Webster tells of getting early tip on North

WASHINGTON FBI Director William H. Webster testified yesterdaythat a Justice Department official advised him last October - nearlya month before the investigation of Lt. Col. Oliver L. North began -that classified information should be withheld from North because hemight be involved in a criminal investigation.

Webster said he was worried that North, whom he described as a"gung ho man with tunnel vision," was running an unauthorized"freewheeling" operation for a long time before the Iran-contra armsaffair was disclosed.

He said the investigation mentioned by the unidentified officialwould center on U.S. activities in Central America. North was firedNov. 11 as a …

Date of NH Primary Rests With One Man

CONCORD, N.H. - The political heat on William Gardner - the single official with the most control over the presidential primary calendar - has never been hotter.

Gardner's temperature, however, remains cool.

Gardner is the 58-year-old New Hampshire secretary of state, a man who loves history and has been the jealous keeper of his state's first-in-the-nation primary for over three decades.

National party leaders are doing a slow burn waiting for Gardner to schedule a date for the 2008 primary. So are other states' officials who will need to adjust accordingly.

Gardner knows they're waiting, but won't make his move until he's ready. He has said New …

12 detained in Myanmar after demanding release of Aung San Suu Kyi on her birthday

Myanmar's ruling military junta detained 12 opposition party members who called for the release of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi as she marked her 63rd birthday Thursday, witnesses said.

The 12 people were taken into a truck after dozens of Suu Kyi's supporters gathered outside National League for Democracy party's headquarters in Yangon, witnesses said on condition of anonymity for fear of government reprisals.

Some of those detained were punched and beaten before being taken away, they said.

The protesters shouted slogans calling for the government to immediately release Suu Kyi "who has been unfairly detained."

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Envoys Hash Out Details on N. Korea Deal

BEIJING - Envoys met Sunday to hammer out the details of a landmark agreement on disarming North Korea ahead of fresh talks, while it remained unclear whether a dispute over frozen North Korean funds in a Macau bank would block further progress.

Top U.S. nuclear envoy Christopher Hill said he had explained the U.S. position on the Macau funds to North Korea's envoys on Saturday, but indicated he'd yet to receive a clear response.

"We have the sense that they understood the position much better. So we'll see," Hill told reporters before more meetings to prepare for Monday's start of follow-up talks on a disarmament agreement reached last month.

On Saturday, North Korea sent mixed signals on its nuclear disarmament, saying it was preparing to shut down its main plutonium program but that no action would be taken unless frozen funds were released from the Macau bank.

Arriving in Beijing from Pyongyang, North Korean nuclear envoy Kim Kye Gwan told reporters that North Korea "will not stop its nuclear activity" until all of the $25 million in Banco Delta Asia was returned.

But later in the day at the talks, another North Korean diplomat, Kim Song Gi, said the regime has "begun preparations to shut down its Yongbyon nuclear facility" as part of a Feb. 13 agreement, South Korean nuclear envoy Chun Yung-woo told reporters afterward.

In addition, the diplomat promised that North Korea will submit a list of its nuclear programs and disable its nuclear facility "as soon as the right conditions are created," Chun said, without explaining what the conditions were.

Chun did not independently confirm that shutdown preparations had begun.

Hill said Sunday he didn't think the funds issue would be an obstacle to talks.

"I'm pretty confident because I think we have a pretty reasonable position and I think it meets everyone's interests so I'm pretty confident we can resolve it," Hill said. "I mean we've resolved it from our point of view and now we have to explain it to everyone's satisfaction."

The fate of the frozen funds, the result of a blacklisting by U.S. authorities, has become a central issue in the disarmament talks.

The United States promised to resolve the bank issue as an inducement to North Korea to disarm, but its solution - an order this past week to U.S. banks to sever ties with the Macau bank - has been criticized by China and now North Korea's envoy.

Under the Feb. 13 agreement, which involves the United States, China, Japan and Russia as well as the two Koreas, North Korea has 60 days to shutter the Yongbyon reactor and a plutonium processing plant which have produced material for a nuclear weapons program.

U.N. monitors are supposed to be allowed in North Korea to verify the shutdown, and once confirmed North Korea is to receive energy and economic assistance.

The U.S. promise to resolve the Banco Delta Asia funds, which U.S. authorities suspect may be tainted by counterfeiting or money laundering, was part of a side agreement.

"We are on schedule for this first phase," Hill told reporters after daylong meetings with delegates in the other five countries.

A senior U.S. Treasury Department official traveled to Macau on Saturday to discuss the issue. The government of Macau - a semiautonomous Chinese territory - has the authority to decide whether to release any of the funds, which have been frozen since 2005.

"I think it is important to emphasize this was a Macanese action to freeze the funds, and it would be a Macanese process to determine" whether to release them, U.S. Deputy Assistant Treasury Secretary Daniel Glaser told reporters.

The Treasury Department is expected to help Macau's regulators identify accounts connected to North Korea that are not tainted by links to alleged nuclear proliferation or counterfeiting, smuggling and other crimes.

That is expected to prompt bank regulators to unfreeze between $8 million and $12 million, one U.S. official has said on condition of anonymity in accordance with policy.

Hill said he expected "the money to be moving very quickly in terms of completing this whole case and finally resolving it" but gave no details.

As part of the disarmament meetings in Beijing, Hill said he would push North Korea to disclose all its nuclear programs, including an alleged uranium enrichment program.

"It's very important to resolve the uranium enrichment matter," he said. "We need to know what this program was, we need to account for what their equipment was. ... We need clarity on what they have been doing with this equipment."

U.S. allegations that North Korea has a secret uranium enrichment program brought on a nuclear crisis in 2002 that led the country to expel U.N. inspectors and eventually led to North Korea exploding its first nuclear device in October.

North Korea has never publicly acknowledged having a uranium program, although nuclear negotiator Kim indicated the North was willing to discuss the issue.

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Associated Press writers Bo-mi Lim and Mari Yamaguchi in Beijing contributed to this report.

Mistrial in man's 2nd murder case

A juror burst into tears of frustration yesterday after a jurywas declared hopelessly deadlocked 11-1 in deliberating murdercharges against a man who would have faced the death penalty ifconvicted of his second murder.

"It's just not fair," the weeping female juror said afterCriminal Court Judge James M. Bailey declared a mistrial after nearly10 hours of deliberation over two days.

An elderly man who joined 10 other jurors in voting to convictadmitted gang member Ervin Daniel left the jury room shaking hishead. "God, I wanted that guy," he said.

Daniel, 19, of 8601 S. Bishop, was accused of killing18-year-old Roger Tate on June 13, 1985 - one day before he killed an18-year-old Little League coach. Daniel was convicted in January ofthe June 14, 1985, killing of Dimitric Grant and would have faced thedeath penalty if convicted of a second murder.

Prosecutors planned to retry Daniel in the Tate death.

Assistant State's Attorney John Brady said Daniel testified inboth cases and used the same defense both times - that he thoughtsomeone with the victim was going for a gun so he fired into thevictim's car, even though he admitted he never saw a gun. In bothinstances, one man was killed and a second injured.

"The cases are carbon copies of each other," Brady said. "Youcould take the names and shuffle them around."

Daniel testified that last June 13, he heard someone call out arival gang slogan and walked up to Tate's car. He said Darren Cooperbent down, as if going for a gun, so he fired one shot at Cooper,hitting him in the elbow, and a second at Tate, fatally striking himin the back.

The holdout juror, an elderly postal worker, said later hethought Daniel should only be convicted of involuntary manslaughter.

"I thought he was scared," the holdout said. "He was just a dumbkid who wanted to be macho."

But another juror, a 28-year-old grocery store manager, said theother jurors did not believe Daniel's contention that he thoughtCooper was going for a gun. They could not convince the holdout, hesaid, though "we talked and talked to him. We were yelling andscreaming. He couldn't keep his train of thought."

Noting evidence that Daniel went out to eat after Tate'skilling, the juror said, "What the hell kind of a guy is this? Foran appetizer, he murders someone."

NC plant workers to 911: 'ConAgra just blew up'

Emergency tapes released Monday show workers dialed 911 in a frenzy after escaping an explosion that killed three workers at a Slim Jim processing plant, with one panicked woman telling dispatchers: "ConAgra just blew up!"

The 15 audio tapes portray the early moments after the blast rocked the sprawling facility in Garner, a few miles south of Raleigh, where 300 people were working. Some callers tried to describe the situation as sirens blared and people screamed in the background, and responders struggled to understand the unfolding scene.

"ConAgra just blew up!" said one employee, referring to the plant's operator.

"What do you mean it blew up?" the dispatcher asked.

"It blew up! We need some help!" the woman responded.

Callers reported that people were severely burned and bleeding. The blast injured dozens, with four still in critical condition with extensive burns.

"Oh my God. This is horrible," one man said.

"Oh Lord, have mercy. What in the world happened?" another woman said during her call.

A few callers stayed calm. One man described the size of a section of the building that collapsed and softly said there were probably people still inside.

"Send whatever you got, buddy," he told the dispatcher.

Federal investigators have blamed a natural gas leak for the explosion that killed Barbara McLean Spears, 43, of Dunn, and two Clayton residents: Rachel Mae Poston Pulley, 67, and Lewis Junior Watson, 33.

Meanwhile, two injured workers sued a contractor Monday, saying that company is responsible for the natural gas leak.

Leonard Spruill of Selma and Tammie O'Neal of Zebulon filed a lawsuit against Raleigh-based Southern Industrial Constructors, said their attorney, David Stradley. It was filed in Johnston County, where Selma is located, Stradley said, and seeks damages in excess of $10,000.

Spruill is still being treated for burns, and O'Neal is out of the hospital but still on crutches for back, leg and head injuries, he said.

"You don't have a natural gas explosion without something going wrong," Stradley said. "If everybody does everything right, you don't have a gas explosion."

Southern Industrial President John Wilson said the company had five employees working under the supervision of ConAgra's maintenance department. Although Stradley said building permits indicated Southern Industrial employees were installing natural gas-fired water heaters, Wilson said: "We've never installed a water heater at ConAgra."

"We believe it's all fabricated, at least in terms of our involvement," Wilson said. " ... We feel very confident that we haven't had any involvement."

Daniel Horowitz, a U.S. Chemical Safety Board spokesman, said Monday that the blast site was still hazardous and was hindering investigators. Neal O'Briant, a spokesman with the state Department of Labor, said it would be several months before it releases the results of its investigation into whether the employer followed proper safety precautions.

Officials in Garner said they will do whatever it takes to help reopen the plant, which employs 900 in the town of 25,000. ConAgra has 25,000 employees worldwide and makes brands such as Chef Boyardee, Hunt's tomato sauce, ACT II popcorn and Hebrew National hot dogs.

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Associated Press Writer Martha Waggoner contributed to this story.

U.S. Searching for Iwo Jima Marine

TOKYO - An American team searching for the remains of a Marine combat photographer who filmed the iconic flag-raising on Iwo Jima is honing in on the cave where he was believed to have been killed 62 years ago, officials said Friday.

A lead from a private citizen prompted the search for the remains of Sgt. William H. Genaust, who was killed nine days after filming the flag-raising atop Iwo Jima's Mount Suribachi. The seven-member team - the first on the Japanese island in 60 years - is also searching for other Americans killed in the battle, one of the fiercest and most symbolic of World War II.

"The team is finding caves that have been cleaned out, and some that have collapsed," said Lt. Col. Mark Brown, a spokesman for the Joint POW/MIA Accounting office, or JPAC.

The preliminary search team is looking for the remains of as many Americans as it can find, Brown told The Associated Press. He said 250 U.S. service members from the Iwo Jima campaign are among the 88,000 missing from World War II.

Iwo Jima was officially taken on March 26, 1945, after 31-day battle that pitted some 100,000 U.S. troops against 21,200 Japanese - a turning point in the war with Japan. Some 6,821 Americans were killed and nearly 22,000 injured. Only 1,033 Japanese survived.

"Our motto is `until they are home,'" Brown said. "`No man left behind' is a promise made to every individual who raises his hand."

Brown said a full team would be sent in if it looks like remains are likely to be discovered.

Genaust, a combat photographer with the 28th Marines, filmed the raising of the flag atop Mount Suribachi on Feb. 23, 1945. He stood just feet away from AP photographer Joe Rosenthal, whose photograph of the moment won a Pulitzer Prize and came to symbolize the Pacific War and the struggle of the Marines to capture the tiny island.

Johnnie Webb, a civilian official with JPAC, said Genaust died nine days later when he was hit by machine-gun fire as he was assisting fellow Marines secure a cave. He was 38.

Bob Bolus, the Scranton, Pa., businessman who provided the lead in the search, said he became intrigued by Genaust after reading a Parade magazine story about him two years ago. Spending thousands of dollars of his own money, Bolus put together a team of experts, including an archivist, forensic anthropologist, geologist and surveyor, that was able to pinpoint where Genaust's remains were likely to be found.

Bolus, 64, began lobbying the military to search anew for the missing Marine.

"How do we leave an American?" he said in a telephone interview. "How do we ignore him and leave him in a cave along with other military personnel who are MIA on the island also? He gave us a patriotic symbol that we see to this day. It's important."

Bolus, who said he visited Iwo Jima last year and met the grandson of Gen. Tadamichi Kuribayashi, the Japanese commander on Iwo Jima, said he's confident Genaust will be found.

"We've put everything in place. Now we have to have him tell us where he is."

JPAC said the search was the first on Iwo Jima "since 1948, when the American Graves Registration Service recovered most U.S. service members killed during the campaign."

Many of the missing Marines were lost at sea, meaning the chances of recovering their remains are slim. But many also were killed in caves or buried by explosions, and Brown said officials were optimistic about finding the remains of Genaust and other servicemen.

"We are looking at several caves," he said. "We are looking for a number of service members, including Genaust. We have maps dating back to World War II and even GPS locations. So far, everything seems to be where it should be."

Accounts of Genaust's death vary, but he was believed to have been killed in or near a cave on "Hill 362A."

On March 4, 1945, Marines were securing the cave, and are believed to have asked Genaust to use his movie camera light to illuminate their way. He volunteered to shine the light in the cave, and when he did he was killed by enemy fire. The cave was secured after a gunfight, and its entrance sealed.

"We decided that the only way to determine if his remains were there was to work on the ground," Webb said. "We believe his remains may be in there, along with the remains of the Japanese."

Separately, Japan on Monday returned to using the prewar name for Iwo Jima at the urging of its original inhabitants, who want to reclaim an identity they say has been hijacked by high-profile movies like Clint Eastwood's "Letters from Iwo Jima."

The new name, Iwo To, was adopted by the Japanese Geographical Survey Institute in consultation with Japan's coast guard.

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Associated Press writer Michael Rubinkam contributed to this report from Philadelphia.