------- Index of Articles

NUCLEAR
Economics likely to hamper British nuclear revival
Pakistan Politicians 'Support' Ruler on India Trip
U.S.-Led Spy Net in Japan
Bush beefs up missile-defense effort
Russia Test-Fires Ballistic Missile
Editorial Roundup [on nuc weapons]
The Colonel and the Bomb
Flats workers lose suit
Manufacturer 'let off the hook,' Flats union rep says
Beryllium witness wants gag order reversed
Nuclear murder
Expert: Paducah workers at high risk
DOE's ground water prognosis in question
CITIZENS' GROUPS CHALLENGE EPA RULE
Assembly Supports Tax Deals for Towns and Nuclear Plants
Sick OR workers begin claims process
Czech ambassador - God bless America

MILITARY
Army confirms 20 dead in UNITA attack on Uige
Mozambique landmine clearance raises food output
Macedonia forces shell insurgents
Macedonian Leader, Warning of Civil War, Urges Calm
Albanians in Macedonia Blame the Police for Violence
China: No warships near Spratlys
Drug - Rehab Experiment Coming Soon
Census: War on Drugs Hit Blacks
Russia rejects sanctions plan for Iraq
'Dumb' Sanctions
Allied Warplanes Strike Iraq
Bush, Sharon clash publicly over next steps
Plan to End Vieques Bombing Raises Questions in Congress
Lawmakers Criticize Vieques Decision
STAR WARS INC. THE MEN & MONEY BEHIND SPACE WEAPONRY
Two Utah towns consider 'U.N.-free zones'
Security Council Re - Elects Annan for Top U.N. Post
Rumsfeld Seeks Cut in B-1 Bombers
Pentagon to Retire 33 Bombers
A Look at the B-1 Bomber
U.S. Military Is on Fast Track to Sign New Recruits
What Price for Military Readiness?
Pentagon to Retire 33 Bombers

OTHER
SeaWest WindPower to Develop 505MW of Wind Energy
Solar-powered ferry enters uncharted waters
NASA readies solar-powered, high-altitude plane
Statkraft, Sydkraft, ABB to build hydrogen plant
Professor Shows Speedy Electric Car
Chinese Doctor Tells Of Organ Removals After Executions
World Court sides with Germany on execution
Death Penalty Commission Proposed
Bill would expand access to DNA tests
Rwanda Plans Strict Media Bill to Avert Genocide
House Moves to Block Drilling
Wildfire grows from prescribed Alaskan forest burn
Hidden Environmental Hazard Found in Fireworks
Democrats Demand Climate Documents
Rio Grande tapped out, barely reaching Gulf
U.S. Study Hails Stem Cells' Promise
Agreement Reached on AIDS Declaration
Playing God in science
Money, Stigma Barriers to Better HIV Prevention: UN
U.N. United in AIDS Fight but Split Over What to Do
AIDS Conference Closes With Blueprint to Protect World's Vulnerable
Tunisia Arrests Rights Activist
U.S. Seeks Quick Berenson Appeal
Genoa Steps Up G - 8 Security Measures
Nine More Charged in FBI File Case
Jury Convicts Army Officer Of Espionage For Soviets
Russian Calls Imprisoned American a Spy
Retired Army Employee, 74, Is Found Guilty of Spying

ACTIVISTS
ACTION ALERT Re YUCCA MT.
Martin Sheen Pleads Guilty
Protest groups demand unarmed police at G8 summit
Italy govt to meet protesters to avoid G8 clashes
Jacqueline Jackson freed from prison
Salzburg Travel Warning Issued
Martin Sheen Pleads Guilty
Night Curfew Slapped on Papua Capital


-------- NUCLEAR

-------- britain

Economics likely to hamper British nuclear revival

UK: June 27, 2001
Story by Stuart Penson
REUTERS
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11342

LONDON - Nuclear power, dead and buried across much of Europe, is back under the spotlight in Britain after the government this week launched an in-depth review of the nation's future energy needs.

New Energy Minister Brian Wilson, who is said to be pro-nuclear, on Monday said the government would look at what role nuclear power could play in Britain's future energy mix, as well as assessing coal, gas, oil and renewables.

The move comes six years after the UK last commissioned a reactor and underscores nuclear's one big advantage over fossil fuels - the absence of greenhouse gas emissions which many scientists believe cause global warming.

But analysts said they doubted the economics of hugely expensive new reactors, which can take up to a decade to build, could be made to work in a liberalised energy market characterised by tumbling electricity prices.

"The decision to invest is down to commercial companies looking for a particular rate of return which make it difficult to justify nuclear unless there are very large premiums for emission reductions," said Neil Cornelius at industry consultants ICF.

"I don't see emissions permits as sufficiently valuable in the short to medium term to make up (for the high start-up costs)," he said.

New nuclear power stations cost three to four billion pounds ($4-$6 billion) to build, about four times as much as a gas-fired plant, analysts say.

"If you needed to make serious investment without any guaranteed return in deregulated markets then that could be very tricky," said David Newbery, an energy expert at Cambridge University.

JUGGLING OBJECTIVES The clock is ticking for Britain's energy policymakers who must juggle the need for long-term, secure energy supply with a target of cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 23 percent below 1990 levels by 2010.

Nuclear accounts for roughly 22 percent of electricity supply in the UK, with coal and gas about a third each.

Renewable energy like wind and solar power accounts for just under three percent of supply, including hydro-electric plants.

Renewed prospects for nuclear power in the UK, where the last reactor was built in 1995, drew sharp condemnation from environmentalists.

"This energy review, and the fight against climate change, must not be used as an excuse to build a new generation of nuclear reactors," said Friends of the Earth campaigner Mark Johnson.

In addition to worries about safety, a big issue is how to dispose of radioactive nuclear waste from the plants which takes thousands of years to decay.

A reprieve for nuclear power in the UK would go against the approach taken across much of Europe.

Germany and Sweden have taken the plunge and decided to phase out nuclear energy and most other EU states are not actively developing nuclear power.

But France still relies on nuclear energy for 80 percent of electricity.

Finland is alone is expanding its nuclear sector with plans to build a fifth reactor.

LIFE SPAN EXTENSION UNCERTAIN Analysts said it was unclear to what extent Britain could minimise the need to build new reactors by extending the life of existing plants.

"To determine the potential for life extension you need a sustained period of continuous operation over several years," said Stewart Gray, analyst at Scotland-based consultants Wood Mackenzie.

"Most of (British Energy's) AGR reactors have been up, down, broken and fixed. Life extension is a very uncertain issue," he said.

But he said on current evidence it appeared the UK's ageing reactors would shut before their counterparts in mainland Europe.

State-owned British Nuclear Fuels has already started shutting down its old Magnox plants and plans to switch them all off by 2021.

But Gray did not rule new nuclear stations in Britain in the longer term.

"My guess is that the UK would like to see new builds in the U.S. first but in that case we would be looking at 20 years down the line for new plants in the UK," he said.

-------- india / pakistan

Pakistan Politicians 'Support' Ruler on India Trip

New York Times
June 27, 2001
By REUTERS
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/world/international-pakista.html

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Nineteen politicians met with Pakistani military ruler General Pervez Musharraf on Wednesday and offered him ``complete support'' ahead of a summit in India next month, a government statement said.

In turn, the general, who assumed the country's presidency last week by decree, assured the politicians he would consult them on ``all important national issues'' in the future, it said.

The July 14-16 talks between Musharraf and Indian Prime Minister Atal Behair Vajpayee will be the first summit between the nuclear-capable neighbors in more than two years.

Pakistan's main pro-democracy political alliance boycotted Wednesday's meeting to protest mainly at Musharraf's controversial assumption of the presidency.

The 19 men were the largest group of politicians to meet Musharraf since he seized power in a bloodless army coup in October 1999. Among them were heads of smaller parties including former president Farooq Leghari and former cricket hero-turned politician Imran Khan, as well as some former members of the parliament that Musharraf dissolved on June 20.

``Responding to the expression of goodwill and offer of the complete support (by them)...General Pervez Musharraf assured the political leaders that he will take them into confidence on all important national issues,'' the official statement said.

Musharraf said on Tuesday he expected the talks in India to set off a process for settling the two countries' bitter dispute over Pakistan. Wednesday's official statement quoted him as saying: ``Kashmir would be the core issue and everything else would follow.''

Mian Mohammad Azhar, who leads a breakaway faction of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League Party, said he advised Musharraf to try again for a meeting with the boycotting 16-party Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy.

But there was no immediate government comment on the suggestion.

India rules about 45 percent and Pakistan just over a third of Kashmir, over which the two nations have fought two of their three wars since their independence from Britain in 1947. China holds the rest of the territory.

Musharraf removed civilian President Mohammad Rafiq Tarar by decree on June 20, assuming the office himself and dissolving the suspended parliament and provincial assemblies.

-------- japan

U.S.-Led Spy Net in Japan

The Associated Press
Wednesday, June 27, 2001
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/aponline/20010627/aponline033010_000.htm

TOKYO -- A U.S.-led spy network has intercepted Japanese diplomatic communications for 20 years to keep track of Tokyo's economic activities, a major newspaper reported Wednesday.

The network, known as Echelon, focused mainly on electronically transmitted information pertaining to trade and fishing, but also monitored ships transporting plutonium in the South Pacific, the nationwide Mainichi newspaper said.

The article cited Nicky Hagger, a New Zealand researcher who it said interviewed about 50 government, military and political sources familiar with the network.

The report did not elaborate on the plutonium shipments. Resource-poor Japan, which depends on nuclear power for about 30 percent of its electricity needs, periodically imports from Europe shipments of a uranium oxide and plutonium mixture, known as MOX.

The network began eavesdropping on official Japanese communications in 1981, channeling the data back to intelligence agencies in the United States, the newspaper said.

New Zealand's Government Communications Security Bureau from 1990 used its Waihopai signals base to read documents sent via satellite from the Japanese Embassy, the report said.

The Waihopai facility - and similar facilities in other Echelon members Australia, Canada, Britain and the United States - can intercept fax, e-mail or telephone communications.

The New Zealand facility sent its findings to the United States' National Security Agency, the report said. The NSA and the Central Intelligence Agency are believed to be responsible for Echelon operations.

New Zealand government officials said they never comment on intelligence matters.

The Echelon network, which includes Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, was set up at the beginning of the Cold War for intelligence-gathering and has grown into a network of intercept stations across the globe.

European media reports have suggested that Echelon has listened in to vast numbers of telephone calls, fax transmissions and e-mails, prompting concern over privacy violations and allegations of industrial espionage.

U.S. officials have never publicly confirmed the network exists and deny that the United States engages in industrial espionage.

-------- missile defense

Bush beefs up missile-defense effort

Around the Nation
June 27, 2001
Combined dispatches and staff reports
http://www.washtimes.com/national/20010627-51361800.htm

The Bush administration will ask Congress for $7.9 billion in fiscal 2002 to speed up a missile-defense program that would go beyond the limited, ground-based system proposed by President Clinton, Pentagon documents obtained yesterday showed.

The total is $2.2 billion more than the figure included in an earlier "placeholder" defense budget, according to a memorandum approved Friday by Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz.

The Bush program will explore "to the fullest extent possible" land, air and space platforms to thwart missiles in all flight stages, according to Program Budget Decision 816.

-------- russia

Russia Test-Fires Ballistic Missile

The Associated Press
Wednesday, June 27, 2001
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/aponline/20010627/aponline032806_000.htm

MOSCOW -- Russia's Strategic Rocket Forces on Wednesday successfully test-fired a ballistic missile from the Baikonur cosmodrome in the former Soviet republic of Kazakstan, military officials said.

The RS-18 intercontinental ballistic missile, known as SS-19 in the West, was launched midmorning Wednesday. After flying 4,340 miles it hit the designated target on the Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia's Far East, the military said in a statement carried by the Interfax and ITAR-Tass news agency.

According to Interfax, Russia currently has 140 RS-18 missiles, aged from 16 to 27 years, and their number will be reduced to 105 after scheduled cuts.

Russia leases the Baikonur cosmodrome from Kazakstan for both civilian and military launches.

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

Editorial Roundup [on nuc weapons]

The Associated Press
Wednesday, June 27, 2001; 1:26 p.m. EDT
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/aponline/20010627/aponline132639_000.htm

... June 23 Herald-Times, Bloomington, Ind., on nuclear weapons:

In the wake of President Bush's summit with European leaders and then Russian President Vladimir Putin, Putin's response to Bush's resolve to develop a missile defense shield was ominous - at least on the surface.

Putin said if the United States chose to disregard the START II treaty by proceeding unilaterally with a missile defense system, Russian would have no choice but to violate existing arms treaties and re-MIRV its missiles.

MIRV was the acronym for Multiple Independent Re-entry Vehicles. That's a fancy term for multiple warheads. A missile would be equipped with 10 or so warheads, each with its own propulsion and guidance systems, that would target different destinations. To cool the arms race, they eventually were outlawed by a mutual U.S.-Soviet agreement.

If Bush wants to convey public proof to Putin and the Russian military brass that a U.S. anti-missile technology is aimed at the random attempt by a terrorist or a Saddam to nuke Hoboken (though in that event, they'd probably blow it off from a suitcase), how better than to also offer to slash the U.S. nuclear arsenal by 90, 95, even 99 percent?

It's an offer that Bush actually could afford to make ... and it would put him on the high road. It would dramatically convey our intent to pose Russia - or China, for that matter - no harm nor threat if they're willing to reciprocate.

And it might even be an offer that Putin and Russia couldn't refuse.

----

The Colonel and the Bomb
Can a forty-year-old lost Cold War relic be brought to life?

by Bill Donahue,
The Atlantic Monthly
July/August 2001
Notes & Dispatches Tybee Island, Georgia
http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/2001/07/donahue.htm

Somewhere in Wassau Sound, near Tybee Island, Georgia, a Mark-15 bomb sits beneath the ocean floor. The bomb may be nuclear, or it may not be. It may be buried under five feet of sand, or it may be buried under forty. It is probably intact, but no one knows for sure, because the night it was dropped-February 5, 1958-was highly chaotic. The B-47 carrying the bomb, on a training mission that started in Florida, collided in midair sometime after midnight with an F-86 fighter plane on a simulated attack mission. The F-86 crashed after its pilot safely ejected. The B-47 caught fire, and its pilot jettisoned the bomb into the sea before landing. The Navy never found it, despite an intensive nine-week search.

"The Tybee bomb is a great mystery," says Derek Duke, a fifty-six-year-old former Air Force colonel who lives near Savannah. "And everyone is lured to a mystery." Absent a federal search for the weapon, Duke wants to conduct his own search. He just wants to locate it; he plans to leave excavation to the government. He is very determined. In a recent e-mail he told me that he intends to scour Wassau Sound in "a high-tech extremely visual search vessel exotic to the eyeballs" and has assembled a team "like the famous TV 'A-Team.'" It includes, he wrote, "the original US Navy search Commander"-the man who guided the 1958 hunt for the Tybee bomb-"plus a 30 year veteran CIA officer who has agency permission to be here. Nukes and counter terrorism was his bag, and maritime ops ... and the Navy Captain who launched Charles Lindbergh Jr. in 1966 off the coast of Spain in a Woods Hole deep dive sub to retrieve a live H bomb 2200 feet down in a canyon on the ocean floor, plus the man who supplied the 'General Lee' Hot Rod in the Hit TV show first filmed in Atlanta, 'The Dukes of Hazard.'"

Harris Parker-who did not design the General Lee, although he did work on some of the cars in the show-is actively researching the bomb's whereabouts; the other team members serve as infrequent advisers to Duke. The colonel himself has no underwater-search experience. He is a flight instructor for a major airline and spends his spare time reading about plane crashes and soldiers missing in action. Since he learned of the missing Tybee bomb-in 1998, while trolling the Internet-he has not raised any of the $1 million or so his search would cost. He has, however, obtained permission from a friend to use a $2 million treasure-hunting boat rigged with a sonar system and a state-of-the-art cesium vapor magnetometer.

Duke's plans may be quixotic, but they do shine light on an old fact. As many people are vaguely aware, the Tybee bomb has plenty of company beneath the world's oceans. From 1950 to 1968 the U.S. military, by its own admission, lost eight other such pieces of Cold War materiel at sea: three complete nuclear bombs, two nuclear-bomb capsules, and three bombs without capsules. The ordnance is still down there, off the New Jersey coast, off the Azores, somewhere in the vicinity of Morocco. And each bomb or capsule is shrouded in secrets. Consider the Mark-43 that rolled, along with its airplane, off a ship into 16,000 feet of water near Okinawa in 1965. "The aircraft, pilot and weapon were not recovered," wrote W. J. Howard, then an assistant to the Secretary of Defense, in a 1966 letter to Congress explaining this accident and three others. "No public announcement of this incident has been made, nor is any intended."

Most experts agree that the lost weapons, including the Tybee bomb, pose little danger, because they're entombed, making detonation unlikely. Duke is unpersuaded. He contends that if a major hurricane were to hit Tybee, the bomb could wash up onto the island and explode. "There hasn't been a big coastal storm to hit that area in a hundred and fifty years," he told me. "They're overdue, and the government knows it."

Duke says that weapons have emerged from stormy seas and exploded before, although he is hazy about where and when. He does have documentation to support his belief that the Mark-15 off Tybee is nuclear-capable: Howard's letter, which was declassified in 1994, describes the Tybee bomb as a "complete weapon," meaning that its tip contained plutonium.

Last July, Duke took the letter to Jack Kingston, a Georgia congressman. Kingston, who was running for re-election, apprehended its crackle. At a press conference he called on the Air Force to ascertain whether the Tybee bomb was in fact nuclear.

The Air Force had no choice. Dutifully its researchers went to the archives. They unearthed a receipt signed by the pilot of the B-47 just before takeoff. The receipt indicates that the bomb contained a "simulated"-that is, non-nuclear-capsule. The Department of Defense holds that this receipt is correct and that Howard's 1966 letter is not. "Classified production and maintenance records make clear that the Mod Zero was the only type of Mark-15 available on Homestead Air Force Base at that time," Army Lieutenant Colonel Steve Campbell, a spokesman for the department, says. "We called Mr. Howard recently, and he agreed that his memo was in error. And he is in complete control of his faculties." Chuck Hansen, a nuclear-weapons historian and the author of U.S. Nuclear Weapons: The Secret History (1988), concurs with the military's assessment and thinks that looking for the weapon would be "a waste of time and money." A federal committee is looking into whether or not the government should renew its search for the Tybee bomb.

The committee's report is due this summer. I called one of its authors, Lieutenant Colonel Don Robbins, of the Air Force, for a preview. Robbins said, "The bomb sits on top of an aquifer, sir, and that aquifer supplies fresh water to the local populace, sir. Dredging activities could breach the aquifer, allowing salt water to seep in, thus contaminating the drinking water. Where is the local populace going to get its water, sir?"

With his impeccable military-ese, Robbins sounded like a drill sergeant in a movie. I found this curious, because soon after Derek Duke began researching the Tybee bomb, he conceived of the weapon not only as a hazard but also as grist for a film-an eerie one, titled Zero Count. "In one very powerful scene," Duke told me, describing the script, "there is an explosion of blue light from a laboratory. A guy bursts out the door, screaming, and a pregnant woman is walking by. As he falls to the ground, his hands graze her womb. The child is born with incredible autistic powers in terms of numbers. His name is Bobby Zero; he's fascinated with the number zero."

This fascination was crucial to the script's plot. Early in his research Duke believed that the Tybee bomb might be fitted with a countdown timer-a clock that would "zero out," inducing explosion, at midnight on January 1, 2000. "We were concerned that the bomb had a Y2K problem," Duke says. "Bobby Zero had to beat the clock."

Not until late 1999 was a workable script finished (too late for pre-Y2K release),-and New Year's Day, 2000, came and went without nuclear incident. Duke dropped his plans for a feature film and envisioned instead a documentary that would chronicle a search for the bomb. The documentary would be laced with tension: "The key to this whole thing is that there's a high chance of human interaction with that bomb," he explains. "It's in shallow water. A fisherman could stumble across it, and it's nuclear. The government's worst nightmare is that we'll find it and expose the truth-that they're putting people at risk. We've got to find that bomb."

A search wouldn't be easy, according to David Jourdan, the president of Nauticos, a Maryland firm specializing in underwater search and recovery. "I don't want to be a wet blanket," Jourdan told me, "but sonar isn't really going to be effective for them. The water's too shallow. So they're going to have to use the magnetometer, and it's not like they're looking for a huge ship. That bomb is small. I'm sure its magnetic signature is practically zero. And it's buried near shore, where the current and weather are apt to move it around. How do they know where it is? They're going to be out there making fifty-foot swaths with the magnetometer, going ten miles an hour. They could spend a lifetime and find nothing."

Duke, however, hopes that his search for the bomb will be quick and decisive, like the moment of triumph in a good mystery novel. "We could take a search vessel out there and find it on Day One," he says, "because we know to within a hundred yards where it is. That bomb was dropped at a certain time, at a certain altitude, from a plane going a certain velocity. We've done the math-I can't tell you any more. I don't want to paint a nuclear bull's-eye, because one of those idiots who bombed the World Trade Center or Centennial Park, in Atlanta, could go searching too. But I think we can find it."

When would the search begin? I asked.

"Summer is the perfect time," Duke said, "because you have a calm sea state. If we get the money, we could have a search under way within seventy-two hours."

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

-------- colorado

Flats workers lose suit

By Stacie Oulton
Denver Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, June 27, 2001
http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1002,53%257E52203,00.html

GOLDEN - Rocky Flats workers and the companies that ran the former nuclear-weapons plant are to blame for the workers' debilitating lung disease, a Jefferson County jury found Tuesday in a nationally prominent lawsuit.

The jury found that Brush Wellman Inc., which supplied beryllium to the plant, was not liable for the workers' illness and dismissed claims of a conspiracy between the federal government and Brush Wellman. The dust from the strong and lightweight metal can cause chronic beryllium disease, which can be fatal.

The verdict left the wives of the Rocky Flats workers involved in the case in tears, and they and their husbands left the courthouse without commenting. Four workers and their wives had sued Brush, saying the company, with the help of the federal government, covered up information about beryllium's hazards.

Others across the country who have the same lung disease were shocked by the verdict, news of which spread as quickly as e-mails could be sent.

"That's awful news. That's terrible news. I'm stunned," said David Norgard, a Michigan resident who also is suing Brush Wellman. "Maybe it was the Republican county. ... They should have got it (moved to) Boulder County."

Mike Matulin, a Tucson resident also suing Brush, said the verdict is another sign the government is "hand-in-hand" with the company, helping to provide the best resources to fight the beryllium suits.

The lawyers for the workers said they will press on with their other cases, including the suits of 47 other Rocky Flats and Coors Brewery workers and their spouses who have sued Brush in Jefferson County.

"I do believe that won't be the prevailing view," Al Stewart, the workers' attorney, said of Tuesday's verdict.

Stewart said his clients "were sad, but they were proud they were here."

Brush Wellman's attorney, Jeffery Ubersax, said the jury simply saw the case for what it was.

"We are very grateful to the jury for its close attention to the facts. Their verdict confirms what we've been saying, namely that Brush Wellman has always provided adequate warnings," Ubersax said. "There was no conspiracy to hide anything from Brush Wellman's customers or users of its products."

A company statement said the verdict "exonerates" Brush of the "totally unsupported "conspiracy' theory."

Both sides downplayed any impact the Colorado case would have on others around the country. Brush, an Ohio company with plants in Arizona and Utah, faces more than 70 lawsuits involving nearly 200 plaintiffs. The next suit is to go to trial Aug. 6 in Knoxville, Tenn., involving workers at the nuclear weapons plant there.

"It's one trial. It means the other plaintiffs will have their day in court," Stewart said.

Stewart spent nearly two weeks laying out hundreds of pages of recently declassified federal documents and Brush's internal records that talked about needing to keep beryllium flowing to the defense industry regardless of the hazards to workers.

But Brush's attorney countered with extensive evidence that conditions at Rocky Flats allowed workers to be exposed hundreds of times to high levels of beryllium dust. Dow Chemical Co. and Rockwell International, which ran the plant for the government, also failed to install proper ventilation and air sampling, despite repeated directions from the government to do so, he said.

"We just took the evidence that we had and did what we thought was right," said Kim Hornecker, foreman for the six-member jury, which deliberated for about 24 hours over three days.

Although the jury concluded that Brush had warned of the metal's hazards, it still assigned the company 9 percent of the liability for the workers' illness. But the 9 percent figure is meaningless and viewed as a "minor inconsistency" in the jury's verdict, said Jefferson County District Court Judge Frank Plaut.

Despite the 9 percent figure, the workers will get no money from Brush, Stewart said.

The jury found that the workers were 10 percent to 20 percent to blame for their sickness, based on the fact that workers assumed a risk by working at Rocky Flats, Stewart said.

Most of the remaining liability lay with Dow and Rockwell for being negligent in providing a safe workplace, the jury said. But the workers can't sue Dow and Rockwell over the issue, Stewart said.

Some of the four workers already have received workers' compensation from the two companies for their illness. They also have filed administrative claims with the federal government for similar compensation, Stewart said.

The workers should be able to receive up to $150,000 each from the federal government as well as medical coverage for their illness under federal legislation passed last year, Stewart said. That legislation is intended to compensate nuclear-weapons workers who were exposed to several hazards.

Denver Post correspondent Keith Coffman contributed to this report.

---

Manufacturer 'let off the hook,' Flats union rep says

June 27, 2001
By Berny Morson,
Rocky Mountain News Staff Writer
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0%2C1299%2CDRMN_15_709007%2C00.html

The head of the union that represents Rocky Flats workers said he was saddened by the verdict Tuesday that went against employees who were sickened by beryllium at the plant.

"It's a shame that the manufacturer has been let off the hook and that nobody is liable," said Tony DeMaiori, the president of United Steel Workers' Rocky Flats local.

DeMaiori was critical of Colorado's workers compensation system, which he said should have been quicker to compensate the beryllium victims. A better law might have made a suit unnecessary, he said.

The workers developed the lung disease by breathing toxic dust. At least 119 workers have the disease, but many more could develop symptoms later in life.

"This is killing them. They're carrying oxygen bottles," DeMaiori said.

The beryllium workers will be among those compensated up to $150,000 for diseases developed at nuclear-weapons plants under a program that begins in July. Also covered are Rocky Flats workers who developed cancer through contact with plutonium.

On July 19, the U.S. Department of Labor will hold meetings with workers to explain the program.

Sessions are scheduled for 1 p.m. and 7 p.m. at the Double Tree, 8773 Yates Drive, Westminster, near the Sheridan Boulevard interchange on U.S. 36.

The government will open an office by the end of July to help workers fill out the paperwork.

Ray Malito, a 30-year Rocky Flats veteran, will head the office.

The office will be at 8758 Wolff Court, Westminster, Suite 210, Westminster, also near the Sheridan Boulevard interchange.

---

Beryllium witness wants gag order reversed

By Stacie Oulton
Denver Post Staff Writer
http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1002,53%257E52273,00.html

June 27, 2001 - GOLDEN - A Boston doctor who served as an expert witness in the high-profile beryllium lawsuit is asking the state Supreme Court to rule that a gag order in the case is unconstitutional.

David Egilman, a Brown University professor, called the gag order a violation of his First Amendment rights because it forced him to shut down a private Web site. He accused the judge in the case of "selectively enforcing the gag order and attempting to ruin my reputation."

Jefferson County District Court Judge Frank Plaut said he could not comment because he had not seen the petition Egilman filed Monday with the Supreme Court .

Plaut issued the gag order before the trial began, barring participants from discussing the case and from publishing information about the case on the Internet.

Egilman testified on behalf of four Rocky Flats workers suing an Ohio company for an illness they contracted at the former nuclear-weapons plant. But Plaut threw out his testimony to punish Egilman for violating the gag order.

Plaut also said Egilman was not a credible witness.

Egilman wrote disparaging statements during the trial about Plaut and others on his Web site, which was password-restricted. Egilman alleges that the site was broken into by attorneys representing Brush Wellman, the beryllium manufacturer being sued, and that he planted the statements to entice the lawyers to break in.

The jury returned a verdict Tuesday against the workers and for the company.

The Supreme Court could decide on Thursday whether it will hear Egilman's case.

-------- idaho

Nuclear murder
America's Atomic War Against Its Citizens and Why It's Not Over Yet

by David Proctor,
Boise Weekly,
June 27, 2001
http://www.boiseweekly.com/coverstory.html

After 15 years of investigating, I have concluded that the United States government's atomic weapons industry knowingly and recklessly exposed millions of people to dangerous levels of radiation.

Nothing in our past compared to the official deceit and lying that took place in order to protect the nuclear industry. In the name of national security, politicians and bureaucrats ran roughshod over democracy and morality. Ultimately, the Cold Warriors were willing to sacrifice their own people in their zeal to beat the Russians."

Former Secretary of the Interior Stewart Udall from the foreword to Atomic Harvest: Hanford and the Lethal Toll of America's Nuclear Arsenal By Michael D'Antonio

Photos: http://www.boiseweekly.com/weeklyimages/BW%20Cover%209.51.jpg http://www.boiseweekly.com/weeklyimages/abomb3.jpg http://www.boiseweekly.com/weeklyimages/ineelarial.jpg http://www.boiseweekly.com/weeklyimages/DEGRADED.jpg http://www.boiseweekly.com/weeklyimages/floatingwaste.jpg

Since early June, newspapers in Australia and Great Britain have published articles about experiments conducted in the 1950s and 1960s by U.S. scientists on the bodies of deceased and stillborn babies.

Documents declassified by the U.S. Department of Energy show that scientists from the U.K. Atomic Energy Authority worked with their American counterparts to take the bodies of 6,000 infants from hospitals in Australia, Great Britain, Canada, Hong Kong, South America and the U.S., then ship them to the United States for the nuclear experiments-without permission from the parents.

It was called Project Sunshine. Sunshine began in 1955 at the University of Chicago when Willard Libby, later a Nobel Prize laureate for his research into carbon dating, instructed colleagues to skirt the law in their search for bodies.

"Human samples are of prime importance, and if anybody knows how to do a good job of body-snatching, they will really be serving their country," Libby is quoted as saying.

The reasoning: Nuclear tests released great amounts of Strontium 90 into the atmosphere. Libby and others connected with the American defense industry wanted to know how much radiation was entering the food supply. The bodies and body parts were cremated and the ashes tested with a sophisticated Geiger counter.

Grotesque as Project Sunshine was, it fits the pattern.

Since 1945, high officials of the United States government have maimed and killed hundreds of thousands of their own people, first while they spent $5.5 trillion to test and maintain nuclear weapons, then as they spent billions to support and under-regulate nuclear power plants. To cover their actions, the officials-and those who succeeded them-have for decades lied to the public and perjured themselves in court about the amount of radiation released and its effect on the millions of people exposed to it.

Now, that same government wants to transport hundreds of tons of nuclear waste through 43 states, including Idaho, on inadequate rail lines and highways past 138 million people to be stored in containers of unknown longevity for hundreds of thousands of years in geologically unstable formations in New Mexico and Nevada.

And once again, officials insist it will all be perfectly safe.

The government has known for at least 70 years that nuclear energy-regardless of its form-is deadly to the human body.

The first publicized case of radiation injuries in America was the radium-dial painters in the 1920s. These women used radium paint to put the luminous numbers on watch dials. Many wet their brushes with their mouths to make the tiny points needed for such fine work. When they began to die of cancer their successful lawsuit against the watch company in 1928 made the dangers of radiation very public.

The government also sponsored radiation experiments on animals in the 1940s, as well as follow-up studies of the Trinity test at Alamogordo, New Mexico, and the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, all in 1945.

Despite this knowledge, and America's acceptance of the Nuremberg human rights protocols, the Atomic Energy Commission, a group appointed by the president and obligated by law to protect the public, detonated more than 300 aboveground nuclear weapons at the Nevada Test Site and in the Pacific Ocean.

The blasts totaled 138,600 kilotons of explosive power, which Soviet scientist Andrei Sakharov estimated would kill as many as 2.5 million people and American Nobel laureate Linus Pauling calculated would cause 1 million seriously defective children, another 1 million embryonic and neonatal deaths, and create millions of hereditary defects.

In 1969, Dr. Ernest Sternglass traced the dramatic increases in infant deaths and childhood leukemia in upstate New York to airborne radiation from the nuclear tests. He estimated 375,000 American babies had been killed by fallout radiation between 1951 and 1966. And that didn't count the deaths caused by the Soviet Union's 715 tests.

Dr. John Gofman found that even low doses of radiation could cause cancer. In the early 1970s, when Gofman and Dr. Art Tamplin refused to keep their findings secret, they lost their research grants at DOE's Livermore National Laboratory.

The government, of course, did not have this information when it began aboveground testing. It did know, however, that radiation was dangerous and was being blown thousands of miles from the Pacific and Nevada sites. AEC's response was to lie about fallout readings, falsify some reports and bury others so Americans and Pacific islanders would accept the government's propaganda mantra that there was no danger.

It wasn't only civilians who were handed this line of falsehoods. The Defense Department marched soldiers within a few hundred yards of ground zero during several atomic tests. When these "atomic veterans" started getting cancer, their claims for benefits were denied. Soldiers who obtained their service records found no mention of their trip to the Nevada Test Site. Only recently has Congress recognized their sacrifice and authorized limited treatment for the dying veterans.

In the early 1950s, southern Utah ranchers lost thousands of animals from radiation poisoning following a particularly dirty test shot. They sued the government, but during the discovery phase of the trial AEC officials lied about having reports that documented the radiation the animals received and testified there was no connection between fallout and the deaths. The truth came out at another trial 30 years later.

Cancer deaths spiked in southern Utah in the mid-1950s. Diseases that had been nearly nonexistent until then decimated whole families. The overwhelmed undertaker in Cedar City, Utah, needed special training in order to prepare the cancer-devastated bodies.

Simultaneously, Nevada Test Site workers began to develop the same types of illnesses and die at an alarming rate. AEC again insisted the workers were safe, that there was no connection between the cancers and the fallout.

But there was a connection, and AEC knew it. Government records, finally released after decades of denial and secrecy, show that the entire country was repeatedly dusted by fallout. Radioactive hot spots were found as far away as Albany, New York. Public health statistics showed hundreds of thousands of American babies were killed by fallout between 1951 and 1966.

Another study found SAT scores dropped in Utah during the testing.

The story of the uranium miners is as tragic as any. During the 1940s and 1950s, thousands of poor, uneducated men, most of whom were American Indians, labored in mines in the Four Corners region to produce uranium needed to manufacture plutonium for bombs and atomic tests.

Forced to work without even the most basic ventilation system, the miners breathed uranium-laced air, drank uranium-contaminated water and carried the deadly dust home to their families. Thousands have since died of lung cancer and other radiation-related diseases. Thus far, Congress has approved no compensation for them.

The deadly rain of fallout stopped in 1963 but only momentarily. Even after the United States and the Soviet Union's limited test-ban treaty, many of the next 700 underground tests "vented," the government's euphemism for explosions that drifted radiation across the country.

In order to conduct those tests and build its nuclear stockpile, the government needed bomb factories-huge installations that manufactured, assembled and tested the deadly nuclear components. These factories were located at Savannah River, South Carolina; Fernald, Ohio; Rocky Flats, Colorado; Pantex, Texas; Idaho National Engineering Laboratory; Oak Ridge, Tennessee and Hanford, Washington.

Again, the government played fast and loose with the safety and health of both its employees and the thousands of civilians who lived nearby.

At Hanford, the infamous "Green Run" in December 1949, released 20,000 curies (a curie is a measure of radioactivity) of xenon-133 and 7,780 curies of iodine-131. The radioactive plume measured 200 by 40 miles and dropped high concentrations of fallout on the Tri-Cities. There was no public health warning and no follow-up studies on the health of the residents. Over the years, Hanford plastered the Columbia Valley repeatedly. About 1 million curies, the largest accumulation of atomic industrial pollution on record, were dumped in the air, water and ground.

Some lambs near Hanford were born without eyes, mouths or legs. Some had two sets of sex organs, others had none. Juanita Andrewjeski had three miscarriages and kept a map of her neighborhood, one of the closest farms to Hanford. On it were 35 crosses for heart attacks and 32 circles for cancer. One girl was born without eyes. Another couple had eight miscarriages and adopted all their children. Two children were born without hipbones. One farm wife killed her baby and herself after her husband died of cancer.

In 1974, Dr. Samuel Milham, a Washington State Department of Health epidemiologist, noticed a 25 percent excess of cancers among Hanford nuclear workers when compared with the rates among the state's non-nuclear workers. As it had done so many times before, AEC buried Milham's findings. The agency commissioned another study from a company with extensive Hanford contracts. When that study affirmed Milham's work, it was buried, too.

Some 600,000 people worked in the nuclear weapons industry. Only last year did Congress approve lump payments of $150,000 and lifetime care for those approved. The Labor Department estimates 43,000 workers per year, and 28,000 survivors, will apply annually.

From 1952 to 1970, INEL (now known as INEEL) workers dumped some 16 billion gallons of liquid radioactive wastes into injection wells that fed directly into the water table below.

Radioactive contamination has been found 7.5 miles away, threatening the long-term viability of the huge Snake River Plain Aquifer, the major underground water source for 270,000 people and Idaho's famous potatoes. There were also intentional iodine-131 releases in 1957 and 1963 that dosed the residents of the farming communities west of INEL.

Site officials waited for the wind to blow away from Idaho Falls, where they lived, to make the release. The people downwind were not told of these incidents until years later.

The taxpayers' bill to clean up this ungodly mess has already run into billions of dollars, and the meter is still running. In the 1950s, nuclear energy was billed as the answer to America's energy questions.

Today we know that billions of dollars have been wasted in this attempt to produce electricity "too cheap to meter." The power plants, according to a study done after Three Mile Island, were under-engineered, poorly built, poorly staffed and badly run.

Now, as President Bush lobbies for more nuclear plants, ratepayers and taxpayers are still on the hook for the billions of dollars it will cost to decommission the plants, clean up the sites and safely store the contaminated building and fuel rods for hundreds of thousands of years.

Finally, let us not forget the ugly history of medical experiments.

Declassified documents show that government and university doctors injected scores of prisoners, mental patients, retarded adults and children and even pregnant mothers with radioactive substances-nearly always without full consent-sometimes just to see what would happen.

The Next 500,000 Years

Now, with this revolting 50-year record behind it, the government wants us to believe it can safely move military, commercial and foreign waste to gigantic burial grounds near Las Vegas (Yucca Mountain) and Carlsbad, N.M. (Waste Isolation Pilot Project or WIPP). And protect it there for hundreds of thousands of years. Yucca, which is still not built despite 20 years of study and nearly $7 billion invested, is intended to hold high-level nuclear reactor waste. WIPP, which is open, was built to hold transuranic waste-clothing, tools, sludge and dirt contaminated with small amounts of plutonium.

The thousands of shipments that will be made to these repositories through 43 states, this "mobile Chernobyl," are a nightmare of potential accidents, economic catastrophe and terrorism. The radioactive garbage will then be stored in containers that haven't been adequately tested and placed for longer than the human race has recorded its own history in underground caverns whose long-term stability remains in doubt. As one engineer put it, "How would you like to have to build something that had to be 99.99999 percent perfect-forever?" Perfect. That word doesn't quite describe either WIPP or Yucca.

The WIPP salt caverns near Carlsbad, N.M., are located 2,150 feet below the surface and consist of a 112-acre underground area on which taxpayers have spent $2.1 billion so far. In 30 to 35 years, when the space is filled, the price tag is expected to be $9 billion. It will include an elaborate marker system to warn people not to drill into the salt for the next 500,000 years.

But some scientists expect problems long before that. DOE first discovered water seeping into the WIPP excavations in 1983. The leaks finally became public in 1987 when New Mexico scientists concluded the salt formation contains much more water than DOE anticipated. They warned that over time the brine could corrode the waste drums and create a "radioactive waste slurry" that could eventually reach the surface.

Inside WIPP, cracks have appeared in the ceilings and floors of several large waste storage rooms, and the ceiling has collapsed in three areas-the result of natural room closure (salt movement) that is two to three times faster than anticipated. In 1983, DOE estimated it would take 25 years for the salt walls to completely close in and lock the waste barrels into solid salt rock. At the rate the rooms are closing, it may take only 13 years.

Another hazard is the known reserves of gas and oil. There is even an existing oil and gas lease beneath the WIPP site. Despite the warning signs, these resources could invite intrusion during the long future the repository must stay isolated.

WIPP also has capacity problems. The repository is expected to hold about 160,000 cubic meters of transuranic waste. However, there are expected to be 443,000 to 592,000 cubic meters of waste that will need storage-roughly two-and-one-half to three-and-one-half times WIPP's capacity.

Yucca Mountain, located about 80 miles from Las Vegas, the fastest growing city the America, has been studied for 22 years to the tune of nearly $7 billion-paid by electric utility customers.

There is still no agreement on whether it is a suitable site or not.

The plan is to bury the waste 660 to 1,400 feet below the surface in a 1,400-acre facility served by 100 miles of tunnels. By the time it's finished, it will cost about $53 billion. Utility ratepayers will fork over $28 billion. The rest of the bill will be handed to taxpayers. One of the most volatile issues is the mountain's geology. There are 33 known faults near Yucca Mountain. About 600 seismic events have occurred near the site in the last 20 years alone, including a 5.6-magnitude earthquake in 1992.

Meanwhile, 70,000 tons of highly radioactive spent nuclear fuel rods are stored at 77 sites around the country. The waste increases by 300 to 600 tons per year, and those facilities are quickly running out of space.

If Yucca ever is opened, it will be full in less than 15 years.

First, though, the waste has to get there. The Yucca shipping campaign would be the largest nuclear materials transport in history-some 80,000 shipments over 24 years.

Accidents happen. The federal government predicts 70 to 310 nuclear transportation accidents over the next 75 years.

From 1964 to 1990, 2,561 spent fuel containers were shipped in the United States. If a repository opens, there will about that many shipments per year.

An accident or terrorist act that opened a high-level waste cask would be catastrophic. DOE predicts a severe accident in a rural area would contaminate 42 acres and cost $620 million. In an urban area it would cost $2 billion. Dr. Marvin Resnikoff, the nuclear physicist who was an expert witness in the 1991 Andrus vs. U.S., testified that a similar accident would cost $40 billion. Andrus vs. U.S. was a case filed by Idaho Governor Cecil Andrus. A judge ordered that Andrus not interfere with nuclear waste shipments.

The waste will be transported by rail (88 percent) and truck (12 percent). Union Pacific is the largest rail company in America and will handle most of the work. Their track record is not encouraging. Derailments and other problems have become an epidemic.

Even former Gov. Phil Batt, who allowed DOE to bring more than 1,000 shipments of waste into Idaho and store it on the promise it would be removed to Yucca and WIPP, declared Union Pacific's safety record "unacceptable."

Utah-based Huntsman Chemical says problems with Union Pacific have cost more than $8 million in lost business and increased shipping costs since June 1997. The U.S. military stopped using Union Pacific because of delays, and once the railroad left a shipment of M-1 tanks unguarded.

The Association of American Railroads has said today's rail lines-in Idaho and elsewhere-cannot handle the weight of nuclear casks, the casks themselves may not withstand an accident and the railroads cannot afford to carry casks at the slow speed the federal government requires.

In the meantime, the existing nuclear plants continue to produce this deadly poison, much of which will last longer than human civilization has existed thus far.

The public has been alerted to these dangers, but nuclear energy is a silent killer, and the nuclear industry has run a very effective lobbying campaign. Crucial to this is the fact that cancers take up to 20 years to develop, and in that time people move, officials retire and change jobs, records are lost. It is not a spectacular earthquake or even the AIDS epidemic, which burst suddenly upon the world. Nuclear radiation kills quietly, with diseases that sometimes do occur for other reasons. The tragic truth is it may take a large-scale accident to get through to the daily media and much of the public.

Clearly, the history of nuclear energy-not just in the United States but worldwide-demonstrates that the human race has not yet learned how to deal with this incredible power and the waste it produces. We have left death and destruction behind us every step of the way, from the mining of raw uranium, to the manufacture of plutonium, to the assembly of weapons and reactors, to the operation of the reactors, to the disposal of the waste they create.

If we humans had to pass a test, had to prove to some rational outside observer that we deserve to be able to continue working with nuclear power, we would fail utterly.

The only sensible solution is to stop producing nuclear waste altogether and store existing waste as safely and as close to the point of production as possible. Then, begin a reverse Manhattan Project to find ways to neutralize the deadly mess we have created.

David Proctor has written for Boise Weekly, The Salt Lake Tribune, Idaho Mountain Express, The Idaho Statesman, USA Today and Gannett News Service as a reporter and editor. His work has also been published in Rolling Stone, Utah Holiday, New Times, Zoo World, Edging West, InPrint, Focus, Boise and Supermarket News magazines and Reuters news service.

-------- kentucky

Expert: Paducah workers at high risk

27 June 2001
Associated Press
http://www.messenger-inquirer.com/news/kentucky/3277388.htm

PADUCAH -- A radiation specialist says it is likely that career workers at Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant who worked around high radiation levels and then got cancer did so because of their jobs.

"On the basis of internationally accepted radiation biology models and . . . risk assessment, the workers at (Paducah) were exposed to illegally excessive levels of radiation at the plant, and, if still living, have a significant and unacceptable probability of dying as a result," Michael Thorne said in an affidavit.

The affidavit was filed to support a $10 billion lawsuit against the uranium plant's former operators. Thorne is an expert witness being paid by the plaintiffs.

Critics say Thorne's conclusion is faulty in assessing blame.

"Attorneys want to be able . . . to either predict or assign blame for a (person's) cancer, but you can't do that," said Joel Cehn, a California radiation safety consultant who is not involved in the case. "There's no way to know if an individual -- even if that individual was exposed to radiation, develops cancer -- was it caused by radiation? There is no way to know that."

Thorne's affidavit filed this month said there is a significant likelihood -- greater than 50 percent to more than 90 percent -- that the workers who developed cancer after years of radiation exposure became ill because of their jobs.

Bill McMurry, a Louisville attorney who represents the plaintiffs, called Thorne's conclusion "the linchpin to the issue of whether the workers sustained injury even though they don't have cancer or even though they don't have symptoms of radiation-related diseases."

The lawsuit, filed in 1999 by current and former plant workers and survivors of workers who have died, contends that plant operators exposed the workers to high levels of radiation without telling them and that workers should be compensated for their increased risk of developing cancer. The trial is scheduled for July 2003.

"We are not championing the cause of dead people who died from cancer, or even of people with cancer," McMurry said. "This is about those who live at risk of cancer . . . and suffer the emotional damage of living in fear."

David Fuller, president of Local 3-550 of the Paper, Allied-Industrial, Chemical and Energy Workers International Union that represents several hundred workers at the Paducah plant, said Thorne's study is one of the first on plant conditions that isn't tied to the Department of Energy, and as such its implications were disturbing.

"I've not seen anything except what DOE has done and DOE can be conservative," Fuller said. " . . . I'm wondering if we have cancer in our future."

Thorne, a former scientific secretary on the International Commission on Radiological Protection, said exposure levels he tracked at the plant were close to what the Energy Department found in a survey released last year. From the 1950s through the 1980s, Thorne said by telephone from his office in West Yorkshire, England, plant workers received radiation doses that exceeded the acceptable limit of 5 rem per year. In addition, some workers were likely to have been exposed at levels as high as 62.5 rem per year and perhaps higher, he said.

Radiation exposure is measured in units called rem, or millirem. The 5-rem-per-year exposure limit is equal to 5,000 millirem. Experts say the average annual radiation dose in the United States is 360 millirem, from natural sources such as radon gas and cosmic radiation to man-made sources ranging from medical X-rays to bricks in houses.

Cehn, the radiation safety consultant, whose expertise was offered by the Nuclear Energy Institute, said one in four Americans develops cancer. He said that makes the probability of developing the disease in the general population fairly high.

Gail Rymer, a spokeswoman for Lockheed Martin Corp., one of the former Paducah plant operators being sued, said Thorne's study "runs contrary to known science."

Tomm Sprick, a spokesman for defendant Union Carbide, now part of Dow Chemical, said Thorne's affidavit was "one of many documents that have been filed in this case, and our attorneys will be reviewing this latest filing within the context of the entire case."

The Energy Department did not return a call seeking comment on Thorne's study.

-------- nevada

DOE's ground water prognosis in question
Study says radiation exposure could occur sooner than expected

By Mary Manning <manning@lasvegassun.com>
LAS VEGAS SUN
June 27, 2001
From: "L.V. Citizen Alert" <lvcitizenalert@earthlink.net>

New research shows that the Energy Department's calculations on the direction and the speed of ground water at a proposed high-level nuclear waste repository could be wrong, a state scientist says.

If the state study -- still in progress -- is correct, radiation from 77,000 tons of high-level nuclear waste buried in a proposed repository at Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, could escape and expose people sooner than 10,000 years, the life span set for the repository by federal law, hydrologist Linda Lehman, who conducted the research, said.

That could make Yucca Mountain unable to meet new Environmental Protection Agency guidelines for the amount of radiation that can escape the repository through ground water, said Lehman, a former Nuclear Regulatory Commission scientist who works for the state.

Lehman told an international independent review panel last week that the state used U.S. Geological Survey information on ground water temperatures over the past 15 years in its effort to verify DOE computer models on flow. The DOE did not include that information in its projections.

The DOE, which has spent $7 billion and 20 years studying the dump site, plans to include the state's ground water model in its final calculations as it prepares to recommend whether Yucca Mountain is suitable for a repository, said Robert Loux, executive director of the Nevada Agency for Nuclear Projects and Lehman's boss.

It was unclear how the state's new conclusions might affect the DOE's recommendation, Loux said.

Yucca Mountain is the only site under study as a U.S. nuclear waste repository. Nevada opposes the repository, estimated to cost $58 billion to complete. It would accept waste in 2010 at the earliest, if the site is found scientifically suitable.

Preliminary results of hundreds of computer models run by the state indicate the ground water flows southwest toward California along fractures and earthquake faults, Lehman told the scientists meeting in Las Vegas.

The ground water would contain more radiation and escape the repository sooner than DOE's estimates if it runs along the faults and fractures, she said.

Lehman said she plans to publish her results in time for an international high-level nuclear waste conference in February.

DOE and USGS scientists have predicted that the ground water from Yucca Mountain flows east toward the Nevada Test Site, where more than 1,000 above- and below-ground nuclear weapons exploded from 1951 to 1992, then south toward the farming community of Amargosa Valley.

The state expanded its ground water study to include Amargosa Valley and the Death Valley region during the past two years, Lehman said.

Hydrologist Ghislain de Marsily of Paris, a member of the international panel, questioned DOE officials after Lehman's presentation.

Why, de Marsily said, did the United States choose only one site -- Yucca Mountain -- to study as the world's first high-level nuclear waste repository?

In 1987 Congress chose Yucca Mountain as the only site to study, DOE policy adviser Abraham Van Luik said.

Two other sites, one in Hanford, Wash., the other in Deaf Smith County, Texas, were withdrawn at the time, Van Luik said.

The USGS at first suggested burying the highly radioactive wastes from spent commercial reactors and weapons activities deeper than 1,000 feet below the water table at Yucca Mountain, but then moved the repository site at least 600 feet above the water table, he said.

In addition to burying the wastes in relatively dry layers of volcanic ash, Van Luik said, the DOE plans to slow water from reaching the buried wastes by installing $7 billion worth of titanium drip shields and encasing the radioactive materials in containers that can last for up to 1 million years.

--------

CITIZENS' GROUPS CHALLENGE EPA RULE FOR PROPOSED YUCCA MOUNTAIN NUCLEAR DUMP
New Radiation Protection Standard Threatens Public Health and Safety

June 27, 2001
Contact: David Adelman (202) 289-2371 or Lisa Gue (202) 454-5130 office; (202) 905-7413 cell
From: "Lisa Gue" <LISA_GUE@citizen.org>

WASHINGTON, D.C. - - A coalition of national and Nevada-based environmental, consumer advocacy, and public interest groups filed a lawsuit today, challenging the weakest aspects of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) rule that establishes radiation protection standards for the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository.

"A stringent standard is vital to protect public health and safety in the vicinity of the proposed repository," said Lisa Gue, policy analyst with Public Citizen. "The EPA's rule affords inadequate protection to the people of Nevada and steers national nuclear waste policy in a dangerous direction."

Yucca Mountain is the only site under consideration by the Department of Energy (DOE) as a potential repository for high-level nuclear waste from weapons facilities and commercial nuclear power plants across the country. The EPA's radiation protection rule, published in the Federal Register on June 13, sets the standards by which the site's suitability will be determined.

"This undermines the purpose of radiation protection standards, by presuming that a repository at Yucca Mountain will not contain nuclear waste throughout the thousands of years it remains dangerous.," said John Hadder, northern Nevada coordinator with Citizen Alert. "Exposure limits are built around expected levels of radioactive contamination leaking from the dump, thus establishing a regulatory framework for legalized nuclear pollution in Nevada."

Of particular concern is the 18-km (12-mile) unregulated sacrifice zone around the proposed repository that the EPA rule employs to circumvent legal requirements under the Safe Drinking Water Act. This gerrymandering weakens the effect of the standards by allowing DOE repository designs to rely on dilution and dispersion - rather than containment - of radioactive waste, the groups said.

"We have advocated a protective standard at all stages of the process leading up to this rule being finalized. We are now bringing this issue before the courts because our concerns have not been addressed," said David Adelman, senior attorney with Natural Resources Defense Council. "We cannot accept a rule that sets artificially weak standards to allow a fundamentally flawed project to move forward."

The petition for review was filed in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, by Citizen Action Coalition of Indiana, Citizen Alert, Natural Resources Defense Council, Nevada Nuclear Waste Task Force, Nevada Desert Experience, Nuclear Information and Resource Service, and Public Citizen.

-------- new york

Assembly Supports Tax Deals for Towns and Nuclear Plants

New York Times
June 27, 2001
By JAMES C. McKINLEY Jr.
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/06/27/nyregion/27POWE.html?searchpv=nytToday

ALBANY, June 26 - The State Assembly gave final legislative approval today to a bill that would allow local governments to negotiate special multiyear property tax deals with nuclear power plants.

The bill would authorize payments in lieu of taxes that some critics claim amount to tax breaks for the industry.

The Democrats who supported the bill, including Speaker Sheldon Silver, said it was intended to give local towns and school boards a way to resolve tax disputes with the new owners of the state's six nuclear plants, now that the deregulation of the power industry has caused fluctuations in tax assessments.

But other influential Democrats in the Assembly, including the chairmen of the energy and environmental conservation committees, said the bill in essence would let local officials grant large tax breaks to nuclear plant owners while missing an opportunity to wrest some concessions on environmental and safety issues from the nuclear industry.

"We are being asked to give local governments a tool for setting real property tax rates for nuclear plants far below their actual value," said Assemblyman Richard L. Brodsky of Westchester County, who is the environmental chairman. "We are in effect creating a special value for local plants that is less than it ought to be."

The bill's sponsor was Sandra Galef, another Westchester Democrat. She said the idea was to give town and school officials guaranteed revenues, known as payments in lieu of taxes, over several years rather than facing the prospect of lengthy court battles with nuclear plants over their yearly assessments. Local governments have historically had trouble winning those lawsuits, she said.

Under the plan for payments in lieu of taxes, local governments can also avoid putting public plants recently bought by private companies on the tax rolls. Adding an expensive property like a power plant to a county's tax base tends to wreak havoc with the state formulas used to figure local property taxes.

The energy chairman, Assemblyman Paul D. Tonko of Montgomery County, said, "This is bad tax and energy policy."

After passing by an overwhelming vote last week in the Senate, the bill passed the Assembly today by a vote of 127 to 16, with the speaker's vocal support and most members out of the chamber for the debate. Gov. George E. Pataki has not decided whether to sign the bill into law, Joseph Conway, his spokesman, said.

The bill affects all six nuclear plants in the state. Two of those plants, Indian Point 3 in Cortlandt, a town in Westchester, and the James A. FitzPatrick in Oswego County, were sold by the state power authority to Entergy Nuclear, a company in Jackson, Miss., for $976 million last November.

Thomas F. Wood, the town attorney for Cortlandt, said Entergy initially maintained that Indian Point 3 was worth only $125 million. To avoid a court battle, the town agreed to 14 years of payments in lieu of taxes: $9 million in each of the first four years and $7 million annually after that. That corresponds to an assessment of about $250 million, he said. The plant's market value may be more, he said, but it would be hard to prove so in court.

"To negotiate a value is a much safer way to go," Mr. Wood said.

-------- tennessee

Sick OR workers begin claims process

June 27, 2001
By Frank Munger,
Knoxville News-Sentinel senior writer
http://www.knoxnews.com/news/32059.shtml

OAK RIDGE -- Jean Baxter was diagnosed with lung cancer last year, but she believes her health started to decline back in the 1970s -- when she worked in uranium operations at the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant. The 75-year-old woman was among hundreds of former Oak Ridge workers who turned out Tuesday to begin a process they hope will lead to financial compensation for their illnesses.

"I feel like I deserve it after all these years," Baxter said at an afternoon session at the American Museum of Science & Energy.

After being hospitalized three times last month, "I have good days and bad," she said. Baxter said she's worried that her children may not be eligible to collect benefits, even though they're having to support her.

She was accompanied by relatives who will help her file the claims forms associated with the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program, which was created by Congress last year and goes into effect July 31.

The Department of Labor will process the claims, and officials urged sick workers or their survivors to file the forms as quickly as possible -- even if they don't have all of their background information yet in hand. If workers delay sending in their claims, the start of benefits could be delayed as well.

Two more information meetings will be held today -- beginning at 1 p.m. and 7 p.m. -- to help workers or their survivors understand the program and how to file their claims for compensation.

Also a toll-free line has been established to help answer questions: 1-866-888-3322.

Workers at federal nuclear facilities who developed beryllium disease or radiation-induced cancer may be eligible for a $150,000 lump-sum, nontaxable payment and full medical expenses.

Generally speaking, employees are eligible if they developed cancer at one of the Department of Energy sites and if the cancer is determined to be "at least as likely as not" related to that employment. The Department of Health and Human Services will establish guidelines for estimating radiation doses and the likelihood that the radiation caused a worker's cancer.

In special groups, however, such as those people who worked at gaseous diffusion plants -- including K-25 in Oak Ridge -- for more than 250 days before 1992, the work will be presumed to have caused a cancer.

The Department of Labor, in conjunction with DOE, will open an Oak Ridge "resource center" in the near future to handle claims and help workers gain the information they need. A spokeswoman said the office is expected to be in Jackson Plaza, but the lease is not yet final.

The new federal program only covers radiation-induced cancer and beryllium disease for Oak Ridge workers, but employees who believe their illnesses are related to other toxic exposures at the plants may be eligible for state workers' compensation. The resource center personnel are supposed to help workers prepare for a medical panel set up to evaluate the eligibility for the state benefits.

Vikki Hatfield of Roane County is working to get federal benefits for her 75-year-old father, Leon Meade, who recently was diagnosed with lung cancer but has been sick for more than 15 years. Meade, who worked at all three of the major Oak Ridge facilities (K-25, Y-12 and Oak Ridge National Laboratory) already qualifies for workers' compensation due to asbestosis.

Hatfield has been an outspoken advocate for sick workers at the Oak Ridge facilities, not just her father, and she currently serves on a federal advisory board. After working for legislation passed last year creating the payment program, she said, "We're certainly thrilled that we're here today . . . but we're not where we want to be yet. This is just the beginning part."

Harry Williams of the Coalition for a Healthy Environment, which worked for years to get help for sick workers, said it's shameful that the program is helping such a small percentage of those affected. He also said he has strong reservations about the rules for the program, including the appeals process.

Ben Gaylor, a K-25 retiree who has helped coordinate a medical screening program for former workers, said, "There's nothing fair about it."

Amid the complaints, many came to Tuesday's meetings looking for hope.

Sylvia Dodson, whose father died of lung cancer in 1988 at age 64, would like to get compensation to help with expenses for her mother -- who now lives in assisted-living quarters in Athens. Her father retired in 1986 after working for more than 40 years at K-25, where he was involved in shipping and receiving uranium products.

"He said he was exposed to every chemical imaginable," Dodson said. "He was a very, very dedicated worker. He only missed 3 days of work out of 40 years and 10 months on the job."

Frank Munger can be reached at 865-482-9213 or twig1@knoxnews.infi.net.

-------- us nuc politics

Czech ambassador - God bless America

June 27, 2001
Embassy Row,
James Morrison
http://www.washtimes.com/world/20010627-18939927.htm

He may be a European diplomat, but Alexandr Vondra is as red, white and blue as the most patriotic American.

The Czech ambassador's monthly column in the Czech Embassy newsletter regularly extols the virtues of American idealism and has none of the highhanded huffiness of European critics of the United States.

In his latest column, Mr. Vondra comments on America's peculiar position as the world's only superpower. The trend he sees is the "Americanization of the world and the globalization of America."

Mr. Vondra dismisses European criticism of issues such as global warming, land mines and missile defense. He also notes what he calls a paradox between American lawyers concluding a deal with Germany to compensate the victims of Nazi slave-labor camps and the U.N. Human Rights Commission expelling the United States in the same month.

"Perhaps more than anything else, this paradox illustrates the confusion in the ongoing debate about America's role in today's world," he said.

"It is true that America has become a primary target of criticism -- the European diplomats in Washington are no exception, as I witness almost daily."

"Now," he added, "almost every anti-American critic has positioned himself as an expert on the environment, defense or human rights."

However, he said, the German compensation deal "was only possible due to the peculiarities of the U.S. legal system."

"The theory of global warming came from American universities. The Nobel Peace Prize awarded for a campaign to ban land mines went to a woman from Vermont. The mutual assured destruction theory and ABM (anti-ballistic missile) Treaty, which are sacrosanct to missile-defense opponents, were written in the Pentagon decades ago," he said.

"The truth is not so simple. A balanced approach advises us that we are witnessing two complementary and mutually reinforcing trends the Americanization of the world and the globalization of America."

Mr. Vondra added that he wanted to "balance the current criticism."

"I would like, on behalf of the Czech victims of Nazi persecution, to thank America for paving the road to their compensation the first one after more than 50 years," he said.

"And also, on behalf of freedom fighters, I hope to see the U.S. regain membership in the commission next year.

"America deserves it, and we need her."

-------- MILITARY

-------- africa

Army confirms 20 dead in UNITA attack on Uige

Wednesday June 27, 3:17 AM
http://sg.news.yahoo.com/010626/1/16dx6.html

LUANDA, June 26 (AFP) - The Angolan army confirmed 20 people had died in an attack by UNITA rebels on the northern town of Uige on Tuesday.

The army said in a statement it had captured a rebel soldier and launched a search for rebels around the town but did not give details of any possible casualties on its own side.

Government forces also captured a UNITA base in Buengas, some 150 kilometres (90 miles) northeast of Uige, where 59 rebel fighters had given themselves up, the army statement said.

Roman Catholic radio Ecclesia, which earlier reported five people had been killed in the UNITA attack on Uige, said at least 42 injured residents of the town had been admitted to hospital.

Ecclesia said UNITA has kidnapped eight local youths during its artillery and machine-gun assault, which a witness said began around 3:00 amand lasted until 8:00 am.

Uige has been the target of attacks by the rebel National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) since the government launched a major offensive in 1998.

Angola's civil war, which broke out in 1975 following 14 years of fighting against the country's Portuguese colonial rulers, resumed in earnest in 1998 after the collapse of a 1994 peace accord.

At least 500,000 people have died in the civil war, while four million people have been displaced, out of a total population of 12 million.

UNITA is under UN sanctions, which include a diamond trade embargo and travel restrictions on its leaders.

----

Mozambique landmine clearance raises food output

MOZAMBIQUE: June 27, 2001
Story by Giada Zampano
REUTERS
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11334

MAPUTO - More than 40 percent of the two million landmines planted in Mozambique during the country's 16-year civil war have been cleared, increasing agricultural production, Mozambique's agriculture minister said yesterday.

"In terms of agriculture, landmines are no longer a constraint," Agriculture Minister Helder Muteia told Reuters.

"Things are improving because there are many companies involved in landmine clearance and most of the critical areas have been identified.

Clearance work is at its height," he said.

The landmines were sown by the Frelimo government and the Renamo rebel movement backed by South Africa.

Renamo and the government agreed to end hostilities in 1992 after 16 years of civil war following independence from Portugal.

Mozambique is expecting to harvest about 1.68 million tonnes of food this year, which is a 14 percent increase on the previous year, according to a local newspaper report.

The report said maize output was at 1.1 million tonnes and millet at 313,787 tonnes.

The Noticias newspaper quoted National Agriculture Director Sergio Gouveia as saying the increased harvest was due to a larger area being cultivated.

Muteia said Frelimo and Renamo had handed in maps showing where mines were laid. "We know where the landmines are and we will overcome the problem.. We have an action plan to clear them in the next five years." The government's Demining Commission, headed by Foreign Affairs Minister Leonardo Simao, estimates it will cost $300 million to clear all the landmines.

-------- balkans

Macedonia forces shell insurgents
Clashes persist after President Trajkovski warns of civil war threat

NBC NEWS AND WIRE REPORTS
June 27, 2001
http://www.msnbc.com/news/502229.asp?cp1=1

SKOPJE, Macedonia, Macedonian government forces continued to shell ethnic Albanian rebels holed up in a village about a dozen miles from the capital on Wednesday, a day after President Boris Trajkovski warned the Balkan nation about the danger of a full-scale civil war.

"WE ARE not fighting against one another. This is what the enemy wishes. If we accept that way, defeat will be inevitable," Trajkovski said in taped remarks broadcast by state media Tuesday evening.

The continuing unrest is hampering peace efforts by Trajkovski, who wants broad support for the government's fight against ethnic Albanian insurgents. After a riot in the capital on Monday - triggered by the U.S.-assisted NATO evacuation of ethnic Albanian rebels - he pledged to regain control of rebel-held territory within Macedonia's borders.

"We have to be united," Trajkovski said Tuesday, calling for "strong nerves and calm."

U.S. AND NATO REACTION

In the wake of the rioting, the U.S. State Department warned Americans on Wednesday not to travel to Macedonia amid rising anti-Western sentiment. Britain issued a similar warning.

And in Washington, President Bush barred some known rebels from entering the United States and took steps to end financing from U.S. citizens for the four-month-old revolt that risks tearing apart a fourth former Yugoslav republic.

Newsweek: On the brink

The fighting Wednesday was concentrated around Nikustak, the village where U.S. soldiers serving with the NATO-led force in Macedonia released the rebels they had escorted from Aracinovo, about six miles away.

Elsewhere, the Macedonian army reported exchanges of gunfire along the border with the Yugoslav province of Kosovo.

NATO said final approval of a force to collect weapons from the guerrillas was expected Friday but reiterated it was only prepared to enter Macedonia when a peace deal was in place. Advertisement

RIOT IN SKOPJE

On Monday, a convoy of about 20 U.S.-contracted buses, protected by 81 U.S. troops and armed Humvees, transported ethnic Albanian fighters and civilians from Aracinovo, a suburb of Macedonia's capital, to Nikustak, sparking a riot and shooting in Skopje by thousands of Macedonian Slavs who demanded harsher action against the rebels and an end to outside intervention.

"I do not agree but I understand the revolt of the population," Trajkovski said. "(But) I do not understand why the shooting occurred, why the people and those ... reservists shot at the Macedonian Parliament. The shooting could easily have turned into a civil war."

In Washington, Bush administration officials said the decision to use American troops to protect the convoy did not indicate a widening U.S. involvement. A Pentagon spokesman, Rear Adm. Craig Quigley, said no shots were fired at the convoy and its evacuation of the rebels defused what he called a dangerous situation.

An ethnic Albanian threat to march into major cities also heightened tensions. Commander Sokoli, a rebel leader, said in a phone call from an undisclosed location that there were "two brigades on the outskirts of Skopje."

FIVE-MONTH CONFLICT

The incidents were the latest in five months of fighting that broke out here when militants began taking over villages near the border with Kosovo - a Yugoslav province whose population is predominantly ethnic Albanian - to demand more rights. Since then, more than 100,000 people have fled, with more than 65,000 seeking refuge in Kosovo, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees said.

Kosovo Albanian leader Ibrahim Rugova said in Vienna that the conflict could spill over Macedonia's borders if a political solution was not found to ease ethnic tensions.

After Monday's U.S.-led evacuation, the Skopje crowd vented its anger on the international community, blaming NATO troops for escorting the rebels out of the village. A picture of Javier Solana, the European Union's top foreign affairs and security official, was burned, and a vehicle of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe parked near the Parliament was destroyed.

Rioters also dismantled the interior minister's car, hurled stones through the windows of Parliament and fired automatic weapons at the building. Police and army troops did not intervene.

Trajkovski said the deal to remove the rebels from Aracinovo, which had been under rebel control for more than two weeks, "was the most efficient way to get rid of the terrorists without any victims." He was trying to preserve his peace plan, which calls for amnesty for most rebels who disarm voluntarily and greater inclusion of ethnic Albanians in state bodies and institutions.

The lack of progress toward peace has dismayed European Union leaders, who have been trying for months to persuade the Macedonian Slav leadership and political leaders of the ethnic Albanian minority to compromise and avert civil war in this country of 2 million people.

----

Macedonian Leader, Warning of Civil War, Urges Calm

New York Times
June 27, 2001
By IAN FISHER
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/06/27/world/27MACE.html

SKOPJE, Macedonia, June 26 - Tension in Macedonia's capital eased a notch today, even as the president warned how close the nation is skidding toward civil war and as NATO defended its role in a mission here that propelled thousands of angry Macedonians on to the streets on Monday night.

There was no repeat tonight of the huge demonstration on Monday, in which mobs swelled downtown and fired automatic rifles into the air. Early this evening, President Boris Trajkovski appealed for calm among the majority Slavic Macedonians and the minority Albanians, who make up roughly one third of this nation, the latest part of the former Yugoslavia to be torn by ethnic strife.

For three months, Albanian guerrillas have been capturing territory in the country's north, unleashing fights not only with security forces but also between two peoples who have lived as uneasy neighbors for centuries.

"The shooting in the Parliament building could have easily thrown us into civil war," Mr. Trajkovski said in a televised address from his office, delivered after rumors that he had fled the city last night. "I can understand the anger," he added, "but not bursts of fire."

The anger he referred to spilled out over a town that the Albanian rebels, known as the National Liberation Army, took earlier this month only six miles from the capital, which they then threatened to bomb. On Monday, United States soldiers, part of the NATO peacekeeping force to neighboring Kosovo, helped transport some 320 fighters from the town, Aracinovo, as part of a partial cease- fire deal aimed at moving the battle away from the capital.

Many Macedonians complained that NATO was essentially aiding the rebels, who were permitted to leave with their weapons, which the American soldiers also helped transport six miles away from Aracinovo.

In his speech, President Trajkovski accepted responsibility for the government's role in the cease- fire deal, saying it was a necessary compromise to remove an immediate threat from Skopje, to restart negotiations to grant greater political rights to Albanians and to head off a full-scale war.

"Was it a mistake to clear Aracinovo of terrorists?" he asked. "If it is, then I will take the responsibility. I will accept this guilt."

Much of the crowd's anger on Monday was aimed at NATO, and overnight, graffiti appeared on a building downtown equating NATO's name with a swastika. Today, a top NATO official now in Macedonia, Daniel V. Speckhard, defended the alliance's role, saying it was a one-time offer aimed at bolstering peace.

"We did not let anybody go from Aracinovo," he told reporters. "We facilitated an understanding and an agreement that was valuable to the government of Macedonia."

Mr. Speckhard, NATO's deputy assistant secretary general for political affairs, was blunt on a contentious topic here: whether the Macedonian army was near to defeating the rebels in Aracinovo at the time of the cease-fire. The government, increasingly unpopular among radical Slavs and Albanians, has repeatedly called the rebel withdrawal a victory, saying the rebels had waved a "white flag" under a heavy assault that began on Friday.

"White flags did not appear," Mr. Speckhard said, calling the rebels a "continuing major threat."

Despite the calm in the capital, fighting continued near Tetovo, some 20 miles west of Skopje, where a Macedonian policeman was killed by rebels on Monday.

--------

Albanians in Macedonia Blame the Police for Violence

New York Times
June 27, 2001
By CARLOTTA GALL
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/06/27/world/27ALBA.html

STRUGA, Macedonia - Several prominent ethnic Albanian community leaders have disappeared in Macedonia in recent months, and here in the southwestern region, where one local Albanian political leader was killed, the Albanians increasingly blame the police force, which is dominated by the country's majority Slavs.

Government officials and foreign observers talk of increasing signs that elements in the Interior Ministry have been arming and organizing paramilitary groups and are behind some of the violence against Albanian civilians.

Some officials have accused Interior Minister Ljube Boskovski himself of orchestrating attacks and stirring up ethnic tensions.

Those tensions are now palpable in most communities in this country of 1.9 million people, up to one-third of them Albanians.

In the lake resort of Struga, armed police officers have begun regular patrols. In the surrounding region, many Albanians are alternately seething and fearful over the disappearances of a prominent businessman and a political activist, and the killing of a local politician, Naser Hani, 43.

Mr. Hani's friends say he died when gunmen trying to kidnap him pumped a half-dozen bullets into him and fled.

"It was like when there is a lot of gasoline spilled and it takes only one thing to happen and the whole thing blows up," Tahir Hani, a relative of the dead man and mayor of Velesta, Mr. Hani's home village, said in an interview. "It needs only a small thing and the whole of Struga would be at war."

Relatives and colleagues of the victims blame members of the police for what they say is a conscious effort to attack local leaders and members of the main Albanian political party, the Democratic Party for Albanians, which is in the national government coalition of two Slavic and two Albanian parties, and with which Mr. Hani and the two missing men were associated.

The Interior Ministry says it is looking into those and other cases. Some ministry officials and reports in Macedonian Slav media have suggested that Mr. Hani and the missing men were somehow linked to shady business dealings and even organized crime, and that Albanian business rivals are behind the killing and the kidnappings.

The Struga area, near the border with Albania, is known for the smuggling and trafficking of women, the officials point out. But relatives and Albanian politicians tell a different story, backed by the justice minister, Ixhep Mehmeti, an Albanian, who two weeks ago presented a list of 56 Albanians he said had been arrested by the police or disappeared.

At a meeting of the newly formed government crisis committee, he requested that the Interior Ministry report on their whereabouts and the circumstances of the arrests. Numerous arrests and beatings of Albanians by the police have been reported in the three to four months since ethnic Albanian rebels known as the National Liberation Army began their armed insurgency.

The first man from Struga to disappear was Islam Veliu, 37, who was reported missing on April 17. A member of the Democratic Party for Albanians, he disappeared while driving home one evening from the western town of Tetovo and has not been heard from since, his brother-in-law, Lutvi Mahmuti, said in an interview.

Then Sultan Mehmeti, 38, the owner of a bingo hall, was apparently arrested by the police. His relatives say they have not seen him since, nor received any firm word of his whereabouts.

"It is our obligation to clear up all these cases," said Stevo Pendarovski, a spokesman for the Interior Ministry, who is also a member of the new committee intended to defuse tensions. "We have to restore the trust of all Macedonians, regardless of their ethnicity."

But diplomats and officials within the government and the presidential administration are concerned that elements within the Interior Ministry may have helped stir up trouble - reportedly taking part, for instance, in anti-Albanian riots in the southern town of Bitola.

The Interior Minister, Mr. Boskovski, has also been criticized for issuing hundreds of weapons to Macedonian Slav reservists in and around Skopje, including some former criminals, since the rebels advanced close to the city.

For the Albanians in Velesta, the killing of Mr. Hani was political and aimed against them all. "The message is clear," said Mayor Hani. "It is to scare the Albanian people from pursuing political issues and to scare Albanians from speaking out and acting in Macedonia."

Sitting in the courtyard of his relative's house in Velesta as groups of men from miles around arrived to pay their respects to the family, the mayor said Mr. Hani had been closely involved in politics since helping to found the first Albanian party after independence in 1991.

Mayor Hani said he believed that the police, or a special unit working for the police, were responsible for the killing, because it had happened just yards from the police station and no ordinary car could have made such a clean getaway through police checkpoints on all of the roads that lead out of town.

In the case of Sultan Mehmeti, who was mayor of his village near Struga and a member of the Democratic Party for Albanians, a witness told his brother, Filizon, that he had seen Mr. Mehmeti being stopped on a road into Struga by heavily armed police officers and handcuffed.

His brother suggested that Mr. Mehmeti might have come under suspicion of organizing an armed rebellion in the area because he had called a meeting in his village to urge calm as fighting surged near the predominantly Albanian town of Tetovo.

"At the time he was taken, he was very successful as a leader but was not thinking at all of military things," Filizon Mehmeti said. "If they kidnapped him for money, they would have called me right away. I think it is the secret police, very high-level, who are responsible."

-------- china

China: No warships near Spratlys

JUNE 27, 2001
http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/asia/story/0,1870,53707,00.html

BEIJING - China yesterday denied reports that it had deployed warships near the disputed Spratly islands chain in the South China Sea after the Philippines expressed strong concern.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhang Qiyue rejected a Washington Times report on Monday that China had deployed several warships in the area over the past several weeks.

'I've seen relevant reports, but I want to say the reports are completely untrue and are utterly irresponsible,' Ms Zhang said.

'There's no such thing as China deploying military vessels in the South China Sea,' she added.

The Washington Times said classified intelligence reports sent to officials last week indicated that a dozen Chinese ships were spotted in the Spratly islands chain.

The Philippine government on Monday said it was checking the report, adding it would be a 'major disturbance' if it were true.--AFP

-------- drug war

Drug - Rehab Experiment Coming Soon

New York Times
June 27, 2001
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Drug-Treatment.html

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) -- The nation's biggest experiment in drug rehabilitation begins on Sunday in California amid warnings from officials in Los Angeles County that they do not have enough money to carry out their part.

Proposition 36, passed last fall by the state's voters, will require treatment instead of prison or jail for the estimated 36,000 California nonviolent drug users convicted each year of use or possession for the first or second time. Treatment will range from counseling sessions to a stint at a rehab center.

Arizona, the only other state with a similar program, diverts only about 6,000 drug offenders a year to treatment.

California led the way in jailing drug users two decades ago and now locks up more drug offenders per capita than any other state, at 115 people per 100,000 population. That is more than twice the national average.

Proponents of Proposition 36 said drug treatment addresses the root of the problem and saves money in the long run by reducing the need for prisons.

Each of California's 58 counties has its own plan to carry out Proposition 36, which allocates $120 million a year for implementation statewide.

In Los Angeles County, California's biggest county with 9.5 million people, officials say their program could be overwhelmed and underfunded when it tries to handle a projected 17,000 cases -- about one-third of the state's expected eligible offenders -- with $30 million in state money.

``The county's going to go into debt. We just don't know how much,'' said Superior Court Judge Michael Tynan, who supervises the county's drug courts.

Elizabeth Stanley-Salazar, California director for Phoenix Houses, one of the nation's largest treatment providers, said she expects a fight between counties and the state over which is responsible for providing any additional funding.

``At this moment we clearly have many more clients than we have funding for,'' said Stanley-Salazar, who sits on the state and Los Angeles County's Proposition 36 implementation task forces. ``We're building the transcontinental railroad here, six inches at a time.''

Supporters of the initiative say officials are being alarmist.

``There's a lot of `Chicken Little' going on in L.A.,'' said Whitney Taylor of the Lindesmith Center, a policy research institute. She said it is too soon to say whether the county will be overwhelmed.

Drug offenders who want to stay out of jail and get help from one of the 300 or so private treatment services in Los Angeles County will have to enter a conditional guilty plea. They will then be supervised during treatment by one of 26 special judges. Offenders' records are cleared if they complete treatment.

Under the county's current drug treatment program, offenders are tested up to six times a week during the early stages of treatment.

But no money has been set aside for testing under Proposition 36, which has led to one of the most serious debates about the measure.

Treatment proponents say counties like Los Angeles test far more often than necessary, driving up costs. Law enforcement officials say they need periodic tests to ensure that offenders stay drug-free during treatment.

Both sides are supporting a bill in the Legislature that would provide an additional $18 million statewide for drug testing.

Some counties have lowered their projections on the number of offenders who will be treated, after eliminating people with multiple offenses and estimating how many would show up for treatment.

Al Medina, San Diego County's alcohol and drug services administrator, dropped his county's original projected caseload by one-third, but worries there are not enough residential programs for those needing long-term treatment to kick their habits.

Bob Mimura, executive director of Los Angeles County's Criminal Justice Coordination Committee, said he hopes many small-time offenders accept a drug conviction instead and leave more funding for those who need more in-depth treatment.

Those offenders, can ``just take their conviction and maybe 30 days in jail and they're gone,'' Mimura said.

--------

Census: War on Drugs Hit Blacks

New York Times
June 27, 2001
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/nyregion/AP-Census-Prisons.html

NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) -- When an epidemic of crack and gang violence erupted in cities like New Haven in the 1990s, police and lawmakers struck back hard.

The war on drugs yielded dozens of new laws, including mandatory sentences for drug dealers and heavier penalties for dealing crack rather than powdered cocaine.

But those laws also had unintended consequences in minority communities.

Black men make up less than 3 percent of Connecticut's population but account for 47 percent of inmates in prisons, jails and halfway houses, 2000 census figures show.

One in 11 black men between the ages of 18 and 64 in Connecticut is behind bars, the census found. In 1990, that figure was about one in 25.

Similar disparities can be seen across the country. In Louisiana, one of the few states to receive updated race statistics from the census, black inmates outnumber whites 3-to-1; blacks account for only a third of the state's population.

Nationwide, the Justice Department reported that 12 percent of all black men between the ages of 20 and 34 were locked up last year.

``I don't think anyone intended it to be this way, but if you were trying to design a system to incarcerate as many African-American and Latino men as possible, I don't think you could have designed a better system,'' said state Rep. Michael Lawlor, co-chairman of the Connecticut Legislature's Judiciary Committee.

The National Conference of State Legislatures estimates state governments spend $20 billion a year fighting drugs.

Some states now are trying to ease the drug laws of the 1990s, putting more money toward prevention and treatment instead of incarceration.

``You can't put every drug user in jail, because if you do and they don't get any help, they're going to be right back in again,'' said Chief State's Attorney Jack Bailey, Connecticut's top prosecutor for 10 years.

This year, the Legislature voted to give judges more leeway in sentencing drug dealers who operated near schools, day care centers and public housing projects.

The old law set a three-year mandatory minimum sentence for dealing within 1,500 feet of those places. In densely populated New Haven, that meant virtually everywhere except the Yale University golf course and the Tweed-New Haven airport runway.

While drugs also are prevalent in Connecticut's mostly white suburbs, the preference there for powdered cocaine over crack and sprawling development meant that few suburban dealers faced the same penalties.

In California this year, a ballot proposition takes effect that will mean treatment instead of prison for many first- and second-time drug offenders. Offenders' records are cleared if they complete treatment.

A similar 4-year-old program in Arizona has saved money because treatment is cheaper than prison, a state analysis found.

Similar programs are being considered in Ohio, Florida and Michigan.

Some politicians, however, believe a hard line on drugs is appropriate, or do not wish to be seen as soft on crime.

``I think it sends out a very negative message to the public at large,'' said Connecticut state Rep. Ronald San Angelo, a Republican who opposed changing mandatory minimum sentences.

People who lived through the gang and drug wars also offer caution. While they are angry that a generation of young black men are in prison, they do not want to return to the past.

Lorraine Stanley, a resident of a New Haven housing project for 13 years, recalled how a drug gang called the Jungle Brothers terrorized her neighborhood. Police eventually busted up the gang, and now a police substation in the neighborhood keeps crime down.

``Things have gotten a whole lot better,'' Stanley said.

Despite changes in the laws, other experts said racial bias in the courts and poverty in the cities will continue to lead to more prison time for minorities.

Frank Mandanici, a public defender in New Haven, said that bias among juries affects verdicts and sentences for black defendants.

``Racism permeates our society. It's a cancer no one is willing to address,'' he said. ``There is no test on how to detect it and what to do with it.''

Yale political science Professor Donald Green said the density and poverty of cities combined with law enforcement tactics have put more blacks in prison.

``Drug use is similar in white and nonwhite populations, but the level of enforcement is very different among the two groups,'' he said. ``Violent crime is more associated with gang activity, associated with drug abuse in minorities, and enforcement is aimed overwhelmingly in that direction.''

Also, Green said, poor people of all races turn to crime when there are no other opportunities.

-------- iraq

Russia rejects sanctions plan for Iraq

USA TODAY
06/27/2001
The Associated Press
http://usatoday.com/news/world/june01/2001-06-27-sanctions.htm

UNITED NATIONS (AP) - Rival plans on how to overhaul sanctions on Iraq may set the stage for a showdown between Russia and the British-U.S. alliance in the U.N. Security Council.

Russia rejected a U.S.-backed British sanctions plan on Tuesday and presented its own draft to speed up an end to sanctions. Britain and the United States say the Russian initiative is unacceptable, and the 15-member Security Council seems no closer to breaking a 2 1/2-year stalemate on the future of sanctions imposed after the 1990 invasion of Kuwait.

Britain said it wants to continue negotiations on its draft and hopes the council will reach agreement by a July 3 deadline. But Russia's outright rejection - indicating it would exercise its veto power if necessary - cast serious doubt on the possibility that the U.S.-British draft could be adopted in just a week.

The British proposal was introduced May 22 in a resolution to extend the U.N. oil-for-food program, which allows Iraq to sell unlimited quantities of oil provided the money mainly goes to the purchase of food and humanitarian supplies.

When the council couldn't agree on a sanctions overhaul by early June, members extended the oil-for-food program for 30 days, instead of the usual six months, to give negotiators extra time to reach agreement.

Iraq, in protest, stopped U.N.-monitored oil exports to all but its neighbors.

Diplomats said there will be a vote by July 3 - at a minimum to extend the oil-for-food program.

Russia, Iraq's closest ally on the council, demanded Tuesday's council meeting to consider the humanitarian impact of sanctions, then used the session to denounce the British proposal.

London and Washington say their plan would lift most restrictions on civilian goods entering Iraq while tightening enforcement of the 1990 arms embargo and plugging up lucrative Iraqi smuggling routes.

But Russia's U.N. Ambassador Sergey Lavrov told council members it would tighten rather than ease sanctions against Iraq, politicize the humanitarian program and lead to greater regional tension.

Lavrov then introduced a rival resolution to suspend civilian sanctions on Iraq once U.N. weapons inspectors certify that a long-term program to monitor Iraq's weapons programs is fully deployed.

Earlier Tuesday, in Baghdad, Iraqi Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan "praised Russia's stance in rejecting the evil British-American proposal," according to the Iraqi News Agency.

Britain's U.N. Ambassador Jeremy Greenstock called the Russian draft "a disturbing text" that apparently seeks to rewrite conditions for the lifting of sanctions against Iraq.

Acting U.S. Ambassador James Cunningham said he agreed that the Russian proposal "has very serious problems."

Under Security Council resolutions, sanctions cannot be lifted until U.N. inspectors certify that Iraq's chemical, biological and nuclear weapons programs have been dismantled.

The Russian proposal would require U.N. inspectors, within 60 days of starting work in Iraq, to draw up a list of the key remaining disarmament tasks to be completed by Iraq and precise details of what is required to complete each one, so sanctions can be lifted.

----

'Dumb' Sanctions

Wed, June 27, 2001,
Staff Editorial,
Daily Texan, U. Texas-Austin
http://news.excite.com/news/uw/010627/university-17

(U-WIRE) AUSTIN, Texas -- The United States is busy, hustling and bustling back and forth in the diplomatic corridors of the U.N. The U.S. is buzzing, attempting to drum up support for a new "smart sanctions" proposal that reforms the controversial embargo on Iraq. Unfortunately for American diplomats, Tuesday, the "smart sanctions" proposal ran into the teeth of a promised Russian veto. Good thing Bush met with Russian President Putin a few weeks ago and "saw his soul." Maybe a trip to the ranch in Crawford will convince Putin to overlook the billions of dollars in oil contracts that Russia has with Iraq.

On Tuesday, Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov told the press that Russia would veto the joint American-British proposal that seeks to tweak the comprehensive sanctions regime that has plunged Iraq back into the Dark Ages. Russia, along with China and France, have all expressed growing and serious opposition to the sanctions.

Some may say that these countries are simply greedy, looking to solidify lucrative contracts with Iraq the second that the sanctions are lifted. This may be partially true. Russia could certainly use the cash. But there is also a massive and vocal international contingent who point to the sickening effects that the sanctions have had on the civilian population of Iraq. A country that once had the lowest infant mortality rate in the Middle East has slowly been strangled to death by restrictions on the basic necessities for human life.

The U.S. has been the backbone of the U.N. sanctions regime and has finally, after a decade and the deaths of more than a million Iraqi civilians, decided that Saddam is no closer to stepping aside or re-opening Iraq to weapons inspectors. After years of defending the sanctions while Iraqis died of malnutrition and previously-eradicated diseases, the U.S. has presented the "smart sanctions" proposal, where Iraq would be generously allowed to import food and some civilian goods, but not any devices that might have potential military uses.

Unfortunately for the people of Iraq, these "dual use" items often include things such as chlorine needed to clean water. Also unfortunate for the people of Iraq, the greater access to a specified list of commodities will do nothing to rebuild the infrastructure and economy. Boxes of food are worse than useless if there is no infrastructure for distribution and nobody can afford to buy it. Iraq would remain under the noose of the U.N. 661 Committee which tells them what products they can import. Children would continue to die at unprecedented and sickening rates.

Not everyone is suffering. Saddam continues to build palaces and taunt the U.S. He clearly isn't threatened by the sanctions and is able to use the humanitarian plight of the people of Iraq to garner international sympathy. It's tempting to blame him for all of the woes of Iraq and deflect attention away from the crippling effects of the sanctions, but a quick look at pre-Gulf War statistics shows that, even if he isn't a nice guy, Saddam still used to at least feed and provide health care for a large portion of the country.

Vice President and leading Iraq critic Dick Cheney has also managed to profit from the sanctions too. It has recently come to light that, as CEO of Halliburton Co., Cheney held stakes in two firms that sold more than $73 million in oil production equipment to Iraq under the "Oil For Food" program. Russia's interest in Iraqi oil money suddenly seems more understandable in the face of blatant U.S. hypocrisy.

The "smart sanctions" proposal allows the United States to absolve itself from the catastrophic nightmare wrought by the sanctions. A British diplomat even explicitly told the Washington Post that, with an overhaul of the sanctions program, it would be easier to blame Iraq for the suffering of its people.

The Iraqi currency, the dinar, is nearly worthless. The United States continues a daily air war. The economy and infrastructure are in shambles and certainly won't be repaired by a few shipments of humanitarian goods. Americans may say that they want to end the suffering of the people of Iraq, but what they really mean is that they don't want the blame for the most destructive set of sanctions in history. As one observer noted, "the smart sanctions proposal is aspirin, when surgery is what is needed."

The Russian veto promise is justified. Anything less than a complete lifting of sanctions is unacceptable.

----

Allied Warplanes Strike Iraq

New York Times
June 27, 2001
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Iraq-US.html

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- U.S. and British warplanes have struck targets in southern Iraq, wounding one civilian, the official Iraqi News Agency said Wednesday.

Iraqi anti-aircraft missile units hit an aircraft in Tuesday's attack, an unidentified Iraqi military spokesman told the agency. But the Pentagon denied the report.

The Iraqi spokesman said coalition warplanes ``targeted our civil and service installations in the province of Basra,'' 340 miles south of Baghdad, the agency reported.

``Evidence indicates that an enemy warplane was hit,'' the Iraqi spokesman said.

The U.S. military said the attack came in response to ``Iraqi hostile acts against coalition aircraft monitoring the southern no-fly zone.''

A statement by Central Command's headquarters at McDill Air Force Base, Florida, said the aircraft used precision-guided weapons to strike an anti-aircraft artillery site in southern Iraq.

In Washington, Pentagon spokesman Marine Lt. Col. Dave Lapan said all aircraft returned safely.

U.S. and British jets have been patrolling no-fly zones over northern and southern Iraq in a program designed to protect Kurdish and Shiite groups against government forces. Baghdad has been challenging the planes since late 1998, saying the zones violate its sovereignty and international law.

-------- israel

Bush, Sharon clash publicly over next steps

By Natan Gutman and Aluf Benn
Ha'aretz Correspondents and Agencies,
Wednesday, June 27, 2001
http://www3.haaretz.co.il/eng/scripts/article.asp?mador=14&datee=6/27/01&id=122511

U.S. President George W. Bush and Prime Minister Ariel Sharon clashed publicly yesterday on where the Israeli-Palestinian crisis stands now. Bush said he sees enough progress to send U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell to the region to start work on the next steps, as outlined by the Mitchell Commission. Sharon reiterated his long-standing call for an absolute end to "hostilities, terrorism and incitement."

During the brief new conference before the two went into the meeting with their aides, Sharon's unswerving demand for an "absolute end" to the violence was in sharp contrast to Bush's insistence that "progress is being made."

"Progress is being made. Is it as fast as we'd like, no it's not," Bush said. "But the fundamental question my administration asks is are we making progress? Is peace closer today than it was yesterday? We believe the answer is yes ... The cycle of violence must be broken," Bush said.

Bush said he understood the pressure Sharon was under and praised his patience. He said he was sending Powell to the region "to make sure there is a realistic assessment of what is going on." Powell left last night for his first stop in Cairo, where he will meet Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak today. Tomorrow he meets Sharon and Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat.

Sharon told Bush, Israel "will not negotiate under fire and under terror" as it tries to maintain a fragile truce with the Palestinians. "Last week, we had 5 people killed by terror. That's like 250 people, maybe 300 people, in the U.S. There can be no compromise with terror and if we stick to our positions that demand an absolute end to terror before the next stage, our neighbors will understand they have to do it."

Bush said "all terror and violence is too much, and we condemn terrorism, violence and death and recognize the pressure on the prime minister, and I admire his restraint and the patience he has shown. But we also believe that progress has been made and it is important it doesn't fall apart."

He said "we are progressing in inches and not miles, but even inches are better than nothing," and expressed hope that "the cease-fire would hold" and Israel would take the next step toward restarting peace negotiations.

"Peace should provide security to the Israeli citizens," Sharon said. "Israel will not negotiate under fire and under terror."

Bush praised Sharon for showing a lot of patience in the midst of casualties, and cautioned against pessimism over violence in the region. "I know there is a level of frustration, but there is progress being made," Bush said, saying he's looking forward to "discussing with the prime minister what's realistic and what's possible."

In Egypt, Mubarak cautioned that a "worldwide theater of terrorism" will unfold if the Bush administration doesn't do more to bring peace to the Middle East.

White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said Bush would caution all parties "against actions on the ground and actions rhetorically that serve to inflame tensions. Beyond that," he said, "the role of the United States, again, will be that of a facilitator."

Sharon's visit to the White House is his second in three months. The meeting reflects stepped-up U.S. involvement in the Mideast conflict, after an initial period when the Bush administration tried to limit the U.S. role.

Powell has talked of seeking "a 100 percent effort" from Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat to stop nine months of violence, but Sharon says he would not become involved in a debate over how much violence is acceptable, insisting on an "absolute" quiet.

Outside the White House, about 200 Palestinian supporters demonstrated against Sharon during the meeting.

-------- puerto rico

Plan to End Vieques Bombing Raises Questions in Congress

New York Times
June 27, 2001
By DAVID STOUT
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/06/27/politics/27CND-PUERTO.html

WASHINGTON, June 27 - The battle over Vieques was renewed today, this time on Capitol Hill, where it again seemed that President Bush's decision to suspend practice bombing on the Puerto Rican island had angered people on all sides.

Members of the House Armed Services Committee were respectful to Pentagon officials, but they still expressed worries that stopping the bombing runs, as many Puerto Ricans have demanded, would hurt American military readiness.

Representative Bob Stump, the Arizona Republican who heads the panel, opened by reminding everyone that the Navy and Marine Corps have called Vieques "an irreplaceable asset . . . the crown jewel of combined arms live-fire training."

Mr. Stump said it would set a bad precedent to allow the island's residents to decide whether military training should continue there. If the Pentagon wants the committee to support the plans to abandon the island two years from now, he said, "it must also convince us that this decision will not result in other nations and communities seeking to force the U.S. military to withdraw from other critical training facilities."

The ranking Democrat on the panel, Ike Skelton of Missouri, was similarly skeptical. "If one is to believe the numerous press reports on the matter, it would appear that political expediency has taken prominence over national security requirements," Mr. Skelton said.

Many Puerto Ricans have long been opposed to the use of part of Vieques for bombing runs, especially since an errant bomb killed a man two years ago. But President Bush's decision to stop bombing runs there in 2003 did nothing to calm feelings: opponents of the bombing want it stopped immediately, not two years from now, and those who do not want it stopped say the administration has caved in to a "not in my backyard" collection of complaints.

Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz told the lawmakers that too little mention has been made of the fact that the current military spending bill for the current fiscal year, signed last year by President Bill Clinton, specifies that training on Vieques will not continue beyond May 2003 unless island residents consent to it in a referendum.

"The best available evidence strongly, indeed overwhelmingly, suggests the citizens of Vieques would probably vote for the Navy's departure," Mr. Wolfowitz said.

Mr. Wolfowitz said he thought it wrong to allow local elections to dictate "essential matters of national security."

But while he called such local choice "fundamentally flawed public policy," Mr. Wolfowitz said the Pentagon had no choice but to make other plans.

Navy Secretary Gordon England said there have been complaints about the use of Vieques off and on in the 60 years that the Navy has been using it. In the recent, emotionally charged atmosphere, Mr. England said, "training could have become untenable well before May of 2003." Mr. England said the Navy was looking at alternate sites and would do its best to provide good training.

But Adm. Vernon Clark, the chief of naval operations, seemed to imply that another site might not be as good. "We can work around and get our troops to a level that we can deploy them, but it isn't the level that is the best," the admiral said.

Admiral Clark told the committee that he and Gen. James Jones, the Marine Corps Commandant, had told Mr. Wolfowitz that they could not affirm that Vieques was no longer needed.

"So first and foremost, I affirm the requirement for Vieques - I need the capability, the training capacity and capability that I have there," Admiral Clark said. "As long as I am in uniform, I am not fit for office if I do not want the best training I can get for our people."

--------

Lawmakers Criticize Vieques Decision

New York Times
June 27, 2001
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-US-Vieques.html

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Congressmen criticized Navy Secretary Gordon R. England on Wednesday for his decision to withdraw from the Vieques Island training site, with some saying the Pentagon should rethink the plan.

In a three-hour Capitol Hill hearing, lawmakers vented their anger that President Bush and others in the administration didn't consult them before announcing two weeks ago it would bow to Puerto Rican protesters and quit the Navy's premier Atlantic exercise site by May 2003.

Others criticized the decision as a political move to appease Hispanics; a risk to military training, readiness and lives; and a bad precedent for other places around the world where U.S. military facilities are opposed by local residents.

Rep. James V. Hansen, R-Utah, said that in Vieques they have waged a propaganda war with unsubstantiated claims the military bombing is destroying residents' health.

``Just wait, Okinawa is next, then Korea and on down the line,'' Hansen said.

Rep. Gene Taylor, D-Miss., said the Pentagon is ``being taken to the cleaners'' by protesters who've been riled up by property developers hoping to take over Vieques land.

``It's clear to me that a mistake has been made here,'' said Rep. Robin Hayes, R-N.C. ``I would strongly suggest that you go back and revisit this issue.''

Of some 20 congressmen who spoke at the hearing of the House Armed Services Committee, the majority opposed the withdrawal plan.

England and Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz told the committee that the administration decided to leave Vieques and look for an alternative site or sites because officials believed the Navy would lose a November referendum in which island residents are scheduled to vote whether training there should continue or be ended. The Clinton administration agreed to the referendum.

``My rationale was twofold: One to dampen the emotion and perhaps the demonstration surrounding the training scheduled for June,'' England said. ``And, two, seize the initiative and refocus our efforts on the real issue. The real issue is effective training for our naval forces and not Vieques.''

England is setting up a panel to look at alternate sites and ways of training. He said lawmakers will be asked to cancel the referendum now called for by law.

It was unclear how many congressmen would support such legislation.

``If the Department of Defense wants the committee's support in canceling the referendum and leaving the island, then it must first prove that the closure of Vieques will not damage military readiness and that a viable alternative is in fact available,'' said committee chairman Bob Stump, R-Ariz.

``We're giving up an asset in hand ... in return for a probability,'' said Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif.

Hunter said the Pentagon could try to win the referendum through ``a lot of good public relations work.''

-------- space

STAR WARS INC. THE MEN & MONEY BEHIND SPACE WEAPONRY
Call them the Star Wars Lobby, but understand that their ties to key congressmen and officials in the executive branch make them much more than a lobbying group.

Valley Advocate (Massachusetts)
By Edward Ericson, Jr.,
June 27, 2001
http://www.valleyadvocate.com/articles/starwars.html.

America's looming--if not inevitable--plan to spend $100 billion dollars or more on "missile defense" is the result not of sober analysis and enlightened leadership, but of single-minded lobbying by a few large and medium-sized defense contractors and a small coterie of determined men, many of whom have close business relationships to those companies.

Call them the Star Wars Lobby, but understand that their ties to key congressmen and officials in the executive branch make them much more than a lobbying group. This year alone, this group has given us a deputy national security adviser, the secretary of defense, and the chief financial officer of the Pentagon. And its members comprise the expert commissions that have strongly influenced Congress' authorization of missile defense expenditures, currently running at more than $3 billion annually--and due to increase substantially. From this small group of men, Congress has received an inflated "threat assessment" on other nations' missile capabilities, and an organizational blueprint calling for a policy of unbridled space warfare to defend against the alleged threat. This policy, if implemented, will neither protect the United States nor its allies from missile attack; and experts not in a position to cash in on the program say it stands a good chance of creating the now imaginary threat it purports to dispel.

The following is not meant to be definitive or exhaustive; it merely introduces some key players in the Star Wars Lobby and illustrates its members' interlocking ties to both the policy-making elite and the military contractors who would benefit.

--

Frank Gaffney

Founder and Executive Director, Center for Security Policy Founded in 1988, the non-profit Center for Security Policy is the Star Wars Lobby's mothership. With a board boasting conservative heavyweights such as Iran-Contra figure Elliot Abrams, former drug czar and education secretary William Bennett and Edward Teller, father of the H-bomb, the center turns out a steady stream of propaganda designed to convince Americans that A.) the Chinese are about to launch an intercontinental ballistic missile--ICBM--attack (they actually possess about 20 intercontinental missiles) and B.) so are the North Koreans (they have zero), and C.) only a missile defense system--which is actually affordable and completely dependable--can defend us.

The center's turning point in directing public policy came in 1998. Wrote Gaffney: "The Center for Security Policy has served as a catalyst for the intensifying debate about deployment of ballistic missile defenses. It is gratified that this goal--a priority for the organization and its Board of Advisers from the Center's inception 10 years ago--has during the second quarter of 1998 achieved what appears to be critical mass. This judgment is borne out by developments chronicled in a series of Decision Briefs calling attention to: a growing chorus of editorial support for missile defenses from America's most thoughtful columnists; increasing awareness of the availability of an effective and highly affordable means of providing near-term anti-missile protection for the American people via evolution of the Navy's AEGIS fleet air defense system; and perceptible intensification of political commitments to defending America."

He continued, "As part of its contribution to the debate about missile defenses, the Center produced a 15-minute videotape entitled 'America the Vulnerable.' This film offers a brief tutorial about how it is that the United States came to be completely vulnerable to missile attack as a matter of state policy, and what can be done to correct this increasingly perilous condition."

Among the foundation's funders are McDonnell Douglas, Northrop Grumman, TRW, Lockheed Martin, right-wing foundations such as the Smith Richardson, Sara Scaife, and Coors foundations...and Donald Rumsfeld.

--

Donald Rumsfeld
Secretary of Defense

Formerly: Chairman, Commission on the Ballistic Missile Threat to the United States (Rumsfeld Commission I); Chairman, Commission to Assess United States National Security Space Management and Organization (Rumsfeld II); Board Member, Center for Security Policy; Board Member, Tribune Co.

Having moved smartly among the fields of government service, investment banking, and corporate management since 1958, Rumsfeld returned to government in 1997 as chairman of the Commission on the Ballistic Missile Threat to the United States, which was created by Congress largely at the behest of then-speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.), House National Security Committee member Curt Weldon (R-Pa.), and the committee Chairman Floyd Spence (R-S.C.).

By assessing the threat in terms of worst-case scenarios, and by giving no weight at all to the considerable impediments to deploying ICBMs, the nine-member commission was able to conclude in 1998 that "the threat to the U.S....is broader, more mature and evolving more rapidly than has been reported in estimates and reports by the Intelligence Community," and that such third-tier powers as North Korea and Iran could develop intercontinental ballistic missiles "within five years of a decision to do so."

The Center for Security Policy awarded Rumsfeld its "Keeper of the Flame Award" in recognition of his contribution to their mutual cause.

In 2000, Rumsfeld was tapped to head a new, 13-member commission "to Assess United States National Security Space Management and Organization." As with the 1998 commission, this one was packed with true believers (two men--Rumsfeld and William Graham--served on both). Rumsfeld resigned his chairmanship of this second commission in order to take the job of defense secretary and accept the commission's findings, released Jan. 11.

Among those findings:

- The United States faces the possibility of a "Space Pearl Harbor"--a sneak attack on its space-based assets.

- "Our growing dependence on space, our vulnerabilities in space and the burgeoning opportunities from space are simply not reflected in present [military] institutional arrangements."

- The United States must not sign any treaties that would prohibit weapons in space.

- War in space is inevitable.

--

William Graham

Member, Rumsfeld Commission I and II; Board of Advisers, Center for Security Policy; Chairman of the board and president, National Security Research, Inc.

Graham is an expert in the electromagnetic pulse created by nuclear weapons. He has a Ph.D. in physics and served as science adviser to President Reagan. He also sits on the board of advisers to Gaffney's Center for Security Policy, and runs a seven-employee defense contracting company called National Security Research, Inc. In April 1999, Graham's small company received a piece of a four-year, $250 million federal contract to protect the nation's critical infrastructures--including satellites--against physical and cyber attack.

From 1994-1997 he was senior vice president of the Defense Group Inc., in charge of counter-proliferation and other related defense activities. He also served as a member of the Department of Defense's Defense Science Board Task Force on Theater Ballistic Missile Defense. From 1990-1993 he chaired the Defense Department's Strategic Defense Initiative Advisory Committee.

--

Rep. Curt Weldon (R-Pa.)

Member, House Armed Services Committee; Advisory Board, Center for Security Policy In 1997 Weldon was a key architect of the commission to reevaluate the ballistic missile threat--after the CIA concluded that there was no imminent threat of a missile attack on the United States Chaired by former and future Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, the committee's findings jump-started the push for Star Wars.

Weldon continues the push today. He is organizing a June 28-29 conference in Valley Forge, Pa., to make the case for ballistic missile defense. Weldon believes it will be hard to achieve big spending hikes for missile defense and other defense programs without building public support.

--

Adm. David E. Jeremiah (USN, Ret.)

Member, Rumsfeld Commission II; President, Technology Strategies & Alliances Corporation; Board of Trustees, Mitre Corp.; Director, Alliant Techsystems, Litton Industries; Adviser, Northrop Grumman Jeremiah epitomizes the comfortable nexus among government advisory boards and research centers, investment advisers and defense contractors: he is all of them. As part of the Rumsfeld Commission, Jeremiah served his country by telling Congress and the Pentagon to spend more money integrating existing war-fighting capabilities while establishing a robust military presence in space. Meanwhile, the federally funded, nonprofit Mitre Corp., of which Jeremiah is a trustee, was authoring "Joint Vision 2020," a suggestive blueprint under which the armed services might achieve "full spectrum dominance" on land, sea, air and in space.

While helping provide this strategic rationale for spending fantastic sums defending this country against wholly theoretical threats, Jeremiah also presides over the Technology Strategies & Alliances Corporation, a strategic advisory and investment banking firm engaged primarily in the aerospace, defense, telecommunications and electronics industries.

Since 1995, Jeremiah has sat on the board of Alliant Techsystems, the defense department's 29th largest contractor and a maker of small arms ammunition and rocket motors. He is also on the board of Litton Industries, the DOD's No. 6 contractor and a maker of night vision equipment and lasers, and the advisory board of Northrop Grumman, the DOD's fifth-largest contractor.

Jeremiah also sits on the advisory boards for Texas Instruments and ManTech International, and the Defense Policy Board, which advises the secretary of defense. In that capacity, Jeremiah released in 1999 a report claiming that China had obtained--partly through espionage--design information concerning ICBM reentry vehicles. This report, which fanned the hysteria surrounding the arrest of Wen Ho Lee, the nuclear scientist falsely accused of spying for China, also put wind in the sails of congressional star warriors.

But Jeremiah is not being disingenuous. He is genuinely paranoid. Upon the release of the Rumsfeld Report II, he pointed to one satellite problem in 1998, in which 85 percent of the nation's pagers were temporarily silenced, as a possible "space attack." "The difficulty of space is that you can't tell," he told a reporter for the Associated Press. "We don't know if the interruption of all the pagers not so long ago was an attack or an anomaly that showed up in the hardware."

--

Bruce Jackson

Vice President, corporate strategy and development, Lockheed Martin; Board of Advisers, Center for Security Policy; Key Bush fundraiser; Committee to Expand NATO "I wrote the Republican Party's foreign policy platform," claimed Jackson, who was the chairman of the Republican Party's foreign policy platform committee during the 2000 national nominating convention. Although he later recanted, explaining to author Karl Grossman that he merely led the committee that wrote the platform, Jackson earned the right. Jackson's corporation has given $391,000 to the Republican Party since 1998, and employees chipped in at least $20,000 to Bush's campaign, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. In addition, Lockheed Martin spent more than $8 million on lobbying on Capitol Hill in 1999--not counting in-house lobbyists.

The party platform calls for a tougher line against China, expansion of NATO (Jackson leads the Committee to Expand NATO [with Stephen Hadley], which has offices at the American Enterprise Institute), and, of course, expanded and accelerated deployment of National Missile Defense.

--

Duane P. Andrews

Member, Rumsfeld Commission II; Chairman, Science Applications International Corp. (SAIC) With 41,000 employees and revenues last year of $5.9 billion, SAIC is ranked 296 on the Fortune 500, and 10th among the Pentagon's largest contractors. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, SAIC spent $1.2 million in 1998 alone lobbying the federal government.

Now touting itself as a leader in computerized medical records, the company is also, and has been, a military contractor specializing in communications and organization. In 2000, SAIC received $1.5 billion in Pentagon contracts. The company is the integration contractor for the Air Force's Space and Missile System Center's advanced programs.

--

Gen. Howell Estes

Member, Rumsfeld Commission II; President, Howell Estes & Associates Inc. Vice Chairman, Board of Trustees, The Aerospace Corp. Estes is a 33-year general who retired in 1998 as commander-in-chief of the North American Aerospace Defense Command and the United States Space Command, and commander of the Air Force Space Command headquartered at Peterson AFB, Colo. Like Jeremiah, he now lounges in that magical hot tub where the warm currents of federal outlays meet the swirling undertow of private contractors. With one hand on the tap and the other on the drain plug, his Estes & Associates is a consulting firm to CEOs, presidents and general managers of aerospace and telecommunications companies worldwide, while the private, nonprofit Aerospace Corp., whose advisory board he vice-chairs along with fellow Rumsfeld II commissioner Thomas Moorman, ranked as the Pentagon's 47th contractor in 2000, receiving more than $334 million in DOD contracts as "a leader in the application of space technology."

Estes served as a consultant to the Defense Science Board Task Force on Space Superiority. On April 4 he joined the board of directors of SpaceDev Corp., a small commercial launch firm that has partnered with Boeing to explore commercial possibilities in "deep space."

--

Gen. Thomas Moorman (USAF, Ret.)

Member, Rumsfeld Commission II; Vice Chairman, Board of Trustees, Aerospace Corp.; Vice President and partner, Booz, Allen & Hamilton; Director, Smiths Industries Smiths Industries is a British conglomerate concentrating on medical and aerospace industries. Booz, Allen & Hamilton ranked as the DOD's 34th top contractor last year receiving close to $420 million in contracts for work on everything from missile defense to the Milstar program and numerous classified programs. Moorman's position is described as "vice president-Air Force programs," putting him in the thick of the Star Wars boodle. His judgment and expertise were sought by Lockheed Martin, which tapped him in 1999 as vice chairman of a review team "to assess program management, engineering and manufacturing processes, and quality control procedures" within that company's Space & Strategic Missiles Sector. The independent panel was formed when Lockheed Martin experienced four launch failures over an eight-month period costing more than $3 billion that year.

This is a "one strike and you're out business," Moorman said at the time. "Therefore, Lockheed Martin needs to demonstrate to its Department of Defense customers that it is putting in place rigorous quality control procedures, especially for Titan IV, perhaps equivalent to those that apply to human space flight."

The panel's harsh professional judgment: "excessive cost cutting" was to blame for the failures. It recommended raises for Lockheed engineers.

Moorman is also an expert on the space "industrial base," which he believes should be expanded, and he took part in the U.S. military's first (publicly announced) "space war games" conducted in January.

--

Gen. Jay M. Garner (U.S. Army, Ret.)

Member Rumsfeld Commission II; President, SY Technology SY Technology of Sherman Oaks, Calif., boasts "unique expertise in space and missile defense technologies, systems engineering and integration." The company is focused almost exclusively on National Missile Defense. In 1999, SY Technology received a Star Wars contract worth up to $365,934,442 to provide the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command, the U.S. Army Space Command, the U.S. Space Command, the U.S. Navy Space Command, the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization, and the Joint National Test Facility, with scientific, analytical, engineering and technical assistance expertise in any effort that involves space and/or missile defense. Work is expected to be completed by Sept. 30, 2004.

Garner's Army career revolved around air defense, force development and missile defense. He served as commanding general, U.S. Army Space and Strategic Defense Command from 1996-97, then retired in 1997 as assistant vice chief of staff.

--

Former Sen. Malcolm Wallop (R-Wyo.)

Member, Rumsfeld Commission II; Board Member, Center for Security Policy; Founder and Chairman, Frontiers of Freedom Frontiers of Freedom describes itself as "the antithesis to the Sierra Club and Vice President Al Gore's Earth in the Balance." The nonprofit, "nonpartisan" group works to advance states' rights and private property rights, privatize Social Security, establish a flat tax, repeal or gut the Endangered Species Act, and demolish the Food and Drug Administration. It is also for missile defense.

Wallop is a true grandfather of the movement: In 1978, Sen. Wallop was the first elected official to propose a space-based defense system. In 1980 he lobbied then-Presidential candidate Ronald Reagan of the feasibility of missile defense.

--

James Woolsey

Member, Rumsfeld Commission I; Board of Advisers, Center for Security Policy; Partner, Shea & Gardner; Former Director of Central Intelligence Woolsey is a bit of a maverick in this group. Although a long-time advocate of Star Wars, he has also suggested that the current emphasis on quick deployment is counter-productive, wasting both money and political capital with U.S. allies.

His work with the first Rumsfeld Commission seemed to contradict that of the CIA, which he unhappily directed from 1993 to 1995. His present position with Shea and Gardner more closely aligns his interests with those of Lockheed Martin, a Shea client.

--

Stephen Hadley

Deputy National Security Adviser; Formerly: partner, Shea & Gardner; Principal, The Scowcroft Group, Inc. Hadley has been working part time on Star Wars for most of this decade. In the early 1990s he was assistant secretary of defense with responsibility for NATO defense policy, nuclear weapons and ballistic missile defense, and arms control. As an adviser to the Bush campaign last September, Hadley wrote both an impassioned plea for early deployment and the definitive white paper detailing the political roadblocks in Western Europe to ballistic missile defense, as well as the strategies for overcoming them. Those strategies are now being employed by senior members of the Bush administration. Hadley's former firm, the Washington law firm Shea & Gardner, counts Lockheed Martin among its clients.

Hadley is also a member of The Vulcan Group, an eight-member club of Cold War hawks inside the Bush administration.

--

Dov Zakheim

Comptroller, the Defense Department; Board of Advisers, Center for Security Policy; (formerly) Chief Executive Officer of SPC International Corporation SPC International specializes in political, military and economic consulting. It also manufactures a radar simulator for target acquisition now used by the U.S. Navy, the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization (BMDO) Countermeasure Group, and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).

During the 2000 presidential campaign, Zakheim served as a senior foreign policy adviser to then Gov. Bush.

In late May, after Sen. James Jeffords of Vermont announced his decision to leave the Republican Party, throwing control of the Senate to the Democrats, Zakheim announced Bush's decision to push for a $5.6 billion increase in next year's defense budget--some of this going to Star Wars.

He told reporters he is optimistic that Congress, even with Democrats controlling the Senate, will approve big spending increases for missile defense for 2002 and beyond. "I'm reasonably sanguine, and I'll tell you why," he said. "I don't think it's as partisan an issue as you might, perhaps. And that is because...it was a very different world" when President Reagan first proposed a space-based missile defense system aimed at stopping an all-out Soviet missile attack.

"We're not out there to zap the Russians; we're not out there to zap the Chinese," Zakheim said. "The context has changed completely. And I believe that there are a lot of Democrats who see this."

Missile Defense: How it's Supposed to Work

National Missile Defense as proposed by Congressional Republicans and endorsed by the Bush administration is much smaller in scope that the "Star Wars" nuclear umbrella President Reagan dreamed of in 1982. Today the goal is to stop a few incoming missiles launched by a "state of concern" such as China, integrated with a system of "theater missile defense" to protect U.S. troops based in places like Korea and the Middle East from shorter-range tactical missiles. Yet even this modest goal is difficult to achieve, despite nearly two decades of research. The systems now proposed to do the job would accomplish it in layers, shooting at the missiles soon after launch while they are hot and slow, then taking several shots while they are high in space, and perhaps taking a final swing as the warheads fall to earth in their last minute of flight.

All of this would cost, by the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization's (BMDO) own estimates, more than $100 billion over the next 20 years. Due to the complex nature of the task, missile defense cost overruns have averaged much more. Here's a brief look at the various proposals, their viability and their costs.

Ground-based interceptors: There are currently three land-based missile interceptors in development. The first is the latest version of the Patriot missile, called the Patriot Advanced Capability-3, or PAC-3. These are used against tactical or theater short- and medium-range missiles traveling up to about 1,500 miles. They are nearing production and slated for sale to such countries as Taiwan. The second land-based design is called THAAD, for "Theater High Altitude Area Defense." As with the PAC-3, THAAD missiles will be mounted on trucks, but they'll have longer range. They have been tested 11 times with mixed results and are scheduled for deployment in 2007. The third interceptor is also in testing stages. It would be deployed in fixed silos in Alaska to protect the United States against incoming intercontinental ballistic missiles--ICBMs--by shooting down the missiles while they're still in space. The system has performed spottily at best so far, failing three of four tests. Boeing is the lead systems integrator. Lockheed Martin makes the rockets. Total cost to deploy will be about $65 billion, the BMDO estimates.

Sea-based interceptor: The Aegis missile system, mounted on cruisers and destroyers, is touted as near-ready by the Bush administration. In fact the missile system will need to be adapted for use against ballistic and cruise missiles--both the radar system and the missiles themselves will need upgrading. Under development since 1996, the Navy is scheduled to receive its first upgraded ship in 2003. Total cost will likely exceed $12 billion.

Airborne laser: Mounted on a Boeing 747, this weapon could be tested and deployed in as little as two years, according to proponents (the contractors hope merely to test it by then). It will destroy missiles shortly after launch--during the "boost phase"--while they are big and slow and unable to deploy decoys. Now in research stage, the United States has paid principal contractors Lockheed Martin, TRW and Boeing about $1.1 billion so far. Although the technology is promising and presents no engineering mysteries, the system would require the aircraft to stay aloft at all times over hostile territory. Total cost to deploy is estimated at about $12 billion.

Space-based laser: This is the grand dream. With a space-based laser zapping enemy missiles soon after they're launched, the United States would rule the world (even more so). So far the concept is speculative and likely to be very expensive, its budget buried in more mundane laser projects and, doubtless, several "black" (off-the-books) research operations. The BMDO estimated "acquisition" costs at $3 billion, but that doesn't count deployment and support costs, which would be multiples of this number. The weapon is, however, built in to the assumptions of military planners looking toward 2015 and beyond.

Space-based kinetic weapons: Originally dubbed "brilliant pebbles," this system has been dormant since the early 1990s but is showing signs of revival. It would consist of several thousand orbiting satellites that would track missiles and maneuver themselves into their path to destroy them. Budget is unknown.

Space-based Infrared System: is a system of low-orbit satellites designed to track incoming warheads during their 20-minute flight through space. In development since the mid-1980s, the system is still at least 10 years and $12 billion away, despite a congressionally-mandated deployment date of 2006. The troubles involve keeping the satellites cold enough to detect slightly warm warheads after their rockets have shut down, and differentiating between warheads and decoys. Cost so far: Several billion dollars. Even Pentagon leaders aren't sure. Contractors: TRW, Boeing, Spectrum Astro, Raytheon, Motorola, GenCorp.

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Two Utah towns consider 'U.N.-free zones'

June 27, 2001
By Andrea Billups
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
http://www.washtimes.com/national/20010627-15331672.htm

Two rural Utah towns may put themselves on the national map by passing resolutions declaring U.N.-free zones.

Town councils in La Verkin, population about 2,000, and Virgin, home to nearly 400, plan to put to votes next month ordinances that declare the United Nations unwelcome within their town limits.

While left-leaning locales such as Berkeley, Calif., and Takoma Park, Md., have declared their towns nuclear-free zones, the Utah laws would be the first in the nation where towns have voted to give the United Nations the heave-ho.

La Verkin Mayor Dan Howard hopes his town's initiative will inspire other cities where residents oppose the United Nations' global agenda.

"We've been pushed far enough and long enough," Mr. Howard told the Salt Lake Tribune. "We're tired of marching to the U.N. agenda. Maybe La Verkin is the crucible to get the rest of the cities and the national government to listen."

The proposed anti-U.N. laws, set for a vote next month, are not the first to draw attention to the two towns, whose residents have distinguished themselves as freedom-loving, independence-declaring folk.

Last year, Virgin council members approved a law requiring each head of household in the town to own a gun. La Verkin council members last week approved a resolution reiterating the town's steadfast support of the Second Amendment.

Both town councils considered the U.N.-opposition measures after listening to a speech last week by the father of court-martialed Army medic Michael New about his son's treatment by the U.S. military. Mr. New refused to wear the U.N. insignia and beret while working as a member of a peacekeeping force in Macedonia. He received a bad-conduct discharge from the service but became the darling of conservatives around the nation who opposed what they described as the United Nations' one-world-government philosophy.

Mr. New's father, Daniel New, a Christian missionary who raised seven home-schooled children with his wife, said he planned to speak out about anti-U.N. ordinances in towns in Washington and New Mexico in the coming months, said reports published in the St. George Spectrum.

The proposed laws call for a ban on using town money to aid the United Nations. They also ban the U.N. symbol on town property and protect residents from "involuntary servitude" in U.N. peacekeeping details. Residents who support the United Nations must post signs that read: "United Nations work conducted here."

Noelle Higbee, Virgin town clerk, said the town's five-member council discussed the resolution at its most recent meeting but tabled it until the July 19 meeting to seek more public input. Most of the people who attended the meeting supported its passage, she said, declining to comment on her own views of the measure.

Virgin Mayor Jay Lee told those who attended Thursday's town council meeting that when he considered the ordinance, he concluded that the United Nations already had control of two of the four things needed for a global government, the Spectrum reported.

"The United Nations control finances and fuel," Mr. Lee said. "All they need to control now is food and firearms."

La Verkin Town Manager Douglas Wilson said the council supports the measure, although it has created little fanfare among the mostly Mormon residents.

"We've had one negative response from the community and two from outside," he said. "Most of the interest and publicity has been from outside of town."

A U.N. spokesman had no comment on the towns' proposed actions.

La Verkin council members, looking to celebrate a patriotic holiday appropriately, have called a special July 4 session to vote on the proposed ordinance.

La Verkin town Councilman Al Snow, who works as director of engineering at a Utah company, says he has become involved in the anti-U.N. campaign to protect the rights of his children. Others who live in the West should take note of the region's significant U.N. presence, he said.

"The U.N. is trying to get involved in too much of our lives. We live in the West and we see parks now where part of the fees that they earn goes to the U.N. because it is biosphere," he said. "Eighty-three percent of our state's land is federal land, and they have made deals with the U.N. to do certain things and have not even considered the people who live here.

"I can see our country's sovereignty slowly slipping away," he said. "I believe in the power of the people, and the people need to make sure that the U.S. Constitution is the supreme law of the land."

La Verkin, founded in 1891, is located about 45 minutes from Zion National Park. Virgin, founded in 1858, adjoins La Verkin and is located along the Virgin River.

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Security Council Re - Elects Annan for Top U.N. Post

New York Times
June 27, 2001
By REUTERS
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/world/international-un-anna.html

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan was approved unanimously by the 15-member Security Council on Wednesday for a second term as the world's top diplomat.

The 189-member General Assembly ends the election procedure with a vote scheduled for Friday.

The re-election of Annan, a 63-year-old Ghanaian who spent decades as a U.N. official, has been a forgone conclusion since he announced in March he would be a candidate for a second-five year term. His post expires on December 31 and no candidate had opposed him.

``The Security Council as a gesture of its recognition of the very excellent work that Secretary-General Kofi Annan has done has decided months ahead to recommend him for a second term,'' said Ambassador Anwarul Chowdhury of Bangladesh, the current council president.

``We regard his first term as a marvelous epitome of what a secretary general should do with this organization and how he should lead it,'' British Ambassador Jeremy Greenstock told reporters.

Annan's re-election this week is far cry from the contentious battles five years ago when the United States vetoed an African, Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt, for a second term, complaining he did not do enough for U.N. reform.

NO SERIOUS OPPOSITION

Several ballots were then held until Annan received the nod from the Security Council, whose five permanent members -- the United States, Russia, Britain, France and China-- have veto power. This year all five endorsed him early in the year, with President Bush being the first to do so.

Traditionally, the secretary-general's post rotates every five years by region and in theory it was Asia's turn this year. But once Annan announced his candidacy, no serious candidate ran against him, giving the Africa region an unprecedented 15 years in the world body's top post.

China's U.N. ambassador, Wang Yingfan, said many Asian nations believed it was their turn and he hoped an Asian would be considered in five years.

But he said the council's unanimous decision showed its appreciation for Annan's efforts to promote the United Nations in world affairs.

Annan became the seventh U.N. secretary-general on Jan. 1, 1997, a time when Washington mounted a major attack on the world body, accusing its bureaucracy as stifling and its peacekeeping operations as too expensive.

He was head of peacekeeping in 1993 -- presiding over the department's worst moments during the war in Bosnia and the genocide in Rwanda. But rarely was he blamed for the disasters. He commissioned major reports on what went wrong in both countries and apologized on behalf of the United Nations.

A member of a merchant family from the Fante ethnic group and married to a Swedish artist and lawyer, Annan's first years in office were marked by a struggle to get Washington to pay its heavy debt to the world body.

That was nearly resolved late last year when the U.N. General Assembly agreed to cut U.S. payments.

This year Annan has made the struggle against AIDS his ''personal priority.'' The vote in the Security Council comes at the end of a three-day high level conference to combat the disease.

He was born a twin, the third of five children on April 8, 1938. He spent his early childhood in Bekwai, near Kumasi, the inland capital of the pre-colonial Ashanti empire.

Educated at the University of Science and Technology in Kimas, he received a bachelor's degree from Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota, and a masters in management from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

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Rumsfeld Seeks Cut in B-1 Bombers

By Robert Burns
AP Military Writer
Wednesday, June 27, 2001; 10:48 a.m. EDT
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/aponline/20010627/aponline104800_000.htm

AP Story - http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A48572-2001Jun26?language=printer

WASHINGTON -- In a break with its Cold War past, the Pentagon is proposing a one-third reduction in the Air Force's fleet of B-1B Lancers, the sleek bomber originally built to penetrate Soviet air defenses in the event of nuclear war.

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld included the cost-saving step in the administration's amended 2002 defense budget, which is to be submitted to Congress on Wednesday.

Two senior defense officials discussed the B-1B decision Tuesday on condition of anonymity after word leaked to members of Congress whose states and districts would be affected by the cuts.

The defense officials portrayed Rumsfeld's decision as an effort to seek greater efficiencies in a military that is still struggling to make the transition from Cold War roles and missions.

Critics in Congress accused the administration of playing politics, noting that the only two B-1B bases left would be in President Bush's home state of Texas and South Dakota, the home state of Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle.

Bush called Daschle on Wednesday to thank him for scheduling a vote on the Pentagon budget, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said.

The Air Force says the B-1Bs cost more than $200 million apiece. There originally were 104; 93 remain. The last one was built in 1988.

Rumsfeld is asking Congress for authority to retire 33 of the 93 B-1Bs and consolidate the fleet at just two bases - Dyess Air Force Base in Texas and Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota.

The change would end the B-1B mission for the 116th Bomb Wing at Robins Air Force Base near Macon, Ga., and the Kansas Air National Guard's 184th Bomb Wing at McConnell Air Force Base in Wichita.

The consolidation would also affect a smaller number of bombers assigned to Mountain Home Air Force Base in Idaho.

The administration's amended 2002 budget request calls for defense spending of $329 billion, which is $18.4 billion more than Bush had requested earlier this year. Savings from reducing the B-1B fleet would be part of $1 billion in total savings in the 2002 budget amendment, officials said.

An Air Force spokeswoman, Col. Susan Strednansky, said Wednesday that reducing the fleet to 60 planes would cut operating costs and result in a more combat-ready fleet. She had no cost-saving estimate.

The B-1B decision would appear to indicate that Rumsfeld intends to keep the Air Force's fleet of B-52 bombers. The irony of that is that the B-1B originally was proposed as a replacement for the B-52, which has been flying since the Vietnam War and is expected to last another 30 years.

Members of Congress from affected states were not happy.

"This is wrong. It stinks," said Sen. Zell Miller, D-Ga. He said it could mean the elimination of 800 to 900 jobs in Georgia. The Air Force has not yet completed a $90 million complex at Robins to house the B-1s, which moved there five years ago.

Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, accused the Air Force of playing politics.

"South Dakota is the home of the majority leader of the Senate. Texas is the home of the president. I have a little feeling about this," Roberts said.

Sen. Max Cleland, D-Ga., said he learned about the proposal Tuesday in a telephone call from Air Force Secretary John Roche, who was vacationing in France.

"I couldn't believe it on policy grounds, couldn't believe the way it was handled, so secretly," he said. "There was no consultation with the Congress, no prior briefing, no transition plan, no economic plans for the communities. It looked like the Air Force was pressured into this decision by higher-ups."

The B-1B, nicknamed the "Lancer," originally was built as a long-range nuclear bomber but was converted during the 1990s to a strictly non-nuclear role.

The first version of the B-1 - called the B-1A - was canceled in 1977 after four prototype bombers were built. Flight tests of B-1As continued through 1981, when President Reagan took office and ordered production of an improved variant, the B-1B, which is the version flying today.

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Pentagon to Retire 33 Bombers

By Susanne M. Schafer
Associated Press Writer
Wednesday, June 27, 2001
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/aponline/20010627/aponline151027_000.htm

WASHINGTON -- The Air Force's B-1 bomber has been derided as a useless "hangar queen" and lauded as a vital Cold War bomber. Now, the Defense Department is poised to mothball a third of its fleet of 93 of the supersonic planes.

The move marks Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld's first major decision to cut back on a Cold War weapon as part of the Bush administration's pledge to remake the military and invest in next-generation arms.

The sleek, long-range bombers were developed to fly low and fast, penetrating Soviet radar defenses to deliver nuclear strikes. But they were beset with severe maintenance problems, cost overruns, and computer malfunctions that kept them in their hangars - and the repeated subject of General Accounting Office studies and news headlines.

President Carter tried to kill the program in 1977, but it was given new life by President Reagan in 1981. Even though the bomber was converted to a non-nuclear role in the 1990s, it did not see service during the Persian Gulf War.

An Air Force review of its bombers said the B-1's role is to "halt invading forces and attack key targets." It would hit airfields, surface-to-surface missile sites and key choke points in order to slow enemy forces.

The B-1 was used in the air campaign against Yugoslavia in 1999, along with the bat-winged B-2s and older B-52s. The B-1 was supposed to supplant the Air Force's even older fleet of B-52s. However, those long-range bombers now carry modern missiles that can be fired at great distances from their targets, lessening the threat against the planes and their crews.

With a per plane price tag of more than $200 million, paring the B-1 fleet is expected to produce significant savings. At a Pentagon briefing, comptroller Dov Zakheim said the savings would amount $165 million in 2002 alone.

Rumsfeld wants to retire 33 of the planes, 18 of them flown by Air National Guard units in Georgia and Kansas. The fleet is to be consolidated at Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota and Dyess Air Force Base in Texas.

Critics of the plan are rising up in protest, arguing the decision threatens jobs at the 116th Bomb Wing at Robins Air Force Base in central Georgia, the Kansas Air National Guard's 184th Bomber Wing at McConnell Air Force Base in Wichita and at Mountain Home Air Force Base in Idaho.

At present, there are 40 B-1s at Dyess; 26 at Ellsworth; seven at Mountain Home; and nine each at McConnell and Robins. Two are at Edwards Air Force Base in California, where they are used for testing purposes, an Air Force spokesman said.

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A Look at the B-1 Bomber

The Associated Press
Tuesday, June 26, 2001
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/aponline/20010626/aponline204808_000.htm

Facts and figures on the B-1 bomber:

-Primary function: Long-range, heavy bomber.
-Cost: More than $200 million.
-Length: 146 feet.
-Wingspan: 137 feet.
-Height: 34 feet.
-Weight: 190,000 pounds (empty).
-Speed: 900-plus mph.
-Range: Intercontinental without refueling.
-Armament: More than 80 conventional 500-pound bombs and 30 cluster bombs; can be reconfigured to carry nuclear weapons.
-Crew: Four.
-First deployed: June 1985 to Dyess Air Force Base, Texas.
-Final deployment: May 2, 1988.
-Inventory: 75 active and 18 with the Air National Guard.

Source: U.S. Air Force Fact Sheet

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U.S. Military Is on Fast Track to Sign New Recruits
Advertisements on Race Cars Provide Visibility

By Liz Clarke
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, June 27, 2001; Page A01
http://washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A48893-2001Jun26?language=printer

DOVER, Del. -- The UH-1 Huey helicopter touches down in the infield garage at Dover Downs International Speedway at 10:05 a.m., roughly three hours before the start of the MBNA 400, one of the track's two yearly NASCAR Winston Cup races.

Gen. John W. Handy alights, shakes hands with the officers there to greet him and climbs aboard a bus that shuttles him to "souvenir row" just outside Turn 4, where the U.S. Air Force "Rover" (short for Recruiting Outreach Vehicle) is parked.

Here, amid the big rigs that hawk T-shirts and caps, the Air Force is seeking its next crop of recruits in much the same manner that Pennzoil and Coors Light court consumers: by investing its advertising dollars in a stock car.

"I didn't realize he was a general until I saw the four rows of stars" on his epaulets, said Chris Craven, 16, a student at nearby Middletown High School, awestruck after meeting Handy, U.S. Air Force vice chief of staff. "It was a privilege to shake his hand."

The Air Force is not alone in using race cars to recruit young adults. The Army backs a top-fuel dragster on the National Hot Rod Association circuit. The Marines field a car in NASCAR's Busch Grand National series, and Maj. Rob Winchester of the Quantico-based Marine Corps Recruiting Command predicts all branches of the service will be involved in racing before long.

The trend was prompted by tough times on the recruiting front a few years back. The Air Force fell short of its goal in 1999, as did the Army. So, armed with new resolve and marketing advice, the military got more creative about reaching young people.

"We went through the process of eliminating from a laundry list of things, and this association with NASCAR and stock-car racing came out as a very viable opportunity," Handy said. "It wasn't rocket science. As we looked at the data, this was the fastest-growing sport in America. Today as we look at the surveys, it's still on the climb, while every other sport is not as exciting."

For the Air Force, the payback is not just exposure each time NASCAR driver Elliott Sadler circles the track in his No. 21 Ford, an Air Force logo on its nose. The bigger return is in leveraging the military's racing involvement off the track: Using race car drivers and show cars to gain entree to high schools and shopping malls, where recruiters can meet the raw material that one day might represent the next generation of fighter jet mechanics and combat engineers.

"It's just like any other company or business," noted Sam Rensi, co-owner of the Team Marines car. "They're out here to sell a product. That product is the United States Marine Corps."

While no one is declaring victory on the recruiting front just yet, the signs are so encouraging midway through the military's first full season in racing that all three branches are negotiating to return in 2002 -- at a cost of roughly $9 million among them.

Sen. John W. Warner (R-Va.), the ranking Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, calls it "money well invested."

"I've encouraged this from the get-go for the following reason: I'm the proud father of a professional driver," said Warner, whose son John, 39, races sports cars. "And believe me, I would characterize my son's profession as closely paralleling the professional men and women of the Armed Services as follows: It takes courage, it takes stamina, it takes teamwork and it takes sweat. I've been to the races. And I've seen the pit crews and the teamwork that's a part of military life. And, as you know, this is one of the fastest-growing sports in America."

Rep. John M. McHugh (R-N.Y.), chairman of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Military Personnel, said he feels there is "a certain logic" to reaching out to race fans as potential recruits.

"I don't think it's unreasonable at all," McHugh said. "Like any advertising effort, you have to measure the effectiveness of whatever you're buying over time. Most of these initiatives are so new, it's not possible to make that kind of judgment. . . . Only time will tell if it's effective, or if it needs to be reevaluated."

The Marines initially were skeptical, Winchester acknowledged, leery of the stereotype that "NASCAR was a bunch of rednecks." But after studying the demographics, the Corps climbed on board. This season, they're the primary advertiser on Rensi Motorsports' No. 25 Chevrolet -- a $1.5 million investment out of a $42 million advertising budget.

But it takes more than a target demographic to get the Marines' backing. Pro wrestling, for example, does not pass muster.

"Now there is our target audience like you wouldn't believe!" Winchester said. "But we have a little test we use, called the 'Dress Blues' test: Would I take my commanding general, put him in dress blues, and put him in the middle of that ring with those wrestlers and those scantily clad ladies? No, I would not. . . . We have to stay true to our core values: Honor, courage and commitment."

NASCAR, upon closer inspection, fit the bill.

So, with help from their advertising agency, J. Walter Thompson, the Marines developed a NASCAR ad campaign as polished as a colonel's boots. First, there is the car: a red, black and gold Chevrolet that sports the Marines' logo on its hood, "1-800-Marines" on its bumper and "Marines.com" on its sides. "Marines.com" is repeated on the pit crew's shirts. Even the 18-wheeler that hauls the car to the track serves as a billboard, with the Marines' logo, "1-800-Marines" and "The Few. The Proud." painted on each side. And each time crew member Scott Weston drives the hauler down the interstate, a passerby invariably honks his horn, pulls alongside and rolls up his sleeve to flash a Marine tattoo.

"It gives us instant fans all over the place," said Weston, himself a former Marine.

While boosting morale in the Corps is a collateral benefit, the principal mission of the NASCAR campaign is finding prospective recruits.

Take the "hero cards" the Marines give away at racetracks and schools. The oversized trading cards feature a picture of the Marines' Chevy on the front; on the back is a biography of driver David Donohue, a blurb about the Corps and a detachable, prepaid postcard that fans can mail to receive information about enlisting. "The transformation begins the second you fill out this card," it states.

Donohue is a fitting spokesman for the Corps -- articulate, clean-cut and proud of the association. "It's not like I'm representing a candy bar," said Donohue, 34. "It's something that's on such a higher level."

To better represent Team Marines, Donohue read "Semper Fi." That way, when he visits schools to talk about the perils of drunk driving, he can ably field questions about the Corps.

"They might ask, 'Do they have many mechanics in the Marine Corps?' " Donohue said. "And I say, 'Heck, yeah! What do you want to be a mechanic on? A tank? An airplane? A helicopter?' "

He is usually accompanied by a Marine recruiter, who conducts chin-up contests among the students. To collect their prizes (autographed hats and T-shirts), students must fill out a form. Like the "hero cards," it is another way of generating a lead. So is the Team Marines show car, which visits shopping malls and car shows around the country and is a magnet for curious youngsters.

The U.S. Army sees its future in drag racing, and has invested $5 million to $5.5 million in a two-pronged recruiting campaign there. Roughly half pays for advertising on the top-fuel dragster driven by Tony Schumacher. The rest underwrites the NHRA's educational program for youngsters, now known as "Y.E.S. [Youth & Education Services] Presented by the U.S. Army."

In drag racing, the cars are bigger stars than the drivers. And the Army's needle-nosed dragster, capable of going 330 mph in a quarter-mile burst, is a thing to behold. It has "ARMY" painted on the giant wing that keeps the rocket-like car from taking flight and "GOARMY.COM" on either side. The dragster is nicknamed "Sarge" in honor of the Army's non-commissioned officers. Schumacher has adopted the nickname, too. "Sarge" wears a driver's uniform with military accents (epaulets on his shirt; stripes down his pants). And he sports a crew cut.

The Army was drawn to drag racing because it is more fan-friendly than NASCAR, said Tom Tiernan, promotions and event manager for the U.S. Army Recruiting Command. Fans can roam the pits to collect autographs, gawk at the cars and listen to the ear-splitting engines. The audience also was a better match: 72 percent of its fans are male; more than one-fourth (26 percent) are 24 or younger.

According to Tiernan, more than 7,500 students have attended NHRA races as part of the Y.E.S. program this year. More than 22,000 fans have visited the Army's trackside recruiting booth, generating 10,000 leads. Of those, 131 have enlisted.

"A lot of people are competing for these kids -- not only other branches of the service, but colleges and industry," Tiernan said. "This is one thing we've added to our tool box, if you will, to help our recruiters. It's amazing how many doors a dragster will open for you."

The Air Force faces a particularly daunting task in finding and retaining enough mechanics to keep its fleet flying, particularly with commercial airlines and private industry vying for its trainees. Its goal for 2001 is to sign 38,375 recruits, of which 45 percent must be mechanics.

"You've got to have pretty sharp people and smart people to work on $20-million-plus airplanes," said senior Master Sgt. Randy Fuller, recruiting service superintendent of Air Force Motorsports.

By advertising in NASCAR's top ranks, the Winston Cup series, the Air Force hopes it has tapped a vein of mechanically minded men and women. "Where better than NASCAR?" Fuller asked. "Its fans are already interested in fast cars, crew chiefs and race car drivers. And what does the Air Force have? Fast jets, crew chiefs and pilots."

The day the partnership was announced, Sadler gave rides around Concord (N.C.) Motor Speedway to about 30 Air Force officers in a Winston Cup race car that had a passenger seat bolted in it. In March, the Air Force invited Sadler and his NASCAR team to Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada, where the crew explored the inner workings of a fighter jet. Some got to ride in an F-16.

"Once you do that, you really appreciate what they do," NASCAR team owner Eddie Wood said. "You understand that anybody that messes with the United States as far as warfare is in trouble, because they can kick your butt!" As a secondary advertiser, the Air Force has a relatively subtle presence on the No. 21 car compared with its primary sponsor, Ford Motorcraft. But Ford took a backseat for the Memorial Day weekend Coca-Cola 600 to salute the Air Force with a commemorative paint scheme featuring an F-22 Raptor -- the next generation Stealth fighter -- on the car's hood. It was a dazzling way to show race fans what the Air Force is up to. And it was a productive weekend for recruiters, who spoke to 400 to 500 race fans each day, by Fuller's count. Of those, nearly 50 said they intended to enlist.

"We know it is working, but we don't know to what magnitude," Fuller said.

The Air Force was on prominent display again at the recent NASCAR race at Dover. A pair of B1 bombers flew over the grandstands as part of the prerace pageantry, followed by four F-16 fighters from nearby Dover Air Base. As they streaked toward the front stretch, one of the fighters veered skyward, leaving the three remaining jets in "missing-man" formation -- a tribute to the late Dale Earnhardt. And 140,000 race fans stood to honor their country and NASCAR's fallen champion.

When the green flag fell to signal the start the race, cheers drowned out the engines.

"There is minimal investment in this kind of endeavor and a huge return," Handy said earlier in the day. "The bang for the buck is immeasurable."

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What Price for Military Readiness?

New York Times
June 27, 2001
By MICHAEL O'HANLON
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/06/27/opinion/27OHAN.html?searchpv=nytToday

WASHINGTON - Late last week the Bush administration announced that it would add nearly $20 billion to its original request for the 2002 defense budget. If Congress appropriates that amount, as is likely, the defense budget will increase next year by 7 percent after accounting for inflation. At a time when the United States already spends as much on defense as the world's next eight powers combined, and when the Pentagon budget remains almost 90 percent of its average Cold War level, is such a large increase really necessary?

The answer is probably yes. The United States has security interests and responsibilities on six continents. It also seeks to deter conflict rather than win war, and to suffer as few casualties as possible if deterrence fails. For these reasons, comparisons between the defense budgets of the United States and those of other countries mean little. Besides, American defense spending - at 3 percent of our gross domestic product - is not unreasonably high. As a percentage of G.D.P., it was twice as high in the Reagan years and three times as high during the 1950's and 1960's.

While today's military is hardly in such bad shape as President Bush and Vice President Cheney claimed during the presidential campaign - near- term combat readiness levels are still comparable to those of the mid-1980's - improvements are needed. Most notably, stocks of equipment purchased largely during the buildup of the 1980's need replacing.

That means the president has a big problem. The $18.4 billion he has just added to his request for 2002 is devoted almost entirely to added training, spare parts, military pay and the like. Less than $4 billion is devoted to procuring equipment, on the grounds that Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld has not yet completed his defense review and so cannot yet propose his own plan for acquiring new weaponry. However, most independent analysts think that the annual procurement budget under existing Pentagon plans will have to increase by $20 billion to $30 billion. Mr. Rumsfeld may soon be in the position of asking for another spending increase just as large as the one he has recently proposed.

Unfortunately, in the aftermath of President Bush's tax cut, there is no more money for such an increase unless surplus projections grow yet again, which seems unlikely given the prevalent signs of a slowing economy. Assuming that the president will not rescind much of his tax cut, he faces a dilemma. At a time when most Americans worry more about education, the environment, health care and the solvency of entitlement programs than foreign threats, he would be running a huge political risk to trim domestic programs in order to spend roughly half of the available federal surplus over the next decade on a defense buildup. Yet as things stand, that is precisely what he will have to do.

One way out is to find ways to economize at the Pentagon. First, as Mr. Rumsfeld realizes, the military must be more efficient: it must close more bases, privatize and outsource more defense support activities, and simplify the way it buys weapons.

The Pentagon also needs to reconsider how it determines the size of its combat forces. The best solution would be to continue to be ready for two wars on different fronts but to cease making extreme worst-case assumptions about each. The capability to fight one war on the scale of Desert Storm while engaging in a smaller simultaneous operation elsewhere should be adequate.

Finally, Mr. Rumsfeld needs to cancel or streamline some key weapons programs. For all the administration's talk about "skipping a generation" of weaponry, Mr. Rumsfeld's advisers seem to support virtually all existing procurement programs as well as some others, like large-scale missile defense and more B-2 bombers. Such plans will not fit within a reasonable budget - and not all are necessary - given America's existing technological dominance.

Critics of the latest defense spending increase should push for reorganizing and economizing at the Pentagon. The administration had better do so as well. Given the tax cut's impact on revenues, the administration simply won't have the money to buy its way to better military preparedness.

Michael O'Hanlon is a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and author of ``Defense Policy Choices for the Bush Administration.''

--------

Pentagon to Retire 33 Bombers

New York Times
June 27, 2001
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-B-1-Bomber.html

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Air Force's B-1 bomber has been derided as a useless ``hangar queen'' and lauded as a vital Cold War bomber. Now, the Defense Department is poised to mothball a third of its fleet of 93 of the supersonic planes.

The move marks Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld's first major decision to cut back on a Cold War weapon as part of the Bush administration's pledge to remake the military and invest in next-generation arms.

The sleek, long-range bombers were developed to fly low and fast, penetrating Soviet radar defenses to deliver nuclear strikes. But they were beset with severe maintenance problems, cost overruns, and computer malfunctions that kept them in their hangars -- and the repeated subject of General Accounting Office studies and news headlines.

President Carter tried to kill the program in 1977, but it was given new life by President Reagan in 1981. Even though the bomber was converted to a non-nuclear role in the 1990s, it did not see service during the Persian Gulf War.

An Air Force review of its bombers said the B-1's role is to ``halt invading forces and attack key targets.'' It would hit airfields, surface-to-surface missile sites and key choke points in order to slow enemy forces.

The B-1 was used in the air campaign against Yugoslavia in 1999, along with the bat-winged B-2s and older B-52s. The B-1 was supposed to supplant the Air Force's even older fleet of B-52s. However, those long-range bombers now carry modern missiles that can be fired at great distances from their targets, lessening the threat against the planes and their crews.

With a per plane price tag of more than $200 million, paring the B-1 fleet is expected to produce significant savings. At a Pentagon briefing, comptroller Dov Zakheim said the savings would amount $165 million in 2002 alone.

Rumsfeld wants to retire 33 of the planes, 18 of them flown by Air National Guard units in Georgia and Kansas. The fleet is to be consolidated at Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota and Dyess Air Force Base in Texas.

Critics of the plan are rising up in protest, arguing the decision threatens jobs at the 116th Bomb Wing at Robins Air Force Base in central Georgia, the Kansas Air National Guard's 184th Bomber Wing at McConnell Air Force Base in Wichita and at Mountain Home Air Force Base in Idaho.

At present, there are 40 B-1s at Dyess; 26 at Ellsworth; seven at Mountain Home; and nine each at McConnell and Robins. Two are at Edwards Air Force Base in California, where they are used for testing purposes, an Air Force spokesman said.

-------- OTHER

-------- alternative energy

SeaWest WindPower to Develop 505MW of Wind Energy in Pacific Northwest

Jun. 27, 2001
E-Wire/PR Newswire/
http://ens.lycos.com/e-wire/June01/27June0101.html

SAN DIEGO, CA, SeaWest WindPower, Inc. announced today that the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) has selected four SeaWest utility-scale wind power projects for further consideration under the BPA's March 2001 Request for Wind Project Proposals. Under the terms of the Request for Proposals, SeaWest and the BPA will negotiate to enter into a Pre-Development Agreement for each of the selected projects.

The four projects selected by the BPA were (a) two projects in Klickitat County, WA of 150MW each; (b) one project in Wasco County, OR of 105MW; and (c) one project bordering Walla Walla and Columbia Counties, WA of 100MW.

"SeaWest is very pleased to have been awarded such a significant number of megawatts from the BPA solicitation. This commitment by the BPA constitutes a very positive first step under the Bush Administration's Energy Plan. We encourage the Administration and Congress to continue supporting renewable energy and extend the Production Tax Credit", said Jan C. Paulin, President and CEO of SeaWest. "These projects provide strong evidence of the cost-effectiveness of wind energy, and when combined with effective policy, its ability to quickly respond to the energy needs of the Nation."

In addition to these 505MW, SeaWest is currently developing or building an additional 216MW in California, Oregon, Montana and Wyoming. In total, these new wind energy projects in the Western United States will provide enough clean renewable energy for over 235,000 average homes.

Under the terms of the Pre-Development Agreement, SeaWest and the BPA will cooperate and comply with certain statutes, including the Pacific Northwest Electric Power Planning Council and Conservation Act, the Washington State Environmental Act and the National Environmental Policy Act. Environmental studies will begin later this summer, including twelve-month avian use studies, migratory bird studies, and other biological and habitat assessments. Following successful completion of these analyses and compliance with these certain statutes, State and county level siting permits, and other specific requirements at the county level, SeaWest would proceed with the construction and operation of these wind energy facilities.

"The method by which we meet our energy needs matters," said Rachel Shimshak, Executive Director of the Renewable Northwest Project (RNP). "RNP supports the BPA's commitment to purchasing energy from renewable resources to help us secure a clean energy future for the region." RNP is a regional, nonprofit organization promoting wind, solar and geothermal power throughout the Pacific Northwest.

SeaWest WindPower is a leading independent developer of utility-scale wind power projects in the world. SeaWest has completed over 85 megawatts of utility-scale wind energy projects in the Foote Creek Rim area of Wyoming, in addition to nearly 600 megawatts of projects in California and Europe.

For more information, please visit www.seawestwindpower.com, or contact Dave Roberts, SeaWest Media Relations at (619) 908-3440.

SOURCE: SeaWest WindPower, Inc.
CONTACT: Dave Roberts of SeaWest WindPower, Inc., 619-908-3440/
Web site: http://www.seawestwindpower.com/

----

Solar-powered ferry enters uncharted waters

AUSTRALIA: June 27, 2001
Story by Justine Toh
REUTERS
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11355

SYDNEY - For centuries, sailing has been about how to catch the wind. Now it is becoming a question of how to catch the sun.

Australian inventor Robert Dane has designed and built the world's first solar-powered ferry, the Solar Sailor, which is driven by both solar and wind power and took top prize in this year's Australian Design Awards.

"Solar energy and boats are at the same stage as where the Wright Brothers were when they were first developing the plane," says Tom Godfrey from the Australian Design Awards.

"The global potential for such an invention as the Solar Sailor is unlimited." The Solar Sailor offers an environmentally friendly alternative to conventional diesel-powered craft and has been operating commercially on Sydney Harbour for the last six months.

It combines four sources of energy - sun, wind, battery power with stored solar energy and a back-up fuel generator.

Capable of speeds of up to 7.5 knots on wind and solar power alone, the ferry's solar wings or fibreglass solar panels act as sails while absorbing sunlight and storing solar energy in batteries which power the ferry's electric motor. "We angle our solar panels to the sun in two planes which increases the amount of energy we get from the sun by 40 percent," Dane says.

"But also we can use that same structure to do another job which is also the sail, and so these wing sails actually provide propulsion to the vessel just like a soft sail does," he adds.

The solar ferry's hybrid power system of renewable and non-renewable energy is controlled by an onboard computer.

The computer monitors the sun and the wind and adjusts the angle of the solar wings to absorb most sunlight. If wind and sun are not readily available, stored energy in the batteries can run the electric motor for up to five hours.

A fuel-powered generator is a last resort.

"If the batteries are too low, then (the computer) turns the generator on so the boat is always able to meet a commercial schedule, or get from point A to point B no matter what the conditions," Dane explains.

The Solar Sailor has minimal wash and makes no noise, making it suited to urban waterways.

"When we do use the generator, we burn probably about 90 percent of what you would burn for a conventional vessel in terms of fuel, but we only turn the generator on 10 percent of the time, so there's less greenhouse gas emissions," Dane says.

IN THE WINGS

The Solar Sailor technology had an unlikely genesis.

While reading a book on the evolution of insects, Dane was struck by how insects used their wings as solar collectors to warm themselves up before flying.

"When I read that, I realised there was a precedent in nature for what we were going to do, which was to use a solar wing to collect solar energy and also to sail," he says.

"Given that 90 percent of species on the planet are insects and 90 percent of insects fly, using their wings as solar collectors, it made sense to apply this logic to boats on Sydney Harbour where there is an abundance of wind and sun." Dane sees the solar wings technology as the future of sailing, with applications ranging from urban transport to commercial cargo ships.

He says the bigger the boat the more feasible the solar technology as the solar batteries needed to store the sun's energy and propel a bigger boat become lighter in comparison to the weight of a larger vessel.

While the cost of the technology is about 25 percent more expensive than that of a conventional motor cruiser, Dane believes the low maintenance required by the electric motor would eventually compensate for the initial price.

"We anticipate that the operator would get that back in maintenance and fuel savings within three to five years, depending on the usage," he predicts.

Dane says that transport officials in San Francisco, who are looking at expanding the city's ferry fleet, have expressed an interest in Solar Sailor and he is also targeting ferry and shipping operators in Japan and China, two major ferry markets.

Captain Cook Cruises, the largest ferry tour operator on Sydney Harbour, is leasing the first Solar Sailor and says it has been a hit among both tourists and locals.

"People are attracted to the clean technology," says the company's Allison Haworth. "It is an excellent way to utilise natural resources to provide a unique and environmentally sensitive experience of Sydney Harbour."

----

NASA readies solar-powered, high-altitude plane

USA: June 27, 2001
Story by Dan Whitcomb
REUTERS
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11344

LOS ANGELES - When U.S. space scientists send a $15 million, solar-powered experimental plane into the skies over Hawaii sometime in July, it will achieve top speeds no faster than a bicycle, powered by 14 electric motors not much stronger than hair dryers.

But NASA project scientists hope the Helios prototype - which appears to be made of a translucent wing 250-feet (76 metres) long and looking like a flying boomerang - will shatter altitude records, help them understand how to fly on Mars and ultimately pioneer a new era in satellites.

NASA has billed the unmanned, remotely piloted Helios as the first step toward an aircraft that will soar at 100,000 feet (30,500 metres) - or 20,000 feet (6,000 metres) above the current record for a propeller-drive airplane and more than three times higher than commercial jets routinely travel.

The current record of 80,000 feet (24,380 metres) was set in 1998 by Pathfinder Plus, a predecessor of the Helios built as part of the same program.

But of equal importance, NASA project manager John Del Frate said, Helios would be designed to take advantage of the solar array along its giant wingspan - which is greater than that of a Boeing 747 airliner - to eventually stay at that altitude for months at a time, essentially operating as a low-cost satellite that could land for repairs.

"For a lot of reasons this sort of airplane could be more attractive than a satellite," Del Frate said, including its ability to target areas such as busy suburbs more precisely, because it would fly near Earth instead of in space orbit.

Helios was designed by NASA and privately held AeroVironment Inc.

under the space agency's cooperative Environmental Research and Sensor Technology (EAST) program, which is intended to produce unmanned aircraft for both government and commercial applications.

LIKE FLYING ON MARS With Helios flying routinely at those altitudes, NASA project managers also plan to cram it with scientific instruments to study the depletion of the ozone layer, weather conditions and other atmospheric conditions.

"If we can develop an airplane that can fly for six months at a time, it opens the door to a whole host applications," Del Frate said "And Helios is just that airplane." Del Frate said Helios could prove much more effective at studying the weather than balloons - which are forced to follow prevailing winds - and will give them a first inkling of what flight would be like on Mars.

"It turns out that, at 100,000 feet (30,500 metres), the aerodynamic principles and conditions are very much the same as they would be on Mars," Del Frate said. "We can infer from the results of our flight test what's necessary in the design of an aircraft that might someday fly on Mars." Helios, which has never been tested in wind tunnels because it is too big to fit in one, is expected to make its first test flight from the Barking Sands Pacific Missile Range on the Hawaiian island of Kuaii on July 5.

The plane will take off from a strip of pavement next to the runway to accommodate its width.

Two weeks later, NASA will fly Helios again, hoping to then break altitude records by reaching 100,000 feet (30,500 metres).

If all goes well, NASA will likely pack the plane away to concentrate on developing a fuel-cell-based energy storage system that will allow it to stay aloft for months at a time.

----

Statkraft, Sydkraft, ABB to build hydrogen plant

NORWAY: June 27, 2001
REUTERS
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11347

OSLO - Norway's state utility Statkraft, Swedish power firm Sydkraft and Swiss-Swedish industrial group ABB have teamed up to build an emission-free plant for production and distribution of hydrogen by 2002.

The demonstation plant, which will be situated in Norway, is to be powered by wind turbines, Statkraft said in a statement.

"It is only a matter of time before hydrogen as an energy source will be a competitive alternative to fossil fuels and batteries," Statkraft's technology director Jon Brandsar said in the statement.

Brandsar said the hydrogen plant is part of a large-scale project aimed to develop the expertise and technology needed to make hydrogen a commercially viable power source.

----

Professor Shows Speedy Electric Car

New York Times
June 27, 2001
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/business/AP-Japan-Electric-Car.html?searchpv=aponline

TOKYO (AP) -- Until now, there's been only weak demand for electric cars because they're expensive, can't go far without recharging and don't exactly tear up the road.

But Hiroshi Shimizu, a professor at Japan's prestigious Keio University, is heading a research team that is developing a fully electric Kaz passenger vehicle, which is able to reach maximum speeds in excess of 186 miles an hour and travel the same distance on a single charge.

Showing off his 590 horsepower, eight-wheel creation -- which looks like a cross between a ballistic missile and a stretch limo -- Shimizu said on Wednesday that electric cars will be consumers' natural choice in the not-so-distant future.

``When you compare the number of parts and technological complexity, electric vehicles are simpler to make than their gasoline-powered counterparts,'' said Shimizu. ``Once production levels of electric cars go up, prices will come way down.''

Shimizu says the Kaz' eight wheels gives it added stability and improves handling around curves. The car -- which seats eight -- is powered by rows of 3.75-volt lithium-ion batteries stored along its underside.

Japanese automakers have been rushing to develop hybrid cars that switch back and forth automatically between a gas engine and an electric motor, but they still release more harmful emissions than purely electric autos.

To really tackle environmental problems, the world must go totally electric, said Shimizu.

``Going over to electric cars will be an enormous step toward realizing the Kyoto Protocol and other global efforts to cut carbon dioxide levels,'' he said.

But don't expect to spot the Kaz -- which is still in the prototype stage -- rolling down urban thoroughfares just yet. With a length of 6.7 yards, it's way too big for the average driveway.

``Our next step is to shorten it a bit, and then a bit more,'' said Shimizu.

-------- death penalty

Chinese Doctor Tells Of Organ Removals After Executions

By Steven Mufson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, June 27, 2001; Page A01
http://washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A49239-2001Jun26?language=printer

A Chinese man seeking political asylum in the United States says that as a physician in China, he took part in removing corneas and harvesting skin from more than 100 executed prisoners, including one who had not yet died.

Wang Guoqi, a burn specialist, said in a written statement that he also saw other doctors remove vital organs from executed prisoners and that his hospital, the Tianjin Paramilitary Police General Brigade Hospital, sold those organs for enormous profits.

China executes more prisoners a year than any other nation, and some patients from the United States and other Western countries travel there for organ transplants.

Although China's practice of harvesting body parts after executions has been widely alleged, Wang's asylum petition offers a rare, eyewitness account from someone who was involved in a large number of cases. The House International Relations Committee has invited him to testify today.

Wang, 38, came to the United States on April 30 with a tourist group and stayed on rather than returning to China as scheduled May 14. He later made contact with Harry Wu, a Chinese American who spent 19 years in prison in China for political offenses.

Wu heads the Laogai Foundation, a nonprofit organization campaigning against the collecting of organs from Chinese prisoners. He said that he went to great lengths to verify Wang's identity and that both he and congressional staff members found the doctor's statements "highly credible."

Wang's detailed statements, provided to The Washington Post by Wu's foundation, include the dates and places of executions, the names of doctors involved in organ removals and graphic descriptions of the medical procedures.

According to his statement, the police hospital often was notified in advance of multiple executions, usually around the Chinese New Year or the government's "strike hard" campaigns against crime. Wang said security officials were paid $37 a corpse to tip off the hospital about executions. Kidneys later were sold to wealthy or high-ranking people for more than $15,000 each, he said.

Wang said he worked at execution grounds and crematoriums, wearing plain clothes rather than a police uniform. In many cases, he said, prisoners were shot, then immediately placed in ambulances, where their kidneys were extracted within two minutes of death.

Afterward, he and other doctors went to crematoriums and, in a small room next to the cremation furnaces, carved skin from the arms, legs, chest and back of each corpse. The skin was stored in saline solution at low temperatures to use later on burn victims. He said he also extracted corneas and other tissue.

"After all extractable tissues and organs were taken, what remained was an ugly heap of muscles, the blood vessels still bleeding, or all viscera exposed," he said. "Then the corpse was handed to the workers at the crematorium."

Wang said his conscience has been "tortured" since an October 1995 incident in Hebei Province, where he and other doctors arrived for the execution of a man sentenced to death for robbery and murder. Before the execution, Wang administered an injection of heparin to prevent blood clotting. A policeman told the prisoner it was a tranquilizer.

An executioner then shot the prisoner, but the bullet did not immediately kill him, and he lay on the ground convulsing, Wang said. Nevertheless, the doctors were ordered to take him to the ambulance, where urologists extracted his kidneys and left the scene with the county staff and executioner. Wang and other burn surgeons remained inside the ambulance to harvest the skin. Then they threw the half-dead prisoner in a plastic bag on a flatbed truck and left, he said.

"Whatever impact I have made in the lives of burn victims and transplant patients does not excuse the unethical and immoral manner of extracting organs," Wang wrote.

He added that hospital authorities criticized him after he asked to be transferred to different work. The hospital demanded he write a self-criticism and promise not to expose its organ extraction and sale practices. In his application for political asylum, he said he fears persecution if he returns to China.

Wang said he obtained a passport under a false name for about $550 and joined a tour group to the United States. The group visited Las Vegas, the Grand Canyon, Universal Studios and Disneyland. He said there were 15 people in the group and, to the best of his knowledge, none of them returned to China as scheduled.

According to the Laogai Foundation, there were 1,769 executions and 3,167 kidney transplants in China in 1998. Wu noted that a 1984 Chinese regulation bars organ removal from condemned criminals unless they, or their families, volunteer their bodies for medical use. But he said that, in practice, prisoners and their families are not consulted and the process is rife with corruption.

In its annual report on human rights this year, the State Department said that "credible reports have alleged that organs from some executed prisoners were removed, sold, and transplanted." Chinese officials "have confirmed that executed prisoners are among the sources of organs for transplants but maintain that consent is required from prisoners or their relatives before organs are removed," the report added.

Staff writer Lena Sun contributed to this report.

--------

World Court sides with Germany on execution

USA TODAY
06/27/2001
The Associated Press
http://usatoday.com/news/world/june01/2001-06-27-worldcourt.htm

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) - The World Court ruled in favor of Germany in a case involving the U.S. execution of two German brothers in 1999, saying the United States violated international law when it failed to grant consular rights to Germans.

In a landmark ruling Wednesday, the court also pronounced that its provisional orders to national courts were legally binding, criticizing the U.S. state of Arizona for ignoring the World Court's order to delay the execution of one of the brothers.

Brothers Karl and Walter LaGrand were executed in Tucson for the 1982 murder of a 63-year-old bank manager during a botched robbery.

Germany took the United States to court, claiming the brothers had been denied representation by the German consulate that might have saved their lives. In doing so, Germany argued, the United States violated the 1963 Vienna Convention on Consular Relations.

The verdict is binding and not subject to appeal, however the World Court has no independent means to enforce compliance.

In arguments before the court last November, the United States said it had conceded the failure over the consular notification and apologized to Germany. But it said the LaGrand brothers had received a fair trial, including 15 years of appeals in various courts.

"This is an important ruling and an interesting one because it is between two allies," said international law professor Menno Kamminga of Maastricht University. "Usually they work these types of disputes out behind closed doors."

The ruling doesn't address the moral debate of the death penalty.

While the court has been asked to apply international law without moral judgment, the issue of the death penalty is an emotional one between the United States and Europe, where the death penalty has been abolished by all members of the European Union. The execution of Timothy McVeigh this month unleashed furious responses and public protest in Europe.

--------

Death Penalty Commission Proposed

New York Times
June 27, 2001
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Death-Penalty.html

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The first thing Michael Graham realized after being sent to a Louisiana prison for two murders he said he didn't commit was that he was sleeping on a dead man's bed.

``The night before, the state had executed another inmate and I was given his cell,'' said Graham. He stayed in prison for almost 14 years, represented by one lawyer who had never tried a death penalty case and another who had just graduated from law school.

Graham was released in December after his new lawyers showed prosecutors withheld evidence of his innocence. He has since moved to Roanoke, Va., and will get married in October.

``During my wasted 14 years on death row, I always hoped my nightmare would count for something. That's why I'm here today,'' Graham told the Senate Judiciary Committee. ``I ask you to listen to my story and to the many others like mine, and do what you can to fix the process.''

Whether the federal government should step in and force states to ensure that accused murderers facing the death penalty have competent lawyers was the focus of the Wednesday's hearing.

Committee chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., has offered a bill that would create a national commission to set minimum standards for death penalty lawyers. Congress would provide $50 million in grants to help start the process, and would make states forfeit part of their federal prisons grants if they don't comply.

Also, none compliant states' death penalty cases would be looked at more carefully than others, Leahy said.

When he was released, Graham said he was the 92nd innocent person released from death row since 1973.

In just the last six months, six people -- including Graham -- have been have been cleared of the crimes that sent them to death row, Leahy said.

``The goal of our bill is simple but profoundly important: to reduce the risk of mistaken executions,'' he said.

Sen. Orrin Hatch, the committee's top Republican, told Leahy that he could support providing DNA testing to death row inmates who didn't have access to it during their trials but not this part.

``No legislative scheme we enact will be able to predict, prior to trial, whether a particular lawyer will fall asleep during trial, or whether he will develop a problem with alcoholism,'' Hatch said. ``That is why our current system is designed the way it is, to evaluate after the trial whether a lawyer has provided competent representation to his or her client.''

This came as an independent bipartisan group released a report calling for a commission similar to Leahy's, adequate pay for death penalty lawyers and a more stringent standard for capital defense lawyers.

The Constitution Project's Death Penalty Initiative released 18 recommendations to help improve the death penalty system. The group included people on both sides of the death penalty debate, including former FBI Director William Sessions, death penalty lawyer David Bruck, columnist Ann Landers and Oklahoma City bombing prosecutor Beth Wilkinson.

Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols were defended by highly skilled teams of lawyers experienced in capital cases, said Wilkinson, one of the co-chairs over the report.

``Far too few capital defendants have quality defense attorneys at trial, and while not every defendant may be entitled to a dream team of defense lawyers, every defendant facing the death penalty is entitled to qualified counsel who meet minimum qualifications,'' she said.

But a national commission might be used by death penalty opponents to set standards so high that no one would qualify to defend the prisoners, who could then claim they had incompetent counsel and try to overturn their convictions, Alabama Attorney General Bill Pryor said.

And ``the entire rationale for the competency requirements in this legislation is flawed,'' Pryor added. ``After many years of review, capital murderers are executed because they are guilty, not because their counsels are incompetent.''

--------

Bill would expand access to DNA tests

06/27/2001
By Richard Willing,
USA TODAY
http://usatoday.com/news/washdc/june01/2001-06-28-dna.htm

WASHINGTON - The movement to ensure that inmates are not wrongly put to death gained momentum Wednesday when the new chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee put himself out front on the issue.

Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., opened hearings on a bill that would offer expanded legal resources and DNA testing for those facing execution.

"We have a duty to get involved - to try to contain the crisis - before an innocent person is put to death," said Leahy, who became chairman of the committee when Democrats took control of the Senate earlier this month.

Leahy's bill, dubbed the Innocence Protection Act, would set up a national commission to ensure the competency of lawyers appointed to represent poor defendants charged with capital crimes.

The bill also would expand access to DNA tests that could help clear death-row convicts. Court rules in many of the 38 states that permit the death penalty make it difficult to introduce new evidence, such as DNA tests, after the case has been decided.

Foes say the bill effectively would end the death penalty by imposing too many burdens on states.

Leahy proposed a similar bill last year, when Democrats were in the minority, but it never came to a vote.

As Judiciary chairman, Leahy can guarantee that the committee will consider the measure and likely line up enough support to bring it before the entire Senate.

"(Leahy's chairmanship) enhances our chances of passing this bill," said Rep. Ray LaHood, R-Ill., co-sponsor of a companion bill in the House of Representatives.

During the hearing, bill supporters told of court-appointed lawyers who fell asleep during trials or were intoxicated. Michael Graham, who was sentenced to death for a double murder in Louisiana, was released after witnesses recanted to his new lawyers. He said that his original appointed lawyers had no death penalty experience. "They didn't know the rules of evidence, (and) they didn't object to a jury instruction that I later learned was totally illegal under Louisiana law," Graham said.

He was released last December after 14 years on death row.

"They didn't even ask my mother to come down and testify in my behalf," Graham said.

Opponents of the bill, including Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, Leahy's predecessor as committee chairman, said the tales of bad lawyers were isolated examples. He said they ignored "hundreds of cases" in which court-appointed lawyers successfully represented poor defendants. Creating national standards for death penalty lawyers, Hatch said, would cause "further massive delays" in prosecuting death penalty cases by limiting the number of lawyers qualified to argue death penalty cases.

"The only group likely to benefit ... are those individuals intent on eliminating the death penalty altogether," Hatch said.

---------

Rwanda Plans Strict Media Bill to Avert Genocide

New York Times
June 27, 2001
By REUTERS
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/world/international-rwanda-.html

KIGALI (Reuters) - Rwanda, where a macabre propaganda campaign helped instigate genocide in 1994, plans to introduce the death penalty for journalists whose work incites similar mass killings, government officials said on Wednesday.

A Media Bill being examined by parliament's political committee stipulates life in jail for journalists who stir ethnic hatred even if they fail to provoke killings, they said.

``These articles were purposefully inserted to counter any attempt by journalists to incite the acts of genocide we witnessed in recent years,'' said local government minister Desire Nyandwi, whose ministry also handles information matters.

The ruling Rwandan Patriotic Front government has ugly memories of the power of the media to change people's beliefs.

The Hutu extremists who butchered 800,000 minority Tutsis and moderate Hutus in 1994 used radio and newspapers to incite hatred of Tutsis among ordinary members of the Hutu majority.

The extremists later fled into exile after Tutsi-led guerrillas advancing on the capital Kigali toppled the Hutu-led government and set up their own administration.

But their victory was too late to prevent the genocide, and some in the current government blame the speed of the 100-day slaughter partly on radios and newspapers which whipped up Hutus into a frenzy of fear and prejudice using insults and cartoons.

Article 88 of the Media Bill says that ``whoever, through the press, attempts to incite part of the Rwandan population to commit genocide, without any resulting effect, shall be punished by a prison sentence of 20 years to life imprisonment.''

Article 89 stipulates anyone who successfully uses the media to incite Rwandans to genocide will receive the death penalty.

Article 90 says anyone ``who attempts to use the foreign press to incite the carrying out of genocide, shall be punished by a ban on entering and staying in Rwanda.''

Nyandwi said Rwanda would not allow a repetition of calls for ethnic hate such as those on Radio-Television des Milles Collines and in publications like Kangura (Wake Up) magazine in 1994. These media outlets collapsed shortly after the genocide.

``Rwanda ... does not want to restrict the freedom of press,'' Nyandwi said.

Senior journalists said they understood the motivation behind the bill, which has yet to go to the full parliament.

``This media law should give journalists enough room for freedom of expression, but should serve as a barrier for extremist views that can plunge Rwanda into another tragedy,'' said Flavia Busingye, a journalist on a bi-monthly publication.

-------- energy

House Moves to Block Drilling

New York Times
June 27, 2001
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Congress-Spending.html?searchpv=aponline

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The House was moving to prohibit oil or gas drilling under the Great Lakes, erecting another barrier to President Bush's plans to expand domestic energy production.

The amendment to an energy and water spending bill followed votes last week to delay or block drilling in the Gulf of Mexico and national monuments, and again demonstrated the resistance President Bush faces to his energy policy, which stresses the need to boost domestic production and supply.

The House is to vote Thursday on the amendment to prohibit the Army Corps of Engineers from spending funds to issue new permits for drilling under the five lakes and connecting rivers. Supporters, led by lawmakers from Great Lakes states, were confident of winning.

``There is no amount of oil under the Great Lakes that is worth putting one-fifth of the world's fresh water at risk,'' said Rep. David Bonior, D-Mich.

``The only appropriate policy is to keep drills out of the Great Lakes,'' said Rep. Peter Hoekstra, a Michigan Republican.

Rep. Tom DeLay of Texas, the House's third-ranked Republican, voiced frustration at another regional group trying to keep energy projects away. ``This energy security obstructionism is one aspect of a broader effort to systematically choke off every promising source of domestic energy,'' he said.

Last week, in a 247-164 vote, the House approved an amendment to an Interior Department spending bill that delayed a Bush administration plan to open part of the Gulf of Mexico to oil and gas exploration.

Florida Gov. Jeb Bush opposed the offshore drilling plan put forth by his brother and almost the entire Florida delegation voted for the delay.

On the same bill the House also voted to block a Bush administration plan to pursue new oil, gas and coal development in national monuments.

Congress, in passing its general budget for fiscal year 2002, also ignored the administration's plans to make initial investments to develop the environmentally fragile Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

White House spokeswoman Claire Buchan, commenting on the House amendment, noted that Great Lakes development was not part of the White House energy proposal.

The energy and water spending bill for the fiscal year starting Oct. 1 provides $23.7 billion, including $7 billion for environmental cleanup activities, $6.7 billion for various nuclear weapons and nuclear nonproliferation programs and $4.5 billion for Army Corps of Engineers water projects.

While critics of the Army Corps say it wastes billions on unneeded or environmentally damaging projects, it is a favorite of lawmakers because of the money it brings to their districts. The funding was $73 million less than last year but $568 million more than the president requested.

Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., questioning whether the corps had ``become almost a rogue agency,'' offered one amendment to shift $10 million of its budget to another program and to reduce the federal government's share of the cost in restoring beaches. Votes were postponed until Thursday.

The House bill also includes a provision that bars the Army Corps from carrying out plans to allow for higher spring water flows on the Missouri River in an effort to help three endangered species and the upstream recreation industry.

The provision is backed by lawmakers from downstream states such as Missouri and Iowa who say the plan would devastate the barge industry, keep farm fields too wet for planing and heighten the risk of flooding.

Last year President Clinton vetoed an initial energy and water bill that banned the water flow plan. This year the ban is likely to have difficulty getting through the Senate because of the opposition of Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D.

The Bush administration, in a statement, said it supported the bill but was concerned about some of the spending levels. The overall bill is $1.2 billion above what the president asked and is the second of three spending bills taken up by the House to exceed the White House request. The $18.9 billion Interior Department bill passed last week was $800 million more than the president wanted.

Still, Democrats said the $377 million in the bill for renewable energy programs, an increase of $100 million over the budget request, wasn't enough and were asking for an additional $50 million

Separately, a $38.5 billion measure financing the Commerce, Justice and State departments in the coming fiscal year was approved by a subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee.

The Immigration and Naturalization Service, prison construction and grants to local law enforcement agencies were among the beneficiaries of a bill that would provide $1 billion more than this year and $600 million more than President Bush requested. A Clinton-era program for hiring local police officers would get a minimal cut, while the Legal Services Corp. and payments for international peacekeeping would get the same they are receiving this year.

-------- environment

Wildfire grows from prescribed Alaskan forest burn

Wednesday, June 27, 2001
By Reuters
http://enn.com/news/wire-stories/2001/06/06272001/reu_alaskafire_44130.asp

ANCHORAGE, Alaska - Firefighters and aircraft were called in and campers were evacuated after a prescribed burn near south central Alaska's Kenai Lake escaped controls and grew into a wildfire, officials said Tuesday.

The burn, set June 15, had been planned for 1,100 acres on the north shore of Kenai Lake in the Chugach National Forest, but flames were spotted outside the prescribed area early Tuesday, officials said.

The wildfire was burning on 75 to 100 acres of spruce and hemlock, Chugach forest managers said. A campground by the lake was closed and about 30 campers were evacuated, said Mona Spargo, a spokeswoman for the Forest Service.

The area, a heavily used recreation site about 60 miles south of Anchorage, is thick with ash "and burned needles falling out of the air. It's very smoky," Spargo said.

Meanwhile, Fairbanks and nearby communities were blanketed with smoke from two large wildfires in the Alaskan interior.

The Fish Creek fire south of Nenana was estimated to have consumed about 130,000 acres, said the Alaska Interagency Coordination Center, a joint federal-state office that manages Alaskan wildfires. More than 300 firefighters were deployed on that blaze, trying to protect private property and structures along its edges, the center said.

The Survey Line fire southwest of Fairbanks was estimated to have consumed about 61,500 acres, the center said. Both fires began last Wednesday, and the causes remain under investigation, the center said.

The Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation issued a health advisory for high concentrations of particulates in Fairbanks and other areas of the Tanana River Valley in interior Alaska. Air-quality levels were in the moderate to unhealthy range Tuesday, the department said.

The smoke extended as far south as Anchorage, where municipal officials also issued an advisory urging residents with lung and heart problems to remain indoors. Anchorage is about 270 miles south of Fairbanks.

As of Tuesday, 16 fires were burning in Alaska. So far this year, 266 fires statewide have burned 137,000 acres, the Alaska Interagency Coordination Center said.

----

Hidden Environmental Hazard Found in Fireworks

New York Times
June 27, 2001
By REUTERS
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/science/science-fireworks-haz.html?searchpv=reuters

LONDON (Reuters) - Just days before France's Bastille Day and the U.S. Fourth of July holidays, scientists in New Delhi warned on Wednesday that setting off fireworks during national celebrations could pollute the atmosphere.

Arun Attri and researchers at the Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi found that fireworks lit during India's Diwali celebrations last year released a burst of ozone, a greenhouse gas that is toxic to plants.

Although ozone is usually formed in the presence of sunlight and nitrogen oxide, Attri recorded high levels of the gas during Diwali, a nighttime festival of lights which is regarded by Hindus as the start of the new year.

``We discovered a surprising source of ozone which is generated in spontaneous bursts even in the absence of sunlight and nitrogen oxides -- namely, the exuberant mass of color-emitting sparklers that are lit during the Diwali festivities,'' Attri said in a report in the science journal Nature.

He and his colleagues believe the ozone is formed by ultraviolet light released by chemicals in the sparklers.

``The underlying process of ozone formulation resembles that induced by ultraviolet radiation in the stratosphere,'' Attri added.

Ozone is a secondary pollutant and heat-trapping greenhouse gas which is blamed for contributing to global warming. Scientists believe emissions of certain pollutants threaten to disrupt global climate and ecosystems by causing the earth's atmosphere to trap more of the sun's energy.

The Kyoto Protocol, an international pact to combat global warming that has been rejected by the United States, aims to cut emissions of greenhouse gases.

--------

Democrats Demand Climate Documents

New York Times
June 27, 2001
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Global-Warming.html

WASHINGTON (AP) -- House Democrats are telling the White House it must turn over to Congress any budget and planning documents related to the Bush administration's policies on global warming.

The effort is similar to pressure being brought to bear on Vice President Dick Cheney's energy task force by congressional investigators who want Cheney's records as well.

In a letter Wednesday, Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., and 35 other Democrats told White House budget director Mitch Daniels he must provide a detailed report of all spending proposals and any plan for programs related to climate change.

As part of the Foreign Operations Appropriations Act, they said, the administration is obliged to provide a ``detailed account of all federal agency obligations and expenditures for climate change programs and activities,'' along with plans for programs that might mean changes in the budget.

Bush spokesman Scott McLellan said the White House's Office of Management and Budget would ``in the very near future'' honor that obligation.

``OMB is already in the final stages of pulling together all the information and it will be on its way to Congress in short order,'' he said. ``It's a 50-page document and OMB is just crossing the t's and dotting the i's.''

The issue of climate change and human factors, such as burning fossil fuels that result in heat-trapping atmospheric greenhouse gases, have taken center stage with President Bush's decision not to regulate carbon dioxide emissions from power plants and his rejection of a 1997 climate treaty broadly accepted but not formally adopted by European allies.

Cheney also sits on a separate climate change group that Bush assembled to review the science behind the phenomenon and hear from experts, then give the president a set of recommendations. The Cabinet-level review came in March, about two weeks after Bush reversed a campaign promise to limit carbon dioxide emissions from power plants.

``There seems to be no doubt that there is global warming going on. It shows up a lot of different ways,'' Cheney told The American Spectator on April 23 for its July/August issue. ``The question is whether it's a result of centuries-long natural cycles or whether man's activity over the last 50 or 60 years has contributed to it. The jury's still out.''

That was before the National Academy of Sciences reported to the White House this month, concluding the Earth's temperature is rising, mainly because of human activities, and saying dire climate changes could occur this century.

While Cheney has called for ``a public debate'' about the intermingled energy and climate issues, congressional Democrats complained they are being kept in the dark. They said the Bush administration's budget-related report is ``overdue and should have been submitted'' with its budget proposal.

The General Accounting Office, which is the investigative arm of Congress, also has sent Cheney's lawyer a 10-page letter asserting a legal right to the lists of who met privately with his energy task force. It advised Cheney that it may step up its until-now polite requests with a formal demand for the information since it has legal authority to federal agency records under the law.

The White House team that developed the national energy plan that was released in June met with more than 130 interest groups, many of them industry-related Bush supporters who had private sessions with Cheney.

Reps. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., and John Dingell, D-Mich., in April asked the GAO to provide them with information about the task force, including what it spent. The White House has said the GAO lacks authority to ask for names of participants but agreed it is entitled to financial records.

--------

Rio Grande tapped out, barely reaching Gulf

06/27/2001
USA Today
The Associated Press
http://usatoday.com/news/nation/june01/2001-06-27-rio-grande.htm

BOCA CHICA STATE PARK, Texas (AP) - The once-mighty Rio Grande is so tapped out it doesn't even reach the Gulf of Mexico anymore.

Nine years of drought, a proliferation of choking river weeds and the drawing off of water by farms and municipalities have taken their toll on the nation's second-longest river, which serves as the boundary between Mexico and the United States.

Once a navigable waterway that swelled under bridges and made fertile an otherwise dry coastal plain, the river becomes a mere trickle before it gets to the Gulf of Mexico, disappearing about 300 feet short of its destination in a big expanse of sand.

The actual U.S.-Mexico border is now marked by a few sticks in that sand.

"My parents are still alive - Dad is 83, Mom 76. They've never heard of something like this," U.S. Border Patrol agent Reynaldo Guillen said.

Would-be illegal immigrants need only walk up the beach that used to be an estuary to reach the border, where U.S. agents are posted to stop them from coming across. Horses and cattle can wander across, meaning added work for the "tick patrol," federal agents known to lasso animals that may be carrying fever ticks that could devastate U.S. livestock.

The sandbar replaced the river mouth around March and has continued to grow. The river ends in a placid, almost crystalline pool on the Mexican side, so shallow that Mexicans have taken to wading around the water with fishing poles.

The river creates an approximately 2,000-mile border between Texas and Mexico, serving as a gateway for North American Free Trade Agreement commerce. It serves roughly 1 million people on each side of the border, with agricultural interests and municipalities drawing from the river in a complex system of 1,600 water-rights accounts.

Old photos show a river deep enough and wide enough at its mouth for ocean-going ships. At Brownsville, which is about 10 miles from the Gulf, the water was about 100 feet across decades ago. Now it is down to maybe 15 or 20 feet across. Sometimes it goes dry altogether.

Grain sorghum, cotton and corn fields - mostly on the Mexican side of the border - are wilting, in part because of the lack of irrigation water.

For several days in May, water released from the Falcon Dam just south of Laredo did not reach Matamoros, Mexico, the last city to receive Rio Grande water, causing at least 100,000 city taps to run dry. Matamoros officials are now talking about rationing.

At Falcon Dam, the water is so low that the rubble of towns that were flooded when the dam was built in 1953 has emerged from the depths. Some people on the Mexican side have even moved into the homes.

There is no talk of dredging. The official solution seems to be to await a tropical storm or hurricane, for which South Texas is long overdue. Such storms, which tend to occur during the summer and early fall, can provide enough water to fill the Rio Grande and its dams.

The situation for U.S. farmers and municipalities may improve by the end of July, when Mexico is due to release half of the nearly 500 billion gallons of river water it owes the United States under a water-sharing treaty.

One problem is the nonnative hyacinth and hydrilla, weeds that have no natural predator in the Rio Grande. Since Mexico will not agree to the chemical controls U.S. officials have suggested, machines may be brought in to tear out some of the weeds. But they are expected to grow back.

Environmentalists are concerned about the loss of the estuary, a sheltered area where saltwater mixes with fresh to create a natural nursery for shrimp and other marine life.

"As water evaporates it will get hypersaline. All the freshwater stuff will die," University of Texas marine biology professor Paul Montagna said. "It's become more like a stagnant lake than a river. Any organisms that need to use this as a nursery can't get out."

The shrimp loss already is noticeable, said Tony Reisinger, marine extension agent with Texas A&M University at Edinburg.

Environmentalists say now is the time to revamp international water-use plans to protect natural resources.

"I think it'd be a blessing if we did have a (weather) event, but in the long run we are going to have to plan," Reisinger said. "The major user of water here is agriculture. Some of the transport methods are antiquated - open canals, ditches with high evaporation rates and a lot of leakage. I think they could probably start there and save enough water."

-------- genetics

U.S. Study Hails Stem Cells' Promise

New York Times
June 27, 2001
By ROBERT PEAR
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/06/27/health/27RESE.html

WASHINGTON, June 26 - A new report from the National Institutes of Health says research on stem cells derived from both human embryos and adult tissue promises "a dazzling array" of treatments for various diseases, but for some purposes, it says, the embryonic cells are clearly superior.

The confidential study was prepared as part of the Bush administration's review of federal policy on embryonic stem cells. Officials within the administration are split over whether to prohibit federal spending on experiments using such cells, which have the ability to develop into almost any cells or tissues in the human body and thus may be useful in replacing or repairing failed tissues and organs.

The report, while emphasizing the limitless potential of embryonic stem cells, also suggests that the government should support research on adult stem cells. The adult cells "are capable of developing into more kinds of cells than previously imagined," it says, noting how blood stem cells can develop into brain cells, liver cells and heart muscle cells.

"All avenues of research should be exhaustively investigated, including both adult and embryonic sources of tissue," the report says.

The report, based in part on an exhaustive survey of scientific journals, affirms the scientific consensus, with an immense amount of detail obtained from interviews with researchers around the world. But it does not analyze ethical, legal or social issues of stem cell research.

While advocates of federal spending for such research point to the promise of new treatments or cures for ills like Parkinson's disease and diabetes, anti-abortion groups, conservatives and the Roman Catholic Church object on moral grounds to using stem cells extracted from embryos, even those at fertility clinics that might otherwise be discarded.

Some Bush advisers, led by Karl Rove, fear that federal support for the research will alienate these groups at a time when President Bush seeks to solidify his support among conservatives and Catholic voters.

Mr. Bush has said he opposes federal spending on stem cell research that involves the destruction of living human embryos. But he says he supports "promising research on stem cells from adult tissue."

The embryonic stem cells are typically derived from five-day-old embryos consisting of 200 to 250 cells, says the report, titled, "Stem Cells: Scientific Progress and Future Research Directions."

The report notes some of the limitations of research with adult cells.

"Adult stem cells are rare," the report says. "One of the advantages of using embryonic stem cells as compared with adult stem cells is that the embryonic cells have an unlimited ability to proliferate" in the laboratory.

But for this very reason, the report says, the embryonic cells carry a special risk: their ability to proliferate means that they are more likely to induce the formation of tumors, particularly benign tumors.

White House officials said they were not familiar with the institutes' study, which was requested by the secretary of health and human services, Tommy G. Thompson. Mr. Thompson was evidently planning to share the study with the White House, but an aide to Mr. Bush asked the department for details today after The New York Times obtained a copy of the document and asked the administration for comment.

Lawyers at the Department of Health and Human Services are studying whether the government can pay for experiments with embryonic stem cells in view of a law that says no federal money can be used for "the creation of a human embryo or embryos for research purposes."

Under guidelines issued by the Clinton administration last August, scientists can use federal money to conduct research with embryonic stem cells created in the course of fertility treatments. But scientists cannot use federal money to extract the stem cells from human embryos.

The National Conference of Catholic Bishops and other critics denounce this distinction as sophistry.In the process of obtaining embryonic stem cells, they say, scientists destroy the embryos, thus killing human life.

The study describes the potential uses of stem cells in treating Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, heart disease and diabetes, among other illnesses. It may soon be possible, the report says, to coax human embryonic stem cells into forming pancreatic cells that produce insulin and reverse the symptoms of diabetes.

Likewise, the report said, scientists have developed a technique to induce stem cells from mouse embryos to develop into nerve cell precursors that secrete a chemical messenger known as dopamine, and unpublished research suggests that these nerve cells may be able to eliminate symptoms of Parkinson's disease in rats.

Dopamine helps the nervous system control muscle activity. In patients with Parkinson's disease, dopamine-producing nerve cells degenerate for unknown reasons.

With heart disease, the report says, both embryonic and adult stem cells may be able to replace damaged heart heart muscle, and to develop new blood vessels that supply the heart muscle. Adult stem cells are "viable candidates for heart repair" work, the study said, but the embryonic cells have an advantage because they produce a larger supply of cells for transplants.

The report also cites evidence that embryonic stem cells can restore nerves and mobility in rats paralyzed with a condition similar to Lou Gehrig's disease.

Within three months of receiving injections of cells derived from embryonic stem cells, it said, "many of the treated rats were able to move their hind limbs and walk, albeit clumsily, while rats that did not receive cell injections remained paralyzed."

The study also examined possible treatments for heart disease. The repair of a damaged human heart, it said, would probably require millions of heart muscle cells. The capacity of embryonic stem cells to replicate in the laboratory "may give them an advantage over adult stem cells by providing large numbers of replacement cells in tissue culture for transplantation purposes," the report said. But it is unclear how adult stem cells could generate sufficient heart muscle to meet patients' demand, the study said.

-------- health

Agreement Reached on AIDS Declaration

New York Times
June 27, 2001
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-UN-AIDS-Conference.html

UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- Delegates at a U.N. AIDS conference began the final day of a historic global gathering Wednesday with an agreement on a plan to fight AIDS for years to come.

The last-minute compromise came after Western nations reluctantly agreed to drop language specifically naming groups vulnerable to the disease -- including homosexuals and prostitutes -- because it was offensive to some Muslim nations.

More than 22 million people around the world have died from AIDS and another 36 million are infected with the HIV virus that causes the disease. The disease's face has changed from that of a gay man or intravenous drug user in the United States, to that of millions of young Africans.

``My people are dying, they are dying before their time,'' the king of Swaziland, Mswati III, told members of the General Assembly Wednesday, the last day of the three-day gathering.

Despite the scope of the problem, the stigma that remains around it has made it hard for nations to reach consensus on the document.

Instead of mentioning ``men who have sex with men,'' the alternative language refers to those who are at risk due to ``sexual practice.'' Prostitutes will be referred to as those vulnerable to infection due to ``livelihood,'' and prisoners will be referred to as those made vulnerable through ``institutional location.''

Egyptian diplomat Amr Rashdy, who led the push to change the language, said his country can live with the final document. ``The outcome is fair and we accept it,'' he told The Associated Press.

But others argued that the original language would have better served those most in need of protection.

``For many, there is a reluctance to recognize groups affected by HIV/AIDS including men having sex with men; much of that reluctance is based on religion and on culture,'' said Mary Robinson, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights. ``A failure to recognize it means the numbers of those infected can only grow.''

In the end, health experts said, the tough targets set out in the document remained unchanged.

Though not legally binding, the 22-page document calls on governments to create national AIDS policies and programs to quickly reduce infection rates and protect those most at risk.

It also makes specific references to cooperation needed between public and private sectors and says that human rights and fundamental freedoms are ``essential to reduce vulnerability to HIV/AIDS.''

Other targets set forth in the document include:

-- The development of national strategies and financing plans to combat HIV/AIDS by 2003.

-- A wide range of measures to prevent AIDS -- including information and education -- should be available by 2005 in all countries.

-- The number of infants infected with HIV should be reduced by 20 percent by 2005 and by 50 percent by 2010 by providing treatment to expectant mothers who are infected with the HIV virus.

-- By 2003, countries should develop national programs to increase the availability of drugs to treat HIV infections by addressing issues such as pricing, and by 2005 they should make progress in implementing comprehensive health care programs.

Western countries also agreed to drop a reference in the document to guidelines drawn up by the U.N. AIDS agency that encourage nations to support same-sex marriage and decriminalize prostitution.

Kofi Annan, who was nominated Wednesday by the Security Council for a second term as U.N. secretary-general, says $7-10 billion is needed annually to halt AIDS and reverse its effects.

Rich Western countries and poor AIDS-afflicted African nations announced new contributions to the global AIDS fund that Annan wants. Among them, Britain pledged $200 million and Canada offered $73 million, while Uganda and Zimbabwe vowed to add $2 million and $1 million. Kenya promised a token $7,000.

The United States has already pledged $200 million and U.S. congressional leaders agreed Tuesday to add more than $1.3 billion to a global campaign against AIDS.

The bipartisan proposal would allocate $750 million to Annan's global fund and other multilateral efforts to fight AIDS, $560 million in assistance to individual countries, and $50 million for a pilot treatment program. It is expected to receive full committee approval Wednesday.

----------

Playing God in science

Tony Blankley,
June 27, 2001
http://www.washtimes.com/op-ed/20010627-743472.htm

Last week Congress held two sets of hearings on human cloning. One bill, by Reps. Dave Weldon and Bart Stupak and Sen. Sam Brownback, would ban cloning entirely. A second bill by Rep. James Greenwood would permit cloned embryos for the purpose of stem cell research and medical treatment, but would ban the insertion of such cloned cells into a womb, because that would potentially create fully cloned humans. President Bush endorsed the total ban.

There are two arguments against, and one argument for, permitting the cloning of embryo tissue. The argument for it rests on the medical values of the process. Such tissues are believed to have the ability to morph into any type of human tissues. Thus the method could replace defective heart muscles or damaged spinal nerves, or Alzheimer-damaged brain tissues. In other words, there exists the potential to relieve mankind of many of its fatal or debilitating medical conditions. If you look into the saddened eyes of a 16-year-old quadriplegic or the empty eyes of a once intelligent 60-year-old Alzheimer victim, you can't doubt the blessing of such a treatment.

But the two arguments against the cloning process also have their strength. First, is it essentially abortion? Are we crossing that bright line to permit the killing of a potential human? If we are, then embryo-cloning is a form of human sacrifice killing one so another might live and ought to be banned.

The human tissue involved in the process is, technically, about 100 cells of a blastocyst a fertilized egg that has not yet been implanted in the uterine wall. There are plenty of such discarded eggs created by couples seeking in vitro-fertilization. While reasonable people can differ, for me, this zygotic state does not rise to the level of human dignity possessed by a developing fetus; and thus, the use of such egg cells should not be considered the aborting of a human life. While pro-lifers split on this question, the majority currently believe it to be abortion.

The other argument against embryonic stem cell cloning, ably put forth by Bill Kristol in last week's Weekly Standard, is that such a process is potentially human cloning, and is thus an immoral violation of God's immutable creation of man. Mr. Kristol points out that permitting the cloning of non-implanted eggs, but banning the cloning of implanted eggs, is an unenforceable distinction. Therefore the entire process should be banned. He is right on his first point. But should we ban human cloning, which is ultimately what the issue comes down to?

I know I ought to be against human cloning and other forms of calculated genetic engineering of humanity. And yet, I find the idea intriguing, if dangerous. After all, we might be able to improve our species, although we would do so at the risk of playing God. These thoughts were triggered while I was reading Time magazine's mind-bending cover story last week on the latest scientific theory for the end of the universe.

Apparently, because the universe is expanding at an accelerating pace since its creation by a big bang 15 billion years ago, scientists can deduce that it will continue to expand more rapidly until eventually the stars will burn out, collapse upon themselves and decay, leaving a featureless, infinitely large void. That will constitute the end of the universe.

Of course, this will not happen for a trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion years, so we will still have to clean the dishes and go to work tomorrow. But if such teleological thoughts don't justify abandoning ourselves to immediate hedonism, they did trigger in my mind a broader view of those current legislative proposals to ban all human cloning and embryo stem cell research. If our distant descendants are destined for material oblivion anyway, perhaps we are being a tad hubristic when we proclaim the necessity of maintaining unchanged in perpetuity the current human genetic scheme.

Cloning is, of course, ultimately a religious judgment. But as I contemplate Christian teachings, I find ambiguity. While I am not aware of any biblical comment explicitly on cloning, I am struck by the analogous arguments about how a Christian comes into a state of grace. Some Christians, such as Calvinists, believe that we are pre-ordained to be going to heaven or hell; no good works or prayers or chosen relations to Jesus can change the outcome.

But others, especially evangelicals, believe that what we think and do on this Earth can have an effect on our soul. As the former Unitarian minister who became the great transcendentalist Ralph Waldo Emerson said: "We were made to become better." Perhaps, in the exercise of our free will, if we make ourselves physically better we may also improve our spiritual state. If we could, by genetic engineering and cloning, create a stronger human repugnance for sin, would that be a violation of God's immutable creation? Or would we, thereby, be carrying out His mysterious will? I have to see more before I will accept the anti-cloner's claim that they have God on their side.

E-mail: tonyblankley@erols.com
Tony Blankley is a columnist for The Washington Times. His column appears on Wednesdays.

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Money, Stigma Barriers to Better HIV Prevention: UN

New York Times
June 27, 2001
By REUTERS
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/health/health-money.html?searchpv=reuters

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters Health) - Advances in treatment, increases in funding and a more global focus on HIV/AIDS are providing a ``new beginning'' for global efforts to prevent the spread of the virus that causes AIDS, according to experts meeting at the United Nations Special Session on HIV/AIDS.

But they warn that progress against the pandemic will require large amounts of money as well as an end to stigmas surrounding HIV/AIDS.

``It's a new beginning because we have good examples of how prevention can work,'' said Dr. Michael Merson, former director of the Global Program on AIDS for the World Health Organization. He joined a panel of health officials and experts here Tuesday in a press conference on the future of prevention efforts worldwide.

The longtime ethical and fiscal tug of war between HIV prevention and AIDS treatment appears to be easing at last, the panelists said.

``The global consensus is now that prevention and care are part of the same continuum,'' said Dr. Helene Gayle, director of HIV prevention at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. ``Its not prevention OR care,'' she said, ``but rather that these two are inextricably bound together.''

Studies have shown that in affluent Western countries, HIV-positive patients who enter into care are much more likely to reduce risky behaviors that might pass the virus on to others. And even in poorer nations, knowing one's HIV status appears to reduce rates of unprotected sex and other means of HIV transmission--even when expensive antiretroviral drugs are not available.

But in too many countries, various factors continue to block a fuller public understanding of how individuals can protect themselves from HIV.

``One of the problems is that HIV is this kind of 'silent epidemic,' in that when people are infected there's no way to know for a long time that they are infected,'' said Ndioro Ndiaye, former Minister for Health for Senegal, one of the few African countries to have mounted a successful prevention program. ``Therefore, in our country we went through a very long period of denial, because there's no way you can identify a person who's HIV-positive ``

Social stigmas further the spread of the virus as well. In Senegal, HIV was for too long identified with prostitution. ``As a result, we could not continue doing what we had to do because a lot of our leaders started burying their heads in the sand,'' Ndiaye said. ``I think we lost a golden opportunity of more than 10 years to put interventions together.''

Those types of stigmas exist around the world, Merson said, and have too ``often engendered a moralistic or repressive response rather than sound public health action.''

The experts said that more financial resources need to be put toward HIV prevention, as well. Earlier this year, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan called on world governments to donate at least $7 billion for a global AIDS fund. So far only about a tenth of that amount has been raised.

``To put this into perspective, the US defense budget last year was $324.3 billion,'' said Phill Wilson, executive director of the African-American AIDS Institute.

``And yes, we have been 'invaded,''' he said, ``but we have been invaded by an agent that no tank, no missile, no Star Wars will protect us against. We must mount a war and we must do it immediately and $7 billion is cheap.''

Still, many on the panel remained hopeful. ``You have a UN Secretary-General providing enormous leadership, putting himself personally in charge of mobilizing an international response,'' Merson said. ``You have now many more years of experience with prevention, with excellent examples of success with prevention. It seems to me that we are in a different environment now, both in terms of the leadership against the epidemic and the approaches we have to control it.''

--------

U.N. United in AIDS Fight but Split Over What to Do

New York Times
June 27, 2001
By JENNIFER STEINHAUER
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/06/27/world/27AIDS.html

UNITED NATIONS, June 26 - While a special session of the United Nations grasps this week for a show of unity on the worldwide AIDS epidemic, participants are divided among hundreds of different views on how to approach the problem, how to spend the money promised for a global AIDS fund and even who should take part in the debate.

Those differences have played out in ways both dramatic and small during the special session, which began here on Monday.

Twenty years after AIDS first began to take its toll, officials could not agree on which groups they should even proclaim at risk. Because of objections by Islamic delegates, debate continued over whether to mention gays and prostitutes - groups long acknowledged to have been hit hardest by the disease - in the official declaration. A draft of the declaration, scheduled for a General Assembly vote on Wednesday, urges all countries to protect the rights of people with AIDS. [Page A10.]

At the outset, the special assembly was sidetracked with a lengthy and acrimonious debate over whether a representative from a gay group should be permitted to participate in a roundtable discussion (nearly a dozen assembly members opposed it, with a Malaysian delegate openly condemning the eventual decision to include the representative).

Outside the assembly's formal sessions, small conference rooms are filled with accounts of the devastation of AIDS around the world, the underlying causes of its spread in certain countries and the implied competing interests over how a proposed $9 billion pot of new money to fight AIDS globally will be distributed.

Indeed, while the official debate has centered largely around the cost of AIDS drugs and their availability, most people outside the official delegations are more concerned with addressing the basic problems that have contributed to or resulted from AIDS: a lack of even rudimentary health clinics in districts of Nepal where thousands have died from diarrhea; grandmothers in Uganda who have no income and are raising a half dozen orphans, many of them infected with AIDS; widespread starvation in various African villages where everyone who used to farm the crops is either dead or sick.

"There has been an overemphasis in this conference about drugs," said Vijay Rajkumar, a Nepal-based AIDS adviser for Save the Children. "The lack of drinking water is a much bigger priority in most countries than anti-retroviral treatments."

The wide chasm between those who write policies and pay for programs and those who have to make them work on the ground is as old as the international development field itself. But the stakes have never been as high: AIDS has killed nearly 22 million people worldwide, and infection rates are rising rapidly in many countries.

This session, the first that the United Nations has devoted to a health care subject, has made it clear that stemming AIDS requires complex and sensitive strategies that vary greatly from country to country, perhaps frustrating Secretary General Kofi Annan's plea to "combine leadership, partnership and solidarity."

What to do about Mauritania, for instance, where condoms are all but illegal? What about rural Kenya, where the practice of passing wives down from one infected brother to another is common in some villages with high illiteracy among women? "We are looking for solutions like everyone else," said Jane Mumbi Kiano, who represents the National Council of Women of Kenya. "You have all kinds of posters but some of our women cannot read or write. We are very concerned about this global fund."

The clashes among cultures became evident on the first day of the session. Besides the scuffle over the representative from the gay group, trouble immediately erupted when the official delegation began its central task of working out a universal "declaration of commitment" on the fight against AIDS. Some Islamic countries quickly objected because a draft of the declaration included gays and prostitutes in the groups of people particularly at risk for contracting the disease.

The issue created heat in the hallways and in the Café Vienna, the smoke-filled cafeteria where visitors deconstruct the day's events. A woman with a large floppy hat who identified herself simply as Pamela carried around a sign condemning the exclusion of sex workers from the proposed declaration. Equally concerned was Roma Debabrata, who runs an organization in India to stop the sexual trafficking of women and children. "The language is a problem," Ms. Debabrata said. "You must be absolutely clear, with no side tracking about who needs intervention in this draft."

And while some groups drew controversy, others seem to have been largely ignored. For instance, when most health organizations tally up those who are most at risk for AIDS, they tend to identify sexually active people as those under 49 years. Safe- sex literature tends to be written for younger people and distributed in places where they congregate. "People over 50 are not considered sexual beings," said Paul Godfred, a training adviser from HelpAge International, citing a town in Thailand where 394 people out of 4,000 with H.I.V., the virus that causes AIDS, are over 60. Mr. Godfred recalled an education session for older people in India where the group addressed asked for condoms. Confused but agreeable, the AIDS worker brought a basket the next day, and they immediately disappeared.

Death is often only the beginning of the problems for communities in some of the world's poorest nations, especially the elderly. In much of Asia and Africa, the elderly are often left to care for their grandchildren orphaned by AIDS, without the financial support of their own children, now dead, that they had counted on all their lives. Many are widowed and with few resources. Livestock is often sold to pay for medications and funerals. When children die, government subsidies to care for them end too.

AIDS has also created other public health problems that require vast resources, like widespread hunger among the rural poor. The United Nation's Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that roughly seven million agricultural workers with AIDS have died since the mid- 1980's, leaving hunger and economic devastation; in Kenya, for instance, between 49 percent and 78 percent of household income is lost when one person with AIDS dies.

Poverty in rural areas in turn leads to the spread of H.I.V., as men seek work in cities and contract the virus and women turn to prostitution themselves as a means of income. Prevention messages, an area where much AIDS money is spent, are often inconsistent with the way people live. "The rural poor are impervious to traditional prevention methods," said Gary Howe, the director of the International Fund for Agricultural Development in the East and Southern African division.

In official speeches from the delegates, there is vague language about cultural sensitivity in safe-sex literature. But the causes of the spread of AIDS are often so specific to a particular country that they defy any global solution. In Kenya, wife inheritance and genital mutilation with shared needles has been a contributing factor, said Ida B. Odinga, from that nation's League of Women Voters. Mali Bent Sidi, a women's rights worker in Mauritania, described how the sharing of needles to pierce children's ears had contributed to the spread of AIDS, as well as an almost official ban on condoms.

Many groups said that discussions about anti-retroviral drugs was highly irrelevant in many areas where there are no clinics to distribute them, no clean water or food to take them with and a lack of even basic antibiotics to stave off the less onerous infections that stem from H.I.V.

All of these concerns need money, and many of the nongovernment groups feared that the new money that world leaders have called for to stop AIDS will get sucked up by administrative costs, corrupt governments and the single area of AIDS drugs. "I fear that a major chunk of the global health fund will go to drugs," said Mr. Rajkumar, of Nepal. "And that means money for drug companies and not for infrastructure."

Using local groups familiar with the problems of their region is a long- held practice by the United Nations, but many fear that the flow of money will not come their way. "International AIDS agencies have come with money before and it all goes to overhead and not where it belongs," said Pearl Nswahili, founder of STOP AIDS in Nigeria. "This meeting has huge talk but not a lot of action.

"There are lots of documents," she added, but "we still don't have any condoms."

-------

AIDS Conference Closes With Blueprint to Protect World's Vulnerable

New York Times
June 27, 2001
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-UN-AIDS-Conference.html

UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- In the first global approach to battling a disease, the United Nations adopted an AIDS blueprint Wednesday setting tough targets for reducing infection rates and protecting the rights of people with the virus.

Under pressure from Islamic countries, Western nations were forced to back away from specifically naming the most vulnerable populations, including homosexuals and prostitutes. But experts said Wednesday that the heart of the document was in the details of the plan, not the language.

``It's not a perfect text but it is a good text, action-oriented and practical,'' said Australian Ambassador Penny Wensley, who co-chaired negotiations on the draft.

With the rap of a gavel and a round of applause, the 16-page Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS was adopted by consensus by the 189-nation General Assembly. It calls for accelerating efforts to find a cure disease that has taken more than 22 million lives.

``After today, we shall have a document setting out a clear battle plan for the war against HIV/AIDS, with clear goals and a clear timeline,'' U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Wednesday. ``It is a blueprint from which the whole of humanity can work in building a global response to a truly global challenge.''

The three-day U.N. conference brought together over 3,000 health experts, scientists, lawmakers, aid workers and people living with the virus.

First detected in homosexual men in the United States 20 years ago, the AIDS virus has exploded across the developing world, with more than 36 million people now infected. More than two-thirds of those afflicted are in Africa -- most of them women.

A last-minute compromise on the declaration came after Western nations reluctantly agreed to drop language specifically naming groups vulnerable to the disease -- including homosexuals and prostitutes -- because it was offensive to some Muslim nations.

Instead the new language refers to those who are at risk due to ``sexual practice'' and ``livelihood,'' and prisoners as those made vulnerable through ``institutional location.''

Egyptian diplomat Amr Rashdy, who led the push to change the language, said his country could live with the final document. ``The outcome is fair and we accept it,'' he told The Associated Press.

But others argued that the original language would have better served those most in need of protection.

``For many, there is a reluctance to recognize groups affected by HIV/AIDS including men having sex with men; much of that reluctance is based on religion and on culture,'' said Mary Robinson, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights. ``A failure to recognize it means the numbers of those infected can only grow.''

Annan, who has made fighting AIDS a personal priority, acknowledged that tackling the issue had exposed ``painful differences'' among nations.

``Everyone has learned something here at this conference. In some countries maybe it will take a bit longer to recognize the reality and the need to respect the rights of every individual,'' Annan said.

Dr. Paul Delay, chief of the HIV/AIDS division at the U.S. Agency for International Development, said that despite the changes, ``the targets have not been diluted.''

Though not legally binding, the document calls on governments to create AIDS policies and programs to quickly reduce infection rates and protect those most at risk.

It makes specific references to cooperation needed between public and private sectors. It also recognizes the need for greater access to affordable drugs.

Drug companies have lowered prices but African leaders at the summit said prices are still too high for most in the developing world.

Other targets set forth in the document include:

-- The development of national strategies and financing plans to combat HIV/AIDS by 2003.

-- The number of infants infected with HIV should be reduced by 20 percent by 2005 and by 50 percent by 2010 by providing treatment to expectant HIV-positive mothers.

-- By 2003, countries should develop national programs to increase the availability of drugs to treat HIV infections by addressing issues such as pricing, and by 2005 they should make progress in implementing comprehensive health care programs.

Annan, who was nominated Wednesday by the Security Council for a second term as U.N. secretary-general, says $7-10 billion is needed annually to halt AIDS and reverse its effects.

The AIDS document ``supports the establishment on an urgent basis of a global HIV/AIDS and health fund to finance an urgent and expanded response to the epidemic,'' he said.

Both wealthy and impoverished nations announced contributions for AIDS totaling about $700 million.

The United States has already pledged $200 million and leaders of a key U.S. congressional committee agreed Tuesday to push for more than $1.3 billion to a global campaign against AIDS. It is expected to receive full committee approval Wednesday.

-------- human rights

Tunisia Arrests Rights Activist

WORLD In Brief
Wednesday, June 27, 2001; Page A18
http://washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A49454-2001Jun26?language=printer

TUNIS -- Police arrested Tunisia's leading human rights activist, Sihem Ben Sedrine, for allegedly critical remarks about the country's judiciary, her husband and colleagues said.

Ben Sedrine, spokeswoman for the Tunisian National Council for Liberty and editor of the online magazine Kalima, was arrested as she arrived at Tunis airport from Britain, they said.

She was questioned by a prosecutor and charged with "spreading false information aimed at undermining the public order," said her husband, Omar Mestiri. Ben Sedrine was taken to Manouba women's prison in Tunis, the sources said. If convicted, she could face a year in prison.

Ben Sedrine allegedly told the Arabic language Mustaquila television in London on Sunday that the Tunisian government controls the judiciary.

Reuters

Hunger Striker Dies in Turkey

ISTANBUL -- A prisoner starved to death, becoming the 25th person to die in an eight-month hunger strike by Turkish prisoners and their relatives to protest a new maximum-security prison system.

Aysun Bozdogan, 25, died at a hospital in Istanbul, the prisoners' solidarity group Ozgur Tayad said. Bozdogan was a member of the outlawed Turkish Communist Party -- Marxist-Leninist and had been in Istanbul's Kartal prison since 1999.

Bozdogan was among more than 200 political prisoners who have fasted to protest their transfers from large, dormitory-style prisons to new maximum-security prisons with one- or three-person cells.

Associated Press

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U.S. Seeks Quick Berenson Appeal

New York Times
June 27, 2001
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-US-Berenson.html

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The United States will say it hopes Lori Berenson's appeal will be heard soon in Peru. It will say that humanitarian considerations should be taken into account.

What it hasn't said -- and won't say -- is that Berenson is innocent of charges that she collaborated with leftist guerrillas.

Former U.S. officials say they aren't sure she is innocent.

``I don't know how anybody could look at the evidence and arrive at a different conclusion than she knew more than she's admitting to,'' said Dennis Jett, U.S. ambassador to Lima from 1996-1999.

Publicly, U.S. officials say it is not their role to judge the innocence or guilt of Berenson, convicted for a second time last week in Peru, this time by a civilian court. The first conviction, by a military court, was for treason. The second conviction was on lesser charges.

The 31-year-old New Yorker was sentenced to 20 years after a three-judge panel found that she helped the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement plan a thwarted takeover of Congress by gathering intelligence with a top rebel commander's wife. She also was accused of renting a house that served as the group's hide-out. She was acquitted of being a member of the rebel group.

A secret military court had convicted her of treason in 1996 without giving her a chance to confront her accusers. She was sentenced to life in prison and served five years in harsh mountain prisons. That conviction was annulled in August, leading to the civilian trial.

U.S. officials repeatedly denounced the first trial as unfair and called for her case to be moved to civilian courts. But saying the trial was unfair isn't the same as saying she was innocent.

Berenson, a former secretary to a Salvadoran rebel leader, admitted living in the house but said she didn't know her roommates were guerrillas. She said she was a journalist but had never been published. When she was arrested, a guerrilla leader's wife was with her as a photographer.

Arturo Valenzuela, a former high-level National Security Council official, said the circumstances of Berenson's arrest suggest she was somehow involved with the guerrillas.

``I don't think that anyone I talked to in the U.S. government doubted that,'' he said. ``The question is whether her involvement or her association with these people really merited the kind of criminal charges that were brought against her.''

Berenson and her supporters have denounced the latest verdict, claiming it was politically motivated, that the judges were biased and that witnesses were coerced.

State Department spokesman Philip Reeker last week said the new trial was ``free of the most egregious flaws in the military trial.'' He declined further comment on the legal process, saying it would be addressed in appeals.

He also noted, ``We haven't taken a position on her guilt or innocence in the process.''

Both President Bush and Secretary of State Colin Powell discussed Berenson's case with Peruvian President-elect Alejandro Toledo during his visit Tuesday to Washington. Neither asked for a pardon or amnesty.

In addition to the rule of law, Bush asked that humanitarian factors be taken into consideration in a final resolution of the case, said White House spokeswoman Mary Ellen Countryman.

Gail Taylor, coordinator of the Committee to Free Lori Berenson, said she is not concerned that the U.S. government hasn't supported Berenson's claims of innocence.

``They're playing it cautious,'' said Taylor, whose group is led by Berenson's parents.

She said Jett and other former officials who question Berenson's innocence may be unaware of developments that support her case. ``I think maybe if he were ambassador now, he would have a different opinion about it,'' Taylor said.

For Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., Berenson's insistence on her innocence, the length of time already served in prison and the flaws in her trials are reasons enough to release her.

``She has maintained that she's innocent and in our system of government, people are innocent until they are proven guilty,'' said Maloney, who represents Berenson's parents' district.

Toledo has said he won't interfere with his country's courts and told reporters again Tuesday that he wants to let Peru's judiciary system ``do its job.''

His election followed the downfall of Peru's hardline leader Alberto Fujimori, who was accused of manipulating the courts for political purposes.

A pardon of Berenson would be unpopular in Peru, where she is seen as a foreign terrorist in a country that suffered through years of guerrilla violence.

But Cynthia McClintock, a Peru specialist at George Washington University, said Toledo could help Berenson as part of broader judicial reform to ease the country's severe anti-terrorism laws.

``He can't make it look like he's making an exception for a pretty young American woman,'' she said.

-------- imf / world bank

Genoa Steps Up G - 8 Security Measures

New York Times
June 27, 2001
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Italy-G8-Security.html

GENOA, Italy (AP) -- Wedged between the sea and the mountains, with a labyrinth of narrow streets at its center, Genoa is working to shield world leaders at next month's G-8 summit from tens of thousands of expected anti-globalization protesters.

From underwater crevices to underground passages, nothing is overlooked. The Old Port and the center's streets will be cordoned off, trash bins removed, food markets closed, manhole covers welded and access to the city limited -- when not barred all together.

``There is a real security psychosis,'' acknowledged Sergio Di Paolo, a Genoa official working on the July 20-22 summit of the world's seven wealthiest countries plus Russia.

With protest groups promising to draw at least 100,000 people, police forces are expected to total between 12,000 and 16,000, armed with tear gas, water cannon and batons. Army and navy personnel will also be on high alert.

Coast guard divers are searching underwater caves, while a satellite data will help navy patrols locate any vessel approaching the Old Port of the Mediterranean city in northern Italy. On land, sewers and subway tunnels are being searched, with at least two subway stops in the center set to be closed during the summit.

Christopher Colombus Airport will also be closed from July 19 until several hours after the meeting's end. Authorities also want to shut down the highway and two railway stations close to the city's center. But anti-G-8 groups are pushing to get the measure scrapped, claiming it would make it impossible for people to reach the city.

Authorities are also considering reintroducing checks at the border with France to control the flow of people expected to enter the country. Under the 1995 Schengen Treaty, Italy and France are among 11 European nations that agreed to scrap border controls.

The city has been divided into two security areas. The top-security Red Zone includes the center ---- with the 13th century Ducal Palace serving as the summit venue ---- as well as the Old Port waterfront, where hotels and cruise ships hosting delegates are located.

Stretching for about 6 miles, the whole area will be cordoned off by a ring of police forces and only delegates and journalists will be allowed entry, said Di Paolo. Residents will have to show a pass to get in.

No ships of any kind will be allowed into the harbor basin from July 18 until after the VIPs are out of town. Even a wooden schooner, used as a set for Roman Polanski's movie ``Pirates,'' will be removed from the harbor.

The schooner is right in front the hotel where President Bush and his delegation are expected to be housed, while the other seven heads of government will be staying aboard the ``European Vision,'' a luxury cruise ship which arrived Wednesday in the port of Genoa.

The security measures come at a high price for Genoa, a city of 650,000 residents that makes up Italy's ``industrial triangle,'' along with Milan and Turin. Many shopkeepers complain that fear of protests will keep away customers and force them to shut down instead of taking advantage of the presence of about 1,500 delegates and 5,000 journalists.

Some have installed steel shutters to protect store windows.

``Just consider we are open from 7 a.m. to 2 a.m. and July is the peak of the season,'' said Marco Nieddu, a waiter at a port-side bar which will be closed the whole week leading up to the summit.

Surrounding the Red Zone is the lower-security Yellow Zone, which stretches into the hills behind the port and includes Genoa's symbol, a medieval lighthouse called Lanterna.

The decision to set up the Yellow Zone, where people can circulate but not hold demonstrations, came after violence marred an EU summit in Sweden earlier this month.

``The division into areas is the symbol of the military occupation of the city,'' Marco Beltrami, a coordinator of the so-called White Overalls group, told The Associated Press. ``We will break the line of police and enter the Red Zone using just our bodies, carrying no weapons.''

The White Overalls are among the most extremist activists within the Genoa Social Forum, an umbrella group of 700 grass-roots organizations protesting what they say is globalization's negative impact on the poor and developing world.

While Premier Silvio Berlusconi's government says it seeks dialogue with the protesters ---- a meeting is set for Thursday between Forum representatives and the interior and foreign ministers ---- the city is getting ready for the worst-case scenario.

Hospitals have added staff for the summit weekend, while virtually only emergency cases will be admitted during the summit.

``We are coordinating with various hospitals in order to give the best possible response,'' said Giovanni Andreoli, director of the only hospital in the Yellow Zone.

-------- police / prisoners

Nine More Charged in FBI File Case

New York Times
June 27, 2001
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/nyregion/AP-FBI-Arrest.html

NEW YORK (AP) -- Nine more people, including a former FBI agent, were charged Wednesday in an alleged scheme by government employees in Nevada to sell secret FBI files to criminal suspects.

Federal prosecutors allege the employees sold information from an FBI database to former agent Michael Levin, who in turn pocketed thousands of dollars selling files to targets of criminal investigations and defense attorneys.

Levin later agreed to become a government informant and record the deals for FBI records with a wiretap, court papers say.

Along with Levin, charged were Maria Emeterio, an investigator in the Nevada Attorney General's office; and Mary Ellen Weeks, a Las Vegas court clerk.

Also named were suspects in two New York criminal cases and a defense lawyer.

According to court papers, Emeterio, 34, and Weeks, 43, beginning in 1999 sold more than 120 files for $100 each to Levin, who was working as a private investigator in Las Vegas.

Prosecutors said a judge ordered Weeks and Emeterio to appear in federal court in New York on Monday.

In New York, a defendant in a securities fraud case and his attorney were among those accused of paying for stolen information. Also charged were four people suspected of mortgage fraud.

Those defendants were released on bail or were awaiting arraignment.

Defense attorneys could not immediately be reached for comment.

Earlier this month, James Hill, 51, a manager at the FBI's Las Vegas office, was charged with selling stolen files and related offenses.

The FBI has said it is assessing damage done by the alleged thefts to investigations of organized crime, white collar crime and alien smuggling.

-------- spying

Jury Convicts Army Officer Of Espionage For Soviets

By Sue Anne Pressley
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, June 27, 2001; Page A09
http://washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A47395-2001Jun26?language=printer

MIAMI, June 26 -- A retired Army intelligence chief described as the highest-ranking U.S. military officer ever charged with espionage was quickly convicted today of selling military secrets to the Soviet Union for 25 years during the Cold War.

A federal jury in Tampa deliberated two hours before finding George Trofimoff, 74, a retired Army Reserve colonel, guilty of one count of conspiracy to commit espionage. Trofimoff, who showed no reaction to the verdict, could be sentenced to life in prison.

Foreman Mark King told reporters that jurors agreed Trofimoff was guilty after watching him describe his spying career on an undercover videotape.

Trofimoff, a retiree who had been working as a bagger at a Melbourne, Fla., grocery store, was arrested last year at a Tampa hotel at a meeting with an FBI agent who posed as a Russian official.

During the three-week trial, prosecutors said that Trofimoff was one of the busiest and most productive spies of the Cold War, passing on to the Soviets what the United States knew about Soviet military capabilities and preparedness.

"George Trofimoff was not an accidental spy. He wasn't casual and he wasn't a sloppy spy. In a very real sense, he was the perfect spy," Assistant U.S. Attorney Laura Ingersoll said in closing arguments Monday.

As chief of the Joint Interrogation Center in Nuremberg, Germany, from 1969 to 1994, Trofimoff was able to take home more than 50,000 pages of classified documents. He photocopied the material in his basement and sold it for more than $300,000 to the KGB, the Soviet intelligence agency. Prosecutors said Trofimoff, who was born in Germany to Russian emigrants, was recruited and assisted by a childhood friend, Igor Susemihl, a high-ranking priest of the Russian Orthodox Church who also worked for the KGB.

Trofimoff and Susemihl, who died in 1999, were arrested for spying by the German government in 1994, but the charges were dropped because that country's statute of limitations on espionage had expired. There is no similar limit to espionage charges in the United States and federal authorities soon took up the case after Trofimoff retired and moved to an exclusive military retirement community in Florida.

Daniel Hernandez, Trofimoff's attorney, said that Trofimoff, whom he termed a patriot, "categorically" denied ever having worked as a spy against the U.S. government. He contended that Trofimoff, who has been married five times, merely pretended to be a Russian spy with the undercover agent because he desperately needed the money the man was willing to pay.

Taking the stand last week, Trofimoff said indignantly that he would never have helped the Communists because he hated them with "a passion.

"We could never forgive them for what they did to our families and to the people of Russia," he said.

But several jurors laughed when Trofimoff said it was only a coincidence that he could identify several Soviet spies when the undercover agent showed him photographs during a meeting.

Earlier, a former KGB general had testified for the prosecution that he met with Trofimoff twice during the 1970s to discuss what kind of information the Soviets wanted. The ex-general, Oleg Kalugin, one of the highest-ranking former KGB officials to testify in a U.S. trial, said he knew Trofimoff by his code name, "Markiz."

"I had no reason to doubt his integrity and honesty as a Soviet agent," said Kalugin, who now lives in the United States.

----

Russian Calls Imprisoned American a Spy

June 27, 2001
By THE NEW YORK TIMES
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/06/27/world/27RUSS.html

Russia says it may charge American http://www.washtimes.com/world/20010627-584470.htm

MOSCOW, June 26 - An American student serving a one-year sentence in Russia on a drug conviction faced fresh difficulties today, after a Russian scientist accused the American of trying to recruit him as a spy for the United States.

The scientist, Dmitri Kouznetsov, a toxicologist who was imprisoned in the United Statese three years ago on bad check charges, accused John Edward Tobin, 24, a Fulbright scholar convicted in April for possession of marijuana, of being an F.B.I. agent. Mr. Kouznetsov said that while he was jailed in the United States in 1998, Mr. Tobin visited him, identified himself as an F.B.I. agent and offered leniency if Mr. Kouznetsov would collaborate.

Authorities in Moscow said today that they were reviewing the accusations but had not decided whether to charge Mr. Tobin with espionage.

When Mr. Tobin was arrested, investigators suggested that he was a spy, after learning he had studied at an Arizona military intelligence institute, but ultimately he was not charged with espionage.

Mr. Tobin's lawyer told the Echo Moscow radio station that the new accusations were spurious and leveled only to cloud Mr. Tobin's case ahead of an expected release. Russian officials have indicated that the American may be pardoned.

Mr. Kouznetsov could not be reached for comment.

--------

Retired Army Employee, 74, Is Found Guilty of Spying

New York Times
June 27, 2001
By CHRISTOPHER MARQUIS
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/06/27/national/27SPY.html

WASHINGTON, June 26 - A federal court jury in Florida today convicted a retired civilian employee of the Army of spying for the Soviet Union and then Russia over at least 25 years.

The Army employee, George Trofimoff, 74, was found guilty of providing highly classified documents to Moscow from a NATO interrogation center in Nuremberg, Germany, from 1969 to 1994.

Mr. Trofimoff, a naturalized American whose parents were Russian émigrés, could be sentenced to life in prison. Sentencing is scheduled for Sept. 27.

As the verdict was read in a Tampa courtroom, Mr. Trofimoff, a balding, slightly overweight man with a military bearing, silently glanced at his weeping wife and shrugged, a prosecutor said.

His lawyer, Daniel Hernandez, said he would appeal.

Law enforcement officials said it would be difficult to assess fully the damage Mr. Trofimoff did to American and allied intelligence. He is believed to have furnished Moscow with the testimony of East bloc defectors interviewed at the center, which is administered jointly by German, British, French and American officials.

In addition, he is suspected of passing along classified materials that included Soviet and Warsaw Pact Order of Battle documents, which would have divulged American knowledge of the military structure and capabilities of the Soviet Union and its allies, the officials said.

One indication of Mr. Trofimoff's value to Soviet officials arose in the monthlong trial when Oleg Kalugin, a former K.G.B. general, testified that Mr. Trofimoff had been listed in the 1970's at the top of the K.G.B.'s list of American assets. Mr. Trofimoff was even invited to a resort for Soviet military officers as a reward for his labors, Mr. Kalugin said.

"You can gauge the significance of that information by how the K.G.B. ranked him as their No. 1 spy in terms of giving them information," said Mac Cauley, the United States attorney for the Middle District of Florida. "It was pretty vital information."

Mr. Cauley called the verdict "a great victory for our office," the product of an eight-year investigation that involved the F.B.I. and Army intelligence.

Until his arrest last June, Mr. Trofimoff had been leading a seemingly quiet retirement in a military community in Melbourne, Fla. He worked bagging groceries at a supermarket to fill his spare time, friends said.

At the time, Mr. Trofimoff's neighbors expressed disbelief at the charges. They said Mr. Trofimoff and his wife, Jutta, a beauty shop employee, had settled comfortably into the community of retired military officers.

The Tampa jury deliberated for about 90 minutes before convicting Mr. Trofimoff on a single count of espionage. The jury foreman, Mark King, later told reporters that only one vote was required for the unanimous verdict.

Mr. Trofimoff, who was born in Germany, became an American citizen in 1951, served in the Army and rose to the rank of colonel in the Army Reserve in the 1950's.

A childhood friend, Igor Vladimirovich Susemihl, became a Russian Orthodox priest and eventually the Orthodox archbishop of Vienna. The priest recruited Mr. Trofimoff into the service of the K.G.B. around 1969, after Mr. Trofimoff had settled into his position as chief of the interrogation center's United States Army element, prosecutors said.

Mr. Trofimoff began removing classified documents from his office and photographing others, passing the materials to the priest at first and, later, to other K.G.B. operatives. He received at least $300,000 for the documents, prosecutors said.

Over the years, he traveled frequently to Vienna to consult with his friend the archbishop. During Soviet rule, the Russian Orthodox Church was heavily penetrated by the K.G.B. The archbishop died in 1999.

Mr. Trofimoff, who was married five times, apparently managed to conceal his activities from his wives as well as from the American authorities. In an odd twist, he and Archbishop Susemihl were arrested by German officials on espionage charges in 1994. But the charges were dropped on a technicality.

The Americans' case against Mr. Trofimoff emerged largely from the notes of a former K.G.B. archivist, Vasili Mitrokhin, who defected to England in 1992. The notes sent investigators in search of a valued Soviet spy in Mr. Trofimoff's unit at the interrogation center.

Amid the evidence presented against Mr. Trofimoff at trial were six hours of videotaped conversations between him and an F.B.I. agent posing as a Russian diplomat working for the K.G.B. In one 1999 meeting, Mr. Trofimoff placed his hand over his heart and declared his loyalty to Moscow.

The tapes clinched the case, prosecutors said.

"He discussed exactly what he did over the years," Mr. Cauley said. "It can't get much better than that."

-------- activists

ACTION ALERT Re YUCCA MT.

Please call Capitol Switchboard: 202 224-3121 & support this amendment.
From: Lisa Gue, Policy Analyst, Public Citizen's Critical Mass Energy & Environment Program, www.citizen.org/cmep
Via: "Bill Smirnow" <smirnowb@ix.netcom.com>
Date: Wed, 27 Jun 2001 14:50:41 -0400

Rep. Berkley (D-Nevada), is offering an amendment to the Energy and Water Development Appropriations Act TODAY that would provide $500,000 to the Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board to evaluate the Department of Energy's plans for transporting nuclear waste to the proposed repository at Yucca Mountain.

CALL YOUR REPRESENTATIVE AND URGE HIM/HER TO SUPPORT THIS AMENDMENT!

Capitol Switchboard: 202 224-3121

If you live on a potential nuclear waste transport corridor, this amendment is important for the health and safety of your community!

Representative Gibbons (r) Nevada) is supporting this amendment.

More information about nuclear waste transportation issues is available on our website: www.citizen.org/cmep.

The vote is expected TODAY, probably early afternoon, so please make your calls NOW!

----

Martin Sheen Pleads Guilty

The Associated Press
Wednesday, June 27, 2001
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/aponline/20010627/aponline184832_000.htm

LOS ANGELES -- Actor Martin Sheen pleaded guilty Wednesday and was sentenced to three years probation for trespassing at an Air Force base during a protest against the United States building a missile defense system.

"If we went to trial and lost, I would have no problem (going to jail)," Sheen said. "But the 'West Wing' (producers) might have a problem with it."

Sheen, who has another year on his contract playing the U.S. president on the NBC drama, said his attorney advised him to enter the plea to a misdemeanor federal trespassing charge.

Under the plea deal, the judge also fined Sheen $500. He could have been sentenced to six months in jail and fined $5,000.

Sheen asked to donate the fine to charity.

"The U.S. government takes enough of my money," he said.

The judge denied the request.

The actor was among 22 demonstrators arraigned after the Oct. 7 protest at Vandenberg Air Force Base. The remaining defendants pleaded innocent and face trial in December.

Outside the courthouse, Sheen said he still opposes the space-based missile defense system.

"I can't think of a worse thing to inflict on the universe than nuclear weapons in outer space and all of them pointed to the Earth," he said.

----

Protest groups demand unarmed police at G8 summit

Wednesday, June 27, 2001
By Giada Zampano,
Reuters
http://enn.com/news/wire-stories/2001/06/06272001/reu_g8protesters_44136.asp

MILAN - Protest groups planning to rally at the Group of Eight summit in Genoa next month called Tuesday for police to be unarmed at demonstrations and for unrestricted access to the city by road and rail.

They said they would make their demands at a Thursday meeting on the July 20-22 summit with Italian Foreign Minister Renato Ruggiero and Interior Minister Claudio Scajola.

The ministers, eager to avoid any violence at the G8 gathering, said earlier that they set up the meeting with representatives of the Genoa Social Forum, the umbrella organization comprising around 700 groups including Greenpeace and activists urging the cancellation of poor nations' debt.

"Better late than never; this meeting is important even if it does arrive late," Vittorio Agnoletto, a Genoa Social Forum spokesman, said at a news conference in Milan.

Agnoletto said the Genoa Social Forum had three conditions for a smooth dialogue with the government: namely that police and security forces should be unarmed when on duty at demonstrations; that Italy's borders, road, and rail should remain open to activists; and adequate space should be provided for the more than 100,000 protesters expected to converge on Genoa.

Protest groups are also opposed to the so-called "yellow zone," an area a mile-and-a-half wide arching out from the old port area, where protests will be banned. The area around the old port, known as the "red zone," is where the summit will be held.

"We will not respect the 'yellow zone' because we think it's a trap," Agnoletto said. "To pick out that area is like laying down battle lines, and we don't want any battles."

Ruggiero said in Rome earlier that he wanted Thursday's meeting to look at the drawing up of a joint declaration on the big issues, such as famine and AIDS.

ITALY TO TAKE TOUGH LINE

Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi planned to travel to Genoa over the weekend to view arrangements for the summit, when President Bush will be joined by Russian President Vladimir Putin and the leaders of Japan, Germany, France, Britain and Canada.

Italy expects tens of thousands of demonstrators to descend on the Mediterranean port city and authorities are planning for possible disturbances and violence, now a familiar feature of big international meetings.

The Italian media often refer to anti-globalization groups as "the people of Seattle," recalling the first major violent confrontation at the World Trade Organization summit in 1999. Since then, riots have hit other major events in Prague, Zurich, and Quebec City. Most recently, at the European Union summit in the tranquil Swedish port of Gothenburg, police shot and injured three protesters.

While Ruggiero preached dialogue, Scajola, a member of Berlusconi's conservative Forza Italia party, laid down the law.

"The aim is to guarantee maximum tranquillity for the work of the summit to go on, security for the people of Genoa, and the possibility for demonstrations for those who want to protest peacefully," Scajola told reporters.

He gave his assurances that the government would do all it could "to guarantee law and order and would handle any violent demonstration with the maximum rigour."

Italian police and security forces often use batons to control unruly crowds, and tear gas is used on occasion. Water cannon are banned.

----

Italy govt to meet protesters to avoid G8 clashes

ITALY: June 27, 2001
Story by Steve Pagani
REUTERS
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11340

ROME - Italian ministers, intent on avoiding violence at a Group of Eight (G8) summit in Genoa next month, said yesterday they planned to meet representatives of protest groups this week to discuss a joint declaration.

Foreign Minister Renato Ruggiero and Interior Minister Claudio Scajola said they would sit down on Thursday with leaders of the Genoa Social Forum, the umbrella organisation comprising around 700 separate groups including Greenpeace and activists urging the cancellation of poor nations' debt.

"I very much hope that at Thursday's meeting we will be able to talk about how to open a dialogue on the big issues, such as famine and AIDS, in order to make some concrete contribution," Ruggiero told reporters after a meeting with Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and Scajola on the July 20-22 G8 summit.

Scajola said Berlusconi would travel to Genoa at the weekend to view arrangements on site for the summit, when U.S. President George Bush will be joined by Russian President Vladimir Putin and the leaders of Japan, Germany, France, Britain and Canada.

Ruggiero said in Luxembourg on Monday he was interested in discussing with the groups how best to draw up a common document to be presented at the Genoa meeting.

Italy expects tens of thousands of demonstrators to descend on the Mediterranean port city and the authorities are planning for possible disturbances and violence, now a familiar feature of big international meetings.

The Italian media often refer to anti-globalisation groups as "the people of Seattle", recalling the first major violent confrontation at the World Trade Organisation summit in 1999.

Since then, riots have hit other major events in Prague, Zurich, Quebec City and most recently at the European Union summit in the tranquil Swedish port of Gothenburg, where police shot and injured three protesters.

Genoa Social Forum spokesman Vittorio Agnoletto told Reuters they would respond to the ministers' proposals later yesterday. HARD LINE While Ruggiero has for weeks been emphasising the open road to dialogue, Scajola, a member of Berlusconi's conservative Forza Italia party, yesterday laid down the law.

"The aim is to guarantee maximum tranquillity for the work of the summit to go on, security for the people of Genoa and the possibility for demonstrations for those who want to protest peacefully," Scajola told reporters.

He gave his assurances that the government would do all it could "to guarantee law and order and would handle any violent demonstration with the maximum rigour".

Italian police and security forces often use batons to control unruly crowds and tear gas is used on occasion. Water cannons are banned.

Other Italian leaders from the world of business and finance have also advised caution to ensure globalisation does not mean less developed nations cannot share greater economic well-being.

Bank of Italy Governor Antonio Fazio, a devout Roman Catholic, said on Monday 1.2 billion people had less than $1 dollar a day to spend and care had to be taken that globalisation did not spark political instability.

Antonio D'Amato, president of employers' body Confindustria, said his organisation would stress at the G8 summit that economic progress had to take into account the environment, food security and scientific research.

"We are against a policy of economic development which does not in any way take into account human rights and the environment," ANSA news agency quoted D'Amato as saying.

Additional reporting by Rome Online's Roberto Landucci.

--------

Jacqueline Jackson freed from prison

USA TODAY
06/27/2001
The Associated Press
http://usatoday.com/news/nation/june01/2001-06-27-jackson-vieques.htm

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) - The wife of the Rev. Jesse Jackson held up two fingers in a peace sign as she left a federal lockup Wednesday after serving a 10-day sentence for trespassing during protests on Vieques island.

Jacqueline Jackson, 57, hugged her husband after walking out of the Metropolitan Detention Center in the San Juan suburb of Guaynabo.

"This has been a very humiliating experience and a very dehumanizing experience for me," she told reporters.

On Vieques island Wednesday, the U.S. Navy continued its bombing exercises. President Bush this month ordered the Navy to withdraw from the island in 2003, but protesters say the bombing exercises should stop immediately.

Jacqueline Jackson had been expected to leave jail Thursday, but officials determined that her sentence started with her arrest June 18 rather the following day, when she refused to post $3,000 bail and was jailed.

U.S. District Court Judge Daniel Dominguez sentenced her Tuesday and gave her credit for time served.

Jackson said his wife was put in solitary confinement for refusing to bend over to be visually examined during a strip search. Bureau of Prisons officials say such searches are compulsory after inmates receive visitors, and that those who don't comply can be put in "special housing."

Jacqueline Jackson said Wednesday that such treatment is "designed to intimidate. It is designed to break our spirit."

She said she had refused some meals and taken bread and water, but did not remember for how long.

Her sentence, similar to those given to other protesters in court on Tuesday, was lighter than the 30-day and 40-day sentences handed out to protesters arrested after the last round of Navy exercises in April and May.

Among celebrities arrested then were environmental lawyer Robert Kennedy Jr., who goes to trial next month, and the Rev. Al Sharpton, who has been on hunger strike in a New York jail since receiving a 90-day sentence because it was his second civil disobedience offense.

About 70 protesters remain behind bars, said Jose Paralitici, a spokesman for the group All Puerto Rico with Vieques.

Sixty-one people have been detained since the Navy began its latest exercises June 18.

Those detained included Puerto Rican nationalist Lolita Lebron, who was jailed for 25 years for the 1954 shooting inside the U.S. Congress that wounded five lawmakers. Also arrested Tuesday was Mayor Rafael Cordero Santiago of Ponce, Puerto Rico's second largest city.

--------

Salzburg Travel Warning Issued

New York Times
June 27, 2001
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Austria-Travel-Warning.html

VIENNA, Austria (AP) -- Fearing violence from anti-globalization activists, the State Department is urging Americans to be careful if they are in Salzburg during a weekend economic conference, U.S. Embassy officials said Wednesday.

The travel warning advises U.S. citizens to ``maintain a low profile and avoid any and all demonstrations,'' warning that ``large numbers of demonstrators'' may try to disrupt meetings of the European Economic Summit.

Although Austria is part of the European Union, it temporarily reintroduced border controls at some crossings with other EU countries Monday in an attempt to bar potential troublemakers.

The precautions follow violence that accompanied protests at the recent European Union summit in Goteborg, Sweden, where street fighting and looting left more than 70 people injured.

The European Economic Summit, given by the World Economic Forum, runs from July 1-3 and will bring together political, economic and business leaders.

More than 600 participants from 44 countries are to take part, including 15 heads of state or prime ministers and 40 government ministers. The summit will address subjects like enlargement of the European Union and Russia's relationship with the rest of Europe.

--------

Martin Sheen Pleads Guilty

New York Times
June 27, 2001
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Sheen-Probation.html?searchpv=aponline

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Actor Martin Sheen pleaded guilty Wednesday and was sentenced to three years probation for trespassing at an Air Force base during a protest against the United States building a missile defense system.

``If we went to trial and lost, I would have no problem (going to jail),'' Sheen said. ``But the 'West Wing' (producers) might have a problem with it.''

Sheen, who has another year on his contract playing the U.S. president on the NBC drama, said his attorney advised him to enter the plea to a misdemeanor federal trespassing charge.

Under the plea deal, the judge also fined Sheen $500. He could have been sentenced to six months in jail and fined $5,000.

Sheen asked to donate the fine to charity.

``The U.S. government takes enough of my money,'' he said.

The judge denied the request.

The actor was among 22 demonstrators arraigned after the Oct. 7 protest at Vandenberg Air Force Base. The remaining defendants pleaded innocent and face trial in December.

Outside the courthouse, Sheen said he still opposes the space-based missile defense system.

``I can't think of a worse thing to inflict on the universe than nuclear weapons in outer space and all of them pointed to the Earth,'' he said.

--------

Night Curfew Slapped on Papua Capital

New York Times
June 27, 2001
By REUTERS
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/world/international-papua-l.html

PORT MORESBY (Reuters) - An overnight curfew was slapped on the Papua New Guinea capital on Wednesday a day after three people died during student protests against IMF-backed economic reforms

Prime Minister Sir Mekere Morauta said in a statement that the 7 p.m. to 5 a.m. (5 a.m. to 3 p.m. EDT) curfew would remain in force until July 10 in a bid to help police restore order.

Witnesses said that a crowd had gathered outside Port Moresby General Hospital and its morgue amid reports that students planned a march on parliament with the bodies of the dead.

Police said officials were talking to a second group of about 200 people who had gathered outside PNG Defense Force's Murray Barracks headquarters, apparently seeking the help of the armed forces.

It was not clear if the groups had dispersed ahead of the start of the curfew.

``I urge all city residents to remain indoors during the stated hours of the curfew,'' Morauta said in his statement.

Schools in Port Moresby remained closed on Wednesday but the palm-fringed city remained tense as a only handful of shops opened for business.

A six-day peaceful protest against IMF and World Bank-backed sell-offs of state enterprises turned bloody early on Tuesday when police fired teargas into a crowd of hundreds of students.

SLAIN STUDENTS ARE ``MARTYRS''

The clash degenerated into widespread violence when PNG's infamous ``raskols'' criminal gangs took advantage of the unrest to loot and burn shops and cars.

Australian anti-globalization activists said they would hold protests in Sydney on Thursday in support of the PNG students.

``We consider the slain PNG students as martyrs of the new global solidarity movement and we condemn the Australian government's support for the repression in PNG and the anti-people IMF reforms,'' said Nikki Ulasowski, spokeswoman for Australian anti-globalization group Resistance, in a statement.

Morauta has introduced major reforms to try to rebuild the economy of the resource-rich but impoverished South Pacific nation, which has been plagued by economic and political chaos since independence from Australia in 1975.

His reforms have been strongly backed by the IMF, the World Bank and Australia.

Boroko district police superintendent Joseph Morehari said police and military officials had been talking with leaders of the crowd outside Murray Barracks. It was unclear whether the crowd included anyone involved in Tuesday's clashes.

``It's a containable number. It's peaceful, they are sitting down outside the barracks,'' Morehari told Reuters by telephone.

Police were stationed outside the hospital, he added.

The military, rocked by a mutiny in May after reports of cuts in the armed forces, was confined to barracks during Tuesday's protests. It has so far declined to comment on the protests.

Hospital officials said three people died from gunshots to the head and body, although Australia Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said up to six people may have been killed.

``The situation in Port Moresby remains very tense after such a dramatic period of unrest,'' Downer told Australia's parliament.

A further 17 people were injured on Tuesday. Police have denied responsibility for the killings.

PNG and Australian media reports said students from the University of Papua New Guinea planned to take the bodies from the hospital's morgue and carry them in a march on the national parliament later on Wednesday. The march did not take place.

Opposition to Morauta's reforms, based on nationalist fears of foreign investment and local job losses, has grown since soldiers staged a 12-day mutiny in May over reports that the armed forces would be slashed.



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