Washington, D.C.

N.Y. Times reporter held in contempt over source

A reporter for the New York Times was held in contempt Thursday by a federal judge and faces possible jail time for refusing to divulge confidential sources to prosecutors investigating the leak of an undercover CIA officer’s identity.

U.S. District Judge Thomas F. Hogan ordered reporter Judith Miller jailed until she agrees to testify about her sources before a grand jury, but said she could remain free while pursuing an appeal. Miller could be jailed up to 18 months.

Miller and her attorney, Floyd Abrams, said the ruling undermined the ability of reporters to do their jobs.

“The ability of journalists to give their word, and to keep their word, that they will not reveal their sources is at the heart of journalism,” Abrams said.

Washington, D.C.

Maker warns of risk of cancer with Remicade

Patients taking Remicade for rheumatoid arthritis suffered a type of cancer, lymphoma, at three times the rate of the general public, manufacturer Centocor warned doctors on Thursday.

Centocor, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, said the lymphoma incidence rate was six times higher among all patients who took the monoclonal antibody in completed clinical trials.

Experts said such toxic outcomes, however, were still rare, and that the new drugs, on balance, worked markedly better than older medications, without such side effects as nausea and fatigue.

Washington, D.C.

Judge scolds lawyers in anthrax lawsuit case

A judge admonished government lawyers Thursday after being told officials investigating the 2001 anthrax attacks still were talking to the media about a bioterrorism expert who had not been charged in the case.

Dr. Stephen Hatfill has filed a defamation lawsuit against Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft and other government authorities who publicly named him as a “person of interest” in the attacks. He said his reputation had been ruined, and he is seeking unspecified monetary damages.

At a hearing before U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton, Hatfill attorney Thomas Connolly said investigators continued to leak his client’s name.

New York City

Stewart to turn herself in at W.Va. prison today

It’s check-in day for Martha Stewart.

Stewart, 63, who rose from working-class roots in Nutley, N.J., to be named one of the nation’s 50 Most Powerful Women by Fortune magazine in 1998, is expected to show up at the 105-acre, 1,040-inmate Alderson Federal Prison Camp in West Virginia by 1 p.m. CDT today. She will begin serving a five-month sentence for lying to federal investigators about her suspiciously timed stock sale.

Stewart, founder of a multimillion-dollar publishing and home-decorating empire, spent Thursday with her mother, Martha Kostyra, 90; daughter, Alexis; and sisters.

The source said Stewart has no fears about her safety at the Alderson camp, the first federal prison for women in the country and nicknamed Camp Cupcake because of its bakery. Above, a gift shop in Alderson displays items for sale in anticipation of Stewart’s pending imprisonment.

Atlanta

CDC: Kidney failure cases doubled in 1990s

Chronic kidney failure more than doubled in the United States in the 1990s — another sign of the toll being taken by America’s obesity epidemic, the government reported Thursday.

Between 1990 and 2001, cases of chronic kidney failure rose from 697 to 1,424 per 1 million population, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The 104 percent increase was even bigger than researchers expected, said Dr. Wayne Giles, a CDC associate director.

“Obesity plays an important role,” Giles said. Obesity can lead to diabetes and high blood pressure, and both of those conditions can cause chronic kidney failure.

New York City

Group sues over arrests of convention protesters

A civil liberties group Thursday filed two federal lawsuits alleging that hundreds of people were illegally arrested during the Republican National Convention.

The lawsuits accuse police of illegal mass arrests, illegally lengthy and unexplained detentions under filthy conditions, and illegal fingerprinting of people charged with minor offenses. The suits seek unspecified damages.

More than 1,800 people, including several Lawrence protesters, were arrested during the four-day GOP convention at Madison Square Garden in August.

“To protect the right to protest in New York City, we must right these wrongs,” said New York Civil Liberties Union executive director Donna Lieberman.

Gaza Strip

Two Palestinian teens killed in Israeli strike

An Israeli missile strike on Thursday killed two Palestinian teenagers who were playing with a tube and a gasoline-filled bottle in a game imitating militants firing rockets at Israel, relatives said.

The deaths brought to 84 the number of Palestinians killed since Israel began its offensive into northern Gaza on Sept. 29 after a rocket attack killed two Israeli children, according to a count by The Associated Press.

On Thursday morning, an unmanned Israeli aircraft spotted two suspicious figures on the edge of the Jebaliya refugee camp as they set up a rocket launcher, the army said.

The badly disfigured bodies were identified by relatives as Suleiman Abu Foul, 14, and Raed Abu Zeid, 15.

Pakistan

Suspected sectarian bombing kills 39

A bomb attack on Sunni Muslim radicals Thursday in central Pakistan killed at least 39 people, wounded more than 100 and prompted the government to ban religious and political gatherings nationwide.

Two bombs planted in a car and motorcycle exploded at a predawn gathering of about 3,000 Sunnis in the city of Multan in what police suspected was a sectarian attack.

Some 2,000 angry Sunnis gathered outside a hospital where victims were taken, shouting “Shiites are infidels!” and slogans against the government, witnesses said. They shattered the windshields of two ambulances and burned tires.

About 1,000 police were called into the city and soldiers were patrolling to stop Sunni and Shiites from clashing.

Haiti

More beheaded corpses turn up in capital

Two beheaded bodies, one wrapped in tires and set ablaze, turned up in Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince, officials said Thursday, the latest victims of violence fueled by supporters of an ousted president.

The killings brought the death toll to 20 in a weeklong protest by backers of Jean-Bertrand Aristide who are seeking the former president’s return to power.

The violence has frequently spun out of control, and last week three policemen were beheaded in the capital.

Afghanistan

Rocket attack targets embassy before election

A rocket slammed into Kabul near the U.S. Embassy and other diplomatic missions early today, a day before landmark elections. All U.S. embassy staff were ordered to briefly take cover in an underground bunker.

The rocket hit a parking lot near a media accreditation center for the elections, causing no damage or casualties, said Lt. Commander Ken MacKillop, a spokesman for international peacekeepers.

The blast shattered a relatively calm lead-up to Saturday’s vote, at least in the capital. It was loud enough to shake windows and rouse people from bed.

Ethiopia

Blair pushes for world aid for African crises

British Prime Minister Tony Blair — bedeviled by Iraq and in search of a more positive legacy — departed Ethiopia late Thursday after calling for a concerted international action to finally address the crises afflicting Africa, the only continent to have grown poorer during the past 40 years.

Britain is preparing to use its upcoming chairmanship of the G-8 group of industrialized nations to spearhead the effort, and at a conference to discuss African’s future, Blair pressed the international community to raise $150 million to help those caught up in violence in Sudan’s Darfur region.

Blair also said Britain planned to train 20,000 African peacekeepers over the next five years to boost the continent’s ability to respond to conflicts.

Belarus

President lauds founder of Soviet secret police

Belarus’ authoritarian president opened a memorial to the founder of the Soviet secret police Thursday, praising “Iron Felix” Dzerzhinsky as the sort of man Belarus could use today.

During a ceremony in Dzerzhinsky’s hometown, some 20 miles east of the capital Minsk, President Alexander Lukashenko called for increased cooperation between Belarusian and Russian intelligence agencies, citing their common past.

Dzerzhinsky, deeply reviled by critics of the Soviet era, helped establish the first Soviet secret service, called the Cheka, in 1917 under Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin. The Cheka, which was the forerunner of the KGB, was responsible for mass arrests and executions.