Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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__ _Nation & World_ Prosecutors allege links between Canadian, terrorism suspects by Wilson Ring Associated Press Burlington, Vt. — Federal officials say cellular telephone records link a woman arrested last month in Vermont to two Algerians suspected of trying to smuggle explosives into the United States. In court documents filed Wednesday, federal prosecutors for the first tiijne tied Canadian Lucia Garofalo with Algerians Abdel Ghani and Ahmed Ressam. Their arrests stirred fears of terror ist attacks over the holiday season. Ressam had a one-night reservation at a motel near Seattle’s Space Needle, which was cited as one reason for the cancellation of the New Year’s bash there. Garofalo was arrested trying to cross the border at Beecher Falls, Vt., on Dec. 19. Five days earlier, Ressam was ar rested in Washington state allegedly try ing to carry bomb materials into the Unit ed States. And on Dec. 30, Ghani was arrested in New York City and accused of attempting to meet up with Ressam. “There is a close and concerning link between Ms. Garofalo and the investi gations that are under way in New York and Seattle,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Tris tram Coffin said. Attorneys for Garofalo, a 35-year-old mother of three, have disputed the gov ernment’s allegations and say they do not prove she was part of a conspiracy. Magistrate Judge Jerome Niedermeier agreed to continue holding Garofalo with out bail until her trial on immigration vi olations, tentatively scheduled for Feb. 14. The alleged telephone links are cir cuitous, prosecutors said. But they said that was how the terrorist oiganization that Ghani and Ressam belonged to op erated. Previously, Ressam and Ghani have been linked to the Algerian Armed Islamic Group, known by its French acronym GIA. Assistant U.S. Attorney David Kirby said there were a series of telephone calls between people who have ties to Ressam and Garofalo last month around the time of both their arrests. “The timing of the link is remarkable in that it occurs during the December pe riod when the defendant and Ressam were committing their crimes,” Kirby wrote. Ressam, who was arrested at Port An geles, Wash., has pleaded innocent to five charges related to bomb-making. Ghani, 31, was charged with being Ressam’s accomplice. The individual common to most of the players was a man named Raja Aslam, prosecutors said. A telephone number registered to Askm allegedly was in Ms. Garofalo’s pocket when she was arrest ed. “Records show that 6n Dec. 14,1999, the date Ressam tried to bring explosives into the United States, Garofalo called this cell phone,” according to court records. Garofalo’s attorney, Maiyanne Kamp mann, said that did not prove Garofalo was part of a conspiracy. She said Garo falo did not know who made the call. Garofalo told Kampmann someone else had used her phone, although Cof fin said that did not explain the telephone number in Garofalo’s pocket. “It may be the gentleman who used the phone left the scrap of paper in her car. We are talking one phone call. There is no other contact,” Kampmann said. Additional calls were placed from a number assigned to Aslam to one that prosecutors said was assigned to Abdel Ghani and to the cell phone belonging to an unidentified person. “Records disclose that over the pe riod Dec. 11 to 19, this latter (person) called a number belonging to Abdel Ghani over 20 times, including six times on Dec. 19, the day that Garofalo was arrested,” Kirby wrote. Other telephone records showed con tacts between a cell phone belonging to Aslam to a cell phone “somewhere in Vermont during the early morning hours of Dec. 15,1999.” ‘We are talking one phone call. There is no other contact.’ Maryanne Kampmann attorney for Lucia Garofalo Russian troops dig in to fend off new Chechen attacks by Lyoma Turpalov Associated Press Shali, Russia — Russian troops, bat tered by surprise rebel counterattacks in Chechnya, were placed on alert Thurs day and dug deep trenches in vulnera ble villages to fend off new attacks. After making steady progress against Chechen rebels since ground troops en tered the republic in September, the Russ ian offensive stalled this week: Rebels at tacked towns that Russian forces claimed to control and put up fierce resistance in Grozny, the capital, where fighters are entrenched in the center. The Interfax news agency, citing sources in the federal command for Chechnya, said 33 Russian soldiers had been killed in the past 24 hours in Chech nya. Until recent days, Russian forces had claimed losses of no more than one or two soldiers a day. Russia claimed to have retaken control of the towns of Argun and Shali this week. But fighting contin ued on the outskirts of Gudermes, Chech nya’s second-largest city, said Lt. Col. Anatoly Yurasov, the deputy head of an Interior Ministry mobile unit. Russian forces continued heavily shelling Grozny and troops were fight ing rebels from trenches in some of the city’s neighborhoods, Interfax report ed, citing military sources. The report described the situation in Grozny as es sentially unchanged from recent days. In Shali and Argun, Russian troops dug deep trenches in preparation for pos sibly having to fend off rebels again, the NTV television channel reported. Oth er units-surrounded rebel formations in four other towns in the Shali region, In terfax said. Following the rebels’ weekend coun terattacks, all military checkpoints and stations in Russian-controlled areas of Chechnya have been placed on alert and provided with additional ammunition and armored vehicles, the ITAR-Tass news agency reported. In another move to weaken the rebels, Russia this week declared that all males in Chechnya between ages 10 and 60 would be investigated for possible in volvement with the rebels, and be barred from entering or leaving Chechnya. “The Russians are barbarians,” said Lyoma Gibishev, a Grozny resident who was refused entry to Chechnya at a cross ing point in Ingushetia. New York-based Human Rights Which protested the Russian measure and the U.S. State Department asked Russia for clarification of the new regulation. “It is essential that Russia respect the fundamental human rights of civilians in and around Chechnya, not endanger the lives of noncombatants and ensure freedom of movement for displaced per sons,” State Department spokesman James Rubin said. In Moscow, the head of Russia’s Fed eral Migration Service, Vladimir Kala manov, said the new restriction was jus tified. Dorm Room Carpet Cheap! EXAMPLE: 12x9 room = $63.72 4 COGDILL Carpet Mill Outlet ” OPEN MON-SAT 9 AM TO 6 PM www.cogdills.com • E-mail Address: flooring@cogdills.com Microsoft from page A3 been presented in this case.” USA Today, citing unnamed sources, reported Wednesday that the government favored breaking Microsoft into two parts, not three, and that one company would sell Windows and the other would sell its software applications. Jackson handed down a blistering rul ing Nov. 5 that Microsoft is a monop oly that stifled competition and hurt con sumers, agreeing with nearly all the government’s allegations against the com pany. The tenor of that ruling raised the possibility of a serious, eventual judg ment against Microsoft. Lawyers and an alysts said then that it indicated Jackson might even be willing to consider a rem edy as dramatic as a breakup. The next round of courtroom arguments is next month. The disclosure that Justice favors a breakup comes on the heels of a high tech analyst firm, International Data Corp., concluding that splitting Microsoft into separate companies “would be best” for the nation’s high-tech industry. It called a voluntary breakup “abril liant leapfrog maneuver that would time warp the company into the next millen nium with renewed purpose and a shining political patina.” But the firm, in a report sent to its software clients and obtained by The As sociated Press, also predicted that, “Mi crosoft will choose to settle the case be fore it would allow itself to be broken up.” a ac CL Si c? t £ 8 «8 t I I o Propecia (finasteride) Ask your doctor about this pill from Merck. For more information, call 1-888-MERCK-74. www.propecia.com Bush, McCain try to steer clear of flag by Glen Johnson Associated Press West Columbia — Although they’re eager to win South Carolina’s Re publican presidential primary, George W. Bush and John McCain are trying hard to steer clear of a controversy over the state’s practice of flying the Confeder ate flag. McCain, campaigning far away Wednesday in Dublin, N.H., read a state ment clarifying his position about the flag. He posted the same message on his campaign Web site. “As to how I view the flag, I under stand both sides,” the Arizona senator said. “Some view it as a symbol of slav ery. Others view it as a symbol of her itage,” which is a phrase used by some white Republicans who want the flag to continue flying over the South Carolina Statehouse. “Personally, I see the battle flag as a symbol of heritage,” explained McCain, a Navy veteran who comes from a long line of military leaders. “I have ances tors who have fought for the Confeder acy, none of whom owned slaves. I be lieve they fought honorably.” Bush, meanwhile, reiterated that any decision is up to South Carolina voters. The flag has flown above the State house since 1962. Five years ago, legis lators rebuffed then-Republican Gov. David Beasley’s attempts to remove it. “I’ve answered that question all I’m going to answer it today, ” Bush said testi ly after he again was asked about the flag during a news conference in Wilming ton, Del. He also was on the defensive Wednes day over his campaign’s decision to stage a rally the night before at a Charleston plantation that had been worked by slaves. In another matter involving race, Bush criticized the words of a Republican South Carolina state senator who described the NAACP as the “National Association for Retarded People” for its work against the flag — but did not call for an apology. Reporters asked Bush, the Texas gov ernor, about the race matters after he said he wanted the Republican Party to reach out more to minorities. In Texas, Bush has recorded growing support from minorities and women. In his 1998 re-election, exit polls showed he got support from 49 percent of His panics, 27 percent of blacks and 65 per cent of women, nearly all double-digit • improvements from his first election in 1994. On another front Wednesday, Bush picked up the endorsements of Sens. John Ashcroft of Missouri and Connie Mack of Florida, the 32nd and 33rd GOP sen ators who have announced their support for him. Referring to his campaign’s selection of the Boone Hall Plantation for an oyster roast and campaign rally Tuesday, Bush noted that the site had been used by officials from both parties for politi cal events. Report: Retirees HMOs overpaid by Medicare by Alice Ann Love Associated Press Washington — HMOs that enroll se nior citizens get billions of dollars too much from Medicare because their fees are based on overblown cost estimates, government investigators say. In a report released Thursday, Health and Human Services Department In spector General June Gibbs Brown said investigators found “compelling infor mation that managed care companies are financially benefitting from the present process used to calculate the Medicare monthly capitation payments.” About 6 million of Medicare’s 39 mil lion elderly and disabled beneficiaries are enrolled in HMOs—private health plans that accept a flat monthly fee from the government to provide all needed care. Current HMD fees are based on a for mula set by Congress in 1997, which pre dieted retirees’ medical costs in that year to be 4.2 percent higher than they actu ally turned out to be, the report said. Because HMO payment increases in subsequent years have been added to the 1997 base rate, the 4.2 percent over payments persist from year to year. The report said if that continues, it would mean $11 billion in overpayments over the next five years and $34 billion over 10 years. Medicare administrator Nancy-Ann DeParle said in a letter responding to the report that President Clinton has pro posed legislation to change the way HMO fees are calculated, eliminating the prob lem. That legislation, however, has not been approved by Congress. Lawmakers voted last fall to give HMOs a raise af ter many pulled out of the Medicare busi ness in 1999 complaining that they are not paid enough. Elian from page A3 we will take the case to a court they can not ignore. “We continue to invite Juan Miguel Gonzalez (Elian’s father) and his entire family to come here from Cuba and participate in the process of deter mining the best for Elian,” Eig said. In Cuba, Raquel Rodriguez, Elian’s maternal grandmother, told MSNBC Wfednesday: “I lost my only daughter and he’s my only grandson. He’s the only thing I have. I feel horrible.” Cuban exile leaders met today in Mi ami to discuss Reno’s announcement that Elian’s fate would be up to federal offi cials. Afterward, Ramon Saul Sanchez, the leader of the Democracy Movement, a Miami anti-Castro group, urged peo ple to remain home, but to be on alert and “thank God because things are tak ing the road of the court system.” Elian was found clinging to an inner tube in the Atlantic off Fort Laud erdale, Fla., on Thanksgiving Day. His mother and several other people flee ing Cuba with him had drowned. One of the two adult survivors of the accident told a Spanish-language radio station that Elian’s mother shaded the boy with a blanket and her own body before she drowned. “When the boat sank, she grabbed a bottle of water and kept it for him to drink, until I saw her go under,” Nivaldo Fernandez said. “She wanted her son to live here.” The Clinton administration initially had set Jan. 14 as the date by which Elian was to be sent back to his father. Reno on Tuesday said that deadline has been withdrawn in the interest of working out something. Last week, the House Gov ernment Reform and Oversight Com mittee issued a subpoena for the child to testify before Congress. Asked today to elaborate on the de partment’s options, Reno said: “What we’re tiying to do is make sure the process is clear, that the law is followed, and we will work with everyone to make sure that happens.” Justice officials, requesting anonymi ty, said they could go into federal court for a rulirig that the state court order does not overrule the INS decision or for an enforcement order to carry out the INS decision, but they said they wanted to choose the least provocative course. Though they would not say so directly, that course appeared to be waiting to re spond to any federal court action filed by the Florida relatives. Keno went to lengths to voice con cern about the boy. “What should be done here with the little 6-year-old boy is that people let the law take its course and then appropri ately work together to see that what the law determines is right is done,” Reno said. “I think when it comes right down to it, my hope is that people will look at this little boy and get him into a situ ation where he can live a normal life with out television cameras and the world in his face. Can you imagine if you were 6 years old and all this was happening to you?”