USA
The House and Senate intelligence committees are to begin a joint hearing today into what warnings the federal government may have had prior to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The closed-door panel also will hear testimony on preparedness against future attacks. The hearing comes as US officials Monday confirmed a report in Newsweek magazine that the CIA didn't warn the FBI about two men with suspected terrorist ties until three weeks before Sept. 11. The men Nawaf Alhazmi and Khalid Almihdar were hijackers on the plane that crashed into the Pentagon.
Defense lawyers for auditor Arthur Andersen LLP were wrapping up their case in the firm's obstruction-of-justice trial for destroying Enron-related documents. An acquittal would be a major blow to the broader inquiry into Enron's collapse, analysts said, but probably wouldn't be enough to save troubled Andersen, following an exodus of major clients and foreign partners.
President Bush traveled to ex-President Clinton's home state of Arkansas yesterday. During a brief visit to Little Rock, Bush was to promote his welfare reform plan.
Jury selection was to begin in New York for the retrial of Charles Schwarz, whose conviction in the Abner Louima case was overturned by an appeals court earlier this year. Schwarz, an ex-patrolman, is accused of violating Louima's civil rights by restraining him during a 1997 sexual assault by another officer that fueled furor over perceived police abuse of minorities. Lawyers for Schwarz say they will argue that their client was not present for the attack.
Texas must either retry or dismiss charges against a death- row inmate whose lawyer slept through much of his 1984 murder trial, after the Supreme Court declined to intervene. A federal appeals court ruled that Calvin Burdine did not receive adequate representation as guaranteed by the Constitution.
In another case, the high court ruled that the US Army may keep four paintings by Adolph Hitler, refusing to review a lower court's decision against heirs of late German photographer Heinrich Hoffmann. The watercolors and thousands of Hoffmann's photographs were seized after World War II, and his family had sought millions in damages.
Manufacturing activity rose in May for the fourth straight month and increased at its fastest pace in two years, according to a closely watched index by the Institute for Supply Management, an industry group. Earlier, the Commerce Department reported that construction spending edged up 0.2 percent in April.
"Thoroughly Modern Millie," took six awards, among them best musical, at the 56th annual Tony Awards Sunday at New York's Radio City Music Hall. Edward Albee's "The Goat" won best play. Above, Lindsay Duncan hoists her best-performance award for her role in the Noel Coward comedy "Private Lives."
