world

Israeli forces invade Gaza City

By Alyson Brodsy and Ibrahim Barzak · Wednesday, Feb. 19,2003 11:29 p.m.

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip -- Israeli tanks and soldiers battled Palestinian militants in the streets of Gaza City before dawn Wednesday in violence that left 11 Palestinians dead, including a suicide bomber who tried to blow up a tank, Palestinians said.

India refuses meeting with Pakistan

By Alyson Brodsy and Nirmala George · Wednesday, Feb. 19,2003 11:28 p.m.

NEW DELHI, India -- India ruled out meeting with Pakistan at next week's Non-Aligned Movement summit as the chill in relations between the two countries showed no signs of thawing Wednesday.

First Sept. 11 trial concludes

By Alyson Brodsy and David Rising · Wednesday, Feb. 19,2003 11:27 p.m.

HAMBURG, Germany -- A Moroccan student was convicted Wednesday of more than 3,000 counts of accessory to murder for helping Mohamed Atta and two other suicide pilots in the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States, ending the first trial connected to the suicide hijackings.

First Sept. 11 suspect on trial is convicted, sentenced to 15 years

By David Rising · Wednesday, Feb. 19,2003 2:50 p.m.

HAMBURG, Germany -- A Moroccan student was convicted Wednesday of more than 3,000 counts of accessory to murder for helping Mohamed Atta and two other suicide pilots in the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States, ending the first trial connected to the suicide hijackings.

Arson attack in subway kills 120

By Alyson Brodsy · Wednesday, Feb. 19,2003 12:35 a.m.

DAEGU, South Korea -- Fire raced through two crowded subway trains in South Korea on Tuesday after a man ignited a carton filled with flammable material, killing about 120 people and injuring at least 138, officials said. A suspect police said had a history of mental illness was under interrogation in Daegu, South Korea's third-largest city. Police still did not know what motivated the attack or what substance the attacker used to start the blaze.

US, Britain face opposition

By Alyson Brodsy and Edith M. Lederer · Tuesday, Feb. 18,2003 11:41 p.m.

UNITED NATIONS -- Despite stiff opposition in the Security Council, the United States and Britain still plan to press ahead this week with a new resolution seeking authorization to use military force to disarm Iraq, diplomats from the two allies said.

Officials want jail time for club owner

By Alyson Brodsy and Mike Robinson · Tuesday, Feb. 18,2003 11:41 p.m.

CHICAGO -- City officials demanded that a judge jail the owner of the E2 nightclub for at least a year Tuesday, saying he was illegally operating the place when 21 people were killed in a stampede.

Blizzard blankets Northeast, 21 dead

By Roger Petterson · Tuesday, Feb. 18,2003 3:37 p.m.

The worst blizzard in seven years shut down much of the Northeast on Presidents Day with blinding, windblown snow that piled up as much as 4 feet deep and left more than a quarter of a million homes and businesses shivering without power.

Hacker gains access to 5.6 million Visa, MasterCard numbers

By Eileen Alt Powell · Tuesday, Feb. 18,2003 3:36 p.m.

NEW YORK -- A computer hacker gained access to more than 5.6 million Visa and MasterCard account numbers by breaching the security of a company that processes transactions for merchants, the card associations said Tuesday.

American U-2 spyplane flys first mission

By Hamza Hendawi · Tuesday, Feb. 18,2003 12:33 a.m.

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- An American U-2 surveillance plane made its first flight over Iraq on Monday in support of the current U.N. inspection mission, marking another concession by Saddam Hussein's regime to stave off a U.S.-led attack.

21 die as club erupts in chaos

By Brandon Loomis · Monday, Feb. 17,2003 11:57 p.m.

CHICAGO -- A disturbance at a crowded South Side nightclub early Monday sent hundreds of people rushing for the exits, killing at least 21 and injuring an unknown number of others. "Everybody smashed; people crying, couldn't breathe," said clubgoer Reggie Clark. "Two ladies next to me died. A guy under me passed out." Twenty-one people were confirmed dead, Chicago Police spokesman Pat Camden said. There were more than 1,500 people in the two-story Epitome Night Club on the city's South Side when someone released pepper spray or Mace into the air sometime after 2 a.m., Fire Commander Will Knight said.

Statement calls for holy war against Americans

By Janullah Hashimzada · Monday, Feb. 17,2003 11:40 p.m.

PESHAWAR, Pakistan -- A statement attributed to fugitive Taliban chief Mullah Mohammed Omar has urged Afghans to wage a holy war against Americans and the U.S.-backed Afghan government, saying its supporters should be punished with death.

Israeli commandos kill Hamas fugitive

By Ibrahim Barzak · Monday, Feb. 17,2003 11:39 p.m.

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip -- Israeli soldiers killed a top Hamas fugitive in a roadside ambush Monday, and in a separate operation, raided a stronghold of the militant Islamic group, shooting dead two Palestinians and blowing up the house of a suspected bombmaker.

European Union split over Iraq as France threatens to block early war

By Barry Renfrew · Monday, Feb. 17,2003 4:01 p.m.

BRUSSELS, Belgium -- A European Union summit on trying to end a deep split over Iraq ran into trouble Monday as France insisted that it would try to block any imminent U.S. attack on Baghdad.

21 dead in Chicago nightclub stampede

By Brandon Loomis · Monday, Feb. 17,2003 3:59 p.m.

CHICAGO - Hundreds of screaming guests rushed the exits of a crowded nightclub Monday after someone used pepper spray or Mace, and at least 21 people were crushed to death or smothered in the panic, officials said.

Officials say threat will be lowered

By Ronald Powers · Monday, Feb. 17,2003 12:01 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge said Sunday he thought the current terrorism threat level would likely be lowered from the high-risk orange level, but wouldn't say when. "When it is lowered, and I'm confident it will be, then there will be an appropriate explanation at the time," he said.

Storms wreak havoc

By Roger Petterson · Sunday, Feb. 16,2003 11:57 p.m.

The East's worst storm of the season blew heavy snow along the Ohio Valley and into the mid-Atlantic states Sunday, shutting down two major airports and canceling church services. More than 3 feet of snow was possible in the mountains and other areas had floods and mudslides.

NATO divided on war

By Barry Renfrew · Sunday, Feb. 16,2003 11:55 p.m.

BRUSSELS, Belgium -- NATO agreed to end a damaging split Sunday over U.S. plans for war on Iraq that created the West's biggest rift since the Cold War, but European Union leaders faced a bruising summit, with France showing no sign of backing down in its opposition.

Plan would increase student aid

By Ben Cunnighman and Ben Cunningham · Friday, Feb. 14,2003 12:58 a.m.

President Bush's recent proposal to increase spending for federal student grants could help more students go to college. But some critics said the overall effects will not help the current situation of rising tuition costs since limits on individuals will not change.

Cities around globe unite to protest Iraq war

By Stacey Palevsky · Friday, Feb. 14,2003 12:58 a.m.

As the threat of war in Iraq intensifies, so too does the schism between those in favor of war and those advocating peace. And America is not the only nation with splintered opinions between these two philosophies.