaker." ... "After intense lobbying and uncertainty, Pakistan's political future is now becoming clearer with a candidate from the pro-government Pakistan Muslim League securing the post of speaker in the newly reconvened national assembly." ... "The League's candidate, Chaudhry Amir Hussain -- a supporter of military President Pervez Musharraf -- received 167 out of 327 votes polled, far higher than his main rival from a coalition of Islamic parties." ... "Parliament opened on Saturday -- the first time since a blodless coup in October 1999 installed Musharraf as leader." -CNN /World /Asia

- 
"Power of Positive Thinking Extends, It Seems, to Aging." ... "Do happy people live longer? A growing body of evidence suggests they may. Recent studies have correlated long life with optimism, with positive thinking, and with a lack of hostility, anxiety and depression." ... "One thing that remains unclear, however, is whether happiness can actually cause longevity. Perhaps happy people live longer because they practice healthy behaviors, or for some other unknown reason." ... "The second open question is: What, if anything, can unhappy people do about it?" (1, 2) -By Mary Duenwald -NYTimes via  -Moreover

- Osama bin Laden
"Bin Laden Tape Authentic, U.S. Intelligence Officials Say." ... "Linguists at the National Security Agency who have been assigned for many years to study bin Laden's voice and analyze tape recordings and intercepts of his suspected conversations have no doubt it is the voice of al Qaeda's leader. But the quality of the tape, in which bin Laden is believed to be speaking into a telephone that is near a tape recorder's microphone, is not good enough to allow a 100 percent certainty that it is him, a U.S. intelligence official said." -By Dana Priest and Susan Schmidt -WashingtonPost

-  -  - "A year after Taliban, little change:  The US pledged more aid to Kabul, but Iraq may distract from rebuilding efforts." ... ""The situation in Iraq has done no good whatsoever for the situation in Afghanistan," says Charles Heyman, a defense analyst and editor of Jane's World Armies in London, referring to a waning interest in solving the problems of this war-tattered nation. "Afghanistan is beginning to be put in the 'too-difficult' box."" ... "Instead, the country's competing ethnic groups, the enduring power of local warlords, and a reluctance on the part of participating nations to expand the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) beyond the capital has led to an approach Mr. Heyman defines as "covering over some patches when its possible, until anyone has some time to sort it out properly."" -By Ilene R. Prusher  -CSMonitor

- 
"Will Iraqi troops collapse or fight?  Elite forces are expected to show resolve, but ordinary troops may quickly lay down arms." ... "One of the most unpredictable elements of a possible US-led war against Iraq is how much resistance the 420,000-strong Iraqi military would mount against a better-trained and better-equipped American and allied force." ... "Top Pentagon officials, hopeful of swift victory, suggest that the bulk of Iraqi soldiers would be unlikely to defend the government for long -if at all. They cite the example of the 1991 Gulf War, when some 70,000 Iraqi troops laid down their arms during the first three or four days." ... "Nevertheless, elite Republican Guard units and security forces assigned to defend Baghdad and protect Iraqi President Saddam Hussein may put up greater resistance." -By Ann Scott Tyson  -CSMonitor

- 
[PDF] - "Iraq: A strategic look. Iraq 101." 572k PDF via -CSMonitor

- 
"North Korea revises confusing nuclear report." ... "North Korea on Monday retracted a controversial weekend radio broadcast that confused and alarmed its neighbours by appearing to confirm for the first time the reclusive communist state has nuclear weapons." ... "... on Monday, the Korean Central Broadcasting Station (KCBS) stated that North Korea believed it was "entitled" to have nuclear arms -- a revision that was likely to ease some concern, but nonetheless puts Pyongyang at odds with the United States and allies Japan and South Korea. " -By Paul Eckert -Reuters/Asia

-
"Nameless Juries Are on the Rise in Crime Cases." ... "It has gained support from prosecutors, the courts and some legal experts. No longer is the rationale simply that jurors must be shielded from threats of retaliation. Supporters argue that anonymity protects jurors from being badgered by reporters after their verdicts, and makes them feel more comfortable about serving." ... "Critics, including defense lawyers and civil libertarians, say the practice erodes the presumption of innocence before the trial begins. Lawyers for news organizations add that the inability to interview jurors after trials makes juries less accountable." (1, 2) -By Adam Liptak -NYTimes via -AltaVista-News

- OPINION - 
"New York Times suggests Tiger Woods skip Augusta." ... "The Times said that if Augusta National "can brazenly discriminate against women, that means others can choose not to support Mr. Johnson's golfing fraternity. That includes more enlightened members of the club, CBS Sports, which televises the Masters, and the players, especially Tiger Woods."" ... "The editorial said Sanford I. Weill, the chief executive of Citigroup, and Kenneth Chenault, chairman of American Express, should "lead the way" for other prominent members and resign from the club."  -SFGate.com

-  - "Skepticism over N. Korea nuclear claims:  Reports from North Korea that the reclusive nation has developed nuclear weapons are being met with confusion and skepticism." ... "North Korea's Pyongyang Radio said Sunday the country "has come to have nuclear and other strong military weapons to deal with increased nuclear threats by the U.S. imperialists," according to the Yonhap news agency which monitors North Korean broadcasts." -CNN

- 
"Shields for vaccine makers weighed:  Bush administration already offers it in war on terrorism." ... "While senators debate shielding childhood vaccine makers from lawsuits, the Bush administration already has provided such protection for at least two vaccines key to the war on terrorism —smallpox and anthrax." -AP via  -MSNBC

-  - 
"Penn. bill to require pledge in schools:  Students in private and public schools would be required to recite the Pledge of Allegiance or sing the national anthem each morning under a bill unanimously passed this week by the state Senate." -AP via -CNN

- 
"White House Denies Assertions on Preoccupation With Iraq." ... "The White House disagreed sharply today with assertions by senior Democratic senators that the campaign against terrorism is lagging and that a preoccupation with Iraq is one of the reasons." ... ""We have locked up or detained or eliminated important Al Qaeda leaders," Condoleezza Rice, President Bush's national security adviser, said at a news briefing." ... ""We have eliminated their base in Afghanistan, so they cannot operate in the way that they have in the past. We have strengthened the resolve and the capacity of countries like Yemen and the Philippines and countries in Africa to deal with this threat. A lot has been done."" ... "Dr. Rice noted that Mr. Bush has said repeatedly that the campaign will be a long one. "It took a while for them to lodge themselves in 60 countries around the world, including the United States," she said. "It's going to take a while to break them up."" (1, 2) -NYTimes via  -Google-News

- Law Enforcement News
"FBI warns of risk of al-Qaida attack." ... "Two days after intelligence experts said an audiotaped threat indicated terror mastermind Osama bin Laden was still alive, the FBI has warned that al-Qaida is likely to attempt a “spectacular” attack intended to inflict large-scale casualties and damage the U.S. economy. The warning was unusual because of its dire language, but NBC’s Pete Williams reported that the alert was not based on any new alarming information, and officials described it as the latest in a regular series of warnings it sends out to local law enforcement officers." ... "The FBI law enforcement bulletin circulated Thursday to officials nationwide contains no information about the timing, location or method of a possible attack." -MSNBC

"Guides: Directories - Directory: Guide News: Pathfinder Meta Directory of Subject Categorized Pathfinders & Hierarchy Trees of Internet Resources." The /guides page has been substantially updated with descriptive annotations of current useful guides including: 911 News Resource Meta Index - Archive.org- Argus - BUBL /LINK - dmoz - Environment -FAQs - FindLaw - Google>Directory >Groups - HardinMD - IPL - LII - LookSmart - MiningCo/About- RDN.ac.uk - RefDesk - ScoutReport -VLib  - WebRing - Yahoo.

- Accounting News
"Glossary of [Accounting] Terms, Acronyms, and Abbreviations."-   | A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | V | W | X | Y | Z | Quick Ref | -AICPA.org

-  - -
"USDA Orders Prodigene Biocorn Destroyed in Iowa." ... "A small biotech company experimenting with a corn variety engineered to produce insulin was ordered to destroy 155 acres of the crop in Iowa because it may have contaminated nearby fields, the U.S. Agriculture Department said on Thursday." ... "A growing number of U.S. companies are experimenting with biotech corn to produce cheaper proteins and compounds for use in pharmaceuticals. ProdiGene's biotech corn grown for pharmaceutical use is not federally approved for human or livestock feed." ... "The USDA, along with the Food and Drug Administration, is trying to determine if the Texas-based company violated any federal regulations. ProdiGene could face fines of up to $500,000 for each violation." -By Randy Fabi -Reuters/Politics

-  -  - 
"Biotech Firm Mishandled Corn in Iowa." ... "The biotechnology company that mishandled gene-altered corn in Nebraska did the same thing in Iowa, the government disclosed yesterday." ... "The disclosure raised new questions about the conduct of ProdiGene Inc., a company in College Station, Tex., that is now under investigation for allegedly violating government permits in two states. The ProdiGene matter is proving to be a black eye for the biotech industry, which has been trying to reassure the public it can be trusted not to contaminate the food supply." -By Justin Gillis -WashingtonPost

- Osama bin Laden
"As New Tape Is Evaluated, Bush Calls Qaeda Threat Real." ... "The White House has been told that government linguistics experts believe the voice on a new audiotape praising recent terror attacks and broadcast on Arab television is Osama bin Laden's, administration officials said today [20021113]." ... "Both the Central Intelligence Agency and the National Security Agency were carefully scrutinizing the tape, which was first broadcast on Al Jazeera, the satellite television channel based in Qatar, on Tuesday. Officials said that although it was being subjected to digital analysis, it was of such poor quality that experts would probably be unable to determine its authenticity conclusively. Even so, specialists were conducting still more comprehensive tests." -By James Risen with Judith Miller -NYTimes via  -AltaVista-News

Accounting News Page added.

- Microsoft News -  - 
"Briton Indicted as Hacker:  Entry to U.S. Military Systems Called Biggest Ever Detected." ... "An unemployed British computer system administrator was indicted yesterday in Alexandria and New Jersey on eight counts of computer fraud for alleging [sic] penetrating about 100 U.S. government computers, shutting down networks and corrupting data in what U.S. Attorney Paul J. McNulty called "the biggest hack of military computers ever detected."" ... "From February 2001 to March 2002, two federal grand juries alleged, Gary McKinnon, 36, of London, exploited a known security problem with Microsoft Windows NT and Windows 2000 to break into 92 computers at NASA, the Pentagon, and more than a dozen military installations in 14 states." -By Brooke A. Masters-WashingtonPost >TechNews

"Deal set on homeland department." ... "Officials said the Republican-controlled House was likely to pass the homeland security measure sometime Wednesday. The Senate, currently controlled by Democrats, is expected to begin debate, although final passage could be delayed into next week." ... "Passage had been held up because of a fight between Bush and Senate Democrats over provisions of the legislation dealing with worker rights. Bush insisted that broad powers were needed to manage the 170,000-employee agency and that he needed relief from some civil service rules covering labor issues."  -AP via  -USATODAY

- Osama bin Laden
"Experts scrutinize bin Laden message." ... "U.S. intelligence experts scrutinized a recorded message reportedly from terror mastermind Osama bin Laden on Wednesday, the first evidence in a year that the elusive leader of the al-Qaida terrorist network is still alive. Although CIA analysis was not yet complete, U.S. officials told NBC News that the voice on the audiotape, which praises recent attacks, is that of bin Laden. “It’s him,” a senior official said." ... "Steve Emerson, a terrorism expert, told NBC’s “Today” show Wednesday that “the voice is very similar.” Emerson described the detailed tests CIA voice analysts are conducting on the recording as “sort of like a DNA check of somebody’s tissue. They’re going to determine with 100 percent certainty whether it’s his (voice), and I think it is.”" -MS-NBC

-  - Accounting News
"White House narrows SEC chief hunt:  Quick decision needed to restore investor confidence, experts say." ... "Even as high-profile cases against companies like WorldCom and Enron continue to be investigated by SEC lawyers, the political fallout surrounding Pitt is affecting the overall mission and charge of the agency." ... "Among those most closely keeping an eye on who Pitt’s replacement will be are those in the accounting industry. Accounting lobbyists furiously lobbied against the nomination of reformist John Biggs to head the independent accounting oversight board and instead pressed Pitt to nominate William Webster, former head of the F.B.I. instead." ... "Now Webster is also resigning amid allegations about his role as the head of the audit board of U.S. Technologies, a company that later discovered to be racked with accounting problems that Webster himself acknowledges he was made aware of at the time." -By Brock N. Meeks -MSNBC

- Comics / Links - 
"Spider-Man creator sues Marvel:  Stan Lee says he’s being cheated out of movie profits." ... "The creative force behind Spider-Man, the Incredible Hulk and the X-Men filed a $10 million lawsuit Tuesday, charging his old comic book company is cheating him out of millions of dollars in movie profits." ... "Marvel has reported millions of dollars in earnings from the film but has told Lee the company has seen no “profits” as defined by their contract."  -Reuters via  -MSNBC

- Comics / Links - 
Discussion - "Stan Lee Sues Marvel Comics." -Slashdot

"Webster resigns from accounting oversight position:  After controversial appointment, ex-FBI director held position for 18 days." ... "Former FBI Director William Webster resigned Tuesday as head of a special accounting oversight board, saying he wanted to avert “new distractions” as the congressionally created agency seeks to rebuild public confidence after a series of business scandals." ... "Webster, who also once headed the CIA, announced his resignation in a letter to Pitt, who has remained in office pending the naming of a replacement. Pitt quit earlier following a flap over his apparent failure to inform fellow SEC commissioners that Webster had headed the audit committee of a company under investigation for fraud." -AP via  -MSNBC

- "Iraq Inspections Receive Approval From Arab League." ... "Arab governments voiced collective support today for new weapons inspections inside Iraq, although they want Arab experts added to the inspection teams and warned that the latest United Nations resolution should not be considered a free pass for Washington to invade." ... "The support, expressed in a resolution at a meeting of Arab League foreign ministers in Cairo, suggests that most governments in the region remain perfectly happy to see Saddam Hussein defanged, political experts said, yet fear the repercussions of another war in the region." ... "Worst-case scenarios in the region have raised fears that the United States could redraw the map of the region, much the way the secret Sykes-Picot pact by Britain and France did early in the last century, although calmer heads reject such an outcome." (1, 2) -By Neil MacFarquhar -NYTimes via -AltaVista-News

-  - Law Enforcement News - Bali bombings
"Bali Suspect Said Student of Cleric Prime Suspect in Bali:  Bombings Studied Under Militant Muslim Cleric, Investigator Says." ... "A top investigator on Monday said the prime suspect in the Bali bombings studied under a detained Muslim cleric who heads the group that foreign intelligence services blame for the attack." ... "Police have been trying to establish a link between Amrozi and Abu Bakar Bashir, the spiritual leader of the Jemaah Islamiyah organization, since they arrested Amrozi last week." ... "Bashir is currently detained for a series of church bombings in 2000. He has not been named a suspect in the Bali blasts."  -AP via  -ABCNEWS.com

Law Enforcement News - Bali bombings

- TIA: Total Information Awareness - 
Discussion - "Search Warrant Not Reuired." -LawMeme

- UPS News
"United Parcel raises rates by up to 3.9%." ... "United Parcel will boost prices Jan. 6 for ground shipments to businesses, its largest market, by 3.9 percent." ... "United Parcel shares rose 73 cents to $62.34 yesterday in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The stock has risen 14 percent this year." -Bloomberg via  -SeattlePI.NWsource

-  - 
"Clock Ticks for Hussein After Security Council Vote." ... "By all accounts, United Nations inspectors will do very little inspecting and will base their appraisal of Iraqi cooperation on the accuracy of the "confession" that Mr. Hussein will have to make about the weapons projects whose existence he had denied and which administration officials have said he has been hiding in secret bunkers, underground caves and mobile laboratories." ... "But if Mr. Hussein fails to meet the detailed demands of the United Nations inspection force, or if his disclosures do not tally with information supplied to inspectors by American and other Western intelligence agencies, Mr. Bush made clear today that the United States would declare him in "material breach" of the Security Council resolution." (1, 2) -By Patrick E. Tyler -NYTimes via -AltaVista-News

-  - Microsoft News
"The Microsoft case: Antitrust overseers are named." ... "Microsoft yesterday established a committee of directors to make sure it obeys the law — a move mandated by a federal judge's Nov. 1 ruling in the company's antitrust case." ... "Meeting a requirement to set up the compliance committee, Microsoft appointed Harvard Business School professor James Cash to lead the group, which also includes Merck Chief Executive Raymond Gilmartin and former U.S. Labor Secretary Ann McLaughlin Korologos." -By Kim Peterson -SeattleTimes.NWsource

-  - Law Enforcement News - Bali bombings
"Americans were the target of Bali bombings, investigator says, citing key suspect." ... "The reported confession of an Indonesian man identified as Amrozi has prompted more arrests and linked the blasts to a fugitive, Riduan Isamudin, also known as Hambali, who has been tied to the Sept. 11 hijackers." ... "Blame for the attack is increasingly turning to Jemaah Islamiyah the al-Qaida linked terror group said to be seeking a pan-Islamic state in Southeast Asia." ... "Two security experts citing militant and intelligence sources said Friday that Jemaah Islamiyah leaders met in southern Thailand earlier this year and agreed to target tourist venues like the Bali nightclubs."" -By Steven Gutkin -AP via   -Boston/Globe

- 
"U.S. quietly builds up around Iraq:  Heavy equipment, 63,000 troops in position, awaiting word." ... "Throughout the region — from the Persian Gulf to the Horn of Africa to Central Asia — there are at least 63,000 U.S. troops." ... "While nearly 14,000 of those troops are focused on operations in Afghanistan, the bulk of those forces is in a position to participate should the decision be made to attack Iraq in the weeks or months ahead." ... "The USS Abraham Lincoln carrier battle group is in the area — and F14s and F/A18s are flying missions over southern Iraq as part of coalition patrols of no-fly zones." ... "Those jets — along with Air Force F16s flying from Kuwait — are striking Iraq’s air defenses in the south in response to the firing of Iraqi missiles or anti-aircraft guns at U.S. and British jets on patrol.." ... " ... by mid-December, four carrier battle groups could all be in striking distance of Iraq." -By Tammy Kupperman -MS-NBC

-  - 
"U.N. passes Iraq resolution on weapons inspections:  Bush: 'All nations must continue to pressure Saddam'" ... "The United Nations Security Council on Friday approved a resolution that demands unfettered access for U.N. inspectors to search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq." ... "All 15 member states of the Security Council voted in favor of the resolution." ... "Iraq has seven days to accept the resolution's terms." ... "Within 30 days, Iraq must send the U.N. a list of its weapons." ... "Within 45 days, Iraq must allow inspections to begin." ... "Iraq is accused of possessing weapons of mass destruction -- nuclear, biological, chemical -- in violation of the ceasefire treaty it signed when Baghdad lost the 1991 Persian Gulf War." -Report contributed to by Jane Arraf -CNN

"Page From Pearl Harbor:  Movie Special Effects May One Day Help Train U.S. Sailors." ... "Besides the perils of combat, sailors must be trained to deal with any danger that could threaten their ship — and lives of crew mates —anytime while at sea." ... "That means naval recruits have much to learn during their nine weeks of boot camp at the Naval Training Center (NTC) in Great Falls, Ill. And to really help cement that training into sailors, the Navy is looking for a bit of high-tech help from a special effects firm called i.d.e.a.s. — Innovation, Design, Entertainment, Art and Storytelling." ... "The Navy recently contracted i.d.e.a.s., based at (but independent from) the Walt Disney-MGM Studios in Orlando, Fla., to help plan for an advanced virtual reality training and testing "update" called Battle Stations 21." -By Paul Eng -ABCNEWS.com

- 
"Wi-Fi, Heading for Air Supremacy." ... "It turns out wireless networking start-ups are hot these days. Really hot. Silicon Valley's high rollers are throwing what little money they have left at wireless entrepreneurs...." ... "There is no shortage of entrepreneurs to back. Vivato, a San Francisco start-up, announced this week it has developed an antenna system that boosts the signal strength of Wi-Fi radio beams by focusing them more narrowly. Vivato claims its antennas can expand the range of Wi-Fi signals from a few hundred feet to 2,000 feet indoors and four miles outside." -By Leslie Walker -WashingtonPost >TechNews

-  -  -  - 
"US, France agree on new Iraq resolution. " ... "The U.N. Security Council set the vote for 10 a.m. EST after the United States and its cosponsor Britain, at French urging, changed the wording in a key provision that would declare Iraq in "material breach" of its U.N. obligations." ... "The change addresses concerns by France, Russia, Syria and others that the original text would have let the United States determine on its own whether Iraq had committed an infraction." -By Edith M. Lederer -AP via  -Boston/Globe

-  - Bali bombings - Law Enforcement
"Van owner 'confesses' to planting Bali bomb." ... "Indonesian police say a suspect has confessed during interrogation to being part of a group that planted the Bali nightclub bomb that killed more than 180 people." ... "National Police Chief Da'i Bachtiar said the man, named only as Amrozi, told interrogators that he was involved in planting a bomb in a minivan used in the October 12 attack on the Sari Club in the resort town of Kuta." ... "The massive blast caused by the car bomb was one of three coordinated explosions which investigators say were designed to inflict maximum casualties." -CNN

- 
"Big Cable's Package-Pricing Ploy:  Consumers could be saving money by selecting their premium channels a la carte, but don't expect to hear it from your cable outfit." ... "... a federal rule took effect in early October, 2002, that could let savvy cable customers cut their monthly bills in half." ... "The rule, a provision of the 1992 Cable Act, says cable operators can no longer require subscribers to buy multitier packages of programming to get pay-per-view events and premium channels, such as as HBO, Starz, and Showtime."  -BusinessWeek

- 
"Harvey Pitt resigns as SEC chief." ... "Securities and Exchange Commission chairman Harvey Pitt stepped down late Tuesday, bringing a stunning end to his tumultuous 15-month reign as the nation's top securities regulator amid still-unfolding financial scandals." ... "Although Pitt got caught in numerous public-relations flaps during his tenure, his resignation stems directly from his handling of the appointment of former FBI director William Webster to head a new five-member panel charged with overseeing the accounting industry." ... "Webster's selection was controversial because he was chosen over a candidate opposed by the accounting industry. At a contentious Oct. 25 hearing, Pitt and the two other Republican commissioners voted for Webster and the two Democrats voted against him." -By Greg Farrell -USATODAY

"Resignation letter from Harvey Pitt:  Text of the resignation letter from Harvey Pitt, chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, to President Bush." -Via  -USATODAY

-  - ELECTION 2002
"Two-term Democrat is a first in 30 years." ... "Iowa voters gave Gov. Tom Vilsack a second four-year term Tuesday night, choosing the Democratic incumbent over Republican candidate Doug Gross." ... "Vilsack, who became Iowa's first Democratic governor in more than three decades with his election four years ago, gained a new distinction with his victory Tuesday night. Eight years at the helm of state government will make him Iowa's longest-serving Democratic governor. Harold Hughes, the last Democrat to occupy the governor's office, served six years in the 1960s. Branstad held office longer than any other Iowa governor: 16 years." ... "Among the 39 people who have held the governorship since Iowa became a state in 1846, only nine have been Democrats." -By Jonathan Roos  -DesMoinesRegister/News

- ELECTION 2002
"GOP in Control:  Energy, Taxes and Judges Top List of Priorities for Republicans." ... "Now, with the GOP making gains in the House and taking a slight edge in the Senate, Bush is likely to be able to move ahead with an agenda that includes making deeper cuts in taxes, an energy bill that could see more national parks opened up to oil exploration and logging, and a slate of conservative judges whose appointments have been blocked." ... "The only area where Bush might face a challenge from the party he carried to victory is his proposal to privatize Social Security, a plan that lost a lot of its popularity in the collapse of the stock market that saw many Americans take a hard hit to their retirement hopes."  -ABCNEWS.com

- -ELECTION 2002
"Media rely on 'real votes' to project winners." ... "Voter News Service, the media consortium whose flawed data led to erroneous projections on Election Night 2000, withheld results from national and state exit polls Tuesday because it could not guarantee their accuracy." ... "Exit polls survey voters after they leave polling places. Without them, television networks had to rely on vote counts to project winners in congressional and gubernatorial elections." ... "Voter News Service (VNS) said the problems with the exit polls lay in the software that crunches information from questionnaires filled out by voters." ... ""If you see a number that looks suspicious to you, you check it out. If the process is not calculating every element properly, you have to adjust or you have to fix the program," VNS executive director Ted Savaglio said. "We saw things that we didn't like, and we just didn't feel we could publish the poll."" -By Martha T. Moore with contributions from Charisse Jones -USATODAY

- ELECTION 2002
"GOP reclaims control of Congress." ... "GOP control of the Senate was assured with former U.S. Rep. James Talent's early morning victory over incumbent Missouri Senator Jean Carnahan. Carnahan conceded defeat shortly after 2 a.m." ... "A handful Senate races remained in play early Wednesday, but none offered Democrats an opportunity to upset the emerging balance of power in the Senate." ... "With the polls closed across the country, two races were too close to call. In South Dakota, Democratic Sen. Tim Johnson battled Rep. John Thune. In Minnesota, former Vice President Walter F. Mondale ran against Norm Coleman." -USATODAY

- ELECTION 2002
"GOP candidates ride presidential coattails in midterm triumphs." ... "A president's party must run against history in midterm elections, but Republicans beat the odds in Tuesday's voting, strengthening their House majority and bidding to seize control of the Senate. Democrats grudgingly credited President Bush's aggressive campaigning for results that could provide him considerable political swagger." ... "He raised more than $140 million for GOP candidates, a record for presidential fund-raising, and visited more than 30 states this election year. In the last five days alone, Bush campaigned for two dozen candidates; 19 of those races were final early Wednesday morning and, of those, Republicans won 17." -AP via -USATODAY

- ELECTION 2002
"Voters face range of ballot measures:  Initiatives include medical marijuana, crating pigs, tax issues." ... "While Washington's attention focuses on key congressional races and contests for governor, ballot measures have a direct impact on how U.S. society is run and often presage future national political debates." ... "The more than 200 state initiatives on Tuesday’s ballot focus on everything from animal rights and drug policy to health care and education — with a few oddball measures thrown in to reflect the wide-ranging passions of the electorate."  -Reuters via  -MSNBC

-  - ELECTION 2002
"VNS Abandons National Exit Polls." ... "Voter News Service was forced to abandon state and national exit polls designed to help analyze Tuesday's midterm election results and also saw its vote-counting operation slow to a crawl." ... "The failures were a major setback for VNS - a consortium consisting of ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, Fox and The Associated Press. VNS had completely rebuilt its system in response to the 2000 election, when television networks twice used its information to make wrong calls in the decisive Florida vote for the presidency." ... "VNS said the exit poll information was being collected but not being properly analyzed by the organization's new computer system." ... "VNS had other problems: computer screens briefly froze when workers phoned in exit poll information, and more people than expected failed to call with completed questionnaires, Savaglio said." -By David Bauder  -AP via  -FindLaw/LegalNews

- 
"US hits Qaeda in Yemen:  Fires missile from spy plane, killing 6 in car." ... "A US missile fired from a [Predator] spy plane destroyed a car in a lawless stretch of northern Yemen Sunday, killing a senior Al Qaeda leader and five other members in the first American military strike against the terrorist group outside Afghanistan since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks." ... "The Hellfire missile was fired from a CIA-controlled, unmanned plane, according to US officials quoted by news agencies. The Yemeni news agency SABA said initial information indicated the dead included Ali Qaed Sinan al-Harithi, also known as Abu Ali." -By Anthony Shadid -Boston/Globe

- ELECTION 2002
"Evenly divided Senate offers plot twists:  Election may foster political tug of war." ... "Complicating the puzzle is the Louisiana Senate race, which may not be decided for another month, potentially setting up a one-shot campaign for control of the Senate." ... "Any Louisiana candidate who garners a majority of the vote today wins office, but a candidate who fails to crack 50 percent faces a Dec. 7 runoff against the second-place finisher. Unable to recruit a single powerful opponent against Senator Mary Landrieu, Republicans have fielded three candidates in an effort to keep the Democrat to a plurality and force her into a runoff." -By Robert Schlesinger -Boston/Globe

-  - ELECTION 2002
"Voting into the void:  New touch-screen voting machines may look spiffy, but some experts say they can't be trusted." ... "A fast-talking, fact-toting woman who can recount dozens of stories of voting machines going disastrously haywire, (computer science professor Rebecca) Mercuri goes into a region whose election has been held up and proceeds to hold forth. Mercuri tells everyone she can, from election judges to county supervisors to the local media, that the supposedly "state-of-the-art" machines they've all been sold are nothing but a "a bill of goods."" ... "Mercuri's chief complaint with the touch-screen system is that its inner workings are often a complete secret. When a voter touches the screen to make a choice, there is no confirmation that the machine has actually registered the correct selection. In the old punch-card and fill-in-the-circle paper systems, voters can see their choice marked on paper. And in the event of a recount, election officials can, as a last resort, manually count those slips of paper. Since the new electronic systems leave no paper trail, there's no chance of a recount." (1, 2, 3) -By Farhad Manjoo -Salon

- OPINION - ELECTION 2002
"Coping with Election 2002:  The only solution: Hold your nose, vote and then fight for reform." ... "Campaign 2002 saw some of the most vitriolic TV ads in recent memory. There was the ad in the Georgia senatorial race that sought to link war hero Max Cleland, who lost both legs and an arm in Vietnam, with mass murderers Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein because he had voted against some of President Bush's homeland security measures. And then there was Texas governor Rick Perry's just-this-side-of-slanderous attempt to smear his opponent, Tony Sanchez, with the blood of a DEA agent murdered by Mexican drug lords 17 years ago. "The Justice Department," the ad slimed, "said Sanchez had a choice: to cooperate with law enforcement or the drug dealers. Sanchez chose the drug dealers."" -By Arianna Huffington -Salon

- ELECTION 2002
"Closely Watched Polls:  Election Day Offers Tough Choices for Americans, Challenge for Bush." ... "Voters are heading to the polls today in a crucial midterm election that could swing control of the House and the Senate." ... "About the only certainty is that this Election Day will be a long one with votes being counted late into the night and some races possibly not being settled before Wednesday arrives. In fact, the Senate race in Louisiana may not be decided until December, because if none of the four candidates receives at least 50 percent plus one vote, it would put the decision in the hands of the state legislature."  -ABCNEWS.com

- "Ancient Egyptian library reborn in modern form:  Organizers hope to offer global access via Internet." ... "Some experts say the library's long-term goal of gathering and preserving all recorded human knowledge is next to impossible, given the expenses involved." ... ""We have, at best, maybe 2 percent of all human knowledge in digital form, and personally I think less," says Charley Seavey, an associate professor at the University of Missouri-Columbia School of Information Science and Learning Technologies. Mr. Seavey says it would take over $1 billion dollars to digitize just the 17 million books in the Library of Congress - and that doesn't include the 95 million other items in its collection or the cost of storing and retrieving this material." ... ""The biggest challenge is not technology," [Archive.org's Brewster] Kahle says. "It's a mind-set change – that now something is possible that wasn't possible before.""-By Sarah Gauch -CSMonitor

- ELECTION 2002
"Election 2002: Races to Watch:  Congressional control hangs in the balance as voters head to the polls Tuesday. What's at stake? And where are the closest races?" ... "The President has spent weeks on the road campaigning for Republican candidates, breaking fundraising records and helping to net a whopping $190 million for GOP races. Democrats, who've just begun to take advantage of Bill Clinton as a fundraiser, raised $130 million." -By Jessica Reaves -TIME.com

-ELECTION 2002
"Election 2002: Both parties press toward finish line:  More women governors a near certainty." ... "In tomorrow's elections voters will choose 435 voting members of the House, 34 members of the Senate and 36 governors. Before the death of Sen. Paul Wellstone, D-Minn., the Democrats held a one-seat edge in the Senate; Republicans hold a six-seat edge in the House. There are 21 Democratic governors and 27 Republicans; the other two are independents." -By Adam Nagourney -NYTimes via  -SeattlePI.NWsource

-  - Law Enforcement
"Interior Department Struggles to Upgrade Its Police Forces." ... "The Statue of Liberty, the Washington Monument, the Hoover Dam and half of the Alaska pipeline are all protected against terrorist attack and other threats by police forces that auditors have long described as ill trained, poorly managed, dysfunctional and, in some instances, corrupt." ... "The department has more than 4,300 officers in seven agencies, including the United States Park Police, the National Park Service and the Bureau of Land Management. They are responsible for protecting most of the nation's historic icons, like Mount Rushmore and the Washington Monument, some of which have been the target of terrorist threats in the last year. But few of the agencies have intelligence or terrorism offices, or the ability to gather crime and enforcement statistics." (1, 2) -By Joel Brinkley -NYTimes via  -Google-News

"Major Quake Rocks Remote Alaska, Pipeline Shut." ... "A major earthquake of 7.9 magnitude rocked a sparsely populated area of central Alaska on Sunday, causing some damage to roads but no deaths, the U.S. Geological Survey and state troopers said." ... "USGS spokeswoman Carolyn Bell said the epicenter of the quake was near the Denali National Park, about 75 miles south of Fairbanks and about 175 miles northeast of Anchorage. It occurred just after 1 p.m. (5:00 p.m. EST)." - By Yereth Rosen -Reuters via  -ABCNEWS.com

- "Conquering Cancer:  Despite a spate of setbacks in testing new cancer drugs for the broadest possible market, mysterious miracle cures are emerging in a few patients." [Forbes/Magazine20021111Cover Story: "Miracle Pill:  She was 18 and dying of lung cancer.  This pill saved her life--but failed to help almost everyone else.  Should it be approved?"] ... "Her options dwindling, she began taking Iressa, an experimental drug [Iressa] from AstraZeneca, in January of this year. Within a few months all of the remaining tumors had vanished." ... "But in one small trial the AstraZeneca drug didn't much help 90% of the cancer patients. Worse, Iressa failed to extend the lives of patients with lung cancer in two much larger tests involving over 2,000 people." ... "The problem is particularly complex. At least 200 defective genes play a role in causing cancer, and two dozen of them are the targets of over 500 experimental drugs now in development. In any one patient probably only 5 or 6 of the 200 genes are involved, and in the next patient a different mix of genes is at work. Yet drugmakers haven't figured out how to tell which particular bad genes are the driving force in an individual patient's case." (1, 2, 3, 4) -By Robert Langreth 20021111  -Forbes /Magazine

-  -  - Microsoft News
"Microsoft focus on Brussels after U.S. decision." ... "After a court victory for Microsoft in the United States, the battle now shifts to Europe where Competition Commissioner Mario Monti may soon impose his own set of sanctions against the software giant." ... "Monti will make a preliminary decision by the end of the year whether to act against Microsoft Corp ...  for allegedly abusing dominance in its Windows operating system." -By David Lawsky -Reuters via -Forbes

- 

"Age arises, indirectly, as an issue with races' newcomers." ... "Once they were young whippersnappers running against senior citizens. Now Walter Mondale and Frank Lautenberg, summoned by party leaders to keep the Senate in Democratic hands, are fending off suggestions that they are too old." ... "Nobody is actually using the words "too old" about New Jersey's Lautenberg, 78, and Minnesota's Mondale, 74. They say, "You can either move into the future or get stuck in the past," as Mondale's Republican opponent, Norm Coleman, put it this week in Minnesota. Or "Doug Forrester isn't a man for yesterday, he's a leader for tomorrow," as former New Jersey governor Tom Kean says in an advertisement for Lautenberg's GOP opponent." -By Jill Lawrence -USATODAY

- 
"SEC Chief Is Subject Of Probe:  Pitt Failed To Disclose Past Of Board Nominee." ... "The Securities and Exchange Commission ordered an investigation into the actions of its own chairman yesterday, after the agency's commissioners learned that Chairman Harvey L. Pitt failed to tell them that his choice to head a new accounting oversight board chaired the audit committee of a company being questioned about possible fraud." ... "Former FBI and CIA director William H. Webster told Pitt about his association with Washington-based U.S. Technologies Inc. more than a week before the SEC approved Webster by a 3 to 2 party-line vote last Friday. The new board, intended to restore investor confidence, was created by legislation passed after accounting scandals at Enron Corp., WorldCom Inc. and several other major companies cost investors and employees billions of dollars." -By Kathleen Day, David S. Hilzenrath and Shannon Henry-WashingtonPost

- 
"SEC investigates choice of Webster for board." ... "The Securities and Exchange Commission yesterday opened an investigation into the selection of former FBI director William Webster to run a new five-member board to oversee the embattled accounting industry, amid escalating calls for SEC chairman Harvey Pitt to resign. The White House said it stood by Pitt, but also said it did not have all the facts in the matter." ... "Pitt requested the probe under pressure from fellow SEC commissioners, some of whom have publicly complained that he bowed to pressure from the accounting industry last month when he selected Webster to run the new board instead of another, more experienced candidate." -By Sue Kirchhoff -Boston/Globe

- 
"Sharon puts hardliner in defence post." ... "Ariel Sharon has named as his new defence minister a former army chief of staff who is under investigation by Scotland Yard for alleged war crimes in the occupied territories." ... "The appointment of Lieutenant General Shaul Mofaz to such a crucial post has confirmed suspicions that Israel's prime minister would lurch further to the right after Labour walked out of his coalition on Wednesday." -By Chris McGreal and Brian Whitaker  -Guardian.co.uk

- 
"Collapse of coalition dooms peace efforts." ... "The collapse of Israel's coalition government in effect dooms European and US efforts to draw up a timetable for resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict by 2005, diplomats say." ... "Diplomats accept Mr Bush had come a long towards supporting a Palestinian state and an end to Jewish settlement building. He failed, however, to match those words with deeds. The administration saw the conflict - and particularly Yassir Arafat, Palestinian leader - through the prism of September 11. It was about terrorism, the US believed." -By Judy Dempsey  -FT.com

- 
"Sharon Turns to Right In Bid to Retain Power:  Israel's Nationalist, Orthodox Parties Courted." ... "Sharon today negotiated with small ultranationalist and right-wing Orthodox parties to help him survive a no-confidence vote scheduled for Monday. Members of his nationalist Likud Party and other analysts said it was probable that he would survive that challenge and establish a new government. If so, they added, Sharon and his government will have traded collaboration with Israel's large center-left party and its image of openness to conciliation with the Palestinians, for support from a small group of Israel's most unyielding politicians who are determined to retain the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip." ... ""The people of Israel are the losers," said Abraham Diskin, a mainstream political scientist at Jerusalem's Hebrew University. "At this time of a war of attrition, a unity government is a necessity. It is not good for Israel to have government that is considered a government of extremists, right-wingers, settlers and lunatics."" -By John Ward Anderson-WashingtonPost

"Should death penalty apply to 16-year-olds?  Florida votes on the issue, while capital punishment for juveniles draws attention in the sniper case." ... "In an important moment of candor, US Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens last week criticized the high court's refusal to examine during the current term the constitutionality of applying capital punishment to juveniles." ... ""In the last 13 years, a national consensus has developed that juvenile offenders should not be executed. No state has lowered the age eligibility to either 16 or 17 since our decision [permitting the execution of 16-year-olds] in 1989," Justice Stevens said in a dissent joined by three other justices. "In fact, the movement is in exactly the opposite direction."" ... "Next Tuesday, voters in Florida will have an opportunity to verify or invalidate Stevens's observation." -By Warren Richey  -CSMonitor/buy

- 
"Audit Overseer Cited Problems in Previous Post." ... "Shortly before William H. Webster was appointed to head a new board overseeing the accounting profession by the Securities and Exchange Commission last Friday, he told the commission's chairman, Harvey L. Pitt, that he had until recently headed the auditing committee of a company that was facing fraud accusations, Mr. Webster recounted today." ... "Mr. Pitt chose not to tell the other four commissioners who voted on Mr. Webster's nomination that day, according to S.E.C. officials. White House officials said they, too, were not informed about the details of Mr. Webster's work for the company." (1, 2) -By Stephen Labaton -NYTimes via  -AltaVista-News

- Enron News
"Ex-Enron Executive Indicted on 78 Counts." ... "A federal grand jury on Thursday handed up a 78-count indictment accusing fired Enron executive Andrew Fastow of engaging in fraud, money laundering, and other crimes to enrich himself and create the "illusion of business skill and success" at the ruined energy giant." ... "The indictment added a new charge that Fastow, 40, allegedly obstructed justice by trying to persuade former protege Michael Kopper, who is cooperating with prosecutors, to destroy computer records." ... "The order to Kopper, who pleaded guilty Aug. 21 and implicated his former boss in a series of fraud and kickback schemes, came in August and September 2001." -By C. Bryson Hull -Reuters/Business

- 
"Collapse of Israeli government could derail peace efforts:  Analysts say U.S. more interested in winning support among Arab nations for war on Iraq." ... "The collapse of Sharon's 20-month-old government comes days after a visit to the region by Assistant Secretary of State William Burns. He delivered a long-promised road map for Israelis and Palestinians to reach President Bush's stated vision of a Palestinian state within three years." ... "The U.S. outline touched on some of the fiercest points of contention: from extensive reforms of Palestinian institutions and an end to Palestinian attacks on Israeli soldiers, civilians, and settlers in the West Bank and Gaza Strip to a partial Israeli pullback and a hiatus and eventually dismantling of Israeli settlements on occupied Palestinian land." ... "Both sides reacted coolly to the proposals." -By Anthony Shadid  -Boston/Globe via  -SeattlePI.NWsource

- 
"Palestinian sees no good in Israel govt crisis." ... "Palestinian cabinet minister Saeb Erekat said on Wednesday the Israeli government coalition crisis was another sign that Israeli politicians were moving "faster and faster away from an atmosphere of peace"." -Reuters -AlertNet.org/Newsdesk

-
"Labor Pullout Shatters Israel's Ruling Coalition." ... "Labour's pullout ended a 19-month "national unity" partnership forged as a common front against a Palestinian uprising and could undermine U.S. efforts to calm the region while it prepares for a possible war on Iraq." ... "The crisis was precipitated by demands from Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, head of center-left Labor, to divert funds earmarked for settlements to the poor and the elderly." -By Matt Spetalnick -Reuters /World

- 
"Israel Coalition Gov't Falls Apart:  Israeli Prime Minister Sharon's Coalition Falls Apart Over Dispute About Jewish Settlements." ... "The crisis was precipitated by Sharon's rejection of Labor Party leader Binyamin Ben-Eliezer's demands to cut $145 million in funds for Jewish settlements in the $57 billion 2003 state budget." ... "If the resignations go through, Sharon would face the difficult choice of trying to stay afloat with the support of an array of extreme-right and religious parties meaning political instability and constant pressures for even tougher, internationally unpopular policies concerning the Palestinians."  -AP via  -ABCNEWS.com

"Board was told of risks before Bush stock sale:  Harken memo went to SEC after probe." ... "One week before George W. Bush's now-famous sale of stock in Harken Energy Corp. in 1990, Harken was warned by its lawyers that Bush and other members of the troubled oil company's board faced possible insider trading risks if they unloaded their shares." ... "The warning from Harken's lawyers came in a legal memorandum whose existence has been little noted until now, despite the many years of scrutiny of the Bush transaction. The memo was not received by the Securities and Exchange Commission until the day after the agency decided not to bring insider-trading charges against Bush, documents show." -By Michael Kranish and Beth Healy -Boston/Globe

"Harvard invested heavily in Harken." ... "Indeed, even as Bush was dumping the bulk of his Harken holdings -about $848,000 in stock sold to a buyer whose name has never been disclosed - Harvard Management plowed millions more into the firm." ... "The Globe review also found no evidence to support the contention by some critics of Harvard Management and some adversaries of Bush that its deep involvement in Harken was a political favor to the Bush family." -By Beth Healy and Michael Kranish -Boston/Globe

- Paul Wellstone
"Mondale Says He'd Run for Senate:  Former Vice President Mondale Tells Minnesota Democrats He'll Run for Senate if Nominated." ... "With the unofficial mourning period for Paul Wellstone over, former Vice President Walter Mondale lifted Democrats' spirits Wednesday by announcing he is ready to run in the senator's place." -AP via  -ABCNEWS.com

-Paul Wellstone
"Tone of Wellstone memorial generates anger:  Ventura blasts 'political rally'." ... "The partisan tone of the memorial service for the late Sen. Paul Wellstone stirred anger Wednesday in some Republicans, political consultants and radio talk show hosts who say some of the comments and behavior were inappropriate." ... "Some Republicans in Minnesota demanded equal time from the local television stations that carried last night's memorial, attended by a crowd of more than 20,000. But officials at local television stations pointed out that they will cover President Bush's expected trip to Minnesota this weekend, when he will campaign for Republican Norm Coleman." ... "Democrats, who initially dismissed the criticism, later apologized for some activity, but said the event was unscripted and reflected the strong emotions people felt about Wellstone's death."  -CNN  /AllPolitics.com

- -West Coast Port Lockout
"Union Blames Co.'s for Dock Trouble:  Dockworkers' Union Files Documents Blaming Shipping Companies for Slowdown." ... "Shipping companies are mismanaging cargo at major Pacific ports so federal prosecutors can blame longshoremen for a work slowdown, the dockworker's union contends." ... "The union made the allegation in documents filed Tuesday with the Justice Department." -AP via  -ABCNEWS.com

- -West Coast Port Lockout
"Union points finger at shippers, Justice Department in filing." ... "The West Coast dockworkers union blames mismanagement by shipping companies for slow movement of cargo, saying Pacific Maritime Association members are trying to make longshoremen look bad." ... "In documents filed yesterday with the Justice Department, the International Longshore and Warehouse Union also said the department appears to blame longshoremen for the backlog. The union says the department has not asked the maritime association to respond to union charges that its mismanagement is keeping ports clogged." -By Frank Vinluan -SeattleTimes.NWsource

- -West Coast Port Lockout
"Longshore union blames owners for port backlog:  Letter to feds refutes charges by management." ... "A combination of increased traffic, a lack of skilled labor, equipment shortages and breakdowns and other logistical problems that are the responsibility of employers explains the decline in number of cargo containers processed, said the International Longshore and Warehouse Union." ... "The union made its case in a letter to the Department of Justice, which had requested a response to an allegation of a slowdown made by the owners' group, the Pacific Maritime Association." -By George Raine -SFGate.com

- Paul Wellstone
"Minnesota mourns Sen. Wellstone:  20,000 gather at sports arena for memorial." ... "Some 20,000 friends of Paul Wellstone gathered to bid the late senator farewell Tuesday in a ceremony filled with music and poignant eulogies -- and nearly as much laughter as tears." -By Patrick Howe -AP via  -Miami/Herald

-  - 
"U.S. and France Near Deal on Iraq Attack." ... "The United States and France are moving toward a compromise on Iraq that would oblige the Bush administration to consult the United Nations Security Council before embarking on military action against Saddam Hussein but still leave it the freedom to act alone." ... "American officials and foreign diplomats said that under the proposed compromise, the United States would take part in a Security Council debate if Iraq failed to comply with expected new United Nations demands for the destruction of its chemical and biological weapons." (1, 2) -By Steven R. Weisman -NYTimes via  -Google-News

"Bumps ahead on Easy Street?  As the US population grows older, the needs of retirees are likely to intensify. Early lessons from the 'oldest' county in America [Charlotte County, Florida]." ... "The changes taking place in Charlotte County involve every aspect of the community –social-service organizations, businesses, architects, builders, churches, and schools." ... "Across the country, the question of how best to meet the needs of older citizens will intensify as demographics change. As communities begin drawing up blueprints for a graying society, they will be undertaking a vast experiment." ... ""There are literally no societies in the world that have had people living two and three decades after they've retired," says David Colburn, provost of the University of Florida and co-author of a new book, "Florida's Megatrends."" (1, 2). By Marilyn Gardner -CSMonitor/buy

-  - Sniper
"In the Sights of the Sniper: 23 Fearful Days in October." ... "With a loud crack and a blinding light of the SWAT team's disorienting but harmless "flash bang," the agents rushed the blue Chevrolet Caprice parked in a highway rest stop in rural Maryland. They smashed out several windows and unlocked the doors. Within seconds, the agents pulled the two dazed occupants from the car at gunpoint and placed them under arrest." (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6) -By David Johnston and Don Van Natta Jr. -NYTimes via -AltaVista-News

- 
"At Least 67 Hostages and 34 Militants Are Dead After Raid." ... "Russian special forces burst into a theater held by Chechen guerrillas early today after the rebels began to kill some of the hostages they had seized, government officials said." ... "The government forces poured into the theater in a pre-dawn raid after panicked hostages ran out, evidently as the guerrillas began to carry out their threats to kill the hostages. Minutes later, officials were saying the siege was over." ... "The raid began at about 6:20 a.m. with a series of thunderous explosions, punctuated by bursts of gunfire. Then it was eerily quiet, as Russian troops apparently succeeded in seizing the theater." (1, 2) -By Michael Wines and Sabrina Tavernise -NYTimes via -AltaVista-News

-  - Paul Wellstone
"Sen. Wellstone's Legacy:  Mark Shields, David Brooks, and the Washington Post's Dan Balz share personal and political reflections on the late Sen. Paul Wellstone (D-Minn.), who died in a plane crash in Minnesota Friday." ... "DAVID BROOKS: ... One of the things that really impressed me, and this as a senator, he wasn't a particularly good senator when he started; made a lot of unnecessary enemies, didn't really play the game. But he decided pretty quickly that he didn't want to just be a noble loser. He wanted to actually get some things done and he made some allies; he worked with people like Jesse Helms, who he earlier said he despised; worked with John Ashcroft, won support from veterans groups, not automatic. So he really improved as a senator and was always a man of conviction, always very popular with conservatives." -PBS.org /  newshour / index

- 
"Disney to Offer New Internet Access Service [Through Microsoft]." ... "That could create a curious conflict, since MSN's news service is provided by MSNBC, Microsoft's joint venture with NBC News, not Disney's ABCNews.com. Mr. Eisner said in an interview that Disney had already decided to accept adjacent cooperation and competition. Last year, Disney merged its ESPN.com sports Web site with the sports section of MSN. That deal helped ESPN.com rise to be the clear audience leader among sports sites on the Web." -By Saul Hansell -NYTimes via  -Google-News

- Sniper
"Sniper suspects in hand:  Evidence mounts against a former soldier and a teenager. Motives for killing spree may include revenge and outrage." ... "It's unlikely that terrorism, even of a homegrown variety, was the main motive behind the sniper shootings that have clouded life in Washington this October, say experts." ... "Details about the men arrested Thursday morning in connection with the case suggest instead that a mix of anger, self-importance, and desire for revenge lay behind the murders." ... ""There are a lot of scattered, little ... pieces, but nothing really pulls them together yet," says Stanley Bedlington, a former senior analyst at the CIA's Counterterrorism Center." -By Peter Grier -CSMonitor/buy

-  - 
"Jiang and Bush start Texas summit." ... "The two presidents are likely to address a number of international issues during their 90-minute talks, which are taking place at Mr Bush's ranch in Texas." ... "Possible conflict in Iraq and North Korea's nuclear development are top of the agenda." -BBC/News

-Paul Wellstone
"