------- Index of Articles

NUCLEAR
China Escapes U.S. Arms Sanctions, Iran, Pakistan Hit
U.S. Hails China on Missile Pledge
Blair, Putin Discuss Gov't Issues
China Promises Not to Sell Missiles
United States Lifts Sanctions on China
China promises not to sell missiles
Pakistan's hopes
Kashmiris reject offer of cease-fire
Russia Firm Against ABM Change But Ready to Talk
Russian Journalist Faces New Trial
Particle Physics Braces for the Next Big Thing
South Carolina
Albright's legacy
AMCOM, Marshall pact promotes sharing resources
Spaceport Florida Authority
Ex - Los Alamos Scientist Plans Book
Ex-Los Alamos scientist to write book
Entergy Nuclear, NYPA Close Sale of Two Nuclear Plants
U.S. Agency Issues Con Ed a Code Red Violation
Plant operators reach deal for local development, displaced workers
Air Force Leery of N-Storage
Energy Department plans not to restart Hanford reactor
Hanford Reactor Restart Nixed
Rocky Flats Sends Out Most Waste

MILITARY
China Signs U.N. Pact on Rights and Rule of Law
China agrees to U.N. human rights help
U.S. Presses Bogotá to Stiffen Drug Fight
Europe Acts to Build Own Military Force
EU pledges troops, gear for military force
KASHMIR: INDIAN OVERTURE SNUBBED
A New Burmese Leisure Class: Army Capitalists
Russia Loses Contact With Satellite
Ex-GIs say No Gun Ri orders came from higher HQ
THE ABSENTEE BALLOTS
Top Florida official urges military ballots' inclusion
Hawaii

OTHER
U.S. blasted in talks over global warming
New Species of Endangered Lemurs Is Discovered
Europe pressures U.S. to cut emissions
States
SCIENTIST AT WORK
THINGS WE DON'T UNDERSTAND
NETHERLANDS: FRANCE AND U.S. CLASH
2nd Officer Describes Beating of Man Who Died in Custody
ROGUE COP'S VICTIM TO GET $15 MILLION
Struggling to find the next generation
Oregon
Mideast Terrorist Provocation

ACTIVISTS
Spying lawsuit against police gets under way
Civil rights veterans pay tribute to Hosea Williams
TODAY'S SIGN THE WORLD IS ENDING


-------- NUCLEAR

China Escapes U.S. Arms Sanctions, Iran, Pakistan Hit

Reuters
November 21, 2000
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/world/international-arms-sa.html

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States said on Tuesday it was waiving sanctions against China for past missile technology transfers to Iran and Pakistan but imposing them on these two states for receiving the equipment.

``The U.S. side has decided to waive sanctions under U.S. law for past Chinese assistance to missile programs in Pakistan and Iran, and to resume certain commercial space interactions with China,'' State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said.

``Sanctions have been imposed upon Pakistani and Iranian recipients of the Chinese assistance,'' he added.

China was liable for sanctions because of the transfers of technology including whole missiles, in Pakistan's case, or in Iran's, of components to make them, Boucher said.

But President Clinton, who leaves office in January, had granted a waiver because China's foreign ministry had pledged to clean up its act on arms technology exports.

A senior State Department official said that in the case of Iran, China's pledge to control exports ``can certainly make a big impact in terms of slowing down developments''.

He said the shorter the range of missile, the less Iran's dependence on foreign technology. ``If they want an advanced missile capability, the horse is not yet out of the barn.''

CHINESE RECOVERY, SLOW IRANIAN THAW

U.S.-Sino relations have been gradually recovering since last year when U.S. jets on a NATO mission against Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic hit China's embassy in Belgrade in a bombing the United States has always said was accidental.

Though Boucher said the sanctions would have little impact on Iran because of an existing embargo, the announcement was unlikely to improve the tone of a diplomatic ``pas-de-deux'' as Secretary of State Madeleine Albright refers to efforts to improve ties with reformist President Mohammad Khatami.

Boucher said existing sanctions also spelled limited impact on Pakistan, but that the new ones sent ``a strong signal that the United States opposes these countries' missiles programs.''

India and Pakistan are subject to U.S. sanctions because of their tit-for-tat nuclear tests of 1998.

Iran remains among seven nations labeled by the U.S. as state sponsors of terrorism for its opposition to the Middle East peace process, a designation which robs it of much U.S. aid.

What the United States calls Iran's desire for weapons of mass destruction also boosted arguments in the United States for a missile defense shield which would cost tens of billions of dollars to build but Clinton has deferred to his successor.

Boucher said the waiver meant the United States could resume processing licenses for commercial space cooperation with Chinese companies, and talks on extending a 1995 deal on international trade and commercial launch services.

But the U.S. government would impose a two-year ban on export licenses for commerce- and state-controlled items in all new U.S. government contracts on several entities in Iran and Pakistan, and their subunits and successor bodies.

In Iran, the Defense Industries Organization, defense ministry and Armed Forces Logistics Command were affected.

In Pakistan, the affected bodies were the defense ministry and Space and Upper-Atmosphere Research Commission.

Boucher said Beijing's foreign ministry had given a clear policy commitment not to help other states to develop ballistic missiles that could be used to deliver nuclear weapons.

It also pledged to improve its export control system, including publishing at an early date a full list of missile-related items, including dual-use ones, Boucher added.

He said the waiver depended on Beijing keeping its promise. ''In that connection, while the United States is waiving sanctions that would otherwise be imposed for past transfers to missile programs in Pakistan and Iran, the waiver does not apply to any transfers that might occur in the future.''

He added, ``We're confident that the next administration will follow this question closely.''

---

U.S. Hails China on Missile Pledge

Associated Press
November 21, 2000 Filed at 4:37 p.m. ET
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-US-China.html

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Clinton administration Tuesday welcomed a pledge by China not to help other countries develop ballistic missiles and responded by waiving economic sanctions on Chinese companies that assisted Pakistan and Iran in the past.

``This development can strengthen cooperation between the United States and China to achieve our common objective of preventing the spread of ballistic missiles that threaten regional and international security,'' said State Department spokesman Richard Boucher.

As a result, the United States will resume processing licenses for commercial space cooperation between American and Chinese companies, including the launching of U.S. satellites in China, Boucher said.

The two countries also will resume discussions on extending a 1995 agreement on international trade, he said.

However, Boucher said, new sanctions will be imposed on Iranian and Pakistani military and civilian groups for receiving ballistic missile technology from China.

In Iran, the sanctioned entities are the Defense Industry Organization, the Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics and their subunits.

The sanctioned entities in Pakistan are the Ministry of Defense and the Space and Upper-atmosphere Research Commission and their subunits and successors.

Boucher said this means that for two years all new U.S. government contracts will be denied to the Pakistani Ministry of Defense, Space and Upper-Atmosphere Research Commission and there will be no imports of their products into the United States.

The new sanctions will have very limited economic effect because of a U.S. embargo against Iran and earlier U.S. sanctions against Iran and Pakistan, Boucher said. ``But they do send a strong signal that the United States opposes these countries' missiles programs.''

China's pledge, and a similar one earlier by North Korea, could have a major impact in slowing down Iran's ballistic missile program.

But, a senior U.S. official said, Russia and other countries continue to contribute to Iranian weapons programs. Russia has made several promises to curb proliferation, but enforcement is a problem, and Russia's record is spotty, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Rep. Benjamin A. GiIman, R-N.Y., chairman of the House International Relations Committee, also welcomed China's statement but also said, ``The proof will be in the implementation.''

``China has made similar promises regarding proliferation in the past and broken them,'' he said in a statement. ``This agreement will necessitate strong vigilance and continued monitoring.''

---

Blair, Putin Discuss Gov't Issues

Associated Press
November 21, 2000 Filed at 11:38 a.m. ET
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Russia-Britain.html

MOSCOW (AP) -- British Prime Minister Tony Blair discussed nuclear arms control, European security and economic ties Tuesday with Russian President Vladimir Putin in a visit that touted the warm relations between the two leaders.

Blair said he explained to Putin the European Union's moves to create a joint rapid reaction force, underlining that it was meant for humanitarian missions, not as a new European army. Putin said Russia would not oppose the plan.

Putin in turn repeated Russia's strong opposition to the U.S. proposal to modify the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty to build defenses against a possible missile threat by rogue nations.

``Our relations have reached a good level,'' Putin said when he and Blair sat down for talks in the Kremlin. ``But we must still do a lot about the economy.''

The meetings were marked by the displays of friendship that have characterized the two leaders' ties ever since Blair made an unofficial visit in March, when Putin was still acting president. That was seen as an image-booster for Putin just ahead of presidential elections, and Putin reciprocated by making Britain the first Western country he visited after being elected.

Shortly after Blair arrived on Monday night, he and Putin met at a small beer hall, and for their Kremlin talks Tuesday Putin met the British leader at the doorstep of his residence and escorted him all the way to the conference room.

``He is highly intelligent, very capable, knows what he wants for Russia and is prepared to listen,'' Blair said of Putin in an interview on Tuesday with the British Broadcasting Corp. ``He is someone that wants to do the right thing by his country and the outside world ... and I think it is important that we therefore are alongside helping him do that.''

``It's important for Britain that we have a Russia that is capable, engaged in the outside world, stable, that is handling not just the problems internally with the economy but also its external relations in a good way,'' he said.

Blair, who also met with Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov, headed home Tuesday afternoon.

-------- china

China Promises Not to Sell Missiles

Associated Press
November 21, 2000
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-China-US-Missiles.html

BEIJING (AP) -- China promised Tuesday not to sell missiles or components to countries developing nuclear weapons, easing tensions with Washington over long-suspected Chinese assistance to Pakistan, Iran and North Korea.

A statement, released by the Chinese Foreign Ministry, was China's most explicit pledge to date on refraining from spreading missile technology. It covered not only whole missile systems, which Beijing agreed not to transfer two years ago, but also dual-use components that could be used in other technologies.

``China has no intention to assist, in any way, any country in the development of ballistic missiles that can be used to deliver nuclear weapons,'' Foreign Ministry spokesman Sun Yuxi said in the statement carried by the official Xinhua News Agency.

Sun said that China will improve controls to stop unlicensed transfers of missile technology and -- for the first time -- publish a comprehensive list of ``missile-related items and dual-use items'' whose export will be restricted.

For countries developing nuclear-capable missiles, ``China will exercise special scrutiny and caution, even for items not specifically contained on the control list,'' Sun said. He added that before issuing export licenses, China will consider whether an item could be diverted to missile programs.

Although Sun did not mention specific countries, Washington has suspected China of aiding the missile programs of Pakistan, Iran and North Korea since the early 1990s and has in the past imposed sanctions on Chinese companies.

In response to China's statement, the U.S. State Department announced it would forgo imposing sanctions on Chinese companies previously involved in spreading the dangerous technologies and would begin processing licenses for commercial space cooperation, including the launching of U.S. satellites by China.

``This development can strengthen cooperation between the United States and China to achieve our common objective of preventing the spread of ballistic missiles that threaten regional and international security,'' State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said in Washington.

China's pledge and Washington's favorable response capped years of negotiations that quickened since they resumed in July following a 14-month suspension by Beijing in anger over the U.S. bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Yugoslavia.

Boucher said negotiators met again earlier this month in Beijing and Secretary of State Madeleine Albright discussed proliferation with Chinese officials at last week's meeting of Pacific Rim economies in Brunei.

``This is China's clearest and most complete statement on missile proliferation,'' said Phillip Saunders, an expert on Chinese nuclear weapons transfers at the Monterey Institute of International Studies. ``If there are loopholes, it's not evident.''

Since the mid-1990s, the Clinton administration has tried to persuade Beijing to bolster arms controls and join international agreements while trying to avoid punishing China with broad sanctions that could undermine ties.

China has responded positively, progressively committing to broader and more specific controls, Saunders said, adding that while Beijing's ``record has not been perfect, it has improved.''

Evidence has grown about Beijing's transfers of missile technology. An intelligence finding last year determined that China transferred nuclear-capable M-11 missiles to Pakistan in the early 1990s. A CIA report in August said unspecified Chinese assistance to Pakistan continued in 1999. The report also found that Chinese firms provided missile-related items, raw materials and other assistance to Iran, North Korea and Libya.

China has publicly denied ever transferring missiles or related technologies to foreign countries. After Pakistan and India traded nuclear test explosions in 1998, Beijing showed renewed interest in controlling the spread of missiles.

At a Beijing summit with President Clinton later that year, Chinese President Jiang Zemin agreed to abide by, but not sign, the Missile Technology Control Regime -- a 13-year-old agreement signed by 32 countries that restricts transfers of missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons.

But U.S. arms control negotiators have said that China has interpreted the agreement narrowly, agreeing not to transfer whole systems but taking a more ambiguous approach to components.

China's statement on Tuesday appears to address those concerns while steering clear of formally joining the missile control pact. Sun, the Chinese spokesman, said that in drawing up a list of restricted items China will consider the practices of other countries.

---

United States Lifts Sanctions on China

New York Times
November 21, 2000
By REUTERS
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/world/21WIRE-CHINA.html
http://news.excite.com/news/r/001121/16/arms-usa-sanctions

WASHINGTON - The United States said Tuesday it was waiving sanctions against China for past missile technology transfers to Iran and Pakistan but imposing them on these two states for receiving the equipment.

"The U.S. side has decided to waive sanctions under U.S. law for past Chinese assistance to missile programs in Pakistan and Iran, and to resume certain commercial space interactions with China," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said.

"Sanctions have been imposed upon Pakistani and Iranian recipients of the Chinese assistance," he added.

China was liable for sanctions because of the transfers of technology including whole missiles, in Pakistan's case, or in Iran's, of components to make them, Boucher said.

But President Clinton, who leaves office in January, had granted a waiver because China's foreign ministry had pledged to clean up its act on arms technology exports.

A senior State Department official said that in the case of Iran, China's pledge to control exports "can certainly make a big impact in terms of slowing down developments."

He said the shorter the range of missile, the less Iran's dependence on foreign technology. "If they want an advanced missile capability, the horse is not yet out of the barn."

CHINESE RECOVERY, SLOW IRANIAN THAW

U.S.-Sino relations have been gradually recovering since last year when U.S. jets on a NATO mission against Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic hit China's embassy in Belgrade in a bombing the United States has always said was accidental.

Though Boucher said the sanctions would have little impact on Iran because of an existing embargo, the announcement was unlikely to improve the tone of a diplomatic "pas-de-deux" as Secretary of State Madeleine Albright refers to efforts to improve ties with reformist President Mohammad Khatami.

Boucher said existing sanctions also spelled limited impact on Pakistan, but that the new ones sent "a strong signal that the United States opposes these countries' missiles programs."

India and Pakistan are subject to U.S. sanctions because of their tit-for-tat nuclear tests of 1998.

Iran remains among seven nations labeled by the U.S. as state sponsors of terrorism for its opposition to the Middle East peace process, a designation which robs it of much U.S. aid.

What the United States calls Iran's desire for weapons of mass destruction also boosted arguments in the United States for a missile defense shield which would cost tens of billions of dollars to build but Clinton has deferred to his successor.

Boucher said the waiver meant the United States could resume processing licenses for commercial space cooperation with Chinese companies, and talks on extending a 1995 deal on international trade and commercial launch services.

But the U.S. government would impose a two-year ban on export licenses for commerce- and state-controlled items in all new U.S. government contracts on several entities in Iran and Pakistan, and their subunits and successor bodies.

In Iran, the Defense Industries Organization, defense ministry and Armed Forces Logistics Command were affected.

In Pakistan, the affected bodies were the defense ministry and Space and Upper-Atmosphere Research Commission.

Boucher said Beijing's foreign ministry had given a clear policy commitment not to help other states to develop ballistic missiles that could be used to deliver nuclear weapons.

It also pledged to improve its export control system, including publishing at an early date a full list of missile-related items, including dual-use ones, Boucher added.

He said the waiver depended on Beijing keeping its promise. "In that connection, while the United States is waiving sanctions that would otherwise be imposed for past transfers to missile programs in Pakistan and Iran, the waiver does not apply to any transfers that might occur in the future."

He added, "We're confident that the next administration will follow this question closely."

---

China promises not to sell missiles

USA Today
11/21/00- Updated 08:26 PM ET
http://usatoday.com/news/nlead.htm

BEIJING (AP) - China promised Tuesday not to sell missiles or components to countries developing nuclear weapons, easing tensions with Washington over long-suspected Chinese assistance to Pakistan, Iran and North Korea.

A statement, released by the Chinese Foreign Ministry, was China's most explicit pledge to date on refraining from spreading missile technology. It covered not only whole missile systems, which Beijing agreed not to transfer two years ago, but also dual-use components that could be used in other technologies.

''China has no intention to assist, in any way, any country in the development of ballistic missiles that can be used to deliver nuclear weapons,'' Foreign Ministry spokesman Sun Yuxi said in the statement carried by the official Xinhua News Agency.

Sun said that China will improve controls to stop unlicensed transfers of missile technology and publish a comprehensive list of ''missile-related items and dual-use items'' whose export will be restricted.

For countries developing nuclear-capable missiles, ''China will exercise special scrutiny and caution, even for items not specifically contained on the control list,'' Sun said. He added that before issuing export licenses, China will consider whether an item could be diverted to missile programs.

Although Sun did not mention specific countries, Washington has suspected China of aiding the missile programs of Pakistan, Iran and North Korea since the early 1990s and has in the past imposed sanctions on Chinese companies.

In response to the Chinese statement, the U.S. State Department announced it was lifting sanctions on the punished Chinese companies and would begin to consider approving licenses for China to launch U.S. satellites.

''This development can strengthen cooperation between the United States and China to achieve our common objective of preventing the spread of ballistic missiles that threaten regional and international security,'' State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said in Washington.

China's pledge and Washington's favorable response capped years of negotiations that quickened since they resumed in July following a 14-month suspension by Beijing in anger over the U.S. bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Yugoslavia.

Boucher said negotiators met again earlier this month in Beijing and Secretary of State Madeleine Albright discussed the matter at last week's meeting of Pacific Rim economies in Brunei.

Since the mid-1990s, the Clinton administration has been eager to persuade Beijing to bolster arms controls and join international agreements while trying to avoid punishing China with broad sanctions that could undermine ties.

Evidence has grown about Beijing's transfers of missile technology. An intelligence finding last year determined that China transferred nuclear-capable M-11 missiles to Pakistan in the early 1990s. A CIA report in August said unspecified Chinese assistance to Pakistan continued in 1999. The report also found that Chinese firms provided missile-related items, raw materials and other assistance to Iran, North Korea and Libya.

China has publicly denied ever transferring missiles or related technologies to foreign countries. After Pakistan and India traded nuclear test explosions in 1998, Beijing showed renewed interest in controlling the spread of missiles.

At a Beijing summit with President Clinton later that year, Chinese President Jiang Zemin agreed to abide by, but not sign, the Missile Technology Control Regime - a 13-year-old agreement signed by 32 countries that restricts transfers of missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons.

But U.S. arms control negotiators have said that China has interpreted the agreement narrowly, agreeing not to transfer whole systems but taking a more ambiguous approach to components.

China's statement on Tuesday appears to address those concerns while steering clear of formally joining the missile control pact. Sun, the Chinese spokesman, said that in drawing up a list of restricted items China will consider the practices of other countries.

-------- india / pakistan

Pakistan's hopes

Washington Times
November 21, 2000
Embassy Row James Morrison News and dispatches from the diplomatic corridor.
http://208.246.212.80/world/embassy-20001121213749.htm

"Who's going to win?" Pakistani Ambassador Maleeha Lodhi asked yesterday, as editors and reporters from The Washington Times arrived at her residence for lunch.

Miss Lodhi, like other ambassadors in Washington, has been closely following the presidential election recount in Florida and becoming anxious over the delay.

Her guests had little insight to give her, and she said she had little to give her government in Islamabad.

"I tell my Foreign Ministry I have nothing to report because they are seeing it all on CNN. CNN is going to put diplomats out of business," she said.

Miss Lodhi said her country will work with whomever is elected but hopes a new administration will concentrate on building closer relations with Pakistan, which suffered a blow to its reputation after a military coup last year overthrew a corrupt, if democratically elected, government.

"A military government is a response to an extraordinary set of circumstances," she said.

President Clinton spent only a few hours visiting Pakistan's military ruler, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, on a five-day trip to India last year.

Miss Lodhi said the United States and other countries must give Pakistan time to return to democracy. Elections are scheduled in 2002.

"It seems like a long way away, but it really isn't," she said.

Pakistan is updating electoral roles and making other voting reforms. It is prosecuting corrupt officials of previous regimes and tackling severe economic problems.

"This is a critical time in the bilateral relations between Pakistan and the United States," she said.

Miss Lodhi expects no change in the "strategic relationship" under a Bush or Gore administration. Both countries have a desire for a stable and secure South Asian region, especially concerning the possible proliferation of nuclear weapons.

She said Pakistan has no interest in an arms race with India, which exploded nuclear devices in 1998, prompting Pakistan to do the same.

"But if you move into a deployment phase, you move into a hair-trigger situation," she said.

Miss Lodhi noted that some Pakistani observers believe the United States has tilted toward India under the Clinton administration, but she believes U.S. relations with India does not mean a lessening of ties with Pakistan.

"It does not have to be a zero-sum game," she said.

Miss Lodhi hopes the next U.S. president will support debt relief for Pakistan, which owes about $38 billion in foreign loans.

"I hope the United States will help Pakistan in the areas where it really counts - the economic aspect," she said.

---

Kashmiris reject offer of cease-fire

Washington Times
November 21, 2000
By Ben Barber
http://208.246.212.80/world/default-20001121215036.htm

Kashmiri separatist groups yesterday rejected an offer by India of a cease-fire in Kashmir during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.

However Pakistan, which supports the groups, said it would cautiously watch India's behavior in the coming days to see whether the offer was more than a "tactical move" aimed at dividing the Kashmiri separatists.

"Past experience shows India uses these offers as a tactical move to divide the Kashmir movement," Pakistan's ambassador to Washington, Maleeha Lodhi, said at a luncheon with editors and reporters of The Washington Times yesterday.

"It's up to the Kashmiri groups to decide what to do about it," she said.

The embassy's deputy chief, Zamir Akram, added: "A cease-fire is not what is necessary. What is necessary is a dialogue that involves all three parties," India, the Kashmiris and Pakistan.

India has long refused to include Pakistan in talks on Kashmir, which was divided in fighting between the two countries in 1947 and has remained a flash point ever since.

U.S., British and Russian diplomats yesterday hailed the Indian offer to stop offensive operations during Ramadan, which begins around Dec. 1, depending on the first sighting of the new moon.

"We welcome it," said a State Department official. "We think it is fully consistent with the principles President Clinton laid out when in the region. . . .

"We hope this [cease-fire] represents an opening toward the process of dialogue needed to bring about a lasting settlement for Kashmir."

However, the major militant groups tying down more than half a million Indian troops in Kashmir dismissed the offer as a trick and said they would not respect it unless India agreed to talks with Pakistan.

"This limited cease-fire . . . has no meaning or utility for the people until it is set up to initiate a meaningful dialogue for the ultimate resolution of the Kashmir conflict," said Syed Salahuddin, supreme commander of Huzbul Mujahideen.

"As long as this remains unresolved, there will remain general unrest and a danger of a nuclear outbreak in the region."

The Al-Badar Mujahideen also rejected the cease-fire and said its holy war "will continue until Indian forces withdraw from occupied Kashmir."

Another militant group -Lashkar-e-Taiba - also rejected the cease-fire.

Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokesman Riaz Ahmed Khan said in Islamabad that peace was not possible until India ceased "repression" of Kashmiri separatists waging a guerrilla war against India since 1989.

"Otherwise, short-term cease-fire offers such as the one made yesterday could only be tactical and part of India's efforts to impose a military solution," Mr. Khan told a news conference.

The State Department official, speaking on condition of anonymity, urged the militant groups to reconsider the Indian offer.

"We have not seen this before from the Indians," he said. "It's a good thing. Let's hope it can be expanded into something more. But it takes two to tango."

Miss Lodhi said that India's goal was to "isolate" Pakistan, but that the United States had long-standing national security interests in maintaining good relations with Pakistan, even as it improves its economic and political relations with India.

She said the military government of Gen. Pervez Musharraf was struggling to improve Pakistan's economy and needed help from the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the leading industrial nations to restructure its $38 billion debt.

Only when the economy improves can Pakistan cope with rising anti-Americanism and Islamic fundamentalism, which she said are inevitable consequences when people have no hope of improving their lot in life.

-------- russia

Russia Firm Against ABM Change But Ready to Talk

Reuters
November 21, 2000
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/world/international-russia-.html

MOSCOW (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday Russia stood firm in its opposition to altering a key nuclear arms pact to allow the United States to build a missile defense shield but he was still ready to discuss the problem.

The United States has said it wants to alter the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty (ABM), so it can build a National Missile Defense (NMD) shield to protect itself from attack by so-called rogue states such as Iran and North Korea.

``The position of Russia on ABM is unchanged,'' Putin told reporters after meeting British Prime Minister Tony Blair for talks covering arms control. ``We believe that the destruction of ABM would lead to serious destabilization in the world.''

Russia and China have dismissed U.S. suggestions of rogue states and say that changing the ABM treaty is aimed at building a shield against their own nuclear deterrent. Some European states have also expressed worries about Washington's plans.

The ABM pact was aimed at slowing the arms race by limiting the sorts of shields signatories could put in place.

The idea was that if there were no limitation on shields then countries would continue to build more and more missiles in the hope some of them would overwhelm the enemy's defenses.

Rather than ditching ABM, Russia has instead proposed further cuts in nuclear missiles, perhaps going lower than the 1,500 warheads already under discussion.

Russia has floated other ideas, including one last week by its nuclear missile forces chief, General Vladimir Yakovlev.

He said Russia could propose a new index under which any country which boosts its missile defenses would have to cut its ability to attack, each movement counterbalancing the other.

Putin made no outright comment on this after his talks with Blair but indicated that dialogue would continue.

``We are ready to maintain contacts with our U.S. partners and exchange information through our European contacts,'' he said. ``We are in favor of looking together to find ways to resolve this matter.''

Blair, who has said he is prepared to mediate, said he also approved of further talks.

``I welcome the continuing dialogue, which is the right and sensible way of approaching this issue,'' he told reporters.

President Clinton has deferred a decision on building NMD, saying it should be taken by the next administration.

Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore has said he would negotiate with Russia on a limited NMD while his opponent, Republican George W. Bush, favors a more comprehensive system.

---

Russian Journalist Faces New Trial

Associated Press
November 21, 2000
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Russia-Journalist-Trial.html

MOSCOW (AP) -- The Russian Supreme Court ordered a new trial Tuesday for a military journalist who had been jailed for 20 months before he was acquitted of treason charges.

The journalist, Grigory Pasko, was accused of divulging information about the combat readiness of Russia's Pacific Fleet to the Japanese television station NHK.

Pasko, a naval captain who worked as a reporter for a military newspaper in the Russian Far East, told the Interfax news agency that the revival of the years-old case showed that ``Russia is becoming a torture chamber.''

Pasko claimed the charges were contrived to punish him for reports he filed about the fleet's nuclear waste dumping practices.

He was acquitted of the treason charge last year, but convicted on a lesser charge of improper military conduct. Sentenced to three years, Pasko was immediately freed because he had served more than half his sentence while his case worked its way through the courts.

Prosecutors appealed the verdict, demanding a treason conviction, while the defense protested even the lesser conviction.

The case was sent to the Military Collegium of the Russian Supreme Court, which ordered the retrial, the ITAR-Tass news agency reported.

Prosecutor Sergei Adonin said he was pleased with the decision, the report said.

The ruling means it could be a year to 18 months before a new verdict is reached, Pasko's lawyer Anatoly Pyshkin said. Pasko warned that the Supreme Court ``ruling will dissuade other journalists from doing investigative work,'' ITAR-Tass reported.

-------- switzerland

Particle Physics Braces for the Next Big Thing

New York Times
November 21, 2000
By JAMES GLANZ
http://www.nytimes.com/2000/11/21/science/21HIGG.html

GENEVA - Gerard Bachy, an engineer, stands 250 feet underground in an immense, bottle-shaped cavern that scientists around the world might regard as a kind of magic lantern. Thousands of those scientists hope, in effect, to rub this lantern and conjure a mysterious subatomic particle called the Higgs boson that their most trusted theories say is the source of all mass in the universe, the reason matter has weight.

If they are granted a few more wishes, those scientists may find strange things predicted by more speculative theories, like new dimensions, beyond the usual four, hidden in the fabric of space, and swarms of other unknown particles with odd properties - discoveries that would remake humanity's view of the cosmos.

Mr. Bachy is the chief engineer for a colossal particle detector called Atlas that will be assembled, piece by piece, inside the cavern once it has been fully carved out of the gray rock. Science being what it is, researchers hope to create detectable bits of matter and explore reality not by actually putting their palms to a lamp but by smashing together other particles at a point about 30 feet below where Mr. Bachy is standing.

A vertical tunnel for lowering detector parts from the surface tapers away over his head. Mr. Bachy, who is French, reaches for an analogy to describe the task of constructing the 7,000-ton detector, which will nearly fill the cavern when finished.

"In matter of space, I would say it is like a submarine," he said. "But in matter of technical complexity, it's close to the space program."

Under construction here at CERN, the leading European particle physics laboratory, Atlas will be one of two giant detectors huddled around what will be the world's most powerful particle accelerator. Known as the Large Hadron Collider, the accelerator will occupy the same underground tunnel, a circle 17 miles in diameter, that now houses a less powerful machine that is marked for demolition. If all goes as planned, the $4 billion machine will begin collecting its first data in 2005.

The project's organization might be called massively international. Atlas alone will involve 1,800 scientists in 34 countries, including more than 30 institutions in the United States, which will contribute a total of about $500 million to the overall L.H.C. project.

The new accelerator will not be alone in its quest. At the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, near Chicago, an accelerator called the Tevatron is being upgraded and will begin collecting data in March. Although it will be less powerful than the L.H.C., the Tevatron has a chance of snatching away a discovery of the Higgs and other particles because it will start operating earlier.

Whoever gets there first, scientists all over the world are bracing for a flood of discoveries that could help them sort out nature's order at its deepest levels - or leave them horribly confused.

"We have big expectations of what may appear at the new colliders," said Dr. Marcela Carena, a theorist at Fermilab. "At the moment, we have a very good understanding of our world, but we know that this understanding is not final. We really want to get deep into the essence of particle physics and deep into the essence of understanding how nature works."

Dr. James Siegrist, a professor of physics at the University of California at Berkeley and board chairman of the American institutions collaborating on Atlas, said that even if the Tevatron wins the Higgs race, there should be plenty of other discoveries to go around.

"We would be astounded if we turned on and the Higgs was the only thing that was there," he said.

Particle Politics

Beyond the scientific intrigue, the push to dig deeper into the structure of matter and space comes with a heavy dose of politics as well.

Since July, the accelerator - called LEP, for Large Electron-Positron collider - that is now in the circular tunnel to be occupied by the L.H.C. has been generating sketchy data hinting that it may already be seeing the Higgs. (That accelerator has its own set of four underground detectors, each much smaller than Atlas.)

Scientists on the experiments pleaded with the laboratory's management to delay the start of L.H.C. construction for a year so that they could either confirm or refute the evidence, but the request was ultimately turned down by CERN's director general, Prof. Luciano Maiani.

The decision not to change plans in order to chase one of the most important prizes in science has divided the worldwide physics community, which is already trying to form a consensus on what the successor to the L.H.C. might be - probably a decades-long project that would require the participation of many countries.

"Politically and scientifically, it's a tenuous time in our field in thinking about the future," said Dr. Howard Haber, a particle physicist at the University of California at Santa Cruz.

Quickly determining the Higgs's existence and properties would give a powerful boost to that project, he said, as well as guiding physicists who are groping for a more encompassing theory of the cosmos than they have now. "The benefits of the Higgs discovery would be enormous," Dr. Haber said.

Prof. Torsten Akesson, a physicist at Lund University in Sweden who is a deputy spokesman for Atlas, agreed that the evidence was consistent with what was expected from a Higgs detection. But he said that the evidence was sketchy enough to be a statistical fluke and that he favored moving ahead with the new machine.

Even Dr. Gordon Kane, a particle theorist at the University of Michigan who expressed shock at the decision to close the machine, said the coming wave of discoveries could salve many wounds.

He said new particles beyond the Higgs could begin turning up at the Tevatron if an advanced but still speculative particle theory called supersymmetry is correct. The L.H.C. would then be able to probe more deeply into the predictions of supersymmetry, which seeks to erase lingering mysteries and inconsistencies in the established theory of the structure of matter, called the Standard Model.

"It will be unbelievably exciting," Dr. Kane said, "and just really an astonishing achievement for mankind. I really do think it will rather deeply affect people's view about the meaning of the world."

Recipe for Reality

The excitement begins with the Higgs and the Standard Model, a tried-and-true theory that has become the bedrock of particle physics over the last several decades.

"Once upon a time, we understood very little about particle physics," said Dr. Alvaro de Rujula, a CERN theorist. "That was prior to 1970," he said, referring to the years before the Standard Model began falling into place.

There are four known forces in nature: the strong force, which holds atomic nuclei together; the weak force, which causes radioactive decay; electromagnetism, a combination of electric and magnetic forces; and gravity.

The Standard Model encompasses all known particles as they interact via the first three forces; a separate formalism, Einstein's general theory of relativity, deals with gravity.

The model separates fundamental particles into three great classes: quarks and leptons, which are the subatomic building blocks of matter, and bosons. The bosons are the vehicles, or force carriers, by which all particles interact. For instance, photons, or particles of light, transmit the electromagnetic force, while particles called gluons transmit the strong force.

Quarks and leptons differ in that only the former exchange gluons, allowing them to interact via the strong force. Both types of particles can feel electromagnetic and weak forces.

While that distinction may sound abstract, it lets physicists account for all known matter in the universe. The strong force binds quarks together to create protons and neutrons, which collectively form the nuclei of atoms. Electrons, which are in the lepton family, orbit the nuclei to complete the atomic structure.

Other known subatomic particles either fall into the lepton family or can be explained as different combinations of quarks.

When tested against experiments, the predictions of the Standard Model "turned out to be correct with a level of precision which is astonishing," Dr. de Rujula said.

Even more impressive, the model is not simply a zoological arrangement of the particles. Within the model, their properties are largely determined by elegant though highly abstract principles involving mathematical symmetries.

There is at least one major glitch in this elegant picture. The preferred menu of particles predicted by this model, in its simplest and most symmetrical form, is one in which all particles are exactly the same and have zero mass.

That Last Building Block

To rescue the standard model from this absurd prediction, physicists have postulated an entity called the Higgs field, which breaks some of the symmetry and allows particles to have mass. The field exists as a well of energy permeating all of space and interacting by a sort of frictional or viscous force with particles; the greater the friction experienced by a given particle, the higher its mass. (The friction can also be thought of as the cause of the inertia of massive bodies.)

The energy cannot be detected directly, but physicists can use that friction to shake up the field and knock a new particle from it: the Higgs boson. The physicists do that by smashing together ordinary particles in accelerators.

For all its importance, the Higgs, which some theorists regard as an unattractive but unavoidable expedient, remains the last undetected particle whose existence is predicted by the Standard Model.

"It's presumably the ugliest feature of the theory; it's also the most indispensable part," Dr. de Rujula said. "It would help a lot if we found it."

The precise mass of the Higgs is not predicted by the model. The higher its mass, the more powerful the accelerator required to create it. That is because Einstein's equation showing the equivalence of mass and energy allows the violence of collisions in the machine to be turned into a particle.

The hints from the existing CERN accelerator, LEP, suggest a Higgs that is light by physicists' standards, around 115 billion electron volts, or GeV. A proton weighs about 1 GeV.

Once created, the Higgs would live too briefly to be seen directly, so those hints consist of detections of the sprays of other particles it is thought to decay into.

A Higgs of 115 GeV, or slightly heavier, would be just within the reach of the Tevatron. The L.H.C. could see Higgs particles all the way up to about 1,000 GeV.

But Wait, There's More

Alas, for all the beauty and experimental success of the Standard Model, physicists know that it cannot be the end of the story. That is why they are sure they will bag something besides the Higgs in the new accelerators.

"The Higgs would be the last building block of the Standard Model," said Dr. Joshua Frieman, a physicist at Fermilab and the University of Chicago. "We have strong reason to believe that the Standard Model is not in itself a complete theory."

Some of those reasons are technical, some are aesthetic and some are both. On the aesthetic level, physicists are puzzled by the wildly differing strengths of the three forces in the model, each of which must be determined separately from experimental data, rather than fixed by some underlying principle. Physicists believe that at very high interaction energies, the forces should all merge, or unify, into a single universal force. But the Standard Model does not let them do that.

The same unattractive messiness turns up in the particle masses. While the Higgs mechanism does allow particles to have mass, each value has to be individually determined from experiments and plugged into the theory. Once again, there is no apparent pattern.

And in a glaring shortcoming, all attempts to graft the fourth force, gravity, onto the Standard Model have failed. It seems very unlikely that two separate unrelated theories govern the universe.

The technical failings of the model are, if anything, even more painful for the quantitatively minded physicists. According to the weird rules of the subatomic quantum world, a particle like the Higgs spends part of its lifetime sharing its existence with other particles - in essence, becoming other particles part of the time and picking up some of their mass. In the Standard Model, if all of those contributions were taken seriously and added up, the theoretical mass of the Higgs would explode beyond any reasonable value.

Theoretical calculations show that this last failing is closely related to the "hierarchy problem," the name physicists give to the unsolved question of why all four forces have such vastly different and unexplained strengths. The feebleness of gravity compared with all the others is especially problematical.

For all these reasons, said Dr. Carena of Fermilab, particle theorists "are very much inclined to believe that there should be some new physics beyond the Standard Model."

One possible extension, a theory called supersymmetry, has been studied intensively by Dr. Carena, Dr. Kane of the University of Michigan and many others. The theory predicts that each particle in the Standard Model has a yet-undiscovered partner that could appear as the new accelerators begin operating.

The particles, with whimsical names like squarks (partners of the quarks), selectrons (partners of the electrons) and gluinos (partners of the gluons), would exactly cancel their partners' exploding contributions to the calculated mass of the Higgs, restoring balance to the theory.

Although it does not fully include gravity, supersymmetry also seems to allow for the possibility that the other three forces unify at high energies. "Gluinos, winos, zinos, higgsinos," said Dr. Kane, listing some of the partners that could show up first. Winos and zinos (both rhyme with SEA-knows) are the partners of W and Z particles, which carry the weak force. The higgsino is the partner of the Higgs.

Seeking Extra Dimensions

Some physicists hope that an even more encompassing formalism called string theory will not only do all that supersymmetry does, but will also include gravity as well as predicting the strength of all the forces and the masses of the particles.

The mathematically arduous theory is still far from doing all that, but it has suggested a weird new possibility for taming the hierarchy problem that could have measurable experimental consequences.

The strings supposedly exist in 10 dimensions, and since our world apparently has only four dimensions, theorists speculate that entities related to the particles that are thought to carry the gravitational force could be created in the accelerators and speed away into the extra dimensions. That would leave behind a mysterious deficit of energy.

The attraction of extra dimension comes because theoretical calculations show they might solve part of the hierarchy problem.

"Certainly the prospect of identifying a signal for these things at a collider is a great hope," said Dr. Lisa Randall, a professor of physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and innovator in some of the theories.

At CERN, many of those hopes center on the two big detectors, including Atlas, which will be a barrel- shaped package of radiation-resistant wires, magnets, silicon and microelectronics 150 feet long when finished. It will have to sort out the debris from collisions occurring every billionth of a second and handle data rates roughly equivalent to the transmission of 20 simultaneous telephone conversations by every person on Earth.

Moreover, while some of the parts are being assembled at CERN, said Dr. Ana Henriques Correia, a physicist who leads the construction of one section of the detector, most will arrive from far-flung laboratories around the world and then be lowered into the underground cavern for assembly. "The engineering component of this experiment is much, much bigger than any experiment until now," she said.

Mr. Bachy, the Atlas chief engineer, says in the cavern that he appreciates the grand plans of the physicists to change humanity's perspective on the cosmos using the detector he is building. But when asked about his greatest worry for the project, he steers clear of advanced particle theories or new dimensions. "Something which doesn't fit," Mr. Bachy said, glancing at the tunnel over his head.

-------- u.s. nuc weapons

USA Today
11/21/00
States
http://usatoday.com/news/states/all50.htm

South Carolina

Mount Pleasant - A monument to U.S. ballistic missile submarines is planned at the Patriot's Point Naval and Maritime Museum. The Cold War Submarine Memorial honors their role as a deterrent to nuclear war. Parts of the USS Lewis and Clark will be included. Retired Vice Adm. Albert Baciocco is heading a foundation raising money for the monument.

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Albright's legacy

Washington Times
November 21, 2000
Embassy Row News and dispatches from the diplomatic corridor
James Morrison.
http://208.246.212.80/world/embassy-20001121213749.htm

Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright yesterday noted with regret that she has only two more months to serve as America's top diplomat.

She expressed pride in her service in the Clinton administration at State and earlier as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and defended decisions that have drawn criticism.

Her advocacy of U.S. intervention in Kosovo to stop ethnic cleansing earned the conflict the nickname "Madeleine's War."

"I am proud as well to have served these past seven . . . years under the leadership of President Clinton and Vice President Gore," she told the Women's Foreign Policy Group.

"When they took office, the overriding foreign policy question our nation faced was whether to remain on the center stage of world affairs or grab a chair somewhere up in the mezzanine."

She said Mr. Clinton "firmly resisted the lure of isolation."

Mr. Clinton's critics complain that he has committed too many troops to peacekeeping operations and conducted an aimless foreign policy.

Mrs. Albright, however, claimed a long list of successes.

"Under [Mr. Clinton's] direction," she said, "we enlarged and strengthened NATO, reduced the nuclear danger in the former Soviet Union, stabilized and improved our relations with China, enhanced stability on the Korean Peninsula, blazed a trail for democratic change in the Balkans, opened a new chapter in our relations with India, increased cooperation in our own hemisphere, helped bring peace to Northern Ireland, and worked to integrate Africa into the world economy."

To contact James Morrison, call 202/636-3297, fax 202/832-7278 or e-mail morris@twtmail.com

-------- u.s. nuc facilities

-------- alabama

AMCOM, Marshall pact promotes sharing resources
Agreement intended to help performance of both agencies

11/21/00
By SHELBY G. SPIRES Times Technology Writer
http://www.al.com/news/huntsville/Nov2000/21-e1773.html

With the stroke of a pen Monday, Marshall Space Flight Center and the Army's Aviation and Missile Command pledged to cooperate on projects by sharing knowledge, facilities and technology.

The cooperative agreement is intended to help the performance of both agencies while saving the taxpayers' money.

The agreement allows the agencies to share resources and project costs on a case-by-case basis. The main focus of both agencies remains unchanged: AMCOM supporting the Army's missile and aviation requirements and Marshall managing NASA's propulsion, space shuttle and second-generation reusable launch vehicle programs.

Maj. Gen. Al Sullivan, AMCOM's commanding general, said, ''This agreement will enable both visions - AMCOM's and Marshall's - to be obtained while achieving maximum efficiency of use of the taxpayers' dollars.''

Current collaboration between the two agencies includes propellant research, avionics and information technology. The new agreement will encourage both agencies to seek out additional areas for research that will benefit both.

Included in the list of possible areas of cooperation are heat transfer, electronic and electro-optic micro-fabrication, simulation and systems management.

''Whenever we can cut costs while enhancing our capabilities for space exploration and research, we are eager to do so,'' said Marshall Director Art Stephenson. ''Past and current joint projects . . . have already proven such technology sharing is beneficial to everyone.''

The two have cooperated since 1960, when Marshall Space Flight Center was formed from the Army's Missile Command. In the early years, when workers from Marshall and Redstone knew each other, cooperation was as simple as a phone call. In recent history, Marshall and Redstone engineers cooperated through letters of agreement.

The need for closer cooperation came after the Army brought its Aviation Command from St. Louis to the arsenal and merged it with Missile Command in 1997. The Army realized it needed to build a resource base of technology, research and engineers in the area of aircraft avionics. This is an area where NASA may be able to lend help.

There was no immediate figure on savings the agreement might provide.

-------- florida

Spaceport Florida Authority

Florida Today
Nov. 21, 2000
Florida Spacegram
A Spaceport Florida news release
http://www.flatoday.com/space/explore/stories/2000b/112100e.htm

Florida Senator-Elect Nelson Seeks Key Space Committee Assignments -- In an interview with Space.com, Florida's newly elected U.S. Senator Bill Nelson, a former astronaut, congressman, and Florida's insurance commissioner, advised that his top two requested committee assignments include the Appropriations Committee, and the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee. Both committees oversee our nation's space programs and their funding.

Spaceport Authority Plans Two Suborbital Launches in December -- The Spaceport Authority will conduct two LiteStar suborbital launches on December 12 and 13 to test and validate a new control system and launch rail infrastructure at Launch Complex 20. The control system, developed by Titusville-based Command & Control Technologies, is a multi user, multi-vehicle system that will replace the van-based control system previously used by the Authority for such missions. The Authority's new rail infrastructure is capable of launching large suborbital rockets and will support at least two large Terrier-based missions in 2001.

Russian Cabinet Confirms Mir's Fate -- The Russian Cabinet officially decided last week to have the Mir space station de-orbited in February 2001. The 15-year-old station will dropped into the Pacific Ocean.

Coleman Research Corp. Wins Air Force Launch Contract -- Orlando-based Coleman Research Corp. is one of four companies (including Lockheed Martin, Orbital Sciences Corp. and Space Vector Corp.) selected by the Air Force for contracts to conduct suborbital launches for military ballistic flight tests. The total value of the procurement could reach $96 million, according to Orbital Report.

Russians Object to Coleman Launchers -- According to Russia's Itar-Tass news agency, Russia considers the Hera ballistic target vehicle used by Orlando-based Coleman Research to be in violation of the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty. Russian officials believe that the Hera, used by Coleman for U.S. military missile tests, represents a new Medium-Range Ballistic Missile since it uses certain stages and components from retired Minuteman and Pershing missiles. According to Orbital Report, Russian officials are asking for an immediate halt to Hera test launches, and the destruction of all Minuteman-2 missile stages. Russia and Ukraine both use their retired military ballistic missiles for alternate launch purposes, instead of destroying them.

Pratt/Aerojet Joint Venture Cancelled -- The recently announced joint-venture between Florida-based Pratt Whitney and California-based Aerojet has been canceled due to the reported high cost of relocating production capacities and closing other facilities, according to Space News. It was anticipated that Aerojet operations in California would have been relocated to Florida.

General Dynamics Plans Purchase of Primex -- Primex Technologies, headquartered in St. Petersburg, will be acquired by General Dynamics Corp. of Virginia, according to Space News. Primex's Florida-based operations are devoted primarily to military programs, but their out-of-state operations include significant space-related programs. Spaceport Symposium Draws Record Crowd -- The 6th annual Cape Canaveral Spaceport Symposium drew record attendance last week, with over 360 space industry leaders participating from around the nation.

California Spaceport Leaders Visit Florida -- Officials from the California Spaceport Authority visited Florida last week during the Cape Canaveral Spaceport Symposium and met separately with officials from the Spaceport Authority to discuss common issues and explore potential partnership initiatives. University Spin-Off Company Plans Commercial Microsatellites -- Using converted Soviet-era ballistic missiles, One Stop Satellite Solutions (OSSS) is offering to develop and launch "personal satellites" for only about $45,000. The four-inch "CubeStats" could contain a variety of electronics or other materials to serve a variety of purposes. OSSS is an outgrowth of Utah's Weber State University, which has a center for space technology that specializes in research-oriented small satellites. The growing number of micro- and nano-satellite programs is raising concerns about orbital debris that could threaten the Space Station, other satellites, and launch vehicles traveling to and from space. Exigent Explores Alternatives -- Melbourne-based Exigent, maker of satellite control software, is evaluating a range of strategic alternatives to increase shareholder value, including the possible sale of part or all of the company assets, according to an Exigent news release.

Spaceport Authority Board Plans Teleconference Meeting -- The fourth-quarter meeting of the Spaceport Authority's board of supervisors will be conducted via teleconference at 12:30 p.m. on November 29. The public is welcome to participate in the teleconference at the Authority's offices at 100 Spaceport Way, Cape Canaveral.

-------- new mexico

Ex - Los Alamos Scientist Plans Book

Associated Press
November 21, 2000
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Scientist-Book.html

LOS ALAMOS, N.M. (AP) -- Former Los Alamos scientist Wen Ho Lee, once the center of an espionage investigation involving the nuclear weapons complex, plans to pen his story in a first-person book due out next year.

A TV miniseries on Lee is also in the works, said David Weil, the Los Angeles lawyer who helped broker both deals.

Lee, 60, was fired last year from Los Alamos National Laboratory and accused of downloading nuclear information to unsecured computer tapes. He pleaded guilty in September to one count of mishandling nuclear secrets and was sentenced to time served. He had been charged with 59 counts.

The handling of Lee's prosecution brought stinging criticism and allegations that he was singled out because of his race. Lee was born in Taiwan and is a naturalized U.S. citizen.

As part of his release, Lee is undergoing several hours of FBI interrogation. Much of that information is classified and won't end up in print, Weil said.

Lee signed the book deal with publishing firm Hyperion, a branch of ABC Inc. With help from a co-author, Weil said Lee will reveal the personal side to his saga.

``It'll be 'Dr. Lee tells all' within the confines of the security clearances he has,'' Weil said.

The book is due out in the fall of 2001.

The planned miniseries is tentatively scheduled to air during the fall sweeps week of 2001, said Stacey Cohen, a spokeswoman for the Lee family. It will be produced by Robert Greenwald Productions Inc. of Culver City, Calif.

Alys Shanti, vice president of the production company, would not discuss how much Lee and his family were paid in the miniseries deal. She did say, however, that Lee was reluctant to sell his story.

``It took me four months to even get the door open,'' she said. ``He was actually still in court when we were aggressively pursuing the family rights.''

---

Ex-Los Alamos scientist to write book

USA Today
11/21/00
http://usatoday.com/news/washdc/ncstue01.htm

LOS ALAMOS, N.M. (AP) - Former Los Alamos scientist Wen Ho Lee, once the center of an espionage investigation involving the nuclear weapons complex, plans to pen his story in a first-person book due out next year. A TV miniseries on Lee is also in the works, said David Weil, the Los Angeles lawyer who helped broker both deals. Lee, 60, was fired last year from Los Alamos National Laboratory and accused of downloading nuclear information to unsecured computer tapes. He pleaded guilty in September to one count of mishandling nuclear secrets and was sentenced to time served. He had been charged with 59 counts.

The handling of Lee's prosecution brought stinging criticism and allegations that he was singled out because of his race. Lee was born in Taiwan and is a naturalized U.S. citizen.

As part of his release, Lee is undergoing several hours of FBI interrogation. Much of that information is classified and won't end up in print, Weil said.

Lee signed the book deal with publishing firm Hyperion, a branch of ABC. With help from a co-author, Weil said Lee will reveal the personal side to his saga.

''It'll be 'Dr. Lee tells all' within the confines of the security clearances he has,'' Weil said.

The book is due out in the fall of 2001.

The planned miniseries is tentatively scheduled to air during the fall sweeps week of 2001, said Stacey Cohen, a spokeswoman for the Lee family. It will be produced by Robert Greenwald Productions Inc. of Culver City, Calif.

Alys Shanti, vice president of the production company, would not discuss how much Lee and his family were paid in the miniseries deal. She did say, however, that Lee was reluctant to sell his story.

''It took me four months to even get the door open,'' she said. ''He was actually still in court when we were aggressively pursuing the family rights.''

-------- new york

Entergy Nuclear, NYPA Close Sale of Two Nuclear Plants

Excite News
November 21, 2000

http://news.excite.com/news/pr/001121/ny-entergy-nypa-plant

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y., Nov. 21 /PRNewswire/ -- Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR) and the New York Power Authority today closed the sale of NYPA's two nuclear power plants -- Indian Point unit 3 in Westchester County, N.Y., and the James A. FitzPatrick plant in Oswego County, N.Y. -- to Entergy Nuclear. The two organizations had agreed to the purchase and sale last March 28.

The NYPA purchase is the largest yet by Entergy in its nuclear growth strategy, the highest purchase price of a nuclear asset in the nuclear power industry to date ($967 million), and the sale is of the largest single asset of the State of New York.

Today's closing of the NYPA purchase gives Entergy Nuclear Northeast, Entergy's regional operating organization, its second and third operating units. Entergy purchased the Pilgrim Nuclear Station at Plymouth, Mass., in July 1999 from Boston Edison in the first sale in the United States of a nuclear power plant in a competitive bidding process.

Entergy, pursuing an aggressive nuclear growth strategy in the Northeast, agreed on Nov. 9 to purchase the other two nuclear units at Indian Point, units 1 and 2, from Con Edison and expects to close that transaction in mid- 2001. Indian Point unit 1 has been shut down and in safe storage since the early 1970s. Con Edison is replacing the four steam generators in unit 2 and expects to return that unit to service by year's end.

The New York Power Authority is the nation's largest state-owned power organization and provides more than one-quarter of New York's electricity. A non-profit, public-benefit energy corporation, the Power Authority does not use tax revenues or state credit.

The nuclear businesses of Entergy Corporation are headquartered in Jackson, Miss. Entergy, a global energy company based in New Orleans, is the third largest power generator in the nation with more than 30,000 megawatts of generating capacity, about $11 billion in annual revenue and over 2.5 million customers. In addition to the plants operated by Entergy Nuclear Northeast, Entergy has operated five power reactors at four locations in Arkansas, Mississippi and Louisiana under regulatory jurisdictions for more than 20 years. Entergy is also managing decommissioning activities at Maine Yankee, Wiscasset, Maine, and Millstone Unit 1, Waterford, Conn.

Entergy's on-line address is www.entergy.com. NYPA's on-line address is www.nypa.gov

The following constitutes a "Safe Harbor" statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: Investors are cautioned that forward-looking statements contained in the foregoing release with respect to the revenues, earnings, performance, strategies, prospects and other aspects of the business of Entergy Corporation may involve risks and uncertainties. Actual events and results may, for a variety of reasons, prove to be materially different from those indicated in these forward-looking statements, estimates and projections. Factors that could influence actual future outcomes include regulatory decisions, the effects of changes in law, the evolution of markets and competition, changes in accounting, weather, the performance of generating units, fuel prices and availability, financial markets, risks associated with businesses conducted in foreign countries, changes in business plan, the presence of competitors with greater financial resources and the impact of competitive products and pricing; the effect of the Entergy Corporation's policies, including the amount and rate of growth of Entergy Corporation's expenses; the continued availability to Entergy Corporation of adequate funding sources and changes in interest rates; delays or difficulties in the production, delivery or installation of products and the provision of services; and various legal, regulatory and litigation risks. Entergy Corporation undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. For a more detailed discussion of some of the foregoing risks and uncertainties, see Entergy Corporation's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

---

U.S. Agency Issues Con Ed a Code Red Violation for Indian Point 2 Radioactive Leak

New York Times
November 21, 2000
By DAVID W. CHEN
http://www.nytimes.com/2000/11/21/nyregion/21NUKE.html

BUCHANAN, N.Y., Nov. 20 - In the latest blemish to Consolidated Edison's stewardship of the Indian Point 2 nuclear plant, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission issued the harshest citation possible today under a new color-coded ranking of risk, saying the company neglected a host of problems that led to a radioactive leak earlier this year.

In February, a corroded tube in one of the plant's four steam generators cracked, allowing radioactive water to mix with clean water. No one was injured and the authorities said the accident posed no threat to public health, but it aroused much anger among local residents wary of both the utility and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Since then, the federal agency and watchdogs of nuclear power have issued a barrage of reports criticizing the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and Con Edison for botching a 1997 inspection at the plant, which is in this Westchester town, 35 miles north of Midtown Manhattan. Perhaps the most scathing criticism came in August from an independent monitor who accused the federal agency of relying on flawed analyses, inexperienced staff members and the company it was supposed to regulate.

But today, it was the federal agency's turn, again, to point fingers. And in a letter heavy with technical jargon, the agency gave Con Edison a red citation, the first time a nuclear plant has ever been assessed at that level, under a new ranking system created in February that starts with green and ascends through white and yellow to red.

In fact, it was the first time that one of the country's 103 nuclear plants had ever received anything worse than a white citation, said Neil Sheehan, a spokesman for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

In particular, the citation said that Con Edison "did not identify and correct a significant condition adverse to quality" in one of the steam- generator tubes, and that such a failure was "an issue of high safety significance."

Even though Con Ed is now replacing those aging steam generators, "we're still looking for signs from them that they've learned form their experience and they're going to improve their processes and inspections," Mr. Sheehan said.

The citation means Con Edison must endure at least four more rigorous inspections in the next 12 months and pay the cost of the inspections, Mr. Sheehan said. If the utility fails to improve its performance, it could be shut down.

"It's more of a black eye," Mr. Sheehan said.

But Con Edison had a different interpretation. In a two-paragraph statement, the company said today's letter "contains no new information and simply restates the N.R.C.'s findings issues in its preliminary inspection of Aug. 31."

The statement then repeated what Con Edison had been saying since the February incident: that the company conducted its 1997 inspection using the best technology at the time, and that "we believe all of our actions were thorough and prudent."

Either way, the timing of the report was awkward. Two weeks ago, Con Edison announced it would sell the troubled plant to Entergy Nuclear of Jackson, Miss., for $602 million. But that deal, officials noted, is contingent on the plant's running at full capacity without major problems.

As of last night, Entergy and Con Edison officials said they were unsure what impact the latest report would have on the impending sale, including whether Con Edison would still be financially responsible for the inspections even if ownership were to change hands by then.

Entergy had originally called reporters informing them of plans on Tuesday to close on the purchase of Indian Point 3, next to Indian Point 2.

-------- ohio

Plant operators reach deal for local development, displaced workers

Ohio.com
Tuesday, November 21, 2000
BY JOHN MCCARTHY
Associated Press Writer

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- Workers at a southern Ohio uranium enrichment plant will get extra benefits should they be laid off and more help in training and job placement under a deal approved Tuesday, U.S. Rep. Ted Strickland said.

The U.S. Enrichment Corp, which operates the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Piketon, agreed to pump $2 million into a community development organization and make another $18 million available to workers laid off between now and October 2003.

Each laid-off worker will be eligible for a payment of $8,400, on top of other severance benefits under the deal the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio approved on Tuesday.

The plant's future, 65 miles south of Columbus, has been in doubt since May when the operator announced it would shut down production. That would have meant layoffs for about 1,400 of the plant's 1,900 workers.

However, the U.S. Department of Energy announced last month that it wanted to keep the plant open on ``standby'' status while negotiations take place to acquire the rights to alternative methods of processing uranium to use for nuclear fuel.

Energy Secretary Bill Richardson said that would allow the Piketon plant to stay open and, along with its sister plant in Paducah, Ky., compete in the energy market.

In addition, the DOE wants to begin cleaning up parts of the sprawling plant and shut down operations that no longer are needed. It is uncertain how many workers that will take.

Strickland, a Lucasville Democrat, said the agreement was reached late Monday with USEC, representatives of Strickland and Republican Sens. Mike DeWine and George Voinovich, and Local 5-689 of the Paper, Allied Industrial, Chemical and Energy International Union.

``These folks have gone through a lot and we fully expect jobs to be there. But we want to make sure that workers are not placed at risk and resources will be there for them if, in fact, they need to be there,'' Strickland said before the PUCO unanimously approved the deal.

PUCO approval was needed because the money will come from surplus electric power that plant operators sells back to the Ohio Valley Electric Corp.

Gov. Bob Taft, whose office assisted in the negotiations, will lobby the DOE to keep the plant open but was happy the agreement was reached, said David Celona, Taft's executive assistant for business and industry.

``Governor Taft, along with the congressman, is obviously going to do everything in his power to make sure that they do come through with that commitment. But if they don't, we've got a very good insurance policy on the table that says these dollars will be spent on Ohioans, on Ohio families,'' Celona said.

The agreement also means that USEC will give $2 million by July to the Southern Ohio Diversification Initiative to attract new businesses to the area and provide training and job placement for laid-off workers.

``We have said for many months that we strongly supported worker transition. This $2 million provided to SODI can be used for local community development,'' said Elizabeth Stuckle, a spokeswoman for USEC.

Dan Minter, president of the union and a member of the development group's board, said the agreement will go a long way to assure that one of southern Ohio's largest employers will stay involved with the community.

``We took something that was nothing and made something out of it,'' Minter said.

-------- utah

Air Force Leery of N-Storage

Salt Lake Tribune
Tuesday, November 21, 2000
BY JIM WOOLF THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE
http://www.sltrib.com/11212000/utah/45763.htm

The U.S. Air Force has taken a position that could create problems for a proposed nuclear waste storage facility on the Skull Valley Band of the Goshute reservation in western Utah, an aide to Rep. Jim Hansen said Monday.

In a letter distributed to Utah news organizations clarifying the military's position on the storage idea, Thomas W. L. McCall, deputy assistant secretary for the Air Force wrote: "The Air Force opposes any encroachment that would result in overflight restrictions impairing testing and training at the UTTR [Utah Test and Training Range]."

The sentence almost guarantees the Air Force will oppose the storage facility proposed by a consortium of electric utility companies known as Private Fuel Storage (PFS), said Bill Johnson, legislative director for the Utah Republican congressman. As a safety precaution, he contends the Air Force would need to avoid the area around the storage site when establishing training routes for military pilots and determining the path of missile tests on the vast range.

"We believe it will be impossible for PFS to meet the [Air Force] standard because, by definition, it will restrict their activities," said Johnson.

PFS spokeswoman Sue Martin disagreed, arguing the storage facility would result in no additional restrictions on military training.

The military's "policies and procedures" do not require restrictions on the airspace over nuclear waste storage facilities because the risk of an accident is so low, she said.

A study released by PFS last October showed there is less than a one-in-a-million chance of an airplane crashing into one of the concrete and steel, above-ground casks where highly radioactive spent fuel from nuclear power plants would be stored.

But what if such an accident occurred?

McCall said in his letter that PFS experts studied this possibility and briefed Air Force officials on their findings last July. However, PFS refused to provide the Air Force with copies of the briefing notes and has not released the information to the public. "I recommend that PFS provide the information in the analysis briefed to me on July 13, 2000, to the citizens of Utah for their consideration," he wrote.

Martin said a report explaining the details of the accident analysis presented to the Air Force should be released by year's end. "Basically what we told him [McCall] was that the outcome [of a crash that breaks open a storage container] would be that the radiation would not exceed federal dose limits at the site boundary," she said.

McCall issued a brief statement Monday confirming this is what he was told.

PFS is proposing to ship more than half of the highly radioactive waste from America's nuclear power plants to the proposed storage site on the Goshute reservation, located about 60 miles southwest of Salt Lake City. Leaders of the 120-member tribes have approved the deal, but Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt, Hansen and other political leaders are trying to stop it. Opponents claim the waste should remain at the nuclear power plants where it was produced until a permanent disposal site is available in southern Nevada.

One argument against placing the waste on the Goshute reservation is the possible effect on the testing range. This is an area in western Utah used to train fighter pilots and test missiles -- some of which are armed. It consists of 2,675 square miles of fenced-off land on the Bonneville Salt Flats where bombs can be dropped, and 16,651 square miles of surrounding air space where low-level training flights take place. PFS' proposed storage facility would be beneath the eastern edge of this area.

McCall's letter to the Utah news organizations was in response to a press conference that PFS held Oct. 16 to announce the findings of its study on the chances of an airplane crashing into the storage facility. McCall said news stories about the event "creates an impression" the Air Force supports the PFS plan. "In fact," he wrote, "the Air Force has not endorsed the siting of the facility or reached any conclusion about it."

Johnson said the Air Force has an excellent safety record and agreed the chance of a fighter jet or a missile slamming into the storage facility is small. But he said no one could have predicted the 1997 accident in which a wayward cruise missile slammed into the trailers of a team of researchers studying cosmic rays in a remote area of the Dugway Proving Ground.

"What were the chances of that happening?" he asked.

-------- washington

Energy Department plans not to restart Hanford reactor

Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Tuesday, November 21, 2000
POST-INTELLIGENCER STAFF and NEWS SERVICES
http://seattlep-i.nwsource.com/local/hanf21ww.shtml

http://archives.seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/texis/web/vortex/display?slug=hanf22m&date=20001121

WASHINGTON -- Energy Department officials said today that a test nuclear reactor in Washington state that has been dormant since 1992 will not be restarted to produce plutonium for space missions and isotopes to treat cancer.

Instead, if the Energy Department finalizes a proposed rule in January, the Fast Flux Test Facility reactor at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation will be shut down beginning next year.

The possibility of restarting the reactor lacked support from the private sector and other federal agencies, said Bill Magwood, an Energy Department undersecretary.

"The missions, while of great interest ... were not concrete enough to proceed at this time," Magwood said.

Sam Volpentest, executive vice president of the Tri-Cities Industrial Development Council in Richland, said he was not surprised by the decision.

"They don't have the money to decommission it and they don't have the money to run it," he said.

"Some people around here still want to beat a dead horse,"' said the 96-year-old Volpentest, who has been active in Tri-Cities economic development for nearly 40 years. "The horse is dead. ... We've breathed life into it a few times, but I think it's dead, and I don't give up on things easily."

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland was asked by DOE to do a $600,000 so-called "scoping" study in 1999 to determine whether DOE should do a full-blown environmental impact study on using the FFTF for another purpose other than production of nuclear defense materials, according to PNNL spokesman Greg L. Koller.

PNNL's conclusion was that DOE should conduct the EIS. Among the possible uses was to produce medical isotopes or PU238 to fuel reactors for space crafts.

So in 1999, the Energy Department began a broad study of possible uses for the reactor, which was built in the 1970s to test advanced nuclear fuels and components. The agency in 1992 deemed the reactor was no longer needed.

There is no fuel in the reactor core, but sodium coolant has not been drained. Once the sodium is removed, the reactor cannot be restarted. Magwood said if the final rule is adopted, Energy officials will drain sodium from the coolant in middle of next year.

Oregon and Washington state Democrats have urged Energy officials not to restart the reactor, saying that even the Energy Department had found no need for plutonium or medical isotopes the FFTF would produce.

"The bottom line is they were always holding out hope that they could get it back into the military business," Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore. "The fact is the Northwest deserves to have that money used for cleanup rather than wasted on these wild goose chases that go nowhere."

The reactor is located on Washington's 560-square-mile Hanford reservation, built as part of the secret World War II Manhattan Project that produced the atomic bomb. After 40 years of making plutonium for the nation's nuclear arsenal, Hanford today is the most contaminated nuclear site in the country.

The Energy Department plans to spend 50 years and $100 billion on Hanford cleanup. Democrats have argued that restarting the FFTF would divert needed money away from the cleanup.

The FFTF is the Department of Energy's most modern research reactor, built for $647 million. Advocates of nuclear energy have argued it still has many uses, and some Washington state Republicans have supported a restart.

Energy officials were considering using the reactor to supply NASA with plutonium for space missions and to produce medical isotopes to diagnose and treat cancer and other illnesses.

The Energy Department spends about $40 million a year and employs about 230 people at the reactor to keep the restart option open. __

Energy Department: www.energy.gov/

---

Hanford Reactor Restart Nixed

Associated Press
November 21, 2000 Filed at 6:36 p.m. ET
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Fast-Flux-Reactor.html

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Energy Department said Tuesday a test nuclear reactor in Washington state that has been dormant since 1992 will not be restarted to produce plutonium for space missions and isotopes to treat cancer.

If the Energy Department finalizes a proposed rule in January, the Fast Flux Test Facility reactor at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation will be shut down beginning next year.

The possibility of restarting the reactor lacked support from the private sector and other federal agencies, said Bill Magwood, an Energy Department undersecretary.

``The missions, while of great interest ... were not concrete enough to proceed at this time,'' Magwood said.

Oregon and Washington state Democrats have urged Energy officials not to restart the reactor, saying that even the Energy Department had found no need for plutonium or medical isotopes the FFTF would produce.

Energy officials were considering using the reactor to supply NASA with plutonium for space missions and to produce medical isotopes to diagnose and treat cancer and other illnesses. It was built in the 1970s to test advanced nuclear fuels and components.

The reactor is on Washington's 560-square-mile Hanford reservation, built as part of the secret World War II Manhattan Project that produced the atomic bomb. Hanford is the most contaminated nuclear site in the country.

-------- us nuc waste

Rocky Flats Sends Out Most Waste

Albuquerque Journal
November 21, 2000
The Associated Press
http://www.abqjournal.com/news/pmrocky11-21-00.htm

GOLDEN, Colo. - The former Rocky Flats nuclear weapons plant shipped more radioactive waste to disposal sites this year than any other Department of Energy site, according to cleanup officials.

Rocky Flats sent 42 shipments containing 279 cubic meters of transuranic waste to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad. Transuranic waste consists of clothing, tools, rags, debris, residues and other disposable items contaminated with radioactive elements, mostly plutonium.

The plant also sent 145 loads containing about 7,750 cubic meters of low-level radioactive waste to Nevada and 520 cubic meters of low-level mixed waste to Utah.

By 2006, Rocky Flats plans to ship more than 15,000 cubic meters of transuranic waste to the New Mexico site and more than 175,000 cubic meters of low-level waste to the sites in Nevada and Utah and other sites.

Rocky Flats produced plutonium triggers for nuclear weapons for 40 years. It was closed in 1989 after chronic safety problems and because of the end of the Cold War.

-------- MILITARY

-------- china

China Signs U.N. Pact on Rights and Rule of Law

New York Times
November 21, 2000
By ERIK ECKHOLM
http://www.nytimes.com/2000/11/21/world/21BEIJ.html

BEIJING, Nov. 20 - Calling it a milestone for China, the top human- rights official of the United Nations signed an agreement here today for cooperation and training on individual rights and the rule of law.

Under the agreement, the United Nations is to advise China's often capricious police forces, courts and prisons on sound legal procedures. It will also monitor legal changes China has to undertake to comply with two United Nations treaties that it has signed but not ratified, on economic and political rights.

The United Nations high commissioner for human rights, Mary Robinson, acknowledged in an interview that the agreement was forged at an awkward time. Worried about social stability and threats to Communist rule, China has intensified political repression and efforts to control information. In the two years that the agreement was under negotiation, hundreds of democracy advocates were imprisoned and the Falun Gong spiritual movement was crushed with little regard for legal niceties.

"I'm concerned about the lack of progress in freedom of expression, freedom of association and freedom of religion," Ms. Robinson said. "But I also think it's important to engage with China in detail on the steps it must take to comply with international rights treaties."

Rights groups abroad generally support the agreement, in hopes that it can reduce the police brutality and haphazard application of laws that bedevil the average Chinese more than any abstract concerns about democracy. But advocates also worry that China will use the agreement as window dressing.

"We support technical cooperation on human rights," said Sophia Woodman, Hong Kong representative of Human Rights in China, which is based in New York. "But China often signs these kinds of things hoping it will make other governments stop criticizing their record."

As a first step, a seminar in China in February will discuss how other countries deal with "minor crimes." That should permit dialogue on China's notorious system of "re-education through labor," under which the police can imprison suspected petty criminals as well as political and religious dissidents for up to three years without trial.

The issue of re-education through labor also shows how difficult it may be to achieve basic change. A few years ago, Chinese legal scholars began questioning that system, even calling for its abolition. They cited the gross inconsistency in the way it was applied and the extreme punishments for minor infractions.

Parliament began discussing scrapping the system or putting it under judicial control. But talk of abolition has become unacceptable since the Falun Gong crackdown began last year. The police find it useful to be able to send recalcitrant believers to labor camps without trial and have intensified their opposition to major reform, Chinese legal experts said.

A central goal of the new accord is to help China bring its laws in line with the Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The Parliament is considering ratifying the first, but the second remains on the back burner.

---

China agrees to U.N. human rights help

Washington Times
November 21, 2000
World Scene Combined dispatches and staff reports
http://208.246.212.80/world/worldscene-20001121213626.htm

BEIJING - China agreed yesterday to accept the United Nations' help to move it toward complying with international human rights treaties, a decision hailed as a milestone by the U.N.'s human rights chief.

Under the agreement, human rights workshops will be arranged with government officials, judges, prosecutors, lawyers, police and prison officials. Teachers involved in human rights education will receive training.

Other programs include holding academic seminars on human rights, translating key U.N. human rights documents, boosting human rights studies at Chinese universities and reviewing China's use of forced-labor camps.

-------- colombia

U.S. Presses Bogotá to Stiffen Drug Fight

New York Times
November 21, 2000
http://www.nytimes.com/2000/11/21/world/21COLO.html

BOGOTÁ, Colombia, Nov. 20 - The Clinton administration's top anti-drug official, Gen. Barry R. McCaffrey, has come to Colombia to reiterate American support for Colombia's effort to curtail coca production.

General McCaffrey is viewed as a leading architect of the $1.1 billion American aid package for Colombia, part of President Andrés Pastrana's plan to try to halve coca cultivation and thus weaken rebel forces that benefit from the drug trade.

But some question whether the government will be able to make progress against the guerrillas.

General McCaffrey acknowledges that rebels are likely to defend the coca fields. But he said Colombia now has the technical know-how, the equipment and the political will to make inroads in the fight against the traffickers and the rebels.

"What are we supposed to do?" asked General McCaffrey, who led the delegation with Thomas R. Pickering, under secretary of state for political affairs. "Ignore a democracy that is a three-hour flight from Miami, that's in huge trouble? And it's in huge trouble because of criminal organizations that are international in scope and fueled by money coming out of the United States and Western Europe. All of us have a responsibility to help."

General McCaffrey, in a speech today at the Foreign Ministry, cited the sharp drop in coca production in Bolivia and Peru during his tenure and successful efforts in the United States in cutting teenagers' drug use.

-------- europe

Europe Acts to Build Own Military Force

New York Times
November 21, 2000
By MICHAEL R. GORDON
http://www.nytimes.com/2000/11/21/world/21EURO.html?pagewanted=2

RUSSELS, Nov. 20 - The European Union today took its first major step to turn itself into a military power, as its defense ministers pledged troops and equipment to create a 60,000-member force by 2003.

The move, which was called for a year ago, is the most important European military initiative since the end of the cold war. It seeks to give European nations the ability to handle a broad range of crises without the United States.

Supporters say the initiative will lead the Europeans to shoulder more of the burden for military operations on the European continent and even beyond, which is precisely what American politicians have long demanded.

"The E.U. is determined to play a full role in crisis management," said Javier Solana, the senior European Union official for security policy.

But the plan also raises hard questions.

Are European nations really prepared to spend the billions of dollars that would be needed to turn their plan into a reality?

And will they devise their force in a way that complements and does not undermine NATO, the United States-led alliance that Washington insists should retain the primary role for European security?

All of this makes managing the European initiative an important test for the next administration in Washington as well as for NATO's leadership.

"I want to be supportive of the Europeans carrying a bigger share of their security," Gen. Joseph Ralston, the United States Air Force officer who is NATO's top commander, said in an interview. "We just have to do it in a way that does not detract from the NATO alliance."

The goal of the European initiative is to organize a corps - about 60,000 troops - that could be used for separating warring sides, for the more benign peacekeeping operations and for aid missions and other crises. Under the European Union's plans, the force could be sent into the field within 60 days and could stay for as long as a year.

European officials say it is only prudent to develop an all-European force since their governments may confront crises in the Balkans and other trouble spots where the United States is reluctant to get involved.

European politics is also a big factor. Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain has backed the effort as a way to demonstrate his support for European integration. The French, for their part, are seeking to limit American influence in Europe.

The immediate issue for the European defense and foreign ministers who gathered here today was getting their initiative off the ground.

With two million troops under arms in their countries, manpower is not the problem. European nations pledged a pool of more than 100,000 troops, enough to establish a 60,000 force while leaving a reserve. Germany, Britain and France promised the most - 12,000 to 13,500 each. European nations also offered 400 aircraft and 100 ships.

But getting the troops to a crisis is a different matter. Throughout the cold war, the Europeans' objective was to defend their territory against a Warsaw Pact attack. Unlike the United States, most European nations never structured their armed forces to rush to distant battle zones.

To make good on their new plan, European nations need to buy transport planes and cargo ships as well as communications systems. They need to buy laser-guided munitions to improve their striking power from the air and electronic jamming aircraft to thwart enemy air defenses.

That involves additional military spending at a time when European military budgets have generally been on the decline. European defense chiefs promised to tackle the shortfalls during the next three years.

"Europe has to be ready to bear its responsibilities," said the German foreign minister, Joschka Fisher.

Even with its deficiencies, the European Union plans to have a modest military capacity by next year. It also plans to compensate for its limitations by making use of NATO bases and other military assets, if needed.

To do so, the European Union needs to forge a good working relationship with Turkey, a NATO ally that is not a European Union member and that is unhappy about being excluded from European Union decision-making.

One of the most sensitive issues does not carry a price tag. It is the relationship with the incoming administration in Washington.

The Clinton administration has been generally supportive, calculating that European governments may find it easier to mobilize public support for military spending if it is done under the banner of European unity. The improvement in European military capacity would benefit NATO as well as the European Union, as the two organizations essentially draw on the same forces.

But to maintain NATO's central role and avoid confusion, the Clinton administration has proposed that NATO's military headquarters - the Supreme Headquarters of Allied Powers in Europe - plan military operations and establish weapons requirements for both organizations.

"If you have two separate headquarters doing the planning, who is deconflicting the tasking?" General Ralston said. "The same force may be tasked by both organizations at the same time."

British officials are comfortable with that approach. But Alain Richard, the French defense minister, said he favored a "mixed" approach in which both NATO and non-NATO planners would be used, depending on the operation.

Despite the complications, some American specialists said the European move is basically good news for the United States, a step that could buttress the West's overall military potential and dampen the constant criticism in the United States that the Europeans are not pulling their weight.

"The fundamental problems have been caused by European weakness, not European strength," said Ivo Daalder, a former National Security Council aide during the Clinton administration. "If the Europeans can now bring more to the table when it comes to the question of joint action, that can only have positive benefit on most major issues."

But critics say the projected gains in European military capacity may be too meager to justify the risk of creating a potential rival to NATO.

"We could have the worst of both worlds: a European organization that complicates NATO procedures and cohesion and which produces no new capabilities," said Peter W. Rodman, a National Security Council aide during the Bush and Reagan administrations. "I do think that is a risk."

---

EU pledges troops, gear for military force

Washington Times
November 21, 2000
By Jeffrey Ulbrich
ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://208.246.212.80/world/default-20001121214922.htm

BRUSSELS - The European Union went into the defense business yesterday, pledging tens of thousands of troops and hundreds of warplanes and ships to a new European rapid-reaction force that is still more a dream than reality.

The 15-nation EU is seeking to give itself military clout to back up its economic and political power and to step out of the shadow of the United States, which dominates Europe's principal defense organization - NATO.

Whether they are called European or NATO, however, defense and foreign ministers who met here were talking about the same forces. No new units were created, and, for the moment, no appreciable amount of new money will be spent. Many of the troops designated for the EU are also pledged to NATO.

The force was being assembled a year after the 15 EU leaders decided in Helsinki to create a corps of 60,000 troops capable by 2003 of deploying within 60 days and remaining on the ground for up to a year.

In practical terms, this means creating a pool of forces of 100,000-120,000 to give commanders a choice of capabilities for a wide variety of missions. Taking into account a rotation of troops every six months, that means a pool of 200,000-250,000 troops for a yearlong mission.

"We are now entering into a major commitment in the European Union," said Defense Minister Alain Richard of France, which holds the EU presidency.

Mr. Richard said about 100,000 troops, 400 combat aircraft and 100 ships were pledged to the EU on Monday. The next step is to transform this paper army into a real, deployable force capable of fulfilling the limited missions set out for it - humanitarian, peacekeeping and peacemaking duties.

Despite meeting its goal in terms of numbers, large gaps remained in air and sea transport, precision-guided weapons, all-weather flying capability, satellite intelligence, communications, and command and control systems.

The priority now, Javier Solana, the EU's chief of foreign and security policy, said, is to close the gaps. He said the EU has much of what it needs and is determined to come up with the rest before the 2003 deadline.

"I would hope we would have some limited initial capability next year," said Geoff Hoon, Britain's defense minister.

Mr. Hoon said: "What is being done is going to make NATO stronger, not weaker."

German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer agreed.

"We need a strong European pillar [in NATO]," he said. "This is part of the European integration process." He added there is no longer a division between the civilian and military aspects of crisis management.

EU forces will not be involved in territorial defense, which is essentially NATO's job. The plan is for them to be used in humanitarian, peacekeeping and peacemaking roles when NATO as a whole - or the United States - declines a role.

"The EU is determined that it should play a more complete role in tackling crises," said Mr. Solana, calling Monday's pledging session "a serious first step."

The United States has cautiously backed the EU's military efforts, after some initial hesitation, calculating that anything improving European defense is good for NATO. Washington wants to make sure that NATO is still the defense arm of first choice and that European efforts don't lead to unnecessary duplication.

Still, some people both in the United States and Europe fear the EU force is the first step down the road to disintegration of the 19-nation NATO.

Lord George Robertson, the NATO secretary-general, was to dine with EU ministers Monday evening to discuss the alliance's concerns.

"There is no will in Europe to use its collective capabilities against NATO," said Mr. Richard of France.

-------- india/pakistan

New York Times
November 21, 2000
World Briefing
http://www.nytimes.com/2000/11/21/world/21BRIE.html
ASIA

KASHMIR: INDIAN OVERTURE SNUBBED An Indian peace overture in Kashmir - a unilateral cease fire in the Muslim holy month of Ramadan - was snubbed by militant groups and Pakistan with reactions ranging from skepticism to contempt. "This is typical Indian politics based on fraud," said the hard-line group Lashkar-i-Toiba. Pakistan, which has strongly backed the 11- year insurgency, said that as "a test of its sincerity" India must offer to include Pakistan in any talks or expose the gesture as a ruse. This year, Ramadan is to begin at sundown on Sunday. Barry Bearak (NYT)

INDIA: WORKERS RAMPAGE Tens of thousands of workers facing job losses rampaged across New Delhi to protest a court order closing polluting factories, witnesses and the police said. Scores of people were wounded, many with gunshot wounds, as the protesters randomly attacked shopping malls, government buildings and private vehicles, they said. Twenty-six police officers were hospitalized and at least five rioters were shot and seriously wounded. (Agence France-Presse)

-------- myanmar

A New Burmese Leisure Class: Army Capitalists

New York Times
November 21, 2000
By BLAINE HARDEN
http://www.nytimes.com/2000/11/21/world/21BURM.html

MANDALAY, Myanmar - Every morning and every evening in this city with the sweet-sounding name, thousands of poor people take a long, sullen look at how the other half lives.

Commuting by foot, on bicycles and packed into pickup taxis, the poor travel along a road that runs beside what they call "generals' village," a cluster of new mansions of a size and gaudy splendor that would not look out of place in the Hamptons.

Protected by high fences and set back behind well-tended lawns, the three-story houses have satellite dishes on the roofs, sport utility vehicles in the driveways and servants in the kitchens.

The poor do not choose to torment themselves twice each day with this vision of unattainable affluence. They have no choice. In the last decade the military government has forced tens of thousands of them out of their homes in downtown Mandalay. It sent them to a distant shantytown in a former rice paddy and gave them just one road back to town: past the generals' fine new houses.

The let-them-eat-cake quality of urban planning points to a new wrinkle in the military dictatorship that for four decades has ruled what used to be called Burma.

Having thrown off the egalitarian shackles of what they once called "the Burmese way to socialism," the generals and their families are getting rich and flaunting it.

Their conspicuous consumption, which many here describe as deeply offensive to Burmese traditions, seems to celebrate the rapidly widening gap between the very rich and the very poor.

Golf has become their game of choice. Wherever generals have gathered for work or play in the last five years, construction of golf courses has boomed, even as spending on schools and health care has fallen to per capita levels that are among the lowest in the world.

Children of the generals have become highly visible players in real estate, retailing, tourism and publishing. They typically do not invest their own money and rarely do any work, but they have their names on the businesses and collect their percentages, say local businessmen and Western diplomats. The pre-eminent crony capitalist among the children of the brass is believed to be Sandra Win, daughter of the government's founding dictator, the now retired Gen. Ne Win. She is said to have interests in scores of businesses and major real estate developments.

"In the past few years, the ruling generals have turned more toward crony capitalism by rewarding personal friends and family members with preferential treatment," according to a Country Commercial Guide published here in September by the American Embassy. "The result of this deliberate policy of corporate favoritism is to create a business environment in which personal connections to the generals, rather than business skills or technical merit, are the most important factors for corporate success."

There is not much space at the top of the money-grabbing pyramid here, Western diplomats say. Only a few hundred senior officers and their families, out of a military that has doubled in the last decade to more than 400,000 soldiers, are allowed to use their power to make themselves rich, the diplomats say.

Several local businessmen and journalists who cover business here echoed that assessment. None wanted their names published, because the government has a history of harassing, jailing and sometimes torturing critics.

The rise of crony capitalism in the ashes of failed socialism is hardly unique to Myanmar. It is one of the most important - and corrosive - trends in economic development in the former Soviet Union, in the former Yugoslavia and in formerly socialist African countries like Angola.

Yet what is especially crippling about it here, say businessmen and Western diplomats, is the degree to which the generals insist on sticking their fingers in every pie.

A visit to the Defense Service Museum, a vast marble showcase in the capital, Yangon, formerly Rangoon, illustrates the point.

One exhibit there trumpets the generals' achievements in the field of canned food. There is "baby corn in brine," "fried fish paste" and "minced mutton ball."

These dubious delicacies, though, are merely the beginning.

The museum shows off senior officers supervising pig breeding, chicken feeding, cattle ranching and rice growing. The museum even celebrates the military's very own ball factory, which makes soccer balls, tennis balls and basketballs. But, interestingly, not golf balls.

A number of private businessmen here said that in almost every case when generals take an active role in managing private businesses, they do it badly, often very badly.

An example is rice production. Shortly before the generals took over in 1962, Burma exported about a million tons of rice. Last year the country exported less than 70,000 tons.

The long, grim fizzle in the country's most important food crop typifies the long, grim fizzle in virtually everything, as the generals have led Myanmar into the ranks of the world's poorest and most badly nourished countries.

In the mid-1990's the government tried to halt the decline with an infusion of private enterprise. It invited foreign investors in and promised to leave them alone so they could run profitable businesses. But as investments turned profitable, the generals moved in as predators, say businessmen and diplomats.

Two military corporate holding companies have taken control of most private manufacturing plants, and hundreds of foreign investors have left the country. The exact degree to which this has sabotaged the economy is not clear, largely because the government stopped publishing annual economic figures two years ago.

For Burmese without connections, the coming of crony capitalism has meant an endless struggle to cope with collapsed government services, stagnant wages and inflation that averages about 30 percent a year.

They also have had to endure huge green billboards around the country demanding absolute loyalty to the government and all its laws, even as the generals' children tool around Mandalay, Yangon and other major cities in new four-wheel-drive vehicles. One of the laws to which loyalty is required forbids the importation of new cars.

Perhaps the largest of the signs stands outside the central market in the city of Taunggyi. More than 100 feet wide, it warns the citizenry:

"Even if you say you do not know the laws, you will not be forgiven."

And what of forgiveness for the generals, in the unlikely event that a democratic uprising should sweep them from power?

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the opposition leader who is under house arrest in the capital, has said she would not seek vengeance, nor would she demand that they give back the wealth their power has won.

But among the poor of Mandalay, those who walk or pedal twice a day past the big homes of the generals, there seems to be less charity. Asked what might happen, come the revolution, to the "generals' village," people here smile tightly, suggesting that the answer is obvious.

-------- space

Russia Loses Contact With Satellite

Associated Press
November 21, 2000
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Russia-Lost-Satellite.html

MOSCOW (AP) -- Russian ground controllers lost contact with an American commercial satellite on Tuesday after the small craft was blasted into orbit on a Russian rocket, officials said.

The QuickBird 1 satellite belonged to the Longmont, Colo.-based company Earth Watch, and was the first of two satellites the company planned to launch on Russian rockets.

The Russian Kosmos-3 rocket carrying the satellite blasted off at 2 a.m. Moscow time from the Plesetsk cosmodrome in the Arctic and made the fiery assent without trouble, the Strategic Missile Forces press service said. Controllers then lost contact with it.

The Interfax news agency, citing unnamed specialists at the Russian Aerospace Agency, reported that the second stage of the booster rocket shut down too early and that the satellite would likely plunge back into the Earth's atmosphere.

The half-ton satellite was made by another Colorado company, Ball Aerospace. It was designed to take high-resolution pictures of the Earth's surface for commercial purposes, such as land management, mapping and environmental studies.

U.S. companies routinely use Russian space facilities to launch commercial satellites. The rockets are usually considered reliable and a good bargain compared with European and American competitors. The launch Tuesday was the 401st Kosmos-3 blastoff from the Plesetsk cosmodrome, Interfax said.

-------- u.s.

Ex-GIs say No Gun Ri orders came from higher HQ

CNN
November 21, 2000
http://www.cnn.com/2000/US/11/21/no.gun.ri.witnesses.ap/index.html

LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- Two ex-GIs who handled radio and message traffic told Pentagon investigators that American troops had orders from higher headquarters to fire on civilian refugees at No Gun Ri in the early days of the Korean War.

The sworn statements by Lawrence Levine and James Crume, who were assigned to the headquarters of 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment, are the first from a higher command level to publicly support recollections of some other veterans that they were ordered to shoot civilians for fear North Korean infiltrators were among them.

Although official Army documents don't mention infiltrators at No Gun Ri, both men say they believed in July 1950 -- and today -- that disguised enemy soldiers were a serious threat to the U.S. troops, then taking part in a chaotic southward retreat.

"Our understanding was, and it was an understanding, not absolute fact, that amongst these people there were North Korean spies and soldiers, who were reporting our positions," said Levine, 72, of Encino, California.

According to former U.S. soldiers and Korean survivors, a large number of South Korean civilians were killed at a railroad bridge near the No Gun Ri hamlet. The killings are the subject of yearlong investigations by the U.S. Army and the Seoul government. Findings in both inquiries are expected next month.

In recent interviews, Crume and Levine told The Associated Press that the order to fire on civilians came down the chain of command from division or higher headquarters and was passed on to the battalion's line companies. The two foxhole buddies said they gave a similar account to Army investigators last spring.

"I'm sure the battalion commander and the S3 (operations officer) discussed it ... even before they put the order out to stop the refugees," said Crume, 72, of Kennewick, Washington. "All I know is the order was given -- 'you're not going through,' and the order was given to the heavy weapons company, and that was it."

The U.S. and Korean investigations were prompted by an AP report which won the 2000 Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting.

It quoted U.S. veterans as estimating 100, 200 or simply hundreds died. Korean relatives, who filed suit seeking compensation for the deaths, say 300 were killed under the railroad bridge and 100 in a prior strafing attack by U.S. planes.

AP also found wartime documents showing at least three high-level Army headquarters and an Air Force command ordered troops to treat as hostile any civilians approaching U.S. positions. On July 24, 1950, two days before No Gun Ri, 1st Cavalry division units were instructed: "No refugees to cross the front line. Fire everyone trying to cross lines. Use discretion in case of women and children."

On July 26, 1950, the day of the bridge incident at No Gun Ri, Maj. Gen. Hobart Gay, commander of the 1st Cavalry division, told reporters that aerial reconnaissance had reported "heavy refugee movements" near the U.S. battle sector. Gay said he was certain most of the refugees were "North Korean guerrillas," according to a story by AP reporter Don Whitehead.

Offering possible clues to the Pentagon findings, a Harvard academic who serves on a civilian advisory panel, said in a recent interview that U.S. troops at No Gun Ri "were not well led," but "everyone is in agreement" that the incident was "not a deliberate atrocity."

The October 25 issue of the Harvard Crimson also quoted history professor Ernest May as expressing doubt that Washington would compensate Korean survivors.

May told AP he expected a "fair and honest" report, but "I can't guarantee... that is what I or any of the other outsiders will conclude." He is the only advisory panel member to break an understanding not to discuss the Army investigation.

Maj. Tom Collins, an Army spokesman, declined to comment on May's remarks. He said he was not aware of the Levine and Crume testimony and would not in any case comment on an ongoing investigation.

"It would be inappropriate to comment at this time," said Collins. "Our report will be completed before the end of the year, and at that time, we will tell the public what we found in regard to No Gun Ri."

Levine, a retired music recording engineer, and Crume, also a retired engineer, were among at least 165 veterans interviewed by Army investigators. Levine said he volunteered to testify after seeing news reports he believed failed to adequately explain the GIs' "mindset" at No Gun Ri, which he said was a fear of infiltrators. He said he referred probers to Crume, his longtime friend.

As heads of the 2nd Battalion's mobile radio unit and message center respectively, Levine and Crume, both corporals at the time, had routine access to orders relayed down the chain of command.

Both men said they were unable to tell Pentagon investigators after 50 years whether the shoot-to-kill edict came by radio or word of mouth, nor could they remember the exact wording. But both told AP they were sure it originated at 1st Cavalry Division headquarters and perhaps higher -- and that front-line GIs acted on that order, not independently of it.

"I'm secure in my own mind, that the order came from division or higher. It's not like the rifle companies are out there, saying, 'Hey, somebody's going to shoot. Let's start shooting,"' said Levine.

"The GIs -- we're talking about the grunts -- didn't have anything to do with whether they were going to shoot or not shoot."

Crume said the order visibly upset Lt. Col. Herbert B. Heyer, the 2nd Battalion commander, who left the unit within days. "I could tell by his face there was nothing that he liked about it," Crume said. "I think it was what done him in."

Heyer, 89, says he told Army investigators he does not remember shootings of civilians or orders to that effect. In an interview, he told AP, "If I got something like that, I'd be very upset. I wouldn't forget it."

Military lawyers say the killing of noncombatants violates international law and the U.S. military legal code. Army officials describe the inquiry as a criminal law enforcement proceeding.

Among ex-GIs interviewed earlier by AP, about 20 recalled orders to shoot; a dozen said they either fired on refugees or were witnesses. Other veterans said they didn't remember, or declined to talk about No Gun Ri. One said he didn't recall orders, but had fired on his own.

While veterans Levine and Crume agreed concerning orders, their memories don't coincide in every detail.

Crume said he does not recall the incident that Levine described but remembers a group of Korean civilians hit by U.S. mortar fire as the refugees moved up a road toward the battalion command post.

Levine said the bridge shooting climaxed an all-day "standoff" between several hundred refugees and U.S. troops trying to get them to disperse. Korean interpreters used loudspeakers, to no avail, he added.

"As dusk came, the order came down to open fire," he said. The order, he said, was phrased something like, "if they didn't move, at a certain time we were going to open fire on them."

From a hillside 300 to 500 yards away, Levine said, he saw two mortar rounds hit among the refugees, followed by several minutes of "frenzied" small arms fire.

Finally, he said, a small girl "ran across this trestle... and the guys opened fire on her, and hit her, obviously, and that was the end of it."

Then came "a lot of shouting," and soldiers ran out to try to help the girl, Levine said. He does not know whether she survived. Other ex-soldiers also have described such a child.

Although some ex-GIs said they believed gunfire came from refugees at No Gun Ri, Levine and Crume say they saw and heard nothing about hostile fire, and two dozen Korean survivors have said they don't remember such activity within their ranks.

Even if no infiltrators directly menaced their unit, Crume said, some other U.S. troops "evidently... were infiltrated, (enemy) got behind them, and then the orders came down."

---

THE ABSENTEE BALLOTS
Review Military Votes, Florida Attorney General Says

New York Times
November 21, 2000
By RICHARD PÉREZ-PEŃA
http://www.nytimes.com/2000/11/21/politics/21OVER.html

TALLAHASSEE, Fla., Nov. 20 - Retreating under fire from Republicans, Florida's attorney general, a top ally of Vice President Al Gore, said today that local officials should count absentee ballots from overseas military voters that were thrown out because they lacked postmarks.

But the statement by Attorney General Robert A. Butterworth, Mr. Gore's state campaign chairman, may have less to do with votes than with cutting Democrats' losses in what they concede has been a losing public relations war. Republicans have accused Democrats of mounting a concerted effort to throw out as many military ballots as possible, because most of those votes were presumed to be for Gov. George W. Bush of Texas, not Mr. Gore.

County election officials who tabulated overseas ballots on Friday and Saturday rejected hundreds of military ballots for a variety of reasons. Republican criticism, though, focused particularly on what election officials said was the most common problem, failure to have a postmark. That seemed particularly galling to critics, since military mail can be sent without a postmark.

But county election officials and people of both parties who observed the counting said today that Mr. Butterworth's advice would add few votes, despite the postmark controversy. They say that while the lack of a postmark was the most common reason for rejecting overseas ballots, very few military ballots were thrown out purely for that reason. Most of the ballots without postmarks, they said, had other disqualifying flaws, like the lack of a signature, a witness signature or date.

In addition, many counties included ballots without postmarks at the time of last week's count, despite Democrats' arguments that they should be excluded.

Applying widely varying standards from one county to the next, election officials threw out 1,527 ballots, according to an unofficial tally by The Associated Press, or 41 percent of the total, and the remaining ballots produced a net gain of 630 votes for Mr. Bush. Democrats said military ballots were fewer than half of those discarded statewide, while Republicans said they were more than half.

Interviews with county officials indicated that scores of those ballots, not hundreds, were rejected strictly for the lack of a postmark.

Democrats have complained that where the ballots were rejected, it was simply a matter of county-level canvassing boards' applying the law as it had always been applied, but that Republicans had turned that into a potent weapon in the fight for public opinion. The Democratic backpedaling began on Sunday, when Senator Joseph I. Lieberman, Mr. Gore's running mate, said that if it were up to him, excluded military ballots would be counted.

Today, Mr. Butterworth sent a letter to county elections officials around the state, urging them "to immediately revisit this issue and amend their reported vote totals, if appropriate."

Ari Fleischer, spokesman for the Bush campaign, dismissed Mr. Butterworth's letter as "a belated attempt at damage control after they've done the damage" to people in the armed services. "This has no legal impact, and it's really just a political press release," he said.

On Friday night and Saturday morning, with observers from both parties watching closely, canvassing boards in all 67 of Florida's counties met to review absentee ballots that had arrived after Election Day from voters abroad. Many of those votes were cast by people in the armed services.

The most common reason cited for challenging and rejecting ballots was the absence of postmarks, or illegible postmarks, which Florida law requires on all overseas ballots. The postmarks were most often missing on military ballots, because the Army and Navy postal services frequently neglect to use them.

With the presidential election hanging by a margin of fewer than 1,000 votes in this state, Republicans said the Democrats were willing to disenfranchise soldiers and sailors to prevent Mr. Bush from gaining votes. In particular, they complained that the missing postmarks were beyond the control of the individual voters.

County election officials in both parties said that in previous elections, they had always thrown out overseas ballots without postmarks that arrived after Election Day, but that no one had noticed. This year, they said, was the first time the votes mattered, and the first time anyone had argued that the votes should be included.

In many of the more conservative counties with large military populations, the canvassing boards accepted military ballots with no postmarks. Some were thrown out, but only if they had more serious violations of state law, like a missing voter signature. Two such counties, Duval and Escambia, accounted for more than 800 of the 3,600 overseas ballots considered last week.

In Orange County, which includes Orlando, 117 overseas votes were rejected, but only 8 were thrown out solely because of missing or illegible postmarks, said Margaret Dunn, deputy supervisor of elections. "There were a lot that had bad postmarks or no postmarks, but they also had other problems, like no witness or they weren't registered to vote in Orange County," she said. As for Mr. Butterworth's letter, she said, "Our attorney has advised us that that letter is not binding, so we're not going to do anything with it."

In Hillsborough County, which includes Tampa, not one of the 74 discarded ballots was rejected only because of a missing postmark, said Julie Gaul, assistant supervisor of elections. "Every single one that didn't have a postmark also didn't have a signature, or a witness signature, or a date, so they wouldn't have been counted anyway," she said.

---

Top Florida official urges military ballots' inclusion

Washington Times
November 21, 2000
By Dave Boyer
http://208.246.212.80/national/default-2000112122464.htm

Florida's Democratic attorney general yesterday urged county election officials to accept hundreds of absentee military ballots that were rejected at the behest of the Gore campaign for technicalities.

"No man or woman in military service to this nation should have his or her vote rejected solely due to the absence of a postmark, particularly when . . . the postmarking of military mail is not always possible under sea or field conditions," Attorney General Robert Butterworth said in a letter to the state's 67 county elections supervisors.

Canvassing boards in Florida approved 2,199 overseas absentee ballots last week and rejected 1,527. Broward County accepted just 92 of 396 overseas ballots; Dade County just 103 of 312.

Still, Republican presidential nominee Texas Gov. George W. Bush received 630 more absentee votes than Vice President Al Gore, extending his lead to 930 in the state both men need to capture the presidency.

Mr. Butterworth, who was co-chairman of the state's Gore campaign, does not have the authority to order county elections boards to follow his advice. He said election officials should seek a clarifying opinion from Republican Secretary of State Katherine Harris.

Neither Mrs. Harris nor local canvassing boards indicated immediately yesterday whether they would reconsider the rejected ballots.

But state Division of Elections Director Clay Roberts said the state does not plan to reopen the issue since the overseas vote has been counted and certified by county elections supervisors.

"The state canvassing commission is forbidden by law to look beyond those returns," he said.

Still, if the Florida Supreme Court allows hand counts now under way to count in the final certified results, Republicans could appeal to allow the disqualified overseas ballots.

Mr. Butterworth's letter apparently will bring no change in Okaloosa County, which is home to Air Force installations and has strong military leanings. Supervisor of Elections Patricia Hollarn said about 40 overseas ballots without postmarks already were allowed and about 50 were rejected for arriving too late.

She said county election officials had agreed to count the unpostmarked ballots arriving by Nov. 10, three days after the election, but not those arriving later.

Miss Hollarn, a Republican, said she personally feels the rejected voters are "victims of the mails" and their ballots should be counted, but she said the county election board would not reconsider them.

In Orange County, senior deputy elections supervisor Margaret Dunn said their attorney advised them to ignore Mr. Butterworth's letter.

"It carries no legal weight," she said.

Sen. Bob Graham, Florida Democrat who was under consideration earlier this year as Mr. Gore's running mate, said elections officials should bend over backward to accept those absentee military ballots.

"The federal law provides that a postmark is not required for absentee ballots for overseas-stationed military personnel," Mr. Graham said on NBC's "Today" show. "That ought to be the governing rule. The priority and the presumption should be to let every vote count."

Another Southern Democrat and Gore supporter, Sen. Zell Miller of Georgia, also called for counting of the disqualified military ballots.

"I don't care when it's dated, whether it's witnessed or anything else. If it is from someone serving this country and they made the effort to vote, count it and salute them when you do it," said Mr. Miller, a former Marine.

Meanwhile, veterans groups joined congressional Republicans and Democrats in opposition to the Gore team's strategy of systematically challenging absentee ballots from military personnel abroad for lack of a postmark or other technicalities.

"It is un-American to deny the protectors of democracy their constitutional right to participate in the electoral process," said American Legion National Commander Ray Smith. "I therefore urge Florida election officials to reverse the wholesale invalidation . . . submitted by U.S. military personnel stationed abroad."

Steven Thomas, a Legion spokesman, said the organization has not received this many complaints since disclosure that Larry Lawrence, a campaign fund-raiser for President Clinton, was buried in Arlington National Cemetery based on a fabricated war record.

"It's a big deal, and veterans are rightly angered about this," Mr. Thomas said.

Members of both parties in Congress said the absentee military ballots should be counted. Rep. Curt Weldon, Pennsylvania Republican and a member of the House Armed Services Committee, said his staff is looking into legislative options to correct the situation if the state does not.

"I will not vote to seat any of the Florida electors until this . . . is sorted out," Mr. Weldon said yesterday in an interview. "This is not the America I grew up in."

Said Rep. Ike Skelton, Missouri Democrat and ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee, "I think everybody in or out of the military ought to have the right to vote. We ought to bend over backwards. [The absentee ballots] came in on time. Come on, it's not brain surgery."

Remarks of some Democrats such as Mr. Graham yesterday were closely aligned with those of Democratic vice-presidential nominee Joseph I. Lieberman, who said earlier that neither he nor Mr. Gore supported the effort to discredit military ballots. But Republicans said the Gore team and its supporters were backtracking because their coordinated election strategy had blown up in their faces.

"I think it's because we have exposed what they were doing," said Rep. Tillie Fowler, Florida Republican. "They're beginning to get some backlash."

Mrs. Fowler said in her home base of Duval County, near Jacksonville, 106 out of 594 absentee ballots were rejected. She said 98 percent of the disqualified ballots had been mailed by military personnel: 44 were rejected for no postmark, 37 for an invalid postmark and 19 for an improper or nonexistent witness. She said nine of the ballots came from a helicopter squadron on the carrier USS George Washington.

"It's an outrage," Mrs. Fowler said. "These young men and women didn't make a mistake, but their votes are not being counted. The vice president's operatives in Florida are denying the vote to the very people he wants to command."

Rep. John Cooksey, Louisiana Republican and an Air Force veteran, said Mr. Gore and his supporters "overplayed their hand" by challenging the military ballots.

"They follow the polls, and they realized they had overstepped the bounds of decency," Mr. Cooksey said. "This is all a reflection of Al Gore's ambition. They knew what they were doing. They are more concerned about their control of the executive branch than they are for their country."

• Rowan Scarborough contributed to this article, which is based in part on wire service reports.

--

USA Today
11/21/00
States
http://usatoday.com/news/states/all50.htm

Hawaii

Honolulu - The remains of 21 American servicemen from two wars in Asia were returned to U.S. soil. Fifteen sets of remains from the Korean War and six from the Vietnam War arrived at Hickam Air Force Base on Oahu on a flight from Japan. A 45-minute repatriation ceremony was held at the base in honor of the unidentified men. The remains now go to the U.S. Army Central Identification Laboratory of Hawaii.

-------- OTHER

-------- environment

U.S. blasted in talks over global warming

USA Today
11/21/00- Updated 06:43 PM ET
By Ellen Hale, USA TODAY
http://usatoday.com/news/washdc/ncstue08.htm

THE HAGUE, Netherlands - With just three days left to work out details of an international treaty on global warming, negotiations virtually ground to a halt Tuesday after Europe accused the United States of creating self-serving loopholes to help meet its targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

U.S. negotiators, in turn, warned "time is growing short" and said other countries need to make compromises, as well, after Europe slammed the latest proposal from the United States to use so-called forest "sinks" as credit for cutting its emissions.

The United States, which emits more greenhouse gases than any other country, has said forest and agricultural land that absorb the gases should be credited for about one-sixth of its emissions-reduction target. Europe, environmental groups and other nations argue that the credit from these so-called sinks, combined with other mechanisms such as trading emissions with other countries, would allow the United States to reach halfway to its target without taking any tough action at home.

Chief U.S. negotiator Frank Loy told representatives of the more than 180 countries meeting here that a "more pragmatic, less dogmatic" approach was needed if progress was going to be made in implementing the Kyoto Protocol. The 1997 treaty set targets for reducing gases that cause global warming.

"We stand ready to make reasonable compromises," Loy said. He also warned that "while we are willing to be flexible in our positions, we will not sacrifice our core principles."

The sinks issue has become a major sticking point in progress at the two-week conference, which ends Friday.

Earlier on Tuesday, environment ministers from Europe accused the United States of trying to duck its responsibilities by creating loopholes to get credit for cutting emissions instead of taking direct action through measures like energy efficiency. The ministers flatly rejected the U.S. offer made Monday to count about one-third of the carbon dioxide absorbed by forests as part of its plan to meet the target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions to 7% below 1990 levels by the year 2012.

"The major countries that emit should take domestic action, and not have these loopholes," said Dominique Voynet, French minister of the environment. He said the treaty negotiations were being held hostage to the "unilateral requirement of one country."

Also Tuesday, the United Nations weather agency said deaths from heat waves in big cities worldwide are expected to double over the next 20 years if global warming isn't curbed.

World Meteorological Organization Secretary General Godwin Obasi, speaking at The Hague, said small increases in global temperatures due to "greenhouse gases" are amplified in big cities.

Noting that hundreds of people died in one U.S. heat wave in the Northeast and Midwest last year, Obasi said that deaths from heat waves in big U.S. cities could reach 4,000 by 2020.

---

New Species of Endangered Lemurs Is Discovered

New York Times
November 21, 2000
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://www.nytimes.com/2000/11/21/science/21LEMU.html

Scientists working in Madagascar have discovered three previously unknown species of mouse lemurs, the world's smallest primate.

Lemurs are the most primitive primates and are among the world's most endangered species.

The newly discovered lemurs, announced last week, represent a small but encouraging sign to conservationists.

Madagascar is the world's only home to about 40 species of lemurs, including two previously known species of mouse lemurs.

An international team confirmed the new varieties by genetic tests as well as by small differences in their skulls, teeth and other physical characteristics.

"It's incredibly rare to discover a new species of primate, let alone three new species," said Steven M. Goodman of the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, who participated in the study. Other participants were from Germany and Madagascar.

The three newly discovered species inhabit only the dry, dense forests along the island's west coast. They are about the size of chipmunks and weigh a few ounces. They eat beetles, fruit and plants. They are active only at night.

The scientists said they also found what they believe are two more previously unknown species of mouse lemur, but the determination must be approved by an international panel of primate experts.

Scientists believe that Madagascar, off Africa's east coast, split off the continent about 165 million years ago, and many of its plant and animal species are unique to the island.

The oldest lemur fossils are about 58 million years old, making them important links in studies of the evolution of humans and other primates.

Madagascar has been stripped of 90 percent of its original forests, threatening the survival of many species.

Conservationists fear that 10 percent of the world's primate species, which also include humans, apes and monkeys, will go extinct in the next 10 or 20 years.

Dean Gibson, manager of the Duke University Primate Center, said she expected additional surveys would find even more new species.

"So many areas of Madagascar haven't been surveyed," she said. "I think there is more to find."

Ms. Gibson said the scientists were in a race against development forces in Madagascar.

"The habitats very quickly are being destroyed," said Ms. Gibson, whose center has 300 lemurs in captivity.

"It's being degraded to the point where there will be no primates or anything else for that matter."

---

Europe pressures U.S. to cut emissions

Washington Times
November 21, 2000
By Patrice Hill
http://208.246.212.80/business/default-20001121222329.htm

THE HAGUE, Netherlands - The United States and Europe clashed yesterday over how to carry out the global-warming treaty, with two Republican senators warning that the pact is endangered by European attempts to box the United States into deep energy cuts.

But behind the scenes, the two sides made compromises on relying on air-cleansing forests and farmland to absorb carbon dioxide, which is the principal greenhouse gas thought to cause global warming.

U.S. Undersecretary of State Frank E. Loy said the United States would agree to count only one-third of the carbon dioxide absorbed by U.S. forests - 125 million tons a year - toward its goal of cutting carbon emissions by 600 million tons a year. Under the previous proposal, forests would have counted for half of the needed reduction.

The treaty, drafted in Kyoto, Japan, in 1997, calls for a worldwide reduction in emissions of carbon dioxide - primarily from fossil fuels - and other heat-trapping gases by an average 5.2 percent from their 1990 levels.

The main burden would fall on industrialized countries. Europe must cut by 8 percent, the United States by 7 percent and Japan by 6 percent. The target date is 2012.

Europeans want the United States to achieve most of its cut by scaling back on the use of cars, sports-utility vehicles, electricity and other popular American energy-guzzling habits.

Some environmentalists immediately dismissed the U.S. compromise as inadequate, but others said Europe is likely to be drawn into meeting the United States halfway by the end of this week's negotiations to hammer out final agreement on mechanisms for carrying out the treaty.

European negotiators, in an apparent concession to the United States and their allies in Japan and Canada, yesterday agreed to count all of the carbon absorbed by farms and rangeland toward the emissions-reduction targets, Mr. Loy said.

The U.S. proposal to rely on the nation's vast wilderness and green spaces to comply with the treaty has gained popularity in the Republican-controlled Senate, where one-time critics of the treaty from rural states now see the possibility for financial gain.

Farmers and ranchers who manage their land in a way that conserves carbon would be able to sell carbon "credits" to utilities and other businesses that emit carbon dioxide. This financial windfall led major U.S. farm groups like the American Farm Bureau to express tentative support for the treaty this week.

"Agriculture should be a factor," said Idaho Sen. Larry E. Craig, chairman of the Senate Republican Conference who is acting as an observer at the negotiations. He added it would be foolish to omit the vast carbon-absorbing forests from the agreement. He described himself as a one-time skeptic who has come to believe that global warming is a real problem that needs to be remedied.

"We released more carbon into the atmosphere from raging forests fires this year than we probably ever will again," he said. Many of those fires might have been averted with proper forest management practices.

The idea of elevating the role of forests in combating climate change also got a boost yesterday from the chief scientist in the negotiations, Robert T. Watson, chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

"Whether we increase sequestration from forests or cut fossil fuel use," it all has the same effect on the atmosphere, he said.

French President Jacques Chirac put the European view bluntly in a speech opening the second week of negotiations, titillating the conference with his frankness and flustering the U.S. delegation.

"The United States alone produces a quarter of the world's emissions," he told the assembled delegates of 180 countries. "Each American emits three times more greenhouse gases than a Frenchman."

Mr. Chirac, speaking for the 15-nation European Union, also took a jab at the many skeptics in Congress who question whether the recent warming of the earth's atmosphere represents an alarming trend that warrants the drastic action called for in the treaty, which they say could undermine U.S. economic growth.

"I call upon the United States of America to cast aside their doubts and hesitations," he said, contending that the economy can be "energy-efficient, yet no less thriving."

Mr. Craig and Sen. Chuck Hagel, who are observers for Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, Mississippi Republican, and Texas Gov. George W. Bush, the Republican presidential candidate, warned that Europe's hardening stance aimed at making Americans pay for their excesses is endangering the treaty.

"It's not productive to start removing things from the table that provide energy needs," Mr. Craig said, citing European resistance to U.S. proposals to reduce greenhouse emissions by relying more on nuclear power, clean-coal technology, and forests, grasslands and farms.

"I'm going to be very frustrated if those things are taken off the table," he said.

The Senate, which must ratify the final treaty, unanimously approved a resolution stipulating that the treaty must cause no economic harm to the United States and include participation by developing countries. Without a U.S. endorsement, it would be difficult for the treaty to come into force.

Mr. Hagel, Nebraska Republican, contended that the use of unlimited alternatives to achieve emissions cuts was contemplated in the broad outlines of the treaty.

Mr. Craig added that any treaty that restricts flexibility could be a "slam-dunk no vote" when it reaches the Senate for ratification.

Mr. Chirac also rejected demands by U.S. senators that Third World countries be included in the treaty, saying it would be "premature to demand quantified commitments from these countries."

Mr. Chirac's statements got a pointed response from the two senators.

"To single the United States out does not facilitate a cooperative spirit," Mr. Hagel said.

"If we're going to be graded on greenhouse gas emissions, we ought to be graded as well for our contribution to medicine, technology and science" and the feeding of the world, Mr. Craig said.

"Do we squander energy? Yes, we do," he said. "But are we productive? Yes."

---

USA Today
11/21/00
States
http://usatoday.com/news/states/all50.htm

Idaho

Coeur d'Alene - An off-road vehicle mud rally did so much damage to Hayden Creek and the land around it that protected fish could be killed in the spring runoff, the Forest Service said. Drivers left the area pocked with rutted-out holes, one big enough to swallow a full-size truck. Officials are trying to determine the cost of repairing the damage and stopping topsoil from being flushed into spawning beds, which could choke the fish to death, officials said.

Mississippi

DeLisle - Hazardous waste from two old Harrison County landfills may have contaminated groundwater and caused illness in this small community near the coast, residents say. The Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality will begin testing groundwater next week at the dump sites in use before the state began to regulate garbage disposal in the 1970s. Billy Warden, chief of the nonhazardous waste branch, said first results are expected in two to three weeks.

-------- genetics

SCIENTIST AT WORK
Ingo Potrykus Golden Rice in a Grenade-Proof Greenhouse

New York Times
November 21, 2000
By JON CHRISTENSEN

ZURICH - In a quiet village on the outskirts of Zurich, a genetically engineered strain of rice that its creator says could save millions of children's lives is locked up in a grenade-proof greenhouse as if it were the Frankenstein monster that some critics contend it is. Unlike any other rice on earth, this so-called golden rice produces beta carotene in its seeds, thanks to genetic instructions that scientists added to the rice from a daffodil, pea, bacterium and virus.

Beta carotene is an important source of vitamin A, which is crucial for healthy vision and resistance to disease. The body breaks beta carotene molecules into two vitamin A molecules, also known as retinol. People get beta carotene from fresh vegetables, like carrots, and get vitamin A directly from milk, butter, cheese, liver and cod liver oil.

But the World Health Organization estimates that 124 million children do not get enough vitamin A. Most of these children live in parts of the world where rice is not only the main staple but is often the only food available during the dry season, and infants are often weaned on rice gruel alone. Vitamin A deficiency causes about half a million children to go blind every year and makes many more vulnerable to diseases that cause diarrhea. One million to two million children die each year for lack of vitamin A.

Like a latter-day Johnny Appleseed, Dr. Ingo Potrykus, the German inventor of golden rice, would like to send his seeds to poor people around the world at no charge. "I would like to send a year ago," he said, holding out a handful of seeds stored in a locked refrigerator at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich. "There are 3,500 children dying every day. I think we should not delay one day."

But golden rice has remained under lock and key since it was created more than a year ago. Meanwhile, Dr. Potrykus has struggled to free it from a complicated web of more than 70 patents and legal agreements covering items as diverse as DNA sequences and the techniques he and his colleagues used to insert new genes in the rice. He is also racing against an effort to pass legislation that could prohibit the export of genetically modified organisms from Switzerland.

Dr. Potrykus hopes to be able to send out the seeds before the end of this year under an agreement he worked out with Zeneca Agrichemicals, which has patents on some of the crucial genetic instructions used to make the rice.

The deal was brokered by Greenovation, a small German company that specializes in licensing academic discoveries in biotechnology. Greenovation licensed golden rice from Dr. Potrykus and Dr. Peter Beyer of the University of Freiburg in Germany, who collaborated on the invention.

Greenovation then licensed golden rice to Zeneca Agrichemicals, which last week merged with the agricultural divisions of Novartis to form a new company called Syngenta, now the largest agricultural biotechnology company in the world.

The company plans to market golden rice in developed countries like the United States as an enriched crop containing antioxidants, which are believed to reduce the risk of cancer, heart disease and macular degeneration, an eye disease that leads to blindness.

In return, Zeneca Agrichemicals agreed to secure rights to other patents covering golden rice and grant the inventors a license to give golden rice away to international research institutes that are working on developing new varieties of rice in places like India and the Philippines.

The genetically engineered rice will be crossed with local varieties using traditional breeding methods, and health and safety tests will be conducted.

If everything goes well, within two to three years, golden rice varieties will be made available free to farmers earning less than $10,000 a year from the crop, a figure far exceeding the average income of poor farmers.

Farmers will also be able to save seeds from their crop for future plantings because rice is a self-pollinating plant that breeds true year after year.

Dr. Potrykus held firm to those conditions through what he described as tough negotiations. But in some ways, the negotiations were made easier because the commercial potential for golden rice is expected to be limited, while the potential humanitarian benefits are great.

The inventors will earn a royalty on any profits from the niche market for health foods in places like the United States, said Dr. Adrian Dubock, who negotiated the deal on behalf of Zeneca. And the company agreed to provide Dr. Potrykus with a stipend and cover his expenses for the free distribution of the rice to researchers in developing countries. But nobody will get rich from golden rice, Dr. Dubock said.

The free distribution of golden rice seeds and genetic materials will be guided by a humanitarian advisory board consisting of the inventors, Dr. Dubock, representatives from the countries where golden rice will be grown, and Dr. Gary Tonniessen of the Rockefeller Foundation in New York, which supported the golden rice research.

Golden rice could serve as a model for arrangements to share proprietary biotechnology where it is needed most, predicted Dr. Tonniessen, who oversees grants to improve food supplies and nutrition worldwide.

The foundation is talking with international agricultural research centers, biotechnology companies and the World Bank about creating a nonprofit holding company that would make such discoveries freely available for humanitarian purposes.

"Golden rice is just one crop and one trait," Dr. Tonniessen said. "The potential to improve the nutritional content of many crops in many ways is now technically feasible."

Dr. Tonniessen said the idea for golden rice came from the field in developing nations. He once asked plant breeders at the International Rice Research Institute in the Philippines what they would choose if they could have genetic engineers insert any gene in rice.

The answer was a gene to make rice seeds produce the yellow pigment beta carotene, a trait they had not found in any rice variety and therefore could not propagate by traditional cross breeding. Although beta carotene has no taste, researchers are concerned that consumers in Asia might not like the yellow color because whiteness is highly valued in rice. Still, they hope people will feed it to their children.

The key to producing golden rice came from a scientific collaboration that began at a brainstorming session sponsored by the Rockefeller Foundation in New York, where Dr. Potrykus met Dr. Beyer, who had figured out how beta carotene was produced in daffodils by isolating the biochemical steps that make the flower yellow.

In 1993, the two scientists' laboratories began working together to put the three essential genes from a daffodil into rice. But one of the genes did not work. Over the years, they jury-rigged a combination of genetic instructions from a daffodil, pea, bacterium and a virus to make the beta carotene molecule. They still had trouble getting the genes to work together after shooting them one at a time into rice embryos. Finally, last year a researcher in Dr. Potrykus's lab, Dr. Xudong Ye, tried using a bacterium to ferry the instructions in all at once. It worked.

From the outside, golden rice plants look just like other rice plants. It is only when the seeds are hulled and polished to remove the oily outer coating, which is usually done to protect rice from spoiling, that one can see why Dr. Potrykus calls it golden rice. The seeds glow with the yellow color of beta carotene. Golden rice is a dream come true for Dr. Potrykus, and he is noticeably relaxed among the plants in his greenhouse. "It's a very beautiful plant," he said, stroking the graceful green leaves and cascading pearly seed heads.

Dr. Potrykus, 66, has spent his entire scientific career learning how to transform rice. His ultimate goal was to redeem genetic engineering by proving that it could contribute to solving malnutrition, which he sees as the biggest problem in the world. This calling has roots in his childhood, when he was an 11-year-old refugee from eastern Germany after World War II. His father, a doctor, died in the last days of the war. He and his brothers had to beg, steal and scrounge for food.

"I have experienced myself what it means to be hungry," Dr. Potrykus said. And as long as the potential of golden rice remains locked up here in Switzerland, he remains palpably angry and frustrated.

In the past decade, genetic engineering has become controversial, as some consumers raise concerns about the potential health and environmental effects of what they call "Frankenfoods." Dr. Vandana Shiva, a prominent opponent of genetic engineering in India, has argued that golden rice is being "used as a Trojan horse to push genetically engineered crops and foods."

Golden rice has become a high- profile target partly because it is being heavily promoted by the agricultural biotechnology industry as the first genetically modified crop to benefit consumers rather than just farmers and agribusiness.

And for better or worse, Dr. Potrykus has become a symbol. He headed the largest scientific research group at Switzerland's top technical university, where he directed 64 researchers investigating ways to improve nutrients and disease resistance in basic food crops. Although he enjoyed the formal respect that accrues to "Herr Professor," the highest honorific in the German speaking university, Dr. Potrykus found himself being put on the spot in increasingly unruly public debates. At one point, he said, he feared for his safety when hundreds of students shouted him down in a lecture.

Nothing has ever happened to Dr. Potrykus or the greenhouse that he built to isolate his experiments from the environment and any foreseeable attack. But by the time he and his colleagues finally succeeded in making rice produce beta carotene last year, after a decade of setbacks, Dr. Potrykus had reached the mandatory retirement age. And Dr. Potrykus said his wife wanted nothing more than for him to "stop being engaged and start a peaceful life."

They live in a small village more than an hour's drive from Zurich, but even there his wife feels unsafe. "If the genetic engineer is in the public opinion the devil," Dr. Potrykus said, "you cannot feel happy wherever you are."

Dr. Potrykus said he would like to retire and pursue their shared passion for chasing rare bird sightings around Europe for a videotape atlas he is compiling. As long as his mission remains unfulfilled, however, bird-watching must remain a hobby.

So Dr. Potrykus continues to work from an office in his home, responding to criticisms on the Internet and finalizing plans for distributing golden rice. And although his lab has been dismantled, he has re-enrolled at the institute as a postdoctoral student so he can continue tinkering with rice.

A colleague is sharing a desk with him. And he is working with the only two members of his team remaining at the institute to try to increase the amount of iron in rice in order to combat anemia, another scourge of people who subsist on a diet of rice and little else. Anemia affects about two billion people, especially weakening children and pregnant women.

Dr. Potrykus said golden rice had received considerable attention, but he considers boosting iron in rice to be even more important. "The potential for this technology is immense," he said, "but only if it's really used and applied to practical problems."

---

THINGS WE DON'T UNDERSTAND

DayTips.Com Daily Lists
Strange News
November 21, 2000

Junkscience.com, a Web site that provides news and information on so-called "junk science," is running a contest. The winner of the "StarLink Corn Is Safe!" Sweepstakes gets $1,000. The idea is to encourage public participation in the Environmental Protection Agency's rulemaking concerning the safety of StarLink corn --- the biotech corn involved in the recent taco shell controversy. To enter the "StarLink Corn Is Safe!" Sweepstakes, a contestant must visit Junkscience.com (<http://www.junkscience.com>http://www.junkscience.com) and send an e-mail to the EPA expressing an opinion about whether the agency should approve StarLink corn as safe for human consumption. The contest ends Nov. 27, which is also when the public comment period of the EPA rulemaking closes. The winner will be picked at random from all those who submitted eligible opinions to the EPA. Says Junkscience.com publisher Steven Milloy: "We hope to stimulate public education about food biotechnology and public participation in the EPA regulatory process."

---

NETHERLANDS: FRANCE AND U.S. CLASH

New York Times
November 21, 2000
World Briefing
http://www.nytimes.com/2000/11/21/world/21BRIE.html

France and the United States clashed at the United Nations climate conference in The Hague on reducing greenhouse gas emissions. President Jacques Chirac of France began the conference's second and last week by implying that the United States was trying to get out of its promised reductions under the 1997 Kyoto protocol. The United States wants unlimited ability to buy carbon credits from countries that will easily meet their own targets and have credits to spare. The Europeans want a cap on credit trading. (AP)

-------- police

2nd Officer Describes Beating of Man Who Died in Custody

New York Times
November 21, 2000
By RONALD SMOTHERS
http://www.nytimes.com/2000/11/21/nyregion/21ORAN.html

NEWARK, Nov. 20 - An Orange police officer, echoing his partner's testimony a week ago, said in Federal District Court today that he saw another officer spray pepper gas directly into the face of a handcuffed man who was lying on the floor of police headquarters and who later died in police custody.

The officer, Anthony Tortorella, who said the man was not resisting when he was sprayed, testified in the third week of the trial of five members of the Orange Police Department charged with federal civil rights violations in connection with the beating and abuse of Earl Faison, a 27-year-old East Orange man.

Mr. Faison was picked up during the investigation of the April 8, 1999, shooting death of Officer Joyce Carnegie. Police now say Mr. Faison played no role in the shooting.

Officer Tortorella and his partner, Officer Keith Jackson, who testified last week that he had seen Mr. Faison sprayed, were the second support team of officers to arrive on the scene of Mr. Faison's arrest. Both were also present when Mr. Faison was brought into the station minutes later.

Officer Tortorella, a 10-year veteran of the department, said he saw Officer Brian Smith, one of the defendants, spray the gas into Mr. Faison's face as he lay handcuffed on the floor of a stairwell. "He leaned over his face with a can of Mace and squirted it in the face area," he said, adding later that it was actually pepper spray.

Other officers, including Officer Smith's brother Lt. Thomas Smith, who is also a defendant, stood by watching, he said. Asked by an assistant United States attorney, Luis Valentin, whether Mr. Faison appeared to be struggling or resisting before he was sprayed, Officer Tortorella said, "No." He added that neither he nor any of the others in the stairwell had tried to help Mr. Faison.

His testimony echoed most of what Officer Jackson has said about events in the stairwell. Like Officer Jackson, Officer Tortorella said he had lied to investigators at first in an effort to protect other officers. He decided to tell the truth after Officer Jackson confided that he could no longer lie, he said.

"I didn't want to get involved because once I started talking I had to tell the truth against other cops," he said, speaking in a clipped and unemotional voice. "But my brother is a cop, my father is a retired cop from Orange, my nephew is a cop, and I just wanted to tell the truth."

Mr. Faison, who suffered from asthma, was the first of three men to be wrongly arrested in the investigation of the slaying of Officer Carnegie. All three were later cleared, and one of them has said in a civil suit that he was beaten by arresting officers. Eventually, a fourth man, Condell Woodson, 27, pleaded guilty in the case and was sentenced to life in prison.

The ripple effects of the mistake- riddled case attracted the attention of federal authorities and the state attorney general's office. Eventually it played a role in the forced resignation of the Essex County prosecutor, Patricia Hurt, who had led the investigation into Officer Carnegie's death and had presided over the arrests of the three innocent men.

Officer Tortorella's testimony did not corroborate his partner's earlier account of seeing Lieutenant Smith and another defendant, Officer Andrew Garth, punching Mr. Faison as they threw him like a "rag doll" into the back of a patrol car.

Officer Jackson testified last week that he had grabbed the lieutenant by the belt and had pulled him off the suspect so forcefully that they had both fallen to the ground. Officer Tortorella said he had seen his partner pulling Lieutenant Smith by the belt and falling with him to the curb.

Lieutenant Smith's lawyer, Michael Chertoff, seemed to make some headway in an attempt to find inconsistencies in the two officers' accounts, as well as conflicts with Officer Tortorella's interviews and grand jury testimony. But the importance of the differences was unclear.

In one case, Mr. Chertoff showed that Officer Tortorella had differed with his partner about what they were wearing that night and whether the flashing patrol car lights had hampered their view of some events.

He also emphasized that in earlier statements, Officer Tortorella had described differently the timing of when he had looked toward the car where Lieutenant Smith and the suspect were.

Earlier, in the cross-examination of another prosecution witness, John Bennett, 34, a tow truck driver who happened upon Mr. Faison being arrested, defense lawyers tried unsuccessfully to dislodge him from his statement that two other officers had punched Mr. Faison as he lay on the ground before Officers Tortorella and Jackson arrived. Those officers, Tyrone Payton, 34, and Paul Carpinteri, 36, are also defendants.

In the face of defense efforts to suggest that prosecutors had coached Mr. Bennett in how to describe events, Mr. Valentin highlighted his witness's consistent use of the same words to describe events.

The cross-examination of Officer Tortorella is scheduled to continue before Judge John C. Lifland on Tuesday.

---

Morrock News,
Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2000
THE MORROCK NEWS DIGEST
Fast, free and independent http://morrock.com

ROGUE COP'S VICTIM TO GET $15 MILLION: The city of Los Angeles has agreed to pay $15 million to a man who was shot in the head by police officers, framed for a crime he didn't commit, and sent to prison for 2-1/2 years. The victim, Javier Ovando, who remains paralyzed from the waist down as a result of the shooting, had been the first prisoner freed as the Rampart Station police scandal began to unfold.

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Struggling to find the next generation

USA Today
11/21/00- Updated 12:01 AM ET
By Kevin Johnson, USA TODAY
http://usatoday.com/news/acovtue.htm

Police departments across the nation, struggling to hire tens of thousands of new officers in a tight labor market, are having to wade through a depleted talent pool in which recruits are more likely than ever to have used drugs, to be out of shape and to lie about their pasts. From New York City to Phoenix, police officials say it's never been more difficult to find promising recruits. They blame a booming economy that has created higher-paying alternatives to police work, forcing recruiters to turn to candidates who in past years would have been rejected out of hand.

That has led to unprecedented recruit washout rates at a time when police agencies are rushing to take advantage of the Clinton administration's six-year, $8 billion grant program aimed at putting 100,000 new cops on the street by the end of this year. The program will fall short of its goal - as of June about 68,000 officers had been hired or reassigned to patrol duty under the initiative - largely because of problems in recruiting enough qualified officers.

"Across the country, everybody is talking about the overall shrinking of the applicant pool," says Thomas Frazier, director of the Justice Department office that administers the grant program. "It is a major concern."

Federal officials have extended the grant program for two years, so the pressure is still on departments to beef up their forces.

But reports from several urban departments that have been particularly aggressive in pursuing new officers reveal some of the new challenges that recruiters are facing. In part, they also highlight continuing questions about how law enforcement should deal with post-boomer generations of recruits who increasingly are likely to have grown up experimenting not just with marijuana but with more addictive drugs such as cocaine, heroin and methamphetamines.

Large percentages of police candidates - from 30% in Chicago to nearly 80% in Baltimore - fail to become officers because they admit to recent drug use or are caught lying about drugs and other aspects of their lives.

In Chicago and Baltimore, hundreds of applicants are eliminated each year because of such issues. Despite increasing numbers of applicants in Baltimore - from 1,800 in 1998 to 3,000 in 1999 - the city isn't finding it any easier to hire acceptable candidates.

Across the country, rising washout rates have become particularly noticeable in the past six years, authorities say, as departments have intensified their efforts to fill additional jobs funded by the federal grants.

A few police departments immediately disqualify candidates who report any past drug use. But most now have policies that acknowledge the impact of the drug culture and tolerate limited marijuana use if it took place several years before a candidate applied to be a police officer. Recruits who have used harder drugs are more likely to be rejected automatically.

"As the years go by, the levels of drug use are growing all the time," Phoenix police Sgt. Gil Soto says. "We've had some people say, 'Well, it's just meth (methamphetamines).' Meth is a very dangerous drug."

Soto estimates that about 70% of the hundreds who apply for Phoenix jobs each year have at least experimented with drugs. Although there are no comparable statistics, Soto believes the portion of drug-using applicants has increased in the past five years.

Many of the failures on mandatory polygraph exams stem from questions about past or ongoing drug use, police say. Baltimore police Sgt. Sherina Long says that during a recent interview, a candidate flunked after admitting he had used marijuana the previous night "just to calm his nerves. At least he was honest about it."

Phoenix recruiting officer Ron Meraz estimates that 30% to 50% of recruits in that city fail the polygraph test. "I think there are some people who think they can actually beat the background check," city personnel analyst Adele Luffey says. "It's amazing sometimes."

More and more, police recruiters also say they are confronted with couch potatoes.

In Chicago, where police estimate that one in 10 candidates actually make it through the recruiting process, officials say the number of candidates who are dropped because of drug-related issues is rising. But they say the largest portion of applicants they reject can't get past the department's basic agility requirements.

"We're not talking outlandish, Olympic-qualifying events here," Chicago police Cmdr. Bill Powers says. "It's a mile-and-a-half run, some sit-ups and stretching. They even have time to prepare. That's what shocks me."

Some forces lower standards

In some cases, police officials are trying to increase the talent pool of recruits by lowering admission standards that were raised several years ago in an effort to improve the quality of officers.

New York City's 40,000-officer police department, which this year fell about 300 hires short of filling 1,600 new academy positions, recently dropped its minimum age for recruits from 22 to 21. The department also is allowing some recruits to substitute work experience or the previously required two years of college.

The changes in admission requirements have raised concerns that the department might be sacrificing quality in pursuit of warm bodies.

"The public won't catch on (to the struggle to find police recruits) until it's too late," says Capt. John Driscoll, president of the local Captains Endowment Association , which represents supervisory-level officers. "Everything is nice as long as crime is down. But what happens when there aren't enough police to answer the calls?"

Some police chiefs do not believe that lowering standards is the right approach.

"I still believe our police officers should have to meet a higher standard," says Dave Kurz, police chief in tiny Durham, N.H., whose department's patrol force has increased from 15 to 18 because of the federal grant program. "That's more of a problem today because of the conduct that now passes as acceptable. What I do is try not to hire myself a problem."

For police departments large and small, the stakes in recruiting qualified officers are huge.

Recruiting decisions being made now likely will determine the quality of police work for years to come, says Elaine Deck, an analyst for the International Association of Chiefs of Police .

The ongoing scandal involving Los Angeles police officers who are accused of fabricating evidence and committing other crimes has put a spotlight on that department's recruiting.

Deck says recruiting and retaining officers has become a major concern among police executives, especially given the shortage of qualified candidates. For the past two years, Deck has hosted tutorials for about 300 police chiefs at IACP headquarters in Alexandria, Va., and elsewhere as law enforcement executives have struggled more and more to fill vacancies.

"Almost everywhere I go - Texas, Georgia, South Dakota and New Hampshire - I hear the same thing," Deck says. "Police ask (applicants) if they've ever used drugs and the answer is: 'Of course.' Worse, if they don't admit to it, (police) find out in the background checks. A lot of chiefs are saying, 'These (applicants) are not from our planet.'"

Like police in several cites, Phoenix recruiters have gone far out of town in their searches to fill openings. They have traveled throughout the West and Midwest - Seattle, El Paso, Colorado Springs, Gallup, N.M., Chicago and Oxnard, Calif. - usually testing about 75 prospects at each stop.

Few prospects turn up

In Oxnard one recent weekend, police officials hoped the presence of a U.S. naval base there would provide a target-rich environment for finding prospective cops.

The good news: On test day, all but three applicants passed written and agility exams, the best passage rate of any out-of-state group Phoenix police have tested this year.

The bad news: Only 22 applicants showed up, even after Phoenix had spent two weeks and thousands of dollars touting the recruiting effort in radio and newspaper ads in California.

The only woman among the surviving 19 prospects was Katherine Beck, 27, an auto-parts delivery person from Simi Valley, Calif., who sported a silver nose ring and a T-shirt that read "You Suck." Beck acknowledged that she had been convicted on a drug offense in 1994, and arrested again three years ago for alleged public drunkenness.

Beck wouldn't elaborate on her troubles with the law, or say what drug was involved in her conviction. Phoenix accepts applicants who say they have used marijuana 25 times or less and who have refrained from use for three years. Any LSD use is grounds for immediate disqualification. Cocaine is not, as long as applicants have not used since age 18.

Another candidate, car salesman Pedro Leon, 56, had been fired by the U.S. Postal Service after several suspensions during a six-year government career. Leon says his career suffered because he filed numerous discrimination complaints. "It wasn't like I was shooting my supervisor or anything," Leon says.

Phoenix recruiters had concerns about another recruit who had trouble filling out the application. In the space requesting a Social Security number, the applicant copied the number provided on the sample application form: 123-45-6789.

Meraz and Luffey say they have seen worse: At another recruiting stop, they say, half the 75 people who took the written test - a mix of reading comprehension and observation (no math) - failed.

In Chicago, where there is a need for about 650 new cops, concerns about recruits' character have led authorities to make unusually close inspections during the screening process. Three years ago, Chicago recruits' medical exams began to include hair follicle testing for drugs and tattoo screening to check for prior gang involvement.

Cmdr. Powers said the hair tests detect any drug use in the past three months; urinalysis, by comparison, generally is reliable for detecting drug use only in the past 30 days. Chicago tolerates some experimental drug use: no more than three tries of marijuana, as long as the last puff was taken at least five years ago. Immediate disqualifiers are felony convictions and recent use of drugs such as cocaine, LSD and methamphetamines.

During applicants' physical exams, Powers says, department physicians are instructed to note any tattoos, scars or other visible marks. Powers said the increased attention to physical exams started in 1997 because of an increase in gang activity. In most departments, including Chicago's, any past gang affiliation means automatic rejection.

'I'm surprised I passed'

Despite her non-conformist appearance, Katherine Beck was, in the eyes of Phoenix recruiters, a good candidate for their police force.

"I'm completely stoked," Beck said after receiving a score of 75.4 on the written test (70 is passing) and puffing through the required 1-1/2 mile run. "I'm completely surprised I passed." She added that she had been rejected by several California police agencies, including the California Highway Patrol.

Over the next several weeks Beck, Leon and the other 17 top prospects Phoenix police identified at Oxnard will undergo background investigations and polygraph exams, the most intense scrutiny of the application process.

If the typical washout rate holds, one - maybe two - will make the cut and be invited to Phoenix's police academy, where candidates are required to complete 15 weeks of training.

But recruiter Meraz believes it's possible that up to five of the Oxnard prospects could make it to the academy.

"This is the cheese," Meraz says of what he called one of his best recruiting trips this year. "I'm telling you, this is the cheese."

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USA Today
11/21/00
States
http://usatoday.com/news/states/all50.htm

Oregon

Portland - Portland police will address concerns about racial profiling by tracking data on traffic stops by Jan. 1. Police chief Mark Kroeker said the perception of racial profiling in traffic stops is eroding public trust and needs to be addressed. A panel will meet quarterly to review, analyze and share the information with the public. The force also plans to hire and promote more minorities and expand diversity training for officers to counter critics.

-------- terrorism

Mideast Terrorist Provocation

New York Times
November 21, 2000
http://www.nytimes.com/2000/11/21/opinion/21TUE2.html

Yesterday's Palestinian terrorism and Israeli retaliation were all the more disheartening because they came after a weekend of some hope that seven weeks of bloodshed in the West Bank and Gaza Strip might be winding down. It is typical of terrorist tactics to try to thwart any perceived movement by more responsible leaders toward a truce. The unspeakable remote-control bombing of a school bus full of children predictably drew a strong Israeli response. With the horror of the bus blast, which left two adults dead and several children mutilated, and the Israeli missile attacks against Palestinian targets in Gaza, there is strong potential for the spiral of violence to resume.

It is imperative for both sides to try to find their way back to the paths of restraint they were exploring. On Friday Yasir Arafat issued his first direct order to Palestinian gunmen to stop firing at Israelis from Palestinian-controlled areas. Israel was prepared to respond to a reduction in violence by easing restrictions on the Palestinian population.

If Mr. Arafat wants Israelis to believe that he is sincere in his efforts to bring about a truce, he must see to it that not only the Palestinian police force but also the paramilitary wing of his Fatah organization works to restrain violence. Israel believes that members of a Fatah paramilitary group carried out yesterday's bus attack. Mr. Arafat can also help curb future terrorist attacks by re-arresting the 20 members of violent Islamic organizations whom he recklessly released from Palestinian jails several weeks ago.

Ehud Barak, Israel's prime minister, is in a difficult political situation, but he too must show restraint. Even before yesterday's terrorist outrage his minority government was under attack by right- wing parties for not responding forcefully enough to Palestinian violence. Mr. Barak must defend and protect Israeli lives. But he should do his best to bring an end to the cycle of violence.

-------- activists

Spying lawsuit against police gets under way

Chicago Daily Herald
November 14, 2000, Tuesday, DuPage,Lake,Cook
SECTION: News; The City; Pg. 9

A federal trial opened Monday with accusations that the Chicago police illegally raided the headquarters of demonstrators four years ago during the Democratic National Convention.

That and other allegations are included in a 1997 lawsuit by three protest groups seeking $ 180,000 in damages and a court ruling that Chicago police used outlawed "Red Squad'' tactics to spy on the groups.

City attorneys suggested in court that the groups can't prove Chicago police conducted the raid and hinted others were responsible - if the spying even happened.

Activist Lynda White testified she was in the West Side warehouse where the groups had been holding their counter- convention on the night of Aug. 29, 1996, when officers allegedly entered without a warrant and searched the place. White also said police followed her during the convention.

"When I see police officers, I want to go the other way,'' she testified. "It's been four years, and I still have fear in the pit of my stomach.''

An attorney for the protest groups, Edward Koziboski, suggested police removed identification because they knew what they were doing was illegal. Some witnesses though saw Chicago Police Department patches, he said.

Another witness, activist Lee A. Wells IV, testified that he saw a Chicago police officer rip the film out of his 35mm camera as Wells was being processed after he was arrested. Wells had been taking pictures at a demonstration.

"He pulled the film out and laughed at me,'' Wells said, testifying that the officer told him, " 'Oops, you won't be getting any photos from this.'"

The three groups - Counter-Media, Active Resistance Organizing Collective and Autonomous Zone - allege that police broke a 1982 federal decree that mandates police have a reasonable suspicion that crimes are being committed before they can spy on groups.

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Civil rights veterans pay tribute to Hosea Williams

CNN
November 21, 2000
http://www.cnn.com/2000/US/11/21/hoseawims.ap/index.html

ATLANTA, Georgia (AP) -- Hosea Williams' fellow soldiers in the civil rights movement joined his family at his funeral Tuesday, some of them honoring him by wearing his trademark denim overalls, red shirt and red sneakers.

http://www.cnn.com/2000/US/11/21/hoseawims.ap/map.georgia.atlanta.jpg

The service at Ebenezer Baptist Church opened with the song "This Little Light of Mine." It was to be followed by a procession with a mule-drawn wagon carrying Williams' coffin along the same route used after Martin Luther King Jr.'s slaying in 1968.

Williams died Thursday from kidney cancer complications. He was 74.

Among those attending the service were the Rev. Jesse Jackson; Rep. John Lewis; former Atlanta mayor and ambassador Andrew Young; King's widow, Coretta Scott King; the Rev. Joseph Lowery, past president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference; and Sen. Zell Miller.

"We have to begin Thanksgiving a little earlier this year because today we have to thank God for sending us one of his most bravest servants," Mrs. King said at the funeral. "He was a good Samaritan.

"What I liked most and admired most is his impatience," said Atlanta Mayor Bill Campbell. "He was not willing to wait for justice to come. He was not willing to wait for hunger to be eradicated. He was not willing for dignity for those who needed it. He was a warrior for justice."

People who had joined Williams in the civil rights movement called him Little David.

"Hosea wasn't afraid of Goliath," Lowery said at a memorial service Monday. "In fact, I was thinking about it, and I don't think there's anything he was scared of."

In 1965, Williams was at the helm of the "Bloody Sunday" march across the Edmund Pettus bridge in Selma, Alabama, when police with clubs, tear gas and dogs attacked peaceful demonstrators seeking the right to vote.

During an eight-hour viewing Monday, thousands of mourners streamed through the International Chapel at Morehouse College.

Tributes included a gold medal inscribed with King's "I have a dream" motto, an American flag for military service rendered in Germany during World War II and hymns from the darkest days of the civil rights era.

"He was one of the last true activists," said Renee Dawson, who brought her 6-year-old daughter, Riana. "I wanted Riana to see him, and understand that because of him there's a lot of people better off."

King's assassination didn't defeat Williams' sense of brotherhood or duty.

In 1970, he began serving holiday dinners to the poor. The growing tradition was expected to draw 30,000 this year to Atlanta's Turner Field at Thanksgiving and, again, at Christmas. Despite Williams' death, the dinners are scheduled to carry on, operated by daughter Elisabeth Williams-Omilami and funded by rapper Sean "Puffy" Combs.

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TODAY'S SIGN THE WORLD IS ENDING

DayTips' Strange News: 11/21/00
DayTips.Com Daily Lists
Strange News
November 21, 2000

Anti-gay demonstrators from Kansas are in New England, preaching a message of hate against homosexuals. Led by the Rev. Fred Phelps of the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kan., the group taunted Phillips Exeter Academy in Exeter, N.H., Monday for its decision to allow homosexual faculty and staff to serve as dormitory parents. At Montpelier, Vt., the group protested in front of the State House against the state's first-in-the-nation law that permits civil unions between homosexual couples. On Sunday, the Phelps group picketed five mainline churches in Kennebunk, Maine. They carried signs proclaiming "God Hates Fags." "Your Pastor is Lying," and "AIDS Cures Fags." By a narrow margin, Maine voters on Nov. 7 rejected a referendum on gay rights. The group spared Kennebunk's Unitarian Church because, according to one member of the group, Unitarians are beyond salvation. She told the Portland Press Herland that trying to send a message to Unitarians would be "like if you go to a fag bar."

AND FINALLY, TODAY'S UPLIFTING STORY

The National Restaurant Association reports many restaurants this year will continue their Thanksgiving traditions of helping those in need. As an example, it points to McDonald's franchisee Julian Nabozny who, for the past five years, has brought thousands of less fortunate individuals to his Phoenix, Ariz., restaurant on Thanksgiving for free turkeys, toys, fruit baskets and entertainment. Nabozny recently was named the National Restaurant Association's "Humanitarian of the Year." In Wales, Wis., restaurateurs Tom and Lynn Saxe have closed their eatery, Saxe's, on Thanksgiving for the last 10 years to cook a traditional Thanksgiving dinner for 200 of the neighborhood's elderly and lonely. Since 1983, Casper's Cherokee Sirloin Room in St. Paul, Minn., has served Thanksgiving meals to the homeless. The restaurant also delivers 2,500 meals to less advantaged individuals each Thanksgiving. It was named a Restaurant Neighbor Award state finalist for its charitable efforts. Web site: <http://www.restaurant.org>

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