Nation briefs 01/30/03

Clonaid chief: Baby Eve is alive and well in Israel

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- The head of the company that claims to have created the first human clone appeared in court Wednesday and insisted under oath that the baby exists and is in Israel.

With that, Circuit Judge John Frusciante said the baby would be outside the jurisdiction of the Florida court, and he threw out a petition seeking the appointment of a guardian for the child.

But the judge warned Clonaid president Brigitte Boisselier: "You cannot pursue human cloning with impunity. All of us must not overlook the weakest among us."

Boisselier said she had seen the child, nicknamed Baby Eve by the company, only on videotape before the parents cut off contact with her last week. The company said it has since cloned two more babies, but has not provided any proof of their existence.

Boisselier said she maintains contact with the pediatrician "in charge of the baby." She said the doctor does not want to be identified.

USPS seeks permission to offer early retirement

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Postal Service is seeking authority to offer early retirement to workers whose jobs are eliminated by automation.

In a letter to the Office of Personnel Management, the agency said that it expects automation to eliminate about 16,000 jobs by the end of the fiscal year.

Most of that reduction can be accomplished through attrition -- simply not replacing people who quit or retire -- said spokesman Gerry Kreienkemp.

But attrition won't be sufficient to reach the full 16,000 so the post office wants OPM's permission to offer early retirement to workers who want to leave but haven't enough years on the job.

The offer would cover crafts such as mail sorters and clerks covered by the American Postal Workers Union.

Of the 309,000 APWU members at the agency, as many as 58,000 could be eligible for early retirement, but Kreienkamp said the Postal Service expects only about 3,000 would accept the offer.

Baby abducted from Utah mall found at YWCA

SALT LAKE CITY -- A baby abducted while his mother left him with acquaintances to smoke a cigarette was found in good condition Wednesday at a YWCA facility where three suspects were taken into custody.

Police said the mother and the suspects are homeless, and that two of the suspects said they took 2 1/2-month-old Nicholas Triplett because they thought the mother wasn't caring for him properly.

The 19-year-old woman, Jennifer Triplett, said one of the suspects wanted a child. "Since she can't carry one, she wanted mine," she said.

Triplett left her baby with the suspects and other acquaintances at the ZCMI Mall food court Tuesday so she could have a cigarette, Salt Lake City police Lt. Jim Jensen said. When she returned, Nicholas, her baby carriage and diaper bag were gone.

YWCA officials called police Wednesday after recognizing the suspects from television reports. Police said the suspects had gone to the downtown facility seeking help with diapers, formula and other baby items.

Student convicted of killing school counselor

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. -- An 18-year-old student was convicted of murder Wednesday for plunging his knife into the heart of a high school counselor who had told him to remove the hood of his sweat shirt.

Corey Ramos received an automatic life sentence with the possibility of parole after 15 years.

Ramos stabbed Theodore Brown eight times during a 2001 classroom brawl that erupted after the counselor repeatedly told the student to follow school rules by removing his hood. Brown, a Pentecostal minister who had worked in public schools since 1996, managed to walk to the school nurse's office but died minutes later.

Defense attorney Alan Black argued that Brown provoked the fight by hounding Ramos over the hood and putting his hand on the teenager's shoulder.

However, Judge Thomas Curley Jr. told Black he could not argue the teen stabbed Brown in self defense because there was not enough evidence to support that theory.

-- From wire reports