USA
Five Americans of Yemeni descent accused of operating a terrorist cell for Al Qaeda were detained in New York. At a federal court in Buffalo Saturday, the men were charged with providing support to foreign terrorist groups. Federal authorities allege the men, from the Buffalo suburb of Lackawanna, received training in weapons and suicide attacks at an Al Qaeda camp in Kandahar, Afghanistan. There were no indications that the group had weapons or imminent plans for an attack on US soil, authorities said.
In a related move, federal authorities were to take custody of two senior Al Qaeda figures arrested last week in a raid in Karachi, Pakistan. One of the men was identified as Ramzi Binalshib, a self-described planner of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Declaring it's time for the UN "to show some backbone" on Iraq, President Bush repeated his determination to act, with or without international support, if Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein doesn't halt alleged efforts to develop and stock weapons of mass destruction. The president's comments Saturday were picked up by Secretary of State Powell, who told NBC-TV's "Meet the Press" that the US hopes for UN action by the end of the week, with the Security Council completing new resolutions on Iraq "within weeks, not months."
State elections officials in Florida rejected calls for a recount, even as workers searched hundreds of voting machines for possible missed ballots from last week's Democratic gubernatorial primary. So far, more than 1,800 such ballots have turned up in Miami-Dade County, a stronghold of Janet Reno. The former US attorney general trails her Democratic rival, Bill McBride, by about 8,000 votes in the unofficial tally. Party officials warned a prolonged controversy would only benefit the reelection campaign of Gov. Jeb Bush (R).
After dumping up to five inches of rain, knocking out power lines, and toppling trees in Alabama, Georgia, and Florida, tropical storm Hanna lost strength Sunday and was downgraded to a tropical depression. Remnants of the storm pose "no real threat," a National Weather Service forecaster said.
The Chicago Tribune asked for, and received, the resignation of syndicated columnist Bob Greene after he acknowledged having had an inappropriate sexual relationship with a teenage girl. In a front-page notice to readers Sunday, an editor said the conduct occurred years ago but that the Tribune learned of it only last week.
