WASHINGTON

HOUSE VOTES TO REVERSE REPUBLICAN ETHICS RULES

The House, with grudging Republican support, voted yesterday to reverse GOP ethics rules that Democrats charged were designed to protect Majority Leader Tom DeLay. The Republicans heeded Speaker Dennis Hastert’s call for a retreat to end a deadlock that has kept the evenly divided ethics panel from functioning. The vote was 406-20, with all votes against the resolution cast by Republicans. An early job for the committee may be an inquiry into whether a lobbyist financed Mr. DeLay’s foreign trips in violation of House rules. The majority leader has asked to appear before the panel to clear his name, and told reporters yesterday he was pulling together travel records going back a decade. In debate, Democrats continued to attack Mr. DeLay’s conduct.

– Associated Press

HOUSE PASSES BILL TOUGHENING ABORTION CONSENT LAWS

The House passed a bill yesterday that would make it illegal to dodge parental-consent laws by taking minors across state lines for abortions.

By 270-157, the House sent the bill to the Senate, where the policy has new momentum as an item on the Republicans’ top 10 list of legislative priorities.

Reflecting rising public support for requiring parents’ involvement in their pregnant daughters’ decisions, the bill would impose fines, jail time, or both on adults and doctors involved in most cases where minors were taken out of state to get abortions.

– Associated Press

POTENTIAL WITNESS IN BOLTON HEARINGS ACKNOWLEDGES PLAGIARIZING

A woman who may testify in future confirmation hearings for John Bolton, President Bush’s nominee to be America’s U.N. ambassador, plagiarized articles for her college newspapers.

In an open letter published this week on the Daily Kos Web site, Melody Townsel wrote, “Tonight, my deepest fears regarding my pending testimony in the John Bolton nomination process have come true: Republicans have dredged up an unfortunate chapter of my life and, clearly, are about to announce it to the world.” She went on to write that in college, she plagiarized some columns for the newspapers at the University of Texas at Arlington and Abilene Christian University. A letter Ms. Townsel submitted to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee earlier this month charged that Mr. Bolton had chased her through the halls of a Moscow hotel and lied about her later in Kyrgyzstan when she was a contractor for the U.S. Agency for International Development.

Ms. Townsel’s confession appears to have been prompted by journalist Raymond Jordan of the University of Texas at Arlington newspaper, the Short Horn. In a story that appeared yesterday, Mr. Jordan quoted a former Short Horn editor, Theo Carracino, who said he checked many of Ms. Townsel’s pieces against published articles at the time and concluded that 80% of a story she wrote about African hunger was lifted from Newsweek.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

SPIDER-MAN AND CAPTAIN AMERICA HEAD TO THE PENTAGON

America may have a new ally in the war on terror: Spider-Man and Captain America. The Pentagon announced that the two superheroes will be showing up at the five-sided building today as part of “bring your daughters and sons to work day.” The two characters are licensed to Marvel Comics, which has agreed to produce a special comic book to support American troops.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

EAST

MAN CONVICTED OF ATTEMPTING TO SELL SHOULDER-LAUNCHED MISSILES

NEWARK, N.J. – A former British clothing merchant was convicted yesterday of attempting to sell shoulder-launched missiles to what he believed was a terrorist group planning to shoot down airliners. The federal jury reached its verdict in its second day of deliberations, finding Hemant Lakhani guilty on all five counts. Lakhani, 69, was arrested in 2003 at a hotel room near Newark Airport after getting caught in a sting operation in which undercover operatives posed as terrorists and arms dealers. Prosecutors said he agreed to arrange the sale of more than 50 missiles.

– Associated Press

SCIENCE

TABLETOP EXPERIMENT CREATES NUCLE AR FUSION

LOS ANGELES – A tabletop experiment created nuclear fusion – long seen as a possible clean energy solution – under lab conditions, scientists reported. But the amount of energy produced was too little to be seen as a breakthrough in solving the world’s energy needs. For years, scientists have sought to harness controllable nuclear fusion, the same power that lights the sun and stars. This latest experiment relied on a tiny crystal to generate a strong electric field.

– Associated Press