WASHINGTON

AMERICA MOVES TO PROTECT EXCHANGE STUDENTS

Responding to public outcry about sexual abuse of foreign students in America, the Bush administration today is proposing new rules to screen host families and regulate agencies that sponsor some 28,000 high school exchange students, almost all minors, every year.

Although foreign students have been coming to America for more than a half century, no sponsor has been required to keep figures on sexual abuse or report molestation cases to the federal government. Now they will.

Foreign students are among the most vulnerable minors because they usually do not know American laws, are unfamiliar with customs, are dependent on host families or sponsors, don’t know what to do when abused or are afraid to act, according to Lieutenant Frank Baker of the Allegan County sheriff’s office, who has been involved in a case involving an exchange student in Michigan. “For a predator, this is the ideal situation,” he said.

The new rules, published today in the Federal Register, which are likely to go into effect after 30 days of public comment, come as the Bush administration pushes student exchanges as a centerpiece of its diplomatic outreach to improve the American image abroad.

A State Department spokesman described incidents of assault as “very rare.” But groups advocating tougher rules to protect foreign students – who can pay $6,000 or more to sponsoring agencies – said most cases go unreported.

– The Washington Post

NASA PLANS REDESIGN OF SHUTTLE’S EXTERNAL FUEL TANK

The space shuttle’s huge external fuel tank will probably have to undergo several design improvements to further minimize the dangerous shedding of insulating foam that occurred during the launch of Discovery last month, NASA officials announced yesterday.

That preliminary assessment of a need for multiple fixes reflects NASA investigators’ inability so far to find any single “root cause” for the foam losses, space station manager William Gerstenmaier told reporters in a conference call.

Mr. Gerstenmaier did not speculate about how long it might take or how much it might cost to make the changes, which he characterized as “minor engineering modifications.” But he said he does not expect the shuttle Atlantis to get off the ground before its scheduled September launch window closes.

The next launch opportunity will come November 7.

“We didn’t find any immediate, easy fixes,” Mr. Gerstenmaier said, referring to efforts by NASA’s “tiger team” of shuttle investigators. That team is working with five “program teams,” each focusing on one of the five notable chunks of foam that the agency has determined blew off Discovery as it thundered from Earth.

– The Washington Post

COMMISSIONERS QUESTION GUARD PLAN

A skeptical base-closing commission questioned whether the Defense Department’s plan to reorganize the Air National Guard would mean new risks for homeland security yesterday as the Pentagon and state officials squared off over the proposal.

The proposed shake-up of dozens of Air Guard units has emerged as the most contentious part of Defense Secretary Rumsfeld’s proposal to close, shrink, or expand hundreds of military bases and other installations nationwide.

As a result, the nine-member commission reviewing the proposal gave the Pentagon and states one last chance to argue their cases about the Air Guard before the panel sends a final report to President Bush next month.

Defense officials tried to reassure the commission. “Our responsibilities to support the Department of Homeland Security in their homeland security mission are not impacted adversely by this beyond a level of acceptable risk,” Peter Verga, a deputy assistant secretary of defense, told commissioners.

Admiral Timothy Keating, commander of the U.S. Northern Command and the North American Aerospace Defense Command, said of the Air Guard proposal: “It poses no unacceptable risk.”

Commissioners appeared unconvinced. “That’s not exactly a wholehearted endorsement, to me anyway,” retorted Harold Gehman, a retired Navy admiral.

– Associated Press

ALLEGED BIN LADEN CONTACT IN IRAQ GOVERNMENT

An American accused in court papers of having ties to Osama bin Laden is now working for the Iraqi government’s Foreign Ministry, U.S. officials and a former CIA counterterrorism chief say.

Iraqi-born Tarik Hamdi was the “American contact” for one of Mr. bin Laden’s front organizations and gave a satellite telephone battery to a bin Laden aide in Afghanistan for a phone used by the terrorist leader, according to an affidavit from Customs Agent David Kane.

The affidavit was unsealed this week in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Va., along with a federal indictment charging Mr. Hamdi with lying on immigration and mortgage loan applications.

Mr. Hamdi, formerly of Herndon, Va., is now working at Iraqi diplomatic offices in Turkey, said Vince Cannistraro, a former CIA official who has known Mr. Hamdi for years and remains in contact with him through e-mail.

Two U.S. law enforcement officials said they also have been told Mr. Hamdi is working for the Iraqi Foreign Ministry in Turkey. They spoke on condition of anonymity because of the charges pending against Mr. Hamdi. The State Department declined to comment. Newsweek first reported Mr. Hamdi’s employment status in its online edition Wednesday.

– Associated Press

SOUTH

CABBIE: FUGITIVE COUPLE RAISED NO RED FLAGS ON TWO-HOUR RIDE

NEWPORT, Ky. – Mike Wagers was his usual chatty self during the nearly two-hour cab ride. He passed the time talking about “nonsensical things” with his passengers, and even called a buddy and had him check the Internet for a cheap motel for the couple. In fact, Mr. Wagers said the only time he wondered about the pair was when they told him they were headed to an Amway convention.

“Amway people are all about Amway, and when they didn’t try any conversation further about it, that’s when I pretty much thought, ‘Well, they’re not with Amway; they’re doing something else,'” said Mr. Wagers, 33.

Alerted by a friend, Mr. Wagers later made the connection: His passengers, Jennifer and George Hyatte, were on the run after allegedly killing a prison guard during a daring courthouse escape in Tennessee two days earlier. He called authorities who arrested the Hyattes at their Ohio motel without a struggle.

An extradition hearing was scheduled for the couple Friday in Columbus. They were expected to be returned to Tennessee on warrants for first-degree murder in the death of Wayne “Cotton” Morgan, 56, authorities said.

Jennifer Hyatte is accused of ambushing Morgan and another guard Tuesday as they were leading her husband – a convicted robber – from a hearing. They fled and eventually wound up in Erlanger, Ky., where Mr. Wagers picked them up.

– Associated Press

LUTHERANS APPROACH VOTE ON ROLE OF GAYS IN CHURCH

ORLANDO, Fla. – With gays pleading for acceptance, delegates to a national meeting of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America debated yesterday whether to approve ordination for partnered gays and to give pastors leeway in ministering to same-sex couples. Conservatives warned a change would irreparably damage the church.

The major proposals on the floor were meant as a compromise, aiming to uphold Lutheran restrictions on gays and lesbians who are not celibate, while allowing congregations and bishops to make exceptions in some cases without risking discipline. During the debate, several delegates worried that ordaining gays would strain relations with other Christian denominations and with the many conservative Lutherans overseas. A vote could come as soon as tomorrow.

The Reverend Sara Gausmann of the Lower Susquehanna Synod in Pennsylvania said easing the rules would make it impossible for her to teach children to follow Christian sexual ethics. Advocates for full inclusion of gay clerics attempted to counter these arguments by expressing the pain of what they called rejection by their own church.

– Associated Press