USA
Congressional leaders arranged for an unprecedented shutdown of most of the US Capitol after 29 people in Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle's office tested positive for exposure to - but not infection from - a highly potent form of anthrax found in a letter. House Speaker Dennis Hastert said lawmakers would go home as Capitol complex buildings are checked for the bacteria. Buildings will re-open on Tuesday. All of those exposed were being treated with antibiotics. The FBI is investigating similarities in handwriting and anti-US language between Daschle's letter and another with anthrax that was mailed to NBC News anchor Tom Brokaw in New York. (Story, page 1.)
Anthrax was discovered in New York Gov. George Pataki's Manhattan office after tests taken in a room used by his state police security detail came back positive. The governor's offices on Third Avenue were closed for further testing and decontamination. Pataki said they would reopen Monday. No employees had tested positive for anthrax, but all were taking antibiotics as a precaution.
President Bush was to request an additional $1.5 billion to combat bioterrorism, a sixfold increase of spending in fiscal 2001. The money includes $643 million to expand pharmaceutical stockpiles and $509 million to speed up the development and purchase of the smallpox vaccine.
Under tight security, the first men convicted of carrying out Osama bin Laden's 1998 edict to kill Americans are to be sentenced today. The four were found guilty last May of the bombings of the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania that killed 224 people. Their trial laid out in detail what the government knew about bin Laden and his Al Qaeda network. (Story, page 2.)
Bush plans to seek strong support for the US-led war against terrorism at a summit in China this week, his first trip abroad since the terrorist attacks. Bush will attend the 21-nation gathering of Asian-Pacific leaders in Shanghai through the weekend, promoting trade to help the struggling global economy. Bush also plans to meet with leaders from Russia, Japan, Malaysia, China, South Korea, and Singapore. Above, he boards his Marine helicopter on the White House lawn.
Citizens have a broad right to bear arms, but it may be restricted in such cases as a domestic-violence court order, a federal judge ruled. The 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals decision overturns an earlier ruling that Timothy Emerson, a Texas physician, was wrongly prosecuted for buying a pistol while under a temporary restraining order protecting his wife and child. The appeals court sent the case back to Texas for trial.
