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'Che ©amecotk Kidnapped oil workers freed in Ecuador jungle ■ Victims released after kidnappers receive $13 million by Carlos Cisternas Associated Press QUITO, Ecuador—Seven foreign oil workers, including four Americans, kidnapped last October in Ecuador’s petroleum-rich northeast jungle were freed Thursday in exchange for $13 million, military and police officials said. Rear Adm. Craig Quigley, spokesman for Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, said in Washington that the captives had been freed, but offered no details. Abducted with the four Americans were a Chilean, an Argentine and a New Zealander. Ecuadorean television reports said the captives were freed Thursday morning near Santa Rosa de Cascales, a few miles from Ecuador’s northern border with Colombia, about 90 miles east of Quito. An Ecuadorean military intelligence officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told The Associated Press that all seven were picked up by a military patrol and taken to Lago Agrio, 110 miles northeast of the capital, Quito. They were being treated for exhaustion, cuts and bruises, he said. The men had marched a long distance through the jungle to a prearranged rendezvous point for their release, he said. It was not immediately clear when the men would be flown to the capital. Ten foreign oil workers were kidnapped Oct. 12 from an oil camp in the Pompeya jungle region, about 45 miles south of the border with Colombia and 150 miles east of the capital, Quito. Two French captives escaped a few days later. The body of kidnap victim Ronald Sander, 54, an employee of Tulsa, Okla., oil company Helmerich & Payne, Inc., was found on a jungle road Jan. 31. Sander, of Sunrise Beach, Mo., had been shot five times in the back and was covered in a white sheet scrawled with the words in Spanish: “I am a gringo. For nonpayment of ransom. HP company.” Military and oil industry sources said the killing came after the kidnappers refused to budge from an $80 million ransom demand. Police sources told The Associated Press that negotiators settled on a $ 13 million ransom in mid-February, just ahead of the kidnappers’ deadline to kill a second captive. An oil industry source from a company that employs one of the captives told The Associated Press that the ransom was wrapped in plastic and delivered last Thursday and thrown from a helicopter near the Ecuadorean banks of the San Miguel River, which separates Ecuador from Colombia. El Comercio, Quito’s leading daily, reported the ransom was paid in non sequential $100 bills. Jimmie Gimmeson, the mother of kidnap victim David Bradley, another Helmerich & Payne employee, said last week that she had received confirmation from the company that ransom was paid after the kidnappers sent back answers to questions she provided—answers only her son could know. The American captives have been identified as Bradley of Casper, Wyo., and Arnold Alford, Steve Derry and Jason Weber of Gold Hill, Ore., all employees of Erickson Air-Crane, a helicopter company. The other hostages are Dennis Corrin of New Zealand, an Erickson employee; German Scholz of Chile, a consultant for energy giant Repsol-YPF SA; and Juan Rodriguez of Argentina, an employee of a subsidiary for Schlumberger Ltd., a New York-based oil field services company. Authorities believe the kidnappers are members of the same criminal gang that held seven Canadians and an American for ransom for 100 days in 1999. Osama bin Laden celebrates suicide bombing of USS Cole ■ Islamic militant describes destroyer as 'ship of injustice' by Tarek Al-Issawi Associated Press DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — The world’s most wanted Islamic militant, Osama bin Laden, has applauded the bombing of the USS Cole in Aden, describing the destroyer as a ship of injustice that sailed to its doom. Bin Laden’s remarks were recorded at a family celebration in Afghanistan and broadcast on Qatar’s satellite channel, Al Jazeera, Thursday. Two suicide bombers detonated a small boat hill of explosives alongside the USS Cole as it refueled in Aden harbor, Yemen, on Oct. 12, killing 17 American sailors and wounding 39 others. Yemeni and U.S. investigators have said publicly they have no hard evidence I linking the attack to bin Laden, but one of the suspects told interrogators he believed he was acting under orders emanating from the Saudi dissident. Bin Laden recited a poem at a gathering held Monday to celebrate last month’s marriage of his son, Mohammed, in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar. “In Aden, the young man stood up for holy war and destroyed a destroyer feared by the powerful,” he said. He spoke of the ship as having sailed “to its doom” along a course of “false arrogance, self conceit and strength.” Shouts of Allahu Akbar, or God is Great, punctuated his reading of the poem, part of which was dedicated to the children of the Palestinian uprising. It was the first time bin Laden had spoken publicly about the Cole attack. Al-Jazeera said bin Laden’s mother, two brothers and a sister had flown to Afghanistan for the event on an Afghan plane that was returning from Saudi Arabia after dropping off travelers to the annual Muslim pilgrimage in Mecca and Medina The reception was attended by several members of Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban militia and hundreds of armed Arab fighters. Bin Laden was shown sitting between his son Mohammed and Abu Hafas al Masri, an Egyptian who fought with the elder bin Laden in the 1980s against Soviet forces in Afghanistan. Bin Laden, a Saudi millionaire dissident, has been indicted by the United States for the 1998 bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania that killed 224 people. Days after the bombings, the United States fired dozens of Tomahawk cruise missiles at presumed bin Laden camps in eastern Afghanistan. The Taliban have refused to surrender bin Laden to the United States, despite U.N. sanctions imposed last month. The Taliban say Washington has not provided proof of his guilt and that it is against Afghan tradition to hand over a guest to his enemies. jC BBABJUn JULIA BOBtKTS" ^THI " ' ..''Jg| J ” ^ life with the safety iff . liiioiiiii liiuaiiiiiiiiiiBiitaiiiiiii limn i f ■buisin sin 111 cnsj.li uni mi "Jiiiniiiiinm 1 : ' eza »rpTs^aa tiim thm — a B^agg [ggOteMIHi^l tz v>otonca >nd LMyay I Ulhlkminkslliilamajoncom. ntMnua/tHU I OPENS FRIDAY, MARCH 2 IN THEATRES EVERYWHERE * t House passes legislation revising bankruptcy law by Marcy Gordon Associated Press WASHINGTON — Buoyed by anticipated approval from President Bush, legislation that would make it harder for people to erase credit card and other debts in bankruptcy court passed the House on Thursday. The vote was 306-108, with Republicans solidly supporting the bipartisan bill and Democrats split. Momentum for passage of the measure came despite new government data showing that personal bankruptcies in this country have declined in recent years. The legislation, which has been pushed by the banking and retail credit industries and opposed by consumer groups and unions, is expected to be signed by Bush if it gets through Congress. It was passed overwhelmingly last year, then was vetoed in December by then-President Clinton on grounds it hurt ordinary people and working families who fall on hard times. Supporters of the legislation, which would bring the most sweeping overhaul of the bankruptcy laws in 20 years, contend it is needed to stem a tide of bankruptcy filings and abuse of the court system. They say bankruptcy abuse creates a hidden tax of about $400 a year on each American family in the form of higher interest rates passed on by' consumer credit businesses and other charges. The legislation “strikes the proper balance” between debtors and creditors, Rep. Dave Weldon, R-Fla., said in House debate Thursday before the vote. “It is •fc ‘The American people should know that a debtor can live in a mansion in Florida worth millions ... and not worry. If you are barely making it... woe is you: Those credit card companies will be able'to chase you forever.’ Rep. William Delahunt D-Mass. agood bill, and it protects consumers.” But Stephen Brobeck, executive director of the Consumer Federation of America, complained this week that the measure would force many people “into a virtual debtors’ prison.” Brobeck cited new data by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts showing that personal bankruptcy filings fell from a peak of about 1.4 million in 1998 to 1.3 million in 1999 and to 1.2 * million last year. Opponents of the legislation maintain it would hurt families hitby job losses, catastrophic medical expenses or other unforeseeable hardships that push them over the edge financially, especially amid the economic slowdown that has made layoffs frequent. “The American people should know, that a debtor can live in a mansion in Florida worth millions... and not worry,” said Rep. William Delahunt, D-Mass. But, he added, “If you are barely making it... woe is you: Those credit card companies will be able to chase you forever.” “Every fair-minded American should find this offensive and unconscionable,” Delahunt declared. Foes also criticize what they say are aggressive credit card solicitations through the mail, which reached 2.51 billion by the end of last year’s third quarter, according to industry figures. Total credit extended on card accounts jumped 13 percent to S2.9 trillion in the third quarter of 2000 from a year earlier. The Senate Judiciary Committee . voted Wednesday 10-8 to approve parallel legislation and send it to the full Senate, which might vote next week. Senate Democrats previously had blocked a Republican effort to rush it through that chamber, where the two parties have a 50-50 split. In a related move Wednesday, the House overwhelmingly passed a bill that would allow farmers filing for bankruptcy to continue to receive special protection so they would not have to sell their equipment. Southeastern Fertility Center has helped many couples achieve pregnancy since 1983. We are in need of Egg Donors to continue to help infertile women. -Young healthy women between 21 - 32 -Requires a month of your time -Compensation is $2000 ^| i t f f IT_ | you know that little voice inside that says "I can't"? this summer, [crush it]. Bring your “can-do” attitude to Camp Challenge. 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