Anti-war protests converge worldwide
NEW YORK — Anti-war protests in New York converged with massive demonstrations throughout the world Sunday.
Raymond Kelly, New York police commissioner, estimated crowds at about 100,000. At least 295 arrests were reported for disorderly conduct.
Banners of patriotism and dissent denounced President George W. Bush’s “rush to war.”
In more than 350 cities around the world, protests unfolded peacefully, for the most part.
About 500,000 to 750,000 people rallied at Hyde Park in London, while 200,000 gathered at Brandenburg Gate in Berlin. Protests also occurred in Paris, Amsterdam, Rome, Melbourne, Tokyo and Manila.
International protestors contended that America’s interest in Iraq has more to do with oil than disarming a dangerous threat.
Edict calls for death of British author
TEHRAN, Iran — The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps has renewed a call to kill a British author for allegedly insulting Islam in a prize-winning book.
Salman Rushdie was condemned to death by Iran 14 years ago in a fatwa, or Islamic edict, issued by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, Iran’s late supreme leader.
The Revolutionary Guards said the statement was “irrevocable,” the official Islamic Republic News Agency reported last Friday.
In 1998, Iran declared that it would not support the fatwa, but the government could not rescind the edict because, under Islamic law, only the person who issued it could do that. Khomeini died in June 1989.
Rushdie was sent into hiding after the fatwa and is unreachable for comment, the author’s spokeswoman told sources.
Anti-obesity laws unveiled in Maine
AUGUSTA, Maine — The nation’s first comprehensive anti-obesity legislation was unveiled by state lawmakers last Friday.
The package of bills target the sale of soft drinks and junk food in school vending machines in the state. The bills call for chain restaurants to display nutritional information and uses state 
transportation funds to promote bicycling and other healthy forms of getting around.
Lawmakers introduced the bills in response to a growing obesity epidemic reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
More than 60 percent of Americans are overweight, and more than 30 percent are obese. Obesity can lead to diabetes, heart disease and some forms of cancer.
Democrat state Rep. Sean Faircloth called obesity the No. 1 health issue of the new century and said the state is paying close to $1 billion in obesity-related health-care costs.
Abortion supporters given AIDS funds
WASHINGTON — President George W. Bush has decided to allow organizations in support of abortions in poor countries to qualify for funds that he proposed to fight AIDS in Africa and the Caribbean.
His decision last Friday night could upset anti-abortion lawmakers and social policy groups. However, the decision has been tailored to ensure that no American money goes directly toward promoting abortion.
The proposed $15 billion would be spread over the next five years to 15 countries that have some of the world’s highest rates of AIDS infection.
White House officials said the new Bush policy reflects a belief that if the United States is going to stop terrorism on a moral imperative, it must also show a willingness to assist poor nations on non-warfare issues.
Federal law troubles school performances
SANTA CLARA — A new federal law that identifies under performing schools follows a formula that may affect thousands of schools nationally.
The law says that every racial and demographic group in each school must score higher on standardized tests every year. A group that 
fails to advance for two consecutive years is labeled “needing improvement.” If there is still no improvement to shed the label, the school faces sanctions and possible closing.
The goal of the law is to improve the achievements of all students, especially minorities. However, top education officials of many states have complained that federal regulations on assessing schools are overly “punitive and inflexible.” As a result, a majority of America’s 90,000 public schools will be labeled as failing.
States that do not comply with the law face the loss of their Title I funds.
Tank explosion kills four Israeli soldiers
JERUSALEM — A bomb planted by Palestinian militants killed four Israeli soldiers when it destroyed a tank near an Israeli settlement in the northern Gaza Strip Sunday, an Israeli Army official said.
The militant group Hamas claimed responsibility for the bombing and called the attack retaliation for the killing of two Hamas members in a clash with Israeli soldiers last week.
The Palestinian Authority security officials are working to calm the Gaza Strip to forestall further Israeli military operations there.
Palestinians view attacks on soldiers and settlers in the West Bank and Gaza as legitimate resistance to Israeli occupation.
Despite ongoing attacks, Israeli and Palestinian officials appeared likely to proceed with talks for a cease-fire.
Senate Democrats battle nomination
WASHINGTON — President George W. Bush’s nominee for a midlevel federal court stirred a fight from Democrats.
Miguel A. Estrada, a 41-year-old native of Honduras, served under the Clinton administration, but Senate Democrats are battling his nomination for ideological control of the federal courts.
Republican appointees dominate the Supreme Court and most of the 12 U.S. courts of appeals.
Democrats view Estrada as a “stealth” conservative and brought the first filibuster over a judge since 1968.
Democrats said they would not allow a vote on Estrada until the White House released legal memos he wrote during his five years in the solicitor general’s office.
Most of the Senate’s 48 Democrats said they were willing to fight Estrada’s confirmation.
President of Bolivia smuggled out of town
BOGOTA, Colombia — President Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada of Bolivia was smuggled out of the presidential palace in an ambulance earlier this week amid attacks by looters, sources said.
The presidency of Lozada is in danger of collapse. A deepening economic crisis and energetic opposition pose problems for the president, who was elected with only 22.5 percent of the vote.
After the International Monetary Fund called for the government to lower the country’s deficit, Lozada opted for an income tax.
The move infuriated Bolivians, decreasing his base of support.
The country’s police force is also rebelling because the government failed to pay salaries last month and ignored demands for a 40 percent pay increase.
— Compiled from news sources
February 20, 2003