He'd Better Hope He Doesn't Get Sick

Jun 3, 2004 8:57 am ET 

LONDON  - A British man with a fetish for medical items has become the first person to be banned from every hospital in England and Wales, the government said on Wednesday.

Unemployed Norman Hutchins, 53, has harassed and abused medical staff more than 40 times since January in his quest for surgical masks and gowns, a court in the northern city of York was told.

The court banned him from all private and state-run National Health Service hospitals and doctors' and dentists' offices.

Hutchins tried to obtain medical items by feigning illness, or claiming to need them for a fancy dress run or an amateur play, the Times newspaper reported.

"(He has) caused harassment, alarm and distress to NHS staff when attempting to obtain gowns and surgical masks in person or on the phone," an NHS spokesman said in a statement.

More than 30 local health organizations banned him with civil injunctions, but Hutchins kept moving to new areas.

Hutchins' lawyer Harry Bayman said his client "was not a well man," but accepted the court's decision.

If he needs medical treatment, Hutchins will be allowed to visit hospitals or doctors under strictly controlled conditions or with prior written consent. 

U.S. Election: the Video Game

Jun 3, 8:58 am ET 

By Ben Berkowitz

LOS ANGELES  - The typical video game calls for shooting aliens, racing cars and beating enemies into submission, but publisher Ubi Soft Entertainment has decided gamers may also enjoy stumping for votes at a nursing home somewhere in Ohio.

The company said on Wednesday it has signed a deal to publish "The Political Machine," a new game for PCs that puts players in control of the 2004 presidential campaigns of either incumbent President Bush or Democratic challenger, Sen. John Kerry.

Players will also have the option of creating their own Republican or Democratic candidate or managing the campaign of a historical figure like Ronald Reagan or Franklin Roosevelt.

The game will allow players to raise funds, barnstorm for votes and join candidate debates.

"We figured it would be kind of fun to be able to go around the country and try to take out ads, debate on the issues that are out there ... and see how different candidates played up against each other," Brad Wardell, the game's designer told The News Source.

Taking turns against the computer or another live player, budding "campaign managers" will have to manage a budget, coordinate strategy and give interviews on spoof political TV shows like "60 Seconds" and the "O'Maley Factor."

Most of the game's demographic data is gathered from the U.S. Census, and candidates rise in the polls by appealing to states on the issues judged most important to them.

That will require players to finesse their message to gain the backing of special interest groups and get the most states possible on board with their candidate, Wardell said.

"A player who's not a political junkie quickly learns why real-world candidates seemingly flip-flop on the issues," Wardell said.

The game is expected to be released sometime this summer, between the Democratic convention in July and the Republican convention in August.

Wardell said the public seemed to be more evenly split between the two parties and the candidates than in the past, which made the game potentially more interesting.

"We wanted to do this before the 2000 election but our models said Al Gore was going to win, so we decided not to do it," he said.

And while the game is clearly fallible as a predictive tool, Wardell said it offered some insight into real life politics.

"According to our model, Kerry should pick Gephardt as his VP," he said, referring to Missouri Rep. Richard Gephardt, who he said could deliver states like Iowa and Missouri.

So what about the outcome in November? "Right now, according to the model, Bush is going to lose by quite a bit," Wardell said. 

Models Allege Price-Fixing by N.Y. Cos. 

Wed Jun 2,10:03 PM ET 
Add U.S. National - 

By LARRY NEUMEISTER, News Source Writer 

NEW YORK - Modeling companies conspired for three decades to set the same high fees for young women seeking work, a lawyer charged Wednesday at the opening of the price-fixing trial of Click Model Management. 

But the attorney representing Click scoffed at the notion of a conspiracy, saying the industry was so "full of hatred," companies would have never been able to conspire. 

In opening statements, lawyer Merrill Davidoff said aspiring models as young as 14 signed contracts for a shot at fame and fortune. "They're trusting, naive and vulnerable," he said. 

Davidoff is seeking millions in damages against Click. Other modeling companies have either settled or been severed from the trial. The trial is expected to last three weeks. 

Davidoff said modeling companies require all but a few elite models to pay a 20 percent fee. 

Aaron Richard Golub, a lawyer for Click, said the plaintiffs "can't get a penny because they can't prove an ounce of conspiracy against Click." 

"This is a business so full of hatred, there's no way they ever could have conspired," he said. 

Golub said modeling management companies rely on models who go from job to job - and that everybody in the industry knows what everybody else is making. He claimed the lawsuit was brought by malcontent models who thought they had been given a "raw deal." 

"You're not going to meet Cindy Crawford or Naomi Campbell," he added. 

Carolyn Fears, 34, who signed with Ford Models when she was 19, testified that although she was told of the standard rate, "I didn't really read the rest of the contract." 

"They said they'd like to sign me. That was very exciting," she said. 

As her career developed, she said she once asked an employee why she was charged $1,500 as a fee each year her picture was recycled in Ford's catalogue of models. She said Ford co-founder Eileen Ford, standing behind her, snapped: "Who do you think you are? You're not on the cover of Vogue. If you don't like it, you can get out." 

"I ran into the bathroom in tears," Fears said. 

Ford Chief Executive Officer Katie Ford said the company had reached an amicable settlement of the lawsuit. 

As for the comments about Eileen Ford, she said: "Eileen let Carolyn stay in her house for free, eat for free and Carolyn made, I believe, well over a million dollars modeling. So I don't think that's so bad." 

Mexico's Sad Clown Says 'Adios' to Morning TV

Jun 2, 1:18 pm ET 

By Lorraine Orlandi

MEXICO CITY  - Brozo, a foul-mouthed clown with a green wig and a shiny red nose who was one of Mexico's hottest newscasters, bowed out of morning television on Wednesday with the usual cheap laughs and a touch of tragedy.

"El Mananero," a daily morning romp on the Televisa network that has influenced Mexican politics at the highest level, was aired for the last time after Brozo this week decided to end the program after the death of his wife.

A parade of well-wishers including President Vicente Fox, former President Carlos Salinas, the nation's attorney general, lawmakers, journalists and entertainers bid farewell in on-air phone calls and cards.

Actor Victor Trujillo created Brozo, the "gloomy clown," for a cabaret act decades ago and hit the big time with the Televisa slot in 2002.

For Mexicans accustomed to groomed, tailored and stiff newscasters, Brozo's irreverent approach was refreshing and the show was seen as serious news commentary despite its antics.

"Brozo understood the psychology of Mexicans -- in order not to cry we tell jokes," said columnist Guadalupe Loaeza.

Like many funny men, Brozo was tinged with sadness. His wife, Carolina Padilla, the show's producer, died last month after a long illness.

At the close of the final broadcast, Trujillo removed his wig and nose and, flanked by his daughters and co-workers, paid homage to "Carolina, my wife, my companion, my accomplice."

The program, featuring plenty of bathroom humor and a curvaceous news assistant, offered a fresh and often cynical take on power and politics and quickly became a cultural phenomenon.

Its name, El Mananero, is Mexican slang for quick morning sex.

Brozo proved his political influence this year when he brought a leading leftist lawmaker on the show and aired a secret videotape showing the politician taking stacks of money from a city contractor.

The ensuing uproar fed a corruption scandal around popular Mexico City Mayor Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, a leftist favored in the 2006 presidential race.

Last year, first lady Marta Sahagun, who is also seen as a presidential contender, went on the show to defend herself against a biographer's portrayal of her as an ambitious schemer and devotee of witchcraft.

The end of "El Mananero" does not mean Brozo will hang up the wig: he's due to cover the Summer Olympics for Televisa. 

Euthanasia Campaigner Writes Guide to a Good Death

Jun 2, 11:06 am ET 

LONDON  - Inspired by guidebooks for the discerning consumer, a right-to-die campaigner has compiled a "Good Euthanasia Guide," listing organizations that help people end their lives and the relevant laws around the world.

Euthanasia has been a topic of hot debate in Britain after a handful of high-profile cases last year when ill Britons traveled abroad to be helped to commit suicide.

"I was in a pub and I was eating dinner and they had a bookshelf full of guides -- the 'Good Hotel Guide', the 'Good Restaurant Guide' and so on -- and I thought, that's what we need," Derek Humphry said in an interview.

"It's a book of information for intelligent people who want to make an informed decision about their death," said Humphry, a former Sunday Times journalist who founded a pressure group called the Hemlock Society in 1980.

Humphry has written several books on euthanasia, including his 1991 guide detailing how to end your own life called "Final Exit," which has sold over a million copies and includes chapters on self-starvation and "Bizarre Ways to Die."

Switzerland, the Netherlands and Belgium all have assisted dying or euthanasia laws. Assisted suicide has been allowed in the US state of Oregon since 1998. 

You SURE We're Only Going 50?

Jun 2, 10:58 am ET 

DETROIT  - Honda Motor Co. Ltd. is recalling nearly 8,200 model year 2004 motorcycles because of a computer glitch that could prompt their drivers to go too fast, federal safety regulators said on Tuesday.

The program error causes the digital speedometer on some of the motorcycles to understate actual vehicle speed by about 25 percent, the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said.

"This condition can result in the vehicle being driven at an illegal or unsafe speed," NHTSA said in an advisory on its Web site.

It did not elaborate, but state police may already have noticed a disproportionate number of people breaking speed limits lately on late-model Honda motorcycles. 

Climate Change Faster Than Expected 28-May-2004 On the weekend of the opening of The Day After Tomorrow, researcher James Lovelock says climate change may be proceeding much more quickly than previously thought. This report comes at a time when the main criticism of the film is that everything happens much faster than it will in reality.

In the Independent, Michael McCarthy writes that Lovelock's conclusion is due to two recent climatic events: the increasingly rapid melting of the Arctic ice-sheet covering Greenland, which will raise global sea levels, and the extreme heat wave in Europe last summer, which caused 20,000 deaths of mostly elderly people in France.

"There's no question in any reasonable scientist's mind that [the heat wave] was the first real bad event of global warming," says Lovelock. "But the media picked it up only as a story about the wickedness of the French in not looking after their old people." He is just as alarmed about the Greenland ice sheet, which is "melting far faster than we expected.

"I think in the past we thought more in terms of, it would get hotter, things would change, you might be able to grow Mediterranean plants in Britain and things like that, it didn't seem at all too bad; you knew there'd be some places that wouldn't be fine, but others would be nicer than they were. Now there's a growing awareness that global warming is far more serious than we ever realized, that it is proceeding more quickly, and that it poses a threat to future generations and even to civilization itself." 

Alien Caught on Film? 28-May-2004 Scott Corrales quotes Chilean civil engineer Germ‡n Pereira as saying, "On May 10 this year, I decided to take some photos at Parque Forestal, taking 10 shots which I downloaded to my PC the following day." When he looked at them, he was surprised to see the image of an alien.

"I thought it would be interesting to photograph a group of Carabineros (state police) on horseback patrolling the sector... It was a cloudy day and the sun was hidden, for which reason my digital camera (Kodak DX6490) adjusted to low speed (1/10 seg.)," he says. "...This is the reason why the photo shows motion...I employed the camera's optical zoom (10x) which added to the blurred result." The white spot in the middle of the photo may have been caused by the streetlights, which began to turn on and off in sequence (the way they often do for UFO Experiencers).

He says, "The fact is that I am very impressed by this image. I attest to the fact that it is not a fraud nor anything similar. For this reason I have made it public and I contacted the staff of CIFAE Chile. I would like to know the true nature of the image that appears in it and if anyone has ever caught anything similar in a photo."

The photo cannot be analyzed effectively because the blurring of the low-resolution image makes it impossible to tell whether or not the figure was digitally inserted.

It could be that this is a child whose appearance has been distorted by the shaking of the camera. The fact that the small being is more blurred than the horses would be explained by the idea that the child is running across the path and the horses are moving slowly.

Unfortunately, there is no way to draw a final conclusion about this image. It is provocative, but not proof positive. 

Hybrid Savings: It Depends on How You Drive 27-May-2004 Some owners of new hybrid cars can't figure out why they don't get the 55 or higher miles per gallon they've been promised. It turns out you won't save much on gas unless you drive the right way. Honda spokesman Chris Naughton tells Civic Hybrid owners not to drive too fast or brake too hard, and says, "Be mindful that (fuel-efficiency) can vary."

John Gartner writes in wired.com that Toyota Prius drivers have reported lifetime fuel-efficiency from 36 to 58 mpg, while Honda Civic Hybrid owners claim to get between 32 and 56 mpg. But some drivers report getting 40 miles per gallon or less.

Toyota engineer Dave Hermance says weather, driving conditions and driver habits can cut fuel-efficiency by up to 30%. How you stop is important: Drivers who roll through intersections using "California stops," instead of actually stopping, are decreasing their mileage. He says, "If you don't stop, you don't get the free energy of regenerative braking." But braking too hard can also cause you to lose some of the benefits of regenerative braking, which captures energy from slowing the car to charge the battery. If the battery's charge falls below a certain level, then the car will rely more heavily on the gas engine than the electric motor.

The weather plays a part as well. According to Toyota, cold weather can reduce fuel-efficiency by up to 35%, especially if you don't allow the car to warm up before driving it.

How you accelerate also counts. Prius owner Bill Gausman says, "If you use long, slow acceleration, your mileage sucks." But the easiest way to reduce fuel-efficiency is to speed. He says, "If I'm doing more than 70, then I'll definitely get less than 50 mpg."

Secret of the Blue Rose 18-May-2004 Roses come in a wide variety of colors, but that's not enough for some folks-they're determined to create a blue rose. There are plenty of blue flowers in the world, but no one has yet been able to persuade a rose bush to produce blue flowers. But now, using an enzyme found in the human liver, they may be able to genetically engineer one. Flowers which are naturally blue have a pigment called delphinidin. Exactly the right balance of acidity is needed inside the cells of the plant to create the right shade of blue. "The rose is not easy to work with," says rose geneticist David Byrne. "It has no blue pigments and it can't seem to go through the transformation process."

In 1986 an Australian biotech company called Florigene decided to create a blue rose. They've come close, with a lavender-like color, but still haven't succeeded. "It depends on how you describe blue," says researcher John Mason. "This is a very sensitive topic for us and unfortunately I cannot comment further."

Biochemist Peter Guengerich, who is studying the human liver, says, "When we moved the enzyme into bacteria, the bacteria turned blue. It was a complete surprise."

The technique of inserting the liver gene into a rose to create a blue bloom hasn't been perfected yet. "The first time we tried we got blue spots on the stems," Guengerich says. "Those probably aren't going to be too marketable."

Music Teachers Going Deaf 26-May-2004 A new study shows that music teachers are routinely exposed to noise levels that could result in hearing loss. Researcher Hans Kunov says, "The hair cells of the inner ear simply crumble under the load, and they don't grow back again."

According to Canadian law, noise levels on the job should not exceed 90 decibels, which is the equivalent of a power lawn mower being run over eight hours in a 24-hour period.

Researcher Willy Wong measured the noise exposure of 18 music teachers at 15 high schools in Toronto and found that the peak noise level exceeded 85 decibels for 78% of them. During an average eight-hour day, 39% of them experienced harmful noise levels.

Part of the problem is that most classrooms are constructed with concrete blocks and linoleum, providing a highly reflective sound surface. "The world is louder than we think," says Wong. "Schools might consider protective measures such as sound baffling and carpet and teachers might... consider [getting] periodic hearing checks."

When the world gets too loud, the rest of us can wear earplugs, but teachers-especially music teachers-can't.

Warning: Your Computer May be Tapped 17-May-2004 You know your phone can be tapped, but you probably think you have complete privacy when typing on your computer keyboard. However, spies can eavesdrop on what you're writing by listening to the sounds of your keystrokes.

IBM research scientist Dmitri Asonov says that every key on computer keyboards, telephones and even ATM machines makes a unique sound as it's pressed and released. All you need to listen is $200 worth of microphones and sound processing software. Asonov says he can decipher keystrokes with 80% accuracy.

The sounds are made because keyboards and keypads all have a rubber membrane underneath the keys. Asonov says, "This membrane acts like a drum, and each key hits the drum in a different location and produces a unique frequency or sound that the neural networking software can decipher."

Thank China for Spam 20-May-2004 We get many low cost imports from China, and one of these is computer spam. When internet researchers tracked spam messages, they found that 71% of them come from China.

Gideon Mantel, who tracks e-mail traffic, says most of those messages telling you how to increase your penis size or get a discount mortgage are linked to websites based in China. "We're talking now about 350,000 to 400,000 unique spam attacks a day," he says. "Since Jan. 1, we've seen probably a 30% to 40% increase" in spam traffic. Each "unique spam attack" goes to at least 50,000 recipients. "The numbers are amazing," says Mantel. "When we saw them, I was so shocked, we checked and rechecked the numbers three times."

It's not hard to identify an IP address as Chinese, since they all have about 10 digits and the first two or three identify the country. While the Chinese internet is heavily censored, it's inexpensive to host a website there.

This doesn't mean that the spammers themselves are Chinese, only that they're using Chinese websites. Mantel says, "Maybe the host computer in China is sending [user traffic] to Korea, or somewhere else, to confuse law enforcement."

Pesticides Inside our Bodies 18-May-2004 Most of us have unhealthy levels of pesticides inside our bodies, from yards (or own and others) and the food we eat, as well as air and water. There's no way to avoid being exposed to them.

When the Pesticide Action Network looked for levels of 23 different pesticides in data on over 2,500 people, they found that the average person had at least 13 of them in their blood and urine. Margaret Reeves of PAN says, "A growing body of research suggests that even at very low levels, the combination of these chemicals can be harmful to our health."

Children between the ages of 6 and 11 are exposed to the nerve-damaging pesticide chlorpyrifos at four times the acceptable level. Chlorpyrifos kills insects by disrupting their nervous system.

Dow is the largest pesticide manufacturer in the country. Spokesman Garry Hamlin says, "Chlorpyrifos is widely used, and studies by the Centers for Disease Control suggest that people are exposed to chlorpyrifos at very tiny levels...When people are exposed, the product breaks down readily and is eliminated from the body in a matter of days."

The PAN report shows that women carry "significantly" higher levels of three pesticides called organochlorines, which can reduce birth weight and disrupt brain development in infants. It also found that Mexican Americans carry higher levels of the insecticides lindane, DDT and methyl parthion than other ethnic groups. 

Girls Pushing for Modest Fashion Options 

Wed Jun 2, 6:51 PM ET 
By KRISTEN GELINEAU, News Source Writer 

REDMOND, Wash. - During a recent shopping trip to Nordstrom, 11-year-old Ella Gunderson became frustrated with all the low-cut hip-huggers and 
skintight tops. So she wrote to the Seattle-based chain's executives to complain. The industry has been getting the message: A more modest look is in, 
fashion experts say. 

The shy, bespectacled redhead has since become an instant media darling, appearing on national television over the past two weeks to promote modest 
fashions instead of the saucy looks popularized by the likes of Britney Spears. 

"We like to call this new girl Miss Modesty," said Gigi Solif Schanen, fashion editor at Seventeen magazine. "It's such a different feeling but still very 
pretty and feminine and sexy. It's just a little more covered up." 

Shoppers are starting to see higher waistlines and lower hemlines, and tweeds, fitted blazers and layers are expected to be big this fall, Schanen said. 

"It's kind of like a sexy take on a librarian," she said. "I think people are tired of seeing so much skin and want to leave a little more to the imagination." 

The Web sites ModestApparelUSA.com and ModestByDesign.com - where the slogan is "Clothing your father would be proud of" - report that sales 
have skyrocketed over the past 18 months. 

Many youngsters are frustrated by the profusion of racy teenage clothing, according to Buzz Marketing, a New Jersey-based firm that compiles feedback 
from teen advisers. 

"There is just sensory overload. Kids are going to say enough already," said Buzz's 24-year-old chief executive, Tina Wells. "The next big trend I see is 
kids are going to look like monks." 

In 2002, a group of Arizona teens submitted a petition to the Phoenix division of the Dillard's department store chain asking for more modest clothes. The 
chain began carrying more conservative styles. 

Nordstrom spokeswoman Deniz Anders said the company has been hearing for about two years from customers who want more modest looks, and 
Nordstrom tries to carry a broad array of styles in its stores. 

The arrival of the modest look is good news for Ella, who last week participated in a sold-out "Pure Fashion" show in Bellevue with 37 other girls 
belonging to a Roman Catholic youth organization. 

Ella, who paraded down the catwalk in a long-sleeved pink top and a shiny pink skirt, hopes the fashion show - and her letter - will prompt some 
change. 

"There can be more than one look," the Redmond youngster said in an interview while wearing a loose Pure Fashion T-shirt, jeans and hot pink flip-flops. 
"Everybody should have lots of choices." 
___ 

On the Net: 

Wholesome Wear: http://www.wholesomewear.com 

ModestApparelUSA: http://www.modestapparelusa.com 

Modest By Design: http://www.modestbydesign.com 

Nordstrom: http://www.nordstrom.com 

Clinton Filmmaker Defends Documentary 

Wed Jun 2, 2:24 PM ET

By DAVID HAMMER, News Source Writer 

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - A film that claims to expose "the 10-year campaign to destroy Bill Clinton (news - web sites)" is scheduled for its first public screening June 15 in Little Rock. 

"The Hunting of the President," a 90-minute documentary that re-creates interviews for the New York Times best-selling book by the same name, has already played at four film festivals and will premiere by invitation only in New York on June 11. The movie's general release date is June 23. 

But the first public showing, at $50 a ticket, will be at a 1,500-seat ballroom at the Statehouse Convention Center in Little Rock, a short walk from where Clinton celebrated his two presidential election victories. 

Director Harry Thomason, who is from Hampton, Ark., profiled Clinton in a glowing light in "The Man from Hope" for the then-Arkansas governor's 1992 presidential campaign. He says the latest piece about his old friend seeks journalistic impartiality, acknowledging that some people would likely dismiss the film as more Clinton propaganda. 

"Of course, the fact that I'm a friend of the Clintons will make a lot of people skeptical," Thomason said in a telephone interview from his Los Angeles home Tuesday. "I knew we would have no validity if we didn't tell about some of the president's indiscretions, his lapses. And so we never intended to let him off the hook. We stuck to the facts." 

The film purports to uncover a right-wing manipulation of the media, which Thomason says began with President Nixon's call to counter liberal messages in the 1970s. Thomason said the impact of Clinton's ties to Hollywood pales in comparison to the reach of conservative radio. 

"I may be wrong but I don't think the film will get everyone riled up," he said. "I hope conservatives will see it and say, 'Those people have a point.' Everyone in this country needs to speak to each other in softer tones." 

Thomason said he went to great pains to avoid discussing the film's progress with Clinton, even though the two talk frequently. Clinton called Thomason frequently for advice or editing input for his 900-page memoir, due out later this month. 

Thomason will attend the Little Rock premiere and is to be joined by the authors of the book, journalists Gene Lyons and Joe Conason, as well as some of those interviewed in the film, including Whitewater figure Susan McDougal. 

Oscar-nominated actor Morgan Freeman (news) is the film's narrator.

Russia sacks top TV journalist after Chechnya interview

Thu Jun 3, 9:40 AM ET  - Chicago Tribune 

By Alex Rodriguez Tribune foreign correspondent 

Leonid Parfyonov, a leading Russian television journalist, has never been the kind of reporter to be cowed by his government's manhandling of the media. 

In 2002, he rankled the Kremlin when he hired a lip reader to decipher what Russian President Vladimir Putin (news - web sites) was telling an official on soundless videotape after a Chechen rebel takeover of a Moscow theater. Last year, he planned a segment on a Kremlin reporter's tell-all book that painted an unflattering portrait of Putin. NTV, the state-controlled network he worked for, squelched the report. 

Parfyonov's recent decision to air an interview with the widow of a Chechen separatist leader against the wishes of Russia's intelligence community appeared to be the last straw. NTV said this week that it had fired Parfyonov and shut down his top-rated newsmagazine program, Namedni. 

Denounced by Moscow journalists and liberals as censorship, Parfyonov's dismissal was the latest in a long line of episodes that signal a steady erosion of media freedoms in Russia. 

Every national television network is now state-owned or state-controlled. Coverage of the country's recent parliamentary and presidential campaigns was heavily slanted in favor of Putin and his party, United Russia, and all but ignored their opponents. 

At the center of the debate over media freedom in Russia has been NTV, once an independent network that drew the Kremlin's ire for its probing coverage of Putin's attempts to crush the separatist rebellion in Chechnya (news - web sites). 

In 2001, Russia's state-controlled energy monopoly, Gazprom, wrested control of NTV. Its owner, Vladimir Gusinsky, fled the country in the face of fraud charges most observers said were meant as political punishment for NTV's sharp-edged coverage. 

Since then, NTV has softened its tone. Parfyonov was an exception. He freely criticized Putin and the Kremlin, even going as far as using a Harry Potter (news - web sites) character called Dobby the house elf to caricature the Russian leader. An estimated 110 million Russians regularly tuned in to Namedni, which is Russian for "The Other Day." 

"Russian authorities can no longer stand even splinters of free speech on television," said Igor Yakovenko, secretary general for the Russian Union of Journalists. "This dismissal is absolutely political." 

The segment that led to Parfyonov's firing featured an interview with Malika Yandarbiyeva, the widow of a former Chechen president, Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev. 

One of the leaders of a separatist insurgency to break Chechnya away from Russia, Yandarbiyev fled to Qatar in 1999. He was killed by a car bomb in February that Qatari officials allege was planted by two Russian intelligence agents. Those agents are now on trial in Doha, Qatar's capital. 

The five-minute interview was far from controversial, according to text published in the Russian newspaper Kommersant. The wife spoke of her family's grief, read her husband's poetry and described her thoughts when she saw the Russian agents in court. 

Nevertheless, several days before its scheduled airing, Russia's security services asked NTV management to delay its broadcast because the trial was ongoing, according to Kommersant. 

On Sunday, Parfyonov went on the air with the segment. It appeared in Russia's time zones east of the Ural Mountains but, at the request of a top NTV executive, was removed from the show's broadcast in Moscow and the rest of western Russia. 

Parfyonov's superiors at NTV were angered when an internal memo that they gave to Parfyonov about the interview appeared in Kommersant. NTV officials did not respond to a request for an interview Wednesday. A news release issued by the network stated that the 44-year-old newsman was fired for "violating the labor agreement under which he was obliged to support the policy of NTV management." 

"Leonid Parfyonov is certainly one of the most talented journalists on the modern Russian television," the release said. "However, it is not the first time such an incident has happened. Therefore, we had no choice other than to make this decision." 

Parfyonov could not be reached for comment Wednesday. In an interview published Tuesday in the Russian newspaper Izvestia, Parfyonov said he doubted that the segment's airing could have influenced the trial in any way. "I don't think that decisions in Qatar are made after watching Namedni reports," he said. 

Parfyonov's firing caused an outcry from Russian liberals. 

"Parfyonov was the last source of good information on Russian television," Yakovenko said. "There will be major consequences as a result of this. Journalists will now realize that if they want to stay on television, they must remain loyal to authorities. And self-censorship will become more pervasive." 

Many Russians would welcome such censorship, polls suggest. A survey conducted by the Romir organization last year indicated that 76 percent of Russians believe the media should be censored. That same poll asked Russians what public institutions they trust. Nine percent said the country's mass media; 50 percent said Putin. 

Earthquake Changed Yellowstone 02-Jun-2004 An 7.9 earthquake in Alaska in 2002 set off 200 smaller earthquakes 2,000 miles away in Yellowstone National Park. Now scientists have discovered that it also changed the schedule of some of Yellowstone's geysers and hot springs, which are near where most of the quakes occurred.

Seismologist Robert B. Smith says, "We did not expect to see these prolonged changes in the hydrothermal system... Several small hot springs, not known to have geysered before, suddenly surged into a heavy boil with eruptions as high as [39 inches]. The temperature at one of these springs increased rapidly from [about 108 to 199 degrees Fahrenheit] and became much less acidic than normal. In the same area, another hot spring that was usually clear showed muddy, turbid water."

Yellowstone has more than 10,000 geysers, and scientists monitored how often 22 of them erupted after the quake. They found that 8 of them "displayed notable changes in their eruption intervals." Smith believes the quake's waves affected the geysers by the changing water pressure underground that feeds them.

Could a earthquake closer to Yellowstone trigger huge explosions? Steam-and-hot water explosions occurred there in prehistoric times and blasted out a hole that now is Mary's Bay on Yellowstone Lake. One such explosion has occurred about every 1,000 years since the glaciers receded from Yellowstone 14,000 years ago, and another one is overdue. Smith says there is no evidence that prehistoric quakes triggered those blasts, so their origin is still a mystery. 

What Gorillas Watch on TV 02-Jun-2004 The five western lowland gorillas in the Dallas Zoo are being kept away from the public, since one escaped on March 18 and injured three people before being killed by police. The remaining gorillas are stressed from being kept indoors, and zoo officials are trying to ease this with television. The gorillas each have their favorite shows.

The Dallas Morning News reports that fourteen-year-old Patrick likes cartoons, public television, and National Geographic specials, but sports bore him. Keeper Cindy McCaleb says, "We tried to put on sports, even though we were concerned it might generate aggressive behavior, but he really wasn't interested."

All the gorillas like Disney cartoons, and "The Little Mermaid," "The Lion King" and "Beauty and the Beast" are their favorites. "They don't follow the story, of course," says McCaleb. "They like the music, the color and the movement." Patrick watches more TV than the older gorillas.

Some gorillas prefer radio to TV. "I tend to go classical," McCaleb says. "It tends to mellow them out." 

Report: al-Qaida Ranks Swelling Worldwide

1 hour, 34 minutes ago

By BARRY RENFREW, News Source Writer 

LONDON - Far from being crippled by the U.S.-led war on terror, al-Qaida has more than 18,000 potential terrorists scattered around the world and the war in Iraq (news - web sites) is swelling its ranks, a report said Tuesday. 

 

Al-Qaida is probably working on plans for major attacks on the United States and Europe, and it may be seeking weapons of mass destruction in its desire to inflict as many casualties as possible, the International Institute of Strategic Studies said in its annual survey of world affairs. 

Osama bin Laden (news - web sites)'s network appears to be operating in more than 60 nations, often in concert with local allies, the study by the independent think tank said. 

Although about half of al-Qaida's top 30 leaders have been killed or captured, it has an effective leadership, with bin Laden apparently still playing a key role, it said. 

"Al-Qaida must be expected to keep trying to develop more promising plans for terrorist operations in North America and Europe, potentially involving weapons of mass destruction," IISS director Dr. John Chipman told a press conference releasing "Strategic Survey 2003/4." 

At the same time it will likely continue attacking "soft targets encompassing Americans, Europeans and Israelis, and aiding the insurgency in Iraq," he added. 

The report suggested that the two military centerpieces of the U.S.-led war on terror the wars in Afghanistan (news - web sites) and Iraq may have boosted al-Qaida. 

Driving the terror network out of Afghanistan in late 2001 appears to have benefited the group, which dispersed to many countries, making it almost invisible and hard to combat, the story said. 

And the Iraq conflict "has arguably focused the energies and resources of al-Qaida and its followers while diluting those of the global counterterrorism coalition that appeared so formidable" after the Afghan intervention, the survey said. 

The U.S. occupation of Iraq brought al-Qaida recruits from across Islamic nations, the study said. Up to 1,000 foreign Islamic fighters have infiltrated Iraqi territory, where they are cooperating with Iraqi insurgents, the survey said. 

Efforts to defeat al-Qaida will take time and might accelerate only if there are political developments that now seem elusive, such as the democratization of Iraq and the resolution of conflict in Israel, it said. 

It could take up to 500,000 U.S. and allied troops to effectively police Iraq and restore political stability, IISS researcher Christopher Langton told the news conference. 

Such a figure appeared impossible to meet, given political disquiet in the United States and Britain and the unwillingness of other nations to send troops, he said. 

The United States is al-Qaida's prime target in a war it sees as a death struggle between civilizations, the report said. An al-Qaida leader has said 4 million Americans will have to be killed "as a prerequisite to any Islamic victory," the survey said. 

"Al-Qaida's complaints have been transformed into religious absolutes and cannot be satisfied through political compromise," the study said. 

The IISS said its estimate of 18,000 al-Qaida fighters was based on intelligence estimates that the group trained at least 20,000 fighters in its camps in Afghanistan before the United States and its allies ousted the Taliban regime. In the ensuing war on terror, some 2,000 al-Qaida fighters have been killed or captured, the survey said. 

Al-Qaida appears to have successfully reconstituted its operations by dispersing its forces into small groups and through working with local allies, such as the Great Eastern Islamic Raiders' Front in Turkey, the report said. 

"Al-Qaida is the common ideological and logistical hub for disparate local affiliates, and bin Laden's charisma, presumed survival and elusiveness enhance the organization's iconic drawing power," it said.

Star Birth Gone Wild in 'Cosmic Hurricane'

Tue May 25, 9:54 AM ET 
Add Science - Space.com 

By Robert Roy Britt
Senior Science Writer, SPACE.com 

A shower of hot gas spewed from a galaxy loaded with pockets of intense star formation offers a window to the more violent early universe.

The rapid-fire star birth in M82 was triggered by a collision with another galaxy, and the tremendous activity fuels a "cosmic hurricane is travelling at more than a million miles an hour [447 kilometers per second] into intergalactic space," said Linda Smith of the University College London.

The gas travels in two opposite directions and extends thousands of light-years. Traced back to their sources, the two plumes are revealed to originate in the many separate clumps of star formation and the quick, explosive deaths of massive stars that generate new elements.

"Our goal here is to understand the structure of the wind's plumes, which are key factors in the evolution of this galaxy and the eventual pollution of nearby intergalactic space with new chemical elements," Smith said.

An image of the scene was released Friday. It was created by combining Hubble Space Telescope (news - web sites) observations that detail the inner part of the galaxy with a view from the WIYN Telescope on Kitt Peak in Arizona, which showed the extended winds, explained Mark Westmoquette, also of the University College London.

It is not unusual to see jets or plumes of material escaping along the rotation axis of stars, a black hole or an entire galaxy. But M82 is noted for its "superwinds," as astronomers call the bipolar outflows. 

"The M82 wind is made up of gas jets from multiple chimneys, each of which is relatively distinct," said Jay Gallagher of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, another member of the study team. "We hypothesize that these originate from individual star-forming clumps within M82."

Some of the clusters contain as much mass as a million Suns packed within 30 light-years of space, Gallagher said earlier this month in discussing his group's work at an astronomy meeting at the Space Telescope Science Institute.

M82 is about 10 million light-years away, which is relatively close in space and time. Gallagher said the scene can help astronomers understand what occurred in the early universe, when star birth was rampant. Because primordial galaxies are incredibly far away -- billions of light-years -- detailed examination of their structures is not practical with current telescopes.

Yet astronomers have seen enough to know that there are big differences between early galaxies and most of the mature galaxies closer by.

"Observations of the distant universe have really shown us now -- and we have to confront this -- that star formation in early epochs was really intense," Gallagher said. "The universe has gone from an intense mode of star formation in galaxies to a lazier mode nowadays."

So it is imperative, he said, to understand the mechanics of so-called starburst galaxies like M82.

In particular, Gallagher told SPACE.com, the distinct clumping of star formation in M82 is thought to be similar to how it worked when some of the earliest galaxies were under construction. 

The impetus for star formation in M82 came from a collision with another galaxy, M81, about 300 million years ago, astronomers say. Collisions were common when the universe was younger and smaller, and are thought to have played an important roll in star birth. Here's what happens in a typical collision:

"Huge amounts of gas are funneled into dense regions faster than the galaxy can get rid of it," Gallagher explained. "The galaxy overheats and explodes into stars."

Saint, Peace Seeker, Hero by Turns

Tue Jun 1, 7:55 AM ET

By Paul Watson Times Staff Writer 

HODAL, India - Barreling down a sizzling-hot road, in a cloud of diesel fumes and dust, Ludkan Baba is on a serious roll. 

He lies flat on the ground, turning himself over and over like a runaway log, limbs flailing as he bumps across potholes, splashes through mud puddles and falls deeper into a spiritual trance. 

Like any sadhu, or Hindu ascetic, he undertakes severe penance to liberate his soul from reincarnation's endless cycle of birth, death and rebirth. Stretched out in the middle of the road, rolling hour after hour, mile after mile through crowds and heavy traffic, he is making his trip to eternal bliss. 

But this is no ordinary holy roller. He is also on a mission to bring peace to the world. His devotion, and alms-raising power, has earned him several disciples, many admirers and the title Ludkan Baba - the Rolling Saint. 

He has rolled thousands of miles in the last 19 years, turning round and round so many millions of times that just pondering the thought can make your head spin. 

Yet to the 55-year-old sadhu, the constant turning is refreshing. He says he feels no pain. And except for a few blisters from rolling at high noon along gritty asphalt in 110-degree heat, his taut skin is baby-smooth. 

When he stands, he is barefoot, around 5 feet tall, with a mop of matted black hair and a long black beard flecked with gray. He doesn't look to be carrying more than an ounce of fat on his body. 

When he left the road for a midday break recently, the faithful gathered to be healed with his swishes of a peacock-feather broom and sachets of blessed ashes. The sadhu said he had not suffered a single accident or serious injury in nearly two decades of long-distance rolling. 

"I move during cyclones, during blazing summers and cold winters," he said. "I think of God, I think of Mother Earth, and then I roll and roll and roll. I don't feel dizzy. I don't consume any food, just tea and cigarettes. At night, I eat fruits, roti [bread], whatever I can lay my hands on." 

As a sadhu, the Rolling Baba is a wanderer who survives on alms. In his quest for moksha, or release from the cycle of reincarnation, he must reject the comforts of ordinary life. 

But sometimes even a sadhu can't resist a good gadget. One member of the Rolling Baba's small entourage carries a silver clamshell cellphone. So as long as there's a good signal, the Rolling Baba is never out of touch. 

He believes God's hand propels him. How else, he asks, could a man spin round and round, along unforgiving ground, for months on end and suffer no injuries? 

"All I do is put coconut oil on my hair at night, and even that, only when I feel like it," the Rolling Baba said, between draws on a cigarette. "This is the power of nature, the power of the divine." 

He was born Mohan Singh in the northern Indian town of Dungarpur, and as a barefoot boy of 12, he rubbed the hands of a dying boy and saved his life, the Rolling Baba said. After performing that miracle, he said, he went to a temple, renounced the world and became a sadhu. 

In 1973, he said, he entered a cave and stayed there, surviving on grass and water for 12 years, until a divine voice told him to start rolling for peace. 

His first journey lasted just under 25 miles. On his third trip, in 1994, he rolled about 2,500 miles across India. Today, as he rolls toward Pakistan, the sadhu thinks he might go to Iraq (news - web sites) next. 

A 17-year-old girl, a disciple whom the Rolling Baba and his entourage call the Young Saint, said she joined his holy journey, or yatra, because she believed the example of his strength through suffering would move the world to be more loving. 

"He has so much love within him that even streets - the same streets that we walk on and which we consider one of the worst places to lie down upon - become an object of love," the Young Saint said. 

"Just like a baby rolls on a mother's lap, similarly this man rolls on the streets. So if he can do this, what is it that prevents others from loving each other?" 

This is the Rolling Baba's sixth yatra. He is heading toward the Pakistani city of Lahore, where he hopes to meet President Pervez Musharraf and urge him to reach a lasting peace with India. 

So far, the Rolling Baba doesn't have an appointment. He doesn't have a passport, either, or a visa to cross the border. But those are problems for another day, some 380 miles, several weeks and countless rolls away. 

"To make passports and obtain a visa is the job of the Indian government," he said. "After all, I am not going there for professional reasons or to further any business interests. I am going there as a messenger of peace. If they want peace, then both nations will give me the chance to carry out my yatra." 

The Rolling Baba began his 800-mile journey on Jan. 28 at his home in India's central Madhya Pradesh state. When he reached Hodal, a town 50 miles south of New Delhi, India's capital, on Wednesday, he was roughly halfway to his goal. 

The Rolling Baba travels light. Since becoming a child sadhu, he has worn nothing more than a dhoti, a cloth loosely wrapped around his groin, hips and buttocks. He made an exception to the sadhu's rule of austere dress and wore a beige suit with a Nehru jacket and new shoes during a 1994 visit to London to help promote a documentary film about himself. 

He still travels with pictures of himself - standing - in Piccadilly Circus, outside the gates of Buckingham Palace and at other London landmarks. The snapshots are tucked into a small photo album that is inscribed "Sweet Memories" on the cover, above a heart-shaped window. 

While rolling, the only protection he wears is a blue T-shirt, wristbands and stretch bandages on his upper legs and forearms. He also holds tightly on to both ends of a strip of cloth, to help build up some torque as he spins. 

He rolls right down the middle of the road, through cow dung, rotting garbage and cigarette butts. Two disciples walk in front and kick away the more dangerous bits, such as steel bolts, chunks of glass and sharp stones. 

The Rolling Baba handles most potholes and puddles on his own, but when he nears an especially deep, mucky one, a disciple unfolds a yellow tarp and lays it down to ease the holy man's path. 

He rolls each day from 7 a.m. until noon and then from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m., to escape the worst heat, which can reach 120 degrees or more. He takes short breaks, sitting entranced at the roadside, blessing crowds of people who press in to touch his feet and receive the blessing of a gentle swat from his cloth. They drop donations, usually a small coin, in two tin boxes. 

The Rolling Baba clocked his pace at about 6 mph in this farm town, where traffic and well-wishers slowed him down. But when he hits open highway, or the down slope of a good hill, his speed reaches about 15 mph, he said. 

After completing his morning spins and getting the dirt mopped off by a disciple one recent day, the sadhu sat in a steel-framed chair in the shade of a tree at a government high school. The sick and disabled gathered on a red and black striped carpet at his feet. 

More than 60 people came for faith healing, including a blind boy, a boy with a lame leg, an old woman with a headache and a man with piles. 

The Rolling Baba swept them all with his peacock-feather broom. He gently poked a few patients' bellies with a curved, blunt-tipped sword, and made a whooshing sound, as if he had killed whatever ailed them and blown it away. 

After each treatment, he handed out what one of his disciples said were holy ashes. Two men sat at the end of the carpet, spooning the gray powder onto pages torn from a school biology text and neatly folding them into packets. 

"Have a bath with this for three days," the Rolling Baba instructed an old man with heart trouble, who wheezed for each breath. "And don't use soap." 

As they got up to leave, each patient dropped coins or bank notes in the slot of a donation box with a small padlock at the Rolling Baba's dusty feet. 

"Whatever blessings I have earned through my meditation, I distribute amongst the masses," he said. "And it is because of these blessings of the Almighty that they get relief from their various ailments. It is on the strength of my sufferings that they are cured. The blessings that I earn are passed on to them."

U.S. agencies collect, examine personal data on Americans

By Audrey Hudson
THE WASHINGTON TIMES

http://www.washingtontimes.com/national/20040528-122605-9267r.htm

Numerous federal government agencies are collecting and sifting 
through massive amounts of personal information, including credit 
reports, credit-card purchases and other financial data, posing new 
privacy concerns, according to the General Accounting Office (GAO). 
The GAO surveyed 128 federal departments and agencies and found that 52 
are using, or planning to implement, 199 data-mining programs, with 131 
already operational.

The Education, Defense, Homeland Security, Veterans Affairs, Health and 
Human Services, Interior, Labor, Justice, and Treasury departments are 
among those that use the contentious new technology to detect criminal 
or terrorist activity; manage human resources; gauge scientific 
research; detect fraud, waste and abuse; and monitor tax compliance. 
The audit released yesterday shows 36 data-mining programs collect and 
analyze personal information that is purchased from the private sector, 
including credit reports and credit-card transactions. Additionally, 46 
federal agencies share personal information that includes student-loan 
application data, bank-account numbers, credit-card information and 
taxpayer-identification numbers. 
The Defense Department is the largest user of data-mining technology, 
followed by the Education Department, which uses private information to 
track the life of student direct loans and to monitor loan repayments. 
"Mining government and private databases containing personal 
information creates a range of privacy concerns," the report said. 
Data-mining technology can sift through massive amounts of information 
to uncover hidden patterns and subtle relationships to make 
predictions. 
The technology "has led to concerns about the government's use of data 
mining to conduct a mass 'dataveillance' - a surveillance of large 
groups of people - to sift through vast amounts of personally 
identifying data to find individuals who might fit a terrorist 
profile," the GAO report said. 
Sen. Daniel K. Akaka, Hawaii Democrat and ranking member of a 
Governmental Affairs financial management, budget and international 
security subcommittee, requested the nearly yearlong audit. 
The most widely reported data-mining project - the Pentagon's Total 
Information Awareness (TIA) program - was shut down by Congress because 
of widespread privacy fears. The project sought to use credit-card, 
medical and travel records to search for terrorists and was dubbed by 
privacy advocates as a "supersnoop" system to spy on Americans. 
"We always knew that the [TIA] program was not the only 
data-surveillance program out there, but it now appears possible that 
such activities are even more widespread than we imagined," said Barry 
Steinhardt, director of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) 
technology and liberty program. 
Bob Barr, chairman of the American Conservative Union Foundation's 
21st Century Center for Privacy and Freedom and a former congressman 
from Georgia, said the use of data mining to spy on American citizens 
will continue to grow until Congress addresses the issue. 
"Many in Washington cheered when it appeared the Congress killed TIA. 
However, as I said at the time and have repeated since, it is not dead, 
only renamed and resurfaced elsewhere," Mr. Barr said. 
"We cannot rely on this or any other administration to pull back on its 
own. The executive branch likes information on citizens far too much to 
voluntarily stop developing ever more and expanded databases," he said. 
The ACLU said some programs appear to be a "dragnet on the general 
population," including a Homeland Security program that "correlates 
events and people to specific information" and a Defense Intelligence 
Agency data-mining program to "identify foreign terrorists or U.S. 
citizens connected to foreign terrorism activities." 
Data mining is used by the Health and Human Services Department to 
monitor food and drug safety. The department is developing a 
data-mining tool to track and report "adverse incidents" involving 
food, cosmetics, and dietary supplements. 
Homeland Security is developing an "incident data mart," which will 
"look through incident logs for patterns of events." Incident is 
defined as "an event involving law enforcement or government agency for 
which a log was created (e.g. traffic ticket, drug arrest, or firearm 
possession)." The system will "look at crimes in a particular 
geographic location, particular types of arrest, or any type of unusual 
activity." 
The GAO report did not include classified programs, and some agencies 
did not respond to its request for information, including the CIA, 
National Security Agency and the Equal Employment Opportunity 
Commission. 
James Dempsey, executive director of the Center for Democracy & 
Technology, said it is likely that there are data-mining programs not 
listed in the report. 
"More and more agencies are relying on complex data-mining techniques 
and commercial data, a combination that has significant potential to 
threaten civil liberties," Mr. Dempsey said.

Many Wireless Networks Lack Security

Tue Jun 1, 7:13 AM ET

By MATTHEW FORDAHL

SAN JOSE, Calif. - With a laptop perched in the passenger seat of his Toyota 4Runner and a special antenna on the roof, Mike Outmesguine ventured off to sniff out wireless networks between Los Angeles and San Francisco. He got a big whiff of insecurity.

While his 800-mile drive confirmed that the number of wireless networks is growing explosively, he also found that only a third used basic encryption - a key security measure. In fact, in nearly 40 percent of the networks not a single change had been made to the gear's wide-open default settings.

"They took it out of the box, powered it up, and it worked. And they left it alone," said Outmesguine, who owns a technical services company. He frequently goes out on such "wardrives" in search of insecure networks. And while Outmesguine says he doesn't try to break in, others aren't so benign.

While Wi-Fi is hot, security is not.

Even the makers of Wi-Fi routers, access points and other gadgets privately say that as many as 80 percent of home users don't bother to enable basic encryption or other protections against connection theft, eavesdropping and network invasion.

Experts say that while Wi-Fi hardware makers have made initial setup easy, the enabling of security is anything but. Meanwhile, average users are no longer tech savvy. The gadgets are mainstream, appearing on the shelves of Wal-Mart and other mass retailers.

During his wardrive, Outmesguine counted 3,600 hot spots, compared with 100 on the same route in 2000. Worldwide, makers of Wi-Fi gear for homes and small offices posted sales of more than $1.3 billion in 2003, a 43 percent jump over 2002, according to Synergy Research Group.

The result? A lot of wide-open networks that offer anyone within range of the Wi-Fi signal free access to a high-speed Internet connection. Any hacking is unlikely to be noticed, while illegal activity would be traceable only to the name on the Internet account.

To make matters worse, users who don't secure their networks are often the very people who don't keep their computers up to date with the latest security patches and antivirus software.

"What we probably really have here is a whole bunch of very vulnerable systems exposed to attack or infection over a network that has no access control," said Al Potter, manager of technical services at the security firm TruSecure's ICSA Labs.

Companies that sell Wi-Fi products want their hardware to be simple and interoperable, especially as more than just computers - wireless TV monitors, digital music receivers, DVD players and game consoles, for example - are wirelessly connecting to home networks.

At the same time, they want to keep support calls and returns low, so they turn off security by default.

"We've been putting friendly front ends in front of technology for a long time," said Peter Evans, vice president of business development at AirDefense Inc., a wireless security firm. "I'm not sure why the industry has not yet made those tools much easier to use."

Yet even knowledgeable consumers find it frustrating to set up security. It can involve punching in dozens of characters as the passphrase for each connected device, and navigating screens filled with a dizzying set of acronyms for encryption and authentication.

Typically, there isn't much explanation about what they are and why they're needed.

Problems grow when consumers try to mix a laptop wireless card from one vendor with a Wi-Fi access point from another. With security turned off, everything works fine. With basic encryption turn on, the headaches begin.

Because his Linksys access point and Gateway notebook used different techniques for generating the "key" to scramble and unscramble the data, Victor Miller of Princeton Junction, N.J., learned he had to twice punch in dozens of characters using the hexadecimal numbering system.

That process is prone to typing errors, which aren't apparent since Windows XP (news - web sites) doesn't display the characters as they're entered. Also, Miller said, the user guides did not say that the computer would require a restart.

Miller, who is a cryptography expert, eventually got it working.

"I'm not sure many people would have the fortitude to actually copy down 26 hex digits twice," he said. "They'd just say, `To hell with it.'"

Some manufacturers are beginning to tout security features as a selling point, just as they market faster speeds and greater signal range. Microsoft Corp., for instance, made the transfer of keys fairly easy by copying the key and other settings to a floppy disk that could then be used to configure wireless laptops. The company, though, announced in May that it was getting out of the Wi-Fi hardware business.

Buffalo Technology Inc. has introduced a one-touch security system that exchanges keys between wireless devices and the wireless access point within a two-minute window after a button is pressed. Critics point out, however, that the system requires the manual entry of keys on non-Buffalo devices. And not all of Buffalo's products support the technology, called AOSS.

Meanwhile, Broadcom Corp., the leading supplier of Wi-Fi chips, has announced a software feature called SecureEZSetup that generates the encryption key based on answers to simple, easy-to-remember questions. Still, any device that's not supported must be manually set up, and only one vendor - Belkin Corp. - has so far publicly committed to using the technology.

The Wi-Fi Alliance, an industry group that certifies Wi-Fi-labeled gear, has posted educational videos on its Web site and recommends that vendors use automated setup tools in their products. But it has stopped short of mandating specific interfaces, said Frank Hanzlik, the group's managing director.

In addition, not all vendors agree there's a major problem.

"Key to our strategy is consumer education," said Darek Connole, media relations manager at D-Link Systems Inc. "If the consumer knows why it's important, why it's easy to do, it becomes something they implement."

That's no excuse for not making setups more simple, objects Potter of TruSecure.

"The right instructions, the right help screens that ask the right question at the right time can go an awfully long way to keep those eyes from glazing over," he said.

___

On the Net:

Wi-Fi Alliance: http://www.wi-fi.org 

Easy-to-Spot Air Security Might Be Easy Target

Mon May 31, 7:55 AM ET 
By Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar Times Staff Writer 

WASHINGTON - As they settled into first class on American Airlines Flight 1438 from Chicago to Miami, they were supposed to be the last line of defense against terrorists - two highly trained U.S. air marshals who would sit unnoticed among the ordinary travelers but spring into action at the first sign of trouble. 

Imagine their chagrin when a fellow passenger coming down the aisle suddenly boomed out, "Oh, I see we have air marshals on board!" 

The incident, detailed in an intelligence brief, is an example of something that happens all too often, marshals say. The element of surprise may be crucial to their mission, but it turns out they're "as easy to identify as a uniformed police officer," the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Assn. said in a complaint to Congress. 

The problem is not security leaks. It's the clothes. 

In an era when "dressing down" is the traveler's creed, air marshals must show up in jackets and ties, hair cut short, bodies buffed, shoes shined. 

Jack Webb would be proud, but the marshals say they stand out like shampooed show dogs among the pound pups. 

And the tipoff provided by their appearance is magnified by a set of boarding procedures that make them conspicuous. 

Since they're armed, the marshals can't go through the initial security screening with the rest of the passengers. Instead using the entry points set aside for airport employees, the marshals often must go through the "exit" lanes - marching against the flow of arriving passengers, at times in full view of travelers. 

"They lose the advantage" of being undercover, said John Amat, a spokesman for the marshals within the federal law officers group. 

Officials with the Federal Air Marshal Service, however, defended their sartorial standards. 

"Professional demeanor, attire and attitude gain respect," spokesman David M. Adams said. "If a guy pulls out a gun and he's got a tattoo on his arm and [is wearing] shorts, I'm going to question whether he's a law enforcement officer." 

As for the boarding procedures, Adams said, the agency is working to address the problems. Air marshals "are not undercover like Serpico," he added, referring to the legendary New York detective. "The director refers to them as 'discreet.' " 

The air marshal service has grown from about 30 officers at the time of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks to several thousand today, operating under a $600-million annual budget. 

With the expansion has come an infusion of federal law enforcement culture. The director of the air marshals, Thomas D. Quinn, who took over in January 2002, spent 20 years with the Secret Service. 

"Secret Service people are notoriously known for being snappy dressers," said Capt. Steve Luckey, security chairman for the Air Line Pilots Assn. 

And it was after Quinn took over, marshals said, that the strict rules on dress and grooming were instituted, including a ban on beards, long hair and jeans. 

But today's airliner is a come-as-you-are environment. Even "if you go in first class, you see the whole gamut," Luckey said, from people in cut-off jeans to those in suit and tie. "I think you can go overboard with the professionalism.... The mission dictates flexibility and some relaxed dress standards." 

Many marshals interviewed - who requested anonymity because they are not allowed to talk to the media - agree. 

What makes them uneasy is the prospect of being spotted by terrorists and disabled or killed before they could react. 

"This is what I foresee," said one marshal, a two-year veteran. "Two of us get on the plane and we've been under surveillance the whole time. There's a minimum of four bad guys.... My partner goes to the bathroom and they come after me with a sharp pen, stab me in the neck or in the brain and take my weapon," he continued. "When my partner comes out, they shoot him. Then they've got 80 rounds of ammunition and two weapons." 

Adams called such a scenario "highly unlikely." 

Yet a congressional General Accounting Office (news - web sites) study of a two-year period from 2001 to 2003 found an average of about one case a week in which marshals reported their cover was blown. 

The passenger on American Flight 1438 told the marshals "he picked them out because of their attire and the fact that they were on board before the other passengers," an agency report on the Nov. 15, 2003 incident said. The report did not say whether the government took action against the man, although others who have outed air marshals have been prosecuted. 

One marshal with previous military and law enforcement experience said that "a bad guy on a plane can quickly narrow the pool of potential marshals. They're not wearing jeans, they're not wearing cargo pants.... There will not be an air marshal who is unshaven. You eliminate the unknown element." 

Additional clues to their identity can be gleaned by observing airport check-in and boarding, several marshals said. 

At the ticket counter, marshals must present an official leather credential case that is much bigger than a driver's license and looks different than a passport. 

"You can stand 20 feet away from the ticket counter and see it," said the marshal with military experience. Ticket agents sometimes hold it up to the light to study the hologram on the picture, he added. 

After they get their tickets, marshals head for the boarding gate. At their home airports, they can use a special access card to bypass the security checkpoint. But at other airports, they must go through the passenger exit lane. 

"Everybody sees you standing there," one marshal said. "Everybody sees you show your ID. They see you are being escorted through an exit lane, bypassing security." 

At the boarding gate, the marshals must again show their credentials to the airline agent. Then, because marshals have to brief flight crews in person, at least one team member has to board before the other passengers. That often takes place in full view. 

"You see physically fit men in their mid-30s getting on an airplane early, and you know they're not doing that because they need more time to get down the jet way," said Patricia Friend, president of the Assn. of Flight Attendants. 

The marshals have petitioned Congress for help in changing the rules. Several lawmakers are following up on the complaints. Among them is Sen. Herbert H. Kohl (D-Wis.), who talked with Quinn about the boarding procedures. And Rep. Peter DeFazio (news, bio, voting record) (D-Ore.) has asked the General Accounting Office to take another in-depth look at the agency. DeFazio is the ranking Democrat on the House aviation subcommittee. 

Changes would largely be a matter of administrative action, but congressional pressure could force the issue. 

In the meantime, some air marshals have found ways to adapt. The marshal with military experience said he deliberately acts as the more visible member of his team. He walks down the jet way before the passengers. If someone stares at him, he stares back. By becoming the focus of attention, he figures he's helping protect his partner's anonymity. 

"If they come after me first, he might be able to save my bacon," the marshal. "At least one guy may be able to do something to defend the aircraft." 

* 

(Begin Text of Infobox) 

Air marshals 

Gender: 96% male; 4% female. 

Race and ethnicity: 73% white; 13% Latino; 9% African American; 2% Asian American; 1% Native American; 1% other or not reported. 

Age: 22% 30 and younger; 65% 31 to 40; 10% 41 to 50; 4% 51 and older. 

Dress: Suit and tie or sport coat, collared shirt, dress slacks and dress shoes. Equivalent attire is required for female air marshals. 

* 

Sources: General Accounting Office, Los Angeles Times 

* 

Note: Totals may not add to 100% because of rounding. 

* 

Los Angeles Times

Private Rocket Will Try and Reach Space 

Wed Jun 2, 7:48 PM ET

MOJAVE, Calif. - A privately developed manned rocket will attempt to reach space this month, its builders said Wednesday. It would be the first non-governmental flight to leave Earth's atmosphere. 

Missed Tech Tuesday?
Watch this: Tomorrow's TV displays will be flat and portable, your DVR will disappear, and you may even want to use TV to flip through future e-books. 

SpaceShipOne, created by aviation designer Burt Rutan and funded by billionaire Paul Allen, will attempt to reach an altitude of 62 miles on a suborbital flight over the Mojave Desert on June 21. 

The rocket plane reached an altitude of about 40 miles during a test flight May 13. 

Suborbital flights are essentially up and down. The craft does not reach speeds fast enough go into orbit around the Earth. 

If the attempt is successful, SpaceShipOne will compete for the Ansari X Prize, a competition in which $10 million goes to the first reusable rocket able to carry three people into space on a suborbital flight, return them safely to Earth, and repeat the feat within two weeks with the same vehicle. 

A number of other private organizations are also developing contenders for the prize. 

"Every time SpaceShipOne flies we demonstrate that relatively modest amounts of private funding can significantly increase the boundaries of commercial space technology," Allen, co-founder of Microsoft, and founder and chairman of Vulcan Inc., said in a statement. 

The cost of SpaceShipOne has not been revealed. 

SpaceShipOne is carried aloft by a specially designed jet aircraft and then is dropped into a glide at an altitude of about 50,000 feet. The pilot then fires the rocket motor and pulls up into a vertical climb. 

The June attempt will involve an 80-second rocket firing that will accelerate the craft to Mach 3. It will then coast up to the target altitude before falling back to Earth. The pilot will experience weightlessness for more than three minutes. The glide back to the ground will take 15-20 minutes.

AP: Administration Freed Terror Suspect 

32 minutes ago 
Add U.S. National - 

By JOHN SOLOMON, News Source Writer 

WASHINGTON - Nabil al-Marabh was No. 27 on the FBI (news - web sites)'s list of terror suspects after Sept. 11. He trained in Afghanistan (news - web sites)'s militant camps, sent money to a roommate convicted in a foiled plot to bomb a hotel and boasted to an informant about plans to blow up a fuel truck inside a New York tunnel, FBI documents allege. The Bush administration set him free - to Syria - even though prosecutors had sought to bring criminal cases against him and judges openly expressed concerns about possible terrorist ties. 

Slideshow: September 11 AP: Administration Freed Terror Suspect 
(AP Video)

Al-Marabh served an eight-month jail sentence and was sent in January to his native Syria, which is regarded by the United States as a sponsor of terrorism. The quiet disposition of his case stands in stark contrast to the language FBI agents used to describe the man. 

Al-Marabh "intended to martyr himself in an attack against the United States," an FBI agent wrote in a December 2002 report obtained by The News Source. A footnote in al-Marabh's deportation ruling last year added, "The FBI has been unable to rule out the possibility that al-Marabh has engaged in terrorist activity or will do so if he is not removed from the United States." 

One FBI report summarized a high-level debriefing of a Jordanian informant named Ahmed Y. Ashwas that was personally conducted by the U.S. attorney in Chicago, signifying its importance. The informant alleged al-Marabh told him of specific terrorist plans during their time in prison. 

Even the judge who accepted al-Marabh's plea agreement on minor immigration charges in 2002 balked. "Something about this case just makes me feel uncomfortable," Judge Richard Arcara said in court. The Justice Department (news - web sites) assured the judge that al-Marabh did not have terrorist ties. 

A second judge who ultimately ordered al-Marabh's deportation sided with FBI agents, federal prosecutors and Customs agents in the field who believed al-Marabh was tied to terrorism. 

"The court finds applicant does present a danger to national security," U.S. Immigration Judge Robert D. Newberry ruled, concluding al-Marabh was "credibly linked to elements of terrorism" and had a "propensity to lie." 

Neither the courts nor al-Marabh's lawyers were given access to the most striking allegations provided by the Jordanian informant. 

Asked to explain the decision to free al-Marabh, Justice spokesman Bryan Sierra said the government has concerns about many people with suspected terror ties but cannot effectively try them in court without giving away intelligence sources and methods. 

"If the government cannot prosecute terrorism charges, another option is to remove the individual from the United States via deportation. After careful review, this was determined to be the best option available under the law to protect our national security," he said. 

But a Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee (news - web sites) scoffed at the explanation. "It's hard to believe that the best way to deal with the FBI's 27th most wanted terrorist is to send him back to a terrorist-sponsoring country," said Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y. He said the Justice Department could have used a military tribunal or a classified criminal. "This action certainly raises a lot of questions and demands a lot of answers," Schumer said. 

Internal FBI and Justice Department documents reviewed by AP show prosecutors and FBI agents in several cities gathered evidence that linked al-Marabh to: 

_Raed Hijazi, the Boston cab driver convicted in Jordan for plotting to blow up an American-frequented hotel in Amman during the millennium celebrations of 1999. Al-Marabh and Hijazi were roommates at the Afghan training camps and later in the United States, and al-Marabh sent money to Hijazi. 

_The Detroit apartment where four men were arrested in what became the administration's first major terror prosecution after Sept. 11. Al-Marabh's name was still on the rental unit when agents raided it. The men were found with false IDs and documents describing alleged terror plots. 

_Several large deposits, withdrawals and overseas wire transfers in 1998 and 2000 that were flagged as suspicious by a Boston bank. The Customs Service first identified al-Marabh in 2001 for possible terrorist ties to Hijazi. 

FBI documents said Al-Marabh denied being affiliated with al-Qaida. But he acknowledged receiving "security" training in rifles and rocket-propelled grenades in Afghan mujahedeen camps, sending money to his friend Hijazi, using a fake address to get a truck driving license and buying a phony passport for $4,000 in Canada to sneak into the United States shortly before Sept. 11. 

Al-Marabh's attorney, Mark Kriger, said Wednesday he had never seen the Jordanian informant report and still doesn't believe his client had anything to do with terrorism. He said his client broke ties with Hijazi years ago after a falling out. 

Kriger said he found it unbelievable "that the government, if it believed Ashwas, would have deported Mr. al-Marabh rather than indict him." 

The Justice Department's criminal division chief, Chris Wray, expressed concern to Congress last month that some suspects were being deported to freedom. "It may be more difficult than people would expect" to make a case against a suspect, even when he or she trained at terror camps, he said. 

"We may be able to deport the person under the immigration laws," Wray added. "And while that should give us some comfort, the fact is, if we go that route, the person is removed to another country and turned loose there, and we have no ability to make sure that they're not engaged in further terrorist activity." 

At one point in late 2002, U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald in Chicago drafted an indictment against al-Marabh on multiple counts of making false statements in his interviews with FBI agents. Justice headquarters declined prosecution. Fitzgerald declined through a spokesman to discuss the reasons. 

Fitzgerald then tracked down Ashwas, the Jordanian who because of minor immigration problems had spent time with al-Marabh in a federal detention cell in 2002. Fitzgerald had the man flown to Chicago and oversaw his debriefing along with FBI agents from Chicago and Detroit, documents show. 

Ashwas alleged that during one of his encounters he helped persuade the prison psychiatrist to prescribe al-Marabh an anti-anxiety drug called Claripan and that al-Marabh began talking more freely, the FBI reported. 

The FBI summarized Ashwas' allegations: 

_Al-Marabh said he aided Hijazi's flight from authorities and sent him money, plotted a martyrdom attack in the United States and took instructions from a mystery figure in Chicago known only as "al Mosul," which means "boss" in Arabic. 

_Al Mosul asked al-Marabh to attend a driving school in Detroit with Arabic instructors so he could get a commercial truck driver's license, and arranged for al-Marabh to live in the Detroit apartment later raided by the FBI as a terror cell. 

_Al-Marabh said he and Hijazi planned to steal a fuel truck from a rest stop in New York and New Jersey and detonate it in the heavily traveled Lincoln or Holland tunnels, but the plan was foiled when Hijazi was arrested. 

_Al-Marabh acknowledged he had distributed money - as much as $200,000 a month - to the various training camps in Afghanistan in the early 1990s. 

The FBI and prosecutors confirmed some aspects of Ashwas' account, including that al-Marabh had been at the Detroit apartment, had trained at at least one Afghan camp and had gotten the truck driver's license. 

Fitzgerald wasn't alone in his efforts to try to bring a case against al-Marabh 

Prosecutors and FBI agents in other states sought to get enough evidence to prosecute him. 

In Detroit, prosecutors developed evidence but weren't allowed to bring a case connecting al-Marabh to the terror cell there. 

One of those prosecutors, longtime career Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Convertino, recently sued Ashcroft, alleging the Justice Department improperly interfered with prosecuting terrorists. Justice says Convertino is under investigation for possibly withholding a piece of evidence from defense lawyers in the Detroit terror case. 

When al-Marabh's name surfaced in the Detroit trial in March 2003, an FBI agent said al-Marabh remained under investigation for terrorism but hadn't been charged. 

"Mr. Al-Marabh was listed No. 27 on the FBI Watch List," agent Michael Thomas testified. "He was a known associate, a former roommate of Mr. Raed Hijazi." 

Less than 10 months after Thomas' testimony, al-Marabh was freed from custody and put on a plane to Syria.

Bush May Hire Lawyer in Probe Over CIA Leak

1 hour, 11 minutes ago 
Add Politics 

WASHINGTON  - President Bush (news - web sites) has sought a lawyer to represent him in the criminal probe into who was responsible for a leak that was seen as retaliation against a critic of the Iraq (news - web sites) war, the White House said on Wednesday. 

"The president has had discussions with an outside attorney, and in the event that he needs advice he would retain him," said White House spokesman Allen Abney, naming the lawyer as Jim Sharp. 

A federal grand jury has been hearing testimony since January from administration and government officials in an attempt to establish who leaked the name of CIA (news - web sites) operative Valerie Plame to the media last year. 

Plame is the wife of Joe Wilson, a former ambassador who was asked by the CIA to travel to Niger in February 2002 to check reports that Iraq had tried to buy enriched uranium from the African country. 

Wilson dismissed the reports as unfounded, but Bush nevertheless included a reference to the supposed deal in his State of the Union speech in 2003, citing it as one of the reasons to invade Iraq. 

The CIA later acknowledged that the uranium reports were based on forged documents and the White House said they should not have been mentioned in the State of the Union speech. 

A newspaper columnist disclosed Plame's identity in July last year and Wilson accused the Bush administration of having leaked the information to pay him back for having publicly taken issue with the president's uranium claim. 

It is illegal under U.S. law to disclose the name of a covert agent who has served outside the country in the previous five years. 

Reports that Bush had contacted an attorney were first carried on Wednesday by CBS Evening News.

Study: Dieting Can Weaken Immune System 

Wed Jun 2, 7:14 AM ET 
By KRISTEN GELINEAU, News Source Writer 

SEATTLE - A new study has found that "yo-yo dieting" - repeatedly losing, then regaining weight - may harm a woman's immune system. The study by the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center also found that maintaining the same weight over time appears to have a positive effect on a woman's immune system, according to one of the lead researchers. 

Researchers in the study, published Tuesday in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association, interviewed 114 overweight but otherwise healthy sedentary, older women about their weight-loss history during the past 20 years. The women had to have maintained a stable weight for at least three months before joining the study, which was funded by the National Cancer Institute (news - web sites). 

The study, which found that long-term immune function decreases in proportion to how many times a woman has intentionally lost weight, measured natural killer cell activity in the women's blood. Natural killer cells are an essential part of the immune system, killing viruses and leukemia cells, said Cornelia Ulrich, senior author and an assistant member of the Hutchinson Center's Public Health Sciences Division. 

Low natural killer cell activity has been associated with increased cancer rates and a higher susceptibility to colds and infections, she said. 

"While one weight-loss episode of 10 pounds or more in the previous 20 years was not associated with current natural killer cell activity, more frequent weight-loss episodes" were associated with a significant decrease in such activity, Ulrich said. 

The study found that women who maintained a fairly stable weight over several years had higher levels of such cells than those whose weight frequently fluctuated. 

Those who reported losing weight more than five times had about a third lower natural killer cell function, the study found. Conversely, women who maintained the same weight for at least five years had 40 percent greater natural killer cell activity as compared to those who maintained their weight for fewer than two years. 

Though no men participated in the study and further research is needed, Ulrich said the immune systems of male dieters would likely be affected the same way. 

The findings, while intriguing, are preliminary, cautioned Ulrich, who is also a research assistant professor in epidemiology at the University of Washington School of Public Health and Community Medicine. 

Researchers had to rely on the participants' own reports of their weight loss histories and the analysis was based on blood samples collected at a single point in time, representing a narrow sample. 

A long-term study could provide more conclusive results, said Ulrich, who is planning to collaborate with Canadian researchers who have been working on a similar study. 

Although the study suggests that yo-yo dieting is harmful, Ulrich stopped short of saying that people should stop attempting to lose weight. 

"There's clearly evidence that weight loss is beneficial for your health," she said. "What we're concerned about is this pattern of weight cycling where women go up and down." 

Exercise has been shown to boost immunity and temper some of the negative effects of weight loss on the immune system, Ulrich said. 

Despite its preliminary nature, the study is significant, said Katherine Tallmadge, a spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association in Washington, D.C. Although dietitians have known for years the negative psychological effects of yo-yo dieting, this appears to be the first study to examine the long-term impact of such dieting on immunity, she said. 

People should avoid popular low-carb and low-fat diets that can produce initial weight loss but rarely work in the long term, Tallmadge said. 

"Study after study shows that more moderate restrictions are more likely to last permanently," Tallmadge said. "That's why we registered dietitians are urging people not to do the fad diets, and just try small changes that they're more likely to be able to live with - even if the weight loss is slower." ___ 

On the Net: 

Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center http://www.fhcrc.org/ 

American Dietetic Association: http://www.eatright.org/Public/ 

National Cancer Institute: http://cancer.gov/

Kraft Backs Off Plan to Reduce Portions 

2 hours, 39 minutes ago 
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NORTHFIELD, Ill. - Kraft Foods Inc. has abandoned its plan to reduce some portion sizes, citing consumer research that shows shoppers prefer to have the choice of whether to go with smaller packages. 

The nation's largest food company disclosed the decision in a progress report on the anti-obesity initiatives it announced last July. With the food industry facing growing consumer health concerns and the risk of obesity lawsuits, Kraft had pledged to change some product recipes, reduce portions in some single-serve packages, quit marketing snacks via giveaways at school and encourage healthier lifestyles. 

"When we spoke with consumers about what they wanted with single-serve, what they told us was that they didn't want us to reduce the size because they wanted to have more choice," Kraft spokeswoman Kris Charles said Wednesday. "Different people have different body sizes and activity levels, and it made more sense to provide different portion choices." 

Kraft said it would offer a broad range of portion-size choices, including snacks in small packages such as its new Nabisco 100 Calorie Packs. It also said it will give nutrition information for entire packages, rather than just for individual portions, "so consumers don't have to do the math themselves." 

That move, Kraft said, should support the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (news - web sites)'s recent call for food companies to enhance labeling on packages in a way that helps consumers make informed choices. 

The company also said it has reduced the fat content and made other changes to about 200 products it sells in North America. That accounts for about 5 percent of its products, and Kraft called it "just a beginning." 

"Our ongoing actions are part of a broader societal response to growing health and wellness concerns, including obesity," CEO Roger Deromedi said. "It's going to take a comprehensive approach that involves many sectors of society to truly accelerate the change that's needed. We're ready, as are many other food companies, to collaborate and cooperate with governments, policy experts, industries and communities around the world." 

Kraft shares rose 15 cents to close at $30.05 on the New York Stock Exchange (news - web sites). 

___ 

On the Net: 

www.kraft.com 

NY Attorney General Sues Glaxo on Paxil

2 hours, 39 minutes ago 
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NEW YORK  - N.Y. state Attorney General Eliot Spitzer said on Wednesday he sued British pharmaceuticals group GlaxoSmithKline Plc, claiming fraud over its antidepressant drug Paxil. 

The lawsuit alleges that starting in 1998, Glaxo engaged in a concerted effort to withhold negative information about Paxil and misrepresented data concerning its safety and efficacy in children and adolescents. 

The suit claims Glaxo conducted at least five studies on the use of Paxil in children and adolescents but published only one, which had mixed results. It claims the company suppressed negative results from the other studies, which did not show that Paxil worked and may even have suggested an increased risk of suicide. 

Glaxo officials were not immediately available for comment. 

In the suit, filed in N.Y. State Supreme Court in Manhattan, Spitzer asked that Glaxo give up all profits obtained through the claimed misconduct. 

The suit also claims Glaxo misrepresented the results of its research to its sales representatives, saying it had "remarkable efficacy and safety in the treatment of adolescent depression." 

More than 2 million prescriptions for Paxil were written for children and adolescents in the United States in 2002, even though the drug is approved by U.S. regulators only to treat adult depression. Physicians, however, have the ability to prescribe Paxil for children.

Ladies Night' Discount Axed in N.J. Bars 

Wed Jun 2,11:05 AM ET 
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TRENTON, N.J. - The state's top civil rights official has ruled that taverns cannot offer discounts to women on "ladies nights," agreeing with a man who claimed such gender-based promotions discriminated against men.

David R. Gillespie said it was not fair for women to get into the Coastline nightclub for free and receive discounted drinks while men paid a $5 cover charge and full price for drinks. 

In his ruling Tuesday, J. Frank Vespa-Papaleo, director of the state Division on Civil Rights, rejected arguments by the nightclub that ladies nights were a legitimate promotion. Commercial interests do not override the "important social policy objective of eradicating discrimination," he ruled. 

The ruling specifically addressed the weekly ladies nights at the Coastline in Cherry Hill, but it carries the force of a court decision and applies statewide. Vespa-Papaleo said state officials would write formal rules after a public hearing. 

The restaurant's attorney, Colleen Ready, did not immediately return a telephone message left Wednesday by The News Source. 

Courts in other states have issued divergent opinions on such promotions. 

Judges in Pennsylvania and Iowa have said similar events are illegal, but courts in Illinois and Washington state have said that ladies nights are permissible because they do not discriminate against men but rather encourage women to attend.

Stunned Japan Agonizes Over Schoolgirl Stabbing

Wed Jun 2, 8:41 AM ET 
Add World 

By Elaine Lies 

TOKYO  - A stunned Japan was searching for answers on Wednesday after an 11-year-old schoolgirl killed a classmate by slashing her throat, the latest in a string of violent crimes by children. 

Japan, which had long prided itself on being relatively crime-free, has in recent years been confronted by an increasing number of gruesome youth crimes that have prompted it to lower the age of criminal responsibility. 

Teachers and friends said the 11-year-old had shown no sign of trouble and described her as just like any other girl, adding to the shock. 

"It is difficult to imagine how such a very serious incident could come from such an ordinary girl from an ordinary family," said the head of a child welfare center that took custody of the girl. 

Twelve-year-old Satomi Mitarai died from loss of blood after she was attacked by the classmate, said to be her friend, with a knife during the lunch break on Tuesday at their primary school in Sasebo, 980 km (610 miles) west of Tokyo. 

There was no obvious motive for the attack, but Japanese media said the 11-year-old told police that she had been upset at Satomi for posting a message about her on a Web site and that she had intended to kill Satomi over it. 

The Yomiuri Shimbun daily reflected the general bewilderment, asking in an editorial, "What sort of connection did these two have? What set it off? Nothing is known." 

Police said the 11-year-old had called Satomi to a study room where she attacked her and then returned to the classroom with her clothes bloodstained. 

Child welfare workers said the girl repeatedly apologized for the crime, covering her face with her hands as she wept, according to media reports. 

The victim's widowed father, who lived alone with her and her older brother, said he was in shock. 

"That my daughter could no longer be with me is unbelievable. But the unbelievable has happened," Kyoji Mitarai, the local bureau chief of the Mainichi Shimbun newspaper, told reporters. 

"She was like air to me," he said. 

RISING CRIME, TIGHTER LAWS 

The killing appeared especially shocking because of the age of the children involved and the fact that both were girls. 

Officials said the girl in Tuesday's incident would appear before a family court, which could send her to a special reformatory for children. 

Children under 14 cannot be prosecuted. 

In 1997, a 14-year-old schoolboy horrified the nation by murdering two children and leaving the severed head of one of them outside the gates of a school in Kobe, western Japan. 

That crime prompted calls for harsher penalties against juveniles, and a law was enacted in 2001 lowering the age of criminal responsibility from 16 to 14. 

The number of serious crimes by juveniles has continued to rise, however, with the ages of offenders falling. 

Last year, a 12-year-old boy in the city of Nagasaki, which is near Sasebo, confessed to abducting and murdering a four-year-old by pushing him off the roof of a garage. 

According to police figures, the number of minors aged 14 to 19 who committed serious crimes such as murder and robbery rose 11.4 percent to 2,212 in 2003, while the number of offenders under 14 rose 47.2 percent to 212, topping the 200 level for the first time in 16 years. 

There have been eight cases where primary school children have committed or attempted murder in the last 15 years. 

Police have drawn up new guidelines on fighting juvenile crime, but editorials on Wednesday said more fundamental measures may be needed. 

"We must make children understand even more the basic importance of life," the Yomiuri said.

Sasser, Netsky Continue To Dominate Tue Jun 1, 4:06 PM ET Add Technology - NewsFactor 

Erika Morphy, www.enterprise-security-today.com

Authorities may have arrested those responsible for the destructive Sasser and Netsky e-mail worms -- but their effects still linger, according to security firm Sophos.

"Sasser proved to be a major nuisance in May, affecting even more users than even the Netsky worms," said Chris Kraft, senior security analyst. "Requiring no user intervention and taking advantage of a relatively new Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT - news) hole, it sneaked onto unprotected PCs, inundating Internet connections."

Young and Powerful

Sasser, apparently launched by an 18-year-old young man from Germany, wound up disrupting not only countless home users' PCs, but also systems at Delta Airlines and the Coast Guard. Indeed, the story of Sasser is a sorry lesson for all concerned, illustrating that even the slightly skilled now are able to disrupt corporate networks.

At least that is what Panda Software CTO Patrick Hinojosa finds so maddening about Sasser. "It is very simple to write these things," he told NewsFactor, "and with some worms -- e-mail worms in particular -- it takes hardly any skill at all. You can do it from a kit, in fact."

The Sasser worm easily could have been stopped in its tracks from the outset, Hinojosa says, as Microsoft identified the vulnerability and offered a patch for it a few weeks before the worm appeared. "This element of network security is not rocket science -- it is a default configuration."

Keep On Coming

The situation is not getting any better, according to Sophos. "Both Sasser and Netsky may have captured the headlines, but there were many other viruses written this month -- 959 in total," Kraft said. "In the month of May, we saw a considerable increase in cyber-criminal activity, which suggests that even the arrest of Sven Jaschan, the German teenager who has owned up to writing Sasser and Netsky, has done very little to limit the problem."

The 959 new viruses Sophos identified in May represent the highest number of new viruses discovered in a single month since December 2001, the firm said. 

Drunk Students Adrift on Raft at Sea

Jun 1, 10:38 am ET 

AMSTERDAM  - A band of drunk Dutch students taking a break from exams had to be rescued at sea after a raft they built from empty jerrycans went adrift on the North Sea, the Hague police said Friday.

"The students had made a kind of floating island and ventured out to sea under the influence of alcohol. They were carried into the open sea by the current and had to be rescued," a police statement said.

The group of 15 to 20 students was let off with little more than a stern warning from police who accused them of "irresponsible behavior."

Forget Splitting Atoms, Split a Banana for Energy

Jun 1, 9:51 am ET 

SYDNEY  - Australian scientists have discovered what sportsmen and women around the world have known for years: bananas are a great source of instant energy.

A new government-funded study is investigating the possibility of harnessing bruised or spoilt bananas -- deemed not worth selling to consumers -- to provide energy for 500 homes.

"It's not a hoax," Australian Banana Growers' Council Chief Executive Tony Heidrich said on Tuesday.

Reminiscent of the pig-powered town in the futuristic movie Mad Max Thunderdome, bananas would be combined with bacteria to produce methane. Pipes would take the gas to a turbine which could be plugged into the main electricity grid.

"It's like a big stomach. You open the lid, you put the stuff in and seal the lid and...away you go," said Heidrich by telephone from the nation's banana-growing state of Queensland.

"Essentially it's just like a big composting bin. It's a waste product and currently we're not doing anything else with it. This would harness the electrical capacity that it can bring," he said.

However, Heidrich said other fruit-powered homes, such as apricot, pineapple or kiwi-fruit, were unlikely anytime soon.

"Initially I think they'll stick to bananas but potentially you could use other fruit," he said.

Ethanol from sugar cane has already been tested for commercial energy use and the husks of Australia's native Macadamia nuts have been used as fuel to make electricity.

Power Plant Shut -- to Tune Piano

May 28, 10:49 am ET 

OSLO  - One of the Nordic region's biggest power stations shut Friday to let an expert tune a grand piano for a concert undisturbed by the hum of huge hydroelectric generators.

"When you put a big piano in there, you also need to tune it, and that is very difficult if the machines are running," said Tron Engebrethsen, senior vice president at Norwegian power company Statkraft.

The generators will be switched back on after Friday evening's concert which is being staged in an enormous underground hall at the 1,120-megawatt Sima power plant.

The hall, built in a rock cavern inside a mountain in the scenic Hardanger fjord in western Norway, is renowned for its acoustics.

Engebrethsen said a concert was held at the plant about once a year, but it was the first time they had shut down production to tune a piano.

The program includes music from Tchaikovsky's "Swan Lake" and Stravinsky's "Agon."

The generators, which will be down for nine hours, will be switched back on at 2200 local time.

This Movie Is SO Bad...

May 28, 10:09 am ET 

LOS ANGELES  - It may go down in movie marketing history: "Gigli," a film deemed so bad that one cable television network is trumpeting its poor reviews to sell it to audiences looking for a laugh.

The Starz Encore network is marketing "Gigli," a box office flop starring former lovers Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez, as a film that has been so maligned by critics and moviegoers that "you know you want to see it."

In marketing materials sent to reporters, Starz Encore calls "Gigli," "The Most Talked About Movie of the Year," then adds, "(OK, not all of our movies can be award-winning blockbusters).

"Hey, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em," said Starz Encore's Steve Belgard, director of programing publicity. "If we promoted it like a good film, our credibility would be shot."

Belgard dreamed up the idea.

Accustomed to seeing ads filled with reviews claiming a movie is "the year's best," Starz offers reporters this from the San Jose Mercury News: "A rigli, rigli bad movie," or this from the San Francisco Examiner: "Viewers (read: victims) will want to talk and comfort each other afterwards."

"Gigli" is pronounced zhee-lee.

In the movie, Affleck plays a thug who falls in love with a gangster, Lopez, who also happens to be a lesbian. It debuted in August 2003, and racked up $6 million at domestic box offices.

In real life, the pair were engaged to be married and their every move was dogged by paparazzi and tabloid press. They have since broken up.

Belgard said it was about time Ben and Jen -- sometimes dubbed Bennifer -- got back together, at least on the screen.

"We've missed them, haven't we?" he asked, rather dryly.

Giant Mushroom Baffles Experts in Congo

May 28, 9:57 am ET 

BRAZZAVILLE  - A giant three-tiered mushroom which measures a meter (yard) across and was found in the tropical forests of the Republic of Congo has left experts in the capital Brazzaville scratching their heads.

"It's the first time we've ever seen a mushroom like this so it's difficult for us to classify. But we are going to determine what it is scientifically," Pierre Botaba, head of Congo's veterinary and zoology center, told reporters on Thursday.

The giant fungi stands 18 inches high and has three tiered caps on top of a broad stem. The bottom cap measures one meter across, the second one 60 cm and the top one is 24 cm wide, Botaba said.

The bizarre-looking mushroom was found in the village of Mvoula about 38 miles from Brazzaville and transported carefully to the capital by the local chief.

Police Weed Out Art Exhibition

May 28, 9:46 am ET 

STOCKHOLM  - A Swedish art exhibit featuring cannabis plants may have to be canceled after police confiscated the plants in a drugs bust.

The exhibition, due to open on Saturday in the university town of Lund and titled "Counterclockwise Circumambulation," was partially destroyed when police cut the plants to take them away as evidence, artist Sture Johannesson said.

The plant is grown in the region for its fibers and Swedish media said Johannesson's hemp was not the type used by smokers. He could replace the plants, but said they had already begun to grow back. "They will have to come back on a regular basis to prune," he said on Friday.

Amorous Swedes to Get Emergency Condom Deliveries

Jun 1, 10:50 am ET 

STOCKHOLM  - A Swedish aid organization will roll out a new line of defense to the country's emergency services next week -- the condom ambulance.

From Friday, June 4, amorous couples can call the telephone number 696969 and a white van featuring a large red condom with wings as a logo will deliver them a packet of 10 prophylactics.

"We need to increase the usage of condoms," said Carl Osvald, marketing manager for the Swedish Organization for Sex Education, the non-governmental organization behind the initiative. "It is 50 percent about pregnancy and 50 percent about sexually transmitted diseases."

The ambulances will operate in Stockholm and the southern cities of Malmo and Gothenberg. The service, aimed at young people, will run until June 25 and be available between four in the afternoon and nine at night.

A packet of 10 condoms will cost 50 crowns ($6.72), less than they cost on average in the shops.

The incidence of sexually transmitted disease is increasing rapidly in Sweden and not enough young people use condoms, Osvald said.

"We need to change attitudes to condoms," he said. "If we need to get out in to the bedrooms to make things better we will do it."

U.S.: Suspect Sought to Blow Up Buildings 

1 hour, 17 minutes ago

By LARRY MARGASAK, News Source Writer 

WASHINGTON - Jose Padilla, a former Chicago gang member held as a terrorism suspect for two years, sought to blow up hotels and apartment buildings in the United States in addition to planning an attack with a "dirty bomb" radiological device, the government said Tuesday. 

U.S.: Suspect Sought to Blow Up Buildings 
(AP Video) 

The Justice Department (news - web sites), under pressure to explain its indefinite detention of a U.S. citizen as an "enemy combatant," detailed Padilla's alleged al-Qaida training in Afghanistan (news - web sites) and contacts with the most senior members of the terrorist network, his travel back into the United States and preparations to rent apartments and set off explosives. 

Deputy Attorney General James Comey called the chronicle of Padilla's plotting "remarkable for its scope, its clarity and its candor." 

The department released documents, based in part on interviews with Padilla, saying he and an unidentified al-Qaida accomplice planned to find as many as three apartment buildings supplied with natural gas. 

"Padilla and the accomplice were to locate as many as three high-rise apartment buildings which had natural gas supplied to the floors," the government summary of interrogations said. The alleged accomplice is in custody. 

"They would rent two apartments in each building, seal all the openings, turn on the gas, and set timers to detonate the buildings simultaneously at a later time," the papers alleged. 

Comey said Padilla suggested to his handlers that he detonate a nuclear bomb that he thought he could make from instructions on the Internet, or that he set off a dirty bomb that would release deadly radiation in a small area. His handlers did not think either was feasible, Comey said, and wanted him to focus instead on the apartment-building plot. 

Top al-Qaida officials "wanted Padilla to hit targets in New York City, although Florida and Washington, D.C. were discussed as well," the summary said. 

One of Padilla's lawyers, Andrew Patel, characterized Comey's information as "an opening statement without a trial. We are in the same position we've been in for two years, where the government says bad things about Mr. Padilla and there's no forum for him to defend himself." 

The Supreme Court is deciding whether the war on terrorism gives the government power to seize Americans such as Padilla and hold them without charges for as long as it takes to ensure they are not a danger to the nation. Comey denied the timing of the disclosure was an attempt to influence the court. 

Comey said Padilla's partner in the attacks was to be Adnan El Shukrijumah, one of seven suspected al-Qaida operatives who the Justice Department cited last week as planning attacks on the United States. Nicknamed "Jafar the pilot," the Saudi native once lived in Florida and has been sought by federal authorities for more than a year. 

While Comey said the two broke up the partnership because they couldn't get along, the official said the information learned from Padilla and others about Jafar's role makes his capture imperative. 

"We need to find that guy," Comey said. 

Comey said release of the information had no connection to criticism from some members of Congress and some administration officials that Attorney General John Ashcroft (news - web sites) overstated the al-Qaida threat. 

Rather, Comey said, he acted "because every place I went to speak, people would say, 'We agree with you with the war on terror but we've got a problem with this Padilla thing. I wish I knew more about it.' And I very much wanted people to know what I knew about Jose Padilla to address those questions." 

Comey told a news conference that when Padilla stepped off a plane in Chicago in May 2002, he was a highly trained and fully equipped "soldier of our enemy" who had accepted his al-Qaida assignment to kill hundreds of innocent people in apartment buildings. 

"We have decided to release this information to help people understand why we are doing what we are doing in the war on terror and to help people understand the nature of the threat we face," he said. 

He asserted that if Padilla had been handled by the usual criminal justice system, he could have stayed silent and "would likely have ended up a free man." 

Padilla was to conduct an Internet search on buildings that had natural gas heating, open a bank account and obtain documents needed to rent an apartment, the government said. The plot called for blowing up 20 buildings simultaneously, but Padilla allegedly said he could not rent multiple apartments under one identity without drawing attention. 

The information was provided in response to a query from Senate Justice Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch, R-Utah. Comey said it took significant time to compile the information and denied the timing had anything to do with the court case. 

"If it was done sooner it would have been released sooner," he said. 

Comey said there are no plans to file the information as an addendum to the arguments the administration made in the case. And he said there are no plans to use the material to try to seek a criminal indictment against Padilla. 

Comey traced Padilla's alleged transition into a terrorist as beginning in earnest in March 2000, when he joined a pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia and met an al-Qaida recruiter. Two months later, he met someone in Yemen who arranged training for him in the Afghan terrorist camps, Comey said. 

He said Padilla signed an application joining al-Qaida in July 2000. During his training, Comey said, Padilla met senior al-Qaida officials including Abu Zubaydah, the network's operations chief in Afghanistan; and Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, architect of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks

NASA Discovers Likely Youngest Planet

1 hour, 21 minutes ago

By MARCIA DUNN, News Source Aerospace Writer

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - One of NASA (news - web sites)'s space telescopes has discovered what scientists believe may be the youngest planet ever spied - a celestial body that at 1 million years old or less is a cosmic toddler.

In its first major findings, announced Thursday, the Spitzer Space Telescope also has shown that protostars, or developing stars, "are as common as the cicadas in the trees here on the East Coast" and that the planetary construction zones around infant stars have considerable ice that could produce future oceans.

"Oh, my goodness, it knocked our socks off," University of Wisconsin astronomer Ed Churchwell said of the trio of discoveries.

Spitzer is an infrared telescope has been orbiting the sun and studying the universe since last summer. It did not actually "see" the toddler planet, but yielded evidence that enabled scientists to infer its existence.

The object is in the constellation Taurus, 420 light-years away - quite close by astronomy standards. It is believed to be on the inner edge of a planet-forming dusty disk that encircles a 1-million-year-old star.

University of Rochester astronomer Dan Watson said a sharply defined hole in the middle of the disk suggests that a planet created the opening. That gaseous planet would have been formed sometime since the star's formation.

By comparison, the Earth and the rest of the solar system are 4.5 billion years old. And up until now, the youngest planets observed around other stars were a few billion years old.

Astronomer Deborah Padgett at the Carnegie Institution of Washington cautioned that instead of a planet, the gap in the dusty disk could be caused by asteroid formation or a smaller unseen stellar companion. She said it is also possible that the heat and light of the star are forming the gap by blowing all the dusty material out.

However, she said that it is "very likely" a planet, and that additional research by Spitzer and future spacecraft should settle the debate.

The Hubble Space Telescope (news - web sites) previously observed the star - named CoKu Tau 4 - but could not make out such details.

Watson also reported that for the first time, Spitzer has shown without ambiguity all the icy organic materials in the planet-forming disks surrounding infant stars, or those that are only hundreds of thousands of years old. He called these the building blocks of what might end up as a solar system like our own.

As for the proliferation of developing stars, Spitzer revealed more than 300 star formations in one region in the constellation Centaurus, 13,700 light-years away.

"It's kind of blown our minds," Churchwell said.

Anne Kinney, director of NASA's astronomy and physics division, likened the preponderance of protostars to the cicadas.

Scientists compared Spitzer to Smarty Jones, the young horse that next week may become a Triple Crown champion.

"Spitzer has beaten Smarty Jones considerably. It has already won the Triple Crown for 2004 by virtue of having made these three discoveries," said astronomer Alan Boss of the Carnegie Institution of Washington.

Spitzer is the fourth and final spacecraft in NASA's Great Observatory series, which began with Hubble and continued with the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory, now gone, and the Chandra X-ray Observatory.

The 14-year-old Hubble was the only one designed for astronaut repairs, and its future has ignited a fierce debate in and outside NASA. NASA has decided to forgo any more shuttle missions to Hubble, citing post-Columbia safety concerns, and instead may send robots on a life-prolonging mission.

On Thursday, a petition signed by 26 astronauts, most of them retired, was sent to President Bush (news - web sites) by Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas. The astronauts - "we, the real risk-takers" - urged that the shuttle mission to Hubble be reinstated.

List Linking Smoking to Diseases Expands 

Thu May 27, 9:08 PM ET

By NANCY ZUCKERBROD, News Source Writer 

WASHINGTON - The list of diseases linked to smoking grew longer Thursday. Add acute myeloid leukemia, cancers of the cervix, kidney, pancreas and stomach, abdominal aortic aneurysms, cataracts, periodontitis and pneumonia. 

"We've known for decades that smoking is bad for your health, but this report shows that it's even worse," said Surgeon General Richard Carmona, announcing his first official assessment of the effects of tobacco. 

The report said current evidence is not conclusive enough to say smoking causes colorectal cancer, liver cancer, prostate cancer or erectile disfunction. Some research has associated those diseases with smoking, but Carmona said more proof is needed. 

The evidence suggests smoking may not cause breast cancer in women but that some women, depending on genetics, may increase their risk of getting it by smoking, the report said. 

Diseases previously linked to smoking include cancer of the bladder, esophagus, larynx, lung and mouth. Also tied to smoking was chronic lung disease, chronic heart and cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis, peptic ulcers and reproductive problems. 

About 440,000 Americans die of smoking-related diseases each year. The report said more than 12 million people have died from smoking-related diseases in the 40 years since the first surgeon general's report on smoking and health was released in 1964. 

That report linked smoking to lung and larynx cancer and chronic bronchitis. Subsequent reports, such as the one released Thursday, have expanded the list of diseases linked to smoking. 

Carmona's report said treating smoking-related diseases costs the nation $75 billion annually. The loss of productivity from smoking is estimated to be $82 billion annually. 

On average, the surgeon general said, smokers die 13 years to 14 years before nonsmokers. 

The number of adults who smoke has dropped from about 42 percent in 1965 to about 22 percent in 2002, the last year for which such data is available, according to the surgeon general. 

The government has set a goal of 12 percent by 2010, but is having trouble getting the rate to come down as quickly as sought. The smoking rate is declining by less than one-half of a percentage point annually. 

Cheryl Healton, president of the anti-smoking American Legacy Foundation, said officials have failed to act on recommendations made by a government-appointed scientific panel last year. Among its proposals was raising the federal tax on cigarettes from 39 cents per pack to $2.39. 

The Bush administration did agree with the proposal to establish a national hot line to counsel smokers. That should be set up next year. 

Matthew Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-free Kids, said the surgeon general's report demonstrates the need for the Food and Drug Administration (news - web sites) to regulate cigarettes. That has been proposed in Congress. 

Carmona said he was briefed on the legislation, which would set strict rules for marketing and manufacturing cigarettes. While he stopped short of endorsing the bill, he said it was "wonderful" that lawmakers were considering it. 

Health and Human Services (news - web sites) Secretary Tommy Thompson has said he thinks tobacco ought to be regulated. 

When President Bush (news - web sites) asked recently if he thinks more regulation of the industry is needed, he reaffirmed his position that the emphasis ought to be on preventing teenagers from smoking. 

The administration recently signed a treaty that would put new restrictions on cigarette manufactures worldwide. Public health officials complain that the administration has not yet submitted the treaty to the Senate for ratification. 

___ 

On the Net: 

Surgeon General: http://www.surgeongeneral.gov/sgoffice.htm

Report: 1 of Every 75 U.S. Men in Prison

1 hour, 18 minutes ago Add U.S. National - 

By CONNIE CASS, News Source Writer

WASHINGTON - America's inmate population grew by 2.9 percent last year, to almost 2.1 million people, with one of every 75 men living in prison or jail.

The inmate population continued its rise despite a fall in the crime rate and many states' efforts to reduce some sentences, especially for low-level drug offenders.

The report issued Thursday by the Justice Department (news - web sites)'s Bureau of Justice Statistics attributes much of the increase to get-tough policies enacted during the 1980s and '90s, such as mandatory drug sentences, "three-strikes-and-you're-out" laws for repeat offenders, and "truth-in-sentencing" laws that restrict early releases.

Whether that's good or bad depends on who is asked.

"The prison system just grows like a weed in the yard," said Vincent Schiraldi, executive director of the Justice Policy Institute, which pushes for a more lenient system.

Without reforms, he said, prison populations will continue to grow "almost as if they are on autopilot, regardless of their high costs and disappointing crime-control impact."

But Attorney General John Ashcroft (news - web sites) said the report shows the success of efforts to take hard-core criminals off the streets.

"It is no accident that violent crime is at a 30-year low while prison population is up," Ashcroft said. "Violent and recidivist criminals are getting tough sentences while law-abiding Americans are enjoying unprecedented safety."

There were 715 inmates for every 100,000 U.S. residents at midyear in 2003, up from 703 a year earlier, the report found.

The nation's incarceration rate tops the world, according to The Sentencing Project, another group that promotes alternatives to prison. That compares with a rate of 169 per 100,000 residents in Mexico, 116 in Canada and 143 for England and Wales.

Russia's prison population, which once rivaled the United States', has dropped to 584 per 100,000 because of prisoner amnesties in recent years, the group said.

The U.S. inmate population in 2003 grew at its fastest pace in four years. The number of inmates increased 1.8 percent in state prisons, 7.1 percent in federal prisons and 3.9 percent in local jails.

In 2003, 68 percent of prison and jail inmates were members of racial or ethnic minorities, the government said. An estimated 12 percent of all black men in their 20s were in jails or prisons, as were 3.7 percent of Hispanic men and 1.6 percent of white men in that age group, according to the report.

The report also said:

_The number of women in state and federal prisons grew by 5 percent, compared to a 2.7 percent increase for men. Still, men greatly outnumber women: 1.36 million to 100,102.

_Local jails held 691,301 inmates.

_The inmate population in 10 states increased at least 5 percent. Some of the smallest state prison systems saw the largest increase: Vermont's grew by 12.2 percent, Minnesota was up 9.4 percent and Maine 9.1 percent.

_Only nine states logged a decrease in prison population, led by Rhode Island with a 3.4 percent drop; Arkansas, 2.2 percent; and Montana, 2.1 percent.

___

On the Net:

Bureau of Justice Statistics: www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs 

Student Teaches Robot to Fold Paper 

Mon May 24, 8:15 AM ET

PITTSBURGH - Most people can fold a piece of paper by the time they're in kindergarten, but it's not child's play for a robot, which must use complex mathematical formulas to accomplish the task. 

That's why officials at Carnegie Mellon University are excited about a graduate student who has developed a robot capable of doing origami - the traditional Japanese art of folding paper to make figures or sculptures. 

Matthew Mason, a professor of computer science and robotics, thought building such a robot would be so daunting that he didn't encourage Devin Balkcom's plans to do so in January 2003. But today, Balkcom has a robot that can make paper airplanes and hats and is scheduled to earn his doctorate with the project in August. 

"Origami is way out there - it's like a space shot," Mason said. 

Origami has important research applications because although robots have been taught to manipulate rigid objects such as golf clubs, they struggle when the objects are flexible, like paper or the human tissues that surgical robots must navigate. 

As a result, robot origami help measure a robot's ability to manipulate flexible objects, much as playing chess has become a way of measuring a computer's intelligence and speed, Mason and Balkcom said. 

"To make a swan would be 10 Ph.D.s worth of work," Balkcom said. 

So if a child can learn how to make a folded paper swan, why is it rocket science for a robot? 

Balkcom's robot may look fairly simple - a small robot arm attached to a table that's something like a sheet metal press - but every manipulation of the paper, and even the physical properties of paper itself, must be converted into the only language a robot understands: mathematics. 

For example, paper might appear to be two-dimensional, because it is so thin. But it has thickness that must be expressed mathematically so that the robot can account for what happens when the paper is folded. (Answer: it gets thicker.) 

As a result, the robot must be programmed to "understand" that paper can only be folded so much (about seven times is the limit), and that paper stretches ever so slightly when it is folded. 

And that doesn't even take into account fingers. Robots don't have them, so they don't have the nerves that allow a human to feel the paper. They also don't have the stereoscopic vision allows humans to watch themselves fold the paper. 

As a result, Balkcom's robot does origami in a manner different from that of a typical 8-year-old. It uses a suction cup to pick and move the paper, which is manipulated over a gutter, or rut, on the metal surface. The paper is then pushed down into the gutter using a straightedge ruler attached to the robotic arm, and the gutter closes on the paper to crease it. 

A visiting Japanese professor, Yasumichi Aiyama of Tsukuba University, is working in Mason's robotics lab using two small, fingerlike robots, to see if they might perform origami more like humans do. 

___ 

On the Net: 

http://www.cs.cum.edu/-devin

Entertainment - The News Source

Hollywood Mystery Man 'Rance' Has Internet Abuzz Thu May 27, 2:51 PM ET Add Entertainment 

By Dan Whitcomb

LOS ANGELES  - He skewers Hollywood and the cult of celebrity on an anonymous Web log that has spawned a cult following. He claims to be an A-list actor, writing under a pseudonym, but admits he may not be believed.

Who, exactly, is "Rance?"

Could he really be, as some believe, Owen Wilson (news), Ben Affleck (news), Jim Carrey (news) or even George Clooney (news)?

The answer may perhaps be found somewhere in the entries on his Weblog -- or "blog" -- which applies a trenchant wit and jaundiced insider's eye in chronicling the life of a Hollywood celebrity. Then again, it could all be a hoax.

Though Rance granted an interview with The News Source, he responded to questions only via email, using pseudonymous dead-end accounts for both himself and the reporter and never offering a glimpse into his real identity.

Asked if he was, in fact, a well-known actor, he responded: "Or a well-known actress perhaps. Just not Donald Trump."

In the blog's first-ever post last December, Rance introduced himself this way: "Suffice it to say I know what its like to see your picture on the magazine rack every now and again when you pay for groceries."

Rance's blog has since spawned a furious guessing game on the Internet and beyond, becoming a regular topic at Hollywood parties.

Xeni Jardin, a writer on the "Boing-Boing" blog, recently told her readers that Rance was rumored to be "Starsky and Hutch" star Owen Wilson, a claim that the actor's publicist has denied.

BEN AFFLECK? GEORGE CLOONEY? JIM CARREY?

The anonymous editor of Hollywood gossip site Defamer suggests it could be Ben Affleck -- a conjecture built around the supposed link between a cryptic quiz on Rance's blog and an Affleck tattoo.

Others have surmised that Rance is Jim Carrey, George Clooney, Benicio Del Toro (news) or Luke Wilson (news), Owen's brother. And one of Rance's readers recently sent him a comment that read simply: "You are, in fact, Matthew Perry (news). Game on?"

Meanwhile, a Defamer reader tried to unmask Rance by researching the term "Captain Hoof," which appears in the Web address. She came to the conclusion that he was a San Francisco man who worked at an ad agency and once ran a Web site with a similar name -- possibly dedicated to an imaginary horse.

The man, who no longer works for the agency, could not be contacted for this story.

For his part, Rance offers the electronic equivalent of a shrug to the endless chatter about his identity, saying that it was never his intention to play hide-and-seek with the world.

"The guessing game distracts from any message I might have," he told The News Source. "Then again, I'm not yet sure I have a message and in any case the amusement makes it all worth it. More than once I've seen items that upon first glance suggested the game might be up and I felt my stomach plummet."

Rance said he set up the Web site on a whim with help from a computer-savvy friend, seeing it as a "really good way to bitch about my job" without suffering any career repercussions. He chose the name "Rance" as a pun on "rants."

The diverse themes of the Web log revolve around pitch meetings and parties, the machinations of Hollywood at work and play and its fascination with sex and celebrity.

Rance loves shrimp and logic puzzles. He's tolerant of paparazzi but tough on gossips. He's bored by S