Amazon.com 100 Hot Books

UNITED NATIONS (March 17) - The United States has advised the United Nations to pull its weapons inspectors out of Iraq, the head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog said on Monday in the clearest signal to date that war is imminent.

The advice, late on Sunday, followed an ultimatum from President Bush that the world body had just one more day to give its blessing to a resolution sanctioning the use of force to rid Iraq of suspected weapons of mass destruction.

But with the divided Security Council due to begin consultations at 10 a.m. Monday in New York, France restated a veto threat that is likely to signal the end of diplomacy and a green light for a U.S.-led war.

''Late last night I was advised by the U.S. government to pull out our inspectors from Baghdad. Similar advice has been given to UNMOVIC,'' International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei told the agency's board of governors.

He said that he had immediately informed the president of the U.N. Security Council and asked for guidance. He also informed U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan. UNMOVIC is a U.N. agency looking for weapons of mass destruction.

About 135 inspectors remain in Iraq, a U.N. source told Reuters on condition of anonymity.

An UNMOVIC spokesman in Baghdad said they had not yet received an evacuation order. A plane is on standby to whisk them out once the order arrives.

Iraqi President Saddam Hussein told his military commanders earlier that if Iraq were attacked, it would take the battle anywhere in the world ''wherever there is sky, land or water.''

Bush's deadline followed a Sunday summit with Britain, Spain and Portugal on an Atlantic island in the Azores. ''We concluded that tomorrow is a moment of truth for the world,'' he said.

But French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin told Europe 1 radio on Monday: ''France cannot accept the resolution that is on the table in New York... which poses an ultimatum and which envisages an automatic use of force.''

Russia, which like France holds a veto in the council, also said the U.S.-British-Spanish resolution on use of force ''has no chance'' of passing. Germany, a council member without a veto, said it could not agree to any resolution legitimizing war.

Britain and the United States, who have a 250,000-strong force in or around the Gulf, advised their civilians to leave Kuwait, which is the likely launch pad for an invasion of Iraq.

As conflict loomed, U.N. observers, who have monitored the Iraq-Kuwait border since the 1991 Gulf War, stopped operations in the demilitarized zone, which invasion forces would have to cross. They said they expected to quit the zone later on Monday.

Britain landed some of its seaborne marines on a Kuwaiti beach on Monday after a forecast of violent sandstorms that could hamper an amphibious assault. A British officer, Captain Alan Massey, told his men war could come ''within very few days.''

'SUMMIT OF OUTLAWS'

Iraqi Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf branded the Azores gathering a ''summit of outlaws'' and told reporters in Baghdad: ''They are in a hurry to carry out a foolish aggression on Iraq but they will fail.''

Bush said the 15-member Security Council had to agree in the next 24 hours on a resolution laying the groundwork for war. He left no doubt that the United States and its allies would otherwise move to invade Iraq without explicit U.N. backing.

After weeks of trying to get the minimum nine votes for the resolution, Washington has ended up with only one nation, Bulgaria, publicly declaring its support.

France wants a minimum of 30 days for Iraq to meet final disarmament tasks set by chief U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix. The Bush administration has rejected that.

Britain accused France on Monday of taking the pressure off Saddam. ''The damage done by this threat of a French veto to the whole diplomatic process has been enormous,'' Mike O'Brien, a junior minister at the Foreign Office, told BBC radio.

If Paris stands firm, London and Washington are expected to give up on the U.N. process rather than face humiliating defeat.

Bush is expected to go on television this week warning Americans of the coming war and giving U.N. inspectors and humanitarian workers time to quit Iraq, U.S. officials say.

In Baghdad, Saddam said on Sunday it was a ''great lie'' that Iraq still had banned weapons and branded the United States ''the unjust judge of the world.'' Foreign Minister Naji Sabri said tens of thousands of ''martyrs'' were ready to fight Americans.

''When the enemy opens the war on a large scale it should realize that the battle between us will be waged wherever there is sky, earth and water anywhere in the world,'' Saddam told officers at a meeting reported by the state Iraqi News Agency.

Villepin is considering attending a Security Council meeting on Tuesday when Blix is to speak about key tasks for Iraqi disarmament, diplomats say. If he comes other foreign ministers are bound to follow, for the fifth time this year.

Both British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar face overwhelming domestic opposition to a war. Blair also faces a potential revolt in his Labor Party if war goes ahead without explicit U.N. backing.

The resolution before the council has a March 17 deadline for Saddam to scrap or account for any chemical, biological or nuclear weapons. Britain has offered to put off that date for some days if the measure has a chance of adoption.

If there is no vote on the new resolution, the United States, Britain and their supporters are likely to argue that an invasion is justified by Resolution 1441, adopted on November 8, which threatened ''serious consequences'' if Iraq did not disarm.

Blix has been invited to Baghdad although diplomats said it was unlikely at this point he would go. He said he was still evaluating the invitation.

REUTERS  Reut06:10 03-17-03

One of the most prominent female hip-hoppers of the 1990s thanks to her soulful and uplifting rhymes, Queen Latifah has also crafted an increasingly successful screen presence.

SALT LAKE CITY (March 1) - Elizabeth Smart wore braids and a big smile in her incredible return home, nine months after she was taken in the middle of the night from the bedroom where she was sleeping next to her younger sister.

Months of prayers were answered Wednesday when sharp-eyed residents led police to the 15-year-old, who was alive and healthy and walking down a suburban street with a drifter the sister had said, months earlier, could be the kidnapper.

As her tearful parents embraced their daughter, investigators booked the drifter and his wife for investigation of kidnapping and began trying to answer the questions on everyone's minds: How was Elizabeth taken? Where did she go? What kept her from crying out for help even as she roamed the streets just minutes from her home?

Smart family spokesman Chris Thomas said Elizabeth answered the last question herself: ''She said there was no way, she had two people with her at all times.''

Police in the Salt Lake City suburb of Sandy arrested Brian Mitchell and his wife, Wanda Barzee, on Wednesday afternoon after getting calls a minute apart from two couples who saw a man and two females wearing bedraggled veils and carrying bedrolls and bags. Elizabeth, Barzee and Mitchell, who is also known as Emmanuel, were all wearing wigs when they were stopped, authorities said.

Ed Smart said Thursday that he had not asked his daughter for details about her nine months away from home.

''Physically she's OK,'' he told CBS's ''The Early Show''. ''I know that she's been through brainwashing. For her to have gone through the past nine months has just been horrible, absolutely horrible.''

Mitchell, a self-styled prophet for the homeless, and Barzee were taken to the Sandy police station and later booked into the Salt Lake County Jail for investigation of aggravated kidnapping. Mitchell, who had worked briefly at the Smarts' home, was also being held on an outstanding warrant for retail theft.

Barzee's stepdaughter, Louree Gayler, was 12 when her mother married Mitchell. She said they prayed for hours and expected her to do the same, and that she felt uncomfortable and went to live with her father after three years.

''There could have been a little bit of a brainwashing, they're very good at that,'' Gayler told NBC's ''Today'' show. ''Or there could have been drugs involved.''

She said Elizabeth may have been kidnapped to ''give my mom back something she lost'' when Gayler left home. ''Elizabeth resembles me at 15,'' she told the Tribune.

Asked if her stepfather was sexually abusive, she said there were ''hugs, kisses that were kind of uncalled for'' and she was sometimes uncomfortable with the way he stared at her.

''He shot a dog in front of us, made me eat my own rabbit for dinner, things like that,'' she told ''The Early Show.''

Rudy and Nancy Montoya had spotted Mitchell walking with two people in Sandy, a Salt Lake City suburb, and Rudy Montoya said he recognized the man from television reports.

The Montoyas called police just as Anita and Alvin Dickerson drove past the trio, had the same thought about Mitchell and stopped their car. Anita said she walked up to the man and looked him in the eye.

''I knew it was him from the pictures I had seen on television,'' she said.

What she didn't realize was that the veiled person walking between the two adults was Elizabeth. ''I thought she was an older lady wearing a scarf,'' Dickerson said.

Sandy Police Chief Stephen Chapman said that when officers questioned Elizabeth on the street with the other two present, they had to ask several times what her name was.

''It took some time before we could actually determine that it was her,'' he said. ''Under the circumstances, that was probably very normal.''

He said she explained why she was wearing a veil, wig and sunglasses but declined to say elaborate. He also declined to comment on whether she was abused, and said he didn't know if she had tried to escape.

Ed Smart received a call Wednesday from Sandy police, telling him to drive to their headquarters without stopping. Minutes later, he and Elizabeth were reunited.

''All of the children out there deserve to come back to their parents the way Elizabeth has come back to us,'' he said, breaking into tears. ''It is nothing but a miracle. I just held her, held her all the way home.''

Elizabeth's uncle Dave Smart said she appeared well-fed. She was examined at a hospital and taken home.

''We have Elizabeth, we have the person who took her,'' Dave Smart said. ''You couldn't ask for any better closure than that.''

Salt Lake City Police Chief Rick Dinse said investigators were convinced Elizabeth was kidnapped. Asked whether he believed she was held against her will, Dinse said, ''At this point, yes, I do.''

Police tried to piece together the events of the past nine months, with details emerging that she may have been as far away as California at times and as close as Salt Lake City.

Elizabeth told her father she spent some of the time she was abducted in San Diego, Chris Thomas said. Witnesses also reported seeing Mitchell and two female companions at a San Diego County grocery store around Christmas.

Daniel Trotta, 24, told The Associated Press that he believed Elizabeth stayed in his basement apartment in Salt Lake City for nearly a week in October after Trotta befriended Mitchell, a customer at the health-food store where he once worked. Trotta said he invited the couple and the girl who was with them to stay because they had no home.

Mitchell introduced the girl as his daughter, Trotta said. She said little, always wore a veil and made no effort to escape. Trotta said when he asked once for her name, Mitchell ordered the girl not to respond.

Trotta went to police Sunday after he recognized Mitchell on ''America's Most Wanted.'' He said police dusted his apartment for fingerprints Tuesday. A police spokeswoman could not immediately confirm that officers had been to the apartment.

Mitchell's relatives have described him as a self-proclaimed prophet and outdoorsman who has lived in a teepee in mountains outside the city.

Elizabeth's mother, Lois Smart, said in February that she met Mitchell in downtown Salt Lake City when he asked her for money. She gave him $5 and hired him to help her husband repair their home's roof in November 2001. He worked at the home for about five hours. Seven months later, Elizabeth disappeared.

Police initially focused on another handyman who worked for the Smarts, Richard Ricci, who denied being involved in Elizabeth's disappearance. He died in August while in prison on a parole violation.

The Smart family grew increasingly critical of police for focusing too much on Ricci. In mid-October, Mary Katherine, Elizabeth's 10-year-old sister who was the sole witness to the abduction, told her parents she thought Mitchell - known then to the family as Emmanuel - could have been the one who took Elizabeth.

Mitchell's sister called law enforcement after the Smart family held a news conference Feb. 3 to circulate an artist's sketch of the man and provided a photo of her brother.

Last summer, the Smarts held twice-daily news briefings and thousands of volunteers combed the foothills of Salt Lake City for any sign of Elizabeth.

The family often got calls from the police alerting them to grisly discoveries that might be linked to their missing daughter; they wanted the Smarts to know before the story hit the news.

Sometimes, the news beat the police. Hands and feet had been found in a canyon, or bones had been discovered in the desert. The Smarts would call police to ask if it was Elizabeth. Every time, the answer was no.

The day Elizabeth was found, her family renewed its call for a national ''Amber Alert'' system to swiftly notify the public of missing children through the media.

''We are very, very relieved,'' said Marilyn Ward, director of Child Search, a national missing children center based in Houston. ''This should help the cause of missing children everywhere. We are thankful she's alive. It gives hope to people to never give up.''

 AP-NY-03-13-03 0850EST

 BEIJING (March 12) - The Chinese government has ordered the Rolling Stones to ax four of their best-known hits from their landmark mainland shows next month, a concert organizer said Wednesday.

The band, which is scheduled to perform in Shanghai April 1 and in Beijing April 4, will not be allowed to play ``Brown Sugar,'' ``Honky Tonk Women,'' ``Beast of Burden,'' or ``Let's Spend the Night Together,'' said Chen Jixin head of Beijing Time New Century Entertainment, a concert organizer behind the two China dates.

The four songs, all of which include sexual references, were originally cut from the mainland release of the band's ``40 Licks'' compilation album by China's culture ministry, Chen said. ``Brown Sugar'' refers to an interracial coupling.

The album was released by EMI Records China earlier this year. It was the first Rolling Stones album to legally hit the China market; pirated Stones' CDs are widely available in Shanghai and Beijing.

Chen said she didn't know why the government had banned the four songs. The Chinese Ministry of Culture said no one was immediately available for comment.

Only songs on the officially released ``40 Licks'' album will be allowed during the China shows, Chen said.

The mainland set changes will not be the first time the Stones have run afoul of censors.

In 1967, the Rolling Stones appeared on ``The Ed Sullivan Show'' in the United States to sing ``Let's Spend The Night Together.'' To satisfy censors, Mick Jagger sang ``Let's spend some time together.''

When asked about the Beijing and Shanghai performance dates in Tokyo last week guitarist Keith Richards said: ``It's about time they let us in.''

The band first applied to perform in China in the 1970s and was refused permission.

03/12/03 11:19 EST

SPACE CENTER, Houston (Feb. 8) - NASA investigators are anxious to examine a small, ragged piece of one of Columbia's wings because it may give important new clues about why the space shuttle broke apart in the final minutes of its return to Earth a week ago.

The debris includes a 26- to 27-inch-long piece of a carbon-hardened tile that was part of the leading edge of a Columbia wing. Failure of the thermal control tiles on the space shuttle's left wing is suspected in the destruction of Columbia.

Ron Dittemore, shuttle program manager at the Johnson Space Center, said Friday it was unknown if the debris was from the left wing, where Columbia's trouble may have started, or from the right wing, which gave no indication of problems.

''Certainly we're more interested in the left wing,'' he said. Each of 27,000 pieces of the shuttle's tile system carries a heatproof serial number so engineers are expected to pinpoint exactly where the wing part came from.

The wing part was found near Fort Worth and is part of the thousands of Columbia pieces that fell across Texas and Louisiana last Saturday morning when the shuttle broke up during a high speed drop from space toward a landing at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The accident killed seven astronauts.

Dittemore said a high-definition military photo shot in the final moments of Columbia's flight is ''not very revealing,'' despite the claim by some it shows a ragged leading edge on the left wing and a plume of vapor or smoke trailing behind.

The photo, shot by a powerful Air Force telescope camera in New Mexico, shows a fuzzy, batwing-shaped silhouette of the shuttle with a dark gray streak behind the left wing.

''It is not clear to me that there is something there,'' he said.

Some people have said they see damage on the left wing, thought to be the heart of Columbia's problems, Dittemore said.

''It does look like there's something just a little different about the left-hand side behind the wing than the right-hand side,'' Dittemore said. ''That does look a little different to us and is an area of investigation.''

He said the photo doesn't resolve the question of whether the shuttle may have been seriously damaged by a chunk of foam debris that struck Columbia on the left wing shortly after liftoff.

''It does not indicate whether an event occurred on launch day, in orbit or even during re-entry,'' Dittemore said. ''You cannot tell from that photograph that an event occurred.''

Dittemore also presented diagrams that show the gradual thermal changes detected by sensors in the left wing and along the base of the adjoining fuselage. Some sensors registered a gradual increase in heat while others abruptly stopped working, as if wires had been severed or burned through.

Hopes have faded that NASA might get more information from data from the final 32 seconds recorded between the time Johnson Space Center's computers stopped reading the data to the point all sensors went dead. The data was too garbled to be interpreted and was largely useless, said James Gavura, director of NASA's Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System.

''There was 31 seconds (of silence) and then 1 more second of data,'' Gavura said.

That second could contain information on the position of the orbiter just before it began to tumble and break up, he said.

Although that second hasn't been verified as shuttle data, Gavura said it appears to have the proper signature.

NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe arrived at Johnson Space Center on Friday afternoon after spending the morning at a memorial service for the seven astronauts at Kennedy Space Center.

O'Keefe met with an independent advisory board, which took the lead in the investigation Thursday, and addressed NASA employees about their concerns as the investigation progresses.

''Right now, we want to find out what happened.'' he stressed. ''No one person will be fingered.''

AP-NY-02-08-03 1003EST

OREGON CITY, Ore. (Aug. 25) - FBI agents searching for two missing girls found human remains in a shed and began digging beneath a concrete slab behind the house of Ward Weaver, a neighbor who has described himself as a suspect in the girls' disappearance. Authorities would not say if the body found Saturday was that of either Ashley Pond or Miranda Gaddis, two 13-year-olds who lived in a nearby apartment complex. The remains were handed over to a medical examiner, and investigators planned to continue searching the property Sunday. Weaver's attorney, Timothy Lyons, told The Oregonian that his client provided written authorization for the search because he wanted to ``bring closure to the families.'' Weaver, who has not been charged in the disappearances and has denied any involvement, was arrested Aug. 13 on unrelated rape charges involving his 19-year-old son's girlfriend. He is being held on $1 million bail. Following the alleged rape, the upset son told 9-1-1 dispatchers that his father killed both Ashley and Miranda. Weaver knew Ashley, who was a friend of his daughter. She frequently stayed overnight at the Weaver house, went on a trip to California last year with Weaver and his daughter, and even lived at the house for several months last year while her own father was in jail on charges of abusing her. Ashley disappeared Jan. 9. She was last seen eating breakfast with her younger sister and was to walk to a bus stop near Weaver's home in a low-income development tucked into a wooded valley south of Portland. Miranda's mother, Michelle Duffey, said she last saw her daughter on March 8. After the second disappearance, investigators interviewed scores of residents at the complex, went on national television with appeals for information and passed out fliers with pictures of the missing girls. The FBI received thousands of tips, but were unable to single out a suspect. Then came the phone call from Weaver's son. When residents found out, they urged authorities to dismantle a concrete slab that Weaver had poured shortly after Miranda's disappearance, and Ashley's former stepmother taped a sign reading ``Dig Me Up'' on slab. Weaver told reporters several months ago that the FBI considered him the prime suspect. Ashley had accused Weaver of molesting her the previous summer, but he denied the allegations and was never charged. Weaver, a 39-year-old single father whose own father is on death row in California, told The Associated Press in an interview last month that he treated Ashley as a daughter when she came to visit. He said he noticed Ashley often wore halter tops and mini skirts, and that he often asked her to change into something more appropriate while at his house. ``My sister, the first time she saw Ashley, she told me I got to watch myself,'' Weaver said at the time. ``I said 'shut up, she's 12.''' Weaver has said he often gave Ashley a ride to Gardner Middle School in his 1977 Ford Thunderbird. Weaver was evicted from the single-story house after his sma arrest on the rape charge, and the FBI began searching the property Saturday morning. Activity in the fenced-off yard picked up around 3 p.m. Saturday, as crime reconstruction teams, digging equipment and FBI agents poured into the fenced-off area. A medical examiner's vehicle pulled up about two hours later and backed into a shed near the house. Around that time, the girls' grandfathers - Don Martin and Wesley Duffey - abruptly left the search scene, saying they had to be with their daughters. ``Wes got a call from the FBI that said, 'Get to your family now,' `` said Cassie Winter, a friend of the families. Charlie Mathews, special agent in charge of the FBI's Portland office, later announced that the remains of one person had been found. Neighbors reacted with horror to the discovery of human remains on the property and said the FBI should have acted sooner. ``I'm kind of surprised it took this long to really go in and search this place,'' said Aaron Hixon, a 28-year-old neighbor. ``The girls had been in and out of his house. He certainly had the opportunity to do whatever he wanted.'' 08/25/02 08:11 EDT

WASHINGTON (Nov. 15) - One of the top two-dozen al-Qaida leaders sought by the United States in its war on terrorism was captured recently and is in Ame custody, U.S. government sources said on Friday.

The sources declined to name the operative for Osama bin Laden's network who was caught in the past week or so. But it was not top lieutenant Ayman al-Zawahri, operational leader Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, nor bin Laden's son Saad.

U.S. authorities have become increasingly concerned this week that al-Qaida was planning fresh attacks.

The FBI said that in selecting its next targets, the network may favor ''spectacular attacks'' that result in mass casualties and severe damage to the U.S. economy.

Contributing to that concern was an audio tape broadcast earlier this week on the al-Jazeera television channel in Qatar believed to be of bin Laden praising recent attacks and making fresh threats.

     The United States blamed bin Laden and his al Qaeda network for the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on America that killed about 3,000 people.

Senior al-Qaida leaders in U.S. custody include Abu Zubaydah and Ramzi Binalshibh, who were being interrogated at an undisclosed location overseas.

''There have been a number of -- numerous senior leaders of al Qaeda that have either been eliminated, incarcerated or detained someplace,'' national security adviser Condoleezza Rice said without elaborating.

President Bush earlier this week, in response to a question about the audio tape, said, ''We'll chase these people down one at a time. It doesn't matter how long it takes, we'll find them and bring them to justice.'' 

Reut12:51 11-15-02

WASHINGTON (Oct. 12) - President Bush is considering plans for a postwar Iraq that could keep U.S. troops in the Middle Eastern country long after President Saddam Hussein's departure.

One model being reviewed is the post-World War II occupation of Japan by an American-led military government, Secretary of State Colin Powell said Friday. Another, he said in a National Public Radio interview, is the postwar occupation of Germany.

Powell said no single model has been selected, but American troops would be bound to remain in Iraq if the United States fights a war to depose Saddam ``until you could put in place a better system.''

White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said ``the United States will not cut and run'' if Bush considers it necessary to disarm Iraq by force under authority granted by Congress. Administration policy is that Saddam must be removed from office.

``The administration is working to find ways to help achieve stability for Iraq and for the region,'' Fleischer said. ``And we are considering a variety of ways to do so with our international partners, with the possibility of the United Nations'' being involved as well.

Several administration officials said Bush's top aides, including national security adviser Condoleezza Rice, would oppose a military government. Among their concerns: Occupation might inflame Iraqis along with Muslims in other countries.

But as Bush moves closer to war if Iraq refuses to disarm, his bid for backing from the United Nations is encountering stiff resistance, especially from France.

In a move to placate France, U.S. diplomats offered to remove a threat to use all means necessary to force Iraq to disarm. France still objected because the resolution would threaten consequences if Iraq remained defiant.

Russia's ambassador to the United Nations, Sergey Lavrov, said his government was not yielding in its opposition to a green light for military intervention in Iraq.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said, ``The member states want a two-stage approach: Send in the inspectors, and if they get into trouble, if it fails, come back and we will pass the second resolution.''

Under France's strategy, that second resolution might include using force against Iraq.

Congress, on the other hand, gave the president authority to use force against Iraq, even without the United Nations if necessary, and Bush plans to sign the resolution next week.

Bush and Powell hope the votes in Congress will build momentum for a tough U.N. resolution.

Iraq, meanwhile, confirmed in a letter that it is ready to allow U.N. weapons inspections after a lapse of nearly four years.

The White House has said Bush has not decided whether to use military force. But defense officials said the Pentagon has ordered the Army's V Corps and 1st Marine Expeditionary Force to deploy headquarters staffs to Kuwait, The Washington Post reported in its Saturday editions. It is the first non-routine dispatch of ground troops to the Persian Gulf region, the newspaper said.

10/12/02 06:12 EDT

WASHINGTON (Nov. 15) - One of the top two-dozen al-Qaida leaders sought by the United States in its war on terrorism was captured recently and is in Ame custody, U.S. government sources said on Friday.

The sources declined to name the operative for Osama bin Laden's network who was caught in the past week or so. But it was not top lieutenant Ayman al-Zawahri, operational leader Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, nor bin Laden's son Saad.

U.S. authorities have become increasingly concerned this week that al-Qaida was planning fresh attacks.

The FBI said that in selecting its next targets, the network may favor ''spectacular attacks'' that result in mass casualties and severe damage to the U.S. economy.

Contributing to that concern was an audio tape broadcast earlier this week on the al-Jazeera television channel in Qatar believed to be of bin Laden praising recent attacks and making fresh threats.

     The United States blamed bin Laden and his al Qaeda network for the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on America that killed about 3,000 people.

Senior al-Qaida leaders in U.S. custody include Abu Zubaydah and Ramzi Binalshibh, who were being interrogated at an undisclosed location overseas.

''There have been a number of -- numerous senior leaders of al Qaeda that have either been eliminated, incarcerated or detained someplace,'' national security adviser Condoleezza Rice said without elaborating.

President Bush earlier this week, in response to a question about the audio tape, said, ''We'll chase these people down one at a time. It doesn't matter how long it takes, we'll find them and bring them to justice.'' 

Reut12:51 11-15-02

CHICAGO (Feb. 17) - It was a chaotic scene: Hundreds of screaming people stumbling down the darkened stairs of an illegally operated nightclub, gasping for air and stepping on bodies, only to find themselves trapped at the bottom trying to escape through a single exit.

At least 21 people were killed and 57 injured in the stampede early Monday at the crowded E2 nightclub, authorities said. There were reports that as many as 500 people were crammed into the second-floor club when someone sprayed Mace or pepper spray to quell a fight about 2 a.m.

The nightclub was operating in violation of a months-old court order meant to close it down, fire officials said.

``The owner knows damn well that he is not to open that second-floor facility,'' said Fire Commissioner James Joyce. City officials said they plan to go to court as early as Tuesday to seek criminal contempt charges against the owner.

The nightclub had been cited for 11 building code violations and the city has been in court with the owners since last July, officials said.

Witnesses described a frenzied scene of some people trying to climb through the ceiling, while others were trampled in the frantic rush for an exit, their faces and bodies flattened against the glass front door.

Some people fainted on the club floor; others were coughing and crying, gagging and blindly groping for any way out.

``People were being trapped underneath you ... so we're actually standing on people's heads and we didn't even know it,'' said Amishoov Blackwell, a 30-year-old patron. ``It was just bodies laying everywhere.''

Blackwell said one man crushed between two people told him, ```I can't breathe! I want you to hold my hand, man. If I don't make it, tell my mom that I love her!' He just basically collapsed.''

Some witnesses reported that the lights were cut in the stairwell.

On Monday afternoon, Joyce backed off earlier statements that firefighters had used sledgehammers and pry bars to open other doors in the half-block-long building. He said one or two doors may have been blocked by laundry bags or other items from the first-floor Epitome restaurant.

The crowd apparently surged down a single front exit in the pandemonium.

Joyce also scaled down the number of people in the club to about 500; earlier, the fire department had estimated as many as 1,500 people were on the second floor.

Police Commissioner Terry Hillard said investigators were trying to sort out conflicting stories about the source of the Mace or pepper spray and obtain videotape from inside the club. Witnesses said the spray may have come from the club's security guards trying to break up a fight between at least two women.

``Lives were tragically and senselessly lost, pinned down by a stampeding crowd,'' Hillard said.

``We will get to the bottom of this,'' he said. ``Right now our investigation is at full tilt.''

Friends and family of missing patrons flocked to the morgue Monday afternoon, searching for information and holding out hope that their loved ones were still alive.

``I just can't understand it,'' said Herschel Blake, who was looking for his 22-year-old grandson, Michael. ``His mother called me and said, ``Your grandson is dead. The door was locked. There was only one way out of the place.'''

Witnesses said some people were stomped on; many victims suffered crushing chest and head injuries. By Monday evening only seven of the injured remained hospitalized. Most of the dead were in their 20s or early 30s. At least nine died from multiple trauma and four from cardiac arrest, authorities said.

``Everybody smashed; people crying, couldn't breathe,'' said club-goer Reggie Clark. ``Two ladies next to me died. A guy under me passed out.''

Water and ice were passed to some of those trapped as rescuers struggled to pull them from the building.

``You could see a mound of people,'' said Cory Thomas, 33, who went to the club to pick up two friends. ``People were stacking on top of each other, screaming and gagging, I guess from the pepper spray. The door got blocked because there were too many people stacked up against it.''

``I saw them taking out a pregnant woman,'' Thomas said. ``She was in bad shape. I saw at least 10 lifeless bodies.''

The president of a Chicago entertainment agency that has booked acts at the club said access to the building was unsafe for the number of people reported to be there early Monday.

``The doorway was obviously inadequate for an emergency,'' said Ron Onesti of Onesti Entertainment Co. ``When the place is filled to capacity, the doorway is very thin.''

Photographs on Onesti's Web site depict packed crowds at the nightclub. Onesti maintained that his agency had nothing to do with managing the club and hadn't had any dealings involving it in about a year.

The club is located in the Near South Side, a commercial district near the McCormick Place convention center.

The stampede was one of the nation's deadliest.

In December 1991, nine young people were crushed to death in a gymnasium stairwell while awaiting a celebrity basketball game in New York.

In December 1979, 11 people were killed in Cincinnati in a crush to get into a concert by The Who.

   02/17/03 19:01 EST

WASHINGTON (Dec. 16) - Former Vice President Al Gore's surprise announcement that he would not challenge President Bush in the 2004 presidential elections has thrown the field wide open for Democratic presidential hopefuls.

Gore was expected to explain further his decision at a news conference Monday afternoon, in Raleigh, N.C., the latest stop on his book tour.

''I think that a campaign that would be a rematch between myself and President Bush would inevitably involve a focus on the past that would, in some measure, distract from the focus on the future,'' Gore said in an interview on the CBS news program ''60 Minutes.''

The announcement ended months of speculation over a possible political rematch between Gore and Bush, who narrowly defeated the former Tennessee senator in the 2000 presidential election.

''The last campaign was an extremely difficult one, and while I have the energy and the drive to go out there and do it again, I think that there are a lot of people within the Democratic Party who felt exhausted by that.'' Gore said.

The biggest beneficiary of Gore's decision to step aside is his former 2002 vice presidential running mate, Sen. Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut. Lieberman began exploring prospects for a possible 2004 White House bid shortly after a divided Supreme Court effectively decided the 2000 race for Bush by refusing to permit Gore a recount in Florida.

But Lieberman said if Gore ran again, he would step aside because he figured he owed the former vice president for making him in 2000 the first person of Jewish faith on a major party presidential ticket. Lieberman had no immediate public reaction to Gore's announcement.

DOOR OPEN FOR OTHER DEMOCRATS

While Gore's decision clears the way for Lieberman, it will also likely open the door to other potential candidates to jump into what will be a wide open contest.

''This helps any and all Democrats considering running because Al clearly would have been the front-runner. Polls showed that,'' said a former senior adviser in the 2000 Gore-Lieberman campaign. ''Now it is wide open.''

Rep. Richard Gephardt of Missouri, who stepped down as House minority leader last month, has also raised speculation he would focus on a run. And Gore's decision may also nudge into the race Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle, who has long considered a bid.

''This will put more pressure on Daschle and Gephardt,'' a former Gore adviser said. ''In recent months, it has been Al taking the lead in responding to Bush's economy, war ... Now people will be turning more to see what Daschle and Gephardt have to say.''

Daschle and Gephardt, in separate statements, saluted Gore as a trailblazer and dedicated public servant.

''Al Gore won the popular vote in 2000 and I am convinced he would have been a great President,'' Gephardt said. "Our nation would have benefited from his leadership over the past two years and the Democratic primary process will lose a strong voice and accomplished leader without his participation.''

Daschle said he respected Gore's decision and ''look forward to his continued leadership and ideas for our party and for America.''

Other possible Democratic presidential contenders include Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry, North Carolina Sen. John Edwards and Vermont Gov. Howard Dean.

Dean told CNN Gore's decision would help the party.

''It certainly does open up the party for new ideas that actually make sense and I think, perhaps, take the Democratic Party in a different direction than its been going,'' Dean said.

A former member of the House, a former senator and the son of a senator, Gore was vice president for eight years under former President Clinton and became one of his closest confidants.

Gore made a series of public appearances in recent months that raised expectations he would run for president in 2004. Last month, Gore saturated the media, promoting a book written with his wife, Tipper, and Saturday was the unlikely host of TV comedy show ''Saturday Night Live.''

Gore told ''60 Minutes'' head made the decision not to seek the presidency fully aware that 2004 would probably be the last opportunity he would ever have to run for president, but said he was not retreating from public life.

''I intend to remain actively involved in politics, '' Gore said. ''I want to help whoever the Democratic Party's nominee is in 2004 to win the election. 

Reut01:47 12-16-02

WASHINGTON (Dec. 11) - In a new defense strategy submitted to Congress on Wednesday, President Bush warned Iraq and other hostile countries that the United States is prepared to use "overwhelming force'' - including nuclear weapons - in response to any chemical or biological attack.

The threat was contained in a White House document called the ``National Strategy to Combat Weapons of Mass Destruction.'' Presidential spokesman Scott McClellan said it was prepared as a response to the ``unrelenting effort by hostile states and terrorists to acquire and be able to use weapons of mass destruction.''

The six-page strategy outline underscores long-standing policy that the United States ``reserves the right to respond with overwhelming force - including through resort to all of our options - to the use of WMD (weapons of mass destruction) against the United States, our forces abroad and friends and allies.''

That passage intends to threaten U.S. nuclear retaliation as a deterrent to hostile governments, said senior administration officials who briefed journalists about the document Tuesday.

In rare agreement with the White House, former Vice President Al Gore embraced his rival's strategy. ``As presented, Al Gore feels this is in keeping with America's long-held strategy of using our own weapons of mass destruction principally to dissuade any aggressor from using their WMD arsenal against us,'' said spokesman Alejandro Cabrera.

Administration officials emphasized that the strategy, developed jointly by national security adviser Condoleezza Rice and homeland security adviser Tom Ridge, is an overall statement of the Bush administration's overarching principles. Its timing, however, coincides with other muscle-flexing by President Bush designed to show Iraqi President Saddam Hussein that the United States is serious about seeing him disarmed.

Also on Tuesday, Bush used a private White House meeting with Turkish political leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan to press for permission for U.S. troops to use Turkish bases, arguing that such a display of solidarity could persuade Saddam to give up his weapons peacefully.

The White House document gathers into one comprehensive whole several doctrines for prevention, deterrence and defense that Bush has enunciated since taking office, including a commitment to boost programs aimed at containing the damage of any chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear attack.

The strategy said some unspecified states that support terrorists already have weapons of mass destruction and seek even more ``as tools of coercion and intimidation.''

``For them, these are not weapons of last resort, but militarily useful weapons of choice intended to overcome our nation's advantages in conventional forces and to deter us from responding to aggression against our friends,'' the document said.

``We must accord the highest priority to the protection of the United States, our forces and our friends and allies'' from weapons of mass destruction, it continued.

The broadly worded strategy does not speak with any specificity to the priorities it asserts, nor does it assign them any budget numbers. Instead, those details were contained in classified directives, described as ``substantial taskings,'' issued to relevant federal departments a couple of months ago, officials said.

The strategy's priorities will be reflected in the new budget Bush submits to Congress in February.

12/11/02 12:49 EST

Sports Talk: Discuss Tyson's Attitude, Next Bout
Happy Tyson Says He's More Mature, 'Tired of Being Stupid'
Will Fight Etienne in Memphis on Feb. 22

By WOODY BAIRD
.c The Associated Press

TUNICA, Miss. (Nov. 26) -- Mike Tyson said he's ready to get back in the ring, bringing with him a new joy for life and an understanding of past mistakes.

"I feel good. I'm just very happy. I'm tired of being stupid,'' Tyson said Tuesday at a news conference announcing a Feb. 22 fight with Clifford Etienne in Memphis, Tenn.

The fight will be at The Pyramid, where Tyson suffered through his last fight on June 8, a sound beating at the hands of heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis.

Smiling and laughing after playfully patting Etienne on the shoulder, Tyson said he has matured since the Lennox fight.

"Things basically have come together as far as my personal life,'' he said.

Tyson was unclear about what caused his emotional transition.

"I just feel so much good about my transformation and just forming to be a decent human being,'' he said.

The undercard will have eight fights, including the professional boxing debut of former Olympic skater Tonya Harding. An opponent has not yet been lined up for Harding, who has appeared on Fox TV's 'Celebrity Boxing.'

"It is my goal to be the future undisputed bantamweight champion,'' Harding said. "My proven athletic ability, as you all know, and competitive nature will help this dream become reality.''

Tyson, who spent three years in prison for raping a beauty pageant contestant, has a long history of violence outside the ring and in it.

He fought Lewis in Memphis because he was turned away from other venues, including Nevada, due to his rowdy reputation.

That included a fight between the Tyson and Lewis camps at a news conference in New York to announce their fight, originally scheduled for Las Vegas.

Nothing close to that occurred Tuesday at the Grand Casino in Tunica County, about 30 miles south of Memphis.

Tunica has the largest complex of casinos between Atlantic City and Las Vegas.

Wearing a black suit with a modest brown and black striped tie and matching pocket scarf, Tyson said his rough past is behind him and he just wants to fight and make a living.

"We've all got to live. We've got to make a living... I don't have to be a cold-blooded... mean individual on the streets just to be a great fighter,'' he said.

Tyson said he was glad to return to Memphis because he was well received by the city before, particular in its poorer neighborhoods.

"That's where I come from... I went downtown to the hood and everybody's got a gold tooth in their mouth and look like me,'' he said, drawing a hearty laugh from the audience.

Tyson, 35, was the youngest heavyweight champion ever at the age of 20. He has relied throughout his career on intimidation and his strength as a slugger.

Despite his new, gentler view of life, Tyson said he has no plans to change his fighting style.

The Etienne fight will be the beginning of Tyson's attempt at a comeback and a rematch with Lewis.

Etienne (24-1-1) was knocked down twice but managed a draw July 27 in his last fight against Francois Botha.

"Mike Tyson can still beat 99 percent of the heavyweights out there,'' Etienne said. "I just feel like I'm in that 1 percent that he can't beat and I'm going to show it.''

The 10-round fight, to be televised on Showtime, is being promoted by the Grand Casino and Prize Fight, a co-promoter of the Lewis fight.

The Lewis-Tyson fight drew 15,327 to the Pyramid and is generally considered the biggest sporting event in Memphis history.

The fight was one of the most lucrative in boxing history, with ringside ticket prices of $2,400 and pay-per-view sales trailing only the second fight between Tyson and Evander Holyfield.

Tickets for the Tyson-Etienne fight will start at $25. Top prices have not been announced.

11/26/02 19:03 EST

KADUNA, Nigeria (Nov. 22) - Christian youths retaliated against Muslims in this northern city Friday in the third day of riots triggered by a newspaper article about the Miss World pageant. Red Cross officials said about 100 had died and 500 were seriously injured in the violence.

Beauty pageant spokeswoman Stella Din said organizers were ''saddened'' by the deaths but would not cancel the event, scheduled for Dec. 7 in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, some 225 miles southwest of Kaduna.

''The show definitely will go on,'' she told reporters in Abuja.

Sporadic gunshots and shouting could be heard in the northern city of Kaduna, which has seen the fiercest fighting. Angry mobs have stabbed and set fire to bystanders and rampaged through streets. At least four churches have been destroyed by fire.

The violence began Wednesday, when the Kaduna office of ThisDay newspaper was torched after the paper published an article questioning Muslim objections to the pageant. The article, published Saturday, suggested the prophet Muhammad would have chosen a wife among the contestants.

The newspaper ran a brief front-page apology Monday and a longer retraction on Thursday.

On Friday, plumes of black smoke rose above this tense, religiously mixed city of several million people and authorities extended a round-the-clock curfew - although many ignored the order.

Young Muslim men shouting ''Allahu Akhbar,'' or ''God is great,'' ignited makeshift barricades of tires and garbage. Others chanted, ''Down with beauty'' and ''Miss World is sin.''

In neighborhoods dominated by minority Christians, witnesses said youths smashed windows and set fires in mosques used by the ethnic Hausa and Fulani Muslims who dominate Kaduna.

Fearful residents sought protection at police stations and military bases.

''The soldiers have been very helpful, giving us bandages and first aid. Everyone is here - Muslims, Christians and pagan. We are all afraid of going home,'' said Habiba Ibrahim, who spent the night in the city's defense academy near the government clinic where she works. ''Only God knows when this will end.''

The bodies of those slain in the streets were taken by Red Cross workers and other volunteers to mortuaries. It was not clear exactly how many were killed.

Nigerian Red Cross officials reported about 100 dead by Friday morning, said George Bennet, head of the International Federation of the Red Cross delegation. He stressed an exact figure was impossible to confirm.

Other Red Cross officials said Friday that more than 500 people had been injured.

Previous riots in Kaduna, a predominantly Muslim city with a sizable Christian minority, have escalated into religious battles that killed hundreds since civilian government replaced military rule in 1999.

Islamist groups have warned for months that they would protest the pageant, prompting organizers to postpone the finale until after the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.

Muslim groups say the pageant promotes promiscuity and indecency.

In the article that prompted the spasm of violence in Kaduna, ThisDay writer Isioma Daniel said, ''What would Muhammad think? In all honesty, he would probably have chosen a wife from among them.''

Security forces patrolled other major cities Friday, including the northern trading hub of Kano, where Muslim women peacefully protested.

''We are calling on the government to stop Miss World, this show of shame. For women to expose herself to men other than their husbands is forbidden,'' said one of the protesters, Hadiza Usman.

Miss World organizers insist contestants have respected conservative Muslim values by dressing conservatively.

The pageant also caused controversy elsewhere; at least five contestants are boycotting it to protest judgments in Nigeria's Islamic courts that condemned several women to death by stoning for getting pregnant while unmarried.

Contestants from Costa Rica, Denmark, Switzerland, South Africa and Panama stayed away.

Nigeria's government insists none of the judgments will be carried out, although it has refused to intervene directly with the Islamic court system.

 AP-NY-11-22-02 1051EST

WASHINGTON (Nov. 22) - U.S. counterterrorism authorities hope their interrogation of the newly captured chief of al-Qaida's Persian Gulf operations, Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, will shed light on terror plots still in the works, officials said.

Al-Nashiri, a Saudi, was captured earlier this month in an undisclosed foreign country and is now in U.S. custody, U.S. officials said Thursday, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

A close associate of Osama bin Laden, al-Nashiri is a suspected mastermind of the USS Cole bombing in October 2000. After his capture, he was held briefly in Afghanistan before being flown to an undisclosed location, sources said.

Officials declined to comment on the circumstances or location of his capture. He had last been reported in Yemen.

At the same time, the FBI on Thursday warned that terrorists might try to attack shipping, possibly using scuba divers to put explosives on vessels. The warning, contained in the FBI's weekly bulletin to state and local law enforcement officers nationwide, was not based on any information about specific targets, a federal law enforcement official said.

Al-Nashiri is probably the highest-ranking lieutenant of bin Laden seized since the March capture of Abu Zubaydah, al-Qaida's chief coordinator of terrorist cells worldwide. However, the capture of al-Nashiri did little to quell fears of a resurgent al-Qaida that is plotting new terrorist attacks.

Since last week, U.S. officials had said a senior al-Qaida leader had been caught, but they had declined to identify him. On Sunday, Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge said the prisoner was providing information to his interrogators.

The questioning of other senior figures, such as Abu Zubaydah and Omar al-Farouq, bin Laden's Southeast Asia operations chief, have provided a wealth of information - often of unknown reliability - of planned terrorist operations. Their statements have led to several public alerts in the past year.

In the Cole attack, U.S. officials have said al-Nashiri gave telephone orders to the bombers from the United Arab Emirates and may have provided money to the plotters. He went to Afghanistan after the bombing, which killed 17 sailors.

Born in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, al-Nashiri is believed to be in his mid-30s, officials said.

''He has a reputation as a ruthless operator,'' one U.S. official said. ''He is a very committed follower of Osama bin Laden.''

Al-Nashiri oversaw the purchase and transport of explosives, the leasing of safe houses and the planning and financing of attacks, officials said.

He has also traveled under a number of other names, including Umar Mohammed al-Harazi and Abu Bilal al-Makki.

U.S. officials believe he was in Ghazni, Afghanistan, around the time the U.S.-led war began there in October 2001. He is thought to have moved to Pakistan when the Taliban fell, and he is believed to have gone to Yemen in recent months. Some tribesmen in Yemen, however, said he was going to Malaysia.

In addition to the Cole attack in the port of Aden, Yemen, al-Nashiri is suspected of helping direct the August 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. He recruited his cousin, Azzam, to train in Afghanistan and serve as one of the suicide bombers in the attack on the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi, officials said.

In addition, he is thought to be behind the attempt to bomb another destroyer, the USS The Sullivans, nine months before the Cole attack, at Aden. That attack failed when the suicide boat, overloaded with explosives, sank.

He is also suspected of organizing a plot to bomb the U.S. 5th Fleet Headquarters in Bahrain, a plot revealed in January by another top al-Qaida operative, Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi, who was captured by Pakistan after fleeing Afghanistan.

The 5th Fleet has responsibility for the Persian Gulf and provides ships for the operations of U.S. Central Command, which is running the war efforts in Afghanistan and Iraq.

U.S. intelligence also is investigating whether he was behind the Oct. 6 suicide boat bombing of a French oil tanker off the coast of Yemen, officials said. One crewman was killed.

Al-Nashiri also is suspected of playing a role in a failed al-Qaida plot to use suicide boats to bomb U.S. and British warships crossing the Strait of Gibraltar, U.S. officials said. In June, three Saudis were arrested in Morocco for involvement in that alleged plot.

The capture of al-Nashiri is the latest reported success in the worldwide effort being led by the CIA, FBI and U.S. military to capture or kill top al-Qaida chiefs.

On Nov. 3, a CIA Predator drone fired a missile at a car in Yemen that was carrying several suspected al-Qaida operatives, killing Qaed Salim Sinan al-Harethi, bin Laden's top operative in that country. Al-Harethi is also suspected of involvement in the Cole plot.

In September, U.S. and Pakistani authorities captured Ramzi Binalshibh, an alleged planner of the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States. He was an aide to Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the suspected Sept. 11 mastermind who remains at large.

In June, Indonesian authorities captured al-Farouq, al-Qaida's operations chief for Southeast Asia, and turned him over to U.S. custody.

Other al-Qaida leaders still at large include bin Laden; his chief deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri; security chief Saif al-Adil; and financier Shaikh Saiid al-Sharif.

Bin Laden's son Saad and Tawfiq Attash Khallad, another alleged planner of the Cole attack, also remain on the loose.

AP-NY-11-22-02 0948EST

WASHINGTON (Nov. 16) - The latest fears of renewed terror attacks are based on disturbing patterns reminiscent of the run-ups to earlier al-Qaida strikes rather than on specific intelligence, counterterrorism officials said.

A familiar and potentially dangerous confluence of events is taking place: Osama bin Laden speaks out. U.S. intelligence detects increased ''chatter'' among potential terrorists. The calendar suggests it might be time for al-Qaida to strike again.

According to officials, it is largely this analytical concern that led to the FBI's new warning concerning ''spectacular'' attacks - a word used in counterterrorism circles to differentiate the Sept. 11 strikes from, for example, car bombings.

The White House, increasingly sensitive to Democrats' complaints that the Iraq issue is distracting the administration from the hunt for terrorists, said Americans should remain vigilant. But it left the national alert status unchanged.

Fielding questions in the White House briefing room, National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice disputed any suggestion that Saddam Hussein is overshadowing the hunt for bin Laden.

''Numerous senior leaders of al-Qaida ... have either been eliminated, incarcerated or detained someplace,'' Rice said Friday.

Another senior al-Qaida operative has been taken into U.S. custody, officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity. They declined to identify him. A number of senior operatives with ties to Sept. 11, the USS Cole bombing in October 2000, the 1998 East Africa embassy bombings and other attacks remain at large.

Rice said the latest warnings contained no new information, calling them a ''summary of intelligence as we know it.''

This differs from the last big scare, around the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks. On Sept. 9, a top al-Qaida operative told interrogators of multiple planned strikes against U.S. embassies in southeast Asia. Those attacks never occurred, although officials have not described why or how they might have been headed off.

Several factors are fueling current U.S concerns:

- Bin Laden's making a threatening public statement. Although analysis continues, officials generally accept the bin Laden audiotape aired this week as authentic. He made similar statements before the East Africa embassy bombings and the strike on the USS Cole. None immediately preceded the Sept. 11 attacks, although some believe those strikes were pushed up in schedule.

The statement may also serve to inspire al-Qaida supporters to violence, officials said.

- The beginning of Ramadan. Al-Qaida has plotted attacks during the Islamic holy month before.

- The elapsed time since al-Qaida's last major strike, the Sept. 11 attacks. Al-Qaida generally pulls off one major attack a year. There is some debate whether the recent bombing of a night club in Indonesia, which killed close to 200 people, was this year's big strike. Many analysts feel this was the work of an ally of al-Qaida, rather than of bin Laden's organization itself.

- Thursday's execution of Mir Aimal Kasi, the Pakistani convicted of killing two CIA employees in 1993 outside the agency's headquarters in Virginia. Some in Pakistan have threatened reprisals. Several militants with links to al-Qaida were also recently captured in Pakistan, officials said.

- An increase in terrorist chatter. It ebbs and flows, often without an attack taking place, but any spikes remain worrisome to counterterrorism officials.

The national alert level is staying at yellow - the third-highest of five levels - because of a lack of specifics about potential targets. Still, the latest FBI warning was unusual because of its dire language.

''Sources suggest al-Qaida may favor spectacular attacks that meet several criteria: high symbolic value, mass casualties, severe damage to the U.S. economy and maximum psychological trauma,'' says the alert, which was posted on the FBI's Web site early Friday.

The highest priority targets remain within the aviation, petroleum and nuclear sectors, as well as significant national landmarks, the warning says.

''Al-Qaida's next attack may rely on conventional explosives and low-technology platforms such as truck bombs, commercial or private aircraft, small watercraft, or explosives easily concealed and planted by terrorist operatives,'' it said.

FBI officials also asked law enforcement worldwide to be on the lookout for Amer al-Matti in connection with ''possible terrorist threats in the United States.'' Law enforcement officials said the man overstayed his visa in Canada and was attending a flight training school. He is believed to have connections to al-Qaida.

White House officials said Friday they are increasingly concerned about Democrats' criticism that Bush's focus on Iraq is distracting his attention from al-Qaida.

To counter the perception, the White House trumpeted its accomplishments in news briefings Friday and devoted Bush's radio address Saturday to the topic.

The White House touted a list of victories the United States and its allies have had in the war on terrorism, including the ousting of the terrorist-friendly Taliban regime in Afghanistan and the disruption of alleged cells in Buffalo, N.Y., and Germany.

 AP-NY-11-16-02 0835EST

TUCSON, Ariz. (Oct. 28) - A student flunking out of the University of Arizona nursing school shot three of his professors to death Monday, then killed himself as dozens of terrified students rushed to get away.

Police said Robert Flores Jr., 41, specifically targeted the instructors, killing one in her office on the second floor and shooting the others in a fourth-floor classroom as students dove for cover. Flores told students in the room to leave and was later found dead by officers searching the school.

Students who were in the classroom said Flores entered carrying a gun. He approached instructor Cheryl McGaffic in the front of the room and told her ''he was going to give her a lesson in spirituality,'' witness Laura Kelley said.

Flores shot McGaffic, 44, in the chest, then shot her twice more as she lay on the ground. Among McGaffic's areas of study was the relationship between health and spirituality.

Flores then walked to the back of the room and shot 45-year-old Barbara Monroe as she lay curled behind a desk.

''He asked her if she was ready to meet her maker,'' said Gena Johnson, another student. ''She said 'Yes,' and then he shot her once and then twice more.''

University Vice Provost Elizabeth Irvin said Flores had failed a pediatric nursing class and was struggling in a critical care class.

Bomb squad members were called in after a backpack or package was found underneath the gunman's body. The suspect had threatened to blow up the building, though it was unclear when the threat was made, police said. The college and nearby buildings were evacuated.

Authorities continued to check for explosives into the evening.

Police identified the third victim as Robin E. Rogers, 50. All the victims were Flores' instructors, Police Chief Richard Miranda said.

''It's too soon to say why he committed this terrible deed,'' Miranda said. ''We have determined that there are many issues in Mr. Flores' life, all of which are a factor.''

Flores, a Gulf War veteran, worked until September at the Southern Arizona Veterans Administration Health Care System as a licensed practical nurse, and was studying to become a registered nurse, officials said. It wasn't clear in which branch of the military he served.

Anu Nigam, a 29-year-old graduate student, said she and her husband were outside waiting for a shuttle bus when a woman came out of the building with a cell phone, trying to dial and screaming that there was a man with a gun in the building. Police were at the scene within seconds.

''A group of people were crying and running desperately to get out of the building,'' Nigam said. ''They were crying, tripping over one another, falling down.''

Student Lori Schenkel said she had several classes with Flores and he told classmates about a year ago that he had gotten a concealed weapon permit.

''He was just a very aggravated student, a rude, obnoxious type of person,'' she said. ''He came across as very aggressive and mean, and seemed to have a lot of issues with being angry.''

Nurse William Gordon, who worked with Flores at the VA hospital and knew him for three years, said he saw nothing that would foreshadow violence. He said Flores dropped out of a nursing ethics class last semester and seemed upset, but it wasn't an unusual reaction.

''I didn't pick up anything majorly confrontational with him regarding the instructor,'' Gordon said. ''Nothing that would alarm you.''

Students were grieving the loss of their professors.

Rogers, who taught pediatrics, was a ''really great teacher,'' Ilda Rosano said. ''She always has her door open. If you need to see her, you just walk right in.''

McGaffic taught classes on health care ethics, critical care and death and dying. She was also a volunteer chaplain at University Medical Center, where she helped comfort seriously ill patients and their families.

Jessica Odom, a 21-year-old student, recalled the one-on-one interactions McGaffic had with students in the death and dying course.

''We had a memorial for all our loved ones that died, and she sat and cried with us all as we talked about our loved ones,'' Odom said.

University President Peter Likins said there were no immediate plans to change security procedures at the 34,000-student university, which includes the 380-student nursing school.

Flores lived in an apartment complex a few miles from campus where many other students live. Complex manager Joe Brink said Flores had been there for more than a year and was ''a model tenant.''

Brink said Flores had two children who visited during the summer. Classmates said Flores talked of an ex-wife and two children.

AP-NY-10-28-02 2328EST

WASHINGTON (Dec. 16) - Former Vice President Al Gore's surprise announcement that he would not challenge President Bush in the 2004 presidential elections has thrown the field wide open for Democratic presidential hopefuls.

Gore was expected to explain further his decision at a news conference Monday afternoon, in Raleigh, N.C., the latest stop on his book tour.

''I think that a campaign that would be a rematch between myself and President Bush would inevitably involve a focus on the past that would, in some measure, distract from the focus on the future,'' Gore said in an interview on the CBS news program ''60 Minutes.''

The announcement ended months of speculation over a possible political rematch between Gore and Bush, who narrowly defeated the former Tennessee senator in the 2000 presidential election.

''The last campaign was an extremely difficult one, and while I have the energy and the drive to go out there and do it again, I think that there are a lot of people within the Democratic Party who felt exhausted by that.'' Gore said.

The biggest beneficiary of Gore's decision to step aside is his former 2002 vice presidential running mate, Sen. Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut. Lieberman began exploring prospects for a possible 2004 White House bid shortly after a divided Supreme Court effectively decided the 2000 race for Bush by refusing to permit Gore a recount in Florida.

But Lieberman said if Gore ran again, he would step aside because he figured he owed the former vice president for making him in 2000 the first person of Jewish faith on a major party presidential ticket. Lieberman had no immediate public reaction to Gore's announcement.

DOOR OPEN FOR OTHER DEMOCRATS

While Gore's decision clears the way for Lieberman, it will also likely open the door to other potential candidates to jump into what will be a wide open contest.

''This helps any and all Democrats considering running because Al clearly would have been the front-runner. Polls showed that,'' said a former senior adviser in the 2000 Gore-Lieberman campaign. ''Now it is wide open.''

Rep. Richard Gephardt of Missouri, who stepped down as House minority leader last month, has also raised speculation he would focus on a run. And Gore's decision may also nudge into the race Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle, who has long considered a bid.

''This will put more pressure on Daschle and Gephardt,'' a former Gore adviser said. ''In recent months, it has been Al taking the lead in responding to Bush's economy, war ... Now people will be turning more to see what Daschle and Gephardt have to say.''

Daschle and Gephardt, in separate statements, saluted Gore as a trailblazer and dedicated public servant.

''Al Gore won the popular vote in 2000 and I am convinced he would have been a great President,'' Gephardt said. "Our nation would have benefited from his leadership over the past two years and the Democratic primary process will lose a strong voice and accomplished leader without his participation.''

Daschle said he respected Gore's decision and ''look forward to his continued leadership and ideas for our party and for America.''

Other possible Democratic presidential contenders include Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry, North Carolina Sen. John Edwards and Vermont Gov. Howard Dean.

Dean told CNN Gore's decision would help the party.

''It certainly does open up the party for new ideas that actually make sense and I think, perhaps, take the Democratic Party in a different direction than its been going,'' Dean said.

A former member of the House, a former senator and the son of a senator, Gore was vice president for eight years under former President Clinton and became one of his closest confidants.

Gore made a series of public appearances in recent months that raised expectations he would run for president in 2004. Last month, Gore saturated the media, promoting a book written with his wife, Tipper, and Saturday was the unlikely host of TV comedy show ''Saturday Night Live.''

Gore told ''60 Minutes'' head made the decision not to seek the presidency fully aware that 2004 would probably be the last opportunity he would ever have to run for president, but said he was not retreating from public life.

''I intend to remain actively involved in politics, '' Gore said. ''I want to help whoever the Democratic Party's nominee is in 2004 to win the election. 

Reut01:47 12-16-02

TUCSON, Ariz. (Oct. 28) - A student flunking out of the University of Arizona nursing school shot three of his professors to death Monday, then killed himself as dozens of terrified students rushed to get away.

Police said Robert Flores Jr., 41, specifically targeted the instructors, killing one in her office on the second floor and shooting the others in a fourth-floor classroom as students dove for cover. Flores told students in the room to leave and was later found dead by officers searching the school.

Students who were in the classroom said Flores entered carrying a gun. He approached instructor Cheryl McGaffic in the front of the room and told her ''he was going to give her a lesson in spirituality,'' witness Laura Kelley said.

Flores shot McGaffic, 44, in the chest, then shot her twice more as she lay on the ground. Among McGaffic's areas of study was the relationship between health and spirituality.

Flores then walked to the back of the room and shot 45-year-old Barbara Monroe as she lay curled behind a desk.

''He asked her if she was ready to meet her maker,'' said Gena Johnson, another student. ''She said 'Yes,' and then he shot her once and then twice more.''

University Vice Provost Elizabeth Irvin said Flores had failed a pediatric nursing class and was struggling in a critical care class.

Bomb squad members were called in after a backpack or package was found underneath the gunman's body. The suspect had threatened to blow up the building, though it was unclear when the threat was made, police said. The college and nearby buildings were evacuated.

Authorities continued to check for explosives into the evening.

Police identified the third victim as Robin E. Rogers, 50. All the victims were Flores' instructors, Police Chief Richard Miranda said.

''It's too soon to say why he committed this terrible deed,'' Miranda said. ''We have determined that there are many issues in Mr. Flores' life, all of which are a factor.''

Flores, a Gulf War veteran, worked until September at the Southern Arizona Veterans Administration Health Care System as a licensed practical nurse, and was studying to become a registered nurse, officials said. It wasn't clear in which branch of the military he served.

Anu Nigam, a 29-year-old graduate student, said she and her husband were outside waiting for a shuttle bus when a woman came out of the building with a cell phone, trying to dial and screaming that there was a man with a gun in the building. Police were at the scene within seconds.

''A group of people were crying and running desperately to get out of the building,'' Nigam said. ''They were crying, tripping over one another, falling down.''

Student Lori Schenkel said she had several classes with Flores and he told classmates about a year ago that he had gotten a concealed weapon permit.

''He was just a very aggravated student, a rude, obnoxious type of person,'' she said. ''He came across as very aggressive and mean, and seemed to have a lot of issues with being angry.''

Nurse William Gordon, who worked with Flores at the VA hospital and knew him for three years, said he saw nothing that would foreshadow violence. He said Flores dropped out of a nursing ethics class last semester and seemed upset, but it wasn't an unusual reaction.

''I didn't pick up anything majorly confrontational with him regarding the instructor,'' Gordon said. ''Nothing that would alarm you.''

Students were grieving the loss of their professors.

Rogers, who taught pediatrics, was a ''really great teacher,'' Ilda Rosano said. ''She always has her door open. If you need to see her, you just walk right in.''

McGaffic taught classes on health care ethics, critical care and death and dying. She was also a volunteer chaplain at University Medical Center, where she helped comfort seriously ill patients and their families.

Jessica Odom, a 21-year-old student, recalled the one-on-one interactions McGaffic had with students in the death and dying course.

''We had a memorial for all our loved ones that died, and she sat and cried with us all as we talked about our loved ones,'' Odom said.

University President Peter Likins said there were no immediate plans to change security procedures at the 34,000-student university, which includes the 380-student nursing school.

Flores lived in an apartment complex a few miles from campus where many other students live. Complex manager Joe Brink said Flores had been there for more than a year and was ''a model tenant.''

Brink said Flores had two children who visited during the summer. Classmates said Flores talked of an ex-wife and two children.

AP-NY-10-28-02 2328EST

REDERICK, Md. (Oct. 25) - When Ron Lantz pulled his truck into a Maryland rest stop off I-70 early Thursday, something just clicked.

The truck driver spotted a blue Chevrolet Caprice with New Jersey tags in the parking lot off the Maryland interstate highway, and recalled the police news conference he had just heard on the radio in the case of the Washington area sniper who had killed 10 and seriously wounded three since Oct. 2.

"I pulled in. I'd heard those bozos talking about the description of the car, the make of the car, the model of the car, the license plate number," Lantz told CNN. "I pulled in with another driver behind me. I told the other driver that car looked kind of obvious."

Lantz confirmed the car's description with a radio station and then called police on 911.

They instructed Lantz to wait for state troopers to arrive but to block the Chevy in with their vehicles.

The unassuming truck driver from Ludlow, Kentucky, waited 15 nerve-racking minutes until the authorities arrived.

"I just sat there and waited ... It was a long 15 minutes," Lantz said.

At one point, he said he started to walk to the restrooms, but then returned to his truck when he saw there were two people inside the car. He said he felt safer inside his cab.

But Lantz refused to call himself a hero in a case that has vexed and terrified the region for three weeks.

"I'm no hero. I don't even want to be classified as a hero. Just let it go like it is. I did my job," he said.

Just five runs from retirement, Lantz seemed unimpressed by the possibility of a financial windfall for his police work.

"I know there's a sizable reward. ... If I had the money, I'd probably take it and give it to the people who were shot," he said.

10/24/02 19:33 ET

UNITED NATIONS (Nov. 13) - Iraq said on Wednesday it accepted a new U.N. Security Council resolution, which orders Baghdad to disarm, cooperate with U.N. weapons inspectors or face ''serious consequences.''

''I delivered a letter to the secretary-general's office,'' Iraq's U.N. ambassador Mohammed Aldouri told reporters. ''It was a positive reply.''

Aldouri described the six-page letter as setting out Baghdad's entire position on the resolution, adopted by a 15-0 vote last Friday. But he said the response was ''unconditional, no questions asked.''

''We are waiting for the inspectors to go as scheduled,'' Aldouri said. ''We are eager to see the inspectors perform their duties in accordance with international law.''

Aldouri said Baghdad has accepted the resolution in an effort to avoid war.

''This is a part of our policy that is to protect our country, to protect the nation, to protect our region also from the threat of war which is real,'' he said.

The letter was signed by Foreign Minister Naji Sabri.

The Security Council had given Iraq a one-week deadline to Nov. 15, to accept the resolution and promise to abide by its terms. Aldouri said his country agreed to the measure in order to avoid a U.S.-led attack.

Iraq's acceptance came as a surprise as most council members expected Baghdad to wait until Friday. The letter arrived a day after the Iraqi parliament voted unanimously to reject the resolution and its terms.

Aldouri said again his country had no weapons of mass destruction and would make that clear. Iraq next month has to give a declaration of any weapons programs or components of dangerous weapons it still may have under terms of the resolution.

An advance party of U.N. technicians is expected to go to Baghdad on Monday to prepare for inspections, not expected for another week or two.

China's deputy U.N. ambassador, Yishan Zhang, who holds this month's Security Council presidency, said the 15-member body welcomed ''the correct decision of the Iraqi government.''

''We want to see the resolution implemented fully and very effectively,'' he said.

A U.S. official, however, said, ''We shouldn't make more of this than there is. This is their responsibility under the council mandate.'' 

Reut12:04 11-13-02

PENSACOLA, Fla. (Nov. 14) - Two boys accused of bludgeoning their father to death with a baseball bat pleaded guilty to reduced charges and got up to eight years in prison Thursday after a judge threw out their convictions and spared them a much harsher sentence.

In strong, clear voices, Derek King, 14, and his brother, Alex, 13, admitted to third-degree murder as well as arson, for burning down the house around their father's body last year.

Derek was sentenced to eight years in prison, Alex seven - well below the 12 1/2-year minimum specified under state guidelines.

Circuit Judge Frank Bell read new sworn statements from both boys, similar to confessions they gave police but later recanted.

''Alex suggested that I kill dad,'' Derek said in his statement. ''I murdered my dad with an aluminum baseball bat. I set the house on fire from my dad's bedroom.''

Alex wrote that he talked with his brother about killing their father, Terry King, 40, so they could live with the family friend, Rick Chavis, a convicted child molester. ''Rik told me he loved me,'' Alex wrote. ''Rik told me I was gay and only he understood me.''

In his statement, Derek said Chavis had encouraged the boys to run away from home, which they did 10 days before the murder. They went to Chavis' home in Pensacola where he let them skip school, smoke marijuana and hid them when their father came by.

The case drew widespread attention in part because prosecutors presented evidence at one trial that Chavis was the killer and told another jury the boys did it.

A month ago, Bell tossed out the boys' second-degree murder convictions, saying the brothers' rights were violated by the ''unusual and bizarre'' way prosecutors simultaneously presented two contradictory theories of the crime. He ordered both sides to try to resolve the case in mediation.

The brothers were facing prison terms of 20 years to life before the convictions were thrown out.

The boys' mother, Kelly Marino - who has not lived with them for several years - made a last-ditch effort to have them examined by mental health experts before they pleaded guilty, but the judge said the request had no standing.

The boys told the judge they understood what they were doing.

Outside court, Marino denounced the plea bargain and said her sons had no idea what they were admitting to. She was accompanied by lawyers hired by comedian Rosie O'Donnell to help with the case. They did not participate in the mediation.

''This is not right. This is America. Unbelievable,'' Marino said, shaking her head in disbelief. ''We do plan to challenge this.''

Assistant State Attorney David Rimmer dismissed Marino's complaint that she was not allowed to participate in the mediation.

''They wouldn't be going to the state pen if she would have paid more attention to them in their play pens,'' Rimmer said.

Marino never married Terry King and the boys were left with their dad when they were young.

They spent about a year in a group home for troubled children. Derek then was placed with a foster family for about six years, and reunited with his father and brother only a couple months before the murder.

King was beaten with an aluminum bat as he slept in a recliner at his home in Cantonment. The house was then set on fire to cover the crime.

The boys, who were 12 and 13 at the time, gave detailed confessions to police: Derek said he swung the bat and Alex said he had urged his brother to kill their father because they were afraid of being punished for running away from home.

The boys later recanted and pinned the slaying on Ricky Chavis.

Chavis was acquitted of first-degree murder but remains jailed on other charges of accessory after the fact to murder, evidence tampering and sexually molesting Alex.

Jurors in the boys' trial said they believed Chavis wielded the bat. But they said they convicted the boys because they let Chavis into the house.

The case was the latest murder trial involving a child in Florida, which leads the nation in the prosecution of juveniles as adults.

Nathaniel Brazill was 13 when he shot his teacher to death two years ago. He was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to 28 years in prison.

Also that year, 15-year-old John Silva kidnapped and strangled a 12-year-old neighbor. He is serving life without parole. Lionel Tate, 12, was sentenced to life without parole for fatally body-slamming a 6-year-old neighbor in 1999.

The mediator in the King case, Bill Eddins, said the brothers will serve their sentences with boys of the same age and will attend classes.

Eddins said a physician and a psychologist will be available for counseling at all times. Derek has been diagnosed with hyperactivity.

 AP-NY-11-14-02 2118EST

WASHINGTON (Nov. 13) - U.S. counterterrorism officials believe a new audiotape attributed to Osama bin Laden is probably authentic and are treating it as new evidence the long-absent terrorist leader is still alive, a U.S. official familiar with the tape said Wednesday.

''It's probably his voice,'' said the official, speaking on the condition of anonymity. ''It cannot be said with absolute certainty.''

At the White House, President Bush told congressional leaders Wednesday the new audiotaped statement was ''timely,'' suggesting that bin Laden is alive, House Speaker Dennis Hastert told reporters.

Bush told the Democratic and Republican leaders of the House and Senate that the initial analysis was not definitive, Hastert said. A senior White House official said Bush had been told by advisers that the voice sounded like bin Laden, but that studies were still under way Wednesday to determine its authenticity.

''If they are authentic, certainly he has to be alive. But they're checking whether it's authentic or not,'' the Illinois Republican said.

A senior defense official said Wednesday analysts informed the Pentagon that a study of the tape indicates it is bin Laden's voice.

Technical analysis thus far by the CIA and National Security Agency shows bin Laden likely recording the tape, but officials said the full analysis to match bin Laden's voice to previous recordings of him continues.

''Assuming it is in fact authentic, it is an effort to boost morale among the rank and file,'' the official said. ''It is an effort to show members of al-Qaida that top leadership is still around. It could also signal future attacks.''

In the audiotape, aired Tuesday on Al-Jazeera, an Arabic television network, the speaker refers to recent terrorist strikes U.S. officials believe are connected to bin Laden's al-Qaida network. If verified, it would provide the first evidence in a year that bin Laden survived U.S. bombing in Afghanistan.

''I think there's a message here,'' Sen. Richard Shelby said on CBS' ''The Early Show.'' The Alabama Republican said, ''The message is, we better be looking closely now for more terrorist attacks.''

The audiotape was played alongside an old photograph of the al-Qaida leader, but there was no new video of him. Al-Jazeera said it received the tape on the day it was broadcast.

Officials believe bin Laden would release an audio recording, instead of a video, because they are easier to make and limit his public exposure, the U.S. official said. An audio tape also hides an appearance of illness, and anything bin Laden might have done to disguise himself in the last year.

Military officials, who have led the yearlong hunt for the al-Qaida chief in Afghanistan and elsewhere, said they view the tape as the first independent proof in nearly a year that bin Laden is alive.

Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld has said repeatedly over recent months that there was no conclusive proof that bin Laden was dead, as well as no conclusive proof he was alive.

''This indicates he is alive,'' one official said Wednesday.

The speaker on the tape also threatened new terrorism against the United States and its allies, and he castigated U.S. policy toward Iraq.

Confirmation that bin Laden is alive could pose problems for Bush, underscoring to an anxious public that the war on terrorism is far from over.

The tape is addressed to ''peoples of the countries allied with the tyrannical U.S. government'' and specifically mentions Britain, France, Italy, Canada, Germany, Australia and Israel, according to a U.S. government translation provided to The Associated Press.

''What business do your governments have to ally themselves with the gang of criminality in the White House against Muslims? Don't your governments know that the White House gang is the biggest serial killers in this age?'' the speaker says.

Recent statements from al-Qaida leaders have led U.S. and European leaders to warn of possible new attacks, particularly against railroads and oil and gas interests. A law enforcement official said Tuesday that ''chatter'' among suspected terrorists has reached the level seen before the Sept. 11 attacks.

The tape seems to have been made in the past two weeks. The speaker appears to refer to the killing of a U.S. diplomat in Amman, Jordan, on Oct. 28, the most recent event noted in the transcript. Whether bin Laden or al-Qaida had a direct hand in the attack is unknown, U.S. officials said.

The speaker also praises six terrorist attacks by suspected Islamic militants between April and October, including the bombing of a nightclub in Bali, Indonesia, on Oct. 12, that killed nearly 200 people, and the Chechen takeover of a theater in Moscow in late October.

The voice also gets personal, attacking not only Bush, but calling Rumsfeld ''the butcher of Vietnam'' and comparing Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of State Colin Powell to marauding Mongols.

The last hard evidence bin Laden was alive surfaced late last year. A videotape recovered by U.S. forces in Afghanistan showed him having dinner with some of his deputies on Nov. 9, 2001.

Late in December, another tape of bin Laden giving a statement aired. He appeared gaunt and possibly wounded. The references in the tape suggested it was filmed in late November or early December, but officials could not be certain.

 AP-NY-11-13-02 0950EST

NEW YORK (Oct. 31) - Jam Master Jay, a founding member of the pioneering rap trio Run DMC, was shot and killed at his recording studio near the New York neighborhood where he grew up, police said.

Two men were buzzed into the second-floor studio shortly before shots were fired inside its lounge at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, police said. As of early Thursday, police had made no arrests.

The 37-year-old disc jockey, whose real name was Jason Mizell, was shot once in the head in the studio's lounge and died at the scene, said Detective Robert Price, a police spokesman.

Urieco Rincon, 25, who was not a member of Run DMC, was shot in the leg, police said. About five other people in the studio at the time were not hurt.

``Rest In Peace Jam Master,'' Run DMC's official Web site read early Thursday, underneath a picture of Mizell.

Mizell served as the platinum-selling group's disc jockey, providing background for singers Joseph Simmons, better known as Run, and Darryl McDaniels, better known as DMC.

The group is widely credited with helping bring hip-hop into music's mainstream, including the group's smash collaboration with Aerosmith on the 1980s standard ``Walk This Way'' and hits like ``My Adidas'' and ``It's Tricky.''

``We always knew rap was for everyone,'' Mizell said in a 2001 interview with MTV. ``Anyone could rap over all kinds of music.''

Mizell is the latest in a line of hip-hop artists to fall victim to violence. Rappers Notorious B.I.G. and Tupac Shakur were murdered within seven months of each other in 1996 and 1997 - crimes that some believe were the result of an East Coast-West Coast rap war.

But Run DMC and their songs were never about violence. The group promoted education and unity.

In 1986, the trio said they were outraged by the rise of fatal gang violence in the Los Angeles area. They called for a day of peace between warring street gangs.

``This is the first town where you feel the gangs from the minute you step into town to the time you leave,'' Mizell said at the time.

Mizell's friends and fans gathered near the studio, located above a restaurant and a check-cashing business. The crowd included many people from the Hollis section of Queens, where the members of Run DMC grew up.

``They're the best. They're the pioneers in hip hop,'' said Arlene Clark, 39, who grew up in the same neighborhood. ``They took it to the highest level it could go.''

Chuck D, the founder of the hip-hop group Public Enemy, blamed record companies and the advertising for perpetuating ``a climate of violence'' in the rap industry. ``When it comes to us, we're disposable commodities,'' he said.

Doctor Dre, a New York radio station DJ who had been friends with Mizell since the mid-1980s, said, ``This is not a person who went out looking for trouble. ... He's known as a person that builds, that creates and is trying to make the right things happen.''

Leslie Bell, 33, said the band members often let local musicians record for free at the studio, and had remained in Queens to give back to the community.

``He is one great man,'' said Bell. ``As they say, the good always die young.''

Publicist Tracy Miller said Mizell and McDaniels had planned to perform in Washington, D.C., on Thursday at a Washington Wizards basketball game. Mizell had performed on Tuesday in Alabama, she said.

Mizell was married and had three children, she said.

Run DMC released a greatest-hits album earlier this year. In 2001, the rappers produced ``Crown Royal,'' breaking an eight-year silence.

10/31/02 08:10 EST

MOSCOW (Oct. 28) - A mysterious knockout gas killed 116 hostages after Russian special forces stormed a Moscow theater to free them from Chechen rebels, casting a shadow on what was first seen as a triumphant rescue operation. More than 150 more hostages were in critical condition Sunday, the chief Moscow city doctor said.

The physician in charge of the city's poison unit said troops did not tell medical authorities they had gassed the auditorium until the 750 hostages were brought out, most of them unconscious.

''But we didn't know the character of the gas,'' said Yevgeny Luzhnikov, head of the city health service Department of Severe Poisoning. The substance was described as akin to compounds used in surgical anesthesia.

The gas affected hearts and lungs, said Andrei Seltsovsky, the chief city physician. He said he had no information when asked about reports that the compound could cause vomiting that would choke unconscious victims.

''In standard situations, the compound ... does not act as aggressively as it turned out to do,'' Seltsovsky said. ''But it was used on people who were in a specific (extreme) situation for more than 50 hours. ... All of this naturally made the situation more difficult.''

The White House declined to criticize the rescue operation, making clear the Bush administration's view that blame for the deaths lay with the captors.

''The Russian government and the Russian people are victims of this tragedy, and the tragedy was caused as a result of the terrorists who took hostages and booby-trapped the building and created dire circumstances,'' spokesman Ari Fleischer said Sunday.

The approximately 800 hostages were taken Wednesday night when an estimated 50 Chechen rebels stormed the theater during a popular musical. They demanded that Russia end its war in Chechnya.

The few dozen hostages who were well enough to be released Sunday could provide few clues as to the nature of the gas.

''We knew something serious was going to happen'' when the gas started seeping into the hot auditorium that reeked of excrement, Mark Podlesny said as he walked out of Veterans Hospital No. 1 near the theater.

''I lost consciousness. Yes, there was a strange smell,'' said Roma Shmakov, a 12-year-old actor in ''Nord-Ost,'' the musical in progress when the gunmen burst in.

Outside hospitals where the hostages were taken for treatment, friends and family crowded the gates in futile efforts to learn if loved ones were inside. Authorities gave out little information on identities, conditions or where victims had been taken.

Even diplomats had trouble finding information about the estimated 70 foreign citizens who were among the captives. U.S. consular officials searched the city's hospitals for one of the two Americans known to have been in the theater. A second American was found recuperating in a city clinic. At least two other foreigners - one Dutch and one Austrian - died.

Only on Sunday afternoon, more than 24 hours after the hostages were freed, did hospitals post lists of patients. Visitors were still prohibited. Some people outside the gates saw their relatives waving from windows.

''They are hostages again,'' one visitor shouted to the armed guards at Hospital 13, where about half the captives were taken.

Most who left the hospitals hugged those meeting them, then hurried to get out of the chilling rain and avoid reporters and TV cameras.

Those who stopped to talk gave accounts that sometimes contradicted the official version.

Podlesny questioned Russian television footage that showed the captors' corpses in the theater amid liquor bottles and syringes. ''They didn't drink, didn't smoke, didn't swear. They were very disciplined,'' he said.

Podlesny and Georgy Vasilyev, producer of Nord-Ost, disputed Russian officials' statement that the guerrillas had begun shooting hostages before dawn and prompting the special forces' assault.

A total of 118 hostages where known to have died after the Chechens stormed the theater - 11 from the effects of the gas, one young woman shot early in the standoff and one hostage shot Saturday morning shortly before the raid.

President Vladimir Putin visited the special forces troops Sunday to congratulate them on the mission and declared Monday a national day of mourning. As troops that had surrounded the theater building began to withdraw, Muscovites placed flowers at the perimeter.

Many of the 50 assailants killed in the rescue mission died after being shot in the head, apparently while unconscious from the gas. The Federal Security Service said three other gunmen were captured, and authorities searched the city for accomplices or gunmen who may have escaped.

The chief Moscow prosecutor, Mikhail Avdyukov, said Sunday three people had been arrested in Moscow on suspicion of helping to carry out the raid, the Interfax news agency reported.

 The attackers included 18 women, many of whom said they were war widows. The women strapped explosives to their bodies, and mines were placed throughout the building. The attackers threatened to blow it up unless Putin agreed to withdraw troops from mainly Muslim Chechnya.

Russian forces pulled out of Chechnya after a devastating 1994-1996 war that left separatists in charge. In fall 1999, Putin sent troops back in after Chechen-based rebels attacked a neighboring region and after apartment-building bombings blamed on the militants killed about 300 people.

 AP-NY-10-28-02 0002EDT

ASHLAND, Va. (Oct. 20) - Authorities believe the Washington-area sniper left a message with a telephone number at the scene of the latest shooting in Virginia, The Associated Press learned Sunday. Police appealed to the person who left the message to contact them.

''To the person who left us a message at the Ponderosa last night. You gave us a telephone number. We do want to talk to you. Call us at the number you provided. Thank you,'' Montgomery County, Md., Police Chief Charles Moose said in a televised briefing.

Moose made his cryptic statement as sniper task force investigators said they were working on the assumption that the sniper has expanded his geographic reach after shooting 11 people, nine fatally, in the Washington area since Oct. 2.

Surgeons succeeded Sunday night in removing the bullet from the 37-year-old man shot at the Ponderosa in Ashland, Va., on Saturday night, and turned it over to investigators for testing. Hospital spokeswoman Pam Lepley did not know the bullet's condition.

The victim remained in critical condition after three hours of surgery. Lepley said doctors were cautiously optimistic but expect the man will need more surgery.

Public schools in the Ashland and Richmond area will be closed Monday, affecting more than 200,000 students, ''based on the volume of parent and community concern,'' school officials announced late Sunday. After the earlier sniper slayings, schools restricted activities but did not close.

Moose refused to elaborate or take questions about the message left at the steakhouse or how it was left. But he asked the news media to ''carry it clearly and carry it often.''

After the briefing, Officer Joyce Utter, spokeswoman for Montgomery County police, said Moose's statement ''should make complete sense'' to the person who left the message.

''That is the only person Chief Moose wants to talk to,'' she said.

A law enforcement source close to the investigation said the person who left the message is probably the sniper who is responsible for the Washington area shootings.

Investigators who combed the area outside the Ponderosa finished their search Sunday but said little about what, if anything, they had found.

Some witnesses said they heard a shot coming from a wooded area near the restaurant, but nobody reported seeing the shooter.

If the shooting is linked to the sniper attacks, it would be the first weekend attack and the farthest the sniper has traveled - about 85 miles south of Washington.

The longest previous distance from the Washington area was Spotsylvania County, about 50 miles south of Washington. It would also break the longest lull between shootings, about five days.

Former FBI profiler Clinton Van Zandt said Saturday's shooting, if related, could show the killer's approach is changing in response to law enforcement tactics. For instance, reports last week that military surveillance planes would be used in the Washington suburbs probably prompted the sniper to move farther away, he said.

And since much had been made about the weekend lulls, ''I think he reacted to that,'' Van Zandt said.

The most recent confirmed sniper attack was the Monday night slaying of FBI analyst Linda Franklin outside a Home Depot store in Falls Church.

Residents were on edge in Ashland, a town of about 6,500. At the Virginia Center Commons mall, about seven miles from the shooting, a normally busy food court sat half-empty Sunday. Shopper Nancy Elrod said she almost had been too afraid to come.

''We certainly felt sorry about all the people up north who were nervous and now it's down here and we're nervous too,'' said Elrod, 45.

Police said the victim of Saturday's shooting, whose name was not released, and his wife were traveling and stopped in Ashland for gas and food. His wife told authorities the shot sounded like a car backfiring and said her husband took about three steps before collapsing.

The victim underwent surgery for three hours Saturday night at MCV Hospitals in Richmond, Lepley said.

Doctors had to remove part of the man's stomach, half of his pancreas and his spleen, said Dr. Rao Ivatury, the hospital's director of trauma and critical care. The man was conscious but unable to talk because he was on a ventilator.

''The prognosis is still guarded, but since he is a very healthy man and he is very young, the chances are fair to good, I would say,'' Ivatury said.

Authorities in Maryland, meanwhile, continued testing a shell casing found in a white rental truck to determine if it could be linked to the sniper attacks. Police said it would be at least Monday before they could announce whether the casing is connected to the shootings.

A source close to the investigation, however, said Sunday that ''it has nothing to do with this case.'' The source, speaking on condition of anonymity, would not confirm reports that the shell was .30-caliber, a different size from the sniper's bullets, but said: ''It's got caliber problems, it's got age problems.''

The shell casing was found in a car seized at a rental agency near Dulles International Airport in Virginia, authorities said.

AP-NY-10-20-02 2237EDT

FAIRFAX, Va. (Oct. 15) - An FBI analyst who studied terror threats is the latest victim of the Washington-area sniper, and investigators said Tuesday they were confident that detailed witness accounts from the scene will lead them to the person who has now killed nine people.

A senior law enforcement source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said there were no indications the sniper targeted Linda Franklin because of her job. Sources said she worked for the FBI's National Infrastructure Protection Center which assesses threats against major structures and cyber networks.

Franklin, 47, of Arlington was shot in the head Monday night as she and her husband loaded packages into their car outside a Home Depot at the Seven Corners Shopping Center.

Fairfax County Police Chief Tom Manger suggested that witnesses gave investigators more details than on any of the other shootings. For the first time, witnesses were able to give information about license plates on vehicles seen leaving the scene, he said.

''There was some additional information that we were able to get from last night's case, and I am confident that that information is going to lead us to an arrest in the case,'' Manger said at a morning briefing.

Manger declined to discuss which state the license plates were from or answer questions about whether police had a description of the shooter. He said only that several people contacted police after the shooting and investigators were still interviewing them.

''We have been receiving quite a bit of information from witnesses,'' Manger said. ''Information is always the key in solving cases like this.''

Police closed highways around Falls Church, about 10 miles west of the nation's capital, after the shooting and Manger said police were on the lookout for a light-colored Chevrolet Astro van with a burned-out left rear tail light and a chrome ladder rack on its roof.

The highways were reopened in time for morning rush hour and no arrests were reported.

''There are a fair number of ways to leave the area,'' Manger said. ''We made a number of traffic stops. I am unaware of any pursuits.''

Authorities released composite pictures of an Astro van and of a similar Ford van called the Econoline, saying those pictures were based on witness statements from last Friday's shooting in Fredericksburg.

A senior defense official said Tuesday that Pentagon officials were in discussion with Justice Department officials on ways in which the military could assist in the investigation. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, declined to give details.

It was unclear whether the help might be limited to an exchange of information or could include the use of equipment, aircraft or troops. By law the military is prohibited from engaging in law enforcement.

Outside the Home Depot on Tuesday, a line of officers on their hands and knees scoured the covered parking deck for evidence, and a tow truck hauled away the victim's car - a small red convertible with a black cloth top.

Franklin was felled by a single shot to the head about 9:15 p.m. as she stood in the parking lot of the blocks-long shopping center. All the other deaths in the sniper spree were also caused by one shot.

The Washington Post, quoting an FBI chaplain at Franklin's home, reported on its Web site that Franklin and her husband were planning to move Friday to another home in the area and were at Home Depot to buy supplies.

The center where Franklin worked, established in 1998, is the only FBI organization scheduled to transfer to the Department of Homeland Security under the Bush administration's proposal.

The shooting spree that has terrorized residents in the Washington area began Oct. 2 in Montgomery County, Md. With Monday's shooting, the toll has grown to nine people killed and two seriously wounded in Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia.

''Ballistic evidence has conclusively linked this case to the other murders in the area,'' Manger said.

Monday's killing happened near one of northern Virginia's busiest intersections, where major arteries come together to form seven corners. Virginia State Police said the van was last seen traveling east on Route 50. Interstates 66 and 495 are nearby.

Clint Van Zandt, a former FBI profiler who lives in Fredericksburg, said the location sets the slaying apart. ''This is not bold, this is brazen,'' he said. ''It's a much more highly congested area.''

While giving few details of the manhunt, investigators have logged some consistencies: the killer favors suburban gas stations; takes down each victim with a single bullet; doesn't kill on weekends; and, judging from a fortunetelling tarot card left at one of the shootings, appears to enjoy taunting police. The card read:
''Dear Policeman, I am God.''

Many schools in the region remained under lockdown Tuesday.

 AP-NY-10-15-02 1401EDT

FALLS CHURCH, Va. (Oct. 15) - Ballistic evidence conclusively links the death of a woman shot in the head in a suburban parking lot with eight other killings by a Washington-area sniper, authorities said Tuesday.

Linda Franklin, 47, of Arlington was shot Monday night as she and her husband loaded packages into their car outside a Home Depot at the Seven Corners Shopping Center, Fairfax County Police Chief Tom Manger said.

Some witnesses were able to give police license plate numbers of vehicles seen leaving the scene, he said.

''There was some additional information that we were able to get from last night's case and I am confident that that information is going to lead us to an arrest in the case,'' he said.

Police closed highways around Falls Church, about 10 miles west of the nation's capital after the shooting, and said they were on the lookout for a Chevrolet Astro van that had a burned-out left rear tail light and had a chrome ladder on its roof. The highways were reopened in time for rush hour.

''There are a fair number of ways to leave the area,'' Manger said.

The shooting spree that has terrorized residents in the Washington area began Oct. 2 in Montgomery County, Md. With Monday's shooting, the toll has grown to nine people killed and two seriously wounded in Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia.

''Ballistic evidence has conclusively linked this case to the other murders in the area,'' Manger said.

Montgomery County Police Chief Charles Moose, who is leading the task force investing the shootings, was on the scene of the latest shooting.

Manger declined to confirm reports about a specific description of a possible suspect, saying only that several people contacted police after the shooting and that investigators were still interviewing them.

''We have been receiving quite a bit of information from witnesses,'' Manger said. ''Information is always the key in solving cases like this.''

Monday's killing occurred at one of northern Virginia's busiest intersections, where major arteries come together to form seven corners. Virginia State Police said the van was last seen traveling east on Route 50 from Falls Church. Interstates 66 and 95 are nearby.

Clint Van Zandt, a former FBI profiler who lives in Fredericksburg, Va., said the location sets the slaying apart from the others. ''This is not bold, this is brazen,'' he said. ''It's a much more highly congested area, even under the cover of darkness.''

The victim was felled by a single shot about 9:15 p.m. as she stood in the parking lot of the blocks-long shopping center. All the other deaths in the sniper spree were also caused by one shot.

Police scoured the parking lot for evidence and interviewed witnesses early Tuesday. There were a number of people in the parking lot when the shooting occurred, Fairfax County Police Chief Tom Manger said.

Shopper Raymond Massas said he ''heard one shot. Not very loud, like a snap. After that I heard people start panicking.''

Two police helicopters circled the scene.

''It hasn't been this frightening since 9/11,'' said Bob Bakley as he stared across Route 50.

Investigators have refused to discuss details of the manhunt. But they have logged some consistencies: the killer favors suburban gas stations; takes down each victim with a single bullet; doesn't kill on weekends; and, judging from a fortunetelling tarot card left at one of the shootings, appears to enjoy taunting police. The card read: ''Dear Policeman, I am God.''

Many schools in the region were under lockdown Monday, meaning outdoor recess and physical education classes were canceled and students were kept indoors all day. One of the sniper's targets was a 13-year-old boy who was wounded outside his school in Maryland.

''Everyone is edgy,'' said Montgomery County Police Chief Charles Moose, who is heading the investigation. ''People are hearing things that may normally be overlooked.''

Earlier Monday, the longest lull yet in the sniper's killing spree brought little relief as jittery residents flooded police with calls after hearing a car backfire, firecrackers or breaking glass.

''I'm looking around for every white van I see,'' said Richard Spears, who was mowing grass at James Monroe High School in Fredericksburg, Va. ''It makes you a little leery.''

President Bush said the ''cold-blooded'' attacks have made him sick to his stomach. ''I weep for those who have lost their loved ones,'' he said. ''The idea of moms taking their kids to school and sheltering them from a potential sniper attack is not the America that I know.''

MISHAWAKA, Ind. (Sept. 28) - A woman accused of hitting her 4-year-old daughter in a beating caught on videotape was charged with giving police false addresses after her surrender.

Prosecutors expected Madelyne Gorman Toogood to turn herself in a second time, this time on a warrant charging her with false informing, a misdemeanor.

Toogood, 25, was released on $5,000 bond earlier this week. She had turned herself in and pleaded innocent to felony battery of a child in the Sept. 13 incident in a department store parking lot, which was caught on a surveillance camera and televised nationally.

Toogood's attorney, Steve Rosen, did not immediately return telephone messages left Friday.

Authorities say Toogood gave them addresses for commercial mailbox businesses in Mishawaka, Elkhart and Fort Worth, Texas.

Toogood has said she and her husband belong to the nomadic group Irish Travelers, but have been living in Mishawaka for about six months.

Bond on the new charge was set at $2,000. A conviction is punishable by a maximum six months in jail or a $1,000 fine.

Toogood is seeking to have her daughter, who was placed in a foster home, stay with relatives while she tries to regain permanent custody. Toogood also has two young sons who remained in her custody.