America responds notebook

© St. Petersburg Times,
published October 7, 2001

Last FEMA team leaves site of trade center

NEW YORK -- The last federal rescue crew left the World Trade Center on Saturday, leaving New York officials to continue the nearly month-old effort to locate nearly 5,000 bodies buried in the rubble.

The Urban Search and Rescue Task Force was the last of 20 Federal Emergency Management Agency teams sent in after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks that collapsed the twin towers.

No other outside teams are scheduled to go to the site, said Anne-Marie Jensen, task force spokeswoman in Oakland, Calif. The task force's members are from the Oakland fire department.

"The site has now been turned over completely to the New York City Fire Department and the Army Corps of Engineers," Jensen said. "It's more of a construction site at this point."

Even with the departure of the search and rescue teams, FEMA still has numerous employees deployed around the city to support the recovery and rebuilding efforts.

DEATH TOLL: The total number of people missing dropped to 4,979 on Saturday, and the number of confirmed dead was 393. Out of that figure, 335 victims were identified.

Israel's Sharon softens tone, praises U.S.

JERUSALEM -- After an exchange of criticism with the United States over its antiterrorism campaign, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon sounded a conciliatory note, praising President Bush and emphasizing the strong bonds between the two countries.

In a statement released by his office Friday, Sharon said he called Secretary of State Colin Powell to express his appreciation of the "special relationship" between the allies.

Sharon asked Powell to convey "his appreciation of the bold and courageous decision of the president to fight terrorism," the release said. "Israel fully supports this position and cooperates with it."

Sharon had accused the United States of appeasing Arab nations at Israel's expense as it tries to build an international coalition to fight terrorism.

Copy of Buddha statue rising in China

BEIJING -- A Chinese entrepreneur is making a copy of a huge ancient Buddha statue that was blown up this year by Afghanistan's ruling Taliban.

Entrepreneur Liang Siming began work on the copy a month after the Taliban provoked international outrage by destroying two towering Buddhas in Afghanistan's central Bamiyan province in March.

The 121-foot-tall stone replica of one of the Bamiyan Buddhas is being built in Leshan in southwest China's Sichuan province. Liang and his team of workers are expected to complete the $600,000 statue by next March.

Taliban soldiers brought down the Bamiyan Buddhas after the Taliban's leader, Mullah Mohammed Omar, declared all statues idolatrous.

Norway arrests 7 in terror money inquiry

OSLO, Norway -- Authorities raided four Somali aid groups in Norway and arrested seven people on suspicion of laundering money for terrorist groups, police said Saturday.

Erling Grimstad, deputy chief of the national economic crime unit, said authorities had found information that may aid the U.S. investigation of the Sept. 11 terror attacks on New York and the Pentagon.

All seven suspects were Norwegian citizens, although several were of Somali origin, according to authorities. Their names were not released.

Koran flying off bookstore shelves

Sales of the Koran, the holy Scripture of Islam, have quintupled in the United States since Sept. 11, according to the book's main U.S. publisher.

Penguin Books is attempting to airlift reprints of the Koran in from the United Kingdom to meet demand for the book, sometimes spelled Qur'an. Muslims believe the Koran is the word of God as revealed to the prophet Mohammed 1,400 years ago.

Making America safer . . .

AIRPLANE LUGGAGE: Sen. John F. Kerry, D-Mass., said Friday that he would try to close a window of vulnerability to terrorists with legislation that would set annual goals for scanning increasing levels of all checked bags, until 100 percent of all such luggage is screened with advanced equipment.

Government officials and industry specialists said the technology for the advanced CAT scanlike bomb detection machines is well-developed. But they also said the government has been slow to push it; that the airlines have balked at the expense of operating the machines; and that some members of Congress have treated appropriations to pay for the equipment like run-of-the-mill pork barrel spending.

The FAA's goal for scanning all checked bags with "explosives detection systems" is 2017. The agency said that, for security reasons, it would not disclose what percentage of checked luggage is now scanned. But industry specialists said no more than 5 percent of all luggage checked in the United States passes through state-of-the-art bomb detection equipment.

WASHINGTON SUBWAY: Trash cans and recycling bins are being removed from certain areas of Washington's Metro subway system as a safety precaution.

Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority said Friday that it would no longer allow the waste receptacles between Metrorail fare gates and station platforms, eliminating a location for someone to leave a package or device that may cause harm.

CHEMICAL PLANTS: Manufacturers of toxic chemicals, concerned about terrorist attacks, have tightened security at their plants -- and have asked the federal government to further restrict information about the facilities.

Chemical plant officials have added more guards, stepped up inspections of vehicles, increased surveillance and taken other steps in light of last month's terrorist attacks, says Fred Webber, president of the American Chemistry Council.

Now, he says, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency also should revise its policies on releasing information about the plants.

AMTRAK TICKETS: Starting Monday, Amtrak passengers will need to have tickets before boarding trains between Boston and Washington.

Conductors will no longer sell tickets onboard Northeast Corridor trains under the railroad's new policy announced Friday. Riders in other parts of the country will still be allowed to purchase tickets on board, but they will have to show photo identification, according to Amtrak officials in Philadelphia.

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