USA
Hundreds of foreign detainees were held too long, while some endured "unduly harsh" treatment - including physical and verbal abuse by prison guards - and were not given adequate access to lawyers while federal agents determined whether they posed a terrorist threat, a Justice Department review into its response to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks concluded. The report by its inspector general, Glenn Fine, recommends several reforms. It did not, however, find that department policies violated federal law or the rights of the more than 700 detainees held for immigration violations. Most have been deported. Only one, Zacarias Moussaoui, is charged in the attacks. (Story, page 2; editorial, page 8.)
Alleged bomber Eric Rudolph was expected to plead innocent in federal court in Birmingham, Ala., to charges in a 1998 abortion clinic attack that killed an off-duty police officer. Once a verdict is reached in that case, Attorney General Ashcroft said, Rudolph will be transferred to Georgia for a "more complicated" trial involving three more blasts, among them the 1996 Olympic Park bombing in Atlanta. Some of the more than 20 counts against Rudolph carry the death penalty. He was captured Saturday in Murphy, N.C., after a five-year search. (Story, page 1.)
In a deal with prosecutors that averted obstruction-of-justice charges, Roman Catholic Bishop Thomas O'Brien (above) of Phoenix acknowledged protecting priests accused of sexually abusing children. He apologized to victims and agreed to appoint a moderator and an independent special advocate to handle future complaints. O'Brien said the Vatican had declined his offer to resign over the scandal. The Maricopa County attorney, meanwhile, announced sex-abuse charges against six former or current priests at the diocese.
Securities regulators have subpoenaed records from 50 employees at 12 of the US's leading investment brokerages, continuing investigations into allegedly biased stock research, reports said. Top executives as well as research and investment-banking officials were told to turn over e-mails and other documents by June 20, The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal said. The inquiries follow the massive $1.4 billion that securities firms agreed to pay in April to settle charges of misleading investors.
Market data suggest the US economy is staging a "fairly marked turnaround," but acceleration "has not yet begun," Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan told a conference of central bankers in Berlin. His encouraging assessment came a day after the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose briefly above the symbolic 9,000 mark for the first time since December. The Dow closed Monday at 8,897.
