■ United States
BSE measures announced
US Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman announced
on Tuesday a series of new measures targeting bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) after the discovery of the first case of mad cow disease in the US last week. New measures call for removing from the human food chain those products obtained from so-called "downer" animals that are too sick to walk to the slaughterhouse on their
own, Veneman said. Other measures cover how slaughterhouses should handle cattle brains and other nervous system tissues to prevent meat from being contaminated.
■ United States
Officials ban ephedra
The Bush administration announced on Tuesday that it was banning the herbal weight-loss supplement ephedra because of concerns about its health effects. The decision is the latest episode, but almost surely not the last, in a debate that has lasted for several years. Manufacturers of ephedra dispute assertions that the amphetamine-like substance is a health risk, and are likely to challenge the government ban in court. In anticipation of the action, executives of several companies that make ephedra-based products said that studies had proven that they are safe when used properly.
■ Saudi Arabia
Terror suspect surrenders
A terror suspect surrendered to police on Tuesday, while a Western diplomat said that Islamic militants who have attacked foreigners in the kingdom appear to have homed in on a new target -- senior members of the security services. The militant who turned himself in, Mansour Mohammed Ahmed Faqih, is 14th on an official list of 26 wanted terror suspects. His face was among those published in a newspaper advertisement in which the government offered US$270,000 for information leading to their arrests. Meanwhile, an explosion on Monday in Riyadh was aimed at a top official of the Interior Ministry's Mabahith branch, the kingdom's equivalent of the FBI, the diplomat said.
■ Libya
IAEA claims mandate
The UN nuclear agency does not need US help in dismantling Libya's nascent weapons program, the agency chief said on Tuesday. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is happy to receive US and British intelligence that will assist its inspectors in Libya, said Director General Mohamed ElBaradei. But the IAEA doesn't want help on the ground. "As far as I'm concerned, we have the mandate, and we intend to do it alone," he said. ElBaradei spoke a day after returning from a visit to Libya, where he and an IAEA team visited four once-secret nuclear sites in the capital, Tripoli.
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