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Show DAILY Monday, March 8, 2004 HERALD A3 FAST FACT MORMNGB RIEFM While his wife spent long hours posing for the figure, the model for the face of the Statue of Liberty was Charlotte Bartholdi, mother of e the French sculptor Bartholdi, who designed it Frederic-August- Source Win Knew? by Dart Hoffman Compiled from Daily Herald wire services - . : The World ; The Nation 0 if - f 4 ji ,.,iiiii rum T4f Ji H CK . . nSm- - ,,,,., ,,. r.MI GAIL .tlT BURTONAssociated Press stands next to a water taxi as a crane pulls it upright near Fort McHenry in Baltimore on Sunday. The taxi was carrying 25 people Saturday afternoon when it flipped during a sudden storm with wind gusts up to 50 mph. One woman was killed. A diver 36-fo- ot iJ--. v -- - Ferry capsized; three still missing OS . ' The Navy reservists whose quick work saved 21 people aboard a water taxi that capsized described the horrific scene in which they made their rescue: survivors clinging to the overturned vessel in frigid, choppy water pounded by rain, telling them more were trapped below. One woman was killed in Saturday's accident in Baltimore Harbor, and three people, including a child, were missing, but the reservists said Sunday they were relieved the loss of life wasn't even greater. The sailors rushed to the scene after seeing the boat in trouble. After passengers clinging to the water taxi told them others were trapped underneath, the rescuers used a ramp on their troop landing ship to lift the water taxi partly out of the water, Petty Officer Jeffrey King said. "Brother, it was like the end of the 'Titanic' movie once that thing lifted up," King said. "I. mean those bodies just floated ARIEL Press SCHAUT Associated Festival of Purim xruei girls dressed as ancient Egyptians dance next to a security guard during a parade celebrating the Jewish holiday of Purim in llolon, near Tel Aviv, Israel, on Sunday. The festival of Purim commemorates the rescue of Jews from genocide in ancient Persia. Saudi Arabia hires firms to search for natural gas Soprano dropped from opera performance due to her size In RIYADH, Saudi Arabia a milestone agreement, Saudi Arabian officials signed contracts with foreign oil execu- tives Sunday to explore for nat: ural gas in the country's vast southern desert known as the Rub or Empty Quarter. Saudi Arabia boasts the world's fourth-largedeposits of gas. but the government had foreigners npver hefore invited 0 . . it mime competitive uius iui rights to explore for this resource. The four winning companies, including two from Russia and China, said they expected to invest several billion dolHio lars... iii ..... v..am) 5trnc .vy Hmolnn no thoir iii.jr V.1.J cover. U.S. firms were conspicuous for their absence among the winners of these landmark deals. I lowever, Saudi Oil Minister Ali Naimi played down any significance in that regard and instead stressed the advantages of working with a mixed group of what essentially, are second-tie- r energy companies. I . The Royal in London a performance by American star soprano Deborah Voigt because of her weight, a spokesman for the prestigious theater said Sunday. Voigt had been scheduled to play the lead in a summer production of Richard Strauss' "Ariadne on Nax-os,- " but casting director Peter Katona decided that a slimmer singer would be better for the part, spokesman Christopher Millard told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. Katona had selected a black evening dress for the part and believed Voigt would not look right in it, -. Pentagon to oversee spending in Iraq U.S. After a power' struggle with the U.S. State Department, the Pentagon has won control over most of an $18.4 billion aid package for Iraq, and rebuilding delayed for a month will start this week, U.S. officials in Baghdad said Sunday. Much of the enormous aid funded by U.S. taxpackage will go toward 2,300 payers construction projects over the next four years. Of these, the State Department will oversee as little as 10 percent. But $4 billion of the aid package has been set aside, and spending authority for those funds is still in disBAGHDAD, Iraq cussion. Congress approved the aid in November, but the bickering delayed contracts expected to be approved Feb. 2. The State Department had pushed for control because it will become the top U.S. agency here after Iraqis are Millard said. ing of the Experts Assembly, the body empowered to elect or dismiss Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The other goal, he said, is to have Iran recognized globally as a nuclear country. Insurgents fire rockets, wound one American InsurBAGHDAD, Iraq gents fired at least seven rockets on the U.S. coalition headquarters in Baghdad on Sunday night, hitting a hotel used by U.S. occupation officials and wounding one American, the military said. It was the biggest attack on the Green Zone in weeks. A series of explosions echoed across central Baghdad from , , . , Jean-Bertra- pro-Aristi- LONDON a one demonstrator killed Sunday during a march to demand that ousted President Aristide be tried for corruption and killings by armed militants. As crowds gathered in front of the presidential National Palace, witnesses said they saw militants open fire. The identity of the shooters could not immediately be confirmed. The body of one demonstrator was left on a sidewalk in the central square. U.S. Marines helped treat at least six people who were injured in the violence, many bleeding profusely. Witnesses also reported seeing two Haitian police officers who had been shot and injured. militants had canceled a countermarch, saying they feared reprisal attacks and that peacekeepers offered them no protection. Their protest was rescheduled for today. jfr ;i(ta 2f Associated Press American opera singer Deborah Voigt was let go from the Royal Opera House in London because of her weight. the strike, sirens blared, and smoke and flames were briefly visible in the Green Zone, the heavily guarded area where the U.S.-le- d coalition is based. Five rockets hit the hotel, where some civilian contractors are living and a coalition dining hall is located. A U.S. civilian contractor was wounded, the military said. The rockets were fired around 7:30 p.m. from a white SUV parked outside the Green Zone near the former Foreign Ministry Building. Shootings at march kill one anti-Aristi- de Haiti up." Lt. Cmdr. Art Eisenstein said he jumped into the water and grabbed a little girl who was unconscious and floating face-dow- 1 dead, 2 missing after flash floods in Kentucky Greek conservatives win parliament elections Greece's conservatives defeated the governing Socialist party in parliament elections Sunday, exit polls and early results showed. Their first task will be overcoming massive delays in Athens' preparations for the Olympic Games. Socialist leader George conceded defeat after carried by various exit polls television private and state-ru- n gave the conservative New Democracy party a lead of about 5 percentage points. All exit polls had a margin of error of plus or minus 1.5 percent. "New Democracy won the elections," Papandreou said. "We will help the effort for the Olympic Games ... a very big moment for our country." Early'returns also showed the Socialists headed for defeat after more than a decade in girl and a woman were missing after vehicles were swept away by high water. Up to 3 inches of rain fell across the state from Friday into Saturday, the National Weather Service reported. Weyland Ingle, 42, was found dead Saturday afterhis vehicle was caught in a flood in eastern Kentucky, said Sgt. Rod Williamson of the Boyd County Sheriff 's Department. Ingle's body was e discovered about a from the ATV. In neighboring Carter Counhad ty, the missing been riding in a pickup truck that overturned Friday while traveling through high water, Sheriff Kevin McDavid said. Four others from the truck were rescued. Authorities did not identify them. ' State police in central Kentucky's Washington County were searching Beech Fork Creek for a woman whose car was swept into the water. Relatives said they had not heard from the woman since Friday night, Sgt. Pat Williams said. half-mil- . Officials order slaughter after bird flu found POCOMOKE CITY, Md. The discovery of avian influenza in Maryland compelled the slaughter of 328,000 birds on a huge commercial chicken farm, nearly four times the number killed when two Delaware farms were infected last month. The cases in Delaware and on Maiyland's Eastern Shore are from the same H7 strain, which is not harmful to humans, authorities said Sunday. Maryland agriculture officials immediately ordered a quarantine that covers eight farms within a two-mil-e radius of the infected farm, which ; grows chickens on a contract basis for Mountaire Farms of Selbyville, Del. The department also began testing 79 poultry farms within a e radius. The infected farm in Worcester County is about 45 miles from the nearest infected farm in Delaware. Authori Iran wants U.N. nuclear agency to wrap it up 1 C VLADIMIR STRUGATSKY 'Associated Press Arctic researchers rescued helicopter lands on an Arctic ice floe during a rescue operation some 400 miles from the North Pole. A dozen Russian researchers who had been stranded on an ice floe were picked up by helicopter and brought to solid land Saturday, three days after a large section of their floe disappeared underwater, taking four of the research station's six buildings with it and raising concern for the researchers' safety, the Minister of Emergency Situations said. A Russian heavy-lou- d Mi-2- f' Check of travelers hailed as model, but others urge caution WASHINGTON A federal program that fingerprints foreigners as they leave BaltimoreWashington International Airport is working fine and could serve as a model for the rest of the country, Rep. Dutch said. Ruppersberger, He told the House Govern- ment Reform Committee that he has heard no serious complaints about the extra screening of foreign travelers, de-- . spue i ears tnai n wouiu cause business travelers and others to avoid BWI. "I have heard nothing but positive feedback," Ruppersberger said. But critics said it is still too early to pass judgment on the exit checks, which the Department of Homeland Security wants to expand nationwide by 2005. "I think it needs to be tested in a whole bunch of airports," said David Plavin, president of Airports Council International, after Thursday's hearing. "The BWI test is only going to tell you how well it works at BWI and nowhere else." .' Flash GRAYSON, Ky. floods killed one man during the weekend, and a Shots were fired and at least 011 ' . 36-fo- ot handed sovereignty June Starting this week, about $5 billion worth of contracts are to be awarded to 17 companies for projects in seven various sectors, said Steven Susens, a spokesman for the Program Management Office, which is overseeing the funds for the U.S.-Ie- d coalition Pentagon-ru- n authority. I n. Two people, including an girl, were critically inponjured when the toon boat overturned with 23 passengers and two crew members. . 30. Iran has TE1 IRAN, Iran taken steps toward reassuring the world its nuclear program is leaceful and wants the U.N. atomic watchdog agency to fhv ish its review, Iran's top nuclear negotiator said Sunday. lasan RowhaniI made his I L i comments a aay Deiore me inAtomic ternational Energy Agency is scheduled to discuss Iran's nuclear program. "We have two goals ahead of one us that we must achieve is ending Iran's nuclear dossier with the IAEA board of governors. Iran's dossier has to be completely taken out of the IAEA board of governors' meet- agenda," Rowhani told a BALTIMORE ties said they had not discov- - ; ered a connection between the cases but could not rule out , any relation. Officials emphasized the strain of the virus is not a threat to humans, but it can wipe out poultry farms, especially if it turns up in a highly pathogenic form. ' six-mil- i i Iraqi contracts covered Alaska Snowlong way from deserts of Iraq, but that doesn't worry Janet Reiser, the president of an Anchorage-base- d company planning to help rebuild the war-tor- n country. Thanks to Sen. Ted Stevens, Alaska native-owne- d businesses such as Reiser's are allowed to receive government con- tracts of unlimited size without going through the usual bidding process. Pentagon officials are turning to them to speed the rebuilding of Iraq. "If you exchange snow for sand, work in Iraq is similar to the work we've done in Alaska." said Reiser, whose Nana Pacific engineering company is in the final stages of negotiating a multimillion-dollar contract to be awarded without competitive bidding. "We know how to do logistics in remote areas." Over the years, Stevens, the powerful Alaska Republican who chairs the Senate's Appropriations Committee, has made sure that Nana Pacific and other small businesses owned by Alaska native corporations and American Indians enjoy benefits in government contracting. ' Their unique ability to land government contracts of any size free of the bidding process which no othei: minority-o- r female-owne- d small business enjoys r was a largely unknown part of contracting law until the fall, when Congress passed an $ 18.6 billion aid package for Iraq that contained restrictions calling for full and open J competition. |