USA
"We remember lives lost. We remember the heroic deeds ... on that terrible day," President Bush said following a morning prayer service on the anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The president and first lady Laura Bush also took part in a moment of silence at the White House and planned to meet with soldiers injured while serving in Iraq. In a speech at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Va., Wednesday, Bush hailed "progress on every front" in the counterterrorism war. He also urged Congress to approve expanded use of the federal death penalty, and increased bail restrictions and subpoena powers to combat terrorists. Many Democratic lawmakers and civil liberties groups say law-enforcement powers already go too far.
In related developments:
• The State Department warned of "increasing indications" that Al Qaeda terrorists may be readying for fresh attacks on US interests abroad, possibly in Europe or Eurasia.
• Defense Secretary Rumsfeld said that while some may go on trial, he expects most of the 660 counterterrorism detainees at the US naval base in Guantan-amo Bay, Cuba, to remain in custody. "Our interest is in ... keeping them off the streets," he said Wednesday. Human-rights groups and the detainees' home countries have criticized the US for refusing to regard the men as prisoners of war.
• Federal authorities were mulling criminal charges, after an ABC-TV News investigative team smuggled 15 pounds of depleted uranium, a low-level radioactive substance, to Los Angeles from Indonesia. The network defended its action as a journalistically justified test of border security. It conducted a similar test last year.
The trade deficit widened to $40.3 billion in July, up 7 percent from the previous month, the Commerce Department reported. Imports of foreign crude oil and of Chinese goods reached record highs. Exports also rose to $86.1 billion - the strongest showing since May 2001. In a separate report, the Labor Department said new claims for jobless benefits rose by a seasonally adjusted 3,000 to 422,000, a two-month high.
Automotive club AAA settled a negligence lawsuit with the family of a murdered woman whose car broke down on Cape Cod, Mass. Terms of the settlement, reached one day after the start of opening arguments in the unprecedented suit, were not disclosed. After being told she'd have to wait hours for a tow, Melissa Gosule accepted a lift from a stranger, who killed her.
