world

Families mourn at Ground Zero

With the smoldering gray rubble of the World Trade Center a sorrowful backdrop, the families of people killed in the Sept. 11 terrorist attack gathered Sunday for a memorial service filled with prayer and song. Thousands of mourners, some holding photographs of their loved ones, rose from their plastic chairs as Police Officer Daniel Rodriguez opened the service with "The Star-Spangled Banner." Cardinal Edward Egan delivered the invocation, standing at a podium draped in black.

Afghans mourn slain leader

Grizzled comrades-in-arms of slain Afghan guerrilla Abdul Haq gathered at his family's home on Sunday to pay their respects and weep over what they saw as their old commander's abandonment by the United States. Haq had ventured back into Afghanistan on a maverick mission to encourage defections among the ruling Taliban. Instead, he was captured, despite a last-minute U.S. effort to protect him, and was executed Friday as a spy.

Markets looking to future

This week, the amount of companies reporting earnings will begin to slow. Many companies have already reported their earnings to Wall Street. According to Thomson Financial/First Call, third quarter earnings are likely to show a decline of 21-22 percent when compared to last year. Investors will continue to look for signs that the economy is going to rebound.

Anti-terror bill passes

WASHINGTON -- The Senate sent President George W. Bush a package of anti-terror measures Thursday that gives police sweeping new powers to search people's homes and business records secretly and to eavesdrop on telephone and computer conversations. Bush said he will sign the bill "so that we can combat terrorism and prevent future attacks."

Planes blast Taliban

BAGRAM, Afghanistan -- U.S. jets dive-bombed Taliban positions on the front line north of the Afghan capital on Thursday, eluding at least one missile and sending thick columns of black smoke climbing into a cloudless sky. Warplanes later pounded Kabul in the strongest attack on the city in days.

Afghan tribal leaders discuss conflict

PESHAWAR, Pakistan -- Invoking tradition to resolve a modern dispute, more than 1,000 Afghans meeting in Pakistan on Thursday called on Afghanistan's former king to help form a multiethnic government. They also demanded that "those foreigners who add more to our miseries" leave the country, a reference to suspected terrorist Osama bin Laden and the mostly Arab members of the al-Qaida terrorist group hiding in Afghanistan.

Unexploded bombs litter Afghan towns

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- Unexploded bombs from a U.S. air raid have trapped villagers in a west Afghan village, leaving them afraid to venture from their homes, U.N. officials said Wednesday.

IRA disarms, U.K. dismantles

BELFAST, Northern Ireland -- In a quick response to the Irish Republican Army's historic decision to begin disarming, Britain started demolishing two army watchtowers on Northern Ireland's border Wednesday.

White House mail shows trace of toxin

The nation's anthrax scare hit the White House Tuesday with the discovery of a small concentration of spores at an off-site mail processing center. "We're working hard at finding out who's doing this,'' President George W. Bush said as bioterrorism claimed fresh victims along the East Coast.

Taliban troops believed to be hiding in residential areas

Taliban forces in Afghanistan might be hiding in residential areas, aware of the U.S. military's hesitancy to bomb where civilians might be hit, a senior military officer said Tuesday. Rear Adm. John Stufflebeem, deputy director of operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said he has seen anecdotal evidence of such a Taliban tactic, which he attributed to their realization that troops in the field or at military installations are vulnerable to punishing attacks by American warplanes.

CNN moderator predicts larger government ahead

With his political wit and humor, Mark Shields captivated a crowd of more than 100 people at Whittenberger Auditorium Monday night. Shields, moderator of CNN's "The Capital Gang," was this year's Roy W. Howard lecturer at the National Reporting Convention at IU. Entitling his lecture "The Wit and Wisdom of Mark Shields," Shields addressed the state of American politics before and after the Sept. 11 attacks.

Anthrax claims lives of 2 postal workers

WASHINGTON -- Two postal workers at a site that handles mail for the Capitol died Monday, likely from anthrax, officials said, and two more remained hospitalized with the life-threatening disease as the nation\'s bioterror casualty count mounted. "The mail and our employees have become the target of terrorists," said Postmaster General John Potter.

Peace and patience: New York native and Muslim reflects on terrorist attacks

Nuha Elkhiamy was born in upstate New York. She recently returned from a trip to New York City with her sister and saw her home state forever changed. But after the Sept. 11 attacks, other students were quicker to focus on her hijab, the traditional Muslim head covering, than her grief. "I feel like I took that attack as an attack on myself and on my country," said Elkhiamy,a senior and a Muslim.

Postal worker contracts rare anthrax type

WASHINGTON -- A District of Columbia postal worker is "gravely ill" from inhalation anthrax, a rare and lethal form of the disease, officials said Sunday, and five others are sick with suspicious symptoms. The Postal Service closed two facilities and began testing more than 2,200 workers for exposure.

QALAI DASHT, Afghanistan -- U.S. warplanes bombarded Taliban positions Sunday near a front line north of the capital, Kabul, marking what could be the start of a more aggressive campaign on behalf of opposition forces fighting the Islamic regime. In Kabul, meanwhile, grieving neighbors pulled dust-covered bodies of seven civilians -- three women and four children -- from the ruins of two homes destroyed Sunday by a U.S. bomb. "This pilot was like he was blind!" sobbed one neighbor.

Pakistan guards resist refugees

CHAMAN, Pakistan -- Pakistani border guards opened fire Sunday to force back a crowd of hundreds of Afghans demanding to be allowed into the country. Doctors said a 13-year-old boy was wounded.

Airstrikes not effective enough

WASHINGTON -- Victory in Afghanistan will require putting troops on the ground in addition to bombing terrorist and Taliban targets from the air, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Thursday.

Bush seeks Asian approval

SHANGHAI, China -- President George W. Bush, halfway around the world from home, sought Thursday to secure China's position in his fragile anti-terrorism coalition and stem concern throughout Asia about U.S. military strikes in Afghanistan.

Bush nominates trustee for ambassador position

President George W. Bush nominated IU Board of Trustees President James T. Morris to serve as ambassador to the United States Mission to the United Nations Agencies in Rome. The position serves to overlook and maintain three particular legs of U.S. involvement in Rome: the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization, the U.N. World Food Program and the International Fund for Agricultural Development.

CBS staffer, postal worker contract anthrax

WASHINGTON -- A CBS employee who opens Dan Rather's mail and a postal worker in New Jersey were added Thursday to the troubling roster of Americans infected with anthrax. As many as three more people reported telltale skin lesions that may signify additional cases. "Our labs are working around the clock to try and get clarity," said Dr. Julie Gerberding of the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The disclosures brought the number of confirmed cases of anthrax nationwide to six since Oct. 4 and complicated the Bush administration's effort to reassure an anxious nation it was working aggressively to combat bioterrorism and other threats.