Pyongyang is still insisting that Washington lift financial measures against North Korean interests before Pyongyang will move ahead on the issue of dismantling its nuclear weapons program.

U.S. Treasury official Daniel Glaser, who met with North Korean financial officials on the sidelines of the nuclear talks earlier this week, says those talks were "businesslike and useful." But Glaser says further talks are needed before there can be any agreement between the two sides.

"We hope to get to do that. We've discussed the possibility of meeting next month, perhaps in New York," he said.

The dispute revolves around a bank in Macau, Banco Delta Asia, which Washington says helped North Korea with counterfeiting and money-laundering activities. U.S. restrictions on the bank have resulted in a North Korean account there with $24 million being frozen.

Thursday, amid cautious expressions of optimism, it was announced that the nuclear talks among North and South Korea, the U.S., China, Japan and Russia would be extended by a day until Friday.

ATLANTA - The American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia announced today that it has reached an agreement with the Cobb County School Board to keep controversial “Evolution Disclaimer” stickers out of biology textbooks in public schools, ending a legal challenge that began in 2002.

The anti-evolution stickers singled out the theory of evolution from all other scientific theories included in the textbooks. In 2005, the district court sided with the ACLU, stating that “the sticker sends a message to those who oppose evolution for religious reasons that they are favored members of the political community, while the sticker sends a message to those who believe in evolution that they are political outsiders.” 

ACLU of Georgia Executive Director Debbie Seagraves welcomed the settlement.

“I commend the brave parents in Cobb County who have fought for more than four years to ensure that their children receive proper science education in their public schools,” said Seagraves. “We are proud that we were able to represent them in their courageous struggle.”

In the agreement, Cobb County school officials state that they will not order the placement of “any stickers, labels, stamps, inscriptions, or other warnings or disclaimers bearing language substantially similar to that used on the sticker that is the subject of this action.” School officials also agreed not to take other actions that would undermine the teaching of evolution in biology classes.

After the Cobb County School Board passed the sticker policy in 2002, school district parents, represented by the ACLU of Georgia and attorney Michael Manely, sued the school board, arguing that the policy promoted a particular religious belief in science classrooms and therefore violated the religious freedom of students. In early 2005, U.S. District Judge Clarence Cooper agreed and ordered the school district to remove the stickers from its 35,000 biology textbooks.

The controversial stickers read, "This textbook contains material on evolution. Evolution is a theory, not a fact, regarding the origin of living things. This material should be approached with an open mind, studied carefully and critically considered."

After Judge Cooper’s decision, school officials removed the stickers, but asked the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit to reverse the ruling. In late spring, the appeals court sent the case back to Judge Cooper requesting more information about the situation before ruling on the constitutionality of the sticker policy.

Jeffrey Selman, the Cobb County parent who led the charge against the anti-evolution disclaimer, said today’s settlement puts to rest a contentious struggle in the community.

“The settlement brings to an end a long battle to keep our science classes free of political or religious agendas,” Selman said. “I am very pleased that the Cobb school board has dropped its defense of the anti-evolution policy. The board should be commended for taking this action.”

Americans United for Separation of Church and State, Atlanta law firm Bondurant, Mixon & Elmore, and Pepper Hamilton, a Philadelphia law firm, joined the ACLU of Georgia in handling the case on remand to the district court.

In a landmark case last year, the ACLU of Pennsylvania, along with Americans United and Pepper Hamilton, successfully argued against promoting the non-scientific ideology of “intelligent design” in public school science courses. On December 20, 2005, a federal judge ruled that intelligent design is not science and that the Dover Area School Board’s policy violated the First Amendment guarantee of religious freedom.

Today’s case is Selman v. Cobb County School District.

At a year-end news conference from the White House complex Wednesday, the president said he is looking at all options, including ordering a short-term surge in U.S. forces. But he said he will only deploy more troops if there is a specific mission that can be accomplished with the addition.

The president acknowledged that 2006 was a difficult year for U.S. troops and for Iraqis. But he stressed that the enemy in Iraq needs to understand that it cannot intimidate American forces, and that his administration will not pull out of the country prematurely.

Mr. Bush also said he believes an increase in the size of the U.S. Army and Marine Corps is needed, and he has asked his new defense secretary, Robert Gates, to report to him on plans to enlarge the forces as quickly as possible.

On the economy, Mr. Bush said he supports a Democratic proposal to increase the U.S. minimum wage, but he said it should be coupled with tax and regulatory relief for small businesses. He said he will work with Democrats to keep the economy strong.

He said he would also seek common ground with Democrats to reform the country's immigration laws and its national pension system, Social Security.

The Democrats won control of both houses of Congress in the November general elections.

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development awarded $9,675,050 in grants today to public housing authorities across the U.S. The housing agencies use this funding to hire service coordinators who connect public housing residents with resources in the community to lead them to economic independence.

"An old Chinese proverb tells us it is better to teach one how to fish than to give one a fish, for the one who is taught will eat for a lifetime, not only a day," said HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson, who announced the funding today. "These grants are true to the proverb because they allow local housing agencies help low-income families thrive for a lifetime by leading them to employment that moves them to self-sufficiency, even homeownership."

The monies awarded are from HUD's Public Housing Family Self-Sufficiency (PH FSS) program, which awards grants to public housing authorities (PHAs) to hire service coordinators to link residents with supportive services that help them find education and job training.

PH FSS funding allows PHAs to hire program coordinators who work directly with residents to guide them to education and training opportunities, job placement organizations and local employers. Residents sign a contract to participate, which outlines their responsibilities towards completion of training and employment objectives up to a five-year period. For each participating family that is a recipient of welfare assistance, the PHA must establish an interim goal that the participating family be independent from welfare assistance prior to the expiration of the contract. During the period of participation, residents may earn an escrow credit based on increased earned income, which they may use in a variety of ways, including continuing their education or making a down payment toward home purchase.

A 2005 HUD study showed low-income families who participated in a similar HUD family self-sufficiency program saw their incomes increase at a higher rate than non-participants.

WASHINGTON – A federal jury in Concord, New Hampshire has convicted four former senior executives of Enterasys Networks, Inc. on charges arising out of accounting fraud at the computer network products company formerly based in Rochester, N.H., Assistant Attorney General Alice S. Fisher and Acting U.S. Attorney Joseph N. Laplante for the District of New Hampshire announced today.

The jury returned its verdicts Tuesday afternoon after six-and-one-half days of deliberations following a five-week trial.

The jury returned guilty verdicts against the following defendants:

*Robert J. Gagalis, former Enterasys Chief Financial Officer, for one count of conspiracy, two counts of securities fraud, one count of making false statements to auditors of a public company, and four counts of wire fraud. The jury acquitted Gagalis on one count of wire fraud and one count of falsifying books and records of a public company.

*Bruce D. Kay, former Enterasys finance executive, for one count of conspiracy, two counts of securities fraud, one count of falsifying books and records of a public company, one count of making false statements to auditors of a public company, and three counts of wire fraud. The jury acquitted Kay on one count of wire fraud.

*Robert G. Barber, former Enterasys business development executive, for one count of conspiracy, two counts of securities fraud, and one count of making false statements to auditors of a public company. The jury acquitted Barber on one count of falsifying books and records of a public company.

*Hor Chong (David) Boey, former finance executive in Enterasys’s Asia Pacific division, for one count of conspiracy, two counts of securities fraud, one count of falsifying books and records of a public company, one count of making false statements to auditors of a public company, and two counts of wire fraud. The jury acquitted Boey on two counts of wire fraud.

The jury was unable to reach a verdict on most counts against former Enterasys Chief Operating Officer Jerry Shanahan. The jury acquitted Shanahan of one count of causing false entries to be made to Enterasys’s books and records.

The charges on which the four defendants were convicted stem from a scheme that began in the summer of 2001 to falsely inflate Enterasys’s revenue to increase, or at least maintain, the price of Enterasys stock. The scheme involved the backdating and falsification of documents and the concealment of material terms of deals in “secret side letters” all to facilitate the fraudulent recognition of revenue. The conspirators also fraudulently created false revenue by secretly investing company funds in other companies and caused those companies to use the investment proceeds to buy Enterasys products. As a result of this fraudulent scheme, Enterasys overstated its revenue by more than $11 million in the quarter ending September 1, 2001. Enterasys’s shareholders lost approximately $1.3 billion after the company disclosed one of the fraudulent transactions and a pending investigation by the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission.

Gagalis and Kay are scheduled to be sentenced on March 21, 2007. Barber and Boey are scheduled to be sentenced on March 22, 2007. The defendants convicted of mail fraud, wire fraud and conspiracy offenses carry a maximum sentence of up to five years on each count. The maximum sentence for securities fraud is 10 years per count. The offenses also carry maximum fines of $250,000 per count.

Several other former Enterasys executives, including Henry Fiallo, Enterasys’s former Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President, previously pleaded guilty to felony charges in connection with this scheme. Their sentencings are scheduled for April 2007. Eight former Enterasys executives have now been convicted of felonies in this matter.

“Accounting schemes designed to artificially inflate a company’s revenues are doomed to fail. And as the verdicts in the Enterasys case prove, executives will be held accountable for their roles in these conspiracies,” said Assistant Attorney General Alice S. Fisher of the Criminal Division. “The Department of Justice and our partners on the President’s Corporate Fraud Task Force remain committed to protecting investors and preserving the integrity of the markets.”

Acting U.S. Attorney Joseph N. Laplante praised the verdict, stating, “The investing public deserves and needs accurate financial information about public companies. The successful prosecutions in this case should serve as a substantial deterrent to others in similar circumstances who might otherwise be inclined to ‘cook the books.’”

The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Morse from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Concord, and Senior Litigation Counsel Colleen A. Conry and Special Attorney Eva M. Saketkoo from the Fraud Section of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division in Washington, D.C. The investigation was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service. The criminal investigation was coordinated with a civil investigation conducted by the SEC’s Central Regional Office in Denver. The case was brought under the auspices of the President’s Corporate Fraud Task Force.

The chief U.S. negotiator at the six-party talks in Beijing that are aimed at persuading North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons program says there were no breakthroughs after his first bilateral meeting with his North Korean counterpart. From the Chinese capital, Roger Wilkison reports on the second day of the latest round of negotiations.

U.S. envoy Christopher Hill looked weary as he returned to his hotel after a long day of negotiations, including his first face-to-face meeting with North Korea's Kim Kye Gwan.

Hill and negotiators from China, Japan, Russia, and South Korea are trying to get North Korea to implement a pledge it made under a joint statement by the six in September 2005 to scrap its nuclear weapons in exchange for aid and security guarantees.

"We do not have any breakthroughs to report," he said. "I would say though that it was a substantial discussion where we went through some really specific ideas as to how to get going on implementing the joint statement."

North Korea says it will not consider getting rid of its nuclear-weapons program until the United Nations lifts sanctions on the reclusive communist state that were imposed after North Korea conducted a nuclear test in October. It also wants the United States to end financial restrictions Washington imposed in late 2005 on a Macau bank that U.S. officials say helped Pyongyang with counterfeiting and money-laundering activities.

North Korean and U.S. officials met on the sidelines of the negotiations to discuss that issue, but the U.S. team leader said resolving the financial restrictions issue is a long-term process.

Hill, meanwhile, called on host China, ostensibly an ally of North Korea, to play a bigger role in pushing the North Koreans to fulfill their pledge to disarm. He refers to North Korea by its official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, or DPRK.

"To solve the problem of the DPRK's nuclear ambitions is going to require a great effort by China," he said. "The United States cannot do it. We cannot do it by ourselves. We need to work in this multilateral framework ... Frankly, we need all the six parties. But I would say the Chinese have a very special role to play."

Whatever influence the Chinese may have over North Korea, and they say it is limited, Pyongyang insists that it is already a nuclear power. And it appears that nothing that has been said in the framework of the six-party talks has made it want to abandon its nuclear-weapons program.