Israel rejects U.S. call to withdraw from West Bank

Israel rejected strongly worded U.S. and European Union demands for an immediate Israeli withdrawal from six occupied towns in the West Bank, according to The Economist. In a statement issued Tuesday, the office of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said that, with last week's assassination of Cabinet Minister Rehavam Ze'evi, the Palestinians had "crossed a red line and Israel, like all democratic countries, is realizing its right to self-defense and to protect the lives of its citizens," according to CNN. Sharon reiterated that Israel has no desire to permanently reoccupy Palestinian Authority-controlled territory, but he insisted that the Israeli army will stay there until Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat hands over the leaders of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine who were responsible for Ze'evi's assassination, as well as members of Hamas and Islamic Jihad. In recent days, the Palestinian Authority has outlawed the military wing of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and arrested more than 25 members. However, according to CNN, they have rejected Israel's call for extradition of Ze'evi's killers.

Columbia, S.C.

Questions of school prayer raised in wake of tragedy

School districts across the nation turned to prayer in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks, saying that the crisis called for healing and togetherness, according to The New York Times. However, with most schools returning to normal routines, some are calling for a challenge to the national separation of religion and education in our nation's public schools that has prevailed for the past 40 years. South Carolina state legislators have proposed a bill to transform the moment of silence that begins each school day into a moment of prayer. In 1985, the Supreme Court ruled such moments of prayer unconstitutional. Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, said that over the last six weeks, "There's been a trickle of more complaints about inappropriate prayers in school, but the floodgates have not opened." Lynn said he did not believe that courts were about to reverse earlier decisions on prayer, but that new practices pushing the limits of Supreme Court rulings would prove costly to communities forced to defend them in court. "The Constitution has not been suspended since Sept. 11," he said, according to The Times.

Washington, D.C.

U.S. looking to obtain anthrax medication cheaply

In the wake of increased concern over the spread of anthrax in the U.S., the federal government is hoping to buy Cipro, the antibiotic most effective against anthrax, at less than one dollar a pill, as opposed to the $1.87 that patent-holder Bayer currently charges the government, Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy Thompson explained on CNN's "Larry King Live." The limited supply and high cost of Cipro, Bayer's name for its patented version of ciprofloxacin, has led to suggestions that Congress allow other companies to make cheaper, generic versions of the drug. Thompson explained exactly how the U.S. plans to bargain with Bayer. "[They] are going to either meet our price, which will be less than one dollar, or else we'll go to Congress and ask for some support to go in and do some other business," Thompson said. Canada had announced it would allow companies to make generic versions of Cipro but backed off from that position and has negotiated a deal with Bayer for $1.30 per pill. Bayer, which holds the patent on Cipro through 2003, has promised to triple its production and ship 200 million tablets in the next three months.