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Show ~ ' World & Nation The Utah Statesman 18 Monday March 5,2007 White power group gaining strength BUENA PARK, Calif. (AP) - The white supremacist gang Public Enemy No. 1 began two decades ago as a group of teenage punk-rock fans from upper-middle class bedroom communities in Southern California. Now, the violent gang that deals in drugs, guns and identity theft is gaining clout across the West after forging an alliance with the notorious Aryan Brotherhood, authorities say. Police say the gang has compiled a "hit list" targeting five officers and a gang prosecutor - a sign of just how brazen Public Enemy has become. "They make police officers very, very nervous," said Cpl. Nate Booth, a gang detective with the Buena Park Police Department in Orange County. Law enforcement officials trace the gangs rise to shifts in the power structure inside prisons. The Aryan Brotherhood has long been the dominant white supremacist gang behind bars, with the Nazi Low Riders acting as its foot soldiers on the outside fV-r drug dealing and identity theft. In 2000, officials reclassified the Low Riders as a prisonbased gang and began sending its members to solitary confinement as soon as they were imprisoned. The crackdown hurt the gang's ability to interact with the Aryan Brotherhood, which turned to Public Enemy, authoriAPPhoto/NgHanGuan ties say. The alliance was cemented in 2005 when Donald DELEGATES ATTEND THE NATIONAL PEOPLE'S CONGRESS opening ceremony held at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Monday March 5. The annual session of the legislature opens Monday as delReed "Popeye" Mazza, an alleged leader of Public Enemy, was inducted into the Aryan Brotherhood. egates from all over the country arrive at the Chinese capital. The pact has increased Public Enemy's wealth and recruiting power, said Steve Slaten, a special agent for the California Department of Corrections. In the past three years, its ranks have doubled to at least 400, but authorities suspect there could be hundreds of the Pentagon and the Chinese military about its spending. Unlike the U.S., BEIJING (AP) - A top U.S. envoy on other members operating under the radar. They said heavy "so that we have a bit better understand- recruiting where Congress is required to approve Sunday urged China to be more open is taking place throughout California and Arizona, ing of exactly what it is that the governthe military budget, China's military is about its military spending, hours after and members have been picked up by police in Nevada and ment of China has in mind with respect extremely secretive and rarely releases the government announced a 17.8 perIdaho. to its military modernization." information on its spending. cent increase in its defense budget - the "They move around. We find them everywhere," said Negroponte's stance underscored biggest in more than a decade. The Pentagon believes Chinas total Lowell Smith of the Orange County Probation Department. remarks by Vice President Dick Cheney, military spending may be much greater The $44.9 billion budget for 2007 The gang traces its roots to the punk rock subculture in who criticized China's military ambitions Long Beach in the 1980s. It soon shifted its base to nearby since the announced budget does not would mainly be spent on higher wages last month while on a swing through and living allowances for members of the include key items such as weapons purOrange County and in the 1990s began recruiting what chases. Asia. armed forces and on upgrading armapolice call "bored latchkey kids'1 - white teenagers from He said some of the country's actions The 2007 budget marks an increase ments "in order to enhance the military's upper-middle class neighborhoods. were at odds with its words about its of $6.84 billion over last year and is ability to conduct defensive operations," military expansion being peaceful, the third highest jump since 1990, surJiang Enzhu, a spokesman for Chinas passed only by increases of 21 percent in pointing to a January test in which national legislature, said at a news con1995 and 18 percent in 1994. ference. He did not give any details. China fired a missile into a defunct weather satellite, making it just the U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John China's 2.3 million-strong military Negroponte, who was visiting Beijing on third nation to use a weapon beyond the is the world's largest and has been Earths atmosphere. Sunday, urged more dialogue between criticized abroad for not being open China increases defense spending Brazil is worldwide leader in biofuels SAO PAULO, Brazil (AP) - Just an hour's drive outside this traffic-choked metropolis where President Bush kicks off a Latin American tour Thursday, sugar cane fields stretch for hundreds of miles, providing the ethanol that fuels eight out of every 10 new Brazilian cars. In only a few years, Brazil has turned itself into the planet's undisputed renewable energy leader, and the highlight of Bush's visit is expected to be a new ethanol "alliance" he will forge with Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. The deal is still being negotiated, but the two leaders are expected to sign an accord Friday to develop standards to help turn ethanol into an internationally traded commodity, and to promote sugar cane-based ethanol production in Central America and the Caribbean to meet rising international demand. Japan won't apologize TOKYO (AP) - Japan will not apologize again for its World War II military brothels, even if the U.S. Congress passes a resolution demanding it, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told parliament Monday. Abe, elaborating on his denial last week that women from across Asia were forced into sexual slavery in the 1930s and 1940s, said none of the testimony in hearings last month by the U.S. House of Representatives offered any solid proof of abuse. "I must say we will not apologize even if there's a resolution," Abe told lawmakers in a lengthy debate, during which he also said he stood by Japan's landmark 1993 apology on the brothels. Historians say that up to 200,000 women - mostly from Korea and China - served in Japanese military brothels throughout Asia during the war and in the years leading up to it. Accounts of abuse by the military - including kidnapping of women and girls for use in the brothels - have been backed up by witnesses, victims and even former Japanese soldiers. But right-wing Japanese scholars and politicians routinely deny direct military involvement or the use offeree in rounding up the women, blaming private contractors for any abuses. Abe last week sided with the critics, saying that there was AP Photo/Victor R. Caivano no proof that the women were coerced into prostitution. A GAS STATION ATTENDANT FILLS a car's tank with ethanol in Sao Paulo, Saturday, March 3. Just an hour's drive outside this traffic-choked metropolis On Monday, he elaborated, saying there was no evidence where U.S. President George W. Bush kicks off a Latin American tour Thursday, sugar cane fields stretch for hundreds of kilometers, providing the of coercion in the strict sense - such as kidnapping - but ethanol that fuels eight out of every 10 new Brazilian cars. he acknowledged that brokers procuring women otherwise U.S. tariff on Brazilian etha- forced the victims to work as prostitutes. Abe did not explain Across Latin America's largMeanwhile, political and nol imports. est nation, Brazilian media energy analysts warn that further. are billing the Bush-Silva any agreements reached "For the Brazilians, the The U.S. House is considering a nonbinding resolution that meeting as a bid to create a between Brazil and the tariff has utmost priority," would demand a formal acknowledgment and apology from new two-nation "OPEC of United States are unlikely to said Cristoph Berg, an etha- the Japanese government for the brothels. A House commitEthanol," despite efforts by have short-term effects. And nol analyst with Germany's tee heard testimony last month from women who described Brazilian and American offi- the deal itself could end up F.O. Licht, a commodities being taking captive by Japanese authorities and repeatedly cials to downplay the label largely symbolic because of research firm. "They will raped as so-called "comfort women." amid concerns that whatever reluctance by Washington to agree with biofuel economies Abe suggested he did not consider such testimony concluemerges would be viewed as address a key point of fricbut first they will want to do sive evidence. "There was no testimony based that had any a price-fixing cartel. tion: A 54 cent-per-gallon away with that tariff." proof," he told lawmakers Monday. Health Insurance www.janetanderson. mymedicalquotes.com CEICO. A15-minutecall could save you 15% on car insurance. ft- * $3 Umefour Iliiipei 1513 N. 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