| Global update |
Today Saturday Sunday
High: 55 High: 51 High: 49
Low: 39 Low: 33 Low: 31
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IN BRIEF
Senators vote to limit
class action lawsuits
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Sen
ate approved a measure Thursday to
help shield businesses from major
class action lawsuits like the ones
that have been brought against tobac
co companies, giving President Bush
the first legislative victory of his sec
ond term. Under the legislation, long
sought by big business, large multi
state class action lawsuits could no
longer be heard in small state courts.
Such courts have handed out multi
million-dollar verdicts. Instead, the
cases would be heard by federal
judges, who have not proven as open
to those type of lawsuits.
The Senate passed the bill 72-26,
and it now goes to the House. Bush
called the bill a strong step forward.
“Our country depends on a fair legal
system that protects people who have
been harmed without encouraging
junk lawsuits that undermine confi
dence in our courts while hurting
our economy,” Bush said in a state
ment released in Pennsylvania,
where he was promoting his Social
Security proposals.
Abbas fires 20 officers
after truce violations
RAM ALLAH, West Bank — React
ing forcefully to Hamas rocket and
mortar fire in the Gaza Strip in defi
ance of a cease-fire with Israel, Pales
tinian leader Mahmoud Abbas dis
missed his top security commanders
Thursday and sent a message to the
militants that he will not tolerate fur
ther truce violations.
Among about 20 senior officers
who lost their jobs were the top two
commanders, Brig. Gen. Abdel Razek
Majaidie, chief of public security, and
police chief Saeb al-Ajed, security of
ficials said, a clear sign that Abbas is
serious about enforcing the two-day
old truce. Hamas claimed responsi
bility for salvos of rockets and mor
tars — 30 mortars and 26 rockets,
one of the biggest barrages in four
years of violence — aimed at two Is
raeli settlements in southern Gaza,
Neve Dekalim and Gedid. The Israeli
military said there were no casualties.
Israeli TV stations showed video of
minor damage to some houses.
Hamas said the barrage was retalia
tion for the death of two Palestinians
Wednesday. One blew himself up
with a bomb he was apparently
trying to plant, and the other was
shot by Israeli soldiers as he
approached a settlement.
House votes to make states
verify citizenship at DMV
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Hoping to
keep drivers’ licenses out of the
hands of terrorists, the House voted
Thursday to make states verify that
applicants are U.S. citizens or legal
immigrants. Republicans pushed the
measure through on a 261-161 vote
despite protests from governors and
state motor vehicle departments that
it would be too costly and would re
quire them to take on the role of
immigration officers.
The bill also would make it easier
for judges to deport immigrants seek
ing political asylum if they think they
might be terrorists.
“Common sense says we should
not allow suspected terrorists to be
able to stay inside our borders if they
could harm us,” said House Speaker
Dennis Hastert.
The measure was rejected by Con
gress and the White House in De
cember as part of a bill reorganizing
intelligence agencies in response to
flaws found after the Sept. 11, 2001,
terrorism attacks. It was revived
with newly won support from the
Bush administration.
North Korea announces
nuclear weapon possession
BY BURT HERMAN
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
SEOUL, South Korea — North Ko
rea boasted publicly for the first time
Thursday that it has nuclear weapons
and said it will stay away from disar
mament talks, dramatically raising
the stakes in the 2-year-old dispute.
The Bush administration called on
Pyongyang to give up its atomic aspi
rations so life can be better for its
impoverished people.
North Korea's harshly worded pro
nouncement posed a grave challenge
to President Bush, who started his sec
ond term with a vow to end North Ko
rea's nuclear program through six-na
tion disarmament talks.
"We... have manufactured nukes for
self-defense to cope with the Bush ad
ministration's ever-more-undisguised
policy to isolate and stifle the (North),’’
the North Korean Foreign Ministry said
in a statement carried by the state-run
Korean Central News Agency. The
agency's report used the word "nukes"
in its English-language dispatch.
Previously, U.S. negotiators said
North Korean officials claimed in pri
vate talks that they had nuclear
weapons and might test one. The
North's U.N. envoy also said last year
the country had "weaponized” pluto
nium from its pool of 8,000 nuclear
spent fuel rods.
But Thursday's statement was the
first claim directly from North Korea's
state media that it has a nuclear
weapon, confirming the widely held
beliefs of international experts that the
country has one or two atomic bombs.
North Korea is not known to have per
formed any nuclear tests, and it kicked
out U.N. inspectors in 2002, so there is
no way to verify its claims.
The United States and South Korea,
the North's main rivals, played down
the revelation and urged the North to
return to the six-nation talks that be
gan in 2003 and also include China,
Japan and Russia. Analysts suggested
the move by North Korea may be a ne
gotiating tactic aimed at getting more
compensation in exchange for giving
up its nuclear weapons program.
Secretary of State Condoleezza
Rice said North Korea should return
to negotiations.
"The world has given them a way
out, and we hope they will take that
way out," she said wrapping up a trip
to Europe. "The North Koreans have
been told by the president of the Unit
ed States that the United States has no
intention of attacking or invading
North Korea.
"The message is clear: Give up these
aspirations for nuclear weapons, and
you know life can be different," Rice
said, adding that it was the same mes
sage Libya understood in renouncing
its nuclear ambitions.
In a clear overture to North Korea
to help foster the nuclear talks, Bush
refrained from direct criticism of the
country in last week's State of the
Union address. He mentioned the
North only in a single sentence, say
ing Washington was "working close
ly with governments in Asia to con
vince North Korea to abandon its
nuclear ambitions."
Bush previously branded the North
part of an "axis of evil" along with Iran
and Saddam Hussein's Iraq.
Still, Pyongyang on Thursday seized
on comments by Rice last month in
which she labeled North Korea one of
the "outposts of tyranny" in the world.
"The U.S. disclosed its attempt to
topple the political system in (North
Korea) at any cost, threatening it with
a nuclear stick," North Korea's For
eign Ministry said. "This compels us
to take a measure to bolster its nu
clear weapons arsenal in order to pro
tect the ideology, system, freedom
and democracy chosen by the people
in (North Korea)."
The statement said the Bush admin
istration was trying to "mislead" the
world in calling for resuming the six
party talks while also seeking "regime
change" in North Korea.
"This is nothing but a far-fetched
logic of gangsters as it is a good exam
ple fully revealing the wicked nature
and brazen-faced double-dealing tac
tics of the U.S. as a master hand at
plot-breeding and deception," the
statement said.
South Korea urged its neighbor to
rejoin the talks and said it maintains its
previously stated estimate that North
Korea has enough plutonium to build
one or two nuclear bombs.
"We once again urge North Korea to
rejoin the six-party talks without
conditions so that it can discuss what
ever differences it has with the United
States and other participants," said
South Korean Foreign Ministry
spokesman Lee Kyu-hyung.
Both Rice and White House
spokesman Scott McClellan played
down any significance of North Ko
rea's announcement that it has nuclear
weapons, saying it was "rhetoric” that
has been heard before.
"We remain committed to a peace
ful diplomatic resolution to the nuclear
issue with regards to North Korea,"
McClellan said aboard Air Force One
en route to North Carolina. "It's time
to talk about how to move forward."
The United States now must rely on
China and South Korea, its allies with
more direct influence over the North,
to entice North Korea to negotiate.
"The question now is whether
Washington is able to persuade and ca
jole Seoul and Beijing to bribe and
pressure North Korea to resume the
six-party talks," said Gary Samore of
the London-based International Insti
tute for Strategic Studies. "The U.S. has
absolutely no influence, except
through other countries.”
Last week, Michael Green, the U.S.
National Security Council's senior di
rector for Asian affairs, traveled to the
region to relay Bush's desire to restart
the diplomatic process to the leaders of
China, South Korea and Japan.
North Korea did leave an opening to
return to the table, saying it would stay
away until "we have recognized that
there is justification for us to attend the
talks and there are ample conditions
and atmosphere to expect positive re
sults." North Korea's economy has
been ravished by famine and natural
disasters, and it relies on outside aid to
feed its people.
"Even if threats and declarations are
made, it's in every party's interest to
have negotiations," said Peter Beck,
Seoul-based director of the North East
Asia project for the International Crisis
Group think tank. "Certainly this is a
dark day for the negotiating process,
but I don't think all is lost."
The CIA has estimated that with a
highly enriched uranium weapons
program and the use of sophisticated
high-speed centrifuges, North Korea
could be making more.
Jessica Simpson denies
split with Nick Lachey
NEW YORK — Jessica Simpson is
denying rumors of an impending split
with husband Nick Lachey — again.
After tabloids ran pictures of Lachey,
31, surrounded by cheerleaders at
a Super Bowl party in Jacksonville,
Fla., and reports of a dinner with
ex-girlfriend Jordana Jarjura, Simp
son said their difficulties have been
greatly exaggerated.
“I trust Nick totally, and he trusts
me,” Simpson told Us Weekly
magazine in an issue hitting news
stands Friday. “We are committed to
our relationship.”
Simpson said she was unaware of
Lachey’s meeting with Jarjura, and
while it was “innocent,” it was also a
learning experience. “There are les
sons to be learned,” Simpson said.
“Now Nick and I will tell each other
about something like this ahead of
time.” The stars of MTV’s “Newly
weds: Nick & Jessica” have been be
set by tabloid speculation on their
marriage’s imminent doom. But
Simpson, 24, said even when they
are in different places, they are close.
NHL, players' association
still in lockout after talks
NEW YORK — The NHL and the
players’ association broke off talks
Thursday as the clock ticked down to
a weekend deadline for saving what
little is left of the season.
“It was a pointless meeting,” NHL
Chief Legal Officer Bill Daly said after
the four-hour session. “We’re not go
ing to pick up the phone this week
end,” union Senior Director Ted
Saskin said. “We’redone.”
It was the second straight day of
meetings in Toronto aimed at ending
the lockout, but the first full session
since Commissioner Gary Bettman
told the union Wednesday that a
deal would need to be ready by the
weekend to save the season. If the
deadline was set to pressure the
players’ association to give in to
the league’s salary-cap demand, it
hasn’t worked so far.
“We were not deadline hunting
in any way,” Saskin said. Daly said
the union brought nothing new to
Thursday’s meeting.
—The Associated Press
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