Federal officials prepared to ship smallpox vaccine to about a dozen states as a scientific advisory panel urged them to move cautiously. The panel said reactions to the first round of inoculations should be analyzed before giving shots to millions of health care and emergency workers.

The scientists also recommended that health workers being offered the vaccine be told that it carries risks and that they are likely to receive only minimal compensation if they are injured.

"The committee suggests explicitly stating that the benefit of the vaccination program is to increase the nation's public health preparedness, but that the benefit of vaccination to any one individual might be very low," the panel convened by the Institute of Medicine reported.

The last case of smallpox in the United States was more than 50 years ago. Routine vaccinations ceased in 1972, but experts fear the disease could return in an act of bioterror.

Still, the risk of such an attack is unknown, and the chances that any given person will encounter the virus are particularly small, the Institute of Medicine noted. Meantime, the risks of the vaccine are well documented: Based on historical information, as many as 40 people out of every million being vaccinated for the first time will face life-threatening reactions, and one or two will die.

A plan announced last month by President Bush calls for quickly vaccinating nearly a half million people working in hospital emergency rooms and on special smallpox response teams, with inoculations set to begin Friday. With little time remaining, the panel recommended a series of safeguards aimed at educating people who might receive the vaccine, tracking their reactions to it and communicating with the public about the smallpox program.

Officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said they were confident people offered the vaccine would be given the information they need and they would carefully track reactions.

Airman: Pilot in friendly fire case told to hold fire

BARKSDALE AIR FORCE BASE, La. - An American pilot who mistakenly bombed Canadian troops in Afghanistan last year, killing four of them, was under orders to hold fire when he dropped the bomb, an airman testified Friday.

Maj. John Milton spoke at a hearing to determine whether two members of his Illinois National Guard squadron should be court- martialed. Majs. Harry Schmidt and William Umbach are charged with involuntary manslaughter and could face up to 64 years in a military prison if convicted.

An audio and videotape of the incident, taken from Schmidt's F- 16, has been the key piece of evidence during the hearing and it was played again Friday.

On it, a flight controller is heard saying "hold fire" after Schmidt requests permission to fire his 20-millimeter cannons. Schmidt had spotted fire on the ground and thought Umbach was under attack.

Milton said the order meant Schmidt must refrain from attacking. Under cross-examination, Milton said a hold-fire order does not apply when a pilot believes he is under attack. Reports from the U.S. and Canadian governments say Schmidt cited self-defense when he said he was "rolling in."

Milton, who has flown similar F-16 missions over Afghan combat zones, was not involved in the April 17 bombing. He was called as a government witness to explain, as a pilot, how he understood the events that led up to the bombing. He has testified he "is biased" in his colleagues' favor.

Bush visits soldiers wounded in Afghanistan

WASHINGTON - President Bush on Friday thanked five soldiers who were badly injured in Afghanistan, calling their service "noble and strong and good" as he considered sending more American troops into military conflict in Iraq.

Bush and first lady Laura Bush went to Walter Reed Army Medical Center, where the unidentified soldiers were recovering from wounds suffered during the military's operation in Afghanistan.

Bush spent about an hour going room-to-room visiting with the men and family members. He called them "incredibly brave soldiers, five of America's finest citizens" and said it had been good to meet their loved ones.

"We had a chance to tell both soldier and loved ones alike that their service to our country is noble and strong and good - I appreciate that very much," Bush said.

Thank-you letters from Bush arrive . . . a year late

STOCKHOLM, Sweden - Two letters from President Bush to Sweden's king and prime minister arrived more than a year late after they were held up in Washington because of the anthrax scare.

In the letter dated Oct. 23, 2001, to Prime Minister Goeran Persson, Bush expressed thanks for Sweden's condolences after the Sept. 11 attacks. It was delivered to the government's headquarters in Stockholm Tuesday.

The letter was accompanied by a note from the State Department that read: "The attached correspondence was quarantined and held for sterilization following last year's anthrax incident. We regret any inconvenience this delay may have caused you."

Keith Petersen, a spokesman for the U.S. Embassy in Stockholm, said copies of the letters were sent to Persson and King Carl XVI Gustaf after officials realized the originals were held up by the anthrax investigation.

Security Council bolsters sanctions against al-Qaida

UNITED NATIONS - The U.N. Security Council voted unanimously Friday to bolster sanctions against Osama bin Laden, his al-Qaida terror network and Afghanistan's former Taliban rulers.

The sanctions include a travel ban and arms embargo against people and groups on a list compiled by a council committee. Last month, the list had 324 names, including 232 people and 92 groups. It also freezes the assets of everyone on the list.

Credit: Compiled from Times Wires