USA
For the second time, Senate Democrats blocked nominee John Bolton from being confirmed as US ambassador to the UN. The vote Monday was 54 to 38, causing President Bush to consider what he should do next in pushing his controversial choice. Bush could withdraw the nomination, circumvent the Senate during a recess by temporarily appointing Bolton, or try to placate Democrats by providing access to documents they claim they need to evaluate the candidate.
A jury in Philadelphia, Miss., found Edgar Ray Killen guilty on three counts of manslaughter in the 1964 murders of three civil rights workers (one black and two white) involved in a voter registration drive. Killen, a sawmill operator and preacher, was among a group of men tried in 1967. His seven codefendants were convicted by an all-white jury and served up to six years in prison, but Killen's trial ended in a hung jury. This time, he was convicted of being the Ku Klux Klan leader who planned the attack.
A federal judge in New York sentenced John Rigas, the founder of Adelphia Communications Corp., to 15 years in prison for his role in looting the company of hundreds of millions of dollars and hiding still more in debt from investors. Rigas's son Timothy, also convicted in the scandal that plunged the nation's fifth-largest cable-TV provider into bankruptcy three years ago, was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
During a meeting in the Oval Office, Vietnamese Prime Minister Phan Van Khai was expected to ask and receive Bush's help in gaining World Trade Organization membership for his country. For his part, Bush was expected to raise concerns about human rights abuses. Khai earlier visited Microsoft chairman Bill Gates and the Boeing plant in Seattle where planes are being built for Vietnam Airlines. The US and Vietnam restored diplomatic relations 10 years ago.
The Transportation Security Administration gave the names of airline passengers to a contractor in June 2004 while testing a terrorist screening program, the Associated Press reported. This occurred despite assurances by officials and orders by Congress opposing the sharing of such data. The TSA hopes to take over responsibility from the airlines for checking passenger names against terror watch lists.
Violence by environmental and animal-rights extremists who oppose the use of animals in medical research is the FBI's chief domestic terrorism concern, John Lewis, the agency's deputy assistant director in charge of counterterrorism, told a biotechnology convention in Philadelphia Monday. The FBI has about 150 open cases of arson, bombings, and other violent crimes associated with militant environmental and animal rights activists protesting the treatment of animals.
