Enrichment Program

This summer, 10-year-old Jared Cole-Lewis has a rare luxury: daily computer time at school. Jared and his classmates are editing an action movie they scripted and videotaped as part of the Black Student Achievement Program's Summer Bridge program. Despite the name, Summer Bridge seeks to do more than fill the gap between mid-June and late August for its students. "We're trying to accelerate them," said Ron Morris, assistant principal of Bellows Spring Elementary and one of two administrators on site at Wilde Lake High.

In the race between President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney, it is instructive to watch how each candidate for president behaves when the subject of Israel is mentioned. Every four years, citizens running for the highest office in this country feel duty-bound to show off their inexhaustible support for Israel, attempting to persuade the Israelis how, if elected, their approach toward Iran will increase pressure on the Islamic state. Mr. Romney stated on his recent visit to Israel that preventing Iran from obtaining nuclear capability should be America's "highest national security priority," stressing that "no option should be excluded" in the effort.

Schools, libraries and literacy programs seek volunteers to help children and adults improve reading skills and assist in related projects.Among them are:Foundations Inc., which operates an after-school enrichment program in reading, math and other subjects at Baltimore's Gilmor Elementary, 1113 N. Stricker St. Volunteers are needed between 2: 30 p.m. and 6 p.m. weekdays. Contact: Jacquelyn Reed, 410-545- 0184.Youthful Inspirations Inc., at Bedford Elementary School, 7407 Dorman Drive, Pikesville, an enrichment program for elementary and middle school pupils.

TEL AVIV, Israel -- The top U.S. military officer attempted to reassure Israeli defense leaders yesterday that the United States still views Iran as a serious threat to the Jewish state, even as the Israelis disagree with an American intelligence finding that Iran ceased its nuclear weapons program in 2003. Adm. Michael G. Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, discussed the National Intelligence Estimate of Iran's nuclear program with the head of Israel's military and Defense Minister Ehud Barak in back-to-back meetings here, where the report has provoked widespread debate over U.S. intentions.

WASHINGTON - The United States will demand next week that North Korea agree to dismantle all its nuclear weapons and development programs - including a uranium enrichment program that Pakistan is believed to have supplied in recent years - as a prerequisite for any assistance, a Bush administration official said yesterday. But in a briefing in advance of negotiations with North Korea in Beijing next week, the administration official said he would not specify whether any commitment to dismantle the uranium enrichment program, along with other weapons programs, had to be explicit, or whether the administration would settle for a more vaguely worded commitment from North Korea.

THE ARUNDEL SINGERS will present a Christmas concert at 3 p.m. today at Brooklyn Heights United Methodist Church, 110 Townsend Ave. Donations will be accepted.EntertainmentBrooklyn Methodist Church, Fourth Street and Pontiac Avenue, will hold a dinner and Christmas music program at 6: 30 p.m. Saturday. Entertainment will be provided by the Notables, a group of more than 50 people from the Patapsco Valley Chapter No. 3850 of the American Association of Retired Persons. The group will entertain with songs, dances and comedy pieces.

ANKARA, Turkey -- Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice huddled yesterday with Greek and Turkish officials, urging their cooperation to halt Iran's uranium enrichment program but struggling to overcome their anxieties that Washington might soon turn to military action. U.S. officials acknowledge that there are widespread fears in both countries that Washington is considering armed action against Iran, and might soon ask to use their territory or for other help to launch the attacks. Rice, whose stop in Athens was met by violent protests, declared at an appearance with Greek Foreign Minister Theodora Bakoyannis that "the United States of America understands and believes that Iran is not Iraq.

TAKEN TOGETHER, the 9/11 commission report and the recent Senate Intelligence Committee report on Iraq teach us how incomplete intelligence can lead us to exaggerate some threats and miss others. This suggests that where the mists of uncertainty part to reveal an unambiguous threat to our national security, we must confront it squarely. We now face such an unambiguous threat from North Korea. How do we know? Because we have lost track of five to six atomic bombs' worth of plutonium there.

VIENNA, Austria - The board of the United Nations nuclear watchdog agency reappointed Mohamed ElBaradei to a third term as director general yesterday in a move that was widely anticipated after the United States dropped its opposition to him last week. ElBaradei, 62, was chosen by acclamation to continue his leadership of the International Atomic Energy Agency by the agency's 35-member Board of Governors, according to a spokeswoman. In comments to reporters after his reappointment, the one-time Egyptian diplomat underscored that he was not ready to end the agency's two-year probe of Iran's atomic energy program, which U.S. officials insist is a cover for nuclear weapons development.

TEL AVIV, Israel -- The top U.S. military officer attempted to reassure Israeli defense leaders yesterday that the United States still views Iran as a serious threat to the Jewish state, even as the Israelis disagree with an American intelligence finding that Iran ceased its nuclear weapons program in 2003. Adm. Michael G. Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, discussed the National Intelligence Estimate of Iran's nuclear program with the head of Israel's military and Defense Minister Ehud Barak in back-to-back meetings here, where the report has provoked widespread debate over U.S. intentions.

WASHINGTON -- President Bush and his aides spent a second day trying to keep pressure on Iran, with the White House saying yesterday that the disclosure that Iran halted its nuclear weapons program in 2003 would not affect conditions for opening negotiations with the Islamic republic. As Monday's report by the 16 U.S. intelligence agencies continued to reverberate, raising doubts about the U.S. push to punish Iran, Bush consulted with top advisers on their talks with counterparts from Britain, Germany, France and Russia.

Harry who? SPOILER ALERT!!! This column has nothing about He Who Must Be Hyped. No tally of how many millions of copies of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows have sold in the time it took to read this sentence. And nothing about unbearably cute children who haven't slept since Friday, when they got in line at the Barnes and Borders a Million to get their copy and have been reading nonstop ever since -- pausing only to e-whine about the newspaper meanies who spoiled EVERYTHING by printing early reviews of the book.

Six correctional officers at the Patuxent Institution remain on medical leave after a fight Wednesday night at the Jessup facility involving 10 inmates that sent 10 officers to the hospital, the institution's spokeswoman said yesterday. The facility, which offers drug and psychiatric rehabilitation to about 775 offenders, was locked down after the fight until yesterday morning, said spokeswoman Judy West. Wednesday's incident began as a fight between two inmates during dinner and grew to involve other inmates in one of the facility's four wings, West said.

LONDON -- U.S. and European diplomats prepared yesterday to consider possible new sanctions in the standoff over Iran's nuclear program, even as Iran's top nuclear negotiator signaled again that Tehran would be willing to engage in "constructive and logical" negotiations with the U.S. As representatives of the U.N. Security Council nations plus Germany met here in the wake of Iran's latest refusal to halt its uranium-enrichment efforts, there were signs...

WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration said yesterday that Iran's response to international efforts to restrain its nuclear program fell short of a U.N. Security Council demand that Tehran suspend its uranium enrichment activities by Aug. 31. But U.S. officials declined to say whether that meant it would push for economic sanctions against Iran at the United Nations next week. The administration's refusal to immediately call for sanctions marked a change in tone from signals sent by American officials before Iran issued a 21-page counteroffer Tuesday.

WASHINGTON -- A senior State Department official said yesterday that he expects Iran to reject a U.N.-backed entreaty to end its nuclear enrichment program and added that the United States will quickly press for international sanctions against Tehran if an Aug. 31 deadline is not met. Undersecretary of State R. Nicholas Burns, the Bush administration's point man on Iran, said the United States has the backing of fellow permanent members of the United Nations...

PENNY MCNAMARA of Arnold has volunteered at Chesapeake Manor Nursing Home in Arnold since April 1989 when she was recruited through her church, visiting the residents as part of the county's Life Enrichment Program.She also conducts what she calls a "transportation ministry," in which she provides transportation to grocery stores, doctors' appointments and the like for residents unable to get around.Volunteer's comment: "Keeping busy is wonderful and, especially, meeting the needs of others is satisfying," Mrs. McNamara said.

Harford County's school board approved a $195.9 million operating budget last night for the next school year -- a bare-bones plan that does little more than maintain current class sizes and add enough teachers for an expected 1,000 new students.The spending plan, which now goes to County Executive Eileen M. Rehrmann and the County Council, represents a 5.8 percent increase over the current $185 million budget -- the smallest increase in at least 25 years.The 1996-1997 budget, which was approved unanimously, includes about $3.6 million for a 3 percent across-the-board raise for the system's 2,400 teachers.

TEHRAN, Iran -- Iran's president has rejected the latest offer from Europe to halt uranium enrichment in exchange for incentives, including a light-water reactor, likening the proposal to an adult's deceptive enticement to a naive child. "Your incentives are definitely not more valuable than nuclear technology," President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said yesterday during a speech in the central city of Arak. "How dare you tell our people to give up its gold in return for chocolate?" In his speech, reported by the news agency ISNA, he also said: "I declare that our people do not need your assistance for development.

As the United States and its European allies rallied yesterday behind a U.N. resolution that could lead to sanctions against Iran, Tehran was busy enriching uranium, heralding its efforts and upping its threats. The Iranians don't seem the least bit fazed by the tough talk of U.S. officials and others who demand that Tehran shut down its nuclear program or face mandatory economic and diplomatic sanctions. And why should they be? For sanctions to be effective, the U.S. needs the support of U.N. Security Council members Russia and China, and neither has been willing to go that far. But the council can't simply ignore Tehran's defiance of its call to stop nuclear activities.