www.nytimes.com February 16, 2003 Privacy Invasion Curtailed (February 13, 2003) To the Editor:

William Safire ("Privacy Invasion Curtailed," column, Feb. 13) is on target in criticizing the Bush administration's efforts to eradicate the protection currently afforded American citizens from the intrusive and snooping eyes of the F.B.I. and others. To clothe the government's efforts in the cloak of fighting terrorism does a grave injustice to the guarantees of the Bill of Rights.

No citizen's rights, no civil rights should ever be stripped from Americans without the oversight protection of Congress or the federal courts, and then only in extraordinary circumstances.

We must not be panicked by the Bush administration into allowing the destruction of our Bill of Rights, which so many have given their lives to preserve. The federal government has received its authority from the citizens and governs only by our consent. That authority must not be ceded lightly.  

JAMES L. COOPER Margate, N.J., Feb. 13, 2003

www.theomahachannel.com POSTED: 4:02 p.m. CST February 15, 2003 UPDATED: 4:05 p.m. CST February 15, 2003

OMAHA -- Leaders of Omaha's Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints say members of their church are prepared for the latest government-issued terror alert.

Mormons Offer Tips For Emergency Preparedness While many people are heeding the advice of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security by stocking up on duct tape and non-perishable foods, some Mormons saying they're just doing what they've done for nearly a century.

Sid Breese of Millard, a member of the LDS Church, has his basement full of food in case of an emergency.

The food and supplies aren't just for a terrorist attack or other emergency; they can also help if someone loses a job, he said.

Arthur Taylor, president of the Omaha Stake of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, says Mormons stockpile food and other supplies because of a directive from their church leader, whom they believe is a prophet.

Taylor said the supplies and food are like a home-insurance policy: You hope you'll never have to use it, but if there's an emergency, you're sure glad it's there.

The church has set up two hotlines for other churches, pastors or groups interested in finding out more information about storing food for the long term. The numbers to call are (402) 850-9722 and (402) 850-9723.

Copyright 2003 by TheOmahaChannel.com.

www.puertoricowow.com

Saturday, February 15th, 2003.  

WASHINGTON (AP) - Wall Street needs to do more to ensure financial markets can recover quickly from a terrorist attack, according to the investigative arm of Congress.

The General Accounting Office issued a thick report concluding that banks, brokerage firms, exchanges and clearing firms need to make improvements in disaster-recovery planning.

Regulators, including the Securities and Exchange Commission, need to take an active role since long delays in reopening markets after a catastrophe could harm the economy, the GAO said in testimony Wednesday to a House Financial Services subcommittee.

Wall Street firms have made numerous changes since terrorist attacks toppled the World Trade Center towers on Sept. 11, 2001, and shuttered stock markets for nearly a week, industry members and regulators testified.

"We are much better off today than we were on Sept. 11," SEC deputy market regulation director Robert Colby told the subcommittee. Nevertheless, he agreed much work still needs to be done to improve the industry's disaster-recovery plans.

Davi D'Agostino, the GAO's financial markets director, recommended the SEC mandate participation in an existing, voluntary computer-review program and ensure enough brokers would be able to trade after a disaster.

The SEC opposes requiring brokers to resume trading after a disaster. Colby said brokers have plenty of business incentives to restore operations after a catastrophe, but the decision should be their own, not the federal government's.

Industry members said they are working aggressively to improve disaster-recovery systems. The New York Stock Exchange has expanded its backup systems and modified its computers to trade the top 250 Nasdaq stocks, NYSE President Robert Britz testified. He said testing of backup systems will wrap up by midyear.

While the first line of defense for markets is their own backup systems, other markets can pitch in if necessary, Nasdaq Stock Market President Richard Ketchum said. He told lawmakers that Nasdaq is prepared to trade NYSE-listed stocks, on a temporary basis, if an emergency closed the Big Board.

Nasdaq's application to become a full-fledged stock exchange, which has been under review by the SEC for several years, was raised by lawmakers during the hearing.

Colby, of the SEC, called the review "a monumental enterprise" that raised many "practical, legal and policy concerns" for regulators. He said SEC staffers now are focused on a small handful of issues and expect to take up the matter with William Donaldson, once he replaces Harvey Pitt as chairman of the regulatory agency.

www.timesofoman.com

MANAMA — Bahrain announced yesterday it had broken up a terror ring of five people possibly linked to Osama bin Laden’s Al Qaeda network.

The five suspects are all Bahrainis and were arrested three days ago, a senior Bahraini official said.

Authorities are trying to “establish if the cell is linked to groups inside or outside Bahrain,” the official added in a reference to the Al Qaeda network.

The identification of the cell members appeared to point to a connection with Bin Laden supporters.

“Bahraini security forces broke up a cell that had been plotting terrorist acts ... targeting the kingdom’s national interests and endangering the lives of innocent citizens,” said an official spokesman, quoted by the state BNA news agency.

It was the first time the kingdom had announced the arrest of Bahraini “terrorists” on its soil since the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.

Mukhtar Al Bakri, a US citizen of Yemeni descent allegedly connected to Al Qaeda, gave himself up to US authorities here in September last year and was transferred to the United States.

Security forces “seized arms and ammunition” which members of the cell “planned to use to carry out terrorist acts against the security of the country and its citizens,” the spokesman said.

The senior Bahraini official said pistols, machineguns and ammunition intended to be used “against Bahraini interests” were found in the group’s possession. The arrest of one member led to the arrest of the others, he added.

The official spokesman identified the members of the cell as Mohieddin Mahmud Mohieddin Khan, born in Lebanon in 1961; Bassam Abderrazzak Abdullah Bukhua, born in 1970; Bassam Yussef Abdelkarim Ali, 1956; Issa Abdullah Abderrahman Al Baluchi, born in the Saudi city of Al Khobar in 1972; and Jamal Hilal Mohammed Al Baluchi, 1965.

The suspects are being questioned to establish “if they are affiliated to specific political organisations or were operating in an isolated manner,” the spokesman said.

Authorities did not disclose the targets which the group allegedly planned to attack.

The daily Al Wassat said one of the suspects had two stints in Afghanistan, the last in 1986.

News of the arrests follows an announcement by the United States that it was cutting down its diplomatic presence in Bahrain, where more than 5,000 Americans, mostly military, reside.

On Wednesday, the United States said it was allowing non-essential US embassy personnel to leave Bahrain, as well as neighbouring Qatar, at government expense amid fears of possible terror attacks as Washington steps up a massive military build-up in the Gulf in preparation for an anticipated invasion of Iraq. — AFP

www.usnews.com Science & Technology 2/24/03

Triumph of the helix: 50 years ago, life met its master molecule.

DNA meets its match: RNA takes charge.

Check out our recommended reading list on genetics.

1866 Gregor Mendel, an Austrian monk, shows how traits are inherited in pea plants.

1869 Swiss biochemist Johann Friedrich Miescher isolates "nucleic acid" from cells in pus.

1944 Oswald Avery and associates discover that DNA carries genetic information.

1953 James Watson and Francis Crick discover the double-helix structure of DNA.

1961 Sydney Brenner, Francois Jacob, and Matthew Meselson identify messenger RNA, which carries genetic information from DNA to the cell's protein-making factories.

1966 Teams led by Marshall Nirenberg and H. Gobind Khorana crack the genetic code, showing that sets of three "letters" on DNA spell out the 20 different components of proteins.

1973 Herbert Boyer and Stanley Cohen develop recombinant DNA technology--tools for cutting and splicing DNA to create genetically engineered organisms.

1975 At the Asilomar Conference in California, scientists agree on the need for safeguards in genetic engineering research.

1976 The Cambridge (Mass.) City Council, fearing rogue organisms, imposes a three-month moratorium on recombinant DNA research at Harvard University, halting lab construction.

1976 Boyer and venture capitalist Robert Swanson found Genentech, the world's first biotechnology company.

1977 Scientists including Walter Gilbert and Frederick Sanger devise ways to sequence DNA.

1978 Genentech develops recombinant human insulin, eventually marketed asHumulin, the first drug made by genetic engineering.

1980 The Supreme Court rules that a genetically modified organism, a bacterium developed by General Electric Co. to break down oil spills, can be patented.

1983 Kary Mullis conceives the polymerase chain reaction (PCR), a method for multiplying traces of DNA into usable amounts. PCR soon becomes a major tool in research, medicine, and forensics.

1983 With blood samples collected by Nancy Wexler from a large family in Venezuela, James Gusella and others identify the gene responsible for Huntington's disease, leading to the first genetic test for a disease.

1984 Alec Jeffreys develops DNA fingerprinting, a technique for identifying individuals from their DNA that is a boon to forensics and paternity cases.

1987 Tommie Lee Andrews is convicted of rape in Orlando based on DNA fingerprinting--the first such case in the nation.

1988 Harvard geneticists receive the first U.S. patent for a genetically altered animal, the oncomouse, engineered to develop cancer.

1989 DNA evidence for the first time overturns a conviction, clearing Gary Dotson of an Illinois rape.

1990 PCR brings back the dinosaurs in Michael Crichton's bestseller Jurassic Park by amplifying traces of dinosaur DNA in prehistoric biting insects preserved in amber.

1990 An international effort to sequence the human genome begins.

1990 Researchers at London's Hammersmith Hospital are the first to screen test-tube embryos for genetic defects before implanting them.

1994 Scientists locate the BRCA-1 gene, responsible for almost half of the breast cancers linked to heredity.

1994 The Flavr Savr tomato, designed to ripen slowly, is the first genetically altered food approved by the FDA.

1997 Scotland's Roslin Institute announces the birth of Dolly the lamb, the first mammal to be cloned from an adult cell.

1997 DNA shows that Cheddar Man, a 9,000-year-old pile of bones at the Natural History Museum in London, is the direct ancestor of a living Englishman.

1997 The Ernest Orlando Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory acknowledges secret genetic testing of employees for the sickle-cell trait.

1997 DNA from 40,000-year-old Neanderthal bone indicates that modern humans did not interbreed with these prehistoric people.

1997 Gattaca--a sci-fi film named for DNA's letters--depicts human genetic manipulation.

1998 DNA testing links President Clinton to the stain on Monica Lewinsky's dress.

1998 Researchers for the first time sequence the entire DNA of an animal, theroundworm C. elegans.

2000 Clinton issues an order barring federal agencies from using genetic information in hiring, firing, or promotion.

2000 Researchers complete the first rough drafts of the human genome.

2000 Traces of genetically modified corn, approved only for animal feed, are found in taco shells, prompting recalls.

2002 Rice is the first crop to have its genome decoded.

2003 Dolly the sheep is euthanized because of health problems that raise questions about cloning safety. -Carol Hook