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Show DAILY AS to avert a veto. Dana Perino, Housing the White House spokeswom an, told reporters the Senate Continued from A 1 measure has "some really on track for Senate passage good aspects" and Congress is "on the right path." as early as Wednesday, but "We have been working President Bush is threatening a veto, and Democrats are closely with them to try to change the bill in a way that fighting each other over key we think that it could be details. Those challenges will probably delay any final deal something that the president could sign," Perino said until Borrowers would be eligible The bill advanced as separate reports underscored for the housing rescue if their mortgage holders were willrising economic anxiety: Consumer confidence slid to its ing to take a substantial loss and allow them to refinance, lowest level in more than 16 and if they could show an years, and closely watched indices showed a continuing ability to make payments on the-ne. loan. They would decline in home values. At the Capitol, Sea Chrisultimately have to share with the government a portion of the topher J. Dodd, Banking Committee chairany profits they made from man, said the lending measure selling or refinancing their "would allow us to begin to x properties. The bill also would tighten put a tourniquet on the hemorrhaging of foreclosures in this controls and create a new regulator for Fannie Mae and country." Freddie Mac, the mortgage "We need to demonstrate to people in this country that giants that provide huge have lost an awful lot of faith amounts of cash flow to the home loan market by buying in almost everything, but cer loans from banks. tainly in Congress, that we It would provide a $14.5 can get something done, that billion array of tax breaks, we can put aside differences and make a difference in their including a credit of up to mid-Jul- lives," Dodd said. Still, conservative Democrats known as "Blue Dogs" are concerned about how to pay for the measure, and members of the Congressional Black Caucus call it unacceptable, arguing it doesn't do enough to address the needs of black Americans. Congressional leaders also are divided on how high to place loan limits that apply . to government mortgage insurance and financing. The Senate bill sets those limits at $625,000 while a House-passe- d version puts them at a crucial differ$730,000 ence in high-cohousing markets like California, home to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Lawmakers have been negotiating behind the scenes with the Bush administration $8,000 for first-tim- e home-buye-rs who buy in the next year. And it would boost tax credits and mortgage revenue bonds. The measure falls $2.4 billion short of covering the costs of those tax items, a ' sore point for Blue Dogs who oppose initiatives that add to the deficit. Mixing in a controversy involving lawmakers, Republicans and Democrats on the Ethics Committee proposed adding mortgage disclosure requirements for members of Congress to the bill following a flap over reports that Dodd and Sen. Kent Conrad, got preferential home loans from Countrywide Financial Corp., a lender at the center of the subprime mortgage mess. low-inco- HERALD Kenya Continued from A I and thousands of adults and tortured them, human rights groups say. The Associated Press interviewed some of the children in a detention center, brought in by a human rights advocate without the knowledge of government of ficials or the military. The children have been held since April on charges of promoting warlike activities. Their identities and location are withheld to protect them from reprisals. In March, the Kenyan government sent its army to crack down on the Sabaot Land Defense Force militia, which is named after the Sabaot regioa But instead of hunting down militia fighters where they hide in the forests of Mount Elgon, the army swept up thousands of men and boys from the surrounding villages. Since then, so many reports of murder and torture have emerged that Kenya's state-ru- n human rights commission is calling for the prosecution of the defense minister and top army and police officials. There are also calls for the United States and Britain to suspend millions of dollars in aid and training to the Kenyan army. The U.S. has asked for $7.45 million for "peace and security" purposes for Kenya in 2009. Britain is providing more than $1.96 million this year to fight terrorism and has allocated $7.83 million for regional security initiatives based in Wednesday, June 25. 2008 formed because of land conflicts, the same issue that fueled violence in Kenya after disputed elections in December. Squatters who had farmed the same fields since they were children were evicted in a government land scheme, and the rich grabbed plots set aside for the landless. The militia flourished in the thick forests of Mount Elgon, where 166,000 people live in poor villages next to a dormant volcano. Some families encouraged children to join in the hope of securing land in the district. Others were given a stark choice: pay the militia up to 50,000 Kenyan far beyond shillings ($830) the reach of most their son or die. One joined last ft f J- ' ' ' if : t: fan i iO. ..aa. a1 sirjs. mt f " nm " i ii mm lit mm ii mm mm v im mm 77c " fill Rawlence of New York-base- d Human Rights Watch. If the children are released, some can trace their families. Others have no parents left after murders by either the militia or the military. Peace and justice are far beyond the hopes of most families. Mothers say their ears still as strain beyond the drumbeat of rain on a tin roof or wind army had treated more than - 463 mm iTi mi a as bb aai SOI-373-6- mm ii .fr ft) K Vtiivcrsitvj Ave. rustling through cornstalks for the sounds of a vanished child's voice. Some scarred children will eventually limp home along the winding mountain trails. Others never will. HomeChoice 677 Weekly AV flthTQ m. HK JI Mrm mw If I In tJ Ji vssr u u jfii mj ot Ljr xy b ijsr a Nairobi, denied all allegations of torturing childrea He said the army has combed its ranks since claims of torture surfaced but has not found a single soldier guilty of misconduct. The 7,000 people for injuries, he added, but their injuries came at the hands of villagers who Kenya. spontaneously attacked them militia suspects. Representatives of both "No military personnel has ing list of missing children in governments in Kenya told The Associated Press they are the battered notebook of Job been involved in torture," he said. "We do not have any juvedeeply concerned over the reBwonya of the local Western niles in military detention cenports of abuses and are calling Kenya Human Rights Watch. The first kidnapping he on the Kenyan government to ters. They have not been there." recorded was of But the children interviewed investigate. But the Kenyan government says the army has Joshua, seized in July 2006. by the AP said soldiers plucked When word spread that he was them out of school or from received no complaints. The militia in Mount Elgon recording cases of disappeared the streets, tortured them and Awake Your PaUtc M the k ss donate 3 PROVO V If TR t caged them for days without food or water. Some had to Joshua's parents, brother and help load dead people onto sister were gunned helicopters that flew out in the direction of the forest and redown in the family's cornfield, and the flow of families report- turned empty. Martin Wanyonyi, another ing missing children slowed to a trickle. human rights advocate, has So far Bwonya has recorded records of 70 children in deten42 cases of missing children tion, including some whose names were confirmed by the likely seized by the militia, and has heard of many more. distraught parents of the missA partial survey of schools a ing. Wanyonyi said a recent year and a half ago found 650 visit to Bungoma prison rechildren had disappeared. Grim vealed dozens of tortured children among the 1,400 inmates newspaper clippings plaster the plywood walls of his crammed into cells designed for 400. Some were as young office, and anguished testimonies about murders spill as 11. The stench of sewage from bulging files. permeated the prison, he said, "Families are terrified to and moans and screams filled talk," he said. "No one can pro- the blackness. tect them." He also showed the AP Now Bwonya has another records that documented the worn book with a new set of injuries of four boys tortured cases of missing children, this so badly that prison authorities time ones who villagers report refused to accept them, insistwere taken by the Kenyan ing they be sent to a hospital instead. army. He said testimonies from those released by the In the meantime, Kenya's land issues remain unresolved. military indicate at least 22 children have been tortured to And the powerful politicians death. Bwonya himself fled the that villagers and former fightcountry for a couple of weeks ers say lead the militia remain after the military came looking free. for him. "The conflict in Mount Elgon The military in Mount Elgon is but the worst example of the does not talk to reporters. But poisonous relationship between Bogita Ongeri, a spokesman Kenyan politics, land grievfor the defense department in ances and violence," said Ben year to protect his family after the militia killed his uncle. "They shot him in front of me," the boy said. "He was begging for his life on his knees." He spent two months in the forests and learned to shoot alongside eight other children. He saw a boy forced to kill his own father. He fled with a when the militia began producing victims for reluctant recruits to kill. Some children simply disappeared. One girl was abducted by four men armed with machetes on her way back from school. Her father dared go to their forest hideout and ask after his missing daughter, who sang in the school choir and dreamed of being a doctor. "They threatened to slaughter me if I took it further," he said, his voice suddenly raw. "I could not protect her." Her name joined a grow- J?r 4 children, 24 families rushed forward. 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