INTERNATIONAL

Bomb injures 34 people in downtown Algiers

Associated Press

ALGIERS, Algeria - A bomb exploded yesterday in the heart of Algiers, injuring 34 people, five seriously, in the first attack in the capital in more than two years, security forces said.

No one was killed in the blast, which went off on a street near the capital's ancient Casbah, witnesses said. There was no immediate claim of responsibility.

The bomb was hidden in a plastic bag. The street where the blast occurred, a main artery on the edge of the Casbah and the Bab el-Oued neighborhood, was strewn with clothing and debris.

The area, once considered a stronghold for Islamic fundamentalists, was the site of numerous bombings in the 1990s, when an Islamic insurgency aimed at toppling the military government was at its height. A bombing in August 1998 killed 17 people in the same neighborhood.

More than 100,000 people have been killed since the insurgency started in 1992, after the army canceled legislative elections that a fundamentalist party was likely to win.

Yesterday's blast raised fears that the violence would be reignited in Algiers. It is now concentrated in western and eastern Algeria.

Over the past few weeks, the Algerian press has reported that the two leading Muslim extremist groups - the Armed Islamic Group and the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat - have infiltrated Algiers to carry out attacks aimed at underscoring their refusal to lay down arms.

President Abdelaziz Bouteflika launched a program of partial amnesty for insurgents who turned themselves in by Jan. 13, 2000.

While thousands of insurgents are reported to have taken advantage of the amnesty plan, many others continue waging the insurgency, which has defied military and political offensives.

WASHINGTON

Web site operators settle charges they deceived consumers

Associated Press

WASHINGTON - Two Internet operations settled government charges that they scammed consumers out of tens of thousands of dollars in telephone payments by routing their computer connections to Africa and South America.

Visitors to the Web sites were offered access to materials without the need for credit cards. But when they selected that option, their computers disconnected from their Internet provider and made an international call to another computer system, the Federal Trade Commission said yesterday.

Most of the victims were unaware of this technical sleight of hand until they received phone bills for hundreds of dollars with calls costing as much as $7 a minute, the agency said.

Those running the Web sites received a percentage of the profits, said FTC attorney Thomas Rowan.

"Their incentive for doing this is to get to a population that doesn't have credit cards or online checks," Rowan said. "A number of the consumers we spoke to said it was their kids who made the call."

Two Canadian companies - Virtualynx Internet, Inc. and 583 665 B.C. Ltd. - and their president, Charlo Barbosa, have agreed to pay the government more than $26,000, which the FTC will attempt to return to the victims, Rowan said.

On their Web sites, the companies used banners reading "No credit card? No check? No problem!" to encourage people to download software to view materials, the FTC said. The software was a ''dialer'' program that redirected computers to Madagascar, an island nation off the east coast of Africa.

Rowan said that while people who used this program had to agree to a statement that mentions long-distance charges, the companies didn't verify that the people requesting the materials were the same people paying the bills.

"It's deceptive to say they have to pay," he said.

STATES

Co-workers of Powerball winner demand a piece of prize

Associated Press

PORTLAND, Maine - Four co-workers of one of the winners of the $294.8 million Powerball jackpot went to court yesterday to demand a piece of the prize, contending the woman's winning ticket had been bought as part of an office pool.

Altogether, four winning tickets to the jackpot were sold around the country before Saturday's drawing in the multi-state lottery. One of those tickets was turned in this week by Pat and Erwin Wales of Maine.

But in a lawsuit filed yesterday, four people who worked with Pat Wales at Lincoln Financial Group in Portland said the ticket had been bought as part of an office pool. They said 19 members of the pool kicked in $10 apiece to share 190 Powerball tickets.

Each winning ticket is worth $73.7 million, or one-quarter of the third-biggest jackpot in U.S. lottery history.

The Waleses' lawyer, Terrence Garmey, insisted the winning ticket belongs to the couple, offering as proof sales records from the convenience store in New Hampshire where the numbers were bought.

He said Pat Wales bought 190 numbers for her office pool, then a few minutes later bought 20 for herself and her husband. And the winning number, Garmey said, was among those 20 tickets.

Garmey said Pat Wales was ''devastated'' when told her co-workers might sue.

"She put her head on the table and sobbed," he said. "When I comforted her, her first words were, 'Let them have the money.'"

Garmey said he persuaded her to fight any claim.

The lawsuit asks that a judge freeze at least $8.6 million of the couple's winnings.

LOCAL

McCain gets prostate surgery on 65th birthday

Associated Press

PHOENIX - Arizona Sen. John McCain underwent surgery yesterday morning to treat a benign enlargement of his prostate and experienced no complications during the operation.

McCain, who turned 65 yesterday, will likely spend one to two nights at the Mayo Clinic Hospital and is expected to make a full and rapid recovery, the senator's office said.

Enlargement of the prostate is common among older men and can lead to urinary difficulties.

Doctors also fragmented stones in the Arizona Republican's bladder. The stones were too large to remove without an incision, so a laser was used to break them, allowing for the removal of small fragments through instruments without open surgery, his office said.

McCain received general anesthesia and remained comfortable during the operation.

When entering the hospital early yesterday, McCain said he was looking forward to having what he called "this minor" problem resolved.

McCain spokeswoman Nancy Ives says the prostate surgery was scheduled after McCain underwent a checkup on Aug. 17.

The former Republican candidate for president underwent surgery last August to remove melanoma from his temple and upper arm.