Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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Cole investigation focuses on Bin Laden by Robert Burns Associated Press WASHINGTON — Osama bin Laden, the exiled Saudi suspected of masterminding terrorist plots around the Middle East, has emerged as a prime fo cus of the investigation into the USS Cole bomb ing, but several American officials say investigators have no hard evidence he directed it. By Friday, the FBI had brought home about 80 technicians and lab experts sent to Aden, Yemen, after completing collecting physical evidence from aboard the crippled destroyer. Other elements of the team, including investigators and security and communications specialists, remained on the scene. FBI spokeswoman Debbie Weierman said in vestigators will continue to be rotated in and out of Yemen as needed. H> A federal law enforcement official said, mean while, that many of the remaining agents moved Friday from a hotel in Aden to a U.S. ship in the. harbor for security reasons. “There’s clearly a concern about the level of cooperation we’re receiving, but it’s not at a point where the investigation is stalled or shut down,” said another U.S. official, speaking on con dition of anonymity. “In fact, given the difficulties, it’s going along pretty well.” The damaged ship, on which 17 sailors died Oct. 12, will be leaving the Gulf of Aden soon aboard a Norwegian “heavy lift” ship for the five-week trip for repairs in the United States. Under a $4.5 million contract with the U.S. Navy Sealift Com mand, the 8,300-ton ship will be hauled Monday aboard the Blue Marlin, which has been refitted for the job in the Persian Gulf port Dubai. The Blue Marlin, which normally lifts and trails ports commercial cargo such as oil rigs, is expect ed to arrive off the coast of Yemen. The loading op eration will take at least 24 hours. While Weierman denied investigators were pulled out for lack of cooperation by Yemen’s gov ernment, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and FBI Director Louis Freeh appealed in an unusual joint statement for more Yemeni help. FBI agents have encountered the same problem they had in an earlier terrorism investigation in Saudi Arabia: lack of direct access to suspects. The FBI, working with Yemeni authorities in the port of Aden, where the Cole was attacked by a small boat laden with explosives, has finished ex amining the ship and scouring various locations in Yemen for physical evidence, Albright and Freeh said. They did not identify the sites, but officials have said they include several houses thought to have been used to prepare the attack. Albright and Freeh praised Yemen for its “ear ly cooperation,” when the FBI had ftill access to the sites and was able to send key evidence to Whsh. ington for detailed lab tests. “The next critical phase will require Yemeni andU.S. personnel to work as partners in the col lection of information and participants in the in terview process of witnesses to this criminal act of terrorism,” Albright and Freeh said. “We count on . President (Ali Abdullah) Saleh’s commitment of full cooperation.” Bin Laden, a millionaire dissident wanted by die FBI on chaiges he masterminded the 1998 bomb ings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania that killed 224 people, is believed to be living in Afghanistan. Northern Ireland party election won by Protestant party leader by Shawn Pogatchnik Associated Press BELFAST, Northern Ireland — The leader of Northern Ireland’s biggest Protestant party narrowly won a crucial party battle Saturday, keeping alive the province’s power-sharing govern ment, but only by promising to punish his coalition partners, ne Angry, the Irish Republican Army has not begun disarming, hard-liners in the Ulster Unionist party had put forward a motion calling for the party to with draw from the government, collapsing it, if the IRA doesn’t make a disarmament move by Nov. 30. Ulster Unionist leader David Trim ble defeated the motion Saturday. But to fend off the challenge and defend his own leadership, Trimble had to propose his own get-tough plan designed to force the IRA to take action. It passed the party’s grass-roots council on a 445-374 vote. Trimble’s plan would impose imme diate sanctions on the IRA-linked Sinn Fein party, junior members in the four party power-sharing government. Under the plan, Sinn Fein’s two ministers in the P-member Cabinet would not be allowed U Represent the government any longer in policy-making summits with the Irish government until the IRA begins “sub stantial engagement” with an indepen dent disarmament commission. The commission’s leader, retired Canadian Gen. John de Chastelain, has been waiting in vain since 1997 to col lect and destroy IRA weapons stockpiles. The IRA has allowed two foreign diplo mats to visit three of its amis dumps in secret, most recently Thursday, but has contacted de Chastelain only once since February. “Contrary to what they say, the re publicans have only moved when they’re under pressure,” Trimble said. “So the pressure is starting gently, in the hope of doing the least possible damage to the in stitutions. But don’t mistake where it is heading.” Regular meetings between the Belfast and Dublin governments are a prized part of the province’s peace accord for Catholics, who regard such cross-border cooperation as likely to promote Ireland’s eventual unification. “The meetings can go ahead, but not with Sinn Fein,” said Trimble, who leads the Cabinet at the heart of the peace accord. In that role, he must sign docu ments authorizing which ministers attend meetings. Both Sinn Fein and the major Catholic-supported party in the coali tion, the moderate Social Democratic and Labor Party, criticized Trimble’s move. Sinn Fein leaders said they might try to take Trimble to court. They were adamant that the IRA, now three years mio a cease-ure, was uniuteiy 10 respona favorably to the pressure. “It’s not for David Trimble or any other unionist leader to set limits on our rights,” said Gerry Kelly, a former ERA car bomber who is now one of the most influential Sinn Fein figures. Peter Mandelson, Britain’s minister for Northern Ireland, appealed to Catholics to understand Trimble’s difficulties in try ing to keep his party together. He urged the IRA to open a detailed dialogue with the Canadian disarmament chief. “Don’t overreact,” Mandelson said. “If you portray this as a recipe for col lapse, it could well be a self-fulfilling prophecy.” Trimble initially persuaded his par ty in November 1999 to form the pow er-sharing government, the intended cor nerstone of the province’s 1998 peace accord, after receiving assurances from Sinn Fein that gradual IRA disarma ment would be likely to follow. More than 50 Palestinians wounded in new clashes by Greg Myre Associated Press JERUSALEM — Israeli troops drove back Palestinian stone throwers with rubber-coated bullets and tear gas at chronic trouble spots in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, wounding more than 50 Palestinians Saturday. The clashes included at least a dozen shooting at tacks on Israeli soldiers and a homemade bomb hurled at a border police patrol, the military command said. But no one was killed Saturday, one of the. few such days since the violence first erupted exactly a month ago; Fighting between Israelis and Palestinians has left 133 dead and thousands wounded, the vast majority Palestini ans. The Israeli military has predicted that the unrest could go on for months more. Ibrahim Hawamdi, a young Palestinian man watching the clashes in the West Bank town of Ramailah, agreed that Palestinian frustrations were still running high. But the up rising was taking a heavy'economic toll on the Palestini ans, many of whom haven’t been able to travel to jobs in Israel, he added. reopie want logo oacK to worn; tney re ntnnmg out of money,” Hawamdi said. More than 100,000 Palestini ans work in Israel. Elsewhere, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat called for a “political separation” from Israel but said he would re ject any geographic or economic division. With Mideast peace talks on hold because of the fighting, both the Is raelis and Palestinians have raised the possibility of taking unilateral action. Israel’s Prime Minister, Ehud Barak, called Cabinet ministers to his residence Saturday night to discuss For eign Minister Shlomo Ben-Ami’s trip to Paris and Wash ington next week. ' Barak also spoke by telephone with Egyptian Presi dent Hosni Mubarak and King Abdullah II of Jordan, re iterating he wanted an end to violence as a precondition for resuming peace talks, Israel Television reported. Some Palestinians have called for a declaration of state hood next month, while the Israelis have been assessing a “unilateral separation” that could include staking out borders and placing strict limits on the number of Pales tinian workers in Israel. The Palestinians strongly oppose any one-sided action by Israel, and Arafat’s comments suggested he was lean ing away from such moves as well. He said an indepen dent Palestinian state should be established on land Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East War, Egypt’s Al-Ahram newspaper reported Saturday. “ Wfe are (for) a political separation that is based on the 1967 border,” Arafat was quoted as saying. Also Saturday, the radical Palestinian group that hi jacked the Achilie Lauro cruise sltip and killed an Amer ican passenger in 1985 declared it was resuming attacks on Israel. “As a result of the enemy’s intransigence and the killing of our children, we have to respond to it in the manner it understands,” Abul Abbas told the Saudi newspaper Asharq al-Awsat. Abul Abbas, the pseudonym of Mohammed Abbas, the leader of the Palestine Liberation Front, said “how and when we will fight is left to tire future.’’The London-based newspaper said he was interviewed by telephone from Baghdad. In Lebanon, the leader of Hezbollah urged Palestini ans to move from stone-throwing to suicide missions. “The most important operations in the confronta tion are suicide missions because of their negative mater ial, psychological and moral effect on the enemy and then positive effect on the mujahedeen (holy warriors),’’Sheik Hassbn Nasrallah said in a TV interview. Also Saturday, an Israeli was shot and his body burned near Ramaliah, the Palestinian Authority said. The uniden tified man was allegedly involved in “oiganized crime and drug smuggling,” and his death was not linked to the cur rent wave of political violence, officials said. Israel’s military said only that the body had been re turned to Israeli authorities and that the matter was under investigation. But Israel TV quoted Israeli police offi cials as saying they had “reasonable grounds” to believe the man was lynched in a political killing. In Saturday’s clashes, at least 25 Palestinians were injured in four separate confrontations in the Gaza Strip, among them a 14-year-old boy who was in serious con dition after being shot in the head at Rafah, on the south ern end of Gaza, doctors said. In an unusual development, Palestinian police inter venal in a protest at the Kami crossing point in Gaza, forc ing demonstrators onto trucks and driving them away. Microsoft break-in might lead to major losses lor company by Gene Johnson Associated Press SEATTLE — If valuable computer secrets stolen from Microsoft Corp. are disseminated, they could hurt the company more than it is letting on, some analysts say. During the past several weeks, hackers broke into Microsoft’s system and got a look at, but did not corrupt, a valuable software blueprint, or “source code,” for a computer program under development, t£ ;ompany said Friday. The FBI is investigating; the company will not identify the program under development. “For Microsoft, that’s a significant loss of in tellectual property and a significant loss of a com petitive edge,” said Simon Perry, a computer se curity expert with Computer Associates of Islandia, N.Y. “What we would expect is that code now ei ther will appear on the Internet or it will be sold off to the highest bidder, probably overseas,’’Per ry said. Microsoft’s source codes are the most covet ed in the multibillion-dollar industry. With access to them, competitors could write programs and challenge Microsoft’s products. Hackers also could use the codes to identify software flaws, making break-ins and virus-writing easier. 'Microsoft, while acknowledging the serious ness of the attack, downplayed its long-term sig nificance. Company officials said the program won’t be finished for years and will go through many changes before then. Microsoft’s chief executive, Steve Ballmer, stud during a visit to Stockholm. Sweden, “You bet tliis is an issue of great importance.” But asked by a reporter how damaging the break in was, he said, “Not very. But we want to make sure it doesn’t get that way, and that’s why we called in the FBI.” Company spokesman Mark Murray said the in vestigation revealed no evidence the intruders gained access to existing products, such as Windows 2000, Windows ME or Office.. Microsoft learned of the break-in Wednesday and planned to handle the investigation itself. On Thursday, however, it called the FBI. A source fa miliar with the case said hackers had access to the code for up to five weeks. No motive for the break-in hits been disclosed, but hackers in the past have tried to extort money from companies by threatening to publish stolen information on the Internet. Investors did not seem too concerned. Microsoft stock rose 5 percent Friday to $67.69 on the Nas daq Stock Market. The break-in adds to the woes of a company now appealing a federal judge’s ruling ordering that it be broken up for engaging in predatory business practices. Microsoft found that passwords used to trans fer source codes were being sent from the compa ny’s computer network in suburban Redmond to an e-mail account in St. Petersbuig, Russia. “You can operate there as a hacker with a fair level of confidence you won’t get caught,” Perry said. “The technology doesn’t exist to track them down. Also, die laws don’t exist to prosecute them.” Germans demonstrate against increase in neo-Nazi hate crimes by Erich Reimann Associated Press DUESSELDORF, Germany — More than 30,000 people demonstrated against neo-Nazis in Germany on Saturday, drawing praise from a Jew ish leader who said the nation is increasingly stand ing up against rising hate crimes. Officials said 25,000 people rallied in Dues seHprf, where a July bomb attack on immigrants joiJd the nation into confronting the far right and where Oie attempted firebombing of a synagogue this month heightened concerns. Another 6,000 demonstrated in Kassel. Civic groups, unions and politicians organized the rallies as a reply to what turned out to be much smaller neo-Nazi marches in both cities Saturday. Police reported about 70 arrests after scattered clashes between neo-Nazi marchers and radical left ist demonstrators. Speaking to an applauding crowd in Duessel dorf, the head of Germany's Jewish community said ' citizens must not remain silent when neo-Nazis strike. “When ranting skinheads can claim they are carrying out the will of the silent majority, then the silent majority is not without blame,” Paul Spiegel said. A few hundred yards away, 300 neo-Nazis, most ly young men and boys with shaved heads, marched under heavy police guard, chanting “Clear the street for the national resistance.” Leftists shouted back and threw fruit and stones at them from behind po lice barricades. As government figures show far-right crime on the rise, Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder has urged Germans to take part in an “ uprising of decent peo ple” against neo-Nazis. About 20,000 people gath ered last weekend in Dortmund to show solidari ty with foreigners. At least three people have died this year in a surge of far-right violence against immigrants, the homeless and other minorities. The Duesseldorf bomb attack in July injured 10 recent immigrants from the former Soviet Unicxi, six of them Jewish. News Briefs ■ Budget battle leads to overtime for congressmen WASHINGTON (AP)—A nasty bud get war between President Clinton and Congress over taxes, education arid im migration is forcing lawmakers to endure rare weekend sessions just 10 days front the presidential and congressional elections. Both chambers planned to meet H to pass one-day bills to keep government '' agencies from closing and rekindling vot ers’ memories of the 1995-96 shutdowns. The stopgap measures are needed be- .i cause only six of the 13 must-pass spend ing bills for the 2001 fiscal year, which began Oct. 1, have become law. ■1 ■ Nader backers weigh idealism against Bush win MINNEAPOUS (AP) — With months of hard work finally paying off for their candidate, this shouldn’t be a difficult time for supporters of Ralph Nader’s pres idential bid But it is, and nowhere is the pressure as great as in battleground states like Minnesota. With Nader near dou ble-digit support, and most of it believed to be coming at Democrat A1 Gore’s ex- , pense, his Green Party supporters are be ing forced to weigh their progressive ideals against the possibility their votes > will throw the election to Republican George W. Bush. Jesse Jackson stopped in Minneapolis this week to urge stu dents at the University of Minnesota to give up on Nader and gefbehind Gore. In California, the Green Party lias agreed to pull ads over fears that Nader, a longtime consumer advocate and critic of corporate America, will cost Gore that critical state. But many of Nader’s back ers are refusing to budge. “It’s just spine- i less and pathetic,” says Nick Raleigh, a field oiganizer for Minnesota Greens. “We’ve been on the ground for eight months or so and built people’s expec tations. Our support base didn’t just ap- , pear overnight.” Raleigh and other Nad er advocates have a simple response to all of the pressure: Hold steady. ■ Islamic militants warn of further suicide attacks JERUSALEM (AP) — Islamic mili tants warned of more suicide attacks on in Israeli soldiers following a day of vio- < lence in the Wfest Bank and Gaza that left four Palestinians dead and more than 150 injured. In Syria, Ramadan Shalah, the ' leader of the Islamic Jihad group, which has already claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing in the Gaza Strip, said it would carry out more attacks. “This operation will be the beginning for more j; operations against Israeli soldiers. Wfe will not attack Israeli civilians,” Shalah told ,, a rally Friday that Israeli helicopter gun- I! ships fired on a West Bank village to re taliate for a shooting attack on a Jerusalem neighborhood, capping a day of mayhem ; that touched almost every major Pales tinian city. It began with Palestinians |J pouring out of mosques following mid- '1 day prayers and clashing with Isnieli troops amid clouds of acrid smoke and tear gas. >! II ■ Radio’s Keillor talks to educators in New Jersey ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) - ■> Garrison Keillor knows a thing or two about teaching children. After all, he ~ has a 31 -year-old son and a 2-year-old " . daughter. So who better to talk about classroom bullies, teen-age girls who dress like harlots and mothers who be lieve schoolteachers are the problem, not the solution? The radio raconteur ■» •t^i regaled the New Jersey School Boards ■*« Association’s annual conference Fri day, and if his address had a theme, it *3 was that there’s nothing as honorable 3 as serving children, as a parent, teacher Z or otherwise. “Nothing you do for children is ever wasted,” he said, elic- * ' iting a standing ovation from several hundred administrators and school board membets. •«!