Iowa

Dean appeals for halt to attack politics

Howard Dean appealed to fellow Democratic presidential candidates Saturday to stop the bitter attack politics that has come to dominate the race for the party’s nomination. The race needs “a little character transplant,” he said.

“It’s not necessary to tear down the other opponents,” said Dean, whose front-running campaign has come increasingly under fire from Democratic rivals.

In his latest swing through Iowa, where the nominating process starts with caucuses next month, Dean pushed hard at his claim to being an outsider running against Washington-based candidates with no record of accomplishment.

New Hampshire

Gephardt accuses Bush of sabotaging schools

Presidential contender Dick Gephardt accused President Bush of having ulterior motives in promoting the education overhaul contained in his “No Child Left Behind” school policies.

“George Bush is deliberately setting up public schools to fail so he can say there is no choice but to take money away from public schools. There’s only one way to fix No Child Left Behind, and that is to leave George Bush behind,” Gephardt said Saturday at New England College in Henniker.

“No Child Left Behind” penalizes schools that fail to demonstrate improvement and would allow parents to move their children to other schools in the same district under some circumstances.

New Hampshire

Poll shows Dean with 24-point lead

Howard Dean retains a solid lead over John Kerry, double his margin of just two months ago, and Wesley Clark is the only other Democratic presidential candidate with double-digit support in a poll out Saturday.

The poll shows, however, that President Bush easily would beat any of them in an election held now. New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation primary is Jan. 27.

Dean, a former Vermont governor, boasted a 24-percentage point lead over Massachusetts Sen. Kerry, 41 percent to 17 percent. Retired Army Gen. Clark showed up third, with 13 percent, followed by Sens. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut and John Edwards of North Carolina at 6 percent; and Reps. Dick Gephardt of Missouri at 4 percent and Dennis Kucinich of Ohio at 1 percent. Al Sharpton and Carol Moseley Braun attracted less than one percent.

Beijing

Millions of N. Koreans to lose food rations

Food rations for more than 3 million North Koreans will end within weeks in midwinter because the country’s leaders refuse to let donor nations adequately monitor how food aid is delivered, the chief of the United Nations World Food Program said Saturday.

“Progress is seriously at risk, especially to feed children,” said James T. Morris, the U.S. executive who now heads the U.N. food agency. “It’s a very serious problem.”

In January, Morris said, emergency food handouts to 3 million North Koreans will halt, and by February, 3.8 million of North Korea’s 23 million citizens may find their food assistance cut off.

The suspension will cripple a program that has provided famished North Koreans each with about 10.5 ounces of cereal per day.