USA
President Bush hailed a tentative deal between West Coast dockworkers and shipping companies. The six-year contract followed a rancorous negotiation process that included a costly 10-day port lockout and prompted Bush to intervene. Under the agreement, shippers may introduce more efficient technology at the ports, which handle $300 billion in cargo annually. For their part, workers won increased wages and benefits. The deal must be OK'd by the 10,500-member longshoremen's union, although a vote is not expected until after the Thanksgiving holiday.
Despite concerns it may offend key ally Saudi Arabia, US lawmakers said the FBI should pursue allegations that financial aid from a Saudi princess may have found its way to two of the Sept. 11, 2001, hijackers. If proven, the connection "raises the stakes substantially of what the threat is in the United States," Sen. Bob Graham (D) of Florida, the outgoing Intelligence Committee chairman, told NBC's "Meet the Press." The panel's ranking Republican, Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama, said, "If it's the royal family, [that] needs to be brought out."
Attorneys general in several Northeast states, led by New York and Connecticut, said they'll sue to overturn changes in clear-air rules issued Friday by the Environmental Protection Agency. The changes make it easier for utilities and refineries to expand and modernize power plants without installing costly anti-pollution equipment. EPA chief Christie Whitman said they would help plant operators boost energy efficiency and decrease pollution.
Citing a growing security risk to Americans in Jordan, the Peace Corps withdrew its 60 volunteers and suspended operations there. The pullout by the federally funded development agency follows the murder of a US diplomat in the capital, Amman, last month and a string of attacks last week on US interests in several other Muslim-dominated states.
The Navy destroyer USS Paul F. Foster docked at Qindao, China, marking the resumption of military contacts largely suspended since a fatal plane collision last year. Washington and Beijing have worked to mend relations strained by the April, 2001, collision between a US surveillance plane and a Chinese fighter jet. The Chinese jet was lost, and China detained the crew of the US aircraft for 11 days after their emergency landing.
After weeks of delays due to equipment problems and bad weather, the shuttle Endeavor blasted off from Cape Canaveral, Fla., Saturday night. Endeavor is to rendezvous today with the International Space Station for a mission that includes a spacewalk by astronauts Michael Lopez-Alegria and John Herrington. A member of the Chickasaw tribe, Herrington is the first registered Native American in space.
For the second time in three days, rowdy fans caused disturbances after several college football games. Three people were hurt in a rush to tear down goal posts after North Carolina State defeated Florida State in Raleigh, N.C. Debris thrown by Washington State fans after a loss to the University of Washington injured some reporters.
