Show The Herald Journal Logan Utah Thursday' November 13 2003 — A9 Q World I I In brief executives convicted in France of embezzlement Ex-o- il Argentina drenched : by storms PARIS ( AP) — A French court convicted three former executives Wednesday of helping loot $350 million from the Elf oil company to finance lavish lifestyles closing a chapter in' a dal that sullied the nation's political and business elite ' 60 and senior Former Elf chairman Loik Le Floch-Prigedirector Alfred Sirven 76 were given five-yeprison terms for masterminding the mass embezzlement in the late 1980s and early 1‘WOs when Elf was under state ownership Sirven the company's former No 2 official was ordered to must pay $435(XX) pay $116 million while Le Floch-PrigeAndre Tarallo former head of Elf’s hydrocarbons division was sentenced to four years and fined $23 million ' Twenty-seve- n accomplices! among them other former Elf officials also were convicted Wednesday! The company since has been absorbed into the Franco-Belgia- n energy group Total' ' Wednesday’s verdicts culminated almost a decadeof legal 7 action that shook the French establishment arid tarnished its 7' ' " ''7-'-- " image globally 7- BUENOS AIRES Argcntmi AP) — Thunderstorms syiept across Argentina on Wednes day causing vs idc!prcav damage and at least 12 deaths from' accidents fulling trees and ( nt ar ' electrocutions ' Hundreds of people were evacuated from flooded areas after thestpnm unleashed heavy rain hail and high 7' 'winds across a w ide swath of! central Argentina nt Colombia S armod BOGOTA Colombia ( i fOrCGS ChlGf C U ' - 'j en defense minister Martha Lucia Ramirez resigned after clashing openly with Mora and other senior military ' commanders ' In the past week three 7 ' Cabinet ministers! including Ramirez have resigned for Various reasons! The cbm- V manderof the Colombian National Police Gen: TeOdoro Campo resigned Tuesday night timid a series of police corrup--' tion scandals - 7 7 The shakeup comes in the 5th month of Uribe's ' '!“ Palestinian Labor Minister Ghassan Khatib left Finance Minister Salam Fayad center and government ! General Secretary Hasan right look on during voting for the new government in Ramallah on Wednesday The Palestinian legislature on Wednesday approved the new cabinet of Prime Minister " Fe: ' Also in Santa Fe province Ahmed QureiaHying debris killed a woman and a man died after he was apparently struck by lightning the local news agency Diarios Nolicjas reported y ' Sunday hy giving in to Arafat Authorities in Buenos Aires: on the crucial question ofwhrf province reported three more controls Palestinian security deaths: a taxi driver whose cur and police leaving the veteran leader effectively’ in charge of : Plund '"I" a nHtded si(vao a man filing most forces ' tree and a third man who Parlianient approved the apparently touched alive wire Cabinet despite some lawmak-e-r RAMALLAH West Bank! in his Hooded home it bk complaints closely (AP) — Palestinian leader There were no immediate resembled prev ious comipt Y Yasser Arafat swore in a new on the f2threported details governments ' Palestinian Cabinet on Wednes- ' :Y death:'': Israel and the United Stales' day getting the government he' : The series of powerful which accused Arafat of'stok- wanted after a long wrangle storms cameas ii cold front ing terrorism wanted the seed-- " and setting the stage for a swept across Argentina’s cen rity agencies removed frnm his renewed push to implement the In : try! farm belt Winds giisting jurisdiction September stalled “road ' Israel declarcdit uould:ui tobeyond 70 mphtdppicd umIo " and tore the roofs froin buifd- map” peace plan remove" Arafat' The new government earlier ! ru Israefi Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat onicials — w ho ’ ings" t Won a vote of confidence frtxn Prime Palestinian lo 'listens ioTinda face puhii? The sUrms caused scattered Minister Ahmed Palestinian legislators after' Qureia's - way out of the violence hut widesproad power outages sugr unseen speech in Ramallah on who appears tqhave Arafat gcscd Wednesday they primar inmany communities leaving !’ Wednesday survived the lly were interested in restoring tens of thousands withouf effort to sideline him joined : as pylons fell in the'quid electricity Prime Minister Ahmed Quieia ipiplemenUhe peace plan “If the new Pakstiniun gov- winds heavy in calling for ab end to three ' ' ' accepted hyi both sides srx emmcnl is serious alkuit pursu Civil dcjehsc-ofllcialsaid " months ' Y Y has violence of that yeais ago: to takes action : ingpcace apd jibout 3"(XJ people were eyacu- - - " claimed thousands of lives The plan authored hy the “The time has come between United States the United ! to get outus and you Israelis Nations the European Union 7 of thiscycle of destructi ve ' r' and Russia calls for an end to war” Arafat said referring ui Y '' violence and the creation bf it ' the violence that buried an 7! Palestinian state by 2005 prime minister calls for renewal of peace talks Colombia’s first female - including 1'tur central Cordoba province and fivMghbonngSania New Palestinian : term 7 '' N©w catoiiinieti approved! r four-ye- at w-i- 42-ye- ar 1 rain- - - in Abu-Lebd- eh Jorge Enrique Mora announced Wednesday he is resigning — the latest senior leader to leave President 7 Alvaro Uribe’s hardline government His voice choking with emotion Mora read a state- inent on national television '' and before a crowd of jour-nalists saying he would leave the military on Nov! 20 after ' a career He did not give an explanation Mora’s announcement " comes just three days after - lcasJ six'vfcaiths AP photos its AP)— Colombia's armed forces Traffic accidents on 'soaked roadways caused " h ! US-back- - - : - - puro lsraeli-Americ- an - ar - ! : Uribe was elected by a landslide last year on pledges to crack: ' down on leftist rebels and on corruption ' 7 ' His initiatives suffered a setback after Colombian voters in a : referendum last mbnth rejected measures that would have freed more funds to fight the war and fought corruption 77 ' 3' - - : ' : Bush visit stirring British emotions LONDON (AP)— Security worries are more serious for 7 President Bush’s upcoming tfip'to Britain than previous presir dential visits but some anti-wprotesters may still be allowed to get close enough for Bush to see them policy said Wednes- ar v--- ’'day! - ' militant groups said they will Terror attacks ground the world mean fears for the president’s bificials a cease-fir- e ''' Consider safety are greater than or his predecessors who visited London bn sides both said they expect-e- d said London police Deputy Assistant Commissioner Andy TrotQureia and Israeli Prime:-?- ter Minister Ariel Sharon to meet : ' ' 8oUdWBd Furniture soon' The apprpval of the Cabinet which was sworn in Wednes- - ' stale-day ended a male that stymied efforts to - two-mon- th DENTURES 7 ' Y Nopartical board Fully assembled Lifetime Warranty " 50“ offyour Massaj when yuu buy 2 gift certificates Receive Natalie hyhr Call Today 770-569- Ijim'Uh) in HvJr New DantursL - Save Hundfsds M Dollars Comparsd to Dentists Prices flaHna repaln while you wait m LMT 5 Purk'' 1 HARRIS DLNTURK JIKSItlN harria-liirnsln- l I William Orninrlsl (4 IS) 7V2- - IN ( I (iiH) kid 2211 i GENEVA (AP)— Swiss-base- d scientists Jtave created model of a huge Buddha statue destroyed by the former Taliban regime in Afghanistan and saidWednesday they hope it yyi jibe used to three-dimension- al photographs and special computer model which represents the larger of two standing Buddhas the hardline Islamic group blew up with dynamite in March200L International outcry followed the destruction of the Bamiyan Buddhas which were chiseled into the cliff more than 1500 years ago in the central Bamiyan Valey on the ancient Silk Route linking Europe and Central ! v ' : " The fundamentalist Taliban considered them “idola- trous” and against the tenets of Islam The larger Buddha was 174 feet high The team is now working on mapping-diother statue which was about Reconstruction: Carved in the 5th 125 feet tall and stood about a half-miaway said Pro-- : century this standing Buddha Gnien a fessor Annin seen is 125 feet badly measuring ' in the bitter arid Woody ber of the team based at the Institute Swiss of Federal battle for Afghanistan's central ' Bamiyan province in this May 15 Technology in Zurich! 1999 file photo “This is a beautiful area : ' : and it could develop into a Buddhas the could be put back in tourist attraction if major Gruen said place" Using details from three photographs the team programmed a milling machine to create a polyurithane model 200 times ' h smaller than die original — and accurate to within a Gnien said He said die team is now working on a replica of the originaL or about 17 12 feet high That model should be completed fay next spring and will go on display at the Kabul Museum wtndi is being rebuilt after Afghanistan's civil war and Taliban regime ' le ed half-inc- one-ten- th i &m v Asia'-- ' mem-damag- ‘ 4-- - Scientists to rebuild Afghan Buddha rebuild the ancient figure The team used software to build the : “From the Lab to Yoii' No Dentist Visit Required:' - fttripwffc Manaft :'! war and other Bush policies will go ahead saying police would not ui security as an excuse to spare Bush the embarrassment of seeing those who disagree with him ' “(le could quite easily come into contact with demonstra- 'tors” Trotter said explaining that some pedestrians would be ' allowed to stand along roads Bush travels on “What would be extremely inappropriate would be for a large maith io meet the convoy'’' groups' occurred Qureia broke (he stalemate i V- |