USA
A sweeping overhaul of the FBI was to be announced by Attorney General Ashcroft and bureau director Robert Mueller as the Monitor went to press. The reorganization comes in response to sharp criticism in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Among other changes revealed in advance, the FBI plans to shift 500 existing agents to counterterrorism efforts, hire 900 new agents with specialities such as computers and foreign languages, boost cooperation with the CIA on intelligence-gathering, and speed up terrorism-response abilities. (Story, page 1; editorial, page 8.)
A 30-foot steel beam from the destroyed World Trade Center and an empty stretcher will be carried out today in a ceremony to mark the end of New York's 8-month, round-the-clock cleanup effort from Sept. 11. The column, which remained standing until Tuesday night, had become a makeshift memorial for workers removing the 1.8 million tons of debris. For those unable to attend today's events which are expected to attract thousands families of the victims plan a separate ceremony Sunday.
President Bush will host Egypt's President Hosni Mubarek at Camp David June 7 and 8 for talks on Middle East peace, the White House said. The announcement came as Assistant Secretary of State William Burns arrived in Cairo, first stop on a six-nation regional tour aimed at renewing a process left in tatters by months of Palestinian suicide attacks and military retaliation by Israel. CIA director George Tenet is due to join him next week.
Brian Williams will succeed Tom Brokaw, who is retiring in 2004 as anchor of NBC's "Nightly News," the TV network announced Tuesday. It will be the first shift of a main network anchor in almost 20 years. Brokaw will continue to serve as host of specials, NBC said. Williams (above, r., at a press conference with Brokaw) hosts newscasts on cable affiliates MSNBC and CNBC.
Stormy weather could force a delay in today's planned launch of the shuttle Endeavor, forecasters said. When it does lift off, the craft will bring supplies, repair parts, and a new three-person crew to the International Space Station and ferry home its current occupants after a six-month mission.
The discovery of a sunken patrol boat commanded by John F. Kennedy in World War II was announced by undersea explorer Robert Ballard. Ballard, who previously found the sunken luxury liner Titanic, said his international team found what's left of PT 109 near Gizo Island, part of the Solomons chain in the South Pacific. Ballard is making a TV documentary about the search. PT 109 was hit by a Japanese destroyer in August 1943. The future president was among 11 survivors.
