USA
The Pentagon released a transcribed confession Monday of Waleed Mohammed Bin Attash, who said during a hearing at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, that he plotted the bombing of the USS Cole in Yemen and helped plan bombings of US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998. Overall, 230 people were killed in these attacks.
The State Department said Monday that the US would live up to its obligations as the UN's host nation and grant a travel visa to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Although the US has no diplomatic relations with Iran, which it considers a state sponsor of terrorism, it's committed to allowing foreign leaders to speak before the world body, barring extraordinary circumstances. Ahmadinejad wants to address the UN Security Council as it considers sanctions against Tehran over its nuclear program.
Three New York police officers involved in a Nov. 25 shooting death that has raised racial sensitivities in the city surrendered Monday to face charges of manslaughter and reckless endangerment. The officers have been accused of firing most of 50 shots in a nightclub skirmish that led to the fatal wounding of an unarmed groom on his wedding day.
US Airways, perhaps the airline most challenged to find alternative flights after a Northeast ice storm paralyzed its Philadelphia hub, was able to rebook many of 100,000 affected passengers by Monday morning.
Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Patrick Leahy (D) of Vermont said Sunday that he intends to push ahead with subpoenas to compel testimony by White House officials in the ousting of eight federal prosecutors. President Bush could exercise executive privilege in trying to prevent the appearance of political strategist Karl Rove and others.
After an inaugural transatlantic flight to North America on Monday, Airbus's long-awaited superjumbo A380 is scheduled to make a demonstration flight from New York to Chicago Tuesday before returning to New York and Frankfurt. Built by France-based Airbus, the double-decker holds 500 passengers and can fly some 8,000 nautical miles without refueling. Singapore Airlines will receive the first deliveries in October.
