NUCLEAR
Clinton May Visit North Korea
Putin to Pardon Pope
Glance at Cuban - Russian Relations
Russia's Putin To Visit Cuba
Families of Kursk Sailors Get Medals
Rocky Flats plant workers contaminated
FBI Locates Some Tapes in N.M. Landfill
Wen Ho Lee Tapes May Be Found
OTHER
Standoff with federal police officer ends
Russian Panel Endorses Pardon for American
Putin to pardon U.S. businessman
Putin Says He Will Pardon American
Protest ends with activists' arrests
Police Arrest 15, Cite 70 in New Skid Row Crackdown
-------- NUCLEAR
-------- korea
Clinton May Visit North Korea
Associated Press
December 9, 2000 Filed at 4:00 a.m. ET
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Clinton-North-Korea.html
PRETORIA, South Africa (AP) -- The Clinton administration is considering a visit to North Korea before President Clinton's term ends in January, according to Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.
The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that U.S. officials believe enough progress has been made on an agreement to constrain North Korea's missile program to warrant a Clinton visit.
The United States would likely send State Department Counselor Wendy Sherman to North Korea for meetings before deciding whether Clinton should go, the Journal reported.
``We are looking at this step by step and the decisions as to who is going or when, those are still on the table, but we're looking at this very carefully and assessing the situation and the issues are under discussion -- both visits,'' Albright said Friday.
Albright met with North Korea's Kim Jong Il in October to try to pave a way for a Clinton visit. Follow-up missile talks were held in Kuala Lumpur, but no agreements were reached.
The United States is concerned about North Korean exports to Pakistan, Iran and other countries. The North Korean leader has indicated a willingness to curb missile development and missile exports in exchange for economic ties with the United States.
Albright is visiting Africa. She plans to travel to Europe next week.
-------- russia
Putin to Pardon Pope
By David Hoffman Washington Post Foreign Service
Saturday, December 9, 2000
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A48053-2000Dec9?language=printer
MOSCOW, Dec. 9 - President Vladimir Putin said today he will follow the recommendation of the Russian pardons commission and free Edmond Pope, the American businessman convicted of espionage, once Pope's sentence takes effect next week.
"You know the decision of the commission, which includes respected people, and I cannot but heed their opinion," Putin told reporters on a visit to the steel industry town of Magnitogorsk in the Ural Mountains.
His comments followed a telephone conversation Friday with President Clinton, who appealed for Pope's freedom. The U.S. government had repeatedly complained about the prosecution of Pope, to no avail. Putin refused to intervene while the trial was underway, but he appeared anxious today to quickly resolve what has become an irritant in bilateral relations.
"We don't make it our goal to look for some causes or reasons to worsen the relationship between the two states," Putin said.
Pope, a retired U.S. Navy intelligence officer, was convicted in a Moscow court last week of spying by obtaining material about a high-speed Russian torpedo. He was sentenced to the maximum 20 years.
The pardons commission on Friday urged clemency for Pope, taking note of his illness. Pope, 54, has suffered from bone cancer and his family and lawyers expressed fear it has recurred in the eight months he has been held in Moscow's Lefortovo Prison.
"I talked with President Bill Clinton by phone. He voiced concern over the condition of Pope's health. Until Dec. 14, we are ready to give medical aid to Pope at the necessary level," Putin said.
Judge Nina Barkova rejected Pope's request during the trial for international medical aid. Prison doctors claimed he was fit to stand trial.
The Interfax news agency reported today that Pope rejected Putin's offer, saying he preferred to wait for his own doctors.
Putin did not specify when he would issue the pardon, but Kremlin officials have said the earliest possible date is Thursday, when the sentence formally takes effect.
By law, Pope is allowed seven days from the pronouncement of the verdict and sentence to appeal. He has decided not to lodge an appeal, which could take months, seeking a pardon instead. Pope has insisted he was not spying and the materials he purchased were not secret.
Pope was the first American convicted of spying in 40 years, since downed U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers. Some analysts have said the case was an example of the renewed assertiveness of the Russian security agencies under Putin, a career KGB official who has promoted veterans of the Soviet secret police and intelligence agencies to high-ranking posts.
White House spokeswoman Sarah Gegenheimer, said, "We welcome the announcement of President Putin's intention to release Mr. Pope and we look forward to having him in the United States and having him reunited with his family."
---
Glance at Cuban - Russian Relations
Associated Press
December 9, 2000 Filed at 12:44 p.m. ET
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Cuba-Russia-Glance.html
Some key dates in Cuban-Russian relations:
--Jan. 1, 1959: President Fulgencio Batista flees Cuba; rebel leader Fidel Castro takes control.
--April 15-26, 1959: During U.S. visit, Castro denies being communist.
--Feb. 13, 1960: Soviet Foreign Minister Anastas Mikoyan visits Cuba, signs sugar and oil deals.
--May, 7 1960: Cuba and Soviet Union establish diplomatic relations.
--Sept. 19, 1960: Castro attends U.N. General Assembly session, meets with Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev.
--April 16, 1961: Castro announces Cuba will be socialist.
--Dec. 2, 1961: Castro declares he will be Marxist-Leninst ``until the end of my life.''
--Sept. 2, 1962: Havana and Moscow sign military, industrial aid accords.
--Oct. 22, 1962: President Kennedy reveals Soviets have nuclear missiles in Cuba, bringing two superpowers close to nuclear confrontation. Khrushchev agrees to withdraw missiles six days later.
--April 27-May 23, 1963: Castro's first visit to Soviet Union.
--Jan. 13-23, 1964: In Moscow, Castro signs agreement calling for Soviets to buy increasing amounts of Cuban sugar through 1970.
--July 11, 1972: Cuba joins Comecon, Soviet-led economic bloc.
--Aug. 29, 1990: Cuba announces drastic fuel rationing, citing cutoff of Soviet crude oil.
--Dec. 1, 1991: Comecon dismantled, dealing severe blow to Cuba, which conducted 80 percent of its trade with bloc members.
--Dec. 25, 1991: Collapse of Soviet Union ends extensive aid to Cuba, whose economic output plunges 35 percent by 1994.
--June 15, 1993: Cuba loses former Cold War shield when last 1,600 Russian soldiers based on island head home.
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Russia's Putin To Visit Cuba
Associated Press
December 9, 2000 Filed at 12:44 p.m. ET
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Putin-in-Cuba.html
HAVANA (AP) -- Towering over palm trees in a Havana neighborhood, the former Soviet embassy is an imposing reminder of the power that the land of Vladimir I. Lenin once exercised on this sunny island 90 miles south of U.S. shores.
For decades, thousands of Russians and other Soviet citizens worked and lived in the futuristic concrete structure, arming communist Cuba with missiles, aid and ideology during the Cold War against the ``imperialist'' enemy to the north.
But when Vladimir Putin arrives Wednesday as the first Russian leader to visit since the Soviet Union dissolved, he will find that once powerful presence is now little more than the creaking Soviet vehicles left behind: tens of thousands of boxy sedans, huge sugar harvesters, buses spewing black smoke.
After years of chilly relations between Cuban leader Fidel Castro and former Russian President Boris Yeltsin, Putin's three-day visit is expected to freshen relations between two states that have taken differing paths over the last decade.
Trade, rather than aid, will be on the agenda. Also to be discussed are ways to erase the $11 billion debt Cuba owes to Russia, much of it dating from the Soviet era.
``Cuba is a country that had a 30-year relationship with the Russians that was very special,'' said Philip Brenner, a Cuba scholar and international relations professor at American University in Washington.
``The special relationship has ended, but Russia knows the important role that Cuba still plays in the Third World,'' Brenner said in a telephone interview from Washington. ``One never knows when Cuban influence might be important.''
Cuba's influence was not a priority for Yeltsin, who never visited the island. Instead, he invited a Castro enemy -- the now-late Jorge Mas Canosa of the Miami-based Cuban American Foundation -- to Moscow.
``In a way, Yeltsin used his relationship with Cuba as a symbol of his break with the old Soviet regime,'' said Brenner. ``This is Putin's way of demonstrating a break with the Yeltsin years.''
Russia, nostalgic about its past as a world power, may also use the Cuba trip to promote its image as an international player, said Wayne Smith, who was chief diplomat at the U.S. mission in Havana during the Carter and Reagan administrations.
``Putin could breathe new life into the old Cuba-Russia relationship,'' and thus further his country's standing on the global stage, Smith said this past week during one of his frequent visits to Havana.
The Soviet-Cuba relationship lasted three decades, beginning shortly after Castro declared his country socialist in 1961. Soviet cash, troops and technicians were shipped to the new ally so close to the United States.
U.S. officials once calculated Soviet economic assistance at 20 percent of Cuba's gross national product.
But Cuba's client state status was ending even before the Soviet Union broke apart at the end of 1991. The superpower had begun cutting its satellites loose to focus on its own economic troubles and by the time Soviet Premier Mikhail S. Gorbachev made his only visit to Cuba in March 1989, the special relationship was all but over.
Gorbachev made all trade cash-and-carry, eliminating an annual subsidy worth $2 billion that had let Cuba trade sugar for Soviet oil on highly advantageous terms. Left desperately short of oil and virtually all consumer goods, Cuba plunged into an economic crisis that it is still struggling to overcome.
The last 1,600 of the 20,000 Soviet soldiers once deployed in Cuba left in 1993. Most of 7,000 Soviet technicians also departed, leaving about 2,000 Russian citizens on the island today.
But even without subsidies, trade has continued with Russia. And relations between the countries remained friendly despite the chilliness from Yeltsin.
Second in volume only to Brazil, Cuba remains among Russia's most important trading partners in Latin America, said Andrey Dmitriev, Russia's ambassador in Havana.
He said Russian companies buy 1 million to 2 million metric tons of sugar from Cuba annually, while Russia sells Cuba about 2 million metric tons of crude oil.
The ambassador estimated current Russia-Cuba trade at $1 billion a year. The embassy's commercial attache, Oleg Podelko, gave a smaller estimate -- $800 million.
Either way, it is much less than in 1991, when their trade totaled $3.6 billion.
Also likely to be discussed during Putin's visit is the uncompleted Juragua nuclear power plant 185 miles southeast of Havana, which was designed to meet a quarter of Cuba's power needs.
Construction began in 1981 with Soviet assistance, but work halted in 1992 amid disagreements with Russia over financing and technical support. The U.S. government opposes completion of the plant, calling it a safety risk.
Another possible topic is Russia's listening post in Lourdes, Cuba, which intercepts U.S. telephone calls and computer communications. Russia says the station outside Havana is important to ensuring U.S. adherence to arms-control agreements.
But mostly, the two countries hope the visit will rekindle a strong relationship that fell into neglect after decades of active cooperation.
``The problems that we have had in the past don't matter,'' said Dmitriev, Russia's ambassador. ``The friendship remains.''
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Families of Kursk Sailors Get Medals
Associated Press
December 9, 2000 Filed at 5:25 p.m. ET
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Russia-Nuclear-Submarine.html
ST. PETERSBURG, Russia (AP) -- Widows, parents and children of sailors killed aboard the Kursk nuclear submarine received medals from the Russian Navy on Saturday in an emotional ceremony recalling the pain of the Aug. 12 disaster.
President Vladimir Putin signed a decree awarding the posthumous Medal of Courage to the Kursk's 118 crewmembers. The 13 sailors from St. Petersburg and the surrounding region were honored in Saturday's ceremony, Russian news reports said.
``It will be an extra pain. The medal will be a daily reminder of the event,'' said Valentina Vitchenko, whose son was a member of the Kursk crew, weeping as she spoke to Russian television crews.
``My son is worth more to me'' than the medal, said Vladimir Panarin, father of one of the crewmen.
The Kursk suffered devastating explosions and sank in Arctic waters off northwestern Russia this summer, killing all aboard. The cause of the accident remains unclear. Russian officials repeatedly have suggested that the Kursk collided with a foreign submarine, but say an internal explosion could also be at fault.
The Russian Navy and top government officials came under heavy criticism from the sailors' relatives for the slow, bungled rescue operation.
-------- u.s. nuc facilities
-------- colorado
Rocky Flats plant workers contaminated
Environmental News Network
Saturday, December 9, 2000
By Associated Press
http://www.enn.com/news/wire-stories/2000/12/12092000/ap_nuke_40679.asp
Ten workers cleaning a former nuclear weapons factory in Colorado tested positive for radiation exposure, and part of the project was halted as investigators searched for the source.
Fifteen new areas of plutonium were found at the Rocky Flats site near Denver, but they weren't believed responsible for the exposure.
"Most areas are where people are not normally working," said Mark Spears, director of safety for cleanup contractor Kaiser-Hill.
The exposed workers were cleaning one of the factory's most contaminated buildings as part of an 11-year, $7 billion project aimed at turning the site into a wildlife preserve.
Exact levels of contamination are not expected to be available until later this month, but investigators said they believe radiation exposure was less than 1,000 millirems, well below the federal standard of 5,000 for plant workers. In Colorado, people are exposed to 400 millirems of background radiation each year.
Employees were tested for exposure after a routine building inspection in October found a radiation detector was operating improperly. The building was shut down Dec. 1, and the U.S. Energy Department and Kaiser-Hill were investigating.
Plant and union officials announced this week that the 10 workers had tested positive. Contamination tests were available for any worker who wanted one.
Officials said they were not sure when the building cleanup would resume.
In a memo to Kaiser-Hill last month, the Energy Department's site manager said improvements were needed to identify hazards and establish controls.
-------- new mexico
FBI Locates Some Tapes in N.M. Landfill
Associated Press
Saturday, December 9, 2000 ; Page A14
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A46335-2000Dec8?language=printer
FBI agents have found several computer tapes in a New Mexico landfill, and the bureau's laboratory is trying to determine if they contain nuclear weapons data downloaded by fired Los Alamos scientist Wen Ho Lee, a federal law enforcement official said yesterday.
But this official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, cautioned that agents combing the Los Alamos County landfill previously found items that were suspected to be among the 17 tapes Lee said he made but turned out not to be when tested.
FBI spokesman Bill Elwell in Albuquerque said, "We can neither confirm nor deny" that tapes have been found.
Elwell said the search concluded yesterday for the week and no decision has been made whether to send agents back out.
"We have no idea what they found out there, and even if they found anything, it would have to be examined" to see what it is, Elwell said.
One of Lee's lawyers, Mark Holscher, had no comment "other than to say Doctor Lee continues to cooperate with the government."
After pleading guilty in a plea bargain to one count of improperly downloading restricted national defense data onto portable computer tapes, Lee told FBI agents he threw away 17 computer tapes full of nuclear weapons data at Los Alamos National Laboratory, according to a source familiar with the case.
In late November, FBI agents began digging at a portion of the landfill that was filled with trash around the date Lee says he discarded the tapes.
A source familiar with the case said last month that Lee said he disposed of the pocket-sized computer tapes in a Dumpster inside the top-secret X Division fence in January 1999.
If so, the 50-acre dump is the place where they should have ended up.
------
Wen Ho Lee Tapes May Be Found
Washington Times
DECEMBER 09, 01:32 EST
By MICHAEL J. SNIFFEN Associated Press Writer
http://wire.ap.org/?PACKAGEID=nuclear
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Scientist-Secrets.html
WASHINGTON (AP) - The FBI is trying to determine whether computer tapes that agents dug out of a New Mexico landfill contain nuclear weapons data downloaded by a former Los Alamos National Laboratory scientist, a federal law enforcement official said.
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, cautioned Friday that agents combing the muddy, snowy Los Alamos County landfill previously found items that were suspected to be among 17 tapes made and discarded by the fired scientist Wen Ho Lee, but turned out not to be when tested.
In Albuquerque, FBI spokesman Bill Elwell said, ``We can neither confirm nor deny'' that tapes have been found.
Search team members, garbed in white protective clothing, have been at work since November. The workers use bulldozers to move mounds of garbage and hand rakes to comb the debris. Elwell said no decision has been made on whether work would continue next week.
``We have no idea what they found out there, and even if they found anything it would have be examined (to see what it is),'' he said.
One of Lee's lawyers, Mark Holscher, said only that ``Dr. Lee continues to cooperate with the government.''
After pleading guilty in a plea bargain to one count of improperly downloading restricted national defense data onto portable computer tapes, Lee told FBI agents he discarded 17 tapes full of nuclear weapons data at Los Alamos National Laboratory, according to a source familiar with the case who demanded anonymity.
The FBI agents have been digging at a portion of the landfill that was filled with trash around the date Lee says he threw the tapes away.
The source familiar with the case said last month that Lee said he disposed of the pocket-sized computer tapes, containing the downloaded nuclear secrets, in a Dumpster inside the top-secret X Division fence in January 1999. If so, the 50-acre dump is the place they should have ended up.
The government dropped 58 counts against Lee in return for his agreement to describe in detail what he did with the tapes so the FBI could recover them.
Lee has been undergoing closed debriefings since the plea agreement won his release Sept. 13. The landfill search began while the debriefings were under way.
The tapes were disposed of just days after Lee's security clearance was revoked in December 1998, according to a timetable provided last summer by federal prosecutors. They said Lee repeatedly sought access to the division after his access card was deactivated and that he gained access three times, including once in January 1999 when a fellow lab employee let him in.
Prosecutors have alleged he sought access to the X Division 16 times between Dec. 23, 1998, and Feb. 23, 1999 - including at 3:31 a.m. Christmas Eve 1998.
Lee was jailed without bail from Dec. 10, 1999, until pleading guilty to one count of mishandling national defense data.
Lee has sworn he never passed any secrets to any unauthorized person, and the government never charged him with espionage.
The FBI initially said it was looking for seven tape cartridges and had already found three others.
At the time of his release, Lee told investigators he also made copies of those 10 tapes but had destroyed the copies as well, FBI and Justice Department officials have said.
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-------- police
Standoff with federal police officer ends
USA Today
12/09/00- Updated 01:37 PM ET
http://usatoday.com/news/ndssat06.htm
ONTARIO, Calif. (AP) - A 13-year-old boy was rescued Saturday after a 10-hour hostage standoff with police that ended in the death of the federal officer who was suspected of kidnapping him.
The body of David Clairmont was found after shots were fired during the rescue. It was not known if he committed suicide or had been struck by police gunfire.
Clairmont, 32, was a police officer with the Department of Veterans Affairs in Los Angeles. He was due in court Monday to face charges of sex crimes related to the boy.
Clairmont, who was wearing his uniform, forced the boy into his car Friday morning at a bus stop and then eluded police during a high-speed freeway chase, said Riverside County Sheriff's spokesman Mark Lohman.
The standoff began about 11 p.m., when an employee at the Country Suites Hotel told authorities he recognized Clairmont from news reports.
Part of the hotel was evacuated and hostage negotiators talked through the night with Clairmont and the boy, who were barricaded in a hotel room bathroom, Lohman said.
Police sent tear gas under the door and the boy was pulled to safety through a window, Lohman said. Authorities later found Clairmont dead in the room.
-------- spying
Russian Panel Endorses Pardon for American
By David Hoffman Washington Post Foreign Service
Saturday, December 9, 2000 ; Page A24
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A44116-2000Dec8?language=printer
MOSCOW, Dec. 8 -- The Russian pardons commission recommended to President Vladimir Putin today that he grant clemency to Edmond Pope, the American businessman and retired intelligence agent convicted this week of espionage in a Moscow court.
Later in the day, President Clinton called Putin to urge him to follow the commission's recommendation.
The pardon board's unanimous recommendation was sent to the Kremlin, but a top aide to Putin, Sergei Ivanov, secretary of the Security Council, said the Russian president cannot act until Pope's sentence takes effect next Thursday. Pope received the maximum sentence Wednesday of 20 years in prison.
Ivanov said Putin "will be able to pardon Pope" at that time. "The whole process relating to Pope's detention and the investigation into this case moved from the legal plane to the political one," Ivanov said. He said Pope might be home for Christmas.
A White House spokesman, Jake Siewert, said Clinton called Putin and spoke with him for about 10 minutes after giving a foreign policy address in Nebraska.
Clinton "urged President Putin to release Edmond Pope on humanitarian grounds," Siewert said.
"I'm not going to characterize Putin's response," he added, "but we're going to keep working on it."
During the closed-door, seven-week trial, Pope had denied he was spying when he obtained materials about a high-speed Russian torpedo.
Anatoly Pristavkin, chairman of the pardons commission, said he believes Putin will respond quickly to the recommendation.
"Pope is a sick person who has suffered much and should be freed," he said.
He said the panel broke with its usual schedule of meetings every Tuesday. "Perhaps mercy is worth rushing," he said, suggesting that Pope will get a chance to see his terminally ill father. Pope, suffering from what relatives have described as a recurrence of bone cancer, has been held in Moscow's Lefortovo prison since his arrest April 3. His wife, Cheri, has remained in Moscow after the verdict in hopes of going home with him.
Another member of the pardons commission, Marietta Chudakova, expressed disapproval of the prosecution that brought the Pope case. She said the "investigative bodies in this country have remained in Soviet times, more so than society in general." She described the trial as evidence of "spy mania."
Alexander Bovin, a long-time journalist and former Russian ambassador to Israel who also serves on the panel, said, "Both a guilty and an innocent man can submit a plea for clemency. . . . It is not a question of whether he is guilty or not, but is it possible to pardon him? Will he be a threat to society if we set him free?"
--------
Putin to pardon U.S. businessman
USA Today
12/09/00- Updated 07:28 PM ET
http://usatoday.com/news/nlead.htm
MAGNITOGORSK, Russia (AP) - Seeking to avoid a dispute with the United States, Russia's President Vladimir Putin indicated Saturday he will soon pardon American businessman Edmond Pope, whose espionage trial and conviction brought angry protests from Washington.
Putin said he could not ignore a recommendation by Russia's presidential pardons commission that Pope be freed.
The commission cited the 54-year-old Pope's weak health and his wish to see his dying father - and said a pardon would prove to the West that Russia has broken with its totalitarian past.
The White House, which had called Pope's 20-year prison sentence unwarranted and demanded his release, cheered the apparent decision to let him go home to State College, Pa. So did Pope's family, which fears his bone cancer has returned during his eight months in Moscow's grim Lefortovo prison.
''It will be a great relief to all Americans when Mr. Pope is finally freed and reunited with his family,'' President Clinton said in a statement.
Putin, during a tour of industrial facilities in the Urals region Saturday, said: ''The (pardon) commission consists of well-known and respected public figures, so I cannot but heed their opinion.
''In making this decision, we will also consider the high level of relations between the Untied States and Russia,'' he said. ''We are not aiming to look for a reason to worsen these relations.''
A Moscow court sentenced Pope, a former U.S. navy intelligence officer, to a maximum prison term of 20 years on Wednesday on charges of obtaining information about a top-secret Russian navy torpedo. Prosecutors also wanted him to pay a staggering fine for damaging the struggling Russian military.
Pope insisted he was not a spy, and that information about the high-speed torpedo was not classified and freely available. The American runs a company that specializes in information about foreign maritime technology.
It was the first time in 40 years that an American had been convicted of espionage in Russia, and it raised questions about what is secret in today's Russia.
The case also fueled questions about the extent of Russia's desire for close relations with the West at a time when Putin - a former KGB agent - is trying to resurrect his country's diminished global clout while reviving the investment-hungry economy.
On Thursday, Pope sent Putin an emotional appeal for freedom. The pardons commission on Friday recommended that Pope be sent home.
Putin said he discussed the case by telephone on Friday with Clinton, who had expressed concern about Pope's health. Putin said he told Clinton that he respected the pardon commission recommendation.
Putin said Pope's release could come some time after Dec. 14, because he must wait until the verdict comes into effect Dec. 13.
The U.S. State Department said it was working on details of Pope's release. Pope's mother, Elizabeth Pope, said from her home in Grants Pass, Ore., ''It's been a horrible nightmare and we are so happy it's going to be over. It was such a travesty of justice.''
Defense attorneys and independent observers criticized the Moscow court, saying it had been biased in favor of the Russian security services.
Pope stood in the suspect's cage of the dingy Moscow courtroom for seven weeks, a Russian Federal Security Service translator his only connection to the proceedings. His key accuser recanted his statements implicating Pope, but that appeared to have little effect on the proceedings.
Despite repeated U.S. pressure to free Pope since his April arrest, Putin had insisted that the judicial process would have to be completed before he would intervene.
Observers say his stance has allowed the security services to flex their muscles while leaving the way open for him to demonstrate humaneness.
Pardons commission member Marietta Chudakova had said Friday's unanimous decision by the commission was a protest against ''alarming signs in the atmosphere today.''
''The investigative and judicial organs of our country have remained in the Soviet era to a greater extent than society (as a whole),'' the Interfax news agency quoted her as saying.
Commission head Anatoly Pristavkin said members of the pardons commission had found the court's verdict quite harsh. ''But we do not judge or discuss the court's decision, but instead base our actions on the laws of charity and humanity,'' he said.
Putin said that Pope was offered access to Russian doctors but rejected the proposal, reiterating his request for access to English-speaking specialists. His earlier requests were all denied.
---
Putin Says He Will Pardon American
Washington Times
DECEMBER 09, 14:57 EST
WASHINGTON (AP) - President Clinton praised Russian President Vladimir Putin for his plan to pardon and release American businessman Edmond Pope, sentenced to 20 years in prison for espionage.
``I welcome President Putin's statement,'' Clinton said in a statement Saturday. ``It will be a great relief to all Americans when Mr. Pope is finally freed and reunited with his family. We want to see him home and safe as soon as possible.''
Clinton, who called Putin on Friday, one of ``several conversations'' about the case, said later Saturday that the prospect of Pope's release, in response to a presidential appeal, was ``very positive not only on the merits of this but for the long term-health of our relationship with Russia. And I'm very pleased by it.''
Speaking after a White House ceremony where the design of his presidential library in Arkansas was released, Clinton said he was ``very appreciated'' of Putin's action. But, he added, ``There is no deal. We just had a discussion about it.''
Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, on a diplomatic tour of Africa, spoke by phone with Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov about the case and the situation in the Middle East, according to a senior State Department official traveling with her. The department is working on details of Pope's release.
Putin did not give a specific date for the pardon, but said it could be some time after Dec. 14 because of a regulation that clemency may not be granted until a week after sentencing.
Pope, 54, of State College, Pa., had been jailed in Russia since April on espionage charges connected to plans for a high-speed torpedo. Pope, a former Navy intelligence officer, insisted he was not a spy, and that information about the torpedo was freely available. He runs a company that specializes in technology information.
A seven-week trial ended Wednesday in Pope's conviction and 20-year sentence. A pardons commission on Friday cited Pope's recent bout with bone cancer and the poor health of his father in a recommendation that the Russian president grant his release.
Putin said he assured Clinton that Pope would be pardoned and released, but Putin did not specify when he gave that assurance.
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Protest ends with activists' arrests
December 9, 2000
By Barbara Boyer <bboyer@phillynews.com>
INQUIRER STAFF WRITER
A two-day City Hall standoff between protesters and city officials ended last night with authorities arresting nine homeless activists while dozens of homeless people sang, chanted and cried.
It was an emotional climax at 8 p.m. to the sit-in - in the middle of City Council chambers - that at times attracted more than 50 people. The group, led by Cheri Honkala of the Kensington Welfare Rights Union, had demanded housing for seven families, totaling 35 people, who otherwise would have been homeless over the holidays.
Honkala said she wanted the city to house the families at the Airport Towers Hotel. Council agreed with the group, but Mayor Street objected, saying he did not want to give the seven families priority over other families who have been waiting for shelter.
The standoff began at 3 p.m. Thursday, when the group took over Council chambers, delayed a Council meeting, and camped out with sleeping bags and blankets.
"We have a lot of support from Council, but not from the Grinch, a.k.a. Mr. Mayor," said Yesenia Cruz, 21, who said she and her two sons, ages 4 and 1, have been homeless for about a year. "What I want is for the mayor to have a heart. And if he does not want to help us, let someone else help us."
Yesterday afternoon, lawyers for the city obtained a court injunction to force the protesters off the property or face arrest. At 7:30 p.m., Capt. Robert Danford of the Philadelphia Sheriff's Office read the judge's order. The homeless, including about 20 children, gathered their belongings and continued singing in the corridor, while the nine activists hunkered down and prepared to be taken into custody.
Nine homeless activists were escorted one by one from chambers, charged with violating the court injunction.
Because the city had obtained an injunction, the nine activists were arrested on civil charges rather than criminal charges and will have to appear before a judge.
Yesterday afternoon, a Juniata Park couple who were moved by TV news coverage of the sit-in, Ilsie Olivieri and her boyfriend, Mike Bocchi, offered to put up one homeless family during the holidays.
"We could give them a start in life," Bocchi said.
The group declined, saying they wanted to remain united until they all had shelter.
The homeless families ended up going to a location neither they nor Honkala would reveal.
---------
Police Arrest 15, Cite 70 in New Skid Row Crackdown
Homeless: Officials say they are complying with restraining order and insist they are seeking to stem a rise in crime.
Saturday, December 9, 2000
Los Angeles Times
By ERIKA HAYASAKI, Times Staff Writer
A Los Angeles Police Department task force patrolled the heart of the downtown skid row area Friday, arresting and citing scores of homeless people for jaywalking and other violations.
Police said the intent was to target rising crime and show that officers will not back down in the wake of a temporary restraining order issued last Friday.
"I have never seen so many cops here," said Cynthia Valles, 41, who has been homeless in the area for about six months. "They are overdoing it. They are harassing us 24/7." She had just been cited for jaywalking on San Julian Street near 6th Street.
The restraining order states that officers cannot stop the homeless without reasonable suspicion, demand identification on the threat of arrest, search possessions without reasonable suspicion, confiscate the property of a homeless person if it has not been abandoned or issue citations for loitering.
But Sgt. Andy Mathes said officers have not been harassing homeless people, and that officers were merely doing their job Friday: issuing citations and arresting people for violations of the law.
"Our task is to protect the community, and the temporary restraining order doesn't change anything," said Mathes, who was in charge of the detail. "Officers have not been outside of the law at any point."
About 30 members of the LAPD Central Division and state parole officers took to the streets at 9 a.m. Friday, focusing on a three-block area around San Julian Street and 5th and 6th streets, which is known for high crime.
As of 6 p.m., police had written about 70 citations and made about 15 arrests. Most tickets were issued for jaywalking, but arrests were made when outstanding warrants or drugs were discovered, or when someone ran from officers.
Myong McSween, 42, said she did not understand why she was ticketed for jaywalking across San Julian.
She was close to tears as she was handcuffed for refusing to give identification to Mathes so he could issue a citation.
"Why nobody helps me?" she asked. "Why are they doing this? Why are they picking on me?"
About six homeless people watched as McSween was handcuffed.
"Isn't there a federal injunction for you to stop harassing the homeless?" yelled Otha Tardy, 50, who has lived on skid row for two months. "This is our community. There's nothing wrong with crossing the streets between these centers."
About 20 people gathered in front of the Lamp Center, one of the facilities for the homeless on San Julian, and watched nine police officers issue jaywalking citations to those who walked across the street with disregard.
"Fascist pigs!" yelled Alvin Lambert, 42, who is homeless.
As officers drove down San Julian, homeless people scowled and made obscene gestures.
One man imitated a gun with his fist and pointed it toward Mathes as he drove by. "You see that gun, that's the way it's going to be next time," he said. "Don't you forget that."
Mathes said the jaywalking citations were issued for the safety of the homeless.
"Do you know we had a guy get killed three weeks ago who was jaywalking?" Mathes told Cladius Moore, 46, a homeless man who had received his second jaywalking ticket of the day by 9:15 a.m.
Pedestrian deaths have been relatively high this year in the Central Division, which includes skid row and the downtown area, compared to other areas. And many of those killed in the Central Division were homeless people, police say.
Violence, robberies and drug use have increased on skid row, a 50-block area with about 11,000 transients, since the lawsuit was filed two weeks ago and police limited their enforcement actions, Mathes said. This year, four homeless people have been killed in the Central Division and 32 homeless people have been victims of rape or other sex crimes.
"We are trying to look for parolees at large and the drug dealers that have infiltrated the community here and are preying on the homeless and the citizens," Mathes said.
But Tardy, who frowned as eight officers lined up three people who were jaywalking, said it was a waste of manpower.
"They are trying to be a nuisance," he said. "They could be doing something else."
Carol Sobel, a lawyer representing the homeless in the ACLU lawsuit against the LAPD, called the police action "outrageous."
"The captain is issuing tickets for jaywalking, and people can't pay those tickets and then they go to warrants, and then he has a basis for arresting them," she said. "There's no rational relationship with a jaywalking ticket and the violent crime he says he wants to address."
Mathes said crime usually decreases after task force operations like Friday's.
LAPD Officer Barbara Jones questioned the decision to patrol skid row Friday, a week after the court order was issued.
"We're rebelling against the restraining order, bottom line," she said during the 10 a.m. Central Division roll call.
In response, Mathes said: "This restraining order isn't changing business at all. You all know me pretty well, I wouldn't send you out there to do the wrong thing."
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