USA
A suspected senior Al Qaeda leader detained over the weekend was actively planning attacks on US targets in the near future, The New York Times reported, citing unidentified intelligence officials. Bridges, hotels, and power plants in New York and Washington were among possible targets, that paper and Newsweek said. The Washington Times, meanwhile, said Al Qaeda also may have planned to attack military vessels at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, using planes hijacked from Honolulu's airport. Khalid Sheik Mohammed reportedly is being questioned at an undisclosed location by the CIA and Pakistani intelligence agents following his arrest in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, Saturday.
The Bush administration is evaluating alternatives after Turkey's parliament refused to allow deployment of 62,000 US troops there for a possible war on Iraq, press secretary Ari Fleischer said. The two nations reportedly are still discussing the matter. But no matter what Turkey decides, Fleischer said, if President Bush opts to use force to oust Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, "there's no doubt it will lead to a successful military outcome."
US Sen. Christopher Dodd (D) of Connecticut announced he won't seek his party's nomination for president in 2004. His state's other senator, Joseph Lieberman (D), is among at least eight contenders already in the race, with more expected.
Public and private power companies "plundered" and "ripped off" customers during California's energy crisis, state officials argued Monday in a 9,000-page presentation to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. California is seeking $9 billion in energy refunds from the 2000-2001 crisis.
Consumer spending, a driving force in the US economy, fell 0.1 percent in January, the Commerce Department reported. The decline was the first since September.
As part of an effort to ease air travel, some cruise-ship passengers may have their bags screened at the Port of Miami and check them for American Airlines flights at Miami Airport under a test plan demonstrated by the Transportation Security Administration Sunday. Cruises are a major industry in Florida.
Environmental and health officials were monitoring conditions after a sewer main rupture in Sayreville, N.J., spilled 60 million gallons of sewage into a local river Sunday, flooding a residential street. Only minor damage was reported.
