Nation briefs 11/27/02

Israel seeks additional military aid from U.S.

WASHINGTON -- Israel is asking the Bush administration for about $4 billion in new military aid and $8 billion to $10 billion in loan guarantees to bolster its economy, a U.S. official said Tuesday.

The Israeli Embassy declined to disclose how much help was requested, but said the Israelis were promised a prompt reply. An administration official provided the price tag on condition of anonymity.

A 26-month conflict with the Palestinians has strained Israel's defense budget while the violence has sharply reduced foreign investment and tourism.

Israel is the largest recipient of U.S. loans and grants, which amount to $2.9 billion.

U.S. gave visas to 105 men on anti-terror list

WASHINGTON -- Visas were issued to 105 foreign men who should have been prevented from entering the United States because their names appeared on government lists of suspected terrorists, congressional investigators have found.

The visas have since been revoked, but it is possible that some or all of the men were able to enter the United States, officials said.

State Department applications for visas to enter the United States from certain national groups were to be checked against possible terrorist names in FBI and CIA databases.

However, until recently the name check system did not work properly as responsibility for it shifted between the Justice Department and FBI, the CIA, the State Department and the multiagency Foreign Terrorist Tracking Task Force formed by President Bush in October 2001.

More people become ill on Disney cruise ship

PORT CANAVERAL, Fla. -- At least 25 passengers on the Disney cruise ship Magic have contracted a flu-like illness, just days after the ship was scrubbed for hours because 275 people fell ill on an earlier trip.

The ship was disinfected Saturday. The cause of the illnesses has not been determined, Disney Cruise Line spokesman Mark Jaronski said.

There are about 2,400 passengers and 950 crew members aboard the current Magic cruise, Jaronski said. At least 25 passengers on the 964-foot ship are ill.

The virus is spread through food and water and close contact with infected people or things they have touched. It can cause diarrhea, stomach pain and vomiting for up to two days.

Holland America ships have also been affected.

Nation's largest crop insurer to end operations

LINCOLN, Neb. -- The nation's largest crop insurer, which collapsed after losing millions in claims from this summer's drought, will begin winding down its business under state supervision.

Acceptance Insurance Cos. lost $131 million in the third quarter because of drought-related claims.

Acceptance cannot sell new policies under state control but will stay in business to service its 30,000 to 50,000 existing claims until next summer, when operations are expected to end, said Tim Wagner, director of the Nebraska Insurance Department.

Federal backing will insure that all claims will be paid.

Man behind Wendy's shooting sentenced to die

NEW YORK -- The man behind a robbery-massacre at a Wendy's restaurant was sentenced to death Tuesday, more than two years after he and an accomplice herded seven employees into a freezer and murdered five of them.

John Taylor, 38, stood stone-faced as the jury's decision was read while the victims' family wept quietly in the courtroom. He was sentenced to die by injection for killing two of the employees, but prosecutors say he plotted the attack and commanded his mentally retarded accomplice to kill.

A day earlier, Taylor publicly apologized, reciting the names of his victims before expressing his remorse.

"I've shamed my family and shamed my children," he said. "I know you cannot forgive me. I don't expect you to. I'm sorry."

Taylor joins five other men on death row in New York.

-- From wire reports