------- Index of Articles

NUCLEAR
No. 2 Admiral Meets With Families of Sub Victims
Irradiated Beef:
U.S. Admiral Delivers Apology to the Japanese in Sub Sinking
Colin Powell's conversion
Iraqi, Ending U.N. Talks, Dismisses Powell Pledge as a Ploy
Construction of Six Reactors Postponed
Repression at the World Economic Forum in Cancun, Mexico
Japan nuke industry frets in face of deregulation
Bush's Plans for the Pentagon
South Korea Takes Russia's Side in Dispute Missile Defense
Putin Praises 1972 Nuclear Treaty
Bush's Budget Plan at a Glance
Babbling Nonsense?
Northeast Utilities wants Con Ed merger assurance
Environment Ahead of Energy
Nuclear victim Myers dies
Nuclear Power Safety
Washington
President Bush's Speech to Congress on His Budget Plan

MILITARY
General Powell in the Middle East
U.S. AIDES MEET ACTIVIST
U.S. official meets with Burma's Suu Kyi
Bush Promises Colombia Help on Trade
Bush declines role in talks with rebels
U.S. Agents Find Tunnel at Border for Smuggling
Fighting Appalachia's Top Cash Crop, Marijuana
Officials to Discuss Drug Blamed for Deaths
ALDEN: RAPPER BEGINS SENTENCE
North Dakota
SAFARI SO GOODY
Puerto Ricans Seek End to Bombing on Vieques
Against a Trend
U.N. study predicts older, poorer world population
China Ratifies Human Rights Treaty
U.N. tribunal issues indictment of Yugoslav army
Litton Profits Increase, Revs Edge Lower
Admiral confirms Iraq-bombing problem
New Mexico
U.S. Air Force Readies Cyberwar Efforts

OTHER
MARTIAN METEORITE CONTAINS NEW HINTS OF LIFE
GM SUES CALIFORNIA OVER ZEV MANDATE
ARSENIC: A NEW TYPE OF ENDOCRINE DISRUPTER?
FUNGICIDE POLLUTION COSTS DUPONT MILLIONS
AFRICA'S LAKE CHAD SHRUNKEN BY IRRIGATION, CLIMATE CHANGE
FIVE MORE COMPANIES PLEDGE ACTION AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE
ARCTIC REFUGE DEFENDERS CLOG WHITE HOUSE EMAIL SYSTEM
STUDENTS LAUNCH TREE FREE CAMPUS CAMPAIGN
E.P.A.'s Authority on Air Rules Wins Supreme Court's Backing
A Victory for Cleaner Air
Neither Barren Nor Remote
Foot-and-mouth confirmed in Ireland
FOOT-AND-MOUTH ALERT
Alaska
Clean-air ruling hits big business
Police Raid Damascus Gate Market
Police Response to Student's Death Studied
Verdict for Former Deputy Divides an Oregon County
Cops Suspended For Fake Rescue Tale
Connecticut
Russia Turns Drug Arrest Into Spy Case
Accused Spy Suspected Loss of Access to Secrets
U.S. student faces drug charges in Russia
Execute Terrorists at Our Own Risk
Prosecutors Seek to Tie Conspiracy to Embassy Attacks
U.S. finds bin Laden an elusive target
Britain to ban 21 radical groups linked to terror
Arafat accused of adopting policy of terrorism
FBI arrests seven terrorist suspects

Activists
Fun and Games with Nike
Help train the next people of color organizers!
Job Opening at CHRE
Day of Action Update #2
Beijing Defends Its Repression of Sect
Mexican Police Repel Trade Protesters
60 Fire Chiefs Join to Protest Commissioner
Anti-globalizers gather in Mexican resort

-
-------- NUCLEAR

No. 2 Admiral Meets With Families of Sub Victims

February 28, 2001
New York Times
By HOWARD W. FRENCH
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/02/28/world/28CND-SINK.html

TOKYO, Feb. 28 -- The United States Navy's second highest ranking officer met today with the relatives of nine missing victims of a submarine accident earlier this month that sunk a Japanese fishery school ship off Hawaii.

"I'm here to request in the most humble and sincere manner that you accept the apology of the people of the United States and the U.S. Navy, as a personal representative of President Bush," Adm. William J. Fallon told relatives gathered at the United States ambassador's residence in Tokyo.

Later, the United States Embassy released the transcript of written questions submitted to the Navy by the victims' families, along with the answers provided during their meeting with Admiral Fallon.

Like the apology itself, the exercise was intended to assure the skeptical Japanese relatives and some in the public that everything possible was being done to investigate the accident and recover its victims.

Some of the relatives' questions were framed in bitter, accusatory tones, saying that the United States was merely "buying time" in it's handling of the accident to cover up malfeasance by the submarine crew. Another asked if the submarineTMs rapid surfacing drill, which it was performing at the time of the accident had been intended as a "leisure land tour," or "roller coaster ride" to amuse the civilian guests who were aboard the submarine.

Still others questioned why the United States Navy was not using manned mini-submarines to inspect the wreckage site of the fishing ship, the Ehime Maru, for the missing persons, suggesting that Washington was conducting its reconnaissance operation on the cheap.

The answers, which appeared carefully scripted, called the search and rescue operation "one of the most thorough and comprehensive searches ever conducted," and declared that the "location and recovery of the missing crew members is our highest priority."

The United States has apologized repeatedly over the accident in a series of high-level telephone calls and published statements ranging from President Bush to the commanding officer of the submarine, the U.S.S. Greeneville.

The extraordinary sequence of apologies reflects, in part, the importance to the United States of its military alliance with Japan, which has come under increasing criticism here recently because of the presence of 47,000 American troops in this country.

Admiral Fallon also pledged that the Navy's Court of Inquiry appointed to investigate the accident and potentially punish those responsible would "provide a full and open accounting for the American and Japanese people, the crew of the Ehime Maru and the families of the missing."

In recognition of a deeply significant gesture for the Japanese, Admiral Fallon stood before three representatives of the victims' families and said "I humbly request your acceptance of my apology." Then, after a pause, he bowed deeply at the meeting, which took place in the official resident of Ambassador Thomas Foley.

But Japanese family members and some in the media here have gone beyond shock over the February 9 accident, which presumably killed the nine missing persons, including four high school students, to doubt the sincerity of the apologies and question the seriousness of the investigation.

These doubts have ranged from questioning the piecemeal and sometime contradictory seeming fashion in which information dribbled out in the days following the accident, to increasingly strained speculation about whether the crewmembers of the Greeneville and their civilian guests were drunk, or even whether the sinking was somehow deliberate.

Today, however, a representative of the families, Ryosuke Terata, the father of a missing 17-year-old, gave the clearest recognition yet of the apologies. "I felt the envoy was sincere, and it was the most satisfying meeting we have had yet," he told Admiral Fallon. "We thank you for meeting with us."

---

Irradiated Beef:
In Markets, Quietly

February 28, 2001
New York Times
By MARIAN BURROS
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/02/28/living/28WELL.html?pagewanted=all

IRRADIATED ground beef is now available in about 1,500 stores across the country, but retailers are apparently still nervous about consumer response. So nervous that Omaha Steaks, the large mail-order beef company, does not tell its customers in advance that all the ground beef it has been selling since January has been irradiated to kill potential bacteria.

When ground beef is ordered on the company's Web site, the word irradiated does not appear on the screen. It is not in the company's catalog either. Yet the words "treated by irradiation" and the symbol for irradiation, called a radura, are on every package of the patties because the federal government requires the labeling.

Vickie Hagen, director of marketing for Omaha Steaks, said the company is "a little nervous about the word `irradiation' as far as consumers' perception.

"People hear it and start thinking something more negative," she said. "We're doing something in the customers' best interests because we've made them the safest burgers available."

An employee of Clemens Markets, a small chain in Pennsylvania, said in an interview that his company sells irradiated beef but that he could not talk about it because he might be fired if the chain's name was publicly connected with irradiation. Irradiated beef, he said, "is not a major success story."

Irradiated ground beef patties: the first stealth food.

Many of the estimated 76 million cases of foodborne illness in the United States each year are connected with meat and poultry. The animals are raised and slaughtered under conditions that encourage bacterial contamination, and the industry is looking to irradiation to solve the sanitation problem.

Despite consumers' food safety concerns, many are apparently reluctant to try irradiated food. At the Food Irradiation 2001 conference that winds up in Washington today, the primary topic is how to "overcome buyers' resistance" to irradiated ground beef. The federal government has also approved irradiation of poultry, pork, grains, fruits, vegetables and spices, but very little beyond spices is being irradiated.

Rightly or wrongly, much of the public remains skeptical about irradiated food. In a recent federal government survey, 50 percent of respondents said they would buy irradiated food. But asked if they would pay more, just half of those said yes. That has made supermarkets leery.

"There's a real fear among the supermarket industry about putting the products on the shelves," said Chuck Jolley, publisher of the trade journal Meat and Poultry. "They don't know what consumer reaction is going to be, so they are saying, `I'll wait for the other guy. I'll be second, but I'm not going to be first.' "

Diane Toops, the news and trend editor of another trade magazine, Food Processing, said: "The irradiation business is making all of the same mistakes biotechnology has made, trying to force their new technology down the throats of consumers who have a lot of questions. I think the irradiation industry has a problem that is almost impossible to solve unless they start getting out there some really clever consumer campaigns using a health message."

Irradiation of ground beef was given the green light by the federal government last February, and the first products appeared last May in stores in the Midwest. How many carry the patties today is unclear. Wil Williams, a spokesman for Titan, which owns the SureBeam Corporation, the company that irradiates most of the ground beef sold in this country, put the number at approximately 2,000 in 18 states. But several other industry experts said the figures were 1,500 stores in 14 states. With the exception of Florida, which has an irradiation plant, most irradiated beef is found in the Midwest, near the SureBeam plant in Sioux City, Iowa.

Total sales are even harder to determine. Jeffrey Barach, a vice president of the National Food Processors Association and the co-chairman of the irradiation conference, said of consumer acceptance of the beef: "Some say it's great; some say it's not going well. We still have a little perception problem, and that has to do with the labeling issue. When you pick up a product and see a statement that it is treated by irradiation and you see a radura, to some people that means a little radioactivity."

The food industry has petitioned the Food and Drug Administration to permit the substitution of the phrase "cold pasteurization."

Omaha Steaks' Web site does have information about irradiation, but it is called electronic pasteurization, and you would find it only if you knew what to look for. "Pasteurization is a nice, very positive word," Ms. Hagen said.

But Carol Tucker Foreman, director of the Consumer Federation of America's Food Policy Institute, objected to what she said was the industry's attempt to hide irradiation behind other words. Consumer research, she said, shows that shoppers want the term irradiation to appear on treated products.

Irradiation kills bacteria, parasites and insects but does not make food radioactive. It does not destroy viruses like those that cause hepatitis or the prions that may cause mad cow disease. And there is some loss of vitamins, though it is minimal.

Once irradiated meat is unwrapped, the potential for contamination is the same as it is for nonirradiated meat, so safe handling practices must be followed. And while irradiating hamburgers makes them safer, they should not be eaten rare.

Critics worry that if irradiation becomes a major factor the meat industry will not bother to clean up. "We'd like to see filth taken out of the food supply rather than just treated to make it safe to eat," said Caroline Smith DeWaal, director of food safety for the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a consumer advocacy group.

At two small chains that sell the meat, Byerly's and Lund's in Minneapolis-St. Paul, frozen irradiated patties account for only one percent of total ground beef sales, even though they cost less than the fresh patties at these stores.

Irradiation supporters are certain that an education campaign is all that is needed to persuade people to buy the meat and to quiet the critics. Mr. Williams of Titan said: "There needs to be an education program to get past the myths and distortions. I think American consumers will demand it just as they demand pasteurized milk, and it took 30 years for pasteurized milk to be accepted."

But others believe that the market for irradiated ground beef will always be limited to those with compromised immune systems whether because of age or illness.

What the industry is fighting right now, said Ms. Toops of Food Processing magazine, is "the consumer mantra: don't muck with my food."

In the end, for those who are healthy, there is no substitute for fresh ground beef, as I found in an informal taste test of four grilled hamburgers, irradiated and fresh. Each was cooked exactly the same way for the same amount of time.

The irradiated Omaha Steaks patties, what the company calls its gourmet burgers, with 13 percent fat, were rubbery; some tasted steamed; others had an acceptable though not especially beefy taste. Coleman's hamburgers, made from frozen ground beef with 15 percent fat, were tender and the flavor was good. Coleman's fresh sirloin patties with only 10 percent fat were even tastier. The standout, though, was Sunnyside organic, with 15 percent fat and full beefy flavor.

---

U.S. Admiral Delivers Apology to the Japanese in Sub Sinking

February 28, 2001
New York Times
By HOWARD W. FRENCH
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/02/28/world/28SINK.html

TOKYO, Wednesday, Feb. 28 - In the latest attempt to soothe Japanese feelings over the accidental sinking of a fishery school ship by an American submarine off Hawaii this month, the Navy's second-ranking officer delivered a letter of apology on Tuesday from President Bush to Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori. And today he met with family members of the nine people lost in the disaster.

The visit by the special envoy, Adm. William J. Fallon, was the latest in an extraordinary series of apologies by the United States, which has included telephone calls from Mr. Bush and Secretary of State Colin L. Powell to Japanese leaders.

Despite those efforts, some Japanese, from relatives of those lost in the Feb. 9 disaster to editorial writers, have continued to voice dissatisfaction with the American response and have demanded that the sunken ship, the Ehime Maru, be raised from the ocean floor to recover the bodies.

In a statement issued when he arrived on Tuesday, Admiral Fallon said: "I sincerely and humbly request - on behalf of the United States government, the United States Navy and the American people - that the government and people of Japan accept our apology for the tragic loss of the Ehime Maru.

"I know my words cannot express the profound sorrow and regret that the American people feel over this tragic event."

Later, the admiral met with Prime Minister Mori for about 30 minutes and personally handed the Japanese leader a letter of apology from President Bush. The contents of the letter were not disclosed.

According to news reports, Mr. Mori replied saying, "It is important that the two countries continue to make efforts in the U.S.-Japan alliance."

So far, the reaction of the families to the American apologies has been mostly negative, with relatives insisting that the commander of the nuclear submarine travel to Japan to apologize directly and in person.

The accident has fed criticisms of the United States military presence in Japan, where 47,000 American troops are based under the terms of a security treaty.

Most of the Americans are stationed in the southern island province of Okinawa, and a spate of incidents there, including rapes and arson, has turned public sentiment against the United States bases there.

This week the governor of Okinawa formally requested that the Japanese government negotiate a reduction in the number of American troops there.

On Monday, lawyers for Cmdr. Scott D. Waddle, the submarine's commander at the time of the accident, released a letter from him apologizing for the first time. But relatives of the victims, who included four 17-year-old students, reacted with bitterness, saying they doubted his sincerity.

Commander Waddle is the subject of a special Navy court of inquiry over the accident.

In another attempt to mollify the Japanese, an officer from Japan's armed forces was invited to take part in the inquiry.

---

Colin Powell's conversion

February 28, 2001
Washington Times
http://www.washtimes.com/op-ed/ed-house-200122820125.htm

Secretary of State Colin Powell went into the Middle East with a bang and came out with a whimper. The strike first, negotiate later tactic only works if the message remains consistent during both actions. Mr. Powell's was not. By bombing Iraq, the Bush administration aptly told the Arab world that the United States would no longer sleep while Iraq develops weapons of mass destruction and threatens Israel, and that it cared that Iraq's neighbors were looking the other way. Now it is calling for sanctions on Iraq to be eased and has put pressure on Israel to open its borders while still under fire. One wonders what vision Mr. Powell had on the road to Damascus.

Is this the same man who stood in Washington earlier this month saying that without the U.N. inspector's verification that Iraq had stopped developing its weapons of mass destruction, sanctions would not be lifted? Read his lips: "Let the inspectors in, and we can get beyond this . . . Until (Saddam) does that, I think we have to be firm. We have to be vigilant and I will be carrying this message to my friends in the region."

Not only did his "friends" not get this message, but he is returning with a detailed plan of how the United States can best bow to pressure from the Arab world: Sanctions could be lifted on up to 1,600 contracts for the sale of civilian goods to Iraq. This could even be extended to some items that could be used for military purposes. His Middle Eastern "friends" told him this was "the right thing to do," that he had no other options. Such a carrot has had no influence on Saddam. An Iraqi delegation at the United Nations has said inspectors will not be allowed to return under any condition. Now Saddam could have the best of both worlds - fewer sanctions and the glory of watching his former foe back down under pressure.

Saddam was given more than one reason to celebrate during the Powell tour. While the secretary of state was busy learning how he could reverse policy on Iraq, he also gave Israelis a slap in the face: He proposed they pay the $54 million in taxes owed the Palestinian Authority and open their borders to the Palestinians - whom Saddam wants to aid in a holy war against the Israelis. Now, the Israelis weren't asking for much in order to comply with Mr. Powell's wishes for them to be softer on the Palestinians: A call from Yasser Arafat to stop violence, an effort to stop anti-Israeli media propaganda, and a renewal of anti-terrorism ties between Palestinian and Israeli security agencies. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon wasn't even demanding that all violence stop, just a signal from the top aggravator that he would put pressure on his men to stop their fire would have been nice.

If Mr. Powell was trying to renew a friendship with an old ally through these actions, Israel wasn't impressed. Neither were the Arab countries who saw him speak out of both sides of his mouth. The Bush administration needs to come up with a consistent policy on the Middle East before the laughter from the Persian Gulf becomes deafening.

-------- iraq

Iraqi, Ending U.N. Talks, Dismisses Powell Pledge as a Ploy

February 28, 2001
New York Times
By BARBARA CROSSETTE
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/02/28/world/28IRAQ.html

UNITED NATIONS, Feb. 27 - As the United States tries to revitalize a common front on Iraq in the Security Council, an Iraqi delegation ended two days of talks here today with little to show but their determination to stay in the game as events move around them.

Iraq's foreign minister, Muhammad Said al-Sahhaf, who led the delegation in the first real discussions with the United Nations in more than two years, dismissed Secretary of State Colin L. Powell's pledges to rethink sanctions to ease the sufferings of ordinary Iraqis as a ploy "to deceive public opinion."

For good measure, he also rejected the head of a new arms inspection commission, Hans Blix, as "a detail" of a Security Council plan that Iraq would never accept.

"We are not dealing with a detail," Mr. Sahhaf said as he left the building this afternoon at the end of the talks. "You know our position in regard to Resolution 1284," the Council resolution creating a new inspection system in December 1999. "We are not going to deal with it, and Mr. Blix is a detail of that bad resolution."

But Mr. Sahhaf, who confined his official contacts in New York to Secretary General Kofi Annan and a team of high-level United Nations officials, said repeatedly that he wanted to keep the door open. He told reporters that another round of talks would be held within a few weeks.

Diplomats are awaiting some outline of what "smart sanctions" the new Bush administration may have in mind for Iraq. Some ideas already floated here have been rejected by the Iraqi government of Saddam Hussein.

For example, for years the United Nations has been urging Iraq to accept cash from supervised oil sales - now nearing a total of $40 billion since 1996 - to help restart the local economy. The Iraqis have refused to do so, officials say, because it would put even a small amount of economic power into the hands of citizens.

Lifting controls on a wide range of imports to meet civilian needs began more than a year ago, but Iraq has not always ordered the relief goods officials say the country's people need most.

Iraqi officials counter that their goal is not easing sanctions, but rather ending the embargo. Iraq also chafes at the requirement that money from oil sales go into an escrow account administered by the United Nations.

No Security Council member advocates ending that system any time soon, as long as Iraq refuses arms inspections. The sanctions were imposed after Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1990, and are to remain in place until United Nations inspectors have certified that Iraq has eliminated its weapons of mass destruction.

Western and Arab diplomats said the timing of Mr. Sahhaf's visit was important, coming as it did while a White House review of sanctions was getting under way and the Arab League was preparing for a summit- level meeting next month, at which the Iraqi embargo would be on the agenda. Some diplomats are suggesting that the Iraqis may not have much time to make some gesture of cooperation, but that it did not necessarily have to be on arms inspections.

Hussein A. Hassouna, the Arab League's representative at the United Nations, said in an interview today that the issue of missing Kuwaiti civilians and soldiers a decade after the end of the Persian Gulf war was still important to Iraq's neighbors as well as a prerequisite to Iraq's freeing itself from United Nations supervision.

"We urge them always to try to move on the question of the prisoners of war, " Mr. Hassouna said. "If they show any cooperation on that, or give any information, this would improve the climate."

As they have done for more than three years, the Iraqis made clear this week their resolve to avoid all contact not only with arms inspectors but with the Security Council itself, and Mr. Sahhaf suggested at one point that Iraq wanted to use the secretary general as a go-between.

Mr. Annan, who will brief the Security Council on Wednesday on his talks with the Iraqis, told reporters this morning that any change in sanctions, which the Iraqis continue to want lifted without conditions, would be a matter for the Council to decide.

-------- japan

Construction of Six Reactors Postponed

28 February 2001
MagpieNews
Dr K. Hosokawa
http://itak.ag.saga-u.ac.jp/=magpie/33.html

The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) has given up to submit 6 of the 8 proposals of new nuclear reactors to the March session of the Electric Power Development Coordination (EPDC) Subcommittee, which was supposed to give official approvals to the construction proposals.

(Note: EPDC used to be a ministerial Council of its own, but the bureaucratic restructuring (see MagpieNews #010107) made it a subcommittee of the Advisory Committee for Resources and Energy, which provides METI with official recommendations. All power plant projects in Japan must go through this committee.)

Only two proposals, Shimane Unit 3 in west Japan and Tomari Unit 3 in northern Japan, will be tabled before the Committee. The suspended six proposals include those of Kaminoseki Unit 1 and 2 in Yamaguchi Prefecture, southwest of Hiroshima.

The delay of the nuclear expansion will inevitably affect the Government's energy policy in general.

sources: Mainichi, 28 February.

MagpieComment: The strong local opposition and the concerned voices of the general public are having real influences on the Government nuke policy. The approved two projects, by no means free from problems, should also be reconsidered before digging the ground.

---

Repression at the World Economic Forum in Cancun, Mexico

Wed Feb 28 '01
Consejo General de Huelga
by Norma
cgh@dyndns.org

Repression in Cancun, Mexico: Military police assaulted students, journalists, tourists and passers-by without justification yesterday afternoon, at a demonstration protesting the World Economic Forum.

I offer a combined translation of two posts which appeared late yesterday on Indymedia from Cancun, Mexico, with telephone numbers where you can call for the release of the arrestees. The alert is put out by "Consejo General de Huelga", a student organization in Mexico.

At least 60 protestors demonstrating against the World Economic Forum were beaten and arrested by the military police. Since the protestors were encircled and saw that they would not be able to avert aggression, they had decided to retreat, but were assaulted regardless. The military police attacked tourists, students, and representatives from various organizations. Repression was very harsh. Protestors numbered 600 and the aggressing forces numbered more than 2,500, including the military police and agents from different parts of the world. We need your immediate support to apply pressure to all Mexican embassies to release the arrested demonstrators and to forward this message to all. Please demand that all the protestors be released and allowed to go home. We also know that the leaders of the demonstration were threatened and that people who had offered assistance were placed under surveillance, all this because they dared to protest globalization.

Demand the immediate release of the people arrested at the demonstration by calling the following:

- The Mexican Embassy at 202-728-1600/202-452-9651

- Mission of Mexico to the Organization of American States at 202-332-3663, also Army Attache at 202-728-1740 and Interior Ministry at 202-728-1639.

The arrests were briefly (under-)reported in today's New York Times at http://www.http://www.nytimes.com/2001/02/28/world/28MEXI.html

cgh.dyndns.org

---

Japan nuke industry frets in face of deregulation

February 28, 2001
Excite News
By Miho Yoshikawa
http://news.excite.com/news/r/010228/03/utilities-japan-nuclear

TOKYO, Feb 28 (Reuters) - Where public anti-nuclear protests fail, industry deregulation could succeed.

Analysts say Japan's nuclear industry is facing competitive threats from rival power suppliers that could slow down construction of new nuclear plants, a spinoff of deregulation aimed at slashing Japan's high energy prices.

As a result, nuclear companies are grappling with deep questions about how to grow as the economy stagnates and as a new wave of cost-conscious power companies eye cheaper fuels.

"They must think carefully about costs," said Takahiro Morita, senior vice president at Moody's Japan K.K., a unit of credit ratings agency Moody's Investors Service.

"I think that will lead to a slowdown in the development of nuclear power plants," he said.

This -- combined with public anxiety over the nuclear industry's safety record after recent accidents -- is making privately-run utilities that operate all of Japan's 51 commercial reactors hesitant to commit to major new development plans.

The timing couldn't be worse for a government that puts nuclear power at the core of its energy programme, viewing it as a crucial fuel source in a country with few natural resources.

Long-term investment plans announced by Japan's major utilities last March showed that only 13 nuclear reactors are due to begin operating over the next 10 years, far short of the government's target of 16 to 20.

Adding to the government's woes are growing concerns about the environment and whether a possible rise in dirty fossil fuels at the expense of nuclear power will wreak havoc on its clean-air targets.

Japan's goal for new nuclear reactors was designed to help the country meet a 1997 global pledge to make an average six percent cut in harmful emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases by 2008-2012 from 1990 levels.

LOSING A COMPETITIVE EDGE

Many analysts link the industry's problems directly to deregulation and deeper structural changes in the economy that are forcing Japan's power companies to become cost conscious.

Japan's 10 leading utilities held regional monopolies on electricity supplies until last March when the government broke with tradition and allowed non-power firms to begin selling electricity to large-lot consumers such as commercial centres.

This change, aimed at helping revive Japan's fragile economy by slashing energy prices and opening the door to competition, led seven new companies into Japan's power supply industry.

Analysts say these companies are likely to turn to cheaper fuels like coal, forcing down prices and preventing nuclear companies from passing the buck on extra costs needed to build new reactors through to electricity rates.

"I think there's a big risk that (the nuclear programme) will become a financial burden for the industry," Tadatoshi Utaka, senior analyst at Tokyo-Mitsubishi Securities said.

Nuclear power plants have traditionally enjoyed a competitive edge, using relatively cheap uranium and running reactors at low overheads once the initial high costs of building them are complete.

But predicting what Japan's energy market will look like in 10-20 years when the full benefits of any reactor built now would materialise is harder than ever.

The power industry is also facing growing local opposition following recent accidents at nuclear facilities, such as Japan's worst ever in September 1999 when three plant workers in Tokaimura were exposed to radiation. Two later died.

TEPCO TO PUSH AHEAD

An example of just how difficult it is for major power firms to commit to new projects can be seen in the position of Tokyo Electric Power Co Inc (TEPCO), Japan's largest power company, on building new plants.

This month, TEPCO announced it would freeze construction of new power plants, including nuclear facilities, for three to five years. But a day later it made a dramatic revision to the decision, giving a green light for continuing construction plans for nuclear plants.

Yet analysts see the move as motivated more by politics than economics.

Two prefectures had been counting on a new nuclear power plant or an expansion of an existing plant to help bolster their local economies, and analysts see TEPCO's reversal as a concession to their interests.

Although some regions shy away from nuclear plants for health or environmental reasons, others see them as key sources of revenue since they bring in subsidies and increase employment.

But because of competitive pressures it remains uncertain whether TEPCO will actually push ahead with its plans to build new nuclear reactors without postponing them given the current business climate and slowing power demand, the analysts said.

Tokyo-Mitsubishi's Utaka said the operation of nuclear power plants may not be entirely compatible with deregulation and competition, and wondered how much of a role the private sector could play in the nation's nuclear power plans for the future.

"I think nuclear power should be separated from the operations of private companies, and that the electric power industry should ask the government to take over the task," he said.

-------- missile defense

Bush's Plans for the Pentagon Include Base Closings and Money for Missile Defenses

February 28, 2001
New York Times
By STEVEN LEE MYERS and JAMES DAO
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/02/28/politics/28DEFE.html?pagewanted=all

WASHINGTON, Feb. 27 - President Bush's budget plan will include more than $1 billion in new spending for research on national missile defense, administration officials said today.

Mr. Bush's plan, which the White House is scheduled to announce on Wednesday, will also call for closing military bases around the country, saying the Pentagon's budget is burdened by a 23 percent excess in base capacity that costs millions of dollars to maintain, the officials said. New rounds of base closings, always a volatile issue on Capitol Hill, will be a test of Mr. Bush's efforts to win Congressional support for his intention to restructure the Pentagon. Four rounds of closings shut down 97 major bases from 1988 to 1995, but President Bill Clinton's effort to win approval for more closings was blocked by Republicans, who accused him of politicizing the process.

Mr. Bush outlined many of his priorities for the Pentagon's budget during three trips to military bases earlier this month, but the budget proposal, while still preliminary, will provide more details of what he and his aides have said would be sweeping changes in the armed forces.

Mr. Bush previously announced his intention to spend $2.6 billion more on research and development - roughly 6 percent more than this year's spending. But the new budget proposal, for the first time, specifies that some of the spending will be used for "missile defense alternatives," as well as other "new technologies to support the transformation of U.S. military capabilities," said two officials briefed on the plan.

Pentagon officials said today that specific spending proposals will not be outlined until Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld has completed three reviews of military strategy and structure. One official close to the budget process said that when the final budget proposal is unveiled in April, roughly half of the research and development budget will be devoted to missile defense. That would represent a significant increase in the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization's budget, which this year includes only $2.2 billion in spending on national missile defense and $4.5 billion overall.

Pentagon and Congressional officials said the spending on "alternatives" underscored the administration's intent to expand its missile shields beyond the limited, ground- based system that the Pentagon pursued under Mr. Clinton.

Senator Rick Santorum, a Pennsylvania Republican on the Armed Services Committee, said he supported developing other forms of missile defense, arguing that a combination of land-, sea- and space- based systems might be needed to defend the nation and its allies.

Mr. Santorum said Mr. Bush's proposal on missile defense spending was "probably not enough."

"But it's a good start," he added.

Pentagon officials said an increase in research money could allow commanders to expand testing of interceptor rockets and other components already being developed. The missile defense office has already asked for a $1 billion supplement in this year's budget, the officials said.

The additional money could accelerate research in other fields, supporters of missile defense argue, including naval defenses, airborne lasers and space-based weapons.

Mr. Bush has made his support for missile defense clear, but Mr. Rumsfeld and other senior advisers have so far provided few clues about how the administration intends to move ahead. Mr. Bush's budget proposal stops short of detailing the steps ahead, but it refers obliquely to the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty of 1972, saying, "Outmoded arms-control treaties must not compromise America's security," one official said.

At a Senate hearing today to consider his nomination as deputy secretary of defense, Paul D. Wolfowitz said the administration would seek a relaxation of the treaty to allow the United States to research several different forms of missile defense, like a sea-based system.

"I think one of the things that we need to do - and hopefully the Russians will concur in this and we can do it cooperatively - is to relax a number of the restrictions in the A.B.M. treaty that I believe prevented us from looking adequately at those kinds of options," said Dr. Wolfowitz, who is expected to be confirmed later this week.

"What we want to do is find the most effective, least expensive and least provocative way of proceeding in this direction," he said.

Overall, Mr. Bush's plan holds the Department of Defense's budget at roughly the level - $310 billion - that Mr. Clinton proposed as he was leaving office. That represents a $14 billion increase from this year's budget, but is far less than military officers and members of Congress have called for in recent months.

Mr. Bush's plan also commits much of the money to proposals he promoted during the campaign, including $5.7 billion in spending on pay, housing and health care and $2.6 billion in research and development. The proposal for more base closings - supported by leaders of the armed services as a way to save money for weapons purchases - is likely to face strong opposition in Congress, where bases are viewed as sacrosanct sources of local jobs. The proposal did not mention which bases might be closed; the administration is likely to leave that decision to a commission, as was the case with previous closings.

At today's hearing, Senator Jim Bunning, Republican of Kentucky, echoed the skepticism of many in Congress, saying he had seen little evidence that base closings save money.

"If we proceed in another round," Mr. Bunning said, "you're going to have a terrible time up here on the Hill trying to convince anyone that that's in the best interests of this country."

Still, there is some support for closing bases as a way of freeing up money for other military purposes. "With the existing base structure," Mr. Santorum said, "we're just sucking away too many resources."

---

South Korea Takes Russia's Side in Dispute Over U.S. Missile Defense Plan

February 28, 2001
New York Times
By PATRICK E. TYLER
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/02/28/world/28KORE.html

SEOUL, South Korea, Feb. 27 - Less than a week before he meets President Bush in Washington, the president of South Korea today publicly took Russia's side in the debate over Washington's plan for a national missile defense.

A joint communiqué issued by President Kim Dae Jung with the visiting president of Russia, Vladimir V. Putin, declared that the 1972 Antiballistic Missile Treaty, which would be threatened by Washington's project, was a "cornerstone of strategic stability." The treaty should be preserved and strengthened, the communiqué said.

The declaration by Mr. Kim - whose country is protected with the help of 37,000 American troops - was one of the strongest to date by one of America's Asian allies. South Korea's statement echoed concerns among European powers that the United States was pressing forward with missile defenses in a manner that could set off a new round of nuclear competition by Russia, China and South Asia.

President Bush has asserted that he will withdraw from the 1972 ABM Treaty if necessary in order to build national missile defenses capable of protecting the United States against the threat of a limited ballistic missile attack from states like North Korea, Iran and Iraq.

It was not immediately clear why Mr. Kim decided to identify with Moscow's view of the issue. But as the Bush administration shows signs of doubting North Korea's sincerity in dismantling its weapons of mass destruction, Mr. Putin has played an energetic role in promoting reconciliation on the Korean Peninsula, flying to Pyongyang last July to meet the reclusive North Korean leader, Kim Jong Il, and now preparing to bring him to Moscow for more talks on how to reduce tensions.

It is also possible that Mr. Kim's criticism reflected a general concern in Asia that the American missile defense plans will isolate China by rendering ineffective its tiny nuclear arsenal.

For South Korea, China has played a constructive role in working for Korean reconciliation, treating Kim Jong Il to a tour of booming Shanghai this winter and doing similar missionary work with North Korea's hard-line military leaders. Li Peng, the second ranking member of the ruling Politburo in Beijing, is due in Seoul next month for a state visit.

The joint statement further indirectly criticized the United States by cataloging the arms control treaties or agreements that remain unfulfilled, at least in part because of objections to their ratification in the United States. The principal accords outstanding are the Start II Treaty, which would cut cold war nuclear arsenals in half, and another that would ban nuclear testing. Russia has ratified both, and Mr. Kim said he "welcomed" Russia's act.

Though neither president mentioned the United States by name at a brief news conference and steered questions to economic matters, the object of the communiqué's criticism was unmistakable.

"The Russian Federation and the Republic of Korea agreed that the 1972 Antiballistic Missile Treaty is the cornerstone of strategic stability and an important foundation of international efforts on nuclear disarmament and nonproliferation," the statement said. "Both sides expressed their hope that the Start II Treaty will enter into force as soon as possible and that as soon as possible after that, the Start III Treaty will be signed and that the ABM Treaty will be preserved and strengthened."

In a reference to the test ban treaty, the Russian and South Korean leaders said they "appealed to other countries to ratify the treaty without any delays and they also appealed to those countries whose ratification is needed for it to come into effect."

Since he won election a year ago, Mr. Putin has undertaken a diplomatic campaign to persuade the United States to forgo its large-scale missile defense plans. He has proposed instead to develop regional and mobile missile defenses that could be brought to bear against missile threats from "rogue" states. Russia presented that concept to NATO's secretary general, George Robertson, in Moscow last week.

Russia has also sought to show that more intensive diplomacy, such as Mr. Kim's opening to North Korea, might go a long way in reducing the threat from such states. To that end, Mr. Putin also has been courting Kim Jong Il - thus far unsuccessfully - to abandon North Korea's missile program.

On other fronts, Mr. Putin's visit here was a hard slog of negotiations over how to resolve Russia's $1.8 billion debt to Seoul and how to overcome formidable obstacles to building new railway links.

Work on one rail line connecting Seoul, Pyongyang and Sinuiji on North Korea's border with China already has begun, but Mr. Putin is lobbying for the $1 billion rehabilitation of a second line northeast to Vladivostok that would connect South Korea's ports and industrial centers with Russia's impoverished Far East.

Mr. Putin said that linking both Koreas with the trans-Siberian railway would cut freight deliveries from the Pacific to Europe from 25 to 12 days, while also providing a humanitarian rescue for North Korea, which would reap more than $100 million a year in revenues.

---

Putin Praises 1972 Nuclear Treaty

February 28, 2001
Associated Presss
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-SKorea-Putin.html?searchpv=aponline
http://news.excite.com/news/ap/010228/11/int-skorea-putin

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- Signaling displeasure over U.S. plans for a missile defense system, Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday described a 1972 nuclear arms treaty as the ``root and trunk'' of world security.

Russia has said a U.S. missile defense program would violate the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, which bans such systems under the belief that a country would not launch a nuclear strike if it were unable to protect itself against retaliation.

``Any attempts to change the treaty will shake the strategic root and trunk of world peace and security,'' Putin said in an address to legislators at the domed National Assembly building.

In Washington, however, President Bush indicated he would push ahead with the missile defense plan, designed to thwart any attacks by perceived ``rogue nations'' such as communist North Korea.

``To protect our own people, our allies and friends, we must develop and we must deploy effective missile defenses,'' Bush said in an address to Congress on Tuesday night. He spoke minutes after Putin's speech in South Korea, which is several time zones ahead.

A senior Russian general also accused the United States on Wednesday of violating the 1987 Intermediate Nuclear Forces Treaty and threatened retaliatory measures if the nation withdraws from the ABM treaty.

``If we run into facts of unilateral violations of the ABM treaty, Russia may review other international treaties concerning strategic weapons,'' Lt. Gen. Vyacheslav Romanov was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency.

In particular, Romanov said Russia may review provisions of the START-1 and START-2 treaties. He did not elaborate.

Romanov also strongly objected to U.S. testing of the Hera missile, a modified Minuteman 2 that is the U.S. Army's latest Patriot interceptor missile. He said it violated the 1987 INF treaty on short- and medium-range nuclear missiles.

Putin, in a reference to U.S. missile defense plans, said: ``Like many people in South Korea, Russia has concerns about attempts to deploy weapons in space.''

South Korea -- a close ally of Washington and host to 37,000 U.S. soldiers -- has not taken a public position on the U.S. project. Some Seoul officials privately worry that it could disrupt its fragile rapprochement with the North, a fierce critic of Washington's plan.

Reflecting the sensitivity of the issue, Seoul's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade denied that a joint statement released Tuesday by President Kim Dae-jung and Putin revealed a stand on missile defense.

The statement described the 1972 treaty as ``the cornerstone of strategic stability and an important foundation of international efforts on nuclear disarmament and nonproliferation.''

The South Korean ministry said some news reports incorrectly interpreted the statement as an indirect criticism of U.S. missile defense. It said similar language had been used at U.S.-backed international meetings, including the G-8 summit last year at Okinawa, Japan.

Washington's European allies are concerned, and Russia last week presented NATO Secretary-General Lord Robertson with an outline for a non-strategic missile defense proposal for Europe to counter the American initiative.

During his trip to Seoul, Putin also pledged to support the reconciliation process between the two Koreas and appealed for more trade with the South. Putin, who is trying to expand Russia's role in Northeast Asia as well as Europe, departed later Wednesday for Vietnam.

---

Bush's Budget Plan at a Glance

February 28, 2001
Associated Press
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Budget-Glance.html?pagewanted=all&searchpv=aponline

A look at how President Bush's proposed budget for fiscal 2002 allocates spending for various needs:

CHILDREN AND FAMILIES

Hoping to boost fathers, President Bush picks up on an idea that's been circulating in Congress for some time: grants to help low-income dads find jobs and become better parents.

He proposes $64 million for new competitive grants and he wants to make churches and other religious groups eligible to participate.

For foster children who turn 18 and age out of the system, Bush wants $60 million for education and training vouchers that would help pay for college tuition or vocational training. Each voucher would be worth up to $5,000.

Bush is seeking increased money for states to investigate child abuse and neglect, to help keep some families together and to find placements for children who must be removed from their biological parents. Bush proposes $505 million for the program for 2002, a $200 million increase from this year.

To encourage adoption, Bush wants to make the existing adoption tax credit permanent and increase it from $5,000 to $7,500.

The president proposes $400 million in new money for vouchers that would pay for after-school programs as part of the child care and development block grant.

He also wants $33 million for maternity group homes, which would house teen moms and their children.

COMMUNICATIONS

Bush proposed requiring commercial television stations to pay fees on their existing analog TV channels -- a plan that would raise nearly $1 billion over five years. Broadcasters have been given a second TV channel to convert to higher-quality digital television. They are supposed to return their analog channels to the government in 2006 or when digital television reaches 85 percent of the market, whichever comes later.

A proposed fee for analog channels has been included in Clinton administration budgets but has not been enacted. Lawmakers, at the urging of broadcasters, have generally opposed imposing new fees on broadcasters.

The president's proposal also anticipates that the government will take in $7.5 billion over the next five years from auctions of slices of the airwaves. This likely will include auctions for the analog channels that broadcasters return to the government. Wireless companies are eager to bid on these frequencies to offer new mobile services.

DEFENSE

Only $400 million of the $1.4 billion in military pay increases proposed by Bush would be for across-the-board raises. The rest would be earmarked as incentives to recruit and keep certain military specialists.

The defense budget would total $310 billion, an increase of $14.2 billion over the current budget and exactly the amount President Clinton proposed for the coming year. Bush set out few specifics, saying these would be determined after Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld completes reviews in three areas: national security strategy, offensive nuclear weapons and missile defenses, and overall quality of life for troops.

Bush proposed spending $2.6 billion on research and development of ``leap ahead'' technologies for weapons and intelligence and the testing of a missile defense program. He also proposed earmarking $3.9 billion for expanding health benefits mandated by Congress last year, plus $400 million to improve housing.

EDUCATION

Bush proposes $44.5 billion for the Department of Education, an 11.5 percent increase. That includes $2.6 billion for states to improve teacher quality through training, retention efforts and ``aggressive recruitment.''

Under Bush's budget, the federal government would allow states more flexibility to direct funds to priority programs. The federal government would also provide seed money to assist charter schools with start-up costs and other needs. It would let families earn tax-free interest on savings accounts of up to $5,000 per child each year to pay the costs of private school.

The budget includes $5 billion over five years for programs to help every child learn to read by third grade.

Bush also proposes an additional $1 billion for federal Pell grants to low-income college students. Last year, the federal government provided $8.8 billion for the program.

ENERGY

The budget provides $19 billion for the Energy Department, a decline of 3 percent, including a sharp cut for energy efficiency and renewable energy research.

Money for efficiency technology and renewable energy sources such as solar and fuel cell technology would drop from $1.2 billion to about $900 million. The budget calls for tax credits for private-sector development of renewable sources.

The proposal expands spending on clean-coal technology, anticipating a $2 billion program over 10 years, and would provide more money for low-income families to pay energy costs and weatherize their homes.

The department's spending for maintaining the nation's nuclear weapons stockpile would increase to $5.3 billion, a boost of 5 percent.

For the first time the budget would rely on future revenue from oil leases in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska. The budget assumes $1.2 billion a year beginning in 2004 from oil lease sales in the refuge, although Congress currently prohibits any such sales.

ENVIRONMENT

Bush proposed $900 million for the Land and Water Conservation Fund, the full amount it is authorized to get each year. That money comes mainly from oil and gas drilling.

His also would spend $4.9 billion over five years for the National Park Service's deferred maintenance backlog, with $2.7 billion of that for roads, bridges and transportation projects and $2.2 billion for building maintenance and construction.

Bush also hopes to accelerate the cleanup of abandoned toxic waste sites, known as ``brownfields,'' through tax incentives and regulatory reform.

Overall, his budget would provide $9.8 billion to the Interior Department, 0.4 percent less than the $10.2 billion this year. It also would give $7.3 billion to the Environmental Protection Agency, down from $7.8 billion this year.

HEALTH POLICY

The president promises a review of Medicaid, which serves the poorest Americans, and the Children's Health Insurance Program, which serves children in low-income families. The review will look for ways to give states more flexibility, though the administration is not proposing any new money.

He promises to work on closing a Medicaid loophole that has allowed states to collect billions of dollars in federal money for hospitals and nursing homes without any assurances that the money was being used for its intended purpose.

Bush wants to eliminate the $125 million Community Access Program, a Clinton administration initiative to help integrate the health care delivery system.

Under the Medicare budget, the president proposes to help subsidize drug costs for seniors and the disabled with $153 billion over the next 10 years, plus an initial $3 billion for fiscal year 2001.

This spending includes a temporary, four-year program to help states subsidize medicines for people with the lowest incomes or the highest expenses. The grants would last until Congress overhauls Medicare to expand drug insurance benefits to all recipients and make sure the program can handle the 77 million baby boomers expected to begin their retirements in a decade.

Total spending for the bulk of Health and Human Services Department programs -- aside from Medicare and Medicaid, whose funds mostly rise automatically -- would be $55.45 billion in fiscal 2002. That's an increase of $2.7 billion over this year. With a slated $2.8 billion increase for the National Institutes of Health, that means that all other programs as a group in the department will see slightly less money than they did this year.

HOUSING

Bush proposed expanding a program to help people with AIDS find homes and building more technology centers in poor neighborhoods.

At the same time, a program that Bush said has failed to keep drugs out of housing projects would be eliminated, as would a 2-year-old rural housing initiative.

Bush also called for a $700 million cut in a public housing program, which he said would be made up for with funds that have been authorized but not spent.

The National Low Income Housing Coalition said Bush appeared to be cutting spending on housing for the poor to help pay for his tax-cut plan. Cities would compete for the new technology centers. The AIDS housing expansion would be in areas that haven't had enough AIDS cases to qualify in the past.

Bush said money that has been spent on eliminating drugs in public housing should be spent on other efforts, like evictions, which have been more successful.

The Rural Housing and Economic Development Program, which would be abolished, duplicates other options for people in small communities, the president said.

The plan also proposed changes to help poor families in high-rent cities. Fees for some Federal Housing Administration programs would be increased, in areas like condominium and rehabilitation loans.

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

For international affairs, the administration requested $23.1 billion in budget authority, a $1.2 billion increase. That includes $1.3 billion for embassy construction and enhancement of embassy security.

It also contemplates an expansion of -- without a specific figure -- the $1.3 billion counternarcotics and social development program for Colombia and an expansion of drug eradication and interdiction for other Andean countries.

The request seeks an increase for information technology. More resources are being sought for combatting HIV/AIDS and for improving primary education in developing countries.

The administration, 1st graf a0692

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

UC Davis' Petulent Otto Raabe:
Babbling Nonsense?

2/28/01
otaka@earthlink.net writes:

Otto G. Raabe, Ph.D., CHP was President of the Health Physics Society when he testified befoe the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee on April 21, 1998 in opposition to S. 1385, Justice for Atomic Veterans Act, introduced by Senator Wellstone to make the following diseases presumptive for veterans who took part in atmospheric nuclear bomb tests: lung cancer, bone cancer, skin cancer, colon cancer, postertior subcapsular cataracts of the eye, thyroid nodular disease, parathyroid adenoma, tumors of the brain, central nervous system and rectal cancer.

Here is an excerpt from Otto G. Raabe's statemen: "Since the radiation exposures to most military personnel were unlikely to have exceeded 10 rem (0.1 sievert) above natural background, it is unlikely that the occurrence of cancer or other diseases in these people is in any way related to those radiation exposures."

At the bottom of the cover page of Dr. Raabe's statement is the credo of the Health Physics Society "Safeguarding health and the environment."

The late Dr. Karl Morgan who founded the Health Physics Society regretted that it later fell into the wrong hands. Read Dr. Morgan's final publication, The Angry Genie for more on this.

Oscar Rosen ATOMIC VETS RADIATION NEWS Salem, MA.

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

Northeast Utilities wants Con Ed merger assurance

February 28, 2001
Excite News
By Jim Brumm
http://news.excite.com/news/r/010228/14/utilities-nu

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Northeast Utilities (NU) demanded on Wednesday a written assurance from Consolidated Edison Inc. that it will stick to a definitive merger agreement reached by the two utilities 16 months ago, which would create the largest utility in the Northeast.

Northeast's stock fell to a three-month low after the news, and a utility analyst said he believes Con Edison might want to renegotiate the terms of the $7.5 billion merger.

Northeast spokesman Jeff Kotkin said questions about possible changes in the merger would have to be answered by Con Edison, which had no immediate response.

In its statement, Northeast said its board has requested written assurance by Friday at 9 a.m. that Con Ed intends to abide by the definitive merger agreement between the two utilities.

Northeast said failure to provide such assurance would be treated as a breach of the October 1999 merger agreement. The company "would pursue all available legal remedies" in that case, Northeast added.

Asked the reason for its statement, Northeast spokeswoman Mary Jo Keating said the company was seeking the assurance so it could proceed with the necessary paperwork to implement the merger promptly.

NORTHEAST STOCK DROPS

The Hartford, Conn.-based utility's stock dropped to $19.60, its lowest price in three months, early in Wednesday's market session and by afternoon was trading down $1.03 at $20 a share.

Officials of New York City-based Con Edison could not be reached for comment on Northeast's request.

ABN AMRO analyst Daniel Ford said he believes Con Edison "could be trying to renegotiate the transaction," adding Northeast is likely resisting.

Con Edison's stock was one of the few gainers in a soft utilities group Wednesday, holding on to a 35-cent gain at $36.35 per share in afternoon trading.

A failure by the two companies to merge would have favorable credit implications for Con Edison, as it will no longer have to issue debt as part of the merger financing package, according to Standard & Poor's credit analysts.

The credit considerations of a merger are now considerably less significant for Northeast than at the time the merger was announced because the company's credit profile has moved much closer in quality to that of Con Edison, S&P added.

Con Edison agreed to pay $3.29 billion in stock and cash for Northeast in a deal worth $7.5 billion including assumed debt. At the time the merger was announced, the agreement put a value of $25 each on Northeast's shares -- which have traded below that level since, reaching a high of $24.5625 on the final trading day of 2000.

Following the sale of Northeast's nuclear assets and a payment for delays in the transaction, Con Edison's payment was scheduled to be $26.70 per Northeast share if the deal was completed this month.

Northeast said in a statement that its board was seeking "assurances that Consolidated Edison will consummate the pending merger at the price set forth in the agreement promptly following receipt of the last required regulatory approval, from the Securities and Exchange Commission, which is expected as early as mid-March."

Its statement noted the agreement has received necessary clearances from three federal and seven state regulatory agencies.

After Connecticut regulators failed to change what Con Edison called "limited but significant" financial conditions imposed on the merger in late November, the company said it was awaiting regulatory decisions in New Hampshire and New York before making a final decision on the merger.

The company, which owns the utility that distributes electricity in New York City and its northern suburbs and gas in much of that area, has not commented on the merger since.

MORE VALUABLE COMPANY SEEKS QUICK CLOSE

Pointing out the company's commitment to close the transaction promptly upon receipt of regulatory approval, Northeast's Keating said the utility sought Con Edison's assurances so it could proceed with the administrative effort needed to complete the transaction.

Northeast's statement said the company "is a substantially more valuable company today than when we entered into the merger agreement more than 16 months ago, so we are puzzled by Con Edison's apparent reluctance to commit to this strategic combination and fulfill its contractual obligations."

---

Environment Ahead of Energy

February 28, 2001
Aasociated Press
By MARJORIE CONNELLY
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/02/28/politics/01POLL-WATCH.html?searchpv=nytToday

Americans continue to put environmental concerns ahead of energy matters, even though California is in the midst of an energy crisis and most Americans have had to endure higher energy costs this winter. There is, however, some support for increasing energy production, according recent polls conducted nationally and in California. The demand for new sources of energy has made Californians willing to approve the construction of non-nuclear power plants, even in their own communities, but has not reduced opposition to offshore oil drilling or new nuclear power plants, according to a recent Los Angeles Times Poll.

The poll, conducted Feb. 14 and 15 among 579 adults throughout California, found that while 83 percent favor building new non-nuclear power plants, 60 percent oppose the construction of nuclear power plants. Asked if the current energy problems justify lifting the moratorium on drilling for oil off the coast of California, only 31 percent agree that exploration of oil should be conducted in these circumstances, while 64 percent are against lifting the ban.

Californians object to drilling off the coast of their state and nationally there is opposition to drilling in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. In a nationwide ABC News/Washington Post Poll taken last month, 56 percent oppose the idea of exploring for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

This opposition comes even as the poll found most people consider the discovery of new energy sources more pressing than controlling energy consumption. Fifty-five percent said that finding new energy sources is more important, while 41 percent said improving energy conservation should take precedence.

Nationally, the public is divided over whether environmental standards should be reduced either to increase oil and gas production or to facilitate the construction of new power plants. In a Fox News/Opinion Dynamics poll conducted last month, 42 percent approve of relaxing environmental standards to boost oil and gas production in the United States and 49 percent disapprove.

There is slightly less opposition to encouraging new power plants. The poll found that 46 percent favor easing environmental standards to make it easier to build new power plants while 39 percent disapprove.

But while exploration may beat out conservation and there is some support for relaxing standards, protection of the environment is still paramount for most Americans. A recent CBS News Poll asked which was more important producing energy or protecting the environment. Just over half, 52 percent, gave priority to the environment while only 32 percent thought the production of energy was more important.

Americans are evenly divided on whether the federal government should help California with its energy problem, according to the CBS News Poll, which was conducted Feb. 10 to 12 with 1,124 adults. Just under half, 48 percent, said California's current energy difficulties are a state problem that the federal government should stay away from, and almost as many, 46 percent, think Washington should lend a helping hand to California.

While California has had to put up with energy alerts and periodic blackouts, the rest of the country has had to deal with energy problems as well. The CBS News Poll found that 61 percent said their utility bills have gone up a lot and another 21 percent said their bills have increased a little. Only 16 percent said their utility costs have remained steady. The cost of energy, including electricity, gasoline, natural gas and oil, have caused financial hardship for 56 percent of the public, according to a recent nationwide CNN/USA Today/Gallup Poll. Even more, 71 percent, expect price increases over the next year to cause financial hardship.

-------- nevada

Nuclear victim Myers dies

February 28, 2001
Las Vegas Sun
By Ed Koch
http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/obits/2001/feb/28/511496274.html

When Kathren Myers was growing up in Mesquite and Las Vegas, she and her family would go to the courthouse steps or other strategic but apparently safe sites to watch the mushroom clouds bloom from above-ground nuclear tests.

Though above-ground nuclear testing later was banned, the foreboding cloud followed Myers her entire life. She was a breast cancer survivor for nine years and became one of more than 3,100 claimants approved for government compensation from radioactive fallout.

Myers died Saturday of cancer at her Mesquite home. She was 53.

Services for the Southern Nevada resident of 50 years will be 1 p.m. Friday at the Mesquite Chapel of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

"My daughter was open, pleasant, outgoing and otherwise healthy," said her father, Lee Walker, an attorney who served in the state Senate in the 1970s as a Democrat from North Las Vegas.

"Kathy was part of that big government settlement, but unfortunately she did not live to see any money from it."

Walker was referring to the 1994 Congress-approved compensation for so-called "down-winders," those who could prove they were exposed to radioactive fallout and later got cancer.

Myers is one of 3,135 claimants who have been approved by the State Department for $232 million in compensation. She had not yet received her check. No other member of Myers' immediate family has been diagnosed with cancer, Walker said.

Born Kathren Walker on Nov. 30, 1947, in St. George, Utah, she came to Southern Nevada with her family in 1951 when she was 4.

She graduated from Western High School and later attended what is now the Community College of Southern Nevada.

Myers ran a credit union in Mesquite before taking a job at the Oasis hotel in the rural community 75 miles northeast of Las Vegas.

In addition to her father and stepmother, Kate Walker, Myers is survived by her husband, Richard Myers; two daughters, Tracy Myers and Courtney Myers; and two sons, Christopher Myers and Gregory Myers, all of Mesquite; three sisters, Merrilee Horrt and Lizbeth Hefner, both of Henderson, and Michele Heron of Claremore, Okla.; and three brothers, Marc Walker of Henderson, Brooke Walker of San Francisco and Darrel Walker of Las Vegas.

-------- new york

Nuclear Power Safety

February 28, 2001
New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/02/28/opinion/L28NUC.html

To the Editor:

"Minor Leak at Indian Point 2 Fixed but Full Power Delayed" (news article, Feb. 23) reveals the alarming degree to which safety concerns are being cast aside as nuclear power plants change ownership in the brave new world of energy deregulation.

The reasonable solution would be for the New York Public Service Commission and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to put a moratorium on reactor sales while the safety issues are resolved.

Allowing the beleaguered Indian Point 2 plant to be sold at this stage constitutes an unnecessary distraction to Con Edison, whose management focus and resources should be devoted to resolving deficiencies at the plant rather than on the transition to new management.

KYLE RABIN Albany, Feb. 23, 2001 The writer is nuclear energy policy project director, Environmental Advocates.

-------- washington

Washington

01/02/28
USA Today
http://www.usatoday.com/news/states/all50.htm

Washington - Arson caused the fire that destroyed the only rail bridge to Richland's industrial area and the Hanford nuclear reservation, Fire Marshal Kurt Hubele said. The 51-year-old bridge over the Yakima River burned Thursday. The wooden trestle is being replaced by a steel bridge. A potato processing plant and a locomotive rebuilder are among businesses affected.

-------- us nuc politics

Text of President Bush's Speech to Congress on His Budget Plan

February 28, 2001
New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/02/28/politics/28BTEX.html?pagewanted=all&searchpv=nytToday

Thank you. Mr. Speaker, Mr. Vice President, members of Congress: It's a great privilege to be here to outline a new budget and a new approach for governing our great country. I thank you for your invitation to speak here tonight. I know Congress had to formally invite me. And it could have been a close vote. So, Mr. Vice President, I appreciate you being here to break the tie. I want to thank so many of you who have accepted my invitation to come to the White House to discuss important issues. We're off to a good start. I will continue to meet with you and ask for your input. You have been kind and candid, and I thank you for making a new president feel welcome.

The last time I visited the Capitol, I came to take an oath. On the steps of this building, I pledged to honor our Constitution and laws, and I asked you to join me in setting a tone of civility and respect in Washington. I hope America is noticing the difference. Because we're making progress. Together, we are changing the tone in the nation's capital. And this spirit of respect and cooperation is vital, because in the end, we will be judged not only by what we say or how we say it, we will be judged by what we are able to accomplish.

America today is a nation with great challenges, but greater resources. An artist using statistics as a brush could paint two very different pictures of our country. One would have warning signs: increasing layoffs, rising energy prices, too many failing schools, persistent poverty, the stubborn vestiges of racism. Another picture would be full of blessings: a balanced budget, big surpluses, a military that is second to none, a country at peace with its neighbors, technology that is revolutionizing the world, and our greatest strength, concerned citizens who care for our country and care for each other.

Neither picture is complete in and of itself. And tonight I challenge and invite Congress to work with me to use the resources of one picture to repaint the other, to direct the advantages of our time to solve the problems of our people. Some of these resources will come from government - some, but not all. Year after year in Washington, budget debates seem to come down to an old, tired argument: on one side, those who want more government, regardless of the cost; on the other, those who want less government, regardless of the need.

We should leave those arguments to the last century and chart a different course. Government has a role, and an important role. Yet too much government crowds out initiative and hard work, private charity and the private economy. Our new governing vision says government should be active, but limited, engaged, but not overbearing.

And my budget is based on that philosophy. It is reasonable and it is responsible. It meets our obligations and funds our growing needs. We increase spending next year for Social Security and Medicare and other entitlement programs by $81 billion. We've increased spending for discretionary programs by a very responsible 4 percent, above the rate of inflation. My plan pays down an unprecedented amount of our national debt, and then when money is still left over, my plan returns it to the people who earned it in the first place.

A budget's impact is counted in dollars but measured in lives. Excellent schools, quality health care, a secure retirement, a cleaner environment, a stronger defense - these are all important needs and we fund them.

The highest percentage increase in our budget should go to our children's education. Education is not my top priority - education is my top priority and by supporting this budget, you'll make it yours as well.

Reading is the foundation of all learning, so during the next 5 years, we triple spending, adding $5 billion to help every child in America learn to read. Values are important, so we've tripled funding for character education to teach our children not only reading and writing, but right from wrong. We've increased funding to train and recruit teachers, because we know a good education starts with a good teacher. And I have a wonderful partner in this effort. I like teachers so much, I married one.

Laura has begun a new effort to recruit Americans to the profession that will shape our future: teaching. She will travel across America, to promote sound teaching practices and early reading skills in our schools and in programs such as Head Start.

When it comes to our schools, dollars alone do not always make the difference. Funding is important, and so is reform.

So we must tie funding to higher standards and accountability for results. I believe in local control of schools: we should not and we will not run our public schools from Washington, D.C. Yet when the federal government spends tax dollars, we must insist on results. Children should be tested on basic reading and math skills every year, between grades three and eight. Measuring is the only way to know whether all our children are learning - and I want to know, because I refuse to leave any child behind in America. Critics of testing contend it distracts from learning.

They talk about "teaching to the test." But let's put that logic to the test. If you test a child on basic math and reading skills, and you're "teaching to the test," you're teaching math and reading. And that's the whole idea.

As standards rise, local schools will need more flexibility to meet them. So we must streamline the dozens of federal education programs into five and let states spend money in those categories as they see fit. Schools will be given a reasonable chance to improve, and the support to do so. Yet if they don't, if they continue to fail, we must give parents and students different options: a better public school, a private school, tutoring, or a charter school. In the end, every child in a bad situation must be given a better choice, because when it comes to our children, failure's simply not an option.

Another priority in my budget is to keep the vital promises of Medicare and Social Security, and together we will do so. To meet the health care needs of all America's seniors, we double the Medicare budget over the next 10 years.

My budget dedicates $238 billion to Medicare next year alone, enough to fund all current programs and to begin a new prescription drug benefit for low-income seniors. No senior in America should have to choose between buying food and buying prescriptions.

To make sure the retirement savings of America's seniors are not diverted into any other program my budget protects all $2.6 trillion of the Social Security surplus for Social Security and for Social Security alone. My budget puts a priority on access to health care without telling Americans what doctor they have to see or what coverage they must choose. Many working Americans do not have health care coverage. So we will help them buy their own insurance with refundable tax credits. And to provide quality care in low-income neighborhoods, over the next five years we will double the number of people served at community health care centers.

And we will address the concerns of those who have health coverage yet worry their insurance company doesn't care and won't pay. Together, this Congress and this president will find common ground to make sure doctors make medical decisions and patients get the health care they deserve with a patients' bill of rights. When it comes to their health, people want to get the medical care they need, not be forced to go to court because they didn't get it. We will ensure access to the courts for those with legitimate claims, but first, let's put in place a strong independent review so we promote quality health care, not frivolous lawsuits.

My budget also increases funding for medical research, which gives hope to many who struggle with serious disease. Our prayers tonight are with one of your own who is engaged in his own fight against cancer, a fine representative and a good man, Congressman Joe Moakley. God bless you, Joe. I can think of no more appropriate tribute to Joe than to have the Congress finish the job of doubling the budget for the National Institutes of Health.

My New Freedom Initiative for Americans with Disabilities funds new technologies, expands opportunities to work, and makes our society more welcoming. For the more than 50 million Americans with disabilities, we must continue to break down barriers to equality. The budget I propose to you also supports the people who keep our country strong and free, the men and women who serve in the United States military. I'm requesting $5.7 billion in increased military pay and benefits, and health care and housing. Our men and women in uniform give America their best and we owe them our support.

America's veterans honored their commitment to our country through their military service. I will honor our commitment to them with a billion dollar increase to ensure better access to quality care and faster decisions on benefit claims.

My budget will improve our environment by accelerating the cleanup of toxic brownfields. And I propose we make a major investment in conservation by fully funding the Land and Water Conservation Fund. Our national parks have a special place in our country's life. Our parks are places of great natural beauty and history.

As good stewards, we must leave them better than we found them, so I propose providing $4.9 billion over five years for the upkeep of these national treasures. And my budget adopts a hopeful new approach to help the poor and the disadvantaged. We must encourage and support the work of charities and faith-based and community groups that offer help and love one person at time. These groups are working in every neighborhood in America, to fight homelessness and addiction and domestic violence, to provide a hot meal or a mentor or a safe haven for our children. Government should welcome these groups to apply for funds, not discriminate against them.

Government cannot be replaced by charities or volunteers. Government should not fund religious activities. But our nation should support the good works of these good people who are helping their neighbors in need.

So I propose allowing all taxpayers, whether they itemize or not, to deduct their charitable contributions. Estimates show this could encourage as much as 14 billion a year in new charitable giving, money that will save and change lives. Our budget provides more than $700 million over the next 10 years for a Federal Compassion Capital Fund with a focused and noble mission: to provide a mentor to the more than one million children with a parent in prison, and to support other local efforts to fight illiteracy, teen pregnancy, drug addiction, and other difficult problems.

With us tonight is the mayor of Philadelphia. Please help me welcome Mayor John Street. Mayor Street has encouraged faith- based and community organizations to make a significant difference in Philadelphia. He's invited me to his city this summer, to see compassion in action.

I'm personally aware of just how effective the mayor is. Mayor Street's a Democrat. Let the record show I lost his city big time. But some things are bigger than politics. So I look forward to coming to your city to see your faith-based programs in action.

As government promotes compassion, it also must promote justice. Too many of our citizens have cause to doubt our nation's justice when the law points a finger of suspicion at groups, instead of individuals. All our citizens are created equal and must be treated equally. Earlier today I asked John Ashcroft, the attorney general, to develop specific recommendations to end racial profiling. It's wrong and we will end it in America. In so doing, we will not hinder the work of our nation's brave police officers. They protect us every day, often at great risk. But by stopping the abuses of a few, we will add to the public confidence our police officers earn and deserve.

My budget has funded a responsible increase in our ongoing operations, it has funded our nation's important priorities, it has protected Social Security and Medicare, and our surpluses are big enough that there is still money left over.

Many of you have talked about the need to pay down our national debt. I listened, and I agree.

We owe it to our children and grandchildren to act now, and I hope you will join me to pay down $2 trillion in debt during the next 10 years. At the end of those 10 years, we'll have paid down all the debt that is available to retire. That is more debt repaid more quickly than has ever been repaid by any nation at any time in history.

We should also prepare for the unexpected, for the uncertainties of the future. We should approach our nation's budget as any prudent family would, with a contingency fund for emergencies or additional spending needs. For example, after a strategic review, we may need to increase defense spending, we may need to increase spending for our farmers, or additional money to reform Medicare. And so my budget sets aside almost a trillion dollars over 10 years for additional needs; that is one trillion additional reasons you can feel comfortable supporting this budget.

We have increased our budget at a responsible 4 percent, we have funded our priorities, we've paid down all the available debt, we have prepared for contingencies and we still have money left over. Yogi Berra once said: "When you come to a fork in the road, take it." Now we come to a fork in the road. We have two choices. Even though we have already met our needs, we could spend the money on more and bigger government. That's the road our nation has traveled in recent years. Last year, government spending shot up 8 percent. That's far more than our economy grew, far more than personal income grew and far more than the rate of inflation. If you continue on that road, you will spend the surplus and have to dip into Social Security to pay other bills.

Unrestrained government spending is a dangerous road to deficits, so we must take a different path. The other choice is to let the American people spend their own money to meet their own needs. I hope you'll join me in standing firmly on the side of the people.

You see, the growing surplus exists because taxes are too high and government is charging more than it needs. The people of America have been overcharged and on their behalf, I'm here asking for a refund. Some say my tax plan is too big, others say it's too small. I respectfully disagree. This plan is just right.

I didn't throw darts at a board to come up with a number for tax relief. I didn't take a poll, or develop an arbitrary formula that might sound good. I looked at problems in the tax code and calculated the cost to fix them.

A tax rate of 15 percent is too high for those who earned low wages, so we must lower the rate to 10 percent. No one should pay more than a third of the money they earn in Federal income taxes, so we lowered the top rate to 33 percent. This reform will be welcome relief for America's small businesses, which often pay taxes at the highest rate, and help for small business means jobs for Americans.

We simplified the tax code by reducing the number of tax rates from the current five rates to four lower ones: 10 percent, 15, 25, and 33 percent. In my plan, no one is targeted in or targeted out; everyone who pays income taxes will get relief.

Our government should not tax, and thereby discourage, marriage, so we reduced the marriage penalty. I want to help families rear and support their children, so we doubled the child credit to $1,000 per child. It's not fair to tax the same earnings twice, once when you earn them and again when you die, so we must repeal the death tax.

These changes add up to significant help. A typical family with two children will save $1,600 a year on their federal income taxes. Now $1,600 may not sound like a lot to some, but it means a lot to many families. Sixteen hundred dollars buys gas for two cars for an entire year, it pays tuition for a year at a community college, it pays the average family grocery bill for three months. That's real money. With us tonight, representing many American families, are Steven and Josefina Ramos. They are from Pennsylvania, but they could be from any one of your districts. Steven is a network administrator for a school district, Josefina is a Spanish teacher at a charter school, and they have a 2-year-old daughter. Steven and Josefina tell me they pay almost $8,000 a year in federal income taxes; my plan will save them more than $2,000. Let me tell you what Steven says: "Two thousand dollars a year means a lot to my family. If we had this money, it would help us reach our goal of paying off our personal debt in two years time." After that, Steven and Josefina want to start saving for Lianna's college education. My attitude is, government should never stand in the way of families achieving their dreams. And as we debate this issue, always remember the surplus is not the government's money, the surplus is the people's money.

For lower-income families, my tax relief plan restores basic fairness. Right now, complicated tax rules punish hard work. A waitress supporting two children on $25,000 a year can lose nearly half of every additional dollar she earns above the 25,000. Her overtime, her hardest hours, are taxed at nearly 50 percent. This sends a terrible message: You'll never get ahead. But America's message must be different: We must honor hard work, never punish it.

With tax relief, overtime will no longer be overtax time for the waitress. People with the smallest incomes will get the highest percentage of reductions. And millions of additional American families will be removed from the income tax rolls entirely.

Tax relief is right and tax relief is urgent. The long economic expansion that began almost 10 years ago is faltering. Lower interest rates will eventually help, but we cannot assume they will do the job all by themselves.

Forty years ago and then 20 years ago, two presidents, one Democrat, one Republican, John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan, advocated tax cuts to, in President Kennedy's words, "get this country moving again." They knew then, what we must do now: to create economic growth and opportunity, we must put money back into the hands of the people who buy goods and create jobs.

We must act quickly. The chairman of the Federal Reserve has testified before Congress that tax cuts often come too late to stimulate economic recovery. So I want to work with you to give our economy an important jump start by making tax relief retroactive.

We must act now because it is the right thing to do. We must also act now because we have other things to do. We must show courage to confront and resolve tough challenges: to restructure our nation's defenses, to meet our growing need for energy, and to reform Medicare and Social Security. America has a window of opportunity to extend and secure our present peace by promoting a distinctly American internationalism. We will work with our allies and friends to be a force for good and a champion of freedom. We will work for free markets, free trade and freedom from oppression. Nations making progress toward freedom will find America is their friend.

We will promote our values; we'll promote the peace. And we need a strong military to keep the peace. But our military was shaped to confront the challenges of the past. So I've asked the secretary of defense to review America's armed forces and prepare to transform them to meet emerging threats. My budget makes a down payment on the research and development that will be required. Yet, in our broader transformation effort, we must put strategy first, then spending. Our defense vision will drive our defense budget, not the other way around. Our nation also needs a clear strategy to confront the threats of the 21st century, threats that are more widespread and less certain. They range from terrorists who threaten with bombs to tyrants and rogue nations intent upon developing weapons of mass destruction. To protect our own people, our allies and friends, we must develop and we must deploy effective missile defenses.

And as we transform our military, we can discard cold war relics, and reduce our own nuclear forces to reflect today's needs. A strong America is the world's best hope for peace and freedom. Yet the cause of freedom rests on more than our ability to defend ourselves and our allies. Freedom is exported every day, as we ship goods and products that improve the lives of millions of people. Free trade brings greater political and personal freedom.

Each of the previous five presidents has had the ability to negotiate far-reaching trade agreements. Tonight I ask you to give me the strong hand of presidential trade promotion authority, and to do so quickly. As we meet tonight, many citizens are struggling with the high costs of energy. We have a serious energy problem that demands a national energy policy. The West is confronting a major energy shortage that has resulted in high prices and uncertainty. I've asked federal agencies to work with California officials to help speed construction of new energy sources. And I've directed Vice President Cheney, Commerce Secretary Evans, Energy Secretary Abraham, and other senior members of my administration to develop a national energy policy.

Our energy demand outstrips our supply. We can produce more energy at home while protecting our environment, and we must. We can produce more electricity to meet demand, and we must. We can promote alternative energy sources and conservation, and we must. America must become more energy independent, and we will.

Perhaps the biggest test of our foresight and courage will be reforming Medicare and Social Security. Medicare's finances are strained, and its coverage is outdated.

Ninety-nine percent of employer-provided health plans offer some form of prescription drug coverage; Medicare does not. The framework for reform has been developed by Senators Frist and Breaux and Congressman Thomas, and now is the time to act. Medicare must be modernized. And we must make sure that every senior on Medicare can choose a health care plan that offers prescription drugs.

Seven years from now, the baby boom generation will begin to claim Social Security benefits. Everyone in this chamber knows that Social Security is not prepared to fully fund their retirement. And we only have a couple of years to get prepared. Without reform, this country will one day awaken to a stark choice: either a drastic rise in payroll taxes, or a radical cut in retirement benefits. There's a better way.

This spring I will form a presidential commission to reform Social Security. The commission will make its recommendations by next fall. Reform should be based on these principles: It must preserve the benefits of all current retirees and those nearing retirement. It must return Social Security to sound financial footing. And it must offer personal savings accounts to younger workers who want them.

Social Security now offers workers a return of less than 2 percent on the money they pay into the system. To save the system, we must increase that by allowing younger workers to make safe, sound investments that yield a higher rate of return.

Ownership, access to wealth and independence should not be the privilege of a few. They are the hope of every American, and we must make them the foundation of Social Security.

By confronting the tough challenge of reform, by being responsible with our budget, we can earn the trust of the American people. And, we can add to that trust by enacting fair and balanced election and campaign reforms.

The agenda I have set before you tonight is worthy of a great nation. America's a nation at peace, but not a nation at rest. Much has been given to us, and much is expected.

Let us agree to bridge old divides. But let us also agree that our good will must be dedicated to great goals. Bipartisanship is more than minding our manners, it is doing our duty.

No one can speak in this Capitol and not be awed by its history. So many turning points, debates in these chambers have reflected the collected or divided conscience of our country. And when we walk through Statuary Hall, and see those men and women of marble, we're reminded of their courage and achievement.

Yet America's purpose is never found only in statues or history. America's purpose always stands before us.

Our generation must show courage in a time of blessing, as our nation has always shown in times of crisis. And our courage, issue by issue, can gather to greatness, and serve our country.

This is the privilege, and responsibility, we share. And if we work together, we can prove that public service is noble.

We all came here for a reason. We all have things we want to accomplish, and promises to keep. "Juntos podemos" - "together we can." We can make Americans proud of their government. Together, we can share in the credit of making our country more prosperous and generous and just, and earn from our conscience and from our fellow citizens the highest possible praise: well done, good and faithful servants. Thank you, all. Good night. And God bless.

-------- MILITARY

General Powell in the Middle East

February 28, 2001
New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/02/28/opinion/28WED3.html

Colin Powell made a deft diplomatic debut on his just-completed six-nation trip to the Mideast, his first overseas journey as secretary of state. He listened attentively to regional leaders, built Arab support for a plan to refine and reinvigorate sanctions against Iraq, and even won a promise from Syria's truculent president, Bashar al-Assad, to send revenues from a recently reopened oil pipeline to an internationally monitored account instead of letting them go to Saddam Hussein.

Some Bush administration officials have favored a more assertive approach to Iraq, built around American arms aid to Iraqi opposition groups. No one disputes that most of Washington's problems with Baghdad flow from Mr. Hussein's aggressive military ambitions. But Iraq's fragmented opposition has no realistic chance of ousting him. Rebuilding support for sanctions is the most effective way to keep Baghdad from reconstituting its arsenal of unconventional weapons.

The plan General Powell promoted concentrates on blocking Iraqi imports of arms and materials that can be used to make them. It would be enforced by tightening United Nations control over Iraqi oil revenues. Some oil money, like the proceeds from the Syrian pipeline, currently evades U.N. monitoring. In return for plugging these financial leaks, General Powell offered Arab leaders an easing of non-military sanctions and a more flexible approach to items that serve essential civilian needs, like refrigerated trucks and water pumps. If Washington can build a consensus around this approach before next month's Arab League summit meeting in Jordan, and President Assad follows through on his pipeline pledge, it may be possible to cut off most of the $2 billion a year in unmonitored oil money now reaching Baghdad.

General Powell also moved nimbly through his meetings with Israel's prime minister-elect, Ariel Sharon, and the Palestinian leader, Yasir Arafat. He wisely played down an earlier State Department call for Israel to transfer tax revenues owed to Mr. Arafat's Palestinian Authority and instead emphasized easing travel and work restrictions on Palestinian civilians. Israel is more likely to move on humanitarian measures like this than to ease financial pressures on the Palestinian leadership.

For many of his Arab hosts, General Powell was already a familiar and admired figure from his days as the overall commander of American forces during the Persian Gulf war. But he gained new credit from his unpretentious diplomatic style and his recognition of growing Arab impatience with the suffering sanctions have brought to Iraqi civilians.

Much hard work lies ahead for General Powell in the Middle East as he works to rebuild a regional coalition against Saddam Hussein, end the violence in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and revive Israeli peace efforts with the Palestinians and Syria. But he is off to an impressive start.

-------- burman/myanmar

U.S. AIDES MEET ACTIVIST

February 28, 2001
New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/02/28/world/28BRIE.html

MYANMAR: United States officials met the opposition leader, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, and members of the ruling military in the first visit by American diplomats since President Bush took office, American envoys said. The deputy assistant secretary of state, Ralph Boyce, who is on a regional tour, and the chargé d'affaires in Yangon, Patricia Clapp, met Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi for more than two hours at her home, where she has been under de facto house arrest for five months. (Agence France-Presse)

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U.S. official meets with Burma's Suu Kyi

February 28, 2001
Washington Times
http://www.washtimes.com/world/worldscene-2001228211733.htm

RANGOON, Burma - A senior U.S. official has met with Burma democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who reaffirmed her commitment to dialogue with the ruling military regime, a U.S. diplomat said yesterday.

Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Ralph Boyce met with Mrs. Suu Kyi at her Rangoon residence on Monday. He is the first U.S. official to see her during five months of house detention that began after she tried to travel outside the capital for political work.

"She had told the visiting U.S. official that she is committed to peaceful dialogue and hopes it will lead to national reconciliation," the diplomat said on the customary condition of anonymity.

Mr. Boyce also held separate meetings with Lt. Gen. Khin Nyunt, the diplomat said.

Mrs. Suu Kyi and the regime began secret talks in October, their first direct dialogue in more than six years. The National League for Democracy won general elections in 1990, but the military has refused to honor the result.

-------- colombia

Bush Promises Colombia Help on Trade but Refuses Peace Role

February 28, 2001
New York Times
By CHRISTOPHER MARQUIS
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/02/28/world/28PAST.html

WASHINGTON, Feb. 27 - In his first meeting with President Andrés Pastrana of Colombia, President Bush agreed today to press for expanding trade preferences to Colombia, but refused a request to take part in peace talks with leftist guerrillas, officials said.

Mr. Bush told Mr. Pastrana that he would work with lawmakers to renew the Andean Trade Preference Act, a decade-old accord that expires in December, and seek to increase the categories of Colombian goods that may enter the American market under reduced tariffs, a senior official told reporters after the meeting.

But Mr. Bush declined to take part in peace negotiations between the Pastrana government and Marxist rebels of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, which has battled the Colombian state for four decades. Both Mr. Pastrana and FARC leaders last week invited the United States and Cuba to join a group of nations assisting in the on- again-off-again talks, which resume in March.

"This is an issue that the Colombian people and the Colombian president can deal with," said Mr. Bush, who appeared for brief remarks with Mr. Pastrana at his side. "We'll be glad to help Colombia in any way to make the peace. We'll be glad to help the Colombian economy through trade. But I won't be present for the discussions."

Mr. Bush was effusive in his praise for Mr. Pastrana, whose ambitious strategy to pacify the nation, promote development and curb drugtrafficking has been underwritten in part with $1.3 billion in mostly military aid from the United States. Mr. Bush has endorsed Plan Colombia - a holdover from the Clinton administration - but has discussed the need for limits on the extent of American involvement in Colombia and ruled out the use of American combat troops there.

"President Pastrana is a courageous leader who is dealing with very difficult problems," Mr. Bush said. "I am confident that with his leadership his nation will be better off."

In an interview this week, Mr. Pastrana asserted that his nation had "turned a corner" in several key areas. He cited the FARC's agreement to resume peace talks, the American-supported eradication of 75,000 acres of coca in two months in the drug-growing regions of Putumayo and Caquetá, and four quarters of growth in an economy struggling to emerge from its worst recession in history.

Despite that progress, Colombia experts and some lawmakers sounded a skeptical note. There will be no fast resolution to Colombia's problems, they said, citing, among other things, the need to establish the rule of law and to rein in paramilitary and security forces, which were harshly criticized by the State Department's human rights bureau this week.

"The jury's still out as to whether these are going to lead to sustained improvements in bringing the country to peace and greater control," said Michael Shifter, a senior fellow at the Inter-American Dialogue, a forum for hemispheric leaders.

Senator John McCain, an Arizona Republican who returned from a visit to Colombia earlier this month, called on the administration to chart a plan that addresses how long the American-backed effort will take and how much it will cost.

"I think I made the right decision when when we voted for this assistance," Mr. McCain said. "Not because of any wild enthusiasm, but because I believe there is no alternative."

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Bush declines role in talks with rebels

February 28, 2001
Washington Times
By Tom Carter
http://www.washtimes.com/world/default-2001228215159.htm

President Bush yesterday rejected an invitation from Colombia's Marxist guerrillas for the United States to participate in peace talks next month, saying it is up to Colombians to resolve the conflict themselves.

At a White House meeting with Colombian President Andres Pastrana, who earlier this week encouraged the Bush administration to sit at the table with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), Mr. Bush told reporters that the United States would not send a representative to Colombia's peace talks with the FARC.

"No . . . we will not be [there]," he told reporters. "This is an issue that the Colombian people and the Colombian president can deal with. We'll be glad to help Colombia in any way to make the peace. We'll be glad to help the Colombian economy through trade. But I won't be present for the discussions."

Mr. Bush said that he was well aware of the problems Colombia faces, and he pledged U.S. assistance "not only to help Colombia, but help our own country."

"We're fully aware of the narcotics that are manufactured in his country," Mr. Bush said. "I also told him that many of them wouldn't be manufactured if our nation didn't use them. And we've got to work together to not only help Colombia, but help our own country."

After the meeting, Mr. Pastrana said the two leaders talked about the war on drugs, the rebel insurgency that funds itself with drug money and the Colombian economy. Mr. Pastrana said he also pressed his case that the United States open its doors to duty-free manufactured clothing from Colombia.

Mr. Bush, calling himself a "free trader" indicated that Mr. Pastrana might get U.S. help in that area.

"[Mr. Pastrana] made a very strong case for broadening the trade agreement," said Mr. Bush.

Latin America specialists yesterday agreed that extending trade preferences to Colombia and other Andean nations as a way of creating legal employment in former drug-producing regions is a small price for the United States to pay in the war on drugs.

"If Colombia is to begin to solve its many problems, it needs expanded access to U.S. and other markets to sell its products," said Lowell Fleischer, of the Center for Strategic and International Studies Mercosur-South America Project.

Last week, the FARC, which has been waging war against the Colombian government for 37 years, invited international participation in the stalled peace process. On Friday, the guerrillas extended the invitation to the United States and Cuba.

Mr. Pastrana, who arrived in Washington on Saturday, told U.S. lawmakers this week, that he welcomed U.S. participation in the meeting scheduled for March 8 in FARC-held territory, an area the size of Switzerland that Colombia ceded to the rebels in 1998.

The United States did meet with members of the FARC in the past but broke off talks after three U.S.-Indian rights activists were kidnapped and executed by the FARC in 1999.

The United States has refused to meet with the FARC until those responsible are turned over for trial.

Mr. Pastrana expressed his gratitude yesterday to Mr. Bush for discussing "how can we deal with a common enemy that is narco-trafficking" and for $1.3 billion in U.S. aid that is helping fund Mr. Pastrana's "Plan Colombia," a $7.5 billion effort to eradicate drugs from Colombia, resettle displaced peasants, encourage alternative-crop production and reform Colombia's corrupt judicial system.

-------- drug war

U.S. Agents Find Tunnel at Border for Smuggling

February 28, 2001
New York Times
ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/02/28/national/28TUNN.html

TUCSON, Feb. 27 - Federal agents have discovered a 25-foot dirt tunnel that was being used to smuggle drugs across the Mexican border, and seized 840 pounds of cocaine from the Arizona house at one end of the passage.

The crude, hand-dug tunnel, fitted with a string of bare electric bulbs, runs from the house in Nogales, Ariz., to the sewer system, which leads in turn to a dry stream bed called the Nogales Wash along the Mexican border.

"The drugs probably were smuggled from Mexico through the wash, into the sewer pipe, then into the tunnel and into the house," a Customs spokesman, Roger Maier, said. "At this point, we have no idea how long it was there, but it appears from the evidence that it had been utilized for some time."

The tunnel, discovered on Monday, was connected to the sewer by a hinged metal hatch.

The discovery came as agents were investigating possible smuggling activity at the home. They found no one at home but noticed dirt between a window blind and window, leading them to suspect digging.

The tunnel's soil appeared compacted, and Mr. Maier added that investigators reasoned the tunnel had been used "very recently, because in most cases they're not going to leave 840 pounds of cocaine sitting there unattended very long."

Customs agents with a search warrant searched the home, discovering 198 cocaine bricks in the front room. The cocaine was estimated to be worth $6.5 million wholesale, Mr. Maier said.

No arrests were made.

The tunnel was the sixth discovered in Nogales in recent years. The first was found in 1995. Three more tunnels were discovered in 1999 and one last year, all coming off sewer pipes branching off the Nogales Wash.

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Fighting Appalachia's Top Cash Crop, Marijuana

February 28, 2001
New York Times
Kentucky Journal
By FRANCIS X. CLINES
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/02/28/national/28POT.html?pagewanted=all

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Winter is easing in the rolling hills and hamlet hollows, and all the prespring indications are that marijuana will have another bumper year and remain this state's No. 1 cash crop, just as it continues prime in West Virginia and Tennessee.

"Bigger than tobacco," noted Roy E. Sturgill, the director of the Appalachia High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area, the only one of the nation's 31 federal antidrug regions focused on marijuana.

The prodigious, high-octane marijuana crop is a startling fact of modern life to outsiders passing through the 65 Appalachian counties in the target area, a rugged, fruitful swath of some beautiful parts of Kentucky, West Virginia and Tennessee. Marijuana is ubiquitous, growing well-tended in deep-woods patches and casually disguised, too, in the expanse of a farmer's cornfield and a resident's basement.

The annual crop comes in at an estimated $4-billion-plus yield of high-grade produce that flows illicitly to markets of the Northeast willing to pay some of the nation's highest street prices. (This yield is beyond the $1.4 billion worth tracked and eradicated by authorities last year, a haul that, even when broken down in the three states, still tops any of their legal cash crops.)

"It's kind of like the old moonshine days with neighbors making a living at it," said Sgt. Ronnie Ray, a marijuana suppression officer with the Kentucky State Police here at Bluegrass Station. "And we're kind of like the new revenuers."

Sergeant Ray, his commander, Lt. Donald J. Gill, and Detective Mark Moore, their specialist in the increasingly popular art of indoor marijuana growing, discussed the agronomics of green lightning with gentle drawls and savvy experience.

"I'd say we're more or less holding the line right now," Lieutenant Gill warily estimated, pleased that his unit recently succeeded in a drug raid of more than 1,000 plants being grown indoors, the toughest turf of all to track the growers.

"Still," Sergeant Ray concedes, "we're probably taking very little of all that's out there."

Detective Moore, working a beat in which the growers have new antidetection wrinkles every season, said of the marijuana, "Pound for pound, it's the big one."

With all the rote anticipation of the Farmer's Almanac, the 105 full-time antimarijuana officers of the Appalachia target area are preparing for the spring planting. They will be joined by 595 seasonal officers from federal, state and local forces charged with tracking the "holler dopers." For the most part, these are ordinary denizens who often, but not always, are from the more impoverished old mining hamlets.

"Everybody seems to know somebody who grows it, sells it, smokes it," says Sergeant Ray. "It's the dirty little secret of Kentucky."

Spotters will go out by helicopter in the spring to map hundreds of suspected crops in mountain leas. Antimarijuana harvesters will descend by rappelling ropes to the most remote farms hidden in wild places like the Daniel Boone National Forest. More than 200,000 marijuana plants, each worth about $1,000 in retail produce, are seized each year in the sprawling beauty of the Boone forest.

Detective Moore, meanwhile, finds all too few of the citizen complaints he relies upon in tracking the indoor planters year-round. They use hydroponics, growing lamps and scientific pruning techniques to produce a crop every 89 days in basements, silos, closets and even underground bunkers, replete with booby traps and remote video monitoring.

Despite police crackdowns, the growers, cyclical as Ecclesiastes, will soon be hiking or heading by all- terrain vehicles for the choice sun-drenched remote patches of Appalachia, where the rich soil and good farming weather grow marijuana plants 18 feet high. Confiscation has increased fivefold over the last decade but the region still produces an estimated two-fifths of the nation's marijuana crop.

In busier hollows, criminal organizations have formed from loose confederations of family units, according to federal trackers. Corruption, in turn, has compromised at least a half-dozen county sheriff operations since marijuana took root as big business in the 1980's.

"There are people afraid to go out in the fall on their own land," Sergeant Ray noted, explaining that there are brazen interlopers who try to foil property confiscation laws by surreptitiously using tracts of other people's land. "There's a lot of good people in this state dead set against marijuana," the sergeant emphasized, while noting that the old backwoods peer pressure of the moonshining days can mitigate against citizen complaints.

"Some counties are pretty close- knit and there seems to be an acceptance," Mr. Sturgill agrees. More manpower is needed, he emphasized, if the Appalachia problem is to be uprooted. More technology, too, like thermal imaging detectors that can help find indoor marijuana but are under constitutional challenge as illegal search devices.

Detective Moore advises the police to be fearless even in their own communities. "I took down a guy where I live who was growing 400 plants in his garage," he related, still angry at his neighbor's cheekiness. "Local pressure got pretty tough, with folks thinking like this guy was family."

But the police stress that the problem clearly exists well beyond Kentucky in neighboring states and is prompted by prime growing conditions and market demand up north more than by the local tolerance.

"Heck, I remember being in high school in 1969 and witnessing the school's first pot arrest for possession," Sergeant Ray recalls. That was before modern highways made distant markets accessible to the potent produce of Appalachia. "Back then, we thought that pot arrest was the end of the world," he said, smiling as the marijuana suppression unit prepares for another spring planting.

---

Officials to Discuss Drug Blamed for Deaths

February 28, 2001
New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/02/28/national/28NATI.html

RICHMOND, Va., Feb. 27 (AP) - Law enforcement officials from eight Eastern states will meet in Richmond on Thursday to discuss ways to stem the abuse of OxyContin, a powerful synthetic morphine blamed for dozens of deaths.

The meeting was called by Attorney General Mark Earley of Virginia, where at least 32 deaths have been attributed to the prescription painkiller in the last four years. At least 59 overdose deaths have been reported in Kentucky in the last year.

Several states, including Virginia, said they had seen a crime surge as addicts robbed to get the drug. On Monday, a federal grand jury indicted five people from Virginia and one from Ohio on charges of running an illegal OxyContin ring.

Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia are sending representatives to the meeting.

OxyContin, made by Purdue Pharma of Norwalk, Conn., was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 1996. A company official plans to speak at the meeting.

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RAPPER BEGINS SENTENCE

February 28, 2001
New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/02/28/nyregion/28MBRF.html

ALDEN: The rap performer DMX, left, has begun serving a 15-day jail sentence for driving without a license. DMX, whose real name is Earl Simmons, surrendered at the Erie County Correctional Facility in Alden. His lawyer, Mark Mahoney, said that with an automatic one-third reduction of the sentence and credit for the day of his arrest, Mr. Simmons would probably be released in about a week. DMX, who was nominated for two Grammy awards this year, pleaded guilty to driving without a license, marijuana possession and two unpaid parking tickets. (AP)

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North Dakota

01/02/28
USA Today
http://www.usatoday.com/news/states/all50.htm

- Michelle Horning was sentenced to a year in jail with all but 30 days suspended for smuggling marijuana to a Burleigh County jail inmate by sewing packets into his socks. The marijuana was found when a guard heard a crunch while inspecting some of the socks.

Vermont - Lawmakers introduced a bill that would legalize the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes. The measure allows people suffering from cancer, glaucoma, AIDS or other chronic illnesses to use marijuana legally to ease their pain. The bill is sponsored by 21 members of the House, a mostly liberal group with a few Republicans.

---

SAFARI SO GOODY

"Joke-Of-The-Day.com"

"Researchers have discovered that chocolate produces some of the same reactions in the brain as marijuana...The researchers also discovered other similarities between the two, but can't remember what they are." Matt Lauer, of NBC's "Today" show.

-------- puerto rico

Puerto Ricans Seek End to Bombing on Vieques

February 28, 2001
New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/02/28/national/28NATI.html

WASHINGTON, Feb. 27 (AP) - Puerto Ricans and their supporters began a new push today for an "immediate and permanent end" to Navy bombing exercises on the island of Vieques.

Asserting that military training there had damaged health, the economy and the island's environment, representatives in Congress began circulating a letter urging President Bush to halt it.

Meanwhile, the governor of Puerto Rico, Sila M. Calderón, met with senators on Capitol Hill, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld at the Pentagon and other officials in her quest to evict the Navy from its Vieques range, which the service has used for some 60 years.

-------- u.n.

Against a Trend,
U.S. Population Will Bloom, U.N. Says

February 28, 2001
New York Times
By BARBARA CROSSETTE
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/02/28/world/28POPU.html?pagewanted=all

UNITED NATIONS, Feb. 27 - Alone among major industrial countries, the United States will continue to grow markedly in population during the next half century, a result of the largest intake of immigrants anywhere and a higher fertility rate than that of other rich nations, says a United Nations analysis to be published Wednesday.

By 2050 the United States will be the only developed country among the world's 20 most populous nations, an international team of demographers predicts. In 1950 at least half of the top 10 were industrial nations. In 2000 there were still three, including Japan and Russia.

In broader terms, demographers confirm that the world is witnessing a huge population shift to the third world, where poverty and limited resources are already hampering development and propelling migration within and between countries.

By 2050 the population of the less developed countries is expected to grow from 4.9 billion to 8.2 billion, while the more developed countries will hold at 1.2 billion.

"These changing relationships have enormous economic, social and political consequences," said Joseph Chamie, the director of the United Nations population division. "They are basically the foundation for relations among countries and groups within countries. In brief, numbers matter."

At the Population Reference Bureau, a nonprofit organization in Washington, Diana Cornelius, a demographer, said population projections were important.

"One reason is because of links to consumption and therefore to the environment," she said, citing the need to plan for future services like health, housing, education and jobs.

In December, the Central Intelligence Agency's National Foreign Intelligence Board published a set of projections, "Global Trends 2015: A Dialogue About the Future With Nongovernment Experts," which linked population to economic and social trends and security concerns.

As examples of the world's rapidly changing profile, Mr. Chamie compares Europe with Africa and South Asia, dominated by India, which will replace China as the most populous nation within half a century.

"After World War II, Europe accounted for 22 percent of the world population and Africa 8 percent," he said. "Today they are about the same, about 13 percent, but by 2050 Africa is expected to be three times larger than Europe."

Growth in Africa is expected to be so strong, the demographers found, that tens of millions of deaths from AIDS will only slow, not reverse it. In sub-Saharan Africa, South Africa is the only exception. There, lower fertility coupled with AIDS-related deaths could result in a declining growth rate, the survey found.

India, with a population about two and a half times that of the European Union countries, is growing much faster than some earlier predictions suggested. "In 2000, the E.U. had a natural increase of 343,000 people," Mr. Chamie said. "India achieved this in the first week of 2001. If you add migration to Europe, the net growth would be about 1.2 million. India grew that much in the first three weeks of the year."

The United Nations report has calculated higher birth rate estimates than previously for India, Nigeria and Bangladesh, among other nations where efforts to slow population growth are taking longer than predicted.

The United Nations has slightly revised upward the projected world population for 2050, to 9.3 billion from 8.9 billion, based on a possible range from 7.9 billion to 10.9 billion.

At the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, Nicholas Eberstadt, a demographer and political scientist, said population projections had to be viewed skeptically.

"There is no scientific basis to long-range population prediction," he said in an interview, "because no one has figured out how to estimate how many babies currently unborn babies are going to have. So when you look half a century out, you're into science fiction." All demographers can ever do, he said, is provide an educated glimpse of what the world may look like in the future.

The new figures have some thought-provoking information, he said, including a change in an "arbitrary assumption that immigration from poorer to richer areas of the world was going to decrease progressively." But he said immigration alone did not account for America's fertility rate.

"The U.S. is the most fertile of developed nations," he said, just above the replacement rate of 2.0, to replace two parents. He discounts ethnicity as the major cause.

"Even if you tried to match European-Americans with their country of origins, fertility would be higher than in Europe," he said. "New wealth doesn't explain it. My pet theory - and you can't prove this - is that it has to do with greater religiosity than in Europe or Japan."

Whatever the cause, he said, "We are the only developed country today that is anywhere near replacement level, and nobody has an explanation for it."

One of the findings of the United Nations survey is that the current imbalance of populations between Israel, at 6 million, and the Palestinians in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem, at 3.2 million, is likely to shift dramatically in 50 years, with Israel's population projected at 10.1 million and the Palestinians' at 11.8 million.

At the Population Reference Bureau, Ms. Cornelius said that although projections were not predictions, but the result of "a mathematical exercise," they had to be taken seriously. "The future population is dependent on who is already alive and how old they are," she said. "Children are already born who are going to become parents, so we know there are going to be very large numbers of people in their childbearing years, long into the future."

---

U.N. study predicts older, poorer world population

02/28/2001
USA Today
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2001-02-28-unstudy.htm

UNITED NATIONS (AP) - A new U.N. study predicts the next 50 years will bring a world that is larger, older and poorer.

The world, 6.1 billion people strong today, is anticipated to reach 9.3 billion by 2050, the U.N. Population Division estimated in a report issued Wednesday. The world's poorest nations will triple in size. Nine of every 10 people will live in a developing country, one of six in India alone.

Meanwhile, Europe and Japan will see their populations plummet, forcing them to rethink immigration policies and adjust social services to accommodate a shrinking work force and a growing elderly population, said Joseph Chamie, director of the U.N. Population Division.

"Some people think the world population problem is over," he said. "No. This is a long-term issue and it's a very complex symphony - you have some countries declining, you have other countries growing rapidly, and you have some staying the same.

"Virtually all of this growth is in the developing world - and a good part of it is in the poorest countries," he added.

Growth will be phenomenal in Africa, much of Asia and Latin America, the study projected. The United States, with a fresh influx of 1 million immigrants a year, will grow - to nearly 400 million at mid-century from 283 million today, it said.

Europe, in contrast, will start seeing a decline as early as 2003 without migration. Ukraine's population is projected to drop nearly by 40% by 2050, and Russia's and Italy's more than a quarter.

Last year, the 15 European Union nations together recorded a natural population growth - births minus deaths - of 343,000. It took India just a week to match that. Like China, India is already burdened by a population of 1 billion. It is anticipated to have 600 million more people by 2050.

"We have wasted 50 years," said Ashish Bose, an Indian demographer and longtime critic of the government's population control policies. "Our planning has failed. The attack on poverty, the attack on fertility, the attack on illiteracy should have been simultaneous."

Fifty years ago, Europe claimed 22% of the world population, Africa just 8%. Today, they stand even at about 13%, outnumbered by Asia's 60%. But in 50 years, Africa will have three times as many people as Europe, even with AIDS-related deaths.

"It's like a mortality avalanche from the HIV/AIDS epidemic," Chamie said. "Despite that, you see Africa going from about 800 million to 2 billion." Without AIDS, that figure would be 300 million higher by 2050, Chamie projected.

Meanwhile, the industrialized world - Europe, North American, Japan, Australia and New Zealand - will face an aging population. A fifth of Europe was age 60 or older in 1998; by 2050, that figure could jump to more than a third, with children making up only 14% of the population, the report said.

The U.N. projections take into account economic gains as well as lower mortality and fertility rates. But Ben Wattenberg, a senior fellow at the conservative-leaning American Enterprise Institute, cautioned that the population estimates could be "potentially misleading."

The fertility rate - the average number of children born to a woman over the course of childbearing years - is dropping faster and more consistently worldwide than the U.N. report suggests, making it likely that the 2050 estimate is inflated, he said.

"Their numbers are high - they should be lower," he said.

If the predictions do play out, fewer workers will be bearing the burden of supporting the elderly, an economic impact that Paul Hewitt of the Center for Strategic and International Studies said could prove "catastrophic" when many of the world's baby boomers - now in their 40s and 50s - begin retiring en masse.

Countries must rethink pension, retirement, trade and immigration, he said. "This is very controversial, but I think it all points the way to globalization. Labor-short countries will need to integrate more with the developing world."

---

China Ratifies Human Rights Treaty

February 28, 2001
New York Times
ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-China-Human-Rights.html
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2001-02-28-china.htm

BEIJING (AP) -- China ratified a key U.N. human rights treaty Wednesday after years of urging by foreign governments and rights campaigners.

Approval of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights came four years after China signed it and two weeks before a U.N. human rights conference in Geneva where Beijing's human rights record will again come under scrutiny.

The pact and a companion treaty on political rights provide a framework for safeguarding basic civil liberties, which overseas human rights groups say are mostly lacking in China. China signed the pact on political rights in 1998 but says it is not ready to ratify it.

The economic and cultural rights pact was ratified by the executive committee of the National People's Congress, China's legislature, the state-run Xinhua News Agency said. But lawmakers voted not to accept a key provision in the pact that covers the right of workers to form unions.

China only allows unions overseen by the ruling Communist Party.

Still, human rights groups expressed guarded optimism that approval of the treaty will force China to strengthen its protections for human rights.

---

U.N. tribunal issues indictment of Yugoslav army

03/01/2001
USA Today
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2001-03-01-warcrimes.htm

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands (AP) - The U.N. tribunal said Thursday it has issued an indictment for war crimes by the Yugoslav army for the 1991 bombing of the Croatian coastal city of Dubrovnik.

An announcement from the tribunal said several people were named in the indictment, but it did not disclose who they were.

The 16-count indictment included murder, cruel treatment, attacks on civilians, plunder, and devastation of civilian institutions and historic monuments. It said the charges related to the destruction of Dubrovnik and surrounding areas.

Dubrovnik was pummeled by Serb artillery for three months, in an attack launched from nearby Montenegro on Oct. 1, 1991. The shelling, tank fire and naval assault from the Adriatic caused extensive damage to the medieval port city, one of the region's most popular tourist destinations.

The announcement by the tribunal in The Hague said the chief prosecutor, Carla Del Ponte, issued the indictment last Wednesday. It was confirmed on Tuesday by Judge Patricia Wald, who also issued an order barring full disclosure of its contents.

The attack on Dubrovnik came as a surprise, since until then the Serb-dominated army had justified its actions in Croatia as protection for Serbs who lived there. But few Serbs lived in Dubrovnik and there was no Yugoslav garrison to protect.

The fighting erupted in Croatia when the minority Serbs rebelled against the republic's declaration of independence from the disintegrating Yugoslavia. It was internationally recognized as a separate country on Jan. 15, 1992, just weeks after the bombardment of Dubrovnik outraged the world.

The tribunal had sought international sanctions against Croatia for its refusal to cooperate with it, but the government elected last year that took over from President Franjo Tudjman has been assisting investigators.

After a visit to Montenegro last June, Del Ponte said she was determined to pursue the atrocities against Dubrovnik, an old walled city up the coast.

"The visit has reinforced in my mind the importance of bringing out an indictment which will focus on the mindless aggression on this beautiful city," Del Ponte said.

After her visit, the Croatian media speculated that she handed over indictments for Dubrovnik to Montenegro President Milo Djukanovic, targeting people from Montenegro, which along with Serbia makes up present-day Yugoslavia.

Djukanovic had previously supported Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic and apologized last summer to Croats for Montenegro's involvement in the Dubrovnik attacks.

The tribunal, created in 1993 to press charges of war crimes during the Balkan wars, has no police force of its own and relies on the NATO-led international peace force to arrest indicted fugitives.

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

Litton Profits Increase, Revs Edge Lower

February 28, 2001
Associated Press
By REUTERS
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/business/business-litton-earns.html?searchpv=reuters

WOODLAND HILLS, Calif. (Reuters) - Military shipbuilder Litton Industries Inc. (LIT.N) on Wednesday posted a 32 percent increase in fiscal second-quarter profits, meeting Wall Street targets, on strength in its electronic components and materials segment.

Litton, the largest builder of non-nuclear ships for the U.S. Navy, reported a net profit of $49.7 million, or $1.06 per share, for the quarter, ended Jan. 31, up from $36.8 million, or 80 cents per share, a year earlier. Analysts had expected profits of $1.06 per share, according to tracking firm First Call/Thomson Financial.

The results included 7 cents per share in transaction expenses related to Litton's pending $3.8 billion merger with Northrop Grumman Corp. (NOC.N), the No. 5 U.S. defense contractor.

Litton's total sales and service revenues for the second quarter reached $1.34 billion, down from $1.35 billion in the same quarter last year. The only segment to show growth in sales was electronic controls and materials, with sales of $189.8 million versus $162.2 million a year ago.

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Admiral confirms Iraq-bombing problem

February 28, 2001
Washington Times
By Rowan Scarborough
http://www.washtimes.com/national/default-2001228222352.htm

A senior admiral yesterday defended the performance of a Navy "standoff" weapon unleashed against Iraq on Feb. 16, saying an inaccurate weather forecast prevented the munition from making a late-course correction and directly hitting all targets.

"The mission itself was a very effective mission," said Vice Adm. Dennis V. McGinn while giving the Navy's first public explanation of why the Joint Standoff Weapon (JSOW) did not hit the bull's-eye on all targets during the recent air strikes on Iraq. "It's an absolutely superb weapon. It has a tremendously good record in combat."

Adm. McGinn, deputy chief of naval operations for naval warfare, said in an interview that three factors combined in what he termed an "anomaly" to prevent most JSOWs from making a direct hit. Still, since the type of JSOW used in the operation was a cluster munition, most air-defense targets were damaged by a spray of bomblets, he said.

The former carrier pilot said forecasters failed to predict the force and direction of winds at the point the JSOWs glided toward Iraq's early warning radar. The weapon's onboard program to compensate for changes in wind direction was insufficient to overcome the wrong data. Because of this, the center of the pattern of bomblets did not explode on target.

Since then, he said, technicians have reprogrammed the weapons to be able to adapt to faulty weather predictions.

The 1,500-pound JSOW, as a standoff system, allows pilots to release the munition at a safe distance from thick air-defense barrages. An unpowered JSOW can travel 40 miles; a rocket-propelled model can go about 120 miles.

Adm. McGinn explained the problem:

"What happened was a combination of a difference between predicted and actual winds in the target area, the mission planning profile that was chosen based on that prediction and the way in which the weapon itself calculates wind in the target area. Those all combined in an anomalous way that we had not seen before in the various successful missions that it had been employed in in the past. And it caused a less-than optimum positioning of that bomblet centroid in relation to the targets. Not in all the JSOW weapons, but in most."

The weapon's performance has been under attack in the media after reports that Navy F-18 pilots from the carrier Harry S. Truman missed half of their targets. That characterization, Adm. McGinn contended, is incorrect.

"In many cases, those bomblets actually damaged or destroyed the intended targets," he said. "The centroid of the pattern of bomblets was not precisely where it should have been because of this wind anomaly. And that is the fix that is already out in the fleet right now."

Adm. McGinn declined to say how many JSOWs were launched.

President Bush approved a Pentagon request to bomb about 20 communication and radar sites south and north of Baghdad. Iraq was using the powerful radar to spot U.S. and British warplanes entering a no-fly zone south of the 33rd parallel and passing the information to air-defense batteries trying to shoot down the aircraft.

"The weapon performance, not because of a technical issue of the weapon, but more because of this anomaly of using a backup mode to calculate wind in the target area, wasn't what it had been in previous uses in combat," Adm. McGinn said. "It had practically a 100 percent record."

He described the fix as changing "the way in which the mission planning software is used. . . . It wasn't an inherent design problem in the weapon. . . . It's a relatively straightforward fix."

The standoff system used on Feb. 16 relied on satellite guidance via the global-positioning system (GPS). Adm. McGinn said the GPS component performed as expected.

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New Mexico

01/02/28
USA Today
http://www.usatoday.com/news/states/all50.htm

- The U.S. Bureau of Land Management wants to use New Mexico National Guard helicopters to rid the Rio Grande and Santa Fe gorges of abandoned or stolen junkers. But Maj. Michael Montoya, commander of National Guard unit 717, expressed concern about using Blackhawks to hoist the wrecks out of deep canyons where winds would buffet the aircraft.

Texas

- Authorities are investigating an Army helicopter crash at the Killeen Municipal Airport that injured two civilian pilots. The pilots, whose names weren't released, were test-flying the OH-58D helicopter, the Army said. They were taken to Darnall Army Community Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. The helicopter was undergoing maintenance at a DynCorp facility at the airport.

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U.S. Air Force Readies Cyberwar Efforts

February 28, 2001
Aviation Week & Space Technology

During the first six months of this year, the U.S. Air Force will be making a series of quiet but fundamental organizational changes designed to utilize cyberweapons for maximum effect, according to an exclusive report in the February 26 issue of Aviation Week & Space Technology. The result could be new tools to deter hostile threats before bombs start falling.

Pentagon "planners believe the intensive exploitation of intelligence, the use of new technologies such as offensive computer warfare, and clever but closely controlled technological demonstrations of force might deflect aggression aimed at the U.S. and its allies," according to the magazine.

The reorganization is timed to offset a projected increase in the likelihood of a cyber-attack against the U.S. and its allies. It will shift intelligence, information warfare and reconnaissance operations into combat units, giving planners the ability to go to war as an experienced, integrated team. "A closer relationship allows us every day to work on predictive battlespace awareness and to respond to planning requirements. We could work out a lot of (tactical problems) before the first aircraft is launched," said Maj. Gen. Bruce Wright, Commander of the Air Force's Air Intelligence Agency in AW&ST.

"The Air Force's vision encompasses roughly three objectives," reports the magazine. "The first is to know better what the foe is doing, perhaps by reading his e-mail or searching his computer data banks for classified data.

"The second would be to try deterring enemy moves by quickly mounting a demonstration -- for example, by shutting down the country's electrical power or manipulating television broadcasts.

"Finally, a new array of tools would be turned to finding key command, control and communications nodes as well as moving targets -- including mobile air defenses and ballistic missiles -- and destroying them with a minimum of collateral damage and loss of life to U.S. forces or enemy civilians."

According to a Pentagon official, "We're near the point where we can manage the perception of an enemy. We want to influence the adversary to act in our interests without knowing they've been acted upon. We want (lethal) weapons to become a much smaller element of our national security capability."

Cyberwarfare was first used in the 1991 Persian Gulf War, but was limited to reading the e-mail of Iraqi commanders. The tools were much more sophisticated in the 1998 Kosovo air campaign, when false messages and targets were injected into Yugoslavia's complex computer-integrated air defense system.

The advent of cyberwar has not been without its internal struggles. In the Gulf War, "battles raged between the Pentagon and the national intelligence agencies about where the lines of authority were drawn between the military and intelligence-collectors. Finally, the military was ordered to stop intercepting the Iraqi messages. Later, Air Force planners were frustrated because they were allowed to destroy communications and command nodes with bombs, but not to attack them with computer tools because of intelligence agency fears that cyber-weapons effects would cascade into international computer systems. After a decade of wrangling, the differences (between the agencies) are smaller, Pentagon officials say, but not completely resolved," reports AW&ST.

-

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MARTIAN METEORITE CONTAINS NEW HINTS OF LIFE

February 28, 2001
Lycos News
http://ens-news.com/ens/feb2001/2001L-02-28-09.html

MOFFETT FIELD, California, February 28, 2001 (ENS) - An international team of scientists has discovered evidence that crystals in a Martian meteorite found in Antarctica 17 years ago were formed by once living organisms.

The researchers found that the magnetite crystals embedded in the Martian meteorite ALH84001 are arranged in long chains, which they say could have been formed only by living organisms. Their results are reported in this week's issue of the journal "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences."

"The chains we discovered are of biological origin," said Dr. Imre Friedmann, a senior research fellow at NASA's Ames Research Center in California's Silicon Valley and leader of the research team. "Such a chain of magnets outside an organism would immediately collapse into a clump due to magnetic forces," he said.

So called magnetotactic bacteria use the magnetic crystal chains inside their bodies to help them navigate. The magnetite chains may have been flushed into microscopic cracks inside the Martian rock after it was shattered by an asteroid impact about 3,900 million years ago, the researchers said.

The cataclysmic event, which may have killed the bacteria, may have also been the same impact that ejected the rock, now a meteorite, into space.

The researchers also report that since magnetotactic bacteria require low levels of oxygen, the latest findings indicate that photosynthetic organisms - the source of oxygen in the atmosphere - must have been present and active on Mars at one time.

"Until now, studying life has been like trying to draw a curve using only one data point - life on Earth," said Friedmann. "Now we have two data points to draw life's curve."

The next step is to find the remains of the bacteria themselves, he said. The full text of the research paper is available at: http://www.pnas.org

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GM SUES CALIFORNIA OVER ZEV MANDATE

February 28, 2001
(ENS)

MARTINEZ, California - General Motors (GM) has filed suit to overturn California's zero emissions vehicle (ZEV) mandate. The ZEV mandate would require a small percentage of vehicles sold in the state to produce no pollution emissions, starting in 2003.

GM and several of its California dealers filed the action after being informed by the California Air Resources Board (CARB) that it had denied GM's petition for a hearing on several key consumer and technical issues posed by the electric vehicle mandate.

"While a lawsuit is not the means by which we would prefer to resolve the serious issues posed by the mandate, CARB's denial of our petition for a hearing left us no other venue to resolve our concerns," said Dennis Minano, GM vice president of environment and energy, and chief environmental officer.

"While we are pursuing this course of action, we are trying to re-engage the state in a full dialogue to replace the mandate with a more balanced and commercially feasible means of continuing to clean California's air," Minano continued. "This is not about whether we will meet California's clean air goals, but rather how we will meet them."

Citing several statutes, GM contends the CARB has violated California laws by overlooking the effects of the regulation and declining to consider alternatives. The company argues that the CARB dismissed its own independent data showing negligible clean air potential and costs many times higher than other ARB regulatory programs.

"Simply put, GM believes this mandate will not accelerate the cause for clean air," said Minano. "While GM supports reasonable and positive actions to improve air quality, we must voice our deep reservations on the significant consumer and technical issues raised by the ZEV mandate. We are resolute in our commitment to the cause of clean air through advanced technology vehicle development and are aggressively moving forward on many fronts."

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ARSENIC: A NEW TYPE OF ENDOCRINE DISRUPTER?

February 28, 2001
ENS

HANOVER, New Hampshire - A team of Dartmouth Medical School investigators has uncovered what may be a unique mechanism for the way chronic exposure to low levels of arsenic increases the risk of certain diseases.

Decades of exposure to very low doses of arsenic - such as levels found in drinking water in many areas of the United States - may increase the risk of vascular disease, diabetes and several types of cancer. Until now, little was known about how arsenic might contribute to these diseases.

Using cultured animal cells, a team led by toxicologist Joshua Hamilton, director of Dartmouth's Toxic Metals Research Program, found that exposure to very low concentrations of arsenic disrupts the function of the glucocorticoid receptor, a steroid hormone receptor that regulates a wide range of biological processes.

Arsenic appears to suppress the ability of this receptor to respond to its normal hormone signal. Chemicals that disrupt steroid hormone receptor signaling are called endocrine disrupters.

"This is unlikely to be the only mechanism underlying diseases associated with low level arsenic exposure, but we suspect it will be an important contributor," said Hamilton.

Arsenic, a metal, appears to act through a unique mechanism not found in other endocrine disrupters such as pesticides. Kaltreider's research demonstrated that in the presence of arsenic, the activated receptor is unable to stimulate the correct cascade of signals that results from normal hormone binding.

Blocking the actions of the glucocorticoid receptor by arsenic in this way could explain, at least in part, many of the health effects observed in arsenic exposed human populations.

The work is described in the March issue of the journal "Environmental Health Perspectives."

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FUNGICIDE POLLUTION COSTS DUPONT MILLIONS

February 28, 2001
(ENS)

FORT LAUDERDALE, Florida, - Chemical giant DuPont has been ordered to pay $12.3 million in damages to an Ecuadoran shrimp farm - the second such ruling against the company in three months.

A jury in Broward County ordered the multimillion penalties after lawyers argued that agricultural runoff of DuPont's fungicide Benlate had harmed shrimp production on Ecuador's shrimp farm Aquamar, reports the "South Florida Sun-Sentinel."

In December, another south Florida jury ordered DuPont to pay $10 million for damages at another Ecuadoran shrimp farm - also from Benlate runoff. DuPont is appealing that verdict, and is expected to appeal this week's decision as well.

At least 30 cases have been brought against DuPont by shrimp farms in Ecuador, the world's third largest shrimp producer. Hundreds more have been brought against the chemical company in recent years by farmers and other businesses in several companies, all related to Benlate.

Many of the Benlate cases have been tried in Florida because DuPont tested and marketed the fungicide in south Florida, and runs its Latin America and Caribbean sales division from Coral Gables, Florida.

So far, DuPont has spent more than $1 billion to settle these claims. About $200 million of that has gone to one law firm - Krupnick Campbell Malone Roselli, the Fort Lauderdale firm that represented Aquamar in the trial that ended Tuesday.

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AFRICA'S LAKE CHAD SHRUNKEN BY IRRIGATION, CLIMATE CHANGE

February 28, 2001
(ENS)
http://www.gsfc.nasa.gov/gsfc/earth/environ/lakechad/chad.htm

MADISON, Wisconsin, - Researchers using computer models and climate data now understand why Africa's freshwater Lake Chad has been disappearing over the last 30 years.

Michael Coe and Jonathan Foley of the University of Wisconsin-Madison cite a drier climate and high agricultural demands for water as reasons why what was once one of Africa's largest freshwater lakes is shrinking. Their research was funded by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

"Lake Chad was about 25,000 square kilometers in surface area back in 1963," Foley noted. Now the lake is about one-twentieth the size it was in the mid 1960s.

Using model and climate data, Coe and Foley calculate that a 30 percent decrease took place in the lake between 1966 and 1975. Irrigation accounted for five percent of that decrease, with drier conditions accounting for the remainder.

Present day Lake Chad occupies a fraction of its former lake bed, as seen in this satellite photo (Photo courtesy NASA)

They noticed that irrigation demands increased four fold between 1983 and 1994, accounting for 50 percent of the additional decrease in the size of the lake.

"NASA Landsat satellite imagery taken of the lake over the last 30 years really capture the model conclusions and visualize them very well," the researchers noted.

The warming climate and increasing desertification in the surrounding region have dropped water levels far below the average dry season level of 4,000 square miles (10,000 square kilometers) to only 839 square miles (1,350 square kilometers).

"Climate data has shown a great decrease in rainfall since the early 1960's largely due to a decrease in the number of large rainfall events," Coe said.

With a drier climate and less rainfall, agricultural areas become more desperate for water to irrigate their crops, and will continue draining what is left of Lake Chad. "The problem is expected to worsen in the coming years as population and irrigation demands continue to increase," warned Foley.

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FIVE MORE COMPANIES PLEDGE ACTION AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE

February 28, 2001
(ENS)

WASHINGTON, DC, - Five more companies are joining the Pew Center's Business Environmental Leadership Council (BELC), in another sign of industry commitment to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change.

These five companies will join 28 others that already comprise the BELC, bringing the total to 33.

"Taking action on climate change is not only a sign of good corporate citizenship but also of sound, long-term business practice," said Eileen Claussen, president of the Pew Center on Global Climate Change. "All of the BELC companies are taking innovative and practical steps to reduce emissions consistent with their business plans. They recognize that dealing with climate change can be an opportunity, not a threat."

The new BELC members are:

California Portland Cement Company, a major supplier of cement and concrete for the construction industry; Cummins Inc., the world's largest designer and manufacturer of diesel engines; Interface Inc., the largest commercial carpet manufacturer in the world; TransAlta Corp., Canada's largest investor owned electric energy company; Waste Management Inc., the largest waste management service provider in the U.S.

The Business Environmental Leadership Council (BELC) explores what initiatives businesses can take to address climate change while staying competitive in the global marketplace. Members of the BELC are committed to take steps in their U.S. and international operations to assess their greenhouse gas emissions and establish programs that reduce those emissions.

The corporations that compose the BELC represent a diverse group of industries including energy, chemicals, metal, consumer appliances and high technology. These corporations do not contribute money to the Pew Center, which is supported solely by contributions from charitable organizations.

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ARCTIC REFUGE DEFENDERS CLOG WHITE HOUSE EMAIL SYSTEM

February 28, 2001
(ENS)

WASHINGTON, DC, - The White House email system has been overwhelmed by people petitioning President George W. Bush to reverse his position on allowing oil companies to drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

Thousands of emails have been returned to their senders, says conservation group Defenders of Wildlife, which has sponsored the Internet petition drive urging Bush to protect the refuge.

In the first month of Defenders' electronic petition, located at http://www.SaveArcticRefuge.org, supporters sent more than 650,000 emails to President Bush and Congress.

Because its computers cannot handle the volume, the White House has returned thousands of emails. Computer system administrators at Defenders have concluded that an overwhelmed email system at the White House is to blame.

An administrator sent a letter to the White House pointing out the problem, but there has been no response.

"This phenomenal response shows that people are overwhelmingly against exploitation of 'America's Serengeti,'" Defenders president Rodger Schlickeisen said. "It's quickly mushrooming into the largest Internet petition campaign ever."

An energy policy bill introduced in the Senate on Monday would open the refuge's coastal plain to oil and gas exploration. Last night, Bush proposed a federal budget that also supports opening the refuge to drilling.

"BP Amoco and other multinational oil giants would destroy the habitat with its rich diversity of wildlife - including caribou, polar bears, wolves, muskoxen and millions of migratory birds - all for a supply of oil that would only last 180 days," Schlickeisen said. "And we wouldn't see a drop of that oil for 10 years. Obviously, that won't solve our energy problems."

A new survey released today by The Wilderness Society shows that 52 percent of Americans polled oppose opening the refuge, while just 22 percent "strongly support" the proposal.

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STUDENTS LAUNCH TREE FREE CAMPUS CAMPAIGN

February 28, 2001
(ENS)

WASHINGTON, DC, - Students and environmental groups around the country launched a campaign Tuesday to pressure universities to go tree free - banning the use of products made from endangered forests.

Rainforest Action Network, American Lands Alliance, Free the Planet, Student Environmental Action Coalition, National Forest Protection Alliance, and Forest Ethics joined forces with more than 30 student environmental groups to launch the Tree Free Campus Campaign, which targets Boise Cascade and other wood products companies.

Students are urging their universities to ban the use of products made from endangered forests on campus and switch to 100 percent post consumer recycled or other alternative fibers. Endangered forest policies, also known as Tree Free policies, have already been adopted by a number of institutions and companies around the country, including the University of North Carolina, Peace College, Home Depot, Kinko's, and the cities of San Francisco and Los Angeles.

"When college campuses buy virgin pulp paper and products from endangered forests, they support the destructive logging of companies like Boise Cascade, the largest logger of old growth forest on public lands, and the largest paper supplier to college campuses," said Pat Rasmussen, Forest Americas coordinator for American Lands. "Every day, international logging corporations like Boise Cascade are converting thousands of acres of endangered ancient forest into paper, pulp, and plywood."

"Universities are an important market for paper and other wood products," said Anne Martin, field director for American Lands Alliance. "Students really can make a difference in protecting old growth and endangered forests in the U.S. and world wide by working with their university to adopt Tree Free policies."

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E.P.A.'s Authority on Air Rules Wins Supreme Court's Backing

February 28, 2001
New York Times
By LINDA GREENHOUSE
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/02/28/national/28SCOT.html?pagewanted=all

WASHINGTON, Feb. 27 - The Supreme Court today unanimously and decisively rejected an industry attack on the Clean Air Act in one of the court's most important environmental rulings in years.

In an opinion by Justice Antonin Scalia, the court ruled that in setting national air quality standards, the Environmental Protection Agency must consider only the requirements of public health and safety and may not engage in the cost-benefit analysis that a coalition of industry groups sought to import into the statute.

Further, the court held that the Environmental Protection Agency's broad standard-setting authority did not amount to an unconstitutional delegation by Congress of legislative power to an executive branch agency. This part of the opinion rejected a ruling by a federal appeals court here that was widely viewed as one of the most powerful judicial attacks since the New Deal on the legal foundations of the modern administrative state.

The decision today dealt with new standards for two pollutants - ground-level ozone, which causes smog, and fine airborne particles, commonly known as soot - that the Environmental Protection Agency issued in 1997.

The new ozone standard has been the subject of fierce dispute, imposing substantial costs on industry and pitting states against one another, depending on whether they are "upwind" or "downwind" of sources of pollution. While upholding the agency's authority to issue the standard, the court today rejected the E.P.A.'s plan for applying it in regions of the country, chiefly major metropolitan areas, that have not yet met the previous ozone standard.

The court sent the ozone standard back to the agency for a new implementation plan, one that must take account of two provisions of the Clean Air Act that in some respects are mutually contradictory. Reconciling these two provisions, one a general provision and one specific to ozone, will not necessarily be easy, and further delays in putting the new standard into effect are highly likely. This aspect of the opinion was confusing, and led to a number of different interpretations today.

But there was no ambiguity about the extent to which the court today strengthened the Clean Air Act in general and bolstered the sometimes embattled agency that is charged with enforcing the 31-year-old statute.

In an opinion two years ago, a panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit startled much of official Washington and the legal world by reviving the so-called nondelegation doctrine, which the Supreme Court had used to strike down two New Deal programs in 1935 but that had fallen into great disfavor since them.

The 2-to-1 appeals court decision held that the Clean Air Act lacked an "intelligible principle" for guiding the Environmental Protection Agency's use of its regulatory power - leaving the agency theoretically free, for example, to insist on bringing down to zero the permissible level of pollutants for which there is no known safe amount. This amounted to an undue delegation of legislative authority, the court said in an opinion that raised the prospect that the statutory foundation of many federal agencies could be open to similar attack.

But the Clean Air Act "fits comfortably within the scope of discretion permitted by our precedent," Justice Scalia said today. He added: "Even in sweeping regulatory schemes we have never demanded, as the Court of Appeals did here, that statutes provide a `determinate criterion' for saying `how much of the regulated harm is too much.' "

Justice Scalia noted that the Supreme Court had upheld Congress's broad delegation to the Federal Communications Commission to regulate the airwaves in the "public interest" as well as similarly broad delegations to the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Interstate Commerce Commission and other agencies.

He said the Clean Air Act, properly understood, did not leave the E.P.A. with limitless discretion, instead instructing the agency's administrator to set standards that "allowing an adequate margin of safety, are requisite to protect the public health." Justice Scalia quoted with approval the definition of "requisite" that Solicitor General Seth P. Waxman offered when the case was argued in November: "sufficient, but not more than necessary."

Mr. Waxman, who left office with the end of the Clinton administration and is now teaching at Georgetown University Law School, said of the decision today: "I can't imagine a more thoroughgoing rejection of the D.C. Circuit's little escapade."

On the current court, Justice Scalia and Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist had, in past opinions, indicated the most interest in reviving the nondelegation doctrine. It was therefore particularly interesting that the chief justice, exercising his power to assign opinions, asked Justice Scalia to write the court's opinion in today's Whitman v. American Trucking Associations, No. 99-1257.

While joining Justice Scalia's opinion, Justice Clarence Thomas wrote a separate concurring opinion to invite future nondelegation challenges and announce that he would be open to considering them.

The court's treatment of the cost- benefit issue today was equally significant and decisive. In fact, the nondelegation and the cost-benefit issues were closely interrelated. The industry group challenging the standards had urged the court to read a cost-benefit requirement into the Clean Air Act in order to avoid what it said was the constitutional problem of undue delegation. The appeals court had not addressed the question because it was bound by one of its own precedents, a 1980 decision holding that the Clean Air Act barred consideration of costs at the standard-setting stage.

Once again referring to the wording of the statute, Justice Scalia said that the agency's mandate when setting standards for pollutants was to "identify the maximum airborne concentration of a pollutant that the public health can tolerate, decrease the concentration to provide an `adequate' margin of safety, and set the standard at that level."

He continued: "Nowhere are the costs of achieving such a standard made part of that initial calculation." The Clean Air Act "unambiguously bars cost considerations" from the standard-setting process, Justice Scalia said, "and thus ends the matter for us as well as the E.P.A."

In a separate opinion on the cost- benefit issue, Justice Stephen G. Breyer, who has written favorably about using cost-benefit analysis as a regulatory tool, said that statutory ambiguity should generally be read as "permitting, not forbidding, this type of rational regulation." However, he said, the history and general structure of the Clean Air Act made clear that costs were not to be considered at the standard-setting stage.

Under the statute, consideration of costs comes in at the next stage, when individual states develop their plans for complying with the standards.

The challenge to the standards was led by the American Trucking Associations and the United States Chamber of Commerce. Robin S. Conrad, a lawyer for the chamber, said today that industry would continue to battle the standards both in court and in Congress where, she said, "we will see if we can get the magic word `cost' put into the statute." Under the decision today, the plaintiffs can still challenge the standards in the appeals court as "arbitrary and capricious," an opportunity that "gives us another strong bite at the apple," Ms. Conrad said.

Both the past and present administrators of the E.P.A. praised the decision. Carol M. Browner, the head of the agency in the Clinton administration, called it "an incredibly important victory for public health." Christie Whitman, the new administrator, said it was "a solid endorsement of E.P.A.'s efforts to protect the health of millions of Americans." In her previous job as governor of New Jersey, Ms. Whitman had intervened in the case to defend the standards.

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A Victory for Cleaner Air

February 28, 2001
New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/02/28/opinion/28WED2.html

To the delight of environmentalists and the dismay of several industries, the Supreme Court unanimously reaffirmed the bedrock principles of the Clean Air Act yesterday, as well as the Environmental Protection Agency's authority to enforce that act with detailed regulations. The decision vindicated the clean air strategy devised by the outgoing E.P.A. administrator, Carol Browner, and challenged her successor, Christie Whitman, to move forward with a program to achieve the clean air targets set by Ms. Browner.

The court confronted two main issues. The first was a 1999 decision by a three-judge federal appeals panel that had invalidated tough new air quality standards imposed by Ms. Browner to force major reductions in the amount of ozone and soot in the air. The appeals panel, reviving a discredited constitutional theory known as the non-delegation doctrine, ruled that Congress had improperly delegated its legislative authority to the E.P.A. In his opinion for the Supreme Court yesterday, Justice Antonin Scalia briskly disposed of this argument by asserting that the delegation of authority had been no greater than delegations to other administrative agencies that the court had upheld over the years.

The second and more important issue was the argument advanced by a coalition of industry groups that the E.P.A. administrator should have taken economic factors - costs and benefits - into account in setting the new air quality standards. This went to the very heart of the Clean Air Act. As written in 1970, and interpreted in several lower court decisions over the years, the act imposed one overriding obligation on the administrator - to protect the public health "with an adequate margin of safety."

To the extent the act mentioned costs and benefits at all, it allowed the administrator the discretion to take them into account when setting timetables and figuring the best ways to reach the standards. But it made clear that only science, not costs, could shape the standards themselves. Here again, Justice Scalia was clear. The act, he said, "unambiguously bars cost considerations."

The decision should encourage Mrs. Whitman to proceed with strategies devised by her predecessor to help all areas of the country move into compliance. As governor of New Jersey, Mrs. Whitman embraced these programs with enthusiasm, including Ms. Browner's hugely controversial regulations requiring cleaner diesel fuel. The campaign now under way by refiners and other industries to weaken these rules will pose an early test of Mrs. Whitman's resolve.

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Neither Barren Nor Remote

February 28, 2001
New York Times
By WILLIAM CRONON
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/02/28/opinion/28CRON.html

MADISON, Wis. - Oil or wilderness? This is the question at the center of the new energy bill that Senator Frank Murkowski of Alaska has just introduced, following through on President Bush's campaign promise to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling.

When Americans encounter the word "wilderness," a number of images come to mind. A dramatic mountain landscape of icy peaks and sublime vistas. A place remote from human settlements, untouched by human hands. A land worthy of protection precisely because it is so isolated. Unfortunately, these images obscure some of the most important qualities of the Alaskan lands that the Bush administration seeks to develop.

For one thing, the part of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge whose fate is now being debated is flat, boggy terrain of the kind most of us probably associate more with mosquitoes than with sublimity. It doesn't exactly conform to the scenic conventions of an Ansel Adams photograph. For another, those who wish to drill in the refuge say it is so far away, so isolated from places where most Americans live, that almost no one will ever go there. For them, its remoteness is one reason we should exploit it for oil.

But perceiving the Arctic Refuge as "empty" or "remote" is just plain wrong. In fact, far from being pristine, uninhabited wilderness, the refuge is sacred ground to the Gwich'in people, who have long inhabited this landscape.

Today numbering 7,000 people in 15 villages, the Gwich'in are the northernmost of Athabascan-speaking Indians. Their lives have traced the path of the caribou for thousands of years, so much so that they say every caribou carries some human heart in it, and every human heart some caribou.

The narrow coastal plain that the Bush administration would open to drilling is where the 129,000 animals in the Porcupine Caribou herd give birth to their calves - a region where the Gwich'in have long chosen not to hunt, calling it "vadzaih googii vi dehk'it gwanlii" - the sacred place where life begins.

Just as the refuge is not untouched by human beings, thinking of it as remote and disconnected from the places where most Americans live is equally wrong. Migratory birds in all but one state of the union - Hawaii - spend important parts of their lives in this northern breeding ground.

We often forget how far the birds around us migrate over the course of an ordinary year. See a semipalmated sandpiper in New York, a red-throated loon in Minnesota, a snow goose in California, and you may well be witnessing a part of the Arctic refuge.

Among the 180 bird species that use the refuge is the tundra swan, once more familiarly known as the whistling swan. After raising their young, these birds migrate thousands of miles across the continent to their winter homes along the Atlantic Coast from North Carolina to Maryland. From the perspective of a tundra swan, Washington, D. C., and the homeland of the Gwich'in are part of a single ecosystem.

If migrating birds remind us that the neighborhoods where we live are in fact linked to the refuge, then we should also remember that how we live is what puts the refuge at risk. The ways we drive our cars, heat our homes and otherwise consume oil are the biggest single threat it faces.

The United States Geological Survey estimates that the refuge might contain between 4 billion and 12 billion barrels of oil, with a mean estimate of 7 billion (though much of this could never be pumped out economically). Measured against our current rate of consumption of roughly 18 million barrels a day, it would be gone in about a year if it had to meet our full demand.

From the perspective of history, it's worth contemplating the rather astonishing fact that we're capable of consuming 7 billion barrels of oil in a year. Such a supply would have provided all of America's needs from the first discovery of oil in Pennsylvania in 1859 until about 1924: the first 65 years of the modern petroleum economy.

The debate over the refuge, in other words, is as much about our dependency on petroleum as it is about the fate of distant caribou and other wild creatures.

The refuge contains oil, yes. But it also contains the largest, most diverse example on our public lands of an Arctic ecosystem in its full magnificence, with native people living in, using and cherishing that ecosystem as they have for millennia. The fact that it does not completely conform to our preconceptions of wilderness should not prevent us from seeing that its value cannot simply be measured in barrels or dollars. Deciding not to drill there is a way of recognizing how much the life of that faraway land is tied to our own.

William Cronon is an environmental historian at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

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Foot-and-mouth confirmed in Ireland

02/28/2001
USA Today
http://usatoday.com/news/world/2001-02-28-footmouth.htm

LONDON (AP) - Nervous authorities at ports in the Irish Republic disinfected visitors from Britain on Wednesday as officials confirmed that highly contagious foot-and-mouth disease had crossed the Irish Sea.

Officials in Northern Ireland said Wednesday they have found the disease in sheep imported from England on a farm that that straddles the border with the Irish Republic.

The cases were found among 200 English sheep tested after they were slaughtered in the first Irish cull. At the same time, London confirmed another eight cases of the disease in England and Wales.

"It is now our belief we are looking at an outbreak of this disease in Northern Ireland," said Agriculture Minister Brid Rodgers. Officials have declared the area around the farm a no-go zone and are questioning a livestock importer and a dealer allegedly involved with bringing in the animals, she said.

The British Army said it had "modified" its patrols along the border between Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic to reduce the risk of spreading the disease, but gave no other details.

At ports and airports in the republic, travelers from Britain are required to wade through baths of disinfectant before entering the country, a spokeswoman for the agriculture ministry said.

At 30 checkpoints along the borders, police and soldiers enforced an earlier ban on all meat, livestock and dairy products from Britain.

Although humans almost never catch the disease - which affects cloven-hooted animals - they can carry it on boots and clothing. The virus can also be airborne, transmitted from one animal to another, or contracted through contaminated feed.

Britain said new cases of foot-and-mouth disease had been confirmed at two farms in Wales as well as farms in Hereford in western England, the central counties of Leicestershire and Warwickshire, Devon county in the south and Essex county north of London. A case was also confirmed at a slaughterhouse in the northern England county of Lancashire - bringing the number of affected farms and slaughterhouses to 26.

A total of 102 farms in the contagion areas are under some kind of restriction, either sealed off completely or forced to take various precautions against the disease, which spreads rapidly through the air.

Agriculture Minister Nick Brown told Parliament that some 15,000 animals - 3,000 cattle, 11,000 sheep and nearly 2,000 pigs - have been slaughtered or are awaiting slaughter as authorities try to avoid a repeat of a 1967 foot-and-mouth epidemic, when half a million animals were culled.

Britain on Tuesday extended a ban on livestock movements for two more weeks, and the European Union lengthened its ban on British exports of live animals, meat and dairy products.

Authorities have also closed public footpaths and canceled horse races and various sporting events, in an attempt to minimize the possibility of humans spreading the virus. Some roads were closed due to smoke billowing from pyres of slaughtered animals.

Hoping to avoid major meat shortages, the government is working on a plan that will allow farmers to move healthy animals to slaughterhouses and markets only with strictly enforced precautions to prevent them from spreading the infection.

The plan, expected to take effect on Friday, calls for issuing permits to unaffected farmers allowing them to move their livestock to disease-free slaughterhouses or strictly controlled holding areas.

The government also plans to draw $228 million from an EU agriculture fund to compensate beef, dairy and sheep farmers who may be unable export their products for up to six months after Britain is declared free of the disease.

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FOOT-AND-MOUTH ALERT

February 28, 2001
New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/02/28/world/28BRIE.html

BRITAIN: Investigators continued trying to trace the complicated path of the outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease, as animals on five more farms were confirmed to have the disease, bringing the total of affected farms to 17. Seeking to stop the highly contagious virus from spreading further, the authorities canceled all horse racing in England, closed more national parks, and gave local governments the right to declare land off-limits to hikers and others. Sarah Lyall (NYT)

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Alaska

01/02/28
USA Today
http://www.usatoday.com/news/states/all50.htm

Alaska - The National Park Service is rethinking the future of Alaska's best known national park. The agency is considering five new management options for Denali National Park and Preserve, including limiting the number of climbers each year trying to scale 20,320-foot Mount McKinley, the tallest mountain in North America. The number of climbers has doubled to more than 1,000 annually in the past 15 years.

Louisiana

Baton Rouge - To help crawfish harvesters, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will consider a temporary increase in the amount of Mississippi River water it diverts into the Atchafalaya Basin. State officials requested the increase because low water levels and cold weather have kept crawfish in their burrows as the peak harvest approaches.

Montana

- Five wolves captured after feeding on cattle in south-central Montana are being trained to shun beef before being released in northwest Montana. The Boulder Pack wolves will be the second group to undergo aversive conditioning. The first group was released in January and have stayed out of trouble.

Wisconsin

- Winter's snow and rain did nothing to raise Lake Michigan's level, which has fallen to near-record lows, experts say. Dave Schweiger of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said the lake's shrinking ice cover compounds the problem because ice reduces the amount of lake water that evaporates.

---

Clean-air ruling hits big business

February 28, 2001
Washington Times
By Frank J. Murray
http://www.washtimes.com/national/default-2001228222632.htm

The Supreme Court yesterday stunned big business by ruling unanimously that federal law doesn't allow the Environmental Protection Agency to consider expense to industry when it sets clean-air standards.

"The EPA may not consider implementation costs in setting" permissible pollution levels, the court said.

The 9-0 opinion was authored by Justice Antonin Scalia, who expressed concern at the November hearing, asking if the EPA "has to take into account whether it's going to bring us back to the Stone Age."

His opinion rejecting the most rigorous challenge to the Clean Air Act in its 30-year history said the legal and constitutional answers appear to be "no."

But the court also said regulators may consider cost factors when deciding when health risks are sufficiently small to make exceptions.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce - which led the fight against zealous rule-making "with no scientifically proven benefit to health" - estimates that implementing a challenged rule on ozone emissions alone will cost $720 billion. Backers of tough regulation said the chamber tried to eviscerate the law.

The high court sent remaining issues in the case back to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to assure that EPA reaches a lawful and "reasonable interpretation" of ozone standards and enforcement policies.

"We have never demanded . . . that statutes provide a determinate criterion for saying how much of the regulated harm is too much," Justice Scalia wrote, saying the Clean Air Act "unambiguously bars cost considerations . . . and thus ends the matter for us as well as the EPA."

While all the justices agreed on the outcome, some had different reasoning on parts of the decision, including Justice Stephen G. Breyer, who contended from the start that the law never forced a choice between healthy people and a healthy economy.

"Preindustrial society was not a very healthy society. Hence a standard demanding the return of the Stone Age would not prove requisite to protect the public health," Justice Breyer wrote in a concurring opinion.

Health organizations declared victory while advocates for business and industry saw an opportunity to fight another day in the lower courts on ozone enforcement. The EPA had no immediate comment.

"This decision is a victory for the Clean Air Act and for the health of the American people," said American Lung Association leader John R. Garrison, who welcomed affirmation of the principle that costs not limit health standards.

"The Clean Air Act has always been a public health statute and the Supreme Court reaffirmed that today," Mr. Garrison said.

"The Supreme Court's historic decision confirms . . . that EPA's new standards to limit the pollution levels of smog and soot were based on sound science, sound policy and a sound reading of the law," said Vickie Patton of Environmental Defense Fund.

"It looks like it's a big victory for clean air," said Frank O'Donnell of the Clear Air Trust. "The Supreme Court has agreed with the fundamental principle that the Clean Air Act is designed to protect people's health without regard to cost."

Even the National Chamber Litigation Center (NCLC), whose attorney Edward Warren argued the case against the government, professed satisfaction with the ruling, despite losing on the claims of cost considerations and unconstitutional delegation of powers by Congress.

"We're pleased with this decision because the ozone standards can't be implemented until the case goes back to the Court of Appeals to decide if the EPA acted arbitrarily and capriciously in setting the ozone standard," said Robin S. Conrad, the NCLC's senior vice president.

"We had an EPA administrator who said she did not have to explain the numbers she used. She pulled them out of thin air," Miss Conrad said, referring to former EPA chief Carol Browner. When the Bush administration came into office, the case was renamed Whitman vs. American Trucking Associations, although EPA Administrator Christine Todd Whitman took no part in the case.

Mr. Warren had a more limited view, saying, "We're no worse off than we've been all along . . . but we didn't win. That's disappointing to me."

"I think this case means business as usual for the EPA. This question of costs is a defeat for industry, a serious setback," said M. Reed Hopper of the Pacific Legal Foundation in Sacramento, Calif., which filed a friend of the court brief supporting American Trucking Associations.

"We could still see these regulations struck down on other grounds," Mr. Hopper said, predicting the lower court might rule against EPA on whether its decision was "arbitrary and capricious."

Beyond the cost factor, the court ruled that Congress did not unconstitutionally delegate its power to EPA, that the case was ripe for judgment by the appeals court and that EPA must finish the job properly.

The rules affect airborne soot and smoke from diesel trucks and power plants, as well as smog or ground-level ozone from cars, power plants, chemical plants and other sources.

The 1997 standards under attack limited ozone to 0.08 parts per million instead of 0.12 parts per million under the old requirement. States also were required to limit soot from power plants, cars and other sources to 2.5 microns, or 28 times smaller than the width of a human hair.

The industry side of the case was supported by three states, including Virginia, while Maryland joined a friend-of-the-court brief with eight other states supporting the clean-air rules.

-------- police

Police Raid Damascus Gate Market

Wed, 28 Feb 2001
tycho
<earth2tycho@earthlink.net>

Dear Friends,

It is 1:30 in the morning here, i am writing you from a hostel across the street from Bab al-Amoud, or Damascus Gate. When i disembarked from a van tonight in front of the market that is situated ourtide the Gate, i found myself witness to a very shocking scene. It was clear something was wrong even before the van pulled over, because there were many people sitting on the grass where part of the market had stood earlier today, as if they were having a picnic. On the curb was a large - and i mean container-size -truck with a bulldozer type scoop that was crushing and picking up trash from an enormous pile on the lawn. Clearly everyone was watching it, but what made it obvious this was not just a better alternative to tv were the large numbers of police and soldiers present, some of whom were even involved in the debris removal.

i was fortunate to have digital audio and camera equipment with me, so if i can get the sound dowloaded you'll be able to get a fairly sensurround report of this on indymedia tomorrow. As has been my experience throughout the past month here, people in the market were extremely willing to talk about what was happening and why it was happening. Although a tv camera finally showed up around midnight, i was actually the only person there documenting the raid. It was for me one of these moments when i could think of no other way to describe the police except as pigs. This was the third time i've had the military get angry about my taking pictures, though tonight i was actually chased by a stick-wielding strongman because i took a flash photo of the police commander of the Old City, who was chirping away merrily among a group of soldiers and cops. There was no official Palestinian presence to challenge the raid, no record-keeping of damages incurred by the Israelis - yet another demonstration of the lawlessness here by which every form of harrassment is justified as a "security measure" and the people who are being victimized have to recognized means to challenge what is being done to them.

To summarize what has occurred:

Around 9:30 p.m. the military and police arrived with three large trucks and began tearing apart the market. They tossed out and destroyed everything: food, tables, stall coverings, baskets, chairs, and merchandise. Most of the people present were men, along with a few older women whom i was told sell vegetables, trying to salvage their things. There were police there not in uniform who were doing most of the stripdown work. Walkie-talkie cops were everywhere. Old men sat on the grass drinking tea and watching their livelihoods be transformed into unrecognizable garbage. As one young man told me, to try and stop them meant being arrested and possibly stay in jail for weeks or months. The Eid al-Adha begins on Monday, so the market was very busy today, it is a good time for business and the Israelis obviously didn't time the raid ignorant of this fact. One person i interviewed said this happens every few months, without any warning; another expanded on this, adding that they rotate the Old City forces every six months, and having recently done this, it is important to reestablish a relationship with the marketers that reminds them who is in control of their lives.

Everyone i spoke with, in both languages, assured me this only happens because they are arabs, offering detailed comparisons to how the market in West Jerusalem is maintained and respected, which is Jewish. Whether one agrees with this assessment or not, this is how the people living under occupation feel, and it is therefore extremely important to repeat. The perception of collective, racist-based punishment has everything to do with the sponteneity of the current intifada, and likewise with why Palestinians are determined to not run away with their tails between their legs. Many of us expected Sharon's victory to cause an escalation in the violence here, and the Israelis have gotten great media mileage from a bus driver who killed some soldiers. What is lacking continuously in the mainstream reporting and Israeli analyses is the extent to which the Israelis themselves are provoking violence and increasing anger towards them. The economic problems in East Jerusalem are extensive and filter through the society in subtle as well as not so subtle ways. Thousands of people outside the city depend on its commercial activities for their survival here. There are no Jews working in the Damascus Market i saw beaten to the ground this evening. It doesn't take a genius to figure this one out.

Comments/questions always welcome love & rage tycho

---

Police Response to Student's Death Studied

February 28, 2001
New York Times
ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/02/28/nyregion/28CAMD.html

CAMDEN, N.J., Feb. 27 (AP) - The Camden County prosecutor's office is investigating how the police responded to the fatal shooting of a Rutgers University-Camden student after complaints that they did not attempt to revive him.

But the prosecutor, Lee Solomon, also said today that the Camden County medical examiner had determined that the injuries of the student, Hiram Rosa, were "of such a catastrophic nature that they were not survivable."

"Regardless of the catastrophic nature of the injuries, we are looking into it," Mr. Solomon said.

Mr. Rosa, 22, a senior finance major, was shot to death Feb. 19 a block and a half from the campus.

Residents who live in the Cooper Grant neighborhood, where the shooting occurred, said the police discouraged them and other bystanders from helping Mr. Rosa because of the seriousness of his wounds.

The city police chief, Robert Allenbach, defended his officers' actions, saying an officer from the Rutgers police department was already helping Mr. Rosa when they arrived.

---

Verdict for Former Deputy Divides an Oregon County

February 28, 2001
New York Times
By SAM HOWE VERHOVEK
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/02/28/national/28OREG.html?pagewanted=all

CLACKAMAS, Ore., Feb. 23 - The way Carl Bell told it to a federal jury, racial jokes - and "bizarre forms" of racial profiling - were common at the Clackamas County Sheriff's Department.

Russian immigrants in the area were likely to be car thieves, Mr. Bell said one sheriff's deputy told him. Another deputy told him to watch out for groups of Asians in certain Japanese-made automobiles, for they were likely to be gang members, said Mr. Bell, who went to work in 1998 as the only black officer on a 100-member force of patrol deputies.

But the way Sheriff Pat Detloff and seven deputies told it to the jury, Mr. Bell was the one offering bizarre characterizations. There was no racial profiling in Clackamas County, they all testified, and several said Mr. Bell started making such complaints only after it became clear he was failing the training program and was on his way to being fired.

In a verdict that stunned the department in this suburban Portland county and prompted it to vow a vigorous appeal, the jurors essentially sided with Mr. Bell, who had sued the county over his firing.

The jurors unanimously ordered the county to pay $850,000 in damages to Mr. Bell for his 1998 firing, and then took the highly unusual step of finding Sheriff Detloff and all the deputies who testified personally liable for the dismissal. The jurors said the officers had all violated his civil rights; they told Mr. Detloff to pay $250,000 to Mr. Bell, and the deputies to each pay him $52,446, the jury's calculation of his lost wages.

And, some jurors said, behind the damages was a strong message.

"Here this man speaks up about racial discrimination that's going on, and no one in the department does anything about it," said the foreman, Russell Englert, a Portland caterer. "And you know what? When you respond like that, when you don't do anything, you're guilty. You're engaging in discrimination yourself. We thought there was a lot of denial going on."

Here in this county that stretches south from Portland and east toward Mount Hood, in an area that is overwhelmingly white but where people nonetheless overwhelmingly seem to describe their communities as racially tolerant and sensitive, a struggle is going on to make sense of the Feb. 2 verdict.

Some, including many elected officials, have supported the sheriff's office, which said that Mr. Bell's complaints were simply not true and not buttressed at trial by anything other than his own testimony. Others are calling for investigations and housecleaning at the sheriff's office, which Mr. Detloff took command of just last month after serving for seven years as chief deputy.

And on both sides of the case, there is frustration over one central aspect of the matter: no one has proven whether racial profiling does indeed go on in Clackamas County.

That is because the county has not kept statistics on the ethnic backgrounds of people detained by its law enforcement authorities. "We don't do that yet, but we're heading in that direction," said Deputy Angela Blanchard, a spokeswoman for the sheriff's department. "We're developing the software to do it." Both sides said statistics, if they existed, would back up their case.

But because there were none, the jury did not directly examine the question of whether the comments Mr. Bell attributed to fellow deputies in his testimony ever translated into a pattern of detentions by race. Still, said David Fidanque, the executive director of the Oregon branch of the American Civil Liberties Union, several cities and counties in Oregon have adopted programs to check for patterns of racial profiling, and the jury may have effectively punished Clackamas County for not doing so.

"There is every indication that people find any prospect of racial profiling unacceptable, and I think this verdict is one indication of that," Mr. Fidanque said. "If Clackamas County had taken steps to recognize the issue and deal with it before this case happened, then I think the jury would have been far more sympathetic to them. But they just got a denial that there was any problem at all, and that probably made the jury come down on them harder."

Mr. Bell said he was told to engage in various forms of racial profiling, and in a general way to treat blacks, Hispanics and Asians as more suspicious than whites. And he said he faced retaliation when he spoke up to superiors.

"I complained to them about it, and I got fired," Mr. Bell, who is 37, said in a telephone interview from Orlando, Fla., where he is studying to go to law school and working as a security guard.

Some jurors said they did not believe that the failing marks Mr. Bell started receiving in 1998, a few months into his employment with the county and shortly after he started complaining, could have been justified. He had received an honorable discharge after four and a half years as a sergeant in the Army's military police, they pointed out, and he had easily passed a similar training program as a police officer in Lake Oswego, Ore., a Portland suburb.

Mr. Bell received several "not responding to training" marks in his grades after he began complaining about racial profiling and his treatment by other deputies. Before, his marks were mostly in the middle range of a 1-to-7 scale, according to records presented at the trial. Since his departure, the county remains without any black patrol deputy.

The jury, composed of eight white members and one black member, deliberated for three days after three weeks of testimony. Sheriff Detloff described himself just afterward as very upset by the verdict, but said he could not speak in detail while the case was being appealed. He and the deputies involved referred all calls to a Portland lawyer, John R. Osburn, who was hired by the county to represent them. In a telephone interview, Mr. Osburn said he would have no comment beyond a brief he filed in court this week.

In that brief, Mr. Osburn asked Judge John Jelderks of United States District Court to set aside the verdict or reduce the damage award, a total of about $1.4 million. "The jury was not persuaded by the weight of the evidence," Mr. Osburn wrote in his brief; jurors, he said, "were improperly swayed by an emotional reaction" in favor of Mr. Bell.

---

Cops Suspended For Fake Rescue Tale

Wednesday, February 28, 2001
Bizarre News
http://us.f23.mail.yahoo.com/ym/login?.rand=8jt0inmtbatel

The head of the New Orleans police force has decided that two officers found guilty of receiving medals for a lifesaving rescue they never performed will be suspended. In February, the officers reported that they saved a woman from drowning in her car after it overturned into a canal last August. Four residents said they, rather than the officers, rescued the young woman, and witnesses said police officers did not arrive at the scene until after the victim had been pulled out of the canal and revived.

---

Connecticut

01/02/28
USA Today
http://www.usatoday.com/news/states/all50.htm

Haven - The police commission has fired an officer who shot out two tires of a car evading a sobriety checkpoint. Shafiq Abdus-Sabur, 34, said he fired because he believed another officer standing in front of the car was in danger. In 1999, Abdus-Sabur received a three-day suspension after giving a gun to his brother, a felon. The gun was later used in a fatal shooting.

Oklahoma

- The U.S. Justice Department's civil rights division has started an investigation of the city police department, the Tulsa World reported. "We don't know exact details and allegations," Police Chief Ron Palmer said. Federal attorneys plan to visit March 14-15 to discuss the allegations, which likely focus on race relations, Palmer said.

-------- spying

Russia Turns Drug Arrest Into Spy Case

February 28, 2001
New York Times
By MICHAEL WINES
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/02/28/world/28RUSS.html

MOSCOW, Feb. 27 - The domestic intelligence agency unexpectedly said today that an American graduate student, arrested nearly a month ago on seemingly minor drug charges, was probably working for United States military intelligence.

The arrest of the student, John Edward Tobbin, a Fulbright scholar who is believed to be 23 or 24, drew almost no notice when it was reported two weeks ago in Moscow newspapers here. But today the Federal Security Service, the domestic successor to the K.G.B., said that Mr. Tobbin had studied Russian at the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, Calif., and had been trained in interrogation at the Army military intelligence training center in Fort Huachuca, Ariz.

The Russians contend that Mr. Tobbin has an American government security clearance.

"The Russian security services believe the American was apparently carrying out work to familiarize himself with the country and language before receiving his main assignment," a spokesman for the Voronezh arm of the security service told the Interfax news service.

Mr. Tobbin has not been charged with any activity other than trying to buy drugs. His lawyer told Reuters today that if Russian authorities had proof of espionage-related activities, they should make it public.

American officials, citing Mr. Tobbin's privacy rights, refused to release information on his background. Privately, they scoffed at the notion that he was involved in espionage.

But the allegations of intelligence ties stirred a tempest in the Russian press. And they appeared to surprise American officials, who said they had believed that they were close to settling the drug charges and securing Mr. Tobbin's exit from Russia.

Mr. Tobbin has been denied bail and has spent the last month in a Voronezh jail. American consular officials have visited him there and are scheduled to see him again next week.

Mr. Tobbin was a student at Voronezh University, an institution 275 miles south of Moscow frequently attended by foreigners under the Fulbright program. The venerable and prestigious State Department program sends hundreds of American students abroad annually and brings hundreds of foreigners to the United States.

An official at the Fulbright program referred a caller to the State department, which initially refused to answer inquiries about Mr. Tobbin.

Later today, a spokesman for the Department flatly rejected the implication that Mr. Tobbin worked for American intelligence. "The Fulbright program is not a training ground for spies," the spokesman said, reading from a statement.

An American official here said American experts were puzzled by the blowup. "Maybe some F.S.B. colonel is trying to get his stripe," he said, using the Russian abbreviation for the security service.

The accusations follow a flurry of spying and security-related cases that seem to underscore the rising level of suspicion of Westerners, especially Americans. Several incidents have made headlines in recent months, from the espionage conviction last year of Edmund Pope, a retired American entrepreneur accused of buying military secrets, to a trial under way in nearby Kaluga in which a social scientist is accused of feeding information to a front company for Western spies.

There have also been touchy developments between the United States and Russia. Most recently, a senior Federal Bureau of Investigation officer was arrested on a charge of spying for Moscow for 15 years.

And a former Kremlin aide, Pavel Borodin, was arrested on his way to inaugural celebrations in Washington under a Swiss arrest warrant on charges of money laundering that he denies. Mr. Borodin is being held in a federal detention center in Brooklyn.

Russian television said tonight that Mr. Tobbin was working on a thesis at Voronezh University, examining the changes in average Russians' political attitudes during a decade of independence.

A spokesman for the Voronezh arm of the Federal Security Service said he was arrested on Feb. 1 in the act of buying marijuana. Russian network television featured Mr. Tobbin's arrest prominently in newscasts, broadcasting videotape of a police search of his apartment.

The reports said he was arrested outside a Voronezh nightclub, apparently intoxicated, with about a half- ounce of marijuana. The police found an an additional one and a half ounces of marijuana in a bag in his apartment, the reports stated. An official videotape described by Reuters depicted a woman reading details of a search order and telling Mr. Tobbin that drugs had been found on his body. Mr. Tobbin was reported to have replied that "the drugs were planted."

Why the security agency waited a month to raise questions about Mr. Tobbin's ties to American intelligence was not clear. An American official in Washington said the security service took its complaints public today without notice to American diplomats who had visited Mr. Tobbin and were working on his release.

---

Accused Spy Suspected Loss of Access to Secrets, Prosecutors Say

February 28, 2001
New York Times
By JAMES RISEN and PHILIP SHENON
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/02/28/national/28SPY.html?pagewanted=all

WASHINGTON, Feb. 27 - A Russian intelligence source warned the United States in the mid-1990's that Moscow had a spy inside the Federal Bureau of Investigation, but investigators were unable to track the lead to Robert Philip Hanssen, the F.B.I. agent who was arrested on Feb. 18 on espionage charges, intelligence and law enforcement officials said today.

The tip from the Russian official prompted the F.B.I. to briefly begin a counterintelligence inquiry within its own ranks, officials said. But the investigation was abandoned after the same Russian source returned, several months later, and told the Americans that Moscow's agent was in the Central Intelligence Agency, not the F.B.I.

Officials now say they believe that the decision to drop the F.B.I.'s internal spy hunt allowed what they say was Mr. Hanssen's espionage to go undetected for several years. The government charges that Mr. Hanssen, a 25-year F.B.I. employee and counterintelligence expert, spied for Moscow for more than 15 years.

It was not until late last year that United States intelligence officials finally obtained Russian documents revealing that the mole was actually in the F.B.I. The disclosure stunned bureau officials, who had apparently assumed that the C.I.A., rather than their own agency, had been penetrated.

Several officials emphasized that other Russian sources also provided evidence pointing to a Russian mole within the C.I.A., and those reports fueled an intensive counterintelligence investigation of agency officials with access to Russian operations. One officer who came under investigation was put on administrative leave with pay for 18 months, while others underwent scrutiny as well. A C.I.A. spokesman declined to comment about the matter.

Attorney General John Ashcroft; the F.B.I. director, Louis J. Freeh; and the director of central intelligence, George J. Tenet, are scheduled to testify in closed session on Wednesday before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence about the Hanssen case, and the chronology of the handling of the investigation over the last few years is expected to be one focus of the hearing.

While the F.B.I. did briefly respond to the Russian source's warning that there was a mole inside the bureau, the bureau still did not institute many of the counterintelligence policy changes imposed on the C.I.A. after the 1994 arrest of the C.I.A. officer Aldrich H. Ames on charges of spying for Moscow. Unlike C.I.A. officers, veteran F.B.I. agents involved in intelligence matters are not routinely required to undergo periodic polygraph examinations.

The new disclosure that the F.B.I. received a warning of a mole came as the government released a letter it said Mr. Hanssen left for his Russian handlers on the day of his arrest that showed he suspected he was under investigation. Mr. Hanssen left behind the encrypted letter warning the Russians that the spying operation had been detected and that "something has aroused the sleeping tiger," according to an F.B.I. affidavit filed in federal court in Washington.

The F.B.I. also released an inventory of items that the agency said it seized from Mr. Hanssen's home, including an array of firearms, among them an AK-47 rifle, a 9- millimeter Beretta and a Colt detective's revolver, along with ammunition. The inventory also shows that F.B.I. officials confiscated statements of accounts at two Swiss banks - Credit Suisse and Bank Leu - and an assortment of computer equipment.

"It is time to seclude myself from active service," according to the letter attributed to Mr. Hanssen, which was reproduced in F.B.I. documents filed in court here in support of a search warrant. "I thank you for your assistance these many years. It seems, however, that my greatest utility has come to an end."

The F.B.I. said the letter was written on an encrypted computer disc by Mr. Hanssen, and placed in a trash bag that he left behind at a park near his home in northern Virginia, awaiting pickup by his Russian handlers.

Mr. Hanssen, who had been under surveillance, was arrested just as he left the park on Feb. 18. He has since been charged with spying for Moscow for 15 years in an espionage case that has been described by officials as potentially the most damaging in the bureau's history.

The bureau said the trash bag also contained seven secret F.B.I. documents related to the bureau's counterintelligence investigations against Russian targets.

The letter - which was addressed "Dear Friends" and signed Ramon Garcia, which the F.B.I. says is an alias used by Mr. Hanssen - said, "I have detected bursting radio signal emanations from my vehicle.

"I have not found their source, but as you wisely do, I will leave this alone, for knowledge of their existence is sufficient," the letter continued. "Amusing the games children play."

"Something has aroused the sleeping tiger," it added. "Perhaps you know better than I. Life is full of its ups and downs." The writer does not request an escape route, instead suggesting that he would reestablish contact next year.

"Unless there are new instructions, I will be in contact next year, same time, same place," the letter says. "Perhaps the correlation of forces and circumstances then will have improved."

F.B.I. officials said that despite the letter, they are not convinced that Mr. Hanssen really knew he had been detected. Officials noted, for example, that there was no burst transmission device in his car. Instead, officials speculate, he may have wanted the Russians to think he was in danger in order to break off his relationship with Moscow. At the time of his arrest, Mr. Hanssen, 56 years old, had told friends and associates that he was only several weeks from retirement, when he would have been cut off from access to F.B.I. computers. Officials also believe he was trying to obtain a job outside the F.B.I.

The letter was part of a government filing in Federal District Court in support of requests for court authorization to search Mr. Hanssen's offices at the F.B.I. and the State Department. It also reveals that just days before his arrest, F.B.I. investigators found classified documents in his safes.

Within three safes in his State Department office opened by the F.B.I. on Feb. 7, investigators found a file titled "Russian Espionage" and containing 20 to 30 documents, including classified documents downloaded from the F.B.I.'s computer system. Another file, titled "Russian Issues," contained more than 100 documents, mostly classified secret, including F.B.I. and State Department documents about sensitive sources. Mr. Hanssen was moved out of his State Department job on Jan. 12, but reappeared there unexpectedly on Feb. 9, the affidavit said.

It could not be determined exactly what year the Russian source told the United States that there might be a mole in the F.B.I.

---

U.S. student faces drug charges in Russia

02/28/2001
USA Today
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2001-02-28-russia.htm

MOSCOW (AP) - A day after publicizing the drug arrest of what it called an agent-in-training for American intelligence, Russia's Federal Security Service said Wednesday that no espionage charges would be filed.

The agency had suggested that John Edward Tobin, a 24-year-old native of Ridgefield, Conn., had U.S. intelligence training. It said his arrest showed that potential spies could be found even under cover of exchange students.

But a spokesman for the Federal Security Service, known by its Russian acronym FSB, stressed on Wednesday that Tobin faced only drug charges.

"He didn't ever carry out any spying activity on Russian territory. We don't have any claims on him," said Pavel Bolshunov, an FSB spokesman in Voronezh, the central Russian city where Tobin has been jailed.

Tobin was detained at a nightclub on Jan. 26 and was formally arrested on Feb. 1 for possession of 4.5 grams of marijuana. Bolshunov said Wednesday that Tobin will also be charged with distributing marijuana.

Under Russian law, this could mean either selling the drug or offering it free to friends, and the charge carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.

"The bags of narcotics were small, but by our laws it was enough to open a criminal case. This is not Holland, we have strict laws," Bolshunov said.

Bolshunov said the FSB "allowed itself to comment on the case," which he described as "small," because it found Tobin's alleged background as a U.S. army soldier trained in Russian language and interrogation suspicious. He said Tuesday that the FSB believed Tobin was an interrogation specialist who had been sent to Russia for additional country and language training.

Tobin, a Fulbright scholar, was doing research for a political science thesis on Russia's transition to democracy at the Voronezh State University, 300 miles south of Moscow.

Bolshunov said it was an embarrassment that the alleged U.S. agent-in-training was caught apparently smoking marijuana while on a study assignment in a foreign country.

"He discredited very serious institutions that might stand behind him," Bolshunov said.

Pavel Felgenhauer, an independent security and defense analyst in Moscow, said the suggestion of espionage links was a warning for foreign organizations working in Russia, such as the Fulbright exchange program.

"Those who sent him can be accused of being accomplices in spying activity, even if they have no access to secret information," he said. He said the arrest reflected anti-American sentiment among midlevel officials in Russia's security establishment.

-------- terrorism

Execute Terrorists at Our Own Risk

February 28, 2001
New York Times
By JESSICA STERN
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/02/28/opinion/28STER.html

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - As a nation, we have decided that terrorism that results in loss of life should face the possibility of the death penalty. But is this wise?

This question is worth asking, now that four men are being tried in New York for their alleged participation in the 1998 bombings of American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, which killed 224 people and wounded thousands. Two defendants, Mohamed Rashed Daoud al-'Owhali and Khalfan Khamis Mohamed, who allegedly worked for Osama bin Laden, could face the death penalty if convicted.

Another terrorist, Timothy McVeigh, is scheduled for execution on May 16 for his role in the bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City. Mr. McVeigh has refused to appeal his death sentence, preferring, he now says, to have his execution broadcast live on television. Some of his victims worry that Mr. McVeigh will become a martyr, inciting further violence.

One can argue about the effectiveness of the death penalty generally. But when it comes to terrorism, national security concerns should be paramount. The execution of terrorists, especially minor operatives, has effects that go beyond retribution or justice. The executions play right into the hands of our adversaries. We turn criminals into martyrs, invite retaliatory strikes and enhance the public relations and fund-raising strategies of our enemies.

Moreover, dead terrorists don't talk, while a live terrorist can become an intelligence asset, doling out much- needed information.

Of course, imprisoning, rather than executing, terrorists is not risk-free. Supporters could try to kidnap Americans, and refuse to release them until their colleagues are released. Still, other countries with far more experience in counterterrorism have concluded that imprisoning terrorists is the better option in the long run.

For instance, the United Kingdom in 1973 debated whether to repeal the death penalty in Northern Ireland. By a margin of nearly three to one, the House of Commons decided that executing terrorists, whose goal is often to martyr themselves, only increased violence and put soldiers and police at greater risk. In a highly charged political situation, it was argued, the threat of death does not deter terrorism. On the contrary, executing terrorists, the House of Commons decided, has the opposite effect: It increases the incidence of terrorism.

The Israeli government unwisely creates martyrs with what it calls preventive attacks, in which military or intelligence operatives kill those suspected of terrorism. By contrast, judges in Israel have never sentenced terrorists to death; capital punishment would be dangerous and counterproductive.

Terrorism's greatest weapon is popular support. We've already seen this dynamic at work. After Mr. bin Laden's 1998 embassy bombings, the United States retaliated by striking a purported chemical weapons facility in Sudan and a few crude camps in Afghanistan. The result? In the extremist religious schools I visited in Pakistan after the attack, Mr. bin Laden had become a hero. Parents named their children after him. Schools and businesses were renamed in his honor.

Does anyone believe that executing his minions will deter Mr. bin Laden from future terrorist attacks? The opposite is far more likely: the United States could become more frequently targeted.

Our most powerful weapon against terrorists is our commitment to the rule of law. We must use the courts to make clear that terrorism is a criminal act, not jihad, not heroism, not holy war. And then, we must not make martyrs out of murderers.

Jessica Stern, a lecturer at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, served on the National Security Council from 1994 to 1995.

---

Prosecutors Seek to Tie Conspiracy to Embassy Attacks

February 28, 2001
New York Times
By ALAN FEUER
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/02/28/world/28TERR.html

It was one week after the American Embassy in Kenya had been bombed. A suspect named Mohammed Saddiq Odeh was taken to Nairobi police headquarters, where he was interviewed by the Kenyan and American authorities.

The officials presented Mr. Odeh with three options: remain silent; talk only to the Kenyans; or talk to the Americans and the Kenyans together. Mr. Odeh suggested a fourth path: he wanted to talk to the Americans alone.

As the three United States officials in the room stepped out for a moment to discuss the proposal, Mr. Odeh changed his mind, an agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation testified yesterday. The agent, John M. Anticep, said Mr. Odeh figured that whatever he told the Americans would eventually be shared with the Kenyans and that "he might as well talk to both."

Agent Anticep recounted this story at the embassy bombings trial in Federal District Court in Manhattan, where Mr. Odeh and three other men stand accused of entering into a terrorist conspiracy that led to the destruction of the American Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania nearly three years ago. The agent went on to describe Mr. Odeh's 12-day interrogation by the authorities. It was the first time that details of his statements were given in open court.

So far, testimony in the three-week-old trial has focused on what prosecutors have called the terrorist plot that led to the bombings, and not the bombings themselves. By calling Agent Anticep, the prosecution has started to try to link the conspiracy to the actual attacks.

There was little fanfare, however, as the case shifted gears. There were no witnesses describing the carnage of the Kenyan blast or videotapes of the ruins it left. And the witness who preceded Agent Anticep was strikingly unassuming: an official from the Kenyan fisheries department who testified about a fishing business that Mr. Odeh owned.

Mr. Odeh's story, as related by Agent Anticep, began in the 1980's in the Philippines, where Mr. Odeh was studying engineering. His father gave him $1,000 to complete his thesis, but he used the money to fly to Afghanistan, where he fought the invading Soviets instead.

In Afghanistan, Agent Anticep said, Mr. Odeh was trained in the art of war. He was sent to the front line as a medic, but was injured in an air raid.

After his recovery, Mr. Odeh spent nearly three months immersed in the study of Islamic law. It was then, Agent Anticep said, that he was approached by Al Qaeda, the group run by Osama bin Laden, whom prosecutors have accused of masterminding the embassy attacks.

Although Mr. Odeh had been asked to join Al Qaeda before and had rejected the offer, this time he agreed, the agent said. "He liked Al Qaeda because it represented the whole Muslim world," Agent Anticep testified. "He said, compared to other groups, Al Qaeda was Islamically pure."

The statements by Mr. Odeh and two co-defendants, Khalfan Khamis Mohamed and Mohamed Rashed Daoud al-'Owhali, were the subject of a heated legal debate. Their lawyers sought suppression of the statements, saying the men were not offered lawyers or properly advised of their rights and, in some cases, were threatened with violence during questioning. Judge Leonard B. Sand has rejected these arguments and allowed the statements into the case.

The fourth defendant, Wadih El- Hage, was the focus of testimony before Mr. Odeh's statement was discussed. The defense and the prosecution both sought the answer to a critical question: Was Mr. El-Hage a member of Al Qaeda?

The man both sides were asking was L'Houssaine Kherchtou, a former member of Al Qaeda who left the group several years ago. Mr. Kherchtou is now cooperating with the government. As his fourth and final day of testimony ended, he gave conflicting testimony on whether Mr. El-Hage was a member of Mr. bin Laden's group.

When Mr. Kherchtou was asked by a federal prosecutor what Mr. El- Hage's relationship to Al Qaeda was, he answered, "That he's from Al Qaeda."

But minutes later, when asked the same question by Sam A. Schmidt, one of Mr. El-Hage's lawyers, the witness said he was not completely sure.

Mr. Schmidt tried to trip up Mr. Kherchtou by showing him a transcript of an interview he gave to a foreign intelligence officer shortly after the embassy bombing in Nairobi. Mr. Schmidt suggested that during the interview Mr. Kherchtou had said that he did not really know whether Mr. El-Hage was a member of the group.

Confronted with the transcript, Mr. Kherchtou said he had lied to the intelligence officer. That seemed to annoy Mr. Schmidt. So Mr. Schmidt, an aggressive cross-examiner, pursued the line of questioning forcefully.

"Would it be fair to say, right now as you sit here, that you do not know if Wadih El-Hage was ever a member of Al Qaeda?"

"That is true," Mr. Kherchtou said.

---

U.S. finds bin Laden an elusive target

03/01/2001
USA Today
By Jack Kelley
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/binladen/2001-02-28-main.htm

WASHINGTON - He's been indicted for the deaths of more than 200 people. He's been called the most serious threat to U.S. national security. He appears ready to strike again. Still, Washington hasn't executed what officials call a "snatch-and-grab" operation to capture terrorist Osama bin Laden. The U.S. government has planned for such an operation since 1996, U.S. officials tell USA TODAY, and at times has been able to pinpoint his location inside Afghanistan. But they have been stymied by his constant movement, the military risks and the probability that a captured or dead bin Laden would become a martyr to Islamic extremists around the world.

"Forget it. It's simply not doable," says terrorism expert Ken Katzman of the Congressional Research Service. "You're not going to get the cooperation of the surrounding governments. Everyone there would do what they could to thwart the operation."

Fear of detection keeps bin Laden, a 43-year-old dissident Saudi businessman, moving among mud huts, tent cities and caves at least three times a week and taking other precautions, U.S. officials say.

But that fear hasn't stopped his organization, Al-Qa'eda (pronounced ahl-KAY-duh), from planning attacks. U.S. officials say the group is conducting surveillance in preparation for a possible suicide bombing against the U.S. Embassy in Doha, Qatar. Al-Qa'eda also has issued threats against two U.S. diplomatic missions in Turkey, they say.

"The emir (bin Laden) lives with the expectation that America will try to get him, but it hasn't stopped him," says Ahmed Jabril, spokesman for the militant Muslim group Hezbollah, which U.S. officials say has ties to bin Laden. "Instead, the emir has been invigorated to carry out jihad (holy war) against America. He knows America is impotent against him."

Interviews with more than two dozen U.S. officials, terrorism experts and militant Muslims reveal logistical, military and diplomatic reasons why the United States has been unable, so far, to arrest bin Laden.

Tracking bin Laden

Bin Laden has one stated goal: to force out the more than 6,000 U.S. military personnel in Saudi Arabia. He says the Koran, the Islamic holy book, forbids Americans to enter the Kingdom because it is home to Islam's two most sacred sites.

To that end, he urged Muslim youths to kill Americans in a "Declaration of Jihad" issued April 23, 1996. "The walls of oppression and humiliation," bin Laden wrote, "cannot be demolished except in a rain of bullets."

Bin Laden has been indicted in New York in the bombings of the U.S. embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, in August 1998. He also is believed to be behind the attack on the USS Cole in Yemen on Oct. 12, which killed 17 sailors. Four of his alleged associates are on trial in New York in the embassy bombings.

It's no wonder that CIA Director George Tenet calls bin Laden the world's No. 1 terrorist.

"The threat from terrorism is real, it is immediate, and it is evolving," Tenet told the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence last month. "Osama bin Laden and his global network of lieutenants and associates remain the most immediate and serious threat."

Despite satellite observations, telephone intercepts and other information, analysts at the CIA's Counterterrorism Center in Langley, Va., and at the National Security Agency's headquarters in Fort Meade, Md., have only a general idea of bin Laden's whereabouts on any given day, officials say.

Part of the problem is that he can be detected only when he is in an open area. Although spy satellites are capable of pinpointing a cigarette butt lying on a sidewalk, they cannot see into structures or mountains.

Some officials believe bin Laden is living in or near the village of Farm-e Hadda, close to the city of Jalalabad in eastern Afghanistan. But other officials say he moved recently from the Afghan city of Qandahar to the central Afghan province of Uruzgan. He would be harder to track in Uruzgan because of the mountainous terrain and the large number of caves in which he could take refuge.

That lack of specific information on bin Laden's whereabouts poses one of the biggest obstacles to capturing him.

"We don't have the kind of intelligence that would give you comfort for pulling off (a snatch-and-grab)," says Paul Bremer, former U.S. ambassador for counterterrorism during the Reagan administration. "For that, you need extremely good, current information on his location - not where he was yesterday - and how he is guarded. You only get it from someone in his entourage."

Officials say they lack such intelligence, despite a recent effort to recruit bin Laden's followers. Some of those followers have been planted by bin Laden to give false information, they add.

Muslim militants associated with bin Laden say he has been able to keep pursuers at bay by varying his movements. Each night, his aides set up several sites where he can sleep, and he often picks one at the last minute. Sometimes only one or two aides know when and where he is going, they say.

To further stymie the hunt, U.S. experts say, bin Laden has stopped using satellite phones, which had been a reliable way to track him. As soon as he made a call, satellites 22,500 miles above the Indian Ocean determined his location with pinpoint accuracy. Now, officials say, he writes messages by hand and has assistants encrypt, or scramble, them onto computer disks that are difficult to decode. The encrypted messages have even contained maps and photographs of possible terrorist targets.

"All the satellites and gizmos in the world may not help you find this guy if he moves around and is careful about his security," says Gary Richter, a national security analyst at Sandia National Laboratories in Livermore, Calif.

"There's no sensor program with someone's DNA that you can say, 'Go find this person.' "

Military risks

Even if officials knew bin Laden's whereabouts, they would have a difficult time getting at him. He is protected by dozens of guards from the Taliban, the Islamic militia that controls most of Afghanistan. In addition, he is protected by dozens of his own followers, according to a CIA profile shown to USA TODAY. The profile describes the guards as fanatical and armed with AK-47 submachine guns and rocket launchers.

To ensure he has the protection of the Taliban, he regularly pays the militia's leaders large sums of money, officials say. Bin Laden, son of a Saudi construction magnate, is believed to have inherited $250 million, the CIA profile says.

The U.S. government has been planning for bin Laden's capture since 1996, according to two U.S. intelligence officials who say they helped draw up the plans. A CIA spokesman declined to comment.

According to the officials, the plans are updated regularly with new information on bin Laden's movements. But they added that troops are not on standby waiting for a chance to capture him. The plans predict that a commando-style raid, conducted with help from surrounding countries such as Pakistan, would probably result in unspecified U.S. casualties. They also conclude that success cannot be guaranteed.

"You're not talking about an operation where you show up in a Blackhawk (helicopter) and leave 10 minutes later," Bremer says. "You're talking about a full firefight, which means you're putting a lot of American lives at risk."

A failed military mission has political repercussions. Few U.S. officials want to repeat the failed rescue of 52 American hostages from Iran ordered by President Carter on April 24, 1980. An airplane and a helicopter involved in the rescue attempts collided, and eight U.S. servicemen died.

That's appears to be why, after the embassy bombings in Africa, President Clinton chose to attack bin Laden's bunker-reinforced camp with about 70 cruise missiles rather than send in a commando force, officials say. The Taliban says 24 people died in the August 1998 attack on the camp in the Afghan town of Khost.

Bin Laden was not at the camp during the attack; U.S. officials say he may have been tipped off.

Experts say there is no legal impediment to a U.S. effort to capture bin Laden. U.S. officials cite a 1989 memo by the Army's Judge Advocate General that concluded the government was entitled to use lethal force against foreigners who threaten to harm Americans.

Some Islamic leaders have suggested that the United States, with help from a foreign country, should capture and try bin Laden in a federal court or third country.

Terrorism expert Neil Livingstone, CEO of GlobalOptions, a crisis-management company based in Washington, says that would be "the worst thing we could do" because "his incarceration could be a catalyst for endless attacks against the United States."

Instead, Livingstone says, "We should treat him as a military problem: Target him individually, target his key supporters and use whatever means necessary to neutralize him. That's why God made 50-caliber sniper rifles."

In January, when unconfirmed reports said a U.S.-Russian commando team was planning to storm bin Laden's bases in Afghanistan, thousands of e-mails were posted on three Web sites that, officials say, are associated with bin Laden. Many called upon Muslims to "rise up against the West" if any attempt was made to capture bin Laden. Moscow accuses bin Laden of supporting guerrillas in the breakaway Russian region of Chechnya.

Alternatives to force

Many in Washington are pushing for a diplomatic solution instead of force. They hope someone in bin Laden's inner circle or the Taliban will hand him over to the West for trial. The FBI has offered a $5 million reward for information leading to bin Laden's conviction.

But Taliban officials have repeatedly refused to surrender bin Laden. "It will not happen today, tomorrow or the day after," Taliban Foreign Minister Wakil Ahmad Mutawakil told the Afghan Islamic Press recently. "The U.S. has no proof that Osama is guilty of anything." In response, the United States and Russia recently pushed through new United Nations sanctions against the Taliban, including an arms embargo, which they hope will force it to comply. Some in both countries also advocate more support for the Taliban's opposition in Afghanistan, led by commander Ahmad Shah Masood.

The United States needs "to bring whatever pressures it can to bear on the Taliban: cutting off their access, freezing their assets, ratcheting up the diplomatic pressure," Bremer says.

But other experts say the United States has bin Laden in a "box" and should keep him there.

"Sometimes it's better to leave a couple of people in place so you can monitor activities and find out where the other important players are," says terrorism expert Ben Venzke of iDefense, a cyberintelligence and risk-management company in Fairfax, Va. "You don't want to cut off the head you know before you identify the others you don't."

Meanwhile, only one thing's for sure, says terrorism expert Julie Sirrs, a former Defense Intelligence Agency analyst and now a counterterrorism specialist: "As we're debating policy, bin Laden will continue plotting to kill Americans."

---

Britain to ban 21 radical groups linked to terror

02/28/2001
USA Today
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2001-02-28-britain-terrorban.htm

LONDON (AP) - Acting under a tough new anti-terrorism law, Britain on Wednesday announced plans to ban 21 radical groups, including the organization of Saudi exile Osama bin Laden.

Many of the groups have no organized presence in Britain.

The new anti-terror measure, which took effect Feb. 19, empowers Britain to ban groups that commit violence abroad and to crack down on supporters who channel funds and recruits to terrorist organizations. Authorities had been expected to quickly make use of the new provisions.

The bans still need the approval of lawmakers.

The government's proposed list includes Greece's November 17, which has killed 22 people since 1975, targeting intelligence officials and diplomats; bin Laden's organization, al-Qaeda, which has been linked to a range of terror attacks including the 1998 bombings of two U.S. embassies in east Africa; and Abu Nidal, a group blamed for killing more than 300 people since 1973.

It also lists several groups seeking independent homelands, including ETA, which has killed 800 people in its 32-year quest for a Basque homeland independent from Spain; the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam of Sri Lanka; and the Kurdistan Workers' Party in Turkey.

Also on the list are the Mujahedeen Khalq, which seeks to overthrow Iran's Islamic government, and the Palestinian group Islamic Jihad. More than half the groups on the list are militant Islamic organizations.

"Any perception that we are targeting Muslim groups or the Muslim community is entirely wrong," said Home Office Minister Charles Clarke.

"We are determined to isolate and attack international terrorist organizations. We make no presumption that Muslim groups are any more or less likely to be terrorist."

Massoud Shadjareh, who chairs an unofficial London-based group called the Islamic Human Rights Commission, said the law runs counter to the "legitimate struggles" of many Muslims.

"Struggles in Palestine and Kashmir, for instance, are undertaken by the indigenous population against illegal occupation. International law accepts that such struggles are perfectly just," Shadjareh said.

There had been speculation that the government would move to outlaw violent animal-rights activists, but no domestic organizations are on the list.

"There was a view that it wouldn't strengthen our ability to deal with such organizations," Clarke said.

Before the ban takes effect, the list - contained in a draft order by Parliament - must be debated and approved by the Commons and the House of Lords, a process expected to take four to six weeks.

The new anti-terrorism law broadens the definition of terrorism to include religious or ideologically motivated violence and acts, such as disruption of power or computer systems.

It also forbids fund-raising for a banned group, possessing information considered useful to terrorists, posting weapons-making instructions on the Internet, speaking at meetings of a banned group, or even wearing a T-shirt promoting one of them. Critics say some of those provisions unfairly restrict freedom of speech.

Under the new measure, a suspected terrorist may be arrested without a warrant and detained for up to a week without charge.

Britain has long been criticized by many governments abroad for serving as a haven for groups regarded in their homelands as terrorist organizations.

Until now, Britain - unlike the United States - had not maintained a list of foreign organizations banned from operating on its soil. Only groups involved in violence in Northern Ireland have been prohibited.

While a few of the groups on the government's list - such as the Tamil Tigers - operate openly in Britain, many have no known presence in the country. Most have never attacked British targets.

The Tamil Tigers, who had threatened to end a unilateral cease-fire in their war with Sri Lanka's government if they were banned in Britain, said Wednesday they were still committed to a peace process but sharply criticized the legislation.

"The peace initiatives depend precariously on the leniency or the harshness in which this draconian legislation will be implemented by the law-enforcing agencies in Britain," chief negotiator Anton Balasingham said in a statement released by the Tigers' London office.

Clarke denied Britain had been pressured by foreign governments to add certain groups to the list.

"A number of foreign governments have made representations, but that is all they have done," he said. "The decision was made independently."

---

Arafat accused of adopting policy of terrorism

02/28/2001
USA Today
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/mideast/2001-02-28-mideast2.htm

JERUSALEM (AP) - The commander of Israel's military charged Wednesday that Yasser Arafat's Palestinian Authority has adopted terrorism as a policy, ordering attacks against Israel. Israeli officials have blamed Arafat for encouraging, or at least not stopping, armed attacks, but until now stopped short of charging that the Authority - established in interim peace accords with Israel - is a terrorist body.

Lt. Gen. Shaul Mofaz, the military chief of staff, said that while they are not official parts of the Palestinian Authority, bodies like the Fatah Tanzim militias are "operational arms of the Authority's leadership and Arafat himself." Senior officials are involved with "promotion, development, directing and supporting" attacks, he said.

Tanzim militiamen have carried out dozens of armed attacks against Israeli soldiers and civilians. Fatah is Arafat's personal power base.

"The implication is that the Palestinian Authority is being converted into a terrorist entity," Mofaz said, reading from an English text before a group of Jewish leaders.

Mofaz did not say how Israel should respond, but deputy Defense Minister Ephraim Sneh told Israel television that the military should increase the activity of its special, undercover units, "which I call guerrilla against guerrilla."

Incoming Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has demanded that Arafat stop all Palestinian violence before peace negotiations can resume. Palestinians blame Israel for the violence, pointing to travel restrictions in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and charging that Israel has overreacted with deadly force to Palestinian protests.

A senior aide to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat said the fighting will continue and that Israel is to blame for not pursuing peace talks. "Our people have no choice but to continue defending their land and struggling against the Israeli occupation," said Ahmed Abdel Rahman, the Palestinian Cabinet secretary.

Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat, meeting in Egypt with President Hosni Mubarak and Arafat, expressed concern Wednesday that violence would increase as the Mideast awaited new peace ideas from the U.S. administration.

During a tour of the region, Secretary of State Colin Powell "did not give any statements about occupation and the necessity of ending this occupation. Therefore we should not speak about a change in the American stance," Erekat said. "It might take this administration months to prepare its position in dealing with the Middle East question. This means there will be a vacuum."

Powell met with both Israeli and Palestinian leaders and urged the Israelis to lift an economic "siege" on the Palestinian territories.

Violence continued Wednesday in the West Bank and Gaza. A 5-year-old Palestinian girl was critically wounded by Israeli gunfire as she played near the entrance to a kindergarten in Gaza, Palestinian police and hospital officials said.

The Israeli army spokesman said soldiers in the vicinity returned fire when they came under fire from Palestinians, but the soldiers were unaware of having hit anyone. The army was still checking the incident, he said.

Five months of violence has claimed 411 lives, including 339 Palestinians, 57 Israeli Jews and 15 others.

Israeli army bulldozers uprooted Palestinian orchards in the southern Gaza Strip, at Rafah, close to the Egyptian border, witnesses said. The army said at least six grenades were thrown at Israeli army positions in the area Wednesday.

In the West Bank, Palestinians fired shots at an Israeli road construction crew across the border in Israel, wounding a worker in the hand and leg. The incident took place near the West Bank town of Qalqilya. Israeli forces closed off the town, preventing Palestinians from leaving or entering.

---

FBI arrests seven terrorist suspects

02/28/2001
USA Today
http://usatoday.com/news/nlead.htm
http://usatoday.com/news/washdc/2001-02-28-terror.htm

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Seven members of an anti-Iranian terror group have been arrested for collecting money that was used for weapons including mortars and rockets, the FBI said Wednesday.

The seven members of the Mujahedeen Khalq Organization of Iran, or the People's Holy Warriors, were arrested Tuesday following a three-year international investigation, the FBI's James DeSarno told reporters.

None of the seven is tied to any terrorist act in the United States or overseas, DeSarno said.

"The subjects in this case targeted (for fund-raising) travelers, primarily of Asian descent, as they arrived at Los Angeles International Airport. They dressed in business attire and used binders containing photographs of starving children and other documents," DeSarno said.

As much as $10,000 a day was collected in this manner, he said.

They also solicited members of the Iranian community, he said.

The cell raised the funds on behalf of a charity fund known as the Committee for Human Rights, but investigators found that the money was used to support terrorist actions, he said.

"It is believed that the money was used to buy arms, such as mortars and rocket propelled grenades," DeSarno said.

The group deposited $1 million in a Turkish bank during a 12-month period. In April 1999, another $400,000 was transferred to a used auto parts store in the United Arab Emirates, he said.

The mujahedeen participated in the demonstrations that helped overthrown the shah of Iran in 1978. The group is believed to have participated in the 1979 takeover of the U.S. embassy in Tehran, Iran, and to have killed several U.S. military personnel and civilians, DeSarno said.

The group, however, split from the Islamic Revolution led by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. It is now based in Iraq and seeks to overthrow Iran's Islamic government.

The State Department has said that Iraq has spent millions of dollars building a military base for the mujahedeen.

Wednesday afternoon a U.S. magistrate set bail for two suspects, denied bail for one and continued bail hearings for four. Some gave different names than those used by the FBI, and others needed the documents to be translated into Farsi.

The woman identified by the FBI as the cell leader, Tahmineh Tahamtan, 39, told the court her name is Roya Rahmani. Her hearing was continued, as were hearings for Mustafa Ahmady, 46; Alireza Mohamadmoradi, 30, who was previously identified as Ali Reza Moradi; and Mohammad Omidvar, a 44-year-old U.S. citizen.

Bail was set at $100,000 for Hossein Afshari, a 43-year-old U.S. citizen, and at $25,000 for Navid Taj, 50, a U.S. citizen who was first identified as Najaf Eshkoftegi.

Hassan Ghadi Rezai, 46, was detained without bail due to a lack of ties to the area and employment. His claim of citizenship was not immediately confirmed by the court.

All seven were scheduled for a March 14 preliminary hearing, but the government indicated it will seek a grand jury indictment that would allow the prosecution to proceed directly to a March 19 arraignment.

All were charged with support of a terrorist organization, which carries a sentence of up to 10 years in prison.

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Fun and Games with Nike

Nike now lets you personalize your shoes by submitting a word or phrase which they will stitch onto your shoes, under the swoosh. So Jonah Peretti filled out the form and sent them $50 to stitch "SWEATSHOP" onto his shoes.

Here's the responses he got... fun and games with Nike...

From: "Personalize, NIKE iD" <nikeid_personalize@nike.com To: "'Jonah H. Peretti'" <peretti@media.mit.edu Subject: RE: Your NIKE iD order o16468000

Your NIKE iD order was cancelled for one or more of the following reasons:

1) Your Personal iD contains another party's trademark or other intellectual property

2) Your Personal iD contains the name of an athlete or team we do not have the legal right to use

3) Your Personal iD was left blank. Did you not want any personalization?

4) Your Personal iD contains profanity or inappropriate slang, and besides, your mother would slap us.

If you wish to reorder your NIKE iD product with a new personalization please visit us again at www.nike.com

Thank you, NIKE iD

From: "Jonah H. Peretti" <peretti@media.mit.edu To: "Personalize, NIKE iD" <nikeid_personalize@nike.com Subject: RE: Your NIKE iD order o16468000

Greetings,

My order was canceled but my personal NIKE iD does not violate any of the criteria outlined in your message. The Personal iD on my custom ZOOM XC USA running shoes was the word "sweatshop."

Sweatshop is not: 1) another's party's trademark, 2) the name of an athlete, 3) blank, or 4) profanity.

I choose the iD because I wanted to remember the toil and labor of the children that made my shoes. Could you please ship them to me immediately.

Thanks and Happy New Year, Jonah Peretti

From: "Personalize, NIKE iD" <nikeid_personalize@nike.com To: "'Jonah H. Peretti'" <peretti@media.mit.edu Subject: RE: Your NIKE iD order o16468000

Dear NIKE iD Customer,

Your NIKE iD order was cancelled because the iD you have chosen contains, as stated in the previous e-mail correspondence, "inappropriate slang". If you wish to reorder your NIKE iD product with a new personalization please visit us again at nike.com

Thank you, NIKE iD

From: "Jonah H. Peretti" <peretti@media.mit.edu To: "Personalize, NIKE iD" <nikeid_personalize@nike.com Subject: RE: Your NIKE iD order o16468000

Dear NIKE iD,

Thank you for your quick response to my inquiry about my custom ZOOM XC USA running shoes. Although I commend you for your prompt customer service, I disagree with the claim that my personal iD was inappropriate slang. After consulting Webster's Dictionary, I discovered that "sweatshop" is in fact part of standard English, and not slang.

The word means: "a shop or factory in which workers are employed for long hours at low wages and under unhealthy conditions" and its origin dates from 1892. So my personal iD does meet the criteria detailed in your first email.

Your web site advertises that the NIKE iD program is "about freedom to choose and freedom to express who you are." I share Nike's love of freedom and personal expression. The site also says that "If you want it done right...build it yourself." I was thrilled to be able to build my own shoes, and my personal iD was offered as a small token of appreciation for the sweatshop workers poised to help me realize my vision. I hope that you will value my freedom of expression and reconsider your decision to reject my order.

Thank you, Jonah Peretti

From: "Personalize, NIKE iD" <nikeid_personalize@nike.com To: "'Jonah H. Peretti'" <peretti@media.mit.edu Subject: RE: Your NIKE iD order o16468000

Dear NIKE iD Customer,

Regarding the rules for personalization it also states on the NIKE iD web site that "Nike reserves the right to cancel any personal iD up to 24 hours after it has been submitted". In addition, it further explains: "While we honor most personal iDs, we cannot honor every one.

Some may be (or contain) other's trademarks, or the names of certain professional sports teams, athletes or celebrities that Nike does not have the right to use. Others may contain material that we consider inappropriate or simply do not want to place on our products. Unfortunately, at times this obliges us to decline personal iDs that may otherwise seem unobjectionable. In any event, we will let you know if we decline your personal iD, and we will offer you the chance to submit another." With these rules in mind, we cannot accept your order as submitted. If you wish to reorder your NIKE iD product with a new personalization please visit us again at www.nike.com

Thank you, NIKE iD

From: "Jonah H. Peretti" <peretti@media.mit.edu To: "Personalize, NIKE iD" <nikeid_personalize@nike.com Subject: RE: Your NIKE iD order o16468000

Dear NIKE iD,

Thank you for the time and energy you have spent on my request. I have decided to order the shoes with a different iD, but I would like to make one small request. Could you please send me a color snapshot of the ten-year-old Vietnamese girl who makes my shoes?

Thanks, Jonah Peretti

---

Help us id & train the next generation of people of color organizers!

Wed, 28 Feb 2001
FYI, Mike
"mike sysiuk" <msysiuk@hotmail.com>

Friends:

Please help us identify and train the next generation of people of color organizing for social justice!

The Movement Activist Apprenticeship Program (MAAP) is currently seeking applicants for the summer cycle for the nation1s premier organizer training program for people of color.

Since 1985, MAAP has brought motivated activists together for seven weeks to learn the art of organizing through field-based training with a labor or community organization. The internship integrates political development with skills training in five major areas: Contact, Research, Action, Fundraising, and Teamwork (CRAFT).

MAAP interns receive a $200 per week stipend for the six weeks in the field, with all housing, health care and local transportation expenses covered. At the conclusion of the program, MAAP connects graduates in promising jobs with progressive community and labor organizations.

MAAP is a program of the Center for Third World Organizing (CTWO), a national resource for organizations and individuals of color who are contributing to the movement for social and economic justice in the United States and around the world.

This summer1s MAAP program runs from June 13 to July 31. To participate in MAAP this summer, applicants must attend a weekend-long Community Action Training (CAT) in one of the following cities: either Providence RI, Atlanta GA, Chicago IL, or Oakland CA. All of these CATs will be held the weekend of April 27-29. There will also be a Spanish language CAT May 18-20 in New York City, attending applicants must be fluent in Spanish and English. The summer MAAP application deadline is April 15, 2001.

An easy application process with contact information is described below.

We need your help today by:

1. Contacting Irene at CTWO directly with the names of individuals or organizations who may be interested in MAAP (training@ctwo.org)

2. Forwarding this message to potential applicants, other organizations, and list serves.

We have included a description of the program below. Thanks in advance for your support in identifying and training the next generation of organizers of color!

In Solidarity,

Irene Juaniza MAAP Director Center for Third World Organizing

Description:

MAAP (Movement Activist Apprenticeship Program) is the nations premier training (internship) program for activists. MAAP brings motivated activists together for seven weeks to learn the art of organizing through field-based training with a labor or community organization. The internship integrates political development with skills training in five major areas:

Contact, Research, Action, Fundraising, and Teamwork (CRAFT).

Qualifications:

MAAP is for people of color at least 18 years old, with an interest in pursuing a career as a community or labor organizer. Applicants must complete the Community Action Training (CAT) as part of their application process prior the MAAP session of their interest.

Dates:

Summer Session: June 13-July 31 (application deadline-April 15, 2001)

Fall Session: September 26-November 13 (application deadline-August 15, >2001)

Application Process:

1. Answer the MAAP application questions (listed below) and submit them to MAAP with the $30 CAT registration fee (refunded if accepted into the MAAP program.)

2. Attend the CAT training, where you will be interviewed.

3. If accepted into the program, you'll start your internship with a four-day orientation training in Oakland.

4. Upon graduation, MAAP can assist you in finding an organizing position where you can continue to develop your skills.

Application Questions:

Answer the following questions (typed or clearly printed) and submit them to MAAP at the address below.

1. Name, address, phone and email (current and permanent)

2. Indicate Summer or Fall session

3. Indicate which CAT session you will be attending on April 27-29, 2001:

Providence RI, Atlanta GA, Chicago IL or Oakland CA (There will be a Spanish language CAT May 18-20 in NYC. Attending MAAP applicants must be fluent in English AND Spanish.)

4. School and/or organizational affiliation and position

5. Race/ethnicity and self-defined gender

6. Date of birth

7. Rate your ability - limited, intermediate, or advanced - in language(s) other than English for:

speaking, writing, spoken translation, written translation. Please indicate language and level for all areas.

1. What type of work do you want to pursue in the future and why?

2. Describe your current and past involvement with community, religious/spiritual, political, social welfare, and other groups.

3. How have these activities influenced your desire to become an organizer?

4. Please describe your family/personal/life experience and how it has influenced your views of social change and your desire to become an organizer.

5. What do you hope to gain by participating in MAAP?

Location:

Oakland, CA and field placement locations throughout the US.

Compensation:

MAAP interns receive a stipend of $200 per week stipend (before taxes) for the 6 weeks in the field, local transportation, travel from Oakland to your placement, housing and health insurance for the duration of the program. MAAP interns cover their round-trip transportation expenses from their city of origin to Oakland.

Contact:

For COMPLETE INFORMATION on the MAAP and/or CAT program, or to apply/register online visit our web site: http://www.ctwo.org. Individuals without internet access can call the MAAP Hotline: 510.594.4046.

Mailed responses can be made to: Irene Juaniza, MAAP Director Center for Third World Organizing (CTWO) 1218 East 21st Street Oakland, CA 94606 email: training@ctwo.org website: www.ctwo.org

About CTWO The Center for Third World Organizing (CTWO) is a national movement center that links organizers and activists with political education, organizing skills, and visions of a society based on racial, gender, and economic justice. Our programs recruit and train people of color as organizers, build new multiracial organizations in local communities, and advance political conversations through publications and convenings.

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.~ Margaret Mead

---

Job Opening at CHRE

Wed, 28 Feb 2001
"mike sysiuk" <msysiuk@hotmail.com>
Hawaii Futurists List <HRCFS-L@hawaii.edu>

JOB OPENING Senior Program Director Closing Date for Applications: April 6, 2001

The National Center for Human Rights Education (CHRE) is a national training and resource service center for social justice activists working in communities and schools. CHRE works to build a domestic human rights movement by training community leaders and student activists to apply human rights standards to issues of injustice in the United States. As an information clearinghouse and technical assistance provider, CHRE seeks to increase human rights understanding, improve cooperation among progressive social change movements, and use human rights education as a catalyst for social transformation.

CHRE is presently seeking a Senior Program Director. Salary is commensurate on experience ($35,0000-40,000) and benefits are included. Please see following job description:

Purpose of Position:

The position of Senior Program Director is a full-time salaried position with CHRE. The primary purpose of the position is to manage CHRE's programs, conduct and coordinate community education and training, develop educational tools, and conduct strategic outreach to diverse populations.

Qualification Requirements:

To perform this job successfully, an individual must have at least 10 years experience in non-profit program design, implementation, maintenance, and evaluation. The position requires exceptional interpersonal, organizational, word processing, communication skills; internet, e-mail, PowerPoint proficiency; the ability to facilitate numerous projects simultaneously; experience with staff and volunteer recruitment and supervision.

An interest or orientation in the human rights movement and the ability to work cooperatively in a diverse environment is imperative. A background in community organizing is preferred. A strong commitment to the mission, goals, and philosophy of CHRE is required. Additionally, an ability to work independently and as a team member is essential. This position requires a great deal of travel and weekend/evening obligations.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

Design, implement, and maintain CHRE's programs
Conduct strategic outreach to engage diverse populations
Present human rights education to school and community groups
Train social justice professionals in human rights education
Publicize CHRE's activities in print and audio media
Assist in writing and editing of articles for publication
Conduct research on human rights issues
Manage volunteer and internship program
Assist in fundraising planning and reporting procedures
Maintain organizational relationship with affiliated organizations and individuals
Assist in website maintenance

CHRE is an equal opportunity employer and strongly encourages applications from people of diverse backgrounds, women, people of color, people of all sexual identities, people with disabilities. CHRE's hiring policies include background checks.

If you are interested in joining CHRE, please send a cover letter, resume, three references, and writing sample no later than April 6, 2001 to:

Sarah Brownlee Administrative Program Director National Center for Human Rights Education PO Box 311020 Atlanta, GA 31131 FAX: 404/346-7517 chre@chre.org

Global Human Rights Education listserv

Archives of the list can be found at: http://www.hrea.org/lists/hr-education/

Cole Jackson Learning Ventures International 4831 Vaughn Avenue Orlando, Florida 32806 USA Voice: 407.240.8504 Fax: 407.839.8503 E-mail: colej99@earthlink.net Web: Creating Preferred Futures http://www.planet-tech.com/preferred_future

---

Day of Action Update #2

Wed, 28 Feb 2001
"Dan Beeton" <dbeeton@freeburmacoalition.org>

Dear Friends,

The Day of Action is two weeks away, and the list of groups participating is still growing. More than 35 actions are planned in 22 countries to protest against dams and speak out for free-flowing rivers and the communities that depend on them. We urge you to join us on March 14 for the Day of Action.

Below are descriptions of some actions planned for the Day of Action. Look below to see what is happening in your region and around the world. If you are thinking about doing an action but have not yet decided what to do, you may find ideas or inspiration in these actions. If you are planning an action and have not yet contacted me, please do so. (And, if you have contacted me but your action is not listed, be sure to send me a one paragraph description of your event.)

Please provide me with the following information:

* One or two paragraph description of your event
* Name of organizing group
* Contact person
* Address
* City, Postal code, Country
* Phone
* Fax
* E-mail
* Website

Note: Make sure to tell me if your action should NOT BE MENTIONED on our website or to the media (there are cases where the action needs to be kept quiet until the day it takes place).

We encourage you to also document your action, whether by photographs, video, written account, or all of the above. We will be preparing a packet documenting events organized for the 2001 Day of Action. Also, please keep local press that you receive regarding your action and send it to us along with a few photos. Please send to IRN (Attn: Gila Neta).

We are very excited about this year's Day of Action and look forward to standing together in solidarity for rivers and against dams on March 14!

Water for life, not for death!

Gila Neta International Rivers Network gila@irn.org

SOME OF THE ACTIONS PLANNED FOR THE MARCH 14, 2001 INTERNATIONAL DAY OF ACTION

---SOUTH ASIA---

PAKISTAN

Leadership for Environment and Development (LEAD) They will arrange a gathering in the mid stream down from the Tarbela Dam (one of the WCD case study focal dams). The gathering will consist of representatives from riverine indigenous communities, communities from coastal areas, fresh water and marine water fishermen, riverine pastoral communities, representatives from communities affected by Tarbela, people displaced by the Tarbela and Mangla dams. They are expecting a crowd of more than 500 people at the river bank. A media group will be facilitated to capture the event. For more information please contact Naseer Memon at memon123@hyd.paknet.com.pk

SRI LANKA

Environmental Foundation Ltd. (EFL) The Campaign Division of EFL would like to organize the following activities in Sri Lanka on the 14th of March 2001, to mark Anti Dam Day: ...
To Issue a press release ...
To organize a banner campaign ...
To organize a discussion panel For more information please contact Priya Monagurusamy at priya@ef.is.lk

---SOUTH EAST ASIA---

PHILIPPINES

Upland Development Institute, Inc They are actively engaged in opposing the Bakun Hydro Project in the Northern Philippines. This project proposes to do lots of tunneling and would greatly affect the upland communities along the process. For more information please contact Philian Weygan at philian@mozcom.com

The Cordillera Peoples Alliance with its partners in Pangasinan and in Itogon, Benguet will have the following activitiies for the International Day of Action:

1) March 8-11,2001 A Photo Exhibit about the San Roque Dam

2) March 12,2001 A Forum sponsored by Movement against San Roque Dam and all Megadams (MASRDAM) and the Cordillera Peoples Alliance (CPA) there will be a discussion on issues and updates about the San Roque Dam.

3)March13,2001 Launching Congress of TIMMAWA (Peasant Alliance to Free the Agno) For more information, contact Joan Carling at cpa11@skyinet.net or cpa-pic@mozcom.com

INDONESIA

Yayasan Tanah Merdeka They plan to organize a campaign to refuse Lore Lindu hydroelectric dam. For more information please contact Yusriwaty at hinoe@palu.wasantara.net.id

JAPAN

Sagami River Camp-in Symposium They are planning two actions:

1) An investigation in insects in the Sagami river aound the Sagami-ozeki dam on March, 10. Insects in the river are the indicator of the river health. They investigate every year before the dam started running. Over 60 kinds of endangered insects are found near the dam. Over 10,000 indivisual /m2 of acatic insects were found in the river. But there is only "the world of death" after the dam gates were closed in 1998. They are now claiming "Open the gates and let the river run". The biodiversity needs the stream.

2) A kayak trip down the Sagami river, to enjoy the river, March, 11. The Sagami river runs through Kanagawa prefecture; near Tokyo, in Japan. For more information, contact Ken-ichi Kanao at ken-ichi.kanao@nifty.ne.jp.

---EUROPE---

SPAIN

Ecologistas en Accion On Sunday March 11th 2001 on the occasion of the International Day of Action Against Dams, ecologist organizations and other organizations which are against the National Hydrologic Plan will have a demonstration in Madrid. For more information please contact Ecologistas en Accion at ecologistas@nodo50.org

UNITED KINGDOM

UK Rivers Network In Newbury, England, the results of a 3-year study of how polluted run-off from highways affects rivers were announced at a national conference by Dr Neil Ward of Surrey University. For more information please contact Chris Woodford at info@ukrivers.net

Ilisu Dam Campaign and Friends of the Earth They will be organising an event against the Ilisu dam in southeast Turkey. They'll be presenting a new report based on a fact-finding mission to the Ilisu area to Balfour Beatty, the UK company that wants to build the dam, and holding a peaceful protest outside their offices in London. The Ilisu Dam Campaign is also urging its supporters all over the country to take action on that day, whether just writing a letter, or holding a local rally. For more info, contact Kate Geary at ilisu@gn.apc.org.

NETHERLANDS

A direct action is being planned.

---LATIN AMERICA---

COSTA RICA

LA MESA NACIONAL INDIGENA They are struggling against the Boruca hydroelectric project that affects at least six communities, including 50% of Costa Rica's indigenous territories. For more information please contact Donald Rojas at mesanicr@sol.racsa.co.cr

ARGENTINA

Fundacion PROTEGER, Coordinacion Argentina, & Coalicion Rios Vivos They are planning an event in support of the International Day of Action. For more information please contact Jorge Cappato at jcproteg@satlink.com

---NORTH AMERICA---

USA

International Rivers Network, Ecology Center, & Partners in Responsible Tourism We are planning on holding a panel discussion on the UC Berkeley campus with several speakers focusing on both local and international water issues. The international focus will be on the campaign to stop the Bujagali dam in Uganda. For more information please contact Gila Neta at gila@irn.org

Glen Canyon Action Network They are doing a six-city tour promoting the Day of Action in conjunction with a host of organizations, March 5-14, culminating with a major ACTION in LA. The Tour's water truck will deliver fresh water to the endangered vaquita porpoises in the Gulf of California, and to the endangered species of the Colorado River delta. This rolling water tank also symbolizes the hundreds of millions of similar-sized tanks of water wasted by municipal and agricultural water agencies; water that never reaches the Colorado's dry and dying delta, and estuary. They will stop at the headquarters of the major water abusers in the seven-state Basin and ask them to institute conservation programs and "Giveback Less than 1%" of their total allocation to restore the Colorado Delta. For more information please contact Owen Lammers at owen@drainit.org

Hartnell College They are planning a poetry reading. For more information please contact Maria Tabor at riversparent@hotmail.com

The Thames Valley Chapter of Trout Unlimited and the Connecticut/Rhode Island Coastal Fly Fishers will be showing a 20 minute video on successful dam removal projects around the country. They are promoting the return to free flowing rivers in the Thames River Watershed. They are proposing that the Taftville Dam on the Shetucket River and the Tunnel Dam on the Quinebaug River be removed and the new land uncovered behind them be made into community parks. These dams are owned by Connecticut Light &Power (CL&P). They are planning to upgrade the electric generating plants and install fish ladders on these dams. The two dams are very old and have well exceeded their 50 year life span. They constitute a potential flood hazard should they fail and they serve as a major obstacle for migrating fish. For more info, contact Ron Whiteley at Rnwhiteley@aol.com.

CANADA

Consumers for Responsible Energy They are working with the Pimicikamak Cree Nation in calling governments and a corporation to honour its promises to the people and land effected by hydroelectric development that took place in the 70s and is being lived, felt today. They are planning actions regarding the Day of Action, suggestions have been to have a information session and a hydro-fast in solidarity with a marginalized community the southern/rich consumers do not understand. For more information please contact Robin Neustaeter at robinneustaeter@hotmail.com

Sentinelles Petitcodiac Riverkeeper Representatives from all 12 communities in their 3000 km2 watershed (Mi'kmag, Acadian, English) will gather on the Petitcodiac River to call on the Provincial Government of New Brunswick and the Federal Government of Canada to restore full tidal flow to the Petitcodiac River by replacing the causeway by a partial bridge. Since 1968, the causeway-dam across the Petitcodiac has decimated at least 7 species of fish from ther river system, has virtually eliminated the natural wonder of the tidal bore and has created one of the worst siltation problems in Canada (35 kms of downstream siltation, visible from space). The Petitcodiac River is believed to be the most documented case of a dying ecosystem in Canada (over 120 reports and studies in 40 years). For more information, contact Daniel LeBlanc at prkeeper@nbnet.nb.ca or visit www.petitcodiac.org.

DAM-RESERVOIR WORKING GROUP, OPIRG (Ottawa, Ontario) They are planning an Info-display: 1) Peer-reviewed/documented impacts of too much water abstraction, whether dams, diversions, reservoirs or whatever monkeywrenches the water cycle. 2) Video showing of "Suicide @ Cross Lake" concerning plight of Manitoba's Cree "Flood Bands". They will focus on how excess development threatens world's fisheries, fishers, indigenous and indigent communities, as well as jeapordizing World's oxygen, food, arable land supplies and social stability. And they will promote solutions to the problem. They will focus on Manitoba dams, Three Gorges and Narmada/SSP along with California's and Russia's. For more info, contact Dianne Murray at dianne@sandelman.ottawa.on.ca

Gila Neta International Rivers Network 1847 Berkeley Way Berkeley, CA 94703 USA tel: (510)848-1155 fax: (510)848-1008 http://www.irn.org

---

Beijing, Turning Tables, Defends Its Repression of Sect

February 28, 2001
New York Times
By ERIK ECKHOLM
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/02/28/world/28CHIN.html?pagewanted=all

BEIJING, Feb. 27 - The Chinese government lashed out today in frustration against critics of its harsh crackdown on the Falun Gong spiritual movement, making strenuous new efforts to paint the group as evil and murderous, and accusing the United States and other critics of harboring "ulterior motives."

The government also responded angrily to the State Department report on Monday that condemned China's rights record in 2000, and issued its own counterreport, "U.S. Human Rights Record in 2000." It detailed, for example, the large number of deaths by gunfire, the role of big money in election campaigns and the growth in the American prison population.

China is trying to polish its human rights image in part to aid its bid to play host to the 2008 Olympics.

Today the United Nations commissioner for human rights, Mary Robinson, who is visiting Beijing, said officials had indicated that China might ratify the United Nations Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights as early as Wednesday. But it was not clear, she said, whether China would fully accept the most sensitive clause, on free labor unions.

In a meeting with Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan, Ms. Robinson made a special plea on grounds of compassion for the release of a prominent democracy advocate, Xu Wenli, who was sentenced in 1998 to 13 years in prison and is said to be ill with hepatitis. She said Mr. Tang had promised to "look into it."

At a news conference specially called today by the State Council, China's cabinet, the head of a new anticult office likened the outlawed Falun Gong to an "illegal drug addiction," with similar deadly risks to practitioners and society.

"Tens of thousands of families have been destroyed" by the practice of Falun Gong, said the official, Liu Jing, chief of the office for the prevention and handling of cults. The office was established last fall as demonstrations by unrepentant members continued unabated.

Falun Gong, started in 1992 by Li Hongzhi, a former low-level official now living in the United States, attracted millions of Chinese with its blend of traditional meditative techniques and promises of spiritual salvation and physical well-being. It was outlawed in July 1999 after the group staged an audacious demonstration outside the leadership compound in Beijing to demand official recognition.

The widely reported harassment, arrests and beatings of Falun Gong followers have attracted growing international censure, a source of great frustration to Chinese officials, who say that other countries have also taken decisive, even violent actions to control "evil cults" and that the critics apply a double standard.

In meetings with senior officials here over the last two days and in a briefing for reporters, Ms. Robinson described her deep concern over the manner in which the crackdown on Falun Gong has been conducted.

"I emphasized that it's important to bear in mind at all times that individual Falun Gong members have human rights that must be respected," she said.

"It is very clear that the rights of individual members are being violated," she told reporters after an international meeting on China's system of "re-education through labor." That system, under which police authorities can send people accused of minor crimes to labor camps for up to three years with no judicial oversight, has reportedly been used to detain thousands of Falun Gong believers.

Ms. Robinson said she told China's justice minister that if China is to comply with internationally accepted standards of civil rights, as it says it intends to, then the labor re-education system must be abolished.

"There is no due process," she said at the briefing. "The system is inherently arbitrary."

She said the minister, Zhang Fusen, defended the system - which is often used to jail drug users, prostitutes and petty criminals as well as political and religious dissidents - as an important tool for rehabilitating people. But he did say it was open to improvement, Ms. Robinson said. Parliament is currently discussing how to revise the law governing labor re-education.

Mr. Liu, the head of the anticult office, would neither confirm nor deny estimates by rights monitors that 5,000 or more Falun Gong adherents had been taken to labor re- education camps. But he painted a radically different picture of those prison farms than is usually given by former inmates.

"The legitimate rights of people receiving re-education through labor are fully guaranteed by law," he said. The camps are governed by principles of "education, persuasion and redemption," he added, and inmates are treated "like teachers treat students, like doctors treat patients, like parents treat their children."

Mr. Liu also would not comment directly on reports that more than 100 Falun Gong members have died in police custody, instead changing the subject to what he called the high toll the "evil cult" had exacted.

By government estimates, more than 136 practitioners had committed suicide - seeking a path to heaven "at the instigation of Li Hongzhi's heresies," Mr. Liu said - even before the group was outlawed in July 1999. At least 103 more have killed themselves since then, he said, including a woman who died in a group self-immolation last month in Tiananmen Square.

Counting those who have died because they refused to seek medical care, believing Falun Gong's mystical powers would cure them, the movement has caused 1,660 deaths, Mr. Liu asserted.

Falun Gong leaders insist that the founder and spiritual master, Mr. Li, has never called on practitioners to commit suicide, that in fact he forbids it, and that he has not demanded that followers forgo medical treatment.

Of followers known to have died of illness, the government has not tried to determine how many were attracted to the spiritual movement as a last desperate measure after they had already been diagnosed with terminal cancers or other diseases.

---

Mexican Police Repel Trade Protesters

February 28, 2001
New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/02/28/world/28MEXI.html

CANCÚN, Mexico, Feb. 27 - The police beat back protesters today as they tried to march on a meeting of the World Economic Forum here.

The police reported at least 30 arrests, and the Red Cross said it listed at least eight injuries after the scuffle, far from the forum headquarters. President Vicente Fox had just spoken at the two-day meeting, urging executives and politicians to put a "human face" on globalization, which has benefited Mexico with fast growth and increased exports, though 40 percent or more of the people continue to live in poverty.

About 300 protesters came here.

"If you don't do something that catches their attention, they'll never pay attention," said Victor López of Mexico City, a high school student.

---

60 Fire Chiefs Join to Protest Commissioner

February 28, 2001
New York Times
By KEVIN FLYNN
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/02/28/nyregion/28FIRE.html?pagewanted=all

In a signal of a widening rift in the leadership of the Fire Department, dozens of the city's high-ranking chiefs asked yesterday to be relieved of some of their duties to protest a variety of actions by Fire Commissioner Thomas Von Essen.

The 60 chiefs hold the titles of division or battalion commanders and perform, at the commissioner's request, certain administrative tasks in addition to their core job of directing firefighters in the field.

In letters they submitted at the request of their union, the Uniformed Fire Officers Association, the chiefs asked to be relieved of the "commander" title and excused from the administrative chores that accompanied it, like attending staff meetings at headquarters.

Leaders of the union, which represents chiefs and other supervisors, said the chiefs have longstanding issues with the commissioner, but were particularly upset with how he handled a recent disciplinary matter involving two of their colleagues. But Mr. Von Essen said the dispute centers on his efforts to hold his commanders more accountable for their subordinates' performance.

As a practical matter, the letters are expected to have little effect. Even union officials acknowledge the department can simply refuse to honor the requests. And Mr. Von Essen said he would probably just abolish the commander title, at least for now, and distribute the administrative tasks among an expanded group of chiefs.

But union leaders said the gesture, which was first reported yesterday by Newsday, illustrated how serious the breach is between Mr. Von Essen and many of his senior chiefs. The union has scheduled a meeting for next week at which its leaders plan to hold a no-confidence vote on Mr. Von Essen, who they say has dismantled successful programs and allowed arbitrary transfers of officers.

"This commissioner has shown no respect for fire officers or anyone that has a different point of view," said Capt. Peter Gorman, the president of the union, in a letter to the membership.

Mr. Von Essen, on the other hand, characterized the dispute as a labor- management squabble in which the union is balking at the department's efforts to increase the accountability of its front-line supervisors. For example, he said the union has been upset by the department's efforts to get deputy chiefs to submit candid evaluations of their subordinates, instead of what he characterized as the uniformly glowing accounts they usually provide.

"I would agree that they have convinced some of their membership that I am the problem," Mr. Von Essen said of the union. "The truth is that we are asking people to do a better job of managing their resources and protecting firefighters and that has upset many people."

Both sides acknowledge that the most recent dispute grew out of the failure by two deputy chiefs from Brooklyn to submit timely evaluations of the battalion chiefs who worked for them. When pressed by department officials to submit something earlier this month, the chiefs had a single evaluation form filled out, made about 30 copies and then put different names on them to make it appear as if they had individually assessed each battalion chief, the department officials said.

Mr. Gorman said his union had negotiated a disciplinary agreement in which the two chiefs were transferred. But he said Mr. Von Essen broke that deal by then publicly humiliating the officers by having their misstep detailed in a department memo that was circulated in firehouses across the city.

"That was the straw that broke the camel's back," he said. "A character assassination was not part of the agreement."

Mr. Von Essen said he had never promised to keep the matter secret and said the mistake was significant enough to warrant further exposure, especially since those involved were senior supervisors who earn $120,000 a year. "It is almost impossible to get a deputy chief to honestly evaluate a battalion chief," he said. "They will all tell you the guy is terrific, on the record, even though later they will tell you, off the record, that he is horrible."

Mr. Von Essen said he viewed the mistake as so serious he would seek additional disciplinary sanctions against one of the chiefs, who he believes had the larger role in creating the bogus evaluations. His approach was embraced by Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, who expressed broad support for Mr. Von Essen during a City Hall press briefing.

"The commissioner did what he should do," the mayor said, "to say, `Well, gee, you really have to evaluate people. You can't send me false documents.' "

Mr. Gorman said the widespread disaffection with Mr. Von Essen did not stem from a single incident. He said that morale in the supervisory ranks has been sinking for years because the department has violated contract provisions and ignored federal worker-safety regulations. Department officials said those issues had largely been resolved.

The Uniformed Firefighters Association, the firefighters' union, does not have a direct role in the current dispute. Its president, Kevin Gallagher, issued a statement in which he said there are "real labor-management problems within the Fire Department," but he steered clear of any attacks on Mr. Von Essen, who once led the firefighters' union.

The chiefs involved in yesterday's protest, nine division commanders and 51 battalion commanders, oversee firefighting, as other division and battalion chiefs do, but also handle administrative responsibilities, such as representing their units at headquarters meetings. The commanders, who are selected by the commissioner, do not earn extra pay. But division commanders are given cars for their personal use, since they are often required to attend meetings on their days off, officials said.

Mr. Von Essen yesterday told the division commanders to return their cars immediately.

---

Anti-globalizers gather in Mexican resort

February 28, 2001
Washington Times
http://www.washtimes.com/world/worldscene-2001228211733.htm

CANCUN, Mexico - Wearing padded life vests and helmets, anti-globalization protesters marched through Cancun's streets yesterday, demanding that political and business leaders gathered at a beachfront hotel do more for the world's poor.

The march came hours before President Vicente Fox was scheduled to make the closing speech at the World Economic Forum's Mexico meeting.

Mr. Fox has said he wants to create more jobs and raise wages in an attempt to help the country's impoverished. But protesters gathered here have said the government should focus first on helping the poor with improved social services.

------- Onelist (submissions from subscribers)