WASHINGTON (AP) -- Senate education leaders on Thursday unveiled a hurricane relief package intended to prevent a bitter fight over vouchers. Instead, it seemed to start one.The largest teachers' union and civil rights groups condemned the plan as a national experiment in private-school vouchers, which bill sponsors called a mischaracterization.Notably, the interest groups found themselves at odds with a lawmaker they often count on for support -- Sen. Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts, the education committee's top Democrat."We are not supporting that -- and that's a big not. It's a voucher bill," said Reg Weaver, president of the National Education Association.Kennedy and fellow Democratic Sen. Christopher Dodd of Connecticut developed the bill with education committee Chairman Mike Enzi, R-Wyoming, and Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tennessee. The sponsors hoped to move it through the Senate quickly, possibly by Friday.It would allow both public and private schools to seek reimbursement of up to $6,000 for each displaced student they serve, or $7,500 for each student with disabilities. Total cost: $2.4 billion. Hurricane Katrina forced more than 370,000 students to flee the Gulf Coast.Under the plan, the federal money would flow through public school districts, which would then be charged with making payments to the eligible private schools. The bill would ban public money from being spent for "religious instruction, proselytization or worship."Kennedy has criticized a White House plan to create vouchers for Hurricane Katrina victims. By contrast, he said his bill provides immediate relief to public and private schools that have helped in a time of crisis, and "without opening political or ideological battles."That didn't sway the Rev. Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for the Separation of Church and State."I don't see the difference between this program and a voucher program," he said. "This gives millions of dollars in virtually unrestricted cash grants to religious schools."Critics said they favored a different model, already established under law, in which school districts purchase services from private schools but retain oversight over the money.Kennedy spokeswoman Laura Capps said the senator used that idea as a starting point but opted for a plan that allows money to get to the affected schools more quickly. Participating schools would be banned from discriminating based on religion, race or gender, she said."We are pleased that senators from both parties understand the hurricane did not discriminate between public and private schools, and neither should our public leaders," said Scott Jensen, director of national projects for the Alliance for School Choice.But the bill's civil rights protections may not be enforceable in the private schools if they get their federal money indirectly, said Tanya Clay, senior deputy director of public policy for the liberal People for The American Way. "It's murky," she said.The program would last for one year only. Terri Schroeder, senior lobbyist for the American Civil Liberties Union, said it would set a precedent: "What about the next crisis? What you're saying is that it is now acceptable to divert massive amounts of public funding."In the House, Republican education leaders this week introduced legislation that would create accounts for parents of children affected by the hurricane, worth up to $6,700 per student. Students could use the money to attend a public or private school for one year.Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

BATON ROUGE, Louisiana (AP) -- The sun is barely up, but the movie theater parking lot holds dozens of cars.There's no early matinee. The cars belong to Hurricane Katrina refugees from New Orleans -- nursing students waiting for class to start.So in Theater 4, nursing management will be followed by "Serenity." After the Research in Nursing class, "Elizabethtown" is showing in Theater 6. An anatomy exam in 7 precedes "The Gospel." And in Theater 11, Mothers and Childbearing Families (aka obstetrics) is followed by the Wallace and Gromit movie "The Curse of the Were Rabbit.""It's just like an auditorium-style classroom," says Jenelle Johnson, 24. "They use PowerPoint. But we can smell popcorn on our way out."And there aren't any flip-up desktops -- something that helps explain the big box of free clipboards plopped in front of the theater, along with boxes of freebie pens, pencils, notepads, scrubs and warm socks (the air-conditioning is fierce) donated by businesses and other schools.Louisiana State University's nursing school gets to use the theater free as long as everyone clears out by 11 a.m. Other classes are held at more predictable spots around Baton Rouge, though many dental school courses are taught at the LSU School of Veterinary Medicine.While New Orleans' universities will not reopen until spring semester, LSU's medical school cranked up again just a month after Katrina, setting up shop in the state capital. Tulane's med school opened a week later, in Texas."We were amazed at their resilience," says Joe Keyes, senior vice president of the Association of American Medical Colleges.The vast majority of medical students -- LSU's 2,800 and Tulane's 2,600 -- stayed with their schools. The dental school reports only one of its 316 students transferred.Student living conditions vary. Johnson, who will graduate within months, lives half of the time on a Finnish ferry in the Port of Baton Rouge with students and faculty members. She also lives part-time with an aunt.The ferry, FinnJet, which had sailed the Baltic Sea for nearly 30 years, was obtained for housing by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Students get to live there free; about 500 have taken the offer."The food is great," Johnson says.There is the occasional collision between Nordic and Southern tastes -- the grits served are too watery and too finely ground, for instance."They try to get the grits out of grits," says Alecia Oden, an occupational therapy student.Oden owns a house on New Orleans' Louisiana Avenue. "It's 50-50," she says. "Fifty percent wet, 50 percent not. Not including the mold all over the walls."Dr. John Rock, chancellor of the LSU Health Sciences Center, says it was crucial to get the medical school back in business quickly. Other schools had begun recruiting top teachers and researchers almost immediately, he says."This class -- the class of 2005-2006, these men and women -- will be an important part of our recovery effort. They will be staffing our hospitals, caring for our patients," Rock says. "We felt it was just so important we not fall behind a year."Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

DENVER, Colorado (AP) -- Southwest Airlines Co. will resume service in Denver next year after a 20-year absence, likely triggering lower fares yet posing fresh problems for airlines already struggling with higher fuel prices.Although Southwest has shunned Denver International Airport for more than a decade because of its high costs, the Dallas-based carrier -- in the midst of an expansion -- reconsidered because those costs have declined.It will compete head-to-head against United Airlines as it emerges from bankruptcy and Denver-based Frontier Airlines Inc., which together have about 75 percent of DIA's market.Frontier shares slumped 29 percent on the news, closing at $7.68 a share on the Nasdaq Stock Market, less than $1 above their 52-week low.Representatives of both United, which operates a lower-cost subsidiary dubbed Ted, and the low-fare Frontier noted they already face Southwest in other cities and that they will be competitive on ticket prices when Southwest is in Denver.Details on when and where it will fly, and for how much, are scheduled to be released next week."We've been concerned about the costs at DIA in the past but they have done a remarkable job in getting their costs downs to levels that make sense to Southwest Airlines," Southwest Chief Executive Gary Kelly said.Another factor was current ticket prices at DIA, which he called high. "We'll have a modest start in Denver early next year and we'll just have to take it from there," Kelly said during a conference call with reporters.Airport officials, who have courted Southwest since DIA opened in 1995, said the airline will generate new competition, which will be good for passengers."It's a solid airline with a great reputation," airport spokesman Steve Snyder said. "It's one that people have been asking about since the airport opened."Competition heats upSouthwest operated in Denver from 1983 to 1986 but refused to return when DIA opened in 1995 because of costs. At the time, airlines paid an average of $16.85 per passenger in fees associated with landings, gate rent and other lease costs.That average has dropped to an estimated $14.30 per passenger in 2005 as airport officials have reduced operating expenses, debt has leveled off and passenger traffic has grown, airport finance manager Amy Weston said.Each airline pays a different per-passenger rate because of the variables involved in its operation. United Airlines' fee today is about $20 while Frontier pays closer to $8 to $9, Weston said. Southwest also would pay about $8 to $9 per passenger.In addition, non-airline revenue from such services as parking and concessions has increased from $6.88 per passenger in 1995 to $9.29 estimated for 2005, she said.The development comes as airlines have grappled with rising fuel prices and aggressive competition that has kept rates low.United, with 56.7 percent of the Denver market, and Frontier, with 17.3 percent, will face challenges with the addition of Southwest, airline analyst Ray Neidl of Calyon Securities said."They're going to affect the pricing structure that Frontier and United are somewhat living with," he said. "It's a fairly high-fare market. That's one of the things Southwest looks for."Aviation analyst Mike Boyd of The Boyd Group predicted fares would not drop significantly because he believes they already have been lowered by the competition between United and Frontier."There is no guarantee that Southwest won't get pummeled in Denver," he said.Frontier spokesman Joe Hodas said he expects the airline to stay competitive. "We've been building this airline for 12 years to compete against anybody, Southwest or otherwise," he said.United spokesman Jeff Green said the airline is awaiting details about Southwest's routes and frequencies. "United will be competitive," he said.United, which is based in Elk Grove, Illinois, also owns the Denver-based discount carrier Ted, and has contracts with regional airlines that operate under the United Express flag. United's parent, UAL Corp., does not release separate financial results for Ted, which started service in February 2004.Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

LAS VEGAS, Nevada (AP) -- It's been about a decade since some Las Vegas resorts tried to market themselves as family destinations. The emphasis on fun for the kiddies has since given way to marketing dance clubs and $300 bottles of liquor to 20-somethings -- not to mention selling golf resorts and celebrity chefs to 50-somethings. For a mother of two, the line "What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas" can only mean that you'd rather forget that your kid threw up on a thrill ride here.But while the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority has found that visitors with children make up only 10 percent of tourists, the city remains on the must-see list for many families. It's also near enough to places like Disneyland (265 miles away) and the Grand Canyon (275 miles away) to be included on itineraries for regional family trips.And even though there are plenty of ways to blow your money here, Las Vegas can be surprisingly affordable for a family vacation. Good deals abound for airfare and hotels, and many attractions are free. Besides, it's illegal for anyone under 21 to "loiter" in a casino. That means families can walk past slot machines to get to a restaurant, but Mom and Dad can't gamble the college funds away with Junior in tow.After friends raved about the fun they'd had in Vegas with their kids, my husband and I decided to check it out. But we were skeptical. Our mental images of the place were a patchwork of old Vegas -- a boozy, smoky, tacky place populated by losers in plaid jackets -- and new Vegas, where we assumed we'd scoff at the faux Brooklyn Bridge and absurd Eiffel Tower. After all, we live a mile from the real bridge in New York. We'd climbed the real tower in Paris. How could Vegas be anything but a joke?Surprise! The real Las Vegas was beautiful, sparkling, and thrilling. As New Yorkers, we are not accustomed to walking around other cities with our jaws open and our eyes fixed upwards saying "Wow!" That is a reaction we have only observed in other people visiting Manhattan. But that's exactly what we did as we toured the Strip with thousands of other tourists taking in one dazzling extravaganza after another.We walked across the mini-Brooklyn Bridge at the New York-New York hotel-casino and took pictures of the mini-Eiffel Tower, a perfect golden jewel outside the Paris Las Vegas hotel. We were hypnotized by the dancing fountains at Bellagio and loved the pyrotechnics of the volcano that blows up periodically outside The Mirage. The kids would have watched the lions in the glass cage at MGM Grand hotel all night if I hadn't pulled them away.The pirate battle staged outside Treasure Island was free and as entertaining as some Broadway shows I've seen -- only we didn't have to pay $60 for lousy seats. Sexy dancing girls on one ship faced off against cute pirate boys on another ship in a mini-operetta that includes fireworks and choreographed diving maneuvers worthy of the Olympics. (Some parents, however, may judge the bump-and-grind dancing and innuendos too racy for a family audience.)Dare I admit that we liked the ersatz black pyramid and statue of Pharoah at the Luxor as much as the Egyptian wing at the Metropolitan Museum? And the indoor roller coasters at the Adventuredome inside Circus Circus proved thrilling, even though we'd visited Disneyland and Universal Studios a week earlier. P.S., at $22.95 for an all-day pass, Circus Circus was a lot cheaper. The hotel also offers free live shows by circus performers.For those with bigger budgets, there are plenty more ways to empty your wallet with children at your side, including the Eiffel Tower Experience ($7 for children, $9 adults); the Manhattan Express Roller Coaster at New York-New York ($12.50); "Star Trek: The Experience" at the Hilton ($33.99 children, $36.99 adults), and the Shark Reef at Mandalay Bay ($9.95 children, $15.95 adults).Choosing where to stay is one of the hardest decisions visitors to Las Vegas make. Every hotel offers something special. We went with the Monte Carlo because of the pool complex and because of its accessibility. You can walk to many other attractions from there, and its layout makes it fast and easy to get from your room to the street, garage or pool. This is no small consideration in Las Vegas, where people can miss their flights because it takes so long to exit massive hotels with multiple wings and thousands of rooms.Our game plan was to spend daylight hours poolside, then to see the Strip lit up at night. We spent hours in the Monte Carlo's lazy river -- the water feels marvelously cool when it's hot outside (it was 109 degrees when we visited in August), and it's heated in winter. And the current in the river is so strong you don't even need a tube -- you just float along. You can rent or buy tubes at the pool, but like other budget-conscious families we saw, we brought inflatable tubes from home.Fine cuisine is wasted on small children, so dining in the fabled restaurants at Wynn Las Vegas or Bellagio was never on our agenda. For lunch, we grazed from the poolside concession. A fruit platter -- a cornucopia of fresh pineapple, luscious berries and perfect cantaloupe -- was a welcome change from the usual junky snacks we eat on vacation.For supper, we went to the Peppermill, a diner that dates all the way back to 1972 -- an eternity in Vegas years. Compared to the rest of the city, the glitz here is low-key, yet it's sparkly and fun. Good service, reasonable prices, and the kids found plenty they liked. Order sparingly -- portions are enormous.For breakfast, the two-for-one buffet at our hotel was good, and the performance by the omelet chef was amazing. Part artist, part machine, he juggled four or five orders at once and executed each to perfection within moments.Our hotel front desk said we could keep our hotel room key card, now deactivated, as a pool pass for the day after we checked out, or as a memento. It's now a treasured part of my 12-year-old's Vegas keepsakes -- along with a "What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas" T-shirt.Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

OSLO, Norway (Reuters) -- Greenland's ice cap has thickened slightly in recent years despite wide predictions of a thaw triggered by global warming, a team of scientists said on Thursday.The 9,842-feet thick ice cap is a key concern in debates about climate change because a total melt would raise world sea levels by about 7 meters. And a runaway thaw might slow the Gulf Stream that keeps the North Atlantic region warm.But satellite measurements showed that more snowfall was falling and thickening the ice cap, especially at high altitudes, according to the report in the journal Science.Glaciers at sea level have been retreating fast because of a warming climate, making many other scientists believe the entire ice cap was thinning."The overall ice thickness changes are ... approximately plus 1.9 inches a year or 21.26 inches over 11 years," according to the experts at Norwegian, Russian and U.S. institutes led by Ola Johannessen at the Mohn Sverdrup center for Global Ocean Studies and Operational Oceanography in Norway.However, they said that the thickening seemed consistent with theories of global warming, blamed by most experts on a build-up of heat-trapping gases from burning fossil fuels in power plants, factories and cars.Warmer air, even if it is still below freezing, can carry more moisture. That extra moisture falls as snow below 32 Fahrenheit.And the scientists said that the thickening of the ice-cap might be offset by a melting of glaciers around the fringes of Greenland. Satellite data was not good enough to measure the melt nearer sea level.Most models of global warming indicate that the Greenland ice might melt within thousands of years if warming continues.Oceans would rise by about 70 meters if the far bigger ice-cap on Antarctica melted along with Greenland. Antarctica's vast size acts as a deep freeze likely to slow any melt of the southern continent.The panel that advises the United Nations has predicted that global sea levels might rise by almost a meter by 2100 because of a warming climate.Such a rise would swamp low-lying Pacific islands and warming could trigger more hurricanes, droughts, spread deserts and drive thousands of species to extinction.Still, a separate study in Science on Thursday said sea levels were probably rising slightly because of a melt of ice sheets."Ice sheets now appear to be contributing modestly to sea level rise because warming has increased mass loss from coastal areas more than warming has increased mass gain from enhanced snowfall in cold central regions," it said."Greenland presently makes the largest contribution to sea level rise," according to the report by scientists led by Richard Alley of Pennsylvania State University in the United States.Copyright 2005 Reuters. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

SAN FRANCISCO, California (AP) -- Federal regulators on Thursday approved what would be the first transplant of fetal stem cells into human brains, a procedure that if successful could open the door to treating a host of neural disorders.The transplant recipients will be children who suffer from a rare, fatal genetic disorder.The Food and Drug Administration said that doctors at Stanford University Medical Center can begin the testing on six children afflicted with Batten disease, a degenerative malady that renders its young victims blind, speechless and paralyzed before it kills them.An internal Stanford review board must still approve the test, a process that could take weeks.The stem cells to be transplanted in the brain aren't human embryonic stem cells, which are derived from days-old embryos. Instead, the cells are immature neural cells that are destined to turn into the mature cells that makeup a fully formed brain.Parkinson's disease patients and stroke victims have received transplants of fully formed brain cells before, but the malleable brain cells involved here have never before been implanted.Batten disease is caused by a defective gene that fails to create an enzyme needed in the brain to help dispose of brain cellular waste. The waste piles up and kills healthy cells until the patient dies. Most victims die before they reach their teens.The idea is to inject the sick kids with healthy, immature neural stem cells that will "engraft" in a brain that will direct them to turn into cells able to produce the missing enzyme.Such an experiment showed promise in Batten-afflicted mice, but such an ethically charged test has never been tried before in humans."I'm sure there is no threat to anyone's identity," said Arthur Caplan, director of the University of Pennsylvania's Center for Bioethics. "But we are starting down that road."What's more, some of the brain cells to be implanted will be derived from aborted fetuses, which Caplan also said raised ethical concerns for some.Concern expectedStem Cells Inc., the Palo Alto, California biotechnology company developing the Batten disease treatment, said it receives its fetal tissue from a nonprofit California foundation that also collects tissue from miscarriages and other surgical processes. Stem Cells chief executive Martin McGlynn declined to name the foundation.Stem Cells Inc. first applied for the human test last December, but the FDA demanded more information in February and put the application on hold. An FDA spokeswoman didn't return telephone calls or an e-mail inquiry.McGlynn said the FDA wanted more information on where the transplanted brain cells were expected to go in the brain and other related health issues such as the chances the transplant might cause tumors. McGlynn also said the agency wanted more information on its manufacturing process and more details about the design of the six-patient test.He said the FDA's concern was expected."This endeavor is unique. It's pioneering and no one has ever proposed to do what we are attempting," McGlynn said. "Once you put those stem cells in, you can't get them back."Stanford University neurosurgeon chief Dr. Stephen Huhn will bore small holes through each child's skull and inject the neural cells into the patients' brains. The children will be given drugs to ensure the patients immune system doesn't attack the new cells and they will be closely monitored for a year.Huhn said the initial Batten trial will primarily test whether the millions of new cells each child receives is safe for them. Ultimately, more tests with many more patients over several years will be needed to determine whether the transplanted cells help Batten patients.Human testingIf there is success, people afflicted by other brain disorders could benefit from such treatment."This may be what the future may hold for regenerative medicine," Huhn said.Stem Cells Inc. was founded by Stanford University researcher Irving Weissman. The company's stock closed up 11 cents to $4.96 in trading Thursday on the Nasdaq Stock Market.McGlynn said Batten disease was chosen because mice genetically engineered with the disease were readily available and because it's a brutal, fatal disease with no cure -- a fact the FDA considered when weighing whether to approve such a novel human experiment.McGlynn said the stem cells had to be tested in humans."You cannot ask a mouse how it's feeling," he said.For Marcus Kerner, a federal prosecutor in Santa Ana, California with a Batten-afflicted son, the FDA's approval Thursday gave him hope his child may actually survive.He said he will apply to have his 5-year-old son Daniel enrolled in the experiment."It is a horrific, terrible way to watch a child die and there is currently nothing available to stop it," Kerner said. "I think this is going to be a major medical breakthrough that will save Daniel's life."Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

HARRISBURG, Pennsylvania (AP) -- Child-welfare officials obtained an emergency court order to seize a baby just 24 hours after he was born, contending the infant would be unsafe because his father is a convicted sex offender.The hospital, however, refused to hand over the infant so soon after birth, according to a lawyer representing the mother, Melissa WolfHawk.WolfHawk, 31, is due in court Friday for a hearing, said Mary Catherine Roper, an American Civil Liberties Union lawyer representing the mother.The child was born Tuesday, and Schuylkill County Children and Youth Services was granted the order Wednesday. The agency expressed concerns that the boy could be in danger because his 53-year-old father, DaiShin WolfHawk, was convicted of rape and sodomy more than two decades ago in New York."Melissa is leaving the hospital tonight," Roper said Thursday. "Schuylkill County is going to show up at the hospital sometime tomorrow morning to pick up the baby, who will be released when the hospital is ready to release him."A hospital administrator said Thursday he couldn't talk about the issue, citing patient privacy rules.Roper said the child services agency also raised concerns about the mother's alleged history of drug abuse. The WolfHawks had already gone to court because county officials were asking about the pregnancy. A federal judge placed a temporary restraining order on county officials to keep them from doing so.DaiShin WolfHawk said he and his wife were "appalled" at the county's actions."Here's a baby being breast-fed by its mother, and they're saying that the mother's a danger to the baby," DaiShin WolfHawk said. "What were they doing? They were trying to grab the baby before it even had its shots, circumcised, anything."The boy, whose name he declined to disclose, was born at Jennersville Regional Hospital in West Grove, about 60 miles south of Pottsville, where Melissa WolfHawk lives. Mother and child were still together at the hospital as of Thursday morning.DaiShin WolfHawk pleaded guilty under the name John Joseph Lentini in 1983 to rape and sodomy in a case involving two teenage girls.At Monday's hearing, the county produced a doctor's report that Melissa WolfHawk had acknowledged using cocaine and methamphetamine and working as a prostitute. The county also submitted a New York parole document indicating DaiShin WolfHawk sexually abused his daughter. The WolfHawks have vigorously denied those allegations.Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Bush, jarred by investigations of White House officials and congressional leaders and an uproar over his Supreme Court nomination, said Thursday there was "some background noise here, a lot of chatter" complicating the work of his administration.But he said, "The American people expect me to do my job, and I'm going to."Bush's comments, at a Rose Garden news conference with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, reflected the administration's argument that its agenda is moving forward despite a growing list of problems.The president promised to remain focused on seeking peace in the Mideast, invigorating the economy, rebuilding the hurricane-shattered Gulf Coast and protecting it from the new storm approaching this weekend. At the same time, he said, "There's some background noise here, a lot of chatter, a lot of speculation and opining."White House officials are quietly anxious about the outcome of events over which they have little control. It's an uncomfortable position for an administration that likes to steer the agenda and has a reputation for protecting its secrets. Now, administration officials are asking reporters what they're hearing.CIA leaks investigationThe most immediate problem is the investigation by Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald to determine whether there was a concerted administration effort to illegally divulge Valerie Plame's CIA identity because her husband publicly questioned Bush on the Iraq war. The central figures in the investigation are White House deputy chief of staff Karl Rove and I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney. Both Rove and Libby talked to reporters before Plame was unmasked."We don't know what all the facts are," said White House press secretary Scott McClellan. "All of us would like to know what they are and get to the bottom of this."While Bush asserted that his agenda was moving ahead, his most ambitious domestic proposals on Social Security and taxes already have been shelved. GOP congressional leaders huddled with the president this week on a legislative agenda that had been pared to only the must-do items of the federal budget, Katrina recovery, Patriot Act renewal and the Harriet Miers nomination.The conclusion of Fitzgerald's two-year investigation, expected within days, bears down on the White House amid other troubles.Harriet Miers nominationBush's pick of Miers, the White House counsel, for the Supreme Court disappointed many of his longtime conservative allies and puzzled some Republicans in Congress. Also, the White House is still reeling from criticism of its slow reaction to the misery caused by Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans.Further complicating Bush's plans are investigations of former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, on conspiracy and money-laundering charges in Texas, and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist for stock transactions.Weary of the CIA investigation and the uncertainty it has brought, presidential aides say they just wish it would end. Officials say they don't talk about the investigation or its outcome at meetings because they don't want to give the appearance of colluding against Fitzgerald. They acknowledge there is an expectation that if any White House official is indicted, he will resign.Speculation on replacementsIndeed, officials have been speculating about who would move in to replace Rove or Libby if they were forced out. The consulting firm jointly headed by one possible Rove replacement, GOP strategist Ed Gillespie, has begun considering how Gillespie's clients might be reassigned if he were tapped for a White House assignment and how to handle the other ramifications of a White House move.Others close to the White House defend it as a place filled with professionals who are getting on with the business of governing amid the distractions. Veteran Republican strategist Charles Black said Rove has taken some time away to prepare for grand jury testimony but otherwise has been as engaged as ever on issues ranging from spending cuts to Miers."I haven't noticed, for the most part, anything unusual going on," Black said.Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Police blew up suspicious packages in a car parked near the U.S. Capitol on Friday, more than two hours after the two occupants told authorities the vehicle contained a bomb.The U.S. Department of Labor building, less than two blocks away, was shut down, CNN's Ed Henry said. That building is at the corner of Third and Constitution. The vehicle is parked in the 100 block of First Street N.W.No evacuations were ordered for the Capitol, about another two blocks away. But some streets in the area were blocked off, amid heavy police presence.Police interviewed the car's occupants, both white males and released one who claimed he was a hitchhiker. The driver was held.The driver has been identified as a U.S. citizen who flew from Mexico to Chicago on Tuesday and then rented a car in Fort Myers, Florida, said Department of Homeland Security spokesman Brian Doyle. Doyle said he did not know how the man got from Chicago to Fort Myers.Doyle did confirm the car had more than one package, contrary to earlier reports. Just how many was not clear.Video from the scene showed members of the U.S. Capitol Police bomb squad approach the gray 2005 Chevrolet Impala, then unreel detonation cord from the vehicle. At 1:11 p.m., the packages were "disrupted," a police term for destroyed. The back door on the driver's side blew open, and glass flew from the car. Shortly after the explosion, bomb squad members, dressed in green hazardous material suits, combed through the vehicle, rifling through the trunk and the interior of the car. Federal law enforcement officials are considering filing charges against the driver.They likely would involve a violation of the federal law against making a threat and giving false information about an attempt to destroy property with a bomb, said federal law enforcement authorities familiar with similar threats to government facilities in Washington.The maximum penalty for a conviction on such a charge is 10 years in prison.Sgt. Jessica Gissubel, spokeswoman for the U.S. Capitol Police, said the men had parked the car around 10:50 a.m. and "made comments to our officers which rose their suspicion." CNN's Ed Henry contributed to this report.

(Entertainment Weekly) -- A San Francisco antiques dealer dies under suspicious circumstances days before she is scheduled to lead a group of rich American tourists through Southeast Asia. The trip goes forward, but on Christmas morning the travelers vanish without a trace in the Burmese jungle.Could you ask for a juicier set-up for a novel? The bare-bones synopsis of "Saving Fish From Drowning" has everything. Mystery. Steamy tropical backdrops. International intrigue. Culture shock. A quirky cast of characters. With this fertile material, the sly and gifted Amy Tan could have written a sensational thriller, updated "Heart of Darkness," or better yet, delivered a powerful and timely novel about clueless Americans abroad in a hostile, post-9/11 world.And so it is with extreme disappointment that I report that Tan has done none of the above. Instead, she has whipped up a frothy social comedy about ugly-American gaffes, Third World latrines, phallus-shaped plants, and the patently absurd case of an adolescent boy mistaken for a god.But if you drastically lower your expectations, you can enjoy this bagatelle as the witty and fluffy fare it's intended to be.Bibi Chen -- ''a petite, feisty Chinese woman, opinionated, and hilarious'' -- narrates from beyond the grave. Her throat has been slashed -- no one is sure why or how -- with a jeweled haircomb as she was stringing Christmas lights through her posh antiques store. Bibi soon discovers that her spirit is trapped between life and the afterlife. She peers down at her own funeral, disparaging the unflattering makeup on her corpse, then decides to tag along as omniscient observer on the high-end tour she intended to lead through China and Burma.The 12 travelers are wealthy San Franciscans who behave with only slightly more decorum than Aggies on spring break. Harry Bailley, a dog trainer obsessed with his virility, has brought along two condoms and plots with whom he will use them. He rules out neurotic Heidi (she wears an air sanitizer around her neck) and instead opts for Marlena, whose bosom may be smaller but, he imagines, ''would react lusciously to his touch.'' Political activist Wendy Brookhyser struggles to focus on the plight of the oppressed when what she really cares about is getting her boyfriend, Wyatt, to declare his love. Wyatt, meanwhile, is equally determined to avoid such a declaration.Tan has a grand time describing the sudsy alliances among these frivolous cosmopolites and skewering their liberal-elite foibles. The filthier a restaurant, for instance, the more they gush over its ''authenticity.'' The same mentality eventually leads them into peril as they board a stranger's truck and let him drive them deeper and deeper into the jungle. As Bibi reports, ''the unorthodox truck and the difficulty and roughness of the passage further convinced them that the surprise must indeed be worth the trouble, and extremely rare, that is, unavailable to most tourists. ...''To disclose the fate of Tan's characters would spoil the novel's suspense. Then again, the preposterous fate Tan has concocted for them almost spoils the novel. Though she's a top-notch observer of the upper-class American abroad, her characters are tethered to a weirdly loopy and farcical story line. The rich, sinister material and Tan's sharply drawn tourists deserve better.EW Grade: B-'Beethoven: The Universal Composer,' Edmund MorrisReviewed by Gregory KirschlingWho's the greatest artist of all time? Michelangelo? Shakespeare? Kanye West? My vote is for Beethoven. No work shoots higher, plunges deeper, or bleeds with more passion than his nine symphonies alone. You don't need to know anything about classical music to love him, or to enjoy presidential biographer Edmund Morris' fleet mini-bio, "Beethoven: The Universal Composer," an ideal starting point toward ultimate appreciation. The spellbinding paradox of Beethoven's life was that the more tragic it got -- he went deaf, and borderline nuts -- the more magnificent his music-making became. Take the Ninth Symphony, the last piano sonatas, and the late string quartets.''All these perfections,'' explains Morris, ''arose out of psychosis, like nebulae spun out of deep space.'' They still give off more light than just about anything else in the universe.EW Grade: A-'A Wedding in December,' Anita ShreveReviewed by Lynette RiceThe latest novel from best-selling author Anita Shreve ("Light on Snow") chronicles a weekend in the life of seven fortysomething high school chums who gather at a scenic mountain B&B to celebrate the nuptials of one of their own. Inn owner and new widow Nora presides over the affair, which quickly devolves into a flurry of woulda-coulda-shouldas among the angst-filled group as they fret over a lifetime of missed romantic opportunities. The book stalls whenever Agnes, the teacher, sits down to write (we read the fruits of her labor). In the end, "A Wedding in December's" characters -- specifically the married Harrison, who manages to bed his long-lost lust, Nora -- represent the perfect union of selfish, unlikable souls.EW Grade: C

(CNN) -- Around this time of year -- like a visit from the flu bug -- Hollywood is bitten by a severe case of B.O.B, "Blatant Oscar Bid." "North Country" is one of this year's first full-blown cases.Three Oscar winners are in the cast just to help make the point. Charlize Theron stars as Josey Aimes, a poverty-ridden single mother escaping an abusive relationship who becomes an unlikely activist against a male dominated mining company.Sissy Spacek plays her emotionally conflicted mother, and Frances McDormand gives a great turn as her friend, Glory, another female miner, who is responsible for helping Josey get her job in the first place.Attempting to follow in the steps of "Silkwood," Norma Rae," and "Erin Brockovich," "North Country" carries its importance like a tattered flag. It never lets you forget that this is a meaningful film about an important subject.This movie -- very, very, very loosely based on a true story -- tells the tale of a group women of who broke the status quo by working as iron miners in the remote, male-dominated world of northern Minnesota's Iron Range.The movie is framed by scenes in a courtroom as Josey brings a class action suit against the mine for sexual harassment. The story then returns to the courtroom throughout the film in order to underscore what is happening at the mine.HarassmentIt's the 1980s and Josey, her young daughter and adolescent son have fled from her abusive husband. They end up at her parents' house in the town where she grew up.Her father, played by Richard Jenkins ("Six Feet Under"), works at the local mine and is less than pleased to see his daughter. Her mother, played by Spacek, is more supportive.Josey is working a dead-end job in a beauty parlor when she's convinced by Glory -- over her parents' strong objections -- to take a job at the local iron mine. The sexual harassment begins immediately, ranging from adolescent locker room pranks to attempted rape.Soon Josey seeks out the help of a local man, Bill White (Woody Harrelson), a lawyer who has given up practicing law after a successful, but unfulfilling, career in New York City.He takes her case not because of its merits, but for the challenge (and notoriety): It would be the first sexual harassment class action suit in history against a major corporation, and would therefore change the course of how women are treated in the workplace.But in order to have a class action suit there must be three complaints, and none of the other women -- including Glory -- are willing to rock the boat. They desperately want Josey to go along to get along, and therefore leave her hanging out to dry.Now the film degenerates into one overwrought and poorly written scene after another. The harassment increases. The courtroom scenes become longer and longer. The mining company's lawyer -- a single token woman without another attorney in sight for the defense -- constantly reminds the company's CEO that if any one else joins the case, all is lost.Finally, the movie gets to its dramatic courtroom showdown -- and loses whatever credibility it had. Without revealing too much, a sudden, left-field revelation changes the entire case and the once-alone Josey now has a cheering section. The turn of events is so patently false and trite I wanted to throw my notebook at the screen. Even Frank Capra would have been embarrassed.Yes, the acting is excellent (despite Michael Seitzman's clich�d dialogue), and Niki Caro's direction straightforwardly captures the bleakness of the living and working conditions suffered by the miners. The talent offered by the film is obvious.But all the talent in the world is no excuse for a movie essentially designed as Oscar bait. If you want to see a fine film about working-class laborers taking on the big boys, try "Norma Rae." If you want to see good performances and cinematography wasted in a mediocre movie, that would be "North Country."

HERMISTON, Oregon (AP) -- Parked alongside his onion fields, Bob Hale can prop open a laptop and read his e-mail or, with just a keystroke, check the moisture of his crops.As the jack rabbits run by, he can watch CNN online, play a video game or turn his irrigation sprinklers on and off, all from the air conditioned comfort of his truck.While cities around the country are battling over plans to offer free or cheap Internet access, this lonely terrain is served by what is billed as the world's largest hotspot, a wireless cloud that stretches over 700 square miles of landscape so dry and desolate it could have been lifted from a cowboy tune.Similar wireless projects have been stymied in major metropolitan areas by telephone and cable TV companies, which have poured money into legislative bills aimed at discouraging such competition. In Philadelphia, for instance, plans to blanket the entire city with Wi-Fi fueled a battle in the Pennsylvania legislature with Verizon Communications Inc., leading to a law that limits the ability of every other municipality in the state to do the same.But here among the thistle, large providers such as local phone company Qwest Communications International Inc. see little profit potential. So wireless entrepreneur Fred Ziari drew no resistance for his proposed wireless network, enabling him to quickly build the $5 million cloud at his own expense.While his service is free to the general public, Ziari is recovering the investment through contracts with more than 30 city and county agencies, as well as big farms such as Hale's, whose onion empire supplies over two-thirds of the red onions used by the Subway sandwich chain. Morrow County, for instance, pays $180,000 a year for Ziari's service.Each client, he said, pays not only for yearly access to the cloud but also for specialized applications such as a program that allows local officials to check parking meters remotely."Internet service is only a small part of it. The same wireless system is used for surveillance, for intelligent traffic system, for intelligent transportation, for telemedicine and for distance education," said Ziari, who immigrated to the United States from the tiny Iranian town of Shahi on the Caspian Sea.It's revolutionizing the way business is conducted in this former frontier town."Outside the cloud, I can't even get DSL," said Hale. "When I'm inside it, I can take a picture of one of my onions, plug it into my laptop and send it to the Subway guys in San Diego and say, 'Here's a picture of my crop."''Getting the go-ahead'Even as the number of Wi-Fi hotspots continues to mushroom, with 72,140 now registered globally, only a handful of cities have managed to blanket their entire urban core with wireless Internet access.Hundreds of cities from San Francisco to Philadelphia have announced plans to throw a wireless tarp over their communities, and a few smaller ones such as Chaska, Minnesota, have succeeded. But only Ziari appears to have pinned down such a large area.The wireless network uses both short-range Wi-Fi signals and a version of a related, longer-range technology known as WiMax. While Wi-Fi and WiMax antennas typically connect with the Internet over a physical cable, the transmitters in this network act as wireless relay points, passing the signal along through a technique known as "meshing."Ziara's company built the towers to match the topography. They are as close as a quarter-of-a-mile apart inside towns like Hermiston, and as far apart as several miles in the high-desert wilderness.Asked why other municipalities have had a harder time succeeding, he replies: "Politics.""If we get a go-ahead, we can do a fairly good-sized city in a month or two," said Ziari. "The problem is getting the go-ahead.""The 'Who's-going-to-get-a-piece-of-the action?' has been a big part of the obstacles," said Karen Hanley, senior marketing director of the Austin, Texas-based Wi-Fi Alliance, an industry group.No major players were vying for the action here, making the area's remoteness -- which in the past slowed technological progress -- the key to its advance.Morrow County, which borders Hermiston and spans 2,000 square miles, still doesn't have a single traffic light. It only has 11,000 people, a number that does not justify a large telecom player making a big investment, said Casey Beard, the director of emergency management for the county.Beard was looking for a wireless provider two years ago when Ziari came knocking. The county first considered his proposal at the end of 2002 and by mid-2003, part of the cloud was up.The high desert around Hermiston also happens to be the home of one of the nation's largest stockpiles of Cold War-era chemical weapons. Under federal guidelines, local government officials were required to devise an emergency evacuation plan for the accidental release of nerve and mustard agents.Now, emergency responders in the three counties surrounding the Umatilla Chemical Depot are equipped with laptop computers that are Wi-Fi ready. These laptops are set up to detail the size and direction of a potential chemical leak, enabling responders to direct evacuees from the field. Traffic lights and billboards posting evacuation messages can also be controlled remotely over the wireless network."We had to find a way to transmit huge amounts of data -- pictures, plume charts.... All that data is very complex and it's hard over radio to relay to someone wearing chemical protective gear," said Beard.And for the Hermiston Police Department, having squad cars equipped with a wireless laptop means officers can work less overtime by being able to file their crime reports from the field.While the network was initially set up for the benefit of city and county officials, it's the area's businesses that stand to gain the most, say industry experts.For the Columbia River Port of Umatilla, one of the largest grain ports in the nation, the wireless network is being used to set up a high-tech security perimeter that will scan bar codes on incoming cargo."It has opened our eyes and minds to possibilities. Now that we're not tied to offices and wires and poles, now what can we do?" said Kim Puzey, port director.Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- U.S. lawmakers are urging the Bush administration to resist a push from other countries to shift control of the Internet to the United Nations, arguing that such a move would stifle innovation and free expression."Is it going to become a vehicle for global taxation of domain names? Are you going to allow folks who have demonstrated a pattern of suppression of content, are they going to be put in charge of running this thing?" said Minnesota Republican Sen. Norm Coleman, sponsor of a Senate resolution that calls for the Internet's core addressing system to remain under U.S. control.Coleman's resolution, along with similar remarks by senior lawmakers in the House of Representatives, should give a boost to U.S. negotiators as they prepare for a United Nations summit in Tunisia next month where the issue will loom large.Though no one country controls the Internet as a whole, the U.S. Commerce Department maintains final authority over the domain-name system that matches easy-to-remember names like "example.com" with the Internet Protocol numbers that are assigned to each computer on the Internet.That system is overseen by a California-based nonprofit group called the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, or ICANN.If other countries refuse to recognize ICANN's legitimacy, Internet users in different parts of the globe could wind up at different Web sites when they type "www.example.com" into their browsers.Countries like Brazil and Iran have argued in a series of meetings over the past two years that the Internet is now a global resource that should be overseen by the United Nations or some other international body.The European Union withdrew its support of the current system last month.The United States has made clear that it intends to maintain control.In an interview, Coleman said a bureaucratic body like the United Nations' International Telecommunications Union would slow innovation and extend its reach beyond the domain-name system. Countries that censor online content could use the forum to ban free expression elsewhere, he said."I don't think this is mundane. I really think you're talking about the future of the Internet here," said Coleman, a prominent UN critic who has overseen a Senate investigation into the UN's oil-for-food scandal.Since it was founded in 1998, ICANN has introduced competition into the market for domain names and expanded the number of names available by introducing new suffixes like .info and .biz. as alternatives to standbys like .com and .org.But the nonprofit body has also been plagued by infighting, charges that it does not operate in a transparent manner, and the perception that it is cowed by the U.S. government.ICANN agreed to suspend work on a proposed .xxx domain name for sex sites after the Bush administration objected in August.Despite the nonprofit group's flaws, "I don't think anyone would argue that there is any demonstrated effort to limit access, to control content, to limit growth. If anything ICANN has overseen a tremendous positive expansion," Coleman said.Copyright 2005 Reuters. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

ZAGREB, Croatia (AP) -- Croatia confirmed the country's first cases of bird flu Friday with six swans testing positive for the H5 type, the Agriculture Ministry said.Twelve swans were found dead Thursday near a pond in the village of Zdenci in eastern Croatia.It was not immediately clear if the remaining six had been tested or whether the confirmed cases had the deadly H5N1 strain, which has devastated poultry stocks across Asia and killed 60 people in the past two years. It has recently been found in birds in Russia, Turkey and Romania.The pond has been closed, ministry spokesman Mladen Pavic said, adding that the closest village is a few miles) away.The swans were tested at a veterinary clinic in the capital, Zagreb, and the samples will be sent for further testing to a lab in Britain, the ministry said.The government held a special meeting, and Prime Minister Ivo Sanader confirmed the reports in a live broadcast on the independent Nova television station. He said the country would immediately impose EU measures, including a ban on distribution of poultry in the area and the closure of free-range poultry sites.Sanader said that "all measures to contain the virus and its possible spread have been taken."Croatia has been on high alert since the lethal strain was confirmed in nearby Romania, Turkey and Russia in recent days.Earlier this week, the EU urged Croatia to step up testing as the 25-member bloc tries to manage a regional response to limit the spread of the virus.H5N1 is easily transmitted between birds, but is hard for humans to contract. Experts are closely watching the disease, however, for fear it could mutate into a form easily transmitted between humans and spark a pandemic.Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

(CNN) -- NATO has agreed to send as many as 1,000 military engineers, medics and other troops to help with earthquake relief efforts in Pakistan. The alliance will also increase airlifts of aid to Pakistan from Europe, although NATO's top official said more helicopters are desperately needed to deliver supplies to mountainous areas of Kashmir and northern Pakistan. "Pakistan needs more help and today NATO agreed to do more," NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer told reporters Friday."It is unprecedented. NATO is not a humanitarian relief organization, but the situation is so serious."His comments came as the death toll in Pakistan from the earthquake that rocked the South Asian subcontinent nearly two weeks ago rose to more than 51,000.The October 8 quake is also blamed injuring up to 67,000 in Pakistan.The latest death toll, released by the country's earthquake relief commission, followed a call by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan for a greater world response to help quake victims in Pakistan.Relief agencies say thousands more in the Himalayas face death from exposure."There are no excuses," Annan said. "If we are to show ourselves worthy of calling ourselves members of humankind, we must rise to this challenge. Our response will be no less than a measure of our humanity."UNICEF said it has yet to reach an estimated 120,000 children in Pakistan's mountainous north, and about 10,000 of those could die of hunger, hypothermia and disease within a few weeks. Annan called on international groups, such as NATO and the Organization of the Islamic Conference, to contribute helicopters, trucks and heavy-lifting equipment. Relief agencies need up to 45,000 more winterized tents, 2 million blankets and sleeping bags, water, sanitation equipment and food supplies, he said. Annan urged governments and relief agencies to send representatives "at the highest level" to a donors conference in Geneva next week.He said that international donors have pledged a little more than 8 percent -- or $37 million -- of the $312 million that relief agencies estimate is needed. (See which agencies accept donations)By contrast, donors responded to the U.N. goal for tsunami relief funds within 10 days of the Indian Ocean region disaster last December, Annan said.Some 3 million in Pakistan remain homeless, and the country now faces "a second wave of massive death," Annan said.Regional authorities in Pakistan, however, cite a much higher death toll -- more than 79,000 -- based on information filtering in from outlying areas and as more bodies are pulled from the rubble of collapsed buildings, The Associated Press reported Thursday. Kashmir border contactsMeanwhile, India has welcomed moves by Pakistan to free up the movement of people across the border that separates the disputed territory of Kashmir following the earthquake.Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf earlier this week urged India to allow the people of divided Kashmir to help each other deal with the disaster, offering free relief movement across the border.In New Delhi, Navtej Sarna of the Ministry of External affairs said the Pakistani's leader's comment was a "welcome step in line with India's policy of increasing people-to-people contact over the Line of Control."Kashmir, in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, has been disputed by Pakistan, India and China since 1947. The Line of Control divides Pakistani-controlled Kashmir from the Indian-controlled area, and the two rivals have fought three wars over the territory since 1947.New Delhi had offered helicopters to assist in relief missions, but turned down a Pakistani suggestion that it send military helicopters without crews, The Associated Press reported. Sarna said India would welcome additional contacts from Pakistan on the practical steps for allowing Kashmiris to move across the line.Still, conflict in Indian Kashmir continues with suspected Islamic militants killing the state's education minister during a raid Tuesday. (Full story)CNN's Becky Anderson, Satinder Bindra, Ram Ramgopal and Syed Mohsin Naqvi contributed to this report. Copyright 2005 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report.

TAUNTON, Massachusetts (AP) -- City officials reopened neighborhoods surrounding a storm-weakened wooden dam Friday, four days after evacuating the area because of fears that a collapse would flood downtown Taunton with several feet of water.Workers pumped millions of gallons of water from the rain-swollen lake above the Whittenton Pond Dam and began shoring up the battered structure Friday ahead of the new round of heavy rain forecast for the weekend.Some 2,000 people in the city of 50,000 had been told to leave their homes Monday. About half were allowed back Thursday night, but hundreds of residents who live close to the dam were asked to stay away. Mayor Robert G. Nunes lifted their evacuation order Friday.As downtown businesses reopened, Anthony Lentine welcomed the breakfast crowd back to his deli, estimating he lost $1,000 for each of the three days he was closed. But he didn't blame town officials for playing it safe."After seeing what happened in New Orleans, God forbid, we wouldn't want anything like that to happen here," he said.Authorities cautioned that the threat had not entirely passed for the working-class city south of Boston. A state of emergency will remain in effect until early next week."We still have the danger we had before," Fire Chief Joe Rose said. "Now we're trying to fix it."Water levels rose as the area got more than 11 inches of rain this month, including 7 inches last weekend.The pumping that began Thursday -- combined with dry weather -- greatly relieved the pressure on the 173-year-old wooden dam. But another wave of foul weather expected to arrive this weekend could push area waterways back to flood levels. With the water level lowered, officials hope to make some repairs before then.Authorities said that if the dam gave way, it could send a 6-foot wall of water surging through downtown Taunton, about a half-mile downstream."We feel very comfortable with the decision we've made," the mayor said. "We are seeing tremendous progress."Thomas Shaughnessy, 25, was headed home from a high school-turned-shelter with his girlfriend and their cat, but he wasn't convinced they're completely safe."I'm not going to lie to you," he said. "I'm scared."Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

BLUFFTON, South Carolina (AP) -- A would-be carjacker got a different kind of jolt from his intended victim's morning cup of coffee, authorities said.The suspect tapped the car window Wednesday morning with a gun and motioned the driver to get out, Chief Deputy Roy Hughes said.But the driver -- who had just bought a cup of hot coffee -- slammed the car door into the carjacker's legs, threw the coffee at his neck and face and wrestled him to the ground, Hughes said.A shot was fired during the scuffle but no one was hurt, Hughes said. He said the driver managed to get the gun from the suspect and point it at him.The suspect ran into nearby woods, Hughes said. Deputies are searching for him and two people thought to be with him who drove off during the scuffle.Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Homeland Security Department is looking to improve communication and coordination with local officials during anti-terror operations by assigning a new liaison officer to New York and possibly Los Angeles.The decision to send a full-time DHS liaison to the New York Police Department comes after criticism that a recent subway terror alert was marred by mixed signals from local and federal authorities.Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff told Rep. Peter King, R-New York, at a private meeting that he would send a member of his headquarters operation center to New York's police headquarters in lower Manhattan.DHS is also considering sending a full-time liaison to the Los Angeles Police Department, DHS spokesman Russ Knocke said Thursday. And, in the future, homeland security officials will work to put out joint statements with local officials in the event of a localized terror alert, he said."Like any relationship, you recognize you can always find ways to grow and strengthen those ties, and we've been interested in doing so," Knocke said. "We hope to move on it very quickly."King praised the move and said that, if it works in New York and Los Angeles, the agency should consider expanding the liaison program to other metropolitan areas. "They definitely need to have more of a presence in the major police departments," said King, who chairs the House Homeland Security Committee.King had criticized DHS officials for casting doubt on New York's decision to issue a public warning on October 6 about a possible bomb plot against the city transit system. In the days that followed the warning, homeland security officials cast doubt on the credibility of the threat information.Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

To ace the interview you need to know how the interviewer thinks. In his book "Knock 'em Dead: The Ultimate Job Seeker's Guide," author and job-hunting guru Martin Yate examines the interview from the employer's perspective and shares the five secrets to getting hired.Secret 1: Ability and suitability: The first secret is to show the interviewer you have both ability and suitability. Every working professional has a combination of skills that broadly define those two aspects. For example, a good computer programmer working in a bank has both technical and professional skills; that is, the ability to program a computer as well as knowledge of how to get things done in the banking industry and the capacity to work well with bankers.Yate suggests you itemize your technical and professional skills as they parallel the requirements of the job. Then recall an incident to illustrate each of those skills. If applying for a job in an industry with which you're familiar, consider highlighting your industry sensibilities by describing how you've successfully collaborated and accomplished goals with other industry professionals.Secret 2: Willingness: The second secret is not to flip out if your interviewer asks if you're willing to make coffee or take out the trash -- especially if you're looking for a job in a small office. More and more potential employers are using these questions to gauge whether you are the kind of person who is prepared to do whatever it takes to help the team.Think of a time when you went the extra mile and how your doing so helped the company. Then rehearse the story until you can tell it in 90 seconds.Secret 3: Manageability and teamwork: Avoiding a nightmare employee is a major concern for managers who develop, over time, a remarkable sixth sense when it comes to spotting and weeding out mavericks and prima donnas.Being "manageable" and a team player means that you can work independently as well as with others and can take direction and criticism. Also crucial is the ability to work and get along with a diverse workforce in terms of sex, age, religion, race, politics, abilities/disabilities or national origin.Make sure you demonstrate with words and actions that you are someone who gets along well with people and has no problem tolerating differing opinions or beliefs. Don't bring up religious, political or racial matters during the job interview.Secret 4: Professional behavior -- Yate says there are universally admired behavioral traits common to successful people in all fields: Drive, motivation, communication skills, team chemistry, energy, determination, confidence, reliability, integrity, pride, dedication, analytical skills, listening skills, goal-orientation, efficiency, economy, ability to follow procedures.Yate suggests you pick several of the traits that apply to you and that you can back up with stories from your work history. The idea is to create a mental movie of an event, which is much more powerful than simply stating your strong points.Secret 5: Everyone hires for the same job: All companies are looking for problem solvers. So think of your profession in terms of its problem-solving responsibilities. Then, identify a list of related problems you have solved for your past employers. Come up with specific examples for as many different success stories as you can think of. Then, ask what the first projects you as an employee would be involved in if hired. From there, you can select the most relevant problem-solving examples to share. When reciting these examples use the following formula:State the problemIsolate relevant background informationList your key qualitiesRecall the solutionDetermine what the solution was worthRemember, stories help interviewers visualize you solving their problems -- as a paid member of the team.Keep these secrets in mind when preparing for your next interview. Approaching the interview from the employer's perspective and demonstrating your strengths through stories will cast you in a great light and make it hard for the interviewer to forget you.

(CNN) -- CNN.com asked readers what suggestions they had for improved local response to emergencies. Here is a sampling of those responses, some of which have been edited:The only government that needs reorganization is Louisiana. Those elected officials were inept at handling the disaster. How many hurricanes hit the U.S. a year? More than one. Why can Florida, Texas, Alabama and Mississippi etc., handle these disasters without a peep from those elected officials and Louisiana's officials cry on TV about the lack of resources. There was a lack of resources because of their poor planning. They were too busy partying on Bourbon Street. Laurie, Racine, WisconsinDefinitely local and state governments should handle preparation. In the case of Katrina, the local and state authorities had four full days to prepare and evacuate (see Florida), they did not. The local authorities should be in a better position to know the needs of their citizens, not the feds! Nagin and Blanco are to blame for what happened in New Orleans. The federal government cannot be expected to handle everything. That's why states were considered sovereign. Jane Mastan, Grand Island, New YorkDisaster response should be as it is, the states' responsibility. However, counties and states should have to meet a higher standard that the federal government should set. I feel that the suburban Philadelphia county where I grew up is well prepared. I worked for a time for the county's emergency services department and saw great interaction between the local municipalities, the county, state (PEMA), and FEMA. Taking things one step further, the local ARES/RACES amateur radio operators were also part of every disaster practice, serving as a backup communications link. The radio operators would be deployed to each town police and fire station in the event of an emergency "just in case." Pete Ruggieri, Lancaster, PennsylvaniaThe military is and should be the resource of last resort. Local officials are entirely responsible for planning and organizing the response to emergencies and natural disasters. State and federal coordination are essential, but preparedness must be local. Bill Babb, Phoenix, ArizonaThis problem stems back to the civil war -- the second biggest disaster to hit the South. The rights of the states were stripped away and we've been fighting ever since to get them back. I'd love to see changes in the government -- it will never happen. We need more power in each state to make a difference. Not some central authority that is unwilling and unable to hear the will of the people. Each state has to have the power to make a difference. Kurt Owings Mills, Maryland

(CNN) -- Government response to Hurricane Katrina was sharply criticized at all levels. CNN.com asked readers what suggestions they had to improve federal response to emergencies. Here is a sampling of the responses, some of which have been edited:The government did not create Hurricane Katrina. Mother Nature did. The government is not responsible for where someone chooses to live or where hurricanes hit. People need to take responsibility for their own lives and their own mistakes. Why should the government restructure for something that may never happen again. Pam, Sterling, MichiganIf you keep tripping over furniture in the middle of the night, the solution is not to rearrange the furniture, but to turn the light on! If the local, state, and federal leadership can't make common sense decisions now, just imagine how disoriented they would be by restructuring. Jennifer Rellick, Alexandria, VirginiaFEMA should be a stand-alone organization with a strong leader answerable only to the president. Homeland Security should be ended and the enormous salaries redirected to FEMA ...and Defense Departments...even to active and reserve military to make these areas more attractive to new recruits. After all our ultimate defense is the military -- not the Department of Homeland Security, which has been so ineffective. We don't need a color-coded alert system, just competent people to help and defend us in time of need. Donna Beevers, Magnolia, ArkansasThe very first step is to return FEMA to its original mission and structure. When established under President Jimmy Carter's overall government reorganization, the whole purpose of FEMA was to be the "go to" federal agency for all kinds of natural and human-caused domestic disasters in the US -- anything that wouldn't come under the authority of the Defense Department. With the creation of the Department of Homeland Security, FEMA seems to have become downgraded in more than just its loss of cabinet-level status. Jan Thomas, Madison, WisconsinBecause of the nature of our government, state rights vs national policies, I don't see how we can work together cohesively. Perhaps a constitutional amendment is needed to ensure that specific areas of common need [are] structured and financed only by the federal government but administered by the state and locals. Any deviation from the set policies and manipulation of these funds for other uses would be considered to be a federal offense and the elected local and state government officials and their appointees would face federal criminal charges. Perhaps that would stop these "big shots out of little guns" from mishandling and misusing their specific elected and appointed powers. Christine, Providence, Rhode IslandThings need to get done fast and time is wasted trying to get authorization for every move the local government takes. The federal government needs to step in and take over quickly with heavy equipment, manpower and whatever is necessary to secure an area that is expected to be impacted by a natural disaster or otherwise. Local governmental can't do it alone. Millions of our tax dollars are now going to pay for this so-called Department of Homeland Security. What good is it doing? At the rate it seems to be going, who needs terrorists to do damage to this country, we've got the Department of Homeland Security! Gerry Corriveau, N. Scitute, Rhode IslandFEMA has no business being under Homeland Security. They definitely need to be separate entities. Responding to a hurricane or natural disaster is quite different from responding to a terrorist attack. Put people in charge who have experience with the priorities of the respective disasters and how to best handle them so the response is both rapid and effective. Tammy Bodge, Troy, MaineYes, it definitely needs restructuring. The president declares an emergency and alerts the various agencies FEMA, Red Cross etc. State and local governments. National Guard troops should be sent to the affected area immediately and under military commanders. State governors can request assistance, but the government is in charge once troops are dispensed to the area. That includes power over both state, and local officials. In the Katrina disaster, both the governor and the New Orleans mayor should have asked for immediate assistance and the president should have acted upon seeing that nothing was being done by them -- not waited for them to act! Federal should have power over all of them but should act in conjunction with the various state and local officials as well as government emergency planners ie., FEMA, Homeland Security, HUD, etc., and emergency agencies such as the Red Cross, Salvation Army, etc. Set up a chain of command and send it to every state in the nation so the next emergency is handled properly! Maryann Sivilich, Sugarloaf, Pennsylvania I believe the number 1 breakdown that globally hindered all of the various efforts in process immediately after the storm and flood was the breakdown in communications. I believe the current personnel structure is valid but no one had anticipated the loss of communications. Every parish in Louisiana has an OEP. Each of these offices should be equipped with military equivalent communications equipment. The communications equipment of every public emergency response department (police, fire, sheriff, etc.) should be evaluated and "drilled" on a routine basis. This should be done in all of the "high risk for natural disaster" areas in our country and coordinated through FEMA or homeland security. Tony Duhon, Lafayette, LouisianaRestructing may help if clear responsibilities are outlined. More importantly, they should hire competent individuals not each other's friends. They are individuals with backgrounds in solving process issues very quickly and those that can think of unorthodox solutions in emergency situations. Unfortunately, our government is not hiring those individuals. Chad, Atlanta, GeorgiaIt is apparent that governments at all levels -- state and federal -- are not prepared to deal with the magnitude of this catastrophic event. I believe the most responsibility lies at the feet of FEMA. I say restructure and prepare for more events that are more than likely to take place in the United States. Instead of sending billions of dollars to other countries, why isn't this money being spent in our own backyard to improve and fix the broken systems we have? Wake up America; If you think the Federal Government is going to bail you out when something horrendous happens, think again! Washington is not looking out for you -- they are lining their coffers and laughing all the way to the bank. Darlene Leard, High Point, North Carolina

LONDON, England (Reuters) -- A rat released on a deserted island off New Zealand outsmarted scientists and evaded traps, baits and sniffer dogs before being captured four months later on a neighboring island, researchers said on Wednesday.Scientists from the University of Auckland in New Zealand released the Norway rat on the 23.5-acre island of Motuhoropapa to find out why rats are so difficult to eradicate.They got more than they bargained for."Our findings confirm that eliminating a single invading rat is disproportionately difficult," James Russell and his colleagues said in a report in the science journal Nature.Despite all their efforts, including fitting the rat with a radio collar, they couldn't catch the crafty creature.After 10 weeks on the island the rodent decided it had had enough. It swam 400 meters, the longest distance recorded for a rat across open sea, to another rat-free island where it was eventually captured in a trap baited with penguin meat several weeks later.The Norway rat, which is also called the brown or sewer rat, is a husky rodent that weighs about 11 ounces and has a long tail.Invading rats on remote islands off the coast of New Zealand have been a recurring problem. Norway rats have invaded the uninhabited Noises Islands at least six times between 1981 and 2002."Our results may help in the design of conservation strategies to keep islands free of invasive rodents," Russell and team added.Copyright 2005 Reuters. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

TOPEKA, Kansas (AP) -- The Kansas Supreme Court on Friday unanimously struck down a state law that punished underage sex more severely if it involved homosexual acts. The court said "moral disapproval" of such conduct is not enough to justify the different treatment.In a case closely watched by national groups on all sides of the gay rights debate, the high court said the law "suggests animus toward teenagers who engage in homosexual sex."Gay rights groups praised the ruling, while conservatives bitterly complained that the court intruded on the Legislature's authority to make the laws.The case involved an 18-year-old man, Matthew R. Limon, who was found guilty in 2000 of performing a sex act on a 14-year-old boy and was sentenced to 17 years in prison. Had one of them been a girl, state law would have dictated a maximum sentence of 15 months.The high court ordered that Limon be resentenced as if the law treated illegal gay sex and illegal straight sex the same. He has already served more than five years.Limon's lawyer, James Esseks of the American Civil Liberties Union's Lesbian and Gay Rights Project, said: "We are very happy that Matthew will soon be getting out of prison. We are sorry there is no way to make up for the extra four years he spent in prison simply because he is gay."Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline said in a statement that he does not plan to appeal.Landmark Texas decision citedA lower court had ruled that the state could justify the harsher punishment as a way of protecting children's traditional development, fighting disease or strengthening traditional values. But the Supreme Court said the law was too broad to meet those goals."The statute inflicts immediate, continuing and real injuries that outrun and belie any legitimate justification that may be claimed for it," Justice Marla Luckert wrote for the court. "Moral disapproval of a group cannot be a legitimate state interest."The Kansas court also cited the landmark 2003 U.S. Supreme Court decision that struck down a Texas law against gay sodomy.Limon and the other boy, identified only as M.A.R., lived at a group home for the developmentally disabled. Limon's attorneys described their relationship as consensual and suggested that they were adolescents experimenting with sex.Kline's office described Limon as a predator with two previous such offenses on his record. Kline contended that such a behavior pattern warranted a tough sentence and that courts should leave sentencing policy to the Legislature.Kansas law prohibits any sexual activity involving a person under 16.However, the state's 1999 "Romeo and Juliet" law specifies short prison sentences or probation for sexual activity when an offender is under 19 and the age difference between participants is less than four years -- but only for opposite-sex encounters.Matt Foreman, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, said the Texas decision and Friday's ruling "shore up the principle that gay people are entitled to equal protection.""But no one's quite sure how firm that foundation is," he said.Mathew Staver, attorney for the conservative Orlando, Florida-based Liberty Counsel, said the different treatment was justified by the state's interest in protecting children and families. He also said the court does not have the right to rewrite the statute."That's a legislative function," he said. "This is clearly a sign of an activist court system."Patricia Logue, a senior counsel for the gay rights organization Lambda Legal, said she hopes the decision will slow efforts in various states to enact legislation targeting gays."A lot of the reasoning used here by the state comes up again and again," she said. "What the court is saying is, `If you've got a better reason, you would have told us by now. The ones you've come up with are not good enough, and they amount to not liking gay people."'Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

ALEXANDRIA, Egypt (AP) -- One person died and more than 90 were injured as thousands of Muslims rioted outside a Coptic Christian church Friday to denounce a play deemed offensive to Islam. Police responded by beating protesters and firing tear gas into the crowd, officials said.Police said 53 protesters were arrested as people hurled stones, smashed windows and tried to storm St. George Church. Protesters also set a police car on fire and wrecked eight other cars, the Interior Ministry said in a statement.A photographer for The Associated Press saw police fire rubber bullets into the crowd, causing injuries. Police claimed officers fired rubber bullets only into the air while trying to disperse the crowd.One protester, Mohammed Zakaraya Hassan, 48, died after being trampled and inhaling tear gas, according to a police official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.The Interior Ministry described the protesters as "fanatic elements" who "escalated a negative reaction to a play." The ministry said about 5,000 Muslims marched to the church after Friday noon prayers at mosques."The police tried to prevent (the demonstrators) from approaching the church and attacking it, but the protesters did not heed the warnings and started to hurl stones at the church, security forces and pedestrians," the ministry said.The riot was sparked by the distribution of a DVD of a play that was performed at the church two years ago. The play, "I Was Blind But Now I Can See," tells the story of a young Christian who converts to Islam and becomes disillusioned.The church's director, the Rev. Augustinous, said it was difficult to explain the reaction to a one-time performance that took place two years ago."There are so many questions on what is behind all of that," he told the AP in a telephone interview.He denied the play was offensive to Islam because its Christian hero is ultimately saved by a Muslim friend.Egyptian security officials accused Islamic militants of distributing the DVDs to stoke sectarian tensions ahead of legislative elections Nov. 9.The Muslim Brotherhood, the country's largest Islamic group, denied any involvement in Friday's demonstration.Coptic Christians make up about 10 percent of Egypt's 70 million people, who are overwhelmingly Muslim. Accusations of forced conversion are common in the country.Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

DUBLIN, Ireland (AP) -- An Irish reporter who was abducted by Shiite extremists in Baghdad but freed after a 36-hour ordeal said Friday he had feared the prospect of several months in captivity -- or a beheading.Rory Carroll, a correspondent for The Guardian newspaper of Britain, told Ireland's RTE state broadcasters he owed his speedy salvation to Iraq's Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Chalabi, who brokered a deal for his release.Carroll, 33, said Chalabi informed him that his Irish nationality may have saved his life. He said the gang who took him had wanted a Briton, who would be used to barter for the release of Shiite extremists jailed by British forces in the southeast Iraqi city of Basra.Carroll said about a half-dozen gunmen in three cars blocked his own driver's vehicle as it left an interview Wednesday in Sadr City, a Shiite stronghold in Baghdad. He said the attackers pistol-whipped his driver, beat up his interpreter and handcuffed him and bundled him into a car trunk.Carroll said the abductors drove to a waste ground about 15 minutes away, forced him to replace his clothes with "something more Iraqi-looking," switched cars, then took him to a family's home. There they locked him in a narrow concrete passageway under a staircase, furnished only with a rug and pillow.Once there, Carroll said he was treated well, given access to a toilet and a shower and a few meals. He described his main guard, an armed man in his late 30s who was the father of the family, as "very polite and courteous" who also allowed him out for meals involving cheese, jam and sweet tea."He was like an over-attentive waiter. It was quite strange," Carroll said."I had been bracing myself for several grisly outcomes: I could be in this cell for weeks, possibly months ... well into 2006, and I was trying to mentally brace myself for that."I was also afraid that I would be handed over to another gang which would have bought me from the original gang. This other gang could turn out to be an insurgent group who in the past had beheaded Western hostages for propaganda purposes. That was my main concern."But on Thursday night, Carroll said he heard a cell phone ring, then the sound of his captor laughing with relief. The passageway door was unlocked and Carroll was told he was being freed."I was skeptical. I thought this was too good to be true," he said.He gained confidence when his cuffs were removed as he was put into a car trunk. After a drive, when the trunk was opened again, several Iraqi police were outside. His captor was not arrested."Obviously a deal had been struck where he would not be molested by the police, he would be allowed to disappear," Carroll said.The police took him to one of Chalabi's properties -- where the deputy premier was waiting."I had been trying without success for months and months to get an interview with Ahmad Chalabi, so I just couldn't it believe it when the deputy prime minister was there to greet me," Carroll said.Carroll said he planned to travel home soon to Blackrock, a suburb of Dublin, to see his family, but was not certain yet whether he would keep reporting from Baghdad, where he has been based since January.Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

MARTINEZ, California (CNN) -- A 16-year-old California boy was charged Friday with one count of murder in the beating death of Pamela Vitale, the wife of prominent defense attorney Daniel Horowitz.The suspect, Scott Edgar Dyleski, will be tried as an adult, according to Hal Jewett, Contra Costa County deputy district attorney. Bail was set at $1 million.Dyleski has been described by classmates as a goth loner who followed the occult and dressed in black from the polish on his fingernails to his trench coat. (Watch: Teen charged -- 2:57) Police say he apparently acted alone.Horowitz found Vitale's body Saturday night when he returned to a trailer the couple shared while they built a dream home on a hilltop in affluent Lafayette, east of Oakland. Authorities said Vitale, 52, was bludgeoned with a strip of crown molding and fought with her killer. (Watch: Teen arrested -- 4:35)A Gothic cross was carved into her back."He was just really a Gothic kid, and everyone knew who he was just because of his apparel. When you heard the name, you were just like, 'Oh, that kid,' " a classmate told CNN. "He just definitely stood out in front of anybody in the school," the classmate added. "When he walked by, everybody talked about him -- like, he definitely didn't blend in."Former classmates told The Associated Press that Dyleski drew a pentagram on the ground at school and that he read from "the book of Satan."They described him to the wire service as a quiet student at Acalanes High School in Lafayette, where he stood out because of his attire."He was really Gothic, always wore a long, dark jacket," Kevin Etheridge, 16, told the AP. "He'd hang out with a few kids, but he was pretty quiet, pretty much to himself."While authorities say the motive is not clear, the San Francisco Chronicle, citing an unidentified law enforcement source, reported that investigators said they suspect the killing was related to a scheme that involved using stolen credit card numbers to fund a marijuana-growing operation.The Chronicle's source said the boy had ordered equipment for the operation and mistakenly thought the supplies were delivered to Horowitz and Vitale's home, the newspaper reported Friday on its Web site.The teen went there Saturday looking for the equipment and got in a fight with Vitale, striking her dozens of times in the head with a piece of molding that was left behind at the scene, according to the Chronicle's source.The boy, who lived on a remote canyon road down the hill from the estate, had scratches on his arms and legs, the newspaper reported.A man at the house where the suspect lived declined to comment Thursday, as goats and chickens wandered around the property. A potbelly stove, a bathtub and dozens of baseballs littered the yard, AP reported.If the Dyleski is convicted of murder as an adult, he would face up to life in prison. If convicted as a juvenile, he would be freed on his 25th birthday. He is too young to face the death penalty.Copyright 2005 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report.

SAN FRANCISCO, California (CNN) -- The mother accused of throwing her three young children into the cold waters of San Francisco Bay pleaded not guilty Friday to murder and assault charges.Lashaun Harris' public defender, Teresa Caffese, entered the not guilty plea on behalf of Harris, who kept her head bowed during the brief arraignment at San Francisco Superior Court.Harris was ordered held without bail, and her next court appearance was scheduled for next Friday. If convicted of the three counts of murder with special circumstances, she would be eligible for the death penalty. (Watch the latest on the case -- 1:48)Caffese told CNN in a phone interview that Harris is in a safety cell in a hospital facility and under a suicide watch."She's in shock right now," Caffese said. "I don't think it's really hit home yet." Caffese said her first priority is to make sure her client is OK. Harris, 23, has a history of mental health problems, including schizophrenia, her relatives said Thursday.A cousin said Harris was supposed to be taking prescription drugs for her treatment, but "she had quit taking her medication."Police arrested Harris on Wednesday after witnesses reported seeing Harris walk out to the end of Pier 7, which extends about 700 feet into the bay, and throw the children into the sea that evening. The body of 2 1/2-year-old Taronta Greely was found a few hours later two miles away from the pier.The bodies of the two other children, Treyshun Harris, 6, and Joshoa Greely, 16 months, have yet to be found, despite massive searches of the bay. (Full story)CNN's Rahul Bali, Rusty Dornin and Augie Martin contributed to this report.

SIMI VALLEY, California (CNN) -- President Bush on Friday urged the United Nations to quickly address the findings of its report implicating Syrian and Lebanese officials in the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri."Today, a serious report came out that requires the world to look at it very carefully and respond accordingly," he said. "The report is deeply disturbing."Bush said he instructed Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to "call upon the United Nations to convene a session as quickly as possible to deal with this very serious matter." (Watch mixed reaction in Lebanon and Syria)Bush made his comments at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library where he helped dedicate a new Air Force One exhibit.The United States is hoping to use the report to push Syria into ending its support for Palestinian militias and to stop allowing insurgents and fighters through its border into Iraq, CNN's Liz Neisloss reports."A report of that kind has got to be both discussed and debated in the U.N. Security Council, and there will have to be some way to ensure accountability for what has already been found here," Rice said. (Watch President Bush's reaction to the report)British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw -- in Birmingham, Alabama, with Rice -- said: "If we act swiftly and we act resolutely and we act together, then I believe the international community can show that it is standing up for justice."You simply cannot tolerate a situation where one state decides to deal with problems of another state by assassinating the other state's leaders."An administration source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Rice will ask for the United Nations to convene "early next week." The Security Council already is scheduled to meet Tuesday with the report's author, German prosecutor Detlev Mehlis.The Mehlis report concluded that there was "converging evidence" of Lebanese and Syrian involvement in the February 14 assassination of Hariri. (Full story)The report called on Damascus to "clarify a considerable part of the unresolved questions, saying "many leads point directly towards Syrian security officials as being involved with the assassination."The report said five senior officials -- including the brother and brother-in-law of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad -- allegedly plotted to assassinate Hariri shortly after the United Nations called on Syria to remove its troops from Lebanon. Hariri was a key mover in getting the U.N. resolution passed.At a news conference Friday, Mehlis would not say if the Syrian government was cooperative during the investigation: "That's something we should leave for later."In his report, Mehlis concluded that given Syrian domination of its allied government in Lebanon "it would be difficult to envisage a scenario whereby such a complex assassination plot could have been carried out without their knowledge."The report found that Syrian authorities cooperated "to a limited degree" with the investigation, but several witnesses "tried to mislead the investigation by giving false or inaccurate statements."Fayssal Mekdad, the Syrian ambassador to the United Nations, told reporters the Syrian government "did not hinder the investigation," and he criticized investigators for focusing on "too much politics and less concrete actions.""At no point of the whole process did we mislead," he said. "It is not a credible report."Officials namedCNN was able to obtain a copy of the report given Thursday to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan and Security Council members, which lists the names of the men accused of planning the February 14, 2005, bombing that killed Hariri and 22 other people.The names were not in copies of the report released for general distribution.In addition to Maher Assad, the Syrian president's brother, those investigating Hariri's death accused Assef Shawkat, the president's brother-in-law; Jamil al-Sayyed, head of Lebanese intelligence; Hassan Khalil, former head of Syrian intelligence; and Bahjat Suleyman, a personal friend of the Syrian president, as participating in planning the assassination.In an October 12 interview with CNN, the Syrian president denied reports -- recounted in Thursday's document -- that he had threatened Hariri. According to the report, Assad had demanded that the former premier support an extension of the term of Lebanon's president, Emile Lahoud, a staunch Syrian ally.The president told CNN that any Syrian involved in the plot "would be considered as a traitor and most severely punished."On Friday, Lahoud denied a claim in the report that he received a cell phone call from a suspect named in the report minutes before the bomb blast that killed Hariri.Lahoud's office, in a statement, called the allegation "baseless" and said it was "part of the continuing campaigns that target the presidency and the president himself and the national responsibilities which he holds and will continue to hold during this delicate time in Lebanon's history."The assassination sparked a wave of protests in Beirut that helped lead to Syria's announced withdrawal from the country in April.The U.N. probe concluded that the bomb used to kill Hariri was detonated above ground and used at least 1,000 kilograms (2,200 pounds) of military explosives. The convoy Hariri traveled in used jamming devices to prevent bombs from being detonated by remote control, so a suicide bomber may have set off the explosion.But investigators said further investigation was needed to determine how the bomb was set off.