2004 NEWS HISTORY ARCHIVE

- 

-  -  - 

- 

- 

- 

-  - 
"India's cultural elite revive muckraking magazine: After declining under previous government, Tehelka.com rebounds, bolstered by reader funding." ... "Tarun Tejpal's story shows the perils and promise of muckraking journalism in modern India." ... "His Internet news portal, Tehelka.com, was almost hounded out of existence after rocking India's political and defense establishment three years ago with a seedy exposé of high-level corruption." ... "The Tehelka tapes, declared bona fide late last month, depicted top military officials and politicians accepting bribes - and, in some cases, prostitutes - from reporters posing as defense contractors. The news portal was crushed in an alleged government backlash, and its staff fell from 125 employees to three under the weight of police raids and a lengthy judicial inquiry." -By Dan Morrison -CSMonitor

-  -  - 
"Lance Armstrong wins record sixth Tour de France." ... "Lance Armstrong rode into history Sunday, winning a record sixth Tour de France and cementing his place as one of the greatest athletes of all time." ... "Never in its 101-year history has the Tour had a winner like Armstrong — who just eight years ago was given less than a 50%  chance of overcoming testicular cancer that spread to his lungs and  brain." ... "Armstrong's victories and his inspiring comeback from cancer have drawn new fans to a race that has been won five times by four other riders. His professionalism, attention to detail, grueling training regimens and tactics have raised the bar for other riders hoping to win the three-week cycling marathon." ... "After more than 1,900 miles of racing, riders mostly took it easy on the 101-mile final stage, until they reached the crowd-lined Champs-Elysees." -By John Leicester -AP via -USATODAY

-  -  - 
"US increases pressure on Sudan." ... "The US secretary of state, Colin Powell, today said he expected the UN security council to threaten sanctions against Sudan over the humanitarian crisis in Dafur." ... "More than one million refugees there face the threat of famine, disease and attacks by pro-government militia." ... "A draft resolution, circulated by the US yesterday, called on Khartoum to prosecute the leaders of the predominantly Arab Janjaweed militia, and advocated an immediate embargo on weapons to the region." ... "The refugees, mainly from Darfur's black African tribes, have fled their homes after being attacked by the Janjaweed. They now live in tent cities, where overcrowding a shortage of rations are leading to deaths from hunger and disease." -Guardian.co.uk

- 
"Failure of 'imagination' led to 9/11: The 9/11 final report assigns little blame, but cites many errors, and lays out bipartisan steps to avert future terror acts." ... "Nearly three years after the attacks of Sept. 11, a national commission blames no one agency or administration for the strikes, but makes it clear that many errors occurred prior to that fateful day." ... "It leaves open the question as to whether the attacks could have been prevented, but in total it portrays a strike against America that did not come out of nowhere. It was rather the result of a growing threat that perhaps could, and should, have been foreseen." ... "Top officials all told the 9/11 commission that they understood the dangers of Al Qaeda - but commissioners in the end became convinced that there was uncertainty at the top as to whether this was just a new and especially venomous version of the longstanding terrorist menace, or whether it was indeed something radically new." -By Peter Grier and Faye Bowers -CSMonitor

-  -  - 
"Sudanese slam genocide resolution." ... "Sudanese Arabs have criticised a U.S. congressional resolution declaring genocide in the Darfur region, while Darfuris asked what Washington would do to make it safe for them to go back home." ... "hey do not understand anything," said Ismail Gasmalseed on Friday, a 34-year-old driver in Khartoum." ... "The U.S. Congress approved the resolution on Thursday and its supporters hope it will help mobilise the international community to protect Africans in Darfur from Arab militias." ... "But the accusation of genocide is highly controversial. The United Nations has declared the situation in Darfur the world's worst humanitarian crisis but has not called it a genocide, which would force it to take action." -By Nima Elbagir-Reuters

-  - 

-  - 
"Who Are the Janjaweed? A guide to the Sudanese militiamen." [MSN explainer] ... "The word [Janjaweed], an Arabic colloquialism, means "a man with a gun on a horse." Janjaweed militiamen are primarily members of nomadic "Arab" tribes who've long been at odds with Darfur's settled "African" farmers, who are darker-skinned. (The labels Arab and African are rather misleading, given the complexity of the region's ethnic history. For simplicity's sake, Explainer will stick with these inelegant terms.) Until last year, the conflicts were mostly over Darfur's scarce water and land resources—desertification has been a serious problem, so grazing areas and wells are at a premium. In fact, the term "Janjaweed" has for years been synonymous with bandit, as these horse- or camel-borne fighters were known to swoop in on non-Arab farms to steal cattle." ... "Both victims and international observers allege that the Janjaweed are no longer the scrappy militias of yore, but rather well-equipped fighting forces that enjoy the overt assistance of the Sudanese government." -By Brendan I. Koerner -Slate.com via MSN

-  - -  -  - 
"War Costs Exceed Budget, Watchdog Panel Says." ... "Military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan are running $12.3 billion over budget this year, and Pentagon officials are trying to make up for the shortfall by transferring money from other accounts and delaying refurbishment of worn-out equipment in Iraq, the General Accountability Office said Wednesday." ... "The office, a nonpartisan Congressional agency, estimated that the Army was running about $9.4 billion short of what had been budgeted. By putting off other kinds of spending until next year, the military is likely to run up higher costs in future, said the agency, which was formerly the General Accounting Office." -By Edmund L. Andrews -NYTimes

- UPS News
"United Parcel 2nd-Qtr Net Rises 18% on Global Growth (Update2)." ... "United Parcel Service Inc., the world's largest package-delivery company, said earnings in the second quarter rose 18 percent as global economic growth raised shipments." ... "Net income increased to $818 million, or 72 cents a share, from $692 million, or 61 cents, a year earlier, the Atlanta-based company said in a statement. Revenue climbed 7.8 percent to $8.87 billion from $8.23 billion." -By Mary Schlangenstein ed. by Steve Geimann -Bloomberg

-  -  -  -  -  - Religion - Osama bin Laden
"9/11: The Iran Factor: The final report of the 9-11 Commission reveals troubling new evidence that Tehran was closer to Al Qaeda than Iraq was." ... "U.S. intelligence believes that in faraway Tehran, the hard-line Islamist clerics who now exercise near total control over Iran directed their border guards to help jihadists coming from Afghanistan. And sometime between October 2000 and February 2001, according to the forthcoming final report of the 9-11 Commission, eight to 10 of the "muscle" hijackers of the September 11 plot were among those who benefited from this Iranian good-fellowship." ... "According to a December 2001 memo buried in the files of the National Security Agency, obtained by the commission, Iranian officials instructed their border inspectors not to place Iranian or Afghan stamps in the passports of Saudi terrorists traveling from Osama bin Laden's training camps through Iran. Such "clean" passports undoubtedly helped the 9/11 terrorists pass into the United States without raising alarms among U.S. Customs and visa officials, sources familiar with the report told NEWSWEEK." -By Michael Isikoff and Michael Hirsh with contributions by Mark Hosenball and Steve Tuttle -Newsweek 20040726 ed. via -MSNBC

-  - 
[PDF] - "The 9/11 Commission Report: Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States.  Official government edition." (7 MB, 585 pages) ... "The Commission’s Final Report provides a full and complete account of the circumstances surrounding the September 11th, 2001, terrorist attacks, including preparedness for and the immediate response to the attacks. It also includes recommendations designed to guard against future attacks." ... "An Executive Summary (344 KB, 35 pages) of the Final Report is also available." -GPOAccess.gov/911

-  -  -  -  - 
"US group admits to criminal probe over Iran." ... "Halliburton, the oilfield services company formerly headed by US Vice-President Dick Cheney, has disclosed that a Treasury Department probe into its business dealings with Iran had been elevated to a criminal investigation. The company acknowledged that it had been subpoenaed by a grand jury in the southern district of Texas to present documents related to a Cayman Islands subsidiary that serves the Iranian National Oil Company." -By Joshua Chaffin -FT.com

-  - Osama bin Laden
"Intelligence failures cited in 9/11 report: Doesn't conclude whether attacks were preventable." ... "The report, to be released publicly tomorrow, includes a list of 10 ''operational opportunities" that the government missed to potentially unravel the Sept. 11 plot, according to a government official who has read the document. Six of the incidents listed came during the Bush administration and four were during the Clinton years, the official said." ... "Another government official who has been briefed on the report said the tally of missed opportunities includes the CIA's failure to add two hijackers' names to a terrorism watchlist; the FBI's handling of the August 2001 arrest of Zacarias Moussaoui, who has been accused of conspiring in the plot; and several failed attempts to kill or capture Osama bin Laden." -By Dan Eggen and Mike Allen  -Boston/Globe via -WashingtonPost

-  -  -  -  -  - - 
"Poor Relations With Iran Turning Worse." ... "The Bush administration is pressing Britain, France and Germany for strong measures against Iran in response to its violation of a nonproliferation agreement reached with the three last fall, a State Department official said Wednesday." ... "The issue is part of a deepening American concern over recent Iranian activities that range from weapons programs to terrorism. To head off a potential crisis, some analysts believe the administration should work harder to promote a dialogue with Iran." ... "The United States believes Iran is developing nuclear weapons, a view reinforced by Iran's recent decision to resume construction of centrifuges. This is a key step in the development of a uranium-based bomb, one that Iran promised the Europeans last fall that it would not take." -By George Gedda -AP via  -Newsday.com

-  -  - 
"Short-Changed Soldiers: Report: U.S. Army Reservists Encounter Pay Problems." ... "An overwhelming number of U.S. Army reservists are having problems getting paid, and many are paid late." ... "A report issued today by the General Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress, discovered major problems with the way the Army compensates its reservists." ... "Such problems are causing a considerable hardship for Melinda Delain, a single mother who had just purchased a new home when her reserve unit was deployed to Afghanistan." ... "Like everyone else in her medical unit, she did not receive her full paycheck for three months." ... "In its report, GAO investigators found that 95 percent of Army reservists had pay problems." (1, 2) -ABCNEWS.com

-  -  - 
"Fear of Nuclear Iran Could Influence U.S. Diplomacy." ... "The intense antagonism that has existed since militant students held 52 Americans hostage for 444 days during the 1979 Iranian revolution "could become a collision course," former national security adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski said this week." ... ""But perhaps there are the makings of somewhat ameliorating the relationship between the two sides," he said." ... "[However] Many experts believe even if Tehran's hard-line leaders are replaced, it may have no impact on the quest for a nuclear bomb because a broad spectrum of Iranians endorse that goal." (1, 2) -By  Carol Giacomo-Reuters

- UPS News
"EBay 2nd-Qtr Profit More Than Doubles on 52% Sales Increase." ... "EBay Inc., the world's No. 1 Internet auctioneer, said second-quarter earnings more than doubled to $190.4 million as a record number of users bought and sold merchandise online and utilized its electronic-payment system." ... "EBay added 9.2 million users to sites in the U.S. and 22 countries, helping boost the value of items sold through them to $8 billion." ... "During the quarter, AuctionDrop Inc., a company that takes items on consignment for sale on EBay, reached an agreement with United Parcel Service Inc. to have 3,400 stores to act as drop- off points for the service." -By Greg Wiles ed. by Vince Bielski -Bloomberg

- -  - 
"Iraq Militants Take Six Foreign Truck Drivers Hostage, AP Says." ... "The hostages include two from Kenya, three from India and an Egyptian. A group calling itself ``the Holders of the Black Banners'' said in a statement given to the AP that it would kill one hostage every 72 hours." -AP via -Bloomberg

-  -  - 
"Haiti receives $1-billion in pledges: Aid promised as [Canadian] troops prepare to pull out." ... "But the fledgling peacekeeping force in Haiti is woefully short of soldiers, with only 2,200 on the ground, compared with the 8,000 the UN says are necessary. And nearly one-quarter of that force, the 520-strong Canadian contingent, will start packing to go home this week." ... "The departure of the Canadians will leave about 1,700 UN peacekeepers to cope with Haiti's sporadic violence and widespread crime. Contingents from other countries have been slow to arrive -- for instance, of an expected 200 Argentine soldiers who are supposed to take over in Gonaïves next week, only a small advance party has reached Haiti." -By Paul Koring -TheGlobeAndMail.com

-  - Microsoft News
"[Microsoft dividends] Giving $75 billion back, with plenty to spare." ... "On Tuesday July 20th, Microsoft said it would return a whopping $75 billion to shareholders over the next four years, in the biggest corporate cash disbursement in history." ... "Regardless of the legal situation, Microsoft's bosses realised some time last year that they could no longer sit on their cash pile (valued at $56.4 billion as of March 31st this year), and resolved to take steps to give it back to shareholders." ... "Under the disbursement announced this week, Microsoft will pay out a special dividend worth $32 billion in early December; buy back a further $30 billion in stock over the next four years; and double its annual dividend to 32 cents per share." -Economist

-  - 
"U.S. hostage head found in freezer: The head of slain American hostage Paul M. Johnson Jr., who was kidnapped and beheaded in Saudi Arabia last month, has been found in a freezer [in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia], a Saudi Interior Ministry official said." ... "Two suspected al Qaeda militants were killed during raids, the official added Wednesday." ... "Security forces found the head and a cache of weapons in a raid on a villa Tuesday night and it was positively identified Wednesday morning."  -CNN

- - 
"Sudan: New Darfur Documents: Ties Between Government and Janjaweed Militias Confirmed." ... "In a series of official Arabic-language documents from government authorities in North and South Darfur dating from February and March 2004, officials call for recruitment and military support, including “provisions and ammunition” to be delivered to known Janjaweed militia leaders, camps and “loyalist tribes.” " ... "A particularly damning February directive orders “all security units” in the area to tolerate the activities of known Janjaweed leader Musa Hilal in North Darfur. The document “highlights the importance of non-interference so as not to question their authority” and authorizes security units in a North Darfur province to “overlook minor offenses by the fighters against civilians who are suspected members of the rebellion….”" ... "Another document calls for a plan for “resettlement operations of nomads in places from which the outlaws [rebels] withdrew.” This, along with recent government statements that displaced persons will be settled in 18 “settlements” rather than in their original villages, raises concerns that the ethnic cleansing that has occurred will be consolidated and that people will be unable to return to their villages and lands." ... "Human Rights Watch called for Sudan government officials implicated in the policy of militia support to be added to the U.N. sanctions list included as part of a pending U.N. resolution. It also called for international monitoring of the disarmament of the militia groups and the establishment of an international commission of inquiry into the abuses committed in Darfur by all parties to the conflict." -HRW.org

-  - 
"Darfur Documents Confirm Government Policy of Militia Support: A Human Rights Watch Briefing Paper, July 20, 2004." ... "Since February 2003, the government of Sudan has used militias known as “Janjaweed”³ as its principal counter-insurgency ground force in Darfur against civilians from the Fur, Zaghawa, Massalit and other ethnic groups from which two rebel groups known as the Sudan Liberation Army/Movement (SLA/M) and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) are drawn. The government-backed Janjaweed militias are derived from the “Abala,” camel-herding nomads who migrated to Darfur from Chad and West Africa in the 1970s, and from Arab camel-herding tribes from North Darfur.⁴ With government aerial support, arms, communications, and other backing, and often alongside government troops, the Janjaweed militias have been a key component in the government’s military campaign in Darfur; a campaign that has resulted in the murder, rape and forced displacement of thousands of civilians.⁵" ... "If genuinely concerned with bringing peace and stability to Darfur and ending the cycle of violence and impunity in the region, the Sudanese government should suspend key government officials who bear responsibility for recruiting, arming or otherwise supporting the Janjaweed militias from official duties, pending official investigation of their responsibility for abuses." ... "In addition, the international community must recognize that the government-backed militias and government forces are clearly indivisible—they are utilized as one entity. Those officials for whom there is evidence of implication in the policy of militia support should be included in any forthcoming international measures, including international travel sanctions, arms embargoes, and investigation by any future international commission of inquiry." -HRW.org

-  -  - Osama bin Laden

-  -  -  - - 
"9/11 Commission Finds Ties Between al-Qaeda and Iran: Senior U.S. officials have told TIME that the 9/11 Commission's report will cite evidence suggesting that the 9/11 hijackers had previously passed through Iran." ... "A senior U.S. official told TIME that the Commission has uncovered evidence suggesting that between eight and ten of the 14 "muscle" hijackers—that is, those involved in gaining control of the four 9/11 aircraft and subduing the crew and passengers—passed through Iran in the period from October 2000 to February 2001. Sources also tell TIME that Commission investigators found that Iran had a history of allowing al-Qaeda members to enter and exit Iran across the Afghan border. This practice dated back to October 2000, with Iranian officials issuing specific instructions to their border guards—in some cases not to put stamps in the passports of al-Qaeda personnel—and otherwise not harass them and to facilitate their travel across the frontier. The report does not, however, offer evidence that Iran was aware of the plans for the 9/11 attacks." -By Adam Zagorin and Joe Klein -TIME

- Enron

-  -  - Enron
"Enron's Lay indicted: Former Enron CEO [Kenneth Lay] indicted by grand jury in Houston, says he's "done nothing wrong."" ... "Enron filed for bankruptcy Dec. 2, 2001 after investigators found it had used partnerships to conceal more than $1 billion in debt and inflate profits. The company once ranked as the country's seventh-largest." ... "To date the federal government has launched 30 separate prosecutions related to Enron's implosion, including a criminal case that brought down auditor Arthur Andersen two years ago and criminal probes of about 20 former Enron employees. Of those, 11 have resulted in convictions or guilty pleas." -By Krysten Crawford and Kelli Arena -CNN

-  -  - Enron - [PDF]
"United States of America V. Richard A. Causey, Jeffrey K. Skilling, and Kenneth Lay, Defendents." [65 pages]  ... "Superseding Indictment." -From the "United States District Court Southern District of Texas Houston Division." via  -FindLaw /LegalNews/Documents

- 

- 

- US - Afghanistan - Military - Terrorism - Prisoner - War Crimes Act - Human Rights - Death Penalty - Politics
"Memos Reveal War Crimes Warnings: Could Bush administration officials be prosecuted for 'war crimes' as a result of new measures used in the war on terror? The White House's top lawyer thought so." ... "The White House's top lawyer warned more than two years ago that U.S. officials could be prosecuted for "war crimes" as a result of new and unorthodox measures used by the Bush administration in the war on terrorism, according to an internal White House memo and interviews with participants in the debate over the issue." ... "The concern about possible future prosecution for war crimes-and that it might even apply to  Bush adminstration officials themselves- is contained in a crucial portion of an internal January  25, 2002, memo   by White House counsel Alberto Gonzales obtained by NEWSWEEK. It urges President George Bush declare the  war in Afghanistan, including the detention of Taliban and Al Qaeda fighters, exempt from the provisions of the Geneva Convention." ... "In the memo,  the White House lawyer focused on a little known 1996 law passed by Congress, known as the War Crimes Act, that banned any Americans from committing war crimes-defined in part as "grave breaches" of the Geneva Conventions. Noting that the law applies to "U.S.  officials" and that punishments for violators "include the death penalty," Gonzales told Bush that  "it was difficult to predict with confidence" how Justice Department prosecutors might apply the law in the future. This was especially the case given that some of the language in the Geneva Conventions-such as that outlawing "outrages upon personal dignity" and "inhuman treatment" of prisoners-was "undefined."" ... "One key advantage of declaring that Taliban and Al Qaeda fighters did not have Geneva Convention protections is that it "substantially reduces the threat of domestic criminal prosecution under the War Crimes Act," Gonzales wrote." -By Michael Isikoff -MSNBC/Newsweek

- 

- 

- 

- 

-  -  - 2004 ELECTION

-  - 
"US forces kill 64 in fighting near Iraqi holy city of Najaf." ... "US forces have killed 64 rebel militiamen in clashes near Shia Islam's holiest city, Najaf, a US military spokesman in Baghdad said yesterday." ... "At least 115 US troops have been killed in fighting this month - as many as died in combat during the two-month invasion of Iraq." -By Nicolas Pelham -FT.com

-  - - 
"U.S. gunships topple tower of mosque." ... "A protracted firefight between Marines and insurgents in a Fallujah suburb on Monday culminated with U.S. helicopter gunships and tanks firing at a mosque and toppling its minaret, further dimming hopes for a peaceful end to the three-week siege." ... "The U.S. command said that the battle erupted when insurgents, breaching a shaky cease-fire in Fallujah, 30 miles west of Baghdad, used the mosque to launch rocket-propelled grenades and small-arms fire at Marine positions. After two hours, pinned down by fire, the Marines called in helicopters and tanks, which directed "suppressing fire" at the mosque, the command said." ... "One U.S. Marine was killed and eight others wounded in the battle, which also killed eight insurgents, a U.S. spokesman said." -By John Burns -NYTimes via -RegisterGuard

-  - 
"Future of Mitsubishi Motors in doubt as bailout is withheld: DaimlerChrysler insists it will still honor joint ventures." ... "The future of Mitsubishi Motors was thrown into question on Friday after DaimlerChrysler's surprise decision to cut off financial support to its partner. The Japanese automaker's stock collapsed, falling 25 percent before trading was halted." ... "DaimlerChrysler, which controls Mitsubishi Motors through a 37 percent stake, said late Thursday that it had decided "to cease further financial support" for Japan's fourth-largest carmaker. The announcement shocked investors, who had speculated that the German company would announce a cash injection of ¥200 billion, or $1.8 billion, or more. Mitsubishi Motors must now scramble for investments if it is to remain in business." -By Todd Zaun -NYTimes via -Google-News-IHT.com

-  - -  - 
"Shi'ite cleric threatens suicide attacks." ... "Militant Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr ratcheted up his anti-American rhetoric yesterday, threatening to launch suicide attacks if US forces enter Iraq's holy cities to capture or kill him." ... "Sadr's remarks, made during Friday prayers at the Kufa mosque, marked an ominous escalation in the standoff between the cleric, whose militia has seized control of mosques and other key sites in Najaf and Kufa, and US officials who have been threatening to retake the southern cities by force." -By Edmund Sanders-LAtimes via -Boston/Globe

- 
"U.S., Libyan Bankers Discuss Frozen Assets -Libya." ... "Libyan officials say assets worth about $1 billion are frozen in the United States, including equity holdings in banks." ... "Although assets remain blocked, a Libyan banking official said there would be no further freezing, which would previously have occurred if, for example, any Libyan dollar transactions were cleared through New York." (1, 2) -By Salah Sarrar -Reuters

-  -  -  - 
"Bush eases years-long economic sanctions against Libya." ... "President Bush on Friday eased economic sanctions against Libya, ending its status as a pariah nation and clearing the way for the return of American oil companies." ... "Bush's order ending Libya's economic isolation gave Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi the reward that he wanted for agreeing in December to abandon his pursuit of weapons of mass destruction." -By Ron Hutcheson -Knight Ridder via -SLTrib.com

-  - 
"International Aid Workers Rush to Site of N. Korean Train Explosion; Gov't Blames Carelessness." ... "In its first statement on the disaster, North Korea's official news agency said the catastrophic explosion in the railway town was touched off by "electrical contact caused by carelessness during the shunting of wagons loaded with ammonium nitrate fertilizer." The chemical is sometimes used in explosives." ... "Separately, the Chinese news agency Xinhua quoted North Korean officials as saying trains loaded with oil and chemicals collided and were ignited by a downed power line." -AP via -ABCNEWS.com

-  -  -  - 
"NFL, Arizona Football Fans Mourn Death of Pat Tillman, Who Gave Up Career to Fight for Country." ... "Pat Tillman overachieved in football, and just about everything else. He worked his way from seventh-round draft pick to starting safety for the Arizona Cardinals, then walked away from millions of dollars to join the Army Rangers and serve his country. This week, he paid with his life. Tillman was killed in an ambush Thursday night in Afghanistan. He was 27." -AP via -ABCNEWS.com

-  - 
"U.S. Soldiers Re-Enlist in Strong Numbers: Despite Violence in Iraq, U.S. Soldiers Are Re-Enlisting at Rates Higher Than Pentagon Expected." ... "Despite the shrapnel wounds Staff Sgt. William Pinkley suffered during his tour in Iraq, the 26-year-old is joining other soldiers who are re-enlisting at rates that exceed the retention goals set by the Pentagon." ... "As of March 31 halfway through the Army's fiscal year 28,406 soldiers had signed on for another tour of duty, topping the six-month goal of 28,377. The Army's goal is to re-enlist 56,100 soldiers by the end of September." -AP via -ABCNEWS.com

-  -  - 
"House OKs Speedy Elections if Attacked." ... "Under the legislation, the House speaker could declare "exceptional circumstances" when 100 or more seats in the 435-seat body are left vacant by a catastrophic event, triggering special elections in affected districts that must be held within 45 days." ... "While the final vote was decisive, many Democrats warned that speeding up elections was not enough and, at a time of terrible crisis, could expose Congress to weeks of lacking the manpower or the authority to act. Many sought a constitutional amendment that would allow temporary appointments of lawmakers before elections could be held." ... "Some warned of the executive branch, possibly headed by a Cabinet secretary if the president is killed, assuming dictatorial powers." -AP via -ABCNEWS.com

-
"N Korea blast kills 'at least 54': The International Red Cross says Thursday's huge train explosion in North Korea killed at least 54 people." ... "In the first independent account of the disaster, Red Cross officials at the scene say more than 1,200 people were injured and 1,850 houses destroyed." ... "The explosion partially destroyed 6,350 houses, John Sparrow, a spokesman for the International Red Cross in Beijing told the BBC." ... "South Korean media reports talked of up to 3,000 people dead or wounded. Officials in Seoul say there is no way as yet of confirming these figures." ... "However, diplomatic sources in Pyongyang say the casualty figures are in the thousands." ... "They also say the blast - initially thought to have been caused by two trains colliding -was triggered by an electric wire dropping onto two wagons loaded with dynamite." -BBC/News

"Panel Cites 'Virus of Fear' at USA Today: Report Says Warnings on Reporter Ignored; Another Editor Quits." ... "USA Today editors ignored repeated warnings about problems with Jack Kelley's reporting, including from government officials, while a newsroom "virus of fear" deterred many staffers from challenging what became the worst scandal in the Gannett paper's history, an investigative panel said yesterday." ... "Kelley, who has now apologized, made up parts of at least 20 stories stretching back to 1991, according to the report by three outside editors asked to investigate the former star correspondent's work. Kelley also billed the company for thousands of dollars in payments to translators and drivers who now say they never received the cash, the panel found." (1, 2,3, 4) -By Howard Kurtz -WashingtonPost

-  - 
"Marines Warn Insurgents in Fallujah to Hand Over Heavy Weapons or Face Possible U.S. Attack." ... "The stark warning came two days after city leaders called on insurgents to hand over their heavy weapons in return for a U.S. pledge to hold back on plans to storm Fallujah and allow the return of families that fled the city." ... "Now Marines have halted the return of families because of the failure to disarm and the desire to have fewer civilians in the city if fighting resumes. More than a third of Fallujah's 200,000 people fled to Baghdad and elsewhere during the fighting that began April 5." ... "Early Thursday, Marines launched a major assault on the village of Karma, 10 miles northeast of Fallujah, in a second attempt to put down guerrillas there." -AP via -ABCNEWS.com

-  -  - Photo News

-  -  -  -
"Death toll near 500 in Fallujah, Baghdad." ... "In the first detailed accounting of Iraqi casualties in the fighting that erupted across the country this month, officials at the Iraqi Ministry of Health said yesterday that 264 have been killed and 791 wounded in the Fallujah area since April 5, while in Baghdad another 235 have been killed and 832 wounded." ... "The health ministry's nationwide data also show that 12 percent of the Iraqis killed were women or children 15 years old or younger." ... "The health ministry's casualty toll for Fallujah was substantially lower than the death counts reported since fighting broke out there at the start of April. The data also show a nationwide death toll for April's fighting that is much lower than the figures widely reported in the media, some of them exceeding 1,100." -By Anne Barnard -Boston/Globe

-  -  - 
"Researchers: Worry affects female fertility." ... "Women worried about the medical aspects of the procedure had 20 percent fewer eggs retrieved and 19 percent fewer eggs fertilized than women who were less inclined to worry about it, the researchers report in this week's issue of the journal Fertility and Sterility." ... "Patients who were very concerned about missing work had 30 percent fewer eggs fertilized, Hillary Klonoff-Cohen and colleagues found." -Reuters via -CNN

-  -  - - 
"Fury over Diana crash photos: Princess Diana's family, British media and the prime minister have expressed outrage at a U.S. television network's decision to broadcast pictures of the princess as she lay dying." ... "CBS, which aired the images in its "48 Hours" program, said the photos were included in a 4,000-page confidential French investigators' file on the accident and that they were not graphic or exploitative." ... "But British newspapers and friends and family of Diana and Fayed strongly disagreed." -CNN

- -  -  - 
"UK court to review EU flight delay rule: Airline trade association IATA asked Britain's High Court to review pending EU rules that would force carriers to reimburse passengers for delays, even if caused by security measures or snowstorms." ... "The rules set a baseline of between two and four hours for permissible delays, depending on the length of journey, with anything above that forcing carriers to reimburse passengers."-Reuters via -CNN

-  -  -  - ELECTION 2004
"Saudi envoy: Oil policy standard, not a deal: Calls U.S. politics: 'Your seasonal tribal warfare'." ... "Saudi Arabia's ambassador to the United States stood firm that his country made no secret deals with the White House to try to drive down gas prices to help re-elect President Bush and sought to reassure Democratic contender Sen. John Kerry." ... ""I really don't see what is the big deal," Prince Bandar bin Sultan told reporters Wednesday after a White House meeting with national security adviser Condoleezza Rice." ... ""Unless somebody would like to see the oil prices stay high, then nobody should complain."" -By John King -CNN

-  -  -  -  - 
"High court mulls Mexican truck access." ... "A Bush administration lawyer told the Supreme Court yesterday that the president must be able to open America's roads to Mexico's trucks without delays for an environmental study." ... "But a lawyer for labor and environmental organizations cautioned justices that ''we're talking about tens of thousands of trucks" packing US roads after a two-decade moratorium ends." ... "Some of those trucks are older and may be pollution-causing safety hazards, said the organizations' lawyer, Jonathan Weissglass." -By Gina Holland -AP via -Boston/Globe

- ELECTION 2004
"4 potential running mate picks hit trail with Kerry." ... "Max Cleland was the most ferocious. John Edwards, with a tan that only enhanced his telegenic good looks, sounded the most silky smooth -- if oddly subdued. Bob Graham and Bill Nelson drew laughter and applause from voters but did not rouse them to their feet." ... "In recent days, the Democratic ''veepstakes" -- that shadowy process by which Senator John F. Kerry is sizing up possible running mates -- took on a decidedly public cast this week as those four southern politicians (all senators save Cleland, a former senator from Georgia) spoke at campaign events and Kerry fund-raisers alongside the prospective presidential nominee." (1, 2) -By Patrick Healy -Boston/Globe

- ELECTION 2004
"Kerry, Bush launch rival television ads." ... "Just as John Kerry launched two campaign ads Wednesday intended to help voters become familiar with him, President Bush's campaign unveiled a commercial calling the Democrat more liberal than Ted Kennedy or Hillary Rodham Clinton." ... "Kerry says in one of his new ads: "My priorities are jobs and health care. My commitment is to defend this country." In the other, the presumptive nominee says he would "reach out to the international community in sharing the burden" in Iraq." -By Liz Sidoti -AP via -Boston/Globe

- 
"Thousands Dead or Injured in N.Korea Rail Blast-YTN." ... "Up to 3,000 people were killed or injured when two trains loaded with fuel collided and exploded at a North Korean station Thursday, hours after leader Kim Jong-il had passed through, South Korea's YTN television said." ... "The sources said cargo trains carrying gasoline and liquefied petroleum gas collided at Ryonchon station 30 miles south of the border." -By Jack Kim and Martin Nesirky -Reuters via -ABCNEWS.com

-  - 
"Santa Cruz group wins court OK to grow pot: Ruling allows medical marijuana distribution." ... "A Santa Cruz medical marijuana collective shut down by federal agents two years ago can grow and distribute marijuana for its patients while its civil lawsuit against the federal government is decided by the courts, a federal judge ruled Wednesday." ... "The ruling by U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel in San Jose marks the first time a court has granted a medical marijuana organization the right to grow the federally outlawed herb without interference from federal drug agents." ... "The ruling clears the way for the Wo/Men's Alliance for Medical Marijuana in Santa Cruz to challenge the federal government's authority to raid medical marijuana gardens operating within the boundaries of California law." -By Maria Alicia Gaura -SFGate.com

-  - 
"Four Killed and 148 Wounded in a Suicide Bombing in Riyadh." ... "A suicide bomber detonated a Chevrolet Blazer loaded with explosives in central Riyadh on Wednesday, shattering the facade of a police building, killing at least four people and wounding 148." ... "Saudi officials and foreign embassies had been bracing for such an attack since April 12, when a shoot-out in a poor Riyadh neighborhood led to a chain of bloody skirmishes across the central part of the kingdom. In the last 10 days, six police officers were shot dead, and security officials said that they had captured five booby-trapped cars and arrested eight militants." ... "Wednesday's bombing and the clashes preceding it represent a qualitative shift in the ongoing war between the security services and Islamic militants believed to be either directly connected to Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda or inspired by the terrorist group, Saudi officials and other analysts said. It was a shift, they said, toward attacks by groups that are less organized, on targets that are less easily protected." (1, 2) -By Neil MacFarquhar -NYTimes via -Google-News

-  - 
"UN backs oil for food inquiry." ... "The former chairman of the US Federal Reserve Board yesterday began an independent investigation into allegations of corruption and kickbacks worth $10bn (?5.6bn) in the UN's oil-for-food programme in Iraq." ... "The United Nation's security council unanimously approved Paul Volcker's inquiry into the scheme that US legislators say allowed billions of dollars in illegal oil revenue to flow to Saddam Hussein." -By Gary Younge -Guardian.co.uk

- 
"Eight Found Dead Day After Ill. Twisters." ... "Searchers with shovels and buckets pulled eight bodies Wednesday from the rubble of a [Utica, Illinois] tavern where residents had gathered to seek shelter from a twister that flattened the century-old building." ... "Mayor Fred Esmond said several people from a nearby trailer park had congregated in the basement of the Milestone Tap on a night when dozens of twisters tore through the Midwest. Nine people were removed alive from the ruins of the country-western-themed watering hole." ... "The twister cut a wide swath of destruction in this small town 90 miles southwest of Chicago, turning homes and businesses into piles of brick and splintered wood" -By Don Babwin -AP via -Guardian.co.uk

- -  - 
"Cubans Sentenced in Miami for Plane Hijacking."... "A U.S. judge sentenced six Cuban men to prison terms of 20 years or more on Wednesday for hijacking a Cuban airliner in the Communist Caribbean nation last year."... "The Cubans were convicted in December of air piracy for commandeering a 1940s-era Aerotaxi DC-3 after it took off from Cuba's Isle of Youth and forcing it to Key West on Florida's southern tip on March 19, 2003. The incident was the first in a series of hijackings in Cuba last year." -By Jim Loney -Reuters

-  - Enron News
"Ex-Enron CEO Broke Terms of Release -Prosecutors." ... "Prosecutors charged on Wednesday that former Enron chief executive Jeff Skilling broke the terms of his $5 million bond during a bizarre alcohol-fueled fracas in New York earlier this month." ... "The court filing says Skilling's blood alcohol level was 0.19 -- more than twice the legal limit in most U.S. states -- when police sent him to the hospital at 4 a.m. on April 9." ... "Officers described Skilling as "uncooperative and intoxicated" and deemed him "an emotionally disturbed person" because he was accusing bar patrons of being undercover agents for the Federal Bureau of Investigation." (1, 2) -By C. Bryson Hull -Reuters

-  -  -  -  - 
"High Court Hears Detention Cases: Policy on Terror Suspects Challenged." ... "Facing the court in oral arguments over the detention of al Qaeda and Taliban suspects held at the U.S. Navy base in Cuba, Solicitor General Theodore B. Olson dramatically reminded the court that "the United States is at war," that more than 10,000 troops are in Afghanistan, and that the country faces an "extraordinary threat."" ... "But several justices asked questions that implied they doubted Olson's assertion that Bush, as commander in chief, may hold the suspects for interrogation at the base in Cuba as long as he deems necessary, without judicial oversight." ... ""It seems rather contrary to an idea of a Constitution with three branches that the executive would be free to do whatever they want -- whatever they want without a check," Justice Stephen G. Breyer said." ... "The question is whether the Guantanamo detainees have a right to ask a federal court to order the president to give them a hearing --not whether the courts must do so." (1, 2) -By Charles Lane-WashingtonPost

- 
"NASA Spacecraft Ascends to Test Einstein's Theory." ... "Twenty-four hours after a previous launch attempt was stopped with just three minutes to go, NASA successfully sent its Gravity Probe B mission into space." ... "The $700 million spacecraft is designed to test two predictions of Einstein’s general theory of relativity, which he proposed in 1916." -By Sarah Graham -ScientificAmerican.com

-  -
"Suicide Bombers Kill at Least 58 in Southern Iraq." ... "Suicide bombers killed at least 58 people, many of them children, in co-ordinated strikes on four police stations that brought bloody chaos to Iraq's southern city of Basra on Wednesday, witnesses said." ... "Near-simultaneous explosions hit three police stations in Basra and one in the town of Zubair, 16 miles south of the mainly Shi'ite city, the British military said." ... "Reuters counted 55 bodies at one hospital. Among the dead were many children who had been going to school in a minibus caught in one of the car bombings. Some 200 civilians and police were wounded." (1, 2, 3) -By Abdel-Razzak Hameed -Reuters

-  - 
"Bombs hit Basra police stations: Rush-hour blasts probably caused by car bombs have hit three police stations in Iraq's second city of Basra, killing at least 40 and injuring scores." ... "Two school buses, one of them apparently full of children, were destroyed in one of the attacks, an AP correspondent reports from the scene." ... "A British officer said the three attacks had been near-simultaneous." -BBC/News

"Greenspan's warning on inflation sends stock markets sharply lower." ... "Wall Street took the comments as a sign that a rate increase was likely to come before the November elections, perhaps as early as June. The yield on the two-year Treasury note rose to 2.16 per cent, the highest in 18 months." ... "The S&P 500, which had been idling before the testimony, fell 1.6 per cent. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.2 per cent, while the Nasdaq Composite posted a 2.1 per cent decline." -By Andrew Balls and Stephen Schurr -FT.com

-  - 
"Iron tablets can improve women's brainpower." ... "The brainpower of young women who are lacking in iron can be markedly boosted by taking supplements of the mineral, suggests a new study." ... "Even women who were just modestly iron deficient did much worse on attention, memory and learning tests than those with enough iron in their blood, found the study by researchers at Pennsylvania State University in the US." -By Shaoni Bhattacharya -NewScientist.com

-  -  -  - 
"Israeli Nuclear Whistleblower Vanunu to Go Free." ... "Israeli nuclear whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu goes free on Wednesday after 18 years in jail for spilling secrets that publicly placed the Jewish state among the world's top atomic powers." ... "But the former nuclear technician -- whose revelations to a British newspaper led analysts to conclude Israel had an arsenal of more than 100 nuclear warheads -- will still be subject to a list of stringent security measures to keep him silent." ... "Vanunu was jailed in 1986 for treason after disclosing information to Britain's Sunday Times." (1, 2) -By Megan Goldin -Reuters

-  -  -  -  -  -  - 
"Powell urges coalition leaders to keep troops in Iraq." ... "Secretary of State Colin Powell said Tuesday the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq remains strong despite decisions by Spain and Honduras to pull out their troops. Later, the Dominican Republic announced that it also would withdraw its troops." ... "Powell told reporters that leaders of 13 coalition countries with whom he spoke by telephone Monday and Tuesday "all expressed steadfast support" for their respective troop commitments." ... "Among the leaders Powell spoke with was Thai Foreign Minister Surakiart Sathirathai." ... "In addition to Surakiart, Powell spoke with leaders of El Salvador, Dominica, Norway, Denmark, Hungary, Portugal, Poland, Bulgaria, Holland, Romania, the Philippines and Ukraine." -By George Gedda -AP via -SFGate.com

-  -  - 
"Iraq jail attack kills 22 inmates: A mortar attack on an Iraqi detention centre near Baghdad has left 22 inmates dead, the US military says." ... "All the casualties in the attack on the Baghdad Confinement Facility in Abu Ghraib were prisoners of the US-led coalition, officials said." ... "The sprawling prison complex of Abu Ghraib, which covers more than one square kilometre, was one of Iraq's biggest prisons under Saddam Hussein's regime and had a fearsome reputation." -BBC/News

-  -  -  - ELECTION 2004
"Poll Shows New Gains for Bush: Lead Over Kerry Widens On Issues of Security." ... "President Bush holds significant advantages over John F. Kerry in public perceptions of who is better equipped to deal with Iraq and the war on terrorism, and he has reduced the advantages his Democratic challenger held last month on many domestic issues, according to a Washington Post-ABC News Poll." ... "In a matchup, Bush held a lead of 48 percent to 43 percent over Kerry among registered voters, with independent Ralph Nader at 6 percent. In early March, shortly after he effectively wrapped up the Democratic nomination, Kerry led Bush by 48 percent to 44 percent." (1, 2) -By Richard Morin and Dan Balz with contributions by Claudia Deane -WashingtonPost

-  -  -  - - ELECTION 2004
"Kerry hits alleged Bush-Saudi deal: Seizes on account in journalist's book." ... "The latest inside account of the Bush administration has provided fresh fodder for John F. Kerry's campaign, with the presumptive Democratic nominee yesterday condemning the president for reportedly allowing the Saudis to maintain high gasoline prices until just before the fall election, when they would be cut to boost the US economy." ... "Kerry said the deal, reported in "Plan of Attack," the new book by Washington Post editor Bob Woodward, and mentioned in his appearance Sunday on the CBS program "60 Minutes," was "fundamentally wrong" and "outrageous and unacceptable to the American people." A day earlier, the Massachusetts senator condemned Bush for withholding details about Iraqi war planning from Secretary of State Colin L. Powell, again relying on Woodward's account of the administration's war planning." -By Glen Johnson -Boston/Globe

-  - 

-  -  - 
"Profile: John Negroponte: John Negroponte was the man who spearheaded the US diplomatic effort in the lead-up to the 2003 invasion of Iraq." ... "The soft-spoken diplomat will head the largest US embassy in the world, in charge of 3,000 staff." ... ""He'll hold the title of ambassador but he's really being appointed de facto governor-general of Iraq because the US is going to retain a lot of authority,'' Ted Galen Carpenter of the Washington-based Cato Institute think-tank told Bloomberg news service." -BBC/News

-  -  -  - 
"Spain recalls its troops from Iraq: New prime minister fulfills campaign vow." ... "Spain's prime minister yesterday ordered Spanish troops pulled out of Iraq as soon as possible, fulfilling a campaign pledge to a nation recovering from terrorist bombings that Al Qaeda militants said were reprisal for Spain's support of the war." ... "Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero issued the abrupt recall just hours after his government was sworn in, saying there was no sign the United States would meet his demand for United Nations control of the postwar occupation -- his ultimatum for keeping troops there." ... "Zapatero's Socialist Party won the March 14 general election amid allegations that outgoing Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar, by backing the war in Iraq, had provoked commuter-train terrorist bombings that killed 191 people three days before the vote." (1, 2) -By Daniel Woolls -AP via -Boston/Globe

-  -  -  - Osama bin Laden
"'Bin Laden' tape offers peace deal with Europe." ... "Osama bin Laden, the leader of al-Qaeda, sought to split the US-led coalition in Iraq by offering European countries a three-month respite from terrorist attacks if they withdrew their forces and left the US to fight alone." ... "The statement said: "I offer a truce to them (Europe), with a commitment to stop operations against any state which vows to stop attacking Muslims or interfere in their affairs, including (participating) in the American conspiracy against the wider Muslim world."" ... "It went on to say that the truce would start "with the withdrawal of the last soldier from our land," and said that the offer to implement it would last for three months from the date of Thursday's statement. "Whoever rejects this truce and wants war, we are its [war's] sons and whoever wants this truce, here we bring it," it said." -By Mark Huband -FT.com

-  -  - Osama bin Laden
"C.I.A. Says Voice on Tape Likely bin Laden." ... "The CIA said Thursday that a tape of a man identifying himself as Osama bin Laden probably is an authentic recording of the al-Qaida leader." ... "The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the tape was probably recorded in the past several weeks because of its reference to Israel's killing last month of Hamas founder Sheik Ahmed Yassin. In the tape, the speaker vows revenge against the United States for the killing." -AP via -NYTimes via -AltaVista-News

- 
"China's economy soars despite Beijing's curbs." ... "China's economy grew at an official 9.7 per cent in the first quarter of this year as ambitious local authorities went on an investment binge and banks continued to lend to a roaring property sector in spite of Beijing's orders to rein in credit." ... "The 9.7 per cent increase in gross domestic product to Rmb2,711bn ($328bn) was higher than last year's full-year 9.1 per cent increase. Some independent economists use a range of proxy indicators to suggest that the official figures understate reality and China is actually growing at around an annualised 11 or 12 per cent." -By James Kynge -FT.com

- 
"Victory for Roh's party in South Korea vote." ... "South Korea's political landscape changed radically on Thursday as voters handed control of parliament to a progressive liberal party, backed by the suspended President Roh Moo-hyun, that was formed five months ago." ... "The opposition Grand National party - associated with the country's business community and traditional ruling elite - lost control of parliament but avoided the annihilation it feared, winning about 121 seats." ... "The GNP's popularity has been declining for months after it emerged that the party had received millions of dollars of secret funds from the country's chaebol business groups, such as Samsung and LG." -By Andrew Ward-FT.com

-  - 
"South Koreans Vote Heavily for Impeached Leader's Party." ... "In a sharp political backlash against last month's impeachment of President Roh Moo Hyun, South Koreans voted heavily today for congressional candidates of Mr. Roh's party, according to surveys of voters by South Korea's three largest broadcasting networks." ... "If the forecasts hold up, the president and the Parliament will be of the same party for the first time since democracy was restored here in 1987. Mr. Roh has four more years in his term, and the legislators were elected today to four-year terms." ... "In the vote, the Grand National Party avoided electoral disaster largely through determined campaigning by Park Geun Hye, the new party chairman. Ms. Park learned her political skills in the 1970's, when her father, Park Chung Hee, an army general, ruled South Korea with dictatorial powers." -By James Brooke -NYTimes via -AltaVista-News

-  - 
"Iraq death toll reaches new high." ... "The last two weeks have been the bloodiest yet for US soldiers in Iraq since the fall of Saddam Hussein. Iraqi deaths are much harder to track, but an Associated Press estimate puts the total since 1 April at 880." ... "April's casualty count for US soldiers has spiralled to 87, the highest for any month since the war began." ... "Nearly all the deaths have been in hostile incidents in two weeks which have seen major battles with both Sunni and Shia insurgents." ... "Most of the US soldiers have been killed in attacks on road convoys, firefights in the Sunni-dominated towns of Falluja and Ramadi and battles in and around Baghdad." ... "The total of American soldiers killed in Iraq is now 686. More than three-quarters of these have died since major hostilities ceased." ... "Just over a quarter of the casualties have died in "non-hostile" events such as accidents involving vehicles or munitions." -BBC/News

- 
"Danish furore over Iraq secrets: Denmark is to declassify intelligence assessments of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction after newspaper leaks led to criminal charges against three men.'Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen said the publication of classified material had given rise to doubts about the government's credibility." ... "An intelligence officer had told two journalists that the government knew Iraq was unlikely to have the weapons." ... "His claims contradicted Mr Fogh Rasmussen's stance on the issue." ... "The prime minister supported the US-led invasion and told parliament that he was convinced Iraq was in possession of such weapons." ... "Former intelligence officer Major Frank Soeholm Grevil has been charged with breaching the official information act and the two journalists, Jesper Larsen and Michael Bjerre, are charged with exploiting information emerging from a crime." -BBC/News

-  - 
"US troops to stay longer in Iraq: Some 20,000 US troops now serving in Iraq will have their tour of duty extended, Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has announced." ... "Mr Rumsfeld said they would spend another 90 days in Iraq beyond their original one-year deployment." ... ""The country is at war and we need to do what is necessary to succeed," he told a news conference." ... "Mr Rumsfeld said the extension came in response to a request by the commander of US forces in Iraq, Gen John Abizaid." -BBC/News

- 
"Broadcaster mutes liberal radio network in funds dispute: Plug pulled on Air America in L.A, Chicago." ... "Arthur Liu of Multicultural Broadcasting, owner of network affiliates WNTD/950 AM in Chicago and KBLA/1580 AM in Santa Monica, put Spanish-language broadcasts on those stations Wednesday because, he said, Air America had bounced a check and owed him more than $1 million." ... "Meanwhile, Air America attorney David Goodfriend said it had stopped payment on the checks because Multicultural was selling time on the California station it had already leased to the new network." -By Peter Goodman -Newsday.com  via -SFGate.com 

- -  - Smallpox
"U.S. considers new smallpox vaccine: Scientists optimistic about MVA." ... "Buoyed by promising results in animal experiments, government officials are contemplating buying massive quantities of a new type of smallpox vaccine to supplement the national stockpile already assembled in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks." ... "Scientists believe that unlike any of the vaccines now available, the new vaccine may be effective in protecting against the deadly infectious disease without the risk of serious -- and occasionally lethal -- side effects." ... "As doubts grow about the existing vaccines, scientists are increasingly optimistic about the prospects for the experimental vaccine, called Modified Vaccinia Ankara, or MVA." -By Griff Witte with contributions by Justin Gillis -WashingtonPost via -MSNBC

-  -  - 
"A primate primer: Boys will be boys, as girls ape mom: Chimps shed light on roots of sex-based learning differences in human youngsters." ... "The girls watch their mothers closely. The boys horse around. Researchers have found sex-based learning differences in chimpanzees that are similar to those observed in human children." ... "This means, the scientists said, that sex-based learning differences likely have a biological basis that dates back to the last common ancestor of humans and chimpanzees." ... "There is still debate, however, over whether biology or culture plays a larger role in the learning differences that have been observed between the sexes in humans." -By Anne McIlroy -TheGlobeAndMail.com

-  - 
"Is this the oldest known piece of jewelry?." ... "Humans living in coastal South Africa about 75,000 years ago may have fashioned snail shells into the world's oldest jewelry, according to a new study. Critics, however, say the dramatic claim lacks the evidence to fully back it." ... "If the 41 snail shells described in today's issue of the journal Science are indeed beads, they would predate the oldest known pieces of jewelry by more than 30,000 years and add significant weight to the idea that symbolic thought and language flowered among modern humans long before their forays into Europe and Asia." ... "Reached by telephone at the South African excavation site known as Blombos Cave, lead author Christopher Henshilwood said storing information in the form of beads or words is a key element of symbolic behavior." -By Bryn Nelson -Newsday.com

-  -  - 
"Oldest Jewelry? "Beads" Discovered in African Cave." ... "Humans may have been wearing jewelry as far back as 75,000 years ago, about 30,000 years earlier than previously thought, if 41 shells found at Blombos Cave in South Africa prove to have been used as beads." ... "Beads are considered definitive evidence of symbolic thinking, which many scientists don't think occurred in modern humans until about 45,000 years ago." ... "The presence of beads, whether used as trade items, to convey group status, or to identify group members or relationships within a group suggests some form of language existed, says [Blombos Cave Project director Christopher] Henshilwood, who is affiliated with the University of Bergen, Norway, and the State University of New York." ... "Recent studies have suggested that Khoisan, a southern African language that includes many clicks, could be as many as 100,000 years old. It's possible the people at Blombos were speaking in some form of click language, Henshilwood said." -By Hillary Mayell -NationalGeographic>News

-  -  -  -  - 
"Japanese Hostages Freed in Iraq; Iranian Killed." ... "Three Japanese hostages were freed Thursday, but the murders of an Iranian diplomat and an Italian captive were chilling proof of the risks foreigners face in Iraq, where rebels are battling the U.S.-led occupation." ... "America's top general said talks were under way to try to bring peace to the embattled Sunni Muslim city of Falluja and to avoid a bloodbath in the Shi'ite shrine city of Najaf." ... "The three [Japanese] seized last week are Noriaki Imai, 18, who wanted to research the effects of depleted uranium weapons, journalist Soichiro Koriyama, 32, and aid worker Nahoko Takato, 34." (1, 2, 3) -By Fiona O'Brien -Reuters

-  -  - 
"Cheney Warns China About Hong Kong: Policy There Linked to Taiwan, He Says." ... "Linking two contentious issues in U.S.-Chinese relations, Vice President Cheney warned China's leaders Wednesday that any efforts by Beijing to thwart democracy in Hong Kong would likely reinforce the budding movement in Taiwan to formally separate from China." ... "Cheney's message, which was described, on condition of anonymity, by a senior administration official, echoed the arguments of recently reelected Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian, who has vowed to draft a new constitution for the island by 2006. In the talks, Cheney reiterated the long-standing U.S. position that there is "one China," a statement prominently mentioned in China's state media." -By Glenn Kessler and Edward Cody -WashingtonPost

-  - 
"Bush endorses 'courageous' Sharon plan to withdraw from part the West Bank." ... "Breaking with long-standing U.S. policy, President Bush on Wednesday endorsed Israel's retention of part of the West Bank in any final peace settlement with the Palestinians. In a show of support for Israel's leader that brought immediate condemnation from the Palestinians, Bush also ruled out Palestinian refugees ever returning to Israel." ... "An elated Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said his plan would create "a new and better reality for the state of Israel."" ... "But minutes after Bush spoke, Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia said in Ramallah that "he is the first president who has legitimized the (Israeli) settlements in Palestinian territories."" -Barry Schweid -AP via -SFGate.com

-  - 
"Insurgents Display New Sophistication: Campaign Leaves Bridges Heavily Damaged, Hampering Military's Push South." ... "Insurgents fighting the U.S.-led occupation force have sharply increased the sophistication, coordination and aggressiveness of their tactics over the past week, Army officers and soldiers involved in combat here said." ... "With occupation forces battling Sadr's Shiite militiamen south and east of Baghdad and Sunni Muslim insurgents to the north and west, the timing of the Iraqis' tactical development is nearly as troubling for U.S. forces as its effect. But the explanation for the change is not yet clear, military commanders said." ... "Here in southern Iraq, which is overwhelmingly Shiite, U.S. officers say the best guess is that former soldiers who served under President Saddam Hussein have decided to lend their expertise and coordinating abilities to the untrained Shiite militiamen." (1, 2) -By Thomas E. Ricks-WashingtonPost

-  -  - 
"Dead soldier's sisters excused duty in war zone." ... "Michelle Witmer, 20, died last Friday in an ambush of her Humvee, and her father's plea to the Pentagon to spare his two other daughters, who were also serving in Wisconsin national guard units in Iraq, received attention throughout the US." -By Suzanne Goldenberg -Guardian.co.uk

-  -  - 
"Cleric, Surrounded by U.S., Hints at Easing His Resistance." ... "A 2,500-member American force backed by tanks and artillery took up positions outside Najaf on Tuesday when a rebel Shiite cleric, Moktada al-Sadr, resisted demands from the American authorities and other clerics that he disband a militia that has challenged American authority across wide areas of southern Iraq." ... "From his Najaf headquarters, Mr. Sadr shrugged off American threats to capture or kill him, saying he was "ready to sacrifice my blood" to end the American occupation." ... "But the day after a delegation sent by some of the most powerful Shiite clerics appealed to him to avoid a showdown, he also hinted at a face-saving compromise, saying he was ready to "implement any order" issued by the religious establishment." (1, 2) -By John F. Burns with contributions from Warren Hoge -NYTimes via -Google-News

-  -  -  - 
"Iran distances itself from Sadr." ... "Iran is dismissing attempts by Washington to link it to Moqtada al-Sadr, the young radical cleric whose militia has battled US forces in neighbouring Iraq." ... "US officials and administration ad visers have long alleged that Iran has secretly funded Mr Sadr's militia. On Monday, General John Abizaid, commander of US Central Command, told a press briefing "there are indications from intelligence folks that there are some Iranian activities going on that are unhelpful". Last week, Donald Rumsfeld, US secretary of defence, accused Iran of "meddling" in Iraq." -By Gareth Smyth -FT.com

-
"Intel Says 1st-Qtr Profit Almost Doubled, Sales Rise (Update2)." ... "Intel Corp., the world's biggest semiconductor maker, said first-quarter net income almost doubled to $1.73 billion as customers accelerated purchases of new computers." ... "Net income was 26 cents a share, compared with 14 cents a year earlier, Santa Clara, California-based Intel said in a statement. Sales rose 20 percent to $8.1 billion." -By Jason Kelly and Ian King -Bloomberg.com

-  - "Taiwan's parties finalise plans for election recount." ... "Under presiding judge Wu Ching-yuan, both parties hammered out an agreement on the scope and the procedures for the recount yesterday. "All the major points of disagreement are solved now," said Jaclyn Tsai, head of [opposition candidate] Mr Lien's legal team. Wellington Koo, [the president] Mr Chen's lawyer, said he expected the recount to begin in mid-May." ... "The recount is expected to take up to four days, Mr Koo said. It was therefore unlikely to be finished before Mr Chen's inauguration for his second term on May 20." -By Kathrin Hille -FT.com

-  - 
"Ashcroft now under scrutiny: Report allegedly calls him 'largely uninterested' in terrorism issues." ... "Draft reports by the independent commission investigating the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks portray Attorney General John Ashcroft as largely uninterested in counterterrorism issues before Sept. 11 despite intelligence warnings that summer that al-Qaida was planning a large, perhaps catastrophic terrorist attack, according to panel officials and others with access to the reports." ... "They said the draft reports, which are expected to be completed and made public during two days of hearings by the commission this week, show that FBI officials were alarmed throughout 2001 by what they perceived as Ashcroft's lack of interest in terrorism issues and his decision in August 2001 to turn down the bureau's request for a large expansion of its counterterrorism programs." -By Philip Shenon -SeattlePI.NWsource

-  -  - 
"Russia mulls pull-out after hostages seized." ... "Russia, a strong critic of the U.S.-led military operation in Iraq, has confirmed that eight of its nationals working for an energy company have been taken hostage in Baghdad." ... "An unnamed Foreign Ministry source was quoted on Tuesday as saying that Moscow was now considering evacuating all of its 500 or so nationals, most of whom work in Iraq's energy and power sectors." -By Oleg Shchedrov -Reuters

-  - 
"9-11 panel wants CIA analyst to testify." ... "The commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks, rebuffed once previously, asked again yesterday to interview the CIA analyst who wrote the Aug. 6, 2001, intelligence briefing given to President Bush on al-Qaida's threat to the United States, according to administration sources." ... "The commission wants to interview the author of the article in the now-famous President's Daily Brief to determine her purpose in assembling the document and how much information she sought in doing so." -By Walter Pincus  -WashingtonPost via -SeattleTimes.NWsource

-  -  - 
"Chinese hostages 'released'." ... "China was anxiously awaiting confirmation last night that seven of its nationals kidnapped in Iraq had been released." ... "The Xinhua news agency, which broke the news of the kidnappings on Sunday, cited a Chinese merchant in Baghdad as saying that the seven had been handed over to a Muslim association involved with hostage release." ... "It was not clear what the seven latest victims of the hostage drama sweeping Iraq were doing in the country." -By Jonathan Watts -Guardian.co.uk

-  -  -  - 

-  -  - 
"Japan unsure of safety of hostages in Iraq as crisis drags into fourth day." ... "Optimism that three Japanese held hostage in Iraq would be quickly released evaporated Monday, as Tokyo's top government spokesman backtracked on an earlier statement and said authorities were no longer confident about their safety." ... "The hostages[,] two aid workers and a photojournalist[,] were being held by a previously unknown group calling itself the ''Muhahedeen Squadron,'' which demanded Japan pull its troops out of Iraq within three days or it would burn the three alive." -By Eric Talmadge -AP via -Boston/Globe

-  - 
"Taiwan Riot Police Battle Election Protesters." ... "Riot police officers fought with demonstrators and used water cannons mounted on armored cars as a large rally turned unexpectedly violent here on Saturday night in front of the presidential palace." ... "A crowd estimated by organizers at 300,000 and by the police at 100,000 assembled peacefully on Saturday afternoon to call for a parliamentary investigation into a shooting incident that wounded President Chen Shui-bian on the eve of elections here last month, and may have helped him win re-election." ... "On March 20, President Chen won a second four-year term by fewer than 30,000 votes out of 13 million cast, defeating Mr. Lien of the Nationalist Party and his running mate, James Soong of the People First Party. The president had been grazed across the abdomen the day before by a bullet while standing in an open Jeep in a motorcade through his hometown, Tainan." ... "The Nationalists have suggested that presidential aides inside the Jeep may have staged the shooting, in a bid to bolster Mr. Chen's support." -By Keith Bradsher -NYTimes

-  -  - 

-  -  -  - "Attack on expectant mom a crime against 2: Relatives of Peterson, other victims attend bill signing." ... "President Bush signed legislation Thursday making it a separate crime to harm a fetus during the commission of a violent federal crime against a pregnant woman, and he declared that, with the new law, the United States was "building a culture of life."" ... "The Unborn Victims of Violence Act protects a fetus at any stage of its development. The measure does not deal with abortion but at its foundation it deals with the central question in the abortion debate: At what point does an embryo or a fetus deserve full protection of the law as a living person?" ... "Advocates of abortion rights fear it will be used to establish precedent that could undercut those rights, established in 1973 by the Supreme Court in Roe vs. Wade." -By James Gerstenzang

-  - 

-  -  -  - 
"Three countries arrest 53 militants in coordinated crackdown." ... "Turkey, Italy, and Belgium arrested 53 militants in a coordinated crackdown Thursday on a Turkish Marxist group considered a terrorist organization by Washington, Turkey's Interior Ministry said." ... "Police in Istanbul arrested 37 suspects of the Marxist Revolutionary People's Liberation Army-Front, or DHKP-C, while security forces Italy and Belgium detained 16, an Interior Ministry official said, speaking on condition of anonymity."  -AP via -USATODAY

-  -  - - 
"Sept. 11 Panel Scrutinizing Past Testimony." ... "The staff of the independent commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks is conducting a detailed review of all discrepancies found in public and private statements by Condoleezza Rice and Richard A. Clarke in drawing up questions for Ms. Rice when she testifies before the panel, probably next week, commission officials said Wednesday." ... "The White House, they said, is hoping to limit any political damage to the president by having Ms. Rice testify quickly in the hope of ending the furor over the accusations made by Mr. Clarke, Mr. Bush's former counterterrorism director." ... "Mr. Clarke said in testimony before the commission last week and in his new best-selling memoir that the Bush administration — and Ms. Rice, in particular — largely ignored threats by Al Qaeda before the Sept. 11 attacks." (1, 2) -By Philip Shenon and Doublas Jehl -NYTimes via -Google-News

-  - 

- -  - 
"Pushing the limits of 'public use'." ... "Rene Corie installs drapes in Florida mansions. Her husband, David, builds the mansions' gates." ... "Eight years ago, the working-class couple finally found some waterfront real estate they could afford: a two-bedroom house for $70,000 in Riviera Beach, a poor town near the wealthy enclaves of Palm Beach and Jupiter." ... "But Riviera Beach now wants to bulldoze the Cories' home and 2,200 others to make way for one of the nation's grandest redevelopment plans: a collection of high-rise condos, bigger homes and upscale shops. The city plans to use eminent domain — its power to confiscate private property for projects that benefit the public — to take the homes of 5,100 people if the residents do not agree to move." -By Dennis Cauchon -USATODAY

-  - 
"Attacks in Iraq claim lives of four contractors, five soldiers: An anti-American mob in the Iraqi city of Fallujah ambushed a group of contractors Wednesday, beating and dragging four bodies through the streets. The brutal attack came on the same day a roadside bomb killed five Americans west of Baghdad." ... "" -PBS.org  /NewsHour

- 

- 

- 

- 

- 

- 

- 

- Water - 
"Scientists Report Evidence of Saltwater Pools on Mars." ... "Mars was once a much warmer, wetter place, with pools of saltwater that sometimes flowed across the surface, scientists reported Tuesday." ... "Analyzing findings from sedimentary rocks explored by the rover Opportunity, the scientists said the rocks now appeared to have formed under a shallow bed of softly flowing water near a shoreline — not, as formerly seemed possible, through seepage from underground." -By Warren E. Leary -NYTimes via -Google-News

-  -  -  -  -Osama bin Laden
"Panel probing terrorism faults 2 administrations: Says efforts feel short; officials defend actions." ... "The US government had substantial intelligence about key Al Qaeda figures indicating the possibility of a catastrophic terrorist attack beginning in the mid-1990s, but failed to act forcefully enough to thwart the Islamic terrorist network, the bipartisan commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks said in an interim report yesterday." ... "Diplomatic initiatives urging other countries to bring Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden to justice were unsuccessful, yet the Clinton administration could not reach a consensus on a sustained military effort to kill the terrorist leader or disrupt the organization's home base in Afghanistan, according to the report released yesterday, at the start of two days of public testimony from Bush and Clinton administration leaders." -By Bryan Bender -Boston/Globe

- 
"Taiwan's Chen offers to meet opposition." ... "Chen Shui-bian, Taiwan's president, on Wednesday offered to meet the opposition leaders who are challenging his narrow victory in last weekend's election." ... "However, he demanded that Lien Chan, presidential candidate of the Kuomintang (KMT) and his running mate James Soong of the People First Party (PFP) first end the demonstrations their parties were organising in front of the presidential office." -By Kathrin Hille -FT.com

-  -  -  -  - Microsoft News
"EU orders Microsoft to pay $613 million fine: Software giant found guilty of abusing "near monopoly"." ... "The European Union declared Microsoft Corp. guilty Wednesday of abusing its "near monopoly" with Windows to squeeze competitors in other markets and levied a record fine of $613 million (497.2 million euros)." ... "The EU's antitrust authority said that "because the illegal behavior is still ongoing," it was also demanding changes in the way the U.S. software company operates." -AP via -MSNBC

-  - 
"Amid Terror Debate, Public Hearings Open on 9/11 Attacks." ... "An issue that has dominated Washington since the weekend — the question of what the Bush and Clinton administrations knew about the possibility of terror attacks before 9/11, and how the Bush White House responded afterward — is taking center stage in the capital today." ... "The public hearings before the independent commission investigating the attacks of 2001 come amid a furious debate caused by accusations in a book by a former counterterrorism official, Richard A. Clarke. Mr. Clarke wrote that the Bush administration did not heed warnings about Sept. 11 and that President Bush pushed him the day after the attacks to look for a link to Saddam Hussein." -By Terence Neilan -NYTimes via -Google-News

- - -  -  -  - 

- 
"Taiwanese president's supporters jubilant with victory one day after assassination attempt." ... "Supporters of Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian celebrated victory with booming fireworks and blasting air horns Saturday as he won a narrow re-election just a day after being wounded by a would-be assassin's bullet." ... "Chen beat Nationalist Party rival Lien Chan, a former vice president, in an electoral rematch that lifted his Democratic Progressive Party to its second presidential win. Lien vowed to challenge the results of what he called an unfair contest." -By Christopher Bodeen -AP via -SFGate.com

-  -  - - 
"Mass Extinction Not Inevitable." ... "Two new studies published this week in Science that show steep declines in bird, butterfly and plant populations across Great Britain provide the strongest proof yet that we are in the midst of the sixth great extinction of life." ... "The British analyzed six surveys covering virtually all of their native species populations over the last 40 years. They discovered birds and native plants had declined 54 percent and 28 percent respectively while butterflies experienced a shocking 71 percent decrease." ... "According to scientists, there have been five prior mass extinctions in the past 450 million years. The last was 65 million years ago, when the dinosaurs and tens of thousands of species disappeared, likely as a result of a comet or large asteroid hitting the Earth." -By Stephen Leahy -Wired

- 
"Ohio Sniper Suspect Appears in Nevada Court." ... "A 28-year-old man charged in connection with sniper-style shootings in Ohio that killed one person told a Nevada court on Friday he would not fight extradition and agreed to return home to face prosecution." ... "Charles McCoy Jr., wearing dark blue prison clothes with his hands cuffed to a chain around his waist, said little beyond responding "yes" to questions put to him by Justice of the Peace Douglas Smith." ... "Ohio officials said he would be returned to the state as soon as possible, perhaps later in the day or over the weekend." -Reuters

-
"'Small asteroid' bypasses Earth by just 26,500 miles." ... "A 100-foot-wide space rock yesterday missed Earth by only 26,500 miles, the closest asteroid ever detected by astronomers before it actually made its approach. The harmless flyby occurred at 2:08 p.m. Pacific time." ... ""We figure that on average something this size hits the Earth every two to three years," said astronomer Paul Chodas, of NASA's Near-Earth Object Program. "We've never detected them out in space, either approaching or receding. This is the closest."" -By Guy Gugliotta -WashingtonPost with the -AP via -SeattleTimes.NWsource

- Free-Speech

-  - -  - 
"Spain's ruling party swept from power amid anger of Madrid terror attacks." ... "Spain's ruling conservatives crashed to surprise defeat in elections overshadowed by anger over terrorist bombings, becoming the first government that backed the U.S.-led war in Iraq to be voted out of office." ... "The win by the Socialists over President Jose Maria Aznar's favored Popular Party Sunday came amid charges that Aznar made Spain a target for terrorist by supporting the Iraq war." ... "Spain's incoming prime minister, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, has pledged to bring home the 1,300 Spanish troops in Iraq when their tour of duty ends in July." -By Daniel Woolls -AP via -SFGate.com

-  -  - 
"Spain Studies Alleged al-Qaida Tape Claim." ... "Investigators analyzed a videotape in which al-Qaida reportedly claimed responsibility for the deadly railway bombings earlier this week amid criticism Sunday that Spanish intelligence blundered in failing to foresee the attack." ... "With a mourning nation voting in general elections overshadowed by the attacks that killed 200 and wounded 1,500, officials said five suspects arrested Saturday can remain in police custody for 72 hours, after which police would need a court order for an extension." -By Daniel Woolls -AP via -Miami/Herald

-  -  -  - - 
"Md. Woman Accused of Acting as Iraqi Agent." ... "Federal agents today arrested a Maryland woman at her home on charges of acting as an agent for the Iraqi government of former president Saddam Hussein and plotting to aid resistance groups in Iraq after Hussein was ousted by U.S. forces." ... "Susan Lindauer, 40, a former journalist and congressional aide in Washington, was taken into custody by the FBI at her home in Takoma Park after federal prosecutors unsealed an indictment against her and two Iraqis, the sons of a former diplomat, who were charged with similar offenses." -By William Branigin -WashingtonPost

- 
"Al Qaeda Suggested in Madrid Train Bombings: 200 Dead, 1,200 Wounded in Rush Hour Blasts in Spain." ... " In the worst terrorist attack in Spain's history, nearly 200 people are dead and more than 1,200 are wounded after 10 simultaneous bomb blasts ripped through four packed commuter trains in Madrid Thursday morning." ... "Spanish officials initially blamed the Basque separatist group ETA for the bombings, but now they're pursuing other lines of investigation. Police have found a van with detonators and an audiotape of Koranic verses near where the bombed trains originated. And an Arabic newspaper in London said it had received a letter from al Qaeda claiming responsibility." -NPR/News

-  - 
"A Primer on the ETA." ... "Euskadi Ta Azkatasuna, translated from Euskara, the Basque language, means "freedom for the Basque country."" ... "And the organization bearing that name, ETA for short, has been fighting for freedom from Spain since the 1960s in an unrelenting campaign of bombings, kidnappings and assassinations." ... "In that respect, today's devastating attacks on commuter trains in Madrid were definitely in character. That may be one of the reasons why Spanish government officials so quickly blamed ETA, without offering concrete evidence or any claim of responsibility." ... "In another respect, however, the attack departed from ETA's pattern: Never before has the organization killed and injured so many people in a single blow." (1, 2) -By Fred Barbash -WashingtonPost

-  - 
"Calif. Court Halts San Francisco Gay Weddings." ... "California's Supreme Court on Thursday ordered San Francisco to halt the same-sex marriages that have sparked a passionate nationwide debate on whether gay couples can wed legally." ... "The decision, which will be reviewed again in May or June, comes exactly one month after San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom gave the green light to gay marriages, resulting in more than 4,000 homosexual pairings since then." ... "In its order, the state's top court referred to the California family code that defines marriage as a union of man and woman and told San Francisco "to refrain from issuing marriage licenses or certificates not authorized by such provisions."" (1, 2) -By Adam Tanner -Reuters

-  -  -
"War crimes court opens in Freetown." ... "The UN-backed war crimes court in Sierra Leone opened its new courthouse yesterday, but was left guessing about whether its president will step down because of alleged bias against some defendants." ... "UN and government officials joined Geoffrey Robertson QC at the ceremony in the capital, Freetown, but he gave no public indication about the ultimatum he has been given to resign by tomorrow morning or stay and fight an attempt to disqualify him." ... "Defence lawyers have demanded that he withdraw because of a book he wrote which depicted the Revolutionary United Front, Sierra Leone's rebel movement, as a bloodthirsty criminal enterprise which committed crimes against humanity during a decade-long civil war." -By Rory Carroll -Guardian.co.uk

- -  - 
"Alarm Raised Over Quality of Uranium Found in Iran." ... "United Nations nuclear inspectors have found traces of extremely highly enriched uranium in Iran, of a purity reserved for use in a nuclear bomb, European and American diplomats said Wednesday." ... "Among traces that inspectors detected last year are some refined to 90 percent of the rare 235 isotope, the diplomats said. While the International Atomic Energy Agency has previously reported finding "weapons grade" traces, it has not revealed that some reached such a high degree of enrichment." ... "The presence of such traces raises the stakes in the international debate over Iran's nuclear program and increases the urgency of determining the uranium's origin. If the enrichment took place in Iran, it means the country is much further along the road to becoming a nuclear weapons power than even the most aggressive intelligence estimates anticipated." -By Craig S. Smith with contributions by David E. Sanger -NYTimes

-
"Madrid blasts kill at least 15: At least 15 people have been killed in Madrid as several explosions hit the rail network in the morning rush hour. Police cars raced to the Atocha train station in the heart of the Spanish capital, where a blast destroyed carriages of a suburban train." ... "Explosions were also reported on other trains - details are unclear." ... "The cause is not yet clear, but police have been on the alert for possible Basque separatist violence ahead of Sunday's general election." -BBC/News

-  - 
"Koizumi admits state fault in '50s emigration plan." ... "He [Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi] indicated the government might compensate Japanese emigrants to the Caribbean country who have filed a suit against the government." ... "Some 180, including returnees, have filed a damages suit seeking 3.1 billion yen in compensation. The plaintiffs have said they did not receive the rich farmland that the Japanese government had promised, and had to endure many difficulties after moving there." -JapanTimes.co.jp

- 2004 ELECTION
"Kerry Decries GOP as 'Crooked' and 'Lying'." ... "Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) dueled with President Bush over taxes and the economy yesterday and then, in an offhand comment to factory workers in Chicago, called the Republicans "the most crooked, you know, lying group I've ever seen," triggering an angry denunciation from Bush's campaign." -By Dan Balz -WashingtonPost

-  -  -  - 
"Speaking in 'approved' tongues: Should the government be allowed more oversight of foreign language study?" ... "As in many college departments, intellectual independence is a theme at Columbia's Department of Middle East and Asian Languages and Cultures." ... "An office door is decorated with a sticker that reads "Subvert the dominant paradigm," and the topics of faculty-authored books on display range from Iranian cinema to Israeli literature. But some academics worry this independence may be at risk as legislation increasing oversight of international studies programs makes its way through Congress." ... "The bill, called the International Studies Higher Education Act (HR 3077), reauthorizes about $80 million in funding for international and foreign language study, but with a twist - now the government would allocate more resources to programs that emphasize national security." -By Kimberly Chase-CSMonitor

- 2004 ELECTION
"Kerry within striking distance of mathematically sealing nomination." ... "John Kerry's commanding sweep of four Southern primaries has him on the verge of mathematically clinching the Democratic presidential nomination, most likely in the next week." ... "Kerry had 2,037 delegates Wednesday, just shy of the 2,162 needed to win nomination at the Democratic convention in Boston in July, an Associated Press tally shows." -By Genaro C. Armas -AP via -SFGate.com

-  -  - 
"U.S. Confident IAEA to Put Iran on Sanctions Notice." ... "Secretary of State Colin Powell said on Wednesday he was confident the U.N. atomic watchdog, which is assessing Iran's nuclear programs, would warn Tehran it could face sanctions within months." ... "The resolution being discussed in Vienna will stop short of declaring Iran in breach of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and reporting it to the U.N. Security Council for possible sanctions but will signal that could be close, he said." -Reuters

- Sniper
"Teenage Sniper Malvo Gets Life Sentence." ... "Teenage sniper Lee Boyd Malvo was sentenced to life in prison without parole Wednesday for an October 2002 killing spree in the Washington, D.C., area that left 10 people dead." ... "Malvo, 19, was sentenced a day after sniper mastermind John Allen Muhammad was given the death penalty. Malvo did not speak at the brief hearing." ... "Malvo was convicted in December of the slaying of FBI analyst Linda Franklin, 47, outside a Falls Church, Va., Home Depot store. His defense team had argued that Malvo had been molded into a killer by the charismatic Muhammad." -By Matthew Barakat -AP via -Guardian.co.uk

-  -  - 

-  - - Virginia News - Sniper
"Virginia Judge Formally Sentences Sniper John Muhammad to Death." ... "John Allen Muhammad, of two men accused in the sniper-shooting deaths of 10 people in the Washington, D.C., area in 2002, was sentenced to death by a Virginia judge today for murdering a man at a gas station." ... "A jury in Virginia Beach, Virginia, convicted Muhammad of capital murder, terrorism, conspiracy and firearms violations in November for the death of Dean Harold Meyers, 53, who was gunned down in Manassas, Virginia, in October 2002. Meyers was the seventh sniper victim." -By Chris Dolmetsch -Bloomberg

-  -  -  -  -  -  - 
"Five Guantanamo Britons Fly Home, Fate Unsure." ... "Five British men jailed for more than two years at the U.S. Guantanamo base in Cuba headed home Tuesday -- posing anti-terror police a dilemma over whether to release them to their families or keep them behind bars." ... "The five, held since late 2001 or early 2002 with more than 600 others suspected of fighting with the Taliban in Afghanistan or supporting al Qaeda, were expected to reach the Northolt military air base near London around 7 p.m." ... "Police will take immediate custody of them, but if they decide there is no case against them under Britain's tough anti-terror laws, they may be freed in days, legal sources said." (1, 2) -By Andrew Cawthorne -Reuters

-  - 
"Prices at the pump vault toward all-time high: Early hikes in gas prices across the US could affect everything from flower delivery to vacation plans." ... "Later this month, gas prices will almost certainly eclipse the record for the highest average price-per-gallon in US history. Then, if analysts are right, they will go even higher." ... "Ominously, some experts suggest that the energy outlook hasn't looked so bleak since the last days of Mr. Carter. Not that the country would be as severely affected as it was in the 1970s. For one, today's prices are still well below 1970s levels, when adjusted for inflation. In addition, many US power plants have since shifted to natural gas and coal, and manufacturing is now a smaller share of the economy. As a result, America is less dependent on oil for its well-being." -By Mark Sappenfield -CSMonitor

-  -  - - 
"UCLA Denies Role in Cadaver Case: Probe Targets Director of Willed-Body Program, Suspected Middleman." ... "The University of California at Los Angeles denied involvement Monday in the sale of cadaver body parts for profit after the arrest of the head of its medical school's cadaver program and a second man over the weekend. Authorities are investigating whether about 800 bodies donated to the program over the past six years were illegally sawed into pieces and sold to medical research companies." ... "Henry Reid, 54, director of the university's program that makes donated bodies available for medical education, was arrested Saturday for investigation of grand theft for allegedly selling corpses and body parts. Ernest Nelson, the suspected middleman, was arrested at his home in Alta Loma, Calif., on Sunday night on suspicion of receiving stolen property." -By Kimberly Edds -WashingtonPost

- -  - 
"An Interim President for Haiti Is Sworn In." ... "Interim President Boniface Alexandre was installed in the National Palace in a brief, awkward ceremony on Monday, as hundreds of supporters of Haiti's exiled president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, marched through the capital, chanting "Aristide or death!"" ... "A power struggle continued in the city's streets and its salons with the search for a new prime minister, a day after Aristide loyalists opened fire on anti-Aristide demonstrators near the presidential palace. Six people were killed and about 30 wounded. United States marines said on Monday that their return fire had killed one gunman." (1, 2) -By Lydia Polgreen and Tim Weiner -NYTimes via -Google-News

-  - 2004 ELECTION
"Bush Attacks Kerry on Bill to Trim Intelligence Budget." ... "President Bush accused Senator John Kerry on Monday of having tried to "gut" the nation's intelligence services in 1995 when Mr. Kerry introduced legislation that would have cut intelligence spending by $1.5 billion over five years." ... "On a day of rock-'em, sock-'em politics unusual for such an early stage of a presidential campaign, Mr. Bush said the 1995 legislation, proposed two years after the first attack on the World Trade Center, undermined Mr. Kerry's claim to have given the nation the intelligence tools it needs." ... "Mr. Kerry's campaign responded that Mr. Bush's attacks were misleading and that Mr. Kerry had a long record of supporting increased spending on intelligence agencies." -By Richard W. Stevenson and Jodi Wilgoren -NYTimes via -Google-News

-  -  - 

- 2004 ELECTION

-  -  - 
"IMF vacancy revives debate over top job." ... "Horst Köhler's decision to resign as head of the International Monetary Fund to become a candidate for president of Germany has rekindled a debate over whether a non-European should run the international lender for the first time." ... "Köhler, 61, who cuts short a term as managing director that would have expired in June 2005, will be replaced by Anne Krueger, the IMF's No. 2 official and an American, until a replacement is found." ... "The IMF, with 184 member countries, was created in 1945 to promote global economic health after World War II."  -Bloomberg -Reuters -AFP.com via -IHT.com

-  -  - 
"Signing of Iraqi Charter Is Delayed by Shiite Objections." ... "The scheduled signing of a previously approved interim constitution for Iraq was delayed indefinitely today after five Shiite members of the Iraqi Governing Council rejected wording that dealt with the Kurds and the proposed setup of the presidency." ... "The council unanimously agreed to the accord on Monday. But an official on the council said today that the changes being called for were necessary if they were to gain the acceptance of Iraq's leading Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani." -By Dexter Filkins and Terence Neilan -NYTimes via -Google-News

-  -  -

-  - - 
"Government, troops get tentative grip on Haiti." ... "The government and foreign military forces gained a tentative grip on chaotic Haiti Thursday as U.S. and French troops stepped up patrols and armed rebels who helped oust the president prepared to leave the capital." ... "Banks reopened after two weeks of gun battles, looting and barricades in the capital forced President Jean-Bertrand Aristide into exile. The government says a monthlong rebel uprising cost Haiti about $300 million, roughly equivalent to its yearly budget." -By Jim Loney and Alistair Scrutton editing by Lori Santos -Reuters via -Forbes

- Lesotho
"Prince Harry: Lesotho 'Needs Help'." ... "Britain's Prince Harry, on a two-month working trip to Lesotho, said Wednesday the tiny African kingdom needed help as it battles poverty, AIDS and a punishing drought." ... ""It's not a place that everybody really knows about," Harry told reporters at an orphanage about 62 miles south of the capital Maseru, one of a series of charity projects Harry has taken on since arriving in the landlocked country on February 13." -By By Joseph Oesi -Reuters

- 2004 ELECTION
"Edwards Plans to Announce Withdrawal Wednesday Afternoon at His Late Son's School." ... "Facing sweeping losses in Tuesday's contests, Senator John Edwards of North Carolina flew home to Raleigh and made plans to withdraw from the race for the Democratic presidential nomination on Wednesday, a senior adviser and Democrats familiar with the situation said." ... "Mr. Edwards plans to make his withdrawal announcement on Wednesday afternoon at Broughton High School, the school his 16-year-old son, Wade, attended before he was killed in a car crash in 1996. Friends have said the teenager's death caused Mr. Edwards to reassess his successful career as a trial lawyer and fulfill a goal to enter politics as a Senate candidate in 1998." (1, 2) -By Randal C. Archibold -NYTimes via -Google-News

- WorldCom News

-  - Water
"Life was viable on Mars: Rover digs up history of abundant briny water on Red Planet." ... "The Mars rover Opportunity has discovered powerful evidence that water once drenched the surface of Mars and made the planet habitable for life during some unknown epoch in the distant past, NASA scientists announced Tuesday." ... "For the first time since astronomers and planetary visionaries began speculating about water and life on the Red Planet centuries ago, the historic new findings from the Mars rover mission appear to have pinned down the long-cherished idea that Mars in fact once held a warm, wet environment where life could well have flourished." -By David Perlman -SFGate.com

-  -  -  - 

-  -  - Religion

-  -  -  -  -Anthrax News
"Tenet Warns of Al Qaeda Threat: CIA Chief Says Group Is Fragmented but Still Dangerous." ... "Despite U.S. success in attacking al Qaeda's hierarchy, the network is still capable of "catastrophic attacks" against the United States, and acquiring chemical, biological and radiological weapons remains a "religious obligation" in Osama bin Laden's eyes, CIA Director George J. Tenet told the Senate intelligence committee yesterday." ... "The most immediate threats include the possibility of "poison attacks" and al Qaeda's ongoing effort to produce anthrax material, he said: "Extremists have widely disseminated assembly instructions for an improvised chemical weapon using common materials that could cause a large number of casualties in a crowded, enclosed area."" (1, 2) -By Dana Priest -WashingtonPost

-  - -  - 
"U.N. Inspectors Report Evidence That Iran Itself Made Fuel That Could Be Used for A-Bombs." ... "Despite Iranian disavowals, International Atomic Energy Agency experts in Iran have found evidence of indigenous production of a concentrated fuel that, if pure enough, can be used to make nuclear weapons. They said in an inspection report that equipment made there showed many traces of the fuel, highly enriched uranium." ... "Iran has consistently argued that any traces of concentrated fuel must have come from equipment contaminated before it was imported, presumably from Pakistan. But the report, distributed yesterday to the agency's board, found the fuel on parts Iranians had made, and "only negligible traces" on imported parts." (1, 2) -By William J. Broad and David E. Sanger -NYTimes via -Google-News

-  - 
"Scientist Is Watched for Signs of Ebola." ... "A scientist who works in a maximum containment laboratory at Fort Detrick has been placed in isolation after she accidentally stuck herself with a needle while working with mice infected with a weakened form of the Ebola virus." ... "The woman, whom officials at the Army base declined to identify, has shown no symptoms of the deadly Ebola hemorrhagic fever during eight days of medical observation in a special isolation facility, said Army spokesman Chuck Dasey. He said she was exposed to the Zaire strain of Ebola, the deadliest of the three types of the virus." -By Avram Goldstein -WashingtonPost

-  - Media - Free-Speech

-  -  - Media
"Tehran shuts down papers ahead of election." ... "Neither the Yas-e No nor the Shargh daily appeared on Thursday after they carried long extracts of a letter from reformist parliamentary deputies criticising Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme leader, in their editions the previous day." ... "Saeed Mortazavi, Tehran's general prosecutor, also ordered internet service providers to block three websites." ... "The judiciary also on Thursday sealed an office belonging to the Islamic Iran Participation Front, the leading reformist party, agencies reported." -By Gareth Smyth and Mohsen Asgari -FT.com

- 
"Death Toll Rises to More Than 300 in Iran Train Explosion." ... "The death toll in a fiery train crash in Iran has risen to more than 300 as recovery teams continued to retrieve bodies today from the wreckage of the freight cars which derailed and exploded near villages in northeastern Iran." ... "The runaway train, carrying chemicals and fuel, toppled off the tracks on Wednesday, setting off a fire and then a massive explosion." -By Nazila Fathi -NYTimes via -Google-News

- - Enron News
"The hearing: 'I plead not guilty to all counts'." ... "Jeffrey Skilling, former Enron chief executive, surrendered to the FBI on Thursday to face a 42-count indictment, but he remained as defiant as ever that he was innocent." ... "Prosecutors outlined the charges against Mr Skilling, which range from conspiracy to insider trading, and said he faced up to 325 years in prison and more than $80m in fines if convicted." -By Sheila McNulty -FT.com

-  -  - Enron News
"Enron's ex-CEO Skilling surrenders to FBI." ... "Skilling, 50, entered FBI headquarters in Houston accompanied by about six attorneys at 6:52 local time." -Reuters via -Forbes

-  - 
"Scientists accuse Bush of twisting facts in his favor: White House says policy decisions based on sound data." ... "The Bush administration has deliberately distorted scientific fact to serve policy goals on the environment, health, biomedical research and nuclear weapons at home and abroad, a group of about 60 influential scientists said in a statement issued Wednesday." ... "The statement was released by the Union of Concerned Scientists, an independent organization that focuses on technical issues and has often taken stands at odds with administration policy. The organization also issued a 37-page report that it said detailed the accusations."  -DallasNews.com

-  -  - 2004 ELECTION
"Bush distances himself from jobs figure in forecast." ... "President Bush distanced himself Wednesday from a forecast made by his economic advisers predicting that the U.S. economy will add 2.6 million jobs this year." ... "A Feb. 9 report by the White House Council of Economic Advisors (CEA) predicted that payrolls would grow to an average of 132.7 million in 2004 from 130.1 million in 2003, an exceptionally rapid employment gain for an economy that has shed 2.3 million jobs during Bush's tenure. Facing the prospect that Democrats would make a campaign issue of Bush's failure to meet his own projections, the president and top administration officials declined to endorse the 2.6 million jobs forecast." -By Dana Milbank -WashingtonPost via -StarTribune.com

-  - 
"Annan Is Said to Have Doubt on Iraq Voting." ... "Secretary General Kofi Annan will endorse the view that the interim Iraqi government to take office this summer cannot be chosen by direct elections, but he will not make his recommendation on Iraq's political future for at least a week, senior United Nations diplomats said Wednesday." ... "The diplomats, who did not want to be quoted by name, said that Mr. Annan would consult Thursday with his special envoy to Iraq, Lakhdar Brahimi, who is returning from a weeklong examination of the political situation in the country. Afterward, Mr. Brahimi is to discuss his findings in a meeting with the Security Council." -By Warren Hoge -NYTimes via -Google-News

-  -  -  - 
"Guardsman Charged With Trying to Spy for Al Qaeda." ... "The Army has charged a member of the Washington State National Guard with attempting to supply intelligence of Army organizations and weapons systems to the Qaeda terrorist network, Army officials said on Wednesday. The intelligence included details about military personnel, troop movement, tactics and "vulnerabilities," the charges said." ... "Specialist Ryan G. Anderson, 26, a Muslim convert who Army officials said also went by the name Amir Abdul Rashid, was charged on Feb. 12 at the Fort Lewis base south of here [Seattle, Washington] with four counts of attempting to supply information to the enemy, but the charges were not made public until Wednesday." -By Sarah Kershaw -NYTimes via -Google-News

-  - 
"As court mulls, gays wed: A judge may decide as soon as Friday whether to stop San Francisco's rush of gay marriages." ... "For the past week, the broad granite steps of San Francisco's City Hall have stood like a finish line to gay and lesbian couples from every corner of the United States." ... "They have come by the thousands to line up in the rain of a raw northern California winter - in a blocks-long gathering that is part street festival, part civic protest. All in the hope of exchanging wedding vows beneath the hall's gilded dome - and in defiance of state law." -By Mark Sappenfield -CSMonitor

- 2004 ELECTION

-  - 
"Arizona bishop convicted in hit-run death." ... "Bishop Thomas O'Brien, the former head of Arizona's largest Roman Catholic diocese, was convicted yesterday of leaving the scene of an accident in which the car he was driving struck and killed a pedestrian." ... "O'Brien, 68, is believed to be the first Catholic bishop in U.S. history to be convicted of a felony. He stepped down as head of the Phoenix diocese last summer after he was charged in the accident, which came two months after authorities agreed not to prosecute him for covering up allegations of sexual abuse by priests." -WashingtonPost and -AP via -Reuters via -SeattleTimes.NWsource

- 
"Haitian Premier Warns of Possible Coup: Haitian Premier Warns of Impending Coup Amid Fears on Uprising Reaching Cap-Haitien." ... "Haiti's premier warned of an impending coup amid fears that an uprising that has left at least 57 people dead may have reached the country's second city, Cap-Haitien." ... "Police and armed supporters of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide mounted barricades and patrolled the streets of Cap-Haitien on Haiti's north coast on Tuesday." ... "[The city of] Hinche, at a strategic crossroads in Haiti's agriculture-rich Artibonite district, was seized Monday by some 50 rebels reportedly led by former death squad leader Louis-Jodel Chamblain." -AP via -ABCNEWS.com

-  -  -  - 
"Groundbreaking ruling in Peterson case Tracking device evidence can be presented." ... "The judge in Scott Peterson's double-murder trial broke new legal ground Tuesday and ruled that for the first time in a California courtroom, evidence gleaned from a high-tech tracking device can be presented to a jury." ... "From January to April of 2003, Modesto police secretly attached GPS devices to a number of Peterson's vehicles so the police could spy on his travels, including several trips to the Berkeley marina. The bodies of Peterson's 27-year-old wife, Laci, and the couple's fetus washed ashore not far away." -By Stacy Finz, Diana Walsh and Kelly St. John -SFGate.com

-  - 
"Pakistan Opposition Charges Atomic Cover-Up." ... "Opposition parties accused the military-dominated government of hiding the army's role in the proliferation scheme; humiliating the scientist, Abdul Qadeer Khan; appeasing the United States; and bypassing the elected legislators." -By Salman Masood and David Rohde -NYTimes via -Google-News

-  -  - 
"Japan's pride and joy gets a 'Made in China' label." ... "The qualms are gone. Now even Japan's pride and joy, its top-end electronics manufacturers, are coming to China with abandon." ... "They are building immense new plants and research centers here [in China] to take advantage of abundant Chinese labor up and down the value chain, doing nearly every kind of job their Japanese work force does. Cost pressures are driving them to forget old fears of having their best technology stolen or of harsh publicity at home over moving high-paying jobs overseas." -Ken Belson -NYTimes via -IHT.com

-  - 2004 ELECTION
"Woman denies Kerry relationship: Rumor wanes as Drudge backs off earlier Internet report." ... "A rumor that was circulated widely on the Internet and in the British press, purportedly linking Senator John Kerry to a much younger woman, crumbled Monday as the wom- an issued a strong denial and the Inter- net site that launched the report changed its story." ... "The Massachusetts senator, who is married, denied Friday that he had a re- lationship with the woman, later identi- fied as Alexandra Polier, 27, a former Associated Press intern. ‘‘I just deny it categorically,’’ Kerry said." -By Brian Knowlton -IHT.com

"Ohio's highway gunman remains elusive." ... "Ballistics testing confirmed a shooting on Saturday morning was the 24th in a series in the Columbus area, investigators said Sunday. No one was injured in the most recent shooting, though one person has been killed since the attacks began in May." -AP via -USATODAY

-  -  - 

-  -  - 
"U.N. Envoy Backs Iraqi Vote: In Meetings, Brahimi Says Elections Are Viable Before Date Set by U.S." ... "A senior U.N. envoy has indicated to Iraqi leaders that he believes nationwide, direct elections could be held late this year or early next year, according to several Iraqis who met with the envoy this week." ... "The envoy, former Algerian foreign minister Lakhdar Brahimi, was dispatched to resolve disagreements among Iraqis over the formation of a transitional government. He has suggested through questions and responses to various proposals that he favors holding elections sooner than the United States has envisaged but not before a planned handover of sovereignty this summer, the Iraqis who met with him said Thursday." (1, 2) -By Rajiv Chandrasekaran -WashingtonPost

- 
"Marriage: Addition or division? A new model for predicting divorce may help prevent split-ups." ... "Valentine's Day is Saturday, and we are all thinking about true love and heart-shaped chocolate candy. Well, maybe not all of us. Some of us, actually, are considering the quantifiable aspects of divorce." ... "In America today, some 50 percent of marriages are predicted to end in divorce. And at the University of Washington in Seattle they say they can tell you exactly - well, almost exactly - which ones those will be." ... "A psychologist, a mathematician, and a pathologist have devised what they call a proven mathematical formula for detecting which relationships will go sour - thereby holding out hope that such couples can overcome their problems, and avoid divorce." -By Danna Harman -CSMonitor

-  -  - STEM CELL NEWS - CLONING NEWS
"Human cells cloned, South Korean researchers claim." ... "The researchers, who will publish their work today in the online edition of the journal Science, placed genetic material from a Korean volunteer into a human egg cell and coaxed it to develop into a blastocyst, a cluster of about 100 cells that is substantially more advanced than any embryo previously known to have been created in a human-cloning experiment." ... "In another first, the team also extracted embryonic stem cells, powerful cells with the ability to become any other kind of cell, from the cloned blastocyst." -By Gareth Cook -Boston/Globe via -StarTribune.com

-  -  - STEM CELL NEWS - CLONING NEWS
"South Korean researchers cull stem cells from cloned human embryo." ... "Researchers in South Korea for the first time have cloned a human embryo and then culled stem cells from it, marking an important step toward one day growing patients' own replacement tissue to treat diseases." ... "This is not cloning to make babies. Instead it's called therapeutic cloning, in which embryos that are the genetic twins of a particular patient are grown in a test-tube to supply master stem cells that can grow into any tissue --without being rejected by that patient's immune system." -By Lauran Neergaard -APvia -SFGate.com

-  - 
"Head of U.S. Central Command's convoy attacked in Iraq: Follows 2 bombings that killed more than 100." ... "A convoy carrying Gen. John Abizaid, the commander of all U.S. forces in the Middle East, was attacked Thursday during a visit to Iraqi defense forces in Fallujah, U.S. officials said. No one was injured." ... "The convoy was at a compound in Fallujah, west of Baghdad, when three rocket-propelled grenades were fired from rooftops, Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt said at a news conference." -Contributed to by  Jane Arraf -CNN

- 

- 

-  -  -  -  -  -  - ELECTION 2004
"White House releases Bush's Guard records." ... "Moving to squelch an election year controversy, the White House yesterday made public records showing that President Bush attended some Air National Guard training between mid-1972 and mid-1973 and was paid for it, and said the records refute reports that Bush did not fulfill his military obligation during the Vietnam War." ... "But the same records also show that Bush may not have met the minimum-service requirement expected of most Guard members, according to National Guard officials. And after releasing the records, the White House press secretary, Scott McClellan, could not explain why, if Bush appeared for duty on the days listed in the documents, Bush's superiors wrote on May 2, 1973, that he had not been seen at his Houston air base for the previous 12 months." -By Walter V. Robinson and Michael Rezendes -Boston/Globe

- -  - 
"At Least 36 Iraqis Killed in Car Bombing Outside Army Recruiting Center, Day After Similar Attack." ... "A suicide driver blew up his explosive-rigged car Wednesday outside an army recruiting center in central Baghdad where hundreds of Iraqis were lined up to volunteer for the military, killing at least 36 people, U.S. officials and Iraqi witnesses said." ... "Iraq's deputy interior minister, Ahmed Ibrahim, said 47 people were killed and 50 injured. He told reporters "this crime" will "not deter the people's march toward freedom."" -AP via -ABCNEWS.com

-  -  - 
"France's ban on religious symbols in schools gets approval." ... "France's lower house of parliament voted overwhelmingly Tuesday to ban students from wearing Islamic head scarves and other conspicuous religious items in public schools." ... "The classroom ban, which also applies to Jewish skullcaps and large Christian crosses, was approved 494 to 36. In early March, the measure will go to the Senate, where there is little opposition." -By Elaine Ganley -AP via -StarTribune.com

-  -  -  - 
"Service Chiefs Challenge White House on the Budget." ... "In an unusual public display of differences with the White House, the top officers of the Army, Marine Corps and Air Force all raised questions on Tuesday about how the Bush administration plans to pay for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan after the current financing runs out at the end of September." ... "Appearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee, three of the four chiefs of the armed services expressed concerns about a financing gap, perhaps of four months, for the two missions, whose combined cost is about $5 billion a month." -By Eric Schmitt -NYTimes

- 2004 ELECTION
"Kerry Claims Decisive Wins In Virginia and Tennessee: Clark to End Candidacy After Southern Defeats." ... "Sen. John F. Kerry (Mass.) cruised to victory in Virginia and Tennessee last night, adding the first southern states to his growing string of primary and caucus wins as he continued to run away with the race for the Democratic presidential nomination." ... "Kerry's victories cla