------- Index of Articles
NUCLEAR
Australia Soldiers Exposed in Tests
Diggers lay in N-dust
Fed Govt urged to reject missile defence scheme
Australia Backs U.S. Missile Scheme, Wants Arms Control
Britain Exposed Soldiers to Radiation Tests
OPG, Bruce Power complete lease agreement
Iraq Worked On Radiation Bomb to Use Against Iran
NKorea Warns Seoul on Missiles
Russia turns down request by US over missile use
Australia: U.S. Missile Plan Only Part of the Discussion
Talks Don't Calm Foes of Antimissile Plan
Pakistan Criticizes U.S. Missile Defense Plans
Pakistan, China Warn Against U.S.
Bush Seeks Backing for Missile Plan
Turning Rocky Flats' weapons into wildlife
Castro Praises Colin Powell
Nuclear Comeback
MILITARY
Chinese Firm Settles Charges
Colombia Arrests Smuggler Suspects
Ethiopia's top security intelligence official murdered
-------- NUCLEAR
-------- australia
Australia Soldiers Exposed in Tests
MAY 12, 09:00 EST
http://wire.ap.org/APnews/center_story.html?FRONTID=AUSANT&STORYID=APIS7BUJ85G0
CANBERRA, Australia (AP) - Australian and New Zealand atomic military personnel involved in British nuclear tests 45 years ago received excessive doses of radiation, according to a government document released Saturday from official archives.
The document, released by the National Archives of Australia, shows that more than one-third of 76 personnel involved in nuclear tests in 1956 received a radiation dose greater than the maximum ``permissible exposure'' in a week.
It said some of the personnel were earlier exposed to radiation ``during clothing trials'' - a detail that appeared to corroborate the statement by a British researcher who said she had uncovered documents that proved servicemen were deliberately exposed to radiation in nuclear tests in the 1950s.
Professor Sue Rabbitt Roff, a senior research fellow at Scotland's Dundee University, said one Australian archive document showed that 24 men were chosen for the trials from an ``indoctrinee force'' of more than 250 British, Australian and New Zealand officers and civilians.
It said the men walked, crawled and drove through a fallout zone for three days after an atomic explosion, testing out three types of protective clothing to determine which would provide the best protection against radioactive contamination in conditions of warfare, according to Rabbitt Roff.
The document released Saturday is dated Oct. 12, 1956, and is on an Australian Military Forces Central Command letterhead. It refers to the Buffalo Trials - a series of four atmospheric nuclear tests.
It names 75 people - 70 Australian soldiers, sailors and airmen and one civilian, as well as five New Zealand officers - who were exposed to radiation on Sept. 28 or 29 of that year.
Twelve British atomic bombs were detonated on Australian territory - three on the Monte Bello islands off Western Australia, and nine at Maralinga, South Australia - between October 1952 and 1957.
The archive document was released after Australia's government said Friday it would investigate Rabbitt Roff's claims.
The British and Australian governments have resisted pressure from veterans of the tests to accept that they suffered from radiation exposure and deserve compensation.
``The U.K. nuclear test program did not involve the deliberate exposure to radiation of service personnel without their prior knowledge and consent,'' Britain's defense ministry said in a statement Friday.
``Officers involved were provided with full training together with film badges to determine the protection afforded by military clothing in a fall-out area,'' it said.
The British defense ministry said that in 1998, the European Court of Human Rights found that the servicemen were not deliberately exposed to harmful levels of radiation.
-----
Diggers lay in N-dust
By MARK LUDLOW
12 May 2001
http://search.news.com.au/
A WITNESS to British nuclear testing at Maralinga in the 1950s says he saw up to 250 servicemen being forced to roll in radioactive dust.
The claims follow startling new revelations that the British Government used Australian servicemen as guinea pigs in nuclear testing.
The British have always denied this.
Documents unearthed by a Scottish academic have ignited the sensitive issue of testing in outback Australia in the 1950s and 1960s.
The Howard Government said it would investigate the claims before deciding whether to raise the matter with the British Government.
The documents allegedly list 24 servicemen who tested clothing to determine what protection they would offer against radiation in a nuclear war.
Senior research fellow at Dundee University Sue Rabbitt Roff said the documents challenged the British Government's claim that people were never used for experiments after nuclear tests.
"They were asked to wear particular types of clothing and crawl and walk through ground zero some hours and days after the detonation of nuclear weapons at Ma! ralinga to see whether their clothing would give them any sort of protection from the radioactive materials," she said.
The documents were uncovered at the National Archives in Canberra.
Brisbane veteran Terry Toon, who was in Maralinga for 11 months in 1956 with the army engineer corps, said yesterday he saw truckloads of serviceman being dumped 5km from ground zero after the Marcoo blast in October 1956.
He said he was be mused by the sight of hundreds of men rolling in the dust.
It was believed small doses of radiation were not harmful to soldiers.
----
Fed Govt urged to reject missile defence scheme
Australian Broadcasting,
May 12, 2001
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newslink/weekly/newsnat-12may2001-34.htm
Environment and antinuclear weapons groups are urging the Federal Government and the Opposition to reject American plans for a national missile defence scheme.
US State Department assistant secretary, James Kelly, is meeting with Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer in Adelaide this morning, on Washington's efforts to create new defences against missile attack.
Mr Kelly says he will be asking Mr Downer for comments, suggestions and concerns about creating an antimissile shield.
The Australian Peace Committee says the scheme will trash the Antiballistic Missile Treaty opening the way to the resumption of a global nuclear arms race.
----
Australia Backs U.S. Missile Scheme, Wants Arms Control
May 12, 2001
By Marie McInerney
http://news.excite.com/news/r/010512/03/news-arms-australia-dc
ADELAIDE (Reuters) - Australia expressed strong support Saturday for the United States' proposed anti-missile shield, but said other arms control issues like a comprehensive nuclear test ban treaty also needed to be on the agenda.
Australia's Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer said he believed the U.S. missile defense system would go ahead with broad international support, despite misgivings expressed by a range of nations, including Russia, China, Germany and France.
"It will proceed," he told reporters after meeting with U.S. Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly in Adelaide.
"The more people understand what is being talked about here, the more they think it makes sense," Downer said, noting an "evolution" in the positions taken by European nations in recent days as U.S. envoys have fanned out across the globe seeking support for President Bush's plan.
Downer said Australia's support for missile defense was not at all contingent on U.S. support for other arms control efforts.
But he said the launch of global talks on the issue by the U.S. had provided an opportunity to urge Washington to ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty and to seek progress on controls over fissile material and biological weapons.
"We've just made it clear to them that...we completely understand what they're saying on the need for a missile defense system, but there are other broad strategic issues which we think need to be on the agenda as well," Downer said.
The U.S. has not tested nuclear weapons since 1992 but its Senate has refused to ratify the test ban treaty. Australia also wants the U.S. to take more of a leadership role on moves to halt global production in nuclear-bomb making fissile material, such as plutonium and highly-enriched uranium.
KELLY OFF TO CHINA
Kelly said in a statement Friday that his talks with Australia's conservative government and center-left opposition Labor Party to date had been "cordial, productive and enjoyable."
"On return to Washington, the Australian comments will be carefully considered with those of other allies and interested countries as the administration develops its next steps," the U.S. Embassy said in the statement.
Downer also described his meeting with Kelly as "very good and very positive," but offered few details on whether the joint Australian-U.S. monitoring facility at outback Pine Gap would play a role in a future missile defense system.
He accused Labor, which looks set to take power at a year-end election, of playing "opportunistic opposition politics" with reservations over Pine Gap's involvement in missile defense but would not say if Kelly had raised concerns about Labor's stand.
Officials said Kelly would leave Australia Saturday for Singapore, ahead of his visit Monday to Beijing, which has said it is "firmly opposed" to the missile defense plan.
Beijing reprimanded Australia in April over its recent support for U.S. policy on Taiwan, and Downer sought to avoid further diplomatic clashes, saying he had made clear to Kelly that Australia had a "very strong relationship" with China.
"We can have an alliance relationship with the United States and we can have a good, constructive and friendly relationship with China," he said. "The two things are not imcompatible."
-------- britain
Britain Exposed Soldiers to Radiation Tests
May 12, 2001
By REUTERS
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/world/international-austral.html?searchpv=reuters
LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's Ministry of Defense admitted on Saturday it had used British and Commonwealth servicemen in radiation experiments in Australia in the 1950s and 1960s.
A spokesman for the ministry said 18 officers had been exposed to low-level radiation to test the effectiveness of protective clothing during a series of experiments in Australia.
But he denied the men had been used as guinea-pigs, saying every man had given his consent to the experiments.
The admission came after a researcher from Scotland's Dundee University unearthed documents which showed the ministry had tested men. The government has always previously denied any servicemen had been deliberately exposed to radiation.
``The UK nuclear test program did not involve the deliberate exposure to radiation of service personnel without their prior knowledge and consent.
``The UK did conduct atmospheric nuclear tests in Australia in the 1950s and 1960s during which Commonwealth personnel participated in logistical support work.
``The purpose of the tests was to see how effective various pieces of protective clothing were.''
He said the officers had been ordered to walk, run and crawl through contaminated nuclear test sites at Monte Bello Island off Western Australia and at Maralinga in the southern Australian desert in the 1950s.
However he said the 18 officers were provided with full training and badges to determine the extent of the protection from the clothing. They said all exposed skin was covered during the tests and the radiation doses were constantly monitored.
Australian Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer said his government would examine possible links between illnesses suffered by servicemen and exposure to radiation.
``I think where a clear connection can be made between servicemen and women suffering as a result of the tests and what happened during those tests, of course the federal government would look at those questions,'' he told the BBC.
Sue Rabbit Roff, of Dundee University, told the BBC: ``I think there were clear reasons for doing these sort of experiments at the height of the cold war.
``The issue is that they (the British government) have always denied doing these experiments and they have never conducted any medical support or follow-up for the men who were involved in these experiments.
She said a total of 24 men from New Zealand, Australia and Britain had been tested, though the ministry put the figure at 18.
-------- canada
OPG, Bruce Power complete lease agreement
May 12, 2001
Reuters
http://news.excite.com/news/r/010512/11/energy-ontario
TORONTO - In one of the largest transactions in Canadian history, Ontario Power Generation and Bruce Power announced Saturday the close of an eagerly anticipated lease agreement on the Bruce Nuclear power facility in southwestern Ontario.
The C$3.2 billion ($2.1 billion) deal will make Bruce Power, a partnership between British Energy Plc and Canadian uranium supplier Cameco Corp., the operator of the Bruce A and B stations until 2018, with an option to extend the lease an additional 25 years.
"Today's transaction is positive news for employees, the community, the electricity consumer and the nuclear industry," Ron Osborne, OPG president and chief executive officer, said in a statement.
"This agreement injects private equity into the Bruce facilities and represents a major step towards opening the Ontario electricity marketplace to competition."
The transaction had been widely anticipated since Canada's Nuclear Safety Commission announced Wednesday it had approved an application by Bruce Power to operate the Bruce nuclear power stations.
The Bruce nuclear power stations include the four operating reactors at the Bruce B station, with a capacity of 3,140 megawatts, and the four inactive reactors at the A station, located about 125 kilometres (78 miles) northwest of Toronto.
Bruce Power recently announced plans to restart two of the dormant reactors, provided the deal to lease the reactors was completed and regulators approved its plans.
Ontario -- Canada's most populous province and the nation's economic engine -- has already pushed back a November 2000 deadline to deregulate its power sector by one year.
Deregulation is now expected to start this fall, although the Ontario government has not confirmed this.
-------- iraq
Iraq Worked On Radiation Bomb to Use Against Iran
By Colum Lynch
The Washington Post
Saturday, May 12, 2001
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A17873-2001May11?language=printer
UNITED NATIONS, May 11 -- Iraq acknowledged today that it tried to develop a radiation bomb to use against Iran in 1987 but claimed that the program was scrapped before the weapon was tested.
"Iraqi specialists explored the technical and practical aspects of this idea," Iraq's U.N. ambassador, Mohammed Douri, wrote U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan. "They abandoned it on the grounds that it was not efficacious and would cause soil contamination that . . . would be difficult to clean up after the expulsion of the invaders."
Iraq divulged the attempt to develop radioactive bombs in 1995 to the U.N. Special Commission (UNSCOM), the agency then responsible for disarming Iraq. But the effort came under renewed scrutiny in recent weeks after a Washington-based group, the Wisconsin Project on Nuclear Arms Control, placed a copy of an Iraqi report on the effort on a public Web site. The report, whose contents were first published in the New York Times, was provided to the United Nations more than five years ago.
Unlike a nuclear bomb, which produces an atomic chain reaction, a radiation explosive unleashes a less devastating cloud of radioactive material that can cause vomiting, cancer and death. The bombs were intended to be dropped from a plane on Iranian troop concentrations.
Baghdad's contention that it never tested the explosive contradicts other Iraqi statements to the United Nations.
"On August 29, 1995, a [U.N.] biological inspection team was given a brief account by Iraqi authorities of an experiment in the radiological weapons field," according to a December 1995 UNSCOM report. "A number of lead-shielded metal containers with irradiated zirconium were exploded at a chemical weapons test site."
"Why do they deny it?" asked Hamza Khidhir, a former director of Iraq's nuclear weapons program who defected to the United States. "They developed it, they tested it, and they described it in their own report."
-------- korea
NKorea Warns Seoul on Missiles
May 12, 2001
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Koreas-Missile-Defense.html?searchpv=aponline
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- North Korea's state-run newspaper warned Saturday that South Korea will be doomed to ``ruin and death'' if it participates in Washington's proposed missile defense system.
The Rodong Sinmun accused South Korea of strengthening its military with new U.S. weapons and preparing to join Washington's plan to build a missile shield.
``If the South Korean authorities get involved in the missile defense .... they will get nothing but ruin and death,'' said Rodong in a commentary carried by North Korea's official foreign news outlet, KCNA.
President Bush's administration plans to deploy a missile defense system capable of protecting the United States and its allies from nuclear attacks by countries like North Korea and Iraq.
China, Russia and North Korea vehemently oppose the plan, warning it would trigger a new arms race.
Earlier this week, South Korean officials thanked visiting U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage for explaining Washington's plans for a missile defense system. But they were careful not to take a stand on the issue.
The United States remains South Korea's most important ally, but Seoul also is courting Chinese and Russian support to improve ties with Pyongyang.
Relations between North and South Korea improved significantly following the historic summit in June between the leaders of the two Koreas.
But North Korea recently suspended most government contacts with Seoul, jeopardizing rapprochement on the divided Korean peninsula. The North Korean move was seen as a protest against the Bush administration's tougher stance toward the communist North.
North Korea says U.S. and South Korean allies are beefing up their militaries to attack the North.
``The South Korean authorities' reckless arms buildup .... is pushing the improving North-South relations and situation on the Korean Peninsula to a grave phase,'' the Rodong Sinmun was quoted as saying by KCNA. ``No one can predict what will happen in the days ahead.''
KCNA was monitored in Seoul.
The Korean Peninsula was divided into communist North Korea and pro-Western South Korea in 1945. Their 1950-53 Korean War ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty.
-------- missile defense
Russia turns down request by US over missile use
ireland.com - The Irish Times
Saturday, May 12, 2001
By Chris Stephen
http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/world/2001/0512/wor11.htm
RUSSIA: Washington's mission to persuade Russia to agree to the deployment of an anti-ballistic missile system met a resounding "no" in Moscow last night.
In what was always likely to be the hardest stop for the envoys sent by President Bush around the world to garner support, Russian diplomats said they were unconvinced after two hours of talks with the US Defence Secretary, Mr Paul Wolfowitz.
"The United States has been unable to give us arguments to convince us that they see clearly how to solve the problem of national security without damaging disarmament agreements which have stood for 30 years," said the Foreign Ministry spokesman, Mr Alexander Yakovenko.
Some idea of the importance Russia attached to the visit by Mr Wolfowitz came with news that their foreign minister, Mr Igor Ivanov, saw no reason to delay a scheduled trip to Finland to meet the delegation.
The US team is believed to have argued that the National Missile Defence system is planned to shoot down only small numbers of missiles fired by "rogue states" and will not neutralise the threat of mass attack from Russia.
But Moscow is insisting that such a system will break the terms of the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, upsetting the balance of power between Moscow and Washington.
Russia's President, Mr Vladimir Putin, also too busy to meet the delegation, signalled his own opposition this week during the annual Veterans' Day parade in Red Square. "The entire experience of post-war history shows it is impossible to build a safe world for oneself alone and, still less, at the detriment of others," he said.
Not least of the US problems is that they are not sure exactly what they are selling. President Bush earlier this week said missile defence would go ahead, whatever the attitude of Russia, but scientists have yet to design a missile defence system that works.
Last night the US was putting on a brave face, describing the talks as "substantive" and saying more discussions will be held.
"It is a first step in a consultation process which will continue over the weeks ahead," said the US Deputy National Security Adviser, Mr Stephen Hadley.
The US will get another chance next week when Mr Ivanov meets Secretary of State Mr Colin Powell in Washington, and US officials said a first meeting may be arranged between Mr Bush and Mr Putin ahead of their planned talks at an international summit in Italy in July.
This meeting is sorely needed. US-Russia relations are generally agreed to be at a 10-year low. Both sides have recently expelled dozens of diplomats accused of being spies, and the US has accused Russia of selling missile technology to the same "rogue states" that the defence scheme is aimed at.
Mr Wolfowitz is leading one of three teams which have spent the week touring world capitals to talk about the missile defence plan, and has earlier this week visited France, Britain and Germany. Another team under the Deputy Secretary of State was yesterday in India and a third in Turkey.
Meanwhile, Washington added Ukraine and Canada to the list of countries it will consult on the missile defence proposals, the State Department said yesterday. State Department officials will go to Kiev today and another team will visit Ottawa next Tuesday, the spokesman, Mr Richard Boucher, said.
----
Australia: U.S. Missile Plan Only Part of the Discussion
May 12, 2001
By REUTERS
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/world/international-arms-au.html?searchpv=reuters
ADELAIDE, Australia -- Australia expressed strong support Saturday for the United States' proposed anti-missile shield, but said other arms control issues like a comprehensive nuclear test ban treaty also needed to be on the agenda.
Australia's Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer said he believed the U.S. missile defense system would go ahead with broad international support, despite misgivings expressed by a range of nations, including Russia, China, Germany and France.
``It will proceed,'' he told reporters after meeting with U.S. Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly in Adelaide.
``The more people understand what is being talked about here, the more they think it makes sense,'' Downer said, noting an ``evolution'' in the positions taken by European nations in recent days as U.S. envoys have fanned out across the globe seeking support for President Bush's plan.
Downer said Australia's support for missile defense was not at all contingent on U.S. support for other arms control efforts.
But he said the launch of global talks on the issue by the U.S. had provided an opportunity to urge Washington to ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty and to seek progress on controls over fissile material and biological weapons.
``We've just made it clear to them that...we completely understand what they're saying on the need for a missile defense system, but there are other broad strategic issues which we think need to be on the agenda as well,'' Downer said.
The U.S. has not tested nuclear weapons since 1992 but its Senate has refused to ratify the test ban treaty. Australia also wants the U.S. to take more of a leadership role on moves to halt global production in nuclear-bomb making fissile material, such as plutonium and highly-enriched uranium.
KELLY OFF TO CHINA
Kelly said in a statement Friday that his talks with Australia's conservative government and center-left opposition Labor Party to date had been ``cordial, productive and enjoyable.''
``On return to Washington, the Australian comments will be carefully considered with those of other allies and interested countries as the administration develops its next steps,'' the U.S. Embassy said in the statement.
Downer also described his meeting with Kelly as ``very good and very positive,'' but offered few details on whether the joint Australian-U.S. monitoring facility at outback Pine Gap would play a role in a future missile defense system.
He accused Labor, which looks set to take power at a year-end election, of playing ``opportunistic opposition politics'' with reservations over Pine Gap's involvement in missile defense but would not say if Kelly had raised concerns about Labor's stand.
Officials said Kelly would leave Australia Saturday for Singapore, ahead of his visit Monday to Beijing, which has said it is ``firmly opposed'' to the missile defense plan.
Beijing reprimanded Australia in April over its recent support for U.S. policy on Taiwan, and Downer sought to avoid further diplomatic clashes, saying he had made clear to Kelly that Australia had a ``very strong relationship'' with China.
``We can have an alliance relationship with the United States and we can have a good, constructive and friendly relationship with China,'' he said. ``The two things are not imcompatible.''
----
Talks Don't Calm Foes of Antimissile Plan
May 12, 2001
By PATRICK E. TYLER
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/05/12/world/12MISS.html?searchpv=nytToday
MOSCOW, May 11 - After a week of consultations with allies and former adversaries, the Bush administration has failed to overcome deep concerns over whether its proposal to erect a broad array of missile defenses and abandon a major arms control treaty would undermine the strategic balance and promote an arms race.
An American team led by Deputy Defense Secretary Paul D. Wolfowitz was still wrapping up its meeting with top Foreign Ministry officials here today when the ministry spokesman, Aleksandr Yakovenko, announced that the American delegation had not addressed Russia's fundamental questions.
"The United States has been unable to give us arguments to convince us that they see clearly how to solve the problems of international security without damaging disarmament agreements which have stood for 30 years," Mr. Yakovenko said.
It was a message that echoed the skepticism expressed from London to Berlin and Tokyo to Seoul. China, which regards American missile defense plans as a threat to cancel the effectiveness of its small nuclear missile force, was conspicuously absent from the list of countries consulted thus far this week.
Moscow's message today included a new warning from military leaders that "Russia possesses the technical, intellectual and technological potential" to respond to a unilateral American deployment of missile defenses. Prominent Russian foreign policy specialists have hinted that Russia may provide China with technologies to strengthen or expand its nuclear arsenal.
But there were also strong hints today that Moscow was continuing to press in private for a prominent role in a missile defense program that would bind it more closely with Europe and the United States, a strategy that might leave China more isolated. In any case, the almost unanimous chorus of alarm in Europe has allowed Moscow to appear less confrontational. Military leaders here were under strict instructions last week not to publicly criticize President Bush's May 1 speech on his missile defense plan until promised consultations took place.
As three American teams fanned out across continents this week, many countries tried to convey receptivity to new ideas on how to confront the threat from "rogue" nations that are arming themselves with ballistic missiles. But they also emphasized that Mr. Bush continued to withhold critical details about how his missile defense proposal would be accomplished, who would participate, who would not and how nations left outside the umbrella might react.
Mr. Wolfowitz acknowledged this problem during his stop in Berlin. "It is much too early, I think, even for us to ask people to agree with us," he said, "because we have not come to firm conclusions yet ourselves."
Speaking in Helsinki today, Russia's foreign minister, Igor D. Ivanov, who travels to Washington next week to meet Secretary of State Colin L. Powell, said, "We live in hope, and Russia will do everything it can to ensure that as a result of these talks, international security will be strengthened and no harm will be done to anyone's interests."
But Mr. Ivanov added, "In matters of strategic stability, it pays to act in a way that does not cause any harm."
Though Russian officials made no public mention of the fact that Mr. Wolfowitz was chosen to lead the American delegation here, the diplomatic corps took note that the White House had sent to Moscow a senior official associated with formulating a harder line toward Russia.
In a March interview with a British newspaper, Mr. Wolfowitz said Russia was one of the worst proliferators of missile technology, adding, "these people seem to be willing to sell anything to anyone for money."
"It recalls Lenin's phrase that the capitalists will sell the very rope from which we will hang them," he said.
Since those remarks, public comments by Mr. Wolfowitz have been more restrained and constructive. When he emerged from the Foreign Ministry today, he stood silent as Stephen J. Hadley, the deputy national security adviser, made a brief statement.
"The fact that we are meeting and opening this dialogue is a sign of progress," Mr. Hadley said. "It is a first step in a consultation process which will continue over the weeks ahead and include discussions and consultations between our two presidents."
This evening, after the Wolfowitz group met with top military leaders here and departed for Washington, the Russian general staff issued a harsher statement saying that Mr. Bush's initial approach to missile defense was "mistaken" and warned that a "unilateral withdrawal" by the United States from the 1972 Antiballistic Missile Treaty would incite a Russian response "to ensure the interests of its security and the security of its allies."
A military spokesman, Col. Gen. Valery L. Manilov, added that Russia continued to press for a "joint" approach to missile threats in which Russia would participate with "the Americans, the Europeans and other partners."
President Vladimir V. Putin, who has been pressing for an early summit meeting with Mr. Bush, was silent today. In his only response to Mr. Bush's May 1 speech, Mr. Putin said he wanted a "constructive" dialogue with "our American partners." But, he added, "the existing system of international security must not be destroyed, and joint work on its improvement is needed."
Two other Bush delegations visited Turkey and India today. In Ankara, Marc Grossman, the undersecretary of state for political affairs, seemed to suggest that America's missile defense program would cast a broader net of protection than previously stated.
"We hope there will be as wide a participation as possible in the development of such a system," Mr. Grossman said. "This is about protecting all countries," he added, and not about making "any country more vulnerable."
In New Delhi, Deputy Secretary of State Richard L. Armitage emerged "delighted" from talks with Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, who has applauded Mr. Bush's proposal to make further reductions in nuclear arsenals. But like most leaders consulted this week, Mr. Vajpayee offered no endorsement for the Bush missile defense plan.
For his part, Mr. Armitage said that the American defense shield as now envisaged was "one which is directed only against a handful of missiles" and that the shield might actually forestall an arms race by making it unnecessary for some states to produce ballistic missiles "as a response to a threat from a neighbor."
It was not clear whether his reference was aimed at China, whose nuclear arsenal is likely to be expanded - something India regards as a threat - in response to missile defenses that would weaken the credibility of China's nuclear arsenal.
Mr. Armitage also singled out Pakistan today as a possible "rogue" state - along with North Korea, Iran and Iraq - whose missile programs were of concern to the United States.
While Mr. Armitage was in New Dehli, the Chinese prime minister, Zhu Rongji, was holding consultations with Pakistan's leaders.
----
Pakistan Criticizes U.S. Missile Defense Plans
May 12, 2001
By REUTERS
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/world/international-pakista.html?searchpv=reuters
ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan's military government criticized Washington's proposed nuclear missile defense system during an official visit by Chinese Prime Minister Zhu Rongji.
``We are against any action that re-initiates a nuclear and missile race,'' military ruler Pervez Musharraf was quoted as saying on Saturday by the official APP news agency.
At a later news conference, Chinese spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue said the U.S. nuclear missile defense plan (NMD) had been raised by Musharraf during a meeting on Friday without any Chinese input.
``The Pakistani side, I think, talked about its position on the NMD and the premier just listened to whatever he said,'' Zhang said.
However, she made clear that Beijing was skeptical of the scheme that President Bush says would eliminate the risk of missile attacks by ``rogue states'' such as North Korea and Iraq.
``There are several American delegations going around the countries to explain its position on NMD,'' she said.
``I believe that everywhere the delegations go there are many questions raised and, as far as I can see, there are more questions than answers. So I think there are many, many questions on people's minds.''
The criticism of the controversial U.S. plans by Musharraf contrasted with the support shown by arch-rival India a day earlier during a visit to New Delhi by U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage.
China, a traditional ally of Pakistan, is suspicious that the U.S. plan for a missile shield would neutralize its nuclear force. APP said the comment by Musharraf during the four-day visit by Zhu was in response to a question by a Chinese journalist.
NO CRITICISM OF INDIA
However, Zhang was careful not to be drawn into criticizing India, saying ties to Pakistan were not at the expense of Indian-Chinese relations.
``We feel that all of the countries in South Asia are countries that we should develop a relationship with,'' she said. ``India is also a close neighbor of China and over the years we have improved our relationship with India and we are willing to develop further our relationship with India.''
Musharraf faced a balancing act on NMD, with ties to China and the United States both considered vital to the heavily indebted nation.
The two leaders had not answered a question on the U.S. proposal and growing strains in U.S.-Chinese relations at a joint news conference on Friday evening following Zhu's arrival.
Pakistan is believed to have received key nuclear and missile technology from China -- although diplomats say there is no indication of such transfers in recent years.
Pakistan has had close ties with Washington in the past, but there have been differences in recent years while U.S.-Indian relations have warmed.
That was underlined by praise on Friday from Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee for Bush's vision of nuclear disarmament. While India stopped short of openly endorsing the missile shield program, Armitage said he was delighted.
The visit by Zhu has focused on economic cooperation, with the two countries announcing seven project agreements. The biggest was Pakistan's award of a $319 million contract to a Chinese firm to build a 900 km (550 mile) refined oil pipeline.
Zhang said a further two infrastructure projects -- a port and a coastal road -- were approved in principle but a feasibility study was needed.
Zhu was due in Lahore, Pakistan's second largest city, on Sunday and planned to fly from there on Monday. His regional tour will then take him to Nepal, Sri Lanka, the Maldives and Thailand but not to India.
----
Pakistan, China Warn Against U.S.
May 12, 2001
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Pakistan-China.html
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) -- China and Pakistan warned Saturday that a U.S. missile shield program will trigger a nuclear arms race -- a deadly prospect for the volatile subcontinent where both India and Pakistan possess nuclear weapons.
The U.S. National Missile Defense System figured prominently in talks between Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji and Pakistan's army ruler Gen. Pervez Musharraf, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue said Saturday.
Pakistan considers China a key ally against its uneasy neighbor, India. Pakistan and India have fought three wars since British rule of the subcontinent ended in 1947. China and India also fought a war in 1962 in the Himalayan region that separates the two countries.
China is one of the biggest suppliers of weapons to Pakistan, but there were no defense deals signed on this trip. However, Zhu said Friday that the two countries would continue their military cooperation in line with international treaties.
U.S. intelligence reports accuse China of giving Pakistan nuclear-capable missiles and technology, a charge both countries deny.
Zhu's visit to Pakistan is largely an economic and trade mission. The two countries do a $1.2 million annual trade.
On Friday -- the first day of Zhu's four-day visit to Pakistan -- he signed seven economic agreements, including pacts on railways, energy and mining.
Zhang, the Chinese spokeswoman, said Afghanistan's protracted civil war also featured in talks between the two leaders Saturday.
Beijing expressed its concern over Islamic militancy in Afghanistan and suspected links between the ruling Taliban and an Islamic separatist movement in China's northwestern Xinjiang province.
Earlier Saturday, Zhu applauded Pakistan's military, saying the 1999 army takeover has brought stability to the country and revived an ailing economy.
``During the last 18 months, a lot of improvement has been made,'' Zhu told a luncheon of business representatives in Islamabad.
``I am confident that under (Musharraf's) leadership Pakistan's economy will do better in the future,'' Zhu said.
The military took power in Pakistan in October 1999. It threw out the civilian government of Nawaz Sharif, accusing his administration of relentless corruption and economic mismanagement.
Musharraf promises to hold general elections by October 2002, in keeping with a Supreme Court decision.
----
Bush Seeks Backing for Missile Plan Aides Lobby Officials in Key Foreign Capitals, but Encounter Continued Skepticism
By Peter Baker
Washington Post Foreign Service
Saturday, May 12, 2001
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A16312-2001May11?language=printer
MOSCOW, May 11 -- President Bush's emissaries fanned out around the world this week seeking support for, or at least acceptance of, his plan to build a missile defense system, a gesture of inclusion welcomed by allies and others fearful he was developing a go-it-alone foreign policy.
But if he hoped to win converts to his vision of a nuclear shield, Bush might be disappointed when his representatives return home. Leaders in Western Europe expressed lingering skepticism, while Russia continued to warn that construction of a comprehensive antimissile system could unravel decades of arms control agreements.
"I would put it like this: We still have more questions than answers," Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Yakovenko said after Bush aides met with senior officials in Moscow today. But he added, "The most important thing is that consultations have begun and are going to be continued."
The sweep of the Bush team was unusually wide as envoys from Washington sat down with counterparts around the globe, from the Kremlin to New Delhi, capital of one of the world's newest nuclear powers. The State Department said that in addition to Moscow and New Delhi, the envoys have met with officials in London, Paris, Rome, Warsaw, The Hague, Copenhagen, Istanbul, Tokyo and Seoul, and have scheduled meetings in Canada and Ukraine.
The outreach campaign contrasted with Bush's unilateral decision in March to renounce the Kyoto global warming treaty, a move that engendered bitterness even among friends of the United States riled that he would make such a decision without consulting them. Missile defense seemed to be shaping up along the same lines, but last week Bush promised to seek advice and input from key countries, including not just U.S. allies but also outspoken opponents of missile defense.
In many of the meetings over the past several days, the U.S. delegations have explained Bush's rationale for developing a defense against missiles developed by small, hostile nations such as North Korea, and then listened to often detailed and sometimes pointed questions posed by military and civilian leaders from host countries.
"We presented our point of view, but we were very, very interested in what the Turkish side had to say," Undersecretary of State Marc Grossman said today after a meeting in Istanbul, where he hoped to win the support of a strategic NATO ally in a neighborhood that includes two of the nations most worrisome to the Pentagon, Iran and Iraq.
In Moscow, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz and deputy national security adviser Stephen Hadley emerged from the Russian Foreign Ministry to report "good, substantive discussions" and promised there would be more to come.
"The fact that we are meeting and opening this dialogue between the Bush administration and the Russians is a sign of progress," Hadley said. "The Russian side has great, serious and important questions. We began to give them some answers to those questions. We've done a lot of thinking about the subject; we'll obviously have more thinking to do."
Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov heads to Washington next week for the first time since Bush took office. "But it is not clear to us how to solve the problem of international security if we break all the [arms control] agreements," Yakovenko said. "They can't answer this question. That's the problem. They have no clear idea how to solve the problem of international security without having all the international treaties in the field of disarmament."
Western European leaders were somewhat less blunt in voicing their doubts. The French government issued a terse statement saying that "our position and our questions are well known; we repeated them to the American delegation."
Michael Steiner, foreign policy adviser to Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, said Germany's questions have not been answered either. "That is why the German position is that we say neither 'yes' nor 'no,' " he said. "We will position ourselves in light of the answers to these questions."
U.S. officials received a warmer response in India, where the government has embraced the larger concepts of Bush's strategic plan if not the specifics. Deputy Secretary of State Richard L. Armitage, who had passed along a letter from Bush accepting an invitation to visit India, emerged from Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's house proclaiming himself "delighted" with his meeting.
Vajpayee heads a country that first tested a nuclear device in 1974 and has a long-standing rivalry with Pakistan, a neighbor that has tested its own nuclear weapons.
He said Bush's plan could lighten "the shadow of nuclear terror," according to Reuters news service.
Armitage arrived in New Delhi after stopping in Seoul, where the South Korean government remains officially neutral on the missile defense plan. North Korea, however, lashed out today at Seoul's request for U.S. missile launchers, asserting they could be used in a missile defense system on the disputed peninsula.
"The U.S. [missile defense plan] is a product of its ambition to dominate the world as it is aimed to make other countries' armed forces useless and strike any country as it pleases," said an editorial in the official Korean Central News Agency cited by Reuters.
Correspondent Molly Moore in Istanbul contributed to this report.
-------- u.s. nuc facilities
-------- colorado
Turning Rocky Flats' weapons into wildlife
Mark Udall and Wayne Allard
Thursday, April 12, 2001
http://www.denverpost.com/cda/columnist/article/detail/0,1070,158%257E19680%257E36%257E,00.html
Rocky Flats, northwest of Denver, once manufactured nuclear weapons that helped the United States win the Cold War. Since halting production of weapons at the site in the late 1980s, the Department of Energy has been involved in one of the most comprehensive cleanups ever undertaken at a former nuclear weapons plant.
As the cleanup proceeded, local citizens and elected officials have been discussing what should become of Rocky Flats once the cleanup is complete. After years of discussion, a consensus has emerged among the stakeholders and the communities that surround Rocky Flats. They agreed that Rocky Flats should not be developed, but rather preserved as open space for future generations to enjoy.
Currently, the 6,300-acre facility is home to 67 different species of wildlife, rare tallgrass and prairie plant communities, and contains critical habitat for several endangered species. Such natural characteristics are unique and are at risk of being lost to development along the Front Range. After much study and consultation with the local communities, it was determined that the best way to preserve the current wildlife on site was to designate Rocky Flats as a national wildlife refuge. This designation would not only protect the current plants and wildlife, but would protect the area from future development.
In essence, it would result in turning weapons into wildlife.
In early March, we introduced the Rocky Flats Wildlife Refuge Act of 2001, legislation to turn Rocky Flats into our nation's newest wildlife refuge. It is important to note that this new designation would only happen once the ongoing cleanup of Rocky Flat is complete. The legislation contains important provisions that will ensure the site is cleaned up to the highest level possible.
For that reason, and others, our legislation has the support of the Colorado congressional delegation and has been endorsed by Gov. Bill Owens, Colorado Attorney General Ken Salazar, the Rocky Flats Council of Governments and numerous other state and local officials from the communities surrounding Rocky Flats.
Our legislation is a consensus bill that has been put together by local citizens and the stakeholders. The legislation:
Requires DOE to clean up Rocky Flats under levels established by regulators, the public and the state of Colorado.
Maintains federal ownership of Rocky Flats.
Prohibits annexation of the site by any local government.
Allows for future transportation needs along Indiana Street.
Protects existing property rights.
Authorizes the creation of a Rocky Flats Museum to commemorate the workers who helped the United States win the Cold War.
This legislation, if enacted, will allow us to write a new chapter in the history of Rocky Flats. It will protect one of the last remaining open space areas in the metro area, while keeping us on track for the safe cleanup and closure of Rocky Flats.
But most important, this bill allows us to leave something for our children and grandchildren. Decades from now, while they are observing a herd of deer and elk, or watching a hawk search for a meal, or walking among the wildflowers, they will thank all of us involved in this effort for having the vision to turn weapons into wildlife.
Wayne Allard is a Republican U.S. senator from Colorado. Mark Udall is a Democratic U.S. Representative from Colorado.
-------- us nuc politics
Castro Praises Colin Powell
May 12, 2001
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Malaysia-Castro.html
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) -- Colin Powell became the first senior U.S. official in four decades to offer even faint praise of Fidel Castro when he said the Cuban leader has ``done good things for his people.'' On Saturday, Castro had some praise of his own for Powell.
``I do not think that he is a warmonger,'' Castro said of the U.S. secretary of state during a three-day visit to Malaysia. ``He is the only one who has dared say that Cuba has done something good.''
The kind words aren't likely to fundamentally change U.S.-Cuba relations. When Powell made his comment to a congressional subcommittee last month, he quickly added that Castro remains ``trapped in a time warp'' and that the Bush administration will continue to shun Castro politically and diplomatically.
And Castro quickly added that Powell ``is part of the government'' and ``has to take the same line as the government.''
But the praise, however guarded, is a rarity in a relationship defined by its mutual animosity and a four-decade-old U.S. trade embargo of Cuba.
Castro made his comment to reporters Saturday while dozens of shoppers inside the world's tallest buildings -- Malaysia's Petronas Towers -- scrambled to greet him. A few lucky ones did.
The comment followed days of harsh criticism of the United States during visits to Algeria, Iran and Malaysia -- three nations sympathetic to Castro's communist revolution.
On Friday, he told a group of Malaysian businessmen and academics that globalization was a threat to nations' sovereignty and praised Malaysia's ``spirit of rebellion.''
For the past week, Castro has been taking his case against the United States to friendly audiences in the Middle East and Asia.
Castro played tourist on the second day of his Malaysia tour Saturday, visiting the world's tallest buildings before retiring to private meetings with officials and businessmen.
``I was closer to heaven here,'' Castro told reporters after touring the Petronas Towers, one of several mega-projects undertaken by Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad.
Mahathir, like Castro, is an outspoken critic of Washington and what he calls an unfair international financial system. He's given the Cuban leader an extraordinarily warm welcome, with the two countries signing an accord Friday to bolster bilateral cooperation in trade, science and technology.
``We are the rebels of the West,'' Castro said. ``And Malaysia is the rebel of the East.''
Cuba has been trying to bolster relations with old and new allies in the Arab world and Asia as part of its drive to form political and financial partnerships with developing nations following the 1991 fall of the Soviet Union, Cuba's one-time patron.
Castro, 74, and Mahathir, 75, both among the world's longest-ruling leaders, share a deep suspicion of the United States.
But Castro's communist Cuba is one of the region's poorest nations, while capitalist Malaysia is one of Southeast Asia's richest. And while the United States is Malaysia's largest trading partner, Cuba languishes under the U.S. trade embargo.
Castro's current tour follows a decade of travel limited mostly to the Western Hemisphere.
During his appearance before the House appropriations subcommittee hearing last month, Powell said that Castro has fomented revolutions and insurgencies for most of his 42 years in power, ``but he is no longer the threat he was.''
-------- us nuc waste
Nuclear Comeback
Washington Post Editorial,
Saturday, May 12, 2001
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A17849-2001May11?language=printer
FOR THE NUCLEAR power industry these are heady days. Spiking natural gas prices and power shortages in California have focused new attention on nuclear power's role in keeping the country's lights on. As electric deregulation moves forward, nuclear plants have sold for unexpectedly high prices. Vice President Cheney signaled again Tuesday that the administration's energy task force will support greater reliance on nuclear power. There's even talk that some company might order up a new nuclear generating plant, something that hasn't happened in more than 20 years.
Behind the buzz are achievements worth recognizing. Though Three Mile Island and Chernobyl remain etched in public memory, the industry has built a solid safety record over the past decade. Nuclear generators' efficiency has increased to record levels, and nuclear plants now produce roughly one-fifth of the nation's electricity. The 103 plants operating in the United States crank out power without pumping carbon dioxide or smog-causing pollutants into the atmosphere. In a world facing global warming, that's a significant advantage. But significant questions remain, too, including what sort of subsidies would be required to make new plants economically viable, whether that money would be better invested in other carbon-free generating methods and how to addressconcerns about nuclear proliferation.
A fundamental problem is what to do with the radioactive waste the plants generate. The federal government is more than a decade behind in its efforts to establish permanent underground storage for the toxic wastes: It agreed by law to begin accepting spent fuel in 1998, but the storage site proposed at Yucca Mountain, Nev., is still under study and even if approved won't be ready until at least 2010. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham's formal recommendation on whether the site should be developed is due later this year. The state of Nevada hotly opposes use of the Yucca Mountain site, as do many environmentalists. Opponents raise serious questions about how well the mountain would isolate the deadly waste over time; they also cite potential hazards involved in shipping spent fuel to the site from plants around the country.
Meanwhile, radioactive waste continues to pile up at plants, which have been storing it safely but were never designed as permanent repositories. Some states, fearful of becoming de facto long-term disposal sites, have begun placing limits on expansion of fuel storage around nuclear plants. Roughly 40,000 metric tons of waste are now awaiting permanent disposal; 2,000 tons more are produced each year. At that rate it will take only 15 years to reach the limit of Yucca Mountain's planned capacity. With plants that were once expected to phase out now renewing their licenses, it's already time to think about a second long-term storage site. The nuclear industry says the disposal issue is a political problem, not a technical one. Maybe so; but it ought to be solved before new plants are built.
-------- MILITARY
-------- arms sales
Chinese Firm Settles Charges
Fines to Be Paid Over Export Law Violations in Aerospace Deal
By Bill Miller
Washington Post
Saturday, May 12, 2001
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A17916-2001May11?language=printer
A Chinese-run company agreed yesterday to pay $2.3 million in fines and penalties to settle criminal and administrative charges stemming from a business deal in which aerospace equipment purchased from McDonnell Douglas Corp. wound up in a Chinese military plant.
Prosecutors said the case marks the first time that a Chinese state-run company has waived sovereign immunity and been convicted of a crime against the United States. Although the U.S. investigation began more than five years ago, its resolution comes against the backdrop of worsening U.S.-Chinese relations and amid a spate of allegations that Chinese firms are engaged in industrial espionage.
TAL Industries Inc. -- a California-based subsidiary of the China National Aero-Technology Import and Export Corp. (CATIC), a government-owned defense firm that is the Chinese military's main purchasing arm -- entered a plea of no contest to a charge of felony violation of U.S. export laws.
By making such a plea, the firm did not admit guilt but also did not contest the prosecution's evidence. As part of its plea agreement in U.S. District Court, the firm agreed to pay a $1 million fine and to spend five years on probation. Judge Paul L. Friedman entered a finding of guilty.
In a related move, TAL Industries agreed to pay $1.3 million in penalties to settle administrative proceedings before the Commerce Department; and it will give up its U.S. export privileges for 10 years.
Criminal charges remain pending against McDonnell Douglas and its subsidiary, Douglas Aircraft Co.
The allegations stemmed from McDonnell Douglas's 1994 sale to CATIC of $5.4 million in sophisticated machining equipment used to manufacture aircraft parts. In export licensing applications submitted to the Commerce Department, McDonnell Douglas and CATIC had stated that the equipment would be used in Beijing in a joint venture with CATIC to produce commercial equipment. But six machine tools instead wound up in Nanchang in a military facility that makes Silkworm missiles.
Prosecutors said TAL Industries falsely certified the details on the export application, which they said was a criminal violation of the Export Administration Act.
In court yesterday, Zhao Runqui, president of TAL Industries, insisted that the equipment was to be used for building U.S.-designed civilian aircraft, not for military purposes. He said any "technical mistakes" that were made stemmed from miscommunication.
"TAL never intended to violate any U.S. laws or regulations," he said. "We have always maintained that this is a commercial, not a criminal, matter."
McDonnell Douglas officials have said that they learned in early 1995 where the equipment had actually gone and promptly notified the Commerce Department. The equipment was not in use and was subsequently moved to a civilian manufacturing location in China.
The plea agreement calls upon TAL Industries to make its employees available for authenticating business records at future trials and administrative proceedings.
Although TAL Industries forfeited its export privileges for a decade, CATIC and two other affiliated companies face no such restrictions. But if they violate export laws, they will forfeit export privileges for five years, officials said. Prosecutors agreed to drop the criminal charges against CATIC and the two affiliates.
Rick Fuller, a spokesman for Boeing Co., which bought McDonnell Douglas in 1997, maintained that yesterday's plea "does not implicate McDonnell Douglas in any wrongdoing. . . . McDonnell Douglas remains confident that this matter will be resolved with the finding that neither the company nor any of its employees engaged in any wrongdoing."
On Tuesday, the D.C. Circuit of the U.S. Court of Appeals upheld Friedman's decision to dismiss a conspiracy charge against Robert Hitt, a Douglas Aircraft official, after finding that a five-year statute of limitations had expired.
-------- colombia
Colombia Arrests Smuggler Suspects
May 12, 2001
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Colombia-Drug-Arrests.html
BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) -- Colombian and U.S. authorities have arrested 40 people suspected of running a heroin smuggling operation that sent more than a ton of heroin to the United States and Europe in the past seven months, security officials in Bogota said Saturday.
Colombian police and U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration officials arrested 24 people in Colombia and 16 in the United States during a weeklong sweep that ended Thursday, said Edna Gonzalez, a spokeswoman for Colombia's Administrative Department of Security.
Authorities began investigating the group following the arrest last year of Andres Lafaurie, the son of a top Colombian anti-drug official.
Lafaurie was arrested at an airport in Miami with seven pounds of heroin taped to his legs and later sentenced to nearly six years in a U.S. prison.
The organization had apparently hired Lafaurie to smuggle heroin into the United States, Gonzalez said. His mother, Maria Restrepo, heads a government agency that helps farmers switch from illegal drug plantings to legal crops.
Authorities said the organization relied on ``mules'' -- people paid to carry drugs across international borders, sometimes in their stomachs -- to smuggle the drugs.
The group ran the operation through a travel agency called Wilson's Tours based in the city of Barranquilla on Colombia's Caribbean coast. From there, the drugs were sent to Miami, Puerto Rico, New York and Europe.
Colombia produces most of the world's cocaine and an increasing portion of its heroin.
-------- ethiopia
Ethiopia's top security intelligence official murdered
05/12/2001
Associated Press
http://usatoday.com/news/world/2001-05-12-ethiopia.htm
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) - Ethiopia's intelligence chief was shot and killed Saturday by an army major who was immediately arrested, state-run media reported.
Kinfe Gebre-Medhin, 46, head of national intelligence and security, was slain as he entered the Armed Forces Officers' Club in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, Radio Ethiopia quoted the office of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi as saying.
Maj. Tsehaye Wolde-Selassie has been arrested in the slaying, ETV said. There was no immediate explanation for the killing.
Kinfe had held the post of chief of national security and intelligence since rebels of the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front overthrew a 17-year Marxist military regime in May 1991.
He belonged to the 30-member central committee of Meles' Tigray People's Liberation Front, the core group in the coalition that makes up the EPRDF. He backed Meles in a power struggle that culminated in March with the expulsion of 12 members who criticized the prime minister's conduct of the 2 1/2-year border war with Eritrea that ended last December.
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------- Depleted Uranium Keeps On Killing!