Prosecutors could have indicted Clinton

WASHINGTON

A final report by Independent Counsel Robert Ray concluded yesterday that prosecutors had ample evidence for criminal charges against President Clinton in the scandal involving former White House intern Monica Lewinsky.

"President Clinton"s offenses had a significant adverse impact on the community, substantially affecting the public"s view of the integrity of our legal system," stated the report.

"The independent counsel"s judgment that sufficient evidence existed to prosecute President Clinton was confirmed by President Clinton"s admissions," the report stated. "President Clinton admitted he "knowingly gave evasive and misleading answers"" about his sexual relationship with Ms. Lewinsky.

It wasn"t until Clinton"s next-to-last day in office that he finally put the investigation of allegations of perjury and obstruction in the Lewinsky matter behind him.

The president"s lawyers cut a deal with Ray that spared Clinton from criminal charges in the Lewinsky controversy. The president admitted that he had made false statements under oath about his relationship with the former White House intern and surrendered his law license for five years.

Violence kills 12 Palestinians, 2 Israelis

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip

Israeli planes, helicopters and warships pounded Gaza yesterday in one of the fiercest assaults of the Palestinian uprising. Twelve Palestinians and two Israeli soldiers were killed in violence in Gaza and the West Bank.

Seven of the Palestinians died in fighting in Gaza. Five others died in separate incidents, including a Hamas activist killed in an explosion at his Gaza City home.

Late yesterday, an Israeli helicopter fired a missile at Yasser Arafat"s headquarters in the West Bank town of Ramallah, where the Palestinian leader has been trapped for three months by Israeli forces. The missile exploded 50 feet from Arafat"s office as he was meeting with a European Union envoy. No one was hurt, officials said.

Amid the worst spate of violence since the start of the conflict 17 months ago, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon promised Israel would strike "without letup" until Palestinian militants" attacks on Israelis are reined in.

"This is a really tough war we are in," the Israeli leader told troops and Israeli officials at a military checkpoint south of Jerusalem.

Tariffs alone won"t heal steel industry

WASHINGTON

Steelworkers and their employers say the hefty tariffs President Bush will impose on cheap steel imports give the feeble industry some breathing room but will stop short of providing the protection needed for recovery.

Bush"s plan, announced Tuesday, drew sharp criticism from U.S. trading partners and industries that rely on low-cost foreign steel. They said the tariffs will cost jobs and raise prices for American shoppers for such things as cars and appliances.

"There are thousands of small-business owners across the country who depend on steel, who are wondering what happened to the open-trade, no-taxes-over-my-dead-body president they thought they elected," said Jon Jenson, chairman of the Consuming Industries Trade Action Coalition, which campaigned against the increase.

Condit loses bid for re-election to House

LOS ANGELES

Dogged by the the Chandra Levy scandal, Rep. Gary Condit Tuesday lost a re-election bid.

In the Democratic primary, Dennis Cardoza led Condit 55 percent to 37 percent.

"Today the people of the Central Valley stood up for their values, the values that are central to our lives," Cardoza said at a victory party in Modesto. He will face Republican Dick Monteith in November.

Condit"s re-election bid was shadowed by the scandal of the missing Washington, D.C. intern. Condit, 53, admitted he had an affair with 24-year-old Levy, according to Washington police sources. But they have said he is not a suspect in her disappearance.

Condit campaigned in a reconfigured district in which 40 percent of voters had never seen his name on a ballot.

Saudi peace initiative gains Arab support

CAIRO, Egypt

Syrian support for a Saudi peace overture to Israel brings the Arab world closer than it has ever been to recognizing Israel"s right to exist, but the process is fraught with pitfalls.

The chance for a new peace initiative comes just three weeks from now when the Arab League convenes in Beirut for its annual summit and it could vanish just as quickly if Israel carries out its threat to prevent Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat from attending.

Syrian President Bashar Assad, whose father and predecessor once led the vanguard of hard-line opposition to Israel, has reservations but "expressed satisfaction" with the proposal aired last month by Saudi Arabia"s Crown Prince Abdullah, Syria"s state-run media said yesterday.