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只看该作者 50 发表于: 2006-12-07
51、Remains found in 1996 Boston gang murder By MELISSA TRUJILLO, Associated Press Writer
Sat Dec 2, 6:18 PM ET



BOSTON - After years of digging, authorities have found the remains of a 19-year-old woman who was killed to stop her from talking to police about a gang's criminal activities.

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Dental records confirmed Saturday that bones found Friday on a hillside near an elementary school in Peabody, about 20 miles north of Boston, are those of Aislin Silva, who vanished in November 1996, said Steve O'Connell, spokesman for the Essex County District Attorney's Office.

Authorities were guided to the area near the William A. Welch Sr. Elementary School in part by testimony from a witness who was there when the body was hidden, but whose memory and speech were seriously hurt by a heroin overdose, U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan said.

The site, about the size of a football field, has changed in the last decade, with young trees beginning to grow on it.

"That whole area in terms of the topography and the vegetation has changed significantly over the last 10 years," Sullivan said. "There was an extraordinary amount of digging over a long period of time."

Authorities first searched the area's right side, then eventually moved left. That's when Silva's remains were located, buried in a single hole. A shovel, believed to have been used to bury the teenager, was found earlier this year about 150 yards away.

"We're feeling a tremendous amount of relief, after 10-plus years that they found her," Silva's father, Joseph Silva, said Friday night. "Now we have her."

In September, gang leader Paul A. DeCologero, 48, was sentenced to life in prison for ordering Silva's slaying. Other members of the "DeCologero Crew" have been convicted for their roles in her death, while the man believed to have killed her committed suicide in prison in 1997.

Sullivan said he didn't expect any more charges to be filed.

Silva's blood and hair were found in a trash bin behind a Danvers car wash in 1997. Her family spent many days watching the search for her body. Joseph Silva's voice broke when he described the work of the investigators, many of whom he knew by name.

"They dug and dug and dug. You can't believe how much time and effort they did to help her, find her," he said. "They all took it to heart. They took it to heart to find her."
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52、U.S. gov't terror ratings draw outrage By MICHAEL J. SNIFFEN, Associated Press Writer
Sat Dec 2, 6:16 AM ET



WASHINGTON - A leader of the new Democratic Congress, business travelers and privacy advocates expressed outrage Friday over the unannounced assignment of terrorism risk assessments to American international travelers by a computerized system managed from an unmarked, two-story brick building in Northern Virginia.

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Incoming Senate Judiciary Chairman Sen. Patrick Leahy (news, bio, voting record) of Vermont pledged greater scrutiny of such government database-mining projects after reading that during the past four years millions of Americans have been evaluated without their knowledge to assess the risks that they are terrorists or criminals.

"Data banks like this are overdue for oversight," said Leahy, who will take over Judiciary in January. "That is going to change in the new Congress."

The Associated Press reported Thursday that Americans and foreigners crossing U.S. borders since 2002 have been assessed by the     Homeland Security Department's computerized Automated Targeting System, or ATS.

The travelers are not allowed to see or directly challenge these risk assessments, which the government intends to keep on file for 40 years. Some or all data in the system can be shared with state, local and foreign governments for use in hiring, contracting and licensing decisions. Courts and even some private contractors can obtain some of the data under certain circumstances.

"It is simply incredible that the Bush administration is willing to share this sensitive information with foreign governments and even private employers, while refusing to allow U.S. citizens to see or challenge their own terror scores," Leahy said. This system "highlights the danger of government use of technology to conduct widespread surveillance of our daily lives without proper safeguards for privacy."

The concerns spread beyond Congress.

"I have never seen anything as egregious as this," said Kevin Mitchell, president of the Business Travel Coalition, which advocates for business travelers. It's "evidence of what can happen when there isn't proper oversight and accountability."

By late Friday, the government had received 22 written public comments about its after-the-fact disclosure of the program last month in the Federal Register, a fine-print compendium of federal rules. All either opposed it outright or objected to the lack of a direct means for people to correct any errors in the database about themselves.

"As a U.S. citizen who spends much time outside the U.S., I can understand the need for good security," wrote one who identified himself as Colin Edmunds. "However, just as I would not participate in a banking/credit card system where I have no recourse to correct or even view my personal data, I cannot accept the same of my government."

Privacy advocates also were alarmed.

"Never before in American history has our government gotten into the business of creating mass `risk assessment' ratings of its own citizens," said Barry Steinhardt, a lawyer for the     American Civil Liberties Union. "We are stunned" the program has been undertaken "with virtually no opportunity for the public to evaluate or comment on it."

The Homeland Security Department says the nation's ability to spot criminals and other security threats "would be critically impaired without access to this data."

And on Friday as the normal daily flow of a million or more people entered the United States by air, sea and land, the ATS program's computers continued their silent scrutiny. At that Virginia building with no sign, the managers of the National Targeting Center allowed an Associated Press photographer to briefly roam their work space.

But he couldn't reveal the building's exact location. None of the dozens of workers under the bright fluorescent lights could be named. Some could not be photographed.

The only clue he might have entered a government building was a montage of photos in the reception area of     President Bush's visit to the center. But there was only one guard and a sign-in book.

Inside, red digital clocks on the walls showed the time in Istanbul, Baghdad, Islamabad, Bangkok, Singapore, Tokyo, and Sydney. Although billboard-size video screens on the walls showed multiple cable news shows, there was little noise in the basketball-court-sized main workroom. Each desk had dual computer screens and earphones to hear the video soundtrack. Conferences were held in smaller workrooms divided by glass walls from the windowless main room.

Round the clock, the targeters from Homeland Security's Customs and Border Protection agency analyze information from multiple sources, not just ATS. They compare names to terrorist watch lists and mine the Treasury Enforcement Communications System and other automated systems that bring data about cargo, travelers and commercial workers entering or leaving the 317 U.S. ports, searching for suspicious people and cargo.

Almost every person entering and leaving the United States by air, sea or land is assessed based on ATS' analysis of their travel records and other data, including items such as where they are from, how they paid for tickets, their motor vehicle records, past one-way travel, seating preference and what kind of meal they ordered.

Government officials could not say whether ATS has apprehended any terrorists. Based on all the information available to them, federal agents turn back about 45 foreign criminals a day at U.S. borders, according to Homeland Security's Customs and Border Protection spokesman Bill Anthony. He could not say how many were spotted by ATS.

Officials described how the system works: applying rules learned from experience with the activities and characteristics of terrorists and criminals to the traveler data. But they would not describe in detail the format in which border agents see the results or in which the databases store the results of the ATS risk assessments.

Acting Assistant Homeland Security Secretary Paul Rosenzweig told reporters Friday they could call it scoring. "It can be reduced to a number," he said, but he clearly preferred the longer description about how the rules are used.

___

On the Net:

DHS privacy impact statement: http://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/privacy/privacy_pia_cbp_ats.pdf

Associated Press writers Leslie Miller and Beverley Lumpkin contributed to this report.
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53、Ex-gay porn actor due in court on charges he shot wealthy businessman to death By Emanuella Grinberg, Court TV
Tue Nov 28, 4:28 PM ET



(Court TV) -

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A former gay porn actor is scheduled to appear in a Denver courtroom Wednesday on allegations that he gunned down a prominent businessman less than three weeks ago.


Timothy Boham, 25, was arrested Nov. 16 at a U.S.-Mexico border checkpoint in Lukeville, Ariz., three days after police discovered that his boss, John Kelso, had been shot to death in his upscale suburban Denver home.


Boham, who appeared in films such as "Little Big League" and "Ripe" under the stage name Marcus Allen, waived extradition last week and returned to Colorado over the weekend, according to Denver District Attorney spokeswoman Lynn Kimbrough.


Boham is set to appear in court Wednesday to be formally advised of felony murder and aggravated robbery charges against him.


Police believe he broke into Kelso's home and shot the 43-year-old to death sometime between Nov. 11 and Nov. 13, when a housekeeper discovered the body.


Authorities have not revealed evidence linking Boham to the murder.


Kelso, who was president of Professional Recovery Systems, had recently hired Boham to work as a debt collector, following Boham's departure from the gay porn industry almost a year ago.


Boham fled Colorado shortly after Kelso's body was discovered.


Det. John White, a Denver Police Department spokesman, said Boham crossed into Mexico and came back, where he was found loitering in the U.S. customs house.


Boham was taken into custody after allegedly identifying himself to customs officers as the subject of a murder warrant, according to White.

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只看该作者 53 发表于: 2006-12-07
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Neighbor: I opened fire on gunmen who killed race-car driver Mickey Thompson and his wife By Tori Richards, Court TV
Tue Nov 28, 4:25 PM ET



PASADENA, Calif. (Court TV) - The next-door neighbor of slain race-car driver Mickey Thompson attempted to stop his killers by shooting at them as they fled the crime scene, according to testimony Monday.

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Dr. Lance Johnson, a clinical psychologist, told the Los Angeles County Superior Court jury that he saw two black men in sweat suits ride down Thompson's driveway seconds after hearing screams and a volley of gunfire. The men, on 10-speed bicycles, passed Johnson's house. He fired a single shot from a .357 Magnum, but missed them, he testified.


"I screamed at them. I yelled, 'Stop!' and nobody did anything. They didn't look up," Johnson told jurors. "I shot with that gun ... and nobody looked up at all. They were just pedaling faster as I fired at them."


It's the third week of testimony in the case involving the 1988 murders of Thompson and his wife Trudy, who were gunned down on their driveway as they attempted to leave for work.


Thompson's former business partner, Michael Goodwin, 61, is accused of arranging their murders over a financial dispute. The case remained unsolved for more than a decade, and the gunmen have never been caught.


Johnson testified that he had been friends for years with Thompson, 59, a land-speed record holder who had turned to promoting racing events with Goodwin in his final years. They lived in the upper-class gated enclave of Bradbury, a Los Angeles suburb at the base of a mountain range where sidewalks give way to horse trails.


The tranquility of that oasis was shattered at about 6 a.m. on March 16, 1988, as Johnson and the rest of the neighborhood awoke to the sound of five or six 9 mm gunshots at the Thompson house.


Thompson was heard screaming, "Please don't hurt my wife, please don't hurt my wi fe!", according to Johnson.


Johnson drove to Bradbury's front gate, expecting to find the gunmen there, unable to get out. But they had vanished.


Jurors also heard from Wilma Johnson (no relation), who was driving along a street immediately outside that gate. She testified that she had her bloodhound, Tommy, in the car and was on the way to a dog-training lesson when two black men appeared in front of her and she slammed on her brakes.


"They were running their bikes. They just appeared out of the side street," Wilma Johnson said.


She said the men disappeared through a hole in a fence on the other side of the street, but not before she got a good look at one of them.


"One of them looked me square in the face, first startled, then angry," she testified. "He was a tall black man wearing a hooded sweatshirt. They had 10-speeds with real shiny spokes that caused a reflection into my eyes."


Upon seeing the men, Tommy began growling and wanted to go through the car window after them, Johnson testified.


Prosecutors contend Goodwin hired the hit men because he didn't want to pay Thompson about $500,000 from their business, as ordered by a court.


Goodwin claims to have evidence others may have committed the killings, but says overzealous investigators have refused to look at any other suspects.


If convicted, he faces a sentence of life in prison without parole.




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55、Venus Williams: My father had no authority to sign me to $45 million 'Battle of Sexes' match By Bo Rosser, Court TV
Tue Nov 28, 4:24 PM ET



WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (Court TV) - Tennis star Venus Williams told jurors Monday that her father, Richard Williams, never managed her career despite tax returns that show she paid him nearly $2 million in "coaching and management fees" from 1998 to 2000.

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"My dad was not my manager. He was my coach," Williams said. "He doesn't have the know-how to be a manager. He has the know-how to be a coach."


Williams, her father, and her sister Serena are accused of backing out of a $45 million contract that committed the tennis stars to a modern-day "Battle of the Sexes" match.


Dressed in a navy suit and white blouse, the 6-foot-2 tennis champion walked jurors through her career, which included turning pro at 14 and pursuing a degree in fashion design.


Several times during her testimony in the civil trial, the 26-year-old erupted in laughter, almost uncontrollably, as she glanced around the room and recounted her early days in tennis.


"I was from the 'hood," Williams said through giggles. "I was just trying to get out."


But her testimony quickly turned to the more serious subjects of money and management.


Carol Clarke and Keith Rhodes, principals of the promotions company CCKR, allege the three defendants reneged on a two-page document signed in March 2005 by Richard Williams.


They claim the tennis coach agreed that his daughters would star in a recreation of the 1973 "Battle of Sexes" match between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs, according to the complaint filed in Palm Beach County.


However, Venus and Serena Williams say their father was not their manager and did not have the authority to commit them to the event.


Richard Williams agrees with them, despite years o f tax returns that state otherwise. He says the description of on the returns were a misunderstanding with their accountant.


"I just know I supplied the numbers," Venus Williams testified Monday.


During three hours on the stand, Williams rejected the plaintiff's characterization of her father as an obsessed parent who drove his daughters to stardom out of greed.


"I think the reason he wanted us to play tennis was because he wanted us to be successful and be financially stable," Williams said. "Like any parent would."


Venus, who says her last big victory was the women's singles title at     Wimbledon in 2005, defended her father as a generous and loving man. Richard Williams accepts a fraction in coaching fees compared to what others at his level make, according to his daughter.


"My dad took less than what was standard," she said.


As the first of the two sisters to testify, Venus said she knew nothing about the "Battle of the Sexes" match until she began receiving payment requests from Clarke and Rhodes.


"I knew when I got a demand letter in the mail," Williams said.

Also Monday, Richard Williams testified under cross-examination that he did not have the authority to bind his daughters to any type of contract. The 64-year-old maintains he acted merely as a coach, not a manager.

Venus Williams is expected to return to the stand Tuesday. The trial is being shown live on Court TV Extra.


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56、Al-Sadr loyalists spurn Iraq parliament By HAMZA HENDAWI, Associated Press Writer
Wed Nov 29, 6:21 PM ET



BAGHDAD, Iraq - Six Cabinet ministers and 30 legislators loyal to anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr decided Wednesday to boycott Parliament and the government to protest the Iraqi prime minister's summit with     President Bush.

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Within hours of the announcement, the White House said Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's first meeting with Bush in their key two-day summit in Jordan was canceled. Senior Iraqi lawmaker Redha Jawad Taqi said the meeting was canceled at the request of the Iraqis after al-Maliki learned that the Jordanian monarch planned to broaden the discussion to include the Arab-Israeli conflict.

Two senior officials traveling with al-Maliki, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the information, said the prime minister had been reluctant to travel to Jordan in the first place and decided, once in Amman, that he did not want "a third party" involved in talks about subjects specific to the U.S.-Iraqi relationship.

White House counselor Dan Bartlett denied it was a snub by al-Maliki or related to the leak of a White House memo questioning the Iraqi leader's capacity for controlling violence in     Iraq. Bartlett said the three-way meeting had always been planned as "more of a social meeting" and that Bush and al-Maliki would have a "robust" meeting on their own Thursday.

The Sadrists had threatened to quit the government and parliament if al-Maliki went ahead with the Amman summit. But by downgrading their protest to a suspension of membership, they left open a return to their jobs.

One of the 30 lawmakers, Falih Hassan, called Bush "a criminal who killed a lot of Iraqis" and said the American president has no business meddling in Iraq's affairs.

The move came as the country endured another day of scattered violence, with a total of 95 people killed or found dead across Iraq.

In addition, the U.S. military announced the deaths of two more American soldiers.

Heavy fighting continued in Baqouba, 35 miles northeast of Baghdad, where clashes between coalition forces and Sunni Arab insurgents have killed scores of militants and civilians in the past few days.

In the day's deadliest violence, U.S. forces backed by aircraft killed eight al-Qaida in Iraq insurgents during a raid near Baqouba that also left two Iraqi women dead, the U.S. military said. The eight were killed in the aerial bombing.

While searching the area, U.S. forces also found the bodies of two females who had died during the fight. No coalition casualties were reported.

The U.S. raid in Baqouba was the second in as many days to kill Iraqi females.

On Tuesday, U.S. soldiers fought with suspected insurgents in Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province, killing six Iraqis: one man and five girls, aged seven months, 12, 14, 15 and 17, according to the U.S. command.

Meanwhile, a statement issued by the Sadrist lawmakers criticized al-Maliki's Shiite-dominated government for its decision to request from the     United Nations a one-year extension of the stay in Iraq of the U.S.-led multinational force numbering around 160,000. The request was granted on Tuesday.

The Sadr politicians argued that the multinational force played a "suspicious" role in Iraq and accused al-Maliki of ignoring the views of parliament's 275 lawmakers when it sought a renewal of its deployment.

The statement also mirrored the animosity felt by the movement toward the United States and Bush, using a language that harked back to the days in 2004 when the Mahdi Army fought U.S. troops in two major revolts in Baghdad and much of central and southern Iraq.

"This visit hijacked the will of the people during days when the sons of Iraq write their destiny with blood and not ink," said the statement, which referred to Bush as "cursed," the "world's biggest evil" and a "criminal."
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57、Castro fails to appear at birthday bash By ANITA SNOW, Associated Press Writer
Wed Nov 29, 5:06 AM ET



HAVANA -     Fidel Castro was too sick to meet thousands of admirers who traveled to Cuba for the kickoff of his delayed 80th birthday celebrations, according to a note purportedly from the ailing leader that raised new questions about his health.

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The message, which was read to a crowd of 5,000 Tuesday at the Karl Marx Theater and on state TV, indicates that Castro is far from recovered from a mysterious ailment that forced him on July 31 to turn over power to his brother, Defense Minister Raul Castro.

The Cuban leader turned 80 on Aug. 13 but delayed his birthday celebrations as he recovered from surgery two weeks earlier for intestinal bleeding. Castro, who has not been seen in public for four months, wanted the delayed birthday celebration held on Dec. 2, to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the date that he and fellow rebels landed by boat in Cuba to launch their revolution.

The announcement Tuesday raised doubts about whether he will appear at all.

The message read at the celebration's inaugural party said doctors had told Castro that he was not in condition to meet with a large crowd.

"I direct myself to you, intellectuals and prestigious personalities of the world, with a dilemma," said the note. "I could not meet with you in a small locale, only in the Karl Marx Theater where all the visitors would fit, and I was not yet in condition, according to the doctors, to face such a colossal encounter.

"My very close friends, who have done me the honor of visiting our country, I sign off with the great pain of not having been able to personally give thanks and hugs to each and every one of you," the note read.

The crowd responded with a standing ovation.

More than 1,300 politicians, artists and intellectuals from around the globe were attending the tribute to the man who governed this communist-run island for 47 years.

Presidents Evo Morales of Bolivia and Rene Preval of Haiti have confirmed their attendance, along with former Ecuadorean President Rodrigo Borja and Nicaraguan President-elect Daniel Ortega.

Also expected are Argentine soccer great Diego Maradona, South African singer Miriam Makeba and Colombian Nobel laureate Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Nobel Peace Prize winner Adolfo Perez Esquivel, an Argentine human rights campaigner, was also expected.

Castro's good friend and political ally Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez wasn't expected to come; he is up for re-election on Dec. 3. But Chavez has promised to dedicate his anticipated electoral victory to Castro.

Cuban officials insist Castro is recovering, but U.S. officials say they believe he suffers from some kind of inoperable cancer and won't live through 2007. His ailment is a state secret.

Castro has been seen by the public only in photos and videos since he announced he was temporarily ceding power to his brother.

Some birthday activities include a three-day academic conference starting Wednesday, a concert with Cuban and other Latin American artists on Friday night, and an art exhibit.

More than 300,000 people are expected at a military parade on Saturday, the anniversary of the start of the revolution that was victorious on Jan. 1, 1959.


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58、U.S. bans sale of iPods to North Korea By TED BRIDIS, Associated Press Writer
Wed Nov 29, 5:56 PM ET



WASHINGTON - In a novel effort targeting the lifestyle of     North Korea's eccentric president, the Bush administration wants to make it tougher for him to buy iPods, plasma televisions, Segway electric scooters and more.

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It is Washington's first-ever attempt to use trade penalties as a way of personally aggravating a foreign leader. They target items believed to be favored by Kim Jong Il or presented by him as gifts to the roughly 600 loyalist families who run the communist government.

Kim, who orchestrated a secret nuclear weapons program despite international efforts to stop him, has other options for obtaining high-end consumer electronics and other luxuries.

But the list of proposed U.S. penalties, obtained by The Associated Press, aims to make Kim's swanky life harder: No more cognac, Rolex watches, cigarettes, artwork, expensive cars, Harley Davidson motorcycles or even personal watercraft, such as Jet Skis.

The ban would extend even to musical instruments and sports equipment. The 5-foot-3 Kim is an enthusiastic basketball fan; Secretary of State     Madeleine Albright presented him with a ball signed by Michael Jordan during a rare diplomatic trip in 2000. Kim's former secretary, widely believed to be his new wife, studied piano at North Korea's Pyongyang University of Music and Dance.

"While North Korea's people starve and suffer, there is simply no excuse for the regime to be splurging on cognac and cigars," Commerce Secretary Carlos M. Gutierrez said Wednesday in a statement. "We will ban the export of these and other luxury goods that are purchased for no other reason than to benefit North Korea's governing elite."

Gutierrez said penalized items were "carefully considered and carefully targeted."

Experts said the U.S. luxury sanctions would be the first ever to curtail a specific category of goods not associated with military buildups or weapons designs ― and the first tailored to annoy a foreign leader. They acknowledge that enforcing the ban on black-market trading would be difficult.

"He's got folks who can move around nuclear weapons. If he tells these guys to get him a case of Scotch, they're going to pull it off," said James A. Lewis, a former State Department official who worked on arms controls. "Unless it's too large to fit into the cargo hold of a commercial aircraft, it's going to be tough to restrain him."

In Beijing, U.S. and North Korean diplomats failed to reach agreement on when they might resume disarmament negotiations on Kim's atomic weapons program. Japan's Kyodo News agency cited unidentified people at the talks as saying that Kim demanded the U.S. freeze the penalties on luxury goods and other items imposed after the North's first nuclear test on Oct. 9.

The population in North Korea, one of the world's most isolated economies, is impoverished and routinely suffers food shortages. The new trade ban would forbid U.S. shipments there of Rolexes, French cognac, plasma TVs, yachts and more ― all items favored by Kim but unattainable by most of the country.

"It's a new concept. It's kind of creative," said William Reinsch, a former senior     Commerce Department official who oversaw trade restrictions with North Korea under     President Clinton.

Reinsch predicted governments will comply with the restrictions, but agreed trying to block all underground shipments will be frustrating.

Practically, few American companies ship anything to North Korea. U.S. exports amounted to only $5.8 million last year. Nearly all of it was food. Although the new penalties would cover "personal digital music players," such as iPods, Microsoft Corp. said its new "Zune" handheld player was never intended for sales overseas.

The Distilled Spirits Council of the United States, the trade group for the liquor industry, said it supports the administration's policies toward North Korea. The Washington-based Personal Watercraft Industry Association said it also supports the penalties ― although it bristled at suggestions a Jet Ski was a luxury item.

"The thousands of Americans and Canadians who build, ship and sell personal watercraft are patriots first," said Maureen Healey, head of the trade group. She said it endorsed the ban "because of the narrow nature of this ban and the genuine dangers that responsible world governments are trying to stave off."

Defectors to     South Korea have described Kim giving expensive gifts of cars, liquor and Japanese-made appliances to his most faithful bureaucrats.

"If you take away one of the tools of his control, perhaps you weaken the cohesion of his leadership," said Robert J. Einhorn, a former State Department official who visited North Korea with Albright and dined extravagantly there. "It can't hurt, but whether it works, we don't know."

In response to North Korea's nuclear test Oct. 9, the     U.N. Security Council banned military supplies and weapons shipments. It also banned sales of luxury goods, but so far has left each country to define such items. Japan included beef, caviar and fatty tuna, along with expensive cars, motorcycles, cameras and more. Many European nations are working on their lists.

The U.S. submitted its proposals to the     United Nations, which is coordinating the ban on luxury goods. The United Nations eventually will produce its own list, but that will not preclude the U.S. from a broader range of items.

U.S. intelligence officials who helped produce the Bush administration's list said Kim prefers Mercedes, BMW and Cadillac cars; Japanese and Harley Davidson motorcycles; Hennessy XO cognac from France and Johnny Walker Scotch whisky; Sony cameras and Japanese air conditioners.

Kim reportedly is under his physician's orders to avoid hard liquor and prefers French wines. He also is said to own an extensive movie library of more than 10,000 titles and prefers films about James Bond and Godzilla, along with Clint Eastwood's 1993 drama, "In the Line of Fire," and Whitney Houston's 1992 love story, "The Bodyguard."

Much of the U.S. information about Kim's preferences comes from defectors, including Kenji Fujimoto, the Japanese chef who fled in 2001 and wrote a book about his time with the North Korean leader.
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59、Evidence offers insight into Unabomber Tue Nov 28, 11:54 PM ET



SAN FRANCISCO - To evade authorities chasing him, Unabomber Theodore Kaczynski kept shoes with smaller soles attached to the bottom in his reclusive Montana cabin, according to evidence released 10 years after his capture.

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The shoes were intended to make it appear as if a person with smaller footprints were walking in them, investigators believe.

Kaczynski, 64, is serving a life sentence with no possibility of parole for a bombing spree that lasted from 1978 to 1995. The blasts from homemade bombs killed three people and injured 23.

The government had collected evidence from his Lincoln, Mont., cabin for a trial, but it was never publicly released because Kaczynski pleaded guilty in 1998.

San Francisco's KPIX-TV aired a report Tuesday about the evidence. A source close to the case gave the station photographs of the items, which included his typewriter, a handmade gun of wood and metal, writings, and the hooded sweat shirt and sunglasses featured in his     FBI wanted photos.

"He wrote about everything. He wrote about what he had for lunch on May 5 of 1979, where he got the food, how he prepared it and what did it taste like," said retired FBI agent Max Noel, who helped lead the investigation.

Investigators also found an unexploded bomb inside a silver box with the name of another intended victim, the station reported.

The station said Kaczynski described in his writings how he placed two human hairs he found in a bus station into a bomb "to deceive the policemen, who will think that the hair belongs to whoever made the device."

It also quoted writings that revealed what he thought of many of his crimes, such as a 1982 explosion that injured a Tennessee woman.

"No indication that the woman was permanently disabled," he wrote. "Frustrating that I can't even (make a) lethal bomb."
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60、Study: Sewage threatening Great Lakes Tue Nov 28, 11:29 PM ET



TORONTO - The untreated urban sewage and effluents that flow into the Great Lakes each year are threatening a critical ecosystem that supplies water to millions of people, according to a study by a Canadian environmental group.

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Even though municipalities in the Great Lakes region have spent vast sums of money in recent decades upgrading their wastewater plants, the situation remains appalling, said the Sierra Legal Defense Fund.

Sierra Legal said in a report to be formally released Wednesday that it studied 20 Canadian and American cities, analyzing municipal sewage treatment and discharges into the Great Lakes basin, the Canadian Press news agency reported on the report Tuesday, saying it received an advance copy.

The survey graded municipalities in areas such as collection, treatment and disposal of sewage based on information provided by the local governments.

The main problem, the environmental group said, is that in many cases, antiquated sewage systems are incapable of dealing effectively with the vast amounts of effluent that flow through them.

The situation is especially bad when heavy rains overwhelm treatment systems in cities where storm run-off is collected in the same pipes as sewage.

Some 24 billion gallons of untreated effluent enter the Great Lakes every year through combined sewage overflows, the study found.

Canada's worst offender was Windsor, Ontario, which ― along with U.S. cities Detroit and Cleveland ― performed "abysmally." Cities such as Toronto and Hamilton also earned below-average grades.

At the top end, Peel Region just west of Toronto, Green Bay, Wisconsin, and Duluth, Minnesota, were the best performers, thanks largely to their ability to keep rain water and sewage separate.

The report makes several recommendations, including improving water conservation in order to reduce the flow to sewage plants, and keeping rain water out of sewers by disconnecting downspouts and separating storm drains and sewer systems.

"We need to change our ways and stop treating the Great Lakes like a toilet," the report concludes.

___

On the Net:

Sierra Legal Defense Fund: http://www.sierralegal.org
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