2A - The Michigan Daily - Monday, November 3, 2002 NATION/WORLD Calif. residents return home after evacuations NEWS IN BRIEF * " -VA i~ c Lu it mt t [wa 3N* i [1.wau ll I au...m u. . r'ni ----f J. JERUSALEM Arafat ready to accept offer for peace talks E ii SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. (AP) - A second wave of residents displaced by South- ern California's wildfires returned home yes- terday as a weekend of cooler, calmer weather helped firefighters begin to get the upper hand. As the threat began to diminish, authorities also sent home some of the thousands of fire- fighters who have been battling blazes scat- tered from San Diego County to the suburbs of Los Angeles. Some evacuees got the go-ahead Saturday to check on their homes. Among them were JoDee Ewing and her husband, Steve, who found little standing of their 1920s-era house but the stone chimney, the foundation and - for some inexplicable reason - their rose bushes. "I still have roses blooming," said Ewing, 40. "But there's no toilets. They disintegrated." The fire that started Oct. 25 just up the road from the Ewings' place, in Upper Waterman Canyon on the edge of the San Bernardino National Forest, consumed 91,285 acres. In the last week, that blaze and a half- dozen others across Southern California have burned about 750,000 acres, destroyed nearly 3,400 homes and killed 20 people. In San Bernardino County, some firefight- ers were beginning to head to home, said U.S. Forest Service spokesman Bob Narus, although he couldn't say exactly how many. In San Diego County, firefighters were expected to begin leaving after spending a few hours resting yesterday morning, said California Department of Forestry spokes- woman Barb Daskoski. Though fog, lower temperatures and even snow slowed the spreading flames, more than 12,000 firefighters were still on the lines early yesterday. Following an Israeli offer, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat said yesterday he is ready for peace talks, while about 6,000 Palestinians returned to jobs in Israel for the first time in a month. In an abrupt turnaround last week, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said con- tacts were already underway with Palestinian officials, adding, "We are ready to enter negotiations at any time." Sharon had previously conditioned talks on a crackdown on violent Palestinian groups responsible for attacks on Israelis. Asked about Sharon's remarks, Arafat told reporters he would accept an offer for talks. "There is no official communication, but we are ready," he said after meeting a delegation of Greek lawmakers at his headquarters in the West Bank town of Ramallah. Talks on the U.S.-backed "road map" peace plan have been stalled for weeks because of Palestinian bombing attacks and Israeli military operations, along with the Palestinians' inability to form a stable government. Arafat has often said he is ready to talk peace, but Israel and the United States are boycotting him, charging that he is tainted by terrorism. They insist on dealing with an empowered prime minister. I AP PHO Donald Bieker looks at his nephew's charred car that was destroyed by wildfires yesterday in Julian, Calif. Iran warns de cause less U.N TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - Iran's supreme leader said yesterday that "excessive demands" from abroad could prompt Tehran to retreat from a recent commitment to give inspectors from the U.N. nuclear watchdog more access to its atomic facilities. The warning by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei comes as the International Atomic Energy Agency evaluates a dossier on Iran's nuclear program that Tehran supplied to meet an Oct. 31 deadline to prove it is not developing atom- ic weapons - as U.S. officials believe. Iran agreed last month to allow unfettered inspections of its nuclear facilities and to stop enriching uranium - a process that creates fuel for nuclear plants but also can be used to build weapons. "If parties to the talks with us or centers of global mands may " . . accessibility power come up with excessive demands and we feel that our interests and values are harmed, we won't hesitate to end this trend (of cooperation)," Khamenei said in a speech on state-run television. "Peaceful nuclear technology is our legitimate right and no country and no organization can deprive us of this right, including the right for production of our own nuclear fuel." Khamenei spoke before a large group of mili- tary and government officials at a party marking the daily breaking of the fast for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Khamenei, who has the final say on all state mat- ters, said he will intervene to stop the Iranian gov- ernment from making decisions he considers inappropriate. "So far, nothing has been done against our prin- ciples," he said. VIRGINIA BEACH, Vax Sniper trial illustrates missed opportunities A woman worried that she could be the next victim in the Washington- area sniper shootings saw a suspicious blue car but didn't tell police "because they were looking for a white van." A police officer spoke to John Allen Muhammad, who was driving a blue car near one of the shootings, but let him go. A dispatcher got a call from someone claiming responsibility for the attacks, but tried to refer him to another agency. The caller hung up. Testimo- ny in Muhammad's capital murder trial has been replete with such reminders of missed opportunities to end the three-week series of attacks in which 10 people were killed. "These are heartbreaking things," said former FBI profiler Clint Van Zandt. "These are things that police officers and FBI agents are beating themselves in the head with and saying: 'My God, if only we would have, should have, could have. We might have gotten them sooner, if only."' The trial enters its third week of testimony today as Muhammad faces charges in one of the killings, that of Dean Harold Meyers, who was shot at a Manassas- area gas station on Oct. 9, 2002. APF An Iranian woman chants "Death to the U.S." slogans as women listen to the sermon during Friday prayers at the Tehran University campus In Iran. Woman charged after Bush security breach JACKSON, Miss. (AP) - A woman who rammed her car into an arena where President Bush had just given a speech was charged with aggravated assault on a police officer, authorities said yesterday. Chief David Mitchell, spokesman for the DeSoto County sheriff's department, said Betina Mixon was being held in the DeSoto County jail without bond and would be arraigned today or tomorrow. Federal officials said Mixon, 29, had no intention of harming the president and no federal charges are pending against her. Her friend said she may have wanted to hurt herself. Mixon, of Horn Lake, had her three children in her car when she crashed into a wall of the DeSoto County Civic Center on Saturday. Bush had just spoken at a campaign rally for Haley Barbour, the Republi- can nominee for governor, and was in his limousine preparing to leave, a senior administration official said. The president left the arena less than five minutes later from an exit about 40 yards from the crash. The Secret Service was reviewing how the car was able to drive past a police checkpoint and penetrate the security perimeter around the Southaven, Miss., arena, agency spokeswoman Ann Roman said. Alicia Graves, 19, who said she had known Mixon for about 10 years, said her friend had gone through a lot the last few months. "With marriage, her dad just dying and her brother sick and all that, I think she just had a nervous breakdown." - Alicia Graves Friend WASHINGTON Mutual fund scandal leads to investigation Federal regulators and New York's top law enforcer, pressing investiga- tions of a mutual fund scandal, also are drawing up an overhaul of the $7 trillion industry that traditionally has enjoyed a pristine image. New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer is lashing out at the Securities and Exchange Commission for what he calls its failure to detect abuses and act quickly. "Heads should roll" at the agency, he says. Companies must be forced to pay back to investors the hefty fees received for managing mutual funds during the time they allowed fund trading abuses to occur, Spitzer said yesterday. "If they're expecting to get settle- ments (with regulators) they're going to have to give much more back than just their losses. They're going to be paying stiff fines and giving back their management fees. DURHAM, N.H. First openly gay bishop consecrated The Episcopal Church became the first major Christian denomination to make an openly gay man a bishop, con- secrating V Gene Robinson yesterday as bishop of New Hampshire. The act almost certainly means disgruntled con- servatives will break from the church. Robinson, 56, became a bishop when the 55 other bishops attending his conse- cration surrounded him for the laying on of hands. The historic moment came more than an hour into the ceremony and after two Episcopal clerics took advantage of the traditional opportunity to object. Leaders of the global Anglican Com- munion have said his consecration puts their worldwide association in jeopardy. 0 "With marriage, her dad just dying and her brother sick and all that, I think she had a nervous breakdown," Graves said yesterday. Mixon, a nurse's aide, also had a hysterectomy and "wad having a lot of stomach problems," Graves said. It had nothing to do with politics, Graves said. "She's not even regis- tered to vote." Graves and federal officials said Mixon was trying to locate her moth- er-in-law, who was attending the rally. "The kids' grandma was there inside, and she said she wanted to get her kids somewhere safe," Graves said. "I think she wanted to try to get her to get the kids so she could go and try to hurt herself." Graves said Mixon's children were now staying with relatives. MOSCOW U.S. criticized for oil company share freeze Russia's foreign minister criticized the United States yesterday for express- ing concern about actions against the oil giant Yukos, but President Vladimir Putin's new chief of staff said he doubt- ed the wisdom of freezing a large chunk of the company's shares. Last week, U.S. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said the Bush administration regarded the arrest and jailing of Yukos head Mikhail Khodorkovsky, and the freez- ing of 44 percent of the company's shares, as raising "serious questions about the rule of law in Russia." "The United States is trying to place the actions of the judicial organs of Russia in doubt," said Foreign Minis- ter Igor Ivanov. - Compiled from Daily wire reports. WANT TO READ THE PAPER BEFORE EVERYONEB ELSE JOIN4 ONLINE STAFF. E-MAIL GEOFF FINKI FOR MORE INFO* GFINkf@UMICHJEDU A 'iitaa tI r c/! I WWW.MICHIGANDAILY.COM 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. 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