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Civilian was at controls during sub’s fatal ascent by Robert Burns Associated Press WASHINGTON — A civilian guest aboard the USS Greeneville was seat ed at a helm position at the time the sub marine sank a Japanese fishing vessel off the coast of Hawaii, a defense official said Tuesday. However, there is no indication the civilian played any role in the collision Friday, said the official, who is familiar with the investigation and spoke only on condition of anonymity. Pentagon spokesman Rear Adm. Craig Quigley declined to discuss the matter, saying no information about the circumstances at the time of the acci dent would be released until the Navy has completed its investigation. The National Transportation Safe ty Board also is investigating. The Pentagon said Tuesday that it has not given up searching for nine peo ple missing from the Japanese vessel, a 190-foot ship owned by Uwajima Fisheries High School in southwestern Japan. Twenty-six people were rescued at sea an hour after the vessel was rammed by the 360-foot submarine and sank in 1,800 feet of water. Investigators said they would begin interviewing submarine crew members and checking its sonar, periscope and an anti-collision device. They want to know whether everything was working before the collision. Japan has asked the United States to salvage the sunken fisliing boat. The U.S. Navy sent a submersible underwater de vice equipped with sonar and video cam eras to see whether that was possible. Navy spokesman Cmd. Greg Smith declined to comment on the Greeneville incident but said civilians are routinely allowed aboard U.S. submarines and it would not be unusual for one to be at one of the sub’s three main control positions. In any case, a civilian seated at a con trol position would have a qualified helmsman beside him or her in case something went wrong. “The civilian is not in control of any actions that were not ordered by the commanding officer,” Smith said. * The position occupied by a civilian aboard the Greeneville would control the submarine’s heading and angle, one official said. The Greeneville was conducting a drill in which the subma rine dives to about 400 feet and then makes a rapid ascent — known as an “emergency main ballast blow.” Normally, the sub’s commander would ensure that no objects are in the way before rocketing to the surface, but the Greeneville somehow failed to de tect the presence of the fishing vessel. The Navy has declined to release the identities of the 16 civilians report ed to have been aboard the Greeneville. It takes civilians aboard its sliips and sub marines as a means of promoting its ser vice, educating civilians about the Navy’s missions and capabilities. Quigley said the civilians, described by another official as local community and business leaders, had requested that the Navy not reveal their identities. He indicated that they are not members of Congress, though politicians and jour nalistic among those routinely taken on brief submarine excursions. U.S. troops locate, destroy cocaine labs in Colombia by Andrew Selsky Associated Press LA ESPERANZA, Colombia — Buoyed by unexpected success in fu migating coca crops, a U.S.-financed of fensive is targeting clandestine jungle labs in search-and-destroy missions in the heart of the world’s main cocaine producing region. Colombian army troops, trained by Green Berets and guided by spy-plane and satellite technology, have had only light skirmishes with leftist rebels and rival right-wing paramilitary gunmen who earn millions of dollars from “tax ing” the cocaine industry in southern Colombia. U.S. officials say it is too early to declare victoiy, but the Colombian com mander of the operations says rebel vows to combat the offensive have proved empty. '‘We had expected tough fights when we went into these places. We thought they would shoot down our helicopters and planes. But the engagements have been routine,” Colombian army Gen. Mario Montoya told reporters Monday at Tres Esquinas army base, where U.S. intelligence experts interpret satellite imagery for mission planning. Montoya then flew into the war zone to direct the demolition of a lab that produced millions of dollars worth of cocaine. After showing journalists the lab — hidden in a stand of jungle growth and containing packages of purified co caine, processing chemicals, microwave ovens and an electrical generator — Montoya’s men placed explosive charges inside it and retreated into the middle of a coca field. * “One, two, three!” Montoya called out. At three, a soldier pressed a deto nator, triggering a deafening explosion that enveloped the drug lab in a fireball. It sent a column of black smoke into the air, where helicopter gunships circled overhead like raptors seeking prey. Rebels of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, had over seen the operation of the lab, which was capable of refining 2,200 pounds of co caine per week, Montoya said. But the guerrillas were nowhere to be seen as the heavily armed government soldiers, their faces smeared with camouflage paint, conducted sweeps into the sur rounding jungle. One discovered a stash of 1,100 pounds of “coca paste,” or un refined cocaine. Three men were arrested when the troops first arrived. Montoya strode through the coca field, M-16 assault rifle in hand, bark ing orders to his troops. After destroy ing die lab, die chemicals and coca paste, Montoya boarded a helicopter and took off for the Tres Esquinas base. “I am convinced that the military capacity of the FARC is what we have seen,” Montoya told reporters of the rebel response to the counterdrug of fensive, which began on Dec. 19 and has resulted in the aerial fumigation of some 72,000 acres of coca, according to Colombian and U.S. officials. Couples engage in nude nuptials by Matt Rosenberg Associated Press RUNAWAY BAY, Jamaica - When you get married in die nude, where does the best man keep the wedding ring? That question will be answered, and little else will be left to the imagination Wednesday when 11 couples tie die knot in the buff on Valentine’s Day. “We’re nudists because we’re com fortable nude, so why not get married the way we’re most comfortable?” said Paige DeBell, a 34-year-old artist from Hamburg, N.J., who will get married at Hedonism III — a Jamaican resort known for its wild ways. The nuptials have sparked protests from cleigy and the government, but the weddings also highlight the growth of a burgeoning nude travel industry, es timated at $300 million a year world wide. The amount is triple what it was a decade ago, says the Trade Association of Nude Recreation of Los Gatos, Calif. “In the last five, maybe 10 years, it’s become a very organized industry,” said Donna Daniels, a nudist and owner of Houston-based Castaways Travel, a com pany specializing in “clothing-option al” vacations. “This used to be a word of mouth thing.” Daniels, who also runs a more con ventional travel company, stumbled in to the nude travel business through a chance encounter witli'a businessman at a chamber of commerce meeting. The man — whom she declined to identify — came by her office a few days later and politely inquired about nude ^travel options. “I said come on in the back room... each trip averaging $3,000. I started rattling off tilings with him and Over the past 30 years, the options liis eyes just got as big as silver dollars, for American nudists have continued to and I realized as I was talking with him grow. Their European counterparts have (that) our hobby information might be traditionally had it much easier because valuable,” she said. of relaxed laws on public nudity. In 1995, the first full year Castaways And what do the couple’s families was up and ninning, the company booked think about their nude nuptials? around 200 nude vacations. In 2000, the Tliey’re “totally cool,” says DeBell’s number jumped to around 5,000, with fiance, Ronald Sissman, 48. ‘Kournikova’ virus slams U.S., Europe ■ Expecting a picture of a teenage tennis star, eager computer users download a self-replicating virus by Regan Morris Associated Press SINGAPORE — Asia has back handed the Anna Koumikova Comput er virus. With a day to prepare, companies in Asia were ready Tuesday for the e mail clogging virus that promised to de liver an electronic photo of the blonde, teenage tennis star. The virus failed to infect as many computers as it did in Europe and the United States. Australia was hit hardest, with an estimated 100,000 computers infected by the e-mail. However, other govern ments ill Asia reported little-or no im pact. “It was much worse in the U.S. be cause by the time Asia came to work, major companies had cleaned up the systems,” said John De Riso, Taiwan spokesman for California-based Trend Micro. The latest virus comes as an e-mail attachment named “AnnaKourniko va.jpg.vbs” and carries the message “Hi: Check This!” When the user clicks on the at tachment, the virus is released, worm ing its way into address books and send ing itself to everyone on die list, clogging e-mail servers. The e-mail does not actually con tain a photo of the tennis star. The Anna bug originated in the Netherlands, said Ben Guthrie, spokesman for the antivirus company Symantec Corp. Security experts say die virus writer is known as “OnTheFly” and used script tools that allow anyone with minimal programming skills to generate a virus. I On Tuesday, a person who goes by “OnTheFly” posted a claim of respon sibility, saying the vims was released as a wanting to Internet users who are lax about security. “I never wanted to harm the peo ple (who) opened the attachment,” the person wrote. “But after all: it’s their own fault they got infected.” Though the message appeared au thentic, there was no way to verify the claim. In the United States, the virus slowed down e-mail systems and forced Some companies to shut down their e mail altogether wliile they cleaned out the rogue program. Security experts said the virus does not permanently ' damage computers. uiaiuuii vauiey, senior tecnnoiogy consultant at Sophos Anti-Virus Inc., said the virus writer skillfully exploit • ed Koumikova’s sex appeal and “the average fantasy of the guy who sits in front of the computer terminal.” “It is the laigest outbreak since the Love Bug,” said Allan Bell, a spokesman in Hong Kong for antivirus Company Network Associates. The Love Bug virus, released May 4 in the Philippines, overwhelmed e niail systems worldwide and caused tens of millions of dollars in damage. McAfee’s World Virus Map, a Web site that tracks infected computers, said California was most infected by the Koumikova virus, and Asia and Africa were the least infected regions. “Our computers are still working,” said Maggie Tan of Singapore’s Char tered Semiconductors. “We had been warned not to open that file.” World Briefs ■ One month after major quake, new tremor kills dozens SAN VICENTE, El Salvador (AP) — A powerful earthquake shook El Salvador Tuesday, toppling hundreds of buildings and killing at least 70 peo ple. More than 800 people died in an ' even stronger quake exactly one month ago. The quake flattened much of the heart of San Vicente, 35 miles east of San Salvador, and damaged most of the homes and buildings in four surrounding towns. Government emergency services put the national death toll at 70, with 200 injured and hundreds — perhaps thousands — left homeless. The earthquake struck at 8:25 a.m. and was centered halfway between San Vicente and San Salvador. ■ U.S. marshals seize Indiana church after 91-day standoff INDIANAPOUS (AP) — A church that challenged the authority of the IRS was seized by the government Tuesday to satisfy a $6 million tax debt, with federal marshals wheeling the former pastor out on a gurney as he prayed in protest. “I pray for you that God will forgive you!” shouted the Rev. Greg J. Dixon, pastor emeri tus of the Indianapolis Baptist Tfimple. “Welcome to communism, America!” It is believed to be the first time the federal government has ever seized a church in a tax dispute. The move peacefully ended a 91 -day vigil that had drawn the attention of constitu tional scholars and right-wing militia members. Five church members were inside when 85 federal marshals ar rived, supported by 70 city police offi cers. No one was hurt or arrested. 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