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Non-Tech : Auric Goldfinger's Short List -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: RockyBalboa who wrote (11089)	2/14/2003 11:43:40 AM
From: StockDung	Respond to of 19428

Blix Says Iraq Fails to Disclose `Many' Banned Arms (Update3) By Bill Varner United Nations, Feb. 14 (Bloomberg) -- Top United Nations weapons inspector Hans Blix said Iraq has failed to account for ``many'' illegal weapons, calling it a matter of concern, and said the country possesses illegal ballistic missiles. ``It is not the task of inspectors'' to find weapons, said Blix, who reported to the council with Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency. Their assessment may prove decisive in the debate over how to disarm Iraq of weapons of mass destruction. Blix said while access to sites has been unobstructed, Iraq has produced little evidence it has destroyed illegal chemicals. He called for more private interviews with Iraqi scientists, saying that after the government permitted several such talks, it has not ``accepted on our terms'' any other requests. ``With the closed society in Iraq today,'' weapons inspectors need information from defectors and other sources, he said. He said reports that Iraqis have removed weapons from certain sites -- a charge U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell made to the council last week -- may not amount to much, since the arms may not be included among the banned items. The prospect of forcefully disarming the country has split the Security Council. France, Russia, Germany and China want inspections to continue and may offer a resolution requiring that. France is proposing tripling the number of inspectors and imposing a more intrusive weapons search. Ready for War President George W. Bush has said the U.S. is prepared to lead a coalition of nations to force Saddam Hussein from power if the council doesn't authorize military action. The U.S. and U.K. are deploying 225,000 troops in the Persian Gulf. Bush, who says Iraq has violated the council resolution of Nov. 8 setting terms for inspections and threatening ``serious consequences'' for non-compliance, said he's ``optimistic'' the UN will disarm Iraq. ``The world's most important multilateral body faces a decision,'' Bush said yesterday. ``I'm optimistic the Security Council will rise to its responsibilities.'' Iraq earlier today banned weapons of mass destruction, a measure demanded by the UN for the past decade, Agence France- Presse reported. Hussein outlawed the development of biological, chemical and nuclear weapons in a decree published little more than two hours before the council convened. Iraqi Ban ``All individuals and companies in the private and public sector are banned from producing, manufacturing and importing nuclear, chemical and biological arms and substances,'' AFP cited the Iraqi president's decree as saying. ElBaradei, speaking after Blix, called that ban ``a step in the right direction.'' He said his inspectors have seen ``no evidence'' of continuing illegal activity and that the Iraqis have been cooperative in the weapons search. He said his agency planned to increase the number of inspectors and step up the use of aircraft. ``Since we arrived in Iraq, we have conducted more than 400 inspections covering more than 300 sites,'' ElBaradei said. ``All inspections were performed without notice, and access was almost always provided promptly. In no case have we seen convincing evidence'' that the Iraqis knew in advance that the inspectors were coming, he said, echoing a comment by Blix. `Prompt' Cooperation He urged ``prompt, full and active Iraqi cooperation'' with the weapons hunt and called on other countries to provide inspectors more information. He said carbon fibers that inspectors discovered were not intended for nuclear weapons development and that his agency is still investigating the purpose of Iraq importing aluminum tubes. Bush has said those tubes were intended for nuclear weapons. Blix's comment on the illegal ballistic missiles comes a day after Powell and U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair said the evidence that Iraqi missiles exceed their permitted range of 150 kilometers (90 miles) is potentially a grave violation of UN mandates. Iraq included the Al Samoud-2 missiles in the declaration of weapons programs given to the UN in December, and Blix mentioned the apparent violation in his Jan. 27 report to the council. A team of rocket scientists invited to the UN earlier this week confirmed Blix's view, according to Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Yuri Fedotov. ``If the range is not allowed, then they have to be destroyed,'' French Ambassador Jean-Marc de La Sabliere said. ``But that would show the inspections are producing results.'' The first closed Security Council consultations among foreign ministers in at least 15 years will follow the reports by Blix and ElBaradei. Powell will then meet with ministers of China, France, Russia and the U.K., the other four permanent council members, and hold a separate meeting with the 10 elected members. The Security Council has scheduled another meeting on Iraq, open to all UN members, on Feb. 18. The next report from Blix is expected the first week of March, when he is mandated to deliver a quarterly report of his agency, the UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission.

To: RockyBalboa who wrote (11089)	2/15/2003 12:54:28 PM
From: StockDung	Respond to of 19428

Gotham cut Pre-Paid stake after promoting stock NEW YORK, Feb 14 (Reuters) - Gotham Partners Management Co., a hedge fund firm that is being investigated by U.S. regulators, confirmed on Friday that it sharply cut its stake in Pre-Paid Legal Services Inc. shortly after issuing a glowing research report on the company. David Berkowitz, one of the hedge funds' two partners, reported in a filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission that it owned 504,899 Pre-Paid Legal <PPD.N> shares as of Dec. 31. In the positive report the fund published in November Gotham disclosed that it owned more than 1 million shares. Pre-Paid's stock jumped about 17 percent in the two weeks after Gotham Partners published the report. New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer is working alongside other regulators, including the SEC, to determine if some hedge funds broke securities laws by publishing research on the Internet. Gotham Partners started to sell the stock in December, because the fund faced a liquidity crisis and is shutting its flagship fund after rich investors began to ask for their money back. In January, William Ackman, Gotham's other partner, said that he still liked the Pre-Paid stock but had to begin selling it in December to meet other obligations. Ada, Oklahoma-based Pre-Paid Legal, which sells legal services plans to consumers, said in January it received a subpoena from the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York as part of a probe into allegations that hedge funds may have manipulated stocks. It also said it is now part of an informal inquiry launched by the Securities and Exchange Commission. 02/14/03 20:14 ET