-NATION/WORLD Israel: Execution of Arafat an option RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) - The second-ranking official in the Israeli government said yesterday that killing Yasser Arafat is an option, as thousands of Palestinians took to the streets across the West Bank and Gaza Strip promising to protect their leader. Israel blames Arafat for blocking peace efforts and preventing a crack- down against militants who have car- ried out two suicide bombings in the last week. Vice Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said yesterday that killing Arafat is a possibility - along with expelling him or keeping him in a siege that would "isolate him from the world." Olmert's comments have not been part of any official government statement. Olmert's comments appeared aimed at sending signals to other Palestinian leaders to abandon Arafat. Olmert, considered a likely future candidate for premier, is the closest official to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to say outright that Arafat might be killed. "Arafat can no longer be a factor in what happens here," Olmert told Israel Radio. "Expulsion is certainly one of the options, killing is also one of the options." Secretary of State Colin Powell said Israel would incite rage among Arabs and Muslims everywhere by exiling or killing Arafat. "The Israelis know our position quite well," Powell told "Fox News Sunday" during a visit to Iraq. "The United States does not support either the elimination of him or the exile of Mr. Arafat." Olmert's comments underscored the collapse of the U.S.-backed "road map" peace plan and the depths to which Israeli-Palestinian relations have sunk a decade after Arafat and then-Premier Yitzhak Rabin agreed on the first Israel- PLO accords in September 1993. In a sign that Israelis were bending on other U.S. demands, Israeli security officials said Sharon has decided not to build, for now, a section of security barrier that would have dipped deep into the West Bank to incorporate Jew- ish settlements in the center of territory that Palestinians want for a state. The previously intended route of the barrier enraged Palestinians, who saw it as a land grab, and was strongly opposed by the United States. The plan to erect a security barrier between Israel and the West Bank is popular in Israel as a way to block sui- cide bombers. No Palestinian bombers have come from the Gaza Strip, which is fenced. Israelehas completed about 90 miles of the West Bank barrier, whose fences, trenches, razor wire and con- crete walls could eventually run more than 400 miles, depending on the ulti- mate route. Palestinian legislator Saeb Erekat, meanwhile, condemned Olmert's state- ments as "the behavior and actions of a mafia and not a government." Olmert's statements echoed threats by other Israeli officials following last week's vaguely worded security Cabi- net decision to "remove" him. The decision came after twin suicide bomb- ings killed 15 people. Israeli leaders have said a move to further isolate Arafat could include cutting phone lines and barring visitors to his Ramallah compound, where he has been effectively confined for near- ly two years. The threats against Arafat have trig- gered daily protests in the West Bank and Gaza Strip in support of Arafat. STUDENTS WITH CROHN'S DISEASE OR ULCERATIVE COLITIS Please join Dr. Ellen Zimmerman Associate Professor of Gastroenterology, U of M for an informal discussion of topics including: " NUTRITION " NEW THERAPIES * LATEST RESEARCH Next Meeting is planned for Sentember 18th. 2003 NEWS IN BRIEF BAGHDAD, Iraq Powell to assess Iraq's reconstruction Secretary of State Colin Powell, becoming the highest ranking U.S. official to visit Iraq since the ouster of Saddam Hussein, said yesterday he is convinced "the winds of freedom are blowing" across the country but acknowledged the possibil- ity that terrorists are trying to sabotage the process toward self-rule. Powell spent 12 hours in talks with the team of American officials guiding Iraq in the postwar period and with the U.S.-appointed Iraqi Governing Council. He also attended a Baghdad City Council meeting, met with Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari and joined the U.S. administrator for Iraq, L. Paul Bremer, at a joint news conference. Powell described impressive moves toward self-govern- ment and seemed invigorated by what he heard as he made his rounds. "There is vibrancy to this effort, a vibrancy that I attribute to the winds of free- dom that are now blowing through this land," he said after the city council meet- ing. Powell's day began with a flight from Kuwait aboard a C-130 cargo plane and ended with a dinner with a leading Baghdad-based Shiite cleric. He said the United States is committed to having Iraqis run their government, but wants to cede power after a "deliberative process" rather than the early trans- fer advocated by some fellow members of the U.N. Security Council. France has pressed for seating a provisional government within a month. PHILADELPHIA Anti-terror laws used on common criminals In the two years since law enforcement agencies gained fresh powers to help them track down and punish terrorists, police and prosecutors have increasingly turned the force of the new laws not on al-Qaida cells but on people charged with common crimes. The Justice Department said it has used authority given to it by the USA Patriot Act to crack down on currency smugglers and seize money hidden overseas by alleged bookies, con artists and drug dealers. Federal prosecutors used the act in June to file a charge of "terrorism using a weapon of mass destruction" against a Califor- nia man after a pipe bomb exploded in his lap, wounding him as he sat in his car. A North Carolina county prosecutor charged a man accused of running a methamphetamine lab with breaking a new state law barring the manufacture of chemical weapons. If convicted, Martin Dwayne Miller could get 12 years to life in prison for a crime that usually brings about six months. Prosecutor Jerry Wilson says he isn't abusing the law, which defines chemical weapons of mass destruction as "any substance that is designed or has the capabil- ity to cause death or serious injury" and contains toxic chemicals. 6 0 LISBON, Portugal President ousted in West African coup Soldiers ousted the president of the West African nation of Guinea-Bissau yesterday, taking advantage of wide- spread discontent with his rule to seize power in a bloodless coup. The army chief of staff, Gen. Verissi- mo Correia Seabre, declared himself in charge of the country after the early- morning arrest of President Kumba Yala. A dawn-to-dusk curfew was imposed, and soldiers patrolled the streets of the capital Bissau with auto- matic weapons and grenade launchers. Several African countries including Nigeria and Senegal condemned the coup, as did Portugal, the former colo- nial ruler. But some residents expressed relief as much as alarm. "It's all calm. People aren't afraid," a man said by phone from the capital. "Everyone seems happy about (the, coup). The country was being so badly run that someone had to do something." He gave only his first name, Jorge. WASHINGTON Report suggests new controls for pollution New federal health standards that limit the amount of soot in the air do not adequately protect the elderly and people with respiratory problems and should be tightened, according to an internal government report. The findings could become the basis for additional pollution-control require- ments to reduce the amount of micro- scopic soot emitted by diesel-burning trucks, cars, factories and power plants. Such a step would put the Bush administration at odds with business groups. They have argued the current federal soot-control standards, issued by the Clinton administration, are based on uncertain science and have cost industry tens of billions of dollars. BRATISLAVA, Slovakia Ailing pope ends four-day pilgrimage Looking drained, an increasingly frail Pope John Paul II celebrated Sun- day Mass for 200,000 faithful, com- pleting a grueling four-day pilgrimage that raised fresh doubts about his abili- ty to keep traveling. The 83-year-old pope appeared alert, but clearly weakened during the 2 1/2-hour service honoring two clerics imprisoned and tortured under Slovakia's former communist regime. He slurred his words and turned over his homily to. a cardinal to complete. Bidding farewell at the airport before departing for Rome, the pope struggled to catch his breath. John Paul returned to Rome in the early evening. 9L lL, i r I I Itjhut~tl Attend all required classes or make-up sessions, complete all scheduled tests, and do your homework. 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