world

Tampa lawyer beats Reno in tight race

By Alyson Brodsy · Wednesday, Sept. 18,2002 12:52 a.m.

MIAMI -- Florida finally sorted out the mess Tuesday from last week's bungled election as final vote counts showed Bill McBride narrowly defeating Janet Reno for the Democratic nomination for governor. The former Clinton administration attorney general conceded the nomination, saying she told McBride "he was going to be a great governor." McBride, a Tampa lawyer and first-time candidate, won by about 4,800 votes out of more than 1.3 million cast, according to the still-unofficial figures. He will face Republican Gov. Jeb Bush in November.

Man linked to dead reporter

By Alyson Brodsy · Wednesday, Sept. 18,2002 12:48 a.m.

KARACHI, Pakistan -- An al Qaeda militant arrested with alleged Sept. 11 organizer Ramzi Binalshibh has been identified as one of the killers of Wall Street Journal correspondent Daniel Pearl, a senior police official said Tuesday. The identification was made by a Pakistani held but not charged in the kidnap-slaying of the newspaper's South Asian correspondent, according to the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Iraq allows inspectors to return

By Alyson Brodsy and Dafna Linzer · Tuesday, Sept. 17,2002 2:07 a.m.

UNITED NATIONS -- Iraq agreed Monday to allow the unconditional return of U.N. weapons inspectors, a reversal coming days after President Bush warned Baghdad to comply with U.N. resolutions or face military action. The White House dismissed the offer as a tactical move.

U.S. pilots attack links within Iraq's air defense

By Alyson Brodsy and Robert Burns · Tuesday, Sept. 17,2002 2:06 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- U.S. pilots patrolling the skies over Iraq are taking a new approach to defending themselves, and the switch may be chipping away at Iraq's ability to resist a full-scale U.S.-led invasion.

Suspect in New York cell nabbed

By Alyson Brodsy · Tuesday, Sept. 17,2002 1:23 a.m.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates -- An American of Yemeni descent was arrested in Bahrain and transferred to U.S. authorities investigating an alleged terror cell in upstate New York, a Bahraini government official said Monday.

Saudi Arabia ups pressure on Iraq

By Alyson Brodsy and Charles J. Hanley · Tuesday, Sept. 17,2002 1:22 a.m.

UNITED NATIONS -- Saudi Arabia has turned up the pressure on Baghdad, hinting that it might offer its desert installations as a jump-off base for any U.S. military campaign against Iraq--as long as such an attack had U.N. sanction.

Sept. 11 planners in U.S. custody

By Alyson Brodsy and Zarar Khan · Tuesday, Sept. 17,2002 1:21 a.m.

KARACHI, Pakistan -- Alleged Sept. 11 planner Ramzi Binalshibh and four other al Qaeda suspects were handed over to the United States on Monday, the Pakistani government said. Two officials said the five were flown out of Pakistan.

Another Florida voting fiasco

By Alyson Brodsy · Monday, Sept. 16,2002 12:48 a.m.

MIAMI -- Eleven other Florida counties had the same kind of touch-screen voting machines used in Miami-Dade County, where voting irregularities have tied up another major election. They were operated by similar crews of mainly elderly volunteers who had worked low-tech elections for years. So why did Tuesday's primary go so well in those places and so miserably here?

Britain challenges U.N on Iraq

By Alyson Brodsy · Monday, Sept. 16,2002 12:47 a.m.

UNITED NATIONS -- Britain challenged the United Nations on Saturday to stand up to Iraq's defiance of Security Council resolutions, echoing the demand issued by President Bush under threat of unilateral U.S. military attack. "We have not just an interest, but a responsibility to ensure that Iraq complies fully with international law," British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw told the 190-nation General Assembly. "We have to be clear to Iraq and to ourselves about the consequences which will flow from a failure by Iraq to meet its obligations."

Election unrest spreads

By Alyson Brodsy · Monday, Sept. 16,2002 12:46 a.m.

SRINAGAR, India -- Indian soldiers shot and killed nine suspected Islamic rebels Sunday in a border sweep just hours before the start of Kashmir's crucial state elections. The shootout occurred after a key government minister survived an assassination attempt earlier in the day. Two guards of Tourism Minister Sakina Yatoo were killed when attackers ambushed her well-guarded campaign convoy, officials said. Three others were wounded.

Florida highway closed for terror concern; 3 detained

By Anthony Breznican and Catherine Wilson · Friday, Sept. 13,2002 12:01 p.m.

MIAMI -- Three people in two cars were detained Friday along a South Florida highway on suspicion of plotting a terrorist attack. Authorities shut down the interstate as they used dogs and a robot to search for explosives.

Leaders urged to confront Iraq

By Alyson Brodsy and Barry Schweid · Friday, Sept. 13,2002 1:52 a.m.

UNITED NATIONS -- President Bush demanded Thursday that world leaders force Saddam Hussein to destroy his weapons of mass destruction, saying the lives of millions of people will be at risk and the United Nations "will be irrelevant" unless it confronts Iraq.

Greenspan: Economy has withstood blows

By Alyson Brodsy and Martin Crutsinger · Friday, Sept. 13,2002 1:01 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan told Congress on Thursday that a year after the terrorist attacks, the U.S. economy appears to have done a good job of withstanding a series of severe blows, "although the depressing effects still linger."

Arafat's cabinet resigns

By Hadeel Wahdan · Thursday, Sept. 12,2002 2:04 a.m.

RAMALLAH, West Bank -- The Palestinian Cabinet resigned Wednesday after Yasser Arafat lost a showdown with parliament -- the most serious challenge to the Palestinian leader since he returned from exile in 1994. Earlier in the day, Arafat had set Jan. 20 as a date for presidential and parliamentary elections in an attempt to defuse the confrontation with disgruntled legislators who accused him of making only halfhearted efforts to reform his administration.

Bush to speak with U.N. today

By Alyson Brodsy and Ken Guggenheim · Thursday, Sept. 12,2002 2:04 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- Before President Bush goes before the United Nations to make the case for action against Iraq, his administration is facing a tough audience closer to home: Congress. Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld and the Joint Chiefs of Staff met for three hours Tuesday with Gen. Tommy Franks, the commander who would lead any military campaign in Iraq. Meanwhile, a push by senior Bush administration officials, including Capitol Hill meetings Tuesday with CIA director George Tenet and national security adviser Condoleezza Rice, hasn't convinced key lawmakers that a war is needed.

Another crazy florida election

By Alyson Brodsy and Catherine Wilson · Thursday, Sept. 12,2002 2:03 a.m.

MIAMI -- Despite a $32 million renovation, Florida's new election system crashed in an embarrassment that, like the 2000 election, left voters wondering whether their votes counted, candidates pondering recounts and everyone asking who's to blame. "You guys have NO idea what a mess this has been," state election monitor Mike Lindsey wrote his Tallahassee bosses in a pre-dawn e-mail from Broward County on Wednesday. "The mess was the result of no planning, poor leadership, lack of 'process ownership' and passing the buck."

America remembers 'our friends'

By Alyson Brodsy and David Crary · Thursday, Sept. 12,2002 1:01 a.m.

At ground zero, the names took precedence, 2,801 of them read aloud, from Gordon Aamoth Jr. to Igor Zukelman. Patriotic resolve held sway at the Pentagon. And in a field near Shanksville, Pa., grief was partially offset by pride. At each of the three sites and in communities across the nation and world Wednesday, Americans and their allies relived the staggering events of one year ago and remembered those who died. "They were our neighbors, our husbands, our children, our sisters, our brothers and our wives. They were our countrymen and our friends. They were us," New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg told grieving families at the site of the World Trade Center.

Stormy ride for economy

By Michael Eisenstadt · Wednesday, Sept. 11,2002 2:10 a.m.

Self-confidence and optimism keep Mike Weichman from becoming discouraged. The depressed job market has directly affected him. A tumultuous year beginning with the Sept. 11 attacks and including public disclosure of bad accounting practices by several major corporations jarred an already reeling economy.

America on alert for 9/11 anniversary

By Alyson Brodsy and John Solomon · Wednesday, Sept. 11,2002 12:23 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration raised the nation's terror alert warning to its second highest level Tuesday -- code orange -- signaling a "high risk" of attack ahead of the Sept. 11 anniversary. The government increased security at federal buildings and monuments and closed some U.S. embassies abroad.

Customers slow to return to New York businesses

By Emily Veach · Wednesday, Sept. 11,2002 12:22 a.m.

NEW YORK -- The sun came up over the east side of Lower Manhattan just like it did every day. Fishing boats were coming in and out of port, shop owners flipped their "open" signs and Wall Street traders buttoned up their color coded vests in preparation for the opening bell.