USA
Terrorists may be planning imminent attacks or kidnappings targeting Americans, the State Department warned, in the wake of Sunday's grenade attack on a Christian church service in Islamabad, Pakistan. Citing "credible" reports, the department urged Americans to take extra care when traveling abroad. With security beefed up at official US facilities, it said, terrorists may be seeking "softer targets" such as restaurants, schools, and other public places where Americans gather. Sunday's assault killed five people, two of them Americans.
Bush administration officials who favor military action to effect a "regime change" in Iraq were looking into a New Yorker magazine report suggesting a link between the Baghdad government and Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda network. The report cites members of Ansar al-Islam, a guerrilla group in Iraqi Kurdish territory, as saying it was run by President Saddam Hussein and Al Qaeda, and had given refuge to fighters fleeing Afghanistan. The Ansar fighters were captives of a pro-American Kurdish rebel group, however, and US officials warned its motives were suspect. (Related story, page 1.)
Heavy storms were blamed for at least four deaths in Tennessee, and parts of Kentucky were under a flash-flood warning after up to six inches of rainfall in 24 hours. Above, a sport-utility vehicle fords a flooded road near Pikeville, Tenn. Flooding damaged or destroyed more than 60 homes in Harlan and Knox Counties, Kentucky emergency officials said, and left some 1,000 others without power.
The Supreme Court rejected an appeal from convicted Una-bomber Theodore Kaczynski, who had sought a new trial, claiming he was pressured into a 1998 guilty plea for three murders during a 17-year campaign of mail-bombings. Today, the court hears oral arguments on whether it is constitutional for Oklahoma's Pottawatomie County School District to conduct random drug tests of students who take part in extra-curricular activities. (Story, page 1.)
A day after deciding not to run for her husband's former Senate seat, Tipper Gore was expected to give her blessing to US Rep. Bob Clement, (D) of Tennessee instead. She said that while serving would have been an honor, "I have decided that it is not right for me, right now." Before he became vice president, Al Gore held the Tennessee seat from 1985 to 1993.
Police arrested 84 people and seized 66 roosters, $5,000, and a four-foot trophy in a raid on a cockfighting tournament in Philadelphia. Pennsylvania is one of about 30 states where it is illegal to stage or attend cockfights. Those detained also face charges of cruelty to animals, illegal gambling, and liquor-law violations.