San Diego

Former commander of Navy spy ship dies

Former Navy Cmdr. Lloyd “Pete” Bucher, who commanded the spy ship USS Pueblo when it was captured by North Korea in 1968 and helped his crew survive months of brutal captivity, only to nearly face a court-martial back home, has died. He was 76.

Bucher, who lived in the San Diego suburb of Poway, died Wednesday at a nursing facility there.

The lightly armed Pueblo was monitoring communist ship movements and intercepting messages in international waters near the North Korean coast when it was attacked by torpedo boats Jan. 23, 1968.

One sailor was killed and 82 were taken prisoner. Bucher, who was wounded when the Pueblo was shelled, was beaten and tortured into signing a confession.

Bucher’s surrender of his small ship, loaded with intelligence information, was harshly criticized by a Navy Court of Inquiry, which recommended a court-martial. Navy Secretary John H. Chafee turned down the court-martial, saying crew members “have suffered enough.”

Washington, D.C.

Microsoft offers reward for virus creator

Microsoft Corp. promised Thursday to pay $250,000 to anyone who helps authorities find and prosecute the author of a fast-spreading computer virus.

The cash reward is the third so far under a $5 million program Microsoft announced in November to help U.S. authorities nab authors of unusually damaging Internet infections aimed at consumers of the company’s software products.

The “MyDoom.B” virus, spread by e-mail, causes victims to launch an electronic attack starting Tuesday against Microsoft’s own Web site, and prevents victims from visiting the Web sites of leading anti-virus companies. The virus poses as an authentic-looking error message.

Florida

NASA designates day for astronauts who died

With the first anniversary of the Columbia tragedy just a few days away, NASA employees throughout the country paused Thursday to remember the 17 astronauts who lost their lives over the years “because we failed.”

NASA Administrator Sean O’Keefe declared that the last Thursday in every January be set aside as a day of remembrance within the space agency to honor the memory of the crews of Columbia, Challenger and Apollo 1.

All three anniversaries fall within a week.

The Apollo 1 spacecraft fire on the launch pad occurred Jan. 27, 1967. The Challenger launch explosion occurred Jan. 28, 1986. The Columbia disintegration during re-entry occurred Feb. 1, 2003, killing seven astronauts.

Washington, D.C.

Teenage Guantanamo prisoners released

The U.S. military on Thursday released three boys — believed to be between the ages of 13 and 15 — who had been accused of supporting the Taliban and had been held at the prison for terror suspects at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, the Pentagon announced.

The boys were sent back to their home country, which was not identified, the Pentagon said, saying it was determined that they no longer posed a threat to the United States. They have no further value as interrogation subjects and are not going to be tried by the U.S. government for any crimes, the military said.

They were the youngest prisoners at the Guantanamo base, which has held hundreds of suspected al-Qaida and Taliban fighters since the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan that followed the 9-11 attacks.

Baltimore

NASA plans review of Hubble abandonment

NASA’s chief agreed Thursday to review his decision to cancel the Hubble Space Telescope’s final servicing mission and let it deteriorate and go out of operation. The decision comes after the space agency was bombarded by pleas to save the craft.

Adm. Hal Gehman, chairman of the board that investigated the Columbia shuttle breakup last year, will “review the (Hubble) matter and offer his unique perspective,” NASA Administrator Sean O’Keefe said in a letter to Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., who released a copy of the letter.

O’Keefe had defended his decision earlier this month to cancel all space shuttle missions to the Hubble, which has revolutionized the study of astronomy with its striking images of the universe. He had cited the risk to the astronauts on a Hubble mission and President Bush’s plans to send humans to the moon, Mars and beyond as the reason for NASA’s change of focus.

Washington, D.C.

9-11 relatives seek report extension

Relatives of 9-11 victims asked Thursday that the deadline for a commission investigating the attacks to produce a final report be extended to next January to limit the influence of election-year politics.

The commission is scheduled to finish its work May 27. But panel members this week asked Congress for a two-month extension, citing a need for full analysis of reams of documents about the disaster.

The relatives’ organization, Voices of Sept. 11, said even more time was necessary.

Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Joe Lieberman, D-Conn., said Thursday they planned to introduce legislation next week that would set a Jan. 10, 2005, deadline for the report.

Washington, D.C.

Experts offer ideas to fight air pollution

Despite progress in cleaning the air the past three decades, the government could do more by cracking down on groups of pollutants and letting companies trade rights to foul the sky, scientific experts said Thursday.

They also said air-quality standards should take into account climate change whenever possible.

The Clean Air Act of 1980 requires the government to set national health-based air quality standards to protect against carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide, ozone, lead and particulate matter, or soot. States have to devise plans to meet those standards.

The Environmental Protection Agency, which sponsored the study by a committee of the National Academy of Sciences, puts the cost of compliance at as much as $30 billion a year.