Sharon"s coalition showing some strain

JERUSALEM

Trying to keep his coalition from unraveling, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon warned ultranationalist defectors yesterday that if they bring him down, they"ll only help Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.

"You made his (Arafat"s) day," an angry Sharon told his former allies in a speech on the opening of parliament"s winter session.

The first crack in Sharon"s broad-based government appeared yesterday when the National Union party said it was leaving because of Israel"s troop pullback from some Palestinian areas. It signaled a growing division over a U.S.-led push toward a return to peace talks with the Palestinians.

Sharon put together an eight-party coalition after his landslide election victory in February. The departure of the National Union, which has seven seats in the 120-member parliament, did not rob Sharon of his majority his coalition still controls 76 seats in the legislature. However, the defection served as a warning that Sharon"s government can quickly unravel if he resumes peace talks with the Palestinians.

The National Union left after the government carried out one of its truce promises a troop pullback yesterday from two Palestinian neighborhoods in the West Bank town of Hebron. Israel seized the areas 10 days earlier to stop shooting on Jewish settler enclaves.

Party leaders said they also quit to protest perceived U.S. pressure on Israel to make concessions to the Palestinians.

Palestinian officials confirmed last week that the United States is working on a peace initiative that calls for the establishment of a Palestinian state with a foothold in Jerusalem. U.S. officials have not commented on the details, but have said the plan might be made public during the U.N. General Assembly in November.

The United States is trying to cultivate Arab support as it retaliates for Sept. 11 terror attacks on New York and Washington. Several Arab leaders have said it is important to them to see progress in resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Nervous mailrooms proceed with caution

NEW YORK

With anthrax-contaminated letters arriving in offices from Nevada to the nation"s capital, mailrooms and delivery services across the country are putting new handling procedures in place.

Mailroom employees are being warned to check packages for misspellings in common names and words, to look for powdery substances and excessive or inadequate postage, and to contact authorities about any suspicious mail.

The Postal Service announced the creation of a task force to examine mail security and hazardous-material safeguards. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued guidelines for handling letters and packages. And private delivery companies are scrutinizing their own procedures.

At NBC, where one employee contracted the skin form of anthrax and another has shown symptoms, the network has stopped accepting mail from the Postal Service.

"Our entire mail system is being looked at by professionals," said spokeswoman Kassie Canter. "Our interim procedure for the near-term future is that we"re accepting UPS and FedEx, and they"re being screened. Employees have the option not to accept anything."

In California, Gov. Gray Davis ordered state employees to stop handling letters and packages until they complete training sessions given by the California Highway Patrol.

"People are lining up around the block to take them," said Anne DaVigo, a Highway Patrol spokeswoman. "We"re doing it just as fast as we can."

At a meeting of the National Postal Forum in Denver, Postmaster General Jack E. Potter told participants that the U.S. mail is safe.

"We cannot afford for that confidence to erode," Potter told representatives of corporate and government mailrooms. "With additional vigilance and additional work with our public, we won"t let that happen."

FedEx Corp. employees were put on higher alert for suspicious mail.

FedEx is carefully screening packages and called the FBI about a few suspicious packages, all of which turned out to be false alarms, said Jess Bunn, a spokesman at the company headquarters in Memphis. The company is also advising making gloves and respirators available to the employees.

In Washington, White House spokeswoman Anne Womack said mailroom security procedures have also been enhanced. She would not give details.

Jehovah"s Witnesses to get day in court

WASHINGTON

The Supreme Court said yesterday it will decide if an Ohio town violates the rights of Jehovah"s Witnesses by requiring permission from the mayor to canvass neighborhoods.

The Jehovah"s Witnesses claim the 3-year-old ordinance in Stratton, Ohio, was designed to limit their ministry.