United States to speed up troop buildup in Persian Gulf

(U-WIRE) WASHINGTON – The… United States to speed up troop buildup in Persian Gulf

(U-WIRE) WASHINGTON – The United States is planning to accelerate the flow of U.S. forces into the Persian Gulf region to prepare for a possible invasion of Iraq, according to senior U.S. officials.

Up to 100,000 American troops, along with additional naval and air forces, could begin moving immediately after the holidays and be in place by the end of January or early February, according to a senior administration official, who spoke on condition of anonymity and cautioned that plans were always subject to change. Some 20,000 British troops and forces from other countries willing to fight Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein could join U.S. forces.

Word of the planning for a surge of American military power into the Persian Gulf came as the United States and Britain rejected what Iraq says is a full and final accounting of its past efforts to produce nuclear, biological and chemical weapons. American and British officials said the Iraqi report contained little new information and left many questions unanswered. U.N. weapons inspectors must give their initial assessment of Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction programs Jan. 27.

– Jonathan S. Landay, Knight Ridder Newspapers

U.N. nuclear agency votes to give North Korea more time

(U-WIRE) VIENNA, Austria – The United Nations nuclear watchdog agency voted Monday to pull back from an immediate confrontation with North Korea over its clandestine weapons program as representatives from the United States, Japan and South Korea met in Washington to seek a diplomatic solution to the mounting nuclear crisis.

The International Atomic Energy Agency decided to hold off from reporting North Korea’s defiance of IAEA rules to the U.N. Security Council in order to give Pyongyang a last opportunity to abandon its nuclear program. North Korea has pursued a secret uranium-enrichment program in violation of its agreements, and is preparing to restart a nuclear reactor capable of producing weapons-grade plutonium.

The IAEA decision buys time to seek a diplomatic solution to the standoff, which threatens the stability of the region. President Bush said Monday that he was confident the crisis could be solved peacefully and diplomatically.

– Daniel Rubin and Michael Dorgan, Knight Ridder Newspapers

Title IX may be headed for an overhaul

(U-WIRE) ST. LOUIS – After more than 30 years on the books, Title IX appears to be headed for an overhaul. And in a tug-of-war with those who like it as is, those who contend that Title IX has gone too far appear to have gotten the upper hand.

The debate has played out before the Commission on Opportunity in Athletics, appointed in July by U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige, a former college football coach. The 15 commission members – 10 of them college coaches, administrators or athletics directors – were charged with seeking information and public input on Title IX, then deciding whether it should be changed and, if so, how.

– Susan C. Thomson, St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Ads blaming SUVs for terrorism stir up controversy

(U-WIRE) ANN ARBOR, Mich. – Debate stemming from an environmental group that believes fuel-inefficient sports utility vehicles instigate terrorism has caused confusion in the Detroit area because their organization’s name is the same as a local community service group.

The Detroit Project, a California-based environmental group, is persuading television stations across the country to run advertisements convincing Americans not to utilize SUVs because they require the U.S. to purchase more oil from Middle Eastern governments. The advertisements are parodies of similar commercials sponsored by the Bush administration last year, which promoted the idea that Americans who did drugs were supporting terrorists.

Meanwhile, the University’s Detroit Project, a group that performs community service in the Detroit area, has been receiving many phone calls and e-mails in the last few days from people confusing the two organizations. LSA senior and Detroit Project Executive Director Katie Baetens said she wishes the environmental group had done some research before they picked their name.

– Jeremy Berkowitz, Michigan Daily (U. Michigan)

Doctorial student’s intellectual property case may head to Supreme Court

(U-WIRE) PHILADELPHIA – The five-year legal battle between ex-student Robert Morein and one of Philadelphia’s premier educational institutions may be heading to the Supreme Court.

Drexel says it dismissed Morein in 1995 because he failed, after eight years, to complete a thesis required for a doctorate in electrical and computer engineering.

Morein, 50, of Dresher, Pa., contends that he was dismissed only after his thesis adviser “appropriated” an innovative idea Morein had developed in a rarefied area of thought called “estimation theory” and arranged to have it patented.

His attorney, Faye Riva Cohen, said the Supreme Court appeal is important even if it fails because it raises the issue of whether a university has a right to lay claim to a student’s ideas – or intellectual property – without compensation.

– L. Stuart Ditzen, Knight Ridder Newspapers

Research finds evidence of binging, food addictions

(U-WIRE) PRINCETON, N.J. – The side wall of Princeton University psychology professor Bart Hoebel’s office is lined with dozens of storage boxes. One is labeled “salt,” another “self-stimulation,” yet another “crave.” Then there is the cluster of boxes resting prominently on top of a file cabinet, each labeled, “Food Addiction.”

Food addiction – or more technically, “the neural basis of appetite” – has been the focus of Hoebel’s research for the past 47 years. Initially looking to study brain mechanisms that control eating and are also involved in drug addiction, Hoebel’s research led him to study whether food can be addictive.

His research has shown that a prolonged cycle of binge feeding on sugar induces dependency in rats by causing them to become dependent on their own natural brain opiates.

These conclusion shows that sugar binging can cause “lasting changes in the brain, in that sensitization remains after a period of normal feeding,” Hoebel said.

– Chika Anekwe, The Daily Princetonian (Princeton U.)