Around the nation

A senior adviser to U.S. President Barack Obama says that Russia has some reasonable concerns about U.S. missile defense plans. Russia has strongly opposed U.S. missile defense plans in Europe. Moscow says the system could undermine the deterrent of its vast nuclear arsenal.

The Bush administration dismissed those concerns. It said that the system was aimed at countering Iran and that its capabilities were too limited to pose a threat to Moscow.

However, Obama’s coordinator for weapons of mass destruction policy, Gary Samore on Friday said that Russia’s objections are legitimate as Washington and Moscow pursue nuclear reductions.

Immigrants push for reforms at rallies across U.S.

Immigrants and their families gathered at rallies across the country Friday to push for changes to U.S. immigration policy, but as a swine flu outbreak continued to spread, attendance at some events was smaller than organizers had hoped.

The area hardest hit by the swine flu is Mexico, also the native home of many rally participants. There were no immediate reports of canceled events, but Juan Pablo Chavez, a Tampa-based community organizer for the Florida Immigration Coalition, said he and others were monitoring the situation and in close contact with state health care officials.

"If they tell us to halt the events, we will cancel immediately. But for now, we are simply asking people who are sick not to come out,” Chavez said.

Forest Service closes caves to stop bat fungus

The U.S. Forest Service is closing thousands of caves and former mines in national forests in 33 states in an effort to control a fungus that has already killed an estimated 500,000 bats.

Bats have been dying at alarming rates from what scientists call "white-nose syndrome,” so-named because it appears as a white powder on the face and wings of hibernating bats.

The problem was first spotted in New York and within two years has spread to caves in West Virginia and Virginia. There’s no evidence the fungus is harmful to people.

Researchers believe the fungus is spread from bat to bat, but they have not ruled out the possibility that humans tromping from cave to cave might help to transmit it on their shoes and equipment, said Dennis Krusac, a biologist with the service’s Southern region.