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NUCLEAR
Fungus catches radioactive fallout
Revamping radiation standards
Taiwan Nuclear Waste Could Go to Unstable Solomon Islands
British Energy, BNFL huddle for warmth
U.S. to impose sanctions on Chinese firms over Iran
European court raps Russia over Chernobyl damages
Finnish parliament nudges nuclear project ahead
Iranian Missile May Threaten Europe
Japanese delegation to examine Fiji nuclear test veterans
Nuclear Team Arrives in North Korea
Reality is only obstacle for NMD
Panel to Screen Foreign Students
Number of nuclear malfunctions increases in Ukraine
CALIFORNIANS: HOW TO CONTACT YOUR ELECTED REPRESENTATIVES
The case for storing nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain
Studies in Favor of Indian Point's Closing List Power Effects
Regulators Want Nuke Dome Replaced
S.C. governor's platform of defiance
House to Consider Nuclear Waste Plan
House OKs Plan for Nev. Nuke Dump
House Approves Plan to Ship Nuclear Waste to Site in Nevada
House Backs Bush on Yucca Nuclear Storage Plan
Treasury Chief Warns on US Default
MILITARY
Asian Nations Sign Counterterror Pact
Smallpox Vaccine Drum Ruptures
Defense Industry Close to Home
Study: Air Force Lease Plan Costly
Deadly Church Battle in Colombia Studied
Costs of border standoff rises
Iranian Missile May Threaten Europe
Iran Denies Secret US Talks Reports
Revised Sanctions On Iraq
Arafat Says Steps Taken to Stop Bombings
Text of Arafat's Televised Address
Israeli Security Cabinet Approves Operations After Bombing
IDF massing troops near Gaza
Bomb kills 16 as Bush, Sharon meet
Arafat's Address to Palestinians
French Minister Arrives in Pakistan After Blast
Senate Intelligence Chief Complains
Officer: Afghan War 'All But Won'
Pentagon Aims to Boost Satellite Signals
POLICE / PRISONERS
Inmates Want Payment for Experiments
Feds Say Homeland Office Not Agency
F.B.I. Says Pipe-Bomb Suspect Confessed
ENERGY AND OTHER
German SolarWorld expects 25 pct growth in 2002
Officials: Keep Power Price Caps
EPA probing emissions from ethanol industry
Scientists Map Genome of Bacterium
ACTIVISTS
Yucca opponents rally on eve of likely House defeat
ACTION ALERT: Child Soldiers
-------- NUCLEAR
Fungus catches radioactive fallout
Understanding how mushrooms mop up radioactive waste suggests clean-up strategies.
8 May 2002
Nature,
by PHILIP BALL
http://www.nature.com/nsu/020506/020506-1.html
Edible mushrooms can mop up radioactive pollution because one of their pigments captures elements such as caesium, say chemists in France1. Radioactive caesium is a large component of waste from nuclear power stations.
The insight could lead to new ways of cleaning up contaminated soils to prevent pollutants getting into the food chain. Toxic and radioactive substances might stick to a kind of fly-paper covered in molecules like the pigments, for instance.
The research even raises hope that mushroom-inspired molecules might transport the radioactive isotope caesium-137 around the body and home in on specific tissues in radiotherapy.
Fungi such as the bay boletus accumulate caesium-137, along with other toxic metals such as lead and mercury. Caesium-137 has no known natural sources. It was part of the fallout from the Chernobyl accident in 1986.
Anne-Marie Albrecht-Gary of the Université Louis Pasteur in Strasbourg, France, and colleagues find that the binding of caesium to the mushroom pigment norbadione A is sensitive to the acidity of the fungus's environment. Caesium binds most strongly when norbadione A sheds two of its seven hydrogen atoms.
And norbadione A's caesium affinity seems to be self-perpetuating. Once a norbadione A molecule has grasped one caesium ion, its changed shape makes it accept another more readily.
A similar 'allosteric effect' occurs in the protein haemoglobin, which carries oxygen in the blood. If a haemoglobin molecule binds to one oxygen molecule, it becomes increasingly able to bind a second, then a third, and then a fourth. This makes haemoglobin very efficient at accumulating oxygen.
The French researchers also find that sodium and potassium interfere with norbadione A's ability to capture caesium. This information could be useful in manipulating the mushrooms' affinity for radioactive elements. But it presents an obstacle to using molecules such as norbadione A to deliver radiotherapy, because there is plenty of sodium and potassium in the bloodstream.
References Garaudée, S. et al. Allosteric effects in norbadione A. A clue for the accumulation process of 137Cs in mushrooms?. Chemical Communications, 2002, 944 - 945, (2002).
-------- australia
Revamping radiation standards
May 8, 2002
Andrew Colley,
CNET News.com
http://www.nytimes.com/cnet/CNET_0-1004-200-9864041.html
Mobile phone emission strengths may double following recommendations from Australia's radiation safety body to lift safe human exposure levels to handset radiation.
The Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency (ARPANSA) has released a new set of guidelines for electromagnetic radio emissions. The new radiation protection standard seeks to prevent harmful effects of exposure radiation, and ARPANSA's research on mobile phone emissions is aimed to set safety limits for heating of tissues around the cheek and the skull.
"You're looking at a maximum temperature rise in tissue of something between 0.06 and 0.08 degrees Celsius," said Wayne Cornelius, head of ARPANSA's EMR and Laser and Optical Radiation section. "You can look at it another way and say that a mobile phone is comparable to a pen-light torch in its output," he added.
ARPANSA said the standard is not capable of making recommendations about safe levels of exposure in relation to more harmful conditions that some members of the community fear is linked to mobile phones. The absence of conclusive and consistent evidence in its research of epidemiological links between mobile phone use and more serious diseases such as brain cancer, leukemia and lymphoma make the task impossible, according to Cornelius.
"No one can rationally set limits of exposure unless they know precisely what the mechanism for causing a harmful effect is," he said. "No harmful effects (from mobile phone exposure) have been shown to occur other than those associated with heating."
ARPANSA reported its findings to the federal government in Australia.
In the United States, the Federal Communications Commission sets limits for exposure of radio-frequency (RF) emissions from handheld mobile phones. It sets them according to Specific Absorption Rate (SAR), a measure of the body's rate of absorption of RF energy. The FCC has set the safe limit at an SAR of 1.6 watts per kg, averaged over one gram of tissue. Companies marketing phones in the United States must prove compliance with this limit with the FCC before they get approval.
ZDNet Australia's Andrew Colley reported from Sydney. News.com contributed to the report.
-------- asia
Taiwan Nuclear Waste Could Go to Unstable Solomon Islands
May 8, 2002
ENS
http://ens-news.com/ens/may2002/2002L-05-08-04.html
TAIPEI, Taiwan, Taiwan is discussing dumping low-level nuclear waste in the politically troubled Solomon Islands, according to Taiwan's Central News Agency (CNA).
Taiwan Economic Affairs Minister Lin Yi-fu said Saturday that his ministry is considering several possible sites at home and abroad, including the Solomon Islands, for the relocation of Taiwan's nuclear waste from Orchid Island, also known as Lanyu.
Lin's comments come as Solomon Islands new Prime Minister Sir Allan Kemakeza headed home from a state visit to Taiwan. Kemakeza was sworn in last month along with a cabinet of first time ministers following an ethnic militia coup in 2000 that left over 100 people dead.
Solomon Islands Prime Minister Sir Allan Kemakeza (Photo courtesy Solomon Islands People First Network)
The islands have been in turmoil for three years. Ethnic conflict gave rise to political crisis, a breakdown in law and order and a collapse of the economy. Donor countries such as Australia and New Zealand are reluctant to give their taxpayers' money to the Solomons in the form of aid until stability is achieved.
Taiwan Economic Affairs Minister Lin said that sites in Russia, Mainland China, North Korea and the Solomon Islands are among the options under discussion for the Orchid Island waste, CNA reported.
He commented on the relocation of the Orchid Island waste in Taipei after a trip to Orchid Island, where he discussed with the Tawu tribespeople who live there the removal of Taiwan Power Company's nuclear waste.
Taipower has been storing 97,000 barrels of low-level nuclear waste on Orchid Island since 1982. It has promised to relocate the waste by the end of 2002.
Negotiations with Russia, Mainland China, North Korea and the Solomon Islands are under way, with no set timetable, he said.
The waste is now stored on Orchid Island, or Lanyu, which lies east of the southern tip of Taiwan (Photo by Sung Chih-hsiung courtesy Travel in Taiwan Taiwan Tourism Bureau)
The waste could be relocated to Wuchiu, one of the Matsu Islands near the southeastern coast of mainland China. Lin said his ministry has given relevant information and reports about Wuchiu to the Taiwan Environmental Protection Administration, which is expected to work out an environmental assessment on this location.
Taipower Chairman W.Y. Lin told CNA that even if the environmental agency can release the assessment by the end of this year, it may take at least 10 years to complete construction of the necessary facilities on Wuchiu.
The final decision will be made by a committee, which must conduct detailed discussions first.
New Zealand and Australian Foreign Ministers Phil Goff and Alexander Downer are today on their way to the Solomon Islands to determine whether the two governments will continue to give aid to the troubled island nation.
-------- britain
British Energy, BNFL huddle for warmth
REUTERS UK:
May 8, 2002
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/15857/story.htm
LONDON - Nuclear power producer British Energy confirmed yesterday that it was talking to state-controlled British Nuclear Fuels (BNFL) about a range of co-operation issues including a management contract for BNFL's Magnox power stations.
"British Energy continues to be in discussions with BNFL on a wide range of issues, including fuel service arrangements, new nuclear build, the possible operation of Magnox plant and transportation," it said in a statement after media reports on the subject at the weekend. "These discussions are ongoing."
British Energy faces weak wholesale power prices in its deregulated home market, and management of the additional stations, due for closure by 2021, would provide welcome new revenue.
UNCERTAIN FUTURE
Looking further ahead, both companies face an uncertain future as their power stations age, and as their industry remains under attack from environmental pressure groups.
Private investors have shown little enthusiasm to invest in new nuclear plant unless government backing for decommissioning liabilities is forthcoming.
In an energy review this year the government kept open the option for new nuclear build, but gave no explicit backing.
Nevertheless the government is working on plans to privatise parts of BNFL, whose fuel reprocessing business and the Magnox reactors were kept in the state sector in 1996 to ease through the privatisation of the rest of the nuclear power industry as British Energy Plc.
Analysts have speculated that a trade sale to British Energy might now be the best privatisation option for Magnox. Magnox stations generate about six percent of the UK's power using reactor rods of pure uranium metal, while most types of modern nuclear power stations use uranium oxide and can produce more electricity per plant.
Magnox plants were mainly built in the 1950s and 1960s.
There are seven Magnox plants still operating with four already closed.
Last year Britain said it would set up a national body to take on BNFL's 35 billion pounds ($51.26 billion) nuclear liabilities, including the cost of decommissioning old plants, in a move seen by analysts as a precursor to privatisation.
Relations between BNFL and British Energy have thawed since earlier this year when British Energy put on hold a move to refer a reprocessing contract dispute with BNFL to the Office of Fair Trading.
-------- china
U.S. to impose sanctions on Chinese firms over Iran
Wed May 8, 2002
By Carol Giacomo, Diplomatic Correspondent
Reuters
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20020509/wl_asia_nm/asia_104116_7
WASHINGTON - Underscoring growing concerns about Iran, the Bush administration has decided to impose new sanctions on Chinese, Armenian and Moldovan companies accused of aiding Tehran's alleged weapons of mass destruction programmes, a senior U.S. official said on Wednesday.
He told Reuters the U.S. Congress would be formally notified soon of the decision, which is being taken under the Iran Nonproliferation Act of 2000.
The sanctions are imposed because of "weapons transactions with Iran" -- part of what President George W. Bush (news - web sites) calls the "axis of evil" along with Iraq and North Korea (news - web sites) -- and to demonstrate "we're paying increased attention to the Iran Nonproliferation Act", said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
He did not disclose the names or numbers of the companies affected nor the exact nature of their activities. But he said both the number of sanctions imposed and the number of companies and individuals penalised are "going up".
The entities to be sanctioned are engaged in activities prohibited by multilateral export control lists, such as the Missile Technology Control Regime, which seeks to curb the transfer of longer-range missiles, and the Australia Group, a 33-nation nonproliferation regime that seeks to prevent the spread of chemical and biological weapons.
The official said companies and individuals in Moldova and Armenia to be sanctioned may be a "front" for Russian entities, given those countries' status as former Soviet republics.
TERRORISM LINK
Since the September 11 attacks on the United States, the administration has vowed to crack down on states developing nuclear, chemical, biological and missile technology that could be used by terrorists.
Undersecretary of State John Bolton, who oversees arms control and international security assistance, drove home that message anew this week when he told the Heritage Foundation think tank:
"America is determined to prevent the next wave of terror. States that sponsor terror and pursue WMD (weapons of mass destruction) must stop. States that renounce terror and abandon WMD can become part of our effort. But those that do not can expect to become our targets."
While the speech's main focus was Cuba, Libya and Syria, Bolton repeated the U.S. case against Iran, saying its biological weapons program "is complemented by an even more aggressive chemical warfare program, Iran's ongoing interest in nuclear weapons, and its aggressive ballistic missile research, development, and flight testing regimen."
The United States last invoked the Iran Nonproliferation Act in January 2002 when it imposed penalties on two Chinese companies and one Chinese national for the transfer to Iran since January 1999 of "sensitive equipment and technology controlled by the Australia Group."
Those penalised were Liyang Chemical Equipment, China Machinery and Electric Import and Export Company and Q.C. Chen.
Under the sanctions, in force until January 2004, the accused parties are barred from entering into contracts with the U.S. government, receiving U.S. assistance, obtaining new U.S. licences for items controlled by U.S. export regulations and buying defence and other controlled items.
According to a report this week in the Azerbaijani newspaper Yeni Musavat, the U.S. Ambassador to Armenia, John Ordway, has told Armenia it must exercise caution in its relations with Iran.
The newspaper quoted a political analyst as saying Russia, despite an apparent burgeoning friendship with the United States, is behind the Armenia-Iran partnership in part because it is unhappy about America's new presence in Central Asia as a result of its war on terrorism, centred in Afghanistan (news - web sites).
In his speech, Bolton made only scant mention of Russia and China, two nuclear powers whose alleged willingness to transfer nuclear, missile and other technology to Iran, Iraq and other states has long been a U.S. concern, prompting U.S. sanctions.
Later, answering a question, he called Russia and China "unquestionably the two largest sources of proliferant behaviour internationally" and noted the administration is discussing changes in proliferation policy with both countries.
-------- europe
European court raps Russia over Chernobyl damages
REUTERS FRANCE:
May 8, 2002
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/15867/story.htm
STRASBOURG - The European Court of Human Rights told Russia yesterday to pay damages to a man who suffered radiation poisoning while cleaning the exploded nuclear plant at Chernobyl and fought for years for the compensation awarded him.
The court said Anatoli Burdov, called up by the military to work at Chernobyl for three months after the world's worst radiation disaster in 1986, was unfairly treated because Russian social security delayed his compensation payments. Rejecting the social security service's excuse that its coffers were empty, it said that non-payment amounted to denying Burdov a fair trial. "The Court considered that lack of funds could not justify such an omission," it said in a statement.
It ruled Burdov should be paid 3,000 euros ($2,750) in damages for the delays in the payments, which were finally made after he took his case to the Strasbourg-based court. Burdov was called up on October 1, 1986, five months after Chernobyl's reactor four exploded. Chernobyl, located in what is now the independent country of Ukraine, belonged at the time to the Soviet Union and many Russians worked there.
Burdov, a Russian whose local social security office in Shakhty in southwestern Russia is responsible for compensating him, was exposed to heavy radioactive emissions during the clean-up operations, the court said.
He was awarded compensation in 1991, when his failing health was linked to Chernobyl, but the Shakhty social security office failed to pay anything for years.
Burdov won two court cases against the social security office in 1997 and 1999, but the office said it could not pay the sum because it lacked the funds. He won a third case in March 2000 and promptly filed suit with the European Court.
---
Finnish parliament nudges nuclear project ahead
REUTERS FINLAND:
May 8, 2002
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/15866/story.htm
HELSINKI - A key committee of the Finnish parliament yesterday supported a government proposal to allow industry to build a new nuclear power plant, paving the way for a final vote by the full house later this month.
The commerce committee voted 9-6 in favour of recommending the government's proposal to the legislature, with two committee members abstaining, a parliamentary official said.
Three members of parties represented in the country's five-party coaltion government voted with the opposition Centre Party against the proposal.
Industry has asked for permission to build a new reactor, which would be the country's first in two decades and its fifth overall. The plan goes against a trend away from nuclear power in some West European countries and has divided the nation. Parliament is scheduled to begin debating the proposal in the 200-member chamber on May 21 and could vote on it on May 24.
A new opinion poll showed yesterday that 48 percent of Finns support building more nuclear power, while 46 percent are opposed, virtually unchanged since the start of the year. The decision will come ahead of a general election next year.
-------- iran
Iranian Missile May Threaten Europe
By George Gedda
Associated Press Writer
Wednesday, May 8, 2002
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A50761-2002May8?language=printer
WASHINGTON -- Iran's Shahab-4 missile could be upgraded to reach Italy, Germany, Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Greece, a senior Bush administration official says.
The development is worrisome to U.S. officials because Iran has been viewed by the State Department as the world's most active terrorist country. President Bush has identified Iran among three "axis of evil" members, with Iraq and North Korea.
Despite the emerging capability, an Iranian attack against American allies in Europe is considered highly unlikely because most of these countries maintain normal ties with Tehran, which they believe can help moderate Iran's behavior.
Iran has been developing the missile with help from Russia and other countries. It would initially have a 1,250-mile range, but expected upgrades would give it the ability to strike NATO countries in Europe.
Older-generation Iranian missiles, including the Shahab-3, have shorter ranges and are capable of reaching Israel, Turkey and U.S. troops in Saudi Arabia.
A U.S. defense official said Tuesday the Shahab-3 has a mixed record in tests and isn't thought to be completely reliable.
Iranian Defense Minister Ali Shamkhani, quoted by Iran's state-run radio Tuesday, said Iran was taking steps to improve "the destructive power, accuracy and range" of the Shahab-3.
Iran seems increasingly confident about its military prowess. This was apparent when strains developed with Israel after Israel's interception in January of a shipment of Iranian weapons to Palestinian areas.
At one point, Shamkhani warned that if Israel "carries out any military action against Iran, the response will be beyond the imagination of any Israeli politician."
Iran's missile development is proceeding hand-in-hand with efforts to develop nuclear, biological and chemical weapons, U.S. officials say.
The senior official, commenting on condition of anonymity, said Iran's military buildup cannot be justified as a defense against neighbor and longtime rival Iraq, pointing out that the missiles Iran is developing could fly well beyond Iraq.
In a speech Monday, Undersecretary of State John Bolton highlighted Iran's progress in developing biological and chemical weapons. He also alluded to its "ongoing interest in nuclear weapons, and its aggressive ballistic missile research, development and flight-testing regimen."
A CIA report issued this year said Iran has been receiving missile equipment, technology and related expertise from Russia, North Korea and China.
Russia's role in assisting Iran seems at odds with the strong expressions of friendship and confidence Washington and Moscow have been demonstrating toward each other lately.
The mutual regard was evident last week during the visit to Washington of Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov and is expected to be on display when President Bush travels to Moscow on May 23 for a summit meeting with President Vladimir Putin.
Each side ascribes good will to the other even as disagreements remain, including U.S. doubts about Russian compliance with biological and chemical weapons treaties.
The administration has been highlighting the positive aspects of the relationship with Moscow while making only infrequent references to its concerns about Russia's ties with Iran.
The senior official who spoke about Iran, however, said these links are a serious problem, "a piece of baggage that weighs down the relationship" with Russia.
"We're concerned that Russian technology and expertise is helping Iran to increase the accuracy and distance of their missiles, and that Russian technology and expertise is helping Iran develop fissile material," the official said.
On the Net:
State Department's Iran page: http://www.state.gov/p/nea/ci/c2404.htm
Bolton's Monday speech: http://www.state.gov/t/us/rm/9962.htm
-------- japan
Japanese delegation to examine Fiji nuclear test veterans
Subject: Fiji Veterans
From: "Bruno Barrillot" <brunobarrillot@obsarm.org>
PCRC Media Advisory
8 May, 2002
From 10-19 May, a delegation led by the Japan Council Against Atomic and Hydrogen Bombs (Gensuikyo) will be visiting Fiji to conduct preliminary medical examinations on former Fijian sailors and soldiers who served at the British nuclear testing programme in the central Pacific in the late 1950s.
The five-member delegation will comprise a medical doctor with expertise in radiation illnesses, a survivor of the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima, and three anti-nuclear/peace activists.
The Pacific Concerns Resource Centre (PCRC) and Fiji Nuclear Test Veterans Association (FNTVA) would like to invite media to attend any of the activities outlined in the attached schedule. A press conference will also be held at the PCRC office (83 Amy St, Toorak) on Monday 13 May at 9.30am.
In 1957-8, Britain conducted nine atmospheric nuclear tests at Christmas and Malden Islands in the central Pacific. Together with British and New Zealand troops, nearly 300 Fijian soldiers and sailors served in "Operation Grapple". Today, many of Fijis nuclear test veterans are suffering from a range of medical complaints they attribute to radiation exposure at the test sites.
There are several ways that radiation can affect people's health: through exposure to beta or gamma radiation emitted from a nuclear detonation, by inhaling radioactive airborne particles, or by ingesting fission products that have entered the food chain (eg. drinking contaminated water or fish that has ingested radioactive particles).
PCRC has collated evidence that shows many of the veterans are affected by serious illnesses, including aplastic anaemia, leucopenia, lipomatous growths and psoariatic dermatitis - all that can be related to radiation exposure. This has been documented in the book Kirisimasi, published by PCRC in 1999.
The FNTVA has now extended this research to descendents and has been conducting a family medical study. For those veterans who have died their wives and children are now pursuing their cases. The Japanese delegation will examine both the veterans and their descendents for illnesses attributed to radiation exposure.
The British Government has so far refused any moral, legal and financial responsibility for the health impacts of the tests. It is hoped that results from the examinations can be used as evidence in the veterans fight for justice and recognition.
A panel discussion will also be held at the University of the South Pacific where the nuclear victims (both visiting and locals) will testify on their experiences.
For further details, please contact Ema Tagicakibau or Hannah Harborow at PCRC on 330 4649.
-------- korea
Nuclear Team Arrives in North Korea
WORLD In Brief
Wednesday, May 8, 2002
Reuters
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A49842-2002May7?language=printer
SEOUL -- North Korea said a team from an international consortium at the heart of a crucial nuclear agreement had arrived for talks on how to push forward a deal to build atomic power reactors for Pyongyang.
Under a 1994 agreement, North Korea pledged to freeze a suspected nuclear weapons program in exchange for two light-water reactors built by the West.
The Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization (KEDO), a consortium based in New York that was set up to build the reactors, cannot deliver critical equipment until U.N. inspections verify that North Korea has no stockpiles of weapons-grade plutonium. This point has been a stumbling block in talks.
-------- missile defense
Reality is only obstacle for NMD
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Washington Times,
May 8, 2002
http://www.washtimes.com/op-ed/20020508-32784457.htm
In his May 7 Commentary column "Missile defense micromanagers," Frank Gaffney attacks Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin with a virulence that is so out of touch with reality that it needs no rebuttal. Defense and national security policy-makers and experts know Mr. Levin to be cautious and judicious, a bipartisan centrist as well as a patriot.
But some perspective about the missile defense debate may be in order. Hysterical sideliners such as Mr. Gaffney have for years blamed the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty and the liberals for the continual setbacks, delays and problems with missile defense.
Now that President Bush is withdrawing the United States from the ABM Treaty and right-wing commentators are losing one of their favorite scapegoats, technical, engineering and budgetary shortcomings are being exposed. For example, the day after Mr. Bush announced the ABM Treaty withdrawal in December, the Defense Department canceled the Navy Area Theater program due to persistent cost and schedule overruns. How's that for bumping up against the constraints of the treaty?
No one is stopping the Bush administration from deploying missile defenses except the realities of technology, engineering and physics. New weapons systems take a long time to develop. Most missile-defense programs will not be anywhere near ready for deployment during this administration's tenure - and likely not even within the decade.
Moreover, the missile-defense program designed to handle long-range threats that is farthest along is in fact the former national missile defense system pursued by President Clinton. According to Missile Defense Act timelines and recent analysis, even that system is unlikely to be fully deployed by 2008. CHRIS MADISON, Director, Missile Defense Project, Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation Washington
-------- terrorism
Panel to Screen Foreign Students
May 8, 2002
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Terrorism-Foreign-Students.html
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Bush administration is creating a screening process for some foreign graduate students who want to do sensitive study that could be put to terrorist uses against the United States.
In a move that is quieting concerns among U.S. educators, a newly formed Interagency Panel on Advanced Science and Security will review perhaps 1,000 to 2,000 visa applications a year.
The academic community had feared the administration would impose a wide-ranging set of restrictions that would require colleges and universities to monitor the courses its foreign students were taking.
``We're not talking about all international students and all science areas, but rather those who are going into advanced programs,'' said James Griffin, assistant director for social, behavioral and education sciences at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.
John Marburger, director of the White House office of science and technology policy, and other scientists in the administration have had a positive impact in drafting a narrowly tailored program, said Scott Sudduth, director of federal relations for the University of California.
``We hope they cast a broader net and seek advice directly from our community as well'' in deciding what areas of research trigger the reviews, Sudduth said.
The academic community still has concerns, because the Justice Department and the Pentagon co-chair the new panel.
A scientific counterpoint to law enforcement and national security is necessary throughout the process, said Rich Harpel, director of federal relations at the National Association of State Universities and Land Grant Colleges.
Harpel said a lengthy panel review of visa applications could delay entry into the country and prevent people from enrolling at the beginning of a school term.
``We need some way for scientists who create these fields to be able to communicate with the government'' about the controls the Bush administration is planning, said Victor Johnson, associate executive director for public policy at the Association of International Educators.
Educators became apprehensive last fall when a broadly worded presidential directive said the government must ensure that areas of study with direct application to weapons of mass destruction are not accessible to certain international students.
Under the plan the Bush administration outlined in an hourlong meeting Tuesday, immigration and State Department officials will refer some visa applications to the interagency panel, which will issue advisory opinions. State and immigration officials will continue to make final decisions.
The reviews will cover some students and researchers in two categories: Those seeking to come to the country to study and those already here who want to move into graduate or postgraduate areas of study with technology that is available only in the United States.
The goal of the interagency panel review is to ensure that international scholars do not acquire uniquely available technical and scientific knowledge at U.S. institutions that may be used in a terrorist attack, Griffin said.
The new system formalizes a process in place at the State Department regarding the possible illegal transfer of sensitive technology.
The State Department has a technology alert list that points to 16 high-tech areas that consular officers should be wary of when examining reasons for a visa applicant's planned visit.
Topics include study involving lasers, high-performance metals, navigation and guidance systems, nuclear technology and missile propulsion.
-------- ukraine
Number of nuclear malfunctions increases in Ukraine
Wed May 8, 2002
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20020508/ap_wo_en_ge/ukraine_nuclear_safety_1
KIEV, Ukraine - All 13 of Ukraine's nuclear reactors were unstable last year and the number of malfunctions rose substantially, Ukraine's State Nuclear Regulatory Commission said in a report issued Wednesday, according to a news agency.
Sixty-seven malfunctions, including 22 that caused reactor shut downs, were registered at Ukraine's four nuclear power plants last year, the committee reported, according to the Interfax news agency.
However, most of the malfunctions had a zero-level environmental impact according to the international INES scale of nuclear incidents. Seventeen cases were registered as posing a grade-one or slight environmental danger, Interfax said.
The number of grade-one incidents rose by 70 percent in 2001 compared to 2000, when only 10 cases were registered, the report said.
The most troubled reactors were the Khmelnytskyi and Rivne power plants, which had 15 and seven malfunctions respectively.
Reactors at Ukraine's four nuclear power stations are frequently shut down for both planned and unscheduled repairs. Currently, 10 out of 13 nuclear reactors are functioning, producing about 40 percent of Ukraine's electricity output, the Energoatom state nuclear company said. Reactors at the Rivne, Khmelnytskyi and Yuzhna power plants are undergoing repairs. Ukraine was the site of world's worst nuclear catastrophe in 1986, when a reactor at the Chernobyl power plant exploded and caught fire, spewing radiation over much of Europe. Chernobyl was closed down for good in 2000.
Sixty-seven malfunctions, including 22 that caused reactor shut downs, were registered at Ukraine's four nuclear power plants last year, the committee reported, according to the Interfax news agency.
However, most of the malfunctions had a zero-level environmental impact according to the international INES scale of nuclear incidents. Seventeen cases were registered as posing a grade-one or slight environmental danger, Interfax said.
The number of grade-one incidents rose by 70 percent in 2001 compared to 2000, when only 10 cases were registered, the report said.
The most troubled reactors were the Khmelnytskyi and Rivne power plants, which had 15 and seven malfunctions respectively.
Reactors at Ukraine's four nuclear power stations are frequently shut down for both planned and unscheduled repairs. Currently, 10 out of 13 nuclear reactors are functioning, producing about 40 percent of Ukraine's electricity output, the Energoatom state nuclear company said. Reactors at the Rivne, Khmelnytskyi and Yuzhna power plants are undergoing repairs.
Ukraine was the site of world's worst nuclear catastrophe in 1986, when a reactor at the Chernobyl power plant exploded and caught fire, spewing radiation over much of Europe. Chernobyl was closed down for good in 2000.
-------- u.s. nuc facilities
-------- california
CALIFORNIANS: HOW TO CONTACT YOUR ELECTED REPRESENTATIVES
May 8, 2002
San Diego Union Tribune
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/uniontrib/wed/opinion/news_1e8reps.html
NATIONAL PRESIDENT
George W. Bush, White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20500; Ph. (202) 456-1414, Fax (202) 456-2461; e-mail: president@whitehouse.gov
VICE PRESIDENT
Richard B. Cheney, White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W.,Washington, D.C. 20500;Ph. (202) 456-1414, Fax (202) 456-2461; e-mail: vicepresident@whitehouse.gov
U.S. SENATORS
Barbara Boxer, 600 B St., Suite 2240, San Diego, Ca. 92101; Ph. (619)239-3884, Fax (619) 239-5719; e-mail: senator@boxer.senate.gov
Dianne Feinstein, 750 B St., Suite 1030, San Diego 92101; Ph. (619) 231-9712, Fax (619) 231-1108; e-mail: senator@feinstein.senate.gov
U.S. REPRESENTATIVES
Capitol Switchboard, (202) 224-3121.
48th District, Darrell Issa, North County Government Center, Annex Building, 325 S. Melrose, Suite 100, Vista 92083; Ph. (760) 940-4380, Fax (760) 940-4379
49th District, Susan Davis, 2150 W. Washington, Suite 210, San Diego 92110; Ph. (619) 291-1430, Fax (619) 291-8956; e-mail: susan.davis@mail.house.gov; website: www.house.gov/susandavis
50th District, Bob Filner, 333 F St., Suite A, Chula Vista 91910; Ph. (619) 422-5963, Fax (619) 422-7290; e-mail via website: www.house.gov/filner
51st District, Randy Cunningham, 613 West Valley Parkway, Suite 320, Escondido 92025; Ph. (760) 737-8438, Fax (760) 737-9132; e-mail via website: www.house.gov/cunningham
52nd District, Duncan Hunter, 366 South Pierce St., El Cajon 92020; Ph. (619) 579-3001, Fax (619) 579-2251. Imperial County office: 1101 Airport Rd. , Suite G, Imperial 92251; Ph. (760) 353-5420, Fax (760) 353-0653; website: www.house.gov/hunter
CALIFORNIA GOVERNOR
Gray Davis, State Capitol Building, Sacramento 95814; Ph. (916) 445-2841, Fax (916) 445-4633. Local office: 1350 Front St., Suite 6054, San Diego 92101; Ph. (619) 525-4641.
LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR
Cruz Bustamante, State Capitol, Room 1114, Sacramento 95814; Ph. (916) 445-8994, Fax (916) 323-4998
STATE SENATORS
36th District, Ray Haynes, 6800 Indiana Ave., Suite 130, Riverside 92506; Ph. (909) 782-4111, Fax (909) 276-4483; e-mail: senator.haynes@sen.ca.gov
37th District, Jim Battin, 15708 Pomerado Road, Suite N-107, Poway 92064; Ph. (858) 675-8211, Fax (858) 675-8262; jim.battin@sen.ca.gov
38th District, Bill Morrow, 2755 Jefferson St., Suite 101, Carlsbad, CA 92008; Ph. (760) 434-7930, Fax (760) 434-8223, e-mail: senator.morrow@sen.ca.gov
39th District, Deirdre "Dede" Alpert, 1557 Columbia St., San Diego 92101; Ph. (619) 645-3090, Fax (619) 645-3094, e-mail: senator.alpert@sen.ca.gov
40th District, Steve Peace, 7877 Parkway Dr., 1-B, La Mesa 91942; Ph. (619) 463-0243, Fax (619) 463-0246; e-mail: senator.peace@sen.ca.gov
STATE ASSEMBLY
66th District, Dennis Hollingsworth, 27555 Ynez Road, Suite 205, Temecula 92592, Ph. (909) 699-1113, Fax (909) 694-1039
73rd District, Patricia Bates, Oceanside City Hall, 302 North Coast Highway, Oceanside 92054; Ph. (760) 757-8084, Fax (760) 757-8087; website: republican.assembly.ca.gov/members/73/
74th District, Mark Wyland, 221 E. Main St., Suite 205, Vista 92084; Ph. (760) 631-7670; Fax (760) 631-7666; e-mail: mark.wyland@assembly.ca.gov
75th District, Charlene Zettel, 15708 Pomerado Rd., #110, Poway 92064; Ph. (858) 385-0070, Fax (858) 385-0179; e-mail: assemblymember.zettel@assembly.ca.gov; website: www.assembly.ca.gov/zettel
76th District, Christine Kehoe, 1010 University Ave., Suite C-207, San Diego 92103; Ph. (619) 294-7600, Fax (619) 294-2348; website: assemblymember.kehoe@assembly.ca.gov
77th District, Jay La Suer, 5360 Jackson Dr., Suite 120, La Mesa 91942; Ph. (619) 465-7723; Fax (619) 465-7765
78th District, Howard Wayne, 1350 Front St., Suite 6013, San Diego 92101; Ph. (619) 234-7878, Fax (619) 233-0078; e-mail: assemblymember.wayne@assembly.ca.gov
79th District, Juan Vargas, 678 Third Ave., Suite 105, Chula Vista 91910; Ph. (619) 409-7979, Fax (619) 409-9270; email: j.vargas@assembly.ca.gov
80th District, Dave Kelley, 73-710 Fred Waring Dr., Suite 112, Palm Desert 92260; Ph. (760) 346-2099
BOARD OF EQUALIZATION
Claude Parrish, 1350 Front St., Suite 5022, San Diego 92101; Ph. (619) 645-2645, Fax (619) 645-2647
CITIES CARLSBAD
1200 Carlsbad Village Dr., 92008, Ph. (760) 434-2820, Fax (760) 720-9461. Mayor: Claude Lewis; Council members: Ramona Finnila, Matt Hall, Ann Kulchin, Julianne Nygaard
CHULA VISTA
276 4th Ave., 91910; Ph. (619) 691-5044, Fax (619) 691-5171. Mayor: Shirley Horton; Council members: Jerry Rindone, Steve Padilla, Mary Salas, Patty Davis
CORONADO
1825 Strand Way, 92118; Ph. (619) 522-7300, Fax (619) 437-0371. Mayor: Thomas Smisek; Council members: Phil Monroe, Patty Schmidt, Chuck Marks, Mona Wilson
DEL MAR
1050 Camino Del Mar, 92014; Ph. (858) 755-9313, Fax (858) 755-2794. Mayor: Mark Whitehead; Deputy Mayor: David Druker; Council members: Henry Abarbanel, Richard Earnest, Crystal Crawford
EL CAJON
200 E. Main St., 92020; Ph. (619) 441-1776, (619) Fax 441-1770. Mayor: Mark Lewis; Council members: Richard J. Ramos, Bob McClellan, Charles Emmet Santos, Gary Kendrick
ENCINITAS
505 South Vulcan Ave. Encinitas, 92024; Ph. (760) 633-2600, Fax (760) 633-2627. Mayor: Dennis Holz; Deputy Mayor: Christy Guerin; Council members: Jerome Stocks, Maggie Houlihan, James Bond
ESCONDIDO
201 North Broadway, 92025; Ph. (760) 839-4638, Fax (760) 839-4578. Mayor: Lori Holt Pfeiler; Council members: Tom D'Agosta, Ed Gallo, June Rady, Marie Waldron
IMPERIAL BEACH
825 Imperial Beach Blvd., 91932; Ph. (619) 423-8300, Fax (619) 429-9770. Mayor: Diane Rose; Council members: Gail Benda, Mayda Winter, Patricia McCoy, Ron Rogers
LA MESA
8130 Allison Ave., 91941; Ph. (619) 463-6611, Fax (619) 462-7528. Mayor: Art Madrid; Council members: Dave Allan, Barry Jantz, Rick Knepper, Ruth Sterling
LEMON GROVE
3232 Main St., 91945; Ph. (619) 825-3800, Fax (619) 825-3804. Mayor: Mary Teresa Sessom; Council members: Thomas Clabby, Craig O. Lake, Mary England, Jill Greer.
NATIONAL CITY
1243 National City Blvd., 91950; Ph. (619) 336-4200, Fax (619) 336-4376. Mayor: George Waters; Council members: Mitch Beauchamp, Ron Morrison, Nick Inzunza, Rosalie Zarate
OCEANSIDE
300 North Coast Hwy., 92054; Ph. (760) 435-3065, Fax (760) 435-3078. Mayor: Terry Johnson; Council members: Betty Harding, Jack Feller, Carol McCauley, Esther Sanchez
POWAY
13325 Civic Center Drive, 92064; Mailing address: Box 789, Poway 92074; Ph. (858) 748-6600, Fax (858) 748-1455. Mayor: Mickey Cafagna; Council members: Robert Emery, Don Higginson, Jay Goldby, Betty Rexford
SAN DIEGO
202 C St., 92101; Council offices, Ph. (619) 236-6440.
Mayor: Dick Murphy, Ph. (619) 236-6330, Fax (619) 236-7228; e-mail: dickmurphy@sdmayor.sannet.gov
Council members by district: 1 Scott Peters, Ph. (619) 236-6611; North County toll free Ph. (858) 484-3808; Fax (619) 236-6999
2 Byron Wear, Ph. (619) 236-6622, Fax (619) 236-6996; e-mail: bbw@cd2.sannet.gov
3 Toni Atkins, Ph. (619) 236-6633, Fax (619) 595-1481; e-mail: dist3@cd3.sannet.gov
4 George Stevens, Ph. (619) 236-6644, Fax (619) 236-6529
5 Brian Maienschein, Ph. (619) 236-6655; North County toll-free (858) 673-5304; Fax (619) 238-0915; e-mail: bmaienschein@sandiego.gov
6 Donna Frye, Ph. (619) 236-6616, Fax (619) 236-6529
7 Jim Madaffer, Ph. (619) 236-6677, Fax (619) 238-1360; e-mail: jmadaffer@sandiego.gov; website: jimmadaffer.com
8 Ralph Inzunza, Ph. (619) 236-6688; Fax (619) 231-7918
City Attorney: Casey Gwinn, Suite 1620, 1200 Third Ave., 92101, Ph. (619) 236-6220, Fax (619) 236-7215; e-mail: casey@cityatty.sannet.gov
SAN DIEGO UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT
4100 Normal St., San Diego 92103, Ph. (619) 725-5550
Board Members: Sue Braun, John de Beck, Ed Lopez, Frances O'Neill Zimmerman, Ron Ottinger
SAN MARCOS
1 Civic Center Dr., 92069; Ph. (760) 744-1050, Fax (760) 744-7543. Mayor: F.H. Smith; Council members: Pia Harris-Ebert, Lee Thibadeau, Hal Martin, Mark Rozmus
SANTEE
10601 Magnolia Ave., 92071; Ph. (619) 258-4100, Fax (619) 562-0649. Mayor: Randy Voepel, Council members: Jim Bartell, Jack Dale, Lori Howard, Hal Ryan
SOLANA BEACH
635 South Highway 101, Solana Beach 92075. Ph. (858) 720-2400, Fax (858) 792-6513. Mayor: Marcia Smerican, Deputy Mayor: Douglas Sheres, Council members: Thomas Campbell, Joe Kellejian, Tom Golich
VISTA
600 Eucalyptus Ave., 92085; Mailing address: P.O. Box 1988, Vista 92085. Ph. (760) 639-6130, Fax (760) 639-6132. Council members: Ed Estes Jr., Judy Ritter, Paul Campo, Steve Gronke
COUNTYWIDE COUNTY SUPERVISORS
County Administration Center, 1600 Pacific Highway, San Diego 92101, Ph. (619) 531-5700, Fax (619) 557-4025
By district:
1 Greg Cox, Ph. (619) 531-5511; e-mail: greg-cox@co.san-diego.ca.us
2 Dianne Jacob, Ph. (619) 531-5522, e-mail: dianne-jacob@co.san-diego.ca.us
3 Pam Slater Ph. (619) 531-5533; e-mail: pam-slater@co.san-diego.ca.us 4 Ron Roberts, Ph. (619) 531-5544; e-mail: ron-roberts@co.san-diego.ca.us
5 Bill Horn, Ph. (619) 531-5555; e-mail: bill-horn@co.san-diego.ca.us
SHERIFF
Bill Kolender, 9621 Ridgehaven Court, San Diego, 92123; Mailing address: P.O. Box 429000; San Diego, 92142; Ph. (858) 974-2222 Fax (858) 974-2244
DISTRICT ATTORNEY
Paul Pfingst, 330 West Broadway, San Diego, 92101; Ph. (619) 531-4040, Fax (619) 531-3735
SAN DIEGO COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION
6401 Linda Vista Road, San Diego 92111, Ph. (858) 292-3515, Fax (858) 268-5864
By district: 2 Nick Aguilar, president 1 John Witt, vice president 3 Ernie Dronenburg 4 Jim Kelly 5 Susen Fay
-------- nevada
The case for storing nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain
By Darrell Issa
Issa represents the 48th District in Congress which includes San Onofre.
May 8, 2002
San Diego Union Tribune
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/uniontrib/wed/opinion/news_mz1e8issa.html
Common sense dictates that nuclear waste belongs in a secure and remote location, not the coast of Southern California. This week the House of Representatives is scheduled to consider one of President Bush's national security objectives: the construction of the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste storage facility.
Congressional approval for the president's plan to build the Yucca Mountain facility will be a step toward resolving California's power crisis and will protect our communities from the unnecessary risk of storing nuclear waste. Centralizing the storage of hazardous nuclear waste at the remote Yucca Mountain facility clearly makes more sense than the current system of storing nuclear waste at 131 different storage sites including San Onofre.
Today 161 million Americans live within 75 miles of at least one of these 131 storage facilities. The future security, efficiency and environmental advantages of storing spent nuclear fuel at the completed Yucca Mountain facility surpass those of any other viable alternative, including the continuation of the current system.
Consider the advantages of the proposed Yucca Mountain facility. Located on remote federal land, it would be more than 90 miles away from any major population center. In terms of security, the facility would be buried 1,000 feet below the desert surface, the site is surrounded on three sides by the Nellis Air Force Range, the airspace above Yucca Mountain is restricted and the facility would have its own elite rapid-response security force.
Scientific studies conducted by the Department of Energy have, since 1982, evaluated the risks to the site posed by volcanoes, earthquakes, underground water, human intrusion and many other potential threats; after carefully considering these factors scientists have concluded that the risks to the Yucca Mountain site over the next 10,000 years are minimal.
The centralization of spent nuclear fuel at the Yucca Mountain facility will allow a more efficient allocation of resources to manage and safeguard nuclear waste than is possible under the current system or any other current proposal for the future. When the technology that recycles spent nuclear fuel becomes a reality, the concentration of resources at Yucca Mountain will speed efforts to reduce or eliminate nuclear waste.
Environmentally, even if no additional nuclear power plants are built, the need to securely store existing spent nuclear fuel will continue. Nuclear power is environmentally friendly, economical and safe. Yucca Mountain will open the door to the possibility of building new nuclear power plants, instead of more coal and oil plants, to meet California's energy needs and to avert a future power crisis like the one experienced last summer. Storing spent nuclear fuel in a central, secure and remote location that minimizes the threat of contaminating water sources, the atmosphere and our nation's wildlife is the most environmentally responsible policy possible under given conditions. The proposal to build a single storage site at Yucca Mountain will protect the environment and public safety better than building and maintaining several smaller storage facilities throughout the United States.
The arguments of those who oppose the Yucca Mountain project revolve around the fear of uncertainty. These arguments point to the possibility that the scientific assessments of the Yucca Mountain site could be flawed. They note that despite all planned precautions and the extensive experience our nation already has in transporting spent nuclear fuel, an accident could occur in transport. Finally, they hold out the hope that American ingenuity will develop new technologies that can easily recycle spent nuclear fuel or even eliminate the need for nuclear power through advances in solar, wind and other energies - thus eliminating the need for new spent nuclear fuel storage facilities. While these points cannot and should not be ignored, they are themselves uncertainties.
Uncertainty, in fact, is a major reason why the Yucca Mountain facility should be built. Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham has noted that existing nuclear waste storage facilities, like the one at San Onofre, "should be able to withstand current terrorist threats, but that may not remain the case in the future."
Any uncertainty involving spent nuclear fuel is better addressed 1,000 feet below the surface of the desert and 90 miles away from any major population center than in the middle of highly populated places like Southern California. The construction of the Yucca Mountain facility is a national security issue. I intend to support President Bush's decision to build the facility and hope that my colleagues in Congress also will back the president.
-------- new york
Studies in Favor of Indian Point's Closing List Power Effects
May 8, 2002
By KIRK JOHNSON
New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/05/08/nyregion/08NUKE.html
Closing down the Indian Point nuclear power plant, despite the grim predictions about blackouts and soaring electricity costs, might not be as painful as the plant's owners have contended, according to two new studies commissioned by opponents of the plant.
The studies, issued yesterday by the environmental group Riverkeeper and the Pace Law School Energy Project, say that the lost power would be more than made up for by a falloff in electricity demand caused by the recession and the disruption of business in Lower Manhattan, along with the prospect of seven new gas-fired plants that could be built in New York State over the next five to seven years. Conservation measures like those used in California last year could also sharply cut demand, the studies say.
Many environmentalists and public officials have expressed concern since Sept. 11 that Indian Point's two reactors, about 40 miles north of Midtown Manhattan in Buchanan, N.Y., could be a target for terrorists and that evacuation plans might not be workable in such a densely populated area.
The plant's owner, Entergy Corporation, released a study last week by two independent research groups, which concluded that closing the plant could cost consumers $3.4 billion over the next four years in developing alternative sources.
One of the reports released yesterday, by Synapse Energy Economics, a consulting firm in Cambridge, Mass., said that last week's study underestimated the amount of new electricity supply in development, and overestimated how much demand will grow.
The other report, by Charles Komanoff, an independent energy consultant in Manhattan, said that using the same legislative and policy tools that cut peak demand by 10 percent in California last summer, New York could more than make up for losing Indian Point's power as soon as this summer, even if no new plants were built.
-------- ohio
Regulators Want Nuke Dome Replaced
May 8, 2002
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Nuclear-Plant-Damage.html
OAK HARBOR, Ohio (AP) -- Federal regulators say they favor replacement rather than repair of the six-inch-thick steel dome that was eaten nearly all the way through by acid at a nuclear plant.
The Davis-Besse plant, owned by FirstEnergy Corp., has been shut down for refueling since February. During that time, inspectors found that boric acid had eaten a hole in the thick cap that covers the reactor vessel.
The damage has raised new questions about aging nuclear plants and whether they are being inspected closely enough.
Buying a new reactor head would probably keep the plant near Toledo closed longer and cost more money than if the Nuclear Regulatory Commission approved FirstEnergy's plan to fix the damage.
FirstEnergy wants to remove all of the corrosion by cutting out a hole in the reactor head and welding a chunk of stainless steel into it.
William Bateman, chief of the NRC's materials engineering research section, said FirstEnergy would have a ``clearer path to success'' if it gave up the idea of trying to repair the reactor head.
On the Net:
Nuclear Regulatory Commission: http://www.nrc.gov
FirstEnergy: http://www.firstenergycorp.com
-------- south carolina
S.C. governor's platform of defiance
Wed, May. 08, 2002
By Dick Polman, Philadelphia Inquirer Staff Writer
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/nation/3220250.htm
COLUMBIA, S.C. - Jim Hodges and plutonium, perfect together.
As a Democratic governor seeking reelection this year in a Republican state, Hodges needed a hot issue. He was beset with budget woes; some of his prison guards were caught having sex with child-killer Susan Smith; he is essentially charisma-free; and his job-approval rating has hovered in the low 40s. Seven Republicans are itching to challenge him.
But along came plutonium, a lethal substance that the Hodges campaign is trying to spin into political gold.
With an inadvertent assist from the Bush administration, which wants to ship the weapons-grade material into South Carolina beginning next week, Hodges is placing himself in the long tradition of Southern governors who have invoked "state's rights" in their battles against Washington bureaucrats.
Hodges vowed over the weekend, for the umpteenth time, to use state troopers to block the shipments at the border - and even to lie down in the road himself, if necessary. As he told a gathering of state Democrats: "It's time to tell our federal government to show us the proper respect! I will be standing right there at the door!"
Hodges was apparently invoking memories of George Wallace, the Alabama Democratic governor who stood in a schoolhouse door to protest a federal desegregation order in 1963. Blatant racism has faded as a cutting issue, but standing up to Washington is still a Southern staple.
Which is why Hodges' campaign team has crafted TV ads that trumpet his defiance. The ads are running statewide for two weeks.
Neal Thigpen, a state political analyst and former Republican activist, said yesterday: "It's a real smart move for him. In South Carolina, you can never go wrong thumbing your nose at the feds - especially if you're a Democrat who needs Republican votes in order to win."
And it's a way to dominate the news while the seven Republicans vie to become Hodges' challenger; their primary is June 11. Some have ads on TV as well (they're all driving pickup trucks, a visual staple in South Carolina ads), but Thigpen said: "Hodges' rule right now is, 'Don't cede the airwaves to the other guys.' "
Hodges first saw his opportunity in April, when President Bush's Energy Department announced that it would ship 34 tons of plutonium from Colorado, and convert it to nuclear fuel for power plants. The hitch is that no fuel-conversion facility has been built. (The cost is prohibitive, and even a projected opening in 2007 is not guaranteed.) Hodges fears that the state will simply be stuck forever with storing the plutonium and worrying about its security.
The issue has also leached into the Senate race, where Republican Rep. Lindsey Graham wants to replace the retiring Strom Thurmond. Graham is in an awkward position because his party runs the federal bureaucracy. He's pushing a compromise by which the feds would agree to pay heavy fines starting in 2011 if the fuel-conversion plant still isn't built.
But Hodges is hewing to his hard line; last week he sued to stop the shipments. And last weekend, at a Democratic meeting, Sen. Ernest F. Hollings scoffed: "Little Lindsey's agreement isn't worth the paper it's written on."
Democrats also see the plutonium issue as a way to galvanize party activists - by arguing that Hodges is standing up for citizens' health and safety.
As a centrist, pro-business governor, Hodges is not hugely popular among liberal party members, particularly African Americans. That explains why Alex Sanders, the Democratic Senate candidate, told convention delegates Saturday, "Why don't we stand up for [Hodges] the way he is standing up for us?"
Perhaps coincidentally, the same theme shows up in the Hodges TV ad: "Stand with Gov. Hodges. Call the Department of Energy and tell them you support our governor."
State Republicans acknowledge that "state's rights" can be a great political weapon. They just don't think it's appropriate in this case.
State GOP chairman Katon Dawson said yesterday: "Hodges' saying he'd lie down on the cement just for a photo op - that's not responsible government. That's using this issue as a political ploy. [Nuclear-waste storage] is a national defense issue, critical to the nation."
But state Democratic chairman Dick Harpootlian insisted that Hodges "is right on the merits. Washington wants to ship us plutonium with no guarantee that they'll convert it to fuel. They want everything their way - as we like to say down here, 'A handful of gimme, and a mouthful of much obliged.' "
History indicates that Southern governors back down in the end. But even if the plutonium shipments finally arrive, analyst Thigpen believes that Hodges can still benefit politically - "as long as the final deal doesn't make him look bad. He has to back down in an honorable fashion."
-------- us nuc waste
House to Consider Nuclear Waste Plan
By H. Josef Hebert
Associated Press Writer
Wednesday, May 8, 2002
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A51788-2002May8?language=printer
WASHINGTON -- President Bush's decision to send the country's nuclear waste to Nevada is getting its first test before Congress, where the state is facing heavy odds in its battle against the radioactive dump.
Supporters of the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste facility predicted broad support for the president in a House vote scheduled for Wednesday.
Majority Leader Dick Armey, R-Texas, said he expects both Republicans and Democrats to vote to reject a Nevada protest of Bush's decision to build a nuclear disposal facility at Yucca Mountain, a ridge of volcanic rock 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.
Bush announced in February that he would proceed with seeking a federal license for the Yucca disposal site, which has been under study for 20 years. Nevada, as was its right under federal law, challenged the selection, and only Congress can override the state's protest.
Nevada faces overwhelming odds in trying to convince lawmakers to keep the thousands of tons of nuclear waste at 103 reactors in 31 states instead of shipping it to a central location.
All along, Nevada lawmakers have said they expect the president's decision to be upheld in the Republican-controlled House, and have concentrated their efforts in the Senate, which is expected to take up the issue this summer. Several Senate committee hearings are scheduled later this month.
Last weekend, Democrats gave Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., a chance to make her case in the party's nationally broadcast radio address, during which she highlighted the risks of sending thousands of nuclear waste shipments on highways and rail lines.
The waste from commercial power reactors and some federal military weapons would be safer at reactor sites, she argued, instead of "sweeping it under the carpet near my hometown of Las Vegas."
The plan calls for sending 77,000 tons of spent nuclear fuel to Yucca Mountain, most from reactors in the eastern half of the country. Under the current schedule, the first shipments would arrive in 2010 and continue for 24 years.
Even then, critics say, the proposed site would not have enough room for all of the industry's waste, with at least 44,000 tons still expected to be left in storage at power plants around the country.
The cost of the project has been estimated at $58 billion for construction, waste shipments and the first 50 to 100 years of operation. About $6 billion already has been spent on researching the site.
Tuesday, Energy Undersecretary Robert Card told a nuclear waste advisory panel that the administration will seek more money from Congress for research into ways to reduce the waste volume and the cost of disposal.
He said the research should include looking into transmution, a technology not yet fully developed and viewed by many as too expensive, and waste reprocessing. Both technologies would reduce the amount of the most radioactive isotopes that would have to be disposed of.
While the United States remains opposed to reprocessing because of nuclear proliferation concerns, last year Vice President Dick Cheney's energy task force recommended continued research into the technology.
"The administration is on record as being willing to reopen the reprocessing issue," Card told members of the Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board, an advisory panel created by Congress, at a meeting Tuesday.
Addressing another contentious issue, Card said he is confident that a transportation plan for the waste will be developed that will be satisfactory to the states through which the shipments will pass.
Energy Department officials said the department is leaning heavily toward rail transport, although completion of a final transportation plan is not expected until next year.
On the Net:
Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board: http://www.nwtrb.gov/
Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management: http://www.rw.doe.gov/
--------
House OKs Plan for Nev. Nuke Dump
May 8, 2002
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Yucca-Mountain.html
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Ignoring protests from Nevada, the House on Wednesday overwhelmingly embraced President Bush's decision to bury tens of thousands of tons of nuclear waste in volcanic rock 90 miles from Las Vegas.
The lawmakers by a three-to-one margin approved a resolution to override a veto by Nevada of Bush's plans to develop Yucca Mountain as the central repository for 77,000 tons of used reactor fuel and other highly radioactive waste accumulating in 39 states.
Opponents, including Rep. Dick Gephardt, the Democratic leader, argued that it would be too risky -- especially after last September's terrorist attacks -- to ship the waste across the country by truck and rail.
But supporters of the radioactive dump argued that the waste poses a greater risk if it remains at more than 130 locations, including at 103 commercial power reactors. Half of the House Democrats joined all but a handful of Republicans in supporting the president's decision, approving the resolution 306-117.
``Where are my colleagues who are advocates for states' rights, local control?'' asked Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev. He maintained that the Energy Department has failed to ensure that the waste would be kept safely isolated for the expected 10,000 years some of its isotopes will be dangerously radioactive.
In Nevada, Gov. Kenny Guinn, a Republican, said, ``We will continue our battle in the U.S. Senate and on parallel track in the courts.'' Three lawsuits already are in the courts, challenging the Yucca plan.
After Bush announced in February he would seek a Nuclear Regulatory Commission license for the Yucca facility, Nevada vetoed the selection under a provision of the federal nuclear waste law. Congress must override the veto by late July if Bush's decision is to stand.
``Certainly the Senate will take note of the overwhelming bipartisan support the Yucca Mountain project has received in the House,'' said Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham. He expressed confidence that the Senate will endorse the project and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission will find that it meets standards for health and safety.
Supporters of the site said Yucca Mountain had been studied for two decades at a cost of nearly $7 billion.
It is ``scientifically proven safe'' and as a single, central storage facility is preferable to ``the current hodgepodge'' of locations now holding the waste, said House Speaker Dennis Hastert of Illinois. His state has 11 power reactors, most of any state, and a growing waste problem.
But Gephardt argued that even with the Nevada dump ``we'd still have nuclear waste stored around the country decades from now'' and thousands of shipments of nuclear material on highways and rail systems.
Abraham called the concerns about waste transport ``baseless allegations'' and said that over the past 30 years nuclear waste has been carried more than 1.6 million miles without a harmful release of radiation.
``Currently more than 161 million people live within 75 miles of a nuclear waste storage site,'' said Abraham.
Power reactors generate about 2,000 tons of used reactor fuel annually with about 40,000 tons already kept in reactor pools and -- in a small number of cases -- concrete bunkers. Several thousand tons of waste also is kept at federal facilities as part of the nuclear weapons complex.
The nuclear industry has argued that the Energy Department under its contracts with utilities was obligated to take the used reactor fuel by 1998 but failed to do so. At the same time, ratepayers already have paid billions of dollars into a fund for a central repository yet to be built.
A 1987 law required that only Yucca Mountain was to be studied as a potential repository, eliminating potential sites in Texas and Washington. The cost has been estimated at $58 billion for construction, waste shipments and the first 50 to 100 years of operation. At some point it would be shut in, making the buried waste no longer retrievable.
Nevada was singled because it is ``a small state with a small congressional delegation,'' complained Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev.
On the Net:
Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board: http://www.nwtrb.gov/
Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management: http://www.rw.doe.gov/
--------
House Approves Plan to Ship Nuclear Waste to Site in Nevada
New York Times
May 8, 2002
By DAVID STOUT
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/05/08/politics/08CND-YUCC.html
WASHINGTON - The House of Representatives, as expected, approved a plan this afternoon to send nuclear waste to Yucca Mountain in Nevada.
The vote of 306 to 117 set the stage for a pitched battle in the Senate, which unlike the House is controlled by Democrats and where opponents of the project think they have a better chance of killing it.
Opponents of the plan had all but conceded defeat in the Republican-controlled House, reckoning that it would endorse President Bush's plans for the dump at Yucca Mountain. The House Energy and Commerce Committee voted, 41 to 6, in favor of the Yucca Mountain project on April 25.
Nevada has objected to having a nuclear-waste site on the outskirts of Las Vegas, and the idea will not become a reality unless the Senate as well as the House endorses it.
"Where are my colleagues who are advocates for states' rights, local control?" Representative Jim Gibbons, Republican of Nevada, asked shortly before this afternoon's vote.
The president announced plans in February to seek a license to bury 77,000 tons of highly radioactive waste, most of it used fuel from the country's 103 commercial power reactors, at Yucca Mountain. Nevada filed a formal objection, leaving the final say to Congress.
Supporters of the site have argued that it has been studied for two decades, and that it would provide increased security for material that is to remain dangerously radioactive for 10,000 years.
"We should proceed with this scientifically proven safe single storage facility," Speaker J. Dennis Hastert of Illinois said today, complaining of "the current hodgepodge" of storage sites at reactors in 31 states.
Critics of the Yucca Mountain project - or people who are just not sure it is a good idea - have expressed worries about the safety of shipping nuclear waste hundreds or even thousands of miles across the country, especially now that terrorism has become a bigger threat.
Representative Shelley Berkeley, Democrat of Nevada, called today's vote "the most political of decisions" and said it was made because Nevada is "a small state with a small Congressional delegation."
The "big state vs. small state" theme is one that comes up now and then, and the small states are not always at a disadvantage. In fact, the people in the smallest states have more political power in one sense, because the votes of their two senators count just as much as those of senators from big states.
--------
House Backs Bush on Yucca Nuclear Storage Plan
May 8, 2002
By REUTERS
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/news/news-energy-congress-yucca.html
WASHINGTON - The U.S. House of Representatives rejected Nevada's safety concerns on Wednesday and endorsed President Bush's decision to bury deadly nuclear waste from across the country in the state's Yucca Mountain.
On a vote of 306-117, the Republican-led House approved a resolution to override Nevada's veto of the project to build the nation's first permanent nuclear waste storage facility 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas. The House sent the measure for needed concurrence to the Democratic-led Senate.
``This (Yucca Mountain) is our best option,'' said Rep. Rick Boucher, a Virginia Republican and a member of the Energy Committee. ``We have no realistic alternatives.''
Senate Republican leaders predict their chamber will also approve the $58 billion project with the help of Democrats from states with nuclear reactors and mounting radioactive waste.
But Senate Democratic leaders said they have a chance of stopping the plan. ``We're cautiously optimistic,'' said Senate Majority Whip Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat.
The battle pits Bush, his allies in the nuclear power industry and others who want greater energy independence against Nevada, hundreds of environmental groups and Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, a South Dakota Democrat who has vowed to do what he can to stop the project.
Despite federal claims to the contrary, the state of Nevada contends it would be unsafe to store nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain as well as to transport it there from more than 100 nuclear power plants across the country.
Opponents say the project would be ripe for accidents and become a target for attacks. Supporters argue it would be safer to bring all the nuclear waste to a single secured site in a low-population area.
More than a decade ago, federal authorities began focusing efforts to build a waste depository in Nevada after lawmakers from other areas fended off attempts to target their states.
SENATE VOTE EXPECTED IN JULY
The Senate is expected to vote around July 1 on whether to override or sustain Nevada's veto, Reid said.
Between now and then, both sides intend to increase their lobbying efforts on Capitol Hill with opponents also airing television ads against it in selected states.
Noting $4 billion in studies, U.S. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham told reporters shortly before the House vote that the project would be safe. ``We have been able to demonstrate the safety of the site,'' he said. ``It is time to move forward.''
But in the House debate, opponents repeatedly cited a recent congressional General Accounting Office report listing 293 unanswered safety and technical questions about the plan.
``These questions should be answered before we proceed,'' said Rep. Shelley Berkley, a Nevada Democrat. ``We wouldn't get on a plane if the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) said it had 293 unanswered questions about it.''
Abraham said all questions would be answered before the Nuclear Regulatory Commission decides on issuing a license.
He said the House vote showed the chamber ``overwhelmingly agrees that the final determination ... should be made by the independent experts'' at the commission. ``I believe that it does and I believe the NRC will ultimately approve Yucca Mountain.''
Last month, Republican Nevada Gov. Kenny Guinn vetoed Bush's decision earlier in the year to accept an Energy Department recommendation to build the depository in the Nevada desert. He has also challenged the project in federal court.
Under 1982 federal law on nuclear waste disposal, a governor may veto the president's plans to put a depository in his or her state. But the veto can be overridden by Congress.
Nuclear power plants produce more than 20 percent of the country's energy, and many waste storage tanks are nearly full. The government has faced lawsuits for failing to meet a 1998 deadline to open a permanent nuclear waste storage site.
The proposed site would permanently hold 77,000 tons of radioactive material and would open in 2010.
-------- us politics
Treasury Chief Warns on US Default
May 8, 2002
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Debt-Limit.html
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Congress needs to extend the government's authority to borrow or risk defaulting on the national debt, which would cloud U.S. securities, Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill said Wednesday.
O'Neill made his latest pitch for swift congressional action on raising the debt ceiling in a speech to Republicans gathered at the Capitol Hill Club.
He has repeatedly asked Congress to boost the debt ceiling by $750 billion, but the request has become stuck in a political fight over the budget. The limit now stands at $5.95 trillion.
Treasury last week said it can shift some funds to avoid hitting the debt ceiling in mid-May. But those maneuvers won't be useful in late June, raising the prospect of a default on payments to bondholders.
``If we run into the ceiling that's really bad,'' O'Neill said in remarks to the Republican Main Street Partnership. ``Because world capital markets will say they knew they needed to do it and they've know for six months that they needed to do it and they didn't do it and that casts a shadow on the good faith and credit of the United States.''
If the government were to miss payments on debt coming due, it would be technically in default on the $5.95 trillion national debt. That would cast a cloud over U.S. securities, now considered the world's safest investment, and would mean the government would be forced to pay billions of dollars in higher interest payments on the national debt in future years.
Economists and other experts don't think that would happen because Congress is sure to eventually raise the debt ceiling.
O'Neill appeared to agree.
``It's not a question of whether we are going to do it or not. It's just a question of how close to the cliff we're going to run before we do what we know we need to do,'' he said.
To help replenish coffers, the Treasury sold $11 billion worth of 10-year notes out of bids totaling $23.7 billion on Wednesday.
-------- MILITARY
-------- asia
Asian Nations Sign Counterterror Pact
WORLD In Brief
Wednesday, May 8, 2002
Associated Press
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A49842-2002May7?language=printer KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia -- Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines yesterday signed a counterterrorism treaty that would strengthen border controls and allow the countries to share airline passenger lists.
Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad of Malaysia said the treaty would help counter Muslim extremists. Some extremists have been linked to Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network.
The treaty, which took four months to negotiate, also calls for joint training exercises, the establishment of hot lines, standard procedures on search and rescue and the sharing of intelligence.
-------- biological weapons
Smallpox Vaccine Drum Ruptures
May 8, 2002
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-BRF-Smallpox-Vaccine-Accident.html
BALTIMORE (AP) -- A pressurized drum used to store smallpox vaccine ruptured Wednesday when a lab worker tried to open it, but an internal container holding the frozen vials remained intact, fire officials said.
It was not immediately known whether the vaccine would have been dangerous had its container ruptured.
The drum made a popping sound when the worker at Chesapeake Biological Laboratories tried to pry the lid open.
The worker, who was hit in the forehead by the lid, was taken to a local hospital with a non-life threatening injury, said Mike Maybin, a spokesman for the Baltimore Fire Department.
Lab officials could not immediately be reached for comment.
The lab, in downtown Baltimore, packages medicines for commercial use.
On the Net:
Lab: http://www.cblinc.com
-------- business
Defense Industry Close to Home
Area Lures Contractors and Firms That Service Them
By Michael Greenspon
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, May 8, 2002; Page PW05
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A49866-2002May7?language=printer
With Quantico Marine Corps Base in their back yard and with their proximity to the Pentagon, Prince William County and Manassas have become home to a growing defense industry that provides thousands of jobs to the area and brings in about $2 million in tax revenue.
General Dynamics Land Systems, based in Sterling Heights, Mich., has about 3,500 workers, more than 400 of them in Prince William working on developing the Marine Corps' next generation amphibious assault vehicle, the AAAV.
General Dynamics was awarded a $200 million-plus demonstration and validation contract in 1996 to build and test three AAAV prototypes. The company opened a research and development facility on 4.6 acres near the mouth of the Occoquan River in Woodbridge, chosen for its proximity to the U.S. Marine Corps Combat Development Command at Quantico. At the time, it was staffed with more than 200 personnel.
Last year, General Dynamics received a $712 million award to move into the systems development and demonstration phase of the project, which will last until 2004. The company brought in more personnel and leased a building at Potomac Mills.
Peter Keating, director of communications and public affairs at General Dynamics Land Systems, said that no manufacturing will occur at the site but that the prototypes will be assembled at the Potomac Mills location -- including nine new prototypes and updating the technology on the three already built.
Last year, General Dynamics paid almost $50,000 in taxes to the county, 99 percent of which were real estate taxes on the Woodbridge site.
The AAAV is designed to carry 17 combat-ready Marines and a crew of three. Fully loaded, it will weigh 76,000 pounds but still be able to "ski across the water at 29 miles per hour," Keating said. It will work as an armored personnel carrier on land, keeping pace with the Marine's M1A1 tank at 45 mph.
Eventually, the Marine Corps is expected to require more than 1,000 AAAVs. No decision has been made as to where they will be built, but neither the Woodbridge or Potomac Mills site would be suitable. General Dynamics is planning to solicit for bids this summer.
Lockheed Martin has approximately 1,300 employees in Manassas, 1,050 of whom work in the Undersea Systems group. The group, which is headquartered in the city, primarily builds combat systems for submarines as well as the systems to defeat them. They are the leading systems integrator for the Navy.
The group designs and builds combat systems for the new Virginia class submarine program, which is intended to cut acquisition and production costs. The result will be that the submarines, regardless of class, will be controlled by substantially similar, but more economically efficient, combat systems.
In 2001, Lockheed paid the city approximately $1.2 million in real estate taxes. As a manufacturer, Lockheed paid a machinery and tool tax of $169,000. Lockheed Martin, which is headquartered in Bethesda, employs approximately 125,000 people around the world.
BAE Systems' Missiles and Space Electronics (MSE) group, headquartered in Manassas, employs 300 people. Because it leases land from Lockheed, MSE does not pay real estate taxes. It paid $113,000 in machinery and tool taxes last year.
The group has developed space-based applications for the Mars Pathfinder mission and the Cassini mission to Saturn and recently released its next generation of space computer microprocessors.
Smaller companies are also thriving as defense subcontractors, including Progeny Systems, which serviced IBM Federal Systems and now works with Lockheed; Jacobs Sverdrup; Digital Access; Stanley Associates; and Mitre Corp. All have offices in Prince William or Manassas.
"There are an unknown number of businesses that directly serve Lockheed and BAE," said Roger Snyder, Manassas director of community and economic development. Nevertheless, "the defense industry is more conducive to spinning off support businesses than many others."
--------
Study: Air Force Lease Plan Costly
May 8, 2002
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Air-Force-Tankers.html
WASHINGTON (AP) -- A plan for the Air Force to lease 100 aircraft from the Boeing Co. and convert them into refueling tankers could cost taxpayers $37 billion, or $12 billion more than simply buying the planes, a congressional study released Wednesday said.
The estimates by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office were released by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., a critic of the leasing plan since Congress approved it last December. At the time, supporters said leasing the planes for 10 years was the best way to let the Air Force update its aging fleet of tankers while helping the giant but financially ailing aircraft manufacturer.
On Tuesday, McCain released a separate analysis by the White House budget office that said the plan to lease and convert 100 Boeing 767s would cost $26 billion. Simply upgrading the Air Force's 126 older KC-135E tankers would cost $3.2 billion, the White House report said.
``This leasing proposal is a bad deal for taxpayers, a bad deal for the military and a bad deal for pretty much everyone but Boeing,'' McCain said in a written statement.
The two agencies' estimates for the leasing arrangement differed in part because the congressional analysis included the costs of operating the planes while the White House report did not.
Refueling tankers have proven important to the long-range air wars the United States has waged in recent years, such as in Afghanistan and Kosovo, but many of the aircraft are several decades old. The Air Force and Boeing are negotiating terms of the potential lease.
According to the White House, the Air Force has 126 KC-135Es and 410 upgraded KC-135Rs. The Air Force says the average age of the KC-135Es is more than 43 years, while the KC-135Rs are newer, carry more fuel, cost less to maintain and can take off from shorter runways.
``The nation needs to modernize our aging tanker fleet,'' said Air Force spokesman Capt. Joe Dellavedova. ``If it doesn't make sense to move forward with a lease that would accelerate tanker modernization, we will pursue other options.''
Virnell Bruce, a Boeing spokeswoman, said the two budget agencies used ``some totally erroneous assumptions'' to derive their cost estimates.
``We believe the ultimate cost of the lease to the Air Force and taxpayers will be affordable and well below the figures quoted by others,'' she said.
Todd Webster, spokesman for Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., where many of Boeing's aircraft are produced, said once a lease is completed, ``We can end the politically motivated speculation and assess the cost of getting this critical asset into the hands of our servicemen and women.''
In a letter to McCain, Director Dan Crippen of the Congressional Budget Office noted that when the proposed 10-year lease of the aircraft had expired, the Air Force still would need tankers. It would then have to buy them, which would bring the cost to about $40 billion, or seek another arrangement, he said.
``Leases have a greater potential to be cost-effective if the government does not have a long-term requirement for the asset,'' Crippen wrote. ``That does not appear to be the case here.''
White House budget chief Mitchell Daniels wrote McCain that under the leasing plan, the Air Force would end up with fewer new tankers than the older ones it was replacing, reducing the amount of fuel they could carry.
``In other words, replacing the KC-135E fleet would not solve, and could exacerbate'' the Air Force's tanker problems.
-------- colombia
Deadly Church Battle in Colombia Studied
May 8, 2002
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-Colombia-Fighting.html
BOJAYA, Colombia (AP) -- Colombian troops flying aboard helicopters and skimming over a river in gunboats swarmed into this poor fishing village Wednesday, where 117 civilians were slain last week in a rebel bombardment of a church.
A hellish scene awaited the troops, who finally arrived in force six days after the rebels fired a homemade mortar shell through the roof of the Roman Catholic church, where residents had sought shelter while the guerrillas battled an outlawed paramilitary force.
Residents who fled said Wednesday they were angry that it took so long for any help to show up.
``We felt abandoned. The security forces and humanitarian aid took days to arrive,'' said Lascario Miller, a 40-year-old municipal official. He was among those who sought refuge on the other side of the wide Atrato River.
In one of Colombia bloodiest attacks in recent years, leftist rebels fired a homemade mortar through the roof of the Roman Catholic church, where residents had sought shelter while the guerillas battled an outlawed paramilitary force.
Troops found the church, with large holes blasted out of its cement walls and its tin roof collapsed. Scattered inside were bones -- the flesh already stripped clean by maggots, worms and insects -- children's shoes, pieces of clothing and even a baby's pacifier. About 40 of those who died were children, authorities said.
Most of the dead had already been buried in a mass grave by rescue workers wearing face masks against the stench.
U.S. Ambassador Anne Patterson on Wednesday condemned the killings by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, and said she supported President Andres Pastrana's call for the United Nations to investigate.
The U.N. later announced that its chief representative in Colombia, Anders Kompass, would head to Bojaya to investigate the slaughter. Most residents in this poorest corner of Colombia are descendants of African slaves.
Some of the troops had been ferried down the Atrato River on a barge. The vessel's sides were pockmarked with rebel bullets after being ambushed several times en route.
Among the most horrifying of the deaths in the church on May 2 was that of a woman who was nine months pregnant. When her body was found among the tangle of other corpses, rescuers saw that her baby had spilled out of the womb. It lay dead alongside its mother, the umbilical cord still attached.
``The people chose this place to protect themselves because they assumed it would provide spiritual and physical protection, because it is one of the few buildings with concrete walls,'' said the village priest, Antun Ramos.
``We never imagined, even though there was combat in the streets of the village, that they would attack the civilian population,'' Ramos said.
The FARC and the paramilitaries are battling for the roadless region to control the Atrato River, a main conduit which gains access to the Caribbean Sea and to neighboring Panama.
The FARC said Tuesday the church had been bombed by accident but blamed the paramilitaries for putting civilians at risk by being present in the village.
When the mortar crashed through the roof and detonated inside the church with tremendous force, it dismembered many of those inside.
``Hands, feet, and heads began to fly,'' recalled Oscar Guzman, a math teacher at the local school. ``There was smoke and people screamed. I grabbed my little boy and fled. You could still hear gunfire and bullets, but we didn't stop.''
Two of Guzman's nephews, aged 2 and 10, died inside the church. One of Guzman's eardrums was blown out, and his head and an arm were scarred by shrapnel.
Guzman told a reporter that since the attack, he hasn't wanted to sleep or eat.
``I feel as if my heart has stopped,'' he said. ``As if it were heavy, black.''
-------- india
Costs of border standoff rises
May 8, 2002
By Shaikh Azizur Rahman
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
http://www.washtimes.com/world/20020508-8687561.htm
NEW DELHI - India and Pakistan, trapped by their own rhetoric, are continuing a 4-month-old military buildup along their border that analysts agree is futile and placing severe financial strains on both countries.
India is spending hundreds of millions of dollars each month to maintain its troops and to compensate farmers whose fields are being trampled, while Pakistan is diverting money from urgent needs such as health care and education to maintain its forces on the border.
Yet military analysts see no prospect of either country carrying out an attack on the other, at least for as long as the United States and its allies are working with Pakistan to battle the terrorist threat from al Qaeda and Taliban fighters.
India initiated Operation Parakram, or Operation Courage, its largest mobilization since it went to war with Pakistan 30 years ago, as a result of a Dec. 13 terrorist attack on its Parliament. It accused Pakistani military intelligence of masterminding the attack, which claimed the lives of 14 persons, including the five attackers.
Pakistan quickly responded as both countries rushed troops, armor and nuclear-capable guided missiles toward the border. About 1.2 million men are still in place along the two sides of the line.
Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee recently restated his determination not to withdraw until Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf puts an end to cross-border terrorism and turns over to India 20 suspected terrorists whose names it has provided.
But Gen. Musharraf, concerned about opposition to his crackdown on Islamic hard-liners, is in no position to reverse a public pledge never to hand over the suspects.
"Musharraf has to use his all might to stabilize his position in Pakistan now," said Lt. Gen. V.R. Raghavan, a retired Indian army officer. "In this situation, the Indian deployment is meaningless."
Some Indian politicians also have begun to question the mobilization.
"I suggest either we move or else we call it a day," said Farooq Abdullah, chief minister in the border province of Jammu and Kashmir. "Either we really use our force and do not just put them [there] to rot, or we demobilize and let us save the hinterland."
Farmers in Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Rajasthan and Gujarat provinces are demanding compensation from the federal government for the extensive mine fields laid by the troops along the 1,800-mile border during the military buildup. The mines already have taken many lives on the Indian side.
While the Indian government is silent on how much the deployment is costing, estimates are as high as $600 million a month.
U.S. Secretary of State Colin L. Powell and British Prime Minister Tony Blair have visited the region in fruitless attempts to get the two nations to stand down.
The costs of the deployment also are placing a heavy burden on Pakistan, one of the world's poorest countries.
----- iran
Iranian Missile May Threaten Europe
May 8, 2002
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-US-Iran-Missile.html
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Iran's Shahab-4 missile could be upgraded to reach Italy, Germany, Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Greece, a senior Bush administration official says.
The development is worrisome to U.S. officials because Iran has been viewed by the State Department as the world's most active terrorist country. President Bush has identified Iran among three ``axis of evil'' members, with Iraq and North Korea.
Despite the emerging capability, an Iranian attack against American allies in Europe is considered highly unlikely because most of these countries maintain normal ties with Tehran, which they believe can help moderate Iran's behavior.
Iran has been developing the missile with help from Russia and other countries. It would initially have a 1,250-mile range, but expected upgrades would give it the ability to strike NATO countries in Europe.
Older-generation Iranian missiles, including the Shahab-3, have shorter ranges and are capable of reaching Israel, Turkey and U.S. troops in Saudi Arabia.
A U.S. defense official said Tuesday the Shahab-3 has a mixed record in tests and isn't thought to be completely reliable.
Iranian Defense Minister Ali Shamkhani, quoted by Iran's state-run radio Tuesday, said Iran was taking steps to improve ``the destructive power, accuracy and range'' of the Shahab-3.
Iran seems increasingly confident about its military prowess. This was apparent when strains developed with Israel after Israel's interception in January of a shipment of Iranian weapons to Palestinian areas.
At one point, Shamkhani warned that if Israel ``carries out any military action against Iran, the response will be beyond the imagination of any Israeli politician.''
Iran's missile development is proceeding hand-in-hand with efforts to develop nuclear, biological and chemical weapons, U.S. officials say.
The senior official, commenting on condition of anonymity, said Iran's military buildup cannot be justified as a defense against neighbor and longtime rival Iraq, pointing out that the missiles Iran is developing could fly well beyond Iraq.
In a speech Monday, Undersecretary of State John Bolton highlighted Iran's progress in developing biological and chemical weapons. He also alluded to its ``ongoing interest in nuclear weapons, and its aggressive ballistic missile research, development and flight-testing regimen.''
A CIA report issued this year said Iran has been receiving missile equipment, technology and related expertise from Russia, North Korea and China.
Russia's role in assisting Iran seems at odds with the strong expressions of friendship and confidence Washington and Moscow have been demonstrating toward each other lately.
The mutual regard was evident last week during the visit to Washington of Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov and is expected to be on display when President Bush travels to Moscow on May 23 for a summit meeting with President Vladimir Putin.
Each side ascribes good will to the other even as disagreements remain, including U.S. doubts about Russian compliance with biological and chemical weapons treaties.
The administration has been highlighting the positive aspects of the relationship with Moscow while making only infrequent references to its concerns about Russia's ties with Iran.
The senior official who spoke about Iran, however, said these links are a serious problem, ``a piece of baggage that weighs down the relationship'' with Russia.
``We're concerned that Russian technology and expertise is helping Iran to increase the accuracy and distance of their missiles, and that Russian technology and expertise is helping Iran develop fissile material,'' the official said.
------
Iran Denies Secret US Talks Reports
May 8, 2002
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-Iran-US.html
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) -- An Iranian government spokesman has denied reports that Iran was engaged in secret talks with the United States, saying that any individual contacts with Washington outside the Foreign Ministry had no official backing.
``From the government's side and people affiliated with the government, there has been no talks with the American side,'' spokesman Abdollah Ramezanzadeh was quoted as saying Wednesday by the official Islamic Republic News Agency.
He said the government was not responsible for ``anyone trying to carry out (such talks) other than the Foreign Ministry.''
Over the past few weeks, Iranian newspapers have reported that a five-member team led by Deputy Foreign Minister Sadeq Kharrazi, a nephew of Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi, had held secret talks with American diplomats in Cyprus and elsewhere in Europe.
The Foreign Ministry has denied the reports.
Kharrazi had been expected to attend a closed meeting at the parliament last month to answer questions about the reports, but the meeting was delayed without explanation.
While Iran's hard-liners believe the only authority to decide on Iran-U.S. relations is the supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, some reformist lawmakers have suggested the issue should be decided in a referendum.
President Mohammad Khatami said last month ``if America's incorrect behavior and language changes ... there will a possibility for improving relations between the two countries because we haven't said we will never hold talks or relations with America.''
Iran and the United States broke relations after the storming of the U.S. Embassy after the 1979 Islamic revolution. Khatami has endorsed ``people'' contacts, such as academic or cultural groups, but has stopped short of encouraging higher-level exchanges with the United States.
In March, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Sen. Joseph Biden, invited members of the Iranian parliament for a ``historic meeting.'' Ramezanzadeh said then that Iran could consider such a meeting. But Khamenei rejected the idea.
President Bush has identified Iran among three ``axis of evil'' members, with Iraq and North Korea, accusing it of developing nuclear, biological and chemical weapons. Tehran denies the charge.
On Wednesday, an aide to editor Mohsen Mirdamadi said that despite official denials, Mirdamadi had information about secret talks with Washington. The aide, Karim Arqandehpour, did not elaborate.
Mirdamadi is editor of the leading reformist daily Nowruz and head of the National Security and Foreign Policy Committee of the Iranian parliament.
His aide told The Associated Press that Miramadi was informed Wednesday that he had been convicted by the hard-line press court on charges of spreading insults and lies, and that he had been sentenced to six months in jail and a six-year ban on journalistic activities.
Arqandehpour, a senior editor at Nowruz, which was banned from publication for six months, did not say which articles triggered the charges but said it had nothing to do with his comments on Iran-U.S. relations. Mirdamadi has 20 days to appeal.
-------- iraq
Revised Sanctions On Iraq Backed
U.N. Security Council Could Vote Thursday
By Peter Slevin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, May 8, 2002
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A49423-2002May7?language=printer
The five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council have agreed to a fresh effort to slow the flow of military equipment to Saddam Hussein's government while easing the delivery of civilian goods to Iraq's isolated population.
The Bush administration, which has pressed for overhauling the 11-year-old sanctions policy since it took office last year, contends the new rules will eliminate any legitimate claim by Hussein that United Nations sanctions are responsible for suffering and starvation. Officials also hope the loosened filter on civilian goods will mollify the many critics of current policy.
Joint sponsorship of the resolution represents the culmination of months of U.S. diplomatic maneuvering that came together in recent weeks when Russian President Vladimir Putin dropped his objections. U.N. diplomats said the measure would win the backing of the 15-member Security Council, perhaps as early as Thursday.
Diplomats and foreign policy specialists said the sanctions change could become a useful public relations tool for the Bush team as it seeks to build support around the world for an expected military campaign to oust Hussein.
"It deals with the psychological warfare that the Baghdad regime has mounted over the years, trying to blame the U.N. sanctions and the United States for humanitarian problems inside the country," said David L. Mack, a former U.S. diplomat at the Near East Institute in Washington. "It also improves relationships between the United States and other coalition partners."
The U.N. resolution also sets up Hussein for blame if the goods his government purchases with oil profits do not improve the lot of ordinary Iraqis, U.S. officials said yesterday.
"If the Iraqi regime continues to subvert the oil-for-food program, the world will have another clear demonstration of the threat the regime poses to the Iraqi people," State Department spokesman Richard A. Boucher said. "It makes clear that the restrictions and lack of distribution of civilian goods inside Iraq is not due to any outside controls, but rather to the behavior of the Iraqi regime."
Under the measure, contracts for thousands of items from fiber-optic cable to reinforced trucks would be subject to U.N. review for their potential use in Iraq's weapons development programs and armed forces. Nonmilitary items will be cleared for delivery to Iraq faster than in the past, proponents say.
The administration, led by Secretary of State Colin L. Powell, began pressing for such a change within weeks of taking office. Officials wanted to squeeze Hussein harder to prevent him from rebuilding his military or sharpening his ability to manufacture and deploy weapons of mass destruction, from poison gas to missiles. President Bush referred to the sanctions, enacted after Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1990, as "Swiss cheese."
Fourteen of the 15 members of the Security Council agreed in principle to the program by summer 2001, but Russia balked. Kremlin officials suspected the U.S.-led move was designed to perpetuate sanctions. Russian companies do significant business with Iraq, while the Russian government has had close ties with Hussein.
By late last year, Russia had committed to a new sanctions regime, but negotiated specifics for months. U.S. officials sat with the Russians and worked through lists dozens of pages long, identifying equipment and technology that could have a military use as well as a civilian one.
The Americans repeatedly told the Russians that the items' appearance on the list did not foretell a ban, only a U.N. review to measure their suitability. The Russians agreed in March, assured that their commercial interests would be protected, U.S. and European officials said yesterday. The plan is also being sponsored by China, France and Britain.
Under the new regime, vendors seeking to do business with Iraq will submit a contract to the United Nations. If some items on the contract are deemed safe, approval may be granted for them while other items are being screened. Deadlines will be imposed.
This is a change from the current system, where an entire contract could be held up while the review took place. "There is a presumption of approval rather than a presumption of denial. It will make a big difference in the speed with which goods get into Iraq," said former U.N. weapons inspector Charles Duelfer.
When Powell first began advocating the "smart-sanctions" approach, he also sought commitments from Iraq's neighbors to monitor the country's porous borders. Turkey, Jordan and Syria refused to do so, despite U.S. entreaties, and that portion of the policy is not part of the U.N. resolution.
"The object of this is to clearly differentiate between goods that go to the civilian economy and goods that present a real risk of diversion to the military economy," said John Wolf, assistant secretary of state for nonproliferation. "The important question is, will this work? This will work to the degree that the government of Iraq doesn't continue to jerk the system around."
-------- israel / palestine
Arafat Says Steps Taken to Stop Bombings
Mideast: Remarks on Palestinian TV appear to respond to demands by U.S. that Arafat condemn terrorism in Arabic to his people.
From Associated Press
May 8, 2002
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-050802arafat_wr.story
Talk about it http://www.latimes.com/la-news.prospero
RAMALLAH, West Bank -- Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat told Palestinians in a televised address today he has ordered security services to prevent "terror attacks against Israeli civilians."
The address came after a Palestinian suicide bomber killed 16 people including himself at an Israeli pool hall in a Tel Aviv suburb.
The United States has repeatedly demanded Arafat unequivocally condemn terrorism in Arabic to his people, a demand his television address appeared to fulfill.
"I gave my orders and directions to all the Palestinian security forces to confront and prevent all terror attacks against Israeli civilians from any Palestinian side or parties and at the same time to confront any aggression or attack on Palestinian civilians, whether by Israeli soldiers or settlers, which we all condemn," Arafat said.
However, Arafat said, his police were too weak to carry out his orders in the wake of Israel's large-scale military operation aimed at crushing Palestinian militias in the West Bank.
Arafat also expressed his "full commitment and my readiness to participate with the U.S. administration and the international community in their war against terrorism."
The speech was based almost entirely on a statement issued in Arafat's name earlier in the day.
The bombing in the Tel Aviv suburb of Rishon Letzion came while Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon met with President Bush in Washington.
Sharon cut short his visit to Washington to head home to discuss potential responses. Education Minister Limor Livnat, who traveled with Sharon, said "it is very possible that in the end, there will be no choice and it will be necessary to expel Arafat," but that Sharon has not yet made a decision.
A senior Israeli official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Sharon and Bush agreed that Arafat, if not removed, should be elevated to a purely symbolic position, leaving another leader in charge of running the Palestinian Authority.
In his address today, which appeared aimed at forestalling new Israeli reprisals, Arafat also asked for help rebuilding his security forces so they could carry out his orders to fight terror.
"I call on the U.S. government, President Bush and the international community to provide the support and needed immunity for the Palestinian security forces, whose infrastructure has been destroyed by the Israeli occupation, so that it can carry out and implement their orders and their missions and duties to completely stop any terror attempt targeting Israeli civilians or Palestinian civilians," he said.
Arafat also asked that an international force be immediately sent to the region to establish peace.
---
Text of Arafat's Televised Address
From Associated Press
May 8, 2002
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-050802arafattext_wr.story
Translation of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's televised address in Arabic to the Palestinian people:
As the president of the Palestinian Liberation Organization and the president of the Palestinian Authority, I repeat here my full commitment and my readiness to participate with the U.S. administration and the international community in their war against terrorism.
I gave my orders and directions to all the Palestinian security forces to confront and prevent all terror attacks against Israeli civilians from any Palestinian side or parties and at the same time to confront any aggression or attack on Palestinian civilians, whether by Israeli soldiers or settlers, which we all condemn.
I call on the U.S. government, President Bush and the international community to provide the support and needed immunity for the Palestinian security forces, whose infrastructure has been destroyed by the Israeli occupation, so that they can carry out and implement their orders and their missions and duties to completely stop any terror attempt targeting Israeli civilians or Palestinian civilians and to prevent using terror as a political way to achieve their goals.
I call and insist on the importance of sending international forces immediately to help us stop the aggression and impose peace and security.
----
Israeli Security Cabinet Approves Operations After Bombing
May 8, 2002
By REUTERS
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/international/international-mideast.html
JERUSALEM - The Israeli government's security cabinet gave the green light on Thursday for operations against ''terrorist targets'' following a Palestinian suicide bombing that threatened to derail new Middle East peace efforts.
A government statement gave no details of what operations had been approved but said the security cabinet had empowered Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer to decide what action to take.
At least 15 people were killed in addition to the Palestinian suicide bomber and 60 others were wounded in the explosion at a packed billiard hall in Rishon Letzion south of Tel Aviv on Tuesday evening, police said.
``The ministerial forum for national security (security cabinet) convened tonight for a special session following the severe terrorist attack last night in Rishon Letzion and a series of other serious attacks thwarted by the security services,'' the statement said.
``The security cabinet authorized the prime minister and defense minister to decide upon operations against terrorist targets,'' it said.
A senior Israeli political source said one cabinet minister had raised the idea of exiling Palestinian President Yasser Arafat but it had not even been taken to a vote.
Sharon convened his security cabinet, comprising top ministers including the defense and foreign ministers, after cutting short a visit to Washington to fly home to handle the situation.
President Bush had urged him to remember his ``vision of peace'' when responding to Tuesday's bombing but stopped short of calling for restraint.
``He who rises up to kill us, we will pre-empt it and kill him first,'' Sharon said before leaving Washington on Wednesday.
``Israel will continue to uproot the terror infrastructure.''
ARAFAT ISSUES ORDERS
Arafat, under U.S. and Israeli pressure to halt the violence, said he had ordered Palestinian security forces to foil any attempt to attack Israeli civilians.
The Palestinian Authority condemned the attack but Israel said it held Arafat responsible.
Bush called Arafat's order an ``incredibly positive sign'' and added: ``I hope that his actions now match his words.''
After landing in Tel Aviv, Sharon was whisked away by security guards to meet his inner security cabinet.
Calls have mounted in Israel for tough action, ranging from a new military offensive in the West Bank to exiling Arafat.
Palestinians in the Gaza Strip braced for an armed assault after Israeli media reported that the suicide bomber was believed to have come from Gaza.
Bush said: ``Israel is a...sovereign nation but whatever response Israel decides to take, my hope, of course, is that the prime minister keeps his vision of peace in mind.''
BETHLEHEM SIEGE TALKS
The suicide bombing initially dented hopes of ending the armed standoff at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, where Palestinian militants have been holed up for more than five weeks, surrounded by troops and tanks.
But talks resumed on Wednesday, renewing speculation that a deal was near for the departure of civilians who are also in the church marking the spot where Christians believe Jesus was born.
Sources close to the talks said some of the militants might also leave and be transferred to the Gaza Strip but the 13 ''most wanted'' by Israel would stay. The gunmen took refuge in the church as troops entered the city on April 2, hunting militants.
The suicide bombing was the first in Israel in nearly a month. It followed a lull in which military action had given way to diplomacy after the Israeli army offensive launched in the West Bank on March 29 in response to earlier suicide attacks.
Sharon was meeting Bush at the White House as the bomb exploded in the town of Rishon Letzion.
The militant Islamic movement Hamas has neither confirmed nor denied media reports that it carried out the attack.
Arafat said: ``As head of the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Palestinian Authority, I reiterate my commitment and participation with the United States and the international community in their war on terrorism.''
The attack, the sixth suicide bombing since Israel began its offensive in the West Bank, brought the death toll in the 19-month-old Palestinian uprising against Israeli military occupation to at least 1,345 Palestinians and 473 Israelis.
----
IDF massing troops near Gaza in preparation for retaliatory strike
By Amos Harel and Aluf Benn,
Ha'aretz Correspondents and agencies
Thursday, May 09, 2002
Haaretz Daily
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=161125&contrassID=1&subContrassID=0&sbSubContrassID=0
The IDF began massing forces on the border with the Gaza Strip late Wednesday night, in preparation for a retaliatory operation following the suicide bomb attack in Rishon Letzion which killed 15 people.
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who cut short his trip to the United States after hearing of the attack, arrived back in Israel Wednesday evening and immediately convened his extended security cabinet at Lod military airport.
The security cabinet gave the green light in the early hours of Thursday morning for operations against "terrorist targets."
A government statement gave no details of what operations had been approved but said the security cabinet had empowered Sharon and Defense Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer to decide what action to take.
Only Finance Minister Silvan Shalom raised the idea of exiling Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat, but the issue was not taken to a vote.
Earlier Wednesday, sources in Sharon's entourage to Washington said that U.S. President George Bush had agreed that peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians must wait until internal reforms within the PA have brought about a governing body that "would be headed by a different person or different people" than the current leader, Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat.
"It was clear that the chief [Arafat] must be moved to a different role within the PA, customarily to a symbolic position and the administrative responsibilities would be transferred to others," the sources said.
Sharon will not present the extended security cabinet with a proposal to expel Arafat. Instead, he is expected to adopt an American plan calling for structural changes that would ultimately sideline Arafat.
According to the sources, Bush and his advisors have proposed the establishment of a temporary government within the PA until a constitution is drawn up and elections are held.
The sources said that Bush also agreed that Israel would not hold talks with the PA until it has completed its internal reforms. The president did demand, however, that once the reforms have been carried out, the two sides must hold talks that would eventually lead to a final settlement.
American officials estimate that moderate Arab nations will support the U.S. proposal, but that Israel would have to sit on the sidelines and not get involved in order for the proposal to fully succeed.
The Americans understand that without these structural changes "there is no one to talk to within the PA and it is a waste of effort," the sources said.
----
Bomb kills 16 as Bush, Sharon meet
May 8, 2002
By Betsy Pisik
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
http://www.washtimes.com/world/20020508-43818154.htm
JERUSALEM - A suicide bomber in a crowded pool hall south of Tel Aviv last night killed at least 16 Israelis - just moments before Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and President Bush emerged from a White House meeting - prompting Mr. Sharon to vow to "kill" terrorists.
"He who rises up to kill us, we will pre-empt it and kill him first," he said.
Mr. Sharon immediately cut short his visit and announced he was returning home. At a news conference before departing, Mr. Sharon vowed to retaliate for the attack.
"Israel cannot help but respond in the most serious manner to this situation," Mr. Sharon said.
The Islamic militant group Hamas claimed responsibility for the blast, the first since a suicide bomber, a young woman, killed six persons at a Jerusalem bus stop on April 12.
"It was a suicide bomber carrying a very large explosive charge," deputy police commander Yifrah Sokhovnik told Israeli public television.
"To all appearances, the suicide bomber blew himself up in the middle of the club," Mr. Sokhovnik said.
Witnesses told Israeli army radio that the blast ripped through a billiard club on the third floor of a building. The ceiling collapsed, and the club appeared to be destroyed, they said.
"There was a massive blast that really hit you in the face," one witness said. "There were just people screaming and screaming from inside the building, covered in blood. Others were just running around, injured."
The attack took place in Rishon Letzion, a town of middle-class Israelis, many of whom commute to Tel Aviv.
The pool hall was apparently unguarded.
"This was the only place that didn't have a guard," Roy, a 23-year-old student, said, pointing to other bars in the vicinity that he said were all staffed by armed doormen.
"Rishon Letzion is the heart of Israel. In Israel, nowhere is safe now. If they can do this here, they can do it anywhere," he said.
Police and rescue crews searched the ruins last night for survivors and bodies. It was not known how many people were inside at the time of the blast, but at least 50 were reported injured.
Officials said several of the injured were taken to hospitals in critical condition.
The attack came amid final negotiations to end a siege at Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity, threatening to shatter those negotiations as well as U.S.-brokered attempts to end 20 months of fighting.
The Palestinian Authority condemned the attack and vowed to act against those responsible.
"The Palestinian leadership strongly condemns the violent attacks against Israeli civilians," said a Palestinian Authority statement carried by the official Wafa news agency.
The statement also said the Palestinian leadership would take "deterrent measures against those involved in the grave attack," but it did not say what the measures would be.
Nearly 60 Palestinians have blown themselves up in attempts to kill Israelis since fighting erupted in September 2000.
A suicide attack on March 27 that killed 28 persons at the onset of the Passover holiday triggered Israel's military incursion into the West Bank - an effort to halt the bombings by rounding up Palestinians suspected of terrorism.
Only hours before yesterday's attack, Israel appeared ready to pull out of Bethlehem, the last of six major West Bank cities under Israeli occupation.
Negotiators began the day saying they had reached an agreement to end a 36-day siege of the Church of the Nativity.
Bethlehem Mayor Hanna Nasser told reporters on the barricades that the deal was "a fait accompli."
Drawn by the first wave of hope in more than a month, women began gathering in the alley leading to Manger Square, desperate for news about their sons and nephews.
The failure to conclude the agreement left more than 100 people stranded for the chilly night in the damaged and fetid church, built on the site where Jesus was believed to have been born.
They included some 35 priests, monks and nuns; roughly 70 Palestinian civilians; at least 10 foreign peace activists; and 39 Palestinians accused by the Israelis of terrorism.
The deal fell through because no country would agree to accept 13 Palestinian fighters that Israel demanded be exiled from the region. An additional 26 fighters were to have been exiled in Gaza.
Italy had been expected to accept the 13 men, but officials in Rome said no one had consulted them about the exiles.
"What are the responsibility of the hosting state? How must we keep them? In prison? In a convent? Are they free?" a foreign ministry official said to the Associated Press in Rome.
He said that Rome "never received any information from the parties on the progress of the negotiations, nor were any requests advanced in the past few days from these parties."
Secretary of State Colin L. Powell sought to salvage the agreement in two telephone conversations with Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.
Washington held out hope that Mr. Berlusconi would change his mind.
"We are hopeful that Italy might accept some of the people from the church, and that's what the secretary has been discussing with the Italian prime minister," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher told reporters.
But Italian government sources said Mr. Berlusconi refused to budge.
"Prime Minister Berlusconi made it clear in the conversations that Italy's position does not change," an Italian official was quoted by Reuters news agency as saying.
The United States and Israel had hoped to resolve the standoff before the Bush-Sharon meeting in Washington.
But with the church standoff unresolved, and confronted with yet another suicide bombing, Mr. Sharon canceled a meeting with members of Congress, cut short his visit and headed home.
• Nicholas Kralev in Washington contributed to this report.
--------
Arafat's Address to Palestinians
May 8, 2002
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-Palestinians-Arafat-Text.html
Translation of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's televised address in Arabic to the Palestinian people:
As the president of the Palestinian Liberation Organization and the president of the Palestinian Authority, I repeat here my full commitment and my readiness to participate with the U.S. administration and the international community in their war against terrorism.
I gave my orders and directions to all the Palestinian security forces to confront and prevent all terror attacks against Israeli civilians from any Palestinian side or parties and at the same time to confront any aggression or attack on Palestinian civilians, whether by Israeli soldiers or settlers, which we all condemn.
I call on the U.S. government, President Bush and the international community to provide the support and needed immunity for the Palestinian security forces, whose infrastructure has been destroyed by the Israeli occupation, so that they can carry out and implement their orders and their missions and duties to completely stop any terror attempt targeting Israeli civilians or Palestinian civilians and to prevent using terror as a political way to achieve their goals.
I call and insist on the importance of sending international forces immediately to help us stop the aggression and impose peace and security.
-------- pakistan
French Minister Arrives in Pakistan After Blast
May 8, 2002
By REUTERS
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/international/international-pakistan-blast.html
KARACHI, Pakistan - French Defense Minister Michele Alliot-Marie arrived in the volatile southern Pakistani city of Karachi Thursday, a day after a devastating suicide bomb attack killed 14 people, 11 of them French, and wounded 22.
Alliot-Marie, who arrived on a French government jet, was met at Karachi international airport by Pakistan Information Minister Nisar Memon and navy chief Aziz Mirza.
``We condemn this act of terrorism. We will nab those who were responsible for this act,'' Memon told Alliot-Marie on her arrival. ``We arrested the killers of Daniel Pearl, an American journalist, and we will act similarly in this case.''
Wednesday's attack was the third time foreigners in Pakistan have been targeted this year, after the kidnap and murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Pearl in January and a grenade attack on a church used by foreigners in Islamabad in March.
-------- spy agencies
Senate Intelligence Chief Complains
May 8, 2002
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Attacks-Intelligence.html
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Justice Department and CIA are not being fully cooperative with Congress' investigation into how the terrorists who carried out the Sept. 11 attacks escaped detection, the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee said Wednesday.
Some documents are not being turned over and interviews of potential witnesses are taking place in intimidating circumstances, Sen. Bob Graham, D-Fla., told reporters. He said committee officials intend to present their complaints personally to Attorney General John Ashcroft and CIA Director George J. Tenet.
``We thought we had from those highest levels the kind of assurances we would get cooperation,'' Graham said.
Justice Department and FBI officials could not be reached late Wednesday to respond to Graham's criticism. Graham acknowledged Justice officials told the committee that disclosing some documents could interfere with criminal investigations, but Graham said the committee regularly deals with classified materials and there's no chance those documents will be made public.
CIA spokesman Bill Harlow described the agency's cooperation with the investigation as ``extensive, extraordinary and unprecedented.''
``We've given them access to thousands of highly classified documents,'' he said. ``We've given them briefings. We've given them information we have assembled, which, without our efforts, they would be unable to find. We've housed members of their staff in our headquarters. We've done all these things while we're fighting a war.''
One official familiar with the investigation said some committee requests for information have required the compilation of hundreds of thousands of documents. But the investigation has uncovered no single missed piece of intelligence that would have allowed U.S. authorities to stop the attacks.
Graham said the committee may exercise its subpoena power to force cooperation.
Congress' investigation has hit other snags.
Its director, former CIA Inspector General L. Britt Snider, resigned after little more than two months on the job, apparently forced out over a personnel dispute with the Senate Intelligence Committee's vice chairman, Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala.
Graham acknowledged Snider's departure has caused some interruption in the investigation.
The tumult has forced back the beginning of public hearings on the issue, once promised to take place as early as April. They now won't begin before June.
The Democratic senator suggested the reluctance to cooperate reflected a tendency in the Bush administration, noting the administration's refusal to let Homeland Security Chief Tom Ridge testify to Congress and its resistance to turning over documents relating to its consultations on national energy policy.
Also Wednesday, Graham's committee passed a 2003 intelligence budget. Graham and committee officials declined to provide details. Shelby said it contained a ``meaningful'' increase in funding for the nation's intelligence community.
The war on terrorism has led to large spending increases for U.S. intelligence, as military and civilian agencies devote more resources to tracking and fighting al-Qaida.
The total intelligence budget is kept secret, although open-government advocates last managed to get the government to disclose its total in 1998: $26.7 billion. Since, it has been estimated to be around $30 billion. The recent increases have probably pushed it closer to $35 billion or more.
Last year, the intelligence budget went up by about 8 percent. Officials said revitalizing the CIA's spy networks and improving the computers that analyze signals intelligence remain key goals in this year's budget.
This year, President Bush was believed to have proposed increasing the CIA's budget, which only makes up a portion of the total intelligence budget, from about $3.5 billion to between $5 billion and $5.5 billion for 2003.
Much of that would pay for expanding CIA's corps of overseas case officers, hiring allies and equipping counterterrorism teams in foreign countries averse to having U.S. military advisers on their soil.
Other intelligence agencies included in the budget are the National Security Agency, which conducts electronic wiretapping and signals gathering for foreign intelligence purposes; the National Reconnaissance Office, which designs and operates spy satellites; and the National Imagery and Mapping Agency, which interprets satellite imagery and makes military maps.
-------- us
Officer: Afghan War 'All But Won'
May 8, 2002
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-Afghanistan.html
BAGRAM, Afghanistan (AP) -- The war against al-Qaida and Taliban fighters inside Afghanistan is ``all but won'' and offensive operations by the U.S.-led coalition are grinding down as a result, the top British commander in the coalition said Wednesday.
``We believe we're on the right way, that the fight against (the al-Qaida and Taliban) in Afghanistan is all but won,'' Brig. Roger Lane said at Bagram air base, according to a pool report. ``They're not showing a predisposition to reorganize and regroup to mount offensive operations against us.''
A 1,000-man British-led force began sweeping on foot through southeastern Afghanistan last Friday to track down small groups of al-Qaida or Taliban fighters and search caves and bunkers they may have once used. The mission, dubbed Operation Snipe, is taking place in an undisclosed area that military officials say has never been searched by coalition troops.
``Because as yet we have not come into contact with the enemy per se, I expect over the next few days that offensive operations akin to Operation Snipe will start coming to an end,'' Lane said.
The last major battles against al-Qaida and Taliban holdouts took place in March during Operation Anaconda in eastern Afghanistan's Shah-e-Kot mountains. The 12-day assault marked the largest U.S. ground operation of the war. Since then, U.S. officials say enemy fighters have dispersed into small groups.
``I think the general assessment is that in substantial parts of the country the need for offensive operations is beginning to dwindle and that they will be completed in a matter of weeks rather than months,'' Lane said.
When asked about Lane's comments, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said coalition forces had several jobs to complete, including helping to strengthen the government of Interim Prime Minister Hamid Karzai and tighten the country's borders.
``There are still Al Qaeda and Taliban in the country and in neighboring countries. They still intend to do what they can to destabilize the Karzai interim authority. We intend to see that that doesn't happen,'' he told reporters in Washignton. ``And we have no intention of announcing an end date or anything of that type.''
Ensuring stability in Afghanistan in the long-term would be the responsibility of an Afghan national army, not the thousands of foreign soldiers currently deployed in the country, he added.
``We're not going to be able to find and destroy every last bunker and terrorist,'' Lane said. ``But we can get to a point where ... initially the local Afghan militia forces can take control and then in time, as the development of the Afghan national army takes some form, that they will ... then become responsible for their territorial sovereignty and security.''
Afghan authorities are hoping to create a 100,000-man army with border guards and a police force, but funding has been a major problem. Last month, the first 600 Afghan soldiers for the new army graduated from a six-week training course given by international peacekeepers.
Lane said it would take two to five years to train and equip a new national army and the role of British forces in the country would change as a result.
``The role of war-fighting forces like my own will greatly diminish as ... the pendulum increasingly turns toward specialist trainers and advisers,'' Lane said. He gave no other details.
Since last month, Britain has had about 1,700 Royal Marines at Bagram air base. Four British fighting companies -- each with about 120 men -- were deployed in Operation Snipe, along with 105 mm howitzer gun batteries.
In April, about 400 mostly British troops completed a five-day mission dubbed Operation Ptarmigan that uncovered ``terrorist facilities,'' documents and anti-aircraft ammunition in the Shah-i-Kot area near the Pakistani border. They did not come under fire.
In other developments:
--Faizullah Zaki, spokesman for Gen. Abdul Rashid Dostum, said ``several hundred'' Pakistani prisoners would be released from the squalid Shibergan prison Thursday, adding he didn't know how they would get home. Dostum controls the prison near Mazar-e-Sharif.
The men, accused of fighting with the Taliban, were arrested as the northern alliance swept across Afghanistan last year to oust the Islamic militia.
Conditions at Shibergan are dismal. The international Red Cross recently started an emergency feeding program because some inmates were near starvation. Prisoners are packed so tightly into cells they can't all lie down at once.
-- Pakistani army and paramilitary troops extended the search for al-Qaida and Taliban fighters hiding in the country's semi-autonomous tribal regions along the Afghan border to a new area north of Miran Shah on Wednesday, a local official said. He said he did not know if U.S. forces were with the Pakistanis, or if they had found any suspects.
--------
Pentagon Aims to Boost Satellite Signals
By John J. Lumpkin
Associated Press Writer
Sunday, May 5, 2002
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A35654-2002May5?language=printer
WASHINGTON -- The Pentagon wants to turn up the power on its network of satellites used to guide U.S. troops and the bombs they fire.
The $200 million proposal is one of the military's first to fulfill Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld's plans to protect the United States from a "space Pearl Harbor."
The money would pay to upgrade the newest Global Positioning System satellites, which have yet to be launched. That would allow the transmission to military receivers of signals that are eight times more powerful those sent by the current generation of satellites.
These boosted signals would be powerful enough to burn through electronic jamming put up by an adversary. American troops would not get lost and satellite-guided smart bombs would still find their targets.
The ever-more-popular GPS devices used by civilians would not be affected or receive the boosted signal, defense officials said.
By 2006, enough new satellites would be in orbit so that troops with GPS receivers should be able to receive a boosted signal anywhere on the Earth's surface, according to the plan.
The Bush administration is seeking about $50 million for the program in its proposed 2003 budget.
A GPS receiver works by comparing the radio signals it receives from several satellites. Each signal can be computed to learn the receiver's distance from each satellite. The distances can be compared, and, like a surveyor triangulating his location, the receiver can figure out where it is.
The military uses the system for navigation and targeting. During the Gulf War, U.S. tanks relied on GPS directions to find their way around the desert in Iraq and Saudi Arabia.
But the increased power would only be transmitted on channels used exclusively by the military. Over-the-counter GPS locators used by foreign militaries, merchant ships and expensive cars would continue to receive the low-power transmissions, leaving them more vulnerable to jamming.
Just one boosted signal would make it easier for receivers to find other, low-power satellites, even in an environment full of electronic noise thrown up to drown out the GPS signal, military officials said.
The plan would allow the U.S. military to jam an adversary's over-the-counter GPS equipment on a battlefield, but still use its own.
Jamming GPS signals is relatively easy, according to a Transportation Department report last year on threats to the system. But it is unclear if anyone, except perhaps the United States, has used this technology on the battlefield.
"Short, lightweight, short-lived jammers with power from one to 100 watts could cost less than $1,000," the report says. "These jammers can be built by people with basic technical competence from readily available commercial components and publicly available information."
Some experts, who note the U.S. commerical sector has become reliant on GPS for everything from navigation to setting clocks used to time financial transactions, suggest the boosted signals also be made available to civilians.
"I won't be critical of them taking steps to protect (Defense Department) infrastructure first," said L. Paul Bremer III, a former U.S. ambassador-at-large for counterterrorism who has studied the issue. "But protecting GPS needs to be looked at much more broadly."
Boosting the military GPS signal is part of Rumsfeld's push to protect the U.S. advantages that arise from its supremacy in space, said Air Force Col. Roger Robb, a GPS program official, in a written response to questions.
Until shortly after he was nominated by President Bush in January 2001, Rumsfeld was chairman of the Commission to Assess United States National Security Space Management and Organization.
The commission created by Congress concluded that the government was becoming more reliant on space for its military and intelligence programs, but was doing little to protect these advantages against attack.
The commission said a lack of attention by the government to its satellites and space policy makes the United States "an attractive candidate for a space Pearl Harbor."
Since becoming defense secretary, Rumsfeld has also reorganized some of the senior command structure for military space programs.
For example, a new generation of communications satellites would be able to transmit through the electromagnetic pulse created by a nuclear detonation, according to officials at the Space and Missile Systems Center at Los Angeles Air Force Base, Calif.
The administration is seeking $825.8 million for the program in 2003. The launch of the first of five of these satellites is expected in 2005.
On the Net:
Background on Global Positioning System: http://www.af.mil/news/factsheets/NAVSTAR-Global-Positioning-Sy.html
Advanced Extremely High Frequencey program: http://www.losangeles.af.mil/smc/mc/mcx.html
-------- POLICE / PRISONERS
Inmates Want Payment for Experiments
By Bill Bergstrom
Associated Press Writer
Wednesday, May 8, 2002
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A51164-2002May8?language=printer
PHILADELPHIA -- One after another, former city prison inmates came forward, pointing out scars they said were the marks of years of medical experiments in which they served as guinea pigs.
Alfons J. Skorski, 52, showed a scarred leg he said resulted from an athlete's foot test at Philadelphia's Holmesburg Prison in 1970. A week later his foot lost all feeling and he could walk only "by taking a step forward with my left foot and dragging my right foot."
Skorski said that even now, "if I don't concentrate on that right foot it will still droop down, causing me to trip."
More than a half dozen former inmates appeared at a City Council committee hearing Tuesday to testify about the experiments they say were conducted on them. They are seeking an apology and compensation.
Many of the inmates' stories were told in the 1998 book "Acres of Skin," by Temple University instructor and prison activist Allen Hornblum, who also testified Tuesday.
A lawsuit filed in October 2000 on behalf of 298 former inmates claims the testing exposed the inmates to infectious diseases, radiation, dioxin and psychotropic drugs - all without their informed consent.
It names as defendants the city of Philadelphia; Dr. Albert Kligman, a University of Pennsylvania dermatologist who conducted much of the research and is credited with developing the acne and anti-wrinkle treatment Retin A; the university; and Johnson & Johnson and the Dow Chemical Co., whose products were allegedly among those tested on inmates.
The medical testing at Holmesburg began in 1951 and didn't end until 1974, when it was banned, Hornblum said.
A federal judge ruled that the statute of limitations for such lawsuits expired about 20 years ago, said Tom Nocella, attorney for the plaintiffs. But Nocella said the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is expected to hear oral arguments on an appeal in July.
Councilman David Cohen said he chaired Tuesday's hearing, which will resume May 28, to try to "see that the city ceases the dangerous stance in which it, instead of answering questions, tries to hide behind legal technicalities."
The city and other defendants in effect argued "even if you're right, you're too late," Cohen said. "We don't think that kind of defense makes any sense."
Mayor John Street's office didn't return calls seeking comment.
After Hornblum's book was published, the University of Pennsylvania offered to examine any former Holmesburg inmates who thought they were harmed by Penn studies, and "that offer still stands," spokeswoman Rebecca Harmon said Tuesday.
She noted that Kligman has said using paid prisoners as research subjects in the 1950s and 1960s was in keeping with "standard protocol" at that time. "To the best of my knowledge ... no long-term harm was done to any person who voluntarily participated," he said.
Dow Chemical Co. spokesman Scott Wheeler said the lawsuit was a result of "applying what was common practice in the 1960s to 2002 eyes. All this is something that happened 40 years ago."
Johnson & Johnson has said it tested some cosmetic and skin-care products in the prison in the late 1960s and early 1970s but didn't test any ingredients cited in the prisoners' lawsuit, and hasn't done testing on prison inmates since, according to spokesman Marc Marceau.
Cohen said the city should apologize and compensate the test subjects regardless of the legal outcome.
He noted the federal government waited 65 years to apologize for the 1930s Tuskegee experiment, in which government doctors let black men in an Alabama county go untreated for syphilis.
"We don't want to have to wait until there are just three survivors," Cohen said.
--------
Feds Say Homeland Office Not Agency
May 8, 2002
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Homeland-Security-FOI.html
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Justice Department is arguing that the U.S. Office of Homeland Security is exempt from the Freedom of Information Act because it technically isn't an ``agency'' and doesn't exercise substantial authority apart from President Bush.
Responding to a lawsuit filed by the Washington-based Electronic Privacy Information Center, a civil-liberties group, the Justice Department compared the role of Homeland Security to the president's National Security Council, which has been ruled exempt under the freedom of information law.
Government lawyers urged U.S. District Court Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly to throw out the group's lawsuit, which sought records about proposals for any national identification systems. The group last month sued the Office of Homeland Security and its director, Tom Ridge; the Justice Department responded with its arguments last week.
David Sobel, the general counsel for the privacy group, said it's unclear whether Homeland Security is more analogous to the National Security Council or to other offices within the White House that have been ruled to fall under the freedom of information law, such as the Office of Management and Budget or Office of National Drug Control Policy.
``This entity is so new, there isn't much of a track record,'' Sobel said. ``But the expectations are that Governor Ridge is going to have significant authority to implement post-September 11th policy initiatives. Every aspect of daily life is going to be influenced in some way by the policies emanating from that office.''
The group agreed to file its formal court response with the judge on May 24.
-------- terrorism
F.B.I. Says Pipe-Bomb Suspect Confessed
New York Times
May 8, 2002
By JODI WILGOREN
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/05/08/national/08CND-PIPE.html
CHICAGO, May 8 - Lucas John Helder, the 21-year-old college student who was arrested in connection with a rash of 18 pipe bombs planted in rural mailboxes in five states, told the Federal Bureau of Investigation today that he was responsible for making the explosives and placing them in the mailboxes.
Mr. Helder used a map to point out the towns in Illinois and Iowa where he planted the bombs, Mark Heavrin, an F.B.I. agent, said in an affidavit.
Mr. Helder also told authorities that he planted bombs in Nebraska, Colorado and Texas, and he admitted to making 16 more bombs in a hotel room near Omaha.
The authorities arrested Mr. Helder on Tuesday on a highway 40 miles east of Reno, Nev.
About eight hours after the F.B.I. issued an all-points bulletin with his description, the student, Lucas John Helder, pulled over on Interstate 80 near Fernley, Nev., and tossed a gun to the ground as he surrendered to state troopers who had been following him.
Trooper Alan Davidson of the Nevada Highway Patrol said Mr. Helder was talking to the F.B.I. on his cell phone before being taken into custody at about 4:30 p.m. Pacific time on Tuesday.
Investigators said they believed that Mr. Helder, who grew up in Pine Island, Minn., and studied art at the University of Wisconsin-Stout in Menomonie, was responsible for all the bombs, which injured six people on Friday and rattled nerves across the Midwest. Residents were asked to leave their mailboxes open and report any suspicious items to the police as Mr. Helder apparently drove his father's 1992 gray Honda Accord some 3,000 miles across the country since Friday.
Trooper Davidson said the police tracked Mr. Helder heading west from a cellphone call he made in Battle Mountain, a mining town of 4,066. Federal officials said someone at the 8,000-student Menomonie campus alerted them that Mr. Helder had recently disappeared. His parents met with the authorities Tuesday morning and were cooperating.
On Tuesday afternoon afternoon, Mr. Helder's father, Cameron Helder, defended his son before reporters and urged the young man to turn himself in.
"I really want you to know that Luke is not a dangerous person," Cameron Helder said in a brief statement outside his home. "I think he's just trying to make a statement about the way our government is run. I think Luke wants people to listen to his ideas, and not enough people are hearing him and he thinks this may help."
"Please don't hurt anyone else," the elder Mr. Helder added in an appeal to his son. "It's time to talk. You have the attention you wanted. We want you home safe."
The United States attorney in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, charged Mr. Helder with using an explosive to maliciously destroy property affecting interstate commerce and using a destructive device to commit a crime of violence, charges that could send him to prison for life. Officials said he would also be charged in Illinois and Nebraska, but were unsure where he would be taken first.
The student newspaper at the University of Wisconsin, The Badger-Herald, reported Tuesday night on its Web site that it had received a six-page letter from Mr. Helder, postmarked in Omaha on Friday, and had turned it over to the F.B.I. The first page was identical to the notes attached to the bombs, and the rest include further ramblings on the meaning of life and death and ruminations on the environment and technology.
"I often wonder why so many people spend their entire lives consuming what is fed to them, without knowing if they are consuming anything at all," the letter said. "All of my family and friends were raised to believe . . . to be gullible . . . to be materialistic . . . to fear authority . . . to blindly follow.
"Do you wonder why people blow themselves up to hurt others?" it continued. "Do you wonder why you are here? Do you wonder what is out there . . . way out there? I remember those days of uncertainty, and I can't tell you how great it is to know, to know eternally, and to be."
The suspect's identity, and a yearbook-style photograph showing him smiling between a crew cut and bright yellow and black tie, confounded terrorism experts who had thought the threatening anti-government notes that accompanied the bombs was written by an older man. Mr. Helder, who used to play in a grunge rock band in Minnesota, does not fit the profile of a bomber, and he has no criminal record.
University officials said he stopped attending classes three weeks ago, returned briefly and then left the campus a week ago.
"He is being described as an intelligent young man with strong family ties," Jim Bogner, the F.B.I.'s special agent in charge of Nebraska and Iowa, said Tuesday at a news conference in Omaha.
After Mr. Helder's arrest, the F.B.I. director, Robert S. Mueller III, issued a statement praising the cooperation of dozens of local, state and federal law enforcement agencies.
"Citizen vigilance coupled with effective law enforcement is a powerful combination in the fight against terrorism," Mr. Mueller said.
The F.B.I.'s all-points bulletin, issued Tuesday morning, came after the announcement of yet another bomb found in a mailbox, this time in Amarillo, in the Texas Panhandle. The authorities said they were unsure whether that bomb was planted before or after one found about the same time in Salida, Colo. Like the ones found over the weekend in Nebraska, the bombs in Colorado and Texas were not set to go off, suggesting a de-escalation of violence after the injuries on Friday.
Mr. Helder was arrested some 1,717 miles from Davenport, Iowa, where the first bomb was discovered at 6:49 a.m. Friday when a man pulled a copy of the Quad-City Times from his mailbox outside of town. Davenport is 267 miles from Mr. Helder's parents' Pine Island home, and 302 miles from the 8,000-student university campus where he is a junior and a member of the paint-ball club.
On Friday, seven nearly identical bombs were found between 10:49 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. in small towns forming a rough circle 70 miles across. A letter carrier injured his arm and lost his hearing. Another had 14 stitches to his right hand. A 70-year-old farmer's wife had her faced bloodied by an explosion that her husband said sounded like a blown tire.
The next day, another crop of bombs appeared in a ring of Nebraska farm communities 400 miles away along Interstate 80. A man taking a break from planting corn near Davenport, Neb., thought the bomb in its plastic bag was an advertising gimmick. A letter carrier used to seeing strange items, from beer bottles to Avon cosmetics, in rural boxes, simply slipped the mail under the package in Ohiowa, Neb.
On Monday, as rural letter carriers used to more natural dangers like deer and tornadoes wore heavy gloves and goggles and dropped mail only in boxes with latches left open, bombs were found in Salida, 552 miles southwest of the last one discovered in Nebraska, and Amarillo, 416 miles southeast of Salida.
Built of six-inch lengths of three-quarter-inch steel pipe and nine-volt batteries, the bombs cost no more than a few dollars and would take just a couple of hours to make.
Moments after the F.B.I.'s all-points bulletin Tuesday morning, the Web site of Mr. Helder's band, Apathy, was filled with messages denouncing him as a "fascist pig," and saying, "only a coward puts bombs in places to hurt innocents." Later, someone posted a message supposedly from Mr. Helder, signed, like the letters accompanying the bombs, "Someone who cares."
"You all are just a bunch of conformists conforming to the will of the overlord media who rules over the land with an iron fist," it read.
Mr. Helder sang and played guitar for Apathy, a three-man derivative of Nirvana that lasted for about a year and made one album, "Sacks of People." Its signature single, according to the band's Web site, was called "Conformity." He was in the class of 1999 at Pine Island High School, in a town of about 2,000 15 miles from Rochester and 55 miles from the twin cities where a 19th century hand-wound clock tower presides over Main Street.
"I hate to use the word average to describe a student, but that's what he was, average," said Don McPhail, who taught him American history in 10th grade. "He said nothing out of the ordinary, but we change as we grow older."
In Menomonie, a rural farm town not unlike the ones where the bombs were planted, officials at the century-old liberal arts college sent a campuswide e-mail message offering counseling and saying Saturday's graduation would not be rescheduled. Students who live in Mr. Helder's building were barred from their apartments for hours.
Those who know him described Mr. Helder as a student who blended in and never revealed radical leanings in conversation or his artwork.
"He rarely missed class - if he did he would find out what he missed," said Nancy Blum, who taught Mr. Helder design theory last spring. "He was one of those students who got along well with adults."
Bill Sampson, who took a design class with Mr. Helder last fall, said he had ingenious projects: turning a pencil sharpener into a light and creating a waterfall from several oil funnels.
Students gathered around televisions as their classmate's face was flashed to the nation, and fielded telephone calls from their parents.
"We've had several bomb threats since 9/11," said Maggie Schmidt, 23, a sophomore business major. "It kind of scares me that they never caught the person making the bomb threats at my dorm. I don't know if this is the same person, but this news kind of freaked me out."
-------- ENERGY AND OTHER
-------- alternative energy
German SolarWorld expects 25 pct growth in 2002
REUTERS GERMANY:
May 8, 2002
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/15868/story.htm
FRANKFURT - Bonn-based solar wafer producer SolarWorld AG said yesterday it expected annual turnover to grow by 25 percent this year and that it planned a share issue to fund an increase in production capacity.
The company said revenue in the first four months rose by over 50 percent and predicted full-year 2002 revenue of over 100 million euros ($91.7 million). Its turnover grew 60 percent in 2001.
It plans to issue 825,000 new shares between May 16 and June 4 for a capital increase of 5.7 million euros. Westdeutsche Genossenschafts-Zentralbank will handle the share issue.
SolarWorld previously said that by year-end it expected to be the world's biggest solar wafer producer, Europe's number one solar cell maker and second only to BP in European solar module production.
The planned expansion would help keep it a leader in a market that the company said last month was growing by 25-30 percent a year.
"The additional capital will be poured into the construction and expansion of one of the world's most modern integrated solar factories on the site of the company's unit Deutsche Solar AG in Freiberg, Saxony," SolarWorld said in a statement.
"Deutsche Solar is Europe's biggest manufacturer of solar silicon wafers and plans to increase production from 80 megawatts (MW) in mid-2002 to 220 MW by the end of 2004," it added.
The wafers are used to produce solar cells, which are then used to convert sunlight into electricity.
It added it would have a solar silicon wafer capacity of 120 MW and module production capacity of 30 MW by year-end.
The firm said it also planned to increase its capacity of solar cells and solar modules by 60 MW each by 2004.
SolarWorld Chief Executive Officer Frank Asbeck told Reuters in February he expected his firm would overtake Japanese competition to become the world's leading solar silicon wafer producer by the end of 2002.
Asbeck said last October that he planned a joint venture with a leading chemicals firm to produce silicon for use in solar power cells.
While he would not confirm rumours that its partner would be German chemicals giant Degussa, Asbeck said he would announce the deal at the end of May.
The world's solar market is growing by around 25-30 percent a year, while SolarWorld's turnover rose 60 percent in 2001.
The firm said it would appoint a chief financial officer in October in preparation for its listing on the stock exchange.
-------- energy
Officials: Keep Power Price Caps
May 8, 2002
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Enron-FERC.html
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Enron Corp. documents explaining how the company's energy traders drove up power prices in California will pressure federal regulators to keep electricity price caps beyond their planned expiration this fall, California officials and energy experts said Wednesday.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission imposed limits on wholesale electricity prices in the West in June. California Gov. Gray Davis and other political leaders credit the caps with helping calm the volatile electricity market, which had seen wholesale prices increase tenfold.
Enron documents released by the commission this week described strategies named ``Death Star,'' ``Ricochet,'' ``Fat Boy'' and ``Get Shorty'' in which traders artificially inflated prices in the recently deregulated California electricity market.
The commission on Wednesday asked more than 150 power generators, marketers and utilities to disclose whether they engaged in the same practices.
The Enron memos demonstrate the abuse that is possible without caps, said Loretta Lynch, president of the California Public Utilities Commission.
``They should not lift the price caps until they take a look at the allegations and are ready to rule on them,'' Lynch said.
Even skeptics of price controls said that the documents probably would have a bearing on regulators' decision about retaining the limits.
``I'm sure there are people who think this makes it a slam-dunk case,'' said former FERC Chairman James Hoecker, now a Washington energy lawyer. ``I think this is information that will point the commission in a certain direction ... but I don't think it closes the case.''
FERC Chairman Pat Wood has said he wants to lift the caps, which are set to expire at the end of September. Through a spokesman, Wood declined to be interviewed Wednesday.
Political leaders in California and neighboring states have been critical of the pace of the commission's work. Two earlier FERC investigations closed without finding any evidence of price manipulation.
``Every time we look to FERC to regulate wholesale electric markets and protect consumers, FERC is slow to act,'' Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., wrote Wood this week.
There is a difference of opinion among experts about the efficacy of price caps. On one side are those who say the limits effectively ended the huge jumps in wholesale power prices in 2000 and 2001.
Some energy analysts maintain the power shortage was real. They contend that California's conservation program, the opening of new power plants and a wetter winter in the Pacific Northwest that allowed for more hydropower helped ease California's problems.
Electric capacity has increased by more than 5 percent since January 2001 and another large power plant is ready when needed, according to California power agencies.
Lawrence Makovich, a power industry analyst with Cambridge Energy Research Associates who opposes caps, noted an earlier version of price controls made possible at least one practice described by Enron lawyers.
In the ``Ricochet'' strategy, Enron sent power out of California and then resold it back into the state to avoid price caps that applied to transactions solely within California.
-------- environment
EPA probing emissions from ethanol industry - WSJ
REUTERS USA:
May 8, 2002
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/15851/story.htm
NEW YORK - Federal regulators are investigating emissions produced by the nation's ethanol industry over concerns it may be violating the Clean Air Act, the Wall Street Journal reported in its online edition yesterday.
The EPA inquiry was disclosed in a letter sent to ethanol producers last month and came as a shock to the industry, the paper reported.
Twenty-one companies, which together operated about a third of the plants in the industry, were called to a meeting This week with EPA officials in Chicago but the session was cancelled because of a scheduling conflict, the paper reported.
Tom Skinner, EPA's regional administrator in the Midwest, said he called for the meeting after an agency test showed that an ethanol plant in the St. Paul, Minnesota area was producing volatile organic compounds, which can cause urban smog and carbon monoxide which in turn can lead to heart disease in high concentrations, the paper reported.
-------- genetics
Scientists Map Genome of Bacterium
May 8, 2002
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Bacteria-Genome.html
British scientists have completed a genetic map of a common soil bacterium, a step that could help scientists develop new antibiotics and other medicines.
Bacteria called Streptomyces are used to make most antibiotics and many other naturally produced compounds, including anti-cancer agents. Scientists, however, do not know precisely how these germs operate.
In the new work, scientists completed the genetic map of Streptomyces coelicolor, a well-studied representative of the bacterial family.
The map, which took five years to complete, provides clues to the bacterium's mechanism and will help scientists find new antibiotics and anti-cancer drugs, the researchers said.
Details were published in Thursday's issue of the journal Nature by a research team led by David A. Hopwood of the John Innes Centre in Norwich, England.
Hopwood's team found that Streptomyces coelicolor includes an estimated 7,825 genes, nearly twice as many as other commonly studied bacteria. Humans are believed to have around 32,000 genes.
Chaitan Khosla, a biochemist at Stanford University not connected to the research, called completion of the map a milestone sure to push ahead research on new and more effective medicines.
Studying bacterial genes is nothing new, but many of bacterial genomes already deciphered have been from microbes that cause disease. Last year, for example, British scientists mapped Yersina pestis, which is linked to bubonic plague, the disease that devastated medieval Europe.
Maynard Olson of the University of Washington Genome Center said the map highlights how the bacterium is highly evolved, and not a simple vestige of ancient life. The new work will help in seeking antibiotics to stay ahead of antibiotic resistance, he said.
------- ACTIVISTS
Yucca opponents rally on eve of likely House defeat
By TONY BATT STEPHENS WASHINGTON BUREAU
Wednesday, May 08, 2002
Las Vegas Review-Journal
http://www.lvrj.com/lvrj_home/2002/May-08-Wed-2002/news/18699144.html
WASHINGTON -- Storm clouds gathered overhead and bulldozers roared nearby, making it almost impossible to hear at a Tuesday news conference opposing the Yucca Mountain Project.
The unfavorable backdrop seemed to symbolize Nevada's dim chances of prevailing when the U.S. House votes today on overriding Gov. Kenny Guinn's veto and authorizing nuclear waste storage in the state.
Nevada officials have long acknowledged they will not win in the House.
But during a Tuesday morning news conference, state lawmakers and several allies persisted for more than 45 minutes in restating their case against the Yucca Mountain Project.
They said they hope at least to stave off a lopsided result that could provide momentum for a vote in the Senate later this summer. About 35 people, mostly staffers and reporters, attended the news conference.
"If we can persuade even one more member of Congress to vote with us, then the next 24 hours will have been a success," said Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev.
Nevada is hoping to obtain between 100 and 120 votes in the House against the repository, according to congressional sources.
But House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., is reportedly twisting arms for a landslide vote in the House.
Joining Hastert are lobbyists for the nuclear power industry and the White House. All are pressing House members to back President Bush's Feb. 15 recommendation of Yucca Mountain, 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas, for permanent storage of 77,000 tons of nuclear waste.
Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., has found himself virtually isolated in his effort to recruit GOP votes against Yucca Mountain.
"Transporting this material across our country and through our communities ... is going to present America with an enormous disaster waiting to happen," Gibbons warned.
Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Wash., said Bush used the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks as an excuse to approve the Yucca Mountain Project before all scientific questions could be answered.
"My view about this is that if we were just putting people at risk in Nevada, that would be enough to stop it," McDermott said. "But we're putting people at risk all across this country."
McDermott and Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass., cited recent train accidents as evidence that the transportation of nuclear waste could endanger communities outside Nevada.
"We are about to have an historic debate," Markey said. "We are going to decide whether we are going to ratify a political decision made by the United States House and Senate and then pushed through the Bush administration on political grounds or we are going to listen to the scientists who are telling us that there are still 293 unresolved scientific issues (about Yucca Mountain)."
Spokesmen for the League of Conservation Voters, Taxpayers for Common Sense, Physicians for Social Responsibility, Public Citizen, Natural Resources Defense Council, Public Interest Research Group and Sierra Club also appeared at the news conference.
Across town, the head of Nevada's nuclear waste project office served notice the Energy Department will face tough scrutiny beyond Congress.
"The tough road ahead for DOE is going to come in the next two stages: the legal arena and the scientific arena," Bob Loux told an audience attending a meeting of the Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board.
"The difficult stages are still ahead," Loux said.
-------
ACTION ALERT: Child Soldiers
Newsweek Exposes Use of Child Soldiers Abroad, But Turns Blind Eye to U.S.
May 8, 2002
Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting
From: "FAIR" <fair@fair.org>
Newsweek's May 13 issue features a story about the use of child soldiers and "how the international community can roll back the growing exploitation of children in war," but does not mention the United States' own recruitment of child soldiers, nor the U.S.'s obstruction of international efforts to curb the practice.
The centerpiece of the article, "Voices of the Children: 'We beat and killed people...'," is a series of heart-wrenching interviews with four child veterans from Sierra Leone. Newsweek presents the boys' stories as part of its coverage of the United Nations' Special Session on Children, a conference where the U.N. will address "how to muster the will to enforce longstanding international conventions and three new resolutions on children and armed conflict." Graphic and passionately written, the article seems meant to raise awareness about how kids "have become the cannon fodder of choice," and describes the experiences of child soldiers of Sierra Leone as a lesson in "the unthinkable inhumanity of those who coerced them into combat."
The moral outrage that Newsweek brings to the story of child soldiers makes its omission of the U.S. role all the more bizarre.
The U.S. is one of only two countries in the world-- the other being Somalia-- not to have ratified the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), the primary legal instrument available to stop the use of child soldiers. Along with the Geneva Conventions, the CRC makes it illegal for militaries to enlist people under the age of 15. Newsweek doesn't mention the CRC by name, but it is certainly among the measures the magazine is referring to when it says the U.N. must "muster the will to enforce" existing laws.
Even though it has not ratified the CRC, the U.S. has worked to water down an Optional Protocol to the Convention which raises the minimum age for combat service to 18. Originally, the Protocol sought to raise the age for "voluntary recruitment" to 18 as well, a move endorsed by human and children's rights groups as crucial for building a real global ban on child combat. But the U.S. recruits soldiers at 17. After six years of heavy pressure from the U.S. and U.K. (which also recruits minors), the Protocol was negotiated to allow militaries recruit children as young as 16 (London Times, 2/13/02).
None of this information is included in the Newsweek article. A table and map accompanying the article show "where the young soldiers are," listing 36 countries that are currently using people under the age of 18 as soldiers in combat. By not including countries that recruit minors, but are not currently using them in combat, Newsweek created a graphic that excluded the U.S. and the U.K., countries which also in fact have "young soldiers."
The U.S.'s attempts to weaken the CRC have become a key issue for rights groups (Human Rights Watch press release, 5/7/02), yet the only time the Newsweek article mentions the U.S. is to note that the chief prosecutor for the Sierra Leone War Crimes Tribunal is American.
The magazine's silence on the U.S. role becomes most deafening, however, as the article wraps up by recommending that "the West" make aid to the developing world conditional on compliance with child rights conventions.
"Finally," writes Newsweek, "the victimized societies need to look inward, to ask themselves hard questions about what they have done to encourage the treatment of people as commodities. A nation like Sierra Leone will cheat itself if it expects foreigners alone to deliver a cure." It's too bad Newsweek's coverage won't prompt American readers to ask those hard questions about their own government's role in the exploitation of child soldiers.
ACTION: Please encourage Newsweek to return to the important issue of child soldiers, but next time with an article that tells the whole story, including the U.S. government's role in the controversy.
CONTACT: Newsweek Phone: (212) 445-4000 mailto:letters@newsweek.com
To send feedback using Newsweek's web form, go to: http://www.msnbc.com/modules/Newsweek/feedback/nwfeedback.asp?cp1=1
As always, please remember that your comments are taken more seriously if you maintain a polite tone. Please cc fair@fair.org with your correspondence.
Read the full Newsweek article: http://www.msnbc.com/news/746985.asp?cp1=1
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------- Depleted Uranium Keeps On Killing!
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