2003 NEWS HISTORY ARCHIVE

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"NY Mayor Hits Times Square Celebration Critics." ... "New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg accused the head of a House of Representatives panel on terrorism of lacking courage on Wednesday for shunning the traditional Times Square New Year's eve celebration because of security worries."  -Reuters

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"Ashcroft steps aside from CIA leak probe." ... "John Ashcroft, US attorney-general, on Tuesday stepped aside from a politically charged investigation into the leak of the identity of an undercover Central Intelligence Agency officer." ... "Patrick Fitzgerald, the US attorney in Chicago, will take over the inquiry and report to James Comey, Mr Ashcroft's deputy at the Department of Justice, which is running the investigation, and Christopher Wray, assistant attorney-general." -By Marianne Brun-Rovet -FT.com

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"New restrictions ban ill cattle in food supply." ... "The Agriculture Department dramatically upgraded the country's defenses against mad cow disease Tuesday, banning meat from all so-called downer cows and promising to create a nationwide animal tracking system, steps long advocated by critics." ... "These are ``very aggressive actions,'' Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman said Tuesday, one week after the first case of mad cow disease surfaced on U.S. soil in a Washington state Holstein slaughtered on Dec. 9." -AP via -StarTribune.com

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"FedEx to expand with $2.4bn Kinko's deal." ... "FedEx is to acquire Kinko's, the print services chain, for $2.4bn in an effort to expand both its US package delivery business and its ability to serve as a "one-stop" shop for corporate customers." ... "The acquisition, expected to close in the first quarter of 2004, takes FedEx into a new line of business beyond shipping packages and supply chain management. Kinko's, 75 per cent-owned by Clayton, Dubilier & Rice, the New York-based private equity firm, is best known for offering photocopying and printing services at 1,200 stores." -By Betty Liu -FT.com

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"Iran quake relief effort shifts focus to plight of survivors." ... "Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme leader, and President Mohammad Khatami yesterday visited Bam, the south-eastern city devastated by an earthquake on Friday." ... "A spokesman for the provincial government said that more than 21,000 bodies had been recovered and that "many, many more people" were still buried." ... "President Khatami said the tragedy was so deep that relief aid could not hope to meet "the demands of the victims"." -By Mohsen Asgari and Gareth Smyth -FT.com

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"Iran asks 'Why are our earthquakes so deadly?'" ... "Poor design, primitive materials and widely ignored building codes were prime causes of the high death rate in the Bam earthquake, Iranian officials and foreign experts said on Tuesday." ... "In stark contrast to a tremor of similar strength last week in California that killed just two people, the toll in Friday's Iranian quake could reach about 50,000." ... "Iran's building codes have been tightened after quakes in recent decades killed tens of thousands. But officials and independent scientists say enforcement is woefully inadequate." -By Erik Kirschbaum -Reuters via -AlertNet.org/Newsdesk

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"FDA Expected to Ban Herbal Weight-Loss Treatment Ephedra." ... "After years of debate, federal health officials are expected today to announce they will act to remove the herbal weight-loss treatment Ephedra from the marketplace, the first time the Food and Drug Administration has moved to ban a dietary supplement, Tuesday's Wall Street Journal reported." ... "Ephedra, once widely taken to enhance athletic performance and as a weight- loss aid, has been linked to heart problems and strokes and was fingered in the death earlier this year of 23-year-old Baltimore Orioles pitcher Steve Bechler." -Contributions by Sarah Lueck, Anna Wilde Mathews and Stefan Fatsis -WSJ.com -DJ via -Quicken.com

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"Iran quake toll may hit 50,000." ... "The death toll in Iran's earthquake could jump to 50,000, officials say, as relief workers plead for more aid for survivors of one of the deadliest natural disasters of modern times." ... ""If we consider that, on average, five people lived in each house we can say the death toll will reach 50,000," a senior Interior Ministry official said on Tuesday, sharply raising the projected tally from the nearly 30,000 already buried." ... "Aid agencies say around 100,000 people are homeless and are appealing for warm clothing and blankets." -By Edmund Blair and Parisa Hafezi -Reuters via -Reuters.co.uk

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"Ridge: U.S. tightens security for New Year's." ... "With New Year's on the way, security efforts across the United States have been "ramped up in an unprecedented way" through the end of the week, Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge said Tuesday." ... "The U.S. government will keep the terror threat alert level at orange -- the second-highest on the five-tiered, color-coded scale -- for the rest of the week as officials remain concerned about airline security, Ridge said." -CNN

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"Parmalat slipped past loosened laws: After U.S. scandals, accommodation trumped regulation." ... "After the scandals that erupted at Enron and other U.S. corporations, Congress passed the Sarbanes-Oxley bill in an attempt to prevent such corporate abuses. In much of Europe, regulations have been tightened in hope of avoiding similar problems." ... "But Italy has reacted to its own business disasters in an entirely different way. Led by Silvio Berlusconi, the nation's prime minister and perhaps its leading business executive as well, Italy has acted to remove criminal penalties for accounting fraud and, in the past week, has rewritten its bankruptcy laws to accommodate the spectacular failure of Parmalat, the giant dairy and food-processing company controlled by the Tanzi family." -By John Tagliabue -NYTimes via -Google-News

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"US expands air marshal plan abroad: Foreign flights must comply if request issued." ... "The Department of Homeland Security announced yesterday that it will require all foreign air carriers to place an armed guard on any flight over United States airspace if counterterrorism officials ask them to do so." ... "The move, described as an "emergency" rules change that is effective immediately, reflects growing concern that the Al Qaeda terrorist network may try to exploit foreign carriers as a gap in US air security by hijacking their planes and flying them into populated areas or high-risk industrial sites." -By Charlie Savage -Boston/Globe

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"Prison terms for female offenders now common in U.S.." ... "Nowhere has there been more attention focused on that trend than in Oklahoma, where the incarceration rate for women is more than double the national average. The Legislature set up a task force this year to learn why. Nationally, from 1993 through 2002, while overall crime was falling, the number of women arrested rose 14.1 percent, according to the FBI's Uniform Crime Report. In the same period, the number of men arrested fell 5.9 percent." ... "Some individual crimes show even more striking disparities. While the number of men arrested on charges of aggravated assault fell 12.3 percent in the decade, the number of women arrested on the same charge rose 24.9 percent. Drug arrests rose 34.5 percent a year for men in this period, 50 percent for women. And the number of women arrested on embezzlement charges increased 80.5 percent, actually surpassing the number of men arrested on the same charges, the only crime for which that is true." -By Fox Butterfield -NYTimes via -IHT.com

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"Electronic voting firm acknowledges hacker break-in." ... "A Bellevue, Wash., company developing security technology for electronic voting suffered an embarrassing hacker break-in that executives think was tied to the rancorous debate over the safety of casting ballots online." ... "VoteHere confirmed Monday that U.S. authorities are investigating a break-in of its computers months ago, when someone roamed its internal computer network. The intruder accessed internal documents and may have copied sensitive software blueprints that the company planned eventually to disclose publicly." -By Ted Bridis -AP via -USATODAY

"Sick cow's meat may have gone to 8 states." ... "Meat from a Holstein sick with mad cow disease could have reached retail markets in eight states and one territory, but poses no health risk, Agriculture Department officials said yesterday." ... "Dr. Kenneth Petersen, an Agriculture Department veterinarian, said investigators have determined that some of the meat from the diseased dairy cow slaughtered Dec. 9 in Washington state could have gone to Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, and Guam. Earlier, officials had said most of the meat went to Washington and Oregon, with lesser amounts to California and Nevada, for distribution to consumers." -By Emily Gersema -AP via -Boston/Globe

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"S.Korea to Send 3,000 Troops to Iraq in April." ... "South Korea is to send 3,000 troops to the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk in late April to help reconstruction efforts, cabinet and military officials said Tuesday." ... "South Korea's cabinet approved a motion for the dispatch of the troops at a special session Tuesday and would now send it to parliament for ratification, officials said." -Reuters via -ABCNEWS.com

-  -  - Christmas News
"Where Christmas trees will stay up until April: One Army town's bittersweet celebration." ... "The past nine months have been difficult for families of soldiers at Fort Carson, an Army post south of Colorado Springs. About 11,000 troops were deployed from Fort Carson to Iraq in April. Most aren't expected to return until spring." ... "In many homes, Christmas trees will stay up through the spring, with packages underneath for returning soldiers and their stockings full and dangling from mantles." -By Jeremy Meyer -CSMonitor

"Applicants Rush to Meet Deadline for Sept. 11 Fund." ... "After a last-minute surge, 95 percent of eligible relatives of Sept. 11 victims had applied to join the government's ambitious but much-criticized compensation effort as the deadline neared last night." ... "Officials with the federal Victim Compensation Fund, who worried just weeks ago that many eligible survivors would not sign up, said applications had come in by the hundreds as the hours to the midnight deadline wound down yesterday." ... "By day's end, a program that had been criticized as complicated, cold-hearted and ungenerous had achieved twin goals: offering billions of dollars in compensation to families for their pain and economic loss and to injured victims as well, while protecting the airlines whose planes were involved in the attacks from potentially ruinous litigation." (1, 2) -By David W. Chen -NYTimesvia -Google-News

-  -  - Christmas News
"China Cracks Down on Unofficial Worship: China Promotes Christmas Commerce While Cracking Down on Unofficial Worship, Detaining Activists." ... "The Christmas carol "Deck the Halls" blares over the speakers of the warehouse store as the toddler lunges for a plastic Santa. His mother grabs him by the seat of his pants and hauls him back." ... "It's a classic Christmas shopping moment in the unlikely setting of central China though one that is becoming more common as Chinese, few of whom are Christians, adopt the holiday as a festive time to shop." ... "But for members of China's unofficial Christian congregations, this is a season of fear as communist authorities crack down on unauthorized worship, detaining activists and bulldozing churches." -AP via -ABCNEWS.com

-  -  -Anthrax News
"Judge Halts Military's Required Anthrax Shots." ... "A federal district judge ruled Monday that the Defense Department could not compel members of the armed forces to be vaccinated against anthrax without their consent." ... "The judge, Emmet G. Sullivan, issued a preliminary injunction that prohibits Pentagon officials from "inoculating service members without their consent."" ... "The judge found that the vaccine in question, intended to protect military personnel against the potentially deadly effects of inhaled anthrax, was "an investigational drug," being used for an unapproved purpose." -By Robert Pear with contributions by Thom Shanker -NYTimes via -Google-News

"Earthquake shakes central California coast; preliminary magnitude of 6.5." ... "A powerful earthquake rocked a wide swath of California on Monday, collapsing downtown buildings in one town not far from the Hearst Castle, causing some injuries and a widespread blackout in the remote area." ... "The quake struck at 11:16 a.m. It was felt as a sustained but gentle rolling motion in downtown Los Angeles. In San Francisco, it rocked the 20-story federal courthouse, with its upper floors swaying for about 30 seconds." -AP via -SFGate.com

"Americans Mostly Shrug Off Terrorism Alert: Americans Mostly Shrug Off Terror Warnings As Security Tightens Around Nation." ... "Commuters and holiday travelers alike encountered tighter security at the nation's airports, train stations, bridges and highways Monday, a day after the government raised the national threat level and said attacks were possible during the holidays." ... "Many people shrugged off the heightened alert, but some were nervous." -AP via -ABCNEWS.com

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"Attacks possible during holidays; alert level raised to Orange." ... "The head of the Department of Homeland Security on Monday urged people to "just go about your business" despite the decision to raise the national terror-attack warning to its second-highest level." ... "After briefing President Bush on Monday, Ridge reiterated to reporters that the intelligence community considered the new threat "the most significant threat" to the country since the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001." ... ""The information we have indicates that extremists abroad are anticipating near-term attacks that they believe will either rival or exceed" the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, Ridge had said in announcing the upgraded alert status on Sunday." -AP via -USATODAY

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"Last Lord of the Rings film sets a box office record." ... "The final instalment of the The Lord of the Rings film trilogy sold $246m worth of tickets worldwide between Wednesday and yesterday, the highest total takings over the first five days of any motion picture." ... "The strong box office performance of The Return of the King provides a welcome boost for Time Warner, the media conglomerate that owns New Line Cinema, the film's distributor, and raises hopes that it could become only the second film after Titanic to gross more than $1bn during its run." -By Simon London -FT.com

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"'Rings' Shows Trend Toward Global Premieres." ... "From Singapore to Stockholm to New York to Mexico City, fans lined up this weekend to see the final cinematic episode of the J. R. R. Tolkien trilogy, "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King," part of a growing global moviegoing phenomenon." ... "By opening in 28 countries in its first five days, "The Return of the King," made by New Line Cinema, raked in $246 million — an astonishing sum, nearly a quarter of a billion dollars — from fans eager to revisit the world of hobbits and orcs." -By Sharon Waxman -NYTimes via -Google-News

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"U.N. Nuclear Watchdog Agency Head to Travel to Libya: ElBaradei Will 'Kick Start a Process of Verification'." ... "Mohamed ElBaradei, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, told a press briefing in Vienna that he would lead an IAEA team to Libya to "kick start a process of verification" of Libya's arms program, wire services reported." ... "After years of denying the existence of a nuclear weapons program, Libya acknowledged last week that it had a program to develop nuclear and other unconventional weapons. In a surprise announcement, Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi said he will abandon unconventional weapons, freeze his nuclear program and allow international inspectors to test his word." -By Fred Barbash -WashingtonPost

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"[UK] Intelligence officers had role in [Libya] deal." ... "MI6 officers and senior Foreign Office officials held a series of secret meetings with Colonel Gadafy's closest advisers before agreement with Libya was announced by Tony Blair and - soon afterwards - by George Bush on Friday." ... "A key meeting took place at the Travellers Club in Pall Mall, a traditional haunt of the intelligence community, last Tuesday. It was attended by William Ehrman, director general of defence and intelligence at the FO, David Landsman, head of the FO's counter-proliferation department, and two MI6 officers." -By Richard Norton-Taylor -Guardian.co.uk

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"Libya to allow snap arms inspections." ... "Libya has agreed to allow snap U.N. nuclear arms inspections, just a day after declaring it was giving up plans to build an atomic bomb, a Western diplomat says." ... "Libya, widely praised for announcing on Friday that it was ditching efforts to build the bomb and other banned weapons, told the head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog on Saturday that it was ready to sign up to inspections, the diplomat told Reuters." -By Louis Charbonneau -Reuters via -Reuters.co.uk

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"Nation's Threat Level Rising to Orange: Government Raising National Threat Warning From Yellow to Orange, Federal Official Says." ... "The government is raising the national threat warning from yellow, the midpoint on its five-color scale, to orange, a federal official said Sunday." ... "The warning was prompted in part by a raised level of ominous intercepted communications that has not quieted for months. The significance of the sustained level of intelligence "chatter" is unclear, the officials said." -AP via -ABCNEWS.com

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"120,000 in S.F. lose power after substation fire: First attempt to restore some electricity falters." ... "Pacific Gas & Electric was struggling to restore electricity in San Francisco late Saturday after a fire at a major utility substation caused a massive power outage and left 120,000 residential and business customers in the dark." -By John Woolfolk -MercuryNews-BayArea

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"Justice Department endorses congressional redistricting by Texas Republicans." ... "The U.S. Department of Justice approved a Republican-backed congressional redistricting map Friday, disappointing Democrats who staged two legislative boycotts over redistricting and have sued over the new plan." ... "A federal court panel considering legal challenges to the new map also gave Republicans a victory Friday, ruling that that mid-decade redistricting is permissible under state law." -By April Castro -AP via -SFGate.com

-  -  - Brazil
"UN wants access to Brazil atomic enrichment plant." ... "The U.N. nuclear watchdog is negotiating with the Brazilian government to ensure that a new uranium enrichment facility due to begin operating next year is properly safeguarded, the agency said on Friday. Several Western diplomats told Reuters on condition of anonymity that Brazil was not considered a problem state and there were no concerns that it was developing nuclear weapons." ... "Brazil, which has the world's six-largest uranium reserves and the most sophisticated nuclear programme in Latin America, has said the new plant will begin enriching uranium next year to produce fuel for its atomic power plants." -By Louis Charbonneau -Reuters -AlertNet.org/Newsdesk

-  - Sniper
"Malvo found guilty of capital murder." ... "Lee Malvo was convicted Thursday of two counts of capital murder in the sniper attacks that killed 10 people and terrorized the Washington, D.C., area just more than a year ago." ... "Malvo was charged in the killing of Linda Franklin, 47, who was shot Oct. 14, 2002, in a Home Depot parking lot in Falls Church, Va. In the first charge, the jury had to find that Malvo killed Franklin and at least one other person within the past three years. Malvo also was charged under Virginia's new anti-terrorism law, which makes killing while committing a terrorist act a capital offense." -By Laura Parker -USATODAY

-  -  -  -  - Microsoft News
"Microsoft faces new antitrust battle." ... "A new front in the Microsoft antitrust wars was opened on Thursday as rival software maker RealNetworks accused the company of illegally trying to monopolise the market for digital media software and said it would seek damages of more than $1bn." -By Richard Waters and Scott Morrison -FT.com

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-  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  - "Iraq Debt Relief Backing Rises, Hard Work Remains." ... "The Paris Club of creditor states can agree a debt relief deal for Iraq quickly but the agreement can be signed only when the country has an internationally recognized leadership, the Paris Club's president said on Thursday." ... "Increasing hopes that a deal will be reached, Britain said during a European tour by U.S. special envoy James Baker that it backed the idea of a substantial reduction in debts estimated at $120 billion." ... "The British comment echoed similar political pledges made this week by France, Germany and Italy after talks with Baker, who was visiting Britain and Russia on Thursday." (1, 2) -By Brian Love -Reuters

-  - "Schwarzenegger to Declare Money Emergency: Calif. Gov. Schwarzenegger to Declare Financial Emergency, Bypass Legislature to Help Cities." ... "Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger plans to declare a financial emergency and bypass the Legislature to provide millions of dollars due cities and counties, administration sources said." ... "To make up for $4 billion lost when he cut the unpopular car tax, the governor will make a $40 million payment to local governments to keep them from closing facilities and laying off police officers and fire fighters, aides said Wednesday, speaking on condition of anonymity." -AP via -ABCNEWS.com

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"Iran to sign nuclear treaty." ... "Iran has said that it will sign a treaty today giving the UN's nuclear watchdog the right to conduct snap nuclear inspections within its borders, a gesture one Western diplomat described as "long overdue"." ... "Iran's promise to sign the 1968 nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, a global pact aimed at reducing the spread of nuclear arsenals, comes after increasing international concerns that it is trying to produce nuclear weapons. Iran has repeatedly denied this." -Guardian.co.uk

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"France to Ban Religious Symbols from Schools." ... "French President Jacques Chirac has voiced support for a law which would ban the wearing of Muslim headscarves, Christian crosses and other religious symbols in public schools." ... "Chirac's announcement came in response to a report published last week by a government commission, which proposed the ban of religious symbols in the country's state-run schools. "In all conscience, I consider that the wearing of dress or symbols which conspicuously show religious affiliation should be banned in schools," Chirac said." ... "The decision comes after months of debate on the role of religion in French society and the difficulties the nation has encountered in the integration of its five million-strong Muslim population." -DW-World.de/english

-  -  -  - Christmas News
"Christmas boxes bring Afghan mob scene." ... "Attempts by Canadians to hand out almost 2,000 Christmas gift boxes to impoverished Afghan children Wednesday turned into a melee as some of their parents beat back the young people trying to reach the presents and soldiers had to stop them." ... "A Canadian Forces truck was quickly surrounded by hundreds of children as it arrived at a hillside camp in Kabul, where internally displaced people (IDPs, as they are known by the military) live destitute lives in makeshift housing." -GlobeAndMail

-  -  -  - Consumer News
"Calpers files lawsuit against NYSE." ... "The largest U.S. public pension fund is taking the unprecedented step of suing the New York Stock Exchange, alleging the embattled exchange condoned fraudulent practices by specialist trading firms that cost investors at least $155-million (U.S.)." ... "The California Public Employees Retirement System (Calpers), which has assets of $148-billion (U.S.), filed the suit in U.S. court yesterday, and is asking other investors to join it in a class action." -By Shawn McCarthy -GlobeAndMail

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"Groups Around the Nation Re-enact the Wright Brothers' First Flight." ... "One hundred years ago, a telegram arrived in Dayton, Ohio, at the home of the Rev. Milton Wright." ... ""Success four flights thursday [sic] morning all against twenty one mile wind," it began. "longest 57 seconds inform Press home Christmas." It was signed with the misspelled name of Orville Wright." ... "It makes history's first airplane flight sound almost easy — as if the Wright Flyer had leapt into the air. But in fact, the Wrights crept forward. The first flight was only 120 feet, and the plane broke several struts when it landed." -By Ned Potter -ABCNEWS.com

-  - - ELECTION 2004
"As rivals sense a weak spot, Dean defends his stance on Iraq: Kerry, Lieberman sharpen attacks." ... "Democrats trailing Howard Dean in the presidential race said yesterday his statement that America is not made safer by the capture of Saddam Hussein raises questions about his political and national security judgment. The former Vermont governor responded by casting himself as the victim of unjustified attacks and said such criticism risks alienating the voters their party needs to win the White House in 2004." -By Glen Johnson -Boston/Globe

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"EU Agrees to Share Airline Passenger Data." ... "The European Union has agreed to share information about its airline passengers with the United States, in a deal announced yesterday that ends year-long negotiations over a new U.S. law intended to fight terrorism." ... "International airlines will turn over data about their U.S.-bound passengers, such as a traveler's name, e-mail address, telephone number and credit card number to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Customs and Border Protection unit." -By Sara Kehaulani Goo -WashingtonPost

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"US Airways pilots union wants CEO, CFO out." ... "Pilots union leaders at US Airways on Tuesday called for the removal of airline CEO David Siegel and Chief Financial Officer Neal Cohen. Management's "failed business strategies," not high labor costs, are behind the airline's continued losses since emerging from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, union leaders charged." -By Daniel Reed -USATODAY

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"Explosion in Baghdad Kills at Least 10: Truck Loaded With Explosives Rams Into a Small Bus in Baghdad, Killing at Least 10 People." ... "A truck loaded with explosives rammed into a small bus near a police station Wednesday, killing at least 10 Iraqis, an Iraqi deputy minister said. He blamed the attack on Saddam Hussein loyalists angry over the former dictator's capture." ... "The explosion occurred before dawn in al-Bayaa, a poor district in southwest Baghdad, police said. Two cars nearby were destroyed. U.S. soldiers and Iraqi police secured the area after the explosion." -AP via -ABCNEWS.com

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"Coalition fears confirmed as blasts kill eight." ... "Iraqi insurgents confirmed US and British government fears that the arrest of Saddam could galvanise them by mounting two attacks yesterday on police stations, killing eight and injuring 22." ... "The fatal explosion occurred at Husseiniya, north of Baghdad, when a suicide bomber sped through a fence protecting a police station in a four-wheel drive packed with explosives. It hit another car and detonated after guards opened fire. Six policemen were killed, as well as the driver; about 20 people were wounded." -By Ewen MacAskill and Richard Norton-Taylor -Guardian.co.uk

-  -  - ELECTION 2004
"Court to enter fray over energy-policy task force: Supreme Court will hear case alleging that industry leaders played a key role that must be disclosed." ... "The US Supreme Court delivered a victory to the White House Monday by agreeing to enter the long-running dispute over whether Vice President Dick Cheney must publicly disclose details about the Bush administration's energy policy task force." ... "The Supreme Court's decision to take up the case is important for both political and constitutional reasons. Even if a majority of justices rule against the White House, the Supreme Court action could help the administration keep the task force information under wraps for several more months and perhaps until after the 2004 election, analysts say." -By Warren Richey -CSMonitor

-  -ELECTION 2004
"Senator Breaux Won't Seek Re-election." ... "John B. Breaux, a moderate Democratic senator and one of the few bipartisan dealmakers left in Congress, announced Monday that he would not run for re-election next year, becoming the fifth Southern Democrat to abandon the Senate." ... "Mr. Breaux, who has represented Louisiana in Congress for 31 years, was often the senator Democrats and Republicans turned to when they needed to cut through partisan gridlock and broker compromises, as Mr. Breaux did on the recent Medicare legislation. His departure is seen not only as a crippling blow to Democratic efforts to regain control of the Senate but also as a setback to across-the-aisle cooperation, which is increasingly rare these days." -By Jeffrey Gettleman -NYTimes via -Google-News

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-  -  -  -  - Execution News
"Analysis: Putting Saddam on trial: The Iraqi Governing Council intends to put Saddam Hussein on trial by an Iraqi court." ... "It is determined to resist calls for an international tribunal. Saddam Hussein could face the death penalty. It has been suspended by the occupation authorities but could be reinstated by an Iraqi government." ... "That in itself would be controversial. Britain, as a coalition partner, objects to execution on principle. But Iraqis may want it." ... "The British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said that Iraqis would "express a strong preference" for a trial in Iraq. International law, he said, also called for a domestic trial in such cases if possible." ... "The United States is firmly behind the Iraqi desire to try Saddam Hussein themselves" -By Paul Reynolds -BBC/News

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"A tip, high-tech surveillance and a GI with a shovel nab Saddam." ... "Perhaps a mile from his nearest palace, Saddam spent his final minutes of freedom in an underground chamber of hard-packed dirt, just wide enough to permit a man to recline. After decades as self-proclaimed heir to the iconic 12th-century warrior known in the West as Saladin, Saddam surrendered meekly without a shot from the pistol he clutched in his lap." ... "The clues that led to Saddam's capture emerged three weeks ago, officials said, when intelligence analysts and Special Operations forces shifted the focus of their hunt from Saddam's innermost circle to the more distant relatives and tribal allies who they suspected had been sheltering the deposed president." ... "The U.S. military and the CIA had formed a task force devoted exclusively to finding Saddam and his top allies. Called Task Force 121, it is an interagency team of CIA paramilitaries and "black," or unacknowledged, Special Operations forces." -By Barton Gellman and Dana Priest with contributions from Rajiv Chandrasekaran and Bradley Graham -WashingtonPost via -SeattleTimes.NWsource

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"Car bomb at police station in Iraq kills at least 17, police say." ... "A suspected suicide attacker detonated a car bomb outside an Iraqi police station Sunday near Baghdad, killing at least 17 people and wounding 33 others, hours before the announcement of Saddam Hussein's capture, the U.S. military said." ... "The car bombing in Khaldiyah, 50 miles west of Baghdad, killed police officers, city workers and civilian bystanders, U.S. Army Lt. Col. Jeff Swisher said." -By Sameer N. Yacoub -AP via -SFGate.com

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"Saddam Captured Hiding in Hole Near Tikrit." ... "U.S. troops captured Saddam Hussein hiding in a hole near his hometown of Tikrit in a major coup for Washington's beleaguered occupying force in Iraq." ... "Grubby, bearded and "very disorientated," the 66-year-old fallen dictator was dug out by troops from a cramped hiding pit during a raid on a farm in Ad-Dawr village late Saturday, U.S. Maj. Gen. Ray Odierno told a news conference in Tikrit." (1, 2, 3) -By Joseph Logan -Reuters

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"Martin takes over reins as 21st Prime Minister." ... "Paul Martin became Canada's 21st Prime Minister on Friday, ending his quest for the top job in the federal government and promising sweeping changes to the way the country is governed." ... "It was the final step in his journey to become prime minister after his election as Liberal Leader last month." ... "Mr. Martin ran for the Liberal leadership in 1990 and lost to former prime minister Jean Chretien. Mr. Martin officially took office Friday from Mr. Chretien, who resigned earlier in the day." -By Allison Dunfield -GlobeAndMail

-  -  -  - GENETICS
"DNA meets Death Row: Testing guilt and the system." ... "Inside a walk-in freezer in a Richmond, Calif., laboratory sits a tiny vial that holds one-fifth of one drop of a 20-year-old sperm sample. It is forensic DNA evidence extracted from the body of a brutally murdered young bride, evidence that no one is permitted by law to touch, evidence that-if tested-could determine whether an innocent man was executed in Virginia 11 years ago." ... "Since DNA “fingerprinting” began to revolutionize criminal forensics in the late 1980s with precise identifications, it has freed more than 130 convicts, 12 of whom have walked off death row. But in other cases, prosecutors have successfully blocked the testing of DNA before an execution and then fought posthumous tests just as vigorously." -By Lois Romano with contributions by researchers Lucy Shackelford and Alice Crites -WashingtonPost

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"Bush: Halliburton Must Pay for Overcharge: Bush Says U.S. Expects Halliburton to Repay Money if Company Overcharged for Gasoline in Iraq." ... "President Bush said Friday that Vice President Dick Cheney's former company should repay the government if it overcharged for gasoline delivered in Iraq under a controversial prewar contract." ... "Pentagon auditors say the company charged up to $61 million too much for delivering gasoline to Iraqi citizens under a no-bid contract to rebuild Iraq's dilapidated oil industry. Halliburton denies overcharging." -AP via -ABCNEWS.com

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- GENETICS

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"Prosecutors get delay in case against ex-chaplain." ... "The criminal proceedings against Captain James Yee, the former Muslim chaplain at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, charged with mishandling classified data, fell into confusion and stalled as prosecutors asked for extra time to determine whether documents found in Yee's luggage when he was leaving the base were, in fact, classified." ... "The hearing was postponed Tuesday until Jan. 19 to give the prosecutors time to review the documents that set off a major investigation into whether Yee was a spy, a contention from which the government has since distanced itself." -By Neil A. Lewis -NYTimes via -