USA
CIA Director George Tenet resigned for "personal reasons," President Bush said Thursday. The intelligence chief, who has been under fire for faulty intelligence regarding Iraq's weapons of mass destruction and intelligence lapses before the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, told the president Wednesday night that he was leaving the spy agency. Tenet will remain until July when he will be temporarily replaced by CIA Deputy Director John McLaughlin. "He's been a strong and able leader at the agency," Bush said in announcing Tenet's departure. after seven years on the job.
President Bush left Washington Thursday for a two-day visit to Italy and France, where he'll mark the 60th anniversary of D-Day and attempt to "secure support" for the June 30 transfer of power in Iraq to the interim government. Friday Bush plans to visit the site of the March 24, 1944, Nazi massacre of 335 Italian men at the abandoned Fosse Ardeatine quarry before heading to Normandy Friday for a speech commemorating the Allies landing in France. Bush's visit is expected to spark large protests in Rome and Paris.
Enron's 900-page plan to rebound from bankruptcy was to be considered Thursday by a New York bankruptcy court judge. Judge Arthur Gonzales was to rule on the plan intended to bring the company back from the "most expensive and complicated" bankruptcy in US history. If accepted, the plan calls for Enron to repay creditors one-fifth of the nearly $66.4 billion in cash and stock. The ruling comes amid "outrage" over telephone transcripts in which Enron traders discuss manipulating California's energy market.
The economic outlook for US airlines is bleak unless fuel prices drop and tickets rise, industry leaders were expected to tell Congress Thursday at a House transportation committee hearing. Six airline executives were to testify that tightened security, insurance rates coupled with high fuel costs, and competition from discount airlines are hurting the industry. US carriers have lost about $25 billion since 2001.
Newly elected South Dakota Rep. Stephanie Herseth (D) was sworn in Thursday to replace Republican Rep. Bill Janklow as the state's only representative in the House. The victory for Herseth was also a victory for Democrats in their effort to regain control of Congress. Herseth will fill Janklow's unexpired term. He left office in January before going to jail for a fatal traffic accident.
