2002 US HISTORY ARCHIVE

"Jack Whittaker Caps The Year Of The Scam." ... "... Whitaker, the West Virginia man who won "$314.9 million" in the Powerball lottery on Christmas day, is now most known for his participation in a long-running, ever growing scam: the state lotteries." ... "First, the jackpot is not $314.9 million--that's what it would be if paid out over 30 years. Whittaker opted for a single lump sum payment of $170.5 million. That number gets reported, too, but it seems to get buried." ... "State lotteries are a sucker bet. They typically return about 55% of the money wagered. That's much less than a casino or a racetrack. The various lotteries admit it, but it's reported much less often than stories about winners, a staple on the local news. No one ever publicizes the millions of losers, but they're out there. You have to be in it to lose it." -By Dan Ackman

-Forbes

20021226

- "Top Arab TV network to hit US market." ... "Coming to a screen near you: Al Jazeera in English." ... "The Arabic-language news network, notorious for broadcasting the statements of Osama bin Laden and his Al Qaeda colleagues, plans to open an English-language website in early 2003 and begin distributing English-language news programming by satellite and cable late next year." ... "Although Al Jazeera staffers are proud of what they have done to cover the other side of the US "war on terrorism," Western officials are suspicious of the channel's access. "They've skirted the line between journalism and colluding with terrorists," says the Doha-based official." ... ""They are not totally happy with us," says Ali of US officials. Like any government, he says, "they want the media next to them, not to tell the truth."" -By Cameron W. Barr

"Democratic contenders challenge Bush's record on terrorism." ... "Democratic contenders for president are beginning to challenge President Bush's record on terrorism, arguing that Bush has failed to do enough to prevent another fatal attack on U.S. soil and that the nation is barely safer than it was before Sept. 11, 2001." ... "While so far the criticisms lack many specifics beyond asking for more money for police agencies or the creation of a new intelligence force, campaign aides said these early challenges on terrorism signaled what they expected to be a central theme in 2004. They argued that Bush was potentially vulnerable on the issue that Republicans view as a pillar of the president's political strength." ... ""It's time for us, without regard to party, to say what every American knows: Washington is not doing enough to make America safe," Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina said in a speech on domestic security in Washington last week. "If the administration continues to do too little, it will be too late again."" -By Adam Nagourney

-NYTimes via -SeattlePI.NWsource

Christmas News - "

55-Year-Old Man Wins $314.9M Powerball: 55-Year-Old Contractor Is Sole Winner of $314.9 Million Powerball Jackpot." ... "A 55-year-old contractor won the $314.9 million Powerball jackpot, the largest single lottery jackpot in history, lottery officials said Thursday." ... "Andrew Jackson Whittaker Jr., opted to take the lump sum of more than $111 million after taxes, Lottery spokeswoman Nancy Bulla said." ... "The ticket for the Christmas night drawing was purchased Monday at the C&L Super Serve in Hurricane [West Virginia], 25 miles west of Charleston, officials of the multistate lottery said."

-AP via -ABCNEWS.com

20021225

Christmas News

Christmas News - "

Anticipation builds for Christmas Powerball drawing: An estimated $280 million is on the line." ... "One of the hottest stocking stuffers this Christmas may provide an extremely enriching holiday season for at least one lucky recipient." ... "With an estimated value of $280 million, the Powerball lottery jackpot -- the fifth largest lottery payoff in the world -- was attracting plenty of attention as a last-minute gift ahead of the Christmas night drawing."

-AP via -CNN

20021224

Christmas News - "

Eleven deaths blamed on winter storm." ... "A storm system blamed for at least 11 deaths moved across the Plains on a path toward the Northeast Tuesday, leaving up to a foot of snow across parts of Oklahoma and making travel hazardous in the Missouri Ozarks on the day before Christmas." ... "Winter storm warnings and advisories were in effect Tuesday from the mountains of New Mexico to Pennsylvania and northern West Virginia., and snow was likely on Christmas Day in northern New Jersey, southeastern New York and southern New England, the National Weather Service said."

-AP via -CNN

- "US tries diplomacy, firm line on N. Korea." ... "The Bush administration pressed North Korea diplomatically yesterday to refrain from restarting a dormant nuclear reactor, even as Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld warned that the US military could simultaneously take on both Iraq and the communist Pyongyang regime." ... "''We are capable of fighting two major regional conflicts,'' Rumsfeld said at the Pentagon. ''We're capable of winning decisively in one and swiftly defeating in the case of the other, and let there be no doubt about it.''" ... "Rumsfeld stressed that no military action to halt Pyongyang's renewed nuclear ambitions was imminent, and White House officials said the United States intends to pursue a diplomatic course to persuade North Korea to abandon efforts to expand its nuclear arsenal." -By John J. Lumpkin

-AP via -Boston/Globe

- "North Korea warns of 'catastrophe': North Korea has warned the United States that broadening the dispute over its nuclear program would result in what it calls an "uncontrollable catastrophe."" ... "Ratcheting up tensions on the Korean Peninsula Tuesday, the North's state-run Rodong Sinmun newspaper said the nuclear issue could only be resolved by North Korea and the United States, "the countries responsible for it."" ... ""If the U.S. persistently tries to internationalize the pending issue between the DPRK (North Korea) and the U.S. in a bid to flee from its responsibility, it will push the situation to an uncontrollable catastrophe," it said."

-CNN /World /Asia

20021223

- "[CNN International Editor] David Clinch: U.S. will deal with N. Korea 'one way or the other'." ... "North Korea began removing seals and monitoring equipment last weekend that were placed by international nuclear inspectors on the Yongbyon nuclear reactor, which is capable of producing weapons-grade plutonium." ...

CLINCH: ""We forget that sometimes. Talking about troops going to Iraq and elsewhere, tens of thousands of U.S. troops are still in South Korea from the last time there was a war in that peninsula.""

-CNN /World

20021222

Eliot Spitzer

"TIME 2002 Crusader of the Year: Eliot Spitzer: ... "Wall Street's Top Cop: In a year when business let so many down, Eliot Spitzer fought back. How a rich kid from the Bronx became the people's champion." ... "Spitzer opened an investigation that in just a few months began fundamentally reshaping America's financial markets. Analysts, Spitzer would show, were doctoring their reports—which the public relies on for stock information—to win business for their banks' investment arms or to downgrade companies that didn't play ball. Insiders knew the scam; folks in the heartland had no idea. Spitzer's aggressive pursuit of Merrill Lynch and, subsequently, a dozen other Wall Street firms turned the tables. The new ethics he championed are touching in their simplicity: analysts' ratings should reflect what they actually believe. There has not been such an affirmation of what's right since Moses and the Ten Commandments. "The system was rotten, and no one seemed interested in fixing it," says Spitzer. "So we moved in.""

-By Adi Ignatius -TIME - Person of the Year - 2002

- "[New York states Attorney General Eliot] Spitzer: Man Of The Year - Savior of Capitalism?" ... "Using a New York state law, he obtained some explosive internal emails from Merrill Lynch and secured a $100m fine. This pushed a complacent Securities and Exchange Commission into action, and finally yesterday Spitzer got the reward for his pursuit." ... "As part of the agreement forged with the Stock Exchange [full details], the ten leading brokerages must pay $900 million in retrospective relief, $450m to fund "independent" research and $85 million to "investor education". The brokerages, including Solomon Smith and Barney, CSFB, Lehman, Morgan Stanley and UBS Warburg, will not be allowed to reward CEOs with IPO offerings, and must operate at arms length from no less than independent analysts on each offering. (Since the brokers are still paying these independent analysts' fees, it's hard to see how this cure will be truly effective.)" ... "But for the Bronx-born Spitzer, his legend is assured as a pugilist populist attorney straight from central casting. He's taken on the mob, the music pigopolists (for CD price fixing), low-paying employers, and is currently suing President Bush for gutting the clean air act." -By Andrew Orlowski -

TheRegister.co.uk

- "French journalist killed by US tank." ... "One of the best-known television journalists in France, Patrick Bourrat, has died in hospital in Kuwait." ... "He was injured on Saturday after being run over by a tank while covering US military exercises in the desert." ... "Mr Bourrat, who was in his 40s, was a correspondent for the TF-1 television station." ... "American military officials say the precise circumstances of the accident are being investigated."

- "Iraq welcomes 'American intelligence' to weapons hunt: Denies 'material omissions' in declaration." ... "Iraq's top government scientist Sunday said his country would welcome "someone from American intelligence" to show U.N. weapons inspectors where President Bush believes Iraq is hiding its weapons programs." ... "Gen. Amir Al-Saadi said U.S. and British claims that Iraq is hiding nuclear, chemical or biological weapons programs are "old rehashed reports," some from as far back as 1990, that Iraq has already disproved." ... ""We even wouldn't mind if someone from the American intelligence were to accompany the inspection teams to show them the places in which they allege there is something," he said."

-CNN /World

- "U.S. Said to Ready Kurd Areas in Iraq for Possible War." ... "American intelligence officials have been working alongside Kurdish officials in recent weeks, and recruiters for an American-sponsored opposition group have been selecting candidates for a program to train scouts and translators that one day may help American forces inside Iraq, according to Kurdish and Western officials." ... "American military planners have visited secluded corners of the country to examine potential basing sites for use in a war, according to a Western expert familiar with the activity." ... "No American military forces are based here yet, Kurdish officials say, and recent Turkish and Arabic news reports of sizable military deployments appear unfounded." (1, 2) -By C. J. Chivers

-NYTimes via -AltaVista-News

20021221

"Frist steps up to lead GOP as Lott leaves Senate." ... "Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss., abandoned his job as Senate majority leader Friday, and Republicans said they intend to elect Sen. Bill Frist, R-Tenn., on Monday to succeed him in the 108th Congress." ... "Lott's decision drew a huge sigh of relief from many Republican officials and strategists. They feared that his continued presence as a GOP leader would damage the party, especially with minority members and suburban women. His departure, and the fast-developing support for Frist, reduces the threat of a bloody intra-party battle when Congress convenes Jan. 7. The GOP will control both houses and hopes to give swift approval to key elements of Bush's agenda."

-WashingtonPost via -StarTribune.com

"'Fristy' is wealthy, personable and a friend of the president." ... "As he prepares to become the next Senate majority leader, Sen. Bill Frist is on the cusp of another milestone in his second career that some believe may include a run for the White House in 2008." ... ""Fristy" to his friend President Bush, the heart-and-lung transplant surgeon from Tennessee already had been mentioned as a possible secretary of the new Department of Homeland Security, a future party leader in the Senate, even Bush's running mate in 2004. Not bad for a man who didn't bother to vote until age 34."

-LAtimes via -StarTribune.com

- "Critics Decry Detention of M. Eastern Men: Critics Say Detention of Middle Eastern Men in California Harms Terrorism Fight." ... "A post-Sept. 11 federal registration policy that led to the detention of hundreds of Middle Eastern immigrants hurts more than it helps the war on terrorism, critics charged." ... "The detention of some immigrants who showed up to register under a new security policy drew comparisons to the internment of Japanese-Americans in World War II." ... "Critics alleged the detentions probably failed to net a single terrorist but did rile law-abiding Muslims who already feared being scapegoated."

-AP via -ABCNEWS.com

INS.gov

- "California May Bar Judges from Joining the Boy Scouts." ... "he California Supreme Court is considering a proposal that would forbid the 1,600 judges in the state to belong to the Boy Scouts because of its refusal to accept gays." ... "California judges are prohibited from joining groups that discriminate based on sexual orientation, but nonprofit youth organizations are exempt. The Supreme Court took up the proposal to consider changing the rule at the request of bar associations in San Francisco and Los Angeles." -By Adam Liptak

-NYTimes via -AltaVista-News

Trent Lott Controversy

Trent Lott - "

Politicos stunned by Bush's 'skilled' removal of Trent Lott: President 'extracted' the senator without leaving fingerprints." ... "As President Bush was cheerily shaking the hands of thousands of guests at glittering White House Christmas parties this week, his advisers and influential Republicans were working overtime to jettison Trent Lott as the Senate Republican leader." ... "By the end of the week, as the White House watched its favorite, Sen. Bill Frist of Tennessee, step up to replace Lott, R-Miss., Washington's political professionals were left stunned and awed. They said that Bush and his powerful political adviser, Karl Rove, had stumbled at times, but still had managed to depose in eight days the unanimously elected Senate leader of their own party." -By Elisabeth Bumiller

-NYTimes via -SeattlePI.NWsource

- "US agrees to share Iraq intelligence." ... "The United States says it will share intelligence data about Iraq with United Nations weapons inspectors following a request from chief inspector Hans Blix." ... "The agreement comes while the US is preparing for a rapid increase in its military strength in the Middle East, almost doubling the number of troops near Iraq." ... "Mr Blix told the BBC on Friday that, if US officials knew where they thought Iraq was storing banned materials, he could send his inspection teams to check."

20021220

Federal database spy site fading away." ... "Call it the incredibly shrinking government Web site." ... "As controversy grows over the Defense Department's shadowy Total Information Awareness (TIA) project, the project's virtual presence is steadily decreasing. If fully implemented, TIA would link databases from sources such as credit card companies, medical insurers, and motor vehicle databases for police convenience in hopes of snaring terrorists." ... "First, biographical information about the TIA project leaders, including retired Adm. John Poindexter, disappeared from the Defense Department's site last month. A mirror that one activist created from Google's cache shows the deleted information included four resumes listing past work experience but no addresses or contact information." -By Declan McCullagh

-CNET /News

- "Can Tribune's FitzSimons Do It Again?" ... "Watch for dramatic industry changes next year if the Tribune (nyse: TRB - news -people) broadcasting czar, Dennis J. FitzSimons, has his way. FitzSimons was named chief executive officer last week, replacing John W. Madigan as CEO of the No. 2 U.S. newspaper company (estimated 2002 revenue: $5.3 billion) behind Gannett (nyse: GCI - news -people). FitzSimons' fame? The 20-year Tribune veteran, who formerly ran Tribune's WGN-TV, put print-dominated Tribune on the television map, buying 18 of Tribune's 24 stations since 1992. TV is now Tribune's fastest growing unit, accounting for 26% of sales and 35% of operating profit." ... "Under FitzSimons, TV will get even bigger as soon as he can rally the Federal Communications Commission to repeal decades-old rules banning ownership of TV stations in markets where it already owns newspapers or other TV stations." -By Erin Killian

-Forbes

Draft National Strategy to Secure Cyberspace

Bush Administration to Propose System for Monitoring Internet." ... "The Bush administration is planning to propose requiring Internet service providers to help build a centralized system to enable broad monitoring of the Internet and, potentially, surveillance of its users." ... "The proposal is part of a final version of a report, "The National Strategy to Secure Cyberspace," set for release early next year, according to several people who have been briefed on the report. It is a component of the effort to increase national security after the Sept. 11 attacks." ... "The President's Critical Infrastructure Protection Board is preparing the report, and it is intended to create public and private cooperation to regulate and defend the national computer networks, not only from everyday hazards like viruses but also from terrorist attack. Ultimately the report is intended to provide an Internet strategy for the new Department of Homeland Security." -By John Markoff and John Schwartz

-NYTimes via -Google-News

Search Google:

<National Strategy to Secure Cyberspace-[News]>
<Critical Infrastructure Protection Board-[News]>
WhiteHouse.gov/pcipb

[PDF]

Draft National Strategy to Secure Cyberspace

CIAO.gov

- "South Korea picks liberal Roh for president." ... "Ruling party candidate Roh Moo-hyun won South Korea's presidential election on Thursday, a result that could complicate ties with the United States as the allies grapple with North Korea's nuclear programme." ... "The triumph of Roh, 56, a populist human rights and labour lawyer, marks a stunning turnaround after the 11th-hour desertion of his election alliance partner, Chung Mong-joon." ... "The United States has 37,000 troops helping protect the South from its reclusive neighbour. North and South Korea are technically still at war as the 1950-53 conflict ended in a truce, not a peace treaty." -By Paul Eckert

-Reuters via /Asia

20021219

- "U.S. Sets Late January Decision on Iraq War." ... "The Bush administration has set the last week in January as the make-or-break point in the long standoff with Iraq, and is increasingly confident that by then it will have marshaled the evidence to convince the U.N. Security Council that Iraq is in violation of a U.N. resolution passed last month and to call for the use of force, officials said yesterday." ... "In a boost to the administration's position, Hans Blix, the United Nations' chief weapons inspector, plans to tell the Security Council today that Iraq failed to account fully for chemical and biological bombs and warheads it had assembled as well as materials it bought that could be used to produce more of them, U.N. and administration officials said." -By Walter Pincus and Karen DeYoung

20021218

Snooping in All the Wrong Places: Not only would the Administration's plan to centralize every American's records destroy privacy, the security payoff would be minimal." ... "The 2002 elections proved one thing: The promise of security wins votes. The GOP campaigned on a pledge to make the country safer, and it brought home one of the biggest midterm victories in decades. That huge win may have emboldened the Bush Administration to ignore widespread criticism of the Defense Dept.'s $240 million effort to develop a Total Information Awareness system (TIA)." ... "The outrage over TIA doesn't seem to have reached the President's ear, but it should. It's not too late for him to realize the folly of such a plan. Funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the project would combine every American's bank records, tax filings, driver's license information, credit-card purchases, medical data, and phone and e-mail records into one giant centralized database. This would then be combed through for evidence of suspicious activity." -By Jane Black

-BusinessWeek/Daily

Trent Lott - "

[Minnesota Republican Governor elect Tim] Pawlenty calls on Lott to leave leadership post." ... "Minnesota Gov.-elect Tim Pawlenty became one of the first prominent Republicans in the nation to call on Trent Lott to step down as Senate Republican leader." ... ""I don't think you can be an effective spokesperson and leader for the party if you are perceived as embracing segregationist politics," Pawlenty said Tuesday, on the eve of a White House conference for freshman governors." ... ""He's not just a rank-and-file member of Congress," Pawlenty said of the Mississippi senator. "He's a leader of the Republican majority in the Senate and one of the leading national spokespeople for the party. I don't believe he can continue to be an effective spokesperson."" -By Kevin Diaz

-StarTribune.com

- "Halliburton settles asbestos claims: Company paying about $4 billion to thousands of victims." ... "The company said at least 75 percent of plaintiffs with pending cases agreed to the settlement." ... "Representatives for the Houston-based oilfield-services company once led by Vice President Dick Cheney were in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Pittsburgh on Wednesday to settle most of the pending asbestos cases against the company and one of its former subsidiaries."

-AP via -MSNBC

Search Google:

Halliburton

Halliburton Cheney

"Lott Vows Fight to Retain His Post as Senate Leader." ... "Mr. Lott, at a 100th-birthday party for Senator Strom Thurmond, referred with praise to Mr. Thurmond's presidential bid in 1948. The campaign was based on maintaining racial segregation. Mr. Lott had made similar comments two decades ago, and tonight MSNBC reported a third instance — at a bill signing ceremony in October 2000 — in which Mr. Lott said Mr. Thurmond "should have been president."" ... "As White House officials sought to gauge support for Mr. Lott or for possible rivals, Mr. Lott also spent his day making phone calls, trying to assess whether he could survive a Senate vote on his leadership called for Jan. 6." -By Elisabeth Bumiller and Carl Hulse

-NYTimes via -Google-News

- "Feds Indict 7 in Texas Terror Probe: Feds Indicte [sic] Employees of Texas Computer Firm and Hamas Leader on Terrorism-Related Charges." ... "The leader of an Islamic militant group, his wife, and five brothers work at a Texas computer firm were indicted on charges of trafficking with terrorist states Libya and Syria, Attorney General John Ashcroft announced Wednesday." ... """The war against terror is a war of accountants and auditors as well as weaponry and soldiers," Ashcroft said. "We will pursue the financiers of terror as well as pursue the thugs who do their work.""

-AP via -ABCNEWS.com

- "Four men arrested in Texas by anti-terrorism task force." ... "Four men connected to a computer company that did business in the Middle East were arrested by federal anti-terrorism agents early Wednesday on money-laundering charges." ... "The four men worked at Infocom, a suburban Richardson computer company that federal agents raided in September 2001." -By Angela K. Brown

-StarTribune.com

- "U.S. officials: Saddam ready to target his own country, blame U.S." ... "Iraq is preparing to destroy its own oil fields, food supplies and power plants and blame the destruction on U.S. bombs during a war, U.S. intelligence officials said Wednesday." ... "The officials, briefing reporters at the Pentagon, said they have evidence Iraqi President Saddam Hussein has plans to wreck his own infrastructure to foster a humanitarian crisis and turn international opinion against any U.S. and British advance into his territory." ... "Citing the need to protect intelligence sources, the officials declined to describe that evidence. They spoke on condition of anonymity." -By John J. Lumpkin

-AP via -SFGate.com

- "Russia 'regrets' Bush missile plan: Moscow has expressed "regret" at U.S. President George W. Bush's decision to deploy a limited missile shield by 2004, saying the move could lead to a new arms race." ... "The Russian statement came a day after Bush ordered the U.S. Defense Department to begin work within two years on deploying the first interceptors that are to form the base of the missile defence system." ... "The Bush administration intends to ask the U.S. Congress to allocate $1.5 billion for 2004-2005, on top of the $8 billion already budgeted."

-CNN /World /Europe

20021217

Christmas - "

Chain Stores Take on Christmas Trees." ... "Operating a roadside Christmas tree stand has never been a huge moneymaker, and now that the big boys have moved into the market it's even tougher." ... "The National Christmas Tree Association says 17 percent of the roughly 30 million Christmas trees sold last year were at large chain stores, such as Wal-Mart, Home Depot, Lowe's and Target. That's up from 14 percent in 2000 - the first year the association began tracking sales at chain stores - and came even as the overall market shrank a bit." -By Clarke Canfield

-AP via -SeattlePI.NWsource

RealChristmasTrees.org

- "

- "C.I.A. Chief Prospers From Bond With Bush." ... "When George W. Bush was president-elect, he got some fateful advice about his daily C.I.A. briefing from a man who would know." ... "Mr. Bush's father, the only president to have served as C.I.A. director, was in the unique position of having both given and received the secret morning updates, and often told friends that his time in the 1970's at the C.I.A. headquarters in Langley, Va., was one of the best jobs he ever had." ... "He unequivocally instructed his son, said Andrew H. Card Jr., the White House chief of staff, to develop a close relationship with the person who ran the spy organization and oversaw the other intelligence agencies that make up America's covert empire." (1, 2) -By Elisabeth Bumiller

-NYTimes via -AltaVista-News

Panel seeks Andersen attorney probe: House committee asks DOJ to look at whether Nancy Temple committed perjury in Enron trial." ... "The House Energy and Commerce Committee ended its probe of Andersen's role in the collapse of energy trader Enron by asking the Justice Department Tuesday to look at whether Andersen in-house lawyer Nancy Temple was truthful during congressional testimony."

-Reuters via -CNN /

"Majority Say Lott Should Not Lead: GOP Strategists Worry Over Backlash Among Voters." ... "Slightly more than half of all Americans believe incoming Senate majority leader Trent Lott should step down from his leadership post for making racially insensitive remarks two weeks ago at a birthday party for retiring Sen. Strom Thurmond, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll." ... "Fifty-one percent of those interviewed--including two out of three minorities--said Lott should not lead Senate Republicans when the new Congress convenes next month. Forty-one percent said he should continue to lead Senate Republicans." -By Richard Morin

20021216

ELECTION 2004 - "

Democrats expect wide-open fight: More candidates likely to join 2004 fray." ... "Had Gore run, said veteran California Democratic consultant Bill Carrick, “everything would have pivoted off him as the front-runner, and people would have chosen sides for or against him. Now, all the candidates will be trying to find out exactly who their constituencies are, and the primary voters will be much more in a shopping-around mode.”" ... "Gore’s decision was not good news for the White House, where political aides had been openly hoping for a rematch. Despite the fact that Gore won the popular vote in 2000, he was viewed as a perfect foil for the president. One official commented that Gore “was very defined in his views, and one of those definitions was the fact that he kept changing those views.”" -Analysis By David S. Broder

-WashingtonPost via -MSNBC

ELECTION 2004 - "

Gore takes self out of '04 race." ... "''I've decided not to run,'' the former vice president said during a last-minute interview with the CBS News program ''60 Minutes.'' ''I've decided that I will not be a candidate for president in 2004.''" ... "Gore, who also ran unsuccessfully for president in 1988, would not rule out another campaign in 2008 or beyond, but he said, ''I make this decision in the full knowledge and in awareness that if I don't run this time -which I'm not going to run in 2004 - that's probably the last opportunity I'll ever have to run for president.'' He added that he believes he can continue to affect policy outside the political arena." -By Glen Johnson

20021215

ELECTION 2004 - "

Gore passes on 2004 presidential run." ... ""I personally have the energy and the drive and the ambition to make another campaign, but I don't think it's the right thing for me to do," Gore, 54, said on CBS' 60 Minutes. A rematch "would inevitably involve a focus on the past that would in some measure distract from the focus on the future that I think all campaigns have to be about."" -By Susan Page

ELECTION 2004 - "

Gore won't run for president." ... "Former Vice President Al Gore won't run for president in 2004 and will make an announcement on CBS news program "60 Minutes" on Sunday evening." -By Allen Wan

-CBSNews /MarketWatch

- "Bush Has Widened Authority of C.I.A. to Kill Terrorists." ... "The Bush administration has prepared a list of terrorist leaders the Central Intelligence Agency is authorized to kill, if capture is impractical and civilian casualties can be minimized, senior military and intelligence officials said." ... "Despite the authority given to the agency, Mr. Bush has not waived the executive order banning assassinations, officials said. The presidential authority to kill terrorists defines operatives of Al Qaeda as enemy combatants and thus legitimate targets for lethal force." ... "The president is not legally required to approve each name added to the list, nor is the C.I.A. required to obtain presidential approval for specific attacks, although officials said Mr. Bush had been kept well informed about the agency's operations." ... "But the decision by the Bush administration to authorize, under certain circumstances, the killing of terrorist leaders threatens to thrust it into a murky area of national security and international law that is almost never debated in public because the covert operations are known only to a small circle of executive branch and Congressional officials." (1, 2) -By James Risen and David Johnstone

-NYTimes via -AltaVista-News

20021214

Keeping Track of John Poindexter." ... "The head of the government's Total Information Awareness project, which aims to root out potential terrorists by aggregating credit-card, travel, medical, school and other records of everyone in the United States, has himself become a target of personal data profiling." ... "Online pranksters, taking their lead from a San Francisco journalist, are publishing John Poindexter's home phone number, photos of his house and other personal information to protest the TIA program." -By Paul Boutin

-Wired

"Henry Kissinger quits 9/11 panel amid controversy." ... "Kissinger's appointment last month revived memories over his contentious service as national security adviser and secretary of state in the Nixon administration and his role in the Vietnam War. But more immediately, it set off an argument between congressional Democrats, who said he must disclose his financial ties, and the White House, which said there was no need to do so. Kissinger did not respond to a message left at his New York office last night, but his letter to Bush said he feared such arguments would soon engulf his firm, Kissinger Associates." ... "Kissinger's resignation was apparently triggered by a legal opinion from Republicans and Democrats on the Senate Ethics Committee, who said Thursday that all members of the commission would have to comply with congressional financial disclosure requirements." -By David Firestone

-NYTimes via -SeattlePI.NWsource

- "US accuses Iran of secret nuclear weapons plan." ... "Washington edged closer to confrontation with all three members of President Bush's "axis of evil" yesterday when US officials accused Iran of secretly developing two nuclear plants which could be used to produce weapons." ... "Iran denied the charge, pointing out that officials from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) had been invited to visit the two sites, near the towns of Arak and Natanz, in February." -By Julian Borger

-Guardian.co.uk

20021213

- "Iraqi jet tried to trap U.S. jets." ... "An Iraqi fighter jet attempted to lead two U.S. fighter planes over a battery of surface-to-air missiles Friday in the no-fly zone over southern Iraq, Pentagon officials told CNN." ... "Aware of the missiles' location, the U.S. planes turned south to avoid the potential trap, a Defense Department spokesman said. The pilots knew the location of the missiles because of training and coalition surveillance capabilities, the spokesman said." -By Kris Osborn

-CNN /World

- "U.S.: Iran working on nuclear weapons: IAEA: Nuclear facilities not a surprise." ... "The United States accused Iran Friday of "actively working" on a nuclear weapons program and said that recent satellite photographs of a massive nuclear power construction project "reinforce" that belief." ... "But International Atomic Energy Agency Director-General Mohamed ElBaradei, in an interview with CNN's Christiane Amanpour, said the chief of Iran's atomic energy program had told him in September that the construction was for a 6,000-megawatt nuclear power facility." -Contributed to by Christiane Amanpour, David Ensor, and Elise Labott

-CNN /World

"Bush orders smallpox vaccine for military, himself." ... "The vaccine will be administered to about 500,000 troops deployed in high-risk parts of the world in the first phase of the vaccination plan. The inoculations began Friday, said Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease." ... "The second phase will be to vaccinate about 440,000 public health-care workers, emergency room doctors, disease detectives and other hospital officials. It will also be made available to up to 10 million police, firefighters and other first responders on a voluntary basis." -Contributed to by Frank Buckley and Elizabeth Cohen

-CNN /Health

"US cash for Middle East democracy." ... "America's answer is what it calls the US-Middle East Partnership Initiative." ... "An initial sum of $29m will initially be spent on education, projects to expand political participation and to encourage small businesses." ... "Mr Powell said the administration would ask Congress for more money next year - which will come in addition to the more than $1bn the US already provides in economic aid to Arab countries."

Search Google:

<US-Middle East Partnership Initiative-[News]>

"Kissinger steps down as chairman of 9/11 panel, citing conflicts." ... "Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger stepped down Friday as chairman of a panel investigating the Sept. 11 attacks, citing controversy over potential conflicts of interest with his business clients." ... "''It is clear that, although specific potential conflicts can be resolved in this manner, the controversy would quickly move to the consulting firm I have built and own,'' Kissinger wrote in a letter to President Bush, who appointed him. ''I have, therefore, concluded that I cannot accept the responsibility you proposed.''" -By Ron Fournier

-AP via -Boston/Globe

"Cardinal Law resigns: In letter, he states: 'I both apologize and beg forgiveness'." ... "Pope John Paul II today accepted the resignation of Cardinal Bernard Francis Law of Boston, effectively ending the tarnished career of a man who had been one of the most influential figures in American religion before revelations of his repeated failure to remove sexually abusive priests from ministry sparked a scandal of unprecedented proportions." ... "The archdiocese of Boston, with an estimated 2 million Catholics, is the fourth largest Catholic see in the United States, and is by tradition one of the most important." ... "The scandal of priest abuse, which first came to light in the early 1980s in Louisiana and exploded in Boston this year, has been extraordinarily damaging to the largest and most influential religious denomination in the United States." -By Michael Paulson, and Charles M. Sennott

"Trent Lott's Segregationist College Days: At Ole Miss, the Senator helped lead a fight to keep blacks out of his national fraternity." ... "Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott helped lead a successful battle to prevent his college fraternity from admitting blacks to any of its chapters, in a little-known incident now four decades old." ... "When the issue came to a head at Sigma Nu's national convention —known as a "Grand Chapter" — in the early 1960s, "Trent was one of the strongest leaders in resisting the integration of the national fraternity in any of the chapters," recalls former CNN President Tom Johnson, then a Sigma Nu member at the University of Georgia." -By Karen Tumulty

20021212

- "Report: Al Qaeda deal for nerve gas: U.S. suspects nerve agent VX was smuggled through Turkey." ... "The Bush administration has received a credible report that Islamic extremists affiliated with al Qaeda took possession of a chemical weapon in Iraq last month or late in October, according to two officials with firsthand knowledge of the report and its source. They said government analysts suspect that the transaction involved the nerve agent VX and that a courier managed to smuggle it overland through Turkey." ... "Even authorized spokesmen, with one exception, addressed the report on the condition of anonymity. They said the principal source on the chemical transfer was uncorroborated, and that indications it involved a nerve agent were open to interpretation." -By Barton Gellman

-WashingtonPost via -MSNBC

"Why the U.S. is Forced to Wait on Iraq: As long as Saddam cooperates and the inspectors find nothing, it will be hard to win UN backing for war." ... "If the U.S. were to walk away at this stage from a UN process whose starting point is inspections to establish the facts regarding prohibited weapons in Iraq, the net effect would be to strengthen opposition to a war. UN Security Council Resolution 1441, which among other things demanded the Iraqi declaration delivered last weekend, makes clear that military action against Baghdad is contemplated by the Council only if Saddam either refuses to allow unfettered inspections or if those inspections turn up evidence of Iraq lying in its declaration." -By Tony Karon

Microsoft reveals 'critical' security flaws." ... "In a security bulletin published late Wednesday, Microsoft urged Windows users to download a new version of Microsoft Virtual Machine, which is the part of Windows that runs Java-language applications. The new version corrects eight vulnerabilities discovered by Microsoft and outside experts."

-AP via -SiliconValley

20021211

- "Mitchell withdraws from terrorism panel." ... "Citing a reluctance to quit his law firm, former Sen. George Mitchell on Wednesday withdrew from the new commission that will investigate the Sept. 11 attacks." ... "Mitchell was to be vice chairman of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks, which former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger is heading. Replacing Mitchell will be former Rep. Lee Hamilton, D-Ind." ... "The commission will follow up the work of the congressional inquiry that issued its final report Wednesday on intelligence failures leading up the terrorist attacks. The commission will conduct a broader investigation, looking at issues beyond intelligence, including aviation security and immigration." -By Ken Guggenheim

-AP via -SFGate.com

- "U.S. Lets Missile Shipment Proceed." ... "Skirting a face-off with Yemen, the United States on Wednesday let an intercepted shipment of North Korean missiles proceed to the Persian Gulf country after receiving assurances the Scuds would not be transferred elsewhere in the tense region." ... "The agreement was reached through unusual high-level diplomacy involving Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of State Colin Powell, on the one hand, and President Ali Abdallah Salih of Yemen on the other." -By Barry Schweid

-AP via -DesMoinesRegister

- "U.N. nuclear agency warns N. Korea." ... "The head of the U.N. nuclear agency urged North Korea not to restart a nuclear power plant that Washington suspects was used to develop atomic arms before it was mothballed eight years ago." ... "Mohamed Elbaradei, director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, or IAEA, warned late Thursday that any unilateral move by the North Koreans to remove agency seals and monitoring cameras at its nuclear facilities would contravene agreements between Pyongyang and the United Nations." ... "The North Korean nuclear program was suspended under a 1994 deal with Washington, averting a possible war on the Korean peninsula. Experts say North Korea could quickly extract enough plutonium from its old facilities to make several nuclear weapons."

-MS-NBC

"Lott expresses regret for remarks; court filing from 1981 surfaces." ... "Senate Republican leader Trent Lott tried to help Bob Jones University keep its federal tax-exempt status despite the school's policy prohibiting interracial dating two decades before his recent comments stirred a race controversy." ... ""Racial discrimination does not always violate public policy," Lott, then a congressman from Mississippi, wrote in a 1981 friend of the court brief that cited prior court rulings upholding affirmative action programs at colleges." ... "Lott's filing unsuccessfully urged the U.S. Supreme Court to stop the Internal Revenue Service from stripping the university's tax exemption." -By John Solomon

-AP via -SFGate.com

"Lott Remarks on Thurmond Echoed 1980 Words: Criticism Unabated Despite Apology for Comment on Former Dixiecrat's Presidential Bid." ... "Twenty-two years ago, Trent Lott, then a House member from Mississippi, told a home state political gathering that if the country had elected segregationist candidate Strom Thurmond to the presidency "30 years ago, we wouldn't be in the mess we are today." The phrasing is very similar to incoming Senate Majority Leader Lott's controversial remarks at a 100th birthday party for Thurmond last week." ... "Last week, Lott provoked controversy when he declared at the Thurmond birthday celebration: "I want to say this about my state: When Strom Thurmond ran for president, we voted for him. We're proud of it. And if the rest of the country had followed our lead, we wouldn't have had all these problems over all these years."" -By Thomas B. Edsall and Brian Faler

- "U.S. Warns Iraq It Has Nuclear Option." ... "The United States raised the temperature in its confrontation with Iraq over weapons of mass destruction, saying it could go nuclear if such weapons were used against its forces or its allies." ... "Washington issued the warning Tuesday as U.N. arms inspectors carried out the most intensive inspections in Iraq of their current mission and the Iraqi Foreign Ministry accused Washington of trying to find a pretext for war." -By Nadim Ladki

- "U.S. Sees Nuclear Deterrence Against WMD Attack." ... "The six-page strategy document says deterring attacks with the threat of "overwhelming force" is an essential element in protecting America and its allies from weapons of mass destruction, also known as WMD." ... ""The United States will continue to make clear that it reserves the right to respond with overwhelming force -- including through resort to all our options -- to the use of WMD against the United States, our forces abroad, and friends and allies," the strategy report said." ... ""In addition to our conventional and nuclear response and defense capabilities, our overall deterrent posture against WMD threats is reinforced by effective intelligence, surveillance, interdiction and domestic law enforcement capabilities," it said." -By Randall Mikkelsen

- "Key factor: Iraqi scientists: US dampens expectations of 'smoking gun' on Iraq weapons and urges access to scientists." ... "... increasingly, experts are pointing to only one sure way to reveal the true scale of Iraq's weapons programs: talking to the Iraqi scientists who built the programs." ... "The UN's ability to talk with Iraqi scientists may turn on chief UN inspector Hans Blix's willingness to use a robust new plank in the UN disarmament mandate that permits the UN to spirit out of Iraq specialists and their families. The scientists could then speak freely without fear of reprisal from Saddam Hussein's regime." -By Scott Peterson

- "Turkey Names Its Price for Aid Against Iraq: Support on EU and Economy Sought From U.S. for Assistance in War Effort." ... "In exchange for use of its territory by U.S. troops and aircraft against Iraq, the Turkish government is asking for significant economic help to make sure there is no repeat of the recession that followed the 1991 war. Just as eagerly, it wants the Bush administration to persuade the European Union to respond more favorably to a long-delayed Turkish bid for membership." ... "The United States strongly backs the bid, as President Bush emphasized repeatedly in Washington today while receiving Recep Tayyip Erdogan, leader of Turkey's new governing party. Membership in the prosperous club of European nations, U.S. officials say, would not only boost Turkey's economy; it would enhance Turkey's status as a model of secular democracy in a Muslim country." -By Karl Vick

- "eBay hit by credit card scam." ... "The world's largest online auction site eBay has been targeted by fraudsters using a shadow site to steal credit card details from its 55 million customers." ... "The scam involved sending e-mails to customers asking them to log on to a Florida-based website - ebayupdates.com - and re-submit their financial details." -By Stefan Armbruster

Microsoft News - Microsoft.com Security Bulletin: - "

What You Should Know About Microsoft Security Bulletin MS02-071:Security Update for Microsoft Windows." .... "Why We Are Issuing This Update: A security issue has been identified that could allow an attacker to compromise a computer running Microsoft® Windows® and gain complete control over it. An attacker would need the ability to log onto the computer to carry out an attack. You can help protect your computer by installing this update from Microsoft." ...

"The following products require updating:

• Microsoft Windows NT 4.0

• Microsoft Windows NT 4.0, Terminal Server Edition

• Microsoft Windows 2000

• Microsoft Windows XP" -Microsoftcom/security

20021210

- "Jimmy Carter's Nobel Prize speech [excerpts]." ... "Instead of entering a millennium of peace, the world is now, in many ways, a more dangerous place. There is a plethora of civil wars... and recent appalling acts of terrorism have reminded us that no nations, even superpowers, are invulnerable." ... "It is clear that global challenges must be met with an emphasis on peace, in harmony with others, with strong alliances and international consensus." ... "Imperfect as it may be, there is no doubt that this can best be done through the United Nations."

"Black Caucus denounces Lott: GOP Senate leader assailed for remarks praising Thurmond’s presidential bid." ... "Members of the Congressional Black Caucus rejected Senate Republican leader Trent Lott’s apology for saying that America would have been better off if Strom Thurmond had won the presidency in 1948, when he ran as a segregationist and won four states." ... "The three dozen members of the caucus, all black Democrats in the House of Representatives, may push for a Senate censure of Lott and ask for his resignation as Senate Republican leader."

Accounting News - "

Donaldson to head SEC: Co-founder of DLJ and ex-NYSE chief would succeed Pitt as top market watchdog." ... "Wall Street veteran William Donaldson, the founder of the former firm Donaldson Lufkin & Jenrette, is the Bush administration's choice to be the new chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission." ... "Donaldson, whose firm was sold to Credit Suisse First Boston in 2000, was introduced by President Bush at a news conference Tuesday." ... "The SEC has been under greater scrutiny due to the attention given to accounting and corporate misdeeds that resulted in the nation's two largest bankruptcies, at WorldCom and Enron, and shook investors' confidence in the market."

-CNN /

SEC.gov
Search <SEC> in: <Google-[News]>

- "CSX chief named to run Treasury: Bush also vows tax breaks to spur business revival." ... "President Bush moved on two fronts yesterday to demonstrate his concern about the flagging economy: nominating John W. Snow, chairman of railway conglomerate CSX Corp., as his Treasury secretary and promising a new package of tax breaks and other incentives to spur more vigorous business activity." ... "Snow has been chief executive and chairman of Richmond-based CSX Corp. since 1989 The firm, which runs one of the largest rail networks in the eastern half of the United States, and other transportation-related services, has been a major source of campaign donations to the Republican Party. Snow has been an advocate of more rigorous financial reporting for executives." -By Sue Kirchhoff

"58 priests send a letter urging cardinal to resign." ... "In an extraordinary rebellion by Catholic clerics against a bishop whom they had pledged to obey, 58 Boston-area priests called on Cardinal Bernard F. Law yesterday to resign, saying he was no longer an effective spiritual leader." ... "The signers make up a small minority of Boston's Catholic clergy, but are far more than have previously called for Law's resignation. Among them are a dozen religious order priests and two retired priests, in addition to active diocesan priests. There are about 550 active diocesan priests in the Boston archdiocese and 300 retired priests and 700 religious-order priests." ... "The letter was e-mailed to some priests, but others did not receive it and therefore did not have a chance to decide whether to sign." -By Michael Paulson

"Letter from priests to Cardinal Law." -

20021209 -

Via -Boston/Globe

- "Bush taps an economic salesman: Bush names John Snow as new Treasury chief with task of selling tax cuts and buoying confidence." ... "By appointing John Snow, a railroad executive, as Treasury secretary Sunday, and probably Stephen Friedman, a Wall Street executive, as White House economic counselor Monday, Mr. Bush will be getting two people who are, by all accounts, consensus builders and "listeners."" ... "That will help the administration speak more with one voice on the economy, but not necessarily result in new initiatives. "I think the president is looking for a new messenger, not a new message," says Sung Won Sohn, chief economist at Wells Fargo Banks, of Mr. Snow's appointment. "So he would be a good messenger."" -By David R. Francis and Ron Scherer

- "With forces at ready, war could be swift: US troop counts in the Mideast rise, ready for a campaign very different from Gulf War." ... "The hammer of US military force is almost ready for use against Iraq, even as the diplomatic struggle between Washington and Baghdad continues." ... "There are now some 80,000 uniformed American personnel in the region, counting troops deployed in Afghanistan. While an actual attack would likely require a final sprint deployment of strike units, most of the elements for war are now in place, as symbolized by this week's command-and-control exercise in Qatar." -By Faye Bowers and Peter Grier

- "Pentagon indicates progress in U.S.-China ties." ... "The Pentagon on Monday indicated creeping progress in resumed military ties with China after the first top-level defence talks between the two nations since President George W. Bush took office two years ago." ... ""The talks were useful, professional. They were real discussions. They were not stilted set pieces. And that's good," Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Douglas Feith said after a day-long meeting with Chinese General Xiong Guangkai, deputy chief of the People's Liberation Army[.]" -By Charles Aldinger

20021209

Eliot Spitzer

- "Eliot Spitzer vs. the Chicago Boys: Corporate crooks, dirty air, pricey drugs -- they're all the doing of the University of Chicago's free-marketeers, says N.Y.'s Attorney General." ... "As a voice of laissez-faire economics, the University of Chicago has shaped much of the dialogue over market regulation in recent years, starting with Ronald Reagan's Administration in 1980. Free markets, the theory goes, will correct most excesses by making it impossible for those guilty of bad behavior to survive. "They've said that intervention by...government is wrong," Spitzer said. "But they haven't taken into account that markets can have structural flaws."" ... "For example, environmental polluters are not being punished by the market, he charged, and that means all of society pays the price for pollution. Relying on the market to fairly price prescription drugs has also failed, he insisted, since some severely ill people rely so much on one particular drug that they will pay anything to get it." -By Heather Timmons

-BusinessWeek/Daily

- "Australia trial could set Web precedent." ... "Australia's highest court ruled on Tuesday that a defamation case sparked by a story on a U.S Web site could be heard in Australia, opening a legal minefield for web publishers over which libel laws they must follow." ... "The landmark ruling that an article published by Dow Jones & Co was subject to Australian law -- because it was downloaded in Australia -- is being watched by media firms as it could set a precedent over where Internet publication occurs."

-Reuters via -CNN /Sci-Tech

- "Soldier Pleads in Classified Photo Case: Soldier Pleads Guilty in Attempted Sale of Photos of Top-Secret Military Facility." ... "A soldier has pleaded guilty to trying to sell a newspaper photographs of a top-secret bunker where U.S. government leaders would be taken in a nuclear attack."

-AP via -ABCNEWS.com

- "Judge Rebuffs Effort to Obtain Records on Cheney [energy] Task Force." ... "In a case involving bedrock constitutional issues, a federal judge today threw out a lawsuit brought by an agency of Congress against Vice President Dick Cheney over the formulation of the administration's energy policy." ... "Judge John D. Bates of Federal District Court found that Comptroller General David M. Walker, the head of the General Accounting Office, did not have sufficient standing to sue the vice president." ... "Mr. Walker had asked the judge to order the White House to reveal the identities of industry executives who helped the administration develop its energy policy last year." -By David Stout

-NYTimes via -AltaVista-News

Congress probes irregularities at Los Alamos: UC asked to turn over records relating to cases of theft, fraud." ... "Congressional investigators, following up on a criminal probe launched by the FBI, have asked the University of California for dozens of records relating to allegations of illegal procurement practices, theft and misuse of government funds at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico." -Dan Morgan

-WashingtonPost via -SFGate.com

- "National Guard aids North Carolina: Tens of thousands are still without electricity." ... "In a region left dark and cold by a major ice storm, National Guard volunteers went door to door yesterday to show residents how to heat their homes safely after two people died of carbon monoxide poisoning while trying to keep warm." ... "More than 200 people have sought medical help for carbon monoxide poisoning since the ice storm downed trees and power lines Thursday." -By Emery P. Dalesio

-AP via -Boston/Globe

- "U.S. begins war game in Qatar in possible preparation for Iraq war." ... A U.S. war game believed to be a rehearsal for an invasion of Iraq began Monday in Qatar with senior commanders and battle planners conducting a computer-assisted exercise to improve their ability to fight a war in the region." ... General Tommy "Franks and his staff are controlling all of Central Command's forces from a high-tech, portable headquarters set up on Qatar's As Sayliyah army camp in the desert 20 miles outside of the capital, Doha." ... "The modular, portable buildings and the high-speed digital communications equipment, constructed by American defense contractor Raytheon, is being used for the first time."

-AP via -USATODAY

20021208

"Sources: 9/11 inquiry recommends intelligence changes." ... "A draft report of the congressional inquiry into September 11-related intelligence failures recommends clipping the CIA director's authority over all U.S. spy programs and investigating whether a domestic spy agency like Britain's MI5 was needed, government sources said." ... "The congressional inquiry's draft recommendations propose separating the positions of Director of Central Intelligence, who oversees 14 intelligence agencies, and the CIA director who runs the spy agency. Currently one person wears both hats." ... "The report recommends instead creating a Director of National Intelligence to oversee coordination of all U.S. spy agencies, including the CIA and intelligence components of the Defense Department, FBI, State Department, Energy Department and other government agencies."

-Reuters via -CNN

- "Lack of evidence hinders U.S. aims: Little expectation of actionable ‘smoking gun’ in declaration." ... "During his recent trip to Europe to drum up support from the allies, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul D. Wolfowitz was asked by NATO ambassadors what it would take to prove that Iraq has failed to give up its weapons of mass destruction. His reply illustrated the subjective nature of the evidence against Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, which depends on the eye of the beholder." ... "“It's like the judge said about pornography,” Wolfowitz told the closed-door audience, according to a participant. “I can’t define it, but I will know it when I see it.”" ... "While the Bush administration may need little convincing that Iraq is in material breach of U.N. resolutions demanding its disarmament, a much higher standard of evidence will be required to convince key U.S. allies, including Turkey and Saudi Arabia, of the case for war." -Analysis by Michael Dobbs

-WashingtonPost via -MSNBC

ELECTION 2002 News - "

Democrat retains Louisiana seat." ... "Mary Landrieu held off Suzanne Haik Terrell, who conceded the election late on Saturday evening." ... "In the new Senate, the Republicans will hold 51 seats to the Democrats 49."

ELECTION 2002 News - "

Landrieu Beats GOP Challenge In Louisiana: Democrat Takes 52% of Vote In Runoff for Senate Seat." ... "Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, staving off a concerted challenge by the ascendant Republican Party and by President Bush, won reelection to a second term tonight [

20021207] against state Elections Commissioner Suzanne Haik Terrell in a runoff." ... "Landrieu beat her Republican challenger by about 40,000 votes out of more than 1.2 million tallied. With all precincts reporting, Landrieu had 642,974, or 52 percent, to 603,160, or 48 percent, for Terrell." ... "Landrieu's victory limits the Republicans to a 51 to 49 majority in the Senate and stems the tide of GOP victories at the polls last month, which staggered and disoriented the Democrats." -

By Lee Hockstader -WashingtonPost

20021207

- "Military’s use of satellites probed: Investigation launched amid complaints of unfair advantages." ... "The General Accounting Office is investigating the Defense Department’s use of commercial satellites, after competitors complained that Washington-based Intelsat Ltd. has an unfair advantage in a growing market." ... "Intelsat, incorporated in Bermuda, is owned by companies and governments in 148 nations, including Iraq and Iran. Its satellites help the U.S. military communicate with soldiers in far-flung outposts." ... "The GAO investigation coincides with the Pentagon’s increasing dependence on commercial satellite providers to provide extra bandwidth, industry experts say. Government satellite programs have faced delays and cost overruns even as information has become a key part of battlefield strategy, they said." -By Renae Merle

-WashingtonPost via -MSNBC

- "Ex-Regents official: U of Iowa should pay president more." ... "The University of Iowa president’s salary is “severely limiting the pool of people that will apply for the job,” former president of the Board of Regents said." ... "The salary of $281,875, puts Iowa next to last among public schools in the Big Ten Conference, after the Indiana University at Bloomington, according to The Chronicle of Higher Education Almanac." ... "Mark Yudof, the president of the University of Texas system, was among the highest-compensated university leaders last year. More than half of his $787,319 in salary and benefits comes from private sources."

-AP via -QCTimes

- "Bigfoot backers mourning: But they remain Yeti loyalists despite family's admission of hoax." ... "Relatives of Ray L. Wallace, a logger who propelled one of California's earliest publicized claims of the creature's existence, have stepped forward in the shadow of his passing to say their patriarch admitted to trickery that fueled one of American culture's most enduring myths." ... "They say it was Wallace who stoked a fury in 1958 by slipping into two, carved, 16-inch-long wooden feet, then stomping around his Humboldt County site logging camp as a gag on fellow workmen." ... "[H]is son Michael .... said 1967's famous "Patterson-Gimlin Film" -- a grainy home movie that allegedly captures a startled specimen fleeing a streambed -- may be only his obliging mother wearing a monkey suit." -By John M. Hubbell

- "Iraq Hands UN Dossier, Denies It Has Banned Weapons." ... "Iraq handed the United Nations a huge dossier on its military programs on Saturday, denying Iraq has any banned weapons and setting the stage for a confrontation with Washington." ... "U.S. officials said on Friday Washington was expected to declare Iraq in "material breach" of last month's U.N. resolution 1441 if it stated it had no such weapons, setting the stage for a possible military attack on Iraq by the United States." ... "But they said Washington would not cite the breach as immediate grounds for war, letting U.N. inspections continue while Bush courts partners to help strike Iraq if needed." -By Haitham Haddadin

Google Search:

U.N. Resolution 1441

ELECTION 2002 News - "

Democrat clings to lead in Louisiana in last Senate race of 2002." ... "The GOP failed to hold on to a U.S. House seat: With all precincts reporting, Democrat Rodney Alexander had 85,720 votes and Republican Lee Fletcher had 85,202 votes -- a difference of just 518 votes in the heavily conservative district." ... "The two men spent weeks swapping bitter accusations and attack ads as they sought the seat Republican Rep. John Cooksey gave up to run for Senate. There was no immediate word from Fletcher on whether he would seek a recount." -By Guy Coates

-AP via -SFGate.com

ELECTION 2002 News - "

New Orleans: a recount." ... "Republicans took control of the Senate last month and Bush had campaigned here last week in hopes of pushing Terrell to victory. Landrieu scrambled to cast herself as a centrist who backed Bush three-fourths of the time but wouldn't be a "rubber stamp" for the president." ... "Secretary of State Fox McKeithen said he expected turnout to be 45 percent -- low by Louisiana standards. Voters seemed dismayed by the sharp salvos between the two New Orleans women who share the same views on most political issues."

-AP via -SFGate.com

ELECTION 2002 News - "

Democrats in La. to face critical test in Senate runoff." ... "Louisiana hasn't sent a Republican to the US Senate since 1877, when it was forced under Reconstruction to embrace the party of Abraham Lincoln. It has sent only Democrats to the Senate ever since." ... "Yet time and political tide may finally be reaching the Bayou State, as they already have its neighbors, including Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina. Voters last month turned Democrats out of a Senate seat in Georgia and out of governors' offices in all three states." ... "Now it might be Senator Mary Landrieu's turn. Relentlessly labeled a liberal in a conservative state, Landrieu, Democrat of Louisiana, is locked in a tight race for reelection and could lose to Republican challenger Suzanne Haik Terrell, the state elections commissioner." -By Steven Thomma -Knight Ridder via

ELECTION 2002 News - "

Louisiana race down to wire: A statistical dead heat makes voter turnout critical." ... "Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu is fighting for political survival against GOP state Elections Commissioner Suzanne Haik Terrell. Pre-election polls showed the race -- which drew President Bush and other Republican luminaries to the state on Terrell's behalf -- was too close to call." ... "Voters in northeast Louisiana's 5th Congressional District will also decide a runoff between Republican Lee Fletcher and Democrat Rodney Alexander for the seat vacated by GOP Rep. John Cooksey, who made an unsuccessful Senate bid." -By John Mercurio

-CNN /AllPolitics.com

20021206

- "Pioneering ABC TV Executive Arledge Dies." ... "ABC News chairman Roone Arledge was remembered as an industry pioneer who ushered in the era of primetime sports, mentored top broadcasters and developed new ways to present the news." ... "Shows from "Monday Night Football" to "Nightline" owed huge debts to Arledge, who died Thursday in New York of complications from cancer, the network said. He was 71." ... "In 1961, he created "ABC's Wide World of Sports," one of the most popular sports series ever, and coined its tag line – "the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat."" ... "After disastrous starts, ABC created the newsmagazines "20/20" and "Prime Time Live" under his watch." -By Tara Burghart

-AP via -WashingtonPost

- "Digital Robber Barons?" ... "... the wide-open, competitive world of the dial-up Internet depended on the very government regulation so many Internet enthusiasts decried. Local phone service is a natural monopoly, and in an unregulated world local phone monopolies would probably insist that you use their dial-up service. The reason you have a choice is that they are required to act as common carriers, allowing independent service providers to use their lines." ... "Last March the F.C.C. used linguistic trickery — defining cable Internet access as an "information service" rather than as telecommunications — to exempt cable companies from the requirement to act as common carriers. The commission will probably make a similar ruling on DSL service, which runs over lines owned by your local phone company. The result will be a system in which most families and businesses will have no more choice about how to reach cyberspace than a typical 19th-century farmer had about which railroad would carry his grain." -By Paul Krugman

-NYTimes via -Google-News

- "Update: Bush Creates ".Kids" Domain." ... "President Bush signed into law on Wednesday a bill that would create a ".kids" domain name, and certify that the domain was "safe" for minors." ... "The .kids domain will actually be a subdomain of the ".us" suffix, and so will only apply to web sites based in the U.S, such as "www.example.kids.us". Since the domain is under the purview of the U.S. country code, it will be overseen by the Department of Commerce." -By Mark Hachman

-ExtremeTech

Feds Raid Software Firm." ... "Federal agents who raided a Quincy, Mass., software firm Thursday night continue to look for monetary connections to the al-Qaeda terrorist network, but sources say the firm's software appears safe." ... "Ptech Inc., a developer of business-process modeling software, was raided late Thursday night by U.S. Customs Service agents, according to law enforcement officials. But initial concerns that the company's technology may have compromised the security of its customers, which include the FBI, the Department of Energy, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the Navy, the Air Force, the Federal Aviation Administration and the U.S. House of Representatives, now appear unfounded, according to authorities." (1, 2) -By Renee Boucher Ferguson, Dennis Fisher and Chris Gonsalves

-eWEEK

ELECTION 2002 News - "

One last Senate campaign - gumbo style: Louisiana vote Saturday tests strength of GOP momentum." ... "As Republican donors stream through the lobby of the swank Fairmont hotel - where Christmas decorations have transformed the ceiling into a canopy of cotton "snow" - the sense of significance is palpable." ... "It was here that legendary populist Huey Long headquartered his campaign back in 1928, mapping out a winning coalition of small farmers and workers that would propel him into the governor's seat and shape Louisiana politics for decades to come." ... "Now, as the site of a high-profile campaign stop by President Bush, the Fairmont may play a key role in another transforming election: one that could send a Republican to the Senate from Louisiana for the first time since the days of Reconstruction." -By Liz Marlantes

- "Bush Shakes Up Economic Team With Ouster of 2 Advisers." ... "Wrestling with a shaky economy and criticism that his administration projects a muddled message on how to respond, President Bush today dismissed his Treasury secretary, Paul H. O'Neill, and the director of his National Economic Council, Lawrence B. Lindsey." ... "The president's move also demonstrates that the White House has grown increasingly concerned that Mr. Bush, like his father, could pay a political price if the country's economic woes are not addressed more forcefully." ... "The dismissals also come when business confidence is stubbornly low, investment is weak and joblessness is rising. Less than two hours before Mr. O'Neill surprised Washington with his resignation, the Commerce Department reported that unemployment last month surged at an unexpectedly fast rate last month, to 6 percent from 5.7." (1, 2) -By Edmund L. Anderews

-NYTimes via -Google-News

- "US unpopular among key allies: Turkish leaders put conditions on support for the US on Iraq, citing public opinion." ... "America's flagging image around the world since the September 2001 terrorist attacks is crimping the Bush administration's ability to build a coalition for a possible Iraq war." ... "This week, Turkey's new Islamist government bowed to domestic opinion, responding to American diplomatic pressure with a "yes, but": The US may use Turkish territory for a military campaign against Iraq, but only if it proceeds under the mantle of the United Nations Security Council, and with a second UN resolution authorizing the use of force." ... "The move represents the uneasy balance leaders around the world are striking between what they consider a geopolitical necessity -cooperating with the US - and domestic opposition to war with Iraq." -By Howard LaFranchi

20021205

- "Appointee bonus got quiet OK from White House in March: 2,100 are eligible for up to $15,000." ... "The Bush administration has quietly approved a plan giving large cash bonuses to its political appointees, a practice abandoned during the Clinton administration to prevent officials from using taxpayer funds to reward loyal partisans." -By Anne E. Kornblut

- "Appointees' Bonuses Stir Anger: Critics Say Bush Plan Slights Career Employees; Agencies Move Cautiously." ... "The Bush administration's decision to revive cash bonuses for political appointees touched off a fury of criticism yesterday from Democrats, unions and some policy experts who said the move slighted ordinary federal employees and raised the specter of cronyism." ... "The Clinton administration ended the practice of doling out bonuses to most political appointees in 1994 after questionable payments to some outgoing aides in the final days of the administration of President George H.W. Bush, the president's father." ... "Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), the former first lady, called it "a decision that beggars the imagination." She noted that Bush cited a "national emergency" and the need to conserve money for the fight against terrorism last week when he froze one part of a federal pay raise for 1.8 million civilian employees." -By Christopher Lee and Mike Allen

- "Lovable trickster created a monster with Bigfoot hoax." ... "Bigfoot is dead. Really." ... "Ray L. Wallace was Bigfoot. The reality is, Bigfoot just died," said Michael Wallace about his father, who died of heart failure Nov. 26 in a Centralia [Washington] nursing facility. He was 84." ... ""The fact is there was no Bigfoot in popular consciousness before 1958. America got its own monster, its own Abominable Snowman thanks to Ray Wallace," said Mark Chorvinsky, editor of Strange magazine and one of the leading proponents of the theory that Mr. Wallace fathered Bigfoot." ...

"Chorvinsky believes the Wallace family's admission creates profound doubts about leading evidence of Bigfoot's existence: the so-called Patterson film, the grainy celluloid images of an erect apelike creature striding away from the movie camera of rodeo rider Roger Patterson in 1967. Mr. Wallace said he told Patterson where to go —near Bluff Creek, Calif. — to spot a Bigfoot, Chorvinsky said." -By Bob Young

-SeattleTimes.NWsource

"Intelligence: Learning How to Share: Is this a new era of closeness for the CIA and FBI?" -By Tamara Lipper and Mark Hosenball

20021209 -MSNBC /-Newsweek

- "Iraq inspectors hit back at criticism." ... "UN weapons inspectors in Iraq have defended themselves after accusations by Baghdad of spying and suggestions by Washington that searches are not "aggressive" enough." ... ""We believe we are doing the job we need to be doing. We have been unannounced and thorough," said Melissa Fleming, spokeswoman for the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), whose inspectors are helping with the search." ... "Ms Fleming rejected allegations of espionage, but added that if any inspector were found to be a spy, he would be immediately dismissed."

- "U.S. Criticizes North Korea for Rejecting Inspections." ... "The White House issued a muted criticism of North Korea today, saying it was "disappointing" that North Korea had rejected a demand for inspections of its newly revealed program to develop nuclear weapons from highly enriched uranium." ... "The demand came from the International Atomic Energy Agency, the nuclear inspection and regulatory organization linked to the United Nations." ... "The White House comments appeared to be part of a strategy to defuse any sense of imminent confrontation with North Korea, which the Central Intelligence Agency believes is still a few years away from producing a nuclear weapon from its uranium program." -David E. Sanger

-NYTimes via -Moreover

- "Iraq criticizes surprise search at palace: U.N. field chief defends team's work." ... "After a week of uneventful inspections, U.N. weapons experts on Wedneday came under furious Iraqi attack for having insisted on a no-notice search of one of President Saddam Hussein's palaces." ... "The harshest criticism came from Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan, who asserted -- in language reminiscent of clashes with inspectors in the 1990s -- that the new teams of U.N. monitors are gathering intelligence for Washington and Israel." ... "Ramadan, known for his fiery statements, offered no evidence for his claim about the current inspectors, only citing U.S. agents within the inspection agency of the 1990s."

-SHNS/Wire via -Miami/Herald

- "Iraq accuses inspectors of spying for U.S. and Israel." ... "Iraq on Wednesday accused U.N. arms inspectors of being U.S. and Israeli spies and helping Washington prepare for possible war on Baghdad, but the United States cooled any talk of imminent military action." ... ""The inspectors have come to provide better circumstances and more precise information for a coming aggression," Iraqi Vice-President Taha Yassin Ramadan said, speaking just after Baghdad promised to carry on cooperating with the United Nations." ... ""This is not an accusation, because the inspectors, from day one, their foremost work was spying. Their work was spying for the CIA and Mossad together," he said, referring to the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency and Israel's secret service." -By Nadim Ladki and Carol Giacomo

-Reuters

"US rebuffs United Airlines: No on $1.8b loan guarantees; bankruptcy filing looks likely." ... "United is the world's second-largest airline, with routes around the globe. A bankruptcy filing would almost certainly lead to cost-cutting at other airlines with major networks, such as American, Delta, Northwest, and Continental. United likely would have to go back to labor groups, including pilots and flight attendants, and seek more concessions than those already given. US Airways last month went back to its labor groups - which had already given $850 million in concessions - to ask for changes in work rules to increase productivity. In addition, the airline said it would lay off an additional 2,500 employees." ... "United is the world's largest employee-owned company, and bankruptcy would wipe out the value of employees' holdings." -By Matthew Brelis

20021204

- "Bush Reinstates Appointee Cash Bonuses -N.Y. Times." ... "The policy shift means appointees could receive annual cash bonuses of up to $10,000 with the approval of Cabinet-level officials and agency chiefs, or more than $25,000 with the approval of the White House, the newspaper said."

-Reuters via -ABCNEWS.com

- "High schools give it up for Pentagon: Law requires giving recruiters access to juniors, seniors." ... "A little-noticed provision in a new federal education law is requiring high schools to hand over to military recruiters some key information about their juniors and seniors: name, address and phone number." ... "The No Child Left Behind law, signed last January, pumps billions into education but also gives military recruiters access to the names, addresses and phone numbers of students in 22,000 schools. The law also says that schools must give the military the same access to their campuses that businesses and college recruiters enjoy." ... "Students and parents who oppose the law can keep their information from being turned over to the military, but they must sign and return an “opt-out” form." -By Ken Maguire

-AP via -MSNBC

- "Buy, Use, Dispose: A Spike in Disposable Products Has Environmentalists Worried." ... "Scrub the floor, toss out the rag. Use up your minutes, toss out the phone. Watch a movie, throw away the DVD." ... "In a nation that places a high value on convenience, this is all possible or will soon be possible for consumers willing to pay a little more for products designed for one-time use. And the list is growing." ... ""The business model of the high-tech industry depends on us to continue to buy, consume and throw away," he [executive director of Californians Against Waste, Mark Murray] says. "That's the problem, they're not designing these things to last, they're designing them to use and throw out."" -By Amanda Onion

- "Supreme Court reviews punishment of anti-abortion protesters: Justices grapple with corruption law's use." ... "Anti-abortion protests have become commonplace at clinics across the country. Now the Supreme Court is being asked to clarify how to punish those who cross the line into disruptive, even violent civil disobedience." ... "The National Organization for Women (NOW) first filed a lawsuit on behalf of the clinics in 1986, and the Court eight years later ruled in its favor. Leaders of the anti-abortion movement, including Operation Rescue and the Pro-Life Action Network, filed a new legal claim the justices will now decide."

-CNN

CASES:

FindLaw Resources

-FindLaw

20021203

"Doonesbury's World: Comic Creator Trudeau Gives Rare Interview." ... "Frank Sinatra once called him "funny as a tumor," but the success of cartoonist and political satirist Garry Trudeau tells a different story." ...

"Trudeau's Pulitzer Prize-winning comic strip Doonesbury, first penned in 1970, is found in more than 1,400 newspapers worldwide and fills nearly 60 published collections. Along the way, it inspired ventures into film, Broadway and television. It gained Trudeau Academy Award and Drama Desk Award nominations, as well as the Cannes Special Jury Prize."

TIA: Total Information Awareness -

Why the Pentagon will watch where you shop: New Total Information Awareness project will sniff company databases for terrorists." ... "Should Uncle Sam know as much about you as MasterCard does?" ... "In essence, that may be the key question posed by the Pentagon's new Total Information Awareness (TIA) project." ... "This effort - whose Latin motto [Scientia Est Potentia] translates as "knowledge is power" - aims to create huge databases that sift through the purchases, travel, immigration status, income, and other data of hundreds of millions of Americans. Its purpose: to sniff out the terrorists among us." ... ""There are three parts to the TIA project," says Edward Aldridge, undersecretary of Defense for acquisition, technology, and logistics." ... "The first part of the technology is voice recognition, which would include sifting through electronically recorded transmissions and provide rapid translations of foreign languages." ... "The second part is to develop a tool that would discover connections between transactions, such as passports, airline tickets, rental cars, gun or chemical purchases, as well as arrests and other suspicious activities." ... "And the third part is collaborative - a mechanism to allow information-and analysis-sharing among agencies." ... ""If [the testing] proves useful," Mr. Aldridge says, "TIA will then be turned over to the intelligence, counterintelligence, and law enforcement communities as a tool to help them in their battle against domestic terrorism."" -By Faye Bowers and Peter Grier

- "Ex-Bush Aide Apologizes for Criticism." ... "A former senior aide to President Bush apologized yesterday after being quoted as saying a band of "Mayberry Machiavellis" is running a White House in which politics trumps policy."

-Reuters via -WashingtonPost

- "CIA Target: Americans: Officials: U.S. Citizens Working for Al Qaeda Can Be Killed in CIA Actions." ... "American citizens working for al Qaeda overseas can legally be targeted and killed by the CIA under President Bush's rules for the war on terrorism, U.S. officials say." ... "The authority to kill U.S. citizens is granted under a secret finding signed by the president after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks that directs the CIA to covertly attack al Qaeda anywhere in the world. The authority makes no exception for Americans, so permission to strike them is understood rather than specifically described, officials said." ... "Previously, the government's authority to kill a citizen outside of the judicial process has been generally restricted to when the American is directly threatening the lives of other Americans or their allies." -By John J. Lumpkin

-AP via -ABCNEWS.com

20021202

- "Military space programs face delays: Officials say defense programs are over budget, ‘in trouble’" ... "Senior military and defense-industry officials are acknowledging that most of the nation’s largest military-space programs —including the satellites needed to construct an elaborate missile-defense shield over the U.S. —are behind schedule and over budget." ... "Among the space programs experiencing problems are the two satellite systems needed to deploy a ground-based missile-defense system: both have been restructured this year after delays related to design and integration issues. The National Reconnaissance Office’s next-generation spy satellites, known as Future Imagery Architecture, are more than a year delayed and almost $3 billion over cost, spurring an internal Pentagon debate about whether to proceed with the program at all, say people familiar with the discussions." -By Anne Marie Squeo

-WSJ.com via -MSNBC

NRO.gov
Google Search:

<National Reconnaissance Office-[News]>

<Future Imagery Architecture-[News]>

- "Why Are These Men Laughing? Excerpts from our newsmaking story on Karl Rove, politics, and policy in the Bush administration." ... "" -By Ron Suskind

-Esquire

- "The DiIulio Letter." -To: Ron Suskind From: John DiIulio -

20021024 - Via: Esquire.com

- "Ex-Official Blasts White House." ... "The former head of President Bush's faith-based office charged in a magazine article released yesterday that the administration's domestic policies are determined entirely by political considerations, with "everything" being run by the office of senior adviser Karl C. Rove." ... "John J. DiIulio Jr., a Democrat who resigned last year as the first director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, is one of only a few officials who have left Bush's senior staff since his inauguration, and the only one who has publicly attacked his colleagues." -By Mike Allen

- "Antiwar Effort Gains Momentum: Growing Peace Movement's Ranks Include Some Unlikely Allies." ... "... [Daphne] Reed fretted over the particular suffering that would befall Iraqi women; their sons and husbands would be killed, she said, and the women would be left in the rubble to fend off contaminated water and starvation." ... ""I said that all mothers should automatically be against war," Reed said. "It was against their nature to be violent instead of nurturing." Maybe, she said, it was time to start a movement -- Mothers Against War." ... "Most members of Mothers Against War are grandmothers in their seventies whose lives are already full. Yet they spend hours a day on the Internet, reading and spreading information on Iraq and the United States and planning for marches, e-mail campaigns and teach-ins." -By Evelyn Nieves

- "Saddam’s sons wield ample power: Both are brutal, but youngest being groomed to lead Iraq." ... "According to U.S. intelligence officials and Iraqi dissidents, Uday [the older brother at 36] has used his position as head of Iraqi TV and Babel, the country’s biggest newspaper, to sell advertising that local businessmen are “encouraged” to buy if they want to remain in business." ... "Uday is also the head of Fedayeen, the paramilitary group to which more than one-third of all government workers now belong." ... "At 34, Qasay [also: Qusai Saddam Hussein] is increasingly seen as the second most powerful man in Iraq after his father." ... "He is a member of the nation’s highest body, the Revolutionary Command Council; commander of the Special Security Organization and the Republican Guard; and deputy commander of the Baath Party’s Military Bureau." ... "Qasay’s key role, though, is head of the Special Security Organization, which controls all security and intelligence operations of the regime, monitoring the myriad organizations assigned to both domestic and overseas spying. It is also the innermost of the concentric rings of security around Saddam." -By Robert Windrem

Google Search:

<Iraqi tv>

Iraq newspaper Babel

<Fedayeen>

<Iraq Fedayeen>

Qusay Saddam Hussein>

Qusai Saddam Hussein>
<Iraq Revolutionary Command Council>

Special Security Organization>

Iraq Special Security Organization>
<Iraq Republican Guard>
<Iraq Baath Party>

<Iraq Baath Party Military Bureau>

- "Iraqi 'compliance' doubted." ... "President Bush said Monday that early signs of Iraq's compliance with United Nations arms inspections "are not encouraging" and warned that Baghdad must submit a "full and accurate" account of its weapons of mass destruction by week's end." ... "But the strong rhetoric also reflects U.S. officials' private concern about the perception that Iraq has largely cooperated with the initial five days of inspections. A chief administration worry: Even the appearance that Iraq is meeting its responsibilities could unravel the international will to use force to disarm Saddam." -By Bill Nichols

- "U.S. quietly prepares to negotiate with N. Korea." ... "Despite North Korea's open breach of its promise to stop pursuing nuclear weapons, the Bush administration is quietly paving the way for negotiations that might give the reclusive country oil, food or other aid in exchange for verifiable shutdown of its bomb facilities." ... "... State Department officials said verification schemes are already being prepared by the Verification and Compliance Bureau in the office of John Bolton, the undersecretary for arms control." ... "Powell said officials from the Department of Energy and the International Atomic Energy Agency are already monitoring a North Korean nuclear facility that had produced plutonium." -By Barbara Slavin

Bureau of Verification and Compliance.

State.gov

Google Search:

Verification and Compliance Bureau

- "Russia and China urge Korea thaw." ... "Russia and China have urged the United States and North Korea to normalise diplomatic relations, and called for the Korean peninsula to be kept free of nuclear weapons." ... "The call came in a joint declaration by the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, and his Chinese counterpart, Jiang Zemin, who have been meeting in Beijing." ... "Mr Putin is in China on the first stop of an Asia tour, during which he became the first major world leader to meet Hu Jintao, who recently took over as leader of China's Communist Party."

- "China and Russia hope for influence." ... "The joint declaration signed by Russia and China covers a huge swathe of international affairs, from North Korea to Iraq to the war against terror." ... "Last year total Sino-Russian trade amounted to just $10 billion." ... "That is a mere fraction of the $100 billion in trade China does each year with the United States." -By Rupert Wingfield-Hayes

20021130

- "Bush Trims Federal Pay Hikes." ... "Federal workers will get a smaller raise next month because President Bush is freezing part of the increase, citing a national emergency because of the fight against terrorism." ... "In a letter sent Friday to congressional leaders, Mr. Bush announced he was using his authority to change workers' pay structure in times of "national emergency or serious economic conditions" to limit raises to 3.1 percent." ... "Most federal employees also were to receive a second pay hike based on private-sector wages earned in metropolitan areas. But Mr. Bush said that increase would be too expensive and "inappropriate" at this time."

-CBSNews

"United shares nose dive as bankruptcy looms." ... "Shares in United parent UAL Corp. plunged $1.12, or 31 percent, to close at $2.51 in heavy trading on the New York Stock Exchange. The stock has lost 92 percent of its value since before the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001." ... "United, the world's second-largest airline, has been struggling since the attacks to reverse multimillion-dollar losses each day. The carrier has reduced service and laid off 20,000 workers in the face of a weak economy and sharply-reduced spending by business travelers." -By Dave Carpenter

-AP via -SeattlePI.NWsource

- "Bankruptcy 'inevitable' for United: Mechanics reject pay concessions; airline, union in last-minute talks." ... "Securing an agreement with District 141-M, which represents 13,000 mechanics and other employees, coupled with similar pacts with pilots, flight attendants, nonunionized workers and others, is a key part of a projected $5.2 billion in wage concessions that United hopes will allow it to avoid filing for Chapter 11." ... "Reducing labor costs is considered to be a crucial part of United's application for a $1.8 billion federal loan guarantee from the Air Transportation Stabilization Board. The board's ruling is expected any day, perhaps as early as Monday, the due date for United to repay $375 million in debt. UAL has up to 10 additional working days to repay the debt, which could push the payment deadline back to Dec. 16 and give the company more room to maneuver." -David Armstrong

UStreas.gov/atsb

Press

Air Transportation Stabilization Board

- "'No al-Qaeda link' to Kenya detainees." ... "No connection has yet been established between 12 people detained over attacks on Israeli targets in the Kenyan city of Mombasa and the al-Qaeda network, Kenyan authorities say." ... "United States officials have said they believe a Somali-based Islamic group may have carried out the bombing, which was immediately preceded by a failed missile attack on a nearby Israeli plane." ... "The officials say the group, Al-Ittihad al-Islamiya (AIAI), also known as the Islamic Union, is a prominent militant organisation in the Horn of Africa with links to Osama Bin Laden's al-Qaeda network." ... "A previously unknown group called the Army of Palestine earlier claimed responsibility for the attacks." ... "But US officials are focusing attention on AIAI because of its suspected al-Qaeda links and presence in Kenya."

20021130

-CBSNews

20021129

- "Al Qaeda blamed as attack on Israelis in Kenya kills 15." ... "Suicide bombers blew up a hotel in Kenya on Thursday, killing 15 people, minutes after missiles narrowly missed an Israeli airliner taking off nearby, in apparently synchronised attacks on Israeli tourists." ... "Israeli and Kenyan officials swiftly blamed the al Qaeda network but Washington said it was premature to point the finger at the group it holds responsible for the September 11 attacks on the United States." ... "A Kenyan security source said it was believed attackers who targeted the Israeli airliner used shoulder-borne missile launchers. German intelligence sources described the weapons as Soviet produced SA 7 ground-to-air missiles." -By Noel Mwakughu

20021128

Thanksgiving - "

Marines Celebrate Thanksgiving in Kuwait: Marines Make Their Own Thanksgiving in the Deserts of Kuwait." ... "As the United States prepares for a possible war with Iraq, the Marines have established Camp Commando on the edge of a Kuwaiti military base to act as their command headquarters. From here, they will be able to control the tens of thousands of Marines who could arrive in Kuwait." ... "A few weeks ago, the base was virtually sand." ... "For these soldiers mostly from the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, based in Camp Pendleton, Calif. it was yet another Thanksgiving away from home."

-AP via -ABCNEWS.com

Thanksgiving - "

Thanksgiving travel puts new security to the test: Thanksgiving holiday travelers took to the skies Wednesday in the biggest test of airport security since the federal government took it over last week, while drivers in the Northeast faced heavy, wet snow." ... "Around the country, only a handful of flights were delayed. Travelers were waiting an average of less than 10 minutes at major airports' checkpoints, said Robert Johnson, spokesman for the Transportation Security Administration." ... "Just last week, the government finished placing more than 47,000 security workers at 424 airports nationwide. The TSA was created after the [September 11] attacks prompted concern about inefficient and inattentive private security workers."

-AP via -CNN

TSA.gov

<Transportation Security Administration- [News]>

20021127

- "President signs bill to establish independent Sept. 11 probe, names Kissinger as its head." ... "The commission has a broad mandate, building on the limited joint inquiry conducted by the House and Senate intelligence committees. The independent panel will have 18 months to examine issues such as aviation security and border problems, along with intelligence." ... "However, Bush did not set as a primary goal for the commission to uncover mistakes or lapses of the government that could have prevented the Sept. 11 attacks. Instead, he said it should try to help the administration learn the tactics and motives of the enemy."

-AP via -USATODAY

- "U.N. inspectors complete surprise visits at two sites in Iraq." ... "International arms monitors searched a military missile-testing range and a state factory outside Baghdad Wednesday, starting a new round of inspections that could determine the future of peace in the Middle East." ... "Inspectors did not immediately disclose their findings." ... "On the basis of satellite photos, U.S. intelligence analysts have suggested that a new, square, steel-girder stand for holding and testing missile engines at al-Rafah might be used for missiles larger than allowed under U.N. resolutions. Iraq is forbidden to develop missiles over 90 miles in range."

-AP via -USATODAY

Thanksgiving - "

The first Thanksgiving: In the fall of 1621, 90 Wampanoag Indians and 52 English colonists gathered for a three-day harvest feast. How did Americans get from that celebration to the Thanksgiving 'traditions' we observe today?" ... "Everyone knows about the Pilgrims and the Indians, right? How the two groups gathered peacefully in Plymouth, Mass., to feast on juicy turkeys and colorful pumpkin pies." ... "The trouble is, almost everything we've been taught about the first Thanksgiving in 1621 is a myth. The holiday has two distinct histories - the actual one and a romanticized portrayal." ... "... Everything historians know today is based on two passages written by colonists." -By Elizabeth Armstrong

"Big business funding shift aids GOP: Tradition of bankrolling both major parties falls by wayside." ... "Major industries such as accounting, aerospace, commercial banking, defense, HMOs and pharmaceuticals have abandoned their tradition of bipartisan campaign contributions in favor of a commitment to the GOP, a trend that could deepen the problems of a Democratic Party rocked by this month’s elections." ... "The shift is especially striking in some cases. In 1992, accounting companies gave most of their political donations to the Democratic Party and to Democratic candidates: $3.4 million, or 54 percent of their total. By 2002, the Democratic share fell to 27 percent, or $2.1 million, while backing for the GOP grew from $2.9 million to $5.7 million over the same period." ... "Similarly, in 1992, the pharmaceutical industry split its contributions almost evenly: $2.5 million for Republican campaigns, $2.3 million for Democrats. In the current election cycle, the industry tilted to the GOP by 3 to 1: $10.8 million to $3.4 million." -By Thomas B. Edsall

-WashingtonPost via -MSNBC

20021125

- "Bush hails military's private sector "outsourcing"." ... "President Bush on Monday praised an Air Force base with a history of outsourcing work to the private sector, something he wants to do with nearly half the nation's federal civilian jobs." ... "Bush saluted saluted Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska, where he stopped during his zigzagging odyssey back to Washington on Sept. 11, 2001." -By Scott Lindlaw

-AP via -Salon

20021122

- "Global goofs: U.S. youth can't find Iraq: Young Americans may soon have to fight a war in Iraq, but most of them can't even find that country on a map, the National Geographic Society said Wednesday." ... "The society survey found that only about one in seven -- 13 percent -- of Americans between the age of 18 and 24, the prime age for military warriors, could find Iraq. The score was the same for Iran, an Iraqi neighbor."

-AP via -CNN

National Geographic: Roper Geographic Survey:

The Survey

-NationalGeographic>News

20021120

- "Security overhaul OK'd: Reorganization to be the largest in 50 years." ... "The Senate overwhelming approved the creation of a new Department of Homeland Security yesterday, paving the way for the biggest federal government reorganization in a half century and putting to rest a contentious political issue." ... "By a 90-to-9 vote during the final hours of an unusual lame-duck session, senators agreed to move 170,000 employees from 22 existing government agencies into a single department dedicated to domestic security." ... "It will be the largest governmental reorganization since 1947, when the United States realigned its military under the Department of Defense and created the National Security Council and the CIA." -By Susan Milligan

20021119

Osama bin Laden

- "Bin Laden Tape Authentic, U.S. Intelligence Officials Say." ... "Linguists at the National Security Agency who have been assigned for many years to study bin Laden's voice and analyze tape recordings and intercepts of his suspected conversations have no doubt it is the voice of al Qaeda's leader. But the quality of the tape, in which bin Laden is believed to be speaking into a telephone that is near a tape recorder's microphone, is not good enough to allow a 100 percent certainty that it is him, a U.S. intelligence official said." -By Dana Priest and Susan Schmidt

- "A year after Taliban, little change: The US pledged more aid to Kabul, but Iraq may distract from rebuilding efforts." ... ""The situation in Iraq has done no good whatsoever for the situation in Afghanistan," says Charles Heyman, a defense analyst and editor of Jane's World Armies in London, referring to a waning interest in solving the problems of this war-tattered nation. "Afghanistan is beginning to be put in the 'too-difficult' box."" ... "Instead, the country's competing ethnic groups, the enduring power of local warlords, and a reluctance on the part of participating nations to expand the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) beyond the capital has led to an approach Mr. Heyman defines as "covering over some patches when its possible, until anyone has some time to sort it out properly."" -By Ilene R. Prusher

- "Will Iraqi troops collapse or fight? Elite forces are expected to show resolve, but ordinary troops may quickly lay down arms." ... "One of the most unpredictable elements of a possible US-led war against Iraq is how much resistance the 420,000-strong Iraqi military would mount against a better-trained and better-equipped American and allied force." ... "Top Pentagon officials, hopeful of swift victory, suggest that the bulk of Iraqi soldiers would be unlikely to defend the government for long -if at all. They cite the example of the 1991 Gulf War, when some 70,000 Iraqi troops laid down their arms during the first three or four days." ... "Nevertheless, elite Republican Guard units and security forces assigned to defend Baghdad and protect Iraqi President Saddam Hussein may put up greater resistance." -By Ann Scott Tyson

[PDF]

- "Iraq: A strategic look. Iraq 101." 572k PDF via -

CSMonitor

- "North Korea revises confusing nuclear report." ... "North Korea on Monday retracted a controversial weekend radio broadcast that confused and alarmed its neighbours by appearing to confirm for the first time the reclusive communist state has nuclear weapons." ... "... on Monday, the Korean Central Broadcasting Station (KCBS) stated that North Korea believed it was "entitled" to have nuclear arms -- a revision that was likely to ease some concern, but nonetheless puts Pyongyang at odds with the United States and allies Japan and South Korea. " -By Paul Eckert

- "Court Overturns Limits on Wiretaps to Combat Terror." ... "A special federal appeals court ruled today [

20021118] that the Justice Department has broad new powers under the antiterrorism bill enacted last year to use wiretaps obtained for intelligence operations to prosecute terrorists." ... "The immediate effect of the ruling by the three-member panel is that criminal prosecutors may now take an active role in deciding how to use wiretaps authorized by a special intelligence court and should have greater access to information obtained from them. For more than 20 years, prosecutors have been prohibited from making decisions on which intelligence wiretaps to apply for because the standards of proof are widely believed to be lower than for regular criminal wiretaps." ... "But the judges today said that the passage of the legislation, the USA Patriot Act, ensured that there is no wall between officials from the intelligence and criminal arms of the Justice Department. In fact, the judges asserted that the 20-year-old practice of keeping the two largely separate was never required and was never intended by Congress." (1, 2) -

By Neil A. Lewis

-NYTimes via -AltaVista-News

<Search-[News Search]>: Google:
<Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act-[News]>
<Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review-[News]>

<Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act Court-[News]>

<Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court-[News]>

FISA Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act

[

News

]

<USA Patriot Act-[News]>

See also

FAS.org

Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act

Via: FAS.org/irp/agency/doj/fisa

20021118

- "New York Times suggests Tiger Woods skip Augusta." ... "The Times said that if Augusta National "can brazenly discriminate against women, that means others can choose not to support Mr. Johnson's golfing fraternity. That includes more enlightened members of the club, CBS Sports, which televises the Masters, and the players, especially Tiger Woods."" ... "The editorial said Sanford I. Weill, the chief executive of Citigroup, and Kenneth Chenault, chairman of American Express, should "lead the way" for other prominent members and resign from the club."

- "North Korea sows confusion with nuclear arms comment." ... "But analysts in Japan and South Korea, two neighbours who are working closely with the United States to pressure the North to scrap its nuclear ambitions, said on Monday it looked more like a linguistic mix-up." ... "Just one Korean syllable separates North Korea's stock assertion of its right to possess nuclear arms from a declaration it has such weapons -- a development that would complicate allied efforts to pre-empt a new nuclear crisis on the Korean peninsula." -By Paul Eckert

- "Skepticism over N. Korea nuclear claims: Reports from North Korea that the reclusive nation has developed nuclear weapons are being met with confusion and skepticism." ... "North Korea's Pyongyang Radio said Sunday the country "has come to have nuclear and other strong military weapons to deal with increased nuclear threats by the U.S. imperialists," according to the Yonhap news agency which monitors North Korean broadcasts."

-CNN

- "Military trial plans nearly done: Bush to decide which detainees will be tried by tribunals." ... "The government is nearly ready to go forward with military tribunals for suspected al Qaeda operatives in U.S. custody in Guantanamo Bay and Afghanistan, pending completion of final details and approval from President Bush, according to federal officials." ... "Pentagon General Counsel William J. Haynes II has met in recent weeks with senior officials in other agencies, including the Justice Department, to outline the plans that have been put in place for the tribunals, also known as military commissions." -By Susan Schmidt and Bradley Graham

-WashingtonPost via -MSNBC

- "Nameless Juries Are on the Rise in Crime Cases." ... "It has gained support from prosecutors, the courts and some legal experts. No longer is the rationale simply that jurors must be shielded from threats of retaliation. Supporters argue that anonymity protects jurors from being badgered by reporters after their verdicts, and makes them feel more comfortable about serving." ... "Critics, including defense lawyers and civil libertarians, say the practice erodes the presumption of innocence before the trial begins. Lawyers for news organizations add that the inability to interview jurors after trials makes juries less accountable." (1, 2) -By Adam Liptak

-NYTimes via -AltaVista-News

20021117

- "U.S. Turns Horn of Africa Into a Military Hub." ... "For the first time since American troops withdrew from Somalia after a bloody firefight in the streets of Mogadishu, the United States military is rebuilding its combat power in the Horn of Africa." ... "The main goal this time is to put American forces in position to strike cells of Al Qaeda in Yemen or East Africa. But the Pentagon has also begun to use Djibouti to train its forces in desert warfare — skills that could be applied in Washington's campaign against terrorist groups or on the battlefields of Iraq." ... "France, which had colonized Djibouti (pronounced ji-BOOT-e) before it became independent in 1977, still maintains a force of 2,800 strong here. Djibouti, in fact, is France's largest foreign military base." ... "The Central Intelligence Agency is flying classified missions from an airfield in Djibouti using the Predator, an pilotless drone equipped with Hellfire missiles, according to Western officers." (1, 2, 3) -By Michael R. Gordon

-NYTimes via -AltaVista-News

20021115

"U.S. Homeland Security Bill Faces New Hurdle." ... "Senate Democrats on Friday moved to strip what they called "egregious special interest provisions" from a bill to create a U.S. Department of Homeland Security, complicating efforts to complete one of President Bush's top legislative priorities." ... "Democrats said the vaccine provisions in the bill appeared to be aimed at shielding major U.S. pharmaceutical companies -- which were among the biggest donors to Republican campaign coffers -- from a wave of lawsuits seeking to link a mercury-based vaccine preservative to childhood autism." -By Andrew Clark

-Reuters /Politics /World

"Shields for vaccine makers weighed: Bush administration already offers it in war on terrorism." ... "While senators debate

shielding childhood vaccine makers from lawsuits, the Bush administration already has provided such protection for at least two vaccines key to the war on terrorism —smallpox and anthrax."

-AP via -MSNBC

- "Penn. bill to require pledge in schools: Students in private and public schools would be required to recite the Pledge of Allegiance or sing the national anthem each morning under a bill unanimously passed this week by the state Senate."

-AP via -CNN

FBI warns of risk of al-Qaida attack." ... "Two days after intelligence experts said an audiotaped threat indicated terror mastermind Osama bin Laden was still alive, the FBI has warned that al-Qaida is likely to attempt a “spectacular” attack intended to inflict large-scale casualties and damage the U.S. economy. The warning was unusual because of its dire language, but NBC’s Pete Williams reported that the alert was not based on any new alarming information, and officials described it as the latest in a regular series of warnings it sends out to local law enforcement officers." ... "The FBI law enforcement bulletin circulated Thursday to officials nationwide contains no information about the timing, location or method of a possible attack."

- "White House Denies Assertions on Preoccupation With Iraq." ... "The White House disagreed sharply today with assertions by senior Democratic senators that the campaign against terrorism is lagging and that a preoccupation with Iraq is one of the reasons." ... ""We have locked up or detained or eliminated important Al Qaeda leaders," Condoleezza Rice, President Bush's national security adviser, said at a news briefing." ... ""We have eliminated their base in Afghanistan, so they cannot operate in the way that they have in the past. We have strengthened the resolve and the capacity of countries like Yemen and the Philippines and countries in Africa to deal with this threat. A lot has been done."" ... "Dr. Rice noted that Mr. Bush has said repeatedly that the campaign will be a long one. "It took a while for them to lodge themselves in 60 countries around the world, including the United States," she said. "It's going to take a while to break them up."" (1, 2)

-NYTimes via -Google-News

20021114

- "Bush to Allow Private Sector Bids." ... "Up to half of the nation's 1.8 million federal civilian workers eventually could find they have a new boss or, worse, no job." ... "The Bush administration is taking steps to privatize federal jobs at an unprecedented level, and officials proposed rules Thursday to make it easier for companies to compete with the government for maintenance, construction, secretarial and other work." ... "Employee unions raised strong objections, contending the administration was trying to help its business allies at the expense of workers' rights. Bush officials said it was just a question of saving money."

-AP via -Guardian.co.uk

- "USDA Orders Prodigene Biocorn Destroyed in Iowa." ... "A small biotech company experimenting with a corn variety engineered to produce insulin was ordered to destroy 155 acres of the crop in Iowa because it may have contaminated nearby fields, the U.S. Agriculture Department said on Thursday." ... "A growing number of U.S. companies are experimenting with biotech corn to produce cheaper proteins and compounds for use in pharmaceuticals. ProdiGene's biotech corn grown for pharmaceutical use is not federally approved for human or livestock feed." ... "The USDA, along with the Food and Drug Administration, is trying to determine if the Texas-based company violated any federal regulations. ProdiGene could face fines of up to $500,000 for each violation." -By Randy Fabi

-Reuters/Politics

- "Biotech Firm Mishandled Corn in Iowa." ... "The biotechnology company that mishandled gene-altered corn in Nebraska did the same thing in Iowa, the government disclosed yesterday." ... "The disclosure raised new questions about the conduct of ProdiGene Inc., a company in College Station, Tex., that is now under investigation for allegedly violating government permits in two states. The ProdiGene matter is proving to be a black eye for the biotech industry, which has been trying to reassure the public it can be trusted not to contaminate the food supply." -By Justin Gillis

Osama bin Laden - "

As New Tape Is Evaluated, Bush Calls Qaeda Threat Real." ... "The White House has been told that government linguistics experts believe the voice on a new audiotape praising recent terror attacks and broadcast on Arab television is Osama bin Laden's, administration officials said today [

20021113]." ... "Both the Central Intelligence Agency and the National Security Agency were carefully scrutinizing the tape, which was first broadcast on Al Jazeera, the satellite television channel based in Qatar, on Tuesday. Officials said that although it was being subjected to digital analysis, it was of such poor quality that experts would probably be unable to determine its authenticity conclusively. Even so, specialists were conducting still more comprehensive tests." -

By James Risen with Judith Miller -NYTimes via -AltaVista-News

20021113

Microsoft News -

- "

Briton Indicted as Hacker: Entry to U.S. Military Systems Called Biggest Ever Detected." ... "An unemployed British computer system administrator was indicted yesterday in Alexandria and New Jersey on eight counts of computer fraud for alleging [sic] penetrating about 100 U.S. government computers, shutting down networks and corrupting data in what U.S. Attorney Paul J. McNulty called "the biggest hack of military computers ever detected."" ... "From February 2001 to March 2002, two federal grand juries alleged, Gary McKinnon, 36, of London, exploited a known security problem with Microsoft Windows NT and Windows 2000 to break into 92 computers at NASA, the Pentagon, and more than a dozen military installations in 14 states." -By Brooke A. Masters

-WashingtonPost >TechNews

- "Webster leaves board in turmoil." ... "Although Biggs still has the support of two SEC commissioners Harvey Goldschmid and Roel Campos he probably won't get the nod, given the acrimony surrounding Webster's appointment. Following the disclosure of Webster's involvement with U.S. Technologies CEO Greg Earls, a man with a long trail of fraud accusations in his past, Biggs called on SEC Chairman Pitt to resign." ... "The new board has until April to launch its operations in earnest." ... ""You're going to need at least 100 people. You're setting up a real operation in the next few months," says Charles Bowsher, who headed the Public Oversight Board, an accounting-industry body that was disbanded this year and will be replaced by the SEC-appointed panel." -By Greg Farrell

"Deal set on homeland department." ... "Officials said the Republican-controlled House was likely to pass the homeland security measure sometime Wednesday. The Senate, currently controlled by Democrats, is expected to begin debate, although final passage could be delayed into next week." ... "Passage had been held up because of a fight between Bush and Senate Democrats over provisions of the legislation dealing with worker rights. Bush insisted that broad powers were needed to manage the 170,000-employee agency and that he needed relief from some civil service rules covering labor issues."

-AP via -USATODAY

Osama bin Laden - "

Experts scrutinize bin Laden message." ... "U.S. intelligence experts scrutinized a recorded message reportedly from terror mastermind Osama bin Laden on Wednesday, the first evidence in a year that the elusive leader of the al-Qaida terrorist network is still alive. Although CIA analysis was not yet complete, U.S. officials told NBC News that the voice on the audiotape, which praises recent attacks, is that of bin Laden. “It’s him,” a senior official said." ... "Steve Emerson, a terrorism expert, told NBC’s “Today” show Wednesday that “the voice is very similar.” Emerson described the detailed tests CIA voice analysts are conducting on the recording as “sort of like a DNA check of somebody’s tissue. They’re going to determine with 100 percent certainty whether it’s his (voice), and I think it is.”"

-MS-NBC

20021112

Comics / Links -

- "

Spider-Man creator sues Marvel: Stan Lee says he’s being cheated out of movie profits." ... "The creative force behind Spider-Man, the Incredible Hulk and the X-Men filed a $10 million lawsuit Tuesday, charging his old comic book company is cheating him out of millions of dollars in movie profits." ... "Marvel has reported millions of dollars in earnings from the film but has told Lee the company has seen no “profits” as defined by their contract."

-Reuters via -MSNBC

Comics / Links -

- Discussion - "

Stan Lee Sues Marvel Comics."

-Slashdot

20021111

"Intel's $10 Billion Gamble: Tech's ailing, yet the chip king is opening plants and entering new markets. Its bet: that no competitor can afford to keep up." ... "The labyrinthine vastness of Intel's nearly completed D1D semiconductor factory in Hillsboro, Ore., is every bit as breathtaking as the microscopic intricacy of the microprocessors it will soon start making." ... "By investing heavily during a tech recession, Intel thinks it can leap a generation ahead in chip know-how and manufacturing ability." ... However, the piece opines, that "even if Intel widens its dominant 81% market share for PC microprocessors, it won't generate enough incremental sales to use all that new capacity, nor will it get back to growing at its historical double-digit rates." ... "The transistors on the chips pounded out at D1D will be smaller than 90 nanometers across--so small that ten of them would fit in the diameter of a human hair--vs. 130 nanometers at the current state of the art." (1, 2, 3, 4) -By Brent Schlender with associate Noshua Watson

-Fortune

Accounting News - "

White House narrows SEC chief hunt: Quick decision needed to restore investor confidence, experts say." ... "Even as high-profile cases against companies like WorldCom and Enron continue to be investigated by SEC lawyers, the political fallout surrounding Pitt is affecting the overall mission and charge of the agency." ... "Among those most closely keeping an eye on who Pitt’s replacement will be are those in the accounting industry. Accounting lobbyists furiously lobbied against the nomination of reformist John Biggs to head the independent accounting oversight board and instead pressed Pitt to nominate William Webster, former head of the F.B.I. instead." ... "Now Webster is also resigning amid allegations about his role as the head of the audit board of U.S. Technologies, a company that later discovered to be racked with accounting problems that Webster himself acknowledges he was made aware of at the time." -By Brock N. Meeks

The Avalon Project : The Sykes-Picot Agreement : 1916

"Webster resigns from accounting oversight position: After controversial appointment, ex-FBI director held position for 18 days." ... "Former FBI Director William Webster resigned Tuesday as head of a special accounting oversight board, saying he wanted to avert “new distractions” as the congressionally created agency seeks to rebuild public confidence after a series of business scandals." ... "Webster, who also once headed the CIA, announced his resignation in a letter to Pitt, who has remained in office pending the naming of a replacement. Pitt quit earlier following a flap over his apparent failure to inform fellow SEC commissioners that Webster had headed the audit committee of a company under investigation for fraud."

-AP via -MSNBC

20021111

- "Iraq Inspections Receive Approval From Arab League." ... "Arab governments voiced collective support today for new weapons inspections inside Iraq, although they want Arab experts added to the inspection teams and warned that the latest United Nations resolution should not be considered a free pass for Washington to invade." ... "The support, expressed in a resolution at a meeting of Arab League foreign ministers in Cairo, suggests that most governments in the region remain perfectly happy to see Saddam Hussein defanged, political experts said, yet fear the repercussions of another war in the region." ... "Worst-case scenarios in the region have raised fears that the United States could redraw the map of the region, much the way the secret Sykes-Picot pact by Britain and France did early in the last century, although calmer heads reject such an outcome." (1, 2) -By Neil MacFarquhar

-NYTimes via -AltaVista-News

Google Search: Arab League

Google Search: Sykes-Picot

20021109

TIA: Total Information Awareness

- "Pentagon Plans a Computer System That Would Peek at Personal Data of Americans." ... "As the director of the effort, Vice Adm. John M. Poindexter, has described the system in Pentagon documents and in speeches, it will provide intelligence analysts and law enforcement officials with instant access to information from Internet mail and calling records to credit card and banking transactions and travel documents, without a search warrant." ... "Historically, military and intelligence agencies have not been permitted to spy on Americans without extraordinary legal authorization." ... "In order to deploy such a system, known as Total Information Awareness, new legislation would be needed, some of which has been proposed by the Bush administration in the Homeland Security Act that is now before Congress. That legislation would amend the Privacy Act of 1974, which was intended to limit what government agencies could do with private information." (1, 2) -By John Markoff

-NYTimes via -LawMeme

TIA: Total Information Awareness

- Discussion - "Search Warrant Not Reuired." -

LawMeme

The Microsoft case: Antitrust overseers are named." ... "Microsoft yesterday established a committee of directors to make sure it obeys the law — a move mandated by a federal judge's Nov. 1 ruling in the company's antitrust case." ... "Meeting a requirement to set up the compliance committee, Microsoft appointed Harvard Business School professor James Cash to lead the group, which also includes Merck Chief Executive Raymond Gilmartin and former U.S. Labor Secretary Ann McLaughlin Korologos." -By Kim Peterson

-SeattleTimes.NWsource

UPS News - "

United Parcel raises rates by up to 3.9%." ... "United Parcel will boost prices Jan. 6 for ground shipments to businesses, its largest market, by 3.9 percent." ... "United Parcel shares rose 73 cents to $62.34 yesterday in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The stock has risen 14 percent this year."

-Bloomberg via -SeattlePI.NWsource

- "Clock Ticks for Hussein After Security Council Vote." ... "By all accounts, United Nations inspectors will do very little inspecting and will base their appraisal of Iraqi cooperation on the accuracy of the "confession" that Mr. Hussein will have to make about the weapons projects whose existence he had denied and which administration officials have said he has been hiding in secret bunkers, underground caves and mobile laboratories." ... "But if Mr. Hussein fails to meet the detailed demands of the United Nations inspection force, or if his disclosures do not tally with information supplied to inspectors by American and other Western intelligence agencies, Mr. Bush made clear today that the United States would declare him in "material breach" of the Security Council resolution." (1, 2) -By Patrick E. Tyler

-NYTimes via -AltaVista-News

20021108

ELECTION 2002 - "

High-tech smells success in Republican Congress." ... "With Republicans in the driver's seat after Tuesday's elections, tech firms can expect a sympathetic ear on a wide range of issues from free trade to taxes to stock options, lobbyists said, while Bush administration officials will likely face less scrutiny over efforts to relax media and telecommunications regulations."

-Reuters via -Forbes

"Page From Pearl Harbor: Movie Special Effects May One Day Help Train U.S. Sailors." ... "Besides the perils of combat, sailors must be trained to deal with any danger that could threaten their ship — and lives of crew mates —anytime while at sea." ... "That means naval recruits have much to learn during their nine weeks of boot camp at the Naval Training Center (NTC) in Great Falls, Ill. And to really help cement that training into sailors, the Navy is looking for a bit of high-tech help from a special effects firm called i.d.e.a.s. — Innovation, Design, Entertainment, Art and Storytelling." ... "The Navy recently contracted i.d.e.a.s., based at (but independent from) the Walt Disney-MGM Studios in Orlando, Fla., to help plan for an advanced virtual reality training and testing "update" called Battle Stations 21." -By Paul Eng

Google Search: "Innovation, Design, Entertainment, Art and Storytelling"

Google Search: "Battle Stations 21"

Google Search: "Naval Training Center"

Law Enforcement News -

Bali bombings - "

Americans were the target of Bali bombings, investigator says, citing key suspect." ... "The reported confession of an Indonesian man identified as Amrozi has prompted more arrests and linked the blasts to a fugitive, Riduan Isamudin, also known as Hambali, who has been tied to the Sept. 11 hijackers." ... "Blame for the attack is increasingly turning to Jemaah Islamiyah the al-Qaida linked terror group said to be seeking a pan-Islamic state in Southeast Asia." ... "Two security experts citing militant and intelligence sources said Friday that Jemaah Islamiyah leaders met in southern Thailand earlier this year and agreed to target tourist venues like the Bali nightclubs."" -By Steven Gutkin

-AP via -Boston/Globe

- "U.S. quietly builds up around Iraq: Heavy equipment, 63,000 troops in position, awaiting word." ... "Throughout the region — from the Persian Gulf to the Horn of Africa to Central Asia — there are at least 63,000 U.S. troops." ... "While nearly 14,000 of those troops are focused on operations in Afghanistan, the bulk of those forces is in a position to participate should the decision be made to attack Iraq in the weeks or months ahead." ... "The USS Abraham Lincoln carrier battle group is in the area — and F14s and F/A18s are flying missions over southern Iraq as part of coalition patrols of no-fly zones." ... "Those jets — along with Air Force F16s flying from Kuwait — are striking Iraq’s air defenses in the south in response to the firing of Iraqi missiles or anti-aircraft guns at U.S. and British jets on patrol.." ... " ... by mid-December, four carrier battle groups could all be in striking distance of Iraq." -By Tammy Kupperman

-MS-NBC

- "U.N. passes Iraq resolution on weapons inspections: Bush: 'All nations must continue to pressure Saddam'" ... "The United Nations Security Council on Friday approved a resolution that demands unfettered access for U.N. inspectors to search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq." ... "All 15 member states of the Security Council voted in favor of the resolution." ... "Iraq has seven days to accept the resolution's terms." ... "Within 30 days, Iraq must send the U.N. a list of its weapons." ... "Within 45 days, Iraq must allow inspections to begin." ... "Iraq is accused of possessing weapons of mass destruction -- nuclear, biological, chemical -- in violation of the ceasefire treaty it signed when Baghdad lost the 1991 Persian Gulf War." -Report contributed to by Jane Arraf

-CNN

20021107

- "US, France agree on new Iraq resolution. " ... "The U.N. Security Council set the vote for 10 a.m. EST after the United States and its cosponsor Britain, at French urging, changed the wording in a key provision that would declare Iraq in "material breach" of its U.N. obligations." ... "The change addresses concerns by France, Russia, Syria and others that the original text would have let the United States determine on its own whether Iraq had committed an infraction." -By Edith M. Lederer

-AP via -Boston/Globe

20021106

- "Big Cable's Package-Pricing Ploy: Consumers could be saving money by selecting their premium channels a la carte, but don't expect to hear it from your cable outfit." ... "... a federal rule took effect in early October, 2002, that could let savvy cable customers cut their monthly bills in half." ... "The rule, a provision of the 1992 Cable Act, says cable operators can no longer require subscribers to buy multitier packages of programming to get pay-per-view events and premium channels, such as as HBO, Starz, and Showtime."

-BusinessWeek

- "Harvey Pitt resigns as SEC chief." ... "Securities and Exchange Commission chairman Harvey Pitt stepped down late Tuesday, bringing a stunning end to his tumultuous 15-month reign as the nation's top securities regulator amid still-unfolding financial scandals." ... "Although Pitt got caught in numerous public-relations flaps during his tenure, his resignation stems directly from his handling of the appointment of former FBI director William Webster to head a new five-member panel charged with overseeing the accounting industry." ... "Webster's selection was controversial because he was chosen over a candidate opposed by the accounting industry. At a contentious Oct. 25 hearing, Pitt and the two other Republican commissioners voted for Webster and the two Democrats voted against him." -By Greg Farrell

"Resignation letter from Harvey Pitt: Text of the resignation letter from Harvey Pitt, chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, to President Bush." -Via

ELECTION 2002 - "

Two-term Democrat is a first in 30 years." ... "Iowa voters gave Gov. Tom Vilsack a second four-year term Tuesday night, choosing the Democratic incumbent over Republican candidate Doug Gross." ... "Vilsack, who became Iowa's first Democratic governor in more than three decades with his election four years ago, gained a new distinction with his victory Tuesday night. Eight years at the helm of state government will make him Iowa's longest-serving Democratic governor. Harold Hughes, the last Democrat to occupy the governor's office, served six years in the 1960s. Branstad held office longer than any other Iowa governor: 16 years." ... "Among the 39 people who have held the governorship since Iowa became a state in 1846, only nine have been Democrats." -By Jonathan Roos

-DesMoinesRegister/News

ELECTION 2002 - "

GOP reclaims control of Congress." ... "GOP control of the Senate was assured with former U.S. Rep. James Talent's early morning victory over incumbent Missouri Senator Jean Carnahan. Carnahan conceded defeat shortly after 2 a.m." ... "A handful Senate races remained in play early Wednesday, but none offered Democrats an opportunity to upset the emerging balance of power in the Senate." ... "With the polls closed across the country, two races were too close to call. In South Dakota, Democratic Sen. Tim Johnson battled Rep. John Thune. In Minnesota, former Vice President Walter F. Mondale ran against Norm Coleman."

ELECTION 2002 - "

GOP candidates ride presidential coattails in midterm triumphs." ... "A president's party must run against history in midterm elections, but Republicans beat the odds in Tuesday's voting, strengthening their House majority and bidding to seize control of the Senate. Democrats grudgingly credited President Bush's aggressive campaigning for results that could provide him considerable political swagger." ... "He raised more than $140 million for GOP candidates, a record for presidential fund-raising, and visited more than 30 states this election year. In the last five days alone, Bush campaigned for two dozen candidates; 19 of those races were final early Wednesday morning and, of those, Republicans won 17."

-AP via -USATODAY

ELECTION 2002 - "

Media rely on 'real votes' to project winners." ... "Voter News Service, the media consortium whose flawed data led to erroneous projections on Election Night 2000, withheld results from national and state exit polls Tuesday because it could not guarantee their accuracy." ... "Exit polls survey voters after they leave polling places. Without them, television networks had to rely on vote counts to project winners in congressional and gubernatorial elections." ... "Voter News Service (VNS) said the problems with the exit polls lay in the software that crunches information from questionnaires filled out by voters." ... ""If you see a number that looks suspicious to you, you check it out. If the process is not calculating every element properly, you have to adjust or you have to fix the program," VNS executive director Ted Savaglio said. "We saw things that we didn't like, and we just didn't feel we could publish the poll."" -By Martha T. Moore with contributions from Charisse Jones

20021105

ELECTION 2002

ELECTION 2002 - "

VNS Abandons National Exit Polls." ... "Voter News Service was forced to abandon state and national exit polls designed to help analyze Tuesday's midterm election results and also saw its vote-counting operation slow to a crawl." ... "The failures were a major setback for VNS - a consortium consisting of ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, Fox and The Associated Press. VNS had completely rebuilt its system in response to the 2000 election, when television networks twice used its information to make wrong calls in the decisive Florida vote for the presidency." ... "VNS said the exit poll information was being collected but not being properly analyzed by the organization's new computer system." ... "VNS had other problems: computer screens briefly froze when workers phoned in exit poll information, and more people than expected failed to call with completed questionnaires, Savaglio said." -By David Bauder

-AP via -FindLaw/LegalNews

ELECTION 2002 - "

Voting into the void: New touch-screen voting machines may look spiffy, but some experts say they can't be trusted." ... "A fast-talking, fact-toting woman who can recount dozens of stories of voting machines going disastrously haywire, (computer science professor Rebecca) Mercuri goes into a region whose election has been held up and proceeds to hold forth. Mercuri tells everyone she can, from election judges to county supervisors to the local media, that the supposedly "state-of-the-art" machines they've all been sold are nothing but a "a bill of goods."" ... "Mercuri's chief complaint with the touch-screen system is that its inner workings are often a complete secret. When a voter touches the screen to make a choice, there is no confirmation that the machine has actually registered the correct selection. In the old punch-card and fill-in-the-circle paper systems, voters can see their choice marked on paper. And in the event of a recount, election officials can, as a last resort, manually count those slips of paper. Since the new electronic systems leave no paper trail, there's no chance of a recount." (1, 2, 3) -By Farhad Manjoo

-Salon

ELECTION 2002 - "

Voters face range of ballot measures: Initiatives include medical marijuana, crating pigs, tax issues." ... "While Washington's attention focuses on key congressional races and contests for governor, ballot measures have a direct impact on how U.S. society is run and often presage future national political debates." ... "The more than 200 state initiatives on Tuesday’s ballot focus on everything from animal rights and drug policy to health care and education — with a few oddball measures thrown in to reflect the wide-ranging passions of the electorate."

-Reuters via -MSNBC

ELECTION 2002 - "

Evenly divided Senate offers plot twists: Election may foster political tug of war." ... "Complicating the puzzle is the Louisiana Senate race, which may not be decided for another month, potentially setting up a one-shot campaign for control of the Senate." ... "Any Louisiana candidate who garners a majority of the vote today wins office, but a candidate who fails to crack 50 percent faces a Dec. 7 runoff against the second-place finisher. Unable to recruit a single powerful opponent against Senator Mary Landrieu, Republicans have fielded three candidates in an effort to keep the Democrat to a plurality and force her into a runoff." -By Robert Schlesinger

ELECTION 2002 - "

Coping with Election 2002: The only solution: Hold your nose, vote and then fight for reform." ... "Campaign 2002 saw some of the most vitriolic TV ads in recent memory. There was the ad in the Georgia senatorial race that sought to link war hero Max Cleland, who lost both legs and an arm in Vietnam, with mass murderers Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein because he had voted against some of President Bush's homeland security measures. And then there was Texas governor Rick Perry's just-this-side-of-slanderous attempt to smear his opponent, Tony Sanchez, with the blood of a DEA agent murdered by Mexican drug lords 17 years ago. "The Justice Department," the ad slimed, "said Sanchez had a choice: to cooperate with law enforcement or the drug dealers. Sanchez chose the drug dealers."" -By Arianna Huffington

-Salon

ELECTION 2002 - "

Closely Watched Polls: Election Day Offers Tough Choices for Americans, Challenge for Bush." ... "Voters are heading to the polls today in a crucial midterm election that could swing control of the House and the Senate." ... "About the only certainty is that this Election Day will be a long one with votes being counted late into the night and some races possibly not being settled before Wednesday arrives. In fact, the Senate race in Louisiana may not be decided until December, because if none of the four candidates receives at least 50 percent plus one vote, it would put the decision in the hands of the state legislature."

- "US hits Qaeda in Yemen: Fires missile from spy plane, killing 6 in car." ... "A US missile fired from a [Predator] spy plane destroyed a car in a lawless stretch of northern Yemen Sunday, killing a senior Al Qaeda leader and five other members in the first American military strike against the terrorist group outside Afghanistan since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks." ... "The Hellfire missile was fired from a CIA-controlled, unmanned plane, according to US officials quoted by news agencies. The Yemeni news agency SABA said initial information indicated the dead included Ali Qaed Sinan al-Harithi, also known as Abu Ali." -By Anthony Shadid

20021104

ELECTION 2002 - "

Last-minute push for votes: Analysts blame major parties for electorate's dissatisfaction." ... "Donald Richter, a retired truck driver from Milpitas, says he's failed to vote for a candidate only once in 26 years. This year, he's doing it again in protest." ... "When he marks the ballot for [California] governor on Tuesday, "I'll vote for Mickey Mouse," he said, "and hope the major parties get the message."" ... "A new Field Poll predicts that just 39 percent, or 8.4 million of the state's 21.5 million eligible voters, will cast ballots in California. That's the lowest number recorded in the 42-year history of the poll." -By Carla Marinucci

ELECTION 2002 - "

Election 2002: Races to Watch: Congressional control hangs in the balance as voters head to the polls Tuesday. What's at stake? And where are the closest races?" ... "The President has spent weeks on the road campaigning for Republican candidates, breaking fundraising records and helping to net a whopping $190 million for GOP races. Democrats, who've just begun to take advantage of Bill Clinton as a fundraiser, raised $130 million." -By Jessica Reaves

ELECTION 2002 - "

Election 2002: Both parties press toward finish line: More women governors a near certainty." ... "In tomorrow's elections voters will choose 435 voting members of the House, 34 members of the Senate and 36 governors. Before the death of Sen. Paul Wellstone, D-Minn., the Democrats held a one-seat edge in the Senate; Republicans hold a six-seat edge in the House. There are 21 Democratic governors and 27 Republicans; the other two are independents." -By Adam Nagourney

-NYTimes via -SeattlePI.NWsource

Law Enforcement - "

Interior Department Struggles to Upgrade Its Police Forces." ... "The Statue of Liberty, the Washington Monument, the Hoover Dam and half of the Alaska pipeline are all protected against terrorist attack and other threats by police forces that auditors have long described as ill trained, poorly managed, dysfunctional and, in some instances, corrupt." ... "The department has more than 4,300 officers in seven agencies, including the United States Park Police, the National Park Service and the Bureau of Land Management. They are responsible for protecting most of the nation's historic icons, like Mount Rushmore and the Washington Monument, some of which have been the target of terrorist threats in the last year. But few of the agencies have intelligence or terrorism offices, or the ability to gather crime and enforcement statistics." (1, 2) -By Joel Brinkley

-NYTimes via -Google-News

"Major Quake Rocks Remote Alaska, Pipeline Shut." ... "A major earthquake of 7.9 magnitude rocked a sparsely populated area of central Alaska on Sunday, causing some damage to roads but no deaths, the U.S. Geological Survey and state troopers said." ... "USGS spokeswoman Carolyn Bell said the epicenter of the quake was near the Denali National Park, about 75 miles south of Fairbanks and about 175 miles northeast of Anchorage. It occurred just after 1 p.m. (5:00 p.m. EST)." - By Yereth Rosen

-Reuters via -ABCNEWS.com

20021103

Microsoft focus on Brussels after U.S. decision." ... "After a court victory for Microsoft in the United States, the battle now shifts to Europe where Competition Commissioner Mario Monti may soon impose his own set of sanctions against the software giant." ... "Monti will make a preliminary decision by the end of the year whether to act against Microsoft Corp ... for allegedly abusing dominance in its Windows operating system." -By David Lawsky

-Reuters via -Forbes

Enron loss major blow to law firm: Vinson & Elkins regroups after hit." ... "Dynegy has experienced it. So, too, has Arthur Andersen." ... "And now the city's largest law firm, a historical pillar of Houston's downtown establishment, is suffering through the repercussions that come from a too-close association with Enron Corp." ... "A year after Enron's collapse, Vinson & Elkins is beginning to jettison some of its partners -- something that is rarely done at major law firms." -By L. M. Sixel

-HoustonChronicle.com

20021102

Money talks, Microsoft walks: Bill Gates lets out a big "Whew!" as the court decides that what's good for Microsoft is good for America." ... "This is the way the Microsoft antitrust suit ends: Not with a bang but a whimper." ... "With their proposed settlement last autumn, the hollow men of the Bush Justice Department had already gutted whatever remnant of serious penalty or constraint against Microsoft that had been won during the five-year legal process. Now, with that settlement largely rubber-stamped by Federal District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, the endless process is, if not over, close to a finale." -By Scott Rosenberg

-Salon

20021101

"Age arises, indirectly, as an issue with races' newcomers." ... "Once they were young whippersnappers running against senior citizens. Now Walter Mondale and Frank Lautenberg, summoned by party leaders to keep the Senate in Democratic hands, are fending off suggestions that they are too old." ... "Nobody is actually using the words "too old" about New Jersey's Lautenberg, 78, and Minnesota's Mondale, 74. They say, "You can either move into the future or get stuck in the past," as Mondale's Republican opponent, Norm Coleman, put it this week in Minnesota. Or "Doug Forrester isn't a man for yesterday, he's a leader for tomorrow," as former New Jersey governor Tom Kean says in an advertisement for Lautenberg's GOP opponent." -By Jill Lawrence

- "Collapse of coalition dooms peace efforts." ... "The collapse of Israel's coalition government in effect dooms European and US efforts to draw up a timetable for resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict by 2005, diplomats say." ... "Diplomats accept Mr Bush had come a long towards supporting a Palestinian state and an end to Jewish settlement building. He failed, however, to match those words with deeds. The administration saw the conflict - and particularly Yassir Arafat, Palestinian leader - through the prism of September 11. It was about terrorism, the US believed." -By Judy Dempsey

-FT.com

- "Federal Regulators Sue Ernst & Young." ... "Federal regulators say accounting giant Ernst & Young misstated the assets of a failed Chicago-area savings and loan and deliberately delayed reporting the error to the government." ... "The allegation came Friday in a $548 million fraud and negligence lawsuit filed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation [FDIC]. It said the accounting firm was silent about the misstated assets to avoid publicity that would hurt the $11 billion sale of its consulting arm." ... "Ernst & Young, one of the so-called Big Four accounting firms, issued a statement blaming Superior Bank's management and a slumping economy for the collapse of the savings and loan, which was based in west suburban Oakbrook Terrace." -By Mike Robinson

-AP via -SeattlePI.NWsource

- "SEC Chief Is Subject Of Probe: Pitt Failed To Disclose Past Of Board Nominee." ... "The Securities and Exchange Commission ordered an investigation into the actions of its own chairman yesterday, after the agency's commissioners learned that Chairman Harvey L. Pitt failed to tell them that his choice to head a new accounting oversight board chaired the audit committee of a company being questioned about possible fraud." ... "Former FBI and CIA director William H. Webster told Pitt about his association with Washington-based U.S. Technologies Inc. more than a week before the SEC approved Webster by a 3 to 2 party-line vote last Friday. The new board, intended to restore investor confidence, was created by legislation passed after accounting scandals at Enron Corp., WorldCom Inc. and several other major companies cost investors and employees billions of dollars." -By Kathleen Day, David S. Hilzenrath and Shannon Henry

- "SEC investigates choice of Webster for board." ... "The Securities and Exchange Commission yesterday opened an investigation into the selection of former FBI director William Webster to run a new five-member board to oversee the embattled accounting industry, amid escalating calls for SEC chairman Harvey Pitt to resign. The White House said it stood by Pitt, but also said it did not have all the facts in the matter." ... "Pitt requested the probe under pressure from fellow SEC commissioners, some of whom have publicly complained that he bowed to pressure from the accounting industry last month when he selected Webster to run the new board instead of another, more experienced candidate." -By Sue Kirchhoff

20021031

- "Collapse of Israeli government could derail peace efforts: Analysts say U.S. more interested in winning support among Arab nations for war on Iraq." ... "The collapse of Sharon's 20-month-old government comes days after a visit to the region by Assistant Secretary of State William Burns. He delivered a long-promised road map for Israelis and Palestinians to reach President Bush's stated vision of a Palestinian state within three years." ... "The U.S. outline touched on some of the fiercest points of contention: from extensive reforms of Palestinian institutions and an end to Palestinian attacks on Israeli soldiers, civilians, and settlers in the West Bank and Gaza Strip to a partial Israeli pullback and a hiatus and eventually dismantling of Israeli settlements on occupied Palestinian land." ... "Both sides reacted coolly to the proposals." -By Anthony Shadid

-Boston/Globe via -SeattlePI.NWsource

- "Three women's compelling stories." ... "In the days before Chechen rebels took hundreds of theatergoers hostage last week, Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya was in the US to accept an award for on-the-job bravery." ... "They specifically asked for Ms. Politkovskaya – who is critical of the war – as a negotiator." ... "Her abrupt departure from the US drew attention to the award she came to collect –the Courage in Journalism Award, given annually by the International Women's Media Foundation. The other winners for 2002 are Canadian Kathy Gannon, bureau chief in Afghanistan and Pakistan for the Associated Press; and Sandra Nyaira, political editor for The Daily News, Zimbabwe's only independent newspaper. Their lives, like Politkovskaya's, are compelling." -By Kim Campbell

IWMF Courage in Journalism Awards

IWMF.org

"Should death penalty apply to 16-year-olds? Florida votes on the issue, while capital punishment for juveniles draws attention in the sniper case." ... "In an important moment of candor, US Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens last week criticized the high court's refusal to examine during the current term the constitutionality of applying capital punishment to juveniles." ... ""In the last 13 years, a national consensus has developed that juvenile offenders should not be executed. No state has lowered the age eligibility to either 16 or 17 since our decision [permitting the execution of 16-year-olds] in 1989," Justice Stevens said in a dissent joined by three other justices. "In fact, the movement is in exactly the opposite direction."" ... "Next Tuesday, voters in Florida will have an opportunity to verify or invalidate Stevens's observation." -By Warren Richey

- "Audit Overseer Cited Problems in Previous Post." ... "Shortly before William H. Webster was appointed to head a new board overseeing the accounting profession by the Securities and Exchange Commission last Friday, he told the commission's chairman, Harvey L. Pitt, that he had until recently headed the auditing committee of a company that was facing fraud accusations, Mr. Webster recounted today." ... "Mr. Pitt chose not to tell the other four commissioners who voted on Mr. Webster's nomination that day, according to S.E.C. officials. White House officials said they, too, were not informed about the details of Mr. Webster's work for the company." (1, 2) -By Stephen Labaton

-NYTimes via -AltaVista-News

Ex-Enron Executive Indicted on 78 Counts." ... "A federal grand jury on Thursday handed up a 78-count indictment accusing fired Enron executive Andrew Fastow of engaging in fraud, money laundering, and other crimes to enrich himself and create the "illusion of business skill and success" at the ruined energy giant." ... "The indictment added a new charge that Fastow, 40, allegedly obstructed justice by trying to persuade former protege Michael Kopper, who is cooperating with prosecutors, to destroy computer records." ... "The order to Kopper, who pleaded guilty Aug. 21 and implicated his former boss in a series of fraud and kickback schemes, came in August and September 2001." -By C. Bryson Hull

-Reuters/Business

20021030

- "Labor Pullout Shatters Israel's Ruling Coalition." ... "Labour's pullout ended a 19-month "national unity" partnership forged as a common front against a Palestinian uprising and could undermine U.S. efforts to calm the region while it prepares for a possible war on Iraq." ... "The crisis was precipitated by demands from Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, head of center-left Labor, to divert funds earmarked for settlements to the poor and the elderly." -By Matt Spetalnick

- "U.S. and France Near Deal on Iraq Attack." ... "The United States and France are moving toward a compromise on Iraq that would oblige the Bush administration to consult the United Nations Security Council before embarking on military action against Saddam Hussein but still leave it the freedom to act alone." ... "American officials and foreign diplomats said that under the proposed compromise, the United States would take part in a Security Council debate if Iraq failed to comply with expected new United Nations demands for the destruction of its chemical and biological weapons." (1, 2) -By Steven R. Weisman

-NYTimes via -Google-News

- "U.S. soldiers train for battle in streets of Iraq." ... "Since the 1991 Persian Gulf War, the Pentagon has been preparing soldiers and Marines to fight battles in villages, towns and cities. Those cluttered landscapes had been largely ignored as a training ground since the days of World War II, when GIs slugged their way across Europe by seizing hundreds of hamlets in close combat with the German Army." ... "The reason for the renewed focus: By the end of this decade, three-quarters of the world's population will live in metropolitan areas. And that's where the U.S. military's top commanders expect to fight, in part because no conventional army would want to battle America's high-tech, smart-bomb equipped force in the open." ... "At bases from Fayetteville, N.C. to Seattle, the Army and Marines have built scale models of downtown areas to simulate the complexities of urban fighting. Several blocks in size, these artificial cities are used to teach soldiers and Marines a range of skills, from how to spot booby-trapped buildings to fighting enemies who would have no qualms about using civilians as human shields." -By Dave Moniz

-West Coast Port Lockout - "

Union Blames Co.'s for Dock Trouble: Dockworkers' Union Files Documents Blaming Shipping Companies for Slowdown." ... "Shipping companies are mismanaging cargo at major Pacific ports so federal prosecutors can blame longshoremen for a work slowdown, the dockworker's union contends." ... "The union made the allegation in documents filed Tuesday with the Justice Department."

-AP via -ABCNEWS.com

-West Coast Port Lockout - "

Union points finger at shippers, Justice Department in filing." ... "The West Coast dockworkers union blames mismanagement by shipping companies for slow movement of cargo, saying Pacific Maritime Association members are trying to make longshoremen look bad." ... "In documents filed yesterday with the Justice Department, the International Longshore and Warehouse Union also said the department appears to blame longshoremen for the backlog. The union says the department has not asked the maritime association to respond to union charges that its mismanagement is keeping ports clogged." -By Frank Vinluan

-SeattleTimes.NWsource

-West Coast Port Lockout - "

Longshore union blames owners for port backlog: Letter to feds refutes charges by management." ... "A combination of increased traffic, a lack of skilled labor, equipment shortages and breakdowns and other logistical problems that are the responsibility of employers explains the decline in number of cargo containers processed, said the International Longshore and Warehouse Union." ... "The union made its case in a letter to the Department of Justice, which had requested a response to an allegation of a slowdown made by the owners' group, the Pacific Maritime Association." -By George Raine

"Bumps ahead on Easy Street? As the US population grows older, the needs of retirees are likely to intensify. Early lessons from the 'oldest' county in America [Charlotte County, Florida]." ... "The changes taking place in Charlotte County involve every aspect of the community –social-service organizations, businesses, architects, builders, churches, and schools." ... "Across the country, the question of how best to meet the needs of older citizens will intensify as demographics change. As communities begin drawing up blueprints for a graying society, they will be undertaking a vast experiment." ... ""There are literally no societies in the world that have had people living two and three decades after they've retired," says David Colburn, provost of the University of Florida and co-author of a new book, "Florida's Megatrends."" (1, 2). By Marilyn Gardner

"Board was told of risks before Bush stock sale: Harken memo went to SEC after probe." ... "One week before George W. Bush's now-famous sale of stock in Harken Energy Corp. in 1990, Harken was warned by its lawyers that Bush and other members of the troubled oil company's board faced possible insider trading risks if they unloaded their shares." ... "The warning from Harken's lawyers came in a legal memorandum whose existence has been little noted until now, despite the many years of scrutiny of the Bush transaction. The memo was not received by the Securities and Exchange Commission until the day after the agency decided not to bring insider-trading charges against Bush, documents show." -By Michael Kranish and Beth Healy

"Harvard invested heavily in Harken." ... "Indeed, even as Bush was dumping the bulk of his Harken holdings -about $848,000 in stock sold to a buyer whose name has never been disclosed - Harvard Management plowed millions more into the firm." ... "The Globe review also found no evidence to support the contention by some critics of Harvard Management and some adversaries of Bush that its deep involvement in Harken was a political favor to the Bush family." -By Beth Healy and Michael Kranish

Paul Wellstone

- "Mondale Says He'd Run for Senate: Former Vice President Mondale Tells Minnesota Democrats He'll Run for Senate if Nominated." ... "With the unofficial mourning period for Paul Wellstone over, former Vice President Walter Mondale lifted Democrats' spirits Wednesday by announcing he is ready to run in the senator's place."

-AP via -ABCNEWS.com

Paul Wellstone

- "Tone of Wellstone memorial generates anger: Ventura blasts 'political rally'." ... "The partisan tone of the memorial service for the late Sen. Paul Wellstone stirred anger Wednesday in some Republicans, political consultants and radio talk show hosts who say some of the comments and behavior were inappropriate." ... "Some Republicans in Minnesota demanded equal time from the local television stations that carried last night's memorial, attended by a crowd of more than 20,000. But officials at local television stations pointed out that they will cover President Bush's expected trip to Minnesota this weekend, when he will campaign for Republican Norm Coleman." ... "Democrats, who initially dismissed the criticism, later apologized for some activity, but said the event was unscripted and reflected the strong emotions people felt about Wellstone's death."

-CNN /AllPolitics.com

Paul Wellstone

- "Minnesota mourns Sen. Wellstone: 20,000 gather at sports arena for memorial." ... "Some 20,000 friends of Paul Wellstone gathered to bid the late senator farewell Tuesday in a ceremony filled with music and poignant eulogies -- and nearly as much laughter as tears." -By Patrick Howe

-AP via -Miami/Herald

20021027

Paul Wellstone

- "Race to replace tragic senator." ... "Democrats are in a race against time to appoint a new candidate to replace Senator Paul Wellstone, who died in an air crash on Friday, as crucial mid-term elections loom." ... "Mr Wellstone was one of eight people who died, including his wife and daughter when their plane crashed in northern Minnesota." ... "His death comes just two weeks before mid-term elections in which he was hoping for re-election to boost the Democrats' chances of retaining their one-vote majority in the Senate." ... "He is survived by two sons."

Sniper - "

In the Sights of the Sniper: 23 Fearful Days in October." ... "With a loud crack and a blinding light of the SWAT team's disorienting but harmless "flash bang," the agents rushed the blue Chevrolet Caprice parked in a highway rest stop in rural Maryland. They smashed out several windows and unlocked the doors. Within seconds, the agents pulled the two dazed occupants from the car at gunpoint and placed them under arrest." (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6) -By David Johnston and Don Van Natta Jr.

-NYTimes via -AltaVista-News

20021025

- "Disney to Offer New Internet Access Service [Through Microsoft]." ... "That could create a curious conflict, since MSN's news service is provided by MSNBC, Microsoft's joint venture with NBC News, not Disney's ABCNews.com. Mr. Eisner said in an interview that Disney had already decided to accept adjacent cooperation and competition. Last year, Disney merged its ESPN.com sports Web site with the sports section of MSN. That deal helped ESPN.com rise to be the clear audience leader among sports sites on the Web." -By Saul Hansell

-NYTimes via -Google-News

- "Jiang and Bush start Texas summit." ... "The two presidents are likely to address a number of international issues during their 90-minute talks, which are taking place at Mr Bush's ranch in Texas." ... "Possible conflict in Iraq and North Korea's nuclear development are top of the agenda."

Paul Wellstone

- "Sen. Wellstone's Legacy: Mark Shields, David Brooks, and the Washington Post's Dan Balz share personal and political reflections on the late Sen. Paul Wellstone (D-Minn.), who died in a plane crash in Minnesota Friday." ... "DAVID BROOKS: ... One of the things that really impressed me, and this as a senator, he wasn't a particularly good senator when he started; made a lot of unnecessary enemies, didn't really play the game. But he decided pretty quickly that he didn't want to just be a noble loser. He wanted to actually get some things done and he made some allies; he worked with people like Jesse Helms, who he earlier said he despised; worked with John Ashcroft, won support from veterans groups, not automatic. So he really improved as a senator and was always a man of conviction, always very popular with conservatives." -

PBS.org / newshour / index

Sniper - "

Sniper suspects in hand: Evidence mounts against a former soldier and a teenager. Motives for killing spree may include revenge and outrage." ... "It's unlikely that terrorism, even of a homegrown variety, was the main motive behind the sniper shootings that have clouded life in Washington this October, say experts." ... "Details about the men arrested Thursday morning in connection with the case suggest instead that a mix of anger, self-importance, and desire for revenge lay behind the murders." ... ""There are a lot of scattered, little ... pieces, but nothing really pulls them together yet," says Stanley Bedlington, a former senior analyst at the CIA's Counterterrorism Center." -By Peter Grier

"Senator Wellstone [Minnesota Democrat] killed in plane crash." ... "Eight deaths were confirmed at the scene, including the senator s wife Sheila, and a daughter, Marcia. Three unnamed staff members and two crew members were also reported dead." ... "The senator's death recalls the October 2000 plane crash that killed Mel Carnahan, Missouri's Democratic governor, who was campaigning for Senate. Mr Carnahan remained on the ballot and won the election, defeating his opponent, then-senator John Ashcroft." -By Jeff Pruzan

-FT.com

20021024

Sniper - "

The Subject On Everyone's Screen." ... "The Internet is abuzz with wild speculation and outrage over the rifle shootings that have killed 10 people and terrorized the Washington area. In a pattern that's becoming familiar when big news breaks, the Internet is where people turn to vent their emotions, share thoughts and drill down for information they might have missed or can't get from TV and newspapers." ... "Google, the Internet's top search engine, said "sniper" has zoomed to the top of its list of fast-rising search terms. Lycos said "Washington sniper" was its 10th most common search query last week, and that searches pertaining to "sniper rifles" had tripled. More people also are entering "bulletproof vest" into the query box at Lycos.com." -By Leslie Walker

-WashingtonPost >TechNews -Washtech

Sniper - "

Sniper Hunt Culminates in 2 Arrests: Two Arrested in D.C.-Area Sniper Case; Law Enforcement Sources Certain They Have Culprits." ... "The weapon found in the Chevrolet Caprice was a Bushmaster rifle, according to a law enforcement source." ... "The AR-15 is the civilian form of the M-16 military assault rifle. As a soldier, Muhammad received a Marksmanship Badge with expert rating the highest of three ratings in use of the M-16, according to Army records. Police also found a scope and tripod in the car, the official said."

-AP via -ABCNEWS.com

Sniper - "

Ex-Army Marksman, Teen-Ager Arrested in Sniper Case." ... "A Gulf War veteran who was an expert Army marksman was arrested along with a teen-ager on Thursday in the Washington area sniper case, fueling hopes a three-week murder spree that left 10 dead was over." ... "The two were arrested while they slept in a car at a highway rest stop in rural Maryland, and authorities found a Bushmaster .223 caliber rifle inside. The sniper's victims were all felled with .223 caliber ammunition." ... "Government sources identified the two as former U.S. Army combat engineer John Allen Muhammad, 41, and John Lee Malvo, 17." - By Mark Wilkinson

-Reuters via -ABCNEWS.com

Sniper - "

Police hold man who may have sniper info: Former soldier named in federal firearms warrant." ... "State Police in Maryland early Thursday picked up a man who sniper-case investigators say may have information about the shootings that have left 10 people dead over the last three weeks." ... "John Allen Muhammad, 42, was named in a federal arrest warrant late Wednesday. The warrant lists federal firearms charges." ... "Muhammad and his stepson, 17-year-old John Lee Malvo, were taken into custody in the pre-dawn hours as they slept in a Chevrolet Caprice at a rest area on Interstate 70 near Myersville, Maryland, authorities said."

-CNN

20021023

Judge Drops Pregnancy Records Request." ... "A Buena Vista District Court judge has vacated an order that would have required Planned Parenthood to turn over pregnancy records." -By Pat Mack -

KTIV

- "N.Y. Times to buy Post's 50% share of IHT." ... "The International Herald Tribune will be acquired by one of its two current owners, The New York Times Co., which will buy out the 50 percent interest of The Washington Post Co. under a plan announced Tuesday." ... "The sale, which follows some contentious, behind-the-scenes negotiations between two of the world's most famous newspapers, should not have any immediate effect on the IHT. "The world's daily newspaper," as the IHT calls itself, will continue to be published in 22 printing sites around the world and distributed in more than 180 countries." ... "After Katharine Graham's death last year, she was replaced by her son Donald, who is chief executive of the Post company. Though the elder Sulzberger remains as IHT co-chairman, his son Arthur Ochs Sulzberger Jr., is now chairman of the Times company."

-IHT.com

- "Symbolic Texas visit for Chinese president." ... "China's President Jiang Zemin will make perhaps his last stand in US-China relations in the heart of cowboy country - at President George W Bush's ranch in Texas." ... "With China's party congress looming, Mr Jiang will hope to give a memorable performance at Friday's meeting." ... "But he faces stiff competition from history - and the mark made by his predecessor, Deng Xiaoping, who attended a rodeo in the lone star state 23 years ago." -By Geraldine Carroll

"[U.S. national security adviser Condoleezza] Rice says does not know if [Chinese President] Jiang [Zemin] will give up power." ... ""I don't really have a sense of what will happen in the Chinese succession, but we obviously stand ready to work with Chinese leaders as they emerge," Rice told reporters when asked if she was convinced that Jiang would relinquish power." ... "Jiang, 76, is expected to retire from his post as Chinese Communist Party chief next month and to hand over power to a younger generation headed by Vice President Hu Jintao, 59." -By Arshad Mohammed

-Reuters via -Fortune

- "China's Jiang arrives in Texas ahead of Bush talks." ... "Chinese President Jiang Zemin arrived in Texas Wednesday for a three-day visit that will include an informal summit with President Bush at his Crawford ranch." ... "The two leaders are expected to discuss topics ranging from North Korea's newly disclosed nuclear weapons program to Bush's proposed action against Iraq in talks on Friday ahead of an Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation group meeting both will attend this weekend in Los Cabos, Mexico." -By Erwin Seba

-Reuters via -Fortune

Sniper - "

Sniper Search Stretches to Tacoma: Sniper Search Stretches Across the Country As FBI Agents Converge on Tacoma, Wash., Rental Home." ... "The search for the serial sniper jumped across the country Wednesday as FBI agents converged on a home in Tacoma with metal detectors and chain saws. A U.S. official in Washington said authorities were looking for two "people of interest" one of them formerly connected to Fort Lewis, an Army base south of Tacoma."

-AP via -ABCNEWS.com

Sniper - "

Sniper search: a communication strategy: A man was fatally shot Tuesday at a Maryland bus stop, as police continue to seek contact with the killer." ... "As the sniper investigation grinds on, the issue of communication among the shooter, the police, and the media has emerged as one of the most intriguing yet exasperating facets of the case." ... ""The media are not just sitting off to the side reporting this case. They are an active member of this complex dynamic between perpetrator, victim, and law enforcement, and how they conduct themselves in that mix will impact how the outcome plays out," says Jerrold Post, a psychology expert at George Washington University and a former CIA profiler." -By Gail Russell Chaddock

20021022

Judges Lifts Pregnancy Records Order: Judge Lifts Order for Pregnancy Records Sought in Investigation of Abandoned Baby." ... "A judge on Tuesday lifted an order that would have required Planned Parenthood to provide pregnancy-test records that authorities had hoped would lead them to the mother of a dead baby boy."

-AP via -ABCNEWS.com

Sniper - "

Sniper: 'Your children are not safe': Sources: Note contained timeline for more attacks." ... "A post-script to a message believed left by the sniper after Saturday's shooting warned: "Your children are not safe anywhere, at any time," the lead investigator of the case said Tuesday." ... "Meanwhile, law enforcement sources said a hand-written note found near the scene of Saturday's sniper shooting in Virginia "hinted at a demand for money" and threatened "more killing." One official said it contained a timeline for authorities to act, and if they failed, then there would be more attacks." ... "CNN initially withheld that information at the request of law enforcement officials, who feared that releasing it could jeopardize the investigation and put the community at risk. However, after several other news organizations reported the information, the officials said they had no objection to CNN reporting it."

-CNN

Sniper -

- "

Bus shooting raises sniper fears." ... "The new shooting followed a day of dashed hopes that investigators had cracked the case with the detention of two men near Richmond, Virginia, on suspicion of ties to the sniper attacks." ... "But authorities later announced that two taken into custody were illegal aliens with no connection to the case. They were being held by immigration officials, pending deportation."

-Reuters via -FT.com

Sniper -

- "

Man is shot at Maryland bus stop." ... "The shooting happened about 6 a.m. near an apartment building and wooded area along Connecticut Avenue. The location is near the sites of the first six sniper attacks, all on Oct. 2 and 3. In all, 12 people have been shot in Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C.; three of them were critically wounded." -By Stephen Manning

-AP via -Salon

Sniper - "

Police Ask Caller in the Sniper Make Contact." ... "In a fitful effort at communication through the public airwaves, the police disclosed that the person they are desperately trying to reach — the sniper himself, in the view of many detectives — had made his own telephone call to them since a note was left on Saturday at the scene of the latest shooting, in Ashland, Va." ... "No details of the Ponderosa Steakhouse note have been released other than that it was more than two pages long. Its content clearly did not ease detectives' fears that the sniper may strike again at any moment in some fresh direction out beyond the Washington hub." (1, 2) -By Francis X Clines with Christopher Drew

-NYTimes via -AltaVista-News

20021021

-West Coast Port Lockout - "

Imports, exports clog ports." ... "More than a week after longshoremen returned to the docks after the 12-day lockout, a logjam of ships persists at 29 ports in Oregon, Washington and California, confounding shipping lines' schedules, sowing confusion among importers and exporters, and in several cases threatening their bottom lines." ... "Since May, the International Longshore and Warehouse Union has battled the Pacific Maritime Association, which represents terminal operators and shipping lines, over a new three-year contract. Acrimonious negotiations prompted the maritime association to lock workers out Sept. 27." -By Boaz Herzog and Dylan Rivera

-OregonLive.com/Oregonian

Sniper - "

Richmond Paper Makes Sniper News: Local Ties Give Reporters a Leg Up." ... "At a time when other news outlets were still uncertain whether the weekend message from the shooter had been left on an answering machine or in a one-line note, the Richmond paper [

TimesDispatch

] reported that police had found the communique in the woods near the shooting site and that it was lengthy. The paper also revealed police speculation about the possible use of a bicycle by the shooter." -By Chris Nammour

-EditorAndPublisher.com

Sniper - "

Message Was Left at Latest Scene of Sniper Attack." ... ""You gave us a telephone number," said Chief Charles A. Moose of the Montgomery County, Md., police, directly addressing over television a person he would not identify. "We do want to talk to you. Call us at the number you provided."" ... "Chief Moose, the leader of the investigation, addressed the dramatic appeal to "the person who left us a message at the Ponderosa last night" — a reference to the restaurant here where a man was critically wounded by a single shot Saturday night as he walked in the parking lot." (1, 2) -By Francis X. Clines

-NYTimes via -AltaVista-News

Sniper -

- "In the Crosshairs of Cable News: Sniper coverage spurs speculation, not facts." ... "Time to get the latest on the Washington-area sniper from cable's news and speculation networks." ... "Speculation. Conjecture. Guesswork. This is what happens when news networks have 15 minutes of new news and 24 hours to fill." -By Noel Holston

-Newsday.com

20021019

Sniper - "

Sniper spy in the sky." ... "The army spy plane that is taking to the skies above the Washington area is a sign of the intense pressure investigators are under as they struggle with a lack of clues." ... "RC-7 reconnaissance planes are loaded with camera equipment with a range of up to 20 miles (32 kilometres), advanced night vision and heat-seeking equipment." -By Kathryn Westcott

Google Search: RC-7 reconnaissance plane

- "Bush Seeks to Cut Back on Raise for S.E.C.'s Corporate Cleanup." ... "Less than three months ago, President Bush signed with great fanfare sweeping corporate antifraud legislation that called for a huge increase in the budget of the Securities and Exchange Commission to police corporate America and clean up Wall Street." ... "Now the White House is backing off the budget provision and urging Congress to provide the agency with 27 percent less money than the new law authorized. Administration officials say their proposed increase is enough and that other budgetary needs, like the military and security against terrorism, make it impossible to afford more." ... "Harvey L. Pitt, the commission's chairman, has acknowledged through a spokesman that the administration's level of financing will not allow it to undertake important initiatives." (1, 2) -By Stephen Labaton

-NYTimes via -AltaVista-News

SEC.gov

Google [news] Search: Securities and Exchange Commission

20021018

- "JudgeOrders White House Papers' Release: Cheney Lawyers to Ask Appeals Court to Keep Energy Task Force Records Secret." ... "The Sierra Club and Judicial Watch, the plaintiffs in this case, are two of several groups that have alleged that the administration improperly met with private officials from the energy industry last year while shaping its energy policy. Environmental groups say they were largely excluded from the meetings." ... "The Bush administration has said repeatedly that the separation of powers doctrine shields those documents from outside review because they might show the administration's internal, deliberative process." -By Neely Tucker

- "'Bali Was a Wake-up Call to Indonesia': Exclusive: Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz tells TIME that a killer bomb blast will prompt Jakarta to crack down on terror, and that its hesitancy is based on concerns for democracy." ... "After a half-century of living under various autocracies and dictatorships, the Indonesians are leery of giving police too much power." -By Mark Thompson

TIA: Total Information Awareness

- "U.S. Says Pakistan Gave Technology to North Korea." ... "American intelligence officials have concluded that Pakistan, a vital ally since last year's terrorist attacks, was a major supplier of critical equipment for North Korea's newly revealed clandestine nuclear weapons program, current and former senior American officials said today [

20021017]." ... "The trade between Pakistan and North Korea appears to have occurred around 1997, roughly two years before Gen. Pervez Musharraf took power in a bloodless coup. However, the relationship appears to have continued after General Musharraf became president, and there is some evidence that a commercial relationship between the two country's extended beyond Sept. 11 of last year.." (1, 2) -

By David E. Sanger and James Dao -NYTimes via -AltaVista-News

20021017

- "DARPA developing info awareness." ... "The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is developing a total information awareness system to enable national security analysts to detect, classify, track, understand and pre-empt terrorist attacks against the United States." ... "Total information awareness incorporates transactional data systems, biometric authentication technologies, intelligence data and automated virtual data repositories, with the goal of creating an "end-to-end, closed-loop system," Popp said." ... "The office's budget for fiscal 2003 is about $150 million, up from about $96 million last year, and a "significant amount" of that funding is being spent on the total information awareness system, Popp said." -Dan Caterinicchia

-FCW.com

CHRONOLOGY- California power crisis investigations." ... "A former top Enron Corp. electricity trader pleaded guilty Thursday to inflating prices during the California energy crisis, confirming the suspicions of state officials who are demanding billions of dollars in refunds." ... "Timothy Belden, who was employed by Enron as the head of its western power trading unit in Portland, agreed to plead guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, federal prosecutors said."

-Reuters via -Fortune

- "Texas woman victim of Bali blast." ... "Karri Casner, 23, of Flower Mound, was vacationing at Kuta Beach at the time of the explosion and has not been seen since Saturday." ... "Another Texan, Jake Young from Midland, has been reported missing in the explosion, but has not yet been found."

-AP via -HoustonChronicle.com

- "Rivals: Microsoft is up to old tricks: Without protocols, competing gadgets, software won't work as well on Windows." ... "As Microsoft awaits court approval of its landmark antitrust settlement with the government, the company has angered some competitors by tightly limiting the technical data it promised to release." ... "In order to gain access, a company would have to use Microsoft's "Passport" identity authentication system, then request and sign two forms -- one of them promising secrecy -- just to see the license terms and find how much Microsoft is charging for the information."

-AP via -CNN

- "U.S. Not Certain if Pyongyang [North Korea] Has the Bomb." ... "Confronted by new American intelligence, North Korea has admitted that it has been conducting a major clandestine nuclear-weapons development program for the past several years, the Bush administration said tonight. Officials added that North Korea had also informed them that it has now "nullified" its 1994 agreement with the United States to freeze all nuclear weapons development activity." ... "Administration officials refused to say tonight [

20021016] whether the North Koreans had acknowledged successfully producing a nuclear weapon from the project, which uses highly enriched uranium. Nor would administration officials who briefed reporters say whether they think North Korea has produced such a weapon." (1, 2) -

By David E. Sanger -NYTimes via -AltaVista-News

"Sniper revives prospects for gun-tracking moves." ... "While large majorities of Americans have long favored tougher controls on firearms, some 40 percent of Americans have a gun in their homes, up from 34 percent at the time of the Columbine school shooting-spree in April 1999. Many strongly oppose new limits, and some have been prompted to buy and carry weapons in the wake of the sniper attacks." -By Gail Russell Chaddock

Google Search: sniper Posse Comitatus

20021016

Sniper - "

Barbara Starr: Military joins sniper probe." ... "The aircraft to be used are the RC-7 and U-21 -- small fixed-wing planes packed advanced technology, including sensors. They are all-weather planes that have the capability of operating round the clock." ... "STARR: Under the posse comitatus law, which dates back originally to 1878, no military involvement [is allowed] in law enforcement. And that means they can't pursue, they can't target, they have no powers of arrest." ... "But in recent years, what has come to happen is the military can provide assistance, and of course, the best example is the drug enforcement issue, drug interdiction." ...

-CNN

Google Search: posse comitatus

Sniper - "

Secret Military Spy Planes Enlisted in Hunt for Sniper." ... "The Pentagon agreed today to patrol the skies over the nation's capital with secret surveillance planes — now used to combat drug lords in Colombia and track military movements in North Korea — as part of a broadening effort to catch the sniper in the Washington area." ... "While senior Pentagon officials considered a range of aircraft, including unmanned drones like the Predators used in Afghanistan and Navy P-3 Orion surveillance planes, military officials settled on the unusual Army plane because of its technical capabilities and because it blends in with civilian aircraft flying in the Washington airspace." ... "The aircraft is a four-engine turbo-prop DeHavilland DHC-7 equipped with an array of special sensors that can provide high-resolution imagery as well as other detection capabilities." (1, 2) -By Eric Lichtblau and Eric Schmitt

-NYTimes via -Google-News

Google Search: Airborne Reconnaissance Low

- ARL

20021015

- "Iowa Workers Find 11 Bodies in Grain Rail Car." ... "Workers at a grain elevator in [Denison] Iowa discovered what appeared to be the decomposed bodies of 11 people in a rail car that came across the border from Mexico four months ago, police and immigration officials said on Tuesday."

-Reuters via -ABCNEWS.com

"Woman Shot Dead Outside Fairfax [County, Virginia] Store: Seven Corners Center Attack Is Similar to Sniper Pattern." ... "The shooting in the Falls Church area occurred about 9:15 p.m. at the Seven Corners Shopping Center, which is bounded by major Northern Virginia traffic arteries, and it prompted police to set up checkpoints on principal roads for miles around. Traffic came to a standstill." ... "Last night's killing, about six miles from the District, occurred much closer to the core of the metropolitan area than three shootings last week that took place in less densely populated Bowie, Spotsylvania County and Prince William County. The previous week, five people were slain in Montgomery County and one in Northwest Washington, and a woman was wounded in Spotsylvania." -By Martin Weil and Petula Dvorak

20021014

Doctors’ files: Closed!" ... "To the pleasant surprise of just about anyone paying attention, officials from anti-abortion Women’s Choice Center in Bettendorf stood behind Planned Parenthood. The dog put its arm around the cat." ... " “Whether women go to a private clinic, Planned Parenthood or a pro-life clinic, they come under the assumption that their case is private,” Women’s Choice director Lynn Grandon said last month." -By Barb Ickes

-QCTimes

- "Illinois puts death penalty on trial." ... "Clemency hearings are scheduled to begin this week for almost every prisoner facing the death penalty in the US state of Illinois." ... "The cases of 142 murderers - convicted of killing around 250 people - will be reviewed with the possibility that the state's Governor George Ryan will commute all their sentences to life in prison." ... "Governor Ryan, who leaves office in January, was the first to declare a moratorium on executions three years ago after three murder convictions were overturned with new examinations of DNA evidence."

- "Appeals court stands behind jailhouse lawyer privilege: Convicts can continue to consult fellow inmates until trial settles matter." ... "The U.S. Court of Appeals has upheld a lower court's injunction allowing a convicted Tama killer to get legal advice from his fellow inmates at the Iowa State Penitentiary." ... "Archie Robert Bear and three other inmates are challenging the Fort Madison prison's decision to ban prisoners from seeking legal advice from each other and to do away with the prison's "red star" envelope system prisoners use to communicate with each other on lawsuits and criminal appeals." ... "Before it was abolished in July 2001, the envelopes, which were marked with a crimson star, allowed jailhouse lawyers -- inmates with a knowledge of law -- to receive information and dispense legal advice." -By Jeff Reinitz

-WCFCourier.com

20021016

- "Iraqis 'vote' for Hussein – and against the US: From his hometown – and beyond – Tuesday's poll was a display of defiance." ... "The voting took place with no privacy, as no booths were available. Most voters didn't bother to fold their ballot papers as they slipped them into the box, leaving their marks in support of Hussein visible to the judge and other official observers." -By Scott Peterson and Cameron W. Barr

20021015

- "Pakistan tilts toward extremism? Musharraf this week said he will still support the US terror war, despite Islamic parties' election success." ... "Pakistan's masses have sent a clear signal of simmering resentment over the US war on terror which is playing out in their own backyard." ... "The Muttahida Maklis-i-Amal (MMA) – an alliance of five fundamentalist Islamic parties that opposes the US hunt for Al Qaeda terrorists here and wants to impose strict sharia or Muslim law –surpassed even the wildest of expectations in last Thursday's general elections. The MMA swept the vote in two provinces bordering Afghanistan, Baluchistan and Northwest Frontier Province, and made significant gains nationwide to become the third largest political block in the 342-seat National Assembly." -By Gretchen Peters

- "Jakarta links Bali bombing to Al Qaeda: Security boosted at plants of U.S. energy companies." ... "In the government's most explicit acknowledgment that Al Qaeda is operating in Indonesia, the defense minister linked the terrorist group Monday to a nightclub explosion Saturday that killed and wounded hundreds of people on the resort island of Bali." ... "President George W. Bush, linking the bombing of a French oil tanker off Yemen and the shooting of two U.S. Marines in Kuwait, said Monday that the Bali explosion appeared to be part of "a pattern of attack" by Al Qaeda." ... "Australia said Monday it had information linking Al Qaeda to the Bali bomb blasts, Reuters reported from Bali." -By Seth Mydans

-NYTimes -IHT.com

20021013

"Republicans using Iraq issue to slam election opponents." ... "Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein are showing up on the campaign trail." ... "In television ads and campaign speeches, Republican candidates have become increasingly bold about using war with Iraq and the threat of terrorism as issues against their Democratic opponents even when there is little or no difference between the candidates on issues such as the recent congressional vote to give President Bush the authority to invade Iraq." -By William M. Welch

20021012

- "One Killed in Phoenix [Arizona] Plane Crash: Small Plane Crashes Into Mobile Home Park in Phoenix; at Least One Person Dead."

-AP via -ABCNEWS.com

20021011

-West Coast Port Lockout - "

Shippers: W. Coast Dock Work Slows: West Coast Shipping Lines Say Dock Work Rate Is Down About 25 Percent." ... "Officials with the International Longshore and Warehouse Union said it was only a matter of time before their employers accused them of slowing down work. The union has said the docks are congested because of the 10-day lockout, which ended Wednesday evening on orders from a federal judge in San Francisco." ... ""You've got a logistical nightmare out here caused by their lockout," said union spokesman Steve Stallone. "They've created all the problems themselves and they're searching and searching for a way to say it's the union's fault."" ... "He said that the union has asked the association to train more workers than the current 10,500 members, but that it has balked. Union members also said they will adhere to safety rules."

-AP via -ABCNEWS.com

- "Technology Shapes Get-Out-The-Vote Efforts: Candidates, Parties Using E-mail and Wireless Devices To Organize Supporters." ... "Keenly aware that the role of the World Wide Web in the 2000 elections fell far short of the hype, campaign consultants now are selling the Internet less for its vote-getting power than as a command-and-control tool to reach out to the faithful." ... ""The Internet is a medium that's best used to preach to the choir, not to convert," said Dan Manatt, director of YDemsCan.net, a Democratic political action committee that supports candidates aged 40 and younger. "The political landscape online is changing subtly in that it's really starting to tilt toward the medium's strengths."" ... "In Iowa, a state hosting several pivotal and tight races, both parties are counting on technology to gain that extra edge." (1, 2) -By Brian Krebs

-WashingtonPost>TechNews

"Warner Confirms Shooting in Va." ... "A person has been shot at an Exxon gas station near Fredericksburg, Virginia Gov. Mark Warner confirmed this morning." -By Robert H. Melton

-AP via -WashingtonPost

- "Congress Passes Iraq War Resolution: Congress Approves Use of U.S. Military Force to Confront Iraq, Send Resolution to White House." ... "Congress approved the use of America's military might against Iraq, reinforcing President Bush's insistence that Saddam Hussein's government had no other option but to disarm. "The days of Iraq acting as an outlaw state are coming to an end," Bush said." ... "After days of solemn debate, both the House and Senate passed and sent to the White House a resolution authorizing the president to use military force, if necessary, to compel Iraq to get rid of its biological and chemical weapons and disband its nuclear weapons program."

-AP via -ABCNEWS.com

20021010

Officials yield in demand for records of pregnancy." ... "Tom Miller, Iowa's attorney general, asked the Iowa Supreme Court on Wednesday to send the case back to a lower court so the Buena Vista County attorney can withdraw a court order demanding pregnancy-test records from the Planned Parenthood clinic in Storm Lake." ... "Still, Planned Parenthood of Greater Iowa's legal fight isn't over, officials warned." -By Staci Hupp

-DesMoinesRegister

- "As sniper hunt grows, role of media blurs." ... "Police scold reporters for 'interference,' but thank them for publicizing citizen hot line." ... "In the D.C. case, the local CBS affiliate, WUSA, Channel 9, uncovered the fact that police had found a note – scrawled on a tarot card – near the scene of Monday's shooting. It read, "Dear Policeman, I am God."" ... "That set off [Montgomery County Police Chief Charles] Moose, who said at yesterday's press conference, "I ask my community, do you want the police department to work the case or do you want Channel 9 to work the case? Let me know because there is no room, in my mind, for both of us."" -By Kim Campbell

ATF P 3315.2 - Bullets, Casings and You

"Man shot, killed at D.C.-area gas station: Virginia police investigate possible sniper link" ... "Authorities in Virginia said Thursday they were operating under the assumption that a fatal shooting Wednesday night was the latest in a series of sniper attacks, but they had not established a definitive link." ... "The victim of Wednesday night's shooting in was identified as Dean Harold Meyers, 53, of Gaithersburg, Maryland. Authorities said he was shot once in the head. All the sniper victims so far have been hit with a single shot."

-CNN

20021009

- "Profiler: Sniper case publicity a balancing act." ... "One of the lead investigators in the Washington, D.C.-area sniper shootings lashed out at the media Wednesday." ... "Montgomery County, Maryland, Police Chief Charles Moose was upset that information about a tarot card left near the scene of the most recent shooting -- and inscribed with the message, "Dear Policeman: I am God" -- had been leaked to the media."

-CNN

ATF Online - Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.

Go to the NIBIN.gov site

Photo Link

[PDF:]

http://www.atf.treas.gov

- "'Death' Card Found at Sniper Scene." ... "Investigators searching for a sniper terrorizing the Washington suburbs found a tarot card with the words, "Dear policeman, I am God," near a bullet casing outside the school where a 13-year-old boy was critically wounded, a source familiar with the investigation confirmed Wednesday." -By David Dishneau

-AP via -Seattle-PI.com.NWsource

20021008

- "Security tight at D.C.-area schools: Shooting of 13-year-old linked to sniper killings." ... "Students were escorted into classrooms Tuesday under heavy guard at schools in metro Washington as police hunted for the sniper who shot a 13-year-old boy in front of a suburban middle school in Maryland -- the eighth random hit since last week."

-CNN

- "Clues Suggest Iraq Has Smallpox: Some Clues, Including Camel Virus Experiment, Suggest Iraq Has Smallpox, Experts Say." ... "Clues include U.N. weapons inspectors' discovery of a machine labeled "smallpox" and Iraq's experimenting with a related virus that infects camels. The official U.S. position, shared by some experts, is that the evidence is inconclusive." ... ""I don't believe the intelligence community has a smoking gun that Iraq possesses the virus," said Jonathan Tucker, a former U.N. biological weapons inspector. "My impression is they're erring on the side of caution on these bits of circumstantial evidence that are troubling but not conclusive.""

-AP via -ABCNEWS.com

20021007

"Terror cases may define court term: Supreme Court, back in session Monday, faces several landmark cases that could elevate the judiciary's stature." ... "Terrorism-related challenges to civil liberties, affirmative action, and campaign-finance reform top the list of mega-issues expected to confront the justices in their 2002-03 term, which begins Monday." ... "Although the justices have yet to agree to review a case resulting from 9/11, analysts say one key will be how they view their responsibilities at a time of national emergency." -By Warren Richey

- "Bush faces crucial week in forging unity on Iraq: Monday speech, likely vote in Congress, and UN maneuvering will test support for US action." ... "The Senate's more guarded response on Iraq seems to mirror the American mood. A poll released last week by the respected Program on International Policy Attitudes at the University of Maryland shows that while a strong majority supports an invasion of Iraq if it is carried out with multilateral support, only a small minority favors an invasion by America acting alone." -By Howard LaFranchi

Google Search: Program on International Policy Attitudes

PIPA.org

20021005

- "Rule of law or renegade? Iraq crisis will tell, ex-inspector says." ... "The looming war in Iraq will define the United States either as a democracy dedicated to the rule of law or a renegade empire, says Scott Ritter, the controversial former chief U.N. weapons inspector in Iraq." ... "He said the Bush administration has used the Sept. 11 tragedy to further the right's agenda -- not to make the nation more secure." ... "By accusing dissenters of being unpatriotic, he said Bush has created a climate in America that stifles democratic values of free and open discussion of issues." ... ""Democracy is about involvement, criticizing, debate, that's what makes this country work," Ritter said." -By Chris McGann

-Seattle-PI.com.NWsource

20021004

"Wal-Mart Delivers a Sub-$200 PC." ... "The SYSMAR710 is not aimed at the power user, nor does it target the gaming or enthusiast crowds. Instead, the folks at Lindows.com, Microtel, Via Technologies, and Wal-Mart hope to capture what they believe are emerging markets: consumers with broadband connections who want an inexpensive second or third PC for the home, and businesses that require only a basic machine for Internet, e-mail, and office applications and that is easily integrated into an existing network." -By John R. Delaney

-PCMag.com

"Pair Sought in Md. Sniper Slays: Maryland Police Seek Sniper and Driver After 5 Killed in D.C. Suburbs; Sixth Death Under Investigation." ... "Maryland police said Friday they were looking for two men a driver and a sniper in the fatal shootings of at least five people in the suburbs north of Washington, D.C."

-AP via -ABCNEWS.com

"Experts Look to Rifle in Gun Spree: Experts Say Gun Used in Suburban Washington Shootings Likely a High-Powered Rifle." ... "Montgomery County police said it was likely that the shots, described as .223-caliber bullets, were fired from a rifle such as a Colt AR-15 the semiautomatic, civilian version of the military M-16 assault rifle."

-AP via -ABCNEWS.com

20021003

"Five killed in Montgomery County, Md., suburbs; victims gunned down one by one." ... "Five people were fatally shot one by one in public places within 16 hours of each other in Washington's [D.C.] suburbs, and authorities said Thursday there was a ''strong possibility'' the killings were related." -By Stephen Manning

-AP via -Boston/Globe

Quad Cities

- "Leach says he will not back Iraq resolution." ... "U.S. Rep. Jim Leach, R-Iowa, said Wednesday he will break with the Bush administration and oppose a resolution authorizing the use of force against Iraq." ... "The Davenport native said there is too great a danger of such action resulting in a biological weapons attack against Israel and an Israeli nuclear counterattack. “This is a circumstance we should step back from,” he added." -By Ed Tibbetts

-QCTimes

Committee on International Relations.
House.gov/leach

"New Jersey Court Allows Substitute on Senate Ballot." ... "New Jersey's Supreme Court unanimously ruled today that Democrats could replace Senator Robert G. Torricelli's name on this November's ballot, effectively clearing the way for former Senator Frank R. Lautenberg to enter the race." ... "The 7-to-0 ruling came two days after Mr. Torricelli ended a re-election bid that had been dominated by questions about his ethics. Republicans said they would appeal the ruling immediately to the United States Supreme Court." -By David Kocieniewski

-NYTimes via -AltaVista-News

20021002

- "Powell: Saddam can avert ouster." ... "Secretary of State Colin Powell suggested Wednesday that President Bush's policy of "regime change" in Iraq could leave Saddam Hussein in power if he disarms fully." -By Barbara Slavin

20020929

- "Firing Back From Iraq." ... "Iraq's rejection of any new United Nations resolution that toughens the terms of disarmament appeared calculated to widen the gap dividing the United States and Britain from the other big powers at the United Nations as they were struggling to find a common approach to confront Saddam Hussein." ... "But if it stands as Iraq's last word, this refusal could also mark the beginning of the transition from diplomacy to war in the Persian Gulf, as President Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair were already wheeling their military forces to higher states of readiness." -By Patrick E. Tyler

-NYTimes via -AltaVista-News

STEM CELL NEWS

- "Nancy Reagan Fights Bush Over Stem Cells." ... "Mr. Bush sharply limited such research. At 81, the former first lady is obliquely but persistently campaigning — through friends, advisers, lawmakers and her own well-placed calls and letters — to reverse the president's decision." ... "Mrs. Reagan believes that embryonic stem cell research could uncover a cure for Alzheimer's, the disease that has wiped out her husband's memory. She was dismayed, friends say, when the White House took issue on Monday with a new California law that encourages embryonic stem cell research." ... ""A lot of time is being wasted," she told a friend last week who was given permission to pass her words on to The New York Times. "A lot of people who could be helped are not being helped."" -By Alessandra Stanley

-NYTimes via -Google-News

- "The Making of John Walker Lindh: How did a quiet, bright young boy from suburban America end up alongside the Taliban in Afghanistan? This is a story of love, loathing and an often reckless quest for spiritual fulfillment." ... "He is the Traitor to the general public, which sees a Taliban soldier who attended the training camps and allegedly shook the hand of Osama bin Laden. He is a Lost Soul to his family's friends and defenders, who see a brilliant kid from a nice family who went off to find purity and peace and found fanaticism and war. But a TIME investigation of his path to jihad, relying on dozens of witnesses, reveals an even more complex person than the caricatures would allow. When Lindh is sentenced this Friday as part of a plea bargain, a judge will have to decide which of his identities matters most in determining how much of the rest of his life he should spend in jail." (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6) -By Timothy Roche, Brian Bennett, Anne Berryman, Hilary Hylton, Siobhan Morrissey and Amany Radwan, with reporting by Frank Sikora, Alex Perry, and Hannah Bloch

Quad Cities - "

Q-C educators report few attempts to ban books." ... Across the U.S., though, "from 1990 to 2000, 6,364 challenges to books were reported to the ALA's Office for Intellectual Freedom.... the most challenged material for 2001 was the Harry Potter series, for its focus on wizardry and magic." -By Stephanie Massick -

The Dispatch

20020928

"FBI Failed to Classify Reports Before Moussaoui Had Them." ... "The incident is the latest in a string of FBI mistakes related to document control, which FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III has identified as one of the chief shortcomings at the bureau. Authorities are implementing a computerized "virtual document" system aimed at improvement." -By Dan Eggen

20020927

- "Elections weigh on Iraq debate: Partisan battling between Democrats and Bush may slow war-resolution vote in Congress – and consensus at UN." -By Peter Grier and Linda Feldmann