The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, September 11, 2002, Page 6, Image 6
STATE
SRS could get
waste from Aiken
COLUMBIA (AP) — The U.S.
Energy Department’s inspec
tor general has recommended
burying millions of gallons of -
radioactive waste at the
Savannah River Site instead
processing and storing it in
Nevada.
Inspector General Gregory
Friedman said burying the
waste left over from decades of
producing plutonium for nu
clear weapons in underground
vaults at SRS in Aiken will
save $500 million.
Friedman, in a report to
Energy Secretary Spencer
Abraham, said officials at the
South Carolina Department of
Health and Environmental
Control told him they would
consider approving his recom
mendation.
“The governor has said all
along tljat South .Carolina
should not become the nation’s
nuclear dumping ground,”
spokesman Morton Brilliant
said. “Gov. Hodges has worked
very hard, and with some suc
cess, to take nuclear waste out
of South Carolina. And it
would be a terrible thing for
the entire state if we slide back
down that hill.”
Wind tunnel would
be first in nation
GREENVILLE (AP)-Initial
plans for a Clemson University
automotive research park
show that a proposed $40 mil
lion wind tunnel could be the
first of its kind in the nation. .
The wind tunnel would
have a “rolling road,” a mov
ing track to account for the ef
fect of the ground on aerody
namics, and moving walls that
simulate atmospheric pres
sure. A business plan commis
sioned by Clemson and
NASCAR officials say the wind
tunnel would be unique.
Neill Cameron Jr.,
Clemson’s vice president for
advancement, said Friday that
Clemson has not secured fund
ing for all of the facilities envi
sioned by the plan conducted
by the Greenville accounting
firm Elliott Davis LLP. “At this
time, there is no private-sector
commitment for anything oth
er than the wind tunnel,”
Cameron said.
Greenville County’s appli
cation for state funding said,
the facility would include a
graduate school for automotive
engineering, company re
search facilities and a campus
setting to attract other re
search facilities.
Pilots in joyride
case out on bail
MONCKS CORNER(AP) -
Authorities say two men ac
cused of taking a private plane
for a joyride have been re
leased on bail.
Donald Allen Lewis and his
passenger, Robert Paul Boros
were arrested about 4 a.m.
Saturday at the Berkeley
County Airport after a hap
hazard landing on the rural
runway, police said.
The pair could have been
mistaken for terrorists be
cause they, were flying at night
without lights and didn’t re
spond to air traffic controllers,
Berkley County Chief Deputy
C.W. “Butch” Henerey said.
“I don’t think either one of
them realize how serious it
could’ve been,” he said.
Investigators think Lewis,
who they say took the Cessna
152 from the airport where he
is taking flying lessons, may
have duplicated the owner’s
key.
Controllers notified the U.S.
Air Force and law enforcement
officials when the pilot did not
respond to the tower, said
Dwight Walsh, air traffic man
ager at the Charleston
International Airport.
NATION
Cell phone carriers
could face lawsuit
BALTIMORE (AP) - A recent
study that found a possible
link between older cell phones
and brain tumors could bolster
an $800 million lawsuit against
Motorola and major cell phone
carriers.
'Although many studies
have found no cancer risk
from cell phone use, the re
search published in the latest
European Journal of Cancer
Prevention said long-term
users of analog phones are at
least 30 percent more likely
than nonusers to develop brain
tumors.
Newer digital phones emit
less radiation than older ana
log models of the sort studied.
The lawsuit against cell
phone manufacturer Motorola
was brought by Christopher
Newman, a Maryland doctor
stricken with brain cancer. A
federal judge is expected to de
cide by month’s end whether
case should go to trial and if so,
whether the study can be used
as evidence.
“From our perspective, and
from a public health perspec
tive, the court should just be
aware of what’s out there,”
said Newman’s lawyer, John
Angelos, whose firm has made
millions suing asbestos and to
bacco companies.
investigation or
Stewart is sought
WASHINGTON (AP) —
Lawmakers asked the Justice
Department on Tuesday to be
gin a criminal investigation
into whether Martha Stewart
lied to a House committee try
ing to determine if she re
ceived inside information be
fore selling her ImClone stock.
“As members of Congress
we believe it is our obligation
to forward specific and credi
ble information in our posses
sion that could suggest a fed
eral crime has been committed,”
the Republican and Democratic
leaders of the House Energy and
Commerce Committee wrote to
Attorney General John Ashcroft.
Shares of Stewart’s company,
Martha Stewart Omnimedia,
jumped almost 10 percent on a
surge in volume immediately af
ter the lawmakers’ announce
ment Tuesday afternoon. The
shares closed Tuesday at $9.05, up
$1.30, or. 16.8 percent, from a day
earlier in afternoon trading on the
New York Stock Exchange.
Stewart’s attorneys said they
welcomed the committee’s action
because the Justice Department
is the appropriate authority to ad
dress questions related to her
stock sale.
Bush: No nation is
immune to terrorism
WASHINGTON (AP) — In this
week of remembrance,
Americans are “reliving a horri
ble reminder” that the nation is
not safe from terrorism, President
Bush said Tuesday.
As heightened security sur
rounding the Sept. 11 commemo
rations once again sent Vice
President Dick Cheney to safe, se
cret locations, the President said,
“Today and tomorrow we’ll be re
living a horrible reminder of what
is possible in the 21st century —
that is, no country is immune
from attack.”
Security concerns ran high —
and emotions, deep — on the eve
of the first anniversary of the ter
rorist attacks that killed more
than 3,000 people in New York
City, Washington and
Pennsylvania.
The President and First Lady
Laura Bush opened the emotional
week of observances on Monday
night, with a taping of “Concert
for America 2002” at the John F.
Kennedy Center for the
Performing Arts. Bush, his hand
over his heart, appeared to
squeeze back tears as the national
anthem played.
WORLD
Some say taped
voice is bin Laden’s
CAIRO, Egypt (AP) — The
Arab satellite station Al
Jazeera broadcast more ex
cerpts of a videotape on
Tuesday in which a male voice
attributed to Osama bin Laden
can be heard naming all 19
Sept. 11 hijackers.
On Monday, the station
broadcast a portion of the tape
in which the same voice,
speaking in Arabic, named the [
four leaders of the Sept, ll at
tacks — Mohamed Atta,
Marwan Al-Shehhi, Ziad
Jarrah and Hani Hanjour.
In Tuesday’s broadcast, the
voice named all 19 of the hi
jackers and their places of
birth were cited. The men were
lavishly praised for their piety.
“Those men (the hijackers)
have realized that the only
course to achieve justice and
defeat injustice is through ji
had (Muslim holy struggle) for
the cause of God,” the voice bn
the tape said in Tuesday’s clip.
There was no way to verify
whether the person speaking
on the tape was bin Laden, or
when the recording was made.
Switzerland is
newest UN member
UNITED NATIONS (AP) -
After nearly two centuries of
neutrality, Switzerland be
came the 190th member of the
United Nations on Tuesday
with the unanimous support of
the General Assembly.
The admission of
Switzerland was one of the first
orders of business at the open
ing of the new session of the
General Assembly. Delegates
burst into applause when the
new assembly president, Czech
Foreign Minister Jan Kavan,
declared Switzerland the 190th
member.
French Foreign Minister
Dominique de Villepin, on be
half of Switzerland’s five neigh
bors, recommended its appli
cation for membership.
“The role of Switzerland is
now crucial on issues of devel
opment, international law and
human rights,” he said. “The
entry of Switzerland will
strengthen the United
Nations.”
De Villepin noted that
Switzerland was the only na
tion to decide to join the United
Nations after a popular refer
endum, which would strength
en “the democratic premise of
our organization.”
Iraq urges Arabs to
confront U.S.
BAGHDAD, IRAQ (AP) - In
Iraq’s most belligerent remarks
in the current standoff with
Washington, Vice President
Taha Yassin Ramadan urged
all Arabs on Tuesday to con
front the United States, its peo
ple and its property.
The comments stopped
short of explicitly calling on
Arabs to attack Americans but
underlined Iraq’s drive to sway
world opinion behind it
against U.S. threats of a possi
ble strike to oust Saddam
Hussein. His comments came
as Saudi Arabia joined
European countries on
Tuesday in saying Washington
should work through the
United Nations to contain any
possible Iraqi threat.
While Saudi Arabia ex
pressed worries that an attack
could lead to Iraq’s breakup, it
was a shift from the Arab
world’s consensus of opposing
military action against Iraq.
Speaking from Amman, the
Jordanian capital, the Iraqi
vice president said “we cate
gorically believe that the ag
gression on Iraq is an aggres
sion on all the Arab nation. It
is the right of all the Arab peo
ple... to fight against the ag
gression through their repre
sentatives and on their soil...
by all means,” Ramadan said.
Security tightened at U.S. embassies; 9 are closed
BY CHRIS BRUMMITT
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
JAKARTA, INDONESIA (AP)
Nine U.S. embassies in Ash
Africa and the Middle East wer
closed, and U.S. military base
and embassies in Europe enforce
tightened security Tuesday, th
eye of the anniversary of the Sep
11 terror attacks.
In Washington, Bush admini:
tration officials cited the threat
against U.S. embassies i
Southeast Asia in raising the n;
tion’s terror alert to "code oi
ange,” its second-highest level.
German authorities raided
trading company Tuesday that
German official said once eir
ployed a suspected al-Qaida r<
cruiter accused of drafting men
bers of the terror cell that di:
patched the Sept. 11 suicide h
jackers, and Turkey was on alei
for the possibility that militant
linked to al-Qaida might be plai
ning poison gas attacks.
But the most direct threats
were in Southeast Asia, where
dozens of Islamic hard-liners al
legedly linked to the al-Qaida ter
e ror network have been arrested
s over the last year in Singapore
1 and Malaysia.
e In Indonesia, the world’s most
;. populous Muslim nation and
home to several hard-line Islamic
;- groups, the U.S. Embassy an
s nounced it was closed until fur
a ther notice because of a "credible
i- and specific” terrorist threat.
"We know that the al-Qaida net
work is still far from defeated,”
a Ambassador Ralph Boyce said. He
a implied the warning was received
through intelligence sources, say
i- ing it was "more than an anony
i- mouse-mail or a phoned in threat.”
U.S. officials in neighboring
Malaysia, a mostly Muslim coun
t try of 23 million people, said the em
s bassy there would close until fur
i- ther notice due to a specific threat.
The American diplomatic mis
sion in Cambodia will shut down
for at least three days as a security
precaution, said charge d’affaires
Alex Arvizu. He gave no details.
U.S. embassies were also closed
in Vietnam, Pakistan, Tajikistan,
Bahrain, the United Arab
Emirates and Malawi.
In Europe, extra security was
ordered at airports, government
offices and embassies.
Italy assigned 4,000 soldiers to
protect "sensitive sites,” while
Belgium ordered "strict vigilance”
for its security authorities.
German police said they were step
ping up security at Frankfurt air
port, continental Europe’s biggest.
"Now, we always have to con
sider the unthinkable,” Belgian
Interior Minister Antoine
Duquesne said.
The U.S. State Department is
sued a worldwide caution this week
urging Americans to remain espe
cially vigilant, saying there was a
"continuing threat of terrorist ac
tions, which may target civilians
and include suicide operations.”
About 10 unarmed London po
lice officers, backed by armed sol
diers, were on duty at the U.S.
Embassy on Grosvenor Square,
where security has been stepped
up for the anniversary. U.S. diplo
mats said security also remained
high at the embassy in Berlin,
sealed off for a block on all sides
by armed police.
The U.S. military’s European
Command, based in Stuttgart,
Germany and responsible for
American forces in Europe and
parts of Africa, said security mea
sures were being kept at levels of
recent months but that base com
manders could order extra mea
sures as warranted.
Last week, German police act
ing on an FBI tip arrested a 24
year-old Turkish man and his fi
ancee, a U.S.-German citizen, on
suspicion of planning to bomb U.S.
military installations in
Heidelberg. Investigators believe
they were acting alone.
At the Spangdahlem U.S. air
force base in western Germany,
12 buildings were evacuated for
several hours Monday after an
explosives-sniffing dog alerted au
thorities to a gravel truck enter
ing the base. No bomb was found.
At London area airports, offi
cials said airlines canceled 18
Trans-Atlantic flights from
Heathrow and at least two from
Gatwick.
In France, Transport Minister
Gilles de Robien warned that avi
ation "has become a weapon” as
he toured Charles de Gaulle air
port outside Paris to demonstrate
extra security measures put in
place since Sept. 11.
"At any instant, anywhere in
France or in the world, terrorism
can strike, and therefore, we are
not free in the face of terrorism,
we are on watch,” Prime Minister
Jean-Pierre Raffarin said in an in
terview with Radio France
Internationale. "Monstrosity is al
ways lying in wait, it’s out there,
and it is always possible.”
With the al-Qaida network dis
rupted by the U.S.-led war on ter
rorism, European officials were
warning of the threat of attacks
by individual Islamic extremists
who might act without outside di
rection.
The prosecutor who led the
probe into Osama bin Laden’s op
erations in Italy said the new
threat to Europe in the aftermath
of Sept. 11 comes from ’’free
lance” terrorists without direct
connections to al-Qaida.
“’At the moment, we are not
threatened by the same network
as before Sept, li,” Stefano
Dambruoso told The Associated
Press in an interview Monday
night. "Al-Qaida as we knew it has
been largely dismembered.”
\\ If you are ready for a REAL Tailgate Party, then come on by! U /
—jj the 2nd Great Gamecock
4 «l [PARTY *2002^.
<^> September 14 (USC VS. GEORGIA) 12:30-3:00pm fl 1
N\ featuring live music by: "FANTASY BAND" j/\ \
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