Hostage crisis over in England
STANSTED, England (AP) - All
of the roughly 150 passengers held
hostage on a hijacked Afghan airliner
exited the plane early today, ending
the crisis after nearly four days,
police said.
About 85 men, women and chil
dren walked down the staircase of the
plane about 3:50 a.m. (9:50 CST).
Two hours later, about 65 more
hostages were seen exiting the Ariana
airlines plane, their hands in the air.
After the first group was released,
police had said negotiations were
continuing to win freedom for the
dozens of other captives still aboard
the Boeing 727, parked at Stansted
airport north of London.
Authorities planned to carry out a
sweep of the Ariana airlines Boeing
727 to ensure no passengers
remained on board.
It was not immediately clear if the
hijackers were among those seen
exiting the plane shortly before
authorities announced an end to the
•cfisis.
“We need to start the process of
identifying hostages and hostage tak
ers,” said Joe Edwards, an Essex
County assistant chief constable.
“We need to ensure the airplane itself
is safe to enter.”
Joe Edwards, Essex County
police assistant chief constable, had
said earlier that the released hostages
would be taken to a safe location and
would undergo medical checks.
Before the release, officials said
151 hostages, including 21 children,
were believed on board the aircraft,
which was hijacked early Sunday on
a domestic flight leaving Kabul,
Afghanistan’s capital.
It then began a meandering jour
ney, stopping in Uzbekistan,
Kazakstan and Russia before landing
in London.
As the first surprise release got
under way, police vehicles parked
nearby and bright lights shined up the
staircase toward a steady stream of
people leaving the jetliner, the men
with their hands in the air.
Moments before that, two of the
hijackers had left the aircraft for a
meeting with negotiators on the tar
mac, Edwards said.
“We have worked hard through
out the day to build on the trust,” he
said later.
“We have negotiated a face-to
face encounter between us and two
hostage takers.”
££ We need to start the process of
identifying hostages and hostage
takers. We need to ensure the airplane
itself is safe to enter."
Joe Edwards
Essex County assistant chief constable
It was not clear if the negotiations
continued in person or via other
channels.
Police also left a box of unspeci
fied “equipment” near the steps
where the first group of passengers
exited to assist with negotiations,
police spokeswoman Kim White
said. She would not elaborate.
Police expressed hope on
Wednesday tnat a resolution was
close.
Early Wednesday, the hijackers
had ejected a flight attendant, who
was seen being sent forcibly down a
set of stairs at the rear of the plane.
His departure came four hours
after four crew members - the cap
tain, second captain, first officer and
flight engineer - escaped by using a
rope to lower themselves from the
cockpit and jumping onto the tarmac.
Throughout the negotiations,
authorities insisted the armed men
had made no formal demands, politi
cal or otherwise.
The men, believed to be Afghans
armed with grenades, pistols and
daggers, had requested only that
food, water and other comfort items
be brought to the plane, police said.
Speculation mounted, however,
that the plane was seized as part of an
elaborate bid for political asylum.
At the airliner’s three stops before
landing at Stansted, 25 miles north of
London, the hijackers released a total
of 22 passengers. On Monday and
Tuesday, 10 hostages were let go at
Stansted.
Government attempts
to track Web hackers
NEW YORK (AP) - Hackers
stepped up a three-day electronic
assault Wednesday against some of the
Web’s popular sites, inconveniencing
millions of Internet users and deepening f
the mystery of the attackers’ identities.
The apparently coordinated cam
paign spread to ETrade, ZDNet and
other flagship sites.
The growing anxiety about the
Internet’s vulnerability contributed to a
broad selloff on Wall Street and even
prompted efforts by top federal officials
to reassure Americans that authorities
were doing all in their power to.combat
the online vandalism.
“We are committed in every way
possible to tracking those who are
responsible,” Attorney General Janet
Reno, the nation’s top law enforcer, said
in a news conference in Washington.
She said the motives of the vandals
are not known, “but they appear to be
intended to interfere with and disrupt
legitimate electronic commerce.”
Hackers could face a maximum
penalty of 5 to 10 years in jail and up to
a $250,000 fine, or in some cases “twice
the gross loss to the victim,” said FBI
^cyber-security expert Ronald Dick.
The hacker technique, called a
“denial of service attack,” involves
directing a flood of messages to com
puters that run Web sites and overrun
ning high-tech networks. The impact is
comparable to erecting human barri
cades to block shoppers from entering a
mall or unleashing a wave of calls to tie
up a city’s phone lines.
Some security experts said the flood
of publicity over the incidents could
actually encourage notoriety-hungry
pranksters to become more aggressive.
“It’s what these guys go after - to be
known as the person or group of people
who’ve pulled these attacks off” said
Simon Perry, security business manager
at the Computer Associates
International maker of business soft
ware.
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---—----- ■ ...
Forbes drops out
of Republican race
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP)-After
spending more than $66 million of
his own money in a relentless six
, year bid for political viability,
88 Republican candidate Steve Forbes
abandoned his second presidential
campaign Wednesday with little to
show for his investment.
The shy, bookish conservative
called it quits after third-place fin
ishes in the New Hampshire and
Delaware primaries, according to
advisers who said Forbes would
announce the decision today in
Washington.
His departure triggered a
scramble among the remaining
contenders for his anti-abortion,
anti-tax supporters on the conserva
tive right. It also set the stage for a
two-way race between national
front-runner George W. Bush and
Sen. John McCain of Arizona, the
surging underdog.
1 m going to be working hard
to appeal to his voters,” Bush said,
as he prepared for a clash with
McCain in South Carolina’s Feb. 19
primary.
Fresh off a landslide victory in
New Hampshire, McCain made his
own bid for Forbes’ supporters.
“Most Republicans think my tax cut
... is far more conservative than
Governor Bush’s tax plan. I think
they’ll be headed in my direction,”
he said between campaign stops.
The appeals underscored that
Forbes, more than the previous six
GOP candidates who dropped out
of the race, left his mark on the
political scene he failed to conquer.
His flat income tax plan became a
national issue in his failed 1996
presidential race, and this year he
helped popularize GOP economic
themes such as health care savings
accounts.
He also is one of the GOP’s top
fund-raising attractions.
Exit polls in the first three con
tests showed that Forbes fared best
among voters whose top priority
was taxes. He also did well with
people looking for a candidate who
stands up for what he believes.
In the end, Forbes failed to con
vince Republicans he could win in
November. \
i
v - -i
* • v ■. ■
-,--5
« His
candidacy
failed to
connect with
Republicans...
All the money
in the world
isn ’t going to
change that.”
~ Scott Reed
GOP strategist
“His candidacy failed to con
nect with Republicans outside of
social conservatives in Iowa. All the
money in the world isn’t going to
change that ” said GOP strategist
Scott Reed, who managed Bob
Dole’s 1996 campaign that was
damaged by an onslaught of critical
Forbes ads.
Republican analysts said Bush
stood to gain most because Forbes
had siphoned conservative voters
from him. McCain may pick up
Forbes backers who are tired of the
party establishment, but the impact
is probably marginal, analysts said.
“Presumably the advantage
goes to Bush, but the truth is
(Forbes) doesn’t have enough sup
port in the upcoming primaries to
really make a difference,” said
Republican consultant Tony
Fabrizio.
Forbes, in Michigan for a series
of campaign events, canceled
Wednesday’s schedule and flew to
New Jersey after finalizing his deci
sion and informing staff, according
to two senior advisers who spoke on
condition of anonymity.
He had no immediate plans to
endorse Bush or McCain, and sup
porters said he still resented efforts
by the Texas governor’s campaign
to undermine his presidential bid.
Bush’s campaign hoped to mend
fences through intermediaries.
■ Turkey
Kurdistan Workers Party takes
political turn toward peace
ISTANBUL, Turkey (AP) -
Abdullah Ocalan’s rebel group
announced Wednesday it will end its
15-year guerrilla insurrection against
Turkey and instead pursue a political
struggle for Kurdish rights.
Turkey has rejected previous
overtures from the rebels of the
Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, as
insincere and is unlikely to welcome
the move. Turkish Interior Minister
Sadettin Tan tan refused to comment.
“There will be no reaction from
authorities,” predicted Ali Nihat
Ozcan of the Eurasia Strategic
Research Institute. ‘Turkish authori
ties are determined not to do anything
until the PKK lays down its arms.”
■ Los Angeles
Alaska Airlines crash prompts
inspections of MD-83 planes
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Alaska
Airlines and American Airlines
ordered inspections of their MD-80
airplanes Wednesday after investiga
tors recovered a section of the tail
assembly in the wreckage of
Alaska’s Flight 261 and found it to
be damaged.
The airlines said they wanted to
check a component called a
jackscrew. It drives the horizontal
stabilizer, which is the focus of the
investigation into the Jan. 31 crash
that killed 88 people off the coast of
Southern California.
A 2-foot section of the screw was *■
recovered with the main wreckage of
the MD-83 about 10 miles off the
coast. At first Alaska Airlines said
Wednesday the jackscrew was found
to be stripped, but later the airline
changed its statement and Said only
the screw had been damaged, reflect
ing the description by the National
Transportation Safety Board.
■ South Korea
1,890 agent Orange victims
seek health reparations
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -
Almost 1,900 South Koreans have
registered as Agent Orange victims,
saying they were sickened by the
toxic chemical sprayed along the
border with North Korea 30 years
ago, a veterans’ group said
Wednesday.
Following news reports in
December, the U.S. and South
Korean governments acknowledged
that Agent Orange and two other \
defoliants were used along the bor
der with North Korea in 1968-69.
A veterans’ group said 1,890
former South Korean soldiers and
farmers have registered as victims,
including 150 disfigured children
bom to the former soldiers and bor
der-town farmers.
■ Brazil
Police say knife attack
inspired by film doll Chucky
SAO PAULO, Brazil (AP) -
Police said Wednesday that a 9-year
old boy’s knife attack against a neigh
bor girl was inspired by the slasher
doll Chucky of the “Child’s Play”
horror films.
The girl, 7, received 25 superfi
cial knife wounds in the back, chest
and neck and was out of danger, said
doctors at Hospital da Base in
Brasilia.
The attack Monday came three
days after the boy watched the film
“Child’s Play 2” on television.
The girl’s wounds were not worse
because the “boy is small and did not
have enough physical strength,”
inspector Suzana Machado said in a
telephone interview from Brasilia,
the nation’s capital.