Arafat will not attend peace summit

JERUSALEM

Yasser Arafat decided yesterday not to attend a key Arab summit, and his Cabinet accused Israel of trying to "blackmail" the Palestinian leader with tough conditions for letting him go. Arafat's absence could undermine Arab support for a Saudi peace overture being presented in Beirut.

Despite calls by the United States that he let Arafat go to the summit, Sharon said "conditions are not ripe" to do so. He insisted the Palestinian leader call a cease-fire first and that Washington back any Israeli decision to bar Arafat from returning home if there is violence during his absence.

State Department spokesman Richard Boucher insisted Israel grant a "round trip" for Arafat to and from the summit, which opens in the Lebanese capital tomorrow.

Underscoring the incendiary situation on the ground, two observers from an international force in the West Bank were shot and killed. The Israeli military said Palestinians opened fire on their car on a road used mostly by Jewish settlers north of Hebron, where the force is stationed.

The two observers - from Turkey and Switzerland - were the first members of the force to be killed. The monitoring group was created in 1994 as part of an agreement dividing Hebron into Palestinian and Israeli-controlled zones.

Also, two Palestinians from a militia linked to Arafat's Fatah movement drove a bomb-laden car toward Jerusalem's largest mall yesterday morning, blowing themselves up when they were stopped by police. No Israelis were hurt.

Bush names surgeon general, NIH director

WASHINGTON

President Bush picked a made-for-Hollywood trauma surgeon to be the nation's top doctor yesterday after more than a year of searching. He also chose an Algerian-born radiologist to run the government's premier medical research facility.

Bush nominated Richard Carmona, the Arizona surgeon and SWAT team cop, as surgeon general and Johns Hopkins University medical school administrator Elias Zerhouni to direct the National Institutes of Health.

"These are distinguished physicians who have worked tirelessly to save lives and to improve lives," Bush said.

Carmona, whose expertise also includes terrorism preparedness, once dropped from a helicopter to save someone stranded on a cliff. "I worried that maybe he wasn't the best guy to educate our Americans about reducing health risks," Bush joked at a White House ceremony highlighting the colorful life stories of his nominees.

The president made clear that he expects Zerhouni, who will manage more than $20 billion in medical research grants, to hew to White House opposition to government-sponsored studies on new embryonic stem cells and cloning of human tissue.

Ruling allows drug users to be evicted

WASHINGTON

The Supreme Court reinforced a hard line against drugs yesterday, backing rules that permit eviction of families from federally subsidized housing if any family member or guest is involved in narcotics.

The decision came a week after justices indicated they were ready to allow wider drug-testing in schools, and they are also handling narcotics cases this year that could condone government intrusion for public safety.

Chief Justice William Rehnquist, quoting Congress, wrote in the housing decision that "with drugs leading to murders, muggings, and other forms of violence against tenants," aggressive eviction policies are reasonable.

He also cited Congress' desire to end "the reign of terror" in public housing.

The court said that public housing directors could evict entire families for drug use by one member, regardless of whether the use was on public housing property or if anyone else knew about it.

The losers were four California senior citizens who received eviction notices because of the drug use of relatives or caregivers.

Critics of the law said there is a double standard for the poor who depend on public housing.

Free speech rights claimed for judges

WASHINGTON

Candidates for judgeships should be able to tell voters what kind of judge they are getting, a lawyer trying to overturn state gag orders for judicial candidates argued to the Supreme Court yesterday.

"The people can be trusted to make the decisions ... as long as they have the information to make those decisions," lawyer James Bopp argued on behalf of the Minnesota Republican party and a failed Republican candidate for a state judgeship.

Greg Wersal claims he was unconstitutionally silenced when he wanted to tell Minnesota voters how, as a state judge, he would be tough on criminals. Wersal argues that he was at a huge disadvantage as he began a 1998 race against Alan Page, a former Minnesota Vikings football star, and needed to make himself stand out.

Thirty-eight states elect judges rather than appoint them.