Brazil: Anthrax suspected in seaman’s death

U.S. law enforcement officials are monitoring the death of an Egyptian seaman bound for Canada who might have been transporting anthrax.

Authorities said Soliman Ibrahim had just reached his ship, a bauxite carrier, on April 11 in the Amazon River port of Porto Trombetas when he told shipmates he felt sick. He’d been asked to deliver a suitcase to someone in Canada, Ibrahim told them, and had opened the suitcase out of curiosity. Ibrahim died that night, vomiting blood.

Brazilian officials think that a terrorist plot might have been foiled but are revealing few details.

Luiz Malcher, director general of the Renato Chavez Forensic Sciences Center in Belem, said that a necropsy found that bacteria destroyed Ibrahim’s organs. “The bacteria colonies were similar to anthrax,” he said. “If it isn’t anthrax, it is an extremely virulent bacteria.”

Washington, D.C.: Punitive measures against Cuba considered

The Bush administration is considering a range of punitive economic measures against Cuba after the Castro government’s harsh crackdown on political dissidents.

“We are reviewing all of our policies and our approach to Cuba in light of what I think is a deteriorating human rights situation within Cuba,” Secretary of State Colin Powell said Monday.

Powell did not specify the measures under consideration, but other officials said they include possible restrictions on cash remittances sent by Cuban-Americans to relatives, a further tightening of rules on travel to Cuba by American citizens, the suspension of agricultural export licenses and reductions in the size of the U.S. and Cuban diplomatic missions in each country.

North Carolina: Researchers develop cancer-resistant mice

A colony of cancer-resistant mice has been developed by researchers at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem.

The team led by Dr. Zheng Cui was studying cancer in mice by injecting a virulent form of the disease into test animals. One male mouse did not develop the disease, despite repeated exposure, they reported.

When that mouse was bred with other mice, about half the offspring inherited the cancer resistance, indicating a genetic basis for the trait.

The team found that transplanting cancer into these mice provoked a massive attack by white blood cells. Some of the mice never developed any cancer while other started to develop it and then destroyed it.

New York City: Memorial competition opens

A competition to design a memorial to those who died in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and the 1993 World Trade Center bombing began Monday.

The design competition is open to anyone over the age of 18 who pays a fee of $25. Applicants must register by May 29 and will have until June 30 to submit their designs.

A 13-member panel will choose approximately five finalists and select a winning design in the fall.

The guidelines for the memorial are published on a Web site, www.wtc sitememorial.org.