USA

The first person indicted for alleged complicity in the Sept. 11 attacks on the US, Frenchman Zacarias Moussaoui, invoked the name of Allah and declared "I do not have anything to plead," when asked to do so by a federal judge in Alexandria, Va. Moussaoui (l.) is charged with conspiring to commit acts of terrorism, aircraft piracy, aircraft destruction, murder of US employees, destruction of property, and use of weapons of mass destruction. Four of the charges carry the death penalty. Judge Leonie Brinkema entered an innocent plea on the accused's behalf. Brinkema chose the government's suggested trial date of Oct. 14, saying publicity from the one-year anniversary will have waned by mid-October. Jury selection was set for Sept. 30. (Story, page 2.)

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg got down to running the city yesterday, softening the hard-nose negotiating tactics of his predecessor by reaching out to union leaders. As he talked about his plans on the network morning television shows, Bloomberg said his businessman's style will be different than that of his tough-as-nails predecessor Rudolph Giuliani.

Bloomberg Tuesday announced plans to cut his office staff by 20 percent and challenged other officials to do the same. (Story, page 1.)

A manslaughter case that became a national symbol of parental violence at youth sporting events was to make its way into a Massachusetts courtroom yesterday. Thomas Junta was scheduled to go on trial for allegedly beating another man to death after arguing at their sons' hockey practice. The July 5, 2000, incident drew national attention to the growing number of cases of parental rage at youth sporting events.

A third attempt at fumigating Washington's Hart Senate Office Building with poisonous gas appears to have successfully killed remaining anthrax spores, federal officials said. The hopeful, but preliminary, results of the four-day operation completed Monday must still be confirmed by laboratory tests.

Highways were slippery from Louisiana to Georgia as snow and sleet fell across the South, causing chaos for motorists used to warmer weather. As much as 3 inches of snow fell in parts of southern Mississippi, while Montgomery, Ala., got about 2 inches, that city's largest snowfall since the blizzard of 1993, the National Weather Service said.

Media mogul Ted Turner wants South Dakota's permission to release 180 rare swift foxes on his 138,000-acre ranch in the center of the state. The Turner Endangered Species fund has asked the state's Animal Industry Board to allow for the release of the threatened animals, which it will trap in Wyoming.