President Bush to Visit Denmark in July
COPENHAGEN,
Denmark (AP) — President Bush will visit Denmark this summer
to discuss Iraq, the Middle East and U.S. ties with the European Union.
Bush
will stop in Denmark on July 6 — his 59th birthday
— on his way to the
G-8 summit in Gleneagles,
Scotland, Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen said.
The
president will be accompanied by his wife, Laura, Fogh Rasmussen
said, giving no other details of the trip.
The
White House called NATO-member Denmark "a close friend and ally''
and said it would be Bush's fourth visit to Europe since he began his
second term.
"The
president's visit ... underscores his commitment to working with our
European partners to advance freedom and prosperity in the world,''
spokesman Scott McClellan said.
The
Scandinavian nation has been a staunch supporter of U.S.-led
efforts in Iraq and has 530 troops stationed in the southern city of
Basra.
Wednesday's
announcement came five days after Fogh Rasmussen met with
Bush in Washington, where they discussed Iraq and other issues.
Fogh
Rasmussen, whose center-right government was re-elected in
February, said he invited Bush to Denmark during his previous visit to
the White House in 2002.
Bush's
planned visit "'illustrates the excellent relationship between
Denmark and the United States,'' Fogh Rasmussen said.
nytimes.com 5/25/05
FBI Asks Congress For Power To Seize Documents
WASHINGTON
(Reuters)—The FBI on
Tuesday asked the U.S. Congress for sweeping new powers to seize
business or private records, ranging from medical information to book
purchases, to investigate terrorism without first securing approval
from a judge.
Valerie
Caproni, FBI general counsel, told the U.S. Senate Intelligence
Committee her agency needed the power to issue what are known as
administrative subpoenas to get information quickly about terrorist
plots and the activities of foreign agents.
Civil
liberties groups have complained the subpoenas, which would cover
medical, tax, gun-purchase, book purchase, travel and other records and
could be kept secret, would give the FBI too much power and could
infringe on privacy and free speech.
The
issue of administrative subpoenas dominated the hearing, which was
called to discuss reauthorization of clauses of the USA Patriot Act due
to expire at the end of this year.
The
act was passed shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. However
administrative subpoena power was not in the original law. The proposed
new powers, long sought by the FBI, have been added by Republican
lawmakers, acting on the wishes of the Bush administration, to the new
draft of the USA Patriot Act.
Committee
chairman, Kansas Sen. Pat Roberts, noted that other
government agencies already had subpoena power to investigate matters
such as child pornography, drug investigations and medical malpractice.
He said it made little sense to deny those same powers to the FBI to
investigate terrorism or keep track of foreign intelligence agents.
But
opponents said other investigations usually culminated in a public
trial, whereas terrorism
probes would likely remain secret and suspects could be arrested or
deported or handed over to other countries without any public action.
Democrats
on the committee expressed concerns and pressed Caproni to
give examples of cases where the lack of such powers had hampered an
investigation.
Caproni
said she could not cite a case where a bomb had exploded
because the FBI lacked this power, but that did not mean one could not
explode tomorrow.
Under
the proposed legislation, those served with subpoenas would have
the right to challenge them in court. But civil liberties groups said
few were likely to do so, and the
person being
investigated would be
unlikely even to know that the FBI was seeking his personal records.
For
example, if the FBI demanded a person's medical records from his
doctor, the doctor could challenge the order if he wished, but the
individual could not.
"Ordinary
citizens are storing information not in their homes or even on portable
devices but on networks, under the control of service providers who can
be served with compulsory process and never have to tell the
subscribers that their privacy has been invaded,"
said James Dempsey of the Center for Democracy, one of several groups
opposing the provision.
nytimes.com 5/24/05
Ex-Dentist Gets Probation in Semen Case
CHARLOTTE,
N.C. (AP) — A former
dentist accused of using syringes to squirt his semen into the mouths
of female patients pleaded guilty to seven assault charges
Wednesday but did not admit guilt.
John
Hall entered the Alford plea—under which a defendant
pleads guilty but does not admit actual guilt—at a hearing
before Superior Court Judge Robert Ervin. He was charged with seven
counts of misdemeanor assault on a female.
Ervin
placed Hall, 44, on probation for five years, telling the alleged
victims he chose that over a maximum 120-day prison sentence in the
hope that Hall's activities would be monitored and similar acts
prevented.
"I
don't feel I can do justice,'' Ervin told the women who attended
Wednesday's court hearing.
Under
the probation sentence, Hall is to spend three months on house
arrest and perform 120 hours of community service.
Hall,
who practiced in nearby Cornelius, was charged with assaulting
six patients, including one of them twice, over an eight-month period
in 2003.
The
state Board of Dental Examiners revoked Hall's license in August
after the six former patients said he made them swallow what they now
believe was his semen.
In
testimony before the board, Hall denied the allegations.
Police
searched Hall's office and confiscated syringes after several
employees said they were suspicious of the dentist's behavior. DNA
tests on the syringes later showed they contained Hall's semen.
nytimes.com 5/25/05
Pope Invites Nations To Establish Ties
Pope
Benedict XVI reached out Thursday to countries that don't have
diplomatic relations with the Vatican, inviting
them to establish ties soon with the Holy See.
Benedict
didn't identify the countries, but Vatican officials said he
may have been referring to China, Saudi Arabia and Vietnam. The pope
said only that he appreciated messages and gestures that came from some
of them following the death of Pope John Paul II and his election.
Chinese
officials expressed condolences after John Paul died, and both
Saudi Arabia and Vietnam sent representatives to Benedict's inaugural
Mass.
Benedict
made the comments in a speech to diplomats accredited to the
Holy See, his first since being elected Pope on April 19.
"I'm
thinking also about the nations with which the Holy See still hasn't
entered into diplomatic relations,"
Benedict told the ambassadors, many in formal dress with sashes and
medals.
He said
he appreciated that some of these countries sent messages or
otherwise "associated themselves" with the Vatican following the death
of John Paul.
"I want
to express my gratitude and address a differential greeting to
the civil authorities of these countries, expressing
the wish to see them soon represented at the Apostolic See,"
he said. He said he particularly appreciated the messages that came
from countries where the Catholic community is large, and he assured
the faithful there of his prayers.
China
didn't send any official condolences to the Vatican following
John Paul's death, but a Foreign Ministry spokesman expressed
condolences during a news conference with foreign reporters, and
Premier Wen Jiabao said April 21 that China was willing to build
relations with the Vatican if Benedict breaks ties with rival
Taiwan.
Saudi
Arabia, home to Islam's holiest shrines, was represented by three
people at Benedict's April 24 inaugural Mass and had its social affairs
minister at John Paul's funeral, according to a Vatican list.
Vietnam's
prime minister sent condolences to the Vatican after the
pope's death and its ambassador to Italy was at Benedict's
inauguration. While predominantly Buddhist, Vietnam has an estimated 6
million Catholics, the second highest number in Southeast Asia after
the Philippines.
abcnews.go.com 5/12/05
House Approves a Stem Cell Research Bill Opposed by Bush
WASHINGTON—The
House passed a bill on Tuesday to expand federal financing for
embryonic stem cell research, defying a veto threat from President Bush,
who appeared at the White House with babies and toddlers born of
test-tube embryos and warned the measure "would take us across a
critical ethical line."
President
Bush made his opposition to the stem cell bill known
yesterday at the White House, showing off month-old Trey Jones, who was
born as a result of one couple's donation of frozen embryos to another.
The
vote, 238 to 194 with 50 Republicans in favor, fell far short of
the two-thirds majority required to overturn a presidential veto,
setting up a possible showdown between Congress and Mr. Bush, who has
never exercised his veto power. An identical bill has broad bipartisan
support in the Senate; moments after the House vote, the Senate
sponsors wrote to the Republican leader, Bill Frist, urging him to put
it on the agenda.
The
House action is the first vote on embryonic stem cell research
since August 2001, when Mr. Bush opened the door to taxpayer financing
for the studies, but only with strict limits. The
new bill permits the government to pay for studies involving human
embryos that are in frozen storage at fertility clinics, so long as
couples conceiving the embryos certified that they had made a decision
to discard them.
"The
White House cannot ignore this vote," said the bill's chief
Republican backer, Representative Michael N. Castle of Delaware.
But
opponents also said they were elated. Representative Joseph R.
Pitts, Republican of Pennsylvania, said: "I hate to lose, but I feel
pretty good about this vote. We beat a veto-proof margin by 50 votes."
The big
question now is what will happen in the Senate. Dr. Frist, a
heart surgeon from Tennessee who supports the existing policy, is
already facing intense pressure from conservatives over the issue of
Mr. Bush's judicial nominees and does not seem eager to schedule a vote
on stem cell research. He said last week that he wanted to check with
his colleagues before doing so.
The
House vote followed an impassioned lobbying campaign by advocates
for patients, including Nancy Reagan.
But Mr.
Bush countered with a powerful one-two punch, throwing the full
weight of the White House behind the opposition. On Friday, he issued a
rare threat to veto the Castle bill.
The
White House event, on what conservative Christians and the
president call an important "culture of life" issue, demonstrated
just how far Mr. Bush is willing to assert himself on policy that goes
to what he considers the moral heart of his presidency.
nytimes.com 5/25/05
Mother Charged With Killing 8-Year-Old
SYLVA,
N.C. (AP) — A woman
was charged with killing her 8-year-old son by keeping him locked in
the trunk of a car while she was at work. Her lawyer says the boy was
not restrained.
A
preliminary autopsy showed Devin died of hyperthermia. High
temperatures during the weekend in nearby Asheville were in the 70s.
Gibson
left her son in the car's passenger compartment, not the trunk, while
she worked, said her appointed
lawyer, Rangy Seago. He said the back seat in Gibson's car folds down
to allow access to the trunk from inside.
However,
Jackson County Sheriff Jimmy Ashe said there is evidence that
the boy was locked in the trunk.
After
putting
in a 17-hour day Saturday,
Gibson returned to work at 7
a.m. Sunday, and about 4 p.m. told a co-worker she believed her son was
dead, Ashe said.
Gibson
faces up to about 17 years in prison if convicted.
Police
said Gibson and Devin had been in and out of homeless shelters
until a couple of months ago, when they moved in with friends.
nytimes.com 5/25/05
China Assails U.S. Textile Quotas
BEIJING—China
responded angrily on Sunday to the new limits that the United States
placed on its clothing exports, and manufacturers here called for
tit-for-tat restrictions.
The
reactions followed the announcement on Friday by the U.S.
Department of Commerce that it would impose new quotas on Chinese-made
garments. In addition, the European Commission, under pressure from
national capitals, is considering similar action.
The
U.S. quotas, which would limit increases in Chinese imports of the
affected garments to 7.5 percent a year, were a "betrayal of the
fundamental spirit of trade liberalization espoused by the WTO" and
would "seriously damage the confidence of Chinese businesses and people
in the international trade environment
since China joined WTO," Chong Quan, a spokesman for the Commerce
Ministry in China, said in response to Washington's decision, referring
to the World Trade Organization.
The U.S.
commerce secretary, Carlos Gutierrez, announced quotas on
Chinese-made cotton trousers, shirts and underwear. He cited a rise of
up to 1,500 percent in Chinese garment exports since early January,
when the United States and Europe abolished a system of quotas that
limited imports.
This
latest looming trade fight between Beijing and Washington comes at
a brittle time in their economic relations. The U.S. trade deficit with
China, the biggest exporter to the U.S. market, rose to $21 billion in
the first four months of this year, compared with $11 billion for the
first four months of last year.
The
Chinese deputy prime minister in charge of trade, Wu Yi, told the
U.S. ambassador to China, Clark Randt, that Washington
should not jeopardize its trade relationship with Beijing
by politicizing trade disputes, according to the official Xinhua press
agency.
As of
Jan. 1, decades-old import quotas that had restricted flows of
garment imports were abolished worldwide, giving all WTO members
unrestricted access to global markets. Since then, China's share of
garment exports to the United States and Europe has grown rapidly.
Chinese exports of cotton trousers to the United States have grown
1,500 percent since the start of the year, according to U.S. Customs
figures. The measures Washington announced Friday were "safeguard
measures" that WTO rules allow for when a country's domestic market is
"disrupted" by an import surge.
The
European Union is considering similar restrictions. But Pascal
Lamy, the former EU official in charge of trade affairs who was picked
last week as the head of the World Trade Organization, criticized the
U.S. quotas, saying, "It is not
the law of the jungle, and the
WTO rules were clearly set."
International Herald Tribune 5/16/05
House Votes for Interim Nuclear Waste Sites
WASHINGTON,
May 24—The House
voted on Tuesday to begin temporary storage of commercial nuclear waste
at one or more federal facilities, fearing further delays in a proposed
repository for nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain in Nevada.
The
directive was included in a $29.7 billion measure financing the
Energy Department. It came over the objections of lawmakers from
Washington
and South Carolina, two
states where the waste
from
commercial power reactors may be sent.
An
attempt by Representative Edward J. Markey, Democrat of
Massachusetts, to strip the bill of $10 million for the interim storage
program failed in a vote of 312 to 110. The House passed the spending
measure Tuesday night by a 416-to-13 vote.
The
legislation leaves it up to the Energy Department to select one or
more sites, though a report accompanying the bill suggested the
department's Savannah River weapons facility in South Carolina, the
Hanford complex in Washington State, a facility in Idaho and closed
military bases as possible sites.
The
interim storage proposal comes amid concerns about delays in
opening the proposed Yucca Mountain Project in Nevada. Last year a
federal court questioned its proposals for protecting the public from
radiation leaks. More
recently, concerns surfaced over accusations that
government workers on the project falsified data.
nytimes.com 5/25/05
Palestinian Militants Agree To Restore Truce In Gaza
JERUSALEM,
May 21—Palestinian
militants of Hamas have agreed in talks with the Palestinian Authority
to stop mortar and rocket attacks on Israeli settlements and towns near
the Gaza Strip, apparently restoring a three-month cease-fire, a
Palestinian official said Saturday.
The
official, Interior Minister Nasser Youssef, has been touring Gaza
and negotiating with Hamas for the last two days. On Saturday, Mr.
Youssef visited the Khan Yunis and Rafah areas and ordered Palestinian
police and security officials to preserve the truce.
Hamas
did not comment. But in Cairo on Saturday, the Palestinian
leader, Mahmoud Abbas, said the three days of Israeli-Palestinian
fighting in Gaza was ending and would not affect his first trip as
president to Washington, where he will meet President Bush on Thursday.
In
Washington, Mr. Abbas will press Mr. Bush for political and financial
aid to the Palestinian Authority and urge him to encourage Israel to
move more quickly to negotiations on so-called final-status issues,
like borders and the fate of Jerusalem, that could lead to a
comprehensive peace. The Israeli
prime minister, Ariel Sharon, says the Palestinians must first
dismantle the militant groups like Hamas and Islamic Jihad and stop all
attacks on Israeli civilians, which Israeli officials do not think will
happen for a long time.
Mr.
Abbas argues that without a political horizon to prove to
Palestinians that the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza will not be its
last, another intifada can erupt in the occupied West Bank. He also
insists that pulling Hamas into politics is the best way to make it
responsible and says that legislative elections scheduled for July 17
will go ahead, despite opposition from his own Fatah movement.
On
Saturday, Mr. Abbas said that a long-delayed meeting with Mr.
Sharon, to follow up on their summit meeting in Sharm el Sheik, Egypt,
in early February, would be held June 7. But Sharon aides denied a date
for the meeting had been set.
Mr.
Sharon wants such a meeting to show Washington that he is working
with Mr. Abbas, who opposes violence.
The
Israeli deputy prime minister, Shimon Peres, said Saturday that the
violence by Hamas in Gaza "was a protest by Hamas against the
Palestinian Authority," and that Israel would respond "with great
restraint." Hamas is angry over court rulings that have overturned some
local votes it won against Fatah.
nytimes.com 5/22/05
Police Chief in Milwaukee Fires Eight Over Beating
CHICAGO,
May 24—The
Milwaukee police chief fired eight officers on Tuesday and disciplined
four others for their roles in the racially tinged beating of a man
last fall at a party outside the home of one of the officers.
The
dismissals stem from an October incident in which Frank Jude Jr.,
26, of Appleton, Wis., said he had been beaten by a group of off-duty
police officers at the party after they accused him of taking a wallet
and a police badge. In all, 13
officers have
been disciplined for a
total of 79 department violations.
In addition, one was dismissed
earlier this month for refusing
to
answer questions about the case.
Three of
the fired officers - Jon Bartlett, Andrew Spengler and Daniel
Masarik - also face criminal charges of battery, reckless endangerment
or perjury. They have pleaded not guilty. The criminal complaint
contends that the three men choked, punched and kicked Mr. Jude, put a
knife to his neck and a gun to his head and stuck a sharp object in his
ears while he was handcuffed.
nytimes.com 5/25/05
Benedict XVI To Visit Cologne Synagogue
ROME—Benedict
XVI will visit the synagogue of Cologne
during his trip to celebrate World Youth Day in that city, said
Israel's ambassador to the Holy See.
Oded Ben
Hur said in a press conference today that the Holy Father
himself informed the ambassador of his plans, during an audience
Wednesday with representatives of the countries that enjoy full
diplomatic relations with the Holy See.
The
ambassador said that it is "a
very important
event and we are
really happy."
John
Paul II visited the synagogue of Rome in 1996, becoming the first
Bishop of Rome, after St. Peter, to make such a visit.
The
Jewish community of Cologne is the oldest of Germany. Its origins
date back to the 4th century.
zenit.org 5/13/05
Scientists Say Sunshine May Prevent Cancer
Scientists
are excited about a vitamin again. But unlike fads that
sizzled and fizzled, the evidence this time is strong and keeps
growing. If it bears out, it
will challenge one of medicine's most fundamental beliefs: that people
need coat themselves with sunscreen whenever they're in the sun. Doing
that may actually contribute to far more cancer deaths than it prevents,
some researchers think.
The
vitamin is D, nicknamed the "sunshine
vitamin"
because the skin
makes it from ultraviolet rays. Sunscreen blocks
its production, but
dermatologists and health agencies have long preached that such lotions
are needed to prevent skin cancer. Now some scientists are questioning
that advice. The reason is
that vitamin D increasingly seems important for preventing and even
treating many types of cancer.
In the
last three months alone, four separate studied found it
helped protect against lymphoma and cancers of the prostate, lung and
ironically, the skin. The strongest evidence is for colon cancer.
Many people aren't getting enough vitamin D. It's hard to do from food
and fortified milk alone, and supplements are problematic.
No one
is suggesting that people fry on a beach. But scientists believe
that "safe sun"—15 minutes or so a few times a week without
sunscreen—is not only possible but helpful to health.
"I would
challenge anyone to find an area or nutrient or any factor
that has such consistent anti-cancer benefits as vitamin D," said Dr.
Edward Giovannucci, a Harvard University professor of medicine and
nutrition.
ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/vitamind.asp
Teenager Freed in Killing Faces Robbery Charge
MIAMI,
May 24 - Lionel Tate, the teenager sentenced to life in prison
when he was 12 but freed when his conviction was overturned, was
arrested Monday and accused of robbing a pizza delivery man at
gunpoint, the police said. It was his second arrest since his release
in January 2004.
Mr. Tate
was convicted in 2001 of stomping and slamming Tiffany Eunick,
6, to death while she visited his home in 1999. He is believed to be
the youngest American to receive a life sentence. His case became an
international rallying point against treating juvenile offenders as
harshly as adults.
Mr. Tate
had served almost three years in prison when a state appeals
court panel reversed his conviction on grounds that his mental
competency should have been evaluated before his trial. He was released
in January 2004, with the condition that he remain under house arrest
for a year and on probation for 10 more.
In
September, Mr. Tate was charged with violating house arrest after
the authorities said they had found him outside late at night carrying
a knife. But a Broward County Circuit Court judge decided against
returning him to prison, instead adding five years to his probation.
"If he
had any involvement in this whatsoever, we all know what's going
to happen," Mr. Lewis said. "Nobody is under any impression that the
system will give him a second chance."
nytimes.com 5/25/05
Transplant Patients Die of Rodent Disease
Three
organ recipients in southern New England have died in the past month of
a virus spread by rodents, and officials said yesterday that three
transplant patients in Wisconsin died under similar circumstances in
2003.
The
organs
in New England were
taken from
an unidentified resident of
Rhode Island who died of a
stroke in mid-April, said the
New England
Organ Bank, one of several dozen regional centers around the nation
that coordinate organ donations. Health officials in Rhode Island said
a
hamster owned by the donor,
bought at a Petsmart store in Warwick,
R.I., tested positive
for the rodent disease,
lymphocytic
choriomeningitis virus, or LCMV.
The
patient's organs - two
kidneys, a
liver and two lungs - were
donated to four people in Massachusetts and Rhode Island. All of the
patients except one kidney recipient died
within a few weeks of
receiving the organs. The
donor's blood showed no signs of the virus,
officials said, suggesting that it was present at levels too low to be
detected.
It is
not clear why the centers did not report the findings at the
time. Dr. Kazmierczak said the disease was "not a reportable condition"
in Wisconsin.
Nor
is it clear how widespread the virus may be among potential donors.
Dr. Matthew J. Kuehnert, assistant director of blood safety for the
disease control centers, said additional
cases
of the rodent virus in
transplant recipients could have gone undetected.
nytimes.com 5/25/05
F.D.A. Considers Implant Device for Depression
The
Food and Drug Administration may soon approve a medical device that
would be the first new treatment option for severely depressed patients
in a generation, despite the misgivings of many experts who say there
is little evidence that it works.
The
pacemaker-like device, called a vagus nerve stimulator, is
surgically implanted in the upper chest, and its wires are threaded
into the neck, where it stimulates a nerve leading to the brain. It has
been approved since 1997 for the treatment of some epilepsy patients,
and the drug agency has told the manufacturer that it is now
"approvable" for severe depression that is resistant to other
treatment.
But
in the only rigorously controlled trial so far in depressed patients,
the stimulator was no more effective than surgery in which it was
implanted but not turned on.
While
some patients show significantly improved moods after having the
$15,000 device implanted, most do not, the study found. And once the
device is implanted, it is hard to remove entirely; surgeons say the
wire leads are usually left inside the neck.
Proponents
say that many severely depressed patients do not respond to
antidepressants or electroshock therapy and that those patients are
desperate for any treatment to relieve their suffering.
But Dr.
Michael Thase, a psychiatrist at the University of Pittsburgh
who consults for the company, said there was "simply not a good enough
basis in evidence" for approval. While the device is promising, Dr.
Thase said, "the shaky state of the evidence means we have to be very
cautious with this and prepare for the possibility that the hoped-for
benefit isn't there."
The drug
agency has given mixed signals about the stimulator. In August
2004, it told Cyberonics in a letter that the treatment was not
approvable, saying more information was needed. But in February, after
the company provided more data, the agency changed that position,
informing the company that the stimulator could now be approved.
The
Senate Finance Committee recently began looking into the F.D.A.'s
potential reversal, but Cyberonics officials say they have been assured
by the agency that this will have no bearing on its final decision.
In a
conference call with reporters and analysts on Thursday, Robert
Cummins, the company's chief executive, said no other treatment had
been deemed approvable by the drug agency for stubbornly depressed
patients. Clearly, he said, "the status quo for millions of Americans,
their families, psychiatrists and payers is neither safe nor
effective."
Still,
some patient advocates and other experts are now questioning how
the device has come so close to approval with such limited evidence for
its effectiveness.
"I've
never seen anything quite like this," said Dr. Peter Lurie,
deputy director of health research at Public Citizen, a nonprofit group
that is a frequent critic of the F.D.A. and the drug and medical-device
industries. "What we could be
setting ourselves up for is an epidemic of implantation of a device
with no proven effectiveness."
nytimes.com 5/21/05