USA
Minnesota FBI agent Coleen Rowley is due to testify when the Senate Judiciary Committee holds a public hearing today on possible missed clues to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Rowley wrote a memo that sharply criticized her superiors over Zacarias Moussaoui, the French national awaiting trial on charges of conspiring in the attacks. The Senate and House Intelligence Committees began joint closed-door hearings earlier this week.
A top lieutenant to Osama bin Laden was identified as a key planner in the Sept. 11 attacks, according to press reports citing US intelligence officials. Khalid Shaikh Mohammed (l.), a Kuwaiti-born citizen of Pakistan, is on the FBI wanted list for his alleged role in the 1995 World Trade Center bombing. US officials believe he is in Afghanistan or Pakistan.
A threatened White House veto of $31.4 billion in counterterrorism spending is "troubling" and inconsistent with the Bush administration's warnings of potential future attacks, Senate majority leader Tom Daschle (D) complained. Administration officials said the Senate version of the bill exceeds the $27.1 billion in funding President Bush wants. A procedural vote to limit debate on the measure could come as soon as today.
After being assured of extraordinary security against leaks, the White House turned over more than 2,100 documents subpoenaed by the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee. The panel is looking into the Enron Corp. bankruptcy and sought files on its contacts with the Bush administration. The committee is chaired by Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut, the Democratic vice-presidential nominee in 2000 and a potential candidate in the 2004 race.
Nineteen countries aren't doing enough to stop trafficking in humans, down from 23 a year ago, according to an annual report released yesterday by Secretary of State Powell. Among those cited: Russia, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Afghanistan, Bosnia, Sudan, Turkey, Greece, and Indonesia. The report said up to 4 million people are trafficked each year. A two-year-old law calls for economic sanctions against nations that haven't taken action to block traffickers and protect victims by 2003.
Heavy storms that dumped as much as eight inches of rain caused flooding and scattered evacuations in Iowa, Wisconsin, and Illinois. Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack (D) declared seven counties disaster areas.
An unruly passenger aboard a charter flight was handed to the FBI after the aircraft was diverted to Boston. Adrea Cafiero apparently was inebriated when he had to be subdued by the crew on the flight from Cancún, Mexico to Rome, an FBI spokeswoman said. Fighter planes escorted the chartered Air Europe plane to Boston's Logan Airport.
