Ivins' e-mails released

Ivins' e-mails released

WASHINGTON — Bruce Ivins, the Army scientist accused of carrying out the 2001 anthrax attacks, e-mailed himself last year saying he knew who the killer was, according to court documents unsealed Wednesday.

“Yes! Yes! Yes!!!!!!! I finally know who mailed the anthrax letters in the fall of 2001. I’ve pieced it together!” Ivins wrote in the e-mail dated Sept. 7, 2007, according to an FBI affidavit.

“I’m not looking forward to everybody getting dragged through the mud, but at least it will all be over,” Ivins allegedly wrote. “Finally! I should have it TOTALLY nailed down within the month. I should have been a private eye!!!!”

The e-mail did not say who Ivins thought was the anthrax killer.

Ivins committed suicide in July as prosecutors prepared to charge him in the mailings that killed five people and sickened 17 others.

8 generals disciplined

WASHINGTON — Eight generals, ranging in rank from one to three stars, have been disciplined as a result of the mistaken shipment of fuses for nuclear warheads to Taiwan, The Associated Press has learned.

Defense officials said Wednesday that the six Air Force and two Army generals were given disciplinary letters that vary in seriousness but can often end careers or hopes of promotion.

The officers are mainly in logistical jobs and were involved to some degree in the mistaken shipment to Taiwan of four electrical fuses for ballistic missile nuclear warheads in 2006. The error did not come to light until this past March.

China food crisis widens

BEIJING — An industrial chemical that made its way into China’s dairy supplies and that authorities blame in the death of four babies has turned up in numerous Chinese-made exports abroad — from candies to yogurt to rice balls.

British supermarket chain Tesco removed Chinese-made White Rabbit Creamy Candies off its shelves as a precaution amid reports that samples of the milk candy in Singapore and New Zealand had tested positive for melamine — an industrial chemical used to make plastics and fertilizer.

Chinese baby formula tainted with the chemical has been blamed for the deaths of four infants and the illnesses of 53,000 others in China. Health experts say ingesting a small amount of the chemical poses no danger, but melamine can cause kidney stones and lead to kidney failure. Infants are particularly vulnerable.

More than a dozen countries have banned or recalled Chinese dairy products — the latest was France, which does not import Chinese dairy products but has halted imports of Chinese biscuits, candy or other foods that could contain Chinese dairy derivatives.

Nuclear concerns increase

UNITED NATIONS — The deepest freeze in U.S.-Russia relations since the Cold War has brought diplomatic efforts to halt Iran’s nuclear ambitions to a halt just as Western governments and U.N. inspectors are warning that Tehran could be gaining the ability to build a nuclear weapon.

Russia this week pulled out of a six-nation meeting scheduled for today to discuss further sanctions against Iran, freezing for the time being a 3 1‚Ñ2 year old diplomatic campaign to persuade Tehran to abandon uranium enrichment.

Neither the United States nor Israel has ruled out attacking Iran’s nuclear facilities, although there are no overt signs that planning for a military strike has intensified.

The Bush administration’s other major effort to curb the spread of nuclear weapons suffered a significant setback Wednesday, when North Korea, which has tested a crude nuclear device, told the International Atomic Energy Agency that it plans to restart a reprocessing plant that produces plutonium for nuclear weapons.

Dems against Lieberman

HARTFORD, Conn. — Connecticut Democrats, angry that Sen. Joe Lieberman is campaigning for the Republican presidential candidate and criticizing his own party’s nominee, agreed Wednesday to circulate a resolution to censure the veteran politician but won’t consider acting on it until after Election Day.

The state party’s central committee voted Wednesday to send copies of the resolution to every Democratic town committee in the state. The resolution condemns Lieberman for speaking at the Republicans’ convention and backing John McCain.

Party officials say the group plans to get input from the town officials and revisit the issue in December.

Combined dispatches