Children from multi-parent family moved to foster care

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A man and four women who shared a home and 13 children in an upscale San Francisco suburb face charges in the death of a toddler and the alleged mistreatment of their other children.

Winifred Wright, 45; Carol Bremner, 44; Mary Campbell, 37; Deirdre Wilson, 37, and Kali Polk-Matthews, 20, were arrested Friday for the November death of a 19-month-old baby. They were being held without bail Monday awaiting arraignment.

DNA tests confirmed that Wright fathered all 13 children, said Marin County Sheriff’s Detective Fred Marziano.

“We don’t know exactly what their affiliation is together other than they are cohabiting and producing children,” Marziano said.

The 12 other children, ranging in age from eight months to 16 years, were found malnourished at the Marinwood home, just north of San Francisco, officers said. A majority of them suffered from rickets, a softening of bones caused by lack of vitamin D or calcium, Marziano said.

Wright, Bremner, Campbell and Wilson each face one count of second-degree murder and multiple counts of involuntary manslaughter and child endangerment. Polk-Matthews faces one count of involuntary manslaughter and one count of child endangerment, Marziano said.

Police began investigating the family in November after four women took a baby to Kaiser Hospital in San Rafael, where he died from “severe malnutrition and neglect,” according to the sheriff’s department.

The other children were removed from the group’s house and placed in emergency foster care.

Kissinger’s transcripts of Nixon calls released

WASHINGTON (AP) — Notes and transcripts of phone calls Henry Kissinger made in the White House will be opened, giving the public its first look at records that President Nixon’s baritone-voiced foreign affairs adviser has carefully guarded for three decades.

“To look at these transcripts is to be in the room when he’s conducting all his telephone diplomacy — the secret opening to China, the secret trips to Paris on the Vietnam War negotiations, his backstage leaks to the press — you name it,” said researcher Thomas Blanton.

Kissinger routinely had his secretaries tape the calls or listen and take shorthand on what was said, then type summaries, sometimes verbatim transcripts, of the conversations.

On Monday, the National Archives received copies of more than 20,000 pages of records detailing the phone conversations Kissinger had from 1969 to 1973 when he was Nixon’s top foreign policy adviser.

“It will take up to a year to do a careful, page by page review of the documents before they can be opened to the public,” said Karl Weissenbach, director of the Nixon Presidential Materials Project at the archives.

Late last year, Kissinger agreed to release 10,000 pages of notes and transcripts of phone calls made from 1973 to 1977, when he was secretary of state. Those records are still under review and have not yet been made available to the public.

Kissinger has long considered the transcripts to be his personal property. He justified his decision to restrict access to them by saying much of the information could be found in other documents already open to the public.

He twice refused to let the National Archives inspect them to determine if they were government records.

Ecstasy usage statistics continue to rise

WASHINGTON (AP) — A survey of teen-agers found that drug use remained steady last year with one glaring exception — a rise in use of Ecstasy — an anti-drug organization said Monday.

The Partnership For a Drug-Free America said teen Ecstasy use rose 20 percent last year and has increased 71 percent since 1999.

The group, a coalition of communications professionals, unveiled an advertising campaign to warn teens and parents of the dangers of drug use. Many of the ads feature the parents of Danielle Heird, a 21-year-old Las Vegas woman who died after taking Ecstasy in 2000.

John Walters, who directs the White House drug policy office, said anti-drug officials are trying to counter an impression among teens that Ecstasy is harmless. Ecstasy is believed to cause brain damage.

Ecstasy is a synthetic drug considered part hallucinogen and part amphetamine. It became popular over the past decade at dance parties known as raves.

But Stephen J. Pasierb, president of the Partnership, said Ecstasy appears to be expanding beyond clubs.

“Ecstasy has moved out of the rave scene and into the mainstream,” he said.

The survey of 6,937 teen-agers found that 12 percent of 12-to-18 year olds had used Ecstasy at some point in their lives. That compares with 10 percent in 2000. The survey had a margin of error of plus or minus 1.8 percentage points. Marijuana remains the most popular drug among teens, with 41 percent having tried it. Inhalants, such as glue, were used by 18 percent, methamphetamines were used by 11 percent, cocaine or crack by 9 percent and heroin by 4 percent.

Use of both alcohol and tobacco had declined. Fifty-three percent of teens reported using alcohol over the past year, down from 58 percent in 2000. For tobacco, 28 percent reported smoking cigarettes over the previous 30 days, compared with 34 percent in the 2000 survey.

Robbers seize $6.5 million from British security van

LONDON (AP) — Robbers held up a security van at Heathrow Airport on Monday and escaped with $6.5 million in American currency that had just arrived from Bahrain, police said.

Police said the driver of the van was attacked by at least two men at the airport’s Terminal 4 at about 6:30 a.m. The robbers forced him to the ground and bound his wrists before transferring the cash, which had just arrived on British Airways Flight 124, into another van.

The second van was later found abandoned and burned nearby, with no trace of the cash or the suspects. Police said they were seeking two males in connection with the robbery.

The guard suffered shock and wrist injuries. Police said the man did not report seeing firearms during the robbery.

In 1983, robbers posing as security guards stole 26 million pounds ($37 million at today’s rates) worth of gold bullion from a warehouse at Heathrow. The men were later arrested, but most of the gold was never recovered.

Iranians angered by Bush’s comments

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Angered by the United States’ labeling of Iran as part of an “axis of evil,” hundreds of thousands of Iranians chanted “Death to America” on Monday during demonstrations to mark the 23rd anniversary of the Islamic Revolution.

The gathering was much larger than last year’s commemorations as Iranians used the occasion to show their anger with President Bush’s condemnation of their country in his State of the Union address. Many Iranians who said they rarely join such celebrations spoke of taking to the streets to show solidarity.

Men, women and children poured into Tehran’s Freedom Square carrying anti-U.S. banners and burning effigies of Uncle Sam.

“This year, despite insults to the great Iranian nation and the trumped-up charges against it, the Iranian nation has commemorated the anniversary of its revolt on a greater scale than before,” President Mohammad Khatami said.

State television reported that millions of people took part in rallies in all major Iranian cities.

Khatami said the United States should understand the message of Iran’s revolution: Independence, freedom and an Islamic Republic.

His speech was repeatedly interrupted by chants of “Death to America!” — a phrase dating to the days of the 1979 revolution that lost its edge in recent years as the idea of a gradual rapprochement with the United States gained a following among Khatami’s reform-minded supporters.

Early in the U.S. war on terrorism, American officials spoke of better cooperation with Iran after it tacitly approved their campaign to topple the Taliban rulers of Afghanistan. But recently, U.S. officials have accused Tehran of trying to undermine Afghanistan’s new government and of smuggling weapons to the Palestinians. Iran denies the charges.

Last month, President Bush said in his State of the Union address that Iran was part of an “axis of evil” — along with Iraq and North Korea — because it seeks weapons of mass destruction, an allegation that Iran denies.

Arafat letter could involve crackdown on terrorism

WASHINGTON (AP) — A message from Yasser Arafat to Secretary of State Colin Powell that is still being analyzed is raising hopes that the Palestinian leader will take a more aggressive stand on terror attacks on Israel.

Diplomatic sources said the letter, sent last week through the U.S. consulate in Jerusalem, contained promises by Arafat that he would take steps against Palestinians involved in an unsuccessful attempt to smuggle 50 tons of weapons from Iran.

A senior U.S. official told reporters the Palestinian leader did not repeat his frequent denial that the Palestinian Authority arranged for the shipment.

The official, speaking only on condition of anonymity, said Arafat offered assurance there would be no recurrence of the smuggling episode.

State Department spokesman Richard Boucher disclosed receipt of the letter at a briefing Monday.

While declining to reveal the contents — or to say if Arafat had responded to Powell’s demand that he acknowledge responsibility for the smuggling attempt — Boucher said, “We did find it to be a positive letter, and we now look for action along the lines that he indicated in his letter.”

The spokesman reiterated the U.S. allegation that “Palestinian Authority people were definitely involved.”

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