2 - The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, October 26, 2004 NATION/WORLD Insurgents may hve taken bombs NEWS IN BRIEF .{- f y VIENNA, Austria (AP) - The U.N. nuclear agency warned yesterday that insurgents in Iraq may have obtained nearly 400 tons of missing explosives that can be used in the kind of car bomb attacks that have targeted U.S.-led coali- tion forces for months. Diplomats questioned why the Unit- ed States didn't do more to secure the former Iraqi military installation that had housed the explosives, which they say posed a well-known threat of being looted. Others criticized the United States for not allowing full inter- ,national inspec- tions to resume after the March 2003 invasion. The White House played down the significance of the missing weapons, but Democratic presidential hope- ful John Kerry accused President Bush of "incredible incompetence" and his campaign said the administration "The most concern h these expl could hav the wrong Internation Ager Al-Qaqaa is near Youssifiyah, an area rife with ambush attacks. An Associated Press Television News crew that drove past the compound yesterday saw no vis- ible security at the gates of the site, a jum- ble of low-slung, yellow-colored storage buildings that appeared deserted. "The most immediate concern here is that these explosives could have fallen into the wrong hands," IAEA spokeswoman Melissa Fleming. The agency first placed a seal over Al-Qaqaa storage bunkers holding the explosives in 1991 as part of U.N. sanctions immediate that ordered the dismantlement ere is that of Iraq's nuclear program after losives the Gulf War. IAEA inspec- e fallen in tors last saw the hands." explosives in January 2003 when they took - Melissa Fleming an inventory and ial Atomic Energy placed fresh seals on the bunkers, ncy spokeswoman Fleming said. Inspectors vis- ited the site again in March 2003, but didn't view the explosives because the seals were not broken, she said. Nuclear agency experts pulled out of Iraq just before the U.S.-led invasion later that month, and have not yet been able to return for general inspections despite ElBaradei's repeated urging that they be allowed to finish their work. Although IAEA inspectors have made two trips to Iraq since the war at U.S. requests, Russia and other Security Council have pressed for their full-time return - so far unsuc- "must answer for what may be the most grave and catastrophic mistake in a tragic series of blunders in Iraq." International Atomic Energy Agen- cy chief Mohamed ElBaradei reported the disappearance to the U.N. Security Council yesterday, two weeks after he said Iraq told the nuclear agency that 377 tons of explosives had vanished from the Al-Qaqaa facility south of Baghdad as a result of "theft and loot- ing ... due to lack of security." Mohamed El Baradei, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, speaks in Vienna in September. cessfully. Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said U.S.-led forces searched the Al- Qaqaa facility after the invasion. "Coalition forces were present in the vicinity at various times during and after major combat operations," he said. "The forces searched 32 bunkers and 87 other buildings at the facility, but found no indicators of WMD (weapons of mass destruction). While some explosive mate- rial was discovered, none of it carried IAEA seals." IAEA analysts since have viewed sat- ellite photographs of Al-Qaqaa, and only two storage bunkers showed damage that may have occurred in bombing during the war, an agency official told the AP. WASHINGTON Rehnquist hospitalized with cancer Chief Justice William Rehnquist, the leading conservative figure on the Supreme Court for a generation, has thyroid cancer but will continue working while receiving treatment. Rehnquist, 80, underwent a tracheotomy at Bethesda Naval Hospital in suburban Maryland on Saturday. While no details about his condition were released, a statement issued by the court said he is expected to be back at work next week when justices resume hearing cases. Rehnquist's hospitalization little more than a week before the election gave new prominence to a campaign issue that has been overshadowed by the war on terrorism. The next president is likely to appoint at least one justice to a court that has been deeply divided in recent years on issues as varied as abortion and the 2000 election itself. Rehnquist, a conservative named to the court in 1972 by then-President Richard Nixon and elevated to chief justice by President Ronald Reagan in 1986, sided with the 5-4 majority in the decision giving George Bush the presidency. The thyroid gland, located in the neck, produces hormones that help regulate the body's use of energy. There are several types of thyroid cancer, and it was not immedi- ately known which type Rehnquist has. WASHINGTON FBI: Violent crimes decrease, murder up Violent crime fell last year, with only a slight uptick in murders marring the overall trend of fewer crimes across the country, the FBI said yesterday in its annu- al crime report. There were just less than 1.4 million crimes of murder, manslaughter, rape, rob- bery and aggravated assault in 2003, 3 percent fewer than 2002 and a decline of more than 25 percent from 1994. The 2003 figure translates to a rate of 475 violent crimes for every 100,000 Americans, a 3.9 percent decrease from the previous year, the FBI report said. Aggravated assaults, which make up two-thirds of all violent crimes, have dropped for 10 straight years. Murder was the only violent crime that increased in 2003, with the 16,503 slayings reported by police to the FBI representing a 1.7 percent hike from the year before. Nearly eight in 10 murder victims last year were male and 90 percent were adults. Property crimes such as burglary, theft and theft of motor vehicles dropped slightly, with the overall total of 10.4 million crimes in 2003 representing a decline of less than 1 percent. JERUSALEM Sharon defends pullout plan to Parliament Prime Minister Ariel Sharon opened a stormy debate in parliament yesterday with a passionate appeal to lawmakers to support his Gaza withdrawal plan - which has divided the country and weakened his government - as the only way to secure Israel's future. The withdrawal would mark the first time Israel has pulled down Jewish settle- ments in the West Bank or Gaza, and Sharon is hoping a decisive victory in a parliamentary vote scheduled for today will blunt calls for a national referendum on the plan. "This is a fateful moment for Israel. We are dealing with a difficult decision that has few parallels," he said in a speech repeatedly interrupted by heckling from hard-line opponents. BEIJING Powell discusses human rights in China visit Secretary of State Colin Powell won agreement from top Chinese officials yes- terday to resume joint discussions on human rights issues, but he failed to persuade them to open a dialogue with old rival Taiwan. China angrily removed human rights from the U.S.-China agenda last spring when the United States introduced a resolution critical of Beijing before the U.N. Human Rights Commission in Geneva. Powell told reporters after high-level discussions here that the two countries "will start talks about resuming our human rights dialogue." - Compiled from Daily wire reports MARKET. CPDATE rMON. CLOSE Ca, -:ANGE 01 Palestinian led Sinai blasts, Egypt says CAIRO, Egypt (AP) - A Pales- tinian refugee plotted the coordinated bombings targeting Israeli tourists at resorts in the Sinai and accidentally killed himself while carrying out the deadliest blast, Egyptian authorities said yesterday. Discounting the theory of al-Qaida involvement, an Interior Ministry state- ment said Ayad Said Saleh was motivat- ed by the deteriorating situation in the Israeli-occupied Gaza Strip, which his relatives fled in 1967, and carried out the attack with the help of local residents. But security officials speaking on condition of anonymity told The Asso- ciated Press they believed the Oct. 7 attacks on the Taba Hilton and two beach camps packed with Israelis may have been carried out with help from Islamic groups based outside Egypt, though not necessarily Osama bin Lad- aestinian refugee allegedly plotted resort attacks en's al-Qaida group. One car bomb devastated the Hilton hotel in Taba, just yards from the Israeli border, while two others rocked tourist camps at Ras Shitan, a coastal village 35 miles further south, killing a total of 34 people, including Israelis, Egyptians, Italians and Russians. Egypt's Interior Ministry said the attacks were masterminded by Saleh, a minibus driver born in the northern Sinai town of al-Arish, who was in his early 20s. Saleh was killed in the Taba Hilton bombing along with a fel- low plotter, Egyptian Suleiman Ahmed Saleh Flayfil, 39. The statement said both men, iden- tified through DNA testing, had been trying to leave the attack scene but their timed explosives went off prematurely. Two other suspects were said to be at large: Mohamed Ahmed Saleh Flayfil, Suleiman Flayfil's brother, and Ham- mad Gaman Gomah Tarabeen. They were accused of carrying out the camp- ground attacks. Police also arrested five Egyptians accused of playing lower-level roles, including obtaining explosives and cars used in the attacks. The statement did not say when they were arrested or pro- vide details of their capture. The five are residents of the Sinai Peninsula, a territory Israel captured from Egypt in the 1967 Middle East war and returned in 1982 under terms of the first Israeli-Arab peace treaty. The Interior Ministry said the three L cars used in the bombings were stolen and the explosives were salvaged from war armaments in the Sinai. The car bombs, according to the statement, were built using spare parts from washing machines and other equipment. A senior Egyptian official close to the investigation told the AP that TNT obtained from a Sinai quarry and RDX explosives from war armaments were used in the attacks. RDX is a key ingre- dient in plastic explosives such as C-4 and Semtex. Other officials and prosecutors said about 1,100 pounds of TNT were used in the Taba attack, while leftover muni- tions from the Sinai war were planted in two cars used in the Ras Shitan bombings. cingular, AT&T step closer to merger WASHINGTON (AP) - Justice Department antitrust regulators cleared the way yesterday for Cingular Wireless LLC's $41 billion acquisition of AT&T Wireless Services Inc., a crucial step toward creating the nation's largest wire- less telephone company. The merger still must be approved by the Federal Communications Commis- sion. That approval could come as early as today. Under an agreement with the Jus- tice Department filed in federal court in Washington, Cingular must divest itself of assets in 11 states. "Without these divestitures, wireless customers in these markets would have had fewer choices for their wireless tele- phone service and faced the risk of higher prices, lower quality service and fewer choices for the newest high-speech mobile wireless data services," said R. Hewitt Pate, assistant attorney general for the Jus- tice Department's antitrust division. Cingular is an Atlanta-based joint venture of BellSouth Corp. and SBC Communications Inc. of San Antonio. Its acquisition of Redmond, Wash.- based AT&T Wireless would create a cellular phone colossus with 46 mil- lion customers, topping the 37.5 mil- lion customers of Verizon Wireless and paring the number of national wireless phone players to five. Together the two companies have about 70,000 employees, although layoffs are expected if the merger goes through. The settlement requires the merged company to divest assets in parts of Connecticut, Georgia, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mas- sachusetts, Missouri, Michigan, (lirinhrrn 'T'annanCP annrA 1 on D. AJoNs NASDAQ 9777.87 -. 82.. _ . 1914.04 -1.10 A& -.....1094.80 -.94 'Jim, [} 1'rch'rnMtl 7irt 0' I i 0 www. michigandaily.com The Michigan Daily (ISSN 0745-967) is published Mondays during the spring and summer terms by students at the University of Michigan. Subscriptions for fall term, starting in September, via U.S. mail are $110. Winter term (January through April) is $115, yearlong (September through April) is $195. University affiliates are subject to a reduced subscription rate. Yearlong on-campus subscriptions are $40. Subscriptions must be prepaid. The Michigan Daily is a member of The Associated Press and The Associated Collegiate Press. ADDRESS: The Michigan Daily, 420 Maynard St., Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109- 1327. 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