In the News

Iran leader threatens new nuclear policy

TEHRAN, Iran – Iran’s hard-line president threatened to revise his policy of working within international atomic frameworks, as diplomats in Europe said the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency had stripped most of its surveillance equipment from Iranian nuclear sites.

In Iran, thousands rallied across the nation Saturday to celebrate the anniversary of the Islamic Revolution and show support for Iran’s nuclear rights.

State-run television called the nationwide demonstrations “a nuclear referendum” and showed footage of rallies in Iran’s major cities. In Tehran’s Azadi Square, some young men wore white shrouds symbolizing their readiness to die for the country’s nuclear ambitions.

Bird flu found in Italy, Greece, Bulgaria

ROME – Bird flu has reached Western Europe, with Italy and Greece announcing Saturday they had detected the H5N1 strain of the virus in dead swans.

The announcement that the disease was detected in five swans in southern Italy came a day after the opening of the Winter Games in Turin, several hundred miles to the north. Italian officials said the virus had only affected wild birds and posed no immediate risk to people.

The European Union said the deadly strain, which has infected at least 166 people and killed 88, most in Asia, had been confirmed in swans in Bulgaria.

No human infections were reported in the three countries, but the outbreak raised concerns that the spread of the disease could increase chances for it to mutate into a form easily transmissible among humans, who generally catch the disease from domestic poultry.

Also Saturday, authorities in Nigeria said they were investigating whether the deadly strain, which was discovered in the country last week, had spread to humans after at least two children were reported ill.

Fossett breaks flight distance record

MANSTON, England – Adventurer Steve Fossett completed the longest nonstop flight in aviation history with an emergency landing Saturday, flying 26,389 miles in about 76 hours but stopping early because of mechanical problems.

Ground control said Fossett, 61, broke the airplane distance record of 24,987 miles while his lightweight experimental plane was flying over Shannon, Ireland.

Generator problems then forced him to land the Virgin Atlantic Global Flyer at Bournemouth International Airport in southern England instead of at a military air strip in nearby Kent.

The millionaire adventurer completed his nonstop journey around the globe – and then some – more than three and one-half days despite losing about 750 pounds of fuel during his takeoff Wednesday from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida because of a leak.

White House faces opposition to user fees

WASHINGTON – Airline passengers, higher-income veterans and owners of freighters using the St. Lawrence Seaway are among those hit up for billions of dollars under President Bush’ new budget plan.

The spending proposal for the budget year that begins Oct. 1 contains $3.5 billion in new user fees. Typically branded as new taxes by those who have to pay them, these fees are intended to hold down the public’s cost for programs such as airline screening, medical care for veterans and military retirees, food inspection and oversight of commodities markets.

The fees would swell to $47.2 billion over five years, dunning taxpayers and industry to help pay for government services.

Most if not all of the proposed fees, however, arrived on Capitol Hill dead as a doornail.

The largest single fee would increase the tax paid by airline passengers for security screenings from $2.50 to $5 for a one-way nonstop ticket. It would raise $1.6 billion when combined with fees on cargo carriers.

The Air Transport Association, the major airlines’ trade group, opposes the higher security fees and is confident Congress will reject the proposal, said the group’s president, James May.

The idea behind user fees is that those who benefit from government services should pay for them rather than everyone.