WASHINGTON
Traveler watch list likely to be cut in half
The Bush administration is checking the accuracy of a watch list of suspected terrorists banned from traveling on airliners in the U.S. and will probably cut the list in half, the head of the Transportation Security Administration said Wednesday.
Kip Hawley told Congress that the more accurate list, combined with a new passenger screening system, should take care of most incidents of people wrongly being prevented from boarding or frequently being picked out for extra scrutiny.
At a hearing of the Senate Commerce Committee, Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, complained to Hawley that his wife, Catherine, was being identified as “Cat” Stevens and frequently stopped due to confusion with the former name of the folk singer now known as Yusuf Islam, whose name is on the list. In 2004 he was denied entry into the U.S., but officials declined to explain why.
PARIS
First ladies’ meeting fights child abuse
Laura Bush said at a gathering of first ladies Wednesday that police must work with counterparts in other countries to keep children safe from abuse and Internet pornographers.
French first lady Bernadette Chirac hosted the one-day conference on missing and exploited children, which brought together first ladies including Suzanne Mubarak of Egypt and Lyud mila Putin of Russia, as well as Queen Silvia of Sweden and Queen Paola of Belgium.
Bush briefed participants on efforts to protect children in the United States, touting the Amber Alert system. France’s new system, modeled on the U.S. alerts, helped authorities track down three missing children last week.
The women proposed that the system be extended throughout the European Union, so all its member nations are alerted when a child goes missing.
The first lady also urged international cooperation in fighting online child pornography.
SÃO PAULO, Brazil
Builders’ errors eyed in deadly collapse
Prosecutors said Wednesday they suspect mistakes by private builders, rather than heavy rains, caused the collapse of a subway station construction site that buried at least seven people.
Authorities also warned they may halt work on the station, part of a $1.4 billion subway line being built in South America’s largest city, as they investigate what caused Friday’s collapse that killed three people and left four others missing and presumed dead.
Part of a 130-foot-wide circular hole lined with concrete gave way without warning, swallowing pedestrians, a minibus and dump trucks. Several nearby homes were damaged.
São Paulo state Attorney General Rodrigo Pinho said the consortium’s suggestion that rain was a leading cause was “ridiculous” – São Paulo typically experiences heavy rain from November through April and all construction companies factor that into their building plans.
KHARTOUM, Sudan
Aid agencies appeal for end to violence
In a sweeping call for help, a wide range of U.N. aid agencies appealed Wednesday to warring parties to end the violence in Darfur, warning the relief efforts keeping millions alive will be “irreversibly jeopardized.”
The 14 humanitarian groups working in Sudan said a massive influx of foreign aid was the only thing “holding the line” for 2.5 million refugees and over 1 million other civilians in Darfur.
Aid groups and U.N. officials have for months been alarmed by the rapidly deteriorating conditions faced by civilians in Darfur, where over 200,000 people have been killed since rebels took up arms against the central Sudanese government in 2003, accusing it of neglect.
SEOUL, South Korea
Promised extra food rations not doled out
North Korea skipped giving extra food rations to its people on New Year’s Day, except the elite citizens of Pyongyang, a South Korean aid group said Wednesday, a possible sign the country’s food situation may be worsening.
New Year’s Day is a major holiday in North Korea and the communist regime doles out special rations to its 23 million hunger-stricken population.
The North’s government had promised to give a day of extra ration to its people, but did not, said the Seoul-based Good Friends in its newsletter.
Still, citizens in the capital of Pyongyang received three days of extra rations, and more special rations were given to medium-level government officials living there, the group said.
