2 - The Michigan Daily - Friday, January 17, 2003 NATION/WORLD North Korean conflict to drag on NEWS IN BRIEF G :S _.i r w ., 9y r 01 SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - The search for a peaceful resolution to the standoff between the United States and North Korea over its nuclear weapons programs will be a "very slow process," a top U.S. envoy to the region said yesterday. The call for patience from U.S. Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly followed North Korea's angry rejection of American offers to con- sider energy and agricultural aid to the isolated regime if it gives up its nuclear efforts. Traveling in Asia to seek support in getting North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons program, Kelly said in Beijing yesterday that there was no quick-fix solution to the issue and that it would take time to secure a nuclear-free Korean Penin- sula. "And we're going to have to talk and work together and communi- cate with other people including with North Korea very, very clear- ly," Kelly said before leaving Bei- jing for Singapore. "It's going to be a very slow process to make sure that we achieve this in the right way.". Tensions escalated between North Korea and the United States after U.S. diplomats said North Korea admitted in October that it had a secret nuclear program. The isolated communist regime pulled out of the nuclear nonprolif- eration treaty last week after the United States suspended oil aid shipmients.. Washington, however, has taken a more conciliatory stance toward the North in recent days, offering to consider energy, agricultural and other aid to North Korea if the country gives up its nuclear ambi- tions. Those offers, however, have not satisfied Pyongyang, which is pushing for a nonaggression pact with the United States and appears to be after more ironclad guaran- tees of aid before surrendering its nuclear programs. The state-run news agency KCNA quoted a Foreign Ministry spokesman as saying late Wednes- day that the U.S. offers were "loud- mouthed" and "pie in the sky." White House spokesman Ari Fleis- cher called the reported comments "unfortunate." The South Korean government has also dampened any illusions of a quick solution to the impasse yes- terday. Defense Minister Lee Jun told a parliamentary hearing that the mili- tary was preparing for a "worst-cast scenario" should the standoff between Pyongyang and Washing- ton turn violent. The comments, which did not include any specifics about the preparations, seemed aimed at dis- pelling the general complacency about North Korea in the South, where ordinary citizens have shown little sign of alarm. Lee said there was a "high" pos- sibility that North Korea would tar- a ~WASHINGTON 9;# "We cannot conclude that it (North Korea) 5.1w.JJ 1wIRS moves toward electronic returns woud [arge tW orean peninsua. Bur we cannot rule out the possibility, and such a possibility is high."' - Lee Jun Defense Minister, South Korea get the South if it builds nuclear weapons. The North has argued that the only confrontation on the peninsula is between Koreans and Americans, not between the North and South. "We cannot conclude that (North Korea) would target the Korean peninsula. But we cannot rule out the possibility, and such a possibili- ty is high," Lee said. Yesterday, the North's news agency said North Korea "wants detente, peace and reunification, not serious tension, confrontation and war." "If war breaks out in Korea due to the U.S. imperialists keen on nuclear blackmail, it will lead to a nuclear war whose victim will be the Korean nation," it said. U.S. officials believe the commu- nist regime already has one or two nuclear bombs. Diplomatic efforts gathered pace, with U.S., British and French offi- cials meeting in London. They decided on Wednesdaythat the International Atomic Energy Agency's 35-nation board of gover- e nors should convene as a next step in the dispute with North Korea, a U.S. official said. Britain's Foreign Office confirmed envoys from the three nations met, but did not say what was discussed. Two inspectors from the U.N. agency were expelled from North Korea last month, leaving the world without an eye into the secretive nation's nuclear program. North Korean Foreign Minister Paek Nam Sun met Maurice Strong, a special adviser to U.N. Secretary- General Kofi Annan, on Thursday, KCNA said. Strong traveled to Pyongyang on Tuesday to try to assess North Korea's needs for for- eign food aid. Also yesterday, North Korea pro- posed to South Korea that the two sides open talks next Wednesday through Saturday in Pyongyang on connecting cross-border railway and roads. The Koreas, divided since 1945, have agreed to build two sets of railways and roads across their bor- der. Shakeup continues, Parsons to lead AOL NEW YORK (AP) - AOL Time Warner Inc. chief executive Dick Parsons was tapped yesterday to be the media conglomerate's new chairman, giving him broadened authority as he tries to turn around a mega-merger gone sour. The board's unanimous decision to have Parsons replace Steve Case, 'tIe AmericaOrnline co-ftnderwho announced last week he was step- ping down as chairman, completes a shake-up begun a year ago. It caps a heady rise in power for the quiet-spoken Parsons, who for- mally took over as CEO just eight months ago, and for the victory of old media over new media in the company's reformation. "This is the final acknowledg- ment that the AOL-Time Warner combination was a poorly orches- trated merger and now the entire new management team that's been put in place over last 12 months can move ahead," said Mark May, media analyst at Kaufman Bros. "This has been a wholesale shift from AOL people back to Time Warner peo- ple." Parsons' appointment will take effect May 16 at the annual share- holders meeting, the same date Case had indicated he would leave the company. Case announced plans for his departure Sunday, saying he felt his continuing presence would be a dis- traction as the company tries to recover from what has been a terri- ble run since the merger. He will remain on the company's board. The board's decision to give Par- sons both jobs came despite specu- lation that the two positions would be kept separate to ensure sufficient oversight of the company. But the company indicated yester- day that it remains confident its corporate governance measures are adequate. Before becoming chief executive in May, Parson was AOL Time Warner's co-chief operating officer. He had been named president of Time Warner in 1995, after joining its board of directors in 1991. Pre- viously, he was chairman and chief executive officer of Dime Bancorp. "I am highly gratified that the board shares my determination to maximize AOL Time Warner's tremendous poten- tial," Parsons said. "As we address the challenges facing our company and the industries in which we operate, I will work together with the extraordinary people in this company to focus on increasing value for our customers and our shareholders." Investors had pushed for the changes, following a sharp drop in the company' stock price chiefly caused by problems at the America A few tax specialists started replacing stamps with mouse clicks in 1986, when the Internal Revenue Service tested electronic filing as a pilot program in three cities. The IRS is now aiming for 80 percent e-filing by 2007 and to help make that hap- pen, the agency announced a program yesterday that gives people access to free tao preparation software through the April 15 filing deadline. "Virtually every country in the world had the ability for taxpayers to go online and file taxes. We didn't," said Mark Forman, associate director of e-government anc information technology in the White House budget office. That changed yesterday with the launch of Free Filing, a government partnership with 17 private tax software companies that lets 60 percent of taxpayers, or 78 mil- lion, file returns online for free. Eligibility requirements from the participating companies are generally based or factors such as age, adjusted gross income, state residency, military status or eligibili- ty to file a Form 1040EZ or for the Earned Income Tax Credit. Taxpayers can com- plete an online questionnaire to determine if they qualify. People wanting to file electronically can do so if they owe taxes and pay later. Taxes can be paid electronical- ly by authorizing funds withdrawal from a checking or savings account or credit card or they can mail a check to the IRS by April 15. VATICAN CITY Vatican aflirms Church's political stance The Vatican issued a new set of guidelines for Catholic politicians yesterday, reminding them to heed the church's "nonnegotiable" teachings on abortion, euthana- sia, same-sex marriage and other issues when making public policy. The Vatican said it was publishing the document now because of medical and sci- entific advances and because of the "emergence of ambiguities or questionable posi- tions in recent times." The guidelines, prepared by the Vatican's orthodoxy watchdog, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, don't offer any change to the church's long-held opposi- tion to abortion, euthanasia, gay marriage and its promotion of the rights of the unborn. Rather, they serve as a reminder of church teachings for Catholic politicians, so that when they vote for legislation or otherwise influence public policy, they do so in line with certain "nonnegotiable ethical principles." In particular, the document said laws concerning abortion and euthanasia "must defend the basic right to life from conception to natural death. In the same way, it is necessary to recall the duty to respect and protect the rights of the human embryo." LONDON New test allows for early plague diagnosis Scientists have developed a simple and reli- able test to rapidly diagnose plague, a sometimes deadly disease that authorities fear could be used in a bioterror attack. Experts say the new test, described this week in The Lancet medical journal, could save lives and help control the disease in the developing world - and fill an important need in global bioterrorism preparedness and response. Plague is caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis and is chiefly a disease of rodents. How- ever, it can spread to humans, mostly through flea bites. About 3,000 people get infected each year, primarily in Africa, the Americas and Asia. Doctors usually diagnose the disease by look- ing at symptoms and confirm it by laboratory tests. There is no immediate diagnostic test. There are three main forms of plague in humans: bubonic,'septicemic and pneumonic. - After the bacteria get into a person through a flea bite, they migrate to the near- est lymph nodes, where they cause a painful swelling or bubo, from which bubonic plague takes its name. SCRANTON, Penn. Bush tackles medical malpractice costs President Bush is pushing once again for his solution to high malpractice insur- ance costs: A nationwide limit on the amount injured patients can win from doctors. In the 18th trip he has made to politi- cally important Pennsylvania since his inauguration, Bush was poised to call on Congress to deliver on medical malprac. tice reform. The president, in remarks at the Uni versity of Scranton in northeastern Penn. sylvania, planned to argue yesterday tha lawsuits are behind soaring health car costs and doctor shortages. He added tha limiting jury awards in medical malprac. tice lawsuits are the way to solve th( problem. Bush also was to meet with doc, tors and officials at Scranton': Mercy Hospital. LUBBOCK, Texas Professor lies about missing plague vials The government charged a Texa: Tech University professor with lying tc investigators yesterday, saying he acci- dentally destroyed 30 vials of plague bacteria then claimed they had van- ished from his laboratory. Thomas Butler, 61, was ordered held without bond on the charge of giving a false statement to a federal agent. The charge carries a penalty of up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Defense attorney Floyd Holder said the tenured professor intends to plead innocent. "He's looking forward to proving tc a jury that he's innocent," he said. Butler is chief of the infectious dis- eases division of the department of internal medicine at Tech's medical school. - Compiled from Daily wire reports. 0 0 A panel discussion with: Eloise Anderson Director, Program for the American Family, The Claremont Institute for the Study of Statesmanship and Political Philosophy, and former Director of the California Department of Social Services Rebecca Blank Dean of the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy and Henry Carter Adams Collegiate Professor, University of Michigan Sheldon Danziger Professor of Public Policy, Co-Director of the National Poverty Center, and Henry J. Meyer Collegiate Professor of Social Work, University of Michigan Judith Gueron President, Manpower Demonstration Research Corporation The panelists will be joined by a representative from the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Friday, January 17, 2003 3:00 - 4:30.*pm 6050 Institute for Social Research The Michigan Daily (ISSN 0745-967) is published Monday through Friday during the fall and winter terms by students at the University of Michigan. One copy is available free of charge to all readers. Additional copies may be picked up at the Daily's office for $2. Subscriptions for fall term, starting in September, via U.S. mail are $105. Winter term (January through April) is $110, yearlong (September through April) is $190. University affiliates are subject to a reduced subscription rate. On-campus subscriptions for fall term are $35. Subscrip- tions must be prepaid. 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