Denver

ATF investigating thefts of ammonium nitrate

Federal agents said Friday they were investigating the theft of 1,100 pounds of an explosive chemical from construction companies in Colorado and California in the past week.

Both thefts involve ammonium nitrate, a key ingredient in the bomb that destroyed the Oklahoma City federal building in 1995.

In the first heist, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives issued a nationwide alert Monday after eight 50-pound bags of an ammonium nitrate-based explosive vanished from the Pike View Quarry near Colorado Springs.

Then 700 pounds of an ammonium nitrate product were stolen this week from a similar business in San Diego County, Calif., ATF agent Rich Marianos said Friday.

The government estimated about 4,800 pounds of ammonium nitrate fertilizer was used to make the bomb that killed 168 people in Oklahoma City.

Liberia

Rebels threaten capital

Rebels pushed to within six miles of Monrovia and threatened Friday to overrun the capital unless President Charles Taylor ends attacks on the insurgents. Liberians pleaded for Americans to come to their rescue.

The government accused the insurgents of attacking its positions, while the rebel movement Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy said they were being pushed into a corner.

Defense Minister Daniel Chea said the rebels overran a key military base late Thursday and pressed closer to Monrovia.

Toronto

Canada revises beef system to limit mad cow disease risk

Canada announced Friday it was changing its beef slaughter system in a move to encourage nations concerned about mad cow disease to resume buying Canadian beef.

The government said the new system would include the removal of tissue that may transmit mad cow disease from carcasses. The change was called for in a report by international experts on a lone case of mad cow disease detected May 20 in Alberta.

In Washington, a senior U.S. Department of Agriculture official said Friday the ban wouldn’t be lifted until U.S. officials determined how doing so would affect trade with importers of U.S. beef, such as Japan.

Washington, D.C.

Reports says government failing American Indians

The government is failing to provide adequate health care, law enforcement and education to American Indians, and other government agencies need to do more to enforce civil rights policies, two reports from the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights say.

The commission said American Indians ranked near the bottom of almost every social, health and economic indicator. They have more than twice the average poverty rate and unemployment rate and lag in high school and college graduation rates. They also have the shortest life expectancy and have more diseases.

The report recommends immediate creation of a task force to study the problem and recommend solutions in time for next year’s budget process.