USA

Retiring US Rep. Porter Goss (R) of Fla., President Bush's choice to head the CIA, told a Senate confirmation hearing that he knew the difference between the role and that of a politician. Goss, a CIA operative in the 1960s, is expected to be confirmed, possibly by early next week, despite questions some lawmakers have about whether he can provide independent, objective analysis to the Bush administration. The CIA has been under interim leadership since Director George Tenet resigned in June.

An appellelate ruling Monday in the case of Zacarias Moussaoui, the only person charged in the US in connection with the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, cleared the way for his trial to begin. An federal appeals court in Richmond, Va., ruled that the government may pursue the death penalty if Moussaoui, a French citizen of Moroccan descent, is convicted. But the court also protected his right to use, in his defense, statements gathered from Al Qaeda captives by means other than face-to-face interviews.

An Air Force spokesman said Monday that the government is investigating reports that an unarmed nuclear bomb lost in the Atlantic Ocean after two military planes collided in 1958 might have been found off Georgia, according to CNN. If found, what to do with conventional explosives in the bomb could be an issue.

Ivan, one of the most powerful hurricanes ever to hit the Caribbean, tracked into the Gulf of Mexico and was expected to make landfall somewhere along the Gulf Coast as early as Wednesday. Residents from the Florida Panhandle to New Orleans were ordered or encouraged to seek higher ground. President Bush asked Congress for an additional $3.1 billion for anticipated recovery efforts. Lawmakers OK'd $2 billion for that purpose Sept. 7.

To cope with greater-than- anticipated terrorist violence, the White House was expected to announce Tuesday that it would seek congressional permission to shift $3.5 billion of the $18.4 billion allocated for Iraqi reconstruction to mostly security-related expenses.

A majority of US employers report that about one-third of employees do not meet the writing requirements of their positions, according to results of a new survey by the College Board's National Commission on Writing.