WASHINGTON

FBI CRIMINAL CASES DOWN BY NEARLY HALF SINCE 9/11
The FBI is investigating only about half the criminal cases it did before the September 11 attacks because of its focus on stopping terrorist attacks.

Investigations of financial fraud, bank robberies, and some drug cases have suffered as a result, but other federal agencies as well as state and local law enforcement have picked up the slack in most areas, Justice Department inspector general Glenn Fine said yesterday.

“This reprioritization has affected not only the FBI’s operations but also the investigative operations of other law enforcement agencies,” Mr. Fine said.

The FBI did not immediately comment.

Four years after the attacks and FBI Director Robert Mueller’s decision to make counterterrorism the bureau’s top priority, the decline in traditional criminal investigations was steepest in drug cases and extended to organized crime, bank robberies, civil rights, health care fraud, corporate fraud, and public corruption, Mr. Fine said in a 194-page audit.

– Associated Press

SMITHSONIAN LINGUIST WEIGHS IN ON THE TERM ‘REDSKIN’
An American linguist who claims that Indians invented the term “redskin” was criticized by groups yesterday.

Ives Goddard, the senior linguist at the Smithsonian museum, said the expression was used by the American Indians in the late 18th century.

The word was then adopted by whites in the early 19th century, he said. The term was always used in “the most respectful context,” he said. Some have argued in court cases that the expression is derived from the bounty placed on dead Indians during the colonial era.

The findings were criticized by the writer Suzan Shown Harjo, who wants to change the name of Washington’s football team, the Redskins. She told the Washington Post: “I’m very familiar with white men who uphold the judicious speech of white men.”

– The Daily Telegraph

WEST

SCHWARZENEGGER ACTS TO PROTECT STARS FROM PAPARAZZI
Governor Schwarzenegger of California has signed a new law tripling the damages celebrities can win from photographers if they are assaulted while being pursued.

It will also prevent paparazzi from profiting from any pictures taken during an altercation if they are convicted of assaulting a celebrity.

As well as damages, victims could seek a court order requiring the photographer to hand over any money earned from the pictures taken.

Mr. Schwarzenegger, a frequent paparazzi target, once testified against two British photographers after a car chase involving him and his pregnant wife. The “Terminator” star has also lobbied for buffer zones to protect celebrities.

The measure was passed as authorities in Los Angeles try to control the aggressive tactics of photographers who trawl the streets of Hollywood looking for stars.

Several young actresses, among them Reese Witherspoon, Lindsay Lohan, and Scarlett Johansson, have been involved in recent clashes with photographers.

The author of the bill, Cindy Montanez, a Democratic California Assembly member, said the law aimed to stem the “dangerous behavior” of paparazzi by curbing their ability to “make enormous, outrageous profits.”

– The Daily Telegraph

BUSH SAID TO BE READY TO TAP HEATING OIL RESERVE THIS WINTER
President Bush is ready “to do whatever it takes” including, if necessary, tapping government stocks of heating oil to counter supply shortages this winter, his energy secretary said yesterday.

Samuel Bodman said the twin hurricanes Katrina and Rita have dealt “a very significant blow” to the country’s energy infrastructure” with almost all of the Gulf Coast’s oil production, nearly 80% of the region’s natural gas supplies, and a fifth of the country’s refining capacity still shut down. Mr. Bodman said that a decision to release additional government stocks of crude oil, or for the first time tap the government’s Northeast heating oil reserve, will be considered by Mr. Bush.

Congress five years ago created a 2 million-barrel Northeast heating oil reserve that is to be used in case of supply shortages or delivery problems in nine states from Maine to Pennsylvania. – Associated Press

U.S. MOVES TO ATTACK FINANCES OF SUSPECTED TERRORISTS
America took action yesterday to financially incapacitate seven Egyptians suspected of providing support to an Egyptian terrorist group that merged with Al Qaeda in 2001.

The Treasury Department’s action means any bank accounts or other financial assets belonging to the seven people found in America will be blocked. Americans also are forbidden from doing business with them.

The department alleges that the seven individuals have acted on behalf of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad, a terrorist group that merged with Al Qaeda in 2001.

“The activities of these individuals included training and providing material support to Al Qaeda, as well as conspiring to commit terrorist acts,” the department said. One of the seven, Madhat Mursi Al-Sayyid Umar, was an explosives and chemical substances specialist for Al Qaeda, the department said. Another, Abdullah Muhammad Rajab Abd Al-Rahman, was responsible for coordinating Al Qaeda’s work with other terrorist organizations, the agency said.

The others designated by the department are: Hani Muhammad Yusuf Al-Sibai; Al-Sayyid Ahmad Fathi Husayn Alaywah; Zaki Izzat Zaki Ahmad; Muhammad Ahmad Shawqi Al-Islambuli, and Ali Sad Muhammad Mustafa Bakri.

– Associated Press

SOUTH

OUSTED ALABAMA CHIEF JUSTICE TO RUN FOR GOVERNOR
GADSDEN, Ala. – Roy Moore, who became a hero to the religious right after being ousted as Alabama’s chief justice for refusing to remove a monument of the Ten Commandments from the courthouse, announced yesterday that he is running for governor in 2006.

Mr. Moore’s candidacy could set up a showdown with Governor Riley, a fellow Republican, and turn the Ten Commandments dispute into a central campaign issue in this Bible Belt state. Two Democrats, Lieutenant Governor Lucy Baxley and a former governor, Don Siegelman, are already running. The Republican and Democratic primaries are June 6. Mr. Moore, 58, said that if elected, he has no plans to relocate the Ten Commandments monument from its new home at a church in Gadsden.

– Associated Press

CHENEY WELCOMES HOME MARINES CAMP
LEJEUNE, N.C. – Vice President Cheney yesterday told members of a Marine Corps unit that suffered heavy casualties in Iraq that America will honor the dead by “completing the mission.”

“All of you are part of a team that continues to make history,” he told about 4,500 Marines, many from the 3rd Battalion, 25th Marines.

The battalion lost 48 people in Iraq and had more than 150 wounded. The deaths included 14 Marines killed in back-to-back attacks within a week over the summer. Mr. Cheney awarded Purple Hearts to five Marines, including two from the 25th.

– Associated Press