U.S., JAPAN TO DEPLOY INTERCEPTOR MISSILES

U.S., Japan to deployinterceptor missiles
TOKYO -- Japan and the United States will deploy advanced Patriot interceptor missiles on American bases here for the first time, officials said Monday, just days after reports that North Korea may test a missile that could reach both nations. Pentagon spokesman Lt. Col. Brian Maka said the Patriot Advanced Capability-3 missiles have not been sent to Japan yet, and details on the timetable and locations for the eventual deployment have not been announced. The U.S. and Japan reached the accord earlier this month after reports of a possible North Korean test-firing of a long-range ballistic missile became public, Japan's Defense Agency said. Meanwhile, diplomatic efforts intensified Monday to halt any North Korean launch after Pyongyang insisted it has the right to go ahead with one. At the White House, President Bush said North Korea should heed warnings by China and other nations not to test a missile.
Alzheimer's research
ST. LOUIS -- The number of Americans with Alzheimer's disease is probably two to three times more than current estimates, according to a new study. And as the population ages, Alzheimer's could become the most expensive disease in the country. In the new study, brain autopsies of elderly people who had had no symptoms of Alzheimer's showed that more than a third had lesions in their brains that met the criteria for the disease. Dr. David A. Bennett, director of the Rush Alzheimer's Disease Center at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, led the study, which will appear today in the journal Neurology. About 4 million people in the United States are now thought to have Alzheimer's. The cost of caring for people with the brain disease tops $100 billion a year, according to the Lasker Foundation. In the study, the scientists performed autopsies on the brains of 134 people who had scored normally on a battery of memory and behavior tests. Of the 134 people, 50 showed lesions typical of Alzheimer's disease but had not had memory problems that indicated they had the disease.
Western wildfires
RENO, Nev. -- More than a dozen lightning-caused wildfires were burning tens of thousands of acres of northern Nevada on Monday, closing Interstate 80 for a second day, forcing evacuations in some rural areas and even claiming most of the training grounds at a state fire academy. Firefighters feared another round of lightning-packed thunderstorms Monday night would add to their work, which already stretched from the heavily timbered western front of the Sierra Nevada near Reno to the sage- and grass-filled range land near Elko, 300 miles east. In Arizona, a 31,000-acre wildfire north of Grand Canyon National Park jumped the only highway leading to the remote North Rim, closing the road and marooning hundreds of tourists and workers.
Possible terror threatcloses California port
PORT HUENEME, Calif. -- A Southern California port was closed for several hours Monday afternoon while authorities investigated a possible terrorist threat on a cargo ship. A dock worker at the Port of Hueneme in Ventura County discovered a threatening message written in the cargo hold of a ship carrying bananas from Guatemala, said Will Berg, the port's marketing director. Federal authorities said the message was written in English and read: "Nitro + glycerin my gift for G. W. Bush and his Jewish gang." No nitroglycerine or other explosives were found during a thorough search, FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller said. The message was scrawled in marker on a metal pillar in the ship. Authorities were investigating, and divers were called in to inspect surrounding waters. About 20 people were evacuated from the Wild Lotus, a 30,000-ton refrigerated vessel, which arrived from the Port of Quetzal in Guatemala on Sunday evening, officials said.
Limbaugh detained
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. -- Rush Limbaugh was detained for more than three hours Monday at Palm Beach International Airport after authorities said they found a bottle of Viagra in his possession without a prescription. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement examined the 55-year-old radio commentator's luggage after his private plane landed at the airport around 2 p.m. from the Dominican Republic, said Paul Miller, spokesman for the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office. ICE officials found a prescription bottle labeled as Viagra, a drug that treats erectile dysfunction, in his luggage, Miller said. "The problem was that on the bottle itself was not his name, but the name of two Florida doctors," Miller said. Limbaugh reached a deal last month with prosecutors who had accused the conservative talk-show host of illegally deceiving multiple doctors to receive overlapping painkiller prescriptions.
Combined dispatches